Thursday, May 05, 2022

1150. The Saints / (I'm) Stranded. 1977. 4/5

The Saints was founded in Brisbane in 1973 as Kid Galahad and the Eternals, consisting of lead singer Chris Bailey, guitarist Ed Kuepper and drummer Ivor Hay. In their early days, like a lot of Australian pub rock that was beginning to break through they found their own style and with it a burgeoning audience. What they began employing was a sound that had fast tempo, raucous vocals and a guitar with lots of distortion which set them apart from other bands at the time. Indeed, by 1974 when they had renamed themselves The Saints their reputation was beginning to precede them. While the band themselves had been inspired by such acts as Little Richards and Elvis Presley, they had other inklings from bands like The Stooges and MC5. It was the style though, the faster more raucous style of their songs that was what started their influential days. Kuepper explained that when the band played live, they tended to get faster and faster through their nerves in front of audiences. Indeed, Ian McFarlane the Australian rock historian wrote that the band had developed their own distinctive sound, defined by Kuepper’s frenetic whirlwind guitar style and Bailey’s arrogant snarl.In June 1976, the Saints recorded two tracks, "(I'm) Stranded" and "No Time". Unable to find any interested label, they formed Fatal Records and independently released their debut single in September. They sent the single to radio stations and magazines in Australia with almost no interest, and United Kingdom where a small label issued the single. Sounds magazine's reviewer, John Ingham, declared it, "Single of this and every week". Following this, EMI head office in London contacted the Sydney branch and directed that they be signed to a three-album contract.
Over two days in December 1976, the group recorded their first LP, (I'm) Stranded, with Rod Coe producing. They supported AC/DC in late December 1976 and, early in 1977, relocated to Sydney, in the hope of eternal fame.

The Saints have been referred to as one of the first punk bands. They are contemporaries of The Ramones who began around the same time, and when (I'm) Stranded was released in the UK, it became one of the forerunners of the genre, pre-dating the albums of the UK punk scene by bands such as The Clash, the Damned and the Sex Pistols, and it was the lead single and opening track of the album, the eponymous “I’m Stranded” that pushed that, containing all of the elements that make the best punk rock songs. It’s not an easy thing for any band when the first song from their first album, which doubled as the band’s first single, is still the most renown and recognisable song that the band has produced. But while that is true in this situation, it doesn’t mean that it is the only great song on the album. And, that the classifying of it as a pure punk rock album would be premature.
Sure, there are those songs, of which "I’m Stranded" is one of the standouts. “One Way Street” backs it up superbly, rattling along in a way that even now you can visualise just how the moshpits at the front of the stage would have been a sea of bodies throwing themselves around while listening to it. The cover version of the Missing Links song “Wild About You” is terrific, a thrashy hard core version that exudes such violent energy it is contagious.

On the other side of the coin, there is a song like “Messin’ With the Kid”, one that for me doesn’t fit the profile, and yet is not the last time I heard such tones in a punk album or song. If you listen to this song, and then listen to some of the slower, changeup songs from bands such as The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers, you will find the roots of those songs in this song. It even brings me memories of songs by REM and Joy Division and the like. At almost six minutes it is also the longest song on the album, and feels longer because it is the same riff throughout, the antithesis of a real form punk song. In my opinion. And one I could skip every time it comes on. It really halts the momentum of the album, something made even more obvious once you crash back into “Erotic Neurotic”, with the pace picking up again, and the fact the one riff runs through the song not so important because of the energy and short lived song time. All of this continues on with great tracks like “No Time”, “Kissin’ Cousins”, “Demolition Girl” and the closer “Nights in Venice”. “Story of Love” breaks up these songs by once again dropping the tempo and trying to be something else. And in the long run perhaps it and “Messin’ With he Kids” were songs that allowed the band and the fans to catch their breath at gigs, but they both feel out of place on an album that sets itself up as something completely separate from what they offer.

It seems as though I have been aware of this album for most of my life, and certainly heard pieces of it in high school, but didn’t really listen to it all the way through myself until 20 odd years ago, and it wasn’t until then that I could hear just what it was that has been deemed as so influential to the genre. It’s interesting that The Saints ended up relocating to the UK after the luke warm response to their efforts to record. Once in the UK though, EMI had wanted to promote them as a typical punk band, with the old spiked hairstyle and ripped jeans and the link. But the band was not interested in that, and wanted to retain the style they had, the Australia pub band style of jeans and shirts.
Beyond that, the band didn’t stick to the style that had got them their break. Their next album was more of an R&B style, including a song using a brass section, trying to escape what they felt was the pigeon-holing effect of the punk style.
I first heard the album as a part of a mixed-tape that circulated amongst our school group in the mid-1980’s, which was one of my first exposures to a wider punk community. And even then, although the album has a sound that is punk-derived, is it really that? The fact that The Saints are Australian and were developing those songs and style away from the sound that The Ramones had already developed in the US, and what was just about to explode in the UK, the fact that its foundation are the Australian pub rock scene do tend to give it an extra bite that perhaps otherwise it would not have had. It wasn’t pushed by the kind of look that the UK punk scene thrived on in the years following its release, the band themselves retained the ‘look’ that they had grown up watching and then built up as a result.

I put on this album now, and, apart from those two songs which I’ve mentioned, the kind of songs that always turn my stomach no matter who the artist is or what genre they come from, this is still a great listen. It stands as a moment in time, one that is still so highly thought of that it was one of only 8 albums that had a retrospective made on it on the TV series Great Australian Albums.
How many of you have actually heard this album? Sat down and listened to it? If you have any enjoyment of this genre of music it is one worth searching out and experiencing.

