1195. David Bowie / Let's Dance. 1983. 3/5

Having released so many albums in his career up to the point where the 1980’s decade began, it may come as somewhat of a surprise when it is revealed that Bowie himself went into this new album with a desire to have a commercial hit, with both album and singles. His first album of the decade, “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”, had in fact done rather better than his so-called “Berlin Trilogy”, which had received widespread acclaim from music critics without being as successful as their reviews made them out to be. On “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”, Bowie had managed to have quite a great deal of success. That album had reached number 1 in the UK and Australia, and #12 in the US, while the single “Ashes to Ashes” had made top 10 in the UK and Australia, though not in the US.
Following this album, Bowie had made changes in his management and record company, and had also collaborated with Queen to release the single “Under Pressure”, which again went to #1 in the UK. The growing commercial success appeared to have taken a hold of him, and he hired producer Nile Rodgers in an effort make a change to what had occurred on his recent albums. Rodgers had written and produced a number of R&B hits in recent times, both for his own band Chic and other artists, songs such as “Le Freak” and “We Are Family” and “Upside Down”. And it was this that Bowie was hoping to tap into, the have popular songs driving the force of the album. He also decided to work with a whole different band of musicians, believing it was time for him to work outside of his comfort zone and find a new medium to work with. A number of these ended up being Rodgers’ frequent collaborators from Chic. One who Bowie requested personally was the then-unknown guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, whom he has seen play at Montreux. Though he was seen by many as a strange choice, there is little doubt that Bowie knew what he had seen, and knew what he wanted, and Vaughan’s contribution on lead guitar to the album is an important part of its eventual success.

In looking at the album as a whole, it perhaps makes sense to look at it in its two halves – the singles, and the non-singles, that make up the bulk of the album to which they have served. Of course, the singles have utilised these other tracks as B-sides, so that almost every song from the album gains a place on a single as either an A-side or a B-side.
The second side of the album is where all of the non-A-side singles resided, which I know made it difficult or easy for some people I knew who had the album back in my high school years, because they would generally just play the first half of the album over and over again as a result. But that would be to the detriment of those songs on the back side of the album.
“Ricochet” starts that second side of the album, and for the most part doesn’t really stick with the style of the rest of the album. Rather than flowing, it feels as though it stops and starts. “Criminal World” is a cover of the song done by a band called Metro a few years earlier, and this is more like the new wave and romantic era that the album fell in with, also inducing some reggae themes along the way. This is followed by “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)”, an updated version of the song that Bowie wrote and recorded with Georgio Moroder for the movie Cat People a couple of years earlier. It has a better energy about it than the songs around it, and Vaughan’s guitar solo indices most of that. And the final track “Shake It” closes out the album with a funky style that is reminiscent of that late 1970’s sound that producer Nile Rodgers had been involved with more than David Bowie had.
On the other hand, the first half of the album has the most recognisable tracks, the ones that anyone growing up in the 1980’s would recognise. The album opens with “Modern Girl”, the upbeat singalong dance track that seems to be more likely as the direction Bowie was looking for when he began this album. It is followed by the other two big time singles, “China Girl”, which Bowie had actually co-written with Iggy Pop for his first solo album, and was redesigned and re-recorded for Bowie’s purposes here, and the title track “Let’s Dance” which became one of his biggest selling singles. The final song of the side is “Without You”, which often divides fans and critics alike as to its place in the bowie song history.

It is interesting to note that this album is in fact David Bowie’s highest selling album of all time, selling almost 11 million copies worldwide since its release. It also achieved its purpose in gaining popularity and commerciality, topping charts around the world. And yet, despite this, there is often conflict when it comes to discussion on its merits compared to the remainder of his discography. Albums such as “Hunky Dory”, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” and “Heroes” in particular are the albums that are considered ground-breaking, the ones where the artistic vision of the artist in question is praised above all. And yet, this album has noses pointe upwards and flaring in contempt, indeed, even from Bowie himself. He often said that the success of this album hindered his creativity for the remainder of the 80’s decade, because he felt he had to follow up the style of this album as this is what had proven to be popular, the commercial popularity that he had apparently sought out. And when that success was not replicated by the following two albums, he walked away, and sought out the critical acclaim that had once been his once again. All very strange.
My journey with David Bowie was for the most part not commenced until after the 80’s were in the rear vision mirror. I enjoyed the singles off this album, and bits and pieces of albums earlier and later. I almost convinced myself to go see him with friends when he toured at the end of 1987, and in recent years have regretted my eventual decision not to. By the time I realised how amazing David Bowie was it was well beyond the glory years, but this album was one that I sought out following viewing the perfect 1980’s retro film “The Wedding Singer”, which drew on the nostalgia that that era was beginning to draw upon of those of my age group. And so I discovered this album for the first time, with the singles I knew and the others I did not. And I can only agree that it isn’t as important or arty as those other three albums. But you know what it is? It’s fun, and that is what the best 80’s albums are with their new wave and new romantic leanings. And my favourite Bowie song from the era might be looked down upon in certain circles, but for me still typifies that era of music, and showcases just why David Bowie was so brilliant, because he could transcend the era and be just as relevant in it, even when he tried to diss it later on.

1194. Iron Maiden / Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. 1988. 5/5

Iron Maiden had conquered the world several times over by the time it came to the end of 1987. On the back of albums such as “The Number of the Beast”, “Piece of Mind”, “Powerslave”, “Live After Death” and “Somewhere in Time”, they had increased their fan base a number of times over, traversed the world, and had more than they could ever have dreamed possible. They had become the standard bearers of melodic heavy metal the world over. Steve Harris was undisputed as the most amazing bass player on earth. Nicko McBrain’s drumming had raised the bar and pushed the band to new heights. The twin guitars of Dave Murray and Adrain Smith had created an unparalleled sound, and the vocals of Bruce Dickinson carried the songs the band created to a new platform. Evern when the band had dabbled with guitar synths on their previous release “Somewhere in Time”, a practice that had fans nervous as to the direction the music was about to be taken, it proved to be a triumph, with that album added further plaudits on an already overcrowded mantlepiece. Indeed, as the tour supporting that album wound down to its conclusion, the world began asking, “what the hell are they going to do to follow all of this up?” There was even a school of thought that perhaps the band would rest on their laurels and perhaps take a break. What actually followed could well be said to have been the culmination of the building of the Iron Maiden sound over the past decade.
The seeds for the direction of the new album came from band leader Steve Harris, who had recently read a novel titled “Seventh Son”, a fictional tale of the purported special powers that a seventh son born to a seventh son would acquire. With his creative mind once again activated, he called Bruce Dickinson to share his thoughts with him, and discussed basing their next album, which was to be the band’s seventh album, around this idea. In interviews at the time and since, Bruce has acknowledged that he was considering his place in the band, as on “Somewhere in Time” all of his song ideas had been rejected, and he had no writing credits at all, and as a result he wondered just what his place in it all was. When Steve mentioned his idea, Bruce not only felt a part of the writers group again, he immediately began coming up with his own ideas, and it was the collaboration between Bruce and Steve, along with Adrian Smith, that drove the creation of what was to become “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, an album that in some respects came close to perfection for a band that was amazingly still on the rise.

“Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” is often considered to be a concept album, but I’m not sure this is entirely true, and as it turns out in a good way. A true concept album, such as Queensryche’s “Operation: Mindcrime” which was released a month later, and will have its own episode dedicated to it very soon on this podcast, has a crafted storyline, one that also involves specific characters telling their own story, and including some dialogue that is not in song. Whereas, with this album, there is a definite story that is crafted by the songs, and that the lyrics tell the tale of, but it is not held together by that storyline. Apart from the opening and closing monologue sung by Bruce, each of the songs stands on its own and can do without requiring explanation. They can be interpreted as a part of the tale of the life of the seventh son, or they can also be taking as a separate entity and have their lyrical content judged on a different level. For me this is a part of the success of the album as a whole, giving it multiple layers rather than just a linear motive.
Having used guitar synths on the previous album, it was keyboards that made their pieces noticed on this album, though not to the extent of hiring a keyboard player for the band. The history of the band showed that before they got their first record contract there was one gig where Iron Maiden had a keyboard player and one guitarist, but it lasted just that one gig. Now, however, the band was beginning to flux, and to continue their transformation that addition of keyboards – not a dominating factor but a background addition to help fill out the songs in a better way – was necessary. It added to the progressive nature of the music the band was writing, something that was probably never fully followed up on until the “Brave New World” album some 12 years later. Here though, especially on songs such as “Moonchild” and “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, it created the atmospheric mood that the band wanted and needed for this album to work.
So yes, there is a pattern to the journey that this album takes, from the opening stirring of the protagonists struggles with what is going on in their mind, to the awakening of the powers that he discovers, to the abilities and the pitfalls that come with all people with power, to the ultimate end of the tale. And each song plays its part in that story as well as being a story in itself.
Each of the eight songs on this album is a beauty, and that is not always the case. The opening of “Moonchild” is just fantastic, a different sound from opening tracks on previous Maiden albums and brilliant as a result. “Infinite Dreams” surpasses it in its complexity, starting off in a melodic smooth way before pumping into the second verse with greater power and feeling, through to the chorus. It remains a wonderful song. This is followed by the first single from the album “Can I Play with Madness”, the video of which featured Graham Chapman in his final screen appearance. Side One of the album then concludes with the amazing “The Evil That Men Do” with that galloping Harris bassline and typical Dickinson vocals soaring over the top in anthemic style. Great lyrics, wonderful guitars.
Side Two opens with the Steve Harris classic title track, which bends and winds its way through the majestic theatrical first half of the song, before the second half busts out into what makes Iron Maiden so great, with Adrian and Dave and Nicko stealing the show. It perfectly continues the run of great long-form tracks by the band, following “To Tame a Land”, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Alexander the Great” as the showpiece tracks of those albums they appeared on. “The Prophecy” follows and continues the tale through to “The Clairvoyant”, with Steve’s brilliant bass intro, and then into the finale of “Only the Good Die Young”, which ties all the strings together, and completing what is yet another triumph from this magnificent band.

Back in 1988 I was in my first year of university, living the poor life with very little income and many things that I wanted to be able to experience – mostly beer, but also new albums. And I had saved dollars and cents for weeks leading up to this album being released. There was also an hour long promo that the band filmed on the making of the album which appeared on the music program “Rage” the weekend before this was released, which I recorded at the time but eventually lost in the way VHS taped tended to disintegrate when watched a thousand times over. And I bought this album on the day of its released, immediately recorded it to cassette, and that tape didn’t leave my car for months, playing over and over again. At home the vinyl barely left my parents stereo system in our lounge room. This was the album we had been waiting for. And often, when you are so built up with anticipation for an album, it becomes a disappointment when you eventually get your hands on it. But not this one. From the very moment I listened to it, I loved it. The opening of “Moonchild”, the slow burn of “Infinite Dreams”, the power of “The Evil That Men Do”, the majesty of “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, and the magnificence of “The Clairvoyant”. Every piece of this album was a triumph, and worth every single moment I had spent waiting for it to arrive.
Playing it now, as I have for probably over a month leading up to this anniversary, I don’t think it has lost anything. In many ways it was a true precursor to how the band began to progress in the next century, once Bruce and Adrian had returned to the band and recorded albums such as “Brave New World” and “Dance of Death”. It always felt as though it was this album that they were channelling at that time. And that would make sense, as Adrian left the band after this album because he felt that THIS was the direction the band should have been heading in, rather than the stripped-down basics they went for on “No Prayer for the Dying”. On his and Bruce’s return, they did.
But I loved this album then and I do still now. I remember vividly driving two of my fellow uni friends to and from lectures with this album blaring out the windows of the car, and probably driving too fast as a result of that built up adrenaline. It was pure magic, and it has retained all of that 35 years later. Sitting in the metal cavern, drinking a beer and letting this wash over you... it is still an amazing experience.
This was, in my opinion, the last of the truly great Iron Maiden albums. The first two albums with Di’anno, Burr and Stratton involved are terrific albums, but the six that followed them – "The Number of the Beast", "Piece of Mind", "Powerslave", "Live After Death", "Somewhere in Time" and then this album, are legendary. They are ‘moment in a bottle’ stuff. What has come since has been mixed, and some of it has touched brilliance, but could never hold a candle to these albums, and especially this, where the planets aligned for that final time.

1193. Fastway / Fastway. 1983. 2.5/5

Thinking of Motorhead without “Fast” Eddie Clarke and of UFO without Pete Way back in the early 1980’s was almost impossible, and yet this is exactly what occurred in 1982, with both looking to escape the perceived troubles they saw with those bands current line ups, and looking for a new start. That they came upon each other, and found enough similarities to form a new band together was also fortuitous. Thus, the name Fastway was launched, taking the “Fast” from Eddie Clarke’s nickname, and the “Way” from Pete’s surname. It seemed a perfect fit.
What wasn’t a perfect fit though was Pete Way’s contract with Chrysalis Records, one which he soon discovered he was unable to break in order to write and record with his new band. At the same time as this realisation hit, he was offered the bass players spot in Ozzy Osbourne’s touring band to replace Rudy Sarzo who had left to re-join Quiet Riot. This meant that despite being considered as a ‘founding member’ of Fastway, Pete Way never played nor recorded with the band.
Better news came from the recruitment of Jerry Shirley, the drummer from Humble Pie, and an unknown lead singer named Dave King, whose vocal chords perfectly fit what the band was looking for. Because although no one was looking for a Lemmy replica to be fronting this new band, they were certainly expecting those famous “Fast” Eddie Clarke riffs to be flooding through the songs. And they needed a front man with a voice to carry the performance, and in King they found their man.

