Month: April 2022

April 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs…and More!

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Welcome to another wrap-up post and this time for April. I have to say that April was a fairly quiet month and not much vinyl but a lot of CDs and Cassettes this month. There was a lot going on the Snow Clan this month so record shopping was not a top priority and it shows in the rather small month of purchases. Still though, there are some quality purchases I believe. So let us get right to it. First up, I went and saw Will Hoge in concert at the end of March (after I wrote the March Purchases Post) and I picked up his latest on Vinyl for ‘Tiny Little Movies’ and I did that because I got to meet Will and he kindly signed the album (as well as give us the set list to the show).

And then came the release of Aldo Nova’s new album which is a 10-song E.P. (okay, since when did 10 songs make an E.P.) which is a collection of 10 songs off his forthcoming 22 song Rock Opera – The Life & Times of Eddie Gage. 3 weeks later, Aldo also put out Reloaded 2.0 which is a collection of old songs redone or reimagined with one new song…some of these he released a while back on an E.P. called Aldo Nova 2.0…so same concept with a few extra tracks.

I also was out shopping and found a lot of cassettes and they are scattered throughout the pictures as I found a lot of stuff by the same band so I grouped items together with the bands…not in all cases. We will start off with GNR’s Lies and Blue Murder’s self-titled both on cassette…

And then I found some Whitesnake cassettes as well as a Store Promo of a single…great finds for me…

If that wasn’t enough, I found a couple of Billy Idol cassettes and I can’t believe but I already have a duplicate with Whiplash Smile. You’d thing I would know what I have since I have so few, but the cover was so different, I didn’t realize they were the same so now I have two Whiplash Smiles. The other cover is a full length picture and a white label, this was a partial picture with black…at least I didn’t have Don’t Stop.

Kiss is one where I pretty much have all the vinyl (with a few minor exceptions) so I’ve started grabbing the CDs and cassettes as well (and 8 Tracks). Here are a couple more CDs added and a really cool cassette that I didn’t know if I’d find.

And then there were a couple more CDs that I came across from Winger and Ratt I still needed. Plus, I haven’t been able to find on vinyl so the CD will do for now…

Then I was out at Noble Records (one of my favorite stores) and I found a collection of Scorpions Promo CD Singles, so they are now part of the ever growing Scorpions collection that you will all see in due time when we start The Scorpions Collection Series real soon…

The last couple of items I think are really cool. First up is the Japanese Edition of Danger Danger’s debut album with a set of bonus tracks which are live cuts of songs on the album…

Then I bought the next item from Israel, but it isn’t an Israel pressing. It is the UK/Europe pressing which is a 2 CD Special Edition bonus tracks and live tracks.

The last set of discs are for Matt Nathanson. He is another artist I have all the vinyl, but not all the CDs, so we are remedying that as well. And one of these isn’t on vinyl to begin with so I really needed it…

And that is everything. The vinyl purchases were really weak this time around and I will admit it is getting harder to find what I want and at decent prices so we might see a drop in vinyl purchases as a result. I hope that doesn’t stay the trend, but we will see. Here is everything in one big shot…

And that is all. Thanks for stopping by and I can’t wait to see what May will bring us!!

Friday New Releases – April 29, 2022

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Happy Friday! And welcome to another Friday New Release post and the last one for April. Hard to believe April is over!! But what is not hard to believe is that we have over 50 releases for you again this week and it is a wide range of genres. There is something for everyone this week. I am not running out to buy and of these just yet, but I have a handful I will give a listen and they are marked in Blue. Let me know what you want to hear this week. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

  • 71CXv7Gy4AL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Miranda Lambert – Palomino – (Vanner Records / Sony Music): Miranda is back with her 9th album in 20 years. I am not a massive country fan, but I do like me some Miranda. This might be first up this week.
  • 91srbavPHlL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Crashdiet – Automaton – (Crusader Records / Golden Robot Global): We’ve talked about it before that Sweden manufactures Sleaze Rock/Glam Rock bands and this is another in the long line of bands. They are back with their sixth album and I will look forward to some good rock & roll!
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Cheap Trick – ‘The Latest’ (2009) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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We are now to the band’s 16th Studio album. The album was released on June 23, 2009 and only went to #78 on the Billboard Charts and sadly sales only reached 24,000 records as of 2016 which is an absolute shame as this is a hidden gem. The Latest is the last studio album to feature all four members of the original band of Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos. In 2010, Bun E. Carlos stopped touring with the band and it led to him not recording with the band. There were lawsuits back and forth and it was ugly. But that is another discussion for another day.

Cheap Trick really lost their way in the mid to late 80’s and early 90’s. But with ‘Woke Up With a Monster’ up to ‘Rockford’, Cheap Trick was slowly remembering who they were. With ‘The Latest’, the band was back in full form and putting out their best album in years. Cheap Trick was back baby, but sadly, no one knew it. This was the Cheap Trick sound I loved. They band sounded refreshed, rejuvenated and reborn. ‘The Latest’ is the best we’ve seen from them in a very long time.

