Tag: Vinyl

Richie Sambora – ‘Undiscovered Soul’ (1998) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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As I stated in Jon Bon Jovi’s ‘Destination Anywhere’ Review last week, after Bon Jovi’s very successful ‘These Days’ album and especially that tour which ran for 126 shows in around 43 countries, the band was ready for a break. The tour ended on July 19, 1996 and the band decided, it was time for a hiatus from the band. They did a self-imposed two year break from the band. That 2 year break would turn in to 3, but no one is counting. During that time, we saw solo albums, Jon went and did a lot of acting and the thoughts that Bon Jovi were done were on everyone’s mind. Jon’s solo album came first, but shortly after we received Richie Sambora’s solo album.

‘Undiscovered Soul’ was Richie’s 2nd solo album and was produced by Don Was which saw Richie work with a ton of musicians and writers and really push himself both musically and lyrically. He worked with Richard Supa who had worked with The Rascals and Aerosmith and he worked with his old Bon Jovi bandmate, David Bryan, who co-wrote a handful of songs. Richie didn’t stick with the straight blues-rock album like before, he experimented a little with rock and country and anything else he that inspired him.

The album came out on February 23, 1998 and saw four singles released, however, only one of those charted in the U.S. and not very high. The album only reached #174 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts and that isn’t very good. The first single only reached #39 on the Mainstream Rock Chart while doing better in the UK hitting #37 with the second single going to #58 in the UK with no U.S. charting. The album didn’t do as well as the debut and was gone before you knew it.

Thanks to Music on Vinyl, we finally received a vinyl edition to the album last year and that is what I am reviewing. It came on a 2 LP set on 180 gram records and sounded awesome. The album cut out all the crap you hear on the Apple Music version that goes on between the songs which makes you not take the album very seriously, where the vinyl makes it a more serious sounding record. The album didn’t do as well as the debut as I said, but is it worse? Let’s go through it and find out.

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Journey – “Suzanne” (1986) – 7″ Single

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Journey’s ninth studio albums was 1986’s ‘Raised on Radio’ and the second single off the album was “Suzanne” which was written by members Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain. The song went to #17 on the U.S. Charts and was one of three Top 20 hits from the album. An album that would reach #4 and sell over 2 million albums going double platinum. The band at the time was really only Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon as Ross Valory was out and during recording, so was Steve Smith which is why you only see 3 guys on the cover of the single.

The song came out in June 1986 and from an album that had 5 total singles. The song was about this guys ex-girlfriend who went on to become very famous and he can’t get her out of his head. Every time he sees here on TV, in the movies or hears her on the radio, he is tormented and can’t stand it. Steve Perry was asked if there was someone real the song was about, he basically said didn’t give a straight answer and said real or not, the girl in the song itself is real.

The version I have of the single is a 7″ Vinyl single and it is a promo as can be seen on the label with the words “Demonstration Not For Sale”. As a result, it is the same song on both sides so no new B-Side here. In the old days, the song would be Stereo on one side and Mono on the other, but by 1986, all stations were basically Stereo so no need for a Mono side.

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My Sunday Song – “I Really Don’t Want Your Love” by April Wine

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For My Sunday Song #383, we are diving in to the song “I Really Don’t Want Your Love” by April Wine. This is another Tim Durling selection that is a rare track and not any April Wine studio album. This is a B-Side to the song to their 1984 hit “This Could Be The Right One” off their album ‘Animal Grace’. The single hit #61 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, but of course the B-Side did nothing, but at least it was out there in the world to be heard.

The song was written by Myles Goodwyn, as all of their songs basically were. The song is about a girl that is leading the guy on. She’s playing games and stringing hime along for her own enjoyment. He is tired of it and has hit his breaking point and he’s ready to say goodbye. He doesn’t need her love anymore and he’s out of there. Someday she’ll turn around and might notice that he’s gone.

This is a great song and so hard to believe this wasn’t on any studio album as it has everything you’d want in a song. The quick tempo has lots of energy, great guitars, great driving drum beat and rhythm section. The vocals have a pacing that is really great on the lyrics and Myles vocals are awesome as well (assuming Myles is singing as I am not overly familiar with the band). The chorus is really awesome as well as it is so catchy and will hook you in instantly. I found myself moving to the beat of the music and that is always the sign of a good song. If this is a non-album track, just how good are the studio tracks. I might need to check these guys out.

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David Lee Roth – “Goin’ Crazy!” – 7″ Single

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Back in 1985, David Lee Roth was working on a feature film called “Crazy From the Heat” which of course was the same title as his debut E.P. David had written the screenplay and actually received funding from CBS Theatrical Films for $10m. David left the band to purse this, but in November of 1985, CBS pulled the funding and the film was shut down to never be made. David was undaunted and kept pushing forward. Taking the songs he had written for the movie and putting them towards his debut album ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile’. The title track to the movie and one of the song son this album was “Goin’ Crazy!”.

The song was written by David Lee Roth and Steve Vai and was released as single in September 1986. The song did get massive play on MTV as I remember it vividly. The song only went to #66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #12 on the Rock Chart. Not as good as you would’ve thought based on the videoplay on MTV. The version of the single I have is a Promo copy as it says on the label below…”Promotion Not For Sale”. But the B-Side was not on the English speaking album as it is the same song, but in Spanish and called “Loco Del Calor!”. And that is because David Lee Roth also recorded and released the album in Spanish.

