You Picked It! – Stryper -“Against the Law” – Album Review

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Alright…You Picked It! And this one wasn’t really that close. After the first five picks were one for each artist, the winner took the early lead and never looked back. The winner this month is Stryper and their album ‘Against the Law’ which was one that was in my collection. I will be honest, this winner surprised me as I didn’t think they really had a chance, but boy was I wrong. Here are the results.

  1. Stryper – ‘Against the Law’ – 7 votes
  2. David Bowie – ‘Let’s Dance’ – 5 votes
  3. The Band – ‘The Band’ – 3 votes
  4. Dusty Springfield – ‘Dusty in Memphis’ – 2 votes
  5. The Darkness – ‘Motorheart’ – 1 Vote

Thanks to all for participating. The January choices will be up on Saturday!

STRYPER – ‘AGAINST THE LAW’:

I remember when this album came out. It was a drastic change for the band. The Yellow and Black costumes they wore were gone and everything was black leather. The religious themes and any mention of God were gone. Stryper as we knew them were gone. Due to the constant criticism of from the religious critics, Stryper had grown weary of the music business and the Christian themes. They had become angry and a little resentful at the constant bashing. So, they threw religion to the side and went heavier and darker in both sound and lyrics.

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My Sunday Song – “Wide Awake” by Rick Springfield

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For My Sunday Song #277, we are going to dive in to the song “Wide Awake” by Rick Springfield. The song is off his 2012 album ‘Songs For the End of the World’. Sadly, I think the song and album went fairly unnoticed and its shame as Rick had been tearing it up for the last decade giving us tons of music and some really great tracks, including this one. The song was written by Rick Springfield and his writing partner on the album Matt Bissonette and they kept a common theme on the album so check it out and see what you think.

The song is really dark in its subject matter while at the same time optimistic and joyful. Rick was in a really dark place and stuck in a nightmare. He had been sleeping around on his wife and having more issues than you and I could probably handle. You can see in the lyrics he was insecure, lonley and doing things without even thinking of the consequences. Thanks to his true love, he eventually woke up the fact that he was being destructive and going down paths that he shouldn’t. She saved him and now he is wide awake and can enjoy life again the way it should be. He let the pressures and temptations get to him and she saved him.

The song is a hard rocking track, upbeat and quick tempo with an energy that is infectious and will get you moving. It is so quick you will have a hard time catching your breath. The drums are so powerful and machine gun style and there is a great guitar riff throughout that seems bouncy and joyful despite some dark topics. The “Wide Awake” theme is definitely captured in the power of the music. And let’s not forget Rick as he sings with such gusto and passion you feel like he is happy and enjoying things again. He sounds like the kid he once was.

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Friday New Releases – December 10, 2021

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It is possibly the last Friday New Release post of 2021 as next week there is only a handful of releases and nothing (in my opinion) of any real merit. But what do I know. For now, this is the last one and your last chance of grabbing any last minute Christmas gift ideas for people. If you have friends that like Alicia Keys, Green Day or Neil Young, there is something here your friend will need. For me, there is nothing here I will be adding to the list and nothing on my list until 2022. If I don’t post anything next week, then the next Friday New Release Post will come back on January 7, 2022…so until then keep on listening to music no matter what it is. Thanks for stopping by every week as we do appreciate your support!!

  • 617Q8GZKu-L._AC_UL640_FMwebp_QL65_  Alicia Keys – Keys – (RCA Records / Sony)
  • 91rYELHMWML._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Green Day – BBC Sessions – (Reprise Records)
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Aerosmith – ‘Rock in a Hard Place’ (1982) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series)

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By the time the 80’s hit, Aerosmith was a mess. Joe Perry was out of the band and Steven’s drug use was way out of control. During the Fall of 1980, Steven was in a horrendous motorcycle accident which put him out of commission for months upon months. When the band finally went back in to the recording studio, things weren’t any better. After recording the first song and single, “Lightning Strikes”, Brad Whitford was done as well. He picked up his toys from the attic and walked away.

Was the band near the end? Probably pretty close. But there was an old friend that came back in to the mix. Famed producer, Jack Douglas, was back to produce the album. Jack had done all the band’s big albums and they really needed a friendly face to help them navigate this mess.

