Category: Album Review

Bon Jovi – ‘Slippery When Wet: Liquid Vinyl (40th Anniversary Edition)’ (2025) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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For the band’s 40th Anniversary of the album that made the band rock stars, they decided to release a Liquid Version of the album on vinyl. With a title like ‘Slippery When Wet’ and filling it up with a bluish liquid that resembles water, it is pretty cool!! The liquid will slosh around as you move the vinyl around so it never seems to be in the same place twice. The vinyl itself is really thick to accommodate the liquid and it actually does play, however, I’ve never dropped a needle on it and don’t know if I will. I did spin around on the turntable and the liquid doesn’t actually move much when playing.

My only concern with it is what happens if it leaks? I will be storing it in a plastic vinyl storage sleeve just in case so the liquid doesn’t damage anything else. However, I think the liquid will eventually evaporate, but hopefully years and years later and long after I’m gone. Bon Jovi’s first run of these albums were number and I believe there were 1,300. Mine is #0538. Those sold out extremely quickly and are now selling on discogs for $500 and up. I wonder how long that price will hold because Bon Jovi has reissued it again in a non-number version so people can now get one again for the original $99. I have no intention of selling. Don’t get me wrong, if I would’ve known I could sell it for $500, I would’ve sold it and then been able to buy it again for $99…hell yeah…no brainer. Too many for sale now to think I would even get that price.

ORIGINAL ALBUM REVIEW:

Bon Jovi had two moderately successful albums under their belt. However, they weren’t happy with the fact they weren’t superstars yet. So, changes had to be made. Not in the band line-up as it was still Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Tico Torres, David Bryan and Alec John Such. Nope. They needed to change their approach. One of the first things they chose to do was bring someone in to help with the songs. That person was Desmond Child. Desmond didn’t try to change who the band was with the songs, but he helped refine them, make them better. Jon and Richie wrote well together, but with Desmond’s help, the songs became stories that connected with people, but first they had to record them.

To do that, they changed even more stuff. Jon was listening to Black & Blue’s album ‘Without Love’ and he loved the production of it. So, he reached out to Bruce Fairbairn and he was hired as producer..with some other cat named Bob Rock as the engineer. The band moved to Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver, Canada and the record was started. The album was finished and released on August 18, 1986 and would become a 12,000,000 selling album making it Diamond. It would spark 4 Top 40 singles of which 2 went to #1 and would see the band tour massively. They would start out the tour as an opening act, but by the end they were the headliners. The band got what they wanted and they were now Superstars!

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The Jive Turkeys – ‘Bread & Butter’ (2010/2022) – Album Review

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Did you ever have the feeling that something was missing in your life? I found something that I didn’t realize I was missing and I am so glad I found it. That thing is Heavy Ohio Organ Funk!! You read that right. I had no idea this was a thing, but apparently it is and it is awesome. And it is fairly current although it sounds like it is straight out of the 70’s, this album was original released in 2010 (maybe 2009). Organ Funk is where it is at and I have found it with a band called The Jive Turkeys.

And who are The Jive Turkeys? In their own words, they are the Whitest Guys Playing The Blackest Music. They are Matt Amburgy (organ), Terry Cole (bass), Andrew DeRoberts (guitar), and Rob Houk (drums) and if you notice, no one on vocals and that is because this is an instrumental album. It is as if James Brown decided to do only instrumental music. It is soulful and funkilicious. It is pretty much an homage to the funk of the 70’s, but unique in its own rights. Sit back and get ready for your bread to be buttered with the soulfulness funk that will transport you to another time.

SIDE 1:

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Robbie Williams – ‘Life Thru A Lens” (25th Anniversary 7×7″ Box Set Edition)

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After a very tumultuous time in the boy band Take That, Robbie left the group, recorded an album and went in to rehab. Robbie’s drug problem and ego problem was too much for Take That. He was tired of his creative input being ignored and was ready to branch out on his own. And branch out he did. His first album, ‘Life Thru a Lens’ was released on September 29, 1997 and though it started off slow, it would go on to great heights hitting #1 on the UK charts and selling over 3 million copies in Europe.

Now, we peasants here in the States, knew nothing about Robbie and sadly that would continue throughout most of his career. He had some moderate success with a few songs, but for the most part, the U.S. missed out on a hugely talented guy. I’m glad to say, I didn’t miss out. I discovered him a few years later with the songs “Millennium” and “Rock DJ” and I was hooked. But we aren’t here to talk about the albums those songs were on. Nope. We are here to talk about the 25th Anniversary Edition of his debut album, ‘Life Thru a Lens’ and what a box set he put together. This box set I bought when Udiscovermusic.com had a 50% off sale and I couldn’t pass it up.

