161. Edguy / Burning Down The Opera. 2003. 4/5.

The first live release by this excellent power metal band, highlighting the best of their years in the business.

I am very impressed by their live performance. I must admit that before I heard this, I didn't think they would be able to pull it off live – especially the vocals.
Silly me. Tobias is a gem, and hits every note that he needs to without losing a step.

This double disc contains a lot of their best material, including Tears Of The Mandrake, The Pharoah, Vain Glory Opera and Painting On The Wall. Every song is pulled off almost note for note as they appear on the studio albums, along with the added live atmosphere and crowd support.

It is difficult to believe that Edguy are not better known in the metal industry. Everything they have done has been fantastic, and they are one of the best in the power metal genre. I know we are isolated in Australia, but more Australians must start listening to this band.

Rating : You could do worse than start off with this album if you are a beginning. For those that love live metal, this should be another addition to the collection. 4/5.

160. Ark / Burn The Sun. 2001. 4/5.

I went back in time, and got this album on the strength of Masterplan's debut effort, for which Jorn Lande had migrated to following the release of this, Ark's final installment with him behind the microphone.

It is hard to judge it now, knowing what Masterplan have done since. This is a very diverse effort, with a lot of conflicting styles interwoven. For instance, Absolute Zero features some whacked out, Stewart Coupland-esque drumming, Just A Little starts off with a Spanish Guitaring frenzy, Missing You starts out as a very Queen-or-Whitesnake-ish rock ballad type, before thrashing out towards the end. Mixed in with all of that is the kind of power metal songs that have made this band popular.

I don't really know how to take this album. Having it playing in the background tonight while at work, it was great to listen to. Sitting down and trying to sift through it song by song, however, brought other emotions to the process. If I was to try and get technical, I would say that this is a little too different in song style. However, I find that I still like it too much not to rank it higher than average. The musicianship is great, and Jorn's vocals are just fantastic.

Rating : I've decided to throw out the technical studying, and go with what my head was banging away to. 4/5.

159. Deep Purple / Burn. 1974. 5/5.

Following the departure of Ian Gillan from Deep Purple following the album Who Do We Think We Are, the band recruited David Coverdale to come in and take on the lead vocalist role.

Burn is a triumph. Not only do Coverdale's vocals stand out at the front of the band on this album, he brings through a great enthusiastic vibe to the songs. Whether the band had become stale before his arrival is open to question, but here they are rocking again. This can also be attributed to Glenn Hughes on bass and duelling vocals. Hughes and Coverdale's singing on this is a joy to listen to.

In the modern world, a lot of the Purple songs NOT recorded by Mark II have disappeared, and it is a shame because there is some great stuff. Here, for instance, come some of their best, in Burn, Might Just Take Your Life, Lay Down Stay Down, and the brilliant Mistreated.

This album stacks up against any other that Deep Purple have released. Just imagine what they may have been able to do if they hadn't always been arguing with each other!!

Rating : Deep Purple at their finest. 5/5.

158. Michael Schenker Group / Built To Destroy. 1983. 3.5/5

Michael Schenker’s road to rock domination, or at least trying to find the path to that road, never seemed to come easily, although a lot of that trouble has been lain at the guitar god’s feet himself. Three albums into his self-titled Michael Schenker Group career, the eponymous “The Michael Schenker Group”, the also eponymous “M.S.G”, and “Assault Attack”, over which time the band had created some terrific work and excellent songs, as well as building a solid live reputation, and Schenker was looking to duplicate his success in the UK and Japan in the United States. The only problem was that it seemed impossible to stop the revolving door of members from entering the band and then disappearing just as fast. Lead vocalist from the first two albums, Gary Barden, had been replaced by Graham Bonnett for the previous album, “Assault Attack”, an album well received by critics and fans alike. Unfortunately, during the band’s first gig to promote that album, Bonnett drunkenly exposed himself on stage, and was immediately fired, with Gary Barden drafted back in to complete the tour dates. This led to Barden once again being made the band’s lead vocalist for their follow up album. Also brought in on this album was keyboardist Andy Nye who was an accomplished song writer, and so this five piece, alongside long-term partners Chris Glen on bass guitar and Ted McKenna on drums moved forward to record the follow up album, “Built to Destroy”. Just how it would progress in a world where heavy metal was becoming more aggressive and progressive was a question that Schenker himself had to have been asking himself at the time.

One of the more interesting aspects of this album is that there are two songs on here that Michael Schenker himself does not receive a credit for, which is a first for the Michael Schenker Group. It was a sign that perhaps the band was progressing to a point where everyone could be involved in the writing of the material, and there be a real band rather than be seen as the solo project of the self-titled guitarist. Those two songs, composed by Andy Nye and Gary Barden, are actually two of the best tracks on the album as well, which may or may not have been a bone of contention at the time. The first is the opening track “Rock My Nights Away”, considered by most fans as one of the group most iconic songs. It is keyboard dominant as you might expect, but when Schenker’s guitar does come to the front of the mix it during his solo and the riffing at the end, that’s where it really kicks it up a notch. It is a terrific song, one of my favourite MSG tracks because of its tempo and intensity and fun feeling. A beauty. The other Nye/Barden track is the penultimate song of side two “Time Waits for No One” is again dominated by Nye’s keyboard, and actually sounds like a UK new wave song, with the jauntiness of the keyboard and Barden’s happily singing over the top. Even when Schenker’s guitar does appear, it is in a very unthreatening way. Whereas the opening track has that power of the guitar coming into the song to help it along, here on “Time Waits for No One” we are actually waiting for that burst of guitar strings wailing into the mix, but it never occurs. It suffers massively as a result.
Two songs here are credited to Barden and Schenker along with Ted McKenna. “I’m Gonna Make You Mine” also includes Nye again, which has his keyboard prominent but here doubled over with Schenker’s guitar. Barden sings tough, and it is a good follow up to the opening track. It is true that it is very much tied to this era by the heavy use of the synth alongside the guitar, but Barden’s great vocals alongside Schenker riffing it up make it a terrific song. The other is “Red Sky”, this time alongside Chris Glen, a much more guitar-oriented track as a result with Schenker’s guitar and Glen’s bass being the driving force of the song. And while the keys and synths on this album are important to its sound, it’s the stringed instruments that make it better.
Four of the five remaining songs are co-written by Schenker and Barden alone, and they are of a varied output. “The Dogs of War” and "Systems Failing” continue the great vibes of the first side of the album, the songs played at the right tempo, and with Schenker’s guitar providing a nice counterpoint to the tunes. “Still Love That Little Devil” opens up side two of the album in the same style. The fourth of these collaborations is the closing track, which had a different title for each edition of the album that was released. On the original album it is titled “Walk the Stage”, but it is generally better known as “Rock Will Never Die”, which it was more or less changed to for the US edition and most versions since then.
The final song here is Schenker’s instrumental awesomeness of “Captain Nemo”, which closes out side one of the album. It is another terrific song, highlighted by Schenker’s wonderful guitar work, and showcasing his immense skill with the instrument that on some songs doesn’t get that front-and-centre distinction that it deserves. All of this combines into yet another MSG album that has all the bibs and bobs, but perhaps on some level doesn’t quite get them all in the right order to make it a smashing result.

In my first year at uni I used to save all of my sheckles so I could go down to the local purveyor of second hand records, Illawarra Books and Records, and buy as many albums from new artists that I didn’t have as I could with the few dollars I had put away, and one of those artists was the Michael Schenker Group. By the time I found them, they had ceased to be for the time being, with the next eponymous band the McCauley Schenker Group having been formed. But these first four studio albus and two live albums were gold to me.
This album was on cassette in my car for a long time, with “Assault Attack” on the other side, and it was played over and over on trips to and from uni. I lived a lot of that first year not really knowing what I wanted to do with myself, often falling into a confused state, and this album was one of many that got me out of that funk. The song “Rock My Nights Away” became a sort of an anthem for me, singing out loud “Cos when I’m sad and lonely, from day to day, I’m just gonna rock my nights away!” - which I invariably did.
Listening to the album now, I do have mixed reactions. When I first put it back on for this project, I found that the immediately familiar songs still struck a chord, but others left me wondering what I used to hear in them. Over the course of several listens, that began to change, and I once again found that love for the album that I know I had all those years ago. It isn’t a perfect album, and suited the 80’s for its time, but it still has great moments throughout. I do wonder how those who had never heard the album might think of it if they first listened to it today. I’m sure they would be less enthralled with it than I am. Overall, it is like all of those early MSG albums – some great tracks, some better than average tracks.

Following the tour to promote this album, Schenker pulled the plug, ostensibly from the difficulty in gaining the success he wanted and the troubled relationship between the band members. He would go on to team up with Robin McAuley and return with the McAuley Schenker Group, that is a different proposition altogether, in order to find that commercial success that had thus far eluded him.

