Ed Sheeran’s album came out on Friday and my oldest daughter couldn’t be happier. She has been streaming the album almost non-stop since. I am sure I will have to go out and get her the vinyl real soon which I am okay with because I would listen to it as well.
Sheeran’s new album is called Divide (÷) and is his third album in his young career. Ed isn’t like all the other pop artist on the radio. He actually writes his songs and plays his instruments as well. I would even go as far as saying he is a musician and not just a prop for someone else’s songs.
The album has been breaking Spotify streaming records and is getting a lot of press. As a result, going into this record I had pretty high expectations. His first single, “Shape of You” is outstanding and has been blowing up the charts. It is a pop, dance song about new love and the song currently is still my favorite song on the album, but some others are catching up as I keep hitting repeat on the album myself.
The album opens with “Eraser” and has Ed Sheeran doing a little rapping which comes as no surprise since he has done it before and he is a huge hip hop fan. The song talks about his struggles with fame which he doesn’t expect you to feel sorry for him. I could imagine how hard fame really can be and understand the way he feels. It would be hard to have success so fast and all sense of privacy being stripped away. The song is great start to the album.
If you are expecting Stephen Pearcy’s ‘Smash’ to sound like Ratt, You’re In Trouble. This Collage of songs is definitely not Ratt and the first two songs, “I Know I’m Crazy” & “Ten Miles Wide”, proves that it is his own album.
Stephen’s screaming of MuthaFucka at the beginning of “Dead Roses” is the Detonator that is set off on this explosion of rock. They Lay It Down on the blues sounding “Shut Down Baby”. I’m Insane for the rockers “Passion Infinity” & “I Can’t Take It” as they would fit nicely on any Ratt album.
It’s a Shame, Shame, Shame, but a few songs don’t hold up. It feels like he pulled “Summer’s End”Out of the Cellar as it is a stale ballad. The song “Jamie” completely rips off the chorus on the Ratt song “Can’t Wait On Love” and it Drives Me Crazy. Lastly, the childish sounding “Lollipop” had me screaming Enough is Enough!
Pat Benatar had been around for almost 10 years by the time I got around to buying my first Pay Benatar album. I had seen her videos and heard a lot of songs on the radio, but I had never bought an album. That changed in 1988 with the release of one song…”All Fired Up”.
That was the song that did it for me. I heard that song and finally decided to go out and buy the CD. The album ‘Wide Awake in Dreamland” was My First Time with Pat Benatar.
Pat Benatar has one of the finest voices ever in Rock music, but for some reason I always hesitated buying her stuff. There is no one out there with her octave range or her talent. This album showed me that she was untouchable when it came to vocals. It was this album that caused me to go back and get her entire collection over the next few years.
I was out at the record store a month back and came across this album and had to have it on vinyl. The cool thing about the album I found was that it was a “Promotional Only” album and not supposed to be available for resale.
‘Heavy Fire’ is Black Star Riders third album in just 4 years and they keep getting better. For those that don’t know Black Star Riders, the band is really made up of the current members of Thin Lizzy. They wanted to release some new songs, but they didn’t want to release them as Thin Lizzy so they created Black Star Riders.
I think I understand why they did it. If you think about it, was anyone looking to hear new music from Thin Lizzy…No, probably not. This was actually a brilliant move as it caused a lot of buzz around the original release and here they are 4 years later getting better and better.
The band members are as follows:
Ricky Warwick – vocals
Scott Gorham – lead guitar
Damon Johnson – lead guitar
Robbie Crane – bass
Jimmy DeGrasso – drums
The album is a guitar heavy, hard rock release and you wouldn’t expect anything less when you have two lead guitarists. The opening track and title track, “Heavy Fire”, comes screaming in with the guitars and a nice heavy sound. Ricky sounds fantastic and they deliver a shot that resonates throughout the album.
The first single, “When the Night Comes In”, keeps up with the opening track and now you are completely invested in this album. I love guitar rock and they bring it even more on this song. “Dancing With the Wrong Girl” is a little more pop sound, but that doesn’t take away from anything, but actually adds to its charm. Jimmy’s drums on this one are perfect. They aren’t over powering and just enough that set perfectly in the song.
