1267. Yngwie Malmsteen / Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad. 1989. 5/5

Yngwie Malmsteen, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, or Yngwie J. Malmsten’s Rising Force, or any of the other names that Yngwie has released his albums under over the last 40 years, had been on a hot steak from the time that their eponymous guitar prodigy had moved on from stints in bands such as Steeler and Alcatrazz and struck out on his own with his own band in tow. After three amazing albums in “Rising Force”, “Marching Out” and “Trilogy”, he had teamed up with lead vocalist Joe Lynn Turner to produce the “Odyssey” album, one where the band gained their first charted single, and continued with rising album sales across the world. So, what comes next after you see a constant rise in popularity? Well, you go out and record a live album, don’t you? To showcase how good your band sounds on stage, and hopefully also bring in more fans to your music and have them consider buying tickets to your concerts as well.
The album was recorded during the band’s gigs in Leningrad in the old Soviet Union in February 1989 and features arguably the band’s best line up showcasing material from arguably the band’s best four albums. Over the years it has been noted often that Yngwie was a difficult person to work with, always looking for perfection, but with an ego that would also be difficult to work with. During the tour for the “Odyssey” album, on which this live album was recorded, there were reported differences of opinion between Malmsteen and Turner, both of whom felt they were the person to take centre stage. Turner should have been familiar with this given his time in Rainbow alongside Ritchie Blackmore, who was Malmsteen’s idol and another ego centric character. Despite these perceived differences, this album contains performances that do indeed showcase the best of what the Rising Force band were able to produce at that time, and as such is a terrific live album to listen to.

The album has 11 tracks to it, which offers you a taste of each piece of the Yngwie Malmsteen puzzle. The songs of the album that the band is touring on to promote are heavily featured, with “Deja Vu”, “Heaven Tonight”, “Dreaming (Tell Me)” and “Crystal Ball”, all of which are fantastic. Joe Lynn Turner gives a great vocal performance on them. The album also has some chosen tracks from the earlier albums, such as “Liar” and “Queen in Love” from “Trilogy”, and “You Don’t Remember, I’ll Never Forget” from the “Marching Out” album. The strangest choice here is the cover of the Jimi Hendrix Experience song “Spanish Castle Magic”. Sure, it is another opportunity for Yngwie to shred his way through a song by a fellow iconic guitarist, but with so much material of his own on offer to put out there to satisfy his fans, he chose to play this instead.
Then we have the instrumental, guitar riffing laden tracks that Yngwie has made his own. Two of these from the first album, “Far Beyond the Sun” and “Black Star”, are the songs that truly brought him to prominence, songs without vocals that are still just as amazing to listen to today as they were when they were released, and these live versions of the tracks are no different. Yngwie’s guitar solo spot in the middle of the set contains pieces of different various classical suites and stretches to over ten minutes. These three instrumental tracks take up a little over 25 minutes of the 65 minute album. And yes, they are important because they showcase who Yngwie Malmsteen is and what he can do. So, bravo for that. BUT... possibly, could it have been better if they had put some more actual songs onto the album to help maintain that side of the album? The video released with the same name as this album contained three further tracks, which would have added to this album immensely. “Rising Force”, “Fury” and “Riot in the Dungeons” are all terrific songs and while they were no doubt edited out to keep this as a single album and not a double, it is a shame not to have them. It is worth watching the video not only for these songs, but to see Yngwie capture the camera and the stage with his guitaring. It is something to behold.

Yngwie Malmsteen has been a part of my music life since very early on in my heavy metal existence. My heavy metal music dealer was very kind in furnishing me with those first three albums when they were released, and “Odyssey” is one that was purchased very close to its day of release. I am fairly certain that I actually saw the video of this concert before I got the album, once again with that same old metal dealer inviting me over to watch it one day. Jason Kearin certainly has a lot to answer for, or more precisely to be thanked for.
The video and album of this live release are both terrific, and had a lot of airplay back at the time of its release. At that point in time Yngwie had not toured Australia, so this was what we had to imagine just what it would be like to see him play live. And this band was terrific. The brothers Johanssen, with Anders on drums and Jens on keyboards, along with Barry Dunaway on bass guitar, do an admirable job of backing up the two stars of the show without trying to outshine them (though on the video Jens does look like he would prefer to be more in the action). Joe Lynn Turner croons and emotes through the whole set list in his inimitable style, while Yngwie himself takes the centre stage and holds it throughout.
I’ve been listening to this album again for this podcast episode, and it has been enjoyable, but I have different feelings about it now than I remember doing when it was first released. Back then I know I loved it, and spent weeks and months playing it over and over. And it is still a good album. But, unlike a lot of live albums, I found my interest waning quickly when I’ve had it on this time around. And for me now, the excess of the instrumental tracks, the Jimi Hendrix cover, all of that is a bit much. They are great, especially “Black Star” and “Far Beyond the Sun”, but if they had removed the other two and hit me with those three songs that are on the video, I would be enjoying this a hell of a lot more at this point of life that I am. Now it is an album that I could have listened to a couple of times, and been happy to stop there. But, because I am dedicated to this podcast and the episodes I produce, that just wouldn’t have been good enough. And so you have my more accurate position on this album 35 years on from its release. It sounds good, and it is more than worth a listen. But then, go back to the actual studio albums. They will retain your interest far longer than this.
When the tour concluded, the band imploded, and everyone moved on to other projects. Yngwie brough in new band members and continued on, including a tour of Australia following the next studio album. But that story must wait for another episode.

1266. Ace Frehley / Trouble Walkin'. 1989. 3.5/5

Best known as the original lead guitarist of Kiss, Ace Frehley had struck out by himself after he had left the band in the early 1980’s, looking to burn a trail of his own. He had eventually formed the band called Frehley’s Comet, which released two albums, the self titled “Frehley’s Comet” in 1987 and “Second Sighting” in 1988, both of which were backed up by tours supporting bands such as Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden. Despite the initial excellent reaction to the band and first album, their fortunes declined quickly, to the point that Frehley decided on a reset to hopefully be able to stage a revival. He dropped the band name, and decided to go back to just playing under his own name. Also at this time, guitarist and vocalist Tod Howarth left the band and was replaced by Richie Scarlett who already had a history playing with Ace. John Regan remained on bass guitar and synths, while Anton Fig, who was a regular with Ace albums as well as contributing to Kiss albums, was again on drums. Eddie Kramer, who also had a history with both Ace and Kiss, was back as producer, with Ace and John leaning over his shoulder.
The album came at an interesting time, and featured some interesting guests as well as choices in songs. Former band mate Peter Criss came on board to lend supporting vocals to four songs on the album, and rekindled a friendship. It also has three members of the band Skid Row lending their vocal support, in Seb Bach, Dave Sabo and Rachel Bolan, all of whom were huge Kiss fans, and needed little convincing to come on board. And with Ace taking over as (almost) full time lead vocalist as well as guitar, the new album not only had the solid backbone of the band as a whole, but with Ace being more front and centre, it truly felt like it was HIS solo album, and the chance to truly show his best side on an album that he called “Trouble Walkin’”

