100. Deep Purple / Bananas. 2003. 3.5/5.

The first ever Deep Purple album without Jon Lord – who would ever have thought that would happen? Don Airey is, of course, a great replacement.

Before I got this album, the word was that it was different, heading in a different direction as their most recent albums had gone. It concerned me a bit.

Of course, I then got the album, and all fears were washed away. This is another great effort from Purps, and continues their resurgence since the acquisition of Steve Morse as guitarist. The band continues to keep up with the times, almost 40 years after their formation. They do it by writing songs such that appear on Bananas – rocky, with a beat, and perfect assimilation between drums, bass, guitar and keyboards. No instrument stands out, but it would not be the same if one was taken away.

Rating : Still able to cut it in the 'modern' world. 3.5/5

99. Bruce Dickinson / Balls To Picasso. 1994. 3.5/5.

The turbulence that had swirled around the Iron Maiden camp, and in particular between the band’s leader Steve Harris, and the band’s front man Bruce Dickinson, finally came to its end on August 28, 1993, when they played their final gig on the tour supporting the album “Fear of the Dark”. At that very point, Maiden and Dickinson finally separated, even though the announcement of this occurrence had come many months beforehand, with Bruce only agreeing to stay on as tour dates had been booked. It had been a sour time for all, as it felt as though Bruce didn’t want to be there, and Harry felt that given his decision to leave he now wasn’t pulling his weight. Following this final gig, they parted ways, and went off in their own directions to discover what their next step would be.
In Bruce’s case, he had already been writing for a second solo album to follow his first, “Tattooed Millionaire” which had been released back in 1990. That album had been written and recorded on a rushed schedule, and had met with a mixed response. In beginning to compose material for a second album, Bruce had come to terms with his feelings that he needed to go out on his own and become the master of his own destiny. The material written for the “Tattooed Millionaire” album was nothing like an Iron Maiden album, and was the first sign that perhaps Bruce, much like Adrian Smith had done at that same time, decided he wanted to move in a different direction from what his band was doing. The question as to exactly how divergent Bruce’s solo career was going to move compared to his former band was something well discussed in those months after his final departure. The somewhat severe path that Adrian had taken, along with the change up that Bruce’s first solo album had offered, gave fans food for thought in this regard.
Bruce had begun those initial writing sessions while still in Iron Maiden alongside producer Keith Olsen, whose credits stretched throughout the hard rock and soft rock bands across a decade or more. While expanding on these at Olsen’s LA studio, Bruce heard another band recording, and was so impressed he actually took the band to Rod Smallwood (who was still acting as Bruce’s manager), who signed them up. Eventually Bruce decided to scrap the project with Keith Olsen, and instead found a collaborating partner by the name of Roy Z, a partnership that was to end up being the most productive of Bruce’s solo career. Roy had his own band called the Tribe of Gypsies – the same band Bruce had heard in those same studios – who became the recording and touring band for Bruce as well. From these fortuitous circumstances, Bruce had started down the path that would eventually lead him back to the top of metal music... though it was to be a circling and more winding path than Bruce perhaps initially imagined.

The opening of the album at least gave fans the chance to sigh with relief, in that the opening track was not in the style of Bruce’s first solo outing. Instead, “Cyclops” mixes that metal sound that was popular at this time with Bruce’s iconic vocal lines. It was more or less what one would have hoped for, a sound that was definitely not Iron Maiden, but still retained Bruce’s outstanding vocals. Roy Z announces himself as well with a great sounding solo lick through the middle of the song, and while it may go on a bit long, the album’s opening track promises much. “Hell No” follows on, on a similar path though with a less intense tempo and vocal stream. It’s another solid song, one that is fine to listen to without creating a massive impression. “Gods of War” is a warblefest, with lots of ‘wooooOOOHoooh” from Bruce and a much busier sound from the band. Once again Roy impresses with his guitar solo, but that tends to be the highlight of the song. This is followed by “1000 Points of LIght”, a stop start affair at best. What is obvious from the album to this point is that everything is in the slower mid tempo range, channelling the mood of the music of the time, searching for the slower, grungier, alternative sound that was being pushed in the mid-1990's as the direction that heavy metal was going, with some Latin influences that Roy and the Gypsies brought with them.
“Laughing in the Hiding Bush” again has the same tempo shift – duh-duh duh duh duh – that these middle tracks are basing themselves on, mixing the harder parts of the track along with the pieces that ease back a little. I like this song, and the way it is constructed, but I also feel it is endemic of the album itself, that the flow is halting throughout, energetic and then placid, stop and start. Bruce has stated in interviews since that he wishes that he had made this the title of the album. That sounds a bit mainstream of him, and not at all the rebellious nature that he obviously carried at that time.
“Change of Heart”. OK Bruce. NOW we have a problem. Now, some of you may have listened to my episode on Iron Maiden’s “Fear of the Dark”. And if you have, then you would know of my grave disappointment with the travesty of abhorrence that is the song “Wasting Love” that appears on that album. OK. Notch that up a bit for “Change of Heart”. Bruce and the lads here offer us an acoustically driven ballad that, maybe, some of the fans out there enjoy. I do not. Yes, I get that Bruce is trying new things here on this album, because now he is not restrained by the edict of his previous overlord. But is this really the kind of stuff Bruce was interested in producing? When I first heard this track, it was what gave me the idea of ripping out the cassette and throwing it into the back of the dark recesses of a drawer, never to be found again. The fact that this song was originally composed by Roy for his previous band Driver with bandmate Rob Rock, and that Bruce basically wrote new lyrics for it, does not make me feel any better about it. And I don’t think I have felt any different about it since. Yes, nicely composed song, beautifully played and sung. But still awful.
“Shoot All the Clowns” mixes snatches of the kind of vocal that we would like from Bruce, but then has the lower range smoothed out vocal line of the chorus, while the music has that funk sound to it, especially with Roy’s guitar in the middle of the track, before he breaks into a much more satisfying solo section. This is followed by “Fire” which is another track that has never gelled well with me. I just don’t like the way the song is sung, and I don’t like the way the music is constructed or played. On the other hand, “Sacred Cowboys” is one of the better tracks on the album. It immediately lifts the tempo and the energy, Bruce sounds like he is engaged again, and his vocal melody through the chorus makes it sound like the real Bruce once again.
Then there is the song that Bruce could never have done with Maiden, the song that you get the feeling that he left that band so that he could explore without limitations. I mean, that is what he has done with the entire album up to this point, because none of this would have worked in a Maiden environment. He has explored different directions that he could never have done within the restraints of that previous band. Now, in my opinion, some have worked, and others have not. But “Tears of the Dragon” is different. It is the blindingly obvious superior song on the album, the one that rises above all else and announces itself to you when you listen to the album. Everything about it is so much better than every other track here. Roy’s solo break in the middle. The little Latin piece that links the solo back into Bruce’s vocal. The click between the drums and bass. The energy, the passion, the drive. And of course, Bruce’s vocal, where he finally finds within himself the true power and majesty of his voice, perhaps for the first time since “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. This song is so far above everything else Bruce and his band does here, that it makes you wonder whether it was written in different sessions. Do you want a whole album of songs like this? No. But the passion and energy that is prevalent on this track, I believe, would have made the album better if it was distributed to all of the album in the same way.

