All metal fans have some sort of 'compromise' CDs in their collection, whether it be for their partner, parents, children, a combination, or just because they like them!
Australian rock is one of my 'weaknesses'
The Hoodoo Gurus were a great band that put out plenty of great singles, and this CD drags them altogether onto one compilation. You can't argue with the quality of the tracks here, unless you just aren't a fan.
Australian rock bands of the 80's generally grew out of the same swamp as those of the 70's, and all hold their place in music history. The Hoodoo's are one of the best of them, and this album showcases why.
Rating : A favourite from the 80's before metal took over. 4/5.
Friday, June 16, 2006
270. Stratovarius / Dreamspace. 1994. 3/5.
This is one of the guys' early albums, and I quite like the way their music was in the early days.
You can notice a distinct difference between the way this album was written and recorded to, say the two Elements albums sound. Whereas their latter albums are undeniably power metal, this would be a very early version of that genre at best. You know what they are aiming for, but this is perhaps a little more 80's heavy than 00's heavy.
Does anyone understand what I'm saying here? I'm not sure I do...
Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I can equate with this album better than, say, Destiny, as the sound is a little closer to my heart than some of their other stuff.
Best for me on the album include Chasing Shadows, Eyes Of The World, Magic Carpet Ride, Dreamspace and Reign Of Terror.
Rating : Not bad for the era. 3/5.
You can notice a distinct difference between the way this album was written and recorded to, say the two Elements albums sound. Whereas their latter albums are undeniably power metal, this would be a very early version of that genre at best. You know what they are aiming for, but this is perhaps a little more 80's heavy than 00's heavy.
Does anyone understand what I'm saying here? I'm not sure I do...
Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I can equate with this album better than, say, Destiny, as the sound is a little closer to my heart than some of their other stuff.
Best for me on the album include Chasing Shadows, Eyes Of The World, Magic Carpet Ride, Dreamspace and Reign Of Terror.
Rating : Not bad for the era. 3/5.
269. Stratovarius / Destiny. 1998. 2.5/5.
Let's get this straight from the start. The rating for this album is a bit harsh, and it doesn't really deserve to be ranked as low as this, but it just doesn't quite slip into the ranking above this, which sustains all of those albums that I could put on at a pinch and enjoy it thoroughly.
Stratovarius are another of the plethora of power metal bands that have sprung up out of Europe in the past two decades. A lot of them are on a very similar footing, whereas their music is quite similar, and their direction is quite similar. And unless you absolutely LOVE one of these particular bands, you may not appreciate their efforts.
Destiny is a good album in this genre. Their power metal songs are excellent, the list including Destiny, No Turning Back and Rebel. Their power ballads are also in this category – if it is something you love.
No, I do not.
I appreciate their quality, but do not like them. Too slow, too ballady. Mind you, the singer really pulls off a great Michael Kiske impersonation during Years Go By and 4000 Rainy Nights, the two songs of which I speak of here.
This is probably a better quality album than I have given, but this is my opinion of music, no one else's.
Rating : I thought it showed a lot of promise, and could have been better. 2.5/5.
Stratovarius are another of the plethora of power metal bands that have sprung up out of Europe in the past two decades. A lot of them are on a very similar footing, whereas their music is quite similar, and their direction is quite similar. And unless you absolutely LOVE one of these particular bands, you may not appreciate their efforts.
Destiny is a good album in this genre. Their power metal songs are excellent, the list including Destiny, No Turning Back and Rebel. Their power ballads are also in this category – if it is something you love.
No, I do not.
I appreciate their quality, but do not like them. Too slow, too ballady. Mind you, the singer really pulls off a great Michael Kiske impersonation during Years Go By and 4000 Rainy Nights, the two songs of which I speak of here.
This is probably a better quality album than I have given, but this is my opinion of music, no one else's.
Rating : I thought it showed a lot of promise, and could have been better. 2.5/5.
268. Eddie Ojeda / Axes 2 Axes. 2005. 3.5/5
This was a really interesting find one day on a music trawl, and an impulse acquisition that has not disappointed since.
This is a solo album by Eddie, better known as the guitarist for Twisted Sister. He has recruited some all-star vocalists to guest for him here, and it is interesting to note how they perform around the material. I'm not sure whether Eddie wrote each song with the vocalist in mind, or whether it was a coincidence, but each songs mood suit the music and vocals almost perfectly.
Ronnie James Dio is his usual brilliant self on Tonight. Cohort Dee Snider has a crack at Eleanor Rigby. Joe Lynn Turner on Livin' Free is great as usual, while Eddie himself sings on the other tracks, where he is a perfect match for Evil Does (What Evil Knows).
Eddie's instrumentals are also worth the price of admission. They lose nothing in comparison to the other songs on the album.
Overall, this is a pretty slick effort. Very much in the Twisted Sister type mainstream of hard rock and heavy metal, this showcases Eddie's guitaring extremely well, and is well worth grabbing a hold of and having a listen to.
Rating : Eddie Ojeda in his own forum to display his skills. 3.5/5.
This is a solo album by Eddie, better known as the guitarist for Twisted Sister. He has recruited some all-star vocalists to guest for him here, and it is interesting to note how they perform around the material. I'm not sure whether Eddie wrote each song with the vocalist in mind, or whether it was a coincidence, but each songs mood suit the music and vocals almost perfectly.
Ronnie James Dio is his usual brilliant self on Tonight. Cohort Dee Snider has a crack at Eleanor Rigby. Joe Lynn Turner on Livin' Free is great as usual, while Eddie himself sings on the other tracks, where he is a perfect match for Evil Does (What Evil Knows).
Eddie's instrumentals are also worth the price of admission. They lose nothing in comparison to the other songs on the album.
Overall, this is a pretty slick effort. Very much in the Twisted Sister type mainstream of hard rock and heavy metal, this showcases Eddie's guitaring extremely well, and is well worth grabbing a hold of and having a listen to.
Rating : Eddie Ojeda in his own forum to display his skills. 3.5/5.
267. Godsmack / Awake. 2000. 3.5/5
I have only just recently acquired the Godsmack catalogue, but god-damn it is impressive! Awake is just one of those.
This is an instantly enjoyable album. Awake is full of the trademark Godsmack riffage, the kind of growl you want in the guitaring if you are a metal fan. While this drives the album, Sully Erna's vocals are just sensational. These are the two aspects of their music that drew me to investigate them, and they are in fine form here.
OK, so maybe it isn't a perfect album. I find metal of this genre rarely do have the 'perfect' album, if only because the songs can get a little bit similar all through the list. But that does not take anything away from the artist or this album. I think both are great.
Best here in my opinion are Sick Of Life, Awake, Goin' Down and Trippin'
Rating : Lots to like about this album. 3.5/5.
This is an instantly enjoyable album. Awake is full of the trademark Godsmack riffage, the kind of growl you want in the guitaring if you are a metal fan. While this drives the album, Sully Erna's vocals are just sensational. These are the two aspects of their music that drew me to investigate them, and they are in fine form here.
OK, so maybe it isn't a perfect album. I find metal of this genre rarely do have the 'perfect' album, if only because the songs can get a little bit similar all through the list. But that does not take anything away from the artist or this album. I think both are great.
Best here in my opinion are Sick Of Life, Awake, Goin' Down and Trippin'
Rating : Lots to like about this album. 3.5/5.
266. Tool / 10,000 Days. 2006. 1.5/5.
I got this when it was their brand newie, hot off the presses, and though I am not a huge Tool fan I was quite interested to see what they had produced this time around. The lead-up on Blabbermouth and other such sites was very positive.
So the result? Well, for me as I said, it is frustrating. There is some really good rhythm to some of the songs, and even in the middle of some songs. "10,000 Days" and "The Pot", which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance, are two of the best examples of this. But the mood of many of the songs is just not my style. Sure, maybe the hardcore Tool fans love it, but as a bit of a Johnny-come-lately to their music, and just an average Joe in the fan stakes, I am not overawed at it. It is hardly what I would class as metal these days either. Perhaps they don't want to be labelled that way, and fair enough if that is the case.
This is very eclectic stuff. I can't fault the music itself, but can only express my disinterest in it on a personal level. If you are a fan of Tool, you should love this. I must admit to having trouble.
Friday, June 09, 2006
265. Iron Maiden / Edward The Great. 2002. 5/5.
You can't argue with the song selection, simply because they are all great songs. You have to give it top marks, because it is an album full of brilliant songs. But really – no one in the known universe needs this album. Haven't you all got every one of their albums anyway?!?
Rating : I just said it! 5/5.
264. Iron Maiden / Ed Hunter. 1999. 4/5.
It also had what proclaimed to be the fan's Top 20 favourite Iron Maiden songs of all time, in order, as voted by the fan's on websites and stuff. Now, if this is true, there are some weird fans out there. You cannot convince me of ANY Iron Maiden fans who think Iron Maiden the song is their best song ever! Anyway, I guess it is good for an argument.
And for argument's sake, here is a list of what I consider to be Maiden's Top 20 songs of all time, not in any particular order, and only up to the release of this compilation:
Remember Tomorrow
Phantom Of The Opera
Murders In The Rue Morgue
Killers
Children Of The Damned
The Prisoner
Where Eagles Dare
Revelations
The Trooper
To Tame A Land
Aces High
2 Minutes To Midnight
Powerslave
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Wasted Years
Heaven Can Wait
Alexander The Great
Infinite Dreams
Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter
The Clansman
Rating: Reasonable game and reasonable song selection. 4/5.
263. Sonata Arctica / Ecliptica. 1999. 3.5/5.
I have only recently discovered Sonata Arctica, and am still slowly trying to get my way through all of their albums for a decent listen, and also to be able to rank them with a fair hearing behind them.
Ecliptica is a difficult one to rate. Sonata Arctica are fully rooted in the European power metal scene, and power metal bands can sometimes get a little samey when it comes to their music.
For the most part, Ecliptica is a good album, and a very listener-friendly one. Songs such as Blank File, My Land and Replica are terrific, and have a great fast flowing pace about them. The closer Destruction Preventer is also a pearler.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, the 'sameness' comes in a little. I found that unless I was 100% concentrating on the music, I couldn't tell which song I was up to. That does happen with some bands, and I am certainly not lumping Sonata Arctica in with that lot, because it is the fact that they are several levels above most power metal bands that they can occasionally get away with that, and not lose the interest of the listener.
I am still not fully sure how I feel about this album, but I can assure you that it is the higher echelons rather than the basement when it comes to rankings and ratings.
Rating : More power metal for the masses. 3.5/5.
Ecliptica is a difficult one to rate. Sonata Arctica are fully rooted in the European power metal scene, and power metal bands can sometimes get a little samey when it comes to their music.
For the most part, Ecliptica is a good album, and a very listener-friendly one. Songs such as Blank File, My Land and Replica are terrific, and have a great fast flowing pace about them. The closer Destruction Preventer is also a pearler.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, the 'sameness' comes in a little. I found that unless I was 100% concentrating on the music, I couldn't tell which song I was up to. That does happen with some bands, and I am certainly not lumping Sonata Arctica in with that lot, because it is the fact that they are several levels above most power metal bands that they can occasionally get away with that, and not lose the interest of the listener.
