After the success of their album ‘News of the World’ and a very successful tour for that album, Queen quickly went back to work for the band’s seventh album, ‘Jazz’. They started recording the album in July 1978 in France and didn’t finish until October 1978. The album saw its release a month later on November 10, 1978 around a year after their last album. Upon its release, it wasn’t a critical darling, but the album did go to #2 in the UK and #6 in the US. The funny thing is that over the years, the critics have warmed up to this album and they usually rank it within the Top 5 Queen albums ever made. I don’t know about that, but we will see when I finally rank them at the end of the series.
The band is still Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon and that won’t change ever during these reviews as they are one of the few bands to not change their line-up during their studio album run. Not many bands can say that. We know after Freddie’s death, that will change, but it is really a touring band at that point, no more studio albums. Okay, we are getting a little sidetracked…by we, I mean me.
In my crate digging, I keep running in to Tour Books and of course, I keep buying them because I think they are cool time capsules of a band. This time around, I found 2 Alice Cooper Tour Books. And these are vintage as they were both from the 70’s and they look it. The first one we have here is from Alice’s biggest and best album, ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’, from 1975. The Tour began on March 21, 1975, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, making its way across the States and even in to Europe where it ended on September 17 in Antwerp, Belgium.
The Band had a cast of characters and included the following host of people:
Alice Cooper
Steve Hunter – Guitar
Dick Wagner – Guitar
Prakash John – Bass
Jozef Chirowski – Keyboards
Whitey Glan – Drums
Vincent Price – Spider Voice
Sheryl Goddard – Ethyl
Robyn Blythe – Bat Woman
Gene Montoya – Voodoo Man
Uchi Sugiyama – Frog Man
Yes, it is a cast as Alice doesn’t just put on a concert, nope! He puts on a show. A creep show and this one is all about his nightmares. But the concert is always important and the set list, on average, looked something like this…
Can you fall in love with an album or an artist by hearing only one song? The answer for me is a resounding YES!! That happened to me many moons ago when I heard one of the coolest songs I have ever heard. The song was “Not That Cool” by Will Hoge. The song was about me. He reached into my soul and wrote this song just for me. Ok, he didn’t really, but it felt like it was.
Will Hoge has been described as Americana, Alt. Country with a Southern Rock flair and it fits him perfectly. He has a little pop, a little blues and if you need to compare him to other artists then go with John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen or even Bob Dylan. Will’s ability to tell a story that can be bleak at times and uplifting at others is a shot in the arm and shows the power that can be found in music. His lyrics are an honest interpretation of what is going in America and at times a giant slap in the face. His genius lies in the words as well as the music and it is that gritty voice that draws you in and makes you care about what he has to say.
I thought it was time to rank his albums from what I think is his worst to what I feel is his best. Remember, this is what I like as a fan…not as a critic. Critics get paid, I don’t. So, if you don’t agree with this order, that is great and I think happens with every band. It is all about your timing in to the artist and what you like. This for me, is what I like. I hope you enjoy. I did something a little different with Will and included his 3 Studio E.P’s. along with his Studio albums and jumps the count up to 13 albums to go through, so grab a beer and relax and enjoy!
For My Sunday Song #247, we are going to dive in to “Devil Inside” by INXS. Another track off the fantastic album ‘Kick” from 1987. The song was a massive success for INXS going all the way to #2 on the US Charts. INXS was exploding in the States and I was gladly jumping on board at the time as this is one of my favorite albums from the 80’s. The song was written by Andrew Farriss and the late Michael Hutchence.
The song is about excess, but it is also about the battle of good and evil in us all. We have a good side and we definitely have a dark side. The side that wants to come out and be really bad. When we start to wonder how the other half lives and jealousy starts rearing her ugly head, when we want the taste of flesh or lust…either of these things are lying it wait at the tip of our minds ready to explode out and let the dark side take over.