So here we are, back in 1994, the year of no money and living in a strange new city, and as a result, it’s another album that I didn’t discover until about 12 months after it was released. And that has a few reasons behind it. Firstly, the money aspect. Secondly, the dispersion of my familial friend group with whom I had shared all of my musical discovery through my high school years, which meant that none of us were able to discover or share our music loves as easily. Thirdly, there was a bit of ambivalence on my part in regards to Bruce as his solo career at this time. By now, the mystique of “Fear of the Dark” had worn off, and I was hearing the holes in that album that a blinding love for the band Iron Maiden had perhaps shadowed for some time. And the same could be said for Bruce’s first solo release, because the blinkers were finally off on that album as well. All of this, along with other issues that were prevalent at the time, meant that this album more or less never registered with me.
Flash forward 12 months. My life feels as though it is collapsing around me as I while away my time behind the counter at the Shell Select service station in Ryde, in the west of Sydney. One of my regulars has heard the music I play when I am on my own during evening shifts, and he would often acknowledge with a nod an album I was listening to. One afternoon, he comes in, and without any preamble simply states “have you heard Bruce Dickinson’s last solo album?”. I professed that not only had I not heard it, that I didn’t know he had one out! “Oh, it’s BRILLIANT! You’ve GOT to hear it!” I assured him that I would check it out as soon as possible, and we parted ways. For the next month, every time he came in, the same conversation took place. Eventually one day, he walked in, and handed me a cassette. “There. Now. No more excuses!”
So I listened to it, without any forethought or bias, given that, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t expecting anything outstanding given that there had been zero press about it in Australia. And over the first few listens I discovered that... I hated it. I just didn’t like it. This wasn’t the Maiden-like music that I wanted to hear! It was completely different, on another plane than I would ever have expected. And if my erstwhile regular had come in to work in those next few days, that's exactly what I would have said to him. I felt like throwing it in the drawer and forgetting about it, but knowing that he would be back, I kept going. And in doing so, I did warm to it eventually. I accepted that it was different because it HAD to be different, or else why would Bruce have moved on? And by the time the inevitable conversation occurred, I was in a much better place with this album, and was able to convey that to him.
30 years on, and the world is a far more different and enjoyable place than the dark days of 1994 and 1995. “Balls to Picasso” has been frequenting my CD player for the past couple of weeks, and I discover, again, that my feelings of this album haven’t changed that much. There are some quite reasonable songs on this album, and one spectacular one. The era that the album was released, along with the desire for a change in direction from the protagonist, does date it in that way. I continue to desire an album where the songs are faster, and get out of second gear, but that certainly isn’t the case here. As an album, it is shadowed by the releases that followed it. In recent times, one of my favourite podcasts, Uncle Steve’s Iron Maiden Zone, had an episode in which they compared “Tattooed Millionaire” and “Balls to Picasso”, an interesting discussion and one which raised many great points on both sides. In the long run, while both albums were a necessary step to get to where we are today – Bruce back with Maiden, and yet still releasing amazing solo albums – neither would be considered as an all time classic.

98. Gary Moore / Ballads & Blues, 1982-1994. 1995. 1/5.

OK, look...this is getting ridiculous. How many Blues bloody albums did this guy do? I don't know, and I've probably got all of them!!

This hits release seems to me like an excuse to re-introduce Parisienne Walkways to another generation.

No need to go any further with this. It's average. Some may like it. I am OVER it!!!

Rating : I may be poorly biased in this respect. 1/5.

97. AC/DC / Ballbreaker. 1995. 3/5.

The years are beginning to lengthen between new albums for AC/DC, and no doubt there were a number of reasons why this began to occur. Importantly though, it was surely one of their main talking points to ensure that the material for a new album release was up to the standards they required to keep their fans happy, and their bank accounts increasing.

The 1980's had been a tumultuous time for the band, with varying degrees of success, and a rise and fall in popularity as a result. The good press for their previous album The Razors Edge would have heartened the band, and after an exhaustive touring schedule and well earned breaks they returned with Ballbreaker.
The songs here are generally strong. The opening track and first single "Hard as a Rock" gets the album underway in a solid way, exhibiting all of the elements that make the band what it is. That rhythm section is hammered into place, where it sits at the same tempo for the majority of the next 45 minutes, never straining itself and never losing a beat along the way."Cover You in Oil" may only be an average follow up, but I have always enjoyed "The Furor". "Boogie Man" is rooted very much in the blues. "The Honey Roll" is as basic as it gets for AC/DC, the backbeat  rumbles along for five and a half minutes, while Brian's vocals magnetise themselves over the top, except for the 45 seconds or so that Angus plays his basic and formula solo. You could feed the basic AC/DC components into a computer, and it would write this stuff for you. As has always been the case with this band, this could be seen as a positive or a negative. Truly, in this case, this song has no inspiration, and any kid with a guitar and a drum machine could have composed it.
Things improve a little with "Burnin' Alive", which is still simple, but with an improved tempo and a better melody line throughout it gets your feet tapping more enthusiastically. So does the next song, which was the second single from the album, "Hail Caesar". "Love Bomb" doesn't really excite me at all. "Caught With Your Pants Down" settles into formula music and lyrics again, just to show that it isn't something you can easily escape. "Whiskey on the Rocks" leads into the album-concluding title track "Ballbreaker", which at least gives off some energy before we wave goodbye.

Ballbreaker is a reasonable effort for a band in their third decade. I may well be proven wrong, but the final peak of this band's career may well have been their previous effort. I don't know what the future holds for them, but one can still find enough good stuff on an album like this to believe that they may have more left in the tank, if they can just push harder at the faster songs than they necessarily do here.

Rating:  Unpack my bags, and take a drag.  3/5

96. Van Halen / Balance. 1995. 3/5.

The end of the 1980’s had seen Van Halen storm the charts with their albums “5150” and “OU812”, along with singles that populated the top ten in the US and around the world. The arrival of Sammy Hagar saw the band move away from their hard rock roots into combining this sound with a more commercial rock sound that included Hagar’s soaring vocals with a more influential part taking by the keyboard and synths that Eddie Van Halen was experimenting in, which suited the musical style of the late 1980’s. As the calendar turned over into the 1990’s they released their third album with Hagar titled “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”, one that won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance and pushed their profile higher. On the tour to support that album the band recorded two shows in Fresno, California, which they then released as their first live album titled “Live: Right Here, Right Now”. Career wise, everything seemed to be tracking nicely.
On the inside however, moods were swinging wildly. For a start, the Van Halen brothers were in a world of hurt. Eddie was suffering with a hip injury as a result of avascular necrosis, the death of bone tissue due to an interrupted blood supply, while Alex was suffering from ruptured vertebrae around his neck. Neither of these injuries made for comfortable playing of instruments. Eddie had also newfound sobriety, something not always easy for the person involved or those around them to deal with. Amongst this, the internal struggles and conflicts between band manager Ray Danniels, Sammy Hagar and the other band members were reaching a boiling point. Mixing all of this in together created a combustible atmosphere that plagued the band through the recording of the album over the three months from June to September of 1994, mostly tucked away in Eddie’s home at 5150 Studios, finally coming together to be released in January of 1995.

