Author Archives: destroyerofharmony

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

1996 – Part 1.4: Bush, Deep Purple and Bruce Dickinson

Without even realizing, it’s a special U.K edition.

Bush – Razorblade Suitcase

I got this album a few years after it came out on cassette tape, via a 3 for $10 bin, so it was a no brainer.

Gavin Rossdale got a lot of crap from journalists and critics.

Like he was too handsome to be considered grunge but then he’s labelled a Nirvana clone. And when the debut album sold in the multi-millions, the band was labelled as slick rock.

He got worse treatment in his homeland. As the U.K ignored them initially, Bush landed a U.S deal and became successful in the North American market first before their album was released in their home country.

He mentioned that Pixies are an influence, and the press called him a Kurt Cobain poseur as Cobain also said that the Pixies are a massive influence. So he said “fuck it”.

“Swallowed” is the lead single. My favorite on the album.

“Greedy Fly” is basically an artist writing a song, without a thought of it being a hit. And somehow it gets released as a single and it’s seen as a hit.

“Cold Contagious” has a cool drum groove, with the guitars decorating the song in a nice way, as Rossdale is singing, “you will get yours” with the volume and intensity increasing. And at six minutes long, it’s the anti-single, but it still got released as a single.

And the band toured for 14 months to promote the album. In the process they moved 6 million copies of the album in the U.S alone.

But with every peak, there is a valley waiting below.

A fight with the label delayed “The Science Of Things” and when the album came out, their sound was suddenly seen as “old” by the press, in the same way that hard rock became old circa 1991/92.

Deep Purple – Purpendicular

It’s not on Spotify but YouTube has it. It’s ridiculous why some albums are missing from digital services.

“Purpendicular” is the fifteenth studio album. It is their first album with guitarist Steve Morse. His injection was seen a breath of fresh air.

“Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic”

The blues boogie is excellent and the Mixolydian lead break from Steve Morse is guitar hero worthy.

What a way to introduce yourself to the Purple fans.

“Loosen My Strings”

Arpeggios kick off the song, but its Roger Glover’s bass line that takes this song to a new level and then Morse starts to play a distorted chord riff which complements the bass riff.

The riff before the lead break is excellent, but make sure you check out the lead break and the outro lead break, which sounds like a Boston outro, ala “Don’t Look Back”.

“Soon Forgotten”

It’s a strange song, with a riff that sounds a little bit exotic and a bizarre staccato like vocal melody on top of it. The organ work on this track is stunning and you are reminded why Jon Lord is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.

“Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming”

The intro guitar from Morse is haunting and sad. He then plays this melodic lead in between the verses which is memorable.

The guitar solo is amazing.

It’s one of their best and should be known with their classic songs.

Did I mention that the guitar solo is amazing?

It is.

Do yourself a favour, check it out and start playing air guitar to it.

And did I mention there is an outro guitar solo as well?

There is. So check that one out as well. In other words, Steve Morse rules on this track.

“Cascades: I’m Not Your Lover”

The churchy organs of Jon Lord kick it off, while Steve Morse plays a bendy melodic lead, before it takes a left turn and a U-turn and becomes a hard rock song with a “Highway Star” like vibe.

The guitar/organ harmony solo from 2.15 to 3.15 is one of the great moments on this album as Lord/Morse go to town playing arpeggios, in a similar way that Lord and Blackmore did for “Burn”, just a lot faster.

“The Aviator”

Morse brings out the country and folk influences to create a major key “good vibes” medieval arrangement. Make sure you check out “Highland Wedding” from Steve Morse’s “High Tension Wires” from 1989 as Morse has been dabbling with these kind of melodies previously.

“A Castle Full of Rascals”

The beginning sounds like a cross between ELP and Led Zeppelin in the blues rock vein.

And the song changes at 1.58 mark with a bass groove, lush keys and a progressive like vocal melody. Morse at first is playing single note lines before crashing in with power chords and distorted single notes, paving the way for Jon Lord and his Hammond Organ solo.

“A Touch Away”

It’s got that feel good 70’s progressive vibe.

“Hey Cisco”

It sounds like “Hit The Road Jack” on steroids. Hell, it could have come from a Van Halen album. Make sure you stick around for the guitar and organ harmonies from about 4.08 and then Morse breaks loose with his fast alternate picked Mixolydian lines.

