My Sunday Song – “Who Can It Be Now?” by Men At Work

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For My Sunday Song #114, we will discuss the song “Who Can’t It Be Now” by Men at Work.  The song was off the Australian band’s debut album ‘Business as Usual’ and went all the way to #1 in the US Billboard chart thanks in large part to MTV.  MTV didn’t have a ton of videos around 1982 and this would was in constant rotation as a result.

The song is so recognizable when the first note of the Greg Ham’s saxophone kicks in.  The sax is the better than a guitar riff in this case.  Originally the saxophones was only played in the middle of the song, but the record producer felt it was such a great hook that it should be the main musical focus of the song.  And I would say he was correct.

The song was written by singer Colin Hay and was about a place he lived in St. Kilda, Victoria.  The apartment complex at the time was in a shady part of town and all these scary figures would be around.  Someone was selling drugs on his floor and would mistakenly knock on his door and that might have frightened him a little based on the lyrics in this song.

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Friday New Releases – October 19th

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Welcome to a HUGE Friday!!!  There releases are massive and numerous. What more could you ask for.  This is the first time in a very long time where I have 3 releases that are on order for the same day.  I am going to love the mail man this week.  The albums I am interested in are highlighted in Blue and the first 3 are the ones on order.  Let me know what you looking forward to hearing and which ones I might have missed.  Enjoy and have a great musical weekend!  I know I will!!!

  • 81PZVtcGBVL._SX522_  Greta Van Fleet – Anthem of the Peaceful Man – (Republic Records):  These young lads are constantly getting compared to Led Zeppelin and you know what?  Who cares.  Zeppelin isn’t putting out any new music so I am going to enjoy this.  At least the young generation is still making Rock & Roll.  This is their first Full Length studio album and I get wait to unwrap the vinyl.

  • 51EQXYr3IZL._AC_US436_QL65_  Whitesnake – Unzipped – (Rhino Records):  5 CDs and 1 DVD of Whitesnake Unplugged.  20 years worth of music including Starkers in Tokyo and Starkers in Warsaw, Paris, Germany and so much music.  I can’t wait for this one either.  It is going to be non-stop music.

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Matt Nathanson – ‘Sings His Sad Heart’ – Album Review

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Matt Nathanson is one of my all time favorite singers and songwriters, no doubt.  If I had to list my Top 10 Bands or Artists, Matt would be there along with Kiss and Def Leppard (if you follow me, you know I love those two bands so that is high praise).  Why do I love him and his music so much?  Well, this album is a shining example of why.

Speaking of the album, this album took a long journey.  No, not Matt writing and recording it.  A literal long journey.  The album was shipped Friday October 5th (the day of release) from Nashville, Tennessee.  It stated it would not be to me until Thursday, October 11th which I thought was strange as North Carolina is not that far from Tennessee (well not really far). When I looked up the tracking #, the package suddenly appeared in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Now I am not great on geography, but San Juan isn’t anywhere near North Carolina the last time I checked and doesn’t seem the normal traffic route for a package.  Needless to say, it din’t arrive by the 11th as stated.  The USPS finally corrected themselves and I did receive it on Saturday, October 13th. It could be worse, I might not have ever received it.

‘Sings His Sad Heart’ is exactly that.  An album of songs that are about “loss”.  Sounds depressing, right?  It is far from it.  Matt’s pop sensibility is second to none.  He can write an album chock full of catchy tunes that stay with you and never leave.  His mixture of that pop sound with folk and rock blends so nicely together that his music makes you feel like you have known the songs and the album your whole life.

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Alice Cooper – Concert Review (Charlotte, NC 10-9-2018)

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Ok, I am in no means an Alice Cooper aficionado, I am a casual fan at best.  However, I have always wanted to see Alice live, but never actually went.  Well, as I am getting older and so is Alice, I realized that we won’t be around much longer and I better go see him while I am still around and so is he.  So after my pal Deke went and wrote about it at Thunder Bay Arena Rock, he convinced me to finally do it.  And let me tell you, I am so glad I did.

Now, if you want better pictures go to Deke’s blog as he had front row I believe.  I wasn’t so lucky and I am too cheap!  But I did get pictures and they suck because my phone sucks.  So I apologize up front for that.

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My wife decided to join me on this concert experience and I am glad she did as it made the night that much more special that she was with me.  Plus, it is nice any time we get a date night.  No kids!!!

Now my wife is a little height challenged so she had trouble seeing. Me, I am 6’2″ so I had only minor issues as the guy in front of me was a little taller than me.  But that is okay, I got to see most everything.  Okay enough about that, let’s get to the show.