The album has a lot of different writing combinations, which on occasion can make for an album that is fluid, that the style of songs written don’t seemto fit together to make a cohesive album. But here on “Trouble Walkin’” that doesn’t appear to be an issue. Each song concludes and the entry point to the next track is smooth as silk.
“Shot Full of Rock” comes out of the gates like a bull at a red rag, charging along with a... shot full of energy, and featuring a great guitar riff and then trading solo break from Ace and Richie Scarlett, who co-wrote the track. The full backing vocals through the chorus help to make an energised opening song that kicks off the album in style. This is followed by “Do Ya”, the Jeff Lynne composed song that was a hit for his bands The Move and then Electric Light Orchestra. It also became the only single released from this album, for me a really strange choice in that regard. Ace is not adverse to doing cover songs, and this is a reasonable rendition of the song, though the opportunity from Ace to make it his own with a stunning hard riffing solo was not taken. I think it would have made it better. “Five Card Stud” is the follow up, composed by Ace and Marc Ferrari, and this is again a harder rocking track immediately with the best attributes wired into the song. The drums and guitar riff really heavy this song up together, and Ace is absolutely crushing his vocals on this song. Just like the opening track, this is full of energy throughout and delivers exactly what the album opening has promised it would do. The opening stanza to the album does everything right in dragging you in and getting you entranced to this point in time.
“Hide Your Heart” is an interesting song choice, given its history. Originally written by Paul Stanley and Desmond Child along with Holly Knight, it was written during the sessions for the “Crazy Nights” album and was eventually passed over for inclusion. It was then offered around to other artists, of which there were many. Bonnie Tyler released her version in 1988, and from there it popped up on several other artists albums – including Ace’s version here, and amazingly enough Kiss’s own version on “Hot in the Shade”, released a few days after this. Did Ace and his cohorts decide to show up his former band, and do a version that put them in their place? I actually don’t know the story behind how it turned up here, but I can tell you that it is without doubt the best version of this song out there. They play the harder edge of the track, with gang vocals supporting Ace in all the right places of the song. I love the song and especially this version, which like “Do Ya” is only missing a real Ace burst on guitar to make it really special. It’s the only trick he missed on this version of the song. “Lost in Limbo” is the second Ace/Richie collaboration and closes out side one of the album in pleasing style.
The title track “Trouble Walkin’” opens side two of the album, written by outside writers, and it sounds like it, mainly because it is a different style of song than has come from the opening side of the album. It’s a more stylised rock song, again with a gang vocals chorus and while it has some great guitar riffing through the middle it feels like a more commercialised rock sound than what has come before it. This doesn’t detract from it being a very good song, it’s just a tad different. This is then followed by the third Ace/Richie composition “2 Young 2 Die”, which is the only track on the album not sung by Ace, instead it is Richie who takes on the lead vocals. And he does a great job too, injecting his own enthusiasm in his vocals, and the trade off guitars again in the middle of the track are worth the wait. Richie does a great job on lead vocals here, on a song where Ace may have not done as good a job. “Back to School” sees the return of Ace on vocals, a song that screams mid-80's hair metal, supported by the screams of Seb Bach in the background throughout. Like “Trouble Walkin’” but in a different way, this song doesn’t quite fit the profile of the first side of the album. It’s a different style of track that is fine as it is but feels as though it is outside of the puzzle. And in a way is what leads the end of this album in that different direction. Because the next track “Remember Me” follows its own path again, away from the set up that had been created at the front of the album. It’s a blues backed song that, given the heavier way the album started, seems like strange way for the album to divert to as we approach its conclusion. The musicianship is great, but the song itself for me was a choice that doesn’t meld with the album. Indeed, a word I could use at this point is fractured, and that is the title of the concluding track of the album, the instrumental “Fractured III”, which follows the original instrumental “Fractured Mirror” that closed out Ace’s 1978 solo album, and the closing instrumental “Fractured Too” from the Frehley’s Comet” album. At almost seven minutes it is the longest song of the album, but it is totally worth it. It’s an Ace masterpiece, a song that I never get tired of listening to. This redeems any slight misgivings that a couple of songs may have brought on, and draws the curtain over a terrific album.

I remember my love of Kiss had grown to ample proportions by 1989, mainly on the back of the “Crazy Nights” album, because I remember vividly when this album came out, and the new Kiss album “Hot in the Shade” a few days later. In those days however, there was no way I could consider affording to buy multiple albums at the same time, and so it became a decision as to which album I was going to get. It ended up being the Kiss album, and instead I would look longingly at this album in the racks whenever I was able to check out my local record stores. In the end, it would be almost two years before I got a copy of this album, on my first trip to Bali, where I purchased this (and about fifty other albums) on cassette. The fact that I bought so many other cassettes on that trip made it difficult for them all to get a fair listen, but this album was one of them. For me at that time, it hit the sweet spot. It balanced out the thrash metal I was still very much into with the more commercial bent of the hair and glam metal I was also interested in, along with the growing influence of grunge. And for me that is the real brilliance of this album. It’s a hard rock album that utilises the best aspects of everything Ace emphasised in his previous band and sifted out the chaff to keep what worked for him at this stage of his career. It was released at a really good time for that, and even though I didn’t really discover it until two years later, it mattered not one iota in translation.
I have had this on my playlist for nearly a month now, and as the other albums get whittled away as I complete the episode reviews on them for this podcast, this became a go-to. It has been years since I listened to this album, but over the last little period of time, when I’m deciding what album to put on in the car, or at home in the Metal cavern, this album has been the one that has invariably gotten another listen. I would say over this period I have listened to “Trouble Walkin’” about 30 times, and I’m not tired of it yet. In fact, I keep getting more enthused about listening to it again. Why should this be the case? Is it nostalgia? Is it making me feel 19/21 again? Maybe a little. Ace released an album this year, “10,000 Volts”, which was okay, but it pales into almost insignificance compared to this album. These are fun songs, with lyrics that are fun to sing along to while the album plays. I think it is still a great album, easy to listen to. For me, this is a better album than the Kiss release of the same week, even though it significantly outsold and outperformed this album on the charts.
For me, this is Ace’s best album away from Kiss. His band is great, his guitaring is great, and his vocals are at their peak on this release. And surely the fans reaction to this song in particular would have warmed his heart.

1265. Deep Purple / Total Abandon: Australia '99. 1999. 5/5

Deep Purple’s relationship with Australia has waxed and waned over the years. In the early 1970’s they made some memorable trips down under, one resulting in wild crowd scenes on the stage and heated arguments with other bands, famously with a young brash AC/DC. There was then a long period where the band was on hiatus, before their highly publicised reformation in 1984 of the Mark II lineup, which resulted in the hit album “Perfect Strangers”. To kick off the world tour to promote their coming back together and their new album, the band started in Australia, where they met with the acclaim that the returning heroes would have wanted. And then... they disappeared again, once again forgoing the southern nation as they continued to fight amongst each other and tour the territories that were close to their residencies.
The band went through their changes, and eventually jettisoned Ritchie Blackmore as guitarist and chief instigator, completing the final sessions of the Mark II lineup. In his place came Steve Morse, and the more settled band then moved forward, rebuilding itself with the mid-1990's albums “Purpendicular” and “Abandon”. And as the decade and millennium began to wind down, the band decided to once again tour the shores of Australia for the first time in 15 years. And much excitement ensued, especially from those of us who had waited a lifetime to see the band live.
Now Deep Purple had not been reticent when it came to releasing live albums, something that continued well into the next decade. And now, for Australian audiences, they decided to record their show in Melbourne on April 20th, 1999, and then six months later they released a live DVD and a double live album of the entire show performed on that night. And what was even more amazing at that time was that it was ONLY released in Australia, so for a short space of time, only Australians were able to listen to and purchase this album. Eventually it was opened up to mail orders, and as with all things, it was eventually released worldwide. But if you are from Australia, and you bought the album when it was released, then like me you have one of the rare original release copies of this album. Which, I won’t deny, is a little special.

By the time Deep Purple came around to this tour, they had locked into their new style, one which they had been slowly morphing into even before Blackmore had left the band. They were no longer spring chickens, but they knew what their fans wanted to see. Ian Gillan had become the cool version of himself, Roger Glover continued to groove away on his bass guitar, Ian Paice could still play his way around his drumkit, Jon Lord didn’t almost tip his Hammond organ over anymore, but he was still playing it as hard as ever. And new boy Steve Morse showcased his wares without the over-the-top flair and pomposity that Blackmore had, but with a smile and a laugh and a whole lot of skill and talent. The overt energy and antics may have gone, but this band still knew how to give it all on stage to give the songs they played the majesty that they deserved.
And this meant no loss or lack of skill and expertise. Ian Gillan introduces every song in his inimitable style, and he could still hit those high notes at this stage, as is showcased here during the last verse of “Bloodsucker” in particular. The setlist contained a mix of the band’s newer tracks alongside the great old songs that they will always have to play. Showcasing their newer material in this setlist were songs such as “Ted the Mechanic”, “Almost Human”, “Watching the Sky” and “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming”. Each of them sound terrific here, especially “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming”, a modern day classic that provides the perfect example of where the band was heading with its newer music, a more contemporary sound but still with the ability to create a heavier sound when required but also be able to ride the emotions of the track. The live version here is superb.
Mixed in with this are the great songs of the band, the majority from that Mark II era, both pre and post reunion. “Bloodsucker”, “Strange Kind of Woman”, “Woman From Tokyo” and “Fireball”, alongside “Black Night” and “Speed King’ still all packed an enormous punch, and glow and sparkle in the live setting. “Perfect Strangers” with that wonderous Hammond organ opening from Jon Lord is still magnificent, and then the “Machine Head” specials such as “Pictures of Home”, one of the most underrated songs of their career, the awesome “Highway Star” which closes out the gig, and of course “Smoke on the Water”, which has an introduction guitar piece from Steve Morse where he also plays some of the great guitar riffs of all time as a part of his solo piece on stage. Overall, the set list and thus this album gives a great mixture of the old and the new from that time, and is a terrific snapshot of this line up and what they had to offer on stage.

