417. Metallica / Fuel [Single] [Disc 3]. 1998. 4.5/5

Third part of the three-disc single set.

Both of the live versions of "Fuel" and "Until It Sleeps" sound great, while the demo version of "Fuel", as with all demo versions, are good to hear once or twice, and then not again.

Rating: Good extras again. 4.5/5

416. Metallica / Fuel [Single] [Disc 2]. 1998. 4.5/5

Disc two of the three disc single release.

The two live versions of "Wherever I May Roam" and "One" are as good as ever, but of course we've heard them before on the Live Shit: Binge and Purge release. Could have given us some newer stuff that's a bit rarer - but of course there are THREE versions of this single!!!

Rating: Still good stuff. 4.5/5

415. Metallica / Fuel [Single] [Disc 1]. 1998. 3/5

First disc of a three-disc single release, to enable some money grabbing, no doubt. The fact is, I wouldn't have bought them except I got all three for less than the price of one cost originally, second hand.

Apart from the actual single here (which is probably the only decent song that they offered on the abysmal Reload), we have live versions of "Sad But True" and "Nothing Else Matters". OK, they are performed well, but we've heard these songs live before. Did they have nothing else they could have put out there?!!

Rating: Quite honestly, a boring release. 3/5

414. Alice Cooper / From The Inside. 1978. 3/5

Alice Cooper’s rise through the 1970’s following his legal change of name and separation from the band of the same name had been immense. “Welcome to My Nightmare” had been followed by “Alice Cooper Goes to Hell” and “Lace and Whiskey” as successful albums. That mainstream success, however, had come from two ballads that had come from those albums, “I’ll Never Cry” from “Alice Cooper Goes to Hell”, and “You & Me” from “Lace and Whiskey”. Both of these songs went across the grain from what Alice Cooper had produced on his stage shows, and while they portrayed a different side to the artist, it was still the shock horror that drew fans to his concerts.
During the US tour that followed to promote the “Lace and Whiskey” album, it became clear that Alice was becoming consumed in his alcoholism, and that something needed to be done in order to rectify the situation. At its peak, it is rumoured that Alice would drink two cases of beer and a bottle of whiskey every day, something that was not sustainable to healthy living. Once the tour was completed, Alice himself decided something had to be done, and he had himself hospitalised at a sanatorium for treatment. This was not a rehab centre, it was an actual hospital where people with severe mental illness were treated, which gives you an indication of how serious Alice felt about his problem. It was during this time that his record label released the live album “The Alice Cooper Show” to keep the fans happy during his time out of action.
Once he had sobered up and was released from his place of improvement, Alice decided to use his experience in the hospital as the inspiration for his next album. Creating characters from people he had observed during his time in the sanitarium, Alice began to piece together a story based on his time away which would become the concept for his next album, titled “From the Inside”, an album that was to be the beginning of the next phase of Alice’s career.

When it came to creating and writing his new album, Alice tracked down a friend who had experience in writing and creating wonderful and inspiring songs and albums. That person was Bernie Taupin, best known as the lyricist for Elton John. Alic said in an article for Ultimate Classic Rock in November 2018:
“Bernie was my best friend before I went into the hospital, so when I came out I said, ‘Bernie, I’ve got a wealth of material. We have to sit down and write this. It was sort of like dueling with each other. And we’d always try to leave the other guy with one unrhymable last word, you know? So Bernie and I would sit there and I’d tell him about characters like Jackknife Johnny, a Vietnam vet and I’d say, ‘Ok, here’s the story – he married a girl, he came home, everybody rejected him and then on top of it they rejected him because he brought home a Vietnamese girl,’ and so it just started right there. And pretty soon we’d written a whole album like that.”
Alice Cooper is one of the masters of writing albums with entire concepts locked into the songs. His track record in this respective is almost unparalleled. And while some people love the story aspect of his music, others find it a hinderance. What they want is great songs, ones they can sing out loud and move around to. That probably isn’t the end game here on “From the Inside”. Because yes, Alice does deal with the characters he has come to know, and while he doesn’t preach or push a message on this album, the whole concept is one that is one that is taken seriously – indeed, more seriously than you would expect from an Alice Cooper album. While there is an element of tongue in cheek here on some of the material, a lot of it is brought to the album as a much more serious concept. And look, perhaps it is only me, but there is a lot of Elton John in the song “Wish I Were Born in Beverly Hills”. I mean you can almost hear Elton singing it. And the obvious connection between he and Bernie Taupin may well be the only reason I hear it, but it is there all the same.
So the quiet introspection of songs such as “The Quiet Room” and the ballad “How You Gonna See Me Now” are from this part of Alice Cooper that had found its way into his music, the ballad that was then released as a single in order to gain radio airplay. Then there are the songs that are basically on the characters in this play that Alice and Bernie have created, such as “Nurse Rozetta” and “Millie and Billie” and “Jackknife Johnny”, that really flesh out the story that is based on Alice’s real life experiences.
So, about the music. OK, it's not as cutting edge as some of his previous work. In some ways it is some of his more mainstream stuff. There are elements of funk being interwoven into some tracks, the synth and keys adding in another dimension as well. For the first time, there are a lot of guest musicians coming in and being a part of the recording, instrumentally as well as being a part of the songwriting process. And the album feels a lot less lighter than his usual hard rock shock rock genre. Whether that was the feel he was looking for, or was the natural influence of co-writer Taupin, who can tell. Overall though, the songs don't have quite the hard feel of his best work from the 1970's. The songs skip along well, and their stories are still interesting, and the music still finds a way to essentially be Alice.

Alice Cooper has released an incredible number of albums, so many so that it would be impractical if you loved every single one of them. And there are also several different eras of Alice’s music, which all makes for an interesting time if you ever try to listen to all of his albums in chronological order.
Having discovered Alice Cooper through both his original albums and his late 1980’s albums at around the same time, I always felt I had had a well rounded classroom of his music, so when it came to the time that I began tracking down the albums of his that I didn’t know, which essentially was the albums after “Welcome to My Nightmare” and before “Constrictor”, I felt I was in a good headspace to appreciate them for what they were. Well... that did prove to be a challenge...
“From the Inside” was no different to the other albums of that era from 1976 through to 1983. When I first got the album and listened to it... it just felt like there was something missing. Something that these other Alice albums had that this (and these) didn’t. And in the long run it was simply that the attitude in the music probably wasn’t there like I had expected or wanted it to be. And let’s face it, it had some tough albums to live up to. “Welcome to My Nightmare”, “Billion Dollar Babies” and the like. So my initial reactions were non-plussed. I certainly didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t sure I loved it either. The range in the genre map of the songs for me was a bit too varied, and I just wasn’t endeared to the whole album. This album had two points in time where I gave it a fair hearing, before it found its way back onto the shelves.
Come to the present day, and having dived in once again for this podcast episode, I don’t think much has changed. When I have had it on at work or in the car, the odd song catches my attention, and then the album returns to a type of monotony. On the other hand, when I went home and sat in the Metal Cavern, and played it on my stereo and just let it and the story wash over me, I found it far more enjoyable. Not to the point of those great Alice Cooper album, but I enjoyed the layout of the album much more when I was really listening to it from start to finish, and not just tuning in for individual songs. And there are many Alie albums that I must say I find exactly the same – not renown for individual tracks, but if you take the time to have the album envelop you without distraction, the true feeling of the album comes to the party. For me, it isn’t one of his greats, but it isn’t without its charms either, and it certainly isn’t the worst album you’ll hear today.

413. Death Angel / Frolic Through The Park. 1988. 3/5

Death Angel, pretty much all minors when they recorded and released their first album “The Ultra-Violence", as is recorded for posterity on an episode in Season 3 of this podcast, had enjoyed an enormous and swift rise to the top of the thrash metal tree in regards to fame and popularity. The band had gone on tours supporting bands such as Exodus and Voivod and the exposure brought them greater and more widespread attention than they had ever had before.
The band returned to the studio in March 1988 to record their follow up sophomore album. What has been interesting in retrospect is the band’s thoughts on what they produced, and its part of the band’s legacy. Most of the members of the band, but especially Mark Osegueda and Rob Cavestany have been highly critical of the album, with their problems generally stemming from the sound and production. In the band's documentary A Thrashumentuary, Cavestany referred to Frolic Through the Park as both their "bastard album" and an "odd album". This perhaps explains somewhat why the band has rarely performed the majority of the album's songs live since their initial disbandment in 1991. There is no doubt that it had to have been a rushed 12 months that preceded the writing and recording of the album, especially for a new band on the rise. But these were the days when an album a year was expected by record companies, so the fact that it has been suggested that the album was not properly produced in the studio isn’t that irregular. What also came from these sessions was a tinkering with the sound of the songs from the first album. Whereas that album can be classified as thrash metal from start to finish, that is not generally the case here on “Frolic Through the Park”, where the songs do have a distinct difference throughout, and with other influences coming into their style, there are a couple of surprises to be found.

