1173. Black Sabbath / Past Lives. 2002. 5/5

Live albums. Yes, I’ve spoken about them before, and if you know this podcast at all, you know that my opinion is that live albums should always rank as top marks, because they should almost always contain the best songs of the band, in their perfect environment. Of course, that is not always the case despite what I think.
This compilation was released in 2002, and I’m not sure whether it was an afterthought or not. During Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward’s time with the band through the 1970’s, Black Sabbath hadn’t released an official live album, which seemed like an oversight. As it turned out, it wasn’t until the band had recruited new singer Ronnie James Dio that a live album of those years appeared. Titled “Live at Last”, and despite its success, the album was released without the permission or knowledge of the band. The album was, however, released legally by the band's former manager Patrick Meehan who owned the rights to the recording. The first official live album from Black Sabbath was 1982’s “Live Evil”, and album that will be reviewed later in Season 3. Then, in 1998, the original foursome got back together for a tour and released the live album “Reunion” to wide acclaim. So, was there a reason that this album needed to be released? By the time 2002 rolled around, it appeared that any pretence that Black Sabbath would ever record another album had gone, and that they were just playing their annual gig at Ozzfest. Was it just for nostalgia? An attempt to keep the band in the limelight in the modern day by releasing recordings from the past? Or was it just an excuse for the band to say, “okay well, we accept that ‘Live at Last’ existed, but now we are going to release it on our own terms”? I don’t know the answer, but I know that as a fan of the band I still found a way to procure a copy, just to satisfy my own interest in what they had released along with that long held old fashioned album.

“Past Lives” contains two discs. The first disc is the re-release of the “Live at Last” album. That album was taken from recordings over two nights in March 1973 from Manchester and London. Now, something that has cropped up in recent reviews of other live albums has been the action of not having the songs in the order they were played in the concert they are taken from. And that occurs here again. Now while it doesn’t disturb the listening pleasure of the album (especially when you don’t KNOW what the order of the songs was when they were played) that still sticks in my craw a little. Of course, I was completely unaware of this being the case, until the recently remastered and deluxe edition of the album “Volume 4” was released. As a part of that package, the original analog tapes of these two gigs were remastered and released as a part of the boxset. They left in the onstage banter that this album eradicated, but also put the song back on the order they were played! Imagine my surprise when I first heard it. Now as I said, it isn’t a big thing, and this album is great to listen to, but if you happen to get a chance to listen to that remastered edition of the tapes on “Volume 4”, check it out.
The second disc here contains recordings from 1970 and 1975. Again, it’s interesting that they mix these up a little, with the 1970’s tracks acting as bookends to the 1975 tracks. Now it’s easy to pick up the differences in when and how these were recorded, and even in the way Ozzy sang the songs as the years differed. In 1970 it was at the high point of his range. By 1975 he occasionally adapted to compensate for the ridiculousness of his vocals on some studio versions of the songs.
This isn’t a clean live album, and by that I mean that it hasn’t had a dutiful effort to record these shows to the ultimate sound. But neither are they bootlegs, recordings made by fans with their cheap cassette players. If anything, this is an excellent compromise, live recordings with all of the pieces intact but with a rough and ready sound that exemplifies just how a Sabbath show must have sounded in those early to mid 1970’s. You get the incomprehensible drumming of Bill Ward, where you can imagine his hair and beard flowing over the kit as he rained down upon it, the gutteral bass guitar of Geezer Butler that is perhaps the one thing that gets missed a bit in the recording mix, the massiveness of Tony Iommi’s guitaring, and Ozzy’s quite brilliant live vocals that still stand the test of time. And the songs – it is just a who’s who of the great Sabbath tracks of the 1970’s. There is really nothing to complain about.

Prior to the re-release of the Black Sabbath early album with the deluxe versions coming out with unreleased live concerts that had been remastered, “Live at Last” had been the one peek at that time in the history of the band. To be fair, even now it is worthy. And its re-release as a part of “Past Lives”, with the extra disc of two other years of the band live, is really amazingly important. For the very reason that Black Sabbath, and this original foursome, is so significantly influential on heavy metal actually becoming a thing, and growing to what it is now, 50 years later.
All those who were old enough and fortunate enough to see the band live in those days must still be grateful for the experience. And for those of us since who have seen pieces of that genius by seeing those four artists performing in other arenas in later days, such as Ozzy on his solo gigs, Heaven and Hell with Tony and Geezer, and then the final almost-complete reformation on the album “13” and the two subsequent final tours, have at least seen that genius in those forums. But it wasn’t the original band, and the band in those early days at their peak, before drugs and arguments killed the vibe. And that is what makes “Past Lives” such an important release, one that gives you a window to that time, and lets you experience what it must have been like.
This is an album worth listening to, probably in a darkened room and letting it all sink in. This continues to be such an enjoyable experience, and one that if you haven’t heard all the way through before, you should definitely consider doing.

1171. Def Leppard / X. 2002. 1.5/5

The 1990’s had been a journey for Def Leppard, one that had built a wedge between fans of the band. “Adrenalize” had made some subtle changes to the band’s sound but still topped charts around the world. Then came “Slang”, the band’s first album with Vivian Campbell, and the desire to create something very different from their usual music made this an album that created an impasse. Then came “Euphoria”, where the band had tended to feel that they had gone too far on the previous album, and that they needed to reinfuse some of their harder rock roots back into their material. So it was a decade where the band probably experimented with their sound more than they ever had done previously. Sales were still good, but not anywhere near the extent as they had had with “Hysteria” and “Adrenalize”, concerts still sold out, but exactly which direction was Def Leppard trying to head in? Taking in all of the changes that had occurred in recent years with the hard rock genre, stretching to industrial and nu-metal, and the fact that the band had gravitated (somewhat) back towards their hard rock roots on their previous album, would this dictate their sound going forward? As it turns out, the answer to that was ‘no’. Instead, much like they did with the “Slang” album, they came back towards the popular side of music, and created an album that was more pop rock than anything else. And does anyone remember those times, and the style of songs that were being played on the radio back in 2002? Beyond Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” single, which seemed to eat up the airwaves the year before this album was released, that kind of rock nostalgia track had grown in popularity, and in some ways, Def Leppard tried to create their own variant of that with the songs on this album.

