100. Deep Purple / Bananas. 2003. 3.5/5.

The first ever Deep Purple album without Jon Lord – who would ever have thought that would happen? Don Airey is, of course, a great replacement.

Before I got this album, the word was that it was different, heading in a different direction as their most recent albums had gone. It concerned me a bit.

Of course, I then got the album, and all fears were washed away. This is another great effort from Purps, and continues their resurgence since the acquisition of Steve Morse as guitarist. The band continues to keep up with the times, almost 40 years after their formation. They do it by writing songs such that appear on Bananas – rocky, with a beat, and perfect assimilation between drums, bass, guitar and keyboards. No instrument stands out, but it would not be the same if one was taken away.

Rating : Still able to cut it in the 'modern' world. 3.5/5

99. Bruce Dickinson / Balls To Picasso. 1994. 3.5/5.

The turbulence that had swirled around the Iron Maiden camp, and in particular between the band’s leader Steve Harris, and the band’s front man Bruce Dickinson, finally came to its end on August 28, 1993, when they played their final gig on the tour supporting the album “Fear of the Dark”. At that very point, Maiden and Dickinson finally separated, even though the announcement of this occurrence had come many months beforehand, with Bruce only agreeing to stay on as tour dates had been booked. It had been a sour time for all, as it felt as though Bruce didn’t want to be there, and Harry felt that given his decision to leave he now wasn’t pulling his weight. Following this final gig, they parted ways, and went off in their own directions to discover what their next step would be.
In Bruce’s case, he had already been writing for a second solo album to follow his first, “Tattooed Millionaire” which had been released back in 1990. That album had been written and recorded on a rushed schedule, and had met with a mixed response. In beginning to compose material for a second album, Bruce had come to terms with his feelings that he needed to go out on his own and become the master of his own destiny. The material written for the “Tattooed Millionaire” album was nothing like an Iron Maiden album, and was the first sign that perhaps Bruce, much like Adrian Smith had done at that same time, decided he wanted to move in a different direction from what his band was doing. The question as to exactly how divergent Bruce’s solo career was going to move compared to his former band was something well discussed in those months after his final departure. The somewhat severe path that Adrian had taken, along with the change up that Bruce’s first solo album had offered, gave fans food for thought in this regard.
Bruce had begun those initial writing sessions while still in Iron Maiden alongside producer Keith Olsen, whose credits stretched throughout the hard rock and soft rock bands across a decade or more. While expanding on these at Olsen’s LA studio, Bruce heard another band recording, and was so impressed he actually took the band to Rod Smallwood (who was still acting as Bruce’s manager), who signed them up. Eventually Bruce decided to scrap the project with Keith Olsen, and instead found a collaborating partner by the name of Roy Z, a partnership that was to end up being the most productive of Bruce’s solo career. Roy had his own band called the Tribe of Gypsies – the same band Bruce had heard in those same studios – who became the recording and touring band for Bruce as well. From these fortuitous circumstances, Bruce had started down the path that would eventually lead him back to the top of metal music... though it was to be a circling and more winding path than Bruce perhaps initially imagined.

The opening of the album at least gave fans the chance to sigh with relief, in that the opening track was not in the style of Bruce’s first solo outing. Instead, “Cyclops” mixes that metal sound that was popular at this time with Bruce’s iconic vocal lines. It was more or less what one would have hoped for, a sound that was definitely not Iron Maiden, but still retained Bruce’s outstanding vocals. Roy Z announces himself as well with a great sounding solo lick through the middle of the song, and while it may go on a bit long, the album’s opening track promises much. “Hell No” follows on, on a similar path though with a less intense tempo and vocal stream. It’s another solid song, one that is fine to listen to without creating a massive impression. “Gods of War” is a warblefest, with lots of ‘wooooOOOHoooh” from Bruce and a much busier sound from the band. Once again Roy impresses with his guitar solo, but that tends to be the highlight of the song. This is followed by “1000 Points of LIght”, a stop start affair at best. What is obvious from the album to this point is that everything is in the slower mid tempo range, channelling the mood of the music of the time, searching for the slower, grungier, alternative sound that was being pushed in the mid-1990's as the direction that heavy metal was going, with some Latin influences that Roy and the Gypsies brought with them.
“Laughing in the Hiding Bush” again has the same tempo shift – duh-duh duh duh duh – that these middle tracks are basing themselves on, mixing the harder parts of the track along with the pieces that ease back a little. I like this song, and the way it is constructed, but I also feel it is endemic of the album itself, that the flow is halting throughout, energetic and then placid, stop and start. Bruce has stated in interviews since that he wishes that he had made this the title of the album. That sounds a bit mainstream of him, and not at all the rebellious nature that he obviously carried at that time.
“Change of Heart”. OK Bruce. NOW we have a problem. Now, some of you may have listened to my episode on Iron Maiden’s “Fear of the Dark”. And if you have, then you would know of my grave disappointment with the travesty of abhorrence that is the song “Wasting Love” that appears on that album. OK. Notch that up a bit for “Change of Heart”. Bruce and the lads here offer us an acoustically driven ballad that, maybe, some of the fans out there enjoy. I do not. Yes, I get that Bruce is trying new things here on this album, because now he is not restrained by the edict of his previous overlord. But is this really the kind of stuff Bruce was interested in producing? When I first heard this track, it was what gave me the idea of ripping out the cassette and throwing it into the back of the dark recesses of a drawer, never to be found again. The fact that this song was originally composed by Roy for his previous band Driver with bandmate Rob Rock, and that Bruce basically wrote new lyrics for it, does not make me feel any better about it. And I don’t think I have felt any different about it since. Yes, nicely composed song, beautifully played and sung. But still awful.
“Shoot All the Clowns” mixes snatches of the kind of vocal that we would like from Bruce, but then has the lower range smoothed out vocal line of the chorus, while the music has that funk sound to it, especially with Roy’s guitar in the middle of the track, before he breaks into a much more satisfying solo section. This is followed by “Fire” which is another track that has never gelled well with me. I just don’t like the way the song is sung, and I don’t like the way the music is constructed or played. On the other hand, “Sacred Cowboys” is one of the better tracks on the album. It immediately lifts the tempo and the energy, Bruce sounds like he is engaged again, and his vocal melody through the chorus makes it sound like the real Bruce once again.
Then there is the song that Bruce could never have done with Maiden, the song that you get the feeling that he left that band so that he could explore without limitations. I mean, that is what he has done with the entire album up to this point, because none of this would have worked in a Maiden environment. He has explored different directions that he could never have done within the restraints of that previous band. Now, in my opinion, some have worked, and others have not. But “Tears of the Dragon” is different. It is the blindingly obvious superior song on the album, the one that rises above all else and announces itself to you when you listen to the album. Everything about it is so much better than every other track here. Roy’s solo break in the middle. The little Latin piece that links the solo back into Bruce’s vocal. The click between the drums and bass. The energy, the passion, the drive. And of course, Bruce’s vocal, where he finally finds within himself the true power and majesty of his voice, perhaps for the first time since “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. This song is so far above everything else Bruce and his band does here, that it makes you wonder whether it was written in different sessions. Do you want a whole album of songs like this? No. But the passion and energy that is prevalent on this track, I believe, would have made the album better if it was distributed to all of the album in the same way.

So here we are, back in 1994, the year of no money and living in a strange new city, and as a result, it’s another album that I didn’t discover until about 12 months after it was released. And that has a few reasons behind it. Firstly, the money aspect. Secondly, the dispersion of my familial friend group with whom I had shared all of my musical discovery through my high school years, which meant that none of us were able to discover or share our music loves as easily. Thirdly, there was a bit of ambivalence on my part in regards to Bruce as his solo career at this time. By now, the mystique of “Fear of the Dark” had worn off, and I was hearing the holes in that album that a blinding love for the band Iron Maiden had perhaps shadowed for some time. And the same could be said for Bruce’s first solo release, because the blinkers were finally off on that album as well. All of this, along with other issues that were prevalent at the time, meant that this album more or less never registered with me.
Flash forward 12 months. My life feels as though it is collapsing around me as I while away my time behind the counter at the Shell Select service station in Ryde, in the west of Sydney. One of my regulars has heard the music I play when I am on my own during evening shifts, and he would often acknowledge with a nod an album I was listening to. One afternoon, he comes in, and without any preamble simply states “have you heard Bruce Dickinson’s last solo album?”. I professed that not only had I not heard it, that I didn’t know he had one out! “Oh, it’s BRILLIANT! You’ve GOT to hear it!” I assured him that I would check it out as soon as possible, and we parted ways. For the next month, every time he came in, the same conversation took place. Eventually one day, he walked in, and handed me a cassette. “There. Now. No more excuses!”
So I listened to it, without any forethought or bias, given that, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t expecting anything outstanding given that there had been zero press about it in Australia. And over the first few listens I discovered that... I hated it. I just didn’t like it. This wasn’t the Maiden-like music that I wanted to hear! It was completely different, on another plane than I would ever have expected. And if my erstwhile regular had come in to work in those next few days, that's exactly what I would have said to him. I felt like throwing it in the drawer and forgetting about it, but knowing that he would be back, I kept going. And in doing so, I did warm to it eventually. I accepted that it was different because it HAD to be different, or else why would Bruce have moved on? And by the time the inevitable conversation occurred, I was in a much better place with this album, and was able to convey that to him.
30 years on, and the world is a far more different and enjoyable place than the dark days of 1994 and 1995. “Balls to Picasso” has been frequenting my CD player for the past couple of weeks, and I discover, again, that my feelings of this album haven’t changed that much. There are some quite reasonable songs on this album, and one spectacular one. The era that the album was released, along with the desire for a change in direction from the protagonist, does date it in that way. I continue to desire an album where the songs are faster, and get out of second gear, but that certainly isn’t the case here. As an album, it is shadowed by the releases that followed it. In recent times, one of my favourite podcasts, Uncle Steve’s Iron Maiden Zone, had an episode in which they compared “Tattooed Millionaire” and “Balls to Picasso”, an interesting discussion and one which raised many great points on both sides. In the long run, while both albums were a necessary step to get to where we are today – Bruce back with Maiden, and yet still releasing amazing solo albums – neither would be considered as an all time classic.

