776. Metallica / 11-6-2003 3rd Show Le Trabendo [Bootleg]. 4/5

A week after the worldwide release of their album St Anger, Metallica embarked on an inventive promotion ploy, playing three gigs on the same day in three separate locations in Paris, France at well known venues. Each gig lasted an hour before packing up and heading for the next gig.
This bootleg is from the third and final gig, played at Le Trabendo. Again, as with the La Boule Noire gig, the recording is good and surprisingly clear for an audience recording, though the tape and microphone do seem to pick up a bit of squelching or feedback, which would bring it back to be a B recording.

The set list again incorporates a mix of songs, which perhaps harps closer to the popular 'modern' era than the previous two gigs. Having started off with "Blackened" they crash into "Fuel" for the first time on the day, which is also probably their hardest song in recent aeons. This is then followed by two further songs from ...And Justice for All, being the brilliant "Harvester of Sorrow" and then "One". Was it a deliberate ploy to have three of the first four songs from that album?
The chosen piece from St. Anger for this gig is the title track, which again shows it's positives and negatives. The song still starts off terrifically, led by James' trademark intro of "Riff!" But once you get to the clear guitar, the high vocals overlaying that, and the weak-arse backing vocals of Rob and Kirk, the song is destroyed. Yikes.
So how do you recover from that? Well, you bring out the big guns, with "Enter Sandman" for the first time on the day, and that old staple of brilliance, "Master of Puppets". After a short drink, the band returns to complete their day with thrash, that being "Creeping Death" and "Hit the Lights".

This is another good bootleg, and together with the first two boots, it covers an interesting day in the history of Metallica. They are all worth a listen, if only to hear where the band was at the beginning of the Rob Trujillo era, and how they have progressed or fallen in your own eyes since.

Rating:  With all our screaming, we are gonna rip right through your brain  4/5

775. Metallica / 11-6-2003 2nd Show Bataclan [Bootleg]. 4/5

A week after the worldwide release of their album St. Anger, Metallica embarked on an inventive promotion ploy, playing three gigs on the same day in three separate locations in Paris, France at well known venues. Each gig lasted an hour before packing up and heading for the next gig.
This bootleg is from the second gig, played at Paris Bataclan. However, the audience bootleg sound is not as good as on the first gig, certainly it is a bit muddier and could probably be best rated as B- in this regard.

This second gig has a brilliant set list, and the high energy set is appreciated by the crowd in attendance. Once again, it is great to hear a bootleg that not only has a good recording of the band and each instrument, but also takes in the crowd's involvement, making you feel as though you are a part of it. Having started off with "The Four Horsemen", there is a brilliant performance of "Leper Messiah", driven along by the crowd's raucous singing. "Leper Messiah" is one of my favourite Metallica songs, and this version here is a cracker. This is followed by another of the band's thrash level songs, "No Remorse", with more brilliant crowd involvement, and the band appears to be enjoying it too. Too fast for you? Well, next comes "Fade to Black", which doesn't allow the crowd to let up for much more than a few seconds.

James then asks the crowd if they have St. Anger. General agreement ensues. Then he asks "who likes it?", and the crowd gets even louder. I wonder how many of those in that crowd that day would still say the same about that album now? Anyway, here they play the title track from the album, which much like most of the songs they played live from that album never really seem to come across as easily and enjoyable as the other songs in the set list. Only early days for those songs being played live I guess, and no doubt they improved a great deal, but "St. Anger" feels forced here. James introduces the band following this, with a huge reaction from the crowd on Rob Trujillo's introduction, as these were some of his first gigs having joined the band. They then charge back up again with a rollicking version of "Ride the Lightning", followed by a fingers-flying "Blackened", before an 'encore' of old favourite "Seek & Destroy" and "Damage Inc."

Once again, this is a brilliant bootleg, with a brilliant set list and a great balance between the band and the crowd.

Rating:  Honesty is my only excuse  4/5.

"Leper Messiah" at Bataclan

774. Metallica / 11-6-2003 1st Show La Boule Noire [Bootleg]. 4/5

A week after the worldwide release of their album St. Anger, Metallica embarked on an inventive promotion ploy, playing three gigs on the same day in three separate locations in Paris, France at well known venues. Each gig lasted an hour before packing up and heading for the next gig.
This bootleg is from the first gig, played at La Boule Noire. The recording is quite good for an audience recording, best rated as B+ in this regard. And the crowd really gets into it, which always makes a bootleg sound better when you can hear their enthusiasm, and cheering, and their singing along with the words.

The set list and performance is excellent. Mixing up a selection of great early hits, the only song to come from the new album is "Frantic", which frankly still comes across rather tinny here. It is also noticeable that Lars is using a very skinny kit, because there are a lot of things in these songs sound less full than they should be. No doubt the moving of gear quickly would have been behind it, but that's not to say it couldn't have been improved.
Rousing versions of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Master of Puppets" are followed by the crowd favourites "Harvester of Sorrow" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", with the crowd being led enthusiastically in chorus by James. St. Anger's "Frantic" follows along with "Sad But True", before a trio of old school heavy hitters in "Battery", "Creeping Death" and "Motorbreath" round out the set in style.

The winners here are the generally pre-1988 set list as well as the crowd involvement. It lifts your enthusiasm while you listen along, and is the hallmark of all of the best bootlegs - hearing the crowd, but not having the two or three near where it is being recorded from dominating in conversation through the gig. Well done recorder!

Rating:  It is... going to... take your breath away!  4/5

Full bootleg

773. Yngwie J. Malmsteen / Spellbound: Live in Tampa. 2014. 2.5/5

You would think that a live album - correction, a double live album - featuring Yngwie Malmsteen, arguably the most celebrated guitarist of our time, should be a no brainer. We already know he pretty much plays live what he does in the studio because he is such a stickler for his instrument, so you know that they guitaring will be superb. Then we know he has an extensive catalogue of songs, both with vocals, and just instrumentals, so that he will surely choose a set list that will have everyone jumping. And even though he played almost every instrument on his last album Spellbound, including the sparse vocals that were required, we know he has had a brilliant array of vocalists through the years, so no matter who he employed to sing on this would be terrific.
Well, most of that doesn't really come to pass at all on this live album, Spellbound: Live in Tampa.