My friends and I had waited pretty much from the time Deep Purple had toured Australia in 1984 for the time they would tour again. We missed that tour by a couple of years when it comes to listening to the band and also being old enough to find our way to a gig, so we patiently waited (well, not really) for their next tour. And waited. And waited. So when they finally made it to our shores, we were there lining up for tickets. We ended up seeing them in Sydney the night after this CD concert was recorded, so I can confirm that it is faithful to what the band played on that tour. And the best part of that was that the next day the band put up a secret show for sale, that was played at a much smaller and more intimate venue called Selina’s out at Bondi, for four days later on April 25th, Anzac Day in Australia. Fortunately, one of my best mates worked around the corner from a Ticketek office, and having sweet talked the girl at the front counter, he went in the following morning and was allowed in a couple of minutes early , and was able to purchase tickets for this gig precisely at 9.00am when they went on sale.
Perhaps the best part of that was that another of our best mates, my brother-in-law, had not been able to see Deep Purple at that first gig, and so we were able to get him the chance to see them. We DID make it a surprise, telling him that we were taking him to see the support band from Deep Purple, and not Deep Purple themselves. He finally clued in when we lined up to go in (after many schooners in the bar beforehand) and saw posters advertising Deep Purple playing there that night. And it was amazing, standing so close to these legendary musicians as they played all the hits all over again. The other memory of this concert and our best mates group was my heavy metal music dealer constantly asking when we were going to get some songs off “Burn” and “Stormbringer” and “Slaves and Masters”. Surprisingly enough, Ian Gillan was not forthcoming with any of them.
So yes, this double CD of the entire Melbourne concert of April 1999is a terrific listen. It mightn’t have the fire and power of “Made in Japan” for instance, but it has great tracks performed brilliantly by one of the great bands that has ever walked the earth. I’ve had it on again while composing this episode, and it brought back great memories again, as it always does. Whatever you may feel about the material the band produced in the second half of its career, I think you’ll find something worth listening to on this album.

1264. McAuley Schenker Group / Save Yourself. 1989. 3.5/5

The fact that Michael Schenker, whose ego rides as high as most of those legendary guitarists of the 1970’s and 1980’s, found himself so comfortable with the partnership that he was beginning to forge with vocalist and songwriter Robin McAuley when they first began working together in 1986, that he insisted that they change the name of the band from the MICHAEL Schenker Group to the MCAULEY Schenker Group, retaining the initials and therefore logo of the band in the process, shows just how confident he was that the pairing was going to work. Their initial album under this banner, 1987’s “Perfect Timing”, had done better than expected in sales, but also showed exactly the direction this new formation of the band was heading. Not only did they produce a more commercial direction, one with an obvious bent for cracking the US radio market, and also skewing their music towards the hair metal genre rather than the hard rock heavy metal based sound that Schenker had come from with his earlier albums in the 1980’s, but this also had another guitarist in the band, Mitch Perry, who also played lead solos in two songs, and almost had one of the great guitarists of the age playing mostly rhythm guitar in his wake! It was all a little strange, despite the fact that I enjoy the album immensely and still do to this day.
Put all of this together, and going into their second album it felt as though little had changed. The band was still looking for that major breakthrough. The album had made the US top 100, and the single “Gimme Your Love” had reached as high as #40 on the singles charts, which meant more of the same from MSG in order to make a real breakthrough. That meant a mix of songs again, along with the true commercial singles tracks which they hoped would provide them with the success they were striving for. What that meant for the fans of Schenker’s early work however was open to question.

The album opens up with the title track “Save Yourself”, and immediately lets you know exactly what direction the music on this sophomore album is aiming for. Because this does end up being the hardest of the hard rock songs available on this album. It has a great sound to it, great riffing from Schenker himself and vocals from McAuley, but there is already that commercial feel about the track. “Bad Boys” follows in a similar direction, up beat musically and catchy lyrically, looking to retain the faithful with atypical hard rock tracks and nice riffing from Schenker himself.
“Anytime” is the full-blown radio attention seeking missile directly written in order to find a way to crack the commercial market. It’s a rock ballad, in the mould of Kiss and Whitesnake looking to gain as much radio airplay as possible, and no it isn’t horrible, but it is certainly skip worthy. Michael Schenker had flirted with this direction since he joined with Robin in their partnership, and this was what they were hoping for, a hard rock-based album with enough moments for Schenker to show he could still shred when he wanted to, but with an agenda to find that marketplace breakthrough with a song like this. Individual tastes will dictate how much you enjoy it. Add this alongside “This is My Heart”, the third single released from the album, is a more hard rock version of a similar style, but Robin’s vocals hold the soft rock ballad style even while Schenker tries to riff hard during the middle of the track. There’s a little each way when it comes to this song, trying to please both sides of the argument.
“Get Down to Bizness” comes after “Anytime” and returns the album to a pace that is far more enjoyable to Schenker’s main fan base, The songs themselves may not be as superbly energetic as on the earlier albums, but they still have a catchiness about them. “Shadow of the Night” offers a chanting, somewhat anthemic feel to the track, with a chorus and lyrics designed to be sung loud and proud, in that midtempo range that was beginning to creep into music at the time. The chorused vocals help to encourage that singalong theme of the song as well. The same is true of songs like “What We Need” and “I Am Your Radio”, energised with the chorus and multiple support singers for Robin who call for a gang vocal like call to arms.
The instrumental short take of “There Has to Be Another Way” allows Schenker to showcase his skills, but at a little under two minutes in length, it almost feels like it is something tacked on at the last minute, rather than one of his great instrumental songs from the past such as “Into the Arena” and “Captain Nemo”. Those are terrific tracks that stand on their own. This does not. Following “This is My Heart” we have “Destiny” which is a little bit like a join the dots colour by numbers hard rock track, based around Robin’s vocals than anything musically that stands out and makes itself noticed. The album closer is “Take Me Back” which is pretty much a similar situation, finishing off an album that does what it always proclaimed it wanted to do.

Those who have been with this podcast from the beginning will know of my love of Michael Schenker as a guitarist in the many different bands he has been in over his career. The Michael Schenker Group was a band that helped me get through my doomed university days in the late 1980’s, and I have always enjoyed those albums and UFO’s albums.
I bought this album on its release, on vinyl back in those days, a copy that was sadly eventually lost in the new house flood of 2001. But it got some plays for some time before that occurred. As I’ve mentioned, I loved “Perfect Timing” on its release, and so I went into this album hoping for something similar, or even better, perhaps a bit heavier with more influence from Schenker himself. And what I got... was not that. I got an album that, as has already been well covered, was looking for a commercial success, and as such was written and performed that way. So, while I enjoyed it when I first got the album, over time it began to wane in excitement for me. It began to feel very samey, like the songs were more or less running into each other without much to discern each from the other. And so eventually the vinyl went back onto the shelves, and there it sat, only finding itself moved over the next decade on the eight or so times I moved house during that time, until its eventual demise in the flooding of that final house. In the two decades since, I have attained a digital copy of the album and on the very rare occasion it has come out for a listen. And now for the last three weeks it has been in my rotation, and there is no doubt that I have listened to it more over that time than I have in the previous 30 years. And what I have discovered is that nothing much has changed. I have enjoyed the album overall, though I did eventually get to the point where there were three songs that I had to skip to continue to listen. And thus, it is to a certain person’s taste. Those that find this boring or unlistenable, I do understand. Like I said, for me the album is fine, but there is a very big chance that it will be a long time before I choose to listen to it again now that this podcast episode is finished. There are a lot of better options out there to try.

1263. Various Artists / Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath. 1994. 5/5

Cover albums and tribute albums have been around for a while, and have been done in different ways, but when it comes to the true start of the GREAT tribute albums, then I think this release marks that occasion. Firstly, it’s Black Sabbath, and by the time 1994 rolled around, it had been 15 years since Ozzy Osbourne had left the band, and in many people’s eyes was the true demise of Black Sabbath the band, or at the very least the greatest era of the band. And that era was so influential to so many bands that had then gone on to bigger and better things over that 15 year period. It contains so many great guitar riffs, so many awesome bass lines, so many amazing drum fills and so many brilliant vocals. Secondly, those bands that had been influenced by Black Sabbath were coming into their own at this time, and so it was a good opportunity for them to be involved i this kind of project. And thirdly, given the time this album was released, and the constant drama that the then current lineup of Black Sabbath was going through, it was a great time to remind everyone of the great songs that the band had written and performed in their heyday.
The compilers of the album had a difficult task ahead of them with this project. Firstly, they had decided that the songs to be covered on this album would only come from that era of Sabbath from 1970-1978, the Butler-Iommi Osbourne-Ward era of the band. This was a canny move, ensuring there was no comparison across the board of that era of the band with the ones that followed with the various members and different vocalists in particular. Then they had to choose the bands who would participate in the project, and that could not have been an easy thing. A couple of the tracks that appear here had already been released by the bands who did them on their own albums, but most were brand spanking new versions of some excellent songs. And it is interesting to note, because often, cover versions cannot match the originals when it comes to their gloriousness. But there are several tracks here on this album that truly match the awesomeness of the originals...and perhaps... almost surpass them...

