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Airbourne – ‘Breakin’ Outta Hell’ – Album Review

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Airbourne is out of Australia and let me tell you they will rock the hell out of you.  ‘Breakin’ Outta Hell’ is the band’s fourth studio album and they are really going all out on this release.  If you are in to the 80’s rock sound and love AC/DC and Quiet Riot, you have found the band to carry that torch.  The songs are heavily influenced by those bands both in vocals and sound.  The album came out on Spinefarm Records back on September 23rd, 2016.

The album comes out of the gate swinging and does not stop until the last note is played. It never slows down and there are no power ballads, it is just loud, head banging rock & roll…like it should be.

There are basically 5 types of songs on this album.  Songs referencing Hell, songs about Rock, songs about Fighting, songs about Drinking and songs about Sex.  No surprise because what else is there to sing about?

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Bret Michaels – “Repeat” Offender

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Bret Michaels with Poison is enjoyable.  The music is kind of mindless, like KISS, but a lot of fun.  Bret Michaels as a solo artist is a different story.  As a solo artist, Bret Michaels is a “Repeat” Offender!!  What do I mean by that?  Well, let me tell you.  Bret Michaels can not release a new album that doesn’t contain all original music.  He has to repeat songs from his days as lead singer of Poison or songs from his previous solo album.  At this point to me, it is so laughable and sad at the same time.

BretMichaels

It didn’t start out this way as his first 2 solo albums were pretty much all original/new material.  His first solo album in 1998 was ‘A Letter from Death Row’ which was the soundtrack to a movie he wrote, directed and starred in, believe it or not.  On a side note, I never saw the movie.  Here is the track listing:

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Rick Springfield – ‘Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance’ (2004) – Album Spotlight

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‘Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance’ (SDAA for short) came out in 2004 and it was the album that reintroduced me back to Rick Springfield.  It had been 5 years since his last album ‘Karma’ in 1999, but I was in a bad place at that time and completely missed that album.  For me, this was his first album since ‘Rock of Life’ in 1988…16 years earlier.

I hadn’t completely forgotten about Rick Springfield, but he certainly wasn’t top-of-mind anymore.  That changed with this album.  When I heard this album I wasn’t sure who was I listening to at the time.  It was such a high energy, hard rock album that I could not believe it was Rick Springfield.  He was a pop star not a rock star.

SDAA has 17 tracks that range from 56 seconds to 3 minutes & 42 seconds.  This makes the album scream along at a fast pace and it will take you through every emotion mentioned in the album title.  Anger, however, seems to be the leading emotion on the album and I am okay with that.

The opening song, “Perfect”, comes rocking out of the gate and you realize this is not the same old Rick Springfield you grew up with. There is more of an edge and roughness to his style and voice.  That energy continues straight into the next song “I’ll Make You Happy” and gives you no time to breathe.

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Friday New Releases – July 1st

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Not a ton of releases this Friday, but a few that could be promising.  After spending some time at the beach this week with my family, it is nice to be home and enjoy some new music.  The ones I will be checking out are in blue.

  • 51lBop9gJxL._AC_US160_  Blink-182 – California – (Viking Wizard Eyes LLC) – Blink release a new album but without Tom DeLonge, is it really a Blink album?  That is the question I am asking and I will give it a listen to see what they give us.
  • 61wuXdxmLpL._AC_US160_  Through Fire – Breathe – (Sumerian Records) – Justin McCain is back with a new band Through Fire.  Justin was the founding member of the Emphatic, of which I was a huge fan.  Basically, it is the same band with just a name change and a new record label.  High hopes for this one.
  • 61B5on+GiBL._AC_US160_  American Authors – What We Live For – (Island) – Back with their sophomore effort after the huge success of ‘Oh, What a Life’.  Can they continue that success or get sucked down by the sophomore slump?  We will have to listen and find out.
  • 519sZTyRxTL._AC_US160_  The Dirty Clergy – Rattlesnake – (Happy Daze Records) – I screwed up and had them on last week when they were only releasing a new single last week. Now the album comes out.  It has very simple productions, but some great songs on here.  A nice raw quality to the whole thing.
  • 51ZLb9CvR5L._AC_UL115_  Maxwell – black SUMMERS’ night – (Columbia)
  • 61hOvN0ygqL._AC_US160_  Fates Warning – Theories of Flight – (Inside Out Music)
  • 61h-l88ea5L._AC_US160_  Pet Shop Boys – Twenty-Something (EP) – (X2 Records)
  • 51+m1Ev8jEL._AC_US160_  Bat for Lashes – The Bride – (Warner Bros.)
  • 41gaTbLn5GL._AC_US160_  Magic! – Primary Colours – (Sony Music Entertainment)

#TBT – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm

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Okay, this isn’t much of a throwback considering this album came out last year.  However, my site didn’t exist at that time and I want to talk about how great this album is.  And I mean GREAT!!