1149. Live / Secret Samadhi. 1997. 3/5

Live is another band that started at school, this one all the way back in 1984, vocalist Ed Kowalcyzk joining the band after the original trio of lead guitarist Chad Taylor, bass guitarist Patrick Dahlheimer and drummer Chad Gracey lost a talent quest. And, like many of these same bands for whom ‘overnight success’ took a decade or more to develop, it was the hard work along the way that built the band up to what they became. And it was this that, from an outsiders perspective, kept them grounded enough to continue chasing that dream. They self released cassettes of demo songs, and eventually an EP as well, until they were eventually signed by Radioactive Records. Having played under the name of Public Affection it was now they changed their name to Live. Their debut album Mental Jewelry in 1991 contained the minor single hit "Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)". But it wasn’t until 1994’s Throwing Copper that the band truly made their mark, and around the world. Several hit singles, long tours, and, after 52 weeks on the US charts, it finally went to number 1.After all of this success, as with all albums such as their previous release, trying to come up with an album that could equal or top it must have been a daunting task, and the desire to prove that they were not one hit wonders, and could produce something else that would surprise and delight the music listening world, would have been a huge one, I would imagine. Given the success of the previous album, they were afforded a bigger production budget and more time in which to write and record, something that can often cause more problems than not. And, whereas Throwing Copper had been produced by the renown producer Jerry Harrison, who had also been a member of Talking Heads, the band for this album decided to bring back Jay Healey as producer, who had been in charge of their first ever self-released cassette. Was this in an effort to ‘rediscover’ or return to their roots, or were they looking to make a statement that it was not the clean and sharp production that Harrison had performed for Throwing Copper that had made it so popular, and that they could reproduce that by utilising the tricks of their youth?

From the outset of the album, there is a difference from what Throwing Copper had produced. At the time, I had never heard their first album, and once I had had this album for a while I wondered if this was closer to that style. To be honest I still don’t have an answer to that. However, all fans of the band will know the opening of “Rattlesnake” and “Lakini’s Juice”, given the amount of airplay they received when they were released as singles from the album. There is a good energy from both.
From this point on, I get a little lost. “Graze” sits right back in tempo with the old alternative guitar distortion riff that runs through the whole song. “Century” and “Ghost” at times appear to be the same song, with the intertwined tempo and guitar riff similarly able to be confused between the two. And both “Unsheathed” and “Insomnia and the Hole in the Universe” don’t really get going until halfway through the song, it’s just a really strange way to go about it.
“Turn My Head” was released as a single and the format and arrangement of the song indicates why it was. The soft rock ballad, with accompanying string arrangements throughout, is a natural to pluck at the heartstrings of the masses, and hopefully pluck the dollars out of their wallets too. So for the fans of those songs out there, this one was for you. But for me, it just doesn’t grab me at all. Surprise surprise! long time listeners to this podcast will cry out! Instead, the next song, “Heropsychodreamer”, is 100% better when it comes to the best that the band can deliver. A brilliant bass line, well supported by a great guitar riff and hard hitting drums, and Ed’s vocals not crooning but belting out the lyrics. This is still the song that should have been the basis of this album for me. Short and sharp, but with power and drive. “Freaks” is another of the singles, and is also a mixed bag, starting off slow before building to a harder crescendo at its conclusion. And the final two songs of the album are really… easy listening tracks. If you want to have something on in the background while you are reading and/or drifting off to sleep, then the back half of this album, apart from the aforementioned “Heropsychodreamer”, is probably the ideal thing to throw on. And of course there is a market for this, and perhaps the fans of Live think these are the bees knees. But as someone who came into the band on the back of the energy and vitality of the previous album, it becomes a little disappointing as we reach the conclusion of this album.

I bought this album on that first week it was released, 25 years ago. Throwing Copper was one of a number of albums I bought back in 1995 when I was going through a rough period of my life, and it along with those other albums got me through it. And there is little doubt that I still hold it in such high regard because of that time and how the magic of music helped… save me. So Secret Samadhi had a lot to live up to in that regard alone, let alone just backing up a great album. And it was always on the back foot. The single “Lakini’s Juice” had come out just before this, and it wasn’t exactly what I had been looking for, and the music video was just whacked out, I still don’t have a clue what they were hoping to achieve with it.
I had a lot of trouble getting into this album, and I never actually succeeded in doing so. I gave it a fair run at the time of its release, but to be fair it was up against some other albums I had a lot more fascination with so it probably went on the backburner pretty quickly. And that was all a matter of musical taste. In comparison to The Offspring’s “Ixnay on the Hombre” for instance, it simply didn’t stand a chance. My major problem with the album was the lack of a real drive in the majority of the songs. It felt as though it was the wrong era for the album to have been written. Compare it to their next album, The Distance to Here, which ironically saw the return of Jerry Harrison as producer, and it highlights the weaknesses overall of this album. The songs for me just don’t have the same power or even arrangement as the albums that sandwich it. There are a few moments as I’ve mentioned, but the rest is a bit… blah. I pulled it out again some years later, probably over a decade ago now, just to see if time had mellowed my opinion or I had missed something at the time, or had my thoughts coloured by other music. And, in the end, I discovered I still felt the same way about it. This week, I have done that again, for the benefit of this podcast episode. And, 25 years later, as I sat here just listening to the album and not trying to judge it, but just allow myself to listen to it, I probably do find it more enjoyable now than I did then. And I do! The closing track, “Gas Hed Goes West” never ever attracted me, in fact I used to think it was a terrible way to end the album, but over the last week I have listened to that track more than a dozen times, and now in my advanced age I think it is a terrific song. But back then I was in my 20’s, and now I am in my 50’s. And to be fair I think that is where this album digresses. I’m pretty sure they weren’t aiming this album at 50 year olds all those years ago, but I feel it actually can be appreciated better by them. At least, by 50 year olds who are looking for a quiet album to nod off to rather than an album to jump around to.

