Y&T – “All American Boy” – 7″ Single

While on vacation this Summer, I came across a single for a band that did not get enough love. The band is Y&T and the single was for “All American Boy”. The song is a cover and was written by Dave Robbins and Van Stephenson. I believe it was first recorded by Stan Bush in 1983 on his self-titled album. Van had recorded this song and it appeared on the soundtrack to the movie “The Slugger’s Wife” back in 1984/1985. Y&T got ahold of the song in 1985 as well and it was included on their album ‘Down for the Count’ with quite possibly one of the worst album covers ever as you can see below for the back cover of the single. A funny enough, the front cover of the single is taken from the back cover of the album. The song went to #48 on the mainstream rock chart.

It was the the first single off the album, but for me not a great song choice to start with a cover. It was probably a label decision, who knows, but singer/guitarist Dave Meniketti, guitarists Joey Alves, bassist Phil Kennemore and drummer Leonard Haze deserved better. The had never recorded a cover song prior and they did two on this album…definitely label pressure. The follow-up single did much better which was their big single “Summertime Girls”. Y&T is a very underrated band. If you want to learn a lot about their albums, check out Tim Durling’s book ‘Down for the Count: The Y&T Album Review’ on Amazon.

A-SIDE:

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Friday New Releases – October 18, 2024

We are to another Friday New Release and we have another handful of releases for you. Ok, that handful is about 40 so it is a pretty good handful. I want to apologize right away for no videos. It takes a lot to do these posts and I’m a little burnt. I don’t want to leave you high and dry, but I need some sanity back so I am stripping out the videos to save me some time. I hope you understand. Now, let me know what you want to hear this week. There is nothing for me, but hopefully you find something. As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great weeknd.

  • Jerry Cantrell – I Want Blood – (Jerry Cantrell)
  • Shawn Mendes – Shawn – (Island Records / UMG) – SORRY THE ALBUM RELEASE WAS MOVED AFTER I DID THIS POST – NEW DATE IS NOVEMBER 15TH
  • Asking Alexandria – Where Do We Go From Here: The Remixes E.P. – (Better Noise Music)
  • Bishop Briggs – Tell My Therapist I’m Fine – (Terry Eighteen, Inc.)
  • Susanna Hoffs – The Lost Record – (Baroque Folk Records)
  • David Garrett – Millennium Symphony – (Polydor / Universal Music)
  • Kylie Minogue – Tension II – (BMG Rights Mgmt)
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – October 18, 2024”

Kiss – ‘The Very Best of Kiss’ (2002) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

Kiss and their label are know for releasing a ton of greatest hits compilations as you have seen over the last few months from what I’ve posted. And we’ve barely scratched the surface. I have another one for you and this one is was released on August 27, 2002. It is called ‘The Very Best of Kiss’ and you get 21 songs. There is nothing new, unreleased or anything special about these songs. They are all taken from the albums they represent with the exception of “Detroit Rock City” which is the edited version but it is from ‘Double Platinum’ and has been released before. Basically, there is really no reason to buy this one.

It is not well representative of their whole career as we only get 3 songs from the 80’s and 1 from the 90’s and that is it. We also only get 1 song from the solo albums and that is Ace’s “New York Groove”. The 70’s heyday is what is mostly represented here and if you want that era, get the ‘Gold’ compilation we mentioned awhile back as it is splendid. You do get a lot of band members represented as we have songs with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanely, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, Eric Carr, Vinnie Vincent, Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer. No Mark St. John nor Tommy Thayer though. The album did chart at #52 on the Billboard 200 album chart and it did go Gold in the U.S., but otherwise nothing special. And with that, let’s get in to the music.s

The album kicks off with the song “Strutter” from the debut album.  The song was written by both Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons and over the years, this would be a rare experience as they would wind up writing songs by themselves.  The music of the song was based off an old Gene song called “Stanley the Parrot” which was recorded even before there was a Wicked Lester. 

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The Collection: Ep. 37 – Scorpions On Vinyl (Part 2 of 2)

A few years back I did a complete collection series on the Scorpions. I figured it was time to show all the vinyl off on The Collection. We will break it up in to two parts with the first being from the debut album, ‘Lonesome Crow’, all the up to ‘Blackout’ with every thing I have in between which we covered last week. For Part 2, this week we will cover ‘Love at First Sting’ up to their latest ‘Rock Believer’. This will cover from 1984 all the way up to their most recent released in 2022. This will have the classic line-up of Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Mathias Jabs, Francis Buchholz and Herman Rarebell. There will be new members on bass and drums down the road including Mikkey Dee from Motorhead on drums. We will talk covers, music and sound…all the good and bad an inbetween.

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, October 14, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Def Leppard – ‘Yeah! Live’ (2021) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

On June 11, 2021, Def Leppard finally released The Collection, Vol. 3. It had been 2 years since the released of Vol. 2 in part probably due to Covid-19. By 2021, things were slowly starting to get back to normal. This was a crucial collection because these albums were not available on vinyl prior to this. So, it is is a must have set for you vinyl collectors. Ok, not really because they are available now individually…well…except for the bonus material. We’ve talked through the B-Sides, Yeah! II and now it is time for the final bonus album in The Collection, Vol. 3…Yeah! Live.

‘Yeah! Live’ is a compilation of 8 live cover songs the band have done over the years. They are B-Sides or recorded from tribute shows they have done and now they are all in one spot. I feel like they have to have more then this, but maybe not. What is cool is Side B as it has Brian May on most of the tracks. I guess he is the 6th member of the band now.. It is not a vast chunk of songs, but it is all quality here not quantity. What is cool is there is a couple recordings on here from the 80’s so we get Steve Clark on a couple tracks. But the rest of the guys are here too with Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell.

