Category: Rock

Richie Sambora – ‘Undiscovered Soul’ (1998) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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As I stated in Jon Bon Jovi’s ‘Destination Anywhere’ Review last week, after Bon Jovi’s very successful ‘These Days’ album and especially that tour which ran for 126 shows in around 43 countries, the band was ready for a break. The tour ended on July 19, 1996 and the band decided, it was time for a hiatus from the band. They did a self-imposed two year break from the band. That 2 year break would turn in to 3, but no one is counting. During that time, we saw solo albums, Jon went and did a lot of acting and the thoughts that Bon Jovi were done were on everyone’s mind. Jon’s solo album came first, but shortly after we received Richie Sambora’s solo album.

‘Undiscovered Soul’ was Richie’s 2nd solo album and was produced by Don Was which saw Richie work with a ton of musicians and writers and really push himself both musically and lyrically. He worked with Richard Supa who had worked with The Rascals and Aerosmith and he worked with his old Bon Jovi bandmate, David Bryan, who co-wrote a handful of songs. Richie didn’t stick with the straight blues-rock album like before, he experimented a little with rock and country and anything else he that inspired him.

The album came out on February 23, 1998 and saw four singles released, however, only one of those charted in the U.S. and not very high. The album only reached #174 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts and that isn’t very good. The first single only reached #39 on the Mainstream Rock Chart while doing better in the UK hitting #37 with the second single going to #58 in the UK with no U.S. charting. The album didn’t do as well as the debut and was gone before you knew it.

Thanks to Music on Vinyl, we finally received a vinyl edition to the album last year and that is what I am reviewing. It came on a 2 LP set on 180 gram records and sounded awesome. The album cut out all the crap you hear on the Apple Music version that goes on between the songs which makes you not take the album very seriously, where the vinyl makes it a more serious sounding record. The album didn’t do as well as the debut as I said, but is it worse? Let’s go through it and find out.

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My Sunday Song – “Got To Get You Back In My Life” by Triumph

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For My Sunday Song #386, we are talking about one of the earliest Triumph songs called “Got to Get You Back In My Life”. This Tim selection was the B-Side to their debut single called “Hobo” and has never been on any studio album. The single came out back in 1975 and the song was written by drummer and vocalist Gil Moore there is a lot of questions around who sang the song. Most likely it was Gil, but some have said it was handled by bassist and keyboardist, Mike Levine…who I don’t know if he ever sang another song for the band after this. My guess it is Gil with a lot of help by maybe Mike or any of the other two members.

The strange thing about this song is the band that was playing it was a four-piece with Gil, Mike, Peter Young and Fred Keeler…no Rik Emmett in the band yet. They were a blues-based band and they called themselves Abernathy Shagnaster. They signed to Attic records for which the single was released, but the single came out under the Triumph name. I’m not sure I have found why that happened. Shortly after the single was released, Young and Keeler left the band and the band found Rik Emmett

The song itself is very early 70’s. You can hear Year’s organ really well and Mike’s bass line is thick and heavy. The drums are soft and minimal and the guitar isn’t very prominent. The background vocals are great with some good harmonizing. The song sounds like a cross between the Carpenters and the Partridge Family. Okay, not really but the song is light and poppy and has that 70’s sound like you’d get from Jackson Browne or singers of his ilk. It’s a pretty good song, but man, I would’ve never guessed this was Triumph if Tim hadn’t told me.

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Friday New Releases – November 10, 2023

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As fall sets in, and the time has fallen back an hour earlier so the sunsets way too earlier, I need something to pick me up and new music always does that for me. What about you? We have a bunch of releases and a wide variety of choices so something for everyone hopefully. I’m looking forward to Chris Stapleton as he’s one of the few country artists I actually dig. I might even pick up the Bush greatest hits album. I’m also intrigued by the new Missing Persons album with Steve Stevens on guitar. 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 wonderful weekend.

  • 61c-KwoKdCL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Chris Stapleton – Higher – (Mercury Nashville / Sound Records / UMG)
  • Bush – Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023 – (Round Hill Records / Zuma Rock Records)
  • Soul Asylum – The Complete Unplugged NYC ’93 – (MTV Networks / Sony Music)
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Def Leppard – ‘Pyromania’ (1983) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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The tide was changing, Def Leppard’s success was palpable at this point, but not quite there…YET! Robert John “Mutt” Lange was back as producer and the band hit the studios in January 1982 and went through November of that year at Park Gates studio in London. All didn’t go smoothly, there was one big issue and that issue was Pete Willis.

Pete’s drinking problem was…well, becoming a problem. It was causing issues that were impacting his work and the band. It got so bad that on July 11, 1982, mid-way through work on the album, the band fired Pete. This was not a rash decision as it was discussed fully amongst the band because on July 12, 1982, the very next day, the band announced his replacement in the likes of Girl’s guitarists, Phil Collen. By this point in recording, Pete had already recorded all his rhythm parts and those are still on the album. Phil came in and added a few guitar parts and as well as some solos, he had it easy.

