Whitesnake – ‘Whitesnake’ (1987) – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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After all the turmoil with the band around the ‘Slide it In’ album and tour, David Coverdale was almost ready to throw in the towel.  After the tour, Cozy Powell left the band and I think Davd had had enough.  However, Geffen records saw something between David and newcomer John Sykes that they somehow talked David in to hanging on and working with John.  The two went and tucked themselves away somewhere in the south of France and started writing…south of France…tough fucking life!!

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When they gathered some material, the two embarked to L.A. with bassist Neil Murray to start recording.  But before they could do that, they needed a drummer and along comes Ansley Dunbar to complete the team.  But wait, there is only 1 guitar player and usually there is two and you would be right.  John Sykes recorded all the guitar parts for the album.

Now during the recording, the band had more problems.  One was John Sykes.  John was obsessed over getting the right guitar sound almost to the detriment of the whole project.  Second, David got sick…bad sick. A major sinus infection that almost derailed his whole career.  It was so bad, that John Sykes had suggested bringing in another vocalist to finish the project…excuse me??…WTF???  John, if you didn’t know, Whitesnake is David’s band, not yours.  That did not sit well with David as is no surprise. And right when the album was set for release, David fired the band! Yep, all of them…bye, bye!!

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Okay, this is basically the second time this has happened in a row on an album release.  The new band was brought in and it consisted of Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell on guitars, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums.  I have to say that is one helluva a line-up.  David has a way of getting top musicians.

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Stone Temple Pilots – ‘Perdida’ – Album Review

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Stone Temple Pilots release their first album of the new decade which is their eighth album overall and second with new lead singer Jeff Gutt.  ‘Perdida’ is quite a departure for the band as the album is an all acoustic affair of 10 new songs.  This is either a bold step in a new direction or a complete and utter misstep in a stellar career.

When I heard several months back that this was all acoustic, I had my reservations.  I was curious as to the reason why with only one album under their belts with Jeff Gutt as the singer would they change course so dramatically.  I still don’t know why, but it is an interesting choice.

The album title “Perdida” struck me as odd until I found out what it meant.  The word is Spanish and means “lost’.  Take that word with the image of the cover, which I find to be spectacular, and everything starts to fall in to place.  Is the band lost in who they are as group or our they spiritually lost.  Is the album them trying to find their way or is it a statement that they have no idea what to do anymore and it is a cry for help?  So many questions.

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My Sunday Song – “Primal Scream” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #182, we are discussing “Primal Scream” by Motley Crue.  The song is one of three new songs that were released on the band’s 1991 greatest hits package “Decade of Decadence”.  The song was released as a single, but only reached #63 on the Billboard Hot 100, but made it to #21 on the Mainstream Rock Chart.  Those low ranking surprised me as this is one of the best Motley Crue songs ever.

The song was written by Nikki Sixx and is pretty much about his childhood and his rather rough upbringing.  His abusive childhood was both physical and emotional and luckily he escaped out of it, but not without major mental issues and drug addiction throughout most of his life.  Nikki also has said the song is based off a book by Arthur Janov called “The Primal Scream. Primal Therapy: A Cure For Neurosis.”  And if you listen to the song, you will hear a shout out to Janov.  Nikki has a way of capturing his pain and turning it in to some great music.

The song opens with a primal drum beat by Tommy Lee and Nikki with a great little bass line.  Mick’s guitar comes screaming in and then Vince’s vocals come in angry and primal in nature.  It is a heavy song with a lot of pure, raw emotion being delivered.  An energy that conveys the stark, disturbing childhood Nikki faced and how he persevered by fighting it head on. Mick does a great solo, but the best part is that primal scream by Vince towards the end after the last verse.  That made the song for me.  It was short and sweet, but just what the song needed.  This is a darker, more edgy Motley Crue and I am totally okay with that.  Actually, I would like more of that.

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Friday New Releases – February 7th, 2020

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Welcome to the first Friday of February and the new releases we will see today.  There are a bunch this week.  If you like rock, pop, metal, country, latin, alternative or all of the above, there is probably something for you.  I have three I am interested in hearing and I will highlight those in blue like normal.  Let me know what interests you and what I missed including on the list so everyone knows.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful musical weekend!!

  • 81VOT4DngZL._SX522_  Stone Temple Pilots – Perdida – (Play Pen Music / Rhino):  STP is back with Jeff Gutt on vocals for his second album.  This one is quite a departure from their normal fare as it is an all acoustic album of new music.  Pretty bold move with still a new singer.  My brother-in-law worked on this album with the band so of course it is on my list and has been pre-ordered on vinyl to arrive today when I get home from work.  Looking forward to explore this one.

  • 71kL7NiqA-L._SX522_  Richard Marx – Limitless – (BMG):  I will admit it…I love Richard Marx…no not the physical, deep emotional love for a person, but love of his music.  What can I say, I am a sap for a good love song or hell, a good song period.  Richard has a great way of doing both of those and at the same time.  Thankfully the 80’s mullet is gone and he has changed with the times.

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Gene Simmons – ‘The Vault’ – Album Review (Part 6 of 15 – Disk 5)

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Welcome back to the Gene Simmons The Vault review.  We are now on Disk 5.  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 more mellow and a chill vibe full of love songs and heartache and most with a Beatles influence (or British band influence).  This is also the version with Gene and Bob Dylan in a writing session.