If you are going to listen to this album – and to be honest the ‘if’ is implied heavily – you really have to be able to approach it from two points of view. Because without that, you will either believe it is one of the best pop albums ever released, or one of the biggest travesties from a once great band ever released. And my opinion at the conclusion of the review resides heavily in one court.
So here you go. Do NOT come into this album as a fan of Def Leppard. Whatever your age bracket, whatever your preferred genre of music is, come into this album and accept that this is as close to a 1980’s pop album as you are going to come to for an album released in 2002. So pretend you are 15 again, living in the early 1980’s, and only listen to the radio and the tracks they play. If you do, I guarantee you will get more out of this album than if you come in thinking “oh good! Another Def Leppard album! I wonder if this is as good as Pyromania!”
Will this actually help you get the most out of the album? I think so, and I’ve listened to it a lot over the last 2-3 weeks. There are the full blown ballad tracks such as “Long Long Way to Go” and “Four Letter Word” and “Let Me Be the One”, completely and especially designed for radio airplay and to generate sales from a new target audience. What interests me about this with singles sales is that none of the singles released from this album really charted at all, and though most of this was because file sharing had begun to shrink music sales drastically, my opinion is that it was also because this style of song at that time was not as popular as perhaps these bands thought they were. Nickelback and Creed were filling the void that the old Def Leppard had left, and selling more albums and singles as a result along with Linkin Park and Evanescence. These bands were treading along lines that Def Leppard had created, but were now outstripping them because they either crooned power ballads a bit harder or they were transcending the power of the “High n Dry” and “Pyromania” era into their songs. To me, a single that might have really worked in that era was “Love Don’t Lie”, one that retained the sentimentality that the band was obviously now looking for, but at least had a bit more rock to it and a little guitar riffing to inspire listeners. But no, they went with the two obviously ballads and the opening track instead.
Then there is a track like “Gravity” that sounds like it is trying to recreate a song like ‘Armageddon It’ from “Hysteria” with its attempted upbeat vocal, but it really does fall flat, as I guess you may expect. And there is so much generic material here. “Girl Like You”, “Torn to Shreds”, “Scar”, “Kiss the Day”, “Everyday”... I mean, yes, if this is marketed and approached as a pop album, you have a chance to enjoy it all the way through. If you don’t... well....

The last few weeks have been eye and ear opening in regards to Def Leppard. I have reviewed, and therefore listened to a LOT, four albums from four different eras of the band, and this is by far the most polarising. I had this following Hysteria on my playlist for a few weeks, and the amount this album pales in comparison to that is even more stark when you hear them both back to back like that so often.
It remains completely ridiculous to me, and I’m sure I’ve said this before, that a band with Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell on guitars has so little material that truly showcases their abilities on their instruments. When you see the band live, they both shred, and they are both awesome. Here they barely have to get out of first gear when it comes to playing, apart from the very end of “Kiss the Day” where you FINALLY get some guitar action, but overall it remains my biggest disappointment of this band over the past 30 years. There is no Mutt Lange here curating the material, and pushing the band for perfection. It is, indeed, a new era.
I don’t own this album, indeed I never had the desire to go out and buy it at the time. I heard the singles on the radio at the time (not as much as I heard Bon Jovi and Nickelback and others of that ilk), and there was no need to delve any further. And now here we are, 20 years later, and over the past month I have listened to this album... I would say... ten times more in that period than I had in the almost 20 years before that. And as I have probably intimated already, this just isn’t for me. At work it has been a pleasant enough distraction. It’s a little bit like elevator music, it's there in the background and it provides a nice ambience while I tap away at the keyboard. It’s harmless pop. But the test of any album is to go home, and listen to it in the Metal Cavern, with the stereo at an appropriate volume to get the full effects. And this album fails that completely. I am sure there are fans out there who love this album. They definitely listen to a different genre of music than I do.

1163. Ozzy Osbourne / Live at Budokan. 2002. 4/5

Given that Ozzy Osbourne had proclaimed that he was going to retire from touring a decade earlier than this live album was released, it seems unnecessary to suggest that a bit had gone on in that ten year span. Those that are avid readers of this blog will have recently read of the debacle that occurred at the end of Black Sabbath’s “Dehumanizer” album, where the four original members of the band reunited for an encore at what was to be Ozzy’s final ever live gig. Well, those plans soon faded, no doubt due to the dollar signs in everyone’s eyes, and the album “Ozzmosis” followed, as well as the following album “Down to Earth” in 2001. Avid readers will also have read the entry dedicated to THAT album on this blog.
The same foursome who recorded that album, Ozzy, guitarist Zakk Wylde, bass guitarist Robert Trujillo and drummer Mike Bordin all toured on this album, and subsequently ended up on the live gig that makes up this album. It was an interesting idea to release a live album and DVD from this tour. Ozzy’s first two live albums had been the Black Sabbath-induced “Speak of the Devil” and was followed by the “Tribute” album in 1987. Then came the “Live and Loud” double live album from that “No More Tours” era, which tied up all the strings nicely. This one, just two albums later, seemed like a marketing decision rather than an opportunity to showcase the band in their element, but then again, Iron Maiden seem to release a live album after every studio effort, so certainly in comparison now, it isn't such a bad decision.

As always, live albums can be split and categorised with the following denominators – the songs from the latest studio album, songs that have not appeared on a live album prior to the one being released, and the old favourites that appear on practically every live album the band or artist releases. And in this way, you can get a feel for just how unique or stock standard the live album is.
Here on “Live at Budokan”, there are three songs that come from the “Down to Earth” album, and it is probably fair to say that they all sound better here in the live environment than they do on the studio album. Those songs are “That I Never Had”, “Junkie” and “Gets Me Through”. Not only does the band sound great playing these live, the songs are enhanced by having Zakk singing on back up vocals. It especially sounds great in “That I Never Had”, a song that would have been the lesser without him helping Ozzy out.
Interestingly, there are four songs from “No More Tears” played here, more songs than from the album they are promoting, and from any other Ozzy album as well. There is no problem with that. “No More Tears” the song is a no brainer, and “Mama I’m Coming Home” given its commercial success is also one that was played a lot on tours following its release. “Road to Nowhere” and “I Don’t Want to Change the World” are probably strange selections, though again Zakk’s backing vocals on “I Don’t Want to Change the World” enhances this version of the song immensely. “I Don’t Know”, “Believer” and “Mr Crowley” pepper the first half of the album, while you Can’t finish an Ozzy gig without “Crazy Train”, “Bark at the Moon” and “Paranoid” now, can you? And perhaps it is a small point, and a bit of a nit-picking point, but “Believer” for instance had appeared on “Tribute”, and while this version is also terrific, wasn’t there an opportunity to play a different track, maybe from the “Ultimate Sin” or “No Rest for the Wicked” era? Because neither of those albums had a song from them in this set list, and it would have been great to have had them represented. On the other hand perhaps, maybe Ozzy was already moving into his habit of playing the same songs and rarely diverging to give other great songs from his past an opportunity, because of the difficulty of representing them live in a fashion that they deserved. I don’t know for sure, but it would have been great to have.

I first heard this album several months after its release. I didn’t rush out to buy it, at the time I was at a stage where I was listening to other music, and having heard the “Down to Earth” album I was at an ambivalent stage. I eventually saw the DVD on a trip out west to a mates house, where we discussed how great most of the songs were, and how average the new ones were, and that maybe if Zakk Wylde had been involved in the writing process it would have been a whole lot better. First impressions are always interesting.
I now own a copy of this album but not the DVD. I have been listening to it through streaming services for the purpose of this episode, and I can find the video online if I feel the need. But I really don’t. No, this isn’t a bad live album. Bordin and Trujillo are brilliant musicians, and they are great here. Ozzy sings well, and Zakk is still at a peak as a guitarist. But the problem here is that there isn’t anything special brought to the table to inspire you to either purchase it or listen to it. I’ve enjoyed listening to this album again over the last couple of weeks. And I believe that if you put it on, you’ll enjoy it too. The problem is, much like the plethora of Iron Maiden live albums, if you want to listen to an Ozzy live album, then you are either going to reach for “Tribute” to listen to those early songs and Randy Rhoads shred, or you are going to reach for “Live and Loud” that has every great Ozzy song on the two discs and perfectly performed. There hasn’t been as need for me to own this, because apart from this reviewing of the album, I’m just not likely to reach for it on the shelves. And that will always be the conundrum of a live album – no matter how good it sounds and the songs that are on it, if it isn’t one of the better one or two released by the band or artist, it is going to get ignored.