With the focus of the fans on the band coming from its two high profile musicians in “Fast” Eddie Clarke and Jerry Shirley, there is little doubt that it is the vocals of Dave King that are the leading light of the band in the early songs of the album. The opening track “Easy Livin’” is a straight forward hard rock track that introduces his vocals from the outset, and from that point on, the album has set its template. The atypical boy-to-girl hard rock tracks such as “All I Need Your Love” and “Feel Me, Touch Me (Do Anything You Want) and “Give it All You Got” are the prototype to what the LA hair metal bands began to popularise, though Fastway perform them in denim jeans and leather jackets rather than the spandex and teased hair and make up that came with those bands. Songs like “Another Day” and ------- are where both Shirley and Clarke come into their own, where the drums sound like they are being hit with more intensity, and where Eddie lets loose on the strings and gives us the riffs and solo breaks that most of the fans have come for. Other songs such as “Heft!” and “We Become One” are more in that Diamond Head NWoBHM standard which almost a doom standard riff followed by a more complex solo piece from Eddie. And then you have songs such as “Say What You Will” that have a classic Motorhead sound without the gravelled vocal chords.
Listening to the album with these different sets of styles, it becomes an interesting task in retrospect, because it sounds as though the band was still trying to establish exactly what they wanted to sound like, or what direction they wanted their music to go in. So you will find different varieties and genres of the emerging hard rock heavy metal scene of the early 1980’s. And because of this, these songs probably shouldn’t gell together well on an album. But that is the surprising part about it – because it really does.

I didn’t come across Fastway until the end of my high school years, and the release of the horror metal-injected movie titled “Trick or Treat” which had cameos from Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne, about a satanic-loving metal star who is raised from the dead by the playing of his unreleased album backwards. Go watch it if you are interested, but it has dated badly. The soundtrack for that movie was provided by Fastway, which is where I first heard them. It wasn’t until many years later that I went back and looked into the band, discovered the reason for its formation, and listened to their back catalogue. And it is fair to say that, by that time many years after its release, I found this to be interesting without being brilliant. Certainly, having read reports on it from the time it was released, I was expecting brilliance beyond what I had heard before, but that isn’t what I got. What I heard was a fairly decent hard rock album that had some good bits, but was not a stand out.
Having come back to it over the past couple of weeks in the lead up to recording this episode, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it actually retained its pleasure for me. I think going in without any expectations helped this, whereas in the past I was looking for something that it didn't have. But the vocals are very good, lifting the songs above an averageness that they could have had with a lesser singer. And Eddie’s riffs are good as well – not Motorhead good, but still enjoyable. It was marketed as a heavy metal album, whereas in reality it is a hard rock album with a reasonable kick. Come into it thinking you are going to hear AC/DC rather than Motorhead and you will find it is a good solid album worthy of your time.

1192. ZZ Top / Eliminator. 1983. 3/5

For an outsider, who may not be a fan of ZZ Top or their music, the way this album was crafted is still a really interesting story. There has been no shortage of controversy over it through the years, completely apart from how the album eventually became such a huge success and seller around the world.
ZZ Top had always been known for their blues rock sound, exemplified in hit songs such as “La Grange” and “Tush”, but as the band moved into the 1980’s, and the change in the music landscape around them, there was a push by band leader Billy Gibbons to update that sound slightly for the new generation.
What exactly did this mean? Well, Gibbons has gone on record that he was looking to find the synth rock and new wave vitality that was popular at the time, while retaining the band’s basic guitar rock sound as well. How was this achieved? It was a somewhat controversial move at the time, where fellow band members Dusty Hill and Frank Beard had come in to record their bass and drum parts, as well as contribute the vocals that they needed to, and left to return home. From here, Gibbons and the album producer and engineer came in and almost systematically replaced the majority of their parts – with Gibbons replacing the bass with his own playing or of that on a keyboard synthesiser, and the drums being replaced by a drum machine, with Beard’s tom rolls and cymbals being the only thing left in the recording. Outside singers also came in to add backing vocals where necessary.
There was also a push to have the tempo of the songs played at a certain bpm, as this had apparently been proven to be the speed which helped songs become popular when broadcast. Go figure. And finally there was a dispute over the writing credits for the album, with Linden Hudson claiming to have been a collaborator on many of the tracks, and solely on the song “Thug”. Overall, despite these things all happening, the whole process seemed to move rather smoothly. Now all that had to happen was to wait and see if they would gain the rewards for their work.

Aside from the hit singles that everybody knew if you were growing up in the 1980’s, the remainder of the track list is a mixed bag, depending on whether you were a massive fan of the band or a casual observer, and whether you enjoy their style of blues based rock with the modern changes that had been made to coincide with the writing for this album. “I Got the Six” (sung by Dusty Hill) and “If I Could Only Flag Her Down” are typical ZZ Top tracks from their past, utilising all of the trademarks from those early albums and hits. Yes, it is in a modern way but the techniques are the same. “Bad Girl” draws from old school rock and blues such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard, which must have been a shock to the kids listening to this who had no idea such artists existed. All three are good strong tracks that are a strength of ZZ Top at their best. Other tracks such as “I Need You Tonight” and “Dirty Dog” and “TV Dinners”, which was released as a single, are more in the average class of song, and not the kind of song that makes you sit up and notice. In most ways, they are overshadowed by the singles and the popularity they garnered.
Surely even the band could not have imagined the way those singles went through the charts and blew up the screens. Backed by the fun storylines drawn out by the music videos that took over MTV and other music video shows around the world, these songs pushed the enormous sales of the album and therefore the fans love of the album. “Gimme All Your Lovin”, “Sharp Dressed Man” and especially “Legs” became the standard bearers for the album, highlighted by the 1933 Ford coupe that appeared in each film clip, and the band themselves. And, the good looking women too I guess. Along with the superb guitar riffs, great vocals and catchy lyrics, the album took off around the world, going top ten in the US, UK and Australia.

Given that this was released in the year that I first became interested in buying albums of bands rather than Various Artists compilations, and that I was still focused on rock bands more than the heavy metal gnre that came a couple of years later, there was always a chance that I may have purchased this at the time it came out. But because of the staggered singles release, it wasn’t until over 12 months later that “Legs” was released as a single and a music video, and it was definitely this song that made me look up and take notice. For reasons already mentioned. And the first two singles are good ones, and got good coverage on the radio at the time. Despite this, I didn’t actually listen to the album until I had left high school a few years later, and it came on at an acquaintances house we were gathered at that evening. And the conversation around the album as it played was “remember those film clips for those songs?!?”
It is not an album I have owned a physical copy of. I have a downloaded version, and I have listened to it sparingly over the years. I did so most recently on the passing of Dusty Hill last year, and came away from that with a more rounded view on the album rather than just the singles component.
The album remains as the band’s best known, and if you play it today you will get as much enjoyment out of it as you are looking for.

