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

Australian Method Series: AC/DC – Highway to Hell

Who would have thought that six months after the album release date, Bon Scott would be dead. There is no denying what a massive force he was in the band and since his departure, AC/DC got stuck in recreating the formula that Bon’s intensity brought to the band.

While Bon wrote about sex, parties and relationships, he was also very conscious of what was happening in society and how society was structured and the power struggle between the haves and have nots. AC/DC post Bon, eventually just wrote songs which had knees rhyming with please.

Eddie Kramer was brought in by the label to produce. Malcolm was less than pleased because it meant older brother George, was no longer involved. But the the pressure was on and the band was not delivering what the label wanted.

Malcolm and the bands new manager Peter Mensch then fired Kramer and hired Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange, who wielded his iron fist straight away and made the band work hard for three months. He even made Bon take vocal lessons.

And it was the start of the holy trinity of albums.

I never purchased this album until the early 2000’s. I just went over to a friends place with a bunch of blank cassettes and I taped every album he had, while we drank beers.

“Highway To Hell”

“Highway To Hell” is a rite of passage. It might have been about touring, however timeless songs have lyrics that can be interpreted in many different ways. The riff to kick it off is iconic. Credit Malcolm.

Livin’ easy, Livin’ free

Those words are exactly how we want to live life. Easy living. Free living. But it isn’t so. Nothing is free in life and nothing is easy. The people born between 1948 and 1962 inherited a rich country and bankrupted it. They first got into government by the early 80’s and by the mid 90’s they were all in positions to make decisions.

They passed laws and regulations to benefit their bank accounts and the bank accounts of their sponsors. If they did something wrong, the taxpayer would bail them out.

And in these pandemic times, living easy and living free is impossible. Free democratic countries are passing laws to enforce lockdowns that dictatorships don’t even have.

I’m on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell

The Satanic panic begins. If this was played backwards, the subliminal message would say, “lleh ot yawhgih eht no”.

It’s so dangerous.

No stop signs
Speed limit
Nobody’s gonna slow me down

Nobody does this anymore. I tell my kids they go to school to learn, not to get a job. But people I speak to always tell me that schools are there for people to get a job. You see, money is more important than developing yourself and experiencing life. You should be free to spread your wings.

Payin’ my dues
Playin’ in a rockin’ band
Hey, mamma
Look at me
I’m on the way to the promised land

It’s why music was great. People paid their dues. It didn’t mean they would make it, or be global superstars. Hell, it didn’t mean they would make a living wage. But they could have. Bon’s lyrics are a lifestyle and six months later, Bon Scott, would be on his way to the promised land.

“Girls Got Rhythm”

If the intro riff doesn’t get you moving, check for a pulse.

I been around the world
I’ve seen a million girls
Ain’t one of them got
What my lady she got

Only Bon could get away with confessing his cheating ways to his real love back in Oz via a song and still be in a relationship.

Love me till I’m legless
Achin’ and sore

Is this even possible anymore?

Everyone is too busy parading on social media, joining movements of empowerment. There is no time for loving until the morning light, unless your on a Netflix TV series.

“Walk All Over You”

After the slow dirge Intro, a riff kicks in that The Romantics would use for “What I Like About You”.

“Touch Too Much”

How good is the Intro?

Seems like a touch, a touch too much
Too much for my body
Too much for my brain

Only Bon can put his bedroom ways into a song like this. In this case, the woman is just too much for him. He can’t handle her.

“Beating Around The Bush“

It’s the usual fast blues from “Let There Be Rock” which was inspired by the Peter Green Fleetwood Mac version. Check out the song “Oh Well”.

“Shot Down In Flames”

A few chords over a standard drum and bass canvas. It’s the AC/DC way.

“Get It Hot”

It’s like “Rock N Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” merged with Chuck Berry.

“If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)”

The Intro gets me playing air guitar. And the drum build, so simple and so sublime.

It’s animal
Livin’ in the human zoo
Animal
The shit that they toss to you
Feelin’ like a Christian
Locked in a cage
Thrown to the lions
On the second page

Quick, call in the political correct activists.

Life is like living in a cage that you pay for, your whole life and you never really own it.

The crap they toss at us, is the wage we get for building someone else’s dream and we have three options, leave and try to build our dreams, stay and work on the side to build our dreams or just stay and be a slave. Because the system is designed to benefit the companies. If you don’t have a weekly wage, you cannot get a loan.

“Love Hungry Man”

It’s funky for an AC/DC song which Angus Young called as the worst AC/DC song ever.

“Night Prowler”

While this song would become popular for all the wrong reasons, in its essence it’s a slow blues dirge and a favorite.

5x platinum in Australia, 7x platinum in the U.S and various other certifications around the world is proof of its longevity.

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

The Record Vault: Dokken – Long Way Home

Nothing is easy when it comes to Dokken.

