Welcome to another monthly round-up of what we obtained here at 2 Loud 2 Old Music. It was another big month, but not quite like last month. The month started off with another Buy 5 Get 5 deal and ended with a trip to Los Angeles so it was a fun month here at the site.
First up was the 2nd & Charles Buy 5 Get 5 Free on Used CDs, so of course, I took advantage of that deal. Not a bad haul I must say…
And of course, we did get some new releases this month including Extreme, Neal Schon and my personal favorite, The Defiants!! I went the cheaper route of CDs for these mainly because Neal’s isn’t on vinyl and The Defiants isn’t available until September (pre-ordered).
One of my favorite debut albums from a band is ‘Dawn Patrol’ from the band Night Ranger. Most people got in to Night Ranger thanks to either “Sister Christian” or “(You Can Still) Rock in America”, but for me, it was actually their debut album which came out November 1, 1982 and I’m sure I saw the video on MTV as I am not sure how else I would’ve heard of them at that time.
For those that don’t know, Night Ranger is made up of a bunch of extremely talented musicians. The guitar duo of Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson is an unbeatable duo and it almost wasn’t meant to be as Brad was playing with Ozzy Osbourne in 1982 after the tragic death of Randy Rhodes, but he didn’t end up fitting in with the band so he came back to Night Ranger. Kelly Keagy (drums) and Jack Blades (bass) were from a band called Rubicon which also happened to have Brad Gillis in it as well. They then brought in Alan Fitzgerald on keyboards and he came from the band Montrose. The band was complete and what I liked even more was that they had two singers with Kelly and Jack. Kiss had two singers as well and I loved Kiss so I was high on these guys as well for that two singer approach as it gives so much variety to the music.
And the music was great. It was hard rock with a hint of AOR as well. The guitars were immense, the drumming was sensational and the vocals were the best. The keyboards accentuated the music and not over powering it. The debut album was probably the most raw, most intense and the heaviest of that 80’s run which makes it my favorite.
An interesting fact about the band is that they were originally called Ranger and the debut album was printed with that name. Before it was shipped, it was discovered there was a country band called Ranger in California (where Night Ranger is from) and they were worried about getting sued. So, they destroyed all the albums and reprinted them with the new name Night Ranger which was taken from a song on the album. I wonder if any of those Ranger covers ever slipped through and somehow survived as that would be a pretty impressive collectible if so.
During the Covid pandemic, there was no touring, records kept getting delayed and the music industry felt like it was basically shut down. During this time though, some artists stayed creative and Jeff Scott Soto was one of them. He took 10 of his songs and redid them. If you are thinking this is a Bon Jovi ‘This Left Feels Right’ disaster, you would be wrong. It is less a re-imagining of the songs and more of stripping them down to their bare essence. He did everything himself, except for the mixing which he had some friends handle that part such as David Clarkson, John Ellis, and Alessandro Del Vecchio. And I was curious as to what songs he would choose to re-visit and he chose songs that he was the solo writer on and that makes sense as he wouldn’t need approval from anyone else since they were his songs.
The project was originally going to be released as a Jeff Scott Soto solo album, however, there were some legal issues with that maybe because he had just released a solo album a month or two earlier or who knows why. So, Jeff took it his other band, SOTO, and released it under their name. And the release is only available as a digital only release. There is no physical product as of now. Hopefully that will change down the road. I get why he put it under the SOTO moniker so it could get released, but don’t think this is a Metal album at all. This is stripped down, mostly acoustic and slowed down versions of his songs. Nothing metal about them.
The opening track is “Eyes of Love” off his second solo album, ‘Prism’. The original version is a hard rock, melodic ass kicker and here the song his just Jeff and a piano and turned in to a beautiful ballad. Stripping the songs down gives the songs a new chance to shine while really showcasing the power of Jeff’s voice and this is a great way to kick it all off.
The next rack is “My Love, My Friend” which was an a cappella track from Soul Sirkus’ album ‘World Play’ which he did with Neal Schon. He added a drum beat and a piano to it including extra lyrics and more arrangements. It is now a fully flushed out song rather than a short all vocal track. Is it better? It is different and not a bad track. The electronic drum sound hurts it for me. A respectable version for sure, but not a full on knock-out.
June has seen some big releases a few that I am really enjoying and might end up in my Top 10 list of records for the year. This week has a ton of releases, although nothing I’m running out and buying just yet (if at all). There are a few I will stream such as the new Ayron Jones record as his last was pretty dang great. If this one is, I might be buying this one. There is also a Candlebox live album and a new Jason Mraz. If you are in to them, there is a new Portugal, The Man album and so much more. Check them out and let me know what you want to hear. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!