98. Gary Moore / Ballads & Blues, 1982-1994. 1995. 1/5.

OK, look...this is getting ridiculous. How many Blues bloody albums did this guy do? I don't know, and I've probably got all of them!!

This hits release seems to me like an excuse to re-introduce Parisienne Walkways to another generation.

No need to go any further with this. It's average. Some may like it. I am OVER it!!!

Rating : I may be poorly biased in this respect. 1/5.

97. AC/DC / Ballbreaker. 1995. 3/5.

The years are beginning to lengthen between new albums for AC/DC, and no doubt there were a number of reasons why this began to occur. Importantly though, it was surely one of their main talking points to ensure that the material for a new album release was up to the standards they required to keep their fans happy, and their bank accounts increasing.

The 1980's had been a tumultuous time for the band, with varying degrees of success, and a rise and fall in popularity as a result. The good press for their previous album The Razors Edge would have heartened the band, and after an exhaustive touring schedule and well earned breaks they returned with Ballbreaker.
The songs here are generally strong. The opening track and first single "Hard as a Rock" gets the album underway in a solid way, exhibiting all of the elements that make the band what it is. That rhythm section is hammered into place, where it sits at the same tempo for the majority of the next 45 minutes, never straining itself and never losing a beat along the way."Cover You in Oil" may only be an average follow up, but I have always enjoyed "The Furor". "Boogie Man" is rooted very much in the blues. "The Honey Roll" is as basic as it gets for AC/DC, the backbeat  rumbles along for five and a half minutes, while Brian's vocals magnetise themselves over the top, except for the 45 seconds or so that Angus plays his basic and formula solo. You could feed the basic AC/DC components into a computer, and it would write this stuff for you. As has always been the case with this band, this could be seen as a positive or a negative. Truly, in this case, this song has no inspiration, and any kid with a guitar and a drum machine could have composed it.
Things improve a little with "Burnin' Alive", which is still simple, but with an improved tempo and a better melody line throughout it gets your feet tapping more enthusiastically. So does the next song, which was the second single from the album, "Hail Caesar". "Love Bomb" doesn't really excite me at all. "Caught With Your Pants Down" settles into formula music and lyrics again, just to show that it isn't something you can easily escape. "Whiskey on the Rocks" leads into the album-concluding title track "Ballbreaker", which at least gives off some energy before we wave goodbye.

Ballbreaker is a reasonable effort for a band in their third decade. I may well be proven wrong, but the final peak of this band's career may well have been their previous effort. I don't know what the future holds for them, but one can still find enough good stuff on an album like this to believe that they may have more left in the tank, if they can just push harder at the faster songs than they necessarily do here.

Rating:  Unpack my bags, and take a drag.  3/5

96. Van Halen / Balance. 1995. 3/5.

The end of the 1980’s had seen Van Halen storm the charts with their albums “5150” and “OU812”, along with singles that populated the top ten in the US and around the world. The arrival of Sammy Hagar saw the band move away from their hard rock roots into combining this sound with a more commercial rock sound that included Hagar’s soaring vocals with a more influential part taking by the keyboard and synths that Eddie Van Halen was experimenting in, which suited the musical style of the late 1980’s. As the calendar turned over into the 1990’s they released their third album with Hagar titled “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”, one that won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance and pushed their profile higher. On the tour to support that album the band recorded two shows in Fresno, California, which they then released as their first live album titled “Live: Right Here, Right Now”. Career wise, everything seemed to be tracking nicely.
On the inside however, moods were swinging wildly. For a start, the Van Halen brothers were in a world of hurt. Eddie was suffering with a hip injury as a result of avascular necrosis, the death of bone tissue due to an interrupted blood supply, while Alex was suffering from ruptured vertebrae around his neck. Neither of these injuries made for comfortable playing of instruments. Eddie had also newfound sobriety, something not always easy for the person involved or those around them to deal with. Amongst this, the internal struggles and conflicts between band manager Ray Danniels, Sammy Hagar and the other band members were reaching a boiling point. Mixing all of this in together created a combustible atmosphere that plagued the band through the recording of the album over the three months from June to September of 1994, mostly tucked away in Eddie’s home at 5150 Studios, finally coming together to be released in January of 1995.

There are fans out there who have said quite openly that they feel Van Halen as a band was unchanged in their musical output in the 1990’s despite the direction that music headed during the first half of the decade. The more you listen to this album today, compared to having listened to it back on its release, it’s hard to stick with that point of view. There is a definite merging of the sound that Van Hagar had adapted to over their first three albums together, and the sonics that was bounding around them when they were writing and recording this album. Not so much as a grunge morphing, but a settling of the tempo of the band back to a slower, more thoughtful tone. The wider scope of songs, their style and involvement, is also a changing factor. How often would you actually choose to go in to listening to a Van Halen album that didn’t actually contain many riffs and solos from the guitar of Eddie Van Halen? Not often, right? Well, my guess is this is why “Balance” doesn’t always come up on ‘must listen to‘ albums lists.
The opening of the albums offers up a bit of everything. The opening track “The Seventh Seal” combines a lot of different factors, including both early 1970’s guitar sounds and a melody through the middle such as progressive rock bands of the late 70’s and early 80’s were fond of. It offers up an interesting riff progression from Eddie that is unlike anything the band had tried before. Despite its unusual feel it is one that I enjoy. This is followed by the mid-80's styled and themed rock ballad of “Can’t Stop Lovin’ You”, one that could easily be imagined as having been written for the “5150” album. It stands out here because it is so different from what has been offered up as the opening track. And the next track! Because then comes “Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)”, which focuses again on a very 1970’s rock them both in guitar style from Eddie and vocal style from Sammy, a lower, steadier, dreamlike fashion. Eddie’s slide solo through the end is mystic in origin, and Sammy's vocals hard and to the point. Like the opening track this is unlike what you would generally class a Van Halen song but is no less intriguing or enjoyable as a result.
“Amsterdam” has a riff that dates back to the mid-80's, an idea stored for later use, with lyrics that in a retrospective interview Eddie claimed to hate as they dealt with smoking pot, without being used as an innuendo. As with “Can't Stop Lovin’ You”, it is easy to hear the 1980’s influence in the track itself. “Big Fat Money” jumps out of the gates at an increased tempo, bounding along with hard core tempo from Alex Van Halen on drums and Michael Anthony on bass leading the way and some honky tonk rock and roll piano headlining the back end of the track. “Strung Out” is a minute and thirty seconds of something Eddie recorded years ago on a piano at Marvin Hamlisch’s beach house that he rented. For some reason he threw a whole heap of stuff into this piano to see what sounds it would make and then began playing the strings like a guitar. Honestly, it is a completely unnecessary track, reminding me of things that Black Sabbath used to put on as intervals on their albums in the 1970’s.
Following this unnecessary track is what I would deem to be yet another unnecessary track. The rock ballad “Not Enough” is a join-the-dots, colour-by-numbers rendition of this genre of song. Yes, piano. Yes, searching vocals over the top of the piano. Yes, the heartfelt vocal rendition of bridge and chorus. And yes, mournful ballad guitar solo played to inch by sickening inch perfection. It was of course the fourth and final single released from the album, and it is still as painfully awful as the day this album was released. This was a major error. Awful.
And yet, following comes “Aftershock” which competes for best song on the album. Though the guitar is still puzzlingly muted for the most part through the song, Sammy’s vocals are excellent. Eddie’s solo sections come through loud and clear, but his guitar is mixed way down for the rest. It’s a strange decision from acclaimed producer Bruce Fairbairn to have it play out this way. But then, surely the Van Halen’s would have had a say in it as well.
“Doin’ Time” is basically a one minute forty drum and percussion solo that acts as an intro to “Baluchitherium”, which is an instrumental that came about through design, though that design was actually for a normal song. The original plan was for it to have vocals, but in the studio there didn’t seem to be a lot of love for the track. After some tweaking, it was felt that it did have something to offer, but just as it was rather than trying to make it something it wasn’t. It’s okay!
“Take Me Back (Deja Vu)” features a guitar riff that had originally come from a song called “No More Waiting”, whih had on occasions been played by the band live prior to releasing their debut album. Recycled and resurrected here, incorporating acoustic slide and steel string guitar, it has a 70’s Nashville feel to the song. Again, it feels out of place for a Van Halen album, though perhaps not as out of place on this album as it should. The album concludes with “Feelin’”, a six-minute-long adventure that channels the spirit of what has come before, completing an album where little has remained as it once was, but for seemingly different reasons than what was occurring around the band at that time.