At the peak of making it from a B level act to an A level act in the late 80’s, they broke up. Then they realised that they are better together than apart, so in the mid 90’s they gave us one of their best records in “Dysfunctional” and one of their worst in “Shadowlife”. Lynch was subsequently booted or he left, depending on whose story you believe, and Reb Beach was hired to “Erase The Slate” and kick start a new era for Dokken in 1999.

But that version of the band didn’t last long. Beach was out and Pilson went to court against Don Dokken over his actual departure and the dissolution of the partnership band agreement. Dictator Don was finally in full control of his name.

In 2002, “Long Way Home” was released. It is the only Dokken album to feature Europe guitarist John Norum, who also worked with Don on his solo project “Up From The Ashes” and the first to feature bassist Barry Sparks who had done time with Michael Schenker, UFO and Yngwie Malmsteen. This album also started a “sort of” trend on using song titles from earlier albums as album titles on future releases.

Production duties on the album were handled by Don Dokken.

“Sunless Days”

Looking at the credits, its written by Don Dokken, John Norum and Kelly Keeling.

Keeling had previously done work with Norum on one of his albums and was enlisted here to help write the album and do some vocal production duties. Also if you are a fan of Blue Murder, Keeling spent over 2 years with John Sykes on the “Nothing But Trouble” album, only to leave the band or be fired, on the day of the shoot for the “We All Fall Down” video.

A foot stomping riff, similar to “Change The World” from the “Erase The Slate” album kicks off this song. It’s a riff that Norum would tweak and use in “Start From The Dark” from Europe.

And this is the first album, when Don decided to keep his voice in the bass/lower baritone range.

“Little Girl”

Written by Dokken, Keeling and Mick Brown. Dokken was fascinated by adding sounds which I call, “The Beatles” sounds or the “Led Zep” sounds. This song is evidence of that fascination.

“Everybody Needs (To Be with Someone)”

A cut written by Dokken and Brown.

It has a vocal melody that is inspired by “Action” from Sweet. Instead of singing “everybody needs a piece of the action”, you just sing, “everybody needs to be with someone”.

“You”

Written by Dokken, Norum and Keeling, the heavy groove gets me interested.

“Goodbye My Friend”

A cut written by Don. It’s just an acoustic guitar and an excellent piano riff which sticks around after the song is finished because it mimics the vocal melody on occasion’s.

If anything, Don sounds very Eric Clapton’ish, like the Unplugged Clapton.

“Magic Road”

A Dokken and Norum cut.

One of my favourites.

Musically, Norum brings his love of 70’s classic rock to the song with his bluesy riffs. Something which he would also do with Europe, especially on the “War Of Kings” album.

“There Was a Time”

Its written by Dokken and Keeling. Another song with a strummed acoustic guitar, a simple drum beat and an catchy vocal melody.

“Heart Full of Soul”

An excellent cover from The Yardbirds.

“Under the Gun”

Written by Dokken, Norum and Keeling it’s a classic Dokken cut, with a feel and tempo like “Lightning Strikes Again”. Another favorite.

“I’ve Found”

Written by Dokken and Keeling. It’s another great track, just acoustic guitars and Beatles like vocal melodies.

If there is a fault on this album, it is the lack of opportunities Norum has to fly, because like most albums in the early 2000’s it suffered from a lack of lead guitar.

But it’s still a good listen and tracks like “Sunless Days” and “Under The Gun” could be in a best of set list.

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

1986 – Part 2.2: Judas Priest – Turbo

This is the 30 Year Anniversary cover.

I was probably too young or too dumb to understand why the writers of the music mags kept trashing the sound of this album as “lite Rock”.

To me, it was and still is a hard rock album and my fandom with Judas Priest started with this album, “Ram It Down” and “Painkiller”. Then I went back into the catalogue.

If anything, the addition of synths to their sound, was no different to ZZ Top’s and my fandom with them also started with “Eliminator”.

From a production point of view, Tom Allom is still in the producer chair.

Turbo Lover

The simplicity of Ian Hill on bass and Dave Holland on drums just playing a stock standard beat, sets a canvas for creativity. And that’s exactly what Glen Tipton, KK Downing and Rob Halford do. They decorate each section so it sounds unique, while Hill and Holland stay the same.

Tipton’s lead break is also worthy. It’s got enough moments to sing a long with it and he shreds enough to show his prowess, all without overplaying. Which is a very subjective term these days. My view on overplaying is different to others.

Then after the solo, the verse riff and vocal melody remind me of “The Sentinel”. But back then it didn’t.

Locked In

Covering “Johnny B Goode” rubbed off on the songwriting.

Make sure you check out the arpeggio solo towards the end of the whole lead break from Tipton.

Private Property

“Turbo Lover” part two. Or a track from ZZ Top’s “Eliminator”.

The bass and drums set the foundation and the others do the creativity with riffs, melodic fills, leads and vocal melodies.

Parental Guidance

Tipton always kept his finger on what was happening in the guitar scene. Check out some of his leads on the albums which came after incorporating “sweep picking”.

