Highway To Heavenly. Heavenly

In 2029 it will be 40 years since Heavenly first formed. The band released four albums before disbanding in 1996, after losing their drummer. In 2023 the band decided to re-release its records, played a few shows and from one came the other. Single 'Portland Town' was released in the summer of last year. Now there is an album called Highway To Heavenly followed by an extensive tour taking the band through the world for old fans and new fans, like myself.

What amazes me since running this blog, how many bands out there that are still active or are active again, that I never even heard of at the time and today I'm instantly attracted to. Heavenly is one of these bands. The (bitter)sweet music on the band's fifth album is simply a joy to listen to. Original members Amelia Fletcher, Peter Momtchiloff, Rob Pursey, who were later joined by Cathy Rodgers and new drummer Ian Button who has taken the place of Matthew Fletcher joined forces once again. Together they seem an unbeatable team.

Above all Highway To Heavenly is a pop album, that taps in to everything U.K. pop is. Or, better, was in the first half of the 1980s. The album is an extremely nice trip down memory lane, where everything you remember comes forward shiny and new. The voices of Fletcher and Rodgers cannot hide their age in 2026, but still create that vibe that once was and is today. Heavenly managed to tap into what they once were and aligns itself to bands that today come from New Zealand, like The Beths and Voom.

Photo: Alison Wonderland

The music is both upbeat and bittersweet. Nearly all the songs have that combination, that make songs like this so good to listen to. That organ that cuts through the pop and poprock songs. A delicious up tempo song like 'Excuse Me' really rolls itself into my ears, not holding back, conquering my brain to settle there for the times to come. By then you are halfway into Highway To Heavenly. 

The album has already pleased you for five songs. The pop feel is all over the album, presented in a lush production. Opening song 'Scene Stealing' is the right example to explain the album by. Heavenly shows different sides to its musicianship within a few minutes. From a rich arrangement, to empty and return to the full pop vibe of the song. Dynamics are in full use, but so are all the little extra's. One more guitar, the Farfisa sound besides the regular organ, it is all there to discover.

Heavenly does it all for one whole album long. Okay, the band had decades to prepare for the album, but supposing that it used the past three decades building this album, as Voom allegedly almost did, the time was extremely well spent. Comeback album Highway To Heavenly is a superb album and, well, heavenly.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Highway To Heavenly here:

https://heavenly.bandcamp.com/album/highway-to-heavenly 

The Bootleg Beatles live. Phil, Haarlem Saturday 28 February 2026

Photo: WdN-vdB

The previous time I was ill and had to give my ticket to a friend. This time I was there and listened to a selection the four imitation Beatles made from the five best selling albums of The Beatles. 'Rubber Soul', Revolver', 'Sgt. Pepper's', The Beatles' and 'Abbey Road'. The five albums that can be called the big bang in pop music. The albums where the band threw away most of the existing conventions and started to blend all influences from modern pop and beyond, to create something completely new that still inspires younger generations today, to make music based on this short period of five years from 1965 to 1969. And the period in which George Harrison played an ever bigger part with fabulous songs of his own.

The Bootleg Beatles are, despite being great musicians and singers, imitators. From a distance three of the four could easily be mistaken for Ringo, George and John. Paul has the least likeness. He is also the one who changes the less of the three. The wig is just a little longer and a glued on moustache in Sgt. Pepper is all. The other three change far more radically.

Photo: WdN-vdB

What The Bootleg Beatles do very well, is play a hommage to all the other things going on in these five selected years. Hitsingles come by, mostly little clips of the artists from each individual year, politics, fashion and such. It sets the stage for the next album and gives the four Bootleg Beatles the opportunity to change clothes and hair. They speak with the accents and tone of each Beatle and joke like they used to do. It gives the impression to be looking at the real thing, even though The Beatles did not perform behind three of the five albums. What we are presented, is what it could have been like had The Beatles kept playing live.

Behind the foursome were three brass players, two strings and one person who plays it all and even sings in big choir settings. That allowed for intimate songs like 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'She's Leaving Home' to be played, but also big songs like 'A Day In The Life' or 'Good Morning' in a very convincing way. Of all possible songs, 'Yellow Submarine' was the one that got the hall going, 'Revolution' was the song where people could not remain seated.