1162. Dio / Killing the Dragon. 2002. 4/5

The doldrum days were behind the band Dio by 2002. The 1990’s hadn’t been kind to the band, but with the excellence and success of the album “Magica”, Dio had reasserted itself as a band worth taking notice of. Following on its success, band leader Ronnie James Dio discussed in circles that the next album would be a sequel as such to that album’s story, titled “Magica II”. And I guess, given that it had brought his and the band’s career back on track, that was something worth considering. Eventually, that idea was put on the back burner, to be considered at a later time, and instead Dio and guitarist Craig Goldy began writing other songs in preparation for the next Dio album. Interestingly though, there had been rumours of tension between Goldy and both Dio and bass guitarist Jimmy Bain at the end of the Magica tour, and even though song writing continued, this tension must have remained, because in January 2002, Goldy left the band, apparently for ‘family commitments.’ Nothing has ever been said about this since it occurred, and although it appeared as though it must have been an acrimonial split, Goldy did return to the band less than two years later so whatever the situation was, it didn’t appear as though it was unsolvable. Three songs co-written by Ronnie and Goldy appear on “Killing the Dragon” so writing must have been going well to that point in time.
In his place, Doug Aldrich was hired, a man who had a great reputation as a session guitarist as well as in other bands in his own right. In an interview before the album was released, Aldrich was quoted as saying that he felt that his role in coming into the band was to restore Dio to its 1980’s heyday, in regards to pushing for a faster pace in the songs and more vitality. In his mind (and many of the fans), the band had been slowing down the tempo of the songs on the latter albums too much, and that the band sounded better when the songs were played faster and with more energy. He even went as far to say he wanted the guitars to sound the way former member Vivian Campbell used to play on those early albums. I’m not sure Ronnie would have overly enjoyed that statement. However, it was music to the ears of fans, who were eager to have that kind of arrangement made for the writing and recording of the album. With Doug pushing Ronnie throughout the writing and recording process to achieve his own vision for what the album should sound like, we came up with “Killing the Dragon”, an album that, at least in some places, achieves exactly what Doug Aldrich was hoping for.

All albums are pieced together to make the fit work as best as they can, and on some albums it is interesting as to how they find a way to mix in the various different styles of songs to make the album work. This one is no exception, and while I think it works well, there are still moments when you wonder exactly what was being thought as the songs were being put together.
The first six songs on the album meander beautifully along, finding their rhythm and feeding off each other in their ways to elicit a response. The high voltage opening of the title track is a beauty, not only brought to life with Simon Wright’s powerful thumping drum kit and Jimmy’s rumbling bass, but at the perfect tempo that isn’t rushed. Doug’s guitar riff and brilliant solo bring the album to life early, as our first hearing of him play it is superb. And of course Ronnie’s powerful, dominating vocals, just superb. This is a great opening track and showcases exactly what Doug had been talking about, and opening track that draws you into the album immediately. This is followed by “Along Comes a Spider” which continues this faster pace than recent albums, with Ronnie’s vocals in a terrific mid-range that doesn’t extend himself beyond his range. He’s not 35 anymore, and though his voice remains the greatest in music he has found a great spot here to stick to. “Scream” is just fantastic, a much moodier song that moves along like the tide rushing out the river heads, a great counter point to the two opening tracks without losing any momentum into the start of the album. This cannons into the fastest song of the album, “Better in the Dark”, with Ronnie not only delving back into monster lyric territory but with Simon and Doug being allowed off the leash, and Jimmy adding a nice solo bass piece in and under the guitar solo in the middle. I love this song, it is arguably my favourite on the album. But – then comes the counterpoint to all of this, the slow, grunging and heavy tones of “Rock and Roll”. Mixing the elements of the kind of songs the band did in the 1990’s, but by adding a better arrangement of guitars and drums rather than the tuned down stylings of those songs, this is a great song. Ronnie gets the kind of tempo he has drifted towards for years, but is lifted by the brightness of the music from his bandmates rather than it feeling as though it is bringing the mood down. It is really very enjoyable. The final of those first six tracks is “Push”, again a track pushed along by Doug to ensure it doesn’t sit in a mid-range tempo that wouldn’t have worked. Dio’s vocals are supreme, very much reminiscent of those first three albums of the band. The song even had Dio’s first music video in years made for it, helped along with an appearance by Tenacious D. this video helped push the popularity of both the song and the album. It’s still a ripper.
The final four songs of the album don’t quite reach the same standard as the first six, but are by no means second class. Perhaps it is the downgrading of the tempo in three of the songs that makes it feel like that to me, and perhaps I am just being pedantic. “Guilty” is the first of these songs, and I’ve always wondered if Dio wrote this about himself, as it seems like an interesting topic to write about if it wasn’t. “Throw Away Children” is a similar style, and if you believe what is written in certain places, was originally planned to be a part of another “Hear n Aid” styled project to raise money for Ronnie’s charity, but nothing came of it and it found its way onto this album instead. I love “Before the Fall”, obviously written about someone chasing stardom but falling to the same pitfalls of many people before them. This is a classic styled Dio/Bain track, and with the keys mixed in with the track it has similarities to their Rainbow days as well. The album then concludes with “Cold Feet”, which is fine... but remember the days when Dio had epic closing tracks to their albums? I’d have loved one of those to be here as well.

I still remember my excitement prior to this album’s release. “Magica” had been a real hit for me, I had loved everything about it, and reading everything about this album leading up to its release just exacerbated that. And when I got it, I wasn’t disappointed. It came in the mail on the day of its release – a whole new experience by 2002 rather than heading out to the record store to buy it – and when I got home from work there it was, and on it went. And it was one of those albums that I loved from the very start, something that becomes less and less likely the older I get. But this was everything that it promised. It had songs that felt more closely tied to those first three albums than the next three. Doug Aldrich on guitar was magnificent, Simon Wright and Jimmy Bain just as wonderful as ever, and Ronnie’s vocals were truly brilliant. I think it is the final recording he made where his vocals were truly supreme, that they weren’t straining under age to be as they were in his youth. His singing here doesn’t feel or sound like he is trying to compensate for not being able to hit the exact same notes as he could 20 or 30 years previously. The songs as I mentioned have a tempo that had been missing for some time in Dio’s music, and that is rectified for the most part on “Killing the Dragon”. I played this a lot, at work and at home, for those few months after its release. It is still one of the best albums for me that has been released in this century.
Perhaps the biggest shame of it all is that it is the only Dio album that Doug plays on. About a year after its release, he moved on to join Whitesnake, and Craig Goldy returned for the next, and final, Dio album. He does however play on two Dio live albums, where he not only showcases how good he is on his material, but how faithfully he plays on the older material, a true mark of his love of the work.

