It was 18 years since we got some new music from The Rolling Stones – A Bigger Bang (2005). Their new album is only their fifth, sixth if you count the blues covers album Blue & Lonesome (2016), since then and while the Stones almost never releases a weak record – Under Cover (1983) and Dirty Work (1986) are both pretty close to that – the last album that could be considered a classic was 1981’s Tattoo You. As a huge fan of the band for over 40 years, I always look forward to a new release but the circumstances around this release are a bit different. Firstly, one can wonder how much drive and passion for new music a bunch of soon to be 80-year olds can have. Secondly, a most importantly, this is the first album without drummer Charlie Watts who passed away in 2021. Charlie was a huge part of the band’s sound and is to me irreplaceable. The news that he had recorded parts to at least some of the songs felt like at least a small relief. So I wasn’t really sure what to expect of a new Stones release in 2023.
Tag Archives: Classic Rock
Greta Van Fleet – Starcatcher
The first time I heard of Greta Van Fleet was when a friend played me a YouTube clip of four teenagers playing in front of their friends at school in something that looked like a lecture hall or something. GVF was on fire but their friends – who had probably never even heard of Led Zeppelin – looked like they had been taken to another planet or something. I thought they were cool as f**k and I also knew that we were going to get more of these guys in the near future. We did. Two E.P’s in 2017 and a debut album in 2018 and Greta Van Fleet was the talk of the town. Of course, accusations of Led Zeppelin plagiarism occurred and even though that was highly exaggerated there was a resemblance both musically and in singer Joshua Kiszka’s Robert Plant like voice. But GVF was also good at what they did. Damn good even and now after two highly acclaimed records a third is out on the market – with a whole lot of expectations in tow.
CD & Festival reviews 