FabricationsHQ - Putting the Words to the Music
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  • Cruachan - The Living and The Dead
  • Elles Bailey - The Caves, Edinburgh
  • Knowing Your Shit... 2022 In Review
  • King Kraken - MCLXXX
  • Hayley Griffiths (February 2023)
  • Steve Hill (January 2023)
  • WinterStorm 2023 - Legends and Legacies Announcement
  • 2023 Reviews
  • 2023 Featured Album Reviews
    • Heavy Metal Kids - The Albums 1974-1976
    • Anchor Lane - Call This a Reality?
    • Doomsday Outlaw - Damaged Goods
    • Hayley Griffiths - Far From Here Hayley Griffiths Band - MELANIE
  • 2022 Reviews
  • 2022 Featured Album Reviews
    • Moon City Masters - The Famous Moon City Masters
    • Steve Hill - Dear Illusion
    • Kira Mac - Chaos is Calling
    • EBB - Mad & Killing Time
    • The Commoners - Find A Better Way
    • Rebecca Downes - The Space Between Us
    • Erja Lyytinen - Waiting For The Daylight
    • Chris Antonik - Morningstar
    • The Milk Men - Spin The Bottle
    • SiX BY SiX - SiX BY SiX
    • Jeff Berlin - Jack Songs
    • Keef Hartley Band - Sinnin' For You The Albums 1969-1973
    • Toby Lee - Icons Vol.1
    • Montrose - I Got The Fire : Complete Recordings 1973-1976
    • Orianthi - Live From Hollywood
    • Valeriy Stepanov Fusion Project - Album No. 2
    • Dan Reed Network - Let's Hear It For The King
    • Ali Ferguson - The Contemplative Power Of Water
    • Edgar Winter - Brother Johnny
    • Joe Satriani - The Elephants Of Mars
    • Dave Cureton - State Of Mind
    • Larry McCray - Blues Without You
    • Tears for Fears - Tipping Point
    • Kris Barras Band - Death Valley Paradise
    • Dan Patlansky - Shelter of Bones
    • Black Lakes - For All We've Left Behind
    • Wille & The Bandits - When The World Stood Still
    • LALU - Paint the Sky
    • Various Artists - Revolt Into Style 1979
  • 2021 Reviews
  • 2021 Featured Album Reviews
    • Dave Bainbridge - To The Far Away
    • Lachy Doley - Studios 301 Sessions
    • Mark Pontin Group - Kaleidoscope
    • The Mentulls - Recipe For Change
    • Plush - Plush
    • Wayward Sons - Even Up the Score
    • Pat Metheny - Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV)
    • Steve Hackett - Surrender Of Silence
    • Sweet Crisis - Tricks On My Mind
    • Amanda Lehmann - Innocence and Illusion
    • Chantel McGregor - Shed Sessions Volume One & Volume Two
    • Troy Redfern ...The Fire Cosmic!
    • NWOCR - Volume One
    • Jeff Kollman - East of Heaven
    • The Damn Truth - Now Or Nowhere
    • Dennis DeYoung - 26 East Vol 2
    • Mark Lettieri - Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol 2
    • Reach - The Promise Of a LIfe
    • Jane Getter Premonition - Anomalia
    • Mason Hill - Against The Wall
    • Lyle Workman - Uncommon Measures
    • Robert Berry - 3.2 : Third Impression
    • Lifesigns - Altitude
    • Jason Bieler and The Baron Von Bielski Orchestra - Songs For The Apocalypse
  • 2020 Reviews
  • 2020 Featured Album Reviews
    • McCartney III
    • Gary Barlow - Music Played By Humans
    • Storm Warning - Different Horizons
    • Reb Beach - A View From The Inside
    • Lykantropi - Tales To Be Told
    • King King - Maverick
    • Jakko M Jakszyk - Secrets & Lies
    • Blue Öyster Cult - The Symbol Remains
    • Fish - Weltschmerz
    • Dyble Longdon - Between A Breath And A Breath
    • Jim Kirkpatrick - Ballad of a Prodigal Son
    • Abel Ganz - The Life of the Honey Bee & Other Moments of Clarity
    • Toby and the Whole Truth - Ignorance is Bliss (25th Anniversary Edition)
