Kiss – The 8-Track Collection

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There is No New Release Post today as new releases dry up this time of the year. We will be back after the first of the year. In the meantime, enjoy…

If you follow this site, you know I’m a Kiss fan. I’m not too fanatical, but I do have a decent Vinyl collection starting up. I have all but maybe a few albums on vinyl, however, I haven’t started down the slippery slope of buying every version of an LP. That is a special kind of fan. If you follow this site, you also know that we are in a great blogging universe with a great set of fellow bloggers that we call “Community”. And that word is crucial for this post.

It all started a few years back when Mr. Books, Aaron at KeepsMeAlive, gifted a bunch of 8 Tracks to another friend Geoff at 1001AlbumsIn10Years. Geoff recently reached out to me and asked if I would like them. What Geoff knew was that I was big Kiss fan. What Geoff didn’t know that over the last year, every time I go in to an Antique Mall or a Record Store and they have 8 Tracks, I have been scouring them looking for Kiss 8-Tracks. To date, I have found ZERO!!!! Thanks to Geoff, I now have 6! And the official collecting of Kiss 8 Tracks has now begun!! In fact, I think I am going to go down a rabbit hole. I am going to try and collect all the 8 Tracks I can, all the cassettes and all the CDs. Why not have one of every format. I don’t think I am going to do to the reel-to-reel as that is uber expensive. When I post a picture of a Kiss album, I want that album to have each format in the picture. I think that would be a lot of fun! Let the hunting begin.

But first, let’s go through the 8-Tracks that Geoff sent. First up is “Hotter Than Hell”. Now, these are old and a little rough around the edges, but no ever though people would be collecting these things. When you look at the track listing you see the biggest problem with 8-Tracks. Look at the track listing for Program 1 and 2. The last song on 1 says “Watchin’ You” (Begin) and the first song on 2 is “Watchin’ You” (Cont.). This means the song faded out in Program 1 and then you hear a click and the song fades back in Program 2. It is AWFUL!! My brother made the comment to me that when he listens to Dynasty now, he expects certain songs to fade in and out and they don’t anymore.

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Cheap Trick – ‘Standing on the Edge’ (1985) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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I can’t believe we are already on the band’s 8th studio album. We are slap dab in the middle of the 80’s and Cheap Trick were still going, but I wouldn’t say they were still going strong. I say that because for this album, the band did something that hand’t done much of prior. They had a song doctor come in and help with the songwriting process. This was becoming very common back in the day. The song doctor was Mark Radice and he has 8 co-writes on the album which I feel is a little disappointing. Has the band lost its edge?

The line-up was consistent as we still have Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Bun E. Carlos and Jon Brant who is the newest member and he has some writing credits on this album as well. That part I like as it is great to see him now contributing to the creative aspect of the band. The band brought back a familiar face to produce the album, Jack Douglas. If you follow this site at all recently that name will sound familiar as not only has he produced prior Cheap Trick albums, he has also produced many of Aerosmith’s best albums which we have reviewed in the Aerosmith Collection Series we are also doing here at 2 Loud 2 Old. Big connection between the bands.

The band worked on the album during 1984 and 1985 and it finally saw its release on July 19, 1985. The album ended up not sounding like the album intended by Jack Douglas because he was unable to mix the album. Due to some legal complications he was having with another artist (Yoko Ono), he couldn’t mix it so Tony Platt was brought in. Tony didn’t have Jack’s vision of a harder, rawer sounding album, but instead went with the sound of the 80’s and added some keyboards and drum machines much to the dislike of Bun E. As a result, I think we get an album that doesn’t have the edge, the pizazz that we needed from Cheap Trick. The band ended up only releasing one single off the album and it didn’t even crack the Top 40. Cheap Trick were starting to be forgotten.

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Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music by Ted Templeman and Greg Renoff – Book Review

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I have been reading so many Rock Books lately, some great, some not so great. When I heard Ted Templeman was putting out a book. I got real excited. I knew he produced all those David Lee Roth era Van Halen albums and thought, this will be great to learn all the behind the scenes stuff on Van Halen. But what I got was so much more.

Ted goes back to the beginning and explains his family life and what type of music he was raised around and he was definitely immersed in to music his whole life. I learned a lot as I didn’t know about his band Harper’s Bizarre from the late 60’s and they had minor hits. It was those albums where he started to learn the craft of producing and would eventually would lead to an A&R job with Warner Bros. Records where he would spend the next 25-30 years of his life climbing the ranks of the business, but always producing.

Being in California he met everyone from around that 70’s scene. Really cool all the people he met and a couple massive icons he saw recording in the studio. When we was learning the ropes, some of his contacts let him come in to the studio to watch and learn and one occasion he was able to witness Frank Sinatra record and was awed at his professionalism and his indelible knack to hit the right note every time. Another icon was Elvis Presley and to the same effect. I can only imagine how cool that had to be to experience.

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Bon Jovi – “Lay Your Hands On Me” – 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 the final single and it is also from ‘New Jersey’ with “Lay Your Hands On Me”. The opening track of the album and the fourth single which only went to #7 on the Billboard Charts and the band’s fourth Top 10 in a row for this album. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and was inspired by a guitar riff by Richie rather than from a song title like they did a lot of the times.

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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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