Welcome to the first Friday New Release post of 2025. There are not a lot this week, but some really big names so hopefully something for you. Me…I’m Tremonti and Franz Ferdinand all the way!! Let me know what you want to hear or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and get ready for another year of Friday New Releases!!!
Tremonti – The End Will Show Us How – (Napalm Records)
Franz Ferdinand – The Human Fear – (Domino Record Co.)
Ringo Starr – Look Up – (Lost Highway Records / Rockabella / UMG Recordings)
The Halo Effect – March of the Unheard – (Nuclear Blast)
Magnum – Live at KK’s Steel Mill – (Steamhammer)
Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers – (Sharptone)
Ben Barnes – Where the Light Gets In – (Ben Barnes)
Lambrini Girls – Who Let The Dogs Out – (City Slang)
Moonchild Sanelly – Full Moon – (Transgressive)
Krokofant – 6 – (Is It Jazz? Records)
Fynn Kliemann – Tod – (twoFinger Records)
Mon Rovîa – Act 4: Atonement – (Nettwerk Music Group)
Our local record store here, Noble Records, has its own record label. They released the album from Underground Fire a couple months back and now it is time for their second release. This time around, it is actually another North Carolina band called Dryewater. They were based out of Charlotte, North Carolina and the album originally came out back in 1974 which was called ‘Southpaw’. The band on that album was only together for around a year and consisted of Richard Drye on guitar and lead vocals plus his wife Shaye Drye on keyboards. That wasn’t all, you had Robert Blair on bass and Garland Walker Stidham on drums. The original album had only 500 copies and was mostly given away by the band so if you want a hard to find album, this is probably one of them.
Luckily for us, Noble Records contacted the remaining band members and obtained the license to distribute this album again. Once they obtained the rights, they needed a copy of the album to master and re-issue, but the problem was there was no master tape of the album. As a result, using a very clean copy of the vinyl, the did what you call a needledrop mix of the album. Test pressings were run and you could hear the album as it was originally released. And being the hardcore supporter I have been with Noble Records, Dillon was kind enough to give me one of the test pressings. This test pressing was back from September 18, 2023.
I note the date because after he received the test pressings and before it went to print, guess what happened. They found the master tapes from the recordings. And if that wasn’t all, they found an unreleased song and an extended version of one of the original songs that had not been released either. So, we now had two unreleased tracks. Lo and behold, the tapes were great and they were mastered for a new pressing. I bought one of the test pressings he had for this next run as well. This time around, the date was January 9, 2024.
As we end another month, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is December 2024 and we have lots of vinyl, CDs, cassettes and even books plus some music related items. So much to go through including another Noble Record Exclusive, Voice of America Archive Albums as well as another addition to the Rock Candy collection, the Kiss collection and Box Set collection. Lots of great albums to go though and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!
So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, January 6, 2025 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
Def Leppard are known for taking long gaps between albums, but this might the longest. It has been 7 years since the last studio album, the 2015, self-titled gem, ‘Def Leppard’. Now, the band is back with an album that pays tribute to the era of glam rock with the likes of David Bowie, T. Rex and so many more. In fact, the title of their 12th studio album, ‘Diamond Star Halos’, is taken from the T. Rex 1971 song, “Get It On”. This is something Joe Elliott has been exploring with his Down ‘N’ Outz side project, but now that has leaked in to the Def Leppard camp…well, not really, as it has always been there. As Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Rick Savage, Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell were all influenced by the great music of the 70’s.
‘Diamond Star Halos’ was released on May 27, 2022 and went all the way to #10 on the Billboard 200 album chart and even #5 in their UK home. Not a bad position for a band that have been around for over 40 years. And of course, I bought this album 4 times!! You read that right. I have the Target Exclusive vinyl with the yellow/red translucent vinyl and tarot card litho, but that is not all. I have 2 Japanese CDs as well. Why 2? Well, each one comes with 2 different bonus tracks so I had to have them both. And we don’t stop there. I even bought the cassette…yes, they put out a cassette with this one too. I had to have every format. Wait…hold the presses, I almost forgot. I also have the SDE Surround Sound version on Blu Ray and Dolby Atmos. So, I guess I have bought this album 5 times…yes, I have a problem.
