1182. Ozzy Osbourne / Speak of the Devil [Live]. 1982. 4.5/5

The fall and rise of Ozzy Osbourne during the years collating the late 1970’s and early 1980’s is one that we have covered a little already on this podcast. There are amazing accounts out there from former bandmates who have documented not only how difficult Ozzy could be to work with due to his vices, and how difficult his management team could be to work with.
Following on from the “Diary of a Madman” album and subsequent tour, the decision had been made by Ozzy and his management (ok, Sharon) that they would do an album focused purely on the songs of Ozzy’s first band, Black Sabbath. There were reasons stated for wanting to do it, which included that the previous publishing deal had now come to an end, which meant that by recording Sabbath songs all of the writers of those songs (which of course included Ozzy) would then reap the profits. It would also serve as a way of getting out of their current record deal in an easier fashion than writing another one or two albums to do so. What to me has always seemed to be the main reason, however, was that the current lineup of Black Sabbath had announced that they were putting together a live album themselves – without Ozzy on it – and there seems little doubt that this had created some angst for the previous lead singer of that band. And it always felt to me that in deciding to go down this path, especially when the band had just released two critically acclaimed albums that they could build upon, that the ONLY reason for it could be ego, and that Ozzy wanted to prove that he was the original and best.
Whichever way you want to look at the reasoning behind it, the tour and album almost didn’t eventuate anyway. When Ozzy announced to his then bandmates about the idea of playing a tour and releasing a live album of completely Black Sabbath material, the band as one revolted. Guitarist Randy Rhoads and drummer Tommy Aldridge both out and out refused to play on it. Both had already expressed their reluctance to play the Sabbath songs that were in their Ozzy sets, as neither felt as though they had anything in common with the style of music those songs sat in. Bass guitarist Rudy Sarzo, though not so adamant about it all, still stuck with his fellow bandmates. This caused Ozzy to go off in a drunken rage, apparently firing all three, but then the next day not remembering that he had done it. Eventually the three agreed to participate, though it is reported that this contributed heavily to Randy making the decision that he would leave the band once it was completed. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, Randy was killed in the accident of the light plane and the bus he was sleeping in, so we will never know what would have happened in that respect.
In order to move forward, Bernie Torme initially took on the guitaring role, but it was Brad Gillis, who was then working on the debut album for his band Night Ranger – an episode posted just recently on this podcast – who came in to take on the role for this live album, one that was still full of problems as they reached the recording phase.

Just to further complicate just how this album came about, imagine being the band – Sarzo, Aldridge and Gillis – and being asked to get together for rehearsals for the upcoming concerts, but being told that the lead singer wouldn’t be attending. I mean, how would you go about processing that? This is what the band was told, that Ozzy wouldn’t be attending rehearsals. They had five days to learn the songs and get them up to speed for a live recording. Which, they then did, apart from three – Iron Man, Children of the Grave and Paranoid – because they were told that earlier recordings of those songs with Randy on guitar would be used on the album. Ozzy didn’t show up until the soundcheck for the first of two shows being recorded, at The Ritz in New York, a club that held up to 1000 people. And, much like Ozzy, even at this point of his career, he had trouble remembering the lyrics. So, for both sold out performances, Ozzy had a chair at the front of the stage, with a book full of lyrics propped up on it, where he planted himself for most of the gigs, reading the lyrics off the pages. The guitarists also had to locate themselves closer to the drum riser to hear the drums as the monitors usually used were not available. And THEN, when they finally reached the time to play the three songs that were not going to be used for the actual album, the band loosened up and showed less care and precision, because they knew that these songs at least would not appear. That was, of course, until the decision was made to retain the Randy live versions for a possible release down the track (the afore-published episode on the “Tribute” album can be heard in season 2 of this podcast) and the band management indeed decided to use these versions, something that displeased Sarzo, Aldridge and Gillis. It was at this time that both Sarzo, who had been recording the Quiet Riot album “Metal Health” in secret at the time, and Gillis, who had been recording “Dawn Patrol” with Night Ranger, left the Osbourne camp to return to their other bands. The band had also recorded an extra day with no audience, to cover all bases in case of any audio trouble form the two gigs done live. All in all, apart from being quite the ordeal, the story seems almost Spinal Tap-ish in retelling. There is even more expansion of these stories, and to know it all it is worth checking out Rudy Sarzo’s autobiography “Off the Rails”, which really lifts the lid on an epic period of music history.

One of the really amazing parts of the Black Sabbath history was the lack of a truly representative live album. Sure, “Live at Last” was released in 1980, but without the band’s input or real knowledge. This was somewhat rectified with the “Past Lives” release in 2002 that utilised that material and other historical live recordings. There was “Cross Purposes Live” in 1995 with Tony Martin. And the “Reunion” live album in 1998 had all but Bill ward back in the saddle, but it was way beyond their prime.
And then we had “Live Evil” which was released a month after this album, with Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice, doing songs of both Mark I and II of the band. And that is a great live album – look out for that episode a very episodes after this one.
What I guess I’m getting around to is that, at the time, this album was your best bet to hear Ozzy singing all these classic Sabbath songs live on an album, and so even despite the torment behind getting it up and running, I always enjoyed it. I enjoyed the addition of Brad Gillis’s iconic guitar sound on these songs, and both Tommy and Rudy are terrific players. These versions sound great, and Ozzy sounds great if not a little unhinged between songs with his banter.
It wasn’t until four years after this was released that I came across it, and ironically also “Live Evil”, so I did the same thing as fans would have done on its release – compared it to each other. And I don’t really favour one against the other. They both have their charms, they both have their very slight downturns. It may have been a strange move at the time given the burgeoning success of his new material after leaving Black Sabbath, but it didn’t seem to upset the fans. To be honest, the retrospective look back of live material in recent years on the Deluxe Edition re-releases of some of Sabbath’s greatest albums, which have entire live gigs from that time, is a much better showcasing of Black Sabbath the band in their live days. But this album showcases Ozzy and his bandmates at their time, in 1982, and in that respect this album is still a fun listen, and worthy of many singalong moments of these great songs.

1181. Whitesnake / Saints & Sinners. 1982. 3.5/5

Whitesnake’s existence in its earliest form, as a blues-based hard rock band that combined half of the end pieces of Deep Purple and the recruitment of other excellent musicians and writers had become better and more popular with each year and album that passed. The core of David Coverdale on vocals with former bandmates Jon Lord on keyboards and Ian Paice on drums, along with Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden on guitars and Neil Murray on bass, formed what became the initial essential group, mixing blues based rhythm with the harder centre that had come from Purple. Each album, even going back now and listening to them in order of their release, shows an improvement in the music and the way the band gels with its writing and performing.
The band’s 4th album “Come an’ Get It” had produced the best reviews the band had received, and the band’s highest album position in the UK, and yet according to the band members they were still making relatively little money from albums and sell-out concerts. This was causing growing dissent within the ranks, such that when the band reconvened to write and record the follow up, tensions within the band was clear. Coverdale had already written much of what eventually became the “Saints & Sinners” album, something that was also a step out of the ordinary from previous band collaborations. The recording began, but before it could be completed, Moody quit the band at the end of 1981. This set off a chain reaction of events, including Coverdale deciding to put the band on hiatus while his daughter was sick. During this hiatus, Coverdale sacked the band’s manager, bought out many of the contracts he was tied to, and eventually decided to let go almost off of the remaining members in Marsden, Paice and Murray, claiming they lacked the enthusiasm needed to keep the band going.
Towards the end of 1982, Coverdale had contacted Moody, and asked him to come back and help him finish the album, which Moody agreed to. In the end most of it had been done, so it just required a few guitar pieces and backing vocals added to have it done, and producer Martin Birch then spent a few weeks putting it all together to complete the procedures. It had been a long hard road, and one where Coverdale was obviously angling to try and get a breakthrough in the US. And while some of the songs here seem skewed with that in mind, the progression from blues rock to hard rock is not as noticeable here as was perhaps thought to be the case when the album was initially released.