1155. Iron Maiden / Rock in Rio. 2002. 5/5

There wouldn’t have been a heavy metal music lover in the world who hadn’t been full of anticipation of the release of Iron Maiden’s “Brave New World” album in 2000, the first album after the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith to the fold. Following on from this, the fans began to wonder just what the live line up would sound like, not only with those two coming back into the band, but with the retention of Jannick Gers it meant three guitarists in a live setting. Just what did that mean for the sound the band would produce? Following on from the band headlining the Rock in Rio festival in 2001, they released a live album and DVD of that performance, to help answer that very question.

Welcome to the next century, the new millennium! The back half of that final decade of the previous millennium had been a difficult one for Iron Maiden, on the back of falling sales and concert attendances, which had occurred for various reasons which were not limited to the change in lead singer and the changing landscape of music in general, and whether or not heavy metal music in its 1980’s form still had a place in the world. All of this was answered with the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, and the release of the “Brave New World” album which returned album sales back to figures not seen in a decade.
The following World Tour went to most of their popular destinations, though once again ignoring the parts of the world that were seen as too difficult and expensive to reach. And yes, that comes from a very disgruntled Australian resident. The 2001 edition of Rock in Rio was the final date of the “Brave New World” world tour, and given the huge exposure of the concert, and the fact that it had the size and ability to create a great stage show, the band decided to record and release the performance for a new live album. It acted as a celebration for the fans, to hear many of the new song (6 in all) in their live setting, as well as hear how the band sounded now on the older songs, and how that incorporated the three guitarists. And though as I have said on various previous podcast episodes on live albums, you can hardly go wrong with a collection of basic ‘greatest hits’ songs, sometimes it can be easy to be a little bit picky when it comes to the result.

There is little doubt that all fans of Iron Maiden will enjoy the set list that the band played on this tour. Given the significance of the return of both Bruce and Adrian to the fold after a long period of time (in the whole scheme of the band at least) with Bruce having been absent for two albums and Adrian four, and the way fans had taken to the new album as a result, having six songs from “Brave New World” in the setlist was a given. And even by starting the gig by playing the first three songs of that album back-to-back was also a terrific way to start off. “The Wicker Man” into “Ghost of the Navigator” and then the album’s title track still sounds great to this day.

Beyond this there is a great mix of the old and new. When a band gets to the age that Iron Maiden was 20 years ago let alone today, being able to please everyone with the set list becomes a real juggling act. In this regard, the band has done a great job. The classic songs such as “Wrathchild”, “2 Minutes to Midnight”, “The Trooper”, “Fear of the Dark” and “The Evil That Men Do” are interspersed with other songs from the latest album in “Blood Brothers”, “The Mercenary” and “Dream of Mirrors”. But, just in case you were an old fan, a REALLY old fan, then the band does the right thing by you to end the gig, coming at you with an old fashioned heavy metal combination of “Iron Maiden”, “The Number of the Beast”, “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “Sanctuary” and “Run to the Hills”, all of the old favourites performed with aplomb and finishing off the gig, the album and the tour in style.
Everything about this is excellent. All the band members are as terrific as you could imagine. Bruce’s vocals are supreme, and he drags the audience along for the ride the whole way. Steve Harris on bass is still the leader, which admittedly still comes through more on the older songs than the newer ones. Nicko McBrain is a beast on the drums, always the driving force. And the switching between the three guitarists still sounds amazing.

As is my wont, I bought this on double CD as well as purchasing the DVD a couple of months later when it was released, with Maiden once again pulling in double my money for what is essentially the same product. And I didn’t regret it, though it is the CD version that gets the most use. And all of the live versions of these songs still hold up today, even the very old songs. However, my three main observations on this album would be these. One, it is fantastic to hear “Sign of the Cross” and “The Clansman” with Bruce on vocals. And that is not having a go at Blaze Bayley at all because they are both his songs and he sings them superbly too. But hearing Bruce, with his different range, bringing both of these songs to life, ones that he had no involvement in originally, is perhaps the best part of this live album. If not for covid I would have had the chance to hear him sing both songs again on their current Legacy of the Beast tour, but that was cancelled before it arrived in Australia. Joy.
Secondly, also on Bruce’s vocals, for some reason Steve Harris, who ended up doing the editing and production of the live album, decided that in all of the places where Bruce calls for the crowd to sing along and participate and he deliberately doesn’t sing to give the crowd its moment, to cut and paste vocals from other parts of the song or recorded from warm ups, and insert them into those gaps so that it sounds like Bruce is singing the entire song. Now... while Steve obviously had his reasons for thinking this sounded better, I absolutely beg to differ. A live album is to hear the songs live, and that includes hearing the crowd participation, especially when there are 250,000 of them joining in! I have never understood it, and the sections stick out like dogs balls to, because Bruce will cry out ‘come on!” in beckoning to the crows to sing the next line, but then he does anyway, and it is pretty obvious it is not in the same pitch or key or anything like it would be if he had done so naturally. It’s a small thing, and not that big a deal, but I just don’t understand the reasoning behind it.
And thirdly, it’s terrific that the band went to three guitarists with the return of Adrian to the band, and I’m sure all fans like me were looking forward to hearing some great things musically, such as three way harmony and melodic guitars sewn through all of the material, new and old. However, that wasn’t (and hasn’t) been the case. The only change that has happened is that on the songs prior to ‘Brave New World’, some of Adrian’s solos are played by Jannick to ensure he isn’t left out of the mix entirely. Apart from that, each guitarist plays their solo, and the other two hold the rhythm together. It’s a tad disappointing in that respect.

Still, aside from those observations, “Rock in Rio” is a most enjoyable live album. It’s no “Live After Death”, but as a moment in time, to mark the start of the next chapter of the Iron Maiden story, it is mor than worth your time in checking out.