There are fans out there who have said quite openly that they feel Van Halen as a band was unchanged in their musical output in the 1990’s despite the direction that music headed during the first half of the decade. The more you listen to this album today, compared to having listened to it back on its release, it’s hard to stick with that point of view. There is a definite merging of the sound that Van Hagar had adapted to over their first three albums together, and the sonics that was bounding around them when they were writing and recording this album. Not so much as a grunge morphing, but a settling of the tempo of the band back to a slower, more thoughtful tone. The wider scope of songs, their style and involvement, is also a changing factor. How often would you actually choose to go in to listening to a Van Halen album that didn’t actually contain many riffs and solos from the guitar of Eddie Van Halen? Not often, right? Well, my guess is this is why “Balance” doesn’t always come up on ‘must listen to‘ albums lists.
The opening of the albums offers up a bit of everything. The opening track “The Seventh Seal” combines a lot of different factors, including both early 1970’s guitar sounds and a melody through the middle such as progressive rock bands of the late 70’s and early 80’s were fond of. It offers up an interesting riff progression from Eddie that is unlike anything the band had tried before. Despite its unusual feel it is one that I enjoy. This is followed by the mid-80's styled and themed rock ballad of “Can’t Stop Lovin’ You”, one that could easily be imagined as having been written for the “5150” album. It stands out here because it is so different from what has been offered up as the opening track. And the next track! Because then comes “Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)”, which focuses again on a very 1970’s rock them both in guitar style from Eddie and vocal style from Sammy, a lower, steadier, dreamlike fashion. Eddie’s slide solo through the end is mystic in origin, and Sammy's vocals hard and to the point. Like the opening track this is unlike what you would generally class a Van Halen song but is no less intriguing or enjoyable as a result.
“Amsterdam” has a riff that dates back to the mid-80's, an idea stored for later use, with lyrics that in a retrospective interview Eddie claimed to hate as they dealt with smoking pot, without being used as an innuendo. As with “Can't Stop Lovin’ You”, it is easy to hear the 1980’s influence in the track itself. “Big Fat Money” jumps out of the gates at an increased tempo, bounding along with hard core tempo from Alex Van Halen on drums and Michael Anthony on bass leading the way and some honky tonk rock and roll piano headlining the back end of the track. “Strung Out” is a minute and thirty seconds of something Eddie recorded years ago on a piano at Marvin Hamlisch’s beach house that he rented. For some reason he threw a whole heap of stuff into this piano to see what sounds it would make and then began playing the strings like a guitar. Honestly, it is a completely unnecessary track, reminding me of things that Black Sabbath used to put on as intervals on their albums in the 1970’s.
Following this unnecessary track is what I would deem to be yet another unnecessary track. The rock ballad “Not Enough” is a join-the-dots, colour-by-numbers rendition of this genre of song. Yes, piano. Yes, searching vocals over the top of the piano. Yes, the heartfelt vocal rendition of bridge and chorus. And yes, mournful ballad guitar solo played to inch by sickening inch perfection. It was of course the fourth and final single released from the album, and it is still as painfully awful as the day this album was released. This was a major error. Awful.
And yet, following comes “Aftershock” which competes for best song on the album. Though the guitar is still puzzlingly muted for the most part through the song, Sammy’s vocals are excellent. Eddie’s solo sections come through loud and clear, but his guitar is mixed way down for the rest. It’s a strange decision from acclaimed producer Bruce Fairbairn to have it play out this way. But then, surely the Van Halen’s would have had a say in it as well.
“Doin’ Time” is basically a one minute forty drum and percussion solo that acts as an intro to “Baluchitherium”, which is an instrumental that came about through design, though that design was actually for a normal song. The original plan was for it to have vocals, but in the studio there didn’t seem to be a lot of love for the track. After some tweaking, it was felt that it did have something to offer, but just as it was rather than trying to make it something it wasn’t. It’s okay!
“Take Me Back (Deja Vu)” features a guitar riff that had originally come from a song called “No More Waiting”, whih had on occasions been played by the band live prior to releasing their debut album. Recycled and resurrected here, incorporating acoustic slide and steel string guitar, it has a 70’s Nashville feel to the song. Again, it feels out of place for a Van Halen album, though perhaps not as out of place on this album as it should. The album concludes with “Feelin’”, a six-minute-long adventure that channels the spirit of what has come before, completing an album where little has remained as it once was, but for seemingly different reasons than what was occurring around the band at that time.

Van Halen is a band that I cottoned onto reasonably late in the piece, although it was probably the same as a lot of Australians did, on the “1984” album. I was then embroiled in the famous Roth/Hagar stand-off in the mid-80's when many suggested you had to be on one side or the other. I chose... both sides and followed both Diamond Dave’s solo career and Van Halen with Sammy at the helm, enjoying both similarly. Both had their positives and negatives, but I still listened to them.
By the time this album came to be released, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The 1990’s had killed off a lot of great bands form the 1980’s or had forced many of them to change their course, none of which really worked anyway. I had had mixed reactions to the band’s previous album, “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”, and given this was another three years down the track I was unsure of what to expect from “Balance”, and whether Van Halen could regain a bit of their original pomp and ceremony than what the direction had been that they were headed. And I was right to be unsure, because initial listens to this album failed to calm those reservations.
I mentioned earlier in this episode that it seems inconceivable that you would come to listen to a Van Halen album on which Eddie’s guitar was relegated to an inferior position within the songs and structure of that album, but that is exactly what I think of “Balance”. There is far less of his exuberance and mastery on his instrument on this album. And what there is, there is not enough of, or it has been toned down in the mix or the writing to become a secondary element. There are places where it comes to the fore, but before you know it, it has been sent back to the dungeon until the next time the sun rises.
Beyond this, the songs are reasonable. Having had this on for the past two days to prepare for this episode, and to truly recall what I think about it, I have still found some worthwhile attributes. When the album was released, I know I felt that this just wasn’t what I was looking for. Life in 1995 was about to explode in my face, and this was so dreary that I didn’t need it, given the dark veil hanging over me like a black cloud at the time. On reflection again over recent days, I find that songs such as “The Seventh Seal”, “Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)”, “Aftershock” and the instrumental “Baluchitherium”, while not from the classic vaults of Van Halen, are still worth listening to. Others, such as the truly dreadful “Not Enough”, should be stricken from the record forever. Pun intended.
Of the 12 Van Halen studio albums that the band released during their career, for me I rank this as #10. Perhaps that is not a surprise. To be honest I believe most would have it that low on their lists if they really thought about it.
This was the final album of that second lineup of the band. With the differences in opinion between Hagar and the Van Halen brothers, they parted company after this tour. There was still life in the band, though the next album was to divide opinion of the fans even more than this album did. Which, at the time, appeared impossible.

