Year: 2017

Music Challenge #5 – Galactic Empire’s ‘Galactic Empire’

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For those that don’t know what the Music Challenge is I will tell you.  Go out and pick up an album or stream an album based solely off one of three categories…1) Album Cover, 2) Band Name or 3) Album Name.  Once you have listened to one, come tell me about it.

For my 5th one over the last year, I picked based on the band name and the album cover. The band name was Galactic Empire and the album cover was of space.  The whole thing had a Star Wars vibe to it, so naturally I was drawn to it.  What I didn’t know at the time was it was an album of John William’s Star Wars songs that were all done in a Heavy Metal format.  Interesting enough.

The album ‘Galactic Empire’ was released on February 3rd on Rise Records.

Here is the Track Listing:

  1. “Main Theme”
  2. “The Imperial March”
  3. “Duel of the Fates”
  4. “The Force Theme”
  5. “The Asteroid Field
  6. “Battle of Heroes”
  7. “Cantina Band”
  8. “Ben’s Death / Tie Fighter Attack”
  9. “Across the Stars”
  10. “The Forest Battle”
  11. “The Throne Room / End Title”

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As Lions – Selfish Age – Album Review

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As Lions’ debut is the incredible ‘Selfish Age’.  There is a lot of buzz around this band and not only because Bruce Dickinson’s son, Austin Dickinson, is the lead singer, but also because these kids are super talented and understand how hard rock should sound.  The new face of rock is upon and us and I am given hope that we are in good hands.

First off, It is pretty brave for the kid of a famous singer or musician to go the same route as their famous parent, but there is no comparison needed. They are two very different singers and two very different bands.  The only other thing to say about the subject is that Bruce must be one proud father because this kid and this band are incredible.

The Band:

  • Austin Dickinson – Vocals
  • Conor O’Keefe – Guitar
  • Will Homer- Guitar
  • Stefan Whiting – Bass
  • Dave Fee- Drums

The opening track, “Aftermath”, immediately sets the tone for the rest of the album.  From this song, you hear great production, great song structure, a melodic sound and intelligent lyrics.  You will get this from every song on the album; however, every song is different.

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My Sunday Song – SPECIAL EDITION – “Rise Up” by Disciple (GO FALCONS!!)

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We interrupt our normally scheduled My Sunday Song for a Special Edition celebrating the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. The My Sunday Song regular post will return next week with the next edition in the series with my lovely wife picking the songs.

The Falcons use the slogan #RiseUp to rally their fans and there is a great rock song with that same name.  “Rise Up” by the band Disciple is such a great motivating, heavy and loud song that really pumps you up.

So enjoy the song and enjoy the Super Bowl.  Win or Lose, I am glad the Falcons finally made it back.  I do hope they somehow pull a giant victory and stop the Patriots, but I will admit I will be disappointed if they lose.  GO FALCONS!!

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Friday New Releases – February 3rd

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The year is already flying by as we are now in February in what seems like a blink of the eye. I am still getting through all of last week’s releases so luckily there are only 2 I find intriguing this week. They are highlighted in Blue.

  • 170x170bb-10  Black Star Riders – Heavy Fire – (Nuclear Blast):  Black Star Riders returns with their third album.  The band is basically Thin Lizzy but they are not using the name.  Not sure why, but regardless, I love the new material.  The first two albums were great and I feel they are just getting warmed up.  High hopes for the new release.

  • 71wxshqv-8l-_sx522_  Judas Priest – Turbo (30th Anniversary 3CD set) – (Sony Legacy):  Wow!  30 years since the release of Turbo.  I am looking forward to revisiting this classic Judas Priest album and eager to hear what special they might have added to this addition.  Here is the original video to “Turbo Lover” and the video was awful…sorry.

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Motley Crue – ‘The End’ Box Set

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I have been wanting this box set since the day it was announced.  I finally was able to get my hands on a copy and couldn’t be happier.  Well, almost.  Let’s first talk about what is wrong with this box set.  There is a HUGE OMISSION of several albums.  The albums ‘Motley Crue’, ‘Generation Swine’ and ‘New Tattoo” are for some strange, f**king reason are not included in this box set.  I am sure they had a reason, but a good reason it was absolutely not!

Now that I got that out of the way…the Motley Crue Box Set is to commemorate the 35 years of the band.  The set goes through their final show on December 31st, 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.  Motley Crue were

  • Vince Neil – Vocals
  • Nikki Sixx – Bass
  • Mick Mars – Guitar
  • Tommy Lee – Drums

I mentioned briefly what was wrong, now let’s go through what was included in the box set and what they did get right.

The Case:  As you can see from the featured image, the case is actually quite large.  It is a grave headstone marking the death (or ‘The End’) of Motley Crue.  My youngest daughter thought that it was weird, but it is actually quite fitting for the occasion. When full, the case is rather heavy and seems durable enough for its purpose.  The only down side is it won’t fit in my LP cabinet as you can see from the picture as well.  However, it is nice enough to be a nice accent to the cabinet when I place it on top.

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“My First Time” with Aerosmith’s ‘Done With Mirrors’

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This is the first in a new monthly series I am going to do called “My First Time”.  It is not as dirty as you think.  It is not about my first time doing certain things.  The series will be about the FIRST album I bought from an artist that really got me into the band.  See, not dirty like you thought.

I was out at the record store a few weeks back and came across the vinyl for Aerosmith’s 1985 album ‘Done With Mirrors’ and remembered that this was the FIRST album I bought for the band, so of course I snatched the vinyl up and it only cost me $6.  I had the cassette years ago, but all my cassettes are now long gone.

