Category: Album Review

Aerosmith – ‘Aerosmith’ (1973) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series)

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Welcome to another new series on 2 Loud 2 Old Music. Last week, we started the Cheap Trick Collection Series and this week we kick of the Aerosmith Collection Series. As a reminder, the Collection Series is simply all the albums by the band I have in my collection. I will stick to chronological order as best I can, but if I pick up something new after I’ve passed that part of the band’s timeline, I will put it in as fast as I can. I hope you enjoy it and why don’t we get started.

Aerosmith was formed back in 1970, but prior to their formation, you had Steven Tyler in his bands either Strangeurs or Chain Reaction playing gigs most Summers up in Sunapee, New Hampshire. While playing there, he saw future bandmates Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton’s band play called the Jam Band and thought he would love to play in that band. In 1969, the Jam Band moved to Boston where they met Joey Kramer and he joined their band. Well, Joey knew Stephen and had always wanted to be in a band with Steven so they got in to contact and Aerosmith was born. A second guitarist was added by the name of Ray Tabano and the band was complete. This was late 1970. Shortly there after, Tabano was replaced and on came Brad Whitford as the second guitarist and the classic Aerosmith line-up was not complete. They jammed together and played gigs constantly around Boston and signed a record deal in Mid-1972 and the rest was history.

The band all lived together in a house at 1325 Commonwealth Avenue and one thing very interesting about the band in these early years is that they were already deep and heavy in to drugs. From what I’ve seen with a lot of other bands, it would happen more so after they were successful, but not Aerosmith. After one of their drug filled afternoons watching The Three Stooges, the band held a meeting to come up with the name as they were no longer going to be called The Jam Band. Well, that is all thanks for Joey Kramer. He had the name written over and over again on a notebook which was inspired from a Harry Nilsson album called Aerial Ballet. Yes, that is a very simplified version of the start because if you’ve read the Aerosmith biography, you know they spent a huge chunk of time on the band’s formation and we don’t have that kind of time here, plus we are really here to let the music do the talking, are we not.

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Judas Priest – ‘Jugulator’ (1997) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series – Bonus Edition)

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After the ‘Painkiller’ Tour in 1991, Rob Halford had decided to leave the band. However, due to contract obligations he didn’t really leave until late 1992 as Halford did help with the 20th Anniversary celebration of the band with the greatest hits package ‘Metal Works – ’73-’93’. After that was overs, so was Halford. Now, according to Rob’s book ‘Confess’, his departure was merely a miscommunication. He said he was leaving to do just go do a solo project, but not technically leaving the band. The band took it as he was leaving the band, plain and simple. It took them 11 years to work that out because Rob was too scared to make contact and clear things up and Rob takes fully responsibility for that part.

In the meantime, the band moved on without Rob. They searched high and low and found their new lead singer in the strangest of places. The found Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens in a Judas Priest Tribute band called British Steel. When they heard him, they knew he was the one. That story inspired a movie in 2001 called ‘Rock Star’ with Mark Wahlberg that told of a story of metal band finding their new lead singer from a Tribute Band…hmmm…is this the bands 2nd time inspiring movies. Didn’t their legendary drummer turnover inspire part of ‘This is Spinal Tap’??? Crazy stuff.

The line-up was set, original members K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill along with drummer Scott Travis and new guy, Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens. Tim was not the only new thing about the band for this album, the band changed their sound and changed it big time. They didn’t go to a softer side, they went even heavier…much heavier. The band tuned down their guitars which completely change the tone of the album as that classic Priest guitar sound was gone. The album was pretty much a thrash metal album as there was not much melody and really no catchy choruses. This is the heaviest I think they’ve ever been. They were starting to lean towards heavier even with ‘Painkiller’, but this takes it to another level entirely. And you know what, with a new singer, it wasn’t a bad idea to try and change it up…might’ve been better if it wasn’t a Priest album because as a Priest album, I’m not sure this works. As another band name, might be just fine. We will see.