For me, the best part of the song is not the lyrics, but the opening guitar riff by Tim Farriss. It is simple and short, but so recognizable and for a band that always has some cool riffs in their songs, this is one of their best. Also, the other thing I love is the sexiness of Hutchence and they way he delivers those lyrics. The sultriness of the way they roll of his tongue it turns this pop/rock song into a sexy beast…roar!! Okay that was over-the-top, sorry. This album saw a band gel together and become so tight and this song is a perfect example, every guitar note, every keyboard strike and every bass thump and every pounding drum beat came together in a perfect combination to bring us this masterful pop song.
What a fun evening had by all. If you didn’t get a chance to catch the live show with one of my favorite singers of all time, Paul Laine, you now can sit back and enjoy every second like we did. Paul was so gracious to give us so much time as we spent over 2 hours talking his career, rock and we even nerded out a little on Star Wars, Star Trek, history and European Architecture. If you want to know anything about his solo albums, the Danger Danger albums, The Defiants, Shugaazer, Dark Horse or his career in general than don’t miss a minute of this show as we cover it all. Well, almost all, so maybe Paul will be back later down the road for Round 2.
Paul comes in around 21 minutes if you want to skip right to it, but if you do, you will miss Mike do some great Unboxings so you might want to find out “What’s in the Box”!!
Thanks to Paul for all his generous time and great conversation and thanks to Mike for hosting such a great show, The LeBrain Train. He has kept us entertained every week since Covid happened over a year ago. And here is hoping for more fun to come. But can he top tonight??? For me, it will be tough, but I have faith he can do it.
One of the things I love most about doing these shows is how spontaneous they are. John and I came into this Paul Laine interview with pages and pages of notes and questions. Yet some of the best moments were spur of the moment. Paul Laine is a music nerd just like us! But not […]
A Friendly Reminder that Paul Laine will be joining us tonight on The LeBrain Train. Paul has been around since 1990 with his first solo album, ‘Stick It In Your Ear’ and I have followed him for 30 years from his bands Danger Danger, Shugaazer, Darkhorse and currently The Defiants. Come enjoy the fun and if you have a question, ask away and we will see if he can answer your question.
The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and John Episode 63 – Paul Laine John from 2loud2oldmusic is to thank for this week’s guest: the hugely talented Paul Laine! He became a solo star here in Canada back in 1990, but has since worked with Danger Danger, the Defiants, Shugaazer and Darkhorse. He’s […]
I can’t believe we are already in to May. Time is flying by. This week this is a lot and there isn’t. There is a lot as in I do have over 35 releases for you today, but there isn’t a lot as their are only a handful I am interested in hearing. I will mark those in Blue. Let me know what you want to hear or what I may have missed as I am sure there is something that came out that I don’t have on the list and people need to know. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
Weezer – Van Weezer – (Crush/Atlantic): I am not a Weezer fan by any stretch of the imagination, but when you name you album “Van Weezer” and this supposed to be your so called metal album I guess, that makes me interested. I am giving this a try strictly out of curiosity.
Nancy Wilson – You and Me – (Carry On Music): I am excited to hear Nancy Wilson’s new solo album. Although this ain’t Heart, it is cool she finally is releasing her first solo album. Their are 8 original tracks and four covers and some great guests including Sammy Hagar, Duff McKagan and Taylor Hawkins. We also get a song that is a tribute to Eddie Van Halen called “4 Edward”. I’m expected a good time to be had by all.
Despite not having any new albums in years, Kiss was touring. In 2000-2001, the band was touring the so called “Farewell Tour” which was supposed to be the end of Touring. Well, in 2003, the band announced The World Domination Tour where the band would be co-headlining with Aerosmith. Ace Frehley believing the Farewell Tour was the final tour, did not want to do this tour if they were the opening act for Aerosmith. Well, Ace was now gone. Because apparently the Farewell Tour was really the Farewell Tour for Kiss playing with Ace. Peter Criss came back in to the fold and did the World Domination Tour.
