Hello !

Here's our latest update which signposts recent additions to our website and online catalogue.

We also summarise our favourite selections of the year.

Follow the links for further information including audio, reviews and interviews.

Wishing you all the best for the festive season and a Happy New Year!

Best wishes
THEmusicINDEX

(December 2010)

MARTIN CARTHY The January Man Live In Belfast 1978 Release date: 25 October 2010 (HUX119)

As the father figure and guiding spirit of the English folk revival of the 1960s, Martin Carthy was involved in the formation of at least three major English folk-rock bands; Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band.

Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Richard Thompson all cite Carthy as a direct influence.

In June 1998 Martin Carthy was appointed an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours. He was named Folk Singer of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2002, and again in 2005.

Despite a solo career spanning several decades, 'The January Man' is the first ever official release of a Martin Carthy live solo album, and is released with Carthy's full approval.

This towering performance, recorded in FM quality in 1978, shows an artist who was a legend even then and whose brilliance is merely underlined with the passing of time.

Limited edition digipack includes booklet with extensive liner notes featuring reminiscences from Carthy himself.

Recorded at the Sunflower Folk Club, Belfast, 20th October 1978

ALSO AVAILABLE:

DAVY GRAHAM From Monkhouse to Medway 1963-1973 (HUX113)

JOHN MARTYN The Battle of Medway July 17 1973 (HUX090)

CATALOGUE: www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/hux.htm
 

BEN RANDALL Love Finds A Way Release date 6 September 2010 (Digital single via iTunes and Limited Edition 2-track CD)

Ben Randall won the 'Most Promising Guitarist' prize in the first 'Guitar Idol' (2008) an internet-based competition that attracted over 750 entrants.

Since this time he has gathered a loyal following of devotees via the Internet and, for a period, whilst in the power metal band Power Quest. During this time the band supported Michael Schenker and Tarja Turunen.

Ben's latest track will appeal to all who like super guitar playing and a great groove.  They may also recognise a guitar star of the future!

Fiery, intense and burning with a real passion that is nicely tempered by an unlikely touch of maturity, Ben Randall's is certainly a guitar player to watch Pete Feenstra, www.getreadytorock.com

http://www.benrandallguitar.com/love/
 

NUTZ Tightened Up! Live In Nottingham 1977 Release date: 9 August 2010 (Market Square MSMCD153)

Recording for A&M, touring with Black Sabbath, wowing BBC TV's Old Grey Whistle Test...NUTZ!

A showcase for their third album for A&M ('Hard'), by the time these hard-rocking faves of the UK live scene recorded this top notch set back in March 1977 for a local radio station, they had honed their act to sweet perfection.

Until now unreleased in any format, it reveals the Liverpool band’s talent for melody and theatricality in a rolling blitz of tight, showy classic rock with glints of metal shining away under the surface.


Acclaimed by many musical peers of the day, including Jeff Beck, AC/DC, Ozzie Osbourne - loved by fans - Led Zeppelin’s Peter Grant offered to manage them Yet, history reveals these boys were just too busy having a good time!

But then they were Nutz!

... an excellent radio recording of music very much of its time - hard rock with prog overtones (evoking early Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and Mountain in equal measure), with excellent use of Hammond organ ...and period-evoking wah-wah and echo ... *****  www.getreadytorock.com

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/nutz.htm

CATALOGUE: www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/msm_catalogue.htm
 

BRIDGET ST JOHN BBC Radio 1968-1976(Release date: 26 April 2010 (HUX114)

Bridget St. John was one of the first artists to be signed to John Peel’s Dandelion label in 1969.

She recorded 3 albums there before she was signed to Chrysalis Records in 1974. All of those original records have recently been reissued on CD, to wide acclaim.

Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bridget made many unique recordings for BBC Radio, mostly for John Peel. None of those recordings have ever been released on CD until now.

Compiled by Bridget herself, this double CD features the best of her BBC radio concerts and sessions, including her very first Peel session, recorded in 1968. Several of these songs are released here for the first time.

This double CD set is packaged in a lavish full colour digipack with an accompanying 20 page colour booklet featuring extensive liner notes, an interview with Bridget, plus several rare photographs from Bridget’s own archive.

The tracks are a mixture of solo and band recordings, and three songs (disc 2, 14-16) are duets with Kevin Ayers. These CDs have been digitally re-mastered by Ron Geesin (who also produced Bridget’s second Dandelion LP in 1971).

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/hux.htm
 

KARNATAKA The Gathering Light [Release date 1 February 2010] (Voiceprint KTKCD005)

From powerful to ethereal, breathtaking to haunting, Karnataka's music draws upon many influences from melodic, classic and progressive rock to dramatic celtic cinematic soundscapes, all fused into a unique, dynamic sound that is undeniably Karnataka's own.