“Somebody Stole My Guitar”

What a riff to introduce the song. It grooves, its heavy and bluesy. I haven’t mentioned the swing and soul feel of Ian Paice yet, but man, this dude can play.

At the 2 minute mark, Morse starts this palm muted arpeggio riff, while Lord plays these Organ chords before Morse launches into the solo, while Lord plays the palm muted arpeggio riff on the Organ.

Brilliant.

“The Purpendicular Waltz”

It’s a blues shuffle built around a cool groove and a great closer to the album.

For all the debate about Blackmore and Morse, forget it.

Listen without prejudice.

Bruce Dickinson – Skunkworks

I didn’t like this album when I first heard it. And it stayed on the shelf for a long time before I pulled it out and re-listened. I still didn’t like it and back on the shelf it went. But over the last 8 years, the album has taken a life on its own.

I didn’t get it back then, but goddamn this album sounds progressive. The cover design from Storm Thorgerson (RIP) should have been an indication of its progressive intentions, but it escaped me.

It was meant to be a band album but the label wouldn’t release it under anything except Bruce Dickinson. Jack Endino a Seattle producer who worked on Nirvana’s “Bleach” is producing. The sound is like an amalgamation of 80’s Rush with alternative rock and metal.

And I’ve never heard of Alex Dickson again after this album but he does a stellar job on the guitar and as a co-writer on all the songs. But as Rod Smallwood said, “Bruce Dickinson is a heavy metal singer and that will never change”. His attempt to shake off the image of his Maiden past was futile.

“Back From The Edge” has double time drumming over a jangly chord progression, but it’s the bridge and solo section which gets me interested.

“Inertia” could have come from any Maiden album, past or future.

How good is the riff to kick off “Faith”?

At times I feel like I am listening to a Dream Theater cut from the “Falling Into Infinity” album with this song.

Make sure you check out the solo section.

“Dreamstate” in the verses sounds like a Nirvana cut. Yes, that’s right folks, Bruce is channeling Cobain.

How good is “I Will Not Accept The Truth”. Listen to the repeating arpeggios in the verses. Sinister and melodic in the same breadth.

The whole mood and groove in the interlude/solo section of “Strange Death In Paradise” while Dickinson sings the title is a must listen for any Dickinson fan.

In the end, unless you were interested in what Dickinson was up to, there was nothing really here to get you to commit. Then again, the 90’s was an interesting time for 80’s artists and the fans of those artists.

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

1996 – Part 1.3: Journey – Trial By Fire

Steve Perry was back with Jonathan Cain, Neal Schon, Ross Valory and Steve Smith and Journey was rocking again after a 10 year gap, thanks to no small part to John Kalodner. Kevin Shirley is producing and this album is a return to form.

“Message Of Love” has a Chorus inspired by “Separate Ways”. As far as opening tracks go, it’s excellent, a great way to re-introduce the band in the 90’s and while other bands were removing guitar solos, no one told Neal Schon about it as he goes to town on this one and re-introduces the world to guitar solos.

“One More” has a groove that could have come from a Faith No More album. And what made Journey famous originally is how they could change styles within an album, as “When You Love A Woman” shows a their R&B Ballad roots.

“Forever In Blue” has this “Best Of Both Worlds” style riff to kick it off before a familiar Journey like Chorus kicks in.

“Castles Burning” has the guitar front and centre. A sleazy bluesy rock song with an arena rock like Chorus. It’s by far the heaviest track on the album.

“Still She Cries” has some wonderful guitar playing on it for a ballad and Perry as usual delivers a stellar vocal.

The second half of the album didn’t rock as hard as the first half, but each song has some cool Schon moments.

“When I Think Of You” is a ballad, and not a favourite, but Schon is playing some memorable melodic licks.

“Can’t Tame the Lion” is a great rock song with excellent guitar passages that remind me of Vito Bratta.

“Trial By Fire” feels like a jam over a Smith/Valory groove with Schon playing jazz like leads and chords.

A back/hip injury to Perry derailed the subsequent tour and by 1998, Perry was out of the group and Journey went into different versions before settling in with Arnel Pineda.

Then there was a fight over the Journey brand, as Ross Valory and Steve Smith tried to take control of the band name. While that was happening, Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain also fell out as Cain found religion and didn’t want to play the Journey songs anymore as it went against his faith, which infuriated Schon.

But hey, money talks and they made up and Journey is rocking again.

