1217. Paul Stanley / Paul Stanley. 1978. 3/5

In 1978, Kiss and their management, in their wisdom, decided that each member of the band would record and release a solo album, with all four to be released on the same day. It had been mandated in the band’s contract, but the recording and releasing all at once was apparently not specified. None of the members were to be involved in the other’s albums, this was a chance for each member to express themselves in their own way. The style of all four solo albums were completely different from each other, which could be seen to be either a good move to be that counterpoint to the main band’s normal sound, or one that maybe went too far.
In many ways, Paul Stanley had the most to lose from this solo album arrangement. For all intents and purposes, Paul was the face of Kiss, the main lead singer and guitarist, the one with the moves and hips and that voice that screamed out of the speakers at you. While the fans would have been interested in what the other three produced on their own, they EXPECTED Paul’s work to be brilliant, which would have made the process for him a difficult one. Of the four albums, Paul is the only one who does not include a cover song on his album, with all of the songs written by himself alone or in collaboration with Michael Japp. Given he was by now renowned for his voice and his persona, how far did Stanley dare to drift from what the fans knew on this album that was supposed to portray all of the elements of the individual that they could not necessarily show in a band of four?

From the outset, the album allows you to wonder if you will get something old or something new. The opening track “Tonight You Belong to Me” almost without fail reminds me stylistically of the Kiss track “Sure Know Something”, a song that Stanley wrote for the next Kiss album “Dynasty”. I’ve often wondered if this track was the forerunner for that. This song is sung with less toughness than that song does. It’s still a good song, whether any of this is true or not. It is followed by “Move On” which could easily be a Kiss song, with an Ace solo and the band doing the backup vocals rather than the girls that do so on this song. Both of those things are where there is a difference with this solo album. The fact Paul plays most of the guitars apart from the odd solo from guest Bob Kulick, brother of Bruce who would eventually join the band, does actually give it a poor-man's-Kiss feel on occasions. Perhaps not necessarily on “Move On”, but definitely on “Ain’t Quite Right”, where the title of the song actually explains it pretty well. Something is missing from this song to make it either ballad or rock, and it sits in purgatory as a result.
“Wouldn’t You Like to Know Me” is a pretty simple straight up and down pop rock song with few bells and whistles, aimed at the audience it is composed for. This is followed up by the rock ballad stylings of “Take Me Away (Together as One)”. This seems like a strange composition, not for the style of the song, but the lengths of the song as a result. It is the longest song on the album at five and a half minutes, but it is already dragged out by the softer slower style of the song.
“It’s Alright” opens the second side of the album with more energy, gets us back closer to what most of us have come into the album for. Unfortunately, this is then immediately brought back to earth by the straight out ballad "Hold Me, Touch Me (Think of Me When We're Apart)", complete with the backing crooning of the back up singers and the atypical ballad guitar solo that proliferated these types of songs through the 1970’s and 1980’s. Perhaps not surprisingly, this was the single released from the album which to me is a real shame as it indicates that Paul's best work is this kind of track, and it patently is not. But perhaps my view is not shared by others. “Love in Chains” is a much better song, more of the real Paul attitude in both vocals and guitar. “Goodbye” closes out the album with a certain amount of style, giving the album the pleasant ending it deserves.

Despite my enjoyment of Kiss, I did not hear any of these four solo albums until about 20 years ago. I just felt no compunction to go and find them and listen to them. I didn’t know anyone who owned them, so it wasn’t until the years of downloading that I decided to get around to checking them out.
This album is the one of those four that I expected would be the best, and perhaps that expectation was misplaced. Like I said earlier, there always felt as though more would be expected from Paul’s contribution to the solo albums because of his stature within the main band, and looking back I would say that it would be accurate to say that I did have that expectation and that it harmed how I felt about the album when I first heard it.
I’ve listened to this a fair bit over the last couple of weeks, trying to form an opinion now that would be a more accurate one than perhaps I formulated 20 years ago. And in the long run, it hasn’t changed a great deal. It’s a 50/50 album, one when half of the songs are good solid 70’s hardish rock tracks that have the bones of enjoyable music, and the other half are... a bit soft. They sound under-developed, like they are missing a bit of oomph in order to have them complete. Whether or not this is what Paul was looking for when doing this project, or whether the tracks just lacked the final finish that perhaps they wuold have received in the band environment, I don’t know. For me though, it still rates as a slight disappointment. Indeed, almost 30 years later Paul released his second solo album, “Live to Win”, which is a damned sight better in all departments. Perhaps he had learned from this effort that more energy and grunt makes for a better overall album. It certainly showcases his talent better than this first effort did.

1216. The Jeff Healey Band / See the Light. 1988. 3/5

Jeff Healey had led a remarkable life prior to the point that the band under his eponymous name came to write and record their debut album. Adopted as an infant by a Candian fire fighter, at the age of one Jeff was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes, and lost his sight permanently. Indeed, His eyes had to be surgically removed, and he was given ocular prostheses in their place. He began playing the guitar at the age of three, utilising his unique style of playing the guitar laying down on his lap, and playing the strings like a keyboard. He began playing in bands from the age of 15, and also hosted a jazz and blues radio show in Toronto, where he was known for playing from his massive collection of vintage 78 rpm gramophone records.
Shortly thereafter he was introduced to bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen, with whom he formed a trio, the Jeff Healey Band. The band made their first public appearance at an upstairs diner in Toronto, and soon enough were discovered by a couple of pretty fair guitarists themselves in Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert Collins. The band was signed to Arista Records, and set about writing and recording their debut album, which was to be titled “See the Light”.

This album begins terrifically, with “Confidence Man”, a song that appeared in the movie “Road House”, and “My Little Girl” which is written by Healey himself. Both have that great energy and drive that for me at least isn’t always a part of blues songs, but most definitely appear here. It announces the band from the beginning. “River of No Return” comes back to a more circumspect typical blues track to follow the opening assault, and is followed by another Healey written track “Don’t Let Your Chance Go By” where he is definitely drawing inspiration from the muddy depths of deep south blues sound.
“Angel Eyes” was the band’s best performing single from the album, but given it is truly a ballad rather than having any blues involved in the song at all, it feels as though it was aimed at the commercial radio market. The result because of this is that it stands out amongst the remainder of the album, and doesn’t really fit within that framework. No doubt there are fans out there who like this song and enjoy it. For me, it really is like a sore thumb. “Nice Problem to Have” is the only song here that is credited to all three members of the band, a complete blues instrumental that not only returns the album to the genre of its making but that would have the fans clapping away in the bunker blues clubs.
The good vibes return in full swing on “Someday, Someway”, with the tempo ratcheting up again and Jeff’s honey smooth vocals coming to the fore along with a solid guitar solo through the middle of the song. ”I Need to be Loved” is a simple straight blues rock track written by Healey himself and performed solidly. “Blue Jean Blues” is a cover of the song by the blues rock masters ZZ Top from their “Fandango” album, the highlight of which here is Jeff’s great guitar soloing through the middle of the track. “That’s What They Say” is another Healey penned track, and is more country than blues in structure, and sounds in a more commercial bent as a result, without his traditional hard blues guitar in the song. “Hideaway” is another blues music instrumental that incorporates all of those typical elements of the genre. The album concludes in a great way thought with the title track “See the Light”, where the band attack the song with gusto, all of their instruments being strung and hit hard, and the real shining light of the band comes forth, as the rhythm of drums and rumbling bass hold fort while Jeff lets fly on guitar and sings with passion. The bookends of this album are the true highlights, and it is a great finish to this album.

