Category: Rock

My Sunday Song – “Wild is the Wind” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song #197, we are going to go with a song off Bon Jovi’s New Jersey album called “Wild is the Wind”.  The song was from 1988 and it was never released as a single, but it stuck with me and was one of my favorites on the album.  Like a lot of their albums, the deep cuts can sometimes be better than the actual singles and this was one of those for me.  Next to “Blood on Blood” from the New Jersey album, this is one I go to more than others.

This song seems to be an admission of guilt for Jon as he seems to be feeling bad for not being there for his wife.  It is something deeply imbedded in him that drives him to be on the road all the time.  He feels she would probably do better finding someone else that can give her what she needs because he feels he is failing at that task.  And as much as he lived that rock star lifestyle, I would say he failed quite a bit at giving her what she needed.  In the end, we know how the story ends in real life as he and his wife are still together after all these years.

What I loved about the song is something that was a common theme on the New Jersey songs, it was this cowboy spirit drenched in the music style.  It wasn’t a country twang or anything like that, it was mostly in how the acoustic guitar is used in the songs.  There is this restless feeling in the songs.  Musically, it is a cross between a ballad and just a plain old rock song. It has its slow moments, but rocks out in the end with some damn fine guitar work by Mr. Richie Sambora, the backbone of the band.  Tico Torres has some nice drum fills and great moments as well so I don’t want to leave him out.  Jon sings with all his heart and his emotions on his sleeve like he always did back then (now the new stuff feels like is his just going through the motions, but that is another story for another day).

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Friday New Releases – May 22nd

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Finally!!  Yes, there are some albums I am actually excited about this week.  It has been awhile for me since the last week that anything I was anxiously awaiting. This week, I have two that will definitely get a spin first thing in the morning while I am sitting at home in my office like I have for the last two months…I can’t wait to sit in traffic and drive to work.  I never thought I would say that!!!  Anyhoo, my choices are highlighted in Blue. Let me know what you are interested in hearing and what I may have missed.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

  • 81DFJWo7xSL._AC_UL115_  Dennis DeYoung – 26 East, Vol. 1 – (Frontiers Records):  I couldn’t tell you the last time a Dennis DeYoung record got any press, but this one is making the rounds.  I have heard nothing but positive comments on this one so far, so it has really piqued my interest.  I have heard there is a strong Styx element and why wouldn’t there be as he was a huge part of that sound.  We will see.

  • 81iqT1T2gSL._AC_UL115_  One Desire – Midnight Empire – (Frontiers Records):  Okay, this one might the first one getting a spin this morning.  These two songs I have heard so far are a couple of the best I’ve heard this year. If you like some solid guitar driven, heavy melodic rock with a guy that can sing his heart out, this is the one for you to hear.  I think this is going to be the one to beat this year.

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Kiss – ‘Barbarize’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review

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In my quest for collecting Kiss Bootlegs for every tour they have done, I found another fantastic addition to the collection.  My local record shop, Hardy Boy Records, has been a goldmine of late for Bootlegs. I have now bought four over the last few months and all for tours I didn’t have (or a collection of Wicked Lester demos – that is another story that will be told later).

The last 2 I bought were actually at the same tour, so I guess that statement wasn’t entirely true.  The difference was one was the European Tour setlist (which will come in the next week or two) and this one is the North American leg of that tour with an ever so slightly different setlist.

Before we get in to where the show was and the music, lets first discus the cover as it is  pretty cool and what drew me to this one in the first place.  The cover is the same artwork as the Judas Priest album ‘Hero Hero’.  Thanks to Mike Ladano for pointing that out to me when I sent him a picture of the album and sure enough, he was right.

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Whitesnake – ‘Forevermore’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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After only three short years after Whitesnake’s ‘Good to Be Bad’, David and company bring us their next studio album, ‘Forevermore’.  The album was released on March 9, 2011 and in modern Whitesnake times, 3 year gap is like a week as the gap between ‘Good to Be Bad’ and the previous studio album was 11 years.

David Coverdale and Doug Aldrich wrote the entire album together as David likes to sit with his guitarist and come up with the songs just as he did with Vandenberg and Sykes.  The two tried to capture an album that was rooted in the early Snake albums with that blues rock feel and soak it in the modern rock of today.  Of course, the sprinkled a little of the late 80’s in some songs to not alienate anyone.  And did they succeed?  I will let you know soon enough so slow that roll!

