Category: Rock

Gene Simmons – ‘The Vault’ – Album Review (Part 11 of 15 – Disk 10)

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Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review.  We are now on Disk 10.  Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.

I will try and keep some consistency between each disk.  I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information.  I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk.  I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.

At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package.  I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week.  Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time.  That is a bunch of music to go through.

The songs aren’t in chronological order.  Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe.  The vibe of this one appears to be a little all over the place.  I had a hard time getting in to this one.  Let’s see what the result was.

Well, are you ready?  Then let’s get right to it.

The CD comes with a picture of one of Gene’s very first bands…

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Coverdale-Page – ‘Coverdale-Page’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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After the Whitesnake tour supporting the album, ‘Slip of the Tongue’, David was done.  He had had enough of Whitesnake and called it quits.  He put the band on the back burner and started searching for the next big thing.  In the meantime, Jimmy Page was not getting back  with his former band Led Zeppelin so he was in limbo as well.  Then in 1991, shortly after the tour, A&R guy, John Kalodner, suggested David and Jimmy Page get together and cut an album.  That is funny for one very big reason.  David had been told by critics for years that he was a Robert Plant wannabe…a poor man’s Zeppelin if you will.  Heck, when Robert Plant heard about this project, he called the pairing David Cover”Version”…ouch!

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That didn’t stop them though and thankfully for us they plowed ahead.  The album was recorded at the end of 1991 and in to 1992.  However, for reasons I can’t find, the album was delayed until March 1993 when it finally was released. The album had pretty decent success as it definitely went platinum and reached #5 on the Billboard Charts and #4 in the UK. In 1993, a blues tinged rock album to do this good in a landscape that was pretty much grunge at the time, I would say it did more than pretty decent.

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The Darkness – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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The Darkness came out of nowhere in 2003 with the song “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” and when I heard that song, I was hooked.  It was so 80’s retro and 70’s glam all rolled in to one while at the same time being a little tongue-in-cheek.  I didn’t even know if this was a parody of if these guys were for real, but I loved it.  Thankfully, it was for real.  Lead singer, Justin Hawkins, has this insane falsetto that not many people could ever think of doing and the band is loud and awesome.  After their second album, the band hit a rough spot.  Justin entered in to rehab and afterwards decided to leave the band.  On hiatus they went.

Not knowing if they were ever to return, I was sad not having them on the music scene.  Then in 2012, some 6 years later, they returned with their 3rd album “Hot Cakes” and have been on a regular basis about ever 2 years and they keep getting better.  18 years now after the release of their debut album, there is still 3 of the 4 original members in the band which is pretty impressive in today’s world.  The members are as follows:

  • Lead Singer, lead and rhythm guitar – Justin Hawkins
  • Rhythm and lead guitar – Dan Hawkins
  • Bass – Frank Poullain
  • Drums – Rufus Tiger Taylor

With the 2019 release of “Easter is Cancelled” which had my #1 song of 2019 with “Rock and Roll Deserves to Die” and was their 6th studio album, I felt it was time to do an album ranking. So sit back and enjoy The Darkness albums ranked Worst to First!

THE WORST – ‘HOT CAKES’ (2012):

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My Sunday Song – “Saints of Los Angeles” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #186, we are exploring the title track to the band’s 2008 album ‘Saints of Los Angeles’ and their last album at this point in time.  The song was the debut single and was the first single released simultaneously as normal single release and a download through the video game Rock Band.  A creative way to make some noise and get their name out there.

The album is loosely based on the band’s book “The Dirt”, I believe we have all heard of that book and Netflix movie.  The song was written by every member of the band…not Motley Crue, but Sixx A.M.. That is Nikki’s other band and they pretty much had their hands in this entire album so really this is a Sixx A.M. album performed by Motley Crue.

The song is a rocker and anthem that celebrates the band coming up in L.A. and being rock & roll kings.  It has references to playing at the Troubadour and all the partying and drugs they did back in the day.  The Gang Vocal version opens with Vince softly speaking the Lord’s Prayer.  And it has Josh Todd (Buckcherry), Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach), James Michael (Sixx A.M.) and Chris Taylor Brown (Los Gatos) on backing vocals.  It comes at you like a fist to the face and all the Motley elements you want in a song including Mick’s guitars and Tommy’s drum sound.  It was a welcome return to a band that needed a hit record.

