Category: Rock

Friday New Releases – April 18, 2025

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Happy Good Friday. And because it is Good Friday, the releases are really light this week. Easter has that effect on releases, sorry. Don’t fret, next week’s releases are HUGE!! And I Mean HUGE!! I have 6 on pre-order next week, none this week. I hope there is something for you, but if not, you are saving money!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

  • Melvins – Thunderball – (Ipecac Recordings)
  • Mayday Parade – Sweet – (Many Hats Endeavors)
  • Neil Young – Coastal Soundtrack – (Reprise Records)
  • Hawkwind – There is No Space For Us – (Cherry Red)
  • Laurenne/Louhimo – Falling Through Stars – (Frontiers Records)
  • Julien Baker & Torres – Send a Prayer My Way – (Matador Records)
  • Lunchbox – Evolver – (Slumberland Records)
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The Original vs. The Cover – “Crazy Horses”

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We haven’t done an Original vs The Cover in quite a long time, so I thought I’d do one. And why not pick something a little out of the ordinary and pick a song from The Osmonds…yes, that’s right, The Osmonds. The song is off their 1972 album called ‘Crazy Horses’ and was written by Alan, Wayne and Merrill Osmond. The album saw the band go from a boy band into this grown up guys band. They finally get to write and pick the songs where the label had done that prior to this album. It is probably the heaviest song they have ever done.

The single was really big going to #2 in the UK and #14 in the U.S. It brought a new audience to the band that had been mostly women and now the guys were taking notice. The song was actually banned in several countries as they thought the song was about drugs as Horses is sometimes used for heroin. And there was a line about smoke in the air and that was mistaken for drugs as well. But this is The Osmonds, the song was actually about the big gas guzzling cars of the 70’s and how they were not good for the environment. The brothers were actually a little ahead of their time with an environmental song.

It has been covered by so many bands over the years, but I wanted to pick the version that made me love the song and that was a cover by the Swedish band, The Poodles. Their version was the opening track to their 2018 covers album called ‘Prisma’. I don’t like covers album, generally, but this one kicked some major ass. Let’s get to the music.

THE OSMONDS:

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The Collection: Ep. 52 – What’s In The Box? (55 CDs including Journey, Dokken, Sammy Hagar and more)

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My buddy, Mike Ladano, at Grab a Stack of Rock had a friend named Len Labelle who was selling his CD collection. Mike sent pictures out and I was so in on buying as so many pieces that I needed. Len & Mike are in Canada and shipping was going to be expensive to the States, so I made sure to buy enough to make it worth it…and it so was. 55 CDs later and we have a ton of great stuff to add to the collection. If you like Journey, Dokken, Sammy Hagar, Tesla, Slaughter and more…you’ll like this.

So go check it out as it will be live tonight at 7pm, April 14, 2025 on YouTube. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

My Sunday Song – “Champagne” by Cavo

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For My Sunday Song #428, we popping “Champagne” by the band Cavo. “Champagne” was the lead single of their major label debut album from 2009 called ‘Bright Nights, Dark Days’. The song went to #1 on the US Mainstream Rock Songs and #8 Rock Songs chart taking the album to #47 on the Billboard 200 and to #3 on the Hard Rock Albums chart. Not a bad debut. I bought this album based off this one song and I was not disappointed.

The song was written by Chris Hobbs, Chad La Roy, Brian Smith and Casey Walker and the demo was recorded on Casey Walker’s phone. He wasn’t sure about the song and when he finally played it the band, they started noodling with it and BAM!! within 10 minutes they had the start of a great song. The song itself is about a break up and the the second when he knew it was over after looking in to her eyes. The downfall could’ve been the partying and drinking or even the drugs, but whatever the case may be, it was not good. It sounds like he is blaming himself and wishes she could take from him everything that he can’t be for her. Rather sad and honest look at himself.

Musically, the song is a killer, guitar heavy rock track. Great riffs, pounding drums, driving beats and killer bass line. The song is full of energy and anger and Casey Walker’s vocals personify all those emotions. This is one I love to crank up to 11 while driving down the highway slightly above the speed limit (ok, more than slightly!!). A modern rock song that gave me hope rock was still alive when I heard it originally back in 2009.

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Friday New Releases – April 11, 2025

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Happy Friday. Not a lot of releases this week compared to the last few weeks and nothing I am running out to buy (sorry artists below, nothing personal). I am saving up for the April 25th Friday New Releases as I have 5 on pre-order so that bill will be coming due soon. Enough of that, back to this week, let me know what you want to hear or what we may have missed. As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

  • Those Damn Crows – God Shaped Hole – (Earache Records)
  • Bon Iver – Sable, Fable – (Jagjaguwar)
  • Rock-Out – Let’s Call It Rock ‘N’ Roll – (Frontiers Records)
  • Epica – Aspiral – (Nuclear Blast)
  • Ye Banished Privateers – ‘Til The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead – (Napalm Records)
  • Elvenking – Reader of the Runes: Luna – (Reaper Entertainment)
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Cinderella – ‘The Mercury Years’ (2018) – Box Set

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We have Gene Simmons of Kiss and Jon Bon Jovi to thank for Tom Keifer and Cinderella. Gene tried to get them signed first, wasn’t successful though. Then Jon came in the picture and boom, a contract. Cinderella’s debut album came out in 1986 and wow was it over the top with the packaging of the band’s look and their sound. They fit right in to the Hair Metal style. Their next album in 1988 came out, ‘Long Cold Winter’, and they got as far away from that sound and look as they could. With their third album, that took it the extreme the other way. That lineup of Tom Keifer, Eric Brittingham, Jeff LaBar and Fred Coury were a house hold names for me.