Released barely a year after their debut, “Frolic Through the Park” is an album that polarises Death Angel fans. To be fair most fans still enjoy it even if the band themselves are less than excited. I’m not sure that the band believes this to be a bad album, but it does have a feeling of being rushed. And yet, despite this, it also shows a great deal of development and maturity in the songs, incorporating elements of funk that would flow through to their next album as well.
“3rd Floor” opens with an interesting sound bite, but then the band arrives with all guitars blazing, and we kick off in great style. So far, so good. From the very beginning, despite the band’s future protestations, the better production is evident from the start compared to their debut album, and with it a few more risks in the music also being taken. “Road Mutants” is powered by a satisfying bass rumble from Denis Pepa and “Why You Do This” continues that theme, though it does feel like it is heading in several directions at once.
Guitarists Rob Cavestany and Gus Pepa cited U2’s The Edge as a major influence when recording this album and you can definitely hear shades of his playing. It’s an interesting decision really for a couple of thrash metal guitarists to suggest this influence on what they were writing and playing for the album, and changing it up, even if ever so slightly, so soon into their recording career is a brave move. ‘Bored’ amps up the funk, a song that was released as a single and had the video that got heavy rotation on MTV’s “Headbangers Ball” at the time, but it seems a strange one to have put out. For me, it is one of the less interesting songs on the album. "Devil’s Metal” is a CD only bonus track that is slotted onto what was the first side of the album on vinyl, but it does finds the doing what they do best and sets them back on course.
"Confused” is a whole different brand of metal altogether, almost devolving into death metal rather than thrash, with a brooding piece of music that is a full on genre swap (not a gender swap). Even today it is a difficult song to tie in as a Death Angel song. It soaks up seven and a half minutes while barely getting into second gear before the back end of the song. “Guilty of Innocence" returns us somewhat to a more normal standard of transmission, while “Open Up” in places sounds like 1970’s Black Sabbath, but in other still utilises that guitar sound the band was looking for on this album. “Shores of Sin” has definite elements of the next album, a progressive feel that I like even though it was unusual for the band at the time.
The cover of Kiss’s classic “Cold Gin” just feels like filler material. It’s not a bad cover, but it again is a changing up of the style of music on the album. It plays like a B-side which it would have been perfect for, not a main track on the album. It is more or less a carbon copy of the original, with the band failing to put any of their own mark on the song, which would have made it a much better option. The futility of this is proven by the next track “Mind Rape” where the energy and heaviness returns to overshadow what came before it. At least this closes the album is a better style than would have been the case.

I initially came into Death Angel on their third album “Act III”, so it wasn’t until after I had digested that album that I went back and discovered their first two albums. And it would be fair to say that while I loved “The Ultra-Violence", there was a fair amount of disappointment that went into my thoughts on “Frolic Through the Park”. And I don’t know the full reason why that is. Perhaps I expected too much of it, on the back of the brilliance of “Act II” and the sheer unadulterated thrash joy of “The Ultra-Violence". Perhaps I am unable to reconcile the fact that this is a next stepping stone in the band’s development, and that I am missing something here that others find obvious to them. Whatever the reason is, for me the flow of the album is all wrong, that the songs don’t interconnect as well as they do on those other two albums, and indeed on albums going forward in the next century on the band’s rebirth. It was never something that I could nail down to an absolute reason, it was just the way I felt. The fact that, in retrospect, the band aren’t particularly joyous about the album, or that of the people I have discussed this band with over the years, THEIR opinion of the album has been mixed, does give me thought that perhaps I am just sitting in the majority when it comes to “Frolic Through the Park”.
Having spent the past couple of weeks listening to the album once again, and read over my initial review of this album on my blog from almost 20 years ago, nothing much has changed in my mind. I don’t hate this album, but I don’t have the same animated joy that I have when listening to their debut album, or third follow up album to this, or the albums on their comeback in the 2000’s. Like Black Sabbath’s “Seventh Star”, this is an album by a band that seems to be out of alignment with their other releases, and garners a wide ranging opinion with a gap the size of the Grand Canyon separating them.

412. Silverchair / Frogstomp. 1995. 3.5/5

The band that would eventually become Silverchair was founded by school friends Daniel Johns and Ben Gillies when they were still in primary school at Mereweather Public School, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales. Johns was the guitarist and lead singer of the duo with Gillies being the drummer and helper on backing vocals. Starting out under the name of The Silly Me, the two started out rapping over the top of a keyboard’s demo tracks, eventually developing this further to put on shows for their schoolmates. When they moved on to Newcastle High School, they met another student named Chris Joannou, who soon came on board as the bass guitarist for the band.
In 1994, the threesome formed a band called Innocent Criminals with another fellow student Tobin Finnane as a second guitarist, though this didn’t last very long and the band reverted back to a three piece. They played numerous shows around the Hunter Region, and they fleshed out their song list with covers of songs by bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath. In 1994, the band then entered YouthRock, which was a national competition for school-based bands, and placed first ahead of older competition. On the back of this they recorded their first demo which contained the songs "Acid Rain", "Cicada", "Pure Massacre", and "Tomorrow"
In April of that year, the band's mainstream breakthrough came when they won a national competition called Pick Me, using their demo of the song "Tomorrow". The competition was conducted by the SBS TV show Nomad and the alternative radio station Triple J. As part of the prize, Triple J recorded the song and ABC filmed a video, which was aired on 16 June. For the video's broadcast, the three changed the name of the band to Silverchair. In a 1994 interview with Melbourne magazine Buzz, the band claimed the name derived from a radio request for "Sliver" by Nirvana and "Berlin Chair" by You Am I being mixed up as Silver Chair. It was later revealed they were named for the C. S. Lewis–penned novel The Silver Chair from The Chronicles of Narnia series. Johns later said of the fake story in a July 2007 interview: "We can't just say it's the name of a book and [that] we were looking for a name and thought that sounded good, so we thought we'd come up with a story...".
A bidding war saw the band signed a three-album recording contract with Sony Music subsidiary Murmur Records. In September, their Triple J recording of "Tomorrow" was released as a four-track extended play and from late October it spent six weeks at number-one on the ARIA Singles Chart.
All that was left for the band was to write and record their debut studio album. That’s a daunting thing at the best of times for the most experienced bands. But just how daunting could it have been for a band of three mates who were still at school together, and were all just 15 years of age?

The immediate crunching riff and Eddie Vedder-like vocal from the start of “Israel’s Son” gives this album the punch it needs. And it also gives you cause for pause to wonder just how can three 15 year old kids put something like this to vinyl? It is a little bit ridiculous to be honest. And that opening lyric - “Hate is what I feel for you, And I want you to know that I want you dead, your late for the execution, if you're not here soon I'll kill a friend instead”. What in the hell had Daniel Johns gone through to come up with something like that?! It’s not confronting as such, just really surprising from the outset. The Pearl Jam influence that is one of the band’s loves is obvious throughout, as is the great sound the band gets from just the guitar. Bass and drums. The increase in speed as the track comes to its conclusion is a great finish to the song, a burst of energy that pushes the intensity forward. This was one of the band’s earliest songs and acts as a really strong opening to the album. The first single, and song that got the band noticed and signed, “Tomorrow” follows up, an obvious choice to continue the drive into the middle of the album. This is a re-recorded version of that initial single, and is noticeable with a heavier and better produced sound musically along with more depth in Daniel’s vocal delivery. Many still believe this song is one of the band’s most important moments beyond it being the song that got them signed. It still offers everything that the fledging gang of youths had going for them when they first came together as a band, and still showcases the beyond their years maturity that they possessed at this point of their careers.
“Faultline” harks on the loss of a brother and friend, and is a song of three pieces almost faultlessly (no pun intended) put together. The change in tempo and the drumming, from 2/4 to 4/4, from tom and cymbal smashing to clean hi hat and snare work to the final increasing rolling drum battle to the end of the song, dominates the mood of the track throughout. Ben Gillies does a fantastic job on this song of being the star provider. The rolling mood of the song and the channelling of vocals similar to Live’s Ed Kowalczyk from Live by Johns gives this song a great kick throughout. And then back onto this another of the band’s earliest and best-known songs, “Pure Massacre”. Here is where Johns unleashes a couple of monster riffs, and Chris’s bass line throughout the song makes the song as good as it is, rumbling and rambling throughout and given the opportunity to be the main basis of this track, unencumbered nor dominated by the drums or guitar. In structure this is one of the simpler songs on the album, but the bass gives it its definition, and Johns’s solo through to the song's conclusion adds to charm. The best known and arguably best songs of the band have been front loaded here on the album which gives it the heavy hitting sound to draw you in.
“Shade” dials back the tone of the album and draws back the tempo into a clear guitar dominated song that sounds as though it was again inspired by one of the bands heroes in Pearl Jam. Johns ramps up his vocals by the conclusion of the track which pushes it beyond its inner boundaries. “Leave Me Out” too shows that inspiration, more by the Eddie Vedder vocal again from Johns and the heavily distorted guitar and cymbal smashing drum beat that dominate. “Suicidal Dream” changes all of this up, sounding like no other song on the album. Johns’ agonised vocal delivery here portrays the pain felt in the lyrics, ones that go deeper than kids should be staring at. These two songs sound great and are performed and recorded very well, but there is a nagging feeling that they are missing something to deliver the full punch they could deliver. “Madman” however is the most metal song on the album, with a great crunching guitar riff ably supported by the bassline underneath and the drums crashing heavily over the top. It just sounds like the three of them set up and just unleashed all of their anger and metal tendencies into 2 minutes and 43 seconds. This is still one of my favourite Silverchair songs, Johns’s guitar throughout with a multitude of riffs and licks is just fantastic, the time changes work perfectly, and it just barrels down the highway. Great stuff.
“Undecided” is based around another heavy riff and complementing bass riff on top of the crash and bash drum beat, at times mixing Alice in Chains vibes with other Seattle type influences. “Cicada” is another of the songs here that is outside of the box, that doesn’t sound like the template that has been laid down by the majority of the songs here. Johns’s guitar riff isn’t as distorted, the drums aren’t as heavy handed, and the vocals are in a clearer context in a mid-register and more melodic throughout. Because of its point of difference to the other tracks on the album, this stands out as one of the best. And then the album concludes with “Findaway”, an upbeat up-tempo song with lyrics that are uplifting and positive in their demeanour and output. This song is a leader for so many bands who followed, producing this kind of alt-rock that proliferated the airwaves over the next few years. It gives the album an uplifting end, and finishes off a remarkable debut album.

