Category: Album Review

Collective Soul – ‘Blood’ – Album Review

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25 Years!  Wow!  Collective Soul is celebrating 25 years together as a band and as luck would have it, we also get a new record to boot.  The band delivers their 10th Studio Album with ‘Blood’ and they prove there is still life in that blood running through their veins.

With the opening track, “Now’s the Time”, you get that classic Collective Soul guitar sound and Ed’s soaring vocals. The song is high energy and welcomes you to the party with open arms.  The heavy bass line from Will Turpin opens the next song “Over Me” which keeps the energy level pumped up to 10.  The band has a way with catchy riffs and choruses that are simple yet impactful.

“Crushed” is a song that would feel right at home on their 2000 album ‘Blender’.  It is a throwback, yet modern. Then comes “Right as Rain” which the band has been playing live for awhile now so it makes you feel right at home.

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Kiss – Return to Capital Center (Bootleg Series) – Album Review

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We have another Kiss Bootleg to discuss in this series.  We are on #4 and this one is from the 1979 Dynasty Tour and took place in Largo, Maryland on July 8th, 1979 at the Capital Center.  This was a time in Kiss that is quite interesting as the band was imploding, basically.  Peter couldn’t play drums like he did just a short time earlier and Ace was shall we say, “high” on life.  This tour was supposed to be huge.  The costumes, the stage show and well, everything was to be bigger and better.  Well, it was far from it.

Before we get in to the music, we go through the packaging first and this set is delivered beautifully.  The set was done in 2018 and it was put together quite nicely.  Here is the first little nugget, it is a a little side card that bends around one end kind of like the OBI strips for Japanese releases.

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After that there is a large, album sized Disco Sticker included.  It is supposed to be in a Disco Ball style and is a little hard to see, but cool nonetheless.

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Billy Idol – ‘Kings & Queens of the Underground’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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After Billy’s last greatest hits album “Idolize Yourself”, things went quiet.  From 2010 – 2014, Billy worked on the next project.  Along that same timeframe, he was also working on a book that chronicle his life called “Dancing with MySelf”.  The album and book were both released in October 2014 and I guess you could say the album was a soundtrack to that new book.

For me, the album, called ‘King & Queens of the Underground’, should have been called ‘Postcards from the Past’ as the songs seem to have that retrospective feel and were snapshots of his life and career.  There is a lot of soul-searching going and it feels like a cathartic exercise in releasing his demons.  It was the perfect companion piece for the book.

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For the recording of the album, Billy worked mostly with Trevor Horn of the famed band, The Buggles.  Keith Forsey, who produced most of Billy’s album was not back for this one.  I don’t think there were any issues, I believe Billy was wanting to explore new ground.  Trevor brought Billy back to 80’s sound more so than the ‘Devil’s Playground’ did.  There were a little more synthesizers/keyboards than in the past and it was utilized perfectly.

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Def Leppard – The Collection, Volume Two – Album Review

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After a year since the release of The Collection Volume 1, Def Leppard finally releases Volume 2.  And as I did with the first, I bought the Vinyl edition.  Volume 1 was sensational and if you want to check out that review, click on The Collection Volume 1.  As I normally do with these box sets, I focus mostly on the packaging and the bonus material as the main albums we all know and love or we wouldn’t be buying this set.  I want to know if we are getting a bang for our buck

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Look at all the albums and songs you are getting. There are 4 Studio albums and 4 albums of bonus material and there a total of 10 LPs in the set as 2 of the albums are double LPs.  It is heavy and chock of great tunes that will give you hours and hours of fun. I always save the sticker that is on the plastic wrapping and this time is no different.  Here is a summary of the box set.

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Kiss – ‘The Summer of Satan: The Devils Ride Out!’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review

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And now we are on the third Kiss Bootleg I picked up in Paris.  This one is a beauty.  It is called “Kiss – The Summer of Satan: The Devils Ride Out!”.  The package is fantastic on this release as you get a beautiful gatefold, some awesome pictures on the vinyl sleeves and some colorful vinyl.

The show is at the Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, NJ on July 10th, 1976.  It is a full soundboard recording (and I believe this show was videotaped as well and circulating).  You get 15 tracks plus 3 solos, so yes, a full show.  Before we get in to the music, as always, let’s go over the packaging.  You’ve seen the cover above, now take a look at the back cover.  It is a picture of the band on motorcycles.  I really cool shot!

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And It is a 2LP set and they did it right with a gatefold.  The full picture on the gatefold is a shot of the stage with all the band and the Kiss Logo!!  Okay, Peter is  little blurred by the smoke…lots of smoke.

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Billy Idol – ‘The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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I wasn’t going to do any greatest hits, but with this one I changed my mind.  Billy has only had a handful of official greatest hits packages and although they cover the hits, none are really that great.  So, I thought I would help your search and give you what I think might the best of the greatest hits albums he has released.

