Category: Rock

Down For The Count with Tim Durling and Friends

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I’ll be on Grab a Stack of Rock this evening at 8pm EST to discuss my good buddies new book ‘Down for the Count: The Y&T Album Review’ by Tim Durling. Check it out if you can.

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Episode 46:  Down For the Count with Tim Durling and Friends

The very first Y&T book is out!  Down For the Count:  The Y&T Album Review is the name of the book, and you can get yours on Amazon right now.

Joining us this week is series regular, and now author of two books, Tim Durling!  Why Y&T?  Why a book about this band, and their discography?   It is true that Y&T never made the impact that they seemed destined for.  We’ll discuss this and much more:  the nuts and bolts of publishing a rock book and assembling the cast of characters who helped along the way.

Speaking of characters, co-hosting this week will be book contributors John T. Snow and Jex Russell.  How did they get involved, and what was their part to play?  How did Tim get Sean Kelly and Hugh Syme to contribute?  Find out tonight, and by all means pick up this excellent book today.

LIVE Friday January 5 at 8:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 9:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!

Robbie Williams – ‘The Robbie Williams Show’ (2003) – DVD Review

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In 2002, Robbie was prepping the release of his new album ‘Escapology’. To help promote the album, he recorded a show filmed live in the Pinewood Studios for a television broadcast. The general public was able to buy it when the DVD was released in March 2003. The show contained songs from his upcoming album as well as a ton of hits and some of his Swing songs. It did fairly well as far as video releases go selling well over 100,000 copies worldwide. I was out at a place called 2nd & Charles and saw this and had to grab it. I think I got it for only around $2.50 and it is worth way more than that in my book. I am sitting here with it cranked on the 5.1 surround sound on a 65 inch TV and it sounds and looks amazing.

The show opens with a performance of “Trouble/Handsome Man” which happens to be the same songs that Elvis Presley opened with for his ’68 Comeback Special which Robbie has recreated the same stage set up except it has a big “RW” rather than an “Elvis” sign. When he goes out in front of the crowd it is a small round stage in the middle of the crowd with only Robbie and the bad was off behind the crowd. When he runs out and does “Rock DJ”, his energy and the crowd is electric. This was the firs time he had been on stage in 12 months.

“Strong” is up next and up on the screen comes the words to the chorus with a bouncing ball so you can all sing along during the chorus. He is interacting with the crowd poking fun at them with a change in the lyrics. He’s having a ton of fun and it shows. Then he played the song he originally sent to Tom Jones, but he changed his mind and did it himself. It is called “Something Beautiful” off the new album. The crowd clapped, the piano’s ivories were tickled and Robbie sang it wonderfully. And if that wasn’t good enough, he played one of my favorite songs of his called “Feel”. It is a new song and he joked if anyone was singing it, they obviously downloaded it from the internet illegally. They cut to a pre-recorded clip of him doing the song in front of the giant “RW”. It is a great live version and the piano and percussion on it are fantastic. Still my favorite song.

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Def Leppard – “Women” (1987) – 7″ Single (Part 2 of 7) – (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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On August 3rd, 1987, Def Leppard released their fourth studio album, ‘Hysteria’.  Little did they know this ground breaking album would go on to sell over 25 million records, produce 7 hit singles and go to #1 on the Billboard Charts. The first track on the album is the song “Women”. The song was the first single for the album in the U.S., but “Animal” was the first everywhere else. The single was released on August 25, 1987. In the U.S., the song only went to #80 on the Billboard Hot 100, but did go to #7 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. But the lack of success of the single, was not a good start for the band that was heavily in debt from the long recording of the album.

The songwriting credits are for the entire band of Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Steve Clark and Phil Collen. And since producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, was so heavily involved, he gets a writing credit as well. The version of the single I have is the U.S. version and the version from the Hysteria Singles Box Set Collection.

