My Sunday Song – “Weight Of The World” by Storm Force

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For My Sunday Song #395, we are on Mike’s next Japanese Only selection and this time around it is by the Canadian band Storm Force and it is from their fantastic album ‘Age of Fear’. The song is the “Weight of the World” and although not a single, it should’ve been on the album. I have the album on CD and my copy is missing this one, although it is autographed by the band. And that band is guitarist Greg Fraser, who Ladano has interviewed before, singer Patrick Gagliardi, drummer Brian Hamilton and bassist Mike Berardelli. And for those that don’t know, Greg is the guitarist for a band called Brighton Rock as well. Another killer band.

The song appears to be about someone under a great deal of pressure. They keep getting hit with one thing after another and the weight of it all is waving heavy on their soul. It gets to be so much they are having anxiety attacks as they are having trouble breathing. It is becoming too much to handle, but yet people keeping coming at you. I am sure he is not alone with that feeling. Now, the song came out in January 2020 and a couple months later Covid lockdowns occurred and I have a feeling this song would’ve been relatable to millions of people during that time.

The song opens with a wicked bass line from Mike Berardelli before the band joins in. Patrick’s vocals are the final piece to the puzzle and let me tell you he slays this one. He really digs deep and you almost feel like he is feeling the weight of the world. He is really the highlight for me as his vocals have just enough grit and yet silky smooth at the same time. He sounds so rock & roll here. Simply killer. That doesn’t mean the rest of the band doesn’t kill it either because when you have their talent, they make it seem so effortlessly. The final piece to the puzzle is Fraser’s solo and man does he deliver a great piece that really ties the song together. Simply wonderful song that should’ve been on the album everywhere. Now, I have to go buy the Japanese Edition to get this one song. Thanks Mike!!

Mike reviewed the album on his site and he had this to say about the song…“A solid rocker, “Weight of the World” might express how some of us feel right now.  “The weight of the world is tearing out the heart of me.”  Ever felt that way?”

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Friday New Releases – January 12, 2024

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Welcome to the first Friday New Releases post of 2024. As you should know, the new releases start out slow at the beginning of the year, but they will pick up so don’t you worry your pretty little head over it. We have a handful of releases for you so hopefully you can find something to listen to this week. For me, I’m going to check out the Tracii Guns and Jack Russell release as that sounds like an interesting pairing and heck, the cover is enough to grab you anyway. Other than that, that is pretty much it for me. Let me know what you want to hear this week and what we may have missed.

  • Jack Russell & Tracii Guns – Medusa – (Frontiers Records)
  • Neal Morse – The Restoration: Joseph, Pt. 2 (Frontiers Records)
  • Jim Peterik & World Stage – Roots & Shoots, Vol. 1 – (Frontiers Records)
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Def Leppard – “Pour Some Sugar On Me” (1987) – 7″ Single (Part 3 of 7) – (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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On August 3rd, 1987, Def Leppard released their fourth studio album, ‘Hysteria’.  Little did they know this ground breaking album would go on to sell over 25 million records, produce 7 hit singles and go to #1 on the Billboard Charts. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” is the band’s third single in the UK released on September 8, 1987. Here in the States, it was actually the fourth single released on April 16, 1988. The song would change the course of this album for the band and see their popularity rise to heights they had never seen before. The song was written by the band and producer Mutt Lange.

It was do or die time for the band. The album had been a hit and sold over 3 million copies before this song came on, but the album cost so much to make, that the band still hadn’t broken even. They needed to sell way more. They recorded a video with live footage for the song and when it hit MTV, the album started skyrocketing up the charts and selling millions of records. The song never made it to #1 as it peaked at #2 as Richard Marx’s song “Hold On To The Night” kept it from the top of the charts, but there was no denying this was their biggest hit every and their signature song.

Yes, the song is about sex, but it is it the energy of the song that make this one so good. The song was one of the last ones to be recorded as Mutt still didn’t feel they had that one massive song that was needed. There were to intros recorded for the song. The first had the opening line on the song as “Step inside, walk this way, you and me babe, hey hey!” while the single version opened with “Love is a like a Bomb”, and since this is the Single version that is what this one opened with and it is great. The B-Side for this album is another fantastic track with “Ring of Fire”.

A SIDE:

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Poobah – ‘Let Me In’ (1972/2010) – Album Review

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My local record store, Noble Records, has exclusives vinyl releases for his store and I have been buying them all…well almost as I started late and I am missing the first three he issued. I have about 13 or 14 others though. And this is one of my favorites. It is an album by a band called Poobah and this is their debut release called “Let Me In”. But this is a special collectors edition as it is a 2 LP set with the original album on one LP and a ton of bonus tracks on the other LP. And it is all glorious. If you like early 70’s rock with a lot of distortion, wah wah pedals and some incredible drumming you are in for a treat. Any Sabbath fan, this would be right up your alley as well.

