Writers of the music mags back in the day did their best to give Matchbox 20 a more “current” or “hip” genre.
Modern Rock, Alternative Rock, Traditional Rock, Post Grunge and Grunge Rock are a few that come to mind today. I would even say hard rock as well, as structurally some of the songs have Cinderella and Tesla vibes. These two bands got lumped into glam rock and glam metal, but goddamn they had so much variation on their albums with each subsequent release.
Everyone knows Rob Thomas.
But the rest of the band, while they didn’t write any of the songs, performed and added their own uniqueness to the songs. That is Kyle Cook on lead guitar, Adam Gaynor on rhythm guitar, Brian Yale on bass and Paul Doucette on drums.
And man, didn’t people get behind em on this one. In Australia, it went 10x Platinum. In New Zealand, it went 5x Platinum. In Canada it’s 8x Platinum. In the U.S, its certified Diamond for 10 million in sales and at the moment its sitting at 12 million.
Production is done by Matt Serletic.
“Real World”
A John Cougar Mellencamp/Bryan Adams chord progression and guitar lead starts the song off.
I wish the real world would just stop hassling me
Sometimes I just need to get away and block the noise. It’s my own fault as I used to have a problem saying “no” to people. I’m a lot better at saying no these days, but sometimes it’s back to the old ways.
“Long Day”
What an intro?
The voice, an infectious vocal melody and an acoustic guitar. Then the rest of the band crashes in, as the melody continues.
And the Chorus.
Reach down your hand in your pocket Pull out some hope for me It’s been a long day, always ain’t that right
The guitar solos are little melodic interludes instead of the usual (towards the late 80’s/early 90’s) “play a million notes per second”.
“3AM”
We used to cover this song when we played 3 sets.
The first set was all originals, then the second set was 60’s/70’s and 80’s and the last set covered the 90’s, along with tracks like “If You Could Only See” from Tonic.
She’s got a little bit of something, God, it’s better than nothing
Sometimes nothing is better than something because when you have something to lose, you are not free.
“Push”
It was a hit but it never resonated with me.
“Girl Like That”
If AC/DC used acoustic guitars, it would sound like this. If you don’t believe me, listen to the rhythm guitars.
But I roll with the changes is all I’m same old trailer trash in new shoes
I rolled with the changes in the musical landscape that the labels wanted us to go with, back when they had control of the distribution. But I was always the hard rocker that grew up in the 80s.
“Back 2 Good”
The Chorus is excellent.
And I would like to know, how do we get things back to good?
Relationships are hard and when words are said in a breakup, the disconnect gets wider and resentment seeps in.
Then it’s done.
And the second half of the album is okay.
I remember “Kody”, about a person using alcohol to numb themselves. But the album was sold because of the tracks mentioned.
From Perth, Western Australia, The Silent Deeds formed in 2014.
Singer and rhythm guitarist Corey Ranger and drummer Tom Filter were in a Foo Fighters tribute band called “White Limo”.
When this project ended, they went looking for musicians to form an original band. Melodic lead guitarist Clayton Brown joined soon after, along with bassist Adam Quigley.
I’ve seen in various press releases their sound described as “Tom Petty meets Foo Fighters meets U2 meets Pearl Jam meets Hoodoo Gurus.” I wouldn’t disagree with that. I would add Choirboys, AC/DC, The Screaming Jets and Jimmy Barnes to that.
Their latest EP “Down With Me” came out in 2020. It features two previously released singles “The Race” and “Come Alive” with two new tracks “Down With Me” and “Ghosts”.
The band has said it is their “heaviest, catchiest and funkiest set of songs”. And I wouldn’t disagree with that as well.
Ghosts
If AC/DC and U2 had a love child, this would be it.
Come Alive
You can feel the funk from the bass but it’s a hard rock song to me, more Stones like.
The Race
The riff is a common one but I still like it.
Foo Fighters comes to mind but so many hard rock and classic rock artists had these kind of riffs.
Down With Me
More funky bass lines and a heavy Fuel modern rock feel.
They have me interested. Let’s see what comes next.
P.S.
When I was in bands, we decided to do three sets. The first set would be 10 originals. The second set would cover 70s and 80s songs. The third set would cover 90s and above. It was hard work but also rewarding and it paid good. Plus we were the only band on that night.
I’ve read that “The Silent Deeds” also do three hour gigs involving covers and originals.
