Barclay James Harvest was, for many years, one of the most hard luck outfits in progressive rock. A quartet of solid rock musicians John Lees, guitar, vocals; Les Holroyd, bass, vocals; Stuart "Wooly" Wolstenholme, keyboards, vocals; and Mel Pritchard, drums with a knack for writing hook-laden songs built on pretty melodies, they harmonized like the Beatles and wrote extended songs with more of a beat than the Moody Blues.
Rick Wakeman spent much of the '80s and '90s recording instrumental albums that veered toward either classical or ambient, so 2003's Out There comes as a bit of a shock: it's an honest to goodness revival of the full-throttle prog rock Wakeman pursued on his solo albums in the '70s. A large part of this is due to his decision to form a full-fledged supporting rock band. Called the New English Rock Ensemble, they're a quintet led by Wakeman and featuring Damian Wilson on vocals, Ant Glynne on guitar, Lee Pomeroy on bass, and Tony Fernandez on drums and percussion. They're a powerful and skilled outfit, able to follow Wakeman's shifting tempos and moods with dexterity without ever losing sight of their forceful rhythmic core, which keeps this rock, not new age.
Power guitarist Gary Moore's Live at Monsters of Rock is a dream come true for every guitar freak out there. Teamed with his trio of Cass Lewis and Darrin Mooney, Moore turns it up to 14 and powers his way through razored, crunching covers of the Yardbirds' "Shapes of Things" and Free's "Wishing Well" before delving into his own rather voluminous catalog. Performances of the riff-laden "Rectify," the bluesed-out "Stand Up," and the completely adrenaline-fueled metal of "Out in the Fields" take this over the top. But the final track, a deeply moving version of "Pariesienne Walkways," is a fitting tribute to the tune's original vocalist and former Thin Lizzy bandmate Phil Lynott. There is nothing but pure power here – no restraint, no mixing, no overdubs, nothing but pure Monsters of Rock power. This is the guitar record Moore had been promising his entire career.
This 30-track collection charts the life of the genre. Here you will find Sweet, T Rex, David Bowie, Suzi Quatro, Mud, Alice Cooper …