1147. BLAZE / Tenth Dimension. 2002. 4.5/5

In many ways it is both strange that Blaze Bayley the artist has as low a profile as he does, both now and 20 years ago, and strange that he has such a high profile as he does. His first band Wolfsbane had had some minor success, but when Iron Maiden hired him as the replacement for Bruce Dickinson in 1994 over more high profile candidates such as ex-Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske there was a sense of ‘who is this guy?’ Those two Maiden albums with Blaze as vocalist still generate a mixed reaction from fans. And yet, on leaving the band with the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, and forming his own band, he was able to syphon off enough of his Maiden persona to get good support gigs, and by the by write and record a pretty damn excellent debut album Silicon Messiah. Following the success of that album and tour, Blaze and the band, guitarists Steve Wray and John Slater, bass guitarist Rob Naylor and drummer Jeff Singer, moved into writing and recording the follow up. Hooking up with acclaimed producer Andy Sneap, Blaze came up with the story idea for what became the concept album. He had done a lot of research into quantum physics and read a number of published articles about the subject, including a link between quantum physics and paranormal phenomena, and most of the ideas he read about related to superstring theory, the idea that inspired the story of the album. It tells the tale of Professor Christopher Blane and his journey to find the tenth dimension and discover its true meaning. It became Tenth Dimension.
So while it has been established that the album has a story and that it is all interconnected, when it comes to music, if the songs themselves don’t reflect the same emotion and energy then none of it matters. Fortunately, the band has produced not only some excellent songs here they have created an atmosphere that enhances. The opening instrumental of “Forgotten Future” crashes into the opening track of “Kill and Destroy”, a perfect meshing of great riffs from Wray and Slater and Blaze’s awesome vocals that kick the song off from the start and drives it to its conclusion. It has been, and remains, one of Blaze’s best songs. It is the perfect tempo and riffage. “End Dream” then comes in with a slower tempo but retains the energy, while the title track is a beauty, filled with great vocals and suitably excellent dual guitar solos. It’s a great start to the album, and continues with “Leap of Faith” which also bounds along in that same great bouncing tempo.
Even when the album slows down in the middle, such as with the growing ascendance from quiet acoustic to faster heavier tones in “Nothing Will Stop Me”, and with the short acoustic “The Truth Revealed” into “Meant to Be”, the band perform it terrifically well. Other bands of the era may have looked to turn “Meant to Be” into a power ballad, but as a part of the story it most definitely isn’t a ballad. This is where Blaze’s vocals shine through, living proof to the doubters that he can most definitely sing when he isn’t expected to be singing at the same pitch as Bruce Dickinson.
“Speed of Light” once again showcases just how good Blaze and the band are when they go for the uptempo heavy rocking track, because this is another ripper on this album. It flies along and is where the band sounds at their best. And when listening to the album, it is the standout of the back half of the album, and definitely because of its pace and fire, whereas songs such as “Land of the Blind” and “Stealing Time” are lesser in comparison. Also, somewhat, is the closing track “Stranger to the Light”, which is the longest song on the album, and is dialled right back into the slower, crunching song as the finale to the story. Now, while I like the song, and you can understand why it is designed the way it is, it gets found out because of the excellence of the previous track, and that does tend to hold back the last third of the album compared to what comes at the front end.

When Blaze was with Iron Maiden, he was always going to be judged against Bruce Dickinson and the work he had done in the band. That meant that the songs he performed on and co-wrote would be judged against the best era of Iron Maiden, and he was never going to be able to win that competition. Beyond that though, on both his debut album and this album, Blaze found a great band with terrific musicians who wrote songs that not only better suited Blaze’s excellent vocals, but music that better suited the generation. I love the two albums Blaze sang on for Maiden, but the music led by Steve Harris had already begun to creep towards the progressive sound, with ten minute tracks that also had instrumental start and finishes and whose tempo was dragged right back from the golden era of Iron Maiden. That wasn’t something that Blaze could change, and in many ways it was he that felt the brunt of blame for it.
But here on Tenth Dimension, you get a much better idea of Blaze’s own ideas for his brand of heavy metal. All of the songs here range from 4-6 minutes, there is an excellent mixture of the fast tempo, high energy, guitar driven heavy metal tracks along with thoughtfully vocalled, mid-tempo songs that don’t lose themselves into becoming power ballads that euro metal bands may do. Having put together a terrific range of musicians who not only play well, but contributed to the writing of the music and shared a similar ideology, you can hear on both this album and the previous album that they are a great fit. Jeff Singer on drums is terrific, and the bass lines of Rob Naylor purr along beautifully throughout. The guitar riffing from Steve Wray and John Slater is quite remarkable, and their contributions to the writing of the songs is exceptional. Indeed, everything about this version of the band is brilliant, and having heard both of the first two albums, it continues to be a regret that this was their final act together. As was to become common place in Blaze’s first decade, management and money problems meant that all four other members of the band moved on following the tour to promote Tenth Dimension, and Blaze had to recruit a whole new assembly for his next album.

And just one further comment. Blaze’s first album was released at the same time as Iron Maiden’s reunion album Brave New World in 2000, while their follow up Dance of Death” came out in 2003. And I love both of those albums, because how couldn’t you? It’s Iron Maiden, as you expect them to be. But, and many will say I am either mad or blinded to be saying this, I have always felt that both Silicon Messiah and Tenth Dimension hold their own against both of those Iron Maiden albums on their own merits, because Blaze had progressed down a path that he was able to lead, rather than be a hired member. And that for me is the best part of Tenth Dimension – that a band of little-known performers with their slightly better known lead singer were able to come out and produce an album that loses nothing in comparison to a band with a massively greater profile.

1045. Megadeth / Rude Awakening [Live]. 2002. 5/5

That it took so long for Megadeth to release an official live album is probably disappointing in the whole scheme of metal things. Of course in recent years, with box sets and re-releases and expended edition albums coming at us with a whole cavalcade of live material none of us knew existed, it proves that shows WERE being recorded, but just not released to the public. In choosing an era in which to then record and release a live album, sometimes bands and record companies have funny ideas. Case in point – Rude Awakening, which comes after three only average selling and poorly reviewed albums, and with half of the band that many would consider the best lineup having moved on in very recent times. None of it particularly sets this up to succeed. But then, what the hell did I know?

I saw Megadeth on this tour, and it was indeed just brilliant. As awesome as they had been on the Rust in Peace tour in 1991, then they had played for only 75 minutes. On this tour it was well over two hours and contained as set list that was just about as good as you could produce from material all through the band’s career. It was sweat drenching by the end, and I only wished I could experience it again. As it turned out I could, because this was released on both CD and DVD and I got both to relive it all time and time again (although unfortunately without “The Conjuring” which they played at our show).
There are 24 songs packed onto two discs, and it is a tour-de-force of what has made Megadeth one of the biggest metal bands of the pre-2000 era. There’s no time for a break, no stopping to catch your breath, and the songs slide seamlessly together.
Some of the songs are intensified and brought out in all of their glory in the live environment. Opening tracks “Dread and the Fugitive Mind” and “Kill the King” are two of my favourite here because they sound much better played live than I felt about them of their studio versions. It improved my love for them no end. So too the live version of “She Wolf”, which is extended live to include a longer solo section for the guitars as well as a spot for Jimmy DeGrasso to show off his wares on the drums. What before this I had considered an average song I now felt (and feel) is a ripper. “Angry Again”, “Almost Honest” and “Burning Bridges” also sound great here.
Playing “Mechanix” is a nice touch and remembrance of the old days, though I’d have preferred “Rattlehead” or “Looking Down the Cross”. Also the back-to-back playing of “Hangar 18” and “Return to Hangar” works well.
And then you have the greats, songs like “Wake Up Dead”, “In My Darkest Hour”, “Tornado of Souls”, “Peace Sells” and “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due”. All of this mixed in with songs from almost every album the band has released makes for a brilliant live collective for every fan.
The band sounds fantastic, and the fact that both Jimmy DeGrasso and Al Pitrelli were moved on after this tour is a little disappointing because both sound great here. Pitrelli may not have been Dave Mustaine’s cup of tea (for whatever reason) but he could sure play guitar. It was also where he parted ways with Dave Ellefson for some time.

So as it turns out, in many ways, this was the perfect time to release a live album. It showcases everything brilliant about Megadeth, and covers a goodly proportion of their first two decades as a band. It probably marks the end of the great era of Megadeth, with what was to follow heading down a new path with new band members. As a mark of that time, this is an excellent landmark.