The one I think is the best is the 2008 release, ‘The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself’.  It isn’t that much different than the 2001 release simply titled ‘Greatest Hits’. In fact, there are 14 songs that are the same and almost the exact track list order.  With the “Greatest Hits’ package from 2001, you get a live version of “Rebel Yell” and the Simple Minds cover of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” which is a really good cover.  Those two are great to have, no doubt.  However, I do prefer the ‘Idolize Yourself’ version better.

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Why do I like this version better than the prior release?  There are actually 5 reasons.

First: It is the most current, so you get a song from “Devil’s Playground called “World Comin’ Down”.  The song is an uptempo rocker about the troubles in the world and the pressures you feel as a result.  It is a song that gets you moving and with Steve Stephen’s speedy guitar riffs and Brian Tichy’s heart-pounding drums you never catch your breath.

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Stray Cats – ’40’ – Album Review

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The Stray Cats are back after 26 years with their new album titled ’40’.  The band started 40 years ago and this is the celebration of that fact.  The album feels like you are back in the 80’s when they were tearin’ up the charts with “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town”.  The album has that feel, that energy and it is “Rockabilly” at its finest.

With Brian Setzer on guitar, Lee Rocker on the Stand-Up Bass and Slim Jim Phantom on drums, they fly through 12 songs that make you feel you are back in the 50’s listening to  Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry and every other legend from the time.

From the opening track “Cat Fight (Over a Dog Like Me)” to “Rock It Off” and “Cry Danger”, you want to get up, slick the hair back and swing dance all night.  Brian is in rare form on vocals and guitar playing with songs like “That’s Messed Up” and “Devil Train” and the whole band is just killin’ it through-out.  You even get sage advice on “When Nothing’s Going Right” – Brian tells you to just go Left!  Mind blown!!

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Kiss – Look Wot You Dun To Me (Bootleg Series) – Album Review

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The second review in the series is for a bootleg of the 1988 tour of Crazy Nights.  And of course, this is another tour that I saw.  This one was recorded on April 18th, 1988 at the Castle Hall in Osaka, Japan.  Now, I saw the tour on February 10th at the Omni in Atlanta, GA.  At my show they only played 13 songs.  They played those same 13 songs in Japan plus 6 more tracks.  Yes, just like the Japanese Edition of CDs, Japan gets extra tracks during live shows as well.

Now the packaging for this release is not quite as nice as the first review.  It is a double LP, but not a gatefold.

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There is no pictures or posters included, but it is a colored vinyl.  It is a pretty white with a white label on one and a black label on the other.

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Billy Idol – ‘Happy Holidays’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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A short time after Billy’s comeback release, ‘Devil’s Playground’, he thought (or somebody thought), we should release a Christmas Album.  I don’t know if it was because of the positive feedback for the Christmas song on the last album “Yellin’ at the Xmas Tree” or drugs, but they decided to do it.

Now, “Yellin’ at the Xmas Tree” is absolutely fantastic. It is a rocking Idol song and I love the twist on the song that it is not all happy and joyful at Christmas. Some people don’t have the stereotypical Yuletide joy.

This album is nothing like that.  It is Billy putting on his dinner jacket, pouring himself a drink and playing traditional Christmas songs in both a traditional or even a smoke-filled room jazz style.

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The album is full of songs you know and love (well, the original versions you love) and it even has two brand new songs written by Billy…oh joy!!  I know…you can feel my excitement.  I am sorry…I will be completely honest with you.  I HATE CHRISTMAS ALBUMS!!!  That isn’t entirely true.  If you want to do a compilation Christmas albums with different artists singing the best versions of Christmas songs…I am all for it.  If it s one Singer or one Band doing a whole entire 40 minute album of them doing Christmas Songs..,please count me out!!!

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Ida Mae – ‘Chasing Lights’ – Album Review

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Ida Mae came into my life thanks to going to see Greta Van Fleet in concert.  Ida Mae was the opening act and what an opening act they were!  Before the show, I was over by the Merch table and saw that they were selling the vinyl.  Without hearing the band, I took a chance and bought the vinyl.  It turns out that was a very wise decision.

The album, called ‘Chasing Lights’, hadn’t even been officially released yet.  I picked it up on May 15th and the album was set to be released tomorrow, June 7th.  This was one of the very few times I have ever been able to review an album prior to its release.  I had plenty of time to sit, absorb it and make a well-informed decision on the quality of this release.

Before I do that, let me tell you a little about Ida Mae.  The duo are a husband and wife team named Chris Turpin and Stephanie Jean.  They hail from England, but currently reside in Nashville, TN (who doesn’t live there now if you are a musician).  Now, you might recognize their name if you know the band Kill It Kid who were a British Blues band that dissolved after three albums.

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