I am still not fully sure how I feel about this album, but I can assure you that it is the higher echelons rather than the basement when it comes to rankings and ratings.
Rating : More power metal for the masses. 3.5/5.
262. Yngwie J. Malmsteen / Eclipse. 1990. 2/5.
This was the album that convinced me to stop listening to any new Yngwie material, until 18 months ago – a time lag of 15 years. Damn this album for that! His stuff since has been markedly better.
Joe Lynn Turner's brief (but brilliant) term in this band had been terminated before this album, and here we find Yngwie really going for the commercial, radio-friendly type of songs that he was lusting over.
The result is a rather disappointing album. Unlike the fire and excitement that was prevalent on this albums predecessor Odyssey, this is a relatively bland and boring selection and arrangement of songs, generally without passion or inspiration.
Why Yngwie felt the need to head down this path is anyone's guess, but it was always my assumption that if he had stayed true to what he had produced on the first four albums, and with better marketing, he would be a 'radio star' anyway!
Anyhow, this was so disappointing that it stopped me buying any new material from him for 15 years. I'll bet that wasn't his intention!
Memories : We got to see Yngwie on this tour at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, which was exciting in itself. It could have been better. Even though we were in the fourth row, we had to stand on our dodgy fold-up chairs all night to see over everyone standing in front of us. The new lead singer, Goran Edman, was extremely interested in himself, to the point that it looked as though he'd be happier being in a menage-a'one. And the setlist contained a thousands crappy songs off this album and left off a lot of his brilliant earlier releases. A real shame.
Rating : Never really cut it, I'm afraid. 2/5.
Joe Lynn Turner's brief (but brilliant) term in this band had been terminated before this album, and here we find Yngwie really going for the commercial, radio-friendly type of songs that he was lusting over.
The result is a rather disappointing album. Unlike the fire and excitement that was prevalent on this albums predecessor Odyssey, this is a relatively bland and boring selection and arrangement of songs, generally without passion or inspiration.
Why Yngwie felt the need to head down this path is anyone's guess, but it was always my assumption that if he had stayed true to what he had produced on the first four albums, and with better marketing, he would be a 'radio star' anyway!
Anyhow, this was so disappointing that it stopped me buying any new material from him for 15 years. I'll bet that wasn't his intention!
Memories : We got to see Yngwie on this tour at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, which was exciting in itself. It could have been better. Even though we were in the fourth row, we had to stand on our dodgy fold-up chairs all night to see over everyone standing in front of us. The new lead singer, Goran Edman, was extremely interested in himself, to the point that it looked as though he'd be happier being in a menage-a'one. And the setlist contained a thousands crappy songs off this album and left off a lot of his brilliant earlier releases. A real shame.
Rating : Never really cut it, I'm afraid. 2/5.
261. Echobrain / Echobrain. 2002. 0/5.
Where do I start with this piece of shite?
Jason Newsted created a major stir in music circles when he quit Metallica back in 2000, essentially so that he could find an outlet for his own creative juices, which he was apparently being denied in Metallica. At the time, there was a groundswell of support for him,that he should be allowed to create his own music aside from his duties in Metallica where, let's face it, he barely got a look in when it came to writing and creating the music. At the time, there was also the appearance that the once-great Metallica was self-destructing. This band, and album, was Jason's first port of call once the dust had settled on his severance from Metallica.
It is a stink-fest.
Seriously – if this is what is the result of Jason's creative juices, he really should have stayed with Metallica and kept getting paid a billion dollars to play their hits, because this is vile. It is boring. It is unoriginal. It is liking chewing on cow manure while bathing in diarrhea. It is almost impossible to believe that Jason could believe that this is a good thing. I know it is a band effort, but these guys were always going to have the weight of expectation upon them given the circumstances of their formation. They failed.
It was torture making myself listen to this album again in order to write this review. I shouldn't have bothered. I knew what I was going to say. But I promised myself I was going to do this properly, and that meant ensuring that what I initially felt about this album was still the case. It is.
If you ever watch Metallica's "Some Kind Of Monster" documentary, you will see when Lars, Kirk and Bob go to see Echobrain live. At the end Lars utters his famous quote, “Metallica are the past, Jason is the future!” Despite Metallica not having done much for me over the past decade or so, I still laugh at this comment.
This is one of the greatest disservices to music ever recorded. I refuse to ever listen to it again.
260. David Lee Roth / Eat 'Em And Smile. 1986. 3/5.
This was DLR's first solo album after his split with Van Halen, having already tested the waters with his single releases of I Ain't Got Nobody and California Girls.
While the album itself is not a disappointment, I know that at the time of its release I was expecting something completely different, and as we know that is a dangerous thing to do NEVER go into a new album expecting ANYTHING!!!
So it is true, this wasn't the style of album that I was expecting. But it grows on you, and soon enough I found that I enjoyed it without ever becoming a huge fan of it like others that were listening to it in high school. The songs are enjoyable, and Dave always has a bright mood about his music which is transferred here.
Rating : As long as you aren't expecting Van Halen here, you will get off on the right foot. 3/5.
While the album itself is not a disappointment, I know that at the time of its release I was expecting something completely different, and as we know that is a dangerous thing to do NEVER go into a new album expecting ANYTHING!!!
So it is true, this wasn't the style of album that I was expecting. But it grows on you, and soon enough I found that I enjoyed it without ever becoming a huge fan of it like others that were listening to it in high school. The songs are enjoyable, and Dave always has a bright mood about his music which is transferred here.
Rating : As long as you aren't expecting Van Halen here, you will get off on the right foot. 3/5.
259. Alice Cooper / Easy Action. 1970. 2/5
This is very early, 4am-type Alice Cooper, and is still very much in the hippy-class of musical style. While the album retains the mood that Alice was building for his big time releases during the 70's, the songs don't hold the same kind of weight.
In the same way that the early Deep Purple albums are OK but not super, so is this from Alice. I can appreciate it for what it is, and from the time period it came from, and what it led to, but I'm not going to be ecstatic about putting it on my stereo at regular intervals to listen to it.
Still worth a listen to anyone who is interested in the way the Alice Cooper Band built its way up into what it became over the coming few years.
Rating : Historical significance is the best I can offer. 2/5.
In the same way that the early Deep Purple albums are OK but not super, so is this from Alice. I can appreciate it for what it is, and from the time period it came from, and what it led to, but I'm not going to be ecstatic about putting it on my stereo at regular intervals to listen to it.
Still worth a listen to anyone who is interested in the way the Alice Cooper Band built its way up into what it became over the coming few years.
Rating : Historical significance is the best I can offer. 2/5.
258. Y&T / Earthshaker. 1981. 3/5
More of the same from one of the bands in the 1980's who knew how to do it well.
This is one of their earliest releases, and while it is a good solid album, it resembles so many of this band's albums in that it has some good songs on it, but overall it can't quite climb out of the 'good' album rating to the 'great' album category.
I've said it all before about these guys, and it all remains the same. Great songs, like Hurricane, Squeeze, Young And Tough and Knock You Out just can't pull this album out of the normal, average and everyday. And there is nothing wrong with that. This is still a good album and a joy to put on and listen to. But when you compare it to other albums throughout history, it can't be considered above them.
Rating : Good and solid. 3/5.
This is one of their earliest releases, and while it is a good solid album, it resembles so many of this band's albums in that it has some good songs on it, but overall it can't quite climb out of the 'good' album rating to the 'great' album category.
I've said it all before about these guys, and it all remains the same. Great songs, like Hurricane, Squeeze, Young And Tough and Knock You Out just can't pull this album out of the normal, average and everyday. And there is nothing wrong with that. This is still a good album and a joy to put on and listen to. But when you compare it to other albums throughout history, it can't be considered above them.
Rating : Good and solid. 3/5.
257. Dokken / Dysfunctional. 1995. 1/5.
After eight years since their previous album, and a long break-up in between, Dokken were back with this album. But that is about all that is the same.
Over the period that they had disbanded, the Dokken sound had obviously been forgotten, or they just decided to go in a new direction. Dokken at their peak were once of the finest hair metal bands going around. This album has none of those qualities. It is a slow, more introspective and instrumentally kind of album, that really struggles to get out of first gear.
Perhaps they were going for a more updated sound and image, being in the mid-90's and all. Maybe they just thought this was a good idea. I feel they have made a huge error.
Rating : A really disappointing return from a band that had once been a winner. 1/5.
Over the period that they had disbanded, the Dokken sound had obviously been forgotten, or they just decided to go in a new direction. Dokken at their peak were once of the finest hair metal bands going around. This album has none of those qualities. It is a slow, more introspective and instrumentally kind of album, that really struggles to get out of first gear.
Perhaps they were going for a more updated sound and image, being in the mid-90's and all. Maybe they just thought this was a good idea. I feel they have made a huge error.
Rating : A really disappointing return from a band that had once been a winner. 1/5.
256. KISS / Dynasty. 1979. 2/5.
Ahhhh... the disco album. Heh heh. How much did they cop for this album, despite its success? I think it's pretty amusing looking back on it, and the stir it must have created.
Is it a great album? Weeeeeeellllllllll... not to my metal-trained ears. It is a very different KISS album, and though they obviously made a conscious decision to go in the direction that they did, they lost a lot of people with this, and then subsequent releases.
It is a fairly average kind of album, even given the hits they had off it.
Memories : The line in the movie Detroit Rock City, when the guys have picked up the disco chick, and she says “Who knows? Maybe one day KISS will record a disco album!” and of course all they guys go “No way would they ever do that!!”
Also, and perhaps more embarrassingly, at the end of the school year in 5th Class, we were all forced to endure mixed dancing – the worst part of course being that the males had to choose a female to dance with. The lovely Stephanie Hill was my choice. As it turned out, at the end there was a dancing competition to the song I Was Made For Loving You, which Stef and I won, much to her embarrassment and regret. I'm afraid being seen with me, even at age 11, killed her social status for years to come.
Rating : Just really bland for the most part. 2/5.
Is it a great album? Weeeeeeellllllllll... not to my metal-trained ears. It is a very different KISS album, and though they obviously made a conscious decision to go in the direction that they did, they lost a lot of people with this, and then subsequent releases.
It is a fairly average kind of album, even given the hits they had off it.
Memories : The line in the movie Detroit Rock City, when the guys have picked up the disco chick, and she says “Who knows? Maybe one day KISS will record a disco album!” and of course all they guys go “No way would they ever do that!!”
Also, and perhaps more embarrassingly, at the end of the school year in 5th Class, we were all forced to endure mixed dancing – the worst part of course being that the males had to choose a female to dance with. The lovely Stephanie Hill was my choice. As it turned out, at the end there was a dancing competition to the song I Was Made For Loving You, which Stef and I won, much to her embarrassment and regret. I'm afraid being seen with me, even at age 11, killed her social status for years to come.
Rating : Just really bland for the most part. 2/5.