You would be correct in assuming that me listening to, reviewing and enjoying a blues album is a very rare event. I accept the blues rock that infiltrates many of the great hard rock and even heavy metal bands of the world, and the influence it has had on them and their music. I even enjoy some stuff, more particularly Gary Moore’s initial foray into the genre following his hard rock and metal years. But overall, straight blues is not something that I am a huge fan of.
The fact remains that like many people of my vintage I discovered The Jeff Healey Band through the movie ‘Road House’ which starred Patrick Swayze, where The Jeff Healey Band played as the house band at the club that was the centre of the storyline, and Jeff himself acting in a small role in the film. The energy of the band in that movie gave those scenes a real kick, and so I decided I needed to check out this album as a result. And, for the most part, I really enjoyed it. So much so that when they announced they were touring Australia on it, I went and saw them in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre, and they were simply superb.
It has been a long time since I listened to this album. I lost my vinyl copy in a flood over 20 years ago, and it has taken me a while to re-purchase another copy. Almost without fail, I like to listen to it straight after I have re-watched “Road House”, which wasn’t possible for a number of years. Reliving it over recent weeks, I find that I still enjoy much of the album. There are certainly some tracks that I would be happy skipping over if it was in a certain situation, but the album overall still has that great quality that it had on release 35 years ago. Its freshness at the time still leaps out of the speakers at you in songs like “Confidence Man” and “See the Light”. For lovers of blues music there is a lot to like here. For those who are ambivalent about the blues like me, I still think there are songs here you will find enjoyable.

1215. Type O Negative / Bloody Kisses. 1993. 4/5

Type O Negative’s first two albums had been well received following their formation in 1989. Bass guitarist and vocalist Peter Steele's previous band had broken up, and he decided to form a new band with childhood friends, drummer Sal Abruscato, keyboardist Josh Silver, and guitarist Kenny Hickey. Their first album “Slow, Deep and Hard” had been followed by the faux-live album “Origin of the Feces”, before moving into this third album.
"Bloody Kisses” has had several releases, but for me none so bizarre as the original release that was then followed a few months later by a digipack release, that omitted the few short instrumental tracks, as well as the two controversial tracks. Obviously they were looking to play down any controversy or banning of the album from certain stores in the US, but for me the second release waters down the great stuff that the original release still highlights. The track listing was also adjusted, and for me this also makes the album weaker and less impactful. The fact that it was Peter Steele himself that requested this always felt even more strange, especially when the rest of the band more or less came out and said that the digipack version “sucked”. As it is, it is the original version that I have and listen to.
It is often said that “Bloody Kisses” is Type O Negative’s break through release, the album where they began to establish themselves in their own right, and find the groove that gave them their ultimately classic sound. Opinions will always differ in this regard. What can be said about “Bloody Kisses” is that the varied output of songs throughout gave a full rounded view of the band and their abilities. That variety is something that some fans feel lets the album down, but for me I’ve always enjoyed it. It doesn’t sit in the same tempo or mood all the way through, it has its rises and falls – at times in the one song let alone through the song list – and we are offered the fun of the change between these moods.

What initially drove the success of this album was the first two singles released, which are the first two songs on the album following the introductory “Machine Screw”. They are “Christian Woman” and "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)". These had music videos made for them, which were plastered all over MTV and VH1, but they were scaled back versions of the album’s originals, which went for 8 and 11 minutes respectively. Unusually, the singles-released version of the songs are actually quite good, but they don’t compare with the originals here, where you get the full experience of the three acts in each song.
The musical transition from their two big singles to their two controversial tracks makes that difference stark, with the brooding gloom of the doom metal sound then harking back to a post punk hard core riff showing a combination of both the past, present and future of the band’s developing sound.
Those two politically motivated tracks on the album can either be viewed as controversial thoughts or tongue-in-cheek banality. "Kill All the White People" and "We Hate Everyone" were written as a response to the controversy over the bands' alleged racist sentiments that were born after a tour in Europe and due to Peter Steele's previous band Carnivore's explicit lyrics. Now with Steele’s leanings in this respect notwithstanding, taking the songs on face value would be an easy parody of the situation.
“Kill All the White People” leads into “Summer Breeze”, initially intended to be a parody of Seals & Crofts soft rock hit, which morphed into a straight cover of the song after the band objected to the change in lyrics that Steele had composed. And yet, for some reason, it still works. This then jumps into “Set Me on Fire” which then acts as a parody of the cover song they had just performed. The back half of “Set Me on Fire”, with the organ synth in combination with the lead guitar is amazing stuff, combining eras of the 60’s and 70’s in a great mesh of sound. I don’t know why it is so effective, but it really is. This four song swing is then brought to a subtle conclusion with the other bookend track, “We Hate Everyone”, the second hard core punk styled angry tongue in cheek track to complement “Kill All the White People”, that breezes up the album again in an effective and fun tempo. Bravo.
The second half of the album, for me, doesn’t quite live up to the first half. The songs are good, but in the case of the title track, I feel it does stretch out too long – or perhaps it is just the plethora of long tracks here that makes this less tolerable for me. The album tops out at 73 minutes, and that often is too long no matter who the artist is. I know that when I listen to this album even now, I do press the stop button once the title track arrives. But when I do go beyond, there is still that enjoyment from “Too Late: Frozen” and “Blood & Fire” as there is from the songs that come before it.
Should this have worked in 1993? I guess in a way it was the perfect rebuff as well as extension to what was coming out of Seattle and what the world was looking for. The band for me is why this works so well. Kenny Hickey’s guitars capture every nuance of the each song, whatever the mood, genre or speed. So too the drumming of Sal Abruscato, who left the band after this album as he wanted to do more touring than Peter Steele was comfortable with. And the keyboards, synths and programming from Josh Silver sets those moods up wonderfully well throughout.
The shining point in "Bloody Kisses" is of course the crowning baritone sounds of Peter Steele's voice. In previous works, Steele did sing, but there was a degree of shouting as well. On "Bloody Kisses" however, Steele's vocals are clean, deep, and unique for its time and add a wonderful touch of darkness to the album.

