1275. Iron Maiden / The Soundhouse Tapes [EP]. 1979. 4/5

Arguably the most famous demo tape ever released to the wider public is Iron Maiden’s “The Soundhouse Tapes”, recorded at the end of 1978 and distributed by the band through bass guitarist and band founder Steve Harris to various outlets through 1979, before finally being self-released by the band in November 1979.
Having been formed in 1975, it took over three years and numerous band member changes for Iron Maiden to get to a position that they decided to record their first demo. Four guitarists, three lead vocalists, two drummers and a keyboardist had all walked through the band before they got to December 1978. Steve Harris had of course remained the mainstay, alongside guitarist Dave Murray, who had also had his own short vacation from the band before a change of mind brought him back into the fray. All of these changes are discussed at length in the excellent band documentary “The History of Iron Maiden, Part 1” released in 2005. By the time the band reached the winter of 1978, Harris and Murray were joined as members in Iron Maiden by lead vocalist Paul Di’Anno, drummer Doug Sampson and guitarist Paul Cairns, also known as Mad Mac. According to Sampson, Cairns did not fit in the band properly and left after three months. Cairns himself stated that the band dismissed him as they did not like his stage performance. It is interesting that Cairns is generally uncredited as having appeared on the recording of “The Soundhouse Tapes”, with interviews on the History DVD cutting out any reference to him. Despite this, it is acknowledged that Cairns did indeed play on the demo, though given he had left the band some time before it was released as “The Soundhouse Tapes” there is some understanding as to why his name does not appear on a release promoting the band as they approached their first record contract.
Harris had decided the band needed a demo tape in order to distribute to venues in order to gain gigs, but given that most of the band members also worked day jobs, and that they little money in order to fund the project, they would have to find a way to do it, but without sacrificing quality for cheapness. The band decided to record at Spaceward Studios, Cambridge after hearing a demo tape recorded there by former vocalist Dennis Wilcock's band, V1. In the History doco, Harris says “The only way we could afford it at the time was to go on New Year’s Eve, because no one else wanted to then. We were gonna kip in the back of the van [but], because it was snowing, it was so bloody cold. We were in this pub and Paul pulled this young nurse. She invited us all back to kip on her floor. She only had a bedsit, but we were very grateful.”
The two day session cost the band £200, but when they asked for the master tape, they were told they would have to part with another £50 to do so, which they didn’t have. They instead took the tape that had been recorded for them, but when Steve came back the following week with the £50 required, they found that the master had been wiped. Thus, as they were unable to create the editing and embellishing they had been hoping to do, they instead had to settle for what they had done on those two days.

The band recorded four songs during those sessions - "Prowler", "Invasion", "Strange World" and "Iron Maiden". In Mick Wall’s excellent and contemporaneous biography of the band “Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills”, Harris is quoted, "We didn't know what to expect, going into the studio for the first time. We just hoped the engineer was gonna be good enough to record us, and that was it, really. We just went in there with a naïve attitude and, as it happens, it was pretty good. The songs were very together already. We didn't have to arrange much. They were very tight, 'cause we were doing them live all the time. We knew exactly what we needed to do. It was just a question of whether we could record it all in time. But we went in and the tracks went down really quick. I think we did most of them in the first take."
The most famous story of this demo tape is when it came to Neal Kay who was the main man at the Bandwagon Soundhouse in Kingsbury who, after almost blowing it with Steve Harris (a great story retold on the History doco) began playing the tape heavily, which led to the song “Prowler” topping his Soundhouse charts, which then was being published in Sounds magazine. This helped lead to the band being found by manager Rod Smallwood, and through him their first record deal with EMI in December 1979, a year after those recording sessions.
Between this time however, while waiting to sign their EMI contract, the band decided to self-release their demo, for a not unobvious reason. As Harris said, “because everywhere we'd go we'd do really well at the gigs, and then afterwards there'd be, like, all these fans asking where they could buy one of our records and when we told 'em there wasn't any yet they couldn't believe it. They'd seen the charts in Sounds and a lot of 'em just assumed we must already have a record deal of some kind, but we didn't. Not then. So then, they'd be, like, 'Well, where can we get a copy of the tape?' And I think that's when we really got the idea of putting the Spaceward demo out as an actual record."
Though the demo tape contained four songs, the band decided to only release three, with “Iron Maiden” being the Side A of the EP, and “Invasion” and “Prowler” on the B Side. “Strange World”, which along with the eponymous track and “Prowler” would eventually end up the debut album, was considered ‘not up to quality’ in its current recorded version, and was left off as a result.
When you listen to these three tracks compared to the versions that came later on, there are some noticeable differences. Which of course in the long run makes this EP worthy of owning or at least listening to. They are rawer in both music and vocals, with a different timing throughout. Doug Sampson’s drumming gives them that slightly different feel from the versions that would appear later, but are no less impressive or enjoyable. Di’Anno’s vocals, even though they had been performing all of these songs for some time at their live gigs, are still developing into what they would become. And, when you listen to it, for a demo tape, you have to say that it is amazingly impressive. Think about the demo tapes you have made with your first band. You couldn’t possibly have released it in this format. Iron Maiden, or course, were a different breed even then.
The band decided to press 5000 copies of “The Soundhouse Tapes”, and had them for sales through mail order and their fan club. The demand was outrageous, and retail chains tried to order quantities of up to 20,000 each. However, the band and management refused to budge. As Smallwood said "we could have really cashed in at that point. It was our record, not EMI's, and we could have made enough to clear our debts, if we'd wanted to, maybe got it in the charts, even. But there was just no way. It really was something special for the true die-hard Maiden fans, and we'd already made that quite clear. If we'd changed our minds, just to get our hands on a bit of cash, it would have been selling out the kids who'd gone to all the trouble to send in for one of the original 5,000 copies. We thought, 'No, we'll wait until we can do it properly with EMI.'

I suppose what I would like to say now is that, yes, I own a copy of the original “The Soundhouse Tapes” EP on vinyl. As I’m sure you are aware, I do not. I have a copy of it digitally, which I have burned to a CD and keep in my collection that way. I have often trawled through Discogs, and found copies for sale for about £1900, which is about A$3300... and that’s when I stop dreaming.
If you are a Maiden fan, you have heard this EP at least once. You may not be as obsessive about it as others, and that’s okay. Because being a fan isn’t about owning the most stuff from that band, or listening to the most stuff released by that band, or collecting the most memorabilia or bootlegs of that band. You don’t even have to know the history of the band. It’s about loving the music.
However!...I love this kind of stuff, the history and the releases and all of those things. I don’t always enjoy them, but this has always been a really interesting period of history of the band that intrigues me thoroughly. The changes to the band. The travelling around together in the Green Goddess. Those early gigs. All leading up to the recording of this demo and then to this EP. It’s all fascinating, the time of the band when they were still poor and working gig to gig, hoping to pull off something special and maybe get a recording contract, and then maybe get a few more fans. Looking back from this point in time, it's still hard to believe that they could have been that small, just beginning to explode.
So here it is, “The Soundhouse Tapes”. Yes, it’s worth a listen. And yes, it is interesting to hear Paul Cairns on guitar even though it is never mentioned anyway. And hear Doug Sampson on drums before he was forced to give the role away. And hear Paul Di’Anno before he truly commanded his own personality. It’s worth a listen, and to think about its place in history. Because without it, Iron Maiden may never have traversed to the peaks they now reside at.

1085. Judas Priest / Unleashed in the East: Live in Japan [Live]. 1979. 5/5

The oft-used formula of recording and releasing a live album once a band has released four or five studio albums comes to the fore once again, this time for Judas Priest. Having released five studio albums over five years, “Unleashed in the East: Live in Japan” was the result of two nights recording on their Hell Bent for Leather World Tour in Japan in early 1979, and brought to life a selection of their best material for the fans to feast upon.
Okay, so there has always been some controversy about this album, over whether or not it can be considered to be a ‘live’ album. All through the 1980’s and well into the 1990’s there was a chorus of opinion that the album wasn’t a true live album, and that if it was not in fact recorded in the studio and had live effects dubbed over it, then there was a certain amount of ‘clean up’ done in post-production in order to cover up spots where things didn’t sound as good as the band had hoped for. Eventually, vocalist Rob Halford admitted in an interview after he had left the band following the “Painkiller” album that some of the vocals had been ruined on the original recordings, and that to fix these he went into the studio and re-recorded some of those songs in a faux-live setting. Interestingly however, in an article by Ville Krannila on K.K. Downing’s current website, he quoted Glenn Tipton as saying Rob had the flu and a case of partial laryngitis when these recordings were made, which took some of the edge off his voice. Thus, when Priest returned to England, some overdubs were necessary in order to finalise the recording. The difference in explanation has left some people even today that are not convinced the whole album isn’t a ‘sham’, and those of this belief offer the album the rather harsh title of “Unleashed in the Studio”. But given that no further explanations have ever come from anyone surrounding the band at the time surely it should be accepted that this was the only part that didn’t come from those two nights in Japan, and that the touch up of vocals was inobtrusive and necessary to provide the best product available.

