Category: Album Review

I Prevail – ‘Trauma’ – Album Review

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I Prevail is back after a potential career ending vocal cord injury for singer, Brian Burkheiser.  Brian wasn’t sure if he would be able to continue, but with a successful surgery, that ‘trauma’ has led to the band returning with their sophomore album, ‘Trauma’.  And let me tell you the band is not suffering from any sophomore slump or suffering any side effects from that surgery.  This is a band that has found who they are and delivered one of the most impressive albums of the year.

I Prevail is a metalcore band and as I am not overly familiar with that genre, all I can say is if it sounds like this, I will be getting to know more of this band and this genre.  All I do know is I hear sounds of Linkin Park and Hollywood Undead in their music and since I like both those bands, then this is something for me.  It is at times brutal and other times beautiful.

The unclean vocals, Eric Vanlerberghe, don’t distract from the songs as it is not excessive.  It only enhances the performances and gives it an edge and attitude that fits perfectly with the music.  The clean vocals, Brian Burkheiser, are smooth and so melodic and he has this great rock voice that is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

The opening track, “Bow Down”, is an assault on the senses.  It comes at you with such power and force that you are immediately engulfed in the shockwave and blown back in your seat.  Then we go into the song “Paranoid” which is so different than the opener. It includes a little rap and Brian’s clean vocals sound great.  It slowly builds up and then drops back slower.

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Billy Idol – ‘Charmed Life’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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Billy Idol’s world was different now after ‘Whiplash Smile’ and ‘Vital Idol’.  Steve Stevens was gone, his manager Bill Aucoin was gone and he needed a fresh start.  After reconciling with his girlfriend, Perri Lister, they moved from New York City to Los Angeles to give things a go.

Billy and Perri had a baby boy, Billy bought himself a motorcycle, Billy got the acting bug and Billy couldn’t stay faithful to Perri.  A lot was going on.  Oh yeah, and he continued to use drugs.  So, where to begin.  I will give a Cliff Notes version as it would be a rather long synopsis if I didn’t.

I guess we will go with the fact that he had a baby and was now a dad, but it didn’t seem to stop his infidelity. He continually cheated on Perri and even fell for a girl 13 years younger than him.  Well, he knocked her up and she gave Billy a beautiful baby girl.  This of course was the end of Billy & Perri when she found out.

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Billy also met a lot of people in the movie business and actually got a big role in the Oliver Stone movie ‘The Doors’ about Jim Morrison and the band.   But before he could do that role, Billy went and had himself a little motorcycle accident which nearly cost him one of his legs.  As a result, he couldn’t do the role and had to settle for a much lesser role in the movie.  In fact, it was so bad he wasn’t able to promote his new album he had been working on called ‘Charmed Life’.  He did appear in the video for the first single (more on that later), but not much else.

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Bryan Adams – ‘Shine A Light’ – Album Review

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Bryan Adams is coming in concert to Charlotte, NC on May 4th, 2019.  I thought this would be a great date night for my wife and I so bought 2 tickets.  With each pair of tickets you buy, you get a copy of the new Bryan Adams album ‘Shine A Light’.  I hadn’t bought any new Adams stuff in quite some time so I was glad to get this and I thought, why not review it.  So, here is that review.

The first thing I noticed is that Bryan is more Easy Listening than he is rock now and I guess that comes with age.  And getting through those first two tracks was not easy to listen to at all.  The first song is the title track, “Shine A Light”, and was written by both Bryan and Ed Sheeran.  Yes, the Ed Sheeran.  It is a catchy enough song, but it is pure pop dribble.  And the second track is no better as it is a duet with Jennifer Lopez called “That’s How Strong Our Love Is”. Yes, the J-Lo herself.  Now if you can make it through those tracks, it will get better, I promise.

