Nick Harrison

Phil Harding

Flawless Land

You may not recognise the name of Phil Harding, but he's a man that's been making music for the past thirty years, he first started in the music industry way back in 1973 at The Marquee Studios as sixteen year old, from those humble beginnings he's gone to work as both an engineer and producer for some of the bigest names around.

The Haze

EP 

Haze are one of those bands that you are never sure why they are still where they are. With a sound similar to that of Muse, Radiohead et all, and the passion and the
power of their performances, both live and in the studio, you would of thought that they would be huge by now. The musicianship is superb, the songwriting extremely well crafted and a five track EP that you have to admire simple because it is terrific. Not a single duff song on the CD, no fillers, no half arsed effort at production, totally spotless. The EP opener, Why Pretend, hits you like a Muse fuelled attack on all that is wrong with the world. Almost six minutes of greatness.
Slow Down Joe and Restless & Wild carries on the sense pleasuring duties, with the band doing their best to show that there is room in the world for more than one Wembley filling hi energy guitar led progressive rock band, Crucifix Gardens continues to showcase the bands excellent musicianship. Excellent production and flawless performance. this guy has an amazing voice and the guitar solo is one of the best I have heard in a long time. It's All Good, finishes the EP off in fine style. Laid back and twangy intro, with an almost Kelly Jones vocal proves that they are indeed the master of their art. I am continually impressed with their talent, with their ability to surprise and their song writing skills, performance  and production skills. This EP puts this band in the top 20 bands to check out before you die.

HiFlyer

Chasing Rainbows

Bristol based four-piece HiFlyer return with a brand new single and EP, following on from their debut release Antarctika (reviewed elsewhere on this site). Since the band released Antarctika they've been hard at work writing new material with acclaimed producer Greg Haver (Manic Street Preachers), Chasing Rainbows is the first taster of their hard labour.

Once again I find myself enjoying the music of HiFlyer but still being left wanting more, the group have delivered another set of heartfelt soulful rock, lead singer Elle Williams has a stunning voice, whilst the rest of the band produce a tight and musically impressive backing. Yet still I feel that the band are lacking that all important X-factor, there are simply thousands of bands out there producing music near enough identical to that of HiFlyer, the problem is the band just don't have enough to really standout, sure the likes of the title track and Waiting For The Day would both make decent enough radio tracks but I'm not sure who would actually go out and buy them.

Brian Houston

The Days Of Pearly Spencer

The Days Of pearly Spencer is a song that was originally released back in 1967 by Northern Ireland based singer-songwriter David McWilliams and has in more recent times been a hit for Marc Almond among others.

Brian Houston is the latest artist to tackle the late sixties classic after meeting David's daughter at a recent tribute concert and promising to record and release the track.

Brian is currently riding high after the release of his critically acclaimed album Sugar Queen, a stunning CD that's found favour from the likes of Uncut, Mojo and legendary Radio Two DJ Bob Harris, who's played tracks from the album regularly on his show. Brian is a brilliant singer-songwriter who crafts wonderful heartfelt stories into each and every one of his emotion filled odes.