My Sunday Song – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic21 Comments

For My Sunday Song #225, we are going to dive in to the Queen classic, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” off the band’s 1980 album, ‘The Game’. The song went all the way to #1 on the US Billboard Charts and sold over a million copies making it a platinum selling single. Not too shabby.

The song was written by Freddie Mercury and was a tribute to none other than Elvis Presley. Freddie wrote the song in only about 10 minutes and he wrote it playing a guitar. Freddie also plays rhythm guitar on the song as well which if I’m not mistaken is the first time he had ever done that for one of the band’s songs. In a Melody Maker interview back in 1980, Freddie had this to say about the song…

‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ took me five or ten minutes. I did that on the guitar, which I can’t play for nuts, and in one way it was quite a good thing because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords. It’s a good discipline because I simply had to write within a small framework. I couldn’t work through too many chords and because of that restriction I wrote a good song, I think. (Freddie Mercury)

I would say he did. The song is so simple, yet it is amazingly catchy and bores into your brain where it lives like a welcomed memory. It is almost magical. Once you here those first few notes, you know you are in for a good time as it has that old school rockabilly rhythm that you can’t wait to get to the sock hop and dance your ass off.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen” →

Friday New Releases – December 4, 2020

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic22 Comments

Welcome to December, the final month of this miserable 2020. Ok, that is the pessimist in me, but the optimist has enjoyed working from home and being with my family more. I’ve also enjoyed a lot of music and today there is A LOT!! We have over 20 albums for you to check out. I have a few I will listen to and those are highlighted in Blue. I think we have only 2 more Friday New Releases and then it will be quiet for about 3 weeks or more before new releases start picking back up. So, with that in mind, grab as much as you can. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

  • hollywoodundead-newempirevol2-e1602843543272  Hollywood Undead – New Empire, Vol. 2 – (BMG): Volume 1 came out earlier this year and these guys killed it yet again. I really dig their sound which if you don’t know is a metalcore sound that mixes hip hop and heavy metal. I am usually not a huge fan of that genre, but I like these guys and I haven’t missed a beat with them. Looking forward to this one.
  • 91ZLuABgJHL._SX522_  Shawn Mendes – Wonder – (Island Records): Okay, I will admit, I’m not completely over the moon for this one but my girls like this kid and I have to admit also that some of it isn’t half bad for radio pop music. My daughter says for her 16th birthday she wants to meet him so Shawn, you have 3 years to get the restraining order.
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – December 4, 2020” →

Kiss – ‘Creatures of the Night’ (1985 – Reissue) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic97 Comments

You saw the title to this and you are probably saying to yourself, “John, you’ve already reviewed ‘Creatures of the Night’. Have you lost your rocker?” And the answer to that question is YES! I have reviewed ‘Creatures’ and I am off my rocker. The thing is, the band re-released the album in 1985 for some strange reason. The new line-up of Kiss with Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Carr and Bruce Kulick was riding high. The fans loved the line-up, the last album was successful, the tour went off well, so all was good in the Kiss world. Someone, somewhere in the Kiss camp thought, “Hey, we should re-release the album ‘Creatures of the Night’ because why not.” I have no idea the rational or reasoning behind this at all as it makes no sense.

If you are going to re-release it, why not put a brand new cover on the album with the band without make-up. Check! Why not stick a picture of Gene’s Ass on it in tight-fitting leather pants. Check! Here’s the thing. The picture of the band without make-up has Bruce Kulick on it and if you aren’t aware, he didn’t play on the album. I guess that isn’t a problem because the original picture on the album had Ace Frehley, and if you read my review earlier, you know he didn’t play a note on the album either. So in the end, I guess it doesn’t matter whose picture is on the cover. And here’s the other thing, it was never fun looking at the back cover because there was a giant ass staring you in the face. You felt a little grossed out looking at that….thing!!

Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Creatures of the Night’ (1985 – Reissue) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)” →

The Police – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic48 Comments

Thanks to the You Picked It Post and the readers picking Synchronicity as the album to review, I dove into their catalog and decided to do an Album Ranking so here we are now. What can you say about The Police? This is band that got better and better after each album and had their biggest selling album and then called it quits. This was only 5 albums in and that was it. Who does that?? I guess they do.

The Police started in 1977 and were very punk and had a reggae swag to their music. They transitioned to a more post-punk and pop sound with their later albums and what I liked about their albums were they were all different and their song writing and playing kept getting better. I always thought of The Police as a “Smart” band as they used words I never heard before (just look at some of the album titles). The songs were so intelligent and they based a lot fo stuff off books and things they read. And I think that was also what made them interesting. It was great songs, great musicianship and they had something to say.