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Music, My Stories

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – April 19 to April 25

4 Years Ago (2017)

You can have riffs in songs that sound similar and the song can still be original. Case in point; “Woman From Tokyo,” from Deep Purple which curiously has the same riff as Joe Walsh’s “Meadows,” from “The Smoker You Drink…” album.

Both songs were released the very same year, and no plagiarism lawsuits occurred. And guess what. Both artists had very successful careers.

So it’s a sad state of affairs when it comes to music and copyright these days. The metal and hard rock community has been sensible about it, but I am pretty sure that if another metal or rock artists broke through to the mainstream, there would be a long list of plagiarism cases filed.

The fact that “plagiarism” is used in music is pretty sad.

8 Years Ago (2013)

I found an old issue or Metal Edge in which Gerri Miller (RIP) did a track by track breakdown of the Motley Corabi album.

I did three separate posts on it. You can read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

People focus on sales a lot. If something sold a lot of times, it’s seen as successful.

However, sale numbers mean nothing these days. What is important here, is the length of time the music has been out and are people still listening to it.

A Guitar World, March 1986 article of Angus Young got posted with some commentary by me.

For any guitarist starting off, AC/DC wrote the book on beginners Rock guitar. In the process, they also created songs that are timeless and a soundtrack to a whole generation of people in the seventies, eighties and nineties.  

And Angus always spoke his mind.

On EVH:

“Malcolm’s still a better guitarist than Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen certainly knows his scales, but I don’t enjoy listening to very technical guitarists who cram all the notes they know into one song. I mean, Van Halen can do what he does very well, but he’s really just doing finger exercises. If a guitarist wants to practice all the notes he can play, he should do it at home. There’s definitely a place for that type of playing, but it’s not in front of me.”

On Clapton:

“Clapton just sticks licks together that he has taken from other people – like B B King and the other old blues players—and puts them together in some mish-mashed fashion. The only great album he ever made was the “Blues Breaker” album he did with John Mayal and maybe a couple of good songs he did with Cream. The guy more or less built his reputation on that. I never saw what the big fuss was about Clapton to begin with.”

On Jeff Beck:

“There are guys out there who can play real good without boring people. Jeff Beck is one of them. He’s more of a technical guy, but when he wants to rock and roll he sure knows how to do it with guts. I really like the early albums he did with Rod Stewart.”

I did a douche Blabbermouth like post on Mike Portnoy as an experiment to see if traffic increased on the site. It did, but it’s not the kind of site I want to run or be involved in.

The post is all over the place in writing, and not very good from my point of view. And man, I got a lot of hate direct messages to me. Especially around my comments on Richie Kotzen. I basically said he can’t sing. And yes, Kotzen was also part of the douchebag experiment on this post.

For the record, I do like Mike Portnoy. His work ethic is unbelievable and as a musician all he wants to do is play, so he does that and he keeps getting involved in multiple projects, which for some reason, piss people off.

And people who do read the blog, know I have a lot of love for Kotzen. Plus his work on the Poison album, “Native Tongue” is outstanding.

In Sydney, a music festival was happening called “Stone Music Festival” which was getting news for the wrong reasons. Here are some other stories.

And while the organizers said it would be back in 2014, it never was. Because the 2013 one was a mess.

And a cover band called “Kings Of Chaos” stole the show at the festival. The band featured Matt Sorum on drums, Duff McKagan on bass, Gilby Clarke on rhythm guitar, Steve Stevens on lead guitar and vocals provided by Glenn Hughes, Joe Elliot and Sebastian Bach.

And UMG took down an official version of “God Is Dead”.

Take down requests are meant to take down content that is infringing. So how did the Official Black Sabbath YouTube page fall into that category is beyond me.  

And here is my view on the song. It’s not a bad song, nor is it a great song.

Kingdom Come was still getting a lot of listens from me. Here is a post on “Stargazer”.

It’s the keyboard synth intro that grabs ya from the outset.

Within three months from when “In Your Face” came out, the band that we had come to know had called it a day.

Rudolf Schenker had an interview in Guitar World, March 1986, which I posted here.

By March 1986, Rudolf had been in the game for over 26 years by now. Winners never quit. They persist. They persevere.  

Finally Storm Thorgerson passed away and I did a post on some of his iconic album covers for rock bands.