157. Skid Row / B-Side Ourselves [EP]. 1992. 4/5.

Most people will know the backstory to Skid Row leading up to 1992. The eponymous debut album that stormed the worlds charts including the singles charts with their hair metal anthems. Then the remarkable sophomore album that went to a new kind of heavy, the brilliant “Slave to the Grind”, and the tour that followed. The band seemed to be on top of the world and could do little wrong, even in the age of the Seattle sound that was popularising the music scene.
15 months after the release of that album came this EP. Was it to keep more material out there in front of the fans? Was it to help fill a gap in a recording schedule or a touring schedule? Or was it a cash grab from the record company to strike while the iron was hot. I can’t say that I know the answer to that. Four of the five songs had been released as B-sides to the singles releases by the band, with only “Little Wing” being an unreleased song at that period.
My memory of the time was that I read an article somewhere that said that the five songs – all cover versions of other bands songs – were chosen for a reason. My memory of this article was that each member of the band chose a song for the band to cover, and that they were then recorded during the sessions for “Slave to the Grind” to be used for the B-sides, and that they were then pulled together for this release. Memory tells me that Rachel Bolan’s choice was the Ramones track, and Seb Bach’s was the Judas Priest track. But in trying to confirm that information for this podcast episode, I haven’t been able to find that out anywhere. Now, it may well have been an article in the now defunct Australia metal magazine Hot Metal, or it could have been somewhere else. So it may well be complete rubbish – but I offer it here on the off chance that my memory is indeed correct, and this is actually a solid piece of information.

Wildly different opinions are thrown around about the worth or otherwise of this EP. There are many people out there who hold it with great disdain. I’ve never really understood that. Perhaps those teenagers who came in to Skid Row through the hair metal radio friendly anthems couldn’t get the band playing covers of songs from bands they just had no idea of. Possibly. Others probably felt that the versions of the songs they played didn’t hold up against the originals. Possibly.
Personally, I think they did great versions of these songs that were faithful to the original, but also added their own style to it, and that to me is the best way of doing a cover song.
Trying to do justice to a Ramones song is going to be tough not matter what genre of music you play. Taking on “Psycho Therapy” was a good choice, and it is a rollicking version that stays true to the Ramones version while sounding like a Skid Row song. Rachel Bolan actually sings the lead vocal on this track, and sounds like he’s having a great time doing it.
On the other hand, the band’s version here of “C’mon and Love Me” is simply the best version of this song I’ve ever heard. Yes, it strips the original Kiss version by some distance. And that might sound like sacrilege, but this is brilliant. Sebastian Bach’s vocals here are perfect for the song. He doesn’t try to be Paul Stanley, he moulds it to his own vocal chords, and it is perfect. The band is also on point in this song. It’s a pearler.
We then have a live version of Judas Priest’s “Delivering the Goods”, which not only is a great idea to retain the vibrancy and energy of the track, it also has Rob Halford on duelling vocals. This was recorded at a time when Halford had either left Judas Priest or was on what he wanted to call a hiatus from the band, so it was an interesting situation for that reason. It’s another great version here.
For me, it was somewhat surprising how good the version the band does of Rush’s “What You’re Doing”. There’s nothing easy about covering Rush songs, and this is very much a Skid Row-ified version, putting a bit of the Slave to the Grind attitude in it to create the version that suits the band rather than duplicate the original. Personally I think it is a great version, even if the original still remains the bees knees.
Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” is the final song of the five track EP, and again shows the Skid Row sounding version of the song while retaining the feel of the original. Can you ever hope to cover a Hendrix song and be better than the original? No, but this does sound like Slave to the Grind era as well (think “In a Darkened Room” and you’ll know what I’m talking about).

Having come off the brilliance of the “Slave to the Grind” album, I bought this in the first days of its release, and played it to death for weeks and weeks. It was “C’mon and Love Me” that had me hooked, but when you have an EP that runs about 18 minutes you just let it keep going around and around, until you hear the songs in your sleep. In many ways it reminded me of when I first got Metallica’s "Garage Days Re-revisited" - reviewed just a few episodes ago here on this podcast – and I often wondered whether or not Skid Row was looking to produce the same sort of excitement that that EP had produced. There is no comparison of course, but it did provide a look at another side of the band, as to where their influences had come from. And as influences go, the Ramones, Kiss, Judas Priest, Rush and Jimi Hendrix are a pretty handy quintet to draw from.
I still love this EP. Playing it again over the past couple of weeks has been great, a short and sharp burst between other albums I am reviewing for this podcast that never failed to lift the atmosphere wherever I had it on. And because it doesn’t overstay its welcome, much like the aforementioned “Garage Days”, I still pull it off the shelves regularly and happily listen to it. And it fits because it is only 5 songs long, not like other bands who release full length albums of cover songs that sometimes just overdo it.
Sadly it was the last truly great thing the band released. Tensions rose when recording the next album “Subhuman Race”, and Seb Bach and the band separated after that tour. Sometimes you wish they had just been a little more love left to give.

156. Alice Cooper / Brutal Planet. 2000. 3/5.

This album is certainly a change in direction for the recent history of Alice Cooper. The musical direction is definitely different from albums such as Constrictor, Trash and Hey Stoopid! Whereas those albums were a little bit silly and a little bit fun, this has a much more 'serious' and grungy feel to it.

Alice has survived through the decades by being able to change with the times when it suits him, but never losing his identity with it. Here is another change, and yet it is still quintissentially Alice.

My concern lies in the fact that, even when you have grown to know the album, it is difficult to discern between the first six tracks on the album. They really do all sound like the same song – the same riff and the same vocal melody. The second half of the album is fine, but the first half still concerns me when I listen to it.
So, Alice has made a change – perhaps for the new decade? Or perhaps just as a change from his recent outings. I'm still not sure it works, but you can't deny him the opportunity of doing it!

My favourites from the album include Sanctuary, Blow Me A Kiss, It's The Little Things and the great Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me, which is just classic Alice, and completely different from everything else on the album (yes, it was a bonus track!)

Rating : Not one of my favourites from the great man, but still worth listening to. 3/5.

155. Sonata Arctica / Broken [EP]. 2003. 3.5/5

OK, it's just the single, but the songs are great! It contains Broken in full and edit mode, along with Dream Thieves and The Gun. A good little buy.

Rating : Good single release. 3.5/5.

154. Judas Priest / British Steel. 1980. 4.5/5.

With the new decade upon the band, and the fans of music beginning their switch from the punk movement to the NWOBHM sound that was punctuating the UK, Judas Priest was at the top of their game. With several successful albums behind them, and riding on the wave of their live album released the previous year, the band brought out this album, British Steel. As they had done over the course of their career, the music they were writing and recording was constantly building and forming into a marketable product. This album had all of that and more surprises in store.

From the outset a few things are noticeable. It’s sleeker. It’s shinier. It has been polished both in production and in recording. The timing hits the right beat all the way through. The songs are more structured, with verse then chorus then verse then chorus. The rhythm is tight and perfect, holding each song within its walls. The guitars are perfectly in sync, only breaking out in their allocated solo section. This is such a regimented album in almost every way, you could probably march to it were you so inclined to do so. Something which some fans do have a problem with.
Let’s face it. New drummer Dave Holland doesn’t have a lot of outstanding work to do here. Most of his work could be categorised as basic 4/4 or 2/4 with a few cymbal crashes thrown in at the appropriate time. It provides the base that this album was obviously looking for and it does its job, but without much variation to it to help colour the songs it does then bring on that feeling of being a similar album throughout. It’s the kind of album you can give to a learner and say ‘play along with that’, and soon enough they will because it is heavy in the basics. This is not meant to be a criticism but just to point out how this album was written.
The same too can be said for the guitars on the album. All of the songs in general have simple riffs and chords for most of the song, before allowing the guitar solos in the middle to help change up this part of each song. And through it all, the vocals are terrific, but there is nothing stretching the range here like on earlier albums. It’s all very within the limitations of other vocalists, and has no breakout screams or high pitched ringers that has always been a part of the Halford trick bag. To try and put a rating on it, British Steel is much like an AC/DC album, with less rock and more metal. The basic premise of the rhythm, both in how tight it is and the tempo in particular, reminds me of how AC/DC operate. That’s not a bad thing in song structure, but it is somewhat different from what Judas Priest had done in the past.
Despite all of this and any belief that I have been bagging the album, everything works. The fast paced opening of “Rapid Fire” is terrific, and the brilliant mood swing into “Metal Gods” is still a joy to listen to even after all of these years. “Breaking the Law” is the track that got most airplay at the time and typifies what this album is about, the simple but effective and memorable riff along with a catchy chorus that people of all ages find themselves singing along to. “Grinder” as well has a great feel to the rhythm riff.
The result of the similar song structures does hold some dangers, and there does come a point where there is some boredom of repetition in some of the songs. Every individual probably has different songs that drives them to distraction on this album. “United” is one of them for me. It is very rigid musically and lyrically, and while it isn’t a bad song it is one of the ones here that I can almost reach for the skip button if I am in that kind of mood. It is improved in a live setting, where the crowd can get involved and chant along, but here on the studio version it eventually gets stale and staid. “You Don’t Have to be Old to be Wise” also has some degree of this seeping in, if only for the constant repeating of the title through the second half of song to the fade out. It does get tedious on occasions. Many people say the same about “Living After Midnight” and I couldn’t knock them if they did, but this like “Breaking the Law” is a Judas Priest anthem, one they always have to play and another where the catchy chorus has people of all ages singing along. “The Rage and “Steeler” close out the album in a similar style.

