Rockers Unit

The Mascots had a reputation for doing some of the best faux British beat-style music to come out of Europe during the 1960s, but one can't fully appreciate how good they were at it until one hears this album. Issued in 1966 and intended to appeal to the English-speaking market, it includes a few single sides intermixed with tracks done especially for 12" release, and the results are kind of eerie, mostly because they are done so well in a British beat mode by musicians who are obviously coming to the music from the outside. The fuzz-laden rockers such as "I Close Your Eyes" could have passed muster as proper British freakbeat circa 1965-1966, like a more commercial version of the Creation's sound, while folkie-based pieces such as "The Proud Crowd" come off as a variant of the folk-rock sound embraced by John Lennon on "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," except the inspiration is less Bob Dylan than, maybe…

A cosmopolitan hard rock unit built around a shared love for classic rock and blues, Inglorious was founded in 2014 by English vocalist Nathan James (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Uli John Roth), rhythm guitarist Wil Taylor, Swedish lead guitarist Andreas Eriksson, bassist Colin Parkinson, and drummer Phil Beaver. Inspired by bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Whitesnake, Bad Company, Aerosmith, and the Rolling Stones, the newly minted quintet wasted little time getting down to business, releasing a well-received YouTube video of their cover of "Burn" by Deep Purple. In 2015, the band inked a deal with Frontiers and headed to a studio in Buckinghamshire to track their eponymous debut LP, which arrived in early 2016.

Silverhead's second record, 16 and Savaged, finds the unit much tighter, yet like any great rock & roll band, they maintained that all-important swagger. The addition of guitarist Robbie Blunt gives the group an added punch, and he and Rod Davies proved to be one of glam's best twin-guitar attacks. Vocalist Michael Des Barres steps up as well, and his Steve Marriott-bumping-into-Rod Stewart rasp never sounded better, before or since. The boys come out blazing on the groovy opener, "Hello New York," nailing the Bolan strut and swiping the "Get It On" licks, while the gleefully sleazy "More Than Your Mouth Can Hold" has a definite Faces vibe, an intro borrowed from "Street Fighting Man," and all the subtlety of a Gene Simmons lyric.

While Willy DeVille was trying to perfect his blend of roots rock, fiery punk energy, and the heart-rending ballad style that established vocalists such as Ben E. King and Clyde McPhatter, he went through a few changes. Mink DeVille's previous recording, Le Chat Bleu, had opened the door to DeVille being as fine a ballad singer as any…

The only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews, there are few other rock records as controversial as Let It Be. First off, several facts need to be explained: although released in May 1970, this was not their final album, but largely recorded in early 1969, way before Abbey Road…

Ozric Tentacles are simply put, legends of the UK underground. Inspired by a myriad of musical genres and musicians from Kraut-rockers Kraan to guitar maestro Steve VAI, from ethnic Arabic to electronic techno, from Hendrix to Hillage. Ozric Tentacles' music is a fusion of sounds, styles and genres that cannot be categorized nor plagiarized, such is its complexity. The essence of the Ozric Tentacles remains essentially a free-willed musical unit oblivious to fashion trends and intent on exploring instrumental experimental music with an obsessive zeal. Formed in the early eighties, the Ozrics began life as a free-form psychedelic vehicle for jamming, attracting a dedicated fan-base at grassroots level by playing at all the free festivals to fans of space-rock, dub, psychedelia, and later on when the festivals had developed into raves, to fans of house and techno…