246. Y&T / Down For The Count. 1985. 3.5/5.

More of what you know from the Y&T stable.
This is another great rockin' album. Every song keeps the tempo up and moving. Dave Meniketti's vocals are one of the most recognisable in the heavy metal industry, a great signature for a band to have.

OK, it's a Y&T album, and as with most of their albums in the 1980's it is very similar to its predecessors. Most of the time this can be a hinderance for a band, as it eventually became for these guys. Still, what I like about Y&T is that when you put on one of their albums, you generally know what to expect. Meniketti really is one of my favourites of all time, mainly for his vocals, but also his guitaring and song-writing.

What is with the cover of Your Mama Don't Dance though? I find it OK, but just unexpected.

Favourites on this disc for me include Face Like An Angel, In The Name Of Rock, Looks Like Trouble and Don't Tell Me What To Wear.

Rating : Y&T still rockin' in the '80's. :) 3.5/5.

245. KISS / Double Platinum. 1978. 5/5

This is the definitive best-of collection of KISS pre-1978, which many call their Golden Age. Whether or not you believe that, this album holds the best that they produced

No need to go any further really. Best-of. If you want it, get it!

Rating : Couldn't do better than this for the era. 5/5.

244. W.A.S.P. / Double Live Assassins. 1998. 5/5.

Hot on the heels of the return of Chris Holmes and the rising of W.A.S.P. from the ashes came this double live album, recorded on the K.F.D tour through 1997.

Double Live Assassins brilliantly captures the band live and in their element. The album, while containing quite a few songs from the latest album, still covers material covering the band's entire career, and while it is not a definitive song list, it does justice to W.A.S.P.'s greatness.

I have always been slightly suspicious of the vocal quality on this album – has there been any overdubbing? I have found no evidence either way to suggest they have or haven't. I am also not as taken with the songs from K.F.D, but you can't have everything, can you?!
I'll give you this though – this sounds bloody superb, especially at 200 decibels at 10.30pm in a deserted BP service station!!

Rating : As good a live album as you could wish to hear. 5/5.

243. The Mutton Birds / Don't Fear The Reaper [Single]. 1998. 2.5/5.

This was the single off the soundtrack to The Frighteners. I've always like the song (the original of course by the Blue Oyster Cult), and bought this on a whim in Newtown one day.
The single of course is good. Not a bad remake at all. The other two songs are ordinary.

Rating: Meh. 2.5/5.

242. Andi Deris / Done By Mirrors. 2000. 3/5.

This is pretty standard stuff from Andi, doing his own stuff away from what he is better known as these days, which is a part of Helloween.

He doesn't set any records for originality, but it seems that this album is really serving as the opportunity for Andi to get his other influences out of his system that he doesn't with his band.
And in a lot of ways, that is a good thing. Like I said, there is nothing too special about this release. It is middle-of-the-road hard rock kinda stuff, non-threatening and easy enough to listen to. But it doesn't inflame the desire or capture the imagination either.

Best on the album for me include Let Your Love Fly Free, Free and Back Again.

Rating : Not for the true heavy metal fan, but worth listening to if you are a hard rock connoisseur. 3/5.

241. Symphony X / The Divine Wings Of Tragedy. 1997. 4/5.

I didn't discover Symphony X until their Odyssey album, and then backtracked to pick up their back catalogue.

This album reminds me a lot of Yngwie Malmsteen's best stuff – great vocals, great guitaring, prominent keyboards and terrific drumming. Though from this popint of their careers they go more in the Dream Theater vein musically, this is very much in the 80's Malmsteen tradition. This is especially so on the first three tracks of the album – Of Sins And Shadows, Sea Of Lies and Out Of The Ashes.

The song The Divine Wings Of Tragedy is certainly a marathon, and doesn't quite hold itself all the way through. Unlike those songs listed above, and Pharoah and The Eyes Of Medusa, it just doesn't maintain the album for me. I think they could have done it better. That of course is just my opinion.

Rating : A great album with a great sound. 4/5.

