Tag: Michael Sweet

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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Friday New Releases – October 8th

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Another great Friday of new releases this week.  I’m telling you this is shaping up to be a great month.  I have another item this week on order that will hopefully be there when I get home from work.  We have lot of Rock this week which is always good, but so much so that there is no way I will get to it all…ever!  My choices are highlighted in Blue.  Let me know what I missed and what you might be interested in hearing.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful music weekend.  I know I will!!

  • michaelsweettencd  Michael Sweet – Ten – (Frontiers Records):  Lead singer of Stryper is here with his 10th solo release…10 is hard to believe, but it is true. I just did a Michael Sweet album ranking and can’t wait to see where this falls on the list.  I am hoping for some hard and heavy stuff.  Check out the song below and go gran this one.

  • 71yVfmGk8RL._AC_UL115_.jpg  Eclipse – Paradigm – (Frontiers Records):  I love this band.  This Swedish rock band is now on their 8th album and it is pure melodic rock, glam rock, hair metal bliss.  They seem to be getting better with age kind of like a fine wine.  Give them a try.

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Michael Sweet – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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Michael Sweet is the lead singer of Stryper so you think I would do a Stryper ranking first, but nope.  I decided to do Michael Sweet’s solo releases before I go through all the Stryper albums.  Michael has been rather prolific with his music lately between the Stryper albums, his solo work and his Sweet & Lynch albums there has been a ton of new music.  I think he has also been getting better with age both vocally and lyrically.

He has a new album solo coming out soon called ‘Ten’ and before that was released I started listening to his older Solo albums and then one thing lead to another and I went through all of them.  So why not rank them from the ones I liked the least to the ones I liked the best and here we are.  Eventually I will get to the Stryper albums, but that could be awhile as there are so many to get through, but I will make it eventually.  For now, let us get through these.  Enjoy…

THE WORST – TOUCHED (2007):

Okay, the album is beautiful. He sounds amazing and I know the album was dedicated to his wife Kyle who was suffering from cancer.  It is a love song for her and that is incredibly touching.  The album is a collection of his songs and covers that were for his wife and all are ballads and not rocking at all.  I am not saying this album is bad, I am just saying I couldn’t enjoy it without that rocking side to go along with it.

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What to Expect for New Music in 2019?

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2019 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.  From what I have gathered around the internet, here are the bands that should have new albums out in 2019, but no dates announced yet. The ones I would give a try (and my kids) will be highlighted in Blue.  The ones with Dates Announced are at the bottom of this post.  The list is building up nicely!!

  • Adele
  • Billy Eilish
  • Coldplay
  • The Defiants
  • Eclipse
  • Greta Van Fleet – (rumor already for new music)
  • Hootie & the Blowfish (new tour has been announced)
  • Megadeth
  • Michael Sweet
  • Miley Cyrus
  • Prince
  • The Raconteurs
  • Rob Zombie
  • Stryper
  • The Cranberries
  • Taylor Swift
  • Tesla – Shock (Produced by Phil Collen of Def Leppard)
  • Tori Kelly
  • Whitesnake – Flesh & Blood (should be March)

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Stryper – “Take It To The Cross” – Single Review

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Now, Stryper, and Michael Sweet in particular, have released a lot of music lately.  Let’s look back over the last 5 years…

  • March 2013 – ‘The Second Coming’
  • November 2013 – ‘No More Hell to Pay’
  • January 2014 – Icon (greatest hits)
  • September 2014 – Live at the Whisky
  • October 2015 – Fallen

And Michael Sweet…

  • 2014 – ‘I’m Not Your Suicide’
  • 2015 – ‘Only to Rise’ as Sweet & Lynch
  • 2016 – ‘One Sided War’
  • 2017 – ‘Unified’ as Sweet & Lynch
  • 2017 – Sole: Songs and Stories From a Life in Music live concert video

That is 10 albums in 5 years.  That is quite a busy group.  I will admit that I have grown a little tired of Stryper as it is music overload.  I can’t absorb all that.  Now, it has all been great actually, but I felt like I needed a break.

On April 20th, Stryper brings us another new album called ‘God Damn Evil’ and my first thought was NOOOOO!!!  On the title, I am sure they will catch some grief for using that title (which will be for another discussion if I review the whole album), but it is ballsy and I think it might set the tone for what is to come on this album.

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Stryper – 30 Years of ‘To Hell With the Devil’

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Stryper is currently touring in support of the 30th Anniversary of their break-through album ‘To Hell With the Devil’.  The album was released back on October 24, 1986 and became the first Christian Metal album to go platinum.  It was the best selling Christian metal album all the way up to 2001 when P.O.D. outsold it with their album ‘Satellite’ (another great album).

The videos for the album were on regular rotation on MTV which was so unusual for a band that was labeled as Christian.  They actually made it cool to listen to music about Christ. They are the reason why I still listen to Christian music today (well Christ has a lot to do with it too).  Most Christian music was fairly boring and somewhat cheesy.  But not Stryper. They had screaming guitars, pounding drums, deep bass and soaring vocals. Perfect for the so called Glam era that was overtaking the radios at the time.

The band had its own gimmicks.  The hair of course…wow!!  The hairspray bill alone must of have been outrageous.  The most memorable was them wearing the yellow & black leather outfits during their shows (which they will don again during their anniversary tour for the album). The band also handed out bibles to the crowd (I never got one).  I did see them live on their tour in support of the next album ‘In God We Trust’, but was not close enough to get a bible.

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Friday New Releases – August 26th

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IT IS FRIDAY!!!!  There are a bunch of new releases today and should be something for everyone.  There has been so much going on lately, that this new release Friday I am actually excited about.  There is some Rock, Dance/Pop, Country and so much more.  Let me know what peaks your interest.  My interest are peaked on the ones highlighted in Blue.

On a different note, there are 3 releases out today from Frontiers Music Sri.  My question to them is why in the hell would you release albums from 3 of your artists that are pretty much the same genre on the exact same day????  That perplexes me as people have limited funds to spend on music so by putting them out on the same day, you can’t really expect someone to buy all three or am I wrong.  Plus, supporting all 3 albums with promotions at the same time seems ridiculous.  Can you even give each artist the attention they deserve?  I don’t think so.  Alright, off my soap box.

  • 51YSV4oD7sL._AC_US160_  Michael Sweet – One Sided War – (Rat Pak Records):  Michael Sweet is back with a new solo album and this is the one release this week that will get played first.  Michael has put out so much music over the last couple years and it has all been great whether it was the last couple Stryper Albums (which were heavy) or his release with George Lynch.  His solo stuff has been both on the lighter side and the heavy side.  I think I am hoping for an album more on the rock side this go ’round and if this song is any indication, I might just get what I want.

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