Beyond this circle of discussion, just listen to the album and discover how terrific it is. Judas Priest’s albums to this point were for the most part excellent and there are plenty of terrific songs on them. Many of them appear on this album. And it is not until you hear them here that you understand just how good those songs are, because they are all improved immeasurably on stage. They are played at a faster tempo, they are louder, and the guitars of Tipton and Downing are superb, flailing their licks and solos in strident support. The rhythm of Ian Hill’s bass is deep and booming and Les Binks’ drums ring through perfectly. Mixed with the screaming vocals of Halford and you have an atmosphere that brings every angle of these songs to a more positive end.
The first side of this album to me is perfect, indeed the equal of any other opening side of a live album ever produced. Opening with the brilliance of “Exciter”, Halford reigns in the crowd with his call of “fall to your knees and repent if you please!” while the duelling guitars of Tipton and Downing excel. This is followed by an amazing version of “Running Wild” which for me is almost the highlight of the album, as it really brings this song to life. The studio version on “Killing Machine” is terrific, but it is this live album that makes it the kind of going-out-and-party anthem that should be sung at the top of your voice as you walk between pubs on a Friday night. The awesome “Sinner” follows, again ramping up the studio version into a real humdinger, and then another superb rendition of “The Ripper” leads into the still-perfect version of “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)”. Yes, this may be a cover of a very early Fleetwood Mac song, but here on “Unleashed in the East” it becomes a Judas Priest anthem for ever more. Every single one of these songs is improved on this recording and they are still brilliant to listen to with the stereo on 11 today.
The second half of the album catch match the first half, but only because side A is just so superb. Again, a heavy fast-paced version of “Diamonds and Rust” is the perfect track to lead off side two, another cover song that gets completely blown to pieces here to become a Judas Priest anthem and not a Joan Baez tome. This is followed by “Victim of Changes”, and my word how good does this sound in this live format. Rob’s vocals here are just tremendous, he nails everything brilliantly. One of Priest’s best songs and performed brilliantly by all. To complete the set, we have great versions of “Genocide” and “Tyrant” to finish off the original album in style.
For those that also gained the remastered edition of the CD later on down the line, you also get four additional songs which are worth listening to, but for me this is the album as I will always remember it.

My Judas Priest journey began with this album, and I can think of no better way to do it. The first time I heard Judas Priest was the music video for the song “Freewheel Burning” on ABCTV’s Rage program late one Friday or Saturday night, which blew me away. The following week I went to school and was discussing this with my resident heavy metal music dealer, and his reply was “OK, I’ve got something at home for you”. A few days later, on a blank cassette, he had recorded a different album for me (it was Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell” believe it or not) and on the remaining room left on the cassette I had the first side to Judas Priest’s “Unleashed in the East”. Far out, did that cassette get a hammering over the time that it was alive!! I became obsessed by both albums, but after becoming increasingly annoyed by the fact that I didn’t have the whole album (the cassette cut out just as Rob sings “I’ll be damned, here comes your ghost again” from “Diamonds and Rust”) I had to get my dealer another cassette to record the whole album for me. And then I soon got completely sick of that, and found a way to purchase my own vinyl copy to satisfy my needs (memory serves that “Heaven and Hell” was also purchased around that time).
And I was obsessed by this. And how can you not be? There is nothing bad about this album. It is Judas Priest’s version of Kiss Alive! And for me I believe had the same effect. Prior to “Alive!” Kiss was a good band with a solid following, but that alive showcased what they were, a live band, and how their best songs sounded even better live, and Kiss took off. It is the same here with “Unleashed in the East”. For instance, have a listen to “Rocka Rolla”, the band’s first album, and one I did an episode on just this month. Listen to the way Priest sounded on that album, and then listen to this album. Now THAT’S a journey, and only a period of five years has passed between the two. Priest had EXPLODED in that time, and their songwriting and aggressive joy on stage was a huge part of that. Les Binks’s huge drumming, the booming and underrated bass guitar of Ian Hill. The twin synchronised guitars of K.K. Downing and Glen Tipton at their absolute peak, with solos that scream through the speakers. And Rob freaking Halford ripping vocal chords to shreds. This is a tour de force, a blitzkrieg of metal proportions. I have listened to this again at least 20 times in the past three weeks, and I have been excited when it starts every single time.
Whether or not you consider this to be a true live album is, in the long run, irrelevant. What matters is just how much you enjoy listening to this album, and how good you think it is. Since I was first given a copy of this back in 1986, I have considered it to be an absolute gem. Every version of every song on “Unleashed in the East: Live in Japan” is a classic, and I never get tired of putting the album on and air guitaring along to every part of it. You know what? I’m going to go and put it on again. Right Now!

1066. Motörhead / On Parole. 1979. 2.5/5

As all fans will know, this album was the originally recorded, going-to-be-debut-album from Motörhead, that was shelved by the record company because they feared it was not going to sell. It was from this that, a year later, most of this material was re-recorded on another label and released as the eponymously titled debut album. Following the success of this and the follow up album, there was an obvious cash-grab available for this and so it was released to the public without the band’s endorsement. I guess that is the music business for you. Still, in a day and age where it is regular business to release demo versions of songs from albums for the public to listen to, this becomes an interesting exercise in comparing two close eras of the band.

These original recordings had Larry Wallis on guitar, and a fairly different recording and mastering from what occurred on the debut album. Whereas the sound on Motörhead utilises a heavier sound and with more influences steeped in the punk evolution, here on On Parole the sound of the songs is actually quite clean, and much more in the style of rock than any harder variations of the genre. The lyrics certainly may not be of a similar softer standard and they probably still keep this apart from the usual rock song anthem quality, but the difference in the music in there for everyone to hear. In the end it doesn’t change things dramatically, as the good songs are still good here, though it does perhaps leave the lesser songs with a higher mountain to climb. The other major factor apart from the cleaner sound is the guitar. While Wallis is serviceable here, he is not in the same class as Eddie Clarke and his ability to own the song. If nothing else, the change of guitarists following the non-release of this album initially improved the band no end.
Five of the songs here made the final cut when the debut was re-recorded, and they are the best songs on show. They were the three songs that Lemmy was involved in writing – the legendary “Motörhead”, as well as “The Watcher” and “Lost Johnny” – the song co-written by drummer Phil Taylor, “Iron Horse/Born to Lose”, and the Wallis penned song “Vibrator”. Some of the others featured on B-sides and other small releases while some would have vanished from the face of the planet if this hadn’t been released in the long run.

Whether or not you believe this should be considered as a part of the full Motörhead discography – personally I don’t include it – it does provide a glimpse of what may have been, and just what a difference a bit of tweaking can do with a band’s sound. As a moment in history it is probably worth more than as an individual release.

Rating: “On iron horse he flies, on iron horse he gladly dies”. 2.5/5

1062. UFO / Strangers in the Night [Live]. 1979. 5/5

There’s always something magical about a live album. It’s where you get to hear exactly what a band is like in the environment that they are meant to be in. Let’s face it, you can make just about anyone sound good in a studio where you can overdub and cut and paste and play a section a thousand times over until you get it right. A live album is where there is nowhere to hide, and you have to be on to showcase how good you actually are. And on “Strangers in the Night” this is exactly what UFO do.
UFO had retooled and re-thought their music after the release of their first two albums, and with the addition of Michael Schenker on guitar had become a more hard rock based band than a synth based band. The addition along the way of Paul Raymond who could double on both rhythm guitar and keyboards gave the five piece all the weaponry they needed to become one of the best live bands in the world at the time.
One the back of their seventh album, and a run of five albums that are still considered the best the band released, UFO recorded several gigs on their US tour run to put together as a live album. What then followed was the perfect reflection of UFO’s career to this point in time. It has their most bombastic elements, it has their best songs. More than anything it showcases how terrific this band must have been in the live setting, and how each part of the band was so intrinsic in making the sound that was UFO. And unlike their individual studio albums along the way, here there is not a weak moment. It is pure unadulterated UFO.