Friday, June 02, 2006
255. W.A.S.P. / Dying For The World. 2002. 4/5.
September 11, 2001 needs little explanation, nor to explain why people's emotions sometimes ran off the rails following the event. W.A.S.P. was on tour in the United States when the events of the day occurred, and so close enough to have the full horror play out in front of them. For Blackie Lawless, a native of New York City, seeing the planes fly into the World Trade Centers became a life-defining event. There were plenty of triggers there, but it seems as though the most prevalent was rage. And he used that to his advantage when it came to his song writing. In the linear notes on the album, Blackie tells the story of how during the first Gulf War, he received thousands of letters (remember those?) from men and women in the armed forces, who related how they would blast heavy metal songs at their enemy when they were about to launch an assault, so that they would know they were coming. Early WA.S.P. songs were a part of that. And so, his thoughts as transcribed in those linear notes in regards to this album were as follows:
“...why not give our guys a fresh batch of new songs to go into battle with. Something that will inspire us and scare the fuck out of them. Think of this album largely as a collection of songs to ‘go kill people with’. Fuck political correctness. That went down with the Trade Centers. As the line says in the song “Stone Cold Killers” “my god will kill your god”.
Whether or not that is the kind of thing he should be spouting on the inner sleeve of an album is open to question, but it gives you a firm view of exactly what was running through his mind when he was composing the songs for this album.
This sounds like a W.A.S.P. album from the moment you put it on, which allays any fears that it may have diverged again as other albums have. And as has already been established, there is a lot of emotion in the lyrics on the album which then directs the way the music is written for each track. The tracks that are inspired or driven by the events of 9/11 are where the majority of the album comes from, and thus are the impetus of “Dying for the World”. The opening track “Shadow Man” becomes the first song that references black hearts within its lyrics, a recurring theme for Blackie in describing those who would perpetrate such an act, but does it also describe himself and his anger at those people? Blackie says that “My Wicked Heart” is sort of a prayer asking for forgiveness for his anger, before he goes ahead and expels it. “Hell for Eternity” is a spraying of anger and hatred, that is actually quite restrained in its recording. I can imagine Blackie writing this and screaming it at the walls. Ditto for “Revengeance” and “Stone Cold Killers”. These are simply just songs about releasing the pure vitriol that built up in Blackie’s heart.
However, is has to be said that this album for what it is worth also must have been therapeutic, and outlet for Blackie to get out all of his anger and frustration. The song “Hallowed Ground” resulted from Blackie visiting Ground Zero at the World Trade Centers a few weeks after the incident. The emotions he felt on that day were then transferred to this song once he returned home, composing it that evening. And the song respects those feelings he had after that visit. It is interesting however, that in the linear notes Blackie goes on to say - “After that song my emotions of reverence soon turned to full blown anger. “Shadow Man”, “Hell for Eternity”, “Stone Cold Killers” are the reflections of that. If “Hallowed Ground” was my wake, then the big payback was “Revengence”. I think that one title says it all”.
Interestingly enough, not all of the anger or songs on “Dying for the World” centre on 9/11, which actually gives the album more relevance than if they had. The song “Trail of Tears” was inspired by Blackie listening to The Beatles album “Revolver” over and over, but lyrically was inspired by the enslaving of the native American Indian nations by the US. Because of his Native American heritage, here was the second part of his life that he drew inspiration from to compose for this album, and his anger over the senseless loss of life over the displacement of these people something he was still reflecting on at the time. And “Black Bone Torso” touches on the continuing revelations about who he calls the child molesters (priests) in the Catholic Church. Given his religious upbringing, something he had strayed from but was on the way towards re-embracing, this was the third part of the life that contributed to the conflict on this album and in Blackie Lawless himself.
This was a rite of passage for Blackie, who wrote all of the album in his own words. And the songs are strong because of the conviction behind them. The band sounds great, Darrell Roberts on guitar, Mike Duda on bass and Frankie Banali on drums all doing their job well.
I bought this not long after its release date, as I had with all W.A.S.P. albums since the 1980’s. As a band they grabbed me from the start, but the albums had begun to swing wildly with each release. Whereas I enjoyed the tone of this album from the start, there was a distinct difference, in that there was none of the tongue-in-cheek humour on any of the songs here that W.A.S.P. had generally incorporated into parts of their albums in the past. The subject matter here was straight up serious, no puns, no relief, just for the most part anger and aggression, and no relief from it. As an album, that made it great to put on if you were really pissed off after a long day, but made it difficult to put on if you were just looking for an album to listen to in any other company. For me that didn’t really phase me, I’m happy to listen to it anytime, but the sheer belligerence of the material here must have pigeon-holed it for some fans. It was a different feel, one that did take some getting used to. The other part of the album that stuck out to me was the similarity to parts of some songs here to those from other albums, and in particular from The Crimson Idol. Two instances stick out immediately, the bridge in “Stone Cold Killers” especially, and then the several similar parts of “Hallowed Ground” that correspond to “The Idol” form that album. It’s only a small thing overall, but in being drawn to those similar riffs and harmonies it still grates with me a little to this day.
I still enjoy this album. It needs to be played in a closed environment to get the full effect in my opinion. Playing it in open air without volume does not give the full effect of the songs as they are written and performed. Headphone, or sitting in front of your stereo and letting them hit you rather than waft around you will allow you to feel Blackie’s anger, and after all that’s what drives this album, so you should be in a position to receive it.
253. Michael Schenker Group / Dreams And Expressions. 2001. 4/5.
Another completely instrumental album from one of the best guitarists going around.
Though on the album, each song has been designated a letter of the album title rather than a name, you wouldn't know when you are listening to the album. Each 'song' ranges from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, and as they all flow into the other, it just sounds like a 43 minute instrumental piece.
It is all very rocky and guitary, and extremely listenable. My description will not be able to express to you how enjoyable this album is. Think of Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien, but with Michael Schenker.
Rating : A surprisingly terrific instrumental album from one of the masters. 4/5.
Though on the album, each song has been designated a letter of the album title rather than a name, you wouldn't know when you are listening to the album. Each 'song' ranges from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, and as they all flow into the other, it just sounds like a 43 minute instrumental piece.
It is all very rocky and guitary, and extremely listenable. My description will not be able to express to you how enjoyable this album is. Think of Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien, but with Michael Schenker.
Rating : A surprisingly terrific instrumental album from one of the masters. 4/5.
254. KISS / Dressed To Kill. 1975. 4.5/5
This album is almost amusing to listen to now, but maybe that is what is so good about it.
This was probably one of the first Kiss albums I heard, when my elder cousin played it at a million decibels at my grandmothers house when he was living there.
It is a real old fashioned 1970's rock record. You can't help but bop your head along, and even start dancing around to it. This is where the classic KISS sound was – the 4/4 drum beat, Gene's bass bubbling along and Ace and Paul's guitars not doing anything fancy, but just playing the tune.
This really has dated, but the songs are still great. You can't help but pick it as a 70's album, but there is nothing wrong with that either. Its charm is still evident, and that is tribute to the songwriting and recording process that the band went on.
It is now 30 years since this album came out. If I was managing KISS, I would have got the band in the studio for two days, and re-recorded this album, given the songs and sound a modern punch without mucking about with the format, and re-released it. I reckon it could have done big business.
For favourites, see entire song list, but if pushed try Room Service, Rock Bottom, C'mon And Love Me, She, and of course Rock And Roll All Nite.
Rating : Classic KISS. 4.5/5
This was probably one of the first Kiss albums I heard, when my elder cousin played it at a million decibels at my grandmothers house when he was living there.
It is a real old fashioned 1970's rock record. You can't help but bop your head along, and even start dancing around to it. This is where the classic KISS sound was – the 4/4 drum beat, Gene's bass bubbling along and Ace and Paul's guitars not doing anything fancy, but just playing the tune.
This really has dated, but the songs are still great. You can't help but pick it as a 70's album, but there is nothing wrong with that either. Its charm is still evident, and that is tribute to the songwriting and recording process that the band went on.
It is now 30 years since this album came out. If I was managing KISS, I would have got the band in the studio for two days, and re-recorded this album, given the songs and sound a modern punch without mucking about with the format, and re-released it. I reckon it could have done big business.
For favourites, see entire song list, but if pushed try Room Service, Rock Bottom, C'mon And Love Me, She, and of course Rock And Roll All Nite.
Rating : Classic KISS. 4.5/5
252. Dio / Dream Evil. 1987. 4.5/5.
As was discussed in the review for Dio’s “Intermission” EP, the falling out of guitarist and founding member Vivian Campbell with the band’s management had seen him leave the group, and in his place had been recruited Rough Cutt guitarist Craig Goldy. The one studio song that came on that EP had featured him on guitar, but the real test was yet to come, and it was something that fans around the world were focused on. Yes, we had heard him on “Time to Burn”. Yes, we had seen him perform live and been impressed. But now we were waiting to see what the band with Goldy involved would produce for the follow up album. Having been amazed and spoiled by the riffs and solos of Vivian Campbell on those first three albums, as well as his contributions to the writing of the songs, Goldy changed up that dynamic completely. But what was being felt at the time was not a sense of foreboding but a sense of expectation, of excitement to see what the band would produce with their new guitarist.
It was the age of releasing an album every year, where bands were still earning good dollars from producing more material, and Dio was no different in this respect. An album a year for the previous four years, including “Intermission”, for the fans meant a new album and a new tour for that year of 1987. But having moved from the dark and heavy “Holy Diver” to the more mystical thought provoking on “Sacred Heart”, the question posed was would the band continue on the course they had become the standard bearer of with their new album, or would they sail into a slightly different direction than their previous albums had taken.
From the first time you listen through the album, it is noticeable that the keyboards are more prominent here than they have been on the earlier albums. Claude Schnell had been a member of the group and features on this album as a co-writer on many songs, and although there are certainly keyboards used on “Sacred Heart”, in particular the title track as well as “Rock n Roll Children” and “Hungry for Heaven”, most of it is understated and only really brought to the fore when the songs are performed live. Most of the songs on “Dream Evil” though have that keyboard presence, once again though not as addition to the guitar but in complementing it in pieces of the songs. Indeed, it opens the album with the first chords of the first track “Night People”, a song that is yet another terrific opening to a Dio album.
The imagery of Ronnie’s lyrics continue to be a driving force in how wonderful these opening songs are. “Night People” asking ‘do you like the dark, do you like the way it moves’, based on those people who only come out at night and who are gone by dawn. “Dream Evil” having you fight around in the dark again, this time trying to ward off evil that is always surrounding you - ‘don’t think about the darkness, or the rumbling in the sky’. “Sunset Superman” again going with the night theme, ‘The night has a thousand eyes...before... the night tells a thousand lies’, and then ‘when you wake up in the morning, were you dreaming, screaming, trying to hide your broken heart, before somebody cuts it all away...’ again harking on dreams or nightmares, the terrors of sleep, or the hero of the dream as it ends. As always with his lyrics, Ronnie gives you both sides and in many ways allows you to interpret them in the way you want to. Is “Dream Evil” a horror movie or is it just the mind skirting around that idea? Is “Sunset Superman” a nightmare or a dream of the individual seeing themselves as the hero? Take it as you like it. But all three songs musically are just brilliant; the fast pace of “Night People”, the wonderful heavy riff of “Dream Evil”, and the sway between the two in “Sunset Superman”. And then there is the side one closing track, “All the Fools Sailed Away”, a track misinterpreted as a power ballad by some so called expert. This ain’t no ballad sweetheart, this is a fantastically developed song where the mood flows like the tide, telling its tale and having the song build to its crescendo through the use of Ronnie’s amazing vocals, the power of the guitars and drums, and then utilising the boys choir in the chorus to help bring the power to the lyrics. This is an epic song, as much of a ballad as “Egypt (the Chains are On)” is. It’s a tale with terrific emotion that is supported by the players. It is a triumph.
