April 2021 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

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April was a solid month of purchases and some great finds. I went digging at an antique mall and cleaned up, I found a few things on ebay and discogs I needed for something special and then I found a few things that were especially cool.

First up, we will go with the especially cool things. I am a big fan of the Train album ‘Drops of Jupiter’ for many reasons. One, it is a really great album! Two, my brother-in-law was the engineer on that album. So when the 20th Anniversary Edition popped up online, I had to grab as I don’t think it had ever been issued on vinyl prior which means I didn’t have it. It is a beauty…

The next was a Michael Sweet album. Stryper released an album years ago called ‘Reborn’ which was the band’s comeback album. The album was originally done as a Michael Sweet solo album, but it was decided to redo it for the band. Well, now we get the original Michael Sweet solo album the way it was intended. This one is called “Reborn Again” and is on a fiery red vinyl and is autographed (on the back) by Michael Sweet…SWEET!!!

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‘Off the Rails: Aboard the Crazy Train in the Blizzard of Ozz’ by Rudy Sarzo – Book Review

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I have been reading a lot lately and I was able to get this book on my Kindle for the super low price of nothing so I thought, what the hell. I really like Rudy Sarzo, I like Ozzy, I like Randy Rhoda’s so why not check this out. The book was written by former Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne bassist, Rudy Sarzo and he chronicles his short time in Ozzy’s touring band the Blizzard of Ozz. This time period is that same time period as when Randy Rhoda’s was in the band and Rudy wanted to capture those moments and felt the story needed to be told. I have to say, I think he is right and I thoroughly enjoyed walking through in great detail, the tours he played on.

The book starts off the day Randy went up in the plane and would crash and end his short time on this planet. The story then immediately jumps back in time to right before Rudy was brought in to Ozzy’s band. Rudy had been in Quiet Riot for a short time with Randy and the band got famous in Japan, but not in the U.S. The group had stalled and Randy went and joined Ozzy’s band and Rudy joined a band called Private Army with his friend Frankie Banali. In the meantime, Ozzy’s debut solo album was released in 1980 and right before the band was to go on tour in 1981, Ozzy fired the drummer and bass player. Randy was still in the band. Tommy Aldridge was quickly brought in, but the band needed a bass player. Randy called Rudy and Rudy would go to Don Arden’s house (Sharon Osbourne’s day and Jet Records President) to meet Ozzy and Sharon and audition. Well, needless to say, things worked out or this book wouldn’t have been written.

Rudy chronicles the entire journey through the tour for Blizzard of Ozz and the Tour for Diary of a Madman. It feels like he kept a lot of notes about what happened at each show, but also, he had help. At the end of the Blizzard Tour, Sharon gave him a scrapbook of every show including newspaper clippings of the reviews of the shows. What is funny is the fact that a ton of these reviews would list the original band which was not Rudy or Tommy which goes to show the writers knew nothing about the band and didn’t even bother going to the show.

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Queen – ‘News of the World’ (1977) – Album Review (The Studio Album Series)

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As Queen prepared for their follow-up album to ‘A Day at the Races’, the musical landscape was changing in the UK. The Punk scene was starting to takeover so Queen decided to adapt to the times. No, they didn’t make a punk album, but what they did was drop the grandiose ideas of the previous albums and strip it all back to their rock roots and made it a little more raw. As a result, the band put out their most popular album they ever released.

It was released on October 28, 1977 and the band saw the album go to #4 in the UK and #3 in the US and the album went quickly to platinum status. In fact, the album has sold over 10,000,000 copies around the world marking it as their best selling studio album. With 3 official singles (4 if you count the B-side success of “We Will Rock You”), the band was ready to take over the world

The band was still in tact with Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor. However, Brian and Freddie didn’t write the majority of the songs as usual. John and Roger both contributed 2 songs each this time around instead of their usual 1 song (well not usual for John as he had only one credit prior to this album). The band worked more as a band this time around. As a result, we get an album that completely feels like a full band contribution and we get a beast of an album.