Ayron Jones – Chronicles of the Kid – (Big Machine Records / John Varvatos Records)
Candlebox – Live at the Neptune Theatre – (Pavement Music)
I have done a few of these already on the Best & Worst songs from every Judas Priest, Cheap Trick and Whitesnake albums. I really enjoyed doing those so I thought I would continue that process and this time we would go through every Kiss studio album (including the 4 solo albums) and see what is the best song and the worst one off each album as well. Kiss has 24 studio albums to go through so sit back, grab a drink and take it all in. Now, let’s preface this with the fact that these are my choices and not necessarily yours as we can have different opinions. My worst song could be your favorite and this is okay. We all like different things or this would be a very dull world. I hope you enjoy the list!! And we will go chronological if you were wondering.
‘KISS’ (1974)
THE BEST SONG – “BLACK DIAMOND”: On an album with so many ‘classic’ Kiss tunes, it was hard to pick. The album ends with one of the band’s best songs, “Black Diamond”. The song was written by Paul and he does sing on it, but is mostly sung by Peter. The songs starts off with a 12-string acoustic guitar and Paul sings the opening line and when he screams “Hit It!”, the song turns in to a blistering rock song with Peter taking over vocals. The song was written about New York and those ladies working on the street that they would fantasize about. Peter’s gravelly vocals gave the song such a powerful edge and he put so much heart and soul in to those vocals. Towards the end of the song, there is a brief musical interlude with Ace tearing it up on guitar and Peter laying down some fills all accompanied by that nasty bass riff from Gene before Peter lays down a final barrage of drum fills and then the song slowly, distortedly comes winding down to an end. It is dark and foreboding and so metal.
THE WORST SONG – “KISSIN’ TIME”: The worst is a cover of the Bobby Rydell Song “Kissin’ Time” which was written by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe. It was recorded two months after the release and added a couple months after that to the album. The band was not happy about this at all, but they were pressured into recording it. Paul, Gene and Peter all sang on the song and it is just a shit song. It has that whole 50’s, early 60’s style and is not a wrong song. It is easy to hear that they didn’t want to be there singing this crap and that is why I want the original version so I don’t have to hear that song anymore.
There is no better feeling than out vinyl digging and find something unexpected like a bootleg. Make that bootleg Van Halen and make there be two different ones there by Van Halen and that is why I love collecting. Those little surprises and this is the first one we will talk about. It is a soundboard recording from April 3, 1978 and recorded at the Pogo’s Night Club and Discotheque in Wichita, Kansas. The show was Pogo’s Catch a Rising Star which was a showcase for up and coming bands in the the 70’s. Van Halen had just released their debut album so you can’t get much more up and coming than that.
This show is David Lee Roth, Michael Anthony, Alex Van Halen and the late, great Eddie Van Halen and man were they young and hungry and this show definitely showcases that hunger. They play almost everything from the debut (minus two songs) and even a cover to end the show. David Lee Roth is in fine form as his banter with the crowd is worth the price of admission alone, but since you get Eddie’s guitar mastery it is icing on the top of the cake. I’m getting excited just talking about. Let’s crank this mutha and get in to the music. The label on the vinyl is pretty cool Some Steampunk guy standing there like he is introducing you to new the rising stars of Van Halen.
Jeff Scott Soto keeps cranking out the music whether solo or one of his many projects. This time around we are on Jeff’s 7th Solo album and it as with almost all his solo albums, it is on Frontiers Records. This time around he brought in a staple at Frontiers, Alessandro Del Vecchio, to produce, arrange, mix and master the album. He also helped with the songwriting and instrumentation as well. Wait, is this a Jeff solo album or an Alessandro album with Jeff singing? No, don’t worry, it is a Jeff solo album and that voice is on full display. And if you were around when this came out, you were excited because you were in the midst of the Covid pandemic and happy to get any album as so many bands were constantly delaying their albums in hopes the pandemic would end soon. But not Jeff. He was releasing albums and this one came out on November 6th, 2020.
The rest of the band on this album aside from Jeff and Alessandro was Fabrizio Sgattoni on guitar and damn he can play. Good friend Edu Cominato on drums who is also in Jeff’s band Soto so you know this musicians are top notch. And to make this album even more appealing, there is a bonus disc of Jeff’s digital only release (up to this point) Loud & Live in Milan 2019 which we reviewed last week.
