Review: Ginger Wildheart - Headzapoppin' (2019)

Genre - Hard Rock / Pop

Label - Round Records

Track listing:

01. Meet My Killer

02. Catch That Stranger

03. Saturday Matinee

04. Yorvik (My Hood)

05. Love Is

06. As Theodos Spoke

07. Boxes

08. The Answer Is Yes

09. Poundcoins & Kitchen Roll

10. Zap.

So it was little over a week ago that Ginger Wildheart started teasing the release of a new album, then bang, there it is titled Headzapoppin,  available to pre-order straight away through the Round Records website. The 10 track album will be released later this year, but those buying it now will get an instant digital download. Now that has to be the perfect way to get your Ginger fix on! Well as I have been a huge fan of both Ginger and The Wildhearts since around 1992 and the controversial Mondo Akimbo EP how could I resist? So what's the album all about? Well I will let Ginger explain that himself, 

Ginger says: “Writing music is a form of therapy for me. It keeps my mind occupied and ensures that I live in the moment.

“This album is a collection of songs written while walking my dog Maggie on early mornings with very few people around and tons of ideas not suited to either The Wildhearts or my more rootsy solo albums.

“I figured if this album merely pays for itself, through a modest amount being actually available, then my work was worth it, and I subsequently will try to release one of these mixed packages every year. 

“As of now, before anyone has heard this grab-bag of brain zaps, I have no idea if people are going to love this collection of musical mutts or hate it.

“My work here is done for now. Next stop, your ears. Wish me luck.”

The best way to describe the overall sound of Headzapoppin is that is more akin to Gingers solo out- put prior too his Ghost In The Tanglewood and Pessimists Companion albums. Giving the fans of Gingers work such as Valor, Yoni, Market Harbour, 555%, Albion and GASS a much needed fix, after his recent change in musical direction where he has been following a more rootsy musical path. The album opens with the excellent Meet My Killer. A great riff that drops into some almost ethereal vocal melodies, and a great chorus hook line! A great start to any album! Catch That Stranger follows, opening with a great melodic vocal melody before breaking down into a great guitar driven track that wouldn't have sounded out of place on either the Valor Del Corazon or Yoni albums. The refrain just before the chorus also brings to mind Gingers Mutation project or even the Wildhearts glorious Endless Nameless era for a brief moment, before the melody of the chorus kicks back in. A great song!

Up next we have the simply beautiful and melodic Saturday Matinee. A wonderfully soft track that I could have imagined easily worked into something that would have fitted onto Gingers more rootsy Ghost in the Tanglewood or Pessimists Companion albums. Once again a great song with some great heartfelt and honest lyrics too! Next we have Yorvik (My Hood). The song opens with a great bass line which leads into a little ditty where Ginger regales us with a description of his neighbourhood. Once again a great song that instantly worms its way into your brain. Love Is follows, a great song with a darkish moody feeling, in which Ginger describes his views on love, both the good and not so good points in a way that only Ginger can. A ballad of sorts I guess, a fantastic atmospheric and moody song none the less. As Theodos Spoke is strange little number. Opening with guitar feedback and a stomping bass line before Ginger slightly distorted vocals kick in. The song feels like its constantly building towards the chorus section. The best way that I can describe this track is imagine a cross somewhere between How I Won the Punk Wars from the 555% sessions and Gingers Mutation projects Frankenstein Effect. Boxes is a great little melodic rocker with tons of pop sensibilities thrown in. Next we have The Answer Is Yes, yet another great melodic song that could have been a great Hey Hello track in my opinion. A great singalong chorus and some atmospheric guitar arrangements. Love it. The albums penultimate track, Pound coins and Kitchen Roll has to feature some of the most down to earth introspective and honest lyrics ever written! Once again a lovely simple melodic song that just works so well. The album closes out with Zap. The track opens with a great single guitar riff, with Ginger singing over it, before more guitars kick in and the song explodes into life. Once again the lyrics are brilliantly honest and down to earth!.

A great way to close out any album.