Dream Theater used him, Pink Floyd used him, Megadeth used him, Europe used him, Muse used him, Led Zeppelin used him and so many more.

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

Australian Method Series: Jet – Shaka Rock

“When we were 15 or 16 we were playing covers – not so much grunge, which was very much what was happening at the time.

We were more into The Band and an Australian band called You Am I, and a band called Sloan from Canada, which were a huge influence.”
Nic Cester – Interview in the Songwriting Magazine

The debut album “Get Born” released in 2003 went nuts everywhere. In Australia, it’s six times platinum. The songs reminded everyone of other songs that came before and of an era that was seen as innocent and golden.

Every great riff or drum beat was put into the Jet blender.

“Are You Gonna Be My Girl” became even bigger when it got used by Apple for its iPod ads. When people started to talk about its originality and influences, it became even bigger.

The follow up, “Shine On” released in 2006, is a favourite of mine, even though it didn’t do great numbers commercially like the debut. In Australia, it’s certified platinum, but the press outside Australia was scathing, having them labelled as one hit wonders already. Wolfmother copped the same treatment.

And once the tour finished, the band members went their separate ways. No one spoke to each other for 9 months. They eventually organised to meet at Nic Cester’s place in Italy. They yelled and screamed at each other and made up. Without any label interest, they produced and financed their next album.

“Shaka Rock” came out in 2009. Australian fans certified this album Platinum. To a lot of people, it’s still virtually unknown.

“Shaka” is basically a hand gesture in which the thumb and little finger are extended outwards from a closed fist, used to express approval, solidarity, etc.

“K.I.A” has the bass dominating with a Rage Against The Machine like groove. And vocally, Nic Cester wails and barks his way through the verses while singing his way through the Chorus.

“Beat On Repeat” sounds like a song from The Clash. It’s got that pop punk vibe.

“She’s A Genius” brings a riff which is reminiscent to “My Sharona” from The Knack. “Ain’t My Bitch” from Metallica also had a riff groove like “My Sharona”.

The origins of the riff goes back all the way to 1966 and The Spencer Davis Group with their song, “Gimme Some Lovin”.

“Black Hearts (On Fire)” brings a Molly Hatchett Southern Blues Rock boogie.

The opening bars of “Seventeen” remind me of “Fantasy” from Aldo Nova and “Cold As Ice” from Foreigner.

The Beatles like intro to “La Di Da” is familiar.

“Goodbye Hollywood” has this U2 like vocal as Cester says goodbye to the addictions that came with his fame.

“It just didn’t fit me like it should”

“Walk” has this “Come Together” like swagger.

“Times Like This” is “Long Train Running” from The Doobie Brothers and I like it.

“Let Me Out” has this “Jessie’s Girl”, “My Best Friends Girlfriend” and a bit of “Born To Run” chucked in. Take those little influences and create something new.

“Start the Show” sounds like “Supergrass” making love to “T.Rex” with a little bit of “Cold Chisel” thrown in.

And the final song, “She Holds a Grudge”, is very Rolling Stones ballad like.

The whole album is so easy to listen to and at 41 minutes, it just rolls and rocks.

After “Shaka Rock” and the tour, the band went on hiatus or in their own words, “discontinued as a group”.

Until 2017.

When they reformed for some one off shows and opening gigs for Bruce Springsteen.

And they then played sold out shows around Australia in 2018 and released the album “Get Born Live”.

Check out the Shaka 🤙.

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

1996 – Part 1.2: Metallica – Load

Five years is a long wait between albums, especially in the era controlled by record labels. Your career and audience could disappear within that time. The scene itself could change dramatically.

The self-titled multi-platinum “Black” album came out in 1991. After a two and a bit years global trek, the band released the “Live Shit: Binge & Purge” box set in November 1993.

And then they disappeared from the public eye.

We didn’t know it at the time, but in 1994, the band got into an argument with Elektra, which underwent massive personnel changes that year. And they felt that they were not getting the love and respect they deserved.

So in 1995, Metallica sued to get out of their contract but before it even went to court they sorted out their differences.

For the band to stay with the label, Elektra had to give the band a larger royalty on its music and they had to hand over the master tapes of all the records. The band basically didn’t want the label to control the masters and issue constant “Greatest Hits” or “Best Off” albums that rip off fans or to give the music to corporations for advertising. It was the best business move they did.

By June 1995, work on the album started. In September, they played a few live shows and premiered “2 x 4” and “Devils Dance”.

