Here's just some of our favourite singles, compilation albums and reissues of 2025...

1. The Blue Aeroplanes "Magical Realism The Best of 1985-2025" compilation LP
2. Mozart Estate "Tower Block In a Jam Jar" compilation LP
3. KVNX (Kathy Valentine & Neal X) "I Love You More" single
4. Patti Smith "Horses" 50th anniversary reissue LP
5. Thee Moot "Sweet As Saccharine" single
6. Francoise Hardy "Voila - Best of" compilation LP
7. The Limiñanas & Bobby Gillespie "Prisoner of Beauty" single
8. Bo-Gumbos "Bo & Gumbo" reissue LP
9. The Dear Boys "Put It Down" single
10. The Fall "50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong" compilation reissue LP
11. The Baby Seals "Tamoo Trance" single
12. The Galileo 7 "Everything To Everything Else" compilation LP
13. R.E.M. "Radio Free Europe" reissue EP
14. Viagra Boys "Consistency of Energy/Call of The Wild" reissue EP
15. Cast with P.P. Arnold "Poison Vine" single
16. The Blue Aeroplanes "Outsider Art, The Other Best of 1985-2025" compilation LP
17. The Penrose Web "It's The Penrose Web" EP
18. The Duke Spirit "Cuts Across The Land" reissue LP
19. The Skids "Radio Sessions 1978-1980" compilation LP
20. The Guy Hamper Trio with James Taylor "Chatham's Burning" EP
21. Jamie Perrett "Age of Reason" single
22. Killer China Dress "Kung Fu Attack" single
23. The 5.6.7.8's with Ludella Black "Beat Girls" EP
24. The Embrooks "Terry and Julie" single
25. The Galileo 7 "Look Away" single

The Woggles at The 100 Club London with The Len Price 3 & The Galileo 7, Friday August 16th 2024

The Woggles made a very rare trip to the U.K. for two shows, first of all in Bristol on the Thursday and then Friday night at the legendary 100 Club in London, where I finally got to witness what many people claim are one of the best live acts around. I've been a fan for a long time now and watching videos of them over the years and seeing comments from those lucky enough to have seen them play I was wondering if they could live up to my expectations. Well, I wasn't to be disappointed, in fact they exceeded all of those expectations and then some. Another big fan of The Woggles is Graham Day, frontman of one of our favourite bands, The Prisoners. In fact, he is such a fan that he invited The Woggles to play at his wedding and he also borrowed their rhythm section of drummer Dan Eletxro & bassist Buzz Hagstrom for his Graham Day & The Gaolers line-up on their excellent debut album "Soundtrack To The Daily Grind". I've spoken to Graham about The Woggles on a few occasions in previous interviews and chats and he has now been in the band for over five years, the opportunity arising after the sad and untimely passing of guitarist Jeff "Flesh Hammer" Walls in 2019. Graham has expressed how difficult he sometimes finds the pressures of being a frontman and his struggles with singing and lyric writing - although if you take the Gaolers for example, this seems somewhat hard to believe. He told me once in our Retrosonic Podcast interview that he always fancied being the guitarist in a band seen playing at a dance or 'happening' in one of those American sixties teen movies. Either that or in an instrumental band, an ambition he was to make happen when he formed The Senior Service, his side project that was heavily influenced by those classic Spy, Sci-Fi and Spaghetti Western movie and TV theme tunes by composers such as Barry Gray, John Barry and Ennio Morricone. 

So tonight, the London crowd gets their first chance to see Graham playing guitar with The Woggles and he seems to be having as much fun as we are. Busting out all the moves and shapes with his cool looking Nineteen67 Jones guitar and despite the proliferation of Prisoners T-shirts in the crowd, he is relishing the spotlight being on the livewire frontman The Professor Mighty Manfred Jones. Manfred has to be one of the best rabble-rousing all action vocalists I have ever seen - he does not stop moving for a minute, he demands your attention with his cheerful cheerleading antics. One minute he's lifting the mic stand high above his head, then he's on his knees blasting out on his harmonica, before leaping up and pirouetting around with some nifty dance steps. He also likes to get down among the crowd, encouraging us to participate. I'm exhausted just watching him and I wonder how he gets his energy as he never lets up. His energy levels are matched by Go Go dancer Moana Santana who also doesn't stop for the duration of the show and she adds even more glamour to the visual extravaganza. We saw Moana dancing at the 100 Club for the fantastic Lenny Kaye plays Nuggets gig (which you can read about here) and she really adds to the whole swinging sixties vibe. 

