For My Sunday Song #362, we are covering the 2nd song in the Morgan’s Choice 10 song set. This time around we are talking about the song “Cigarette Daydreams” by Cage the Elephant. The song is off their 2013 album ‘Melophobia’ and was the 2nd song off that album to go #1. Released on as a single on August 26, 2014, it has sold over 3,000,000 copies of the single and has over 42 million views on Youtube. Pretty dang impressive. It was credited to the whole band, but it was mostly the singer Matt Schultz who wrote it. Matt thought about giving it to someone else to play because he didn’t think it was a Cage song, but his brother Brad said that why can’t they write any song and play it. It doesn’t have to be a so called “Cage the Elephant” song, they should just write and play what they want.
Matt was sitting around strumming his guitar when the melody came to him and then the words flowed. It was inspired by a personal experience he had and that experience helped write the song and it all came quick and easy. The experience is about isolating yourself from everyone. Even from those that could help you. They feel lost in life and that loneliness grows the more they isolate themselves from the world. It is a conversation on depression and we should be talking about it more. The thought is it is about his relationship with his first wife. Whoever it is about, it is a sad, melancholy tune that is so simple and so beautiful.
What I love about this song is the acoustic styling of the song reminds of my favorite Guster song “Do You Love Me”. It has that same rawness to it and quirkiness that speaks to me for some reason. The music is as sad as the lyrics, but it has such a pretty melody and a chorus that is a little upbeat and happier. Matt’s vocals are smooth, with a little whine to it that fits perfectly with the song and its lyrics. The keyboards add a nice flair to it and the rhythm section keeps the song moving and on point. A sweet, yet sad track that is nothing short of perfection.
May is about over and Summer is upon us, but before we get to the Summer months, let’s have one more Friday New Release post. And there isn’t a ton, but there is a lot of metal if you like metal from Metal Church to Iced Earth and everything in between. The only one I’m interested in is Matchbox Twenty as I did like their last album so hoping for some more good stuff. Maybe the Simply Red album will get a stream as well. Other than that, I am good this week. Let me know what you want to hear this week. And let us know what we missed as well. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Matchbox Twenty – Where The Light Goes – (Atlantic Records)
By 1993, the music landscaped had completely changed for the 80’s glam metal scene. Gone were the bands I’d had grown up loving and replaced by Grunge, but that didn’t stop bands from putting out albums. In fact, for one band, Winger, it might have produced its best album to date. Beavis and Butthead might have made Winger a laughing stock, but us diehard fans, didn’t take stock in that farce. No, we continued to follow the band’s music and if we hadn’t we might’ve missed out on the band’s heaviest and most daring album.
The band was down to three members with Kip Winger, Rob Morgenstein and Reb Beach as keyboardist Paul Taylor had left the band. He wasn’t the only one to leave as producer Beau Hill was out as well. In his stead were Kip Winger himself along with the help of Mike Shipley who had recently worked on Def Leppard’s Adrenalize album. Released on May 18, 1993, ‘Pull” showcased a very mature Winger and a band that wasn’t going to be stopped creating and putting out their best material (even though this was their last album for years to follow).
The opening track, “Blind Revolution Mad”, starts off with an acoustic guitar with a very dark overtone. Kip was singing in richer, deeper tone that came across as eerie and meaner. The song keeps building slowly with each line and you feel an intensity that is about to be unleashed. The first chorus is ready to explode and the song goes full on gangbusters. It is bombastic, energizing and electric. The guitar riffs are shocking, the drums are destructive and when Kip lets loose, his energy is set forth upon the world. A brutal and glorious song.
The wait is over!! You can now buy Merch for 2 Loud 2 Old Music!! I know…it is awesome news and a long time coming! Click on the link below and it will take you right to the storefront…
The store is hosted by TeePublic.com and I think there is a little something for everyone and what can you get? Let’s take a look and see…and before we get to the items offered, let me show you what some of this stuff ACTUALLY looks like since I have bought a few things myself…
The clothes…
Including the two shirts above, we also picked out a sweatshirt and hoodie. The logo on the t-shirts and sweatshirts will be slightly smaller on anything you order. This was a first run to check the size.