Given how amazing the opening side of the album is, if you were to be critical, the second half of the album doesn’t reach the same brilliant standard. They are perhaps what you would call good solid songs rather than awesome ones. Somebody with an unbiased ear may perhaps lay the claim that the band threw all their eggs into one basket and got those first four songs to start the album, and then had the leftovers to piece together in the second half. That is perhaps overly harsh, and as someone who adores this album I can still see the sheen that isn't quite chrome on these tracks. “Naked in the Rain” is credited solely to Ronnie as a writer, and the tempo as such does show the direction his future albums began sliding to. “Overlove” picks it up again, while the subject matter of both of these tracks differs 180 degrees from those on side one, as does the final track “When a Woman Cries”. It’s almost a dark and light side of each album. “I Could Have Been a Dreamer” was actually released as the first single from the album, which strikes me as very peculiar, because it does feel like one of the weaker tracks here. For me, the best song of the second side of the album is “Face in the Window”, one which feels much more like a Dio song both lyrically and musically.
When “Dream Evil” was released, it was a day of celebration in my school group. We had devoured those first albums of the band, some of us had been fortunate enough to see the band in concert the previous year, and we were desperate for all new music to be released. This came to us just a little later than this date in Australia, but I remember the day I walked into my record store and purchased it, before taking it home and putting it on for the first time. And it really was magical. It was like the previous year when I first got Iron Maiden’s “Somewhere in Time” and listening to it for the first time. Those first four songs in particular just boomed out of the speakers, that opening to “Night People”, the change in voice at the end of “Dream Evil”, the joy of almost flying along with the bridge in “Sunset Superman”, and the chorus with the boys choir of “All the Fools Sailed Away”. All of those dominate my memories of the back half of 1987, things like standing in the school hall on our Year 12 graduation muck-up day, playing this album at full volume at midnight and singing along with half a dozen other like-minded mates, and my 18th birthday, spent listening to this over and over while on a family holiday at the time.
I listened to this album a LOT. And it would be difficult to express just how much I listened to it. Every time I put it on to listen to now, it sends me back to those final school days and the hijinks we got up to, and the great memories of that time. They are all tied up with this album, so it is hard to extricate those emotional memories from the album itself. Yes, I do believe in retrospect that the second half of the album is a different tone from the first half, and that a couple of the songs here – perhaps for the first time in the bands history, don’t quite cut it to the same brilliance as all of the others written to this point in time. No doubt other individuals will feel this is a lesser album as a result. But for me, it takes nothing away from how this album ingrained itself to me, and how my love of it 35 years ago has never gone away.
This album signalled the last of the stability of the band and could be labelled as the end of the glory days of Dio. Personnel changes, directional changes and other projects coming along meant that the true brightness of Dio’s music probably ends with “Dream Evil”. There was still great songs and some excellent albums yet to come down the track, but this first and greatest phase of the band pretty much sailed away at this time.
251. Alice Cooper / Dragontown. 2001. 3/5.
Following on from Brutal Planet, Alice continues his journey along the new musical style he has built for himself in the new decade. This is also a continuation of the story that Brutal Planet forged.
Once again, this took some getting used to, but not as much as I found with Brutal Planet. Alice's voice continues to be the driving force behind his albums, taking centre stage and changing the mood of each song with his subtle vocal changes.
It's Much Too Late is supposed to be for John Lennon. "I'm sending you all to hell / I'm tired and I'm wired here”. The Sentinel is some creature of the devil out there harvesting souls - possibly the souls of dead rock & rollers. The ode to Elvis Presley is a bit closer to the mark - Disgraceland is metal rockabilly with blazing guitars - "Went to the pearly gates / Said I'm uh here to sing / And Peter said, 'Well son, you see we already got ourselves a king'”.
The more you listen to the album, and get the most out of Alice's lyrics, the more you enjoy the album. Alice always did try to make you think when it came to his music, and he does so again here.
Rating : More Alice Cooper stuff to digest. 3/5.
Once again, this took some getting used to, but not as much as I found with Brutal Planet. Alice's voice continues to be the driving force behind his albums, taking centre stage and changing the mood of each song with his subtle vocal changes.
It's Much Too Late is supposed to be for John Lennon. "I'm sending you all to hell / I'm tired and I'm wired here”. The Sentinel is some creature of the devil out there harvesting souls - possibly the souls of dead rock & rollers. The ode to Elvis Presley is a bit closer to the mark - Disgraceland is metal rockabilly with blazing guitars - "Went to the pearly gates / Said I'm uh here to sing / And Peter said, 'Well son, you see we already got ourselves a king'”.
The more you listen to the album, and get the most out of Alice's lyrics, the more you enjoy the album. Alice always did try to make you think when it came to his music, and he does so again here.
Rating : More Alice Cooper stuff to digest. 3/5.
250. Motley Crue / Dr Feelgood. 1989. 5/5.
Whoa Nellie!! What a rush this caused when it was first released!!
The Crue had shown what they were capable of throughout the 80's, especially on Shout At The Devil and Girls Girls Girls, but one could only imagine what was to come when this album came out.
And when it did, it really exploded. Certainly the reaction from those I listened to music with was monumental.
Though a lot of the album carries the usual Motley Crue type of songs – such as Sticky Sweet, Without You and She Goes Down, there are also the balltearers that just blow you away.
You know the ones. Dr Feelgood – what an opening track, just sensational. Same Ol' Situation – a real mood lifter. Kickstart My Heart – still a classic even to this day.
This album was paydirt for the Crue, taking the best of everything they had done in the lead up albums, and put together correctly on Dr Feelgood. A classic. I'm not a fan of the slower ballad type songs, but those on this album fit so well you barely even notice.
Memories : We all saw Motley Crue on this tour in 1990 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, one of three gigs in three weeks (Alice Cooper and Skid Row being the others). The best of the best that they ever wrote. Just a sensational evening of music.
Rating : Their finest hour. 5/5.
The Crue had shown what they were capable of throughout the 80's, especially on Shout At The Devil and Girls Girls Girls, but one could only imagine what was to come when this album came out.
And when it did, it really exploded. Certainly the reaction from those I listened to music with was monumental.
Though a lot of the album carries the usual Motley Crue type of songs – such as Sticky Sweet, Without You and She Goes Down, there are also the balltearers that just blow you away.
You know the ones. Dr Feelgood – what an opening track, just sensational. Same Ol' Situation – a real mood lifter. Kickstart My Heart – still a classic even to this day.
This album was paydirt for the Crue, taking the best of everything they had done in the lead up albums, and put together correctly on Dr Feelgood. A classic. I'm not a fan of the slower ballad type songs, but those on this album fit so well you barely even notice.
Memories : We all saw Motley Crue on this tour in 1990 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, one of three gigs in three weeks (Alice Cooper and Skid Row being the others). The best of the best that they ever wrote. Just a sensational evening of music.
Rating : Their finest hour. 5/5.
249. Rainbow / Down To Earth. 1979. 4.5/5.
Following the split with Ronnie James Dio, Graham Bonnet was hired to take on the vocalist duties with Rainbow, and it works to spectacular success. In my eyes, anyway.
With such legendary albums to try and live up to, it must have been a somewhat daunting task that faced the new line-up. But they came out and put together this brilliant album, containing some Rainbow classics.
Bonnet's vocals, which are also up there in the list of most prominent and recognisable in metal music, combined with Blackmore's distinctive guitar, blend together here in perfect harmony.
Not only is it hard to believe that this album is so maligned in Rainbow's history, it is a real shame that Bonnet did not make more albums as Rainbow's vocalist. He had a history of being unable to stay in bands which given his talent is a crying shame.
Best here on this album include All Night Long, Eyes Of The World, Since You Been Gone, Danger Zone and Lost In Hollywood.
Rating : What Rainbow lost with Dio they then lost with Bonnet. 4.5/5.
With such legendary albums to try and live up to, it must have been a somewhat daunting task that faced the new line-up. But they came out and put together this brilliant album, containing some Rainbow classics.
Bonnet's vocals, which are also up there in the list of most prominent and recognisable in metal music, combined with Blackmore's distinctive guitar, blend together here in perfect harmony.
Not only is it hard to believe that this album is so maligned in Rainbow's history, it is a real shame that Bonnet did not make more albums as Rainbow's vocalist. He had a history of being unable to stay in bands which given his talent is a crying shame.
Best here on this album include All Night Long, Eyes Of The World, Since You Been Gone, Danger Zone and Lost In Hollywood.
Rating : What Rainbow lost with Dio they then lost with Bonnet. 4.5/5.
248. Ozzy Osbourne / Down To Earth. 2001. 3/5.
Anyway, the album arrived, I put it on, and after those first few listens I become aware of a few little things that have changed in the Osbourne music empire. The first was that Zakk Wylde was not involved in the writing of the album due to being away on tour with his other band Black Label Society. That immediately felt like a loss. Secondly, there was a vast array of co-writers of all the tracks, something that always makes me feel that the album itself will not meld together because of the difference of styles and thoughts on songs to write. That isn’t always the way (Alice Cooper’s Hey Stoopid) is a perfect example of this working to perfection) and Ozzy had done this before with success... but I didn’t really know these writers, so I went in with trepidation. And thirdly, well... did Ozzy still have what he needed to produce a great album?
The start of the album comes at you with “Gets Me Through” which while it has a similar energy in the song as other opening tracks on Ozzy albums, it does not have the same speed or momentum as those. It is a sign of things to come, but probably wasn’t unexpected given the way that has begun to be wound back in plenty of American metal music of this vintage. Settling in alongside Mike Bordin’s drumbeat rather than flying over the top of it, it creates the kind of heavy slog paced song that has become the norm for metal bands. It isn’t unpleasant and indeed works well in songs like “Gets Me Through” and “Facing Hell” and “That I Never Had” and “Junkie”, but while giving us a heavy sound it has traded off the faster tempo of earlier albums. Which again, is great when the song works, such as the three I’ve just mentioned, but it makes it harder to enjoy if that combination doesn’t come good. Picky much? Yes, I can admit it certainly is.
Now there are areas where some of the songs don’t work – for me. “Dreamer” is the album’s attempt to find Ozzy’s perfect ballad, and Ozzy can definitely perform them as he has on most of his albums through his career. As per my other reviews, they rarely win me over just because they are not my preferred kind of song. Ozzy sounds great on this song but it isn’t my cup of tea. “No Easy Way Out” is on a similar plane, and is another of the songs that has gone for a keyboard/synth base rather than the guitar strength. Whether this is by the design of the song collaborators or the fact that Zakk wasn’t involved in the writing process, I don’t know. Add in “You Know... (Part 1)” which is really just a filler between two other songs for me. “Running Out of Time” dips into ballad territory again, and finishes with the keys and backing sighs dominating again, in a very 1970’s progressive style. “Black Illusion” doesn’t do anything for me at all, and with the chorused vocals and sludgy tempo and guitar it actually feels as though it would have been a better Black Label Society song if Zakk had taken over the writing of it. “Alive” is very similar, just too darn nu-metal in pace if not musically. And as a closer, “Can You Hear Them?” doesn’t inspire much except some relief that the album has in fact come to an end.
