577. Iron Savior / Iron Savior. 1997. 3.5/5

When you set yourself up to write a story, it needs to be one that is engaging, even if it is only the basis of a music album. Given that it is also the first album you put out as a band, it would want to be a little higher on the scale, otherwise it will be picked to pieces. Iron Savior probably didn’t have a lot to lose, but maybe just a point to prove. Given those who were involved in the infancy of the band, those of us who bought the album when it first came out expected a great deal.

It starts off with the right credentials for a power metal album. The songs are driven by Thomas Stauch’s double kick and the twin guitars of Sielck and Hansen. Piet Sielck’s vocals are adequate – perhaps a little rough around the edges, but for the most part are good enough to get away with. “Atlantis Falling”, “Brave New World”, “Iron Savior” and “Riding on Fire” are all good mood songs, with “Riding on Fire” a particular favourite of mine.
The middle of the album seems to get tied down with emulating a stereo-typical power metal album, by throwing in the slow power ballad-ish type song. All this does is interrupt the flow of the album, thus either sending the listener to sleep, or encouraging them to skip the song(s) or turn it off. As can be seen from my other reviews of such albums, this is a common complaint of mine, and to my ears at least tends to bring an album down.
The glittering diamond of this album is that Gamma Ray’s Kai Hansen, one of Sielck’s best friends plays, sings and must surely have been more involved in the writing than has ever been actually said. Kai’s song “Watcher in the Sky”, the only song he performs lead vocals on, featured on the Gamma Ray album Somewhere Out in Space as a precursor to this album being released. This no doubt served two purposes – one, it is Kai’s song, and he wanted it to still be a part of his band, and two, to funnel the Gamma Ray fan base toward buying this album and experiencing what it had to offer. Though I may be biased, “Watcher in the Sky” is the best song on the album. Hansi Kursch of Blind Guardian also lends his vocal support on the song “For the World” which follows, and it is these two songs that bring the album back up a notch at the end, which comes with the Nazareth cover “This Flight Tonight”.

This is a more than respectable debut album, with all its flaws and highlights. Better was to come down the road, when the band had ironed out the kinks and discovered the sound it really wanted.

