Category: Album Review

Queen – “A Night At The Opera’ (1975) – Album Review (The Studio Album Series)

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Before the band could record their fourth album, they had to go through a lot of a business crap. Money was becoming an issue in the fact they weren’t getting any. They were extremely disappointed, to say the least, with their current management and record label, Trident. The hired a lawyer and for nine months, battled back and forth until they were successful in getting released from the Trident deal. But it was costly. They were able to get ownership back of their first few albums, but it cost them 1% royalty on the next 6 as well as pay £100,000 and the tour that was scheduled had to be cancelled because it was set up by the old management. Now this was 1975, so that is a lot of freaking money.

Queen was able to get new management and they singed with EMI (UK) / Elektra (US) and were set to create their next masterpiece. This album would be the most expensive album ever to be made (at the time of 1975). It cost £40,000 (or $338,000 in today’s dollars). It was so expensive due to the fact they recorded the album in seven different studios, over 4 months and required a lot of multi-tracking and they ended up using a 24-Track set up. Their last album only used a 16-Track tape. Queen was going big or going home. And if you know them at all, going big is the only way they know.

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Eric Carr – ‘Rockology’ (1999) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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As we discussed back in the 1991 timeline, Eric Carr passed away on November 24, 1991 due to an aneurysm that probably stemmed from the numerous surgeries he had to remove tumors related to his heart cancer. Before his death, Eric was always writing songs as he was a very creative soul. He could write, he could sing and he could play more than just the drums. ‘Rockology’ is a collection of the songs he had been working on prior to his death. These are demos and not necessarily full fledge songs in some cases so keep that in mind. Think of this as his ‘Vault’ because it is very similar in the type of songs you get. You get some fully fleshed out songs, you get some where lyrics are being scatted because their aren’t any yet and you get some straight-up instrumentals.

The album was put together by one of Eric’s great friends and former Kiss bandmate, Bruce Kulick. With the help of Adam Mitchell (co-writer of numerous Kiss songs), they pieced together a collection of songs from old cassettes or where ever they could find them. They would clean them up the best they could, add some backing vocals where appropriate and even Bruce overdubbed some killer solos in a few songs to help complete them. Bruce produced the album and I think this was a wonderful tribute to his old friend and bandmate.

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Judas Priest – ‘Sin After Sin’ (1977) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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After the band’s second album, “Sad Wings of Destiny”, they were growing tired of their relationship with their current label Gull. They were discouraged at the cheapness of the label and the lack of funds they were receiving. And who can blame them. The band jumped ship and wound up with the first major label contract with CBS. All was right with the world.

We still had the same bandmates of Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing and Ian Hill. The only difference was the drummer, yet again! This seems to be a huge trend with the band. They can’t keep a drummer. It is Spinal Tap in reality. During the recording of the album, the band was unhappy with current drummer, Alan Moore, so they fired him. The band picked up session drummer Simon Phillips to finish recording the album. Now, Simon didn’t want to be a full fledge member so they had to replace him as they needed a drummer for the tour. They wound up with Les Binks to handle those duties. We will see if Les winds up recording the next album.

Since the band was with a bigger label, they actually got a big name for producer. Well, he maybe wasn’t a big name as a producer, but he was a big name bass player for a little band called Deep Purple. They hired the services of Roger Glover to help produce along with Judas Priest. The band was all set. In January 1977, they went in to the studio and after one session with Glover, they fired him. Oh my!! The band finished recording the album on their own, well….not exactly. They struggled a lot so Glover was asked back to finish the album. The album was released on April 8, 1977 and would see the album go Gold. It was the first of eleven straight albums to go Gold for the band! Judas Priest were on their way to stardom.

