My Sunday Song – “You Know My Name” by Chris Cornell

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For My Sunday Song #333, we are going to discuss a James Bond Theme song. This one is “You Know My Name” by Chris Cornell. It holds the distinction of being the only Bond theme song not to be included on the soundtrack. And we have Chris to thank for that as he wanted the song to be his and as a result it appears on his 2007 album ‘Carry On’. The song was written by Chris and David Arnold who was the composer of the Bond music for the film ‘Casino Royale’. The song was leaked early, but did get an official release on November 13, 2006 and did really well in the U.S. where it made the Hot 100 landing at #79 and sold 290,000 copies. In the U.K. it faired better at #7 on the UK Singles Chart and reaching Silver status selling over 200,000 copies.

The song doesn’t mention the movie title and instead is about the person not the movie and thus they came up with “You Know My Name” because after 40+ years of Bond, you know his name. It is about the conflicted side of Bond and not that overly confident super spy. It is about his sacrifices and struggles he battles with internally with being the spy. When he kills, the impact it has on him internally. The fact that everyone ends up betraying him, the impact that has on him. All giving us a different look at Bond which is how Daniel Craig’s Bond has done in his stint as the infamous character.

Chris approached the song two-fold. First, he was inspired by Tom Jones and wanted to sing the song in an almost Crooner style. Second, he loved the intensity of Paul McCartney’s “Live & Let Die” Bond Theme song so he and David made sure to include some heavier rock elements along with the heavy orchestration we get with Bond themes. It is a great combination of styles. I have to say, I think Chris did a great job as I did love his approach with the singing and there are hints of Mr. Jones. There is no mistaking the Bond musical elements as every Bond theme. It is a great Bond Theme!

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Friday New Releases – January 13, 2022

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The second week of the year and we have a much larger selection for you this week. And one that I am actually interested in hearing and then will decide if I get. Let me know what you want to hear this week or what we may have missed and as always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!!

  • 81ihmfvhpTL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  VV – Neon Noir – (Heartagram Records): Former lead singer of the band H.I.M., Ville Valo is going solo and I am looking forward to hearing this as I have always loved his tone and I found H.I.M. pretty interesting so this will be first listen this week.
  • A1metz67q2L._AC_UY218_  Margo Price – Strays – (Loma Vista Recordings / Concord)
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Scorpions – ‘Pure Instinct’ (1996) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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We are to the band’s 13th Studio album now in the series, however, 13 isn’t really their lucky number with this one. First off, longtime Scorpions drummer, Herman Rarebell, left the band to go start his own record label. They didn’t replace him right away and used a session drummer, Curt Cress, to handle the daunting task of following Rarebell’s footsteps. The band did replace the role with James Kottak who ended up being in the band longer than Herman was as he lasted almost 20 years before he was fired in 2016. The rest of the band was in tact with Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Mathias Jabs and the newest member Ralph Rieckermann. And for this album, they brought back as producer, Keith Olsen, who helped produced the album ‘Crazy World’. He produced the first seven tracks while Erwin Musper and the Scorps did the rest.

‘Pure Instinct’ followed in the footsteps of several Scorpions albums and showed nudity. My CD has the original nude cover of the humans in the cage being watched by the animals instead of the other way around. For those parts of the world that had issues with the cover, there was an alternate cover of just the band which is what I am showing as the header as I don’t want to be flagged on Facebook or any site for the so called offensive cover. But what I find offensive is the music on this album. This is not a rock album by any stretch of the imagination. Instead we get an album that is mostly ballads and then heavier songs that are more pop than hard rock except maybe for the opening track.

They released several songs as singles and the only one to chart in the U.S. was “Wild Child” which went to #19 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. All the other singles charted, just not in the U.S. as the album didn’t do well at all not even reaching Gold. The album only went to #99 on the Album Charts which is not good for a Scorpions record. There isn’t anything else I want to add at this point so let’s get in to the meat of this album and the music.

The album starts off with what sounds like bagpipes before the full band kicks in with the heavy drums on the verses and riffing guitars throughout and a solo that is so high pitched the dog howled! Klaus vocals are as perfect and classic sounding as ever. The chorus is catchy and sounds like Scorpions through and through. “Wild Child” is a great opening rocker to kick things off.

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Jeff Scott Soto – ‘Beautiful Mess’ (2009) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Jeff Scott Soto’s last solo albums was back in 2005 called ‘Lost in the Translation’. A lot had happened to Jeff after that album including Soul Sirkus and his brief stint with Journey as well as the final Talisman album. To say he had been busy would be an understatement. When it was time to sit down and do another solo album, Jeff wanted to shake things up a little sort of like he did with his band Redlist, only not as extreme as that. He had been loving the music of Swedish musician Paulo Mendonca and wanted to work with him on the album. Paulo ended up producing the as well as co-writing 11 of the 14 songs. Heck, Jeff only co-wrote 7 of the 14 songs which means a lot of these songs were written by other people for him to sing. To be honest, that scared me as Jeff has always written all or almost all of the songs on his albums in the past. Plus, Jeff’s normal band of Howie Simon, Alex Papa and Gary Schutt didn’t get to play on the album as it was Jeff and Paulo mostly which is disappointing.

