Kiss – ‘Kissology’ Volumes 1 to 3 (2006-2007) – DVD Review

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We are now to one of the greatest things Kiss has ever released. In 2006 and through to 2007, Kiss released the Kissology: The Ultimate Kiss Collection over a 3 Volume set. This set was amazing as it brought Kiss in living color to your screen. Each set covers a different era of Kiss and each is filled with interviews, promotional videos and tons and tons of live shows. It is more Kiss than you could ever absorb in a day. And we aren’t going to babble on any more as this is too good to wait, let’s jump right in to it!!!

KISSOLOGY: THE ULTIMATE KISS COLLECTION VOL. 1 – 1974-1977:

First up is Volume One which covers the years 1974-1977 the classic years of Kiss. This is Kiss in their prime and there is so much goodness in this set as there are around 380 minutes of Kiss. This set only had 2 Discs (only, because the other 2 sets have more). The first disc has so memorable and historic Kiss moments and kicks off with the earliest recorded video from February 17, 1974 of the band playing the song ‘Acrobat’ which was never released prior to this set. It also includes some TV appearances on ABC’s In Convert and their appearance on the Mike Douglas Show which has the most hilarious interview with Gene. The disc also has two full live shows with one from the Hotter Than Hell Tour from 1975 and a set for the Alive! Tour from Cobo Hall in 1976.

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Queen – ‘The Game’ (1980) – Album Review (The Studio Album Series)

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We are slap dab in the middle of the Queen Studio Album Series. We are on album #8. We’ve done 7 and have 7 more to go after this one. I can’t believe it is going by so fast. We are also in to a new decade…the 80’s. This was also the time where my musical taste started to develop on my own without input from my siblings. I remember a couple of these songs on the radio so this album is a little special for me, but yet still years away before I bought one on my own. In 1980, I was just starting middle school so had no job and no money.

The band started recording in June/July of 1979 and a few songs were done, but things were brought to a halt because Queen went back out on the road in late 1979 on the Crazy Tour. When that ended, they went back in the studio on February and finished up the album by March 1980. The album came out on June 30, 1980 and was a massive success. The album went to #1 in the US and sold well over 4 million copies in the US alone. There were 5 singles so we have a lot to discuss. The line-up is unchanged as we still have Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. Not many bands make it this far without a line-up change and Queen wouldn’t for years and years to come.

The album kicks off with “Play the Game” which was the third single off the album. It didn’t do as well as a couple other singles on the album as it only went to #42 just missing the Top 40. The song is also famous because it is the first song to feature a synthesizer. Queen had notoriously put on their previous albums that they didn’t use synthesizers. People thought that it was a knock against synthesizers, but reality is they wanted to let the world know that all those cools sounds that they made were actually done by guitar. It really wasn’t a knock on that instrument. Anyway, the song was written by Freddie Mercury and it is Queen being Queen. They don’t do anything simple and it has to be huge and grand and that is what this song is. Freddie’s vocal range on this song is insane. It has Freddie on piano and synthesizer for this one with Brian laying down a great solo that was played for the song and not all showboaty. It is a killer opening track.

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The Original Vs. The Cover – “I Want Candy”

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For this month’s post on The Original Vs. The Cover, we are going to cover the song “I Want Candy” originally done by The Strangeloves and later covered by Bow Wow Wow. The song was written by Bert Berns, Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer in 1965 and three of the writers decided to release the song themselves and became known as The Strangeloves.

The Strangeloves were really Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer. However, as The Strangeloves, they said they were sheep farmers from Australia named Giles, Miles and Niles Strange who became filthy rich by cross-breeding sheep. They even wore wigs and unusual clothing when being these three outrageous personalities. At least they never took themselves too seriously…I mean how could you.

The song is believed to be about a dancer named Candy Johnson who the guys saw dancing at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City, but I don’t know if that has ever been confirmed. The band was originally going to record the song “Bo Didley” but wanted to make the song their own so they re-worked the lyrics and changed things up enough, but you can still hear the main beat to that song in the final product. Lyrically, the song is supposedly based of the 1958 book Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg which is about naive young girl who has a many encounters with much older men.

THE STRANGELOVES

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‘Def Leppard: The Definitive Visual History’ by Ross Halfin – Book Review

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I stumbled across this book at a store called 2nd & Charles. They sell used books, games, cds, vinyl, you name it. I was browsing the book section, in the music section of course, and stumbled across this beauty. As you know, Def Leppard is one of my favorite bands and I will grab anything I can find by them or about them. And this was write up my alley because it is a picture books and few words because me no like words, reading bad!! Picture books are more my speed.