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Cheap Trick – ‘Cheap Trick’ (1977) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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Welcome to the new series The Cheap Trick Collection Series. That means we will be going through every Cheap Trick album that I have in my collection whether it be on studio album, live album, compilations, singles or whatever it may be and it doesn’t matter if it is on Vinyl, CD, 7″ Single. We will go through them in chronological order starting with their 1977 debut and all the way up to the 2021 release ‘In Another World’ and most things in between…not all as I don’t have everything. Currently I’m missing some live albums, some greatest hits albums and even the Christmas album which I don’t think I can convince myself to buy (not a fan of Christmas albums). So, why don’t we get started with the debut, self-titled album from 1997, ‘Cheap Trick’.

Cheap Trick’s roots stem back to a band called Fuse which Rick Nielsen formed back in 1967 with Tom Petersson back in Rockford, Illinois. They recruited Bun E. Carlos on drums and they moved to Philadelphia where they changed their name for a short time to Sick Man of Europe. was formed back around 1973 and then lead singer, Randy “Xeno” Hogan, left the band shortly there after in 1974. They quickly replaced Randy with lead singer Robin Zander and the current line-up of Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson, Bun E. Carlos and Robin Zander was born. By 1975, they recorded a demo and they played a ton of shows. They shopped the demo around and by very early 1976, they were signed to Epic Records. Epic Records didn’t waste much time and got the band in the studio to record their first album, simply titled ‘Cheap Trick’.

Now the above story is what Wiki has you believing, but if you read the back of the album sleeve, you get a different history of the band. One that has them spending a lot of time in Europe (which they did) and forming the band while they were there. That European influence the guys had opened them up to so many different sounds and influences that broaden the scope of the type of music they would perform. If you have the sleeve, give it a read.

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Judas Priest – ‘A Touch of Evil: Live’ (2009) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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We are now to the final album in the box set, The Complete Albums Collection. Why is it the final album in the set, because it is the last album to feature original guitarist, K.K. Downing. This box set contained ALL albums that featured the 4 main members, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill and K.K. Downing. We know it wasn’t because of a single drummer as they close to a 1,000 drummers in their career…and yes, that is an exaggeration. This live album is also the band’s fifth live album, but only 3rd in this series. We won’t be doing the other two any time soon, so sorry about that fact.

This live album was the first one since Rob Halford rejoined the band and it is also noted for an old producer friend of the band sees his return. Tom Allom is back as co-producer with the band and I can’t say that was actually a good thing after you hear my complaints about this album. They did a good job about not repeating any tracks on any other Halford led Live album up to this point. There are a lot of repeats on the Tim “Ripper” Owen albums, but those don’t count for this conversation. Why don’t we jump straight in to this release.

The album took songs from the band’s tours in 2005 and 2008 and not from one show which is okay. The problem was they didn’t mix the album to sound like a full live show. Nope! Each song fades out and then the next song comes in totally ruining the live album effect. If you are going to make a live album, at least give it the feel that it is one consistent show even if it is not. It totally takes me out of the game when you fade the songs in and out.

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Queensryche – ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ Super Deluxe Edition – Box Set Review

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What is one of the greatest concept albums of all time? That is right! It is the Queensryche masterpiece, ‘Operation: Mindcrime’. The band is celebrating this album with a Super Deluxe Edition Box Set and it is full or wonderful things. You get 4 CDs, 1 DVD and a book all included in a wonderful and sturdy box. It look like a lot of time was spent on the packaging. And if you look at the back cover, it tells you everything you are going to get…or does it? More on that later.

Before we get to the meat of the box set, the CDs and DVD are housed in a tri-fold cardboard sleeve that is all black with the exception of the logo on the front. The CDs slide in to slots on each side while the DVD is housed in its own mini-cardboard sleeve which slides in to its slot in the middle fold. It is not my favorite way to house CDs as you have to be careful not to scratch them when you insert or pull it out.

