There is little doubt that this should be
an album that you absolutely love and rave about, or an album that you
hate and loathe. There is very little room for maneuvering in the middle
ground. It is very much a matter of personal opinion.
If you listen
to the music in each song, it is very cleverly done. The band sounds
like a modern day Motley Crue or Poison rolled into one. Yes, I am aware
that both of those bands are still sorta active, but it's an upbeat
version of their 1980's persona's, if you will. The musicianship is
terrific, the vocals are great, and each song plays up to its subject
matter with the perfect tempo and displacement. If you are a fan of the
hair metal genre and time period, you won't have any qualms about the
music produced here.
Lyrically however...
Look, lyrically
it is very cleverly put together, double entendres mixing with others
that have no intention of being mistaken for their meaning. And to all
of those fans out there who love the lyrics, get a laugh out of it every
time you put it on, I think that's great. I'm no prude, but to be
honest I don't need to hear this stuff in music that I'm listening to.
If I was in love with this album I still couldn't play it around my
family because it just isn't suitable - and yes, I know it wasn't
written for them to listen to. It's just a shame that an album of music
that I do enjoy is shoehorned into a category that I can play in limited
places because of the lyrical content. The bigger problem continues to
be that I can't listen to it much, because I can't stand the lyrical
content myself!!
I don't know if you can categorise this as
comedy or childish. They have narrowed their market remarkably by
writing the songs they have, but perhaps in a shrinking market they are
actually finding new fans because of this. I do believe they have
polarised the fan base. As I said at the beginning, I think you will
either love this or hate this. My own opinion is that a promising
product doesn't quite live up to its potential.
Rating "It won't suck itself" I respectfully disagree. 1.5/5
Coming straight out of the middle of the
1970's is the very 1970's-sounding eponymous debut for Yesterday &
Today, or Y & T as they were to become known.
For the most part
this is a great sounding record. It is a product of its time, with
stylised 70's rock drumbeat and bass line, overlaid by Dave Meniketti's
smooth vocals and guitar licks. The blues rock roots are evident in
songs like "25 Hours a Day" with the vocal/guitar trade off sequences,
to the obvious Kiss influences in "Game Playing Woman", where you can
here Gene Simmons in Meniketti's vocals as he sings it, and perhaps even
more so on "Come on Over". Those two songs in particular could have
been Kiss songs. On the other side of the coin, "My Heart Plays Too" is a
dreary ballad of the type that makes me shudder. Sleep inducing boredom
and a bit too kitsch for my liking.
This is redeemed by the
excellent "Earthshaker", perhaps the first real indication of the star
quality this band has. Whenever I listen to "Alcohol", I feel like I'm
watching a re-run of The Dukes of Hazzard. It is just dripping of that
standard style of song from the 70's. That's okay, after all it is when
it was written and recorded, but there is absolutely no doubt what era
this album comes from. Better is to come with "Beautiful Dreamer", a
jaunty track dominated by one of those long 70's guitar solos in the
second half of the song, a beauty from Meniketti to end the album.
While
it may not be to everyone's taste, it is still an interesting
comparison point, to hear what the band sounded like at the start of
their career, compared to their high point of early 80's hard rock/metal
sound, to the glam rock they converted to in the late 90's. It isn't an
album I dive for very often, but there is still enough here for me to
appreciate the start of what has become a long and (somewhat) stellar
career.
Rating: I'm a cold, cold heartbreaker 3/5
There was a time in the early to mid-1980's where Y & T looked as though they were going to be one of the biggest bands running around. With albums such as Earthshaker and Black Tiger and Mean Streak
as their basis, the band had built up a big following on the back of
some great hard rock and heavy songs, retaining their melodic
background. Decisions and directions from that point on seemed to eat
away at both the following and the quality of their work, somewhat
disappointingly from a fans point of view.