There are 12 tracks on this album, and for me they are all terrific. But there are some bands and artists that seem like a strange choice to be a part of this compilation. Some I think were brought in to make this album attractive to fans who didn’t really know some of the bands involved in the hope they would buy this album, and other choices also seem unusual.
For instance, the choice of Faith No More to perform “War Pigs” is a great move, given the studio version of this song that appears as a bonus CD track on their breakthrough album “The Real Thing” from 1989. It is a brilliant version of the song and very worthy of this album. But the version on here is the live version that came off their live album “Live at Brixton Academy”, and while it is good, Mike Patton’s vocals are not as terrific, mainly because he had an aversion to the song and did not enjoy performing the song live every night, and thus made a point of changing the lyrics when they did. So good but could have been far better. Then there is “Iron Man”, which is performed by the band Therapy? but with a guest vocalist... being... Ozzy Osbourne! Now, we know Ozzy hadn’t been in Black Sabbath for 15 years, but why invite back the original vocalist of the band that you are covering, to get him to cover his own song? It has always seemed like a strange decision, obviously made to get Ozzy fans in to buy the album. But what a shame not to have had Therapy? do the song and let Andy Cairns sing it! To me, that would have been just as good if not better. The version is excellent, but just sounds generic because Ozzy is singing it. Strange. And, in that same ballpark, comes the ‘supergroup’ that was brought together only for this project, the Bullring Brummies. Now for this group, Rob Halford is the vocalist, who had filled in a couple of times for the band in recent years, and his love of the songs is well known, so having him involved is great, and he sings “The Wizard” wonderfully well. But was there a need to bring in Geezer Butler and Bill Ward to play on this as well? Again, like Ozzy, brought in to cover their own work? It seems ludicrous, no matter how good it sounds, and again could only have been to draw people into buying the album. And while I understand that Ugly Kid Joe were popular at the time and on a roll, would there not have been better options out there to cover “N.I.B.”? It's a good version, but a bigger heavier version of this amazing heavy song may have worked better.
What else have we got? We have a really good version of “Paranoid” by Megadeth. Professional, clinical, everything that you would expect from this band at this time. They received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance for this song. I would love to have heard them cover something that required a bit more technical playing than “Paranoid”. 1000 Homo DJs version of “Supernaut” was released by the band as a 12” single in 1990, and Al Jourgenson from Ministry really fires up this version of the track. White Zombie do a perfectly wonderful White Zombie version of “Children of the Grave”, which probably waters down the original's heaviness across the board but overall makes for an entertaining version of the song. And Peter Steele and Type O Negative perform an amazing version of the song “Black Sabbath”, that retains the doominess of the original track while adding their own stamp to this version. It is a truly original take on the song and well worth the 7 minutes plus of the length.
The album opener is one of the best versions on this album, with Biohazard absolutely crushing their version of the brilliant “After Forever”, adding a fire and brimstone to the track that has it sitting on a pedestal right next to the original for sheer brilliance. Corrosion of Conformity add their unique take to “Lord of This World”, and Godspeed’s excellent depiction of “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” is helped along by the appearance of another guest vocalist in Bruce Dickinson, currently on hiatus from Iron Maiden and doing his own solo gig. And the final song here is the killer, the one most people keep coming back for because of the way the band melds itself to their version of this song, and take one of the heaviest riffs ever written, and channel that through the whole song. Sepultura’s version of “Symptom of the Universe” is something to behold.

In a period when buying music – or anything for that matter – was not an easy thing to do given my circumstances at the time, this album was still one I purchased on a whim on a visit to Utopia Records not long after its release. It had all the usual banners around it proclaiming all of the artists involved and that it just HAD to be good. So I took it home and put it on... and Utopia was right. It was amazing, right from the opening 30 seconds through to the final 30 seconds. And I got so much from it, because at the point in time that I bought the album, I still hadn’t heard bands such as Therapy? And Type O Negative, who within 12 months were to be enormous influences in my life. I hadn't heard any Biohazard. And then there were the artists I knew, whose songs here are so perfect. Bruce Dickinson, Faith No More, Megadeth, Sepultura.
Not only was it eye opening – or ear opening if you prefer – for hearing these bands, but the versions of some of these tracks are amazing. Honestly, “After Forever” and “Black Sabbath” and “Symptom of the Universe” are just sensational versions here, because the bands utilised their own music style in performing them, and that’s important when it comes to cover versions of songs. You can do a note for note retelling of the song, much like Megadeth do here, and it will sound great. But the versions that will grab your attention need to have a piece of the band attached to them to make it memorable. Not all will be great versions, of course. But these ones here certainly are.
I have spent the last three weeks listening to this album over and over again and enjoying it as much as I ever did. And like I mentioned at the top of the episode, to me this was the template that was set for future tribute albums. It showed the way to go, to make a successful album of this type. Great musicians and bands, creating great versions of songs of the artist or band you want to create a tribute to. And in the long run, with most tribute albums, you will eventually get tired of the new versions, and just want to go back to the original versions created by the band and listen to them again, because they will always be the best. And that is true here, except I have never gotten sick of listening to this album. It is a gem and sit on the top of the pile when it comes to tribute albums. Perhaps it is the reverence that Black Sabbath is held in that created this album, or that the songs were so perfectly crafted by this band that covering them becomes another work of art. No matter what the reason, this album is worth checking out, for any number of superb tracks.

1262. Gary Moore / We Want Moore! 1984. 4/5

Even though he had been a mainstay in several bands through the previous decade and longer, Gary Moore’s expansion into a solo career had arguably been his best move over that time. Having said that, there was a very haphazard way that he went about recording and releasing albums. Some albums were recorded and then shelved for several years, others were only released in Japan, and didn’t find a wider release until some years later. He would record an album, and then not release it and instead join another group and record and tour with them. He would juggle roles in bands such as G-Force and Thin Lizzy with his own work, and sometimes that could get confusing.
In 1984, Moore was touring on the back of his most recent album, “Victims of the Future”, and during this tour the decision was made to record some shows with an eye to releasing a live album. It was an interesting decision, because when this album was finally released, it was the third Gary Moore live album that had been released in an 18 month period, but again with that strange quirk of organisation. The first had been “Rockin’ Every Night – Live in Japan” in May 1983, but it was only released in Japan. It didn’t get that wider release in Europe until 1986, which was when I came across it. So although it was his first live release, the audience was very narrow until three years later. This was followed by “Live at the Marquee” which was released in September 1983, but this concert had been recorded in November 1980, and so was already three years old when it came to be released. And now we had a third live album being recorded and released, but in many ways it was his first live album, released on the back of the album he was touring on at the time, and with the best of the songs that he had recorded to that point of his career. And as a means of showing the world just how good he and his supporting band was at this time, “We Want Moore!” is a pretty good way of doing it.

“We Want Moore!” contains ten tracks, recorded at four different concerts from around the world in 1984. The venues included Detroit, Tokyo, Glasgow and Hammersmith, and the songs are spread over four different Gary Moore albums, including their most recent one at the time, “Victims of the Future”, along with “Corridors of Power” and “Back on the Streets” and “G-Force”. All of the songs live versions here are superb, and are completely faithful to the studio versions. And not only is Gary’s guitar as brilliant to listen to as always, but his vocals are also sublime. And that’s one of the things that is sometimes looked over when it comes to Gary Moore’s career, the fact that his vocals are so terrific. It seems strange that on certain albums, in particular the “Run for Cover” album, that he utilised different vocalists on some tracks.
He is also joined on this live album by the talented and versality Neil Carter, who would be a mainstay in his band through his hard rock career in particular. As a musician who would switch from keyboards to rhythm guitar and back when necessary during live shows, as well as lending his excellent vocals to back up Moore’s own singing, Carter was a major contributor to Gary Moore’s live show and albums, and he is excellent here in every role. Craig Gruber, who was best known for being in Elf and playing on the first Rainbow album, contributes bass guitar here and is also excellent, while the incomparable Ian Paice is on drums.
The song selection overall is very good. Opening up with the terrific “Murder in the Skies”, the album is off to a great start. Written about the plane shot down by the USSR over South Korea in the early 1980’s the song still packs a punch lyrically and musically. This is followed by “Shapes of Things” which is a cover of The Yardbirds song that Gary covered on the “Victims of the Future” album. Gary has covered the odd song through his career, and generally performs his version better than the original, and that is certainly the case here. To complete the album trilogy, they then play the title track to that album, another classic from Moore’s career that sounds much bigger here in the live setting than the studio version. Then comes the duo of songs from “Corridors of Power”, “Cold Hearted” and “End of the World”, which then jumps into the excellent and faster pace of “Back on the Streets”, one of his breakthrough early hits that is still as good today as when it was first released. The middle of the album then brings out Gary’s power ballad tracks, firstly with the instrumental “So Far Away” which segues into “Empty Rooms”, performed as well as always. After this mellow break, the album concludes in a rollicking style, firstly with “Don’t Take Me for a Loser” and then finishing off with “Rocking and Rolling” in blistering style.