The majority of this double album is made up of instrumental numbers. Now, that's not such a big deal when Yngwie is involved, but no matter how far you want to go with this argument, this many instrumentals can only engender boredom and repetition whether you are watching it, or just listening to it. As brilliant as Yngwie is, his guitaring can only hold your complete attention in an instrumental for a certain length of time. So count them up. There are 30 songs on this release, and of those 30, there are 19 instrumentals, of varying lengths. Once again, don't get me wrong, Yngwie is a genius and brilliant to listen to, but when it's all guitar for too much of the time, well it just becomes too much. Even when you throw in stuff like "Far Beyond the Sun" and "Black Star" that are still as brilliant today as they were 30 years ago.
So, with a majority of instrumental tracks, no doubt Yngwie decided that forking out for a lead vocalist was a bit of a waste of time, given that he would be rendered superfluous for at least half of the set. So, what do you do? Well, you get your keyboardist Nick Marino to do a double shift, and sing lead vocals when necessary as well as fill out the keys necessary for the night. Great money saving idea. Except that Marino's vocals are despicable. Not terrible, but just not right. They don't fit the songs at all, and when he has to do any amount of vocal chord stretching (and given that he's trying to sing songs done by Jeff Scott Soto, Joe Lynn Turner, Doogie White and Tim Owens, that is a LOT!) he is found out noticeably. And it would be a false statement to say that it doesn't detract from the songs at all, because it really does. Overall the current band line up is good. Everyone does their job well, and leaves it to Yngwie to be the show. It does get very tiresome as Marino keeps telling the crowd "Let's hear it for the maestro!!" You know how good he is, we know how good he is, and Yngwie knows how good he is. Surely neither party needs to be encouraged to give praise.

This actually turns out to be a rather depressing release. The vocals on the songs that require them are just dreadful, and suck any enjoyment out of them immediately. The songs that don't require vocals are either brilliant (see above mentioned two songs as examples) or just a little overplayed to enjoy. No one can doubt Yngwie still has it, he plays like a demon. If he had taken Ripper out on vocals for this, it probably rates a 4 or 4.5 out of five, even despite the average song list. Put the average song list and the average vocals together, and you have a rather unhappy result.

Rating:  I can see the moment of some kind of truth.  2.5/5

772. Praying Mantis / Time Tells No Lies. 1981. 3/5

The explosion of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal between 1979 and 1981 provided a number of bands a great deal of publicity in the music media, and saw record companies looking to sign up new bands with the hope that they would become the ‘next big thing’ and provide those labels with the riches that they were hoping to reap as a result. One of the interesting things about looking back on that time in music from this far in the future is not just the bands that became the huge groups of that era as a result of their talent, but the number of bands that were considered to be their equal or even better at the time who were unable to make that great leap. It really is amazing that of all of the bands spoken of during that three year period, that only a small handful went on to make a mega career, while others disappeared forever. Some have been able to find a way to maintain a career to the present day, and have actually created a solid music catalogue away from the major spotlight that they may have begun with. It is arguable to say that Praying Mantis is one of those bands.
The band was formed very early on for one that made its break during that time period. It was 1973 when college friends Pete Moore, Chris Hudson and brothers Tino and Chris Troy, came together to create their band. They operated under a couple of different names including Prowler and Junction, before settling on the name Praying Mantis. In those early years, the band would play in youth clubs and small gigs, eventually graduating to pub gigs by 1978. Around this time the band recorded a demo tape, which (like many other bands of the time) they were encouraged to take to Neal Kay who was the DJ at the Bandwagon at the time, and had become an influential figure when it came to the promotion of up and coming metal bands. This gave the band a platform on which to increase their exposure. On October 31 of 1979 they recorded for the popular Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio, which was broadcast the following week and included the tracks “Captured City”, “Loves to the Grave” and “Johnny Cool”. Following this, they recorded the song “Captured City” for the compilation album “Metal for Muthas” which was released in February of 1980, and an album that was reviewed on this podcast on Episode 10.
From here, the band toured as support to Iron Maiden and Ronnie Montrose’s Gamma, which also led to playing at the Reading Festival on August 23, 1980. By this time Steve Carroll had joined the band as guitarist and co-vocalist, and Dave Potts had come in on drums. The increasing exposure, along with the success of the Reading gig, led to the band being offered a recording contract from Arista Records to produce their debut album. The album was written and recorded but still came with a couple of delays in actually being released. One of these was the decision for the band to record a single by the name of “I Surrender”, written by renown hitmaker Russ Ballard, and originally released in October 1980 by a band called Head East. Praying Mantis had already recorded the backing track and were adding the vocals when they were told permission had been denied at the last minute, as another bigger band had decided that they were going to record their own version of the song. That band was Rainbow, and their version made it to #3 on the UK charts. Soooooo close!
The album though finally saw the light of day, and was released upon the world in the hope that they would be the next band from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal to break it big on the world stage, with the name of “Time Tells No Lies”.

From the very opening of the album, the sound that fills your senses is immediately picked to be from the era that it was recorded and released. It has that sound from the outset. The opening song "Cheated" tingles like a Thin Lizzy or Gary Moore tune of the era, but the harmony vocals in the chorus do give it its own little corner to move into. One of the band’s attacking points on this debut album is the moving around of the lead singer role. Guitarists Tino Troy and Steve Carroll and bass guitarist Chris Trot all share the role on the album, something that changes the focus of each track depending on who has the main singing role on it. On this opening song it is Carroll who takes the lead. It comes across as a commercially friendly single, in the style of many other bands of a similar ilk at the time – think Paul Di’Anno’s first self-titled album after leaving Iron Maiden, later Angel Witch and Sweet Savage. All seem to share a common history. This was, having had their initial choice of a single taken from them, the first single from the album, one released a couple of months before the album’s release. This is followed up by a cover of The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night", an interesting choice to put on the album, and one that became the second single released. This version is sung by Tino and is enjoyable enough, highlighted by the twin guitar solos in the middle of the song. It this era you can understand the idea of covering a song that had been popular in different decades, and while it fits within the role of the album, perhaps giving it a bit more hard guitar would have freshened it up.
"Running For Tomorrow" is credited to all four members with Carroll back on lead vocals. Given the connection to the band as already reported here, this actually gives off vibes of 1980’s Rainbow in the song style, one that tries to sound like a hard rock and heavy song but with the obvious flourishes within the verses and vocals of reaching for that commercial sound. Once again the guitar slot in the middle of the track is very enjoyable, and offers a vision of the band reaching the heights of that new wave of metal, but through the verses and chorus it dials things back. Then you have “Rich City Kids”, composed by the Troy brothers and sung by Tino. This song could very easily have been taken straight off Def Leppard’s debut album of the previous year. Musically it is bang on from the style they utilised on that album, apart from the use of the piano incorporated into this track. Even Tino’s vocals backed by his brother sound very Joe Elliott-ish. Apart from that glaring similarity, this is one of the better songs on the album, and again the guitar work in the solo slot of the middle of the song is really enjoyable.
“Lovers to the Grave” changes up everything. This is the band’s shot at the soft rock ballad, with clear guitars and harmony vocals, this time with the lead taken on by Chris Troy. And I guess if you are looking for the direction of finding a commercial breakthrough then this is the kind of song your record company will probably push for. But you know the drill. The first half of the song is the usual generic stuff... and then you get into the second half of the song. The guitar solo breaks the track out of the doldrums, the tempo picks up, and we actually get one of the heaviest parts of the entire album as the guitars riff away madly, the bass line switches up and down the fret board, and it plays out the first side of the album in terrific style. It is a surprising song even to today. It is a remarkably transformative track here.
"Panic in the Streets" is a faster and heavier song to open up the second side of the album, dominated by faster drum work and guitar riffs, while Tino's vocals and the excellent twin guitar breaks from he and Steve Carroll drive it along in a way that is much more fitting of the new heavy era of the release. There is no sign of compromise to commerciality on this song, it is of the basic heavy sound of the time. It has an easy singalong chorus that brings about crowd participation as you listen. It’s a great way to break into the second side of the album. This is followed up by the multi faceted “Beads of Ebony”. The opening of the song leads you in to a belief that this is going to be a heavy track that breaks out of the tough sounding opening lyrical burst and undertoned riff – but it then weeds out a bit with a reedy sounding chorus from Chris on lead vocal that doesn’t befit exactly what it felt the song needed. It turns out to be a bit plain and not as strong as it could have been, especially after the previous track. It feels trapped between wanting to be a heavy track and a progressive think piece. So to with the following song "Flirting With Suicide" which kicks off with a great guitar riff, and should be a terrific heavy song. And for the most part it is. Tino is back on lead vocals, and it all sounds fine. Until we reach the chorus. What should have been a tough sounding chorus with a harder riff is softened out, beseeched by another less than ideal harmony vocal that just doesn’t quite fit how you expect that the song SHOULD go. The verses sound great, the solo slots are good, the bass line from Chris throughout is excellent and Tino offers the right toughness vocal in those verses. It’s just that damn chorus harmony that does not work.
As may have become apparent by this time, the one weakness of this album comes in the vocals. All three of Tino Troy (four songs), Chris Troy (three songs) and Steve Carroll (two songs) share the lead vocal duties, while they also all share the harmonies in the chorus lines. So not only do you have three different styles of vocals taking the lead on the album, you have those melodies in practically every song, which really don't change in pitch or tune from song to song. And it is the choruses that tend to take away from the greater excellence of the remainder of the song. In MOST cases. They appear to be there just to show they can do it, rather than adding to the songs. Most of the songs here would benefit from the chorus staying with Tino's tougher vocal being performed on its own, making the track harder and heavier and just BETTER than it ends up being because the lightweight harmony vocals come through instead.
Take "Children of the Earth" as an example, the closing track on the album. The song again starts off with a cracking riff and awesome bass line, and the initial vocals from Chris in this instance are good. But before you know it, it seems to transform into coming across as quite moaning, especially during the shared chorus vocals. This song should stand as up with the equal or better than the songs being produced by the bands of this same era. The solo guitar slot that takes out the song is sensational. Take a listen to it. Tell me there isn’t a bit of future Metallica in parts of that solo. It’s there. The start of this track and its conclusion are just brilliant, hugely enjoyable. Unfortunately, the middle of the track brings it back in any estimation. That conclusion though, where the song transforms, and it becomes something a little bit special. This is where the true potential of the band comes to life and shows what they really had to offer.