At the end of that
era, this album was released, recorded at the end of a tour that was
presented as their last, but as with all rock bands it proceeded not to
be. However, a vast array of their best songs can be found here,
showcased with the energy and drive that the band was best known for. As
you listen down the song list, it is hard to believe that they were
unable to write more songs of this vintage. The opening of "Meanstreak"
into "Hurricane" and "Don't Stop Runnin'" is still just awesome, three
great songs from the band's greatest era. Other pearls such as "Black
Tiger", "Midnight in Tokyo" and "Squeeze" complement these terrific
jewels. It may not be a veritable best-of collection, but it is an
excellent portrayal of the band's live sound and stage presence.
If
you have not experienced Y & T, this isn't a bad place to start,
before going back and checking out the three albums listed above.
Rating: "Better open your eyes, boy... 3.5/5
As much as most people know Twisted Sister for the success of their Stay Hungry
album, which follows this release, much of what makes that album so
popular can be found here as well, and it is a shame that it doesn't
always command the same love.
The anthemic qualities of the album
are immediately obvious with "The Kids Are Back", and "Like a Knife in
the Back". Both are short, sharp, with thumping drum beat driving you to
pump your fist in the air singing the choruses. Great stuff. Every song
on this album is almost purpose-written to be played live, sung loud,
and banged along with. "Ride to Live, Live to Ride" fits this category
perfectly, and is followed by the equally excellent "I Am (I'm Me)".
"We're Gonna Make It" is another brilliant anthem, designed to turn up
loud with your air guitar and sing at the top of your voice. "I'll Take
You Alive" speeds things up in style. The closing title track completes
and complements the album perfectly.
There's nothing terribly extravagant or difficult about the songs on You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll.
They follow the tried-and-trusted formula of simple drum beat, equally
kicked-in bass line, Eddie Ojeda's wonderful lead licks and Dee Snider's
proudly up front vocals, encouraging the teenager within to sing along
with him. But it works! Every playing of this album is enjoyable and a
mood lifting experience. Perhaps it feels a bit samey through the middle
of the album sometimes, but don't all albums the better you know them? A
solid rhythm section through every song can sometime fool people into
believing it is boring when it is instead the essence of the album.
I
still love this album more than 30 years on. It's a solid hard rock
album that holds its own even if you aren't seeing the dress-up that the
band used throughout their glory days. That gear wasn't to hide the
music, because it doesn't need any deference.
Rating: "And then... we're never gonna stop!" 4/5
While it has been widely documented about
Alice's substance abuse during these years, it also brought about a less
than exciting musical output, or at the very least coincided with it.
It's a distance away since the glory days of Killer and Billion Dollar Babies and Welcome to My Nightmare and it shows.
There's
a transition going on here, but it is only in its earliest formation.
It would be easy to dismiss this album after one or two listens, because
there is little depth to the songs. If you can do more than that, and
put it on for four or five merry-go-rounds, you'll find that it isn't
quite as bad as it initially comes across. "Zorro's Ascent" is not an
all-too-bad opening track. "Make That Money (Scrooge's Song)" is also
listenable. "Adaptable (Anything for You)", "Tag, You're It" and "I'm
Alive (That Was the Day My Dead Pet Returned to Save My Life)" all show
enough of the developing Alice Cooper parody lyrics to keep your
interest.
Probably, that's the best of it. "I Am the Future" was not
written by Alice, and was for the soundtrack of the movie Class of 1984,
and it sounds like it. A piece of fluff soundtrack song, and no one on
it sounds even remotely interested. "I Better Be Good" does have energy,
but it seems to go too far into the parody/comedy angle, and isn't
quite cartoonish enough to raise a smile.
Anyone with a career as
long as Alice Cooper and his band are going to have a couple of duds
along the way. For whatever reasons that may exist, whether it be
substance abuse or poor writing or no direction, or a combination of all
these things thrown into a melting pot, this is a dud. This isn't
terrible, it just isn't very good either.
