Kiss – ‘Wicked Lester and Progeny Demo Sessions’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series )

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Welcome to the beginning of a new series on 2Loud2OldMusic.com.  We are finally tackling the entire Kiss catalog.  As you know, if you follow this site, Kiss is one of my favorite bands and I am amassing quite a vinyl collection.  I have done posts on Kiss over the years (a lot), but I haven’t tackled their main albums and in detail.  I figured, it was finally time to do so.  And what better way to kick it off then with the band right before Kiss was formed…Wicked Lester.  This review is a double review of sorts as this vinyl is a Bootleg and so it is part of my Bootleg Series with Kiss and it will also be the kickoff to the new series as this is where Kiss really began.

I haven’t done a full count, but I am guessing we will wind up with over 50 albums in this review as I will tackle as many Kiss albums as I can including Studio, Live, Greatest Hits, and anything else in my collection.  I will even venture off in to solo albums by the band members or other side projects they have.  It is going to be everything Kiss related.  I have a feeling this will take more than a year to complete, but I think I am up for the task. I hope you are too.  At the bottom of every post, there will be links to all the Kiss Reviews we have done in the past if you want to venture over and check them out.  I hope you enjoy…

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Babe Ruth – ‘First Base’ – Album Review

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Let’s go back to the year 1972.  I was just shy of 4 years old and didn’t know anything about music at this point.  Obviously, I don’t remember this release.  I do know that 46 years later, I would discover this album in a collection I picked up.  And I also know this was one of the coolest albums in that entire collection.  I thought it would be fun to go deep in my collection and talk about one of my favorites and this is definitely out of the ordinary from my usual reviews.

Babe Ruth is a blues rock band that leans very progressive and they hail from England.  Formed in 1970 with Alan Shacklock, Janita “Jennie” Haan and Dave Hewitt.  The band would later add Dick Powell and Dave Punshon and we would then have the band we hear on this album simply titled ‘First Base’.  Lots of baseball theme with the band name, album title and even the weird cover of spacemen playing baseball.

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SIDE ONE:

The album kicks off with the most rocking song of the bunch called “Wells Fargo”.  It is the story of the old western stagecoach and has a whole cowboy theme to it.  Jennie Haan’s vocals are totally brilliant with a hard rocking edge with the hints of Janis Joplin.  Alan’s guitar riff was fuzzy and cool and when you bump that up against Brent Carter’s saxophone you are in for a treat.  The whole blues rock feel is what I’ve been digging a lot of lately and this helps satisfy that thirst and then thrown in a damn fine guitar solo and life is good.  There is also a cool groove throughout the song by the fantastic rhythm section of Dave on bass and Dick on drums.  This is how you kick off your debut album folks. Continue reading “Babe Ruth – ‘First Base’ – Album Review” →

Whitesnake – ‘Live at Donington 1990: Monsters of Rock’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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We are now in the year 2011 with Whitesnake and with that being said, let’s release a live album from 1990.  Sure, why not. David seems to be out of ideas as this is the third live album in 5 years and in another 2 years, he will release 2 more.  I have to admit, I am starting to get live album burnout.  But since this is a 1990 Live album and I haven’t reviewed a live album from this line-up, it makes the cut.

The show is from Donington Park on August 8th, 1990 at the Monsters of Rock Festival.  It is the final show in the ‘Liqour and Poker Tour’ in support of the ‘Slip of the Tongue’ album.  This show was also released on the ‘Slip of the Tongue’ 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition box set.  The CD is not the full show as it leaves out the solos, but the DVD has the full show on it.  So, I would recommend getting that deluxe edition because you get this show plus a whole lot more.

The band is headlining the festival, for the second time I believe.  The line-up of the band is pretty impressive…

  • David Coverdale
  • Steve Vai
  • Adrian Vandenberg
  • Rudy Sarzo
  • Tommy Aldridge

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The show is a full set even for a festival. They play 17 songs and this being 1990, there are no early Deep Purple songs as David refused to play them back then.  And if you want early Whitesnake, you only get “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City’ from the Snakebite EP (and is probably my favorite song of this show) and that is all.  The songs are from the 3 big albums in the 80’s – Slide it In, 1987 and Slip of the Tongue. Continue reading “Whitesnake – ‘Live at Donington 1990: Monsters of Rock’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)” →

My Sunday Song – “Just Older” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song #198, we are going with another deep cut and with a non-single song called “Just Older” off the band’s 2000 album called ‘Crush’.  The album was kind of a comeback album for the band and the song “It’s My Life” brought the band back in to superstar status and whole new generation of folks got to know the band again and for the first time.  However, it was songs like “Just Older” that made remember what a great write Jon was (with the help of Billy Falcon).