What we get with this Box Set are not one, but 7 different 7″ singles. There are so many great songs on here. While Take That was pretty much ballads, Robbie was all Britpop! And he does it pretty fucking well. Not only do you have the five great singles of “Old Before I Die” (written with Desmond Child and The Hooter’s own Eric Bazillian), “Lazy Days”, “South of the Border”, the beautiful ballad”Angels” as well as the Queen-esque “Let Me Entertain You”. All fantastic songs, but the best song on here wasn’t even a single which is the angry, funtastic song “Ego A Go Go”. The box set even has the hidden track “Hello Sir” which is Robbie reciting a poem telling off an old teacher who told him he wouldn’t amount to anything…boy was he wrong. You get the whole album over the singles plus 2 bonus tracks all in the order of the album. Some day I’ll do a proper review of it, but for now, these are the Seven Singles.

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McPhee – ‘McPhee’ (1971/2025) – Album Review

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Here we have another review of one of Noble Records Exclusive offerings. This time around we go Down Under to Sydney, Australia with a band named McPhee. The album was originally released in 1971 and has been lost and forgotten through the sands of time. Well, not really as it has been a highly sought after piece in the collecting world and an original LP will cost you well over $2,000 to obtain it. Don’t fret, these reissues by labels such as Guerssen Records help keep these lost gems in the public eye and we are luckier for it.

Guerssen always does such a fine job recreating the original artwork and they use only the best, high quality material. It is reproduced on a stunning green and black splatter vinyl which you will see below. On top of that you get an essay on the band by Ian McFarlane which gives you all the details needed to know about this band.

And speaking of the band, you get Jim Deverell on Organ, piano and vocals; Faye Lewis on vocals and percussion; Terry Popple on drums; Tony Joyce on guitar; and last but certainly not least, Benny Kaika on bass. It is a stellar line-up full of people that now how to use their instruments as you will hear if you check this out, which you should. The album is mostly full of covers but there are 2 original songs out of the 7 on the album. Musically, this is some killer acid rock, psychedelia, prog and pure rock. But enough jibber-jabber, lets get to the music.

SIDE 1:

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Needtobreathe – ‘Best of the Insiders: 4th Edition’ (2025)

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For the 2022 Insiders Club, Needtobreathe changed things up. They were no longer going to release a physical product and only do the Digital Songs only. I stopped being a member right then and there as I want a physical product. Well, I think the backlash was swift and loud as a few months in to the year, that all changed. They decided that there will be a new tier level in the Insiders Club, more expensive of course, but a physical product would be given. This time around instead of only a CD, you will get an autographed vinyl copy as well. They still have the digital songs, which are different then the ones on the vinyl. The new CD and Vinyl are now a Best of The Insiders giving us the 9-10 songs from the 8 years of The Insiders CD series they had started 8 years earlier. The 1st Edition came in March 2023 almost a year after the announcement, but the band was smart as they went ahead and worked on the 2023 Edition at the same time they were working on the 2022 Edition. We received this vinyl in April 2023. Then in February 2024, we got the 3rd Edition and a year later in February 2025, we get the 4th Edition. And I have them all…

This time around, we get 9 songs but you have to remember they are trying to fit them on easily on a vinyl with only a set amount of time, so I’m okay with only 9 songs. We did get the CD again which is unsigned but that gives me all four of those as well…

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Whitesnake – ‘Restless Heart’ (1997/2021 – 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) – Box Set

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Whitesnake remained dormant for quite a while after ‘Slip of the Tongue’.  But in 1994, the band released a greatest hits album and ended up doing a short tour that included David Coverdale, Adrian Vandenberg, Warren DeMartini (RATT), Denny Carmassi (Coverdale/Page) and Rudy Sarzo.  The tour was short and the band disappeared again shortly there after.

Now on to the next Whitesnake album.  Okay, not really.  This isn’t a Whitesnake album.  It is a David Coverdale solo album that the record company made him add the Whitesnake name in to the title and that is why it reads David Coverdale & Whitesnake on the original release of the album which was on March 26, 1997.  When you hear it, you will agree, this isn’t Whitesnake. The album does have Adrian Vandenberg and we finally get an album that he actually plays on with David.  But it is not what you expect.  The dual guitars of Whitesnake are not there.  The playing is very understated on most of the songs and it is not a guitar heavy album at all.  No sir.  It is back to the early R&B and Blues roots for this one.

Adrian and David wrote most of the album together and the band for this album included Carmassi on drums and then added Guy Pratt on bass and Brett Tuggle on keyboards.  The band had a label in Europe and Japan, but the U.S. market never had an official release of this album. After the tour of this album, Whitesnake would end yet again.  David decided to shelve the band one more time and it would be 10 years before we got another Studio album from the band.  I don’t know what happened, but it can’t be good for David to hang it up so fast.  He wasn’t happy at all with the turnout of the album and tour.

