You Picked It!: Cinderella – ‘Long Cold Winter’ (1988) – Album Review

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Alright…You Picked It! Apparently, people didn’t like the new format as the vote count was way down. I am getting back to what my site is about and that is what is in my collection which is why I changed things. I was tired of the other way and needed to change…so I did. Get used to this way because this is how it will be for the time being. The first vote getter in this month’s picks ended up the winner. Therefore the winner was Cinderella’s ‘Long Cold Winter’. Here are the results.

  1. Cinderella – ‘Long Cold Winter’ – 5 votes
  2. Winger – ‘Pull’ – 4 votes
  3. White Lion – ‘Mane Attraction’ – 2 votes
  4. Night Ranger – ‘Man in Motion’ – 2 votes
  5. Poison – ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ – 1 Vote

Thanks to all for participating. The December choices will be up on Saturday! And the choices are all now from my collection and will have a loose theme of 70’s Classics!!!

CINDERELLA – ‘LONG COLD WINTER’ (1988):

Cinderella hit it big with their Glam Rock debut ‘Night Songs’ back in 1986 with a lot of thanks to Jon Bon Jovi who saw them play and helped them get a deal. Gene Simmons was interested first, but they weren’t interested in Gene. The debut album had them dressing all Glam in colorful outfits and I don’t think they were very fond of that whole concept. That became obvious with their second album when they went to a more all black and blue jean look and changed their sound to mostly blues rock. They wanted to distance themselves as much as they could from the Glam scene and I don’t think they did, but they at least sounded different. Fans of the debut, followed along with this one as well…I know I did.

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My Sunday Song – “Cut the Cord” by Shinedown

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For My Sunday Song #325, we are diving in to the song “Cut the Cord” from Shinedown’s 2015 album ‘Threat to Survival’. The song was released on June 29, 2015 and written by Brent Smith and Eric Bass. The song is a platinum seller with sales over 1,000,000 and went to #8 on the US Rock Airplay chart and #10 on US Hot Rock & Alternative Song chart. It was the debut single off the album and helped propel the album go Gold and reach #6 on the Billboard Charts.

The song is about waking up, taking ownership of your life and realize that you control your own destiny. Find the courage and strength and don’t let anything get in your way to what you want. Basically, whatever is holding you back, cut that cord to free yourself and don’t be afraid to fail. We all need that strength at times as there is always an excuse why “not” to do something. This is the anthem to make you say failure is not an option.

The song is heavy, powerful and a massive wake up call of sound. Barry Kerch’s drumming is immensely intense and thunderous. Zach Myers guitars are heavy and lethal. The song opens with a choir of vocals on the “Freedom la la la la” lines and they show up through the song. Brent Smith’s vocals are wild, crazy and psychotic as he means what he sings and brings an intensity that is only matched by the music. The heavy melodies and catchy chorus find the right groove and it is a song you won’t forget.

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Matt Nathanson – “Suspended” – Promotional CD Single

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In my further quest for owning all Matt Nathanson items listed on Discogs, I found another gem. This Promo CD is for the song “Suspended” off his 2003 album and major label debut called ‘Beneath these Fireworks’. The song didn’t chart, no surprise as he’s never been a big radio hits guy (even though his stuff is better than radio). The album didn’t do well either and shortly after releasing his first major label debut on Universal, Universal dropped him. Such is the story of so many artists and bands.

The song was written by Matt Nathanson, Mark Weinberg and Eric Bazillion who you know as a founding member of the band The Hooters. The song is about being in a relationship that might not be the best relationship, but man, the sex is so good you are willing to accept anything to stay in it. You suspend belief and think that is all is great just to stay for sex despite how lost and miserable you might be. Better for some human contact than nothing at all. Now, that is one way to look at it, the other is that he is fully committed and in love, but she’s not quite there. The line, “When you pretend that I’m all that you waited for”, shows that he knows she’s not in to it anymore, just pretending. But he’s okay…he loves her and wants to stay and be together.

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GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man as 2 Loud 2 Old Music is the Special Guest!!

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GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 3: Special guest John Snow (That’s me…come join us tonight at 7pm!!)

Continuing to show off our collections, tonight Harrison and Mike are joined by the infamous John T. “Snowman” Snow for another hour of fun.  What will we show off tonight?  You’ll just have to tune in and see.  We all know John’s collection is massive and loaded with rock.  How will he choose to spend his hour tonight?  Let’s find out!