240. Slayer / Divine Intervention. 1994. 4.5/5.

The release of Slayer’s fifth studio album “Seasons in the Abyss” saw the band truly explode on the world stage, with their popularity rising to new heights. The tour to support that album became enormous. They toured Europe and North America with the Clash of the Titans tour alongside bands such as Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Suicidal Tendencies and Alice in Chains, and released the amazing live album “Decade of Aggression” in 1991.
Beyond this, there were a few things going on. In May 1992, drummer Dave Lombardo, the engine room of the band, quit Slayer, essentially due to wanting to be able to spend time with his family but also through disagreements with the rest of the band. It was something that took the fan base by surprise. In his place the band brought in Paul Bostaph, who had previously been the drummer for the band Forbidden. The band continued touring through 1992 and 1993, and also contributed songs with rapper Ice-T for the soundtrack to the movie “Judgement Night”.
It wasn’t until March 1994 that they band returned to the studio to begin writing and recording for the follow up album. It was already far longer between albums than the band had ever spent, and they now also had four months ahead in the studio. Vocalist and bass guitarist Tom Araya was quoted after the album’s release that more time was spent on the production for this album than they had on any of their previous releases.
The other thing that had occurred during this time of course was the elevation of grunge music to the top of the charts, and the influence that that had had on other heavy metal and thrash metal bands throughout the world. Bands had changed their sound to incorporate the new wave, or to completely embrace it, with mixed results. Other bands had literally disappeared into the ether as a result of this change in the music world. Slayer, with Bostaph appearing on his first Slayer album, and with such a long time between releases, came out and provided their response to everything that had occurred in that time frame… by producing an album that sounded exactly like you would expect a Slayer album to sound. Aggressive. Topical. Heavy.

Kerry King dominates the first side of the album when it comes to composition. “Killing Fields” is all over the place tempo wise, and the way Bostaph plays. The timings don’t really seem to fit together at any point in time, until finally the song kicks into gear at the three-minute mark, when everything comes together. I’ve never really been able to get my head around the concept of this opening track. A mix of slower tempo music with over-the-top double kick drums that are filling too much of the song than necessary. The last minute is fine. The first three are strange. It sounds like it was a chance to introduce Bostaph to the band, get him to showcase every skill in the book to prove he could replace Lombardo. Anyway. “Sex. Murder. Art” is more like the Slayer everyone knows. Straight into the fast tempo song that Slayer are renown for. Short, sharp and to the point. Excellent. “Fictional Reality” is more of what you expect from a Kerry song. Great riff, driven by the drums, and Tom’s vocals chant over the top. We then jump straight into “Dittohead”, and I’ve always loved this song. Pure thrash from start to finish, as fast as you can play and then play a bit faster. Awesome riffage, and could fit anywhere in Slayer’s discography and be brilliant. The title track “Divine Intervention” channels “Skeletons of Society” from the previous album, in the mid-range tempo guitars. The song is built on the scream side of Araya’s vocals, which does get tiresome at times when you know what he could do on earlier albums and on other songs on this album. The song goes too long, over five and a half minutes, especially given the length of the entire album as a whole. But the twin guitar solos toward the end make it worthwhile. “Circle of Beliefs” jumps back into the faster bandwagon, the type of songs that are the better side of Slayer. Flying along musically, especially those riffing guitars, and Araya’s vocals are at their best here, not screaming but pointedly booming out of the speakers at you. It’s a great song.
“SS-3” is the real start of the Jeff Hanneman composed or co-composed tracks, and now we are off to the races. “SS-3” is scintillating throughout, and those guitar solos are now back in the iconic areas that we know so well from this duo. Once again Tom’s vocals seem more natural and enjoyable on this track. Following this is “Serenity in Murder”, which was released as a single/EP, with three live songs attached to it (which is also awesome by the way). Tom experiments with his vocals throughout this song which improves it dramatically. Nice riffing, and a drop back in tempo, but it is pulled together by the dramatic effect of the track. “213” differentiates itself with the clear doom guitar intro to the track, a slow and foreboding build up right to the two minute mark, when Araya joins up and the riff breaks in. It’s an unusual Slayer song, one of Hannemann’s ‘out of the box’ compositions that may well be a step too far for some fans, but which I have always really enjoyed. The album then concludes with “Mind Control”, back into the swing of a typical Hannemann track, with both he and Kerry charging along both riff wise and solo wise. It’s a perfect way to end an album that keeps thrash alive in the mid-1990’s.