The show opened with Alice’s voice welcomes you to the nightmare and the band comes exploding out with “Brutal Planet” which was such a great opening song and there was no holding back.  Alice comes strolling out with this coat and cane and never has a 70 year old man looked so cool!!  He owns the stage and has such presence that you are completely drawn to him.  And the way he swings that cane around, those band members better not be standing close or they will get knocked on their ass.  Hell, Alice swung the cane so hard against a speaker that the damn cane broke.

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My Sunday Song – “The Joker” by Steve Miller Band

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My Sunday Song #113 is “The Joker” by the Steve Miller Band.  The song was released in 1973 and appeared on the album ‘The Joker’.  The song did really well for Steve and the band as it went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 110 chart.  It is probably the highest pot smoking song ever charted.

The song has this slow, laid back groove that is so cool and relaxing thanks to his stellar rhythm section of Gerald Johnson on Bass and John King on drums.  The slide guitar by Steve brings this really interesting feel to the song and when he does the wolf whistle on it, damn, it is just fantastic.  It really does feel like a stoner song and I don’t even smoke it, but if I did this song would be playing for sure.

However, the lyrics are king here. The song is famous for it’s pot reference for the chorus that goes…

“I’m a joker
I’m a smoker
I’m a midnight toker”

How could you not sing along to that.

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Friday New Releases – October 12th

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Welcome to another Friday of music new releases.  There are a bunch to choose from, but sadly I am not real thrilled about any of them.  That is probably a good thing since I had so many from last week that I am still enjoying.  There is one I will listen to out of the bunch (highlighted in Blue) and the rest who knows if they will ever find the playlist.  Hopefully with all to choose from, there is something that you will gravitate towards. Let me know what interests you are doesn’t.  Thanks and have a great weekend!!

  • 51DBuL6UKqL._AC_US436_QL65_  Tobymac – The Elements – (Forefront Records):  Tobymac has always proven to me he is a talented artists whether it was with DC Talk or his solo works.  The mixture of hip-hop, pop and rock is always a great combination.  He spreads the word and makes it an enjoyable experience.  This will be the only album this week that is a must listen, the rest…ehh!.

  • 614qJEKidaL._AC_US436_QL65_  Live – Local 717 E.P. – (Kalvary Records):  It has been awhile since any new Live material and it is much needed.  I heard the song below and was intrigued.  This might be first up for the day.

  • 51pFKgIYAtL._SY300_QL70_  Elvis Costello & the Imposters – Look Now – (Concord Records)

  • 413OeeqtLUL.jpg  Tom Morello – The Atlas Underground – (Comandante): This one might get a listen…this song is pretty good.

  • 51uS3scxmmL._AC_US436_QL65_  Kurt Vile – Bottle It In – (Matador):  Okay, maybe this one too.

  • 61K5jDNoQFL._AC_UL115_.jpg  David Bowie – Loving the Alien 1983-1988 (11 CD Set) – (Rhino)
  • 61cLx3dyPoL._AC_US320_QL65_  Blues Traveler – Hurry Up & Hang Around – (BT Recordings)
  • 81MY6RPdsAL._SX522_.jpg  Evanescence – Synthesis Live – (Eagle Rock Entertainment)
  • 81GSD64tv0L._SX522_  Nazareth – Tattooed on my Brain – (Frontiers Record)
  • 51BqXIWsX0L._AC_US436_QL65_  Seventh Wonder – Tiara – (Frontiers Record)
  • 81pOu3lDOCL._SX522_.jpg  Imperllitteri – The Nature of the Beast – (Frontiers Record)
  • 71gM8z8h7QL._SX522_  City of Thieves – Beast Reality – (Frontiers Record)
  • 71sWDhwaRML._SX522_  Creye – Creye – (Frontiers Record)
  • 81mu9XvjxML._AC_UL115_  Eric Clapton – Happy Xmas – (Bushbranch/Surfdog)
  • 41cGdmvrV0L._SS500  Young the Giant – Mirror Master – (Elektra)
  • 512S+VNZwlL._AC_US436_QL65_  Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Rocket – (Verve Forecast)
  • 71NkozUUzaL._AC_UL115_.jpg  Graham Parker – Cloud Symbols – (100% Records)
  • 81fgAt+w9vL._SX522_  Atreyu – In Our Wake – (Spinefarm Records)
  • 51JfdCwUb4L._AC_US436_QL65_  John Hiatt – The Eclipse Sessions – (New West Records)

Ratt – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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For most of 2018, I have been reviewing all the Ratt albums from the Ratt E.P. in 1983 all the way to 2010’s Infestation. It has been an enjoyable ride walking through the history of the band, all the ups and the downs, the good and the bad and loving every minute of it (wait that is Loverboy)…and loving watching the wax or cd spinning round and round (much better).

