Category: Pop Music

Friday New Releases – June 15th

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Are things heating up for you?  Well, the new releases are heating up!  Okay, maybe they are lukewarm; however, there are a few worth checking out and mine will be in Blue.  Let me what you are looking forward to hearing.  There are live albums, Blues, Pop, Rock and electronica…something for everyone. If you like 90’s artists, there a several back this week that might be worth at least a stream or two.  Have a great weekend!!

  • 61PHqjoSN2L._AC_US436_QL65_  The Darkness – Live at Hammersmith – (Canary Dwarf Ltd):  The 80’s Hair Metal throwback band are back with a live album and wasn’t that what we were waiting to hear! This might be first up on the stereo today for me.  These guys would have been huge in the 80’s!!  Turn it up because I Believe In a Thing Called “Live”…see what I did there!!  Here is the original video as I didn’t see a live one for this release.

  • 51jjidBu5YL._SS500  Mike Shinoda – Post Traumatic – (Warner Bros):  The co-lead singer of Linkin Park is set for his first solo release and his first music since Chester Bennington’s passing.  As a fan of Linkin Park this is a no-brainer.  I am really interested to see where he takes it and how he responds to Chester’s death.  It should be a great release.

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Journey – Concert Review (Charlotte, NC June 9th, 2018)

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Yesterday, I did the review on the Def Leppard part of the show (since they opened the show they should get the first review).  Now, it is time to talk about Journey’s portion of the show.  After seeing Lep, I was really pumped and excited to finally see Journey live.  I have never had the pleasure and I can’t believe I missed them in the Steve Perry years.  Journey has survived all these years because they have something a lot of bands don’t really have and that is songs.  Journey’s hits are some of the most loved and admired songs ever.  I mean  “Don’t Stop Believin'” might be the most recognizable song around the world.

The band is still pretty much in tact.  At least the band from the era I grew up with. You have founder Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Ross Valory and Steve Smith.  All these guys were there doing the early 80’s and their heyday.  11 years ago they added vocalist Arnel Pineda who they found off Youtube and let me tell you what a find he was.  I still wish they would have done more with Jeff Scott Soto, but oh well.  Arnel is pretty darn good vocalist.

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The stage set up was slightly different than Def Leppard’s, but not by much.  They both used the big 40 Foot screen in the back and the 3 large screens up top on the front of the stage.  Journey stripped back all the risers and platforms that Def Leppard used and had a much simpler set up.  Piano on the left, drums in the middle, Ross and Neal up front and Arnel all over the place (more on that later).

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Matt Nathanson – ‘Pyromattia’ E.P. – Album Review

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We interrupt the normal Tuesday’s Memes scheduled to talk about something amazing…Matt Nathanson surprised his fans with an announcement of a new album and released it the very next day.  The album was only a 6 song E.P., but who cares.  Any new music from Matt is super fantastic.  The only problem is that it wasn’t actually new music.  It was an E.P. full of cover songs.

Now, they aren’t just any cover songs.  They are from my all time favorite band, Def Leppard.  If you don’t know, Matt Nathanson is a metal head.  I realized that a few years ago when I saw Matt being interviewed on the VH1 show “That Metal Show” with Eddie Trunk.  Matt gushed on and on about his rock and metal influences and it made me appreciate him more than I already did.

Matt is also one of my all time favorite artist and he can do no wrong in my book. So, let’s throw Matt together with Def Leppard songs and you have what could possibly be the greatest combination in music history.  I am not kidding!!

When I saw the track listing, I was a little disappointed with a few choices as they seemed obvious and then stunned at some others as I couldn’t imagine what he would do with it.  The songs are as follows:

  1. Pour Some Sugar on Me
  2. Bringin’ on the Heartbreak
  3. Comin’ Under Fire
  4. Hysteria
  5. Stragefright
  6. Promises

With cover albums you either need to nail it perfectly or completely re-imagine the song.  Matt completely re-imagined the songs.  He plays them acoustically and even adds some string orchestration to them.  He takes these songs and makes them his own and does an absolutely impressive covers album.

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Friday New Releases – June 8th

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Happy Friday and welcome to this week’s list of notable releases…at least notable in my book.  There is only one MUST HAVE and a couple others I will get to as well.  Take a look and let me know what you are looking forward to and what I might have missed.  My choices are highlighted in Blue.

  • 4846771  Tremonti – A Dying Machine – (Napalm Records):  The Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist strikes out on his own with his other band Tremonti.  This time he takes on lead vocals and fronts one hellavu hard rock band.  If you are a fan, then this is a MUST HAVE in your collection as it is mine.  The band bring us their fourth album…that is right…their fourth and we can never get enough.

