Year: 2017

Def Leppard – Viva! Hysteria (2013)

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In Part 2 of this 3 Part series of the Def Leppard Live albums we are tackling Viva! Hysteria (If you want to read Part 1 just click on Mirror Ball: Live & More).

Per Joe Elliott, Def Leppard has been asked numerous times to play one of their albums in its entirety.  At the times they had been asked, they were busy supporting an album and didn’t feel it was appropriate.  Along comes the day when they are in between albums and the time felt right.

They took up residency at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas from March 22nd to April 13th in 2013.  From those shows comes the release of Viva! Hysteria.  The 2 CD set and DVD of the show make for a great addition to your Def Leppard collection.  I have to admit I am mad at myself for not making it out to Vegas to see this show as it would have been a special show to have seen.  I have seen them so many times, but this would probably have been the coolest.

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Def Leppard – Mirror Ball: Live & More (2011)

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If I remember correctly, there was an interview with Joe Elliott a long, long time ago asking him about Cover albums and Live albums and why Def Leppard hadn’t done any of these albums. His response was something to the effect that bands that have nothing else to give do those kind of albums (not a direct quote).  I tried finding the article, but was unsuccessful.  Well, 1 Cover album and now 3 Live albums later, I guess Def Leppard has nothing to give…Okay, we know that is wrong as Def Leppard has still put out great albums in between all these Live albums and the Cover album.  His opinion of them has apparently changed.

This post will be the first in a 3 part series discussing Def Leppard’s 3 Live Albums including ‘Mirror Ball’,‘Viva! Hysteria’, and ‘And There Will Be A Next Time…’.  We will start the series in chronological order starting with the 2011 release ‘Mirror Ball: Live & More’.

‘Mirror Ball’ is the first official release on CD for any Def Leppard recording.  I have bootlegs of live albums, but glad to see an official release of live material.  It was long overdue.  The album was a 2 CD set and included a Bonus DVD as well which I will discuss later in the post.  The CD packaging is one of those old thick plastic cases that doesn’t hold up well. I cracked the back of the case on the day I bought it.  I don’t remember what I did, but it is nicely cracked now.

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My Sunday Song – “Dear Younger Me” by MercyMe

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My Sunday Song #34 is “Dear Younger Me” by the band MercyMe.  The song is the fourth single off their 2014 album ‘Welcome to the New’.  The story is an autobiographical song by Bart Millard that talks about what he would say to his younger self about what he could do to help him not feel the pain.  You can check out the story behind the song as told by Bart Millard of Mercyme on godtube.com.

It is a beautiful and actually thought provoking song.  If you think about it now, would you want to know what choices you could make differently as a younger child.  I am not sure I would want to do anything differently.  Are there things I regret, of course.  Are there things I wish I would have done differently, absolutely.  Do I wish I could go back and change them…NO!!!!

Why??  If I did, would I be where I am today?  Would I be married to my friend, my partner, my beautiful wife?  Would I have my two girls that are the best thing I have ever done in my life?  If there is a chance any of that would be different by going back and telling my younger self what to change, there is no way I would do it.  All of my life choices got me to where I am right here, right now.  And I am glad they did!!

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Friday New Releases – April 7th

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We are now into April and the releases are still coming fast and furious.  There is a little something for everyone today and I am sure you will find something you like.  We have pop, rock, metal, country, alternative, christian, classical, techno…basically the whole gamut of genres.  My interests are focused on the ones highlighted in Blue.

  • 170x170bb-3  Michelle Branch – Hopeless Romantic – (Verve Label Group):  Michelle Branch??  Am I reading that correctly?  It has been over 14 years since she has had a full length solo album.  She had an E.P. in 2010, but not since 2003 has she had a full length studio album.  This one definitely has me intrigued.  I can’t wait to hear what she has to offer.

  • 610grn7amsl-_ac_us160_  Deep Purple – InFinite – (Earmusic):  Deep Purple just keep on going after almost 50 years.  This is their twentieth studio release and quite possibly their last “Big” tour, whatever that means.  I think the band members currently (after many iterations) is Ian Paice, Roger Glover, Ian Gillan, Steve Morse and Don Alrey.  Looking forward to this release after hearing some great things about the album.

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Rod Stewart – “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” – The 45 Single (1978)

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Off Rod Stewart’s 1978 album ‘Blondes Have More Fun’ comes one of his most memorable songs “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”.  The song reached #1 in the US, Canada and the UK as well as 3 other countries.  It sold over 2,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone and according to Rolling Stones magazine is #308 of the Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song was a little more disco than what Rod was used to releasing.  He had previously been more of a blues rock singer.  As a result, the rock critics were not quite happy with the song.

According to wikipedia (the most reliable source on earth), the song had some legal issues due to copyright infringement cases brought against it.  The song…

incorporates elements of the melody from the song “Taj Mahal” by Jorge Ben Jor and the string arrangement from the song “Put Something Down On It” by Bobby Womack.

Regardless, it is still one of Rod’s most popular songs.  What I love about the cover, is the girl is not Blonde even though the album was ‘Blondes Have More Fun’.  I had also heard that the lady on the cover was Cher, but I couldn’t find anything that backed that up.  I will still think it though.

