Month: November 2022

November 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & CD’s

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Welcome to the November 2022 Purchases update. You will notice that my cover picture is a little different this month. Normally, I have all my purchases stacked on top of the turntable, but there was a problem this time around. My cat, Chandler, decided it was nap time and wouldn’t move. Actually, Chandler naps up there a lot when I am working from home so no big surprise. So, I didn’t want to disturb him as he needs his beauty sleep so I took a picture of him instead. Believe it or not, he is still a kitten as he is only 9 months old. Once full grown he will be 20-25 lbs and won’t be able to fit on the turntable so I am letting him enjoy it while he can.

Okay, enough of that. Let us get to the real reason we are here…the music. And what did I get this month. I will say it was a better month than last one as I went a little nuts on the vinyl this time around and very little on the CDs. First up, I have been holding off on buying Def Leppard stuff on vinyl because I want to see what is in the Collection, Volume 4, but I’m tired of waiting and I realize it is generally not any one specific live album that has already been released, so I bought these three things so I finally had them on vinyl.

Now, I did hit one real record store this month, but didn’t score a bunch. The only thing I picked up from Mad Jack’s are a couple of Asia albums that I didn’t have in my collection for some strange reason. And they were clean!

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Matt Nathanson – ‘Left & Right: Live at Fingerprints / Live at Park Ave.’ E.P. – Album Review

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Matt Nathanson is one of my favorite artist and songwriters, if you haven’t noticed by all the stuff I post on here about him. I am not officially doing a series on him, but merely posting all the cool Singles and E.P,’s I have of his. One of those is called ‘Left & Right: Live at Fingerprints. Live at Park Ave’ and it is an E.P. that was released back on August 5, 2008. It was recorded at two separate solo acoustic in store appearances along his 2007-2008 tour for his ‘Some Mad Hope’ album. The shows were the ones at Fingerprints in Long Beach, California (Tracks 1-3 & 7-8) and the other was at Park Ave CDs which I believe is in Orlando, Florida (Tracks 4-6).

What is great about this release is how intimate the shows are. How casual the whole thing is. It is basically Matt and a guitar and the crowd. His banter is pretty hilarious at times like when he curses and then he sees a little kid the crowd and apologizes to the little person, but still goes on with his totally inappropriate banter. He opens with an acoustic performance of the song “Car Crash” which is already an amazing song, but here, it feels so personal and emotional as Matt really digs deep and gives it his all. Quite stunning.

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Talisman – ‘Five Men Live’ (2005) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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During the early 2000’s, Marcel Jacob came forward and revealed he was suffering from chronic rheumatism and it would limit his live shows. By 2003, he must have felt up to it because the band played several festivals during that Summer and thankfully for us, a lot of those were recorded. Two shows in particular were captured and were finally released by Frontiers Records in 2005. We got a Live CD and then a DVD set. Today, we are talking about the CD set. We’ll do the DVD next time because it has more than just the shows.

The two shows captured were at Club Mondo in Stockholm, Sweden in August 2003 and the second show was from the Sweden Rock Festival from June 2003. This would be the 2nd Sweden Rock Festival live show we’ve been given from the band. The line-up was interesting as the band was usually a 4-piece band. This time we have the return of the great axeman, Fredrik Akesson as Pontus Norgren had left. The other interesting was they added a fifth member with Howie Simon on guitar. Howie at the time was Soto’s solo band’s guitarist and friend. They really brought the music and delivered two great shows so let us get to them.

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My Sunday Song – “Sound of Madness” by Shinedown

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For My Sunday Song #327, we are talking about the song “Sound of Madness” by Shinedown. The song is from the album ‘The Sound of Madness’ from 2008. The single was released on February 23, 2009 and went to #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and #85 on the Billboard Top 100. It helped propel the album to double platinum status with over 2,000,000 copies sold.

The song was written by Brent Smith and Dave Bassett and is basically a rant by Brent against people who sit and complain about their problems all the time. They feel they are always the victim and that they need to get off their ass and fight to fix their problems and not be consumed by them. He feels their misery is a self-serving prophecy as if you are always negative only negative things will happen to you. Brent states he knows as he wrote the book on it, but the difference is he stood up for himself.

The song is heavy with pounding, thunderous drums from Barry Kerch. And Zach Myer’s guitar is almost seamless with Eric Bass’ bass to give a great thumping rhythm. Nick Perri’s lead guitar is brutal and all together everything is loud and pulls you in. Brent’s vocals show an anger yet it is so melodic. The chorus is catchy and is hook-filled greatness. A killer track and easily to see why they named the album after it.

Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. Are you always negative or are you a fighter? Or do you know someone like who the song describes? Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the song. Have a wonderful and a Happy Sunday!! Stay positive!!

