Welcome to a new series I have on YouTube called Retro Rock Reviews. Each week, we are going to pick an album and do a quick review. They won’t be long shows, something quick and fun to get you through your day. For Episode 2, we are tackling the ever interesting Frank Zappa and his album ‘Hot Rats’. Released on October 10, 1969, it was an album and artist I was always afraid to tackle because he is…let’s say…different. It is outside my comfort zone. But I tackled it and here is my review. Enjoy!
So go check it out as it is live now on August 15, 2024 at Noon.…because why not!! Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
There was a TV show that talked about all the Classic Albums and Def Leppard were given one of those treatments. It was released on UK TV on May 27, 2002 and didn’t hit the States until August 27th, 2002. It had interviews from pretty much everyone involved. New interviews for the current band members and older ones for Mutt and Steve Clark. The band’s managers were interviewed as well as Ross Halfin, Jeff Rich and Rolling Stone’s David Fricke.
It kicks off with the band talking about moving to Dublin and the first song they started working on which was ‘Animal’. It took them 3 years to complete and get it right. It became the first single in the U.K. and finally gave the band their first hit in their home country.
They were in Dublin with Mutt Lange writing songs, but Mutt couldn’t commit to it as he was busy with another project. So, on to another producer. Jim Steinman was the first producer and Joe said Jim was a songwriter not necessarily a producer. The band did not agree with him ever. Jim wanted to capture the moment while the band was so used to Mutt and they wanted it to be perfect. They ended up paying Jim off for him to leave and they paid him a lot of money.
They then went to Nigel Green who was the engineer for Mutt, but he wasn’t Mutt. But around that time, Rick Allen had his tragic car crash where he lost his arm. They didn’t go in to detail of that until later in the show. This about the time Mutt finally came back in the fold and decided to produce the album. The work could seriously begin.
This week we explore one of my favorite bands of the 2000’s and that is Shinedown. We will go through all their albums on vinyl and at the end, I will rank from least favorite all the way up to my favorite one. We even have one Shinedown adjacent album to talk about. So get ready to see what Brent Smith and boys have given us so far. I hope you enjoy!!
So go check it out as it is live now on August 5, 2024 at 8 p.m! Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
We are now on the band’s third live album. They had a great idea with this one. At a very exclusive listening party for their current album, ‘This House is Not For Sale’, the band played every song from the new album, basically, in the same order as the album. They played 15 tracks which is the number of tracks on the Deluxe Edition, however, there are 21 tracks available if you count Japanese and International releases as well as the Target and WalMart ones too. A lot of songs if you have to have them all, I don’t have them all…someday maybe.
The show was at the London Palladium and was recorded on October 10, 2016 and released on December 16, 2016. The full band was there including Jon Bon Jovi, Tico Torres, David Bryan, Phil X, Hugh McDonald and even John Shanks and Everett Bradley who are both official members now and even pictured on the album jacket for the new album, ‘Forever’. The band was in fine form, Jon’s vocals were perfection and the show went off without a hitch…I think.
Jon comes out and welcomes everyone and says his name is Bruce Forsyth. If you don’t know, he is an English entertainer and television presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series Sunday Night at the London Palladium. Now his joke makes sense. Oh, and it is Sir Bruce Forsyth. When David (I think it was David), tells him it isn’t Sunday Night and he isn’t Bruce Forsyth, Jon says who he really is, the crowd screams and the band goes in to “This House is Not For Sale”. I am always wanting live versions of songs and the fact you get all of them live is really cool.
On November 21, 2006, Kiss and their label released the first collection of all the Alive! albums in the band’s catalog. It was called Kiss Alive! 1975-2000. I really great idea to get them all in one set. And what makes this special is that it is the first release of what was supposed to be Kiss Alive IV, Alive! The Millennium Concert from 2000. Their label got swallowed up and it was shelved. As you now know, ‘Symphony’ was released as Alive IV.
The Box Set had four CDs, one for each show, ‘Alive!’, ‘Alive II’, ‘Alive III’ and Alive! The Milllennium Concert’. There are also a couple of bonus tracks included in the set. The set came in a multi-layered cardboard fold out box and there was a cool feature. Each CD was housed in a the normal plastic shell, but behind each disc, was a live shot from each of the respective shows. The set also included a 72-page booklet.
DISC 1:
‘ALIVE!’ (1975)
‘Alive!’ was recorded over four stops on the Dressed to Kill Tour. You had May 16 at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan, naturally; June 21 at Cleveland Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio; July 20 at RKO Orpheum Theater in Davenport, Iowa; and July 23 at Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood, New Jersey. With four shows recorded, they could piece together a perfect live album…well…maybe not!