The Gathering Light is the stunning, much anticipated new work from Karnataka and their most ambitious to date. Dealing with loss, isolation, love and ultimately hope - this is a powerful, uplifting musical experience that takes the listener on a never to be forgotten musical and emotional journey into The Gathering Light.

... the attention to detail and sheer quality of the production work shines through. This is the album to reassert the band's position in the proud pantheon of prog. It never fails to deliver. *****  www.getreadytorock.com

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/karnataka5.htm

Catalogue: www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/voiceprint.htm
 

PANIC ROOM Satellite [Release date 25 January 2010] (Firefly Music 002)

'Satellite', the stunning new album from UK rock band Panic Room, looks set to propel them into another league. The award-winning band have returned from their live UK touring with a second album that is tighter, brighter, louder and even more powerful than the first. Taking the same creative freedom that they explored in their debut, ‘Visionary Position', Panic Room have fused their signature sound with an even higher level of energy and raw power.

All captured in a two-week ‘live' studio recording session, ‘Satellite' is a jaw-dropping collection of songs that all shine with the talent, passion, and freedom of a band at the very top of their game. The album is jam-packed full of great hooks, powerful grooves, gorgeous melodies and, of course, the amazing voice of stellar frontwoman, Anne-Marie Helder. Impossible to pigeon-hole, each song has its own unique flavour, but it is possibly the epic title track, ‘Satellite', which simply screams ‘hit'.

Without doubt, it's going to be exceedingly difficult to find a better album in 2010. Perfect progressive pop rock. *****  www.getreadytorock.com

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/panic_room2.htm

ALSO AVAILABLE: "Visionary Position"

Catalogue: www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/voiceprint.htm
 

Published in 2002, this beautifully produced 320-page book by Chris Simpson tells the story of Magna Carta and their music.

This book is a must for anyone who loves the music of Magna Carta.

It includes a discography, the lyrics of all songs written by members of the band up to that time, and personal reminiscences about the production of each of the albums.

In addition to the album sleeves, track lists and lyrics, this book contains photographs, memorabilia and Chris Simpson's fascinating account of how each album was made

Chris Simpson - The English Paul Simon Fred Dellar, Mojo

Lord of the Ages, arguably one of the greatest albums of its kind ever made Rick Wakeman

"His reminiscences, combined with the lyrics, makes me want to listen to them all again" Spencer Leigh in the Preface

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/magna_carta_book.htm

Also available:

CHRIS SIMPSON When All Is Said And Done

This 2-CD set features thirty songs that span forty years of writing, singing and performing.

Featuring songs recorded by Chris Simpson as a solo performer (or using a pseudonym) plus his work with Magna Carta this is a splendid career overview.

The album features contributions from a variety of musicians including Linda Simpson, Davey Johnstone (Elton John)Paul Burgess (10cc), and Vic Emerson (Sad Cafe).

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/magna_carta1.htm
 

ALSO AVAILABLE: JOHNNY RODRIGUEZ, JOHNNY PAYCHECK, MARTY ROBBINS

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/hux.htm
 

MAGENTA Live at Real World

Magenta is thrilled to announce the release of 'Live at Real World', the 3 disc set of its acoustic performance at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studio recorded in November 2009.

This special package features a 2 CD recording of the concert, with the addition of three additional songs also recorded at Real World the following day.

A DVD is also included featuring NTSC format video of the entire concert with audio in stereo and 5.1 mixes.

Extras include a 5.1 mix of 'Joe' from 'Home', the promotional video of 'Blind Faith' and two photo galleries.

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/magenta10.htm

Tiger Moth Records is delighted to announce the release of the long-awaited debut solo album by Magenta frontwoman Christina.

Christina has co-written all 10 tracks with long-time collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Rob Reed (Magenta, Trippa, ChimpanA), who also mixed and produced the album.

Other guests on the album include John Mitchell (It Bites, Frost), Steve Balsamo (The Storys, ChimpanA), Troy Donockley (Barbara Dickson, the Bad Shepherds) and Chris Fry (Magenta), with a wonderful remix of “Deep Ocean” by Jem Godfrey (Frost).

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/christina.htm

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/tigermoth.htm

SONJA KRISTINA Harmonics Of Love [Release date 11 January 2010] (Market Square MSMCD151)

Post her genre-defining solo release 'Songs From The Acid Folk' (MSMCD109), former Curved Air vocalist and songwriter Sonja Kristina moved on to 'astro folk' with 1994's 'Harmonics of Love', an album that bridges her progressive rock and acid folk past with the electronic experimentalism that was to emerge in the noughties via a giddy 'new age' rush of melodic and ambient music connecting acousticity to studio effects and natural sounds sampled from locations as disparate as the Amazon rain forest and that year's Glastonbury Festival.

