Eric Carr – ‘Rockology’ (1999) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic70 Comments

As we discussed back in the 1991 timeline, Eric Carr passed away on November 24, 1991 due to an aneurysm that probably stemmed from the numerous surgeries he had to remove tumors related to his heart cancer. Before his death, Eric was always writing songs as he was a very creative soul. He could write, he could sing and he could play more than just the drums. ‘Rockology’ is a collection of the songs he had been working on prior to his death. These are demos and not necessarily full fledge songs in some cases so keep that in mind. Think of this as his ‘Vault’ because it is very similar in the type of songs you get. You get some fully fleshed out songs, you get some where lyrics are being scatted because their aren’t any yet and you get some straight-up instrumentals.

The album was put together by one of Eric’s great friends and former Kiss bandmate, Bruce Kulick. With the help of Adam Mitchell (co-writer of numerous Kiss songs), they pieced together a collection of songs from old cassettes or where ever they could find them. They would clean them up the best they could, add some backing vocals where appropriate and even Bruce overdubbed some killer solos in a few songs to help complete them. Bruce produced the album and I think this was a wonderful tribute to his old friend and bandmate.

Continue reading “Eric Carr – ‘Rockology’ (1999) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)” →

Judas Priest – ‘Sin After Sin’ (1977) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic43 Comments

After the band’s second album, “Sad Wings of Destiny”, they were growing tired of their relationship with their current label Gull. They were discouraged at the cheapness of the label and the lack of funds they were receiving. And who can blame them. The band jumped ship and wound up with the first major label contract with CBS. All was right with the world.

We still had the same bandmates of Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing and Ian Hill. The only difference was the drummer, yet again! This seems to be a huge trend with the band. They can’t keep a drummer. It is Spinal Tap in reality. During the recording of the album, the band was unhappy with current drummer, Alan Moore, so they fired him. The band picked up session drummer Simon Phillips to finish recording the album. Now, Simon didn’t want to be a full fledge member so they had to replace him as they needed a drummer for the tour. They wound up with Les Binks to handle those duties. We will see if Les winds up recording the next album.

Since the band was with a bigger label, they actually got a big name for producer. Well, he maybe wasn’t a big name as a producer, but he was a big name bass player for a little band called Deep Purple. They hired the services of Roger Glover to help produce along with Judas Priest. The band was all set. In January 1977, they went in to the studio and after one session with Glover, they fired him. Oh my!! The band finished recording the album on their own, well….not exactly. They struggled a lot so Glover was asked back to finish the album. The album was released on April 8, 1977 and would see the album go Gold. It was the first of eleven straight albums to go Gold for the band! Judas Priest were on their way to stardom.

Continue reading “Judas Priest – ‘Sin After Sin’ (1977) – Album Review (The Complete Albums Collection Series)” →

The Cult – “Fire Woman” – 12″ Single

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic20 Comments

Continuing the saga of all the 12″ Singles I picked up at the big Metalocalypse sell at Noble Records, we are now on a 4 week run of singles from The Cult. First up was from the band’s 1985 album ‘Love’ with “She Sells Sanctuary” and then we took a look at the lead track and third single form the band’s 1987 album ‘Electric’ with the song “Wild Flower” and from that same album we did the song “Love Removal Machine”. And finally we are on “Fire Woman” written by Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy off their 1989 classic ‘Sonic Temple’. Like “Love Removal Machine”, this copy was still sealed, but since it wasn’t expensive and music should be listened to, it is no longer sealed and it sounds fantastic now that it finally gets to breathe and be heard. I could feel it sigh with relief when I broke the seal. I swear I heard it say softly…”thank you”.

This 12″ was a “Specially Priced Maxi-Single, whatever that means. The song “Fire Woman” was produced by Bob Rock and is the first song I think I really heard by them that made me take notice because when I did, I was hooked. The song is about a femme fatale who is fiery and hotter than hell. She might be a dancer the way the moves around like a flame or she is really wild and sexy…probably all of the above.