From the first time I saw and heard Gary Moore playing the song “Wishing Well” in a live clip on late night Rage on ABCTV back in 1986, I was a fan. Loved his guitar, loved his vocals, loved the song. From there it was get as much Gary Moore in my life as I could. Perhaps surprisingly then, this album was not one I got until many years later. I had the “Live in Japan” album very early on, and this was my go to live album for years, and this one didn’t seem to be widely available in any of the music shops that I frequented in the 1980’s, and once the 1990’s came and Moore headed off to the blues sunset, most of his rock albums became even more scarce. So it wasn’t until after his death that I actually discovered a copy of this album and began to listen to it. My heavy metal music dealer back in the late 1980’s had the VHS of a Gary Moore live concert that had several versions of these songs on it so I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with it, but it was nice to finally have my own copy. I do have a quirk with live albums, in that I do prefer to have a whole concert from one night at one venue, but if they are complied well then it doesn’t make any difference, and that is certainly the case here. All the songs merge together nicely and it sounds terrific all the way through. And so it should! A live album, as I have said many times before, should be almost always a 5/5 album, as it contains the best songs in their best environment. And for the most part this lives up to the bargain. Gary’s guitaring on this album is just superb. He shows off all his wares and holds the centre as always. The song choices are excellent... well, I’d have swapped “Empty Rooms” for something else, but you can’t have everything, can you.
This sadly was also the final live album Moore recorded, at least with his rock song era. There were several more to come that concentrated on his blues era from 1990 onwards, which showcased his skills and talent, but of music that I was generally not fond of. But this album does give us some great live versions of some great live songs, and that is worth the journey itself.

1261. The Cult / Dreamtime. 1984. 3.5/5

Back in 1981, lead vocalist Ian Astbury formed a band with the name Southern Death Cult. Astbury had considered himself a punk when that scene breezed through the late 1970’s but then admitted in an interview with NME in October 1982 that “I was in the army for a while, and then I came out, and I was a punk, and I thought, right, fucking anarchy, this is it for the rest of my life. This has got to last forever. And then when it died down, I just sat there, and I thought... what the fuck was all that about?”. That interview, which profiled the band heavily and saw a bright future ahead, also announced that their first album was to be released shortly, titled “Fatman in the Moya”. Instead, a single release came, before the band played their final gig in February the following year.
Two months later, Astbury teamed up with a guitarist by the name of Billy Duffy. Duffy had played in bands such as the Nosebleeds (along with Morrissey, later of the Smiths), Lonesome No More and then Theatre of Hate. Also recruited were bassist Jamie Stewart and drummer Ray Mondo, both from the post-punk band, Ritual. They called themselves Death Cult, a short trip from that first band name, touring mainland Europe and releasing the “Death Cult” self-titled EP. Nigel Preston replaced Mondo on drums, and further touring continued. In January 1984, prior to appearing on a music TV program, the band decided to change their name to simply “The Cult”, believing it would create broader appeal.
The band had been writing prolifically since they had come together and had many songs ready for their eventual journey into the studio in April 1984 to record their debut album.
The album was originally being produced by Joe Julian, but after recording the drums, the band decided to replace him, and John Brand was brought in to take over the role. Despite this, Duffy has said in interviews that the drum tracks used on the album were those produced by Julian, as Preston’s drumming and availability had become too unreliable by that time. And so became The Cult’s debut album, titled “Dreamtime”.

“Dreamtime” has an interesting premise, both in the subject matter of the lyrics and the style of music the band debut on this first album. There is a mysticism and a tribalism about the songs, drawn from such widely varied and yet closely intertwined subject matter. “Horse Nation” talks about “The whole world is coming, from the four directions, and I scream and shout”, and this actually describes not only the horses of the song, but the four members of the band in this opening salvo, the guitar, bass, drums and vocals all seeming to come from four different directions to meet in the middle. Stylistically it is an interesting approach. showing Astbury's intense interest in Native American issues, with the lyrics taken almost verbatim from the book ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’. “Spiritwalker” is the first single from the album, invoking the new wave movement of the era, with Astbury’s vocals and Stewart’s bass the distinctive elements of the track, and visualising travelling the spirit world through trance. “83rd Dream” is Astbury’s reflection on mortality and how fast life can pass you by; and is followed by “Butterflies” which also touches on the same themes, of the weight of introspection on one's life choices through the Hopi ceremonial butterfly dance. The song that closes out Side A of the album, “Go West (Crazy Spinning Wheels)” is the second single released, and the style of the track evokes that kind of vibes. It once again brings on board the new wave feels of the time, in an uptempo song boosted by Astbury’s more party boy vocals on show and an almost Andy Summers like guitar strum from Duffy. It’s a good finish to the first half of the album.
Onto the second side of the album, and while “Gimmick” is not the first song on this album that channels The Cure in its style, it is the most pronounced. It has a great atmosphere, and Astbury’s more haunting vocal line does bring a bit of Robert Smith about it. “A Flower in the Desert” moves back into the mystical and profound, with lines such as “I'm alive, see my rivers flowing, don't wanna be like you” and “Step a little closer, I wonder if you can remember me in this way”. Then we are back into the new wave upbeat tempo and fun with “Dreamtime”, which is said to be inspired by the mythology of the Australian Aborigines and First Nations people. Lyrically though, given the title of the song is repeated a great number of times – 38 times, and yes, I counted – I'm not sure it invokes a lot of that.
More repeated lyrics follow with “Rider in the Snow”, while “Bad Medicine Waltz” channels The Smiths in its slow mournful style to finish off the album.
While the album has utilised a lot of influences to draw upon its subject matter, such as the Aboriginal culture from the title and the native Americans throughout, an argument can be made that lyrically Astbury and Duffy didn’t explore these ideas fully, instead, keeping what was sung to a minimum of words but poured out over an extended time. Musically there is a similarity to other bands of the era, which, when listening from the future, can be a bit disconcerting but not unwelcome.

I didn’t catch on to The Cult until their “Sonic Temple” some five years after this release, and then for several years after that only went back to find “Electric” and “Love” as their counterparts. So it was not until the early 2000’s that I first discovered “Dreamtime”, around the same time that “Beyond Good and Evil” was released. There were rumours of an Australian tour, and I decided that I should chase down the only album of The Cult that I didn’t know. What I found was something that was familiar, but perhaps incomplete. I don’t think it is unfair to suggest that at this point of their career, the band has not yet found its own sound. There are sections on “Dreamtime” where you can hear the band that they would eventually become, but in other places there are other influences.
Listening to this album again over the past couple of weeks, I can still hear those overtones of bands such as The Cure and The Smiths and even U2, and definitely an expression of the new wave scene that came with the era that the band formed and began their journey. And none of that is unpleasant because I appreciate and enjoy those things. What The Cult do here though is a form of new wave without synth or sax, where they have stuck true to the post-punk and goth rock that they were looking to draw their music from – it's just that it isn’t quite that defined yet.
The journey of The Cult from this album to what was my entry point on “Sonic Temple” is an interesting one, one that has its defined changes on each album. And each is an important part into the eventual formation of The Cult’s absolute style and significance. And while I have wondered over the years if I would feel differently about this album if it had been the first that I had heard of the band, I don’t think it would have changed for me significantly. I still enjoy this album to this day. As a first act to what was to come it is a good start. The boom came nine months later with the release of the single “She Sells Sanctuary”, and their sophomore album “Love”. But that’s a story for another episode.