95. Iron Maiden / When It's Time to Rock [Bootleg]. 1986. 4.5/5.

It’s always interesting when you come across a bootleg of a concert by a band you love that was recorded on your birthday. It makes you wish firstly that you had been there, and secondly wonder what it was that you were doing on that day when this was happening. Well given that this bootleg was recorded on my 17th birthday on the other side of the world from where I live, I guess therein lies the reason why I wasn’t there. As to what I was doing… well… unfortunately it was a day at high school followed by an afternoon and evening of listening to Somewhere in Time. Which is the album this tour was promoting.

The album had only been out for a week or so before this concert was played so it is interesting hear both the new songs off the album, as well as the reaction from the crowd to them. The set list is brilliant, combining the new with the old and the recent. The fact that the previous tour was the World Slavery Tour that was released as Live After Death turns some people off this bootleg because they say they have heard the majority of it before. But the chance to hear songs like “Caught Somewhere in Time” and “Sea of Madness” and "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Heaven Can Wait" live is surely too good to miss. Add in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Where Eagles Dare" and "Phantom of the Opera" and you have some major epic songs in the mix. Honestly, the set list is just brilliant!

The quality of the recording is not soundboard, so if you don’t like such bootlegs then you probably won’t enjoy this. But for those that can appreciate a true bootleg, and want to experience the band in all its glory on this tour, then this is the perfect place to start.

Rating: "Caught somewhere in time".   4.5/5

94. Brian May / Back To The Light. 1992. 4/5.

There’s no doubt that the members of Queen knew long before we as an adoring public did that the band had an end date, and it wasn’t due to internal conflict or tensions. When this came to pass, and the organisation and performance of the Tribute concert that followed, it left all three to their own devices for the first time in two decades. Whereas Roger Taylor had done his own solo material at different times during the years, Brian May had done surprisingly little. There had been a project called “Star Fleet Project” which had been a mini-album back in 1983 that had also involved Eddie Van Halen, but apart from that his endeavours had mainly stuck with Queen. He contributed guitar solos on several band’s songs, including “When Death Calls” for Black Sabbath’s “Headless Cross” album, and had also helped on songs for other artists on a very minimal basis.
This didn’t mean that Brian hadn’t composed songs during that period. Indeed, the writing and recording period for this album is said to have stretched over four years, from 1988 through to 1992, at times that holes appeared in Brian’s schedule. It’s interesting that, in composing and recording an album in this way, over such a length of time, it must be quite difficult to make it come together to sound as though it is cohesive. Try and piece together some of your favourite bands songs from such a time frame, and see how difficult it would be to have a seamless album. Styles change, moods change, technology even changes.
However, it is understandable that it had to be done this way. Queen as always was the number one priority right up until Freddie’s passing at the end of 1991, and once all of that had passed, it seems like it was a reasonably short period that Brian pulled this material together and brought it to be focused as the album it became. Does it feel that way? Not initially. But for me I can certainly class these songs into two or three separate bundles, which may or may not have been the differing times that those songs were written and recorded to become “Back to the Light”.

Just about everyone, despite your musical bent, will find something on this album that appeals to them. The quieter numbers here play their part as well. The instrumental guitar piece “Last Horizon” was one of the earliest recordings used on this album, coming as it did back in 1988. It is reminiscent in some ways of a Gary Moore instrumental.
“Let Your Heart Rule Your Head” has a simple beat and rhythm, sounding like an old folk song, though perhaps the addition of jug blowers would have made it more like a ‘dixieland’ kind of song. It might be simple but it is effective, with lyrics that put a positive spin on the song. “Just One Life” is another maudlin, in memorium kind of song, soft and mournful with the choir-like vocals backing up Brian’s vocal performance. These three songs, all in the latter part of the album, tend to change the course of the adrenaline of the album. Prior to these the songs had ben faster, more powerful, and energetic, the way most of Brian’s songs are. But these three serve as a much quieter and more reflective time, and in many ways can change the way you may feel about the album as a whole. Even given the final track of the album, the cover of The Small Faces song “Rollin’ Over”, which is a much more rollicking track that the original, allows the album to finish on a more upbeat note with plenty of May guitar tricks, those few songs feel out of place in a way. And whether or not that is because of the fact the album was recorded over such a length of time, or just how the producer decided to arrange the tracks, it does play on just how the album come about. Along with this on the quieter side of the album is the cover of Cozy Powell’s “Somewhere in Time”, which Brian has cannibalised and added lyrics to, to create “Nothin’ But Blue” - all very unusual given that Cozy played drums on this track and several others on the album.
So, much of the second half of the album is very much toned down in style, both in speed and in hard core energy. That does NOT downgrade the quality of the songs or the musicianship, but it does feel like a comedown after the first half of the album. The opening mostly- orchestral-styled opening of “The Dark” segues into the opening title track “Back to the Light”, a grandiose opening to the album that immediately showcases what Queen fans in particular are looking for. It’s large, it fills the room, it has passion and emotional value, and that Brian May guitar that is what we have all come here for. The initial foray of May’s vocals, where one may have been waiting for Freddie to chime in, may not sound as strong but are no less impressive throughout. “Love Token” is an immediately heavier track both in guitar and Cozy Powell’s drumming, with his atypical heavy hard beats dominating throughout combining perfectly with Brian’s riffs. “Resurrection” comes from a faster pace, where the synths and keys combine with the guitar to create a perfectly balanced anthemic vibe, again utilising those emotive vocals to bring the song home. “Driven By You” was the first single released from the album, ironically perhaps the day before Freddie Mercury’s death in November 1991, ten months before this album was actually released. It’s arguably the heaviest song on the album, a great rock song with plenty of that trademark May guitar slinging and emotionally charged lyrics, and it has always been a favourite. All of these songs give the first half of the album the hard rock attitude that Brian always contributed to Queen, and showcase that to great effect. In fact, the songs “Headlong” and “I Can’t Live With You”, both written by Brian, were supposed to be for this album. Reportedly though, once he heard Freddie sing the vocals on both of them, he knew they were meant to be Queen songs, and both appeared on the “Innuendo” album, and are two of the best tracks of that release.
The other song to appear here is “Too Much Love Will Kill You”, a song written by Brian along with two others, Elizabeth Lamers and Frank Musker. It was initially written for Queen’s “The Miracle” album and was actually recorded with Freddie singing it, however it was eventually rejected for that album when the band agreed that all of the songs on that album should be credited to the band rather than individuals, which ruled this song out. Instead, Brian played this on the piano at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert, and then for this album, which was released as the second single. Freddie’s version was eventually released on the “Made in Heaven” album three years later, but it was Brian’s that went on to the best success in the singles charts.

