In 1996, Sammy Hagar left Van Halen. Both camps tried to set the record straight as to why things happened like they did. It made for great reading, the press had a field day and the fans just wanted new music.
Enter an old flame.
David Lee Roth re-joined briefly and recorded two songs with the band for the 1996 compilation “Best Of – Volume I”. There is a story about this saga as well, but other sites on the web cover it better. As is the norm, Roth and Eddie clashed again and Roth was out, eventually replaced by Gary Cherone from Extreme.
However we got a “Best Of” album. And it sold well. I guess the public’s appetite to hear Roth with Van Halen again was sky high. I know in Australia it got a Platinum certification and in the U.S it was 3x Platinum.
The album was released on October 22, 1996. I basically purchased it for the two newly recorded Roth songs, “Can’t Get This Stuff No More” and “Me Wise Magic” plus “Humans Being” which did appear on the Twister soundtrack, however my first hearing of the song was on this compilation.
And this review would focus on those three songs.
Can’t Get This Stuff No More
I got so used to Sammy Hagar and his melodies.
So I wasn’t totally enthused to hear Roth deliver his vocals about a “date with a super model and how he doesn’t need so much to remember”. But Roth is Roth, and it’s why I am a fan. He never conformed nor did he change his style. And the Chorus is as good as any Van Roth chorus.
Eddie was also getting a lot more progressive with his song writing and bro Alex, did a great job to put a beat and feel to it all.
Check out the lead break rhythms and EVH talk boxing his way before he breaks open the gates of shred. For progressiveness check out the outro that just came from left field as it’s a unique piece of music on its own.
Wikipedia also tells me that the music for this song was based on a track called “Backdoor Shuffle” which was originally part of the sessions for the “Balance” album.
Me Wise Magic
As soon as I heard the intro I was picking up the guitar to learn it. Not sure what came first. “Test For Echo” or this. I can Google it, but who cares, as the intro does remind me of Rush. Roth moves between spoken verse to a frantic pre chorus and a killer Chorus with Michael Anthony nailing the backing vocals.
Both of the Roth tracks were produced by Glen Ballard who had a renaissance of some sort in the mid 90’s thanks to Alanis Morissette and “Jagged Little Pill”.
The way the song started is how it ends.
An example of what I meant with EVH being progressive in his writing. You don’t hear the Intro riff again in the song, until it appears in the Outro.
EVH’s working title was “The Three Faces of Shamus,” for its three sections with “completely different vibes going on”.
Roth was also asked to work with Desmond Child on the lyrics after he discarded (or rewrote) the words that Ballard wrote. But Roth is Roth, and no one tells him what to do.
Humans Being
Produced by Bruce Fairbairn.
The intro Em riff (E to G to A) hooks me instantly. It’s almost Metallica like, but also like Alice Cooper (think “I’m Eighteen”).
My favourite part of the song is when Sammy sings “Shine On”, and of course EVH chimes in with a quick melodic lead, which quietens down and then builds up again, full of octaves, whammy bar manipulations, superhuman bends over a droning E note and legato slides. And none of it would work if it wasn’t for the time keeping of AVH.
And there is a story around this song’s creation, but Wikipedia covers it pretty good.
The “A Change of Seasons” EP from 1995, closed a chapter for Dream Theater that went back to those dark days without a deal.
After a short tour to promote the EP, they started writing songs in early 1996 for the follow up album to “Awake”. Derek Sherinian was a full-fledged member and was an extra addition to the song writing team.
Their label East West Records had folded into Elektra. Sylvia Rhone was now the President. Her interest in hard rock music was minimal. Nikki Sixx was also very anti-Sylvia, calling her from the stage on her mobile during Motley Crue concerts and getting the fans to scream “F U Sylvia Rhone.”
As written in the book, “Lifting Shadows” by Rich Wilson, Rhone wanted to drop Dream Theater or to transfer the contract to Warner International, however their success in Europe and Japan was bringing enough dollars to the label, so Elektra decided to keep them. However, they had to come up with more shorter tracks that radio could get behind.
Little did they know, that they would be in development hell for almost a year. Most of the songs they submitted to the label for approval, were met with the request to write more songs. Progressive songs like “Lines In The Sand” and “Trial Of Tears” got a muted response from the label, while songs like “Hollow Years” and “You Not Me” got the label excited.
On top of this was the dissolution of their management team, which had the band divided. Petrucci picked one manager and Portnoy picked the other. Eventually, Petrucci’s choice Rob Shore was selected as the manager and Portnoy’s choice Jim Pitulski went to court to recoup some of his losses.
Further to this, their friend in label hell, A&R Rep Derek Oliver left and his replacement, Josh Deutsch was already fed up with the band. As far as he was concerned, the band was selling enough to not be a liability to the label, so as long as he could get the new record out, they would make numbers.
12 plus months passed before Deutsch gave the go-ahead to record the new album, in March 1997. The list of producers the band submitted was ignored and Kevin Shirley who just did Aerosmith’s “Nine Lives” was hired. Shirley also recommended that the band work with Desmond Child to re-write “You or Me”, resulting in Petrucci being flown down to Florida to work on the song with Child. Following the sessions, the song became “You Not Me”. This infuriated Mike Portnoy as he didn’t like how Desmond Child would re-write one of the songs with just one band member.
Originally, Petrucci and Portnoy wanted to call it “Stream of Consciousness”, but the rest of the band rejected the name although the phrase “Stream of Consciousness” is found in the song “Lines in the Sand” and would later become the title of an instrumental song on “Train of Thought”. Its eventual title was proposed by Petrucci, and its cover art was designed by Storm Thorgerson.
When you write for that long, there is enough material for a double album, but Elektra said the approved budget is for a single album.
As a side note, Portnoy released the double album, when he did the Ytse Jam Records Demo series for the “Falling Into Infinity” demos release. It also got a re-release with Dream Theater’s “Lost Not Forgotten” Archives releases.
If you are a fan of the band, the demo releases are must haves, as you get to hear songs like “Raise the Knife”, “Where are You Now”, “Cover My Eyes”, “Speak to Me”, “The Way It Used to Be”, and “Metropolis Pt. 2”, which was later expanded into its own album and the rest being included on the 1999 fan club CD “Cleaning Out the Closet”.