1148. The Offspring / Ixnay on the Hombre. 1997. 4.5/5

When Smash had been released and that first single “Come Out and Play” had been released and was tsunamied on radio airplay, it encouraged me to go out and buy the album. And, I loved it. Played it to death. Knew all the words, which even by that time of my life was becoming a novelty time did not always allow. And I think it is significant that the band was not an overnight sensation. Sure, most people who got into the band did so on that Smash album and felt as though they had come out of nowhere, but they had already been together for ten years prior to it, and had also released albums before this, so the sound they came out with was one they had been curating for some time. It was a unique one, with high octane vocals, energetic guitars and drums, and that infusion of a modernised punk and alternative sound that provided a counter punch to the end days of grunge and the beginnings of industrial metal.When it came to the release of their follow up album, because of the success of Smash and having signed for a major label the band not only had a recording studio available to them for a stretch of time they had more time available in which to write and record. Probably the biggest question going into this album, certainly from my own perspective as a one-album fan, was in what direction the new songs would go. Because the music world was still fluxing, and sometimes the success of an album can influence the next one in ways that don’t always work. Given the commercial success would the band look to go further down that lie with their songs, or would they stick to their roots and perhaps further the songs in a modern punk style. It was a three year gap between albums, enough time during the 1990’s for the popular music style to have changed completely. Which it had. And yet the best bands were able to find a way to negotiate that and keep themselves relevant. Ixnay on the Hombre managed to do that.

The Offspring began a trend of theirs with monologues on their albums, and what better way to open an album that to have the legendary Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedy’s fame doing so to open their new album. “Disclaimer” perfectly sums up the attitude of band when it comes to the “Parental Advisory” stickers than some bands were forced to have on their CDs because of some of the language used or the subject matter of the lyrics of certain songs. A perfect riposte delivered by one of the best in the business.
The album then kicks off for real with the brilliant “The Meaning of Life”, setting the tone for the album to come. Now for me, what makes this album is the groove that comes from the track list. The songs come at you at different tempos and somewhat different styles, but it is the groove of the album that connects it all together. The faster tempo of the opening tracks “The Meaning of Life” and “Mota” still flow nicely and uninterrupted into the next level of “Me and My Old Lady” and “Cool to Hate” because of the terrific groove created by Ron Welty’s drums and Greg K’s brilliant bass lines, still for me the absolute highlights of the album. The bass guitar dominates every song, not only creating the base around which each song is constructed but then leading the song’s direction. Most of the attention comes from Dexter Holland’s unique vocal abilities along with Noodles great backing and harmony vocals, and their great partnership on guitars, but for me it is the bass that has been the best aspect of the majority of the songs here since its release. Then the terrific tempo change in the middle of “Cool to Hate”, still one of my favourite Offspring songs, and the lyrics throughout… I wish this song had been written when I was at school, it would have been my anthem. I’m sure it was for so many who were at school when this album was released.
Then you have the two main singles off the album, which although I still enjoy to this day are not really the best songs on the album, and to me that usually coincides with the ultimate strength of the album, the fact that the songs released for radio airplay to garner popularity of the masses are actually not even the best songs of the album itself. “Gone Away” and “All I Want” definitely sit in this bracket, songs that are good to listen to but if I’m gong to watch The Offspring there are probably five other songs on the album I’d rather hear first. And then there is the superb closing track, four and a half minutes long just to prove that they are capable of extending themselves, without losing their intensity and hard core fist pumping and fist shaking at the world.

I’ve mentioned a couple of times here, and probably will again when it comes to other albums released in this era, how music it was a changin’ around this time. The bands that I had grown up with had changed their own style, mostly not for the better, though I continued to listen to them and their albums. But I was also discovering other bands who were coming into their own and releasing albums that became iconic once they had had time to grow on their audience. And I firmly believe that Ixnay on the Hombre is one of those albums. Smash had broken the band worldwide, and future releases Americana and Conspiracy of One perpetuated their popularity and genre hopping ability. But here on Ixnay on the Hombre is where the band really proved that it could cross thread between an alternative styled post modern punk that drew from the fast paced short styled hard hitting lyrical songs with the commercial popularity that saw radio airplay dominated and album sales climb, all the while creating a fan base that crossed over into several different eras.
All of that is a mouthful, and perhaps over-exclaims or complicates just what this album is able to achieve. And, of course, there will be people who will disagree. But I find everything about this album to be top shelf. If you want thoughtful lyrics banging on about topics that were at the hearts of the bands target audience at the time of its release, you’ve got it. C’mon – the meaning of life, hating school, life and death, positive thoughts on being alive…. Its all there in the lyrical outtake. All of this pumped along by terrific music driven by the high velocity guitars and held together by that cranking rhythm of bass and drums, and vocals that encourage you to sing along at the top of your voice.

Everything about this album works. It gets you moving, it gets the blood pumping. You can listen to it at home in your armchair, you can crank it at a party to get it livened up. For me there were some other brilliant albums released in 1997. This one still remains near the top of the list of those releases. It’s the album that to me proved that The Offspring was not a one-hit wonder, it was a band that was here for the long term and had the skill, talent and ability to make it a long term contribution. History has proven that to be the case, and having revisited this album a lot over the past week to celebrate its 25th anniversary, I’m back again for the long haul.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

