Category: Rock

My Sunday Song – “Afterlife” by Switchfoot

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For My Sunday Song #469, we are talking “Afterlife” by the band Switchfoot. The song is off their 8th studio album ‘Vice Verses’ which came out on September 27, 2011. The song was the third single off the album and came out on February 28, 2012 and though it didn’t chart, it was such a powerful song and set the tone as it kicked off the album. It was written by brothers and band members, Tim and Jon Foreman. The song helped propel the album to #8 on the Billboard 200 album chart, #3 on the Rock & Alternative Charts and #1 on the Christian Charts!!

The song sends a powerful message. It reminds us that we are not here for very long, but if we want to feel like we are living forever, we must live our life to the fullest. How we do that is surrender to Jesus and live a life that serves him and others. Don’t be so focused on the future and what happens after we die. Believing in Christ will get allow you to live forever in the afterlife, but start living that way now to make it feel like you are already really living. We are all broken, so surrender now and experience the Joy and embrace the journey of faith.

The music is as powerful as the lyrics. The song is an anthem that starts off with an extended guitar note, then a distorted guitar riff with Jon Foreman singing that first verse like he is calling us to action. The full band comes in and the song goes to another level with an electrifying intensity. The chorus is bombastic and one big hook. Short and sweet. The guitar riff throughout is intense and the little riffs and notes tossed in throughout give the song a punch. The solo is not as in your face and more fit to the song. I like how near the end, there is a moment where the music softens and Jon belts out another verse before the band comes back in and they carry us home.

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Friday New Releases – January 30, 2026

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January might be about over, but the new releases still keep coming. How are we already done with the first month of the year…crazy. This week I’m getting the McAuley Schenker Group box set for my favorite years of theirs from 1987 to 1992. Can’t wait. That is it for me this week. What do you want to hear or what did we miss? Let us know! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!!

  • McAuley Schenker Group – Bad Boys: The Mcauley Schenker Group Story 1987-1992 – (Hne)
  • Robin Trower – One Moment In Time: Live in the USA – (Artone Label Group / Provogue)
  • Linda Ronstadt – The Early Years – (Iconic LR Masters / Rhino Entertainment)
  • The Monkees – The A’s, The B’s & The Monkees – (Rhino Records)
  • Joseph – Closer to Happy – (Joseph Sounds LLC / Nettwerk Music Group)
  • Urne – Setting Fire To The Sky – (Spinefarm Music Group)
  • Course of Fate – Behind the Eclipse – (Roar)
  • Our Mirage – Fractured Mind – (Arising Empire)
  • MOL – Dreamcrush – (Nuclear Blast)
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Cheap Trick – ‘The Complete Epic Albums Collection’ (2022) – Box Set (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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Back in 2013, Legacy, Epic Records and Sony released a CD box set that contained all albums in Epic Records from the band’s debut album all the way up to 1990’s album ‘Busted’. In 2022, the box set was reissued on Music on CD, Legacy, Epic & Sony and that is the box I have in my collection. You get 14 CDs in all including the full Budokan show on 2 CDs along with the E.P. ‘Found all the Parts’ that was only available on Vinyl and cassette until 2003 when there was a Japanese release on CD.

The albums from the debut up to ‘All Shook Up’ were original remastered and reissued back in 1998 with bonus tracks and that is what we have here with those albums. If what I am reading is correct, the remaining albums were remastered for this box set but there is a debate on whether or not that is true as the sound quality isn’t as great as the earlier albums. For me, it doesn’t bother me one way or the other as I’m not going to sit and listen to all 14 discs in a row where I would notice and differences. I am just happy to have all the albums on CD as I had them all on vinyl, so I needed the CDs.

For those of you that need to know this, Cheap Trick is from Rockford, Illinois and consists of Robin Zander on Vocals, Rick Nielsen on guitar, Bun E. Carlos on drums and there are two different people on bass. First is Tom Petersson from Discs 1 – 8 and then back again on 13-14 while Jon Brant is on Discs 9-12 as Tom left for a spell and thankfully returned. They have been labeled as the American Beatles which is high praise especially considering the band was heavily influenced by The Beatles.

The first half of their catalog is amazingly strong and they have one of the best live albums of all time with ‘At Budokan’. The last half of their catalog is a little weak at times, but still some great classics on each album. The band is still going strong today and still frequently releasing quality material that any band would be proud to call their own. They have not rested on their past and always strive to be better. This is a large taste of the band if you aren’t familiar and unless you buy the Vinyl, this CD set is pretty reasonable as I picked it up for around $45. Not bad for 14 CDs. Let’s take a look.

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Billy Idol – ’10 Great Songs’ (2010) – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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When an artist has been around as long as Billy Idol, there are bound to be a ton of Greatest Hits Compilations. Billy is no exception to that rule. There are legitimate, very well thought out compilations and then there is not. This is the later. ’10 Great Songs’ is a Budget Compilation by the record companies that has been released over the years and a ton of artists have their own version. This particular package was originally released in 2009 on EMI with a different cover and slightly different track listing. My version is from 2010 on Capitol Records and it actually has the same track listing and even order as the 2014 issue that was called ’20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection’.