New Millennium
As soon as the King Crimson inspired intro kicks in with the keys and guitars in harmony, I was hooked. John Myung comes in with a bass riff which is very Tool like and I like the way John Petrucci decorates, very Adam Jones/Tool like.
Mike Portnoy is the lyrical writer here, as he looks at the music industry.
Press play for the Verse Riff. Its heavy, its melodic and its influenced by the times, but it doesn’t sound dated as there is funk and there is groove.
James Labrie cops a lot of flak from fans and I am one of them, but he shows his versatility moving between Peter Gabriel like vocals, to Maynard James Keenan vocals, to Bluesy Paul Rodgers style vocals and yet he makes it all sound hard rock in his own LaBrie way.
Derek Sherinian on the keys is more like Kevin Moore in style.
For an opening track it got my attention.
You Not Me
Musically it’s written by Dream Theater and lyrically it’s done by John Petrucci with small additions from Desmond Child. After hearing the demo of this song, I think Child’s additions are more like Holly Knight’s addition to change the title of “Rag Time” to “Rag Doll” by Aerosmith. The original demo is called “You Or Me”. After Child was involved, it changed to “You Not Me”. The vocal melodies are there on the demo.
The riff is nu-metal before nu-metal was even a thing.
And I like its big Chorus and simple Verse/Chorus structure. I am a hard rock fan first who likes progressive music, so this song is right up my alley.
Peruvian Skies
When they play this song live they go into “Enter Sandman” from Metallica as there a bits in the song that sound like they came from “Sandman”. If you get a chance to check out one of their live performances of this song, do it
Lyrics are written by John Petrucci. He is trying to tell an abuse story of person called Vanessa.
Musically, it’s got the dreamy arpeggios of Pink Floyd, with the metal crunch of Metallica. It’s a potent mix. And I like it.
Hollow Years
The “Live At Budokan” version is “the” version to listen to. This is where the solo is extended to include some shredding from Petrucci and the outro is also extended. One thing that is guaranteed when you watch DT live, is you don’t just get the studio version of the song. Which is a good thing. It irks me when bands play the studio version of a song live. There are no musical conversations happening on stage. For some bands it works, like Metallica and Iron Maiden, as their song structures are very rigid.
It was released as a single and you can tell why. It moves between flamenco-classical style acoustic guitars to a melodic soft rock Chorus. Petrucci wrote the lyrics to the song.
Burning My Soul
Mike Portnoy’s lyrics were inspired by his frustration at their A&R man, Derek Oliver. Once seen as a supporter who got them signed was now seen as a roadblock, a gear in the label machine pushing the label “sign em and drop em” agenda.
Overall, it’s a great song. It’s metallic, with a lot of groove. Metallica wasn’t this heavy during this time.
It also marks the beginning of an excellent middle section of the album, that involves “Burning My Soul”, “Hell’s Kitchen”, and “Lines in the Sand”.
Hell’s Kitchen
Producer Kevin Shirley made the decision to take out the middle section from “Burning My Soul” and turn it into a separate instrumental track.
Which I thank him for as “Hell’s Kitchen” is a 3 minute rollercoaster of emotions. Press play to hear John Petrucci at his melodic best.
Lines in the Sand
Lyrics are written by John Petrucci and press play to hear his guitar lead along with the verse/bridge section after the solo break.
King’s X’s Doug Pinnick also appears but James LaBrie stars here, twisting and morphing his voice across many different musical styles and genres.
At 12 minutes long, it didn’t feel boring at all.
Take Away My Pain
This is Dream Theater doing U2 while U2 was doing electro-techno rock.
Lyrically, John Petrucci writes about the death of his father and he decorates the song like “The Edge”.
And for people who said they sold out by writing a song like this, well they seem to forget that “Another Day”, “To Live Forever” and “Lifting Shadows Of A Dream” are very similar to this. So it was nothing new for Dream Theater to have songs like this on the album.
Just Let Me Breathe
Portnoy is throwing missiles at the music industry with his lyrics here. It deals with the media and how they purely exist to over report and sensationalise tragedy, like the deaths of Shannon Hoon and Kurt Cobain.
The drum and bass intro segues into the guitar riff kicking in. It’s heavy and groovy. Very “Liquid Tension Experiment” like which would come after this album.
Derek Sherinian solos here with Petrucci kicking in some harmonies. Then they trade off each other. Overall, I like the song musically but the vocal melodies didn’t resonate with me, although I do like how Portnoy wanted to try something different with the melodies.
Anna Lee
James LaBrie has a lyrical contribution to a Dream Theater album. The song is a ballad, with a nice piano riff as its centrepiece but it wasn’t a favourite back then nor is it a favourite write now.
Petrucci does deliver a nice solo.
Trial of Tears
I wrote a whole blog post on this song. You can read it here. It’s in three sections but played as one complete 13 minute song. Bassist John Myung is the lyrical writer.
Section I is called “It’s Raining”, Section II is called “Deep in Heaven” and Section III is called “The Wasteland”.
James LaBrie again steals the show with the various vocal styles he exhibits here. And Petrucci is on hand to deliver some nice emotive lead breaks.
As mentioned in the book, “Lifting Shadows” by Rich Wilson, the album was considered a commercial failure, failing to break any new ground for Dream Theater or increase their sales despite its more commercial direction. As a result of the creative and personal tensions experienced during the album’s production phase, it has been described as the band’s “most difficult album”, and eventually led to their demanding to be free from record label interference for all future albums.
Regardless of commercial expectations, I go back to this album on a regular basis. Crank it.
Released on 7 June 2013 and recorded in various studios in Byron Bay, New South Wales. Coming from the Steel City of Wollongong, Byron Bay is a 9 hour drive up the coast.
The Producer is Andrew Stockdale.
It was written with the idea that it would be the third Wolfmother album, however the group was already in disarray after Stockdale fired the original band before the 2nd album, and any musicians that joined the fold afterwards were on Stockdale’s payroll, not the labels.
The album process started in 2010 with updates on social media and then it went silent. By February 2012, we knew that rhythm guitarist Aidan Nemeth and drummer Will Rockwell-Scott had left the band. Universal was also not really interested in what was been delivered at that point in time.