1191. Iron Maiden / Virtual XI. 1998. 3.5/5

To look upon the band Iron Maiden in the year 1998, compared to where they were five years earlier, is quite an interesting affair. For those of you who listened to the recent episode for the Maiden live album “A Real Live One” from 1993, the Maiden ship was taking on water, with Bruce Dickinson leaving the band and the future of the band up in the air. Eventually, Blaze Bayley, lead singer of the British band Wolfsbane was brought in as his replacement, and the album “The X Factor” was released, and the band toured on the back of it. The album received mixed reviews from the fans. While Bayley’s performance was intially well received, the album itself was, in some quarters, thought to be very un-Maiden, with the songs and issues much darker than the band usually tackled, and the tempo of the album lacking the gallop that the 1980’s Maiden albums thrived on. There was also concern on tour for Bayley’s vocals which struggled with the older material, and also under the constant touring regime that Iron Maiden kept.
Coming together again to compose the follow up, two events came together to help inspire the album cover and the name of the album. The band was in the process of creating a video game which eventually became “Ed Hunter”, starring Eddie the Head, which brought about the ‘virtual’ part of the album concept, with the advent of virtual reality. It was also the year for the football World Cup, and the band’s members were all football fans. As a part of the tour to promote this album, the band decided to organise football matches against teams in the cities they played in, also roping in celebrities along the way. And as such the name “Virtual XI” came into being. The 11 fitting nicely with the 11 members of a football team, and the fact that it would be Iron Maiden’s 11th studio album.
Even by this stage however, Iron Maiden was on a hiding to nothing. The loss of Smith and Dickinson, along with the changing music landscape, meant that holding onto fans who were both more interested in the music the band had released a decade ago as well being drawn into the new music being produced that was of a much different style of heavy metal than Iron Maiden would ever produce, meant it was difficult to retain the fans popularity that they had cultivated over the previous 20 years. Falling album sales, falling concert ticket sales... it was a time when you imagine that Iron Maiden as a band probably felt they needed to produce an album that was going to change that course and get them back in the spotlight for all the right reasons. It would be something easier said than achieved.

The album contains eight songs, and while they are not as dark and moody as those on the predeceasing album, there is still a less jaunty mood about them than on the albums from the 1980’s. This had been a growing and creeping part of the Iron Maiden sound since “No Prayer for the Dying”, and one that prevailed in all four albums released in the 1990’s. It could be argued that this came about because of the change in personnel and thus the change in the writers contributing to the songs of those albums. It was certainly a contributing factor to some of the fan base, who blamed Blaze’s contributions as the cause of this. But overall this isn’t the case. The main songwriter continued to be Steve Harris, who had his fingers over most aspects of those albums, so the direction the music was heading in most definitely had to have been orchestrated by him. This has always been my biggest concern over the albums of this period. I just don’t think the right people – or person – has been attributed with the way the songs are, and therefore where that disappointment, if it existed, should have been directed.
Despite all of this, the album opens with a classic. “Futureal” is a terrific song and atypical of most opening tracks on Iron Maiden albums. It gallops along, the guitars and drums are great, and Blaze gives it all with his vocals over the top. If Dickinson had recorded it, it would still be played in set lists to today. Unfortunately because it wasn’t, it has been confined to Blaze’s own shows ever since.
“The Angel and the Gambler” follows, and was also released as the first single from the album. Not only that, the single release was heavily edited to get it down to a length that radio stations would play, and had a video-game-like music video made for it as well. And I will never understand that decision. Because “The Angel and the Gambler” is a pretty average song. It’s almost ten minutes in length, it has too much keys and synth in the mix in places, and has too much of the same lyrics being repeated ad nauseum, something that haunts many of the songs on this album. There has never been anything much to write home about this track, and it remains one of the greatest mysteries of the band’s history as to how it got through meetings to actually appear on this album.
To me, there are two songs on this album that are like twins, and not because they sound like each, but because they seem to be on the same wavelength. “Lightning Strikes Twice” is the first of those songs, a nice twist of lyrics with dual meanings, and a great performance from Blaze where he really emotes the song terrifically, backed by the drums and guitars which also kick in at the right time to emphasise it. I still really love this song, which is only pulled back slightly by the repeating of the song title for the second half of the song. Great solos by both Dave and Jannick punctuate the back half of the song as well. Another great song under utilised in set lists since this tour.
The other twin is “When Two Worlds Collide”, which seems as though it may have been inspired by two films released in 1998 - “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact”, except that both of those films were released well after this album came out. But the scenario is the same, and again, like “Lightning Strikes Twice”, the important lyrics of the song are sung with great gusto and force by Blaze, with the other members also providing the appropriate backing. And, again, the over repeating of the chorus through to the end of the song just overplays itself, taking away a part of the impact the song makes.
The outstanding song on the album is “The Clansman”, arguably the best Maiden song of the 1990’s decade. Based around the events of the movie “Braveheart”, this Steve Harris gem perfectly gets the mood right throughout the whole track, and Blaze’s war cry of “Freeeeedoooom!” makes crowd participation when played live easy. It is the song that could have sold this album on its own if it had been marketed that way. Someone missed a trick there, without doubt.
The back half of the album is perhaps the most maligned, and not without some cause. “The Educated Fool” trundles along in second gear for much of the track, before the solo section brightens things up a little. Of all the tracks here, this is the one that sounds most like it came from the previous album in style. “Don’t Look to the Eyes of a Stranger” again tends to over repeat certain lines, and at over 8 minutes in length is again probably too long to retain interest all the way through. Then the closing track, “Como Estais Amigos”, whose loose translation is “how are you, friends”, is written as a tribute to the fallen on both sides of the Falklands War. I know these have proven lacklustre over the years, and when listening to the album it does prove to be the case. Up until the end of “When Two Worlds Collide” the album still holds its own, but the finale does eventually become something that feels a little less exciting.

