Month: February 2023

You Pick It! – Which Album to Review in March?

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You, my reader, are going to pick an album for me to review each month.  It is really simple…first, I will give you 5 albums to choose from and second, you will tell me which one of those you would like to see reviewed on the site.  See…simple! Now, if you want to cast more than one vote, comment on the Twitter and Facebook post and you could get up to 3 votes on your favorite pick.

There are no longer rules for my selections, maybe themes.  I’m just picking albums in my collection and this time they are all from European Bands that never really made it in the States. What are the 5 albums you ask?  I have them right here…

   Gotthard – ‘Lipservice‘ (2005)

   The Poodles – ‘Metal Will Stand Tall’ (2006)

   Jorn – ‘Worldchanger ‘(2001)

   Reach – ‘The Promise of Life’ (2021)

   Passion – ‘Passion’ (2020)

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in March, I will post a review of the album that gets the most votes. You have one week to decide and from there I will start listening to the album and do a review.

Thanks for participating!!

Friday New Releases – February 17, 2023

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Like last week (and pretty much every week), we have a big batch of new releases for you again. This time around there a hair over 30 new albums coming out so hopefully there is something for you. We get, yet another useless, re-release of Motley Crue’s big albums. Seriously guys, can you give us new albums or maybe even bonus tracks that haven’t been released…something to justify this. A few others I want to hear (but not running out to buy) are P!nk, Skillet and Creye. I like all three so happy for some new stuff. What do you want to hear this week? Let us know and also tell us if we missed anything. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • 617RLmZSxlL._AC_UY327_QL65_  Motley Crue – Crucial Crue: The Studio Albums 1981-1989 – (BMG Rights Mgmt)
  • 612lQeO7XqL._AC_UL320_   P!nk – Trustfall –  (RCA Records / Sony Music) 
  • 71z6OJAaA5L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Skillet – Dominion: Day of Destiny – (Atlantic Records / WEA)
  • 71zr4X3GcuL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Creye – III: Weightless – (Frontiers Records)
  • 71GGWHpVxbL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Robin McAuley – Alive – (Frontiers Records)
  • 71OfmJM0UaL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  First Signal – Face Your Fears – (Frontiers Records)
  • 71YRbuVYm1L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  All My Shadows – Eerie Monsters – (Frontiers Records)
  • 91anokPjLWL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Jesse Malin – Fine Art of Self-Destruction (Anniversary Edition) – (Melody Catalog)
  • 71fMUOx7EgL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Annett Louisan – Babyblue – (Ariola / Sony Music)
  • 91qnD2gLfUL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Jordan Davis – Bluebird Days – (MCA Nashville / UMG)
  • 81YHf-S4dzL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Screaming Females – Desire Pathway – (Don Giovanni Records)
  • 61HCGyKzRCL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Matthew West – My Story Your Glory – (Story House Music / Provident Label Group)
  • 81kKJ2L-sZL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Inhaler – Cuts and Bruises – (Polydor Records / Universal Music)
  • A1se0mu-PZL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Solence – Hope is a Cult – (Hopeless Records)
  • 91ZcI2iJd0L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Grade 2 – Grade 2 – (Hellcat) 
  • 91sFpXsuYfL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Orbital – Optical Delusion – (Orbital Recordings / London Music Stream)
  • 616jRhy571L._AC_UY218_  Lowly – Keep Up the Good Work – (Bella Union)
  • 71LOQF3iN+L._AC_UY218_  Avatar – Dance Devil Dance – (Black Waltz AB / Thirty Tigers)
  • 81rB8EUxhHL._SX466_  Transatlantic – The Final Flight: Live at L’Olympia – (InsideOut Music)
  • download-7  Runnner – Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out – (Run for Cover Records)
  • 71P23rOPMlL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Graphic Nature – A Mind Waiting to Die – (Rude Records)
  • A1HxJGaCNYL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Attila Csihar – Void ovVoices: Baalbek – (Ideologic Organ Music)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=gwl7lSUVIFA
  • 91rNvLZg-4L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Tryglav – The Ritual – (Extreme Metal Music)
  • 819evobdryL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Tramalizer – Fumes of Funeral Pyres – (Soulseller Records)
  • B1Z94imon5L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Oceanhoarse – Heads Will Roll – (Noble Demon / UCM.One)
  • 81InDpMRdYL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Hellripper – Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags – (Peaceville Records)
  • 71xtoSqsm7L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  The Abbey – Word of Sin – (The Abbey)
  • 81NavOC98QL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Tulus – Fandens Kall – (Soulseller Records)
  • 81urCYWgsaL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Siege of Power – This Is Tomorrow – (Metal Blade Records)
  • 81BfGyeY6ZL._AC_UY218_  See You Next Tuesday – Distractions – (Good Fight Music)
  • 91ay3FmMTUL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Tithe – Inverse Rapture – (Profound Lore)
  • 91XkIehRpKL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Land of Sleeper – (Rocket Recordings / Missing Piece Records)

Scorpions – ‘Bad for Good: The Very Best of Scorpions’ (2002) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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Really! Another greatest hits album. Why? Well, the labels want money as this is a cash grab, but it does have some good points. The album was released on May 28, 2002 on Hip-O Records and contains 18 classic songs from the band. Scorpions – ‘Bad for Good: The Very Best of Scorpions’ does offer something a little different than some of their other compilation albums. First, you get 3 tracks that are single edits and not straight album tracks. Second, you get two brand new Scorpions songs!! That right there is the reason to buy this one.

Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t problems with this release and for that problem is glaring. Again, we get a greatest hits compilation that completely ignores any album prior to 1979’s ‘Lovedrive’. Why do they keep leaving off all those good songs? Is it that the band, or the label, don’t own the rights to those songs? Whatever is the reason, it is an absolute shame that the public doesn’t get to hear those great songs from the 70’s up against these smash hits. Being a single disc release, I see that there is no room and I do get the label wants the biggest hits…but biggest doesn’t mean the best.

The album is in chronological order…wait…not quite. They start it off with “Rock You Like A Hurricane” because that is like their biggest, most notable hit. After that, the rest are in chronological order. Not sure the point of that and seems quite silly in my book. I am not sure how much input Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker or Mathias Jabs had, but at least they might have had a say in the two new songs, but that might be it. There is a nice multiple page write up in the liner notes about the band by Gerri Miller from Metal Edge magazine and she talks about 3 decades of the band, but the compilation doesn’t give us songs that cover the whole period…but I’ve said that already. Enough bitching, let’s get to the songs.

Every band needs a signature song and Scorpions did that on their 9th album with the song “Rock You Like a Hurricane”. It only went to #25 on the Top 40 chart, but it has lived on and given the band one of the quintessential 80’s rock songs ever made. There is no one that doesn’t know this song the second that opening riff kicks in. It is a rock anthem like very few achieve. For ever how many songs the album sold, most were sold because of this track. With heavy riffs, killer solos and one of the most catchiest choruses ever, this song took the band to a level they probably never thought they would see.

Continue reading “Scorpions – ‘Bad for Good: The Very Best of Scorpions’ (2002) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)” →

Jeff Scott Soto – ‘Live at Firefest 2008’ (2010) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Firefest is festival in Europe that came about after the end of another festival called The Gods of AOR. Firefest started in 2004 and it was bigger and even better than the Gods festival. Jeff Scott Soto performed at the Gods festival in 2002, and even released the show on a live CD/DVD. Jeff got the call again to do the festival in 2008 and he said Yes, obviously or this discussion would be ridiculous.

It wasn’t easy for Jeff because at the time of the festival, he was in the middle of rehearsals for the Trans-Siberian Orhcestra’s annual Winter Tour. TSO rehearsed 12 hours a day and Jeff was probably exhausted, but he jumped on a plane on a Friday in the U.S and landed in London by Saturday morning. He had to rush to Nottingham and meet his band. Luckily, it was his band so it was Howie Simon, Gary Schutt and Dave Dziaklak, but they hadn’t played in over about year and had like an hour to rehearse and get ready for the show. Did they pull it off…well, of course they did! They are professionals. It is a great show and another great live album from Jeff.

But…I have a major problem with this release and it isn’t the quality of the show as Jeff sounds amazing and the band is tight and all is good. It is the fact that this setlist is almost identical to Jeff’s last live release ‘One Night in Madrid’. Every song on here was played at that show in this order. The only difference is that the Madrid show had more songs (and was a totally killer show). I feel like I just reviewed this show and not really sure what new I can say about it. I could basically cut & paste that review here, delete out the songs that aren’t on here and BOOM!…the review and you probably wouldn’t know the difference.

So what I will do is walk through the little differences between the shows so I at least give you something different. Like the Madrid show, this one kicks off with the opening track “21st Century” from his latest album ‘Beautiful Mess’, but the big difference is when Madrid goes in to the next song “Colour My XTC” you get the whole song while her you get a small prelude portion before going in to the great “Soul Divine”. One of the highlights on this and the other live show is “Our Song” from his latest album. Jeff sounds amazing on this one and the band nails the song. A power ballad with a lot of Jeff’s powerful vocals. Such a great song.

Continue reading “Jeff Scott Soto – ‘Live at Firefest 2008’ (2010) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)” →

You Picked It! – Queensryche – ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ (1997) – Album Review

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Alright…You Picked It! This one was really close and we actually ended in a tie. That is right. Two artist got the same # of votes. The winner for this month’s picks ended up being Queensryche’s ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ AND Saigon Kick’s ‘The Lizard’ and I am real excited about this fact. So, what we are going to do is review them both, but with a twist. First, we will review Queensryche’s ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ and down the road, we will do Saigon Kick’s ‘The Lizard’ as someone out there has agreed to review it at the same time with me so I am taking him up on that offer. Here are the results.