By now, Dio’s glorious 80’s highs ceased to be. He was already struggling during the “Dream Evil” and “Lock Up The Wolves” eras. Even though fans like those albums, they didn’t translate commercially and the label was not happy.
His return to Black Sabbath was inevitable and with “Dehumanizer”, they released a critically acclaimed album, which the hard core Dio and Sabbath audience liked, but the same old issues of playing second fiddle to Ozzy reared its head again and Dio left, as he didn’t want to be an opening act to Ozzy.
“Strange Highways” came out in 1993 and it was well received by the hard core fans, but there wasn’t a mainstream market for 90’s Dio, let alone a 90’s Dio trying to sound relevant.
My mate, “Nick The Stick” (6ft 4 of just bones) worshipped at the altar of Dio and he burnt me a copy of this. I didn’t listen to it right away, because I had lost interest in Dio at this point in time.
Apart from Ronnie James Dio on vocals, the band is Tracy Grijalva (a.k.a. Tracy G) on guitars, Jeff Pilson on bass, Vinny Appice on drums and Scott Warren on keys.
Most reviews I have read cited this album as carrying grunge like influences, however, it is more groove metal (think Pantera) and progressive metal than a hard rock artist attempting to add Grunge influences to their sound.
And most artists who had successful careers in the 80’s didn’t really know what metal sounded like in the 90’s.
In the 80’s everything with a distorted guitar was classed as metal. Then by the mid 80’s, different genres started to come out. By the 90’s, bands advertised as metal didn’t even sing in clean tone anymore. Suddenly Black Sabbath sounded like a pop band compared to the metal bands of the 90’s, but in the 70’s Sabbath was seen as an “extreme” metal act.
On “Angry Machines”, there isn’t a perfect song or a great song or a good song. There are good bits in the songs.
“Institutional Man”
Written by Appice, Dio and Tracy G. Dio sounds uninspired and tired. But the biggest problem is the lack of good riffs.
In saying that, the verse riff would sink “Sad But True” for heaviness and in between the verses, there is this chromatic riff which came from the fingers of Iommi and the song “Buried Alive”.
“Don’t Tell the Kids”
Written by Appice, Dio and Tracy G, it’s speed metal, done in a 90’s Pantera way.
“Black”
Written by Dio, Tracy G, Appice and Jeff Pilson. On my initial first listen, I was ready to press stop. I didn’t like it. It was to atonal.
Hearing it again today, I like it for what it is. A way to keep Dio relevant. It’s got this E7#9 sounding shape in the intro riff which makes it sound almost progressive in its song writing.
Tracy G. shines in the lead department here.
“Hunter of the Heart”
Written by Appice, Dio and Tracy G, this song has potential.
The bass grooves to start it off are worthy, very Sabbath sludge like. When the band crashes in, it’s head banging time. The verse riff’s remind me of songs from the “Dream Evil” album.
“Stay Out of My Mind”
It again showcases Pilson’s strength as a songwriter (he is solely credited), bringing in psychedelic rock and heavy metal influences into this.
And in the middle, it’s almost theatre “Andrew Lloyd Weber” like.
Check out the outro, it’s like “She’s So Heavy” from The Beatles getting a 90’s makeover.
It could have used some editing, but… it is what it is.
“Big Sister”
It starts off with a vocal line that says, “Who controls your mind?”
Written by Dio, Tracy G., Appice and Pilson, this is when Big Brother turns into Big Sister, and you are given a number and another name, while others watch what you do.
If you like Tool, then you will like the Tool like riffs between 3.20 and 3.40.
“Double Monday”
Written by Appice, Dio and Tracy G.
Check out the awesome acoustic guitar mid-section. It’s only 30 seconds long, but totally worth the listening experience.
“Golden Rules”
It starts off eerie like, as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is played on a music box. The song is written by Appice, Dio and Tracy G.
It then has a chugging riff and drum groove which kicks in and I like it.
“Dying in America”
Written by Dio, Tracy G., Appice and Pilson. They delivered a nice piece of groove metal.
“This Is Your Life”
Its written by Dio and Tracy G and it’s more Beatles like. The track remained ignored, only to be noticed after Dio’s death.
If you haven’t heard this album, there is no reason to go out and invest time into it. It’s not classic Dio. People claim he sold out, but he didn’t sell out chasing trends, he just didn’t know what metal was meant to sound like, so he went in and tried to create something different.
