Month: March 2024

Def Leppard – ‘Historia’ (1988/2001) – Video Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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In 1988, Def Leppard was flying high. They were at the top of their game, MTV was blasting all their videos all day long. Now was a perfect time to compile all their music videos together in one place and sell it to the buying hungry public on VHS. The video was called ‘Historia’ and it was released on July 5, 1988 and went on to sell over 200,000 copies in the U.S. alone making it a double platinum release. Back in the day, I bought this up on VHS the day it came out. Ran home, popped it in and sat back and enjoyed all the videos of the band from the ‘On Through the Night’ album up to ‘Hysteria’. It was 17 videos of pure Leppard magic. Oops, it was 18 videos actually on the VHS tape because “Love Bites” was added as a bonus and not listed.

Then in 2001, in the DVD era, Def Leppard released ‘Historia’ again except this time as a 2 video set and released with ‘In the Round, In Your Face’ live concert. And if that wasn’t enough, they updated with 5 more videos from the album ‘Slang’ and ‘Euphoria’. And of course, I went and bought this as well. The bad news is, I don’t have the VHS tape anymore as I didn’t think I’d need it anymore which I don’t, but would still be cool to have in the collection though.

The video kicks off with the some old timey style silent film like music and a some openings notes about the videos. Then it goes in to the only video from ‘On Through the Night’ with the video for “Hello America”. It was full of special video effects and why was the drum set out front??? Man, they all looked so young. Really great to see this early promotional video from Top of the Pops. Then we get three more promotional videos all from ‘High & Dry’. We get “Let It Go”, “High & Dry” and “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak (Version 1 with Pete Willis)”. All three were shot on the same day and done with live performances. I remember when I first saw these videos I thought they were the coolest as they looked so cool up there on the stage rocking out. And we get the first glimpse of the Union Jack shorts Rick Allen would help make famous.

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Van Halen – ‘Zero Demos’ (Bootleg – 1976/2022) – Album Review

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Whenever I got to Repo Records, especially on Record Store Day, I tend to find Bootlegs while waiting in line. I think he does it on purpose knowing I’m a sucker for those things (not true as he doesn’t know me from Adam). The last few trips have been very successful and this last trip was no exception. This time I found another Van Halen Bootleg and this one was called ‘Zero Demos’ and it is a collection of the demos produced by Gene Simmons way back in 1976. I have always wanted to hear and have those demos and now I do.

You probably have already heard the story of Gene Simmons involvement in Van Halen so I won’t go in to too much detail. Gene saw them play and fell in love with them. He took them under his demonic wing and took the band in to the studio and they recorded a 10 song demo tape that Gene shopped around to try and get them a deal. He was unable to and his demands with Kiss were huge, so he ripped up the contract and let them find their own way which they did and the rest is history. During this time, Gene had Eddie and Alex help with some demos for Kiss including “Got Love for Sale”, “Christine Sixteen” and “Tunnel of Love” which were long in demand and I have copies thanks to Gene Simmons’ The Vault!!

This bootleg is fairly new as it came out in 2022 from Yellow Dog Records. I like how the front cover is a reproduction of the debut album cover with the ‘Zero Demos’ at the top. The back has a bunch of live shots of the band. And with a lot of bootlegs, there are mistakes and the only one I really see is the “House of Pain” demo is listed as “House In Pain”…close enough I guess. The vinyl is a red/yellow splatter and looks beautiful. The label is easy with the word Zero and Side A or B. Can’t much simpler than that without just putting a blank label on it. What do I have to say about the music? Well, we will see in a minute, but the sound is fantastic for demos from 1976 that have probably been transferred from tape to tape to tape over the years. 

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The Collection: Episode 3 – Ace Frehley

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With Ace Frehley’s new album 10,000 Volts now out, I thought a perfect time to go through my entire Ace Frehley collection (excluding Kiss of course). We will go through the vinyl, the CDs, the Cassettes and the 7″ Singles.