When this came out I was sitting with a couple of friends listening to the whole album a couple of times, drinking beer under the clear skies. All of us came to the same conclusion, which was “What the hell is Ozzy coming to?” It wasn’t as if we hated the album, but it was so very different from what we had loved from him and his various bands in the past that this album was difficult to collate. That feeling hasn’t changed over the years, and I doubt it ever will. There are some very listenable songs on this album but some other pieces that are from another planet, another Ozzy. I have no doubt that the writing of the album was influenced by the kind of bands Ozzy had been playing with at Ozzfest, and that he was trying to incorporate that into his own music. There’s no problem with trying to do that, and maybe the younger fans enjoyed the change. But for those of us who have been around a while, I guess what we wanted was to hear what he usually gave us, and we didn’t get that. Ozzy released his Live at Budokan album from this tour, and to be fair the three songs off this album that he performed live on that all sounded better live.
But overall, I feel as though this was turning point for Ozzy. The past was in the rearview mirror and it felt much different from what the present held, and maybe what the future had in store. Ozzy sounds great here, as do Zakk, Mike and Rob Trujillo. But the songs... well... there is a conflict there.
Best Songs: “Gets Me Through”, “Facing Hell”, “That I Never Had”, “Junkie”.
Rating: “Is it god that sits there waiting or will the darkness suck me in.” 3/5
247. Soundgarden / Down On The Upside. 1996. 3.5/5.
This was unfortunately the final album for Soundgarden, who split following this tour. Their break-up signalled the beginning of the end for the Seattle scene as it had been for the past six or seven years.
Their final album is a mixture of brilliant and average. I've always thought that the first seven songs of this album represent the band's greatest work, while most of their hardcore fans see it as too commercialised and a sell-out.
I think Pretty Noose, Blow Up The Outside World, Burden In My Hand and Ty Cobb are just great songs, and the equal of anything else they released.
Take that with the second half of the album, which fails to excite me at any point. They are average songs without any fire. Did they run out of inspiration? Maybe. Perhaps that's why they went their separate ways. It is as if they only had enough for seven songs, so they put those at the front of the album, and put all the filler in the back half.
No matter. Though we were not to know that it was their final opus, the door certainly closed on a great band.
Rating : 1st half of the album 4.5/5. 2nd half of the album 3/5. Total 3.5/5.
Their final album is a mixture of brilliant and average. I've always thought that the first seven songs of this album represent the band's greatest work, while most of their hardcore fans see it as too commercialised and a sell-out.
I think Pretty Noose, Blow Up The Outside World, Burden In My Hand and Ty Cobb are just great songs, and the equal of anything else they released.
Take that with the second half of the album, which fails to excite me at any point. They are average songs without any fire. Did they run out of inspiration? Maybe. Perhaps that's why they went their separate ways. It is as if they only had enough for seven songs, so they put those at the front of the album, and put all the filler in the back half.
No matter. Though we were not to know that it was their final opus, the door certainly closed on a great band.
Rating : 1st half of the album 4.5/5. 2nd half of the album 3/5. Total 3.5/5.
246. Y&T / Down For The Count. 1985. 3.5/5.
More of what you know from the Y&T stable.
This is another great rockin' album. Every song keeps the tempo up and moving. Dave Meniketti's vocals are one of the most recognisable in the heavy metal industry, a great signature for a band to have.
OK, it's a Y&T album, and as with most of their albums in the 1980's it is very similar to its predecessors. Most of the time this can be a hinderance for a band, as it eventually became for these guys. Still, what I like about Y&T is that when you put on one of their albums, you generally know what to expect. Meniketti really is one of my favourites of all time, mainly for his vocals, but also his guitaring and song-writing.
What is with the cover of Your Mama Don't Dance though? I find it OK, but just unexpected.
Favourites on this disc for me include Face Like An Angel, In The Name Of Rock, Looks Like Trouble and Don't Tell Me What To Wear.
Rating : Y&T still rockin' in the '80's. :) 3.5/5.
This is another great rockin' album. Every song keeps the tempo up and moving. Dave Meniketti's vocals are one of the most recognisable in the heavy metal industry, a great signature for a band to have.
OK, it's a Y&T album, and as with most of their albums in the 1980's it is very similar to its predecessors. Most of the time this can be a hinderance for a band, as it eventually became for these guys. Still, what I like about Y&T is that when you put on one of their albums, you generally know what to expect. Meniketti really is one of my favourites of all time, mainly for his vocals, but also his guitaring and song-writing.
What is with the cover of Your Mama Don't Dance though? I find it OK, but just unexpected.
Favourites on this disc for me include Face Like An Angel, In The Name Of Rock, Looks Like Trouble and Don't Tell Me What To Wear.
Rating : Y&T still rockin' in the '80's. :) 3.5/5.
245. KISS / Double Platinum. 1978. 5/5
This is the definitive best-of collection of KISS pre-1978, which many call their Golden Age. Whether or not you believe that, this album holds the best that they produced
No need to go any further really. Best-of. If you want it, get it!
Rating : Couldn't do better than this for the era. 5/5.
No need to go any further really. Best-of. If you want it, get it!
Rating : Couldn't do better than this for the era. 5/5.
244. W.A.S.P. / Double Live Assassins. 1998. 5/5.
Hot on the heels of the return of Chris Holmes and the rising of W.A.S.P. from the ashes came this double live album, recorded on the K.F.D tour through 1997.
Double Live Assassins brilliantly captures the band live and in their element. The album, while containing quite a few songs from the latest album, still covers material covering the band's entire career, and while it is not a definitive song list, it does justice to W.A.S.P.'s greatness.
I have always been slightly suspicious of the vocal quality on this album – has there been any overdubbing? I have found no evidence either way to suggest they have or haven't. I am also not as taken with the songs from K.F.D, but you can't have everything, can you?!
I'll give you this though – this sounds bloody superb, especially at 200 decibels at 10.30pm in a deserted BP service station!!
Rating : As good a live album as you could wish to hear. 5/5.
Double Live Assassins brilliantly captures the band live and in their element. The album, while containing quite a few songs from the latest album, still covers material covering the band's entire career, and while it is not a definitive song list, it does justice to W.A.S.P.'s greatness.
I have always been slightly suspicious of the vocal quality on this album – has there been any overdubbing? I have found no evidence either way to suggest they have or haven't. I am also not as taken with the songs from K.F.D, but you can't have everything, can you?!
I'll give you this though – this sounds bloody superb, especially at 200 decibels at 10.30pm in a deserted BP service station!!
Rating : As good a live album as you could wish to hear. 5/5.
243. The Mutton Birds / Don't Fear The Reaper [Single]. 1998. 2.5/5.
This was the single off the soundtrack to The Frighteners. I've always like the song (the original of course by the Blue Oyster Cult), and bought this on a whim in Newtown one day.
The single of course is good. Not a bad remake at all. The other two songs are ordinary.
Rating: Meh. 2.5/5.
The single of course is good. Not a bad remake at all. The other two songs are ordinary.
Rating: Meh. 2.5/5.
242. Andi Deris / Done By Mirrors. 2000. 3/5.
This is pretty standard stuff from Andi, doing his own stuff away from what he is better known as these days, which is a part of Helloween.
He doesn't set any records for originality, but it seems that this album is really serving as the opportunity for Andi to get his other influences out of his system that he doesn't with his band.
And in a lot of ways, that is a good thing. Like I said, there is nothing too special about this release. It is middle-of-the-road hard rock kinda stuff, non-threatening and easy enough to listen to. But it doesn't inflame the desire or capture the imagination either.
Best on the album for me include Let Your Love Fly Free, Free and Back Again.
Rating : Not for the true heavy metal fan, but worth listening to if you are a hard rock connoisseur. 3/5.
He doesn't set any records for originality, but it seems that this album is really serving as the opportunity for Andi to get his other influences out of his system that he doesn't with his band.
And in a lot of ways, that is a good thing. Like I said, there is nothing too special about this release. It is middle-of-the-road hard rock kinda stuff, non-threatening and easy enough to listen to. But it doesn't inflame the desire or capture the imagination either.
Best on the album for me include Let Your Love Fly Free, Free and Back Again.
Rating : Not for the true heavy metal fan, but worth listening to if you are a hard rock connoisseur. 3/5.
241. Symphony X / The Divine Wings Of Tragedy. 1997. 4/5.
I didn't discover Symphony X until their Odyssey album, and then backtracked to pick up their back catalogue.
This album reminds me a lot of Yngwie Malmsteen's best stuff – great vocals, great guitaring, prominent keyboards and terrific drumming. Though from this popint of their careers they go more in the Dream Theater vein musically, this is very much in the 80's Malmsteen tradition. This is especially so on the first three tracks of the album – Of Sins And Shadows, Sea Of Lies and Out Of The Ashes.
The song The Divine Wings Of Tragedy is certainly a marathon, and doesn't quite hold itself all the way through. Unlike those songs listed above, and Pharoah and The Eyes Of Medusa, it just doesn't maintain the album for me. I think they could have done it better. That of course is just my opinion.
Rating : A great album with a great sound. 4/5.
This album reminds me a lot of Yngwie Malmsteen's best stuff – great vocals, great guitaring, prominent keyboards and terrific drumming. Though from this popint of their careers they go more in the Dream Theater vein musically, this is very much in the 80's Malmsteen tradition. This is especially so on the first three tracks of the album – Of Sins And Shadows, Sea Of Lies and Out Of The Ashes.
The song The Divine Wings Of Tragedy is certainly a marathon, and doesn't quite hold itself all the way through. Unlike those songs listed above, and Pharoah and The Eyes Of Medusa, it just doesn't maintain the album for me. I think they could have done it better. That of course is just my opinion.
Rating : A great album with a great sound. 4/5.
240. Slayer / Divine Intervention. 1994. 4.5/5.
The departure of Dave Lombardo meant that Slayer recorded an album without the original line up for the first time. Paul Bostaph was drafted in to replace him, and Divine Intervention became the result.
Subtle changes from their previous recordings? Perhaps. Perhaps it is just my ears. Tom's vocals on Serenity In Murder certainly throw you the first time you hear them. Overall of course, it is business as usual for the band that still reigns at the top of the thrash tree.
By not following their exact blueprint with each album, Slayer are able to continue to provide brilliant albums without repetition. Divine Intervention is a great follow up to Seasons In The Abyss.
Favourites from the album for me include Fictional Reality, Dittohead, Circle Of Beliefs, SS-3, Serenity In Murder and Mind Control.
Memories : I was lined up to see Slayer on this tour, but an unfortunate separation between myself and Helen had me doing a lot of crazy things, including missing this. Looking back now, why?!?! Surely Slayer would have been the best antidote to having the crap kicked out of you?!?
Rating : Another superb piece of album-ship from the masters of their craft. 4.5/5
Subtle changes from their previous recordings? Perhaps. Perhaps it is just my ears. Tom's vocals on Serenity In Murder certainly throw you the first time you hear them. Overall of course, it is business as usual for the band that still reigns at the top of the thrash tree.
