It will be evidence of real justice in the world when Danielle Nicole (and artists like her) get rich and famous. She’s an award-winning singer and bassist, formerly of the brother/brother/sister blues band Trampled Under Foot, but now leading a killer blues/soul trio. Danielle and her band were absolutely cookingThe Alley in Sanford, FL last night. The place was near-packed, and the crowd was into it. The Orange Blossom Blues Society showed up in full force, along with a lot of couples getting their groove on.
The Concert
As they progressed through a night of blues, funk and soul, the grooves were deep and tight and her voice commanded attention. Imagine Aretha Franklin playing bass like James Jamerson. Danielle’s voice is pure soul, wielded with power and showering emotion on the audience. Her bass playing was super tight, and propelled each song with triple-thick grooves. Guitarist Brandon Miller added shades of Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers and played both perfect-for-the-song rhythm parts and soaring, bluesy lead. It’s a great pairing with the soulful foundation of Danielle and drummer Go-Go Ray. He added a little edge and rock energy.
One of highlights of the night for me was at the end of her song Pusher Man. She did an incredible soul vocal solo that compelled an entire room full of partying people to stop dead in their tracks and just listen. It was that powerful. Even though I’m not familiar enough with her catalog to do a song-by-song run down, I did have the thought at one point midway through the night that “each song is better than the last.” It didn’t matter what the names of the songs were, the riffs were cool, the vocals incredible, and the groove was a force of nature.
Near the end of the set the opening act, one man band extraordinaire, Brody Buster, joined in for menacing harp on Zeppelin’s version of “When The Levee Breaks.” Go-Go Ray began the iconic beat, and Brandon Miller’s added the thick slide. Brody wailed and Danielle delivered a powerful vocal performance. It’s not easy to pull off such an iconic song, but they brought it.
Conclusion
If you like Motown, soul and blues you need to check out the Danielle Nicole Band live. I’ve watched a few clips on youtube and they just don’t do it justice. The energy live is incredible. She and her band absolutely brought it, and it was one of the best shows I’ve seen in a while.
Crimson Glory isn’t a band I listened to in their heyday. I stumbled onto them last year while watching an episode of Headbanger’s Ball on Youtube. Their one hit “Lonely” came on and I thought “what a cool band, I like this.” I checked out more of their catalog and really liked what I heard! When I noticed they had a new album coming out, I had to jump on that. I preordered… and promptly forgot, until Amazon delivered a surprise CD on my doorstep.
The album kicks off with Redden the Sun, an aggressive and galloping slab of metal that explores the fate of humanity in the face of cosmic destruction. The intricate arrangement and harmonized guitar parts are trademark Crimson Glory, but the vocal delivery and overall tone of the record has a decidedly modern type of menace. Title track Chasing the Hydra features hyper-speed guitars and soaring vocals by singer Travis Willis. Broken Together starts quietly but builds to a climbing, dual guitar attack. Atmospheric wind and Arabic melodies introduce Indelible Ashes, one of my favorite songs on the album. The lyrics are strong and the riffs are relentless. Angel in my Nightmare offers a brief acoustic respite to the sonic onslaught, but it quickly builds to an almost djent-like crushing rhythm. The album wraps up with bass-heavy Triskaideka that explores fears of all kinds with great lyrics and precise and intricate guitars. The production and mix are modern and clear, so every instrument sounds great. On the other hand, I did find it a bit fatiguing to listen to for extended periods – that’s partially the modern production, but partially the sheer density of the material. It’s an aggressive and unrelenting record, with each song having more to discover with repeated listening. If you’re looking for metal with a bit more going on musically, while retaining a classic approach to the songs and performance, chase this hydra. B-
From BraveWords Records:
BraveWords Records is excited to announce the new Crimson Glory album “Chasing The Hydra”, the first new album from Crimson Glory in 26 years. The album will be released worldwide on all digital services, CD and vinyl on April 17th. Alongside mainstay founding members Ben, Jeff and Dana, the band announced in 2023 the addition of amazing new vocalist Travis Wills and guitarist Mark Borgmeyer. The band have been touring heavily over the past year… making this album one of the most anticipated releases of 2026 within the Heavy Metal Scene!
Released last November, a review is overdue! I’ve liked Spock’s Beard for a while, owning Day for Night and their first album, but I can’t say I’m a super fan. That said, when I saw they were releasing their first album in 7 years, and heard the first track (Invisible), I had to get it. This was the first album I’ve actually preordered in ages. It was pretty fun to swing by Park Avenue CDs and get the disc, then give it that first, loud listen on the drive home. That’s a feeling you can’t get when streaming everything.