1260. Mercyful Fate / Don't Break the Oath. 1984. 4/5

Mercyful Fate’s initial foray onto vinyl had come to fruition with the release of their debut album “Melissa” in October 1993, and album that was to become one of the most influential releases in the extreme, black and death metal scenes over the years. The combination of the twisting turning musical interludes along with the completely unique vocals of lead vocalist King Diamond made for an album that found an audience willing to accede to its charms, and others who protested about its perceived messages. All of this can be found on the episode dedicated to that album in Season 5 of this podcast.
The tour to promote that album had its teething problems. They played in various places around Europe, including the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and their native Denmark. But having signed on for an 11 date tour of England as the support act to Manowar, they left after just one gig in St Albans after a major conflict with the headline act. It was not to be the last time such conflicts arose.
In May 1984, just 8 months after the release of their debut album, the band entered the studios again to write and record their follow up. It seemed as though it was a short time frame between albums, and indeed this album would be released less than eleven months after the debut album, but in a time when albums still made money for record companies and given the initial success of that album, it probably stands to reason that getting a second album out there made sense. It would also give their live shows double the number of songs to be able to choose from to play, and so it was that Mercyful Fate came about to release their sophomore album titled “Don’t Break the Oath”. But could it in any way equal what the band had done on that debut album?

For those who have not heard Mercyful Fate before, it tends to be the vocals of the amazing King Diamond that becomes the most difficult part of the music to comprehend, or sometimes even get past. And to get past it is an amazingly rewarding experience. One of the best pieces of advice I have heard in regard to listening to Mercyful Fate is that you have to just ‘go with it’. Don’t just immediately cast it side because the vocals scare you off. I said the same thing on the episode dedicated to the album “Melissa”. Over time the vocals will fit, you just have to ‘go with it’. Because the music itself is more than enough to make you a fan of this band and especially this album. Believe me, King Diamond and his vocal style will soon be a favourite for you. His singing on this album is a huge jump forward from the debut album as well, he isn’t just throwing those high pitched squeals and screams in at a random place because he can, they are more structured within each song on “Don’t Break the Oath”.
The opening track “A Dangerous Meeting” has a touch of speed metal riffs through the track and a terrific solo into the base of the song. It references a group of friends that visit a seance and meet an untimely end, as Diamond sings “Tonight, the circle is broken forever, seven people dead within a trance, in here nobody is sensing the rain, tonight, seven souls are reaching hell”. It is a great opening track. This is followed by "Nightmare”, the drums and bass intro before the guitar riff that follows, and jumping out at a furious pace. Diamond’s vocals are excellent on this song, moving between high register and middle ground perfectly, while Hank Shermann and Michael Denner on guitar trade riffs and solos to top off a great track. “Desecration of Souls” reigns in the speed of the music and the outlandishness of the vocals and delivers what is the most ‘normal’ heavy metal song on the album, still wrapped in the terrific guitar sonics that Shermann and Denner produce. The middle solo section of the song with these two is outstanding. “Night of the Unborn” steps the album up again, creating the heaviest atmosphere song on the album, and intensified by the guitars again, both in their melodic trade off halfway through the track before breaking into their own individual solos. This is a beauty and is backed up by Diamond with duelling vocal melodies as well.
In a cacophony of dark organ, rain, the church bell and Diamond preaching his dark message, “The Oath” bursts forth out of the speakers and drenches you in both black metal goodness and the evil vibes of the music. These complex time changes and guitar riffs combine to produce a track that takes the essence of what was begun on the debut album and transforms it here into an epic transcendence. Diamond’s vocals here are driven by the rising tide of the guitars, and both combine perfectly here to create a song of atmospheric excellence. This is arguably the album’s piece de resistance. Following this comes the pure simplified condensing of that same energy and heaviness into “Gypsy”, a short sharp retort that settles for that hard hitting 2/4 timing on the drums with a great riff and fun vocals over the top. “Welcome Princess of Hell” soars back in a way of earlier tracks, and then there is the short instrumental break of “To One Far Away”, before the album closes out with “Come to the Sabbath”, a song credited to Diamond alone, which perhaps explains the lesser appearance and combination of the guitars that makes the remaining songs on the album so terrific.

For me, this album is a far more mature outing than the first album. Most people know the first album through the songs that Metallica have fawned over and played covers of in their time. And don’t get me wrong, it is a terrific album. But this album fits together better, the songs themselves are better arranged and performed, and Diamonds vocals seem to fit in much better and don’t stick out like a sore thumb as much as they do on occasions on “Melissa”.
I was a latecomer to Mercyful Fate, despite always seeing the covers of their first two albums when I visited Utopia Records and wondering just what the band sounded like. But no one in my extended friend group had any albums of the band, and so the temptation to be the first, with the threat of it turning out to be awful, was very small. More is the pity that it took until Metallica’s “Garage Inc” album, and their cover mash up of several Mercyful Fate songs, that I decided to get out there and buy them myself. At least I got there in the long run.
So “Don’t Break the Oath” has been back in the rotation for the past couple of weeks, and I have really enjoyed it all over again. It is one of those albums that whenever I listen to it, I wonder why I don’t listen to it more often, or at least thin to drag it off the shelves more often. So, one of the premises of this podcast, to revisit old albums that I haven't heard in some time and rediscover how much I enjoy them, has definitely come to pass for this album.
Which makes it even stranger that, following this album’s release and subsequent tour, which included the US, the band basically dissolved. Apparently, Hank Shermann wanted to move in a more commercial direction, while King Diamond disagreed and left to go out and form his own eponymously titled band with Denner and bass guitarist Timi Hansen in tow. Reunions were in the stars for further down the track, but having released two such amazing albums, it seems a damn shame that it all stopped at this point, if only for a while.

1259. Iron Maiden / Powerslave. 1984. 5/5

There could have been few bands in the world in the early to mid 1980’s in a better position to reach a period of dominance than Iron Maiden. They had done their time in the pubs and clubs, five years of grind and toil that saw them attain a recording contract, and then release their debut and sophomore albums “Iron Maiden” and “Killers”. Through this saw some rearranging of the furniture, bringing in Adrian Smith as guitarist, who had always been destined to find his way into the band, then Bruce Dickinson on lead vocals, whose powerful range gave the band a wider scope of songs to aspire to, along with the songwriting ability of both he and Smith, and finally Nicko McBrain whose drumming and personality completed the outfit. This line up had recorded the band’s previous album “Piece of Mind”, which had built up on the enduring success of “The Number of the Beast” and pushed on further, showcasing longer and more complicated song structures while retaining all of the characteristics which made Iron Maiden such a unique proposition in the music world at that time. Alongside the boss Steve Harris and the ever present Dave Murray, the band had toured for 8 months to promote the “Piece of Mind” album, which was completed in December 1983. They then allowed themselves a three week break (yep, that’s it) before reconvening to begin writing for the follow up album. Is it any wonder maintaining families under these time pressures was extraordinarily difficult. And this wasn’t unusual in the days of a 12-month cycle being write an album, record an album, release an album, tour the album.
The band returned to the Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas to record the album, the same place where “Piece of Mind” was recorded and that the follow up to this album would also take place.
The success of “Piece of Mind”, which had gone to #3 in the UK, #14 in the US and #17 in Australia, proved there was a marketplace for their music, and having already shown they could write fast paced and heavy singles such as “Run to the Hills” and “The Trooper”, and longer and technically proficient songs such as “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and “To Tame a Land”, in order to go to another level with their music, just what could they produce for their new album that would satisfy these requirements? The answer came in the form of 8 amazing tracks that make up the album that became “Powerslave”.