I knew a few UFO songs from a Michael Schenker anthology double album I had bought a few months earlier before I found this double vinyl in my favourite second hand record store, and bought it on the spot. I didn’t know the band or its music very well but I knew Schenker and that he had been in this band, so I was keen to get home and give it a listen. It didn’t take long to realise that I had come across some real gold, and album that to this day I still get excited about whenever I put it on or hear it at a friend’s house.
From the outset there is so much to love here. The brilliant guitar riff to start off “Natural Thing”, the perfect segue and the harmony vocals of Mogg and Way in “Out in the Street”, and then into the classic UFO tracks “Only You Can Rock Me” and “Doctor Doctor”. The magnificence that is the live version of “Love to Love” with Mogg’s wonderful vocals and the brilliant guitar of Schenker stealing the show. Then there is the bombastic version of “Lights Out” that is as heavy a song that UFO perform which is followed by the extended version of “Rock Bottom” to allow Schenker to further showcase his brilliance on the guitar. Between this come all of the other hits that UFO had written up until this time, and nothing misses out. It would be difficult to come up with any weak points, or of any other songs that could replace those that are on this album already.
In a way this album ruined the studio albums of UFO for me once I got around to getting them, because I knew these songs perfectly by the time I heard them, but I knew the live version of the songs not the studio versions, and quite simply the live versions are far superior than their studio cousins. So when I started getting the early albums and listening to them I found that they didn’t quite have the same energy and momentum that the songs showed on this album. Over time of course that faded and I was able to enjoy them as much as any other of their work, but there is never a time that I put this on that I don’t love everything on this so much more.
The CD version has added back in two songs that start the concert, “Hot and Ready” and “Cherry”, and also reordered the playlist so that it is closer to what UFO played on this tour. I would normally have said “that’s great!”, but now for me it ruins the flow of the album just a little, because you miss that great start of the guttural guitar riff that leads into “Natural Thing” that for me was the perfect start on my vinyl copy. Now you don’t get to hear that until track five, and the album lacks a punch as a result.
I have often on this podcast made mention of the fact that I sometimes have trouble with live albums that chop and change the running order of the concerts they have been taken from, that as a preference I would like to have the songs in the order they were played at the gig, rather than what did happen quite a bit during the 1970’s, where the order on the album was changed to have the songs fit better on the vinyl. This for me is not one of those instances. Because I owned the vinyl version first, I am so used to that running order when I listen to it, that I have a lot of trouble with the order that is on the re-released CD version, which has the tracks back in almost concert running order. The opening four tracks on the vinyl – “Natural Thing”, “Out in the Street”, “Only You Can Rock Me” and “Doctor Doctor”, which is Side A of the first of the double vinyl – is the only way to listen to these songs.
The band is on fire, and each of them is just terrific on this album. Paul Raymond being able to switch between the organ and keyboards onto rhythm guitar to add a fullness to the live sound is fantastic and invaluable in the live environment. Pete Way on bass fills the bottom end out nicely, while Andy Parker’s drumming is fantastic. Phil Mogg’s vocals are superb, and he gives these versions of their songs a great kick. The star for me is still Michael Schenker, who despite his own feelings on the versions of the songs offered here again proves what a maestro he was with his instrument in his hands. His solos still steal the show on more occasions than not. His soloing on “Love to Love” is extraordinary, and the riffs throughout on “Lights Out”, “Doctor Doctor”, “Natural Thing” and “Only You Can Love Me” are superb. But “Love to Love” is something special. The combination between the synth keyboard and guitar, the beautiful bass of Pete Way and drumming of Andy Parker, and Phil Mogg’s vocals make this live version of this song superior in every way from the studio version.

I mentioned earlier that I had heard the Michael Schenker Group early albums while in high school, and then I picked up a Schenker best of double LP at Illawarra Books and Records in my first year of uni, and first came across a few tracks from UFO. Not long after this, I found this album in the same second hand store, and bought it immediately. And I have honestly not stopped playing it in the 36 years since that day. As soon as I heard the first side of the first album, I was hooked. Trapped. Ensconced. It was Schenker who grabbed me – but how can you ignore the rest of the band? Each of them was just as instrumental to their success as their lead guitarist. I had this taped on a C90 cassette and it remained in my car for years, an easy go-to when I got in to drive somewhere and needed some musical company.
Not everyone will agree with me, but with the departure of Schenker from the group during this tour, UFO lost some of its lustre. They released plenty more albums, many of which are very good, but none of which could touch the pure joy and amazement of this live album.
There have been some brilliant and unforgettable live albums released over the years. Think Iron Maiden’s “Live After Death”, think Slayer’s “Decade of Aggression: Live”, think Deep Purple’s “Made in Japan”. For me, this is the equal of those albums. It is truly one the great live albums released by hard rock and heavy metal bands, and for me it is the pinnacle of this band’s career, a defining moment that not only showed off their excellence but sadly proved to be the end of their golden years with the moving on of Schenker to other projects.

1007. Van Halen / Van Halen II. 1979. 4/5

Van Halen’s eponymous debut album had been released in February 1978, and as always the episode covering it appears in Season 4 of this podcast for your listening pleasure. The band then went on an extensive tour to promote it and along the way continued to pick up new fans of the guitar based hard rock that they had filled that debut album with. At one point they opened for Black Sabbath, creating a rivalry of sorts as the brash young opening band showed more enthusiasm than the older and tour-wizened main attraction. Van Halen’s touring stretched all the way through to the first week of December, and most bands would be looking for a break after such a long engagement. However, a week later, Van Halen had returned to the studio in order to write and record their follow up album.
Once again, the recording time was short, in this case only seven days were spent in the studio. The band did have some leftover material from the writings sessions of the first album, and even songs written well before that. Some of those songs of course never surfaced until the band’s final album some 30-odd years after this. There had also been writing done on the road, all of which allowed the recording of this second album to happen quickly and with few speedhumps.
At this stage of the band’s career, the bumping of heads over the style of music the band should be playing had not come up in conversation, with the four members all on the same course. Because the songs are all still more or less out of the same writing sessions over those recent period of years, the sound on what became “Van Halen II” was similar to that which came from “Van Halen”. The second instalment is more or less an extension of the first album, with a similar structure and song body about it, which for those who loved that first album was all they could have asked for from the follow up.

While the debut album opened up with a cracking opening song that then set up the entirety of side one of that album, I’m not sold on how this album opens up. The band starts with the cover version of “You’re No Good” to open up the album, and even after all of this time I just can’t understand why they went in this direction. I’ve been spoiled by the original version of the song that is in the cult movie classic “House”, which is in a great scene that to me is timeless. As such, this doesn’t do enough to top that. To me it is an unfortunate weak opening. The first single from the album is the classic “Dance the Night Away” which harbours all of the great things about this band in one song. It may not be the most energetic of the songs here but given its exposure it is the most well-known, and it gets this album moving after the slight disappointment of the starting track.
For the majority of the album this is an upbeat jaunty exercise, mixing the jive drum beat of Alex Van Halen and the funky bass of Michael Anthony along with the ridiculous guitar skills of Eddie Van Halen and the athletic vocal chords of David Lee Roth, which are also stacked in support by the other members contributions. Each song is short and sweet, and action packed. When an album only stretches to 31 minutes, you’re going to get that. Songs like “Somebody Get Me a Doctor” and “Bottoms Up!” and “Outta Love Again” all have that upside joyous vocal quality backed up by Eddie’s wonderful guitar licks. Dave is almost freelance riffing on “Outta Love Again” which showcases just what a voclaist and performer he was, especially in these early days of the band.
“Light Up the Sky” opens up the second side of the album, and really does light up the sky, picking up the pace further, with the mood lifted high by Dave’s vocals, and then set on fire by Eddie’s flying solo and even a solo drum piece for Alex to get his chops around. Great song.
Whereas the first album had Eddie’s “Eruption” to audience to with mouth agape at his skill and just listen to in amazement, "Van Halen II” has “Spanish Fly”, a one minute instrumental piece with Eddie again excelling on his instrument in a different form, this time on the acoustic guitar. It’s still great to listen to. It gives another side of his amazing skills rather than the belligerent guitar that he is best known for. This is followed by the straight up rock guitar stylings of “D.O.A” which still does most things right.
The final two songs on the album slow back down to a much different tempo. “Women in Love…” and “Beautiful Girls” both go for a more reflective, less urgent style, and while others may enjoy these songs as much as the others on this album, for me it comes as a slightly disappointing end to the album after what has come before this. And that’s only from someone who far more enjoys the faster and more energetic side of the band that the side that produces these songs as well. Again. It doesn’t make them bad songs, just not of the style that I prefer.

My introduction to Van Halen really came with the “1984” album, surprisingly released in 1984, and then the split which then resulted and came with the “5150” album. So, the albums prior to this were a mystery to me until those years after this, and only from listening to them at friends’ houses who had the albums. Eventually I came to own all of the band's albums and gave them the listening they deserved.
“Van Halen II” has always been a mid-range album for me. Much like I do with all of Van Halen’s albums, I find they are a bit 50-50, in that there are half of the songs on an album I love, and then half that I... tolerate. Here I find the upbeat songs are great, and the others are a slight letdown. It was certainly the way for much of my youth and into my twenties with the band.
Listening to the album again now, I find nothing much has changed. I enjoy all the songs I have put on this episode for you to sample - “Dance the Night Away”, “Somebody Get Me a Doctor”, “Outta Love Again”, “Light Up the Sky”... and the other songs are there, and I listen to them because they are there, but that’s all. The album sounds like the band is having a party in the recording studio. The whole vibe is fun and fantastic, with all four members at the top of their game and sounding like they are having a great time. And this moves away from the blues base of the first album and tends to take on the live sensation they must have been channelling at this stage of their career. For me though that doesn’t change the fact that there are peaks and troughs here as there tends to be on most Van Halen albums.
Put it on the stereo and turn the volume up, and it comes across a whole lot better because you get that studio party vibe coming through. Throw it on in the car or on a walk, and I don’t think it works as well.

968. Queen / Live Killers. 1979. 5/5

Queen’s growing success over the 1970’s decade came on the back of critically accalimed albums, mega successful singles that proliferated radio stations all over the world, and their amazing stage presence on their live tours. Each of these elements would grab different sections of the listening public, and then draw them in to the other aspects of the band, creating a total fan base.
Having released seven studio albums in quick succession (all came in the space of just five years between 1973 and 1978), each followed by largest and further reaching tours, the one thing the band lacked at this point of their career was a live album, to showcase to their fans who were unable to see them in concert just how they sounded and performed on stage. As a result, a number of concerts on their European tour to promote the “Jazz” album were recorded with this in mind throughout February 1979. The resulting recordings were then put through the ringer, choosing the best version of each song to put on the album. The band and their label decided to release “Live Killers” as a double LP, but even so time restrictions meant that they would not only have to leave some songs off the album, but also change the order of some of the songs from the set list in order that they would fit better onto the double vinyl. In interviews the following year, when promoting what would be their follow up album “The Game”, the band commented that they were unhappy with the production of the album, a role that they had taken on themselves in their new studio in Montreux.
From my own perspective, I have often wondered if they could have just released an album that concentrated on just one performance, and left it in the set list order. There were obviously reason why this didn’t happen, and often didn’t happen with live albums from many bands in the 1970’s. As to the quality of the production, to me it has never been in question.