Now, the title of these posts are “Worst to First” and that moniker does not really apply to this list. The band had only 5 albums and each one was absolutely amazing. There is not a bad album in the bunch. Each album has a Classic Police song that is one of their best. I know there might be some disagreements in the list, but I don’t care as this is how I look at them as being best to least best. Let’s get started…

WORST LEAST FAVORITE – ZENYATTA MONDATTA (1980)

Continue reading “The Police – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First” →

Kiss – “Tears Are Falling” (1985) – 7″ Single (Bonus Edition -The Kiss Review Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic94 Comments

Whenever I have a single, a 12″ or anything remotely collectible musically, I like to highlight it at its place in time with the Kiss Review Series. Since we just did the album ‘Asylum, I thought it was time to pull out the 7″ Single for the one single from the album “Tears Are Falling”. There were two other promotional videos released and were on MTV, but nothing else to the radio. The song didn’t break the Top 40 hitting #51 on the Hot 100 Chart. It did go to #20 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks which is great, but not a radio darling.

It was an MTV darling as it was requested for months on MTV’s Dial Up MTV where the fans could request their favorite videos. It was eventually retired as MTV came up with a rule that a song could only be a few weeks old and not a few months so it was not played as frequently. But I saw it a lot and loved how extremely embarrassing those costumes were. Yes, even then you knew it was a little over the top.

Continue reading “Kiss – “Tears Are Falling” (1985) – 7″ Single (Bonus Edition -The Kiss Review Series)” →

November 2020 Purchases – Vinyls & CDs

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic25 Comments

October wasn’t even over before I bought more records, however, the October Purchase post was already done and I wasn’t about to go back and update, too much work. I wrote the post on the October Record Store Day and there was one album I didn’t get that I wanted (well there were two, but I didn’t get the second one). I did get it through another local record store. And when I went and picked it up on that Sunday, I saw another record I didn’t have that was in the new arrival used bin and it was sealed and less than $20 so I bought it.

The RSD record was from the Joe Elliott band Down ‘N Outz…I love the cover with the eerie clown and it almost looks 3D at this angle.

Continue reading “November 2020 Purchases – Vinyls & CDs” →

My Sunday Song – “I’m In Love With My Car” by Queen

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic39 Comments

For My Sunday Song #224, we are going to discuss one of Queen’s fun songs, “I’m in Love With My Car”. The song is off the album, “A Night at the Opera” which was released in 1975. The song was written by Roger Taylor and is one of his more famous songs mainly because it was the B-Side to a little known Queen hit “Bohemian Rhapsody”, you may have heard of that one. There is a whole story to that which we will get to shortly.

The song was actually inspired by one of the band’s roadies, Johnathan Harris. Johnathan loved his car to death which was a Triumph TR4. Roger wrote it and played all the instruments for the demo and the band kind of thought of it as a joke, but Roger wasn’t joking. They recorded the song and Roger pitched a royal tantrum to get on the B-Side of “Bohemian Rhapsody” which the band finally caved after Roger had locked himself in a closet (or cupboard) until Freddie finally agreed. This ended up causing a lot of tension between him and Freddie because Freddie was pissed he got as much in royalties for that “Bohemian Rhapsody” single he didn’t write-it. But because his song was on the B-Side he got a big piece of the pie as well. Turned out that whole tantrum trick worked out quite nicely in Roger’s favor.

The song is actually pretty great. What guy hasn’t fallen in love with his car. I had a friend that spent so many long hours fixing up their 69 Firebird and they loved their car so much. It was also fun to do burnouts with. And I love my car now as it is fun to drive and just hugs the road. So I get it. Musically, Brain May’s guitar work is great as he recorded it with his own Red Special guitar. Freddy is on the piano playing away and Roger’s vocals sound great. The song ends with a motor revving and that was Roger’s own car which was an Alfa Romeo.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “I’m In Love With My Car” by Queen” →

Friday New Releases – November 27, 2020

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic32 Comments

Here in the States, yesterday was Thanksgiving and this year we really do have a lot to be thankful for despite how bad 2020 has been. And since it is New Release Friday, we have even more to be thankful for and this is also Record Store Black Friday so dang, even more. I am not listing the Record Store Day stuff as it is too numerous plus not everyone has a local, independent store to buy from. If you want the list, click…RECORD STORE DAY LIST. Now, this Friday on our normal releases, they are plentiful as well. Take a look at the list and let me know what you want to hear. There isn’t anything I am running out to buy right now, but a few I will stream in the meantime to see what they brought. Thanks for stopping by and have a great and wonderful Weekend!! Oh yeah, my choices are in Blue…as usual.

