A veritable rock legend from they heyday of the 1970’s, Stackridge made a miraculous comeback in 2005 on Angel Air Records and they follow with an even more brilliant new studio album, released on Helium Records during the summer of ‘09, not surprisingly called A Victory For Common Sense. Although signed by record mogul Seymour Stein of Sire Records here in the U.S. back in the mid ‘70s as a progressive pop/rock band with a die hard contingent of U.S. fans, Stein unfortunately had bigger fish to fry, eventually moving away from progressive rock to more mainstream dance music oriented artists like Talking Heads and Madonna. Even so, produced earlier by Beatles legend George Martin, Stackridge were quintessentially British and across the boards brilliant. Whereas The Beatles made their name on the coattails of rock and roll pioneers like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Arthur Alexander and Little Richard, Stackridge were the first post ‘69 progressive pop and rock version of what you might today call the Beatles 2.0. The genius of their work with Sir George and that classic studio sound comes into focus on what some are calling the finest Stackridge album ever. Simply put, in this age of computer recording, they don’t make records like A Victory For Common Sense anymore. On their 2009 CD, the core Stackridge axis of Andy Davis, James Warren, Crun Walter and Mutter Slater are given a fab studio sheen from ace producer and sound wizard Chris Hughes. Where as their excellent comeback CD from 2005—the aptly titled Sex And Flags—was more a collection of new Stackridge and other recent early 2000's era music, A Victory For Common Sense is freshly glowing and flowing new musical statement that really sounds like it was crafted with care in the studio. Kicking off with a blistering, heavy metal version of the Davis / Warren first post-Stackridge hit, their 1979 Korgis classic, “Boots And Shoes,” the nine tracks here gather a new found wealth memorable music and melodies deeply etched in the vein of the classic ‘60s Beatles and ‘70s Stackridge sound. Simply a joy to play and play again, A Victory For Common Sense might even be called the Stackridge equivalent of Abbey Road, it's just that good. www.HeliumRecords.co.uk / www.Stackridge.net / www.avictoryforcommonsense.com

Attention Artists and Record Companies: Have your CD reviewed by mwe3.com. Send to: MWE3.com CD Reviews Editor Robert Silverstein, P.O. Box 630249, Little Neck, N.Y. 11363-0249 E-mail: breakthru87@mwe3.com