Remaining members Stockdale and bassist Ian Peres called in Vin Steele (rhythm guitar), Elliott Hammond (keyboards, percussion) and Hamish Rosser (drums) to complete the band line-up. Universal still wasn’t interested but Stockdale planned to re-record and self-release the album as a Wolfmother album.
By March 2013, front man Andrew Stockdale announced that he would be releasing the album under his own name.
The Personnel for the album is Andrew Stockdale on vocals and guitar, Ian Peres on all things bass related plus other instruments, with drums shared by Elliot Hammond, Hamish Rosser, Will Rockwell-Scott and Dave Atkins. Additional guitar tracks were recorded by Vin Steele and Alex “Rudy” Markwell.
All tracks are written by Andrew Stockdale, except where noted.
Long Way to Go
It could be a Bachman Turner Overdrive tune. It could a Rolling Stones tune as there is a riff in the song heavily inspired by “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”.
And there is a solo here, brief but bluesy.
Keep Moving
Lenny Kravitz is going to come your way. You know what I mean. And I like it, with other influences from Hawkwind and a riff from the fingertips of Paul Kossoff (RIP).
Within the first two songs, Stockdale is making a statement. He is moving on from the past, but he has a long way to go to make the break.
Vicarious
The fuzzed out bass sets the groove. The drums thunder along with it. Its subdued and Stockdale croons over the verses, before lifting in the Chorus.
“You’re living vicariously / Tell me what’s it’s like to be me?”
Three out of three so far.
Year of the Dragon
It’s classic Wolfmother in riff, with a Bill Ward style swinging beat and a feel that gets the foot tapping and the head banging.
Somebody’s Calling
Stockdale co-wrote this with multi-instrumentalist Elliott Hammond who plays drums, electric piano and harmonica on this album.
Hand clapping Rock and Roll that reminds me of The Doors, Sweet, The Easybeats, Free and all of those great bands. And at 1.50, it goes into a half time feel, which I like and it picks up again at 2.16.
Meridian
Stockdale co-wrote this with bassist Ian Peres. My favourite song on the album and by far the heaviest song Stockdale has committed to release.
The Intro reminds me of Black Sabbath at their heaviest and the verse riff reminds me of Led Zeppelin at their heaviest. A pure classic old school heavy metal cut and although released on a Stockdale solo album, it is a worthy Wolfmother cut.
Ghetto
Another foot stomping groove. And it gets repetitive but hey, the reason why I listen to Andrew Stockdale is because he can jam on a familiar repetitive riff for ages.
Let It Go
“Symptom Of The Universe” has a love child with “Achilles Last Stand”. And I like it.
And if the album ended here, it would have been 8 from 8.
But it continued.
Let Somebody Love You
It’s got this rhythm and blues feel, maybe a little bit of Aerosmith.
Standing on the Corner
The “hit the road jack” vibe is prominent but more countryish than blues.
Country
The title says it all, a ballad.
Black Swan
Yeah, it’s a skip for me.
Everyday Drone
Hey Mr’s Robinson. Can Andrew Stockdale be influenced by you?
Yes, he can.
It Occurred To Me
The fuzzed out psychedelic riffs are back to close out the album. It’s got groove and sleaze, but coming off the acoustic like tracks, it doesn’t flow.
The Foo Fighters released a double album that had rockers and acoustic stuff on each disc. Stockdale suffers here because he released two distinct albums as one.
Back then I asked the question “If we stop using Spotify or Netflix, would we miss them?”
Since then a lot of other players have taken market share in the steaming world.
I am a heavy user of Spotify. For Netflix its hit and miss. Sometimes I could go weeks without using it and on other occasions it’s every day.
At the moment, in 2022, I also have subscriptions to Stan, Amazon, Paramount+ and Disney.
Being missed when you’re gone is a worthy objective for any organisation. It also should be an objective for any artist. If I stopped listening to music in general, I would miss it. If I stopped listening to music from certain artists I would really miss it.
And the ones who will survive are not those looking for short term profits, but those that realize it’s a war of attrition.
Metallica wanted to re-issue their 1982 demo “No Life To Leather”. Dave Mustaine on Twitter, said the talks broke down because Lars wanted song writing credits on two songs that Mustaine wrote every note and word to. So instead of agreeing to share the song writing, Mustaine passed.
Song writing is always an issue with bands.
Van Halen had all the band members listed as songwriters on all of their albums. Suddenly, when the band re-negotiated their publishing deals for their earlier David Lee Roth albums, Michael Anthony was removed as a song writer.
Skid Row’s Dave Sabo and Rachel Bolan said that Sebastian Bach didn’t contribute to the Skid Row debut album as most of the songs were written before Bach joined. Bach countered to say, that the way he sung the songs, and the way he decided to hold certain notes was enough of a contribution to the debut album and he should be listed as a songwriter. Manager Doc McGhee said Bach has no idea how copyright works.
Nikki Sixx said one of the reasons for Vince Neil’s departure from Motley was due to his lack of song writing contributions, which Vince countered to say he had enough co-writes on Motley’s classic 80’s era to counter that.
100% of the time, when an individual writes a song, there will be music, words and melodies written at the same time.
I had no idea what style of music they played, who was in the band, who produced em and which label if any released it.
After listening to the album I was a fan. It’s simple and effective modern rock. Catchy.
So I Googled the band and I came across the name of David Hodges. He walked away from Evanescence before “Fallen” exploded and become a songwriter for other artists in the world of modern/pop rock.
David’s problem is that he is too talented. He can easily write hit singles and all the songs here are infectious.
Do yourself a favour and check it out. It’s on Spotify and on YouTube.
I went in cold on this as well. The first thing that came to mind was “A Perfect Circle”. So I Googled it and of course it is Billy Howerdel’s project. And he sings on it. The album came out in 2008 and the first time I heard it was May, 2014.
“Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright” is the album name and there is no filler here. Check it out.
“Angel Of Mercy” from Black Label Society always gets me to pay attention.
The song appears on the album “Catacombs Of the Black Vatican” from Black Label Society.
And the lead break is pure magic. Just listen.
It builds and builds to the point where you cannot help but be in awe at the feel, the melodic phrasing and the disciplined technique on display.
The song was never a hit on the Billboard Charts and due to its mellow nature it might never get a live appearance, but god damn it, the song is a classic.
