Cheap Trick – ‘Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello’ (2016) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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It has been seven years since Cheap Trick’s last studio album. A lot has happened. They did release a live album here or there and the three volume set of The Epic Archives, but the biggest change was with the line-up. Bun E. Carlos decided to stop recording and touring and as a result, the band pushed him to the side or moved on without him, however you want to look at it. There were lawsuits back and forth and in the end all was settled. Bun E. Carlos wasn’t in the band anymore, but he was still a part of it. In 2015, he helped write the liner notes for all three of The Epic Archive albums. But when it came to the 17th studio album, ‘Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello!’, Bun E. Carlos was not to be found.

Instead new drummer, Daxx Nielsen, was part of the band. Hmm…that last name sounds familiar. Oh, that’s right, he is the son of guitarists Rick Nielsen. It was the first studio album of their career without Bun E. Carlos and it was the first studio album for the band with a major label in 20 years and that label was Big Machine. When the album was released on April 1, 2016 the album went to #31 on the Billboard Charts and was their highest charting album since 1988’s ‘Lap of Luxury’. Don’t worry that it dropped of the chart in a couple weeks…oh well.

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May 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & CD’s

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Another month down and therefore it is time to review the purchases made this month at 2 Loud 2 Old Music. And I think it was a pretty good haul. We bought some stuff online, we hit a local record store and we had a record show this month. And we will kick it off with the brand new album by Jeff Scott Soto which came out on May 6th. It is called ‘Complicated’ and we won’t be getting to review this one for a long time as we are only 20+ albums into the 70 album series. For now, take a peek…

Then I have some research I need to do for a friend of Jeff Scott Soto. I have a lot of homework to do on Jason Bieler of Saigon Kick (notice the three Rock Candy Editions) and his new band Jason Bieler and the Baron Von Bielski Orchestra plus others. Hmmm…now why would I be doing homework…I guess you will soon find out…

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The Original vs. The Cover – “Let The Music Do The Talking”

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For this round of The Original vs. The Cover, we are battling out with “Let the Music Do the Talking” which will pit The Joe Perry Project against Aerosmith. Wait, isn’t Joe Perry in both of those…why yes he is!! The Joe Perry Project released an album in March 1980 with this song as the lead off track and the name of the album. Aerosmith did it 5 years later as the lead off track as well on their 1985 album ‘Done with Mirrors’.

How did this song come about? Well, Joe Perry got in to a major fight with Steven Tyler and the band over their wives, plus drugs and other band issues. He left the band and immediately started work on an album. Columbia Records was real hesitant on giving him a deal with all the struggles he had with Aerosmith. But they did and this song just kind of came in to being. Joe had a lot to prove that he could make it on his own and he felt the music should do the talking for him rather than shooting off his own mouth. And he was right. When he rejoined Aerosmith, the band loved the song and wanted to cover it, so they did.

Which one is better? We will see.

THE JOE PERRY PROJECT:

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My Sunday Song – “Lightning Strikes” by Aerosmith

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For My Sunday Song #301, we are kicking off the next 10 song set with Aerosmith and first up is “Lightning Strikes” off their 1982 album ‘Rock in a Hard Place’. The song was released as a single on August 27, 1982 and is noted as the only charted song the band had without Joe Perry in the band. This had Jimmy Crespo on guitar who replaced Joe after he left in 1979. The song went to #21 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart.

The song was written by Steven Tyler, Jimmy Crespo and Richie Supa (who replaced Joe first before the full time replacement was found in Crespo). It is basically about a gang fight. Not any old gang fight, it seems like an old 50’s/60’s style fight with leather jackets and knives. It is only missing Fonzi!! All seriousness aside, it does capture the toughness on the streets and has a solid story.