If you are thinking, “John, you’ve reviewed this show before”. You would be right. I reviewed it about a 1 1/2 years ago. But this one is different…it has a different cover and from a different manufacturer. In my quest to get as many Kiss Bootleg’s I can, I found this one in a local record show, new and sealed. And cheap. This is actually an easy one to get if you are collecting Kiss Bootlegs. I think I paid $20 for it. When I saw it, I knew I had this show, but I really liked the cover and this one has clear vinyl. Otherwise, there is nothing really special about this one, no inserts, no picture sleeves and no surprised in the package like I have received in a lot of my bootlegs. This one is rather generic. For historical reasons though, it is pretty cool. The recording is an FM Broadcast from April 18, 1974 in Memphis, TN at the Lafayette Music Room and is one of the earliest recordings of the band.
Soundwise…well…let’s just say there is sound. This is a recording off a radio broadcast on to a tape. That tape was then copied, which was then copied, which was then copied, which was then copied and keep going for another dozen copies. There is a massive tape drag at several points during the show which slows the song down and it is quite noticeable. That proves that the source material was from an old tape that had been copied many times. Yes, the sound sucks at times and might be on the low end of some of my bootlegs, but I am still okay with it and because I collect them I will buy regardless.
If you look at the setlist, you will notice a few things stand out. One is they basically played the entire debut album with a few minor exceptions. Two, they play the song “She” which won’t come out until 2 albums later on ‘Dressed to Kill’. And Three, they play a song called “Acrobat” which is actually the basis for the song “Love Theme From Kiss” from the first album. This is two months after the debut album release, so it is strange they played the “Acrobat” version and not the album version.
SIDE A:
The album and set opens with “Deuce” and boy can you hear the tape drag on this one, pretty drastic. But you can still make out the song and hear Gene just fine as it is in the instruments where you have the issues. Nothing is real clear except the vocals. Towards the end of the song, it clears up and gets a little louder and that cowbell comes in nicely. “Strutter” is up next after a slight pause and you get more wobbly instruments and even a little on the vocals this time around. Paul sounds like he is singing the song so much slower. Again, you are buying this strictly for the historical value…that is what I keep telling myself anyway.
“Firehouse” sounds great and I happy with that version. It is an untouched, live version warts and all and it is quite enjoyable. Ace’s solo sounds good and you get a glimpse of the band doing what they do best with no real hiccups. The cool song on here is “She” as I said it hadn’t even been released yet on an album. The guitar opening on it sounds a little slower and I am guessing that is the tape drag as there is a lot of wobble. But vocally again, sounds good. Gene is menacing as ever and Paul on background duties. The coolest part is the instrumental break/guitar solo as it isn’t what we get later. This the reason to buy this release if you need one. And last up for Side 1 is the badass song “Nothin’ to Lose”. And by this time you are used to the wobble and so it starts sounding pretty decent (okay, decent enough). I love this song as you get both Gene and Peter on vocals (and Paul is heard pretty good on backing vocals). I love Peter’s gritty and raspy old school singing on this one. Always fun.
SIDE 2:
Side 2 kicks off with the Ace Frehley penned song “Cold Gin” (after the radio DJ does a station break), but with Gene on vocals as Ace wasn’t singing this early on in the band. Now, I did get to see Ace do this one this past Summer when he opened for Alice Cooper but that is another story. I really love this song but I will say this version seemed a little flat and not sure if that was the band or the recording itself. After a little tuning, we get Gene’s bass and some thumps until they become “100,000 Years”. Paul sounds fresh and youthful and can do some great ooh-yeahs back then.