  • 51ePleVw4rL._SY300_QL70_  Sunstorm – The Road to Hell – (Frontier Records):  The great Joe Lynn Turner brings his vocals to the band’s fifth album and the man can still sing at just 66 years young.  The Hackensack-ack-ack-ack born singer has fronted a few bands you might have heard about…Rainbow and Deep Purple.  He still brings the fire and intensity with Sunstorm.  Check them out.

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1995 – The Greatest Year in Music?

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If you are new to the site, I started this series with the year 1987 and then noticed that 1991 and 1983 were also a couple of the greatest years in music.  I got to thinking, was there a pattern that every 4 years we have another great year in music.  Well, I am not sure the theory held up for me with 1979, but now I am exploring the year 1995. If you want to explore the other years, click on the link below…

1979 – The Greatest Year in Music?

1983 – The Greatest Year in Music?

1987 – The Greatest Year in Music?

1991 – The Greatest Year in Music?

Will 1995 be another great year or is my theory fully debunked with this year.  Let us explore and see and then decide a the end.  But first we have to ask What were the top albums of the year?, What were the debut albums from some of the great rock bands? and What was going on in the world of music that year?

NEWS:

1995 didn’t have any major news story that changed music like 1979 with the Sony Walkman and 1983 with the release of the CD, but a couple big stories did happen.

KISS_UnpluggedOn August 9th, a major even happened in the history of Kiss.  Kiss performed on MTV’s Unplugged series.  That in and of itself was nothing special, but some special guests were invited up on the stage and out walked Ace & Peter.  It was the first time in 16 years the original members of Kiss (Gene, Paul, Peter & Ace) had played together.  It was so well received that the following year, Kiss put their make-up back on and the first reunion tour was kicked off and the Kiss Unplugged album was finally released.  This event started it off.

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Maroon 5 – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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With Maroon 5 heading out for their next big tour this Summer, I thought I might go through and rank their albums from Worst to First.  With a span of 6 albums over 16 years, they have put out some great albums and a couple not so great ones.  I am going to keep this strictly to Maroon 5’s studio albums and not include any from them when they were known as Kara’s Flowers or any live or re-mix albums.  This will keep it simpler and keep me sane from digging into everything else that is out there.

Now, take a seat and lean back and read on and find out how I rank the Maroon 5 albums from Worst to First.  And of course, we will start with the Worst…

7 – THE WORST – ‘Jordi’ (2021):

I didn’t think they could keep going backwards, but they have done just that.  ‘Jordi’ is another example of a band that feels they have to have a “Featured” artists to get played on the radio.  They have Megan Thee Stallion, H.E.R., blackbear, Nipsey Hussle to name only a few.  Out of the 14 songs on the Deluxe Edition, 9 have a guest artist featured on the song.  NINE!!!  That is INSANE!! Continue reading “Maroon 5 – The Albums Ranked Worst to First” →

Friday New Releases – June 1st

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Welcome to the First Friday of June and better yet, the first day of June.  We are now getting into the Summer months and it is going to be Hot with new releases and temperatures.  There only a couple I am interested in the one will require a lot of dough.  My choices are highlighted in Blue.  What interests you?  Leave me a comment.

  • 614aKIFCXNL._AC_US436_QL65_.jpg  Def Leppard – The Collection: Volume One – (Mercury):  Okay, Def Leppard is re-releasing Four Collections of all their albums plus some bonus material.  I will just quote from Amazon exactly…

This initial volume of the band’s complete recorded output comes in a limited-edition 180-gram heavyweight vinyl box set, featuring Def Leppard’s first four studio albums — along with some choice bonus live and studio material — all spread across 8LPs. The Volume One collection contains all of Def Leppard’s iconic 1980s recordings – On Through The Night, High ‘N’ Dry, Pyromania and Hysteria – with reproductions of the original packaging. Furthermore, this collection includes a replica 7-inch single of the band’s original independent EP, the self-titled The Def Leppard E.P. The Volume One collection also houses bonus material including Live At The LA Forum 1983, originally released as a bonus disc in the deluxe CD version of Pyromania, making this the first-ever vinyl offering of the complete show. This 2LP version comes with a new sleeve and inner bags. The box set also includes Rarities Volume 1 which has been specially compiled by Joe Elliott, containing rare B-sides and recordings from Def Leppard’s early years, all in a newly commissioned sleeve. Each album in the Volume One box set was mastered by longtime band producer/soundmaster Ronan McHugh and frontman/vocalist Joe Elliott at Joe’s Garage in Dublin, Ireland, and cut by Greg Moore. Housed in rigid boxes, the Volume One collection also contains a hardback book with rare photos by longstanding band confidant Ross Halfin and liner notes by Classic Rock’s Paul Elliott. Def Leppard bandmembers Joe Elliott, bassist Rick Savage, drummer Rick Allen, and guitarist Phil Collen have all also contributed their personal introductions to the collection.