Bassist Buzz Hagstrom and guitarist/saxophonist Shane Pringle also seem to be in their element, they have to compete with some strong personalities to their right and yet they acquit themselves perfectly, they are superb on the night. Only super-cool drummer Dan Eletxro in his trademark cap, remains seated throughout and that's because he has to keep the relentless groove going, I'm sure he was dancing inside. The perfectly plotted set unsurprisingly draws heavily on the excellent new album "Time Has Come", which is out now on green vinyl via Little Steven van Zandt's Wicked Cool Records, and is surely going to feature very high in our best albums of 2024 come the end of the year. I would go so far as to say it's up there as one of the best, if not the best Woggles albums and it positively bursts out of the speakers, coming very close to capturing the live energy we witnessed tonight. It's going to be lauded as a future classic in the Garage Soul genre, I'm sure of it. Graham contributes a couple of songs to the record along with guitar and backing vocals and what with The Prisoners stunning reunion album, "Morning Star", he's on a great creative streak at the moment. My personal highlights included "Telling Me Lies", "Paisley In Paradise", "Mr Last Chance", "Her Majesty's Pleasure" and the blistering "Flesh Hammer" which was written by Pat Beers by another of our favourite bands, The Schizophonics. "Karate Monkey" is also superb, with everyone joining in on the "ooh aah" karate kata moves. I sincerely hope that The Woggles don't leave it so long before returning to our shores - in these sometimes dark and depressing times we all need a regular shot of their peerless good-time Garage Rock 'n' Soul. 

The night was made even more special with the added bonus of The Galileo 7 and The Len Price 3, two more of our long-time favourites. In fact what with Graham Day on stage with The Woggles and so many familiar friendly faces in the crowd, it took me back to the good old days of our Retro Man Blog nights at the Half Moon Putney. The LP3 powered through a raucous set including a couple of promising sounding new songs which seemed inspired by their Medway and North Kent roots. You realise just what a great back catalogue the band have built up and they treated us to a pick from most of their albums, culminating in the classic "London Institute". The Galileo 7, who are of course fronted by Graham's colleague in The Prisoners, Allan Crockford, opened up proceedings quite early but thankfully there was a healthy crowd already in the venue to witness another great performance from the band. Their dynamic and memorable Psych Pop songs, with all four members having a go on vocals, went down really well with the crowd. They also debuted two new songs which are due out early next year and they sounded excellent, I'm really looking forward to hearing them recorded. So, all in all it was a perfect night out, proving the importance of the communal spirit and positive vibes of a room full of fans enjoying no-nonsense, uplifting live music. 

The Galileo 7

The Len Price 3

For more information on The Woggles and details on how to order the new album, please check out their official web-site here. Please click on the highlighted links throughout the feature for more information. I'll put more photos of the night at the Retro Man Blog Facebook page so please head on over here, like and subscribe for access. All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog.

Retrosonic Podcast Episode 45 "Waking Up The Band" New Release Special with Wet Leg, The Bug Club, Jamie Perrett, Monkey, The Senior Service and More...