Bonus tracks for this enhanced reissue take in later work including a Motorhead cover (!) and output from her current project MASK.

In her notes, Sonja writes:

"These songs of desire, heartache, forgiveness and fellowship were recorded in the afterglow of happy times travelling with my wild and willful players between 1989 and 1997, playing intimate venues, festivals and spiritual retreats in the UK. My band at the time, Cloud Ten made music experimental and improvised around the pulse and lilt of my words and melodies.  During the second "summer of love' we played acoustic trance music 'our sonic vision of those times.'

It's an intriguing and frequently enlightening journey www.getreadytorock.com

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/sonjakristina4.htm

ALSO AVAILABLE: SONJA KRISTINA, SONGS FROM THE ACID FOLK, MASK (see below)

Catalogue: www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/msm_catalogue.htm

MICHAEL CHAPMAN And Then, There Were Three [Release date 22 March 2010] (Market Square MSMCD151)

Virtuoso guitarist and critically-acclaimed songwriter, championed by John Peel and later Charles Shaar Murray, Michael Chapman recorded a quartet of classic LPs for EMI's progressive Harvest label during the 1970s. Chapman's extensive touring fast won him a passionate following, evidenced on this until-now unreleased live set.

Recorded at Nottingham's Playhouse Theatre on July 23rd 1977 by Chapman and a power house rhythm section in Lindisfarne bassist Rod Clements and former John Mayall drummer Keef Hartley, it includes some of his best-loved songs in “And There Were Three” - a jocular reference to Chapman's ever-shrinking band, described nonetheless by notes writer Marc Higgins as 'a beast with three heads'.

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/mchapman3.htm

Also available from Market Square Records: ROD CLEMENTS, LINDISFARNE, ALAN HULL

Catalogue: www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/msm_catalogue.htm

Steve Ashley - Live in Concert', featuring the talents of some folk rock's finest plus an orchestra directed by Robert Kirby (Nick Drake, Paul Weller, Elton John), showcases Ashley's memorable canon and reveals a catalogue of innovation and diversity. Poetic and melodic songs of delicate brevity are interlaced with challenging works of bold and powerful density, imbued with great wit and a common theme in a social narrative of English life.

Ashley, together with guests including Fairport Convention's Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Chris Leslie, Decameron's Dik Cadbury and Al Fenn and Show Of Hand's Phil Beer, deliver quality performances throughout that affirm their singular and collective talents.

The revisiting of Kirby's original string settings expand and enrich Ashley's more reflective work here to memorable and dramatic effect. The concert also features reconvened line-ups of Ashley's former eponymous band, plus his debut 1960s act, Tinderbox and his '70's band Ragged Robin.

Among many highlights revisited in this special release is a brand new song, 'Ships of Shame' and a distinctive new Kirby setting for Steve's classic orchard song, 'Say Goodbye'.

Fifteen great tracks at mid-price make 'Steve Ashley - Live in Concert' a stocking-filler must this Christmas.  

http://www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/steveashley4.htm (includes links to audio clips)

GRYPHON Raindance (TECD166)

Gryphon was one of the more unusual of the folk-rock groups to come out of England in the 1970s, mostly because they didn't confine their musical genre-melding to folk-rock.

Spawned at the Royal College of Music, they started out making a name for themselves in folk-rock, but their classical training and their approach to composition, recording, and performance soon took them into the much bigger field of progressive rock, and eventually had them playing gigs in front of arena-size audiences.  Raindance was the band’s fourth album and was originally released in 1975 following on from the commercially successful Red Queen to Gryphon Three.

This version has been fully re-mastered. 

Also available: GRYPHON (1st album), MIDNIGHT MUSHRUMPS, RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, TREASON

Catalogue: www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/telephant.htm

More GRYPHON: www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/hux.htm

IQ The Wake 25th Anniversary Edition Release date 30 July 2010 (GEPBOX2)

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of IQ´s classic album 'The Wake', GEP has released an extraordinary 4 disc edition of this recording.

The 4-disc-boxed set includes the remastered version of the album, two additional discs with studio outtakes and demos and a fourth disc containing 47 minutes of ultra-rare live video from 1984 (the oldest existing footage of the band).