British Steel has been a classic since its release almost 40 years ago, playing off the success of its two main singles and through the simplistic excellence of the rest of the album. Even now when you listen to the album you can hear the results of the effort put into the writing and recording these songs and the plan that must have been in place for all of them. As a structured masterpiece this ticks almost every box, and only falls short of a perfect rating by the slight nagging in the back of my head that says that a couple of the songs just aren’t quite up to giving it that.

Rating: “I’m getting hotter by the hour”. 4.5/5

153. Dokken / Breaking The Chains. 1982. 3/5.

The opening of the Dokken career is a strange one, with a difficult birth and then a just as difficult re-birth, along mixed in with the feeling that there was something here to work with. All in all in was a confusing couple of years in order to get the start they wanted.

The album was initially released as Breakin' the Chains under the moniker of Don Dokken in Europe. When it was eventually released in the US it was marketed under the Dokken banner as Breaking the Chains, with completely changed cover art, as well as having some of the songs remixed and even re-ordered on the album itself. It also managed to change the title of two of the songs. “We’re Illegal”, which initially was the closing song on side one of the album was rebranded as "Live to Rock (Rock to Live)" on the US version, though it retained its position as the end track of side one. Also the opening track to side two on the original release was “Paris”. 

However, on the US release, not only has it been moved to be the final track, it is also a live version of the song recorded in 1982, and is now titled “Paris is Burning”. This is actually one of my favourite songs from the album, and it is an improvement on the studio version of the initial release, most likely from the extra energy it gains from the live setting.

“Breaking the Chains” is a great opening song to the band and the album. It highlights most of what makes Dokken the band they became. A solid rhythm of drums and bass provided by Mick Brown and Juan Croucier, Don Dokken’s terrific vocals and George Lynch’s outstanding individualistic guitar work. It’s easily catchy and makes an immediate impression.

As for the rest of the album? In the main, apart from the title track and “Paris is Burning”, this is a straight up hard rock album that does the good things well without as much flash and glint as you might expect listening to the albums that followed this. “In the Middle” and “Nightrider” and “Seven Thunders” are all good songs, but there is nothing that jumps out at you and grabs you about them. The beat and rhythm stay intact, and the lyrics are simple but effective. George does a great job, but there is certainly none of the amazing stuff that he produced later on. It’s all very straight forward, and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it just makes for an average album rather than a great album.

Rating: “Take a good look around you”.   3/5

152. Spinal Tap / Break Like The Wind. 1992. 4.5/5.

What style of comedy bands do you take seriously? I’m sure you know what I mean. Artists like Weird Al Yankovich have been making brilliant parodies of songs for decades. Tenacious D, the combination of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, has been touring and releasing music for more than two decades now. I mean, while the material is comedic and amusing, it is still REAL music, isn’t it! Their albums sell exceptionally well and they are considered serious artists. So just how do you categorise the band Spinal Tap, who were famously brought to life in the ‘mockumentary’ “This is Spinal Tap” by Academy Award winning director Rob Reiner and serious hard working actors Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer. Do you take them seriously as a band? I ask the question, because they released what could be considered as the follow up to that album that acted as the soundtrack to that mockumentary, and it was a stand alone release with no other reason than to sell albums. The album’s name was “Break Like the Wind”.

Most people in the world have seen the 1984 movie “This is Spinal Tap”, which introduced the world to the fictional English heavy metal band on their tour of the United States, which trod through their extensive history as well as the disastrous events of that tour. It perfectly encapsulated the excesses and strained relationships that occur in a touring band, by creating this massively humorous and brilliantly written dialogue about a band being acted out as a serious documentary. Genius. And the songs themselves as written by the trio were brilliant. “Big Bottom”, “Stonehenge”, “Rock and Roll Creation”, “Sex Farm”, “Tonight I’m Going to Rock You Tonight”, and “Hell Hole” for which they eventually did a music video. Everything about it is brilliantly done, and I personally never get tired of watching it. But, I must admit that I never expected to have anything else come from it.
And yet, eight years later, from out of nowhere, an album by Spinal Tap was announced. What the hell? Where the hell did this come from, and did they really think that they could write songs that would make people go out and buy the album? I mean sure, I bought the soundtrack to “This is Spinal Tap” (which I will forever always call ‘Smell the Glove’ as it was named in that movie), but I’m a bit of a fanatic sometimes. But did these three – Michael McKean as David St Hubbins, Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnell, and Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls – really have what it took to BE Spinal Tap? The answer of course is an emphatic yes, and I should have been ashamed of myself to think otherwise. The fact that they then promoted it by playing live gigs, including one at Royal Albert Hall that was filmed and released as a concert video, is proof enough that they were more than talented enough to do so. That they wrote and performed all of the songs, played all of the instruments, sang all of the melodies and harmonies... it must be a terrible thing to be talented, but that they also did all of this in their personas is just the icing on the cake. But, I hear you asking, is it any good? Well, honestly, I think this song sums it up perfectly, everything that Spinal Tap stands for.

From the very first time I heard this album, I was caught. Trapped. Encapsulated. If you’ve seen the movie, then you have an idea of what is to come in regards to the songs and the way the lyrics are written and pieced together. Because the use of sexual innuendo and double entendres, as well as nonsensical phrases are all a major part of the song writing of Spinal Tap the band. Nothing sums that up better than the opening track and lead single “Bitch School”, a song essentially about sending your pet to training school to become a better dog, except of course the inference is that is not a female dog that is being spoken of. “Diva Fever” and “Cash on Delivery” have the same sort of innuendo going on in their lyrics, but so beautifully camouflaged as to have either side of the argument be considered carefully.
But then you have a song like “Just Begin Again”, one that is laughable in lyrical content. And yet, because of the duet between David St Hubbins and guest singer Cher, it becomes an amazing song. Indeed, Cher’s vocals on this song are quite amazing, the best she had done in years, and it turns the song into a real showpiece.
Along with this are songs such as “Rainy Day Sun” which could easily have been a flower-power hit such is its lyrical imagery and easy paced musical content. It sits well with the final song on the album which is “All the Way Home”, a song that was actually outlined in the original movie as being the first song that David and Nigel wrote together, and as such it is very much in that late 50’s early 60’s pop rock style. Most of you will have watched the movie and sung along with David and Nigel as they piece together the lyrics from years ago... “I’m sitting here beside the railroad tracks, and I’m waiting for that train to bring her back...” The band even has some environmentally aware songs, such as “Stinking Up the Great Outdoors”, and then Nigel Tufnell on lead vocals on “Springtime”. And not to forget their own excellent addition to modern day Christmas carols, which is played in my house every year, then excellent “Christmas with the Devil”. Many of the songs throughout the album have guest artists lending their backing vocals to tracks, such as Cher mentioned earlier, and Timothy B Schmidt of Eagles fame. But there are also plenty of big name guitarists who lend their very impressive riffing to many of the songs. Steve Lukather pops up on “Just Begin Again” as well as playing piano on “Clam Caravan”, Dweezil Zappa plays on “Diva Fever”, and on the ground breaking title track there is a plethora of guests all lending their talents, including Lukather, Jeff Beck, Slash and Joe Satriani, all of which makes it an absolutely epic track.
And still, perhaps the song that best sums up the band is “The Sun Never Sweats”. It is hard, it is unique, its lyrics use nonsense phrases that still somehow completely make sense within the context of the song. It’s a beauty, and amongst all of the great and best known songs here is perhaps unfairly overlooked in the grand scheme of things.

I still remember the first time I heard this album. The first few times actually. It was barely a couple of weeks after it was released, and the band I was in at the time travelled to western NSW to play a gig. In my car were four drummers (not all from the same band) and all tapped the hell out of the car on the way up to all the albums we listened to. When we arrived at our destination, a couple of hours before anyone else arrived, we got a case of beer from the drive through (as we had a couple of under agers with us), sat in the car park, and drank it dry. While we did so, one of our number pulled out a copy of this album. The rest of us had no idea it had been made, and so we put it on to listen. And laughed loudly all the way through. And so we put it on again and did the same thing. After two cases of beer and several listens, as I mentioned earlier, I loved it. That gig was memorable for so many things and so many stories, but this is one of my most lucid and clear memories of that day and night.