The Songs
If you dig incredible keyboard solos, you won’t be disappointed by the album’s opener, Invisibile, featuring dazzling playing by keyboardist Ryo Okumoto. Strong harmonized vocals, thick bass and powerful drumming kick off the 14th studio album by the American progressive rock band. Next the band brings a bit of crunch in Electric Monk, mixing abrupt rhythms and more soaring keys. Like many of their songs, it’s also a lesson in dynamics and arranging, with a quiet reflective bridge highlighting piano and acoustic guitar, only to build up to a guitar-driven climax. Next up is Afourthoughts, my favorite track on the album. The lyrics struck a chord with me, and are featured in an overlapping, call-and-response bridge.
Time before time, it will change your mind All the thoughts that you thought you thought It will all amount to nought It might seem harmless but there’s danger in this enterprise It will all amount to nought We tried to tell you but you can’t be taught We can’t be bought, it will all amount to nought
The bass groove-driven verse serves as a platform for futuristic keyboard and guirar solos, building up energy before dropping down to a quite, acoustic-driven verse. A jazzy piano solo rounds out the bridge and segues to a set of variations on the chorus. The song is a showcase of harmony vocals and interesting arrangemetns.
St. Jerome in the Wilderness is a bit more guitar-driven than the other tracks on the album, although it does feature a beautiful piano, bass, drums & vocal middle section… before launching into a wild guitar solo.
The Archaeoptimist is a 20 minute futuristic tale of a girl and her father trying to find hope in a post-apocalyptic world. Read along in the liner notes, it would make a great short film or TV show.
Next Step concludes the album with more beautiful keys, softer vocals, acoustic guitar and even a bit of flute halfway through. A modern synthesizer solo climaxes to the outtro chorus
Summary
Overall, this is a fantastic modern progressive rock album. The songs are diverse, interesting and incredibly well-executed. It’s inspiring and fun. If you’re a fan of modern progressive rock, do not miss it. A-
Other Notes
The production on the album is modern, and the mix is fantastic. The bass and drums sound wonderful, and the piano and keyboard parts are crisp and clear. The art and packaging is excellent, and thankfully includes the lyrics – which are worth reading through as you listen, particularly for the title track’s complex and interesting story.
All of the music was composed by Ryo Okumoto (keyboards) and Michael Whiteman (acoustic guitar).
Check out the wikipedia page for the album for more information.
This is one of those cases where I opened up Youtube and in my feed was album artwork too good to ignore (from the album “Time To Turn.” The name “Eloy” vaguely jogged a memory, so aside from the artwork I had a suspicion they were a progressive band in the vein of Camel or Colliseum. Indeed! And they’re fantastic. Sometimes the Youtube algorithm gets it right, and it’s also a great highlight for how important album artwork is. I would never have gone and searched them out, and if it was just a tiny postage stamp image it would never have caught my eye. I’m glad it caught my eye, because then it caught my ears.
About the Music
Their music is the soundtrack to a movie i totally want to see. It evokes fantasy and science fiction, as the album artwork implies. I love the mix of rock guitar and heavy use of keyboards. They tend to use traditional guitar/bass/drums/keys arrangements in complex, unique and creative ways to bring out the stories they’re telling. Guitars are featured prominently and drive a lot of parts, but this isn’t a “shreddy” band. There are solos, but not overly long ones. It’s really a perfect balance of elements. You won’t hear much of the bagpipes or flute as some prog bands did, but to me it works better. It’s what my ears want to hear (most of the time), and the records sound so full. In a way, perhaps vocally more than anything, they remind me a bit of Jethro Tull.
Their songs are very soundtrack-esque. Listening to Time to Turn the other morning, I could picture an amazing fantasy movie in my head. All of their albums tell a story and take you on a journey. To me, it’s what the best of progressive rock is about.
Time to Turn (1982)
I dug into the catalog a bit over the last few days, and I absolutely love this band. If you like progressive rock that has the feel of an exotic soundtrack, definitely check them out. They have several greatest hits albums, but you might want to just pick and album and get the full experience.
About the Band
Eloy is a German progressive rock band, founded in 1969 by guitarist Frank Bornemann. They never made it big in the states, but they had a long career all the way up to 2023’s Echoes from the Past.
From the wikipedia article about the band: “The name Eloy is based on the futurist race of humans from the book The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (there spelled “Eloi”). Bornemann described the origin of the name of the band thus: “Wells describes in his book the situation of mankind about 800,000 years later, and ‘Eloy’ is a human race in his story.”
Other Recommendations
I listened to the album Ocean all the way through, and highly recommend it
I also listened to Greatest Hits: Vol 1 in order to get a broader view of the band, and I liked everything I heard.