Ozzy probably didn’t know it, but in Zakk, he had a guitarist who could do Black Sabbath better than Black Sabbath, do the works of Randy Rhoads justice. (Of course, as a diehard RR fan, no one could do RR better than RR himself) and Zakk could play Jake E Lee better than Jake E Lee. Zakk once called his Ozzy gig the most glorified covers gig ever, where he gets to play some cool shit written by others and he also gets to play his own shit.
The follow-up self-titled Lynch Mob album had Keith Olsen producing. I suppose anything to do with George Lynch, includes a saga with a lead singer.
It’s 1992.
Dokken was four years dead. In between that time George Lynch and Mick Brown shacked up together with Lynch Mob and remained with Elektra Records. Jeff Pilson went to War and Peace and lead singer Don Dokken got wined and dined by Geffen Records and jumped ship.
The first post Dokken battle between had Lynch scoring some points with the excellent “Wicked Sensation” coming first. However, Don Dokken and John Kalodner were still building their all-star cast for “Up From The Ashes” and even though the album was an exemplary piece of melodic hard rock, it failed commercially. I suppose Don’s $1 million advance sign on fee didn’t help the budget. But it is still a favourite to me.
And the great momentum built up by the Mark 1 version of Lynch Mob was taken back a few steps with the ousting of vocalist Oni Logan. The story goes that Lynch had a problem with the way Logan sounded live. So after letting Logan go, the band had Glenn Hughes come in. He would sing the songs on the demos and then new singer Robert Mason would record em.
Fun fact for the day is that Glen Hughes did co-write a few tunes with Don Dokken for the “Up From The Ashes” album, with “When Love Finds A Fool” making it to the final cut.
But the album failed to match the sales of “Wicked Sensation” even though “Tangled In The Web” was a Top 10 hit.
Lynch Mob went on tour and Lynch was “not feeling it” with Mason and he wanted to get another singer. That singer was Ray Gillen, who at the time wasn’t interested because he had just completed “Voodoo Highway” with Badlands and was keen to push and promote that album.
If only Gillen knew the fall out that would happen between him and Jake a few months later. Glenn Hughes was considered, however he was discriminated against because of his age.
And then George Lynch returned to Dokken for the already written “Dysfunctional” album and even though as a hard core fan, I thoroughly enjoyed it, the truth of the matter is the band was spent. And we can speculate or argue why or just revel in the greatness of what came before.
The recording industry tells us that we need more Copyright for music to thrive and survive. But nursery rhymes survived all this time without the recording industry and copyright.
Say bye-bye to the old and say hello to the new. Here is a list of the new nursery rhymes that my two-year old loves.
“We’re Not Gonna Take It”
Back in the Eighties, the PMRC listed “We’re Not Gonna Take It” as number 7 on their filthy fifteen list. And the reason why it was on the list. Violence. Yep, Tipper Gore and her housewives found the song to be violent while millions upon millions of adolescent teens found it empowering.
“Cum On Feel The Noize”, “Rock and Roll”, “Rock N Roll All Nite”
Songs about letting your hair down.
“Livin On A Prayer” and “Don’t Stop Believin”
Two songs are about never giving up and believing in yourself. And those people are still believing with billion plus streams for these songs.
“Eye Of The Tiger”
The “Rocky III” producers wanted to use “Another One Bites The Dust” however they could not get permission to use the song, so Sylvester Stallone hired Survivor to write an original song instead.
“We Will Rock You”
The boom boom cha. It’s undeniable.
And these songs get passed on via word of mouth. It’s how culture rolls.
Six years had passed since Death Magnetic was released.
Led Zeppelin Reissue’s
Seriously. How many times can someone own the original three albums or the songs contained within those albums.
Piracy
Seriously. Is this still an issue in 2014?
Streaming Doesn’t Pay
It does pay. If you are not getting any of the pie speak to the label or the organisation that holds your rights.
Sales
They are irrelevant. All they do is give the old guard a way to measure something that is irrelevant because the new way to measure an artist’s reach is just too hard to fathom for them.
Are people listening to the album?
Press Releases for new albums
People can see through the hype. We don’t care when bands say “how great this new album is” or “how it is a definitive statement of the band right now”. All we care about is if we like it. If we do like it, we will talk about and we will push it. If it is crap, expect it to disappear.
Because if publicity does increase sales, then bands should be selling by the millions and selling out their shows. But they don’t.
And that’s another wrap of DoH history for a week.
There is always a track or two or three on each album from Evergrey that becomes an instant favourite.
On this album at the moment, it is “Call Out The Dark”, “Midwinter Calls” and “Blindfolded”. On the previous album and depending on mood, it was either “In The Absence Of Sun” and “Eternal Nocturnal”.
The whole COVID era of 2020 and 2021 got a lot of artists off the road, back into society, connecting with family and friends and then into the studios. After the brutality of “The Atlantic” in 2019, “Escape Of The Phoenix” came out in February 2021, a live recording “Before The Aftermath” on 28 January 2022 and in May 2022, “A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament)”.
I have the Vinyl Die Hard edition and a separate Limited Edition box set on its way from Napalm Records in Germany, which I will unbox when they get here.
Their five album run (made up of 4 studio albums and one Live Album) on AFM Records came to an end. And what a run it was, with some of their best work like, “Hymns For The Broken” and “The Storm Within” included in that run.
The sound of the band is made up of the low tuned guitars of Henrik Danhage who uses Charvel Guitars and Tom Englund who is loyal to Caparison Guitars. But not all riffs come from the fingertips of these two. Drummer Jonas Ekdahl is a riff-meister himself and so is bassist Johan Niemann. Rounding out the band is keyboardist Rikard Zander.
The writing of “A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament)” continued after the release of “Escape of the Phoenix”. Englund has even referred to the new album as “Part II”. In the producers chair is, Englund and Ekdahl again. These two have been producing the last few albums, so why change it. Keep it all within the band.
Save Us
A chugging downtuned metal like riff opens the album. It’s heavy and the octaves give it a sense of melody.
The fans participated in the gang like vocals.
The idea came to Englund while he was on a walk. He uses his iPhone to sing his ideas and the voice memos capture sounds pretty good as the phones have decent compression algorithm.