P.S.
For an album that did terrible commercially, it put Dio on the road from November 1996 to November 1997. There was a U.S leg, a European leg, another U.S leg, a Canadian leg, a Japanese leg and finally a South American leg.
The venue sizes ranged from 400 people to 3000 people and Dio had quite a few sellouts.
“The thing I will never understand about the management and that tour and the band was that in their insane thinking, the management called a meeting before the tour started and informed the band that Don was gonna be breaking the band up and trying to just hire us as musicians on the band.
Or else, if that didn’t work, we didn’t agree to that, he was just gonna leave, keep the name and kick us out. Before the tour started — literally days before it started.”
The band was unraveling. I was happy to be out there on that stadium tour, but I was totally depressed. I was just miserable. To see your guitar player on stage in front of 100,000 people walk behind his amplifier in the middle of the solo and snort coke, I mean, fuck, man. It drove me crazy. So, that just broke us up. That’s the way it goes. Shit happens.
And drugs or no drugs, this album known as the “Beast From The East” captures a band at the peak of their creativity and mastery of their instruments in 1988.
Unchain The Night
It was a weird choice to open with, especially when the album they were promoting, opened with “Kiss Of Death”.
But.
It was perfect.
After the taped (I think) Intro plays, the band kicks in and all hell is breaking loose. And my speakers are rumbling, because the guitar tone from Lynch is excellent.
Don is sounding good. And I’ve heard the vocals got juiced up later on by Michael Wagener, but hey it still sounds live and I’m all in.
And I still go nuts for the Chorus after the solo. Then there is another solo from Lynch and the Chorus comes back in again.
Tooth And Nail
They play it even faster and I didn’t think it was possible to chuck in fills during the verses at that speed, but Lynch delivers while Pilson and Brown keep it grounded and rocking.
Dream Warriors
The clean tone in the verses. Check it out.
Kiss Of Death
It’s faster than the studio and I like it.
And the solo break. I can listen to it all day long and play air guitar to it.
When Heaven Comes Down
I didn’t expect this to resonate as good as it did.
How heavy does that Intro/Chorus riff sound?
And I still go nuts over the mood they set, with the guitar riff and drum build up just before the solo.
Into The Fire
The clean tone sections sound wicked because Lynch puts bends and legato into his arpeggios.
And I like how the outro is loaded with guitar leads.
Mr Scary
Pilson and Brown need a special mention here for holding down the fort. Great playing. And of course, Lynch excels, coked up or not.
Heaven Sent
I love the bluesy swagger of this one.
The way it starts off with the crowd participation and just high hats, then the clean tone riff and then the beat.
It sounds great on the album and great live especially the improvised lead break. It’s fast and furious and scary.
It’s Not Love
They jam it, they get the crowd to sing along with em and I’m singing along with em as well.
Alone Again
I like how the little Intro flows, it throws a curve ball. Your thinking, is it “Alone Again” or not.
And then it begins.
By the end of it, everyone is singing “alone again without you”.
Just Got Lucky
It sounds full of energy.
Breaking The Chains
I’ve always liked the main riff and there’s no way you can’t enjoy it live.
In My Dreams
It’s powerful live. A great closer.
And I like how they jam out the ending.
Walk Away
The final studio cut.
A fitting title to signal the end of the 80s Dokken era. As the outro played, I didn’t want it to fade out.
By the end of it, the “Beast From The East” (the album, not the recent European snow storm) cemented itself as one of my top 5 live releases behind “Live After Death” and “Tribute”.
And of course, I got in on vinyl first. Then on CD. And then again on CD as part of a box set.
Released in November 1987 on Elektra Records. By January 1988, it was certified Gold and Platinum. Then again, everything released in 1987 was certified platinum in 1988.
And they had momentum.
The single “Dream Warriors” was released in February 1987 as the theme song for the horror film “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”. The single was still selling and video was still doing the MTV rounds when the album was released.
The title of the album comes from the song “Back for the Attack”, which was recorded during the sessions for “Under Lock and Key” in 1985 and released as the B-side to “Dream Warriors”.
Dokken is Don Dokken on vocals. George Lynch on guitars, Jeff Pilson on bass and Mick Brown on drums. And Jeff Pilson again has a hand in every song.
KISS OF DEATH
As soon as the opening notes are played I was hooked. The riffs in this song are aggressive and very thrash like.