Growing up in Australia in the 1990’s pretty much meant that you would be exposed to the national broadcasters youth radio station, 2JJJ. It was not only radio where you got to hear the music that commercial radio steered clear of (thus by default making it cool), but it was a station that championed the youth of the nation and especially the unheralded and unsigned bands of the age. If you wanted to hear the alternative heroes of that day and age, you found them on Triple J. And as we have already established here, Silverchair came to prominence by way of this path.
So like everyone else in Australia I was given wall to wall coverage of this band of 15-year-olds from Newcastle who were going to be the next Nirvana or the next Pearl Jam or whatever other big band you wanted to name. And “Tomorrow” was played non-stop everywhere for what felt like years. Which did indeed become a little tiresome. And then when this band was released, it was promoted to the hilt. “Pure Massacre” had already been released as the second single from the album and was one I liked more than “Tomorrow”, and “Israel’s Son” would come a few weeks after this release. So there was already three songs out there pummelling Silverchair into your psyche without even owning the album. So there were things driving me away from this album. Firstly, it was 1995, my black hole year where I did little of anything except try to drink myself into oblivion. And secondly, I definitely pulled away a little (or a lot) because of the hype. Everybody was on board with this album and band, so I couldn’t be. It was like being back in high school again. I am not cool so I can’t like what the cool people like. Everyone loves a band, so I just refuse to engage. And I definitely did that with this album. Indeed, I don’t think I actually listened to this album until early 1997, after I had heard the first single drop from their following album. The album was “Freak Show”, the single was “Freak”, and I thought “who the fuck are these guys?!?!” and it was Silverchair. So on that basis I got “Frogstomp” to see if I had actually missed something I shouldn’t have.
Did I? Probably, yes. I mean, were these kids the greatest songwriters in the world at this point? No. They are kids. Not everything was perfect, and a lot of credit probably has to go to producer Kevin Shirley for getting the best out of them and down on tape. But there is a lot of stuff here that is exceptional for their age. Well, that’s not quite right, because ALL of it is exceptional for a band of their age. And the album still sounds as good today as it did back in the day. And when wearing your rose coloured glasses you can happily say ‘how good is this album?’ But for me, as much as I still enjoy listening to the album – and most certainly have over the last few days in preparing this episode – what I get out fo it most is that it is the platform for what came next. Because the amount that this threesome must have learned in all the initial excitement, then writing and recording this album, then the touring behind it, must have been extensive, such that when it came to writing and recording the follow up album, they would not only be more their OWN band, but would have further experiences and skills to utilise to make an album that was even better. And that is exactly what they did.
Of their five studio albums, “Frogstomp” for me comes in at #3. And through all of the trials and tribulations that these three kids from Newcastle went through over the next 30 years – not all bad but not all good – this album still stands as a testament to everyone that age is not a barrier to living the dream of being a band and recording an album and touring as a living. If nothing else, for those of us who lived through the hoopla, it is a standing reminder of those days of youth.

411. Metallica / Fresno 14-3-04 [Bootleg]. 2004. 3.5/5.

An A- quality bootleg from the St Anger tour, which I guess I got purely to hear if the new material sounded better than what came out on the actual album St Anger. As is turns out, it doesn’t really inspire at all.

The return of “Blackened” to the setlist is one of the bonus pieces. However, what this bootleg highlights is that, now that Hetfield does try to ‘sing’ everything, the older songs have lost their grunt. “Blackened” doesn’t sound angry at all – it sounds like a melodic track now. You should be able to hear the growl of ‘Blackened is the end!’, but instead you get a high, almost girlish tone in the voice. Not cool. I understand why James has had to alter his singing, but it really deprives their early material of the emotion that they need when they are being performed live.

Rating: New songs in the setlist for the first time in a long time, but it doesn’t make the heart jump. 3.5/5

410. Dead Kennedys / Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. 1980. 4/5.

This had been out for a number of years before I was first exposed to it, but it made an impression I can tell you. 15 years old and fairly impressionable, Dead Kennedys debut album came at me like a tracer bullet and intrigued me from the start.

The band’s wonderful punk inspired sound, led at the front by Jello Biafra’s unique vocals, and songs that make you laugh and think at the same time, makes for a winning combination.
I know a few people who are friends of mine who like to spend hours discussing the lyrics of the songs, and what the meaning behind the meaning behind the lyrics are. Personally, I like to just listen to the songs and sing along, and generally laugh. Surely they aren’t meant to be taken seriously… :)
From the opening of “Kill The Poor”, followed by the wonderfully sentimental “Forward To Death”, into the thought provoking “Let’s Lynch The Landlord”, you can’t help but enjoy it. Let’s not forget “Chemical Warfare”, and then the album’s star attraction, “Holiday In Cambodia”.

This is an album that brings back a lot of memories, and putting it on again over the past couple of days has been just terrific. It makes me wonder why I haven’t played it for so long.

Rating: An all-time classic. 4/5.

409. Freddie Mercury / The Freddie Mercury Collection. 1992. 3/5

As one of the greatest singer/vocalists of all time, this compilation concentrates on the material he did apart from Queen.
It contains a mixture of styles and tempos, some of which are agreeable and others which are more painful. Some of the songs still sound good, others are inextricably tied to the era that they were recorded. Obviously, this can hamper your judgement – as it does here with me. To listen to “Love Kills” now is to hear the music that will forever be the mid-1980’s, and certainly most of that style of music still grates in my ears. But when this song was released, I simply could not get enough of it, and played it over and over again. Sometimes now I still listen to this song, and wonder how I loved it so much. I still like it, but more in a reminiscing kind of way.

Other favourites for me here include “Foolin’ Around” and “Mr Bad Guy”, while the diversity of his duet of “Barcelona” with Montserrat Cabelle shows off his versatility perfectly.

You wouldn’t say it was his greatest work, but it is worth listening to in order to see what he could do in a different environment.

Rating: If only for his voice… 3/5.

408. Silverchair / Freak Show. 1997. 2.5/5.

You always wonder how a band that has been phenomenally successful with their debut album is going to be able to follow it up when it comes time to release that second album. It is therefore interesting that my first impressions of this album was from the first time I saw/heard the opening riff to the first single from it, “Freak”. Believe me, it caught my attention immediately!

Freak Show has it’s extremes, probably highlighted by the ferocity of “Freak” and the gentle swooning of “Cemetary”. Both were singles, and both are probably the best two songs on the album.
Apart from these two, I find it difficult to really get into the album. The variation between styles is a little disconcerting for me. It’s almost like a compilation of different genres of music. In particular, "Abuse Me", "Lie To Me" and "No Association" take this to another level. Trying to get into an album with so many technical changes isn't so easy. I’m sure that works for some people, but my opinion is that Daniel Johns just isn’t sure at this stage of the band’s career as to which direction they really wanted to head in – punk, hard rock, grunge or metal. While I think most of the songs are on the good side, none apart from those mentioned really grab you the way you want a good album to do.

Rating: Perhaps too much is sometimes not enough. 2.5/5

407. Iced Earth / Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1). 2007. 2/5

OK, so we are going to make a concept album (or in this case albums) based on the story from an earlier album we have already recorded. Interesting ploy. It does raise a number of questions.
1) Will the storyline be interesting within the framework of the lyrical content?
2) Will the musical content capture the mood of the lyrical content?
3) Will all the strings pull together to produce a good album?

I must say I still think the beginning of the album – “Something Wicked Part One” and “Setian Massacre” – is catchy, and I still sing along to it. I also enjoy “Ten Thousand Strong”. All good songs, sung wonderfully well.
But what is it that, for me at least, turns me off the whole album? I guess there are a few things. There a number of musical ‘interludes’ between songs – mood setters, I guess you could call them – and I think there are far too many to retain interest in. Also, as much as I am a fan of Tim Owens, sometimes he just doesn’t come off, and on some of the songs here he just doesn’t come off. Whether that is in the writing or the performance is open to question.

So in the long run, I think this missed its mark. I don’t know what the answer is. Will Matt Barlow make a difference? Are his vocals what were required here? I don’t think so. I just think the guys had a reasonable concept for an album, but just didn’t quite grab me with their interpretation. No doubt millions think differently.

Rating: On a different plane from what I expected. 2/5.

406. Vanishing Point / The Fourth Season. 2007. 2.5/5

I should begin by saying that this is my first impression of Vanishing Point's work, and having never heard them before it is a difficult thing to come out and review and rate from a novice's point of view. However, that is exactly what I am doing.

I must say this is much more 'progressive' than I imagined it would be, and their sound is certainly a step away from what a generation of Australian hard rock/metal bands have done. Now - while this is a good thing, because originality is important, it didn't quite grab me like I was hoping. Sure, wonderful vocals and vocal range, good musicianship as well. But the keys and synths are probably a bit much for me and my tastes, and the songs don't quite have the 'oomph' factor to really grab my attention.