So who was still in the band? You have Steven Tyler, Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton of course. Then Jimmy Crespo was still around after replacing Joe Perry and the newest member was guitarist Rick Dufay. However, he was brought in after the album was done and didn’t actually play on it although he was credited. The album is also notable for its price tag. Because of how long it took to record (1981-1982), the cost of the album was immense at around $1.5 million. That was an unheard of price tag in those days.

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Wig Wam – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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When I think of a country that rules in Glam Metal, my first thought goes to Norway!! Huh? WTF? Norway? Yes, you heard me correctly. Norway is home to the stellar Glam Metal band Wig Wam. The band members are Glam, Teeny, Flash and Sporty and no those aren’t the Spice Girls’ names. In reality, it is Age Sten Nilsen, Trond Holter, Bernt Jensen and Osytein Andersen. Yeah, the nicknames are easier to pronounce and remember.

The band’s first album came out back in 2004/2005 and showed the world that Glam metal was still alive and kicking. They represented Norway in the 2005 Eurovision contest and their song “In My Dreams” did really well. After that, they put out 4 albums and then they called it quit back in 2014. Then 5 years later, the band was back together. However, we didn’t finally get another album until 2021 and let me tell you, the boys are back!!!

I thought to myself, this is a band that needs to be heard so why not spread the love with an album ranking and since they only have 5 albums, it would be easy enough to do. So, grab a cold one and check out the Wig Wam Album Rankings from Worst to First!!

THE WORST – ‘WALL STREET’ (2012):

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Bon Jovi – “I’ll Be There For You” – 45 Single

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On my Summer vacation back in June, I found over 20 singles with the picture sleeve. I’ve been through a bunch of them so far and now we are tackling the Bon Jovi singles that I found. There were 5 Singles found and we kicked it off with the following:

Now it is time for another ‘New Jersey’ single with “I’ll Be There For You”. This was the third single off the album and it went to #1 on the Billboard Top 100 Charts. This was the band’s fourth #1 song and if I’m not mistaken, it was their last but not from lack of great songs as they still put out some fantastic tracks even after this one. This particular song was written soley by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora with no outside help. Same with the B-Side, “Homebound Train”. Bon Jovi was at the top of their game and no one could touch them. They could have taken a piss, recorded it and it probably would’ve gone to #1 too as long as Jon and Richie were in the video.

If you ever wanted to know why this era of rock bands were called “Hair Bands”, just look at the cover. Aqua Net stock was riding high at that time as the amount of hairspray being used put a hole in the ozone layer…true fact!! My version of the single is a standard U.S. version and the single version and album version aren’t really different. There are only a couple seconds shaved off the single. The big difference is the radio edit which this is not.

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Cheap Trick – ‘Next Position Please’ (1983) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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After the disappointing results of the George Martin produced ‘One on One’, the band went back to their earlier Power Pop sound using producer Todd Rundgren. Now, hearing Rundgren was the producer made me think this might get just as experimental as the previous one, but surprisingly it doesn’t. It sticks to a sound of the band’s earlier albums like ‘In Color’ and ‘Heaven Tonight’. As we are now dead in the middle of the new wave movement that Cheap Trick influenced the bands in this genre greatly, it was a strange thing to have them go back in time with their sound and not push the sound further forward. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t sound like the 80’s at times because it does, it is just when they do they classic Cheap Trick sound, it really works well.

The band at the time was still Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Bun E. Carlos and newer member Jon Brant. And from what I’ve read, many members of the band feel this is one of their favorite albums. I can’t say I agree with that statement, but we will get to that in a minute.

The album was recorded back in December 1982 at Utopia Sound in Lake Hill, New York which I am guessing is Rundgren’s studio as he has an album called Utopia which I own. But the album didn’t actually see the light of day August 15, 1983 which to me is quite a long stretch between recording and releasing. That would be normal in today’s timeframe with delays on vinyl pressing, but back then turnaround time was much faster. Not sure why the delay. The album charted only as high as #61 and the two singles on the album didn’t break the Top 40 and in fact, not sure if they even charted at all. The album didn’t even go Gold. This was not turning out to be a very shining example of the who the band were.