The Front Cover
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Judas Priest – ‘Nostradamus’ (2008) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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For the band’s sixteenth studio album, they went somewhere they had never gone before and really pushed the boundaries of what they could do. “Nostradamus” was going to be a concept album about the man himself, Nostradamus. The idea was brought to the band by their manager, Bill Curbishley, way back in 2005. Eventually the band came around and work started on the album in 2006 and went through 2007. The album finally saw the light of day on June 16, 2008 and saw the band get their highest charting album to date at #11 (now realize that was only sales of 42,000 and in 2008 that had become a lot as album sales were way down).

The band would shed their speed and thrash metal sound and stick strictly to a more symphonic metal sound so if you were expecting anything from before you were in a shock. This was going to be so different than anything else they had done. The album turned in to a 2 CD set with 23 tracks and over a 103 minutes worth of music. You were taken on a journey through the life of Nostradamus and would get songs about his notorious prophecies and about the man himself. You can tell by the titles of the songs on the first disc they are about some dark prophecies that talk about war and the basically the end of the world. The album is full of orchestrated moments and even choirs and if you are looking for the classic Halford scream, you will only get that on the very rare occasion. Rob sings more in an operatic singing style and fits the music perfectly. This is the band stretching their limits and really reaching for the stars.

The band is still Rob Halford, K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill and Scott Travis on drums. Don Airey is still on keyboards and then you have Pete Whitfield who handles all the string instrumentation. The band was hitting on all cylinders and have given an album that has to be listened to as an album and from front to back in the order intended to get the full effect and follow along. And due to the length of the album there is no way we are going to go through song by song in any great detail so forgive me. I will stick with the highlights and there are many.

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Queen – The Albums Ranked Worst to First (The Studio Album Series)

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Here at 2 Loud 2 Old Music, we went through and reviewed all the Studio Albums for the band Queen. And to do this, we are used the 40th Anniversary 2011 Remastered CDs as our source as I picked up the 3 Volume Box Set for Christmas 2020. And with any good series, we will start with their debut album and work our way through all the studio albums in chronological order. There were 15 albums and all with the same band members of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. How many bands can say that? Not many.

What was great about going through them all in order is that you see how the band evolved over time and how much they experimented whether it was successful or not. You see the highs and the lows, where the band hit its groove and where they were wandering around lost. They did move soundtracks, the rocked out, they had fantasy songs, rockabilly, disco and even metal. They did it all. Now let’s go through and see where they ranked worst to first.

THE WORST – ‘MADE IN HEAVEN’ (1995):

The album did not have a cohesive feel and it shouldn’t since it wasn’t really written as an album. It was a last ditch effort to pull as many Freddie songs together as they could for one final release.  And I don’t think it is one they should’ve done mainly because all these songs aren’t really up to the Queen Standard in my book.  There were way too many ballads, they used two songs that were already released as Freddie solo songs and I don’t think the material was all that great to begin with.  I feel they should’ve left well enough alone as I think ‘Innuendo’ was a great way to go out, but what do I know.  My Overall Score is a 2.0 Out of 5.0 Stars. There were a few tracks worth having, but overall not enough to make this a must have album.

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Judas Priest – ‘Angel of Retribution’ (2005) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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After the 1990 album, ‘Painkiller’, Rob Halford left Judas Priest and the band continued on for 11 years with the singer Tim “Ripper” Owens. Rob went on and did his own thing whether it was the band Fight, Two or band Halford. Judas Priest did two albums with Ripper during this time, but the fans were screaming for Halford and Priest to reunite. Rob had wanted that for a long time, but was too afraid to reach out (at least that is what he says in his book). However, eventually it happened. Rob Halford was to rejoin Priest and in 2003, it finally happened.

Judas Priest toured a little and then went in to the studio to record their new album ‘Angel of Retribution’. They recorded from October to December of 2004 and the album was finally released on February 23, 2005 and to quite acclaim. It went to #13 on the Billboard 200 Charts and Priest were back. Rob brought over Roy Z as the producer who also mixed and engineered the album as well. Roy Z was the guitar player in Rob’s band Halford and he produced several of those albums as well.

