Kiss – ‘Paul Stanley’ (1978) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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By 1978, Kiss had reached the peak of stardom.  They were flying high and a couple members were too.  Trouble was brewing and most especially with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. From what I have read, they both wanted to do solo albums, but the band needed to keep the train rolling.  So Bill Aucoin and others came up with a strategy to help keep the peace.  The entire band would each do a solo album and they would all be released at the same time on the same day, however, they would be under the Kiss umbrella.  Brilliant or Stupid was still yet to be seen.  No band had ever attempted this prior or since and probably for good reason.

Each member had to find their own producer, their own musicians as no one in the band played on the other persons record.  It took a lot of time and while they were working on the records, the label released ‘Double Platinum’ which we discussed last week.  All the albums came out on the same day, September 18, 1978.  Now I needed to decide what order to review these so it wouldn’t look like I was showing favorites so I let the posters do the talking.  The order of these Solo reviews is based on how the posters piece together from left to right.  In that case, Paul Stanley’s album is up first.

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‘START WITH A DREAM: A Drummer’s Journey from Rock & Roll to T.V. to Broadway’ by Joey Cassata – Book Review

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As a gift this past Christmas, I was really excited to read “Start With a Dream: A Drummer’s Journey from Rock & Roll to T.V. to Broadway” by Joey Cassata.  I had heard Joey on 3 Sides of the Coin talking about it and I was a huge fan of his show ‘Z Rock’ and his band Z02 so this was a no brainer.

I started this book back in late December and early January.  I painstakingly got through about 100 pages and put it down.  I didn’t pick it up again until my vacation at the end of July.  I was bound and determined to finish the book while on vacation and I did.

So why was the first 100 pages so hard to get through?  Basically it was Joey talking about his childhood, I mean young childhood and his love for Kiss and Wrestling and Drumming.  He talked about it and talked about it and talked about it.  I felt he spent way too much time in this area.  I know he was building up to show what his motivations were, but I was able to pick up on that pretty quickly.

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Heart – “What About Love” – The 45 Single

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I haven’t done one of these in awhile where I highlight a 45 Single in my collection so I went through and pulled out “What About Love” from the band Heart.  The song is from what is considered their comeback album ‘Heart’ that was released in 1985 and the single was the first off the album and released on June 1, 1985.

The song is a cover song actually and was originally performed by the band Toronto.  It was written by Brian Allen. Sheron Alton and Jim Vallance.  You know Jim as he is the writing partner for some guy named Bryan Adams.  Brian & Sheron were in Toronto, however, Jim wasn’t although he did play drums on the song.  Enough about them, let’s get to Heart.

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Europe – ‘Wings of Tomorrow’ – Album Review

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Europe came to fame with the album, and the song, ‘The Final Countdown’.  I mean , come on, who doesn’t know that song as it has been played to death.  Europe became lumped in to the “Hair Metal” title as they did all have big hair and they were MTV darlings for a few years.  However, before the major record deal and all the screaming women, Europe was this hard rock, close to metal band that know one really knew about (at least here in the states).  Their second album, and last released independently, was a gem called ‘Wings of Tomorrow’ which was released on February 24, 1984.

I was out doing some crate digging a couple years ago and I came across this album and thought what a beautiful cover and then I noticed that it said Europe.  I never went back and explore their early catalog before ‘Countdown’, so I thought now was a good time and at $8 for the vinyl, why not.  And I am glad I did as it is now one of my all time favorite Europe albums.

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My Sunday Song – “Still of the Night” by Whitesnake

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For My Sunday Song #210, we come to the last song in the 10 song set of Whitesnake songs with “Still Of the Night”.  The song was the first single off their groundbreaking, career breaking album known as ‘Whitesnake’ or ‘1987’ to some.  This took the band to new heights and MTV played the hell out of it.  The song was written by David Coverdale and John Sykes.

Lyrically, it comes as no surprise this song has a lot to do with Sex.  The “cock rock” Kings are at it again.  The song has an almost vampire element and stalker element.  He is obsessed with this woman and wants to be with her all night.  The daylight seems to hurt him as to keep his head down and hide his face from the sun.  I know it isn’t about vampires, but I like the analogy so give me that.

Musically, this was a new Snake, a hungrier Snake, a more badass Snake.  It has some blues elements of the old Whitesnake, but John Sykes took it, distorted it and turned it on its ass.  David’s swagger on belting out the opening verse is full of confidence and aggression and exactly what every teenage boy wanted to hear (and girl wanted to see). There is a musical interlude in the middle that gives an awesome guitar solo a whole different style with an almost cello/violin/string instrument orchestration to the whole thing.  Pretty freaking cool.

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Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot Drummer) – RIP

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It is no surprise on this news, but it is still never news you want to hear. Frankie Banali was 68 years young and has been fighting pancreatic cancer for more than a year. Today, he lost that fight and the rock world lost another good one.

