Friday New Releases – March 6th

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Welcome to March and the new releases are heating up.  We have a ton this week so there has to be something you like in there, I am sure.  If not, I guarantee nothing!!  There is rock, metal, pop, country, rap, classic rock…what else could you need?  Seriously, what else??  Let me know what I missed and what floats your boat.  For me, the two are highlighted in Blue.  Have a great weekend!!

  • 71DB-YKACJL._AC_UL115_  Harem Scarem – Change the World – (Frontiers Records):  Yes, Harem Scarem are still going strong with a new release.  This is their 16th studio album…wow!!  If you know the band, you know what you are getting.  Solid, melodic rock and only the way they know how.  That is all you want from these guys.  Give it a try.

  • 913OhGTguhL._SX522_  Allen / Olzon – Worlds Apart – (Frontiers Records):  You get Symphony X’s and Adrenaline Mob’s Russel Allen and Nightwish’s Anette Olzon teaming up for an album.  Does it get much better than that?  Probably, but for now, I will give it a try as it is two great voices of metal together.  Deserves a listen.

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Gene Simmons – ‘The Vault’ – Album Review (Part 10 of 15 – Disk 9)

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Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review.  We are now on Disk 9.  Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.

I will try and keep some consistency between each disk.  I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information.  I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk.  I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.

At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package.  I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week.  Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time.  That is a bunch of music to go through.

The songs aren’t in chronological order.  Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe.  The vibe of this one appears to be a little all over the place.  However, there are only a handful of songs that ended up on Kiss albums or solo albums which is nice.  It is an interesting set of tracks.

Well, are you ready?  Then let’s get right to it.

The CD comes in a picture of Gene in full make-up with his Axe…

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David Coverdale – “The Last Note of Freedom” – Single Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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For this part of the David Coverdale series, we are throwing in the review of the song David did from the movie ‘Days of Thunder’ starring Tom Cruise.  The song came out in 1990.  Whitesnake hadn’t called it quits just yet, still a year away for that, but David was exploring solo projects such as this.  And honestly, how could he turn down the opportunity to have a song on a Tom Cruise movie back in a time when Tom could do no wrong.

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As you can see, the song was produced by Trevor Horn, but the song was actually written by Hans Zimmer who did the music, but what I find is that the lyrics were actually written by Billy Idol…yes, that Billy Idol.  I am sure David contributed a little, but mostly he sang.  I now have a connection between the last music series I did with Billy Idol and this one with David Coverdale..so cool.

This single was only released as a single in Europe which is exactly where I found it.  This is another Single I picked up on my Paris trip.  I picked up a bunch of singles at that time and another one will be discussing in a couple weeks for the David Coverdale series as well. Continue reading “David Coverdale – “The Last Note of Freedom” – Single Review (The David Coverdale Series)” →

Billy Idol – “To Be A Lover” 12″ Single (The Billy Idol Series – Bonus Edition)

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Back in April 2019, the family took a trip to Paris and I found a lot of records while shopping in a few really cool French Record Shops.  This particular one, which I am not sure why I didn’t include in the Billy Idol series in the timeline it belongs, was nothing really special.  It didn’t have any thing I didn’t already have, but I didn’t have it.  That was the only reason I bought it.  I guess the really cool thing it has is this French price sticker in the upper right corner of the back cover.

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The single is a 12″ Max-Single of the single “To Be A Lover” off the album ‘Whiplash Smile’.  Now this also has two other songs.  A remix of the single as well as another song off the album called “All Summer Long”.  Let us get in to the music.

SIDE ONE:

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“To Be A Lover” (Mother of Mercy Mix) opens it up and this should really be called the Sex Mix with the woman practically orgasming with her sultry, seductive voice throughout.  Damn!!  A total blast.  This is the version you can find on the 1987 album ‘Vital Idol’ along with 7 other re-mixes of Idol’s hits up to that point.  This was not on the UK version released 2 years earlier as ‘Whiplash Smile’ album was not out yet.