In many ways this is a conduit between the way the band had begun, and the way it ended up by the late 1980’s. Given that this was the final album to feature those main six players, the real change towards cracking the US hard rock market probably came on the follow up to this album, “Slide it In”. But this album does progress further down the path on the back of “Come an’ Get It” without totally giving up that blues and in places almost rockabilly style that early Whitesnake had garnered its support. “Rock an’ Roll Angels” is an upbeat blues trip with piano bar keyboards from Lord being a centrepiece. “Bloody Luxury” is in the same vein, it sounds like it is coming straight from an old blues bar, again with two great solo guitar pieces from Moody and Marsden with Lord’s own blues piano set between them. “Dancing Girls” is another catchy song that has Lord dominate the middle of the song in great style, while Moody and Marsden have their moments. There are also atypical Whitesnake songs in the mix, including the opening track “Young Blood” and then the mid-tempo “Victim of Love”. And you can’t go past those titles when it comes to a Whitesnake album, with “Rough an’ Ready” and “Love an’ Affection” and “Rock an’ Roll Angels”. And “Saints an’ Sinners”. All very good songs, don’t get me wrong, with typical Whitesnake hooks in the guitar riffs and Coverdale’s smooth yet biting vocals throughout. “Love an’ Affection” has a call back to Deep Purple days, while the closing title track is a get hard rock song to finish off proceedings in style. But what is it with dropping the ‘d’ in all of the ‘ands’ on the song titles? It’s a bit wanky isn’t it. It does date the album back to that period.
The two obvious standout songs on this album are ones that fans of any generation would know - “Crying in the Rain” and “Here I Go Again”. When the album was released back in 1982, they were the best of what comes here. What makes them unique here is that both were eventually re-recorded for Whitesnake’s 1987 album, with a more updated style that better reflected the style Coverdale wanted at that time in his efforts to break the American market. Comparatively, both versions of both songs hold up, and both versions reflect the time and audience they were written for.

1982 was some time before I began to find bands like Whitesnake. Indeed, like I guess most of my generation, I fell head over heels in love with the band with the 1987 album, it being one of the albums of playlist of that year. From there it was the “Slip of the Tongue” album, and more fanboying over that. Beyond that, I didn’t go back to find and appreciate this album until the 2000’s had arrived. And it’s a shame it took me that long, because the wonderful connections of Moody and Marsden and Murray on guitars in this era is quite spectacular, and I probably would say that it culminates at their best on this album. Which, given the history of the making of the album, ends up being rather strange. Apart from that small concession that all was not harmonious within the group, I have a great affection for the album. Each member plays their part. The guitarists as mentioned sound great. Lord and Paice are as noteworthy as always, and Coverdale’s vocals are sublime. I may not have gotten this album until quite late in the piece, but that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying it thoroughly, and the last couple of weeks have only helped me to appreciate it even more.
Whitesnake the band had more rough waters to navigate following this album and its tour, and the maturing of the band’s sound and the morphing of the band’s direction all contributed to that. Which continues to make this album a litmus test of the band’s discography, one that is generally well received by fans of all eras of the band.

1159. The Clash / Combat Rock. 1982. 1.5/5

The Clash had been on an existential high for a number of years, following on the success of their eponymous debut album on to ”Give Em Enough Rope”, then the hoped-for breakthrough into the American market with the double LP ”London Calling” before releasing the overblown triple LP 36 song epic of ”Sandinista!” And as the band had risen, so had begun the tangents of its eventual demise.
Through 1981, a number of flash points came to not only dictate what would happen with the next album, but also the future of the band beyond its recording and release. After the extravagance of “Sandinista!”, Joe Stummer and Paul Simonon pushed to have their previous manager reinstated over their current management, suggestively in order to try and recaptured the punk roots of the band rather than the continuing progressiveness to commerciality and new wave. On the back of this, original band manager Bernie Rhoads indeed regained this position, though it left Mick Jones offside as he had not been overly in favour of the move. This may not have been the first step towards the tension beginning to be felt amongst the bands members, but it was a strong one.
The working title for the new album was “Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg”, and after some preliminary work in London the album was recorded in New York. The band then went on tour to Australia, New Zealand and Japan, before returning to complete the new album for release. With 18 songs recorded, the band debated whether or not to release another double LP or whether it should be edited down to a single LP. While Mick Jones, who had done the initial mix, was in favour of the double LP, the rest of the band wanted to bring it back to a single album. Another difference of opinion. Jones was then probably also unimpressed by newly reinstated manager Rhoads suggesting the band bring in Glyn Johns, who had produced and engineered great albums by bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Eagles, to try and do this for their album. Over the course of three days, Johns, Strummer and Jones managed to edit the 77 minute initial album down to its final length of 46 minutes, both through shortening some songs and also deleting six altogether. It was this version of “Combat Rock” that hit the shelves 40 years ago today, having been preceded two weeks earlier by the first single from the album, “Know Your Rights”

The thing that I have always found with this album is that is just feels long. And that’s the released version, not the initial Mick Jones mix. Because while the subject matter of the songs lyrically may equate to a punk album, the music pretty much has had all punk tendencies washed out completely. Lyrically the album has plenty of politically motivated songs. The opening two tracks deal with this, with “Know Your Rights” pointedly discussing the knowing of your rights as a middle or lower class person, but then showing how those rights are skewed to benefit to rich and upper class, and “Car Jamming” discusses the impact and aftermath of the Vietnam War in particular. "Red Angel Dragnet" was inspired by the January 1982 shooting death of a New York member of the Guardian Angels, and quotes several lines of dialogue from the movie “Taxi Driver”. "Straight to Hell" describes the children fathered by American soldiers to Vietnamese mothers and then abandoned, while "Sean Flynn" is about the photojournalist son of actor Errol Flynn who disappeared in 1970 after being captured by the Vietcong in Cambodia.
The album has several guests coming on and providing vocals or at least readings, performing on songs such as “Red Angel Dragnet”, “Overpowered by Funk” and “Ghetto Defendant”.
So here is where we have to come clean on just what kind of album “Combat Rock” is. Because although you may have been led to believe that The Clash is a punk band, there is very little to none of that on this album. I have spoken before of my problem with punk bands heavily infusing reggae into their music, mainly because of my dislike for reggae, but also because from a punk band I want power and vitality and anger and feeling. And what we get on this album generally has none of those things. “Red Angel Dragnet” and “Straight to Hell”, which close out the first side of the album, are listenable enough, but they stretch out forever, and are slow and desolate. Then we move on the second side of the album, with “Overpowered by Funk” absolutely just being a funky R&B song which, it may surprise you, is not what I come to this band for. Though I really shouldn’t have been surprised at it all. “Sean Flynn” has the saxophone implemented, like all new wave music of the era. “Ghetto Defendant” has the harmonica and the mournful vocals of Joe over both of those songs and the dreary pace really makes it a punish to get through. And the closing track “Death is a Star” not only feels as though it goes for 20 minutes it can send you to sleep in the process.
The two obvious counter points on this album are the two big singles, that to be honest have been well overplayed over the years to the point of overexposure. “Should I Stay or Should I Go” has been used in ads and movies and probably became more popular ten years after the albums release than when it came out as a single. “Rock the Casbah” though was the breakthrough for the band in the US and charted around the world. And perhaps what makes it stand out from all of the other tracks on the album is that it was almost completely written and recorded by drummer Topper Headon, on a day when there was no one else in the studio. He lay down the piano riff that he had been toying with, did the drums and added the bass guitar. Joe Strummer wrote the lyrics that featured on the track. But it is the completely different vibe of the music here compared to every other track on the album that is perhaps the most damning part about it.

Is Combat Rock the most boring album in the universe? Or perhaps just from 1982. Take two songs out – no, really, take ONE song out, and it would certainly have to be in the running for such an award.
Because of the success of the radio single in Australia, and the subsequent championing of the band by several of my friend group in high school, I have listened to “Combat Rock” for a long time. Not consistently, not every month or year, but consistently through those years. And for me, it really has never been an album that I’ve cottoned on to. I’ve said it before on the previous episode when I retrospectively reviewed their debut album, what I love about The Clash is their punk songs, the ones with energy and bounce and an ability to strike out hard. But by this album a lot of that had been gently slid to one side, as their music if not their lyrics had taken on a more commercial aspect, and that slower, less immediate style of song that dominates this album just doesn’t interest me at all. And I know there are millions of people out there who think very differently than I do, but “Combat Rock” has disappointed me for decades. I’ve always hoped I would come back to it, and find something that hooked me in, that changed my entire feelings about this album, but it never has.

Topper Headon was sacked from the band when the album was released due to his spiralling drug problem, and Mick Jones was dismissed after the tour that followed. The Clash was fast coming to its conclusion, and though I am anything but an expert on the band, I’ve always felt that the withdrawal from the scene that made them who they were was the major contributing factor to their demise.

