Category: Rock

My Sunday Song – “Cliffs of Dover” by Eric Johnson

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For My Sunday Song #124, the instrumental this week is none other than Eric Johnson’s “Cliffs of Dover”.  The song was released in 1990 and is off his album ‘Ah Via Musicom’.  The song garnered Eric a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1992 and it has been named #17 in the list of 100 Greatest Guitar Solos by Guitar World Magazine. That should tell you something about how great this song is.

The song starts off with one wicked guitar solo before kicking in to that familiar riff of the song.  What I really love about the song is the melody.  It is so infectious and gets stuck in your head.  When you hear the song, you immediately strap on your air guitar and strum along.  It is taking everything for me to not stop typing and do just that as I am listening to it.  Forget, I will be right back…(air guitar strumming)…(still going)….(almost done)…okay, I’m back.

Eric Johnson claims the song came to him quickly and he was done in about 5 minutes.  I guess he knew a good thing when he heard it.  If it was only that easy for every song.  Now, that creative output occurred back in 1982.  Eric being the perfectionist that he is spent a lot of time tweaking the song and trying to get it right.  He was going to included it on his 1986 debut, but it was nixed by the powers that be.  And some 8 years after he first created the song, it was finally released.  At least the idea was quick!

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The Top Rock Songs of 2018

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Welcome to the Top 20 Rock Songs of 2018.  These songs are my favorite songs of the year and were not necessarily played on the radio or even shot up the charts.  They just moved me in some way good or bad!

If you missed the Top Rock Albums of 2018 or the Top Albums of 2018 (that were not Rock), just click on the link and go check them out.

It is time to start the list so here we go…

#20 – “Loading Zones” –  Kurt Vile off the album ‘Bottle it In’:  Kurt’s can be about the mundane and anything that troubles him in life. This is about the horrors of trying to park in the city.  It has such a great little beat to it and some great guitar and such a simple subject that yet turns into something amazing.  The video is great as well.

#19 – “Roll Me Under” – Stone Temple Pilots off the album ‘Stone Temple Pilots (2018)’:  I know I did give the album the best review, but I liked this song.  It had the old STP sound, but it was also Jeff Gutt at his best on the album.  Such a heavy bass and guitar sound,  it was just great.

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The Top Rock Albums of 2018

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2018 was another year with some great releases and way too many to get through them all so I am sure I missed a number of great albums and if you look around the web, there will be tons of Top Album lists you can get a pretty good idea of what you should check out in case you missed any of these.

This list will be my favorite “Rock” albums of the year.  All other types of music will be for a later post.  I am going to leave this one to my favorite genre.  It is a broad genre, but these are the albums that I consider to be ROCK!!

Also note, these are MY FAVORITES!!  These are not the most popular or trendy albums.  These are the albums that I connected with during the year and I kept coming back to again and again.  And without further adieu, here are the Top Rock Albums of 2018:

My #1 Album of the Year:

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Reach – The Great Divine: A modern, yet melodic rock album that just grabs hold and won’t let go from beginning to end.  A band I had never heard of prior to this album and I am now wondering where they have been my whole life.  Just a fantastic album with no songs to skip or delete.  Almost pure perfection.  The first album I bought that was new in 2018 and still listen to it today.  With songs like “The Great Divine”, “Nightmare” and “Into Tomorrow” you can see they have the goods.  The production value was great, the music, the vocals, it was all solid and my favorite album of the year!!  Give it a try (and check out my original review by clicking the album title).

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My Sunday Song – “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12-24” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

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For My Sunday Song #123, we are still tackling instrumentals and this one will celebrate Christmas.  The song is “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12-24” by the band Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO).  The song is off their debut 1996 album ‘Christmas Eve and Other Stories’.  The song was originally done by the metal band Savatage back in 1995 on their album ‘Dead Winter Dead’.

Okay, TSO is a side project of some of the Savatage band members and you might have seen them as they tour each year a very popular Christmas show that rocks out.  TSO tours two groups at one time and the show looks spectacular.  The song, you have heard it, there is no doubt.  It has become a Classic Christmas song in my book and one of my favorite Christmas songs.

I am going to cheat heavily on this edition of My Sunday Song.  I want to capture for you the great story behind the song and the composition itself as both stories are great and I don’t think I can write it any better.

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The story behind the song comes from an interview Paul O’Neil (founder of TSO) did with Christianitytoday.com  and it goes like this…

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Turntables & Vinyl #17 – The Thanksgiving Collection

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For Thanksgiving, we always travel to Atlanta to visit family and celebrate what we are ‘thankful’ for and just enjoy being around people we love.  And two things happened this year that involved vinyl.  The first was Black Friday Record Store Day and the second was that a family member brought up they have a collection of vinyl they have sitting around.  Anything that involves music or vinyl is a good time for me.

First off, let’s talk about the Black Friday Record Store Day.  Friday morning came and everyone was a little tired from eating too much the night before and it was a slow start to the day.  My sister and brother-in-law were kind enough to make us breakfast and I couldn’t refuse.  Now this started at about 8 or so in the morning.  The one record store that was fairly close to my sister (20-25 minute drive) was going to open at 10am so I felt I was still good on time.

Breakfast didn’t actually get ready until closer to 9am and now I was getting worried. I didn’t want to be rude and skip out on breakfast, so I decided that it was more important to sit with the family and enjoy what was a very yummy breakfast rather than get some exclusive limited edition vinyl’s that would bring me hours and hours of enjoyment.  And I was right.

My daughter and I eventually got on the road and made it to the record store, Sweet Melissa’s Records at about 9:50 which was 10 minutes prior to opening.  And there was no line!!!  That is right…NO LINE!!!  I was so excited.  We got a parking space right in front of the store and couldn’t be happier.  We get out of the car and there was a lady at the door coming out and we asked if they were open and she said Yes, come on in.  Then she added, we got bored and opened early!  Early????  Red Alert….Early?? Danger Will Robinson, Danger!!

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Stone Temple Pilots – Live 2018 – Album Review

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For Record Store Day on Black Friday of 2018, I was able to pick up the new Stone Temple Pilots Live album simply called Live 2018.  I have been a fan of STP for years and was happy to hear they were getting a new singer and were going to continue despite the death of former lead singer, the great Scott Weiland.  The new singer, Jeff Gutt seemed like a good choice and their new album earlier this year wasn’t bad…wasn’t great either, but wasn’t bad (see review here).

When I heard they were doing a Live album for Record Store Day, I was excited and it was one I wanted to get to see how Jeff does live..  The track listing was only 10 songs, but they are a great 11 songs with 2 from the new album and the rest being STP classics.  The album cover was cool as it was rendered in 3-D and the album came with 3-D glassed

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And the back cover of course was in 3-D as well which is why it is a little blurry.

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Chris Cornell – Chris Cornell Box Set – Album Review

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May 18th, 2017.  A sad day for music fans everywhere. Chris Cornell died and left this world, but lucky for us, he left a tremendous music legacy.  For the first time, a collection has been released that is a wonderful retrospective view of his entire career.

The 4CD set (64 Tracks) takes you on a remarkable journey through the life of Chris Cornell starting with his early days of Soundgarden from as early as 1987 through to his work with Audioslave and his solo output with one brand new track that had never previously been released.  There are also 10 unreleased live tracks with some outstanding performances from throughout his career.

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Disc One:

The first CD is basically a greatest hits collection of Soundgarden tracks with the exception of two songs from Temple of the Dog and one solo track  The collection spans the late 80’s and the 90’s.

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My Sunday Song – “Satch Boogie” by Joe Satriani

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For My Sunday Song #122, the instrumental this week is “Satch Boogie” by my favorite guitarist Joe Satriani.  The song is off his 1987 album ‘Surfing With the Alien’. This album was what I would compare all instrumental albums against.  It was how an instrumental album should be and sound.