Ratt has been a love/hate relationship.  While I love most of what they do, they don’t always deliver the goods and I tried to be as honest as I could be throughout the review processes.  I believe I was brutal where I needed to be and kissed their ass when it deserved it as well.  I hear they band is planning a new album in 2019 and when it comes I will review it in detail like the others and I will update this list and put it where it belongs among the classics or the crap.

You can go back and read each review in detail by just clicking on the album title.  This ranking will be just a summary of the good and bad of each album.  I hope you enjoy.

THE WORST – RATT (1999):

The hardest review of them all to write. I couldn’t connect to this album when it came out or even now.  The production quality was horrible; Stephen’s vocals needed some cleanup and weren’t always up to par; the double guitar of Ratt of old was gone and so the songs were missing that punch; and overall it was just bad.

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Ratt – ‘Infestation’ – Album Review

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After the album ‘Ratt (1999), the band had a very troubled time.  Stephen Pearcy left the band (again) and started his own band that eventually tried to use the Ratt name, but the other members sued and won.  The remaining Ratt members continued on as a band…or at least made several attempts with many line-up changes.

In 2000, the current Ratt was Warren DeMartini, Bobby Blotzer, Robbie Crane, John Corabi (Motley Crue) and Robert Mason.  Robert was brought on as lead singer, but left shortly after when the band couldn’t get a major label deal.  That brought on Jizzy Pearl at lead vocals.  This would remain the band until at least 2006.

In 2002, the band and fans were delivered some bad news.  Original guitarist, Robbin Crosby, passed away from a Heroin overdose.  He had long battled  with addiction and it finally grabbed hold for good.  Robbin has also been battling HIV, but the drugs got to him first.  Any hopes of the original band getting back together were quickly dashed.

In 2006, Jizzy would leave and Stephen Pearcy rejoined the band.  Then 2 years later, John Corabi would leave and he was replaced by Carlos Carvazo from Quiet Riot.  The line-up was now complete for the next album…whew, that was exhausting.  Wait, where is Juan Croucier?  He was out doing his own thing.  He comes back to the band, but not for many years.

Finally, in April 2010, Ratt released their seventh studio album called ‘Infestation’.  It had been over 10 years since the last album and with all the line-up changes and the fact the last album was so bad, my expectations for this release were pretty low.

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My Sunday Song – “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman

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For My Sunday Song #112, I am going to talk about “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman.  Released on April 6th, 1988, and on her self-titled album, “Fast Car” was a massive hit reaching all the way to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.  I remember seeing the video on MTV and thinking what an amazing and beautiful song.  It was not like anything else on the radio at the time.

The song is an acoustical track with just Tracy, an acoustic guitar and some percussion.  Tracy is a folk pop or folk rock singer and her haunting vocals are so impactful and heartfelt that you believe the hardships this person is facing.  It was her vocals performance that made me fall in love with this song (and this album).  It was the most honest performance from I song I had heard on the radio at that time.  It made me think, if she could write such a powerful song, what else can she write about.  And the album doesn’t disappoint.

The song is about a young woman who has grown up with a very rough life.  Her dad is an alcoholic and her mom left them.  She had to quit school to take care of her dad and they were very poor.  She has a boyfriend and she dreams about taking a fast car and driving to the city and starting over and having a better life in the city.  Sadly, her boyfriend is a drunk just like her dad and she can’t break free from the hold poverty has on her world.  Such a sad song and story, yet it is so beautiful.

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Friday New Releases – October 5th

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Welcome to October.  Halloween decorations will start going up and Fall should be arriving soon…well I am in the South so I guess we don’t get Fall weather until Christmas.  The new releases are still coming fast & furious (great title for a movie franchise…I wonder if it has been done).  There are two releases from 2 of my favorite singer songwriters and there are just so many to choose you should be able to find something.  My choices are in Blue.  Let me know what interests your or I am missing anything so people will know.

  • 91OE1mUg7jL._SX522_  Matt Nathanson – Sings His Sad Heart – (Acrobat Records):  Matt Nathanson, what can I say.  He is one of my favorite Singer-Songwriters out there today.  I have seen him live 3 times (all is an opener…I need to see him as a headliner).  This album will be there when I get home on vinyl along with his Def Leppard Cover E.P. on vinyl as well.  This will consume most of my listening this weekend.  His lyrics are insightful at times, quirky, funny and sometimes damn near brilliant.  I can’t say enough good things.  Damn…I hope I haven’t built him up too much to disappoint…nah..can’t happen.

  • 81Hjd0GYwOL._AC_UL115_  Steve Perry – Traces – (Fantasy): The legendary Journey singer is back with his first album in over 20 years and I could not be more excited.  I can’t say I am a huge fan of what I have heard so far, but that doesn’t matter.  Any new music by this man is welcomed and will be listened to for time to come.

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