Category: Rock

Jonny Lang – Signs – Album Review

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Grammy Award winning artist, Jonny Lang, is back with his new album, ‘Signs’.  If you aren’t familiar with Jonny, you are definitely missing out.  He is a Blues, Gospel and rock guitarist, songwriter and singer.  There is nothing this man can’t do.  He brings in so many influences and crafts them into heartfelt and moving songs that are either blues or straight up rock & roll and when he mixes the two together, watch out!!

I remember when his first album came out in 1997, ‘Lie to Me’, and he was only 16 years old.  I heard that album and couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  No 16 year old should be able to pull off what this kid could do.  Years went by and he struggled with substance abuse and in 2000 came clean.  He found Christianity after shunning it for so long and it changed his perspective on everything.  His writing, playing and vocals started hitting on all cylinders.  He won a Grammy in 2006 for his album ‘Turn Around’ and he kept putting out incredible music.

Now in 2017, can he still produce albums that strike a chord with you after 20 years in the business?  Oh yes he can.  Jonny Lang has released what could possibly be the album of the year for me.  His vocals, songwriting and guitar playing (damn can he play a guitar) are nothing short of awe-inspiring.  Sit back and let me walk you through this masterpiece.

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My Sunday Song – “Life’s Been Good” by Joe Walsh

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For My Sunday Song #59, I have to go with Joe Walsh’s classic song “Life’s Been Good”.  The song is off his 1978 album ‘But Seriously, Folks…” and was released as a single in May of that year.  The song has two versions, the album cut which is an epic 8:56 and the radio edit which is only 4:35.  The radio edit is great, but the full version is where all the magic happens.

“Life’s Been Good” is song that speaks to the excess of the rock gods of the 70’s.  Lyrically, it paints a beautiful picture of how everyone thinks the huge Rock Stars live and probably resonated because everyone wants to be that Rock Star.  The song hits all the high points, the mansion, the exotic sports car, the hit records, the fans and the money.  What’s not to like.

The song is a mid-tempo beat with almost a reggae feel to it.  It has a great guitar riff throughout and includes a bizarre little inside joke about 10 seconds after the song ends.  Walsh very humorously goes “uh-oh, here comes a flock of wah wahs” followed by a chorus of duck or geese noises.  I have no idea what the inside joke was, but it is quite funny regardless.  I wonder what they were smoking?????

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Friday New Releases – September 29th

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Welcome to the last Friday New Releases of the month.  There are too many new releases this week and no way to even come close to listening to it all.  There a handful I will attempt to get to and those will be highlighted in Blue, but doesn’t mean there aren’t others on this list I don’t want to hear.  I have to some way prioritize the listening choices.  I am sure there is something on here that you will find exciting.  Let me know what you are interested in getting.

  • 91+F7bRBJkL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg  Shania Twain – Now – (Universal Nashville):  Oh Shania, how we have missed you.  Back with her first album in 15 YEARS!!!.  I have heard a couple songs off the album and haven’t been overly impressed so I am little worried about this one.  My wife and I enjoy Shania and went saw her in concert about 2 years ago and we also had “From This Moment” played at our wedding.  As a result, I will give this a listen despite my hesitations.

  • 51-RUWDsUjL._AC_US218_  Black Stone Cherry – Black to Blues EP – (Mascot Label Group): The Southern Hard Rock band is bringing us a little EP to hold us over until their next album…I am so cool with that.  They don’t seem to ever disappoint and I could use a good old rock album about now.

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“My First Time” with White Lion’s ‘Pride’

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I recently read an article on Mike Tramp that said he was releasing a limited edition box set called “This and That” which would contain 5 CDs and 1 DVD of previously unreleased material as well as some new tracks.  It sounds interesting and got me to thinking about his old band White Lion.  And I immediately remembered ‘Pride’.

Little did I know at the time that ‘Pride’ was not their debut album.  They actually had an album prior called ‘Fight to Survive’ that never amounted to anything.  Since “My First Time” is supposed to be the first time I discover a band and it is not on their debut album, then ‘Pride’ worked.

‘Pride’ came out in 1987 slap dab in the middle of the Hair Band explosion.  That means BIG HAIR!!  Did White Lion have it…uh…YES…

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Friday New Releases – September 22nd

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Another Friday is upon us and another day of new music.  There is a little of everything on tab for this week so hopefully there is something you can find you want to give a spin.  I have quite a few this week and they are highlighted in Blue as usual.

  • 613Ur6oUHlL._AC_US218_  Black Country Communion – BCCIV – (J&R Adventures):  BCC is back with their 4th album.  I thought they might have been done after their last one so I am thrilled to see a new release.  If you don’t know who they are, the band consists of some quite talented musicians you might have heard about…Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian.  Not a bad line-up.  Definitely worth checking out.

  • 615l-IJwJwL._AC_US218_  H.E.A.T – Into the Great Unknown – (Frontiers Records): This Swedish rock band brings us their 5th release and first after losing original guitarist Eric Rivers.  I am interested to hear it despite 2 of the original members now gone including the lead singer.  That usually really bothers me when you lose the singer, but Erik Gronwell can hold his own and has done a fine damn job since taking over.  Here is to hoping for more of the same greatness from these guys.
  • 411N1zML8KL._AC_US218_  The Killers – Wonderful Wonderful – (Island Records):  For some reason, I really like The Killers.  When they are good, they are really good and Brandon Flowers has been sounding great lately.  I am digging the new song “Run for Cover” so hoping the rest of the album is on par with that one.

  • 61KFg3CH+0L._AC_US160_  Mastodon – Cold Dark Place E.P. – (Reprise Records):  It is only an E.P., but anything from this Atlanta Metal band is worth grabbing.  Bring it on.

  • images-1  Fergie – Double Duchess – (Retrofuture Productions):  Okay, yes I am interested in hearing Fergie.  I have my guilty pleasures.  She proved she can rock out when she did a song for Slash so I definitely want to hear what she brings to the table this time around.

  • 4192A8z6v8L._AC_US218_  Otherwise – Sleeping Lions – (Century Media)
  • 61FIiVNH5OL._AC_US218_  Macklemore – Gemini – (Bendo LLC)
  • 513lUqo6OtL._AC_US218_  Matthew West – All In – (Sparrow)
  • 61EuJwZ3BCL._AC_US218_  Josh Ritter – Gathering – (Pytheas Recordings)
  • 51CVVBAaSrL._AC_US218_  Midland – On the Rocks – (Big Machine)
  • 51nMKZQR5nL._AC_US218_  Van Morrison – Roll With The Punches – (Exile Productions)
  • 61LDM-QpKqL._AC_US218_  Leon Russell – On A Distant Shore – (Palmetto)
  • 61d5C7z7dcL._AC_US218_  Chris Hillman – Bidin’ my Time – (Rounder)
  • 61KHcRSiqCL._AC_US218_  Steve Martin / The Steep Canyon Rangers – “The Long-Awaited Album” – (Rounder)
  • 51T3BQ1iCJL._AC_US218_  Cradle of Filth – Cryptoriana: The Seductiveness of Decay – (Nuclear Blast)
  • 51sZCZfQfIL._AC_US160_  Lecrae – All Things Work Together – (Reach Records)
  • 51NFpv8xsDL._AC_US218_  Haley Reinhart – What’s That Sound? – (Concord Records)
  • 51o8JkMVkwL._AC_US218_  Brian Wilson – Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology – (Rhino/Warners)

Nickelback – ‘Feed the Machine’ – Album Review

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I know what you are asking…Why on Earth am I doing a Nickelback review???  I have asked myself that same question over and over again.  But I do have a reason.  I wanted to see if I could objectively review an album despite any prior biases I might have with the band.  It was more of an experiment…a challenge.

Let me give you some history.  I started out as a fan of Nickelback…I mean who didn’t back in the day.  They wrote really catchy songs that got stuck in your head.  Over time, that like became boredom as everything they ever did was the same old shit.  No growth, no diversity.  Then further on, they became a joke, a caricature of themselves.

Then they became down right irritating with stupid, worthless feuds such as the recent spat with Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor.  Now I can’t even listen to Stone Sour’s album as a result.  They both had albums coming out around the same time so the spat was probably planned for publicity that neither band really needed.  It was so fucking stupid (excuse my language but it was).

That got me thinking even more (which is dangerous).  Do I not like them anymore because of all the negativity that I have heard over the years or is it because they really aren’t that good.  That thought intrigued me.  So, I forced myself to try and wipe all that out of my head and do a solid review on this album as if it wasn’t Nickelback.  As if I hadn’t heard of this band or had no idea who did the album.  Did it work???