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My Sunday Song – “Human Touch” by Rick Springfield

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For My Sunday Song #276, we are going to go after “Human Touch” by Rick Springfield. The song was from Rick’s 1983 album ‘Living in Oz’. The song wasn’t his biggest hit ever, but it did pretty well charting at #23 in the US giving him another Top 40 hit. Interestingly enough, the song charted at #23 in the UK and was his only Top 40 hit in the UK making him a one-hit wonder in the UK. That’s right, ‘Jessie’s Girl’ didn’t go Top 40 there.

The song was inspired by kids back in the early 80’s getting stuck in front of their computer games and forgetting how to communicate and interact with other people. That’s funny, I don’t think that has changed and now is worse with today’s phones. Rick noticed this and was reminded by how much we as human needed to communicate with each other, how much we needed to touch each other in some way. He took that thought and turned in to a love story and sexualized it a little, okay, a lot. I love how he talks about someone building up walls around themselves and the girl, Sally, calls them his prison cell. We all have those walls and only certain people can break through them, but to do that, you need to let them touch you in some way. It is pretty deep.

Musically, Rick actually recorded the song using a lot of computers which he found the contradiction to be quite funny and I agree. The song starts off with a couple of computer beeps and then a drum machine kicks in which is exactly what he says in the song that people are dancing to drum machines so why not put them in. It is basic pop and dance song and is very dated in its sound which I think now adds to its charm. Later in the song we get a saxophone which jazzes it up a little, but overall it is a very generic sounding song, but I think the meaning is way deeper and shows that Rick actually has a lot of depth in his writing. He was a man ahead of his time. He should probably redo this song today as sadly, it still applies but even more so with the pandemic and the lack of human touch for so long.

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Top Five Replacement Singers on The LeBrain Train

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Hot off the Presses from the LeBrain Train and the host Mike Ladano

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike, John & Harrison

Episode 89 – Top Five Replacement Singers

This Cinco-de-Listo episode was planned for October, but due to circumstances beyond our control, had to be rescheduled.  So here we go!

The first time I posted this, I got so many comments about “Dio!”, “Dickinson!”, “Hagar!” and “Gillan!” that we decided on some ground rules.  Those guys are already well known for what they did.  They are like the Mount Rushmore of replacement singers.  We don’t need to waste valuable space in our Top Five lists on the obvious ones.  So these lists will be the other guys who deserve recognition.  You can name dozens of favourites, but who would make your Top Five?

Joining us tonight will be:

With those two guys, you know we will get a mix of the logical and the unpredictable!  Don’t miss this one.  Please like and share, and join the discussion live with your own lists.  Your lists will go up on the screen for discussion!  It’s gonna be fun, but the most fun can be had by watching live!

Friday December 3, 7:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain.

Friday New Releases – December 3, 2021

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Welcome to December and its beginning to look a lot like Christmas. If you need some gift ideas, you might know some people that will want new music so here is the latest batch of new releases. If you are interested, I would take the Skid Row box set if you are thinking of getting me something. If not, I would still like the box set! HA!! Otherwise, there is nothing I am interested in this week. Take a look through and see what you may like and let me know what interests you or if we missed anything. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

  • 51y4W2gcKtL._AC_UY436_QL65_  Skid Row – The Atlantic Years (1989-1996) Box Set – (BMG Rights): The collection includes seven 180-Gram Audiophile vinyl LPs, including the band’s multi-million selling, worldwide-charting first three studio albums, plus the B-Side Ourselves EP and the live EP, Subhuman Beings on Tour!!, which was previously only available on CD in Japan. It is now being made available globally and on vinyl for the first time ever. I want this but not sure I if it is worth it yet.

And all the rest…

  • 51WzSEJfyPL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  U2 – Achtung Baby (30th Anniversary) – (Island Records / Universal)
  • 61YPCu5LAxL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Tom Morello – The Atlas Underground Flood – (Comandante / Mom+Pop)
  • A1QLtC-mRxL._AC_UL640_FMwebp_QL65_  Of Mice and Men – Echo – (Sharptone)
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