Continue reading “The Cult – “Fire Woman” – 12″ Single” →

Scott Stapp / Creed – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic47 Comments

Scott Stapp…people either like him or they don’t. Me, I like him. Always have. I didn’t care about the haters that poured out of the woodworks when Creed made it big. Did he deserve the hate? Yeah, he probably did, but there was something about that voice that I really enjoyed. As a result, I have followed up over the last 20 + years with Creed, his solo work and the one album with Art of Anarchy. Not every album is the best and not every song is the best, but there is so much there to enjoy that I am fan.

I finally got to see him live back in 2019. You remember live shows right? I know it has been awhile, but we will get back there soon enough. He performed his solo songs and a bunch of Creed tracks and I had second row so it was pretty awesome. Scott has had his struggles over the years with addiction and mental issues, but he has seem to come out the other side better and stronger and I give him props for that. Some people don’t make it to the other side.

With all that being said, I am going to rank his albums from I find to be the worst all the way to the first…his best album. People are going to disagree with me I am sure, and that is great because music is subjective. We like what we like so keep that in mind. It is okay to disagree. Now, go forth and enjoy the Scott Stapp album ranking.

THE WORST – SCOTT STAPP – ‘THE GREAT DIVIDE’ (2005):

Continue reading “Scott Stapp / Creed – The Albums Ranked Worst to First” →

My Sunday Song – “Love Bites (So Do I)” by Halestorm

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic20 Comments

For My Sunday Song #240, we are ending this 10 song set of Halestorm tracks with one of my favorite songs by the band, “Love Bites (So Do I)” off the band’s 2012 album ‘The Strange Case of…’. The song was the first single off the album and is the opening track and it went to #2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It also garnered a Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 2013 Grammy Awards. The song was written by Lzzy Hale and Dave Bassett.

The song is about her disdain for those women’s magazine and their quizzes telling people who they should date and what they should wear and all that crap. This song is Lzzy telling everyone to love whoever they want and however they want. If love bites, then bite it right back. For me, it is also saying love with all your heart and passion and don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t good enough. Give the relationship 100% of you.

Musically, the song was actually inspired by the songs “Slave to the Grind” by Skid Row and “Out ta Get Me” by Guns ‘n Roses. The band covered those songs for the first covers E.P. ‘Reanimate’. The aggression and tempo of those songs was so huge, the band wanted to do something like that. And let me tell you, they captured that energy nicely. This song explodes out of the gate and never slows down. It is fire & brimstone raining down on you! Lzzy is at her best and delivers one of her most powerful vocal performances and proves to me she is a talent like no other and everyone should take notice. Joe Hottinger’s guitar riffs and solo are nasty and he shreds with the best of them. Josh Smith on bass and Arejay Hale are going 100 mph and laying down a pace that is so close to being thrash. It is quite amazing.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Love Bites (So Do I)” by Halestorm” →

You Pick It! – Which Album to Review in April?

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic73 Comments

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 – Rob Zombie – ‘The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy’

  Never Heard Before – King Crimson – ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’

  Not My Normal Genre – David Lanz – ‘Cristofori’s Dream’

  From My Collection – AC/DC – ‘For Those About to Rock’

  From My Collection – The Cult – ‘Electric’

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in April, 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.

Thanks for participating!!

Friday New Releases – March 19, 2021

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic30 Comments

Another week has gone by and now we are to our favorite day of the week. At least its mine and if you are here looking at what new music came out today, it is probably yours as well. It is always great to see what is new and what you can’t wait to drop a needle on to hear…please don’t drop a needle in your arm…that would suck!! My albums I can’t wait to list are on Blue and when I see albums, I really mean album, singular. I shouldn’t have added that “s” because there is only one I want to hear. Hopefully though, you have a bunch. Let me know what is tickling your fancy and let everyone know if there is something I missed that is out. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

  • 91qon5cb2xL._SX522_  Paul Stanley’s Soul Station – Now And Then – (Universal Music): I am a Massive Kiss fan, so to see Paul Stanley branch out on his own is always a welcome site. This time around he is going old school R&B/Motown style with his band Soul Station. I can’t wait to see what he has in store. This might not be my normal cup of tea, but I will give it a shot as he has earned that much respect from me.