So they put a call out for their fans to sing the words based on a video guide the band provided into their iPhones and submit it. They got 700 plus submissions and those voices became the gang choir you hear when they say “Hey, save us”.
Lyrically, its Englund’s observation of watching people around him who feel they are not good enough to exist in this world, because they are hostages to the social media sites and feel like they need to portray perfection.
Midwinter Calls
“Midwinter calls…”
There is a slight pause.
“Home..”
And then the Chorus riff kicks in.
It’s my favourite part of the song.
The double kick is in unison with the riff from the fingertips of drummer Jonas Ekdahl.
This song also has a gang like vocal chant, utilising more voices from the fans. While in “Save Us” it was actual words, here it is wo-ohs.
Ominous
There is this four note progression played by another four note progression that underpins the main riff. It’s almost djent math like and progressive but very accessible.
Keyboardist Rikard Zander decorates nicely here over the thunderous groove set up by drummer Ekdahl and bassist Johan Niemann.
The guitar solos howl like wolves in the night.
Actually the whole guitar solo sections are guitar hero moments. I’m pretty sure both Englund and Danhage take turns here.
Call Out the Dark
As soon as the musical box piano sound riff started I was hooked. Once the guitars thunder in and the keys turn symphonic, I was ready to break desks. My favourite song on the album. By far.
The solo came is fantastic.
It’s got this classic “Rainbow In The Dark”, Vivian Campbell style from his Dio days. Initially there was a lot of tapping and shredding from Danhage and after receiving feedback from a friend about what he was trying to say with his lead coming after Englund’s lead, he rewrote the first half and kept the crazy shred ending. Press play to hear two virtuosos having conversations musically.
And it ends the way it started, with the musical box piano riff.
The Orphean Testament
Englund’s take on Greek Mythology where Orpheus had a chance to save his loved one from hell, by just walking away and never looking back, but he turns back to look.
Englund takes this view and applies it to modern life, where our ego’s get in the way of making good decisions and how it’s hard to fit in to a world which has different ideals to your own.
The song starts with fast double kick drumming and fast 16th note picking before it moves into a Dimebag style groove riff. Englund has a unique way of singing his melodies and this is no different.
Reawakening
I read on other reviews that the writers saw this track as filler. And I was like WTF. Its melodic heavy rock influences still remain with me after its finished.
The intro is melodic rock, with the keyboards in the lead. The song then quietens down, Queensryche like for the verses, while it builds up in the pre-chorus for the big Chorus.
I’m broken but breathing I’m still alive but did a lot of bleeding I’m open to reasons to feel alive
The Great Unwashed
The intro is made up single notes playing in an ominous way. Then a groove like riff kicks in, made from the fingertips of drummer Jonas Ekdahl. While they are chugging along on that riff, Zander plays the ominous intro on the keys and Englund does his vocal melodies.
There is a section after the Chorus that reminds me of “A Change Of Season” from Dream Theater.
And the lead breaks are killer, over a section that reminds me of “The Aftermath” from “Hymns Of The Broken”.
We’ll always unite in the end We’re stronger than most just pretend We never mind the dark
We’re the great unwashed
Heartless
Instant connection with the keyboard lick over the thundering distorting chords. The verse riffs are major key, hopeful, but the lyrics are dark, with words like “I can’t find reasons to keep feeding this soul”.
So tired of feeling I’m tired of feeling you And all this time that I’ve lost I’ve lost to you
Relationships take up a lot of time and when they are over, there is regret at the time lost.
There is a section just before the 3 minute mark, with piano chords and Englund’s haunting vocal melody. Then the lead break crashes in, and I am playing air guitar.
Blindfolded
It’s classic Evergrey.
Powerful and technical.
And there is another arena rock chorus. Press play to listen to the phrasing of “Dark nights / coming / we are lost in fragile moments / falsehood / soulless / we run through this blindfolded”.
And if all of that isn’t enough, queue in some killer lead breaks in which the guitars and the keys trade off each other.
Wildfires
Evergrey have always had songs like these, and Tom Englund explores these kind of sparse arrangements even further with the “Silent Skies” side project. The only difference here is that the acoustic guitars replace the keys.
If the sun fell down And burnt us down to the ground Would the wildfires remind me of
The album is excellent.
And there is also a trilogy of video clips, released in reverse chronological order, so you would need to watch the last video first to experience the cinematic journey.
Mike Portnoy was not happy when the song “A Change of Seasons” was pulled from being recorded in the studio for the “Images And Words” album.
So Portnoy kept asking Derek Oliver to provide funding so the band could record it. Portnoy tried to include it with the “Awake” album and again, Oliver said “no”.
And that’s when the fans stepped in. Dream Theater fans started to connect online via the Ytsejam Mailing List and suddenly, a petition was created to convince the label to give the go ahead for the band to record the song.
Yep, Dream Theater was one of those bands to have a direct to fan connection via their fan club and message boards in the early days of the Internet. Mike Portnoy was key here, as a fan of Marillion, who was also another band which kept engaging with their fans via their fan clubs and much later, Marillion were one of the earlier bands to get fans to fund an album before it became a thing.
At 23 minutes, it was their longest song at that point in time, but the way it is written and constructed, the seven parts of the song, can be listened to individually as separate tracks, if you wanted to splice the track. Lyrics are written by Mike Portnoy.
But.
If the band wanted to record this track in the studio, Derek Oliver said the track must be produced by Dave Prater. As described in the book “Lifting Shadows” by Rich Wilson, Oliver believed that Prater really understood what Dream Theater was about and when Prater zeroed in to the bands weakness, the band couldn’t hack it, hence the animosity. Prater was the producer for the “I&W” album and he was having serious run ins with Mike Portnoy over triggered drum sounds and with Kevin Moore over his reluctance to do anything that the Producer asked.
While the band disagreed with the Prater suggestion, they relented. as the only way to get funding was to do it the label way. Since Prater was told to not use triggers on the drums, it meant Portnoy wouldn’t be an adversary anymore and his main adversary during “I&W”, Kevin Moore was not in the band anymore. But Prater and James LaBrie didn’t connect this time around and they started to argue. But, in the end, LaBrie’s vocal performance on the track is excellent, so all the pushing and yelling, ended up in a fantastic vocal take.
The EP was released on September 19, 1995, through East West Records.