  1. Queensryche – ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ – 5 votes
  2. Saigon Kick – ‘The Lizard’ – 5 votes
  3. Arcade – ‘Arcade’ – 4 votes
  4. Collective Soul – ‘Collective Soul’ – 2 votes
  5. Stryper – ‘Against the Law’ – Disqualified as I already reviewed that one…doh!!

Thanks to all for participating. The March choices will be up on Saturday! And the choices are all from my collection and the next one will all be more modern European Bands that never really made it in the States. Hopefully you can help me decide which one I should review.

QUEENSRYCHE – ‘HEAR IN THE NOW FRONTIER’ (1997):

Back around 1997, music was a sort of black hole for me. I was lost, wandering around trying to find something I liked and whenever bands from the 80’s put something out, I would get excited and grab it. As I did this one back in the day. Queensryche’s 6th studio album was ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ and it was released on March 25, 1997 and I wasn’t one of the first to get it, but I did get it that year. The CD was no longer in my collection for some reason, and when I was out digging, I found it and saw the name of the song “Sign of the Times” and thought, I liked that song, let me get this as it was only about $3m. Man, did I over pay for this thing. Also, now I remember why it was no longer in my collection. This was my jumping off point for Queensryche and honestly, never have revisited anything that has come after. They completely lost me with this one.

Continue reading “You Picked It! – Queensryche – ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ (1997) – Album Review” →

My Sunday Song – “Sweet Euphoria” by Chris Cornell

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For My Sunday Song #337, we are going to explore the song “Sweet Euphoria” by Chris Cornell. The song was off his debut solo album ‘Euphoria Morning’ from 1999 and wasn’t a single but probably should’ve been as it is one of my favorites from that album. The album did really well going to #18 on the Billboard 200 list.

The song was written by Chris Cornell and the meaning can be different to every listener but to me it is about his struggles with depression or even bipolar disorder. Apparently, euphoria is a symptom of bipolar disorder in a roundabout way. You have the depression side, but there is also the mania side that can make you be full of energy, full of great ideas that might seem like it euphoria. That up and down feeling can be exhausting and so hard to handle and he battled with it and hid it well most of the time. The song feels like his confession and an opening up of his problems.

Musically, it is just Chris with his voice, armed with his lyrics and an acoustic guitar. The song feels like pain, like sorrow, like sadness and at the end when he screams “save my love’ it almost devastatingly heartbreaking. There is nothing else to it and yet, it is more than enough to convey his feelings and for something so sad, it is also so hauntingly beautiful. This might be the most powerful song he’s ever written.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Sweet Euphoria” by Chris Cornell” →

Friday New Releases – February 10, 2023

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The weeks keep coming and they seem to keep getting faster because I feel like I just did one of these, but that has been a whole 7 days ago. And we now have around 30 more fore you this week. There are a few I want to hear, but only one that I am actually going to get (right now). That one is Wig Wam as I have been a fan of theirs for years now and was so glad they got back together. A couple others worth noting are the new Paramore album and of course, another great Rolling Stones live album. All is good. Let me know what you want to hear this week and what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • 81ZRWq3wlaL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Wig Wam – Out of the Dark – (Frontiers Records)
  • 71HsPgbe5rL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Paramore – This is Why – (Atlantic Records)
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – February 10, 2023” →

Scorpions – ‘Acoustica’ (2001) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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The Scorpions were in a mood to keep doing things their own way and after doing an album and touring the classically orchestrated Scorpions rock, they decided to strip it all back and do some shows acoustically. The band performed 3 shows at the Convento do Beato in Lisbon, Portugal in February 2001 and those shows were recorded. From those 3 shows, the album called “Acoustica” was made. The album was released a few months later on May 14, 2001.

The show was a little unusual for the band as it was just the normal guys. Yes, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Mathias Jabs, Ralph Rieckermann and James Kottak performed, but they weren’t alone. The actually had three guitarists and the third was Johan Daansen which really fills the songs up with that acoustic guitar sound. On keyboards was Christian Kolonovitis who also helped the band arrange the songs for the acoustic set. Christian was also the one who was the conductor and arranged the Scorpions songs for the Moment of Glory Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra album the prior year. James might have been on drums, but they also had a percussionist by the name of Mario Argandona. And to fill up the stage even more, there was a cellist, Ariana Acu and a group of female vocalists to help with backing vocals. They were Hille Bemelmanns, Liv Van Aelst and Kristel Van Craen. They really went all out to bring a different experience and I would say it worked pretty well.