Their second album, “Dawn,” is also excellent:
Album Artwork
As mentioned, the album artwork initially caught my eye. Interestingly, I tend to prefer the UK-exclusive album covers, which are more of a fantasy style. Here are a few highlights:
Album Artwork by Walter Seyffer (artistic concept) and Ulli Dinger (photography)
UK Album Cover by Rodney Matthews
Conclusion
If you want a break from typical 4 minute rock songs, but still want to rock – check out Eloy. They’re a guitar-driven band, but not overly guitar-heavy. These aren’t 10 minute guitar solo songs. They’re tightly composed, and they take you on a journey. The guitar playing is fantastic but all the musicians shine.
When I was a young kid, my family would take a lot of camping trips. I remember listening to four distinct 8 tracks and/or cassettes: Kenny Rogers “The Gambler,” John Denver, the Star Wars sound track… and Harry Belafonte. I don’t know how my parents got into him, maybe just the popularity of Calypso in the 60s, but it was in frequent rotation on those trips. When I was about seven years old, maybe a bit younger or older, I remember going somewhere with my mother when we got a flat tire. Some family friends lived not too far way, so we decided to walk to their house to get help. I refused to leave the Harry Belafonte tape in the car, because I didn’t want to lose it or didn’t want someone to steal it. That’s how much it meant to me! I haven’t listened to him much at all since then – almost 50 years.
Recently I was driving home with my son from a father-son trip, and I was looking for something mellow. I remembered listening to Harry Belafonte and put him on. Every hit came right back as if I heard it yesterday. I’ts amazing how deep in my memory those songs go.
Perhaps it was in my had as I recently watched The Greatest Night In Pop – a documentary about the making of We Are The World. I didn’t realize Harry Belafonte was the driver of the whole event.
Two Of My Favorites
No surprises here, the songs I love the most are ones I heard over and over in our Jeep Cherokee in the 70s. My favorite song, the one that got me back to listening to Harry Belafonte, is perhaps his biggest hit: Jamaican Farewell. It’s sad, but hopeful at the same time. Such a beautifully simple melody. It’s also one of those songs that can be done so many different ways, and if you watch a few live versions you can see an incredible spectrum of instrumentation and arrangement.
I always like “Matilda” as well, although I had no idea what the lyrics were about when I was 8 years old. Check out the live version below, it’s a great example of how much you can do with a simple song.
This live version has an incredible vocal choir ending
Live
His live performances are often so much more elaborate than what’s recorded, I wanted to share a couple highlights. As noted above, a song like Jamaican Farewell that’s recorded as a guitar piece can be done with a full band, lots of percussion, harmonized vocals… it’s a whole different experience live.
What an incredible performance – and band!
Fun live version of “Jamaican Farewell”
I recently picked up his Live at Carnegie Hall album ($5 from Bossa N’ Roll Records in Orlando). It’s a great concert – 1959. Two album release, with excellent liner notes that give a bit of background about each song.
Harry Belafonte and the Blues
Did you know he did two blues albums? This one I haven’t explored, but learned about it as I looked up more for this post. It’s fantastic! 1947 from RCA: Belafonte Sings the Blues. Listen to his incredible, smooth vibrato on “A Fool For You.”
Another great album with a more contemporary, “60s” style of blues came out in 64: Ballads, Blues and Boasters. Check out this cover of the delta blues classic John the Revelator:
Learn More
Learn more about Harry Belafonte from his wikipedia page, but here’s a brief summary of his career:
Born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023), Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte’s career breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.[1]
I bought a ticket to this last minute. It had been on my radar for a while, but I’ve been out to a lot of shows lately and wanted to see if it would work out with the family. I’m not very familiar with her catalog, but I have seen a few Youtube clips and read some interviews. With the okay from the family, and the night clear, I headed out.
She played at a club called The Conduit in Winter Park (Orlando, FL). It was actually a pretty cool metal bar in a strip mall. The back wall was covered in metal tour posters, and there were big banners for bands like Cynic behind the mixing booth. Doors opened at 7pm, and Lari and her band went on at 8pm. She played for about an hour, and then did a 15 minute encore. The sound was decent overall, but a bit loud for the size of the room. I had my medium ear plugs in for most of the night.
I enjoyed this tour poster in particular. Vomiting Rectum is quite the name for a band.
The crowd was pretty good – maybe 50-100 people. Nice mix of age and gender, too. Quite a few couples. A few older guitar-heads like myself. A few young-ish women. Once again I’m encouraged that this type of artist can do successful tour stops in Orlando. The crowd was into it, and she has a pretty vocal fan base here.
The Band and Overall Impressions
For this kind of show, I wasn’t sure if it would be just her playing with tracks, or a full band. Thankfully it was the latter. Her band was great and featured a second guitarist, bassist, and drummer. Everyone got a solo during the set, and made the most of it.
My biggest takeway was that wow, she has one of the most gorgeous guitar tones I’ve ever heard. Clear, sweet, articulate… just incredibly beautiful. She played a couple of her Ibanez signature models through a Laney amp. The second guitarist played a mix of strats and teles, and an Abasi for one song.
