There is nothing better than artist that delivers a surprise and Matt Nathanson did just that. On Wednesday of last week, he made an announcement that he was dropping a live album and you could pre-order it on vinyl or many bundles on Thursday at Noon EST. So, I set a reminder on my calendar and when 12:00pm hit, I was on the site and the album was ordered. And to make it even better, you were sent an email and able to download the album immediately in a digital version. And to make it even better than better, you got a deluxe edition with another 36 tracks. That was over 3 hours of music…hell yeah!!! And the album would drop to the general public on Friday so I got to hear it day before everyone else (except those other fans that ordered).
The main standard album is mostly an actual show that was recorded on his 2019 tour called the “Song Wheel” Extravaganza Tour at the legendary Paradise Rock Club in his hometown of Boston, MASS. What was really cool about this tour is that it was an acoustic show with just Matt and his friend Aaron. And another really cool aspect is the tour included a big wheel called the Song Wheel. There were a ton of songs around the wheel and he would spin it several times during the show and let the wheel decide what song would be played next. This is exciting because basically each show he played would be different than the show prior. That is almost unheard of in today’s technical and choreographed lighting shows where every bit of the show is timed out to the precise moment leaving no room for improv which Matt is an utter master at doing.
Happy Friday everyone. It is another day for releases and hopefully something you’ve been wanting. There isn’t a whole lot here this week, some solid metal, pop, country, r&b, comedy and two surprises that only popped up as being released this week. And those two are the only ones I am interested in which is good as vacation is coming and some much needed time off. Those two are in Blue. Let me know what you are digging this week and what I have missed. If there is nothing for you, what is something new lately that you find to be pretty dang great? Let me know! Have a great weekend everyone!
Taylor Swift – Folklore – (Republic Records): Surprise, Surprise!! Taylor announced yesterday that she is dropping a new album at midnight…right when this post posts! Written and inspired during the Covid-19 stay at home orders…I’m actually interested in what this will sound like. I know, I’m surprised by that as well.
Matt Nathanson – Live in Paradise: Boston: The announcement came on Wednesday, Pre-Orders were Thursday and the Digital is came immediately so technically this came out yesterday, but I don’t care!!!…This is so exciting for me as nothing this man puts out is bad and now a Live album…Hell Yeah!!! There are no videos, but someone posted one from the show last year that is supposed to from so close enough.
Happy Friday! It is about time it got here, I need this weekend! We have a handful of releases this week and some I am actually interested in hearing and I will highlight those in Blue as usual. We have a variety of styles this week to choose from so hopefully there will be something for you. Let me know what you want to hear and what release I might have missed as it does happen. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
Bush – The Kingdom – (Zuma Rock / BMG): Gavin Rossdale and the boys are back. Bush is hit or miss for me, but they’ve hit enough that I try out their releases and I will this one. Here’s hoping for some solid rock this time around.
Pretenders – Hate for Sale – (Chrissie Hynde / BMG): Chrissie Hynde and boys are back (that phrase sounds familiar…oh yeah…see Bush above). I have always loved her voice and the punk/new wave style. She is a legend and that is why she will get a spin.
Things are starting to heat up and I’m not just talking about the temperature. The rock and metal are in abundance this week and then Rufus classes things up as well. I hope there is something for you this week. For me, there is nothing I am running out and buying just yet, but a lot I want to hear before I decide on parting with my cash. My choices are highlighted in Blue. Let me know what interests you and what I might’ve missed as I do miss some every week.
Tokyo Motor Fist – Lions – (Frontiers Records): The band’s second album and a must have for fans of Danger Danger as Ted Poley is the singer and Trixter as Steve Brown is on guitar. The rhythm section is no slouch either with Greg Smith and Chuck Burgi. I feel I didn’t spend enough time with the last one but I want to make up with that on this one. Also, great album cover!!
Enuff Z’nuff – Brainwashed Generation – (Frontiers Records): Another 80’s band still going strong. For that, I am interested in hearing this one just to hear what they have to say so many years later.
Welcome to the June Purchases wrap-up and what a month it was. After not visiting an actual record store in 2 months due to the Covid Stay at Home Orders, I was out in force when the opened back up. And this time it wasn’t just vinyl and CDs, there were a couple other surprises that were music related. And then there were a stack of albums I picked up that I didn’t have to buy which is always cool. Let’s get started.
First up was my trip to Repo Records and Noble Records as they were two of the first to open. I wanted to spend a little at both to show my support and I did just that. First up was Repo. I was worried we would have to wear masks and gloves, but thankfully neither store required but we could if we wanted to do it. Which I didn’t because we left the masks at home on the counter. I didn’t really find anything at Repo’s until I stumbled across a brand new copy of Tesla’s Psychotic Supper. It was new and sealed so no real deal on it, but it was cheaper than what Amazon was offering and since it is on a list of albums I want, I got it.