Rating: “Who’d have thought you’d be better at turning a screw than me”. 5/5

930. Avantasia / The Metal Opera Part II. 2002. 4/5

After the unexpected gloriousness of the concept of a heavy metal opera called The Metal Opera being brought to life by a standalone project called Avantasia, utilising the talents of a number of the better known players in the power metal community and consisting of strong material performed in an excellent light, there should probably have not been much surprise that a follow up was written and organised, to see if lightning could strike twice. The answer was a resounding yes to that notion.

I initially approached this with some trepidation, hoping for it to be great, and worried that it would not hold up against the original. There was little to fear though. The same musicians that formed the band for the first instalment are retained, and their excellence and professionalism again shines through on this album. Gamma Ray's Henjo Richter on guitars, Helloween's Marcus Grosskopf on bass and Rhapsody of Fire's Alex Holzwarth on drums, along with Tobi Sammet on keyboards, do a fantastic job again. When you talk about a super group, this is a pretty fair collection. The songs sound brilliant through their excellence, laying the platform for the multitude of characters who combine to create the story of the second stanza of this metal opera.
The songs themselves range in style, depending on the part of the story being relayed in each, and the characters involved. As in the first album, each vocalist is playing a different part in the opera. This one starts off with a cast of thousands - well, seven to be precise, with the title "The Seven Angels" probably giving that away. At fourteen minutes in length, it is the monster opening an album like this requires. Along with principle vocalist, Edguy's Tobias Sammet, who is also the creator of the Avantasia project and appears on vocals on every track, the other 'angels' are portrayed by some of the best vocalists in the genre - Oliver Hartmann, David DeFeis, Rob Rock, Andre Matos, Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen. Each is given their space, and then when they choir together it brings the whole body together. "No Return" is a faster paced song featuring Michael Kiske and Andre Matos and the flying guitar of Henjo as the basis. This is followed by "The Looking Glass", when Tobi goes it alone on lead vocals, though backed by the 'choir' throughout, with a heavier riff and plenty of emoting throughout.
On most other albums I would have issues with a song such as "In Quest For", because after the initial onslaught with the three powerful songs that begin the album, I would be ranting about how this quiet piano driven ballad had halted all momentum of the album, and how it was sucking the life out of what had already been injected through those opening tracks. Here however, it has its purpose, a part of the framework and story of the album, and Bob Catley again combines with Tobi in portraying their characters emotions.
This is overridden immediately when we rush straight into "The Final Sacrifice" which is dominated by the great riffing from Henjo and Marcus, and Alex's drumming. The musicianship here is something that comes forward after the quiet defining of the previous track, and while David DeFeis and Tobi are great here on vocals, just concentrate on those guitars from Henjo. Just awesome. From here, you can feel the joy in which "Neverland" is performed, and in the voices of those singing. This is one of those songs that you can't help singing along with the lyrics, performed with gusto by Rob Rock. This is a power metal staple, one of those songs that covers the best that this genre of metal can offer.
"Anywhere" under normal circumstances as well would fall in that same category that "In Quest For" does, for similar reasons. Again here though it probably fits the story being told, rather than being taken individually as a song as I would on the majority of other albums. It still isn't something that I have a great love for though.
"The Chalice of Agony" is another of the best songs on the album. The speed of the song here is the key, along with the brilliant duelling vocals between Kai, Tobi and Andre, and the brilliant guitaring of Henjo. Yes, this feels like a Gamma Ray song, and the two members of that band highlight the best of this song here. "Memory" mightn't be as fast as the previous song, but has that great riff running through it and sensational vocals from Ralf Zdiarstek and Tobi that produces another brilliant song, of an operatic quality even! The album concludes with "Into the Unknown", where the chorus comes together to complete the story, and the album in a melancholy yet satisfying way.

Whether or not you are interested in the story itself - and in this instance I honestly put my hand up to be in 'less interested' category - The Metal Opera Pt. II is a terrific album, laden with talented players and wonderful singers who all put their best foot forward here. Led by Tobias Sammet, who has again not only arranged the performers but also written the material for the album, the Avantasia metal opera project is a resounding success. While its success has parlayed itself into further albums and possibly even greater fame, this closed the door on the initial concept and many of the original performers, who have not appeared on later productions. It is a nice way to close that circle, before the next circle begins.

Rating:  "Out of the wine, out of the chalice of agony, welcome to Avantasia"   4/5

827. Dream Theater / Master of Metallica [Bootleg]. 2002. 5/5

Towards the end of February in 2002, on whatever music forums I was currently following and a member of, there began to be some interesting gossip concerning the band Dream Theater, and the possibility that they were going to do something "very special" at a concert they were performing in Barcelona in the coming days. Few details were being given, but as the day approached there was a rumour going around that they would be performing some songs that weren't necessarily their own. What that meant, and any significance, was never really touched on.
So the day, February 19, 2002, comes and goes, and then amazing reports are posted online everywhere. "DREAM THEATER DID THE ENTIRE MASTER OF PUPPETS ALBUM!!! LIVE!!!"

Wow. This is huge. I mean, bands had always performed cover versions of songs from artists they loved before, but this was on a massive scale. Not only had they performed an entire album live, it was actually an album that wasn't their own, it was someone else's! Amazing. And what's more -  everyone wants to hear it! OK. So, now the real ability of the internet at that time was about to be tested. Because with the advent of the internet, the tracking down and possessing of bootleg albums was suddenly becoming a lot easier than trying to trade with people from overseas. Now, with any luck, someone in the audience that night will have recorded the performance, and then hopefully someone will post it somewhere so that puerile novices such as myself on the other side of the world would be able to locate it and download it.
Well, surprising enough, a week later to the day Blabbermouth.com posted two links to where a bootleg of that performance had been uploaded online. So it was that only a little more than a week after the gig I was able to invite some mates around to listen to a performance we had been talking about for most of that time.
This is an amazing bootleg that records a significant moment in music history, and it does so brilliantly. Not only is it an excellent audience recording, it is enhanced by being so. The excitement of the crowd when they recognise the start of "Battery" is terrific, and their rapturous applause at the end of the song signifies that. But that pales compared to the roar when they hear the start of "Master of Puppets", and the singing from everyone is loud and raucous. Terrific. Then, when they hear the first two notes of "The Thing That Should Not Be", there is an awestruck "whoooaaa!!" as it finally hits home that the band is going to play the entire album!. The crowd's reactions are fantastic here, and you feel as though you are there.
As to the band's performance, I think it is superb. Many criticise parts of it, mostly James LaBrie's vocals, but I think he does a great job. No one expects him to be James Hetfield, just like anyone who goes to see a tribute band doesn't expect anyone in that band to be the epitome of the person they are paying tribute to. And obviously at times it doesn't feel as full as it could, with Jordan Rudess' keyboards replacing one of the guitars, but then you hear them play "Orion" and it actually fits the song remarkably well. And just think - this was the first time anyone had heard this entire album being performed live track-by-track - and it wasn't even by the band whose album it is! When my mates and I first heard it, we reckoned that we could hear a total of four mistakes during the performance. In hindsight of course we were wrong - now I think there was seven. Ever think about how ludicrous that is, learning these songs, no doubt in a reasonably short space of time, and only make a handful of mistakes, and not ones that anyone would really notice anyway! It is ridiculous.