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Friday New Releases – May 25th

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Welcome to the last Friday of May.  Work is really busy right now and I need something to take my mind off of it.  Thank goodness it is Memorial Day Weekend and we get Monday off.  I need it.  There are several releases I will be checking out this weekend and they are highlighted in Blue.  Let me know what you will be getting or whatever might peak your interest.  Have a great weekend!!

  • 81OQuFJNNRL._SX522_  Shawn Mendes – Shawn Mendes – (Island Records):  Shawn Mendes will be played constantly in my house this weekend and for weeks to come as I have two daughters who love him, one daughter a little too much…I swear a restraining order is in her future.  Anyway, I have heard a couple songs and I have to say that “In My Blood” is a rather spectacular song.  If there are any more like this one on the album, it will probably be great.

  • 51vKyvrz9LL._AC_US320_QL65_.jpg  Hoobastank – Push Pull – (Napalm Records):  Here is a name I haven’t heard in years.  Six years to be exact.  It has been that long since their last album and honestly I haven’t followed them in quite a long time.  No better time then the present to revisit the band.  Haven’t heard anything yet so it will be interesting to see what they still have to offer.

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RSO (Richie Sambora & Orianthi) – ‘Radio Free America’ – Album Review

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Back in 2013, Richie Sambora met Orianthi and sparks flew, apparently.  The two are an item and now they are putting out music for the masses and it is about time. I love Richie’s vocals and his bluesy, rock style plus he can play the guitar (have you heard of Bon Jovi?).  Orianthi is also one helluva a guitar player herself and she can sing with the best of them.  She has played for Michael Jackson and for Alice Cooper as well as her own solo work.  The two together, I was expecting a bluesy rock album with some amazing guitar work.  Did I get that…well…we will see.

After releasing two E.P.’s in 2017 and a couple singles including one double single, we finally get a full album called ‘Radio Free America’ from RSO (it’s there initials, get it!).  Now here is the problem with that…the full album is all 13 songs previously released with those E.P.’s and singles and only 2 new songs.  That is right, only 2 and one is a cover.  So, if you bought the E.P.’s, you aren’t getting much more.  And to make it worse, it is an album of 15 songs in length (over an hour and 7 minutes).  That is pretty long for an album and you know there will be filler…and trust me there is filler.  I heard they recorded 25 songs, I would like to know where those other 10 songs are.

I have reviewed all the E.P.’s and 2 of the singles previously, but we will compile them here again and make it a full length review adding in the singles I haven’t discussed prior.  We might as well jump in and away we go…

With the opening and title track “Making History” Richie & Orianthi are doing what we wanted them to do.  They are rocking out.  The guitars on this one are exceptional with an almost Def Leppardesque sound from around the “Euphoria” era at times (maybe).  The guitar solo is freaking sensational and it is all I ask from these two.  Of course I have one minor negative on the song.  The vocals are missing something whether it is the chemistry or the mix.  Bob Rock is the producer and he does great work, but I am not a fan of them singing simultaneously.  I prefer them to trade back and forth.

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Friday New Releases – May 18th

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Happy Friday.  Not a ton of releases that have caught my attention this week.  There are two that I will be diving in to and they are at opposite ends of the spectrum for sure.  There are a couple more I will try out eventually, but the first two will get most of my attention.  All the releases I will be checking out are highlighted in Blue.  Take a look around and see what else you might like and let me know in the comments.  If you want to see all the new releases coming in the universe over the next several weeks (or months), CLICK HERE.

  • 51oKVmEQtPL._AC_US320_QL65_  James Bay – Electric Light – (Republic Records):  Finally, the super talented James Bay is back with his sophomore release.  Is the sophomore jinx in place or not, we will have to hear it first to decide.  I have heard three singles so far and the first was completely different than his last album which can be good and bad as you don’t necessarily want to alienate the fans you built off that sound.  The next two were a little more in the wheelhouse we expect.  He is a great songwriter, singer and guitar player so we will check this out.  In the meantime, have a glass of “Pink Lemonade”

  • 61bJ20whPcL  Five Finger Death Punch – And Justice for None – (Prospect Park):  Now for the other end of the spectrum, there is Five Finger Death Punch.  The music is just that, a death punch to the face.  Every now and again, I like it hard and I like it loud and this is exactly what I need right now.  So prepare your ears to be decimated.

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