    • Everyday Heroes - A Tale of Sin & Sorrow
    • Skintrade - The Show Must Go On
    • Robert Jon & The Wreck - Last Light on the Highway
    • Pat Metheny - From This Place
    • Anchor Lane - Casino
  • Selected 2023 Gig Reviews...
    • The Wilson Brothers - Backstage at the Green, Kinross
  • Selected 2022 Gig Reviews...
    • WinterStorm Rock Weekender - Troon
    • Jack J Hutchinson - Bannermans, Edinburgh
    • Paul McCartney - Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury 2022
    • Daryl Hall - Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
    • Joe Bonamassa - SEC Armadillo, Glasgow
    • Dan Patlansky - Oran Mor, Glasgow
    • Eric Gales - Oran Mor, Glasgow
  • Selected 2021 Gig Reviews...
    • Sweet - The Garage, Glasgow
    • The Damn Truth - Now Or Nowhere Record Release Experiment Live
    • Anchor Lane - Lockdown Live, DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • Laurence Jones - Live From Camden, Powerhaus, London
    • Joe Bonamassa - Austin City Limits, Live Stream
    • Todd Rundgren - Clearly Human Virtual Tour, "Pittsburgh"
  • Selected 2020 Gig Reviews...
    • Jared James Nichols - Garage G2, Glasgow
    • Oscar Cordoba Band - Blue Arrow, Glasgow
    • Rebecca Downes Band - The Ice Box, Glasgow
    • Ben Poole Trio - Room 2, Glasgow
    • Sensational Alex Harvey Experience - DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • The Aristocrats - Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh
    • Fat Suit - Drygate, Glasgow
    • Francis Dunnery's It Bites - St Lukes, Glasgow
  • Selected 2019 Gig Reviews...
    • WinterStorm Rock Weekender IV - Troon
    • Hawkwind - 02 Academy, Glasgow
    • Opeth - SWG3 Galvanizers, Glasgow
    • Félix Rabin - Nice 'N' Sleazy Glasgow
    • Anchor Lane - G2, Glasgow
    • Stray - Backstage at the Green, Kinross
    • Danny Bryant - Backstage at the Green, Kinross
    • Talon - Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow
    • Lifesigns - Smiles of Musical Travel
    • A Whole Lotta Rock 3 - featuring Rattlesnake Tattoo, Prestwick
    • Chantel McGregor - Hard Rock Cafe Glasgow
    • Pete Way Band - Customs House Hotel, Greenock
    • Raintown and Katee Kross - Village Theatre, East Kilbride
    • Danny Vaughn - DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • NR Rocks 2019 - DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • Arran Rock 'N' Blues Fest 2019
    • Cheap Trick - 02 Academy, Glasgow
    • The Blind Lemon Gators - Tolboth, Stirling
  • Muirsical Conversations...
    • Rebecca Downes (December 2022)
    • Chris Antonik (November 2022)
    • Pat Travers (October 2022)
    • Robert Berry (August 2022)
    • JW-Jones (August 2022)
    • Mike Ross (July 2022)
    • Dan Patlansky - March 2022
    • Bernie Marsden (December 2021)
    • Robin George (November 2021)
    • Dennis DeYoung (June 2021)
    • Robert Berry (March 2021)
    • Dan Reed (February 2021)
    • Steve Hackett (January 2021)
    • John Verity (September 2020)
    • Steve Hackett (July 2020)
    • Gary Moat (March 2020)
    • Steve Hackett (October 2019)
    • Rebecca Downes (May 2019)
    • Ben Poole & Wayne Proctor (January 2019)
    • Dan Reed (November 2018)
    • Del Bromham (October 2018)
    • Brian Downey (September 2018)
    • Raintown - Paul Bain & Claire McArthur Bain (May 2018)
    • Hamilton Loomis (December 2017)
    • Alan Nimmo (October 2017)
    • Erja Lyytinen (September 2017)
    • Suzi Quatro (September 2017)
    • Biff Byford (August 2017)
    • Dan Patlansky (June 2017)