As previously stated Headzapoppin provides a much needed fix, after his recent change in musical direction where he has been following a more rootsy musical path.

Rating: 10/10.

Pre-order this great album here!

Chris Catalyst -Life Is Often Brilliant (2017)

Genre - Rock / Pop / Alternative

Label - Pledge Music

Track listing:

01 - No regrets

02 -Same Old Sun

03 - Cracking Up

04 - Yeah - Oh No

05 - Wake Me Up On Monday

06 - How Do You Sleep

07 - Distance Over Time

08 - I Hope We Always Stay The Same

09 - Sticks and Stones

10 - Far

11 - You Die At The End

12 - Able Seamen

13 - When We Fall Apart (Bonus Track)

2016 proved to be a busy year for Eureka Machines main man, Chris Catalyst. Although his main band had decided to take some time out, he performed a few solo shows, a couple of shows with Ginger Wildheart,  played guitar for US rockers Ugly Kid Joe on their tour and toured with UK veteran rockers Terrorvision too. He also managed to find the time to record his rather excellent debut solo album too, and here it is in the form of Life Is Often Brilliant!
The album opens with the excellent 'No Regrets'. A great song with a stop start type of riff intro and a hugely melodic chorus section. Brilliant start to Life Is Often Brilliant!
'Same Old Sun' is up next, its intro changing the feel completely before the song kicks in. Once again the song has a huge chorus section. Next we have 'Cracking Up' which has a great opening riff. he rest of the song is pretty awesome too! Tons of tempo changes and vocal harmonies. 'Yeah - Oh No' follows, which has a rather Eureka Machines feel to it, only not as heavy. 'Wake Me Up On Monday' is just a great melodic track that would have fit perfectly on to any of the Eureka Machines albums. Great choice for a single! Another of the albums many highlights follows in the form of the awesome 'How Do You Sleep At Night'. This song is quickly becoming one of my favourite songs of all time! 'Distance Over Time' is up next. A beautiful atmospheric intro that just builds into an absolute monster of a song! Yet another highlight! Next up is 'I Hope We Always Stay The Same' which builds in a similar way to its predecessor, and proves to be every bit as much a great track!
'Sticks and Stones' follows, now I didn't really like this song when I first heard it, but it is a real grower, and sounds so much better within the context of this album! 'Far' follows, with its slick bridges and awesome harmonies. Yet another brilliant song. 'You Die At The End' is the albums penultimate song and an absolute classic ta boot! The album closes out with the subtle 'Able Seamen' but I've included the last track, 'When We Fall Apart' as a bonus track for a couple of reasons. Firstly its an absolutely excellent song that deserves to be on the album, and secondly, it was a given away as a bonus track at the very beginning of the pledge campaign, and is thus still available to anyone that pledges for the album!
Once again with Life Is Often Brilliant Chris Catalyst proves what a great song writer and musician he really is!

Life Is Often Brilliant is a blinding debut solo album from one the hardest working and most talented Uk musicians out there. Do yourselves a bloody huge favour and grab yourself a copy!

Rating: 10/10

Ginger Wildheart - Songs & Words (The Book) (2016)

Published - Round Records / Pledge Music

So what after seem like an eternal wait Ginger Wildhearts Songs & Words book has finally arrived. Now first lets just clear something up, the above statement is in no way meant to sound derogatory to anyone involved in this mammoth task, in fact Ginger has himself stated that when he began this project that he had absolutely no idea as to the timescale involved in both writing, editing, re-editing and then getting a book of the scale published, but by god it was worth it!

This book is first and foremost a beautiful sight to behold, jam packed with wonderful phots etc and informative stories.

Like the DVD of the same name, Ginger here tells the story of his career, only instead of making it a typical biography, he chooses to tell his story through his songs, giving us the stories behind them and what was going on in his world at the time that they were being written and recorded.

  

The book is as huge as the project to create it was, and well worth IT

I cant really say too much about this book without giving away spoilers, but it really is worth checking out!