Enough about my problems, let’s talk the album. It opens with the song “Take What You Want” which I swear is a throwback to ‘Pyromania’ era Leppard. I heavy rocker (well, as heavy as they get nowadays). Gang vocals, gritty riff, catchy chorus, it is all there. Then they glam it out with “Kick”. A poppy rock song that harkens back to T. Rex and Mott the Hoople. I admit, I like this one. Damn, is it catchy and gets stuck in your head.
“Fire It Up” cranks up the rock with some slamming riff, heavy bass from Sav and pounding drums from Allen. Joe almost raps the vocals and the chorus is layered with vocals as they are known to do. Their choruses are always huge. I have a love/hate with this one. Musically, killer…the rapping style lyrics, not so much.
On January 28, 2015, the Japanese Idol Band, Momoiro Clover Z, released their new single called Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mi Na” which translates to “Try to Bloom in a Dream about the Floating World“. Why would I be writing about a Japanese Ido band? Easily, they were able to get Kiss to take part in the song. The single is from Momoiro Clover Z’s album ‘Hakkin no Yoake’. The band even does a cover of the classic Kiss song “Rock And Roll All Nite”. And if that isn’t enough, Kiss does a version of the band’s single and it is called “Samurai Son”.
What is really cool about the single, is the artwork as it is simply stunning. “Floating World” which is part of the song’s title, is also a really cool style of Japanese Art. As you can see in the pictures, there are a lot of clouds and people floating in the air. It is very comic book style which suits Kiss perfectly. Being a Japanese release, you even get an insert in all Japanese writing and most of the writing on the cover is in Japanese. No Obi strip though. Still, cool packaging all around.
2025 is upon us and it is always fun anticipating what new albums will come out in the year. Since today would normally be a Friday New Release post, let’s look at the new releases coming our way in 2025. There are quite a few we already know about, but some haven’t been officially announced or even a date set yet.
Last year, there were a few artist I was hoping would release an album that might have or might not have released one. It is always fun to hope for new music from these bands, but sometimes there are disappointments. Here are the ones I was hoping to get new albums from last year and what actually happened…
Def Leppard – It is time for The Collection Vol. 4!! Come on boys, give it to us!! Or a new album…whichever you want. Well – we didn’t get a new album, but we got a new live album ‘One Night Only: Live at the Leadmill’ which was pretty great.
Kiss – I will keep this on the list until I die!! Time to start up more Soundboard LPs or another box set…give us something! Still nothing!! No new album, no more Soundboards LPs and not even a release of The Final Show from MSG…come on guys (or label) and hurry it up. Give us something other than Anniversary Editions with nothing new.
Guns ‘N Roses – Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!! Will we ever get a new album! – Still nothing…no new albums…more tour announcements. Honestly, I don’t really care anymore so what.
Aldo Nova – He keeps talking about a 2CD set for over 3 years and still nothing much, but will he get around to releasing the full Life & Times of Eddie Gage? I hope so. – Nothing at all from him in 2024 but live shows. Dude!! Where is the new music???
Bon Jovi – A new album WITH RICHIE SAMBORA!!! – No, no Richie album, but we got a new album with ‘Forever’ and it wasn’t half bad. Still waiting on that 40th Anniversary Box Set!!
Robbie Williams – Hey Robbie, time for a new pop album…no more Trance please!! – No new album but at the end of the year he released a Biopic with his character as a monkey. Movie will get a wide release in 2025 and a soundtrack…which is on order.
Okay, are there albums I want to see this year from some of my favorite bands that haven’t been announced or in some cases even rumored? Of course there are. These are the bands I want new albums from this year…but it might not happen.
Def Leppard – It is time for The Collection Vol. 4!! Come on boys, give it to us!! Or a new album…whichever you want.
