Month: March 2023

You Pick It! – Which Album to Review for April?

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic41 Comments

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.

The choices are simple, I pick 5 albums and lately I’ve been going on a loose theme. This time the theme isn’t loose, it is pretty straight-forward. We are going with 5 albums I have in my collection that are Rock Candy Re-Issues. What are the 5 albums you ask?  I have them right here…

   Diving for Pearls – ‘Diving for Pearls’ (1989)

   Blue Murder – ‘Blue Murder’ (1989)

   Saigon Kick – ‘Saigon Kick’ (1991)

   RTZ – ‘Return to Zero’ (1991)

   The Scream – ‘Let It Scream’ (1991)

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in April, 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 – March 17, 2023

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic22 Comments

Welcome to Friday!!! The beginning of the weekend is hear, but before you start your weekend, you need to go through the new release and find some new music. For me, I wen through the list and there is nothing I dying to hear, but a few I might try. We do get a brand new U2 album..sort of…re-recorded songs isn’t something I’m thrilled about. What do you think? Let me know what you want to hear this week or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • A1ZweGQemIL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  U2 – Songs of Surrender – (Island Records / Universal Music)
  • 81DSr1bU7qL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Theory of a Deadman – Dinosaur – (Roadrunner Records)
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – March 17, 2023” →

Scorpions – ‘Comeblack’ (2011) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic21 Comments

Following their Farewell tour for the ‘Sting of the Tail’ album, the band decided to release one more album as sort of a comeback, but not. In all the reviews I read on this one, all the reviewers listed as the band’s final album. So, how can it be a comeback if it is the final. That might lie in the name of the album because it is called ‘Comeblack”. So a comeback album but the end at the same time…I don’t know. I’m confused. The band wasn’t confused. The excitement they felt after that tour and all the screaming fans, the success of ‘Sting of the Tail’, all led to the band wanting to do one more and do it for the fans. But as a fan, I don’t remember asking for this.

That wasn’t the only confusing thing about this album. It is sort of a compilation album with 7 songs that are Scorpions classics, but re-recorded and the final 5 songs are cover tunes. No new material here at all. The band wanted to re-record some classics giving them a modern sound with the new production capabilities and they did just that. The cover song choices are a celebration of some of their favorite songs/artists from the 60’s and I will say, they all have that Scorpions sound. But let’s be honest, this is a complete and utter waste of time and energy.

The album was released on November 4, 2011 and in the U.S on January 24, 2012 where the album only sold 5,000 physical copies in its first week and reached #90 on the Billboard 200 chart. Not very impressive. Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Mathias Jabs, James Kottak and Pawel Maciwoda all returned for this mess…or was it really that bad. I know the album cover was pretty decent which is not something that is normally the case. My copy is a gatefold, 2LP version and the packaging looks fantastic, but it is what is on the inside that matters

LP 1:

Continue reading “Scorpions – ‘Comeblack’ (2011) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)” →

W.E.T. – ‘One Live – In Stockholm’ (2014) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic31 Comments

The band W.E.T. consisting of Robert Sall (Work of Art), Erik Martensson (Eclipse) and Jeff Scott Soto (Talisman) was originally going to be a one off project. However, the success of their debut and the fun had by the three main guys has turned in to a band. With two albums under their belt, the band hit the road and for only their second show ever as a band, it was captured in video and released as both a Live Double CD and a beautifully filmed DVD. What we get is ‘One Live – In Stockholm’!!

Recorded on January 17, 2013 at a really small club in Stockholm, Sweden called the Debaser Club and the reason behind the small venue is interesting. The guys only were expecting less than 100 people and so they figured a smaller venue would still look full on camera. What they got was hundreds of people and they had to delay the show by an hour to make sure everyone got in that wanted to (and hopefully legally could for fire codes and all). The band’s second album, ‘Rise Up’, hadn’t been released yet, but it was about too so the band had 2 full albums of material to now draw from plus they few in several surprises along the way. And to top it off, the CD version of the show has two bonus tracks of previously unreleased songs from the last album. Now, there is absolutely no reason a fan of this band wouldn’t want it. A live show on 2 CDs, two bonus studio tracks and a DVD of the show…DAMN!! What is not to like about this release.

Continue reading “W.E.T. – ‘One Live – In Stockholm’ (2014) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)” →

You Picked It! – The Poodles – ‘Metal Will Stand Tall’ – Album Review

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic19 Comments

Alright…You Picked It! This one was never really close. A couple made some last minute moves to catch the leader, but there was no catching this dog as it ended up not even close. The winner this month was The Poodles’ ‘Metal Will Stand Tall’.