“Sound Of Madness”

Yeah, I get it
You’re an outcast
Always under attack
Always coming in last
Bringing up the past
No one owes you anything

I think
You need a shotgun blast
A kick in the ass
So paranoid
Watch your back

Oh my, here we go

Another loose cannon gone bi-polar
Slipped down, couldn’t get much lower
Quicksand’s got no sense of humor
I’m still laughing like hell

You think that by crying to me
Looking so sorry that I’m gonna believe
You’ve been infected by a social disease
Well, then take your medicine

I created the sound of madness
Wrote the book on pain
Somehow I’m still here to explain
That the darkest hour never comes in the night
You can sleep with a gun
When you gonna wake up and fight
For yourself?

I’m so sick of this tombstone mentality
If there’s an afterlife
Then it’ll set you free
But I’m not gonna part the seas
You’re a self-fulfilling prophecy

You think that by crying to me
Looking so sorry that I’m gonna believe
You’ve been infected by a social disease
Well, then take your medicine

I created the sound of madness
Wrote the book on pain
Somehow I’m still here to explain
That the darkest hour never comes in the night
You can sleep with a gun
When you gonna wake up and fight
For yourself

I created the sound of madness
Wrote the book on pain
Somehow I’m still here
To explain
That the darkest hour never comes in the night
You can sleep with a gun
When you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and fight

I created the sound of madness
Wrote the book on pain
Somehow I’m still here
To explain
That the darkest hour never comes in the night
You can sleep with a gun
When you gonna wake up and fight
For yourself

When you gonna wake up and fight for yourself?
When you gonna wake up and fight for yourself?
When you gonna wake up and fight for yourself?

Written by Brent Smith and Dave Bassett

Matt Nathanson – “I Saw” – CD Promotional Single

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In my further quest for owning all Matt Nathanson items listed on Discogs, I found another gem. This Promo CD is for the song “I Saw” off his 2003 album and major label debut called ‘Beneath These Fireworks’. The song was from 2004 and sadly it didn’t chart. No real surprise as he’s never been a big radio hits guy (even though his stuff is better than radio). The album didn’t do well either and shortly after releasing his first major label debut on Universal, Universal dropped him. Such is the story of so many artists and bands.

Yes, it has a cracked case!!

The song was written by Matt Nathanson and Mark Weinberg and it seems to be about a break up. The two people were together and one still aches and longs for the other. It sounds like he screwed up, she broke up. He wants her back and is sorry for what he did. He wants her to save him so badly by taking him back. She’s consoling him and telling him everything will be alright, but she isn’t going to take him back. It is over. He dreams about her and can’t get her out of his head, but it doesn’t happen. They are done.

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Friday New Releases – November 25, 2022

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Welcome to Black Friday and as a result, there aren’t a ton of new releases this week. In fact, it is Black Friday Record Store Day for 2022 so that is taking the steam away from the new releases. If you want the RSD releases…go to the bottom of the list and they are all there. I have nothing I really want from either the new releases or the RSD list so my wallet is getting a break which is great after last week’s Kiss box set for Creatures of the Night. It needs a break!! Let me know what you want or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!!

  • 91nNvcyCJIL._SX522_  Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – Live at the Fillmore, 1997 – (Petty Legacy LLC / Warner)
  • 91rXKIkhRnL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  David Bowie – Divine Symmetry – (Parlophone Records / Jones & Tintoretto Entertainment)
  • 818Do20TNwL._AC_UY436_QL65_  Ringo Starr – Live at the Greek Theater 2019 – (BFD)
  •   Sword – III – (Massacre Records / Soulfood Music)
  • 91GHLorI7JL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Our Mirage – Eclipse – (Arising Empire)
  • 61dZYsenr+L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Stormzy – This is What I Mean – (Def Jam / Hashtag Merky Music / Universal)
  • 81LxzWFEVNL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Felix Riebl – Everyday Amen – (My Shore Productions / AWAL Recordings)
  • 81nHRBv-J3L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  High Command – Eclipse of the Dual Moons – (Southern Lord)
  • 81ddjsxASvL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Leather – We Are the Chosen – (Steamhammer)
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Kiss – ‘Kiss My Axe 1978’ (1981 Re-Issue) – Album Review (The Bootleg Series)

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Happy Thanksgiving!! Here is what I am thankful for as far as music goes (of course tops is my family and friends).

I am always on the hunt for Kiss Bootlegs and I got another classic one a few weeks back. Noble Records was having their 3rd Anniversary Drop and Dylan always has some great stuff out that day. The store opened at 10 and the line had to be long as it always in as everyone wants the good stuff. I had been recovering from surgery and this was my first trip out so there was no way I was getting there early and standing in line. No, I wasn’t doing that. Instead I left the house at a little before 10 and got there around 10:20 am. I figured, if it was meant for me to have it, it would still be there. And guess what, it was still there and I grabbed it!!! Yes, I was excited. Bootleg #21 of Kiss was now in my collection.