576. Iron Maiden / Iron Maiden. 1980. 5/5

The rise to prominence of Iron Maiden throughout 1978 and 1979 had been on the back of hard work, helpful promotion from Neal Kay and his venue and the acquisition of Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor as managers of the band. The demo tape that the band had first recorded at Spaceward Studios on New Years Eve 1978 saw them gain fandom at Neal Kay’s Bandwagon, and further high-profile gigs on the back of the rise of the NWOBHM movement that was washing over the land. Then came the decision to release their demo as a self-release album, which became the legendary “The Soundhouse Tapes”. The band’s signing with EMI left them in a position where they could now go into the studio and record their debut album, something that both the band and their fans had been waiting what felt like a lifetime for.
Before that could happen, two personnel problems had to be taken care of. Up to this point in time of the band’s history there had been a consistent problem in finding permanent members to fill the second guitarist and rummer positions. In terms of the second guitarist to complement established member Dave Murray, the band was once again in a position that they needed to find one for the recording of the album.
In Mick Wall’s contemporaneous “Run to the Hills – The Authorised Biography of Iron Maiden” he wrote: “Maiden had recorded the Radio 1 session still as a four-piece. Now, with EMI in a hurry to get the band into the studio to begin recording their first album, the need to fill the vacancy for a second guitarist was more pressing than ever. "We could have easily done the album as a four-piece," says Steve, "but that was never the idea. We were always looking to be a band that had twin lead guitars, so we thought, 'Right, now we've got a deal we've just got to get this sorted.'" At first, they actually offered the job to Dave Murray's old Urchin sparring partner, Adrian Smith, but Urchin had just landed a deal themselves, and Adrian was loath to abandon his plans just as it seemed his band might be getting somewhere themselves. Instead, they placed an ad in Melody Maker, which read, in part, "Must be HMfreak. Twenty-two or under." Dennis Stratton, another long-haired East End musician who was, in truth, neither of these things, applied anyway and was "pleased, but rather surprised" to get offered the job”.
Stratton’s appointment may well have come through the desire of a musician with good standing and solid chops than anything else, especially when it was coming to record their first album. The problems that came with his rather swift demise from the band following the tour to support this album would be discovered from this point onwards.
The drumming problem was one of a different concern. Doug Sampson was a good drummer and was well established in the band. However, his health had been a concern, perhaps more so for Steve Harris and Rod Smallwood than Doug himself. There were concerns that he would not be able to survive the long and hard touring that was being planned to promote the album. It was with this in mind that Sampson was relieved of his duties. Though he was no doubt immensely disappointed at this decision, in interviews since he has admitted that it was probably the right move for all concerned. That would not have been much consolation as he watched the band explode over the next few years.
Now a new drummer had to come on board. Back to Mick Wall and his excellent biography. He wrote:
According to the received wisdom of the time, Clive Burr had been brought to Steve Harris' attention by the all-knowing Neal Kay, who had spotted the future Maiden drummer during his short tenure with their London NWOBHM rivals Samson. Steve, on the other hand, now claims that "we got Clive through auditions. We auditioned a few people. One bloke I'd seen who was really good was John Mylett, who had been in a band called Nutz, who were quite well known for a time in the '70s, before the punk thing came in and blew them away. Then later he joined another band who became quite well known as Rage. And it was between him and Clive, basically. In fact, John may even have been a better drummer, technically, than Clive, but in the end we gave it to Clive because he had this certain feel to his playing that felt right, and he was a nice bloke. Clive just had a certain something about him we liked, you know? And he was also from 'round our area as well, a West Ham supporter, so that sort of helped as well”.
For his part, Rod Smallwood confirmed later that Dennis Stratton had in fact tipped him off about Clive in the first place.
And so, the five members of Iron Maiden was now set – for this moment in time at least – and all that remained was to head into the studio and lay down the eight tracks that would become the legend that is the debut album from Iron Maiden, titled “Iron Maiden”.