The 10 songs here are all from his prime period, The 1980’s. There was a collection released in 1988 in the UK called ’11 of the Best’ and that set has all the songs ’10 Great Songs’ does plus one extra (“Don’t Need a Gun”). That should tell you that this collection is nothing special and nothing you haven’t already seen before. There are only two people that buy this type of CD. One – the very casual fan that is willing to spend a lot of money for a basic set of hits to whet their appetite. Two – people like me who collect everything from an artist. I already have the ’11 of the Best’ CD’ and if I saw the 20th Century Masters’ one, I’d buy it too.

The opening track is the title song “Rebel Yell” which actually opened the ‘Rebel Yell’ album.  It is a scorcher of a song, high energy and attitude.  The opening of the song is all done with the guitar even though it sounds like both a guitar and a keyboard.  Steve is showing off right out of the gate.  Vocally, Billy is on fire and you can see his lip curling up while he is signing which is amazing as it is on vinyl.  “Rebel Yell” was actually inspired by the Rolling Stones according to Billy on VH1 Storytellers.  Billy was at a party thrown by the Stones and everyone was drinking Rebel Yell Bourbon Whiskey.  I guess he loved that whiskey (along with a lot of drugs at the time).

The first single on ‘Whiplash Smile’ was a cover of William Bell’s “To Be A Lover” which was co-written by Booker T. Jones back in 1968.  Billy completely modernized the song and turned it in to a dance track.  It has some great soulful female backing vocals and fancy piano riffs and an all around fantastic track.  The song is actually quite poignant in that with his longtime girlfriend leaving him since he “forgot to be a lover” with his drug use and sexcapades with other women.  It felt like he was confessing that he screwed up.

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My Sunday Song – “Rejoice” by Def Leppard

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For My Sunday Song #468, we are going to talk the brand new song by Def Leppard called “Rejoice”. It was released prior to the start of their latest Las Vegas Residency that is occurring as we speak. The song isn’t from any album (yet) and is the 2nd single they’ve released over the last year, the last one being ’77’. Still no album. I am assuming they will play this during the residency as it would be a great place to debut the song live. I still want an album.

The song was written by Joe Elliott and Phil Collen. The song is about a guy, who according to Joe, is at rock bottom. The guy seems to be at that point where you realize the only way to go is up. He wants to fight his way to the top, he wants to feel Joy again, he wants to hit the point that he can rejoice.

Per Leppard’s press releases…Phil Collen stated…

“I had this riff, this idea for a song a while ago actually, so when Joe came to me I created this drum loop based with a tribal sound and it fit perfectly with this other arrangement I had,” adds Collen. “I sent it to Joe and it was like magic – he sang straight over the top of it. And that’s how the song was formed.

“Then we gave it to Ronan [McHugh, Leppard’s long-serving sound engineer] who’d done a proper drum loop with different sounds. It all started gelling and just sounded like a powerful chant. We love it. It’s hard rock for us. It’s got a bit more of an ‘oomph’ than stuff we’ve been doing for a while. It’s kind of magical.”

Musically, this song takes me back to around their ‘Euphoria’ era with that that guitar sound. The song definitely is heavier than anything they’ve done in awhile. As the band said above, “It’s got a bit more ‘oomph”. I would agree with him as it is a real banger of a song. I like the drum sound with its tribal beat, the harmonies are classic Leppard and Joe Elliott sounds great. It is so great to see Leppard still putting out material and finally having a little balls behind it. A great way to kick of 2026!! So why don’t we all rejoice we have a new Def Leppard Single!!

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Friday New Releases – January 23, 2026

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The days are getting colder but the releases are heating up as we have 40 for you this week. I’m eagerly awaiting what is said to be the last Megadeth album. I will stream The Power Station 40th Anniversary set and even the Helix, but that is it for me this week. What do you see that you like. Let us know what you want to hear or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend.

  • Megadeth – Megadeth – (BlkIIBlk / Frontier Records)
  • The Power Station – The Power Station Deluxe (40th Anniversary Edition) – (Rhino / Parlophone)
  • Helix – Scrap Metal – (Perris Records)
  • Yes – Symphonic Live – (Mercury Studios) – Limited Edition Blu-Ray / 2 CD
  • Lucinda Williams – World’s Gone Wrong – (Highway 20 Records / Thirty Tigers)
  • The Damned – Not Like Everybody Else – (earMusic / Edel Music & Entertainment)
  • Louis Tomlinson – How Did I Get Here? – (78 Productions / BMG Rights Mgmt)
  • Reba McEntire – Starting Over (30th Anniversary Edition) – (MCA Nashville / UMG)
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Talisman – ‘Vaults’ (2015) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Talisman is no more since Marcel Jacob passed away in 2009. The former members of Talisman wanted Marcel’s legacy to live on and as a tribute to him and all he did for Talisman, they released a 2 CD compilation called ‘Vaults’. The album features demos from every person Marcel used to record demos for songs that wound up in Talisman. It includes Jeff Scott Soto, of course, but also has demos from Matti Alfonzetti (Jagged Edge, Skin, Skintrade), Thomas Vikstrom (Candelmass, Brazen Abbot, Stormwind), Stefan Berggren (Company Of Snakes) and Goran Edman (Malmsteen, John Norum, Kharma).

