The Struts – ‘Young & Dangerous’ – Album Review

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The Struts come back with their second album, ‘Young & Dangerous’, and they are showing that rock is alive and well and can be one helluva a good time.  Their retro rock sound is both refreshing and feels entirely new.  Where Greta Van Fleet is getting picked on for sounding too much like Led Zeppelin, the Struts seem to be celebrated for sounding like bands from the past.  They sound like Queen, Aerosmith, Mott the Hoople and they crossover genres like Glam, Classic Rock and 80’s Pop and the Hair Bands.  They are the best parts all rolled up into one.

The band consists of Adam Slack on guitar, Jed Elliott on bass and Gethin Davis on drums and let me tell you they rip it up throughout this album.  Their ability to play around with genres and sounds is so convincing and outstanding.  But let’s admit it, it is lead singer Luke Spiller who truly shines with this band.  His cocky, confident and flamboyant singing and style just screams frontman.  Think Freddy Mercury and Steven Tyler and you have some idea of what I am talking about.

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From the opening track “Body Talks” and the over-the-top, glam-filled “Primadonna Like Me” and you see that they can play and that your are in for a fun-filled, rocking good time.  The energy level is up to 10 and I can imagine that their live show takes it up to 11.

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My Sunday Song – “I’m Not A Saint” by Billy Raffoul

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For My Sunday Song #120, I am discussing one of my favorite songs of 2018 called “I’m Not A Saint” by newcomer Billy Raffoul.  The song is from his 2018 E.P. called ‘1975’ which I did a review on a couple months back (go check it out – click here).  The song was released as a single, but sadly, I don’t think I have heard it on the radio which I find to be sad as the world is missing out on a real talent.

When I saw Billy Raffoul open for Needtobreathe over the Summer, I was really impressed with his Jeff Buckley sounding vocals and so I picked up the E.P on vinyl at the show (which he gladly signed for me) and it turned out to be one of my favorite albums I have heard this year.  This song in particular jumped out at me and I really connected to it.

The song is about the fact we all have things we do that we know we shouldn’t.  Some sort of vice that is keeping us from being what he calls a “saint” such as smoking, drinking and cursing (which is my biggest problem).  He states he could be a saint if he tried, but honestly, I don’t think he is going to try which is fine as there is nothing wrong with having a vice (well as long as it doesn’t kill you I guess it is okay.

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Friday New Releases – November 30th

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The last Friday of November and Christmas is just around the corner which means one thing.  Album releases start to become relatively scarce. You want to drop your album early enough that it makes it on people’s Christmas list, but not too late where no one will grab it as they have spent all their money already on Christmas presents.  Now, there isn’t a whole lot I care about this week and in fact, there is only one.  Some of the other might get a listen sooner or later.  Have a great day and let me know what you are interested in hearing.  Mine is in Blue.

  • 61WAzq7sdaL._AC_US320_QL65_.jpg   Def Leppard – The Story So Far – (Virgin EMI/Mercury):  Def Leppard is bringing yet another greatest hits release.  Just what we needed, right?  Well….not really.  However, that doesn’t stop me from buying it.  I have it on pre-order for the vinyl so I can’t get the 7″ Single of their Depeche Mode cover of “Personal Jesus”.  Yes, I am becoming a completist with Def Leppard.  Anyway, this is a pretty complete greatest hits package and not a bad one to get if you don’t have on yet.  Enjoy!!

  • 31Ncg-T41kL._SS500  The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships – (Dirty Hit / Polydor / Interscope)
  • 91CRBGCU3QL._AC_UL115_  Neil Young – Songs for Judy – (Shakey Pictures Records)

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The Greta Van Fleet CD Giveaway! WINNER!!!

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If you remember, a few weeks ago I held a contest giving away the debut album from Greta Van Fleet, Anthem of the Peaceful Army.  Well, I forgot to come back and announce the winner.

The Winner was Alex Bolbat from the fine city of Moscow of the Russian Federation.  Congratulations to Alex as the CD has been shipped (might take awhile to get there).  Thanks to everyone that participated and maybe I will do it again sometime.

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Until next time, have a great day!!

Generation X – ‘Valley of the Dolls’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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After the moderate success of their debut album, the band went in to record their sophomore album with famed musician and producer, Ian Hunter.  Yes, the Ian Hunter from Mott the Hoople.  The album would come out just a few months later in January 1979.  Before the album was released, the record company, Chrysalis, came to the band and basically told them, the album better succeed or they were to be dropped from the label…no pressure.

The album was quite different than the first album.  It had some of the punk sound from the first album, but there were elements of some glam (thanks to Ian) and even more of an American sound ala Springsteen (or at least what they felt was like Springsteen). The songs were a little more complex than the first album and the writing was more mature, but I am not sure it was good yet.

The two writing contributors were Billy Idol and Tony James so everything was based around what they wanted.  Heck, in fact when promoting the debut album, it was only Billy sent to America to promote it.  That started putting thoughts in Billy’s head about what he could do on his own. However, on this album, most of the influence on the album seem to be coming from Tony (he even picked the producer).  It was the start of things to come.