 
One of the immediate impacts of this album, that if you look at the cover of the album feels so mystical and mythical, is that the first two songs heavily reference and describe war, such that when initially listening to the album you could believe that it is going to be an album all about war. And part of the perfection of the tracks is that the music of each almost makes you feel the differing emotions of the actions being drawn. The opening battle cry of “Aces High” moves from the twin guitar montage before diving hell for leather into the song at a careering pace, which barely lets up for the entire song. As with so many of Steve Harris’ composed songs, the subject takes its basis from the movie of the same name, 1976’s “Aces High” {put in some context of the movie here]. Even the screaming solos from Dave and Adrian through the middle of the song make it sound like you are watching the planes dogfight above you, rolling and turning and diving, and the pace of the song exarcebates that as well, and the conclusion you almost see two of these plavnes colliding as the final note is played. It is a sensational opening track, setting the album off in cracking style.
This is followed by the iconic opening riff of the Smith/Dickinson song “2 Minutes to Midnight”, and while the opening track speaks in a romantically yet realistic tone of the way that air fights occurred during WW1, there is immediately a more sinister sound about the following track. There is a more serious tone about the lyrics here, referencing the Doomsday Clock, which symbolises impending doom, and is set closer to midnight the faster that this approaches. The guitars are more menacing, as Bruce starts singing lyrics such as “The killer's breed or the demon's seed, the glamour, the fortune, the pain. Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain, Don't you pray for my soul anymore”. The solo section is a brooding piece as well, the tempo rising and falling, until at the end it falls into Nicko’s rising drum roll, and crashes back into the main riff, and the tone of the whole song builds to its crescendo as Bruce spits out his lyrics - “The body bags and little rags of children torn in two, And the jellied brains of those who remain to put the finger right on you. As the mad men play on words and make us all dance to their song, To the tune of starving millions to make a better kind of gun”. It is an incredibly powerful finish to the track, one where the built up emotion spills over and crushes to the conclusion. Still just an amazing song.
After two heavy war based song lyrically, the third track takes on a different direction, with the instrumental and cleverly titled “Losfer Words”. Some have questioned why the band would place an instrumental on their album when they have the voice of Dickinson to call on, but this works really well, and does gives you the opportunity to fully concentrate on the music and musicians themselves. The middle piece of the song, with Dave soloing and Steve’s incredible bass guitaring underneath, is still an amazing piece of music.
From here the album moves into two songs that may not be about war but are certainly referencing the use of weapons. Bruce utilises his love of the sport of fencing in composing “Flash of the Blade”, where the lines “the smell of resined leather, the steely iron mask, as he cuts and thrusts and parries at the fencing masters call” is surely a reference to his own early travails in the sport. This song moves along at a quick tempo driven my Nicko’s fast rated drum beat, vastly underrated on this song in particular. Bruce’s doubled vocals through the chorus increases the energy as well, adding that extra layer. It’s a simply structured song but each part is played to perfection. This segues perfectly into the start of “The Duellists”, Steve Harris’ depiction of an old-fashioned duel. The bassline that runs through this entire song, but especially through the middle instrumental solo section that links the two lyric bound stanzas, is truly remarkable. It is the mainstay of the song, and it is no wonder the band has never played it live, because even Harry’s fingers would be bleeding at its conclusion if he did. Take a listen to this track and be amazed at what he puts into this track, that sometimes just seems to blend in so well that you don’t even notice it. It really is a remarkable piece of bass playing. The two solos played over the top sound amazing, but it is the bass underneath that provides the real superbness of the song. An underrated classic.
Opening up side two is “Back in the Village”. Now, I love “The Prisoner”, not only do I love Iron Maiden’s song, but the TV series that it is written about. So who would ever have thought we would get a sequel to that song? Well here it is, the Smith/Dickinson composition that once again returns to the eponymously named ‘The Village’ of the TV show, and we have more rollicking fun lyrically as they again canvas us with the goings on of the show. It is a rollicking ride musically, wonderfully fast paced with great guitar licks from Adrian, that incredible rumbling bass from Harry and Nicko’s drums crashing along the way. Bruce has a ball with the lyrics, both soaring and spitting as he moves through the song. It’s yet another great track with so much energy and purpose you can’t help but be transported along for the ride.
The final two tracks of the album take a different direction and are both arguably some of the finest work that Iron Maiden has ever done. “Powerslave” is Bruce’s second solo composition for the album, and fourth overall, stamping his mark on the direction the band was taking. The Egyptian theme was apparently something Bruce had been working on while on tour for “Piece of Mind” and then eventuated during the writing sessions for this album. It is an epic song, highlighted as with many of the songs here by the two bands of lyrics connected by a long solo section that allows the two guitarists to showcase their ware. Bruce’s vocals here are amazing, but for me the epic brilliance of that middle section is unmatched in all of music. Harry’s bass once again takes the reins of the music, the way he runs his fingers up and down and around the fretboard during this interlude is truly brilliant. The mood he creates here is perfect for the song, less intense than the verses and chorus have been, and amplified by the guitars of Smith and Murray, whose perfect harnessing of the mood brings it all together amazingly. The mood swings lower and higher, serene to more intense, until again the conclusion to the solo section is hammered down the slope by Nicko’s drumming to crash back into the main riff, and the song is off again. Just magnificent, and an epic track that has stood the test of time to retain its magnificence.
And yet - there is still no song written by this band, or perhaps any band ever, that is a more perfect embodiment of bringing a poem or story to life than Steve Harris’ masterpiece, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Inspired by and referencing direct lines from the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, it is a brilliantly conceived retelling of the story of the poem, with the songs going through all of the lulls and rolls, highs and lows, anguish, fear and redemption that the poem has to offer. Each part of the story has music composed to relate to that part of the tale, and while it isn’t an opera, it is a piece of musical theatre where you can see what Bruce is singing about by his descriptions and the music bringing it to life. Again, the middle section is a superbly written and performed piece, picturing the boat stranded on the lifeless sea, the dead lying around the mariner, with the spoke passage from the poem itself. This then feeds into the return of the band proper, as the mariner accepts the curse and wishes he had taken his shipmates place, as Bruce sing and the music builds, into the cacophony of his scream, and the roller coaster of guitars and drums scream down the precipice into the heart of the solo section, one of the heaviest and brilliant pieces of music the band has ever written and played. I still get shivers down my spine every time I hear this lead into the Dave and Adrian solo pieces. It is magnificent, emotional, headbanging stuff, which continues back into the verse and the end of the tale and the song. The whole song is an experience, not just the final track of the album. Maiden has a lot of long songs, that have their own tales to tell, and the majority of them and brilliant. But “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a step above them all. If Maiden had never written another album, another song, following the release of “Powerslave”, it would barely have mattered, because this album is so utterly brilliant, and this song is the crown that rests at the top.

Back at the end of 1985 I was on an end Year 10 school camp at a place called Bundanoon on the NSW Southern Highlands. For a week 50-60 of us spent that time camping and running around like the 15 and 16 year old maniacs we were and having a superb time. The conclusion of the camp was a skit concert on the final night, where all campers were asked to participate. Some of my friend group got together and pretended to be a rock band, miming to the Stiff Little Fingers instrumental track “Go for It”, and in the process enthralling the crowd so much, that at the end they decided to do an impromptu second performance. This one saw the band miming, quite well from memory, Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills”, receiving rapturous applause at its conclusion. This, as it turns out, was the first time I had heard an entire song from start to finish by Iron Maiden. I had heard one of my best friends all camp walking around humming and singing a couple of songs throughout, without knowing what they were. As it turns out, he had recently rediscovered Iron Maiden in a big way. And so, the following week when we were back at school, as I had on quite a few occasions in the past, I brought in a blank cassette, and asked him to record me some Iron Maiden for me to experience. This friend, who at this point became and remains my heavy metal music dealer, came back two days later with the album “Powerslave” for me to listen to.
That day was Wednesday 27 November 1985. It was the first day I had truly sat down and listened to a heavy metal album. It was the first time I had listened to an Iron Maiden album. More importantly, it was the first time I had listened to “Powerslave” the album. And it was captivating. I sat in my bedroom that afternoon, with my portable tape player that had just spent the past week taping my friends laughing around campfires and playing hijinks on teachers (tapes that still exist almost 40 years later), listening to this album for the first and second times in my life. And, it was surreal, that’s what I remember feeling. Because the journey of the album is quite a winding one, of battles and fights of different eras, of mythology and poetry and mystery. And that’s not an easy thing to understand and take in when you only have your blank cassette cover with the names of the songs on it, rather than the album itself. It was something that I wanted to rectify.
About six months later, on Friday 2 May 1986 as it turns out, I had completed an English exam for my year 11 half yearlies, and was faced with the prospect of either waiting at school for about four hours for the end of the school day to catch the bus home, or instead face the walk home, a journey of about an hour and 20 minutes from school. I decided on the second, so that I would at least have some time at home before the rest of the family arrived. On the way however I decided to divert into town, and take a look at Kiama’s one and only record store, Kiama Sight & Sound, just to see what was in stock at the time. And, beyond my surprise, there was a vinyl copy of Iron Maiden’s “Powerslave” in the racks. My heart leapt, and within moments I had made my purchase ($11.99 for those interested) and returned to my journey. It was warm for the start of May, and the walk home wasn’t a pleasant stroll, but the anticipation of being able to get home to listen to my new acquisition was enough motivation to keep going. And I still remember that afternoon, putting the album on my parents' stereo, and hearing it in pristine condition, holding the album and going over every centimetre of detail in both the cover design and the information contained within.
This has been a very long winded explanation of my discovery of this album, but I feel it is important, because of the momentous occasion that it was. It was my first Iron Maiden album, and first experience of both the band and heavy metal as a genre. Is it a simple and accurate statement to say that my life changed that day forever? Probably, but a more accurate one was that over the proceeding eight weeks of the summer holidays of 1985/86 my whole world changed. The album grew with me at different stages, the rollicking opening of “Aces High” and the intangible opera of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” the first to cast me under their spell. Then came that middle solo sequence of the title track, one that is still so amazing to the present day. The urgent charging of both “2 Minutes to Midnight” and “Flash of the Blade”, driving relentlessly forward. The utter bombasticness of “Back in the Village”, and the amazing instrumental influences of “Losfer Words”. And finally, the sheer underrated brilliance of “The Duellists”, once again through that middle solo section with the three guitarists and the drummer putting together an amazingly connected interlude. Each piece of that puzzle came to me in different times, and eventually combined to become the whole, the album that is “Powerslave”.
So I wore that cassette out that I was originally given, and countless others once I had the vinyl album. Eventually came the CD as well. I couldn’t tell you the number of times I have listened to this album in my life. It is not unreasonable to guess that it was over 500 by the time I left high school and that was 37 years ago. It has been a constant companion, an album that has never lost its sheen, never lost its lustre. The writing and composition is so superb, with all contributors arguably at the peak of their powers on this album. And the performance of the music, under the brilliant production of Martin Birch, is beyond compare.
The band that my friends and I created not long after high school eventually had a crack at five of these eight songs, with a reasonably high success. “Flash of the Blade” was one of the first songs we learned and was always fun to play. “Aces High” was well received whenever it was brought out, as was “2 Minutes to Midnight”. “Losfer Words” would give the long suffering vocalist a rest during a set, while we famously debuted “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” at our mates 21st birthday party, which saw the metal heads in attendance open mouthed in awe, and the rest of the party bored to death by the end of its 15 minute journey. There’s still video footage of it somewhere.
Today, this still ranks as one of the best that Iron Maiden has produced. Discussions will always occur between people’s favourites, but in writing, music and production this album ranks at the top of the tree. The band went forth on the World Slavery Tour to promote this album, which eventually led to one of the greatest live albums of all time, “Live After Death”. It heralded a remarkable run of success for the band built on talent and hard work.
This was my introduction to this band and heavy metal. And over that timeline of 39 years, hundreds of bands and thousands of albums, I have still heard nothing that betters this album. I believe there are a number that are of the equal of this but nothing exceeds it. Is it just because it is the first I heard? Or because I lucked out on finding it at the exact right moment that I was looking for it? Believe what you will of that. As an album and a band, you would be hard pressed to argue against it. I think it is one of the best albums of any genre ever. And still my favourite of all time.

