Month: September 2021

September 2021 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic42 Comments

Can’t believe it is time for another monthly wrap-up. This year has flown by in almost a blink. October wasn’t as fruitful as other months although it was still pretty good. I only actually hit a record store once during the month. The rest were all bought online whether Amazon, Discogs or directly from the artist.

The first batch is from a trip my daughter and I made to the local antique mall. This mall is really great as it has several booths strictly related to vinyl and that is always where I ended up spending all my time. My daughter wants to look at vintage clothing. It is sad when clothes from when I grew up is now vintage, but that is another story. First up are two Aerosmith releases. One I had on CD, but I had really been looking for a decent vinyl version and finally got one. The other release is a 12″ Maxi Single for “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”.

The other two items were 12″ Singles for ZZ Top and Bon Jovi. The Bon Jovi is an E.P. and one I had only seen on Mike Ladano’s site when he wrote about a couple years ago. When I saw it, it was an easy decision.

There was only one more vinyl purchase for the month and this one is the coolest. It is the brand new E.P. from Billy Idol called ‘The Roadside’. I’ve ready written a review for it so you can check it out HERE!!!!!. This one is special because it is autographed by the man, the myth, the legend, Billy Idol. You know when you get some autographs they send a picture insert that the artist signs? Well, they do. Except for Billy. Billy sends an actual album jacket with no album and signs the jacket. Then they send a separate sealed album. Strange, but okay.

And that was the last of the vinyl for the month. The rest are all CDs. I have a wishlist on Discogs and this month, I decided each week I was going to buy something from that list. Easy enough right? Except when you decide which seller to use and find out they actually have several items from that artist that are on your list or other artist and that is where the trouble ensues. I figured, well, I have to buy them all because I will save a ton on shipping…and I’m right. There were three shipments and most were Jeff Scott Soto releases because I am wrapping up my purchases before we start the Jeff Scott Soto series in January 2022! It will be a great way to kick off the new year. Here is what I got…

And then there were a few more…and these last 3 came from France. I didn’t read the listing very well and didn’t realize he shipped these without their cases. I guess that is why the shipping was so cheap from France. Luckily I had some empty cases laying around.

Now a few of the first picture I bought and wound up buying stuff from another artist because I saved on shipping. It was two of Joe Elliott’s Down ‘N Outz side project that I had on CD at one and no longer do…but I do again…long story, sad, don’t won’t get in to it!!

And another purchase I ended up buying a Bonus E.P. from Needtobreathe’s album ‘Hard Love’ which I forgot I didn’t actually have on CD. What was I thinking. It is sealed and I’m trying to decide if I will keep it that way…

Then using MyPoints gift cards, I picked up a couple free things on Amazon. They are both from a band called Tait. The lead singer is Michael Tait formerly of the band DC Talk. His voice is like butter. He sounds like Nat King Cole, but rocks out. Really cool stuff. One of the CDs arrived sealed and autographed by the band. I must not have read the description too well because I don’t remember reading it was autographed. Cool enough. And thanks to Lori for getting rid of it.

And the very last thing I got were a couple of CDs from my pal who I mentioned earlier, Mike Ladano or LeBrain from the The LeBrain Train. He was kind enough to send me the new Max the Axe E.P. and threw in the debut Cars CD which for some reason I didn’t have on CD. I do on vinyl, but nice to have a remastered version as well. Thanks Mike. Now, the Max the Axe CD you just read about on Monday so you know all about that one now.

Not a bad haul I guess. It is just weird that most of these I bought online and not from an actual record shop. I hope I get to hit one or two in October. I know there is record show on October 9th, so I will at least hit that. Until next time, happy purchasing!! Here is everything one more time…

Cheap Trick – ‘Heaven Tonight’ (1978) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic64 Comments

The band finally started to catch on to the world with the release of their third album, “Heaven Tonight”. The album was released on April 24, 1978 and what is interesting is four days later they were touring Japan and played at a little arena called Nippon Budokan and we will get to that story in the next review. First, we need to talk this album. The band’s third album, which in some circles is considered the best, but it is way too early to make that call. This one though does bring the best of the first two albums in to focus. It has some of the first albums raw sound and then it takes some of the power pop sounds of the second and makes a pretty damn fine combination. The album did well as it charted at #48 on the Billboard Charts and going Gold a year later. By 1995, it has since been certified Platinum.