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Queen – ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ (1974) – Album Review (The Studio Album Series)

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The band set out on tour after ‘Queen II’ and that is when disaster struck. Brian May was diagnosed with Hepatitis and the band had to cancel the rest of the tour. With no more tour, they started to rehearse and prep for the next album. Luckily May got better and joined his lads when they went in to Trident Studio in July of 1974 to start recording the album. However, May got sick again. This time with a stomach ulcer and he missed some of the recording process. Thankfully for us all, he recovered and came back and finished his part of the album. The album was finally finished in October of that year and released a short time later on November 8, 1974. I guess back then you could get an album out a month after you finished it. Nowadays, you need a minimum of 3 months or more before the album will come out.

The band finally saw some major success both in the UK and around the World. In the UK, the album went platinum and sold over 300,000 copies going to #2 on the charts. In the US, the album went Gold and sold over 500,000 copies going all the way to #12. They released two singles off the album (although they could’ve released more in my book) and saw one go to #2 in the UK and the other to #11. Queen was starting to find its groove. With this album, I think that is true. They stepped away from the more progressive rock sounds and the fantasy themes from the first two album and honestly, I am glad they did. This saw them branch out more and turn out a more complete rock album. Of course, they still experimented with their sound and tried new things, they just weren’t as far out in left field as before. As you can see below, no line-up changes as it is still Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon as it should be.

I am sorry to say I get a little verbose with the first three songs. I did a My Sunday Song on each of those and I liked what I wrote so I used a lot of those post. I promise to not ramble on for the songs after that otherwise we will be here for hours reading and me writing. Enough ranting, let us get to the songs…

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You Picked It! – Joni Mitchell – “Blue” – Album Review

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Alright…You Picked It! And this one was probably the closest one yet. It wasn’t until Uncle Meat Cast his vote that we had a winner as I was sitting with a three way tie at first . The one you picked was Joni Mitchell’s album “Blue” which I had never heard before. The votes were as follows:

  1. Joni Mitchell – ‘Blue’ – 6 votes
  2. Ozzy Ozbourne – “Bark at the Moon’ – 5 votes
  3. Phil Collins – “Face Value’ – 5 votes
  4. Outkast – ‘Stankonia’ – 4 votes
  5. Durbin – ‘The Beast Awakens’ – 4 Votes

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

Joni Mitchell – ‘Blue’ (1971):

You people are not making my life easy by picking some of the most famous albums of all time for me to review. It puts so much pressure on me for two reasons. One, if it is one of the greatest albums of all time, will I like it and if not, look like a fool for no. Two, with it being one of the greatest albums of all time, will my write-up do it any justice. Can it live up to those standards. I know it is my fault because I have been putting them on the list and I do enjoy stretching outside the box to do the best I can on these reviews. But it is exhausting at the same time. Enough complaining, on to the review.

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Kiss – “Psycho Circus” (1998) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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After the very successful Reunion Tour from 1996-1997, it was time for the original band members to put other their first album in 20 years with the Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter. The last one they did together was 1979’s ‘Dynasty’. Let me tell you, I was super excited to get a new album with only the original 4 guys. I couldn’t wait. I would get to hear Ace rip solos and cool riffs on every song and Peter would bang those drums until the cows came home. Man, I am getting goosebumps just thinking about it. Now imagine my surprise when it wasn’t even close to the build up.

Yes, it was a new album that did feature all four original members. Their pictures are on the front, they each sing song, but it was far from only being the original four guys. Ace appears on only 2 of the 10 songs and Peter sings on 2 and only plays drums on 1. Nothing seems to have changed as ‘Dynasty’ was also an album Ace and Peter slightly appeared on as well. Gene and Paul still rule the roost and do things the way they want to do them. Ace does appear on the Japanese only track so on that release he is on 3 of the 11 tracks. The only song that features all four members is the Ace sung song “Into the Void” which we will discuss later. To be fair, the reason behind Ace and Peter not getting to play much as they were trying to renegotiate their contracts with Kiss and I don’t think that sit real well with Gene and Paul.

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Judas Priest – ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’ (1976) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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Judas Priest recorded their second album in only 2 weeks in November and December of 1975. That is not much time at all, but the record label, Gull, was pretty freaking cheap and the boys were only living on one meal a day. Heck, some of the guys had to work a side job to make ends meet. Doesn’t sound like a good record deal in my book, but what do I know. It was recorded at the Rockfield Studios in Wales and finally saw its release on March 23, 1976.

