Monthly Archives: February 2015

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Evergrey II

A few months back I posted some words on a Swedish progressive metal band called Evergrey, where I focused on definitive songs that resonated and connected with me. However for a band that has churned out albums since 1997, there is more to them than 10 songs.

They are a band that is based on mood. Depending on my mood for the day, certain songs connect. This week, the following ten songs connected with me.

Leave It Behind Us
It’s the opener from the “Glorious Collision” album released in 2011. Music is written by Tom Englund and keyboardist Rikard Zander while the lyrics are written by Tom Englund. It proved that Evergrey still mattered even as the band collapsed and was rebuilt again by Englund.

I’ll take your burdens and sorrows
And I’ll rise if I can
It’s your silence that makes me so hollow

Some days actually seem like that and then I wonder why my blood pressure is at unhealthy ranges.

Make way for the darkness
And create space for something new
Remove the blinds that held us
From seeing what we really should

When a relationship or a friendship crashes and that door closes, it’s amazing how many other doors open. It’s amazing how clearly you start to see things.

In Confidence
After the success of “The Inner Circle” album in 2004, the bigger budget and the bigger label came knocking. What came out of this relationship in 2006 was a polarizing follow-up called “Monday Morning Apocalypse” just as the band were on the verge of breaking through in the U.S.

So when “Torn” came out in 2008, it seemed that Evergrey was catching up on that missed window.

“In Confidence” is a great track from the underrated “Torn” album that strayed more in Modern Rock then Progressive Metal. The music is written by Tom Englund and drummer Jonas Ekdahl, while the lyrics are written by Tom Englund. This song just replays in my head.

I told you in confidence
And trusted you’d never sacrifice our silence
I rise from the ashes and remains of your broken promises

Don’t we all rise from the ashes of secrets told in confidence. The song is that good you cannot help but pay attention.

I Should
From the much maligned “Monday Morning Apocalypse” album released in 2006. The song is written both lyrically and musically by Tom Englund. It’s best to listen to the song, alone, preferably on headphones. Give it your full attention and let it fill your head space. The track is deep into the album list, however Everygrey have always treated each track as important as the first.

How come we bear the cross that you should?
How come we wear the wounds that you should?
I am confused, why is it me who is bleeding?

Exactly. Why am I the one that is hurting when all I did was help you out?

Wrong
It’s also from the “Glorious Collision” album released in 2011. Music and Lyrics are written by Tom Englund and keyboardist Rikard Zander. Meaningful and melodic, its pure magic. By the Eighties standards, this would be a hit because it’s immediately catchy, you get it right away.

Somehow I thought I always knew
The difference between the lie and truth

The truth is we don’t know the difference between lies and truth and it’s scary. If you don’t believe me, talk to anyone that has gone through a break up and you will hear a novel worth of stories about what the other partner did wrong. And if you get the chance to talk to the other side, they will have the same stories that puts the other partner down. Each person tells their side like it is truth.

Recreation Day
From the album of the same name released in 2003. Unfortunately, this very playable album is ignored. Unjustly as it still satisfies today.

Life is fear

Life is scary and it should be. Life should never be comfortable. If it is comfortable then you are not living out your dreams. We are fighting to live from our very first breath and then we are fighting to stay alive from the approaching death.

Barricades
From the new album “Hymns Of The Broken” released in 2014.

And we have been fighting for much too long
We’re getting tired
We’re longing to see
The barricades fall

It has the Evergrey signature sound, but it’s too dark to break through to the mainstream and that darkness is the place that Evergrey occupies. In the space of three years, the band again had to prove to the world that they still mattered after another line up collapse and another line up rebuild, however this time it was the return of two former members.

Black Undertow
Also from the new album “Hymns Of The Broken” released in 2014.

Freedom at last
Feels like a black undertow

This is what appeals to me about Evergrey. The darkness and the experimentation, evidenced in this cut. Never argue with the power of a riff. It just grooves!

More Than Ever
From “The Inner Circle” album released in 2004 and that album was the first piece of music I heard from the band. Immediately I went into the back catalogue. Tom Englund wrote a great lyrical melody over the bed of music written by co-guitarist Henrik Danhage.

