Tag: Michael Sweet

February 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

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February is over so it is time for our monthly round-up of what 2 Loud 2 Old Music got their hands on this month and it was another banner month. It all started with a trip to the antique mart called Sleepy Poets. My daughter loves that place and I don’t mind because there are records and I found a couple good ones. One was the only early Stryper album I was missing and the other was one of my mother’s favorite bands Air Supply so I had to buy it. I miss her a lot so it will be something in my collection that when I am really, really missing her I can pull out and play.

Then the following week, my daughter wanted to hit more antique shops as she loves to find old vintage clothes at not a too ridiculous of a price. The first place we hit in Mathews said it was an antique place, but really it was a record store and now I have another great place to go buy albums!! Yeah me!! I found some great vinyl, CDs, singles and cassettes…they had it all. First are the albums, which are an early pressing of Mariah Carey’s debut on vinyl and a Billy Idol 12″ Single of Mony Mony.

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Stryper – “Honestly” – 45 Single

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Styrper caught a lot of flack back in the day for their look. The big freaking hair, the yellow and black leather, the throwing Bibles from the stage. Yes, they were a Christian band in the Heavy Metal world. Funny thing is a lot of people didn’t know they were Christian and just enjoyed the songs. Heck, their look and sound fit right in on the MTV Generation as this song was one of the stations most requested songs. The thing is, Stryper were sincere in their Christian beliefs and spreading the word, but that didn’t stop the likes of Jerry Falwell calling them “A Wolf in Sheep’s clothing”. That is kinda harsh.

The band’s fifth single off their smash album ‘To Hell With the Devil’ was “Honestly” which was written by Michael Sweet. It was released in 1987 and went all the way to #23 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band’s only song to ever break the Top 40 Charts. As a result, the band saw massive success and the album reached Platinum Status. The B-Side was the song “Sing-ALong Song” also written by Sweet. My copy of the 7″ Single is the standard U.S. version so nothing special other than it is in pretty great shape for over 30 years old.

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You Picked It! – Stryper -“Against the Law” – Album Review

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Alright…You Picked It! And this one wasn’t really that close. After the first five picks were one for each artist, the winner took the early lead and never looked back. The winner this month is Stryper and their album ‘Against the Law’ which was one that was in my collection. I will be honest, this winner surprised me as I didn’t think they really had a chance, but boy was I wrong. Here are the results.

  1. Stryper – ‘Against the Law’ – 7 votes
  2. David Bowie – ‘Let’s Dance’ – 5 votes
  3. The Band – ‘The Band’ – 3 votes
  4. Dusty Springfield – ‘Dusty in Memphis’ – 2 votes
  5. The Darkness – ‘Motorheart’ – 1 Vote

Thanks to all for participating. The January choices will be up on Saturday!

STRYPER – ‘AGAINST THE LAW’:

I remember when this album came out. It was a drastic change for the band. The Yellow and Black costumes they wore were gone and everything was black leather. The religious themes and any mention of God were gone. Stryper as we knew them were gone. Due to the constant criticism of from the religious critics, Stryper had grown weary of the music business and the Christian themes. They had become angry and a little resentful at the constant bashing. So, they threw religion to the side and went heavier and darker in both sound and lyrics.

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April 2021 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

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April was a solid month of purchases and some great finds. I went digging at an antique mall and cleaned up, I found a few things on ebay and discogs I needed for something special and then I found a few things that were especially cool.

First up, we will go with the especially cool things. I am a big fan of the Train album ‘Drops of Jupiter’ for many reasons. One, it is a really great album! Two, my brother-in-law was the engineer on that album. So when the 20th Anniversary Edition popped up online, I had to grab as I don’t think it had ever been issued on vinyl prior which means I didn’t have it. It is a beauty…

The next was a Michael Sweet album. Stryper released an album years ago called ‘Reborn’ which was the band’s comeback album. The album was originally done as a Michael Sweet solo album, but it was decided to redo it for the band. Well, now we get the original Michael Sweet solo album the way it was intended. This one is called “Reborn Again” and is on a fiery red vinyl and is autographed (on the back) by Michael Sweet…SWEET!!!

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What to Expect in New Music for 2021!!