Van Halen is a band that I cottoned onto reasonably late in the piece, although it was probably the same as a lot of Australians did, on the “1984” album. I was then embroiled in the famous Roth/Hagar stand-off in the mid-80's when many suggested you had to be on one side or the other. I chose... both sides and followed both Diamond Dave’s solo career and Van Halen with Sammy at the helm, enjoying both similarly. Both had their positives and negatives, but I still listened to them.
By the time this album came to be released, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The 1990’s had killed off a lot of great bands form the 1980’s or had forced many of them to change their course, none of which really worked anyway. I had had mixed reactions to the band’s previous album, “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”, and given this was another three years down the track I was unsure of what to expect from “Balance”, and whether Van Halen could regain a bit of their original pomp and ceremony than what the direction had been that they were headed. And I was right to be unsure, because initial listens to this album failed to calm those reservations.
I mentioned earlier in this episode that it seems inconceivable that you would come to listen to a Van Halen album on which Eddie’s guitar was relegated to an inferior position within the songs and structure of that album, but that is exactly what I think of “Balance”. There is far less of his exuberance and mastery on his instrument on this album. And what there is, there is not enough of, or it has been toned down in the mix or the writing to become a secondary element. There are places where it comes to the fore, but before you know it, it has been sent back to the dungeon until the next time the sun rises.
Beyond this, the songs are reasonable. Having had this on for the past two days to prepare for this episode, and to truly recall what I think about it, I have still found some worthwhile attributes. When the album was released, I know I felt that this just wasn’t what I was looking for. Life in 1995 was about to explode in my face, and this was so dreary that I didn’t need it, given the dark veil hanging over me like a black cloud at the time. On reflection again over recent days, I find that songs such as “The Seventh Seal”, “Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)”, “Aftershock” and the instrumental “Baluchitherium”, while not from the classic vaults of Van Halen, are still worth listening to. Others, such as the truly dreadful “Not Enough”, should be stricken from the record forever. Pun intended.
Of the 12 Van Halen studio albums that the band released during their career, for me I rank this as #10. Perhaps that is not a surprise. To be honest I believe most would have it that low on their lists if they really thought about it.
This was the final album of that second lineup of the band. With the differences in opinion between Hagar and the Van Halen brothers, they parted company after this tour. There was still life in the band, though the next album was to divide opinion of the fans even more than this album did. Which, at the time, appeared impossible.

95. Iron Maiden / When It's Time to Rock [Bootleg]. 1986. 4.5/5.

It’s always interesting when you come across a bootleg of a concert by a band you love that was recorded on your birthday. It makes you wish firstly that you had been there, and secondly wonder what it was that you were doing on that day when this was happening. Well given that this bootleg was recorded on my 17th birthday on the other side of the world from where I live, I guess therein lies the reason why I wasn’t there. As to what I was doing… well… unfortunately it was a day at high school followed by an afternoon and evening of listening to Somewhere in Time. Which is the album this tour was promoting.

The album had only been out for a week or so before this concert was played so it is interesting hear both the new songs off the album, as well as the reaction from the crowd to them. The set list is brilliant, combining the new with the old and the recent. The fact that the previous tour was the World Slavery Tour that was released as Live After Death turns some people off this bootleg because they say they have heard the majority of it before. But the chance to hear songs like “Caught Somewhere in Time” and “Sea of Madness” and "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Heaven Can Wait" live is surely too good to miss. Add in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Where Eagles Dare" and "Phantom of the Opera" and you have some major epic songs in the mix. Honestly, the set list is just brilliant!

The quality of the recording is not soundboard, so if you don’t like such bootlegs then you probably won’t enjoy this. But for those that can appreciate a true bootleg, and want to experience the band in all its glory on this tour, then this is the perfect place to start.

Rating: "Caught somewhere in time".   4.5/5

94. Brian May / Back To The Light. 1992. 4/5.

There’s no doubt that the members of Queen knew long before we as an adoring public did that the band had an end date, and it wasn’t due to internal conflict or tensions. When this came to pass, and the organisation and performance of the Tribute concert that followed, it left all three to their own devices for the first time in two decades. Whereas Roger Taylor had done his own solo material at different times during the years, Brian May had done surprisingly little. There had been a project called “Star Fleet Project” which had been a mini-album back in 1983 that had also involved Eddie Van Halen, but apart from that his endeavours had mainly stuck with Queen. He contributed guitar solos on several band’s songs, including “When Death Calls” for Black Sabbath’s “Headless Cross” album, and had also helped on songs for other artists on a very minimal basis.
This didn’t mean that Brian hadn’t composed songs during that period. Indeed, the writing and recording period for this album is said to have stretched over four years, from 1988 through to 1992, at times that holes appeared in Brian’s schedule. It’s interesting that, in composing and recording an album in this way, over such a length of time, it must be quite difficult to make it come together to sound as though it is cohesive. Try and piece together some of your favourite bands songs from such a time frame, and see how difficult it would be to have a seamless album. Styles change, moods change, technology even changes.
However, it is understandable that it had to be done this way. Queen as always was the number one priority right up until Freddie’s passing at the end of 1991, and once all of that had passed, it seems like it was a reasonably short period that Brian pulled this material together and brought it to be focused as the album it became. Does it feel that way? Not initially. But for me I can certainly class these songs into two or three separate bundles, which may or may not have been the differing times that those songs were written and recorded to become “Back to the Light”.

Just about everyone, despite your musical bent, will find something on this album that appeals to them. The quieter numbers here play their part as well. The instrumental guitar piece “Last Horizon” was one of the earliest recordings used on this album, coming as it did back in 1988. It is reminiscent in some ways of a Gary Moore instrumental.
“Let Your Heart Rule Your Head” has a simple beat and rhythm, sounding like an old folk song, though perhaps the addition of jug blowers would have made it more like a ‘dixieland’ kind of song. It might be simple but it is effective, with lyrics that put a positive spin on the song. “Just One Life” is another maudlin, in memorium kind of song, soft and mournful with the choir-like vocals backing up Brian’s vocal performance. These three songs, all in the latter part of the album, tend to change the course of the adrenaline of the album. Prior to these the songs had ben faster, more powerful, and energetic, the way most of Brian’s songs are. But these three serve as a much quieter and more reflective time, and in many ways can change the way you may feel about the album as a whole. Even given the final track of the album, the cover of The Small Faces song “Rollin’ Over”, which is a much more rollicking track that the original, allows the album to finish on a more upbeat note with plenty of May guitar tricks, those few songs feel out of place in a way. And whether or not that is because of the fact the album was recorded over such a length of time, or just how the producer decided to arrange the tracks, it does play on just how the album come about. Along with this on the quieter side of the album is the cover of Cozy Powell’s “Somewhere in Time”, which Brian has cannibalised and added lyrics to, to create “Nothin’ But Blue” - all very unusual given that Cozy played drums on this track and several others on the album.
So, much of the second half of the album is very much toned down in style, both in speed and in hard core energy. That does NOT downgrade the quality of the songs or the musicianship, but it does feel like a comedown after the first half of the album. The opening mostly- orchestral-styled opening of “The Dark” segues into the opening title track “Back to the Light”, a grandiose opening to the album that immediately showcases what Queen fans in particular are looking for. It’s large, it fills the room, it has passion and emotional value, and that Brian May guitar that is what we have all come here for. The initial foray of May’s vocals, where one may have been waiting for Freddie to chime in, may not sound as strong but are no less impressive throughout. “Love Token” is an immediately heavier track both in guitar and Cozy Powell’s drumming, with his atypical heavy hard beats dominating throughout combining perfectly with Brian’s riffs. “Resurrection” comes from a faster pace, where the synths and keys combine with the guitar to create a perfectly balanced anthemic vibe, again utilising those emotive vocals to bring the song home. “Driven By You” was the first single released from the album, ironically perhaps the day before Freddie Mercury’s death in November 1991, ten months before this album was actually released. It’s arguably the heaviest song on the album, a great rock song with plenty of that trademark May guitar slinging and emotionally charged lyrics, and it has always been a favourite. All of these songs give the first half of the album the hard rock attitude that Brian always contributed to Queen, and showcase that to great effect. In fact, the songs “Headlong” and “I Can’t Live With You”, both written by Brian, were supposed to be for this album. Reportedly though, once he heard Freddie sing the vocals on both of them, he knew they were meant to be Queen songs, and both appeared on the “Innuendo” album, and are two of the best tracks of that release.
The other song to appear here is “Too Much Love Will Kill You”, a song written by Brian along with two others, Elizabeth Lamers and Frank Musker. It was initially written for Queen’s “The Miracle” album and was actually recorded with Freddie singing it, however it was eventually rejected for that album when the band agreed that all of the songs on that album should be credited to the band rather than individuals, which ruled this song out. Instead, Brian played this on the piano at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert, and then for this album, which was released as the second single. Freddie’s version was eventually released on the “Made in Heaven” album three years later, but it was Brian’s that went on to the best success in the singles charts.