Of all my friends from high school, who had been so enthralled by Iron Maiden as we grew up in the 1980’s, I was the only one who bought a copy of this album on its release. As far as I know, I am still the only one who owns a copy of this album. As it stands, I own two, both the original CD and the remastered double vinyl from a couple of years ago. And I was determined to like this album. I had enjoyed “The X Factor” and Blaze’s contributions, even though the tempo of the songs had come down markedly on that album from the earlier albums. And come on – when you first put on this album and you hear “Futureal” come through the speakers, you can’t be disappointed!
Am I biased? Perhaps somewhat. But that’s the thing. I love Iron Maiden, and I love Blaze Bayley’s solo material he has released since this album. But on repeated listens to the album, the truth of the matter came to pass. In the long run, this is only an average Iron Maiden album. And while that may make it better than most other bands good albums, it really doesn’t hold your interest all the way through. It does for me, because I have had it from the beginning, and I have listened to it a lot over the years, but for the casual listener, it is going to be a difficult album to get anything out of.
I am happy to nominate five of the eight songs as good songs, but most will only feel as though “Futureal” and “The Clansman” have any chance of being held in the same high regard as the great songs of the past.
In 1998, I listened to this album for a while, and then, with no chance of the band touring Australia or of this growing any fonder to me, it was returned to the shelves and only occasionally brought out for a relisten. And I probably didn’t really listen to it much again until five years later when Blaze Bayley released his first live album, which included both “Futureal” and “When Two Worlds Collide” on it, and I went back to “Virtual XI” to see if it had improved for me. And it had, it must be said, though that perhaps was on the back of the fact that Blaze’s first two solo albums “Ghost in the Machine” and “Tenth Dimension” were so good, and I just wanted to hear his stuff with Maiden again. Since that time, I have had the album on sporadically as I work through the Maiden back catalogue along the way over the years, and I enjoy it every time I put it on. No, it isn’t one of their great albums. And Blaze is often held up as the cause. But a couple of things disprove this point. The first is that Steve Harris wrote the songs as well as co-producing the album, and they were arranged the way he wanted them. It isn’t Blaze’s vocals to blame on the studio album. The second is that Blaze’s first two solo albums released after he agreed to leave Iron Maiden in order for Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith to return, are both better than this album. And he wrote all of those.
In the long run, the fans, and probably the band itself, wanted and needed Bruce and Adrian to be back in order for it to be felt as though it was really ‘Iron Maiden’. And this would have been a major reason why it didn’t sell as well, simply because they weren’t there. Their return allowed the next album “Brave New World” to be a monster, and kickstarted Maiden’s return to the top of the heavy metal tree. For “Virtual XI” though, at least it can still hang its hat on one of the band’s best songs of the past 30 years.

1190. Van Halen / Van Halen III. 1998. 2/5

For over 20 years Van Halen had been one of the leading hard rock bands in the US, and with a popularity that had also spread around the world. Even with a change of lead singer halfway through their career, their popularity had never waned, and indeed could be said to have increased as a result.
Following the release of the band’s tenth studio album “Balance”, the growing tensions within members of the band were beginning to overflow. The relationship between lead singer Sammy Hagar and the Van Halen brothers Alex and Eddie was unwinding. Over a period of months, where the band was first writing and recording songs for the film “Twister”, and then over the negotiations over the release of a greatest hits package, where Hagar’s desires for its compilation seemed contrary to what the Van Halen’s were thinking, the working and personal relationship between the two parties deteriorated to the point that Hagar was no longer a member of the band. Depending on which story you choose to believe, Hagar was either fired, or Hagar quit of his own accord. Those stories have never really found a common ground in the years since.
This resulted in a short-term reunion with David Lee Roth, where two songs were written and recorded for the aforementioned greatest hits album, before he too was spurned by the band, and again the story as to what happened in that period of time has two versions.
The band had continued to try out new lead singers, and they eventually decided to hire former Extreme lead vocalist Gary Cherone as Hagar and Roth’s replacement, an interesting choice at the time, but at least someone who was a proven performer and a well-known singer in the rock and pop world, someone who had proven in his former band to be able to sing hard rock sings and rock ballads as well. Now all that needed to be achieved was to have an album to showcase his potential to add to the already known quality of Van Halen, Anthony and Van Halen.

It would be fair to say that when “Van Halen III” came out, it was not especially what everyone was expecting. The music was less intense, less... rock. There was a more acoustic vibe to most of the songs, the energy seemed to have been cast aside. Sure, there are still some good riffs here, and some of the songs have energetic pieces in them, and occasionally you here a bit of the old Eddie Van Halen on guitar. But the album is a world away from what most people got into Van Halen for.
Over the period of time from when the album was released, and the tour to promote it had come and gone, it was Gary Cherone who was the one who copped most of the flak for the performance of the album. Many people dubbed it the Van Halen and Extreme crossover, suggesting that the success of Extreme’s “More Than Words” single a few years earlier had infiltrated the way this album was written. But the things that those critics would never have taken into account is that Cherone would have had almost zero input into the direction of the album. He was the hired gun, the one asked to follow in the footsteps of David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar, and that was always going to be a thankless task no matter how talented he was.
Cherone himself made the point that he felt that it would have been beneficial for both himself and the band if they had toured together before they went in and recorded the album. This would not only have given him a chance to be seen by the fans as a part of the band, the four band members would have found their way to bond as well and be able to take that into the studio with them.
Still, even if that had been the case, the majority of the writing and performing on the album was by Eddie himself. For whatever reason, he played the bass on almost every track, with Michael Anthony only contributing to three of the tracks, and later on Michael admitted that he had been told exactly what and how to play on those three songs, which was not something that had been a part of his playing in the past. The result of this was that Michael himself, along with others, have seen this album more of an Eddie solo album than a true Van Halen album. Though all the tracks were credited to all four members of the band, in fact the writing and arranging pretty much came down to Eddie, and he played most of it as well.
Importantly, and this is something that probably wasn’t really utilised on the album’s release when it came to album reviews and fans thoughts, it is difficult to separate what you WANT the album to sound like, and the way it is actually written. And in separating that, is it possible to listen to this with an open mind, and try to discern whether it is an average album, or just an album that is so different from what you wanted or expected that you simply categorise it as that as a result.

20 years on from their eponymous debut album crashing the charts and making a scene, as reviewed here on this podcast just a few episodes ago, this album was up against the changing face of hard rock and metal music in the late 1990’s, and Van Halen’s style was one that you suspect could still have fit into that mould of the music scene. But there is little doubt that the change in the music here went beyond even what had occurred on the last couple of Van Halen albums with Hagar on the mic, and that change was something that felt as though it was pulling away from the long-time fans the band had. The back up vocals don’t feel as lively, nor sound as convincing as in the past. Just about everything about this album makes you feel like there is something missing, but also perhaps missing a trick.
I bought this album on its release, mainly because Van Halen were finally going to tour Australia, and I was finally going to see them live. So I did my due diligence, and I listened to it on rotation for the two months leading up to that concert. They played five songs off this album live, and they were fine, but what I got from that gig was how good Gary Cherone was, and how well he sang all eras of Van Halen songs. And I thought at the time, that with a bit more of the traditional Van Halen sound, the NEXT album could be really killer! Of course, that was not to be. Eddie had his hip replacement, and they parted amicably. But it did seem like a missed opportunity. Again.
So I’ve had this album on again over the last couple of weeks, and honestly it hasn’t gotten better with age. It is too long (at over an hour the longest Van Halen album), it is too slow, it is too reflective. It is the most un-Van Halen Van Halen album. I think Cherone was unfairly saddled with the blame for that, but I’m sure Michael Anthony was closer to the truth in that this was more an Eddie solo thing, one that was to be different from what the band usually provided.
Even though there was one more album to come down the track, Van Halen effectively finished at this point. Michael Anthony was replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen at that time, and it became a nostalgia based act from then on until Eddie’s passing.

