Bon Jovi – “Living in Sin” – 7″ Single

In my quest to find good homes for 7″ Singles with picture sleeve covers, I came across another Bon Jovi single. This time around it is for the song “Living in Sin” off the mega-seller ‘New Jersey’ and was released on October 7, 1989. Bon Jovi was the king of power ballads and this fit the bill nicely as the song went to #9 on the Billboard Top 40 charts. It was the 5th and final single off the 7X platinum status album which means it sold over 7 million copies in the US alone.

The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and talks about cohabitating with the person you love out of wedlock, thus the “Living in Sin” part. True love outweighs every thing. Jon doesn’t need a wedding, a preacher, a ring to tell him he loves her and they should be together. He doesn’t need her father telling them it is wrong either. The only thing that matters is that they are together.

My copy of the Single is the standard U.S. release with “Love is War” as the B-Side. The picture sleeve is in pristine condition and a great find to add to my singles collection. I have a ton of Bon Jovi singles which makes sense as millions were sold so there should be some out in the wild for the taking.

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You Picked It! – Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Patient Number 9’ (2022) – Album Review

Alright…You Picked It! And this one I thought was going to be a blowout as Ozzy jumped out front right out of the gate, but others gained ground. In the end, Ozzy held on and never lost its #1 ranking. Therefore the winner was Ozzy Osbourne’s – ‘Patient Number 9’ which is a new release and not one I’ve actually bought yet…will this make me run out and buy it? We will see. Here are the results.

  1. Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Patient Number 9’ – 10 votes
  2. Joy Division – ‘Unknown Pleasures’ – 5 votes
  3. The Darkness – ‘Permission to Land’ – 5 votes
  4. Loretta Lynn – ‘Van Lear Rose’ – 3 votes
  5. Peter Gabriel – ‘So’ – 2 votes

Thanks to all for participating. The November choices will be up on Saturday! And the choices are changing as they are all now from my collection and will have a loose theme.

OZZY OSBOURNE – ‘PATIENT NUMBER 9’ (2022):

Ozzy started work on this album about 2 years ago, just days after the release of the stellar “Ordinary Man” release in 2020. I really liked that album so this one had some big shoes to fill. You keep seeing pictures of Ozzy in the media and you think to yourself, how is this man still alive. He looks like death is standing next to him, tapping him on the shoulder. However, when you hear the last album and this one, you realize, there is still plenty of life in the Prince of Darkness.

This album sees Ozzy bring back in a ton of old friends as we have guest appearances from Jeff Beck, Mike McCreedy, Eric Clapton and his old Sabbath bandmate, Tony Iommi. And if that wasn’t enough, former Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde is back on guitar for four of the 13 tracks. So, 10 of the 13 tracks all have a special guest, those last 3 do not. But the listed special guests are only the tip of the iceberg as there are some big names playing on this album. And speaking of 13 tracks, this album feels long…very long as it runs over an hour long…that is a lot of Ozzy.

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My Sunday Song – “Dream Police” by Cheap Trick

For My Sunday Song #320, we are ending are Cheap Trick 10 song run with “Dream Police” off the album of the same name. The song was release in September 1979 and broke the Top 40 landing all the way at #26. It was the first single off an album that followed ‘Live at Budokan’ and was destined to be a smash…and it was.

The song was written by Rick Nielsen and seems to be about a very paranoid individual. This guy thinks that Big Brother is monitoring his dreams. No matter where he goes or what he does, the dream police are they waiting to arrest him for that one wrong thought or dream. With each passing moment, he is growing more and more insane and obsessed with the whole idea.

The song is upbeat and starts off with the chorus and then goes straight in to the first verse. The organ/keyboards and the string orchestration add an eerie, spooky vibe to the song which makes the song so dramatic and horrifying. Bun E. Carlos’ drums are spectacular adding perfect fills where needed and Petersson’s bass during the creepy Robin speaking vocals adds so much texture and flavor to the song. It is catchy as hell and bores in to your brain as sweet ear candy. The song also reminds me of The Who with its energy and that is good thing.

Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. Do you love the humor behind as much as I do? It is one of my favorite tracks by them, where does it fall for you? Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful and Happy Sunday!! Be careful when you sleep because you never know who is listening (or watching).