SIDE A:

The B-Side to the song “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” is a live version of the Alice Cooper classic, “Elected”. It was recorded in July 1987 at Tilburg, Netherlands on the ‘Hysteria’ Tour. The crowd was really in to this show as they are screaming loud. Joe attacks the vocals with that Alice Cooper style, with grit and attitude. I wonder if the crowd noise is pumped in as they repeat some of their chants throughout. Anyway, the band rocks it out and does a fair job at this one. All I know is when it came out and I picked it up with this song as the B-Side I was happy to have something I didn’t have in my collection at the time. I’ll take new stuff any day.

Continue reading “Def Leppard – ‘Yeah! Live’ (2021) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)”

Ratt – “Lay It Down” – 7″ Single

On June 13, 1985, Ratt released their second full length album called ‘Invasion of Your Privacy’.  After the success of their debut ‘Out of the Cellar’, Ratt wasted no time in repeating that formula and delivering another solid album. The first single off that album was “Lay It Down” and released in the same month as the album. This is the 2nd 7″ Single I found while on vacation down in Florida. My copy is another standard US Version and it doesn’t use the cover of the album as the single cover. Instead, we get individual shots of each band member.

The single was the band’s second, and last, Top 40 Hit and I am honestly surprised by that fact. The band has had so many great songs and is a legend in the Hair Metal/Glam Metal scene that to have only 2 Top 40 sings is nuts. It did go to #4 on the Mainstream Rock Chart which is probably where most of their songs charted anyway.

A-SIDE:

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Friday New Releases – October 11, 2024

Welcome back to Friday New Releases. We don’t have as many as last week, but we have a solid list of new albums for you to try this week. I want to hear the new Myles Kennedy and I have the Def Leppard One Night Only on order. I have the RSD Vinyl release, but need the CD / Blu Ray too! Jelly Roll will probably be the big release this week for most if you like that thing. Let me know what you want to hear this week or what we missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!

  • Myles Kennedy – The Art of Letting Go – (Napalm Records)
  • Def Leppard – One Night Only: Live at the Leadmill May 19, 2023 – (Mercury Studios) – CD/DVD/BluRay
  • The Offspring – Supercharged – (Wabi Sabi Worldwid / Concord)
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – October 11, 2024”

Retro Rock Reviews: Ep. 10 – Stryper ‘Against the Law’ (1990)

This week we stay in the 90’s and we go with another Glam Metal / Hair Band but this album was a huge change on their image and messaging. It is Stryper’s ‘Against the Law’. It saw the band shed their Christian image from losing the Yellow and Black to dropping the Christian, God fearing lyrics. They don’t go all devil worshipping, the songs are still positive, just different. It was released August 21, 1990 and had three singles, but overall did not perform to where it should have. I think it is their best, even if Michael Sweet ranks it as the worst Stryper album. We will find out if this is worth your time or not so join me as I walk through the album song by song.

So go check it out as it is live now on October 10, 2024 at Noon. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Whitesnake – Washington State Wipeout (Spokane & Glasgow Broadcasts 1984) – Bootleg (The David Coverdale Series)

Out on my constant vinyl digging adventures, I found a couple Whitesnake bootlegs at the same store. They weren’t old bootlegs, rather they were released recently in 2023 out of Europe. The shows, however, are not recent. First one up is one called Washington State Wipeout and is a 2 LP set that comes in a nice gatefold with a picture of the band included. The vinyl that comes with the set are a beautiful clear color and they look stunning as you will see in one of the pictures below. It was a brand new set, unopened…well at least until I got my hands on it obviously. Now, it is open and has been played!

The 2 LPs carry a different a show for each. On LP 1, we get the Spokane Washington show that was on July 24, 1984. This would’ve been after the release of their 1984 album, ‘Slide it In’, which came out on January 30, 1984. The show was at the Spokane Coliseum and had the line-up of David Coverdale, John Sykes, Richard Bailey (no Jon Lord), Neil Murray and Cozy Powell. A stellar line-up, just wish Lord was still playing. They opened for Dio so not a long setlist and it is all captured here on LP 1. The recording was an FM Radio Broadcast.

On LP 2, we get a show that was recorded on March 1, 1984 and was another FM Radio Broadcast. It was recorded at the Apollo Theater in Glasgow, Scotland where they were the headliner with Great White opening. The full show is 16 tracks so we don’t get the whole show, but we do get 5 tracks at least. If you want the full show, pick up the Slide It In Super Deluxe Edition as Whitesnake issued it officially in that box set. I believe this show would include Jon Lord as he left the band in April. Correct me if I’m wrong.

LP 1:

Continue reading “Whitesnake – Washington State Wipeout (Spokane & Glasgow Broadcasts 1984) – Bootleg (The David Coverdale Series)”

The Collection: Ep. 36 – Scorpions on Vinyl (Part 1 of 2)

A few years back I did a complete collection series on the Scorpions. I figured it was time to show all the vinyl off on The Collection. We will break it up in to two parts with the first being from the debut album, ‘Lonesome Crow’, all the up to ‘Blackout’ with every thing I have in between. For Part 2, next week, will cover ‘Love at First Sting’ up to their latest ‘Rock Believer’. This part covers the 70’s up to 1982 it will feature a lineup of Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker plus a cast of characters from Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Mathias Jab and Francis Buchholz and numerous, I mean numerous drummers. We will talk the controversial covers and the albums and the sound.

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, October 7, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.