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.

512. Suicidal Tendencies / How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today. 1988. 4/5

It isn’t unusual for a band to change its thematic sound over a period of time, whether through a desire to ‘keep up with the times’ or by a gradual build of the band’s members to move in that direction. Any number of bands for instance made changes to their core sound as they moved from the 1980’s into the 1990’s and made a change to remain hip and relevant, most without success. The band Suicidal Tendencies definitely changed the way they were making music by the time they reached the point of making their third studio album during 1988. Their debut album five years earlier had been a hardcore punk release, utilising all of the core elements of that genre of music and making a mark as a result. Their follow up album didn’t appear for four more years, and with the addition of Rocky George on guitar. This album, “Join the Army”, had begun the change in the band’s sound, dialling back the outright hardcore punk sound to include a more crossover theme beginning to involved a metal sound, something that had a lot of their long term fans less than happy with the results. There was less of the punk antics and screaming from vocalist Mike Muir and a more songwriting-centric feel about the songs, something that began to find new fans as the older fans found disillusionment.
Despite this, more changes were afoot as the band came off the road and began to prepare for their new album, “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today”. Muir had joined the speed metal band No Mercy as well, who released one album before the other members apart from band leader Mike Clark departed. Rather than continue on, Muir, who was becoming more excited about heading down a more metal path than the band’s previous punk ideals, recruited Clark to join Suicidal Tendencies as the guitar partner for Rocky George, who had already shown his metal influences in his writing on the “Join the Army” album. This then resulted in original bass guitarist Louiche Mayorga being moved on, as he was trying to keep the band’s original punk influences in the songs against the flow of the torrent that was coming against him. Clark took on the majority of the band’s songwriting for the new album, with his speed metal leanings becoming the dominating factor along with Rocky George’s electrifying solos. The term ‘crossover thrash’ probably wasn’t coined solely for Suicidal Tendencies in this era of the band, but it certainly tied in nicely to the sound that was about to be released on their 3rd album.

Even for the era that this was released, it was a pretty impressive upgrade in the music that the band had produced on their previous two releases. It isn’t a genuine thrash metal album, and there is very little of the band’s initial punk influences here either. But in a combination of the two styles, Suicidal Tendencies have created an album that meshes two high velocity genres into something that transcends both. The more complex writing and guitaring paths, along with timing changes that create this new collective, are a winner. Mike Clark’s introduction to the band as a co-writer on the majority of the tracks with Mike Muir is superb, and with the writing allowing for a better use of Rocky George and his soling. By creating places within the songs for him to freeform in that way, it highlights the points of difference from the band’s earlier material and allows this to be an album that breaks their mould and begin looking over the horizon to the future.
The album opens with the mind-blowing “Trip at the Brain”, the first single from the album and whose music video was a favourite on all music videos shows. There’s a bit of everything on this track, from the punk to thrash to rapping-like vocals in the middle of the song. It has always been a fan favourite and is still great fun to listen to. “Hearing Voices” follows this and does so in great style, again raging against the warriors and featuring great heavy music at a pleasing pace reminiscent of that speed metal that Mike brings to the album in his writing. Then comes “Pledge Your Allegiance”, which incorporates the chants that crowds would give to the band at their live shows, and encapsulates them in a song that gives the crowd their opportunity to be a part of the band.
The title track progresses from the serene-like beginning of the song to the hard core lyrical crowd chanting of the chorus, and then highlighted by the amazing solo section in the middle of the song that screams all of the best aspects of the thrash metal template. That middle section is one of my favourite parts of the album, as both Rocky and Mike left fly in a cacophony of guitars that has even well-past-middle-age fans jumping around. “The Miracle” again melds the past and present, a song that has a real thrash metal edge to it but is sung and played in a hardcore punk style of yore, before expanding itself into a progressive thrash-type middle section, and then crashing back into the high speed hard core back third of the song. Just awesome. “Suicyco Mania” repeats the thrash crossover style, at a faster and harder pace that is summed up in the title of the song.
“Surf and Slam” is an amazing revival from the 60’s surfing sound, a song that perfectly encapsulates the surf rock sound that bands like The Atlantics used in their music, and upgrades it markedly to the present day. Without the use or need of lyrics apart from a couple of chanted lines, this song is engaging to the skate/punk tribalism that the band first attracted, and puts the foot down to increase that feeling. It’s a great song that nicely merges the past and present of Suicidal Tendencies.
The closing four songs on the album don’t let up in intensity. “If I Don’t Wake Up” is a great song dominated by Rocky’s lead through the middle of the song and a great riff-and-drum based rhythm through most of the track, with Mike Muir wonderfully on song with his vocals. “Sorry” is one of the best, fast paced apology songs ever written. Power metal bands would make a cock up of this kind of track and make it into a power ballad, but here Rocky and Mike just go faster and harder and allow the apology of the track to be utilised as a headbanging song. Perfect if you ever need to express your regret at some time in life. “One Too Many Times” is more of the same, with Muir’s vocals again expressing regret in the lyrics but escalates it to an emotionally charged upbeat song. And the album concludes with another ripping song “The Feeling’s Back” that takes those same kind of emotions and then unleashes them in a positive thrashing song, letting out all pent up feelings and delivering a sensational conclusion to an amazing album.