    • Graham Bonnet (May 2017)
    • Simon Thacker (April 2017)
    • Sari Schorr (March 2017)
    • Stevie Nimmo (February 2017)
    • Dan Reed (February 2017)
    • Adam Norsworthy (January 2017)
    • Colin James (December 2016)
    • John Lees (October 2016)
    • Sari Schorr (August 2016)
    • Mike Vernon (August 2016)
    • Wayne Proctor (July 2016)
    • Laurence Jones (April 2016)
    • Chantel McGregor (March 2016)
    • John Young (January 2016)
    • Michael Schenker (November 2015)
    • Martin Barre (October 2015)
    • Chris Norman (September 2015)
    • Joanne Shaw Taylor (August 2015)
    • Fee Waybill (July 2015)
    • Ian Anderson (June 2015)
    • John Lodge (June 2015)
    • John Lawton (May 2015)
    • Steve Hackett (May 2015)
    • Manny Charlton (April 2015)
    • Ben Poole (April 2015)
    • Alan Nimmo (February 2015)
    • Popa Chubby (December 2014)
    • Paul Young (July 2014)
    • Bernie Shaw (June 2014)
    • Lee Kerslake (December 2013)
    • Pat Travers (September 2013)
    • Steve Hunter (August 2013)
    • Joy Dunlop (March 2013)
    • Gwyn Ashton (Dec. 2012)
    • Greg Lake (October 2012)
    • Ned Evett (August 2012)
    • Steven Lindsay (July 2012)
    • Dave Cureton (June 2012)
    • Jon Anderson (May 2012)
    • Jeremey Frederick Hunsicker (March 2012)
    • Amy Schugar (Feb. 2012)
    • Robert Fleischman (November 2011)
    • Ivan Drever (Sep. 2011)
    • Michael Sadler (June 2011)
    • James Evans (April 2011)
    • Alyn Cosker (Nov. 2010)
    • Scott Higham (Nov. 2010)
    • Kevin Chalfant (Oct. 2010)
    • Francis Dunnery (Sep. 2010)
    • Duncan Chisholm (Aug 2010)
    • Barbara Rubin (July 2010)
    • Alan Reed (June 2010)
  • FabricationsHQ Q&As With...
    • Jeff Kollman - August 2021
    • Lyle Workman (March 2021)
    • Jason Bieler (February 2021)
    • Félix Rabin (February 2020)
    • Chantel McGregor (August 2019)
    • Greig Taylor (July 2019)
    • Adam Norsworthy (June 2019)
    • Erja Lyytinen (March 2019)
  • Muirsical Articles...
    • 2019AB?
    • The Fool Guitar - The Fool Story
    • Alex Harvey - Framed in Words. And pictures
    • Home of a Ramblin' Band (Allman Brothers Band Big House Museum)
    • Journey - That Time Forgot
    • KISS - Elder Statesmen, Elder Statement?
    • Phil Lynott - Remembering Pt. 3
    • Freddie Mercury - The Days of His Life
    • Gary Moore - Last Exit
    • Mott - Without any of the Hoople-la
    • Muirsical Six of the Best
    • Music Town: A Decade of the Darvel Music Festival
    • Pat Travers - The Forgotten Power Trio
    • Playing Tribute
    • Gerry Rafferty - Humblebum to Multi-Million Seller
    • Cliff Richard - The Rock and Roll Juvenile
    • Slade - Thanks For the Memories
    • The Sweet - A Cut Above the Rest
    • Talon - On Eagles Wings
    • Wild Horses - Thoroughbreds or also-rans?
  • A Personal Journey: Definitive Edition (eBook)
  • Steve Perry (vocalist): One in a Million (eBook)
  • A Writer's Muirsings...
    • A Writer's Muirsings: Introduction
    • Superbowl XLVII MVP: Beyoncé (February 2013)
    • Michael Jackson: The Alternative Verdict (Nov 2011)
    • True Colours (November 2010)
    • It's a New Language, Old Bean (October 2010)
    • Finger Pointing (July 2010)
    • Suffer the Little Children (April 2010)
    • Hey 'Banker', can you spare a dime? (February 2010)
  • Author Bio & Site Info
  • Contact FabricationsHQ
Meet the New Year…
2021 In Review and the FabricationsHQ Roll of Honour
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“Yeah, meet the new year… same as the old year…”