To be fair, Queen chose a pretty awesome time to record a live album, as the set list that they played on this tour was second to none. Certainly, the absence of any material from their first two albums is perhaps an oversight, but by this stage of their career, with so many successful singles and songs that were fan favourites, and seven albums worth of material to choose from, making set lists was never going to be an easy thing. Would I like to have had songs from that era represented? Absolutely. But choosing songs to leave out would have been the hard part. And the fact that a song like “Somebody to Love”, which was the third song played on most nights of this tour, was left off the album, is incredible to believe. So yes. Choices to be made. So, let’s just be thankful for the songs and album that we have here to enjoy.
One of the great parts about this album and set is that “We Will Rock You” is represented twice. Firstly, as the opening track, with the so-called ‘Fast Version’ leading the band out of the pack. I have always loved this version of the song. Sure, it moves away from the ‘crowd participation’ song that it is heralded as being written as by Brian May, but it’s a great hard rock song, opening the album with a great fury. Later in the set and album, the more recognisable version is played in its usual form, and place, prior to the song it is always paired with, “We Are the Champions”. But the fiery open to the album (due to the deletion of “Somebody to Love” and “Fat Bottomed Girls” from the album) is then continued with a blazing version of “Let Me Entertain You”, where Brian attacks ferociously on guitar again and Freddie getting the crowd up and moving from the outset. The triumvirate of great tracks then concludes with a rousing version of Freddie’s anger-fest “Death on Two Legs” which is always such a perfectly conducted track, and the live version ere is just as wonderful. The easy segue of the piano chord straight into “Killer Queen” is performed seamlessly and beautifully, the change of mood carried through without any loss of momentum. This continues as the song then moves into “Bicycle Race” and then “I’m in Love with My Car”, all without skipping a beat, and all interconnected as though they all belong together. It’s a great streak of music, and still wonderful to experience.
“Get Down, Make Love” is a good live version of this song, and is followed by the perennially popular and beautiful John Deacon track “You’re My Best Friend”. Side two of the first LP kicks off with a sensational extended version of “Now I’m Here” with Freddie creating some crowd participation in the middle of the track. I love this song, and especially this version. This is followed by the acoustic session, with “Dreamer’s Ball”, Freddie’s amazing “Love of My Life” with more crowd singing, and Brian’s still beautiful “39”, while the first album concludes with the effervescent “Keep Yourself Alive”, the lone representative of those first two Queen albums.
Into the second LP, and it is a cacophony of hard rock hits, rolling in one after the other. It opens with a rousing version of “Don’t Stop Me Now”, backed up by a soaring rendition of Deacon’s “Spread Your Wings” with further help from the crowd in attendance. One of the best songs on the album in the extended 13 minute version of May’s “Brighton Rock” where he extended and amplifies his solo section through the middle of the song. Brian showcases all his skills throughout, and it is a joy to listen to every time.
Onto side 2, and the final two songs of the show, the crowd favourite “Bohemian Rhapsody” followed by the hard rock favourite again with “Tie Your Mother Down”. Both are as terrific as they always are. The Short break is followed by the encore, which is pretty difficult to top. Another hard rock ripper from Roger Taylor with his “Sheer Heart Attack”, leads into the songs where the crowd comes into the show fully, with “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions”, performed to perfection to complete the show and album, with an overture of “God Save the Queen”.

Queen is a band that I knew I loved from the first instant I heard their songs on the radio, musically and vocally. There is always something magical about their songs, and the wide range of song styles that they are able to compose and yet still be Queen. It’s what sent me down the track with 1984’s “The Works” and then everything that came before it and also what followed.
My first experience with this album was the “Queen Live” single album that was released in Australia in 1985, which was a chopped-up hybrid of this album that was released to coincide with Queen’s tour of Australia in early 1985. Though I did not get to see them on this tour, which turned out to be their last of Australia, I got the album for Xmas that year and loved it. Then the following year, on a school trip to Sydney to see the play Barefoot in the Park, a friend had his tape player and was playing what I thought was the “Queen Live” album, but I began to hear songs that I didn’t know at all, and versions of others I’d never heard. I was eventually informed that what I was listening to was in fact called “Live Killers”, the full double album to the single hybrid version that I owned. Good knowledge to have. I didn’t end up getting my own copy until I got my first stereo with a CD player which was in 1990, and I bought this on double CD around that time. And it was immediately so much better than the version I still owned. And for me, no other Queen live release has been close to it. In recent years they have issued other live recordings, which have been great, but this honestly still takes the cake. The songs, and the way they are performed, is magnificent. The band may have been disappointed in the production, but I think it portrays how the band sounded live, not with absolute precision recording of their instruments, but in how they were. The extra loud crashes of the cymbals to me exemplifies how good this is, while some so called experts feel it harms the audio. Rubbish. It makes it a live album. All four members sound great and can be heard in the mix. It is a triumph. If you haven’t heard this, make sure you do. It is more than worth it.

945. Scorpions / Lovedrive. 1979. 5/5

Scorpions had released five studio albums up to 1978 with gathering success, before touring and releasing the live album “Tokyo Tapes”, the episode of which you can find earlier here in Season 6 of this podcast. Following this, lead guitarist Uli Jon Roth quit after his concerns about the direction he felt the band was taking, and he left to form his own new band called Electric Sun. In order to find his replacement, it has been said that the band auditioned over 140 guitarists, a phenomenal amount of work in trying to find the right guy for the position. During this process bass guitarist Francis Buchholtz suggested one of those guitarists that they should audition was a former school acquaintance Matthias Jabs, whom Buchholtz had tutored in maths for extra money while they were at school. After the auditioning process had come to its conclusion, it was Jabs whom the band decided to employ as their new guitarist. At this time the band also changed record companies in order to get a better deal and hopefully more exposure worldwide outside of Europe.
The band entered the studio to write and record the new album, but the changes weren’t finished with yet. As the band had begun the new album process, Michael Schenker, original lead guitarist and brother of band leader Rudolph Schenker, had left the band UFO, with whom he had recorded five albums. Turning up at the studios at a loose end, he began sitting in, and before long he was even making contributions to the writing process, and eventually played lead guitar on several tracks as a contributing artist. While his contributions no doubt added to the eventual success of the album, his presence must have been a slightly disrupting one, if only for Jabs himself. Indeed, once the album was completed, the band decided to birng Michael back into the group, leaving Jabs out in the cold. All of this exacerbated when, within weeks of the tour starting to promote the album, Schenker quit the band again, and Scorpions had to go crawling back to Matthias Jabs and ask him to return to the group. It would not be a stretch to suggest that If Jabs had refused to rejoin after the way he had been treated, then the success the band enjoyed over the next decades may well have not occurred given his amazing influence on that over the next 45 years. Thankfully for all of us, he relented and returned to the band, giving the group the line up that created some of the best albums of the next 15 years, and helped to propel the Scorpions to greatness.

The album opens with the positive earnest lyrics of "Loving You Sunday Morning", fired along by the first involvement of Mathias Jabs lead guitar. Everything flows together wonderfully well to open the album in a great way. This is followed by the hard rocking and lyrically tongue-in-cheek relating of "Another Piece of Meat". This has been a fan favourite since its release, not only because of Klaus' wonderful vocal range, but the fast-paced rhythm pounding out the song, while returning prodigal son Michael Schenker blazes away over the top with his solo for the song, and Mathias throws in his lead licks throughout. It's a fast paced song that really clicks along, a real mood swinger.
"Always Somewhere" is a song that, by any other band on any other album, could be one of the straws that could contribute to breaking the camel's back. Following hard on the heels of such a raucous song, if this wasn't handled perfectly, it would have stopped the momentum of the album in its tracks. However, this is the Scorpions, and amazingly, it just seems to fit. Yes, I know that coming from me that seems incredible, but just occasionally I am able to go with the flow of such peculiar swings in mood and song genre. And it was always the case with this album. Each piece of the puzzle seems to fit at every section. There's no doubt that, if this type of track came up on a song shuffle, I would very possibly skip it to get to the next action song. but when listening to “Lovedrive” in its entirety, there's no way I can do it.
Perhaps my favourite part of the album follows this, and some may also feel this is an anomaly. The instrumental "Coast to Coast" is the song, and I simply love this piece of music. It is simple and 'basic', but what a terrific sound! The 2/4 drumming with the bass working alongside, allowing the guitars to do their things over the top of this. For me this has always been an uplifting track, a mood changer, in all of its simplicity but marked with its intricate guitar pieces. A winner. Rudolf Schenker, thank you.
Side Two of the album starts again with the heavier and raucous elements of "I Can't Get Enough". It was certainly enough in the old days to make you get up and turn the vinyl over. And then, such is the joyousness of this album, you can't even feel any enjoyment seeping away when you first notice the complete reggae-ness of "Is There Anybody There?" In fact, with the mood of the album, you move into and through the song as if it is an everyday event for an album based in the roots of 70's hard rock and heavy metal to have a song so flavoured by reggae on it. Klaus' amazing vocals are the star of the show. Crashing out of this is the upbeat return of that magical Scorpions heavy sound in the title track "Lovedrive", driven by that magnificent drum beat and heavy rhythm guitar riff flowing from Rudolf's guitar, and complemented by the leads of both Mathias and Michael. Awesome riffs, just brilliant. Just a great song.
The closing track "Holiday" returns to the quiet melodic half of the Scorpions sound, dominated in the first half by Klaus' amazing harmony vocals over the acoustic guitar, before the band comes in halfway through the song to bring out the fullness of the song and band. Again, reggae flavours this half of the song, though not as completely is it does in "Is There Anybody There?"
This is quite an amazing album, given the ebbs and flows of the music, or certainly the flow from the heavy side to the reflective side. And yet none of it sounds out of place, as can often be said of power metal bands albums of the late previous century and early this century. Scorpions is a band that has its two sides, and especially on “Lovedrive” they blend as a perfect mixture.