The song is pretty inspirational when you listen to those lyrics. It seems to be about two friends seeing each other again and reminiscing about old times, but the big difference is they have accepted the fact they are older and they have no regrets.  The chorus really sums it up…

I like the bed I’m sleeping in
It’s just like me, it’s broken in
It’s not old – just older
Like a favorite pair of torn blue jeans
This skin I’m in it’s alright with me
It’s not old – just older

Being comfortable in your own skin is what it is really all about.  When you are comfortable with who you are, you can appreciate everything around you.  You can look back with no regrets and see all the positives.  There is another line that hits home to and is also a throwback to another Bon Jovi hit…

I’ve kept my faith

Little lines like that make exploring their lyrics so much fun and what makes songs stick with you and stand out more than others.  The little things to grab on to that feel like they are talking about you.

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2 Loud 2 Old Music – Small Changes

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How’s everyone doing out there?  I want to give a heads up to some small changes coming to 2 Loud 2 Old Music.

First up,  we now have a Logo for the site.  Nothing fancy, but I like it and it will now grace all our pages including the website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  I hope you like it.  We may be celebrating that change down the road, we will see how that idea pans out.

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I’ve already updated all sites with the new logo and on the main website, I didn’t change the theme as I couldn’t find one that did everything I wanted to do more than I liked my layout so I update the colors to match the logo. Please go check it out and see if you like it as I do.

What other small changes are coming? Continue reading “2 Loud 2 Old Music – Small Changes” →

Friday New Releases – May 29th

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FINALLY!!  A Massive Week of new releases.  I mean this is the biggest week since this whole Corona outbreak started and thank goodness.  We need this!!  There a lot on my list this week…a whole lot.  They are highlighted in Blue as usual.  What interests you, what did I miss, what what what???  Please let me know.  I hope you have a great weekend and you know what I’ll be doing!!!  Thanks for stopping by.

  • 81Pgg8+JYdL._SS500_  Def Leppard – Hits Vegas (Live) – (Bludgeon Riffola Ltd):  Def Leppard has two out this week…that is right…TWO!!  You can also get it as one BluRay or DVD set that has both albums on CD and in Video format which I have the BluRay version coming to me.  This is the disc I am more excited about, the Vegas Residency Show as they tend to play a lot of DEEP DEEP CUTS and that is what the collector in me wants.

  • 81l398mT5qL._SS500_  Def Leppard – Hysteria at the O2 (Live) – Bludgeon Riffola Ltd):  Release #2 is for the London gig where they played the Hysteria album in its entirety which I already have from the Viva! Hysteria Vegas show years back, but the completist in me has to have this one too.

Continue reading “Friday New Releases – May 29th” →

May 2020 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

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Welcome to the May Purchases review.  I was worried that there wouldn’t be much to discuss as all the Record stores were closed, Amazon mentioned they wouldn’t be delivering records, but all that started to end and the world started opening back up.  Now, I didn’t make as many purchases as usual and that is okay.  One purchase this month was rather large and has kept me busy.

First up for this month is another Kiss album.  Believe it or not, I haven’t bought them all yet. I am down to about 6 or 7 vinyls that I do not have and this month I picked up one of them.  The album is ‘Sonic Boom’ and I have been searching for this one for a while. If you find one of the original pressing, it is well over $100 as there were so few of them.  Thankfully, I finally discovered that there was a special release done by KissOnline a few years back and the price of those is so much better at around $30 (with shipping).  So, I grabbed a nice one unopened, green vinyl.  It is sweet!!

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Then a week or so later, I was snooping around on eBay and I found a seller that was selling a bunch of CDs by Jeff Scott Soto and I am a huge fan of his.  I used to have a bunch of his CDs,  but gave them away years ago when we moved from one state to another….Dumb move…the CD part, not the actual move.  I bought as much of his collection as my budget would allow.  It had 13 CDs, but there were actually 15 separate albums as some had 2 albums in one.  Do you want me to list them all??  Of course you do…

  • Talisman – Life
  • Talisman – 5 Out of 5
  • Talisman – Live at the Sweden Rock Festival
  • Talisman – Humanimal (2CD set)
  • Talisman – Cats & Dogs
  • Talisman – Truth
  • Jeff Scott Soto – Live at Firefest 2008
  • Jeff Scott Soto – Believe in Me E.P.
  • Jeff Scott Soto – Prism
  • Jeff Scott Soto – Love Parade
  • Human Clay – Human Clay
  • Human Clay U4ia
  • Soto – Inside the Vertigo
  • Soto – Divak

And there is another I picked up on Amazon, not pictured…Jeff Scott Soto – Retribution.  That is a lot of Jeff and sadly, only a small sampling of what he has done.  I am still missing 15-20 more that I want of his since he has more solo stuff, more Talisman stuff, more Soto, there is W.E.T., Eyes, Takara, Axel Rudi Pell and Sons of Apollo still waiting to be bought.