Apart from the title track, it has a collection of live cover songs performed at a fan club concert on January 31, 1995 at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London, England. It’s also their first recording with Derek Sherinian on keyboards.
I know what most people are thinking,
23 minutes of a million notes a minute over complex time signatures. If you are thinking that, you are mistaken. The sections are all songs within a song and one thing that producer Dave Prater has going for him was his questioning of why they want to overplay certain parts.
Like when he said to John Petrucci (as mentioned in the book “Lifting Shadows”), “why are you trying to impress Steve Vai” with those fast technical licks as your first improvised take of the lead was way better than the stuff you worked out days later.
I. The Crimson Sunrise (instrumental)
The song begins and ends with an acoustic guitar. A seven string acoustic guitar with the low B and while I am critical of the 7-strings on fast picked stuff, I really like em on groove orientated stuff, and this is what this song is. A Groove Heavy Rock beast with progressive elements.
As soon as I heard the first notes of the intro acoustic riff I was hooked.
Did they try and recreate “Pull Me Under” with this whole intro piece?
Maybe.
Because there is melody, power and aggression here in the acoustics and when the distortion kicks in, you definitely feel it in your bones.
The first 3 minutes is essential listening. All instrumental but never boring.
II. Innocence
It begins at the 3.50 mark.
And how good is that arena rock chorus, that begins with “Innocence caressing me / I never felt so young before / There was much life in me / Still I longed to search for more” and when it repeats the second time, it’s worded a bit different. “Ignorance surrounding me / I’ve never been so filled with fear / All my life’s been drained from me / The end is drawing near.
III. Carpe Diem
It begins at the 6.54 mark with the start of the acoustic guitar arpeggios, almost classical. Portnoy is now referencing the last moments he had with his mother before she left to catch a plane which crashed.
The last few lyrical lines, “preparing for her flight / I held with all my might / fearing my deepest fright / she walked into the night / she turned for one last look / she looked me in the eye / I said “I love you, / goodbye”.
IV. The Darkest of Winters (instrumental)
I’m pretty sure this section kicks in at the 9.47 mark. It’s got metal and a jazz fusion like lead from Petrucci. There are a lot of elements from “I&W” here especially from the songs “Metropolis” and “Take The Time”. The riff at 11.50 would have been a foundation for a song for any other band. But from Dream Theater, it’s just a riff in a 23 minute song.
At 12.54, Petrucci starts the melodic lead that leads into “Another World”.
V. Another World
It kicks in at 13.03. It’s the big power ballad part of the song with LaBrie delivering one of his best vocals and Petrucci on the lead at 15.39 is perfect with his phrasing, delivering big bends and vibrato lines with short bursts of alternate picking.
VI. The Inevitable Summer (instrumental)
It starts at the 16.58 mark. Myung plays this bass groove which allows Petrucci to bring out the Lydian and Mixolydian scales. This section reminds me of the solo section in “Under A Glass Moon” from “I&W”. Even Sherinian gets a solo moment.
VII. The Crimson Sunset
The final section. It starts at the 20.12 section with a melodic lead that should have been harmonised, Maiden style.
“I’m much wiser now a lifetime of memories run through my head”.
Then there is a complete tempo and feel change for the final verse and the intro acoustic guitar riff appears to bookend a masterpiece.
And while everyone purchased this EP for the original song, the live recordings also deserve a mention.
“Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” (Elton John cover)
I didn’t know about this songs until I heard them here. Written by Bernie Taupin and Elton John. At 10:46, the song was originally recorded by Elton John as the opener on the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” album from 1973, which I then purchased after hearing this version.
And it’s even longer on the Elton John version at 11.09, which came as a surprise to me, as Elton John’s 80’s hits are all within the 4 minute range of commercial radio. I can definitely hear how this song influenced Jim Steinman and “Bat Out Of Hell”.
Who said that cover songs take away from the original?
“Perfect Strangers” (Deep Purple cover)
Written by Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover. It’s the title track from their 80’s comeback album in 1984. This version is very faithful to the original version, and guess what, I went out and purchased this Deep Purple album based on this cover.
“The Rover” / “Achilles Last Stand” / “The Song Remains the Same” (Led Zeppelin cover)
The songs used here for the medley are written by Robert Plan and Jimmy Page. Dream Theater took the best bits of these songs and made a 7.30 minute track that is worthy.
“The Rover” is a song from the “Physical Graffiti” album, with a good bluesy groove which is played to lead into “Achilles Last Stand” which is from the “Presence” album. Here we get most of the singing section of the song, the interludes and that progressive like riff which is played during the solo. Finally, the song is rounded out with some sections from “The Song Remains The Same” from the “Houses Of The Holy” album.
LaBrie proves that you can still pay homage to Robert Plant without sounding like him (remember Lenny Wolf) and Petrucci must have made a deal with Aliester Crowley as he is basically Jimmy Page.
“The Big Medley”
The last song. A mash up of songs from a diverse list of artists that clocks in at around 10 minutes.
It starts off with “In the Flesh?” a Pink Floyd cover.
At the 2.30 minute mark, the awesome riffage of “Carry On Wayward Son” from Kansas kicks in.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” from Queen kicks in 4.35 that whole hard rock section after the operatic vocals. Petrucci then goes into the lead break.
“Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin'” from Journey kicks in at 6.00. It shouldn’t work here, but it does. Its 12/8 bar room boogie riff works perfectly after “Bohemian Rhapsody”. LaBrie croons as good as Steve Perry and what else can be said about Petrucci who can move between Jimmy Page, Richie Blackmore, Dave Gilmour, Brian May, Kerry Livgren and Neal Schon so effortlessly. And then he covers Steve Morse and Steve Hackett easily.
“Cruise Control” from Dixie Dregs kicks in at 8.11. This music was new to me back then.
“Turn It On Again” (Genesis cover)”
This part kicks in at 9.14. The riff is immediately memorable, yet familiar as I feel that it influenced some sections on “Innocence Faded” from the “Awake” album.
By the end of the medley, I was out and about seeking albums from Genesis, Dixie Dregs, Journey. I already had the Queen and Kansas albums that had those songs.
If you haven’t heard this EP (which by the way is an hour long), press play on it.
My favourite album from Stabbing Westward. It was my first proper listening experience from them. I purchased the single, “So Far Away” and then downloaded a copy of the album before purchasing it.