In the years since, many of those both in the band and around the band have decried the production on this album, and suggested that it eventually harms the way that they view (metaphorically) this album. Legendary producer Martin Birch, who would eventually be the main man for the next decade of Iron Maiden albums, has said he was surprised that he wasn’t asked to do the job, though given he was at that time doing that same job on another little album called “Heaven and Hell” by another little known band called “Black Sabbath”, it seems he would have been unavailable anyway. Finding the right producer proved to be a problem. The first was dismissed because the band disliked the muddy quality produced. The second insisted that Steve Harris play with a pick, and soon found himself in the same dustbin outside the studio. The third, Will Malone, still seemed to be unable to get the sound that the band wanted. While everyone involved would have preferred a better sound, in many ways it is the production that allows it to retain its charm and greatness. Certainly, the album is tied to the era because of its sound, but that just makes the actual songs and music even more powerful, because it is so easy to hear how far ahead of their contemporaries they actually were by the riffs and rolls that they played. Better production may have increased that, but the reality is that everything here still holds up against everything in the past 45 years, and that this album is still unique as it is.
It was only natural that the band would open up their debut album with the song that was their first big hit and had drawn them the huge support they had initially received over the previous 18 months. “Prowler” was a hit in London pubs for a year before this album actually came out, having been a part of the original demo that had been pushed by people like Neal Kay, and had also appeared on the bands self-published “The Soundhouse Tapes”. It immediately puts forward Maiden’s main strengths – the twin guitars, one playing the rhythm and the other putting out a lead track, the underrated drum beat that holds them together, the bass line that dominates more than almost every other bass guitarist in history, and the vocals that were not classical hard rock, not punk, but a very complementary fusing of the two. In particular, Steve Harris’ bass line and Dave Murray’s lead guitaring are immediately at the forefront and shown to be the dominating influence of the band. The middle solo section of the track is still so fresh and bright and powerful, 45 years after this was recorded. That explosion of Dave’s guitar into the solo is still spine tingling stuff. Lyrically “Prowler” is suggestive in an unserious way, vocally descriptive rather than being lurid. This album has three songs of this ‘pub band’ narrative that tie this album to the era it was recorded in a lyrical aspect. Musically, it sets its bar far higher than that explanation.
There are a few songs on this album that reach the ‘outstanding’ level, especially for a band on their debut album, and because they break the mould of the music the band is expected to play. The first is one where the band’s versatility becomes obvious, the second song on the album, “Remember Tomorrow”. You come out of the opening track with its imagery and speed and driving guitars and drums... and then you hit the moody opening of the second track, of the bass line and moody guitar slowly and softly over the top. Then the entrance of the drum beat, but more importantly the vocals of Paul Di’Anno which prove he is not a one trick pony. He might have been belligerent on that opening song, but here he proves he can soar with the best of them, and then explode out of that when it becomes necessary. The same can be said of the whole band, they show here that they can combine the slower tempo melodic style and the fast tempo heavy timings, and within the same track. The explosion into the dual lead solo breaks through the middle of the track exemplify what everyone looks for in Iron Maiden, but the bookends of the track are what raises this to the highest levels of Iron Maiden songs. Lyrically and vocally it places itself in a different category from the majority of the songs here, a path that would be better worn over the future album releases. Musically it is in the higher echelon of what the band has produced. This is one of three songs here that lifts the album above the average and surely was what made people think “this Iron Maiden isn’t your average pub band”. Try and convince me Metallica didn’t have this song in mind when they wrote “Fade to Black”. This kind of change in song orientation was to become one of the hallmarks of Iron Maiden.
“Running Free” was already the pub anthem that became the stadium anthem by the time this album was recorded. In the same way that “Prowler” has lyrics that are very stylistic of the content that bands would base their songs around as they moved their way up through the club scene, “Running Free” has similar connotations of the protagonist having “all the boys are after me, and that’s the way it’s gonna be!”. The opening of that terrific head banging-type of bass line from Harris and drum beat from Clive, followed by the ‘boy on the town’ lyrics and catchy sing-along chorus makes it a natural for the pub environment, and eventually the stadium environment. All bands need an anthem, a song that they can get the crowd involved with, and this was Maiden’s from the get-go.
What comes next is the song that no one was doing, because it was just so far in advance of what heavy metal was at that point that Iron Maiden was still inventing it. It may have the progressive tendencies of bands such as Rush and even the band’s heroes in Deep Purple and Wishbone Ash, but this was another level. “Phantom of the Opera” is a quintessential classic, a song that had no right to have been written or recorded at that time. Steve Harris wrote a bass line that began matching twin guitar riffs, played it like a guitar, but with his fingers on a bass guitar. It is one of his most extraordinary efforts. Along with Clive Burr’s superb drumming that almost began matching the guitars in the same way, and with lyrics that began a tradition in the band, written about movies and books, this song is one of the most complete heavy metal songs ever written, and it was one of this band’s first released. Most would consider this to be one of the top ten Maiden songs. I certainly do. Can you Imagine seeing this song being performed at the Ruskin Arms or the Cart and Horses in 1979. How would you have been able to process that? That a pub band was playing a song that has this amazing complexity in the composition and performing of this track?! If anything gave heavy metal the kick in the backside it needed, it was this song. Put it up against any other song from any other band of the NWOBHM era, and there is no contest. This is what set Iron Maiden apart from every other band of that era, and why they were able to spring from the pack to become the band they are. Paul’s singing on this song is amazing, he almost acts as the Phantom himself. And the solo section again, not only the melodic harmony guitars and their individual solo’s, but Steve’s bassline underneath throughout is just the pinnacle of bass guitaring. Steve has often said since this album was released that he was so disappointed with the production and mixing, and I have always wondered if it is this song he is most referring to. Because when you hear it performed live on the “Live After Death” album, and you can actually hear fully what Harry is doing on his instrument during that song, it is quite incredible. The production here doesn’t quite allow it to shine like it does on that live version. But my word it is still an amazing song.
Flip the album over, and let’s start side two and see what we have. It opens up with the wonderfully fast tempoed instrumental “Transylvania” which is another perfect example of how excellent the musicians in this band are. Making instrumentals interesting and listenable is not an easy thing, but it is something that Iron Maiden made a habit of on their first few albums. It is played at the perfect pace, given side two the opening momentum it needs to continue how side one finished up. Going back to another Metallica reference, surely, they were driven to perform their own instrumental tracks on their albums by how good the ones that Iron Maiden produced on these early albums were. It is a ripping track, even into the conclusion when it dies slowly and quietly into the ether, only to segue perfectly and almost unnoticeably into “Strange World”. And what a song this is, the third of the three ‘outstanding’ level songs on this album, the ones that showcase the extremities of this band’s talent and ability to mix full fury heavy metal metallics with the melodic and softer-spoken pieces that retain all of the energy and power in a different habitat. Like “Remember Tomorrow” it showcases Paul’s ability as a vocalist to bring this kind of performance to his artform and retain his uniqueness in vocal quality. The structure of the song itself allows Paul’s vocals to emote the passion of the track, the guitars to be a punctuating point of difference when needed, and Steve Harris’s amazing wandering bass line that is probably the highlight of the song. Clive Burr's perfect toning on the drums is also so important in drawing it all together. Not many metal bands can pull off a song like this without compromising the principles of their music. “Strange World” is an absolute triumph in that respect.
Speed returns to the album with the first of the “Charlotte the Harlot” themed Iron Maiden tracks, and therefore not surprisingly entitled “Charlotte the Harlot”. It is the only song for which guitarist Dave Murray is solely credited for as a writer, and he is adamant that it is based n a real person and real events, though not him. Ok Dave. Here is the third song on the album that is written as a boy’s pub band anthem with lyrics that have been described in certain areas as childish and inappropriate. If you want to feel that way, then by all means do so. What you have missed is the story of the song, told in scintillating style with searing guitar riff and solo, hard core drums and bass thumping, and Di’anno’s vocals joyously bounding along with fist pumping and middle finger raised. It is still catchy as hell, a great singalong song, and after a few beers while listening to the album I defy you to try and not do the same. The album then concludes with the self-titled track, one that the band must have now played a billion times. Naming your band after a medieval torture device is one thing, writing a song about it is another. History, blood and heavy metal. Is it the perfect combnation to making a great song? Iron Maiden would use this basis for proving the theory for the next 45 years and counting. It still counts as a superb Iron Maiden song, the opening dual guitar riff into the bass and drums before Di’anno begins his vocals is still fantastic.
45 years is an amazing length of time, not only to find that an album can still stand up in the modern age, and to realise what the band has done since then, but to then realise what you as an individual have done in that time, and how long this album has been a part of your life. And that people are still drawing inspiration from this album even today. That longevity is not something that you can find in every debut album released. This however is one of them.