The first time I ever heard Type O Negative was on the Black Sabbath tribute album “Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath”, released in 1994. The final track on the album was “Black Sabbath”, performed by this band – and it was completely amazing. The mood, those vocals, it all worked. To which I decided that I had to find out more about this band and perhaps check out their material. As it turned out, a customer who came into my then workplace about 12 months later who knew I listened to heavy metal asked me if I’d ever heard Type O Negative. The next day he produced for me a copy of “Bloody Kisses”, and I was in business. And while it didn’t really suit what I was looking for on my drives to and from work in the car, it certainly used to fill the terrace house I lived in at the time before my wife came home in the afternoons.
I used to pair this often with any number of Danzig albums, as the similarity at times to both Danzig’s work and Glenn’s vocals used to make this a great combination.
I still think this album has stood the test of time. When I first got the album, I found it got better the more I listened to it. And while my cassette copy has been lost in the mists of time since, the occasional streaming still reminds me very much of those days. Having had the album on for the last couple of weeks in order to do this podcast episode, I have smiled often as I listened. This album was one of several that got me through some very ordinary times back in 1995, and though the memories of that time are as bleak as some of the songs on this album, I am still filled with the joy of how it was able to eradicate some of that misery. And that is the power that music can have even in the darkest hours.

1214. Winger / Winger. 1988. 3/5

Hard work and persistence don’t always combine to get the rewards you deserve, and especially in the music industry. How many musicians and bands have fought their way to the brink of a breakthrough, only to have their dreams shattered at the final off ramp? While some people are gifted a chance with little behind them, most artists find it takes years of scrapping to get the chance to make the breakthrough they deserve.
Enter the scene Kip Winger and Reb Beach. Both started playing in bands – separately – in high school, and eventually met up as they were recording material for separate projects under the production of Beau Hill. They even began recording demos together at that time, Kip as bass guitarist and lead vocals and Reb as lead and rhythm guitarist and backing vocals. Then Kip’s big break came, climbing on board with Alice Cooper to record and tour on the albums “Constrictor” and “Raise Your Fist and Yell”, the albums that helped resurrect Alice’s career. It was following these two albums and tours that Kip decided he wanted to form his own band and so moved on from the Alice Cooper juggernaut. He reconnected with Reb, and even snared Paul Taylor, who had been touring with Alice Cooper as keyboardist, to also join the new band. With Rod Morgenstein joining on drums, the quartet was complete.
Initially the band wanted to call themselves Sahara, and even had that named on the front cover of their debut album. However, as the name was already take by another band, they had to choose another name. Eventually, it was Alice Cooper himself who suggested that they should call themselves Winger, which is eventually what they did.

Listening to this album in 2023 is a lot different from picking it up in 1988 and putting it on for the first time. The album had four singles released from it, and all of them are stereotypical of the era of hair metal that this is born from. But the quality of it is what makes it stand apart from some of the pretenders of the era. Reb Beach on guitar is superb. He holds the standard riffs through the bass of the songs, but when given the chance to preach his solos they are fantastic and wholly enjoyable. Kip Winger is terrific on bass and as lead singer throughout gives a performance that doesn’t try to overstate his presence, nor go over the top in reaching for heights he doesn’t have or need to. Morgenstein’s drums hold that steady beat throughout while Taylor’s keyboards also aren’t domineering throughout the songs which gives the album a unique presence. All four are capable vocalists as well which makes for a great chorused sound on all the songs.
The first side of the album is dominated by the main singles releases, and thus the lyrical content of the genre focusing on girls and the wanting to get together with girls and the hope that girls want to get with you. Both “Madalaine” and “Seventeen” are jaunty and rocky and singalong favourites, and were pushed along by the popularity of the videos on MTV and the like at the time. “Hungry” is of a similar ilk, though dealing with the subject of a new girlfriend dying in a car crash marks it as a point in difference in the lyrical content. The power ballad “Without the Night” is a favourite of the genre that for me just kills off the good vibes of the opening of the album. It is one of the best of the genre... by which I mean it is a gag-induced crapfest. I do dislike Power ballads.
Side one then winds up with a cover of “Purple Haze”, which I think is just an excuse for Reb Beach to get his Hendrix on. This is still an ear scratcher for me all these years later.
The second side of the album shows us more of the same qualities as the first half. “State of Emergency” and “Time to Surrender” both sit in a mid-tempo style reminiscent of other bands of the era, whereas both “Poison Angel” and “Hangin’ On” are upbeat and pushed along more frantically, allowed Reb to better utilised in his guitar breaks, and the band to show they can perform those faster joyful tracks just as well as their contemporaries at the time. The downside to this is that we then go back to the power ballad to close out the album. The third single released from the album, “Headed for a Heartbreak”, is such a poor choice to complete the album. All of the credits earned by earlier tracks are thrown out the window again by the train wreck of this particular style of song. There must be those out there who think this is a good idea because it happens too often for that not to be the case, but once again in this instance to me it ruins what has been a pleasant experience leading up to the close.

In all of our lives, there are albums that we buy on the scarcest of knowledge. It might be that we know one band member, it might be that someone recommended it to you, or you might have read about it in a magazine... back when those still existed. For me it was because Kip Winger had played on two albums that I obsessively adored at the end of my school years, the aforementioned Alice Cooper classics “Constrictor” and “Raise Your Fist and Yell”. And I thought that if he’d played on those, then surely his own stuff would be worth checking out. It was also, strangely enough, about three years after its release, so I guess I hadn’t really had that much information on it coming to me at the time. I know this because I am currently looking at my CD copy right now, with the price tag still attached, and I didn’t start buying CDs until 1991.
My memories of what I thought of the album at that time of purchase are vague. I know I used to play it, but I don’t think it was often, and it has probably been a shelf stacker for most of the years I have owned it. Perhaps not surprising given the combination of hair metal plus power ballads that are the mainstay of the album here. My guess is that I bought this, and the follow up, at a time when I had money burning a hole in my pocket and I just wanted new product.
Through the years, it hasn’t been sighted very often. It’s most recent surfacing probably occurred around 6-7 years ago when I went through a phase of going back through all of my hair metal albums of those late 1980’s and giving them a spin again, and I do remember thinking then that it was better than I gave it credit for.
Into the past three weeks, and I have certainly rediscovered the good and the average of the album. The singles are pure sugar, the power ballads are pure bastardry, but there are a few songs here that are probably not heralded by anyone that I enjoyed the most. Reb’s guitaring is certainly the best part of an album that is tied to its era, and perhaps is best left to that time.

1213. Smashing Pumpkins / Siamese Dream. 1993. 3.5/5

It is probably fair to say that no one, not even the band itself, expected that the Smashing Pumpkins debut album “Gish” would perform as well as it did. Its initial success meant that the band had ‘jumped the queue’ when it came to bands of their style and growing genre, not only being at the forefront of the grunge movement but then riding the wave created by Nirvana, Pearl Jam and others. It did mean however that when it came time to begin on their sophomore album, there was a certain amount of pressure on the band to produce something special.
Most of this probably could have been handled, but at the time all four members of the band were dealing with their own individual problems that exacerbated what was happening in the Smashing Pumpkins world. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was completely addicted to heroin, and as such was cresting the ups and down associated with that. The band deliberately chose to record the album in Georgia away from their homes in order to be far away from local distractions, but mainly in an effort to break away from Chamberlain’s known drug suppliers, which worked for a short space of time before he was able to find new people in which to ingratiate his habit. Along with this, guitarist James Iha and bass guitarist D’arcy Wretzky had ended their romantic relationship, breaking up just prior to the band's performance at the Reading Festival in 1992. The messy end brought about a great deal of tension and feuding between the two during this period, though they were able to eventually work things out and work together on a friendly level beyond the release of the album. On top of this, though it was not revealed until a decade later, band leader Billy Corgan had been contemplating and planning his own suicide during the writing and recording of this album. He had disposed of most of his worldly possessions, and even fantasised about his own death, and wondering what music would be played at his funeral. Thus it must have been an extremely stressed atmosphere in and around the studio while all of this was going on. And it was under these conditions that Smashing Pumpkins tried to put together the album that would get them noticed on a world stage.

