Author: 2loud2oldmusic

Scorpions – ‘Rock Galaxy’ (1980) – Bonus Edition (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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In 1980, not sure if the record label was capitalizing on Scorpions growing success or what they were doing, but the released this 2LP set called “Rock Galaxy”. It isn’t a compilation album…nope. It is a re-release of two of the bands albums…’Fly to the Rainbow’ (1974) and ‘In Trance’ (1975). It was released in 1980, out of Germany, but sold across Europe as you can see from the back cover. It would see re-issues later in Spain and Greece, but my copy is from Germany.

The release I have is a 2LP set and on a wonderful gatefold. The inside picture is of the band and not a great one at that as Klaus is either frightened or he is just totally uncomfortable getting his picture taken. The story of the band is on written in both English and German and is called ‘The Scorpions Chronicle’ or in German as ‘Die Scorpions Chronik’.

The album at least isn’t controversial. It is basically plain and utterly awful. I hope the band didn’t have an input in the cover, because if they did I would question their sanity. We already know record labels were full of idiots so if they chose the cover it then makes sense. However, it is the awful cover that is the main reason I bought this. I already have the two albums, but dang, that cover is so bad I had to have it.

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My Sunday Song – “Auf Wiedersehen” by Cheap Trick

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For My Sunday Song #319, we are discussing the song “Auf Wiedersehen” by Cheap Trick. The song is off their 1978 album ‘Heaven Tonight’ and but was not released as a single. Instead, it was the B-Side to their hit “Surrender”. The song was written by Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson and talks about a very serious subject matter.

The song is about suicide. And not the first on ‘Heaven Tonight” because the title song is also about suicide. “Auf Wiedersehen” is actually German for “Goodbye” which is appropriate. The lyrics also say goodbye in Spanish and Japanese. The lyrics give a nod to Bob Dylan’s song “All Along the Watchtower” with “You feel that life is a joke”. The song isn’t trying to talk the person out of committing suicide. It is simply saying goodbye in a not so kind way.

It is a pretty heavy song both lyrically and musically and is so upbeat and face paced that you can’t help but enjoy it despite its subject matter. The guitar riffs on this one by Nielsen are some of his best on the album. Robin attacks the vocals with an aggressive tone that is both abrasive and then he can turn it around and be kinda sweet. Towards the end, he seems batshit crazy and that he has completely lost it. It is a perfect combination of the rawness from the first album mixed with the power pop of the second.

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Matt Nathanson – ‘Come On Get Higher’ – Promo CD Single

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Now that I’ve collected all of Matt Nathanson’s studio and live albums on CD and vinyl, I have moved on to collecting all the promo CDs that were sent to radio DJ’s around the globe. I have been using eBay and Discogs to track those down and I have a pretty good start and hope to finish by year end. This one here is a really cool one in that it not only has the studio version of one of my favorite Matt Nathanson songs, “Come On Get Higher”, but it also has an unreleased acoustic version of the song. Yes, please!!

The single was released on February 11, 2008 and only reached #59 on the Billboard Top 100, but did go to #9 on the Adult Top 40 as well as #3 on the Adult Contemporary and Adult Alternative Songs charts. It went to Platinum status selling over 3,000,000 copies…not bad! The song was written by Matt Nathanson and Mark Weinberg and a really cool bit of info as you can see below is that the first track was mixed by my brother-in-law, Ryan Williams which makes the song even better!!

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Friday New Releases – September 30, 2022

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Wow! Another month in the books. 3 more to go before we finish out the year. Time flies by!! We end the month with a nice haul of well over 50 releases. I only want to hear a handful of these and they will be marked in Blue. Let me know what you want to hear this week and what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!

  • 81Tmds+wk7L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Richard Marx – Songwriter – (Shelter Music Group / BMG Rights Mgt): Can you believe Richard Marx is on his 13th Studio album. Crazy! But thankfully for us he is as I will always take new music from. I’ve been a fan of this pop artist since his mullet days! This album consists of songs in 4 different genres – pop, rock, country and ballads. Interesting.
  • 81keH9fZ0YL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Monster Truck – Warriors – (BMG Rights Mgmt): This Canadian hard rock, blues rock, southern rock band is back with another album. Have they run their course. I hope not, can’t wait to see what they have in store for us this time around.
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September 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs & More

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Another month gone by which is good news because it means more Vinyl, CDs, books and even a DVD have been added the collection. And we are kicking this month off a very pleasant surprise from a good friend of 2 Loud 2 Old Music. Mr. Books himself, Aaron, from KeepsMeAlive.com has sent yet another care package. The man believes in giving! This time around we got 2 books and 2 CDs all the way from the Great White North. Be careful what you say in the comments on his site as you are bound to wind up with it. Aaron knows my love for Idol and I have made comments before about the other 3 items…and now I have them. Thanks Aaron…and yes, he left a little note as usual!!

Now to start the month out, during labor day weekend, 2nd & Charles had their buy 5 get 5 free sale and so I hit up the CDs section and stuck to the 5 and 5 rule. Here is the 5 I bought…

And the five I got for free…or vice versa, however you want to look at it…

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Jeff Scott Soto – ‘Holding On’ E.P. (2002) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Jeff Scott Soto was ready to call it quits with The Boogie Nights as doing some solo work was starting to appeal to him as it had been years since his debut solo album. He thought about signing with Z-Records, but due to the problems with his band Humanimal, that was quickly nixed. He wound up with an Italian label called Frontiers Records. The deal included re-releasing his debut solo album ‘Love Parade’ as well as new material which was already in the works and would be released in late 2002.