How good are the pinch harmonics in the verse riff?
For the solo, Lynch did numerous takes however they ended up using his first take as it was the best and the most emotive. And if there was any question about his prowess, listen to this.
It’s basically one of the best metal songs ever made.
PRISONER
Melodic anthemic heavy rock at its best with a cheesy chorus about being a prisoner, chained by love.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s one of my favorite cuts.
And check out the leads from Lynch in the Intro/Chorus and his normal solo break.
NIGHT BY NIGHT
a strange mix of hard, heavy, melodic, and dark alike, and stands as one of the strongest cuts featured here as a result.
STANDING IN THE SHADOWS
It’s very AC/DC-esque.
HEAVEN SENT
It’s bluesy and I like it.
Make sure you check out the lead break.
MR. SCARY
It’s known as the instrumental which showcases George Lynch, but it also showcases Jeff Pilson as a very capable bassist.
How heavy is the Intro/Main riff?
SO MANY TEARS
It’s got this Tom Petty vibe in the Intro/Chorus riff, before the normal power chord to flat 5 riff kicks in.
BURNING LIKE A FLAME
Musically they are trying to write their own “Summer Of 69” but…
LOST BEHIND A WALL
One of my favorites.
I feel like “Turbo Lover” inspired the Intro and verses.
It’s just bass and drums, then the vocals and then the guitars crash in.
Listen to it cranked.
STOP FIGHTING LOVE
Another melodic rock classic, hidden deep in the album.
The Chorus riff is a great example of metal like riffing in a pop song setting.
CRY OF THE GYPSY
Check out the rhythm and lead work on this one?
It’s basically what Lynch Mob would sound like in a few years time. Actually am I allowed to write that name these days.
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
Too many songs with similar themes like this. “Sleepless Nights”, “Up All Night”, you get the idea. Cliched yes, but Lynch does his best to shred all over it.
DREAM WARRIORS
The movie company wanted us to write a song that they had already decided would be called “Dream Warriors” [for the 1987 film A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors]. So, it wasn’t like we came up with it. They said, “Can you write a song with the title ‘Dream Warriors’?”
And again, Jeff, Mick, and George wrote a version, and I wrote a version by myself. Mine was more uptempo, more of a rock song.
So, I wrote a version, they wrote a version. It’s kind of funny. They said, “We actually like your version better Don, but we’re going to use our part.” [Laughs] It was just ego – there was a lot of ego in my band in the ’80s.
Tonic (for this album) is Emerson Hart on vocals and guitar, Jeff Russo on guitar, Dan Rothchild on bass and Kevin Shepard on drums.
The band was formed in 1993 and three years later they had a massive debut album on the back of one song. In the U.S, it has a Platinum certification. Then again, there is a saying that everything went platinum in 1996.
And for the ones who purchased the album, they would be surprised that there is a lot more to Tonic, than just the one “hit” song.
“Open Up Your Eyes”
It feels like a Collective Soul song, heavy and it opens the album, but it isn’t the song that sold it.
“Casual Affair”
It feels like a Pearl Jam song. Actually, this is the style that Nickelback would use and sound like on “Silver Side Up”.
“If You Could Only See”
This is the song that sold the album. In Australia, it was all over radio and it pushed the album to Number 12 on the ARIA charts.
And at 87.3 million streams on Spotify, it’s also the song that will keep paying em for a long time. Nothing else comes close. “Open Up Your Eyes” is at 6 million streams and “Lemon Parade” is at 1.2 million streams.
The simple light intro strummed chords of Am, C, G, F hide the heaviness to come. I used to cover this in the bands I played in and it always got a reaction.
“Soldiers Daughter”
The first 40 second opening is excellent, almost country rock like as they employ an open D tuning D-A-D-F#-A-D.
The vocal melodies from Hart are emotive, about a certain someone who is there to support a hurting little girl.
The first four songs are all killer.
“Lemon Parade”
This one could have come from a Rolling Stones album, as the riffs smell on Keith Richards. And the lead section harmonies could have come from a Thin Lizzy album.
“Mountain”
There is 40 second acoustic guitar “around the campfire” intro, which reminds me of the 70’s blues rock sounds before that sound returned again with a vengeance in the 2000’s, rebranded as country rock.
And when the vocals start, it feels like a “Live” track.