Rating - 11/10

Ginger Wildheart - Songs & Words Dvd (2016)

Genre - Live Concert / Acoustic / Spoken Word

Label - Pledge Music / Round Records

Track listing:

01 - Main feature (The Concert In Full)

02 - Extras - Short Documentary

Last Year, 2015, Ginger Wildheart embarked upon a UK Songs & Words (spoken word / acoustic) tour, playing old theatres and other obscure venues across the UK. The shows averaged on a three hour long performance with medley performances’ from every release that he has been involved in since he formed The Wildhearts back in the early 1990's, within which Ginger regaled the audience  anecdotes and stories from the various time periods in question.

This DVD captures the entire show from London's Leicester Square Theatre from April 26th 2015, in all of its glory, and what a show it is, intimate in nature and extremely candid and revealing. All professionally filmed, complete with added extras including interviews, behind the scenes footage and bonus material from Hallowe’en and Birthday shows!

This DVD is a great record of a tour that may never be repeated again and is an essential addition to the collection of any Wildhearts or Ginger Wildheart fan, as well as being well worth checking out for any fan of the 90's era rock British music scene

Very, Very Highly Recommended

Rating 10/10

Techinical Information:

Video
Codec: MPEG-2
Encoding format: 16:9
Resolution: 576i (PAL)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Audio

English: Dolby Digital 2.0

English: Dolby Digital 2.0
(less)

Subtitles

None

None (less)

Discs
DVD
Single disc (1 DVD)

Packaging
DigiPack

Eureka Machines - Brain Waves (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock / Pop / Punk / Power-pop

Label - Pledge Music

 

Track listing:

01 - Paranoia

02 - Television

03 - Sleep Deprivation

04 - Brainwaves

05 - Human

06 - Every Day I Thank The World I Cut You Off

07 - Welcome To My Shangri-La

08 - The Golden Lonely

09 - Vulture Of The Culture

10 - Neuro Bolero

11 - I Miss You

12 - We're Going To The Future

Ladies and Gentlemen, the mighty Eureka Machines are back with a brand spanking new album, and what an album it is too! Brain Waves, the bands forth long player to date is quite possibly their strongest and most rounded album so far! its not to late for you to become a part of it by pledging before its full release date!
The album opens with a real powerhouse in the form of Paranoia, with its blisteringly quick punk-ish riffs and pretty self explanatory subject matter. Pretty much a straight ahead rock that is guaranteed to go down well live! Next up we have Television, a great song that I see being a (hit) single at some point, it has a few great tempo changes, plenty of great harmonies and a subject matter that we can all relate to at times, that of escaping into a fantasy world of Tv, even though most of it is a load of bollocks (TV that is!), only this time Chris has created a kind of TV spirit guide. A Truly great song!
Sleep Deprivation follows, and this is quite possibly the best song that the guys have produced so far across their four album career. I absolutely love everything about this album, from the subject matter of the lyrics, which is something that I can really personally relate too, to its quirkiness, its awesome harmonies, too well you get the picture right?
Next up we have the albums title track, Brainwaves, another song where lyrically Chris explores that "seesaw between normality - whatever the fuck that is - and weird". Quite possibly the most straight up classic rock track that the band have recorded so far, a great song that kind of stabilises the albums tempo, and gives the listener the chance to take a breather so to speak. This track has some great soloing and gentle tempo changes too!
Human come up next, battering its way into the listeners brain. I great and as Chris puts it, silly song, pretty much about the human condition. Constant subtle tempo changes in a song that has a real punk feel to it, again with some great harmonies.
Every Day I Thank The World I Cut You Off slows the tempo right down to a crawl, with its gentle but moody intro before exploding into a great chorus and settling into a great plodding verse. A song about depression and quite possibly several people. Another great song with Chris' great take on the classic pop art line, its better to burn out than fade away, Chris's version being, its best to fuck off than fade away, classic.
Next we have Welcome To  My Shangri-La, the albums lead single, has already become a Eureka Machines classic. A really great song that you SHOULD HAVE fallen in love with by now!
The Golden Lonely is a great melodic rocker that deals with the worlds obsession with money and the consequences that such an obsession brings!
Vulture Of The Culture deals with the world of record companies and the irony of failed musicians telling a successful one what they should be doing. Another great melodic work out, with plenty vocal harmonies throughout. A truly awesome song.
Neuro Bolero starts with some great drums and guitar intro before dropping off into what is almost a ska beat / rhythm.  As a song this one deals with "the realisation that the outdated concept of the rock n roll dream is now a myth, and in fact its demise is no bad thing whatsoever as it removes the corporate ties from the art and frees it up to be as it was intended to be". Another really great song.
Penultimate track I Miss You, is a slower song altogether, almost a ballad, but not a ballad, dealing with darker emotions and the black dog again. Once again this song weaves itself through some great musical twists and turns and constantly builds into something truly magnificent. Another personal favourite for me, as is pretty much most of this album!
The album closes with We're Going To The Future, a track that starts out nice and slow like and gently builds into a melodic masterpiece! A song that pretty much says everything will be ok, the longest track on the album and well, just bloody brilliant.

