Tag: Paul Laine

July 2022 Purchases – Vinyl, CD’s and 8-Tracks!!

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We are moving through the year quite fast I believe as it is already the end of July. And it was a hot one, both temperature and purchases. Now, I do have a handful of vinyl, but as prices skyrocket, I am focusing on the albums that mean something to me or from bands that mean something to me so the purchases have slowed. CDs are cheaper and a lot easier to obtain so I seem to be buying way more of those these days. With minor exceptions, I have been laser focused on what I’m buying. Let’s go through the vinyl first. First up is the new album from Shinedown called ‘Planet Zero’. I have all their albums on vinyl as I am a big fan so why not get the new one…

Then it I picked up a couple holy grail type albums. First was one from Kiss that had only been issued for their very limited exclusive Kissteria box set. I didn’t think I’d every own one. Thanksfully, they re-issued it on vinyl and I snagged a copy. Not their best compilation, but one that was lacking in my vinyl collection so couldn’t be happier…My list of missing vinyl is now smaller.

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January 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & Cds

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Welcome to the first round of purchases for 2022. Yes, I know, it never seems to end…my wife and wallet keep telling me that, but I don’t listen…obviously. And this week was another stellar month and a few really good deals as well…at least I think so. The first set of purchases were from gift cards left over from Christmas that I hadn’t spent and it was tough to decide. First I went with a vinyl I had been wanting for awhile and finding an original vinyl pressing was going to be expense so I went withe re-issue from Music on Vinyl for Extreme!!

The other items I picked up on those gift cards were the studio albums I was missing for Robbie Williams…I figured no time better than to complete that collection so I did. There were four left and here they are… Now I just need to the rare stuff that I am missing…challenge accepted!!

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2021 – A Year in Review at 2 Loud 2 Old Music – The Top 10 Posts of the Year!!

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Last Saturday, I gave you a post of totally useless information with all the albums I listened to in 2021, so let’s do it again this Saturday. We are going to look back at what happened in 2021…no not in the world of music. But in the world of 2 Loud 2 Old Music, the website!! I know this is important stuff, I get how excited you must be so stop the YAWNING!!!

We had a another record year here at the site. We finally broke 1,000 followers and are now sitting at around 1,022. A small milestone for the site. It only took 5 years to get there. If that was enough we broke a record of views this year with over 272,000 views which is a 36% increase over the prior year. Next year, we are hoping to finally pass 300,000 views. See, real exciting stuff.

During the year we worked on a lot of Review Series. We finished the Kiss Review Series which had around 74 separate posts and took over 13 months to complete. We also started and finished the Judas Priest Series and the Queen Series which were both a lot of fun. We have started and are a good way through the Cheap Trick Collection Series and the Aerosmith Collection Series as I love doing these Series so I hope you do as well. It lets me go back and deep dive in to their albums and it also gives me a reason to go out and buy more albums. For 2022, we have the Jeff Scott Soto Series and I will go ahead and tell you when the Aerosmith Series ends, we will be jumping right in to the Scorpions Collection Series. A lot to look forward to next year!

What were to Top 10 Posts of the Year?

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The Spectacular Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Hair Metal by Christopher Hilton – Book Review

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My favorite era of music is the so called, 80’s Hair Metal scene. Of course, back then it was just rock and didn’t yet have a label, but that was the music for me. I know a lot about that era and the bands so any time I can get my hands on a book about that time, I am all over it. I took a chance on this one called ‘The Spectacular Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Hair Metal by Christopher Hilton. The book had a 4.4 rating so I thought I would give it a shot.

The book goes chronologically through each year of the scene and goes all the way up to 2019/20. When it gets to the 90’s and 2000’s, the chapters start to cover more than one year as it would be too much. I was expecting some great stories and maybe interviews from people of that era and from those involved in the scene, but that is not what I got at all. The author went through and talked mostly about the biggest bands of the era including Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Poison, L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat and the like and he went through each album and the best songs on the album. At the end of each year he ranked the best album. Honestly, it felt like I was either reading wikipedia or maybe even something I would have written with my limited knowledge of these bands. It was rather pedestrian.

The stories about the bands were the same old stories we’ve heard all the time, there was really nothing new at all. No interviews, no real thought provoking insight, no real meat at all. He always focused on the biggest bands and seldom if ever brought up bands that were lesser known that were completely overlooked. The only good thing is he did follow the music in to the 90’s (and he mentioned Paul Laine of Danger Danger) and how the bands changed their sound and style and then went in to the 2000’s where the 80’s Rock scene saw a major resurgence. He even went as far a talking about the new bands in the 21st Century that have taken up the 80’s glam scene and how a lot of them come from Europe, especially Scandinavia. A good list of bands to check out. Most of them I already knew about, but for newbie’s that part is worth checking out.

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Paul Laine Nerds Out with the LeBrain Train – our best episode yet! — mikeladano.com

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What a fun evening had by all. If you didn’t get a chance to catch the live show with one of my favorite singers of all time, Paul Laine, you now can sit back and enjoy every second like we did. Paul was so gracious to give us so much time as we spent over 2 hours talking his career, rock and we even nerded out a little on Star Wars, Star Trek, history and European Architecture. If you want to know anything about his solo albums, the Danger Danger albums, The Defiants, Shugaazer, Dark Horse or his career in general than don’t miss a minute of this show as we cover it all. Well, almost all, so maybe Paul will be back later down the road for Round 2.