“Dream Police”

The dream police, they live inside of my head
The dream police, they come to me in my bed
The dream police, they’re coming to arrest me, oh, no

You know that talk is cheap
And those rumors ain’t nice
And when I fall asleep
I don’t think I’ll survive the night, the night

‘Cause they’re waiting for me
They’re looking for me
Every single night
They’re driving me insane
Those men inside my brain

The dream police, they live inside of my head (live inside of my head)
The dream police, they come to me in my bed (come to me in my bed)
The dream police, they’re coming to arrest me, oh, no

Well, I can’t tell lies
‘Cause they’re listening to me
And when I fall asleep
Bet they’re spying on me tonight, tonight

‘Cause they’re waiting for me
They’re looking for me
Every single night
They’re driving me insane
Those men inside my brain

I try to sleep, they’re wide awake, they won’t let me alone
They don’t get paid to take vacations or let me alone
They spy on me, I try to hide, they won’t let me alone
They persecute me, they’re the judge and jury all in one

‘Cause they’re waiting for me
They’re looking for me
Every single night
They’re driving me insane
Those men inside my brain

The dream police, they live inside of my head (live inside of my head)
The dream police, they come to me in my bed (come to me in my bed)
The dream police, they’re coming to arrest me
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police)
The dream police (police, police

Written by Rick Nielsen

Matt Nathanson – “Faster” – Promotional CD

“Faster” is the first single off Matt Nathanson’s 2011 album ‘Modern Love’. The single in the U.S. came out on March 29, 2011 and it broke the Top 100 landing at #74…so not getting close to the Top 40 countdown. However, on the Adult Top 40 Billboard Chart, it reached #11 so the adults dug, kids…I guess not so much.

The promotional copy I found is from the U.K. and according to the note on the front, it was to be released on August, 6th, 2011. It was talking him up and the fact he was opening for Kelly Clarkson’s tour in America and Train in the U.K. Matt was heading to the U.K. to do his own set of shows. That Kelly Clarkson show was the one my oldest daughter and I caught at their Fox Theater, Atlanta stop. My brother-in-law, Ryan, worked with both Kelly and Matt in that year so we got free tickets to the show and ended up meeting Matt that evening and getting autographs and pictures. He was a truly stand-up guy with the way he treated my daughter. He made her feel that she was the most important girl in the room when he talked to her. Really cool.

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Friday New Releases – October 7, 2022

Hey guys and gals! Happy Friday! We have another large list of releases for you this week. I will apologize upfront as there are not videos for all of the releases as I am writing this, I am recovering from surgery and it is rather uncomfortable so don’t feel up to a the full post, but at least want to get you a list of the top releases for the week. My choices are highlighted in Blue. Let me know what you are most looking forward to hearing this week and what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!!

  • images  Ellefson / Soto – Vacation in the Underworld – (Rat Pak Records): Jeff Scott Soto and former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson join forces for what I hope is a total beast of an album. It is cool sometimes to hear Soto go heavy. My review on this will be one of the last reviews in the Jeff Scott Soto Series so it will be awhile before we get to it.
  • 41HoM8LaRdL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  The Cult – Under the Midnight Sun – (Black Hill Records / Round Hill Records): Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy bless us with another album as it has been 6 years since the last. Sign me up please!!
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Jeff Scott Soto – ‘Prism’ (2002) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

Rumors were flying that Jeff Scott Soto was going to leave The Boogie Knights and start concentrating on his solo career. Those rumors turned out true. Jeff started working with his Talisman bandmates on a side project called ‘Humanimal’ which was singed to Z-Records. Jeff was negotiating with Z-Records for a solo album and when things looked good and ready to go, Jeff and Z-Records split. Luckily, it wasn’t on bad terms as he continued with Humanimal until they had issues with Z-Records and that band was done.

Meanwhile, back on January 25, 2002, Frontiers Records had a press release that talked about them signing Jeff for his new solo album and if that was enough, they gained the rights to his debut solo album, ‘Love Parade’ and re-issued it as well. The new solo album was to be called ‘The Calm B4 The Storm’ and as Jeff has said, his earlier career was the Calm and what was coming after is The Storm. If Calm is being apart of 30+ albums over almost 20 years, I can’t wait to see what The Storm brings. However, that name was changed to Prism in parts due to where it was recorded, Prism Studios, and Jeff stating that is about a person that reflects many different lights. The album was released in December 4, 2002, I believe as I found the date on Discogs.

The new album was going to be done in the style of say Journey and Survivor which means it is power ballad heavy and not in a bad way. The songs were mostly done over the past few years for various projects that they didn’t quite fit so were never used and some new and all but one written by Soto. Jeff played most of the instruments and sang, but he was worried the label might not like that fact so he credited numerous fake people on the album. First is someone by the name of Michael Scott which is just Jeff’s middle name and his son’s middle name put together. He also credited two names that appeared in Jerky Boy’s episodes, Sam Isanogud and Mikos Scarbacci. There was also Jay Michael another reference to his son as well as Anthony Papa who is real, but didn’t actually play. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other musicians on the album because we do get Gary Schutt, Glenn Hughes and numerous Soto friends.

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Turntables & Vinyl #25 – The Alternate Covers

It has been almost two years since I’ve done a Turntables & Vinyl post. And since today is the 2,000th Post on the site, why not do another. 2,000 Posts!! That is insane. I can’t believe I have bored you for that long now and yet you still come back. Thank you for that.

