The Collection: Ep. 66 – Billy Idol’s ‘Dream Into It’ – Album Review

This week on the Collection, we are going to show off the new CD and Vinyl for Billy Idol’s new album, ‘Dream Into It’. And why we are it, we will throw in an album review. I know I’ve already posted an album review of this on the site, but this is the YouTube show and it is a slightly different audience. I felt it needed to be in both places. It has been 11 years since we’ve had a full length studio album from Billy Idol. His last one was 2014 with ‘Kings And Queens of the Underground’. He has had a couple of 4 song E.P.’s since then, but no full album of new music. Now, the time is upon us. After he did those two E.P.’s, he realized the press on those was as much as a full length album so why not simply do a full album and we are glad he did. Let’s get to it!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, July 21, 2025 at 7pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Billy Idol – ‘Dream Into It’ (2025) – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

It has been 11 years since we’ve had a full length studio album from Billy Idol. His last one was 2014 with ‘Kings And Queens of the Underground’. He has had a couple of 4 song E.P.’s since then, but no full album of new music. Now, the time is upon us. After he did those two E.P.’s, he realized the press on those was as much as a full length album so why not simply do a full album and we are glad he did. The album was released on April 25, 2025 and it went to #79 in the U.K., but Switzerland saw it go to #3 and Germany it was #2. How did it fare in the U.S.? Well, it was Billy’s first ever Top 10 album as it went to #7. Not bad Billy…not bad at all!

The interesting about this release is that it is a concept album and it is broken down in to two parts. Part 1 is called “Dying to Love” and is Side One on the vinyl. This side is focused on the past and sees Billy being nostalgic and focusing on his early years. Part 2 is called, “I’m Reborn” and is Side Two of the album. The focus here is more forward looking on his life now which sees him now as Grandpa and in love with a great family. Cool to see someone that almost died from his drug use and rock & roll lifestyle to be an older rocker and simply loving life. He seems to be in a good place.

I ended up buying both the CD and the vinyl simply because I collect everything Billy so had to have both versions. We get 9 songs, but really only 8 new ones as one of the song is a remake of the song “John Wayne” which was on hit 2008 greatest hits album called The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself. This time around it is a duet and we will get to that later. A little disappointing that we didn’t get 10 new songs. I was worried he was going to re-use some of the songs from his last two E.P.’s, but thankfully that was not the case. But we do a good some good stuff and some okay stuff, so let’s get to the music.

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Friday New Releases – November 24, 2023

It is the after Thanksgiving in the States and it is known as Black Friday. Because of that, there are not many new releases unless you are being released on Record Store Day – Black Friday…that list is at the bottom of the regular album releases. And for the regular releases there is nothing for me, but for Black Friday Record Store Day I would like the Collective Soul and my daughter wants the Olivia Rodrigo one. I also wouldn’t mind getting the Limp Bizkit one on CD but don’t tell anyone. Let me know what you want to pick up this week or what we may have missed. Thanks and have a great weekend.

  • Take That – This Life – (EMI / Universal Music)
  • Busta Rhymes – BlockBusta – (Conglomerate Ent. / Epic Records)
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Joan Jett and The Blackhearts – “I Hate Myself for Loving You” – 7″ Single

Out at one of my local haunts, Mad Jacks, I found a handful of 7″ singles and the first one up is from Joan Jett & the Blackhearts for their song “I Hate Myself For Loving You”. The song was released in June 1988 and is off her album “Up Your Alley”. The song was written by Joan Jett along with the great Desmond Child who also produced it as well. The song was a Top 10 hit for Joan Jett going all the way to #8 on the charts and help propel the album platinum status.

My version is the standard U.S. Edition with the B-Side being a live version of “Love is Pain”. The original song is off her album “I Love Rock & Roll”. Joan Jett wrote and produced this song. My copy isn’t special or rare, but I am trying to collect any decent 80’s rock picture sleeves so I had to have it.

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June 2022 Purchases – Vinyl, CDs, Cassettes & More

Summer has been heating up and so did the purchases for this month. This month had some serious quality for me and at the same time some quantity as well. And the month came in with a bang as all my Def Leppard albums I ordered finally made it in. When I say “all”, I mean the new one and all the formats I ordered. I’m starting to like it too!

And it kept on going with a huge sale at 2nd & Charles having a buy 5 CDs get 5 CDs free and I took advantage of that discount. My daughter joined me and picked up some DVDs and CDs as the sale applied to those as well. First batch is all Kiss!!

And then a selection of great artists…

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The Original vs. The Cover – “I Love Rock ‘n Roll”

For this version of The Original vs. The Cover, we are covering the classic song “I Love Rock & Roll” by The Arrows and by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.  We are not going to explore the cover by Britney Spears because, well it is Britney Spears and so not worthy!

The song was written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of the band The Arrows back in 1975 and when it was released, it ran into a run of bad luck and never amounted to much on the charts thanks in part to a Paper Strike and no news was printed around its release.  The song itself was a reaction to the Rolling Stones song “It’s Only Rock & Roll (But I Like It)” according to an interview Merrill had with Songfacts.com…

“That was a knee-jerk response to the Rolling Stones’ ‘It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll.’ I remember watching it on Top of the Pops. I’d met Mick Jagger socially a few times, and I knew he was hanging around with Prince Rupert Lowenstein and people like that – jet setters. I almost felt like ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’ was an apology to those jet-set princes and princesses that he was hanging around with – the aristocracy, you know. That was my interpretation as a young man: Okay, I love rock and roll. And then, where do you go with that?”

The band would play this song on Top of the Pops in 1976 and it was at that time, a young lady by the name of Joan Jett heard it while she was touring her band The Runaways.  She decided she wanted to record it, but The Runaways didn’t want to cover it so when she went solo, she recorded it herself.

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Halestorm – ReAniMate 3.0 – The CoVeRs eP – Album Review

As I have said repeatedly, cover albums are not my favorite albums as usually they lack the imagination and creativity to make them feel like it is the band’s songs.  They stick too much to the original and who wants that.  If I want to hear something that sounds like the original song, I will listen to the original song.

I will keep an open mind with this review and do my best to do it justice.  Halestorm is now on their 3rd edition of their Reanimate the Covers E.P.’s.  I give the band credit for giving their fans something to tide them over until their next album.  As a music fan, it is nice to always get something new from your favorite bands even if it is a cover song.  However, Halestorm does a lot of covers.

After listening to the album repeatedly for the last few days, I feel I have a great grasp of the songs and can say that I am not overly impressed with the E.P. as a whole.  The band sticks pretty close to the original versions which is where my disappointment lies on most of the songs, but overall it is not a bad effort.  I would rather have a full album of new material though.

The opening track is “Still of the Night”, a Whitensake cover.  I have to admit I do like this song.  Yes, they stick close to the original version, but the vocal range is actually perfect for Lzzy and the band sounds really great.  What I like about Halestorm is that when they really rock it out, that is where they shine.  This song really gives them the opportunity to rock out.

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Women that Rock – Playlist

Most of the rock albums I have are sung by men.  However, there are a lot of great rock songs and albums with female lead singers.  I was sitting here listening to Janis Joplin and started thinking about who were some of my favorite female lead singers that could rock it out.  Below is my list of my favorite Women that Rock.

Here we go.

“Piece of My Heart” – Janis Joplin

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