My story of the discovery of Iron Maiden has been well documented in several different epsiodes on a couple of different podcasts, so suffice to say that the concluding months of 1985 were an exciting time for me. Having acquired the three major releases of 1982, 1983 and 1985 and devoured them to the point of assimilation, it came time to find out what came next for the band that I had become slightly obsessed over. My heavy metal music dealer was happy to come to the party (or perhaps he wasn’t, I did ask a hell of a lot of him over those couple of years) and was able to fill the C60 cassette I offered him with the debut album from the band, along with the “Maiden Japan” live EP. It was at the same or similar time that he also taped me the “Killers” album, and so for me it was my introduction to Paul Di’anno as lead vocalist, coming after I had gorged out on the first three albums that had Bruce Dickinson in the same role.
Perhaps interestingly, as much as I still enjoyed this album, it wasn’t one I went to very often at that time. This was at the beginning of my incredible discovery fest of heavy metal, and I was really trying to grab everything that came in my vicinity and check it out. Having had a gorging of Iron Maiden for 3 months or so, I guess something had to eventually take a back seat, and it ended up with this album being one of them. Like I said, it wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy it. I really did. I just didn’t go to it as often as I was other albums. I actually began to listen to the album more when I finally got my vinyl copy of the album, later on in 1986.
Despite what has been said about the production of the album, it has never bothered me and my enjoyment of the album. As I mentioned earlier, it sounds like the albums from these NWOBHM bands that were coming through at this time of the era, and the songs on this album still jump off the vinyl compared to almost every other band of that era. The sheer energy and enthusiasm of the performance, and the glittering star quality of the writing, just burns like a supernova in comparison to the competition. The ability to combine the twin guitar harmonies into the heavy focused music and yet still perform tracks that show a melodic structure without losing focus of the band they are is truly remarkable. And to do all of that on their first album is an astounding feat. And every time you watch the movie “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, and you hear the line “Put them in the Iron Maiden”, followed up by our heroes pronouncing “Iron Maiden! Excellent!”, you know that this album has succeeded on so many levels.
I’ve had this album back on the turntable now for two weeks – and how bloody good is it?! Honestly, it sounds better on vinyl and always has. I come home from work, talk to the wife, then retreat to the Metal Cavern, and put the needle to the vinyl and away we go. And it still sounds so amazing and so fresh. Everything about it is pure. The boys at the pub songs, the contemplative melodic songs, the bombastic songs, and then just “Phantom of the Opera” towering above them all. For me this album has never gotten old. It just continues to shine in all possible ways in all possible directions. Over the course of Iron Maiden’s 17 studio albums released over 45 years, I have most recently ranked this as my tenth favourite. This is not reflective of the quality of the album; indeed, it reflects just how strong the band’s material has been since they released this album.
As amazing as this album is and was, the strength of the band was about to increase. Martin Birch was about to come on board as the band’s producer, ensuring that every album for the next decade was perfectly presented to the listening public and had the best possible performances drawn from the band’s performers. And with Dennis Stratton moving aside because his musical preferences did not match that of the rest of the band, it left the door open for the man the band originally wanted for the position to come on board and provide his excellence into the music that was beginning to bloom. That of course is a story for another episode.