These Turntable & Vinyl post are basically about my collection or interesting things about collecting and this one is about collecting. As far as collecting goes, I haven’t gone down the rabbit hole of getting every variant of an album, but I have found myself, a little unknowingly, picking up duplicate albums with the big difference being they have a completely different album cover. I don’t have a lot, but I am noticing more and more that if I know there is a different album cover, I am now actively looking for it. However, most of the time it has been by utter accident that I found a different cover and didn’t know it existed.

This post is going to show you the handful that I have and then show the ones that I am actively hunting down. But first, why do artist have different album covers in the first place? Most of the time it is simply down to controversy. Some album covers have a little nudity or something offensive that pisses off the wrong people so in order to sell those albums in certain stores a new cover is done. In other parts, it is simply different tastes in different parts of the world. And then it might be a reissue so they change up the cover a little, either way, I think it is cool and so I am now collecting alternate covers.

This is my most recent acquisition and it is from Joe Satriani. The one on the left was the album cover I originally had and all I knew about and it turns out it is the European release cover and the one used in the 1988 reissue. But apparently there was alternate cover because I found the one on the right in a record store in St. Augustine Florida. It really isn’t the alternate cover because I believe it is the original release cover from 1986 and the one i had first was actually the alternate cover. Both are awesome.

Here is another one where I had the alternate cover first, the one on the left, before i had the original cover, the one on the right. The original cover was the UK only release of the original album. The giant snake on the left is the alternate cover for the releases outside of the UK. Not sure why the difference, but both are equally cool.

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Matt Nathanson- “Kinks Shirt” – Promotional CD

“Kinks Shirt” by Matt Nathanson is off his 2013 album, ‘Last of the Great Pretenders’ and in July of that year he released this song as a video and a single.  It was one of the fun songs on the album that shows he isn’t all heartbreak and sadness and that sometimes he can be a good mood or at least sound like he is. According to the Promo CD, the UK Single was going to be released on January 13th, 2014, but they scratched through it and said to “focus” on the song on February 10th. It gives a brief history of Matt to help sell him as an artist. What is really cool about this Promo CD is that Discogs does not even list it as an item in Matt’s discography. It has a ton of his other promo CDs, but not this one. I always love it when I find something that is not on Discogs!!

The song was actually inspired by an actual girl that was wearing a Kinks Shirt.  You know The Kinks, who doesn’t love The Kinks?  No one, that is who.  While recording the album, Matt and his producer and band mates would visit this diner quite frequently, I mean like every day for lunch.  There was a girl that worked there with tattoos and piercings and nothing like someone that Matt would normally be attracted to maybe, but someone he was obsessed with.  Not in a crazy stalker way, but more fantasizing way.  He was so mesmerized by her that she inspired this song.

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Scorpions – ‘Rock Galaxy’ (1980) – Bonus Edition (The Scorpions Collection Series)

In 1980, not sure if the record label was capitalizing on Scorpions growing success or what they were doing, but the released this 2LP set called “Rock Galaxy”. It isn’t a compilation album…nope. It is a re-release of two of the bands albums…’Fly to the Rainbow’ (1974) and ‘In Trance’ (1975). It was released in 1980, out of Germany, but sold across Europe as you can see from the back cover. It would see re-issues later in Spain and Greece, but my copy is from Germany.

The release I have is a 2LP set and on a wonderful gatefold. The inside picture is of the band and not a great one at that as Klaus is either frightened or he is just totally uncomfortable getting his picture taken. The story of the band is on written in both English and German and is called ‘The Scorpions Chronicle’ or in German as ‘Die Scorpions Chronik’.

The album at least isn’t controversial. It is basically plain and utterly awful. I hope the band didn’t have an input in the cover, because if they did I would question their sanity. We already know record labels were full of idiots so if they chose the cover it then makes sense. However, it is the awful cover that is the main reason I bought this. I already have the two albums, but dang, that cover is so bad I had to have it.

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My Sunday Song – “Auf Wiedersehen” by Cheap Trick

For My Sunday Song #319, we are discussing the song “Auf Wiedersehen” by Cheap Trick. The song is off their 1978 album ‘Heaven Tonight’ and but was not released as a single. Instead, it was the B-Side to their hit “Surrender”. The song was written by Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson and talks about a very serious subject matter.

The song is about suicide. And not the first on ‘Heaven Tonight” because the title song is also about suicide. “Auf Wiedersehen” is actually German for “Goodbye” which is appropriate. The lyrics also say goodbye in Spanish and Japanese. The lyrics give a nod to Bob Dylan’s song “All Along the Watchtower” with “You feel that life is a joke”. The song isn’t trying to talk the person out of committing suicide. It is simply saying goodbye in a not so kind way.

It is a pretty heavy song both lyrically and musically and is so upbeat and face paced that you can’t help but enjoy it despite its subject matter. The guitar riffs on this one by Nielsen are some of his best on the album. Robin attacks the vocals with an aggressive tone that is both abrasive and then he can turn it around and be kinda sweet. Towards the end, he seems batshit crazy and that he has completely lost it. It is a perfect combination of the rawness from the first album mixed with the power pop of the second.

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