As we end another month, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is July 2024 and we have vinyl, CDs, Cassettes and even some 7″ Singles I forgot to pull out last month. So much to go through including not one…not two…but three Noble Record Exclusives. And to top that off we have another addition to the Rock Candy and the Kiss collection. And my buddy Deke from The Distortion Den sent me a few CDs as well. So much to show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!
So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, July 29, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
We are now on the 13th Studio album by Bon Jovi and the first without Richie Sambora. And this one has an interesting story behind it. Bon Jovi was at the end of his contract with Mercury and had been with them for 32 years. They could not come to agreement and this was the end of his relationship with the label. This album, ‘Burning Bridges’, is the final album to fulfill his contract with the label. And to say Jon was a little pissed is an understatement. He didn’t sit down to write a whole album because he was so pissed (as you will hear on the title track) and only wanted to end this deal and move on. I believe the label kept the rights to the masters and that didn’t sit well.
He grabbed a bunch of unfinished songs and actually finished them. He did write a few new songs, but most were leftover songs that needed to be finished. As a result, of the turmoil between Jon and the label, neither cared about the album. Heck, the label put cheap packaging on it (my copy is a cardboard sleeve and no liner notes) and didn’t even really promote it. And I will tell you that is a complete shame as this is the first album in years that I actually felt was a good Bon Jovi album.
The last three albums were so boring, but this one felt fresh to me and interesting. The reason I think this is better is because Jon didn’t sit down to write a full album and follow his paint-by number formula he had been using for years now. He grabbed from his archives left over tracks that created more variety and surprisingly the whole package struck a chord with me and I truly love this album.
Here is the funny thing to me. He left Mercury, which is owned Universal Music Group, and was signed by Island Records, which is owned by Universal Music Group. Hmmm….did he technically change labels then. It all seems for nothing to me. Anyway, on August 21, 2015, Bon Jovi released ‘Burning Bridges’ and it did go to #13 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and after a whole year of release, it had only sold 67,000 copies in the U.S. Is this the worst performing album in their catalog? Quite possibly. All I will say is that people are missing out!! Let’s get to it.
Kiss is notorious for releasing Greatest Hits compilations and it is both the band and the label responsible for that travesty. Don’t get me wrong, they have a ton of great songs so a few greatest hits compilations are probably necessary. However, this is not one of them even though this one is a little different. On June 14, 2004, the label allowed a second volume in the 20th Century Masters’ Millennium Collection. They released ‘The Best of Kiss: Volume 2 – The Millennium Collection’ and what makes it a little different is that it is only compilation from Kiss that focuses solely on their material from the 1980’s. Well, most of the 80’s as it goes from 1982-1989. It does skip the ‘Unmasked’ (1980) and ‘The Elder’ (1981) albums which Volume 1 doesn’t cover either. So a big miss.
But like Volumes 1 & 3, it is only 12 songs and all are previously released so nothing new here. No remixes, single edits, just album cuts which is easier and cheaper. The look is exactly like the other comps in this set so at least they are consistent. My poor case is cracked, the CD is scratched up and is a bit of a mess, but it was free!! Noble Records threw it in when I bought some other Kiss material at the store. Such a great store!!
“Creatures of the Night” was written by Paul Stanley and Adam Mitchell and had Steve Farris on lead guitar. Steve would go on to play for the band Mr. Mister. Also on the album was Adam with additional guitars and Mike Porcaro on bass as Gene wasn’t available or something. The song starts off explosive with Eric’s drums and then some wicked, heavy guitar riffs. Paul sings with a swagger that he has not had in years. He sounds confident and serious and this is a much heavier and more determined Kiss.
“I Love it Loud” is up next and MTV played it a lot. Every time it came on it was event TV for me. I actually remember having our little black & white TV in the dining room on at dinner one night because I knew the song was coming on. When it did, I stopped eating to watch and made everyone else watch it too. Ace was in the video and I thought Kiss was chugging along just fine. Plus, I loved seeing the Giant Tank stage and Eric was slamming away on those drums. The song was written by Gene Simmons and Vinnie Vincent and it was our first glimpse in to Vinnie as a song writer and it was awesome. This was such a heavy metal track and it was the Demon rejuvenated. A massive anthem despite the simple, somewhat stupid lyrics. I love the fade out at the end to then come back again for a few more pointless seconds. Not sure the need, but as a kid, I thought it was cool.
We are to the end of July and some really hot releases this week. We have the brand new release from Ghost as well as some great Deluxe Anniversary Edition of albums from The Police and Talking Heads. I have Ghost and The Police on order and I’ll stream the Talking Head release for now. Let me know what you want to hear this week and what we may have missed. As always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful and exciting weekend.
Ghost – Rite Here Rite Now (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – (Loma Vista Recordings / Concord)
I am sure you have a few questions… Like, who are the Cybernauts? The Cybernauts are a Mick Ronson/David Bowie tribute band and they play all the hits they had together. David might have wrote the songs, but Mick was the guitarist and what a player he was and what life he gave those songs. And, why is this part of the Def Leppard series? Well, that is because two members of this cover band are none other then singer Joe Elliott and guitarists Phil Collen from Def Leppard. The rest of the Cybernauts are Trevor Bolder (bass) and Woody Woodmansey (drums) both from David Bowie’s band Spiders from Mars. Also, to round it out on keyboard is Dick Decent.