I had had a little bit of Scorpions stuff on cassette prior to 1987, provided by my heavy metal music dealer, which was mostly the “World Wide Live” album, and had always enjoyed it. I had then moved on to Uni, and started making regular trips to the store that really started off my vinyl collection, the second hand superstore in Wollongong called Illawarra Books and Records. On one of these early visits, I came across the vinyl copy of this album “Lovedrive”, the first Scorpions album I ever owned. And sure, the cover of the album does rope you in a little, but it was the prospect of actually experiencing a full album of this band that had me excited when I found this. There was also the excitement of discovering that Michael Schenker had contributed to the album as well, given that by this time I had already purchased an anthology of his songs of all of his bands from the very same store, as well a couple of his MSG albums. I can still remember the day I bought this clearly in my mind, and the rush to finish Uni for the day so I could get home, and then the first time I put it on my parents' stereo in the lounge room when I got it home. It has been a favourite ever since. All of those songs I knew from the live album, but also all of these new songs I had never heard before. And the studio versions of those songs I knew sounding bigger and better than those live versions. Maybe just because I knew it was Michael playing on them, but to me they were like an artwork here on this album. And I played this album until the needle went blunt, and I taped it onto cassette so I could listen to it in the car day after day. And I did.
Even listening to it again over the last few weeks, it is still just as fresh and awesome to me as it was when I first bought it. In fact, every time I listen to it, it reminds me of those days when I first found the album. At a time when I wasn’t particularly sure what the hell I was going to do with my life, this album at least was a comforting presence.
I love this era of the band, and I still love this album today. Choosing between this and “Love at First Sting” and “Blackout” would be a difficult thing to do if someone asked me to nominate my favourite, as all three are magnificent, but perhaps the fact that this has such a varied range of material that sews together almost seamlessly, and that it also has "Coast to Coast" on it, could be the swaying factor in my suggestion that this is my favourite of all Scorpions albums.
After three false starts, when I was going to finally get a chance to see the band live after 40 years, and all three falling through due to logistics and then band illness, I got the chance to see the band live a few years ago, and it was worth every moment. This album was the one that started me on the journey of love for this band, and it still remains as one of my all time favourites.

913. The Police / Reggatta de Blanc. 1979. 4/5

The arrival of the debut album from The Police titled “Outlandos d’Amour” caused quite a stir, with an initial failure of the singles released from the album. It wasn’t until the band toured the US that they began to create some inroads, and when the singles were re-released in the UK they then saw the success come through. Pushed on by “Roxanne” and “Can’t Stand Losing You” and “So Lonely”, “Outlandos d’Amour” went on to reach #6 in the UK, #15 in Australia and #23 in the US, finding openings in marketplaces across the world.
When it came to the writing and recording of the follow up album, the band spent a total of four weeks in the studio, but it was spread out over six months of 1979, picking a week at a time when they had a break from touring. They did this so that they could continue to work and play while they were putting new material together. They also used the profits they had made from their debut album to pay for the recording, sticking to the same small studio and producer as they had for their debut album, in order to keep their record company at arms length, and allow them the freedom to explore whatever avenues they wished to without having pressure applied to them from others. When they did go into the studio, Stewart Copeland was quoted as saying that the band hadn’t even rehearsed the material, they just went in and worked on each track from scratch.
The style of music on their sophomore release continued down the track of what they had produced on their debut album, though there is a markedly lesser use of post punk on this album, and an increase in a new wave style, alongside the hard rock and reggae themes that were still a part of their core. Indeed, the name they chose for the album, “Regatta de Blanc”, apparently loosely translates from the ‘franglais’ as “white reggae”. In many ways, that is probably an accurate description of the direction at least some of the songs take on the band’s second album.

It has been widely noted in interviews and articles that with all of the material that Sting had produced for the first album, there was not as much forthcoming when it came to this album. What with the full on touring that the band was doing, even while preparing for this new album, there were not as many ideas coming through. As such, both he and Stewart Copeland delved into their pasts to come up with ideas, and along with Andy Summers produced the one album of the band's career which has a great diversity in writing partners. It was not to remain that way going forward, and in many ways, it contributes to this album being a mixed bag.
As mentioned in the opening stanza, there is still a solid mix of reggae rhythms here in some of the tracks, something that also found its way to infiltrate the UK punk scene at this time, and in regards to The Police, is really the only part of punk that remains in most of the songs on this album. "Bring On the Night" is the most heavily reggae influence track on the album. Listening to this song will actually bring you visions of images of dreadlocks and red and green beads in the hair. "The Bed's Too Big Without You" falls into a similar category. The musicianship is excellent, and Sting’s vocals slot in well for these types of tracks. Andy Summers guitar is superb while the drumming of Stewart Copeland uses every part of his kit in the way it is designed. In many ways, reggae is an acquired taste, and when it pops up in bands work who are not strictly reggae bands it can be a little confronting.
The good material on this album though is just brilliant. It leads off with the all-time favourite "Message in a Bottle", one that is one of the bands best known tracks. It's not only the wonderful guitar riff, accented with the simple but effective bass line and Sting's vocals, but take the time to listen to Stewart's amazing drumming on this song next time you hear it. It is brilliant and remarkable how much he can squeeze into the gaps that are provided for him. This is followed by the mostly instrumental title track "Regatta de Blanc", which apparently was derived from the long instrumental break the band used on tour when playing "Can't Stand Losing You". These are the lengths you have to go to when you don’t have that solid base of songs ready to be recorded, or the time to sit down and compose them. It's a ripper, a great crescendo of waves and motion of music. "It's Alright for You" follows up oh the first two songs and creates a pleasant listening atmosphere as the song bounces along. "Deathwish" involves all three members creating a great atmosphere again, with the three instruments changing course between fast pace and staccato throughout to create another mostly instrumental eloquent ending to the first side of the album.
The second single "Walking on the Moon" is simplified and slow in pace, and really does replicate a feeling of the title of the track, at least in the first two verses before reaching the chorus. It is still one of the band's most recognisable songs. The Stewart Copeland written song "On Any Other Day" also features Stewart on co-lead vocals, though Sting's vocals do make themselves more obviously known than would usually be the case in such circumstances. “Contact” is another Copeland composed track with an upbeat tempo and a new wave feel about the song, while “Does Everyone Stare” was based on a piano piece Copeland had originally composed back in college. The final track is another favourite, "No Time This Time". This originally appeared as the B side to the "So Lonely" single, recycled here to help get the length of the album up, and it is great that it got its own gig on an album as well. It's an upbeat fast temp track which concludes the album on a high.

My introduction to The Police came by the way of the singles on the radio, which through the early 1980’s often appeared on the local Wollongong radio stations 2WL and 2OO. My first taste of a The Police album was “Ghost in the Machine” because f my love of the song “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”, and then the final album the band released “Synchronicity”, which was one of the first albums I ever bought myself. And, as with all bands that I came to love, I eventually worked my way back to check out all of the albums that preceded the ones I knew.
When I first got this album, it was the two main singles that I knew like the back of my hand, both of which open up their respective sides of the album. So I would listen to those tracks, and then hear a whole bunch of nothing that followed, songs I didn’t know, songs of a different style completely from the two singles I knew so well, and songs that I really had no particular interest in liking because they were nothing like what I expected to hear. THIS I have found can be the problem with knowing a few songs far too well before you actually get to hear the whole album. It can corrupt the way you hear it and the way you may enjoy it. Fortunately for me, I recalled that this was exactly how I felt when I first listened to “Ghost in the Machine”, and that when I stuck with that album I did come to love it. So I stuck with it, over a period of months, and eventually I did find an enjoyment for the album as it was. The reggae infused tracks by the band have often been a sticking point for me, and that was a part of the problem here. But soon enough, the album merged and moulded its way to a form that I enjoyed, and it found its place in my collection of great albums.
Everything is open to opinion of course, and while there are some terrific songs here, overall, as an album I don't think it matches “Outlandos d'Amour”. That album still has a freshness and brazenness and energy that I don’t think this follow up album has, and perhaps that is because there is such a difference in the writing of this album, and the drawing of older material recycled rather than bringing the energy of what the three writers could have produced at that moment, if they had given themselves the time to do so. But – what the hell would I know. This doesn't detract from the fact that "Regatta de Blanc” is still far above average when it comes to albums being ranked through the ages, and is still a pleasure to put on the turntable to this day.

