Welcome to the June Purchases wrap-up and what a month it was. After not visiting an actual record store in 2 months due to the Covid Stay at Home Orders, I was out in force when the opened back up. And this time it wasn’t just vinyl and CDs, there were a couple other surprises that were music related. And then there were a stack of albums I picked up that I didn’t have to buy which is always cool. Let’s get started.
First up was my trip to Repo Records and Noble Records as they were two of the first to open. I wanted to spend a little at both to show my support and I did just that. First up was Repo. I was worried we would have to wear masks and gloves, but thankfully neither store required but we could if we wanted to do it. Which I didn’t because we left the masks at home on the counter. I didn’t really find anything at Repo’s until I stumbled across a brand new copy of Tesla’s Psychotic Supper. It was new and sealed so no real deal on it, but it was cheaper than what Amazon was offering and since it is on a list of albums I want, I got it.
For My Sunday Song #202, we are going to talk about a more recent Whitesnake called “Forevermore” off the 2011 album of the same name. It is the final song on the album and I don’t know if David has ever ended an album with a song as strong as this one…maybe “Sailing Ships” and this even has that epic feel. This might be the best song he has written in 20 years if not ever!
“Forevermore” is such a beautiful song both lyrically and musically. Lyrically, it could be about a woman that his been with him for years and he is thinking about all the good times and the bad that they had. She makes him feel safe and he will be with her forever and ever. Or…it could be about music. Music has been his love his whole life. He is looking back at all those years and those years are his career. The place where he feels at home is with his music, his songs. They are his heartbeat and they give him so much love and joy. However you interpret the song, there is no denying an unwavering love and passion for whoever or whatever David is writing about.
Musically, the song starts off as a beautiful acoustic track filled with keyboards that give the song an airy, calming feeling. The song then slowly starts to build in to a full on explosion of sound with a slow and stunning guitar solo orchestrated by Doug Aldrich. The rhythm section of the band adds a unique sound that gives a slight middle eastern vibe to it. The song screams epic. It feels larger than life. It breathes a confidence that this is something special. And David, oh David, he gives the performance of all performances. You can tell this song means something to him and as his delivery has purpose and meaning and conveys an emotional attachment like no other. Job well done sir!!
I can’t believe June is now over. When the Covid-19 stay at home orders started, the days creeped on by and first and then when we got in to a routine, they started flying and now we are over 3 months later and time seems to be going faster. At least we aren’t on stay at home orders anymore. Enough babble, we have to get to the main point of this post…the new releases that are out. There are not a lot of choices today as Covid strikes again with several releases being moved til later (thank you Kansas and Neon Trees). I’m really only interested in one and curious in another. There are in Blue. Let me know what you want to hear or if I missed anything that should be noted. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!
Will Hoge – Tiny Little Movies – (Edlo Records / Thirty Tigers): I discovered Will on his second album back in 2003 and was instantly blown away. He has certainly grown since then and is one hell of a story teller. His protest songs are amazing and the musicianship is outstanding as well. Basically, he can do no wrong. Any new music from him is welcomed with open ears!! If you like country flavors with a little rock and folk, then grab this one now. This ain’t your bro-country and thank God for that!!
Grey Daze – Amends – (Loma Vista / Concord Records): Chester Bennington is back from beyond. This was a project of Chester and I believe it was his first band. They were able to finish the album with Chester’s vocals and I have liked what I’ve heard so far. He is missed!!
When the band completed ‘Hotter Than Hell’, they quickly went right back on tour. That album only had the one single, “Let Me Go, Rock & Roll”, which quickly fell from the charts. That wasn’t the only thing that fell quickly, so did the album sales. Their label, Casablanca, was hemorrhaging money with Kiss on Tour and the album doing poorly. As a result, the band was yanked off tour to record a new album.
When they get in the studio, the producer for the record was no longer Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise as Casablanca had no money to pay anyone. So the owner of the record label, Neil Bogart, stepped in and recorded the album. Which isn’t really a problem as he has a ton of experience…in the pop and dance music world. Not in Rock & Roll. And it would be evident as the heavier sound of the band on the first two albums, was a little more pop sounding on this one. Don’t fret, it still rocked out, but not as hard.
Imagine you are in a band and you are now starting to write your third album in about a year’s time. You have to be one heck of a writer to come up with that much music in such a short time. Well, Kiss didn’t have the songs. So, what did they do. They pulled a couple songs from their Wicked Lester Days and re-worked them. Now, only 8 more to go. Paul wrote three of them, Gene got two, Ace got one and then Paul & Gene wrote one together and what a song it was. More on that in a minute. Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Dressed to Kill’ (1975) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)”→
We are now to the final Live album I will be reviewing for the band. Since their reunion back in 2003, Whitesnake has overloaded the general public with Live albums. Seven to be exact!! Now, those seven do cover several eras of the band, but still Seven!! The Purple Tour Live album is the latest and it covers an era of the band I have yet reviewed for a live album…the Joel Hoekstra era. Yes, I define my eras by the lead guitarists. I know Reb is still one of those guitarists, but this is Joel’s first.