The reason for that the single was first in the U.S. and not “Animal” like it was in the UK is that Leppard wanted to make sure their core audience, the males, would understand what they were going for with the sound of this new album. They knew women might not like this one, however, the song isn’t degrading women at all. It is actually inspired by the important women in Joe Elliott’s life and is an anthem that actually pays tribute and celebrates women both their beauty and their strength all with a biblical background to it.

A SIDE:

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Bon Jovi – ‘One Wild Night Live: 1985-2001’ (2001) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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2000 was a big year for the band with a hit new album, a live DVD and to follow it up, the band gave us their first ever live album. But don’t get your hopes up as it isn’t one show from the tour. No, I guess the Crush DVD was enough for that. Instead it is really a greatest hits compilation with live songs taken from shows from 1985-2001. So, not a true live album in my book. But I’m being petty. We do get 14 live tracks and one remixed studio track of “One Wild Night 2001”.

The songs are taken from 8 different shows and some are actually repeats as the London shows were on the Live From London DVD and The Crush Tour DVD so we’ve heard a few of the songs before. And the band has one small change during the songs. We get Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan and Tico Torres on all the songs. But we also get Alec John Such on bass for only 2 of the songs from Tokyo back in 1985 and then Hugh McDonald on bass for the rest. And we get one special guest with Bob Geldof on one song.

The album came out on May 22, 2001 and went to #20 in the U.S., but was never certified Gold. However, the album did better around the world as Bon Jovi continues to actually be more successful in Europe then their home country where the album sold over 1,000,000 copies in Europe making it Platinum status. It went to #2 in the UK as well as several other countries including Spain, Austria and the Netherlands and to #1 in Switzerland and Belgian. Europe continued to love on Bon Jovi.

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What to Expect in New Music for 2024?

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2024 is upon us and it is always fun anticipating what new albums will come out in the year. Since today would normaly be a Friday New Release post, let’s look at the new releases coming our way in 2024. There are quite a few we already know about, but some haven’t been officially announced or even a date set yet.

Last year, there were a few artist I was hoping would release an album that might have or might not have released one.  It is always fun to hope for new music from these bands, but sometimes there are disappointments.  Here are the ones I was hoping to get new albums from last year and what actually happened…

  • Def Leppard – Too soon for a new album, but give us The Collection Vol. 4!!  We still didn’t get The Collection Vol. 4, but we got a new album…sort of. We got ‘Drastic Symphonies’ which was a compilation with a symphony orchestra added and no, not good.
  • Kiss – I will keep this on the list until I die!!  At least give us another Soundboard LP.  We did get a new Soundboard LP, but only one this year and for the Poughkeepsie show in 1984 with Mark St. John and that is really cool!!
  • Guns ‘N Roses – Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!!  Will we ever get a new album!  Nope, but some singles…nothing yet.
  • Aldo Nova – He keeps talking about a 2CD set for over 3 years and still nothing much, but will he get around to releasing the full Life & Times of Eddie Gage? I hope so.  And again, more talk but no 2 CD album for The Life & Times of Eddie Gage…when Aldo?  When?  But he did start touring again.
  • Ace Frehley – It is time for a new album…no Origins, Vol 3…a new album!!  No new album, but one was announced and will be here in early 2024!! YEAH!!
  • Bon Jovi – A new album WITH RICHIE SAMBORA!!!  Nope, still nothing. A lot of talk about a Reunion, but no new album. Something’s brewing though as their 40th Anniversary gets ready to roll around.

Okay, are there albums I want to see this year from some of my favorite bands that haven’t been announced or in some cases even rumored?  Of course there are.  These are the bands I want new albums from this year…but it might not happen.

  • Def Leppard – It is time for The Collection Vol. 4!! Come on boys, give it to us!! Or a new album…whichever you want.
  • Kiss – I will keep this on the list until I die!!  Time to start up more Soundboard LPs or another box set…give us something!
  • Guns ‘N Roses – Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!!  Will we ever get a new album!
  • Aldo Nova – He keeps talking about a 2CD set for over 3 years and still nothing much, but will he get around to releasing the full Life & Times of Eddie Gage? I hope so.
  • Bon Jovi – A new album WITH RICHIE SAMBORA!!!
  • Robbie Williams – Hey Robbie, time for a new pop album…no more Trance please!!