SIDE TWO:

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This was the first single of the album ‘Whiplash Smile’ and it was a cover of William Bell’s “To Be A Lover” which was co-written by Booker T. Jones back in 1968.  Billy completely modernized the song and turned it in to a dance track.  It has some great soulful female backing vocals and fancy piano riffs and an all around fantastic track.  The song is actually quite poignant in that with his longtime girlfriend leaving him since he “forgot to be a lover” with his drug use and sexcapades with other women.  It felt like he was confessing that he screwed up.

Then comes “All Summer Single” which has too many effects and no substance.  It is plain and dull for me and I never connected to this one.  It feels lonely like Billy was without his girlfriend Perri…so sad.

And there you have it…a little bonus edition of the Billy Idol Series.  We have one more coming up soon on the Deluxe Edition of the Generation X the band’s debut album.

Now, if you want to check out the full reviews and the entire Billy Idol Series, click on any and all of the links below…

  1. Generation X – ‘Generation X’
  2. Generation X – ‘Valley of the Dolls’
  3. Gen X – ‘Kiss Me Deadly’
  4. Generation X – ‘The BBC Transcription Disc Series No. 126 1978’
  5. Billy Idol – Don’t Stop E.P.
  6. Billy Idol – Billy Idol
  7. Billy Idol – Rebel Yell
  8. Billy Idol – Whiplash Smile
  9. Billy Idol – To Be A Lover – Single Review
  10. Billy Idol – Vital Idol
  11. Billy Idol – Charmed Life
  12. Billy Idol – Cyberpunk
  13. Billy Idol – “Speed” (song from the Speed Soundtrack)
  14. Generation X – K.M.D. Sweet Revenge
  15. Billy Idol – VH1 Storytellers (Live)
  16. Billy Idol – Devil’s Playground
  17. Billy Idol – Happy Holidays
  18. Billy Idol – The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself
  19. Billy Idol – Kings & Queens of the Underground
  20. Billy Idol – BFI Live (#RSD 2019)
  21. Billy Idol – Revitalized
  22. Generation X – Your Generation (7″ Record Store Day Release)
  23. Billy Idol – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First

My Sunday Song – “Afraid” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #185, we will discuss “Afraid” by Motley Crue off their 1997 release ‘Generation Swine’.  This was the first single off the album and first single to feature Vince Neil back in the band. The song reached #10 on the rock charts, but I don’t remember much noise being made as music had changed significantly.

The song was written by Nikki Sixx and was about his relationship with Donna D’Errico.  As she felt she was getting to close to him, she ended up running away.  I think he feels she is so broken that she is incapable of a relationship.  That fear of being too close to anyway; heck, I think that is something we have all felt at one time or another.

Musically, the song rocks out, they tried to modernize their sound to fit the late 90’s and they do a good job.  However, it sounds like Motley Crue like it should.  They didn’t try and turn it in to anything grunge thankfully as Grunge was kind of over at this point.  The guitar work by Mick is great, loud and heavy, but has a melodic feel that gives the tune some solid emotion.  Nikki and Tommy lay down the groove and keep a great rhythm.  Vince sounds fantastic.  The trademark little screams and it was nice to hear the band back together again.

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Friday New Releases – February 28th

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Another month has come to a close and another Friday of not a lot of releases.  It has been an incredibly slow start for me this year.  There has only been a few I have liked so far and have had any interest in.  This week is no different.  There are a couple I will try (highlighted in Blue), but nothing I am super excited about, hopefully that will change once I hear it.  So, sit back and go through the list and let me know if there is anything interesting for you. Also, let me know what I missed on the list so everybody can know.  Thanks and have a great weekend.

  • 71G4t4GFyeL._SS500_  Five Finger Death Punch – F8 – (Better Noise Music):  I am not overly excited about this one.  They are kind of like the Nickelback of heavy metal music and my interest has waned over the years.  However, I will give it a try as usually I get a couple songs worth keeping and adding to a playlist.  I like to think of them as tough sounding music to make you feel like a badass even though you are not…that is me in a nutshell!!

  • A1qlo33DesL._SX522_  The Classic Crime – Patterns in the Static – (Criminal Records):  An alternative rock band that gets lumped in to the Christian label because they were signed to Tooth & Nail label which is mostly Christian acts.  They are more a pop/rock band than anything…no real label.  Always some solid stuff so this will get a spin…or two!!