In January 1996, basic recording for the album was finished. When the album was sent for mixing, some of the tracks had different titles. “Ain’t My Bitch” was just “Bitch”. “Cure” was “Believe”. “The House Jack Built” was just “Jack”. “Mouldy” became “Hero Of The Day”.

And I remember reading a Guitar World issue in July, 1996 and the interviewer just heard a song called “F.O.B.D” and it was described as a “hypnotic, pop tinged” song. We all know this song as “Until It Sleeps”. And another song called “Dusty” which was described as a “ZZ Top on steroids groove”. This became “Poor Twisted Me”.

At this point in time, the self-titled album known as the “Black” album had done 9 million in U.S sales, plus many more millions worldwide.

Metallica didn’t really care about anything as they just moved the needle again to suit themselves and experimented in heavy blues rock territory this time around. And at 78 minutes and 59 seconds long, it was the longest Metallica album.

“Aint My Bitch” has got that “My Sharona” vibe from the outset but goddamn it, the riff is addictive. It’s got all the classic Metallica elements. A foot stomping groove, some fast alternate picking, a hooky chorus and a lot of blues rock, which reminds me of “Holier Than Thou” merged with a little bit of Motorhead.

And wait, what’s that, a slide guitar for the solo. Goddamn right it is.

“Out of my way” alright.

“2 x 4” has this Aerosmith swagger with a lot of Texan dirt. And what about the psychedelic vocal section when they sing, “friction, fusion”.

“I can’t hear ya talking to me”.

Make sure you stick around for the solo section. The song feels like it goes half time there and it then slowly rebuilds up musically, while the guitar solo also increases in intensity.

“The House That Jack Built” has an ominous sounding intro, as James starts singing, “open doors to walk inside”.

How groovy is that verse riff?

“Until It Sleeps” is what Metallica is all about, merging melody with aggression. If you don’t believe me, check out the menacing clean tone sections.

Then there is a vibrato like guitar that keeps ringing as the bass riff starts for “King Nothing”. The outro reminds me of the “Enter Sandman” outro like when the truck hits the kids bed in the video clip.

“Hero Of The Day” is the shortest song on the album, which has a lot of major key elements and a bit of a Southern Rock vibe, before it chugs along into blues rock and metal territory.

“Bleeding Me” percolates until it explodes. This kind of musical drama reminds me of the 70’s acts and how they would build a musical story.

And how good is that outro and Hammet’s solo.

“Cure” asks the question “if you believe”. I do believe in this blues metal boogie rock of Metallica as Hetfield talks and sings and rants his way through the song. Towards the end, Hetfield is converted as he screams, “I do believe”. It’s an underrated album cut.

“Poor Twisted Me” brings out that classic ZZ Top style of boogie. And it’s also got some Danzig/Misfits in the mix and a bit of Led Zeppelin’s “The Wanton Song”.

How good is the vocal melody on “Wasting My Hate”?

The acoustic intro doesn’t give any indication of the song that would explode afterwards.

After “Nothing Else Matters” and “The Unforgiven” it was just a matter of time before we got a simple strummed song. That honour goes to “Mama Said”.

And how good are those country licks in the Chorus?

“Thorn Within” has this AC/DC like descending riff which is already a tick in my book.

“Ronnie” is another classic ZZ Top song that ZZ Top didn’t write with its rumble and tumble boogie riff and Billy Gibbons style vocal.

Finally, we have the closer, “The Outlaw Torn”. This song quickly became a favourite for me. The syncopated drum, bass and guitar groove, keeps building until it explodes into the riff that would become the Chorus. It then settles down again, with just bass and drums while James Hetfield delivers one of his best vocal performances as the song moves between the verses and choruses.

And we don’t get to hear the full outro, as it had to be cut down due to no more space on the CD to include it. But if you purchased one of the singles from the album, the full version is put there as a B-side.

“Load” is a different Metallica but still a very strong Metallica.

Play it loud mutha. \::/

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

1996 – Part 1.1: Def Leppard – Slang

There was no way Def Leppard could continue in the same vein of “Pyromania”, “Hysteria” and “Adrenalize” without a reset. It became a heavy burden to carry on the style of those albums. They had to change or die.

I was surprised when the opening musical notes of “Truth” started off, and the distorted “why don’t you tell me” vocal line. It was more in the vein of Brit Alternative Rock/Pop than Blues Heavy Rock.