I was a bit slow out of the blocks on getting this album. In fact, it wasn’t until the US release in early 1993 that I actually came across a copy of it. It probably didn’t help at the time that I was in my own small business with my then fiancé, so we were a bit low on resources that allowed me to go out and buy albums whenever I wanted, like I had when I was single. But I still remember the day it came in the mail, and I put it on my stereo in the small two room unit we lived in when we first got married, and turned it up and heard it for the first time. I was spellbound from the outset, especially those first seven or eight tracks. I mean, I loved Queen, and I knew Brian could sing, but hearing him do his own stuff, in his way, on his own accord, with his flying guitar and his own vocals, was just amazing. I’ve never really forgotten how this album sounded to me that first time I heard it. I remember the afternoon, the blue sky overlooking the ocean in mid-autumn, and being blown away by “Back to the Light” and “Love Token” and “Resurrection” and “Driven By You”. All of it was... magical.
Why? I don’t know. I just didn’t know what to expect I guess, now that Queen was over (or so we thought), and what would this amazing musician do, and could it match what he and his previous band had been able to do. And the scale of what came out of those speakers that day was beyond my expectations.
Do I still feel that amazement of this album, 30 years later? Well firstly, consider the fact that it is now longer since this album was released than Queen actually performed together. That is a little scary to consider. Queen played for 20 years. It is 30 now since this album was released. So even taking that into consideration... yeah, I still get the same tingles whenever I listen to this album. Sure, the second half of the album doesn’t jump out at me as much, but that first half is still just terrific. And a few years later I was extremely fortunate to see Brian and his band live in Sydney, touring on what would be his follow up album to this, “Another World”. And listening to him play Queen songs was just brilliant, but I got just as much enjoyment out of hearing the songs from this album live as well, because I loved this album so much. And I guess I still do.

93. Gary Moore / Back To The Blues. 2001. 2/5.

The reason I chose to listen to all of my ALBUMS in alphabetical order, and not in ARTIST alphabetical order, was to avoid listening to one artist for several albums in succession. As you can see, that hasn't stopped it happening here...

Another blues album from Gary. Generally it is the same as his other ones. And I like his blues music. It is well written and well played. But I don't like blues that much. Especially when comparing it to the previous two albums reviewed.

Rating : Blues is blues. 2/5.

92. Gary Moore / Back On The Streets : The Rock Collection. 2003. 4.5/5.

Unlike the album just reviewed, this is a best-of collection released a couple of years ago. It seems that it was to cash in on Gary's rock years, which he had left behind long, long ago. Or to remind his blues fans that he had a rock base.

I don't know what the whole reasoning behind it was, but it is an excellent album. The collection contains most of his best hits, and even gives you the better, live versions of Wishing Well and Back On The Streets, whihch was extremely well thought out.

So why, you may ask, does it only get four and a half? Well, they forgot Victims Of The Future and Hiroshima, to name two glaring omissions. There were probably a couple of others also, but those two especially.

Apart from that, as good a best-of collection as you could make to honour Gary Moore's best years.

Rating : Great music. 4.5/5.

91. Gary Moore / Back On The Streets. 1978. 3/5.

This was released a long, long time ago, back when Gary was still (basically) thinking like a rock star, and not a blues star.

There's a lot to like about this release. For a start, it has Phil Lynott playing bass and helping out with vocals. Secondly, most of the songs are good. The title track is a typical Gary Moore rock song, and is helped along with other such songs on the album. Thirdly, he shows he is not afraid of playing instrumentals, of which there are a number on the album. And fourthly, there is his most famous ballad, Parisienne Walkways, which probably launched his career to a new level, and gave him the kick along he needed.

I like the raw production of the album (somewhat to be expected in the era and the cost), and looking back (listening back, I guess...), you can see all of the elements that made Gary the star he soon became.

Rating : Not bad at all. 3/5.

90. Dokken / Back In The Streets. 1979. 3/5.

The first release for the Dokken boys, an EP recorded an eon ago.

There is nothing startling on this release. It is a band still trying to find their feet, and is of interest mainly from a historical perspective, and of what they became.

Rating : Just starting out. 3/5.

89. AC/DC / Back In Black. 1980. 5/5.

I was too young in 1980 to know or hear anything about AC/DC, their successes with original vocalist Bon Scott, or his sudden demise very early in that year. I don't recall anything about the band then recruiting a new vocalist named Brian Johnson, on the insistence of Bon family that they not disband and continue on, as he would have wanted. I only vaguely recall hearing a song about being shook all night long on the radio around that time. It wasn't until a couple of years later, as I reached my teenage year and my own search for music of my own to enjoy began that I came across the legacy of AC/DC, the story of that fateful year, and the album Back in Black.

Has there ever been a better known or more appropriate beginning to an album than the gong ringing off at the very start of the first track, "Hells Bells"? What a brilliantly atmospheric song to start off a new album, and a new era of the band. One can only imagine what the fans thought back when this was released when they first heard this coming out of their speakers. i know when I first heard it I was hooked from that moment. "Shoot to Thrill" has always been my favourite song off the album. I love the pace of it, how it starts off at that cracking pace, before the quieter more sedate guitar part in the middle of the song, before exploding into the conclusion. It's a great song. Then there is the high energy vocals from Brian in "What Do You Do for Money Honey". It is the perfect follow up to the first two tracks, keeping the drive of the album rushing along. Phil Rudd's drums crash here in earnest. The continuity of the album is exacerbated with "Given the Dog a Bone", with the rhythm section continuing to pump out that jaunty backbeat that is the staple of the album. Side One finishes with the slower impact of "Let Me Put My Love Into You".
Side Two begins with a bang, straight into "Back in Black" with its distinctive staccato style and Brian pulverising you with his words. Terrific stuff. This is followed by "You Shook Me All Night Long", one of their biggest and most popular singles, one that everyone sings along to even today whenever it comes on. "Have a Drink on Me" was always a favourite for those I socialised with whenever we went out somewhere, singing it in the pub to whomever's shout it was to get him up to the bar. This is then jacknifed by the hardest and fastest song on the album, "Shake a Leg". This comes screaming out of the speakers after an average paced start, really showcasing the old fashioned Aussie pub style fast rock that the band grew up on. Angus lets fly at the end of the song, you can almost see him jumping around the studio as he is playing that solo break. After this session of speed, the album ends more sedately with the anthemic "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution", which was often sung around school halls when teachers complained bitterly of music being played too loud.

Is this the perfect hard rock album? Arguably, it is. The lyrics of all of the songs deal with those things that young males of all generations relate to. The music, as always with AC/DC, is spectacular in its amazing rhythm section which doesn't miss a beat, and is solid and hard in its base, making it easy to keep time in whatever way suits you best - tapping your foot, playing air drums on the table, or just banging your head along with the beat. Angus Young's solo's are perfectly positioned in each song, enhancing each song without dominating them. The final piece of the puzzle comes to be Brian's vocals, which given how he came into the band could have been heavily scrutinised. However, he fits in perfectly, and his obvious love of blues rooted rock n roll is the same place the rest of the band came from too. The strongest songs that are most referenced here - "Hells Bells", "Shoot to Thrill", "Back in Black", "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" - make the biggest mark, but it is the songs around them that help make it a top shelf album. They are still strong songs that help enhance what they fit around, maintaining the excellence without necessarily being as heavily recognised as those songs mentioned here. That's what makes this (probably) the finest moment of the AC/DC story.

