Month: August 2025

My Sunday Song – “In The Age Of The Consecrated Vampire We All Get High” by Rob Zombie

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For My Sunday Song #448, we are going to rock out to “In The Age Of The Consecrated Vampire We All Get High” by Rob Zombie. Now, that is a mouthful. The song was released as a single back on April 13, 2016 and I am not sure where I heard it, but the minute I did…I was hooked. I am sure I discovered because of John 5 who had joined Rob after performing with Marilyn Manson. I’m a big John 5 fan!! The song is from the 2016 album ‘The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser’…another mouthful. The album went to #1 on all the Hard Rock album charts and #6 on the Billboard 200.

The song was written by Rob Zombie and John 5 and the meaning is summed up in the first line…”Think For Yourself and Question Authority”. The song is about rebellion, defiance and exploring your darker side as well as your own mortality. The “Get High” is both doing drugs and escaping but could also be about getting high from standing up and letting your wild spirit fly. Either is fine! The lyrics do make you think the person speaking the words is as drugged out as can be with references to dead girls alive, ghouls picking at bones…but that imagery is what is also so cool about the track.

That isn’t the only thing cool about it though. The music is groovetastic. There are some funky elements, but mostly it is pure metal and John 5’s playing is devilishly good. His tones and sounds are simply stunning. The whole thing sounds as dark and eerie as the lyrics represent. Rob’s vocals are nasty and menacing and give life to the lyrics. There are some cool effects on the vocals at time for emphasis and it all works. At a little over 2 minutes, the song is a get it, get out and leave them wanting more type of song. And I love it. The other band members are Piggy D. on bass, Ginger Fish on drums and Zeuss on keyboards and without them, this song wouldn’t kick ass like it does. The bass is all over this thing, the drums are down right massive and the keyboards/programming effects are the secret sauce to making this all work. This thing is also great for cranking while driving down the road…road rage is a possibility and I’m okay with that!!

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Friday New Releases – August 29, 2025

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The big winner this week in new releases will be Sabrina Carpenter. I know that is the only release that matters to my daughters. For me, the only release I care about is Bryan Adams new one “Roll With The Punches”. I am sure there is at least one person I know that will dive in to The Beaches album. 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 great weekend!!

  • Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend – (Island Records / UMG)
  • Bryan Adams – Roll With The Punches – (Badams Music Ltd) – Digital only – Physical release is next week
  • The Hives – The Hives Forever Forever The Hives – (Play It Again Sam)
  • Belinda Carlisle – Once Upon A Time In California – (Puglady)
  • The Beaches – No Hard Feelings – (AWAL Recordings)
  • The Beths – Straight Line Was a Lie – (ANTI)
  • Funkadelic – Funkadelic – (Org Music)
  • Deep Purple – Rapture of the Deep (20th Anniversary Remix) – (Edel Germany / earMusic)
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Ellefson-Soto – ‘Unbreakable’ (2025) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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The debut Ellefson-Soto album was released back on October 7, 2022 and only 6 months later, David Ellefson and guitarist Andy Martongelli wasted no time in starting to write the next album. Starting April 2023, work began on the songwriting and over the next year and half the two would collaborate with Jeff Scott Soto on what would become the second Ellefson-Soto album called ‘Unbreakable’. Funny enough, it all started with a cover song. David suggest they cover and a Queen song and David knowing Jeff’s obsessive love of Queen, knew this would draw him back in. That cover was of “Death On Two Legs”. Then it was off to the races and squeezing things in when they could as these guys are always extremely busy. The band recorded the album at Rogue Studios in Wembley, UK by Alessio Garavello and produced by Chris Collier.

The band brings the veterans together with former Megadeth bassist and Grammy winner, David Ellefson and journeyman powerhouse vocalist, Jeff Scott Soto joining forces yet again to deliver something unique for the guys. Throw in the young guns of guitarist Andy Martongelli from Arthemis and drummer Paolo Caridi of Hollow Haze, The Bad Guy Experiment, and Cosmic Dead Ringers and the two dynamics merge to form a modern rock band that throws everything at you from thrash, to power metal, to even a little punk while still bring a heavy modern sound that takes this album to the next level.

The sound of this album is just as heavy as the first with a real modern rock sound. The band feels like they are way more comfortable with each other and they have developed their own sound and style and this whole album feels right. It feels collaborative as you can hear and feel all the elements that each member brings to the table. They also brought in a little help as well as we get not one, but two duets on the album. One with the great Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest) and another with the amazing Laura Guldemond (Burning Witches). It is not that Jeff can’t handle the vocals all by himself because we know he can, but It is a chance to spread their wings and show what this band is capable of doing while keeping things fresh for the listener.

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The Collection: Ep. 70 – Kiss 8-Tracks with Tim Durling

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This week on The Collection I join forces with Tim Durling at Tim’s Vinyl Confessions and we talk Kiss. Most importantly, we talk Kiss 8-Tracks. We are missing a couple of the 80’s ones, but have a pretty extensive collection of 8-Tracks and we go through them all. From the debut album all the way up to The Elder and then Tim has a surprise one he picked up and it was the final Kiss album on 8-Track. If you are a Kiss fan and love the 8-Track, this is a can’t miss episode for you.