I was a bit slow out of the blocks on getting this album. In fact, it wasn’t until the US release in early 1993 that I actually came across a copy of it. It probably didn’t help at the time that I was in my own small business with my then fiancé, so we were a bit low on resources that allowed me to go out and buy albums whenever I wanted, like I had when I was single. But I still remember the day it came in the mail, and I put it on my stereo in the small two room unit we lived in when we first got married, and turned it up and heard it for the first time. I was spellbound from the outset, especially those first seven or eight tracks. I mean, I loved Queen, and I knew Brian could sing, but hearing him do his own stuff, in his way, on his own accord, with his flying guitar and his own vocals, was just amazing. I’ve never really forgotten how this album sounded to me that first time I heard it. I remember the afternoon, the blue sky overlooking the ocean in mid-autumn, and being blown away by “Back to the Light” and “Love Token” and “Resurrection” and “Driven By You”. All of it was... magical.
Why? I don’t know. I just didn’t know what to expect I guess, now that Queen was over (or so we thought), and what would this amazing musician do, and could it match what he and his previous band had been able to do. And the scale of what came out of those speakers that day was beyond my expectations.
Do I still feel that amazement of this album, 30 years later? Well firstly, consider the fact that it is now longer since this album was released than Queen actually performed together. That is a little scary to consider. Queen played for 20 years. It is 30 now since this album was released. So even taking that into consideration... yeah, I still get the same tingles whenever I listen to this album. Sure, the second half of the album doesn’t jump out at me as much, but that first half is still just terrific. And a few years later I was extremely fortunate to see Brian and his band live in Sydney, touring on what would be his follow up album to this, “Another World”. And listening to him play Queen songs was just brilliant, but I got just as much enjoyment out of hearing the songs from this album live as well, because I loved this album so much. And I guess I still do.

93. Gary Moore / Back To The Blues. 2001. 2/5.

The reason I chose to listen to all of my ALBUMS in alphabetical order, and not in ARTIST alphabetical order, was to avoid listening to one artist for several albums in succession. As you can see, that hasn't stopped it happening here...

Another blues album from Gary. Generally it is the same as his other ones. And I like his blues music. It is well written and well played. But I don't like blues that much. Especially when comparing it to the previous two albums reviewed.

Rating : Blues is blues. 2/5.

92. Gary Moore / Back On The Streets : The Rock Collection. 2003. 4.5/5.

Unlike the album just reviewed, this is a best-of collection released a couple of years ago. It seems that it was to cash in on Gary's rock years, which he had left behind long, long ago. Or to remind his blues fans that he had a rock base.

I don't know what the whole reasoning behind it was, but it is an excellent album. The collection contains most of his best hits, and even gives you the better, live versions of Wishing Well and Back On The Streets, whihch was extremely well thought out.

So why, you may ask, does it only get four and a half? Well, they forgot Victims Of The Future and Hiroshima, to name two glaring omissions. There were probably a couple of others also, but those two especially.

Apart from that, as good a best-of collection as you could make to honour Gary Moore's best years.

Rating : Great music. 4.5/5.

89. AC/DC / Back In Black. 1980. 5/5.

On February 19, 1980, the music world was thrown into chaos with the sudden and untimely death of AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott, on the back of other recent rock icons in Keith Moona and John Bonham, and the loss of Ian Curtis just three months after this, proving to be an incredible shock to the music community. The charismatic and undoubtedly talented lead vocalist was a major part of the reason behind the growing success of the band over the previous five years, as they grew from Sydney pub band into international phenomenon. And riding on the wave of success that had come from their recent albums in “Let Ther Be Rock”, “Powerage” and “Highway to Hell”, the band had been on the precipice of massive success. Now, with the loss of their voice, the band contemplated the possibility of disbanding. However, close friends, and most importantly Bon Scott’s family itself, encouraged them to continue, under the notion that it would be what Bon would have wanted.
Following his funeral on March 1 of 1980, the band began the exhaustive search for a singer that could in any way replace the enigmatic frontman. Mutt Lange, who had produced their previous album and was again on board to provide the same role for the next album, suggested that they bring in the lead singer of a band called Geordie named Brian Johnson. Johnson’s name had come up in conversations before, with Bon Scott having praised his vocals when he saw the band play live. He came in and sang “Whole Lotta Rosie” and a few other songs, and by the end of the audition the band more or less felt they had found their man. On April 1, 1980, Brian Johnson was officially announced as the new vocalist for AC/DC.
Discussion on where and when and how the songs that ended up on the album has been the subject of debate for most of the past 45 years. Certainly, preparations and early demos for some songs took place before Bon’s passing, but the extent of his contributions to the album remains mostly unclear. Conspiracy theories have abounded for years, suggesting Bon had completed all of the lyrics prior to his passing, and that he had played drums on several of the demos as well. Band members have not been helpful in this regard, with some interviews over the years suggesting at times that some of the songs do contain pieces of lyrics composed by Bon, and others with the same people also suggesting that nothing that Bon may have composed actually made it to the completed product. For his part, writing in his autobiography in 2022, Brian Johnson was more forthright. He said: "The conspiracy theories are legion – usually started by people who think they know but weren't there... it was me at the end of the pen, writing every night and every morning, with only the title to work with. That's what happened. That's the truth and I really hope that settles it”.
In the long run, surely it matters little, especially so this long after the fact. More to the point, the question being asked at the time was, could AC/DC still fly the way they had with Bon Scott at the front of the stage with Brian Johnson at the helm instead? The answer of course, is a resounding “fuck yes they can!”