And interesting note, do you know who the longest running member of Whitesnake is aside from David, of course? That is right, it is Reb Beach. He has been with the band for 18 years. Then Tommy Aldridge would be a close second although his years were not consistent years like Reb, he was in and out 3 times. The current line-up is as follows:
For this episode of ‘The Original vs. The Cover”, we are discussing the song “It’s My Life” by the band Talk Talk and the cover by No Doubt. Both were big hits for the respective bands with Talk Talk’s version going to #31 on the Billboard Charts while the No Doubt version went as high as #10 and garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal…they didn’t win.
“It’s My Life” came about due to Mark Hollis’ wanting to assert his independence from his record label and because he didn’t want to be swayed by the popular public opinion. He wanted to do things his own way. The song was his manifesto that it is his life and he will do what he wants to know, not what anyone tells him to do. The song performed well enough in the states that it actually earned him enough freedom to do things his way going forward. And I don’t remember them doing much else in the States after this. How’d that work out for you Mark???
No Doubt was on a slight break as Gwen was recording here debut solo album, but they wanted to get some material out so they thought of putting out a greatest hits album. They wanted to a new song on it, but didn’t want to take time to write a new song. So they narrowed the prospects of 100’s of songs down to “It’s My Life” and the INXS song “Don’t Change”…we see which one won out or we wouldn’t be discussing this song right now would we. Let’ get to the music.
TALK TALK
Talk Talk’s song “It’s My Life” is a heavy synthesizer song as that is what type of music they played. They were part of the New Wave of music that was going on in the early 80’s along with band’s like Duran Duran and other two name bands. It is not a real happy, upbeat song. It has a slow groove driven by a bass riff and electronic drum beats bathed in synth sounds including some synth horns. It is not meant to be a pure dance song as it is expressing a person’s independence. It has a serious feel to the song, a warmth.
Mark Hollis doesn’t sing with gusto or scream out the lyrics, he sings with a darkness to his vocals. His delivery is a little monotone at times and a little dreary, an almost dreamlike state as he spews his thoughts and feelings out about how this is his life and don’t you forget it. It is an interesting delivery which evokes power and I think quite effective.
NO DOUBT
No Doubt doesn’t change too much on the song. The song still is a lot of electronic synths with just a more updated sound for the 21st Century. It seems to be a little more uptempo. The high pitched blips and beeps of the original are not here, but there is more cool electronic bass riff on occasion and the drum beats are so simple and yet just what the song needs. They keep the darker feel to the song and it still has that serious vibe that they have something important to say.
Gwen’s vocal delivery is quite different, mainly as she is a woman, but she sings with a little more gusto, especially on the chorus. She has an almost whiny, slight nasally sound to her vocals. The is ‘no doubt’ that Gwen has the chops to turn the song in to a song that feels like it is No Doubt while being so true and honest to the original.
THE VERDICT
This was a tough choice as I’m really not a fan of either song. I don’t own any Talk Talk album and as far as No Doubt, once I heard “Hellagood” and “Hey Baby”, there was nothing from them that would be remotely as good. But since I picked this song to discuss, I will pick a best song of the two. I am going to go with Mark Hollis’ version with his band Talk Talk. The reason is the song meant something to them. It was a manifesto. They wanted to do things their way and not be force fed instructions from a label. No Doubt already had that so the heart wasn’t there. So Talk Talk and the Original win out this go round.
I am really interested in hearing what everyone else thinks of these two songs. Let me know which version you like the best and why. Feel free to leave a comment and talk about the song and tell me how right or wrong I am on this one. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
“It’s My Life”
Funny how I find myself in love with you If I could buy my reasoning I’d pay to lose One half won’t do I’ve asked myself, how much do you Commit yourself
It’s my life Don’t you forget It’s my life It never ends (it never ends)
Funny how I blind myself, I never knew If I was sometimes played upon, afraid to lose I’d tell myself, what good do you do Convince myself
It’s my life Don’t you forget It’s my life It never ends (it never ends)
I’ve asked myself, how much do you Commit yourself?
It’s my life Don’t you forget Caught in the crowd It never ends
It’s my life Don’t you forget Caught in the crowd It never ends
It’s my life Don’t you forget Caught in the crowd It never ends
For My Sunday Song #201, we are kicking off the next set of 10 songs with this batch from Whitesnake to celebrate as I am coming to the end of my David Coverdale Review Series which started back last August. To kick it off we are going all the way back to the first release of the band on the album ‘Snakebite’ with the song “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City”.