This is one of the best bootlegs I own, not only for the historical nature of the performance, but by the great crowd interaction on the recording. if you can find it out there, it is worth tracking down.

Rating:  End of passion play, crumbling away...  5/5

729. Hughes Turner Project / Live in Tokyo. 2002. 4/5

The most exciting part about the release of the initial Hughes Turner Project album was to hear how the combination of the two partners vocals would turn out, as well hopefully producing some great material. While the vocals melded well, the great material didn't quite eventuate.
However, this live album is something quite different. Not only do we get the best of their material from their debut album in a live setting, we get a range of top shelf, classic songs from their past history, which combines some of the best songs released by the bands Deep Purple and Rainbow from their tenure in those bands.
While songs from their HTP project do come to life better in this live environment, most notably "You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll" and "Ride the Storm", as well as the always impressive "Devil's Road", it is the songs from their past that are the stars of this release. Listening to Glenn Hughes singing to the stars in "Mistreated" and "Stormbringer" is a treat in itself. The man that the Japanese dubbed "The Voice of Rock" again proves himself here with these Deep purple numbers. So much so that it makes his track that he recorded with Tony Iommi on Seventh Star, "No Stranger to Love", seem so much more ordinary because of it. His vocals on that album don't match what he can really do, and even this version of the song pales in comparison to those great Purple numbers. Joe Lynn Turner does his Rainbow number s with justice, especially "Spotlight Kid" and "I Surrender".
Though the two albums that this duo released, Hughes Turner Project and 2 were both somewhat disappointing for me, it was never through the quality of their musicianship, but just that they were a bit generic in their writing. This live album increases their value, as well as showcasing the amazing vocal capabilities of both gentlemen, along with the guitaring of Akira Kajiyama, who is quite scintillating in places. Fans of these gentlemen's contributions to Deep Purple and Rainbow will appreciate this album the best.

Rating:  No point running, cos it's coming your way.  4/5.

513. Hughes Turner Project / Hughes Turner Project. 2002. 2.5/5

I guess it was always going to be a given with these two singers, and their past history, that this album wasn’t going to be quite as good as I was hoping. There is no doubting the vocal chords of Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner, and their combined work in previous bands such as Deep Purple and Rainbow also proves they have what it takes. What it also proved is that both singers like to write their music a little on the softer side of hard rock, which creates a problem for me and my musical taste.

The songs here are caught somewhere between a pure rock ‘n’ roll and what I guess you’d call soft metal. They aren’t the kind of songs that are going to get radio airplay in most countries, and yet they would alienate most heavy metal fans for being just a bit too wussy. And in the long run, that’s how I feel listening to the album. I just wish they’d put some grunt in the instruments and really let fly with some heavier stuff. Instead, they have an album full of almost pop songs that don’t do a lot more than make me cringe.

There are a couple of songs on the album that are OK – and that’s the best I can give them too. Even those you are just waiting for the burst of real energy and grunt to take them to the level that would make them real catchy. I guess for those of us who knew JLT from Rainbow, and how their music softened considerably with his introduction to the band shouldn’t be so surprised. But I was hoping for more. If you are looking for something akin to what Rainbow had become by the end of JLT's reign, then you will probably enjoy this more than I did. In the end my expectations probably got the better of me, which has harmed the way I feel about the album.

Rating: A tad disappointing. 2.5/5.

507. Primal Fear / Horrorscope [EP]. 2002. 5/5

Released in 2002, this is an excellent five track EP which is worth picking up if you can still find it.
I just love “Under Your Spell, if only for the fact that it is (apparently) the entrance theme music for a German handball, according to their website the Frisch Auf Göppingen. That is magnificent. I’d watch more handball just for that reason.
There is also an unreleased bonus track from the Japanese version of Jaws of Death called (of course) “Horrorscope”.
Mixed with these are three cover songs – Gary Moore and Phil Lynott’s “Out in the Fields”, Accept’s “Breaker” and Rainbow’s “Kill the King”. All are superb renditions of these classic songs.

All in all, for an EP, you can’t do much better.

Rating: A great slice of music. 5/5.

468. Fozzy / Happenstance. 2002. 3.5/5

Fozzy had started life as Fozzy Osbourne, the brainchild of guitarist and vocalist Rich Ward of the band Stuck Mojo. It was originally supposed to be just a fun side project, and included then wrestling superstar Chris Jericho on vocals. The band was actually courted by Metal Blade Records and they filmed a "mockumentary" that aired on MTV. The show provided a fictional back story about the band, alleging that the members of Fozzy had in fact written many of the more popular 1980s metal songs, but that an unfair contract had forced the band to remain in Japan for the past 20 years, allowing other acts to take credit for the compositions. This was still in effect when it came to writing and recording “Happenstance”, with all of the band members credited under humorous pseudonyms such as Mongoose McQueen and Duke LaRue. And, as with the debut album, the majority of the songs on the album are cover versions of other bands songs, but of course the story is that they are actually songs written by Fozzy and stolen by those other bands over the years. What makes this more interesting is the originals that the band has produced, mixed in with the songs that everyone already knows, to judge just what Fozzy has to offer.

On the follow up to their debut album, Fozzy have doubled their original songs output from that first album. It contained just two originals, whereas here on “Happenstance” the band has four, and they are all very good songs, excellent in fact. The opening instrumental “Whitechapel 1888” punches straight into “To Kill a Stranger”, which was also the album’s first single. This song was used in the WWE for a time around its release, giving the cross promotion between Jericho’s two personas a boost. This was followed by the title track which is another excellent track. The final two originals are sandwiched between the cover songs that the band plays, and they blend in nicely into the album. “Crucify Yourself” has great power while “With the Fire” also has its moments. These songs show the ability of the band to produce their own songs, something that would eventually be a push towards the future.
When it comes to the cover songs on the album, Chris Jericho in particular has taken on some of the giants of the industry in regards to the songs that the band does and the singers who sing them. Trying to replicate vocals from the legends of the genre, including Rob Halford for Judas Priest’s “Freewheel Burning”, Ronnie James Dio for Black Sabbath’s “Mob Rules”, Klaus Meine for Scorpions’ “Big City Nights”, Blackie Lawless for W.A.S.P.’s “L.O.V.E. Machine”, Udo Dirkschneider for Accept’s “Balls to the Wall” and Bruce Dickinson for Iron Maiden’s “Where Eagles Dare” is as close to madness as one could possibly come. And t be perfectly honest he does a great job with all of them. The band does a great job in honouring the original versions, not straying too far from how they were originally recorded, and Jericho gives a great vocal performance.