By not following their exact blueprint with each album, Slayer are able to continue to provide brilliant albums without repetition. Divine Intervention is a great follow up to Seasons In The Abyss.
Favourites from the album for me include Fictional Reality, Dittohead, Circle Of Beliefs, SS-3, Serenity In Murder and Mind Control.
Memories : I was lined up to see Slayer on this tour, but an unfortunate separation between myself and Helen had me doing a lot of crazy things, including missing this. Looking back now, why?!?! Surely Slayer would have been the best antidote to having the crap kicked out of you?!?
Rating : Another superb piece of album-ship from the masters of their craft. 4.5/5
239. Van Halen / Diver Down. 1982. 1.5/5.
Was there a deliberate ploy to involve cover songs on the album? Was it a way of filling an album and getting it out as quickly as possible? Or did the band truly think this was where they were at in their career and that this was a ‘bold’ move? To be honest, I don’t know the answers to those questions, but given the album that “Diver Down” is, they are questions that are worth asking and mulling over.
I guess, for me, I need to split this album into the two halves that it comes in – the original tracks that appear on the album, and the cover songs that take up the remainder of the album. So let’s look at those cover songs first. And in all there are five of them. And all five are mostly well known tracks from their original forms, or from further more popular cover versions that were created form them. The opening track is “Where Have All the Good Times Gone” which was originally recorded by The Kinks. And it opens the album fine. Would I have expected a harder edge on the song? Perhaps. Was the band trying to do a fairly close cover of the song, and just adding a bit of Van Halen to it to create a point of difference? My guess is yes.
The second cover is of “(Oh) Pretty Woman”, which was also the single released before the album. The band wrote an instrumental intro piece that led into the song, on the album called “Intruder” which actually acts as a nice lead in. Once again though, perhaps I expected more guitar influence to come into the track, expecting Eddie to flail. Don’t get me wrong, his guitaring here is terrific, but I guess I expected, and expect, more from it. Side 2 opens with “Dancing in the Street” which really sticks to the same tempo of the original. It’s interesting that the Mick Jagger/David Bowie version that came out a couple of years later was far more upbeat and rocking that this version. I’ve never really understood that. If you are going to do cover songs, why just recreate them without a bit of artistic licence? Again, Dave sings it well, the band plays it well, but would my life be different if I hadn't heard it?
THEN we have a song called “Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now), from all accounts a song Dave found on an obscure radio station, recorded it and played it to the band, who laughed and said ‘let’s do it!’ If nothing else, at least you get to hear Alex and Eddie’s father Jan play clarinet on the track – Jan was apparently a very accomplished player in his day. But apart from the novelty of that, it’s just not what I want to hear. And yes, Dave especially is always very eclectic in his music, his solo career has shown that, but isn’t this just a step too far? Fan-wise, this isn’t for me. And nor is the album closer, “Happy Trails”.
Beyond that, the original Van Halen material for the album fluctuates. “Hang ‘em High” had apparently been floating around for awhile, and was reworked to fit into the album, and it does fit in snugly after the opening track. “Cathedral” is an instrumental piece Eddie had apparently written more than a year before, and had played it on stage a bit, and he wanted it to have its place on vinyl. “Secrets” is a slower lounge club song of the style Dave seems to enjoy. “Little Guitars” has a great feel to it, mixing Eddie’s styles of guitar riff over Michael Anthony’s great bass sound. It’s almost like early Police in sections, it’s a good one. And “The Full Bug” sees the real Van Halen return, with DLR squeal and Eddie’s guitar on fire, the chorus back up of Michael and Eddie backing Dave’s vocals, and Alex’s solid hard core drum beat.
In summation of the original songs here, more than anything, these songs sound like Van Halen. They are played at a clip, the vocals don’t sound forced, and Eddie plays his guitar like he wants to, putting it his pieces like they fit rather than integrated within a framework.
My discovery of Van Halen came from the “1984” album and beyond, and it was several years before I really began to research and discover the albums that were released prior to it. And despite some reservations about certain parts of certain albums I enjoy all of them.
But I can assure you that when I first heard this album, I was... appalled? I guess? It completely took me by surprise. And you know, it’s not that Van Halen hadn’t performed cover songs before. “You Really Got Me” came right off that first album, so cover songs are not a surprise. But the ones they chose to do here, and in the style they did? That really harmed the way I saw this album for a very long time. And certainly once I started asking around about what other people thought of the album, it surprised me as well. I can’t believe this album spent something like 65 weeks in the US charts, I really can’t. And there have been polls and articles written ranking this as one of the great guitar albums, and I can’t wrap my head around that either.
So yes, my first impressions of this album was that it was dogshit. I didn’t like it, It pretty much either bored me or just plain didn’t interest me. And although that was a few years ago, I still feel that at the time it was accurate. Have things changed over the years? A little bit I guess. I have enjoyed the album (for the most part) over the last couple of weeks. I still enjoy the opening tracks, I love “Intruder” and the way it acts as the segue into “(Oh) Pretty Woman”. And I still love “The Full Bug”. Overall, I have enjoyed “Diver Down” a hell of a lot more over this period of recollection and reminiscing than I have ever done so previous to this. So I guess I don’t HATE this album anymore. I certainly seriously dislike some of the tracks, but I guess I can stand to live with that. Perhaps I’m just getting old.
In summation of the original songs here, more than anything, these songs sound like Van Halen. They are played at a clip, the vocals don’t sound forced, and Eddie plays his guitar like he wants to, putting it his pieces like they fit rather than integrated within a framework.
My discovery of Van Halen came from the “1984” album and beyond, and it was several years before I really began to research and discover the albums that were released prior to it. And despite some reservations about certain parts of certain albums I enjoy all of them.
But I can assure you that when I first heard this album, I was... appalled? I guess? It completely took me by surprise. And you know, it’s not that Van Halen hadn’t performed cover songs before. “You Really Got Me” came right off that first album, so cover songs are not a surprise. But the ones they chose to do here, and in the style they did? That really harmed the way I saw this album for a very long time. And certainly once I started asking around about what other people thought of the album, it surprised me as well. I can’t believe this album spent something like 65 weeks in the US charts, I really can’t. And there have been polls and articles written ranking this as one of the great guitar albums, and I can’t wrap my head around that either.
So yes, my first impressions of this album was that it was dogshit. I didn’t like it, It pretty much either bored me or just plain didn’t interest me. And although that was a few years ago, I still feel that at the time it was accurate. Have things changed over the years? A little bit I guess. I have enjoyed the album (for the most part) over the last couple of weeks. I still enjoy the opening tracks, I love “Intruder” and the way it acts as the segue into “(Oh) Pretty Woman”. And I still love “The Full Bug”. Overall, I have enjoyed “Diver Down” a hell of a lot more over this period of recollection and reminiscing than I have ever done so previous to this. So I guess I don’t HATE this album anymore. I certainly seriously dislike some of the tracks, but I guess I can stand to live with that. Perhaps I’m just getting old.
238. Live / The Distance To Here. 1999. 3.5/5
This is more a return to form for Live after their inconsistent previous release Secret Samadhi. For the most part of this album, it is a return to their real rock sound, with their alternative roots.
Live is a band that I have very high peaks and troughs with, not because of the music generally, but because of my mood swings in regards to the likability of other forms of music other than heavy metal. Live have always fallen into that category.
Here though they put together an album that keeps the beat flowing through most of the album. There are what I would term a few flat spots on the second half of the disc. But overall it is a good album.
Favourites for me include The Dolphin's Cry, The Distance, Run To The Water and Feel The Quiet River Rage.
Rating : A pretty good effort. 3.5/5.
Live is a band that I have very high peaks and troughs with, not because of the music generally, but because of my mood swings in regards to the likability of other forms of music other than heavy metal. Live have always fallen into that category.
Here though they put together an album that keeps the beat flowing through most of the album. There are what I would term a few flat spots on the second half of the disc. But overall it is a good album.
Favourites for me include The Dolphin's Cry, The Distance, Run To The Water and Feel The Quiet River Rage.
Rating : A pretty good effort. 3.5/5.
237. Alice Cooper / Dirty Diamonds. 2005. 4/5.
Alice Cooper just keeps on keeping on, and has another great album here.
What you will notice about this album is that it is a real throwback to his early work. It is a real danger to compare albums, especially to bonafide great ones, but Dirty Diamonds reminds me a lot of the way Billion Dollar Babies and Welcome To My Nightmare were written and arranged. There is plenty of fast and heavier material, then slow and retrospective material. The guitaring on this album is different from just about anything else Alice has ever done, and it gives the album a modern feel that agrees completely with the style and arrangement.
This is an Alice album for the new millenium. It is an impressive advancement once again. Alice has already shown his ability to adapt from the 70's to the 80's and 90's, and here he had made the slight adjustment that he needed from Brutal Planet and Dragontown to find the right balance.
My favourites from the album include Woman Of Mass Distraction, You Make Me Wanna, Dirty Diamonds, Steal That Car, Your Own Worst Enemy and Stand.
Rating : A great entry into the Alice Cooper discography. 4/5.
What you will notice about this album is that it is a real throwback to his early work. It is a real danger to compare albums, especially to bonafide great ones, but Dirty Diamonds reminds me a lot of the way Billion Dollar Babies and Welcome To My Nightmare were written and arranged. There is plenty of fast and heavier material, then slow and retrospective material. The guitaring on this album is different from just about anything else Alice has ever done, and it gives the album a modern feel that agrees completely with the style and arrangement.
This is an Alice album for the new millenium. It is an impressive advancement once again. Alice has already shown his ability to adapt from the 70's to the 80's and 90's, and here he had made the slight adjustment that he needed from Brutal Planet and Dragontown to find the right balance.
My favourites from the album include Woman Of Mass Distraction, You Make Me Wanna, Dirty Diamonds, Steal That Car, Your Own Worst Enemy and Stand.
Rating : A great entry into the Alice Cooper discography. 4/5.
Friday, May 26, 2006
236. AC/DC / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap [Australian Version]. 1976. 3.5/5.
Following up on the huge success of T.N.T., this album again contains some of the band's best known, most loved and most played songs. Everyone in the world knows the song (and most likely the film clip) for "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". It's a terrific song with a great riff, memorable lyrics and the perfect sing-along song. "Ain't No Fun (Waiting 'Round to Be a Millionaire)" is a slow burn, and probably takes to long to get wound up and going, sitting on the same riff and pace for the first half of the song. "There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'" harks back to the start of rock n' roll, a blues based rock song that incorporates a lot of repeated vocals with a blues solo from Angus along the way. It's a bit too repetitive and anodised for my liking. The energy returns with "Problem Child", a song much more like the AC/DC we know and a more suitable solo break from Angus. "Squealer" and "Big Balls" for me are very average songs. I like both to a certain degree, but there just isn't enough in either song to make me say "Yes! Let's play these songs on my random tracks tonight!" "R.I.P. (Rock In Peace)" is the second full-on blues number on the album, and for me fulfils the same thoughts. The blues are fine for blues bands, and I understand that the influences that these guys would have had would have been some of the blues legends, but apart from certain selections the blues bores me to tears. "Ride On" is a great song, a standout on the album more for the reason of its mellow tendencies, a quiet, reflectful tune that does seem to be out of place, and yet fits in perfectly within the album framework. It's not a song you would choose to play if you are in an AC/DC rocking mood, but its place in the folklore is set.
