Reviews roundup – Gary Moore vs Jana Josephina vs Zephyr vs Virgil & The Accelerators
GARY MOORE
Live At Bush Hall 2007
Eagle Rock
The worst concert I ever saw by a major artist was when Mr Moore was promoting his “Scars” project. We parted ways the, never to be reconciled. Not even when he got back with Thin Lizzy man Brian Downey for his “Close As You Get” record.
To promote it, Planet Rock radio ran a competition to won tickets for an intimate show at the London Bush Hall venue, which holds a mere 400, and this is a document of that evening. A lot of the material on offer is from that record, so how you view this will depend on your opinion of that. There are a few dips into his blues albums and one visit to ‘Don’t Believe A Word’.
He was never the best singer around, and by the time he got to 2007, he was basically honking the vocals, but he had lost none of his ability on the guitar. Of the newer material, ‘I Had A Dream’ is the out and out winner, as is his visit to Son House’s ‘Sundown’, which is are acoustic slide treat.
It’s not the best Gary Moore live album, but at least it’s no “Monsters Of Rock”.
JANA JOSEPHINA
Dreamdancer
independent
I rather liked the last tuneage I heard from Fraulein Josephina, reckoning she could have sewn up the Lana Del Rey market with ‘Avalanche’.
Well, she’s back, and this time it’s even better, with a monster hook, and enough pop know how to take over the charts. It really is good, and if you’re tempted to ignore me, because I don’t know my Tinie Stryder from my Tinchy Tempah, then check it out here, and stick a thank you cheque in the post.
BUY AT AMAZON
ZEPHYR
Zephyr
Purple Pyramid
Zephyr, if remembered at all, are best remembered for Tommy Bolin, who played on this debut, before heading off on his short and meteoric journey. You might even know that future Gram Parsons / Firefall guitarist Jock Bartley replaced him. But I doubt you would remember the record.
To be fair, I like it, then I do like some lumpen, proto hard rock, and if you like Vanilla Fudge or the first three Deep Purple albums (me!), then this could be for you. There are keyboard wigouts, guitar jams and some stratospheric vocals from the late Candy Givens.
All of Zephyrs original albums are worth a listen if the above is your thing. This was reissued about six years back, but this time around they try to tempt you with some live jams and out-takes, some of which have nothing to do with this lineup, and most of which I would say have appeared on assorted Tommy Bolin Archive releases over the years.. If you don’t have it though, then it’s worth a punt.
VIRGIL & THE ACCELERATORS
All Night Long
Mystic
Hurrah! A single. I do like singles, but then I am of a certain age, and a working class background. Who had the money for albums? Dinnae be daft. Anyway, to plug the forthcoming “Army Of Three”, Virgil and chums have put out a rather splendid slab of high powered rock.
And it is rock, even if it isn’t a cover of the Rainbow classic. But it has the riff from ‘Over The Top’ by Motorhead and a production from Chris Tsangarides, one of the go to metal dudes from the eighties.
And it rawks like a bastard! Well done, fellas.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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