We are not on to the twelfth studio album for the Scorpions and it is called ‘Face the Heat’. It sees the band bring on a new producer with the late, Bruce Fairbairn and it sees them go a little more political as well as change their sound a little to be heavier at times and yet more contemporary. Whether or not that is a good thing we will soon see. As with most Fairbairn produced albums, we see the band go to the famous Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver Canada to record this one as that was Bruce’s home base. And with them being in Canada, Bruce brought in Paul Laine to work on some backing vocals and as you know, Paul Laine was my first rock & roll star interview so anytime I can draw a connection to him, I point it out.
The band saw their first line-up change in a long time as Francis Buchholz left the band and new bass player, Ralph Rieckermann was now in. This would also end up being Herman Rarebell’s last album with the band but we will get to that on the next album. The rest of the gang was still in place with Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Mathias Jabs. The album was released on September 21, 1993 and saw the band’s popularity drop significantly. The album only went to #24 on the US Billboard 200 and only sold 450,000 copies, not even going Gold. Was it the change in sound or the fact the US was going in to a more grunge direction. I think it was a little of both.
Now my copy is a recent re-issue of the album with the first LP being the regular album and then a Bonus E.P. added holding 4 bonus tracks a couple of which were bonus tracks on the European and Japanese editions of the original album. The first LP is the standard 33 1/3 RPM while the Bonus E.P. was a 45 RPM and it is important to note that because when you throw on the second LP, if you don’t make the switch it sounds like a demon is singing as it is too slow. Now, if you play the 2nd first and then the first 2nd, you get Alvin & the Chipmunks, but I’m going off topic now. Back to the album.
Going through the Jeff Scott Soto Series, we have now been through every Talisman Studio album so I figured, let’s go ahead and rank them rather than wait until the end of the series. Talisman is a band started by the late Marcel Jacob. He recruited Jeff Scott Soto as they became friends while working with Yngwie Malmsteen. The original band also had Christopher Stahl on guitar, Mats Lindfors on guitar, Mats Olassaon on keyboard, and Peter Hermansson on drums. But for me, that isn’t the classic line-up. Nope. That would Marcel, Jeff and then Fredrik Akesson on guitar and Jamie Borger on drums. Heck, I even loved when Pontus Norgren replaced Fredrik on guitar. I mean, let’s be honest, all versions of the line-up were great. Who are we kidding.
The band started in 1989 and released their first album in 1990. They had moderate success in Europe but did best in Sweden. Not much noise at all here in the States as the music had changed too much for them to succeed. For a band that was together for around 20 years, we only got 7 albums which isn’t near enough in my opinion. They were really busy with side projects that seem to consume their time. Or maybe, Talisman was the side project. Whatever it was, I was always glad to hear new Talisman music. In 2009, Marcel Jacob passed away before they could start on an 8th album and that was the end of Talisman. I don’t suspect Jeff will resurrect it without Marcel and I don’t think he should.
With that, let is get to the ranking of their studio albums from the Worst (which really isn’t) to their Best (which really is)…
THE WORST – ‘LIFE’ (1995):
I do have some issues with this one as I thought the mix on my version was bad and that mostly comes with the uneven transitions between songs. It is very inconsistent. There are only a handful of standout tracks such as “Tears in the Sky”, “Crazy”, “Body”, “Soul 2 Soul” and “A Life”, but otherwise the rest of the album could be forgettable. It does have its moments though and is above average which is why My Overall Score is a 3.5 out of 5.0 Stars. I don’t know if it was for the fact they felt rushed or production, but the quality of the songs on this weren’t there. It could also be they didn’t perform this one live in the studio together which I find can hurt the vibes of the album. So, out of the 7 albums. This I would categorize as The Worst, but still an above average score.