Photo "Mr. Kite": WdN-vdB

My personal highlight? "While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. I got to know the song through 'the blue one" after my birthday in 1974. I knew immediately it was special, but my appreciation of the song still grow. Of course there was much more. 'And Your Bird Can Sing', 'Come 'Together', the 'Abbey Road' finally, with pictures of all important people associated with The Beatles, that are no longer with us today, ending with George and John. This includes some contenders for the "fifth Beatle" title. In my view? Stuart Sutcliffe was physically the fifth Beatle, at the time when Pete Best played drums. But the only one really deserving it, is of course George Martin. Without his musical training and willingness to create something special for the whole of the time, Beatles records would not have been the same.

Did I personally miss anything? Yes, that song that since 24 February 2022 can not be sung any more, 'Back In The U.S.S.R.' My band decided to steal it back from Mr. Putin. F*ck him.

Photo "Prudence": WdN-vdB

Although The Bootleg Beatles dress up and pretend, do not let this distract you. The quality offered is extremely high. This is not a clown show, but one that brings The Beatles as close as one can come today. This show is not at the same level as The Analogues, that can be found multiple times on this blog. They had a near academic approach to recreating the music of The Beatles and did so at an awestruck level. The Bootleg Beatles allow some fun to exist as well, just like The Beatles presented themselves in the first half of their career. When the quality does not suffer in any way from the dressing up, etc., both bands deliver, delivered for The Analogues, as the band broke up late 2024. "A splendid time is guaranteed for all", in 2026 as it was on that poster from 1843.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght 

The Devil's Door. And Also The Trees

Search and you will find two albums by And Also The Trees on this blog, 'Untangled (An Introduction To)' and 'The Bone Carver'. With The Devil's Door a third is added. Put it on and you are pulled into a listening session that is somewhere between 'The Dream Of The Blue Turtles' and late night jazz in a smoky club from decades ago.

And Also The Trees started out as a post punk band in the U.K. in 1984. As I wrote before, I've missed it all at the time. Early in its career the band supported The Cure. In 2026 it will once again for three shows in June in Nîmes, so I suppose in the famous Roman theatre there. Full circle, but with a beautiful album on its hands. If post punk is hiding somewhere in The Devil's Door, it is in how the lead guitar plays here and there, but certainly not in the music as a whole.

The Devil's Door is a moody affair, a serious album of epic proportions. The band has not held back to make its latest album sound huge and impressive. Not by hiring a symphony orchestra, no, by putting a lot of attention into detail and atmospherics. Full use was made of synths and (weird) sounds to support the songs. Just listen to how the instrumental song 'Rooftops' plays out. So deceptively relaxed, yet so full of tension.

Singer Simon Huw Jones croons with his darkish voice. Moving through the songs like a snake, slow yet very deliberate. Not unlike Nick Cave I realise. Jones' voice has a lighter though. Together with Justin Jones, guitar, Paul Hill, drums, Grant Gordon, bass and Colin Ozanne, clarinet and various, Jones has created a jazzy environment in which it is good to dwell.

If I had to compare this music further, I can only come up with Tindersticks. Now I have never liked this band, so I could be wrong. Where Tindersticks fails my ears, And Also The Trees pulls me into its new album by the song until it takes over all else in my mind. Simon Huw Jones sings slow. He takes his time to share his lyrics with us. You can see him in that late night jazz club, crooning into the microphone, cigarette between his fingers, smoke curling up in the spotlight aimed at him. Totally having become one with the music, oblivious of all else, in the club and elsewhere.

The Devil's Door manages to create this illusion for the whole of the album. The band plays so subtle, supporting the singer, place an accurate accent here and there and taking short spots in the limelight in the moments without lyrics. Song by song the album delivers.

