After the Whitesnake tour supporting the album, ‘Slip of the Tongue’, David was done. He had had enough of Whitesnake and called it quits. He put the band on the back burner and started searching for the next big thing. In the meantime, Jimmy Page was not getting back with his former band Led Zeppelin so he was in limbo as well. Then in 1991, shortly after the tour, A&R guy, John Kalodner, suggested David and Jimmy Page get together and cut an album. That is funny for one very big reason. David had been told by critics for years that he was a Robert Plant wannabe…a poor man’s Zeppelin if you will. Heck, when Robert Plant heard about this project, he called the pairing David Cover”Version”…ouch!
That didn’t stop them though and thankfully for us they plowed ahead. The album was recorded at the end of 1991 and in to 1992. However, for reasons I can’t find, the album was delayed until March 1993 when it finally was released. The album had pretty decent success as it definitely went platinum and reached #5 on the Billboard Charts and #4 in the UK. In 1993, a blues tinged rock album to do this good in a landscape that was pretty much grunge at the time, I would say it did more than pretty decent.
Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review. We are now on Disk 9. Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.
I will try and keep some consistency between each disk. I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information. I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk. I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.
At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package. I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week. Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time. That is a bunch of music to go through.
The songs aren’t in chronological order. Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe. The vibe of this one appears to be a little all over the place. However, there are only a handful of songs that ended up on Kiss albums or solo albums which is nice. It is an interesting set of tracks.
Well, are you ready? Then let’s get right to it.
The CD comes in a picture of Gene in full make-up with his Axe…
Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review. We are now on Disk 8. Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.
I will try and keep some consistency between each disk. I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information. I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk. I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.
At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package. I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week. Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time. That is a bunch of music to go through.
The songs aren’t in chronological order. Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe. The vibe of this one appears to be Rock & Roll. These are Gene songs plain and simple. When you think of the Demon, you would imagine him singing these type of songs.
Well, are you ready? Then let’s get right to it.
The CD comes with a picture of Gene’s rendering of the lights on an early 80’s tour. It is pretty cool…
Hollywood Undead brings us their sixth studio release with “New Empire Vol. 1” In what is supposed to be a change in direction and new sound that is fresh while still being Hollywood Undead, it is all of that and none of it. The music is still a mixture of nu metal and rap which is what they have always done.
However, this album though takes it further with being a little heavier at times and way more melodic at other times full of melodies and hooks that make these songs instantly memorable and you find yourself singing them even when the album is done.
But the biggest difference is the lyrics. There is still the aggression you have always seen, but they seem to be a little more uplifting especially on songs like “Heart of Champion” and “Second Chances” which features Benji Madden from Good Charlotte.
And that heaviness I mentioned, check out the singles “Time Bomb”and “Already Dead” as they come at you full throttle and leave you exhausted and wanting more. “Already Dead” is already one of my favorite songs of the year so far. And that isn’t all, you get “Enemy” slamming at you and if you want a full on melodic gem than listen to “Upside Down” with special guest Kellin Quinn from the band Sleeping with Sirens as he brings a great vocal to the song and takes it a direction that the band wouldn’t normally go.
“Empire” is a little less heavy and a little EDM thrown in backdropping the rap by J Dog and Johnny 3 Tears. What is cool with them is at times all members get to sing or rap which gives the band a broader range and able to do almost anything they want. Lots of variety.
If you are looking for straight up rap then “Killin’ It” is what you want as it is full of cockiness, swagger and with the EDM effects delivers a solid track that makes you feel you can take on the world. You also want to hear “Nightmare” which is so dramatic and powerful. A beast of a song to end the album on. Then “Enemy” explodes and the drums come slamming against your head bringing the metal back to the sound.
The change for the band wasn’t as dramatic as I expected, but it was better than I expected. I’m really drawn to the melodic sound on most of the choruses. The hooks have grabbed hold of me. I’m not a rap guy personally, but what these guys deliver is something that holds my attention and mixes well with the heaviness of the music enough to make this rock guy to sit up and pay attention.
This year has been really slow for music and this is the first album that I have gravitated towards and I have a feeling it will stick with me for some time to come. The production of the album is slick and the mix is top notch as everything sounds nearly perfect. I give it a 4.75 out 5.0 Stars only because at 9 songs and only 33 minutes, it is too short!! Bright side, I can play it over and over and not take up too much time.
Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review. We are now on Disk 7. Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.
I will try and keep some consistency between each disk. I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information. I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk. I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.
At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package. I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week. Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time. That is a bunch of music to go through.
The songs aren’t in chronological order. Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe. The vibe of this one is hard to pinpoint. It is a little all over the place with rock and some R&B vibes.
Well, are you ready? Then let’s get right to it.
The CD comes in sleeve with my least favorite picture of Gene…I hope that is not a sign…
After coming off the tour of the band’s biggest selling album, ‘Whitesnake’, it was time to record a new album. But before that could happen, another guitarist left the fold. Vivian Campbell left the band and it was reported as “Creative Differences”…whatever that means. But it what it did mean, was more line-up issues for the band.