We also have some surprise viewer questions for Harrison, and YOU can participate in the comments section!  Join us, won’t you?

Friday November 11 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook.

Friday New Releases – November 11, 2022

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November is in full swing. Thanksgiving will be here before you know it, but before then be thankful for the new music releases we have this week. We only have around 40 for you, but that is still quite a lot. There are couple I might pick up, but nothing I have to have right here and now. Let me know what you want to hear this week and what we may have missed. Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • 81K2lT0mX8L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Guns ‘N Roses – Use Your Illusion Super Deluxe – (Geffen Records)
  • A1rU9TkoqBL._AC_UL640_FMwebp_QL65_  Mammoth WVH – Mammoth WVH (Deluxe Edition) – (EX1 Records)
  • 71ss5xyE-pL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Bruce Springsteen – Only the Strong Survive – (Columbia Records / Sony Music)
  • 71Hm6S7eVfL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Last in Line – A Day in the Life E.P. – (earMusic / Edel Music)
  • 61P08SO01rL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Louis Tomlinson – Faith in the Future – (78 Productions Ltd / BMG Rights)
  • 61uAzj7XbwL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Black Eyed Peas – Elevation – (Epic Records)
  • 81iKtaiIp6L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Morris Day – Last Call – (Morris Day Entertainment)
  • 71p4IABC4nL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Larkin Poe – Blood Harmony – (Tricki-Woo)
  • 91u6Ie8UX1L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Epica – The Alchemy Project – (Atomic Fire Records)
  • 71r4dxuS6sL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Enuff Z’Nuff – Finer Than Sin – (Frontiers Records)
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – November 11, 2022” →

Scorpions – ‘World Wide Live (1985) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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With the massive success of ‘Love at First Sting’, Scorpions were riding high. So the label felt it was time for another live album as it had been 7 years since the last one. During the ‘Love at First Sting Tour’, numerous shows were recorded and a double live album was pieced together. The shows were as follows:

  • Bercy, Paris, France (1984-02-29)
  • The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, USA (1984-04-24 & 1984-04-25)
  • Sports Arena, San Diego, CA, USA (1984-04-26)
  • Pacific Amphitheatre, Costa Mesa, CA, USA (1984-04-28)
  • Sporthalle, Cologne, West Germany (1984-11-17)

The album was released on June 20, 1985 and went all the way to #17 on the US Billboard 200 Chart and sold over 1,000,000 copies giving it platinum status. The band could do no wrong. The classic line-up was in place with Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs, Francis Buchholz and Herman Rarebell. And of course, the album was produced by long time Scorps producer Dieter Dierks.

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The Original vs. The Cover – “The Chain”

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For this edition of The Original vs. The Cover, we are going to explore the Fleetwood Mac song “The Chain” which was covered by the band The Highwomen for the soundtrack to the movie ‘The Kitchen’ back in 2019. I could’ve picked other covers by maybe Tantric or Evanescence, but I really liked this version. The song was written by all of Fleetwood Mac and this is certainly true as the song is pieced together from parts of several different unused material from all members of the band.

The opening intro was from an old Lindsey Buckingham song called “Lola (My Love”, the lyrics are from Stevie Nicks and other elements were worked in from Christine McVie’s song “Keep Me There”. The final section of the, including the bass progression were written by Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. It is a Frankenstein’s Monster of sorts and quite wonderful.

Let’s take a look at each version and see which one is the best.

FLEETWOOD MAC

The Fleetwood Mac version is so well known, it would be hard to top it. The opening guitar picking by Buckingham is damn near perfect. Lindsey and Stevie’s vocals together are always so perfect together as their tones play off each other so nicely. Mick’s drumming is so precise and played for the song. Not one drum hit is out of place. When you get to that bass progression towards the end, the song is really hitting on all cylinders as the tempo picks up and the energy as well. The vocal harmonies are what sets this song apart. It is one of those songs where each instrument is so critically placed and if pulled out the song would suffer. I’m telling you, it don’t get much better than this.

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2 Loud 2 Old Music – The Tote Bag!