So there we have it, Brain Waves, twelve brilliant songs from a band that really are at the very top of their game.
Great cover art work courtesy of Rich Jones and a production job that places this album up there along side anything that will be released by absolutely anybody this year. 2015  has already delivered some great albums, but ladies and gentlemen I honestly believe that Brain Waves is going to  be my top album of the year!

Very Very Highly Recommended!!

Rating  - 10/10 (I would give it 20 if I could!)

Eureka Machines - Remain In Eighties (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Pop / Punk / Power Pop

Label - Pledge Music

 

Track listing:

01 - Walk Like An Egyptian (Bangles Cover)

02 - Kids In America (Kim Wilde Cover)

03 - Goody Two Shoes (Adam Ant Cover)

04 - We Didn't Start The Fire (Billy Joel Cover)

So the mighty Eureka Machines kick off their pledge campaign for album number four, tentatively titled Brain Waves, with a free Ep for pledger's, Remain In Eighties. The Ep contains four covers, all of classic pop songs from the 1980's (yes I was there, just about).  The Ep see's Chris Catalyst and the guys run through classic like Walk Like An Egyptian (The Bangles), Kids In America, (Kim Wilde), Goody Two Shoes, (Adam Ant) and We Didn't Start The Fire (Billy Joel), and you wanna know something, they are simply awesome! The band are tight, and whist remaining faithful to the originals they manage to make the songs their own, this is never more apparent than on Walk Like An Egyptian and Goody Two Shoes.
This is just a thank you Ep to those who pledge towards the new album, which if this and the previous three albums are anything to go by is likely to be a stonker!

Come on guys get pledging, support one of the best British bands out there on the scene!

Rating -10/10

Pledge link - Here

Hung Like Jack - White Powder (7 Track Album) (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Alternative / Punk

Label - Self Released

 

Track listing:

01 - White Powder

02 - Kickout

03 - Four Walls

04 - Colder

05 - Short Arms Deep Pockets

06 - Flystrike

07 - Ripe For Grieving

 

A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of being asked to review a three track (White Powder) Ep released by Hung Like Jack which blew me away with the bands energy. Now we have a seven track album / EP which features that EP pls four more tracks, so here goes!

Hung like jack were formed back in 2007 in Darlington (UK), when Tim Smith (Guitars) met up with J Tutin (Vocals) and Hakim (Bass). The band advertised for a drummer and up steps Denz, hitting the sweet spot with his hard hitting beats and versatility.

Again title White Powder starts things off in a high octane punk / alternative rock fused fashion. You can definitely hear the punk influences, and at a little under two minutes in length the song really does fly by, but the production is quite polished and really brings out the quality of both the performance and songwriting. A great start.

Next up is Kickout, this song mixes the tempo up a little with some great drum and guitar work from Denz and Tim.

Four Walls follows, again another great song, with a real modern rock feel to it.