When that tour ended, Kiss decided to do another tour in 2004 called the Rock The Nation Tour. This time around, Kiss was the main headliner and the opening acts were Poison and Z02. Before the tour started, Peter Criss’ contract with the band had expired. According to Peter, no one contacted him about signing back up with the band for the next tour. Now, Peter was gone, yet again. Kiss was back down to just Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley with the hired guns of Eric Singer on drums and Tommy Thayer on guitar. This is the line-up that would stay in existence for the remainder of the Kisstory. The Rock The Nation Tour, was the start of a new era of Kiss. One where people either still loved the band and didn’t care who was in it or a group that hated Tommy for being in the band and wearing Ace’s make-up. Sorry folks, but so what. Tommy was hired to do a job and Tommy does that job very well. No one seemed to care too much that Eric was in the band and wearing Peter’s make-up and maybe that was because Eric had already been a big part of Kisstory before and he had earned his cat whiskers.
While on tour in support of their album ‘Killing Machine’/’Hell Bent For Leather’, Judas Priest decided to record a couple shows for use on a live album. The shows that were recorded were the February 10 & 15, 1979 shows at Kosei Nenkin Hall and Nakono Sun Plaza in Tokyo, Japan. After 5 studio albums, it was time for the world to see what Priest was like live for those that had not seen them in concert. The 70’s were big for Live albums, as seen by UFO, Peter Frampton and Kiss, so why not Judas Priest.
There is a lot of debate on whether the album is actually live. The short answer is yes, it is….sort of. The long answer is much more complicated. The music is definitely live with maybe a few touch-ups in the studio. The vocals, however, are not truly live. Yes, a live person sang them live in to a studio microphone, but these are not the vocals from that show because according to Rob Halford, his vocals on the tape get messed up and they had to be redone. They did record him singing as he would in a live concert setting except he was in a studio. Which explains probably how some of those notes were hit so perfectly. There is a common name people call this album and it is usually, Unleashed in the Studio. Regardless of any of the above, it doesn’t seem to have bothered the buying public because the album quickly went Platinum and is one of the best live albums of all time thanks to the work of producer Tom Allom. You know Tom, he was a recording engineer and producer of the likes of Black Sabbath and he produced Def Leppard’s debut album ‘On Through the Night’.
In 2020, Covid had the family home a lot. One thing we ended up doing was Jigsaw Puzzles. I believe we did around 6 during the year. What would happen is that the kids would get excited and open the puzzle and sort out all the pieces to find the end pieces because that is where you start the puzzle. They would work diligently and do the border and then they would slowly do less and less of the puzzle leaving me to finish them up…so I guess you could say I finished 6 puzzles and the kids started 6. My wife helped of course because she loves to sort the pieces out by color and get everything organized so we can get through it quicker and more efficiently. Yes, I think she is a little OCD, but I love that about her. Hell, even the apps on her phone are organized…BY COLOR!!!
Now for Christmas in 2020, the kids thought Daddy needs another puzzle so they got me a Kiss puzzle. Yes, why not give me one of my favorite bands. So, now I had another puzzle except this time, I started it, I sorted it and I finished it. No one really helped me because they are all sick of puzzles.
So, it was time to start it one weekend and I did what you always do, unwrap the cellophane from the box, open it and then dump all the pieces on the table…
And then it was time to sort the pieces and build the border which probably took an hour tops…
And I decided the easiest step for me is do the albums that are around the border because I know those albums intimately. I could easily see a piece and quickly know which album it belonged to and I built that up rather quickly. I would say a few hours tops (over a couple days not all in one sitting.
Then it got harder. The middle section had a lot of dark pieces and slowed me down a bunch. That took the longest part of all. It is funny how you can sit down at the puzzle and start piecing things together and the next thing you know, a whole hour has gone by and not much progress has been made, but once I got in to a rhythm and picked up on some clues, I was able to finish it up…
And then it was done…
1000 pieces in probably about a 6 hour stretch over about a week. Not too bad. It helped that I know the images, that was a huge advantage. Normal puzzles take me a lot longer as I am studying the picture a lot more.
I hope you enjoyed this silly distraction and send me pictures of your Rock & Roll Puzzles! Admit it, you know you have them too!!!
2 Loud 2 Old Music 