With lyrical paraphrasing apologies to Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend, the above line is a fitting if unfortunate summation of how 2021 pretty much continued along the pandemic path of 2020, morphing into one elongated 24 month period interspersed with lockdowns, shutdowns and not a lot of upside.

Musically, there was an evident continuation of that theme through lack of gigs, music events and/ or tours, most of which were scuppered before they began.
​
While that is now slowly changing (albeit 2022 has started very much as 2021 ended) at time of this writing it’s clear that, depending on what part of the UK you are in, there will be as many cancellations (through necessity, the number of playing-it-safe punters and health & safety protocols) as announcements, through at least the first few months of 2022.

What such pandemic ridden and globally divisive times have reinforced however is that music is a positive and unifying force; at troubling times such as these it’s even more vital to have music in our lives and speakers or ear-phones of choice
– whether you be singing your broken heart/ bawling your eyes out to Adele’s latest magnum opus (more on which later), tapping a foot to a country-folk tune or head-banging it big time to your favourite rock or metal release.
​
But it’s also an avenue for that aforementioned divisiveness, as Eric Clapton found out to his outspoken cost and many a friendship, including his once blues-buddy tight relationship with Robert Cray.

Beyond opinions on health and safety governance it was interesting to note the continuing and indeed ever-growing divisiveness within fan-bases of acts & artists that are now legacy bands in their twilight years, in 'one-last-time' reunion mode or playing the decades-old hits/ back catalogue tours; in some cases all three.

The focal (and vocal) point of such split views last year was undoubtedly Genesis and their much touted Last Domino? world tour (inevitably cut short at one point by a COVID case within the ranks).
Said shows were welcomed with ticket buying love & adoration from the faithful and cries of "you couldn't pay me enough!" from those who would rather not hear or see a detuned Genesis and a desperately struggling and seated Phil Collins, as uncomfortable physically as he was vocally (frailty of voice and constantly singing behind the beat). 

That comments ranged from the supportive (if eyebrow raising) Francis Dunnery statement of "we should all support Genesis… I don’t care if they wheel them all out in oxygen masks" to the many who said they couldn’t watch parts of the tour rehearsal documentary without cringing, tells you how split opinion was, and remains; it's also a strong indicator of the heated Yay and Nay debates that abound for so many of the years-later reunions, nostalgia shows or pension top-up tours (delete as appropriate).  

In terms of music at very the top of the commercially lucrative chart tree (and a gazillion and eleventy-seven album sales in first week of release), the mega-hitters all came out swinging one after the other, offering their own musical antidote (or audio poison, depending on preference & taste) to beating the Pandemic blues.

The aforementioned Miss Adkins delivered her new album 30 to such Oprah-chat hype and An Audience With fanfare it’s a wonder there was any airplay or TV time left for any of the others to get a look in.
But we jest of course; there’s always time for an Ed Sheeran release (unsurprisingly second biggest 2021 seller after Adele) and a forty-years on ABBA/ album reunion (unsurprisingly third biggest seller after Adele).

Adele’s album wasn’t quite as full of downtempo angst as may have been anticipated (small mercies etc.) but when it hit a low (keyed ballad) it did so in spectacular style.
If you immediately open with the line "I’ll be taking flowers to the cemetery of my heart" you’re not going to then break in to ‘Bring Me Sunshine.’
Similarly a six-and-a-half minute slow gospel / R&B affected number featuring recorded messages of Adele (sometimes in sniffling tears) and her young son isn’t so much dramatic as disturbing; equally painful was 'To Be loved,' the most maudlin piano and vocal song of the entire year.

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           ABBA returned to save the world and failed; Adele returned to take over the world and succeeded 
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​ABBA sadly proved that sometimes you really can’t go back; impeccable production and perfectly pitched vocals with clear phrasing and precise enunciation (take vocal note Miss Adkins) from the 70+ years young Agnetha and Anni-Frid, yes, but a lacklustre collection of songs that flattered to deceive.