Perhaps I wanted to like this too much. I was hoping for an Australian metal band to blow me out of the water. And I have no doubt this material would sound so much better in a live atmosphere. But for me, I'm just a little disappointed.

Rating: Missing an ingredient or two. 2.5/5

405. Fozzy / Fozzy. 2000. 3.5/5

For many of us who have been amateur musicians who have put together bands with our mates to get together and jam to our favourite songs, this album is a dream scenario. Go into a studio, lay down a handful of songs from the bands' you love to listen to, and then release it on an album. Awesome. What more could you ask for? A couple of your own original songs in there as well, to hopefully create some interest in your own work so you can expand this in the future? Why not?
Fozzy began life when members of the band Stuck Mojo, led by Rich Ward, decided to go out and play as a cover band and play their favourite cover songs. The addition of high profile wrestler Chris Jericho as lead vocalist lifted the band's image, and brought forth this first album.

The two original tracks on the album are average hard rock songs. , "End of Days" and "Feel the Burn" are fine to listen to without being spectacular. The remaining eight songs on the album are all covers of their favourite tracks, and range from the average to impressive. Dio's "Stand Up and Shout" is handled with aplomb, while there is a certain humorous element lent to Krokus' "Eat the Rich". The middle section of the album continues in this vein, with Twister Sister's "Stay Hungry" followed by Iron Maiden's "The Prisoner" and Motley Crue's "Live Wire".
Perhaps the best two songs here are the versions of Ozzy Osbourne's "Over the Mountain", which sizzles with great riff work from Ward, and Scorpions' "Blackout" where Jericho offers his best work. Judas Priest's "Riding on the Wing" is a tough call to finish on, especially vocal-wise. No easy job trying to match Halford's vocals on this song.

As with most cover albums, there is an initial period where this is listenable, until such time that you just refer back to the original artist for the songs. However, as an introduction for this line-up, this is well worth a listen.

404. Stratovarius / Fourth Dimension. 1995. 3/5

Coming out in the mid-90's, Fourth Dimension comes out with some similar sounds and some interesting arrangements. Starting off with the excellent power metal stylings of "Against The Wind" and "Distant Skies", you can't help but be impressed with how the band has progressed since their early albums. Personally I think it is the most solid start of an album for the band.

Similarities between other artists of their genre are prevalent. The instrumental "Stratovarius" and the song that follows, "Lord of the Wasteland", carry a very Yngwie Malmsteen-ish style to them, probably a little bit too much so. Mind you, by the mid-90's Yngwie had lost his magic, so it was up to someone to keep the dream alive... :)

Overall, this is a very solid album, and another great addition to the Stratovarius discography. If only their later stuff was like this earlier stuff... but I say that about sooo many bands.

Rating: Some quite brilliant pieces blended with other above average material. 3/5

403. Blind Guardian / The Forgotten Tales. 1996. 3/5

An interesting compilation of rearranged tracks from previous Blind Guardian releases, and some cover versions of some slightly left-field songs from other bands.

The rearranged and acoustic/orchestral versions of their songs come across surprisingly well. They come across as almost completely new songs, and sound great.
The cover versions range from the bizarre (“Mr Sandman”, “Surfing USA”), to the surprising (“The Wizard”, “Spread Your Wings”). “Surfing USA" has a ridiculously heavy guitar solo, which certainly ‘updates’ it from the Beach Boys original. “Spread Your Wings” is wonderfully well done without compromising Queen’s original version.

Rating: So, not a new album, and not a best of. But an interesting interlude nonetheless. 3/5.

402. Exodus / Force of Habit. 1992. 2.5/5

Just like a pair of pants that are just a little tight, this album doesn’t quite feel right. It feels OK for awhile, but the longer it goes, the more uncomfortable you feel.
The reason for this? I don’t know for sure. I do know that I’ve had a similar feeling with albums before – Metallica’s Load would be a prime example. But the differences are obviously felt by many fans of the band.

So what is it that this Exodus album is missing that other have? To be honest I really can’t put my finger on it. There are songs that don’t live up to what they could be. For instance, take “Good Day To Die”, a reasonable idea for a song. But why is it really just dead average instead of being top shelf? I keep listening to it, and even now think it should go off in one direction and build to a crescendo, when it takes another route, and ends off diving off a cliff. I think the material is there somewhere, but was like a map that has been folded up wrong – it just doesn’t fit or look right.

“Thorn in my Side” is the opening song, and probably my favourite. After that… well… it’s more average fare.

Rating: You expect better from one of the major influences of thrash. 2.5/5

401. UFO / Force It. 1975. 4/5

There would be very people out there who would argue that UFO as a band did not find its true calling until the arrival of Michael Schenker, not only as lead guitarist for the band, but also for contributions to composing the material for the band. The first two albums by the band are of a different era, a different style altogether from what was to come starting with their third album “Phenomenon”. A lot of things began to click with that album. The combinations in the group became tighter, the writing took shape, and the music began to draw away from the 1960’s psychedelia that had come from their earliest works into a more hard rock focused direction. On the back of songs such as “Doctor Doctor” and “Rock Bottom”, UFO’s live shows also began to take off, with a focus on the unbridled talent of lead guitarist Michael Schenker, which began to capture the fans attention. The band had brought in guitarist Pual Chapman to fill out the live sound, though by the end of the tour he had left to form his own group Lone Star.
Moving into the follow up album, the band had momentum on their side. The experience of playing together on the road had the effect of bringing the band closer together, and also of fostering new ideas and of ways to utilise the talents of the band in the best way possible. They harboured a desire like many bands of the day to break into the US market, and to do that they had to find the style that would not only push the band’s growing hard rock sound but funnel that into something those fans wanted to hear. Finding a true combination between the one guitar hard rock riffing of Schenker along with the adding of keys onto the album to give it the kind of melody that also drew outsiders towards the album was a balancing act that required not only great musicianship but the steady hand of a solid producer. Enter Leo Lyons, bass guitarist for the band Ten Years After, who knew a thing or two about producing and writing albums that made the charts in the UK and the US. With his guiding hand on the wheel, UFO entered the studio to complete work on their fourth studio album, titled “Force It”.

The great misnomer about looking back at this album from 50 years in the future is that, for all intents and purposes, it doesn’t come across as what the modern music listeners would categorise as hard rock. In much the same way as the previous album “Phenomenon” is a mixture of material that when performed live becomes a lot heavier than it is on the album itself, “Force It” certainly has its moments where it showcases those hard hitting drums from Andy Parker and hard riffing from bass guitarist Peter Way and guitarist Michael Schenker, and Phil Mogg extends his vocals into something that offers us a glimpse at the power he possesses, it doesn’t maintain that through every song on the album. In fact, it is mostly reserved for just a few songs, while the others fall back into a category that resides as rock or maybe even soft rock at times. Now this categorisation does not make the music or the album as a whole less enjoyable, but it is good to have that knowledge before you dive right in and think you are going to get a hard rock experience on a level of Deep Purple or AC/DC for the same era. That isn’t necessarily the case.
It opens up beautifully with the legendary “Let It Roll”, that opening note held while the bass and guitar riff comes in underneath, anticipating Mogg’s vocal arrival. Parker’s drumming is outstanding from the outset, setting the scene for another of his excellent album performances, while Way’s bass guitar holds together beautifully with Schenker’s guitars, especially through the middle of the track, where Schenker is dualling up his lead and rhythm in great syncopation. Phil Mogg is a terrific vocalist make no mistake, but when Parker, Way and Schenker are left to their own devices as they are here in the middle of the opening track it is pure magic. This is followed by “Shoot Shoot” which steps back a touch on the faster hard rock style and settles more into the mid-tempo, discussing the protagonist's liaison with a femme fatale, mixed with metaphor and innuendo throughout. Mogg takes the lead with his vocal on this track, while Schenker’s riff promotes the dalliance with his subtle changes throughout the song. It’s another of UFO’s best. “High Flyer” changes tone completely from the opening two tracks, the acoustically based ballad with harmony vocals and melodic guitar along with the introduction of background keys to emphasise the right portions of the song and solo. The lyrics tell the simple story, the second verse beginning with “Turn to summer goes so fast, Seems I’ll never see you, One weekend and a photograph, Oh all my boyish dreams”. It is performed beautifully, and heaven knows you can’t have an album of this era without a song like this on it. In the context of the album, it does what I fear most songs like this do, which is drain the momentum of the album at its point of contact. It sounds beautiful, but is this what you want from UFO? If it is, then you are in luck.
The mood and riffs ramp up again on “Love Lost Love”. It actually has a ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ feel about the stop start guitar riff and vocal melody on the track. Side one then concludes with “Out in the Street”, which starts with the soft laden keys synth riff overlaid by Schenker’s guitar riff and the duelled harmony vocals from Phil Mogg. It’s a mix of both the hard rock guitar riffing and that softly spoken keys, changing throughout the song where the mood requires it. The middle has Schenker dominating not only with a great solo but then a heavy riff as Mogg sings through the bridge. It is one of UFO’s best known and most beloved tracks, and does offer everything that is great about the band in one song.
Side two opens with another classic in “Mother Mary”, the hard riffing template that the band became known for heard here in all its glory as Schenker takes centre stage with guitar, and Andy Parker’s hard hitting drums again at the forefront. It’s interesting how Parker is forced to take a back seat when the band plays its softer more introverted material, but when Schenker’s guitar takes over, his drumming follows in waves. Parker in particular shines when the hard to heavy songs come up, and he must have been particularly pleased when this partnership began. They do combine brilliantly here again on this song, along with Way’s bass guitar. The solo through the middle and as the outro to the song again showcases all three in perfect harmony. “Too Much of Nothing” follows this, and actually channels the pop rock songs of the late 1960’s, in particular the similarity in places to the song “Somebody to Love” which was popularised by Jefferson Airplane - there is a distinct comparison that can be drawn. This harks back to the band's roots to a degree but in a far modern sounding way (in 1975), and it works well as a result. “Dance Your Life Away” is, for wont of a better term, a typical UFO filler track on the album, one that holds itself in the gaps of those songs that are the heavy hitters on the albums, and gets you from one to the next. It is significant because it comes and goes without even noticing, the role of songs on good albums.
The destination it gets you to is “This Kid’s”, typically wonderful UFO to the ears. The opening Schenker riff dominates as Mogg’s vocals dive in, flaunting the story of the two youths stuck in a rut, knowing they need to escape but probably knowing they aren’t going to do that. There’s lovely keyboard flurry that supports the guitar into the chorus, before delving into a hard blues in the middle of the track. The addition of the piano keys here differentiates the tone of the opening of the song, and it feels like an unusual direction to head in, and an unexpected one. The song segues into the hyphenated title “Between the Walls”, the instrumental track that takes up the last 2.5 minutes of the track, again in a completely different style from the first two thirds of the song. But this is true beautiful Schenker, with Way’s wonderful bassline underneath complementing it perfectly, that flows out to conclude the album in style and grace.