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The line-up to the band has some changes to it. Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach are still unchanged from the line-up of the last album.  However, we have had turnover in the rhythm section as we now have Michael Devin on Bass and Brian Tichy on drums.  A pretty lethal duo.  One thing I noticed is that Timothy Drury has been relegated down to a Special Guest for this album when he was a band member on the last…Interesting.  A one cool special guest on this is Jasper Coverdale, David’s son, who supplies some backing vocals….David must be proud! Continue reading “Whitesnake – ‘Forevermore’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)” →

My Sunday Song – “Bed of Roses” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song # 196, “Bed of Roses” off the 1992 album ‘Keep the Faith’ by Bon Jovi is our song of discussion.  The song was released as a single in January 1993 and quickly became another hit for Jon and the gang as it reached #5 on the Billboard Top 40 chart.  In a time where grunge was taking over the world, Bon Jovi still managed to throw out hits while others fell by the wayside.

There is one thing Bon Jovi does well and that is a ballad.  Jon Bon Jovi wrote this one and man does he have a way with words in this one.  What a story he weaves.  While sitting in a hotel room, he made the hotel bring up a piano to his room and he sat, still hungover and wrote this beauty.  He even talks about the struggles in writing it in the first couple lines…

Sitting here wasted and wounded at this old piano,
Trying hard to capture the moment this morning I don’t know
‘Cause a bottle of vodka’s still lodged in my head,
And some blonde gave me nightmares.
I think that she’s still in my bed.

The song is a sad love song to his wife.  Jon lived the rock & roll lifestyle and he was not that faithful to his wife, but by this time in his career,  he knew that she was the one he loved.  This song was a letter to her that he is sorry for what he has done and that she is really the one for him.  He wishes he could be with her lying in a bed of roses while he sits lonely in that hotel room on a bed of nails. It is quite lovely.  And some of the lines he wrote in this were beautiful painted pictures…

With an ironclad fist I wake up and French-kiss the morning

and I loved the line…

While my mistress—she calls me
To stand in her spotlight again.

That mistress is the record company and the music business that keeps wanting him to pop out hit after hit and he is longing to be home with her.  It is such great story telling.

71FhuQ3B5dL._AC_SX425_ Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Bed of Roses” by Bon Jovi” →

Friday New Releases – May 15th

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Another week has passed and another week impacted by Covid-19 as many releases scheduled for today originally are now later in the year.  A few brave souls have stuck to their guns and are releasing their albums still to our enjoyment.  As the U.S. is slowly opening back up and some stores are open again, we will see how things go. I won’t be venturing out as much at first, but I need to hit a record store soon as the shakes are starting to get bad. Withdrawal sucks!!  Until then, my choice for this week is highlighted in Blue. Let me know what you like or anything I may have missed.  Thanks and have a great week.

  • 71Rq-UG9g+L._SX522_  Colton Dixon – Colton Dixon E.P. – (Atlantic Recording):  Christian pop artist Colton Dixon is finally back after the stellar album from 2017, Identity.  That is a high mark to beat so I will be happy if he is anywhere near the greatness of that one.  Sadly, this is only an E.P….give us a full album soon Mr. Dixon!!! Please!!!

And that is it for me.  The rest has some promising stuff and maybe the Jason Isbell will get listened to, we will wait and see…

  • 91MF7wKgmML._SX522_  Asking Alexandria – Like a House On Fire – (Sumerian Records) – Digital Only – physical copy June 26th

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Kiss – Asylum World Tour – Tour Book

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I started 1985 with a Kiss concert (Animalize Tour) so I had to end it with a Kiss concert. This one was on December 31, 1985 and where else, but at the Omni.  This show was for the Asylum Tour this time. The opening act for this show was Black n Blue.  Gene had produced their album so no wonder they opened. Same line-up as the earlier show so nothing really new except the costumes were quite colorful and loud and looking back are quite hideous.

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This setlist was different in the sense that Rock and Roll All Nite was not the encore.  This encore was a big jam session with a lot of covers and I remember it being pretty cool.