On YouTube right now, Grant’s Rock Warehaus had me on as a guest and we talked the I.R.S. Years for the band The Alarm. I love the I.R.S. Years of the band and they were one of my favorite bands of the 80’s. I mean who’s talking about The Alarm!! We are so join Grant and myself as we spread the love of this band.
The Alarm, hailing from Wales, burst onto the scene in the early ’80s with a powerful blend of punk rock energy and anthemic, socially conscious lyrics. Fronted by Mike Peters, the band quickly gained attention with their passionate performances and songs like “68 Guns” and “Strength.” Their music, often characterized by ringing guitars and a distinctive mix of punk, rock, and folk influences, resonated with fans looking for both substance and style. Over the years, The Alarm has remained a beloved band, known for their resilience and Peters’ commitment to using music as a force for change.
For me, thankfully this is a slow week, but there are still over 30 releases on here so I am hoping there will be something for you. I need a break, you…you can spend all your money if you want to do that on some new music. I encourage it. Let me know what you want to hear this week or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
Amos Lee – Transmissions – (Hoagiemouth Records / Thirty Tigers)
The Cure – Acoustic Hits – (Rhino Entertainment / Fiction Records)
King Gizzard And the Wizard Lizard – Flight b741 – (p(doom) Records)
Welcome to a new series I have on YouTube called Retro Rock Reviews. Each week, we are going to pick an album and do a quick review. They won’t be long shows, something quick and fun to get you through your day. For the first episode, I am going to do a review of George Harrison’s debut solo album ‘All Things Must Pass’. I reviewed it years ago for the site and thought it would be fun to do that one as my first episode for the new series. I hope you enjoy it…oh yeah…since the original series on YouTube is called ‘The Collection’…these reviews will only be albums in my collection…makes sense!
So go check it out as it is live now on August 8, 2024 at Noon.…because why not!! Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
It is 2002 and the sound on the radio is now very different. Pop bands rule the world. Heck, even Bon Jovi had turned more to a Pop band with an album called ‘Crush’. Def Leppard chased the trend with this album and have moved completely away from their known rock sound to a more melodic pop record. They even brought some of the Swedish pop writers to help like Andrew Carlsson and Max Martin. Also included in on the writing was famed writer Marti Frederiksen who had worked with Aerosmith on the song “Jaded”. Phil remembers hearing this song and wanting Leppard to have a song like that. All these changes are huge and we probably thought this is not an album we were expecting from the band, but as it turns out, it was one we needed.
The album ‘X’, (or Ten), is the band’s 8th studio album, but its 10th album release if you count ‘Retro Active’ and ‘Vault’. The album was released on July 30, 2002, but only reached #11 on the Billboard charts. The album had 3 singles and never did well on the charts, I don’t remember hearing them on the radio. Heck, ‘X’ didn’t even get certified anything by RIAA…might be the first album of theirs to not get at least Gold. This album was a big change in more ways than one.
There wass one constant with Def Leppard and that was the line-up. It was still Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Rick Savage, Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell. 10 years with this line-up and we are now 12 years after this and they are still the same line-up. Kudos to them. Maybe the band was in a good place at this time because this does seem like a happier album at times. I have even heard this album called the ‘Love Album’ as it has a lot of ballads and a lot of pop songs. I don’t have a problem with them doing a pop album…even Kiss did with ‘Unmasked’ and I like that album. So why not Def Leppard. Is this as bad as everyone says it is…maybe I’m the contrarian here, but I think it is awesome. I am a huge pop music fan, so this satisfies that side of my taste quite nicely. Let’s get in to it.
The first track and single off the album is the song called “Now”. The song was written by the band with the help of Marti Frederiksen who we mentioned earlier. If Phil wanted a song like “Jaded” with the classy, perfect production, well, he got it. “Now” is as slick of production as it comes. The opening acoustic guitars, the beautifully lush keyboards, a crazy cool bassline and a great snare beat, “Now” opens as great as any song they’ve done and when that chorus hits, the song is huge, with delicious harmonies and a great energy that drives the song. There is a rock element to the song, but let’s be honest, it is pop in all its glory. It is modern, but still has the Leppard tone to it that shows the band is still in there somewhere.
Last week, Aerosmith announced their retirement from touring. To honor the band, I figured why not go through their vinyl I have in my collection. From the 1973 debut album up to the more recent Record Store Day live album, let’s walk through the albums from one of the greatest bands of all time. Come join the fun.
So go check it out as it is live now on August 5, 2024 at 8 p.m.…because why not!! Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
Amos Lee – Transmissions – (Hoagiemouth Records / Thirty Tigers)
The Cure – Acoustic Hits – (Rhino Entertainment / Fiction Records)
King Gizzard And the Wizard Lizard – Flight b741 – (p(doom) Records)
2 Loud 2 Old Music 