1225. Whitesnake / Trouble. 1978. 3/5

By 1976, Deep Purple had finally collapsed in on itself and ceased to exist after ten years of amazing albums and several personnel changes. One of those had been lead vocalist David Coverdale, who had presided over the final three albums the band had released. Following their demise, Coverdale went out and immediately got to work on his own solo work, releasing his first solo album titled “White Snake” in 1977, and then “Northwinds” in early 1978. In an effort to distance himself from the hard rock sound that had been synonymous with Deep Purple, his solo work combined elements of blues, soul and funk to give it a different sound, and also characteristics that suited his vocals well. Long term friend, guitarist Micky Moody, had played on both albums, and when Coverdale started to assemble a backing band for his project he was the first to join. It was Moody who suggested the group needed a second guitarist, and through this they found Bernie Marsden who had started out as a member of UFO. Marsden then facilitated the recruitment of bass guitarist Neil Murray as they had recently played in another band together. Drummer Dave Doyle and keyboardist Pete Solley also came in to round out the initial group, which at the time was dubbed David Coverdale’s Whitesnake. Coverdale had not wanted his name attached to the band’s name, but record company interest was only fanned if it could be promoted in such a way.
The band were offered the chance to record for EMI, but only an EP rather than a full album. The four track was released in June 1978 (which included a cover of the song “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City” which became an unofficial fan anthem of the band) and the reaction was so positive that Whitesnake was offered the chance to record their full length debut soon after.
During this recording, keyboardist Pete Solley’s contributions were re-recorded by a man who had been chased and coaxed for some time by Coverdale to join the band. After much back and forth, his former Deep Purple bandmate Jon Lord agreed to come on board and provide his ample talents to the band. Thus came together the first outing for the band Whitesnake, and the debut album titled “Trouble”.

“Take Me With You” is a jaunty opening number, with a great bassline that is the mainstay throughout. It is a real rollicking rock song with a bluesy underbase, and immediately sets itself apart from what Coverdale’s previous band had been producing. This then moves into Coverdale’s slower paced “Love to Keep You Warm”, dominated by his smooth vocals and the more soul and funk sound that had come from his solo albums. These two tracks typified the direction of the music that this album brought to the table, and where the band would go over the next couple of albums as well. This is followed by “Lie Down (A Modern Love Song)” that is dominated by Jon Lord’s piano, an upbeat song that is a great counterpoint to the genre, with Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden combining perfectly to draw attention in the middle of the song, and finishing off in style.
It’s a brave move at any stage by any band to take on covering a Beatles song, and this is no different. “Day Tripper” is the one that gets the Whitesnake treatment here, and on first impressions you feel as though it doesn’t work. The energy and great vibe of the track is extricated on this version and replaced with a staccato and bluesier version of the original. Once you get used to it (after several dozen listens to be honest) it comes across better, but compared to the other tracks on the album it is a little out of place musically. “Nighthawk (Vampire Blues)” lifts the action again, with a great blues playoff between Marsden and Lord on guitar and keys respectively, and a rollicking pace throughout as Coverdale’s vocals play great games in a fun atmosphere.
“The Time is Right for Love” is a familiar tune and theme to any Whitesnake fan with a great drum beat setting the scene from David Dowle and super rumbling bass line again from the amazing Neil Murray that is the base of the song again. The secret to the enjoyment of this track is the tempo it is played at. It would have been destroyed if it was a slower paced ballad, but here as the excellently written up-tempo blues-based track, it is a beauty. On the other side of the coin, the title track “Trouble” IS that midtempo track, slowed back from the previous song, and with Coverdale crooning rather than belting, and the rest of the band dialling everything back. Another example of the two sides of Whitesnake on this, and to be honest, most of their albums.
“Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick” is a terrific instrumental where everyone has their moment, but it is the trade off between Marsden and Moody again that is the star of the show. Once again the faster tempo of the track is what brings it all to life, and as per usual whenever Jon Lord’s keyboards come to the fore it is a fun and frantic time. “Free Flight” finds that mid tempo again, before the closing track “Don’t Mess With Me” moves forward again and finishes the album on a high note.
The album tends to mix up the tempo of the songs throughout, which perhaps could have been altered slightly in order to keep the energy up in different spots, but the overall flow of the album is excellent still to this day.

Being in high school through the mid-1980's, it probably isn’t hard for you to believe that my first initiation to Whitesnake was their multi-million selling album ‘1987’, or self-titled, whichever way you know it to be called. That album is still such a massive part of my life and is so tied to that time of my life it is a difficult thing to get past. The other part of that is that ‘1987’ is such a different album musically than the band’s first albums were, but I didn’t discover that for a few years down the track, when I began to go back and find the albums of bands that I loved that I just hadn’t discovered. So you can probably imagine just how I felt the first time I heard this album, given how different every part of it is to those albums I knew of the band from the late 1980’s. This album is amazingly different, so much so that it was a real shock and something I didn’t process well on that initial discovery. Indeed, this album went away to collect dust for some time after that initial foray.
Thankfully though, I grew older, and more open to the changing musical styles of bands and the times they were recorded, and I went back to Whitesnake's “Trouble” for a second time. And this time around, I discovered exactly what I had missed that first time around. Because this is a very underestimated album, even within the Whitesnake catalogue. Most people know “Ready n Willing”, and “Saints n Sinners” and “Come an Get It”, and “Slide it In”, but how many people of my generation and younger have really appreciated the early Whitesnake albums? And “Trouble” in particular?
In my early twenties I was incredulous that there were fans out there who claimed that the early albums were so much better than the band’s later albums, that Coverdale had sold his soul to conquer America, and that Marsden and Moody outweighed anything that Vandeburg and Sykes and Vai had done in the latter years. I laughed. And then I really began listening to the albums of this era, and discovered that, even though I still love the albums from my era, that those people were right. That this band lineup is superb, their writing and playing is magnificent, and that they deserve to be on that pedestal as well. And this album Is a major part of that. In particular, Neil Murray on bass is just superb, in his element really in this genre of music. His bottom end to support the guitars of Marsden and Moody, and the leys of Jon Lord, is magnificent. And of course there is Coverdale himself, with those amazing vocal chords that are the star attraction of what the band does.
It took me a long time to get around to giving this album the time of day, and the time it deserved, to discover how good it is. And though there are a lot of years there that I have wasted due to not appreciating it sooner, the time since has been well spent. “Trouble” may not get the accolades of other great albums in the Whitesnake discography, but in my opinion it deserves them as much as any of those other albums.

