Category: Album Review

Train – ‘California 37’ – Album Review

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With working at home during the Covid-19 lockdowns, I have pulled out a lot of my vinyl and gave it a spin.  This was one I hadn’t listened to in a couple years and when I did, I remembered that this was the last great album Train had done.  At this point, Train was down to only 3 members, Pat Monahan, Jimmy Stafford and Scott Underwood.  My wife and I had met them a couple years earlier on the ‘Save Me, San Francisco’ Tour and they were super nice and they are kind of “our” band.  They were anyway, now it is the Pat Monahan show as he is the only original member left, but that is another story for another day.

What we loved about the band is really the songs.  Lyrically, Pat is a master at slipping in pop culture references in to the lyrics and the band can write some hooks and pretty damn catchy choruses.  It is wonderful, pop music.  And this album, the band outdid themselves with all of the above.  They did bring in some outside writers, but Pat was still the driving force behind them as they are usually very personal songs to him.  He spent three years writing the album while on tour for the previous items and they all reflect pieces of his life in some way or fashion.

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The album is called “California 37” which is a State Highway in Northern San Francisco which the band seems to call home.  The road was often used to get to gigs and they even broke down on it and what band hasn’t done that on the way to a gig.  The album has this light, California vibe to it and it makes you feel good as you listen.  From the opening track, “This’ll Be My Year” you know you are in for a treat. The song travels through his years in life and is a bio of his life and completely filled with Pop Culture references so you can put the year’s in to perspective.  It is brilliant.  It has the classic line…”I stopped believing, although Journey told me don’t”. Continue reading “Train – ‘California 37’ – Album Review” →

You Pick It – Which Album to Review in July?

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Welcome to something new at 2 Loud 2 Old Music.  You, my reader, are going to pick an album for me to review each month.  It is really simple…first, I will give you 5 albums to choose from and second, you will tell me which one of those you would like to see reviewed on the site.  See…simple!

There are a few simple rules I have put in to place in my selections.  They are…

  • One has to be a new release (within the last month)
  • One has to be one I have never heard before (new releases don’t count for this one)
  • One has to be from a genre I don’t normally listen to at all or very often
  • And the last two are choices from my collection that I haven’t reviewed before

What are the 5 albums you ask?  Funny you should ask because I have those right here…note: I tried to pick non-obvious choices to make things a little more interesting. Continue reading “You Pick It – Which Album to Review in July?” →

Kiss – ‘Kiss’ (1974) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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On February 18, 1974, the world received their first Kiss album, simply called ‘Kiss’.  But not many people took notice. It only sold around 70,000 copies at the time and quickly faded into existence.  But hold on, before we get in to the album, let’s go back to the first Kiss show one year earlier on January 30th, 1973.  For that show, the band didn’t really wear any make-up.  They had their name, but were just setting out and didn’t know who they were yet. They had the drag/glam look going for them, but the make-up progressed rather quickly.  Each member was discovering their personalities….The Demon (Gene), The Starchild (Paul), The Spaceman (Ace) and the Catman (Peter).  Over the next year, they would settle on who they were and so much more.  And who were they?  They were the following:

  • Paul Stanley – The Starchild
  • Gene Simmons – The Demon
  • Ace Frehley – The Spaceman
  • Peter Criss – The Catman

In early March, the band would finally decide on the make-up, then about a week later, they entered The Daisy in Amityville, NY with famed Led Zeppelin producer and recorded a five song demo.  The same 5 songs we talked about briefly on the Wicked Lester demo album from last week.

Then shortly after that, they were doing a showcase in the Summer and they meet a lad named Bill Aucoin who would become their manager and change their life forever.  But before they signed with Bill, they said he had 2 weeks to get them a record deal.  Not much time for anyone, but for Bill, he made it work.  The band would be the first band to sign with Neil Bogart’s Casablanca Record label on November 1st, 1973.  Quite a busy year.  And yes, I skipped so much, but this isn’t a history lesson, this is an album review.  So why don’t we get to that part now.

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Passion – Passion – Album Review

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Passion’s debut album brings another great melodic rock album from the label Frontiers Records. The self-titled album came out back on January 24th, 2020 so I am a little late to the party.  Better late than never I always say…okay, not really.  I am sure you have some questions, so let’s get to those.

Question #1: Who are they?

Answer #1: The band is a four piece with the following members…

Lion Ravarez – Vocals
Chance Vanderlain – Guitar
Weston James – Bass
Bobby Laker – Drums

Lion Ravarez is actually Daniel Rossall, former singer of the band Night by Night.  His love for the 80’s music inspired the band and created something special.

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Question #2:  Why is this one worth listening to over all the label’s other releases or any other releases period?