Plus lots of memorabilia and interaction!  More information:

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/iq5.htm

ALSO AVAILABLE: IQ, MARTIN ORFORD, STEVE THORNE, JOHN WETTON, THRESHOLD

Catalogue: www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/gep.htm

ROGER CHAPMAN & THE SHORT LIST Live At The Y 2001 (MYSCD203)

CD features the complete show recorded on Friday 21st December plus three bonus tracks from Sat 22nd

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/roger_chapman15.htm

CHAPMAN & WHITNEY First Cut (MYSCD202)

For the first time on CD the recordings that comprised the Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers release.

The new CD is called First Cut and is taken from the original first master tapes. This exciting release has great new artwork, an amended running order in line with Roger and Charlie’s original intentions for the release plus sleeve notes by Pete Feenstra.

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/chapman_whitney1.htm

WISHBONE ASH Argus Through The Looking Glass (MYSCD201)

Martin Turner, original bass player, singer and principal songwriter during the classic Wishbone Ash period returns with a re-recording of the classic 1972 album. There was also an opportunity also to place the tracks in the intended order.

Ray Hatfield (guitars, vocals), Rob Hewins (drums), Danny Willson (guitar/vocals), Keith Buck (guitar, vocals)

With John Wetton and Geoff Downes on backing vocals!

Now sequenced as originally intended, and sounding much better for modern recording techniques, this is an authentic trip down memory lane www.getreadytorock.com

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/martin_turner.htm

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/mystic.htm

Imagine the progressive hard rock stylings of Rush mixed with the sensitivities of modern-day Marillion. You're getting close to 25 Yard Screamer.

The acclaimed CD is now available as a special price download.

SPECIAL: Buy Cassandra and get the Rising Stars CD (see below) for only £1.00!

Guitarist Nick James says that the lead track on the album expands the myth of Cassandra who in Greek mythology was given the gift of prophecy but not of being believed. How could we apply that to the modern world, if at all?

The album can be enjoyed on different levels, but listeners will be drawn to the quality of the musicianship, the stirring choruses, and the fact that the band have fashioned something provocative and different.

Power and passion, Cassandra has it all - some absolutely wonderful playing from the band - Matt Clarke (bass), Nick James (guitar and vocals) and Donal Owen (drums). It's a remarkably confident and mature work, maybe highly Marillion influenced in places, but it's as good as anything the post Fish line up of that band have released. And believe it or not this was recorded and produced at home.

Classic rock of epic proportions. It would be a crying shame if this didn't reach a wider audience. ****½ www.getreadytorock.com

There is plenty of healthy imagination gone into this debut album...the band has no fear of getting in some complex melodies and some heavier ones too among the gentler and emotional moments...a certain one to watch  Classic Rock Society (May/June 2007)

Blacklight, the epic 20-minute opening track, is full of chunky, chiming Alex Lifeson guitar and high-falutin' Neil Peart-style lyrics...Yet it's on the title tune where this Carmarthen combo really show their metal...It's a powerful, complex piece of work that's right up with the best of Brave-era Marillion. 7/10 Geoff Barton, Classic Rock magazine (September 2007)

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/25_yard_screamer.htm
 

In April 2010 BAD COMPANY play a series of dates with the two original members who were also together in legendary rock band FREE: Simon Kirke (drums) and Paul Rodgers (vocals).

Heavy Load - The Story of Free by David Clayton and Todd K.Smith was published in 2001, a truly magnificent book that sets the standard for rock biographies.

This is a painstakingly researched 285-page tome that encapsulates the life and times of one of the most influential of rock bands: Free.

Profusely illustrated with many previously unpublished photographs, the book features recollections by the original members of the band and their contemporaries, a comprehensive gig and recording itinerary and a discography.

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/free_book2.htm
 

Since 2003, the classic rock website www.getreadytorock.com (GRTR!) has been promoting upcoming and unsigned acts as well as the more familiar mainstream artists.

This CD brings together 16 bands under the 'rising stars' banner, and the music styles range from pop rock, through indie, to melodic rock.

SPECIAL OFFER: Only £1.99  Just add to your order before checkout.

SPECIAL: Buy Cassandra (see above) and get the Rising Stars CD for only £1.00!

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/rising_stars.htm
 

For many, 'Moonchild' is the band's magnum opus and they will welcome the new version which has been scrubbed off, resequenced, and with two bonus tracks added. With new artwork, too, this is essentially a fresh-looking and fresh-sounding release. The Celtic infusion lends a timeless quality to the tracks, with the standout title track, 'The Pilgrim', 'We Two Are One' and the superb 'Strange Day In the Country.  www.getreadytorock.com

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/celtus4.htm
 

Groups and Sessions 1962-1978

Definitive career overview of ace session guitarist who has performed with Ian Gillan Band, Spencer Davis Group amongst others.

www.themusicindex.com/commerce/pages/html/rayfenwick.htm

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