On this one, it’s very major key and EVH had a knack for making major chord progressions sound heavy in the way EVH palm mutes the arpeggios. Tipton does the same here.

Rock You All Around The World

The Intro riff is excellent.

Lyrically these kind of themes of “heavy metal music cranked louder and voices showing power” started to became cliched, but living through the era, i lived it.

Check out Tipton’s solo on this.

Out In The Cold

A hidden gem.

The synth Intro makes it sound ancient, like “Gates of Babylon” ancient.

Then the band crashes in and I swear I’m listening to “Dream Warriors” in the verses. But “Dream Warriors” came after. Regardless, I’m all in.

Check out that Aerosmith “Kings And Queens” feel just before the solo.

Wild Nights, Hot And Crazy Days

They tried to rewrite “Living After Midnight” musically.

But the star of the song is the AC/DC vocal melody from Halford.

Hot For Love

The first 30 seconds.

How good are the riffs?

And the Pre Chorus is more anthemic than the Chorus.

Check out Downing’s lead break and they then go into an excellent harmony section.

Reckless

One of my favorite cuts. The whole melodic rock movement is here.

The Intro harmony leads remind me of “Rock You Like A Hurricane”.

The verse melodies from Halford are excellent.

Look out
I’m blastin’ through the lines
Alive and kickin’
Watch out
I’m young and lethal
I’m goin’ from here until eternity

It resonated with me. Growing up in a steel city, all that was expected of me and others, was to grow up and work in the steelworks.

And songs like these allowed us to dream.

Make sure you check out the lead breaks, especially the outro leads from KK Downing.

And based on the momentum the band built over the last six years, the album quickly went to Platinum in the U.S. and Halford showed all the singers who the Boss is when it comes to performing live.

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The Record Vault: Dokken – Erase The Slate

Released in 1999.

The saboteur known as George Lynch was out, clearly because he was smoking something very different musically, because if you hear his attempt at a Lynch Mob record in the same year, called “Smoke This” it was clear he was not thinking clearly.

And sadly, it is the only Dokken studio album to feature Reb Beach, Lynch’s replacement and the last one to feature long time bassist Jeff Pilson. In other words, Dictator Don was taking control of the empire that carries his surname. Pilson even took Don to court over it.

In the same way that “Shadowlife” had all songs written by the band members, “Erase The Slate” has the same listing. Production is also carried out by the band members.

For Dokken to release this album in the major markets, they needed to have three labels in place. CMC International did the North American market, SPV/Steamhammer did the European market and Mercury did the Japanese market.

Compare that to today,

Record it and release it to streaming services within a week. There are no gatekeepers.

“Erase the Slate”

It’s fast, on par with “Tooth And Nail” and “Kiss Of Death” for great album openers.

Make sure you check out the lead break from Reb Beach.

“Change the World”

Another head banging riff to start the song.

The verses sound like “Empire” from Queensryche, as the bass and drums groove, while a clean tone guitar plays arpeggios, before it cranks in with a distorted riff. Think “Jet City Woman”.

“Maddest Hatter”

Stupid lyrics from Don, but then again, he’s never been known as a great lyricist. Musically, the song is excellent, full of great riffs and leads.

“Drown”

The doom and gloom does remind me of Alice In Chains musically, but the vocal melodies are straight from the 80’s hard rock scene.

“Shattered”

A great song. The riffs, the vocal melodies and the powerhouse drumming all connect. At first it reminded me of Lynch Mob, then Winger, then EVH, then Metallica. There is a lot happening.

“One”

A bad idea to cover Harry Nilsson. Then again, they had no management and had total control of their independence, so no one was there to question things.

“Who Believes”

Oasis brought back The Beatles in a big way and suddenly bands in the 90’s incorporated the Oasis/Beatles feel.

Make sure you check the solo out.

“Voice of the Soul”

The riff is excellent. Credit to Mr Pilson for it. And the chorus is addictive. Overall, the song reminds me of “Streets” and “Gutter Ballet” Savatage.

“Crazy Mary Goes Round”

These kind of lyrics in 1999 did nothing for me. Regardless Mick Brown takes the lead vocals here. Musically, it sounds like a Van Halen cut in the intro, with a late 60’s blues/rockabilly feel in the verses. If John Kalodner was in charge of the track list, this song wouldn’t make it.

“Haunted Lullaby”

Reb Beach plagiarises his Winger days and “It’s Not Love” for the riffs and I like it.

And Wild Mick Brown brings the power on this one.

Make sure you check out the head banging riff before the solo and then the solo itself. Afterwards hail at the altar of Mr Beach.

“In Your Honor”

An acoustic track, a ballad which follows that Oasis/The Beatles vibe.

The Japanese version has two bonus tracks in “Upon Your Lips” and “Sign of the Times”.

“Upon Your Lips”

It has this “Lights Out” from UFO feel. Make sure you check out the lead break.

“Sign Of The Times”

It’s like a ballad and it should not have been left off the main album. “In Your Honor” and “Who Believes” are very similar and one should have made way for this.