Waiting for the waves to break
Hoping for the tide to change
Embracing the awaiting aim
Believing more than ever

And then the guitars start slashing and burning in harmony as they mimic the vocal melody. Brilliant.

The Grand Collapse
The second last song from the “Hymns Of The Broken” album.

We wanted to be caught in dreams that never end

We all want to be born again, we all want to find the key to every door, and what really makes this track soar is the sound and the indelible piano melody that is constantly played over and over again over the melodic chaos underneath it. Add to that the way the following words are sung.

Got so close, you, I

The Aftermath
The closing song from the “Hymns Of The Broken” album. It’s all about the sound. Especially in the fast-paced world of today, we all want something that puts our mind somewhere else.

I one day hope the sun gives way
To rid the clouds that hides our way

“The Aftermath” is just one of those tracks that I can never burn out on. It’s a typical album track like back in the day when album tracks used to count. You know the ones, while the hits draw you in, it was these kind of songs we uncovered as the album played. Like WASP’s “The Great Misconception Of Me”.

And that is also the problem with music today. No one’s got any time to go deep into albums.

Enjoy.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

Musical Cloning

I was reading a Motley Fool newsletter about investments and in that newsletter they talk about a process called “Capital Cloning”.

So the 3 Steps to “Capital Cloning” as mentioned in the newsletter are as follows;
1. EXTRACT a business model with a track record of profitability from an established company in a mature market.
2. IDENTIFY an immature, fertile market in which that business model can be successfully planted/recreated.
3. Watch your “Capital Clone” grow and HARVEST a second heaping of profits from a single business strategy along the way

So does the above “Cloning” template sound familiar when it comes to music. Let’s put into a musical context;

1. EXTRACT a group of songs with a track record of profitability.
2. RECREATE those group of songs.
3. WATCH your “Musical Clones” grow and HARVEST another round of profits from them.

The funny thing is that if you look at the largest bands today, that is the exact thing they have done.

Let’s start with Metallica.

“Fight Fire With Fire” -> “Battery” -> “Blackened”
See a trend there. Each song kicks off slowly and builds into a thrashathon. If I had to pick a standout, it would be “Battery”.

“Ride The Lightning” -> “Master Of Puppets” -> “And Justice For All”
The title track of each album always came in at number 2.

“For Whom The Bells Toll” -> “The Thing That Should Not Be” -> “Eye Of The Beholder”
The more mainstream groove song came in at number 3, so it would be no surprise when songs like these were heard on the “Black” album.

“Fade To Black” -> “Welcome Home” -> “One”
The power ballads that always ended with a WOW statement. On the “Black” album, “The Unforgiven” also came in at number 4, while “Until It Sleeps” and “The Unforgiven II” had that honor on “Load” and “Reload”.

“Trapped Under Ice” -> “The Shortest Straw”
Two little misunderstood songs in Metallica folklore.

“Escape” -> “Leper Messiah” -> “Harvester of Sorrow”
This is the groove of the “Black” album right here on these three songs.

“Creeping Death” -> “Disposable Heroes” -> “The Frayed Ends of Sanity”
A win-win and then a miss.

“The Call Of Ktulu” -> “Orion” ->”To Live Is to Die”
If one instrumental worked, why not re-create it and do another two more.

“Damage, Inc.” -> Dyers Eve”
The “Ride The Lightning” album didn’t really have a supersonic speed metal song. However “Master of Puppets” did in “Damage Inc” and it worked so well, the band re-created it on the follow-up album with “Dyers Eve”.

All of these musical clones set Metallica up for the self-titled black album that is still talked about today.

There are fans that wanted “Ride The Lightning” Part 4, while other fans wanted “Kill Em All” Part 2. But the biggest talking point was James vocals. It looks like a lot of the fans really enjoyed his unique snappy bark style as heard on the first four albums and were really upset because he actually sang on the “Black” album.

Of course when the “Black” album came out, what do you think Metallica tried to do next. Re-create the “Black” album with “Load” and “Reload”. Then they threw a curveball at us with “St Anger” and surprise, surprise, they went and cloned their back catalogue for “Death Magnetic”.

Let’s look at a few Bon Jovi clones.

“Let It Rock” -> “Lay Your Hands On Me” -> I Believe
They all have intro build ups. One is by keyboards, one is by drums and the other is by guitar.