Another favorite of mine to hear live is “Black Diamond” even with a DJ interrupting the opening notes for a station break. The tape is wobbly again as it sounds a little funky and messed up, but it is still “Black Diamond”. I love the slow opening and then the bombastic explosion for the rest of the song. Plus, the instrumental break and solo are always great. An all around fantastic song every time I hear it. The song ends the broadcast. Then the show announcer comes back and the band is tuning their instruments a little they go in to what is labeled as “Acrobat” but it cuts out the “Love Theme From Kiss” parts off and is just the band jamming. Peter has a little drum solo piece then the band kicks in and they jam out, all instrumentally and then they start singing only a little. There are very few lyrics and they sing “You’re much too young” a couple times and then they go back to jamming and we get a killer guitar solo piece as well. Then Paul says “Good Night” and it is all over. Fun track.
Despite the tape drag and the wobbly sound in out at times throughout, I still find this an enjoyable most especially for an early version of “She” and for the encore with “Acrobat”. It is also a cool historical piece to have anything live and uncut from 1974 with them really just getting going. All-in-all, it turned out to be an okay show as you get used to the sound issues and you enjoy it for what it is. I can’t give it too high of a score, but I will give it at least a 2.5 out of 5.0 Stars (but it should get more for the two songs I mentioned – maybe a 3.0 to 3.5…but that might be too generous).
This is not a side project, the band has made that clear and one way to prove that Sons of Apollo is a band is to tour and they did. But the show they decided to record wasn’t just a tour show, Nope! It was so much more. And it needed to be. They needed to capture the true essence of what this band is about and I have to say, I believe they did that and then some. They recorded the show back on September 22, 2018 at The Ancient Roman Amphitheater in Plovdiv Bulgaria and what a beautiful setting it is. Worthy of the Sons of the God Apollo. And the show couldn’t just be the band playing, Nope. It needed a little something extra so they brought in the Plovdiv Orchestra and a choir nicely named for this show as the Psychotic Symphony. This isn’t a band playing their songs with a symphony like so many bands, this is different, fresh and exciting.
You get it all packaged in a 3 CD set, that is right…3 CDs cover the whole entire show. Over 2 1/2 hours of rock & roll & prog bliss!! And if that isn’t enough, they throw in a DVD of the entire show as well. And the DVD is really where it is at in my book. Listening to the CD is great and you will enjoy the show, but when you watch it live and see these guys in action, Holy Shit!! These guys can play and they put on a master class of what musicianship really is. With Jeff Scott Soto on vocals, Mike Portnoy and drums, Derek Sherinian on Keyboards, Billy Sheehan on bass and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal on guitar, these are some of the best in the field and they show you how it is done.
For My Sunday Song #361, we are doing a different sort of 10 song set. Instead of 10 songs in a row from a band, I asked my daughter to pick 10 songs that she likes and I will listen to them and write about them giving my thoughts on them. It is a varied bunch of artists, some I wasn’t surprised she picked, some I was and some I wish she hadn’t, but I’ll do it anyway. First one up is actually one of my favorites that she picked. It is the song “Bang Bang” by singer Nessa Barrett. It was released as a single back in December 2022, but it isn’t on her latest album. It is a brand new song. Nessa is one of the few artists to come off of TikTok and actually land a record deal and there is a reason for it as she has a great voice and does some pretty interesting songs. There is another one she does called “I Hope UR Miserable Until UR Dead” that I think is totally awesome, but this one is great too.
The song is really dark. Nessa has a mental disorder called borderline personality rage and she really lets you know what goes on when that happens. The line “I’ve Got Intrusive Thoughts” is exactly what happens as when you are in that rage, the crazy things you want to do at that exact moment can be overwhelming. In the song, she wants to do some really bad things to her ex & his girlfriend like kill him first, cut the lines on his breaks and beat him with a crowbar, heck maybe even throw him off the roof of a building. All a little disturbing and all make a great song.
Musically, there is a lot of aggressiveness to it and a whole punk attitude. Heck the song is only a little over 2 minutes and it goes by in a frenzied flash. The electronic drum beats, the wicked basslines are heavy, quick, a little distorted and totally rocking. Nessa delivers the lyrics in a fast, deliberate fashion that seems eerie and yet and there is a little fun to her vocals as well. When she gets to the “I’ve Got Intrusive Thoughts” part, she speaks it which doubles down the evilness of the song and I will be honest, that is what is great about the song. That chorus is catchy as hell with the “la, la, la’s” and the “bang bang”, simple yet very effective.