“Mountain” isn’t throwaway pop music. It’s a career song. After the quite of the acoustics, it amps up.
Like a fire I’m drawn to her lust I can’t run from her, but lord I must Like a demon I’m drawn to her flame I’m gonna burn calling her name
The guitars are preaching religion and the words are preaching truth about love and desire.
And then it gets quiet again, with the acoustic guitars. And then explodes again, with a lead break. Reminding me of the British blues rock bands.
“Mountain” is as fresh today as it was yesterday.
“Thick”
It reminds me of a Led Zep track in the first 30 seconds, before it moves into a groove similar to “If You Could Only See”.
“Wicked Soldier”
It’s back to the rock of “R.E.M” merged with “The Tragically Hip”.
“Mr. Golden Deal”
It’s back to the feel of “Soldiers Daughter”. More ballad country blues rock like.
“Bigot Sunshine”
It’s got a wah wah infused main riff, which scratches and wheezes its way into my brain. There are these jangly open D like chords which remind me of Rush and the great Alex Lifeson.
“Celtic Aggression”
It’s a track that’s more filler.
“My Old Man”
Hart brings the emotion to this one, a slow blues rock closer that takes you back to those 70’s albums that pushed boundaries.
If you like the rock music of the 70’s then you will like this album. Give Tonic a go.
I was writing about streaming services and how all of those little streams add up.
Remember when Taylor Swift and Neil Young removed their music from Spotify. The narrative was very strong about poor artists vs big bad faceless tech giving the masses inferior sound quality and not paying enough. Then their music returned to Spotify and there was crickets.
In the end streaming is king. The sales charts had to amend their formula to include streaming and suddenly an artist can controlling the whole Top 10. And artists from the past have now returned to the Charts.
The old certification awards now include streaming in their formula and guess what, artists are getting platinum awards on streams alone. That’s right, no sales. Just listens. What a brilliant concept.
“Good artists copy, great artists steal” is the saying. We can paraphrase it to “Good artists try to sound original by hiding their influences”, while “great artists let their influences show”. It’s how the language of music is learned. We imitate our influences.
If you don’t believe me, what is the first thing a person does when they are learning an instrument?
They start by learning songs created by other artists.
Inspiration is not theft. Theft is taking something and the person who has it, does not have it to use anymore,
A new release called “Evolution” from an Australian band called “Burnside” had my attention.
I just checked Spotify and they released an EP called “Rise Pt.1” in 2016, which I haven’t heard yet and a post on Twitter from 2018 had them writing new music, which still hasn’t seen a release.
The lyrics from Brent Smith (Shinedown) had me inspired so I wrote about em. At the time was doing these kind of appreciation series called “What Do Ya Mean I Don’t Write Good Lyrics?”
The title was inspired by the verses from “Peace Sells” from Megadeth.
Well in the case of TesseracT and The Night Flight Orchestra, they kept writing and releasing frequently and for TNFO it certainly helped that the band members had other successful projects.
“13” from Black Sabbath was out. The problem that I have with it, is that it tries too hard to recreate the first four Black Sabbath albums.
Which isn’t a bad thing if that’s how you defined your career. Like AC/DC.
But Sabbath was more progressive minded and pushed boundaries. For an act that was considered “extreme” in the 70s, they played it really “safe”.
However, one thing I do like is that they have stayed away from the Verse – Chorus – Verse – Chorus – Bridge – Solo – Chorus structure.
Which led me to write a post called “Risk Management”. The message of the post was basically this;
If you are not on the bleeding edge of society, you are just part of the fabric of society. You want to be a rock star, you cant do it working a nine to five job. You cant do it if you are beholden to your employer. You cant do it if you are beholden to the family.
The only way you can do it is if you throw all thoughts of risk management out the window.
Prime Circle from South Africa had my attention as I had just heard the 2012 album, “Evidence” and I felt the need to write about them.
And they are still pretty active, releasing studio and live albums.
Check em out as their brand of modern rock is anthemic and infectious.
There first EP released in 2007 is also called Dead Letter Circus. Hence why I put 2018 in the title of this LP.
Dead Letter Circus is a well loved prog rock band. To me their music is hard to describe as the songs are all in the 3 to 5 minute range, something that bands listed as prog don’t really do. They don’t have a million notes per minute sections either. It’s all music and vocals. And awesome drumming.
