Category: Rock

Kiss – ‘Momoiro Clover Z vs Kiss – 夢の浮世に咲いてみな’ – CD Single (2015) – (The Kiss Review Series)

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On January 28, 2015, the Japanese Idol Band, Momoiro Clover Z, released their new single called Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mi Na” which translates to “Try to Bloom in a Dream about the Floating World“. Why would I be writing about a Japanese Ido band? Easily, they were able to get Kiss to take part in the song. The single is from Momoiro Clover Z’s album ‘Hakkin no Yoake’. The band even does a cover of the classic Kiss song “Rock And Roll All Nite”.

What is really cool about the single, is the artwork as it is simply stunning. “Floating World” which is part of the song’s title, is also a really cool style of Japanese Art. As you can see in the pictures, there are a lot of clouds and people floating in the air. It is very comic book style which suits Kiss perfectly. Being a Japanese release, you even get an insert in all Japanese writing and most of the writing on the cover is in Japanese. No Obi strip though. Still, cool packaging all around.

The CD single actually contains 4 tracks. The first track is the Momoiro Clover Z’s “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mi Na”. The band is all women and the vocals are very high pitched and squeaky. The singing feels very cartoonish. Kiss does some of the backing vocals and they play all the instruments so that part is really cool. Musically, it is really cool, tribal drum sounds, a lot of electronic sounding elements and all around pretty great.

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Friday New Releases – February 14, 2025

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Happy Valentines Day! For those that don’t celebrate this date, you now can by buying some new music. A bunch of good ones coming your way including a brand new Greatest Hits from Rick Springfield and this one covers everything in the 2000’s so stuff you might not realize he has done. It has a great track listing. There is some Lacuna Coil and even a box set fro Gillan!! Plus you metal bangers might like Dynazty and Crazy Lixx as well. Let me know what you want to hear or what we may have missed! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

  • Rick Springfield – Big Hits: Rick Springfield’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 – (Sing)
  • Lacuna Coil – Sleepless Empire – (Century Media Records / 119 Productions)
  • The Lumineers – Automatic – (Dualtone Music Group / MNRK Records)
  • Gillan – 1978-1982 Deluxe – (Edsel Records)
  • Dynazty – Game of Faces – (Nuclear Blast)
  • Crazy Lixx – Thrill of a Bite – (Frontiers Records)
  • Ginger Evil – The Way It Burns – (Frontiers Records)
  • Mantric Momentum – Alienized – (Frontiers Records)
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Back Jack – ‘Back Jack’ (2024) – Album Review

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Is it technically a re-issue if the album never saw the light of day. That is what we have here with the album ‘Back Jack’ by the band Back Jack. As a band, they only ever released a 45 single back in the early 70’s. Back Jack was around from about 1970-1975 on various different names. These recording compiled by RidingEasy Records are the bulk of their output and recorded around 1974-1975. The vinyl only has 8 tracks while streaming has 13. The vinyl only includes the best recordings as the others weren’t the best quality sounding tracks, however, still great.

For some of these tracks, Back Jack consisted of Kim McKinney on bass, Hans Myers on drums and Mike Collier on guitar and lead vocals. The rest included a slightly different line-up though still Mike and Kim, you also get Jeff Ballew on guitar and Mike Lusher now on drums and that is the line-up pictured on the front cover. The name Back Jack came from Kim McKinney whose dad was running for mayor and the bumber stick said “Back Jack” for Mayor…and thus the name change from the original name of Trellis.

They were out of Missouri and are a heavy rock band with some psych elements. Over on Rate Your Music, A Rider in the Storm described there as music as follows…“The music is like if Blue Oyester Cult and Lynyrd Skynyrd had a child, and said child was raised by Grand Funk and Led Zeppelin with Uncle Poobah and named Back Jack!”. I think that about sums them up. You can get the full story of the band on the album insert pictured above. The flip side had the lyrics to the songs. The version I have is from Noble Records which was limited to only 300 copies and on Orange translucent vinyl that matches the orange in the cover. Great color coordination!!

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The Collection: Ep. 44 – The $1 CD Sale (Springsteen, Mellencamp, U2, Hendrix, Collins & So Much More)

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This past weekend, Hardy Boy Records had a CD Sale and all CD’s were only $1. Well, I love a good deal as the next person so I got their early and piled up close to 50 CDs all for $1 each!! Not too bad. It helped jump start my Bruce Sprinsteen collection and my John Mellencamp collection as well as a whole bunch of other artists such as U2, Phil Collins, Collective Soul and a whole lot more. Spend some time with me as I go through what I found.