  • 81+akZQU0pL._SX522_  Miley Cyrus – Plastic Hearts – (RCA / Sony): Miley has been putting out some rocking covers lately and she has a voice that suits that genre pretty well. For that reason alone, I am looking forward to hearing this to see if she is bringing the rock…plus I am sure my kids will be listening to it so I am hearing it regardless.
  • 61NzJ4Ta0AL._SX522_  Smashing Pumpkins – CYR – (Sumerian Records): Here is the thing. I am not a huge Pumpkins fan, but I am still interested in hearing what they have for us for some strange reason.
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – November 27, 2020” →

Turntables & Vinyl #24 – Interactive Album Covers

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic42 Comments

It is Thanksgiving 2020 and dang what a crazy year it has been. One thing I have found to give me peace and help deal with stress during this Covid impacted world is my vinyl collection. I am of course thankful for my health and my family as that is a given, but since this is a music site, I need to tie in music somehow, I am also thankful for my vinyl collection. It brings me great joy. To be able to pull out an album and play it and it might help my mood brings me great satisfaction. There are so many things I love about it.

One of the things I love about vinyl is that occasionally you find an album cover that is interactive in some way. Something about the picture can be manipulated, changed or just turned to a different angle for a dramatically different picture. This makes for the most fun and enjoyable album experience. For this version of Turntables & Vinyl, we are going to explore those I have in my collection and maybe one I want to get in the future. I will break it out in to different categories. And let’s get right in to the first category…

Perspective

Some album covers have a cover that changes the look of the cover strictly from the perspective of how you are looking at it. A changing perspective is actually a good thing to have in life as well. We change our perspective on the world depending on how we look at it. Why not take that ability and turn it in to an album cover. A couple I have in my collection do just that.

Def Leppard – ‘Retro Active’: This album cover looks different depending on the position you hold it. Up close, it is a beautifully lady sitting in front of a mirror doing make-up. From far away it is a Skull. See what I mean below…Look at the picture closely on your screen and see the girl, pull the screen away from you (or sit further back) and you will see the skull.

Continue reading “Turntables & Vinyl #24 – Interactive Album Covers” →

Rush – ‘Test for Echo’ Tour 1996-1996 – Tour Program

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic24 Comments

If you read this blog regularly, you would notice that I started collecting Kiss Tour Books and this collecting is a very recent thing. As a result, I have suddenly had numerous Tour Books fall in to my lap almost literally. First were a couple of Bon Jovi Tour Books and now I stumbled across not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 Rush Tour Books. It is like the Tour Book Gods are speaking to me. I grabbed all 4 as the prices were really great and made it worth owning. This here is the final of the 4 Rush Tour Book posts that have been done. The place I found these was Hardy Boy Records in Mint Hill, NC. I always seem to find some cool stuff from him as I have found numerous Kiss Bootlegs at his shop. His shop is quickly becoming my favorite place to go.

We’ve already covered three tour programs for ‘Power Windows’, ‘Roll the Bones’ and ‘Counterparts’. We are now the final one in this set of tour books I picked up and it is for the Test for Echo Tour which was the band’s first tour without an opening act, and was billed as “An Evening With Rush.” The tour kicked off October 19, 1996 and ran until July 4, 1997. This was the only concert tour in which Rush played the song “2112” in its entirety. The set list was broken in to 3 parts and it is the best yet…

SETLIST

SET ONE

“Dreamline”
“The Big Money”/”Wipe Out” (Replaced with “Limelight” for the second leg)
“Stick It Out” (Second leg only)
“Driven”
“Half the World”
“Red Barchetta”
“Animate”
“Limbo”
“The Trees”
“Freewill” (Second leg only)
“Red Sector A”
“Virtuality”
“Nobody’s Hero”
“Closer to the Heart”
“2112”

SET TWO

“Test for Echo”
“Subdivisions” (Dropped from the second leg)
“Freewill”
“Roll the Bones”
“Resist”
“Leave That Thing Alone”
“The Rhythm Method” (drum solo)
“Natural Science”
“Force Ten”
“Time and Motion” (Moved around the setlist before being dropped on 9 Nov 1996)
“The Spirit of Radio”
“Tom Sawyer”

ENCORE

“YYZ”
“Cygnus X-1” (teaser)

Continue reading “Rush – ‘Test for Echo’ Tour 1996-1996 – Tour Program” →