The November released Voyage also offered up an inevitable Christmas song, ‘Little Things’ (although all band royalties from the song go to UNICEF, so kudos).
ABBA's festive ditty also included a dodgy lyrical section via a line aimed not at the Crimble kids but the “dear old friend” of the family, as the mother sings of a possible morning trade-off: "You’d consider bringing me a breakfast tray, but there’s a price." Not so much Benny Andersson as Benny Hill.
  
So painfully twee was 'Little Things' that it made the FabricationsHQ 12 Days of Crimble cringe-list (which you do not want to be checking twice); it sat among other chestnuts that should have been roasted on an open fire including Steve Perry’s morose version of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ (Crosby it isn’t), the horrendous and ill-advised hip-hop pop-pap of ‘It Was a Masked Christmas’ by Jimmy Fallon, Ariana Grande & Megan Thee Stallion and the list topping ‘Merry Christmas’ by Mr Ed of Sheerancester and Sir Reg of Dwightshire.

The latter offering was so bad that our Elton couldn’t be arsed learning the lyrics, as can clearly be seen in the accompanying video (it also looks like they used the waxwork version of Elton – and why a Warning wasn't slapped on said video for the boy Sheeran's cross-dress cavorting is anyone's guess).
​
And who could forget Gary Barlow (trust me, we’ve tried) and 'How Christmas is Supposed to Be,' his ‘domestic love and hate’ hoot with Sheridan Smith (oh, such festive fun!).

Gary Barsinger's The Dream Of Christmas album, from which said single was lifted, was so heinously bad we couldn’t even stomach savaging it on FabricationsHQ, although we did manage to hold our lunches down long enough to tear his previous album, Music Played By Humans, a new one.

Suffice to say his faux-crooner swing collection of primarily Crimble covers only helped showcase how cringe-awful Sir Gary Taxes For Barlow is when he tries to croon or swing it up – he murdered so many Christmas classics on this turkey platter he should be given a life sentence.

Further proof of his criminal activity was evidenced in
his natural 'TV celeb' domain, while smarming it up on the Christmas edition of
Strictly Come Dancing.
Following his appearance the show, via the BBC feedback site, was inundated with complaints about how embarrassing and bad “lounge singer Gary Barlow” was. Well, don't say we didn't warn you.

But such record breaking artists are not really a part of FabricationsHQ’s musical modus operandi.
While many a big name/ musician/ artist across many a genre does get page space or namecheck coverage (and you just got review summaries of ABBA and Adele's albums (you’re welcome), although not Ed Sheeran’s – we do have standards), the site remains focussed on support and passionate promotion for those who need, merit and deserve the wider-audience exposure, from Celtic/ folk and roots music artists to progressive metal and jazz-fusion outfits, and most points in between.

And that brings us to not just to the more serious aspect of this article but one of the very few positives to come from the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns – the opportunity and time that afforded many a genuinely artistic and creative composer, musician and/ or band to record and release not just very good or great albums but truly exceptional ones.

Such a scenario was seen or predicted by a number of folks in or around music, including Dan Reed (who will be fully Network'ed again later this year) when, in conversation with FabricationsHQ at the top of 2021, stated "imagine the number of great albums that are going to be coming out by the end of this year!”
Well Brother Dan, you were right; I hope you heard and enjoyed as many as we did.


As regards the very best of what was a veritable feast of excellent releases in 2021, stellar session guitarist and composer Lyle Workman’s fully orchestrated instrumental tour-de-force Uncommon Measures didn’t just knock it beyond the walls of Abbey Road Studio 1 where he recorded the orchestration, but right out the park.
​
As classical in form as it was jazz-fusion in shape, Uncommon Measures was and is a truly epic work; a marriage of compositional strength, musical creativity and virtuosity.

Not far behind in the ear-catching instrumental stakes was another virtuoso of the six-string, Jeff Kollman, and his more rock orientated/ fusion album East of Heaven.
In more ambient instrumental stylings, atmospheric-progressive duo The Blackheart Orchestra delivered "album between albums" project Mute; an impressive reworking of some of the best songs from their first three albums, the results are almost cinematic/ soundtrack in feel.