Dokken’s tour in support of the album was recorded and released in 2000 as “Live From The Sun”. I don’t have this album, but will review it as Beach does play a few Lynch tunes on it.

The next studio album “Long Way Home”, released in 2002, featured former Europe guitarist John Norum.

And here are some final words from Jeff Pilson.

“If there’s one record for me with DOKKEN, it would be the ‘Tooth And Nail’ [1984] record, just because we were still very hungry.

We did a record in 1999 called ‘Erase The Slate’ that I was actually very, very proud of, with Reb Beach on guitar. A fabulous record.

Then there was a DIO record that I did called ‘Strange Highways’ [1993] that I still think was just a hugely underrated record, because when it came out, people were expecting a more traditional DIO record, and I think over time, people have come to appreciate it more.”
Jeff Pilson

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1986 – Part 2.1: Yngwie Malmsteen – Trilogy

A guitarist in a band I was in, worshipped Yngwie. And he sort of pissed me off, strutting around like he was elite, making fun of all others who didn’t like Yngwie and because of him, I hated Yngwie to start off. I wouldn’t give in and say anything positive about Yngwie to him.

It wasn’t until I left the band, that I gave Yngwie some time. And when I heard the albums “Marching Out” and “Trilogy” I was hooked. Good music is good music and good riffs are good riffs.

And “Trilogy” is full of good riffs and good leads and I still class “Marching Out” as one of “the” metal albums of the 80’s.

It would become a normal thing for each Yngwie release, but I was pretty bummed when the singer from the “Marching Out” record, Jeff Scott Soto was out, replaced by Mark Boals. Then I was bummed when Boals was replaced by Joe Lynn Turner and bummed again when Turner was replaced by an unknown Swede called Goran Edman.

I guess the singer problem is solved now, as Yngwie can’t really fire himself.

Malmsteen gets a lot of praise here, but let’s not forget Boals on vocals, a cross between Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillian.

“You Don’t Remember, I’ll Never Forget”

A great opener.

The riff is simple and the keys give it a melodic rock tone.

For me the piece d resistance is the G# diminished arpeggio lead between the verse and the chorus. Its so fun to play and it connects the two sections.

And the lead break is one of Yngwie’s best. He shreds but it’s perfect for the song as he doesn’t overplay, full of melody, scalar runs and sweeps.

At 3.20, just after the solo, it goes into a slow breakdown and it builds up again into the Chorus.

And while the chorus melody keeps going, Malmsteen is wailing away in the background.

“Liar”

It’s a very Euro sounding riff. Early Europe had songs like this.

It’s more like Uli Jon Roth Scorpions merged with Blackmore’s “Speed King” and “Highway Star”.

In the verses and chorus, Malmsteen jams on a pedal point, embellishing it with scalar runs on the 4th or 8th bar of the riff, while the keys and bass outline a chord progression.

“Queen In Love”

The intro riff immediately got me to grab my guitar and attempt to learn it. It’s a great head banging riff in Em to jam to.

The sweep-picked diminished arpeggios before the main solo are excellent and fun (also frustrating) to learn. And the main solo is also one of his best.

“Crying”

An instrumental.

There is an acoustic guitar which outlines a sad rhythm, guitar track, while another acoustic guitar plays a classical like lead over it.

Eventually it morphs into an electric lead break but it wasn’t needed.

“Fury”

Who would have known that Malmsteen would utter these words many years later while intoxicated on an airplane?

This isn’t a favourite but it is fun to jam to.

“Fire”

The intro is great to play. It feels like it came from the fingers of EVH as its got this major key vibe, sort of like “Dance The Night Away” but don’t think the songs sound alike, they don’t.

Actually the way it moves from A to E, G to D and F to C, the hand placements are more “All Right Now” than anything else.

“Magic Mirror”

The intro.

Its head banging stuff. Malmsteen nailed the combo of metal riffs and keyboard embellishments in this song.

“Everyone is searching for the meaning of our life”.

We still are searching.

“Dark Ages”

Sweden’s Melodic Death Metallers would be proud of this.

Its doomy, heavy and ready to sink wooden ships, in a time when darkness ruled.

“Trilogy Suite Op:5”

I didn’t get why it needed to have Suite Op:5 added.

An instrumental.

While the first part is all shred like and fast classical arpeggios, it’s the middle section which hooked me.

From the 3 minute mark.

You need to hear that movement. Its classical music at its best and Malmsteen showcases his acoustic guitar skills.

Then when the distortion kicks in, it goes into a Uli Jon Roth style of groove, which is the foundation for more shred and a keyboard solo.

Finally, my Metallica and Slayer loving friends, couldn’t get past the album credits which state; “Produced and Conducted by Yngwie Malmsteen”.

Yes that one world, “conducted” was enough to make people not listen to Malmsteen. But if you want to hear some great melodic metal, very Rainbow like, then crank it.