1224. Black Sabbath / Reunion. 1998. 5/5

For almost 20 years from 1979, when Ozzy Osbourne finally parted ways with Black Sabbath, the fan base constantly speculated about the possibility of a reunion of the original foursome to not only tour but to record a new album. No matter how good other lineups of the band happened to be, or how enjoyable the albums that they released were, there was a somewhat morbid anticipation of what might occur should the individuals Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne ever get on the same stage again, and then the studio.
There were some close calls along the way that tried to amount to something but eventually fell short. The four did get on stage together to play a three song set at Live Aid in 1985, but it was a far cry from an outstanding success. Up against the biggest bands of the era, they failed to show the same energy that came from many of the other acts, and they all went their separate ways once again. Then there was the ill-fated appearance at what was to be Ozzy’s final touring performance when Iommi, Butler and Ward agreed to support Ozzy at that gig, and then come out at the end as the original quartet to play a couple of songs. It resulted in that current formation of Black Sabbath, with Ronnie Dio and Vinny Appice, collapsing on the spot. From here there was an attempt for these four to get together and compose some new material, but old scars and wounds seemed to reopen, and the venture once again fell apart as they all moved on again.
Eventually in 1997, for Ozzy’s own Ozzfest festival, Ozzy, Tony and Geezer came together to play as Black Sabbath, with Mike Bordin from Faith No More filling in for an absent Ward on drums, and played a set of classic songs to a rousing reception. This led to yet another bout of ‘will they-won't they’ discussion on a possible reunion. Following the success of these gigs, the four got together, and managed to agree on playing two nights in their home city of Birmingham in November 1997, which they would record to release as a live album under the name Black Sabbath. This was despite their still being concerns over Bill Ward’s ability to play two gigs given his health problems. Another former Sabbath drummer in Vinny Appice was on hand to step in if required, which fortunately did not eventuate. And so, the fans finally got what they were after, a true Black Sabbath reunion, even if it was only on stage. Or so everyone was led to believe.

So what we have here is a two CD set, unless you have just purchased the brand new anniversary release on 3LP’s, that contains a great mix of songs from Black Sabbath’s era of 1970 to 1978, the era of the band that many hard core fans believe is the ONLY era of the band. And, looking back now, it’s probably a little hard to believe that these guys were still amazingly young. They were all under 50 years of age when this was recorded, well within the prime of their playing existence. And it comes across here beautifully. All of the songs played are classics, and while the versions may not be as fast of energetic as they were back when the band was in its prime in the 1970’s, they sound magnificent on this album. The production and recording of the two nights is done perfectly, and the result is a fantastic live album.
You get the songs you expect. The opening battle cry of “War Pigs”, the psychedelic ramblings of “Fairies Wear Boots”, the drug anthemic lines of “Sweet Leaf” and “Snowblind”. The majesty of “Black Sabbath” and “Iron Man”, the heaviest riff ever written in “Children of the Grave” and the afterthought of “Paranoid”. All are performed here exactly as you would expect, and their impact is significant. There are the other great tracks you would expect to hear as well, such as “N.I.B” (complete with a stage intruder at the end of the song proclaiming his love of Ozzy and the band before being dragged off) and the fantastic “Electric Funeral”, the power doom of “Into the Void” and “Lord of This World”. Each of them is terrific.
There are a couple of surprises, but none of them is a disappointment. In fact for me they are a highlight. Who would have expected “Spiral Architect” to make the cut, and yet it is a brilliant version of this classic song. I’m not sure anyone was expecting “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”, if only for the reason that there is no way Ozzy could have sung this song in its original pitch, even at that stage of his career. But play it they did, and Ozzy’s subtle change in the way he sings it just gives it a different character that is fun to hear. And the wonderful version of “Dirty Women” from “Technical Ecstasy” is perfect, and great to have a song this far into their catalogue get a run for this album.
Perhaps the biggest talking point at the time of this album’s release was the addition of two new studio tracks, “Psycho Man” and “Selling My Soul”, both written by Ozzy and Tony. These were done in Aril and May of 1998, when there was a concerted effort to try and write for a new album. The sessions went slowly however, and eventually these two songs were all that eventuated from them. The differences in their styles are obvious, and given where each of the four members were at in their careers at that point in time, perhaps it is not difficult to understand how it would hard to write together again.

And we’re back with my overly typical comment – and if you are listening to these episodes in release order you’ll know exactly what I mean, as this is the third live album in a row I have podcasted on – in that a live album should ALWAYS be a 5/5 experience, because you have the band’s best songs in their best environment. And with “Reunion”, you absolutely have that. The return of the original line up of Black Sabbath, playing a bunch of their greatest ever tracks in front of an ecstatic audience, and having the time of their lives.
This truly is a terrific live album. Sabbath to this point had not done many live albums, and had barely taken the chance to do so when this line up was together. It is only in recent years, with the re-release of deluxe versions of those classic albums, that they have included rare and unreleased recordings of concerts from those grand old days, and they are all quite brilliant. But for the most part, despite the hurriedly released “Live at Last” album, this line up hadn’t had a proper live release. And this absolutely does the band justice. Bill’s drumming mightn’t be anything like he did in the day but it still fits the bill (pun intended). The ‘wall of noise’ known as Geezer and Tony is simply superb, both still supreme on their instruments, while Ozzy’s vocals are still amazingly good throughout.
I bought this within a few days of its release and loved it immediately. It was one of the highlights of my music purchases of 1998. My best memory of listening to this album was being at a get together at a mates house in my home town of Kiama, where he was renting a house that looked down the local beach into town. We had this album cranking during the BBQ and beers that went into the night, and it was brilliant singing along and air guitaring to each song as it came on. I highly recommend listening to the album this way.
The quartet tried again to write a new album in 2002, but they just couldn’t find a way to make it work, which Iommi always regretted as he believed that the songs they did produce were top shelf. Eventually, following the Heaven and Hell project and then Dio’s sad demise, Iommi, Butler and Osbourne did write and record a final Black Sabbath album titled “13”... but that story is for another day.