1157. Rainbow / Straight Between the Eyes. 1982. 3.5/5

Rainbow had been Ritchie Blackmore’s ticket out of Deep Purple, and since its beginning Blackmore had begun looking to tweak the material the band was writing in order to go for a more commercial sound, to find the mainstream success he was looking for. It had led to separation with Ronnie James Dio, and after one album it found his replacement Graham Bonnet also leaving due to dissatisfaction with the material and with the relationship he had with Blackmore. That had led to the hiring of Joe Lynn Turner as lead vocalist, and along with the return of his former Deep Purple band mate in Roger Glover, the band had released “Difficult to Cure”. With some of that commercial success coming from the release of the single “Since You Been Gone” (ironically not written by the band, but instead another writer called Russ Ballard), the scope was to continue down the path the band had set for itself, and find that success it longed for. It had already led to much of the Dio-era songs being shunned on live tours, and a much different feel for the way the band approached that side of things as well.
The album was written and recorded in Quebec in December 1981, with Roger Glover once again producing. And while “Difficult to Cure” had still had moments where Blackmore was experimenting beyond the fringe, the new album left little doubt as to where the band leader and his members were looking to tread when it came to their new material.

The first single from the album was the big power ballad, “Stone Cold”. It is the kind of song that Joe Lynn Turner styled his career on, and that’s not to say that he couldn’t sing great hard rock songs either, because he proved over a long career that he could. But it is this song especially that Rainbow was looking for their commercial success, and in that regard they succeeded, reaching top 40 in both the US and the UK with this single. Spoiler alert – it was the only single Rainbow had that did.
It was not the only song in that style on the album however, as the band sped down the commercial highway. “Tite Squeeze” lyrically and musically tends to push those boundaries, and without a doubt “Tearin’ Out My Heart” absolutely does this, a song that musically is looking for that radio airplay to sell singles, which in many ways makes it unusual that it wasn’t released in that way. Sure, in many ways it is a slightly changed variation on a Deep Purple song that has been pushed towards a different angle, however, the title of the song itself already tells you what it is trying to achieve musically. And the closing track on the album, “Eyes of Fire”, certainly sets itself up to be the epic song of the album, the longest at over six and a half minutes, and harks back slightly to those days of “Rising” and “Long Live Rock N Roll” without the same intensity of the songs on those albums.
Beyond that though, there is still lots to like here for the fans of fastest more potent material. The uptempo vibes of “Bring on the Night (Dream Chaser) is excellent, driven along by the excellent drumming from Bobby Rondinelli and bass legend Roger Glover, while Joe sings his heart out and Ritchie produces another great solo burst on the guitar. “Power” is a great song to open the second side of the album with great lyrics and vocals from Joe, while Ritchie again dominates the song with his solo break. “MISS Mistreated” is the antithesis of a metal song or a power ballad. Indeed, it is almost the perfect combination of the two, and it is pulled off in style. The keys of David Rosenthal give it that power ballad feel, but the power increase prior to the chorus and through the bridge of the song raises it above that. It could still have been released as a single in that respect, but I think it does gravitate beyond that. Or maybe I’m just trying to justify my love of a power ballad. And the suitably titled “Rock Fever” also has a great tempo that bounces along nicely. But perhaps the best song of the album is the one that kicks the album off, raging in with drums and guitar riff and fast paced driving power that becomes that great album opener, “Death Alley Driver”.

While there are four distinct eras of Rainbow the band – quite a few if you think about it considering they only released eight albums – I have always enjoyed each of them for what they were. The Dio-Blackmore-Bain-Powell era was amazing, where they were absolutely at their most influential. The Bonnet era of the “Down to Earth” album is superb. And I still love the Doogie White-helmed comeback of “Stranger in Us All”. And what really makes this era of the band is the fantastic combination of Joe Lynn Turner on vocals, with his unmistakeable commercial voice that he can still bring the power to for hard rock and metal tracks when the need arises, and Roger Glover’s cool presence on bass guitar as well as album production, Bobby Rondinelli’s solid drumming that doesn’t take the focus away from the core of the band, and Ritchie Blackmore’s still-defining guitar playing and ability to write a catchy riff and make it stick.

And there is no doubt there are still some great songs here. All of the ones I’ve chosen for this podcast episode - “Death Alley Driver”, “Stone Cold”, “Power”, “Miss Mistreated” - are still worth listen to 40 years on.
At high school I had one particular mate who took on Rainbow, and Ritchie Blackmore especially, as his heroes, and he never ceased to bring them up in conversations in music. “Ritchie Blackmore is the only musician with originality in music – everyone copies him” was one of those quotes that not only provoked serious discussion but hearty laughs in the same instance. And this album has always stuck with me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the album cover, with the guitar coming out straight between the eyes – it is distinctive and memorable even to this day. And secondly those four songs I mentioned. I had a Rainbow best-of cassette I recorded for myself in those years, with Dio and Bonnett on one side, and Turner on the other, and these four songs got played over and over a thousand times as that tape went around and around. And, as always with these episodes, I have had this album playing a lot over the last two weeks, and it has been fantastic catching up and reliving all those old memories, but perhaps just with Joe’s smooth as honey vocals and Ritchie’s awesome riffing.

1087. Judas Priest / Screaming for Vengeance. 1982. 4.5/5

Whether or not Point of Entry was considered to be an experiment of sorts, an effort to write an album that would search for commercial success, is hard to pin down. Whatever the debate of it has become, one can only assume that during the writing for the follow up, which became Screaming for Vengeance, that there was a committed effort to return the band to a heavier sound, one utilising all of the talents of the band rather than just moving along in third gear. Anyone who listens to both albums back-to-back will no doubt come to the conclusion that something had changed, because chalk and cheese does not even begin to describe how different those two albums are.

Any doubts of Judas Priest’s validity in the world of music are eradicated within the first 60 seconds of putting this album on. The ripping instrumental attack of “The Hellion” screams out of the speakers. In fact, it is almost the ultimate opening stanza of a Priest album, probably only topped by the opening to their 1990 album down the track. This shoots straight into “Electric Eye” which in turn is of the highest quality opening tracks in Priest history. It has it all, speed, screams and sensational twin guitar solos to lock in the middle of the song. It is still one of my all-time favourite songs from this band. This is followed by “Riding on the Wind” which continues in the same vein, a hard and heavy opening from the rhythm that sets off Halford in his higher range vocal strains, something that certainly wasn’t stretched on the previous album, and it immediately makes this better because of it. “Bloodstone” finds that perfect mid-tempo heavy rhythm and settles in for the distance, leaving Halford to sing mightily along with the chorus of guitars playing underneath him. A terrific opening to the album.
“(Take These) Chains” has different bent than the other songs here, certainly because it was in fact written by Bob Halligan Jr and not the band itself. It circles a more commercial property and perhaps veers into a soft metal or hair metal sound than the rest of the album has. It has those ‘sing-along’ qualities but not of a fist-pumping variety that would normally be the case with great Judas Priest tracks. “Pain and Pleasure” is a song right out of context with the rest of the album. It’s a throwback to the 1970’s and doesn’t fit in here with the faster and more energetic 1980’s sound, but more than anything else, it is just quite boring and unattractive. It closed out the first half of the album, but perhaps not in a way that enhances the album. Don’t get me wrong, these two songs are fine, but they are in a different setting than the three that preceded them.
This is recovered in full with the title track “Screaming for Vengeance” which opens the second side of the album in scintillating style. Fast and strong once again with the best parts of the Downing/Tipton combination, Halford’s vocals again are the star attraction, reaching for heights that he makes sound so easy. This is followed by the anthemic drive of the classic “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”. Built around the same style that songs like “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight” drew on, this became the song that finally saw them break into a commercial setting and receiving radio airplay around the world. It’s funny as this occurred once the band had returned to writing songs that had a real metal edge to them, unlike the more commercial bent that they had been looking for on Point of Entry which for the most part seemed to put fans off.
“Fever” is another track that just differs slightly from the central themes of the music on the album. The clear and quieter sections of the song, all held together by the constant and consistent rhythm of Dave Holland and Ian Hill, makes for a completely different atmosphere within the song to the rest of the album. I found that it took some getting used to, and to find how it related to the other songs surrounding it. “Devil’s Child” then wraps up the album in style, harking back to the first two songs on the second half of the album, taking on a hard edge beat and energy while Halford spits out the lyrics in the way you would expect.
Apart from the songs that have been written for this album, the band is in fine form throughout. Dave Holland’s excellent steady timekeeping perhaps doesn’t appear flashy in any sense of the word, but it is perfectly effective and holds the songs together. Ian Hill on bass is his laconic self, and again while he mightn’t be flashy in comparison to others around, his bass lines are important and perfectly suit the way the songs and other players in the band utilise them. The duelling and complementing guitars of K. K. Downing and Glenn Tipton are at their best here and highlight the great songs on the album, while the return of the full range of Rob Halford’s vocals is one of the highlights.

