Bite The Bullet

New Music

In my search for new music for RadiJohan I’m sometimes amazed at how hard it is to find good music in keeping with, what I would consider the golden age of music from, say, 1960 – 1990. Considering how much uhm ……ah ….err ….. well honestly, utter crap gets promoted and played on radio (and TV), there is a lot of decent music that “flies under the radar” because it does not get much, if any, promotion or airplay. The music is there but finding it isn’t easy. I like to think we feature a fair amount of examples. After all, the carefully selected new music on RadiJohan does generally not reflect what’s big on the charts.

“Bite The Bullet” released their new album “Rocky Road” back in April but, even though I’m continually searching for new music, I didn’t stumble across it until recently.

Bite The Bullet formed in 1986. They released a widely acclaimed (at the time) self-titled debut album in 1989, before going into hiatus for about thirty years after their record company folded, and a tour supporting “ELO” fell through.

A few years ago the band reformed after “Rock Candy Records” re-issued the debut album. Since then they released two new albums, “Black and White” in 2021 and “End of the Line” in 2022. Whereas some speculated that the title “End of the Line” suggested a second death, we now we have a third, “Rocky Road.” The band’s music has been described as melodic rock in the genre of Mr. Mister, Toto, Foreigner and Asia, with British rock guitar overtones. The single “Rock Road” has perhaps more of a Doobie Brothers feel.

It took a while to find it, but Bite The Bullet’s single “Rock Road” is new this week on RadiJohan.



RadiJohan Top 10 on 18 November 2023

Top 10
TWLWArtistTitle
10NewChris NormanTell Her She Can
9NewGoo Goo DollsWho’s Gonna Hear Their Wish
86Anastacia & Peter MaffayJust You
74Extreme Other Side of The Rainbow
610 The BeatlesNow and Then
59Son MieuxTonight
45Racoon Nickel For Goodbye
32Eclipse Anthem
23Steven WilsonWhat Life Brings
11Nitrate All The Right Moves

Watch this week’s Top 10 by clicking the play button below.

Former Smiths Member Releases “Best of” and New Single

New Music

English singer, songwriter and guitarist Johnny Marr first achieved fame in the eighties as the guitarist and co-songwriter of “The Smiths.” Since then, he has been a session musician and a member of various bands, including “The Pretenders.”

Marr released his first solo album, “The Messenger,” in 2013. His second solo album, “Playland,” came in 2014, a third, “Call the Comet,” in 2018 and the fourth, “Fever Dreams Pts 1-4,” in 2022. All four albums made the top 10 in the UK.

A few weeks ago Marr released “Spirit Power: The Best Of Johnny Marr.” The collection includes a new single he wrote while touring with “The Killers” and “Blondie.”

“Somewhere” by Johnny Marr is new this week on RadiJohan.

The Sherlocks Won’t Stop

New Music

English band “The Sherlocks” have released “Won’t Stop.” The single is taken from their 2023 album “People Like Me & You” which peaked at number 4 in the UK album chart this year, making it the band’s third UK top 10 album.

“Won’t Stop” by The Sherlocks is new this week on RadiJohan.

RadiJohan Top 10 on 11 November 2023

Top 10
TWLWArtistTitle
10NewThe BeatlesNow and Then
9NewSon MieuxTonight
88Ghost HoundsMake It Shake
75Brothers OsborneNobody’s Nobody
61Anastacia & Peter Maffay Just You
57Racoon Nickel For Goodbye
42Extreme Other Side of The Rainbow
34Steven WilsonWhat Life Brings
23Eclipse Anthem
16Nitrate All The Right Moves

Watch this week’s Top 10 by clicking the play button below.

Pretty Vicious, Pretty Glam

New Music

The brand new album, “Pretty Vicious”, from British rockers “The Struts” has just been released. It is the band’s fourth studio album and was preceded by the single “Too Good at Raising Hell.” The previous three albums, as well as singles like “Could Have Been Me” and “Somebody New” have had some of us wondering why oh why The Struts haven’t hit the big time yet.

The new album’s title track, “Pretty Vicious” is new this week on RadiJohan.

The Return of Chris “Smokie” Norman

New Music

English singer and songwriter Chris Norman was the original lead singer of the successful English (soft) rock band “Smokie,” which was so named because of his smoky voice. With many hits, including If You Think You Know How to Love me, It’s Your Life, and of course Living Next Door to Alice, Smokie was particularly popular in The UK and Europe.

In 2024 Chris Norman will return with a new album called “Junction 55” which follows his most recent album, 2021’s “Just a Man.” The new album will contain 12 brand new songs, all either written by Chris himself or in collaboration with others. 

“Tell Her She Can” is the first single released from Chris Norman’s forthcoming album and is new this week on RadiJohan.

Don’t Fear The Reaper

Flashback

“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” is a song by American rock band “Blue Öyster Cult” from the band’s 1976 album “Agents of Fortune.” This week in 1976 it became the band’s hit when it peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. The song was rumored to be about suicide, but it actually deals with the inevitability of death, and the belief that we should not fear it. “The Reaper” made it to number 7 in Canada and also charted in The UK and Ireland.

RadiJohan Top 10 on 04 November 2023

Top 10
TWLWArtistTitle
103Rick Springfield She Walks With The Angels
94Robert Jon & The Wreck Into The Light
89Ghost HoundsMake It Shake
77RacoonNickel For Goodbye
6NewNitrateAll The Right Moves
55Brothers OsborneNobody’s Nobody
46Steven WilsonWhat Life Brings
310Eclipse Anthem
21Extreme Other Side of The Rainbow
12Anastacia & Peter Maffay Just You

Watch this week’s Top 10 by clicking the play button below.

The Last Beatles Song

New Music

The Beatles have released what is being described as their final new song together, called “Now and Then.”

It is the last of a series of songs written by John Lennon, and handed to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono in demo form on cassette in 1994. The cassette also featured demos for “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” Those two songs were completed and released as singles in 1995 and 1996. However, at that time the band struggled to complete a song from the demo of “Now and Then” and abandoned the attempt. McCartney explained the difficulties the band faced in 1995:

“On John’s demo tape, the piano was a little hard to hear. And in those days, of course, we didn’t have the technology to do the separation … we kind of ran out of steam a bit, and time. Now and Then just languished in a cupboard.”

However, during the making of The Beatles’ 2021 “Get Back” documentary, director Peter Jackson’s film company developed a piece of software that allowed them to “de-mix” muddled recordings of overlapping sounds. For “Now And Then,” the software was able to “lift” Lennon’s voice from the original cassette recording, removing the background hiss and the hum of the mains electricity that had hampered previous attempts to complete the song.

Paul McCartney re-recorded the piano parts Lennon played on the demo and added a guitar solo in the style of George Harrison, as well as the bass, percussion and harpsichord. Ringo Starr recorded new drum parts for it, while the late George Harrison features via rhythm guitar parts kept from the failed 1995 recordings. Strings have also been added, as well as some newly recorded background vocals. Some older background vocals have also been used, including some from the song “Eleanor Rigby.”

A short documentary which explains the creative process behind “Now and Then” has been released on Youtube.

“Now and Then by The Beatles is new this week on Radiohan.