Welcome to Friday New Releases. We have just shy of 50 releases for you this week and I am sure you will find something you like. If you not you can have your money back…wait…you didn’t pay me any money…so oh well. One of my favorite bands has a new one this week. Def Leppard has a symphony release of their old hits so I’m not overly excited, but I’ll still buy it and listen to it. We also have a new Ghost E.P. of cover songs and it’s Ghost, so give me more!! There is Michael Sweet and Georgy Lynch with another Sweet & Lynch release and you have Dave Matthews Band, Neal Schon, Brandy Clark, The Used and so much more. Check them out and tell me what you want to hear. And if there is something we missed, tell us in the comments so everyone knows. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend!
Sadly, Eric Carr passed away on November 24, 1991 due to an aneurysm that probably stemmed from the numerous surgeries he had to remove tumors related to his heart cancer. Before his death, Eric was always writing songs as he was a very creative soul. He could write, he could sing and he could play more than just the drums. ‘Rockology’ is a collection of the songs he had been working on prior to his death. These are demos and not necessarily full fledge songs in some cases so keep that in mind. Think of this as his ‘Vault’ because it is very similar in the type of songs you get on Gene Simmons ‘The Vault’. You get some fully fleshed out songs, you get some where lyrics are being scatted because their aren’t any yet and you get some straight-up instrumentals.
The album was put together by one of Eric’s great friends and former Kiss bandmate, Bruce Kulick. With the help of Adam Mitchell (co-writer of numerous Kiss songs), they pieced together a collection of songs from old cassettes or where ever they could find them. They would clean them up the best they could, add some backing vocals where appropriate and even Bruce overdubbed some killer solos in a few songs to help complete them. Bruce produced the album and I think this was a wonderful tribute to his old friend and bandmate.
This release is a Record Store Day release that came out on April 22, 2023 and it was released as a 2 LP Vinyl and a limited run of CDs (only 500 available). Luckily I got them both. The cool thing about this release is that there are 5 bonus tracks that have been previously unreleased so this it the only place to currently get them. The other really cool thing is how they changed up the cover to look like the 4 Kiss Solo albums with Eric getting an orange color around him. They even included a poster done in the same style of posters from the original Kiss Solo albums. The LP version comes on 2 LPs with translucent splatter vinyl, one orange and one clear. Both beautiful. The CD was designed as a Vinyl replica with a cardboard sleeve and the CD looks like a vinyl. Both packages done with care.
I was watching Tim’s Vinyl Confessions a few week’s back and they were going through their Whitesnake vinyl and one of the guys had a Japanese Edition of Whitesnake’s ‘Live at Hammersmith’ and I don’t think I had seen it before. So, after the show ended, I went to Discogs and bought it from someone in Japan. I received a week later…yes, only a week from Japan. Heck, I can’t get things from the next town over that fast. And it lived up to expectations and then some. I mean just look at the cover with the deep rich green snake and the back cover is just as cool. This might be my favorite Whitesnake cover ever! It is so awesome.
‘Live at Hammersmith’ was recorded on November 23, 1978 at The Hammersmith Odeon in London. The album was only released in Japan back in November 1980 as a single disc vinyl. I say single disc vinyl, because this album is actually the 2nd LP on the 2LP edition of ‘Live…in the Heart of the City’. I don’t have the two LP version of that album. I have the single version which is the 1st LP which was recored in 1980 on June 23/24 at The Hammersmith Odeon in London as well. You can read that review at the links at the bottom of the page.
Matchbox Twenty – Where The Light Goes – (Atlantic Records)
Simply Red – Time – (Simply Red)
Def Leppard – Drastic Symphonies – (EMI Recording / Bludgeon Riffola / Mercury Records)
Ghost – Phantomime E.P. – (Loma Vista Recordings / Concord) – Digital May 18th, Vinyl May 19th
2 Loud 2 Old Music 