845. Saxon / Saxon. 1979. 2.5/5

Another band that is seen as one of the early trailblazers of metal, but that I did not find until much later on, is Saxon. Though I was much later on this than I should have been, I have found the best of the band to be mighty impressive. This album, Saxon, is their debut, and like many debuts is a bit uneven in content and drive.

The opening tracks can immediately be placed in the era they were written and recorded, the sound and music being a dead giveaway. Much like Praying Mantis and Tygers of Pan Tang and Def Leppard of this era, this album sits somewhat unevenly in the realm between a hard rock or glam rock sound, and a true heavy metal sound. Over the course of their next couple of albums Saxon found their place and their sound, and as such their own place in the growing movement of the time. While this may cause some awkwardness, there is still enough to take away from this first album for the casual fan.
Looking back from this far in the future I can see how this appears to be the case. The opening of "Rainbow Theme" and "Frozen Rainbow" is an interesting start to the album, but perhaps just a bit too similar to what other bands were producing at the same time. A song like "Big Teaser" has more to do with the glam rock side of music than the emerging heavy metal side of the industry. In many ways it sounds like an early AC/DC song, and even Biff's vocals sound a bit like the Bon Scott of that era.
"Judgement Day" even moves off in an experimental way more in line with a Led Zeppelin song, not really gaining any momentum until not long before the conclusion of the song. There's a nice showcasing of the guitar virtuoso skills of Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn, but as to anything else there doesn't seem to have been much going on.
Perhaps the first semblance of Saxon as a harder proposition comes with the Side 2 opening track "Stallions of the Highway", and the band's first genuflecting towards motorcycles and those who ride them. As such, the track moves along at a faster pace emulating riding on one of the beasts, and provides an opportunity t see the real Saxon in action for the first time. This energy continues through with "Backs to the Wall", where the tempo is kept high, the rhythm section of Pete Gill on drums and Steve Dawson on bass keep tight and fast, while Biff Byford takes on the lead role with distinction, crying forth with his vocals in a way that now sounds like he means it, unlike what transpired on the first half of the album. "Still Fit to Boogie" reverts back to that early AC/DC sound in both music and vocals, which works fine enough but is slightly disappointing after the progress made in the previous two songs. The album finishes with "Militia Guard", which again comes closer to a more unified Saxon sound.
It would be unfair to disparage this album from such a different era, given what grew from the seed planted here. To have been able to cotton on to the band at the time this was released would no doubt have made this an album I feel much more strongly about. As it is, it is an average album which shows the signs of what was to come further down the line.

Rating:  Switchblade's gleamin', engine screamin', I'm laughin' at fate, I'm living to hate.  2.5/5

749. Accept / Accept. 1979. 2.5/5

Given the long and well credentialled career that the band has enjoyed over the years, it is interesting to note the less than auspicious start that Accept had on their start as a band and upon the release of their debut album. The beginnings of the band can be traced all the way back to 1968, but it wasn’t until 8 years later that the band were able to find a reasonably stable line-up and that they began to play gigs as a solid formation. This lineup of the band contained main band members Udo Dirkschneider on vocals, Wolf Hoffmann on lead guitar and Peter Baltes on bass guitar, along with Jorg Fischer on rhythm guitar and Frank Friedrich on drums.
The debut album is not recalled by any of the band members with any great fondness. As has been discussed with other albums on recent episodes, debut albums are always a learning process both for the band and the people they entrust to produce them. Both are trying to discover the sound they want, and the debut albums of most bands always seem to have troubles along the way. In this instance, Udo always expressed disappointment in the result, but also in the way the band recorded the album., He felt that while the production could have been better, he felt that the songs and the way the band chose to record them also lacked the professionalism they required. Wolf has been more circumspect, saying that the songs they recorded for this album were just ones they had gathered along the path on their way to that point in time, and lacking the focus that being written at the same time with the same ideas would produce on albums down the track. In any event, the album was recorded, and the self-titled album hit the shelves in January 1978… to a resounding thud.

For later fans of the band’s music, yes, you bet this first album is different, but that is often the case when a band first finds its feet. One thing that is for certain here is that you can hear where some of their influences may have come from. There is no doubt a heavy background in their music from Scorpions and UFO, whom Michael Schenker was with at that time. Songs such as "Lady Lou" and "Glad to be Alone" are perfect examples of that here. Also, the ballad "Seawinds" and the harder song "Sounds of War" both reference that Scorpions underscore in particular. Being a German band, the influence of Scorpions should be obvious, given the fact that they were very much on the rise at this time. Both “Seawinds” of “Sounds of War” have the lead vocals performed by bass guitarist Peter Baltes, no doubt because to ask Udo to perform these would have created completely different songs. Or did he just not want to sing on them? I don't know the answer. “Seawinds” in particular as the power ballad here is less than appealing to my ear and is lacking almost all of the elements that could make a great power metal ballad.
Then you have an even rarer beast. In fact, whether they had heard them or not, the song "That's Rock n Roll" has a very familiar Van Halen sound to it. Uncannily so. Even the lyrics could have come straight from David Lee Roth's mouth. It is very off-putting and a bit eerie actually. A German Van Halen cover band? Is that one of the band’s possible career paths? On listening to this… no.
Udo's vocals throughout the album are not what he would become known for. In fact, the only parts of the album where you hear from him anything like the gruff vocal style he became known for is during the middle of "Take Him in My Heart" and at the very end of the album in "Helldriver". For the remainder of the album, they have a more… commercial… bent about them. It’s a very interesting exercise listening to this album and hearing the different style of lead vocals on the songs. No two seem alike, and whether or not this was a direction that was planned for at this time, or whether or not the more recognisable vocal style came in as a result of this album not performing particularly well, I don’t have the answer. What I do know is that it must have been easier to accept (no pun intended) this style if you came across the band at this stage, rather than at a point a couple of years later and beyond.

For reasons that have hopefully been adequately put forward in this episode, there has been an aversion to Accept's earliest work, mostly from those that came in late to Accept's sound, and find it hard to come to terms with the early material. Many cite the early 1980's as the peak of their sound, with Udo screaming on vocals and the guitars finding that heavier duelling sound. The youngsters of the 21st century may well be coming into the band’s new material with Mark Tornillo on vocals and a modern metal edge to the music. Perhaps, having actually found the band in either of these eras, and then going back to listen to those first couple of albums, they find that it is so different that they are incapable of enjoying it.
As it turns out, I was a latecomer to Accept as well. Sure, I knew “Balls to the Wall” as every headbanger from the 1980's did, but I didn't really come to any other Accept music until much later on. More's the pity, but sometimes there is so much music out there you just can't have it all. As it turns out, I too found the historical past of Accept after I had come to enjoy their other more prominent periods, and also faced the difference that makes up their sound on this first album.
Suffice to say, this is an album that has its challenges, and one that doesn’t hold up as well as others from other bands of the era. The comments made by both Udo and Wolf from the first segment of this podcast do come across as accurate. It is an album where there is not a lot of cohesion in the track list, and a difference in the songs that appears difficult to overcome. Given I didn’t listen to the band much until 30 years after this album was released, it didn’t have the relationship with my youth that my favourite albums generally do. I have had it on several times over the past week, and in the background it has been listenable enough. Putting on today at home without any distractions to get my true feelings on it, I have found that the limitations that it has have been far more noticeable.
So certainly “Accept” the album shows a band in development, taking their first steps into the recorded music world. While it won't cater to all tastes, as an album written and recorded in the late 1970's it shows some of the characteristics of that period. While I don't categorise it as one of my favourite albums, and indeed is probably my least favourite of the band’s catalogue, it is one I can put on and listen to without hating it. It just doesn’t have too much to really attract you to choosing it to listen to and investing the 36 minutes it requires to go from start to finish.