Yes, this is a terrific album. Different moods dictate which songs I enjoy the most whenever I put it on, but the four I have played here today are certainly the money shots. Both “Bitch School” and “The Majesty of Rock” charted in the UK and the US, and I still think that both “The Majesty of Rock”, and the song I am about to play, could easily be performed every night even now if a band wanted to take them on. Unlike the soundtrack to the original movie, this is actually an album that holds its own and can quite easily be put on and played all the way through without reaching for the skip button. It’s a true album, even if the band that wrote and recorded it is for all intents and purposes a fictional unreality. In many ways, that’s what makes this even more remarkable.

151. Iron Maiden / Brave New World. 2000. 4/5.

From April 1999 until its release in mid-2000, this was the most awaited album in the world. Well... it certainly was in my world, anyway! The reuniting of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith with the four remaining members brought headlines and whetted appetites.
When it was finally released, it stayed on my CD player for months. Maiden tours sold out all over the world (though of course they refused to tour Australia...), with the setlist containing half of the album. Iron Maiden were back!

Flash forward six years. How does it hold up?

I'm not sure how I rated it when it was released, but to listen to it now is to hear, to my eyes, all the holes that exist. The album opens well with the first single The Wicker Man, and flows nicely into Ghost Of The Navigator. Brave New World and Blood Brothers are the two best live tracks on the album, containing good choruses to allow audiences (of 1 or 500,000) their chance for participation. Dream Of Mirrors and The Fallen Angel are also good numbers, while Out Of The Silent Planet is probably the most underrated song on the album, and my favourite.

But the rest? Well, it is average at best. The Mercenary does little exciting and still made the live set. The Nomad is close to being in the Top 5 Most Ordinary Iron Maiden Songs Of All Time. Even the closer, The Thin Line Between Love And Hate probably rambles on far too long for its and the album's own good.
I guess it is easy to find fault with Iron Maiden albums in recent years. They do have a lot to live up to. I'm not trying to imply that this is not a good album – just that in comparison to some of their efforts in the past, it has a few question marks about it.

Memories : The morning I bought this album I was invited over to Garry's house for afternoon 'drinks'. This then stretched from 1.00pm to a 3.00am finish at Kearo's house, with numerous listenings to Brave New World throughout the long day.

Rating : This is NOT a poor album, in fact overall it is a good album! But I can't shake the feeling that they should have done more with it, especially with the three guitarists. 4/5.

150. Bon Jovi / Bounce. 2002. 3.5/5

You've got to be impressed with Bon Jovi's ability to survive in their market, and yet continue to make diverse albums without alienating their fan base. It is remarkable that this band is enjoyed and followed by teeny-boppers, rock fans and metal heads – three different genres of music listeners, and yet bodies of each love Bon Jovi.

Bounce is another excellent mix of their rock headbanging tunes and their rock ballad tunes. It takes some talent to be able to write both types of songs, and mix them into the same album without losing the feel for the whole disc. Bon Jovi have been doing it for years, but not always as successfully as I think they have done it here.
My favourites here are Undivided, Everyday, Hook Me Up and Bounce.

Rating : Another easy album to listen to. 3.5/5

149. Black Sabbath / Born Again. 1983. 4/5.

When Ozzy Osbourne had been fired by Black Sabbath, many thought that the band was on their way out and would disappear from the industry. Then came the hiring of Ronnie James Dio and eventually Vinny Appice to come in, and the result was two of the band’s finest albums, “Heaven and Hell” and “Mob Rules”. The band was firing on all cylinders, and it seemed that nothing could stop them. Then came the disagreements over the mixing of the band’s subsequent live album “Live Evil”, and before you could say ‘Voodoo”, Dio and Appice were out. They went on to form the band Dio and release “Holy Diver”, the episode of which you can hear in Season 4 of this podcast. And while Dio went out to conquer the music world in his own band, Black Sabbath was once again left with a huge question mark hanging over its head.
Sabbath changed management to Don Arden’s company, and remaining members Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler went about finding a new vocalist. There wasn’t a shortage of available people out there to take on the role. Reportedly, both Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Deep Purple and Whitesnake’s David Coverdale were considered for the role, as was then-unknown Michael Bolton, whose audition tape was one of many collated by the band. Eventually it was Don Arden who suggested Ian Gillan, the former Deep Purple vocalist from their glory days, might make a good fit. Gillan himself was apparently not convinced that it would be a good move, but having met with both Iommi and Butler he agreed to join the project.
And, at that time, that’s what the three of them and returning drummer Bill Ward, who had left the group due to his drinking after recording “Heaven and Hell” but was now sober and ready to be involved again, thought this was going to be. They considered that this was going to be a group project that was not under the Black Sabbath banner. It wasn’t until the album was completed and in the hands of the record company that the band was told it was going to be released under the Black Sabbath name. As a marketing tool this was going to be a winner, combining the former vocalist of Deep Purple with the original trio from Black Sabbath under the latter’s name. It was a no brainer. But would the music that came from the album be anything like what that band had produced in its long and storied career?

In much the same way as the band experienced when Dio came in after Ozzy, there was a question mark as to how Ian Gillan’s vocals would mix into the Iommi/Butler/Ward sound. Perhaps more so, how would the lyrics of those songs mesh with the Black Sabbath aura? When writing and recording the album of course, they were not expecting this to BE a Black Sabbath album, so the subtle changes that come as a result are more understandable if you take this into account. Mixing Gillan’s lyrics with Sabbath’s sound was perhaps the biggest obstacle the group faced, but the judgement on release would have been less so had it been marketed under another name.
And the style of songs produced here is somewhat significant though not as diverse as you may have imagined when you first came into the album. The closing two tracks on the album are perhaps the biggest change from what you would typecast as a Black Sabbath sound. “Hot Line” chugs along at a mid-tempo pace in a style that doesn’t represent what the name of the band on the cover is. Ian is trying to take a tumble with a girl and trying to get some explanation for it, which is a topic most unusual again for the band. HIs vocals are again superb, but it feels like a cheap take lyric wise. The same goes for “Keep it Warm”, the album’s closing track. The music flows at that same mid-tempo, and Ian is again singing about a woman, and there isn’t a lot of memorable riff work from Tony. All of those thoughts about “Hot Line” apply again to “Keep it Warm”.
The title track “Born Again” that precedes these two tracks is in a similar vein. The almost maudlin slow tempo of the track does has similar vestiges of a doom metal track without that true doom guitar sound and instead the quiet ruminations of such. Gillan’s vocal dominates the track and sounds fantastic, but the song is hard work overall, looking for somewhere to go without really making any effort to do so. It makes the second half of this album a difficult thing to digest if you are looking for that true Iommi/Butler sound driving the momentum. There is little of that here. It is of a different character that you would expect, and for me at least doesn’t use the opportunity of utilising the greatest assets of each of the band members.
So that accounts for three of the nine tracks here. The album only has seven true tracks, with the instrumental piece “Stongehenge” being the segue into “Disturbing the Priest” and “The Dark” doing the same job into “Zero the Hero”. The other four have a much better feel for what you would expect from this quartet. “Digital Bitch” opens the second side of the album at a good clip and with that Gillan attitude you expect to hear from his vocals. This is also true from the album’s opening track “Trashed”, that screams (in Gillan’s case literally) out of the speakers at you with all of the hallmarks of the great songs. “Disturbing the Priest” dials back in speed but dials up the hard guitar and drums and Gillan’s screaming vocals, and “Zero the Hero” comes out hard and heavy with Gillan’s double time vocals over Tony and Geezer’s great melody crunching guitars. These three songs that comprise the first half of the album are the winners here, proving conclusively that this foursome definitely have the ability to write songs that are top shelf.

I didn’t hear this album until I had left high school which was several years after its release. I HAD heard the single “Trashed”, as the video for that song was often on late night music video shows in those mid-1980's. Indeed, although the song was credited to Black Sabbath, I had no idea that it was Ian Gillan on vocals until it was pointed out by one of my best friends one night. Hilarity ensued (at my expense, which was the usual way) when I said I had just assumed it was Ozzy because of the long-haired singer in the film clip. No, it was a very long-haired Ian Gillan on vocals. Great film clip though and great song.
So when I finally got around to hearing the album, I was always in a 50/50 mindset over it. I loved the first side of the album. It had the kind of songs that I recognised, that I thought of a Sabbath songs. The second side was generally a battle, but I liked them well enough, it wasn’t as if I hated them or disliked them. I just thought they were quite different from what had come on the first side of the album.
Along with “Seventh Star”, this album stands alone outside the other three eras of the band – the Ozzy years, the Dio years, and the Tony Martin years. And both of those albums were written and recorded to be different projects than a Black Sabbath album, and thus why they don’t necessarily conform to what you imagine a Black Sabbath album is like.

I still enjoy this album today, indeed I have again for the past few weeks. As soon as “Trashed” starts up you can’t help but get enthused and sing along with Gillan, and the rest of the album falls into line behind it. It isn’t an album I reach for too often, given the other amazing albums this band has produced, but it is still fun when that time does come around. Like other iterations of other bands, I would love to have heard what this line up of the band might have produced had it decided to write and record another album together. Having been on the road together I feel as though they would have worked together better having had that time to gel together. This was not to be, with Gillan being courted for the soon-to-be-reformed Mark II line up of Deep Purple, and Geezer Butler deciding that the time was right to take a break as well. Iommi went on to do a solo album that, just like this album, was soon released under the Black Sabbath name instead, and creating even further rifts between the band in name only and the old time fans of that band. You just can’t keep all of the people happy all of the time.