One of the most adventurous rock/ metal releases of 2021 was the multi-faceted Songs For The Apocalypse by Jason Bieler and the Baron Von Bielski Orchestra; another outstanding album, it was matched in breadth of creative styles by the stone cold bonkers but brilliant Promise of a Life by Swedish power-pop/ theatrical rock trio Reach.  

For true artistic expressiveness with not a thought for commercial gain (and sadly one of the most overlooked and underappreciated releases of 2021) listen no further than to Canon Under Flowers by emotively-styled soundscape guitarist Eddie Tatton.
The album also has a gorgeous sound, courtesy of production assistance (and mixing & mastering) from Wayne Proctor, who also lays down the percussive grooves throughout.

Wayne Proctor was also responsible (co-producer, mixing & mastering) for the expansive sound of another outstanding 2021 release, Recipe For Change, the third album from the always musically adventurous The Mentulls (who mix progressive tendencies with rock, blues and pop).


Lockdown live events and performances were, understandably, a big part of music life in 2021.
Out of a large number of excellent shows, home-gig events and full-stage performances honourable mention must go to The Damn Truth and their Now Or Nowhere Record Release Experiment, Todd Rundgren’s Clearly Human Virtual Tour shows and Australian keyboard maestro Lachy Doley’s Studios 301 Sessions.
The latter, a full ensemble band performance, saw deserved release as a CD & Digital album shortly after its broadcast.
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Blues is now such an all-encompassing genre with a broad musical spectrum (including soul, funk, psychedelic, trad. blues and the more contemporary) that it’s almost impossible and indeed unfair to attempt to categorise at least 50% of the bands or artists ploughing such blues-hewed furrows.
In terms of more traditional blues/ blues-rock however it was a pleasure to hear Bernie Marsden deliver not one but two high-quality blues standards/ covers albums in an ongoing series (which he talked to FabricationsHQ about at the end of last year) and The Reverend Billy F Gibbons getting down, dirty and blues gritty on his latest, and best, solo album, Hardware.

By wider blues breadth contrast, the multi-styled Kaleidoscope (which mixed 60s and 70s styled soul with funk and conceptually themed blues) by the Mark Pontin Group, was another 2021 highlight.
Mark Pontin also managed to get a dig in at what sells (or what doesn’t) with the song 'This Will Never Be a Hit Now,' a cleverly conceived swipe at the over-hyped, marketable commodities that reign supreme over musical creativity
– or, as Mr Pontin so astutely put it in pre-release press for Kaleidoscope, "it’s all about how much money you spend that determines success."

While not 100% true 100% of the time, it is an accurate statement as regards wannabe acts who pay for pricey, saturation PR coverage but have little substance (or songs) to back it up.
Said acts & artists tend to be highly conspicuous on Social Media and associated Ad pages, along with bought and paid for rock radio airplay rotation and support slots (it’s not what you know, but who you know).
Equally however they are conspicuous by their absence on FabricationsHQ, where there is zero tolerance for self-aggrandisement, whether musically or promotionally.

That said there are plenty of good, hard working and genuinely talented bands out there, many of whom only aspire to having that first gig, song, single or album reviewed, without favour, by the more respected side of the music media (by that we mean those that don't continually cite everything that comes there way as "awesome" or "flawless" or play the Ingratiating card at every opportunity).

Among the ones to watch are 
Reading-based alt-rockers Crooked Shapes who, on their self-titled debut album, cleverly combined both old/ classic and new/ contemporary rock worlds. 

Also on the up and coming radar are London based The Five Points Gang, who sport many a musical influence within their "dirty blues sound," as heard to fine effect on debut album Wanted.
​

Skinny Knowledge, based around singer-songwriter
multi-instrumentalist Andy L Smooth, are described as
"alt-rockers from Bournemouth" but as debut album Don’t Turn Out The Lights highlighted, they also know how to deliver big, anthemic crowd-pleasers.