The band is Kim Benzie on vocals, Clint Vincent and Luke Palmer on guitars, Stewart Hill on bass, and Luke Williams on drums.
The Armour You Own
The bass and drums set the groove and the guitar locks in with em. It’s familiar and I like it, in the same way AC/DC play it safe within their blues rock style, DLC do the same in their prog alternative rock style.
You will reach You will fall down Every time you fail you will change
Truth.
It’s how we learn.
At 2.50 it quietens down before it builds up again. You need to hear it, to feel it.
The Real You
Hey you there Show me the real you Here in the physical Because I see right through
Social media allows us to portray an image that is fake. Take a photo from above your head and suddenly you look slim and with deep fake photos and videos doing the rounds, no one can tell what is real anymore.
People need to get back to what was real. F
ace to face communication. And we can’t even do that in 2021 because of social distancing and lockdowns.
Change
Another song with a familiar sound from the earlier albums.
You alone the reason The architect of all this time Now you own this life Build it Fill it
It starts with you and no one else. Don’t blame others. It’s your life, own it and if something is not right, you have the power to change it.
It starts with you.
Running Out Of Time
How good is the Intro?
It’s an anthem. This is the band at their best.
Hoping maybe one day everything you want will fall into your hands You don’t need to try
Life doesn’t work that way. Being a good student and then getting a job to pay bills and a mortgage will not give you what you want. You need to seize it.
We Own the Light
After four rockers, this one is almost ballad like.
No one else can understand my headspace I’ve been slipping from my happiness This whole time
We can only fake it for so long before we hit the wall. And we are not alone. So many others experience the same.
Heartline
The vocal melodies are memorable and hooky. This song just needs to be listened to, so it can be fully understood. one of my favorites.
Ladders For Leaders
Another song that lives in ballad like territory. It percolates and simmers.
Somehow they defeated us with no one even bleeding No resistance or debate They just covered our eyes Villains created, become ladders for leaders To keep us from asking who’s holding the strings coming from their backs
A brilliant verse.
We like to be comfortable and that means we like to have a stable income to get us through life. And for a lot of us, stability is good and we are happy building someone else’s dream while we believe we are building ours.
But for a small percentage of us, stability is not what we desire and we change the world.
Trade Places
This song would not be our of place on their debut album “This Is The Warning” released in 2010.
Yeah if you and I and them trade places Make our stand in generation Let the truth collide
Say It Won’t Be Long
This is the best track on the album and it’s deep in the album order.
The way it percolates and builds towards the end, it needs to be listened to.
Now I feel my confidence is growing My sense of self worth is unfolding I am now fearless facing forward So I start crawling
The mental awakening when you stop pretending to be someone else.
Home
I love the grooves and riffs on this one.
I know I’m chasing something I can find home in Think of all that I’ve been through Every scar that I’ve grown through There is nothing to fear now I am ready for change now To find my soul in it
What a great message to end the album with.
Lay back, crank it and have the lyric sheet or the lyrics via the net in front of you.
Album number three, released in 1985. “In My Dreams” had MTV circulation, and it pushed the album to a Platinum certification in the U.S.
Neil Kernon and Michael Wagener are on hand to produce, engineer and mix. Don Dokken had a certain fondness to work with Wagener on his vocals. He met Wagener when he did a club tour of Germany in 1979.
Don then got a deal with Carrere Records in 1981 with the songs that Lynch and Dokken wrote and he did the Don Dokken “Breaking The Chains” album.
Fun fact, it was Gaby Hauke Hoffmann aka Deaffy who did the lyrics for those Accept records who got Don the record deal. There was another bass player who didn’t work out and Peter Baltes from Accept took over.
George Lynch and Mick Brown came over to Germany and did their bits and the album was re-released. It did good business in Germany and Cliff Burnstein from Q Prime picked the album up on import and liked it.
Burnstein then signed Don to a management deal. After a small tour in Germany with Juan Croucier on bass, they came back to the U.S. Lynch left the band and Croucier joined Ratt. It was just Don and Mick.
Don signed a deal with Elektra and Warren DeMartini was in the band for a short period before Lynch decided to come back in.
“Tooth And Nail” came out and the guys went back to their day jobs. But the album blew up. It started selling, “Alone Again” was in the charts and the label decided to put the band into the studio again.