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A Star is Born – Soundtrack – Album Review

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I bought this on a 2LP Deluxe Edition vinyl for my daughter the week before it was actually released.  Not sure how we were able to do that, but there it was so we bought it.  I have to say it is one sensational package as you get a lot for your money which isn’t always the case. There are 34 tracks, but only 19 actual songs (which is still a lot).  The other tracks are little snippets from the movie.  So without seeing the movie myself, I know the movie pretty well now as the soundtrack follows the storyline.

The movie stars Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga and follows the story of an aging country singer (Bradley) and he meets this young woman (Gaga) and loves her singing voice and her as it turns out.  Her star goes up while his falls and the movie tells the story of how that impacts their relationship.  I won’t spoil it for you.  The movie is also Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut.  Oh yeah, he sings and writes some of the songs too.  Impressive.

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The songs were written by both Bradley and Lady Gaga as well as contributions from many other artists include DJ White Shadow, Lukas Nelson, Mark Ronson, Jason Isbell, Diane Warren and Andrew Wyatt (Miike Snow) to just name a few.  I have to say, musically the album sounded great with some stellar session musicians taking the rein.

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My Sunday Song – “Not Ready To Make Nice” by the Dixie Chicks

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For My Sunday Song #119, I am going with “Not Ready to Make Nice” by the Dixie Chicks. The song was off their 2006 album ‘Taking the Long Way’.  The single was a Platinum selling song and reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 which is pretty great for a country song.

Back in 2003, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks made some comments during a show in London about then President George W. Bush and about the impending invasion of Iraq.  When word got back to the States, people were not happy with her or the band.  The band’s music was banned from Country radio and the band received death threats and all sorts of abuse.  So much for Free Speech!!

And I think things are worse with Free Speech now then they have ever been. You can’t say anything that someone else might disagree with or find offensive without being racked over the coals.  It is a scary time.  But that is for another conversation.

This single was released and the band let it be known their thoughts on the whole situation.  And let me tell you this was quite a Statement!!  What a great song.  It lays bare their thoughts and the troubles they faced during that time.  Natalie sings with such conviction and people loved it.  I guess time heals all wounds.  I was never a Dixie Chick fan until this song.  It made me respect them and their music.

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Friday New Releases – November 23rd

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Thanksgiving is over and it is now Black Friday!  And for that reason, the new release set is limited..very limited. I almost skipped it as a result, but I didn’t…you are welcome.  There are only 2releases I have on here and nothing I will run out and grab.  Maybe something for you.  I will keep it short and sweet…Have a great Friday and see you next Friday!

  • 51FZhbpLNGL._AC_US436_QL65_  Accept – Symphonic Terror: Live at Wacken 2017 – (Nuclear Blast)

  • 41B0YjHO7ZL._SS500  Rita Ora – Phoenix – (Atlantic Records)

Lifehouse – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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Lifehouse started in 1996 as the band Blyss.  This was while they were in high school and by 1998, the recorded a bunch of Demos.  In 2000, the band went back and re-recorded 12 of the 15 original demos and those demos became their debut album, ‘No Name Face’.  Apparently, they decided to change the band name for this release to Lifehouse because the songs were about lead singer, Jason Wade’s life and other people’s life.  The name  was believed to be a good fit to encompass all that.

The band would go on to release 7 studio albums between 2000 and 2015.  They have had their ups and downs as a band, they have had hits, been popular and not so popular and have taken the typical roller coaster of success.  I have followed the band from the debut album all the way to today and still one of my favorites even if I haven’t liked everything they have done.  But there is more that I like than I don’t like and that is what matters.

I am going to go through all 7 albums and tell you what I like and don’t like about each as well as rank them from the Worst album to their #1 album in my book.  If you are not familiar with them, I hope this will spark an interest and you will give them a try.

WORST – STANLEY CLIMBFALL (2002)

After the success of the band’s debut, their sophomore release was a rather big disappointment for me.  It wasn’t all bad as there were some great songs such as “Spin”, “Wash” and “Take Me Away”.  Heck, the album sold 2 million copies so people liked it. It was a heavier rock sound then the first album and normally that is a good thing for me.

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Aldo Nova – ‘Aldo Nova 2.0’ – Album Review

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Aldo Nova is back after 21 years since his last studio album, ‘Nova’s Dream’.  And it has been way too long in my opinion.  I discovered Aldo’s music back in the very early 80’s with his song and video for “Fantasy” and I have every album he has put out (I haven’t bought this one…yet!).  When I heard he was releasing a new album I was so excited. I was thinking Steve Perry and Aldo Nova back after all this time, life is good.

Well, then I heard the album was a re-imagining of a handful of songs from his debut album, ‘Aldo Nova’, including “Fantasy”.  There was going to be one new song, but I was a little worried about the ‘re-imagining’ part.  It worked so well for Bon Jovi with that piece of shit album called ‘This Left Feels Right’.  I was not a fan of that obviously.

Aldo redoing songs from such a classic album (classic to me) was like George Lucas redoing the original Star Wars Trilogy and adding all that unwanted and unnecessary crap into it that it was so stupid. And guess what, the redoing of all these songs is just that.  He added so many electronic effects and extra guitar parts that I feel it took away from the heart of the songs.

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