Then there's gritty rock-pop quintet Bastette, fronted by vocalist & songwriter Caroline Kenyon; the band took a sonically vibrant, electro-rock step forward with second EP Exposed.
​

Perhaps most surprising, in terms of maturity shown (albeit with plenty of space to grow) was the self-titled debut album from Bolton based rock-metal quartet Unknown Refuge; four years in the making, it’s hard to grasp the band were still in their teenage years as the album was being completed.

PicturePhoto by Tim P. Whitby/ Gettty Images
​But every youthful Yin has an older Yang – for every first press release there’s a final curtain call for the ever growing number of elder statesmen and women of rock, pop, metal, blues, jazz, music production, broadcast radio et al who sadly pass each musical year.
There were far too many losses last year to mention (close to a thousand, according to official ‘significant contribution’ sources) but the Roll of 2021 Honour Passed included Phil Spector, Gerry Marsden, Don Everly, Dusty Hill, Charlie Watts, Graham Edge, Michael Nesmith and the legend that was, and remains, Stephen Sondheim.

Genius is a word used too often and incorrectly, but it most certainly applied to Stephen Joshua Sondheim
(9 Tony Awards; 8 Grammy Awards; Academy Award; Pulitzer Prize; Laurence Olivier Award).
Many cite him as a genius of the musical theatre world; he certainly reinvented & reimagined the American musical (taking it beyond its traditional boundaries in terms of composition, complexity and subject matter).
But he was, more simply, one the finest music composers of any era; his songs were full of complex rhythmic ideas, sophisticated melodies and inherently clever lyricism, from darker subject matter to razor sharp wit and love in all its forms, from the joyous to the unrequited.


As a personal aside I can’t not mention the passing of British rock musician and singer John Miles, who we lost in December 2021.
Known for his work with Tina Turner and The Alan Parsons Project, among others, and a recurring feature role in the Night Of The Proms concert series since 1985, those of an age or penchant for classy, well written rock and melodic-pop will fondly recall his singles and excellent solo albums of the 70s, many of which were progressively shaped (as a further aside his 80s and early 90s releases deserved much more attention).

And, of course, one John Miles song in particular, more relevant now that at any time in the past or since its 45 year old birth...

Thanks for all the music, John.

Here's to a better 2022 and may ​Art and Artistry, in all its forms, continue to fight against the tidal wave of mediocrity.

Ross Muir & Nelson McFarlane
2021 In Review
January 2022



FabricationsHQ 2021 Roll of Honour
Album of the Year: Lyle Workman - Uncommon Measures
Blues based Album of the Year: Mark Pontin Group - Kaleidoscope
Blues Rock Album of the Year: Billy F Gibbons - Hardware
Classic Rock Album of the Year: Cheap Trick - In Another World
Contemporary Rock Album of the Year: Wayward Sons - Even Up the Score
Debut Album of the Year: Mason Hill - Against the Wall
Instrumental Album (Rock) of the Year: Jeff Kollman - East of Heaven
Instrumental Album (Ambient/ Atmospheric) of the Year: The Blackheart Orchestra - Mute
Instrumental Album (Jazz/ Fusion) of the Year: Pat Metheny - Side Eye NYC
Lockdown Live Album of the Year: Lachy Doley - Studios 301 Sessions
Melodic Rock Album of the Year: VEGA - Anarchy And Unity
Metal Album of the Year: Inner Stream - Stain the Sea
On-line/ Lockdown event of the Year: The Damn Truth - Now Or Nowhere Record Release Experiment
Progressive Metal Album of the Year Turbulence - Frontal
Progressive Album of the Year: Lifesigns - Altitude
Roots/ Americana Album of the Year: Malcolm Holcombe - Tricks of the Trade
Rock-Metal Album of the Year: Jason Bieler - Songs For the Apocalypse
Singer-songwriter Album of the Year: Ava - Wildflower

Supplemental Awards
"Artistic Expression over Commercial Gain" Award: Eddie Tatton - Canon Under Flowers
"Ones to Watch": Bastette; Crooked Shapes; Five Points Gang; Skinny Knowledge; Unknown Refuge 

"Stone Cold Bonkers but Brilliant" Award: Reach - The Promise of a Life
"The Ego Has Landed" Award: Gary Barlow
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