699. Stiff Little Fingers / Inflammable Material. 1979. 4/5

Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast in Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, the conflict that scarred Ireland and Northern Ireland for 30 years. They had started out as a school band called Highway Star (named after the Deep Purple song), doing rock covers, until they discovered punk, which was brought to the band by guitarist Henry Cluney, and which was then taken on board by the rest of the band.
Prior to becoming Stiff Little Fingers, the lineup of Highway Star consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Jake Burns, guitarist and vocalist, Henry Cluney, bass guitarist Gordon Blair, and drummer Brian Faloon, Blair soon departed and Ali McMordie took over on bass. With the decision to move in a more punk direction, they decided that Highway Star was not a punk enough name, and instead decided to call themselves Stiff Little Fingers, after a song by The Vibrators. The band, and especially lead singer and main songwriter Jake Burns, were heavily influenced by The Clash. He was quoted as saying "What the Clash's first album did more than anything else was give me the confidence, through its lyrical subject matter, to realise it was OK to write about my own life and experiences". The group started to write songs about growing up in the political situation they found themselves in during late 1970s Northern Ireland.
Along with writing their own songs, Jake made an acquaintance in journalist Gordon Ogilvie, who became a collaborating partner lyrically with the band in their early songwriting sessions. Despite the decision to utilise the times they were living in as a means to compose songs, less than half of the album actually addresses Northern Ireland and the political situation directly. Jake was quoted after the release of the album, "Everybody refers to it as "the Irish record" but I always say to go and look at the tracks and there's probably 4 out of 13 that refer specifically to Northern Ireland. The rest of it is ... just disaffected teenagers kicking against the world"

Whether or not a majority of the songs use the conflict in and around Northern Ireland as their basis, the subject matter covered is as confronting in this way lyrically as many of the best punk songs try to be. "Suspect Device" is a terrific opening track, and still one of their best ever, if not their best. It combines everything that is great about the band - angry spitting lyrics from Jake Burns, that real punk guitar sound and riffing from Henry Cluny and terrific rhythm section from Ali McMordie on bass and Brian Faloon on drums. It is raw and aggressive and leaves you in no doubt to their emotions. Great stuff. This is followed by the less agro "State of Emergency" before the short, sharp retort of "Here We Are Nowhere".
"Wasted Life" is another the band's best known songs, a terrific track focused on anti-government and anti-war themes. This was no doubt an anthem for many young people in Northern Ireland at the time, and again Burns' vocals leave you in doubt about what the band thinks of it all. "No More of That" follows, and is of the same theme, in a shorter and punchier style.
Okay, so the next song is "Barbed Wire Love", for which I have very mixed emotions. Punk music has always drawn on several other genres of music to incorporate into its style, the biggest being reggae. But here Stiff Little Fingers has brought in an almost 1950's 'slow dance' feel to the middle stanza of the song as Burns croons "All we neeeeed, is Barbed Wire Loooooove". It's a clever song of mixed metaphor lyrics as well as music, and I still love this song despite never really knowing why. It was a brave move at the time to record a song like this, given it could have (in their own words) blown up in their face. Instead, it has become a fan favourite in the decades since its release.
"White Noise" is perhaps not politically correct in this day and age, but is indicative of the anger that was being felt at the time it was written. "Breakout", to my mind (and it's only my opinion) seems to be written about the band itself, wanting to break out of the lives they are living, and try and find a better life by the 'success' of the band. Lyrically it could equally be about general life in Northern Ireland at the time, but to me the lyrics seem to be a bit more personal. "Law and Order" spits viciously about the treatment of locals by the 'authorities', while "Rough Trade" is belligerent on how they see the dishonesty of the music industry.
Perhaps the most surprising song on the album is the extended cover version of Bob Marley's "Johnny Was". It is surprising to me, I should say, because although punk does seem to have some roots in reggae, this version successfully seems to siphon most of the reggae sound out of the song, and while it sticks closely to the natural speed of the original version rather than a faster paced full-on punk version, it still fits into the framework of the album thanks to Burns' wailing vocals. Changing the lyrics slightly in order to have it placed in Northern Island is also a winner.
"Alternative Ulster" is the other great song on this album, against shouting to the masses in wanting a change in what is happening, and while it certainly is about their native Ulster, it could translate very easily to anywhere in the world that felt under the same pressure. It has references to "You got the Army on the street, and the RUC dog of repression is barking at your feet", yet is mainly about being a bored teenager in the late 1970s. All of this is framed up nicely, before "Closed Groove" completes what is a very impressive debut effort.
The band had signed a contract with Island Records, but it fell through, leaving the group to release the album on Rough Trade. Despite the album's independent release, it reached number 14 in the UK Albums Chart selling over 100,000 copies and was the first independent album to chart in the UK.

I have loved this album from the moment I first heard it in its entirety. It may not be perfect, but its slight flaws are not hugely noticeable ones, and as a punk record I find it more entertaining and listenable that almost all others of the genre. The songs are angry, but catchy. You don't have to have grown up in Northern Ireland to feel the aggression and accountability that the band has weaved into the songs here. This stands as a monument to the punk era, and is still a great listen today.
I was not quite in a position to be in and around the punk scene when it was at the height of its power. Indeed I wasn’t even a teenager by the time that era had burned through its bright light, My first exposure to punk was in the mid-1980's as my friends and I began to gain the experience of those around us in regard to music. A mixed tape full of the best punk bands and songs that came from the older brother of one of my school friends was where I first heard Stiff Little Fingers at a high school camp in 1985, a cassette that I played to death until its untimely demise through disintegration. And while by this time I had heard The Clash and The Ramones to a certain degree, this cassette was a godsend. and from that point I started collating those bands that it held. Stiff Little Fingers was one of the first of those bands that I found their albums, the four of them in fact that they had recorded and release prior to the band’s initial break up in 1982. At the time I discovered the band they were still broken up, and I guessed I would never get the chance to see them live. This proved to be incorrect.
Of all their albums, this is my favorite. It’s the one where I feel they are at their angriest, at their furious best, shaking their fist and middle fingers at the world and doing what the best punk music does. Whenever I put the album on, it still brings forth a feeling of ‘us against the world’, that I am again the youth, fighting against authority. Indeed, songs such as “Suspect Device” and “Alternative Ulster” still send shivers down my back listening to a young Jake Burns braying out those lyrics, and me alongside him doing the same thing.
“Inflammable Material” is the band’s debut album, and is arguably their finest work. Fuelled by their youth and their anger and any number of other influences, the majority of this album is exactly as it should be, and though there are a couple of hiccups thrown in for good measure, in the long run this still stands up as well today as it did back when it was released all those years ago.

616. Motörhead / Overkill. 1979. 4.5/5

There was no easy course to Motorhead the band getting off the ground and becoming the success it eventually became. As was related in the episode of this podcast from Season 3 on the band’s debut album, they faced the same trials and tribulations as every other band in getting to the point where they could record and release that album. It may not have been all that the band was hoping for, but it was a start, and now they had material to promote themselves on a larger scale.
Following this they signed to Bronze Records for a one-off deal, which ended up being a single, a cover of the Richard Berry track “Louie, Louie”, perhaps the most unlikely of songs for the band to do. But Lemmy was a fan and proponent of rock and roll, and the single actually hit the UK charts and brought forth the band’s first appearance on ‘Top of the Pops’ as a result. This then led to Bronze Records extending their deal to now include a full album, and Motorhead now had a way forward after all.
Just how far of a jump can it be from the material that appears on your first album, and what comes on your second. Some bands already have enough material written that it makes up a second album without having to create a whole batch of new material. Motorhead however was in the process of making a huge jump. The songs on the self-titled debut were fine for what they were, but in many ways they don’t actually ‘sound’ like Motorhead. Coming into this second album though, the band had discovered what worked for the three of them and what became much closer to what this wonderful trio were able to achieve – the furious and sometimes frantic drumming from Phil Taylor, the booming bass guitar riffs and lilting vocal cacophony from Lemmy, and the superb guitar riffs and soloing from Eddie Clarke. It was all about to come together in a huge way, and “Overkill” was what many would consider the true beginnings of the band.

Listening to this album so many years after it was written and recorded brings up several different feelings about the material contained within it. Some love it unconditionally, others feel it is a little mismatched.
The opening track, the self-titled “Overkill” is an undeniably great song, one of the band’s best ever, and as iconic as any other songs in their catalogue. The story as to how it came to be written, with Lemmy and Eddie walking in on Phil as he was doing his warmup skills training with the double kick drum, and those two agreeing that Phil should continue while they came up with riffing over the top, is the perfect story for such a song. It is the perfect song to kick off their second album, as it immediately differentiates the concept and musical progression of this album to their previous one. “Stay Clean” perfectly follows, perhaps given that in so many live setlists it is the second song the band plays. The opening drum salvo from Phil again, the opening guitar riff, the amazing Lemmy bass solo in the middle of the song that still rocks hard to this day, and the closing guitar solo from Eddie. All of it is just brilliant. “Pay the Price” almost has Beatles connotations in the guitar riff and way it is structured. It’s fun and I can hear Lennon and McCartney singing this together. It also has that Ringo beat to the song, and George Harrison licks. I have no idea if it was meant to be that way – I mean, probably not – but I’ve always had those four gentlemen in my ears when I listen to this song.
Lemmy has always claimed that he wrote the song “I’ll Be Your Sister” with Tina Turner in mind to sing it. There have been several songs over the years that Lemmy has written from a woman’s perspective and has instead been left to sing them himself. Does this make this song unusual to listen to? Perhaps to anyone who wanted to delve too deeply into it and try to place to great an emphasis on it. But it has a great Motorhead rock ‘n’ roll groove to it that makes layers it as one of those essential album tracks that fill the gaps between the truly great tracks.
There are two songs on this album that I have a slight barrier with, but the reason is not necessary the tracks themselves. The two songs in question are “Capricorn” and “Metropolis”, which I don’t think are the strongest songs in the Motorhead catalogue. “Capricorn” is almost a 1960’s flower power song, one that you can practically see the band surrounded by flowers and hippies as it is played. It's a little strange in this environment. “Metropolis” slows down the momentum of the album, and was written by Lemmy in a very short time after he had seen the movie of the same name. In its place on this album it is fine in its context, though in a slower groove but with a great moody solo from Eddie in the middle of the track. “Metropolis” I still like whereas I can take or leave “Capricorn” at the best of times. What has ended up annoying me slightly over the years is the number of times these two songs have appeared in live set lists and therefore on live albums, while other far more better songs are left off. It happens too often, and has been a reason of regret for me, and has probably coloured my opinions of these two songs over the years.
However, this is immediately rectified by two more of the band’s best songs, the hard rocking "No Class" and the legendary "Damage Case". Both showcase the best of what Motorhead bring to their music - a prominent loud simple drumbeat, great riff work and solo from the guitar, and the solid rumbling bass line all packed around Lemmy's spitting lyrics. Sensational stuff. Lyrically both songs are bombastic, loud and right to the point. “No Class” could apply to anyone you have no respect for, while “Damage Case” is the perfect song for self-deprecation and still shouting down others around you. Two of the greats, with “Damage Case” being a top five all time Motorhead song for me. "Tear Ya Down" continues this vein of style, harder and faster and again containing a great solo riff from Eddie and riffling bassline from Lemmy. Following the slower pace of “Metropolis” the album closes out with “Limb from Limb” which takes us out on a high note in great style.