Given the turmoil going on within the individuals in the band, it is somewhat amazing that the finished product is as terrific as it is. Famed producer Butch Vig was onboard once again to help push the buttons, almost literally, and his experience and patience and drive can be seen to be instrumental in the finished product.
Billy Corgan wrote all of the songs, apart from two - “Soma” and “Mayonnaise” which were co-written with James Iha. Butch Vig was quoted as saying that Corgan wanted to produce an album that people would put on and say ‘what on earth is that?!’ And to do that it wasn’t just in the writing of the lyrics and the music, but the way that it was going to be recorded that made that difference. Because when you listen to songs such as “Quiet” and “Hummer” and "Rocket” there is an easy out to say that they are similar in quality and output, that they share a path where they start and end. And then there are songs such as “Silverfuck” and “Sweet Sweet” where the track almost becomes irrelevant as a song and becomes more an artistic overplay, where the formation of the track with several dozen overlays becomes the focus rather than the output of the song. Corgan stated that in the song “Soma”, there were over 40 guitar overdubs on the track. Butch went one better and claims that as many as 100 guitar parts were compressed into one song. I mean, there is art for arts sake, but why the complete overkill in this respect? The simple answer may well have been Corgan’s state of mind at the time, the complex answer is probably his desire to make a song and album that would truly amaze people at the time.
Recording was not a joy either. Though Chamberlain played all of the drums on the album, he would go missing for days at a time on benders, unable to be found. And tensions rose between Corgan and Iha and Wretzky when they discovered that Corgan was overdubbing or even wiping their guitar and bass contributions and re-recording them on his own. Wretsky was quoted much later as saying that he did so because he could record them better and in far fewer takes than she could, and that Corgan had done the same to her bass tracks on the first album as well. Meanwhile, the album went over schedule and over budget, as Corgan and Vig sometimes worked on small sections of each song for two days at a time to get it to their own view of perfection.
Despite the categorising of the album as a grunge album, the styles were markedly different. Pieces of songs such as “Soma” and “Geek U.S.A” have touches of heavy metal, while a progressive rock feel comes across in “Spaceboy” and “Luna”, and alternative rock in “Mayonaise”. Corgan has fingers in many genres of music as a musician and a fan, and he does utilise many of them in composing this album.
It was the two big singles that pushed this band to the heights it climbed to. “Cherub Rock” and “Disarm” both did massive business in singles sales, when those things still existed, and also proliferated the radio on both spectrums. They are still the gems of the album, but they lift the album rather than acting as the only shining lights. The album may ebb and flow, but their appearance only creates a greater understanding and love of the whole rather than just being a highlight.

Like most of you I suspect, I discovered Smashing Pumpkins on the radio, and it was the two aforementioned big singles that grabbed my ears and made me a fan. Getting the album took a little longer, but once I did it was in the phase of the musical world going completely bananas and me trying to get my head around that. It was not just Nirvana (who I enjoyed) and Pearl Jam (who I did not) taking on the world, but other bands that fans identified as grunge who were probably not so much. And that is definitely the case here on “Siamese Dreams”. There are certainly elements of grunge-induced music, but it is the wide variety including other forms of heavy rock and progressive elements that make it such an interesting album and listen. And it was something that Billy Corgan and his merry bandmates would continue into their next amazing album.
So when I did get this album, I knew those singles, and initially I had to get past them to appreciate what else lay within the walls of the music. And as I have mentioned before, that can sometimes be a difficult task. But once I had played this album a few times over, that all subsided and what I discovered was an amazing release, one that never ceases to amaze if you can just turn it up a touch louder in a quieter place, and hear everything that the band (well... Billy) plays in each song. Because each song does become a little like his own painting, with the layers and the colours that he has perfected. Even better, don a pair of headphones and really get the best out of it, because there is a lot their to dissect.
Many would argue this is The Smashing Pumpkins finest album. Others will go for the following album, and with good reason. Some like me tend to go for the slightly heavier concoction that came beyond that. But overall, this is one of those albums that people put in their ‘best ever from the 1990’s’. On that score, I think you’d have to agree that it is well and truly worthy of being on such a list.

1212. Metallica / Kill 'em All. 1983. 5/5

Like any new band, there is no magical pathway to fame and fortune. Most of it is hard work mixed with some good and bad fortune, and more than a dash of talent along with being in the right place at the right time. And so it was for Metallica in the same way as so many other bands. The lead up to their chance to record their debut album was littered with band member changes and the luck of coming up with the right combination at the right time.
The story of how the band came into being and its evolution to one of the biggest bands in the world has been told and retold in many various formats. The coming together of guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich through a newspaper ad is fate in itself, and with Ron McGovney and Lloyd Grant they recorded a song named “Hit the Lights” for a “Metal Massacres” compilation. The recruitment of Dave Mustaine as full time guitarist and co-vocalist brought a fury to the band, in more ways than one. The band recorded their “No Life ‘Til Leather” demo tape that found itself distributed everywhere by fans, and their exposure grew exponentially. Tension with Mustaine eventually led to the departure of McGovney, which allowed the band to bring in Cliff Burton, someone who had caught their eye as they played around the scene, but only on the proviso that they relocated to San Francisco.
The band felt ready to head into the studio for real, but were unable to find anyone to come up with the money required to pay for the recording, as they were unable to find a record label who was willing to front the money. In March 1983, the foursome back their belongings in a truck and drove across the country to New York, where Jon Zazula, a record store owner and eventual founder of Megaforce Records, agreed to help them out. This ended up requiring him to mortgage his house and almost go bankrupt in the process. These were the lengths to which the band and their supporters had to go to get this album off the ground.
A couple of weeks after arriving in New York, Dave Mustaine was fired after a gig, for different reasons depending on which story appeals to you. His overt drug taking and alcohol consumption, along with volent interactions with the band members, gave Hetfield and Ulrich, in their opinion, no choice but to move on without him, despite his obvious talent as a guitarist, singer and songwriter. His final request of the band was that they not use any of his songs when they recorded their debut album. In his place, the band recruited Kirk Hammett, a former student of Joe Satriani, who it is said learned all of the band’s songs on the flight to New York. A good thing too, because the album’s recording started less than three weeks later, and was completed in two weeks.
And so, with all of this turmoil and hard work behind them, it came time to put their brimstone and fire onto vinyl, and spread their word to the masses, to see if the masses would agree that Metallica was indeed one of the hottest new bands in the US.

