Month: August 2021

Needtobreathe ‎– “Happy If You Could” / “Difference Maker (Charleston Demo)” – 7″ Single

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The next 7″ Vinyl Single I have from Needtobreathe is an Insiders Exclusive Single. It was only offered out to paid fans who are signed up for their Insiders Club (Yes, I am now a member, but wasn’t back then). As you can see from header picture, the packaging was limited to a die-cut paper sleeve, inserted in a clear vinyl sleeve which has a barcode sticker attached to the outside of the vinyl sleeve. Pretty plain but cool in its simplicity.

From what I gather, the vinyl was supposed to give us the unreleased track “Happy If You Could” which you can get the demo of the song on a digital E.P. called Cercas Blacas E.P. from 2013. I can’t find a ton of information on it, but it looks like it was recorded for the “Rivers in the Wasteland” album but not used. And here is the interesting part of all this. The song “Happy If You Could” isn’t even on this release. I am sure it was a mistake, but the song on Side A is actually the band’s cover of “Go Tell It To The Mountain”. Did someone not bother listening to the test pressing???

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Judas Priest – ‘Painkiller’ (1990) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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After ‘Ram It Down’, Priest needed to find themselves as they were going down the wrong path musically. In January 1990, the band got back to the studio to begin work and a comeback album that would show they were still the metal titans they were. This time it would be without their drummer Dave Holland who left in 1989. Drummer Scott Travis, from Racer X, was brought in and his double kick drumming style was going to help bring the heavy back to their sound. Also out was producer Tom Allom and in came Chris Tsangarides who also helped Priest find a new sound. We still have Rob Halford, Ian Hill, Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing.

The album was finished by March 1990, but didn’t see a release until September 1990. The reason for the delay was that Judas Priest was being sued for subliminal messages in their music stemming from a civil suit brought on by the families of two teens that say the band had subliminal messages in the song “Better By You, Better Than Me” telling the teens to kill themselves. One teen was successful in his attempt and the other teen survived. The lawsuit ended up being thrown out on August 24th as the judge ruled in favor of the band that there was no messaging. As a result, the band released the album on September 3, 1990 and the heavy was brought back to Priest. The album went Gold in the US selling over 500,000 copies and charting at #26 on the Billboard Charts.

Following the Painkiller tour, Rob Halford left the band as he was ready to try a solo career plus he was tired of dealing with the ever growing tensions in the band. His final date with the band was May 1992. According to Halford’s book ‘Confess’, Rob sent a letter to the band discussing his intentions to pursue outside music and he wanted to take a break to do that, but the band he says took that as he was quitting the band. Not liking confrontation, It took Rob 10 years to finally talk with the band and discuss this matter with them and finally clear the air. We will get to that for the next review. For now, it is music time.

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My Sunday Song – “Shame, Shame, Shame” by Ratt

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For My Sunday Song #259, we are going to talk about “Shame, Shame, Shame” from Ratt’s 1990 album ‘Detonator’. The song was written by Stephen Pearcy, Warren DeMartini and Desmond Child who also produced the album. The song was a Japan Only single and therefore never charted in the US since it wasn’t released here. The album didn’t do that well either only going Gold in the U.S. and hitting #23 on the charts. This surprises me as this to me is one of their best albums, if not THE BEST album they had done.

Lyrically, the song is about catching your girlfriend cheating and telling them they should have known better as now it is over. It is a big F.U. to the girlfriend that they screwed up and now they need to pack their bags and get the hell out. Since the girlfriend instigated the affair, he has no remorse or doubt that she needs to go. Really no other interpretation for this one. It is pretty straight-forward and simple.

The songs opens with a little Warren DeMartini penned instrumental piece called “Intro to Shame” with its slow detuned guitar solo which then slams into the blistering opening track “Shame Shame Shame”.  The song comes at you full force and the guitar work is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!! There is even a guest appearance by the super talented Michael Schenker.  What more could you want in an opening track.  It is hard, heavy, catchy and starts off the album better than probably any of their other albums.  Stephen’s vocals are spot on with that gritty, smoked too many cigarettes, drank too much whiskey edge it screams a bluesy vibe matched with Warren’s bluesy guitar tone. It is legendary!!