It was ridiculous how long we had to wait for this album. Given the ‘bang-bang’ release of those first five albums, four year between this and “Seasons in the Abyss”, even giving the release of “Decade of Aggression”. So when this finally surfaced it was a very exciting trip into the city to purchase my CD copy of the album. My memories of those initial reactions to the album are slight ambivalence. I had certainly built up the anticipation of this album far too much, and expected something that was going to blow my socks off from the first time I played the album, and I definitely didn’t get that. Some of it I found great from the beginning, but other parts of the album left me less than excited. Looking back from all of these years later, I can understand what 24 year old me was thinking. Because when I listen to this album today, I still get those feelings. I’ve had another couple of weeks revisiting the album, and it is the same songs today that light a fire, and the same songs today that I think miss their mark, and in some cases not inconsiderably. In trying to understand that, when I think about all of the band’s other albums, and perhaps “Divine Intervention” just suffers in my mind from being the sixth album in line behind five amazing opening albums of the band’s discography. I certainly don’t consider this a bad album, but it doesn’t rank against those other albums that came before it. On the other hand, it stands up pretty well compared to a couple of albums at least that are yet to come. So what is it missing that makes those other albums great? I don’t know the answer to that as such, except to say that there are some changes on this album that perhaps don’t retain the same intensity, drive and attitude of the music that preceded this. I was certainly in a different place in my life at the time, and I imagine Slayer as a band was also. “Divine Intervention” is still a very good album, one that defied the era in regards to metal music, and stuck true to the band’s ideals for what it wanted to produce musically. For that alone it deserves your attention.

239. Van Halen / Diver Down. 1982. 1.5/5.

Van Halen’s popularity had been booming for a number of years prior to 1981, when they released their album “Fair Warning”, one which you can find an episode of this podcast on in Series 1. The tour following that had been extensive, and following it, the band had been looking to gain some down time, before they began again and looked to record a new album. As I mentioned in the intro, in the days where albums still sold enough to be a main form of income, record companies were looking for more releases rather than an extended time between albums being recorded. So what the band did instead, in order to buy themselves more time was to record a cover song as a single to release as new music. Though David Lee Roth had suggested doing a cover of the song “Dancing in the Streets”, it was eventually decided to do a version of “(Oh) Pretty Woman”, the Roy Orbison song. The problem was, it began to move up the charts, and with that success, there were even more demands from their record company to get a new album out. Pushed into a corner, the band relented, and moved into the studio.
Was there a deliberate ploy to involve cover songs on the album? Was it a way of filling an album and getting it out as quickly as possible? Or did the band truly think this was where they were at in their career and that this was a ‘bold’ move? To be honest, I don’t know the answers to those questions, but given the album that “Diver Down” is, they are questions that are worth asking and mulling over.

I guess, for me, I need to split this album into the two halves that it comes in – the original tracks that appear on the album, and the cover songs that take up the remainder of the album. So let’s look at those cover songs first. And in all there are five of them. And all five are mostly well known tracks from their original forms, or from further more popular cover versions that were created form them. The opening track is “Where Have All the Good Times Gone” which was originally recorded by The Kinks. And it opens the album fine. Would I have expected a harder edge on the song? Perhaps. Was the band trying to do a fairly close cover of the song, and just adding a bit of Van Halen to it to create a point of difference? My guess is yes.
The second cover is of “(Oh) Pretty Woman”, which was also the single released before the album. The band wrote an instrumental intro piece that led into the song, on the album called “Intruder” which actually acts as a nice lead in. Once again though, perhaps I expected more guitar influence to come into the track, expecting Eddie to flail. Don’t get me wrong, his guitaring here is terrific, but I guess I expected, and expect, more from it. Side 2 opens with “Dancing in the Street” which really sticks to the same tempo of the original. It’s interesting that the Mick Jagger/David Bowie version that came out a couple of years later was far more upbeat and rocking that this version. I’ve never really understood that. If you are going to do cover songs, why just recreate them without a bit of artistic licence? Again, Dave sings it well, the band plays it well, but would my life be different if I hadn't heard it?
THEN we have a song called “Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now), from all accounts a song Dave found on an obscure radio station, recorded it and played it to the band, who laughed and said ‘let’s do it!’ If nothing else, at least you get to hear Alex and Eddie’s father Jan play clarinet on the track – Jan was apparently a very accomplished player in his day. But apart from the novelty of that, it’s just not what I want to hear. And yes, Dave especially is always very eclectic in his music, his solo career has shown that, but isn’t this just a step too far? Fan-wise, this isn’t for me. And nor is the album closer, “Happy Trails”.