I cannot tell you how long I spent seeking a copy of this album over the years. When it comes to finding anything in Australia in regard to bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, it can be very difficult. It was a quest that didn’t end well initially. I just eventually gave up, and let the dream die. It wasn’t until many years later, about fifteen years ago now as I record this episode, that I began to once again seek out the bands and albums of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era, this time utilising file sharing and YouTube and all the new fangled ways you could search for rare material. And this was how I first came across “Time Tells No Lies” and was able to finally discover just what the debut and only true Praying Mantis album of that era was like. And like all of the other bands I was discovering albums of that time during this period, I found that I really enjoyed it. Angel Witch, Sweet Savage, Blitzkrieg, Diamond Head... each had a unique sound that I enjoyed. Yes, some of the vocals on ALL of those albums took some time to get used to, but once I did I was in for the ride. And that 12 month period where I discovered so much music that I had always wanted to experience was a terrific time for me.
So we come to this past week or so, and let’s talk about where I am today as I place it once again in the CD player of my stereo in the Metal Cavern. Because as always it is one thing to listen to an album and like or love it for what it is on the surface, but it is when you go into it in a critical review situation that you can often find either flaws that you have tried not to notice, or find amazing things that you probably knew but were not quite as aware of as you should have been. In this past couple of weeks, I have probably come across both of those things.
I have already spoken about the vocals here, and the way they get a bit reedy when it comes to the harmony or melodic attempts, mainly within choruses. I don’t really want to be critical of this, because we all know singing can be hard. Two things came to me on my relistening’s for this episode. One is that no matter what I may think if I am to criticise this, that when I listen to the album it only bothers me... a little. The second is this. When the band reformed in 1990, they employed a succession of extremely good vocalists to come in and act as leader singer for the band, those being Paul Di’Anno, Doogie White and Gary Barden, as well as Dennis Stratton who was guitarist and vocalist for a decade. And my thoughts were – I wonder how these songs sound with any of these quite excellent vocalists taking the lead? I’d like to find out.
But the music, and perhaps more especially the guitaring... it has amazing moments on this album. The play out of both sides of the album on the songs “Lovers to the Grave” and “Children of the Earth” is just brilliant, so enjoyable to listen to. I mentioned here that the album is slightly caught between wanting to push in a commercial direction and wanting to be a real metal album, and maybe that is what makes it one that got lost in the mix at the time. If they had pushed the heavy tones here more, closer to an Iron Maiden direction, would that have been more successful? I don’t know. Also, did they miss a trick not including “Captured City” on this album? Sure it had been published on the “Metal for Muthas” album, but would that have pushed the album more with fans who already knew that song? Would that have mattered anyway? More questions I don’t have the answers for.
The final answer for me on this album is that I still really like it, despite my protestations on parts of the album. Listening again this week does reinforce to me that the flaws it has make it an album that was a missed opportunity, and that perhaps re-recording it in the modern day, with a modern sound and fixing those few little bits would be amazing to hear. I still believe that if I had had this album when I first began to listen to heavy metal back in high school that I would rate this album up there with my favourites, just because discovering it then rather than 20 years later would have given it a different pair of ears to listen to it by.
The band, like so many others of this vintage in the era of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, fell foul of poor management and lack of record label support, and eventually went into remission for almost a decade. Since their reformation in 1990, they have consistently toured and released albums, so the story has ended on a better note than some or many of their contemporaries. This debut album still stands as a testament to the age and the movement, and is more than worthy of your attention.