1189. Van Halen / Live: Right Here, Right Now. 1993. 4/5

Few people were aware of it at the time, but this album became one of the final releases on Van Halen, though the band was still active beyond this for 25 years. With several albums having now been released with Sammy Hagar at the helm, there were already nervous kicking at the ground and whispered thoughts behind closed doors as to how much further the band could go in its current form.
One thing that the band had not done by the time it had finished its “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” album was released an official live album, showcasing the greatness of the band and the four individuals who were a part of it. And whatever the decision making behind this album eventually being recorded, it still seems as though it didn’t go as smoothly as it probably should have, given it had been almost 20 years that Van Halen had toured the US in particular.
The album was recorded over two nights in Fresno, California, with a combining of performances over the double album release. However, what seemed to damn this release was the fact that the original show had been broadcast at the time of it being played, and when fans heard what was on offer with this album, it was apparent that some post-production work had been done. The originally broadcast concert had a rawer sound that was much closer to what people thought of as the Van Halen live sound, whereas this album had differences in both the instruments and the vocals. It was later revealed by Hagar in his 2011 autobiography that the Van Halen’s had tinkered with the speed of the recording and other factors in order to fix up perceived problems in the live set. Hagar said this then made his vocals sound out of key and sync. As a result, he was asked to come into the studio, and sing along with the video of the gig, and completely re-record his vocals. Now, other live albums over the years have used a similar technique and have survived the scrutiny that was on offer at the time, and to be honest this album has as well. Unfortunately, because it is the only true live album the band released, it perhaps doesn’t give the clearest indication of the powerhouse that van Halen was when on stage because of this.

The band certainly made up for not having had a live album prior to this one. The two CD release covers almost two and a half hours of live songs and performances. And while ignoring a little the news I have already related over the post-production issues, it sounds terrific, but especially on those songs where the energy is at its highest, and the band gets to really showcase what they do.
But... and there almost always is a BUT when it comes to live albums... there are a couple of things that I find grate on my conscience a little. The first is the insertion of both a bass solo and a drum solo. Now I know the band was renown for these, and that it was a part of their live act through their whole career. But do we need to have them placed on a live album? How many of you out there, on ANY live album that contains bass, drum or guitar solos, actually listen them all when you are listening to the album? Truly! Because I know that when its on CD I press skip immediately, and when it is on vinyl I groan my way through until we reach the next song. They are unnecessary. Great when you see a band live, but please don’t hold up the momentum of the album by putting them on here.
Secondly, where are all the songs from pre-1985? I know the band pretty much only played their big singles from the 1978-1984 era once Dave had been let go, and I’m sure that grated on fans who saw the band during this era, but how can you release a double live album, with 24 songs on it, and only have four Roth era songs on it? And one of those was “You Really Got Me” which of course is a Kinks cover! So three Roth era tracks, but we also have TWO Sammy Hagar solo tracks on here, and a cover of The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”! Now, come on. Were we just trying to wipe away half of the back catalogue because another guy was singing on it? Imagine Black Sabbath not playing any Ozzy era tracks when Dio was singing? How about Iron Maiden ignoring their first two albums once Bruce Dickinson arrived? It just doesn’t make sense.
And finally, while I am all in favour of bands promoting their latest album in order to show how good their new material is, surely playing 10 out of the 11 songs from their then current album “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” is just way over the top. I mean, how bad could “The Dream is Over” have been to miss out on being included on this album? (though they did actually play it). They could probably have just played that whole album in one hit, and then bunched the hits together in the second half of the concert. I mean, that’s been done plenty of times since. They could have been the originals when it came to this trend if they had.

I bought this album on a whim sometime in the late 1990’s at a shopping centre in Erskineville in Sydney, probably sometime not long before I eventually got to see Van Halen live for the first and only time – though by this time it was Gary Cherone who was fronting the band. I hadn’t heard anything by Van Halen since the “OU812” album, so I do remember getting through this for the first time and wondering what the hell had I just listened to. Probably was always going to be the case given I hadn’t heard the “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” album at all, and that I had been expecting to hear great Roth era songs such as “Unchained”, “Hot for Teacher”, “Mean Streets” and “Dance the Night Away”, just to name a few. Instead, I got this album, which at the time was a slight disappointment. Then I went off, saw Van Halen with Cherone which was absolutely sensational, and then promptly put this back in the CD shelves to be mostly forgotten for the next 20-odd years.
Pretty much until two weeks ago, when I pulled it out again to prepare for this podcast episode. And, not surprisingly, I have enjoyed this immensely. Time can sometimes be a comfort, and hearing Hagar singing at his peak has been totally worth the time spent. And, to be honest, it’s the vocals here that really win the day. And perhaps with Eddie’s growing love of synths and keyboards in this phase of the band’s career, that isn’t completely surprising. Because while there are still some good guitar pieces in the current material of the album, most of it is based around the soft rock ballad than the hard rock guitar. For someone of my vintage now, I am much more able to accept that as part of the Van Halen package than I would have been back when I first got this album, though as I have related, I’d have loved to have heard more of that older material as well, when Eddie’s guitar was the star rather than the band as a whole as it did eventually become, for better or worse. So for me, this album has improved over time, and become something that is still worth listening to – even given the gripes that I have brought up through this episode. Sometimes, you just have to accept what you have, and get on with it.

1188. David Lee Roth / Skyscraper. 1988. 3/5

By the time we had reached 1988, enough time had now passed to allow the furious debate over the Van Halen/David Lee Roth split to dissipate somewhat. Both Van Halen with Sammy Hagar at the helm, and Roth, had released albums, and fans of both or either had spent months or years dissecting them and declaring which was better and which proved who was right over the whole episode. 18 months later, and while the divide remained it wasn’t as hardline as it had once been. The success of both sides probably contributed to that.
For their part, DLR and his band – Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan and Gregg Bissonette – had toured the world for 12 months, drawn great crowds and showed that as a live performer, they as a group and Roth in particular still had it. They then got together to produce the follow up album that became “Skyscraper”. The writing and recording process was not as straight forward this time around, and it is interesting to note that while Billy Sheehan did play the bass on the album that he was not asked, or did not contribute, to writing on the album. Not long after the recording, and before the world tour to support it started, Sheehan left the band, to be replaced by Gregg Bissonette’s brother, Matt. Sheehan of course went on to Mr Big, where his writing was one of the cornerstones of the band.
When this album was about to be released, the biggest questions about it were in regards to the musical direction that the band would take with their sophomore release. Would they stretch themselves beyond what they had done on “Eat em And Smile”, or would they look to not reinvent the wheel, and stick to what was safe and known?

