Tag: Triumph

Generation X – ‘Demos 1977’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic13 Comments

At the record show here in Charlotte back in May of 2022, I found a Generation X album on vinyl I didn’t know existed. It is ‘Demos 1977’ and was actually only released back in 2020 and with Covid going on, probably the reason I missed it. It is also a German release which adds to why I didn’t see it. It says these demos were recorded back in 1977 on February 16th presumable for Chiswick Records. The band at the time was Billy Idol, Tony James, Bob ‘Derwood’ Andrews and John Towe and the demos were recorded at De Lane Lea Studios in Wembley, North London.

Here’s the problem I have with this saying these are the demos for Chiswick Records. They actually only recorded 5 songs for Chiswick and there are 13 songs here. Plus only 4 of those 5 are on this recording. The other 9 songs are from other recording sessions between 1977 and 1980 I believe based on the songs.

SIDE 1:

The first four songs on the album appear to be the Chiswick demos, but it is missing “Kleenex” which is a shame as that is a great one to have as it has different lyrics than the final product for the debut album. It kicks off with “Your Generation” which would’ve been their first single they released independently with the original pressing only 250 copies and later they would go back and do another 500. The B-Side of that single was “Listen” also from these sessions. “Listen” would wind up on the debut album, however, it was omitted from the U.S. release of the album and “Your Generation” take its place as it did not make it on the UK debut.

Continue reading “Generation X – ‘Demos 1977’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)” →

You Pick It! – Which Album to Review in January?

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic54 Comments

You, my reader, are going to pick an album for me to review each month.  It is really simple…first, I will give you 5 albums to choose from and second, you will tell me which one of those you would like to see reviewed on the site.  See…simple!

There are a few simple rules I have put in to place in my selections.  They are…

  • One has to be a new release (within the last month)
  • One has to be one I have never heard before (new releases don’t count for this one)
  • One has to be from a genre I don’t normally listen to at all or very often
  • And the last two are choices from my collection that I haven’t reviewed before

What are the 5 albums you ask?  Funny you should ask because I have those right here…

  New Release – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – ‘Barn‘

  Never Heard Before – John Prine – ‘John Prine’

  Not My Normal Genre – Shania Twain – ‘Come On Over’

  From My Collection – Queensyrche – ‘Rage For Order’

  From My Collection – Triumph – ‘Allied Forces’

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in January, I will post a review of the album that gets the most votes. You have one week to decide and from there I will start listening to the album and do a review.

Thanks for participating!

‘Masters of Metal’ – Various Artists – Album Review

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic20 Comments

I was digging for records while on vacation down in St. Augustine, Florida and at one of the stores, I came across a vinyl that brought back so many memories.  I had this on cassette and I remember loving it and listening to it constantly.  I had to get it and at only $5, it was a no brainer.

The album is not something I normally buy and that is because it is a compilation album mixed with numerous artists.  The album was K-Tel’s “Master of Metal”!  Now, don’t let the name confuse you because it isn’t really that heavy or metal, but it was full of songs that I loved from bands that sometimes do much heavier stuff.  The album is from 1984 and had hit songs from some of the biggest bands at that time.

There were so many bands on here that had connections with each other.  Such as Black Sabbath is on it with Ian Gillan on vocals, Dio is on here and Ronnie James Dio used to sing with Black Sabbath, Rainbow is on here with Joe Lynn Turner and Dio sang with them as well.  Kiss is on here and so is Rush who opened for Kiss.  All pretty cool, but back in 1984, I had no idea about these connections.

IMG_2413 2 Continue reading “‘Masters of Metal’ – Various Artists – Album Review” →

January 2020 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic15 Comments

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.

IMG_1697

Continue reading “January 2020 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs” →

Generation X – ‘K.M.D. Sweet Revenge’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic39 Comments

After the release of Generation X’s second album, “Valley of the Dolls”, the band started recording the follow-up release.  However, during the recording the band started having some creative issues with each other. The album was demoed, but never finished before the band broke-up.  Billy Idol and Tony James decided to continue on and they rebranded themselves as Gen X.  They released ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ in 1980 to little or moderate success.  So, the 3rd Generation X album never saw the light of day.

Well, it never saw the light of day until 1998 when former Generation X guitarist Derwood Andrews released it due to some contract obligations without the consent of Billy Idol and Tony James.  Billy & Tony were able to block the release in the U.S., but not anywhere else.  The songs were in demo form and not fully realized tracks.

Now in 2003, Billy finally did release the songs (from a different audio source) on a Generation X Anthology that he did approve.  The songs I have that I will discuss are for the Anthology and not the actual Sweet Revenge release as I am still trying to get my hands on it.  When I do, I will update the post.

kmd_cd_tray_400

Continue reading “Generation X – ‘K.M.D. Sweet Revenge’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)” →

Turntables & Vinyl #6 – “Re-Spin” Led Zeppelin & Van Halen

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic15 Comments

Ever since I started the whole resurgence in my vinyl collection which started from nothing just 10 months ago, I have been trying to put together “The List” of all the albums that are a must have for my collection.  The list is long and it is going to be expensive to put together.

For me, albums from the 70’s must be in vinyl as that was the medium of choice at the time.  That means that I need to have Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, early AC/DC, Queen and of course KISS, just to name a few.  I am off to a good start with KISS thanks to the box of records I mentioned back in the first Turntables & Vinyl post.

img_1263

The 80’s is the decade I grew up in and fell in love with music so there has to be a ton of vinyl from those years as well.  Def Leppard, Van Halen, more AC/DC, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Ratt and any other rock band from that era.  The collection is growing, but the list doesn’t seem to get smaller.

Continue reading “Turntables & Vinyl #6 – “Re-Spin” Led Zeppelin & Van Halen” →

Music is Magic – Playlist

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic2 Comments

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

Continue reading “Music is Magic – Playlist” →