The rolling drums, the eastern European feel in the way strings and notes played in 'Shared Fate' closes the album in a great way. The song takes me far away from home. And when the album automatically starts playing again, I realise that opening song 'The Silver Key' has that same feel. It makes The Devil's Door a European album and far from British. An album of mesmerising beauty to cherish.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order The  Devil's Door here:

https://andalsothetrees.bandcamp.com/album/the-devils-door 

2025, week 9. 10 singles

This week is most likely the saddest in my life so far. Sad and bad news kept piling up. All this was written before it got really bad. So, enjoy it, enjoy life, family and friends!

Not Around Anymore. Broken Social Scene

With the title of its upcoming album Canadians Broken Social Scene make a jump towards a time where A.I. has replaced us. 'Remember The Humans', 8 May, points out the paradox the A.I. creators share constantly, that they are about to wipe out humanity but forge on nonetheless with developing A.I. Single Not Around Here Anymore puts the dot on the i, should we not have gotten the message. Musically, the single reminds me of the mid 80s jazzy folk episode with bands like Everything but the Girl and Working Week. What this band adds, is some more modern, albeit laidback grooves and atmospherics. The result is a pleasant single that allows Broken Social Scene to make its debut on WoNoBlog.

Might See You There. Weird Nightmare

The solo project of ex-Metz' Alex Edkins keeps putting fun singles out. The 2.02 minutes long Might See You There is no exception. It is a punkrock track with a great pop feel, as Edkins is able to put this feel into his vocal melodies, that simply invite singing along to. It is built on a pop tradition of ages. Singer Julianne Riolino adds the female voice that makes listening to Might See You There even more pleasant. Of the song Edkins says to have been listening to The Undertones a lot. Now that is a band that evolved quite a lot over its four albums (before its hiatus), but I can hear where he's coming from. Punk and pop was written all over the band's first two albums, with 'Teenage Kicks' as absolute highlight. Might See You There is not that good, but absolutely so nice. Album 'Hoopla' will be out on 1 May.

There Goes The Neighborhood EP. Steve Geraci

After releasing a few singles, here's the whole four track EP. Steve Geraci is the front man of a band called The Tear Downs but made this EP with producer Dave Westner, who plays the keys, drums and bass. Geraci himself plays guitar and bass. With the title song, the EP starts with a rock track that is a neat version of rock. Neat as in, it doesn't fly off the road nor cuts corners. Neat as in a golden melody and a lot to like. It opens the door to the EP wide. Geraci and Westner brought their scissors to 'Voice In My Head' and show they can rock a bit more dirty, with a great rhythm on the drums and stop-start guitar and bass work. As I wrote last year, the name springing up is Dan Baird and in this year it still is. I'm sorry to say, to quote Steve Geraci in 'Paradise Lost', it is not for me. The song does not come alive for me, although that sax, that could be taken from a Spandau Ballet song, does its utmost. Everything is alright again with the punky 'Save Yourself', that for me is the prize song of There Goes The Neighborhood. It rocks and is extremely sleazy. In 1977 it would have come with a free safety pin and all.

Eb en Vloed. Claude

Had ik geweten dat Cloud, wat ik verstond, Claude was dan had ik misschien niet naar dit nummer gaan luisteren. Maar het is inderdaad de nieuwe single van de man die Nederland vertegenwoordigde op het Eurovisie Songfestival in 2025. Eb en Vloed is een lekker pop nummer dat aansluit bij muziek zoals die gemaakt wordt door een Amerikaanse band als The War Against Drugs, maar dat met a) een enorm shot pop en b) de mystiek die vaak te horen is bij een band als De Toegift. Claude speelt met alle drie deze onderdelen, geassisteerd door producer/co-schrijver Jeroen van der Voort. De derde schrijver is Arno Krabman. Zoals bij The War on Drugs heeft het nummer die enorme drive voorwaarts. Het tempo is niet zo zeer enorm hoog, maar laat je de hele tijd voorwaarts denken, als het surfen op een draaikolk. Ik ben prettig verrast door dit nummer van Claude, die overigens op een enkel woord na, volledig in het Nederlands zingt. Ook dat zette mij daarom op het verkeerde been. Cloud, eh, Claude, onthoudt die naam.