The album was completed and released on February 20, 2009 with Frontiers although they wasn’t originally the expectation since Jeff felt the songs didn’t fit his normal sound. Soto’s sound for this album wasn’t as heavy as ‘Lost in the Translation’ and sort of went the other direction. It was a little bit groovy, a little bit funky, a little bit of soul and even a little bit of pop with maybe a dab of hard rock and a dash of blues. It is really all over the place. Is that good or bad, I guess we will see. The album was titled ‘Beautiful Mess’ and became known as ‘BM’. Wow! That is a disgusting nickname for the album. I don’t usually enjoy my BM’s so do I want to listen to an album nicknamed BM?

The album does kick off with a rock song. “21st Century” is a guitar driven track, however, Jeff’s vocals are more funky and there are modern electronic elements as well. The chorus though is as catchy as you’d expect as he knows how to have a little hook to make you sing along. It definitely sets the pace and lets you know that this isn’t going to be the typical Soto release. It is a little left of center and yet it works and is a great start to the album with its high energy and all around fun sound.

“Cry Me A River” slows the tempo down and brings us more of a funk-infused pop song with some heavy soul influences. The bass line is pretty cool, that funked-up guitar riff is interesting and though Jeff doesn’t go full on singing for the verses, that bridge and chorus are full of that Soto sound. This confirms you aren’t getting what you expect and so far I’m okay with that change.

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My Sunday Song – “Cochise” by Audioslave

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For My Sunday Song #332, we are going to discuss the song “Cochise” by Audioslave which includes lead singer Chris Cornell and the reason we are here. The song was the band’s first single off their debut album from 2002. The band consists of Chris Cornell and the musical styles of the band Rage Against the Machine including Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk. Since Rage broke up, they band stayed together and brought in Chris to form a new band. The song went to #2 on the US Mainstream Rock Chart and #2 in the UK on their Rock & Metal Chart where it sold over 200,000 copies.

The song titles is “Cochise” and what the heck is a “Cochise”? Well, I’ll tell you. Cochise was an Apache Indian Chief and he was a badass. He was brutal, yet fearless and resolute. He didn’t let anything stop him and was full of rate and fury which is what Tom felt the music was that way and thus the name of the single. However, “Cochise” doesn’t appear anywhere in the song and is not about him in any way.

The song is about people that waste their life away doing nothing. They need to look in the mirror, wake up and get moving with their life. Chris had mentioned that the song was inspired by himself looking in the mirror and thinking that same thing. I look at it like Chris is out there rocking the world, having so many great adventures while that guy in the mirror is doing drugs, drinking or whatever else to destroy his life. It is like there are two people and if he doesn’t wake up and get both lives in order, the end won’t end well. And we know how that sadly ended.

The song has this tribal drum beat feel, while Tom is doing crazy things on his guitar and Tim on his bass. After about 50 seconds of this growing intensity, that wicked Morello riff comes crashing in. And what a riff it is. Chris sounds great, attacking the lyrics with that same intensity. Plus that scream towards the end is perfection. Tom’s playing throughout is worth the price of admission alone. A great, heavy ass track that let us know Audioslave was for real!!

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Friday New Releases – January 6, 2023

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Happy New Year and welcome to the first Friday New Release post of 2023. I hope this will be a great year for new music, but it is starting out with a whimper and I hope it goes out like a lion. We only have a handful of releases for you this week. Don’t worry, the next few weeks will have a lot more and some I am excited about. This week, nothing for me, but hopefully there is something for you to listen to as we kick off the year. Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you want to hear or what we may have missed this week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend

  • 91WpPAyS6ML._AC_UY218_  Iggy Pop – Every Loser – (Gold Tooth Records / Atlantic Records)
  • 7122ay-Gb4L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Olivia Newton-John – Greatest Hits Vol. 2/Deluxe Edition – (Primary Wave Music)
  • 91cVTAPIztL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Anti-Flag – Lies They Tell Our Children – (Spinefarm Records / Universal)
  • 61Z67N8WrHL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  L.A. Edwards – Out of the Heart of Darkness – (Bitchin’ Music Group)
  • 71TNgM+GFdL._AC_UL640_FMwebp_QL65_  JVRA – Veracity – (J Vera Records)
  • 91yRtZrORxL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Kidd Keratic – To Be Loved E.P. – (Kidd Keratic)
  • 81mVBYUQm4L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Gabriella Aplin – Phosphorescent – (Never Fade Records)
  • 81lCGdGMe6L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Doom Flower – Limestone Ritual – (Record Label & Doom Flower)
  • 818H5KYLIcL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Ouija Macc & Golden Bsp – Hideous – (Chapter 17 Records)
  • 815UPypFsCL._AC_UL640_FMwebp_QL65_  RuPaul – Black Butta – (RuCo Inc.)
  • download-27  Javis Mays – New Beginnings E.P. – (JaMays Music)