I read somewhere that the album artwork was a continuation of the angel from ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’. This time the angel has transformed in to steel as she is rising out of the ashes and becoming the angel of retribution. Who knows if that is true, but cool to think that it is a reference to that album.

After 11 years apart, what would the new Priest sound like was the question of the day. Judas Priest would come out and deliver a massively heavy album and usher their sound in to the 21st Century! Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing, Ian Hill and Scott Travis are ready to rock.

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You Picked It! – The Sex Pistols – ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ – Album Review

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Alright…You Picked It! And this one was really, really close. It was back and forth between The Sex Pistols and Twisted Sister for most of the time and then a couple last minute votes pushed one of the other and that was The Sex Pistols with ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ which is one I’d never sat down and listened to from beginning to end. The votes were as follows:

  1. The Sex Pistols – ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ – 10 votes
  2. Twisted Sister – ‘Under the Blade’ – 8 votes
  3. Wu Tang Clan – ‘Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)’ – 4 votes
  4. The Wallflowers – ‘Exit Wounds’ – 2 votes
  5. Black Sabbath – ‘Paranoid’ – 2 Votes

Thanks to all for participating. The September choices will be up on Saturday!

THE SEX PISTOLS – ‘NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE’S THE SEX PISTOLS’

I have never been a fan of punk, at least not until recently. I’ve slowly started diving in. But due to the antics of Johnny Rotten or Sid Vicious, this band never made me want to listen to their albums. There was so much hype surrounding them and I really don’t want to listen to a band that is so hyped because it will never live up to expectations…i.e. Nirvana…they sucked then and they suck now and there was so much hype surrounding them. And hell, this band only had one studio album officially. Then why should I even bother and how can a band with only one album be so inspirational or critical to a movement. I still don’t have the answer to that question, but damn is this not an amazing album. Okay, they album lived up to the hype and then some. “DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE”…well, in this case…DO BELIEVE!!!

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Queen – ‘Made in Heaven’ (1995) – Album Review (The Studio Album Series)

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We are now to the final studio album by Queen called ‘Made in Heaven’ which also means this is the final review in The Studio Album Series. The album was released on November 6, 1995 almost 4 years after Freddie’s death which was on November 24, 1991. It is the only studio album from the band released with Freddie after his death so where did the music come from you might wonder. After the band finished their last album, ‘Innuendo’, which was around November 1990, Freddie was very ill due to the AIDS virus. He had his mind made up that he would sing as much as he possibly could and leave that for the band to finish at some point down the road. Normally Freddie would do the vocals after the music was done and recorded, but due to his failing health, he sang whatever he had written or the band had put in front of him to sing. He only wanted to leave these last bits of gift to the world.

The remaining members of the band, Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon, tooled around on the songs for years, mostly due to Brian May heading out on tour for his solo album, ‘Back to the Light’, which coincidently is getting a Deluxe Edition released in a couple months. The band worked some of the new material Freddie had completed and they added the Queen sound to them. However, that wasn’t enough songs to complete the album so the band also dove in to their back catalog and searched for material that Freddie had sung, but was never used even dipping in to Freddie’s solo work. It was a hodgepodge of songs and that is exactly how the album feels. It is a little disjointed and not very cohesive as a complete album work. It felt like a money grab in my book, but that is only my opinion.

The album cover is a picture of Freddie’s statue that was erected in Montreux, Switzerland where the band had a recording studio that had used for years. It as the town’s way of celebrating Freddie. The picture was taken at sunset and overlooks Lake Geneva. The back cover of the CD was the remaining band members looking out upon the Alps. Now, if you got the vinyl and not the CD, your front and back cover would be the picture above which was taken at sunrise and actually had the band standing near the statue overlooking the Lake. It is a very fitting picture actually.

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