A-SIDE:

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Motley Crue – “Wild Side” – 7″ Single

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“The Wild Side” by Motley Crue is off the band’s 1987 album ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ which went to #2 on the Billboard charts and saw three singles including this one. It sold well over 4 million albums in the U.S. alone and saw the band reach another level of success.

The song “Wild Side” was written by Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee. It was inspired by a school girl who Nikki had asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer and why he asked her to do it, we have no idea. He thought about what she said and thought, damn that’s cool so he incorporated some of the prayer in to the lyrics like below…

“Our father
Who ain’t in heaven
Be thy name on the wild side”

The song is about the dirty side of the Strip with all the drugs, pimping, and many other abuses going on at that time in their lives.  Heck, even Nikki wrote when he was severely hooked on Heroin so it was a time of debauchery. It is a reflection of the band’s sin on the seedy side of rock & roll and about their life in L.A. These were the bad boys of rock & roll for sure.

The version of the single I have is the standard U.S. Version with the B-Side being “Five Years Dead” also from ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’. Nothing special about it and it is even a promo, just the basic single. I love collecting the picture sleeve singles from the 80’s so that is why I have it as I already have these songs elsewhere.

A-SIDE:

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August 2023 Purchases – Vinyl, CD’s & More

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Another month comes to a close so it is time for another monthly wrap up of what landed in 2 Loud 2 Old Music’s collection this month and it was another decent month, if I do say so myself. It started off with a couple of new releases. First being the vinyl for the 2nd Mammoth WVH album and I like it as much as the first one…

And the second that item that came out the same time was the new album for Rick Springfield. 20 songs on one disc and it is classic Springfield and I have enjoyed it a lot as I do most of his albums.

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July 2023 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs & More

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July was the month of local record stores. I spent a lot of time at a couple this month, Noble Records and Hardy Boys, both excellent local shops. First, we made a trip to Noble Records and I actually had a good trip for vinyl. Meaning I bought a handful not just one here and one there. I grabbed some I’ve been meaning to add to the collection and Tim Durling is to blame for 3 of them as he’s been talking about them a lot.

And if that wasn’t enough, I was scanning the cassettes and I found a ton of Kiss cassettes, those are hard to come by so I grabbed them even though they weren’t in the best shape. I didn’t care too much about that as I just wanted them in the collection. They needed a new home anyway, so why not…I adopted a bunch…

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Bon Jovi – ‘Shot Through The Heart: Live in Cleveland, OH – March 17, 1984’ (Bootleg) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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Bon Jovi the touring act was extremely fresh and new as the band hadn’t been together for very long. Even Jon said the band was terrible until their third album when things started to click. While out crate digging years and years ago, I found a Bon Jovi bootleg of a radio broadcast from only 2 months after their debut album, ‘Bon Jovi’, was released. A great snapshot of the young band in all its rawness and newness.

The show takes place on March 17th, 1984 at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, OH. The show was broadcast on WMMS-FM Radio so of course we get some of the radio DJs on here during the show. The bootleg I have was released in 2015 and 2 LPs (both black) and it was limited to only 500 copies. The cover is pure Bon Jovi with the denim blue jeans with a picture of Jon on the front and the band on the back. I mean, it is Jon’s band don’t forget. The band plays all but “Burning for Love” from the debut and you get a Sly & The Family Stone cover. Let’s get to the music.

The album opens with a Radio DJ introducing the band and they come out slowly with a very long drawn out build which you mostly hear the crowd screaming. Some weird distorted voice says something and then the guitar kicks in and we get the opening to “Breakout”. There is no doubt it is live as it is rough, raw and not very tight. Jon actually sounds pretty decent, still a little unpolished, but he can still hit some high notes that he can’t now. And he should be able to hit them since he is only about 22 or so here. Richie lays down a great solo and things start getting better as the band jams it up a little here.

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Bon Jovi – ‘The Albums Box Set’ (2017) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

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We are starting out things a little different. We aren’t starting with the earliest Bon Jovi piece in the collection. We are going to start the Bon Jovi Collection Series with the piece that convinced me to start the series. I picked this up around Christmas of last year and when I had all the album on vinyl, I thought, let’s do it. I took some time filling some holes in the collection and arranging what I wanted to review and now here we are. Currently this collection is going to take some time as there are around 60 pieces to review so this will take over a year to complete so I hope you are along for the ride. We will save the history of the band and how it got started to later. For now, let’s look at this box set in all its glory.

The Box Set was released on February 10, 2017 and was released on both vinyl and CD. I chose the Vinyl collection as I love to have their albums on vinyl. The set carries all studio albums up to that point which means it stops at ‘This House is Not For Sale’. But that isn’t all, it has both Jon Bon Jovi solo albums as well as an “Extra” LP with a bunch of their international B-Sides which is a nice treat. But that is it. There no extra posters, stickers, booklets or anything. Each album though is remastered on 180g LP and the 16 albums are spread over 24 LPs. At the time this was released, 7 of the albums had never been released on vinyl and then you have the “Extra” LP which is the first time this had ever been released. So, for the vinyl collector this was the easiest way to get everything. Now, they did release the albums individually, well the Bon Jovi ones were, I don’t think I ever saw the Jon Bon albums ever in the stores…I mean ever.

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