Judas Priest – The Best & Worst Song from Every Album

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A few weeks back I was on the live stream ‘Grab A Stack of Rock’ with Mike Landano and Harrison, The Mad Metal Man and we went through the giant 50th Anniversary Judas Priest box set. During the show, as we discussed each album, we picked are least favorite and our favorite song off each album. I thought that was a great idea and I thought I’d turn it in to a post as a recap. So, here are my picks for the Best and Worst song on every Judas Priest studio album and there are 18 Albums!! Now, let’s preface this with the fact that these are my choices and not necessarily yours as we can have different opinions. If you watched the show you will see that sometimes my worst song was their favorite so you never know what people like and we all like different things or this would be a very dull world. I hope you enjoy!!

Rocka Rolla (1974)

BEST SONG – “CHEATER”: Written by Halford and Downing. The song has a blues hard rock sound and opens with a great riff and slams it home from there. I love the swagger to the song, the cowbell and the harmonica all screamed classic rock and right up my alley.

WORST SONG – “CAVIAR AND METHS”: An instrumental track written by Atkins, Downing and Hill and at only 2 minutes it didn’t really have time to develop in to much of anything. It is too short, too repetitive and didn’t do anything for me, almost a waste of time and space as it doesn’t make sense with the album.

Sad Wings of Destiny (1976)

BEST SONG – “VICTIM OF CHANGES”: An epic almost 8 minute track written by Halford, Downing, Tipton and Al Atkins. The song opens slowly and breaks into a cool double guitar riff. It seems to be a very complex song with lots of rhythm changes and heck even the moods and vibes change throughout. The song is so full of layers and textures that it keeps you engrossed which is needed for such a long track. The thing that clinches the song is Halford’s falsettos and that dramatic, climactic scream at the end. It is legendary!!

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Bear Says Goodbye – August 12, 2008 to January 3, 2023

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For those regular visitors of the site, you might be familiar with Bear. He is my trusty sidekick who has sat by my desk most days I am writing for the blog and kept me company. We had to say goodbye to him on Tuesday and it was the hardest thing to do. He was 14 years old and been a member of the family for almost all of that time. He will be missed everyday as we will miss that face that lights up a room every time he would walk in to it. He has been a great guard dog protecting my girls, a great greeter who was always so happy when you came home whether you were gone for 5 minutes or 5 days, and an overall great friend who was always there when you needed him and never asked for anything in return…well except maybe some doggie treats and to throw out the cats with the garbage.

We love you a lot and will miss you dearly. Goodbye old friend…Here’s a look back…

We got Bear for my daughter when she turned two…they were best buds…she will be turning 16 soon.

He was a big boy already when we got him…he was 6 months old at the time…

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Scorpions – ‘Live Bites’ (1995) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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The Scorpions camp felt it was time for another live album. This would be the band’s third to date and was released April 3, 1995. Now, the disc is not one show as that would be the smart thing to do and this instead is the easy way out. They took shows from several concerts from 1988 to 1994. The cities were Leningrad (Russia), San Francisco (US), Mexico City (Mexico), Berlin (Germany) and Munich (Germany). The album has the normal crew of Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Mathais Jabs, Herman Rarebell and current bass player, Ralph Rieckermann. However, most of the bass playing is long time member Francis Buchholz. The best thing about the album is that they did include 3 studio tracks which is the real reason to buy. No definitive time on the recordings, but I believe they range for 1988-1995, just no where I can prove that out.

As far as live albums go, it does sound fantastic. The guitar sound is actually killer, almost to amazing which makes me wonder if any touch up was done. And Klaus’ vocals are spot on, the drum sound is hard and heavy. There is no denying these boys can play live. They kick off with “Tease Me Please Me” and it would be a good song to start with as it totally rocks out and gets you on your feet. Then we get a real treat with the ‘Lovedrive’ track “Is There Anybody There”. I love the reggae vibe to the song. I really unexpected choice for the live show, but very welcomed. Really cool. Back to the heavy rock guitar sound with “Rhythm of Love” and they nail it here before going in to the only song that is a found on another live album and that is the fantastic “In Trance” and this is a classic track. Man is it good.

The first misstep for me is “No Pain No Gain” as I’m not a fan of this song, but they do make it sound a little better than the studio track here. It fits better in the live setting than album setting, but not by much. Then from ‘Blackout’ we get “When the Smoke is Going Down” and another surprise track for me. I didn’t like this song as the ending to that album, but mixed here in the middle of the show and listening to Klaus sound incredible on this one, I dig it here. Next up is “Living for Tomorrow” and this song had been released previously on the 1992 compilation called ‘Still Loving You’. On here, two slow songs in a row really can start to drag the show down. Klaus speaks to the crowd in Russian as it was recorded in Leningrad.

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