Like most of the band’s early fans, I picked up on this through recommendations given to me through heavy metal message boards that existed at the turn of the century, and through a WWE wrestler becoming the lead singer of a heavy metal band. It’s hard not to bite at that and come in and check out what they are doing. I came across both of the first albums at the same time, which gave me the chance to play them back to back often and for some time during those years of 2002 and 2003. It was like having a best-of mixtape with a cover band doing all these great tracks. But I guess what was important for me was that I did enjoy the originals that the band had written, and even then I wondered firstly if the band would actually stick together seeing as it had started as a side project for all of the players, and secondly would they ever decide to put out a full original album.
And I’m pretty sure the band knew that if they were going to be taken seriously, and if they wanted success, that they had to become the band they were rather than the band that the backstory had proclaimed them to be, and to release an album full of only their own material rather than cover songs. And to their credit, this is exactly what they ended up doing, and it did create the kind of reaction that gave them the coverage they were looking for.
I still enjoy this album when I put it on, though as I have often said on this blog, when it comes to albums of cover songs, eventually you will want to gravitate back to the originals rather than continue listening to the cover band. But it is still great to hear how the band sounds on this album, and then how they sounded going forward. But that story is for another episode down the track somewhere.

463. Motorhead / Hammered. 2002. 3.5/5

Backing up after an excellent live album release as well as a thoroughly more aggressive and heavy album in We Are Motörhead, as well as fighting off two best-of compilations that were released in competition with each other, and the threesome of Lemmy, Phil and Mikkey had plenty of positive vibes heading into the writing and recording of their next album. The only question left to be answered was how would the material going forward sound in comparison to that which had been in the past.

One wonders just how influenced the music on Hammered was on what was happening around the band at that time. All three members in various interviews have mentioned how Phil and Mikkey flew into LA on September 10, 2001 to start writing for the album, and the following day saw the various attacks now known as 9/11. A quick listen to the lyrics on some songs as well as the titles leads you to believe there was quite a bit of that going on in their heads.
For whatever reason, the songs here are not as aggressive in musical tone as those from the previous album, and while I find that disappointing because I found it to be excellent there is still plenty to like here. In essence they return to the more natural rock ‘n’ roll formula that the band prefers than the outright heavy metal sound some people crave (myself probably included). I’m never quite sure if I like the experimentation with Lemmy’s vocals and the layered harmonies in the opener, “Walk A Crooked Mile”, but I still like the song. The same with “Down the Line”, but both opening songs are just a bit too samey, with the same riff running for the whole 4-5 minutes of the song. It does get a little repetitive. Both “Brave New World” and “Voices From the War” have a better pace and gallop about them and are more fun to listen to as a result.
“Mine All Mine” and “Shut Your Mouth” and “Dr. Love” have that rock formula to work on, but “Kill the World” and “No Remorse” have a more sinister sound about them, and one I can get on board with as well. To finish off the album we have the fastest song of the track list, as “Red Raw” races along and allows the band in my opinion to showcase the best of their wares. This is my favourite song on the album and does tend to allow me to overlook some of the weaker parts that come before it. This is followed by the spoken word track “Serial Killer” that also has the wrestler Triple H involved. On some versions of the album this is then followed by “The Game” which is the song that he used as his entry to the ring, and which Motörhead occasionally performed live at big events for him.

Over the course of their long career, one thing Motörhead has not been afraid to do is release new material. They have done it more often than most bands of a similar vintage, and they consistently put out albums that challenge their fans. Some may think this a strange thing to say, but it is accurate and you can see it in the various ratings of their albums along the way. Not everything they have done has pleased the critics or the fans. Hammered is another better-than-average release from this band, and while it may not have the same things that draws me so heavily to their previous album it has enough to ensure that fans of the band will again be pleased they have made the effort to listen to it.

Rating: “Don't say nothing shut your mouth, out of time work it out”.  3.5/5

436. Yngwie J. Malmsteen / The Genesis. 2002. 1.5/5

I don’t know if it is just because of the sheer volume of albums that he seemed to release during the 1990’s that I had never heard until five or so years ago, or because his stuff just seemed to run to a similar pattern, but there is a growing tediousness about some of Yngwie’s work. Sure, there is little doubt that he is still a great guitar player, but there must be a question over his actual song writing ability.

Here is another collection of fairly average type of songs. There is a greater collection of instrumentals here, which should be considered a good thing, but they are basically ordinary. The songs that do have vocals have very very poor vocals, which drag the songs down even further. I was astonished when I first listened to this album. Some places had praised it glowingly, and yet I can’t see through the gloom.

Rating: This release has very little to offer to any fan. 1.5/5

400. Dream Theater / Forbidden Dreams [Bootleg]. 2002. 3/5

This is an excellent A- bootleg from Dream Theater's Japanese tour, containing pretty much their best material to that point in their career (1994 and 1995). As per usual with Dream Theater, there are five or six instances where the band go off and do their 'instrumental' break for 5-10 minutes at a time. A fan will enjoy and tolerate them. Others may not.

I still think their live DVDs are the best way to appreciate this band. This does have its moments however.

Rating: Good quality bootleg that captures the band at an interesting time of their career. 3/5.

368. Masterplan / Enlighten Me [Single]. 2002. 5/5

An absolute pearler of a single release.

Containing the first single off the unbelieveably brilliant self-titled album by Masterplan, it also has the equally brilliant “Kind Hearted Light” as the 2nd track, the quite wonderful unreleased track “Through Thick And Thin” (which I find remarkable it wasn’t on the album itself), and the Led Zeppelin cover “Black Dog”.

Top notch all the way through. If only all single releases were this good.

Rating: Brilliant. 5/5.

365. Iron Maiden / Eddie's Archive [6 Discs]. 2002. 5/5

Even if, like me, you seem to own almost everything that Iron Maiden has released, you still couldn't go past buying this boxset. It is a spectacular release of old and rare and some hard to find stuff, all stashed into a little box that puts more dollars into Rod Smallwood's wallet.

Containing six discs, this has the best of everything. The old live stuff from the BBC Archives that most of us have had on bootleg tapes for years, combined with pieces from the 1988 Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour. The Beast Over Hammersmith set, once again a gig most of us have bootlegs of, but now have on crystal clear CDs. And the combined B-Sides collection, most of which we own from the Ten Year anniversary albums we bought back in 1990.

So OK - we had it all before. But we went out and bought it again, didn't we? And why? Because it's Iron Maiden, and you just have to have it.

Rating:  Some great stuff on here, that major fans of the band will love. And probably already own.  5/5

328. Midnight Oil / Capricornia. 2002. 3/5.

Everything I have written about Midnight Oil’s album since Blue Sky Mining pretty much relates again here. This being the final release for the Oils doesn’t add any nostalgia.

You can’t blame a band whose musical direction changes, or mellows, over time, especially when that band has been around for as long as Midnight Oil has been. The writing changes, the style changes with it, and the members of the group are of course also changing. Many people may think it’s a change for the better, many will think that the change is unfortunate.
My own personal opinion is that, while the music has changed a ways since their initial albums, so have I, and perhaps my changes have moved me further down the spectrum too.

What we’ve moved into here is easy listening. You don’t jump and down and dance anymore. You sit in your comfy sofa chair and listen with a cup of tea. The songs are still good, and mostly listenable, but they don’t have the same fire anymore.

Best here for me are “Golden Age”, "Been Away Too Long" and “Mosquito March”.

Rating: The end probably came at the right time. 3/5.

325. Arch Enemy / Burning Angel [Single]. 2002. 4/5

Great single, complemented by the two other songs on the disc. It's very rare that you buy a single and get all songs on it worth listening to. This is an example of that rare bird.

Rating: Four stars. 4/5.