I came into Suicidal Tendencies a bit later than others, and indeed didn’t really know of them at all until the guys in the band I was in during the late 80’s and early 90’s told me – not asked, told – that we were going to play “Trip at the Brain” by Suicidal Tendencies, to which I replied... I don’t know any of their songs. The tape duly arrived, and we did end up playing that song, and it was fun and raucous. Good times. About a year later I was visiting my grandmother neat Maitland and I popped into a nondescript record store there, and the first CD on the shelf under “S” was this album, which I purchased immediately. And thus, a love affair began.
It’s funny how this album comes out to be played. It can be a few years between it coming out, but when it does, I remember all over again what a terrific album it is, and it then invariably stays in the CD player for more than a few listens before it goes back to the shelf, waiting for the next time it comes into my peripheral vision. And despite the fact I think the band is great, this is still the only Suicidal Tendencies album that I own. I have had this playing over and over once again for the past month as I go through these albums to review, and not once has it failed to lift my spirits or make me think “wow, that is still a great song!”.
This album proved to be a catalyst for the band, and they continued in this direction over the next couple of albums, which introduced the frenzied funk of Rob Trujillo on bass guitar. I saw the band live for the first time on their first tour of Australia, as support for Alice in Chains, and they were amazingly awesome, proving they could do the job live just as well as they laid it down in the studio. But surely there should never have been any doubt that they could do that.

511. Midnight Oil / 20,000 Watt R.S.L. 1997. 4.5/5

Given that the band has an enormous following not only in Australia but around the world, and a whole bunch of album packed full of great songs, it makes it difficult to try and put together a greatest hits album that truly brings together the best the band has done. And, as always, the final song selection will find individuals decrying the leaving out of this song or that song. Personal opinion can only be sated so often.

In my opinion, that fact does raise its head here, but it is not an overwhelming demand. The song selection here finds the majority of their biggest hits on board, covering the majority of their albums. It would be a harsh critic to suggest that any of the songs here don't deserve their place. Of course, I am a harsh critic, and I don't think songs such as "What Goes On", "White Skin Black Heart" and "Surf's Up Tonight" could possibly be regarded as better songs than "No Time for Games", "Short Memory" and "Read About It".

Despite this, 20,000 Watt R.S.L. is a wonderful collection from the career of a terrific band. For the Johnny-come-lately, this is a pretty good place to start if you want to learn about Midnight Oil. For the fan, it's a great trip down memory lane.