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2021 is upon us and it is always fun anticipating what new albums are and will come out in the year. There are quite a few we already know about, but some haven’t been officially announced or even a date set yet.  

Last year, there were a few artist I was hoping would release an album that might have or might not have released one.  It is always fun to hope for new music from these bands, but were disappointments.  Here is who I was hoping for new albums from last year and what actually happened…

  • Def Leppard – We did get the Def Leppard Box Set for The Early Years and the Live Box Set London to Vegas, BUT NOPE!! STILL NOTHING NEW!!
  • Kiss – NOTHING!!
  • Van Halen – NO! Sadly, this won’t happen with Eddie’s passing. I am now hoping for archive music.
  • The Winery Dogs – NOTHING!! Still keeping my hopes up
  • Guns ‘N Roses – NOTHING!!! Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!!
  • Talisman – after getting a song to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the death of Marcel Jacob in 2019… NO ALBUM, we did get more Jeff Scott Soto music though.
  • AC/DC – YES!! We got POWER UP and it is awesome!!
  • Motley Crue – I thought with a Big Tour in 2020 with Def Leppard & Poison…is a new album far behind??? NOPE – No Music, No Tour thanks to Covid!!
  • Poison – Same as Motley statement above!!! No Music, No Tour thanks to Covid!!
  • Aldo Nova – He kept talking about a 2CD set, but he never got around to releasing it?? NOPE..still talking. He has released some songs, but still no album!!
  • Matt Nathanson – No New Music but we got a Live album and a Christmas album
  • Needtobreathe – YES!!! We got the incredible OUT OF BODY and it was one of their best!!

Okay, are there albums I want to see this year from some of my favorite bands that haven’t been announced or in some cases even rumored?  Of course there are.  These are the bands I want new albums from this year…but it might not happen.

  • Def Leppard – I don’t care if I get new music, but give me The Collection Volume 3 at least!!!
  • Kiss – I will keep this on the list until I die!!
  • The Winery Dogs – Still keeping my hopes up
  • Guns ‘N Roses – Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!!
  • Aldo Nova – He keeps talking about a 2CD set, but will he get around to releasing it??
  • Matt Nathanson – Loved what we got last year, but time for new music!!! I believe he finished recording it, but haven’t heard anything for a long while.
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January 2020 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

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Welcome to the new decade and my monthly recap of purchases that I make.  I do this as not everything I buy ends up on the site so you can see some of the items in my collection. Also, it helps me remember when I bought something and now I have it stored in the Internet universe forever (or as long as I keep paying annually for my site).

On the weekend before New Year’s Day, I went and did a little digging. Now, I know that is not January, but I had already finished and edited my December post and I didn’t have time to update.  So, these purchases get to be a part of this post.

First up was a trip to Lunchbox Records in Charlotte, NC.  My oldest daughter wanted to go and being the good dad, how could I say no.  I did some digging and found somethings, but nothing that I hadn’t seen before or that was priced right.  I found my way over to the 45’s and the 10″ records and there I saw and old Cheap Trick 10″ called ‘Found All the Parts’.  I know it probably isn’t super rare, but I had never seen one so I grabbed it.  I tell my daughter the fun thing about digging is finding that one thing you haven’t seen before.  And when you see it, you better buy it.  I haven’t always followed that rule and I have a couple regrets on that.

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Michael Sweet – ‘Michael Sweet’ (1994) – Album Review

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By the early 90’s Stryper was in a bit of turmoil.  Their last studio album didn’t do well mainly due to the band abandoning their yellow/black theme and moving away from their Christian roots.  For the record, the album was called ‘Against the Law’ and I think it is one of their best albums…but what do I know.  They released a greatest hits album with a couple new songs, but Michael Sweet, the lead singer, was unhappy with the musical direction and decided to leave the band for a solo career.  This was February 1992.  Stryper as we knew it were done (at least at this point in time, we know better now, but that is another story).