Rating:  Shoot to thrill, play to kill, I got my gun at the ready, gonna fire at will.  5/5

88. Dokken / Back For The Attack. 1987. 4/5.

Dokken had taken a long and winding road on its way to finding its place near the top of the 1980’s hair metal scene. Having initially moved to Germany in order to land a recording deal, it had come in the form of the debut album “Breaking the Chains”. With Juan Croucier leaving the band after its recording to join Ratt, the introduction of Jeff Pilson on bass brought about the band’s classic line up, and also brought about great success with their following two albums, “Tooth and Nail” and “Under Lock and Key”. Both had contained successful singles, and showcased the best the band had to offer, in the great rhythm section of Pilson on bass and Mick Brown on drums, the electrifying guitaring of George Lynch and the pulsating vocals of Don Dokken. “Tooth and Nail” eventually reached #49 in the US and “Under Lock and Key” up to #32. Along with bands such as Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, W.A.S.P and Ratt, Dokken had found their niche in the hair metal market and found their popularity well and truly on the rise.
At the start of 1987, Dokken had recorded a song for the soundtrack of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”, a song that became the title track of the film and increased their standing as a result. After a constant touring and recording schedule that had stretched over recent year, the band decided to take a six month break before returning to write and record their follow up album. Moreso for this album than what had occurred on their previous albums, there was a mixture in the writing grouping of the songs. In fact, four of the songs do not credit band leader Don Dokken at all. Some of this has been put down to the increased tension within the group and between certain members, with the more obvious example of that between Dokken and Lynch. Despite this, the band managed to create their longest album to date, at over an hour in length, with songs ranging from the soft metal ballads that were a major part of the scene at the time, along with some heavy material that showcased the part of the band that could play with the best around when they wanted to.

“Back for the Attack” has a great range of songs that touch most genres of the metal scene that Dokken played in during the mid-to-late 1980’s. In the effort to find radio airplay, and perhaps even more important, MTV airplay, it was the pop friendly songs that found themselves released as singles. “Burning Like a Flame” was the first single released from the album, and it was followed the following year by “Heaven Sent” which was the most ballad-typed class of song that appears here.
The great advantage Dokken had during this time was that Don Dokken’s voice lent itself to both forms of the metal songs that the band was producing, able to croon away on songs like the singles, but also punch out great harder vocals and hit the real heights with his pitch on the top shelf songs on the album. And along for the ride is George Lynch, whose guitaring had been a highlight on the earlier albums and continued in the same vein here. Some fans have felt he was wasted in Dokken, and only truly came to the fore in his following band Lynch Mob, but that would be to take away just how good he is on these songs. Let’s face it, his intro to the album, the opening guitar riff on the opening track “Kiss of Death”, is what really gets you into this album, and the track is one of Dokken’s best. Lynch’s performance on that song alone is enough to convince you that he is not being wasted in this band. Then there is the instrumental “Mr Scary”, written by Lynch and Pilson, and completely focused on Lynch’s guitaring. These are two examples of where his guitaring is in fact the centrepiece of the band, not the lack of focus of the band. And that is not to draw the shades on the performance of both Pilson and Brown here as well. This foursome is a tightknit unit – musically at least – and every song here oozes with their magic.
This album became Dokken’s biggest selling worldwide, reaching #13 in the US and having each of its singles gaining significant airplay. And given the fact that the singles were, at least to me, the least attractive of the songs on the album, proves that it is the strength of the entire album that pushes the greatness of “Back for the Attack”, and not just one song that drives those sales. And “Mr Scary” is the epitome of that.

Life is often cruel when it comes to my music tastes, and once again I feel I didn’t get the rub of the green when it came to Dokken and especially this album. Because despite all of the wonderful music and albums I was exposed to during my latter high school years, Dokken and “Back for the Attack” somehow missed me. And that is a crying shame, because when this album was released I was just completing my final year exams, and while it would then have missed being a part of that year’s music soundtrack that still exists in my head, it would surely have become an awesome addition to the Summer of Bill that followed prior to going to university the following year.
As it was, I didn’t come across this album until the turn of the century. Sure, I had heard and seen the singles and music videos on MTV, rage, Beatbox and the such, but I had never gotten around to finding their albums, especially once we moved into the 1990’s and the grunge slash industrial slash power metal scene. So it wasn’t until the nostalgia stage of coming up quick on the age of 30 that I thought ‘I really must check out bands I’ve missed’. And it was the nostalgia that drew me in, chasing old NWoBHM bands and old hair and glam metal bands to bring back the memories of those high school years.
And “Back for the Attack”, from its first moments, was a hit for me. And by the end of that first listen, recalling the great age of Nightmare on Elm Street movies, I was wondering how on earth it had taken me this long to finding this album, and this band, something I very quickly rectified. And it has been over 20 years now since I first got this album, and I still play it often. It remains at the high end of my music rotation when I’m looking for a CD to put on the stereo at home. And I still can’t believe I didn’t have it back in the day.
The band broke up following the tour for this album, and has never been the same since. This was the third of the great trilogy of Dokken albums, and is a must for anyone who loved that hair metal scene of the 1980’s - in fact, it’s a must for anyone who lived through the 1980’s. Where great music and horror movies went hand in hand.

87. Masterplan / Back For My Life [Single]. 2004. 4/5.

Singles are hard to rate – and I am only including them because to leave them out would make this process feel incomplete.

This contains two songs from the album Aeronautics, which are both great. It also includes two songs not on the album, one which is great, the other which is average.

Rating : Good for a single. 4/5.

86. Live / Awake : The Best Of Live. 2004. 3/5.

When Live first came along, I became a big fan, especially of the album Throwing Copper. It was new, different, and a style of its own.
With each subsequent release, I have found less to enjoy. I thought the following two releases were good, but since then it has been very opaque.

This collection contains what they claim to be their best, but is generally just a singles package. Not that that detracts from its release, just that many of their singles I wasn't beholden to, and some of their other songs I believe are a lot better.

Rating : About average. 3/5.

85. Dream Theater / Awake. 1994. 4/5.

Coming off the tour to promote their second album “Images and Words”, Dream Theater took a short one month break before heading back into the writing process for their follow up in February 1994. This period, and the subsequent recording of the album, saw increased tension within the ranks, with what was perceived as a lack of a leader to come in and make decisions where required. With guitarist John Petrucci and drummer Mike Portnoy filling senior roles, and keyboardist Kevin Moore pulling in a different direction, the process was filled with tension that apparently did not result in physical altercations, but did result in bickering and arguments that never felt resolved.
“Awake” is an album with darker themes and heavier music throughout, than the band’s first two albums, though not to the point that they lose their identity. On “6:00”, James LaBrie opens the album and comes in hard and positive with his vocals from the outset, setting the album off on a great note, with John Petrucci’s crawling guitar riff and Kevin Moore’s seamless keyboards linking everything throughout. “Caught in a Web” carries on with the heavier tones, dominated by LaBrie’s awesome vocal track and Petrucci’s heavy riff, with positive lyrics about deciding to live life the way you want to, and not feel as though you are trapped in the titled web. “Innocence Faded” follows and draws on similar themes from the opening track. “6.00” has lyrics written by Moore, while “Innocence Faded” is written by Petrucci, and those themes, of a relationship beginning to deteriorate from two different perspectives, is closer to home than anyone knew at the time. Lines such as “Beginnings get complicated the farther we progress, opinions are complicated, immune to openness” speak for themselves.
“A Mind Beside Itself” is the trilogy suite that follows this, beginning with the instrumental “Erotomania”, something that gives the band the chance to operate without the vocals. This moves into “Voices” and “The Silent Man” and is a quieter and softer trio of tracks than what has come before it. “The Silent Man” sits in the acoustic range with LaBrie’s vocals suitably muted for the track.
“The Mirror” combines Moore’s sensational keyboard pieces that hold the song together, along with Petrucci’s grunging guitar riffs and John Myung’s bottom end bass guitar bringing a whole new depth to the musical side of the track. Lyrically it references Mike Portnoy’s battle with alcohol, something he would utilise again in several songs through the years. “Lie” opens with a great Petrucci riff and is a great example of the heavier direction this album took in many places. LaBrie’s vocals perfectly position themselves between the low almost growl of the opening lines before he rises to the heights again with a heavier emphasis on his singing. It’s interesting that the main riff was originally a part of the previous song “The Mirror”, but it was LaBrie who insisted that the riff deserved a place of its own. Great song, with a great solo from Petrucci through the middle of the track.
“Lifting Shadows Off a Dream” builds throughout from a slower quieter beginning to a soaring of LaBrie’s vocals into the back half of the song and the dominant sound of Moore’s keyboards and Myung’s bass. “Scarred” is the longest track on the album at eleven minutes, incorporating each of the members performance to ebb and flow throughout. The album closes out with “Space-Dye Vest” and is solely composed by Moore, something which caused a conundrum for the band when, just after the release of the album, Moore quit Dream Theater. Because the band considered this to be a 100% Kevin Moore song, they didn’t feel it was right to play the song live without him. In fact, Portnoy was quoted as saying that if they had known Moore was going to leave the band, they would not have put the song on the album. It was not until 2014 that the band performed the song live. Containing samples from certain movies and TV shows, and with music heavily based around Moore keyboards, it does feel more like a Moore solo composition than a Dream Theater song, though LaBrie and future keyboardist Jordan Rudess were very keen on getting the song into their live setlists.