Podcover Photo by Roger Degerman

Happy Xmas and a big thank you to all Retro Man Blog and Retrosonic Podcast subscribers and listeners, we really do appreciate the support. After all, this is just a hobby to promote some of the fantastic bands, artists and independent record labels that are keeping us all entertained in these difficult times so your continued support is what makes it all worthwhile. Anyway, I sincerely hope you've enjoyed the music and hopefully you've discovered some new favourite bands along the way! So here's a little Xmas gift to say "thank you" - our latest Retrosonic Podcast which features 21 superb brand new and recent international releases from Brazil, Sweden, Wales, USA, Canada, Taiwan, UK, France and Japan with some previously unreleased exclusive songs as a little bonus especially for you. So pour yourself a drink, crank up the volume, sit back and enjoy some quality sounds from The Senior Service (feat. Rachel Lowrie), Wet Leg, The Bug Club, Jamie Perrett, Yufu, Les Envahisseurs, Howlin' Jaws, Los Pepes, The Galileo 7, Jetstream Pony, Stupidity (feat. Keith Streng of The Fleshtones), The Most, Cat & The Underdogs, Autoramas, Monkey (The Adicts frontman's solo project), Suzi Moon, The Heat Inc, Kuunatic, Keller Machine, AlterModerns and Sounds Incarcerated.

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 45 "Waking Up The Band"

 Here's the full tracklisting - please click on the highlighted links to investigate further...

The Bug Club - "My Baby Loves Rock & Roll Music"

Yufu - "Bad Intentions" (Coral Collective/Sunset Rollercoaster)

Les Envahisseurs - "Invisible" (Exclusive unreleased track)

Jamie Perrett - "Angel of Santiago"

Howlin' Jaws - "Love Makes The World Go Round"

Wet Leg - "Wet Dream"

Los Pepes - "I Want You Back" (Black Wax Records)

The Senior Service (feat. Rachel Lowrie) - "If You're Not There" 

(Exclusive unreleased track courtesy Damaged Goods)

The Galileo 7 - "Ella" (Spinout Nuggets Records)

Jetstream Pony - "Seven Days" (Spinout Nuggets Records)

Stupidity (feat. Keith Streng of The Fleshtones) - "Waking Up The Band"

The Most - "Fighting Man" (Exclusive unreleased track)

Cat & The Underdogs - "Positive I.D."

Autoramas - "Dia Da Marmota"

Monkey (The Adicts frontman's debut solo record) - "Sharkbite" (Dr. Strange Records)

Suzi Moon - "I'm Not A Man"

The Heat Inc. - "Down In The City"

KUUNATIC - "Full Moon Spree" (Glitterbeat Records)

AlterModerns - "She's Not Yours"

Keller Machine - "(I'm In Love With A) Monster"

Sounds Incarcerated - "Space Xmas" 

Proceeds from Sounds Incarcerated's "Space Xmas" on Bandcamp go to Shelter U.K.

Additional Links:

Write Wyatt Blog (Beth from Jetstream Pony interview)

Monk's Junk (Monkey's Art web-site)

Nymphet Noodlers - The Story of one of Sweden's most influential yet underrated bands

This Episode's Cover Stars The Most photographed by Roger Degerman. Retrosonic Theme by Adam Donovan. Retrosonic Podcast has a valid PRS Licence. You can subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast for free at Spotify, Soundcloud, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Mixcloud.

Sounds Incarcerated "Unswitchable Hits Vol. 1" - New Album of Lockdown Sessions Cover Versions from Allan Crockford & Viv Bonsels of The Galileo 7

In the long and depressing wait for the return of live music, one of the undoubted musical highlights of Lockdown has been Kevin Younger's on-line open-mic evenings broadcast and available at his Mister Unswitchable YouTube channel. These thoroughly entertaining events see lots of his (mainly Medway based) musician pals submitting videos of a hugely eclectic range of cover versions based around various themes. So, for example the theme of 'Animals' saw a be-wigged Graham Day performing a wicked version of the Osmonds' Glam racket "Crazy Horses" and Bob Collins of The Dentists with his version of "And Your Bird Can Sing". The "Boys & Girls" themed night saw Groovy Uncle's Glenn Prangnell tackle The Monkees "Forget That Girl" under the name The Unkees, so I'm sure you get the drift. However, it's probably Allan Crockford and Viv Bonsels of our favourite Psych-Pop band The Galileo 7 who really took to the task with aplomb - treating us to witty, often very well produced videos for a variety of unexpected and superbly executed cover versions. We've seen the duo take on songs by bands and artists as diverse as Robyn Hitchcock, Haircut 100, Buzzcocks, John Denver and The Stranglers all of which were so well received that it was decided to put them all together and release as an album "Unswitchable Hits Vol. 1" under the name of Sounds Incarcerated. It's a fantastic companion piece to the recent LP "Decayed" which was a brilliant collection of all the cover versions that were recorded by The Galileo 7 over the years and released to celebrate their 10th anniversary. In fact, don't forget you can still check out our special Retrosonic Podcast episode with Viv and Allan treating us to a track-by-track guide to "Decayed" and of course, their involvement with the Mister Unswitchable nights below. 