Many consider this to be the pinnacle of Judas Priest’s career, and while I believe it is one of the highlights it isn’t quite in that category for me. If I had been just a little older and had gotten this when it was released instead of some five or so years later then perhaps my feelings would be different. This still hits all the right areas though and set in place a template that could be followed to find the best Priest releases – speed, energy, brilliant guitar licks and Halford screaming from the rafters. A winning combination.

Rating: “You think you've private lives, think nothing of the kind, there is no true escape I'm watching all the time”. 4.5/5

1017. Misfits / Walk Among Us. 1982. 4/5

There are people out there that believe that punk was born in 1976 and died in 1977. It’s a fallacy of course, though what form of music you believe punk takes on is probably also open to question. If you want the crazy drama-filled remains of the Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks. If you want the reggae-infused stuff that comes out in different eras of bands such as The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers. Or do you come to a band such as the Misfits, who could be either punk or could be hard core or could be a mixture, depending on whether you really want to try and box them into a stereotype. Whatever the genre or reason or cause, what is essentially labelled as the ‘debut album’ of the Misfits is a combination that does justice to the massed variety that punk can claim to be.

There’s plenty of evidence hear to suggest that the songs were all written in the midst of their touring schedule or in a live atmosphere, if for no other reason than there is a tremendous amount of crowds surfing in the lyrics. By that, I am talking about the “Woahhh-wooooaahh woah-oooooohhh” that permeates several of the songs throughout the album. It’s there for everyone to hear in songs such as “I Turned into a Martian”, “Hatebreeders”, “Night of the Living Dead” and “Astro Zombies”. On first impressions it would be easy to see why some people could find that this gets on their nerves, and pretty quickly, because it does get to be a constant. Despite this, if you are not able to accept it and let it ride, not only will you not enjoy this album, but you will also miss out on some extremely enjoyable moments.
This is a great collection of songs. With just thirteen of them smashed into 25 minutes you know what you are getting from the outset. It’s hard, fast and scintillating. Packed into the fast basic drumming from Arthur Googy comes the bass and guitar riffs of Jerry Only and Doyle that fly along, and all topped by Glenn Danzig’s wonderfully cultured vocal chords that can move between high range tenor screams and jack-knifes to his low range baritone of his ‘Evil Elvis’ persona. The energy of the band comes across in every song, and despite the very short album span there is a great mixture of tunes within. The opening track “20 Eyes” bashes its way straight through the speakers, the perfect riposte to the punk sound, coming fast and hard with little room for discourse. “I Turned into a Martian” moves along at the same speed, before “All Hell Breaks Loose” picks it up a notch, improving on everything that has come before it. You can hear the influence of 1950’s and 1960’s rock n’ roll in the music, something not lost on the punk and hard core style that this derives from. “Vampira”, “Hatebreeders” and “Braineaters” all make the most of their short length by packing in as much as they can.
Even with the star attractions you can’t miss the excitement. “Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight” is summed up in the title, and after the pregnant pause to chant the title of the song, the band ignites again while Glenn gives you no chance to keep up as he spits out his lyrics. On top of this, “Skulls” remains one of my favourite all time Misfits songs. Simple drums, rhythm and riff, basic vocals on the top, and up tempo melody and chanting singalong lyrics. Both songs have questionable – nay, zero – morals in their lyrics, but they are meant to be in fun and should be taken that way (please note all insistent idiots who read the lyrics and believe they have been written with literal intent).

This is a terrific recording of a band that succeeded in getting the absolute most of out their peak years, before being retired before repetition could set in. That wasn’t to last, but it is these initial years that you can listen to and enjoy just how unique their sound was. It’s not highbrow material, either lyrical or musically. What it is though is a fun way to spend twenty five minutes with easy to sing songs with a bit of crowd support thrown in.

Rating:  “And the blood drains down like devil's rain, we'll bathe tonight”.  4/5

969. Twisted Sister / Under the Blade. 1982. 3.5/5

I was never really sure what all the commotion was about when, after the success of Twisted Sister’s third album Stay Hungry, there was a rush to re-release and go back in time with this, the debut album Under the Blade. Having said that, I had probably not heard this myself at the time, and was much more enamoured with You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll and felt it deserved a better audience. Still, in revisiting this album now, some 35 years after its release, there was probably more to it than I thought then.

While the sound is probably dated in this day and age, the basics of the band, and for the most parts of the album the songs themselves, are all in order and still make all of the right moves. The raw energy of songs such as “Tear it Loose”, whose song current flows along like a torrent while mixing in the duelling solos with Dee’s fighting vocals.
The opening track, “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You), starts off strangely and stagnantly, before finally getting into gear about halfway through and delivering a much more emphatic ending to the song. I laugh a little bit when Dee sings “We’re the Bad Boys (Of Rock ‘N’ Roll)”, because, well…it doesn’t SOUND bad! It sounds tame given the punk era that has just passed and the thrash metal era that is growing around them in 1982. But, it’s a catchy tune and vocal gathering which of course makes it fun, if not dangerous.
“Run For Your Life” drags its feet a little, slowing the tempo right down to almost nothing before busting out to a more enjoyable style – reminiscent of another song a couple of albums down the track. This jumps straight into “Sin After Sin”, which faithfully reproduces a similar riff progression and vocally melody line, which easily flows into “Shoot ‘Em Down”, another straight up hard rock anthem led by Dee’s vocals, which do seem somewhat strangely a tad in the background of the mix.
“Destroyer” goes back into the box of the slow moving hard riff sludging chant fest, the kind of song that needs to be a good one or else it can induce boredom. For me here it is more the boredom inducing variety. “Under the Blade” and “Tear it Loose” both redeem this, moving along at a gloriously fun pace, with “Teat it Loose” in particular giving the teenager in all of us some fun lyrics to sing along to.
“Day of the Rocker” is the final track on the album, and is one where it feels as though the wrong move was made. Following all of the energy and hard work put into earlier tracks, to decide on this as the song to finish on, a plodding AC/DC inspired soundtrack without the drive and desire of that bands’ music, makes this an unfortunate finale to what is a pretty enjoyable album.

As I probably made clear earlier, better albums were to come after this. As a starting point it is more than worthy of your attention, because it shows what a lot of hard work in cracking the market can produce. The fact that they found their niche in the 1980’s is not surprising and this starting point has all of the characteristics you will recognise.

Rating:   “I’m gonna live my dream, shout and scream!”  3.5/5

966. Accept / Restless and Wild. 1982. 4/5

Through the course of Accept’s first three albums, there had been flashes of inspiration, songs or even just moments in songs where you could feel the real sound of the band trying to escape into the open. On Breaker those came through almost fully formed, only to have other moments that made you forget that. From the opening moments on Restless and Wild however, you know that the moment has arrived, and so had Accept.

The joy that exudes from the opening track is magnificent. “Fast as a Shark” is vindication for the evolution of their sound, to come up with this track which blitzes along with drums and guitars while Udo chants his vocals, reaching the crescendo in the chorus. Though some ‘historians’ have described this as the first speed metal track, I tend to think of it as the first song of Accept’s Golden Age, announcing the arrival of a faster, heavier, more dominant band. This is followed up by the title track “Restless and Wild” which continues in this direction, and also features Udo moving between his low spoken and high screeching vocals for one of the first times with such conviction. Both of these tracks are a great opening to the album. “Ahead of the Pack” plays along in this style as well, while “Shake Your Heads” is more of a traditional tempo song with the anthem chorus in-built for crowds to sing along to.
The middle section of the album brings things back to a different mood, a much slower tempo and different feeling to the album. “Neon Nights” almost has a Rainbow pacing and sound to it, mixing as it does in the soloing. “Get Ready” is a straight forward hard rock outing with basic rhythm backing along with that lyrical output that encourages the crowd singalong again. “Demon’s Night” sludges into action and driven by Udo’s vocals it moves up and down in tempo throughout but also gathering momentum as it progresses.
“Flash Rockin’ Man” begins the final stanza of the album in style, with energy and guitar riffs that pick up the pace in satisfying style. “Don’t Go Stealing My Heart Away” again has similarities to AC/DC in both style and substance, but is entertaining and enjoyable in its own way. The closer “Princess of the Dawn” goes to another extreme from the speed of the opening track, settling itself into a constant mid-range tempo driven by the rhythm of the guitar, bass and drums, and allowing the song to play out over the top of this, with the lead breaks, keys and Udo’s chanting leading the way. I was surprised that I enjoyed this track so much, even the abrupt ending of the song where it just cuts off in mid stroke rather than the traditional fade out.