I didn’t come across Dream Theater in any way shape or form until almost the turn of the new century, with the return of my heavy metal music dealer, who had come across this band in his travels, and started very forcibly pushing them onto myself and our friends by saying “You have to listen to this band they are AWESOME!!” And so we, and I, did. And as it turned out I got copies of quite a few of their albums at the same time, and was listening to them all in assorted orders, so it was quite a bit to get used to. And as it turns out, it was “Awake” that I finally settled on to listen to on a regular basis, to come to terms and get a grip on the music that Dream Theater was producing.
Now unlike others, Dream Theater for me was an acquired taste. It didn’t always gel with me and my music tastes. I would discover songs that I loved, but other stretches where I found I wasn't so much a fan of. The song that first caught my attention was “Caught in a Web”, perhaps because it wasn’t quite so progressive as their other work that I knew at the time. It was a song where I began to appreciate each different aspect of the band – guitar, bass, drums, keys, vocals. And having found a way in, it enabled me to get a grip on the music and the band, and from there I was able to enjoy what they produced. And as it turned out, “Awake” was a heavier and more focused album than “When Dream and Day Unite” and “Images and Words” and “Falling into Infinity”, which had been those other albums that I had initially listened to. So by concentrating on just this album for awhile, I found my niche into the Dream Theater sound, and it set me on my way.
Is there a conflict within my enjoyment and love of Dream Theater? Yes, there is. And “Awake” certainly holds true to that. I like most of my music is that faster tempo, and heavier too if possible. Not all of this album is like that, which means that when I put the album on to listen to while I’m doing something else in the background it is enjoyable, but if I have it on, say, in the car, then the skip button will occasionally get utilised. It’s just the way of things. But the songs that I like, such as those played here on this episode and a few others, I REALLY like. And that is what drives my enjoyment of this album.
While this was the first album that I really listened to of Dream Theater, there are many other albums down the track that caught my attention harder, mostly when they allowed the heavier side of their music to shine through. No real surprise in that, I guess. But this album still shines in those same old places, with the genius of the players well and truly front and centre in the mix.
And while the musicians themselves are generally the high water talking point of this band when it comes to musical discussion, the star for me on this album has always been James Labrie and his vocals. I think they are amazing here, and he makes the songs what they are.

84. Audioslave / Audioslave. 2002. 3.5/5

When Audioslave came together, there were quite a few people around who wondered if it would work. Could the two extremes - the voice of Soundgarden, in Chris Cornell, and the band formerly known as Rage Against The Machine – come together to form a partnership?

As it turned out, the answer was “Yes”.

This debut album is a good start for the new band. Everyone's tastes are catered for throughout, without any undue strain. There was even chart success, especially with Like A Stone.

As a first up effort, it is a good album. Word from the concert was that they were even better live, which one would expect.

Memories : The first time the clip for Cochise came on, I was at Kearo's watching Rage at an ungodly hour of the morning. The start of that song was what got me excited about getting this album.

Rating : Pretty good. 3.5/5

83. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force / Attack!! 2002. 4/5

Another Yngwie album means more of the same thing. Great guitaring, including riffs and solos. A great vocalist, who suits the written songs to a T. A teriffic band around him, who are great musicians themselves.

Earlier in his career, Yngwie longed for commercial success, and began to write songs with verses and choruses. To a degree, and it is here in this effort, he has gone back to guitaring, and writing guitar pieces, and fitting in the vocals to the gaps. It still works, but sometimes the songs feel like instrumentals with lyrics thrown in to make it a 'song'.

This is another great album from Yngwie, who seems to have grown more comfortable with himself in recent years, and just keeps pumping out great material.

Rating : Excellent stuff. 4/5.

82. Anthrax / Attack Of The Killer B's. 1991. 3.5/5.

This was brought out following the highly successful Peresistence Of Time album and tour, and the success of Bring The Noise. This album, though not actually containing actual B side tracks, is full of that kind of material.

There is some good stuff on here. The update on S.O.D's Milk is better than the original. The update of their own I'm The Man is OK too. The live versions of Keep It In The Family and Belly Of The Beast are also good to hear.
The rest is all of novelty value, and worth a chuckle. Certainly, when I first purchased the album, I thought it was brilliant. Older age has brought a different version of events, and my earlier thoughts are now not as enthusiastic.

Still, it is above average in an age where there are an abundance of below average albums.

Memories : When this album came out, in our band days, we used to laugh ourselves silly at Starting Up A Posse and Dallabnikufesin. And though I can still see the humour, I don't laugh like that anymore when I listen to them. The advent of middle age...

Rating : Oddities and rareities. 3.5/5.

81. KISS / Asylum. 1985. 2.5/5.

Kiss of the 1980's is a very different beast to that which dominated the 1970's in a blaze of pyrotechnics, blood and makeup.
Their faces (the two originals remaining) had been opened up for public viewing, and the band was competing in a whole new market.

To a certain degree, it feels to me that the band are trying to find themselves in amongst the new changes. Some of the songs here are up with the usual Kiss quality stuff – King Of The Mountain, Anyway You Slice It and Tears Are Falling. But there is some 'filler' in there too, and it seems to me they were running out of ideas.

Rating : Not quite up there with some of their other stuff. 2.5/5

80. Michael Schenker Group / Assault Attack. 1982. 4/5.

Three years after leaving his successful gig in the British band UFO, Michael Schenker and his namesake band, the Michael Schenker Group, had released two studio albums and a live album to both critical and popular acclaim. Both albums had combined a number of popular heavy tracks alongside guitar-laden instrumentals and some songs that could be described as experimental and progressive.
It was at this point that Schenker, alongside drummer Cozy Powell and the band manager, felt that the band needed a different singer. Gary Barden had been the frontman, but it was his live performances that caused concern, with his voice not considered strong enough for the live setting. Cozy had put forward David Coverdale as the perfect man, though he was currently fronting his own band Whitesnake. Schenker himself however wanted to recruit Graham Bonnet, whose most recent gig had been on the brilliant Rainbow album “Down to Earth”. Schenker eventually won out, and Bonnet was brought in for the new album. Unfortunately, Cozy and former UFO member Paul Raymond then left the band at this point, with both being replaced by session musicians.
Also coming on board for the album was legendary producer Martin Birch, who came into this album straight off having finished producing the little known band Iron Maiden’s new album, an obscure album called “The Number of the Beast”. With a new powerful voice and co-writer out front, and one of the great producers in charge of the dials, the Michael Schenker Group went forth to produce an album that would stretch what they had produced before, and hope to make a deep impression on all who would listen to it.

There is no doubt that, from the very beginning this is a much heavier album than what the band had produced before. And several things contribute to that. The first immediate one is Bonnet’s vocals. The imposing and strong presence from the start of the opening track “Assault Attack” are the kickstart to the album, and at the time must have been a real eye opener for the fans. This is exacerbated by the heavier tone in the song from what had come from most of the preceding two albums. And then we have Schenker’s guitar, which becomes the focal piece as it should be in this band. Later down the track it seemed to fade into the background as the band chased a more commercial sound, but here on “Assault Attack”, where the band was looking to bring a much harder and heavier presence to their music, Schenker’s guitar becomes as prominent as it should be. With these three focuses combining on this album, it draws together exactly as it should.
The first side of the album brings together a varying array of this revamped style of the MSG music. “Assault Attack” is essentially as the title suggests, an assault and attack both vocally and with the shredding guitar. “Rock You to the Ground” dials back the tempo to a more blues-based riff that is still ramped up by Schenker throughout, and Bonnet gives a great performance on hard core vocals. “Dancer” is a lighter tune, in fact has more in common with Bonnet’s future band Alcatrazz, before we delve into “Samurai”.
The second side opens up with what for me is still one of the best songs ever written. The brilliant “Desert Song” tops this album and most others with the MSG insignia on it. It is one of the most amazingly moody tracks ever written, building from the sublime to that first brilliant Schenker guitar riff, into the verse and bridge, and Bonnet’s vocals just supreme throughout. It is probably the highlight of Bonnet’s career, along with “Eyes of the World” from his Rainbow days. This is the star attraction of the album, one of legendary status. “Broken Promises” is followed by the song that feels like it should have been the single released from the album, “Searching for a Reason”, as it has the right lyrical content without compromising the heart of the album, and again showcases the best parts of the band in the process. While you can understand why “Dancer” was the single released from the album, I’ve always felt this would have been a better option. The album then closes with the Schenker instrumental “Ulcer”, something he excels at throughout his career in producing.

My introduction to this album was in fact back in the cassette sharing days – surprise surprise. My metal music dealer had recorded Dio’s “Holy Diver” for me, but with space remaining on the C60 tape, he put down three tracks from the “Assault Attack” album – the title track, “Desert Song” and “Samurai”. And – as much as “Holy Diver” is still one of the greatest ten albums ever released – those three songs blew my mind. And, as you will have guessed by now, it was “Desert Song” that just stuck out like a sore thumb. The switch to getting a copy of the whole album followed, and it was another album that was played to death over the following couple of years. There is a certain day that sticks in my mind, sometime when I had started Uni back in 1988. And in those mid-year days I was less than enthused about the tasks at hand nor attending the campus at all. The result was, during a five hour break I had between lectures, driving my car to Wollongong Harbour up near the lighthouse, buying $2 worth of chips, and playing this album and the following album, “Built to Destroy”, over and over, at a very loud volume, for three hours or so, looking out at the water and eating my chips, and wondering just where I was going in life. And that afternoon often comes back to me, not only through what I was feeling at the time, but how much this album made me feel so much about where I was at during that time. And it still does to today, reminds me of how much this album in particular at that time was a constant in my life.
Sadly, it was the only album Bonnet produced with the band. At the first gig they played to promote “Assault Attack”, a drunken Bonnet decided to expose himself to the crowd on stage, and was pretty much immediately fired, with Gary Barden returning to the fold in his place. And that remains a real shame, because given how terrific this album is with his writing and vocals, just wat would a follow up have produced?