The version of the album I have is a digipak CD with a fold out cover (as seen below). There was no booklet inside as everything was printed on the reverse sides of the flaps below. One thing cool the band did for this release is they released a version of the album on 8-Track. This was 2009 and 8-Tracks were not a blip on anyone’s radar (except maybe Tim Durling).

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Axel Rudi Pell – ‘The Ballads’ (1993) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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After Jeff Scott Soto had finished his vocals on the ‘Eternal Prisoner’ album for Axel Rudi Pell, he went back to the states to continue to work with his band Slam. Then it was on to work on the next Talisman album ‘Genesis’. But his obligations weren’t done with Axel. Axel wanted to do an album full of nothing but ballads so Jeff was brought back in April 1993 to finish up some work on several songs to be included on the album. Jeff was only on 4 of the 10 songs, two were instrumentals, two from Rob Rock with one from Karl Holthaus both previous singers of Axel’s.

The album was released on September 7, 1993 and I guess it was successful as Axel did a total of five of these Ballad compilations. ‘The Ballads’ release had a mixture of previously released tracks, some previously unreleased tracks and even a couple covers. It is a lot of ballads to have on an album. It caused a mixture of reactions. Some metal fans were turned off because the album was nothing but ballads, however, you had a section of non-metal people that were now introduced to Axel’s music because it was all ballads. Heck it was the ballads that probably brought a lot of women in to the Glam music scene anyway…that and the fact they wanted to know the secrets on how the guys got their hair so big and poofy. But lets talk about the music instead of the hair.

“You Want Love” opens the album and was one of the new tracks recorded by Jeff Scott Soto for this release. Opens with acoustic guitars and then Soto comes in singing in a soft falsetto. The chorus brings harmonies and the bass and drum. From here on out, the tempo stays relatively consistent. Jeff does sound great, I’ll give him that, but the song is a little dull as it is too same-same sounding throughout. Even the solo is a little lifeless and boring.

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Kiss – ‘The Original Wicked Lester Sessions’ – Album Review (The Bootleg Series)

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We all know Kiss was started by Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley.  But did you know about the band prior to Kiss?  It all started with Gene (Chaim Witz) and Paul (Stanley Eisen) in a band called Rainbow with Gene’s friend Stephen Coronel.  Paul was the third member and then they brought in a drummer named Joe Davidson. This band didn’t last long at all and hell, the drummer even a shorter time as he was quickly replaced with Tony Zarella.  They only played one show before they had to drop the name Rainbow because that name was already being used by some other band (and no, not the Richie Blackmore band).

And that is how Wicked Lester was born.  After only a couple shows as Wicked Lester, they were approached by a label and were given the chance to record some demos. After listening to those demos, the label decided that Stephen was not good enough and had to be fired. And since Gene and Paul the upstanding citizens they are, they fired Stephen.  I guess you do whatever it takes to make it in this business.  Ron Leejack was then brought in for guitar duties and it was time to record the album.

Now the album would take about a year to complete and upon receiving the album and hearing it, the label were not quite thrilled with it…okay, they hated it.  Hated it so much, they shelved it and it was never released.  Well, never in a full, pure album form.  It has been leaked out as a bootleg and that is what we have here.

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Aerosmith – ‘Honkin’ On Bobo’ (2004) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series)

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For the band’s 14th studio album they wanted to go back to their roots. They wanted to kick it old style. To do that, they decided to do a covers album of all Blues tracks! And to really make it old school, they brought back Jack Douglas as producer and they only recorded it live in the studio with all members of the band like they did it in the old days. The album takes us back to their sound of the 70’s and away from all the more recent over-produced crap that they had been releasing of late.

The album was recorded over most of 2003 as they really only recorded when they could all get together and they were all in a good mood. And you can imagine how little that probably was with this history of this band. Most of the work was done at Joe Perry’s Studio at his ranch near Boston. When they finally finished, the album got its release on March 30, 2004 and quickly sold over 100,000 copies in its first week putting it at #5 on the Billboard Charts. Today, that would easily be #1. But it did go to #1 on the Blues Chart and eventually went Gold with over 500,000 copies sold. The album wasn’t as successful as their past hits, but a Blues album to go Gold is pretty darn good. Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer will still together and doing what they loved, so for them that is a success on its own.

The album had 11 covers and 1 original blues song by the band. There are traditional blues songs from way, way back to even a Fleetwood Mac song. And the title ‘Honkin’ On Bobo’ is from a phrase Steven Tyler had heard but they don’t really know what it means. They thought it sounded cool and bluesy I guess. I thought Bobo might be the harmonica and honkin’ on it was playing the harmonica, but who knows. Let’s get to the music.

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My Sunday Song – “Desert Plains” by Judas Priest

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For My Sunday Song #296, we are going to discuss the song “Desert Plains” by Judas Priest. The song is from their 1981 album ‘Point of Entry’. The song wasn’t a single, but for me was one of the very few standout tracks on the album. The album went gold in the U.S. selling over 500,000 copies and went to #39 on the Billboard Charts. Not their best showing but that was all about to change with their next album.