The original album was released in 1972 with founding members, Jim Gustafson on guitar and vocals, Phil Jones on bass and vocals, and Glenn Wiseman on drums and what a monster he is. The original album only has 6 tracks and they are impressive. The band was named after some girl from Jim’s high school that everyone feared. Poobah is weird nickname for a girl. The name makes me think of The Flintstones’ Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes. The cover art of the album was done by artist Jack Joyce and done in the style of American Underground Comix of the 1960’s. Jack had understood that Jim was a huge fan of comics so it inspired him to do this character throwing up in a toilet. Man, that is inspiration.

Then in 2010, the band signed a new deal with Ripple Records and the album was remixed and then on top of that they threw on 13 bonus tracks they had laying around that were recorded back in 1973. The band has seen a resurgence in popularity of the years with songs being in TV shows, critics loving them and seeing re-issues of the 2010 remixed album like this one from Noble Records. It is albums like this, I keep buying Dillon’s exclusives for his store because sometimes they are pure gold.

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Bon Jovi – ‘Bounce’ (2002) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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Bon Jovi wasted no time working on their 8th studio album, ‘Bounce’. They started writing while still on tour for their album, ‘Crush’. Then something happened in the world that would change it and strongly influence the album…the September 11th attacks on New York City. Since the boys were from New Jersey, this had a profound impact on the song writing. They started writing in the Summer of 2001 and it would really pick up after this event and by the end of 2001, they had around 25 songs written and demoed around 12. But by the end of the writing and recording, there was about 40 songs written over the span of a year. They used 12 for the album and several more for B-Sides and bonus tracks.

The band was still a four-piece with Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan and Tico Torres. Of course, future member Hugh McDonald was there on bass like had been for awhile, but an old face came back to help on the album. Their good friend Desmond Child was back in and helping the band write some songs. They had more help on the songs with Swedish producer and writer Andreas Carlsson and Billy Falcon. As far as producing, Jon, Richie, Desmond and Andreas all had a hand, but most was done by Luke Ebbin who had a big hand in the new sound that started with “It’s My Life”.

The album finally saw the light of day on October 8, 2002 and went to #2 in the U.S., the UK and numerous other countries only going to #1 in the European album chart. And like had happened most of their career over the last decade, they were bigger in Europe than the U.S. They sold 500,000 copies in the U.S. going Gold while they sold over a million copies in Europe. They were still a massive global act as they inched closer to 20 years as a band. For me, this album was the start of the decline. I like this album and the next one, but a little more was taken away from with each passing one. But let’s see about this one first.

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My Sunday Song – “Return Of The King” by Bruce Dickinson

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For My Sunday Song #394, we see Mike continue his Japanese Edition Bonus Tracks with “Return of the King” by Bruce Dickinson. The song is off his 1998 album ‘The Chemical Wedding’. The song was written by Bruce Dickinson and his Iron Maiden bandmate Adrian Smith. Now, don’t think you can only get this on a Japanese Edition as that is not the case anymore. It is on the Expanded Edition of the album and you can stream it on Apple Music and probably any streaming service and you should.

The song is partially about Stonehenge or maybe the Beltany Stone Circle as referenced by the Beltane Fires. It talks about how long it took to build and the mysteries behind it. It also talks about Uther Pendragon the legendary King of the Britons and father to King Arthur. This is one reason I’ve never listened to Bruce or Maiden as it makes you think and learn history. I just want to rock out.

However, the song does kick ass. Bruce’s vocals are really incredible as they soar to amazing heights and are perfectly suited fo heavy metal. He is one of the best in the business. The song to me feels more like Iron Maiden then I expected, to be honest. I figured this was a solo album, it would be his own thing, but I guess with Adrian also in on the writing, the Maiden connection makes sense. It is a is rocking track and some great guitar work and the drums are immense and powerful. A really cool song I will admit.

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Down For The Count with Tim Durling and Friends

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I’ll be on Grab a Stack of Rock this evening at 8pm EST to discuss my good buddies new book ‘Down for the Count: The Y&T Album Review’ by Tim Durling. Check it out if you can.

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Episode 46:  Down For the Count with Tim Durling and Friends

The very first Y&T book is out!  Down For the Count:  The Y&T Album Review is the name of the book, and you can get yours on Amazon right now.

Joining us this week is series regular, and now author of two books, Tim Durling!  Why Y&T?  Why a book about this band, and their discography?   It is true that Y&T never made the impact that they seemed destined for.  We’ll discuss this and much more:  the nuts and bolts of publishing a rock book and assembling the cast of characters who helped along the way.