Unlike the previous album, that was brought down by three songs that just didn’t fit in with the mold that Accept was trying to break, Restless and Wild contains none of those filler tracks. Everything here works in its environment, mixing faster and medium paced tracks without compromising the whole. The musicianship is second to none, and the overall package is a winner. This is still an album that can be put on and enjoyed at any time, which to me is always the best indicator.

Rating:  “Fast as a shark he'll cut out of the dark, he's a killer, he'll rip out your heart”.  4/5

907. Billy Joel / The Nylon Curtain. 1982. 3.5/5

With multiple number one albums now under his belt, and hit singles that were being played around the world, and with a continued desire to experiment with his own style and diversify his own music, there is little doubt that this is exactly what Billy Joel does on The Nylon Curtain. The music again appears divided, with the style and setting of the songs showcasing different sides of his writing personality.

"Allentown" is a another of those Billy Joel best constructed songs that invokes the basic emotions that he is trying to convey by the course of a couple of tricks of the trade, here with the steam mill sound punctuating the track throughout and his own impersonation of that sound, while the piano and guitar make their own parts of the song their own.
"Laura" might want to be drawing in those Beatles references and influences within in the song, but what hurts it a little in my opinion is that it just goes too long. Five minutes for a Beatles song? Perhaps by the conclusion of their time, but their best songs were always the tightly constructed three and a half minute tracks where nothing dragged out to become boring. "Laura" for me does that. A shorter tighter version would have fitted better.
The distinctive keyboard riff that dominates "Pressure" has always been catchy and a major influence on the song and its popularity. The vocals and music come across as frantic and elevated, increasing and enhancing the lyrical content, and setting the scene of the song by creating an atmosphere of pressure within the music itself. This is followed by the emotionally charged "Goodnight Saigon", whose slower building influence through the music and vocals is carried by the chopper blades during the intro and outro.
When it comes to the second half of the album, it feels a bit the same way that the second half of Glass Houses comes across. None of the songs really seem to capture the imagination like those on the first half of the album. The fact that everything here has obviously been constructed with a theme in mind means that the listener will either accept it and enjoy it, or just be confused by it. It starts off with "She's Right On Time" and "A Room Of Our Own", and those influences are immediately obvious.
"Surprises" may as well be John Lennon's posthumous song, such is the writing of the song, and Billy's vocals which are without doubt mimicking Lennon's style inimitably. More of the same follows with "Scandinavian Skies". And the songs are good, there's no problem there. But do you need to hear Lennon singing a Joel song? Is the trouble you go to in order to create two songs such as these, with their distinct renditions of the style of one of your influential bands, worth the creative process to put on an album that is showcasing your material? the same question can be asked of the closing track, "Where's the Orchestra?" which while giving a more Paul McCartney impression on the song still has the same values attached. Should I be listening to a Billy Joel album and wondering why I am hearing songs that may just be modernised Beatles themes?

Once again a Billy Joel album leaves me feeling conflicted. I feel I should be rating this highly, because the music performance is once again top notch, with a perfect combination of all of the instruments which bring the perfect emotional level to each song. But again, the mixing of styles almost always leaves me feeling as though something is lacking, missing, or just not as I expected. It's probably the latter. Given that, this is still yet another all encompassing album that stretches the formwork of the talents within the band, and gives off more highlights that it holds back.

Rating:  "You have no scars on your face".   3.5/5

866. Diamond Head / Borrowed Time. 1982. 2/5

When all is said and done, despite arguments to the contrary, while this may be Diamond Head's first album with a major record label, it will always be regarded as their second album, after the "this is a demo" "no it is not" release of Lightning to the Nations. As such, taking that album as the debut, and comparing it to this album, dutifully the follow up, makes it a tough task for Borrowed Time in regards to any review or rating.

I cannot claim to know what the band or the label decided upon when it came to releasing this album. Two songs have been 're-recorded' from the 'first' album and placed here. Around those two songs come five other new tracks, all of which are lengthy and of a different style than the first album took. In fact, there is quite a difference between the heavy and fast pace of the debut album, to the toning back of the riffs and more progressive nature of the songs on this album. it is a quite dramatic change if you listen to the two albums back to back, and one which is somewhat startling.
The album starts off with "In the Heat of the Night", a song that takes a little time to get going, but progresses through the basic drum beat and bass line to a reasonable lyrical performance from Sean Harris and decent middle solo section from Brian Tatler which stretches out to the end of the song. To be honest it took me a while to warm to this song, as it was totally unexpected as to its style, but once I moved past this and had a number of listens I was able to enjoy it for what it was. This moves into "To Heaven From Hell", which is held in check by the stagnant drum beat that tubs its way through the first half of the song, without any change in the guitar riff and the vocal range. When we get past the halfway mark the drums break out to a different pounding, and the guitar solo break picks the song up from the everyday hammering that had come before. The first half of the song is most definitely missing the breeze of metal guitar and freedom that the second half of the song shows off. It could have been a much better song if it had changed that way. "Call Me" comes across as wanting to be a commercial rock song, but without wanting to alienate their core fans, which in the end probably means it does neither. The crooning vocals and back up support don't go far enough if they really wanted that commercial success, while the base of the song also doesn't show anything like what would be needed. Yet by attempting this, they seem to leave their original fans out in the cold, wondering how exactly this song fits into their catalogue. "Lightning to the Nations" completes side one of the album, and only confuses the issue as to the sound this album is going for with an example of the sound from the previous album.
Side two presents two seven-minute-plus plodding tracks to start off with. something that again reveals the developing style of the band. Both songs are progressive in nature, stretching out beyond a typical length song, and incorporating the typical drawn out middle sections where the vocalist will croon over the top of a sullied rhythm section and a slow and stifled blues guitar riff. Certainly when done well these kind of songs are good to listen to, but did Diamond Head need to go in this direction? To me it seemed to go against everything they had done in their initial song writing and recording. I feel as though "Borrowed Time" is what the band is on listening through it once again, while "Don't You Ever Leave Me" is somewhat the worse for wear, slower and even more painful to sift through. The terrible lack of energy or intensity or anything to do with this song is even further exposed by the final track, the amazing "Am I Evil". Sure, it may be unfair to compare a track that has its own place in heavy metal history, but it shows up the stark difference between the inspiration of the track that were first written and performed by the band on the 'previous' album to what they came up with for this album, and especially the two songs which proceed it.
Brian Tatler's guitar breaks are the highlight of the album. Even when the songs themselves aren't able to draw much enthusiasm, his guitaring still elicits a smile and some passion in their slots. Sean Harris' vocals are again serviceable, but unfortunately have little to work with from the way these songs are put together. Colin Kimberley on bass and Duncan Scott on drums are similarly solid if uninspiring.

While this album still often receives praise for its place in history, it really suffers greatly from the raw energy and uncompromising attitude of the collection of songs from the first album, something this album has none of (apart from the two songs here that came from that era).

Rating:  Through delirium of a tortured mind, her face gave me strength to this day.  2/5

852. The Michael Schenker Group / One Night at Budokan. 1982. 3/5

I love a live album. A good live album. One that emits energy and shines like a beacon amongst the music being played elsewhere. The kind that brings out the best in those songs that have been written and recorded in a studio, where they have been polished to a sheen and not allowed any rough edges to show. Where perhaps the performance is not perfect, but the enthusiasm of the band outweighs any imperfections. That's a good live album. Unfortunately for One Night at Budokan, most of that doesn't apply here.

I don't want to sound unfair here, because the little things have been done right. The song list contains a great selection from both albums to this time, The Michael Schenker Group and MSG. The band plays well, the songs are given reasonable justice. There's even the requisite UFO number thrown in, Schenker's almost-signature tune in "Doctor Doctor". So what is it that hurts this album? Well, the production isn't terrific. Levels of instruments just don't seem to work, and at different times the bass and keyboards and even drums get lost in the mix. I mean, how on earth could Cozy Powell's drums ever get lost in a mix? But it happens here. This results in the songs sounding tinny, without that real solid loud rhythm section which would provide a base for the live sound. Schenker's guitar is always there, but because the rhythm at times seems non-existent it can't make that full sound that is needed in a live concert. His guitaring is still great, but because he either has to take on the rhythm himself or play lead with nothing underneath it really does destroy the impact of some of the songs. And the limitations of Gary Barden's vocals has been discussed for 35 years. While he doesn't crack under the pressure of a live performance here, and does for the most part hit all the right notes, his vocals still come across reedy and wispy at times, without the power needed to make the performance his own. Again, the mix didn't help this.
There are some great songs here, but the versions just don't do justice to them. "Armed and Ready", "Attack of the Mad Axeman", "Into the Arena", "On and On" and "Are You Ready To Rock" are great songs that should smoke live, but they just don't hold it together on this album.