“Livin On A Prayer” -> “Born To Be My Baby” –> “Keep The Faith” -> “It’s My Life” -> “Bounce” -> “Have A Nice Day” –> “We Weren’t Born To Follow”
Now here is some serious cloning going on. We need the President/Prime Minister to pass some new laws that bans it.

“Wanted Dead Or Alive” –> “Stick To Your Guns” -> “Blaze Of Glory”
Two number one hits there and one miss.

But then I look at Motley Crue and I cannot hear any musical cloning happening there. Blame it on the drugs, whatever. Each album is unique in its own way and according to who you talk too, full of filler as well.

Even when they had their big album in “Dr Feelgood”, they didn’t even try to replicate it. Hell, the Motley Crue album that came next with John Corabi on vocals is one hell of an album. Then they went all electronic industrial rock with “Generation Swine” and returned back to hard rock on “New Tattoo” and went all modern rock with “Saints Of Los Angele”

In the end, all progress in music is based on derivatives. In other words, musical cloning.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Work Of The Devil

It’s funny how originally rock and roll, then blues rock, then heavy metal, then hard/glam rock, then thrash metal and so on were seen as the work of the devil.

Growing up, I wore my heavy metal and hard rock T-shirts with pride, ready to defend myself if anyone decided to have a dig. Thankfully I didn’t have a situation like that present itself.

Growing up in a city that employed thousands upon thousands at the local steelworks, the majority of the children of those workers were all metal and rock heads. Plus by wearing the colours of your favourite band, by default people just saw you as dangerous.

In other words, if I wore an Iron Maiden “The Number Of The Beast” t-shirt or a Motley Crue “Shout At The Devil” t-shirt it was a shorthand way of informing the public to not mess with me.

I know in my circle of friends, we all came from religious backgrounds. All of us are baptised.

Crucifixes, Mother Mary and Jesus Christ ornaments decorated our walls and cabinets. My olds were cool however they also had very conservative friends who kept on judging them for the musical tastes of their children.

But my Dad, he is a deadest legend. He allowed me to be who I wanted to be growing up, giving me a hell of a lot of freedom. He was a musician as well so he understood my mantra of “music being my religion” and when he would come home from a gig he would have about $500 to $1500 in cash on him.

The usual routine was that he would hand over the cash to me to count and then he would give me a couple of twenties for my efforts. Of course those twenty-dollar notes went straight into the cash till at the local record shop the next day. I was a music junkie, consuming the expensive U.S magazines and whatever vinyl I could get my hands on.

My Dad would talk to me about the family name, our history, what it means to have a good reputation and the most important lesson was that people will judge you no matter what you do. He said that if I conform to what others want me to be, people will still judge me. If I remain true to myself and be who I want to be, people will still judge me. He said if you fail in life there will be people there ready to talk about you and to throw more mud in your face. He said that if I am happy then there will people there ready to drag me down into the same hole that they live in.

And every time we spoke about matters like these I always had a song in the back of my head that connected with the message. That is why I gravitated to metal and rock music. The messages connected.

“Stand Up And Shout” from Dio. You see as good as “Holy Diver” and “The Last In Line” are it was the more simpler lyrical songs from Dio that really connected with audiences, like “Stand Up And Shout”.

It’s the same old song
You’ve got to be somewhere at sometime
And they never let you fly

The daily grind, the nine to five. How can we fly and reach for the sky when we always have to be somewhere each day and do the same old song and dance. Credit Jimmy Bain for the great riffs.

“I Believe In Rock And Roll” from Twisted Sister’s “Come Out And Play” album. A very underrated album and “I Believe In Rock And Roll” is one such song that hasn’t been given it’s proper due.

Every day
I work so hard
Every day
I’m dealt the cards
Every day
I’m told exactly what to do
Every day
I lose control
Every day
I rock ‘n’ roll
Every day
It’s gonna help to see me through

Dee Snider sure knows how to tell it. If anyone tells you that their days are not like the above, then they are liars.  The first six lines deal with the daily grind, the nine to five routine. It was a common theme in the Eighties. Then the next six lines deal with music and how it helps get through the days.