One of the things that, in my opinion, worked best for Metallica in recording “Kill ‘Em All” is that there is a varied output in the songs that is not necessarily noticeable unless you are really a fan of the work. And one of those major factors is indeed spurned former member Dave Mustaine. Even though he asked the band not to use his songs, there are ways to get around the literally meaning of that, and ensure that the songs can indeed be retained. Mustaine gets four co-writing credits on the album of the ten songs recorded, and to be fair he perhaps should have received more credit than that. The four songs where his name appears are “The Four Horsemen”, “Jump in the Fire”, “Phantom Lord” and “Metal Militia”. “The Four Horsemen” began life as Mustaine’s “Mechanix”, with sexually-innuendoed lyrics about a girl at the gas station. Dave of course eventually used his version of the song on Megadeth’s debut album “Killing is My Business... and Business is Good!” Here though, Hetfield re-wrote the lyrics to concentrate on the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and added a bridge and solo in the middle of the song in order to create a mostly new song. “Jump in the Fire” was apparently the first song Mustaine ever wrote, again utilising sexually charged lyrics. Hetfield again reworked the lyrics, this time as the devil urging people to commit sin so they end up jumping into the fire of hell. Both “Phantom Lord” and “Metal Militia” apparently had minor cosmetic changes from the originals written by Mustaine. All of these are very recognisable songs from the album, and helped to push its eventual popularity, and as a result Mustaine still deserves part of the acclaim, though it must be admitted that James and Lars’s additions to the songs made them not only better songs but more identifiable to their fan base as a whole, rather than making cheap innuendo in the lyrics such as the glam metal genre had done up to that time through bands such as Motley Crue. The lyrical changes in particular allowed Metallica to stand apart from those songs and bands, something that stood them in good stead going forward.
Another of the varied factors can be attributed to Cliff Burton. The story goes that James and Lars first saw Cliff when he was in his previous band, and he was doing his own wailing bass solo, and that was what made them think “here is a guy who could be something special”. Of course, it is that exact same bass solo that the band then recorded for this album, adding Lars’s drums into the second half of the song and calling it “(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth”. It is this kind of unique song and gift that made “Kill ‘Em All” so special at the time, and his contributions throughout the album are amazing, especially in “Motorbreath” and “Whiplash”.
The remainder of the album retains this high water mark. The opening of “Hit the Lights” brings the album to fever pitch from the outset, and given its familiarity with the fans at the time it was the perfect song to open with. “Motorbreath” is electric, with amazing speed both in guitar picking and drumming, and is the short and sharp rebuttal to that which comes before it. “Whiplash” does the same to complete side one of the album in a fury. “No Remorse” is a vastly underrated thrash anthem, one that seems serene to start but finishes in a tide thrash glory, while “Seek and Destroy” has lasted the journey, still in set lists today and still sung as hard by the crowds as it was back when it was released.
In the current day it is hard to imagine a more brutal and incisive beginning to a band’s history as “Kill ‘Em All”. Coming from the bay area as they did, where so many of the most influential thrash bands of all time hailed from at that time, this album not only kick started Metallica’s career, but inspired those around them to follow in their footsteps and create their own dreams as well.

I still remember as clear as a bell the day when I first discovered this album existed. It was May 1986, and my mother had dragged me to a new shopping centre called Macarthur Square, and as she was having a wonderful time walking through the big department stores, I found this out of the way record store, and wandered in and start to browse, not expecting to find anything that I could afford or would probably know anyway. I made my way through the racks, and came to the one labelled “M” - and here was an album by Metallica. Now, it had only been a few months since my friends and I had discovered Metallica, and those amazing albums “Master of Puppets” and “Ride the Lightning”. But I confess that at that time, I had no idea that there had been an earlier album released. So my excitement levels went through the roof. Here was a Metallica album I didn’t know, with some great song titles. So I nagged my parents to loan me the money to buy it, and the deal was done. Then came the interminable wait to get home so I could put it on my parents stereo and discover it for the first time. The wait ended up being more than worth it.
37 years on from that moment, and 40 years since its release, nothing much has changed. “Kill ‘Em All” remains one of those amazing moments in the band’s existence, and also one of the true masterpiece debut albums of all time. The mixture of raw aggression with anthemic moments intertwined, the melding of the lead and rhythm guitar with the bass lines that really matured their songs beyond what they would have been with another bass guitarist, and the youthful screaming of the vocals that highlighted the enthusiasm and desire of the young band to reach beyond the confines of their San Francisco beginnings.
My original copy of this album was lost in a flood some 22 years ago. The copy I have now is the recently remastered and re-released version. But that hasn’t stopped the majesty over the past couple of weeks, taking this out of the cover, placing it on the turntables, and hearing the fade in if the band going nuts, before the opening riff of “Hit the Lights” crashes out of the speaker, and the goosebumps still appear, and the shudder down the spine still follows. Because this still rates as one of the great albums. It may not be as focused or matured as Iron Maiden’s ”Piece of Mind” that was released a few months earlier, but nor should it, given the different stages those bands were at. And Maiden of course were one of the bands that inspired this album in the first place.
This is still the album you can grab when you decide to take a cruise on the highway, turning it up loud and letting the songs do their work. We did it when we were 17 and 18, it was one of the great albums for that kind of experience. I can confirm that it is still worthy of that kind of treatment, though it is a different experience streaming it over Spotify in the car than having the cassette player blasting it out in 1987.
I supposed you’ve guessed that I still love this album. Perhaps I don’t go to it as much as I used to in those late teenage years and early 20’s, but that is because of the sheer volume of albums I now possess than any dimming of my love for this album. The band that I was in during those years attempted many of these songs in those days, and while we nailed a couple, we made a mess of a few others. This one has always been my favourite to play and listen to in that regard.

1211. Anthrax / Volume 8 - The Threat is Real. 1998. 2.5/5

For all of the success Anthrax had had during the back half of the 1980’s as they rode at the forefront of the thrash metal scene, and then into the beginning of the 1990’s, the troubles away from the stage into the mid to late 1990’s was just as difficult for the band to negotiate as the changes in the music scene itself. They had released the album “Stomp 442” in 1995 on the back of this, but it had been the changes at the top of Elektra Records that created the most problems, with the new head of the company openly telling the band in a meeting that she would never have signed them to the contract they did if she had been in charge at the time. The result of this hostility was that “Stomp 442” received practically zero promotion by the record company, which contributed to it being far less commercially successful that their previous album, and eventually led to the band leaving the label.
Anthrax instead signed with an independent label, and went about writing and recording their new album. As with the previous album, Charlie Benante wrote the majority of the music, and played most of the lead guitar, as well as his main job with the band, playing the drums. Paul Crook, who was the touring guitarist for the band at that time, contributed solos to three songs, while Dimebag Darrell from Pantera again contributed solos to two songs.
As an ‘old school’ metal band, Anthrax was well aware of the changes within the music world. It was a tough gig out there for those bands. Some had altered their sound to mix in with the change of era, others had toughed it out, and many had ceased to exist. For Anthrax, with a new record deal and a shrinking live audience, the challenge was to ensure that their product continued to reflect what their fans wanted, and to keep them excited in their work and to push to regain the lost ground that had occurred with the lack of support of their previous album.