1258. Testament / Practice What You Preach. 1989. 4/5

Having come up through the breeding grounds of the US West Coast thrash metal movement, Testament had broken out of the pack to some degree, and on the back of their first two albums “The Legacy” and “The New Order” - episodes for both of which you can find on earlier seasons of this podcast – they had begun to build their own audience away from their home scene. This had come from tours such as opening for Megadeth on their “So Far, So Good... So What!” tour in Europe, and through North America with contemporary bands such as Overkill, Voivod, Death Angel, Vio-lence, Nuclear Assault and others, along with replacing Megadeth on some dates of the European Monsters of Rock tour which also featured bands like Iron Maiden, Kiss, David Lee Roth and Anthrax.
Coming into the writing and recording of their third studio album in February of 1989, Testament had spent a lot of time playing with fellow thrash bands that had come from the Bay Area, and could compare exactly where they were in regards to their careers, and just what they were doing with their music at that point of their careers as well. What they would have seen and heard is a mass explosion in the way the music was changing, and how these bands had decided to approach it. Bands like Overkill, Death Angel and Nuclear Assault were pushing the speed metal aspect of their craft and finding their success in that method. Megadeth too was holding that part of their craft, but with songs such as “In My Darkest Hour” had tapped another part of their arsenal and shown they could make some adaptions without putting off their fan base. All of this is interesting in respect to how Testament approached their new album. Did it encourage the less than subtle changes that the band had afoot, in minimising the occult and gothic themes found in the lyrical content of their first two albums, and focusing on issues like politics and corruption, and drawing influences from traditional heavy metal, jazz fusion and even progressive metal in the music. And, perhaps more pertinent, would the fans be on board with this?

One of the criticisms of this album from some sections of the fan base is the changing direction of the songs from straight out thrash to a more technical playing and composition of the tracks. It has even been compared to Testament trying to follow the path taken by Metallica, who had in their own way both begun to play much more technically composed songs on their instruments as well as beginning to sing about more worldly topics. To a certain extent, that IS what Testament do on this album, but to suggest they were trying to follow Metallica’s lead can’t be concluded. For a start, guitarist Alex Skolnick himself was not just a thrash metal guitarist, having also been one of a long line of amazing guitarists that had their start under the tutelage of Joe Satriani. There is little doubt that the songs that Alex was beginning to write by this stage of the band’s career were ones where he was looking to inject more of his technical proficiency on his instruments into the songs, rather than just being called done of the ‘fastest’ guitarists in the world. So his influence, let alone any other of the writers in the band, saw him looking to expand their pure thrash roots into a band that had songs that may not be as fast as they had played before, but sounded brilliant through their skills involved. As well as this, having now toured extensively over the course of the previous two years, the band had begun to have more worldly views, seen things that peaked their interest, and gave them ideas on what to write songs on that differed from what they had written on the first two albums. And look, there are enough similarities here for someone to point out and suggest the similarities here are too close not to be deliberate. But while it would be easy to say ‘Testament was following Metallica’, it is perhaps more accurate to suggest that by this third album, the band had matured and wanted to expand its horizons, an evolutionary path that other bands had already followed for the same reasons. Or, maybe I’m just looking for reasons not to state the obvious. As always, everyone is entitled to their opinion.
People coming into this album away from the time it was released do seem to have more problems with its output than those who were around at the time that it was released. I get the criticism, because it is like when all bands change their stripes, whether it be a little or a lot. No band is immune from it at some point of their career. There is less use of atmosphere and melody to stage the more aggressive rhythm guitars. The songs are more mid-tempo than on the early albums, and while the guitars still have a great sound to them the speed of the songs has been reigned back as Skolnick and Peterson spend much of the time in cruise mode, allowing Chuck Billy's more melodic vocal range to carry the songs.
The title track “Practice What You Preach” is a barnstorming opening and sets the album off on the right note, and is well followed up by “Perilous Nation”. "Time is Coming”, “Blessed in Contempt” and the second single “Greenhouse Effect” all hit all the right places. Skolnick’s soloing in particular continues to be a highlight of the band's music.
OK, let’s talk about the conclusion to the album. In particular, “The Ballad”. Yes, that is the name of the song. Yeah... not a fan. Not a fan of the quiet start, not a fan of Chuck Billy’s attempted quiet morose vocal, not really a fan when it finally tries to become the fast thrash final three minutes. Do I say what we all know?... ok... Testament’s attempt at a Metallica “Fade to Black”? It doesn’t work. It stops the momentum that the album has built up... and they released it as the third single from the album! Gee. And sure, “Nightmare (Coming Back to You)” and “Confusion Fusion” kinda redeem it, but I seriously wonder if Chuck and Alex dropped the ball a little there.

Back in 1989, I’m over at my mate's house as he mans the phone for the taxi business his parents own. This mate will eventually become my brother-in-law and the owners of the business my parents-in-law. We are watching the late night music video program “Rage” on ABCTV, a staple for teenagers on Friday and Saturday nights once the pubs have closed and you have to come home. Usually around 1 or 2am they would play their metal selection, and on this particular night, the first song from that section is a song that slams out of the TV, of a band I’ve never heard before. We both go ‘wow - who the hell is this?’ The band was Testament, and the video playing was for the song “Practice What You Preach”. It was one of those moments that you don’t forget. Now in those prehistoric pre-internet days, the only way to find out what was going to be played on Rage on those Friday and Saturday nights was to phone a number, and they would read out the entire playlist for the eight hours of music videos they would play. So the following afternoon I did just that, found out they were going to play the video again that night, and I stayed up again – just to record that video on my VHS tape with all my other metal videos on it. Having then watched that song a hundred times, I went out to my local-ish record store, The Rock Factory at Shellharbour Square, and bugger me, they had this album on vinyl, just waiting for me to purchase it. Which I did.
And – as my first taste of Testament, I loved it. It was new, it was different. And I didn’t notice any supposed similarities to Metallica, because... I didn’t know any better! Once I went back and listened to the first two albums, which were a good shock because of their real thrash metal roots, I understood where the qualms had come from in those metal magazines I read. But I didn’t care, because I just thought – and think – that this is a terrific album. Yes, it will always be special because it was my introduction to the band. And it isn't perfect, there are a couple of songs that don’t maintain the standard. But having had this on again for the last two weeks, and had it pouring out of my speaker at work, I have annoyed my work colleagues enough to know that it still works. Because this is not an album that you can play at half volume and expect to get the most out of it. You need to turn it up, and have that album charge out at you, to get the full experience.
What has always amused me is that, given the way this album is received by some, the follow up album “Souls of Black” moves in an even more interesting and distinct direction.