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David Lee Roth – ‘The Warner Recordings: 1985-1994’ (2025) – Box Set

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Released on February 21, 2025, ‘The Warner Recordings: 1985-1994’ celebrates 40 years of solo David Lee Roth. His debut E.P., ‘Crazy From the Heat’, was released on January 28, 1985 and the last album on Warner Records was ‘Your Filthy Little Mouth’ which was released on March 8. 1994. In just shy of a decade we received 4 studio albums and 1 E.P. and they are all captured in this box set. I went with the CD as I already had these on vinyl and since there are no bonus tracks or anything extra, no need buying those again. So, I opted for the cheaper CD version and figured I save some bucks.

The box set comes in a nice cardboard box with an open side the CDs slide in and out of as they are housed in mini-LP type cardboard jackets. There is no booklet, but each comes with an insert with credits and lyrics for the songs. And I will admit, at my age, it is really hard to read those lyrics as these inserts are CD size and that is a lot of lyrics to put on one side of the insert. The album jackets are faithful recreations of the original artwork and they are all sensational. Overall, a nice job of packaging. But it is the music we want to know about so let’s go through each of them.

‘CRAZY FROM THE HEAT E.P.’ (1985):

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The Distortion Den: Retro Rewind Eps. 1 – Aerosmith Vs KISS (Battle of 1975)

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I was honored to be asked for the debut episode of The Distortion Den’s Retro Rewind. Thanks Deke for inviting me along for the ride. We talk Aerosmith’s “Toys in the Attic” vs Kiss’ “Dressed to Kill” both albums now only 50 years young!! See who wins.

This is Deke’s write-up on the show…

Welcome to the first episode of Retro Rewind. The concept is rather simple, pick two albums from the same year and put them in head to head vinyl match. Every episode we will score each album out of 10. Scoring will be based on front cover, back cover, the compositions, lyrics, musicianship, productions etc. Basically geeking out over some classic albums in our collection and then rating them and declaring one a winner at the end.

John T Snow was one of the first guys I reached out to and we decided that Episode 1 should be between two albums that are turning 50 years young this year.Aerosmith with “Toys In The Attic” Vs. KISS with “Dressed To Kill”

Thanks again Deke!!!

Def Leppard – ‘Pyromania’ (40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition – 2024) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of one Def Leppard’s biggest albums, ‘Pyromania’, they give the album the justice it needs and released an awesome box set in 2024. And what a great set it is. It has 4 CD’s, 1 Blu Ray and even includes a hard back book. It is all housed in a cardboard box that is of great quality and the images are fantastic. The housing of the CDs & Blu Ray is not a gate-fold, but instead an incredible tri-fold. The original album is remastered, there is a disc of unreleased demos and mixes, a live set from Germany and the famous live show from 1983 at the L.A. Forum. It is splendid and I have to say that as this is one of my all-time favorite albums.

But before we get to the set, what was going on in the Def Leppard world at the time of the album? Well,…here it is…The tide was changing, Def Leppard’s success was palpable at this point, but not quite there…YET! Robert John “Mutt” Lange was back as producer and the band hit the studios in January 1982 and went through November of that year at Park Gates studio in London. All didn’t go smoothly, there was one big issue and that issue was Pete Willis.

Pete’s drinking problem was…well, becoming a problem. It was causing issues that were impacting his work and the band. It got so bad that on July 11, 1982, mid-way through work on the album, the band fired Pete. This was not a rash decision as it was discussed fully amongst the band because on July 12, 1982, the very next day, the band announced his replacement in the likes of Girl’s guitarists, Phil Collen. By this point in recording, Pete had already recorded all his rhythm parts and those are still on the album. Phil came in and added a few guitar parts and as well as some solos, he had it easy.

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Generation X – ‘Anthology’ (2003) – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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Record companies like to release compilations long after a band has broken up as it keeps the band relevant and another opportunity to grab some cash. Unlike most greatest hits compilation, this one has some meat on the bone. EMI records released ‘Anthology’ on February 25, 2003 and it isn’t a one disc type of compilation. No! You get 3 CDs of goodness. The booklet gives us a nice biography of the band plus credits for all the songs on the 3 discs. And it also gives 51 tracks from the Generation X catalog.

But before we get in to the music. Who is Generation X? Well, if you didn’t follow my Billy Idol series, then I will let you know who they are (but go back and read all the reviews in the Series after you are done with this one). Generation X were a punk band out of England that ran from 1976 until 1981 and consisted of Tony James, Bob “Derwood” Andrews, Mark Laff and of course, Billy Idol. That is how discovered them is digging through Billy Idol’s musical history and I am so glad I did. They had 3 albums and went from Generation X to Gen X when there was a line-up change. But I liked most of what I heard so this was easy decision to grab this one…okay…now on to the music included in this set.

DISC ONE:

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