Frankie was not an original member of Quiet Riot, but he was there during the classic years so he might as well have been.  He joined the band in 1982 and has been there the whole time (except for those points of band hiatus).  He was the one, driving force to keeping the Quiet Riot name in the public eye (for good or for bad). He co-wrote songs like “Metal Health (Bang Your Head)”, “Condition Critical” and most every song on QRIII.  He was a massive part of that sound and he pounded on those drums like a mad-man.

Frankie was on more Quiet Riot albums than any other member and has been in the band the longest.  He was their biggest champion.  He did everything he could to keep the brand going through numerous singers and band member changes He was the one constant.  Now that he is gone, I assume the band will now be gone as well but the music will live on.

I think I will throw these on to celebrate his legacy…

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When he gets to Heaven, I hope he can hook up with Kevin Dubrow and Randy Rhodes again, maybe they can “bang” some heads up there in Heaven.  Who knows, the next Thunder you hear could be them jamming. Rest in Peace sir!!

Casual Thursday Stream: A chat with 2loud2oldmusic! — mikeladano.com

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I had the pleasure of jumping on a live stream with Mike Ladano (Lebrain) whether he wanted me to or not (next time he might think twice about posting the link to join…Ha!). We had a good time discussing my favorite topic Kiss among other things.

He has his usual live stream on Facebook tonight where they go through a Nigel Tufnel Top Ten List and this time it is the Top 11 Favorite Concerts of All Time! Make sure to check it out on Facebook.

Just went live with John from 2loud2oldmusic.com! Check out our KISS-heavy chat below. John comes in at the 05:05 mark.

Casual Thursday Stream: A chat with 2loud2oldmusic! — mikeladano.com

Friday New Releases – August 21, 2020

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Another Friday is upon us and I am glad you made it through another week.  I am sure my kids are glad it is Friday as well since they started school this past week.  It is a different type of school for them now thanks to COVID.  But one thing that hasn’t changed is Friday is new release day.  There is a lot here this week, but there isn’t at the same time.  There is one I am looking forward to and one I will give a spin as it looks interesting and they are both marked in Blue. Let me know what you are excited about and what I may have missed.  Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend!!

  • 71EA1ClpcdL._SX522_  The Lemon Twigs – Songs for the General Public – (4AD Ltd):  I know nothing about this band, but the album cover with them dressed very glam like has made me interested in spinning this one.  I need something new, so hopefully this will satisfy that craving.

  • 91-dFqF+lTL._SX522_  The Killers – Imploding the Mirage – (Island Records):  This album got bounced around so much due to Covid, I lost track of the release date and missed having it as a featured cover on the header.  However, this is the main one I would want to hear this week.  Sorry this was added late, but it has been added.

Continue reading “Friday New Releases – August 21, 2020” →

Kiss – ‘Double Platinum’ (1978) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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Kiss was flying high.  Alive II was doing well and heck, all their albums were selling and some even reaching Platinum status.  Kiss had been in and out of the studio and on the road touring for over 4 years straight. They had 6 studio albums and 2 live albums under the belt now and they were tired.  Band friction was starting to form.  They were about to implode.  Ace wanted to do a solo album and to help keep the peace, management and the band came up with the idea of doing 4 solo albums all under the Kiss moniker.  To keep the ball rolling and capitalize on their current success, a greatest hits album was put together for a quick cash-grab and to give them more time to finish the solo projects and save the train wreck about to happen.

The album was released on April 2, 1978 and not just a simple single LP.  No, this was a 2 LP, 20 song greatest hits compilation.  It covers everything.  To entice people to buy it, they remixed a number of songs on here so the fan would have something a little different than what they already had.  And the packaging was beautiful.  The album cover was a gatefold which made sense for a double LP.  It was also embossed in a silver, foil-like sheen.  And let me tell you that trying to take a picture of this and not have me and the camera visible was very difficult.  The front and back cover for my version, are exactly the same.  I know some later ones, the back is different. Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Double Platinum’ (1978) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)” →

Robbie Williams – ‘Sexed Up – Forever Texas’ (2003) – Album Review

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There is nothing better than going through racks of CDs and finding something you’ve never seen before.  I was at 2nd & Charles in Mathews, NC with my wife (she was looking at books) and I started digging through the used CDs. I started in the “A” section and within 30 seconds I stumbled across this album…Robbie Williams “Sexed Up”.  Yes, in the “A” section as naturally that is where it would be instead of the “R” or “W” section.  Makes total sense.  It had Japanese or some Asian lettering on it so I snatched it up especially knowing that the price was only $3.50.

I did some research once I got home and all I could find out is that the CD is referred to as Robbie Williams – “Sexed Up/Forever Texas” and is an unofficial release.  As a result, Discogs won’t sell it.  I did see a copy on eBay for about $36 and Discogs had a single cd version on sale for over $100.  Either way, my $3.50 is looking like a pretty great deal.

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The packaging is great as the plastic CD case comes in this nice cardboard housing with a flap to open and remove your CD case.  The disc is also labeled as an HDCD whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.  I figured it was going to sound better, but it is CD, it already sounds good as a CD should. Continue reading “Robbie Williams – ‘Sexed Up – Forever Texas’ (2003) – Album Review” →