According to Don, he wrote 80% of the songs for “Under Lock And Key” but got dipped on the credits as the band wanted the credits to state “all songs written by Dokken”. Lynch and Pilson also wrote a lot of music and A&R exec, Tom Zutaut had the most dangerous job in the world. To pick the songs to go on the record.
It was a time of excess. The album cost $150K to make and they then spent $250K on video clips.
Unchain The Night
The guitar intro immediately had my attention.
And Don was lost in the middle, running around in circles and unable to touch someone who had a knife in their heart.
Confused. Me too. Even the title confused me as I couldn’t understand how someone could chain something that isn’t an object.
But I didn’t care.
The music was excellent and the Lynch lead.
Wow. Its fast and shredalicious, but it’s got feel and emotion and melody.
And the outro, when the intro riff comes in, the power chords crash down around you and Lynch gets a chance to wail again. He’s playing for the song, its restrained and beautiful. Then the singing is back in and I don’t want to song to end. And they didn’t fade it out. They ended it like how they would end it live.
So I picked the needle up and replayed the song.
The Hunter
Lynch brought in the music and he wanted it to be his instrumental on the album. Don thought otherwise and he took the jam session home with him and wrote the lyrics. The instrumental then became “The Hunter”.
Don wrote a memorable hook for the Chorus and how good is the guitar lead from Lynch?
In My Dreams
According to Don, he wrote most of the riffs and lyrics for this song. With the opening vocal hook, this song was going to crossover into the mainstream. MTV loved it, played it and it pushed the album.
And for all its commercialism, you cannot take away the power of the metal lead break.
Slippin’ Away
After the first three songs, this was a letdown. The shining light here is Lynch’s “Journey – Neal Schon” like solo break.
Lightning Strikes Again
But they made up for the small slip previously.
This is my favourite song on the album and along with “Kiss Of Death” some of the most heaviest riffs committed to tape.
From the interviews I have read, this song is a collaboration.
The intro riff is part of the “One Riff To Rule Em All”. Just think “Power And The Glory” from Saxon and “2 Minutes To Midnight” from Iron Maiden.
And if you think the riff sounds similar to another Dokken song, it does. Check out “Unchain The Night”.
And also check out Lynch’s call and response lead break.
It’s Not Love
Don refers to this song as “their” song.
It’s got the Lynch like power chord to devils tritone kind of riff. The intro riff always gets me thinking of the “Warriors” movie.
And those street gang like vocals in the Chorus.
Jaded Heart
How good are the verses?
The acoustic riff, the vocal melody, everything.
Don’t Lie To Me
As soon as I heard this song, I thought of “Rock You Like A Hurricane”.
Will The Sun Rise
It’s like “The Hunter”. More mellow and subdued, about liberty, fighting to be free and how one mistake, could make it all go to hell.
Til The Livin End
It retains the metal edge of “Tooth And Nail” and “Turn On The Action”. If anything it’s a speed metal track. And I like how it finishes, like a live track. There’s no fade out.
P.S. Pilson likes this album, but in a recent interview he said that “Tooth And Nail” is his favourite.
P.S.S I also like this album a lot that I have it purchased it on three occasions.
“Test for Echo” was released on 10 September 1996 on Anthem Records. Rush was one of the earlier leaders in forming their own label to release and distribute their music.
Anthem was formed in 1977 and Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson became associate directors of Anthem. Apart from Rush, they also releases other Canadian acts like Max Webster.
I’ve already written about the tracks “Test For Echo” hereand “Driven” here but I still haven’t done a review on it.
After taking a well earned break after “Counterparts”, Lee focused on starting a family, Lifeson went to work on a solo album and Peart studied with Freddie Gruber, the guru of swing drumming. Peart’s constant reinvention of his style is a huge component to Rush not sounding the same on each record.
“Test For Echo”
Here we go in slow mo
To me, it’s the best Rush song from the 90’s.
The guitar riffs from Alex Lifeson are so easy to digest, powerful, heavy and groovy, even when they are down tuned a whole step.
Lifeson begins the song with interesting arpeggios. He achieves the unique sounds by combining root five power chords and leaving the 1st and 2nd strings open.
Geddy Lee and Neil Peart lay down a solid foundation, especially in the Chorus, when Lifeson just plays those arpeggios and Lee and Lifeson, set the groove.
Also check out how Peart plays a subdued half time beat in the verses and then starts to pick it up double time. A good drummer could make a simple riff sound fresh by doing just that.
