Top Rock Albums 2019

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2019 was another year with some great releases and way too many to get through them all so I am sure I missed a number of great albums and if you look around the web, there will be tons of Top Album lists you can get a pretty good idea of what you should check out in case you missed any of these.

This list will be my favorite “Rock” albums of the year.  All other types of music will be for a later post.  I am going to leave this one to my favorite genre.  It is a broad genre, but these are the albums that I consider to be ROCK!!

Also note, these are MY FAVORITES!!  These are not the most popular or trendy albums.  You won’t find the new Tool album here because I don’t like them and I never had any desire to hear it.  So, they won’t even be rates as worst album because I didn’t listen to it. These are the albums that I connected with during the year and I kept coming back to again and again.  And without further adieu, here are the Top Rock Albums of 2019:

#10 – Michael Sweet – Ten

81esW6bXErL._SL1500_ Michael Sweet’s 10th solo studio album brings us a very Stryper sounding album, but one that takes us back to the early days of Yellow & Back Attack and To Hell With the Devil which in my opinion is a very good thing.  He brings a special guest on each song which you would think would make the album a little disjointed, but it works on so many levels.  The album rocks out from beginning to end!

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Merry Christmas: Stryper – “Reason For the Season”

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I’m sitting here on this long, cold, winter night with a glass of wine in my hand and some crackers on a plate, contemplating Christmas and what it is all about.

What?  I am sorry, what did you say?

I’m missing cheese to go with my wine and crackers?

No, I am afraid you are mistaken, I have plenty of cheese as I am sitting here listening to Stryper’s Christmas song “Reason for the Season” and you can’t get any more cheesy than that song.

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Lyrically, the song is really awful…yet it is so bad that it is actually wonderful.  You can’t help but love it! Really!  If that isn’t enough, you get a “short” version and a “long” version. Wow!!  Because once truly isn’t enough.

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Deep Purple – ‘Live in London’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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In 1982, Deep Purple didn’t exist, no new music was coming for a few more years, but the world needed a brand new Live album by the band.  Or at least that is what the record company thought.  This live album was really not new, it was only newly released. It was recorded back in 1974 with the Mark III line-up of the following:

  • Richie Blackmore – guitar
  • David Coverdale – lead vocals
  • Glenn Hughes – Bass and vocals
  • Jon Lord – keyboards
  • Ian Paice – drums

The album was recorded on May 22, 1974 at the Gaumont State Theatre in London, England and was used a BBC Radio Broadcast but never actually saw the light of day on a physical release until 8 years later. The tour was for the album “Burn” which is where a majority of the songs will come from.

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Like with most Deep Purple Live albums, there are only a handful of songs as some of the songs last an eternity.  You get 6 whole songs on the original release and when they do the re-issues years later you are blessed with getting a whole other song that adds over 30 minutes to the time…yep…one song at 30 minutes.  Wow!!

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My Sunday Song – “Run” by Collective Soul

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For My Sunday Song #174, we are discussing the song “Run” by Collective Soul.  The song was the first single released off the 1999 album, ‘Dosage’.  It didn’t do great as it landed only at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it did reach #12 on the US Adult chart and #1 on the Adult Alternative Songs chart (didn’t know there was one). ‘Dosage’ is one of my favorite albums by them and this song was a big part of the reason why.

As with a lot of their songs, “Run” can be interpreted to mean many things.  I believe is a conscientious effort by Ed Roland to structure the lyrics in such a way to leave it up to the listener to decide his intent. My first thought is the song is bash against commercialism.  It is about how generic, stale and boring the world has become.  There is no more original thought and we are swayed by simple advertising to go buy this, you need this, go watch this show, be like everyone else.    The lyrics help hint to that with lines like “From this processed sanity” and “Now in this world of purchase” so I can see this train of thought.

The other thought I have is that it is a child that finally reaches adulthood and when they get there, the world is not what he expected.  The world of adulthood is nothing special, it is boring and he is lost and running to find the answer to what is missing in his life.  Maybe that thing missing is a “messenger” or God.  God has been taken out of everything and the world as a result is not the better for it.