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Friday New Releases – August 6, 2021

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It’s August! Can you believe it!! The Summer is winding down, but thankfully the releases aren’t. My kids will be going back to school and one off to college and since this is depressing me I need to drown my sorrows in new music and wouldn’t you know it, there are few here that will hopefully help me get through it okay. They are marked in Blue. Let me know what you want to hear and let me know what releases I may have missed because it is known to happen. Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a little time with me. I hope you find something great to hear and also have a wonderful weekend. See you next week at the same Bat Time and same Bat Channel (yeah that was as lame as it sounded in my head, but I left it).

  • 81cTmHct8aS._SX522_   Night Ranger – ATBPO – (Frontiers Records): Night Ranger has been going strong this last decade and putting out some great material, maybe even some of their best, but can that streak continue? Who knows, but I do know I will be listening to this one first thing in the morning. The boys still can kick some ass and I need a good ass kicking right now…wait…something sounds strange about that last sentence…oh well.
  • A1qNoCdOfeS._SS500_  Colin Hay – I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself – (Compass Records): Colin Hay’s solo work has been hit or miss, but I am always eager to hear as there is usually something I can grab hold of and enjoy. The former Men at Work singer has been putting out music for about 40 years and I will continue to tag along for the ride.
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Queen – ‘Innuendo’ (1991) – Album Review (The Studio Album Series)

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Queen did not tour for the previous album, ‘The Miracle’, mainly because Freddie Mercury was sick. He had been diagnosed with AIDS in 1987 and his health had been deteriorating rather quickly. Now, they told the media they were trying to get away from the whole album-tour-album-tour type of schedule. Instead of touring they immediately started working on the next album which sadly enough would be the last album released before Freddie’s death in November 1991. The album is ‘Innuendo’ and it was the last great hurrah for a band that had done it all.

They started recording all the way back in March 1989 prior to ‘The Miracle’ even being released, but they wouldn’t finish the album until November 1990. Freddie’s health was not good and so he would come in and record whenever he was physically able. They had hoped to get the album out by Christmas 1990, but missed the deadline due to the health problems. We did finally see the album come out on February 4, 1991 and although the album only went to #30 in the States, the UK saw Queen get yet another #1 album. And like the previous album, the band were unable to Tour this album either.

The pictures of Freddie around this time and the shots of him in the music videos definitely had the public wondering what was wrong with Freddie and rumors were rampant. On November 23, 1991, Freddie issued a statement about his health and admitted he was diagnosed with AIDS, then not 24 hours later, Freddie died from bronchial pneumonia which was brought on as a result of his disease. Freddie’s death on November 24, 1991 shed a bright spotlight on the AIDS crisis and at the same time for us Kiss fans, overshadowed the death of our beloved Kiss drummer Eric Carr who died on the same day. As a rock fan of both bands, this was a sad day for me and I am sure for a lot of people around the world. Queen as we knew was no more. It left Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon with a big hole to fill and an unknown future.

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The Original vs. The Cover – “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”

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For this episode of The Original vs. The Cover, we are going to battle it out with the song “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”. The original was done by the band Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes which has Teddy Pendergrass on lead vocals and The Cover is done by the band Simply Red. Both artist did really well with the song as Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes took the song all the way to #3 on the Billboard Charts in 1972 and Simple Red went all the way to #1 in 1989.

The song itself was written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. They were a pretty mighty songwriting team with over 175 Gold and Platinum records between them. The song is a result of marital problems and those problems allowed them to touch in to a very heartfelt sentiment. They believed that if their spouse didn’t know them by now, they never would. Those marital problems certainly created an amazing song.

HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUE NOTES:

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes didn’t actually play any of the instruments and only sang, but that don’t matter. The session musicians were incredible. The rhythm section of the song was incredible as they laid down a smooth groove and vibe. You had Earl Young on drums and Ronnie Baker on bass and both were stellar. The song was filled with a piano backing by the songwriter Leon Huff and a string orchestration from Don Renaldo. The tempo was slow, sultry and a little sexy. The song feels larger than life.