“Desert Plains” can have a lot of meanings. I read it was inspired by the beautiful Arizona desert landscape as that is where Rob Halford was living. The song is possibly about riding your motorcycle down the lonely desert road aching to be with your lover and finally arriving at the end as there is a line “The engine roars between my thighs” that makes me think motorcycle, but I guess it could mean some other thing that is between his thighs getting all hot and bothered.

I also saw someone mention that the song is about life and death. The life part is the person on this side of death missing their lover terribly who has died. The other person, who is dead, is on the other side waiting for them so they can one day be together again. If that is the case then the person on this side of death must die because they are together again. That is a little morbid for me, so I personally lean towards the first one because the song does end with them falling in each others arms, but I don’t feel like they died.

The song opens with a loud, heavy drum beat from Dave Holland and is full of dual guitar work from Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing and a thumping bass line from Ian Hill. Rob Halford comes in and gives a serious tone to the vocals which almost feels a little ominous in its presentation. An album that already has “Heading Out to the Highway”, it is another song that feels like you are driving fast down the road and that there is a dangerous element you can’t escape from and is following you about to catch you. Overall, this is a killer track and might be my favorite track on the album.

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Kiss – “Calling Dr. Love” (1977) – 7″ Single – (The Kiss Review Series – Bonus Edition)

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I’ve found a few Kiss singles lately and this is the last in the bunch…for now. This time around I found the single to the song “Calling Dr. Love” off the band’s 1976 album ‘Rock And Roll Over’. The song was the band’s fourth Top 20 hit going all the way to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the second single on the album which following the success of the album, ‘Destroyer’, went on to sell over a million copies and hit platinum status. Kiss was on a roll at this time and their popularity was growing by leaps and bounds.

A fun fact on the song is that it was written by Gene while he was at a Holiday Inn where I am sure he was “living in sin” (let’s see who gets that reference). The song title was inspired by a Three Stooges film called ‘Men in Black’ which contained a hospital intercom announcement, “Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard.” And thanks to wiki for that reference.

My version is again, the standard U.S. version with the boring Casablanca / Filmworks standard sleeve. No picture sleeve. The B-Side is the Paul Stanley sung song “Take Me”. No special remixes, no unreleased tracks, just the same old stuff, but I still had to have it. I’m a little nuts that way.

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Friday New Releases – April 22, 2022

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Happy Friday!! Welcome to another Friday of New Releases and we have around 50 choices for you this week. That should mean there is something for everyone and if not, stop being so picky!! Kidding! There are only a couple of releases I am looking in and they are marked in Blue. Let me know what you want to hear this week and let us know what we may have missed as I am sure there is something. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

  • 711boDcj13L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Aldo Nova – Reloaded – (MRI): Just 3 weeks after his release of The Life & Times of Eddie Gage E.P. (which was pretty darn good), Aldo is back with another Reloaded. He released one a few years ago where he reworks his classic hits. I have to say, I am not real thrilled with this concept as you can’t improve on perfection. Could this be his ‘This Left Feels Right’? I am afraid so as it doesn’t feel right…but maybe I’ll be wrong.
  • 61YFRs2333L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Dorothy – Gifts from the Holy Ghost – (Roc Nation Records): Dorothy is back with another rock release. I really dig her vocals and the band ain’t half bad either. I am hoping for some more rock greatness from this stellar band.
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Cheap Trick – ‘Rockford’ (2006) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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Cheap Trick had a lot of touring comments after their last studio album ‘Special One’ in 2003. So while they were touring throughout 2004 and 2005, the squeezed in time to record some new songs. They recorded all over the country in L.A., Nashville, Florida, Boston, New York, Chicago and even in their hometown of Rockford, IL. As a result, there were also a lot of co-producers to help out including Jim “Pinky Beeman, Julian Raymond, Jack Douglas, Steve Albini, Chris Shaw and even Linda Perry (4 Non Blondes). You would think this would make the album disjointed and all over the place, but I think it gels perfectly together. Somehow Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos pulled it all together to make co-hesive, enjoyable album.

The album title was called ‘Rockford’ which is you didn’t know was the band’s hometown of Rockford, Illinois. It was released on June 6, 2006 and only went to #101 on the Billboard Charts. Cheap Trick was not actually going to get any radio play as most bands from the 70’s didn’t. It is really hard to get these vintage acts on the radio. That in now way is a reflection of the songs or the album overall. They found different ways to get in to the public eye. One thing they did was be a part of McDonald’s ad campaign during that year. And in 2007 on April 1st of all days, Cheap Trick was given their own Day in Illinois. April 1st would now be known as Cheap Trick Day in their home state.

The cover art of the album is fantastic. I love the bright yellow as it makes it a happy feeling record. The art work was done by John Johnson with the art direction by Richie “Britley” Hughes. There is actually no picture of the band in on the front, back or even in the CD booklet. All pictures of them are done in the style of figures on the cover. I am not sure if they were purposely doing that as they didn’t want people to realize how much older they were so younger audiences wouldn’t be afraid to buy the album or what…but I like it nonetheless. But enough about that, let us get to the music shall we.

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