148. Zakk Wylde / Book Of Shadows. 1996. 4/5.

After his phenomenal success as guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne's band for almost a decade, which had sent his profile soaring within the music world and especially in the metal world, this is very different from anything Zakk had been renown for to most of his fans in his career. It was his first branching out on his own since his pairing up with the great man, a solo album away from the style of his work with Ozzy Osbourne. A real changing of style too, not just a mere tweak. And as a result there will no doubt be a lot of people won't like it.

While it may seem like an unusual thing to come out of my mouth, in this instance all I can say is – give it a chance! It really does grow on you.
OK, so it's not metal. But in many ways it is like a heavy metal 'chill-out' session. Zakk's guitaring is as brilliant as always, we get the chance to hear him sing for the first time (on his lonesome), and discover he CAN actually sing! And the songs all carry their own mood, and don't suffer from any identity crisis. They are not trying to be something they are not. The album is not looking to cash in on anything or anyone.
While I cannot guarantee you this will be your cup of tea, it is worth a shot next time you are feeling in a mellow-ish type of mood to slap this disc on. It will more than likely suit it perfectly, and you can appreciate the ridiculous talents of Zakk Wylde in all of their glory. And it should be said that while this album suited the time it was released, pre- Black Label Society as it was, this would still be well thought of if it hadn't been repeated somewhat ad nauseum on later albums by that very band.

Rating: This was a real surprise, and a pleasant one. If you are in a suitable mood, this is just great. 4/5.

147. AC/DC / Bonfire [Box Set]. 1997. 4.5/5

The Bonfire boxset contains four very different albums, mostly featuring the late lamented Bon Scott.

The first album is the band Live From Atlantic Studios in 1976, and is a pearler. Everyone is in top form, and the songs are just brilliant. Live Wire, High Voltage, Whole Lotta Rosie... oh the list goes oh. Sensational.
The second album is the two-disc Live In Paris, which is more of the same, but with even more tracks. As a live album (recorded during the filming of the film Let There Be Rock) showcasing not only Bon's great vocals in a live environment, but also the band itself, this is probably as good as it gets. Absolutely brilliant.
The third album is Volts, a collection of rare tracks and live tracks.
The fourth album is a remastered version of the classic Back In Black – but why it is a part of this collection, I'm not really sure. I mean, I guess there might be someone in the world who doesn't own this album... nah... couldn't be, could it?

146. Motörhead / Bomber. 1979. 3.5/5.

Following the band’s establishment through their first two albums, the arrival of Bomber was met by a rousing reception back in the day. For those of us who came in a few years later due to age and unable to drive to a record shop (at nine years of age), listening to it beyond further releases perhaps sheds a new light upon the album.

This album follows Overkill which is one of my favourite Motörhead albums, and precedes Ace of Spades which ranks alongside it also. So, with hindsight and a touch of the obvious, I find that Bomber pales in comparison to these two albums and any direction I could make between the three makes for a poor result.
In trying to find a reason for this, in the long run I can only offer that there is no big two or three songs that dominate this album, that then allow the rest of the tracks on the album to play good support to them and build a well of greatness about it. Overkill has the title track and “Damage Case”. Ace of Spades has the title track and “(We Are the) Road Crew”. Bomber has plenty of songs that are good average rockers and a couple that are better than average, but none that stand out significantly and are true great songs in the band’s discography. That, to me at least, means that listening to the album is still an enjoyable experience but there is nothing there that lifts you out of your seat, or has you looking up with a smile on your face when it begins. I can’t give a good reason for why this is the case, apart from the fact that this was released only seven months after Overkill which seems a ridiculously short time between albums. As such, all of the material written for Bomber was done off the road and barely tried out before going into the studio to put them down, which gave the band no time in which to really get their heads around it. To me it just means that none of the songs has a real standout quality that not only grabs the listener but lifts the album.
That being said, there are good songs here. The title track “Bomber” leads us out of the hanger, and along with “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, “Lawman”, “Sharpshooter” and perhaps the best on the album “Stone Dead Forever” are my favourite tracks from the album. It’s also great just to hear Fast Eddie on lead vocals, as he does on “Step Down”, which is a real change from Lemmy’s usual gruff tidings.

Perhaps it doesn’t have that stand out magic that some other Motörhead albums have, but it has those three original rockers in Lemmy, Philthy and Fast Eddie cranking away at full throttle in their prime and you can’t ask for much more than that. It might be in the shade compared to those other albums but it still has more than enough to satisfy fans of the band.

Rating: “You think you see me, in the glass, you think you hear me, you better listen fast”. 3.5/5

145. Jerry Cantrell / Boggy Depot. 1998. 3.5/5.

In 1996, the band Alice in Chains appeared to be on top of the world. They had come off the opening tour slot for the Kiss reunion tour, they had two number one albums in their back pocket, and they had the support and love of some of the biggest bands in the world. One couldn’t imagine that they didn’t have the world at their feet, and that they would not go on to complete world domination with their brilliant alternative metal style of music. And then the world stopped.
Layne Staley had always had drug problems, but following the overdoes of his then-fiancé, he became a recluse, unable to leave home. He also had trouble reconciling the fact that while his lyrics had preached the dangers of drug use and that he did not want to be the poster boy to the world’s youth who were taking drugs, it is pretty much what he became. All of this meant that any forward progress that the band Alice in Chains wanted to pursue was now impossible.
In this downtime when Layne Staley was 'not in the right frame of mind' to perform his duties for Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell instead went forward and began to write for a proposed solo album. He had some songs that had been written and pushed aside for the previous self-titled Alice in Chains album, and he also went forward and wrote more on his own. There were two points of view put forward when it came to the origin of this album. Some places reported that Jerry had been wanting to branch out and put together his own solo album for some time, in order to explore places that he felt didn’t quite fit in the Alice in Chains world. But in later interviews when the album was released, Jerry confirmed that this only came about because of the inactivity of the band, and Layne in particular. He was quoted as saying that he was happy just being the guitarist and singer in that band and could happily have stayed in that position, but the lack of any ability to continue forward with Layne in his condition meant that he had to branch out on his own.
Many people still saw this as an Alice in Chains album despite this. Jerry wrote all the songs, performed all the lyrics and all the guitars. Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney performed the same role for Jerry on this album, while Alice in Chains bass guitarist Mike Inez also appeared on several songs. And when you are the main songwriter for your main band, then surely your solo album isn’t going to sound much different. Is it?

So the biggest question anyone would ask is the first one to answer. And that answer is... yes, of course it sounds like Alice in Chains. Because that’s what Jerry writes. But there are songs that differ from that template, and that you would unlikely hear on an album if the others in the band had been involved in the writing process. Most of that for me comes at the end of the album, where “Hurt a Long Time” is in such a slow soft tempo that it would bely his main band’s sound, and “Between” which has an almost Nashville feel about the vocals and guitar. Then the closing track “Cold Piece” blends organ and piano into the mix, and frankly feels as though it extends beyond its eight and a half minute run time. And his vocals through this song certainly don’t match what he is usually renown for. So it is songs like these three that show the uniqueness that Jerry has brought to this project, which allows it to stand apart from the music everyone knows him so well for.
In the top half of the album though, Jerry delivers the kind of songs that most fans would have been looking for, the ones who were hoping for an extension from his number one priority. “Dickeye” is a great opening track to the album, and followed by another single release in “Cut You In”, both of which showcase the best of Jerry’s writing and performance. The input of piano through songs like “Settling Down” and the organ and cello in “Breaks My Back” bring about a more contemporary feel to those tracks, substituting out the hard core guitars that have been such a showpiece of his earlier music, and allowing him to bring in another side to his music. And it is these differences in particular that made this album difficult to access for the straight line fans, who pretty much wanted a straight copy of Jerry’s other band rather than hear him stretching his talents to other qualities. The middle of the album represents some excellent tracks such as “Jesus Hands”, “Devil by His Side” and “Keep the Light On”.
There’s no doubt that the tempo of this album is much slower and less intense than those great Alice in Chains albums from earlier in the decade. But in the long run, this is what Cantrell was looking for, an outlet for his frustrations of what was happening on that front, and a chance to bring about other styles and songs that differed from what fans knew him for. It was the time and age for that kind of refocusing, and many of the band that were associating themselves with him and his work at the time were going through the same sort of adjustment. Metallica’s “Reload” anyone?!