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Needtobreathe – ‘Live at the Paste Studio’ – 7″ Single

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Back on November 25, 2016, Needtobreathe released a two song 7″ Single to celebrate the band’s chance to record for Paste Magazine at their Paste Studio. And this is the only way you can own these songs is on the vinyl option. Otherwise you have to stream them. The band recorded the songs the previous Summer in Midtown Manhattan and the band set up to record the songs acoustically which we already know the band does so well. The band was promoting their current album at the time, “Hard Love” which is one of their best albums.

I was finally able to get my hands on a copy and not pay too much. The band has only released 4 vinyl 7″ singles and now I have 3 of them and this is the first one I was able to get. The packaging is stunning and even comes with a double sided insert with one side being the track listing and all the credits and the other side artwork that continues the theme of the packaging for the single and the album. The single itself comes in a solid black sleeve to match the color the vinyl as well.

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Judas Priest – ‘Ram It Down’ (1988) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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As you know, the Turbo album was supposed to be a double album, but the powers-that-be decided the band should only release a single disc album. That meant a lot of songs were scrapped. Well, at least four of those songs wound up on the band’s follow-up, ‘Ram It Down’. The rest of those songs wound up as Bonus tracks on the re-issues and a couple I don’t think have ever seen the light of day. Maybe someday we will hear them.

‘Ram It Down’ was recorded from December 1987 to March of 1988. It would finally be released on May 17, 1988 and would end up being the last album with drummer Dave Holland. There are a few people I know that were quite happy with that move as they always felt Dave’s drumming was a little on the lackluster side. The album would ship gold but only wound up going to #31 on the US Billboard Charts. The album was pretty heavy compared to Turbo, but the songs were no where near as strong and I believe most were disappointed with the end result. In fact, when we did the Nigel Tufnel Top 10 Judas Priest albums on The LeBrain Train several weeks back, none of the three guest even chose this album as one of their Top 10 if that clues you in on anything.

The album kicks off with the classic Halford scream and really slams it home with heavy thrash sounding drums and frantically flying fingers on guitar. The title track, “Ram It Down”, is doing just that. Slamming the fist down to show the world they weren’t a synthesizer band anymore. When compared to the rest of the album, this is one of the better tracks as it still has a little bite and a great dual guitar solo from Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing and man their fingers had to be smoking after the speed of those solos.

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My Sunday Song – “Best of Me” by Ratt

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For My Sunday Song #258, we are going to talk about “Best of Me” by Ratt. The song was the first single off their 2010 comeback album ‘Infestation’ and was the first signs that Ratt was back and back with a vengeance. When I first saw the video and heard the song, I was so pumped for this album. I hadn’t felt that way for a Ratt album in almost 20 years. This was the Ratt I knew and loved.  ‘Infestation’ was a beast of an album, but sadly, the band didn’t capitalize on it and ended up fighting and suing each other, it was a mess. But the song was great.

The song was written by Stephen Pearcy, Carlos Cavazo and Michael “Elvis” Baskette. “Best of Me” is about Stephen’s wife at the time, Melissa Pearcy.  He realized that she was the best part of him, but it took him to look elsewhere to realize what he had. He made the mistake and thought the grass might be greener on the other side and found out he already had the best thing in life he needed. Guys are stupid and get caught in this thinking all the time…they always want something newer or better…at least what they think is better…WRONG!! I think the band Cinderella summed it up nicely, “You don’t know what you got, ’til its gone”…that is the right saying for this.

That opening guitar riff by Warren DeMartini was pure Ratt magic. It immediately takes you back to the 80’s to when Ratt was in their prime. It sounds like it could’ve been on ‘Out of the Cellar’ or ‘Invasion of Your Privacy’. Bobby Blotzer’s drums sound great and he and bass player Robbie Crane are the driving force behind the song. Carlos Cavazo’s rhythm guitar is there is highlight Warren’s magical fingers. I mean his solo even sounds like it was ripped from the 80’s. And don’t forget Stephen Pearcy. His vocals are in great shape and still have that bluesy, gravely vocal he did back in the day. The song screams Ratt & Roll!! Yes, I went there!!

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