More than anything else, these limitation end up making the album overdrawn to the point of boring, and it really shouldn't be that way at all. Live albums down the track with better production brought many of these songs to life, but here, One Night at Budokan simply becomes an album with a great concept that sits gathering dust on a shelf due to a lack of foresight.

Rating:  On and on and on and on and on.  3/5

842. Anvil / Metal on Metal. 1982. 3/5

After a rather lacklustre debut album, Anvil strike back harder here with their follow-up, Metal on Metal. For an album that has garnered historical significance over the years, there are still moments here that seem 'unworthy' of such praise, and yet there is enough here to make you wonder just what the fuss had been all about around the time of its release.

This is all pretty straight forward harder material, led by the eponymous title track "Metal on Metal", which opens the album with a headswinging stoush of drum beat and riff. At least on this album, the title appears to be more relevant than it did on the debut release. "Mothra" sets off at a much faster pace than the opening track, and a lengthier one at that. "Stop Me" tends to drag along, especially given the extended length of the song. Lips seems to be moaning most of the way through rather than singing, but perhaps that is because the track makes you feel that way inclined. "March of the Crabs" is a beauty, an instrumental that is untainted by vocals and travels at a speed that enhances the track. Especially prominent is Robb Reiner's drumming, it is great on this song. the speed is retained into "Jackhammer", which is possibly my favourite song on the album. These tracks are where it is easy to see Anvil gaining a heavy audience.
"Tag Team" soldiers along in its very structured mid range beat. Then comes the surprisingly catchy "Scenery", which channels Dio and Vivian Campbell in its simplistic yet enjoyable riff and melody chain. "Tease Me, Please Me" continues the reverting back a little to the lyrical chaste of the first album, before the bombardment of "666" concludes the album.
As always, it is a difficult thing to try and rate and review an album at a time subsequent to its initial release. I don't mind this album, but I have only heard and owned it in recent years. It will never be one that I love, and to be honest that could well have been the case if I had gotten this on its release, because despite the good tidings it receives from many influential bands since this, to me it is just an average plod through the park. The album begins without any major hooks or anything overly special in the riffs throughout the songs. Lips' vocals are good enough, but the background singers tend to detract from the overall effort rather than enhance it. As with all of Anvil's albums, I think Robb Reiner's drum work is terrific, and the middle section of the album is where its magic lies, with the songs moving along at a faster pace and the guitars and drums doing their best work.

Metal on Metal came along at a time when metal was beginning to find its place in the world market. While this album gives some indication as to why the band was well thought of at that time, it also tends to underline why they perhaps didn't go as far they could possibly have done so. There are moments here that shine, but just not bright enough to make up for those moments that are rather average.

Rating:  Nothin' to say but you said a lot, and in the end that's what you got.  3/5.

782. Witchfinder General / Death Penalty. 1982. 4/5

If you were to only hear the music on this album, you could probably be persuaded that it was from some long lost Black Sabbath songs that have been in a closet for 40 years. A closer listen would then leave you with some doubts, as the guitar isn't perfectly like Tony, and the bass is certainly not as intricate as Geezer. Of course, then you hear the vocals, and you know it isn't Ozzy. Despite all of this, you know where the roots of this music comes from, and it is deep in the heart of 1970's Black Sabbath. So, can the music survive on its own feet, without the obvious comparisons? Initially no, but the more you listen to the album the more it becomes its own entity, and you can judge it on its own merits.

Having only found this album in the past couple of years during a hunt for all music of the period, it is a difficult thing to listen to it with a view to the fact that it is almost 35 years since its release. Albums from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal that I have listen to for 30+ years generally hold a place close to my heart, but they are a known entity both then and now. With an album such as Death Penalty I am coming in very late in the day, and need to be able to put in to perspective the place it came from. In doing so, here is yet another band with an excellent debut album that it is hard to imagine they were unable to go on and make a career - at least a longer career - out of the music industry. They may well have a sound that imitates a certain other band, but they have taken that and managed to create an album around it that does not copy what came before, but honours that by utilising that and moving forward with their own music.
"Invisible Hate" could well be about everything in the band's lives at the time they wrote the song. Lyrically it appears they are getting stuck into record companies, girlfriends and drugs, but really there's a bit too much there to interpret well. The mention of beer towards the end of the song does make me feel better about not knowing though.

I've fought my hate now here comes joy
How I fought it I don't know oh boy
Some say God, some say faith
I say sex, drugs, rock and beer
My my my my my my, my beer

"Free Country" kicks in faster and starts into a drug anthem, no doubt the title of the song proclaiming that they feel you should be able to imbibe whatever it is you feel like. "Death Penalty" chugs along, invoking death for murderers and the such rather than a life in prison. Touchy subject, but one they were not afraid to confront.
"No Stayer" starts off with instrumental piece dominated by the guitar, and just when you think that it is only going to be an instrumental, and fade out, it kicks into the vocals and moves onward. Well played! This is also their 'girl' song, their contribution to the sex part of the music industry. At least lyrically they were trying to cover all the bases when it came to topics that typically bands were writing about, before they moved onto the darker side of things.
The band title track "Witchfinder General" is probably their best known song, and one that I knew well before coming into the album. The guitar riff, playing off against the driving drum beat, keeps the pace of the song going, and the catchy easy singing lyrics and excellent solo break make this song the highlight of the album for me. Then we move into "Burning a Sinner" and "R.I.P." which all move with the same subject matter, as well as musically continuing the excellent blend of guitar, bass and drums in that doom metal gloom that they hold throughout the album.

Overall I really enjoy this album. It is another of those albums that I wish I had found in my teenage years, because it has that chemistry that I really believe I would have loved at that time, and would have taken on board in a big way. I cannot help but feel differently about an album tat I have loved and played to death for 30 odd years, compared to one of the same era that I have only recently discovered and have heard in a different era from that which it was recorded in. I think it would change my rating of it quite a bit. It would be fair to say however, that this album has/had a lot going for it. I especially like "No Stayer" and "Witchfinder General", these are the two songs that showcase to me just how well this band could operate. The remainder of the album is above average as well. Perhaps it is a relic, but it is one well worth visiting, or revisiting.

Rating:  No stayer 'cos it's Saturday night tonight  4/5

Listen to full album here

721. Alice Cooper / Zipper Catches Skin. 1982. 2/5

Alice Cooper fans have a similar aversion to his albums from the first half of the 1980’s as Alice Cooper himself has. And that isn’t to say that they necessarily don’t like them. It’s just that they, on the whole, don’t remember them! And this is consistently the case for Alice himself. He has openly stated that for the three album releases of 1981’s “Special Forces”, 1983’s “DaDa” and this album, 1982’s “Zipper Catches Skin”, he has categorised them as the ‘blackout’ albums, in that he has no recollection of writing or recording them, due to substance abuse, both alcoholic and in particular crack cocaine. That’s a pretty amazing head space to be in, which of course he eventually found a way to quit. And it is fair to say that these albums in particular are in a different sphere from what he had produced through the 1970’s. They were ground breaking, where he climbed on board with the persona he had drafted, and the music that came from this was amazing, and he continued to find top 40 singles in amongst it. So while it has been widely documented about Alice's substance abuse during these years, it also brought about a less than exciting musical output, or at the very least coincided with it. It's a distance away since the glory days of “Killer” and “Billion Dollar Babies” and “Welcome to My Nightmare” and it shows.
In my opinion, where the album probably hits a hurdle is that it sounds as though it is trying to find its way into the new wave genre that was becoming popular in pop music at the time. You can hear it in the music itself, and even in the lyrical aspect of some of the songs here. It’s all very different from what had been produced up until “Lace & Whisky” for instance, with the turning tide beginning to come from the Bernie Taupin penned “From the Inside” album. The Alice schtick is still there, but in trying to stick with the times and manoeuvre through to the popularity of that genre of music, it meant offering up some different songs. This, along with the aforementioned aversion that many people seem to attach to this period of Alice’s career, means that this album along with the others of this vintage are often pawned off without actually diving in to see what they contain.