Has there ever been a better known or more appropriate beginning to an album than the bell ringing off at the very start of the first track, "Hells Bells"? What a brilliantly atmospheric song to start off a new album, and a new era of the band. The perfect tone, and lyrics that though Johnson says he wrote while watching a storm approaching at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas where they recorded the album, it could almost be a Bon Scott tribute, firstly with the line “You’re only young but you’re gonna die”, but also perhaps as the protagonist, the one sent to get ya. It is a brilliant track, one that sports teams around the world have taken on as the entry music for their players as they run onto the field, and never failing to get the same reaction from the crowd in attendance. One can only imagine what the fans thought back when this was released when they first heard this coming out of their speakers. I probably do, because I still feel the same thing every time I hear the opening of this song. Truly one of the greats. And then, it is followed by arguably one of the greatest second tracks on an album of all time, the brilliant “Shoot to Thrill”. The opening ring on the guitar, the drum fill that accompanies it in all the way to the first riff, and then into the verse, is perfectly composed and performed. Phil Rudd’s drumming throughout the song gives it the impetus, driving along with the rhythm guitar and bass which gives Johnson the platform to really give the vocals it all, which he does superbly. It begins at that cracking pace, before the sedate guitar and drum breakdown in the middle of the song, before exploding into the conclusion. Again, this remains one of the band’s best tracks, energetic in the way that is the perfect follow up to the opening burst.
The high energy doesn’t let up with the following track "What Do You Do for Money Honey". Based around that wonderfully typical AC/DC rhythm riff from Malcolm Young and Cliff Williams that settles straight into its groove and holds court throughout the song. It is the perfect follow up to the first two tracks, keeping the drive of the album rushing along. Brian’s vocals continue on their journey of discovery while Phil Rudd's drums crash here in earnest. The continuity of the mood of the album is reverberated with "Given the Dog a Bone", with the rhythm section continuing to pump out the jaunty backbeat that is the staple of the album. Sure, the lyrics might get over repeated by the time you reach the end, but sometimes you just have to ride with it. The opening side of the album is brought to its conclusion with the slower mid-tempo waves of "Let Me Put My Love into You". The riff to open the track is wonderfully subtle, the music initially the vehicle to allow Johnson’s vocals to take centre stage, building as we move into the middle of the song where Angus puts his stamp on it.
Side Two begins with a bang, and like side one with two superb tracks, as we crash straight into the title track "Back in Black", with its distinctive staccato style and Brian pulverising you with his vocals. It is a stomping song, literally, with the drum and rhythm riff encouraging you to stomp around while listening to it. Brian wrote the lyrics as a tribute to Bon, and everything about it makes you think of him, musically and lyrically. Terrific stuff. This is followed by "You Shook Me All Night Long", one of their biggest and most popular singles, one that everyone sings along to even today whenever it comes on. It was the song that brought them into the post-Bon era, the single hit that proved that they were still a band to reckon with. "Have a Drink on Me" settles back into the mid-tempo groove with that fabulous rhythm section driving the song. The opening lyric of “Oh, whiskey, gin and brandy, with a glass I'm pretty handy, I'm tryin' to walk a straight line on sour mash and cheap wine” has often been one that I’ve been accused of following too closely on occasions. It is a fun and grooving song, that is then jacknifed by the hardest and fastest song on the album, "Shake a Leg". This comes screaming out of the speakers after an average paced start, really showcasing the old fashioned Aussie pub style fast rock that the band grew up on. Angus lets fly at the end of the song, you can almost see him jumping around the studio as he is playing that solo break. It is an underrated classic, one of the fastest songs AC/DC has ever written and performed, and it really does shake things up every time it comes on. After this session of speed, the album concludes more sedately with the anthemic "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution", which was often sung around school halls when teachers complained bitterly of music being played too loud. The title came from something that Bon had said around the band, and so it is another great legacy moment of the album to have it incorporated here.

Is this the perfect hard rock album? Arguably, it is. The lyrics of all of the songs deal with those things that young males of all generations relate to, but doesn’t dive into the double entendre kind of lyrics that they would on later albums. The music, as always with AC/DC, is spectacular in its amazing rhythm section which doesn't miss a beat, and is solid and hard in its base, making it easy to keep time in whatever way suits you best - tapping your foot, playing air drums on the table, or just banging your head along with the beat. Phil Rudd’s drumming here on this album is supreme, Cliff Williams’ bass sounds amazing, and of course Malcolm Young’s rhythm guitar riffs hold the course, set the path, and groove the tracks. That rhythm section is at its peak on this album, and pretty much steals the show. Yes, Angus Young's solo's are perfectly positioned in each song, enhancing each song – but without dominating them on this album. I think that is a significant statement in itself. It shows a real maturing of the writing process, that it wasn’t all about the lead singer and the lead guitarist on this album, that the songs themselves hold true. The final piece of the puzzle comes to be Brian's vocals, which given how he came into the band could have been heavily scrutinised. However, he fits in perfectly, and his obvious love of blues rooted rock n roll is the same place the rest of the band came from too. The strongest songs that are most referenced here - "Hells Bells", "Shoot to Thrill", "Back in Black", "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" - make the biggest mark, but it is the songs around them that help make it a top shelf album. They are still strong songs that help enhance what they fit around, maintaining the excellence without necessarily being as heavily recognised as those songs mentioned here. All of this is what makes this arguably the finest moment of the AC/DC story.
I was too young in 1980 to know or hear anything about AC/DC, their successes with original vocalist Bon Scott, or his sudden demise very early in that year. I don't recall anything about the band then recruiting a new vocalist named Brian Johnson, on the insistence of Bon’s family that they not disband and continue on, as he would have wanted. I only vaguely recall hearing a song about being shook all night long on the radio around that time. It wasn't until a couple of years later, as I reached my teenage years and my own search for music of my own to enjoy began that I came across the legacy of AC/DC, the story of that fateful year, and the album “Back in Black”.
When I pulled this album out again for this episode, it was with some trepidation. When I first got the album all those years ago, almost 40 of them in fact, I loved every single aspect of it. It was always my go to when someone asked me what my favourite AC/DC album was. At that time I was not as familiar with the Bon Scott albums as I became soon enough. Over time, as new albums came out through the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s, and I went back to chase down those albums from the 1970’s, and my developing love for not only those Bon Scott albums, but also 1990’s “The Razor’s Edge”, had me doubting my thoughts on “Back in Black”, though every time I played it those fears were put to rest. But it had been a while sine I had listened to this album. Since covid, when I bought all of the Bon era albums on vinyl again, they have been what I have listened to repeatedly when I go for an AC/DC fix. Five years, more or less, of “Powerage” and “Let There Be Rock” and “Highway to Hell”. And, don’t get me wrong, that has been awesome, but I did wonder just what I would feel about this album as a result. But – no fears needed. My nephew bought me a remastered vinyl of this album for Xmas, and I now unwrapped the plastic for the first time and placed it on my turntable – and it was awesome. Once again that opening bell, the opening riff, and off we went. And each song followed the other, all of them just as wonderful as they have always been. Zero disappointment. Only glory. And some 18 to 20 listens later over a number of days, it is still as good as that first time a few days ago.
This is a beauty. And perhaps that is pretty bloody obvious, because having sold over 50 million copies worldwide since its release, it is the second biggest selling album of all time. And while from this moment on the discography becomes... a little mixed... this still stands as a testament to the time, and a tribute to a band’s determination to continue on after adversity.

91. Gary Moore / Back On The Streets. 1978. 3/5.

This was released a long, long time ago, back when Gary was still (basically) thinking like a rock star, and not a blues star.