The band also were great in giving us a few things extra on this release. We got the biggest hits, no doubt, but that wasn’t all. We actually were treated to 3 brand new songs (four if you got the DVD). And on top of that, we got a handful of great covers from The Cars, Kansas and Queen. With all that, it made this a very worthwhile purchase to get all the songs we hadn’t heard before. But was it all worth it? Let’s see.

The set opens with “The Zoo” and it has this cool groove which is almost like ‘Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles. Then we get the ballad “Always Somewhere” and the crowd claps along and at times sings along, there are female backing vocals and Klaus sounds stellar. Ballads usually work well in the acoustic setting and this one is no different. After this one we get the first of three new songs. First one up is “Life is Too Short” and this one brings some string orchestration. It is another ballad but it really shows the maturity of the band. I would really love to hear a studio version as this is really a great song. The chorus is really catchy which helps draw you in and as the song builds it just keeps getting better.

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The Original vs. The Cover – “Hey Operator”

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For the month’s The Original vs. The Cover, we have a Canadian Battle Royale!! We are going to look at the song “Hey Operator” which was originally recorded by Toronto’s own Coney Hatch and they are battling it out with Montreal’s own Aldo Nova. The song was written by Coney Hatch’s lead singer Carl Dixon and was on their 1982 debut self-titled album. It was released as a single and went to #19 on the Canadian charts. No real success in the U.S. though. Aldo Nova released the song in 1983 on his second album ‘Subject’. It was never released as a single, but for me was one of my favorite songs on his album. I had never heard of Coney Hatch back then, but I was a massive Aldo fan.

“Hey Operator” is a simple song about a guy wanting to call his girl long distance…or maybe it is just phone sex, who knows. There doesn’t seem to be any deep seeded meaning behind it, but that doesn’t make a great song no matter who sings it. As both versions are worth a listen. But let’s’s walk through both and see who has the best version.

CONEY HATCH

The Coney Hatch is more of a guitar and piano version and is a straight up rock track. Very radio friendly with a catchy chorus and I like how the piano gets louder during the chorus with some great riffing by Steve Shelski. His solo is also great, if not short and sweet. The rhythm section of Andy Curran and Dave Ketchum is the driving force behind the song though. But for me the real highlight is Carl’s vocals as they are quite fantastic. I love his tone and he just has a great rock & roll voice. How did these guys never make it in the U.S. is unknown as this is great, a kind of Foreigner vibe to it.

Continue reading “The Original vs. The Cover – “Hey Operator”” →

W.E.T. – ‘W.E.T.’ (2009) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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After Jeff Scott Soto was let go from Journey, Serafino Perugino of Frontiers Records really wanted Jeff to record an album a pure hard/melodic rock album that is the same vein of Journey. Jeff had different ideas. Jeff had been working on his solo album ‘Beautiful Mess’ which was a far cry from that type of music. However, Jeff agreed but on one condition. That condition was that ‘Beautiful Mess’ was released first…and it was.

Serafino also had the idea of doing a supergroup with Jeff in it. When he heard the first handful of songs, Jeff was really in to it and signed up. It also helped who else was in the band. The original name of the band was called Lost in the Shadows and I don’t think anyone liked that name at all. They come up with the name W.E.T. and that was because who was in the band. That included Robert Sall of the band Work of Art (The “W”); Erik Martensson of the band Eclipses (The “E”) and Jeff Scott Soto of the band Talisman (The “T”). All three bands are Swedish bands and all on Frontiers so it made it easy to bring these three guys together.

The songs were written by a number of writers, but Erik and Robert wrote a majority of the songs and Jeff wrote the lyrics. Magnus Henriksson was also involved with writing along with Johan Becker and Miqeal Persson. On instruments, of course Erik and Robert played, Jeff sang, but there were others. Magnus Henriksson from the band Eclipse played most of the lead guitars and Robben Black, also of Eclipse, played the drums and was actually the fourth member of the band and since he was in Eclipse, technically he is part of the “E” as well. This rag tag group of musicians actually pulled it off and brought one of the best Supergroups Frontiers has put together (and they have put together a lot and most are forgettable).

The band was only going to be a one-off project and were not going to tour. however, the fans wanted more. When Warrant pulled out of the the 2011 Firefest, they asked if W.E.T. would fill in. After a lot of phone calls and changed schedules they made it happen. The next thing you know, they agreed to do another album and the band played on. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, so let’s dive in to the debut album called ‘W.E.T.’ (simple enough). The album came out on November 29, 2009 in Europe and the U.S. got it some time in 2010. The reception of the album was fantastic and it helped solidify me as a massive Soto fan. In fact, when I met Jeff back in April 2022, I brought 5 CD covers of my favorite Soto albums and this was one of them. As you can see above in the header photo, Jeff signed this CD for me. I think I now have about 7 of the albums signed by him.

Continue reading “W.E.T. – ‘W.E.T.’ (2009) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)” →