So go check it out as it will be live tonight, August 25, 2025 at 7pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

My Sunday Song – “Yankee Rose” by David Lee Roth

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For My Sunday Song #447, we are talking David Lee Roth’s “Yankee Rose”. The song was the debut single off his first full length album, ‘Eat ‘Em And Smile’. ‘Yankee Rose’ was released on June 18, 1986 and went to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. The song was a statement piece for David as this was his first album since his parting ways with Van Halen. And I will admit, between ‘Eat ‘Em And Smile’ and Van Halen’s first album, ‘5150’, with their new singer, Sammy Hagar, I like this album and song the best.

The song was written by David Lee Roth and his shiny new guitarist, Steve Vai. If there is anyone that can compete with Eddie Van Halen on creativity, it might be Steve. The song is about the Statue of Liberty as there are numerous references to her and America in general. The Statue was in the public eye back in 1986 as she was getting a major renovation for her 100th anniversary of her standing and welcoming the world. There are a lot of great lines celebrating America such as national anthem, apple pie, sea to shining sea, firecrackin’ on the fourth of July and many others. A very, fun and patriotic song.

Musically, it is simply stellar. The drum beat that opens and then the conversation between David and Steve Vai’s guitar. The guitar would speak, literally, and Dave would reply back. Steve Vai could make the guitar do whatever he wanted. His playing through out is inspirational. The quick riffs, the killer solo all make this song heads and shoulders better than most out there at the time. David was the same old cocky self. He did his usual speak/sing style of lyric delivery and you realize that his Van Halen was the best…arguments can begin below in the comment section. The song is a pure 80’s rocker and just slays. Now, the rest of the band was pretty killer too as you had Billy Sheehan on bass and damn he slaps that baby hard. On drums is Gregg Bissonette and he lays down a great beat and keeps the song pounding forward. All together, this was on unstoppable force…for at least one album anyways.

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Friday New Releases – August 22, 2025

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We have a bunch of releases for you this week, so hopefully there is something you like. I have pre-ordered the Oasis box set but it says it won’t show up until next week…Boo! Amazon!!. I also wouldn’t mind hearing Three Days Grace and maybe stream The Smashing Pumpkins 25th Anniversary of Machina. What do you want to hear this week? Let me know and tell us what we missed so everyone knows. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!!

  • Oasis – Complete Studio Albums Collection – (Big Brother Recordings)
  • Three Days Grace – Alienation – (RCA Records / Sony Music)
  • The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina (25th Anniversary) – (Virgin Records)
  • Deftones – Private Music – (Reprise Records)
  • Crowne – Wonderland – (Frontiers Records)
  • Robert Jon & The Wreck – Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes – (Journeyman Records)
  • John Fogerty – Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years (John’s Version) – (John Fogerty / Concord)
  • The Who – Live at the Oval 1971 – (UMe)
  • Jon Batiste – Big Money – (Verve Records / Interscope Records / Naht Jona LLC)
  • Ciara – CiCi – (Beauty Marks Entertainment)
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Kiss – ‘The Lost Alive II Album’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection, I figured let’s jump right back in and do a whole lot of reviews on the Bootlegs. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…and I did wind up with some things.

This is yet another live show from 1977 and I know I said I needed to pick one from a different year as I’ve done a lot from 1977, but I couldn’t pass this one up. This is another from Budokan in 1977 and was a finished mix that was supposed to be used for their Alive II album, but it was scrapped. A year later, we actually got ‘Alive II’ and it was not as quite as live as this one is. This version is more raw and rough around the edges unlike ‘Alive II’ that came out. And for that, it might be a better version, for the most part.

This version of the Bootleg I believe is a self-made CD. The reason I say that is because the pictures seem to be photocopies of another picture as they aren’t as crisp and clear. The CD cover art looks homemade and well, the back cover of the insert is simply a white page with the statement printed on it that reads “From The Collection of John Humphrey”. All that leads me to believe he had the digital version of this and decided to put it on CD. So, I guess this is a bootlegged bootleg…which is cool. To top it off, we get the studio songs that are on Side 4 of ‘Alive II’, but these are different mixes and alternate versions. Lastly, there are 4 demo songs from Gene’s solo album. That is also really cool. Now, how does all this sound?

I’ll be honest. It sounds amazing. The mix is sensational, the crowd noise is pumped in and it feels exciting and electric. The songs are edited together that make you feel this is one cohesive show…and that is how it should be. They open with “Detroit Rock City” and the energy is dripping from the speakers. Paul goes into “Take Me” and he has the crowd in the palm of his hand. The guitars are brutal and the drums are powerful. Gene meets you in the “Ladies Room” next and damn does it feel like the crowd is going nuts.