There are also two big firsts on this album. The first is they finally had a single chart with “Surrender” as it went to #62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The other first is more of a recording history fact in that this is the first recording to ever feature a 12-String Bass…yep…that is a right…12 strings. Not the wimpy-ass 4 string bass, nope four strings are for pussies. Only bad ass bass players play a 12 String bass!! Okay, I have no idea if that is true, but it sounds good…to me at least.

This is also the second album in a row to feature only Robin Zander and Tom Petersson on the cover similar to ‘In Color’. Based on the cover, it looks like a standard background, but when you flip it over you see Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos standing in bathroom. Yes, great place for a group photo. As a result, the record company wanted to call the album ‘American Standard’ as that is a very popular brand of plumbing supplies. Thankfully, that was nixed and they went with the ‘Heaven Tonight’ title.

Continue reading “Cheap Trick – ‘Heaven Tonight’ (1978) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)” →

Van Halen – “Jump” (1983) – 45 Single

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic40 Comments

When I was on vacation during this past Summer, I found a ton of 45 Singles with the Picture Sleeves at a place called House of Vinyl and I ended buying 7 Van Halen 45’s. And we’ve been through a couple so far as seen below…

And now we are on to our third of the 7 and this is another Roth Era track and one of their biggest singles ever…”Jump”. The song was released on December 21, 1983 and was the first single for the album ‘1984’ from the same year. The single went all the way to #1 and sold well over 1,000,000 copies.

The copy I have is the actual single that was released and not a promotional copy this time around. It has an A-Side with “Jump” and a B-Side with “House of Pain”. And if you notice on the label again, the engineer Donn Landee is credited again as Ted is a man of his word and wants Donn to get as much credit has him. Hell, Ted even gave up a point on each album and gave 1 point to Donn. That is appreciation folks.

According to Dave, the song was inspired by a new report he heard on the TV about a person threatening to jump from building. Dave pictured the people below says “Go ahead and jump”. Kind of sick sense of humor, but that’s Dave. Now the song isn’t really about suicide though. It is about going after what you want. Take that leap of faith and go after it.

Continue reading “Van Halen – “Jump” (1983) – 45 Single” →

Max the Axe – ‘Oktoberfest Cheer’ E.P. – Album Review

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic43 Comments

Max the Axe has made an appearance on our site before with the stellar album ‘Status Electric’. They are back but this time around we only get a 3 song E.P. which is fine. I will take what I can get. I want to thank Mike Ladano for making sure I received a copy as he knows I enjoyed the last one.

Max the Axe are a Canadian band out of Kitchener, Ontario (yeah, I don’t know where that is either).  It is made up of the following members…

The Band:

  • Mike “Max” Koutis – guitar
  • Eric Litwiller – vocals
  • Dave Haslam – drums
  • Mike “Mitch” Mitchell on bass

You probably know Eric Litwiller if you watch The LeBrain Train as he is Uncle Meat. I have been on the show with him and he is a great guy so it is cool to say I know someone in the band. Before we get in the album, what did I say about the last album? I think it was this…“The songs are filled with some gritty, distorted guitars and the lyrics at times have a slight comedic flare which makes me think that this band is the bastard child of Black Sabbath and Barenaked Ladies.” This time around, we get something totally different. I feel a little more rawness and punk attitude at times and at others a bunch of drunks having a good time…more on that later.

Continue reading “Max the Axe – ‘Oktoberfest Cheer’ E.P. – Album Review” →

Judas Priest – ‘Firepower’ (2018) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series – Bonus Edition)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic30 Comments

After the stellar performance of the prior album ‘Redeemer of Souls’ thanks in large part of the addition of Richie Faulkner, the band started work on the next album in 2016. However, it took a long time to finally get to the studios in March of 2017 and the band would go until June to finish the recording. The album then sat for months on months and finally get released on March 9, 2018 where it went on to sell around 49,000 copies in the first week putting it at #5 and their highest chart position. Yeah, 49,000 is a far cry from their heydays, but 49,000 in 2018 for any band is a decent week of sales…oh how things have changed.