Trevor and Joe meet way back in 1983 and had been friends ever since. When Trevor was asked to put together a band for a Mick Ronson memorial service, he found out Joe and Phil were asked to play as well so they teamed up for the event and performed. A few years later they were asked to do it again, but this time they decided to actually do a small tour with the band and finish it at the Mick Ronson memorial show. Joe had the idea of recording the Dublin show and they did. That was August 7, 1997 in Dublin, Ireland at the Olympia Theatre. And three years later in 2000, the CD was released and only released in Japan.
My copy though was released in 2001 and was a 2 CD set with the original show, plus a 2nd CD of studio recordings. The E.P. was called The Further Adventures of the Cybernauts…which we will discuss later. For now, we will focus on disc 1, the live show they recorded which consisted of 18 tracks that will take you back to those critical years of David Bowie and Mick Ronson and you are reminded of what an amazing catalog the two had together.
The collector in me got the best of me. I bought a box off eBay that was full of 8-Tracks. Of course, why wouldn’t I. I don’t have an 8-Track Player so why not buy a bunch of tapes to never listen to them. Makes total sense. Well, this box had some Kiss, Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin and a ton more classic rock 70’s bands…and some not classic rock. So, this special episode is going through 40 8-Tracks…Don’t worry, I make it fairly quick.
So go check it out as it is live now on July 24, 2024 at Noon…because why not!! Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
This week my buddy Deke and I are on a our 3rd show in the series called “In Depth” and each episode we will pick an album and dive a little deeper in to it. We decided we would do a mini-Queensryche series and go from their E.P. up to ‘Promised Land’. We are now up to their 2nd Full Length album and 3rd release with 1986’s ‘Rage For Order. So, if you like a little Queensryche then come check it out as you get some fun facts and our thoughts on the sound, the songs and the band. Maybe even talk about Vampires and Perms.
Deke is from the Distortion Den and from the blog world as well. Go Check him out at the links below…
So go check it out as it is live now on July 22, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
Last week, we talked about the first of 2 Live E.P Picture Discs that were released on Record Store Day. This week, we discuss ‘Live 2’ which was released on Record Store Day 2014. It states it is a limited edition, but we have no idea how many there are out there and they aren’t hard to get as the internet has a bunch for sale if you search it up. So, it probably isn’t that limited. Still, it is another cool 10″ E.P. from the band even if the songs have all been previously released.
This time around all the songs are from the New Jersery World Tour recorded either in 1988 or 1989 and broken down in to a U.S. Side of recorded songs or an International Side of recorded songs. Now, there are only 4 songs so not a ton and they have all been released previously so you might have some of them already and you don’t know it.
The U.S. Side kicks off with “I’ll Be There For You” which was recorded in Lakeland, FL, 1989. It was previously available on 2 CD set of ‘Keep the Faith’ which featured a bonus CD also called Bon Jovi Live. It isn’t a bad version, they do seem to have slowed things down a little live, but the key is how amazing Richie Sambora’s playing is on this one. Such emotion in those notes, it is really cool.
Back on August 5, 2003, Kiss released, okay, the record company released a greatest hits compilation called The Millennium Collection: The Best of Kiss(1973-1979). It was the first of three volume set which we will get to the other two soon enough. In a move only a record label would do, the label issued the ‘Icon’ Series with two volumes. The first volume is the exact same track list as ‘The Millennium Collection: The Best of Kiss (1973-1979)’ and was released in 2010.
In a cash grab kind of move, they changed NOTHING!! The Icon version is the exact same except for crappier cover art and no inserts/liner notes. A very bare bones set. I do not really recommend any of these sets as they weren’t done by Kiss per se. But us collectors buy it all. And as a collector of Kiss albums, I do have it. So for now, let us go through this set and talk about the songs since we are here as there is nothing else good to say about this…wait, have I said anything good yet???
The album kicks off with the first song of their debut, “Strutter”. The song was written by both Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons and over the years, this would be a rare experience as they would wind up writing songs by themselves. The music of the song was based off an old Gene song called “Stanley the Parrot” which was recorded even before there was a Wicked Lester. The song has a great opening drum fill by Peter and is an uptempo rock song that was inspired by all the sexy women in New York. There is a great bass riff by Gene why Ace belts out the solo. Paul sings the song and shows all the confidence a lead singer should show.
Does it get hotter every day now? Man, this heat is unbearable. Hopefully Fall will get here soon enough. In the meantime, here are some hot New Releases for you this week. I’ll definitely give the new Deep Purple a listen and maybe Highly Suspect, but outside of that, probably nothing else. I hope there is something for you this week. Let me know what you want to hear or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend.
Deep Purple – =1 – (earMusic / Edel Music & Entertainment)
Highly Suspect – As Above, So Below – (Roadrunner Records)
Glass Animals – I Love You So F***ing Much – (Polydor Records / Universal Music)
Ghost – Rite Here Rite Now (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – (Loma Vista Recordings / Concord)
The Police – Synchronicity (Super Deluxe Edition) – (Interscope / Geffen / A&M)
Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition) – (Rhino / Warner Records)
Deep Purple – =1 – (earMusic / Edel Music & Entertainment)
Highly Suspect – As Above, So Below – (Roadrunner Records)
Glass Animals – I Love You So F***ing Much – (Polydor Records / Universal Music)
2 Loud 2 Old Music 