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Talisman – ‘Besterious’ (1996) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Sometime during 1996, Jeff Scott Soto and Marcel Jacob were completely thrown for a loop when a best of album was released in Japan for their band Talisman. No one told them. The album was called “Besterious” and consisted of all songs that were previously released from the band. In response to this, Jeff and Marcel, along with Empire Records, decided they were going to release their own band approved version of a greatest hits compilation. It was called “Best of…” and it was chock full of hits plus a ton of previously unreleased tracks that any diehard fan would want to buy. I should know, I bought it!! We have previously talked about “Best Of”, so now lets go through “Besterious”.

As I noted, this was released only in Japan and there is only one version and it is on CD. No other variants of this album exist. It was released on June 12, 1996 and I have the CD. It comes with the prized OBI Strip and has 17 previously released tracks. Sometimes, a simple greatest hits is all you really want and if that is what you are wanting, then this will nicely fit that bill. The songs range from their debut album all the way to their 1995 album, ‘Life’. I don’t believe there has ever been a compilation released that covers their entire career. I think one is definitely needed.

“Break Your Chains” kicks off the album like it did on the debut album. It is one of four songs taken from that album. Jeff’s voice is like velvet as he soars through the verses and that chorus is as catchy as they come. It is a heavy song almost a cross between Dokken and due to the keyboards, Europe. The guitar solo is great with a slight flamenco sound before total shredding begins. It has all the trappings of that era that any 80’s rock fan would love.

“Dangerous” is a pure rocker. The “yeah, yeah” to start is right out of the Joey Tempest playbook. A song about wanting revenge for having his heart broken doesn’t come across too scary as Soto’s voice is silky smooth and angelic it is hard to imagine he is really dangerous, but damn it is such a great song. The guitar solo is dangerous and rips through you as they shred the skin off their fingers as fast as they are going.

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My Sunday Song – “Edison’s Medicine” by Tesla

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For My Sunday Song #446, we are talking “Edison’s Medicine” by the band Tesla. The song was released as a single back in 1991 on the band’s ‘Psychotic Supper’ album. The song peaked at #20 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart which helped catapult the album to #13 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. The song is credited to everyone in the band, well, everyone except the drummer. Also credited is Michael Barbiero who was the producer of the album (amongst other things). Now, why would a band called “Tesla” write a song that has “Edison” in the name. Well, I’ll let Frank Hannon tell you…

Frank Hannon explained, “We raised over 100,000 signatures on a petition to get a statue of Nikola Tesla in the Smithsonian, and because they had a display of Edison in there, they felt that it would contradict that and they didn’t want to do it. We were pissed, so we wrote a song called ‘Edison’s Medicine’ about that.”

The song is about Nikola Tesla’s rivalry with Thomas Edison. And if it wasn’t obvious enough by now, the band took their name from Nikola…and not that stupid electric car by Elon Musk. The song talks about how Edison stole Tesla’s idea/works (“guilty of crime”) and Tesla was thought to be crazy when it turns out he was really a genius and way ahead of his time (“man outta time”). Edison was worried about fame and fortune while Tesla only cared about the invention and wound up broke (“Their nickels and pence/ Meant more than did sense”). The whole song picks apart Edison as and in the end the world knows that Tesla was the brains behind it all.

The opening guitar riff is freaking sick. The whole band explodes in and the song is off to the races. I love a song that opens with a guitar solo. Musically, it is electrifying. Jeff Keith’s vocals are stellar. He sings the hell out of this thing (as he always does). The chorus is really catchy and grabs hold. When we get to the second guitar solo, you get a shock to the system. The sounds they make are freaky and really add a new layer to the song. The drumming on here is pretty great as well as the fills are simply perfect giving the song a little more punch a feel. The song one of their best they’ve ever done, or it is for me. A rock & roll masterpiece.

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Friday New Releases – August 15, 2025

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Do we have some stellar stuff for you this week…Well…I hope we do. There are a couple I am super excited about with the new Will Hoge and the new Jeff Scott Soto release, Ellefson Soto, that has him and David Ellefson together again for their 2nd album. Both on pre-order. There is a new Chevelle album, new Maroon 5 and even the new Deluxe Edition for Van Halen’s Balance…yeah, I have that on pre-order too. Let meknow what you want to hear this week. I know I’ll be busy. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

  • Will Hoge – Sweet Misery – (Edlo Records)
  • Ellefson Soto – Unbreakable – (Rat Pak Records)
  • Chevelle – Bright As Blasphemy – (Alchemy Recordings / BMG)
  • Maroon 5 – Love is Like – (Interscope Records)
  • Van Halen – Balance (Expanded Edition) – (Rhino Records / Warner Records)
  • As December Falls – Everything’s On Fire But I’m Fine – (As December Falls)
  • Deep Purple – Made In Japan (Steven Wilson Remix) – (Purpletuity Ltd / Rhino Records)
  • Rise Against – Ricochet – (Loma Vista Recordings / Concord)
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