The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and Friends
Episode 80 – Nigel Tufnel Top Music We’d Save From A Fire
We’ve all heard the question while hanging with pals over a couple drinks. “What albums would you save from a fire?” Nobody even wants to think of it! But as a fun exercise, tonight we’ll tell you our Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Albums We’d Save From A Fire! Whatever gets saved, you can be you’ll hear about some treasures that are very near and dear to our hearts.
Happy Friday! We’ve made it through another week and not a moment too soon. I am ready for this weekend. Thankfully, we also have a ton of new releases to listen to this week (like most weeks lately. There are only a couple I really want to hear and I have marked those in Blue. There are others I’m curious about, but we will see if I have the time. Check out all the releases and let me know what you want to hear this week and let me know what album releases I may have missed. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Anderson East – Maybe We Never Die – (Low Country Sound / Elektra): Anderson’s last album, ‘Encore’, was exceptional. I am hoping for more of the same. If you like country mixed with soul, R&B and Americana, then this will be right up your alley. Can’t wait to give it a spin.
Switchfoot – Interrobang – (Fantasy Records / Concord): Switchfoot is always labeled as a Christian act, but they are so much more. They are alternative, a little post-grunge and power pop and I like it all. I am also a big fan of Jon Foreman’s vocals. I will be seeing them in concert in a couple months as they open for Needtobreathe so this will be a good show.
Here at 2 Loud 2 Old Music, we went through and reviewed all the Studio Albums for the band Queen. And to do this, we are used the 40th Anniversary 2011 Remastered CDs as our source as I picked up the 3 Volume Box Set for Christmas 2020. And with any good series, we will start with their debut album and work our way through all the studio albums in chronological order. There were 15 albums and all with the same band members of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. How many bands can say that? Not many.
What was great about going through them all in order is that you see how the band evolved over time and how much they experimented whether it was successful or not. You see the highs and the lows, where the band hit its groove and where they were wandering around lost. They did move soundtracks, the rocked out, they had fantasy songs, rockabilly, disco and even metal. They did it all. Now let’s go through and see where they ranked worst to first.
THE WORST – ‘MADE IN HEAVEN’ (1995):
The album did not have a cohesive feel and it shouldn’t since it wasn’t really written as an album. It was a last ditch effort to pull as many Freddie songs together as they could for one final release. And I don’t think it is one they should’ve done mainly because all these songs aren’t really up to the Queen Standard in my book. There were way too many ballads, they used two songs that were already released as Freddie solo songs and I don’t think the material was all that great to begin with. I feel they should’ve left well enough alone as I think ‘Innuendo’ was a great way to go out, but what do I know. My Overall Score is a 2.0 Out of 5.0 Stars. There were a few tracks worth having, but overall not enough to make this a must have album.
After the 1990 album, ‘Painkiller’, Rob Halford left Judas Priest and the band continued on for 11 years with the singer Tim “Ripper” Owens. Rob went on and did his own thing whether it was the band Fight, Two or band Halford. Judas Priest did two albums with Ripper during this time, but the fans were screaming for Halford and Priest to reunite. Rob had wanted that for a long time, but was too afraid to reach out (at least that is what he says in his book). However, eventually it happened. Rob Halford was to rejoin Priest and in 2003, it finally happened.
Judas Priest toured a little and then went in to the studio to record their new album ‘Angel of Retribution’. They recorded from October to December of 2004 and the album was finally released on February 23, 2005 and to quite acclaim. It went to #13 on the Billboard 200 Charts and Priest were back. Rob brought over Roy Z as the producer who also mixed and engineered the album as well. Roy Z was the guitar player in Rob’s band Halford and he produced several of those albums as well.
I read somewhere that the album artwork was a continuation of the angel from ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’. This time the angel has transformed in to steel as she is rising out of the ashes and becoming the angel of retribution. Who knows if that is true, but cool to think that it is a reference to that album.
After 11 years apart, what would the new Priest sound like was the question of the day. Judas Priest would come out and deliver a massively heavy album and usher their sound in to the 21st Century! Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing, Ian Hill and Scott Travis are ready to rock.
In my quest for getting everything on vinyl for Needtobreathe, there were four 7″ Singles I had to get and I am glad to say, I now have 3 of them. There is still one elusive one that I need for the song “Keep Your Eyes Open”, so if you see it let me know. For now we are going to talk about this single for the song “Brother”. The song is actually off the album, ‘Rivers in the Wasteland’ from 2014. However, the songs on this disc are not on the version on the album.
The disc is a limited edition release with only 2,000 copies and I have one so there are only 1,999 left out there for you to find (yes, I know how to subtract). It is on a very beautiful transparent blue vinyl and it is gorgeous. It comes in a lovely jacket with a cool picture of Bear Rineheart on the front and his brother Bo Rinehart on the back which is significant which we will discuss later.
The package also comes with an insert with details about Side A and Side B and it is formatted in that same flowery motif. It is quite nice.
Alright…You Picked It! And this one was really, really close. It was back and forth between The Sex Pistols and Twisted Sister for most of the time and then a couple last minute votes pushed one of the other and that was The Sex Pistols with ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ which is one I’d never sat down and listened to from beginning to end. The votes were as follows:
The Sex Pistols – ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ – 10 votes
Thanks to all for participating. The September choices will be up on Saturday!
THE SEX PISTOLS – ‘NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE’S THE SEX PISTOLS’
I have never been a fan of punk, at least not until recently. I’ve slowly started diving in. But due to the antics of Johnny Rotten or Sid Vicious, this band never made me want to listen to their albums. There was so much hype surrounding them and I really don’t want to listen to a band that is so hyped because it will never live up to expectations…i.e. Nirvana…they sucked then and they suck now and there was so much hype surrounding them. And hell, this band only had one studio album officially. Then why should I even bother and how can a band with only one album be so inspirational or critical to a movement. I still don’t have the answer to that question, but damn is this not an amazing album. Okay, they album lived up to the hype and then some. “DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE”…well, in this case…DO BELIEVE!!!