510. Kiss / Hotter Than Hell. 1974. 3/5

In February of 1974 Kiss had released their self-titled debut album, rising on the back of their hard touring schedule and the marketability of their costumes and make up which were beginning to give the band some traction. Touring on the back of the album’s release saw them gain a core following, something that their management and record company looked to take advantage of. With this in mind, just six months after that debut album’s release, Kiss, was back in the studio, writing and recording the follow up album. In the modern day and age, it seems like a ludicrously short time between albums. Releasing albums every year must have been difficult enough, but creating another album in a timespan shorter than that surely would create some problems. In recent episodes of this podcast, we have seen the result of bands who have had to create new material under such time constraints as this, and the general feeling about those albums is that, given a little more time to compose and refine the material those albums may have ended up being better than they were.
Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise were again chosen as producers, but as they had just relocated to Los Angeles, the New York based band followed them to the west coast, something that didn’t take long to not sit well with them. They were out of their comfort zone, something that may have affected their mindset in that regard.
How much pressure would have been on the band to come up with an album that could be a worthy follow up to their debut just months after they had finished recording that album? To know now, looking back, at the number of iconic tracks that album contains, it feels as though it was always going to be a difficult proposition. Added to relocating to unknown territory to record the next album, the whole situation in retrospect looks as though it was a pressure cooker. IN fact, one might say that it was “Hotter Than Hell”

This album has been described as moody and darker than the debut album, and in a way that is channelled by the plodding pace of many of the tracks here as well. “Got to Choose” leads off that way, Gene’s bass taking prominence, and Paul’s vocals are in his lower range than his best tracks where he hits the high range which in most cases brings the enjoyment to the song. Here it is a slower and less energetic start to the album, brightened by Ace’s guitar solo through the middle of the song. “Goin’ Blind” is a reworking of a Wicked Lester song, that musically drags the mood down to the depths and the lyrical content about a romance between a 16 year old girl and 93 year old man hardly engendering itself to anyone. The title track on this studio album mirrors the opening song, barely getting out of second gear as the music plods along to a morbid drum beat and Paul’s vocals not being pushed at all. When it has been played live it always sound better, but the bones of the track remain as a slow tempo mood stomper.
The one major exception to this is “Parasite”, probably not surprisingly written by Ace given what is happening around this song on the album. It brightens up the album immediately after the slow start and jumps out of the speakers at you as one of the top shelf songs from the album. Ace’s guitaring is fabulous, and Gene’s vocals are at their best with the galloping beat. Ace wrote three songs on this album, handing one each to the other band members to take on the lead vocals of the track. His confidence in his own vocals at this point in time was visibly low. In the case of “Parasite” at least, the choice of Gene to sing it is perfect. Alongside this, the middle album tracks of “Let Me Go, Rock ‘N Roll” and “All the Way” show some enterprise and energy. “Let Me Go, Rock ‘N Roll” has a 1950’s rock and roll sound to it, with Ace’s guitar shadowing that era’s sound during his riff and solo, and Gene again getting up front and energetic in his vocals. It is only a little over two minutes in length, but it is a good pick me up. “All the Way” is a typically upbeat Gene song to follow it, with great support vocals during the chorus and another Ace special in the solo section. And yet another Gene song “Watchin’ You” follows in the same wake with a great drum beat from Peter helping to drive the track. After the downside mood in the first third of the album this middle section lifts the album, even if lyrically it isn’t Shakespearean.
“Mainline” is written by Paul but sung by Peter, and this combination gives the song a very early 70’s contemporary sound. At times Peter sounds like great Australian rocker Billy Thorpe, and on this song the resemblance is almost uncanny. This is followed by “Comin’ Home” with Gene’s bass line coming through as a dominant force, and Paul’s vocals sounding the most Paul-like for the album. One thing that is unusual on this album is that of the ten tracks, Gene sings five, Peter two, and Paul only three. “Strange Ways” is the second of those Peter sung tracks, with a tempo reminiscent of the earlier tracks on the album. Musically it is a strange choice to close out the album. Reverting back to what had come at the top of the album, and then having an abrupt end to the song and therefore the album, feels like a less than satisfactory conclusion.