But that didn’t stop David from starting to write new songs. He and his now creative partner, Adrian Vandenberg, set forth with writing the new album. They actually wrote some of the album while on tour, but the bulk was crafter in David’s home in Lake Tahoe. I would think that wouldn’t be a bad place to hold up to write. The songs were all written by David and Adrian (except for one), but sadly, Adrian wouldn’t play on any of them.
Adrian hurt his wrist and could not record. He would need surgery for the issue and that put him out of commission for some time. So, David needed to find a replacement to help with the album. Now the replacement was to record, but it was also to replace Vivian. He needed someone really strong and thankfully for us, he found one of the greatest guitar players ever to hold a 6 string. It was the former Frank Zappa and former David Lee Roth guitarist Steve Vai. Steve brought a whole new style and sound to Whitesnake. Don’t expect Vai to play the blues, he had a texture and sound that was not what Whitesnake fans were used to, but we could accept it. Continue reading “Whitesnake – ‘Slip of the Tongue’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)”→
Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review. We are now on Disk 6. Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.
I will try and keep some consistency between each disk. I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information. I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk. I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.
At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package. I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week. Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time. That is a bunch of music to go through.
The songs aren’t in chronological order. Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe. The vibe of this one appears to be a little pop, a little R&B and nothing real rock like. Plus, it is a lot of demos from the ‘Asshole’ album which isn’t a good thing.
Well, are you ready? Then let’s get right to it.
The CD comes with a picture of Gene in front of a lot of Kiss memorabilia…
After all the turmoil with the band around the ‘Slide it In’ album and tour, David Coverdale was almost ready to throw in the towel. After the tour, Cozy Powell left the band and I think Davd had had enough. However, Geffen records saw something between David and newcomer John Sykes that they somehow talked David in to hanging on and working with John. The two went and tucked themselves away somewhere in the south of France and started writing…south of France…tough fucking life!!
When they gathered some material, the two embarked to L.A. with bassist Neil Murray to start recording. But before they could do that, they needed a drummer and along comes Ansley Dunbar to complete the team. But wait, there is only 1 guitar player and usually there is two and you would be right. John Sykes recorded all the guitar parts for the album.
Now during the recording, the band had more problems. One was John Sykes. John was obsessed over getting the right guitar sound almost to the detriment of the whole project. Second, David got sick…bad sick. A major sinus infection that almost derailed his whole career. It was so bad, that John Sykes had suggested bringing in another vocalist to finish the project…excuse me??…WTF??? John, if you didn’t know, Whitesnake is David’s band, not yours. That did not sit well with David as is no surprise. And right when the album was set for release, David fired the band! Yep, all of them…bye, bye!!
Okay, this is basically the second time this has happened in a row on an album release. The new band was brought in and it consisted of Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell on guitars, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums. I have to say that is one helluva a line-up. David has a way of getting top musicians.
Stone Temple Pilots release their first album of the new decade which is their eighth album overall and second with new lead singer Jeff Gutt. ‘Perdida’ is quite a departure for the band as the album is an all acoustic affair of 10 new songs. This is either a bold step in a new direction or a complete and utter misstep in a stellar career.
When I heard several months back that this was all acoustic, I had my reservations. I was curious as to the reason why with only one album under their belts with Jeff Gutt as the singer would they change course so dramatically. I still don’t know why, but it is an interesting choice.
The album title “Perdida” struck me as odd until I found out what it meant. The word is Spanish and means “lost’. Take that word with the image of the cover, which I find to be spectacular, and everything starts to fall in to place. Is the band lost in who they are as group or our they spiritually lost. Is the album them trying to find their way or is it a statement that they have no idea what to do anymore and it is a cry for help? So many questions.
Welcome to the first Friday of February and the new releases we will see today. There are a bunch this week. If you like rock, pop, metal, country, latin, alternative or all of the above, there is probably something for you. I have three I am interested in hearing and I will highlight those in blue like normal. Let me know what interests you and what I missed including on the list so everyone knows. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful musical weekend!!
Stone Temple Pilots – Perdida – (Play Pen Music / Rhino): STP is back with Jeff Gutt on vocals for his second album. This one is quite a departure from their normal fare as it is an all acoustic album of new music. Pretty bold move with still a new singer. My brother-in-law worked on this album with the band so of course it is on my list and has been pre-ordered on vinyl to arrive today when I get home from work. Looking forward to explore this one.
Richard Marx – Limitless – (BMG): I will admit it…I love Richard Marx…no not the physical, deep emotional love for a person, but love of his music. What can I say, I am a sap for a good love song or hell, a good song period. Richard has a great way of doing both of those and at the same time. Thankfully the 80’s mullet is gone and he has changed with the times.
Continue reading “Coverdale-Page – ‘Coverdale-Page’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)” 
2 Loud 2 Old Music 