The heaviest and baddest song on the album is “Who Rides the Tiger”. The song is a full on attack of your senses and even the lyrics are a blast. They guitar solo was amazing and I don’t think I will ever tire of this duo of Scott & Damon. This is probably my favorite song they have ever done.
“Cold War Love” is next up, but this is one song that I could never connect with. It is a nice slow ballad, but I wasn’t feeling it. Hopefully you can connect with it and enjoy it. Luckily, the next song was their current single, “Testify or Say Goodbye”. The song picks the tempo back up and gives us more of the what you love from this album. The classic rock sound, the vocals and all around musicianship make it another standout on the album.
“Thinking About You Could Get Me Killed” gives us a little more darker sound and is a nice change of pace for the album without losing the flow of the album. “True Blue Kid” is another song that misses the mark for me. I can’t pinpoint what it is about the song, but I found myself skipping it which is never a good sign.
“Ticket to Rise” brings me back to the enjoyment with another solid guitar heavy song with a great solo. Keep it coming and I won’t tire of it. “Letting Go of Me” is the only song on the album not co-written by Damon Johnson and yet it is still a great song. This one was a fun song with a faster tempo.
The final track, “Fade”, is considered a bonus track but it is too good and fits nicely with the overall album. It doesn’t have the bonus track feel. It is a slower song and actually kept my interest. I usually like albums to end with a bang, but this worked for me nonetheless. A nice way to end the album.
Track Listing:
“Heavy Fire” – Keeper
“When The Night Comes In” – Keeper
“Dancing With the Wrong Girl” – Keeper
“Who Rides the Tiger” – Keeper
“Cold War Love” – Delete
“Testify or Say Goodbye” – Keeper
“Thinking About You Could Get Me Killed” – Keeper
“True Blue Kid” – Delete
“Ticket to Rise” – Keeper
“Letting Go of Me” – Keeper
“Fade” – Keeper
9 keeper out 11 songs – 82%(4.1 out 5 stars). The Black Star Riders are killing it on this album. I always talk about how rock today seems to be missing the guitar rock sound and these guys are not missing anything. The guitars are outstanding and take me back to when guitars were king. Nobody wanted to be a DJ, they wanted to play guitar. For that alone this album is worth it, but it has so much more to offer. Go grab a copy and get ready to have your ears blasted with what rock should sound like.
One of the great things in the Motley Crue Box Set ‘The End’ is the live concert CD & DVD of the final Motley show in Los Angeles on December 31st of 2015. It is a lot a money to spend for the DVD & CD of the show which thankfully, you can buy separately if that is all you want to buy. For the casual fan, that is definitely the way to go. Sadly, I am not the casual fan. I had to have it all.
First up was the CD version. The track list is as follows:
1.) Intro
2.) Girls, Girls, Girls
3.) Wild Side
4.) Primal Scream
5.) Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)
6.) Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
7.) Smokin’ In The Boys’ Room
8.) Looks That Kill
9.) Mutherf***** Of The Year
10.) Shout At The Devil
11.) Louder Than Hell
12.) Saints Of Los Angeles
13.) Live Wire
14.) Dr. Feelgood
15.) Kickstart My Heart
16.) Home Sweet Home
I popped the CD in while I was in my car on my commute into the office and I won’t spend a lot of time talking about as my focus will be on the DVD. The songs were great, but I had issue with the vocals. I had a hard time understanding what Vince was saying or wasn’t sure if Vince was even saying the right words. It was also lacking the spectacle of a Motley Crue show.
Now before I get into the album review, let me preface this with that I am a fan of Michael Bolton’s earlier work starting with his 1983 release ‘Michael Bolton’ which had “Fool’s Game” up until ‘Time, Love & Tenderness’ in 1991. After that it started to go down hill for me as he was doing way too many covers. More covers than originals, which is disappointing. He was also getting further and further from his original rock roots (listen to his early releases and you will hear what I am talking about).
Several months back, I heard Michael was signing with Frontiers Records Srl and I was actually excited to hear that as Frontiers is a great record label and they are a ROCK record label. They have brought back many bands of my youth and signed them including Night Ranger and Stryper and now Michael Bolton.