1223. Black Sabbath / Never Say Die! 1978. 3.5/5

It would be fair to say that it was remarkable enough that this album ended up being made at all with the original foursome intact, as the lead up to its release was anything but smooth. The previous album “Technical Ecstasy”, the episode of which you can listen to in Season 1 of this podcast, had been a tough time writing and recording, and it had received a lukewarm reception on its release. The fact that the band had begun to expand its music (along with its mind with a furthering of drugs and alcohol) meant that the changes in the songs produced had brought some indifference in their fan base.
Following the tour to promote that album, and while in the process of beginning rehearsals for the next album, Ozzy Osbourne suddenly quit the band. Aside from his own problems, he has said in interviews and books that he had just become tired of the same quartet, and wanted to do something different. This brought about two situations, firstly with Sabbath immediately bringing in Dave Walker, who had sung in many bands including Fleetwood Mac and Humble Pie for a short time, and getting to work writing new material, and secondly Ozzy pulling together his own musicians in order to do the same. In early January 1978, Black Sabbath with Walker on vocals played live on a BBC music program. It was to be the only time they did so with this formation. Ozzy’s new band had been in rehearsals at the time, when suddenly he had a change of heart, and returned to Black Sabbath. No defining reason has ever been aired for this change of heart, though one could suspect that if Ozzy had seen or heard of his former band already playing together on British TV, perhaps he realised that he wasn’t ready to move on. Either way, Walker was out and Osbourne was back.
The difficulties didn’t finish there though. Back in the fold, Ozzy refused to sing or play any material that had been written with Walker as a part of the band. It mean that the better part of 6-8 weeks worth of material was unusable, and that the band had to start from the beginning again. As they had booked a studio in Canada to record in, it meant that the band had to pull double duty in order to write and record the new album. To do this, they actually hired out a cinema during the day where they could get together to write, before heading into the studio at night to try and put down the tracks as they went. The studio itself also produced a sound that was not to the band’s liking, so they tore up all the carpet in order to help improve that situation. On top of that, there was copious drugs and copious alcohol, such that often the band arrived at the studio to record, only to pack up again because one or more members were unable to perform. And it was no secret that the band themselves were just not getting on like they used to. Add all of this together, and in many ways it is remarkable that the album was made at all. Once it was released, there were many fans and critics who wished that it hadn’t.

Seriously, if you were asked to judge an album just on its first track, you would be giving “Never Say Die!” full marks, because the title track is an absolute ripper. Bombastic, fast, a great riff and bass line and hard driven drums. Truly one of the best Black Sabbath tracks, hands down. No one can deny that it immediately pulls you in to the album and sets it all up for the brilliance to come. And then it ends, like running into a brick wall, and you are left with the rest of the sodden mess. That's a bit harsh I know, but after the beginning its hard to describe the rest of the album in glowing terms.
Following the genius that is present on much of the first six albums, it feels as though the well had well and truly gone dry by the time this came out. Yes, the band had problems, drugs and alcohol were rampant and Ozzy was more or less finished in his enthusiasm for the task at hand, but given the great opening track you would have hoped for more following it. Instead, it mostly becomes a freeform instrumental recital, with fusions of jazz and early electronica replacing the great guitar and bass that the band it built on.
There is a fine line when it comes to comparing albums, and while this album simply cannot be held in the same esteem as the band’s first six albums, there are glimpses of the real Black Sabbath beyond the title track. “Johnny Blade” lyrically and musically is interesting, in that Ozzy actually sings off the riff rather than with it, Tony’s phasing guitar sound enhanced by Don Airey’s keyboards create a sound that harks to the previous album and the way it began to transcend what Sabbath had done to that point in their career. “Junior’s Eyes” began its life as one of the songs written while Dave Walker was in the band, but was transformed lyrically into being about the death of Ozzy’s father, who had passed just prior to his leaving of the band the previous year. “A Hard Road” was the second single released from the album, which did chart (marginally) in the UK, but contains little of the hard core elements of what made Black Sabbath great. The drums are not that frenetic and hard hitting style that Bill Ward had been renown for, the guitar and bass play along nicely together without actually making themselves known in the song. It’s all very genteel and is missing the attitude the band was once known for.
“Shock Wave” is perhaps the most Sabbath sounding song on this album. Tony’s guitar has its sound back, and his solo is true Iommi. Geezer’s bass plays as that second guitar that makes the best Sabbath music and Ozzy sings like he means it. “Air Dance” is a nice enough song but it just isn’t a Sabbath song. It sounds like it is about to break out on a couple of occasions during the track... and the just doesn’t.
“Over to You” is in a classic Sabbath style, not in the bombastic sense but in the psychedelic sense, a song that could almost be found of the “Volume 4” era of the band. No solo to speak of, but Tony’s riff and Geezer’s bass moving up and down the fretboard underneath gives the song a solid sound throughout. Ozzy’s vocal line is his best performance on the album as well.
The closing two tracks are a bit out of the box though, even for this era of the band. “Breakout” is an instrumental, but it is really just a jazz infused track, with horns and brass, and sounds more like the intro to “Saturday Night Live” than a Black Sabbath song. Ludicrous. This then segues straight into the closing number, “Swinging the Chain”, that has similar features but at least has less of the brass horns, which instead are replaced for the most part by the harmonica. Ozzy even refused to sing on "Swinging the Chain", leaving Bill Ward to add the vocals as he had done on “I’m Alright” on the previous album.
There is so much out of whack on this album, it is difficult to believe that it came together at all. Once you get into the deep dive of the time, and read each of the four members autobiographies and get to this part of their lives, it becomes a little clearer as to why this is such a conglomerate mash up.

“Never Say Die!” as an album has always been one of those difficult albums to reconcile with. When I first started listening to heavy metal music, I was exposed to Black Sabbath through a ‘best of’ collection from the time, that perhaps somewhat obviously had no tracks from this album on it. And it was at that time that I was listening to Ozzy’s solo albums and the Dio Sabbath albums, rather than the Sabbath albums of the second half of the 70’s decade. They were the ones that grew in significance to my listening. One of my best mates, who is now my brother-in-law, did get both “Technical Ecstasy” and “Never Say Die!” on vinyl, so I got copies of them from him, as well as hearing them often when I was around at his house as he manned the phones at the taxi base his family owned at the time. But this was never an album I just put on to listen to, there were so many better Sabbath albums that I could choose when I was after that kind of sound.
I don’t hate this album, but to me it isn’t Black Sabbath either. I listen to this the same way that I listen to sections of the Tony Martin era of the band, or even “Seventh Star”. These albums in particular are all so different from the sound and genius they created on the first six albums, and that’s the real trick to the situation. If you listen to and compare any of those albums with this one, then the other albums win, hands down, no question. But, if you just put this album on and listen without expectation, the everything flows in the right way. “Johnny Blade”, “Junior’s Eyes”, “A Hard Road”, “Air Dance” - none of these songs are “Symptom of the Universe”, “Children of the Grave”, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”, “War Pigs”. They can’t be. So when I listen to this album and not expect Black Sabbath... it kinda works. For the most part. Not completely.
I’ve had a CD copy of this album for some time, but this year I was able to get the special vinyl release of the album that came out for Record Store Day, and I must say it is still the best way to listen to all Black Sabbath, putting the vinyl on the turntable and turning it up. It works for me for this copy of my album. I can’t say to you that everyone will enjoy this album. I can only offer that it is worth giving it a try.
If nothing else, the aftermath led to better things for all sides - Ozzy was fired after the band spent a year trying to write a follow up to this album, and he left to form Blizzard of Ozz where with the help of some wonderful musicians and writers he was able to rediscover his mojo, while the remainder of the band recruited Ronnie James Dio as Ozzy’s replacement, and well and truly rediscovered their magic. Despite the fact that Ozzy returned 35 years later to record the final Black Sabbath album “13”, “Never Say Die!” put a pin in that original lineup of Butler Iommi Osbourne and Ward. It was a somewhat tame way to conclude a period of music that this foursome had helped to create and then dominate. But then, perhaps the title track is what set up what came next.