I really don't remember what the publicity for this album was at the time of its release. As it turns out, I only found it as I was digging away through every CD rack at the Marrickville Metro Sanity store one Saturday morning, and found it sitting there waiting for me to come across it. And, I would have to say, that after I bought it that day, I didn’t see it in any other record store for years afterwards.
I can happily admit that it took some time for me to come around to this album. I mean, the sound of the album – the guitars and vocals especially – was like Alice in Chains songs (to no one's surprise...), but it took me some time to get past not having Layne's vocals on them, and also that definite change in tempo and energy for the most part. Once I had listened to it a number of times through, had gotten over those facts, and accepted the album for what it was – Jerry's album – I found it more to my liking. And my appreciation and enjoyment of it came flowing along with that realisation.
So yes, the songs are very much in the same vein as the Alice in Chains songs that Jerry wrote, and for the most part they work well. A few do tend to get bogged down (no pun intended...) through the middle of the album, but overall if you like Alice in Chains, you will enjoy this album as well.
I have had it turning around my CD player at home and my music playlist at work for the past couple of weeks, and it is still just as enjoyable as it was once I got to know it 25 years ago. On a couple of songs, I still wait for Layne’s melody to come over the top of Jerry’s vocals, and for the guitar to riff hard into that gutteral sound we all know so well. But that is not to be, and it would have changed everything about this album if it did. Which, would then make this not what it is – the first steps of Jerry Cantrell stepping into the second half of his career as a musician.

144. Gary Moore / Blues From A Gun. 1998. 1.5/5.

This is a double live album (soundboard by the sounds, so it's OK).
More of the same, and not as well done as Blues Alive.

Rating : Enough already, Gary! 1.5/5

143. Gary Moore / Blues For Greeny. 1996. 1/5.

Look, I'm sorry, OK? I just can't get into this.
Blues. So why have I got it? Because Gary Moore plays on it, and sometimes you just hope he's going to do something again that is brilliant to my ears.

Rating : This isn't it... 1/5.

142. Gary Moore / Blues Alive. 1993. 3/5.

A live album from Gary Moore, showcasing his talents on stage with the best of his blues revolution.

I guess I've written enough already about my taste for his blues music (recent reviews are your best bet if you haven't) but this is somewhat of an exception:
a) this is a live album, and Gary has always been great live. His guitaring on this is superb, and his vocals great as always.
b) most of the songs are his up-tempo ones, which are good. His slower, more introspective songs do slow things down waaaaay too much.
c) Parisienne Walkways, though not technically a blues song, makes an appearance (surprise, surprise...)

All right then. It's a 50/50 album if you aren't a blues fan. I still have to pick up the remote and flick to the next song on a few occasions. But it is Gary Moore live, and that is a treat at the best of times.

Rating : Just rises into the good category. 3/5.

141. Blue Murder / Blue Murder. 1989. 1.5/5.

Well, this was probably one of those mistakes that we have all made when buying albums, but it was a mistake that was well researched...

This was released in 1989, at a time that I was trying to expand my music horizons and collection, especially given I had full time employment for the first time, and money to throw away.
John Sykes had formed the band, having just completed his commitments with Whitesnake, and included Tony Franklin and Carmine Appice who were both respected musicians in their field.

*cough*

OK, it's not all bad. Certainly the first few songs sound like Whitesnake, but that's not really enough to hold up throughout the album. There is not a lot of momentum in any of the songs, and it struggles to hold your attention until the end.

Rating : Some gambles pay off, and others don't. This $29.95 certainly didn't come home a winner. 1.5/5

140. AC/DC / Blow Up Your Video. 1988. 2.5/5

Growing up as a teenager in Australia during the 1980’s, you didn’t have much choice but to be exposed to AC/DC on most music fronts. They weren’t the only Aussie band of course, but they covered most lovers of music. The major downside of this was that AC/DC did not tour Australia after 1981 for many years, which to the fans which considered them hometown heroes was a needle of concern. And beyond that, their albums were solid without being outstanding. It became the time when the phrase was coined that stated every AC/DC album was the same, just with a change of lyrics and a different solo. In some ways that wasn’t untrue, as the band settled into the style where if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And it meant that although the band still sold albums, their profile was probably not as large as it had been in the years leading up to 1981.
This was somewhat rectified by the release of the “Who Made Who” album in 1986, which was the soundtrack album of Stephen King’s “Maximum Overdrive” album. It was basically a compilation album of past hits, apart from three new songs, one of which was the title track, and a song that recaptured the world’s attention both through the song itself and the music video it produced. It revived memories of the hits from the “Back in Black” album, and gave the band a jump in popularity and sales that was perhaps just what they needed.
This then led into the recording of their new album. After having had ‘Mutt’ Lange as producer of the aforementioned “Back in Black” and “For Those About to Rock” albums, the band, mainly through Malcolm and Angus Young, had produced the next two albums themselves, something that in some sections of fandom had been blamed for the less than startling array of typical AC/DC songs coming out. Whether or not this was the case, for “Blow Up Your Video”, the band went ‘back to the past’, and brought in their long term producers and collaborators Harry Vanda and George Young to take the reins once again. So this time, there were to be no excuses. The lead track “Heatseeker” was released a week before the album, and it too provided an impetus for the fans to flock into the stores and get the new album on its release, all hoping that this would be the album that brought back the REAL AC/DC and their music.

Of course, you know what you get with AC/DC and an AC/DC album, but having started the album so well with "Heatseeker" and "That's The Way I Wanna Rock 'N' Roll", the rest does give the impression of being up and down average fare. Even these two opening songs, with their big videos and massive airplay, sometimes come across as being very formula-driven hard rock tracks. To me at the time of the album’s release, their perceived popularity came more from the fact that they heralded that first Australian tour in forever, and this cashed in on that market. They're not bad songs but they aren't from the top shelf either. But they are the best known tracks from the album.
From this point on, there are some songs that have merit, and others that you would almost have to categorise as filler, which for a band as revered as AC/DC is a terrible thing to have to say. If you want hard rock songs with a solid rhythmic base that satisfies all of the basic musical elements, topped off with vocals over the top that tend to sing along without a huge influence, and the occasional guitar solo that quite frankly rarely manages to disturb the furniture in its volume or originality, then you can find all of that here. The fast pace of the opening two tracks tends to bite hard on the following tracks “Meanstreak” and “Go Zone”, because it highlights their mid-tempo pace that seems dominated by Johnson’s vocals keeping the band in the time he wants to sing. From kicking off the album to set itself apart from both “Fly on the Wall” and “Flick of the Switch”, it falls back into the same traps those albums come with. That tempo picks up a little with “Kissin’ Dynamite”, and along with “Some Sin for Nuthin” and “Ruff Stuff” they are all within that framework of what had become the atypical AC/DC sound.
One song that does not fill this role is “Two’s Up”, which is, for the time, a rather modern kind of song that AC/DC hadn’t done in the Brian Johnson era. It is a song that, at the time the album was released, I was a bit nonplussed about. However, in the modern day, with more years under my belt, I think it measures up much better than I imagined.
On the plus side of the album, I really like “Nick of Time”, a terrific song that is well undervalued in the AC/DC catalogue. I still believe that this song is the fore runner to the songs the band produced for their next release. And the closing track “This Means War” is at the kind of tempo that makes the band’s best songs, and I recall thinking at the time that the album is bookended by hard fast tracks that highlights the softness of the middle.

I really wanted to love this album when it came out. “Who Made Who” had come out previously and re-whetted our appetites for classic AC/DC material, and when this album was released, it was fired up by the two single releases. There was great hope that this would be the return of AC/DC as a megaforce. On those first listens, it just didn't grab me at all. But the band was touring Australia for the first time in seven years, and so I gave it spin after spin to force myself to love it. I was lucky enough to see the band from the second row live in Sydney a few weeks later, and they were amazingly awesome. Such then, for an album that contains two of the band's most recognisable songs of the 80's on it, this still came across somewhat of a disappointment. It is possible that the live concert killed off the studio version of the band for me in this instance. They played four songs off this album live – pretty much the four I would have chosen as well – and they remain arguably the best. The album then returned to my shelves and was ignored, mostly because I was now beginning to build what has become my whole collection, and it fell into the background.
I have taken it out a couple of times since, mainly just as a passing regard to it being from the era it is. For the last couple of weeks though it has been back on the stereo in the Metal Cavern, and I must say that I have enjoyed it more than I ever remember. I’m not so stung by the sameness of those songs through the middle, and reminded of the excellence of songs like “Nick of Time” and “This Means War”.
In regards to the complete AC/DC discography, this one is unlikely to find a way into your top ten list. Maybe I’m wrong, but there are a lot better albums out there. As a snapshot of the era though, where AC/DC returned to their homeland and began to climb back to their peak when it came to live shows (and studio albums as their next release would attest) it is still an album that brings back a lot of memories of the time, and for those of us who were out and about in those heady days of 1988, most of those memories are worth reliving.

139. B L A Z E / Blood & Belief. 2004. 4.5/5.

Blaze Bayley's third release for his own band continues their trek toward the top of the modern metal genre, with a heavy and headbanging addition to his discography.