This is one of the best Aerosmith songs of all time…Sorry…but it is…get over it!! “Lightning Strikes” has this slow build up that explodes in to this rough and tumble, balling and brawling masterpiece. The song is heavy, it is tough, it is mean and it is fan”freaking”tastic! It actually starts off with some keyboard before Joey slams down some drum beats then the guitar slowly build in with more Joey fills. Steven sounds like he is ready to rumble which makes sense it is about gang fighting. It even ends with some Thunder rolling in. This was the only song Brad Whitford appeared for the album and it was as rhythm guitar since Crespo did the solo .

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Needtobreathe – ‘La Diferencia E.P.’ – Album Review

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Needtobreathe is one of my all time favorite bands and one of the few bands I have to everything they do and in that search I came across this beauty. It is the E.P. called La Diferencia. It was only available on the DRIVE ALL NIGHT TOUR 2013. If you went to a show on that tour and you placed a pre-order for their upcoming album ‘Rivers of the Wasteland, you received a pre-order card AND got the BRAND NEW EP called La Diferencia on CD. I actually missed that tour so I didn’t have this and I do now. The EP contains four previously unreleased live tracks and the title is quite misleading because it would make you think their were some Hispanic language songs on here but there are not…which is fine as I don’t speak Spanish anyway. The cover art I am sure was done by band member Bo Rinehart as he has been the artistic brain behind most of their visual side of the band.

The opening track, “Difference Maker” might be the best song the band has ever written. There is such a sadness and longing in the song and lyrically, it is splendid.  For me, it raises question as to why are we here in this world and what is our place in that world.  Is God the answer?  I think that is for each of us to decide as I find faith and religion to be a personal choice.  This song helped me take a longer look at myself and I believed has helped a lot. The song is not quite a demo. They call it a “work tape” so at this point it was a work in process but damn, it is so good.

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Friday New Releases – May 27, 2022

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Can you believe May is almost over? Another month that has blown by. This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend where we remember all those men and women lost in the many wars we have been in over the many years of this country. I think people think this weekend is vacation and grilling only…a reason to drink and party…but not at all. Take a moment to remember why you can do all those things and what was sacrificed for it to happen. Now, back to the reason for the post. We have a ton of releases for you today with over 40 albums. There is only one I’m a really excited about and another I am intrigued about it. They are marked in Blue. Let me know what you want to hear and what we may have missed! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

  • 81GWsHK-QBL._AC_UL640_FMwebp_QL65_  Def Leppard – Diamond Star Halos – (Bludgeon Riffola Limited / Mercury Records): There have been no new Def Leppard studio albums since I started this blog which is way way too long. I am excited about this one, but truly aren’t expecting a lot if I’m being honest. That didn’t stop me from ordering it…on vinyl exclusive from Target…on cassette and two different Japanese Edition CDs. I think that is every format. Yes, I have a problem…deal with it!!
  • A15cHqIFTTL._AC_UL640_FMwebp_QL65_  Mark Tremonti – Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra – (JMM / Slow Down Sounds): The guitarist of Creed, Alter Bridge and lead singer of Tremonti goes soft with Frank Sinatra…or does he? I don’t know as I haven’t heard it yet as I want to take it all in at once. Here’s to hoping it is something cool.
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Talisman – ‘Humanimal’ (1994) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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1994 has been a real busy year for Jeff Scott Soto as you can see from all the 1994 reviews. His band Slam was pretty much done so all his time was now focused on Talisman. Marcel Jacob and Jeff Scott Soto would end up writing a ton of songs for the next studio album. Talisman was now a full band. They had Jamie Borger on drums and Fredrik Akesson on guitar and with them coming off the last tour, the band was tight and hitting on all cylinders.

The band recorded the album in Sound Trade Studios and when they finished, they had 22 songs in can which coincidentally only took 22 days to record and mix. They wanted to do a double album and each disc would have a separate theme. One would be songs with human characteristics and the second disc with animal characteristics. However, the songs actually would all fit on a single CD, so they decided they wanted to only release a single CD.

