Friday New Releases – September 23, 2022

Yesterday, I had my appendix removed…today is recovery and nothing better than new music. There is only one I want this week and it is on order. I hope it arrives soon. We don’t have as many releases as this week but we are still close to 50 new ones. Go through the list and tell us what you want to hear this week and let us all know if there is anything we might have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • 71I+Pglsr-L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Billy Idol – The Cage E.P. – (BFI Records / Dark Horse Records / BMG): If you read this site regularly, then you already know this is my top choice this week. Billy Idol is back with another E.P. and after last year’s fabulous The Roadside E.P., I am excited about this one and first single “The Cage” is a promising start. Even we aren’t going to get a full album, I will gladly take an E.P. every year.

And the rest…enjoy…

  • 71eIaDXLoLL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Kelsea Ballerini – Subject to Change – (Black River Entertainment)
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Rock Star: Music From the Motion Picture – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

Who would have thought that in 1991 while doing backing vocals for Stryper’s album ‘Against the Law’, that would lead to Jeff Scott Soto doing the singing vocals for a movie in 2001 called ‘Rock Star’ starring Mark Wahlberg That is what happened. The producer on the Stryper album was Tom Werman and Tom brought Jeff in for a ton of albums he worked on after Stryper’s album and when ‘Rock Star’ came up, he had Jeff come in and audition.

He originally auditioned for the singing voice of Mark Wahlberg’s character, but the producers of the movie thought his voice was too good actually. They wanted a less seasoned voice, but one that could rip in those 80’s styles so they brought in Miljenko ‘Mike’ Matijevic another Tom vocal favorite. Mike is the lead singer of the band Steelheart and man does he have some pipes as well. Jeff actually did backing vocals on Steelheart’s debut album as well.

The movie ‘Rock Star’ was inspired by what went on with Judas Priest after Rob Halford left the band. They brought in a Judas Priest Tribute band singer by the name of Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens. Mark Wahlberg’s character, Chris Cole, is a massive Steel Dragon fan and was in a tribute band called ‘Blood Pollution’. When the lead singer of Steel Dragon, Bobby Beers, quit (sung by Jeff Scott Soto), Chris Cole was hired (sung by Ike Matijevic) and then the movie chronicles the ups and downs of Chris Cole’s life as a result of this move.

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Friday New Releases – February 12, 2021

The last couple of weeks for me haven’t been big on releases. This week changes all that. There are so many I want to check out that it might take a whole week to get through them all. My choices are highlighted in Blue. Now before we go on, lets take a look at something in the list below. Frontiers Records has not 1 or 2 or even 5, they have at least 6 albums coming out this week (could be more, I only put in 6). That is one label releasing that many albums on one day. Kind of shocking. If I was an artist on that label, I would ask how the label can market that many releases at one time. Seems unfair to the releases. And a lot of the label’s albums are similar type of music. There is no way, the public can buy them all, especially in today’s environment. I am not sure I understand their strategy. Enough about that. What albums are you most eager to hear? Let me know what you want and what I may have missed. Thanks and have a great weekend.

  • A1ZVtvdzNFL._SX522_  The Pretty Reckless – Death by Rock And Roll – (Fearless Records): This hard rock band, fronted by Taylor Momsen, is back with another kick ass release. At least I hope it will be kick ass. Taylor has a great rock voice and I have been a fan of her vocals and band since they came out years ago. Can’t wait to dive in to this one.
  • 71R8bsymJzL._SX522_  Durbin – The Beast Awakens – (Frontiers Records): James Durbin has returned after a short stint with Quiet Riot. Glad to see him on his own again. He has brought some heavy hitting friends along and this one is supposed to be balls to the wall heavy and should be right up his alley. Who’da think this boy from American Idol would still be hanging around this long. Good on him.
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‘Masters of Metal’ – Various Artists – Album Review

I was digging for records while on vacation down in St. Augustine, Florida and at one of the stores, I came across a vinyl that brought back so many memories.  I had this on cassette and I remember loving it and listening to it constantly.  I had to get it and at only $5, it was a no brainer.