Yes! It’s Kiss again! And my entry story remains the same. (I wonder if my cousin David ever actually listened to my podcast – which he definitely won’t - if he would actually remember his days living at our grandmothers and his walls covered in Kiss posters and me outside his bedroom door listening to him playing these albums at high volume...).
Anyway... yes... a foray from my cousin, to the singles on the radio and “Crazy Nights”. Most of you will know the story by now. And the discovery of the 1970’s albums was what came after all that. And when I started going back for those albums, there were some that grabbed me immediately, fastened themselves onto me, and clung on for dear life. And there were others that... just didn’t make the cut. “Hotter Than Hell” was certainly one of the latter. Through no fault of its own, it didn’t have the components that I was looking for in a Kiss album by the time I got around to listening to it. I like music with a good tempo, with energy. I like the vocals to be expressing themselves, not just going through the motions. And for the most part here, “Hotter Than Hell” can’t offer that. Compared to others such as the debut album and then “Dressed to Kill” and “Destroyer”, it was less enticing. I did listen to the album when I got it, but in the queue to be the Kiss album I chose to listen to when that desire came, it was a long way back.
As I have had my CD copy back in the stereo over the last couple of weeks, I have wondered if I would feel differently about this album if I had been old enough to listen to it when it was released, rather than trying to come to terms with it in a future time. And I still come to the same conclusion, even after giving this another dozen or so at least listens for this episode. That of those first four albums in particular, this is the weakest, where the material overall just doesn’t compare to those other three albums. And my tastes also want those opening songs to be faster and more energetic, such as they would have played them live on stage. Because then I think they would have all sounded far better than they do here.
In conclusion? I don’t mind “Hotter Than Hell”. Perhaps I have sounded harsher here than I need to be, and that is just my own musical bias coming through. In the Kiss catalogue, this is not a top 10 album. For me it is probably nearer the bottom than the top. That doesn’t make it a bad album, just one that I find less great than others. Far better was just around the corner for the band, including the live album that was to be the single greatest influence on their fortunes for the rest of their career.

509. Queen / Hot Space. 1982. 3/5

Even though I wasn’t old enough or interested enough in the history and the rolling development of bands through the 1970’s and the early 1980’s, it is pretty easy to trace just how the burgeoning career of Queen moved throughout that period. Their popularity grew with each album, and singles such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” gained plenty of airplay. But it was the single from their album “The Game”, John Deacon’s “Another One Bites the Dust” that outsold them all, and is seen as the reason that the band went down the path that eventually led to “Hot Space”. The popularity of that single, especially in dance clubs and as a dance track, directed much of the writing for the band’s next album after “The Game” and “Flash Gordon”. In many ways, the album just heads in the same direction music around the world was going at that time. The emergence of both disco and new wave following the rise and fall of the punk movement dictated a popularity phase that you can only imagine band front man Freddie Mercury found very much to his liking, and John Deacon’s preference for music that was not as heavy as that preferred by the other members of the band, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May, gave that momentum towards that sound.
In recent years, it has also been postulated that Freddie’s ‘personal manager’ Paul Prenter had been encouraging Freddie every step of the way to go down this path, which helped to convince the singer to move in that direction. Roger Taylor is hilariously quoted as saying “Prenter wanted our music to sound like you'd just walked in a gay bar...and I didn't".
The use and experimentation with new devices though helped to bring that sound to the album as well. There was a greater emphasis on synthesizers, as well using a drum machine for the first time. The style of music is a definite change in direction from the general rock and hard rock that had been their staple, now introducing and concentrating on the disco and dance new wave genre that was so prevalent in that age. I mean, for goodness sake, even Kiss dabbled in it with their “Dynasty” album. So they weren’t on their own in mixing up their sound for this album, but it was at the risk of alienating everything they had done up until this point of their careers.