This particular book is called ‘Def Leppard: The Definitive Visual History’ and all the photographs were taken by the legendary rock photographer, Ross Halfin. Ross has photographed Def Leppard literally since the band started way back in the late 70’s. He is the only photographer to be there basically for every step of the way. This book is a beautiful chronological story of Def Leppard told in photos. And if a photo can speak 1,000 words than this books has millions of words.

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My Sunday Song – “Listen Like Thieves” by INXS

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For My Sunday Song #249 and the site’s 1,500th post, we are talking about the song “Listen Like Thieves” by INXS. The song is the title track to the album ‘Listen Like Thieves which was released on October 14, 1985. The album went to #11 in the U.S. and sold over 2 million thanks to songs like this one. This song was the final single off the album and went to #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 just missing the Top 40 in large part due to a lack of a video which I am not sure why one wasn’t done as these guys were quite a hit with the ladies and a video would’ve helped immensely.

The song was written by the whole band…or at least they whole band got credit for this one. The lyrics were written by Michael Hutchence as he was learning quickly how the press were shaping his and the band’s image. He new what the media was good for, but he also didn’t trust them. It doesn’t look like he mistrusted them for the band’s image, but it was more along the lines of how the media interpreted the world events. He saw that they shaped a certain narrative and this was back in 1985. Imagine what he would think about the media today. The song is basically a warning that we need to “really” listen to the media don’t trust everything you hear. Question everything. If you listen like thieves then you are stealing what the media is telling you and making that what you actually believe without doing your own research and coming to the conclusion for yourself. It is basically a call to people to stop being sheep. Stop following other people, stealing their thoughts as your own. Be your own self. Your future is yours and that it is all in your hands. No one is going to do it for you. You are all you need to make things happen. Get off your ass and do it for yourself.

Musically, the song is pop/new wave perfection. Opening with a quick guitar riff from Tim Farriss and then Jon Farris does a barrage of drum hits and then song immediately kicks in to gear. It is happy, uplifting tempo and sound that gets you moving with a driving beat throughout. The keyboards from Andrew Farriss are used sparingly for added effect and impact. Michael Hutchence on vocals, sings with a charm and swagger that will make the ladies swoon and the guys jealous. The song is an example of a band that was up and coming and finding their voice both literally and figuratively.

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You Pick It! – What Album to Review in June?

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You, my reader, are going to pick an album for me to review each month.  It is really simple…first, I will give you 5 albums to choose from and second, you will tell me which one of those you would like to see reviewed on the site.  See…simple!

There are a few simple rules I have put in to place in my selections.  They are…

  • One has to be a new release (within the last month)
  • One has to be one I have never heard before (new releases don’t count for this one)
  • One has to be from a genre I don’t normally listen to at all or very often
  • And the last two are choices from my collection that I haven’t reviewed before

What are the 5 albums you ask?  Funny you should ask because I have those right here…

  New Release – Weezer – ‘Van Weezer’

  Never Heard Before – John Lennon – ‘John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’

  Not My Normal Genre – Fugees – ‘The Score’

  From My Collection – The Beatles – ‘Rubber Soul’

  From My Collection – The Traveling Wilburys – The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in June, I will post a review of the album that gets the most votes. You have one week to decide and from there I will start listening to the album and do a review. I somehow ended up with some major Beatles connections with 3 of these albums and not sure why I did that, but I did.

Thanks for participating!!

Friday New Releases – May 21, 2021

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Happy Friday everyone! We have another great list of new album releases for you. The floodgates are open and albums are coming hot and heavy each week and this week there should be something for you. I have a few I want to hear, but aren’t going crazy to hear them. I have marked those in Blue as usual. What albums do you want to hear this week. Also, let me know what my list does not include because I am just one man and can’t find everything coming out. Thanks so much for stopping by this week and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

  • 71IkSyGDGhL._SS500_  Olivia Rodrigo – Sour – (Geffen Records): This is not one I want to hear which is why it isn’t in Blue. However, this is one my kids are going nuts over. With the smash hit “Drivers License” this young lady is blowing up the radio. I am sure I will hear this one, but it will be under duress.
  • A1CZEo7ECuS._SX522_  P!nk – All I Know So Far (Live) – (RCA): P!nk has a live album and that is cool. She’s a major talent and I have to say I enjoy her pop sensibilities. Fun and lots of attitude. Since we still aren’t going to shows, this is the next best thing. The song below is the one studio track from the album.
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Paul Stanley – ‘Live to Win’ (2006) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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We are now in to 2006 and Kiss hasn’t put out a studio album in 8 years. 8 YEARS!!! That is insane. I figure Paul was getting a little restless and decided it was time for the follow-up to the 1978 first solo album. Heck, Gene finally did a solo album back a few years, so why not Paul. ‘Live to Win’ was finished and released on October 24, 2006 and yes, I was a release day buyer for this one. Come on, its Paul, why would I not be.

