Category: Rock

Richie Sambora – ‘Stranger In This Town’ (1991) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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While Bon Jovi was on an extended hiatus, Jon Bon Jovi wasn’t the only to put a solo album. The band’s lead guitarist, Richie Sambora, decided to spread his wings and release a solo album as well. Richie would step out of the shadows and take on the lead vocals as well as most of the guitar duties as well. And like Jon on his solo album, Richie brought along a few friends for the ride including fellow Bon Jovi bandmates, Tico Torres and David Bryan. On bass, he had Tony Levin, but he also had Randy Jackson on one song who also worked on Jon’s solo album too. The biggest guest on the album would be one of his idols, Eric Clapton for Mr. Bluesman.

Speaking of Blues, Richie didn’t stick with the same Bon Jovi sound. He shook things up and focused the album on more of a blues sound and I would say he captured it beautifully. The album would be released on September 3, 1991 and would #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the UK Charts. He would release 3 singles officially as well as one promo single. None went Top 40, but they still had moderate airplay and one single did hit #13 on the Mainstream Rock Charts. Richie might not have sold as many albums as Jon, but for me had the more interesting album of the two.

My version is a Japanese reissue from 2020 and came with the ever cherished OBI strip as well as a bonus track which is the cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary”. You can’t have a Japanese edition without a bonus track, then it is just an overpriced copy of the CD. I have to say that I think Bon Jovi isn’t the same without Richie for the reason of his backing vocals (and songwriting abilities). His solo work gives us the chance to hear how well Sambora can sing and a chance for his vocals to be front and center. Too band Bon Jovi, the band, didn’t utilize the two singer approach as it wouldn’ve been awesome. But it is and willl albums be Jon’s band so I get it. I am off on a tangent now, so let’s get back to the album.

The album opens with “Rest in Peace”, an atmospheric, bluesy piece that sees Richie sparsely place the licks as David Bryan gives the orchestrated sounds that give it an ethereal tone. Richie’s vocals are sparse as well, sounding angelic and little sad. The song is more of an opening for “Church of Desire” than a song on its own, but the tone is set and we know this is NOT going to be a Bon Jovi style album. When “Church of Desire” comes bleeding in, the tempo picks up, the bluesy riffs keep coming and Richie’s vocals come in strong. The song is polished, all glossy and perfect production which doesn’t make it pure blues, just dashed with its essence. The solo is exciting as it plays for the song while showcasing the talent he is and then the 2nd solo is pure joy as he takes it to another level. The thing we learn from this song is that Richie’s vocals are better than we ever heard as backing vocals with Bon Jovi.

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My Sunday Song – “Hanging High ‘N’ Dry (Live)” by Brighton Rock

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For My Sunday Song #378, we are on the 8th song choice from Deke. This time around we have a live song from Brighton Rock called “Hangin’ High ‘N’ Dry”. This might be the first live song we’ve done here on My Sunday Song so this is a change of pace for me. The song is off the band’s live album called ‘A Room For Five Live’ which was released July 23, 2002. This Canadian band only had 3 albums and the last one was 1991. This was the first release from the band in over a decade. The original song can be found on their 1988 album ‘Take a Deep Breath”.

The song was written by lead singer Gerry McGhee, lead guitarist Greg Fraser and keyboardist Johnny Rogers. The song is about standing by your lover, but they moved up and on leaving you in the dust. You are waiting for them to say something, but they no longer care. They’ve moved on leaving you high & dry. It is sad really. But I am sure that it has happened to everyone.

The live song is a keyboard heavy song at the opening and then Gerry comes in on the first verse. His vocals are a little rough and gritty in an almost Tom Keifer kind of way, but not as high pitched. The guitar work by Fraser is great as he has nice riffs thrown in and a solo that plays perfectly for the tone of the song and not all showboaty. The rhythm section lays down a nice groove as the song is a cross between a ballad and a rocker as there is a little punch to it, but there is still a tenderness and sadness to it as well. Not a bad track.

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Friday New Releases – September 15, 2023

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Sit back and relax. We have one of the biggest weeks ever with releases as there are over 70 new releases this week. WOW!! As a result, there will be no videos this week as it will be too many and slow down the load too much…sorry about that. There are a handful I’m really interested in hearing. Most obviously for me is Needtobreathe’s new one called Cave…I have the CD and Vinyl ordered for this one. The others I want to hear are Core Taylor’s second CMF album, CMF2 and Brian Sezter sounds interesting to me as well. Plus I’d like to hear Demi Lovato’s new one since Nita Strauss is on guitar. Let me know what you want to hear this week or if we missed anything, I’m sure it could’ve happened. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