And lastly, it is commentary on the music scene.  The scene is so boring, generic and everything sounds the same.  No more originality in the music.  The record companies are putting out garbage and the lines such as…”From this processed sanity / I weaken with each voice that sings” lead me to believe that might be the case.  See, there are many ways to interpret the lyrics and I will let you decide what you feel is the right one, however, I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer.

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The Top 20 Songs of Kiss (The Non-Makeup Years)

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Thanks to the Kiss Box Set Series I reviewed and most especially, Disc Four (which covers the 80’s), I have been on a Non Make-Up Era Kiss fix of late..  I have been playing all the albums and I am even getting Greg Prato’s book “Take It Off: Kiss Truly Unmasked” for Christmas (Review in January 2020).  So, I figured why not do a list of my favorite Kiss songs from that time and here we are.  I am going to cover the albums from ‘Lick it Up’ in 1983 to ‘Carnival of Souls’ in 1997 and although I included the cover to “Thrashes, Smashes & Hits’ on the post header picture, there are no songs from it as the two new songs are really, really bad.

So, why wait any longer.  Here are what I say are the Top 20 Songs of Kiss (The Non-Makeup Era)…

#20 – “Master & Slave” off ‘Carnival of Souls’ (1997)

I had to have one song from ‘Carnival of Souls’ which is not a good album, but there was one song I did like and that is “Master & Slave”.  It was written by Paul Stanley, Bruce Kulick and Curtis Coumo.  When you hear it, it is not normal Kiss.  This is dark, brooding and completely centered in the Grunge era (which was a couple years too late).  I liked the biting guitar work from Bruce and it is something completely different.

#19 – “Thou Shalt Not” off ‘Revenge’ (1992)

I really like a lot of Gene’s songs and there are quite a few on here despite Paul still leading the pack.  The ‘Revenge’ album was a return to glory for Gene as he seemed lost for a few years.  This is Gene, plain and simple.  It is heavy and sounds evil which is just what the doctor ordered.  The guitar solo is just as menacing as the rest of the song (good job Bruce).

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Whitesnake – ‘Come An’ Get It’ – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

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We are now in 1981 and the band is on their 4th album.  Whitesnake has started to gain some traction with the album’s ‘Ready an’ Willing’ along with the live album ‘Live…in the Heart of the City’.  When ‘Come an’ Get It’ arrives, it goes to #2 on the chart and barely misses #1 thanks to Adam and the Ants’ ‘King of the Wild Frontier’.  Yes, an Ant kicked a Snake’s ass!!!

The band’s line-up is unchanged, the producer, Martin Birch, is unchanged and they follow the successful formula of ‘Ready an’ Willing on this album to rather great success (on the charts).

  • David Coverdale – vocals
  • Micky Moody – Guitar
  • Bernie Marsden – Guitar
  • Neil Murray – Bass
  • Jon Lord – Keyboards
  • Ian Paice – Drums

I know this is a favorite Snake album for a lot of people and even a favorite of David Coverdale’s; however, it isn’t one of my top albums.  I have spent the longest with this album in hopes that it would grow on me and it has to some extent, but not overall.  This was a hard beast for me to get through, well Side Two was.  Side One kicks some major ass.

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Pearl Jam – MTV Unplugged (Record Store Day Exclusive) – Album Review

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For Record Store Day Black Friday 2019, I got up bright and early to go stand in line for some Exclusive vinyls and most notably was for Matt Nathanson’s 2007 album ‘Some Mad Hope’.  This was the first time that record was to be released on vinyl.  Another exclusive I wanted was Pearl Jam’s MTV Unplugged appearance from 1992 finally being released on vinyl.  And I’ll be honest, this is the FIRST Pearl Jam album I have actually bought on vinyl…I know, crazy right!!  But what a way to start.

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The album was recorded in 1992 right after the end of the Tour for their debut album ‘Ten’ and a set list that covers that album quite nicely, you are treated to one mesmerizing and very special performance.  When I watched this back in the day, I realized than that the guys were pretty freaking great.  I was not a Grunge fan at all as I come from the 80’s and the whole 80’s Rock scene. Grunge was blasphemy.  But there was something about this show that resonated and when I saw it was coming out on vinyl,  it was a no-brainer.