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“Part Friday Night, Part Sunday Morning” is probably my favorite song on the album.  It is a fun, good old-fashion rock song that Bryan is really good at it.  Great tempo and great rhythm and all around good time.  Not to be out done is “Driving Under the Influence of Love” written with his long time writing partner, Jim Vallance.  Another rocker that takes me back to Bryan in the 80’s.  These are the two songs that should have kicked off this album rather than that crap before it.  It is uptempo and has a guitar solo.  What more could you want.

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Harem Scarem – The Ultimate Collection – Album Review

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Formed in Canada around 1987, Harem Scarem has been rocking for well over 30 years now.  With 15 studio albums, 8 live albums and numerous compilation albums, they have been delivering solid rock music for the masses.  The band only has two original members still in it from the beginning and they are the two most crucial in this scenario.  Lead singer, Harry Hess, and Lead Guitarist, Pete Lesperance.  Why would these two be the most crucial, well they are the principal song writers as well as the voice and sound of the band.  I would say that is crucial.

The Ultimate Collection is a box set that contains 12 of their studio albums plus a collection of songs from early in their career as well as a disc of unreleased tracks.  And to top it off, the studio albums include all the bonus tracks from those albums as well.  That is a lot of music and there are 175 tracks in this set. Incredible.

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What does that look like all sprawled out?  Here you go…

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Billy Idol – ‘Vital Idol’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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Mid-way through the tour for Whiplash Smile, there was a new head at Chrysalis Records named Mike Bone.  He wanted to immediately make his mark with Billy and suggested putting a compilation together of Remixed songs along with a live version of “Mony Mony”.  Billy was on board and while on tour, they recorded the live version, slapped a bunch of remixes together and bam…you had an album.

All this above was from Billy’s book, ‘Dancing With Myself’, but doesn’t make sense to me.  As the time in the book was around 86/87 and this compilation had already been released in 1985 in the UK.  In September 1987, ‘Vital Idol’ was released in the US.  Plus, my version doesn’t have a “Live” version of “Mony Mony”.  At least it doesn’t sound live.  Not sure Billy’s memory was correct in the order of things as the book doesn’t mention the UK version and the live take of “Mony, Mony” was on the greatest hits collection that came out in 1988 not the 1987 version of Vital Idol.  Sorry, not completely true as a 1988 Japanese version of Vital Idol does have the live version.  Confusing.

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The UK and US version also differed ever so slightly.  The UK version had one less song and the track order was different.  The US version had a remix of a track off Whiplash Smile which the UK version was out before that album was even released so it wouldn’t have it.

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Tesla – ‘Shock’ – Album Review

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Tesla decided to make a new album after saying the last one was…well the last one.  Thankfully, that is not the case.  Tesla’s new album is called ‘Shock’ and there has been a lot said of this new album and about how much it sounds like Def Leppard since it was produced by Phil Collen, lead guitarist of the band.

And let me tell you, they are 100% RIGHT!!  It really does!!  Mostly, it is from the backing vocals.  On a lot of the songs, the backing vocals have been done in the same way Lep does it.  In fact, all the backing singers sound exactly like Phil. Now, I am not saying sounding like Lep is a bad thing.  It is, however, a little distracting and a little detracting. 

From the opening track, “You Won’t Take Me Alive”, “Taste Like”, “I Want Everything” and “Afterlife” it is the classic Lep sound.  They aren’t bad songs at all and they do grow on you with each listen.  It is just strange.  At times I feel like I am listening to a Lep album with a new lead singer.

The album is also very soft at time.  It has several ballads (“We Can Rule The World”, “Love is a Fire” and “Forever Loving You”) and even a breezy little song called “California Love Song”.  At times you could compare this album to Def Leppard’s X (often called the “Love” album for it’s ballad heavy track list).

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Billy Idol – ‘Whiplash Smile’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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After the tour for Rebel Yell, Billy Idol continued to live like he was on tour.  The drug use was getting worse, his relationship with Perri Lister was over and even his manager, Bill Aucoin was absent due to his own drug issues.  Billy’s world was slowly spiraling out of control.  And so was his ego.