1147. BLAZE / Tenth Dimension. 2002. 4.5/5

In many ways it is both strange that Blaze Bayley the artist has as low a profile as he does, both now and 20 years ago, and strange that he has such a high profile as he does. His first band Wolfsbane had had some minor success, but when Iron Maiden hired him as the replacement for Bruce Dickinson in 1994 over more high profile candidates such as ex-Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske there was a sense of ‘who is this guy?’ Those two Maiden albums with Blaze as vocalist still generate a mixed reaction from fans. And yet, on leaving the band with the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, and forming his own band, he was able to syphon off enough of his Maiden persona to get good support gigs, and by the by write and record a pretty damn excellent debut album Silicon Messiah. Following the success of that album and tour, Blaze and the band, guitarists Steve Wray and John Slater, bass guitarist Rob Naylor and drummer Jeff Singer, moved into writing and recording the follow up. Hooking up with acclaimed producer Andy Sneap, Blaze came up with the story idea for what became the concept album. He had done a lot of research into quantum physics and read a number of published articles about the subject, including a link between quantum physics and paranormal phenomena, and most of the ideas he read about related to superstring theory, the idea that inspired the story of the album. It tells the tale of Professor Christopher Blane and his journey to find the tenth dimension and discover its true meaning. It became Tenth Dimension.
So while it has been established that the album has a story and that it is all interconnected, when it comes to music, if the songs themselves don’t reflect the same emotion and energy then none of it matters. Fortunately, the band has produced not only some excellent songs here they have created an atmosphere that enhances. The opening instrumental of “Forgotten Future” crashes into the opening track of “Kill and Destroy”, a perfect meshing of great riffs from Wray and Slater and Blaze’s awesome vocals that kick the song off from the start and drives it to its conclusion. It has been, and remains, one of Blaze’s best songs. It is the perfect tempo and riffage. “End Dream” then comes in with a slower tempo but retains the energy, while the title track is a beauty, filled with great vocals and suitably excellent dual guitar solos. It’s a great start to the album, and continues with “Leap of Faith” which also bounds along in that same great bouncing tempo.
Even when the album slows down in the middle, such as with the growing ascendance from quiet acoustic to faster heavier tones in “Nothing Will Stop Me”, and with the short acoustic “The Truth Revealed” into “Meant to Be”, the band perform it terrifically well. Other bands of the era may have looked to turn “Meant to Be” into a power ballad, but as a part of the story it most definitely isn’t a ballad. This is where Blaze’s vocals shine through, living proof to the doubters that he can most definitely sing when he isn’t expected to be singing at the same pitch as Bruce Dickinson.
“Speed of Light” once again showcases just how good Blaze and the band are when they go for the uptempo heavy rocking track, because this is another ripper on this album. It flies along and is where the band sounds at their best. And when listening to the album, it is the standout of the back half of the album, and definitely because of its pace and fire, whereas songs such as “Land of the Blind” and “Stealing Time” are lesser in comparison. Also, somewhat, is the closing track “Stranger to the Light”, which is the longest song on the album, and is dialled right back into the slower, crunching song as the finale to the story. Now, while I like the song, and you can understand why it is designed the way it is, it gets found out because of the excellence of the previous track, and that does tend to hold back the last third of the album compared to what comes at the front end.

When Blaze was with Iron Maiden, he was always going to be judged against Bruce Dickinson and the work he had done in the band. That meant that the songs he performed on and co-wrote would be judged against the best era of Iron Maiden, and he was never going to be able to win that competition. Beyond that though, on both his debut album and this album, Blaze found a great band with terrific musicians who wrote songs that not only better suited Blaze’s excellent vocals, but music that better suited the generation. I love the two albums Blaze sang on for Maiden, but the music led by Steve Harris had already begun to creep towards the progressive sound, with ten minute tracks that also had instrumental start and finishes and whose tempo was dragged right back from the golden era of Iron Maiden. That wasn’t something that Blaze could change, and in many ways it was he that felt the brunt of blame for it.
But here on Tenth Dimension, you get a much better idea of Blaze’s own ideas for his brand of heavy metal. All of the songs here range from 4-6 minutes, there is an excellent mixture of the fast tempo, high energy, guitar driven heavy metal tracks along with thoughtfully vocalled, mid-tempo songs that don’t lose themselves into becoming power ballads that euro metal bands may do. Having put together a terrific range of musicians who not only play well, but contributed to the writing of the music and shared a similar ideology, you can hear on both this album and the previous album that they are a great fit. Jeff Singer on drums is terrific, and the bass lines of Rob Naylor purr along beautifully throughout. The guitar riffing from Steve Wray and John Slater is quite remarkable, and their contributions to the writing of the songs is exceptional. Indeed, everything about this version of the band is brilliant, and having heard both of the first two albums, it continues to be a regret that this was their final act together. As was to become common place in Blaze’s first decade, management and money problems meant that all four other members of the band moved on following the tour to promote Tenth Dimension, and Blaze had to recruit a whole new assembly for his next album.

And just one further comment. Blaze’s first album was released at the same time as Iron Maiden’s reunion album Brave New World in 2000, while their follow up Dance of Death” came out in 2003. And I love both of those albums, because how couldn’t you? It’s Iron Maiden, as you expect them to be. But, and many will say I am either mad or blinded to be saying this, I have always felt that both Silicon Messiah and Tenth Dimension hold their own against both of those Iron Maiden albums on their own merits, because Blaze had progressed down a path that he was able to lead, rather than be a hired member. And that for me is the best part of Tenth Dimension – that a band of little-known performers with their slightly better known lead singer were able to come out and produce an album that loses nothing in comparison to a band with a massively greater profile.

1146. Dream Theater / A View from the Top of the World. 2021. 4/5

Anyone who has heard of Dream Theater and has listened to them should know what to expect here. As far back as their first single, “Pull Me Under” off the Images and Words album from 1992, Dream Theater has provided a blueprint that they continue to stretch and weave. Mixing brilliant musicianship with soaring vocals, each album provides a stability yet varied environment musically.A View From the Top of the World is no different to that. In many ways, it all feels so effortless. To be fair, there is nothing ground breaking from what the band has been producing for 30 years here, it’s just that they continue to do what they do so well... so well!

Opening with the brilliant “The Alien” offers plenty of ingredient's fans crave – it’s fast-paced in spots, technically proficient and wonderfully melodic. It doesn’t offer any real surprises, but it certainly gets the job done. That’s a sentiment you could apply to much of the record, too – exceptionally well-played, with real attention to detail, albeit with precious little that diehards haven’t encountered before. Indeed it could be said of ‘Invisible Monster’, a reasonable mid-tempo cut with a key message about the effects of anxiety, that it is a touch... average... for their catalogue. Not poor, just bland in a brilliant musicianship kinda way. “Answering the Call” is a better song that still seems more simplified than most Dream Theater work, but not in a bad way. You then move into “Sleeping Giant” which resumes normality, filled with lots of guitar, drums and keyboard changes to really keep you guessing as to where the song is going. Petrucci in particular stars in this song. “Transcending Time” has been mentioned in dozens of reviews as being Dream Theater’s tribute to Rush. Apparently it was something the band wanted to attempt, a song with a major key structure without trying to sound too much like a pop song. I don’t know, I just read that in places. There are traces of 1980’s Rush if you listen hard, so maybe they succeeded on both fronts. “Awaken the Master” is another good song, while the closing title track feels like the Dream Theater of old, a 20 minute monster with three suites. Excellent stuff.