Imagine my utter disappointment when I heard the new Michael Bolton album was a cover album of movie songs called ‘Songs of Cinema’. Wow!! It is just what I wanted (heavy, heavy sarcasm)! I told myself going into it, I would keep an open mind and give it a solid listen…which I feel I did for about 30 seconds.
What songs did he cover? I will tell you.
It starts off with “When A Man Loves A Woman”. Hasn’t he done that one before? Why yes he has, but this one is different…it is the 2017 Version. Oh yeah, that is right…I am supposed to keep an open mind. I am sorry, but I can’t. That ship has sailed. When the first song is a rehash of an old song that you have already covered, you lost me. The original one he did back in 1991 was so much better.
Train has found a niche in the pop world. They bring a fun, summer song feel to their albums and are firmly fitted in the Adult Contemporary world. They have found their formula and they are sticking to it. However, they are starting to show signs of a disease called BonJovitis. What is BonJovitis? Well here is the clinical definition:
BonJovitis – a disease caused by repeating the same song formula without ever changing anything other than the words. It causes dull, lifeless and completely uninspiring albums and puts your fans and listeners to sleep. Ultimately the disease will cause your album sales to drop and fans to leave and search elsewhere for music. (See Bon Jovi as a perfect example).
All their albums are starting to sound the same, but it isn’t as bad for me as how Bon Jovi does it. If you are a regular reader of my site, you know Train holds a special place in my families heart. That is the only reason they don’t have full blown BonJovitis in my eyes…YET!!!
All joking aside, Train has delivered another solid album. I even think the album cover is actually quite beautiful. It has the ocean, a beautiful girl, a boat and the American flag. I don’t see a bottle though.
For those that don’t know what the Music Challenge is I will tell you. Go out and pick up an album or stream an album based solely off one of three categories…1) Album Cover, 2) Band Name or 3) Album Name. Once you have listened to one, come tell me about it.
For my 5th one over the last year, I picked based on the band name and the album cover. The band name was Galactic Empire and the album cover was of space. The whole thing had a Star Wars vibe to it, so naturally I was drawn to it. What I didn’t know at the time was it was an album of John William’s Star Wars songs that were all done in a Heavy Metal format. Interesting enough.
The album ‘Galactic Empire’ was released on February 3rd on Rise Records.
As Lions’ debut is the incredible ‘Selfish Age’. There is a lot of buzz around this band and not only because Bruce Dickinson’s son, Austin Dickinson, is the lead singer, but also because these kids are super talented and understand how hard rock should sound. The new face of rock is upon and us and I am given hope that we are in good hands.
First off, It is pretty brave for the kid of a famous singer or musician to go the same route as their famous parent, but there is no comparison needed. They are two very different singers and two very different bands. The only other thing to say about the subject is that Bruce must be one proud father because this kid and this band are incredible.
The Band:
Austin Dickinson – Vocals
Conor O’Keefe – Guitar
Will Homer- Guitar
Stefan Whiting – Bass
Dave Fee- Drums
The opening track, “Aftermath”, immediately sets the tone for the rest of the album. From this song, you hear great production, great song structure, a melodic sound and intelligent lyrics. You will get this from every song on the album; however, every song is different.
I have been wanting this box set since the day it was announced. I finally was able to get my hands on a copy and couldn’t be happier. Well, almost. Let’s first talk about what is wrong with this box set. There is a HUGE OMISSION of several albums. The albums ‘Motley Crue’, ‘Generation Swine’ and ‘New Tattoo” are for some strange, f**king reason are not included in this box set. I am sure they had a reason, but a good reason it was absolutely not!
Now that I got that out of the way…the Motley Crue Box Set is to commemorate the 35 years of the band. The set goes through their final show on December 31st, 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Motley Crue were
Vince Neil – Vocals
Nikki Sixx – Bass
Mick Mars – Guitar
Tommy Lee – Drums
I mentioned briefly what was wrong, now let’s go through what was included in the box set and what they did get right.
The Case: As you can see from the featured image, the case is actually quite large. It is a grave headstone marking the death (or ‘The End’) of Motley Crue. My youngest daughter thought that it was weird, but it is actually quite fitting for the occasion. When full, the case is rather heavy and seems durable enough for its purpose. The only down side is it won’t fit in my LP cabinet as you can see from the picture as well. However, it is nice enough to be a nice accent to the cabinet when I place it on top.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 