If you are a regular listener to this podcast – and let’s face it, if you aren’t you should be! - you will already be well aware of how and where Motorhead came into my life and sphere of influence. Short history lesson – The Young Ones, Ace of Spades, Killed by Death, Eat the Rich... and No Remorse. There. You are up to speed.
“Overkill” is an album of amazing influence and incredible songs. It is such a leap forward from the band’s eponymous debut album that it is hard to believe there is such a short period between them. The music and playing is more ferocious and much better structured than their first compositions. There are legitimately four all-time great songs here, another two that many fans believe also fit this category, and the remainder of the songs also of a high quality. And a great album is not really judged by its outstanding tracks, it is judged on those tracks that support them. On “Overkill” they are top shelf.
So while I spent my formative Motorhead years binging out on the best of compilation “No Remorse” and delighting in getting to know those songs, when I first got around to getting the albums themselves it is where I started to notice the differences. The debut album is a good solid album. “Bomber” is also a very good album. But “Overkill” is just something different, better, more awesome throughout.
I have friends with whom I still jam with today that we were in band together 30-odd years ago, and we still jam out some Motorhead songs. In fact, my idea for my now well-in-the-past 50th birthday was to get together with these guys, dress up as Motorhead, put together a Motorhead setlist, and play in a rented hall somewhere. The idea didn’t come to fruition... maybe for my 60th... But that’s how much I love Motorhead. I would do this in a second, and so many songs from “Overkill” would be in that list.
All in all, Overkill is a classic album, one that all metalheads should own as a matter of course, or at the very least have listened to and sampled in their heavy metal education. This was Motorhead at their theoretical peak, the original Three Amigos smashing out music and taking on the world. It’s just brilliant. No record or CD collection really should be without it.

546. Led Zeppelin / In Through the Out Door. 1979. 3/5

Led Zeppelin’s amazing run through the end of the 1960’s and through the 1970’s saw fans elevate them to legendary status, both through record sales and concert tickets sales, both of which had reached extraordinary heights by the time their 7th studio album “Presence” had been released in 1976. The band had toured extensively behind it as well and appeared to be on a constant rise in the eyes of their fans. In some ways however, there were doubts beginning to crop up as to how long this could all be sustained. In some quarters “Presence” received a mixed reaction, with the band changing their output to exclude acoustic ballads and intricate arrangements, and instead look for a more straight forward rock guitar sound. They were also unable to tour their home UK at this time for tax exile reasons, and then vocalist Robert Plant and his wife Maureen were involved in a serious car crash while on holiday in Greece. Plant suffered a broken ankle and Maureen was badly injured. This meant the band was losing the hearts of those fans. On top of this, both guitarist Jimmy Page and drummer John Bonham were facing their own addictions, Page to heroin and Bonham to... everything.
To cover for not being able to tour in 1976 the band released the concert film “The Song Remains the Same” along with the live album to accompany it, but the reception was lukewarm at best. A 1977 tour of the US saw big crowds in attendance, but it was then cut short by the news of the death of Plant's five-year-old son due to a stomach virus. It put the band on an indefinite hiatus.
It wasn’t until another 15 months had passed that the band reconvened and began to write and record their next album, and even that was made difficult through events. The album was named to describe its struggles after the death of Plant's son and the taxation exile the band took from the UK which resulted in the band being unable to tour on British soil for more than two years, and trying to get back into the public mind was therefore like "trying to get in through the 'out' door." And thus became the start of Led Zeppelin’s determined course to lift its profile once again, one that ultimately came to signal the end of more things than was expected.

The songs composed for this album again show a different style to what the band had produced early in their career. This could be attributed to the fact that both Page and Bonham were still very much in the throes of their own addictions, and this resulted in them being less involved in the process from the rehearsing and writing stage. Both often failed to show up on time at the recording studio, which left bass guitarist and keyboardist John Paul Jones and Robert Plant to their own devices, and as a result the music written for the album saw their greater influence. This skewed the direction eventually taken, with Page for the first time not being credited on every song on a Led Zeppelin album. It also got to the point that Jones and Plant would arrange the songs during the day, and Page and Bonham would come in at night to put down their parts. It seemed like something that would not be sustainable down the track, but that was a problem for another day. There is also in increase in the front and centre position of the keyboards being utilised by Jones on this album. In the past the keys have been there, but act as a secondary styled instrument behind Page’s guitar and Jones’s bass. In a lot of ways the music on the album acts as a transition from what the band had achieved in its early years... to what could have been for the future. The rise of the synth and keys with the rise of new wave in the early 1980’s does tend to cultivate this thought.
Of the seven tracks created and recorded for the album, there is more atmosphere from the keys than the stomp of the guitar and drums. And the changing face of the songs does make for some rearranging when it comes to fans of the band. The opening track “In the Evening” tends to process this, with the quiet opening and then serene melodic guitar in the middle bookended by a harder beat and Plant’s vocals that come across in a very un-Plant way. “South Bound Saurez” follows with a very southern blues rock piano dominating the song, and the low mixing of everything else. This is one of two songs on the album credited to Plant and Jones without Page, and the music of the song does play this out. Then comes “Fool in the Rain”, which combines differing rhythms in a basic rock sound, and ends up coming across as a repeatable tempo plod through the first half of the track, and then a faster beat into the second half. It almost has a reggae feel at different times which was not unusual for music at the time but surely was unusual for a band such as Led Zeppelin. “Hot Dog” then goes in a different direction once again, incorporating rockabilly ragtime piano again with almost Elvis-like vocals throughout. It’s short and sweet, and draws on very US country themes as well. It’s a strange song, one that takes some time to get used to.
“Carouselambra” is a 10 minute monster, dominated throughout by Jones’s keyboards. And this is something that I mentioned earlier, that the keyboards and synth sounds on this album, and in this song in particular, showcase the way that new wave was impacting the music work at the time, and how it then began to be so prominent especially in the UK music scene. So while this may not be what many would classify as a typical Led Zeppelin track, it did come across as a glimpse of the future. Even if Led Zeppelin was not to be a part of that. And it is interesting to ponder whether the band would have explored that further after this, or if they were to return to their hard rock roots as the members suggested in interviews after this album’s release. “All My Love” is the second Plant/Jones composition, which is about Plant’s son. Jones plays a keys and synth solo throughout the middle section of the song inspired and flavoured by classical music, offset by Page’s quietly sombre guitar leading out the song. The album the concludes with “I’m Gonna Crawl”, a blues/soul track with the extra addition of Jones’s synth again proving a dominating factor. Once you have listened to the whole album, it is amazing that that instrument has had such a heavy influence on the album, but by this point it is the easily held conclusion.

As I have probably mentioned somewhere here before, I have never been the biggest Led Zeppelin fan. My appreciation of their work has only really come as I have gotten older, but when I was growing up it was a little like ‘old people’s music’. I had acquaintances at school who kept telling me I HAD to listen to albums like “Houses of the Holy” and” Led Zeppelin III” because they are the BUILDING BLOCKS of rock music!... but I generally didn’t find that to be the case. The only Led Zeppelin I owned for a very long time was the Remasters double CD released in 1990, which I really enjoyed, as the songs chosen by Jimmy Page to remaster on that album were terrific. But for a long time that was enough for me.
Eventually I found a time where I began to go back in time and try and collect albums and bands that I knew I should probably listen to but had never done so, and Led Zeppelin was one of those bands. And through that, I eventually got around to “In Through the Out Door”.
When it came to doing this episode however, I had no recollection of what I thought of it at the time. I had to delve back to my old reviews that I had done over 20 years ago, and find the couple of paragraphs I had written when I was first listening to this album. And what I had written is this. “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”.
Listening to it over the past couple of weeks, and it is quite probable that I have listened to it more in that time than for the rest of my life combined, I again fall back on that old word to describe my feelings for it. “Appreciation”. Because I appreciate the music here, but I don’t love it. It is an interesting listen but now that the episode is completed, I don’t know how often it is going to come off the shelves again.
This proved to be the band’s final offering, with drummer John Bonham’s passing just over a year after its release, and the band’s unwillingness to continue without him. This was the only album that did not have a song credited to him, the reason behind that the same as for his eventual demise. This album therefore concludes the career of one of the most influential bands of their age.