From what I have gathered around the internet, here are the bands that should have new albums out in 2024 or are rumored, but no dates announced yet. The ones I would give a try will be highlighted in Blue. The ones with Dates Announced are at the bottom of this post. The list is building up nicely!!

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My Sunday Song – “Crossing Over” by Van Halen

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For My Sunday Song #393, we are on the third Japanese Bonus Track picked by Mike Ladano. This time around it is the Van Halen song “Crossing Over” off the band’s 1995 album ‘Balance’. The song was written by Van Halen (credited to all the members) and was not just a Japanese Bonus Track, but was also used as the B-Side to “Can’t Stop Loving You”. And if you recently bought the new Van Halen Collection II box set, you got the track on the 4th Bonus LP so that is really cool.

I read somewhere that the song was not actually written during the Balance recording sessions, but originated way back in 1983 when it was titled “David’s Song”. Eddie played all the instruments on the demo. The song wasn’t about Roth, it was about a friend of Eddie’s name David who had committed suicide. If you read the lyrics you can get that from them. Eddie is trying to reach out and see his friend one more time. To touch him one more time before he crosses over. It is a dark song and powerful too.

The song starts off with Eddie and the tone is really eerie and then the bass comes in with a little duh dum, and then the Alex is in on the drums and those drums are unmistakable Alex as he has such a unique sound. There are some electronic drum elements too. It all is very dark. Sammy finally comes in and sings and it isn’t all powerful. It is slow and the lyrics are very deliberate and meant to convey the dark tone to the song. There is an importance to the lyrics, to the sound, to it all. I read somewhere that Eddie’s demo was used for this track and they layered in Alex and Sammy and if that is true, that is cool. The song isn’t explosive and the chorus isn’t very catchy, but this is the mid 90’s and things were not always done the way we were used to hearing things. Overall, a really cool track.

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December 2023 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs & More

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Welcome to the final Purchases Wrap-Up of 2023 and we will go out with a bang. This month saw a trip to New York City to see the final Kiss show so of course we hit some record stores while there. It also saw Christmas and my Birthday so a lot of good stuff came my way. The month started off with the Kiss show and if you want to see all the Kiss stuff go read the review HERE!!!. Here, we will show the purchases I made while in New York. We hit four record stores and bought from three of them. First up is a couple from the first store and found the debut Kix album and Maneskin’s new one on vinyl. Good stuff…

And at the next one, we found a couple Whitesnake bootlegs of a couple radio broadcasts. And these are early 80’s which is the best stuff…

And I picked up a couple CDs as well including Eric Singers ESP album signed by Eric…

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Top Albums of 2023!!

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I can’t believe we are through with another year. And what a year it was, It saw me complete my goal of reviewing my massive Jeff Scott Soto Series with over 80 posts and 18 months of work. I was crazy to do it, but I loved every minute of it. I also started two more rather large and incredible series with Bon Jovi and Def Leppard which should take me through most of 2024. These might be the last two really Series I do as they are the last of my large band collections I have in my possession. All the other artist I have aren’t in such abundance like these were.

With the Soto, Def Leppard and Bon Jovi Series, I actually didn’t spend much time with new releases and if I’m being honest, this was a pretty piss poor year for rock albums that I grabbed me interest during the year. So, we are going to go through what I call the Top Albums of 2023, but I missed so much this isn’t a definitive list. This is only what I listened to in the year so take it with a grain of salt. Of course there will be some honorable mentions, a worst of album and maybe a best of re-issue/box set. I am not doing a Rock only list this year as I want to highlight anything I listened to this year that I thought was great. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee if it is morning, or a beer if it is any other time of day…and enjoy!!

MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2023:

#10 – The Rolling Stones – ‘Hackney Diamonds’

Is this the best Rolling Stones album, no, not at all. But let’s be honest, how cool is it we got another Stones album. I think it is really cool. Producer, Andrew Watt, was on board to bring the band back to life. He made it modern, but still a Stones album. I liked his work with Ozzy and I like it here. You Still get Mick and Keith and the boys sounding like who they are so don’t fret. There is a bar room blues feel to it, but it also feels relevant for today. They have Lady Gaga on board and even Sir Paul McCartney. I found it it to be a fantastic listen and one of my favorites for the year. Way to go boys. I like “Angry”, “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”, “Bite My Head Off” and so many more. Check it out!!

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Def Leppard – “Animal” (1987) – 7″ Single (Part 1 of 7) – (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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On August 3rd, 1987, Def Leppard released their fourth studio album, ‘Hysteria’.  Little did they know this ground breaking album would go on to sell over 25 million records, produce 7 hit singles and go to #1 on the Billboard Charts. The band’s debut single for the album in the rest of the world and the second single here in the States, “Animal” was also the band’s first hit in their home country of the UK going to #6! Finally, they had UK success. The song was released in the UK on July 20, 1987 and the U.S. in September 1987. “Animal was the second single in the U.S. and did much better than “Women” which had performed poorly on the charts. It went to #19 and cracked the Top 40. The Single I have is the US version with “I Wanna Be Your Hero” as the B-Side while the UK version had “Tear It Down”. My version is also from the Hysteria Singles Box Set.

I’ve read that the song was demoed back in 1984 by Rick Allen with drum parts on an acoustic drum kit prior to his accident. And I read that Phil had originally written the song, but either way the whole band gets the writing credit so it goes to Rick, Phil, Joe Elliott, Rick Savage & Steve Clark. None of the producers that worked on the album could do anything with it and then 2 1/2 years later, a flip switched and the song flowed with the help of producer Robert “John” Mutt Lange. Phil had stated the following…per songfacts.com

“We’d revisit it and I remember we were recording vocals in Paris for something and one day Joe [Elliott] had done this vocal and Mutt Lange had said, ‘Wow, this vocal’s killer. Let’s rewrite the song around that.’ So we did and it was our first English Top 10 single, so it was worth waiting.” Collen credits Lange for taking the song to the next level. “He said, ‘Yeah, this is okay but this can be great.’ That’s always his thing. ‘Yeah, it can be alright and it can be an okay song but we want to make it great.’ And I think we achieved that. Certainly with the album, Hysteria. It had a different kind of response to it than if we had just sat there and released the first draft.”

A SIDE:

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Bon Jovi – ‘Tokyo Road: Best of Bon Jovi’ (2001) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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With Bon Jovi’s return and their ‘Crush’ album, the band was literally crushing it. The album was selling great and their worldwide tour was a smash hit selling out and reaching over 1 million people around the globe. In May of 2001, they released a live album with a collection of live songs from throughout the years to help capitalize on the new found success again. But before that, the band released a greatest hits package on March 28, 2001. The album was called ‘Tokyo Road: Best of Bon Jovi’ and it was released exclusively in Japan. As a result, I didn’t hear about it for years, but I finally did get a copy.

The album contains 16 songs only one of which is a new version which was “One Wild Night” which was remixed for this release. All the other songs appear to be album versions for the most part. Now, if you bought one of the initial pressings of the album, you were given a bonus 3″ Mini CD with 4 exclusive live tracks. My copy has that plus it still has the OBI strip and the extra booklet with the lyrics in both English and Japanese. It is all there in all it’s glory.

The opening track was the only unreleased track which was a remix of “One Wild Night 2001” which was originally off the ‘Crush’ album. “One Wild Night” originally had a cartoon tune opening, but that was removed and the song just starts with some weird sounding guitar licks that are less rocking, but then the song does rock out. The song is anthem and if you had heard this live your hands would be high in the airing, pumping along with the beat. The song is throwback to the early rock legends of the 60’s. They really changed up the sound and tone with this one all thought the heart of the song is still there.

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