  • 71xUu75GoGL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Needtobreathe – Caves – (Drive All Night Records)
  • 91cIiP027OL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Corey Taylor – CMF2 – (CMFT & Co. / BMG Rights Mgmt)
  • 81995PgroZL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Brian Setzer – The Devil Always Collects – (Surfdog Records)
  • 61+Riqh-zcL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Demi Lovato – Revamped – (DLG Recordings / Island Records / UMG)
  • Barenaked Ladies – In Flight – (Deal Data)
  • 71SCHLIkIEL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Thirty Seconds to Mars – It’s the End of the World But It’s a Beautiful Day – (Concord Records)
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Def Leppard – ‘First Strikes: 1978-1979’ (Bootleg – 2013) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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I do love bootlegs. They are a chance to hear a band’s live shows that were never released, a radio broadcast, old forgotten demos or whatever it may be. Bands hate them because they don’t get paid, however, diehard fans want them as they want to consume everything from their favorite bands. I own quite a few bootlegs for Def Leppard on CD, vinyl and DVD so we will go through a bunch, but first we will start with this one. It was released in 2013 and what is cool about this one it is a collection of various demos and rare albums from Def Leppard.

The first 3 songs, which were recorded a Fairview Studios in Hull, England back in November 1978, were actually released by the band. The songs “Ride Into the Sun”, “Getcha Rocks Off” and “The Overture” are taken from the band’s debut E.P. called ‘The Def Leppard E.P.’. We discussed that album in full detail on the first post in this series so we won’t repeat that story here. Back in 2013 when this bootleg was released, those three songs were extremely hard to find. There were only 1,000 copies or so of the first E.P. The band has since released them as a Record Store Day Release on a 12″ Single rather than the 7″ E.P. originally (The Def Leppard E.P. (1979/2017)). They have also re-released in the Box Set called The Early Years ’79-’81 (2020). Check those out as well.

The next batch of demos, songs 4-10, were recorded back at Fairview Studios during the Summer of 1979. These songs were never released, then in 1984, the bootleg called ‘First Strike’ was released without the permission of the band or management. Def Leppard sued to get the production stopped and they won. They even were paid royalties on what was sold. You can still find these on Discogs or ebay, but be prepared to pay through the roof on them as they are very rare. Someday I’ll get one.

What was great about these songs is that “Heat Street” and “See the Light” I don’t think I have seen the light of day yet, while “Glad I’m Alive” was on The Early Years Box Set. The other 4 songs were re-recorded for the debut album ‘On Through the Night’ which we will get to later. These demos were recorded live and are raw and fantastic.

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Diving For Pearls – ‘Diving For Pearls’ (1989) – Album Review

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Some bands make it, some fade in to oblivion. Diving for Pearls had all the talent and the songs to make it, but for some reason faded in to oblivion. For me, their journey began when I was working at Sam Goody while in college. The promo for their debut album came in, I dropped it in to the CD player and was hooked from the first note of “Gimme Your Good Lovin'”. I made sure when the store was done with that promo that it went home with me. And it did!

But let’s go back in time a little. The band was started by Danny Malone (on vocals) and Jack Moran (Keyboards) back in Boston. They were in a band before that called The Trademarks. But where did they get a name like ‘Diving for Pearls’? Strange name. They actually pulled it from a line in Elvis Costello’s song ‘Shipbuilding’…

With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls

The band played around Boston for years and decided to take the show to New York. While working at Hard Rock Cafe, I believe, they somehow met Yul Vasquez (Guitar) and Peter Clemente (Drums). Yul had been in the band Urgent prior while Peter had been working with Michael Monroe in the band Secret Chiefs. Now, all they needed was a bass player and they found that in the form of David Weeks. The band was complete.

They signed a development deal with Epic Records. Now, a development deal isn’t really a record deal so much as it is just here’s some money, go make an album, if it sells maybe we will do more, if it doesn’t, good riddance. Not the most enticing deal, but a deal nonetheless. So, the boys packed their bags and went to Nashville, Tennessee to record their first album with producer David Prater.

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Jon Bon Jovi – “Blaze of Glory” (1990) – Cassette Single (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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After being approached by actor, Emilio Estevez, to use the Bon Jovi song “Wanted Dead or Alive” for the soundtrack to his new movie, the western ‘Young Guns II’, Jon declined the offer. Instead of flat out declining though, Jon offered to write a new song for the movie and that one song turned in to a whole album of songs from and inspired by the movie.

The title track, “Blaze of Glory” was written on a napkin while Jon was sitting with the cast while they were eating hamburgers. Keifer Sutherland said that Jon wrote it in like 6 minutes and it made him feel stupid as he wrote a number one song while they ate. Jon played the song to Emilio Estevez and producer John Fusco. Fusco took the song to his co-producers in the trailer and the decision was made right then and there to make it the theme song for the movie.

The single was released on July 21, 1990 and was Jon’s one and only #1 song on the Billboard Charts outside of his day job band Bon Jovi. The song had a hell of a line-up on it including Elton John, Aldo Nova, Randy Jackson, Kenny Aronoff and on guitar was Jeff Beck. Not too shabby. As you can see here my version of the single is a Cassette Single or “Cassingle”. The B-Side is the Jon and Little Richard duet, “Your Really Got Me Now” and no , not the Kinks’ song.