So, there's a transition going on here, but it is only in its earliest formation. It would be easy to dismiss this album after one or two listens, because there is little real depth to the songs, certainly not like some of Alice’s great early albums. If you can do more than that, and put it on for four or five merry-go-rounds, you'll find that it isn't quite as bad as it initially comes across. "Zorro's Ascent" is not an all-too-bad opening track, certainly not as great as earlier albums but enjoyable enough once you get to know the song itself. "Make That Money (Scrooge's Song)" is also a good song with Alice lampooning the rich. “No Baloney Homosapiens” is Alice’s parable to any aliens out there looking down on us, asking them to accept us and not kill us. There are some songs here where Alice sounds great, because he sounds upbeat and much like his normal self, songs such as "Adaptable (Anything for You)", "Tag, You're It" and "I'm Alive (That Was the Day My Dead Pet Returned to Save My Life)" all show enough of the developing Alice Cooper parody lyrics to keep your interest. Probably, that's the best of it.
The rest is probably what I would label as ‘average’. "I Am the Future" was not written by Alice or any of his current band lineup, and was actually written for the soundtrack of the movie “Class of 1984” - does anyone else remember that movie? With Roddy McDowell and Michael J Fox as a pudgy teenager, and how great it was at the time... and how dreadfully dated it is now? Well, that’s just like this song. A piece of fluff soundtrack song, and no one on it sounds even remotely interested (especially not Alice), and it sounds overtly dated now. But even for the day, this just doesn’t fit the album the way the rest of the songs are written. It sticks out like a sore thumb. "I Better Be Good" does have energy, but it seems to go too far into the parody/comedy angle, and isn't quite cartoonish enough to raise a smile, but then you have “I Like Girls” which perhaps goes too far in the opposite direction and becomes too cartoonish for its own good. At least with “I’m Alive”, the album finishes on a high note.

Anyone with a career as long as Alice Cooper and his band are going to have a couple of duds along the way. For whatever reasons that may exist, whether it be substance abuse or poor writing or no direction, or a combination of all these things thrown into a melting pot, this is only an average album. It isn’t the worst that Alice ever released, and the best way to describe it overall is with that simple phrase - “this isn't terrible, it just isn't very good either”.
To be honest, it is quintessentially Alice Cooper, but perhaps of a later era. The lyrics generally have that humorous Alice twist to them that he perfected later in the 1980’s, and there is plenty in the music itself to catch the attention... but that’s just it. It doesn’t really catch your attention, unless you really listen to this over and over and accept it for what it is rather than what you wish it could be. What it is missing I believe it a really stand out guitar, such as later albums “Constrictor” and “Raise Your Fist and Yell” had. Re-record this with Kane Roberts on guitar, get someone to really hit those drums and get the bass guitar into the mix, and maybe you would really have something!
It took me a very long time to get around to listening to the albums from the late 1970’s to the mid 1980’s, for a couple of reasons. I was happy with the Alice Cooper material I had, and with so much music around me I just didn’t feel the need to seek it out. None of my extended friend group had any of those albums, so the ability to listen to them easily was not available. So, it wasn’t until the days of downloading and file sharing that I finally heard all of these albums, including this one. And it is fair to say that I wasn’t overly enamoured by it, as you can probably get from this episode. They all got their listens and then I moved on. This last three weeks is certainly the most time I’ve put into “Zipper Catches Skin”, and the result has been that I feel there is more merit in this album than I would have rated prior to this listening session began. Alice himself has actually floated the idea of re-recording the three ‘blackout’ albums and give them a more modern feel in updating them. As I mentioned, I can see merit in that. No matter what though, sometimes no matter how you dress it up, a turkey is still a turkey.

666. Iron Maiden / The Number of the Beast. 1982. 5/5

It may well be a little presumptuous to try and rate and review an album that is without doubt one of the most influential heavy metal albums of all time, and also a stand out as one of the finest albums ever released of any genre of music. However, given that I have reached the magical number of 665 album reviews, then it is only fitting that my 666th album review should indeed be Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast.

A number of things fell into place for this album to become such a wonderful item. The introduction of Bruce Dickinson to replace Paul Di'Anno for one. Despite the great work that Di'Anno had done with the band on their first two albums, Bruce brought another dimension of possibilities to Iron Maiden, not only with his dynamic vocal range but his song writing capabilities. Also, with all of the band's previously written material having been exhausted in the recording of the first two albums, it now forced them to write all new material for this release, something that allowed them to stretch themselves with all they had learned in recent years.

"Invaders" is similar in structure to both "Prowler" and "Wrathchild", which were the opening songs on Iron Maiden and Killers respectively. It's a short sharp introduction, punctuated by the rifling Steve Harris bassline and those duelling guitars and machine gun drumming, along with Bruce's first strike on vocals, hitting those notes straight up to make this album immediately stand out from the first two releases. I've never really been sure why this song has been so maligned, even by members of the band itself. I think it is a great introduction into the album, showcasing in a historic way what the band could do well in the same way as the aforementioned two songs. It may not be an epic, as future album openers "Where Eagles Dare" and "Aces High" are, but I still think this is a great song, and more is the pity we haven't heard it in a live setting.
"Invaders" is followed by the amazing "Children of the Damned", a truly moody and magnificent song that is still one of the best this band has produced. This was certainly not a song they could have done with Di'Anno on vocals, it would never have worked. Bruce is truly magnificent here, crooning away at the start under the brooding and melodic guitars. The music almost perfectly reflects and remembers the story it is based on, and the following movie of the same name. The moody feel flows into the lead solo break where the song breaks ranks and returns to the fierce Maiden guitar/drum break that they are renown for, while Bruce returns in full force to conclude the song on an upswing. In recent times Bruce was quoted as saying that Black Sabbath's marvellous "Children of the Sea" also inspired this song, and it can actually be seen and heard in the song and its layout.
"The Prisoner" is an inspired song, derived from the classic British TV series, which begins with a monologue taken from that show, which leads straight into a terrific opening where Clive Burr's drums are featured over the short riffs of the guitars. Great start to the song, which then moves into a running guitar bridge which suits the songs lyrics down to the ground, making you fell as though you are "on the run", before launching into "not a Prisoner, I'm a free man!" The lead break again is just classic Maiden, underpinned by Burr's machine-like drumming. Great song.
Following on from two of my all-time favourite Iron Maiden songs comes a third, the brilliant "22 Acacia Avenue". The single guitar riff to start, with Bruce speaking over the top is just great, before busting into the song itself. An old Adrian Smith song from his Urchin days that was reformatted to become the 'next chapter' in the "Charlotte the Harlot" story, this is again highlighted (I believe) by Clive's brilliant drumming throughout the whole song - listen again and be amazed at its precision and power. The lead break cleverly remind you of the middle of the original "Charlotte the Harlot" before breaking ranks and finishing off the song in style.

The second half of the album (for those who are old enough to have owned this on vinyl of course) contains three of Maiden's best known and most beloved songs.
"The Number of the Beast" is the song that much of bible belt America decided was proof that the band was just a bunch of devil worshipping freaks. In reality of course, it was written by Steve Harris after he had watched that fine film, "Damien: Omen II", which tells the STORY of the devil's child. Anyway, pre-empted by a reading from the Book of Revelation from the New Testament, another of Maiden's memorable guitar intros launches the song, leading up to the anthemic calling of "Six! Six six! The number of the beast!". It is still a great song after all these years. This is followed by the song that almost everyone knows whether they are a metal fan or not. "Run to the Hills" spans the generations and the genres, and broke into mainstream radio back when it was released. This is another song that starts with Clive's rhythmic and precision drumming, a drum beat that drummers all over the world have learned at one stage or another, much in the same way all guitarists learn the riff of "Smoke on the Water". Along with the renown guitar riff, and Bruce's superb leading vocals throughout, but especially in the chorus, this has become the song everyone knows Maiden for, and everyone has had a go at hitting Bruce's heights with "Run to the hills, run FOR your LIFE!".
"Gangland" is the second maligned song on the album, and again I think that is unfortunate. The story goes that, when "Run to the Hills" was being prepared for release as the single before the album, a choice had to be made between "Gangland" and "Total Eclipse" as to which would be the B side of the single, with the other song going onto the album The Number of the Beast. It came to pass that "Total Eclipse" became the B side, though Steve Harris has said since that he thinks the wrong decision was made, and that the songs should have been reversed. I can't say I agree, though maybe because the fact is that "Gangland" IS on the album. I like "Total Eclipse", but I've always though of it as have 'B side qualities'. "Gangland" may well reside in the same laneways as "Quest For Fire" as 'forgotten' Maiden songs, but I still like it and think it holds its own here.
The album concludes with the song most of the band consider one of their best, "Hallowed Be Thy Name". It is an epic, in song structure, lyrically and in performance. It once again, as with so many songs just on this album alone, has a distinctive and unique opening to the song, a natural flow from the subtle to the heavy guitar, a brilliant range in the vocals that only Bruce could bring and an anthemic quality, this time into the conclusion of the song. It has been an enduring classic and one that has rarely been out of the band's live set since this album was released.

It is a difficult task to convey how truly magnificent this album is. Only by listening to it can you hear everything that one tries to explain in words, and fails to do to anyone's satisfaction. There are albums that I would place higher on a list of my all-time favourite albums, but that doesn't take away or detract from the fact that this is one of the best ever produced, and its legacy is heightened by the number of bands that have become huge in the past thirty years that this inspired.

