Category: Album Review

Judas Priest – ‘Hero, Hero’ (1981) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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Judas Priest originally was signed to Gull Records for their first two albums. They moved on from them and when Priest started getting big in 1980 with ‘British Steel’ and before their next album in 1981 ‘Point of Entry’, the label decided to capitalize on that rise in popularity and released a greatest hits compilation called ‘Hero, Hero’. The songs on the compilation were from both ‘Rocka Rolla’ (1974) and ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’ (1976). Actually it was all of ‘Rocka Rolla’ and only 6 songs from ‘Sad Wings’. What made it interesting though was that the songs from ‘Rocka Rolla’ had been remixed in 1981 by Rodger Bain and so was the song ‘Diamonds and Rust’.

The compilation I have on CD is a re-issue under the Koch Records label. What makes it different is that the songs from ‘Rocka Rolla’ are not the remixed songs. They are actually the original versions from the album. So, it is not quite as collectible as the original 1981 issue. However, the “Diamonds and Rust” song is still the remixed I believe. Instead of doing the songs in order from the original albums, they have altered the listing a little. The band is Rob Halford, K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton and Ian Hill. There are two drummers since they changed so frequently. You get John Hinch and Alan Moore.

The opener is “Prelude” which is an instrumental opening and actually has no correlation to the next track “Tyrant”. It is done in a baroque style with piano and a lot of tom tom drums. There is some guitar, but not much worth noting. It really seems completely unnecessary and very skippable. “Tyrant” opens with a killer riff and explodes with full on energy. This is the Priest I was always expecting. Hard, heavy and full on metal bleeding from its soul. Halford’s vocals are spot on and I love the layered on vocals of his in the chorus. The guitar work between Downing and Tipton is what it is all about. They way those two play-off each other is unbeatable. I could listen to those two battle all day.

“Rocka Rolla” is more upbeat and has several little solos by Downing and Tipton does the outro. It even has some harmonica played by Halford. Another blues track, but more upbeat and rocking then the opener and another great track.

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Retro Rock Revies: Ep. 6 – Metallica ‘Kill ‘Em All’ (1983)

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This week on Retro Rock Reviews, we tackle Metallica’s 1983 album ‘Kill ‘Em All’. Now, growing up, I was an 80’s pop/rock kid and in 1983, it was Def Leppard, Kiss, Quiet Riot, Genesis, Billy Idol and bands of that style. Metallica was way too heavy for me and wasn’t melodic enough for my liking. They were never on my radar until the Black album and “Enter Sandman”. However, I never went back and explored their music. I had an opinion of Thrash and it wasn’t for me. So, here we are almost 40 years later I am now trying the debut ‘Kill ‘Em All’ and the first thing I notice is that by today’s standards, it isn’t as heavy as I would’ve thought. What else do I have to say? Check it out to see.

So go check it out as it is live now on September 12, 2024 at Noon. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Def Leppard – ‘Yeah! Bonus CD with Backstage Interviews’ (2006) – (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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In 2006, Def Leppard released their 9th studio album, ‘Yeah!’. It was a covers album and had 14 tracks on it. The band, however, recorded a ton more songs that were not used. Some wound up on the Japanese Edition as bonus tracks, others as Best Buy bonus tracks, Target and even iTunes. You would literally need to buy 5 versions of the album to get all the tracks. Well, you don’t really need to buy the Japanese edition because the Wal-Mart edition had the two Japanese Bonus Tracks as well as 3 more songs and a selection of interviews with the band. This version has the most bonus tracks of any of the other offers and is a great buy. It would’ve been released on the same day as the album which was May 23, 2006.

The opening track is the only song that breaks the band’s rule about all being British songs. It is cover of the Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker’s “American Girl”. I want to say that all these songs are the demos because they aren’t played with all the band members. This one has Joe on vocals, but it is Vivian Campbell on all instruments except Marc Danzeisen on drums. Additional backing vocals with Jesse Sheely. The song captures the energy of the original, the guitar sound like they should and the harmonies are great. A fun, energetic song and a great choise.

The first interview with the band, “Backstage Interview #1”, sees the band talking about the most recent tour with little snippets from each member. They all say it has been great, but Rick Allen says travel was hard. They also talk about how the audience seems to change with each tour.