1222. Ozzy Osbourne / No Rest for the Wicked. 1988. 4/5

By the time this album came around to being released, it had been well over 2.5 years since Ozzy Osbourne and his band had released a studio album. The fan response to “The Ultimate Sin” album has been less pronounced than it had for the other albums released during the 1980’s, and had been beset by problems from its inception and through to the tour that followed to promote it. Ozzy himself had the usual dependencies that haunted him over the decade, while the battle behind the scenes in regards to publishing rights and writing credits continued to be problematic. Some fans also felt that “The Ultimate Sin” album had gone too far towards a hair or glam metal sound than the music which they had enjoyed from him from Ozzy’s Sabbath days and even the Randy Rhodes albums. The end result of this was that guitarist Jake E. Lee was fired, for which there was never a full explanation given, and bass guitarist Phil Soussan also left the band. It seems probable that a combination of all of these factors – Ozzy's drug and alcohol problems, the refusal of both Lee and Soussan to give up their royalty rights, and the slight ambivalence of his long term fans over the recent release – all contributed to this situation occurring. It meant that the Ozzy Osbourne band required rebuilding.
Audition tapes were received from hundreds of guitarists, but eventually it was one from a young unknown guitarist by the name of Zakk Wylde that caught their attention. After auditioning for the spot Wylde was hired soon after, and became a major part of Osbourne’s resurgence into the next decade. The bass player’s spot was more inconclusive, and eventually it was through mutual benefit that former Ozzy band player Bob Daisley returned to the fold once again. Despite having been burned in the past and having issues over the same songwriting credits issue that had forced two members from the most recent line up of the band, Daisley returned to play bass and also contribute to the writing process for what became the album “No Rest for the Wicked”. Daisley had been bypassed for “The Ultimate Sin” album after having been heavily involved in Osbourne’s first three album after his leaving from Balck Sabbath, and his troubles with Ozzy’s management in that time are well known. However, his desire and enjoyment of being involved with Ozzy and his music again saw his return. Of course, as seems to be a recurring them in this story, it didn’t end well for him on this occasion either.

There is little doubt that the music direction here on “No Rest for the Wicked” moves itself forward from the previous album. You can name any number of reasons why this may be the case. The obvious one is the change of personnel. Both Zakk and Bob play their instruments in a different style from their predecessors, and as a result the music here is different. They both also write differently, which is a big thing to take under consideration. And we are now coming towards the end of 1988 and not at the end of 1985, so the style of heavy metal has also changed. Just take a look at Ozzy’s hairstyle as the main piece of knowledge for that! But in the main, Zakk comes in with a heavier riff style which is the dominant factor of the songs on this album.
The mood is set from the outset, with Zakk’s wonderful opening riff on “Miracle Man” tearing up the playbook and making his mark from the start. The fact that his guitar style is again different from all of the players Ozzy has had – Tony Iommi, Randy Rhodes and Jake E Lee – makes him the focal point again, and in the direction the music is taking. Along for the ride again is Bob’s wonderfully written and performed bass work, the perfect undertone to emphasise each track with Randy’s fantastic drumming, precision perfect and annunciating each musical portion of the song. These three combine superbly throughout this album, which only makes it slightly disappointing it was the only time they played together. Zakk and Bob were the main contributors to the songwriting process and they seem to have paired up well.
Ozzy comes back firing vocally, especially on that opening track “Miracle Man”, pointedly another song by a metal band of this era that gets stuck into the televangelism of the day, and the hypocritical acts of those involved. It’s a great song highlighted by Zakk’s terrific solo slot. This is followed by “Devil’s Daughter” and “Crazy Babies” that also feel dominated by the arrival of Zakk Wylde. While the tempo of the songs is not overly fast, they feel as though they are by Zakk’s unique guitar sound and his wailing guitar squeal. The intro and chorus of “Devil’s Daughter” is especially fun and driven, while Crazy Babies is dominated by Ozzy’s lyrical slinging after that initial opening crunching riff from Zakk – magnificent.
Then you have songs such as “Breakin’ All the Rules” and “Fire in the Sky” that slot right into that mid-tempo style and where Ozzy makes the songs what they are, with great vocal lines and melodies over the rhythm of the song. Ozzy is quite brilliant at being able to make these kinds of songs so entertaining and interesting, where other artists would be unable to make them so enjoyable. They are of a slightly different tone that sometimes halt the momentum of albums of other artists, but Ozzy and his crew make them much more than that.
“Bloodbath in Paradise” uses mentions of Charles Manson and the Manson family within its lyrics, while “Demon Alcohol” is so obviously written for Ozzy to sing about himself by Daisley that it should certainly be referred to as biographical. “Tattooed Dancer” also has its obvious reference points, and again is dominated by Zakk’s amazing guitaring, and his couple of riffs prior to and concluding the chorus especially being game changers. The album concludes with “Hero”, with more biographical lyrics from Zakk and Bob that continue to allow Ozzy to sing loudly about himself and be the hero to his fans that he sometimes doesn’t understand that he is.

