And we continue the journey of 2021 releases.
In 2012 Chris Daughtry had a decision to make after “Break The Spell”.
Should he stay with the same sound?
Should he change the sound completely?
Should he stay with the same sound but experiment with a few songs by bringing in different sounds?
“Baptized” came out in in November 2013 on RCA Records and it was an electro synth pop sounding album, a significant departure from the hard rock sound on their first three albums.
Like the previous albums, RCA farmed Chris Daughtry out to work with different writers. But while the writers previously had some rock pedigree, the writers on “Baptized” album specialized in other styles.
There is a song called “Long Live Rock N Roll” and it doesn’t even rock, as it’s more in the vein of “I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker”, an acoustic folk song which tells a story of growing up with a certain type of music.
Then came a “Greatest Hits” album in 2016 with two new songs called “Torches” and “Go Down.
“Torches” is actually a good bridge between the old sound and the “Baptized” sound,
The song “Go Down” has your typical catchy Daughtry vocal melody but it’s instrument sounds are routed in synth pop and electronica. Think of the band “Garbage”.
“Cage To Rattle” came out in 2018. 10 songs that total 38 minutes. RCA again was spending a lot of money for Chris Daughtry to write with so many outside writers in the quest to find hits.
But the record executives failed to understand is that Daughtry’s audience is predominantly made up of rockers. And there is a saying, when you’re chasing hits it don’t mean the hits would come.
Then Daughtry and RCA parted ways.
And Daughtry was back, louder and meaner.
“Dearly Beloved” is a return to form which shows the world that Daughtry still knows how to rock!!
Machine Head – Arrows In Words From The Sky
In October, Machine “Fucking” Head made 30 years! It’s a long time in the business. Music is a lifers game.
In the early 90s, Robb Flynn decided to quit the band he was in, to start Machine “Fucking” Head, so he could call the shots and not have to answer to anyone.
Throughout the years he’s had different versions of the band with “The Blackening” line up being the most favored and then the “Burn My Eyes” line up.
Over the last three years, Robb’s motto is simple. If he has a song, or two, he’s going to get it recorded and released.
In 2019, “Do Or Die” was released.
In February 2020, “Circle The Drain” came out.
In June 2020, the “Civil Unrest” single, featuring the tracks “Bulletproof” and the Jesse Leach collaboration “Stop The Bleeding” came out.
In November 2020, the stand alone “My Hands Are Empty” was released.
And on 11 June 2021, the 3-Song digital single, “Arrows In Words From The Sky” dropped.
In total 8 songs have been released. They could represent an album that came out today, but we all got to spend time with these songs when they came out and make em special at that particular point in time.
Centuries of pain, under a paper sword
Arrows in words from the sky
Check it out.
Joel Hoekstras 13 – Running Games
I am a Russell Allen fan. I knew of Allen long before I heard of Joel Hoekstra. Allen has a voice which can suit power symphonic bands, metal bands, melodic rock bands, hard rock bands, nu-metal bands and blues rock bands.
And I’m also a Jeff Watson fan, so I wasn’t too thrilled with any Night Ranger version without Watson. Then again Watson hasn’t done much being away from the band and I still want to hear new Night Ranger music.
So I still listened to Night Ranger and Hoekstra impressed but I felt he was restrained within that band as Blades and Keagy are the alphas.
And with Whitesnake, Coverdale has two great guitarists to write tunes with but they need to comply with what Coverdale desires.
Which means that Hoekstra 13 is the true Joel Hoekstra.
“Running Games” is album number 2 for his Frontiers label contract.
The band for the album is a supergroup are Russell Allen on vocals, Tony Franklin on bass, Vinny Appice on drums and Derek Sherinian on keyboards with Jeff Scott Soto doing backing vocals. Yep, you read that right, the great JSS is doing backing vocals.
Overall Hoekstra’s songwriting is top level and the performances from the guys are excellent.
Check it out.
destroyerofharmony 
What’s interesting about RCA forcing Chris Daughtry to write with a bunch of different writers for a hit is that it proves my point of how sometimes it’s not worth it going commercial and aiming for hits. Not if you lose track of who you become as an artist. Not that I’m saying Chris lost track of who he was, but it sounds like RCA forgot about who he was as an artist.
Well said. Artists can have a long career without being mainstream.
Exactly! I really want to do a blog post about the pros and cons about artists going commercial, but I need to do more research first. I was talking with Mike Ladano about how Def Leppard could’ve been bigger than ‘Hysteria’ if they stuck with their old NWOBHM sound for a while longer.
What do you think?
It’s hard to tell with Def Lep if the NWOBHM sound would have done em any favours after Hysteria but maybe if they went a bit heavier like the Black album sound and still kept that melodic vibe, who knows
No I mean if they didn’t make ‘Hysteria’ and just stuck with their old sound, they could’ve eventually been bigger than their ‘Hysteria’ sales. ‘Pyromania’ did big business after all.
And you should definitely do that blog post
I want to one day; I really do! It’ll probably be a long while till I write and post it, though.
I streamed that Hoekstra’s album and it was quite good. You have to hand it to artists/bands who put out music when the world was shutdown and it looks like were headed that way again (here in Ontario).
Just say omicron
More great releases. I think you might see the Daughtry one in a list of mine coming up in a couple weeks.