Given his amazing ability to constantly
produce albums with regularity, and the enormous amount stashed in his
back catalogue, and the influence he has had throughout his career, it
is not only difficult not to get carried away with another Alice Cooper
album, but also difficult not to judge too swiftly or harshly as a
result.
Perhaps it is old age. Perhaps it is that I don't/can't spend
days/weeks listening to the same album over and over again as I did in
my youth. Perhaps my tastes have changed lightly. perhaps (surely not)
Alice just doesn't quite do albums as well as he used to. Or, as is
possible, not every Alice Cooper album is an out and out classic. And
this is true anyway, as there are some albums in his vast array of
releases that never dd anything for me.
Along Came a Spider
is another of Alice's concept album pieces, which is all and fine,
though by being so it ties the whole album to that storyline, which can
make it difficult as the listener if you don't find it enthralling. In
the long run, you need to be able to find two or three songs in the mix
that really grab you, because that will drag you into and through the
rest of the album. And while I can put this on in the background and let
it play away without a second though, if I really sit down and listen
to it, I can't find much that really excites me. The opening stanza of
"Vengeance Is Mine", "Wake the Dead" and "Catch Me If You Can" is
probably my favourite part of the album, but most of the rest I can take
or leave. "Salvation" is a case in point. The finale of the album and
story, yet contains a barrage of choruses that just nag at you rather
than encourage you to sing along, because it turns out that it is more
annoying than anthemic.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad album. It just isn't a great album. Dirty Diamonds was a much better album all round. That was classic Alice. This is okay, but not on the top shelf.
The dangers of putting out an album that
contains your single releases including B-side songs is that, while many
of the songs will be considered as your very best - classics, in fact -
a selection of songs may be seen as a waste of space, average, or just
plain awful. And let's face it, the B-side (in the good old days of
vinyl singles) was always either an extra song left over from the
recording studio, or a cover version of one of the band's favourite
artists. they weren't meant to be their best work, or else they would
have been on the album in the first place!
So here we have a collection entitled All the Best,
but can you really call it that? I mean, this came out after just three
albums had been released, so it's tough to have a greatest hits album
after just three albums. Isn't it? I would have thought so.
The album
does indeed include some of SLF's finest work, songs such as "Suspect
Device", "Alternative Ulster", "Nobody's Hero" and "Tin Soldiers" are
still brilliant today. I have always loved "Go For It" for a performance
of it at a school camp a thousand years ago. I enjoy "78 RPM" and "You
Can't Say Crap on the Radio", because these are my ideas of the best
kind of B-side tracks. However, there is a lot of filler, and though it
is good to hear anything from these guys, if you really want to hear
their best stuff you go to the shelves and grab Nobody's Heroes or Inflammable Material and put them on. This is still fun, but not quite the best.
The fact that this EP is possibly my
favourite Wolfsbane release is probably humorous in itself. But it showed a slight change in their typical style - something a bit heavier and less Van Halen - that appeals to me.
"Steel" is a
great opening song, grittier and heavier, where Blaze's vocals are allowed to do more than just imitate. "Paint the Town Red" that follows is also
terrific. The guitars in particular almost appear to be of their own musical following. Is it because they are somewhat different from Wolfsbane's
usual style? Pretty much I would say.
These two songs stand out even more once you
get into "Loco", which returns to the bands' very early Van Halen style
of song. The similarities in this song and the Eddie Van Halen tricks are unmistakeable, which doesn't make it any
less enjoyable.But at times it really does bug me. Still, you listen to what is produced for you, and you either like it or you don't.
"Hey Babe" doesn't work for me, a Wolfsbane attempt at a ballad that let's down the other tracks on this EP. It is redeemed by"Totally Nude"
and especially "Kathy Wilson", returning us to positive vibes of this EP.
Like I said, I enjoy the direction this EP headed in musically, and though it probably didn't come to anything in the future, I still think this is worth a listen
if you have the chance.