Merry Christmas!! And today is a Special Edition of My Sunday Song as it will be a Christmas song and one I enjoy a lot. The song today is “Yellin’ at the Xmas Tree” by Billy Idol. Nothing says Christmas like a drunk father yellin’ at the Christmas tree and then end up falling asleep in the same tree. The song was written by Billy Idol and Brian Tichy and was released on the US and EU promo copies of Billy’s 2005 album ‘Devil’s Playground.
Now, my Christmas’ were nothing like the one pictured in the song. My dad was only yelling at the Christmas tree if we were doing something to it. Plus, he was never drunk. But I am sure a lot of people out there that this has happened to them. Gather around the tree to decorate it, but Dad’s out at the pub getting drunk. Carolers are outside singing and all is well while Santa comes down the chimney and is making it with your Mom while Dad stands there and yells at the Christmas Tree. It sounds like such a Happy Christmas!! And it sounds like a dirty Santa as you can tell from this line…”Santa’s balls are jingling / Mommy’s hips a-wiggling” You go Santa!!
We would all need some therapy after that sight I am sure. The song opens with sleigh bells and then turns straight up rocker. That Steve Stevens guitar sound races through the riffs and Brian Tichy is banging on those drums. Billy’s lip curls as he spits out the lyrics. We get some great Idol screams, some church bells. It is a kick ass song that will put you in the Christmas spirit the minute you hear it!!
Give the song a listen and tell me it doesn’t just brighten your day that your families Christmas was better than this. It makes you appreciate what you have for sure!! Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Day!!
The final of the four Promotional Items I had for ‘Crazy World’ is the amazing ballad “Send Me An Angel”. It was released as a single on September 17th, 1991 and it did really great going to Top 10 in 7 countries, Top 30 in 3 more and #44 on the US charts. The song was written by Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine one of the few songs on the album to be written by two people as most of the others were more a team effort.
My copy is the U.S. promotional copy and it was really, really basic. It was a CD case with no cover and no backing, only the CD. Can’t get more cheap than that. And since there was no artwork, here is what the cover to the 7″ Single looked like.
Scorpions end ‘Crazy World with a ballad and we end our promo run with the same ballad. And I think it is one of their best ballads ever. “Send Me An Angel” sees Klaus give his best vocal performance as he conveys both a melancholy vibe yet there is still a shimmering light of hope. There is such a pure and honest feel to his vocals which is why I think it connects with me so much. The keyboards add to the sadness and they are handled by Jim Vallance who actually co-wrote 7 of the tracks on the album as well, but not this one.
Every year around this time, I like to splurge on something for myself that is not something I would normally buy. One time it was Gene Simmons The Vault, but this time it is a lot more reasonable and yet it still relates to Gene. It is the Gene Simmons MoneyBag Sodas. I’ve been wanting to try these for quite a while and I finally pulled the trigger. You have to order these online unless you live near one of the few stores that actually carry these sodas. I went online and bought the Sample set where you get to pick 4 of the 5 flavors and get a case of 16 drinks. I picked Cola, Root Beer, Creme and Ginger Ale. The only one I didn’t do was Diet…yuck!! Who wants to do diet when it comes to these craft style sodas…not me!! The bottles are glass which is a must for sodas and then one nice feature about the sodas is that they are all made with Cane Sugar…this is supposed to be a good thing, but who really knows if it is any better. I do like the taste with the cane sugar.
I was curious as to how they would ship and they did a great job. I love the fact that the box has the Gene Simmons MoneyBag logo on the shipping box…
And when you open it up, there are a set of 4 card board boxes inside…
When you opened the box, the drink carriers were sitting on top and the all look premium and fantastic…
For this version of The Originals vs. The Cover, we are tackling the Young Rascals 1966 song “You Better Run” off their album ‘Groovin'”. The song was written by Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavalliere both members of the band. The song was considered a disappointment for them as it only went to #20 on the Billboard Charts. The disappointment was due to their previous song going #1, “Good Lovin'”. The Cover version is by Pat Benatar and hers didn’t do as well only going to #42 just missing the Top 40. But hers is famous because it is the 2nd Video ever played on MTV, yep, right after ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’. And since MTV didn’t have a lot of videos back then, it got played a lot.