Ozzy and his music has been a big part of my life since I first discovered it back in the mid-1980's, and while “The Ultimate Sin” had been the first album I had heard at the time (or around the time at least) it had been released, it was this one that was truly a ‘discovered on release’ moment for me. And yes, it is fair to say that the differences between what had come before, and this one, were obvious from the start. Which, at the time for me, was a big thing to take in. I loved the Randy era, and I loved the Jake E Lee era. But this was newer, bolder, brasher than any of that. And that was quite something to take in initially. But it didn’t take long to take the lacquer off the new ball. Zakk’s unique guitaring was a hit from the beginning. Just listening to it in songs like “Miracle Man”, “Crazy Babies”, “Tattooed Dancer” and “Demon Alcohol” was mesmerising, and everything fell into place after that.
This is still a great album, but often you will get asked where it fits in your own personal music rating for the artist. And if you ignore everything after 1994 – which was when Ozzy was going to retire from everything or just from touring or just from doing albums, or whatever that whole kerfuffle ending up being about – then this for me is the least interesting of Ozzy’s albums. His first two Blizzard of Ozz albums with Randy, Bob and Lee Kerslake are magnificent. His next two with Jake E Lee are the perfect 80’s hair metal albums. And the follow up to this, the amazing “No More Tears” speaks for itself. Sas much as I still enjoy this album, it is middle range when you think of the band’s albums as a whole.
After recording this album, Bob Daisley was ushered out the door again, to be replaced in the touring band by Ozzy former bandmate Geezer Butler, only for Bob to be recalled to play (but not write) on this album’s follow up. But that story is available on the episode dedicated to it in season 1 for those that are interested. This album is still an entertaining album of the age, and kept the Osbourne torch aflame into the next decade and beyond.

1221. Kiss / Psycho Circus. 1998. 3/5

Even for Kiss, the three years leading up to the release of this album was turbulent, with the twists and turns of the band and its fortunes being played out publicly as the unfolding story took place. Most of that began with the band’s appearance on MTV Unplugged, where the four band members were joined on stage for the end of the concert by original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, which got a huge reaction from the fans. Following this, as the public rumours of a possible reunion grew, the band went into the studio to complete the recording of their follow up album to “Revenge” titled “Carnival of Souls”, an album which certainly messed with the prototype Kiss sound to incorporate the more modern rock sound that was around in the mid-1990's. Though it was completed in early 1996, the release was shelved, as Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons then confirmed that a reunion tour with Ace and Peter as the original foursome would take place, and did so in the full makeup and outfits of the Love Gun era, to the rapturous accolades of their fans everywhere. As the ‘return of make-up’ tour wound through 1996, both Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer were paid a weekly salary as they sat on the sidelines to cool their heels, no doubt to assuage just how everything would play out once the tour was over. By the end of 1996, Kulick had left the band, obviously seeing the writing on the wall with the success of the reunion tour, and Singer also found his place had been reverted back to Criss.
The band continued to tour worldwide throughout 1997, with “Carnival of Souls” eventually seeing the light of day in October of that year. But the tours were only playing songs from the era prior to 1982, when this foursome had been the band, and the question from the fans now was; would this reunited line up go into the studio and record a new album? The eventual answer to that question was; yes, they would. But it wouldn’t be Kiss if there weren’t any further twists and turns in the story, and it is fair to say this was true once again of the writing and recording of the album that eventually became “Psycho Circus”.

For an album that was touted as the return of the original awesome foursome, the actual amount that was contributed to the writing and recording of “Psycho Circus” by both Ace and Peter was minimal. Peter only played drums on one song, the Ace Frehley penned “Into the Void”, with the remainder being done by session drummer Kevin Valentine. Peter did sing lead vocals on the Paul Stanley and Bob Ezrin written ballad “I Finally Found My Way”, which was apparently especially written for him to sing. Peter also sang on the song “You Wanted the Best”, written by Gene and featuring all four artists on lead vocals, the only song in the Kiss catalogue where that occurred. Beyond this, Peter Criss was non-existent on this reunion album. For Ace’s part, he co-wrote “Into the Void” with Karl Cochran, and also played lead guitar and sang lead vocals on the track, and also played lead and sang on the collaborative track “You Wanted the Best”. As with Peter, Ace was not involved with any other part of the album. He was quoted some years later as saying he had written quite a bit of material for the album, but it was rejected by Paul and Gene for various reasons. In his book, Peter Criss stated that both he and Ace were paid an enormous amount of money to stay out of participation of the album, while for their part Paul and Gene have suggested different reasons over the years as to why the other two were kept at arm's length, ranging from their not being capable, to them not showing up when required, to their wanting new financial deals, and to its being the producer's choice to not use them. Most of these reasons conflicted with each other at different times over the years, and indeed have changed over time. Even producer Bruce Fairbairn, who has cropped up a few times in recent episodes of this podcast, stated that he wanted to stay away from gimmicks and trends such as guest appearances, and just stay true to what Kiss does best and what people remembered them for. This being the case, why was this not followed? Tommy Thayer, who would eventually replace Ace as lead guitarist a few years down the track, played most of the lead guitar on this album, while there were a few other who contributed either instrumentally or creatively.
Logic would suggest that Paul and Gene felt THEY were in fact the band, and that the return of Ace and Peter was only as hired guns, paid contractors there to do their job of playing on stage and little else. And this was accurate, as both had sign short term contracts to play in the band once again. Thus, rather than have a collaborative effort such as the band did back in their glory days together, now it was not so much a band as four individuals who appeared on stage together.
Would this album have been better if they had played and written as the band? It’s difficult to say. Tommy Thayer is a skilled guitarist as he has shown in the past two decades as the band’s lead player, but he is also different. When you listen to “Into the Void” you immediately know it is Ace playing guitar as it is so distinctive, but that doesn’t make Thayer’s guitaring on the other songs less excellent, it’s just that it isn’t Ace, which sort of defeats the purpose of labelling this a Kiss album. And Ace does write some terrific songs, so surely at least one other of his tracks could have been used?
The album itself has its highs and lows. The ballad “I Finally Found My Way” does nothing for me, while songs such as “Journey of 1000 Years” and “We Are One” and “Dreamin’” are in that average section of Kiss songs that are inoffensive easy listening portions. Ace’s “Into the Void” is one of the better tracks here, as is the title lead off track “Psycho Circus”, a perfect concert opening song that gets the masses on their feet and first pumping from the very start. Why then it hasn’t been utilised as this opening song at their concerts for the last 20-odd years for me is very strange. This holds its own as one the bands best songs since the original foursomes demise. Of the rest, “You Wanted the Best”, that utilises all four members both instrumentally and vocally, reminds you most of the way these four used to be regarded.