I am not sure the actual release date of this E.P., but I am guessing it is prior to the album. The E.P. consists of the first single from his upcoming solo album ‘Prism’ called “Holding On”. It also includes a previously unreleased track and 2 live songs plus a re-release of a song from his debut solo album ‘Love Parade’. It is a great E.P. to have.

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Van Halen – “Finish What Ya Started” – 7″ Single

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When I was on vacation last Summer, I found a ton of 45 Singles with the Picture Sleeves at a place called House of Vinyl and I ended buying 7 Van Halen 45’s. And we’ve been through all of those so far as seen below…

Now it is time to add a new one to the list from one I found at Mad Jack’s in Matthews, NC. This is another from ‘OU812’ and it is “Finish What Ya Started”. The song was released as a single in September 1988 and it did well going all the way to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Rock Charts. The song was credited to be written by Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, but we all know it was really just Eddie and Sammy. They were doing the “band” thing and crediting everybody and that never seems to end well.

The album was basically finished, but due to lack of sleep one night, Eddie came up with the riff and ran over to his neighbor’s house at 2 in the morning and was begrudgingly let in by Sammy. The two spent the rest of the night finishing the music and after Eddie left, Sammy finished the lyrics which seem to be about someone being unsatisfied because the other person wouldn’t finish the deed…you know what I’m talking about. Someone has a case of blue balls!!

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Survivor – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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In talking with Michael LeFevre over at 80sMetalMan after he did a Survivor post, we thought it would be fun to do an album ranking of all 8 of their albums. We wanted to see how we looked at each album. So, here is my list. Click on 80sMetalMan to go see his list.

Survivor…everyone knows them because of the Rocky movies whether it is “Eye of the Tiger” from Rocky III or “Burning Heart” from Rocky IV, but the band was so much more than that. They were a great pop rock band / AOR or whatever you want to call them. The main three band members were vocalists Dave Bickler, keyboardist Jim Peterik and guitarist Frankie Sullivan (the only original member left in the band). They had other members but those were the three consistent members. After 4 albums, Dave left due to vocal issues and Jimi Jamison came in on vocals and took the band to a different level. The band sort of broke up after 1988’s ‘Too Hot To Sleep’, but Jimi Jamison still toured under the name which caused a lot of lawsuits. Dave came back in the fold from time to time and so did Jimi. After an 18 year break, they released their 8th album ‘Reach’ and that has been it ever since…mainly due to the passing of Jimi Jamison back in 2004. Maybe some day we will get more Survivor music, but for now, this is what we got. How do they rank? Check it out.

THE WORST: ‘REACH’ (2006):

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Scorpions – ‘Animal Magnetism’ (1980) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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As reported in the ‘Lovedrive’ review, Michael Schenker rejoined Scorpions after he left UFO. He toured with the band and left during the tour so Mathias Jabs was brought back in the fold after some heave negotiations. It is the line-up of Mathias Jabs, Rudolf Schenker, Klaus Meine, Francis Buchholz and Herman Rarebell that bring us the bands seventh studio album, ‘Animal Magnetism’. A name that was thought up by Mr. Rarebell.

The album was released on March 31, 1980 and saw the band maintain their current sound with hard rock songs that were melodic and catchy as hell. The sound that the world would soon catch on too and see them hit the stratosphere, but not just yet. The album went #52 in the U.S. and it would reach platinum status. In the UK, the album spawned two singles that reached the Top 100 though the only made it as high as the 70’s and not Top 40 hits. It was another album that saw the band keep moving in the right direction.

Now, like almost all of Scorpions album covers, this one too had a little controversy. It was designed by renowned artist, Storm Thorgerson of the design firm Hipgnosis. It had a young lady on her knees in front of a man and she only comes up waist high. It is very suggestive as we wonder is she going to do something sexually to the man although nothing is shown. It is purely speculation. As a result, there was no alternative cover done for this one. But the most interesting thing about the cover is the addition of the dog right next to the girl. Why is he/she there, we have no idea other than to stick with the name of the album, ‘Animal Magnetism’. It is so strange and yet so captivating. I love this cover for everything that it doesn’t show.

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My Sunday Song – “Clock Strikes Ten” by Cheap Trick

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For My Sunday Song #318, we will talk about “Clock Strikes Ten” by Cheap Trick. The song is off their 1977 album ‘In Color’ and the single was only released in Japan where it went all the way to #1 helping pave the way for Budokan. It is also a great song to hear live!

The song was written by Rick Nielsen and was basically about partying on the weekend. When the clock strikes 10pm, it is time to party. The lyrics keep speaking of the clock striking every two hours and how the night was progressing. It is simply a party song that is completely old school rocked out.

It starts off with what sounds like a clocks bell chiming and representative of Big Ben’s clock. The song then explodes in to an old rockabilly stylings with that old school 50/60’s rock & roll i.e. “Rock Around the Clock” style. I even feel there is even a little Aerosmith vibe going as well. It is a fireball of a song that will get you on your feet and moving which is all we really want in a song anyway, right!

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