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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – ‘Flying Microtonal Banana’ – Album Review

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For those that follow my blog, they might remember one of my first Music Challenges where I listened to an album based off the band’s name, album cover or name of the album.  I picked King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s album strictly because of their band name.  And to my surprise, I really loved the album.  When I saw they had a new album out, I naturally gravitated toward it and gave it a spin…a lot of spins.

Their new album is called ‘Flying Microtonal Banana’ and is their 9th studio album since 2012..that is right…9th!!  They also are planning on releasing not one, not two, but FIVE albums this year. Pretty ambitious and we will wait and see if they actually able to achieve said goal.

The band is out of Australia and actually has seven members.

  • Stu Mackenzie – lead vocals
  • Ambrose Kenny Smith – keyboards/synthesizer
  • Joey Walker – lead guitar
  • Cook Craig – rhythm guitar
  • Lucas Skinner – bass guitar
  • Eric Moore – drums
  • Michael Cavanagh – drums

The current release has nine tracks and is as wild and experimental sounding as the last release.  Where the last release was one continuous song basically broken up into 9 parts and the music never stopped playing, this album went a little more traditional where you could tell when one song ended and the other began.

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My Sunday Song – “Priceless” by for King & Country

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My Sunday Song #33 is going to highlight the song “Priceless” by for King & Country.  The song is off their album ‘Run.Wild.Live.Free.’.  The song was also the title of a movie they did called “Priceless” which was about human trafficking.

I am going to still this from Wikipedia about the plot of the movie:

The story is inspired by true events. The main character, James Stevens, after losing his wife and daughter, is unable to hold a steady job and agrees to drive a box truck across the country with no questions asked, then discovers that he is actually “delivering” two girls as part of a human trafficking ring. Stevens then must decide what to do and how to fight to shut down a trafficking ring.

It is hard to believe that today we still have issues with human trafficking and thankfully for King & Country shine a light on the issue still plaguing us.  We are all priceless whether you are a girl, a boy, black, white, an immigrant or whatever your nationality, race or sexuality.  God knows you and through him you can help find the light to shine and show you the way.

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Friday New Releases – March 31st

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It is the last Friday of the month and even the last day of the month.  There are over 20 albums on the list today including from some old times like Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan up to newcomers like La’Porsha Renae and Jackie Evancho (ok, she isn’t that new, but she is young).  There are also quite a couple 90’s artists back such as Jamiroquai and Ice T’s Body Count.  Only a few I am really interested in hearing right away and they are highlighted in Blue.  I hope there is something on this list that will brighten your day.  Friday new releases are just a great way to end a busy week.

  • 51ahfe18l2l-_ac_us160_  Brother Firetribe – Sunbound – (Spinefarm):  Yes, I know this album came out last week, but I had excluded it from the list for some strange reason. I wanted to highlight the release so I added it to this week’s new releases…Brother Firetribe comes to us from the great country of Finland.  They are a hard rock and AOR band and is a 5 piece band.  ‘Sunbound’ is their fourth release and after three previously stellar releases, I am looking forward to more magic from this band.

  • 170x170bb-5  Mastodon – Emperor of Sand – (Reprise Records):  Mastodon is heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia where I lived for 45 years prior to moving to Charlotte.  These guys are heavy metal and deliver the heavy to the extremes. They are unlike most bands I listen to and it is nice to change it up a little.  I have followed their career for awhile and can’t wait to give a listen.

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Turntables & Vinyl #6 – “Re-Spin” Led Zeppelin & Van Halen

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Ever since I started the whole resurgence in my vinyl collection which started from nothing just 10 months ago, I have been trying to put together “The List” of all the albums that are a must have for my collection.  The list is long and it is going to be expensive to put together.

For me, albums from the 70’s must be in vinyl as that was the medium of choice at the time.  That means that I need to have Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, early AC/DC, Queen and of course KISS, just to name a few.  I am off to a good start with KISS thanks to the box of records I mentioned back in the first Turntables & Vinyl post.

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The 80’s is the decade I grew up in and fell in love with music so there has to be a ton of vinyl from those years as well.  Def Leppard, Van Halen, more AC/DC, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Ratt and any other rock band from that era.  The collection is growing, but the list doesn’t seem to get smaller.

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“My First Time” with The Police’s ‘Synchronicity’

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My First Time is about the ‘first’ album I received or bought for a band and sadly, my first album for The Police was ironically their last.  MTV had played their previous songs quite often and I loved “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”, but it wasn’t until “Synchronicity II” that I finally decided to actually buy one of their records.

I picked up the cassette for ‘Synchronicity’ back in 1983 and later I did pick up their entire collection on CD by buying their box set which had all their albums.  I have since sold all the previous copies and when I was out vinyl shopping last year, I found ‘Synchronicity’ and snatched it up.  It cost $8 which was about the same price I paid for the cassette back in the ’80’s.

The Police were not an ordinary pop rock band.  For me, their lyrics were intelligent and not the bubble gum crap that was on the radio.  The songs made you think and look deeper into what they were saying.  At least they did for me.  It was the first time I felt music could be smart.

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