My journey with UFO began with the discovery of the Michael Schenker Group, and then in my university days through an album called The Michael Schenker Anthology which I found one lunchtime while browsing through my favourite second hand record store in Wollongong at the time, Illawarra Books and Records. That album had highlights from Schenker’s career with Scorpions, UFO and his own band, and all three soon became very big favourites of mine. It also led to me buying the UFO live album “Strangers in the Night” from the same store not long after, and this forced me to go back and discover the rest of the UFO catalogue, at least those that featured the guitaring of Michael Schenker.
I first heard this album through one of my best mates Peter who has now been my brother-in-law for the last 32 and some years. He had both this album and the follow up “No Heavy Petting”, both of which I borrowed from him to tape onto one cassette, which was played often from that point onwards.
My evolving music tastes at the time I discovered this and the other UFO albums was probably a really good melting pot in which to find and listen to these albums. What you might consider traditional heavy metal was mixing with thrash metal and hair metal and all other variations possible at that time, and I was enjoying the lot of them. So even though other bands were bigger for me at the time and I listened to far more often, this was still great. But it probably became most enjoyable from the mid-to-late 1990’s onwards, when those initial band that I had loved adored were either slipping off the face of the earth or struggling to find their way in the music world they found themselves, and I began to go back to bands like Scorpions, MSG and UFO for what they offered in those times, music that combined guitar and bass and drums with vocals that harmonised.
“Force It”, with the album cover filled with kitchen taps in a play on the word ‘faucet’, still has so much to enjoy all these years later. Songs such as “Let It Roll”, “Shoot Shoot”, “Out in the Streets”, “Mother Mary” and “This Kid’s” are still as enjoyable today as ever, with the combination of Parker, Way and Schenker sounding just as fabulous as they did. And the added keyboards from Chick Churchill on this album, who performed the same role for Ten Years After, showcased how the music could sound with these added elements, and also the fact that with Schenker playing all the guitars that everything could mix together really well. What the band probably needed for their live shows was an extra two members to play the keyboards and play rhythm guitar. Or, perhaps, someone who could switch between both. Now there’s a novel idea... maybe the band could take that on in the future... great idea Bill.
I just recently bought the remastered 2021 3LP vinyl of this album, which has a complete live concert on the other two vinyls as the bonus, and playing it this week on my turntable in the Metal Cavern has been a wonderful experience all over again. The musicianship on this album continues to astound me, and you can actually hear the improvement in every aspect of the band that was taking place. In the UFO discography, of all of their studio albums this would rank as either #2 or #3 for me, depending on which album I listened to on the day. It is still terrific 50 years on... but there was more and possibly better yet to come.

400. Dream Theater / Forbidden Dreams [Bootleg]. 2002. 3/5

This is an excellent A- bootleg from Dream Theater's Japanese tour, containing pretty much their best material to that point in their career (1994 and 1995). As per usual with Dream Theater, there are five or six instances where the band go off and do their 'instrumental' break for 5-10 minutes at a time. A fan will enjoy and tolerate them. Others may not.

I still think their live DVDs are the best way to appreciate this band. This does have its moments however.

Rating: Good quality bootleg that captures the band at an interesting time of their career. 3/5.

399. Black Sabbath / Forbidden. 1995. 3/5

As Black Sabbath approached what looked to be the end of its recording career, one of the questions that must have been asked at the time was ‘does anyone really care anymore?’ Several years had been spent with the band taking on various forms and several different personas, and each had had its positives and negatives. The second dissolution of the Mark II lineup after the “Dehumanizer” album was a well-publicised crapfest, with the two departing members of that lineup replaced by the returning Tony Martin on vocals and Bobby Rondinelli on drums. This lineup, alongside original members Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, produced the album “Cross Purposes”, an album that was met by reasonable reviews but without the acclaim or the sales that “Dehumanizer” had seen. Following the tour to promote the album, which produced the live album “Cross Purposes Live”, Geezer Butler also moved on along with Rondinelli, which saw the return of Neil Murray on bass guitar and Cozy Powell on drums, reuniting the line up that played on the album “Tyr”.
At the time that this album was being recorded, the band had reached a point where something probably had to change. Black Sabbath had one album remaining on their deal with their record company I.R.S. The rumours of a reunion of the band’s original lineup had been swirling since their short moment together at what was supposed to be Ozzy Osbourne’s final tour in 1992. While that didn’t appear to be getting any closer to being resolved through the various managers and lawyers, there was a sense that this album was a means to clear the decks in a manner of speaking. Vocalist Tony Martin in an interview some years later actually spoke of “Forbidden” as a (and I quote) "filler album that got the band out of the label deal, rid of the singer, and into the reunion, but I wasn't privy to that information at the time".
Perhaps, in aid of this, the band decided to utilise Ernie C as their producer for the album, who was better known as the guitarist for Body Count. Even at the time it seemed a strange decision. In an interview twenty years later, Iommi said, "We were pushed into a corner. Somebody at the record company suggested we work with Ice-T. My reaction was, 'Who the hell is he?' But we met up and he was a nice bloke, and also a big fan of Sabbath. Ernie C ended up producing Forbidden, which was a terrible mistake. Ernie tried to get Cozy Powell to play these hip-hop-style drum parts, which quite rightly offended him. You don't tell Cozy Powell how to play drums." Beyond this, the writing and recording of the album all felt a bit haphazard, and not truly a band situation. Iommi said “One of the problems was we weren't all there at the same time, when we were writing it. Cozy and Neil were still contracted to do other stuff, so it ended up with just Tony Martin, Geoff Nicholls and myself just jamming around and putting ideas down. It all came together very quickly, and we didn't have time to reflect: to make sure it was the right songs and the right way of doing it."

If the record company and the band was looking for a way to spice things up for this album by bringing in the rap metal element, then they get it in spades on the opening track. “The Illusion of Power” ramps up old school Sabbath doom with Iommi’s guitar and riff. It’s a callback to earlier days, with other elements like Martin’s mixed range vocals and then a spoken word element from guest performer Ice-T in the middle of the track. It has always felt out of place. You can understand a band trying to mix things up, especially by this stage of their career, it just doesn’t come together in a way that enhances the album or kick it off on the right foot. “Get a Grip” follows with a fairly typical late era Iommi riff and vocal styling from Martin. The underlying riff barely changes throughout, the tempo sticks to the same, and Martin’s vocals hold to their values. The only real significant change in the song are Tony’s two solo breaks, both fairly short and sweet. There’s more digging in the past with “Can’t Get Close Enough” which has very close audible connections to the “Volume 4” album. Again, it is a simple guitar riff over the standard rhythm from bass and drums, leaving Martin to croon over the top. It is effective but simple, not looking to reinvent the wheel but perhaps looking to invoke nostalgia as its purpose.
“Shaking off the Chains” takes a while to get going, starting off like a late 1960’s chant-singing track without the added psychedelia that would have been added in if it had been from that era. But then we get going, Cozy attacks with double time drums, and Iommi follows with a ramped up riff and solo passage, and Martin climbs into his vocal delivery in a far more formidable fashion. It is a shame that the song fades out rather than ending in a flourish, but then what would I know.
“I Won’t Cry for You” dials everything back, coming regrettably close to a Black Sabbath ballad, a song that sounds like it took about five minutes to compose in the studio, and then stretch it out beyond five minutes to help with the length of the album. Maybe not a throwaway track as such but one that doesn’t have much about it. It is followed by the far more energetic “Guilty as Hell” which settles into its groove from the outset and holds there. It’s a good riff and solid rhythm throughout, but Martin does offer us a little bit more on vocals here, a slight change up from previous tracks. It is an interesting song rather than a brilliant one. “Sick and Tired” is immediately an ear grabber, with Iommi finding a riff and rhythm more reminiscent of the Headless Cross / Tyr era of this band, which lifts the mood of the album. Both of the Tony’s offer a better sound here, Martin’s vocals much more in his preferred range and style, soaring a little more than he has allowed himself in the first half of the album, and Iommi’s gets more involved out of the slow riffing and allows his soloing to flow and soar in a much better manner.
“Rusty Angels” is a pure Soundgarden song, both musically with the bridge into the chorus, and also in many places vocally from Martin. It seems inconceivable that it couldn’t have been written this way for a reason, given it was 1995 and Soundgarden was close to ruling the world alongside Alice in Chains at the time. The song is great, but it is the method behind it that feels like it is dirty to enjoy it.
The title track “Forbidden” finds a groove again, and maintains it through to the end of the track. It is a simplified track, one that is pleasant enough and enjoyable enough to listen to but doesn’t seem like a stretch for these five in the slightest. Then we come to the album’s closing track “Kiss of Death”, a good song that channels the best parts of this formation of the band. It has the breakdown in the middle that showcases Martin’s great vocal qualities in particular.
A quick mention here to the Japanese bonus track that is not an actual part of this album, “Loser Gets It All” which is arguably better than any of the song that made the cut for the album. How does this not get a look in on the actual album?! It has all the pieces that make this version of Sabbath its best, but is only a bonus track. Amazing.

