Def Leppard is my all time favorite band. I have everything they have ever put out musically for both albums and DVDs. I have seen them in concert at least 6 times, but I hate I missed their Las Vegas Viva Hysteria show (have it on DVD though but not the same).
They have 2 Diamond Albums (sold more than 10 million copies) – Pyromania and Hysteria. I don’t think there are many bands that can say they even have one. Everyone loves their songs “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Photograph” and I certainly do as well.
However, the reason I am a fan is because their non-single songs. They can be just as good or even better than their singles. We are going to dive into their Deep Cuts and I will let you know what I find to be their best Non-Singles. I hope you enjoy.
Another week and a ton of new releases. I will never be able to listen to them all, but there are several I am looking forward to giving a spin. I will bold in blue the ones I will definitely be listening to over the next week.
Sick Puppies – Fury – I have been a fan of Sick Puppies since their album Dressed Up As Life. They have put out some great hard rock albums. I am not sure what we will get with this album as they have a new lead singer. That is usually not a good sign and most of the time the magic is gone and the bands can fade away. I will give it a listen and try to keep an open mind.
Okay, this isn’t much of a throwback considering this album came out last year. However, my site didn’t exist at that time and I want to talk about how great this album is. And I mean GREAT!!
James Bay is a shining light in today’s bubblegum pop crap that stinks up the radio. He is the hope of the future of music. The true talent of all the oversaturated one-hit wonders that music companies force-feed us on a daily basis. Maybe I am overstating it a little, but the young man is talented.
I think what I am so excited about is the potential this young man has in his craft. He is only 25 years old and you can see the talent and thinking about what he could create over the next 20 years makes me smile. Now the music company doesn’t need to screw it up. They need to develop him as an artist and mold him a long & lasting career. Don’t demand hits, give him the room to create them and grow as a musician.
I had to do a second Music is Magic Playlist because there were so many songs from the 60’s-80’s that I didn’t get any for the 90’s – 10’s (You can see Music is Magic Part 1 here).
I don’t feel the ones from the 90’s – 10’s are as good or popular as the previous years, but there are some great songs. It does give you a glimpse at how music has changed over the decades.
Train holds a very special place in my heart. Mainly due to the fact it is the one band my wife and I enjoy together. We have seen them in concert at least 4 or 5 times and twice we took our kids. For my wife and I, there is just something special about their songs and their music.
We like them so much we even paid for the Meet & Greet on one of their tours as an anniversary present for ourselves. They were extremely pleasant and gracious. If you haven’t seen them live, you must. Pat Monahan is a great frontman as he is energetic, funny and he makes you feel like you are part of the show.
We also like them because my brother-in-law was the recording engineer on their Drops of Jupiter album for which he received a Grammy nomination (he didn’t win). Maybe I can get him to tell us about that experience for another time.
If you don’t believe magic is real, you haven’t really listened to music. Music can instantly change your mood. It can even let you travel through time by taking you back to a special memory. Music can make you laugh, make you cry and make you feel so many different things. It can make you dance and soothe your soul.
If that is not magical, then I don’t know what is. In honor of all that, here are my favorite “magical” songs. Sadly, there are so many songs to choose from, I ended up with a list that only covered the ’60’s – ’80’s. I have to do another list for the ’90’s-’10’s.
When I took my daughter to see Tori Kelly (check out review here), the opening act was Thirdstory. I would describe them as 3 guys, who can harmonize, whose voices will surprise (hey – that rhymes!). They have such a smooth sound and are amazing live.
We walked out of after the show commenting on how great they sounded. Listening to a band live tells you how good they really are and these guys can sing. Their harmonies were amazing and the notes they can hit gave me chills. On a side note, their tour drummer was a monster. He added so much to their sound and made it that much more enjoyable for me.
The band consists of Elliott Skinner, Richard Saunders and Ben Lusher and they currently live in New York. Yesterday, they released a 3 song EP called Searching (The Verve Music Group). I only knew about it because my daughter texted me while I was at work telling me that it was out and I should listen to it. She even supplied a link. Well, I did that on the way home.
After four consecutive listens in a row, I knew that these guys might be on to something special. If you just want to listen to good music with great stories and great vocals, then check it out.
Track List
“Searching for a Feeling” – A nice introduction to the band and what to expect from their sound. Just solid, smooth vocals and heartfelt songs.
“G Train” – My favorite of the 3. If I remember from the concert, this one is about their life in New York. This one sounded awesome live. You can tell this song means a lot to the band.
“Grows Old” – This is a slow song and towards the end builds up to a sonic boom of vocal harmonies that take this song over the top (at least it felt that way in the car with the volume turned way up).
Their full album drops in the Fall and is produced by Frank Ocean & Zayn (yes, the former One Direction star). I will be picking the album up when it comes out. Check them out on Facebookand Twitter.
There are a ton of new releases today. But most of them I am just so, so about. Hopefully there are some on here you like and maybe some you might try just for fun.
These are the ones I am interested in listening to either because I am a fan or just out of curiosity. However, since there are so many it could be a long while before I get around to hearing some of these. I will bold in blue the ones I will definitely be listening to over the next week.
Meghan Trainor – Thank You – (Epic) – My kids like listening to her and her first single “No” was actually kind of catchy. Idoubt there is anythign on here that my kids can’t listen to but I will listen to it anyway just to make sure.
Scorpions first album came out in 1972. 35 years later in 2007 they did something I never expected. They released an album that for me was a big surprise. This is not the typical Scorpions album you are used to hearing. They made an album that sounded like a modern rock album but there is still the Scorpions sound. After their last few albums, my expectations were low as they I feel they have struggled to find themselves since the mid-90’s.
The album is different than their other albums as it is a concept album. Per the band’s website:
Humanity: Hour 1 is a concept album based on a loose storyline by Desmond Child and futurist Liam Carl, which predicts a world torn apart by a civil war between humans and robots. This apocalyptic nightmare serves as a warning shot to all humanity, whose only hope of survival is to reclaim our humanity.
I am finally getting around to reviewing the fourth album from Sixx:A.M. – Prayers for the Damned on Eleven Seven Music. I have to live with an album for a few weeks before I can accurately determine what I like and what I don’t about an album. I can say there is not much I don’t like about this album.
Prayers for the Damned is the best Sixx:A.M. album to date. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I thought Sixx:A.M. was going to be a one-off project for Nikki Sixx and now I see that they are for real. You think I would have caught on after the second album or even the third. I guess it helps that Motley Crue is no more so that makes me feel this is no longer a side project as well.
The band consists of Nikki Sixx, DJ Ashba, James Michael, and new drummer Dustin Steinke. I feel they are clicking so well as a band on this album and it shows in the quality of the songs and the tone of the album. The songs are pieced together nicely and the flow of the whole album works with just minor hiccups.