OK, so let’s get this out of the way from the get go. This is a Queen album, so if you like Queen, then you have a reasonable idea as to what you are walking into. Now, think about Queen, but heading more towards a disco angle than a rock angle. Got it? Well now you have a better idea of what awaits you. It’s quite the eclectic mix of tracks,
“Staying Power” and “Dancer” start the album off with plenty of energy, but it takes some getting used to. “Staying Power” has synth bass played by Freddie rather than John’s bass (he actually plays guitar on the track) and with horns dominating the track with the drum machine. On “Dancer” the bassline is actually just Brian on synth, so it’s quite a change from that rock base the band had utilised on previous albums. “Back Chat” is one of John’s tracks and he plays bass rhythm and synth on it. It has a very R&B sound to it, utilising that groove to manoeuvre its way through the track, before Brian’s solo provides the best part of the song, almost as a retaliation to it. “Body Language” cuts even further back, helmed by a bass synth and Freddie’s vocals and little else. This was released as the second single from the album, and I literally have no idea how it managed to have the reasonable sales that it did... oh wait... there are some gay overtones in the lyrics aren’t there... and the video for it was quite... provocative... so I guess that’s your answer. All of these songs have a sound that to me reminds me of the dancing troupe “Hot Gossip” who appeared on the various Kenny Everett TV shows of the time. Hot Gossip could only have improved them, I feel. “Action this Day” closes out the first side of the album and is very tied to the era, with the drum machine and the saxophone, drawing in those new wave elements.
The second side starts off with Brian’s “Put Out the Fire”, the one song on the album that resembles the band’s earlier work. Great vocals, great beat, great guitar. Yep, still like this song. This is followed by “Life is Real (Song For Lennon)”, written by Freddie and sounds remarkably like a John Lennon song, even the vocal in places is sung to resemble him. A nice touch. “Calling All Girls” is a straight forward rock track that was the fourth single, while “Las Palabris De Amour (The Words of Love)” is a Queen rock ballad that was also released as a single and was regarded much more favourably than the first single. “Cool Cat” has all instruments almost completely performed by John. This is a lounge act song, I can imagine the stage and the piano as the singe on stage croons along. It is about as far away from Queen as I could imagine.
The album concludes with the Queen and David Bowie song “Under Pressure”, a song that doesn’t fit in with the style of this album at all. In fact, it was recorded well before the writing for this album really took place, and it is noticeable. Was it a cynical inclusion here in order to increase the sales of the album, with a song that had already proven popular and would draw people in – or was it always going to be a part of this collection? I don’t know the answer, but it feels more like the first answer than the second.

This review was always going to test me. Just about every band that you love has that one skeleton hiding in the closet, the closet you rarely frequent, and when you do it is with a deal of trepidation. And for me “Hot Space” was definitely that moment in the Queen discography. Because when I first heard the album, I wasn’t even sure it was a Queen album. I’m pretty sure my first reaction to it was that it had to be a joke, a bunch of demos collated together of tracks the band had dabbled with and then rejected for better material. But no, it was the real deal, and it really was released. And even when I went through and eventually bought all of the albums on CD so I had copies of my own, I did think twice or three times as to whether I would buy “Hot Space”, because I just couldn’t imagine when I was ever going to go to my shelves and take it off to put on and listen to it.
That being said, I’ve never enjoyed this album more than I have over the last four weeks. And that would no doubt come from the fact that I listened to it at least once or twice every day at work during that period, the whole album through. In the past when I have listened to it, whether it was at home or at a friends house, it would be on in the background, and I mostly would not have been in the mood for its quirky tones, and probably thinking I should be listening to just about any other Queen album instead. But for this month that has not been the case. I have had it going around on my playlist with up to six other albums, such that it becomes a part of the mix. And it certainly is plain when it comes on because its style is so very different from the other albums I have been listening to at during this time – check out the recent podcast episodes to see what those albums were, and you'll see what I mean.
So I can honestly say that I appreciate “Hot Space” a lot more now than I did up until a month ago. Which does prove why I do this podcast and that for some albums it has the desired effect. Does that mean it will come back off the shelf again any time soon? Well... perhaps for its 50th anniversary...