The songs should be that, songs.  They don’t need to be just showcases of your shredding because that would get old, fast.  The songs should be songs.  They should tell a story, have melodies, a chorus even and just be awesome.  Joe normally does just that.  Makes a song.  And sometimes, he just shows off and this one is him showing off and having fun.  Heck, the name of the song is fun…”Satch Boogie”.  And boogie he does.

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Form the opening light touches of the high-hat to his frantic fret work, it is a shredding good time.  There is technique Joe uses in the song called “pitch axis theory”.  Thanks to wikipedia, it is the following:

Pitch axis theory is a musical technique used in constructing chord progressions. The tonic is used as the bass note, and melodic scales are chosen according to the chords that lie beneath them. “A variety of scales or modesare used, all built around the same tonic pitch.”

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Friday New Releases – December 14th

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Happy Friday and welcome to the last Friday New Releases for 2018…unless something shows up for the last 2 weeks that are worth showing, but right now…NOTHING!  So enjoy it while you can and we will be back sometime in 2019 when we have new releases to report.  There is really only one I am interested in and hopefully I will get it for Christmas (or Birthday…either works as same day).  I have highlighted it in Blue…hint..hint.  Let me know if there is something for you this week or something I missed.

Thanks and Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!!

  • 41yRclcnksL._AC_US436_QL65_  Jorn – 50 Years On Earth: The Anniversary – (Frontiers Records):  Jorn Lande has had a rather productive solo career.  Not all albums were perfect, but there is enough good stuff to make this more than worth it.  All 12 solo albums in once package and at around $5 to $6 bucks a CD, not a bad price either.  I love songs like Sunset Station and his cover of Kiss’ Naked City is fantastic.  A voice like David Coverdale adds to my enjoyment.  Check him out…

And that is it for me.  Here are a few others that might be worth checking out…

  • 91XY+C9BOLL._SX522_  Bruce Springsteen – Springsteen on Broadway – (Bruce Springsteen)
  • 41Z0+qg8QOL._AC_US436_QL65_  Within Temptation – Resist – (Vertigo Berlin)
  • 61JylaSbOeL._AC_US436_QL65_  Volbeat – Let’s Boogie (Live from Telia Parken) – (Vertigo Berlin)
  • 41+XanifQEL._SS500  We Three – We Three – (Palawan Productions)
  • 61iVKeO1W0L._SX679_  Zayn – Icarus Falls – (RCA Records)

The Original vs. The Cover – “I Love Rock ‘n Roll”

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For this version of The Original vs. The Cover, we are covering the classic song “I Love Rock & Roll” by The Arrows and by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.  We are not going to explore the cover by Britney Spears because, well it is Britney Spears and so not worthy!

The song was written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of the band The Arrows back in 1975 and when it was released, it ran into a run of bad luck and never amounted to much on the charts thanks in part to a Paper Strike and no news was printed around its release.  The song itself was a reaction to the Rolling Stones song “It’s Only Rock & Roll (But I Like It)” according to an interview Merrill had with Songfacts.com…

“That was a knee-jerk response to the Rolling Stones’ ‘It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll.’ I remember watching it on Top of the Pops. I’d met Mick Jagger socially a few times, and I knew he was hanging around with Prince Rupert Lowenstein and people like that – jet setters. I almost felt like ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’ was an apology to those jet-set princes and princesses that he was hanging around with – the aristocracy, you know. That was my interpretation as a young man: Okay, I love rock and roll. And then, where do you go with that?”

The band would play this song on Top of the Pops in 1976 and it was at that time, a young lady by the name of Joan Jett heard it while she was touring her band The Runaways.  She decided she wanted to record it, but The Runaways didn’t want to cover it so when she went solo, she recorded it herself.

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