Michael recorded an E.P. called ‘Unstryped’ that was supposedly songs that were originally recorded for Stryper.  That disc didn’t see the light of day until 1999 though.  In the meantime, he went on to record his first full length solo album simply called Michael Sweet.  Now, with the re-release of the album on vinyl, the album now seems to be called ‘1994’…sorry but it is ‘Michael Sweet’…that is the title.  Here is the original album cover…

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The album brought Michael back to singing Christian based songs again and he kept to the fashion of what Stryper was originally.  There is no denying that is Michael when you here the vocals as his voice is unmistakeable.  When this was released in 1994, the musical landscape had changed significantly and my musical habits were not what they used to be.  I wasn’t totally in to the whole Grunge sound and my musical offerings at this time were limited.  When I discovered this was out, I ran to my local Christian book store and grabbed a copy.

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The Top 20 Rock Songs of 2019

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Welcome to the Top 20 Rock Songs of 2019.  These songs are my favorite songs of the year and were not necessarily played on the radio or even shot up the charts.  They just moved me in some way good or bad!

If you missed the Top Rock Albums of 2019 or the Top Albums of 2019 (that were not Rock), just click on the link and go check them out.

It is time to start the list so here we go…

#20 -“Chase the Feeling (feat. Chris Cester)” by Wolfmother – Single:

No album, just a single and anything they put out will probably end up on my list.  It is full of the distorted guitar sound that is reminiscent of Wolfmother and don’t forget that voice os Andrew Stockdale.  The drum fills are great and that groove keeps the song driving forward.  I hope this is a sign of things to come.

#19 – “All Animal” by Through Fire off the album ‘All Animal’:

I like it loud and I like it heavy at times and this does both.  Pounding drums, blistering guitars and vocals that can scream it out or sing with such great melodies.  A modern rock sound that rips it from the opening notes until the very end.  Perfect for driving down the road at 100mph as it wakes up the beast in you!!

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Top Rock Albums 2019

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2019 was another year with some great releases and way too many to get through them all so I am sure I missed a number of great albums and if you look around the web, there will be tons of Top Album lists you can get a pretty good idea of what you should check out in case you missed any of these.

This list will be my favorite “Rock” albums of the year.  All other types of music will be for a later post.  I am going to leave this one to my favorite genre.  It is a broad genre, but these are the albums that I consider to be ROCK!!

Also note, these are MY FAVORITES!!  These are not the most popular or trendy albums.  You won’t find the new Tool album here because I don’t like them and I never had any desire to hear it.  So, they won’t even be rates as worst album because I didn’t listen to it. These are the albums that I connected with during the year and I kept coming back to again and again.  And without further adieu, here are the Top Rock Albums of 2019:

#10 – Michael Sweet – Ten

81esW6bXErL._SL1500_ Michael Sweet’s 10th solo studio album brings us a very Stryper sounding album, but one that takes us back to the early days of Yellow & Back Attack and To Hell With the Devil which in my opinion is a very good thing.  He brings a special guest on each song which you would think would make the album a little disjointed, but it works on so many levels.  The album rocks out from beginning to end!

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1,000 Posts and Counting

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I can’t believe I have done 1,000 Posts.  I never thought I would be able to keep up with the site let alone get this far.  It all started on April 17th, 2016 with my very first post which was “Road Rage” Playlist!

And now, 1,304 days later here I am at my 1,000th post.  Crazy!!

Since we are looking back, let’s take a look at the Top 5 Posts viewed and the Bottom 5 posts viewed.  It is always curious to me which ones do well and which ones don’t. Sometimes I feel like I wrote a great post that was so witty and insightful, yet hardly any one sees it and then others I think I sucked at it and should have never posted and ends up getting a butt load of hits.  There is no rhyme or reason for any of it I am sure.

Here are the Top 5 Posts viewed:

5. Top Rock Songs of 2018 – 4,103 views:  This one only did well thanks to the one and only Michael Sweet of Stryper.  I picked the Stryper song “Take it to the Cross” as the #7 song of the year and he tweeted about it and mentioned it on Facebook (and so did Stryper).  As a result, this post took off!!  Thanks Michael!!

4. Maroon 5 – The Albums Ranked Worst to First – 4,393 views:  And this one did well thanks to Maroon 5 playing the Super Bowl half time show.  That week before and after were huge on views.

3. The Original vs. The Cover – “The Sound of Silence” – 5,110 views:  This is one I never realized would have done so well.  Thanks to a first page result when you Google this song, I get a bunch of reviews everyday.  I hope that continues.

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