After a long tough road, we finally get to the closing number, which is another of those classic, legendary songs, "Jailbreak". Again, everyone knows the song, and everyone knows the film clip. It is a great hard rock song, that closes the album on a positive note. When I first bought this album on cassette, I could play the first track, "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", and when it had finished flip it over, and it coincided almost perfectly with the start of "Jailbreak", which I would then play. And then the cycle would repeat. To be honest, I think this sort of sums up my thoughts on this album perfectly.
In comparing this album with T.N.T., there really is no comparison. taken away the first and last tracks and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap would be classed as a very average album by anyone except hardcore, die hard fans of the band. I can add probably three other songs here that I would be able to put high up in the AC/DC catalogue, but the rest would remain in the middle selection.
Rating: All in the name of liberty 3.5/5
235. AC/DC / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap [International Version]. 1976. 3.5/5
Following up on the huge success of High Voltage, this album contains a couple of the band's best known, most loved and most played songs. Everyone in the world knows the song (and most likely the film clip) for "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". It's a terrific song with a great riff, memorable lyrics and the perfect sing-along song. "Love at First Feel" is a great follow up, with a terrific groove and led by Bon's smooth vocals and Angus' guitar riff. "Big Balls" for me is a rather average song. It is likeable to a certain degree, but in the long run there isn't enough to really entrance me. "Rocker" is much like its title, a real back-to-roots rock 'n roll song, such that it could have been a 1950's cover version. The energy continues with "Problem Child", a song much more like the AC/DC we know and a more suitable solo break from Angus. This is followed by "There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'", which harks back to the start of rock n' roll, a blues based rock song that incorporates a lot of repeated vocals with a blues solo from Angus along the way. It's a bit too repetitive and anodised for my liking. "Ain't No Fun (Waiting 'Round to Be a Millionaire)" is a slow burn, and probably takes too long to get wound up and going, sitting on the same riff and pace for the first half of the song. "Ride On" is a great song, a standout on the album more for the reason of its mellow tendencies, a quiet, reflectful tune that does seem to be out of place, and yet fits in perfectly within the album framework. It's not a song you would choose to play if you are in an AC/DC rocking mood, but its place in the folklore is set. The album ends with "Squealer", which for me is a lot like "Big Balls" earlier in the album.
There are some good songs here, those being "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", "Love at First Feel" and "Problem Child", but there are some others that don't really do the job for me musically. No doubt the hard core fans will see it differently, but apart from the fact that you can still enjoy material that isn't quite at the top of the tree, this has a few misses.
Rating: She keeps nagging at your night and day, enough to drive you nuts. 3.5/5
234. Alice In Chains / Dirt. 1992. 5/5.
After solid touring behind that debut, the band returned to the studio, but before diving into a new full album, they recorded and released the acoustic EP “Sap” (legend states drummer Sean Kinney had a dream that they recorded an EP called ‘Sap’, and so the band decided not to push fate). From here came the writing and recording of their full length follow up, titled “Dirt”. They already written the song “Would?”, which had appeared on the soundtrack for the film “Singles” which has been released in early 1992. There were several impediments to this process along the way. Their first day of recording for the album was also the day that the LA riots started over the acquittal of the four policemen involved in the bashing of Rodney King. As a result, the band along with Slayer vocalist Tom Araya, heading into the desert for six days until the riots had been calmed down. It was also during these recordings that lead vocalist Layne Staley checked out of rehab, and then quickly back in when he picked up his heroin habit once again. Also at this time both Sean Kinney and bass guitarist Mike Starr were dealing with alcohol problems, so it was a tough session to get through, and it is no surprise that many of the songs on the album can be linked to these issues that members of the band were dealing with.
The opening track “Them Bones” is a positive start, a song that lyrically discusses the fact that we will all die one day and that everyone should just enjoy their time while they have it. “Dam That River” just has a brilliant groove about it, the riff from both guitars and bass held together by the simple but perfect drum beat. No halting through the song, everything flows along beautifully, just like pouring honey from a jar. The dual vocals through the verse and Layne spitting out the chorus. There aren’t a lot of Alice in Chains songs that move like this one does, and perhaps its uniqueness is what is so enjoyable about it.
When it comes to emotional ties in the lyrics, the next two songs perfectly exemplify that. “Rain When I Die” is an angsty song about a girl, to a girl, the way love struck teenage boys feel when it came to trying to express their feelings... or was that just me? Oay, maybe let’s just move on from that then...
“Down in a Hole” is one of my favourite tracks by the band, and it is mostly from the vocals, the emotional impact between Layne and Jerry throughout the song but especially in the chorus, with the music suitably sombre and toned down to meet the needs of the song. It’s what this band does so well, the intensity of the song isn’t relying on fast pace or heavy guitars, and it doesn’t lose the presence of the band in the process.
The heroin trilogy comes through the middle of the album, first with “Sickman”, and followed by “Junkhead” and “Godsmack”. All three have lyrics focused on that drug use, which have met with some critical reaction against them. It is interesting to read interviews with both Layne and Jerry following the release of this album on those songs. Layne was as saying “I didn't want my fans to think that heroin was cool. But then I've had fans come up to me and give me the thumbs up, telling me they're high. That's exactly what I didn't want to happen." Jerry backed this up, saying "That darkness was always part of the band, but it wasn’t all about that. There was always an optimism, even in the darkest shit we wrote. With Dirt, it’s not like we were saying ‘Oh yeah, this is a good thing.’ It was more of a warning than anything else”.
Breaking up these three songs is the magnificent “Rooster”, which Jerry wrote about his father, and the title track “Dirt” where Layne more or less gives it to an unnamed associate who ticked him off enough to get this rise out of him. Both of these songs are important in not only competing and living up to the tracks around them, but also in helping to restore a less ‘drugs are good’ anthem that many fans mistook them for. They also help to retain the power of those tracks as well. The 30 second “Iron Gland” features Tom Araya coming in on guest vocal and nailing the audition.
Two solo Staley writing tracks follow, and both possess the exact kind of frustration and anger that you sometimes feel Layne must have possessed at time. “Hate to Feel” is another angst driven song lyrically and moodily in the music, while “Angry Chair” is just as you would imagine it, with a gutteral guitar riff, and those spitting lyrics that are then beautifully enhanced in the bridge and chorus by both Layne and Jerry to top off another uniquely Alice in Chains song.
The album then concludes with the previously mentioned “Would?”, a song that is dominated by the bass riff and drum fill throughout that gives it its own perfect style, and one that tops off an amazing music experience.
“Facelift” had been a bit of a bolt from the blue when it came to my music listening habits. In and around that time, the albums that had changed the way I thought about what I was listening to were Faith No More’s “The Real Thing”, Scatterbrain’s “Here Comes Trouble” and Alice in Chains’s “Facelift”, all before the explosion that came with Nirvana’s “Nevermind”. Those three albums showed that heavy music could be combined with a different style to create an album that was unique to the time.
“Dirt” came out a year after the “Nevermind” phenomenon that had gripped so many people I knew who kept telling me how great that album was (even though they were not really interested in any music I enjoyed), but it was the excitement of another Alice in Chains album that was the driving force for me. The anticipation of how this band would develop on their follow up to an album that was so starkly individualistic in its own right. Having heard how Faith No More had upped their game between “The Real Thing” and recent release “Angel Dust”, what would Alice in Chains offer?
The answer is they would give you an album that is almost without rival when it comes to the day and age. There is a rawness to the other albums I have mentioned here. There is none of that on “Dirt”. It is a flawless production where the songs are played immaculately, the instrumentation precision perfect. The drums and bass stuck solidly together to hold together the basis of each track, the guitars harmonise together in synch. The duelling vocals of Layne and Jerry pieced together perfectly, and melding into sweetness in their gentle moments, and then powerfully in their anger moments. There are moments where some critics feel the band has moved to becoming more commercial, but to me it is just a maturing of the band, able to write and perform songs that speak to generations.
I played this – a LOT – when I first got the album. I remember expecting something similar to that first album, the hardcore, loud, driven band. What I got was different, and I remember on those first listens I was... surprised... and amazed. Initially it was songs like “Down in a Hole”, and “Rooster” and “Angry Chair” that I just thought... wow, this is not what I expected... but it is amazing. And the more I listened to the album, the more I was amazed at what the band had produced.
30 years on, and Layne is gone and Mike is gone. But this album lives on, and is still as amazingly potent and relevant as it was on its release. No doubt many people will be out there getting their hands on the 30th anniversary releases that are flooding the market. If you don’t already own the album, then now would be the perfect time to get out there and buy it. It is still the high water mark of the era when it comes to the Seattle scene.
233. Rainbow / Difficult To Cure. 1981. 3.5/5
Graham Bonnet lasted one album as lead singer of Rainbow. Following his departure, a replacement was found in Joe Lynn Turner, and another beautiful partnership began.
The album itself is a mixture. While it gets off to a rollicking start with I Surrender and Spotlight Kid, it does lose momentum in the middle, especially with Ritchie's instrumental. The back half of the album recovers ground, but it is slightly disappointing after the great start.
JLT makes a solid beginning to his Rainbow career. The combination of Turner's vocals, Blackmore's guitaring, Roger Glover's excellent bass lines and the drumming of Bobby Rondinelli lay the foundations of a solid album. One does wonder in hindsight though where Rainbow's audience was coming from at this time in the early 80's.
My favourites from the album include I Surrender, Spotlight Kid, Magic, Can't Happen Here and Difficult To Cure.
Rating : The good is very very good, and the rest is pretty boring. 3.5/5.
The album itself is a mixture. While it gets off to a rollicking start with I Surrender and Spotlight Kid, it does lose momentum in the middle, especially with Ritchie's instrumental. The back half of the album recovers ground, but it is slightly disappointing after the great start.
JLT makes a solid beginning to his Rainbow career. The combination of Turner's vocals, Blackmore's guitaring, Roger Glover's excellent bass lines and the drumming of Bobby Rondinelli lay the foundations of a solid album. One does wonder in hindsight though where Rainbow's audience was coming from at this time in the early 80's.
My favourites from the album include I Surrender, Spotlight Kid, Magic, Can't Happen Here and Difficult To Cure.
Rating : The good is very very good, and the rest is pretty boring. 3.5/5.
232. Metallica / Die, Die My Darling [Single]. 1998. 5/5.
This was one of the singles released off the double disc Garage Inc. compilation, which comprised completely of cover songs from over the years. The single, Die Die My Darling is a cover of a Misfits song.
The other two songs were recorded live on their short tour to play the best of these tracks live. The first is Sabbra Cadabra by Black Sabbath, which incorporates A National Acrobat as well. The second is a medley entitled Mercyful Fate, which contains the Mercyful fate songs Satan's Fall, Curse Of The Pharaohs, A Corpse Without Soul, Into The Coven and Evil.
These were my favourite three songs off the 'new' section of Garage Inc., and they are all brilliant. Mercyful Fate live is sensational.
Rating : This is as good as a single release can get. Absolutely sensational. 5/5.