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Gene Simmons – ‘The Vault’ – Album Review (Part 9 of 15 – Disk 8)

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Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review.  We are now on Disk 8.  Below are the rules I am trying to follow with each review.

I will try and keep some consistency between each disk.  I will go through each song and mention who wrote, who played on it and what I think about the song. I won’t go through all the stories as you should get the vault to get all the information.  I will grade each song (ranking 1 to 5, 5 being best) and then take an average of the grades for the score of the disk.  I know most of these are demos, so I won’t be taking quality of the sound in to play that much because I know what I am getting and I am more interested in the overall song.

At the end of all the reviews, we will average the score of each review and come up with an overall ‘The Vault’ score which I hope will be a fair representation of the whole package.  I am going to do my best to do one a week, but as I said before, life sometimes gets in the way so I am not going to promise one a week.  Plus, this is 11 disks to digest and that is a lot as I am also doing the David Coverdale Series at the same time.  That is a bunch of music to go through.

The songs aren’t in chronological order.  Gene states each disk is more of a mood or vibe.  The vibe of this one appears to be Rock & Roll.  These are Gene songs plain and simple.  When you think of the Demon, you would imagine him singing these type of songs.

Well, are you ready?  Then let’s get right to it.

The CD comes with a picture of Gene’s rendering of the lights on an early 80’s tour.  It is pretty cool…

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February 2020 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

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Two months in to the year and already some great purchases.  If you are new to the site, this is my monthly wrap-up of my vinyl and CD purchases since not everything I buy makes it on to the site.  Some of it does or already has or will in the future, but whose to say how long that will be.  So, I thought why not share the love of music and let you see what I have been adding to the collection.

The first set of purchases started with a run of vinyl diving when my daughter wanted to go out and pick up a certain album.  We hit two stores…Repo Records and Lunchbox, both in Charlotte, NC.  First stop was Repo Records and my daughter didn’t find anything she wanted, but I found one.  It is the 1980 debut album of Canadian rock star Bryan Adams. Honestly, I have never seen this one and for $5 bucks, why not add to it my ever growing Adams collection. I have at least 6 or 7 of his so this fits in nicely.

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Then we are off to Lunchbox and my daughter found the album she wanted which was Lorde’s album “Pure Heroine” which is actually a really good album.  And don’t worry, I found a couple as well.  I love the UK band The Alarm.  I have about 4 or 5 in the collection and now I have one more.  It is Electric Folklore Live from 1988 that I was missing.

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And then one more to add to the ever growing Aerosmith collection. I finally found ‘Permanent Vacation’ at what I thought was a good price of $10. I’ll take it.

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And then a week later, my wife and I had an afternoon to ourselves and we spent it going to 2nd & Charles as my wife wanted to look at some books and they have a great selection of new and a ton of used books. They also have a vinyl and CD section as well. They have bootlegs on vinyl which is cool and I might have to go back and get some.  I didn’t buy any vinyl, but picked up some cheap CDs which I always like.  First up was a from a band called Audiovent.  Their only album ‘Dirty Sexy Knights in Paris’ came out in 2002 and I had it at one time on CD and loved it, so I re-bought it.

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And since I have been on a Robbie Williams kick lately, I decided I needed all his albums. I didn’t get all, but I picked up 3.  I grabbed ‘The Ego Has Landed’ and ‘Intensive Care’ both studio albums and then a really cool Live album called “Live Summer 2003” recorded at Knebworth.

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I also picked up the new album from Stone Temple Pilots called ‘Perdida’ and I already have shown you that when I did a review.  It wasn’t pleasant.  But I bought it mostly due to my brother-in-law being the engineer and mixer on the album.  Go Check out the Review.

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If that wasn’t enough, when my kids and I were out to dinner on Saturday, February 15th, we were driving by Noble Records and I had to stop in.  As usual, I found a few more things.  First up is another Stone Temple Pilots album. This one is Shangri-La Dee Da and since I am buying albums that their uncle worked on, this falls in that category as he was working with Brendan O’Brien back then and he was the engineer on this album.