Kiss – I will keep this on the list until I die!! Time to start up more Soundboard LPs or another box set…give us something! Even give us the Blu Ray of the final Kiss show that I was at, that would be awesome too!!
Guns ‘N Roses – Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!! Will we ever get a new album! Do we even care anymore? Not really, but I’ll keep on the list.
Aldo Nova – He keeps talking about a 2CD set for over 3 years and still nothing much, but will he get around to releasing the full Life & Times of Eddie Gage? I hope so.
Billy Idol – There are rumors of a new album and even Steve Stevens showed a test pressing..could it be??!!
Paul Laine – In 2024, there were rumors of a solo album and a full Jet City Junkies release…please…please…Give us both!!!
Creed – They had a massively successful tour in 2024 and it will continue in 2025…will there be new music? Oh, please say it will be so!
From what I have gathered around the internet, here are the bands that should have new albums out in 2025 or are rumored, but no dates announced yet. The ones I would give a try will be highlighted in Blue. The ones with Dates Announced are at the bottom of this post. The list is building up nicely!!
After the success of their self-titled E.P., Ratt signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and that deal brought us the incredible debut album ‘Out of the Cellar’. On March 27th, 1984, the album was released and thanks to MTV, the band became a huge sensation. And here we are over 40 years later with an Anniversary Edition of the album that even gives us one previously unreleased track. Now, it isn’t on the album if you got the vinyl per se but is with the CD version. The vinyl version instead received a 7″ Single with that song included which is called “Reach For The Sky” and if that sounds familiar, the band actually used it as an album title years later.
The band’s line-up was unchanged from the E.P, consisting of the following members:
Stephen Pearcy – vocals
Robbin Crosby – lead guitar
Warren DeMartini – lead guitar
Juan Croucier – bass
Bobby Blotzer – drums
With the incredible dual guitar combo of Crosby & DeMartini and the bluesy, raspiness of Pearcy’s vocals, the band had an arsenal of great songs that took them to the pinnacle of rock and selling millions and millions of records. It also didn’t hurt that they looked the part which was crucial for the MTV world that was exploding on the scene at the time.
Take that and add a beautiful woman on the cover your album and there was denying this band. Tawny Kitaen graced the cover of the debut album as she was the then girlfriend of Robin Crosby. She also graced the cover of their E.P. but that was just her beautiful legs. This time, you got the whole package. For those that didn’t know, Tawny is the video vixen that was dancing on the pair of Jaguars in the Whitesnake videos in the late 80’s when she was dating David Coverdale. With these new version, we get a new cover…sort of…this time is a lenticular cover with Tawny on it which sees the background change from the yellow fiery cover to a blue tinged background. And throw the music on a red & black splatter vinyl and it is one sweet package.
As we close out 2024, what were the things I liked the most that I obtained in the collection? That is a very good question that we will answer in this week’s video. We will talk new releases, live albums, reissues and the coolest stuff I think I found this year to add in to the collection. A whole bunch of stuff so check it out!!
Back in 2020, Record Store Day was spread out over several months due to this little thing called Covid. The pandemic slowed things down since people couldn’t gather in the same way we had in the past. But by October 20, 2020, this Record Store Day item was finally released. It was an E.P. from Down ‘N’ Outz that was created to compliment the release of their album ‘This is How We Roll’ which we reviewed a few weeks back. This limited edition release was called ‘The Music Box E.P.’ and was limited to only 1,500 copies. Thankfully, I grabbed one. It contains 4 tracks, one of which was previously unreleased. The other three were extended versions or different edits of tracks from the album.
Down ‘N’ Outz, for those that don’t remember, was a side project from Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott that was originally created as a tribute band to Mott the Hoople & Ian Hunter. It turned in to original songs with occasional covers. The rest of the band was Paul Guerin, Guy Griffin, Keith Weir, Phil Martini and Share Ross. It is a stellar line-up and a full of players that love their craft.