And it’s not on Spotify which pisses me off. But of course YouTube has all the music.
What’s the deal with the cover?
If your making a statement about a self-titled album, is that the cover you want to advertise it?
After this album, I went back to listen to their earlier stuff via various Cyberlockers, Limewire, AudioGalaxy sites.
They needed to press the reset switch on their career.
How much more darker do they want to go?
The first album was called “Ungod,” the second was called “Whither, Blister, Burn and Peel” and the third was called “Darkest Days.” And for a name like “Stabbing Westward” I didn’t expect to hear a pop rock album.
They had three albums with Sony and two of em achieved a Gold certification from the RIAA. But they signed with an independent label after that in Koch Records.
Their new manager wanted the band to create an album with a heavy pop influence. Christopher Hall, Walter Flakus, and Mark Eliopulos fought against this decision. Somehow the manager had more power within the band than the actual band members and guitarist Mark Eliopulos was fired by the manager who brought in Derrek Hawkins as both a studio and live musician, as well as a new producer, Ed Buller.
For this album, Stabbing Westward is Christopher Hall – vocals, Derrek Hawkins – guitar, Jim Sellers – bass, Walter Flakus – keyboards and Andy Kubiszewski – drums.
Released on May 22, 2001, the album did well in Australia, but ultimately failed to sell worldwide like their previous albums. They got put on a tour opening up for “The Cult” however the label told them to drop out as they were wasting their money being the opening band on a tour that wasn’t setting any attendance records and to wait around for a better offer.
So Far Away
The themes of anger, hurt, regret and despair are still there in the lyrics, however the music is straight ahead heavy rock and the vocal melodies could have come from an 80’s hard rock album.
Perfect
A strummed acoustic guitar which reminds me of Tonic. It’s a happy song about Hall’s girlfriend. I guess she was just perfect.
I Remember
My favourite song on the album. It’s a soft rock song with a simple D to Bm to A to G chord progression and a haunting vocal melody. It also reminds me of tracks from Porcupine Tree like “Lazarus” and “Trains” hence the reason why I probably like it.
Wasted
As good as any hard rock song that did the charts before and after. Most people associate it with drugs, but it’s not. It’s about looking back at your life so far and seeing how the decisions you made in the past lead to you burning so many bridges and feeling lonely.
Happy
Oasis wasn’t writing songs like this anymore.
Do the same old demons haunt just me?
Sometimes it’s hard to escape the past and the feelings you have to those occasions.
The Only Thing
It reminds me of The Verve and that alternative soft rock.
Angel
Very similar to “Wasted” in feel.
Breathe You In
An acoustic guitar riff reminiscent to The Verve and Oasis.
High
A short drum intro and then an aggressive Bush/Live like vibe kicks in with the main riff.
Television
It sounds like a cut from “The Tea Party” and it’s a nod to their past albums.
Is anyone alive / Or am I lost in a world where nothing matters / Am I lost in a world where no one cares
I suppose the question can be asked about again about social media and all the noise that comes with that.
Last Time
A bonus track for the Australian and Japanese edition. It has a “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” vocal vibe in the verses.
This record made me a fan. But. Before a fifth LP could be recorded, the band disbanded on February 9, 2002.
Vocalist Christopher Hall started a band called “The Dreaming” and by 2016, that band had Walter Flakus and Mark Eliopulos in the fold. In other words, three/fifths of Stabbing Westward. So it was just a matter of time before Stabbing Westward reunited. First for a reunion tour and in 2022, they dropped a new album called “Chasing Ghosts”.
“One Wild Night Live 1985–2001” was released in May 2001.
It’s compiled from different shows. In Australia, we also got a Bonus disc of songs recorded live in Australia. The release I have is known as the “Australian Exclusive Collector’s Edition” and the bonus disc has five songs from a March 24, 2001 show in Melbourne.
Tico Torres behind the kit needs more respect. He is a beast, happy to keep the beat when he needs to and when they jam the songs out, he’s brilliant at improvising. Richie Sambora likes to solo and on this album there are some songs which have decent outro solos like “Keep The Faith”. It’s things like this that makes the live show unique.
Jon Bon Jovi vocally is on form and having a blast. The 1985 recordings of “Runaway” and “In And Out Of Love” from Tokyo, Japan are gold, showing a band hungry for success and using that fire to light up the stage.
And I forgot how good songs like “Just Older” and “Something To Believe In” are. There are seen as deep cuts now behind all the Top 10 hits.
It’s My Life
Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Max Martin, the Desmond Child like persona from 1998 to current. The song was recorded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on November27, 2000.
Derivative or not, this song saved Jovi by renewing its audience. The 80’s fans remained and suddenly a whole new generation of kids joined them on the backs of this song.
Livin’ on a Prayer / You Give Love a Bad Name
It’s time in the set list to play some songs written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child. These two songs are from the Zurich, Switzerland show on August 30, 2000.
In 1998, Child sold his rights to these songs and other Jovi songs plus songs he wrote for other artists like Kiss and Alice Cooper to name a few. It was basically his whole catalogue up to 1997. He know wishes he hadn’t sold his rights as he has seen how much these songs make these days.
Keep the Faith
Another Jovi, Sambora and Child cut from New York City, United States on September 20, 2000.
Sambora is shredding his way through it and Tico Torres is thundering behind the kit, keeping up with the faster tempo.
Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night
The Jovi, Sambora, Child cuts keep coming. This recording is from Melbourne, Australia on November 10, 1995. The band is even more on fire here, with Jovi brilliant vocally. The increase in tempo makes the song a lot better as I wasn’t a huge fan of the studio cut.
Rockin’ in the Free World
A Neil Young cover from Johannesburg, South Africa on December 1, 1995. The tempo is increased and it sounds a lot better.
Something to Believe In
Written by Jovi and recorded from a show in Yokohama, Japan on May 19, 1996.
This one is a hidden deep cut in the Bon Jovi live set lists. I don’t think it gets played anymore but it’s a crowd favorite.
The beat from Tico sets the groove, while Sambora, Bryan and McDonald set the sombre tone.
Stick around until the Chorus kicks in to hear Jovi sing the melodies with Sambora doing the hey, hey, hey backing chants.