Answer #2:  Simple…it takes you back to the 80’s hard rock you grew up loving (well, grew up with if you are my age).

Question #3: What do they sound like?

Answer #3:  Think Dokken, Slaughter and Danger Danger all rolled in to one.  A voice that can mirror Ted Poley (“Trespass on Love”), Don Dokken (“Lost in the Dark”) and even go all Mark Slaughter on you (“She Bites Hard”).  It is the best of everything you love about the 80’s from rockers to ballads what more could you want.

 

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Question #4:  What are the best songs on the album?

Answer #4: It would be too easy to say everyone of them, so I will give you some that really standout.  I have mentioned a few above in Question #3…

  • “Too Bad for Baby” sounds like Damn Yankees (and I think I read somewhere Rossall contributed to Revolution Saints with Jack Blades…if so…coincident…I think not)
  • “Back” has this confidence and strut to it and a vibe that fits almost any 80’s band
  • “We Do What We Want” – the Danger Danger vibe is strong with this one as did I mention that Lion sounds a lot like Ted…oh yeah,  I did, so it must be true!!

I hope that answered all your questions.  The album is a blast from the past and brings back the fun in rock that is surely missing nowadays.  I needed that lift right now with something that reminded me of old times, but still grounded enough that it sounded fresh to me.  Passion is a total blast.  They are a little of a parody of the genre and that is okay because I know they are for real.  I will give it a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars.

Oh, sorry, you have one more question…

Question #5:  Should I Buy this album?

Answer #5:  Hell YES!!!!

Def Leppard – ‘London to Vegas’ – Album Review

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There will not be a Def Leppard release that I won’t buy and I won’t review and now Def Leppard have released not one, but TWO Live releases at one time.  You can buy them individually and get either the ‘Hysteria at The O2’ album or the ‘Hits Vegas’ Release or you can do as I did and buy the Deluxe set called “London to Vegas” which has them both in 2 CD format for each album and a Blu-Ray Disc for each show (you can also get DVD).

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And before we get in to the shows, I have to discuss the packaging so you will get lots of pictures so you can see what you are going to get if you haven’t already bought it.  The set comes in a nice thick box that is the size of about a 10″ album.  It is really durable and graphics are great.  The front is the header image at the top and the back is the picture above.  It tells you everything you are going to get and you get a lot. Continue reading “Def Leppard – ‘London to Vegas’ – Album Review” →

Kiss – ‘Wicked Lester and Progeny Demo Sessions’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series )

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Welcome to the beginning of a new series on 2Loud2OldMusic.com.  We are finally tackling the entire Kiss catalog.  As you know, if you follow this site, Kiss is one of my favorite bands and I am amassing quite a vinyl collection.  I have done posts on Kiss over the years (a lot), but I haven’t tackled their main albums and in detail.  I figured, it was finally time to do so.  And what better way to kick it off then with the band right before Kiss was formed…Wicked Lester.  This review is a double review of sorts as this vinyl is a Bootleg and so it is part of my Bootleg Series with Kiss and it will also be the kickoff to the new series as this is where Kiss really began.

I haven’t done a full count, but I am guessing we will wind up with over 50 albums in this review as I will tackle as many Kiss albums as I can including Studio, Live, Greatest Hits, and anything else in my collection.  I will even venture off in to solo albums by the band members or other side projects they have.  It is going to be everything Kiss related.  I have a feeling this will take more than a year to complete, but I think I am up for the task. I hope you are too.  At the bottom of every post, there will be links to all the Kiss Reviews we have done in the past if you want to venture over and check them out.  I hope you enjoy…

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Babe Ruth – ‘First Base’ – Album Review

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Let’s go back to the year 1972.  I was just shy of 4 years old and didn’t know anything about music at this point.  Obviously, I don’t remember this release.  I do know that 46 years later, I would discover this album in a collection I picked up.  And I also know this was one of the coolest albums in that entire collection.  I thought it would be fun to go deep in my collection and talk about one of my favorites and this is definitely out of the ordinary from my usual reviews.

Babe Ruth is a blues rock band that leans very progressive and they hail from England.  Formed in 1970 with Alan Shacklock, Janita “Jennie” Haan and Dave Hewitt.  The band would later add Dick Powell and Dave Punshon and we would then have the band we hear on this album simply titled ‘First Base’.  Lots of baseball theme with the band name, album title and even the weird cover of spacemen playing baseball.