Pain. Janne Schra

There is a lot to write about Pain. How short it is, 1.45 minutes. The video could have been the set up of photo shoots of which each individual photo could go into a museum. More importantly, is the conclusion that it is a beautiful, serious song. In the past I have never been attracted to Janne Schra's music. It was just not made for my ears. Today I'm writing about a second single from her upcoming album, 'Work Out'. Pain is a bittersweet song, that mixes resignation and expectation, but above all is so warm. That warmth comes for an important part from the electric piano and from Janne Schra's voice. There are also some very nice details in the arrangement. The more you listen, the more details come forward. Pain is a beautiful song. 

Victim Of Luck. Metric

Canadian band Metric is on route to the release of its tenth album, 'Romanticize The Dive', 24 April. The new single announcing the album rang a faint bell. Metric? Searching the blog I found two albums, one from 2012 and one from 2015 (and a solo album by singer Emily Haines reviewed in 2017 by Erwin Zijleman). After that silence on these pages. What to expect of a new single? In short, a pleasant pop track with an electronic angle. Singer Haines has a voice like I mentioned recently in GUNMOLL's debut album, including a reference to Danish band The Astroid Galaxy Tour. All together that makes for a pleasant listening experience. Metric does not rock the boat in any way. It wants to please and succeeds.

Planet I.C.E. Dropkick Murphys 

It took the music world a while but protest songs are totally back in fashion. Now leave it to Dropkick Murphys to lead the punk pack. No nice Irish folk punk, uilleann pipes or tin whistles here. The band around singers Al Barr, who seems to have gotten out of hiatus for this song, and Ken Casey is angry and lets the world know it is, loud and proud. There is no holding back, pointing to scumbags and all. The song is one fast flow of anger oozing out of band and record. It's time more artists start speaking their minds as to all appearances democracy in the U.S. is in peril. "May you live in interesting times", is a famous Chinese quote. Well, at times things are becoming too interesting to my taste. Dropkick Murphys, sing loud, sing proud and I'll wear my hoodie from 2001 in support.

Qualm. KANT

More noise, but this time from Germany. The Aschaffenburg band KANT puts itself in the heavy psych rock niche and I can totally live with that. It takes a few seconds before the band takes off, where the tempo of the drummer already leaves no doubt where this song is going. The rest of the band is taking its time. KANT loves punk as much as heavy psych. The difference is the psychedelic effects on the guitars. Qualm is a song that brings the two sides together. This is a song that will invite one part of the fans to get into the moshpit while the others can move their heads up and down on the side and back of the venue, move on the spot and sing along. KANT knows exactly what it is doing and what effect it wants to reach. This tastes like more, but I understand Qualm is a 7" single only.

Camp Song. Lucky Break

What to make if 'Camp Song', one half of the single with 'City Lights' that both announce Lucky Break's debut album 'Made It' (8 May)? It is a short song, like the big hits around 1965, 2.30 minutes. The U.S. singer-songwriter, presents a song that can be played with an acoustic guitar around the campfire in the woods of Michigan where she wrote the song. What I hear, is a track that has a modern drumbeat and a wide arrangement in which a lot of things happen, especially in the choruses. Some sounds are easy to determine, others a bit harder. The combination makes for a song that has something of a singer-songwriter country song and an alternative twist. Believe it or not, I can, as it were, hear Tammy Wynette sing Camp Song, but also R.E.M. Now that is what I call a hybrid.

Deathwish feat. Mark Fry. The Haunted Youth

In 1979 The Cure released it's first album and one of the tracks, later re-released as single, is 'Boys Don't Cry'. 47 Years down the line the band gets an answer from a Belgium band correcting them. 'Boys Cry Too', is the name of The Haunted Youth's upcoming album (8 May). The single of the album has the uplifting title Deathwish. The music does not give that impression, unless its tempo suggests the equivalent of driving a car at full speed into a wall. It just may, listening to the chaotic end. The Haunted Youth goes at it like the siren rock of Big Country's signature song 'In A Big Country' and adds a relentless pace. The Belgian band sounds familiar because of this but because of the power it has put into Deathwish totally convinces. What the role of Mark Fry is in this song, I don't know. I do know this is not the Mark Fry who featured on this blog last year with 'Not On The Radar. The Demos'.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght