Category: Rock

Friday New Releases – January 24, 2025

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Happy Friday and we have a ton of releases for you today including some really big names like Teddy Swim, Kane Brown, Eric Clapton and The Weeknd to name a few. There is nothing really for me this week…I might tryout Larkin Poe’s new one but that is probably it. 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.

  • Kane Brown – The High Road – (Sony Music Nashville)
  • Eric Clapton – Meanwhile – (Surfdog / Eric Clapton)
  • Larkin Poe – Bloom – (Tricki Woo)
  • Teddy Swims – I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy: Part 2 – (Warner Records)
  • The Weeknd — Hurry Up Tomorrow – (XO Records/Republic)
  • Thin Lizzy — Acoustic Sessions – (Universal Music)
  • Joey McIntyre – Freedom – (Bowen Arrow Productions)
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Fraction – ‘Moon Blood’ (1971/2024) – Album Review

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Noble Records has been anticipating this release for a long, long time. What started well over a year ago took forever, it felt like, to come to fruition. RidingEasy Records took painstaking effort to capture the essence of the original album including the incredible cover with the red cellophane look that turns the black inner sleeve with the white moon into a moon of blood. A cool effect that adds to the excitement of the release. What is the release? It is from a band called Fraction whose album ‘Moon Blood’ is a holy grail for many heavy psych rock fans. If you want to find an original copy, expect to pay in the thousands of $ for it. Now, with this reissue you can get it for around $50 bucks. Well, that was if you bought it when it was first released. Limited to 1,000 copies, I believe Noble Records sold out in around 24 hours…insane. Luckily, I got one.

The band, Fraction, recorded this album in 3 hours or so. All the songs were done in one take with zero over-dubs. This was done with basically no budget, but what was captured was pure magic. The stellar band was the incredible Jim Beach on vocals, Don Swanson and Bob Meinel on guitar, Vic Hemme on bass and banging those skins was Curt Swanson. The band deliver an acid rock, wah-wah guitar filled album that will simply blow your mind. Only 5 songs, but what more do you need when they are this good.

SIDE 1:

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The Collection: Ep. 42 – What’s In The Box? (CD’s / DVD’s / Books – Dee Snider, George Lynch, Jani Lane, Night Ranger and so much more!!!)

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I was on Facebook Marketplace just goofing around when I stumbled across a picture of someone selling a bunch of CD’s & DVD’s. I zoomed in on the picture and though I couldn’t see everything, I made out a bunch of CD’s that I would want. I checked the price it was only $50, plus $10 for shipping. I thought to myself, that looks like a good deal…so I took a chance and bought it. There are around 75 CDs, 13 DVDs and 3 books. Everything music related. And did I get a good deal? Watch the show and find out. If you like George Lynch, Dee Snider, Dimebag Darrell, Jani Lane, Firehouse, Nickelback and so many more bands, you will think I hit the motherlode!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight, January 20, 2025 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Def Leppard – ‘Drastic Symphonies’ (2023) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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In 2023, Def Leppard did something they hadn’t done in years. Give us a new album a year after the last studio album. In 2022, we were given ‘Diamond Star Halos’ and in 2023, ‘Drastic Symphonies’. Now, ‘Drastic Symphonies’ isn’t technically a studio album. And it isn’t technically a greatest hits compilation. Instead, what we are given is a remix album. Yes, Def Leppard chased the trend (although rather late) and gave us a Symphonic album. They remixed or reworked their songs and added classical music orchestration to it. The album was released on May 19, 2023, one week shy of the one year anniversary of the prior album. In my opinion, they should’ve taken much more time with it and got it right. Why? Let me explain.

A proper Symphony album is done live as that is where you really notice the difference. This is not a proper Symphony album. Instead, Def Leppard did one of two things with the songs. They either completely re-worked the song with the symphony dramatically added in a well thought out manner (sometimes it works, sometimes not). Or…they took a song and put in some symphony in places on the original track. The second way is pure and utter laziness and never works. Wiki says they completely redid all the songs with the exception of the vocals…but listening to it…I disagree. Some of these songs sound exactly like the original with symphony added and all I can say to that is “What is the freaking point!!”

Not all the songs were that way though. So it is worth going through them regardless what I think about the songs and the album overall. First, the orchestration on the album was done by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with the arrangements done by Eric Gorfain and they do a fantastic job overall. No fault of theirs for what is wrong with the album. They recorded their parts at Abbey Road Studios in London, so that is pretty cool. On to the music.

“Turn to Dust”, from ‘Slang’, opens the album and all I can say is…”This is how the album should have been done with EVERY song!”. They completely re-worked this song and what was a really cool song on ‘Slang’ is actually taken up a notch with this one. The orchestration mixed with the Eastern style music is a match made in heaven. By far, the best song on the album as it is purposeful and mindful on how orchestration can enhance and even improve a song. And if that wasn’t good enough, “Paper Sun” is done exactly the same way…well thought out and executed. The two best songs on the album for sure!!

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Kiss – ‘Lo Mejor De…Kiss’ (2015) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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Universal Music is still the compilation king even in 2015. For almost 10 years, they have been spitting out Kiss compilations like they were going out of style. This time around they release a single disc compilation that was only available in Spain. It was titled ‘Lo Mejor…Kiss’. For you English speaking folks, that simply means ‘The Best of…Kiss’. It is only 14 tracks that covers the 70’s and a smidge in the 80’s as we do get 3 tracks from that era. You get a handful with Gene on vocals, a smattering of Paul and a sprinkle of Peter…but no Ace songs…boo!!! The cover of the album is pretty nice with an early photo of the band. I love how the cover looks like a magazine cover and I even like the font of the logo. There isn’t much to it as the album cover opens to reveal the track listing with a few credits, but no other pictures, no write-up, nothing. Pretty basic. Another cash grab. But being that is a Spanish release, the cool factor is pretty high for me to have it in the collection.

There isn’t much else I could find on it, so we might as well talk the music. The album kicks off with the song that started it all for the band.  The start to superstardom was because of “Rock And Roll All Nite”.  This is now their signature song and it is easy to see why.  It is a pure rock anthem like no other. The ‘Alive!’ version is better though.

And then Paul shows off with a little “Oooh Oooh Oooh” that I’m not sure he could not hit today as it is so high, but it is a perfect way to kick off the song “Heaven’s On Fire” which is another Paul and Desmond song and the first single off ‘Animalize’ The song is another rocker and a very typical 80’s sounding song. It was all over MTV and helped propel the album to Platinum status. On radio, it didn’t fare as well not breaking the Top 40 and hanging around #49. The song is one of the few 80’s song to actually get occasionally played live after they went back to make-up which is cool. Now sadly, this was the only video that contains Mark as he was gone before anything else was done, but at least we have this to remember him by.

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Friday New Releases – January 17, 2025

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Another slow week to kick off the year unless you like David Gray, Mac Miller and Steve Hackett plus Frontiers Records releases. For me, nothing that grabs my attention fully. I am still enjoying Tremonti’s new one from last week. Let me know what you want to hear or we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.

  • David Gray – Dear Life – (Laugh A Minute Records)
  • Mac Miller – Balloonerism – (Warner Records)
  • Steve Hackett – Live Magic at Trading Boundaries – (InsideOutMusic)
  • The Big Deal – Electrified – (Frontiers Records)
  • Landfall – Wide Open Sky -(Frontiers Records)
  • Rufus Wainwright — Dream Requiem – (Warner Classics)
  • The Weather Station – Humanhood – (Fat Possum Records)
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Tennessee River Crooks – ‘Tennessee River Crooks’ (1976/2024) – Album Review

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Tennessee River Crooks was a band out of Paris, Tennessee and although they had one album, it was produced on a private press and had no major label release. RidingEasy Records licensed the album for an official release and our good friends at Noble Records had an exclusive version printed out exclusive to their store. Their version is what I have here and it was limited to 300 copies on a almost Mint Green colored vinyl. It is listed as Green, but I feel it is more mint green so there you have it.

The band consisted of Jimmy Stewart on bass, Ronnie Waters & Larry Farrar on guitars with Ricky Stewart on drums. Jimmy also handled all the vocals. One of the main song writers on here is Mike Hendrix who also contributed some guitar work and harmony vocals on a lot of song. He was in the band at one time, but only contributed to the recordings at this point. Their sound is pure Southern Rock and the album was mostly recorded with the rhythm tracks live so you would get the feel of the band and how they sounded live. It was recorded, mostly, at Sound Farm in Puryear, Tennessee betwen June and October of 1976 as it states on the back cover. All I can say is that it is another solid Exclusive offered by Noble and why I keep coming back time and again and buying his exclusive. The man knows what he is talking about.

The band’s name came from a friend of theirs name Jerry Crouch. He worked the door at a lot of their gigs and when he collected the money at the door for entry, he placed it in a cigar box for the company Tennessee River Crooks. They shortened it TR Crooks as the other was a mouthful to always say. Whatever you want to call them, you can call them talented musicians and a hell of a band.

SIDE ONE:

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Def Leppard – ‘High & Dry’ – RSD Picture Disc (2022) (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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Yes, if you’ve been following the Def Leppard Collection Series then you know I’ve reviewed ‘High & Dry’ already; however, since this the collection series, here is the Record Store Day Picture Disc that was released back in 2022 for ‘High & Dry’. I don’t usually buy too many Picture Disc unless they are like 12″ Singles or E.P.’s because I usually already have the albums. But with Def Leppard, if I see it, I buy it…and guess what…I saw it so I bought it!! It was released on April 23, 2022 and is supposed to be limited to 6,000 copies. It states it is an RSD First which means they plan on releasing the picture disc to the general public at any time now I guess. I don’t think I’ve seen it happen yet. I have scatted the pictures in the post and you can read along to the original review from last year. Enjoy!!…

Original Review:

While touring in support of their debut album, ‘On Through the Night’, Def Leppard opened for one of the biggest bands at the time, AC/DC. Famed producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who produced AC/DC’s massive album “Back in Black”, took notice of the band and he was very impressed. So much so, he agreed to be their producer for the band’s sophomore album ‘High ‘N’ Dry’. A move that would change the course of history for this band and catapult them in to the stratosphere of rock stardom. But first, they had to do an album and this album saw the band head to a more melodic phase, however, the edge and rawness of the debut was still present.

The songwriting was more refined, everything seemed more purposefully composed, it was cleaner yet it was still powerful, engaging and after over 40 years with it, it is one of the best rock & roll albums of all time. Well…it is for me. The band, who was Joe Elliott, Steve Clark, Rick Savage, Rick Allen and Pete Willis, recorded the album between March and June of 1981 and it was released a very short time later on July 11, 1981. A short 16 months after the debut. Man, if they could’ve only kept that pace of releases, how much could they have released over the years. The album would go to #38 in the U.S. and #26 in the UK. Not a massive success, but enough of one thanks to the ballad “Brinin’ on the Heartbreak” which saw massive airplay on MTV, that the band was setup nicely for the next album.

Their third album ‘Pyromania’ was so big, so successful and so amazing, that ‘High ‘N’ Dry’ was re-released in 1984 with 2 additional tracks. One was a re-mix of “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” which added synthesizers and piano overdubs to make it sound more like what was done on ‘Pyromania’. The other track was “Me & My Wine” which was the B-Side of the original release of “Bringin On the Heartbreak”. It too was re-mixed for a more modern sound. This re-release helped sell more albums which has since seen the album go double platinum. They even did new videos for it with Phil Collen on guitar who was not on this album at all as Pete Willis was at the time. The copy we are reviewing today is the original release without the 2 new tracks, the way it should be heard. Let’s get to it.

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Kiss – ‘HoriPro Music Publishing Collection: Disc 1’ (2007) – Promo CD (The Kiss Review Series)

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In my hunt for Kiss compilations, I came across this single disc cd from 2007 that was actually a promo CD of a larger collection that had 8 CDs, only one of which was Kiss. The info on it is as follows:

KISS/VARIOUS Horipro Music Publishing Collection (2007 US promotional only 120-track 8-CD album set issued by the music publishing arm of the Horipro Entertainment Group to illustrate the diversity of their song catalogue, comprising four various artist compilations of hit country songs and classic rock songs, individual discs dedicated to the ‘Emerald Forest’ subsidiary, Jerry Reed and REO Speedwagon, plus a 13-track Kiss collection exclusive to this set. Custom printed discs and full colour picture sleeves, housed in a card picture slipcase with 16-page booklet including artist biographies).

I do not have the whole set, but only the Kiss CD that I picked up on Discogs. I would love to grab the whole set one day, but for now, I’m happy with the Kiss CD at the very least…which is all I really wanted anyway. It is a simple collection with 13 tracks and the inside album sheet had the songs listed and where they wound up on the Billboard Charts and the year. However, not all the songs charted. A very simple set with nothing else included and heck, it didn’t even have the normal Kiss Logo. But it did have a great selection of tracks.

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Friday New Releases – January 10, 2025

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Welcome to the first Friday New Release post of 2025. There are not a lot this week, but some really big names so hopefully something for you. Me…I’m Tremonti and Franz Ferdinand all the way!! Let me know what you want to hear or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and get ready for another year of Friday New Releases!!!

  • Tremonti – The End Will Show Us How – (Napalm Records)
  • Franz Ferdinand – The Human Fear – (Domino Record Co.)
  • Ringo Starr – Look Up – (Lost Highway Records / Rockabella / UMG Recordings)
  • The Halo Effect – March of the Unheard – (Nuclear Blast)
  • Magnum – Live at KK’s Steel Mill – (Steamhammer)
  • Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers – (Sharptone)
  • Ben Barnes – Where the Light Gets In – (Ben Barnes)
  • Lambrini Girls – Who Let The Dogs Out – (City Slang)
  • Moonchild Sanelly – Full Moon – (Transgressive)
  • Krokofant – 6 – (Is It Jazz? Records)
  • Fynn Kliemann – Tod – (twoFinger Records)
  • Mon Rovîa – Act 4: Atonement – (Nettwerk Music Group)