The majority of the tracks here are credited as being co-written between Roth and Vai, which is as you would expect. But four tracks stand out as the most accessible commercially wise, and those four tracks did not have Steve Vai credited as a co-writer. The opening song “Knucklebones” is a fun sounding hard rock track with both Gregg and Matt Bissonette as the co-writers, and the drum and bass heavy instrumentation aren’t a surprise as a result. The single from the album, “Just Like Paradise” is one of three songs here co-composed with keyboardist Brett Tuggle, and the music video for this was plastered everywhere for a number of months on its release. It mixes the two best attributes of the band, Dave’s fantastic vocals and Steve’s electrifying guitar. “Stand Up” is such an 80’s track that it is hard to fathom when you listen to it all these years later. The synth and keyboard progressions are tied to that time and no other, with Tuggle obviously having a huge influence on what was going to dominate the song. It may not be new wave as such but it sure is pure 80’s. And “Perfect Timing”, the last of the songs written by this duo, may not be so obvious, but it is top heavy again on the keys and much more like pop song than a rock song.
“The Bottom Line” is treading a thin line between an early-styled Van Halen track, with Dave and Steve playing off against each other throughout the song. “Skyscraper” has the feel of earlier-in-the-decade new wave elements to the track. Then you have the acoustic ballad-type track “Damn Good”, which not only is a stop-the-momentum track smack in the middle of the album, it just seems to be out of place from the style that Dave suggested he was heading in when he quit that other band he had been in. On the other hand, “Hot Dog and a Shake” returns to the fun and lively Dave style that most of us love best, with a faster pace and return of Vai’s electric guitaring.
Given all of the elements that went into the split of Van Halen a few years earlier, where statements were made that because Van Halen wanted to use synths in their songs and a certain lead singe wanted to remain in a more focused hard rock vein, it’s an interesting development that this album actually seems to have gone further down that path as well. There is more prominence of keys and synths on “Skyscraper” than there was on “Eat em and Smile”, and while some of the songs are still in the uptempo vibe, there are those elements that make the listener reconsider just what the endgame really was and is when it came to the artist and his music in the back half of the 80’s decade.

What you may have been expecting from this album, and what you finally get out of it, are most likely two completely opposite things. I know that on its release, I had mixed emotions, and that may well have come directly from the opposite poles that my main musical listening intentions were at the time. Albums with heavy speed and/or melodic guitars and vocals was where 1988 was heading for me, and I guess that was what I was looking for. The lead single “Just Like Paradise” was, and is, a fun song, right in the David Lee Roth sweetspot, so I had guessed that this was typical of what the rest of the album would be like. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was in the style as I spoke of here in the middle section, a lot of mid tempo songs that concentrated more on the 80’s synths than the genius of Steve Vai’s guitar, as had been the case on the debut solo album. And as a result it fell off my radar fairly swiftly as other more aggressive albums began to find their way into my spectrum.
Listening to it now, I have different emotions. To be honest, it is more like a glam metal or rock album than a hard rock album, and if I had gone in listening to it as such at the time I reckon I would have enjoyed it more. Because the songs here might be harmless but they are enjoyable if you take in the fac that it is tied to the era, and has more to do with new wave and hair metal rock than heavy metal or hard rock, as it was promoted at the time. I’ve had it on rotation for two weeks, and have enjoyed it each time I’ve listened to it. Is t because I am less judemental of it now than I was at the time? That’s probably a fair statement. It isn’t a great album. It isn’t groundbreaking. But Dave is always enjoyable to listen to, and Vai and Sheehan and BIssonette are great musicians. It’s an album to listen to like elevator music, on in the background in a harmless way. Perhaps that’s not what he was looking for at the time, but it’s not a bad way to end up in someone’s collection for.

1187. Def Leppard / Pyromania. 1983. 5/5

As has been stated on other episodes of this podcast when it comes to retro-reviewing Def Leppard albums, for a band that was spoken of as one of the early leaders of the NWoBHM movement, they shirked that title at every turn, and rather than go down that path they chose their own, which mainly looked to try and crack the American rock market. And given the brilliance of their sophomore album “High N Dry”, which made a few inroads in that respect but perhaps not the break they were looking for, there was no doubt an even bigger push to have that occur with their follow up album.
Writing and recording of “Pyromania” was again not a particularly easy process. Recording took up most of 1982 as the band, along with producer “Mutt” Lange, searched for the sound that would propel them to the success they were looking to achieve. And while Def Leppard, even in their earliest form, could not be classed as heavy metal, the faster and heavier tracks from “High N Dry” still had the band labelled as such in many quarters. What can be seen on “Pyromania” is a band in transition. There are still the faster tracks here that showcase what the band had been like in their earliest days, bFor ut there are also the tracks here that, while not being pop songs as such, were beginning to develop more into songs that radio stations would be happy to pull up and play on rotation, which in 1983 was still the best way to sell albums.
Along with this, Pete Willis, whose alcoholism had caused some ructions within the group for some time, eventually found he had run out of chances. Towards the end of the recording process he had laid down all of his rhythm tracks for the album, but the band had lost its patience, and he was fired before the album was completed. In his place came Phil Collen, who with the support of Mutt Lange was encouraged to ‘just be a lead guitarist, jump around and have fun’ as he competed the album by coming up with his own lead guitar pieces to complement the songs and bring them all together. And when you listen to the album, you can hear that fun inspiration in the songs because of that. Some may say… well, I may say… that the greatness of the tracks here is that scintillating lead guitar work from the man who came in and gave the album the kick that pushes it into greatness.

For me, there is a common misconception when it comes to Def Leppard albums depending on the era you grew up in. Those who were early Def Leppard fans feel that this album is a diverse change from the first two albums, and that it signalled the real change in the band’s direction, whereas later fans feel that change didn’t occur until the following album “Hysteria”. If you were to play the first four albums back to back, I think you will agree that there is a maturing of the material and the production of each album, but that essentially the songs on “Pyromania” can be collated much more closely with “High N Dry” than with “Hysteria”.
There are the obvious singles here on “Pyromania” that have either been purpose-written to find their way onto radio airplay, or just naturally occurred that way. But none of those four songs could be accused of ‘selling out’ or drifting away from the overall theme of the album. “Too Late For Love” takes on that role lyrically and with a greater concentration of the chorused vocals that would come to define the later sound that the band took, but all three initial singles – “Photograph”, “Rock of Ages” and “Foolin’” are no less hard rock than the songs that came before them. “Photograph” was the song that really broke them in the US, and it had repeated playings of the music video on those video shows as well. The follow up “Rock of Ages” also did well, and perhaps drew in another section of fans because it wasn’t a typical radio friendly song of the day.
But the ore of the album is still, for me at least, that great hard rock style that Def Leppard had produced on their earlier albums. “Die Hard the Hunter” finishes off side one of the album in style, while the triumvirate that completes side two – “Comin Under Fire”, “Action Not Words” and “Billy’s Got a Gun”, are just superb, played and sung with a passion that still gives me goosebumps when I put the album on and listen to, and sing out loud, these songs.
The biggest change on “Pyromania” then was probably the production of Mutt Lange. Whereas “High N Dry” still had that gritty hard rock, almost live feeling about most of the tracks, a lot of that doesn’t exist in the same way here. “Stagefright” is the closest song here to being felt like it was a live song (probably for the faux crowd being inserted onto the track), and I can attest that a song like the opening track “Rock Rock til You Drop” sounds amazingly better live, because it is written to be a live song, but it doesn’t always come across that way here. Lange and no doubt the band was looking for a showpiece to present to the world, and that is exactly how it was prepared, and how it comes across.

