Nite Songs

  Here we are at the final frontier then. Read on to see what the cream of the musical crop has been this year at Nite Songs Towers... *** 10. EVIL SCARECROW - "Silicon Tea" It's been good to see Evil Scarecrow creaking back into action in recent years and Silicon Tea  shows that they're certainly no less silly than they were first time around, making the new Ghost album seem a bit...well, half-arsed in the process to be honest. Veering from the '90s pop-punk pastiche of Green Bin Day (see what they did there?) through the thrashy riffs of Master of the Dojo  to the none-more-cheesy '80s rockout of The Future Machine , this is the sound of a band who could have been on their last legs following recent membership changes making their comeback in fine style. *** 9. DANKO JONES - "Leo Rising" Similar to the Darkness who we mentioned yesterday, Danko Jones' new album saw a band who a few of us feared maybe now had their best days a while behind them ...

  On into the Top 30 we go then. Brace yourselves... *** 30.     RICKY WARWICK - "When Life Was Hard And Fast" When Life Was Hard And Fast   sees Ricky Warwick back to the no-nonsense rock music he's made his name with first in the Almighty and more recently with Black Star Riders. Veering from fired up punk to more moody reflective moments, this is straight ahead fist-in-the-air singalong rock anthems done by a master of the craft. Great stuff. *** 29.     BEANS ON TOAST - "Survival Of The Friendliest" Jay McAllister aka Beans On Toast is one of those songwriters who can make you see the light in even the most dark of times and Survival of the Friendliest  was a much needed ray of sunshine as the bleakness of December and the prospect of yet another lockdown set in. Working with a full band for this one, it's an album full of songs of hope to put an arm around your shoulder and see you through your long dark night of the soul. *** 28.     PE...

  It's been a while since we've heard from Ricky Warwick - two years since his last effort with the Black Star Riders, Another State Of Grace , and a full seven since his previous solo album of original material, 2014's Hearts On Trees  and When Patsy Cline Was Crazy And Guy Mitchell Sang The Blues . Put aside memories of the more acoustic led nature of those last two solo albums though as When Life And Fast  sees Warwick back to the straightforward rock music he's excelled at with Black Star Riders - indeed, this could easily have passed as a new BSR album with the mid-paced rock of the title track and I'd Rather Be Hit  definitely owing a heavy debt to that sound with the shoutalong choruses and twin guitar sound. But there's no doubt that it's done just as well as always and those hooks will take a bit of shifting once they sink into you, mark my words. There's the odd diversion off the track here - Never Corner A Rat  and Still Alive  are furious pun...

  "You're just chokin' on your Coca-Cola/Chokin' on your dreams..."  - The Almighty, Jonestown Mind , 1994 After a few more indie-leaning columns, this week sees Sounds From The Junkshop return to heavier territory. The Almighty were a band I first became aware of after seeing the video to their second single Wild And Wonderful  on the ITV Chart Show Rock Chart. Listening to it now, it's pretty obvious that the main influences were Motorhead, the Cult circa Electric  and AC/DC. As a 12-year-old, of course, I wasn't quite in a position to put all the pieces of that jigsaw into place (I knew of AC/DC through the awesome Thunderstruck single and video of course and might have been aware of the Cult via Fire Woman a year or two earlier but I was a year or two away from discovering Lemmy and co when a re-released Ace of Spades  stormed into the Top 30) but what I did know was that there was something undeniably anthemic about that "C'mon honey and show...