Colder slows things down a little, and showcases another side to the bands songwriting, and features some great bass work from Hakim.

Next we have Short Arms Deep Pockets (hey don't we all have a friend like that!) which picks the tempo up a little and proves to be a great little melodic rocker!

Flystrike slows things down a little once again, with its rather epic feel.

Closing out the album / Ep we have Ripe For Grieving, the second longest of the on offer here (the longest being Colder) , again with a slightly slower tempo and some great atmospheric guitar work. Another great song that at times brings Nick Parsons Supercharger (UK) and Whatever to mind. Again a really great song.

 

This really is a solid EP / Album and well worth checking out!

Hung Like Jack are proof the Gene Simmons is talking out of his rear end when he claims Rock is dead, its alive and well, kicking and screaming in the hearts of bands like Hung Like Jack!

Get out there and show them your support!

 

Rating 10/10

 

Hung Like Jack - White Powder EP (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Alternative / Punk

Label - Self Released

Track listing:

01 - White Powder

02 - Ripe For Grieving

03 - Four Walls

Hung like jack were formed back in 2007.in Darlington.(UK), when Tim Smith (Guitars) met up with J Tutin (Vocals) and Hakim (Bass)..The band advertised for a drummer and up steps Denz, hitting the sweet spot with his hard hitting beats and versatility. Four e.p's and a live disc."Arrested By Midnight" later the band split for a short period whilst the band members went their separate ways, that was up until around six months ago when they re-formed and recorded this their latest e.p. titled "White Powder".
Considering that Denz recently claimed that this e.p. was recorded very quickly and on a very limited budget its out standing. Title track white Powder starts things off in a high octane punk / alternative rock fused fashion. You can definitely hear the punk influences, and at a little under two minutes in length the song really does fly by, but the production is quite polished and really brings out the quality of both the performance and songwriting. A great start.
Next up is Ripe For Grieving, the longest of the three tracks on offer here, with a slightly slower tempo and some great atmospheric guitar work. Another great song that at times brings Nick Parsons Supercharger (UK) and Whatever to mind. Again a really great song.
Four Walls closes things out and its another really solid song.
In short the band sound really tight all over this Ep, yet fluid and relaxed enough to really capture that live feeling. All three songs are really solid, and if their strength and quality are anything to go by then I really cant wait for the album!
Personally I'm really glad these guys chose to reform, otherwise I would have sadly missed them, now to track down their back catalogue!

Highly Recommended

Rating - 10/10

The Dowling Poole - Bleak Strategies 2014

Genre - Psychedelic Pop / Psychedelic Rock / Power Pop

Label - Pledgemusic

Track listing:

01 - The Sun Is Mine

02 - A Kiss On The Ocean

03 - Hey Stranger

04 - Saving It All For A Saturday

05 - Paper, Scissors, Stone

06 - Empires, Buildings and Acquisitions

07 - Where The Memories Fester

08 - Twilight Subplot

09 - Getting A Licence

10 - Clean

11 - The Straw Man (track exclusive to pledge music pledgers)

"The Dowling Poole is a new band formed by singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Willie Dowling (ex Honeycrack/Jackdaw4) and Jon Poole (ex Cardiacs/The Goddamn Whores/The Wildhearts/Ginger Wildheart Band).
Dowling and Poole first met in 2011 when recording and producing Ginger Wildheart’s award winning, top-ten "555%" album, and it was mutual admiration at first sight.
"I was immediately taken by Jon's remarkable and diverse musical talent", says Dowling, "but it took me an age to pluck up the courage to phone him and ask whether he'd like to do something together."
Fortunately, Poole had been thinking along the same lines and was equally thrilled at the prospect of working with Dowling. They started writing songs and locked themselves away in Dowling's recording studio in France for a few months, writing and recording an album they have titled "Bleak Strategies".
Influenced by pop masters such as XTC, Blur, 10CC, The Kinks, The Beatles and more, The Dowling Poole debut album "Bleak Strategies" is an eclectic and contemporary sounding mix of semi-psychedelic pop, somehow quintessentially British-sounding, laced with harmonies and a multitude of influences from the best of 50 years of rock and popular music.
"It was a very collaborative process", says Poole, "We both brought songs to the table and we performed, sang and produced them together. You'd be hard pressed to guess who wrote what since we both were adding ideas left right and centre to each others work".
"Bleak Strategies" will be out in the summer along with the single "The Sun Is Mine", (the perfect radio song for summer), but it's available to pre-order now from PledgeMusic. You can see videos on the origins of the band, and download a free track - "The Straw Man" - and there are other tracks to listen to in a 'try before you buy' fashion, as well as regular video updates from the PledgeMusic website: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thedowlingpoole"