“Forbidden”, released in the black hole year of 1995, got zero attention from me at the time, and by the time I was thinking about buying wholesale music again it had passed into the ether. Unlike the “Cross Purposes Live” album and video, which had received a prominent display at Utopia Records when I had visited, I barely saw this album on the shelves by the time I was returning to check out their merchandise. The album fizzled and I barely thought of it in any shape and form. The reunion occurred and fizzled, basically becoming a cover band at Ozzfest every year. But then the OTHER reunion happened, the one with Dio and Appice, and the formation of Heaven and Hell. And although “Forbidden” was on another plane in the Black Sabbath story, this reunion actually made me for the first time think “I wonder what that last album they did with Tony Martin was like?!”, and so I decided to track it down. And when I finally got a copy of it and listened to it... it was horrible! The opening track just stuck in my craw, and I had trouble getting past it. I hated the way the album sounded. It just seemed to miss the point of the best versions of Black Sabbath, or perhaps even more pointedly the best parts of what THIS VERSION of Black Sabbath was like. It went for the doomier side of the band’s sound but without really thinking about how that fit in with Murray on bass instead of Iommi and Martin on vocals instead of Osbourne and Powell on drums instead of Ward. Now obviously that is a writing problem, but production wise it always seemed out of kilter with what you expected from the band. It didn’t sound right, either musically or in production and mixing. Suffice to say that it moved back onto the shelves and sat collecting dust. Tony Iommi, for a decade or more, made noises that he would like to remix the album and give it the sound that he felt it deserved. In 2024, this came to pass with the release of the “Anno Domini 1989–1995” box set re-releasing four of the Tony Martin-helmed albums, including Iommi’s remix of “Forbidden”. And for me two things were obvious. Firstly, this sound of the remix was infinitely better than the original had been. And secondly, I found the songs on here far more palatable on a more recent listen. Is that just a brain block thing? That I had convinced myself that the production was the problem on the original release, and that now it has been magically fixed? Or am I just older and in a better place to appreciate the songs on this album away from when I first heard them? I did play the two version back-to-back and the quality of the remix is very noticeable. Beyond that, perhaps not prejudging the album now has been of benefit to my enjoyment of it.
Is it magically better than when I first discovered it? No. It has its flaws. It’s not a perfect album. But it is one that I have enjoyed much more over the last 12 months having gotten the vinyl box set. And this past week has been no exception. And it was the end of an era. 30 years on, and as I am recording this episode, we are very soon to witness what is apparently the final performance of the band Black Sabbath in Birmingham. Just how that goes is anybody’s guess at this stage, but it will finally put the pin the band that created what has come since. And this album signalled the end of the Martin era, one that still splits opinion 30 years on.
This lineup of the band often gets a raw deal from fans. The suggestion that they are not Black Sabbath gets the same shrift from me as those who say that about the Dio Appice version of the band. Eventually they called themselves Heaven and Hell for their final album (though, if Dio had not passed away, how many more albums may they have produced?), and categorising this lineup in particular of Iommi Martin, Powell, Murray and Nicholls as Headless Cross may have taken out the stigma attached to the band and their music and allowed it to be judged on its merits rather than as a consequence of the name Black Sabbath. To me, they are all Black Sabbath, but there is so much wonderful material that came from the Tony Martin era, alongside the other marvellous musicians that played their part on the five albums he was involved in, it is still a shame to this day that they aren’t more highly rated. Personally, I enjoy all of those albums. Yes, even this one. It may rank as #17 out of the 19 Black Sabbath studio albums on my list, but there is still enough here for the fan of any era to enjoy.

398. Van Halen / For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. 1991. 3/5

By the time this was released, I was probably coming to the conclusion that Van Halen were finished. I mean, they had had a pretty fair run, and even following the departure of DLR they had produced a pretty good follow up with Sammy Hagar and 5150. But not much had come since, and to me the magic was sifting away.

Even when this came out, it didn't grab me like other albums had. Probably at the time I had other parts of the genre grabbing my attention. Still, it begins pretty solidly, "Poundcake" and "Judgement Day" are good solid songs that provided a good sart to the album. The problem for me from that point onward is that the rest of the album, while quite listenable and not awful, doesn't bring anything new to the mix. I think they had a chance to go out on a limb and return the band to its peak, if only Eddie was unleashed and allowed to really hammer on those strings again. For whatever reason it is, the thing that made Van Halen great is being restrained.

This is not a bad album, but it is one that is just above average. Putting it on and listening to it is not a chore. Expecting it to get repeat listens is probably expecting a bit too much.

Rating: More of the same from the Van Hagar era. 3/5

397. AC/DC / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You). 1981. 3/5

Trying to follow up the monster that was Back in Black must have been a daunting task, but with a stellar stable in their back catalogue, AC/DC had been producing consistently brilliant albums for six years, and even with the loss of Bon Scott they had hardly skipped a beat thanks to the recruitment of Brian Johnson. There was no reason to believe it wouldn't continue.

They couldn’t have started off better. Track one, the title track, is one of their all time classics and is still in their live set to this day. It is a quintessential AC/DC track, building up beautifully from the quite guitar at the front to the completion with the cannons firing at random. It is a terrific anthem, directed from the band to the fans, and it is still as powerful today as it was on it's release. A real classic. This is then followed by “I Put The Finger On You”, another up tempo track that keeps the album moving in the right direction. With these two songs to start the album you can only think you are in for something special once again.
From this point on, however, the album falls back into what would become the ‘stock-standard’ AC/DC slew of songs that probably found their beginnings on the previous album, but would seep through their releases for the next 30+ years. You know the ones, the mid-tempo songs with standard 2/4 drum timing with the bass and rhythm guitar locked in to make that solid back beat, while Brian sings his lyrics over the top, which generally contain choruses that just repeat one line over and over again so that it becomes a chant, and Angus throws in his pieces when it feels necessary. This isn't meant to be a criticism as such, because they've done it so well for so long. But it can certainly become repetitive, and sometimes it feels as though it just goes on too long. Here on For Those About to Rock (We Salute You), many of the songs have very little spectacular about them. Some are good, some are just average. Stuff like “Let’s Get It Up” and “Inject The Venom” and "Breaking the Rules" I find that I have to be in the right mood to enjoy, otherwise I just think ‘skip to the next song please’. It became a theme for the band's albums throughout the 1980's. They mixed some standout songs with a lot that many people would have difficulty in placing what album they were actually released on.

This album marks the beginning of a number of albums throughout the decade that all had promise, without ever really climbing back to the heights of the albums that had preceded it. There's no problem with that, all bands face it at some stage. There is nothing bad on this album, but there are a couple of tracks that could be described as boring, and when that happens it can test your mettle.

Rating:  We're just a battery for hire with the guitar fire, ready and aimed at you  3/5

396. Foo Fighters / Foo Fighters. 1995. 4.5/5

On April 8, 1994, many people’s perspective of the world changed. This was the day that police discovered the body of Nirvana lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain in his home, having fatally shot himself three days earlier. It brought about a worldwide state of mourning for a man whose troubled existence had brought love and happiness to millions through his music, even if he couldn’t find that state himself. One of the people most directly affected by this was Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, who not only lost his bandmate and friend on that day, but also a direction and focus of his life. Unsurprisingly he fell into a state of depression following this, and questioned whether he wanted to continue a career in music or whether it was time to ‘find a real job’.
Prior to Nirvana's 1994 European tour, the band had scheduled studio time to work on demos. Cobain was absent for most of that time, so Krist Novoselic and Grohl worked on demos of their own songs. They completed several of Grohl's songs, names of which included "Exhausted", "Big Me", "February Stars", and "Butterflies". At other times during his time with Nirvana, Grohl had booked studio time on his own in order to lay down demos of songs that he was composing, given the lack of output in this regard in his time with Nirvana. Once he had gotten his head back into the game, he spent six days at the same recording studio, Robert Lang Studios, and completely recorded 15 songs, on which he played all instruments and sang on all of the songs. Despite this, he still was unsure if he wanted to start a band, or just be a member of another band. In November of that year he went on tour as drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as a fill-in, after which he was offered a permanent spot in the band, which he refused. There were other offers out there as well but Grohl was still unsure exactly what he wanted to do. He had begun to pass around cassettes of his songs that he had recorded in October of 1994 to friends for feedback on what he had produced. The news of these tapes moved swiftly through the music industry, and soon enough created enough interest for record labels to become interested. He eventually signed a deal with Capitol Records, and the songs were remastered for eventual release. However, Grohl was insistent that it should not be seen to be a solo project. He wanted this to be a band project, even though for this initial album it would only be him that actually played on it. So he brought together musicians that he felt would be suitable for the purposes of acting as the first to tour and support the album, those being bass guitarist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith of the recently disbanded band Sunny Day Real Estate, as well as Nirvana touring guitarist, and former Germs member, Pat Smear. And though none appeared on that first album, they were to become an important part of the band that became known as Foo Fighters.