I can’t believe June is now over. When the Covid-19 stay at home orders started, the days creeped on by and first and then when we got in to a routine, they started flying and now we are over 3 months later and time seems to be going faster. At least we aren’t on stay at home orders anymore. Enough babble, we have to get to the main point of this post…the new releases that are out. There are not a lot of choices today as Covid strikes again with several releases being moved til later (thank you Kansas and Neon Trees). I’m really only interested in one and curious in another. There are in Blue. Let me know what you want to hear or if I missed anything that should be noted. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!
Will Hoge – Tiny Little Movies – (Edlo Records / Thirty Tigers): I discovered Will on his second album back in 2003 and was instantly blown away. He has certainly grown since then and is one hell of a story teller. His protest songs are amazing and the musicianship is outstanding as well. Basically, he can do no wrong. Any new music from him is welcomed with open ears!! If you like country flavors with a little rock and folk, then grab this one now. This ain’t your bro-country and thank God for that!!
Grey Daze – Amends – (Loma Vista / Concord Records): Chester Bennington is back from beyond. This was a project of Chester and I believe it was his first band. They were able to finish the album with Chester’s vocals and I have liked what I’ve heard so far. He is missed!!
For this episode of ‘The Original vs. The Cover”, we are discussing the song “It’s My Life” by the band Talk Talk and the cover by No Doubt. Both were big hits for the respective bands with Talk Talk’s version going to #31 on the Billboard Charts while the No Doubt version went as high as #10 and garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal…they didn’t win.
“It’s My Life” came about due to Mark Hollis’ wanting to assert his independence from his record label and because he didn’t want to be swayed by the popular public opinion. He wanted to do things his own way. The song was his manifesto that it is his life and he will do what he wants to know, not what anyone tells him to do. The song performed well enough in the states that it actually earned him enough freedom to do things his way going forward. And I don’t remember them doing much else in the States after this. How’d that work out for you Mark???
No Doubt was on a slight break as Gwen was recording here debut solo album, but they wanted to get some material out so they thought of putting out a greatest hits album. They wanted to a new song on it, but didn’t want to take time to write a new song. So they narrowed the prospects of 100’s of songs down to “It’s My Life” and the INXS song “Don’t Change”…we see which one won out or we wouldn’t be discussing this song right now would we. Let’ get to the music.
TALK TALK
Talk Talk’s song “It’s My Life” is a heavy synthesizer song as that is what type of music they played. They were part of the New Wave of music that was going on in the early 80’s along with band’s like Duran Duran and other two name bands. It is not a real happy, upbeat song. It has a slow groove driven by a bass riff and electronic drum beats bathed in synth sounds including some synth horns. It is not meant to be a pure dance song as it is expressing a person’s independence. It has a serious feel to the song, a warmth.
Mark Hollis doesn’t sing with gusto or scream out the lyrics, he sings with a darkness to his vocals. His delivery is a little monotone at times and a little dreary, an almost dreamlike state as he spews his thoughts and feelings out about how this is his life and don’t you forget it. It is an interesting delivery which evokes power and I think quite effective.
NO DOUBT
No Doubt doesn’t change too much on the song. The song still is a lot of electronic synths with just a more updated sound for the 21st Century. It seems to be a little more uptempo. The high pitched blips and beeps of the original are not here, but there is more cool electronic bass riff on occasion and the drum beats are so simple and yet just what the song needs. They keep the darker feel to the song and it still has that serious vibe that they have something important to say.
Gwen’s vocal delivery is quite different, mainly as she is a woman, but she sings with a little more gusto, especially on the chorus. She has an almost whiny, slight nasally sound to her vocals. The is ‘no doubt’ that Gwen has the chops to turn the song in to a song that feels like it is No Doubt while being so true and honest to the original.
THE VERDICT
This was a tough choice as I’m really not a fan of either song. I don’t own any Talk Talk album and as far as No Doubt, once I heard “Hellagood” and “Hey Baby”, there was nothing from them that would be remotely as good. But since I picked this song to discuss, I will pick a best song of the two. I am going to go with Mark Hollis’ version with his band Talk Talk. The reason is the song meant something to them. It was a manifesto. They wanted to do things their way and not be force fed instructions from a label. No Doubt already had that so the heart wasn’t there. So Talk Talk and the Original win out this go round.