771. Various Artists / Shocker - The Music. 1989. 4/5

Movie soundtracks can be amazingly hit and miss, and this is often more the case for fans of heavy metal and hard rock. For a start it is often hard to find movies that utilise ’that kind of music’, and then it is difficult to find movies where the music is something that you want to listen to after the event. However, in the late 1980's and early 1990's there was stream of movies that, as a young male is his teenage years and early 20's, were so bad they were good, and also had good artists doing the music, which in turn encouraged you to go out and buy the soundtrack, as well as the film on VHS.
“Shocker” was one of those movies and soundtracks. The concept and story of the film is fairly typical of the B-grade horror films that were coming out around this era. Released in 1989, the story centres on serial killer Horace Pinker, played by future X-Files alumni Mitch Pileggi who would play Assistant Director Walter Skinner. In this film, Pinker has killed over thirty people, including most of the foster family and the girlfriend of the main protagonist Johnathan Parker, who we eventually learn in Pinker’s biological son. Parker has formed a psychic connection with Pinker, and he is able to help his police detective father in capturing Pinker who is sentenced to death. Pinker has however made a deal with the devil, which allows to him be converted to pure energy on his execution, and thus be able to possess other people to escape where he is and also continue his murder spree. And now not only do the good guys have to work out that Pinker can do this, but how to stop him.
Back in the day I saw this at the cinemas when it was released, travelling to Sydney with my usual circle of friends to laugh and make inappropriate comments through the film, and enjoying the songs that were a part of the movie. The main one that had been released as a single prior to the movie's opening was the cover of Alice Cooper’s “No More Mr Nice Guy” performed by Megadeth, which was one of the reasons we decided to go forth and watch it. And then when the movie was released on VHS, I hired it and made my own copy for further viewings over the years. And I won’t lie to you, I loved it. It was so corny, so laughable, that it was fun.
Watch the movie now, and you would wonder what we saw in it. Even as a cult film now, whenever I watch it now (yep, I still do) I have to cringe through some parts of it.
Of course, the soundtrack came out at the same time, and I did eventually get around to buying it, although it was a couple of years later, most probably when I had copied the movie to watch again. And if you want 80's hard rock, which is heavily influenced by one Desmond Child, who was the hit-maker at the time, helping to make Bon Jovi stars, and revitalising Alice Cooper, Aerosmith and Kiss for the 'modern' age, then you get that in spades here.

The album opens with the song that comes over the credits and is the movie’s title track, “Shocker”. It is performed by the 'superstar band' who came together for this project called The Dudes of Wrath, comprising Paul Stanley and Desmond Child on duelling vocals, Vivian Campbell and Guy Mann-Dude on guitars, Rudy Sarzo on bass guitar, and Tommy Lee on drums, with backing vocals by Michael Anthony and Kane Roberts. "Shocker" is the high energy anthemic theme to proclaim the heroes at the end of the film once they have vanquished the villain. I love this song despite its cheesiness, you can barely stop yourself from singing along in the car. And it is truly stuck in that era and drips with Desmond Child’s influence. This is followed by Iggy Pop (with some help from Alice Cooper) singing "Love Transfusion", another with obvious influence from Desmond Child and co-written by him and Alice. It has the same melodies and chorus lines as the opening track in some ways, and fits in nicely as a result. I’ve always enjoyed this song, and Iggy isn’t quite as hectic as he often is. Terrific. Tagging along after this is Megadeth's cover of Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy", a great rocking version of the song. This was such a great version of the original, it actually inspired the band I was in at the time with my mates to play it live. And the first time we did our vocalist had run out of puff so I did double duty on drums and vocals. Anyway. Mustaine does a great job in this song. I actually bought the cassingle to this when it was released, which also had two songs on the B-side that I eventually found were also on this soundtrack album. That cassingle got a hammering in the car at the time.
"Sword and Stone" is the next song performed by the band Bonfire, and as soon as you hear it you will believe you are listening to a Kiss song. And you wouldn’t be wrong, as the track is actually written by Stanley and Child, along with Bruce Kulick who was Kiss’s guitarist at the time and was demoed for their “Crazy Nights” album. Instead, it was offered to Bonfire who recorded it for their own album “Point Blank” and also for this compilation. It’s a fun song. Eventually though we had to come to the power ballad, the song utilised in the movie to signify lost love through the murderous rampage of a serial killer. And that song is “Timeless Love”, the Desmond Child penned abomination performed by Saraya. Child uses all of the power ballad tricks in this song to draw out the emotion he is looking for. For me however, that emotion is severe nausea. It’s a tragic song, but not in the way the writer and performer were looking for.
The Dudes of Wrath return to clean up the mess with "Shockdance", co-written by Child, Guy Mann Dude, Vivian Campbell and Kane Roberts, and this time featuring Alice Cooper on vocals, rapping along with Horace Pinker himself, Mitch Pileggi. It is so 80’s that it is somewhat painful, but in the long run it is fun, and Alice Cooper is always great to listen to. His back and forth with Pileggi’s character is overcomes and perceived weaknesses. This is followed by "Demon Bell (The Ballad of Horace Pinker)" which is performed by Dangerous Toys with some writing input from Child. This is also a beauty, and was one of the B-side tracks on the “No More Mr Nice Guy” single. It has a great upvibe tempo and fits in with the mood of the album nicely. "The Awakening" by Voodoo X starts a little slowly but builds to a satisfying conclusion. They released this song on their only album “Vol 1: The Awakening”, and the song is actually quite good, channelling several bands of the era in the hard rock scene. It’s interesting that they didn’t amount to more. One song that really caught my attention initially was "Different Breed" by Dead On, perhaps because it was the other B side track to the "No More Mr. Nice Guy" single I bought before I bought this soundtrack. I don't know what happened to them, but they sound like an early version of Scatterbrain, who I loved when they arrived around this time. I've always loved this song, and was disappointed I could never find any more of their music. The album then concludes with a reprise of "Shocker", fading out leaving you feeling like the hero.
THE awakening

I’ve pretty much covered my history with both this film and its soundtrack. The producers of the film were cluey in having Desmond Child oversee the songs for the soundtrack and how they fit into the film, because he has done a great job here, not only with the composition of his supergroup and their input, but the other bands and musicians attached. Because I really believe there is only one weak song on this album, the afore mentioned atrocity that is “Timeless Love”. Everything else here is very enjoyable, even if you have to imagine you are back in 1989 to get the most from it. Because there is little doubt most of the songs here have dated, which is what made them so good at the time because that was what the era of music was throwing at us.
On many soundtrack albums, there will be bands that no one knows, who have songs that are mildly forgettable. I don’t think that is the case here. Bonfire, Dangerous Toys, Voodoo X and Dead On all give us some above average songs to enjoy after the big hitters have lit up the front end of the album. And while the hard rock anthems provided here by Desmond Child and his collaborators might still be very cheesy today, as a reminder of that time, they are excellent value.
That said, there would be a narrow field of people who will love this album and/or the film, and I don't pretend it to be otherwise. Kids watching to and listening to this today would for the most part likely be horrified not at the violence on the screen but the style of music the soundtrack contains. Having seen the film on the big screen all those years ago, and having owned a VHS copy since it was released (now sadly gone through the deterioration of the tape), and having both the Megadeth single and the album soundtrack more or less since their release, my opinion is certainly be biased towards the positive for nostalgic reasons as well as perceived quality.
I have listened to this soundtrack album a dozen times over the past couple of weeks, and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. It is one of the best soundtrack albums I own, and I have more than gotten my money’s worth for it. Some of you out there, of course, may well believe that that is a Shocker!