The album is not something I normally buy and that is because it is a compilation album mixed with numerous artists.  The album was K-Tel’s “Master of Metal”!  Now, don’t let the name confuse you because it isn’t really that heavy or metal, but it was full of songs that I loved from bands that sometimes do much heavier stuff.  The album is from 1984 and had hit songs from some of the biggest bands at that time.

There were so many bands on here that had connections with each other.  Such as Black Sabbath is on it with Ian Gillan on vocals, Dio is on here and Ronnie James Dio used to sing with Black Sabbath, Rainbow is on here with Joe Lynn Turner and Dio sang with them as well.  Kiss is on here and so is Rush who opened for Kiss.  All pretty cool, but back in 1984, I had no idea about these connections.

IMG_2413 2 Continue reading “‘Masters of Metal’ – Various Artists – Album Review”

Jorn – 50 Years on Earth: The Anniversary Box Set – Album Review

Norwegian rocker, Jorn Lande, turned 50 this year and to celebrate that fact, Frontiers Records released a collection of 9 of his studio albums and three bonus discs.  That is 12 disc in all for a very reasonable price of about $60 ($5 per CD). I will take that deal any day!

Jorn’s voice is so powerful and he could hold is own with some of the more well known vocalist out there.  When he sings, he does sound almost exactly like David Coverdale of Whitesnake.  And when he covers any Whitesnake song, the resemblance is uncanny.  That is probably why I like him so much as I am huge Whitesnake fan.

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Frontiers does a great job with the set.  The box is real sturdy and should hold up well for years.  Each CD is packaged in a cardboard sleeve that looks like the original CD and includes the original CD booklet as well.  Sometimes sets have left that piece out.  The CD itself looks like a small vinyl replica which seems to be a trend for some box sets (The Kip Winger Set did that as well).  It is a nicely packaged set.

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Tuesday’s Memes – Gene Simmons

Welcome to the first of the 2018 Tuesday’s Memes.  Let’s get started with poking fun at someone who really deserves to be poked fun of a little for running his mouth so much lately.  This week we honor (or roast, take your pick) Gene Simmons from the band Kiss.  Since Kiss isn’t doing anything new lately, Gene is trying desperately to stay relevant and it isn’t working very well.

I hope you enjoy and get a laugh or two…

Alright, might as well jump right in…

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Tuesday’s Memes – HEAVY METAL

No artists this week.  We are tackling a whole genre of music called Heavy Metal.  Maybe you have heard of it…I hope so.  If not, these won’t be funny at all to you.  Everyone likes it hard some times and with music, I do too.  So let’s have some fun with Heavy Metal.  I hope you enjoy!!

Hey Gene…trademark this!!

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1983 – The Greatest Year in Music?

Last year, I explored the year 1987 as the greatest year in music.  It was a great year and had some huge top selling albums.  Now , I am going to argue for 1983 as the greatest year in music.  The greatest year in music is very subjective and each person will have a different year.  Probably your high school years and/or the year you really started digging music.  1983 was the year that I started becoming massively obsessed with music.

The year had some of the biggest selling albums and a ton of music that influenced me, but what makes the year even better were the debut albums that came out in 1983. Some of the biggest names in music.  Here are the albums and/or events that make 1983 the greatest year in music:

Michael Jackson:

michael_jackson_-_thrillerWe will start off with one of the biggest reasons 1983 might be the greatest year in music.  That reason is Michael Jackson.  His album, ‘Thriller’, actually came out on November 30, 1982.  However, the impact of that album was truly felt in 1983.  Believe it or not, ‘Thriller’, did not reach #1 until almost 3 months after its release.  On February, 26, 1983, ‘Thriller’ was the #1 album in the country.  It was the first of 37 weeks at #1.  The album is the top selling album of all time at over 65 million copies.  A number that is unheard of and might never be topped.

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Friday New Releases – July 22nd

This is a very quiet week for new releases.  Only one new one that I am eager to hear, Leeland’s ‘Invisible’.  There are 2 greatest hits that you should check out if you don’t have all their stuff already – Dio and Dragonforce.  Outside of that, not real excited about the others.

  • 515hrNs8fbL._AC_US160_  Leeland – Invisible – (Provident) – It has been about 5 years since their last album. The band’s line-up has changed significantly and only 2 members left.  If you like Christian music, they are worth giving a listen.

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