There's a lot to like about this release. For a start, it has Phil Lynott playing bass and helping out with vocals. Secondly, most of the songs are good. The title track is a typical Gary Moore rock song, and is helped along with other such songs on the album. Thirdly, he shows he is not afraid of playing instrumentals, of which there are a number on the album. And fourthly, there is his most famous ballad, Parisienne Walkways, which probably launched his career to a new level, and gave him the kick along he needed.

I like the raw production of the album (somewhat to be expected in the era and the cost), and looking back (listening back, I guess...), you can see all of the elements that made Gary the star he soon became.

Rating : Not bad at all. 3/5.

90. Dokken / Back In The Streets. 1979. 3/5.

The first release for the Dokken boys, an EP recorded an eon ago.

There is nothing startling on this release. It is a band still trying to find their feet, and is of interest mainly from a historical perspective, and of what they became.

Rating : Just starting out. 3/5.

88. Dokken / Back For The Attack. 1987. 4/5.

Dokken had taken a long and winding road on its way to finding its place near the top of the 1980’s hair metal scene. Having initially moved to Germany in order to land a recording deal, it had come in the form of the debut album “Breaking the Chains”. With Juan Croucier leaving the band after its recording to join Ratt, the introduction of Jeff Pilson on bass brought about the band’s classic line up, and also brought about great success with their following two albums, “Tooth and Nail” and “Under Lock and Key”. Both had contained successful singles, and showcased the best the band had to offer, in the great rhythm section of Pilson on bass and Mick Brown on drums, the electrifying guitaring of George Lynch and the pulsating vocals of Don Dokken. “Tooth and Nail” eventually reached #49 in the US and “Under Lock and Key” up to #32. Along with bands such as Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, W.A.S.P and Ratt, Dokken had found their niche in the hair metal market and found their popularity well and truly on the rise.
At the start of 1987, Dokken had recorded a song for the soundtrack of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”, a song that became the title track of the film and increased their standing as a result. After a constant touring and recording schedule that had stretched over recent year, the band decided to take a six month break before returning to write and record their follow up album. Moreso for this album than what had occurred on their previous albums, there was a mixture in the writing grouping of the songs. In fact, four of the songs do not credit band leader Don Dokken at all. Some of this has been put down to the increased tension within the group and between certain members, with the more obvious example of that between Dokken and Lynch. Despite this, the band managed to create their longest album to date, at over an hour in length, with songs ranging from the soft metal ballads that were a major part of the scene at the time, along with some heavy material that showcased the part of the band that could play with the best around when they wanted to.

“Back for the Attack” has a great range of songs that touch most genres of the metal scene that Dokken played in during the mid-to-late 1980’s. In the effort to find radio airplay, and perhaps even more important, MTV airplay, it was the pop friendly songs that found themselves released as singles. “Burning Like a Flame” was the first single released from the album, and it was followed the following year by “Heaven Sent” which was the most ballad-typed class of song that appears here.
The great advantage Dokken had during this time was that Don Dokken’s voice lent itself to both forms of the metal songs that the band was producing, able to croon away on songs like the singles, but also punch out great harder vocals and hit the real heights with his pitch on the top shelf songs on the album. And along for the ride is George Lynch, whose guitaring had been a highlight on the earlier albums and continued in the same vein here. Some fans have felt he was wasted in Dokken, and only truly came to the fore in his following band Lynch Mob, but that would be to take away just how good he is on these songs. Let’s face it, his intro to the album, the opening guitar riff on the opening track “Kiss of Death”, is what really gets you into this album, and the track is one of Dokken’s best. Lynch’s performance on that song alone is enough to convince you that he is not being wasted in this band. Then there is the instrumental “Mr Scary”, written by Lynch and Pilson, and completely focused on Lynch’s guitaring. These are two examples of where his guitaring is in fact the centrepiece of the band, not the lack of focus of the band. And that is not to draw the shades on the performance of both Pilson and Brown here as well. This foursome is a tightknit unit – musically at least – and every song here oozes with their magic.
This album became Dokken’s biggest selling worldwide, reaching #13 in the US and having each of its singles gaining significant airplay. And given the fact that the singles were, at least to me, the least attractive of the songs on the album, proves that it is the strength of the entire album that pushes the greatness of “Back for the Attack”, and not just one song that drives those sales. And “Mr Scary” is the epitome of that.

Life is often cruel when it comes to my music tastes, and once again I feel I didn’t get the rub of the green when it came to Dokken and especially this album. Because despite all of the wonderful music and albums I was exposed to during my latter high school years, Dokken and “Back for the Attack” somehow missed me. And that is a crying shame, because when this album was released I was just completing my final year exams, and while it would then have missed being a part of that year’s music soundtrack that still exists in my head, it would surely have become an awesome addition to the Summer of Bill that followed prior to going to university the following year.
As it was, I didn’t come across this album until the turn of the century. Sure, I had heard and seen the singles and music videos on MTV, rage, Beatbox and the such, but I had never gotten around to finding their albums, especially once we moved into the 1990’s and the grunge slash industrial slash power metal scene. So it wasn’t until the nostalgia stage of coming up quick on the age of 30 that I thought ‘I really must check out bands I’ve missed’. And it was the nostalgia that drew me in, chasing old NWoBHM bands and old hair and glam metal bands to bring back the memories of those high school years.
And “Back for the Attack”, from its first moments, was a hit for me. And by the end of that first listen, recalling the great age of Nightmare on Elm Street movies, I was wondering how on earth it had taken me this long to finding this album, and this band, something I very quickly rectified. And it has been over 20 years now since I first got this album, and I still play it often. It remains at the high end of my music rotation when I’m looking for a CD to put on the stereo at home. And I still can’t believe I didn’t have it back in the day.
The band broke up following the tour for this album, and has never been the same since. This was the third of the great trilogy of Dokken albums, and is a must for anyone who loved that hair metal scene of the 1980’s - in fact, it’s a must for anyone who lived through the 1980’s. Where great music and horror movies went hand in hand.

87. Masterplan / Back For My Life [Single]. 2004. 4/5.

Singles are hard to rate – and I am only including them because to leave them out would make this process feel incomplete.

This contains two songs from the album Aeronautics, which are both great. It also includes two songs not on the album, one which is great, the other which is average.

Rating : Good for a single. 4/5.

86. Live / Awake : The Best Of Live. 2004. 3/5.

When Live first came along, I became a big fan, especially of the album Throwing Copper. It was new, different, and a style of its own.
With each subsequent release, I have found less to enjoy. I thought the following two releases were good, but since then it has been very opaque.

This collection contains what they claim to be their best, but is generally just a singles package. Not that that detracts from its release, just that many of their singles I wasn't beholden to, and some of their other songs I believe are a lot better.

Rating : About average. 3/5.