770. Dianno / Di'Anno. 1984. 1.5/5

Paul Di’Anno’s life had turned on a screw back in 1978 when he was asked to join the upcoming and promising young British band Iron Maiden. There had been any number of personnel changes in its early years, but once Di’Anno came on board as the powerhouse lead vocalist with attitude, many of the right pieces had fallen into place. With Di’Anno at the helm, the band had recorded a demo, an EP, and then having been signed up by management and record company, released their first two albums to massive acclaim. There were even tours to the continent and overseas, and everything seemed to be trending upward for the band in every possible way.
And then Paul got sacked.
Now while it may have been controversial decision with some fans at the time, all of this turned around pretty quickly. The recruitment of Samson lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson then brought forth the new album “The Number of the Beast” ... and, well, you all know the story from that point on. Iron Maiden went forth and conquered and continued to do so pretty much to the present day.
For Di’Anno himself however, he now found himself an icon without a gig. His addictions, homesickness and lack of care for his primary asset, his voice, had all contributed to losing his paid gig, and now he needed to find a way to get himself back on his own two feet.
From this position so far away from those days themselves, it seems incomprehensible that Paul Di’Anno, who had been the popular and enigmatic lead singer of the biggest band of the NWoBHM era, could possibly be out of work for very long. No matter what the reasons for his dismissal had been, here was a frontman that any band out there must have been considering as a perfect fit for their sound. Or, on the other hand, if Paul himself decided that he wanted to build a band himself, surely there had to be musicians and record companies falling over themselves to become involved with him. It seems impossible to think that he could be away from the music scene for very long.
As it turns out, though it did take some time, this did indeed come to pass. Paul had come to frequent the gigs of a band called Minas Tirith, a band who had recorded several demos without much success. Eventually Paul had a discussion with guitarist Lee Slater, keyboardist Mark Venables and bass guitarist Kevin Browne and convinced them that they should work together on a new project to be called Lonewolf. Along the way the band recruited P.J Ward as a second guitarist from the band Bastille and Dave Irving on drums to complete the group. Then there was a dispute with another band that also went by the name Lone Wolf (though with a space between the two words), which brought on the change of name simply to Di’Anno - which, surely in hindsight, was the best way to publicise the new band to fans of his previous work.
All of this led to the writing and recording of the debut studio album, the release of which would be measured purely by the success it could achieve.

On a recent podcast episode for Adrian Smith’s solo project album “Silver and Gold”, I mentioned the same thing I am going to say here – if you are looking for an Iron Maiden album, you have come to the wrong place. This is not quite as far away as you could imagine an album to be from what you may have expected, but it is pretty damned close. When the album starts, and it jumps straight into a synth keyboard strut, those worst fears appear realised within seconds. What follows is confirmation of everything that it could be. Pure 1980's vanilla, those three and four way harmony backing vocals, for the most part drowned in synthesizer, with the guitars almost taken out of the plot, given only an occasional solo break to make themselves be known, which for the most part are used rather lamely. It is an interesting experience, in a similar way to that Adrian Smith album, in that this band has a twin-guitar attack, but it is the keyboard and synth that is the most prominent factor in the music mix. Then we have Paul's vocals themselves. They are fine. They are strong. But there is no effort to push themselves either. He mostly stays within a very comfortable range without any expectation of extending himself in the way he had in the past. His vocals at the very beginning of "Tales of the Unexpected" just aren't his at all, or at least they are not in the style that fans had become accustomed to. Paul reaches out, and tries to emote in a way that will be attractive to the audience that this album is obviously striving for, the harmless middle-aged people who like to sit and listen to their stereo at a low volume from the comfort of their armchairs. Because this is what it is. It isn't elevator music, it is comfort music, like those American AOR bands such as Foreigner and Chicago. There is no aggression, nor is there anything containing unsubtle hints of innuendo. It is the calm and relaxing conversation on the phone between people rugged up in front of the fireplace.
So get ready for a collection of tracks that are as surprising as you could imagine. “Flaming Heart” that has a synth solo at its heart rather than a guitar driven background, and Paul’s vocals with a melody of backing vocals around him. “Heartuser” is an unapologetic rock ballad while “Here to Stay” could have been written and performed by any of the AOR bands of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, so formula-driven is the concept. Two soft rock ballads in a row! That’s pretty tough to take.
“The Runner” runs for three minutes with the same repetitive riff and synth combination that it feels like you are pulling teeth by the end. And then what I guess was written to be the mid-album epic of “Tales of the Unexpected” jars the remaining strength from your body.
Side Two of the album does a little to alleviate this feeling. “Razor Age” actually has Paul pulling out a more energetic and realistic vocal performance, and the guitars come through more than they have previously to create what is at least a semblance of a hard rock track. Ditto with “Bright Lights”, with an opening guitar riff solo! Hang on, we might have something here! The synth soon returns to provide the man backing of the track, but again at least Paul’s vocals are recognisable and the guitars like their presence felt. “Lady Heartbreak” sounds like an early, average Bon Jovi song with the synth dominant. “Antigua” is more of the same. And the closing track “Road Rat” is more unoffensive clamouring of that dreaded synthesizer based product that the era wanted but ties all albums of such ilk to it for eternity.

Whether this album is a bad album or not becomes somewhat irrelevant by the fact that it sounds exactly like a thousand other bands' albums of that era (and before and since for that matter), and that for me is the sad part about it. I don't think the direction of the music on this album is as disappointing as the fact that it doesn't do ANYTHING to make it stand out from the pack. What market are they looking for here? Radio friendly rock? Because Journey is better than this, Chicago is better than this, Foreigner is better than this. New Wave? Spandau Ballet is better than this. The Human League is better than this. You know you have a problem when the best song on the album is a rather pacey version of oft-covered "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", which is a bonus track on the CD release only.
I can see a pattern as to why this occurred. By 1984 the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was over. Those bands that hadn't busted out and made something of themselves had now dissipated, or very soon would. No doubt Di'Anno was also looking for something that wouldn't associate himself with his previous band. He probably wanted to show he was versatile, that he could do more material than fast punk heavy metal. There was also a chance to try and merge into the success of a more commercial hard rock sound such that Def Leppard had begun to tap into, and the synth-driven radio friendly pop songs that were plagiarising and filling the radio airwaves. Or perhaps I'm way off the mark, and this was just the album this band wanted to record and promote. Whichever way you look at it, success wasn't what came. The album didn't chart in the top 100 anywhere, and after a tour where Di'Anno refused to play any Iron Maiden songs in the set (something that changed markedly forever not long after) they went their separate ways to other ventures.
When I first discovered this album existed, and eventually tracked down a copy so I could listen to it, I can't say that I had any idea as to what I would be walking into, nor was I prepared for what awaited me on the other side. In fact, it is safe to say that of all of the concepts I could have imagined this album being like, a throwaway sarcastic guess would most likely have been a closer response than what I discovered. And that is still the case. I even found this on vinyl second hand about a year ago for $15, and just had to buy it even though I knew what I was getting into. So for the past two weeks, I have had this out of its cover again, and filling the metal cavern with its tones. And I can tolerate it, simply because it is Paul Di’Anno. Having it on in the background while I have been either composing other podcast episodes or watching the footy with the commentary turned down, it has been quite enjoyable. But apart from that initial few weeks when this album was released, is there anything here that would inspire anyone to buy this album, or indeed just listen to it on a regular basis? 18 times over this two week period, I have played it from start to finish, trying to divine an answer to that question that isn’t ‘fuck no this is absolute shite’. My answer though continues to be “it’s not great, but it is fine”.
Di'Anno himself went back to what he was renown for, firstly for the very short run of the so-called supergroup Gogmagog alongside Clive Burr, Janick Gers, Neil Murray and Pete Willis, and then in bands like Battlezone and Killers he rediscovered his mojo to a certain degree. By doing so, he confined this album to the mothballs of history, a place where he no doubt feels comfortable with it being. As a historic remnant it is an album that is worth hearing if only to prove that Di'Anno can sing in a different register than he is generally known for. But once you have heard this, I can't say that I expect too many people to revisit it in the future.