574. Motörhead / Iron Fist. 1982. 3.5/5

It had been a heady five years for Motörhead by the time 1982 rolled around. Four excellent studio albums, each which had grown their fan base with their release, followed by a live album that showcased just what they brought to the stage when they were out on the road. Sometimes it would be easy to rest on your laurels, but the band still had plenty in reserve. Following up two albums such as Ace of Spades and No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith would have been a daunting task for many bands, but Motörhead just take it in their stride and pound out another release full of the songs that make them who they are.

From the beginning of Iron Fist it is undeniably a Motörhead album. The signature “NENG-A-NENG-ANENG, NENG-A-NENG-ANENG” of Lemmy’s bass rifles through the songs, along with the voice of a man who must have sandpaper on his vocal chords – unique and unreproducible. The guitaring and drumming from Motörhead alumni ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke and ‘Philthy’ Phil Taylor is also at its best here. The musicianship of the album is top shelf and once again the production brings out the best in the songs. The difference between the early recording of their debut album and now is actually quite astonishing. Whereas it was punky and distorted on those first recordings, the tracks here are really quite polished but lose none of their power and aggression.
There are songs on this album that for me are as good as anything that Motörhead has written, but there are also a couple of songs that if they aren’t considered as filler material then they are just not very good. The opening title track of “Iron Fist” is a perfect start, strong in music base and lyrically. “Heart of Stone” continues in the same vein with Taylor’s fast paced 2/4 drumming and a great riff from Clarke driving the song. The tongue-in-cheek “I’m the Doctor” still sounds great, and while I like “Go to Hell” it is a bit generic and repetitive musically. “Loser” is much the same, while “Sex & Outrage” and “America” contribute to this middle part of the album which does noticeably affect the flow of the album.
Still, it picks up from here, as “Shut it Down” and “Speedfreak” are just sensational, played at a speed that I believe produces the best material that Motörhead plays. This is followed by the hard fighting “(Don't Let 'em) Grind You Down” and “(Don't Need) Religion” which leave nothing to the imagination. “Bang to Rights” is the perfect closing track to the album, continuing the vibe of the second half of the album with power and pace to the very end.

Iron Fist continues to be one of my favourite Motörhead albums. Though it may not get the accolades of some of their other releases, this still has the ingredients and the personnel to make it stand up against other releases. This was the final album that these three played on together as Motorhead, with Fast Eddie Clarke moving on during the tour following its release. I still fail to see or hear why the band was so disappointed in this album. There are certainly a couple of tracks that could have either been reworked or dropped altogether, but the great moments generally outweigh these dead patches.

Rating: “Words are cheap and talk is free”. 3.5/5

509. Queen / Hot Space. 1982. 3/5

Even though I wasn’t old enough or interested enough in the history and the rolling development of bands through the 1970’s and the early 1980’s, it is pretty easy to trace just how the burgeoning career of Queen moved throughout that period. Their popularity grew with each album, and singles such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” gained plenty of airplay. But it was the single from their album “The Game”, John Deacon’s “Another One Bites the Dust” that outsold them all, and is seen as the reason that the band went down the path that eventually led to “Hot Space”. The popularity of that single, especially in dance clubs and as a dance track, directed much of the writing for the band’s next album after “The Game” and “Flash Gordon”. In many ways, the album just heads in the same direction music around the world was going at that time. The emergence of both disco and new wave following the rise and fall of the punk movement dictated a popularity phase that you can only imagine band front man Freddie Mercury found very much to his liking, and John Deacon’s preference for music that was not as heavy as that preferred by the other members of the band, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May, gave that momentum towards that sound.
In recent years, it has also been postulated that Freddie’s ‘personal manager’ Paul Prenter had been encouraging Freddie every step of the way to go down this path, which helped to convince the singer to move in that direction. Roger Taylor is hilariously quoted as saying “Prenter wanted our music to sound like you'd just walked in a gay bar...and I didn't".
The use and experimentation with new devices though helped to bring that sound to the album as well. There was a greater emphasis on synthesizers, as well using a drum machine for the first time. The style of music is a definite change in direction from the general rock and hard rock that had been their staple, now introducing and concentrating on the disco and dance new wave genre that was so prevalent in that age. I mean, for goodness sake, even Kiss dabbled in it with their “Dynasty” album. So they weren’t on their own in mixing up their sound for this album, but it was at the risk of alienating everything they had done up until this point of their careers.

OK, so let’s get this out of the way from the get go. This is a Queen album, so if you like Queen, then you have a reasonable idea as to what you are walking into. Now, think about Queen, but heading more towards a disco angle than a rock angle. Got it? Well now you have a better idea of what awaits you. It’s quite the eclectic mix of tracks,
“Staying Power” and “Dancer” start the album off with plenty of energy, but it takes some getting used to. “Staying Power” has synth bass played by Freddie rather than John’s bass (he actually plays guitar on the track) and with horns dominating the track with the drum machine. On “Dancer” the bassline is actually just Brian on synth, so it’s quite a change from that rock base the band had utilised on previous albums. “Back Chat” is one of John’s tracks and he plays bass rhythm and synth on it. It has a very R&B sound to it, utilising that groove to manoeuvre its way through the track, before Brian’s solo provides the best part of the song, almost as a retaliation to it. “Body Language” cuts even further back, helmed by a bass synth and Freddie’s vocals and little else. This was released as the second single from the album, and I literally have no idea how it managed to have the reasonable sales that it did... oh wait... there are some gay overtones in the lyrics aren’t there... and the video for it was quite... provocative... so I guess that’s your answer. All of these songs have a sound that to me reminds me of the dancing troupe “Hot Gossip” who appeared on the various Kenny Everett TV shows of the time. Hot Gossip could only have improved them, I feel. “Action this Day” closes out the first side of the album and is very tied to the era, with the drum machine and the saxophone, drawing in those new wave elements.
The second side starts off with Brian’s “Put Out the Fire”, the one song on the album that resembles the band’s earlier work. Great vocals, great beat, great guitar. Yep, still like this song. This is followed by “Life is Real (Song For Lennon)”, written by Freddie and sounds remarkably like a John Lennon song, even the vocal in places is sung to resemble him. A nice touch. “Calling All Girls” is a straight forward rock track that was the fourth single, while “Las Palabris De Amour (The Words of Love)” is a Queen rock ballad that was also released as a single and was regarded much more favourably than the first single. “Cool Cat” has all instruments almost completely performed by John. This is a lounge act song, I can imagine the stage and the piano as the singe on stage croons along. It is about as far away from Queen as I could imagine.
The album concludes with the Queen and David Bowie song “Under Pressure”, a song that doesn’t fit in with the style of this album at all. In fact, it was recorded well before the writing for this album really took place, and it is noticeable. Was it a cynical inclusion here in order to increase the sales of the album, with a song that had already proven popular and would draw people in – or was it always going to be a part of this collection? I don’t know the answer, but it feels more like the first answer than the second.

This review was always going to test me. Just about every band that you love has that one skeleton hiding in the closet, the closet you rarely frequent, and when you do it is with a deal of trepidation. And for me “Hot Space” was definitely that moment in the Queen discography. Because when I first heard the album, I wasn’t even sure it was a Queen album. I’m pretty sure my first reaction to it was that it had to be a joke, a bunch of demos collated together of tracks the band had dabbled with and then rejected for better material. But no, it was the real deal, and it really was released. And even when I went through and eventually bought all of the albums on CD so I had copies of my own, I did think twice or three times as to whether I would buy “Hot Space”, because I just couldn’t imagine when I was ever going to go to my shelves and take it off to put on and listen to it.
That being said, I’ve never enjoyed this album more than I have over the last four weeks. And that would no doubt come from the fact that I listened to it at least once or twice every day at work during that period, the whole album through. In the past when I have listened to it, whether it was at home or at a friends house, it would be on in the background, and I mostly would not have been in the mood for its quirky tones, and probably thinking I should be listening to just about any other Queen album instead. But for this month that has not been the case. I have had it going around on my playlist with up to six other albums, such that it becomes a part of the mix. And it certainly is plain when it comes on because its style is so very different from the other albums I have been listening to at during this time – check out the recent podcast episodes to see what those albums were, and you'll see what I mean.
So I can honestly say that I appreciate “Hot Space” a lot more now than I did up until a month ago. Which does prove why I do this podcast and that for some albums it has the desired effect. Does that mean it will come back off the shelf again any time soon? Well... perhaps for its 50th anniversary...