James Bay is a shining light in today’s bubblegum pop crap that stinks up the radio.  He is the hope of the future of music.  The true talent of all the oversaturated one-hit wonders that music companies force-feed us on a daily basis.  Maybe I am overstating it a little, but the young man is talented.

I think what I am so excited about is the potential this young man has in his craft.  He is only 25 years old and you can see the talent and thinking about what he could create over the next 20 years makes me smile.  Now the music company doesn’t need to screw it up. They need to develop him as an artist and mold him a long & lasting career.  Don’t demand hits, give him the room to create them and grow as a musician.

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Music Is Magic, Part 2 – Playlist

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I had to do a second Music is Magic Playlist because there were so many songs from the 60’s-80’s that I didn’t get any for the 90’s – 10’s (You can see Music is Magic Part 1 here).

I don’t feel the ones from the 90’s – 10’s are as good or popular as the previous years, but there are some great songs.  It does give you a glimpse at how music has changed over the decades.

Enjoy…

“Blood Sugar Sex Magic” – Red Hot Chili Peppers

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Thirdstory – Searching EP

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When I took my daughter to see Tori Kelly (check out review here), the opening act was Thirdstory.  I would describe them as 3 guys, who can harmonize, whose voices will surprise (hey – that rhymes!).  They have such a smooth sound and are amazing live.

We walked out of after the show commenting on how great they sounded.  Listening to a band live tells you how good they really are and these guys can sing. Their harmonies were amazing and the notes they can hit gave me chills.  On a side note, their tour drummer was a monster.  He added so much to their sound and made it that much more enjoyable for me.

The band consists of Elliott Skinner, Richard Saunders and Ben Lusher and they currently live in New York.  Yesterday, they released a 3 song EP called Searching (The Verve Music Group).  I only knew about it because my daughter texted me while I was at work telling me that it was out and I should listen to it.  She even supplied a link.  Well, I did that on the way home.

After four consecutive listens in a row, I knew that these guys might be on to something special.  If you just want to listen to good music with great stories and great vocals, then check it out.

Track List

“Searching for a Feeling” – A nice introduction to the band and what to expect from their sound.  Just solid, smooth vocals and heartfelt songs.

“G Train” – My favorite of the 3. If I remember from the concert, this one is about their life in New York.  This one sounded awesome live. You can tell this song means a lot to the band.

“Grows Old” – This is a slow song and towards the end builds up to a sonic boom of vocal harmonies that take this song over the top (at least it felt that way in the car with the volume turned way up).

Their full album drops in the Fall and is produced by Frank Ocean & Zayn (yes, the former One Direction star).  I will be picking the album up when it comes out.  Check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

Friday New Releases – May 6th

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Friday’s releases this week don’t have me overly excited, but still some possible good albums to enjoy.  At least this week is rather diverse in what I am interested to hear.  There is a little country, pop, alternative and some rock.  If there is anything that you are are excited to hear, let me know.

Keith Urban – Ripcord (Capitol Nashville)

Keith always is very consistent and usually a few good songs worth keeping.

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#TBT – The Alarm – Strength

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I first came across The Alarm because one of my brothers had their album Declaration. This was back around 1984.  I really enjoyed that album and when Strength came out in October 1985 on IRS Records, I had to get it.

The Alarm, if you don’t know, were a four piece, new wave band out of Wales.  I believe at the time, the band was Mike Peters, David Sharp, Eddie Macdonald, and Nigel Twist.

This was the first album I really paid attention to how an album flowed. These songs seemed like they were meant to be in the order they were placed on the album. The songs maintained a specific sound and style throughout.  There were no fillers and each song had a purpose.

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Thriving Ivory / Midnight Cinema – Artist Profile

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I guess you are getting a two-for-one artist profile.  As I am doing a profile on Thriving Ivory & Midnight Cinema.  No, they are not the same band even though they have most of the same bandmates.  The difference is explained below.  They are both great Pop/Rock bands and that voice of Clayton Stroupe is amazing.

Thriving Ivory

Thriving Ivory was based out of California and consisted of  Clayton Stroope, Drew Cribley, and Paul Niedermier.  Clayton’s voice is very unique. I believe it is one of those you either love it, or hate it.  Me, I love it. It gives them their own unique sound and different is always good.

The band’s first album, Thriving Ivory, came out in 2008 and contained their biggest hit “Angels on the Moon”.  I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it.  iTunes was offering the video for free one week and that was how I came across the song.  The song went on to go Gold selling over 500,000 singles.

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