Okay so that's the background sorted, now what about the album? Well to be honest its exactly what I think that you would expect from a collaboration between two of the wackiest songwriters in music today!
Imagine Jackdaw4's quirkier tracks such as Jesus Wants My Soul Back, and the poppier Goddamn Whores tracks crossed with a healthy dose of the Beatles at their most eccentric and I would say that you are pretty damn close.
From The mellow laid back opener The Sun Is Mine, to the catchy Hey Stranger, the eighties influenced A Kiss On The Ocean, the bouncy pop of Saving It All For A Saturday, the stomping Getting A Licence,to the laid back Paper Scissors Stone, to the ambient Twilight Subplot and clean,this album really does have it all.
Empires, Buildings and Acquisitions is just as quirky as it gets, pure brilliance. There simply is not a bad track on this album, although for many it is surely going to be an acquired taste!

One song that really does deserve a little more explanation here is The Straw Man, with its controversial subject matter, that being about the entire Jimmy Saville saga. A great song that has been issues as Pledge exclusive, (not on the album) as they believed it didn't fit, its the rockiest of all the songs on offer with probably the fastest tempo too. A great song and worth pledging for alone!

This album is just fantastic, much in the same way as A Night At The Opera and Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club are. Genius really does border on madness!

Rating - 10/10

Ginger Wildheart (Band) - Albion (Pledge Edition) 2014

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock / Pop / Punk / Metal
Label - Pledge Music

Track listing:

01 - Drive
02 - Cambria
03 - The Road To Apple Cross
04 - The Order Of The Dog
05 - Chill, Motherfucker, Chill
06 - Burn This Town Down
07 - Body Parts
08 - The Beat Goes On
09 - After All You Said About Cowboy's
10 - Grow A Pair
11 - I Need You
12 - Capital Anxiety
13 - Into This
14 - Creepers
15 - Albion

Albion is Ginger Wildhearts latest venture with the fan funded Pledge Music system, building upon the huge success of the 555%, Mutation and Hey! Hello! projects, and what a monster of an album it is. Albion has been recorded primarily by the lineup that Ginger put together for the live shows to support the 555% albums, hence the Ginger Wildheart Band monica and what a line up it is featuring the talents of Ginger Wildheart (The Wildhearts / Mutation / Solo / Hey! Hello! / Michael Monroe Band / Courtney Love Band / SilverGinger5 / Clam Abuse / Supershit666 and more), Chris Catalyst (Eureka Machines / Sisters Of Mercy), Denzel (Ginger Wildheart Band / Barbarossa / Young Legionnaire / Horsefight) , Rich Jones (Ginger Wildheart Band / The Loyalties / Bassknives / Michael Monroe Band), Victoria Liedtke (Ginger Wildheart Band / Hey! Hello!), Random Jon Poole (The Wildhearts / Goddamn Whores / Cardiacs), and Bryan Scary (Evil Arrows) with Kevin Vanbergen handling production duties.
Firstly I have to say that despite its familiarity (hey this is the sixth albums worth of material Ginger has released in less than two years!) Albion is not an instant album, its very much a grower, giving up more and more layers with each listen, and having lived with it since just prior to Christmas here goes for a track by track review.

