This week my buddy Deke and I are on a our 5th show in the series called “In Depth” and each episode we will pick an album and dive a little deeper in to it. We decided we would do a mini-Queensryche series and go from their E.P. up to ‘Promised Land’. We are now up to their 4th Full Length album and 5th release with 1990’s ‘Empire’. which I believe is still their biggest album to date. So, if you like a little Queensryche then come check it out as you get some fun facts and our thoughts on the sound, the songs and the band. How much to we love or hate this album…find out by clicking below…
Deke is from the Distortion Den and from the blog world as well. Go Check him out at the links below…
So go check it out as it is live now on August 26, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
This week my buddy Deke and I are on a our 4th show in the series called “In Depth” and each episode we will pick an album and dive a little deeper in to it. We decided we would do a mini-Queensryche series and go from their E.P. up to ‘Promised Land’. We are now up to their 3rd Full Length album and 4th release with 1988’s ‘Operation: Mindcrime’. So, if you like a little Queensryche then come check it out as you get some fun facts and our thoughts on the sound, the songs and the band. How much to we love or hate this album…find out by clicking below…
Deke is from the Distortion Den and from the blog world as well. Go Check him out at the links below…
So go check it out as it is live now on August 26, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
This week my buddy Deke and I are on a our 3rd show in the series called “In Depth” and each episode we will pick an album and dive a little deeper in to it. We decided we would do a mini-Queensryche series and go from their E.P. up to ‘Promised Land’. We are now up to their 2nd Full Length album and 3rd release with 1986’s ‘Rage For Order. So, if you like a little Queensryche then come check it out as you get some fun facts and our thoughts on the sound, the songs and the band. Maybe even talk about Vampires and Perms.
Deke is from the Distortion Den and from the blog world as well. Go Check him out at the links below…
So go check it out as it is live now on July 22, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
This week my buddy Deke and I are on a our 2nd show in the series called “In Depth” and each episode we will pick an album and dive a little deeper in to it. We decided we would do a mini-Queensryche series and go from their E.P. up to ‘Promised Land’. In May, we went deep on the band’s E.P. simply titled ‘Queensryche’. This month, we are diving in to their debut full length album, ‘The Warning’. So, if you like a little Queensryche then come check it out as you get some fun facts and our thoughts on the sound, the songs and the band.
Deke is from the Distortion Den and from the blog world as well. Go Check him out at the links below…
So go check it out as it is live now on June 10, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
And in case you missed it, here is the video for the E.P….
This week my buddy Deke and I are starting a series called “In Depth” and each episode we will pick any album and dive a little deeper in to it. We decided we would do a mini-Queensryche series and go from their E.P. up to ‘Promised Land’. Since this is the beginning we are starting with their debut E.P. simply titles ‘Queensryche’. So, if you like a little Queensryche then come check it out as we have a little show this week since the E.P. only has 4 songs (5 if you count the 1988 re-issue). Which we do.
Deke is from the Distortion Den and from the blog world as well. Go Check him out at the links below…
So go check it out as it is live now on May 13, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
“Silent Lucidity” by the progressive metal band Queensrÿche will be the point of discussion today. The song was released on Valentine’s Day in 1991 and was on their triple platinum selling album ‘Empire’. “Silent Lucidity” was the band’s top selling single ever in the U.S. where it reached #1 on the Album Rock Tracks and all the way to #9 on the Billboard Top 100. The song was even nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Song.
The version I have is a 2 CD set out of the UK. It was released individually each a week apart, but the version I have has them both compiled in to one set. In the UK, it doesn’t look like this was released until August 1992. There is supposed to be a Free Fold-Out Banner Poster, however, my version does not have it included…darn it. In the 2 CD set, “Silent Lucidity” kicks off both discs so we will only discuss the song once. The set then has three songs from ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ all performed Live and one bonus track called “Last Time in Paris”.
“Silent Lucidity” was a ballad, which was not something the band was known for doing. The song is absolutely beautiful with the whole lullaby feel, the wonderful orchestration added and lastly, Geoff Tates vocals perfectly fit the mood of the song. It felt like you were in a dream state while listening to the song which was exactly the impact the band was intending.
The song was supposedly inspired by the book ‘Creative Dreaming’ by Patricia Garfield, PhD which explains how to control your dreams…which I don’t think I have ever been able to do that. The song is about lucid dreaming which is the where you are actually aware that you are dreaming and as the book states, you can actually have control over parts of the dream. During the song, there is actually a voice that is explaining how to do just that. They state…”Visualize your dream. Record it in the present tense. Put it into a permanent form. If you persist in your efforts, you can achieve dream control.”
Alright…You Picked It! This one was really close and we actually ended in a tie. That is right. Two artist got the same # of votes. The winner for this month’s picks ended up being Queensryche’s ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ AND Saigon Kick’s ‘The Lizard’ and I am real excited about this fact. So, what we are going to do is review them both, but with a twist. First, we will review Queensryche’s ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ and down the road, we will do Saigon Kick’s ‘The Lizard’ as someone out there has agreed to review it at the same time with me so I am taking him up on that offer. Here are the results.
