Month: March 2020

Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Ordinary Man’ – Album Review

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It has been 10 years since Ozzy’s last studio album and yet somehow, the man is still relevant.  How relevant, so relevant in fact that Post Malone had him guest on one of his songs. So there is a whole new generation of people discovering Ozzy.  And better late than never.

Now, it might be 10 years since his last studio album, but the last studio album I bought was 1987’s ‘The Ultimate Sin’ and the last Ozzy album I bought was 1997’s ‘The Ozzman Cometh’ so it has been a lot longer for me.

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With the sad news of Ozzy’s Parkinson diagnosis and hearing that Post Malone song, I thought I would give this album a try as I figured it might be his last (thankfully, it isn’t as he is already working on another).  To my surprise, I was completely blown away by this album.  The album is full of hooks, melodies, great guitar solos and Ozzy hasn’t sounded better.  The album is so accessible and harkens back for me to ‘The Ultimate Sin’ in catchiness and how radio friendly it is.  Some fans might not like that, but I couldn’t be happier.

The guests on this album are immense.  The main rhythm section is Duff McKagan on bass (GNR) and Chad Smith on drums (Red Hot Chili Peppers), but that isn’t all.  You get Slash, Tom Morello, Elton John, Charlie Puth, Post Malone, Travis Scott, Andrew Watt and even daughter Kelly Osbourne on backing vocals.  A mix of old and new with the musicians and it comes across in the music. Continue reading “Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Ordinary Man’ – Album Review” →

My Sunday Song – “Wild Side” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #187, we are going a little nuts with the song “The Wild Side” by Motley Crue. The song is off the band’s 1987 album ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ which went to #2 on the Billboard charts and saw three singles including this one. It sold well over 4 million albums in the U.S. alone and saw the band reach another level of success.

The song “Wild Side” is very similar to the song we did last week, “Saints of Los Angeles”.  They both talk about their lives on the Sunset Strip and both reference the Lord’s Prayer.  “SOLA” opened with Vince speaking it and “WildSide” was inspired by a school girl who Nikki asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer and then he incorporated some of the prayer in to the lyrics like below…

“Our father
Who ain’t in heaven
Be thy name on the wild side”

The song is about the dirty side of the Strip with all the drugs, pimping, and many other abuses going on at that time in their lives.  Heck, even Nikki wrote when he was severely hooked on Heroin.

Musically, it belts at as a rocker with a mean guitar riff by Mick Mars. The pace goes from fast to slow with tempos reaching 118 beats per minute at one time.  There is actually no guitar solo in the song only many instances of Mick belting out some cool riffs and guitar parts.  Tommy pounds away and you can tell it is him on those drums. Vince sounds great and still so young.  And Nikki is always doing his thing.  There is a blues sound to the song as well and ends with sirens, breaking glass, gunfire and lots of mayhem.

R-389389-1567746890-9049.jpeg Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Wild Side” by Motley Crue” →

Friday New Releases – March 13th

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Oh Crap!! It is Friday the 13th.  Lock your doors and don’t go outside as there are a lot of crazies this day.  And we are crazy with new releases. Actually, there are a bunch, but not much of interest to me as has been the case a lot this year.  I hope the year picks up.  I don’t have any that I am dying to hear…nothing highlighted in Blue this week.  I might try a couple, but if I get to them.  I hope there is something for you.  Let me know what there is you want to hear or what I missed as I always do since I generally only list bands/artist that I have actually heard about.  Have a great weekend.

  • 91+0PkqLz+L._SS500_  Gotthard – #13 – (Nuclear Blast)

  • 71oUwxUkIqL._SX522_  Stitched Up Heart – Darkness – (Stitched Up Heart)

  • 71aNmqEhwBL._SS500_  Code Orange – Underneath – (Roadrunner Records)

Continue reading “Friday New Releases – March 13th” →

Gene Simmons – ‘The Vault’ – Album Review (Part 11 of 15 – Disk 10)

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Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review.  We are now on Disk 10.  Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.

I will try and keep some consistency between each disk.  I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information.  I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk.  I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.

At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package.  I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week.  Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time.  That is a bunch of music to go through.

The songs aren’t in chronological order.  Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe.  The vibe of this one appears to be a little all over the place.  I had a hard time getting in to this one.  Let’s see what the result was.

Well, are you ready?  Then let’s get right to it.

The CD comes with a picture of one of Gene’s very first bands…

IMG_1816 Continue reading “Gene Simmons – ‘The Vault’ – Album Review (Part 11 of 15 – Disk 10)” →

Coverdale-Page – ‘Coverdale-Page’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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After the Whitesnake tour supporting the album, ‘Slip of the Tongue’, David was done.  He had had enough of Whitesnake and called it quits.  He put the band on the back burner and started searching for the next big thing.  In the meantime, Jimmy Page was not getting back  with his former band Led Zeppelin so he was in limbo as well.  Then in 1991, shortly after the tour, A&R guy, John Kalodner, suggested David and Jimmy Page get together and cut an album.  That is funny for one very big reason.  David had been told by critics for years that he was a Robert Plant wannabe…a poor man’s Zeppelin if you will.  Heck, when Robert Plant heard about this project, he called the pairing David Cover”Version”…ouch!

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That didn’t stop them though and thankfully for us they plowed ahead.  The album was recorded at the end of 1991 and in to 1992.  However, for reasons I can’t find, the album was delayed until March 1993 when it finally was released. The album had pretty decent success as it definitely went platinum and reached #5 on the Billboard Charts and #4 in the UK. In 1993, a blues tinged rock album to do this good in a landscape that was pretty much grunge at the time, I would say it did more than pretty decent.