The song is a kiss off to a bad relationship. Some girl did one of the guys wrong and it was telling her to get lost, run and hide and get away from him. As well as it worked for them, Pat Benatar took and gender reversed it and now she’s telling the guy to the same and it was a great twist to the song. Let’s get to the battle and see who needs to run after this one. Before we do that, I want to thank Barry Gropman for his email and recommendations for ideas for this series.
THE YOUNG RASCALS:
The first thing you notice with their song is that bass guitar. It is the driving force as that repeated chord patter takes you up and down and back again. It is great. The song is really simple for them, with that bass line, the guitar riff and the great drumming by Dino Danelli. Felix’s vocals are filled with pain and that delivery of the vocals is so superbly deliberate and well paced. He makes it sound serious and full of anger. The harmonies on the chorus are great as well. Really killer track.
PAT BENATAR:
Pat Benatar’s version turns up the guitar with Neil Giraldo and Myron Grombacher’s drums are slamming. The bass is there, but now it is a full on guitar rocker and the guitar takes over that part. Pat’s vocals are…well…amazing. There is so much anger in her vocals and she is a total badass ready to kick this guys ass if he shows up again. It would make me run. She totally modernized the song to be a pure hard rock anthem and she totally made it her own as I didn’t realize it was a cover until years later.
THE VERDICT:
You could go either way with this one. The Young Rascals original is a classic track. I love the bass work and Felix really delivers a great vocal as I really love his approach on the lyrics. Pat turns it in to a total hard rock, almost metal, song. Her vocals are unmatched by anyone and Neil’s guitar is really the driving force. But for me, it is always Pat Benatar. It was her version I heard first, her version I always think of when I think of this song and I never tire of hearing her. So Pat Benatar for the win here for me, but I know you all might have different views, so lay them on me.
I am really interested in hearing what everyone else thinks of these two songs. Let me know which version you like the best and why. Feel free to leave a comment and talk about the song and tell me how right or wrong I am on this one. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
LYRICS:
“You Better Run”
What you tryin’ to do to my heart? What you tryin’ to do to my heart? You go around tellin’ lies You’re runnin’ ’round with the other guys What you tryin’ to do to my heart?
You better run, you better hide You better leave from my side What you tryin’ to do to my soul? What you tryin’ to do to my soul? Everything I had was yours And now I’m closin’ all the doors What you tryin’ to do to my soul?
I love you girl, I love you so Can’t you see and don’t you know? I can’t stand your alibis, your tellin’ lies, you drop me wise Myself, I can’t stand anymore Oh, what you tryin’ to do to my head? What you tryin’ to do to my head? Now I gotta draw that line You’re not gonna take my mind What you tryin’ to do to my head?
You better run, you better hide You better leave from my side What you tryin’ to do to my soul? What you tryin’ to do to my soul? Everything I had was yours And now I’m closin’ all the doors What you tryin’ to do to my soul?
I can’t stand anymore, leave me alone, woman! Go way, too much, have mercy! I need you, I need you!
I had the absolute pleasure of joining Superdekes on his show “Scotch on the Rocks” as we discussed the box set from Kiss for Creatures of the Night…see what Deke has to say about it below, then go watch.
From Scotch on the Rocks:
It’s always a great chat when the Snowman hops on “Scotch On The Rocks” and this time was no different!
We talked of course about KISS and the Creatures album but with more of a personal angle than showing an unboxing video of the super deluxe as there are a hundreds of those kind of videos on Youtube currently.
We basically went back into the time machine to talk about how it was being a KISS fan when KISS wasn’t cool in the early 80’s. We talked about the music included in the various formats like the demo’s and live tracks with Vinnie Vincent in pretty good detail.
Some highlights were….
One of us got sprayed with perfume back in high school wearing a KISS shirt.
One of us also thought that “I Love It Loud” (live) wasn’t on the deluxe set.