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My Sunday Song – “Renegades of Funk” by Rage Against the Machine

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For My Sunday Song #57, I am going with “Renegades of Funk” by Rage Against the Machine.  The song was released on election day in 2000 and with George W. Bush winning I am sure RATM had a lot more to “Rage” about.  The song is off their ‘Renegades’ album and was produced by the great Rick Rubin.

What I never knew, or had just forgotten, was the song was actually a Cover of a song performed by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force and released back in 1983.  These two songs really sound nothing alike and Rage has turned into a funked up metal song that fits my taste nicely.  Not only is it a cover, Rage has included a percussion piece of the song “Apache” by the Incredible Bongo Band.

I had never really listened to Rage Against the Machine as the late 90’s were not a great time for me so had overlooked them.  It was playing Guitar Hero or some video game where the song was featured and I was like…WOW!!…how have I missed this song.  Ever since then I have been a fan of the band. Tom Morello just absolutely slays it on the guitar and he is one of the best out there. The sounds and riffs he does are so his own style there is no mistaking when he is on lead guitar.

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Friday New Releases – September 15th

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Well hold on to your hats, there is an abundance of new releases today.  Over 27 albums on the list so there has to be something for you.  For me, there are at least 10 I want to listen to, but I am sure I won’t make it through all of them.  The ones I want are highlighted in Blue.  Let me know what you would like to buy or hear.

  • 61KS6Xq7XTL._AC_US218_  Josh Todd & the Conflict – Year of the Tiger – (Century Media):  If there isn’t a Buckcherry new album, I will take  Josh Todd album and this one has me super excited.  This one seems to be a little harder than Buckcherry and I like that.  The harder the better baby!!

  • 91GkSim-z6L._AC_UL115_  Foo Fighters – Concrete and Gold – (Roswell Records):  The Foo Fighters bring us another release and although my interest tends to fade over time, I still enjoy them and will give this one a listen.  What I have heard so far has been promising so maybe they have put together a decent album…we will wait and see.

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The Original Vs. The Cover – “The Sound of Silence”

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Welcome to the second edition of ‘The Original Vs. The Cover”.  This month we are highlighting the Simon & Garfunkel classic, “The Sound of Silence” and the best cover version I have ever heard of this song by the Metal band Disturbed.  Yes, I said a Metal band.  So the Folk version vs. the Metal version.

The song was originally recorded back in 1964 and was titled “The Sounds of Silence”. The song was a folk traditional version and it basically flopped.  The song was overdubbed in 1965 without Simon & Garfunkel’s knowledge and some electric instruments were added to give it more a folk rock sound which was big at the time.  The song became a hit and Simon & Garfunkel became famous.

The song everyone knows is actually the second version, the folk rock song.  Later the song was retitled for some strange reason to “The Sound of Silence” and the ‘s’ was dropped from “Sounds”.  Rather odd to me, but what do I know.

The song has one of the best opening lines of any song…”Hello darkness, my old friend / I’ve come to talk with you again”.  The way they sing that opening line is kind of eerie and seems to hold so much meaning.  And has always made me think about loneliness as that was the overall feeling I got from that verse.

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The Debut: Van Halen – ‘Van Halen’

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For my third installment of The Debut, I have decided to take on the daunting task of discussing on what is regarded as one of the best debut albums in rock history, Van Halen’s debut simply called ‘Van Halen’.  Why is it daunting? Because so many people have written about this album that there really is nothing I can add to the discussion other than my opinion which is probably no different than what has already been said.

We will start off with some general information about the album.  The album was released on February 10th, 1978.  I was only 9 at the time.  It was produced by Ted Templeman who was famous for producing The Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison and Montrose (early Sammy Hagar connection).  The album reached as high as only #19 on the charts and did sell over 1 million copies in its first year.  It has now been certified Diamond Status with sells well over 10 million copies.

The band was originally discovered by Gene Simmons from the band KISS.  Gene worked with the band and they did some demos, but nothing materialized as Gene headed back out on tour with his band.  The ended up playing a lot of live shows around Hollywood including the Whiskey A Go Go and the Starwood.  It was at the Starwood that they came to the attention of Mo Ostin & Ted Templeman with Warner Brothers Records.  They later signed with Warner and went on to record their debut album.

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