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Music, My Stories

The Record Vault: Dokken – Shadowlife

I was excited when I purchased this. A new Dokken album in 1997 with all the original members still on board. Who would have thought they survived the “Dysfunctional” album and tour?

“Dysfunctional” was an excellent return a few years before, and this album would put Dokken back onto the path of greatness. Just by looking at the song titles, my interest skyrocketed.

But.

I looked at the label logo and it wasn’t Columbia. John Kalodner had dropped the band. Instead, it was CMC.

CMC was a label that was signing hard rock and metal bands dropped from major labels. And they then tried to make these bands not sound like themselves by making em work with modern hip producers.

I pressed play.

I listened. I skipped tracks.

I got to the end.

I went and made a coffee.

I came back to the stereo.

I pressed play.

I listened more attentively.

I looked at the CD booklet, the lyrics, the production notes, the thank you.

I still skipped tracks.

I made another coffee.

I pressed play.

I tried to focus on what I would like. Like the guitar riffs.

“Puppet On A String”

The verse riff from Lynch is very Tool/Alice In Chains like with little hard rock fills here and there and I like it. But lyrically and vocally it’s uninspired.

“Cracks In The Ground”

It sounds like it could have come from the “Dysfunctional” album. It’s got that psychedelic Beatles like feel which they used in “The Maze”.

“Sky Beneath My Feet”

Listen to the Led Zep “Kashmir” influenced riffs in the verses. Or a song from The Cult’s “Sonic Temple” comes to mind. Regardless there are some cool musical moments here.

“Until I Know”

Feedback noise, a drum and bass groove and then lush acoustic strummed guitars come in.

Musically, the song is good, but like the previous songs, they all suffer from forgettable vocal melodies. Dio was also suffering the same pain with his “Angry Machines” album and many other acts during this time didn’t know what kind of melodies to write.

I always liked it when artists stuck to the hard rock vocal melodies and intertwine them with the more current sounding music.

Wild Mick doing his bit for the Cancer Council.

“Hello”

This one is a good example of sticking with hard rock vocal melodies and intertwining them with the industrial sounding music. But then, they put a loudspeaker effect on Don’s voice and it all goes to hell.

They should have kept him in clean tone.

“Convenience Store Messiah”

A forgettable acoustic track.

“I Feel”

It sounds like a D grade Collective Soul cut, musically.

“Here I Stand”

The intro riff is classic Dokken and lead vocals are performed by Jeff Pilson who was already involved on a confusing album with Dio on “Angry Machines”.

“Hard To Believe”

It’s a ballad and Lynch tries really hard to not play anything clichéd. His chord selections and voicings are so far removed from his well-known power chord to devils tritone.

It really is hard to believe that this is Dokken.

“Sweet Life”

It’s got a blues rock swinging groove.

Make sure you check out the riff after the Chorus.

Then the middle section feels like a Wild West stand-off is taking place musically before it moves back to the blues rock swinging groove.

And the song ends just after 4 minutes with no guitar solo.

From the double CD One Live Night and Shadowlife

“Bitter Regret”

The acoustic riff is worthy of attention.

“I Don’t Mind”

I still skip it.

Also from the double CD

“Until I Know (Slight Return)”

It’s an instrumental blues jam and I like it. But its short and maybe it should have stayed with the original track instead of separating the two parts.

Overall there wasn’t enough quality here, nor was there a killer song to sell it and as a fan of George Lynch, it’s a shame that this is his last full studio album with the band.

Throughout the album, I was saying, “are these the same members that delivered songs like “Kiss Of Death”, “Prisoner”, “Too High To Fly”, “In My Dreams”, “Lightning Strikes Again” and etc.

It is Dokken’s worst album by far, but then again, experimental albums rarely set the world on fire. Queen seemed to have a knack at being successful with it, because they always had a song on the album which was catchy and would become a hit or a fan favourite.

And some quotes from the members.

“Well, the change in sound was due to the fact that the world had changed so much and it was us trying to adapt.

We had been listening to a lot of TOOL records at that point. Plus the producer, Kelly Gray, was very much from the whole Seattle world — not into the melodic rock world, really.

So how I look back on that record is that there were some nice moments, but overall, just not an inspired piece of work.”
Jeff Pilson

“I was very disappointed with “Shadowlife”. When we went into “Shadowlife”, George was into Monster Magnet, Tool and stuff like that. I listened to the songs he had written and I’m like, “George, we’re not Tool! We’re not detuned! We’re not Monster Magnet, I just don’t get it!”

I hated that album so much that I didn’t allow them to put my Dokken logo on that record. That’s the only Dokken record where there’s not a Dokken logo on it. It’s just has a typical font.

To put it into perspective, ‘Dysfunctional’ sold 450,000 copies after it’s cycle, when we released ‘Shadowlife’ it sold 50,000 copies.”
Don Dokken

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Music, My Stories

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – June 21 to June 27

4 Years Ago (2017)

How many times do you hear the record label/RIAA people talk about the “music industry” suffering or hurting or getting back on its feet after piracy decimated it?