For My Sunday Song #260 and the final in the 10 song set is “Round and Round” by Ratt. The song is the first single off the band’s 1984 classic album ‘Out of the Cellar’. It reached #12 on the Hot 100 propelling the album to #7 and sells over 3 million copies in the U.S. alone. It broke the band in to one of the biggest acts in the world and the top acts in that whole 80’s Rock scene. The song was written by Warren DeMartini, Robbin Crosby and Stephen Pearcy.
The song is about a girl that he is really in to and he wants to be with her. She isn’t willing to give it up yet, but he knows he will get there in the end. The two go round and round playing all the games until the end and they both get what they knew would happen right from the start.
What makes the song great are those sleazy vocals by Stephen Pearcy matched perfectly with the nasty guitar riffs by Crosby and DeMartini and the dual solo, man, don’t get me started on that. It is all pure metal sleaze! The song is heavy, yet catchy as hell. The chorus is infectious and musically it is aggressive and pure fun. You can’t help but move and the song gets stuck in your head and can’t escape. It would be the blueprint of what was to hit the scene on the Sunset Strip and MTV for years to come!
Speaking of MTV, what really put this song over the top for the band was the video they released. Their manager at the time was Marshall Berle. Marshall had a pretty famous uncle that you might have heard of named Milton Berle, the legendary comedian. With his famous Uncle Miltie character dressed in drag, he makes an appearance in the video which draws it national attention. This video sums up the 80’s nicely.
It is Friday the 13th!! I am hoping everyone has a safe, non-horror filled day. And as luck would have it, there is really nothing I am interested in getting this week. A few I might listen to but nothing I am in a rush to get to so Friday the 13th is already starting out to be a crappy day!! I am sure there is something you will find that you can wrap your ears around as there are a lot to go through. Let me know what you want to hear and what I may have missed as that does happen (a lot). My only choice is The Killers and marked in Blue below. Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
The Killers – Pressure Machine – (Island Records / UMG): They are wasting no time putting out a new album as they just had one last year but I am sure Covid killed it. The last one was really great so I am anxious to hear what is in store this time around. After 17 years, Mr. Flowers and co. still have their groove and so that is why this is first up today and really the only one I’m wanting to hear.
And all the rest…
Sheryl Crow – Live from the Ryman and More – (Big Machine Label Group)
We are now to the final studio album by Queen called ‘Made in Heaven’ which also means this is the final review in The Studio Album Series. The album was released on November 6, 1995 almost 4 years after Freddie’s death which was on November 24, 1991. It is the only studio album from the band released with Freddie after his death so where did the music come from you might wonder. After the band finished their last album, ‘Innuendo’, which was around November 1990, Freddie was very ill due to the AIDS virus. He had his mind made up that he would sing as much as he possibly could and leave that for the band to finish at some point down the road. Normally Freddie would do the vocals after the music was done and recorded, but due to his failing health, he sang whatever he had written or the band had put in front of him to sing. He only wanted to leave these last bits of gift to the world.
The remaining members of the band, Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon, tooled around on the songs for years, mostly due to Brian May heading out on tour for his solo album, ‘Back to the Light’, which coincidently is getting a Deluxe Edition released in a couple months. The band worked some of the new material Freddie had completed and they added the Queen sound to them. However, that wasn’t enough songs to complete the album so the band also dove in to their back catalog and searched for material that Freddie had sung, but was never used even dipping in to Freddie’s solo work. It was a hodgepodge of songs and that is exactly how the album feels. It is a little disjointed and not very cohesive as a complete album work. It felt like a money grab in my book, but that is only my opinion.
The album cover is a picture of Freddie’s statue that was erected in Montreux, Switzerland where the band had a recording studio that had used for years. It as the town’s way of celebrating Freddie. The picture was taken at sunset and overlooks Lake Geneva. The back cover of the CD was the remaining band members looking out upon the Alps. Now, if you got the vinyl and not the CD, your front and back cover would be the picture above which was taken at sunrise and actually had the band standing near the statue overlooking the Lake. It is a very fitting picture actually.
I found this book on Amazon Unlimited and thought, I like Dokken, this should be a good book to read. And it was, however, my opinion of the boys is now slightly tainted. I now wish I didn’t know what I have learned because I won’t look at the band the same way again. More on that later.
The book is called “Dokken: Into the Fire and Other Embers of 80’s Metal History’ by James Curl. That is a long title. The book is a collection of personal interviews he had with Jeff Pilson and Don Dokken as well as collecting interviews from other people over the years including George Lynch and some Mick Brown (but very little from Mick). The puzzle is pieced together and the story is told of the band from before the beginning with the members other bands all the way to 2019 and where the band stands today.
It is cool to learn about the previous bands and what it took to get to the point of starting Dokken which to me is the weirdest and strangest tale. Dokken got started in the strangest way not anything like the other bands on the Sunset Strip. Dokken wasn’t signed because of all their shows on the Strip, nope. Somehow, Don wound up in Germany and got a deal to record there. The classic line-up was not around yet of Jeff Pilson, George Lynch and Mick Brown. Don was back & forth between L.A. and Germany a lot and was able to pull together the line-up after the original guys he had lined up couldn’t commit. The book tells how he got to know George, Jeff and Mick.
Sheryl Crow – Live from the Ryman and More – (Big Machine Label Group)
2 Loud 2 Old Music 