769. Accept / Metal Heart. 1985. 3.5/5

Accept as a band had begun to make moves into the known quantity, firstly with their album “Restless and Wild” and then with the follow up to that album “Balls to the Wall”. Their penchant for AC/DC-like rhythms and vocal stylings had begun to catch on once they pushed outside the envelope and develop their own version of this music. Those two albums had both built on that success, with songs such as “Fast as a Shark” and “Balls to the Wall” drawing new fans into those albums. That success had put them in front of bugger crowds, none more so than support Iron Maiden on their World Slavey Tour.
After five albums where their music had become stronger and more accessible with each release, the band decided to make a move that they hoped would push them into even bigger markets, in particular the US. To do so, for their new album, they hired producer Dieter Dierks to come on board and helm the album. The band had used Dierks Studio before to record albums, but until this time Dierks himself had been unavailable to produce. This was mainly due to the fact that he was almost always busy with the Scorpions, with whom he had been producer since very early in the career. With his help, Scorpions had not only traversed to the top of the charts but were conquering the US at the time on the back of their album “Love at First Sting”. With his name being mentioned as one of the reasons the Scorpions had been able to morph into such success over the previous five years, it made sense for Accept to bring him on board and look to incorporate that into their own music. And on the back of this, alongside the AC/DC influence that had been a part of their early work, Accept also now had a small but important Scorpions influence upon their work. Wolf Hoffman recalled in an interview on his website that Dierks was very demanding in the studio. "We would do some pieces several dozen times trying to capture what he had in his mind for a specific section," and adding "Each song we tried different combinations of guitars, mic'ing and even strings!”
What the band was looking for was a more commercial sounding album without losing the inbuilt qualities that they had come through their first five albums with. The challenge was to write good strong songs that had an ability to break the market wide open for them. They had at least set themselves up to give themselves the best chance of doing that.

It is no real surprise that you can hear that Scorpions influence again seeping into Accept's music, this time not necessarily from following in their fellow Germans footsteps, but in a stylistic way in the recording studio. Not hugely, and not overpoweringly, but there are nuances there to be picked up on. With the band trying to push for a change in the direction of this album to a more commercial side of metal, in order to try and crack the American market, that Scorpions sound would perhaps have been an integral factor being considered. If that is the case, it is quite minimal. They may have changed the songs styles such that the guitars do not have such crunching heavy riffs, but everything else seems to be in order.
I love how the first time my daughter, who was learning to play the piano at the time, heard the opening title track "Metal Heart" which kicks off the album, she immediately recognised the theme of "Fur Elise" in the riff and solo of the song, and made mention of it. There is also a touch of Tchaikovsky in the opening of the song. It's a nice insert, and because that tune is so recognisable it does draw in the interest of those who may not necessarily be Accept fans and at least induces them to have a listen. It is a slow creeping start, but it comes to the party by the middle of the track. "Midnight Mover" then does have a softening chorus, sounding like it is looking to be the radio song that it was released as a single for. It is really only the chorus that changes in its style for this purpose. The rest of the song is pure Accept. In this instance at least it sounds as though there was no intent to make this more commercial friendly, that this is just a progression.
In the main, the songs are probably even faster here on this album than on “Balls to the Wall”, which for most fans makes them more endearing to their heavy metal roots rather than trying to unshackle them. "Up to the Limit" shows this off perfectly, rushing along at speed with squealing guitars and Udo's distinctive vocals. This is one of the best songs on the album and really showcases the way the band has improved over the past three albums to this point. This is followed by “Wrong is Right” which carries on in the same direction. While the opening two songs on the album have their commercially crafted moments, the next two tracks are indicative of the best that Accept has to offer. Wolf Hoffmann and Jorg Fischer here trade duelling solos in Judas Preist-esque fashion, and the song is a triumph.
"Screaming for a Love-Bite" is a song where the case could be made for a change in direction. It sounds like a single from the moment the song starts, and it was subsequently released as the second single from the album, after "Midnight Mover". This is looking for a market, trying to hook in people through its repeated chorus line, and with Udo’s vocals coming back from his trademark screech and finding a melody in the chorus that doesn’t offer the same power as in previous songs. The song is okay when you listen to it in the context of the album proper, but its weakness comparatively both musically and vocally, along with the over repeated lyrics to close out the first side of the album does hold it back.
“Too High to Get it Right” opens up side two of the album, and as a song it is a solid one, the kind of track that you expect to back up the best songs on the album by being the enjoyable fill ins between them. But...the gang backing vocals repeating the track’s name over and over again is overplayed, too much to really enjoy the track as it is. Again, it’s fine but just overdone in the process. A couple of the songs here also seem to have choruses that are reminiscent of their AC/DC early album songs, looking for that anthemic quality so the listener will chant along and be all the more memorable. "Dogs on Leads" is an example of this, and while the song overall is good, in exactly the same way that the other band does, sometimes it can just grate a little too much. There is also a familiar ring of the drum and rhythm of the song “Balls to the Wall” here that is a little distracting. "Living For Tonite" also possesses that almost-anthemic quality and still is an enjoyable track. Sandwiched between them is “Teach Us to Survive” which plays off the solid rock tones of the other two songs. However, "Bound to Fail" is a great closing track and finishes off the album perfectly. Udo is in great form and the bass line from Peter Baltes suits the track perfectly. And the song leads out to its conclusion with a Queen-like guitar solo from Hoffman to finish the album in style.
“Metal Heart” has a lot to like about it. The production is slicker, the songs are strong, the musicianship is top class. Udo’s vocals, even if you aren’t a fan of his gravelly disposition, are in top form, and show an increasing variety in their tone and range.