  1. Detroit Rock City
  2. Fits Like a Glove
  3. Guitar Solo (Paul)
  4. Uh! All Night
  5. Cold Gin
  6. Under the Gun
  7. Guitar Solo (Bruce)
  8. I Still Love You
  9. Bass Solo
  10. I Love it Loud
  11. Tears Are Falling
  12. Drum Solo
  13. War Machine
  14. Love Gun
  15. Rock and Roll All Nite
  16. La Bamba (Encore)
  17. Whole Lotta Love (Encore)
  18. Heaven’s On Fire (Encore)
  19. Oh! Susanna (Encore)
  20. Won’t Get Fooled Again (Encore)
  21. Lick It Up (Encore)

And like the last show, I bought a Tour Book which I still have today and we are going to go through it right now.  Bruce finally gets his spotlight in the Tour Book as he wasn’t in the last one even though he performed.  It was still Mark St. John as the band didn’t have time to change it out or want to spend the money to do so.  I have him now and that is all that matters.

The first page, as always, is a list of all the albums they have released.  This page isn’t much different than the last tour book since it has only been one album.  Well, there is one big difference.  The ‘Creatures of the Night’ cover is different. It now has the band unmasked and Bruce was on the cover…wait…I don’t think he was on that album…but then again, neither was Ace and he was on the original cover.  I guess it is okay…not really!!

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Whitesnake – ‘Good To Be Bad’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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It had been 11 years since the last full Whitesnake studio album (okay, it was really a Coverdale solo album, but it had Whitesnake in the name) and 2 years since any new music with the four new tracks on ‘Live…In The Shadow of the Blues’.  Whitesnake was finally ready to bring us a full album’s worth of new material.  David Coverdale and his new guitar flavor of the day, Doug Aldrich, worked diligently to bring us an album of new Whitesnake material that would hopefully remind us of old and take us in to the future.

The line-up of the band is now…

  • David Coverdale – Vocals
  • Doug Aldrich – Lead Guitar
  • Reb Beach – Guitar
  • Timothy Drury – Keyboards
  • Uriah Duffy – Bass
  • Chris Frazier – Drums

The biggest difference between this album and the last live album is Tommy Aldridge is no longer in the band.  I love his drumming and I have to admit when I found out, I was a little disappointed, but Chris does well on his own and doesn’t disappoint.

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My Sunday Song – “Something to Believe In” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song #195, we are diving in to the fantastic song “Something to Believe” off the band’s 1995 underrated album ‘These Days’.  This song was never a single and probably one of the best deep cuts they have on any record.  It really spoke to me and to this day, it means a lot.

The song has been considered anti-religious with lines like “I lost all faith in my God, in his religion too”, but the song is really about fighting back and finding that one thing to hold on to and reach for and to believe in.  I know for me, I have struggled a lot in this world.  There were times I had lost my faith and I still struggle with my belief in religion.  Not with God or Jesus, but organized religion. I see the damage it has caused through the centuries, the charlatans out there wanting your money and our the first ones to sin.  The holier-than-thou Church goers that think cast the first stone and our cheating on their spouses.  The churches that hide the child molesting priest.  I could go on and on and talk about the hypocrisy of it all.   But I won’t.  You get where I am coming from.

So how do you find that one thing to believe in?  I don’t know, but dig deep and it just happens.  I believe in my wife and kids.  My brothers and sisters and those that have always been there. I believe in Jesus and God…BUT…in my own way.  As Jon states, “in a world that gives you nothing, we need something to believe in”.  And with what has going on in the world these last couple months, I think this song holds even more meaning.  Hang in there!  We will get through it and come out the other side even better as we always do.

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Friday New Releases – May 8th

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The second Friday in to May and more bands have moved their releases to later in the year.  Covid-19 is taking its toll on music for sure.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t any brave artists still willing to dare release an able in these times. I salute you and since there is been so little out the last few weeks, I am will to try a few this week.  I will highlight those in Blue as usual.  Let me know what interests you and what I missed this week.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

  • 71Gy27WGi+L._SX522_  Butch Walker – American Love Story – (Ruby Red Records): Singer/Songwriter/Rocker/Producer – jack of all trades, Butch is back with another solo album.  His resume is pretty impressive and I think he had been working with Matt Nathanson lately, who I love, so Butch will get a listen.

  • 81mSkM7vGLL._SX522_  Fake Names – Fake Names – (Epitath): Punk rock supergroup Fake Names – which includes Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion), Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace, One Last Wish), Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, International Noise Conspiracy, INVSN), and Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside)…yeah, this line-up is worth a spin.

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