Paul comes in around 21 minutes if you want to skip right to it, but if you do, you will miss Mike do some great Unboxings so you might want to find out “What’s in the Box”!!

Thanks to Paul for all his generous time and great conversation and thanks to Mike for hosting such a great show, The LeBrain Train. He has kept us entertained every week since Covid happened over a year ago. And here is hoping for more fun to come. But can he top tonight??? For me, it will be tough, but I have faith he can do it.

One of the things I love most about doing these shows is how spontaneous they are. John and I came into this Paul Laine interview with pages and pages of notes and questions.  Yet some of the best moments were spur of the moment.  Paul Laine is a music nerd just like us!  But not […]

Paul Laine Nerds Out with the LeBrain Train – our best episode yet! — mikeladano.com

REMINDER: Paul Laine on the LeBrain Train TONIGHT! — mikeladano.com

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A Friendly Reminder that Paul Laine will be joining us tonight on The LeBrain Train. Paul has been around since 1990 with his first solo album, ‘Stick It In Your Ear’ and I have followed him for 30 years from his bands Danger Danger, Shugaazer, Darkhorse and currently The Defiants. Come enjoy the fun and if you have a question, ask away and we will see if he can answer your question.

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and John Episode 63 – Paul Laine John from 2loud2oldmusic is to thank for this week’s guest:  the hugely talented Paul Laine!  He became a solo star here in Canada back in 1990, but has since worked with Danger Danger, the Defiants, Shugaazer and Darkhorse.  He’s […]

REMINDER: Paul Laine on the LeBrain Train TONIGHT! — mikeladano.com

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and John Episode 63 – Paul Laine

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This week on The LeBrain Train, I get to guest host with Mike in my first interview with Paul Laine. I have to thank Mike for having me and allowing me to check off a bucket list item by interviewing a rock star.

Here is what Mike and I have to say about Paul…

JOHN – We are joined this week by the multi-talented singer, songwriter, musician, composer, engineer, producer and all great guy, Paul Laine. We will cover his career from his 1990 solo album debut Stick It In Your Ear to his time as lead singer of Danger Danger in the 90’s, all the way up to his current band The Defiants, who just confirmed a third album is coming. We will find out about his time with Bruce Fairbairn at Little Mountain Sound Studios, his other bands Shugaazer and Darkhorse and everything in between. Come join the fun.…Here is my homework for the week…

MIKE – Paul Laine is a remarkable talent.  At age 16 he was playing clubs.  Knowing he needed money to record a good-sounding demo, he started and sold a management company, raising the needed $50,000.  The tape went from MuchMusic’s Terry David Mulligan to uber-manager Bruce Allen.  By age 22, he had Stick It In Your Ear produced by Bruce Fairbairn under his belt!  As John says, he made the leap from solo artist to band member in 1993 when Danger Danger needed a new singer.  We will be covering it all this Friday night on the LeBrain Train.

TIME: Friday May 7, 7:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain. Below is a little reminder for you…

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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March 2021 Purchases – Vinyl & Cds

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Spring has sprung (not completely temperature wise, but calendar wise) and I couldn’t be happier to get past the gloomy winter months. To celebrate, let’s look over what purchases were made at 2 Loud 2 Old Music this month. And we cover the spectrum with Vinyl, CDs, 7″ Single and even Tour Books. Yes, I did not discriminate on a particular product this month. I spread the wealth.

I hadn’t been out to a record store in a long while, so I hit up two of my favorite haunts, Hardy Boy Records and Noble Records and like normal, I found some cool items. First up are a couple of Tour Books from the 1970’s. They are both for Alice Cooper and yes, we will go through them in detail in the next couple months. They are for the Welcome to My Nightmare Tour and the Guilty Tour.

I also find a 7″ Single from Cheap Trick for the Top Gun Song, “Mighty Wings”…love that song…

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February 2021 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

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Welcome to the February wrap-up of my album purchases for the month. I have to say Vinyl took a pretty big backseat this month as I have been going gangbusters buying back my CD collection that I once had. I decided to add more to the Paul Laine collection and start on the Will Hoge collection. I only hit one record store and it was a quick stop in to one out of town. It has been awhile since I’ve been to a local shop and oh how I’ve missed going . That means March better get some visits before I start going through withdrawal and getting the shakes and a fever.

First up, do you know when you are having a little downer of a day? When I have those, I tend to shop for music (man, I must be down a lot…I’m not). But some days when I am, I just feel better buying something and that is what I did. I ended up buying a very hard to find Paul Laine album from his band Shugaazer called ‘Shift’. This one I found in England and man did it ship fast. I think I got it in 5/6 days.

Next up, I was getting close to the Gene Simmons album Asshole in my Kiss Review Series, but honestly, I had never bought it. So, I did for like $5-6 bucks. That review will be coming up in either late April or early May, don’t know yet.

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