As we discussed earlier, Talisman stems from when Marcel was working with John Norum and as Marcel was prepping songs for that album, he had Goran Edman record the demos. Goran was also in John Norum’s band. Norum rejected the songs, Goran was offered a gig with Yngwie Malmsteen and now Marcel was left with all these songs and no singer. That is when Jeff Scott Soto was brought into the picture. Jeff was with the band Eyes and came and did the songs with Talisman as a favor to Marcel. After the album cycle was done, he was back in Eyes.

Then shortly thereafter, Marcel ran in to an old grade school pal, Matti Alfonzetti, who would join as the singer. They wrote and put some demos together for the label. However, there was some management change at the label and they didn’t care about the success of the debut album as it wasn’t their baby so Marcel packed shop and left. They shopped the album around and after six months of nothing, Matti decided to leave and pursue other things. Marcel was not deterred and kept shopping the demo around without a singer. Finally Dino Records was interested in the band with one big catch. They wanted Jeff back on vocals. They knew about the success of their debut with Jeff and they loved that sound. That wasn’t a terrible thing for Marcel. Marcel decided to reach out to Jeff and catch up. And within 3 weeks of that call, the two were together again in the studio to record the next Talisman album.

As far as Thomas Vikstrom goes, Thomas was the keyboard player for Talisman from 1990-1992. I am assuming that during this time, Marcel was working on songs and Thomas do the vocals. These songs never appeared on any Talisman album with any other singer so not sure if they were ever used anywhere else prior to this release.

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Tim’s Vinyl Confessions: Ep. 763 – Radio & Records Top 30 AOR Chart Jan 17/86

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Witness the AOR charts: Where Bon Jovi, Dokken and Aerosmith seamlessly rubbed shoulders with Stevie Nicks, Mike + the Mechanics, and various members of The Who. I join Tim Durling from Tim’s Vinyl Confessions and we explore this chart from forty years ago. RADIO & RECORDS TOP 30 AOR CHART JAN 17/86.

What was wild about this show was how different the AOR list was from the Top 40 charts. Some items falling down the AOR list were one of the top songs in the Top 40 which shows that the AOR radio stations got the best songs faster. A very diverse list of arts so come join the fun.

It will be live at 5pm on January 19, 2026 over on YouTube. Check it out!!

Here is the chart we walk through…

My Sunday Song – “Anytime” by McAuley Schenker Group

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For My Sunday Song #467, we are going to talk about the song “Anytime” by the McAuley Schenker Group. I ordered a new box set from them and it got me thinking about this song and how much I love it. The song is off their 1989 album ‘Save Yourself’. The song was released as a single in April 1990 and I remember seeing it on MTV and get swept up in it. Ballads were huge and every band needed one and this delivered on all fronts.

The song was written by singer Robin McAuley and guitarist Steve Mann. The song is about longing for that lost love. It appears that the singer had not truly appreciated what he had until she was gone from his life. He realized he treated her poorly relegating her to “the corner of my empty room”…which I am assuming is a cold dark place in his heart. When she was gone, he realized he loved her and wanted her back. The song is plea for her that anytime she wants him back, he will be there. If she’s lonely and needs to someone to simply call because it sounds like he will come a runnin’.

Robin McAuley’s vocals are what make this song work so well. You can hear the longing in his vocals. He pulls out so much emotion you start to feel bad for him and hope she will call so they can get back together. As good as his vocals are, the music has to match to make it all work. The atmospheric keyboards at the beginning then accompanied by an acoustic guitar are so soft and gentle. If you thought the vocals were longing, the music will break your heart as well. There is a co-solo in the song with both Schenker and Mann that works so perfectly for the song. It accentuates the feelings and adds even more texture to the overall song. When all is said done, it is a brilliant masterpiece. It shows that when a ballad is done well, it can’t be beat. One of my all time favorite ballads from this era.

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Friday New Releases – January 16, 2026

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Happy Friday! We have a great list of new releases for you…okay…a decent list of new releases for you. It is still early in the year and not a whole lot, but some good ones. I’m looking forward to the new Richard Marx where he goes old school. Some people might be looking forward to Madison Beer and those on the heavy side maybe Kreator. Hopefully there is something for everyone. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • Richard Marx – After Hours – (Richard Marx)
  • Madison Beer – Locket – (Epic Records)
  • Kreator – Krushers Of The World – (Nuclear Blast)
  • Edenbridge – Set the Dark on Fire – (Steamhammer)
  • Ov Sulfur – Endless – (Century Media Records)
  • Soen – Reliance – (Silver Lining Music)
  • Carrion Vael – Slay Utterly – (Unique Leader Records)
  • Gluecifer – Same Drug New High – (Steamhammer)
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