Retrosonic Podcast · The Galileo 7 "Decayed" New LP Track by Track Guide with Allan Crockford & Viv Bonsels

Allan and Viv have just released a great promo video to tickle your taste buds so, over to Sounds Incarcerated for a little explanation. "Here's a high budget promo for our pandemic-induced side project...When you can't play with your regular band, what do you do? In our case we made a load of D.I.Y. cover versions for our Mister Unswitchable's themed open-mic night. Eventually we realised that we had an album's worth of material, and that it was actually pretty good. We called ourselves Sounds Incarcerated and put it out on our own label. What else could we do...? Vol. 2 is now in the works!"

 

Don't forget there's also our other special Retrosonic Podcast episode with Viv and Allan looking back over 10 years of The Galileo 7 and that's available at our Soundcloud archive here. "Unswitchable Hits Vol. 1" and "Decayed" are both available to order from The Galileo 7's on-line store here. You can check out the Mister Unswitchable YouTube channel here.

Sounds Incarcerated by Darryl Hartley

 

Retrosonic Podcast Celebrating 10 Years of The Galileo 7 - Part 1: Allan Crockford & Viv Bonsels with a Track-by-Track to "Decayed" & The Lockdown Sessions

Welcome to the first of two very special Retrosonic Podcast episodes dedicated to the 10th Anniversary of our favourite Psych Pop outfit The Galileo 7. Band-members Allan Crockford and Viv Bonsels discuss their superb brand new album of cover versions "Decayed", which is out now on their own Fools Paradise label. We go through the album track by track and find out the reasons behind the choice of songs and of course, give them a spin. This Podcast release comes with a bonus track not found on the album and a section on the Lockdown Sessions which saw Viv and Allan tackle even more cover versions for Kevin Younger's themed on-line open-mic evenings. These included songs by Katrina & The Waves, Haircut 100, The Stranglers, Robyn Hitchcock and The Dukes of Stratosphear and even the theme tune to Thames TV's Today programme! This thoroughly enjoyable episode spent in the company of Allan and Viv is soundtracked by The Galileo 7's stunning take on songs by The Who, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Nerves, The Monkees, Pink Floyd, The Soft Boys, Julian Cope, Terry Reid, X-Ray Spex, Shocking Blue, The Stranglers, The Association and Haircut 100.

Retrosonic Podcast · The Galileo 7 "Decayed" New LP Track by Track Guide with Allan Crockford & Viv Bonsels

You can order the limited edition vinyl version of "Decayed" from the band's on-line store here or get a download version of the album from their Bandcamp site here. For more information and news on The Galileo 7, please check out their official web-site here. For loads of your favourite Medway Legends (often as you've never seen them before!) performing an eclectic selection of cover versions, please check the Mister Unswitchable YouTube channel here. With many thanks to Allan and Viv. "Decayed" album cover artwork by Darryl Hartley. Retrosonic Theme by Adam Donovan.

Coming soon - "Ten Years of The Galileo 7" in which Allan and Viv go through their previous six albums and pick out and play some of their favourite and pivotal tracks from each release. Along the way we discuss the band's history, inspirations and song-writing process. Don't miss out, please subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, iTunes, Apple Podcasts and Mixcloud.