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Friday New Releases – March 6th

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Welcome to March and the new releases are heating up.  We have a ton this week so there has to be something you like in there, I am sure.  If not, I guarantee nothing!!  There is rock, metal, pop, country, rap, classic rock…what else could you need?  Seriously, what else??  Let me know what I missed and what floats your boat.  For me, the two are highlighted in Blue.  Have a great weekend!!

  • 71DB-YKACJL._AC_UL115_  Harem Scarem – Change the World – (Frontiers Records):  Yes, Harem Scarem are still going strong with a new release.  This is their 16th studio album…wow!!  If you know the band, you know what you are getting.  Solid, melodic rock and only the way they know how.  That is all you want from these guys.  Give it a try.

  • 913OhGTguhL._SX522_  Allen / Olzon – Worlds Apart – (Frontiers Records):  You get Symphony X’s and Adrenaline Mob’s Russel Allen and Nightwish’s Anette Olzon teaming up for an album.  Does it get much better than that?  Probably, but for now, I will give it a try as it is two great voices of metal together.  Deserves a listen.

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Gene Simmons – ‘The Vault’ – Album Review (Part 10 of 15 – Disk 9)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic70 Comments

Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review.  We are now on Disk 9.  Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.

I will try and keep some consistency between each disk.  I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information.  I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk.  I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.

At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package.  I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week.  Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time.  That is a bunch of music to go through.

The songs aren’t in chronological order.  Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe.  The vibe of this one appears to be a little all over the place.  However, there are only a handful of songs that ended up on Kiss albums or solo albums which is nice.  It is an interesting set of tracks.

Well, are you ready?  Then let’s get right to it.

The CD comes in a picture of Gene in full make-up with his Axe…

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David Coverdale – “The Last Note of Freedom” – Single Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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For this part of the David Coverdale series, we are throwing in the review of the song David did from the movie ‘Days of Thunder’ starring Tom Cruise.  The song came out in 1990.  Whitesnake hadn’t called it quits just yet, still a year away for that, but David was exploring solo projects such as this.  And honestly, how could he turn down the opportunity to have a song on a Tom Cruise movie back in a time when Tom could do no wrong.

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As you can see, the song was produced by Trevor Horn, but the song was actually written by Hans Zimmer who did the music, but what I find is that the lyrics were actually written by Billy Idol…yes, that Billy Idol.  I am sure David contributed a little, but mostly he sang.  I now have a connection between the last music series I did with Billy Idol and this one with David Coverdale..so cool.

This single was only released as a single in Europe which is exactly where I found it.  This is another Single I picked up on my Paris trip.  I picked up a bunch of singles at that time and another one will be discussing in a couple weeks for the David Coverdale series as well. Continue reading “David Coverdale – “The Last Note of Freedom” – Single Review (The David Coverdale Series)” →

Billy Idol – “To Be A Lover” 12″ Single (The Billy Idol Series – Bonus Edition)

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Back in April 2019, the family took a trip to Paris and I found a lot of records while shopping in a few really cool French Record Shops.  This particular one, which I am not sure why I didn’t include in the Billy Idol series in the timeline it belongs, was nothing really special.  It didn’t have any thing I didn’t already have, but I didn’t have it.  That was the only reason I bought it.  I guess the really cool thing it has is this French price sticker in the upper right corner of the back cover.

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The single is a 12″ Max-Single of the single “To Be A Lover” off the album ‘Whiplash Smile’.  Now this also has two other songs.  A remix of the single as well as another song off the album called “All Summer Long”.  Let us get in to the music.

SIDE ONE:

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“To Be A Lover” (Mother of Mercy Mix) opens it up and this should really be called the Sex Mix with the woman practically orgasming with her sultry, seductive voice throughout.  Damn!!  A total blast.  This is the version you can find on the 1987 album ‘Vital Idol’ along with 7 other re-mixes of Idol’s hits up to that point.  This was not on the UK version released 2 years earlier as ‘Whiplash Smile’ album was not out yet.