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, February 10, 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 – The Albums Ranked Worst to First (Updated) – (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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If you read my site, you know Def Leppard is one of my all-time favorite bands, if not the #1 band on my list.  And for that, this list was extremely hard for me to do, yet easy as well.  I will already go ahead and say it, there is not a horrible album in this bunch only some I like more than others and yet a few that are absolute no-brainers as the top choices.  And yes, I am biased.

Speaking of top choices, my Top 5 is my Top 5 because each album is completely different.  The band completely changed up the sound and style on each of these albums and when the band does that, for me they hit it out of the park.

From the very beginning in 1980 with their debut and all the way up to today, the band has been mainstay in my musical journey.  In 2019, they were inducted in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and all I can say is it is about damn time!!!  They received the highest public vote so I am not the only one that things these guys from England are pretty darn great. And their last studio album was 2023’s ‘Drastic Symphonies’…so they are still going strong…sort of.

So, let’s get to it.  Here is my favorite Def Leppard albums from the worst one to the very best.  I hope you enjoy it.

WORST – DRASTIC SYMPHONIES (2023)

This album is basically dreadful with some shining moments. There are only 6 tracks worth listening to in my opinion and the rest was waste of time. They did at least experiment with a few tracks, although some were so bad they hurt, at least they tried. The problem was they should’ve “Tried” on all the songs rather then simply add orchestration to a lot of the original tracks. That is laziness. Keep “Turn to Dust”, “Paper Sun”, “Hysteria”, “Too Late For Love” and “King of the World”, skip the rest.

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Kiss – The Best of Kiss: Green Series (2008) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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Universal Music did not care about over saturation of an artist as they released a ton of Kiss Compilations and Canada received the brunt of them. This one was released in April 2008, I believe. It was part of the Green Series that Universal was releasing which had a number of bands. The Green Series means the packaging was all done with recycled paper and even used a plant based ink. Good on them for trying to save the earth, but with the shipping of the product and I am sure was wrapped in some sort of plastic, it was really all for naught. Plus, the cardboard digipak would tend to show wear and tear after awhile. However, the copy I received was in pretty darn good shape.

The album contains 15 tracks and really only covers the 70’s with the minor exception of “Lick It Up” from 1983. The rest is only from the original band members of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. With “Lick It Up”, you add Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent. Wait, this isn’t all entirely true as the song “Cold Gin” is live and is copyrighted from 2001. More on that later. There is a write-up in the booklet by Don Winkley giving a brief history of the band only going up to the reunion (and this was 2008 when released so I would say they missed some years). If you like the 70’s material, then at 15 tracks, not a bad comp…but not a great one either. A pure cash grab from the label. Let’s get to the music…

“Shout It Out Loud” was the first single off ‘Destroyer’ trying to capitalize off the success of the live version of “Rock and Roll All Nite” that was released previously.  The title of the song comes from the Hollies song “We Want to Shout It Out Loud” which Wicked Lester demoed years earlier. The song is sung by both Paul and Gene  and that chorus of “Shout it, Shout it, Shout It Out Loud” is pure rock gold.

Ace is finally on lead vocals with “Shock Me” and might be my favorite Ace song.  The song is based off an incident that is well documented where Ace touched an ungrounded metal railing and had the life shocked out of him.  No, he didn’t die, but he was thrown back a little.  He continued the show with no feeling in his hand and I believe the show was December 12, 1976, at the Lakeland Civic Center in Lakeland, Florida.  Ace having little confidence wanted Gene to sing and Gene, thankfully, talked Ace in to singing.  Ace finally agreed and actually recorded the song lying down on the floor.  I hope that method has changed. The song is utterly brilliant and the guitar work is some of Ace’s best. In fact, he does all the guitar work on this one, both lead and rhythm.  This defines Ace Frehley in my book!!

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Friday New Releases – February 7, 2025

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For me, February is kicking off with a bang. I have Wilder Woods coming and if you don’t know it is Bear Rinehart’s side project away from Needtobreathe. And if that wasn’t enough, you get the re-recorded debut album from Will Hoge called Carousel…in case you missed it first time around. There are almost 50 albums this month, so hopefully there is something for you. Let me know what you want to hear or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