Wanted Dead or Alive
A Jovi and Sambora cut from a show in New York City, New York on September 20, 2000. As you would expect from this song, it has a little acoustic improvisation at the start before it kicks in.
Sambora on the lead is always perfect. His pinch harmonics, bends, palm muted notes and legato licks have a life of their own.
Runaway / In and Out of Love
From Tokyo, Japan on April 28, 1985.
“Runaway” is written by Jovi and George Karak, while “In And Out Of Love” is listed as written by Jovi. Alec John Such is on bass and backing vocals on these tracks. Remember him. The forgotten bass player, written out of Bon Jovi history.
The band is hungry and on fire on these songs. JBJ even brings out the falsetto for the “Runaway” outro.
The things a younger voice could do?
Before “In And Out Of Love” starts there is some guitar doodling and then the song starts, which is a bit different to how it normally starts and after a minute or so, the song we know begins. And I like the tempo increase. It’s only slight but man doesn’t it change the song from pop rock fare to hard rock fare.
I Don’t Like Mondays (featuring Bob Geldof)
A Bob Geldof cover recorded in Wembley, London, United Kingdom on June 25, 1995. I didn’t like the original version, so this did nothing for me.
Just Older
How good does this sound?
Written by Bon Jovi and Billy Falcon. It was recorded from the Toronto, Ontario, Canada on November 27, 2000. It’s another cut now known as a deep cut.
Something for the Pain
A Jovi, Sambora, Child cut recorded in Melbourne, Australia on November 10, 1995.
It sounded better on the CD then it did live. Some songs work live and some don’t. The “These Days” Australian tour took Bon Jovi out of the arenas and into the stadiums. The Sydney gig was at the Eastern Creek Raceway. It’s a crap venue for live music and terrible to get to via public transport. It was a horrible experience a few years before for Guns N Roses and Skid Row, so I skipped any band that played that venue after Gunners.
And thank god that no act plays at that venue anymore.
Bad Medicine
The band should have changed their name to Jovi, Sambora and Child. As most of the big cuts are written by the these three dudes. This is from the Zurich, Switzerland on August 30, 2000. It’s basically an undercover 12 bar blues rocker.
One Wild Night (2001)
And the CD finishes with a new studio cut of “One Wild Night”. The cut is also written by Jovi, Sambora and Child . It’s faster and more party like. You can tell that by playing it live, they enjoyed the increased tempo, so why not capture that power and passion in the studio.
Do you know how hard it is to find a Dream Theater single in Australia?
And as soon as I found one, I purchased it straight away. But I haven’t found any singles since and in the 2000’s I just stopped looking for em in the record shops.
“The Silent Man” is the third EP released by Dream Theater in 1994.
The personnel for the band was Mike Portnoy – Drums, John Petrucci – Guitar, John Myung – Bass, Kevin Moore – Keyboard and James LaBrie – Vocals.
John Purdell and Duane Baron are producing the songs “Eve” and “The Silent Man”.
Eve
I actually purchased the single for the song “Eve”. At the time it was an unreleased bonus track.
It’s an instrumental, but it’s not the kind of instrumental you think with a thousand notes per minute. There is emotion and feel. Kevin Moore on the piano lays down most of the music which belongs to a soundtrack in a film.
His keys and piano riffs dominate the song and then there is Petrucci, who knows which notes to wrestle out of his fingers with his melodic leads. Especially that lead from 4.02. Press play on it.
Close you eyes and let the music take you to a peaceful time. It’s soothing, I could use it to meditate to.
Take the Time (demo)
This demo along with a few other songs, are part of “the” demo tape that got them their ATCO deal for the “Images And Words” album.
The Silent Man
It’s an acoustic song, and man can Petrucci write a complicated acoustic song with unique chord voices.
1976 saw AC/DC’s first internationally-released album, “High Voltage”. The demand for Oz Rock was already on the up.
Enter Cold Chisel.
After years of hitting every place and pub in Australia and drinking those places dry with their road crew, or getting banned due to fighting, Cold Chisel finally got a record deal and released their first album on WEA/Elektra in 1978.
But.
If you ever caught the band live, the self-titled debut sounded nothing like the band did on stage.
They also had a producer that kept telling em that live is live and the studio is the studio. They cannot intersect. Well tell that to Bob Rock who made it his mission to capture how good a band sounded live, in the studio.
Before the album was even released “Khe San” was already a crowd favourite however it was a lot faster live than the studio version. But there is something special about the slowed down studio version as well.
Juliet
It’s a rocker, more STYX like with a little bit of “Evie” from Stevie Wright and “Mississippi Queen” from Mountain.
Khe Sanh
“Khe Sanh” was released as a 45 rpm single in May 1978. It captures, the despair and the anger of an Australian Vietnam war veteran. There were no parades for these guys. They came back home, hated. And the promises made by the Government to look after them never came to be.
It was banned from commercial radio as the lyrics had references of sex and drugs. Lines like these were scandalous. “And their legs were often open/But their minds were always closed”.
But a great song is never born from marketing. It’s from word of mouth.
And the Battle of Khe Sanh was fought mainly by US Marines but this didn’t matter.
The piano riff is rocking and the best part of the song is when Jimmy Barnes sings, “the last plane out of Sydney is almost gone”.
And maybe all of us were a bit damaged as well so the song resonated with a lot of people who had addictions and couldn’t make meaningful contact with woman, and the need for casual sex with East Asian women.
Home And Broken Hearted
The verse riff reminds me of AC/DC, who were influenced by Chuck Berry.
One Long Day
The bass rumbles while the piano plays a jazzy riff that reminds me of “Long Way To The Top”. And it takes a left turn when it changes to lounge rock.
Northbound
Blues rock at its best
Rosaline
It could be a STYX or Bee Gees cut. It’s almost progressive the way Don Walker plays the piano.
Daskarzine
Its fast and aggressive.
Almost Rose Tattoo like and when “they speak her name in cheap hotels/From Turkey to Marseille” we get an understanding as to who Daskarzine is.
Just How Many Times
Its lounge jazz blues rock, slow and relaxed. The lyrical message is more important than the rest. Barnesy is a crooner on this, an R&B style of crooner.
They never got the big break in North America that they wanted, but it’s pretty hard to sell your act when your lyrics paint a picture of Australia.
destroyerofharmony 