West Midlands mayor visits Coventry music museum
West Midlands elected mayor Andy Street paid a call into Coventry’s music museum, to see this local West Midlands success story.
The museum ranks on Trip Advisor as number one in the West Midlands as best museum, above iconic locations like Coventry Transport Museum, Black Country Living Museum, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and The Walsall Leather Museum
With nearly 18,000 visitors from 84 countries, the museum continues to go from strength to strength.
The West Midlands is well on the map for so many things right now. I wanted to show Andy what can be achieved at the lowest level, basically two people and 10 amazing volunteers all working for free for the love of the music.
It’s great to have his support. I sometimes feel that us smaller attractions get forgotten by the powers that be and it’s good to be able to highlight this local success story that we all have worked so hard to achieve.
Andy Street said of the music museum: “It’s an absolute hidden gem, I’m like a child in a sweet shop, so many exhibits to feast on. I was seventeen in 1980 at the height of 2-Tone, so it’s my era, it’s brilliant to see all the memorabilia and remember all the wonder things that have come out of this city. I would recommend it to anyone and what Pete and Julie have done here is tremendous”.
Returned To The Earth
Nuneaton outfit Returned to Earth have finally got around to releasing their second album ‘The Best Kept Secret’ after working on it for over two years.
Robin Peachey, Steve Peachey and Paul Johnston make up the band. On first hearing, it’s a case of ‘Whoa! why haven’t I heard this band before!’
Let me put it this way, picking out my favourite tracks virtually became the albums track listings. Song after song displays their ability to craft a tune that grabs your attention immediately. If this was a CD from a higher ranking band (say The Alan Parsons Project or Muse) you could be sure it would grab lots of attention in the music press and be hailed as their best work to date.
More than a little attention has gone into this project, it’s slick and musically mature. I was thinking how professional the production on this album is, then I spotted the name Paul Johnston who is the drummer in the band and the producer and engineer of this CD.
Paul has been around many years at Rhythm Studios (and previously Rhythm Records). His talent back in the day was immense, and ‘The Best Kept Secret’ is a continuing testament to his skill as a producer and musician.
That’s not to sideline Robin and his stunning vocals and guitar action and Steve’s keyboards, that are frankly the glue to the whole project.
This really is an album that’s worth checking out. Get yours from their Bandcamp site at https://returnedtotheearth.bandcamp.com/
