Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes  |  Jan 14, 2022  |  0 comments
In 1986, the singer-songwriter bowed out of pop duo Wham! with a sell-out farewell concert at Wembley Stadium. A year later he was back with his first solo album, having swapped the flash suits and swimming trunks for stubble, leather and shades...

In Spring 1986, Wham! announced they were splitting, with a farewell album and single, and a final concert at Wembley Stadium in June. In doing so they pulled the plug on a group that had enjoyed a string of international hit singles and albums over the previous four years, and who had become one of the biggest pop outfits in the world.

Mike Barnes  |  Dec 30, 2021  |  0 comments
This month we review: Billy Bragg, Efterklang, Howlin Rain and Vanishing Twin.
Mike Barnes  |  Nov 30, 2021  |  0 comments
This month we review: Public Service Broadcasting, Immersion, Manic Street Preachers and Martina Topley-Bird.
Mike Barnes  |  Nov 19, 2021  |  0 comments
Produced by Rick Rubin, this fifth studio album for Warner Bros marked a change of style for the American group, with less heavy metal and a more melodic bias. And it propelled the Peppers to superstardom, with over 90,000 copies sold in the UK alone

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were formed by a quartet of friends in 1983 at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles: singer Anthony Kiedis, bass player Flea (aka Michael Balzary), drummer Jack Irons and guitarist Hillel Slovak. However, Irons and Slovak were also in a band called What Is This? and when they got a deal the pair quit.

Mike Barnes  |  Oct 29, 2021  |  0 comments
This month we review: Big Big Train, Raven Bush, Villagers and Susanna & David Wallumrød.
Mike Barnes  |  Oct 19, 2021  |  0 comments
It was a debut LP with a difference as three seasoned musicians set about serving up an edgy yet smooth blend of melodic pop and soft reggae to an audience still hungry for the energy of punk. Would the fans of the emerging new-wave of bands bite?

In the UK in the late '70s, the convulsion that was punk may have been short-lived but the ripples it sent out were far reaching. According to The Jam, this was now The Modern World, so if you considered yourself a new-wave band, or were venturing into the pop field and didn't want to look like some kind of throwback, you needed to look sharp or look 'street'. And it helped if you had a snappy name that included a definitive article. Hence monikers like The Motors, The Yachts, The Rich Kids, and The Police.

Mike Barnes  |  Sep 28, 2021  |  0 comments
This month we review: The Go! Team, Stephen Fretwell, Gary Kemp and Snapped Ankles.
Mike Barnes  |  Sep 10, 2021  |  0 comments
After recruiting vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover, the second lineup of this one-time pyschedelic band would produce one of the most pivotal albums in the history of hard rock, enabling them finally to break through in Europe after prior US success

Initially named Roundabout, Deep Purple formed in 1968. Jon Lord had played keyboards in The Artwoods, who were an R&B group in the mould of The Animals, while guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had made his name as a hotshot session player with producer Joe Meek [HFN Aug '16], and thus had recorded and played live with 'Screaming' Lord Sutch.

Mike Barnes  |  Aug 31, 2021  |  0 comments
This month we review: Lord Huron, Garbage, John Grant and Monster Magnet.
Mike Barnes  |  Aug 17, 2021  |  0 comments
It took over a year to create and when 'The Boss' first heard it, he threw the reference disc into a hotel pool. But the album went on to sell six million copies in the US and reach No 3 in the Billboard 200 chart, catapulting the singer from cult act to global star

In May 1974 rock critic Jon Landau's review of a Bruce Springsteen concert was published in Boston's The Real Paper. It included what became one of the most famous lines by a journalist in rock music history, 'I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen'.

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