So, the band picked their favorite 14 songs for the album and it was released in Europe . It was to be released in Japan, but they wanted a different set of songs so the Japan label picked the songs for their version of the album. The albums came out on May 25, 1994. And then a funny thing happened. The European version was out selling the Japanese version…in Japan. Yes, the import of the European version was way more popular. As a result, they ended up releasing the European version in Japan. And if that wasn’t enough, they released a part 2 version with all the outtakes on October 19, 1994.

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Aerosmith – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First (The Aerosmith Collection Series)

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Aerosmith…one of the greatest American Rock & Roll Bands. From the early 70’s the band has delivered, solid, good time, bluesy rock & roll. With 15 Studio albums, numerous live albums and compilations, they are a beloved American Icon. From the rough and raw days of the early Boston Bar band to the well-polished Stadium filled rock & roll band, they are as American apple pie.

Now the band has had issues, but for a majority of the career it has been Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer. Yes, some members went away for awhile, but the magic was always these five original guys. Alone, they are not the same…together they are magic. To celebrate this band, I went through all the albums in my collection (which was around 28 posts) and now we are going to rank their studio albums from Worst to First. So sit back, relax and get ready to be rocked like only Aerosmith can do it.

THE WORST – ‘MUSIC FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION (2012):

This album is so bloated with 16 tracks and at around 68 minutes and that is before the 3 bonus tracks on the 2nd disc which we will get to soon.  First off, yes, the packaging is better than the album.  The album does nothing for me but reinforce how tired I am of anything of Aerosmith’s past ‘Done With Mirrors’.  This series has reenforced that for me…big time.  Although I could pull out ‘Honkin’ on Bobo’.  The album is too much of everything and not enough of Aerosmith if that makes sense.  If this ends up being the last studio album, it is a shame. My Overall Score is 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars.  I didn’t enjoy this one and it didn’t get better with each listen. Sorry.

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Poison – “Nothin’ But A Good Time” – 7″ Single

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While out at a new Record Store I found called Mad Jack’s, I picked up this sweet single from Poison’ album ‘Open Up and Say…Ahh!’. This is their first single off the album and it was called “Nothin’ But a Good Time”. It was released on April 6, 1988 and the song went all the way to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it was all over MTV. My version of the single is the standard U.S. version with “Look But You Can’t Touch” as the B-Side. It was in pristine condition considering it is over 30 years old. The B-Side for the single is also off the ‘Open Up and Say…Ahh!’ album and is called “Look But You Can’t Touch”.

The song was written back in their early days when they were living in a warehouse and they had no money. They would talk women in to buying them food and doing all sorts of things for them. I have also read it was about not needing to be depressed working a 9 to 5 job and just live in the moment and live it up. It is a very hedonistic lifestyle and that comes across in the song. They were rock stars living the dream, what more could you want.

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Cheap Trick – ‘The Epic Archive, Vol. 3 (1984-1992) (2015) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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Back on November 27, 2015, Cheap Trick released a 3 Volume set called The Epic Archives, yet they were only released digitally. There was no physical product at the time. That has since been corrected as they eventually did release these on vinyl for Record Store Day on three separate occasions. I was lucky enough to get all 3. And since we been through ‘The Epic Archive, Vol. 1 (1975-1979) and ‘The Epic Archive, Vol. 2 (1980-1983), it is now time to review ‘The Epic Archive, Vol. 3 (1984-1992) and did they save the best for last? We will see.

My copy is the 2019 Record Store Day Release on April 13, 2019 and let me tell you it is yet another quite stellar release. As the sticker below says, it is a 2-LP Gatefold Set that is limited to 2,000 copies and both LP’s are on a beautiful flame red vinyl. And Bun E. Carlos might not be in the band anymore, but he was involved as the liner notes on the inside of the Gatefold are track-by-track commentary by Mr. Carlos as well as Rick Nielsen and this time around Robin Zander as you can see below. This Volume didn’t have the “Golden Ticket” like the Vol. 1 where you received a band picture autographed by all four original members. Nope, nothing like that in here.

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