  1. The Poodles – ‘Metal Will Stand Tall – 7 votes
  2. Gotthard – ‘Lipservice’ – 3 votes
  3. Jorn – ‘Worldchanger’ – 2 votes
  4. Passion – ‘Passion’ – 2 votes
  5. Reach – ‘The Promise of Life – 1 vote

Thanks to all for participating. The April choices will be up on Saturday! And the choices are all from my collection and the next one will all be focused all on Rock Candy Re-issues. Hopefully you can help me decide which one I should review. And to note, it will be the very last You Pick It! we do hear as there isn’t enough participation to make this worth doing anymore, I’m just going to start pulling from my collection and reviewing on my own going forward. Thanks all for playing along.

THE POODLES – ‘METAL WILL STAND TALL’ (2006):

The Poodles are a Swedish glam/metal band and how I came across them is thanks to two things. First was Melodicrock.com as Andrew McNeice talked about them a lot. The second was the fact that The Poodles had a strong connection to Jeff Scott Soto. Both the lead singer, Jakob Samuel and guitarists Pontus Norgren were in Jeff Scott Soto’s band Talisman. The funny thing is that Jakob was a drummer back then, now he is front and center as a lead singer. Now, what I find interesting is how the Poodles came to being. Jakob was asked to sing the song “Night of Passion” for the Swedish music contest Melodifestivalen in 2006. The winner of this contest goes on to compete in the major contest called Eurovision. Well, Jakob compiled a band together including Pontus Nogren as well as Pontus Egberg on bass and Christian Lundqvist on drums. The band didn’t win, but they did come in fourth which is pretty darn respectable. From there, they went and did an album and here we are.

When you hear The Poodles, you are immediately transferred back to a time when the Glam and Melodic rock scene was at its peak around the world with acts like Bon Jovi and that ilk…well in Sweden that genre never has seemed to die out as they are putting out some great bands with The Poodles leading the charge. The opening track, “Echoes From The Past” comes roaring out of the gate with its pounding drums and gritty guitar riffs. Jakob’s vocals have a grit to them and yet sound so silky smooth and his vocals can soar to the heaven’s. It is full of hooks and harmonies and everything you want in a great rock song.

Continue reading “You Picked It! – The Poodles – ‘Metal Will Stand Tall’ – Album Review” →

My Sunday Song – “Modern World” by Aldo Nova

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic9 Comments

For My Sunday Song #351, we are starting a 10 song set of songs by Aldo Nova. You know him from the early 80’s with his massive hit “Fantasy”. But he is way more than that song and we will walk through a bunch for you over the next 10 weeks (including “Fantasy” because why not). First up is the song “Modern World” off his 1991 album ‘Blood on the Bricks’. The song was written by Aldo and his pal Jon Bon Jovi. You might not know that Aldo worked with Jon on a bunch of demos back way before there was a Bon Jovi and was John Bongiovi. But that is another story for another day.

The song is a dark commentary on the world that was the late 80’s and early 90’s. The sleaze, the drugs, the crime were all up and the world seemed to be a dark place and they lyrics captured it beautifully. He even takes a big dig at Donald Trump for his womanizing and awful business tactics long before he was President. Marion Barry, mayor of Washington D.C. also wasn’t safe from his wrath as he bashed him for his drug addictions. No one was safe in this song. It is a really dark take on the world and we are happier for it as we got this song.

Musically, the song is as dark as the lyrics. The song opens with a nasty, dirty guitar riff and an angry sadistic sounding drum beat. Aldo sings it with a lot of attitude and anger to match the despair in the music. But like any song Jon is involved in, it has the hooks to draw you in as that chorus filled with harmonies and great background singers adding more effect to the song. It is a solid rocker and shows that Aldo was more than keyboards and that sometimes the guitar riff was king.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Modern World” by Aldo Nova” →

Friday New Releases – March 10, 2023

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic11 Comments

Happy Friday and welcome to another Friday New Release post. Not a ton for you, we do have over 30, but not as many as in weeks past. I have one I will try and that is Miley Cyrus. Her last album was really great and even had a Billy Idol duet. Hoping for some great stuff on this one as well. There might be more, but for now those are it for me. Let me know what you want to here first this week and what we have omitted from the list so everyone knows what is out there. Thanks for stopping by and hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

  • 31iDAcJi6VL._UX716_FMwebp_QL85_  Miley Cyrus – Endless Summer Vacation – (Smiley Miley / Columbia Records / Sony Music)

And then all the rest…

  • A1dl8j2ElKL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Story of the Year – Tear Me To Pieces – (Sharptone)
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – March 10, 2023” →

Scorpions – ‘Sting in the Tail’ (2010) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic20 Comments

‘Sting in the Tail’ is Scorpions 17th Studio album. Dang! Not many artist can say they’ve done that many albums. The band was still the usual crew of late with Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Mathis Jabs, James Kottak and Pawel Maciwoda. They had some new producers this time around with Mikael Nord Andersson and Martin Hansen. They hit the studio in May 2009 and wrapped things up in December 2009. They started with 18 songs and narrowed it down the 12 you see here. Out of the original 18, 5 were actually from their ‘Unbreakable’ Session from a couple albums earlier. Since last album was a concept album, they didn’t fit on that one, but they re-worked them and they ended up on this one. The rest were written strictly for this album. And no covers!!