Over the years this hasn’t been an album that I have given a great deal of listening to. I didn’t buy it on its release, judging at the time that it was a money grab from a band who were using the gimmick of going back to their original line up and donning the make up again. I don’t think that observation was far off the mark. I heard it a couple of times before I saw the band on their first farewell tour in 2001, where the only song they played was the title track, which did indeed sound great. From that point, it wasn’t for another decade that I heard it again, when I went on my mission to acquire all of the Kiss back catalogue that I didn’t have, and give it all a fair listen. And then we come to the last 12 months, where I saw the band again on their latest farewell tour, along with my son Josh. And it was Josh’s growing love of Kiss in the last six years that convinced me to delve deeper into the albums I didn’t know as well. Which then led me to a new appreciation of “Psycho Circus”.
The more I listen to this album, the more I think it was a missed opportunity. There are some terrific songs here, ones I still sing along to whenever I put the album on. And some great moments. My ears honestly still prick up on the two songs that Ace Frehley plays lead guitar on, because the two solos in those songs remind me of that early material so much, and it really triggers something when I listen to it. And like I’ve said, Thayer is a good guitarist... but he isn’t Ace Frehley. Whatever the reason was to exclude Ace and Peter from the recording of this album, I still think it was a mistake. It didn’t matter when it came to selling the album, because it was still Kiss and the Reunion, even if it really wasn’t in the long run. The “Revenge” album actually stands out more because it had both Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick writing songs, and Kulick’s stand out guitaring. Here, Thayer is actually the hired gun, but is not significantly outstanding in his lead work to command the songs like any of those other three guitarists would have. Along with the other two dozen albums I have spent the last month listening to, this has received plenty of airplay, and I probably enjoy the album more now than I did when I started. The good is great, the average is average. In many ways, that sums up almost every Kiss album in existence.

1220. Bon Jovi / New Jersey. 1988. 3.5/5

By the end of 1987, everyone knew Bon Jovi, and most people also knew of the album “Slippery When Wet”, the band’s third album that had taken the world by storm over the past 12 months. You can check out the story of that album on the episode dedicated to it in Season 1 of this podcast. The album and the singles it had spawned had had commercial airplay for 14 months as the band toured the world in support of it, and once the tour finally concluded you would expect that the band would have been looking for a long rest.
Far from it, as it turned out. The story goes that after a month of the tour concluding, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were back together again, and had begun collating new demos of songs for the next album. In all, 17 were put together over that period of time. As you could imagine, having had such an amazing run of success with their previous album, there was a measured amount of pressure on the band, and the main songwriters in particular, to try and match that success with the follow up album. The full stadiums, singing those anthems back at the band night after night, had left the band, and Bon Jovi himself, with the desire to again find that magic in the bottle, and be able to write songs that could match that atmosphere and once again bring that level of crowd involvement and love through. In interviews over the years about this album, Jon Bon Jovi admitted that for him at the time, there was a fear that he wouldn’t be able to write another song that matched “You Give Love a Bad Name”. He also spoke about how when he and Richie wrote a song in those initial demos, they were trying so hard to replicate the feeling of that song that they ended up coming up with the same chord progression, and had to set it aside as a result. Not long after, they began a second session of songwriting, this time including renown hit maker and previous collaborator Desmond Child into the mix, and it was during this period that they came up with songs that they felt were closer to the mark they were aiming for.
By the time it came for the recording process to begin, the band had a plethora of tracks to decide on, and in an increasingly differing number of styles as well. The final question to be answered during this studio time was exactly what direction did the band want to head with its music, and did they have the right material in hand in order to make that happen.

“New Jersey” goes in directions that “Slippery When Wet” didn’t go, and makes for a much different album, which given popular fan theory at the time suggested that they just used the same template from the previous album on this one is one at odds with what you hear on the vinyl. You could make that case for the main singles released from the album, but probably not the rest. The power ballad makes a more noticeable entrance to the mix of this album, as well as the dabbling into country rock as well which did become a bit of a fashion for them in the not-too-distant future.
The album opens with the money shots, the songs released as singles from the album to gain the maximum exposure the album could on both radio and music video shows such as MTV. “Lay Your Hands on Me” opens the album with the style you have come to know from the band, with solid rhythm and guitar and great chorused vocals to create the stadium atmosphere the band had come to garner. This is followed by their massive first single from the album “Bad Medicine”, which pushed the sales of this album with catchy vocal lines and on on-point music video that was played everywhere on constant rotation. Then comes the next single hard at you, “Born to Be My Baby”, giving the album the triple-threat to opening the album and have you rocking in style from the outset.
“Living in Sin” was the final single released from the album and is the full-blown ballad that was aimed at a certain sphere of the band’s audience. And while it may well be a fan favourite, it does very little for me, and indeed has the same effect that most ballads seem to do on albus, by halting the momentum of previous tracks and stalling the solid start. “Blood on Blood” is another one with Desmond Childs’s fingers all over it, but the keyboard dominated track only really seems to kick in the mid-section when Sambora’s guitar takes over and gives the song a bit of the power it really needed. Bon Jovi’s vocals soar impressively throughout which is the mainstay of the song. “Homebound Train” has more of Richie’s influence both in the solid guitar riff of the song as well as his solo spot, while mixing in interesting trade-offs between the keyboard and Jon on harmonica as well. Sambora is the star of this track though, getting an opportunity to truly show what he can do on the instrument. This is possibly my favourite song on the album, because it is so different from everything else here. It’s a beauty.
“Wild is the Wind” is caught somewhere between rock and power ballad, and for me the first instance of a country flavour to the music. The short and quiet “Ride Cowboy Ride” segues in to “Stick to Your Guns”, then next ballad track with acoustic guitar that again has a certain country flavour about it, one where you imagine being around a campfire playing it. Riding in on the back of this is “I’ll Be Tere for You”, the unashamedly second major ballad of the album, the third single released off the album, and one that still never fails to induce a gagging motion whenever I hear it. Sure, the big fans love it, and it sold millions, but honestly there are songs off the debut album that I like more than this, and that’s saying something.
“99 in the Shade” picks up the declining tempo and energy of the album and pulls it back in the right direction, before the closing track “Love for Sale” comes on. Now, honestly, this final track of the album, one that has acoustic guitar and harmonica and is basically a poor man’s country and western type of song, is the final straw for the second half of the album. After the excellence of the first side of the album, side B here is a disappointing average fare, lacking in the kind of energy that the band had been famous for to this point of their career. In listening to the back half of this album over the last few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering just what the endgame for this album was, given the apparent desire early on to be able to write a hit like they had several of on their previous album. Because I think all of the eggs went in the one basket, and the other was left empty.