 
I didn’t come in to Accept the band until the 2000’s. Like everyone in existence I knew “Balls to the Wall” the song and probably heard a handful of other through the years, but it wasn’t until my decision to go back and chase down artists that I hadn’t heard in the mid-2000's, especially those of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, that I began to go through their catalogue. And as I had decided to listen to them all in the order they were released, I had already discovered and enjoyed “Breaker” and “Restless and Wild” and “Balls to the Wall” by the time I came to “Metal Heart”. And having admired the progression the band was making from one album to the next, I found that this was just as enjoyable. Yes, there is a slight change in the way the songs are written and pushed compared to those three previous albums, but it too me isn’t something that jumps out at you and creates a conundrum in listening to it. There are a lot of songs here I really like. The opening four tracks are all strong and enjoyable for being a new kind of hard and heavy metal style for Accept, while the second side of the album sticks true to what came before when it comes to tempo and rhythm.
I still like this album a lot, and yet there is something that just deprives it of something that - for me at least - doesn't allow it to jump into a higher category in regards to ranking against other bands of the age. And it may well just be as simple as this fact. Because if I had discovered this album in my teenage years when it was released, it would probably be a classic to my ears. The fact that I didn't find Accept until much later means their albums don't have that starry eyed love that other albums from that era have for me, because I actually had them at the time and I have grown up with them. I didn’t grow up with this album or the others that preceded it I have only discovered them in a much more recent period, and so they didn’t get played to death at that time when I was gorging myself on the band and the albums of the era. Take me back to 1986 and hand me this album, and right now I could well be spending another 20 minutes praising its qualities. Because I think they are there. I’m just unable to put aside what I feel may be a few inadequacies that I may have blinded eyes to when it comes to other bands and albums that I did have in 1986.
I recently purchased this on CD on eBay because I didn’t own it, and I really wanted to. And it sounds awesome listening to this in the Metal Cavern. It is still a very good album, that perhaps once again has even raised itself in my esteem having heard it once again for the first time in a while. And it is true that I probably prefer the latter career albums of Accept with Mark Tornillo on vocals because they have more aggression in their music and vocals. But this for me is still a worthy listen. It is probably also true that it is the last of the four album stretch that was such a huge part of the classic era of the band.

768. Blitzkrieg / A Time of Changes. 1985. 3.5/5

Of all of the bands that were formed or pulled along in the wake of the rise of the NWOBHM in the early 1980’s, and then promptly turned to dust once that movement had run its course and the reality of the music business was born upon them, one of the least likely stories of ultimate longevity despite their rocky start is the band Blitzkrieg. The story of their slight rise, then abolition, only to find a way to crawl back into the light and succeed in finally releasing a debut album that no one thought would ever see the light of day, is a story and journey and hardship and triumph for band leader and lead vocalist Brian Ross. And like so many bands of this era, their path to resurrection can be almost singularly attributed to the support of one band. Metallica.
Ross first founded the band Blitzkrieg at the end of 1980, when he joined another band by the name of Split Image. Almost from the outset, Ross went about convincing the other band members - guitarists Jim Sirotto and Ian Jones, bassist Steve English, and drummer Steve Abbey - to ramp up their music and head in a more metallic direction, one that had gained a foothold over the past 18 months in the UK. Within weeks of this decision, the newly christened Blitzkrieg had already recorded a three-song demo tape that instantly attracted the attention of independent label Neat Records, who immediately included the track "Inferno" in their ‘Lead Weight’ titled compilation album. A deal was simultaneously struck for the release of a single containing the remaining two tracks, and the result was 1981's "Buried Alive," whose B-side - a rather loose reworking of the song "Hocus Pocus" by the band Focus, and go ahead and listen to the two songs together, you’ll hear that riff in both - would both bear their name “Blitzkrieg” and ultimately guarantee their lasting legacy. The single was a huge success, and by early 1981 Blitzkrieg had written enough new material to consider going into the studio and recording an album. Unfortunately there was already fractures beginning to appear in the band. Both Jones and English were soon shown the door, to be replaced by John Antcliffe and Mick Moore respectively. A second demo, the six-song “Blitzed Alive”, was recorded at a gig where they were supporting French band Trust, a demo that they hoped would help pave the way to recording their debut studio album. The trouble within the band could not be solved, and they soon dissolved without being able to take advantage of the popularity they had been able to create in their short time together. And that should have been the end of the short lived career of Blitzkrieg.
Then in 1984, Metallica released the first single from their sophomore album “Ride the Lightning” called “Creeping Death”. On the B-side of this single, they recorded two cover songs from their favourite bands of the NWOBHM age. The first was “Am I Evil?” a cover of the song by the band Diamond Head. The second was a cover of the song “Blitzkrieg”, which itself had been the B-side to Blitzkrieg’s only single release. Was it a coincidence, or a piece of very good fortune, that around this same time, Brian Ross had decided to reform Blitzkrieg and have a real shot at a second redemption? Legend has it that a very young and then unsigned Metallica had actually sent Ross a demo tape in the hope of being signed with Neat Records as he was doing some work for them at the time. Could this have been a quid-pro-quo? No matter what, Ross had been playing in other high-profile bands since Blitzkrieg’s demise, bands such as Satan, Avenger and Lone Wolf, and now had decided to try again with Blitzkrieg. Jim Sirotto and Mick Moore returned, while guitarist Mick Proctor who had been in Tygers of Pan Tang and drummer Sean Taylor who had been in Satan and Raven, came on board to complete the line up. Ross had had a standing invitation from Neat Records that if he could get a band together that they would release and album from the band. The majority of the material was still there waiting to be recorded, and so the newly reformed band entered the studio to record the album that should have been done four years earlier, and would be released in April of 1985 under the name of “A Time of Changes”.

The album opens with the moody and scene setting instrumental of “Ragnarok”, a nice interlude to lull you into the opening proper. It almost reminds of an 80’s version of the them music to the movie “Halloween” but obviously not as spooky or compelling, but fun all the same, before segueing into the opening track which comes with the band’s first demoed song “Inferno” that was included on the compilation album back in 1981. The solid rhythm holds the song together throughout, and there are moments when the song really comes to life. Ross’s vocals appear to be a little too far back into the mix compared to the original demo made by the band, and less energetic as well. Is that four years really such a period of time to affect this? In this regard, you need to compare it to the following track as well, as the song “Blitzkrieg” was also on that original demo tape. While the version of this song does appear closer in kind to the demo version, both re-recorded versions for this album appear less exacting and less energetic and real than those demos. It is the best example of how different this album may have been if it had been recorded back in 1981 when the band was really cooking, rather than four years later with a bits and pieces reformation of the band pretty much going into the studio cold to provide the versions for the album in this era. Both songs here are still really good and certainly I enjoy them, but the compromise of comparison does create a false reality in some places.
“Pull the Trigger” is in fact a song by Ross’s previous band Satan that he went to after the dissolution of Blitzkrieg. It is written by Stan guitarist Russ Tippins, who makes a guest appearance on this track. It didn’t feature on Satan’s debut album “Court in the Act” and thus gets a run here instead. This again is a mixture of some very good stuff, notably the guitar solo with Tippins involved, and some average parts. Again the rhythm is solid and steady, Mick Moore’s bass line outshines the rhythm guitar on this song, but the soling is excellent. This is followed by the other previously available song "Armageddon" from the “Blitzed Alive” demo. It goes through about three different time changes throughout the song. At one point it sounds like Ross wants to be Rob Halford and the song wants to be Judas Priest. Similarities end very quickly, but it is still one of their best songs here, a solid rhythm guitar riff giving Ros that ability to riff his vocals off it in a more favourable way than he perhaps has done on the earlier songs of the album. Moore’s basslines again show some great versatility. Both “Pull the Trigger” and “Armageddon” may have been improved by cutting the length of the tracks rather than driving out beyond the five minute mark, but in the case of “Armageddon” that desire to treat the listener to a progressive like track with all of the trimmings fills out the time well enough.
Side 2 of the album opens up with “Hell to Pay”, which utilises dubbed live crowd noise from a Queen concert, ala Dio's "King of Rock and Roll", to give it a faux live sound. The band really ups the tempo again, with the fast paced 2/4 timing and anthemic chorus and great guitar solos making this one of the best songs on the album. If there is one thing that the “Blitzed Alive” demo showed is that Blitzkrieg was an excellent live band back at the beginning of their career, and the way they structure this track actually proves that point again. "Vikings" acts as the power ballad of the album, perhaps more progressively than that as it does move from the quiet and moody into a stronger finish than a typical hair metal ballad would take. This is followed by the lengthy "A Time of Changes", one that again seems to crush three different songs into one, such are the changes in the flow of the song. I guess the title does somewhat give that away. It acts as a progressive attempt at mainstream metal like “Armageddon”, with the billowing changes in tempo and style trying to replicate a style that had been popular back when the band was first active. The album concludes with "Saviour" in a cacophony of crashing drums of squealing guitars. There is little doubt that this is the style of song that the band should have concentrated more heavily on. The tempo is back up at the right level, the energy output is fantastic, and the vocals and guitars combine to bring the album back to life in perfect style. It is a great way to finish the album, but also makes you wonder why there wasn’t more material like this before it.