Check out the exotic sounding lead break. And the demo version of the song sounds more natural and it’s my go to version as the mix is in the heavy rock category that I like.

I like the exotic middle eastern sounds on “Turn To Dust” before a groovy Rick Savage bass riff kicks in and the Chorus is classic Def Lep, with the layered vocals.

“Slang” always felt like an INXS song to me as it’s got that fun pop vibe.

How good is the repeating lick intro to “All I Want Is Everything”?

Then when the drums and bass come in, it’s got a perfect groove and Joe Elliot’s haunting vocal melody takes it to another level.

This track could have come from a Tom Petty album.

“Work It Out” is Vivian Campbell’s first songwriting contribution and it’s a high point on the album. The song reminds me of the sounds of British bands like Gun who had a brief moment in the spotlight between 1989 and 1995.

The chugging guitar sound was made by running Campbell’s guitar through a drum machine gate.

In the June, 1996, Guitar issue, Campbell said that when he was in Dio, he wrote some of the music, but writing a song for Dio was basically writing a guitar riff and 32 bars of a guitar solo. That was his world, as Dio would then arrange the pieces as he saw fit.

Campbell mentioned that Def Leppard is not about that. It’s about getting the song right for the record. Campbell further said that;

“In the 80’s there was more than just doing what was appropriate for the song. There was the plus, you know, that I had to do a solo for a record but also had to advance my career as a guitarist in the eyes of all guitarists.”

Make sure you stick around for the interlude section. It starts off funky, there’s a repeating palm muted guitar lick with ambient noise and then a bone crunching riff.

That’s right people, no guitar solo, but still plenty of guitar melodic licks and riffs played throughout.

That small fingerpicked intro for “Breathe A Sigh” is excellent. This is Def Leppard going more rhythm and blues with their unmistakable layered harmony vocals in the Chorus.

In a June 1996, Guitar issue, interviewer Rich Maloof mentioned how the hip hop groove is reminiscent of TLC’s “Diggin’ On You”.

How good is the arpeggio picked guitar riff and the vocal melody from the start in “Deliver Me”?

And that Chorus is heavy rock with the melodic layered vocals that I expect from Def Lep.

“Gift Of Flesh” has a slamming wah solo by Phil Collen done in one take.

“Blood Runs Cold” is another classic Def Lep track. The actual version and the “Rough Mix” version are both excellent.

How cool is the New Wave style of guitar on “Pearl Of Euphoria”?

And yes there had to be a song title with a word that ends in “ia”.

The June 1996 Guitar piece from Rich Maloof ends with these words;

As guitarists in a band that found success in a doomed era of rock, Collen and Campbell have adopted the Darwinian notion that survival is dependent on change. The new era is just as doomed, of course, but it speaks well for this pair that they knew to change and had the reserve of talent needed to grow.

As Collen concludes, “We’ve picked up a lot of experience on the way and we found a way to get it out of our system with an album we think is right. To us, that is the biggest thing. We weren’t even slightly worried, and we think anyone who likes us will like it. And hopefully we’ll get some new fans as well.”

Crank “Slang” and enjoy an excellent Def Leppard record.

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

The Record Vault: Coheed and Cambria – Neverender

In 2008, Coheed and Cambria did a run of live shows called “Neverender”.

“Neverender” was basically a four-night concert series. It took place in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London, and consisted of one of the band’s four studio albums (at that time) being played in full each night.

On the first night, they played “The Second Stage Turbine Blade”. On the second night, they played “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3”. On the third night, they played “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness” and on the fourth night they played “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow”.

Each night also had a different encore made up of some songs from the other albums and different medleys that involved an excellent cover of “The Trooper” from Iron Maiden.

In 2009, they released “Neverender: Children of the Fence Edition” a live CD/DVD box set. It contains five DVDs and four CDs featuring live footage of the concert from each night. In addition, a fifth disc features a documentary of the concert series. As far as I’m aware only 15,000 copies of these exist worldwide.

The version that I have is just two DVD’s.

This live release sits between “No World For Tomorrow” released in 2007 and “Year Of The Black Rainbow” released in 2010.

The live version of “Mother Superior” on this is excellent. They captured magic in a bottle here.

They way it starts off with the piano backing track and then Claudio comes in with the riff and it’s just him taking centre stage. Then as he sings the Chorus, the haunting backing vocals come in and then the band.