I did not go out and immediately buy this album when it was released back in 1988. The lack of funds while at university was probably the main reason behind this, but I was also listening to different music at that time. I was however well aware of the album and especially the singles as they were released, and it was often on at friends' houses when I visited so I heard it often enough. I did have it taped on cassette from someone at some time, but it wasn’t an album I have dived into very often. In fact, it wasn’t until January this year that I found this on vinyl at Music Farmers in Wollongong, and I bought it. Because everyone should have a copy of this album, right?
There’s no doubt that this is a topflight album. It doesn’t copy the success of their previous album, and in fact there are a lot of people out there that prefer this to “Slippery When Wet”. The big difference for me between the two albums is the greater influence of the ballad and country infused songs on this album, and that’s what colours my opinion of this album over their previous release. I had my vinyl copy of “New Jersey” on my stereo at home several times in the lead up to this episode, and it still sounds great, and the atmosphere of those big songs are still as terrific as they were when the album was released. As a comparison, I then pulled out “Slippery When Wet” and put it on. And it blew it away. And that for me is the difference. “New Jersey” is still a good album and sound great. “Slippery When Wet” is iconic and has an attitude this album does not.
For me, as I intimated earlier, all of the energy of the album goes into the songs on the first half, and then the rest is a tired, lame collection of slower uninteresting tunes or shudder inducing ballads. Listening to this now on vinyl, I could happily just listen to the first side of the album and then place it back in its cover. And that probably has the purists shaking their fists at me.
I saw Bon Jovi live on the tour behind this album in Sydney, a live show that was as spectacular as you could imagine from the band at that time. They played almost every big song they had, and it was great... well, apart from “I’ll Be There For You”, but you knew that, didn’t you...

1219. Kiss / Lick It Up. 1983. 3.5/5

Following the turmoil that had gone on during the writing and recording of the “Creatures of the Night” album – an episode of which you can catch up on in Season 3 of this podcast – and then the growing success of that album and the tour that followed, you’d have thought that everything would be in place for Kiss to have a smoother ride into the follow up to that album. Ace Frehley, whose personage had appeared on the front cover of that album but had not actually played on it, had left the band officially by this time. Vinnie Vincent, who had played in a guest slot on the album in his absence, was now considered the fourth member of Kiss and was ready to contribute on a more advanced stage than he had on the previous album. This, as it turned out, was only partially true, as Vincent refused to sign the contract offered to him to become a full member of the band. The sticking points apparently included what his actual role within the band would be, whether he would be considered a session player or a full member of the bad, and just what he would be paid as a result. Vincent apparently demanded a percentage of the gross profit, which was summarily dismissed. This meant that although Vincent appears on the cover of the new album, “Lick It Up” and has multiple writing credits and played all of the lead guitar on the album, he was not legally a member of Kiss at any point of this process. Or, as it turns out, afterwards once the band began to tour behind this album. It was an interesting scenario, with Vincent himself believing that he was almost solely the reason for the resurgence of popularity of Kiss at this time, and he wanting the rewards for that. It was to be a battle that dragged on over the next 18 months.
The final big reveal for this new album was the band’s final unmasking, deciding the time had come to forgo he makeup and appear in public as...themselves. This first occurred on MTV as the band launched the new album, and became a massive deal at the time. Although Kiss had performed without makeup at the very beginning of the band’s existence, it was the first time in 10 years that they had been seen performing without it. The album cover also included all four members without their makeup. It was a new era for the band in all of these ways. Now it had to be seen if they could back it up with an album worthy of all of this.

“Creatures of the Night” had been considered to be a heavier album than Kiss had produced for awhile, and in most aspects that has continued on here into “Lick It Up”. In many ways, perhaps much as Vinnie himself suggested, this could be traced to Vincent’s involvement in the writing process, being credited as co-writer on all but two tracks. It’s an interesting discussion point, and one worth delving into. In particular, if you look at the songs that make up the second side of the album, there are cases both ways. That opening track is the second and final single released from the album, “All Hell’s Breaking Loose”, a song that is actually credited to all four members of the band. It has always seemed like a strange choice to be released as a single, with perhaps the only reason being all four would benefit if it didwell because all four have a writing credit. If that was the only reason they did it, then the fact the song didn’t chart at all makes that a poor one. This is followed by what entails a Paul Stanley soft rock ballad like track in “A Million to One”, but actually is more than that because of the harder guitar riffs throughout than would have normally been the case in this type of song. A Stanley inclusion? Or a Vincent inclusion? While the chorus still annoys me, the rest of the song is good, so perhaps this is a win for Vinnie?
Then you have the two songs solely credited to Gene Simmons. “Fits Like a Glove” takes on a faster tempo and harder chanting vocals through the bridge and chorus, and becomes an anthemic like track, and then “Dance All Over Your Face” is a more typical Gene track, mid-tempo with stagnated guitar over a heavy 2/4 drum beat with Gene vocalising over the top. Both of these tracks are more attractive than the previous two songs, which of course would then suggest Vinnie’s influence isn’t as great as it is thought. The other side of that is that all of the other songs where Vincent is co-writer with either Paul or Gene have the great harder qualities that the album is credited as having, and thus surely it is he who has pushed this vibe back into the Kiss catalogue. The side and album concludes with the upbeat anthem “And on the 8th Day”, which is a solid closing track, despite some interesting Gene lyrics in “You sold your soul and virginity, you can't rape a heart of gold”. Sometimes he just makes it hard to sing along...
Side A of the album is terrific and never fails to disappoint if you are a Kiss fan. “Exciter” is a great opening track, with great riffs from Stanley and Vincent that drive the song. It’s a head bobber, one that gets the blood pumping from the outset. “Not for the Innocent” is a great follow up, with Gene’s spitting vocals and bass and guitar riffs carrying on the harder edge from the opening song. This leads into the title track, the legendary “Lick it Up” that is one of the band’s best ever singles, and a song that has remained in their set list since this album’s release. It is a long time classic, and has everything that has made Kiss successful over the years. It is still a beauty. “Young and Wasted” is Gene and Vinnie’s youth anthem, Gene chanting away in his famous style, and Vinnie clocking into his solo with style. Gene’s lyrics aren’t quite as questionable here and as a song to sing loud as a teenager it isn’t the worst option. “Gimme More” is much more questionable lyric wise, back to that overdosed sexual innuendo that the band does stick with. The song is enjoyable, but singing the lyrics as a 53 year old is far more unsettling than you might think.