This band has progressed in the metal genre with each album, and here is their best so far. Full of great heavy riffs and drumming, and backed by the excellent lyrics and vocals. The songs are perfectly balanced for Blaze's vocals, something that is apparent was not considered a lot in his days in Iron Maiden.
Driven by the powerful Alive, Ten Seconds, Blood And Belief, Life And Death, Will To Win and Soundtrack To My Life, this album exceeds all before it, and is a blue print for how metal in the new millenium should be heading. The fact that it is at least as good as Maiden's recent releases is also a triumph for Blaze himself.

In my opinion, Gamma Ray have been the leaders of innovation and pushing the future of heavy metal in the past fifteen years. This album proves that B L A Z E are now one of those bands following the path that they have 'blazed' for them.

Rating : An extremely impressive addition to this band's stable. Their ability to continue to follow up solid albums is a testament to their hard work. 4.5/5.

138. Ozzy Osbourne / Blizzard Of Ozz. 1980. 5/5.

Two years after the release of Black Sabbath's Never Say Die and his subsequent firing from the band, Ozzy Osbourne found a band that suited what he needed, and between them they came together and wrote and recorded one of the most influential albums of the 1980's. And though the stories that have since come out that surrounded the way the album and band was supposed to be drawn have differed, there is no denying that Blizzard of Ozz was what propelled Ozzy onto a stardom he could not have imagined. That that stardom was not reflected on the other members of the band is still a disappointment and a tragedy on many levels.

 
Ozzy was teamed up with a relatively unknown guitarist called Randy Rhoads, and other hard-working musicians in Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake and Don Airey. What they produced together is, in my opinion, the equal of what Black Sabbath had done with their self-titled debut album in 1970. Teaming Ozzy's well-known vocals with the amazingly refined guitaring of Randy, then fabulous groove of Daisley’s bass and the drive of Kerslake’s drumming, Blizzard of Ozz is a terrific collection of songs that meld together from different genres to form something far more as the sum of its parts.

On reflection, if you were to take on the songs individually you can probably find some fault or lack of glory. People who have read my reviews throughout this blog know full well I am not a lover of the ballad, be it a power ballad or rock ballad or thrash ballad (there is no such thing, but there should be). And there is no doubt that “Goodbye to Romance” is this, a soft rock ballad. But get beyond this, and listen to Ozzy’s vocal line and Randy’s terrific soloing the middle of the song and you gloss over that entirely. I do anyway, I sing along to it every time I listen to the album. And “Dee” of course is just a Randy ditty which to listen to is an instructional delight, but taken out of the album is nothing special. And “No Bone Movies” was actually only written to be a B-side on a single, but eventually found its way onto the album so that Lee would have a writing credit. And I like the song but it isn’t ground breaking. As it turns out the song that was supposed to be on the album, "You Lookin' at Me Lookin' at You", I think is actually a better song.

So that may seem negative, but it isn’t meant to be, because albums are crafted, and that is certainly the case here. From the opening riff that kickstarts “I Don’t Know”, this album grabs you and sucks you in. Bob Daisley’s lyrics all tell a story, and that story is almost universally Ozzy’s, and having Ozzy singing about himself without really crafting the lyrics himself is something to behold. “I Don’t Know” is a great track, asking questions about the world around us, all the while also being our first introduction to Randy Rhoads and his amazing talent. Then we have the scream of “AAAALLL ABOOOARD!!!” and the forward momentum into what has become one of Ozzy’s signature songs “Crazy Train”, with the wailing guitar riffs, soaring vocals, brilliantly underrated bass line and drum tracking underneath. This is one of the great songs of heavy metal, one that has now even embedded itself into mainstream sports telecasts and the such. Then add to this the wonderful tones of “Suicide Solution”, the song that critics of the band always claimed was suggesting to people they should contemplate suicide, when it actually suggests the exact opposite. More terrific lyrics from Daisley.

The second side of the album provides just as much joy. The complete brilliance of “Mr. Crowley” is in its exuberance, both vocally and instrumentally. Ozzy sounds like he is standing on a pulpit preaching the words to his sermon, while Randy’s guitar solo through the middle and conclusion of the song is just stunningly brilliant, taking this song from a terrific one to out and out brilliance. And the closing two tracks of the album are vastly underrated and complement each other perfectly. “Revelation (Mother Earth)” is a terrifically moody song about destroying the planet (one that is still relevant today), finishing off with a brilliant hard metal solo piece from Randy, Bob and Lee that segues beautifully into the start of “Steal Away (the Night)”, a fantastic fast paced song that is highlighted by Daisley’s perfect running bass line that steals the song. Following on from the slow-paced start to harder finish of “Revelation (Mother Earth)”, this is a sensational way to conclude the album, and beckons to you to turn the album back over and start all over again.

There is a lot to take away from this album. It revitalised Ozzy’s career, giving him the kickstart he needed to fend off the end of his Sabbath years, and allowed him to leap into the new decade, one where his profile eventually outstripped those of his former bandmates. Unfortunately, those that helped to raise him to these heights didn’t get the same credit as they deserved. Randy Rhoads of course was lauded for his guitaring and writing, as he deserved to be, but the contributions of both Daisley and Kerslake would continue to be downplayed and undervalued for years. The fact that the band was actually supposed to be called The Blizzard of Ozz, and not just a solo band of Ozzy Osbourne, is now somewhat lost. It is important to note that without Bob Daisley’s song writing and lyric contributions, this album would have been a far different proposition, and perhaps not as great a success as it became.

Apart from this, the album is still as sensational today as it was on its release all those years ago. Everything about it still hits the right note. The vocals of Osbourne, the genius guitaring from Rhoads, the underrated bass and drums of Daisley and Kerslake, and the songs themselves that still stand the test of time and are as enormous and relevant today as they were back then. And that is what sets this album up as one of the most influential in the heavy metal genre.

Best Songs: “I Don’t Know”, “Crazy Train”, “Suicide Solution”, “Mr. Crowley", “Steal Away (the Night)”.

Rating: “Mental wounds still screaming, driving me insane.” 5/5

137. Gamma Ray / Blast From The Past. 2000. 5/5.

When it comes to putting out best-of packages, most bands (or their agents, or their record companies) are usually pretty unimaginative. They choose a selection of the songs that made the band known, sometimes add an unreleased track or two, or record a new single, and slap it together and put it out.

Gamma Ray did something highly inventive. Sure, they chose three songs from each of their six albums released to that date – but they re-recorded them all with the band's current line-up, updated them a little to how Kai Hansen believed they would play them at that stage of their career, and more importantly, had Kai singing the songs off the first three albums that Ralf Scheepers had originally done.

The result? Brilliance! Not only do you have a greatest hits album for those that are just getting into the band, you also have an album that all fans of the band can buy, as they do not have the versions of the songs as they are recorded on this double disc package. Everyone wins and everyone is entertained! And the new versions in no way detract from the originals as they were recorded.

Rating : One of the best greatest hits releases you are ever likely to hear. 5/5.

136. Scorpions / Blackout. 1982. 5/5

Different fans have a different idea on what period of the band’s history would constitute the ‘golden years’ of the Scorpions, and much of that depends on the age of the people being asked. Fans who have been around since the early days of the band often cite the period of the mid-to-late 1970’s as being their favourite, while younger fans will often consider the early 1990’s as when the best material was recorded. Realistically though it would be a period from 1979 through 1985 that represents the best that the band has brought to music fans, and one of the albums that is the main reason for those thoughts is 1982’s brilliant “Blackout”. And seeing as the album celebrates its 40th anniversary since its release this month I have updated this review as of May 2022 for you all to enjoy.