The opening two tracks are the best examples of the then-current day Anthrax tunes. Heavy rolling drums, heavy guitars and John Bush’s hardcore vocals overlaying throughout. “Crush” delivers as a solid opening track, while “Catharsis” is probably the better song, bringing better energy and delivery. In the Bush era of Anthrax, when he is going hard at the vocals the songs are at their peak, and both of these songs have those best moments about them.
“Inside Out” has a mood and tempo typical of the age, heavy guitars and hard hitting drums in a slow mid tempo grind and groove with vocals growling rather than soaring with a Dimebag solo tying it all together. While Scott Ian likes to suggest Anthrax stayed true to type during this album, this song, the first single released from the album, offers something that is not that. The song is a good one, but it most definitely brings the era into the album. I guess I should just say it – it sounds like a Pantera song. I wonder why. “P & V” or “Piss and Vinegar” which is what the title actually is, typifies the Bush era with those same hard guitars but at a better tempo and with Bush rallying the troops in a better vocal style that does the song justice.
It has to be said here that, for me at least, a part of this album feels as though it is a cross between an S.O.D album and an “Attack of the Killer B’s” album. “604” and “Cupajoe” are both short and to the point in a similar frame that Charlie and Scott created for Stormtroopers of Death in the 1980’s and seem to have been revived here for this album. On the other hand, “Toast to the Extras” is an “Attack of the Killer B’s kind of song, because of the song lyrics and the style of music written and played for the song. In fact, when you listen to it, even now, the instant reaction is ‘what the fuck is this?!’ For me, none of these three songs fit the concept of what I think of as an Anthrax album, at least an Anthrax mainstream type album. Those songs had their place in the past, but to me it feels as though they are wildly out of place here.
“Born Again Idiot”, “Killing Box” and “Alpha Male” are all much more like it, energetic in a much more positive fashion, and providing a better selection of riffs and solos as well as Bush’s vocals at their best. Offsetting that though is the song “Harms Way”, which starts off as a borderline country western song on steel guitar, and while the song does ‘harden up’ as it progresses, it still sounds like Nashville based song than New York. On the back of that, “Hog Tied” and “Big Fat” are back to the average song style, somehow trapped from being either classic Anthrax or mildly unnecessary.
“Stealing From a Thief” is the album’s closing song, which contains “Pieces” as a hidden track to actually finish the album. Frankie Bello wrote “Pieces” about his brother who was murdered outside his girlfriend’s house two years prior to this, and which Frankie also sings. It is fine, but is it not out of place here? The acoustic guitar and remorseful reflective tone of the song again seems like it is placed here because it was important to the band that it be acknowledged, but the style is all wrong for the departure to the album.
Earlier I mentioned part of this album being like an offshoot of SOD and Attack. Now is the part where I mention that the style associated with the majority of the rest of the album is very much influenced by the sound that Pantera had brought to the scene during the 1990’s. And we know the band admired what Pantera was doing at the time, and the fact that Dimebag Darrell was involved in pieces of this album, and that both Phil Anselmo and Vinnie Paul were present on the album as well, really brings that home to roost. It is in no way a Pantera album, but the sound and the format of the songs here have a definite trend towards that style. “Stealing From a Thief” absolutely trends this way. So the influence of Pantera appears obvious, but the album also lacks cohesion, it appears that in places there is too much going on, and in others not enough. Some fans complain that it sounds too much like nu-metal, and I can hear and understand those thoughts. I’m more of the opinion that they ride the wave of nu-metal (or at least attempt to) without actually getting their feet wet, but others would disagree.

Anthrax is another band that I have supported since my discovery of them in the 1980's, and another of whom I own all of their released albums. This was another of those ‘purchase on love of the past’ albums that I went with in 1998, mostly on the continued belief that they couldn’t put out a poor album, and that I would more than get my money’s worth from it. And it must be said, I was certainly in my phase of European power metal when this was released, mostly in order to avoid the oncoming charge of nu-metal and industrial metal which didn’t sit great with me.
So I bought this album, and I taped it to cassette, and put it in my car to listen to on the way to work and back... and it got the mandatory listens before being swapped out for the next album in line. And it is fair to say that it suffered from what a lot of albums did at the end of the 1990’s, which was me going back to albums a decade earlier and enjoying reminiscing about them rather than giving the new material a fair listen. You can blame “Load and “Reload” for that! They really killed off a lot of new album listening at the end of the 90’s decade!
It wasn’t that I disliked the album that made me stop listening to it at the time, but it was a fact that I would listen to it, and then listen to “Among the Living” or “Persistence of Time” again and roll in the joy and ecstasy of those albums instead. And when it comes to pulling out an Anthrax album from the collection to listen to, there is no doubt that “Volume 8: The Threat is Real” is not high on the list. In fact, as the record company that released this album went bust not long after its release, it was out of print for about 20 years, which at least made this album somewhat valuable before its re-release in the past couple of years.
For the past four weeks I have listened to this album at least once a day, and this is what I have learned from that – most of my initial instincts on the album remain today as they did 25 years ago. There are some good songs on here, but none I would categorise as great. There are some songs on here that just don’t belong in the mix and I think probably harm the flow of the album. And that Pantera influence is undeniable, and the fact that Charlie is now drumming for the ‘band in name only’ as they tour the world probably nails down why this album sounds like it does. Some Anthrax fans like to dislike the Bush era albums because they aren’t the 80’s era albums. There is still enough goodness here for the everyday fan to enjoy. And it still kills “Load” and “Reload”, so it at least has that going for it as well. Final word – good, not great, but not terrible. How’s THAT for sitting on the fence?!

1210. Deep Purple / Shades of Deep Purple. 1968. 3.5/5

The formation of one of the most iconic, revered and influential bands of all time began as most bands do – with fellow musicians conversing and deciding to form a group of like-minded people who are looking to make music on a similar path. It was 1967 when they were first pulled together, and the whole story of how many people were involved in the swapping between groups is, once again, a story that would defy the parameters of what I am trying to do within this podcast. Actually, it might make a nice offshoot of episodes somewhere down the track. For today though, we can concentrate on the fact that eventually the five main players of the earliest incarnation of Deep Purple initially came about through the earlier band called Roundabout, a project that had the drummer from The Searchers, Chris Curtis, recruiting his then-flatmate Jon Lord, a classically-trained Hammond Organ player, and a maverick guitar player based in Hamburg by the name of Ritchie Blackmore, who was eventually encouraged to return to England and join the band. Curtis then tired of the project, and he moved on, leaving Lord and Blackmore to continue on. Lord brought in his friend Nick Simper as bass guitarist. Several people were considered for auditions to become lead singer of the band, including Ian Gillan who declined the offer, and Rod Stewart, who was not considered up to standard. Eventually Rod Evans from the band The Maze was hired for the role, and re then brought his drummer, 19 year old Ian Paice along, to audition for the already filled drummer’s spot. Following his audition though, Paice took on the role, and the first line up of Deep Purple was completed.
Having recorded a demo and done a short promotional tour, the band returned to London to record their first album. As with all new bands, the money available for studio time was scarce, and most of the tracks were recorded live in one or two takes. In all, the album was finished in three days, and then released upon the world to be judged.