508. Kiss / Hot in the Shade. 1989. 3/5

Since the band had decided to go sans-makeup, and with a couple of departures from the band, the line up of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr had been able to create a solid foursome, and in the process through the mid-1980's had recorded and released albums that began to bring the fan base back to the band. “Animalize”, “Asylum” and “Crazy Nights” had not only increased record sales around the world, but also produced singles that had attracted attention on the charts both in the US and worldwide.
There is a deliberate step away from the synth driven tracks that the band delivered on “Crazy Nights” to what is composed here for “Hot in the Shade”. Whether the band through its two main writers in Stanley and Simmons could feel the wind of change in the air, and were looking to steer the band into the faster waters in open to question. What is obvious is that, in the same way that many bands were looking for a more stripped down sound when it came to their albums as the 80’s decade was about to close out, Kiss were thinking along the same lines. That didn’t mean toning down any of the vocals in the way they had been performed in the band’s history, but with the guitars at least being doused down to a more basic level. Bruce Kulick, in his article review of the album on its 25th anniversary, mentioned that to further this effect, the band elected to use the demos they recorded and polish them up via overdubs instead of re-recording the songs. This was not information that was about in the days when the album was released, but with hindsight, it actually explains a lot about the album and the sound it has. Given that Kiss albums have almost always been highly produced, in order to give them the glossiest finish they could possibly have, this decision by the album's producers, who also happened to be Stanley and Simmons, on the surface appears to be a measured one. It could also explain why they decided to have 15 songs on this album, perhaps unable to decide which songs perhaps needed to be removed at the end of the production. Whatever the case may have been, this was an album with a change in direction, with these ingredients coming out of the oven with the title of “Hot in the Shade”.

This album has 15 tracks on it, which is a lot. The most of any Kiss album. One of the longest of any Kiss albums at almost an hour in length. For a band that had spent their career writing catchy songs that sit in that 3.5 to 4.5 minute range, this album is a real extension of that. The song lengths remain the same, the number of songs does not. And the writer combinations on “Hot in the Shade” are like a who’s who of Kiss song writers. Co-writers on songs on this album include the ever-present hit maker Desmond Child, Bob Halligan Jr who had helped write with Judas Priest and many other bands in the past, future Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer, and former Kiss producer and composer Vini Poncia, along with Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr as well. These writers all swapped and jumped around with Stanley and Simmons to help create the album that this became. And it all became very much split down the middle vocally, with Paul singing lead on seven songs and Gene also singing lead on seven songs, with the other sung by Eric.
All of this leads to the question as to how the direction of the album could be maintained with so many outside influences coming into the album. Obviously, Paul and Gene were still the main songwriters and would have kept a strong hold on the reins, but then to listen to the album does raise the odd eyebrow.
I mean, what is with the slide guitar opening to the album as a part of “Rise to It”? Are we going for a Bon Jovi sound now? Is that the direction Kiss wanted to take? Fortunately, it is all a sham as the song breaks out into the kind of song that Kiss has made a living out of writing and performing. Double down on this for “Betrayed” which follows the same course, in a typical Gene vocalled track and the heavier drum and bass rhythm throughout that always provide the best Simmons led songs. Then we have “Hide Your Heart”, written by Paul along with Desmond Child and Holly Knight during the “Crazy Night” sessions, but not used until this album. Of course, it was also recorded by several other artists in this 12 month period, including former guitarist Ace Frehley! As I mentioned in that episode, I prefer Ace’s version of the song to this one, but this version still has good qualities.
The middle section of side one of the album levels off a tad, with songs that don’t truly grab the attention you would expect of a Kiss album. Gene and Bruce’s “Prisoner of Love” has an upbeat vibe about it but never really takes off, Paul and Bob’s “Read My Body” sounds like a Def Leppard rip off song, and Gene and Vini’s “Love’s a Slap in the Face” sounds like something Gene has experienced a few times in his life, and the drum machine taking the place of Eric Carr is a terrible decision.
“Forever” is the single off this album that charted higher than any other for Kiss during their non-makeup years, reaching number 8 on the US charts. It was co-written by Stanley and Michael Bolton – yes, that Michael Bolton. And yes, you guessed it, it is a sugar sweet power ballad, so much so that you can almost hear Bolton singing the chorus himself. Like I said, it was a hit, and it funnelled fans into buying this album, so you can’t really blame them, can you? Or even suggest it should have been the first song cut off the album. Can you? This is followed by “Silver Spoon” that is a far better track, much more on the Kiss plane, and ends the first half of the album on a high note.
The second side of the album dishes up more atypical songs from the writers as you would expect. Paul’s tracks have the more commercial sound, the songs that could be hits about himself, such as “King of Hearts” written with Poncia. He sings in a different style on “You Love Me to Hate You”, and it sounds as if he is trying to change things up, which for me doesn’t really work. Gene’s have the attitude he likes to bring through in his vocals, but with a very 70’s style in “Cadillac Dreams”, the street-smarts and De Niro like portrayal in “The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away”, and one of his weaker efforts lyrically and musically in “Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell”. “Little Caesar” is co-written with Eric Carr and another Kiss writing alumni in Adam Mitchell, a song which Eric also sings, and again has 70’s tinges about it (tell me the bass riff isn’t from Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition”). The album is then closed out by Gene’s “Boomerang”, one of the most upbeat songs of the album, which at least give it some momentum as its finally reaches its conclusion.