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I will admit, sometimes I just need an easy post to write and that is what I’m doing here today. I’m a little burnt so this is a little break, change of pace kind of thing here. A couple weeks back, I received an email from Panera Bread Co., of which I am a rewards member. They were having a rewards week and they were giving away a free tote bag on the website Shutterfly. Now it wasn’t a Panera bag they were giving out, I could get any bag I wanted. All I had to do was pay shipping. Basically, it is a $20 tote bag for free and then I pay shipping. Shipping wasn’t cheap either as it was $10. But I thought, $10 for a tote bag of my creation…I’ll take that.

So, I went on to Shutterfly and found the tote bag section. I went on my computer and pulled up a 2 Loud 2 Old Music logo and BAM!!! I have a tote bag. Within about a week, it was shipped and received. Why do I need a Tote Bag. Well, I don’t really except for when I go to the Record Shows. Most booths don’t have bags and you need to carry the records. What better way to do that then a Tote Bag…and even better…one that has the logo for the website. Duh!! Below is the Tote Bag!!

And that isn’t the only Tote Bag I actually own. I have one from one of my favorite bands Needtobreathe. It was a part of joining their Insiders Club where you get a collection of live songs on CD exclusive to the club.

And there is still one more. One of the local record stores gave them away during 2018 Record Store Day. The local shop was Lunchbox Records and the Tote was 2-sided. Nice!!

And that is it! Now, I am not collecting Tote Bags by any means, but I have 3 and that is probably enough. Now, if someone wants to give me another one, sure, I’ll take it!! Here they all are…

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!!

Jeff Scott Soto – ‘Lost in the Translation’ (2004) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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As I had mentioned previously, 2004 was going to be a big year for Jeff Scott Soto. His introduction to Neal Schon during NAMM in January 2004, was the sign. Schon played on and co-wrote a song on his solo album, ‘Lost in the Translation’, which we are reviewing now and it led to a new band later that year and the Journey frontman shortly after that. Before we get ahed of ourselves, let us focus on the solo album first. And there is a live album to come out before Schon’s stuff as well.

‘Lost in the Translation’ is Jeff’s third solo album and what a step up from the prior two. He still had his good buddies playing on it – Howie Simon and Gary Schutt on guitar duty and Glen Sobel on drums and a guest appearance by Mr. Schon himself. It was a solid line-up, a solid album and would see Jeff head out on a full world tour that would last for 35 gigs and hit 4 continents that would run from August to November of 2004. Jeff was hitting his stride, finding his footing and the world was learning who he was. I know I did because it was this album and Talisman’s ‘Cats & Dogs’ where I discovered the greatness that is Jeff Scott Soto all thanks to Andrew McNiece at MelodicRock.com. Also, note the cover photo and under his right arm is Jeff’s autograph. This is one of the 5 albums I had him sign when I met him back in April 2022. Really Cool!!

The first track and single is “Believe in Me”. It was co-written by Jeff along with Neal Schon. I told you they began a great relationship…fruitful already. And let me tell you, it could be a Journey song. Not a ballad either, one of the rocking tracks. The opening guitar riff is cool as Schon shreds it. Jeff’s vocals are so smooth and melodic and you know what, he would sound great singing Journey songs…maybe that will happen!! (maybe real soon). You had Glen Sobel on drums and Jeff on bass and everyone sounded tight and laid down a great rhythm. A totally stellar track and very radio friendly even though no radio around here played it!

Continue reading “Jeff Scott Soto – ‘Lost in the Translation’ (2004) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)” →

My Sunday Song – “Save Me” by Shinedown

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For My Sunday Song #324, we are discussing the song “Save Me” by Shinedown. The song is off their 2005 album ‘Us and Them’. The song went to #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and #72 on the Billboard Hot 100…didn’t quite make to Top 40. The song was written by Brent Smith and Tony Battaglia.

The song is something Brent had worked on back in the 90’s, but finally finished it for the ‘Us and Them’ album. It is about those people that want to help out and solve everyone else’s problems and issues. They take on so much that they run in to problems of their own and then need to be saved. The exact same thing happened to Brent we someone tried to help and later he had to help them.

Brad Stewart opens the song with a cool bass line which is accompanied by some eerie guitar riffs from Jasin Todd that give the song this whole doom and gloom vibe. Barry Kerch’s drumming is superb and his fills give the song a little something extra and help with the intensity that is in Brent’s vocals. The chorus amps up the energy and there is an urgency in the song that gives you chills. A standout track on the album for sure.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Save Me” by Shinedown” →