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SIDE ONE:

The album kicks off with the most rocking song of the bunch called “Wells Fargo”.  It is the story of the old western stagecoach and has a whole cowboy theme to it.  Jennie Haan’s vocals are totally brilliant with a hard rocking edge with the hints of Janis Joplin.  Alan’s guitar riff was fuzzy and cool and when you bump that up against Brent Carter’s saxophone you are in for a treat.  The whole blues rock feel is what I’ve been digging a lot of lately and this helps satisfy that thirst and then thrown in a damn fine guitar solo and life is good.  There is also a cool groove throughout the song by the fantastic rhythm section of Dave on bass and Dick on drums.  This is how you kick off your debut album folks. Continue reading “Babe Ruth – ‘First Base’ – Album Review” →

Whitesnake – ‘Live at Donington 1990: Monsters of Rock’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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We are now in the year 2011 with Whitesnake and with that being said, let’s release a live album from 1990.  Sure, why not. David seems to be out of ideas as this is the third live album in 5 years and in another 2 years, he will release 2 more.  I have to admit, I am starting to get live album burnout.  But since this is a 1990 Live album and I haven’t reviewed a live album from this line-up, it makes the cut.

The show is from Donington Park on August 8th, 1990 at the Monsters of Rock Festival.  It is the final show in the ‘Liqour and Poker Tour’ in support of the ‘Slip of the Tongue’ album.  This show was also released on the ‘Slip of the Tongue’ 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition box set.  The CD is not the full show as it leaves out the solos, but the DVD has the full show on it.  So, I would recommend getting that deluxe edition because you get this show plus a whole lot more.

The band is headlining the festival, for the second time I believe.  The line-up of the band is pretty impressive…

  • David Coverdale
  • Steve Vai
  • Adrian Vandenberg
  • Rudy Sarzo
  • Tommy Aldridge

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The show is a full set even for a festival. They play 17 songs and this being 1990, there are no early Deep Purple songs as David refused to play them back then.  And if you want early Whitesnake, you only get “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City’ from the Snakebite EP (and is probably my favorite song of this show) and that is all.  The songs are from the 3 big albums in the 80’s – Slide it In, 1987 and Slip of the Tongue. Continue reading “Whitesnake – ‘Live at Donington 1990: Monsters of Rock’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)” →

Kiss – ‘They Only Come Out At Night’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review

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In my quest for collecting Kiss Bootlegs for eery tour they have done, I found another fantastic addition to the collection.  My local record shop, Hardy Boy Records, has been a goldmine of late for Bootlegs. I have now bought four over the last few months and all for tours I didn’t have (or a collection of Wicked Lester demos – that is another story that will be told later).

The last 2 I bought were actually the same store, so I guess that statement was entirely true.  The difference was one was the North American Tour setlist (which will come in the next week or two) and this one is the European leg of that tour with an ever so slightly different setlist.

Before we get to the show and the music, let’s discuss the cover of the album.  This album is listed as “For Promotional Use Only” and is a really cheap production.  The album jacket is plain white cover with this paper picture of the band that wraps around the back. It is glued down and not going anywhere.  But the strange thing is the people on the cover.  Now, I get it this the Animalize Tour so you would expect Mark St. John to be on the cover, but there is a problem.  This is not one of the 3 shows that Mark actually played on.  This has Bruce Kulick playing before he was an official member which would come about two months later.

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The show is from October 26, 1984 at the Johanneshov Isstadion in Stockholm, Sweden on the first leg of the tour.  The recording if an audience recording actually sounds quite excellent.  Not much crowd noise and everyone sounds pretty clear with minor instances where the sound was off a little.  This was released a year later in 1985 by a group called Poverty Records at least that’s what it says on the album itself. Continue reading “Kiss – ‘They Only Come Out At Night’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review” →

Friday New Releases – May 22nd

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Finally!!  Yes, there are some albums I am actually excited about this week.  It has been awhile for me since the last week that anything I was anxiously awaiting. This week, I have two that will definitely get a spin first thing in the morning while I am sitting at home in my office like I have for the last two months…I can’t wait to sit in traffic and drive to work.  I never thought I would say that!!!  Anyhoo, my choices are highlighted in Blue. Let me know what you are interested in hearing and what I may have missed.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

  • 81DFJWo7xSL._AC_UL115_  Dennis DeYoung – 26 East, Vol. 1 – (Frontiers Records):  I couldn’t tell you the last time a Dennis DeYoung record got any press, but this one is making the rounds.  I have heard nothing but positive comments on this one so far, so it has really piqued my interest.  I have heard there is a strong Styx element and why wouldn’t there be as he was a huge part of that sound.  We will see.

  • 81iqT1T2gSL._AC_UL115_  One Desire – Midnight Empire – (Frontiers Records):  Okay, this one might the first one getting a spin this morning.  These two songs I have heard so far are a couple of the best I’ve heard this year. If you like some solid guitar driven, heavy melodic rock with a guy that can sing his heart out, this is the one for you to hear.  I think this is going to be the one to beat this year.

Continue reading “Friday New Releases – May 22nd” →