It should not be a surprise that this album’s music mirrors’ that of the time it was written and recorded, especially in the UK. It has been acknowledged that at the time this album was recorded, none of the band’s members were accomplished or experienced song writers, and there is certainly a mix of styles in the songs that appear here. Jon Lord was really the only member who had experience in music composition, and so it is he who dominates especially with the arranging of the songs. This is certainly true of the cover songs that appear on this album, of which there are many. This was a common thing of the time when it came to recording albums, and especially in the case of a new band, where the time to write new material was almost non-existent. “Shades of Deep Purple” has no fewer than four of the nine songs as cover songs, most of which are stretched out from the originals allowing some musical extensions with guitar and organ o not only make them an original addition but to lengthen the album.
The cover version of the Joe South penned song “Hush”, which was recorded the previous year by Billy Joe Royal, is a treat, and is far superior than the original. It performed very well in the US on the album’s release, and allowed the album to perform better in the US than it did in their native UK. The version here of Skip James’ “I’m So Glad”, that is prefaced with the band’s composition “Prelude: Happiness”, is also terrific. On the second side of the album, the band does a slower, drawn out version of the Beatles’ “Help”, which I’m afraid is a pale comparison to the original, while the closing song “Hey Joe”, which has been covered a hundred times over the last 60 years, was Blackmore’s effort to emulate the Jimi Hendrix version that had come out prior to this. It also pushes different styles within the song, with Spanish influences coming in as well as the more laid back hard rock flowing through his guitar solo through the middle of the track.
As for the originals on this album, they all showcase great parts of this Mark I version of the band, and prove that for the time they had to put this together, they had done an amazing job. The opening track is an instrumental, “And the Address”, which is a terrific way to start the album, and it acts as a great precursor to “Hush” which follows it. “One More Rainy Day” is a less frantic song written by Lord and Evans where the organ dominates. “Mandrake Root” touches on the kind of guitar-based tracks that Blackmore was pushing towards, and this is even more noticeable on “Love Help Me” where his guitar is front and centre and pushing the speed of the song along harder than the songs where Lord is dictating the arrangement. All in all, despite the different influences that were brought into the music from all five members, they have all combined here better than anyone would have imagined given all of their backgrounds, and the time they had to actually put this all together.

As you will have already heard often through this podcast when it comes to me going back to review albums by Deep Purple, I didn’t come into the band itself until the mid-1980’s as I grew up through high school, and found my way gradually into the hard rock and heavy metal scene that existed at that time. Like most people I then followed the Mark II line up and their album releases, before eventually discovering the eras of the band both before and after that period. And when I first went back to discover the first three albums, and in particular this album, it was an initial shock. As it should have been, because the style of music here on “Shades of Deep Purple” is very much of that era of music in the UK. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits… there is a lot of similarities here to that style. So I know that initially I was resistant to it, and refocused on those wonderful heavy albums of the early 1970’s which I loved.
Eventually though, there came a time when I had a second foray into these albums, knowing that I needed to understand these early albums and to better appreciate them. And over time I did. To the point now that I love this album and everything on it. Having had it going for the past month has been terrific, especially coming home from work in the arvo, and putting on my vinyl copy of the album and hearing it the way it needs to be, on the turntable with the crackling and the occasional skip.
Some of these songs are still fantastic. I love the opening instrumental “And the Address”, it’s a great opening to the album. I enjoy “Happiness”, the moodiness of “Mandrake Root”, the Blackmore-defined “Love Help Me”, and even the platitudes of “Hey Joe”. It is interesting that even though it was Jon Lord’s vision that basically drove these early albums, it is still the playoff between Lord’s organ and Blackmore’s guitar that is the starring feature of the band.
It is interesting that this album did better business in the US than it did in the UK. The band made no secret of their admiration of the band Vanilla Fudge and were often compared to them, which actually worked in their favour in the US but against them in the UK. And probably no more so than with one of my favourite all time Deep Purple songs.

1209. Slayer / South of Heaven. 1988. 4/5

Slayer’s 1986 album “Reign in Blood” is considered one of the greatest thrash albums of all time, if not the greatest. Its 30 minutes of pure adrenaline fuelled speed and anger can be sampled by those of you who have not done so yet on the episode in Season 1 that is dedicated to its glory. The tour that followed cemented Slayer as one of the premier heavy thrash bands in the world, and no doubt posed the problem to the band as to how they were possibly going to follow that album up. Indeed, in an interview some years later in discussing that time, guitarist Jeff Hanneman said that “South of Heaven” was the only album the band members had discussed before actually writing the music, that prior to this they wrote what they felt and presented it to be recorded. However, according to Hanneman the band was aware that they couldn't top “Reign in Blood", and that whatever they recorded would be compared to that album. He then went on to say that the band believed they had to slow down the tempo to the songs on the next album in order to draw apart those inevitable comparisons, something that Slayer had not done before. And though there are faster songs here on “South of Heaven”, it is noticeably not as furious as its predecessor, something that had some fans upset when the album was eventually released. The band also looked to tone down the vocals, something that Tom Araya does so well on this album that it also proves a point of difference among other Slayer albums. It actually ended up proving what a fine vocalist he was, and gave him the opportunity to focus on his vocal craft. However, retrospectively guitarist Kerry King felt that Araya had added too much singing to his vocals, which he was critical of, and drummer Dave Lombardo felt that “South of Heaven” signalled the point where the band allowed the fire in the music to die down compared to what had come before. As it turns out, in interviews over the years looking back at the album, some of the band members are more critical of the end result than some of their fan base.