79. B L A Z E / As Live As It Gets. 2003. 4.5/5.

Though this was not my first taste of B LA Z E (I had a couple of songs off their debut album, Silicon Messiah), it was the first lengthy listen I had had of the band, and of most of their songs. And it is a worthy first listen.

This was recorded on the Tenth Dimension tour, and is a veritable best-of the band's two albums released to that point, as well as some Iron Maiden songs from Blaze Bayley's era, and a Wolfsbane song as well!

The band are excellent, and the live versions of all these songs are awesome. Blaze sings his stuff fantastically well. The whole double album is a tribute to a band that have found a niche in the metal market, and filled it admirably.

Rating : Great live album, that would also act as a great starting point for the unindoctrinated. 4.5/5.

78. Michael Schenker Group / Armed And Ready : The Best Of The Michael Schenker Group. 1994. 4/5.

Releasing this in 1994, the title of the album conveniently allows the releasers to avoid anything from the latter day McAuley Schenker group – which is a shame, as there was a lot of good music that came from that partnership.

As such, this album concentrates on the early years of the group, which is not such a bad thing anyway. It was strange to sit down and listen to this again. Sometimes, if you are only looking at a track list, you can think “I can think of a dozen better songs that should be on this!” - which, of course, is what i did. And, then, you listen to the album, singing along to every song, and saying “Yeah – this rocks!”

Still, there are a couple of songs I would have exchanged with others. Overall though, a good collection of MSG favourites. Attack Of The Mad Axeman, Assault Attack, Desert Song. These are just great songs, and hold a lot of memories.

Rating : A collection of 80's memorabilia. 4/5.

77. Anthrax / Armed And Dangerous (EP). 1985. 4/5.

Anthrax had followed the same learning curve and hard-working route that most bands do on their way to recording and releasing their debut album, which came in January 1984 in the form of “Fistful of Metal”. The band had had a varied assortment of members in the lead up to the writing and recording of that album, but it didn’t end there. Tensions had been building over time between bass player Dan Lilker and lead vocalist Neil Turbin, and eventually Turbin fired Lilker without informing the rest of the band. In an interview after the event, Lilker is quoted as saying "After I was thrown out, the guys unfairly said, "Well, it took him 30 times to record the bass track for 'I'm Eighteen,'" and if you listen to the bass track, if you didn't know the whole story, you would say, "Well, that's weird, isn't it?" It's only, like, five notes." Lilker went on to form the band Nuclear Assault with another former Anthrax alumni John Connolly. In his place at drummer Charlie Benante and guitarist Scott Ian’s insistence, the band hired Charlie's nephew Frank Bello to replace Lilker on bass guitar.
Anthrax then went out on tour to promote the “Fistful of Metal” album, opening for Raven amongst other bands. During this period there were continuing problems with Turbin both within the band itself, and from outside influences. Eddie Trunk, at the time becoming an influential music journalist in the heavy metal scene, has openly admitted since that he pressured Jon Zazula, the creator of Megaforce Records, and Scott Ian that Turbin was not suitable for the band, suggesting his vocals were not of the same quality as the music that was behind them. Along with the other issues that were being played out behind the scenes, the band parted ways with Turbin in August 1984. He was briefly replaced by singer Matt Fallon but this also didn’t work out, leaving the band in limbo.
Then, from around the corner, the band found their man. Joey Belladonna. He was older than the rest of the band, and they did not like the musical background that he came from, but he had a voice that drew attention to him from the first note he sang. The band played a few gigs toward the end of 1984 to assess how the new combination would go, and the resulting success confirmed Belladonna’s position in the band.
As a way to introduce their new lead singer, and to keep their name out in front of their fans, the band and their record company decided to release an EP to introduce Belladonna to their fans, as well as give Bello his first chance to record with the band. The result of this was the EP titled “Armed and Dangerous”, released to the world in February 1985. It became the vanguard for the stretch of four albums that propelled the band to stardom.

EP’s can be a tricky thing, because if they contain material that is available elsewhere then there seems to be no reason to buy them. This is where this EP is one of the best, because every song has its own individuality and while the title track was eventually available elsewhere, the other tracks can only be found on this EP which made it a perfect buy at the time and still is today.
“Armed and Dangerous” was a song that had already been composed by the band, but was finessed up here for this EP release. Both Neil Turbin and Dan Lilker had been involved in the writing process, and while they received writing credit for it, so too did their replacements Joey Belladonna and Frank Bello. It is a terrific song to introduce Joey especially to their fan base. It utilises his vocal range exceptionally well, while also showing how far the band had progressed in maturity to the playing of this track. The band is tighter than they were on their debut album, the rhythm seems clearer and more focused, and the rough edges have been sandpapered back. This song also eventually appeared on the band’s following album “Spreading the Disease”, and it is no wonder because it is a beauty.
The rest of the EP stands up just as well. “Raise Hell” was a fully formed song that didn’t make the cut for the first album, which when you hear it here makes you wonder why. Why would you decide to have a cover version of the Alice Cooper Band’s “I’m Eighteen” rather than a song that you had composed yourself? No doubt a record company decision. I also wonder how Turbin would have sung this song because it would have been different from the way Joey sings it, one would suspect. Its not a bad song, certainly not worthy of getting the cut from the first album. The band then does a rendition of the Sex Pistols “God Save the Queen”, which sounds good, but lacks any of the spitting venom of the original. It’s funny really, because you would expect a thrash band would have really gone to town on this song and drawn every piece of irony and venom from the track, but that’s not the case.
The final two songs on the original EP are the new line up of the band playing two songs from the debut album in the studio. And they both sound fantastic. The version here of “Metal Thrashing Mad” with Joey on vocals and Frankie on bass is surely the definitive version of this song. Joey’s vocals are perfect, hitting the heights when they need to, rathe than the forced scream that Neil uses on the original, and much the same from John Bush when they did this song again on “The Greater of Two Evils” album two decades later. This is fast, thrashy and combines all of the great talents that the band possesses. Much can be said of “Panic”, which again sounds like a huge upgrade on the original version from the “Fistful of Metal” album. The band races along at top speed through this song, and Joey does a great job on vocals again. I suspect that everyone who heard this on its release, having heard the original line up and the debut album, could only have been impressed, and thought that the second album was going to be a superior upgrade on that first release. They would have been correct.
Some years later when this was re-released on CD, another two songs were added, those being the two tracks from the band’s first single released from “Fistful of Metal”. “Soldiers of Metal” was the single and “Howling Furies” was the B-side. An added bonus for those that came across this in the age of the spinning discs.

I didn’t own this EP when it was first released. I must have gotten it pretty soon after it was released on CD in 1990, because I know I knew the song “Metal Thrashing Mad” prior to seeing the band in concert for the first time in 1990, and I know I heard this version of the song sung by Joey well before I heard the original version from the debut album. So that dates me getting this in mid-1990, which does make sense. And because I got the later CD version, I also had the two B-sides from the original single released, with the first version of the band, which was great for me, as it was my first exposure to them and their sound, before I finally heard the “Fistful of Metal” album.
EP’s are an interesting beast. How often would you reach for an EP to listen to when you could just reach for a full-length album instead? Why listen to this when you could have “Spreading the Disease” on instead, for instance? Well, as I’ve rediscovered this week, because it might sound bloody amazing! I’ve always loved this EP, but just rarely think of putting it on. So, when I dragged it out last week, I was ecstatic. I put on my CD player in the Metal Cavern and loved it so much I played it three times in succession. And then again over the following days. There is a great feeling about the tracks on this EP, a feeling of hope, a feeling of enjoyment. The band sounds like they are having fun, something that Anthrax almost always seemed to be doing on stage anyway.
There’s really not much more to say. I think this is a great EP. It does the job that an EP must do. It publicises whatever tracks the band wants to put out there in order to either keep the fans sated until the next album comes out, or pushes a song from the next album to try and get fans to buy that as well. It also has the bonus tracks that are not available anywhere else, so to buy it means you will have those songs and be able to snigger quietly when others talk around you saying, “I’ve never heard that song!!!” Of course, in this day and age of streaming and downloading that becomes a less likely event. But if an EP is not on those platforms – much like THIS one isn’t out there on a streaming platform – then you, like me, can enjoy it in your own home, and feel smug all over again.

76. Fear Factory / Archetype. 2004. 4/5.

Though I had heard a little Fear Factory before this, Archetype was the first album I really sat down and listened to. And perhaps I like it because it was the first.