How many times do you hear the Publishing Rights Organisations talk about the “music industry” suffering or hurting or getting back on its feet after piracy decimated it?

What these “industry people” fail to understand is there is no industry, no economy, no market if there isn’t people who consume music. People obtaining content without purchasing is nothing new. People going to the rock and roll show and not owning a legitimate copy of an album is old news.

I still reckon streaming is priced too high. If it is priced lower, more people will convert to paying. It’s better to have 100 million people paying $5 a month than 50 million people paying $10 a month.

And as a consumer, don’t you love how 30 entertainment companies joined together in The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE).

Its business model is working with law enforcement to shut down pirate sites and services, file civil litigation, and forge new relationships with other content protection groups.

Funny how there is nothing about providing the people/consumers with what they want.

Funny how an alliance for Creativity is all about suppression and control.

The internet liberated the people and rich organizations want to censor it, control it, regulate it and suppress it.

All this Alliance wants to do is bring the internet under their control. And then, they would go back to delivering what once worked decades ago in a world that’s moved to on demand.

Want to get eradicate piracy?

Give the people what they want, how they want it and when they want it. Guess that’s too creative for the Alliance to tackle.

8 Years Ago (2013)

It was all Dee Snider this week.

I saw Dee Snider as the spokesperson for Metal music in the Eighties’. Apart from writing generational anthems, he could also string sentences together like no one else could, and this led him all the way to Washington.

“Reason To Kill” is from the excellent Widowmaker debut, “Blood and Bullets”, released in 1992.

So you used me
Then threw me away

This is an angry Dee Snider, and that anger is directed at Bob Krasnow, the head of Elektra Records and the person responsible for killing off the Desperado project.

Widowmaker didn’t have the same commercial success as Twisted Sister, however as a Dee Snider and Al Pitrelli fan, I loved the project and the combination of two talents.

After Widowmaker released Stand By For Pain in 1994, I was at a loss as to what was happening with Dee Snider. Information was hard to get. All of the music magazines wrote about Grunge, Alternative Rock and the rise of bands like Korn, White Zombie and so forth. Hard rock, heavy rock and heavy metal news was hard to come across, especially in Australia.

So imagine my surprise when I walked into an independent record store and came across “Never Let The Bastards Wear You Down”. This was in November, 2000 and the album had been out for about six months by then.

I really liked the whole CD package, the booklet and the back stories provided by Dee for each of the songs. It is those connections that fans look for.

“You Can’t Stop Rock N Roll” preceded “Stay Hungry” and it was this album that started to give the Twisted Sister machine some momentum.

So “Stay Hungry” comes out and it’s huge.

“We’re Not Gonna Take It” became the anthem for the teenagers of 1984.

We’ll fight the powers that be just
Don’t pick our destiny cause
You don’t know us, you don’t belong

Rising up against the life that our parents, our teachers, our employers want from us..

I really like “Come Out And Play”. I remember lying in bed, staring at the back album art, reading the lyrics and singing the songs as they played on the turntable.

“Come Out And Play” was released in 1985. By now Twisted Sister was on an album per year cycle since 1981.

Join our cavalcade
Enter the world you made

Joined em we did. But “The Fire Still Burns” is by far the best song on “Come Out and Play”.

“Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)” is from “Love Is For Suckers” released in 1987. It was supposed to be the opening track on Dee Snider’s first solo album. Instead it was the opening track of the final Twisted Sister album.

Who the hell are they to say
What we can do and how we can play

Dee was always good at writing the anthem of the SMF’s vs the world.

It’s our rights they’re abusing,
It’s our right to fight back
So rally the troops and
Let’s start the attack

It’s the war cry against the censorship that was taking place against heavy metal music.

“Love Is For Suckers” had “Slippery When Wet” from Bon Jovi, “Girls Girls Girls” from Motley Crue, and Whitesnake 1987 to compete against. All of those albums were in the Billboard Top 10. “Look What the Cat Dragged In” from Poison was just outside the Top 10 at number 13.

Finally, bands are dysfunctional. They always have been and always will be.

Read “The Dirt” or “The Heroin Diaries” for how it was to be in Mötley Crüe.

Watch “The History of the Eagles” to hear the comment from Don Henley on the break up. He called it a “horrible relief”.

Dokken is the poster child for dysfunction.

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Australian Method Series: The Living End

The Living End is Australia’s answer to Green Day, The Offspring and The Clash. But more technical and rockabilly.

The group formed in 1994 in Melbourne by Chris Cheney on guitar and lead vocals (also their main songwriter and a bonafide guitar hero), along with Scott Owen on double bass and backing vocals. In 1996 they were joined by Travis Demsey on drums.

Their self-titled debut album came out in 1998. The album reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart and remained in the top 50 for 63 weeks. In Australia, it is certified 4x Platinum.

And they had momentum coming into this album as they broke through to the mainstream with their EP, “Second Solution / Prisoner of Society”, released in 1997.