As always, all five members are awesome. James La Brie’s vocals continue to defy time, soaring in places as wonderful as he has ever done. Because of the pandemic he was unable to be with the band when they wrote the album, only able to tune in through Zoom calls, but his vocals on recording are still top shelf. Mike Mangini on drums continues to drive each song perfectly – does anyone think the band has missed Portnoy? Jordan Rudess on keys still defies the instrument at times with the effects and atmosphere he is able to create. John Myung still plays things on the bass guitar that defies any normal human from trying to replicate them, while John Petrucci remains at the top of the tree as a guitarist, even breaking out an eight string version on a couple of songs. I’d like to see him playing on that live, just once.

While I have been a fan of Dream Theater for quite some time now, I am the first to admit that when it comes to throwing on one of their albums for a casual listen... it doesn’t happen too often. As much as you can love their music and appreciate the amazing musicianship time and again, generally when I’m looking to grab something to listen to, I’m not just going to the D section and pulling out one of their 15 albums. Why? Because your mood dictates the music you want to listen to. And with Dream Theater, you need to be in the right mood to appreciate everything that is being thrown at you, because it is a (no pun intended) theatrical experience.
So for me, some Dream Theater albums miss the mark slightly, and while I still think they are great I just don’t ever think to drag them out for a listen. However, that wasn’t the case with their previous album Distance Over Time which I played for a lengthy period of time, and that also is not the case with A View From the Top of the World. I don’t deny I love the heavier periods of Dream Theater more than I do the progressive periods of the band. Most fans hail the awesomeness of Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory while I will always point towards Train of Thought as my favourite moment in their career. This new album doesn’t quite scale the same heights for me as that album did, but I have immensely enjoyed the past two efforts. Is there a reason behind this? Not one I can put my finger on, apart from the fact I think that despite the length of each song continues to be in the higher echelons as with most of their albums, the actual crafting of the songs feels right to me. Sometimes with Dream Theater it can feel as though they are just being too clever for themselves, and it is the song length rather than what is crafted that becomes the main artefact. Is it too much to say that sometimes that gets boring? Because in essence that is what it becomes. However, here on A View From the Top of the World I think they once again get that balance right, and that is what is important in getting into the album and being willing to get it back in the CD player and crank the stereo to get the most out of it.
Will you all enjoy it? Well no, because if you don’t enjoy long-winded progressive metal rock songs stretching out beyond the ten minute mark then this will probably become tired for you pretty quickly. On the other hand, those of you willing to give it a go and let the music flow around and through you, I think that you’ll find this is another excellent entry into the Dream Theater discography, and one that will find itself on rotation as it has done for me over the last couple of months.

1145. Ozzy Osbourne + Motorhead / Hellraiser [Single]. 2021. 5/5

“Hellraiser” was written for the Ozzy Osbourne album No More Tears which was released in 1991. It was one of several songs on that album that was co-written not only with guitarist Zakk Wylde, but with Motorhead bassist and frontman Lemmy Kilmister, a role Lemmy performed with several artists through the years. The lyrics are very much about the touring musician, the life on the road, and would have pulled vey much from the trio’s own experiences and feelings about their life and roles.
The version recorded for Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears album is typical Osbourne – the high range vocals filled with melodic choruses, rumbling bass and drums and superb soling and riffing from Wylde at his peak. It has always been considered one of the highlights of the album.
Whether it was the success of Ozzy’s song, or whether Lemmy just enjoyed the song itself as it was, but Lemmy was approached to have Motorhead record their own version of the song, which would then be used on the soundtrack of the film Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth - Movie Soundtrack. The Hellraiser films, conceived from the book of the same name by Clive Barker, were the epitome of horror films in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, and so the addition of this version of the song (which appears over the closing credits) was a winning solution. At the same time, the song also appeared on Motorhead’s album March ör Die which was also released in 1992. It is the Motorhead version of the song, with some of the lyrics changed to suit their own metal style and with different solo riff and singing style.

With 2021 being the 30th anniversary of the song appearing on No More Tears, and with Lemmy now having left us some five years ago, to celebrate the moment a new version of the song has been released. Through the wonders of technology, the two versions of the song you have just heard have been spliced together, in order to create a duet between the two great metal vocalists along with the varied versions of the song itself. An animated music video has also been created which really is a joy to watch, and is worth checking out on YouTube if you have not yet seen it.

For me, each version proves just how good a song it is, that it is able to flex and stretch to each different way it has been put together, and to me that suggests just how strong the bones of the song are.

