Friday New Releases – June 30th

It is the last Friday of June and I have vacation time coming my way.  Not much coming out this week and thankfully that is the case as I won’t have time much over the next week to listen to anything.  The ones I am curious about are highlighted in Blue.  Hopefully you find something you like…if so, let me know.

  • 170x170bb-48  Stone Sour – Hydrograd – (Roadrunner Records):  Corey Taylor (from Slipnot) and crew are back with their sixth studio album.  Talk is this will be more of a straight up rock and roll record which I am not sure what that will mean, but we will see what their definition of a Rock & Roll record is.  Looking forward to giving it a spin.

  • 51u9Y6CGJ8L._AC_US218_  Don Barnes – Ride the Storm – (MelodicRock Records):  Don Barnes from .38 Special finally gets to release his solo album from 1989.  Thanks to MelodicRock Records (& Melodicrock.com).  I am eager to hear what we missed from so long ago.  Apparently the album was never released due to the label (A&M Records) being sold.  I don’t know if it got lost in the shuffle or it wasn’t good enough that the new company didn’t want to release it.  We will soon find out.

Continue reading “Friday New Releases – June 30th” →

Bryan Adams – “Straight From the Heart” & “Cuts Like A Knife” – The 45 Single (1985)

For the next single that was in my box of vinyl, you get two for the price of one.  It is actually a re-issued single of two of Bryan Adams most popular songs from his ‘Cuts Like a Knife’ album.  A&M Records had a 45 single series called A&M Memories where they re-released singles of artists and both sides were previously released singles from the artist and from the same album.

IMG_0126

The original singles “Straight From the Heart” and “Cuts Like a Knife” were actually released in 1983 as separate singles.  The B-Side for “Straight From the Heart” was “One Good Reason” and the B-Side for “Cuts Like a Knife” was “Lonely Nights”.  This release of those singles was done only a couple years later in 1985. The concept of this A&M series was pretty smart as it gave the customer two hit songs for the price of one.

Continue reading “Bryan Adams – “Straight From the Heart” & “Cuts Like A Knife” – The 45 Single (1985)” →

What Do You Want For Christmas? – Playlist

Everybody wants something for Christmas.  There are a bunch of albums I would like to get on vinyl so if anyone is feeling generous, the new Motley Crue ‘The End’ Box Set would be nice.  My kids keep telling me what they want for Christmas despite the fact I keep telling them it is too late to put in new orders as Santa already has decided what they are getting.  Plus, Mommy and Daddy are done shopping.

Musicians are no different.  They want a lot of things for Christmas.  What do they want you ask?  I will tell you what they told me when I asked them.  Here is what they said…

Huey Lewis & The News – “I Want A New Drug” – I think someone has a problem!!

Queen -“I Want It All” – Greedy much?

Continue reading “What Do You Want For Christmas? – Playlist” →

Robert John “Mutt” Lange – Producer Extraordinaire

Robert John “Mutt” Lange could quite possibly be one of the greatest music producers there has ever been.  He is personally responsible for some of the biggest selling albums of all time. He is the man behind the music, literally.

He started producing albums in the 70’s where he produced Graham Parker’s album ‘Heat Treatment’ and worked with the City Boys.  He also worked with the Boomtown Rats which gave him his first real breakout album was their 1978 album ‘A Tonic for the Troops”.

But the big break came with the success of his work with AC/DC.  He produced the 1979 album ‘Highway to Hell’ and then the 1980 classic ‘Back in Black’ which is the second largest selling album of all time at over 50 million albums.  ‘Back in Black’ was one of the albums I picked up just recently (read about it here).  He went to do another album for AC/DC in 1981, ‘For Those About To Rock We Salute You’.

Continue reading “Robert John “Mutt” Lange – Producer Extraordinaire” →