575. Scorpions / Sting in the Tail. 2010. 3/5

There has probably been more publicity surrounding the fact that this album apparently signals the final act for the Scorpions as a band than anything else, and perhaps it is this smoke screen that is being used to hide the fact that it has some failings.
The announcement that this would be the band’s final album, hoping to ‘retire’ while still at the top of their game, certainly drew some interest from me. However, I was more interested to see how they would follow up their finest album in almost 30 years, 2007’s Humanity: Hour 1.

Following on from the breaking of the Scorpions mould on their last album, this is a follow up that plays it straight down the line in order to try and keep all their fans of all genres happy, and in the process really not making anyone excited. The opening songs prove to be very much in the role of their typical nineties stuff, in a hard rock mode but without the great anthems that they flooded us with during the 1980's. "Raised on Rock", "Sting in the Tail", "No Limit" and "Rock Zone" leave you in no doubt that the band is trying to reinvest their past sound into their current music. There are also the typical Scorpions power ballads, which, I must say, don't quite hit the mark this time around.
In fact, the whole album is just off the track, and in trying to tie down what it is that just doesn't make it for me, I can come to a couple of conclusions - it is a very generic album, and it’s obvious that the band has played it very safe in the writing process. Being their final release, they have obviously gone out and tried to capture both lyrically and musically the best and most successful of their past, and recreate it here as a fitting finale for themselves and their fans. Though I hesitate to use the word, some of it is quite boring because of that, and in essence brings to the table the kind of emotion they were inevitably trying to prevent.
It's not a bad album, but it won't be memorable for the music, but only because (at this point) it will be their final release.

If they had announced that they were calling it a day after Humanity: Hour 1 I would have kicked up a stink, suggesting that they still had plenty left in the tank. Having now listened to Sting in the Tail a dozen times, I can honestly suggest that the band gets out and does a farewell World Tour – including coming to Australia, because we've only been waiting 30+ years – and then take a well earned rest, because maybe the bottom of the well is in sight.

574. Motörhead / Iron Fist. 1982. 3.5/5

It had been a heady five years for Motörhead by the time 1982 rolled around. Four excellent studio albums, each which had grown their fan base with their release, followed by a live album that showcased just what they brought to the stage when they were out on the road. Sometimes it would be easy to rest on your laurels, but the band still had plenty in reserve. Following up two albums such as Ace of Spades and No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith would have been a daunting task for many bands, but Motörhead just take it in their stride and pound out another release full of the songs that make them who they are.