But sometimes things to don’t change as the band brought back former producer Tom Allom in to the mix to co-produce the album with Andy Sneap. It had been since 1988’s ‘Ram It Down” as the last time they worked with Allom, so 30 years. That is a long gap. Andy would have such an impact with the band, he would actually go on tour with the band as guitarist. The reason for that was due to some sad news from the camp. The great Glenn Tipton was retiring from touring due to his battle with Parkinson’s Disease. The illness was getting to be too much to play some of the more challenging parts in songs. That doesn’t mean he didn’t pop up on stage every now and again when he felt good enough to play because he did. Glenn is still a member of the band and will still help creatively and in recording. Touring is just too much and too unpredictable on how he’ll feel.

One of the really cool things about this album is the cover art. I remember seeing this and thinking, Damn! That is a cool cover. The next thing I know, there was a filter or something because people started replacing their cover picture on Facebook with their name in Judas Priest Firepower font. It was cool. I didn’t do it though as I was probably too lazy as it seemed like to much work and I didn’t want to be a follower, as I am a leader…no, who am I kidding, it was the laziness part!!

Continue reading “Judas Priest – ‘Firepower’ (2018) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series – Bonus Edition)” →

My Sunday Song – “A Little Bit of Rust (feat. Sheryl Crow)” by Will Hoge

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic9 Comments

For My Sunday Song #266, we are going to discuss the song “A Little Bit of Rust” by Will Hoge. The song is off his 2017 album ‘Anchors’ and sees Will find his way back from depression after excessive touring from his ‘Small Town Dreams’ album. The song was supposed to be for the prior album, but Will held it off wanting to do it as a duet and he wanted the perfect female voice and he found that with Sheryl Crow, an old family friend.

The song is about overcoming obstacles during difficult times in a relationship. We all go through those. It seems to be talking about being in a relationship that tends to just start fading away for no reason. You fall in to a routine and start taking each other for granted and forgetting to take time for each other. You start building up a little rust. As he states in the song…

Ain’t nothin’ we can’t fix
Ain’t no broken trust
Ain’t no great divide between the two of us
It’s just the heavy hand of time

The building blocks are there, you need to work a little harder to remember why you are together and rekindle that spark. Will has a way to right what is real and honest and lays it out nicely in a beautiful story.

Musically the song has some bluesy and a country vibe with a little mandolin and violin couple with some fine playing on the electric guitar. Both Will and Sheryl’s vocals play nicely off each other. They both have a wonderful seasoned vocal that has seen its fair share of rust and they’ve worked on it and polished it up with a nice shine. It is another shining example of what I love about Will Hoge.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “A Little Bit of Rust (feat. Sheryl Crow)” by Will Hoge” →

Friday New Releases – September 24, 2021

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic31 Comments

Believe it or not, we are to the last release date of September. Hard to believe another month has flown by and we have yet another week with a ton of releases, but just shy of the two previous weeks of 50 releases or more. This is getting insane. There is really only one I am dying to hear (I know, a little dramatic) and it is marked in Blue. A couple more that I will try (also marked in Blue). Let me know what albums you are crazy about and which ones that came out that I missed so everyone knows. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • 91iarAz7faS._SS500_  Tremonti – Marching in Time – (Napalm Records): Mark Tremonti is back with another monster album. I love his stuff with Creed, with Alter Bridge, but I really dig is metal band Tremonti. The man can play some serious guitar and I love the fact he takes the mic for this band. Always some great stuff. Hold on to your hat with this one as it will blow you away!!
  • 91HTD+SQlqS._SX522_  Angels & Airwaves – Lifeforms – (My Products LLC / Rise Records): This is one I am wanting to try out as I really loved their first two albums from a while back. Former Blink-182 member, Tom DeLonge’s band is a little all over the place with their style, but it is unique and at times interesting so want to see what new they brought with them this time around.
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – September 24, 2021” →

Aerosmith – ‘Get Your Wings’ (1974) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic67 Comments

After the debut album being a dud and all the touring, the band wasted no time going in to the studio for their second album, ‘Get Your Wing’. This time around at the boards was famed producer Jack Douglas who was introduced to the band by the one and only Bob Ezrin, who the label wanted to produce the album. Jack worked out well and would go on to have a long relationship with the band and deliver some of their best albums.

