Music of 2021 - Part 1

As another year comes to a close, it is once again time to reflect on the past 12 months. Looking back at my equivalent post from last year, I was very pessimistic for 2021 - particularly from a live music perspective. Yet another COVID-19-related lockdown was looming, and it really felt like not much was going to change - with the general view from the government being one of extreme negativity. Thankfully, however, things did start to change. After a couple of months, it became clear that the UK's COVID-19 vaccine roll-out was going to be a success. What was also apparent was that the vaccines themselves were effective, so much so that it was not long before a roadmap back to normal life was published by the government. There were some bumps and delays along the way, but life in the UK was essentially back to normal by the end of July. There are relatively few countries, particularly in Europe, that can say that - and the UK was able to enjoy much of the summer summer, the autumn, and the winter with live music. Considering that I only attended six concerts in 2020, the fact that I managed to attend 25 this year really felt like life returning to normal. 25 is still low compared to most years, but in 2021 it was certainly a success. Touring is still being disrupted, especially those tours which rely on a large number of shows in mainland Europe, but I am happy that I still managed to get to as many gigs as I did - many of which were from UK-based bands.

It is unclear yet what 2022 will look like from a gigging perspective, however. With the Omicron variant of COVID-19 taking hold in the UK, the threat of the re-introduction of restrictions is ever-present. So far, however, at least in England, the government has held fast - instead choosing to focus on expanding their booster vaccine campaign rather than re-impose a form of lockdown. Much of Europe, and even other parts of the UK, has re-entered some form of lockdown, however, so it may only be a matter of time before England follows suit. I hope not, however, as it would certainly feel like a failure after the relative success of the past few months. There would be no 'carrot' (which the vaccines provided previously) this time either, and I think that the UK government know this - which is why they have resisted so far. I fully expect there to be more disruption to gigs throughout 2022 however - particularly to those tours which rely on European shows and lots of international travel. I am hoping that 2022 will continue to be a success for UK-based bands playing in the UK, however, and I will certainly make the effort to get to as many gigs as I can. In the meantime, however, it is time to turn my attention back to 2021's new music. I review a lot of new albums throughout every year on this blog, and I always like to cover a handful of others that I did not manage to get to for whatever reason before the year's end. I have picked five albums/EPs that I would like to talk about, and each one is reviewed in précis form below. As always, too, I have also discussed my favourite live release of the year - a format which I do not routinely cover here.

The first album that I would like to talk about is the twenty-first studio album from Alice Cooper: Detroit Stories. The PR for this album confused me, as I thought for quite a long time that Detroit Stories was a covers album. Covers albums do not really interest me, so I did not pick it up when it was released back in February. A couple of months later, however, I found out that, while the album does have a handful of covers on it, it is largely made up of original material. I rectified my original mistake and bought a copy, and found the album to be very solid indeed. I enjoyed 2017's Paranormal (which I reviewed here) quite a bit back when it was released, and Detroit Stories very much feels like its natural successor. Cooper's modern sound actually harks back to his classic 1970s output quite a lot, and the raw, garage rock sound of Detroit Stories brings the best out of his scratchy voice - as well as the large amount of talent that joins him throughout. As with Paranormal, there are appearances from members of Cooper's original band from the 1970s - as well as lots of others who have worked with him throughout the years. The handful of covers here, from Detroit bands such as MC5 and The Velvet Underground, are integrated well within the album; and many of Cooper's new originals here are catchy and full of his usual punky attitude. Cooper fans will find a lot to like throughout the album, and at 73 he seems to be showing no signs of slowing down.

Up next is Holy Ground, the fifth album from The Dead Daisies. It is hard not to be cynical about The Dead Daisies, considering that the band is essentially just multi-millionaire guitarist David Lowy's vanity project - but Holy Ground is easily the best thing that the band (if The Dead Daisies can really be called a band in the traditional sense) have put out. The band has always consisted of a revolving door of well-known, but B-List, musicians, but with Glenn Hughes now fronting The Dead Daisies Lowy has snagged his first genuine A-Lister. Hughes does not seem to stick with any project for a significant amount of time these days, so I do not know how long he will stay in The Dead Daisies, but Holy Ground is as good as it is thanks to his talents. Former Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich pulls his weight too, and it is clear that him and Hughes have already struck up a strong songwriting partnership. Holy Ground is 1970s-style hard rock done right, and it helps that someone who was a big part of that era wrote most of it. The Dead Daisies' previous albums have often felt like pretty soulless pastiches of that era, and I often felt that the band survived on the revolving door of 'names' that passed through its ranks, but Holy Ground feels like a proper, well-written album that ticks all the right boxes. It helps, too, that Hughes is still a force of nature vocally. He sounds as good now as he did in the 1970s, and his performance throughout Holy Ground showcases his evergreen talents perfectly.

Followers of this blog should know by now that I am a big fan of power metal, but one band that I have never really given a lot of love to is Germany's Orden Ogan. I have been a casual fan of the band for a while, and I own a few of their albums, but this year I really wanted to cover them here as I loved the two singles that preceded their seventh album Final Days. Amazon clearly had other ideas, however, as my copy of the album finally arrived about two months after it was released - despite pre-ordering it well in advance. In fairness, I think that there was a problem with AFM Records at the time, as an U.D.O. live album that came out around the same time was also delayed, but by the time Final Days arrived it was too late to review it - the world had moved on! It is an album that I have listened to quite a lot this year, however, and it might well be my favourite Orden Ogan album yet. It is certainly the album of theirs that I have listened to the most, and the sci-fi themes that run through it are perfectly suited to the band's cinematic, and somewhat progressive, brand of power metal. Frontman Sebastian Levermann sounds as great as ever vocally, and the new-look guitar tandem of former bassist Niels Löffler and newcomer Patrick Sperling churn out enough memorable riffs and solos for multiple albums. Orden Ogan have been a well-respected band for a number of years at this point, but I feel that Final Days has the potential to push them to the next level. It has certainly made me take more notice of them, and I am looking forward to properly working my way through their back catalogue in due course.