From the beginning of Iron Fist it is undeniably a Motörhead album. The signature “NENG-A-NENG-ANENG, NENG-A-NENG-ANENG” of Lemmy’s bass rifles through the songs, along with the voice of a man who must have sandpaper on his vocal chords – unique and unreproducible. The guitaring and drumming from Motörhead alumni ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke and ‘Philthy’ Phil Taylor is also at its best here. The musicianship of the album is top shelf and once again the production brings out the best in the songs. The difference between the early recording of their debut album and now is actually quite astonishing. Whereas it was punky and distorted on those first recordings, the tracks here are really quite polished but lose none of their power and aggression.
There are songs on this album that for me are as good as anything that Motörhead has written, but there are also a couple of songs that if they aren’t considered as filler material then they are just not very good. The opening title track of “Iron Fist” is a perfect start, strong in music base and lyrically. “Heart of Stone” continues in the same vein with Taylor’s fast paced 2/4 drumming and a great riff from Clarke driving the song. The tongue-in-cheek “I’m the Doctor” still sounds great, and while I like “Go to Hell” it is a bit generic and repetitive musically. “Loser” is much the same, while “Sex & Outrage” and “America” contribute to this middle part of the album which does noticeably affect the flow of the album.
Still, it picks up from here, as “Shut it Down” and “Speedfreak” are just sensational, played at a speed that I believe produces the best material that Motörhead plays. This is followed by the hard fighting “(Don't Let 'em) Grind You Down” and “(Don't Need) Religion” which leave nothing to the imagination. “Bang to Rights” is the perfect closing track to the album, continuing the vibe of the second half of the album with power and pace to the very end.

Iron Fist continues to be one of my favourite Motörhead albums. Though it may not get the accolades of some of their other releases, this still has the ingredients and the personnel to make it stand up against other releases. This was the final album that these three played on together as Motorhead, with Fast Eddie Clarke moving on during the tour following its release. I still fail to see or hear why the band was so disappointed in this album. There are certainly a couple of tracks that could have either been reworked or dropped altogether, but the great moments generally outweigh these dead patches.

Rating: “Words are cheap and talk is free”. 3.5/5

573. Tony Iommi / Iommi. 2000. 3.5/5

As we entered into the new millenium, it was becoming more and more obvious that Black Sabbath as a real and functioning band was finished. Ozzy didn't look as though he wanted to do new material with the original line-up, and the Tony Martin-fronted line-up had also probably gone its distance as well.
What, then, was to become of the brilliant and genre-defining guitarist Tony Iommi? Back in 1984 when he tried to put together a solo album, it got tagged as a Black Sabbath release. Could he do something again, this time just as his own project? As it turned out, he could, although it would take a few years of prepping and recording, and a lot of guests to help out.

Here then is Iommi, an album written by Tony and co-written and co-guesting different vocalists on each track. As a result, it feels and sounds more like a 'collection' than an 'album', as there is not a lot of cohesion between tracks. That doesn't make it a bad album as such, but if there are vocalists that you don't like involved (there are) then it makes it difficult to enjoy the songs that they are involved in (it does).
Probably what also hinders the concept is that a lot of the riffs sound like they have been recycled from those more recent Black Sabbath albums, and to be fair a lot of those songs just don't rate highly. It wouldn't be fair to say that Iommi has run out of riffs, but they just don't seem to come so good as frequently as they used to.
The favourites for me on the album include Henry Rollins on "Laughing Man (In The Devil Mask)", Dave Grohl with Brian May on "Goodbye Lament" and Billy Corgan on "Black Oblivion", though it does stretch on a little too long. The songs with high profile vocalists, such as "Time Is Mine" with Phil Anselmo, "Who's Fooling Who" with Ozzy and "Into The Night" with Billy Idol, just don't live up to the hype, and perhaps suffer a little because of it.