The album was finished, it was called “Pyromania” and it would basically change the landscape of music for quite some time. It saw the band’s sound go from heavy metal to a more polished hard rock sound that was more radio friendly. They worked on their craft diligently with Mutt and their playing and their songwriting was getting better and better. The band was now Phil, Steve Clark, Rick Allen, Rick Savage and Joe Elliott, this is considered the classic line-up to some. The album saw the light of day on January 20, 1983 and would shoot up the charts going to #2 on the Billboard Charts. It was held out of the #1 slot thanks to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ album.

Thanks to MTV and the Leppard videos, the band would sell over 6,000,000 copies within the first year or so and go on to sell over 10 million copies making it Diamond Status. There would be 4 singles from the album and it would change me forever as this was the album that made me a lifelong fan and collector of the band’s music. It changed my listening habits and the 80’s hard rock sound was it for me and that would be all I listened to during the 80’s…heck even today I still love it as much as back then!

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Billy Idol – The Best and Worst Songs on Every Album (The Billy Idol Series)

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I have done two posts already on the Best & Worst songs from every Judas Priest album, Cheap Trick and even Whitesnake. I really enjoyed doing those so I thought I would continue that process and this time we would go through every Billy Idol album and see what is the best song and the worst one off each album as well. Billy Idol has 8 studio albums to go through and we will throw in the 3 E.P.’s and the 2 Vital Idol remix albums for fun. So, sit back and take it all in. Let’s preface this with the fact that these are my choices and not necessarily yours as we can have different opinions. If you watched the show you will see that sometimes my worst song was their favorite so you never know what people like and we all like different things or this would be a very dull world. I hope you enjoy!!

‘DON’T STOP’ E.P. (1981)

BEST SONG – “DANCING WITH MYSELF”: The Gen X track, “Dancing With Myself”, was not re-recorded for this release.  Instead, they took the extended version of the original song which was over 6 minutes and remixed it down to under 5 minutes to change it up a bit.  It is still just as fantastic as the original cause it was still the original.  The song was released as a single, but didn’t do anything. I don’t know if it was bad timing or what it was as it is a great song.  It wasn’t until 2 years later when they released as a bonus track on the first full length album did the song finally blow up.

WORST SONG – “MONY, MONY”: The song is a cover of Tommy James & the Shondell’s #1 song, “Mony, Mony”.  The song was a really good cover, but it didn’t really do much on the radio.  Compared to what was to come later from this song when he released the live version years later, this version is a little flat and doesn’t have the sonics and feel of that version.  It is missing a little of that charm and energy.  It is not a bad introduction to Billy, just kind of missed the mark as I know the live version so well.

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Jon Bon Jovi – ‘Destination Anywhere’ (1997) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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After Bon Jovi’s very successful ‘These Days’ album and especially that tour which ran for 126 shows in around 43 countries, the band was ready for a break. The tour ended on July 19, 1996 and the band decided, it was time for a hiatus from the band. They did a self-imposed two year break from the band. That 2 year break would turn in to 3, but no one is counting. During that time, we saw solo albums, Jon went and did a lot of acting and the thoughts that Bon Jovi were done were on everyone’s mind.

Jon didn’t waste any time and was the first with a solo album as he beat Richie by about a year. Jon’ second solo album is called ‘Destination Anywhere’ which he was working on even during the “These Days Tour”. It was finished around January 1997 and it came out on June 16, 1997 which is a long time after the album was finished. A lot of that had to do with Jon’s little vanity project of ‘Destination Anywhere’…the FILM! I don’t actually own a copy and won’t be reviewing, but I’ve heard nothing good about it. It was a movie with some big stars all surrounded by the songs from the album, but this wasn’t a concept album. The songs were just in the film.

The album saw Jon break away from the Bon Jovi sound which a good solo album would do. It was more Indie Rock and Pop then the glam rock that Bon Jovi did and for that I was super excited because if I want to hear Bon Jovi, I’ll listen to Bon Jovi. I want to hear what he can do outside of that arena and this was a great set of songs to showcase he could do more. And he filled it with a lot of influence from British bands as well like Blur and Manic Street Preachers which is completely unexpected.

The album saw four singles, it had four producers other than Jon and it was filled with talented musicians as you’d expect. Heck, a could of the Bon Jovi boys appeared on the album as well (not Richie though). the album would go to #2 in the UK and sell over a million copies in Europe, but it only hit #31 in the US and not sure how many it sold. This continued the success of the band on Jon more overseas than in the states.

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My Sunday Song – “Subway” by Aerosmith

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For My Sunday Song #385, we are going with Tim’s next selection which is “Subway” by Aerosmith. This one is unusual as it is simply an instrumental. The song was written by Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer. Yep, no Joe Perry to Steven Tyler on this one. The song was never released on a studio album, but finally was released as a B-Side to “Sweet Emotions” when it was re-released sometime in 1991 for the “Pandora’s Box’ box set. It was also on the Aerosmith ‘Box of Fire’ release on a bonus disc.