“Prisoner of Society”

A groovy “Peter Gunn” like riff kicks it off and then the fast punk starts from the 15 second mark.

Well we don’t need no one to tell us what to do
Oh yes we’re on our own and there’s nothing you can do

It was a new anthem for a whole new generation of kids growing up in the 90s, in the same way songs like “Were Not Gonna Take It”, “Stand Up And Shout” and “Bang Your Head” became anthems for the early 80s generation.

Check out the guitar playing from the 2 minute mark which leads into a rockabilly solo.

“Growing Up (Falling Down)”

It’s a got a fast galloping riff.

Open up your eyes
And maybe then
You’ll realise the truth is in
The thoughts you hold
And not the obstacle in front of you

It’s the same advice that the billion dollar self development industry peddles out around “fear holding you back”. But this is 10 years before the industry started taking a hold on the best sellers charts.

“Second Solution”

I like the ska reggae start before it moves into a jazzy punk song.

Can that be a thing?

Well it is.

Make sure you check out the lead break.

Lyrically, you get the scene described as a dark street at night, a crime is committed and the police are after the criminal.

“West End Riot”

The Intro is excellent, it sounds like the soundtrack to a crime noir film.

The verses remind me of “Let There Be Rock”, just bass and drums, waiting for a vocal melody.

Make sure you check out the unique 12 bar blues swing rock jazz solo.

“Bloody Mary”

That “Peter Gunn Blues Brothers” vibe comes back again and I like it.

Make sure you check out the riff after the solo at the 2.20 mark. George Lynch and “It’s Not Love” would be proud.

“Monday”

It sounds like a alternative pop song, almost happy like for a serious subject about the Dunblane School shootings in which sixteen pupils and one teacher got killed and fifteen others injured by a lone gunman, who then turned the gun on himself.

“All Torn Down”

I used to cover this song circa 1999/2000. The Intro is metal like and I like the ska/reggae influenced verses and melodic rock Chorus.

Lyrically it deals with how our cities skylines are changing, as history is torn down for bigger and shinier buildings to be put up.

Save The Day

It’s a speed punk metal song with a rockabilly anthemic chorus. Volbeat gets a lot of press for these styles but The Living End did it years earlier.

Sleep On It

It’s a rock song in the verses (think “Kryptonite” but years before the Three Doors Down version) and punky in the chorus.

Check out the guitar lead.

And also check out the palm muted guitar riffs in the bridge.

Closing In

An instrumental. Technical and avant- grade. Almost progressive like jazz music but it’s still rock.

So if you need any more reasons to check out The Living End, guitarist Chris Cheney uses a beer bottle to play slide guitar live.

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1996 – Part 2.7: The Wallflowers – Bringing Down The Horse

I got on board The Wallflowers train in the 90’s. When this album came out, I had a 140 minute commute to work and home and I listened to mix CD,, purchased CDs and a lot of radio.

“One Headlight” was everywhere. They even made Bowie hip again in the 90’s with their cover of “Heroes”. If you don’t believe me, go and check all of the accolades the song has received post 1996.

And who knew that The Wallflowers released their debut album in 1992 on Virgin Records. They then lost the label deal and went back to playing clubs. By 1994, they got a new deal with Interscope Records.

Music is a lifers game. You don’t quit when the times are tough. Jakob Dylan was never going to quit. He grew up with music in his life. But others in the band didn’t have the same perseverance. In between the debut album and this one, they changed bass players, drummers and during the recording lost their lead guitarist.

And through all the struggles, Jakob Dylan created a 4x Platinum selling album.

“One Headlight”

A galloping groove, a memorable vocal line and southern rock country guitar licks dominate.

We can drive it home
With one headlight

It connects immediately, as I had a Nissan Pulsar that had a wiring problem and one of the headlights kept switching off. Hit a bump and I have two headlights. Hit a bump and I have one headlight.

Man, I ain’t changed, but I know I ain’t the same

Truth.

We don’t change our views or habits that much, but as we got older we are not the same spirit. Death changes us. Relationships change us.

“6th Avenue Heartache”

It’s like a Tom Petty cut and it’s also one of the older songs that was written pre-90’s.

And it’s a whose who of musicians. Mike Campbell from Petty’s band does slide guitar on this and Counting Crows vocalist Adam Duritz does backing vocals.

Sirens ring, the shots ring out
A stranger cries, screams out loud
I had my world strapped against my back
I held my hands, never knew how to act

Jakob Dylan describes the streets, much in the same way Nikki Sixx described L.A in “Wild Side”.

And check out the descriptions in the last verse.

Now walkin’ home on those streets
The river winds move my feet
Subway steam, like silhouettes in dreams
They stood by me, just like moonbeams

Can you picture it?

“Bleeders”

It’s got a strummed riff that feels like it’s ascending and it makes me feel good.

But this ain’t my first ride
It ain’t my last try
Just got to keep a-movin’ on

That’s right, it’s okay to fail, it’s okay to be disappointed. Don’t let it get the better of ya. Just keep on moving on. That brighter day is just around the corner.

