Having just praised the coming of Foo Fighters in my previous review (for Nirvana's In Utero) I now have to backtrack a little and try to understand how this album came together, and the purpose it serves.
OK, so we have a double disc release here, and the early reports did inform (warn) me that the first disc would be the 'rock' album, while the second disc would be a quieter reflection on things. No problem. It's the Foo Fighters, right? How bad could it really be?
Well, 'Album 1' has some reasonably worthwhile tunes on it. Not a solid album overall, but enough there to make you think there is something worth salvaging from the slight wreck.
...and then comes 'Album 2'. Why? What?! Really?!? Look, I'm sure this does cater to some people's tastes, and to those people go my sympathies. Perhaps a more important question is probably - did this band really have this inside them? Was it just a means to release this stuff from their systems? It's not as if they can't write decent ballad-type songs - "February Stars" is probably the finest example of this - but this is just boring, dreary and uninteresting.
Is this by the same man who came up with his concept for the Probot album? Did that album drain all sense of hard rock and metal from his veins? Seriously!!?! I cannot begin to conceive just what was going on here.
Unfortunately this was, and is, a huuuuuuge disappointment. Putting myself through the agony o listening to it all once again over the last couple of days should be penance enough for any wrongs I've done over the past 12 months.
Rating: Completely illogical. 1.5/5
Wow. All the pent up expectations and hopes for this album that were around when this was released in theory meant that it should have been less than the expectation and a disappointment overall. As it turned out, this wasn’t the case at all. It was edgy, it was unexpected. It was right for the time, and it satisfied the majority of the Nirvana fans who wanted something that wasn't a rehash of Nevermind but wasn't so far away from it that it alienated them (ie - the way many teenyboppa fans couldn't handle the brilliance of Faith No More's Angel Dust after the relatively radio-friendly The Real Thing.).
So this is a success, except for one thing that perhaps makes its presence felt more today than it did in 1994 - most of this is pretty boring. It's not a bad album, but in many aspects it is rather bland. Having listened to it for the past couple of days again I guess I was a little surprised, because my memories of the album in 1994-95 is of the great feel it had. Now, fifteen years later, my older and no doubt socially changed self finds that it isn't quite as good as I remember it to be.
Strangely enough, it is the commercially released songs that I found I enjoyed the most, while for the rest I was merely happy to enjoy in remembrance. It turns out that in listening to this album again, I am even more enamored by the fact that it was the Foo Fighters who rose from the ashes that fell following this album's release, and the excellent material that they have released since.
Rating: Perhaps an album that holds its own in its own time. 3.5/5
This is the album where Scorpions really begin to hit their straps, and find the sound and style that brought them fame and fortune.
Combining the wonderful vocals of Klaus Meine and the guitar work of Rudolph Schenker and Uli Jon Roth, this is a step up again from their previous release.
Having said that, it is the first half of the album that is the star attraction. Songs like “Dark Lady”, “In Trance” and “Top of the Bill” are top shelf tunes that still translate well today. They successfully move the album along at the right pace. While the second side of the album is good, I don’t think it holds up after the introductory five songs.
Uli Jon Roth on this album is fantastic. A lot of Scorpions successful build-u to the band they became can be attributed to his work during these albums in the mid-1970’s while he may not have been around for the mega-success later on, his influence was critical.
I don’t think this album ‘sounds’ as good now as it did 20-odd years ago, but the elements that made it great then are still apparent today.
Rating: Still a good listen today. 3/5
Even though I have never been a great lover of Led Zeppelin’s music, I have always been able to appreciate it, especially their better known hits. This album, however, seems to have little or no inspiration in it, and as a result comes across as a lame and flaccid release.
Compared to the ground breaking efforts that Led Zeppelin made early in their recording career, this is just average. Not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but just a run-of-the-mill one that suffers more for the name of the band that recorded it than the material it contains. Certainly, listening to the album again today, none of the songs jumped out at me as memorable in any fashion. Probably its most damning critique.
This was the last in the line for Led Zeppelin. One wonders if they would have progressed on even if John Bonham had not passed on following this album. If this was what they had to offer in the future, it is probably not a bad thing to have ended when they did.
Rating: Very average fare. 2/5.
This live release is a gem, bringing together a number of studio and live performances by the band recorded by the BBC over the course of the golden years of UFO. Not only does it showcase the great music this band produced throughout most of the 1970’s, it is also a testament to the great musicians that formed this superior line-up. As always, Michael Schenker’s brilliant guitaring is the standout, lighting up each song with his own mark of genius.
Rating: A great reflection on a great band in their element. 4.5/5
The second release from Winger doesn’t bring anything new to the table, so it’s a ‘either love it or hate it’ album.
