Tag: Magic

You Picked It!! – The Cars – ‘Heartbeat City’ – Album Review

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Alright…You Picked It! This one was really close as we almost ended in a tie, but one edged out the pack by one little vote. The one vote that made it not a tie was someone said that they wanted either one album or another that I should pick, so I always go with the first name on the choices. If I didn’t, we would’ve ended in a tie. The winner for this month’s picks ended up being The Cars with ‘Heartbeat City’ and I am real excited about this one. Here are the results.

  1. The Cars – ‘Heartbeat City’ – 8 votes
  2. Prince – ‘Purple Rain’ – 7 votes
  3. Genesis – ‘Invisible Touch’ – 3 votes
  4. U2 – ‘The Joshua Tree’ – 2 votes
  5. Bryan Adams – ‘Reckless’ – 2 Votes

Thanks to all for participating. The February choices will be up on Saturday! And the choices are all now from my collection and the next one will be some albums I have from the 90’s but probably not the ones you’d expect. Hopefully you can help me decide which one I should review.

THE CARS – ‘HEARTBEAT CITY’ (1984):

The Cars were now on their fifth studio album by 1984 and they made some changes with this one. Long time producer, Roy Thomas Baker, was replaced with some dude name Mutt…that is right…Mutt…Robert John “Mutt” Lange. I think you’ve heard of him before. Mutt had just come off Def Leppard’s album ‘Pyromania’ so he was one of the hottest producers around, plus he had done ‘Back in Black’ and “For Those About to Rock, We Salute You” by AC/DC, ‘4’ by Foreigner and ‘High & Dry’ by Def Leppard. Just a few massive albums. With Mutt signing on to do this album, he had to turn down Def Leppard’s next album ‘Hysteria’…but delay after delay allowed him to eventually join in and help with that mind blowing album.

But the Cars were different, they pure pop. They were not a hard rock band. The Cars also co-produced with the album as well. I do know that Mutt’s influence on here is huge and obvious at times as I can hear hints of his other work in these songs. This saw the band return to form and even see elements of their debut on here as well. It might be slick and polished, but is quite incredible too! If this isn’t their best album, it is pretty damn near close.

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Axel Rudi Pell – ‘Magic’ (1997) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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After the last album, ‘Black Moon Pyramid’, Axel Rudi Pell wanted to do a tour, but Jeff Scott Soto’s schedule wouldn’t allow it. He was fully committed to his other project Boogie Knights which was a 70’s funk, R&B tribute style band. The commitment was due to a very steady paycheck. As a result, Axel took a short break and then started working on his next album which became ‘Magic’. Jeff was still on board for vocals as he didn’t want to let his friend down. While performing 3-4 nights a week with Boogie Knights, Jeff would work on the vocals for the this album. It became utterly exhausting for him as his voice had no rest.

The keyboardist for Axel’s band was Julie Greaux up to this point, but she left the band mostly because she became Jeff’s ex-girlfriend. As a result, a friend of Axel’s was brought in named Christian Wolf to help out. Christian was still in the band Rage, but was able to do this album as well. The rest of the band, Jorg Michael and Volker Krawczak were still in tact. Axel wanted to a heavier album than the previous and I think he succeeded. The album ‘Magic’ was released on May 21, 1997. Again, Axel was wanting to tour, but Jeff wasn’t feeling it. Boogie Knights was too important at this time and when it got down to it, this wasn’t his favorite type of music to sing anyway. In fact, Jeff didn’t co-write any of the songs on this one. It was all Axel. After much discussion, he parted with Axel and moved on. He and Axel are still good friends today and nice to see there were no hard feelings between the two gentleman.

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Friday New Releases – September 7th

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It is the first Friday of September and there is a long list of releases.  Everyone starts putting out their new albums in the Fall and there are some big ones coming, but let us focus on today.  The ones I am looking forward to are highlighted in Blue.  Let me know what you want to listen to and which ones I might have missed on the list.  Thanks and have a great music weekend!!

  • 917OiMivKZL._SX522_  Alter Bridge – Live a the Royal Albert Hall (feat. the Parallax Orchestra) – (Napalm Records):  I am surprised by another live record after last year’s release.  That is ok.  There are some different songs in the set list and a little orchestra along with it.  I will give it a listen and then decide on buying.

  • A11xhBfgFwL._SX522_  Lenny Kravitz – Raise Vibration – (Roxie Records):  I have always loved Lenny so this is a no brainer to stream.  His last few have been so-so so again I will stream it before I buy it.  Just so you know, I don’t always do that as I do have 4 or 5 albums on pre-order without hearing a lick.  Only a few bands get that special treatment.

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Friday New Releases – July 1st

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Not a ton of releases this Friday, but a few that could be promising.  After spending some time at the beach this week with my family, it is nice to be home and enjoy some new music.  The ones I will be checking out are in blue.

  • 51lBop9gJxL._AC_US160_  Blink-182 – California – (Viking Wizard Eyes LLC) – Blink release a new album but without Tom DeLonge, is it really a Blink album?  That is the question I am asking and I will give it a listen to see what they give us.

  • 61wuXdxmLpL._AC_US160_  Through Fire – Breathe – (Sumerian Records) – Justin McCain is back with a new band Through Fire.  Justin was the founding member of the Emphatic, of which I was a huge fan.  Basically, it is the same band with just a name change and a new record label.  High hopes for this one.

  • 61B5on+GiBL._AC_US160_  American Authors – What We Live For – (Island) – Back with their sophomore effort after the huge success of ‘Oh, What a Life’.  Can they continue that success or get sucked down by the sophomore slump?  We will have to listen and find out.

  • 519sZTyRxTL._AC_US160_  The Dirty Clergy – Rattlesnake – (Happy Daze Records) – I screwed up and had them on last week when they were only releasing a new single last week. Now the album comes out.  It has very simple productions, but some great songs on here.  A nice raw quality to the whole thing.

  • 51ZLb9CvR5L._AC_UL115_  Maxwell – black SUMMERS’ night – (Columbia)
  • 61hOvN0ygqL._AC_US160_  Fates Warning – Theories of Flight – (Inside Out Music)
  • 61h-l88ea5L._AC_US160_  Pet Shop Boys – Twenty-Something (EP) – (X2 Records)
  • 51+m1Ev8jEL._AC_US160_  Bat for Lashes – The Bride – (Warner Bros.)
  • 41gaTbLn5GL._AC_US160_  Magic! – Primary Colours – (Sony Music Entertainment)

Music is Magic – Playlist

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If you don’t believe magic is real, you haven’t really listened to music.  Music can instantly change your mood.  It can even let you travel through time by taking you back to a special memory.  Music can make you laugh, make you cry and make you feel so many different things.  It can make you dance and soothe your soul.

If that is not magical, then I don’t know what is.  In honor of all that, here are my favorite “magical” songs.  Sadly, there are so many songs to choose from, I ended up with a list that only covered the ’60’s – ’80’s.  I have to do another list for the ’90’s-’10’s.

“Do You Believe In Magic” – The Lovin’ Spoonful

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