1144. Deep Purple / Turning to Crime. 2021. 3/5

Back in the very early days of Deep Purple, and I’m talking about those first albums back in the late 1960’s, the band often delved into performing cover songs in their sets, and also recorded several that appeared on those albums. Their first successful song and single was “Hush”, a song written and performed originally by Joe South, and one the band still performs on occasions today. The also did a cover of The Beatles “Help” and Billy Roberts “Hey Joe” on that first album, Shades of Deep Purple. On their second album The Book of Taliesyn they released two singles, both cover songs – “Kentucky Woman” which was a cover of a Neil Diamond song, and “River Deep, Mountain High” a cover of the Ike & Tina Turner song. It also contained yet another Beatles cover, “We Can Work It Out”. Finally, on the self titled third album, a cover of the Donovan song “Lalena” was recorded. As with most cover songs recorded by bands, some of them sound good and do a great job of transferring Deep Purple’s sound to the original song without compromising the original, and others are basically an abomination. Seriously. Steer clear of “Help”, it could easily turn you off Deep Purple forever. Thankfully, once the Mark II line up came together, they stuck to writing their own songs, and also to taking a much heavier approach to their song writing.
All of that leads us to this new album, Turning to Crime, because all of the songs here are cover versions of other songs, and all the original songs are mainly from that period of when Deep Purple first came to formation and fruition. Covid presented challenges to the band in regards to no performing being able to be done, the members were all holed up in their far flung residences, and they needed to find something to keep them occupied. The band didn’t like the idea that many bands came up with, which was to record live streams of songs and release them to the internet. Bob Ezrin, who has been the band’s producer since 2013, came up with the idea to do this project, with each of the members able to rehearse and record their parts in their own home studios, and he then wove them all together to form the songs. The only member without his own home studio was lead vocalist Ian Gillan, so Ezrin hired a studio in Europe for several days where he and Gillan met and put down the vocals. The end result was this album, Turning to Crime.
I was at a disadvantage when it came to the majority of the songs of this album, as I didn’t know many of the bands the songs here were originally played by, and knew barely more of the actual songs themselves. So when it came to listening to the album and deciding whether I liked it or not, it pretty much came down to how much I enjoyed the band’s performance. And I’m sure to the surprise of no one, it was the rock tracks that grabbed me more here than the blues based tracks.
“Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” as you would expect is a real blues song with honky tonk piano and horns to match, which sounds great but is a long way from where Deep Purple as a band is musically. Or is it? “Jenny Take a Ride” also has the piano involved but is more on the rock side than the blues side of the genre, with plenty of energy and Don Airey switching between piano and keys which gives it a nice Purps touch. I’m not a Bob Dylan, and the version here of “Watching the River Flow” also does little for me. “Let the Good Times Roll”, from the big band era of the 30’s and 40’s sounds great here but just doesn’t interest me, and “Dixie Chicken” is the same deal. More interesting is the version of “The Battle of New Orleans” by honky tonk country artist Johnny Horton, but again I think they missed a trick in not just trying to put a real Deep Purple spin on the song rather than staying so close to the original song.
On the good side, “7 and 7 Is” is a great rock song, and perfectly suits how Purps perform it. Ian Paice’s drumming is a highlight while Gillan’s voice is a great fit and the solo by Steve Morse is very Blackmore-ish from that time. “Oh Well” is the cover of Fleetwood Mac’s early hit when the band still had their Peter Green blues influence, and is another song that suits the Deep Purple treatment. Steve Morse again sounds brilliant when given the chance to shine. I’ve always loved The Yardbirds song “Shapes of Things”, but while this version of the song is good, it pales in comparison to Gary Moore’s version from 35 years ago. It’s a song that lends itself to being rocked up, and Purps here sit closer to the original version. So too with the Bob Seger song “Lucifer”, in that while this version is good it could have really been given a harder treatment in order to get a modern take on the song. Of course, then there is Cream’s “White Room”, which must have been covered a thousand times over the years, but this song is really in Deep Purple’s wheelhouse, and their version here is stellar. The album then finishes with a motley crew of a medley, called “Caught in the Act” but covering five different songs of different genres to compete the album.

Cover albums are things that I have reviewed before and spoken about before, and my opinion on them rarely changes. So here is the spiel I usually give to start off with. Most cover albums are fun to listen to, to here different versions of songs you may or may not know, performed by a band you admire or love, and to see how they go about performing their own versions of those songs. But in the long run, the novelty will wear off, and that album will go back onto the shelves and rarely be thought of again in regards to putting it back in the cd tray or on the turntable to listen to again. And essentially for the same reason every time, in that either the original versions of those songs are better, or the songs covered just aren’t that interesting.
And when talking about Turning to Crime I don’t really have to add that much more. As I said here earlier, I knew very few of these songs in the first place, so in order for me to really enjoy this album I had to really enjoy the treatment the band gave to them. And in a few cases that was true, but overall the style of song selection wasn’t right for me to get the maximum enjoyment out of it. For those fans out there who are ten or fifteen years older than me and would know these songs better, then your enjoyment of this album may be completely the reverse.
Overall though, my main problem with the album is that I would like to have heard a real Deep Purple-izing of the tracks they covered, and that just isn’t the case here. And without a doubt the main reason behind that is because it was all recorded separately, and not together as a band. In the long run, this project gave the band something to do as they whiled away the months of isolation created by the Covid-19 pandemic, and taking that into account, you can only say that while some like me may not be jumping out of their skin over the song choice, it is a worthy and worthwhile project to have undertaken.

1143. Alcatrazz / V. 2021. 2/5

There was a trend a few years ago now where bands that had good followings in the 1980’s, but had broken up over either ‘musical differences’ or the fact their sound became less relevant in a changing market, found that 20 years on their songs were suddenly popular again, and so the bands reformed and began touring and writing again. Now, this was mostly true of the 1980’s pop and new wave bands, but it also happened for different styles of metal bands as well. Alcatrazz proved to be one of those bands. Having released three albums who, to be fair, were more famous from the lead guitarists in Yngwie Malmsteen and then Steve Vai that were playing on them than the rest of the band themselves (at least, that’s how I discovered them), the band went on a hiatus for a 20 year period between 1987 and 2006, when lead singer Graham Bonnet put a new band together under the name. This outfit toured for a number of years before again disbanding. Then in 2019, original members in Jimmy Waldo on keyboards and Garry Shea on bass guitar joined back up with Bonnet, along with guitarist Joe Stump and drummer Mark Benquechea, and the band released their fourth album titled Born Innocent. In essence, this could have been the album I was reviewing here today, but just a few months after the album was released, the band announced a split amongst their ranks, reportedly due to conflicts with the band’s management. Graham Bonnet was out, and in his place the band recruited veteran band hopper vocalist Doogie White in his place. Not only that, they didn’t muck around waiting another 34 years before they released their NEXT album. Indeed it was only ten months later that this album arrived. So the questions that arise are obvious. What does a band from the 1980’s have to offer in the 2020’s when so much time has passed from their heyday? And given that Bonnet had been the frontman that everyone knew from the band, and who had sounded so great on the Born Innocent album, could they find a way to make this an album that pleased all aspects of the fan base?
This album is a much more traditional heavy sound than the albums from the 1980’s actually are, which were recorded and released in the middle of that era! It’s an interesting development that this album is harking back to a popular era of heavy metal music, but ends up being a heavier release than the band actually recorded in the 1980’s. Perhaps in this day and age that isn’t that unusual.
In regards to the songs, they are all a good solid mix of hard rock sound with some nuances to both heavy and hair metal. “Guardian Angel” is a solid opening track giving all of the band members their chance to introduce themselves, before moving into the further up-tempo of “Nightwatch”. “Sword of Deliverance” is a funny one for me. The vocals appear to be at an awkward level. It almost seems to be offkey the way Doogie is getting the lyrics out at an unusual pitch. And for the most part this feels the same on “Turn of the Wheel”. It is a strange way to sing those songs. Doogie can sing, we all know that, but on these couple of songs it is an interesting and slightly off putting expression. What is also off putting for me is that part of the solo break by Joe Stump in “Turn of the Wheel” is a dead ringer, almost note for note, of the solo in Yngwie Malmsteen’s “I’ll See the Light, Tonight”. It just has to be deliberate it is so close, so is it being done as a tribute to the former Alcatrazz guitarist, or is it simply being stolen? I can’t answer that, but maybe I’m the only one who has listened to this album that has picked it up. But it isn’t the only case of this being done on the album, because the solo riff in “Alice’s Eyes” is also, for me, taken from Blaze Bayley’s “Ghost in the Machine”. Now music is not an exclusive artform, there are going to be times when riffs and melodies are borrowed from other songs in creating new songs, but sometimes it feels like it is too much of a coincidence. Anyway...
I guess if I’m going to continue to be picky, I’d best get back to the vocals. “Return to Nevermore” again has a vocal melody line that seems out of focus, and the chorus does tend to drone a bit. But you know, maybe that’s just me. Beyond that, the album ends with some good tracks. “House of Lies” really is a Bonnet song, you can imagine him singing this with gusto, it has that sound about his era of Rainbow, and despite the repeating lyrics has a great upbeat tempo about it that Doogie does well. “Alice’s Eyes” utilises a great guitar and bass rhythm with solid drum back beat that drives the song along. And the closing track “Dark Day for My Soul” rounds out the album in a less hectic but high level tone.