As I related in the previous episode of this podcast, this album came out within days of Ace Frehley’s “Trouble Walkin’” album, and it was this one that I plumped for when I went to my record store to load up on a new album. I adored “Crazy Nights” - still do – and I was pumped to hear what the band was going to offer me as a follow up. Well, it wasn’t “Crazy Nights”, and I still remember the intense disappointment that I had over what I heard when I listened to it over those first couple of weeks. It was a different style to that 80’s synth-based rhetoric that “Crazy Nights” gave us, and obviously at that moment in time, that was not what I wanted from Kiss. Many years later I dragged it out again, and though I was not averse to what I heard, it still had nothing that interested me.
Flash forward another few years, to a decade ago, and I had begun to start working my way through band discographies again, looking for albums I may have underappreciated in the past. And I came to Kiss and felt my way through their albums in order of release. And having once again gone through complete joy on reaching “Crazy Nights”, I came to “Hot in the Shade” with trepidation. Could this album convert me to what it has to offer, or was it destined to continue its life on the shelves collecting dust for eternity? The short answer is, I found more than I had in the past, mostly because now I wasn’t trying to judge it against the other albums I was listening to at the time. The style of song on this album had definitely changed again which I still know is why it threw me for a loop back in 1989, but the album was now better to listen to.
To the past few weeks, and “Hot in the Shade” has come out of its CD case again (my original vinyl copy having been lost in that flood from 24 years ago) and has been doing the rounds at work and at home. And it hasn’t been a difficult task, but it also hasn’t been an easy one. Most of the albums I review for this podcast are ones that I really enjoy listening to while I am in the zone, and some become firm favourites for a time after I am done with the episode. “Hot in the Shade” was not one of those albums. It was a tough slog. Is there a case to be made that this album needed to be shorter, that the band could have put a line through a few songs to bring it back to say 45 minutes, thus not only making it an entertaining listen but just cutting out some of the chaff from the wheat?
There are some catchy songs and some tracks that are fine to listen to, but overall it just tends to drag out. Is it uninspiring? Is it the multitude of writers? Is it just that in 1989 the band didn’t quite fit the profile of what was going on? Or is it just an average album. Given my history with the album, and the fact that I have just never ever been able to get on board with it, I would suggest that... it is just an average album. I can listen to this album, and have done for this episode, but I gain no inspiration from it like I do so many of the band’s albums and songs. How I felt about it 35 years ago is pretty much how I still feel about it today.