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

The CD comes with one cool photos as it is a picture of band before Kiss, Wicked Lester.  It is badass…

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Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute – Tour Program

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Here is something a little different for you from my site.  I received a bag of old guitar magazines from my mother-in-law.  The magazines were her son’s and she thought I might enjoy them.  The cool thing about the magazines is they were all featuring the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Not bad at all.  But there was something out of place in the bag.  It was a Tour Program from the 1987 Tour of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute.

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My brother-in-law is originally from Atlanta, like I am, so the tour book must be from either the October 14th or the 15th show as they played two shows on that tour in Atlanta at the Omni.  Actually, the 2nd leg played Atlanta on June 5th as well at Atlanta/Fulton County Stadium home of the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Falcons.  So, it could be that show.

The Tour was to pay tribute to the members of the band that were lost 10 years earlier in a tragic plane crash.  Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines (Steve’s older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray were all killed in the plane crash. Continue reading “Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute – Tour Program” →

Whitesnake – ‘The Best of Whitesnake’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series – Bonus Review)

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I know, I am a little out of order with this one as I have been trying to go in chronological order with all of his releases.  However, I never intended to review this for two reasons.  One, I wasn’t planning on doing any greatest hits package and Two, this isn’t an official release and was never on my radar or in my collection until about 2 weeks ago.  Also, sorry for two bonus reviews in a row as I am sure you can’t wait for me to get to the ‘1987’ album!!

I was doing my monthly dig through some local record shops and then at my favorite one, Noble Records, I found this LP.  It is a French release of a Best of Whitesnake album back from 1982.  I say it isn’t official only because Wikipedia doesn’t even have it listed in the discography.

The album covers the albums ‘Trouble’ in 1978 all the way up to ‘Come An’ Get’ in 1981 which is 5 albums in total (which includes ‘Live…in the Heart of the City’ and 10 total tracks on the greatest hits album.  And they are all great tracks as a good greatest hits album should be.

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My Sunday Song – “Live Wire” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #181, we are going to tackle the song “Live Wire” by Motley Crue. In fact, the next 10 songs will all be Motley Crue songs.  I figured we will start with a bang and with very early Crue.  “Live Wire” is off the debut album “Too Fast for Love” which came out in 1982 and reached #24 on the BillBoard Hot Rock songs chart.  Not bad, but it was MTV that made them blow up, not the radio.

If you’ve seen the Motley Crue movie “The Dirt”, you will see that Nikki’s childhood wasn’t the greatest.  This song is about that life and the domestic violence he was surrounded with.  The way he was treated and his mom by his stepdads is played out in the song.  The verse below spells it out nicely…well not really…

I’ll either break her face
Or take down her legs
Get my ways at will
Go for the throat
Never let loose
Goin’ in for the kill
Take my fist
Break down walls
I’m on top tonight

I have seen people say it is about rape and glamorizing that behavior, but that is far from the truth.  The song was a way for Nikki to work through his demons and what he experienced as a child.

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Friday New Releases – January 31st

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We are to the end of our first month and the new releases have been a little limited and nothing that jumps out as blowing me away yet (but since I wrote this before the January 24th releases have come out, there could have been something out then, but the only one I want is Revolution Saints so we will see).  This week has a lot of releases and a little something for everyone…but me really.  You get pop, metal, rock, indie, christian, jazz and country, so a bit of everything. I hope there is something for you.  Mine are normally highlighted in Blue, but there is nothing I am running out and getting this week.  I need to save money so that is a good thing.

  • 81v3RCNblLL._SX522_.jpg  Theory of a Deadman – Say Nothing – (Roadrunner Records) – A Canadian rock band sign to Chad Kroeger’s record label…enough said…or the less said the better…either way.

  • 81AsVbYyVpL._SX522_  Dashboard Confessional – The Best Ones of the Best Ones – (Hidden Note  AWAL) – Were they emo, indie, alt rock??? I am not sure…all of the above. This is a greatest hits album and if you are a casual fan, then this would be great place to begin.

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January 2020 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

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Welcome to the new decade and my monthly recap of purchases that I make.  I do this as not everything I buy ends up on the site so you can see some of the items in my collection. Also, it helps me remember when I bought something and now I have it stored in the Internet universe forever (or as long as I keep paying annually for my site).

On the weekend before New Year’s Day, I went and did a little digging. Now, I know that is not January, but I had already finished and edited my December post and I didn’t have time to update.  So, these purchases get to be a part of this post.

First up was a trip to Lunchbox Records in Charlotte, NC.  My oldest daughter wanted to go and being the good dad, how could I say no.  I did some digging and found somethings, but nothing that I hadn’t seen before or that was priced right.  I found my way over to the 45’s and the 10″ records and there I saw and old Cheap Trick 10″ called ‘Found All the Parts’.  I know it probably isn’t super rare, but I had never seen one so I grabbed it.  I tell my daughter the fun thing about digging is finding that one thing you haven’t seen before.  And when you see it, you better buy it.  I haven’t always followed that rule and I have a couple regrets on that.

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