In the previous couple of years leading up to the writing and recording of the “Blackout” album, Scorpions had been on a steady rise in popularity, not only in album sales with the release of big selling albums such as “Lovedrive” and “Animal Magnetism”, but of selling out live shows throughout Europe, the US and the UK. Their stock was on the rise… or at least, so the band thought. During that 1981 tour promoting the “Animal Magnetism” album, Klaus Meine’s vocals began to be strained. Then, once the writing for the new album began, Klaus lost his voice, to the point that he could not even speak properly. Such was the extent of his problems, his doctor actually told him that he should consider another profession. Dangerous times indeed. Instead, with the support of his band mates, Klaus underwent vocal chord surgery – not once, but twice! – and then went through therapy afterwards. The band, unsure of whether or not Klaus would be able to record on the new album, started putting together demos of new songs. Having befriended American vocalist Don Dokken, who was at that time in Germany as he had secured a recording contract in that country, they asked him to come on and help out with some guide vocals on the songs they had written. Dokken stated in a later interview that he sang on three songs – “No One Like You”, “You Give Me All I Need” and “Dynamite” – and that it was only ever as a favour to help out Klaus, and were never done for release. Dokken was eventually credited as contributing backing vocals on the album. Interesting days, as this was before the band Dokken had even recorded or released their first album, “Breaking the Chains”. Thankfully, Klaus’s voice recovered, and he was able to return and take his place in the recording of the album. And when you listen to the album, and you know that Klaus’s vocals had been compromised so completely before the recording of the album, it really is hard to believe when you hear him sing these songs. Because it doesn’t sound like he is protecting them at all, he is still all out there when it comes to singing on this album – and for that matter, every album after this, and then every gig after this…

What strikes me most about the opening to this album is the sheer energy, excitement and joy that comes across in both the music and the vocals. It’s a rip-roaring start to the album, full of fervour and all of the built up fire that you get from the opening of a gig. There aren’t many better opening tracks on an album than the title track here, “Blackout”. Everything about it is sensational, the guitar riff from Rudolph Schenker, the bass line from Francis Buchholz, the perfect drum beat from Herman Rarebell, the scintillating solo from Matthias Jabs, and that incredible vocal from Klaus Meine. It really is impossible to believe that he had surgery prior to this album, such is the ferocity he sings this song at. It has been one of the great Scorpions songs since its release, and even listening to it now 40 years later there is something special about it. Then you have the terrific opening to “Can’t Live Without You”, with the quiet riff leading into Klaus counting in the song “1-2-3-4” and the intro of all the instruments and the ripping riff along with it. And while it rattles along at a great rate, it is then replaced by the equally brilliant “No One Like You” that combines both the brilliant guitaring of both Rudolph and Matthias, with verses that almost sound like they are going to be a power ballad with the clear guitar and softer lyrically, but then explode into the chorus with brilliant harmony vocals, hard hitting drums and the electric riffs again. Far out this is still an awesome song. This is followed up by “You Give Me All I Need”, a song that I often think that if it was done by a band that wasn’t the Scorpions I would be a little bit off side with it. And yet, because it IS done by the Scorpions, it just fits, it just works. Their ability to combine classically acoustic and clear guitar into the hard riffing joy that they are so good at doing just makes this yet another great song in the collection.
Scorps mightn’t be known as a speed metal band, but their entry in this category with their song “Now!” is an absolute pearler, here and gone in 2 minutes and 35 seconds, blitzing along with abandon, charging out of the speakers and closing out the first side of the album in brilliant style. This is another forgotten classic from Scorpions, and is one everyone should absolutely have their eyes and ears open to. I know I say this fairly often, but this is truly on of the best SIDE A’s of an album in the history of metal music.

The second side doesn’t quite match this awesomeness, but it still has its moments. It opens with the dynamite song.. uh.. “Dynamite”! It’s a barnstorming start to the second side, hard core guitars blazing and Klaus firing up vocally, it’s the perfect live setting song, which they proved over several years in their live gigs. “Arizona” changes things up a little from what has come before it, still with that great Scorpions style. “China White” on the other hand delves back into their Uli Jon Roth days of the mid-1970’s, styled of that era and churning out to almost seven minutes in length. I love the song, it sounds great, but it is such a misnomer because it is so different from the other songs on the album. You can almost smell the drugs wafting out of the stereo as you are listening to it. It helps if you’ve had a couple of scotches or a cone or two before listening to it I think.

My first Scorpions album was a taped copy of their “World Wide Live” album from 1985, so when I eventually came back a found a copy of this album I already knew a couple of the songs from that live album. But that still doesn’t prepare you for just how awesome the opening to this album is. It really is a firecracker, just powering off to a brilliant start, and it never ceased to have me jumping around the room as I played it such was that energy it possesses. “Blackout” is still a standout, along with “Can’t Live Without You”, “No One Like You”, “Now”, and “Dynamite”. The five members that make up the best known and most successful formation of the group are all here and firing on all cylinders. Matthias Jabs is stunning on lead guitar, often overlooked when it comes to talk of the greatest ever guitar players. Here on “Blackout” he is again superb, along with Rudolph Schenker who again cements his reputation as one of the finest song writers of the genre. And once again it is prevalent to mention those vocals from the broken Klaus Meine, the man who may never have sung again prior to this album being recorded. And yet here he is still magnificent, restored.

I waited those 40 years to see Scorpions live in concert, given they never toured Australia until not so long ago. They then played a one-off show in Melbourne that I got tickets to but couldn’t attend. They then returned to support Def Leppard in Sydney, but had to cancel their appearance due to – can you believe it – vocal issues that Klaus was suffering from. And then, two years ago last month, they toured again with Whitesnake… and cancelled the Sydney gig AGAIN because Klaus had a kidney stone. I couldn’t believe it, tickets to see the great band three times, and all three I missed… until they rescheduled it for four days later! In all that time, all I had ever wanted to see and hear was “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “Blackout” played live by the Scorpions. But all through this short Australian tour, they obviously encored with “Rock You Like a Hurricane”… but they were not playing “Blackout”. It was my son’s favourite song, and we weren’t going to see it. So they played, and it was brilliant. Mikkey Dee played his drum solo, and it was superb. And then… the sirens started, and the band broke into “Blackout”… and it was one of the best moments of my concert going life. Hearing those guitars, and hearing Klaus sing the song like he was forty years younger, and singing along with my best friends and my 12 year old son… it was magnificent…

135. Y&T / Black Tiger. 1982. 3.5/5.

Ah, the boys from Y&T. This is one of their early and defining albums, and though they seem to still be searching for what they want to be, it is still an interesting effort.

This is a solid outing, with the general mix of what Y&T always offered – rock songs and rock-ballads. Though I am not a fan of the ballad (as I am sure I must have mentioned here somewhere before), at least with Y&T you knew it would not just be a change of their musical character. They were still guitar and drum oriented, and the tempo was still such that you can tap your foot along to them, unlike other bands who write them purely for radio airplay. Winds Of Change here is a prime example. It is a ballad, but still has the same defining Y&T character that all of their songs do.

Open Fire, My Way Or The Highway, Black Tiger and Winds Of Change are my favourites from the album.

Rating : Y&T, like AC/DC, make very similar albums each release – but they do not lose anything in comparison to each other. So you either like 'em or don't. I do. 3.5/5.

134. Primal Fear / Black Sun. 2002. 4/5.

For a band that was originally labelled as just a Judas Priest rip-off band, Primal Fear have continued to rack up some pretty impressive albums. This is just another one, and a great example of what they do best – German Power Metal.

From the very beginning of this album, there is little doubt as to what is to follow – fast guitars, pounding drum beats and screaming vocals. From Countdown To Insanity and Black Sun, through to Lightyears From Home and Mind Control, This is another great album. He may on occasions sound a lot like Rob Halford, but Ralf Scheepers just keeps 'delivering the goods' (a little Judas Priest pun for you :) ) with his vocals, while the band are still rock solid perfect.
Having grown out of the legacy of Helloween and Gamma Ray, Primal Fear may not have the same standing as those two bands, but they are just as important in the ever growing European power metal scene, and this album shows why.

Rating : Another excellent example of how Euro metal is beginning to influence so many others. 4/5.

133. Black Sabbath / Black Sabbath. 1970. 4/5.

When attempting to review or rate an album such as this, which is one of the most important albums ever recorded in the heavy metal genre, it is easy to get caught up in it all, and automatically throw a 100% rating at it and be done. But I can't do that. Because even this album has some flaws, at least to my ears.
"Black Sabbath", the song, is one of the most remarkable Album 1, Side 1, Track 1 songs of all time. It must have been a buzz when it was released to put it on and try and absorb it. The sound of rain falling before the start of the track has become synonymous with the songs and the album, and the lyrics and heavy guitars bring goosebumps every time you hear it. What an amazing song to set off on a recording career with.
This is followed by "The Wizard", which is initially dominated by the harmonica and is the hallmark of the song. A terrific song where Bill Ward's drumming is also highlighted. "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" is the slower, more 60's oriented calmer song (mostly for those that are tripping out over the first couple of songs)., "N.I.B." returns the album to its groundbreaking best, with more lyrics invoking the devil and hammered by that guitar and bass riff that thuds into your chest as you listen.  "Evil Woman (Don't You Play Your Games With Me)", a cover version of a song done by a band called Crow, almost bounces along with a jaunty heavy riff, with Ozzy almost playfully singing out the lyrics.

As we approach the end of the album however, is the point where we hit a speed hump. I'm sure there are people out there who will tell me that "Sleeping Village" and "Warning" are great songs, and important pieces of the Black Sabbath legacy. I strenuously disagree. I know this album was written in a different age, when 'flower power' was still strong, and this type of musical writing was popular, mainly to allow people who don't mind indulging in some drug additive to trip out to the music. "Warning" is in fact another cover song of this era. But they just don't do anything for me. I always stop the album before these songs come on. I do think they detract from an otherwise superb album.

Yes, this was a groundbreaking album, paving the way for all of those that came after them. For the heavy metal genre, there are two major songs here that kick off that sound for the coming generations, those being "Black Sabbath" and "N.I.B.". However, Black Sabbath's follow up album, Paranoid is probably the most cited influence, with a more refined and destructive heavy sound than parts of this album.