The album was finally released on March 14, 2010 and it landed at #23 in the U.S. and #2 in their home country of Germany. It saw the band go back to their 80’s sound, but with a modern twist on it so it sounds fresh and not dated. I would say they succeeded with that. At this point, this was suppose to be their last album as they announced their retirement and were doing a farewell tour, I guess you could say. Well, we all know how that turned out as they are still going strong today in 2023.

The biggest problem with this album is that there is too much ROCK! No, No!! Not the music…but the word “ROCK”. That word is in four different song titles on the album. 1/3 of the album. That is a little nuts. To make matters worse, if you look at the back cover, the letters in red spell out “It Rocks”. We get it, we get it…Scorpions rock so you have to use the word rock so people know you are rock & roll…rock, rock, rock…ugh!! Outside of that, there isn’t anything wrong with this record…well, not much anyway. So, let us get to it, shall we.

Continue reading “Scorpions – ‘Sting in the Tail’ (2010) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)” →

Kiss – ‘Creatures of the Night: 40th Anniversary 3-LP Deluxe Edition (Color Vinyl)’ – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic22 Comments

As I said a few weeks back when I reviewed the 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Box Set, 1982 was a pivotal year for Kiss. After the disaster of their last album, ‘Music from the Elder’, Kiss were in a do or die situation. They needed to get back to their hard rock roots and show the world that Kiss was still Kiss. Producer Michael James Jackson was brought in to produce the album and Kiss new they needed to rock. Heck, Eric Carr was telling them that all the time…and he was right. To celebrate this pivotal album, Kiss delivered the 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Box Set, but that set was only CDs (and a lot of goodies). They also released a 3-LP Deluxe Edition Vinyl set to commemorate the album as well. And that is what we will review this time around.

The 3-LP set has the original album remastered, a set of Demos, Rarities and Outtakes and the 3rd LP is a live set with songs taken from various shows. It doesn’t have any where near as much as the box set, but if you have the Super Deluxe, you don’t need that stuff again. This set does have a 20 page booklet as well.

The album is packaged in a tri-fold album jacket with some stunning pictures included. The first two spaces have a large group photo, then on the 3rd tri-fold, you get individual shots of the members on both the front and pack of that section. Although the cover has Ace, these pictures all include Vinnie, who is actually on the album…not all songs, but most.

Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Creatures of the Night: 40th Anniversary 3-LP Deluxe Edition (Color Vinyl)’ – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)” →

Jeff Scott Soto – ‘LA Rocks Demo / Vinnie Vincent Demo 1988’ Bootleg (2008) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic37 Comments

I was scouring eBay for a few of the remaining Soto albums I don’t have, and sadly, none were for sale at the time. However, I cam across something I had never seen before. It was a bootleg of Jeff Scott Soto demos. And to top it off, it was actually signed by Jeff Scott Soto. The person I bought it from lives in Germany and his name was Stefan. It turns out, Stefan is the lead singer of the band Speed Limit (check them out, they are pretty cool) and he had opened for Soto on a tour and actually met Jeff and got him to sign the CD. I thought all that was pretty cool and I love having a story behind my purchase.

LA ROCKS DEMOS:

So, what is this CD? It is a bootleg, mostly of demos from Jeff’s early years with LA Rocks and with Vinnie Vincent. We never got any albums out of those two projects, but at least we have some demos. The first set of songs say they are from his band LA Rocks. Back in 1986, Aldy Damian approached Jeff about joining the band. Jeff was busy with his own band called L’amour at the time and so he wasn’t really interested in joining LA Rocks. However, he did agree to do a couple demos for them and they paid him, so how could he say no. After Jeff, turned it down, they went after James Christian and he agreed. James became known for his other band House of Lords later.

The project didn’t end up going anywhere and the band later on became known as something you are more familiar with as we have discussed them in this series and that is the band Eyes of which Jeff sang on a couple of their albums. It all comes around full circle in the end. These set of songs here under the LA Rock Demos section, are a mixture of LA Rocks and Eyes demos and some aren’t even either band. The tracks “Hands of Time” and “Heart of the Fire” were demos for songs used on the movie ‘Rich Girl’. The songs “For You”, “Till the End of Time” and “Nobody Said it was Easy” are all demos for the band Eyes. And the song “Hold On”, not really sure where that is from but maybe it is from LA Rocks.

Continue reading “Jeff Scott Soto – ‘LA Rocks Demo / Vinnie Vincent Demo 1988’ Bootleg (2008) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)” →