The band had extensive preproduction work and extensive rehearsals, the band entered the studio The Record Plant in New York City on December 17, 1973 and by January 14, 1974, they were done. The album would come out on March 15, 1974 and would go only to #74 on the Billboard Charts. All 3 singles flopped and not one of them charted. If they thought the first album was a dud, this one didn’t fare any better. But don’t feel bad, once the band broke, this album has since sold over 3 million copies and is certified Triple Platinum. It all worked out in the end.

But what makes this album successful on its own is that the band found their voice. They found their sound and they would find rock stardom. Bandmates Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer found themselves and were set to take over the world…okay, that is a little dramatic, but you know what I mean.

Continue reading “Aerosmith – ‘Get Your Wings’ (1974) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series)” →

Judas Priest – ‘Redeemer of Souls’ (2014) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series – Bonus Edition)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic27 Comments

The band took a long, long, long break after 2008’s ‘Nostradamus’ which was not received all that well, despite the fact I really enjoyed that one. In 2011, there were rumblings of new album the band had been working on and they said they were going to take their time with it and let me tell you, they did just that. The album didn’t come out until July 8th, 2014 more than 3 years later. And a lot happened in those three years.

The biggest thing that happened was the departure of one of its founding members and the jelly to the jam of the guitar duo. K.K. Downing departed the band in 2011 and it sounded like it was over creative differences with the band. This was a major blow to the band, though probably not as big as losing your lead singer…sorry, easier to replace a guitarist than a singer (except if your Eddie Van Halen maybe). The band found a replacement in the wonderful guitar playing of Richie Faulkner and from what I can tell has been very well received by the fans. Richie immediately has made an impact as he was heavily involved in the song writing for this album.

It takes time to get a new member acclimated to things, so the band spent the next 3 years completing the album and having Richie get familiar with the other members of Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill and Scott Travis. Upon its release, the album saw them hit their highest peak on the charts in the U.S., going to #6 on giving them first Top 10 album. Now, it only sold a little over 100,000 copies but this is 2014 and streaming was taking over as well as digital sales so actual album sales are not what they used to be. Still a respectable showing, but it is a respectable album. Let us find out.

Continue reading “Judas Priest – ‘Redeemer of Souls’ (2014) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series – Bonus Edition)” →

Van Halen – “Pretty Woman” – 45 Single

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic33 Comments

When I was on vacation during this past Summer, I found a ton of 45 Singles with the Picture Sleeves at a place called House of Vinyl and I ended buying 7 Van Halen 45’s. First up last week was “Dance the Night Away” from 1979. And second we have the song “Pretty Woman” off the band’s album ‘Diver Down’ from 1982.

The copy I found was interesting to me. First was the fact the song was called “Pretty Woman” and not “(Oh) Pretty Woman”. When the single was first released, it went without the (Oh) part of the title and later issues corrected that and put the (Oh) back in. So that tells me I have an original issue copy. The second thing I found interesting is that the back cover of the picture sleeve has the flip side being “Happy Trials” which was actually the B-Side on the album. However, this copy is a promotional copy and it only has “Pretty Woman” on Side A and Side B. One Mono version and one Stereo version like the last one. That got me thinking was this in the wrong cover and what I can find is that it is not. It looks like they slipped the Promo copies in the same sleeve as the actual single to the public at least according to what I found on Discogs.

Another thing I thought was cool about the label on the Single was how the Engineer, Donn Landee, was actually listed. That does not happen very often. According to Ted Templeman’s book, he feels that he couldn’t be as a good as a producer he was without the help of an amazing engineer and Donn was that to him. He wanted Donn to get as much credit for these albums and songs as he did so he had his name added. Pretty freaking cool if you ask me.

Continue reading “Van Halen – “Pretty Woman” – 45 Single” →