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The Collection: Ep. 32 – Bon Jovi Vinyl (Part 1 – 80’s & 90’s)

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To Celebrate the end of the Bon Jovi Series, it was time to do a show on The Collection where we walked through the vinyl. For Part 1 of 2, we are going to go through the vinyl in the collection that covers the 1980’s and the 1990’s capturing all the studio albums, compilations, solo albums and even some 12″ Singles and a Bootleg. Come join as we talk all things Bon Jovi from the debut up to Richie Sambora’s ‘Undiscovered Soul’. Now, this isn’t everything there is, but it is everything in my collection and that is the show!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, September 9, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Scorpions – ‘Rock And Roll Queen’ (2019) – (Bootleg – The Scorpions Collection Series)

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I love to find bootlegs from my favorite bands. I was out and about doing some digging and came across this beauty. It is called ‘Rock And Roll Queen’ and it is a Scorpions bootleg taken from a live show all the back on the Fly to the Rainbow Tour. The show was recorded at Grugahalle, Essen, Germany on April 26, 1975. The line-up is great as it was Klaus Meine, Uli Jon Roth, Rudolf Schenker, Rudy Lenners and Francis Buchholz. There were various different colored vinyl released like red, white and peach and those are all listed on Discogs. My copy is traditional black and is not listed on Discogs…hmmm…that is strange. Maybe the black is more rare…who knows.

It opens with a straight up jam. It is a lot of guitar showboating and it is awesome. A nice drum and bass groove with Uli and Rudolf going to town. It is simply called “Jam” which is very appropriate. Not a traditional opening, but I’ll take it. They then go in to “This is My Song” off ‘Fly to the Rainbow. A mid-tempo rocker and it sounds great. It is a bootleg so it is a little rough, but I can hear everything. It only sounds like it does because it is from 1975. There are some cool moments with some dual guitar work with Uli and Rudolf wailing a solo. And if that isn’t enough, listen to Francis on bass…what a cool groove he is laying down. Lyrically, not the most stellar track, but musically, it does kick some ass. When the songs ends there is some polite clapping no huge cheers or roars.

Since they are in German, when Klaus addresses the crowd he does it in German which is cool and makes sense. They then go in to “They Need a Million”. It opens as a ballad with just a guitar that you can barely hear and Klaus singing away. A little ways in, a killer riff kicks in and the song explodes with some heavy drums. Someone else is on vocals and I believe it is Rudolf, Klaus comes back in and sings some harmonies, but this is a Rudolf track. The studio track has a Spanish vibe, this is pure rock & roll.

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Retro Rock Reviews: Ep. 5 – The Cars ‘Heartbeat City’ (1984)

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Welcome to a the series I have on YouTube called Retro Rock Reviews. Each week, we pick an album and do a quick review. They won’t be long shows, something quick and fun to get you through your day. For Episode 5, we jump to the 80’s after spending several weeks in the late 60’s, early 70’s. We talk The Cars’ fifth album, ‘Heartbeat City’. The band exploded with help from legendary producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange. The album was released on March 13, 1984 and spawned not one, not two, but six singles, two of which reached the Top 10 on the Top 40. The album sold over 4 million copies going 4 x’s Platinum in the U.S. alone.

So go check it out as it is live now on September 5, 2024 at Noon. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Def Leppard – ‘Yeah!’ (2006) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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If you follow Def Leppard at all, you know they really are a 70’s band. Their influences were definitely 70’s and the whole glam rock scene. You can hear it in their songs as well and their side projects like Cybernauts where it is really obvious they have a passion for that style of music. Def Leppard now felt it was time for a covers album. The label brought it up to them, but Joe Elliott had already wanted to do one so it was an easy decision to agree on. Wow! Has a label and band ever agreed on anything before? This must be a first.

They had a few rules, the songs had to be hits and had to have been released prior to the band signing their record deal. And, the songs had to be British. They didn’t stick with that rule entirely as we will see on the next review, but for this album they did. Each band member brought a list of 20 songs each so they had 100 songs to choose from. I imagine they had some overlap which would easily help narrow the selection if more than one person picked it. And what a wide variety of artists they picked and what a great set of songs. I am not a massive fan of cover albums, but there are a few I have liked and luckily this turned out to be one of them. The album came out on May 23, 2006 and the album did okay. It did chart at #16 on the Billboard 200 and the singles charted on these types of charts I am not familiar with but they can say it charted.

One really cool thing about this record is the packaging. Inside you had individual pictures of each band member recreating an iconic image from a 70’s album. They are as follows:

  • Rick Savage – Freddie Mercury from the album Queen II
  • Vivian Campbell – Marc Bolan from T. Rex’s Electric Warrior
  • Joe Elliott – David Bowie from the rear cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
  • Rick Allen – Lou Reed, Transformer
  • Phil Collen – The Stooges, Raw Power

The pictures are down below. I love that you also get the original Def Leppard triangle logo with light shining through it giving the rainbow affect from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. I love when some thought actually goes in to the packaging and this one is A+ material. Now, does the music match the packaging? Let’s find out.