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.

506. Iced Earth / Horror Show. 2001. 3/5

This was the first Iced Earth album I ever bought and listened to, and while there have probably been better albums in their discography, it was a gentle introduction to the band for me.

I enjoy the concept of the album, taking on the monsters of history, both real and fictional, and doing songs on them. In the main, it works quite well.
The album begins strongly, with both “Wolf” and “Damien” showcasing Matt Barlow’s distinctive vocals and the double click drumming of Richard Christy. Like many bands of this generation, their best songs are when the drums are driving the pace, through double-kick and flying on the high-hats. Here the guitars aren’t being forced to go ‘fast’, but the feel is that anyway.

From here on though, the album is a bit mixed, neither one thing nor the other. In the main the songs are fine, but they are not outstanding, and in a funny way they are not memorable, in that they begin to blend into each other and it becomes difficult to differentiate. I can see why trying to set different moods in different songs is necessary to the theme of the album, but I don’t think it works overly well. “Ghost of Freedom” to me just halts the whole momentum of the album, whether you like the song or not.
The cover of Iron Maiden’s “Transylvania” is probably the highlight of the album – a bit of a giveaway really…

Rating: Just rises above average. 3/5.

505. Sevendust / Home. 1999. 2.5/5

Having only gotten the Sevendust albums because two friends, one old and withered like myself, and another young and boyish, told me I had to listen to this band. And so I did for a very small space of time, before the albums lost themselves in the wilds of the back of the CD cupboard. Home was dragged from the depths this week for its review and rating, and I can say that after one listen, I had major reservations about it. By the second listen, I found I had probably misjudged it, and the third convinced me that there was certainly something to this.

While it will never become a favourite – the style of music here is not quite to my appeal – I can appreciate it for what it is, and I did enjoy most parts of the album. Nu-metal doesn’t quite make it for me, and while some of the songs here work really well, there are others that seemed trapped in their own attempted cleverness.

Rating: While not targeting people of my taste, there is unrealised potential here. 2.5/5.

504. Dio / Holy Diver Live. 2006. 5/5.

The new century has seen an interesting innovation come to light – firstly some bands (Dream Theater) began paying tribute to the albums that influenced their music by playing those entire albums live in concert. Secondly, bands realized this was a popular thing, and began dedicating parts of their own concerts to playing an entire album of their own!

Here then is Holy Diver Live which contains amongst other tunes the entire Holy Diver album.
The DVD of this concert has the gig in its running order. For the double disc version, they have wisely split in into two. The first disc contains Holy Diver in its entirety, including Simon Wright’s drum solo (which surely is becoming increasingly unnecessary in this day and age) and Doug Aldrich's guitar solo (less unnecessary, but still a time-filler). The second disc contains the remainder of the concert, including songs from the range of Dio’s career as a singer.

Anyone expecting Dio to sing this exactly as it was recorded 20+ years previously are expecting too much. Interesting to note is an interview with Doug Aldrich some time after this release, in which he states he was unhappy with his own performance, due to the lack of actual rehearsal leading up to the night. While his guitaring is actually pretty spot on to the original versions put down by Vivian Campbell (one of Aldrich’s finest assets), it does sound like Dio is unsure as to how to approach singing songs he hasn’t performed for two decades, or at all. If I was to be picky, I’d say that he could have done better – but how do you say that to the man with the greatest voice in metal? It is unrealistic to expect ‘studio’ vocals sung live, especially after so many years.

All in all this is a great live album. It is great to hear the entire album done live, with so many wonderful songs. The second disc is also just brilliant, combining such Rainbow classics as “Tarot Woman” and “Gates of Babylon” with “One Night in the City” and “We Rock”.
Originally, Craig Goldy was playing on this tour, but was injured not long before this was to be recorded, and Doug Aldrich came on board to help out. It is one of the redeeming features of this album.

Rating: Chock fun of greatness. 5/5