The album had positive reviews, but that did not translate in to sales as the timing in the UK wasn’t the best. There was a genre that was popping up and becoming real popular. It was called punk rock. As a result, the band only released one single and the album only went to #48 on the UK Charts. What is really great about this album though, is this is really the birth of the Judas Priest sound. This is what I was expecting on ‘Rocka Rolla’, but I didn’t get. This was the real beginning of Priest.

The band was basically the same line-up with Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing and Ian Hill. They did have a new drummer as John Hinch left the band and they replaced him with Alan Moore. This was be the only album that Moore would play on because he wasn’t overly thrilled with the money situation and would soon leave the band. They seemed to have trouble keeping a drummer as I have counted around 9 different drummers over the years. Crazy!

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Kiss – ‘Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions’ (1997) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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Shortly after the MTV Unplugged Show, the current line-up of the band, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer, went back in to the studio to record what would become the band’s 17th studio album. The album was recorded between November 1995 and February 1996, however, the album was scrapped and pushed aside. Why would they do such a thing, was it that bad? No, not exactly. The problem was that after the MTV Unplugged Show, the buzz about the Ace Frehley and Peter Criss playing with the band again was reaching a fever pitch. Would they get back together and do a reunion tour? Would they put the make-up back on? And the answer to both of those questions was a resounding, YES!!

The album was set aside for the time being. Somehow though, bootleg copies of the album got out and were being distributed around in certain circles (I wasn’t in that certain circle). As a result, the band decided to finally release the album and they called it ‘Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions’. It actually didn’t have all the same songs as the bootleg, but at least it was out.

The album was a complete departure for the band. It saw them go darker and more grunge because as usual, the band were followers and trying to follow the trend. They didn’t care in the least anymore to be trend setters and set the bar high. Nope, they pandered to what was big in music. There is a problem with that as Grunge was fading by this time. A lot of the sound was actually a result of Bruce Kulick’s doing as he helped co-write 9 of the 12 songs. I am not saying it is his fault, I am only saying that it was because of Bruce they were able to do that sound as he was versatile enough and technically savy enough to play anything.

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Kiss – ‘Greatest Kiss’ (1997) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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Welcome to the 50th Review in the Kiss Review Series and we aren’t even close to being done. Sadly, the 50th review is this pile of crap. Kiss in 1997 was still touring the Alive / Worldwide Tour and to keep pushing out product for cash grabs, they dumped on us a total worthless pile of dung called ‘Greatest Kiss’. Yes, another greatest hits package. This one was released on April 6, 1997 and it only hit #77 on the Billboard Charts. I don’t think it was ever certified Gold or anything like that because let’s be honest, this is not a good greatest hits package.

The problem with it is that the U.S. version only covers the time frame of 1974-1980, the make-up years with the four original members. And there is only one previously unreleased track which is “Shout it Out Loud” that was recorded the prior year while on tour. It was recorded at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, MI on June 28, 1996 and was the show opener. It had a ton of explosions and fireworks and you hear every last pop. It’s not a bad recording.

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Queen – ‘Queen II’ (1974) – Album Review (The Studio Album Series)

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In August 1973, the band started recording the follow-up to their debut album. The big difference between recording the first album and this one was now they actually could use a recording studio at any time. The first album, they were stuck recording only when the studio was not being used, now they were with a label, the sky was the limit. The band took full advantage of that and improved production and we even start to see the real over-the-top production we became used to seeing from the band. They finished recording in February 1974 and the album was finally released on March 8, 1974.

The album only had one single which actually charted giving the band their first hit since the song “Keep Yourself Alive” from the debut didn’t even chart. The album went on to go to #5 in the UK and up to #49 in the US where the band was just starting to catch on ever so slowly. The band was starting to get noticed and helped ever more by their touring and stage performances. Who knows, maybe they might make it big one day.

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