And the “Neverender” concept is still alive, with the band doing a run of shows to celebrate the anniversary of the albums in question.

For example, in 2011, they did a tour called “Neverender SSTB (2011)” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut album, “The Second Stage Turbine Blade”. And the concept has kept going every two years in 2013, 2015, 2017 and this year, they are doing a “S.S. Neverender Cruise” show.

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Music, My Stories

The Artbook Saga Ends

The Artbook finally arrived. The saga is over.

It was posted on 18 February, 2021.

Cleared for international departure on 20 February, 2021.

The album was released on 26 February, 2021.

A few weeks ago, I followed up the whereabouts of the Artbook as the tracking number still showed it as cleared for departure in Frankfurt, Germany. The record label responded in their usual, it’s on its way and out of their hands. A typical helpful record label response to the people who make them money. It was beneath them to do any further investigation.

It arrived in Sydney on 14 April, 2021 and arrived at my door on 16 April, 2021.

It’s a nice package with a lot of studio photos, artwork and lyric pages.

I like the size. It’s basically the same size as a vinyl record and fits nice with the vinyl collection.

You get the CD and a 7 inch single bonus track.

It’s a smart marketing move to include the bonus tracks as a 7 inch single. As a collector, I like it.

In previous posts, I have been critical of the album format and why artists would spend so much time recording a slab of songs, just to release them, have their name in the news for a 4 to 6 week period and then nothing. But as a collector and if the edition is done right, it does deliver a cool piece of art.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music

Re-Recordings

Last week, there was a lot of discussion on Taylor Swift and her re-recordings. This week, crickets. Nothing. It’s amazing how fast news rises and dies. And I’m surprised at how many different views people have on it.

In the end it’s all about control.

In metal and rock circles, these kind of re-recordings have been happening from when I could remember.

Def Leppard created forgeries of a few of their songs in the last 10 years so they could be on streaming services as they were having a contractual dispute with the label over the payments they should be getting from digital services.

Any artist that ends up on Frontiers Records, ends up doing forgeries of their classic songs. Check out this Frontiers list of a whose who ofre-recorded classics.

Jeff Lynne re-recorded a lot of ELO songs and released them as a solo album with the title, “Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra.”

Stryper re-recorded their best off and called it “Second Coming” album.

Whitesnake had their biggest hit by re-recording an earlier song in 1987 which was on Geffen Records and as a Frontiers artist David Coverdale re-recorded his Deep Purple era and released it as a Whitesnake album.

Journey re-recorded the majority of their classics with Arnel Pineda and released these re-recorded songs with an album of new material as a bonus disc.

Pretty Maids did the same with “Louder Than Ever” in which they left the “sacred” albums of “Future World” and “Jump The Gun” alone but took songs from the others.

Trixter did it with a few songs on each of their Frontiers albums.

Kid Rock said in 2012 that he will re-recording his 12x Platinum smash, “Devil without a Cause” so that he will own the rights to the new versions.

Styx re-recorded some of their classics plus a couple of Damn Yankees songs with the “Regeneration: Volume I and II” releases.

Dokken (the version with Don Dokken on vocals, Jon Levin on guitars, Barry Sparks on bass and Mick Brown on drums) re-recorded the classics from the 80’s and released those versions as a “Greatest Hits” package in 2010. Maybe the title of the album should have been “Greatest Re-Recorded Hits”

KISS also re-recorded their classic songs with current members Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer and released em as a bonus disc with “Sonic Boom”.

Arch Enemy went down this route to re-record classic songs from their first three albums with their new singer. Fans who liked the original albums didn’t like the forgeries while people who discovered the band during the Angela Gossow period, didn’t care.

Any person who purchased a “Guitar Hero” or “Rock Band” game, most likely supported an artist who had re-recorded their song because the master went missing, or something was wrong with the master or because they wanted to have control of the higher license payment for the songs that appeared on the games.

And let’s not forget what the Osbourne camp did with “Blizzard Of Ozz” and “Diary Of A Madman” by taking out Kerslake and Daisley from the recordings and getting their parts re-done by the current members at the time in Mike Bordin and Rob Trujilo. Bordin expressed regret at doing it many years later.

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Influenced, Music, My Stories

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – April 12 to April 18

4 Years Ago (2017)

There wasn’t much of anything during this period.