Again, as I said, as a collective of songs based around the centrepiece of Tony Iommi's guitaring, it isn't a bad effort. Those looking for a post-Sabbath future, like myself, were left to further ponder what it may hold beyond this.

572. Ratt / Invasion of Your Privacy. 1985. 4/5

For me, this is one of those albums that will always be shrouded in the memories it brings back to me every time I play it. On a 90 minute cassette I had this recorded on one side, and Motley Crue's Shout At The Devil on the other, and throughout the end of high school in 1986 and 1987 this copped a caning. So the good memories alone create a high standing for this album.

Ratt's second album is a winner in most respects. In my opinion it has no weak moments. Every song backs up the other, linking together as one to make a terrific album. I guess the three singles released from the album - the opener "You're In Love", "Lay It Down" and "What You Give Is What You Get" - are the songs that many people speak of as the best, and they have a solid point. However, to me they are no better than "Never Use Love", "Give It All", "Closer To My Heart" or "You Should Know By Now", just for instance sake. While there is a similar theme running throughout the album both lyrically and musically, it doesn't impede on the enjoyment of songs on a singular listening level. Unlike some albums where there is such similarity, I don't have any problems being able to pick out the songs when they are played. That, of course, may well be just because I know the album so well.

Stephen Pearcy's vocals are at their best here, while the twin guitars of Robbin Crosby and Warren De Martini are just awesome.

Overall, this is one of the best ever albums of the hair metal genre, and for me it is definitely Ratt's best release. And whenever I hear it it still takes me back to driving in my 1970 two door Valiant, charging around the streets with this in the cassette deck.

571. Faith No More / Introduce Yourself. 1987. 3.5/5

Faith No More had been around for a surprisingly long period by the time they got around to recording their debut album in 1985 on an independent label, having had to raise most of the money themselves to get it recorded. It did at least gain some attention, and in late 1986 the band was signed to Slash Records, and through their parent companies and subsidiaries they were able to ensure that they would get better exposure for their follow up. Just as important, the production was also a step above their debut album, and the songs also written with a tighter and intense sound about them.
The band’s music indeed was somewhat unique for its time. In many ways the band was ahead of its time in regards to the songs they produced. Roddy Bottom’s combination of keyboards and rhythm guitar allows the band a unique switch between power and synth based rock, and combined with the hard riffing of Jim Martin’s guitar and Mike Bordin’s spectacularly off-timing drumming gives the songs that alternative feel that was ahead of its time. Add into the mix the vocals of Chuck Mosley, who gives it an added hip hop and rap flavour around the attempts to soar through other parts of the songs, and you truly have the basis of a band bringing something new to the ether. And this is perhaps one of the interesting things about this album. It IS a different style from most of the bands around at that time, and it is creating a new path in that respect. Because even though this is a better effort song-wise, and certainly better production-wise than their first album, “Introduce Yourself” is still a much maligned album in the history of Faith No More. It is rarely brought up in discussion of the best Faith No More albums. Indeed, many people still consider that Faith No More started with “The Real Thing”, and that anything that occurred before that point doesn’t really exist. And that for me does take away from the fact that they were cutting edge well before “The Real Thing” hit the shelves.