Up next is a bit of a strange one. Mainstream-sounding pop is not something that I cover on this blog, but I wanted to give a shout out to The Sun's Gonna Shine - the debut EP from Sam Ryder. Ryder has become quite well known on TikTok for covering famous pop songs, but for those of us in the know he is more well known for fronting The Morning After - a band that is sorely missed. The Morning After mixed metalcore, glam metal, and power metal to create some of the catchiest music that I had heard in my teenage years. They released two albums: You Can't Hurt Steel in 2009 and Legacy in 2011; both of which are fantastic, but fizzled out not too long after touring Legacy in 2012. Ryder was also a part of the American 1980s-inspired metalcore act Blessed by a Broken Heart for a time, contributing to their 2012 release Feel the Power, but that band soon fizzled out too. Sadly for those of us who loved The Morning After, Ryder seems to have abandoned metal a long time ago. Maybe one day he will return to it, but it seems that he operates in totally different circles these days. It is a real shame, but it is great to see that he is still making music. I picked up The Sun's Gonna Shine to support him due to my love of The Morning After, but in truth it is not really my thing. That being said, however, that voice that made The Morning After so good is still there - and he powers his way through five catchy. stripped back pop songs with ease. Whirlwind is easily my favourite of the five, with its gorgeous chorus and subtle harmonies. There will certainly be an audience for this stuff, and I would not be surprised to see Ryder make a success of it, but Lost in Time or Stream of Stars this certainly is not!

The final album that I want to cover is the quiet comeback of Touch, with their second (or third?) album Tomorrow Never Comes. Touch made minor waves back in 1980 with the release of their self-titled debut album, and are probably most famous for opening the first ever Monsters of Rock festival at Donington Park that same year. A second album was recorded, but it was never officially released. Those songs have since been released through various unofficial and official channels, but never as a stand-alone album in their own right. Last year, however, all four of Touch's original members reunited to write and record a new album - which was released back in March under the title Tomorrow Never Comes. Anyone who was a fan of Touch, will instantly love Tomorrow Never Comes. The band's brand of melodic hard rock, with touches of pomp, prog, and yacht rock, sounds as good in 2021 as it did in 1980; and Tomorrow Never Comes is packed full of hooks and clever songwriting. There is a reason why keyboardist Mark Mangold went on to bigger things after Touch originally split up. His songs have been recorded by people such as Michael Bolton, Cher, and Laura Branigan - plus he has spearheaded a number of other projects such as Drive, She Said and The Sign. Touch was the one that resonated with me, however, and the band's debut album is a lost gem in the melodic hard rock and AOR worlds. Whether Tomorrow Never Comes is Touch's second or third album is somewhat immaterial, and anyone who loves classy melodic hard rock should certainly give it a go - and pick up that classic debut too!

Anyone looking for some last minute 2021 listening can do a lot worse than sample the above five releases. All are worthy of some attention, and before I sign off for the year I would also like to shine a light on my favourite live release of the year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there have been relatively few live albums released this year. With very few shows taking place last year, this cause an obvious knock-on effect in live album production. There were still a few good ones, however, but some of the year's most notable live albums were actually archival releases. It is one of those that I am going to talk about today, as my favourite live release of the year is Live at Knebworth '76 by Lynyrd Skynyrd. There are so many Lynyrd Skynyrd live albums out there, but the vast majority of them have been released by the various reunion line-ups that have been touring since 1987. Live at Knebworth '76 features the band's classic, pre-crash line-up - and feels like something of a condensed version of the classic double live album One More from the Road - also from 1976. What sets Live at Knebworth '76 apart, however, is the inclusion of the full hour-plus set on Blu Ray - in excellent quality. Parts of the set have been available online for years, and often in questionable quality, but Live at Knebworth '76 presents the full show in pristine quality - with full remixed and remastered sound to go with it. There is relatively little recorded footage of Lynyrd Skynyrd at their peak out there, and this is why Live at Knebworth '76 is a real treat for southern rock fans. The setlist contains no real surprises, but the performance is fiery - and it shows why many believed that Lynyrd Skynyrd blew The Rolling Stones off stage that day. It is great to finally have a proper video memento of a band that could have been one of the biggest in the world, and every southern rock fans needs to pick up a copy of this essential release.

My coverage of Lynyrd Skynyrd essentially wraps up my overall discussion of the new releases of 2021. I will publish my Albums (and gigs!) of the Year list tomorrow, as is tradition, but I would also like to look forward to 2022 - as it is already shaping up to be another great year for new albums. I already have 17 albums pre-ordered, as well as more on my radar which I need to order. It is amazing how so many of my favourite bands continue to deliver on a regular basis, and my first review will be from one of those dependable bands: Magnum, who's new album The Monster Roars comes out on 14th January. Some other albums that I am looking forward to include Jethro Tull's first studio album since 1999, The Zealot Gene, Amorphis' latest opus Halo, and An Hour Before It's Dark from Marillion. There are so many more that I have ordered, many more that I need to order, and no doubt many more still that are yet to be announced. I will continue to cover as much new rock and metal as I can throughout 2022 - as well as all of the gigs that I am able to get to. I have a lot planned, but who knows at this point which ones will actually take place! Either way, however, please continue to visit here occasionally to catch up on some great new albums - and thank you to all who have taken the time to read any of my reviews this year.