Queensryche – ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ – 5 votes
Saigon Kick – ‘The Lizard’ – 5 votes
Arcade – ‘Arcade’ – 4 votes
Collective Soul – ‘Collective Soul’ – 2 votes
Stryper – ‘Against the Law’ – Disqualified as I already reviewed that one…doh!!
Thanks to all for participating. The March choices will be up on Saturday! And the choices are all from my collection and the next one will all be more modern European Bands that never really made it in the States. Hopefully you can help me decide which one I should review.
QUEENSRYCHE – ‘HEAR IN THE NOW FRONTIER’ (1997):
Back around 1997, music was a sort of black hole for me. I was lost, wandering around trying to find something I liked and whenever bands from the 80’s put something out, I would get excited and grab it. As I did this one back in the day. Queensryche’s 6th studio album was ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ and it was released on March 25, 1997 and I wasn’t one of the first to get it, but I did get it that year. The CD was no longer in my collection for some reason, and when I was out digging, I found it and saw the name of the song “Sign of the Times” and thought, I liked that song, let me get this as it was only about $3m. Man, did I over pay for this thing. Also, now I remember why it was no longer in my collection. This was my jumping off point for Queensryche and honestly, never have revisited anything that has come after. They completely lost me with this one.
At the May 2022 Record Show here in Charlotte, I found a couple bootlegs on CD that I had to grab. The first was from Extreme which we discussed recently and this one is from Queensryche. I don’t know much about it but I do know that it had to come out sometime after 1992 as the most current songs on here were recorded around that time. There are 3 different versions of this bootleg according to Discogs and all three have the same track listing. The other two were from Italy and released in 1992 and the other 1994. This one has no date or country of origin so all is unknown. If you do know, please comment below.
The first 5 tracks are taken from MTV Unplugged which were recorded on April 27, 1992. I don’t think there has ever been an official MTV Unplugged release for this show…at least not that I can find. Tracks 6-9 and 11-14 are all recorded around 1983 in New York which is very early Queensryche. Pre the release of ‘The Warning’ which is really cool. They would’ve only had out the Queensryche E.P. at this point. Song 10 comes from Tokyo and Budokan in 1985.
And like any good bootleg, there are mistakes in both song titles and track orders. First, the song “Take Hold of the Flame” is actually “Take Hold of My Flame”. Track 7 is listed as “Blinded” but is actually “Queen of the Reich”. Track 8 is listed as “The Lady Wore Black (Electric)” but is actually “Blinded” and as a result, Track 9 is listed as “Queen of the Reich” but is “Blinded”. Okay, I think that is all that I can find.
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 Queensryche and their album ‘Rage for Order’ which was one that was in my collection. This one was never really that close. Queensryche had the lead from vote 1 and never lost it. Here are the results.
Queensryche – ‘Rage for Order’ – 8 votes
John Prine – ‘John Prine’ – 6 votes
Triumph – ‘Allied Forces’ – 6 votes
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – ‘Barn’ – 3 votes
Shania Twain – ‘Come on Over’ – 1 Vote
Thanks to all for participating. The February choices will be up on Saturday!
QUEENSRYCHE – ‘RAGE FOR ORDER’:
I discovered Queensryche back in 1988 when they opened for Def Leppard. They were touring for the ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ album which I immediately purchased. As a result, I went back and tried to find more music by them and the next thing I picked up was ‘Rage for Order’. The album came out back on June 27, 1986 and was unlike anything else I had heard at the time. It was progressive metal and I am not sure what the hell was with their clothes and that hair. Woah! That hair. Was it glam? Was it Metal? I had no clue.
After the band’s revolutionary album ‘Operation: Mindcrime’, Queensryche delivered another masterpiece with the album ‘Empire’. The band is celebrating this album with a Super Deluxe Edition Box Set and it is full or wonderful things. You get 3 CDs, 1 DVD and a book all included in a wonderful and sturdy box. It looks like a lot of time was spent on the packaging. And if you look at the back cover, it tells you everything you are going to get, but maybe it is overstating things a little and I will get to that later.
Just look at all the stuff you get. You get a remastered album, ‘Concealed Empire – Bonus Tracks’, ‘Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London 11-14-90’ and a DVD called ‘Building Empires’. If that isn’t enough you get a hardback book with lot of wonderful goodies inside. Let’s not waste anytime and get right into it.
The 3 CDs / 1 DVD come housed in a cardboard foldout that houses each disc in a slot with the DVD getting its own packaging as well. And if you were smart, you would pull each disc out and place them in to their own jewel slim case so they don’t get scratched up…at least that is what Aaron would do over at keepsmealive.wordpress.com.