Listening to it a number of times over the past few days, there’s no doubt it is anchored to the hair metal era. Most of the songs are syrupy-sugar-sweet, very much in the same genre as Def Leppard and even Cinderella. The album itself comes together well, all the songs complementing each other. These days I have to be in the right mood to put in on and listen to it – no use being in an angry mood and looking to bleed that off with angry music! This is in the ‘easy listening’ category of hard rock/metal music.
Kip Winger’s vocals, layered as they are at times, still do the job, while Reb Beach can still cut a riff or two. As an album it doesn’t jump out into the brilliant category, but that doesn’t make it a bad album. Just an average one.
Best for me include the typical Winger anthems of “You Are The Saint, I Am The Sinner”, “In The Heart Of The Young” and “Can’t Get Enuff”.
Rating: Still worth a listen if you are a fan. 2.5/5
I guess this album was always at a disadvantage, given that it immediately follows the awesome Mean Streak which always was and remains my favourite Y&T album. In Rock We Trust was therefore always on a hiding to nothing.
None of that forgives what feels like a very unimaginative writing process for the album. Leave the "Rock & Roll's Gonna Save The World"-type songs to KISS for goodness sake! Such a bland and flawed opening. Unfortunately, it sets up the whole tone for the album, from which it never really recovers. Formulaic rock should really be beneath a band with so much talent in its ranks. Instead, at different times I feel like I'm listening to Hall & Oates ("Break Out Tonight"), KISS (the afore-mentioned "Rock & Roll's Gonna Save The World") and even Huey Lewis & The News ("(Your Love Is) Drivin' Me Crazy"). Scary times...
Some face is saved by the time you reach Side 2 (for those that remember vinyl...). "Lipstick and Leather" is followed by the much better Y&T feel of "Don't Stop Runnin'". Overall however, it isn't enough to shake the feeling of gloom and doom. The only way to wipe this taste from my mouth is to go back and throw on Mean Streak again I think...
Rating: The start of the slide of Y&T. 2.5/5
As an avowed atheist, it should be fairly clear that the thing that will keep drawing me back to Stryper is not the message or the lyrics, but the music. Add to this a blantant dislike of most ballad-type tracks, and given the excellence of the previous two albums, that job became a lot tougher here on In God We Trust.
For whatever the reason may be, there is a drop in quality in the songs here compared to their earlier efforts. Perhaps it is unfair to compare it to Soldiers Under Command and To Hell With The Devil but this doesn’t stack up against them. The stronger tracks on the album can hold their own – such as “In God We Trust”, "The Writing's On The Wall" and "The Reign" – but there is far too much wimping out here for my liking. As per always, ballads have their place, but too many just detract from the overall picture.
My major gripe is that, in essence, this sounds like a poor rip-off of their previous album. Take a close listen to "Always There For You", and tell me you can't hear "Calling On You", and there is little doubt that the rather disappointing "It's Up 2 U" is a very ordinary re-hash of the infinitely better "Sing Along Song". One can only imagine in the writing process it was decided that they needed to retain the same successful formula as for To Hell With The Devil or that the band had simply run out of ideas.
Kudos to Michael Sweet, whose vocals again soar to hitherto unnatural heights. I am constantly amazed at his ability to not only sing how he does, but to play guitar at the same time as well. The other three guys are again moire than adequate in their playing, but Sweet’s vocals are the winner here.
To me this album had the potential to be as good as their previous works, but it falls down in the final direction they allowed the music to go. A shame when you actually listen to the album, and can hear for yourself where they really should have taken this material.
Rating: Disappointing. 2.5/5
Having written and performed their Concerto for Group and Orchestra back in 1970, I guess it was only a matter of time before they decided to revive it in a live setting, especially given the spate of albums by bands that were recording with orchestras in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
What sets this apart from most other efforts is the unique idea of having work from each individual’s careers woven into the performance as well, along with songs from the band’s recent past also given the orchestral treatment.
There is a lot to like here, though Steve Morse doing his old Dixie Dregs tune is a highlight, along with the appearance of Ronnie James Dio to do his two tunes from Roger Glover’s Butterfly Ball album. The ‘Concerto’ itself sounds much better than its original performance from 30 years previous. And not forgetting the Deep Purple songs that are performed – though I’m not sure that the orchestra actually adds anything to them.
Interesting to note is Dio obviously forgetting the lyrics to “Smoke on the Water” when he is singing it with Ian Gillan. Guess that is forgivable given that he probably had never sung it in his life before these performances.
Thus, for the fan this is a great listen. A bit of everything from Deep Purple. Not something you will take out and listen to time and time again, but it is worth the effort on occasions.