Drive -  a typically schizophrenic power-pop/rock song, that although a great song, takes a spin or two before it really grabs you, but boy when it does its a blinder!

Cambria - a song that comes across as a cross between a Mutation track (it would have fitted easily onto The Frankenstein Effect) and one of The Wildhearts more edgy tracks, say Chutzpah! or an Endless Nameless track with its blast beats and in your face lead vocal, (which are offset at times by Victoria's vocals to amazing effect

The Road To Apple Cross - A belter of a track that seems to blend all of Ginger previously released styles into one song) and could have easily have made it on the Chutzpah! album by The Wildhearts, with Gingers alternating vocal styles and its monster riffs. Truly a great song and one of the albums many highlights.

The Order Of The Dog - begins with a lovely mellow introduction almost fooling you into thinking that this is going to be an instrumental track. Again the song has many twists and turns and takes us, the listener on a great journey. Would have easily fitted onto 555%. A great song and another album highlight.

Chill Motherfucker, Chill - A light and relatively mellow rocker that would not have been out of place on 555%. One of my favourite songs on offer with the great lyric, "Sometimes you are the shit, sometimes you are the pan, this you must understand". Just simply awesome!

Burn This City Down - Co-written with Chris Catalyst, (something that is evident throughout this album is that although its clearly gingers baby, the other band members have been heavily involved at all stages), a great song with a real energetic feel to it.  This song really does bode well for any future Ginger / Catalyst collaborations. Definitely an album highlight!

Body Parts - A real up beat pop rocker, and obvious choice for a lead single / promotional track. 

The Beat Goes On - A real gem of a track, with a more upbeat version of the feel found on some of Ginger's earlier solo work, say on Valor.... A real good song with a nice commercial feel to it.

After All You Said About Cowboy's - This song was originally recorded as part of the 555% sessions but Ginger wasn't happy with the way it turned out, too far removed from the feel vision of the original demo, so he decided top shelve the song in order to re-record it at a latter date. Nows that date, and the song is beautiful. It really does have a Market Harbour era kind of feel to it, a really great song with some great pop elements. Another album highlight.

Grow A Pair - A fairly uptempo pop / rock n roll track similar in feel to Begin From Within with some great vocal exchanges between Ginger and Victoria. this song could have made a great Hey! Hello! or even Silverginger5 track. Love it!

I Need You - Gingers ode to the fans (I think lol). An uptempo pop / rock track with a great sing along chorus, going to be amazing in a live setting!

Capital Anxiety - Fast aggressive punky track. Could be fun live but feels a little out of place here, and one of the tracks that I imagine will be dropped from the eventual ten track commercial release of the album. (I'll come to that later!)

Into This - A mellow laid back poppy rocker. Another song that wouldn't have been out of place on the 555% triple album, but also one of the weakest tracks on offer here and one I'll probably be skipping a lot in future, that despite having some great lyrics, yet a weak chorus by Gingers standards.

Creepers - An uptempo melodic rocker that goes through many twists and turn (and tempo changes), a fun song. Victoria probably provides her longest lead vocal here, not the albums strongest track, and a little prog rock in places but still a bloody strong song that inbeds itself further into your brain with each and every listen.

Albion - The albums epic title track, what can I say. Ten and half minutes long, with so many twists and turns that it could give the mighty Sky Babies a run for its money. A really nice touch having the Drive riff re-enter things hear during the song as it gives a sense of the album coming full circle. Awesome, simply awesome.


So what can I say? Well Albion is very much a companion album to the 555% triple album set, and I say companion and not successor as the two releases sit so comfortably side by side. This Pledge Edition of the album also contains fifteen songs, something that will change for the commercial release which will only be featuring ten of the fifteen, (and I would hate to be the person charged with choosing which five tracks have to be cut!) Therefore if you want to get a hold of all of the songs here you will need to pledge quickly (the entire album is available for immediate download for just £8).

This album (as with the bulk of Gingers back catalogue) is very, very highly recommended!

Rating - 10/10

Eureka Machines Announce Uk Tour