And of course, no Rush song is complete without the lyrics of Peart, a critique of the American justice system which turns criminals into media stars.
Some kind of trouble on the sensory screen Camera curves over caved-in cop cars
As technology progressed so did the coverage of real time situations. It’s one of the big reasons people watched the news to begin with, to see what was breaking.
Don’t touch that dial, We’re in denial
We didn’t touch the dial at all, we just kept upgrading our TVs, giving the TV makers billions of dollars in revenue. Because we loved having all of this entertainment in our houses. Live news was the first form of reality TV.
Now crime’s in syndication on TV
Crime and sex always got eyeballs. It didn’t matter the medium. And now with the internet, where everything is available, it feels like we are all so desensitized to it.
“Driven”
It was one of the first tracks finished for the “Test For Echo” album, featuring three separate bass tracks; the main part, the harmony part and the sub bass bottom end, and they sound as one massive bass track.
Neil Peart also plays a little bit behind the beat which gives the riffs a heavier character.
Driven up and down in circles Skidding down a road of black ice
You know the saying of “going round in circles” well in this case, the feeling is that we are not achieving anything because someone else is controlling the wheel and we keep coming back to the same point or problem.
But it’s my turn to drive
We need to take the wheel and be in control of our choices and decisions. We need to learn from them, grow with them and take ownership of our choices and actions. There is no one to blame when it’s our turn to drive.
The change from distortion to acoustic is soothing before the fuzz kicks in. And the simple chord progression of F, G and Am makes it so accessible.
Driven to the margin of error Driven to the edge of control Driven to the margin of terror Driven to the edge of a deep, dark hole
How driven or ambitious can we be, that we find ourselves driven to the edge of control, or a deep dark hole?
Driven on By the road to somewhere I’ve never been
A simple meaning of what it means to drive. It offers us the freedom to leave our city limits and go to another city and another.
The road unwinds before me And I go riding on
It’s what we always do, we get up and live and go riding on. And we sacrifice or give up control, a little bit of our freedom each time which brings us back to the first verse and the words of being driven up and down in circles.
And the cycle repeats.
“Half The World”
The mix of acoustics and electric is a Lifeson thing. This song along with “Totem” and “Resist” feature the 10-string Mandola that Lifeson first utilized on “Victor”.
“‘Half the World’ is one of our finest moments as songwriters as far as writing a concise song without being wimpy or syrupy.
It’s got a little bit of everything: nice melody, and yet it’s still aggressive. It’s hard for us to write that kind of song, really. You’d have to go back to ‘Closer to the Heart’ to find an example of that.”Geddy Lee in “Merely Players”
The Color Of Right
It’s almost a pop song with its major key Intro and Boston like riff after it.
Make it easy on yourself There’s nothing more you can do You’re so full of what is right You can’t see what is true
So relevant over the last 15 years, especially in our democratically elected governments who tried to pass laws that totalitarian governments have.
Time And Motion
This is the Rush I like. Heavy enough to give all of the 90s acts a run for their money and a bit proggy.
The Intro alone is worth the price of the CD. It wouldn’t be out of place on a Dream Theater CD.
“Totem”
It’s very Celtic like.
The “angels and demons inside my head,” line is visual and sums up the song about what people should believe in.
I believe in what I see I believe in what I hear
Religion is a very divisive subject when it comes up, depending on which side of the discussion you sit on.
“Dog Years”
At the start it’s like a punk song. Only Rush can get away with this kind of goofy subject matter.
“Virtuality”
How good is the Intro riff?
The blues swagger and jazz like swing beat.
And that line “net boy, net girl, send your signal around the world”.
I was singing it for years afterwards and whenever anyone mentioned “internet”, I would start singing it. And I would cop weird looks I’m the process.
“Resist”
Such an underrated album cut. It’s my favourite.
Geddy Lee mentioned it’s one of his favorites in the book “Merely Players”. Wikipedia tells me that Alex Lifeson states the same.
I like the Celtic like sounds that the Dulcimer brings.
“Limbo”
An instrumental, pieced together from different bits of ideas that the group had sketched out but remained unused, but it’s not “La Vila Strangiato”.
“Carve Away The Stone”
And the album is complete with a song about the Sisyphean myth. I don’t what it is and I’ve never researched it, but I’m sure it will send me down the rabbit hole if I do.
Crank it loud and don’t forget to check out “Resist”.
destroyerofharmony 