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Bon Jovi – ‘2020’ (2020) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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We are now on the 15th Studio album for Bon Jovi. It has been 4 years since their last one due to lack of inspiration or him needing a break. In 2019, the band started working on the new album in Nashville. Jon had recorded all the tracks on his phone and brought them to the studio where the band recorded 23 demo songs in just 11 days. They picked the best 10 and went to work on recording the final product. All was done. Until Covid-19 hit. Everything stopped.

During that time, a lot happened. Inspiration hit Jon and he wrote two more songs for the album. That meant a couple songs had to be cut. They were still used as bonus tracks on the deluxe edition. But those new songs and most of the songs on the album we Jon speaking his mind about world events, political events. The album feels like a Protest album. Jon is laying bear his thoughts and voicing an opinion. I will admit, I admire him for that, however, Bon Jovi is not a Protest band so the songs don’t feel like protest songs. They don’t have the power musically to get the point across. He isn’t Bruce Springsteen or Will Hoge (who writes a lot of protest songs and does them well). This is a band that wrote love songs and sexual songs. Yeah, he had Tommy and Gina, but those were stories. These stories fall flat coming from a band of such privilege.

And another problem is Jon’s vocals. You can tell something is wrong. He isn’t really singing anything. He is speaking more than anything. Now, we know of the problems he was facing. His throat was messed up and he needed surgery. At this point, I don’t think he was ready to admit he had a problem. I feel for him. It is his livelihood. It had to be difficult knowing you can’t do what you used to be able to do. This was the first album that I think I noticed something was wrong and/or different. And from the Bon Jovi documentary, we get to see the anguish and pain he was facing. You hate to see your heroes fall a little, if you know what I mean.

After some delays thanks to Covid, the album was released on October 2, 2020. They picked the name of the album, 2020, for two reasons. Jon was seeing clearly on what was going on in the world. And 2020 was the year of the Pandemic, George Floyd killing and a world of other problems. I think it is a fitting name for the album. The cover embodies that feeling as well. Looking at the cover, Jon looks like he is about to speak his mind as he is giving heavy thought. And look at this glasses as there is an American Flag reflected in the lenses.

The band is the same with Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan and Tico Torres as well as Phil X and Hugh McDonald. Unfortunately, John Shanks is still the producer with Jon and it shows. Please replace Shanks as producer…PLEASE!!! The album would hit #19 on the Billboard charts and spawn five promotional singles. It wasn’t that successful overall. I bought it. My copy was released on December 4, 2020 and is the Double LP Gold Edition with 2 bonus tracks (the two songs left off the album and replaced by new ones). I love the effect on the vinyl, it looks like it bubbling up and wrinkling. Cool effect.

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Kiss – ‘Ikons’ (2008) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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I know, I know. I’ve done a lot of Kiss compilations lately. Hopefully, you have it in you for another one. This one is a little different then the others, believe it or not. It is a 4 CD set called ‘Ikons’ and it contains one CD for each member of the band. That is right. The songs on each CD are sung by the band member the CD is named after. Funny thing is, growing up, I would do the exact same thing. I would make a cassette, or later CDs, that were band member specific. The Ace and Peter ones were easy as they barely had enough songs to make a CD. However, Gene’s and Paul’s were more difficult as they had a lot more to choose from.

The ‘Ikon’ box set came out on October 21, 2008 and was included in a gatefold case that folded out to have 5 sections. It also came with a slip cover to go over it. It contained a different image then what was on the case itself which is awesome. You get a picture of each band member along with a slot for each members album specifically designed for each member with their famous ‘icon’ stamped on it. It was a nicely put together set. Each Disc contains 14 tracks so you do the math on how many songs you get (don’t forget to carry the one).

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Retro Rock Reviews: Ep. 4 – Janis Joplin’s ‘Pearl’ (1971)

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Welcome to a the series I have on YouTube called Retro Rock Reviews. Each week, we pick an album and do a quick review. They won’t be long shows, something quick and fun to get you through your day. For Episode 4, we are talking about the last album that came out after her passing on October 4, 1970. We are talking about Janis Joplin and her last album ‘Pearl’ which was released on January 11, 1971 , The album spent 9 weeks at #1 and sold over 4 million copies. It was a heck of a final album and a great tribute to her legacy. I hope you enjoy my review.

So go check it out as it is live now on August 29, 2024 at Noon. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.