One of us has Gene Simmons Money Bag Soda and could be seen swigging from the bottle of the Demon at the end of the show.
Talisman didn’t waste any time between their last studio album, ‘Cats & Dogs’, and this one, ‘7’. It is amazing they had time to even do an album as Jeff Scott Soto’s schedule was quite busy with his solo album & touring, his work with Soul SirkUS and then his stint as lead singer of Journey. It was a hectic and crazy schedule. Somehow they did it. The band was back together with Jeff, Marcel Jacob, Frederik Akesson and Jamie Borger and heck, even Pontus Norgren was there to help mix the album. The family was back for one last hurrah as it would turn out as this is the very last studio album by Talisman. A few years later, there were talks of doing another album, but before they could get to it, Marcel Jacob passed away in 2009. This was the end of Talisman and I still get sad thinking of it as I really do enjoy this band.
The original title of the album was called ‘BAR’ which was an inside joke with the band as it stood for ‘Bitter-Angry-Resentful’ which apparently was their outlook on certain life events…who knows if that is true, but I like it. They settled on ‘7’ which is actually the 7th Studio album of the band and they chose the theme of Lucky 7 with all the gambling pictures and Vegas pictures in the album artwork. The album was released on October 20, 2006 by Frontiers Records and they intended to do a tour with the release, but Jeff’s Journey commitment kept getting in the way. The tour was postponed until later in 2007 and by that time, Jeff was let go from Journey as we discussed in the last post. No need to rehash that story. We might as well talk music.
The album kicks off with the most upbeat, happiest guitars with a killer riff at a tempo that will have you flying down the road at 100mph if you are in your car. “Falling” is a modern sounding song while still holding on to the great melodic rock sound. There are keyboards in there (not credited) that really add a great punch to the song. I don’t know how Jamie Borger keeps up the pace he is going pounding those drums. It might be the fastest song they’ve done. Jeff sounds great and the melodies in the song are wonderful. What an astounding opening track.
We are now on the third promotional item I have for the Scorpions album ‘Crazy World’. This time around we have the Promotional CD Single for the song “Don’t Believe Her”. It was released as a single in December 1990 and was written by Herman Rarebell, Klaus Meine, Jim Vallance and Rudolf Schenker. The song went to #13 in the U.S. on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and it did go to #77 on the UK Singles Chart. A little better than the first single on the album as that only charted in the U.S.
My copy is the US Promotional Copy of the Single on CD. There was no cover for it, it only showed the CD, but it did have a back cover. It also has the now infamous words “For Promotional Use Only…Not For Sale” on the back cover and at the bottom of the CD. I do like that the CD is a picture disc considering we had no cover for it.
Back on the Rock the Nation Tour in 2004, Kiss offered the Instant Live CDs. Basically, after the show was over, they burned the show to 2 CDs and sold them so you could instantly walk home with the show in your pocket. The band worked with Live Nation who handled all the recording and distribution of the CDs. Now, not every show on this tour was recorded and that was due to two reasons. 1) The arena was not owned / promoted by Clear Channel Entertainment and 2) there were technical difficulties at the show. Which that would suck if you were expecting a copy.
There are about 32 different shows recorded and this is the first one I’ve ever seen out in the wild, so I bought it. And lucky for me, it was the Charlotte show from Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Charlotte, NC which is the town where I live (or just outside of it anyway). The show was from July 28, 2004. Now, only 31 left to get…joking. I don’t think I will go for all of them although that would be fun. However, if I run across any in the wild, I’ll buy them.
The packaging is simple and the same for every city. No setlist is included as each city might be slightly different. If you want the setlist, they give you website to go and download. However, that site doesn’t seem to exist anymore. The way to tell them apart was by a clear sticker with the city, venue and date of the show as seen on the cover at the top of the post. The band was Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons as you’d expect and then Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer who had taken over for Peter Criss on this tour and is still with the band as is Tommy.
The setlist isn’t printed in it so I found it and have listed it below…
2 Loud 2 Old Music 