The other two songs were recorded live on their short tour to play the best of these tracks live. The first is Sabbra Cadabra by Black Sabbath, which incorporates A National Acrobat as well. The second is a medley entitled Mercyful Fate, which contains the Mercyful fate songs Satan's Fall, Curse Of The Pharaohs, A Corpse Without Soul, Into The Coven and Evil.
These were my favourite three songs off the 'new' section of Garage Inc., and they are all brilliant. Mercyful Fate live is sensational.
Rating : This is as good as a single release can get. Absolutely sensational. 5/5.
231. Ozzy Osbourne / Diary Of A Madman. 1981. 5/5.
Ozzy Osbourne’s story through the 1970’s with Black Sabbath is one of outrageous success, incomprehensible drug and alcohol consumption, and a messy break up that left him on his own and bereft of opportunity. The story of his redemption, of coming together with another successful band that recorded and released an album - Blizzard of Ozz - that helped put his name back in lights in the music business, is also worthy of his tale. What is more interesting is what has come to light in recent years about how and who recorded those first two albums, and the cut-throat way that several people involved were treated. It’s not a particularly happy tale. For anyone who is truly interested in what happened with the band, which initially was meant to be called The Blizzard of Ozz rather than have the album of the same name credited solely to Ozzy Osbourne as a solo release, and how things began to fall apart due to the single minded attitude of Sharon Arden, soon to be Sharon Osbourne, then you should most definitely read Bob Daisley’s wonderful autobiography “For Facts Sake...” which gives an in depth and detailed version of the events surrounding this time.
Beyond this though, the same line up that recorded the first album, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake, again wrote and recorded all the material for the sophomore release, Diary of a Madman. Given the success of that album and the breakthrough performance of previously unknown guitar prodigy Randy Rhoads on it, the chance to follow that up with even more diversified songs and put their stamp on the metal music world as it was at the time would have been uppermost in their minds. Ozzy’s former band Black Sabbath had had a major hit with their Heaven and Hell release at the same time that Blizzard of Ozz came out, and their follow up to that, Mob Rules, was released just three days prior to the release of Diary of a Madman. No matter what was being said around both bands, you can be sure all of the members would have been intensely interested in the success of the other.
Much like the preceding album, this album has a mixture of the true heavy metal songs as well as those that tend toward the side of the rock ballad style. The difference between these songs and normal rock ballads are the musicians involved, because with Randy being trained in classical guitar, as well of the beautiful off beat bass lines of Bob and then Ozzy’s terrific vocals, these songs are not mere rock ballad type songs.
Diary of a Madman kicks off with the brilliant “Over the Mountain”, with Lee Kerslake’s wonderful rolling drum intro bursting into Randy’s guitar riff to get the album off to a great start. This is such a terrific opening track, filled with everything that made this version of the band so good, that it is hard to believe that it has been played live so little. It remains one of my favourite Ozzy songs. “Flying High Again” and “Believer” were both played on the tour that followed this album, before the album had even been released in many areas. The live album Tribute has them as part of its track list, and both are highlighted by Randy’s guitar riffs and soloing. “Flying High Again” feels as though it could have been aimed at the commercial market but without losing its distinct metal features, though sales did not back up that assertion. “Believer” has a much heavier sound and finishes off the first side of the album in style. Between these two songs came “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll”, one of the rock songs that moves into that softer territory, until you reach the solo of course, where Randy really turns the dial up. The melodic guitar throughout sets the mood of the song perfectly, and it sits in a great place. When I first got this album I used to play this song over and over and just bathe in its excellence, because it is an anthem without the fist pumping, it just says its piece matter of factly, and neither the message of the music take anything away from the other. It is still a wonderful song.
The second side of the album is a different mix altogether, with “Little Dolls” and “Tonight” both the kind of songs that you would never ever consider when you think of the Ozzy Osbourne catalogue. They aren’t obscure as such, but they are ones that pale against the great songs that surround them and so aren’t always front and centre in your mind. Both are great in their own way, “Little Dolls” through the hard driving rhythm of the bass and drums in particular, and “Tonight” as the ballad where Bob’s bass in prominent in being the centre of the song before Randy’s solo in particular steals the show. Ozzy’s vocals here too, as with most of his songs of this style, are at their peak, and are a major reason why Ozzy makes these kind of songs so enjoyable.
Perhaps the best song on the album is “S.A.T.O”, a bombastic hard core fast paced song driven by all three instruments rifling along with great power. I love everything about this song – Lee's drumming is perfect for the feel, Bob’s bass rumbling along the bottom end but still jumping up the strings and the fretboard to have its own unique part of the song, Randy chugging along on guitar before unleashing yet another brilliant solo that steals the show, while Ozzy’s vocals are top shelf. Another of my favourite all time Ozzy songs. And the album ends with the title track which mixes heavy metal with acoustic and the gothic to create an amazing epic song that completes the album in perfection.
I have always had some trouble determining which album of Ozzy’s I have loved best – Blizzard of Ozz or Diary of a Madman, not because they are similar but because each has their positive strengths and their very very slight weaknesses. Back in that magical year of 1986 when I was beginning to discover the dark arts of 1970 and 1980’s heavy metal, I had both albums in a gatefold double album, and I never listened to one without then listening to the other. They are both such extraordinary albums, and I can still see myself sitting in my parents' lounge room in front of the stereo listening to them.
Because that first album introduced me to this foursome, I always think that Diary of a Madman is a triumph because they came back not long after this album’s recording and release, having done the first part of what became a two-part tour, and then wrote and recorded this album. And everything about it seems better. Lee’s drumming is better, more rounded, more settled in the music written, given on this album he was a much bigger part of it rather than coming in late to just perform it as he was on Blizzard of Ozz. Bob’s bass guitar just perforates through each song once again, and it is the little things he throws in that can sometimes make the song, rather than just sitting in the same easy bass riff that WOULD have suited the song, but because he adds bits it makes them even better. And Randy’s playing has grown again, and it isn’t only the solos in the songs that create his standout performance, but the slower and more technical riffs and runs that come across, certainly in the slower songs, where you hear just the kind of guitar player he was becoming. And of course there is Ozzy, who despite the alcohol and drugs and the other distractions that were going on in his life, still managed to sing these songs in a most amazing way, clear, distinct, at a level that is at times astounding.
I listen to this album, and still wonder just what this foursome could have achieved beyond this is if they had been allowed to grow at their own speed and look to take on the world. Because when I listen to it I can still try to imagine what album would have come next, what songs they would have produced, and where that might have taken them. Of course, this was not to be. Bob and Lee were fired from the band after the recording of the album while on holidays, and were replaced on the tour that followed by Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge. It seemed they had asked for too much in the eyes of one Sharon Arden and were moved along pretty quickly. And of course even more tragically was the death of Randy in a light plane crash on that tour. The band that had created these classics was no more. Bob was to come back several times over the years and either write or record or both with Ozzy, but that was never the same. And the albums that came after this were fantastic with their own stories to tell. But there is always a lingering moment where what could have come from a third album by Rhoads, Daisley, Kerslake and Osbourne still fascinates me.
230. Slayer / Diabolus In Musica. 1998. 3.5/5.
What the fans were looking for was a new album with new material. It had been four years between Seasons and Intervention, and so it was to be a further four years between Intervention and their 8th studio album, “Diabolus in musica”, a name that translates as ‘The Devil in Music’ in Latin. Most of the album is played tuned down to C#, an interesting shift that was to be a talking point going forward.
There have been plenty of people, both so-called experts and fans alike, who have noted the trajectory that this album takes seems to have a lot of influence from a band like Pantera, who had taken the 90’s decade by storm after completely revamping their own sound. Now Dimebag Darrell had plenty of fanboys in the music world who it felt then dictated their own music direction to implement that style, and Slayer certainly appear to have been one of them. The fairly obvious slip into a genre that imitates nu-metal if it doesn’t fully go down that path seems to be a driving factor here, and over the years it has brought that feeling with it.
When it comes to discussing the best moments on Diabolus in Musica, they will inevitably be those that remind you the most of days gone by. The opening track “Bitter Peace” has a fantastic build-up and payoff that most Slayer fans would appreciate. “Scrum” contains some terrific time changes and a couple of formidable riffs that show that even eight albums in Hanneman and King can still mix it with the best. “Screaming From the Sky” also harks back to an earlier time, of the mid-tempo thrash of the late 1980’s era of the band and the way it could bring out that awesomeness of the band. So too “Perversions of Pain”, where the mid-tempo is only interrupted by the terrific solo riffs. Great stuff.
Perhaps the only song here that works well that doesn’t call on past glories is “Stain of Mind”, which manages to sound completely modern, with a chunky groove and that nu-metal rhythm and vocals, while still satisfying from an extremity point of view. You can hear even now how it was the best loved track on its release.
The remaining tracks have a consistent blandness to them, with the band seemingly caught in a zone where riffs become almost irrelevant to the song and Araya’s at-times monotonous shouting becomes the focus. “Love to Hate” is the worst offender, but “Overt Enemy” is close behind, both of which become tedious long before anything of note occurs. King and Hanneman’s lead breaks are almost always worth waiting for, with blood-pumping impact through the structure of the song, but in the framework of these fairly dull and unremarkable efforts, they simply fail to serve any purpose at all.
For me, one of the most interesting parts about this album is that all of the music bar one song, Kerry’s “In the Name of God” is composed by Jeff Hanneman, and the reason this surprises me is because as a Slayer fan I’ve always generally loved Hanneman’s compositions over the other band members efforts. So the fact that this musical direction has pretty much been set by the guy I think writes the best Slayer songs is something that has always been difficult to overcome.
1998 was, for me, a massively desolate year when it came to new music from bands I loved. There was a reason I was beginning to drift towards the European metal scene, as they seemed to be moving in a positive direction, whereas the bands I had always loved were changing the way they had gone about things to try and remain relevant. And it is a very easy thing to say that from my point of view they should have continued to write the same music that they always had and they would have survived and succeeded, because I most probably could have been wrong.
I bought this in my local record store where I was living at the time in Newtown, and rushed home to put it on and listen to new Slayer music. And it would be fair to say that the reception it received at that time was very very cold. I wasn’t sure if I was missing something, whether I was the one who was expecting too much from this album. The general consensus amongst my friends who listened to Slayer at that time was that it was fine but wasn’t outstanding. On it’s release in fact, in metal magazines, the album initially was immensely popular within the fans base, some ranking it as high as the 2nd all time Slayer release. I was never sold on it as that. I enjoyed the album – certainly when it was released it got a hammering having waited so long for a follow-up to “Divine Intervention” – but there was something that I find is not as enjoyable as so many of their other albums. In the long run, this was a hybrid, modernised Slayer album, one where things had been tweaked and changed, and for me it didn’t quite click.
On listening to the album a lot again over the past few weeks, I guess I still have those same conclusions. It isn’t a bad album but it is definitely of a differing style. My most endearing comparison is that I have been listening to this album paired with another album that I am listening to for my next podcast episode, Nuclear Assault’s 1988 release “Survive”. The true thrash metal style of that album so completely dominates over the style of this album, that for me it perfectly reflects what is missing from “Diabolus in musica” - true thrash metal guitars and speed and joy. It’s sometimes amazing the difference ten years can make.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)