I obviously knew of Aerosmith because my brothers listened to them when they were growing up and I remember seeing their vinyl albums lying around.  I remember hearing “Sweet Emotion”, “Dream On” and even listened to the album “Toys In the Attic”, but I wasn’t a true fan.  That didn’t come until the mid-80’s after I bought this album.

I was watching MTV one evening and they played the video for “Let the Music Do The Talking” and I actually fell in love with that song instantly.  The next chance I had to make it to the record store, I picked a copy of the album on cassette.  Little did I know at the time that the song was actually a remake of the same song Joe Perry did with his solo band The Joe Perry Project.

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My Sunday Song – “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus

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Here we are…already half way through the next series of My Sunday Song with my wife picking the songs and telling here story behind each one.  I have enjoyed it and hope you have as well.  For song #25, she has chosen “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.  And here she is telling it in her own words…

“The Climb” was written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe about their personal struggles in the music industry. Before reaching Cyrus, the song had been rejected by several country artists. It was eventually picked up by the director of “Hannah Montana: The Movie” and he gave it to Cyrus to perform. The song was released on February 6, 2009. Now, if you don’t have children between the ages of 8 – 14 or you hate the thought of reading about a song that in any way relates to Hannah Montana, please, I encourage you to read on.

If you recall from one of my first posts, I said if I found a song I liked that I would listen to it over and over again? Well, this one is probably at the top of the charts! From the moment I first heard the song I knew I loved it and could completely 100 percent relate to the lyrics. Everything about “The Climb” seemed to apply to everything I had ever tried to do in my life whereby I really wanted to get out there and succeed, do my best and make it to the top. But then once I did all that, meaning I met my goals, succeeded as I set out to do – something was still missing. It took me a very long time to realize that it was all about the climb, all about the process, the hard work, the challenges that kept me motivated in life. It was never about sitting atop the mountain as I originally anticipated.

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Friday New Releases – January 27th

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I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and a fantastic weekend.  I should be sitting on a tropical beach in Jamaica about now soaking up the sun and the alcohol with my lovely bride of 15 years.  We are two weeks past our anniversary, but we finally got away just the two of us.

The bad news is I am missing so many great releases this weekend, but I don’t really care.  I will listen when I get back.  One release that is actually quite fitting is the Train release.  That is “our band” as I have mentioned many times on this blog.  That will the one I definitely check out this week.  I have highlighted in Blue all the ones I am interested in and will find some time to give a listen.

  • 170x170bb-14  Train – A Girl, A Bottle, A Boat – (Sunken Forest/Columbia):  So happy for another Train album.  I have heard a couple songs so far and they have been okay.  They seem to be rehashing the same formula with every album and song now and loosing some of the magic (reminds of what Bon Jovi is going through).  I am hoping the rest of the album is better otherwise, they might loose their place as my wife and I’s favorite band.

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Danny Gokey – ‘Rise’ – Album Review

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You probably know Danny Gokey from his time on American Idol.  He place third on Season 8 behind the winner, Kris Allen, and the runner-up, Adam Lambert.  To me Adam should have won, but that is the topic for another discussion.  I am going to talk about Danny Gokey and his new album, ‘Rise’.

Danny is on his 5th album (if you count the Christmas album and his Spanish version of his 2nd album).  He has seem to have found his niche in the Christian Pop genre and is getting better with each release.  You can see the maturity and the improvement in the songs on this release.  Ever since he started adding to the songwriting on his second album, the releases have been getting better and better.

He has definitely gained more confidence and ease with his singing as his voice hasn’t sounded better.  The smooth, soulful vocals along with the Pop vibe makes for an exceptional album that could easily be on the mainstream Pop radios.

For this release, he has taken songs with a positive, Christian message and turned them into sleek, danceable pop songs that at the same time have deep meaning and heart.  The first single, “Rise”, is a dance, pop song, but is absolutely beautiful and is such an uplifting song and instantly became a favorite of mine.  The video even shines a light on domestic violence and an organization that will help women going through such a tragic event.

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My Sunday Song – “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction

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My Sunday Song #24 is “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction.  Since this is now my wife’s series, I will let her explain why she chose this song…enjoy!

The man upstairs has had his hands in this My Sunday Song thing I’ve been asked to do! At the first of the year, my husband wanted at least 3 – 4 of my Sunday Song write ups all at once. Truth be told, I didn’t even have one at the time he asked. I’m thinking to myself, “Geez, glad I don’t work for this guy”! Anyway, I wrote up the approaching My Sunday Song and then provided him with a list of songs for the remaining 8 weeks…which brings me to week 4 and the My Sunday Song I had already selected weeks ago: “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction. You are likely wondering where I am going with all this blabber, so stay with me for a minute.

I had already decided I was going to write today but needed to run to a very popular and large beauty store. This store is AH-MAZING and has everything you can think of related to makeup and hair! I needed a couple of hair products and one makeup product. I like to browse around and I usually already know what I’m looking for because I’ve already done my research on Pinterest and looked to see what the best sellers are, etc. A sweet lady approached me to ask if I was finding everything okay and could she help me. I normally say “no thank you” and quickly walk away to another aisle hoping they won’t follow me and try to sell me something. But, this time I did need help. Actually, I need lots of help but that’s a story for another time. I let her know that I was looking for something to hide the puffiness under my eyes and something that would not settle into the lines that have so graciously developed in the aging process. Of course she had just the right productS! Yes, products, as in plural, multiple, more than one, even more than two! All I wanted was a simple concealer to cover up my under eye concerns.

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