85. Dream Theater / Awake. 1994. 4/5.

Coming off the tour to promote their second album “Images and Words”, Dream Theater took a short one month break before heading back into the writing process for their follow up in February 1994. This period, and the subsequent recording of the album, saw increased tension within the ranks, with what was perceived as a lack of a leader to come in and make decisions where required. With guitarist John Petrucci and drummer Mike Portnoy filling senior roles, and keyboardist Kevin Moore pulling in a different direction, the process was filled with tension that apparently did not result in physical altercations, but did result in bickering and arguments that never felt resolved.
“Awake” is an album with darker themes and heavier music throughout, than the band’s first two albums, though not to the point that they lose their identity. On “6:00”, James LaBrie opens the album and comes in hard and positive with his vocals from the outset, setting the album off on a great note, with John Petrucci’s crawling guitar riff and Kevin Moore’s seamless keyboards linking everything throughout. “Caught in a Web” carries on with the heavier tones, dominated by LaBrie’s awesome vocal track and Petrucci’s heavy riff, with positive lyrics about deciding to live life the way you want to, and not feel as though you are trapped in the titled web. “Innocence Faded” follows and draws on similar themes from the opening track. “6.00” has lyrics written by Moore, while “Innocence Faded” is written by Petrucci, and those themes, of a relationship beginning to deteriorate from two different perspectives, is closer to home than anyone knew at the time. Lines such as “Beginnings get complicated the farther we progress, opinions are complicated, immune to openness” speak for themselves.
“A Mind Beside Itself” is the trilogy suite that follows this, beginning with the instrumental “Erotomania”, something that gives the band the chance to operate without the vocals. This moves into “Voices” and “The Silent Man” and is a quieter and softer trio of tracks than what has come before it. “The Silent Man” sits in the acoustic range with LaBrie’s vocals suitably muted for the track.
“The Mirror” combines Moore’s sensational keyboard pieces that hold the song together, along with Petrucci’s grunging guitar riffs and John Myung’s bottom end bass guitar bringing a whole new depth to the musical side of the track. Lyrically it references Mike Portnoy’s battle with alcohol, something he would utilise again in several songs through the years. “Lie” opens with a great Petrucci riff and is a great example of the heavier direction this album took in many places. LaBrie’s vocals perfectly position themselves between the low almost growl of the opening lines before he rises to the heights again with a heavier emphasis on his singing. It’s interesting that the main riff was originally a part of the previous song “The Mirror”, but it was LaBrie who insisted that the riff deserved a place of its own. Great song, with a great solo from Petrucci through the middle of the track.
“Lifting Shadows Off a Dream” builds throughout from a slower quieter beginning to a soaring of LaBrie’s vocals into the back half of the song and the dominant sound of Moore’s keyboards and Myung’s bass. “Scarred” is the longest track on the album at eleven minutes, incorporating each of the members performance to ebb and flow throughout. The album closes out with “Space-Dye Vest” and is solely composed by Moore, something which caused a conundrum for the band when, just after the release of the album, Moore quit Dream Theater. Because the band considered this to be a 100% Kevin Moore song, they didn’t feel it was right to play the song live without him. In fact, Portnoy was quoted as saying that if they had known Moore was going to leave the band, they would not have put the song on the album. It was not until 2014 that the band performed the song live. Containing samples from certain movies and TV shows, and with music heavily based around Moore keyboards, it does feel more like a Moore solo composition than a Dream Theater song, though LaBrie and future keyboardist Jordan Rudess were very keen on getting the song into their live setlists.

I didn’t come across Dream Theater in any way shape or form until almost the turn of the new century, with the return of my heavy metal music dealer, who had come across this band in his travels, and started very forcibly pushing them onto myself and our friends by saying “You have to listen to this band they are AWESOME!!” And so we, and I, did. And as it turned out I got copies of quite a few of their albums at the same time, and was listening to them all in assorted orders, so it was quite a bit to get used to. And as it turns out, it was “Awake” that I finally settled on to listen to on a regular basis, to come to terms and get a grip on the music that Dream Theater was producing.
Now unlike others, Dream Theater for me was an acquired taste. It didn’t always gel with me and my music tastes. I would discover songs that I loved, but other stretches where I found I wasn't so much a fan of. The song that first caught my attention was “Caught in a Web”, perhaps because it wasn’t quite so progressive as their other work that I knew at the time. It was a song where I began to appreciate each different aspect of the band – guitar, bass, drums, keys, vocals. And having found a way in, it enabled me to get a grip on the music and the band, and from there I was able to enjoy what they produced. And as it turned out, “Awake” was a heavier and more focused album than “When Dream and Day Unite” and “Images and Words” and “Falling into Infinity”, which had been those other albums that I had initially listened to. So by concentrating on just this album for awhile, I found my niche into the Dream Theater sound, and it set me on my way.
Is there a conflict within my enjoyment and love of Dream Theater? Yes, there is. And “Awake” certainly holds true to that. I like most of my music is that faster tempo, and heavier too if possible. Not all of this album is like that, which means that when I put the album on to listen to while I’m doing something else in the background it is enjoyable, but if I have it on, say, in the car, then the skip button will occasionally get utilised. It’s just the way of things. But the songs that I like, such as those played here on this episode and a few others, I REALLY like. And that is what drives my enjoyment of this album.
While this was the first album that I really listened to of Dream Theater, there are many other albums down the track that caught my attention harder, mostly when they allowed the heavier side of their music to shine through. No real surprise in that, I guess. But this album still shines in those same old places, with the genius of the players well and truly front and centre in the mix.
And while the musicians themselves are generally the high water talking point of this band when it comes to musical discussion, the star for me on this album has always been James Labrie and his vocals. I think they are amazing here, and he makes the songs what they are.

84. Audioslave / Audioslave. 2002. 3.5/5

When Audioslave came together, there were quite a few people around who wondered if it would work. Could the two extremes - the voice of Soundgarden, in Chris Cornell, and the band formerly known as Rage Against The Machine – come together to form a partnership?

As it turned out, the answer was “Yes”.

This debut album is a good start for the new band. Everyone's tastes are catered for throughout, without any undue strain. There was even chart success, especially with Like A Stone.

As a first up effort, it is a good album. Word from the concert was that they were even better live, which one would expect.

Memories : The first time the clip for Cochise came on, I was at Kearo's watching Rage at an ungodly hour of the morning. The start of that song was what got me excited about getting this album.

Rating : Pretty good. 3.5/5

83. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force / Attack!! 2002. 4/5

Another Yngwie album means more of the same thing. Great guitaring, including riffs and solos. A great vocalist, who suits the written songs to a T. A teriffic band around him, who are great musicians themselves.

Earlier in his career, Yngwie longed for commercial success, and began to write songs with verses and choruses. To a degree, and it is here in this effort, he has gone back to guitaring, and writing guitar pieces, and fitting in the vocals to the gaps. It still works, but sometimes the songs feel like instrumentals with lyrics thrown in to make it a 'song'.

This is another great album from Yngwie, who seems to have grown more comfortable with himself in recent years, and just keeps pumping out great material.

Rating : Excellent stuff. 4/5.