8 Years Ago (2013)

It was a busy week.

I found an old issue of Metal Edge in which Gerri Miller (RIP) did a track by track breakdown of the Motley Corabi album.

I did three separate posts on it. Parts 1 and 2 you can read here and here and Part 3 will be in next weeks post.

They should have called the band something else but that massive Elektra contract they signed when Vince was still in the band, demanded that the release be labeled as Motley Crue.

Gerri Miller is Metal Edge to me. Miller was on every story or on every interview that mattered.

For “POWER TO THE MUSIC”, Miller said that
this album opener started out as a repetitive detuned riff dreamed up by Nikki.

Who said the music’s dead in the streets?

Don’t know what they talk about.

Rock music was alive and well. Just because the labels abandoned it, it didn’t mean that the audience abandoned it. For the labels to kill rock and metal, they had to put a bullet in the head of every fan.

For “HOOLIGAN’S HOLIDAY”, it inItially started off as like a “Highway Star” cut recorded by Nikki and John at Nikki’s house. Tommy and Mick weren’t too keen it it. They then totally rewrote it—only the chorus and title are the same.

“POISON APPLES” was originally called “Hangin’ by a Thread.” Meanwhile Nikki was working on a possibility for his solo song with the title of “Poison Apples”.

“TILL DEATH DO US PART” is about pride and standing up for what you believe in. Nikki said it reminds him of “Danger” from the second album.

And I was still on a Bon Jovi listening kick, doing various posts to bring attention to certain songs or deep album cuts.

Check out the post as I discuss “Next 100 Years”, “I Could Make A Living Out Of Lovin’ You” and “Ain’t No Cure For Love” which is the best ZZ Top song not written by ZZ Top. It’s written by Richie Supa, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. Supa is known for his contributions to Aerosmith, plus Sambora used him for a lot of the “Undiscovered Soul” songs.

An interview that Danny Stag did in Guitar World was posted.

He talks about the Led Zep comparisons being blown out of proportion.

“Maybe some of the bad blood started when a journalist misquoted me.

This guy told Page that I claimed to never having heard Led Zeppelin. That’s obviously absurd and Jimmy would have a right to feel ticked off.”

The successful version of Kingdom Come called it quits in August 1989, so by the time the interview appeared in the September 1989 Guitar World issue, Kingdom Come was no more.

A selected transcript of Vito Bratta’s interview with Eddie Trunk was posted.

Here are a few selected quotes.

VITO BRATTA – so the record company’s saying we need another “Pride”.

I say, Ok, so what exactly does that mean?

The label goes we need the hit singles…

I go, “listen man, the songs we gave you on “Pride” weren’t hit singles written purposely to be hit singles. They were just songs that became hit singles and they were just songs we wrote. Now you’re telling me that I have to purposely write a hit single.

How do you do that?

How do you purposely write a hit single, I mean there are people out there that do that…

“Big Game” was a setback for the Label. It didn’t sell as many. The Label said wouldn’t it be great if we played at Wembley with Motley Crue and Skid Row.

Skid Row went on and they were just killing the place. And Motley Crue had a great show and here we are sandwiched in between. We realized, that night, on stage at Wembley that these songs from the “Big Game” album aren’t translating well in the live show.

Then we went back to the States and we told the record label, no more tours on this album. We are going to do the album that we want to do.

And they said well considering how the last album went, they said “go ahead”. They gave us unlimited funds. “Mane Attraction” was a half a million dollar record. They just said go and do everything that you want. Now the problem was that by the time it came out, that whole scene was over with.

C.C DeVille also featured with an old September 1989 interview.

When I go to bed at night I’m very hurt that people consider us a joke band. We concentrate on writing good pop songs.

John Sykes “Black Hearted Woman” got some musical analysis.

And “Cold Sweat” from Thin Lizzy which featured John Sykes was doing the rounds.

I did a post called “Persistence” and used Tommy Thayer as an example of persistence.

Nuno Bettencourt was also doing the rounds during this time. You can read about it here.

You can see a very heavy bias towards guitarists on this site.

And I was reading a lot of self development books so I wrote some posts on some of the concepts here and here.

Finally I was sharing my view that the album concept is gone and it needs a rethink to properly meet today’s expectations.

As long as people buy albums, the labels will still order their artists to create and release them. This is where the labels make most of their money. Even if the sales are anemic for some.

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