The album opens with a solid rocker called “Someone to Love” and it blasts out of the gate with Soto’s soaring vocals in overdrive. The guitar playing by Frabrizio is to notch and with the accompanying rhythm section that drives the song home, you get a brilliant opener. The song slides in to “Mystified” with Edu slaying the drums and giving us a driving beat throughout. Jeff again sounds great and while the song is another rocker, it is a little forgettable and doesn’t quite go where you think it is. Aside from another killer little guitar solo, the overall song left me a little wanting more as there was no big payoff with the chorus or anything really.
You made it through another week and you should celebrate by getting yourself some new music. Luckily for you, I have a list of a lot of new releases that come out today and there are some goodies in here. There a few I’ll listen to this week as I will see if I still don’t like Queens of the Stone Age by listening to their new one. I think I’ll enjoy Joel Hoekstra’s 13 new album even if Jeff Scott Soto isn’t doing main vocals…and lastly, probably blow through the Finger Eleven’s Greatest Hits album and of course The Alarm’s new one as well. Let me know what you want to hear this week or what we may have missed so everyone can know. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!
Queens of the Stone Age – In Times New Roman… – (Matador Records)
Joel Hoekstra’s 13 – Crash of Life (Feat. Girish Pradhan) – (Frontiers Records)
Kiss has been killing it with live releases and the ‘Off the Soundboard’ Series. It was a brilliant idea for them to take control of their live shows and rather than not make any money with all the bootlegs out there, but to release their own bootleg versions of these shows. This is the 5th one I believe and might be one of the cooler ones they’ve done. It was recorded in Poughkeepsie, NY on November 28, 1984 at the Mid-Hudson Civic Arena. Wait, this is their 5th one, which means there are still 2 I haven’t reviewed yet. I need to get on that. Well, back to this. What makes this one so special? It is because the guitarists on the album is Mark St. John. The band at the time also had original members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley as well as Peter Criss’ replacement Eric Carr on drums. Now, by this time, Eric is considered a regular and not the new guy anymore. And one of the nicest guys ever.
Mark was hired after they let Vinnie Vincent go because they didn’t feel he deserved the contract that Vinnie thought he deserved and thank goodness they didn’t. Mark recorded the guitars on the ‘Animalize’ album and immediately let the world know this was not the same old Kiss. And with these Kiss songs played live, Mark adds his own flair and isn’t out there to copy anybodies parts. Nope, not at all. This show is Mark doing it his way.
Sadly, Mark had developed reactive arthritis which caused his hands and arms to swell making playing very difficult. He went out on tour with the band and the band also brought along Bruce Kulick to be the back-up guitarist if Mark couldn’t play. It turned out that Mark was only able to play on 3 of the Kiss shows and this was one of them. That’s right, they actually have the recording of one of the shows with Mark and that is what makes this set so cool. I already have a bootleg from this tour, but my show has Bruce on it. I also saw this tour and that show had Bruce in it. That is why I think this set is so freaking cool. Great job Kiss!!
For the 2022 Insiders Club, Needtobreathe changed things up. They were no longer going to release a physical product and only do the Digital Songs only. I stopped being a member right then and there as I want a physical product. Well, I think the backlash was swift and loud as a few months in to the year, that all changed. They decided that there will be a new tier level in the Insiders Club, more expensive of course, but a physical product would be given. This time around instead of only a CD, you will get an autographed vinyl copy as well. They still have the digital songs, which are different then the ones on here. The new CD and Vinyl are now a Best of The Insiders giving us the 10 best songs from the 8 years of The Insiders CD series started. The 1st Edition came in March 2023 almost a year after the announcement, but the band was smart as they went ahead and worked on the 2023 Edition at the same time they were working on the 2022 Edition. We received this vinyl in April 2023. We reviewed the 1st Edition last week so now it is time to review the 2nd Edition.
This time around, we only get 9 songs but you have to remember they are trying to fit them on easily on a vinyl with only a set amount of time, so I’m okay with only 9 songs. We did get the CD again which is unsigned bunch of other goodies including a calendar, some magnets of the band members and even a small notebook and a turntable mat. Lots of cool stuff, but nothing more cool than the autographed copy of the vinyl. Like the first one, this is a very limited quantity as it was exclusive to the Insiders Club VIP group which is more expensive so you figure there are fewer people. Let us get to the music, shall we…
Ayron Jones – Chronicles of the Kid – (Big Machine Records / John Varvatos Records)
Candlebox – Live at the Neptune Theatre – (Pavement Music)
Queens of the Stone Age – In Times New Roman… – (Matador Records)
Joel Hoekstra’s 13 – Crash of Life (Feat. Girish Pradhan) – (Frontiers Records)
2 Loud 2 Old Music 