Rating: Great musicianship and songs, but not one you'll play a lot. 4/5
When it comes to live albums from the seminal era of Deep Purple, this one rates in the top echelon. It does in fact cover two separate concerts in two eras of the Mark II line-up, both with their positives and negatives.
The first disc is from 1970, with the second from 1972. The recordings are just wonderful, capturing the full array of musicians in full flight and at their theoretical peak. Ian Paice’s drum work along with Roger Glover’s bass lines work magically together. As per usual, the duelling between Jon Lord’s keyboards and Ritchie Blackmore’s guitaring is the driving force behind the show, while Ian Gillan’s vocals soar just as magnificently live as they do in the studio.
As with all of their live shows in this era though, there is a lot of freeform instrumental breaks within the framework of most of the songs. While this was a popularist thing to do in the era, it does tend to get tedious after a while when you are listening to live albums. I can appreciate the cleverness of it all, but I’d much rather just hear the songs being played as they were written!
Outside of that issue, this is a joy to put on and listen to. The songs are some of the band’s best and the performances are outstanding.
Rating: Purps in their element. 4.5/5
When it comes to legitimate thrash albums of the late 1980’s, this one ranks as one of the last. With most of their contemporaries allowing their style of metal to move away from straight out thrash, Exodus stick with what they know and deliver it with venom.
Listening to the album again today, it’s amazing how similar some riffs of some of the songs are to other bands of their era. It’s not surprising to hear pieces that remind me of Slayer and Anthrax – and the song “A.W.O.L” is just unmistakably Metallica of that era – given the shared history these bands have, but sometimes I had to check what I was listening to just to be certain is was Exodus.
In retrospect this album still holds up after 20 years. It doesn’t command the respect that other albums of the era do, such as …And Justice For All and South of Heaven and State of Euphoria and Rust in Peace, but it is still a solid entry in the Exodus production line. While the entry to the next decade did not bring the same sort of joy, Impact is Imminent keeps alive the thrash name for another release.
Favourites for me include “Impact is Imminent”, “A.W.O.L.”, “The Lunatic Parade” and “Within The Walls Of Chaos”.
Rating: Still plenty to enjoy after two decades. 3.5/5
Given who Blind Guardian are, and the genre of metal they fall into, and the fact they have this amazing obsession with their own fantasy world, they can sometimes appear to be a little off-centre. All that taken into account, this album is one I can still put on and enjoy for all those reasons stated above.
This album doesn't take itself too seriously, and the music itself lends a more positive air to the songs than it has a right to. My major problem with the album is the double take most of the songs take. Rather than being straight-out heavy metal tunes, or slow power metal ballads, they try to fit both into the same song, almost all the way through. I must admit that I had trouble with this for some time. Now, older and wiser, I can accept them for what they are, but I still wonder if they could have been done better.
Casting that aside, this album is a middle-of-the-road Blind Guardian release.
Favourites for me include "I'm Alive" and "A Past and Future Secret"
Rating: Average fare for the Guardian. 3/5.
A pretty good update of the brilliant Rainbow song. A tough gig trying to take on this task. For the most part they remain faithful to the original, which is no mean feat, especially in trying to recreate the aura and magnificent feel that the 1975 version has.
As much as I respect this band and the individual musicianship of each of them, what comes to pass here is this - John Petrucci is no Ritchie Blackmore, Mike Portnoy is no Cozy Powell, and James LaBrie is a million miles away from being Ronnie James Dio.
Rating: Well worth a listen, but cannot approach the original. 4/5.
This is truly where Dream Theater hit their straps and come to attention as a band to be reckoned with. Having sifted through the debut, things seem to come together a lot more coherently here on Images And Words.
What still grabs my attention when I listen to this album is the freshness of the music. Everything that comes out of the speakers to you has a mark of quality in it. OK, so perhaps a lot has gone into the production of the album, and the crispness of the playing suggests that a lot of time was spent getting just the right nuances in all the right spots. But that doesn’t detract from the music itself – it obviously enhances it. You can tell Portnoy must have spent ages getting the drum sound he has, perhaps even obsessed with it, much like Lars Ulrich’s on …And Justice For All. No doubt the same is true for the guitars and keyboards.
What impresses me most is LaBrie’s vocals – they are quite staggering here. He does his best work in the studio, and though he may not always carry it on stage, here I feel he sounds amazing.
OK, so a couple of the songs are far too slow and mellow for my taste. That is generally expected from this genre of metal. Overall however it has all the elements required for enjoyment in listening.
Favourites for me here include "Pull Me Under", "Take The Time" and "Metropolis Part 1".
Rating: An album that still holds its mystique. 4/5