Of the 12 songs that finished up on the final version of the album, only four of them were composed after Kurt Cobain’s death. Eight of the songs had been composed and recorded as demos while Nirvana was still a going concern. And there are certain differences between the songs that Grohl wrote while in Nirvana, and those he wrote as a consequence of its demise.
The opening tracks here are furious, angry, spitting, taking on the post-Nirvana critical mass. The world had changed for Dave, and that comes across in the writing especially, but also in how hard he is playing and singing the songs. “This is a Call” evokes a call back, a look back to his past and a decision on how to spend his time in the future. He was quoted in Kerrang! Magazine saying: "'This Is A Call' just seemed like a nice way to open the album, y'know, 'This is a call to all my past resignations...' I felt like I had nothing to lose, and I didn't necessarily want to be the drummer of Nirvana for the rest of my life without Nirvana. I thought I should try something I'd never done before and I'd never stood up in front of a band and been the lead singer, which was fucking horrifying and still is!” This is followed by the classic “I’ll Stick Around”, where frustration rises to the surface in his lyrics and in the music, the harder hit drums, the heavy guitar riff. All of it combines into the first instance where we hear Dave utilise his aggressive passionate vocals, driving the song into both a fury and yet consequentially a question lyrically. For years Grohl denied the song was about his relationship with Courtney Love post-Nirvana, but in more recent years has openly admitted that it is. I don’t think that surprised anyone.
Of the songs here that comprise those earlier tracks, the style has a calmness and yet effective hard rock tone about them. While there appears to be no effort put in to be attractive to any one genre of fans, or even to appeal to all fans of all genres, to then drag them into the album through several songs and hope that they enjoy the entirety of it all, it still has that feel about it. In the long run this is just a whole bunch of songs that Grohl write over a period of a few years, not trying to create and album with a direction about it, just recording songs as they came to him to create. And that is both the beauty and the curse of the album. It attracts as many fans as it disappoints BECAUSE of its slightly haphazard songwriting.
For instance, take “Big Me”, which Grohl has always admitted was just an out and out love song for his then wife, and elsewhere suggested it was about "Girl meets boy, boy falls in love, girl tells him to fuck off!" It is, in many ways, reasonably lame, only gathering fans through the amusing film clip that the band made for it in The Rocks in Sydney. The same came be said for most of “Alone + Easy Target”, the clear guitar and sweet styled vocals for most of the song give it a similar feeling to “Big Me”, though the added distorted guitar in the chorus picks it up into a slighter better character.
When you listen to songs such as “X-Static” and “Exhausted”, they were either drawing on the template for what became alternative rock and metal in this period of music, or it was at the very forefront of that period of music. The phasing fuzzy guitars underneath, the melancholic lyrics in that meandering mournful tone, all while sitting in a mid-tempo range that feels like it is never really getting anywhere in a hurry, but doesn’t sound as though it is overstaying its welcome, or taking up time from moving on to the next track. They stand as a bridge between the love sick depressing halting tracks of the era and the extension into a faster based angrier tone of track. The fact that “X-Static” was written post Nirvana, and “Exhausted” was written during Nirvana makes for an interesting comparison of the two era of Grohl’s writing and composing. Separating these two songs at the end of the album is “Wattershed” which is Dave’s tribute to his time coming up in the hard core scenes, especially playing in the band Scream, and this has the most hard and punk tones of any song on the album.
The middle of the album combines these styles intricately. “Good Grief” is a mid-range alt-rock song with a the right tempo to get people moving in concert or in clubs. “Floaty” performs in the same misjoinder throughout, Grohl’s higher clear vocals and guitar dominating the track, at least again at the tempo that makes it likeable and not unlovable. “Oh George” has been quoted by Grohl himself as his least favourite song of his with the band. Complying with the same style of clear guitar and vocals, only mutating from that later in the track, it suits the style that the majority of this album resides in. The last of these tracks is “For All the Cows”, that moves from the clear and happy pronunciations to a hard and heavier thrash on the guitar and drums in between these sections.
On the other hand, “Weenie Beenie” comes at you with that fuzzy guitar and drums attack, Grohl’s vocal effects singing sounding like he means something on this track, pushing harder and more in the style of the hard core he had grown up loving and playing.
Lyrically, this album isn’t offering a great deal. Outside of a couple of songs here, there is a lot of nonsense being sprayed about, which Grohl admits was his style at the time, just coming up with words 20 minutes before recording the track. That changed from the next album onwards, when there was a far more regimented and patterned effort in writing and recording songs that mattered in a band sense.

I would guess that my discovery of the Foo Fighters would be no different from anyone else of my generation who had any clue as to who Nirvana had been. Which, surely, was just about everyone growing up in the 1990’s. The passing of Cobain, while sad, was not ground shattering for anyone who had followed his work and career to that point, nor was the fact that Nirvana also folded at that moment. And I’m sure I hadn’t been the only one to wonder what might happen to Krist, Pat and Dave now that that era was over. So once it was announced that ‘the drummer from Nirvana’ was putting out his own album, it was one that had to be immediately tracked down. Even if the name of the band and the album, Foo Fighters, sounded more like it should have been on The X Files (which was at the height of its popularity at the time) than an album or band name.
At the time I was living with two of my best mates in Carlingford in the western suburbs of Sydney, in the desolate year of 1995. But it was an exciting time when I got the CD and brought it home for our first communal listen. And it is fair to say that it got us in from the start. Those two powerhouse opening tracks broke in the album perfectly, and from there we were hooked. It became an album that was often played when we were home when we weren’t watching The X Files and Melrose Place, and it is fair to say that the Foo Fighters were a hit. On New Years Eve that year, both of these mates were at Macquarie University to see a gig headlines by the Beastie Boys and Sonic Youth, with Foo Fighters playing a 12 song set before them, the band’s first tour of Australia, and one they have never stopped talking about. No. I wasn’t there. That’s another story.
Having listened to this album upwards of a dozen times again over the past week, I still understand why there was the hype about this album on its release. When it came to critically reviewing it for this episode, I can also see why there are other people out there who aren’t exactly in love with what it offers. It’s one person, doing all the writing and all of the recording. If there had been a critical eye and ear of other bandmates present, and their appearance on instruments for the album, perhaps it would be tighter and better. But also, maybe not. It still needs to be stated, even though it is obvious, that this ‘album’ is more or less a collected works of demo songs written over a period of several years, thrust together to be collated for a debut album of a band that didn’t exist until it came time to release the album. Even though Grohl wanted this to be a band and not a solo project – something I admire and agree with – there i no getting past the fact that for this album at least, there is just the one operative in places. There is no distinct style of a band, it is several genre platforms utilised depending on what mood the writer had been in at the time. And as much fun and as enjoyable as this album is, there is absolutely no denying that the follow up sophomore effort is leaps and bounds better than this. In every conceivable way. But don’t let all of that talk you out of enjoying this album. Because 30 years later it still has plenty of cracking moments on it.

395. Sonata Arctica / For The Sake Of Revenge. 2006. 3.5/5

When you aren’t overly familiar with a band, the Live Album can be a real test. The songs on the album could entrance you, which then will leave you a little hollow when you discover the studio versions of the same songs are not as spectacular. The songs may leave you unimpressed, if the vocalist doesn’t seem to be able to hit the correct notes, or the guitars sound a little off if they improvise a little in the live environment. In other words, the Live Album of a band you aren’t overly familiar with can Make It or Break It for you.

Here then is Sonata Arctica, a band I am still relatively new at listening to, and here is their live album, For The Sake Of Revenge.
So what’s the verdict?
The verdict is, I think this has a lot to offer. The vocals of singer Tony Kakko are very much at the front of the mix, and this isn’t really a bad thing, because he really can sing, and does it great live as well. As with the power metal genre, the keyboards are also heavily prevalent, while the guitars and drums are just great.

More to the point, most of the songs are terrific. Some are a bit slow and ‘almost’ of the ballad persuasion for my liking, but overall this is a great collection. Songs such as "Misplaced", "8th Commandment" and "Blinded No More" are perfect examples of what makes Sonata Arctica the band they are. They have an anthemic quality that really attracts me. "Broken" is also a song that I have always enjoyed.

I have given this a solid workout over the past few days, and I still find it easy to return for more. That can only be a good thing, can’t it?

Rating: An excellent live album from this band, who are one of the quiet achievers in European Metal. 3.5/5.