At the end, I will give you my thoughts on the new album. Is it as good as everyone is saying? Is it as good as the ’78 Kiss solo album? You will have to watch it to find out. The show is live now, click below and give it a whirl. And don’t forget to click “Like” and “Subscribe”. While you are at it, drop us a comment as well.

Thanks for watching!!

Here is all the vinyl…

Bon Jovi – ‘This Left Feels right Live’ (2004) – DVD Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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In 2003, Bon Jovi was going to do a little acoustic side project, but that turned in to ‘This Left Feels Right’ which was released on November 4,2003. To commemorate that album, they did two shows in Atlantic City, New Jersey on November 14 and 15, 2003. The DVD, ‘This Left Feels Right Live’ was the result of those two shows. The DVD was released on February 9, 2004. Now, if you read my review of the CD, you will see I wasn’t very fond of that, but this is a little of a different animal. This is live. Live shows, I don’t mind when a band changes a song up as it is fun to see their different interpretations of their own songs. That for me is the perfect time for re-imagined songs. Not a full studio album of them.

The small crowd in attendance was ready for anything Bon Jovi and the women were ready for anything from Jon Bon Jovi as they were screaming a lot. The show was also broadcast on the web as they were filming so some people saw the show before the DVD release. I was not one of them. You knew this was going to be different from the first song as it was “Love for Sale” from ‘New Jersey’ and I loved hearing that one live. What a great way to start things off. Then they go in to the classic, “You Give Love a Bad Name” and I will admit I did not like this one much as Jon kept saying “Bad” over and over in a stupid way that annoyed me.

With “Wanted Dead or Alive”, Jon changed his mic for a radio voice type vocal and the band rocked out a little on it and I actually enjoyed this one enough. With “Livin’ on a Prayer”, they went all acoustic and it was perfectly fine in this new version. Not much different then a regular acoustic version of the song. Richie’s backing vocals are what helps make this song great and he did not disappoint at all here. Speaking of acoustic, they turn “It’s My Life” in to an acoustic masterpiece. They turned the rock anthem on its ear and slowed it down and gave it a whole new feel that really made the song shine in a different light even though it took a dark turn. 

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My Sunday Song – “To Hell And Back” by Sabaton

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For My Sunday Song #402, Harrison’s next pick is from the power metal band Sabaton. The song is “To Hell And Back” off their 2014 album ‘Heroes’. The song was the first single off the album and has become one of the band’s most popular songs. It was written by lead singer Joakim Broden and bassist Par Sundstrom. The band thought he was nuts to do this song, so Joakim took and used it as inspiration to make this song great. Joakim has stated he is most proud of this song.

“To Hell and Back is about Audie Murphy who was the most decorated soldier in the U.S. from World War II. The song is about his battle with PTSD after the war and inspired by his own poem called “The Crosses Grow on Anzio” from Audie’s book ‘To Hell And Back’. Some of the lyrics even quote the poem. It is a great story about his struggles after witnessing all his friends and fellow soldiers that were killed during battle.

The song is done as a cross between heavy metal meets spaghetti western a la Ennio Morricone style per Joakim. The song has a folksy feel to it and has a lot of keyboards that sort of sound like flutes. It breathes a fresh life in to the song. Joakim’s vocals are great, no screaming, but at times very chant like. There is a great guitar solo included albeit a little too short. The song is catchy and there is a familiarity to it that will get you singing along after just one listen. I have never listened to Sabaton and was surprised by how much I enjoyed this song.

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Friday New Releases – March 1, 2024

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It is March! How can it already be March? I feel like I don’t remember what happened in January and February. I know there wasn’t a ton of music I was interested in and this month doesn’t start out much better for me. I’ll check out Bruce Dickinson, I guess, and that is probably it for me. What do you see in this list that you want to hear? Let me know and let us know if we missed a release as we can’t catch them all. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend.

  • Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project – (Duellist Holdings / BMG Rights Mgmt)
  •  The Who – Live at Shea Stadium 1982 – (Mercury Studios)
  •   Ministry – Hopiumforthemasses – (Nucleaer Blast)
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