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My Sunday Song – “What You Need” by INXS

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For My Sunday Song #245, we are going to discuss the song “What You Need” by INXS. The song was written by Andres Farriss and Michael Hutchence and the first single off their 1985 album ‘Listen Like Thieves’ (2nd single in the US). The song was the band’s first Top Ten hit in the States as it went all the way to #5. I think it was probably the first time I started to take notice of this band and the lead singer Michael Hutchence. I could tell there was something special about them and they proved me right as they would blow up on the next album.

“What You Need” was the last song recorded for the album. The were pretty much done with the album when the producer, Chris Thomas, didn’t feel there was a “HIT” on the album. The band had one more day left and they needed to come up with a hit. Talk about pressure, dang!! Well, as you already know, they succeeded above all expectations. Now don’t think they pulled rabbit out of the hat with the song. Andrew Farris had a demo laying around called “Funk Song No. 13” and Chris really liked the groove and they worked it in to this beauty of a song.

Lyrically, I’ve never really seen what they’ve said it meant. There aren’t a lot of lyrics, but they seem pretty straight forward. They are about Michael Hutchence saying all you need is him or it is about needing God in your life and only He can give you what you really need. Or, it can be about whatever you want it to be about. Completely up to you.

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Friday New Releases – April 23, 2021

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Happy Friday everyone! Spring is upon and us and things are heating up both in temperature and releases. We have some great stuff for you today, at least I hope you find some of it great. Lots of rock, lots of Indie and lots of country. I know I’m excited as I have 3 new albums I am eagerly waiting on and those are marked in Blue. Let me know what you are interested in hearing and what I may have missed on my list so everyone can know what is out there. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • 81RzK+8xYmL._SX522_  Reach – The Promise of a Life – (Icons Creating Evil Art): This three-piece band from Sweden is back with their third album. Their last album, ‘The Great Divine’, was my favorite album a few years ago so can’t wait for this one. The used to be a little melodic rock, but now they are far from it. They are way more alternative rock now in the vein of maybe The Muse or even Panic at times. We will see if I like the new direction, but I have a feeling I still will.
  • 71w+LOfrv6L._SS500_  Kaleo – Surface Sounds – (Elektra Records): Are you ready for Icelandic Blues Rock…you heard me right. This band from Iceland are the real deal. This is their third album that was supposed to come out last year right around the time the pandemic hit and now we are finally getting it. They are a solid blues band and you will be in for a treat.
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Kiss – ‘Kiss Symphony: Alive IV’ (2003) – Album / DVD Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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To celebrate the band’s 30th Anniversary, it was decided that another live album was needed. However, not just any live album. Kiss was going to perform a show with a full 60-piece orchestra. Now this was the early 2000’s and apparently playing with an orchestra was the new trending thing to do especially due to the success of Metallica’s own orchestra performance on S&M in 1999. So Kiss followed trends yet again with their own version. Now they could’ve phoned it in and just put the songs together and then tack on the orchestra in the studio like I have seen some bands do (hello Jorn), but they didn’t do that. Instead, they actually performed a full live show in front of an audience with an orchestra. Good on them for not doing it half-ass.

The band at the time really was just going to be Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. They really didn’t have a need for Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. Instead they were going to use Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer, but there was a problem. The contract with the promoter stated they had to have 3 “Original” members. Well, that changed things. Ace was definitely out, he was done. The band had to bring in Peter back to the fold so Eric was out and now Kiss was Gene, Paul, Peter and Tommy. Peter wouldn’t last much longer though.

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Judas Priest – ‘Killing Machine’ / ‘Hell Bent For Leather’ (1978) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

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Judas Priest wasted no time in jumping back in the studio after the Stained Class Tour. That album was released in February 1978 and ‘Killing Machine’ came out 8 months later on October 9, 1978. The band recorded the album between August/September of that year and they were a well-oiled machine at this point. The album would hit #128 on the US Charts and it would go Gold showing that a good metal album didn’t need to go high on the charts to still be successful. However, the album in the U.S. was different than the U.K.. In the U.S., they couldn’t use the name ‘Killing Machine’ as they had seen a rash of school shootings and thought that name was too aggressive for the U.S. market. The name was changed to ‘Hell Bent for Leather’ and they re-arranged the track listing.