And here are the rest…some really big names starting with Mr. Bieber…

  • A1cXvozizOL._SX522_  Justin Bieber – Justice – (Def Jam Records)
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – March 19, 2021” →

Kiss – The Second Coming Documentary (1998) – Movie Review (The Kiss Review Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic66 Comments

Only 2 months after Kiss released their reunion album, ‘Psycho Circus’, the band released another video. This one consisted of 2 VHS Tapes called ‘The Second Coming’. This isn’t a concert video, but instead what we get is a documentary that documents the band’s reunion with Ace and Peter and the subsequent Alive/Worldwide Tour from 96-97. The video was released on November 24, 1998 and the sales were really great as it went Platinum.

It starts off sounding like a VH1 Behind the Music TV show as they quickly go through the band’s make-up history and the first departure of Peter and Ace. This part takes only about 15 minutes and when I say it is high level, that is an understatement. This is an extremely short version of Cliffs Notes Kisstory. The good news is that leaves the remaining 2 hours left to discuss when Peter and Ace start getting back in the good graces of Gene and Paul starting with the Kiss Conventions and going through the end of the Alive/Worldwide Tour a few short years later.

Before we get in to some of the detail of the video, let’s first talk about a future Kiss connection with this video. The Director and Producer of the video is future Kiss’ own Tommy Thayer. That is right, before he became the Spaceman in Kiss, he was brought on board as basically a historian for the band.

Continue reading “Kiss – The Second Coming Documentary (1998) – Movie Review (The Kiss Review Series)” →

Queen – ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ (1974) – Album Review (The Studio Album Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic46 Comments

The band set out on tour after ‘Queen II’ and that is when disaster struck. Brian May was diagnosed with Hepatitis and the band had to cancel the rest of the tour. With no more tour, they started to rehearse and prep for the next album. Luckily May got better and joined his lads when they went in to Trident Studio in July of 1974 to start recording the album. However, May got sick again. This time with a stomach ulcer and he missed some of the recording process. Thankfully for us all, he recovered and came back and finished his part of the album. The album was finally finished in October of that year and released a short time later on November 8, 1974. I guess back then you could get an album out a month after you finished it. Nowadays, you need a minimum of 3 months or more before the album will come out.

The band finally saw some major success both in the UK and around the World. In the UK, the album went platinum and sold over 300,000 copies going to #2 on the charts. In the US, the album went Gold and sold over 500,000 copies going all the way to #12. They released two singles off the album (although they could’ve released more in my book) and saw one go to #2 in the UK and the other to #11. Queen was starting to find its groove. With this album, I think that is true. They stepped away from the more progressive rock sounds and the fantasy themes from the first two album and honestly, I am glad they did. This saw them branch out more and turn out a more complete rock album. Of course, they still experimented with their sound and tried new things, they just weren’t as far out in left field as before. As you can see below, no line-up changes as it is still Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon as it should be.

I am sorry to say I get a little verbose with the first three songs. I did a My Sunday Song on each of those and I liked what I wrote so I used a lot of those post. I promise to not ramble on for the songs after that otherwise we will be here for hours reading and me writing. Enough ranting, let us get to the songs…

Continue reading “Queen – ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ (1974) – Album Review (The Studio Album Series)” →

The Cult – “Love Removal Machine” – 12″ Single

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic20 Comments

Continuing the saga of all the 12″ Singles I picked up at the big Metalocalypse sell at Noble Records, we are now on a 4 week run of singles from The Cult. First up was from the band’s 1985 album ‘Love’ with “She Sells Sanctuary” and then we took a look at the lead track and third single form the band’s 1987 album ‘Electric’ with the song “Wild Flower”. The 12″ this time around is also off ‘Electric’ and was the first single off the album. The song was “Love Removal Machine” written by both Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy. My copy was still sealed, but since it wasn’t expensive and music should be listened to, it is no longer sealed and it sounds fantastic now that it finally gets to breathe and be heard. I could feel it sigh with relief when I broke the seal. I swear I heard it say softly…”finally”.

The 12″ comes with three tracks. The LP Version of the song as well as an extended version. The third track is “Wolf Child’s Blues” which was not on the album so that is the gem piece for this 12″ Maxi Single. All songs were produced by Rick Rubin and “Wolf Child’s Blues” was actually recorded live in the studio on New Years Eve 1986.

Continue reading “The Cult – “Love Removal Machine” – 12″ Single” →