The song was recorded during the ‘Draw the Line’ sessions and this was back when Joe Perry and Steven Tyler were so messed up that they wouldn’t show up for days. Meanwhile, Brad, Tom and Joey needed to keep busy so they would write their own stuff and this was a result. This would’ve been during the 1977 ‘Cenacle’ sessions I believe. The band rented an old estate known as the Cenacle, a 300-room former convent near Armonk, NY., where they would be isolated without drugs around so they could focus on writing new songs. However, the drug dealers and the drugs found them!!

The song is an instrumental, as I said above. It sounds like the guys are just jamming away and it is the basic blueprint for a song that is missing vocals and a guitar solo. It is very repetitive repeating that same riff and rhythm throughout. It is a little bluesy and there is a familiarity to it that I can’t place. Maybe that is because it sounds like Aerosmith from the 70’s. Despite no Tyler on vocals or Perry on guitar, this sounds like Aerosmith because the backbone of the band is here and all their glory. I dig when bands finally release this kind of stuff that shows more insight in to the band. Things that they worked on that didn’t get fully developed are precious treats for me.

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Friday New Releases – November 3, 2023

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Welcome to November and another week of Friday New Releases. As has been the case for weeks now, we have around 70 new releases for you this week. There are some killer ones coming this week, so strut your stuff over to the record store and pick something up. I want to here The Struts new one as well as Dirty Honey as they don’t disappoint. There is a new Jimmy Buffett which was planned before his death so they aren’t capitalizing on that fact. He was an icon for sure. This week there is some Jason Aldean for you country folds and Bad Wolves for you rockers out there. I am sure there is something for everyone. Let me know what you want to hear this week or what we may have missed. Thanks so mcuh for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend.

  • The Struts – Pretty Vicious – (Big Machine Label Group)
  • Dirty Honey – Can’t Find the Brakes – (Dirt Records)
  • Jimmy Buffett – Equal Strain On All Parts – (MailBoat Records / Sun Label Group)
  • Van Morrison – Accentuate the Positive – (Exile Productions)
  • Johnny Marr – Spirit Power: The Best of Jonny Marr – (New Voodoo Ltd / BMG Rights Mgmt)
  • Jason Aldean – Highway Desperado – (Macon Music / This is Hit / Broken Bow Records)
  • Toby Keith – 100% Songwriter – (Universal Music)
  • Cody Johnson – Leather- (CoJo Music / Warner Music)
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Girl – ‘Wasted Youth’ (1982) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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The band was ready to refine their sound and improve on their debut, ‘Sheer Greed’, which in my opinion will not be easy to do. Before they got started on the new album, drummer Dave Gaynor would leave the band to be replaced by Pete Barnacle. After several live dates together and while recording their follow-up album, ‘Wasted Youth’, Pete would be replaced as well with Bryson Graham. If my count is correct that is at least 5 drummers in three years. Spinal Tap has nothing on these guys!

The band, along with Bryson, was still Phil Lewis, Phil Collen and brothers Simon and Gerry Laffy. They went in to the studio with producer Nigel Thomas hoping to improve on their glam sound and maybe make it harder and better than before. The album came out in 1982, a year after Def Leppard’s 2nd album. Where Def Leppard’s sound changed and improved and started a trajectory to stardom, Girl’s did not as it only reached #92 in the UK Chart.

They would falter and then guitarist, Phil Collen would leave the band in 1982 and replaced Pete Willis in Def Leppard and his life would change forever. Girl tried to carry-on with guitarist, Pete Bonas, but the band would break-up by the end of 1982. Two bands that came out at the same time saw two totally different paths. Phil Lewis do would do okay for himself as he would join L.A. Guns and see some success with them…not Leppard success, but they did well enough to still be playing today (in one form or another).

The album opener is “Thru the Twilite” and is another great opener, but it isn’t as powerful as “Hollywood Tease” from ‘Sheer Greed’. However, the guitar work is still great and I love the bass line in it. Phil Lewis has a young, cocky attitude on the vocals which I find quite pleasing. It is a glam rock song with a great stomp-like groove that makes it rock. A solid opening track.

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October 2023 Purchases – Vinyl & CD’s and more

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We have a lot of treats for you today. No tricks. I promise. It is all good stuff. October was another good month for the 2 Loud 2 Old Music Collection. We have box sets, CDs, Vinyl, Cassettes, books and I would say that is a good month. The month started off with a couple items that were supposed to arrive in September, but sadly did not come until after I had written the September Purchases post. It also ended with a new a new band from this album as well. A perfect booked. So, we have the two Night Ranger Rock Candy reissues and their new album that is a live album done with a Youth Orchestra. Great stuff…

Next up is a bunch of items I picked up when I went to visit a local store I hadn’t hit in a while. It is Repo Records. I dug through the CDs, the Cassettes and the Vinyl and found a lot of good things. First, I found another Kiss bootleg I didn’t have in my collection. That was an easy decisions…

And then I found some great 45’s from the 80’s with picture sleeves. I like picture sleeves. I picked up a Billy Idol, a Loverboy, a Billy Squire and a John Cougar Mellencamp single. All choice cuts…

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