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My Sunday Song – “Smoke & Ashes” by 13 Engines

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For My Sunday Song #377, We explore another of Deke’s Choices with the song “Smoke & Ashes” by the Canadian band 13 Engines. The song was a single off their Canadian breakthrough album ‘Perpetual Motion Machine’. It was the band’s fourth album and released in 1993, but it isn’t grunge…more alternative rock. Billboard magazine called the song “the perfect two-minute rock song.” We will see if that is the case.

The song is about the consequences of doing drugs and leading a life that is nothing but destructive. The ticking of the watch is symbolic of all the time wasted and missed while doing drugs while you are kneeling down throwing up in the porcelain God. The comet burns and crashes is exactly what happens to you due to the addiction. You crash & burn. You end up alone in the world as everyone has been driven away. It is a sad commentary, but it is pretty accurate.

The song rocks out with a distorted guitar sound and John Critchley on vocals. The band has a sound that is reminiscent of the Gin Blossoms, but maybe a little heavier. At only around 2:30 minutes long, it has no time to waste and compacts a lot of sound in that brief window. A powerful song that packs a punch.

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Friday New Releases – September 8, 2023

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It’s Friday!! It is time for new releases and this week there is a huge one coming out. Well, a huge one for my kids as Olivia Rodrigo’s new album is out. I will be listening to this because my kids will be playing this non-stop. Another big one is Tyler Childers and I am sure the kids will be listening to that as well. The ones I really want to hear are the new Andy Taylor and Puddle of Mudd. What do you want to hear this week? Let us know and let us know if we missed anything. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • 61fin73zyhL._AC_UL800_FMwebp_QL65_  Olivia Rodrigo – Guts – (Geffen Records)
  • 913Rm+UReQL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Andy Taylor – Man’s a Wolf to Man – (BMG Rights Mgmt)
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Def Leppard – ‘The Def Leppard’ E.P. (1979) – 7″ Single (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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It all started way back in 1976 when Rick Savage, Tony Kenning and Pete Doubleday started a band called Atomic Mass. Savage & Doubleday were on guitar and Kenning on drums. They brought in Andy Nicholas on bass and lead vocals were handled by Nick Mackley. Andy would leave and Rick moved to bass while Pete Willis was brought in on guitar. The singer left to be replaced by multiple singers who came and went. It was a revolving door of musicians.

Finally, things started to take shape. Joe Elliott came in and auditioned at only 18, but to play guitar not sing. He had met Pete on a bus back in November 1977. While auditioning, I guess his guitar playing was only so-so as they felt he was better as the lead singer. Then finally the last missing piece was added in January 1978 with the late-great Steve Clark on guitar. At this point, there was still no Rick Allen.

Now, they needed a new band name and Joe suggested they go by Deaf Leopard. Thanks to Tony, they changed the spelling to be more in the style of Led Zeppelin and Tony thought it would look less punk.

The band went to record the E.P. Fairview Studios in Hull, England way back in November of 1978 and it was self-produced. However, right before the recording, Tony Kenning quit and they used drummer Frank Noon from a band that called themselves “The Next Band”.  Shortly thereafter, the band hired a 15 year old kid to be the drummer named Rick Allen. The E.P. only included three songs and was recorded by a band that was quite different than the band you know and love today.

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‘Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life in Rock’ – A Memoir By Stephen Pearcy with Sam Benjamin – Book Review

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I’m a huge Ratt fan as the first series the site ever did was a Ratt one where we reviewed every Ratt album in their discography (and my collection). A big part of that is because I like Stephen Pearcy. So when I was in Los Angeles and saw a book by Stephen Pearcy called ‘Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life in Rock’, I had to grab it. Now, Stephen didn’t write it by himself, he had the help of Sam Benjamin. But the two together crafted a book that was an easy, entertaining read and I like easy. And you will notice down below, the copy I picked up had been signed by Stephen back in 2018 which I didn’t notice until I got back home. Pretty cool!!

The story opens with birth of his daughter and him going to rehab, then quickly jumps back to his childhood. He was a typical kid, parents divorced when he was young so he didn’t now his Dad very well and raised by a single mom. He had to move from L.A. to San Diego when he was young and didn’t fit in with the scene. He found some hippie type friends and got in to drugs and drinking at a young age. He was hit by a car and both legs broken and was in rehab in the hospital for months on end and took a long time to recover.

When he finally discovered music, that became his motivation, his drive, his obsession. He knew he was going to make it and did everything in his power to make it happen. He met David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen early on when that band was getting ready to break and there are some fun stories with that. And with a book called Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll, you get all of that and then some. Most of the book is about his sex addiction and his drug addiction and after awhile that does get old because how many times can you talk about getting trim and not just sound like it is on repeat. He gets a lot and constantly. Stephen is a giant man-child who can’t commit to anything or anyone except the addictions, but his drive to be a rock star was insane.

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