Whenever I listen to this album, I still find it comes in two sections, that the songs can be placed into two categories. There’s the slower, drawn out, slightly more reflective tones in some of the songs, and then there are the songs that just expend energy, extolling the virtues of jumping and thrashing around the room as you listen to them.
“Faster Disco” kicks things off with a great heavy beat, and is followed by “Anne’s Song” which sticks in that same tempo with Billy Gould’s funky bass the mainstay of the song. “Chinese Arithmetic” cuts in at a slower beat, building slowly into the track under the synth to the bass and drums, before the guitar and vocals hit and bring the song to life. “Death March” may be a surprising name for a song in this section in explaining the slower tempo songs, but it certainly fits, moving along in a mid-tempo dominated by Bottom’s synth and Mosley’s vocals crooning over the top. “The Crab Song” often divides opinion, given that the first half of the song is pretty much solely the domain of Mosley whining over the top of the quiet keys, before exploding in the second half with Bordin’s drums and Martin’s guitar taking over.
For me, the best song on the album is the title track, “Introduce Yourself”. It has great energy and bounce with Mosley spitting out the lyrics. I honestly can only imagine just how popular this song may have become to the masses if it wasn't for the updated and remodelled version of "We Care a Lot" that accompanies it here. “We Care a Lot” originally appeared on the debut album, and for this album it was reborn and given a few touch ups here and there before being released as the power single for the album. For the masses, it was this song that ended up becoming the crowd favourite at live performances, though for me "Introduce Yourself" could have been that song too. Don’t get me wrong, it is still popular with the fans, but not in the same way. That has always interested me. “R N’ R” is another of the songs that pumps through the speakers, especially Bordin’s drums that thump hard throughout, and the supporting vocals as well. The songs “Blood” and then “Spirit” finish off the album in a similar way to the start of the album, unique in their concept and the way they draw together those aspects of the band’s musicianship.
Whether you love Chuck Mosely, or you hate him, and opinion on him is split, the fact remains that the rest of the band was the core of the music, and their musicianship is second-to-none. The one man who stands up again here is Jim Martin, whose guitaring was possibly the forefront of the band until the scene-stealing Mike Patton showed up for the next release. Though somewhat buried by the mega-success the band experienced with their next album, “Introduce Yourself” deserves respect for paving the way for that eventual success.

I don’t know anyone who had this album when it was released. In Australia the Faith No More revolution came with the release of the following album and the huge single release of “Epic”. So, like everyone else, I discovered this album after “The Real Thing” made them huge, and as I did in those days then went searching for anything else the band had done. And as a result, like most people, there was a certain degree of disappointment in the initial listening's to this album. With Chuck Mosley installed on vocals rather than his replacement Mike Patton, there felt like a lot less energy in the singing here. And the songs didn’t feel as compelling or vibrant. But that was an unfair comparison, because “The Real Thing” was amazing, the culmination and progression from this album and a change in vocalist.
So it was important, in my mind, that this album doesn’t get judged against what was to come, because that path was also broken into many paths. And “Introduce Yourself” does require one to be in the correct mood to get the most out of it. It has a number of mid-tempo songs that are cleverly broken up by the big time harder songs in “Introduce Yourself” and “We Care a Lot” and “R N’ R”, which gives the impression that the album continues to move smoothly throughout.
So the most difficult part of listening to this album is not trying to believe you are listening to “The Real Thing” or “Angel Dust” or “King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime”, because that will destroy any chance it has. Just put it on, sit back and let the tide take you where it wants, and you can still gain a great deal of enjoyment out of this album.

570. Stratovarius / Intermission. 2001. 3/5

Intermission this most certainly is, with a bundle of tracks that only a hardy few could proclaim to have experienced a majority of before this release came along.

The first four songs are all "previously unreleased tracks", and surprisingly for these type of tracks they are pretty good. I say surprisingly, because if they haven't been released before, then there must have been a reason why in the first place. In this instance, the first two songs "Will My Soul Ever Rest in Peace?" and "Falling Into Fantasy" are both fine examples of Stratovarius titles. Perhaps the other two are not in the finest catagory.

Following this are three cover songs. Judas Priest's "Bloodstone", is okay, but really lacks the original's power. Rainbow's "Kill the King", again just doesn't have the same quality of the original. I originally heard this on the tribute album Holy Dio: A Tribute to the Voice of Metal: Ronnie James Dio, which strangely has two versions of this song on it - the one by Stratovarius and the one by Primal Fear. Sadly for the Strats, Primal Fear's version craps all over this one. Thirdly is another Rainbow song, a live version of "I Surrender", which is a much better effort than the previous two songs here.

Following this is a bunch of extra songs from singles and box sets and the like, the majority from Japanese editions which always seem to carry these types of songs to entice their citizens to buy their own editions rather than those from overseas. The quality of tracks is a mixture.

Overall, this is worth a listen. Whether you will come back to it often is open to question, but as a rarity of sorts it is something a fan of the band will want to possess a copy of.