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And that is it.  Not much vinyl this month, but that is okay. I will make up for it in June I am sure when I go out and finally do some crate digging for some old vinyl.  Plus, I have some Def Leppard coming and a new Whitesnake that will be in my June collection as they are already pre-ordered.  Until next month!  Happy collecting!

Kiss – ‘They Only Come Out At Night’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review

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In my quest for collecting Kiss Bootlegs for eery tour they have done, I found another fantastic addition to the collection.  My local record shop, Hardy Boy Records, has been a goldmine of late for Bootlegs. I have now bought four over the last few months and all for tours I didn’t have (or a collection of Wicked Lester demos – that is another story that will be told later).

The last 2 I bought were actually the same store, so I guess that statement was entirely true.  The difference was one was the North American Tour setlist (which will come in the next week or two) and this one is the European leg of that tour with an ever so slightly different setlist.

Before we get to the show and the music, let’s discuss the cover of the album.  This album is listed as “For Promotional Use Only” and is a really cheap production.  The album jacket is plain white cover with this paper picture of the band that wraps around the back. It is glued down and not going anywhere.  But the strange thing is the people on the cover.  Now, I get it this the Animalize Tour so you would expect Mark St. John to be on the cover, but there is a problem.  This is not one of the 3 shows that Mark actually played on.  This has Bruce Kulick playing before he was an official member which would come about two months later.

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The show is from October 26, 1984 at the Johanneshov Isstadion in Stockholm, Sweden on the first leg of the tour.  The recording if an audience recording actually sounds quite excellent.  Not much crowd noise and everyone sounds pretty clear with minor instances where the sound was off a little.  This was released a year later in 1985 by a group called Poverty Records at least that’s what it says on the album itself. Continue reading “Kiss – ‘They Only Come Out At Night’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review” →

3 Doors Down – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First

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3 Doors Down got together way back in 1996 in the wonderful state of Mississippi and finally got a record deal and they released their first album, ‘The Better Life’, in 2000.  They exploded on to the scene with the song “Kryptonite” and went on to massive success selling millions and millions of albums.  After numerous band member changes, founder Brad Arnold and Chris Henderson are the only two members left that were on every album.  But, that hasn’t impacted anything as they still sound just as strong on their 6th album as they did on their first.

I got in to the band right out of the gate.  The debut album was great rock album and for me stood out in a time when boy bands and Britney ruled the charts.  The have been labeled as a post-grunge band or alternative rock band, but for me they are a rock band.  The band has had their ups and downs throughout their career and have dealt with alcoholism, health issues, vehicular homicide for one member and somehow the band has continued thanks to Brad and Chris.

Enough chit-chat, lets get to the music as that is why you are here anyway.  Without further adieu, here the albums for 3 Doors Down ranked from their worst album to their best.  I hope you enjoy.

THE WORST – SEVENTEEN DAYS (2005):

The band’s third album was the most inconsistent album for me.  The album felt rushed, like there was a lot of filler and it just left me bored.  The album title of 17 Days is due to the fact the band only had 17 days from the end of the tour until they had to be back in the studio to record the new album.  Not much time to decompress after such a successful tour with ‘Away From the Sun’.  There were some highlights as the guitar playing was fantastic, but the songs sounded repetitive and were less than stellar. Continue reading “3 Doors Down – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First” →

My Sunday Song – “Wild is the Wind” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song #197, we are going to go with a song off Bon Jovi’s New Jersey album called “Wild is the Wind”.  The song was from 1988 and it was never released as a single, but it stuck with me and was one of my favorites on the album.  Like a lot of their albums, the deep cuts can sometimes be better than the actual singles and this was one of those for me.  Next to “Blood on Blood” from the New Jersey album, this is one I go to more than others.

This song seems to be an admission of guilt for Jon as he seems to be feeling bad for not being there for his wife.  It is something deeply imbedded in him that drives him to be on the road all the time.  He feels she would probably do better finding someone else that can give her what she needs because he feels he is failing at that task.  And as much as he lived that rock star lifestyle, I would say he failed quite a bit at giving her what she needed.  In the end, we know how the story ends in real life as he and his wife are still together after all these years.

What I loved about the song is something that was a common theme on the New Jersey songs, it was this cowboy spirit drenched in the music style.  It wasn’t a country twang or anything like that, it was mostly in how the acoustic guitar is used in the songs.  There is this restless feeling in the songs.  Musically, it is a cross between a ballad and just a plain old rock song. It has its slow moments, but rocks out in the end with some damn fine guitar work by Mr. Richie Sambora, the backbone of the band.  Tico Torres has some nice drum fills and great moments as well so I don’t want to leave him out.  Jon sings with all his heart and his emotions on his sleeve like he always did back then (now the new stuff feels like is his just going through the motions, but that is another story for another day).

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