THAT SIDE:
This Side kicks off with an extended version of “Music Box” and the original version, I didn’t care for. It was a musical interlude that Joe had written back in 1978. He dusted it off and it turned it to more vaudeville. We have a fairground organ, a recorder, a bass drum and a harp. It is cute and all, but really adds nothing to the album in my opinion. A full flushed out song would’ve been better. I guess this is the full flushed out version. It still feels like a carnival, but much slower and not as lively. I guess these are the sad clowns. Like the original, this does nothing for me.
The next track is the explicit version of The Tube’s song “White Punks On Dope”. And what a killer track. It has the angst and energy of the original. I love the energy, the honky tonk piano, the blistering guitars and bombastic drums. And then there is Joe, he sounds great. Being the explicit version, the “F” word is used where it wasn’t in the original version they did. Ooohh!! So explicit…these virgin ears can’t take it!! (Sarcasm btw).
THIS SIDE:
That Side kicks off the another extended version and this one is the 2nd “Music Box” song from the original and is called “Music Box Reprise (Griff’s Lament)“. This is another brief musical interlude and like the original music box, does nothing for me or the album.
The final track is a Roxy Music cover of “Virginia Plain”. Now, I am not a fan of Roxy Music so I do not know this song at all. It is an upbeat rocker, with a fun little bounce to it (that doesn’t sound like Roxy Music to me). It sounds like a very glam era rocker and it isn’t too bad. Still doesn’t make me want to run out and
The collector in me had to have it, but honestly, I haven’t listened to it since i bought it originally. I only pulled it out for this review and that is enough. I don’t think I will ever listen to this again…sorry boys. The “Music Box” songs aren’t worth the time, and the original non-explicit version on the album of “White Punks On Dope” is fine with me if I listen to that album. The only reason to have this is Roxy Music’s “Virginia Plain” and it doesn’t move me enough to hear that again…probably. My Overall Score is a 1.0 out of 5.0 Stars as this is strictly for collector’s and completists.
NEXT UP: DEF LEPPARD – ‘DIAMOND STAR HALOS’ (2022)
Universal Music was spitting out Kiss compilations faster than Gene and Paul were badmouthing Ace & Peter. Man, that is fast. This time around, we get a German only compilation from 2012 that was only available at the retail store Rossman. It is a 2 CD set with 30 songs and a bonus track as well. But is it really a bonus track if this is the only version released. No vinyl, no cassette, only a CD. That to me seems like it is a 2 CD set with 31 songs. Maybe it is because all the songs on here are album cuts except for this 31st song…who knows. Regardless, cool to get this one in the collection and I love that it has the German Kiss logo with the different SS’s.
The songs are mostly focused on the 70’s with a small taste of anything from the 80’s and when I say small, I mean only like 4 songs out of the 31. But there are some cool choices on here that you don’t normally see on a Kiss compilation and being 2 CDs, gives you a great taste of the band especially if you like the 70’s.
CD 1:
The album kicks off with the song “Strutter”. The song was written by both Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons and over the years, this would be a rare experience as they would wind up writing songs by themselves. The music of the song was based off an old Gene song called “Stanley the Parrot” which was recorded even before there was a Wicked Lester.
Tremonti – The End Will Show Us How – (Napalm Records)
Franz Ferdinand – The Human Fear – (Domino Record Co.)
Ringo Starr – Look Up – (Lost Highway Records / Rockabella / UMG Recordings)
The Halo Effect – March of the Unheard – (Nuclear Blast)
Magnum – Live at KK’s Steel Mill – (Steamhammer)
Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers – (Sharptone)
Ben Barnes – Where the Light Gets In – (Ben Barnes)
Lambrini Girls – Who Let The Dogs Out – (City Slang)
Moonchild Sanelly – Full Moon – (Transgressive)
Krokofant – 6 – (Is It Jazz? Records)
Fynn Kliemann – Tod – (twoFinger Records)
Mon Rovîa – Act 4: Atonement – (Nettwerk Music Group)
2 Loud 2 Old Music 