The 1980’s decade was where Def Leppard found their way through numerous challenges and blockades to find the fame and sound that they wanted, and the success that it then brought. Nothing was easy about it, and they made lots of fans along the way, and probably lost a few as well.
“Pyromania” came to me by way of my high school metal music dealer, back in 1986, which was before the hype of “Hysteria” drew in every kind of music fan to say “DEF LEPPARD!!! WHOA!!!” And I can assure you that I adored this album at the time, and there were a LOT of bands and albums that I was getting into at the time, and for this to find its way above water level to keep being heard was a feat in itself. And I guess it was also fortunate that, given I didn’t first hear this until over three years after it was released, it didn’t have any new Def Leppard music to compete against it, given the length of time that came between albums. But what always impressed me, and allowed me to fall in love with this album, was that while it wasn’t the traditional heavy metal of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath or the thrash metal of Metallica that I was gorging on at the time, nor was it soft core. These songs have a great hard rock base, solid drumming from Rick Allen, an awesome bass sound from Rick Savage, sensational guitars from Steve Clark and Phil Collen, and those amazing unique vocals from Joe Elliott, along with the harmony backing vocals that a lot of bands I was listening to at the time just didn’t have. They mixed all of that together to have songs you cold sing along to at the top of your voice, and play air drums and air guitar along to, and make them so catchy that as soon as the album finished, you just had to put it on again to hear them all again. The momentum of the album is never bogged down, each song carries itself and is both wonderful it itself and as a part of the whole.
Having had this on my stereo in the Metal Cavern for the past two weeks on constant rotation, I am still not sick of it. I have it going right now in the background as I record this podcast episode. And it has again raised in my head the question “what is my favourite Def Leppard album?” Because whenever I listen to “High N Dry”, I think it is that album. And now? Well. Honestly. How can you go past this work of art as the best that Def Leppard has produced?

1186. Deep Purple / Who Do We Think We Are. 1973. 3.5/5

Deep Purple the band had barely stopped to take breath over the three years leading up to this album being written and recorded. The infusion of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover to the group had brought the Mark II line up to the fore, and on the back of three triumphant albums in “In Rock”, “Fireball” and “Machine Head”, along with the euphoric live album “Made in Japan” which had been recorded on the Machine Head tour, Deep Purple was riding the crest of a wave that never looked like stalling. However, the pace that was being set for them was one that always appeared as though it would eventually be the straw that broke the camel’s back. As has been said on earlier episodes of this podcast, where the albums “Fireball” and “Machine Head” were given the 50 year treatment, the band’s management and record company were pushing the band to its limits. Forced to write and record those albums on minimal breaks from their touring schedule, and then straight back on the road to continue to bring in the dollars, you can imagine just how tired the band members must have been getting.
The album was recorded in two sessions. The first was in Rome in July 1972, and the second in Frankfurt in October of that year. From the first session, only one song made the final cut for the album, the single “Woman from Tokyo”. The band was then back on the road, including the tour of Japan where the live album was recorded and then subsequently released. The band then went to Frankfurt, but was struggling on all kinds of levels. They were struggling to come to any agreement upon which tracks should be used or even completed, and various members were not even speaking to each other through the process. Indeed, many of the tracks were only completed and recorded by having schedules arranged so that they could record their parts separately and therefore not have to be in the studio at the same time as the other members of the band. This of course all came to light after the album had been released, and is something that is often quoted by critics when they like to suggest that this isn’t up to the standard of the previous albums that this line up had released.

You couldn’t ask for a better start to this album, especially given the quality of the few albums that preceded it. “Woman From Tokyo” is a great opening track, written about touring Japan and combining the best parts of Jon Lord’s organ and keyboards, Ian Paice’s drums and Ian Gillan’s smooth as honey vocals. It was a mainstay of the setlists both prior to the sabbatical and then once again after the reformation. That Ritchie Blackmore guitar riff along with Roger Glover’s bass line throughout help to make this one of Deep Purple’s classic tracks. This then flows into the beautiful “Mary Long”, a superb track that not only is fantastic musically, but cutting edge lyrically. Ian Gillan was quoted about the meaning of the song, saying, "Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford were particularly high-profile figures at the time. It was about the standards of the older generation, the whole moral framework, intellectual vandalism – all of the things that exist throughout the generations… Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford became one person, fusing together to represent the hypocrisy that I saw at the time."
“Super Trouper” holds that kind of form and continues down the line of easy listening 70’s rock. “Smooth Dancer” tends to lift the tempo in the middle of the album, with a concentration of Lord’s keyboards, that go from jaunty piano bar through the verse and chorus, into an orgasmic (pun intended) solo in the middle of the song. It’s quite noticeable how this is his song to dominate and shine on. “Rat Bat Blue” pulls back that intensity again to the mid-road tempo the album hides in, lyrically moving in the Gillan/Glover styled ‘girl meets boy’ theme. “Place in Line” is very much in an old blues theme, carrying many of the same characteristics of AC/DC songs that are in the same realm. The turn has begun to come. “Our Lady” completes the seven track album in much the same way, in a slow mannered way that tinges itself in the same sort of style.
Does "Who Do We Think We Are” take on more of a blues feel, as many critics suggest? I guess in a way it does, as there are no out-and-out hard rock tracks here such that had been prevalent on earlier albums, and the back half of the album definitely in mired in this, which is perhaps the first time Deep Purple had moved in this direction for some time musically. There is little doubt that this grated with Ritchie in particular who at that time wanted to continue down the hard rock path, whereas Gillan was less inclined. This had been an issue since the “Fireball” album, and it continued to fuel the fire here, and it can be easily seen why tensions flared during the writing and recording process.

Having conducted my Deep Purple upbringing with the album “In Rock”, “Machine Head” and “Perfect Strangers”, this album has always been a bit of a mystery to me. The opening is fantastic, and over recent days having put the album on again at home and listened to it in the Metal cavern, it is still terrific to listen to, taking in every part of each band members brilliance and what they contribute to the album in that way. The songs however? Well, if I was to sit here and pick them apart, then I would certainly not rank it in the top echelon of Deep Purple albums. It was never an album I grabbed and put on, that always fell to those three I mentioned earlier, as well as a few modern albums. And for me it IS the lack of momentum in the album and the tracks, the fall back to a slower tempo and less aggressive approach throughout. And once you factor in the trouble that went into writing and recording, and how exhausted the band must have been, and how they were certainly pulling apart, then it probably isn’t hard to understand how they got to this point. It didn’t stop the album selling all over the world. For me though, despite a couple of songs that are still favourites to this day, it doesn’t stand up to the best the band has produced.
Ian Gillan left the band following this album, citing internal tensions, which was basically reaching the breaking point that had been coming for some time with Ritchie Blackmore. It is interesting though that in an interview held when they reformed once again in 1983, Ian stated that fatigue and management had a lot to do with it, that if the managers and record company had just afforded them a three month holiday in order to rest and recuperate, then perhaps the band would never have exploded. Of course, that would have changed the entire history of the band, and we may never have had the legendary album that followed this one in just a few short months time.