“The Difference”

This one reminds me of “Born To Run” from Springsteen and I like it.

The only difference
That I see
Is you are exactly the same
As you used to be

Great lyric.

“Laughing Out Loud”

Another “Born To Run” vibe.

Laughing out loud
When I didn’t ever know just what it was all about

I’ve been in situations like this before when I was the joke but I didn’t know it. I wish I knew back then what I know today, that it’s so easy to change my situation as nothing is absolute.

Well I’m doing time inside a grapevine
Little things amuse little minds

You know the grapevine of rumours and b.s. Each day, there is a different topic. I have it at work, at the football grounds, in society, within the family and so on. The grapevine is everywhere.

“God Don’t Make Lonely Girls”

It’s a rock song, in the Mellencamp/Adams way.

“I Wish I Felt Nothing”

Great title. The barroom country rock ballad feel is back.

Say when you’re alone
It’s better cause nobody knows you
When no one’s your friend
It’s better cause nobody leaves you
So you turned your back
On a world that you could never have

Easier said than done, because humans like to belong to a tribe.

And then the band just disappeared. But they didn’t really disappear. The press abandoned em, in the same way the press abandoned other artists and genres. And the rise of the internet, made it easy for other artists to participate and suddenly, the market is flooded with new music and peer to peer sharing.

The follow up album “(Breach)” came out in 2000, and it went unnoticed in Australia.

I never heard from em again, until this year with the release of “Exit Wounds”, which got me googling the band name and I was surprised to read that there was another three albums by the band after “(Breach)” and three Jakob Dylan solo albums in between plus a lot of soundtrack work for movies and TV shows.

True lifers to the arts.

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The Record Vault: Dokken – One Live Night

What do you do when you want to do an “unplugged” album but MTV doesn’t care for you?

In Dokken’s case, it’s simple.

Do a few unplugged shows, record em and release it. Now this CD was originally released for the Japanese market. It was successful there and it got an international release in 1995.

My CD version is a double and it was released in 1999 in Australia with the album “Shadowlife” attached to it.

But this review will be solely for the “One Live Night” album. “Shadowlife” is up next.

In the CD booklet, you open it up and see the cover to the Shadowlife album and lyrics to the live Album. It’s bizarre to say the least and I already had the “Shadowlife” album purchased separately.

Now it’s not all unplugged as Lynch does plug in for his solos.

Into the Fire

No one in the audience had any idea that the opening song was “Into The Fire” based on the opening strummed chords.

But when the arpeggios started, it was recognizable and the audience was on board.

I wasn’t sold on the plugged in lead break. I wanted Lynch to recreate a lead suitable for an unplugged setting.

“Who would have thought?”, said Don Dokken at the end of the song.

Yes, who would have thought.

Unchain The Night

Great song all round.

The Intro is excellent and I like the sinister acoustic verse riff.

But…

The electric leads over the verse riff detract instead of enhancing.

How powerful does the Chorus sound in this setting?

And the outro.

They are strumming Em to D to C and back to D and the vocal melody is hooky. The electric guitar comes in for the outro lead and it works. It’s restrained, but I still would have preferred an acoustic lead.

The Maze

Don introduces this song as one that Mr John Kalodner selected. For those that don’t know, Kalodner knew how to spot a hit.

But the 90s era was a different beast to the 80s era and a hit was harder to find especially when every promotion avenue ignored bands like Dokken.

Nothing Left To Say

Like the album version and Lynch delivers an acoustic lead like the album.

Perfect.

From The Beginning

The ELP cover works well here.

Tooth And Nail

They’ve rearranged it into a blues rock tune, almost Bad Company like with Wild Mick Brown on vocals who sounds like Jon Oliva from Savatage.

And it works.

But… why the lyric lead. An acoustic lead would have served this rendition well.

Just Got Lucky

You get to hear how poppy the Chorus vocal melody is in this setting.

I Will Remember

An instrumental from Lynch’s solo album “Sacred Groove”. It’s like a ballad with a lot of melodies and some super fast shred. A nice intermission.

Alone Again

How do you get the wall of electric sounds to sound so serene and haunting without losing the essence of the song?

They got it right on this one.

I like how the piano is the dominant instrument this time around. When you go unplugged, you need to be creative.

In My Dreams

This song works in any setting. The melodies are that anthemic it doesn’t matter if there distortion or acoustics.

Nowhere Man

I would have preferred a few Dokken cuts but everyone was trying to see if they could have a hit like Tesla and “Signs”.

It’s Not Love

It’s got that blues rock 70s vibe in the Intro. And the crowd has no idea the song title.

Then someone (I think its Mick Brown) yells 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the riff starts.

A perfect closer.

And no songs from “Back For The Attack” are on it. I guess they have their reasons.

This is the sound of Dokken fighting tooth and nail to stay alive in a hostile market place.

Crank it.

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