When work was started on his next album ‘Whiplash Smile’, Billy’s ego started to get in the way.  He wanted control.  He wanted to write all the songs.  He wanted to add more synthesizers, more sounds, more stuff that wasn’t Steve Stevens.  And it is noticeable in the music.

What is also noticeable, is that with everyone leaving his life, the loneliness found its way into the music.  And an album that found about as much success as its predecessor, it wasn’t not quite the Billy Idol album people wanted or critics even liked.  It was an album that would lead to the end of a relationship between musicians that really needed each other.

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Avril Lavigne – ‘Head Above Water’ – Album Review

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Avril Lavigne is now on her 6th studio album and the first since 2013’s self-titled release.  That is a long gap and she has been missed.  Avril has gone from this skater girl with a punk and rock attitude to a more mature, pop sound that is both beautiful and elegant.

The problem with the release is it is safe, there is no more edge to her songs.  There is nothing to differentiate her from every other person on the radio even having Nicki Minaj appear on “Dumb Blonde”.  Yes, please…have a hip hop artist in your song so it gets played on the radio (that is sarcasm, btw).  One time, she led the pack, now she is trying to keep up.

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The opening track “Head Above Water” is strong and “Tell Me It’s Over” as well as “I Fell In Love With the Devil” aren’t bad either, but the album felt like so much filler and after 6 years, I hoped she had something more to say.  Also, when the aforementioned “Dumb Blonde” is the most upbeat, fun song on the album, that is a problem.

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Danger Danger – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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It all started for me back in 1990 when I saw Danger Danger open up for Kiss.  I was really impressed by their stage performance and the songs.  I had to check them out.  They were touring in support of their debut, self-titled album which was released in 1989 and I went out and bought it within that week after the show.  I have followed their career ever since.

The band has had two lead singers (they had another prior to any album coming out, but doesn’t count for this list and since I am not including the “Rare Cuts” compilation).  The first for me was Ted Poley.  He is currently the lead singer again.  From the mid-90’s to early ’00’s, the singer was Paul Laine.  Each have 3 studio album and a cool combo set included in this list for a total of 7 albums ranked.  No live albums or any compilations included.

The classic line-up for me is Bruno Ravel (bass/guitar), Steve West (drums), Andy Timmons (guitar), Kasey Smith (Keyboards) and Ted Poly (vocals).  When they switched out with Paul Laine (vocals) I was perfectly happy as he was a great singer and I loved his debut album ‘Stick It In Your Ear’.  The line-up has change over the years, but Bruno and Steve have been the constants.

The band is a story of two different bands.  The beginning was all having a good time, full of fun and excitement with songs about Sex, Sex, Rock & Roll and more Sex…did I mention sex??  Then they became more serious tone, with a more mature sound and flat out better song writing.  Both bands I liked equally as they each brought something to the table.  I think they are worth checking out, but they might not be everyone’s cup of tea.  I hope you enjoy…

WORST – REVOLVE (2009):

 

 

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Whitesnake – ‘Slide It In’: the Ultimate Special Edition – Album Review

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The album that broke Whitesnake in the US finally gets its ‘Ultimate Special Edition release celebrating 35 years as the original UK album was released in 1984.  35 years is crazy to think about.  In those 35 years, this album only gets better.

This special edition consists of 6 CDs, 1 DVD, 1 Book, 1 Tour Program replica and 1 Album Cover Poster.  And it has over 100 tracks amongst all the discs.  Here is everything you get.

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Now of course that 100+ tracks is misleading and this set is truly for the ultimate fan.  Why?  Because the set repeats the songs a lot.  Because the set repeats the songs a lot.  Yes, I wrote that twice on purpose.

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Let me explain by jumping in to the album right away and we will talk about the first 3 discs as they go together.

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