One of the first songs Whitesnake did was actually a cover song. It was a cover of Bobby Bland’s “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City” written by Michael Price and Dan Wise. The song is now a signature Whitesnake classic as they are still known to pull this one out and play it live all thanks to the live version from ‘Live…in the Heart of the City’, but this is about the studio version recorded a few years earlier. Before Whitesnake became this hair metal giant, they were more a rock & soul band that loved the blues. This was a shining example of that passion.
This love song is down and dirty, a blues infused rock song slowed down into a beautiful ballad full of soul. Between Micky Moody’s hook that is filled with sorrow and along with a little funk filled groove from Bernie Marsden’s guitar and Neil Murray’s bass you are treated to what made early Whitesnake so magical. Oh, and the solo…wow! It fit the song so well and pulled out even more emotion if that was even possible. Now, let’s not forget David Coverdale’s vocals as the tone he is able to pull out as he sings is so well suited for some soulful blues. There is just enough character and maturity to grasp the emotional feel of the song and give you everything the song needs.
Welcome back, you made it through another week and you should be proud as who knows what the world threw at us this week as each week it seems to be something worse than the last. But at least the world is giving us some new music and that makes it all better. There are a handful of new music I am looking forward to getting and those are marked in Blue. Let me know what you are interested in, if anything, and tell me what I missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!
Whitesnake – The ROCK Album (2020 Remix) – (Saltburn / Rhino): In the first of 3 albums in a new series by Whitesnake, the Rock album is a bunch of remixes of old songs with one new one I believe. The other two will be out later in the year and in to next year are The Love Album and The Blues Album. I am glad the Rock starts it all off. This will finish up my David Coverdale Review series nicely until the other albums come out that is.
Switchfoot – Covers E.P. – (Fantasy Records / Concord): Ah, I love me some Switchfoot and although not an album of new material, we get a small collection of cover songs. At least these aren’t your standard fare. You get a cover from Frank Ocean, The Chainsmokers, Vampire Weekend and more. Should be interesting.
After the poor sales of the debut Kiss album and the fact that Casablanca was bleeding money on the tour, Neil Bogart wanted the band to get back in to the studio to record their next album. While on Los Angeles for a show in August of 1974, Kiss started recording their follow-up. The band’s line-up was unchanged and the producers were unchanged as Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise were behind the boards again. And yes, they are to blame for the awful sonics on this record, especially the dull drum sound.
Let me tell you, the band was not thrilled with doing this album in L.A. These guys are New York guys and this whole new environment was foreign to them and not home. Put that along side the fact they have had zero time to write new songs, they weren’t being setup to succeed. They plowed through and by October 22, 1974, the album was released and actually performed worse than the debut album which is no easy feat as that one did poorly.
Before we go in to the music, can we talk about that cover? Of course we can, it’s my blog. I remember seeing this cover as kid of maybe 7 or 8 and thinking how cool this was with all the Japanese writing (now not sure I really knew it was Japanese, but it was still cool). The album concept was done to mimic the look of Japanese comics and if you notice that little character at the bottom…
That character stands for the word “Chikara” and if you know that then you know that is the name of a greatest hits package by the band that was only released in Japan in 1988. It is on my grail list to get a copy. If you are interested, “Chikara” means power. And there were other Japanese lettering on the album cover. The lettering in the top right corner of the album actually means “the shout of hell” which isn’t the same as “hotter than hell”, but not sure if that was the intent or not. Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Hotter Than Hell’ (1974) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)”→
After too many live albums released, the band finally decided to do another album. Before that could happen, they needed a replacement guitarist as Doug Aldrich left the band on May 9th of 2014 after more than 10 years with the band. One of the longest stretches of any guitarist. I believe he left to go play with The Dead Daisies and do his own thing.
A replacement now needed to be found and it was about 3-4 months later that Joel Hoekstra was tagged as the replacement guitarist. Joel had been playing with Night Ranger previously and he figured this was a higher profit (I mean higher profile) band and he is not wrong about that. Joel is fantastic and he has his own solo stuff as well as playing with Cher and TSO for their Christmas Tours. The rest of the line-up is as follows:
David Coverdale – vocals
Reb Beach – guitar
Tommy Aldridge – drums
Michael Devin – bass
Joel Hoekstra – guitar
Now that the band was fully staffed again, a new album was in the works. This time around, thankfully not a live album, but it was only a covers album. Not just any covers album, no that had been done a million times, this one focused on only one band. Deep Purple! David decided he wanted to record a Deep Purple collection of the best songs from his era of that famous band. The funny thing about this is that David tried so hard to not mention or play anything from Purple while being Whitesnake from the eaerly 90’s and back. You never heard a song by Purple in the setlist. That changed in the late 90’s when a song or two would show up. Now, David wanted to pay tribute and an homage to that wonderful time in his life. Continue reading “Whitesnake – ‘The Purple Album’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)”→
Continue reading “June 2020 Purchases – Vinyls & CDs” 
2 Loud 2 Old Music 