I went down a rabbit hole just over two decades ago as I sit here recording this episode. I had come to a kind of ‘end of the line’ situation. Most of the bands that I had listened to for most of the previous two decades seemed to have run out of ideas with their music. And I was starved for variety. I was really looking for more than I had. So I utilised the internet, and I began to search far and wide for those albums and bands that I had heard of in the past, but had either never heard or could hardly find. And the bands of the NWOBHM were at the top of my list. And I found a lot of them. I made a list, and kept adding to it as I searched. And through various sources I was able to track down new listening for my waning attention span. One of those bands was Blitzkrieg. Yep, like you, I knew them from that Metallica single. Hell, the bands I was in with my mates in my late teens and early twenties used to PLAY “Blitzkrieg” the song. We loved it. And so, having researched the history of the band and then tracked down albums one by one, I got to finally find out more about them than just the fact that Metallica liked at least that original demo tape.
When I first got this album and listened to it quite a bit, I guess I get from it what most people have, and what you may also believe. For a start, the album was five years too late. It sounds like it was recorded in 1980, and of course the songs were all written a year after that, so they were already from that era. The chance for this album to lead to something more had already passed, because they sounded like another era. Compare the sound of these songs to the debut Iron Maiden and Def Leppard albums album. Yeah okay, there are some similarities there. But by the time this was released, Maiden had released “Powerslave” and Leppard had released “Pyromania”. THAT was where those bands had progressed to in that short space of time. By releasing this album at that time, Blitzkrieg were a long way behind the eight ball.
Away from all of those comparisons, this album just doesn’t quite match up to the era. And as I have mentioned, I was discovering this album already 20 years after it had been released. At that same time I was also discovering Venom’s “Welcome to Hell” and “Black Metal”, Holocaust’s “The Nightcomers” and Killing Joke’s debut album. They all shared similar aspects to their writing and recording. And each of them has some short fallings. And this wasn’t the only band that missed its shot at the time, and then recorded a debut later on far beyond when it should have come out. Sweet Savage’s “Killing Time” is another prime example. Add to this the problem that the new and improved versions of their songs, while still good versions here on this album, couldn't match the original versions that appeared on their demo tapes from the 1981 era.
Having had my CD copy of this album on again this week, I can report that it hasn’t been unpleasant. I still enjoy a lot of this album, even if there is always this nagging doubt in the back of my mind, wondering just what could have been done with this material with some updating and tweaking around the place. Brian Ross’s vocals stray at times, and while the guitars sound really good in sections, when tied to the rhythm they seem to not mix in well at all. Perhaps I’m being petty. Perhaps I am looking for something that isn’t there. To be fair, given that this band, which is still going, has had some 40 different people play in it over the years, perhaps the band is still searching for some of those things too.
In retrospect from the modern day looking back on an era that was just slightly before my time as a music lover and headbanger, I can still get the best out of this, but it is obvious that a trick was missed when the four years passed between the prime time for release and the actual time of release.
I have probably always wanted this to be more than it is, based solely on the first song I ever heard from the band all those years ago. I have no reservations in listening to this album still today, there are some great moments on it. And not everything can be a great album, can it? Sometimes you have to settle for something just being a reasonable album.

767. Metallica / 1983-03-05: The Stone, San Francisco, CA, USA [Cliff's 1st Show] [Bootleg]. 5/5

The availability of, and ability to track down, bootleg recordings of bands in recent years has increased remarkably with the advent of the internet and other various modes of recording and distributing such albums. Nowadays practically every concert played is recorded by someone, and the sharing becomes more widespread.
There are some real gems that can crop up from days past, ones that still hold up years later, ones that have recorded a piece of history. Some of these pieces of history can also be pieces of crap, depending on the quality of the recording, or the quality of the performance involved. This bootleg has the best of both, which is fortunate, as it marks a big moment in the history of Metallica. The band had just parted ways with original bass guitarist Ron McGovney, and had found a new guy named Cliff Burton to take his place. His first show with the band was on 5th March 1983 at The Stone in San Francisco, and the band had brought in their open air reel-to-reel to record the show. From that came this bootleg.

This really is a superb bootleg. It is raw, and it captures the band in their ultimate rawness. It's interesting to hear the vocals especially. They aren't note-perfect, which to be honest is refreshing given they were yet to release a studio album. You can hear early indications as to why James's voice eventually blew out, even from this point in time. Dave Mustaine takes the lead on the opening tracks "The Mechanix" and "Phantom Lord", both of which he helped to compose, before handing over lead vocal duties to James. The setlist is terrific, and the band doesn't sound all that different from the one that eventually led to the studio. Filling out the set came the band's three favourite cover songs, "Am I Evil" (with Mustaine's guitar cutting in and out during the solo) and "Blitzkrieg", both of which eventually made the B side of the single for Creeping Death, and "The Prince". Here you can also hear for the first time Cliff Burton's bass solo, which on the album was entitled "(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth". What an amazing sound he gets out of that bass guitar, and it's just amazing to hear it here for the first time with this band.

This show was just two months before the band entered the studio to record their debut album Kill 'Em All. Everything that ended up on that album appears here in their live setting, except for "Hit the Lights", and of course the re-working and re-naming of "The Mechanix" to become "The Four Horsemen". It was also just one month before the sacking of Dave Mustaine as lead guitarist, and the hiring of Kirk Hammett as his replacement. As such, it is one of the few bootlegs around that has this quartet performing. Have a listen to this, and then pull out Kill 'Em All and notice the differences. Apart from Kirk's solo's, there really isn't that much!

Rating:  Whoever thought she'd be better, at turning a screw than me.  5/5

Listen to the complete show here!