Speaking of leather, Priest decided it was time for some changes, not in personnel, but in the style and substance. First is style. Rob had become a little obsessed with the whole leather and stud outfits as Rob and the band took to the change with no hesitation. The classic Priest look was now set. Then the change was substance. The band worked on making the songs more accessible and decided to shy away from the fantasy themes and make things more real, more what the U.S. audience would want to hear And I would say they succeeded as this is more a straight up metal album, all the songs are relatively short and although still have some dark themes, they are more radio-friendly might be a good way to say it. It was the start of some great things to come with the band.

Speaking of band, the line-up is unchanged yet again. It is still Rob Halford, K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill and Les Binks. However, it would Les Binks’ last studio album with the band as by the time the next studio album rolls around, Priest needs a new drummer…AGAIN!! But for now, let’s have the music do the talking.

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Nazareth – “Love Hurts” – The 45 Single

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“Love Hurts” is a classic song by the band Nazareth. But did you know it is actually a cover? Nope, me neither. It is the most famous version of the song and the first time it was ever a hit single in the US. The song was actually written by Boudleaux Bryant and recorded by the Everly Brothers back in 1960. However it didn’t reach the charts and wasn’t a hit until Nazareth covered it in 1975 and included on their album ‘Hair of the Dog’. It reached #8 in the US and went Gold. Not too shabby.

The song is about a man who discovers that young love is so hot, but it burns out just as hot and fast. When the flame goes out it burns, it hurts and is painful. He is telling those that are so in love and all they are doing is talking about it that in the end love fades and you will get burned. It is a really sad song when you think about it. They kept pretty true to the original song only changing the one line “love is like a stove/it burns you when it’s hot” and changing it to be “love is like a flame/it burns you when it’s hot”. I have to admit, flame is way better than stove.

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The Original vs. The Cover – “Heroin”

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For this episode of The Original vs. The Cover, we are going to talk about the song “Heroin” by the band The Velvet Underground. The song is off their 1967 debut album ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico” which I reviewed a few weeks back. The Cover version we will be bouncing up against the Original is by Billy Idol off his 1993 album ‘Cyberpunk’ which I have also reviewed on this site.

The song was written by Lou Reed and produced by Andy Warhol. That combination has to produce something interesting. And I am sure this is a shocker, but the song is about drug use. I know, I know, stunned right? According to Reed when he was working as a songwriter for a record company, the song was written when he was told to go in to a room and write some some surfing songs, well this is what came out. I think he missed the point and thankfully for us, he did. The song doesn’t condone or condemn drug use and seems to be about the effects of drug use. Whatever the meaning, the song works on so many levels.

We will go through each song and then at the end, I will tell you who I think has the better song…and it isn’t always the original which is why I like doing these posts. So sit back and enjoy.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

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My Sunday Song – “Elegantly Wasted” by INXS

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For My Sunday Song #244, we are going to discuss the song “Elegantly Wasted” by the band INXS. The song is the title track to the 1997 album of the same same. The album and song were produced by the great Bruce Fairbairn and was written by Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss. The song was the first single off the album but the song did not chart on the Billboard Top 40.

It is believe the song was inspired by a night out that Michael had with Bono from the band U2. And from the lyrics it sounds like they had a good time. It sounds like Bono lives the good life and they saw a lot of things that weren’t actually morally decent. Michael realizes that it really isn’t the good life. I don’t know if it is really about Bono or just Michael blasting the media for the trashy coverage he received from the tabloids. Either way, it is a fun song to play when on the dance floor.

An interesting story I have read about the song, apparently Michael went back in to the studio after the song was finished and added another line to the chorus after an altercation he had with the Gallagher brothers from Oasis at the 1996 Brit Awards. When accepting an award presented to him by Michael, Noel made the following statement…”Has-beens should not be presenting awards to gonna-be’s.” This pissed off Michael and he went and added the line “I’m Better than Oasis” to the song. Now, I don’t know if I believe it or not as it is really hard to tell.

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