  • Wilder Woods – Curioso – (Dualtone Music Group / MNRK Records)
  • Will Hoge – Carousel – (Will Hoge)
  • Dave Matthews Band – Where Are You Going: The Singles – (RCA Records / Sony Music)
  • Dream Theater – Parasomnia – (Ytse Jams Inc. / InsideOutMusic)
  • Nessa Barrett – Aftercare (Deluxe) – (Warner Records)
  • Kendrick Lamar – GNX – (PG Lang / Interscope Records)
  • Guided By Voices – Universe Room – (GBV Inc)
  • Manic Street Preachers – Critical Thinking – (Sony Music)
  • Thundermother – Dirty & Divine – (AFM Records / Soulfood Music Distribution)
  • JohnnySwim – When the War is Over – (Mr And Mrs Swim)
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Whitesnake – ‘Into the Light: The Solo Albums Box Set’ (2024) – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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David Coverdale has really outdone himself with these Super Deluxe Editions Box Sets.  First was the ‘1987’ album, then an UnZipped Box Set, then ‘Slide It In’ and the 1989 album ‘Slip of the Tongue’. Heck, He even did the 25th Anniversary Edition of ‘Restless Heart’ and even a 15th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition for ‘Good to Be Bad’ now called ‘Still…Good to Be Bad’. And they are all spectacular. Now, we get a new box set. This time around it is a collection of his 3 solo albums. Starting with the most recent, 2000’s ‘Into the Light’ and going all the back to his first 2 solo albums including 1977’s ‘Whitesnake’ and 1978’s ‘Northwind’. And you don’t get each album once, you get them twice. One with a remastered version and then a 2024 complete remix.

This special edition consists of 6 CDs, 1 60-page Book, and 1 Album Cover Poster.  And it has over 91 tracks amongst all the CDs.  Well…not really. Each album is repeated twice with the remixed and the remastered versions, but there is a lot of new unreleased stuff too which is great. So, this is why I say this is for the diehard fans as it is very repetitive…this is for the diehard fans as it is very repetitive! Yes, I said this twice to prove a point and yes, I did this joke on pretty much every box set review for Whitesnake because its true. Here are all the songs you get…it’s immense.

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The Collection: Ep. 43 – January 2025 Wrap-Up

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As we end another month, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is January 2025 and we have lots of vinyl, CDs, cassettes and a great start to the year.. So much to go through including more Voice of America Archive Albums as well as additions to the Rock Candy collection, the Kiss collection and Box Set collection. Lots of great albums to go though and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, February 3, 2025 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

And if you can’t watch the video…here is everything…

Def Leppard – ‘Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard’ (2023) – Book Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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In 2023, Def Leppard felt it was time to tell their story, in their words. ‘Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard’ is a personal account of Def Leppard from their formation all the way up to 2022’s last studio album ‘Diamond Star Halos’. The book was released in 2023 and there were several versions you could buy. By the time I got around to buying it and the only option available to me was the Publisher’s Edition which is strictly the book. There were other options you could’ve purchased as well.

There was the Deluxe Copies which was Editions Numbered 1 to 350. The Deluxe copies are fully bound in black vegan leather, with an inset aluminium plate on the front, printed with a portrait of the band, and the Def Leppard logo blocked on the back. Every Deluxe copy is signed by Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Rick Savage, Rick Allen and Vivian Campbell. Presented in a clamshell box, the interior holds the specially pressed 7″ single. The red and black marbled vinyl presents two previously unreleased live recordings: the A-side is ‘Animal’ (performed at the Royal Albert Hall, 2018), and the B-side is ‘Slang’ (recorded in Las Vegas, 2019). A compartment under the book includes five Diamond Star Halos guitar picks in a small cloth bag and three replica tour passes. A large pull-ribbon, printed with the Def Leppard logo, lifts the book.Exclusive to the Deluxe copies is a signed and numbered photographic print of Def Leppard on stage at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, Wembley Stadium, 20 April 1992. Suitable for framing, the print is signed by Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Rick Allen, Rick Savage and Vivian Campbell. Completing the Deluxe boxed set, a second recess under the book contains a collectable cassette of the band’s latest studio album, Diamond Star Halos.

The Collector’s Copies were Numbered 351 to 1,500. The Collector copies are 3/4 quarter bound in black vegan leather, with a portrait of the band printed on an aluminium plate front cover and the Def Leppard logo blocked on the back cover. The 296-page book is finished with colour foil blocking on the spine, and red page edging. Every copy in the edition is signed by Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Rick Savage, Rick Allen and Vivian Campbell. Presented in a clamshell box covered in a montage of images with an inset Def Leppard logo sticker and tour pass, the interior lid holds a specially pressed 7″ single. The red and black marbled vinyl presents two previously unreleased live recordings: the A-side is ‘Animal’ (performed at the Royal Albert Hall, 2018), and the B-side is ‘Slang’ (recorded in Las Vegas, 2019). A compartment under the book includes five Diamond Star Halos guitar picks in a small cloth bag and three replica tour passes. A large pull-ribbon, printed with the Def Leppard logo, lifts the book.

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