Welcome to will be a massive New Release day for one artist as Taylor Swift has a brand new album this week. No, not a “Taylor Version” of an old album, but a brand new one. The woman is a machine with as much product as she puts out. And for the rest of us, there is the new Pearl Jam record and that first song and title track, Dark Matter, is pretty awesome. There a ton of other releases today as well so check them out and let us know what you want to hear or what we may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!!
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department – (Republic Records)
Pearl Jam – Dark Matter – (Monkeywrench / Republic Records)
Bruce Springsteen – Best of Bruce Springsteen – (Columbia Records / Sony Music)
The band was now five albums in but it had been 12 years total. Not a great track record. They wanted to not have 4 years or more between albums again so it was decided to release a compilation album to hold fans over until the next release. But this wasn’t any ordinary greatest hits compilation, nope…that would’ve been too easy. The band decided to pull together a bunch of rare tracks and B-sides and put them together on one release…but still…not so simple as they re-recorded parts, remixed others and gave us a solid collection of songs from their career over the span of 1984 up to 1993. It also gives us some of the last recordings of the late, great Steve Clark.
The album would be called ‘Retro Active’ and released on October 5, 1993. It would spawn three singles including “Two Steps Behind”, “Miss You In A Heartbeat” and The Sweet cover for “Action”. Both “Two Steps Behind” and “Miss You In A Heartbeat” would go Top 40 and the album would go on to sell over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone. Heck, even the opening track, “Desert Storm” would hit the U.S. Mainstream Rock Chart at #12 without even being released technically as a single.
One really cool aspect of the album is the cover which was designed by Hugh Syme and Nels Israelson. The image is a photographed of a woman sitting in front of a vanity mirror. However, she is positioned just so, along with other items, so that when you moved the album further away from you it turned in to a skull. A really cool concept
The album opens up with an outtake from the ‘Hysteria’ album called “Desert Song”. It was originally recorded as an instrumental and is the last song released by the band to feature Steve Clark on guitar. In fact, it is noted as the only song in the catalog to feature both Steve and his replacement Vivian Campbell who did some background vocals on the song. I know I said it was originally an instrumental and it was, but lyrics were written when the pulled the song back out after forgetting about it for years. The song is about Mick Ronson who was dying of cancer around this time. It is a killer opening track, hard hitting and a really cool Clark tone to it which is so missed. The bass work is great on this as well as the guitars. To me, the song sounds more like it would’ve fit on ‘Slang’ then on ‘Hysteria’. A truly fantastic track.
Welcome to monthly wrap-up of what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection and it was another good month. I will be honest, I don’t know if December is shaping up to be as good as this one and that is okay. I need a break. I will be in New York City and hope to hit a couple stores so there is still hope, but as far as what has already been ordered, not much. I know there is Christmas, but that list I gave my family was pretty light as I’d like a new laptop and that will drown out most everything else. For now, sit back and enjoy what we have this month.
The month started out with a sale at 2nd & Charles with a Buy 2 Get 2 Free sale on CDs. Well, you don’t have to tell me twice. My daughter and I hit up a different one then our normal haunt as I have picked that one clean and boy did that pay off. I picked up 20 CDs and 1 DVD as well. So technically, the first photo I bought, then the 2nd one was free.
And the DVD was for Robbie Williams’ TV concert show called “The Robbie Williams Show” and a review if forthcoming…
Happy Friday and that statement is true because any day with new albums is a Happy Day!! We have around 35 new releases for you this week and a couple I’m interested in hearing, but won’t buy just yet. Through Fire and Texas Hippie Coalition will get my rock going this week. There are a bunch of Frontiers Records releases as they always do a bunch at one time and an MTV Unplugged for Twenty One Pilots might be interesting too. I hope there is something you like. Let me know what you want to hear this week and what we may have missed so everyone knows. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
Through Fire – Devil’s Got You Dreamin’ – (Sumerian Records)
Texas Hippie Coalition – The Name Lives On – (MNRK Records)
Twenty One Pilots – MTV Unplugged (Live) – (Fueled By Ramen)
After the moderate success of their debut album, the band went in to record their sophomore album with famed musician and producer, Ian Hunter. Yes, the Ian Hunter from Mott the Hoople. The album would come out just a few months later in January 1979. Before the album was released, the record company, Chrysalis, came to the band and basically told them, the album better succeed or they were to be dropped from the label…no pressure.
The album was quite different than the first album. It had some of the punk sound from the first album, but there were elements of some glam (thanks to Ian) and even more of an American sound ala Springsteen (or at least what they felt was like Springsteen). The songs were a little more complex than the first album and the writing was more mature, but I am not sure it was good yet.
The two writing contributors were Billy Idol and Tony James so everything was based around what they wanted. Heck, in fact when promoting the debut album, it was only Billy sent to America to promote it. That started putting thoughts in Billy’s head about what he could do on his own. However, on this album, most of the influence on the album seem to be coming from Tony (he even picked the producer). It was the start of things to come.
For this version of The Original vs. The Cover, we are covering (pun intended) Ian Hunter’s classic “Once Bitten, Twice Shy”. The song was written by Ian and included on his self-titled solo album he released in 1975 after his departure from Mott the Hoople. The song went to #14 on the UK singles chart and was produced by Ian and great Mick Ronson.
The song hasn’t been covered by a whole lot of acts, but one of the most famous was by Great White. So, let’s sit back, have a listen and compare the two and determine who has the best version of “Once Bitten, Twice Shy”.
The song tells the story of a rock musician who meets a girl why he is out on tour and becomes intimate with her (meaning he has sex with her). He thinks she is young and innocent until to his dismay he discovers she has been around quite a lot and been with a lot of other musicians. It is a classic tale of old!!
The title of the song comes from the old expression meaning once you have been hurt once, you become less trusting and cautious going forward. The phrase dates back to 1484 and is traced back to an English printer (William Caxton), the first to publish a translation in to English of Aesop’s tales. There is your history lesson for the day.
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department – (Republic Records) 
Pearl Jam – Dark Matter – (Monkeywrench / Republic Records)
Bruce Springsteen – Best of Bruce Springsteen – (Columbia Records / Sony Music)
Through Fire – Devil’s Got You Dreamin’ – (Sumerian Records)
Texas Hippie Coalition – The Name Lives On – (MNRK Records)
Twenty One Pilots – MTV Unplugged (Live) – (Fueled By Ramen)
2 Loud 2 Old Music 