To be 100% honest with you, I would probably have not given this album a second thought when I saw it had been released except that it came in a lull of material for me to listen to. It has sat on my playlist for a good six weeks, getting its dues every day, but without ever really grabbing my attention to listen to more. In the long run I guess I have done this review on it more for the fact that it has paid its dues and probably needs to be moved on.
The band plays well, the musicianship is great, and like I have mentioned the songs themselves are less pop oriented hair metal than the band wrote almost 40 years ago. But they aren’t scene stealers, and even that one major attention grabber in Graham Bonnet no longer resides in this version of the band. Alcatrazz never really appeared to be huge in their day, and anyone who didn’t have a clue who they were would not have given this album a second glance. The fact that their main point of fame is Japan is probably where this market will lie. Unless you are a hard core fan of the band from your youth, in the long run I think you can safely look elsewhere for your next new album to listen to.

1142. The Unity / The Devil You Know: Live. 2021. 4/5

2015 turned out to be a big year for a few bands, the future of which were all tied by the same twist of fate. Kai Hansen had put Gamma Ray on a hiatus while he returned to Helloween for a reunion tour. This left drummer Michael Ehre and guitarist Henjo Richter looking for a project in order to fill in their days (and no doubt to pay the bills), and it was Michael who came to the party. One of his former bands, Love.Might.Kill had more or less called it quits, and so when he was looking to form a new project he came up with the idea to utilise his former bandmates. In the process, guitarist Stefan Ellerhorst, bassist Jogi Sweers, keyboardist Sascha Onnen and vocalist Jan Manenti joined forces with Michael and Henjo to form the new band they called The Unity. And of course, with the Gamma Ray connection, especially the guitaring of Henjo which has always been a joy, this is how I began to follow them as well.
Their sound is exactly what you would expect. It is European power metal, based on dominating drums and lots of harmony guitars and keyboards and soaring vocals. They aren’t rewriting history with their music, but if you are a fan of the genre then it’s hard not to enjoy it.
And the band hasn’t mucked around. Three studio albums have been released, their self titled effort in 2017, Rise in 2018 and Pride in 2020, and they have toured extensively throughout Europe as a result. With the onset on the covid pandemic there has been lots of time for bands to decide what their next move should be, and fortunately for The Unity they had already recorded some of their live shows with the prospect of releasing them in order to showcase their live performances, and with live music having stalled in almost all parts of the world, this album was released to keep their fans happy and to keep their name out there.

European power metal is an acquired taste. If you aren’t a fan then you won’t be jumping out of your skin about this. And of course you can love bands like Helloween and Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian and still not necessarily go for it. But all of the mechanics are in place with The Unity, and by showcasing the best of their material here in a live setting, they also showcase the best of their own musicianship.
Only one of the songs comes from their latest album Pride, that being “We Don’t Need Them Here”. This is essentially as the album takes songs from various recordings at different clubs and festivals, with most of the recordings coming from the tour of their second album Rise.
The opening to the album is where the money shots mostly take place. The opening instrumental of “Revenge” cuts straight into the high energy burst of “Last Betrayal” which immediately showcases the wonderful vocals of Jan Manenti and of course Henjo’s electrifying guitaring. “No Hero” gives the crowd another anthemic chorus and bridge to be involved in. “No More Lies” becomes a more steadying influence on the setlist, while “Welcome Home” is another of the intense faster tracks that has Jan soaring his vocals to the ceiling, taking on the song and driving it from start to finish. This is a great start to the album.
If you want to be picky, and many of you who may listen to the album are certain to be that, the remainder of the album can be either excellent or average depending on your personal music preference. Power metal can absolutely get a bit samey after a while if either the band isn’t good enough to keep every song interesting or the songs revert to a similar rhythm pattern throughout and rely on either brilliant vocals or hard core solo break to draw your attention away from it. And personally for me there is enough there to distinguish each song from the other. But I can also understand where some critics feel as though the rhythm of drums and bass tends to hold the same through many of the songs here, and in places on the studio albums as well. As an example, “Firesign” and “The Storm” could be seen as a plodder with only Jan’s vocals there to save it, and if you isolated it you could probably assess that it is a one trick pony. And there are definite similarities to some of the songs here to other power metal bands like Avantasia and HammerFall and the like. And of course, you can’t forget the power metal power ballad, and yes unfortunately that also has its place here, with “The Willow Tree” taking up valuable air time that could have been utilised with a much better song. But when the pace is cranked up again on songs such as “We Don’t Need Them Here” you get to experience the best that The Unity has to offer.