Beyond that, the original Van Halen material for the album fluctuates. “Hang ‘em High” had apparently been floating around for awhile, and was reworked to fit into the album, and it does fit in snugly after the opening track. “Cathedral” is an instrumental piece Eddie had apparently written more than a year before, and had played it on stage a bit, and he wanted it to have its place on vinyl. “Secrets” is a slower lounge club song of the style Dave seems to enjoy. “Little Guitars” has a great feel to it, mixing Eddie’s styles of guitar riff over Michael Anthony’s great bass sound. It’s almost like early Police in sections, it’s a good one. And “The Full Bug” sees the real Van Halen return, with DLR squeal and Eddie’s guitar on fire, the chorus back up of Michael and Eddie backing Dave’s vocals, and Alex’s solid hard core drum beat.
In summation of the original songs here, more than anything, these songs sound like Van Halen. They are played at a clip, the vocals don’t sound forced, and Eddie plays his guitar like he wants to, putting it his pieces like they fit rather than integrated within a framework.

My discovery of Van Halen came from the “1984” album and beyond, and it was several years before I really began to research and discover the albums that were released prior to it. And despite some reservations about certain parts of certain albums I enjoy all of them.
But I can assure you that when I first heard this album, I was... appalled? I guess? It completely took me by surprise. And you know, it’s not that Van Halen hadn’t performed cover songs before. “You Really Got Me” came right off that first album, so cover songs are not a surprise. But the ones they chose to do here, and in the style they did? That really harmed the way I saw this album for a very long time. And certainly once I started asking around about what other people thought of the album, it surprised me as well. I can’t believe this album spent something like 65 weeks in the US charts, I really can’t. And there have been polls and articles written ranking this as one of the great guitar albums, and I can’t wrap my head around that either.
So yes, my first impressions of this album was that it was dogshit. I didn’t like it, It pretty much either bored me or just plain didn’t interest me. And although that was a few years ago, I still feel that at the time it was accurate. Have things changed over the years? A little bit I guess. I have enjoyed the album (for the most part) over the last couple of weeks. I still enjoy the opening tracks, I love “Intruder” and the way it acts as the segue into “(Oh) Pretty Woman”. And I still love “The Full Bug”. Overall, I have enjoyed “Diver Down” a hell of a lot more over this period of recollection and reminiscing than I have ever done so previous to this. So I guess I don’t HATE this album anymore. I certainly seriously dislike some of the tracks, but I guess I can stand to live with that. Perhaps I’m just getting old.

238. Live / The Distance To Here. 1999. 3.5/5

This is more a return to form for Live after their inconsistent previous release Secret Samadhi. For the most part of this album, it is a return to their real rock sound, with their alternative roots.

Live is a band that I have very high peaks and troughs with, not because of the music generally, but because of my mood swings in regards to the likability of other forms of music other than heavy metal. Live have always fallen into that category.
Here though they put together an album that keeps the beat flowing through most of the album. There are what I would term a few flat spots on the second half of the disc. But overall it is a good album.

Favourites for me include The Dolphin's Cry, The Distance, Run To The Water and Feel The Quiet River Rage.

Rating : A pretty good effort. 3.5/5.

237. Alice Cooper / Dirty Diamonds. 2005. 4/5.

Alice Cooper just keeps on keeping on, and has another great album here.

What you will notice about this album is that it is a real throwback to his early work. It is a real danger to compare albums, especially to bonafide great ones, but Dirty Diamonds reminds me a lot of the way Billion Dollar Babies and Welcome To My Nightmare were written and arranged. There is plenty of fast and heavier material, then slow and retrospective material. The guitaring on this album is different from just about anything else Alice has ever done, and it gives the album a modern feel that agrees completely with the style and arrangement.

This is an Alice album for the new millenium. It is an impressive advancement once again. Alice has already shown his ability to adapt from the 70's to the 80's and 90's, and here he had made the slight adjustment that he needed from Brutal Planet and Dragontown to find the right balance.

My favourites from the album include Woman Of Mass Distraction, You Make Me Wanna, Dirty Diamonds, Steal That Car, Your Own Worst Enemy and Stand.

Rating : A great entry into the Alice Cooper discography. 4/5.