“I Wanna Be Somebody” from WASP. Blackie Lawless is a great songwriter and WASP has a special place in my heart. The pinnacle to me was “The Crimson Idol” however “The Last Command” and the debut album are not that far behind.

You’re nobody’s slave, nobody’s chains are holdin’ you
You hold your fist up high,
And rule the zoo

Conformity is a disease. If you don’t believe me then look at the symptoms. You are alive but mentally chained to some ideal pushed on you and you don’t know if its a good ideal or a bad ideal. In the end, we should all bang our heads and use our fists to break down the walls.

(P.S. Do you like what I did there, merging WASP, with Quiet Riot and Motley Crue.)

“You’re No Different” from the “Bark At The Moon” album by Ozzy Osbourne. Bob Daisley wrote some excellent lyrics about Ozzy’s reputation and how people judge him.

Everything that I say and do
In your eyes is always wrong
Tell me where do I belong
In a sick society

You’re no different to me

The judgemental people can put themselves up on some imaginary pedestal but in the end they are as pathetic as the rest of the us. We are all no different to each other. We all end up in the same prison with a tombstone above our heads. Let’s see them judge other’s then.

And how good is that outro. It reminds me of the “Escape From New York” theme, while Jake E.Lee starts to unleash.

“Fighting The World” from Manowar. Founder Joey Demaio always had a song about metal and brotherhood. This one is a classic in my eyes.

Now people keep asking if we’re going to change
I look’em in the eye
Tell’em no way
Stripes on a tiger don’t wash away
Manowar’s made of steel not clay

I must admit I always found Manowar’s lyrics laughable because they delivered them so seriously. But seriously who else could get away with a lyrical line, “stripes on a tiger don’t wash away, Manowar’s made of steel not clay.”

Brilliant and perfect for the times.  And then the call to arms with the marching drums;

Fight for a living – Fighting the World

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Thrash Incorporated with Metallica, Anthrax And Raven

In August 1984 Metallica, Anthrax and Raven played New York’s Roseland Ballroom. Anthrax opened the show, then came Metallica and the headliners were Raven. Jon Zazula was the promoter of the show, forming Megaforce Records to sign and promote all three bands. He sure did his homework/promotions and over 3,000 people attended the show, along with a lot of major label executives.

For Raven, it was an accumulation of ten years hard work to get to this point. They built up their career by playing all the tough and confrontational workingman clubs in Northern England.

As was the norm for bands of that era, early albums on smaller independent labels led to major label contracts. Raven was no exception and a major label deal with Atlantic Records followed after. The pressures to deliver a more commercial sounding album that could cross over, alienated the original fans and didn’t really gain any new fans.

Today, Raven is more or less forgotten. Spotify stats are under 20,000 streams. YouTube has the song “On And On” at 211,697 views and “Lay Down The Law” has 171,772 views. No one is listening to them.

For Metallica, that show was the biggest show for the band up to that point. Michael Alago former A&R, at Elektra Records was there in attendance and he wanted to sign to Metallica to the label.

Today, “Enter Sandman” has 31,205,811 streams on Spotify and the official video on YouTube has 40,758,247 views, while a live version has 72,499,306 views. “Nothing Else Matters” has 27,925,987 streams on Spotify and the official video on YouTube has 62,987,299 views while a live version has 40,884,893 views. “One” has 86,077,668 views on YouTube and 13,304,900 streams on Spotify.

For Anthrax the show was a combination of three years hard work to that point for the band. The band wouldn’t get a major label deal until after “Persistence Of Time” when Elektra came knocking. On Spotify, “Madhouse” has been streamed 1,716,342 times. On YouTube the same song has been viewed 6,986,320 times. “Indians” has 4,279,543 views on YouTube and 732,107 streams on Spotify. “Got The Time” has 3,606,042 views on YouTube and 1,442.115 streams on Spotify.

Clearly the opening bands went on to great achievements compared to the headliners. The record labels that signed them would be flush with cash from the sales of records.

Elektra struck big with Metallica.With each album release Metallica kept on getting bigger and bigger.

Megaforce kept Anthrax up for about 8 years before Elektra came in circa 1992 (for the John Bush-era)

Meanwhile Atlantic didn’t get the results they wanted from Raven. After three disappointing albums (the first one was the strongest of all three), Atlantic dropped them.

It’s funny how the music business works.

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