Live albums are generally difficult to review, and I’ve probably said this before but you would expect most live albums to have the best songs of the band on them, so if you like the band you should love the live album that they produce. This is certainly true of Iron Maiden and Slayer. So given that I do enjoy The Unity, it goes hand in hand that I enjoy this album.
But for those people who don’t know The Unity at all, then can I recommend this as a starting point? To be honest, the answer is probably yes. Even if you haven’t heard any of the band’s music before this, The Devil You Know (Live) is a reasonable starting point. Jan’s vocals are supreme in the live setting, and that alone should give you cause for going back and checking out the studio albums as well. Band leader Michael Ehre is a very impressive drummer and his work here is excellent, and well supported by his former bandmates on bass, guitar and keyboards. Front and centre for me, as biased as I am for anyone who has played in Gamma Ray, is Henjo Richter, the smiling assassin on guitar, whose technical style and flying fingers are always a favourite for me.

If you are a fan of European power metal like me, then you will find that not only does The Unity have plenty to offer you musically, but also on this live album. I have pretty much picked the eyes out of it here with what I consider the best performances from the album, but if any of this has caught your fancy then I highly recommend that you got and check out all three studio albums as well. No, this is not the next Helloween or Gamma Ray, but they are a very enjoyable band who put the right attitude and joy into their music, and sometimes that is enough just to raise a fist to.

1141. Jerry Cantrell / Brighten. 2021. 4/5

Jerry Cantrell had already dipped his toe into the solo recording business long before this album ever saw the light of day. In essence his first album, Boggy Depot, came out of the staleness that followed Alice in Chains instability, or perhaps more accurately singer Layne Staley’s drug dependency. With little writing or touring, Cantrell instead put his energy into that album and touring supporting Metallica and Van Halen throughout 1998. That success eventually led to a second album, Degradation Trip, written in 1999 but not realised until 2002, and released under the despondent time of what he called the ‘death of Alice in Chains’ and the cloud of Layne’s eventual drug overdose and death.After a number of years of inactivity, it was Alice in Chains that came to revival with William DuVall coming in, and three further albums in Black Gives Way to Blue, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and Rainier Fog. Thus, with his main band and focus now once again firmly established in the public’s eye and ears, Jerry once again turned his attention to a solo album. Like almost every album in the past 18 months it was bogged down in the onset of the pandemic, which led to it being delayed by a year from being released, despite having been written and started to being recorded as far back as January in 2020. Was there a reason why he felt that now was the time to do another solo album? Was he comfortable enough that his main band was now stable enough for him to come out and perhaps do material that he felt wasn’t quite right for the band? Though I don’t have an answer for that, this seems the most likely scenario.

The opening songs were the first singles released from the album, “Atone” and “Brighten”. Both set up the album nicely, providing a mix of Jerry’s workmanlike solo vocal as well as his harmony within the songs, and his acoustic guitar mixed with his terrific lead guitar that complements both of those things. You can almost hear Layne singing along in harmony on the chorus of “Brighten”. These are followed by “Prism of Doubt” Unlike most of the fans by the sounds of it, I am not as taken by “Siren Song” which was the third single released from the album. It’s far too mellow and quiet for my own personal taste but it has certainly struck a chord with the music community out there. I must insist though that that doesn’t mean I don’t like the song, I just think there are better ones here. “Black Hearts and Evil Done” which is very acoustically based throughout I enjoy more despite it being in a similar category to “Siren Song”. For me the vocals carry it and make it a more accessible song, given the same acoustic guitar strum that lies underneath for the entirety of the song. Jerry’s vocals give it the oomph it needs when it comes.
“Had to Know” is the most electrified track here, and it is great to hear Jerry giving a little bit more on that instrument here. Still, why does it sound to me that is has more in sync with REM than Alice in Chains? For most of the song I just feel as though if you substituted in Michael Stipe instead of Jerry it could pass as an REM song! “Nobody Breaks You” returns to the acoustic guitar base of the song, but it is the lead solo break in the back third of the song that is the winner here. I must admit that I would loved to have heard more of that in the songs here than the acoustic medleys, but you can’t have everything can you? “Dismembered” is probably the hardest rocking song on this collection (but don’t read much into that, there isn’t a plethora of it in any case). And the album finishes off with the Elton John cover “Goodbye”, a song that Jerry played to Elton to get his approval before he would put it on the album.
While there are several guest stars who come on and play on this album, for the most part Jerry does it almost all himself. Guitar, bass, keyboards and of course all of the vocals, as well as writing all of the songs himself. It is a real tour de force where we get Jerry’s heart and soul almost unfettered by other influences around him.

It is important not to come into this album and expect it to be Alice in Chains. There is a different mood and tempo to the songs that that band produces even in the modern day, and certainly not like the fire and brimstone and anger and angst that came from their first two albums. Indeed, if trying to compare this to anything, it is much closer to the songs produced on the Sap and Jar of Flies EPs than anything else. This of course sounds phonically like Alice in Chains. Jerry’s vocals are the most giveaway, and you aren’t going to be able to change those just because this is a solo project. And his own melody lines throughout are a triumph. And, even though I have said this about his other two solo albums, I’m going to say it again. Imagine if Layne was duetting here on these songs, just imagine how much better they would sound. That is a very unfair thing to say, but for me and I guess many other fans, Jerry and Layne together is a monster, either on their own isn’t quite the same. There, I’ve said it. Now I’m just going to move on.
This has been a really nice surprise leading into the end of 2021, I must say. Yes it’s familiar which is always a positive, but it still has to have the right stuff to make that happen, and “Brighten” certainly has that. Even though it has that easy listening feel to it, there are still some terrific guitar riffs and solos that bring this to the next level without turning off those that aren’t into that kind of thing. And again, without trying to compare green apples and red apples, if you enjoy Alice in Chains, then you will certainly get something out of this album – sort of like an Alice in Chains Lite.