This one was an old one. It was from 1981 and was actually a re-issue of the 1978 original release of the album. The people putting out this one spared no expense as the album sleeve is a plain white cardboard with nothing on it. Instead you get a piece of paper with a badly printed picture of the band and the details on the release. That is it. The inner sleeve is white and labels, well, as you see below, there was not much too them. But typical bootleg fashion, the band’s name is not on the label. I love these old style boots, you can’t beat them.

This was recorded live at Los Angeles Forum, California, On August 25, 1977 and this is fresh off the new album at the time, ‘Love Gun’. I’m really excited about this one because I didn’t have a bootleg from the Love Gun Tour…now I do. The band was hungry, young and insanely good at this time. The recording is an audience recording as you can hear a lot of the kids screaming around the person recording the show. But as far as audience recordings go, it isn’t bad. It isn’t the whole show as it is only 11 songs and most of them are from the ‘Love Gun’ album.

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Scorpions – “Rhythm of Love” (1988) – Singles Box Set (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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While at a record show here in Charlotte, one of the vendors had a Special Edition single of the Scorpions song “Rhythm of Love”. The single was a UK edition and it was a box set. On the cover it says it is a Special Boxed Set including record & Five Full Colour Cards. You know it isn’t a US release because color is spelled as “Colour”. The set was released in 1988 and I will say that my box is a little beat up and not in the greatest shape, but everything is there and I think it is still pretty cool.

As I said above, the set came with 5 full color pictures and what is cool is that they are double sided. On one side, you get a picture of each band member, up close and personal…

And then on the other side, you get the album pictures of their last 5 albums…

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Styx – “Mr. Roboto” – 45 Single

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In my quest for picture sleeve 7″ Singles from my favorite artist in the 70/80/90’s, I found this one from Styx. It is the 7″ Single for the song “Mr. Roboto” from the album ‘Kilroy Was Here’, the album that basically killed the band for a short time anyway. This song was released on February 23, 1983 and went all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and selling over 1,000,000 copies.

The album was a concept album which Styx was not unfamiliar with and they still do them today, but this one caused a riff in the band. Dennis DeYoung wanted to really focus on the theatrics and he loved doing the soft ballads, which was against the grain for what James Young and Tommy Shaw wanted to do. It led to a short break-up, if you want to call it that. Tommy left and eventually came back but Dennis was gone by then and still gone today. But this is all for another day, let us get to the song.

The song is about…well…let’s let Wikipedia explain it as they can do a better job than I can…

The song tells part of the story of Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (ROCK), in the rock opera Kilroy Was Here. The song is performed by Kilroy (as played by keyboardist Dennis DeYoung), a rock and roll performer who was placed in a futuristic prison for “rock and roll misfits” by the anti-rock-and-roll group the Majority for Musical Morality (MMM) and its founder Dr. Everett Righteous (played by guitarist James Young). The Roboto is a model of robot which does menial jobs in the prison. Kilroy escapes the prison by overpowering a Roboto prison guard and hiding inside its emptied-out metal shell. When Jonathan Chance (played by guitarist Tommy Shaw) finally meets Kilroy at the very end of the song, Kilroy unmasks and yells “I’m Kilroy! Kilroy!”, ending the song.

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Soul SirkUS – ‘World Play’ (2004/2005) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Soul SirkUS started originally as a project called PlanetUS which had Neal Schon, Deen Castronovo, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony. They demoed a couple songs, but it ended abruptly when Sammy and Michael returned to their small side gig called Van Halen. Neal and Deen wanted to continue so they needed a singer. Then in January 2004 at the NAMM Convention in Anaheim, California. Neal had heard of Jeff Scott Soto thanks to Andrew McNiece at Melodicrock.com who was good friends with Jeff and mentioned it to Neal. At the NAMM Convention, Neal and Jeff met and jammed and the relationship between the two was born.

They pulled in the great bass player Marco Mendoza and now the band was complete. They recorded 11 songs and changed the name from PlanetUS to Soul SirkUS. The name had to have the US in the name as Neal wanted to show this as a continuation of what he started with PlanetUS. The Soul Sirkus parts each start with an S to represent Neal Schon and Jeff Scott Soto. They spent time writing together, Neal on music and Soto on lyrics, but from what I gather, it was recorded in two days!! That is impressive. The album was complete and released on December 7, 2004. The cover was black which is different than the copy I have and I still need to get that copy.

While rehearsing for a tour, Deen Castronovo was exhausted and his health was not great after the long Journey tour that he and Neal just recently finished. Deen stepped away. But no one wanted the project to end so they recruited drummer Virgil Donati most notably from the band Planet X. The band didn’t want to go on the road as a band and support an album that not every member played on so they went back in the studio and had Virgil re-do all the drum parts. This gave them time to do a couple new songs as well. They re-released the album in March 2005 and this time the cover was a bright yellow and there were now 16 songs and not just the original 11 tracks.

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