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And then there were two 80’s albums I didn’t have.  First one was Dokken’s “Under Lock And Key”…

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and the next one was one of the covers I am after for Stryper’s “To Hell With the Devil”…now I need to find the alternate more controversial cover…

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And that is all.  Well, there was one more, but it didn’t arrive in time for this month’s post so it will kick off next months.  Here is everything in one bundle and yes, I have a problem…

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See you next month…

Hollywood Undead – ‘New Empire Vol. 1’ – Album Review

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Hollywood Undead brings us their sixth studio release with “New Empire Vol. 1”  In what is supposed to be a change in direction and new sound that is fresh while still being Hollywood Undead, it is all of that and none of it.  The music is still a mixture of nu metal and rap which is what they have always done.

However, this album though takes it further with being a little heavier at times and way more melodic at other times full of melodies and hooks that make these songs instantly memorable and you find yourself singing them even when the album is done.

But the biggest difference is the lyrics. There is still the aggression you have always seen, but they seem to be a little more uplifting especially on songs like “Heart of Champion” and “Second Chances” which features Benji Madden from Good Charlotte.

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And that heaviness I mentioned, check out the singles  “Time Bomb”and “Already Dead” as they come at you full throttle and leave you exhausted and wanting more. “Already Dead” is already one of my favorite songs of the year so far.  And that isn’t all, you get “Enemy” slamming at you and if you want a full on melodic gem than listen to “Upside Down” with special guest Kellin Quinn from the band Sleeping with Sirens as he brings a great vocal to the song and takes it a direction that the band wouldn’t normally go.

“Empire” is a little less heavy and a little EDM thrown in backdropping the rap by J Dog and Johnny 3 Tears.   What is cool with them is at times all members get to sing or rap which gives the band a broader range and able to do almost anything they want.  Lots of variety.

 

If you are looking for straight up rap then “Killin’ It” is what you want as it is full of cockiness, swagger and with the EDM effects delivers a solid track that makes you feel you can take on the world.  You also want to hear “Nightmare” which is so dramatic and powerful.  A beast of a song to end the album on. Then “Enemy” explodes and the drums come slamming against your head bringing the metal back to the sound.

The change for the band wasn’t as dramatic as I expected, but it was better than I expected.  I’m really drawn to the melodic sound on most of the choruses.  The hooks have grabbed hold of me. I’m not a rap guy personally, but what these guys deliver is something that holds my attention and mixes well with the heaviness of the music enough to make this rock guy to sit up and pay attention.

This year has been really slow for music and this is the first album that I have gravitated towards and I have a feeling it will stick with me for some time to come.  The production of the album is slick and the mix is top notch as everything sounds nearly perfect.  I give it a 4.75 out 5.0 Stars only because at 9 songs and only 33 minutes, it is too short!! Bright side, I can play it over and over and not take up too much time.

My Sunday Song – “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #184, we will discuss the rocking track “Kickstart My Heart” off their 1989 album ‘Dr. Feelgood’.  The song was from the band’s 1989 album ‘Dr. Feelgood’ and was the the 2nd single from the album. And it did well.  It was on constant rotation on MTV and reached #9 on the US Rock charts.  It helped propel Motley Crue even higher in their rise to the top.

The story of the song is really well known, so nothin new I can bring to it other than rehash it. The song title of “Kickstart my Heart” is famously documented as a result of Nikki Sixx overdosing the paramedics having to use the paddles on him to jump start him back to life.  Of course, Steven Adler from Guns ‘N Roses disputes some of the accuracies of that statement.  He claims he assisted in bring him back and not so much the paramedics.  Either way, still scary that he died and was brought back (on more than once occasion I believe).

Nikki had written the song, but didn’t feel it was good enough for the album until the band’s former manager read the lyrics, he told him to take it to the band.  And thankfully he did as it turned in to one hell of a rock anthem.

The song kicks off with some cool notes on guitar by Mick imitating an engine revving up shifting gears and then another cool riff comes through electrifying the song and taking it to another level with breakneck speed.  The driving riff, bass and drums makes you feel like you are speeding down the road ready to crash in to everything.  There is a break and change in tempo before ripping it again.  There is a voice box used on the guitar (like a lot of 80’s rock songs did) and the band crushes it from beginning to end.

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