The most fascinating part of this album is the references made to different songs on it over the years from the band members themselves, and their disappointment or even disdain for some of them. The fact that they made a somewhat united decision to record an album of songs at a different tempo from what they had done before, in essence in order to have this album have a point of difference from what they had recorded prior to this release, doesn’t seem to have changed the fact that after the event they all seem to have picking points about the album.
The opening title track is a beauty, a classic, and one still adored by fans all over the world. It’s moody, it’s a creeper, and it has a beautiful build to the middle of the track. The fact that people misinterpret the title as suggesting they are talking about hell, when in fact it is world we live in itself that is being referenced is a nice counterpoint to the usual ignorance Slayer and their songs have received. “Silent Scream” ramps up the energy again, charging onwards throughout. It’s a great track to follow the opener, reminding everyone of what the band is best known for.
It’s interesting that this is considered a slower paced album overall by some people. There is no doubt that a few of the songs have rocked back in tempo, in particular the opening title track, which I think is what leads people into this perception, because the album starts a little slower than the previous albums. The other main song in this mid-tempo category is “Mandatory Suicide”, and it’s interesting that it is these two songs that were still in Slayer’s live set list right up until their disbandment. Go figure. So, it mightn’t be as conclusively fast as “Reign in Blood”, but it doesn’t fall into a complete mid-tempo movement. What does happen here are that the lyrics are at a pace that gives everyone a chance to know what Tom is singing, rather than just the diehard fans. Songs such as “Live Undead” and “Behind the Crooked Cross” mightn’t be as fast as previous albums, but they aren’t a snail’s pace either.
Kerry King seems to have taken great umbrage at the album in the years since its release. He openly rubbished the song “Cleanse the Soul” in interviews, and when asked whether the band may one day play the whole album live, as they did with “Reign in Blood” on Dave Lombardo’s return to the band in the 2000’s, he simply replied “I don’t think so. I just don’t like enough songs on the album to be bothered”. King’s contributions to the album also were less than usual, which may have contributed to his general malaise of the album, and perhaps even the introduction of the decision to cover Judas Priest’s great track “Dissident Aggressor” on this album. Or perhaps there really was a problem with the songwriting for the album, and this allowed the band to fill a gap that otherwise may not have been filled.

Having come into Slayer on the album that followed this one, for me going backwards to discover their first few albums meant that I probably didn’t have to have competing ideas about each of the albums and what they presented at the time of their release, because I more or less devoured all of them at the same time, swapping over the vinyl and CDs one at a time, and becoming encapsulated in their overall greatness. Their following album was an immediate hit with me, and – surprise, surprise - “Reign in Blood” also created a storm.
But unlike what it appeared many of the so-called critics at the time experienced, I never had a negative thought about “South of Heaven” as an album. To me the album comes together well, the tempos, while different from earlier pieces, are fit nicely in sync, and the album flows nicely. The difference in opinion of the band members on the album retrospectively to me was somewhat of a surprise, though Kerry being narky about the songs where he had little to do with them perhaps wasn’t so much of a stretch.
Some have suggested that “South of Heaven” is a maturing of the band and its sound, but I don’t like that analogy. To me, the following album “Seasons in the Abyss” is a next step in an evolution of all three previous albums, “Hell Awaits”, “Reign in Blood” and “South of Heaven”. What this album brings to that process is the focusing of Tom Araya’s vocals such that they are not the out and out shouting and screaming from early in the career, and the focusing of the guitars from out and out speed to bridging a melodic touch to the tempo. In doing so, this album may well have differences, but not ones that detract from the band and their music. And while in time the force of aggression would return to Slayer’s music – for better or worse, depending on your point of view of some of their future albums - “South of Heaven” still stands as one of their most important albums.

1208. Ozzy Osbourne / Live & Loud [Live]. 1993. 5/5

By the time Ozzy Osbourne had released his “No More Tears“ album, an episode of which you can listen to on Season 1 of this podcast, he had decided that he had become jaded and sick of touring, and that he would go out on one final world tour, calling it the “No More Tours” tour, and that a resulting live album recorded on that tour would be his final album. Looking back now, thirty years ago, it seems like a facetious remark, given that even into his 70’s now and suffering from a number of ailments including Parkinson’s disease, he’s still out there making live appearances. And given that there have been a number of things said over the years that appear to be more of a promoting of Ozzy and his music, and things including reality shows and series made which, in the long run, come across as brazen promotion of the artist and his music, is it so wild to believe that the whole “No More Tours” thing was just a way of selling out more shows and selling more albums? Or was it simply a case that once he had gone on a break following this tour, that he realised how bored he was, and that it was making music that was keep him going? In the long run, it probably doesn’t matter, that even if it was a promotional tool it turned out to be a good one, but other things that went into it did create some ructions.
As it was going to be his last time out, Ozzy invited the other three original members of Black Sabbath to come out on his final night and have a reunion for the encore, and asked the band to play as support for that night. At the time, Sabbath was touring on their “Dehumanizer” album with Ronnie James Dio back as lead singer. When Iommi and Butler agreed to this, Dio dead set refused, saying that to be considered as a support act for Ozzy was degrading for the band and not what their status demanded. It caused this second formation of this lineup of Sabbath to dissolve immediately (although the band played the support slot with Rob Halford filling in on vocals), and also eventually led to a reunion of the original foursome for a tour in 1997, though a new album did not eventuate from this.
All in all, lots of consequences came from the tour that this live album was recorded on. Most of all, it produced a cracking live album of some of the best music Ozzy and his bandmates ever produced.

The “No More Tours” tour stretched through the back half of 1992, and the songs from this live album were taken from several shows on that run, including from Orlando, Atlanta and Cincinatti.
The first thing to consider here are the performances. And they don’t miss a beat. Ozzy is in fine form, no doubt standing in front of his autocue to make sure he doesn’t forget the words, but he sings everything terrifically. Zakk Wylde on guitar is as awesome as ever, every nuance of every song is found with the correct ting of the string, from the ferocity of “War Pigs” and “Bark at the Moon” to the mood swings of “Mama I’m Coming Home” and “Goodbye to Romance”. He was truly on a prominent rise at this stage, before his journey into Black Label Society, when this was the dream gig that he had been waiting for. Mike Inez finds all of those wonderful Bob Daisley written bass runs perfectly through each song, and Randy Castillo is as powerful as ever on the drums. The performance of the band here is second to none.
The song set list is also a who’s who of the best that Ozzy has to offer. The Sabbath tracks “Paranoid” and “War Pigs” are as bombastic as always. The mix of tracks for the rest comes from all six of the studio albums to that point in time, with the focus remaining on the album they were touring on at the time, “No More Tears” with five songs from that album. Only one song appears from each of the mid-era albums, represented by “Bark at the Moon”, “Shot in the Dark” and “Miracle Man”, while the Randy era albums get the six classic tracks played, as one would expect.
At the end of the album we have the aforementioned reunion of the original four members of Black Sabbath performing that title track, which, while it was a somewhat momentous moment at the time, has paled into insignificance in the years since. And for all the grief it caused at the time, with Dio leaving Sabbath again and Tony Martin returning to Sabbath again, and Ozzy deciding he WASN’T going to retire after all and in fact go on for another 30 years of albums and tours, including one more with Black Sabbath again... it feels more and more like an Ozzy promotional exercise than any other possibility. But in the long run, the people behind Ozzy’s career were always looking for those angles.

The most annoying part of this album’s recording and release was that, once again, Australia got looked over for a tour by the band, and as it had been ‘the final tour’ we believed we were never going to get to see him perform these songs live, which was very frustrating.
I got the album on its release and played it on rotation over a long period of time. The live versions of all the songs were just fantastic. Sure, perhaps the Randy era versions on the “Tribute” album were better, but not by much. And it was great to hear songs like “Bark at the Moon” and “Miracle Man” get the live treatment.
And as I’ve said before here when reviewing live albums for this podcast, live albums really all should be brilliant, because you are getting the best songs in their best environment, and that is absolutely true of “Live & Loud”. Great songs, performed by a great band. And there is probably no better way to “finish” your career than for it to be with this song.