There is no denying the musicianship of the lads. How the drummer has any legs to stand on is a constant source of amazement to me, such speed does he expel behind that kit of his.
The songs are raw and aggressive, but with melody as well. Though, I must admit, I have tried to understand what was behind the recording of Ascension, and am still at a loss. It sounds like 7+ minutes of silence. Am I mistaken? What was behind this?

Fear Factory had had some dramas leading up to this album, but Archetype puts them right back at the top of their game.

Rating : A great return to form. 4/5.

75. Michael Schenker Group / Arachnophobiac. 2003. 4/5.

Yet another formation of the old MSG, with Schenker himself the only person to retain his position. On this occasion, it doesn't detract from the music.

On first listen, in fact, I swore it was Chris Cornell singing. Of course, I was mistaken (his name is Chris Logan), but the songs themselves are great. This is almost like it has been taken straight from the golden years of MSG, in the 1980's. The style of the album is straight from that era, which of course means it incorperates Schenker guitar style perfectly. Rather than trying to update and upbeat this album to the new millenium, the band has stuck to their strengths, and come up with an excellent album. So long as you like that style, of course!

I am impressed with it. The vocals are great, Schenker's guitaring is as good as ever, and the songs are good (for a change...). Overall – an impressive effort.

Rating : MSG back in force. 4/5.

74. Guns N' Roses / Appetite For Destruction. 1987. 5/5.

Where the hell did Guns N’ Roses appear from? It’s an interesting story, but my intention is not to go through the entire history of the lead up to the band coming together. In short, the members of two bands, Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns, came together to form a new band, taking a piece from each of the band's names to create a new name – Guns N’ Roses. As the band progressed, all of the members of L.A. Guns moved on back to their original grouping (and of course did their own thing with some success), and as each member left, another former member of Hollywood Rose came in to replace them. As it turned out, a number of Hollywood Rose songs would turn up on releases by Guns N’ Roses, including on their debut album, “Appetite for Destruction”.
The band eventually signed on to Geffen Records for less money than they were offered by other record companies, but with Geffen they were offered the ability to do their own things, whereas other companies had wanted to change the band and image and music to their own terms. Having signed in March 1986, the band had released a four track EP, “Live Like a Suicide” in December of that year, in order to keep peace with their record company as well as keep their name in the minds of the fans out there, as Geffen had feared that the band didn’t have enough material to release a full album. The writing and recording of “Appetite for Destruction” took place over the first six months of 1987. Several producers came in and help produce songs, in order to gauge their suitability to work with the band. In the long run Mike Clink was the man who got the job, a producer with a wide experience and with different genres of bands. With songs from a wide variety of timelines of the band and its members, in hindsight it probably always boded well for the album to have a varied and interesting progression. The album was eventually released on July 21 1987, to the massive sound... of crickets...

For an album that has become one of the biggest sellers of all time, it is amazing how little anyone knew about it for so long. There’s little doubt that much of the album was uncommercial, songs whose subject matter and explicit language made them impossible to play on the radio. It was also one of those albums that had the ‘explicit language’ sticker prominently displayed on the cover, which may or may not have hindered its sales.
Eventually, it was two singles that broke the band firstly into the mainstream, and then into the stratosphere. The alternative flavoured “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, not a ballad but with lyrics that makes radio stations stand up and think ‘that’s a hit’, was the first to make a splash, with Slash’s uniquely harmonic guitar riff to open the song, and then his solo later on, making a song that atmospherically made the band marketable on the basis of it being a great track that ticked all those commercial boxes without being the atypical radio hit. This was the song that powered the album sales, such that it finally reached top ten around the world, a year after its release. Six months on from that, the band then released “Paradise City” as its next single, and this sent sales soaring again. “Paradise City” had a film clip of Guns N’ Roses playing live, and the song drew on that to continue the sales surge of the album, with its repeatable lyrics and rock sensibilities, giving kids of all ages a chorus that they could cling on to. These two songs were the driving force that propelled the sales of the album well into two years after its initial release.
And the thing is, once people bought the album, they discovered that the rest of the songs on the album weren’t really like those two songs at all. Some found disappointment in this, but many found the true joy of what Guns N’ Roses had compiled for their debut opus. The incredible energy of the tracks throughout is something to behold. The lyrical content and in your face style of each song is like a freight train, or perhaps even a Nightrain, bearing down on you. Both the album opener “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Nightrain” were released as singles, but both had more impact on people once they began buying the album. The opening trio of songs in “Welcome to the Jungle”, the hard rock jingle “It’s so Easy” and the rollicking “Nightrain” make for a terrific start. “Out Ta Get Me” and “Mr Brownstone” leave nothing to the imagination as to their lyrical content, and the excitable enjoyment that they are performed at both musically and by Axl’s vocals make them fantastic songs to sing along to. Both have such brilliant riffs, and the groove of “Mr Brownstone” is awesome. After the lengthy overhaul of “Paradise City”, the two songs sandwiched between it and “Sweet Child O’ Mine” are probably my favourites on the album. “My Michelle” and “Think About You” are arguably the most unlikely songs to appear on this album, and perhaps that’s why they attract me so much. At opposite ends of the scale when it comes to the lyrical aspects of singing about the ‘girl in your life’, for me they have always picked up that middle part of the album. And of course, once we’ve crossed over “Sweet Child O’ Mine” you have the three closing tracks, with the fast paced “You’re Crazy”, the hard jumping of “Anything Goes” and the lengthy extolling of “Rocket Queen”, a song I’ve always felt may have fit better on one of the Illusion albums. But what it does do is close out a most remarkable album given the circumstances of its release and growth over the years.

I know full well I didn’t have this album until well into 1988, because no one in my high school had this album, to my recollection, in our final year of high school. I know I had this on cassette recorded for me by someone in the first half of 1988, and I don’t think I bought this until sometime in that year, probably at the time they really began to get noticed. I remember seeing the album in record shops that I frequented in those days, with the big warning sticker on the front, but because I hadn’t heard anyone who listened to them, or heard any of the songs off the album, I ignored it and looked at the other wares in the racks. And I guess I followed the crowd a little when it came to finding and enjoying this album. I don’t feel any problem with that. Sometimes being a sheep is a good thing and leads you to something you may otherwise have missed, and I think this album in particular is a good example of that. I know the band toured Australia at the end of 1988 and I didn’t feel overwhelmed to attend, so I know my feelings on the album were still ambivalent at that stage, some 18 months after it had been released. One of my funniest memories of the time is when one of my best mates bought the UK 12” single of “Welcome to the Jungle” because he loved that song, but found that “Nightrain” was on the B side, and he claimed he was going to go home, and drag a razor blade right across the B side to make it unplayable, because he hated that song so much. Of course, within a few months he then claimed that he did actually enjoy the song after all. Funny times.
It is an eclectic and unique album that has crossed genres, and indeed is one that cannot be categorised into any one format as a result. It’s a metal album, and hard rock album, a rock album, an alternative album, a post punk rock album... and probably another half a dozen genres rolled into that as well. One thing that I’ve always attested to is that I love the album much more than those two songs that drove its eventual popularity, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City”. They are good songs, but not in the best half of songs that appear on this album. They did their job in getting the album airplay, and for me it was discovering everything else here that is the real bonus.
In the years since this album has held up surprisingly well, perhaps because there has been so little other material released beyond 1991, that it doesn’t have much to stand up against in the GNR discography. Maybe that’s it. Or maybe this is just a unique album that stands the test of time because it had to fight so hard to be recognised in its time. Whatever the reason, 35 years on – or in reality I guess 34 years on, from the time most of us actually discovered it – this album is still a pretty damned good listen.

73. Anthrax / Anthrology : No Hit Wonders 1985-1991. 2005. 5/5

In line with the Big Reunion Tour of 2005, Anthrax brought out this double CD compilation of the best of their years together - basically, the albums Spreading The Disease, Among The Living, State Of Euphoria and Persistence Of Time.

The song selection is perfect (I mean, they condensed 4 albums into 2, and added a couple of extra tracks, so you should certainly have the best!), and the remastered editions have great sound quality.

There is little else really to say. Great songs, great performances. Of course, if you already have the albums, as most people will, it is money spent on items already procured.

Rating : You can't beat it. 5/5

72. Brian May / Another World. 1998. 2.5/5

Brian's second solo album is, in my opinion, not as solid as his first. Having moved on from Queen and its retirement, he has put together an album that seems to move away from the elements that made Brian May a great guitarist.

Don't get me wrong. It isn't a bad album. But it is different from anything he has released before, and it struggles to hold my enthusiasm for the entire album. It doesn't contain the same Brian May guitar pieces that I remember, and while his vocals are still good, the songs to me are not as strong as in the past.

Memories : Seeing Brian May in Sydney on this tour. Having never seen Queen (unlike some corkheads like Kearo...) it was brilliant to see him. Not only doing his own stuff, but Queen stuff as well. Terrific live performance.

Rating : Worth a listen, and to decide for yourself. 2.5/5