The packaging is a beautiful gatefold for only 1 LP which I always love to see.

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The Original vs. The Cover – “Hard to Handle”

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For this month’s version of The Original vs. The Cover, we are tackling the Otis Redding song “Hard to Handle”.  Otis wrote and recorded the song along with Al Bell and Allen Jones back in 1967.  Otis died in December 1967 before the song was ever released.  It finally was released in June 1968, but not as the main single.  It was the B-Side to the single “Amen”. The song did chart though as it reached #51 on the Pop Charts and got to #38 on the Billboard R&B charts.  It was a modest hit. The song first appeared on an album in 1968 which was a compilation called ‘The Immortal Otis Redding’.

The song’s theme is pretty obvious.  It is about a man that is so cocky and braggadocios about his sexual prowess that he is coming on to women who already have themselves a man.  I mean he gets cockier and cockier as the song goes on. It is a really cool piece for Otis to write and sing as his earlier work did not come across that way.

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Otis Redding’s original version of the song was a departure for him.  He seemed to be experimenting with a new sound.  He brought a whole James Brown funk feel to the song from the opening piano riffs, the big horn section and that driving bass line. It is quite a departure from “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of The Bay”.  The song is short at just over 2 minutes, but it packs enough greatness in to that time that you don’t realize it is so short. Continue reading “The Original vs. The Cover – “Hard to Handle”” →

My Sunday Song – “Gel” by Collective Soul

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For My Sunday Song #173, we are going to discuss the song “Gel” off the bands 1994 self titled album by Collective Soul. It was the first single off the band’s second album and after Shine, I was now hooked on the band and haven’t looked back since.  The song didn’t make the Top 40, but it did make it to #2 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and back in the 90’s, I didn’t care about Top 40 anyway.

The song is a quirky, rock track that can have many meanings, it is all left up to your interpretation of the lyrics.  It could be about a man and woman who have a lot of differences and it doesn’t matter, he wants to “Gel” per se.  Me, I like to view it as that people from different backgrounds, different cultures, different beliefs can still come together and meet and have open discussions and just gel.  In a world that is so separated and polarizing today, this song is almost a dream of some sort of utopia as I don’t think people have the capacity to gel nowadays.  That is why I think this song is needed.

Now, there is another theory I have read that it is about the band’s search for a record label as after their debut, record companies were clamoring to grab them up and they all wanted to make changes to the band.  However, the band wanted to do their own thing so could the label and the band come together and gel.  It turns out the label left them alone pretty much and let them do their thing as they were doing it so well on their own.  Like I said, you listen to the song and you interpret it however you would like.

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Friday New Releases – December 13th

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Welcome to Friday the 13th and the last good day of releases for at least 3 to 4 weeks.  Yes, Friday New Releases will be absent from this site until a couple weeks into the new year in January when there is finally enough to talk about.  However, this week isn’t totally worthless. There a couple releases I am interested in, but not much else.  My choices will be highlighted in Blue, let me know if you find anything you like of if I missed anything.  Thanks and until next time, have a great weekend!

  • 61v6lSOpccL._AC_UL320_SR320,320_  Harry Styles – Fine Line – (Erksine Records/Columbia/Sony):  Harry is back with his second studio album and I have to say, I am actually looking forward to this.  I was pleasantly surprised at how great his debut was and it was so much better than anything One Direction put out.  My oldest daughter is even more so excited as she keeps the vinyl of his debut up in her room rather than down in my wall of vinyl.  I am hoping for another release of a variety of styles and hope he pushes himself even more on this one.

  • A1wqT8hVs7L._SX522_  Stone Sour – Hello, You Bastards: Live in Reno – (Cooking Vinyl Ltd):  I like live albums lately, so I might give this one a try.  Corey Taylor and the boys are releasing their first live album and I am sure it will rock your face off.  I mean, it ain’t no Slipknot, which is actually why I like them more, but Corey only knows how to bring it hard and heavy.  Ok, no video so far so here is a classic.

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