Those who have been around since the beginning of this podcast, and having heard me already do episodes on several Kiss albums, will already know that my love of Kiss came from different ages and different eras, and that I came across their albums at different times than when they were released. Most of the albums released from the early to mid-1980's I didn’t discover in full until the next decade had arrived, and “Lick it Up” was no exception. I knew the title track, but the rest was a mystery. I heard this, and many of this era’s releases, in the early 1990’s, but never owned my own copies until much later, and it wasn’t until then that I really started listening to the albums of that time.
And, unlike some older Kiss fans, I really enjoy most of those albums, and this one in particular. Vinnie Vincent might be a lot of things, but he does help to write a good song, and the songs on this album are great. His leads are different to Ace, as they should be, but no less interesting and enjoyable. There is a 50/50 mix in the songs here sung by Paul and Gene, and the combination works really well on this album. Eric Carr is also terrific on drums, making a great contribution throughout but especially (to my ears at least) on Gene’s songs.
While I knew this album, my true discovery of it came when my then 10 year old son found his way into Kiss of his own accord, started playing all of their songs on Spotify, and expressed an interest in seeing the band (which at the time I thought we had missed our opportunity). This actually led me to revisiting all of their albums again, and this was one of the ones that got stuck in the CD player of my stereo for some time. Six years later, and I’ve got it back in there again, and I am enjoying this album all over again. And I can’t help ask myself the question why I didn’t listen to this album more often when I was younger. Mainly, when it came to Kiss, I would fall upon my known favourites such as “Crazy Nights” and “Destroyer”, but it seems I missed a trick with “Lick It Up”. I have certainly made up for it ever since.

1218. Peter Criss / Peter Criss. 1978. 2/5

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.
Peter Criss had never had a problem with singing. In fact, Paul and Gene had reportedly come down to see Peter play in his band when he was trying to get the original gig as drummer for Kiss, and it was when he started singing a song while playing that the two of them decided that he was the man for the job. He had then sung vocals on some of the band’s better known songs, such as “Black Diamond”, “Hard Luck Woman” and of course “Beth”, so performing the vocals on his own solo record was not going to prove to be a problem. The direction that his album was going to take though was to be more of a talking point than it was with the other three projects. Peter’s previous band Chelsea, which had then morphed into Lips, had been a late-60's early 70’s pop rock outfit, while “Beth” had been the song he was best known for, a song that had been co-written by his former Chelsea band mate Stan Penridge, and then given the production magic by Bob Ezrin. With that kind of success, surely it made sense to continue to write songs in that direction in order to make the most of his solo opportunity? As it turned out, Peter’s musical direction was a lot more varied than anyone may have guessed at the time.

It was probably only natural that Peter looked to continue his writing and performing partnership with his old bandmate Stan Penridge for this solo album. These two co-write 6 of the 10 tracks here on the album, and Stan plays guitar on the majority of them as well.
“I’m Gonna Love You” kicks the album off and immediately shows that this was going to be of a much different style than any Kiss album. The horns and sax gave that away immediately, and it almost has a big band sound to it as a result of this and the chorused backing vocals. Then you take a left turn down the next alley and come across “You Matter to Me”, which is a solid R&B tune. You can almost see this being played on stage, with all the members of the band swaying back and forth as Peter sings the vocals. There more of this genre of music with “Tossin’ and Turnin’”, a cover of the Bobby Lewis song that topped the American charts some 15 years earlier. Peter Criss has a real Billy Joel vibe gong on vocally in this song, it could so easily have come from that artist’s later album “An Innocent Man”. Up to this point, the album had taken a step back in time, and was as far away from the hard rock scene his main band was involved in as you could imagine. That continues into “Don’t You Let Me Down”, which now flows into a soul number, with Peter crooning away in his best rendition of that style of music. By the time you get this far into the album, you can begin to imagine just how the Kiss fans reacted to it all those years ago, having bought the album hoping for four automatic repeats of the kind of music they loved from their heroes. On this album, it certainly wasn’t the case. "That's the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes" then closes out the first side of the album in a feast of repeated lyrics with backing vocals that continues to adhere to the same style as the songs that have preceded it on the album.
If you thought that perhaps side two would bring you something a bit less unexpected, then you would be wrong. “Easy Thing” comes as close to “Beth” as you are going to find on this opus, with acoustic guitar starting off slow and reminiscent, and holding that feeling through the course of the song. “Rock Me Baby”, with the use of piano, sounds like a 60’s pop-rock song without the instrument completely dominating the song as it would have if it was actually from that era. “Kiss the Girl Goodbye” again descends to the acoustic “is this the next Beth?” kind of anthem, which again misses the mark a tad. “Hooked on Rock ‘N’ Roll” again returns to the same era as “Rock Me Baby” with extended use of the sax again echoing that big band sound. “I Can’t Stop the Rain” is the piano and string ballad that brings us back to another “Beth” type clone, the kind of thing that if you don’t enjoy, will definitely bring you close to the point of complete disinterest. That it is the final song on the album may well come as cold comfort in this situation.

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 is by far the most diverse and perhaps experimental of the four solo albums. Rather than shoot straight down the line and produce an album that more or less copied the successful format of the band he was in, Peter Criss instead goes down a far winding path and reaches back into a selection of genres to create something that is unique and, without pulling any punches, would have been abrasively abhorrent to the band’s fan base at the time it was released. But he would have known that going in, and yet he stuck to his convictions and did it anyway. And you can only admire him for that, for making an album so different and far apart from a Kiss album that it stands out like a proverbial sore thumb. He took the chance to record the kind of album HE wanted to make, not one that fans may have expected him to make. It was panned by media experts at the time, and probably harshly so, given this was exactly the case, that it wasn’t what they had expected either.
On the other hand, though, does that make it an enjoyable album? If you enjoy that genre of music, I’m sure it would be. If you do not, then like me you are going to be left unimpressed. Because, like all of those fans from 1978, I’m looking for Kiss or at least Kiss-like material. I’m not after old school rock n roll, I’m not after soul, and I’m not after R&B. It just isn’t fun for me, and thus listening to this album does become a punish. I admire Peter for his convictions, but I just do not enjoy this album on any level. And having lived through it more over the past two weeks than the remainder of my life combined, it has been a very difficult thing to get through. And I don’t say this about many albums that I listen to, but I am almost certain that this week I have listened to this album for the final time in my life.

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.