After their third album, Tom suffered major throat problems with paralysis of his left vocal cord. This delayed their fourth and final album, ‘Still Climbing’ in 1994, With little to no fanfare, the band basically called it quits…well with at least albums as we never received another one. It wasn’t until 2013 did we even get Tom Keifer’s first solo album, but that is a story for another day. We are talking ‘The Mercury Years’ box set of Cinderella which takes all 4 studio albums and puts them in one set. You also get a Bonus disc of live tracks and a booklet that gives some album information but mostly is a great story of the band. Since it is the music we love and want to talk about, let’s go through the albums included.

CD 1: ‘NIGHT SONGS’ (1986):

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The Collection: Ep. 51 – Is Sixx A.M. Better Than Motley Crue?

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What started off as a side project for Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, became a full fledged band and lasted 5 studio albums.  They started off to only do a soundtrack to Nikki’s autobiography ‘The Heroin Diaries’ and then the rest is history.  Sixx A.M. consists of Nikki Sixx, DJ Ashba and James Michael. Are they better than Motley Crue? Who knows…we just want to go through their collection.

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, April 7, 2025 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Eclipse – ‘Wired’ (2021) – Album Review

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If it wasn’t for Jeff Scott Soto, I probably would’ve never heard of this band. Jeff isn’t in Eclipse, but he is in a band called W.E.T. which had members from Talisman, Work of Art and Eclipse. Through that connection, I went down the rabbit hole of Eclipse and lead singer Erik Martensson who was in W.E.T. Funny enough, he was the guitarist in W.E.T. and not the singer (well, with the exception of a few songs). And now I am a huge fan of Eclipse as a result of diving in to that said rabbit hole.

I have a number of their albums, but finally got a hold of their 2021 album called ‘Wired’. It was released on October 8, 2021, at least in Japan it was that date as that is the edition I have in my collection. ‘Wired’ was the band’s 9th studio album and has Erik Martensson on vocals, Magnus Henriksson on guitar, Philip Crusner on drums and Victor Crusner on bass. In Japan, the album was released on Avalon Records, but elsewhere around the world, it was on Frontiers Records. If you aren’t familiar with them, Eclipse are a melodic hard rock band out of Sweden and they understand how to deliver heavy rock anthems with gang vocal choruses, ripping solos and catchy, yet simple, lyrics.

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My Sunday Song – “Lift You Up” by Gotthard

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For My Sunday Song #427, we are going all the way to Switzerland and talk about the song “Lift You Up” by Gotthard. The song is off their album ‘Lipservice’ which came out on June 5, 2005. The album went to #1 in Switzerland and charted in a handful of other countries. I think they are the highest selling band to come out of Switzerland surpassing Krokus. I hope I’m not wrong in that fact. It was a single and they even did a video which you can see below. If you didn’t know, the band consists of the amazing singer, the late Steve Lee, guitarists Leo Leoni, bassist Marc Lynn, drummer Hena Habegger and guitarist Freddy Scherer.

The song was written by a slew of people including Anders Wikstroem, Fredrik Thomander, Heinz Habegger, Markus Probst, Mary Susan Applegate, Leo Leoni and Steve Lee. It took all these people to tell you that you are part of a greater plan and that there happiness is key to everything. The singer wants to put a smile on your face and no matter how bad it gets, there is something good around the corner. There is a plan for it all. It is uplifting, it is motivational and it is so damn fun.

When you hear this song, it will take you back to the rock anthems of the 80’s a la Bon Jovi or Def Leppard. The drum beat is uplifting in its military, marching style beat. The music is as uplifting as the lyrics and Leo’s guitar riffs and little solo breaks are killer. The rhythm section is spot on and the driving force behind the song. Steve Lee’s vocals are beyond description. The man could sing the phone book and I would listen. Such a shame on his early passing as we lost a vocal treasure with him. If you need a boost in your day…throw this song on.

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Friday New Releases – April 4, 2025

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Happy Friday! Only one for me this week and that is Richie Kotzen and Adrian Smith’s new Smith Kotzen album. Outside of that, nothing really I’m dying to hear, plus all the stuff I got last week I’m still diving in to and absorbing. Let me know what you want to hear this week or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend.

  • Smith Kotzen – Black LIght / White Noise – (BMG Rights Mgmt)
  • Bleed From Within – Zenith – (Nuclear Blast)
  • L.A. Guns – Leopard Skin – (Cleopatra Records)
  • Quireboys – Hey You! The Parlophone Years 1989-1993 – (Lemon Records)
  • Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Who Believes in Angels? – (EMI / Mercury Records)
  • Pat Travers – Live in Baltimore 1982 – (Cleopatra Records)
  • Mekons – Horror – (Fire Records)
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