IMG_1814 Continue reading “Coverdale-Page – ‘Coverdale-Page’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)” →

The Darkness – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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The Darkness came out of nowhere in 2003 with the song “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” and when I heard that song, I was hooked.  It was so 80’s retro and 70’s glam all rolled in to one while at the same time being a little tongue-in-cheek.  I didn’t even know if this was a parody of if these guys were for real, but I loved it.  Thankfully, it was for real.  Lead singer, Justin Hawkins, has this insane falsetto that not many people could ever think of doing and the band is loud and awesome.  After their second album, the band hit a rough spot.  Justin entered in to rehab and afterwards decided to leave the band.  On hiatus they went.

Not knowing if they were ever to return, I was sad not having them on the music scene.  Then in 2012, some 6 years later, they returned with their 3rd album “Hot Cakes” and have been on a regular basis about ever 2 years and they keep getting better.  18 years now after the release of their debut album, there is still 3 of the 4 original members in the band which is pretty impressive in today’s world.  The members are as follows:

  • Lead Singer, lead and rhythm guitar – Justin Hawkins
  • Rhythm and lead guitar – Dan Hawkins
  • Bass – Frank Poullain
  • Drums – Rufus Tiger Taylor

With the 2019 release of “Easter is Cancelled” which had my #1 song of 2019 with “Rock and Roll Deserves to Die” and was their 6th studio album, I felt it was time to do an album ranking. So sit back and enjoy The Darkness albums ranked Worst to First!

THE WORST – ‘HOT CAKES’ (2012):

Continue reading “The Darkness – The Albums Ranked Worst to First” →

My Sunday Song – “Saints of Los Angeles” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #186, we are exploring the title track to the band’s 2008 album ‘Saints of Los Angeles’ and their last album at this point in time.  The song was the debut single and was the first single released simultaneously as normal single release and a download through the video game Rock Band.  A creative way to make some noise and get their name out there.

The album is loosely based on the band’s book “The Dirt”, I believe we have all heard of that book and Netflix movie.  The song was written by every member of the band…not Motley Crue, but Sixx A.M.. That is Nikki’s other band and they pretty much had their hands in this entire album so really this is a Sixx A.M. album performed by Motley Crue.

The song is a rocker and anthem that celebrates the band coming up in L.A. and being rock & roll kings.  It has references to playing at the Troubadour and all the partying and drugs they did back in the day.  The Gang Vocal version opens with Vince softly speaking the Lord’s Prayer.  And it has Josh Todd (Buckcherry), Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach), James Michael (Sixx A.M.) and Chris Taylor Brown (Los Gatos) on backing vocals.  It comes at you like a fist to the face and all the Motley elements you want in a song including Mick’s guitars and Tommy’s drum sound.  It was a welcome return to a band that needed a hit record.

41ReTNWqsbL Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Saints of Los Angeles” by Motley Crue” →

Friday New Releases – March 6th

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Welcome to March and the new releases are heating up.  We have a ton this week so there has to be something you like in there, I am sure.  If not, I guarantee nothing!!  There is rock, metal, pop, country, rap, classic rock…what else could you need?  Seriously, what else??  Let me know what I missed and what floats your boat.  For me, the two are highlighted in Blue.  Have a great weekend!!

  • 71DB-YKACJL._AC_UL115_  Harem Scarem – Change the World – (Frontiers Records):  Yes, Harem Scarem are still going strong with a new release.  This is their 16th studio album…wow!!  If you know the band, you know what you are getting.  Solid, melodic rock and only the way they know how.  That is all you want from these guys.  Give it a try.

  • 913OhGTguhL._SX522_  Allen / Olzon – Worlds Apart – (Frontiers Records):  You get Symphony X’s and Adrenaline Mob’s Russel Allen and Nightwish’s Anette Olzon teaming up for an album.  Does it get much better than that?  Probably, but for now, I will give it a try as it is two great voices of metal together.  Deserves a listen.

Continue reading “Friday New Releases – March 6th” →

Gene Simmons – ‘The Vault’ – Album Review (Part 10 of 15 – Disk 9)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic70 Comments

Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review.  We are now on Disk 9.  Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.

I will try and keep some consistency between each disk.  I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information.  I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk.  I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.

At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package.  I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week.  Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time.  That is a bunch of music to go through.

The songs aren’t in chronological order.  Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe.  The vibe of this one appears to be a little all over the place.  However, there are only a handful of songs that ended up on Kiss albums or solo albums which is nice.  It is an interesting set of tracks.

Well, are you ready?  Then let’s get right to it.

The CD comes in a picture of Gene in full make-up with his Axe…

IMG_1796 Continue reading “Gene Simmons – ‘The Vault’ – Album Review (Part 10 of 15 – Disk 9)” →

David Coverdale – “The Last Note of Freedom” – Single Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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For this part of the David Coverdale series, we are throwing in the review of the song David did from the movie ‘Days of Thunder’ starring Tom Cruise.  The song came out in 1990.  Whitesnake hadn’t called it quits just yet, still a year away for that, but David was exploring solo projects such as this.  And honestly, how could he turn down the opportunity to have a song on a Tom Cruise movie back in a time when Tom could do no wrong.

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As you can see, the song was produced by Trevor Horn, but the song was actually written by Hans Zimmer who did the music, but what I find is that the lyrics were actually written by Billy Idol…yes, that Billy Idol.  I am sure David contributed a little, but mostly he sang.  I now have a connection between the last music series I did with Billy Idol and this one with David Coverdale..so cool.

This single was only released as a single in Europe which is exactly where I found it.  This is another Single I picked up on my Paris trip.  I picked up a bunch of singles at that time and another one will be discussing in a couple weeks for the David Coverdale series as well. Continue reading “David Coverdale – “The Last Note of Freedom” – Single Review (The David Coverdale Series)” →