Paul brought in a lot of people to help with this album and the usual suspects are there including his long time collaborator, Desmond Child. We also see Marti Frederiksen, Holly Knight and even John 5 plus a few other writers. I believe there is only one song Paul wrote by himself. As far as musicians on the album, you do get John 5 on a couple and you get Kiss alum Bruce Kulick on bass…wait…what??? Bruce on bass? I’m sorry, Bruce is a bad ass guitar player, why is he mitigated to only the bass. Seems like a waste. And lastly, I noticed Tommy Denander who has played on it seems hundreds of albums. The rest of the musicians I am going to guess are studio guys and all very talented because all studio musicians are amazing.

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Judas Priest – ‘British Steel’ (1980) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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Judas Priest had massive success with the live album ‘Unleashed in the East’ and now it was time to hit the studio again. However, this time they would lose their drummer yet again. Les Binks was not paid for his work on ‘Unleashed in the East’ and was slightly pissed and so he left the band forcing Priest to find their 7th drummer all thanks to manager Mike Dolan not paying Binks.

The band found a new drummer by the name of Dave Holland formerly of the band Trapeze. Dave would stay with the band all the way up to 1989 which will be the longest running drummer at that point in time. The band started recording in December 1979 at Startling Studios in London, but they weren’t feeling it. They ended up at Ringo Starr’s house where they finished the album by February 1980. The band was in awe recording at Ringo’s house because prior to Ringo owning the house, it was John Lennon’s house and they couldn’t believe they were in the same house as two former Beatles where a lot of history had been made.

The album saw its release on April 14, 1980 and they would see the album go to #34 in the US and #4 in the UK and the album would reach platinum status selling well over 1 Million copies. The album would go on to have 3 Singles and we would see the band keep to a more accessible sound they started doing with ‘Killing Machine’. Judas Priest was hitting it big and a Metal was becoming more mainstream thanks to albums like this. This was sort of the start of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBH).

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Alice Cooper – ‘Guilty/King of the Silver Screen Tour’ (1977) – Tour Program

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In my crate digging, I keep running in to Tour Books and of course, I keep buying them because I think they are cool time capsules of a band. This time around, I found 2 Alice Cooper Tour Books. And these are vintage as they were both from the 70’s and they look it. The first one we have here is from Alice’s biggest and best album, ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’, from 1975. The next one up is the Tour Book for the Guilty Tour also known as King of the Silver Screen Tour which began on June 19, 1977 at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, California and ended on August 30, 1977 at McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, Colorado

The Band had a cast of characters and included the following host of people:

  • Alice Cooper
  • Steve Hunter – Guitar
  • Dick Wagner – Guitar
  • Prakash John – Bass
  • Fred Mandel – Keyboards
  • Whitey Glan – Drums

The tour was in support of the Lace and Whisky album and featured a stage set designed as a giant TV. The TV had slits in the screen where Cooper and his dancers jumped in and out along to filmed choreographed sequences during the songs. They even went so far as to have hilarious mock commercials screened in between some songs. When you go see Alice Cooper you definitely get a show!

The average set list on the tour was as follows:

  1. Under My Wheels
  2. Billion Dollar Babies
  3. I’m Eighteen
  4. Sick Things
  5. Is It My Body
  6. Devil’s Food
  7. The Black Widow
  8. You and Me
  9. Only Women Bleed
  10. Unfinished Sweet
  11. Escape
  12. I Love the Dead
  13. Go to Hell
  14. Wish You Were Here
  15. I Never Cry
  16. It’s Hot Tonight
  17. Lace and Whiskey
  18. King of the Silver Screen
  19. School’s Out (Encore)

Are you ready to see the pictures? Well of course you are…And remember this is Alice Cooper and that is what you get in these pictures…a lot of Alice…

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