Speaking of characters, co-hosting this week will be book contributors John T. Snow and Jex Russell.  How did they get involved, and what was their part to play?  How did Tim get Sean Kelly and Hugh Syme to contribute?  Find out tonight, and by all means pick up this excellent book today.

LIVE Friday January 5 at 8:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 9:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!

Robbie Williams – ‘The Robbie Williams Show’ (2003) – DVD Review

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In 2002, Robbie was prepping the release of his new album ‘Escapology’. To help promote the album, he recorded a show filmed live in the Pinewood Studios for a television broadcast. The general public was able to buy it when the DVD was released in March 2003. The show contained songs from his upcoming album as well as a ton of hits and some of his Swing songs. It did fairly well as far as video releases go selling well over 100,000 copies worldwide. I was out at a place called 2nd & Charles and saw this and had to grab it. I think I got it for only around $2.50 and it is worth way more than that in my book. I am sitting here with it cranked on the 5.1 surround sound on a 65 inch TV and it sounds and looks amazing.

The show opens with a performance of “Trouble/Handsome Man” which happens to be the same songs that Elvis Presley opened with for his ’68 Comeback Special which Robbie has recreated the same stage set up except it has a big “RW” rather than an “Elvis” sign. When he goes out in front of the crowd it is a small round stage in the middle of the crowd with only Robbie and the bad was off behind the crowd. When he runs out and does “Rock DJ”, his energy and the crowd is electric. This was the firs time he had been on stage in 12 months.

“Strong” is up next and up on the screen comes the words to the chorus with a bouncing ball so you can all sing along during the chorus. He is interacting with the crowd poking fun at them with a change in the lyrics. He’s having a ton of fun and it shows. Then he played the song he originally sent to Tom Jones, but he changed his mind and did it himself. It is called “Something Beautiful” off the new album. The crowd clapped, the piano’s ivories were tickled and Robbie sang it wonderfully. And if that wasn’t good enough, he played one of my favorite songs of his called “Feel”. It is a new song and he joked if anyone was singing it, they obviously downloaded it from the internet illegally. They cut to a pre-recorded clip of him doing the song in front of the giant “RW”. It is a great live version and the piano and percussion on it are fantastic. Still my favorite song.

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Def Leppard – “Women” (1987) – 7″ Single (Part 2 of 7) – (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

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On August 3rd, 1987, Def Leppard released their fourth studio album, ‘Hysteria’.  Little did they know this ground breaking album would go on to sell over 25 million records, produce 7 hit singles and go to #1 on the Billboard Charts. The first track on the album is the song “Women”. The song was the first single for the album in the U.S., but “Animal” was the first everywhere else. The single was released on August 25, 1987. In the U.S., the song only went to #80 on the Billboard Hot 100, but did go to #7 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. But the lack of success of the single, was not a good start for the band that was heavily in debt from the long recording of the album.

The songwriting credits are for the entire band of Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Steve Clark and Phil Collen. And since producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, was so heavily involved, he gets a writing credit as well. The version of the single I have is the U.S. version and the version from the Hysteria Singles Box Set Collection.

The reason for that the single was first in the U.S. and not “Animal” like it was in the UK is that Leppard wanted to make sure their core audience, the males, would understand what they were going for with the sound of this new album. They knew women might not like this one, however, the song isn’t degrading women at all. It is actually inspired by the important women in Joe Elliott’s life and is an anthem that actually pays tribute and celebrates women both their beauty and their strength all with a biblical background to it.

A SIDE:

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Bon Jovi – ‘One Wild Night Live: 1985-2001’ (2001) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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2000 was a big year for the band with a hit new album, a live DVD and to follow it up, the band gave us their first ever live album. But don’t get your hopes up as it isn’t one show from the tour. No, I guess the Crush DVD was enough for that. Instead it is really a greatest hits compilation with live songs taken from shows from 1985-2001. So, not a true live album in my book. But I’m being petty. We do get 14 live tracks and one remixed studio track of “One Wild Night 2001”.

The songs are taken from 8 different shows and some are actually repeats as the London shows were on the Live From London DVD and The Crush Tour DVD so we’ve heard a few of the songs before. And the band has one small change during the songs. We get Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan and Tico Torres on all the songs. But we also get Alec John Such on bass for only 2 of the songs from Tokyo back in 1985 and then Hugh McDonald on bass for the rest. And we get one special guest with Bob Geldof on one song.

The album came out on May 22, 2001 and went to #20 in the U.S., but was never certified Gold. However, the album did better around the world as Bon Jovi continues to actually be more successful in Europe then their home country where the album sold over 1,000,000 copies in Europe making it Platinum status. It went to #2 in the UK as well as several other countries including Spain, Austria and the Netherlands and to #1 in Switzerland and Belgian. Europe continued to love on Bon Jovi.

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