SIDE TWO:

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This was the first single of the album ‘Whiplash Smile’ and it 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.

Then comes “All Summer Single” which has too many effects and no substance.  It is plain and dull for me and I never connected to this one.  It feels lonely like Billy was without his girlfriend Perri…so sad.

And there you have it…a little bonus edition of the Billy Idol Series.  We have one more coming up soon on the Deluxe Edition of the Generation X the band’s debut album.

Now, if you want to check out the full reviews and the entire Billy Idol Series, click on any and all of the links below…

  1. Generation X – ‘Generation X’
  2. Generation X – ‘Valley of the Dolls’
  3. Gen X – ‘Kiss Me Deadly’
  4. Generation X – ‘The BBC Transcription Disc Series No. 126 1978’
  5. Billy Idol – Don’t Stop E.P.
  6. Billy Idol – Billy Idol
  7. Billy Idol – Rebel Yell
  8. Billy Idol – Whiplash Smile
  9. Billy Idol – To Be A Lover – Single Review
  10. Billy Idol – Vital Idol
  11. Billy Idol – Charmed Life
  12. Billy Idol – Cyberpunk
  13. Billy Idol – “Speed” (song from the Speed Soundtrack)
  14. Generation X – K.M.D. Sweet Revenge
  15. Billy Idol – VH1 Storytellers (Live)
  16. Billy Idol – Devil’s Playground
  17. Billy Idol – Happy Holidays
  18. Billy Idol – The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself
  19. Billy Idol – Kings & Queens of the Underground
  20. Billy Idol – BFI Live (#RSD 2019)
  21. Billy Idol – Revitalized
  22. Generation X – Your Generation (7″ Record Store Day Release)
  23. Billy Idol – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First

My Sunday Song – “Afraid” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #185, we will discuss “Afraid” by Motley Crue off their 1997 release ‘Generation Swine’.  This was the first single off the album and first single to feature Vince Neil back in the band. The song reached #10 on the rock charts, but I don’t remember much noise being made as music had changed significantly.

The song was written by Nikki Sixx and was about his relationship with Donna D’Errico.  As she felt she was getting to close to him, she ended up running away.  I think he feels she is so broken that she is incapable of a relationship.  That fear of being too close to anyway; heck, I think that is something we have all felt at one time or another.

Musically, the song rocks out, they tried to modernize their sound to fit the late 90’s and they do a good job.  However, it sounds like Motley Crue like it should.  They didn’t try and turn it in to anything grunge thankfully as Grunge was kind of over at this point.  The guitar work by Mick is great, loud and heavy, but has a melodic feel that gives the tune some solid emotion.  Nikki and Tommy lay down the groove and keep a great rhythm.  Vince sounds fantastic.  The trademark little screams and it was nice to hear the band back together again.

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Friday New Releases – February 28th

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Another month has come to a close and another Friday of not a lot of releases.  It has been an incredibly slow start for me this year.  There has only been a few I have liked so far and have had any interest in.  This week is no different.  There are a couple I will try (highlighted in Blue), but nothing I am super excited about, hopefully that will change once I hear it.  So, sit back and go through the list and let me know if there is anything interesting for you. Also, let me know what I missed on the list so everybody can know.  Thanks and have a great weekend.

  • 71G4t4GFyeL._SS500_  Five Finger Death Punch – F8 – (Better Noise Music):  I am not overly excited about this one.  They are kind of like the Nickelback of heavy metal music and my interest has waned over the years.  However, I will give it a try as usually I get a couple songs worth keeping and adding to a playlist.  I like to think of them as tough sounding music to make you feel like a badass even though you are not…that is me in a nutshell!!

  • A1qlo33DesL._SX522_  The Classic Crime – Patterns in the Static – (Criminal Records):  An alternative rock band that gets lumped in to the Christian label because they were signed to Tooth & Nail label which is mostly Christian acts.  They are more a pop/rock band than anything…no real label.  Always some solid stuff so this will get a spin…or two!!

Continue reading “Friday New Releases – February 28th” →