394. Blind Guardian / Follow the Blind. 1989. 3.5/5

From the first time you put this album on, you can’t help but like the way it sounds. Starting off with a recognisable Requiem chant (anyone who has seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail will know it immediately), we then burst straight into “Banish From Sanctuary” at a rate of knots, and we are away. It is important to start an album off on the right foot, and Follow the Blind does that beautifully. "Damned for All Time" careers onward at the same speed, with super drumming being followed by the flying riffs of Olbrich and Siepen's guitars. This is undoubtedly speed metal at its finest. You get a real feel for Hansi's vocals on this album, as they are not as multi-layered as they become on later releases.

"Follow the Blind" brings back to more conventional metal, not utilising the speed aspect, and becoming a little repetitive and cliched towards the end of the song both lyrically and musically, and it probably drifts on a tad too long too. "Hall of the King" is another goos song in the vein as those that openeed the album, as is "Fast to Madness". "Beyond the Ice" is just brilliant, and the duelling harmony Iron Maiden-esque guitars that complete the last couple of minutes of the song are just awesome. "Valhalla" is also excellent, along with guest vocalist Kai Hansen who trades with Hansi throughout the song.

The album concludes with two covers. The first is a great version of the classic Demon song "Don't Break the Circle", which is extremely faithful to the original while also bringing a little Blind Guardian to its output. The second is the Regents and Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann", which is almost a comic way to bring this album to its conclusion.

As a later arrival to the Blind Guardian fold than most, I find this to be one of my favourite albums of theirs. Following in the best footsteps of the forefathers, this album skips along at a hefty pace, driven along by a particularly good drum beat. The vocals are almost anthemic on this album. They do not dominate the songs, just help them to progress. Hansi’s vocals sometime get a little too over layed, but on this album I think he is almost at his peak. There is also not an attempt at a domination of guitar licks and solos as there sometimes seems to be – here they also complement the song and the other band members contributions.
This is a terrific follow up to Battalions of Fear and I love the real speed metal edge it has. It's what sets it apart a little from what was to come.

393. Joe Satriani / Flying in a Blue Dream. 1989. 4/5

Joe Satriani already had a huge and impressive body of work behind him by the time he reached the end of the 1980’s decade, and a reputation that made people look up and take notice when his name was mentioned. He had studied music with jazz guitarist Billy Bauer and pianist Lennie Tristano, both of whom had greatly influenced his own playing. He then began teaching guitar while also looking to kickstart his own musical career. But it was the quality of the guitarists that had studied under him that brought him to a more international focus. Amazing guitarists such as Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, David Bryson, Alex Skolnick, Rick Hunolt and Larry LaLonde all had their start under Satriani's tutelage.
Satriani had released his own debut album “Not of This Earth” in 1986, with the aim of making a guitar album that could be enjoyed by everyone, not just guitar aficionados. This was followed less than a year later by “Surfing with the Alien”, an album that produced three highly rated singles in the title track, “Satch Boogie” and the almost lilting guitar ballad “Always with Me, Always with You”, which achieved the kind of all-encompassing success he had been searching for.
What then could the fan expect from a third album from Joe Satriani? After two successful albums, would more of the same be a detriment to what he was hoping to achieve with his music? And if not that, then what? What Satriani came up with was something that was somewhat unexpected. He decided to produce an album that not only continued with his tradition of instrumental guitar tracks laden with riffs and riffs, but would have songs with vocals. And not only that, HIS vocals!
In a 2014 interview with MusicRadar, Satriani described the writing and recording process for “Flying in a Blue Dream” as a very stressful time and that "It was just so difficult and insane, but there was also this enormous amount of creativity. I was so excited that I had fans! [Laughs]. With 18 tracks in total, his third studio album mixes long instrumental pieces with shorter ones, and then songs that become very much their own beast. Whether or not he was nervous about how it would be received by critics and fans alike, as it turned out, he had nothing to worry about.

Around the world, fans seem to be divided over the greatness of this album compared to the previous album, "Surfing with the Alien". There is a considered opinion that some of the material on this album is lightweight fluff, drawn almost directly from the point that many of the songs that have vocals here water down what fans were coming to this album for - Joe Satriani's guitar. And the fact that Satriani decided to have songs with vocals on this album still tends to drive a wedge between fans of his other work and this album in particular. But, is it a fact that the songs with vocals are lightweight? Of course that is open to an individual's opinion, but an overview of each of them perhaps offers some credence to each sides argument.
The opening two tracks are simply marvellous. The title track is an immediate classic, with beautifully nuanced guitar brilliance played over the simply structured rhythm of the track. Atmospherically it is a perfect opening track, not aggressive in its output but drawing the listener in from the outset. It is still just perfect. "The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing" follows and sees a more complicated and interesting path taken by both the drums and bass guitar to make a bigger impact on the song. And 'groove' is the word here, Satch's guitar grooves along perfectly through the middle of the song. Satch utilises several different drummers on this album, and they all bring something different to the songs which adds some interesting flavours to the songs. "Can't Slow Down" is the first vocals song of the album, the first chance to hear Joe sing, and he doesn't disappoint. He doesn't try to do anything outwardly extravagant with his vocals and they are perfectly serviceable. The obvious benefit of this however is that we get an awesome solo here in the middle, something that becomes a bonus in a track with vocals, because it isn't all instrumental, so we get that real condensed sharp solo burst, and Joe plays it to perfection. The short jab of "Headless" follows, which is a remake of "The Headless Horseman" from the “Not of This Earth” album (1986), replete with added distorted vocals and harmonica, before "Strange" is the next song with Joe's vocals, and mirrors the title of the track, jaunty with staccato guitar shots throughout.
"I Believe" is a song that Satch wrote when his father was in the process of passing away, and his heartfelt lyrics here showcase why there is a need at times to put words to music to express an emotion through story. Listening to the lyrics of this song you can hear what Satch is feeling about what is happening around him, and his guitar then sews that all together. "One Big Rush" channels his previous album for song similarity, again mirroring the song title for what it puts as pictures in your mind, of surfing that wave or speeding down a hill on your skateboard or charging through the streets in the car. Satch has an amazing ability to do that in his music. And he does it again on one of the album's best track, "Big Bad Moon". His music here fills out the story of the song, creating the soundtrack to the lyrics with his blues based hard rocking guitar and suitably excellent drums and bass. But when he unleashes in his solo pieces here, it is pure Satriani, and this all combines to make it one of the best experiences on the album.
The short banjo strumming of "The Feeling" is followed by the amusing "The Phone Call", with on the phone in a conversation with his partner and discussing the cause and ramifications of the end of their relationship. Guitar, banjo, harmonica... Everything is tossed in here and makes for a lighthearted and fun song.
Into the final third of the album, and there are several beautifully played instrumental tracks such as "Day at the Beach (New Rays from an Ancient Sun)", "The Forgotten, Parts 1 and 2" and the closing track "Into the Light", and heavier full guitar tracks such as "Back to Shalla-Bal" and "The Bells of Lal Parts 1 and 2" mixed in with another vocal song "Ride" that again continues to highlight the fact that Satch can produce songs with lyrics that still have his heavily credentialled guitar skills and not lose anything in comparison to his best material. "Ride" again provides another unique vocal performance for Satch, arguably his strongest on the album, with another great solo piece to keep the traditionalists happy. It's a beauty.
Overall, this is an album that melds the genius that Satriani showcased on his guitar on his first two albums, with further songwriting that took him to the next plane, probably something no one expected him to do. And yet, he succeeded. Brilliantly.

I'm pretty sure everyone in Kiama had a copy of Satch's "Surfing With the Alien" album when it came out. It was attractive to headbangers and musicians and pop fans alike. The symmetry of amazing guitar over great rhythm was a winner for all. I know that we used to play it a lot in the days after high school had finished and never got sick of it. So when it came to this album being released, we were all on board from the outset. I bought this on vinyl within days of its release, and it got heavy rotation. And while there were people out there that I knew who felt as though Satch had sold out simply because he chose to sing on several songs on the album, I never felt that way. Indeed, as already mentioned, I felt that those songs were perfect because we actually go full blown solo slots from Joe on those songs, rather than an extended instrumental piece, and I really believe that enhances this album rather than detracts from it. And the good part was that, in the band I was in at that time with friends from my school days, having spent several months trying to convince our lead guitarist that we had to play songs like "Ice 9" and "Crushing Day" from his previous album, we DID learn and play a song from this album, though much to my disappointment only ever at jams and not live on stage. "Big Bad Moon" was that song, and it was just brilliant to play, though the tapes I have of us playing it would suggest we were very very bad at it. And several months later, on 28th February 1990, we saw Joe live in Sydney, with Stu Hamm on bass and Jonathan Mover on drums, and they were bloody amazing.
So for the past month, I have had this album out again, mostly alongside the album I reviewed yesterday, Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers". And it has been just amazing to listen to again. I don't have a lot of Satriani's albums after this one, not because they aren't great but mainly because I am satisfied with listening to his first three albums when I am in the mood. And "Flying in a Blue Dream" to me is still an incredible album. From the title track and "The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing" and "Can't Slow Down", to "I Believe" and "One Big Rush" and "Big Bad Moon", through to "The Phone Call" and "Back to Shalla-Bal" and "Ride", this is a sensational album still, losing nothing over how it sounded 35 years ago on its release. For me there is not a bad track here, and I'm still happy to play it at any time. If you haven't heard it, my suggestion is that you do so now, and enjoy the platitudes that it still ascends.