Her music reminded me of a mix of Andy Timmons and Steve Vai. Not quite as out there and quirky as Vai, but in that vein. It felt very modern, though. There are certain rhythmic elements common in modern shred that her music consistently featured. In that sense, it reminded me of Plini or Animals as Leaders.
Using the heavy, distorted 7-string Tosin Abasi guitar added some variety. By the end though, as good as it was, the songs did feel very same-y by the end of the night. If you like this kind of melodic shred, you’ll like Lari Basilio. She’s an incredible player, but it’s not the kind of show people who aren’t into this style of music will likely get drawn into. I might have been a bit burned out and tired, to be fair, so that might be a factor in why I wasn’t as into it as some of the other shows I’ve seen recently. Still, she’s an incredible player and it was worth going. I definitely enjoyed it.
Lari and her band tearing it up at The Conduit, Winter Park, FL
Setlist
I’m not super familiar with her music, so I didn’t recognize the songs by name, but Gemini says:
The Way Home
Dear D
Bliss
Not Alone
Alive and Living
Running to the Other Side
Fearless
All to You
Forever
Here for You
New Chapter
Violet
Heartbeat
Far More
Sunny Days
Your Love
Redemption (Encore)
Seasons (Encore)
The Abasi 7-string featured on a heavier song
Check out further
Check out her tour page to see if she’s coming to a town near you.
Here’s a live clip from a few months ago (not the show I saw):
I wrote about my first time seeing Sue Foley quite a few years ago, so when I saw she was coming to Orlando to do a solo acoustic show, I was definitely interested. While I hadn’t listened to it yet, I had read good reviews of her latest album One Guitar Woman. The album was nominated for a Grammy, and won Acoustic Album of the Year in the 2025 Blues Music Awards.
The Venue
She played at Judson’s Live, which is a small, intimate restaurant-style venue attached to Orlando’s beautiful Dr. Phillips Center. It’s a great place to see an acoustic show like this. Four comfortable chairs per table, and every seat is good. For this kind of show, the sound was super clear but not super loud. It let the nuance of the music come though. It reminds me of concerts I’ve seen at the Old Towne School of Folk Music in Chicago.
I was encouraged to see the place packed, presumably sold out. I sat at a table with one gentleman who had seen Sue Foley 7-8 times, going way back to when she was a teenager; and a father and son. It was a good mix of men and woman, but as with most blues these days, skewed oler.
Setlist and the Music
I didn’t realize how much of an actual show this would be, compared to a more traditional “blues set.” The setlist followed her One Guitar Woman album, and each song was prefaced with interesting and compellingly-told stories of the songs, the women who wrote or performed them, and why she chose them. It was a history lesson as well as a performance. I haven’t seen this type of show in a long time, and reminded me of some of the folk artists I saw in Chicago years ago, like Odetta. I really loved it, and it inspired me to go deeper into the catalogs of the artists she’s representing. Note that she goes into depth on this in the insert of the One Guitar Woman album as well.
She mostly played her nylon string guitar, particularly for the blues, classical and flamenco pieces. Her blues is just so … solid. Precise, but not sterile. When performing solo acoustic, groove is essential, and she has it. For a few songs, notably her tribute to Mother Maybelle Carter entitled “Maybell’s Guitar” was on a steel string acoustic. At the very end of the set she pulled out her iconic pink paisley telecaster “Pinky” and did Hurricane Girl from her latest electric album.
Her bassist joined her for the last third or quarter of the set, which added a bit of sonic variety.
I was particularly impressed with her voice. I know she can sing, but in this kind of venue and this kind of show, it really let the nuance and emotion come through. She’s got a great mix of smooth and grit. No, she’s not an 80 year old black man from the delta, but all of the emotion and power of the songs came though. That’s what a great artist should do – convey the emotion and power of the song, with your unique voice.
As for guitar, her fingerpicking throughout was incredible. As you may or may not know, Sue Foley is an accomplished Flamenco guitarist as well. She played a long version of La Malaguena as a tribute to Charo and absolutely nailed it. I loved the variety – both in guitars and styles, covering blues, country, flamenco and one classical piece. Blues is her home base, and that was most of the set, but the other styles fit right into the show and she performed them well.
I don’t recall the exact order of her set, but she played just about all of the songs on the album:
Hurricane Girl (Sue Foley) – played on “Pinky,” her iconic pink paisley telecaster
Summary and More Info
I had a long, stressful week and this was just what I needed. The venue was great, and the music was great. It was inspiring to see such a well-put together show, delivered with passion and excellence. If you get a chance to see Sue Foley live, whether acoustic or electric, go do it.
Guitar Vince 