I am really interested in hearing what everyone else thinks of these two songs. Let me know which version you like the best and why. Feel free to leave a comment and talk about the song and tell me how right or wrong I am on this one. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
“It’s My Life”
Funny how I find myself in love with you If I could buy my reasoning I’d pay to lose One half won’t do I’ve asked myself, how much do you Commit yourself
It’s my life Don’t you forget It’s my life It never ends (it never ends)
Funny how I blind myself, I never knew If I was sometimes played upon, afraid to lose I’d tell myself, what good do you do Convince myself
It’s my life Don’t you forget It’s my life It never ends (it never ends)
I’ve asked myself, how much do you Commit yourself?
It’s my life Don’t you forget Caught in the crowd It never ends
It’s my life Don’t you forget Caught in the crowd It never ends
It’s my life Don’t you forget Caught in the crowd It never ends
Welcome back, you made it through another week and you should be proud as who knows what the world threw at us this week as each week it seems to be something worse than the last. But at least the world is giving us some new music and that makes it all better. There are a handful of new music I am looking forward to getting and those are marked in Blue. Let me know what you are interested in, if anything, and tell me what I missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!
Whitesnake – The ROCK Album (2020 Remix) – (Saltburn / Rhino): In the first of 3 albums in a new series by Whitesnake, the Rock album is a bunch of remixes of old songs with one new one I believe. The other two will be out later in the year and in to next year are The Love Album and The Blues Album. I am glad the Rock starts it all off. This will finish up my David Coverdale Review series nicely until the other albums come out that is.
Switchfoot – Covers E.P. – (Fantasy Records / Concord): Ah, I love me some Switchfoot and although not an album of new material, we get a small collection of cover songs. At least these aren’t your standard fare. You get a cover from Frank Ocean, The Chainsmokers, Vampire Weekend and more. Should be interesting.
With working at home during the Covid-19 lockdowns, I have pulled out a lot of my vinyl and gave it a spin. This was one I hadn’t listened to in a couple years and when I did, I remembered that this was the last great album Train had done. At this point, Train was down to only 3 members, Pat Monahan, Jimmy Stafford and Scott Underwood. My wife and I had met them a couple years earlier on the ‘Save Me, San Francisco’ Tour and they were super nice and they are kind of “our” band. They were anyway, now it is the Pat Monahan show as he is the only original member left, but that is another story for another day.
What we loved about the band is really the songs. Lyrically, Pat is a master at slipping in pop culture references in to the lyrics and the band can write some hooks and pretty damn catchy choruses. It is wonderful, pop music. And this album, the band outdid themselves with all of the above. They did bring in some outside writers, but Pat was still the driving force behind them as they are usually very personal songs to him. He spent three years writing the album while on tour for the previous items and they all reflect pieces of his life in some way or fashion.
The album is called “California 37” which is a State Highway in Northern San Francisco which the band seems to call home. The road was often used to get to gigs and they even broke down on it and what band hasn’t done that on the way to a gig. The album has this light, California vibe to it and it makes you feel good as you listen. From the opening track, “This’ll Be My Year” you know you are in for a treat. The song travels through his years in life and is a bio of his life and completely filled with Pop Culture references so you can put the year’s in to perspective. It is brilliant. It has the classic line…”I stopped believing, although Journey told me don’t”. Continue reading “Train – ‘California 37’ – Album Review”→
Welcome to Friday…you made it! Another week in the books and for your reward, here are a bunch of new releases for your listening pleasure. It is Frontier Records monthly release so there are at least 5 from that label alone. You get a lot of rock this week and even a little Norah and who doesn’t want that. My choices are highlighted in Blue. Let me know what you are looking forward to hearing and what I may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!!
House of Lords – New World…New Eyes – (Frontiers Records): I have been following House of Lords since their debut in 1988 thanks to Gene Simmons. Gene produced their first album and now here we are 32 years and 12 albums later and they are still going strong. Can’t wait to see what they have to offer…
BPMD – American Made – (Napalm Records): A heavy metal supergroup featuring from Overkill vocalist Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth, Vio-lence and former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel, and two members of Metal Allegiance–bassist Mark Menghi and drummer Mike Portnoy. Dang, not bad. Portnoy has to be the busiest man in music history. The number of albums and bands he is in is absolutely insane. The man can’t sit still.
Continue reading “Matt Nathanson – ‘Live in Paradise: Boston’ – Album Review” 
BPMD – American Made – (Napalm Records): A heavy metal supergroup featuring from Overkill vocalist Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth, Vio-lence and former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel, and two members of Metal Allegiance–bassist Mark Menghi and drummer Mike Portnoy. Dang, not bad. Portnoy has to be the busiest man in music history. The number of albums and bands he is in is absolutely insane. The man can’t sit still.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 