A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, Unsung Heroes

1976 – Part 1.6: Bob Seger – Night Moves

I always have time for a little bit of Bob Seger. “Old Time Rock N Roll” was the song that got his name into my consciousness. “Turn The Page” was another, but I heard the Metallica version first. Actually, that whole “Garage Inc.” album from Metallica, got me excited to check out bands that I wasn’t sure I should check out.

So “Night Moves” is album number 9. For a person who lived on the road, the cover is perfect, with his image and the spotlight in the background.

At the age of 30, Seger did good live business in middle America, but couldn’t break through nationally.

Then he dropped the “Night Moves” album, a road trip of nostalgia and a soundtrack for many growing up in the 70’s. I didn’t hear this album until the 90’s. Such a long time after its release but if I heard this in the 80’s I wouldn’t have liked it, as I was head over heels in love with hard rock and heavy metal.

“Rock and Roll Never Forgets”

It’s a 12 bar blues romp.

The catchcry of “come back baby, rock and roll never forgets” is truth. As fans of the music and its lifestyle, we can dabble our tastes in other styles but we always come back to our rock and roll roots like we never left.

“Oh the bands still playing it loud and lean / Listen to the guitar player making it scream”

“Night Moves”

When I was doing some reading on Bob Seger, a lot of reviews when the album came out, kept mentioning how his songs sound like other songs that came before. And I’m thinking, perfect, that’s just the way I like it.

“I used her, she used me / But neither one cared / We were gettin’ our share / Workin’ on our night moves”

The strummed acoustic guitar kicks it off, but it’s Seger’s phrasing and vocal delivery, almost “American Pie” like.

The narrative of the secret getaways of teenage lovers takes its cues from Van Morrison and his “Brown Eyed Girl” and the movie “American Graffiti”. Bruce Springsteen’s “Jungleland” from “Born To Run” can also be heard, a coincidence or a fact that both artists have the same influences.

“The Fire Down Below”

It feels like a song from The Eagles “Hotel California” album which came a few years after. Reading comments on the YouTube video of the song, led me to a 60’s R&B singer called Johnny Taylor, and his songs “Who’s Makin’ Love” and “Take Care of Your Homework”. And one comment even mentioned that the Silver Bullet Band is tight in the “Brown Sugar” style of the Rolling Stones.

All I can say is, take what has come before and make it better.

“Sunburst”

“Sunburst” has inspirations from the Beatles “Dear Prudence” and Rod Stewart’s “Handbags And Gladrags”.

Stick around for the change at the 2.10 minute mark when it gets a bit metal like.

“Gaze on the sunburst / His weapon at his side / He flashes it with pride / Before his legions”

What’s this. Lyrics about the wood finish on a guitar. Before the term “Guitar Hero” even existed.

“Sunspot Baby”

Another 12 bar blues romp, that he would really nail with “Old Time Rock’N’Roll”.

“She packed up her bags and she took off down the road / Left me here stranded with the bills she owed / She gave me a false address / Took off with my American Express”

Story telling at its best about a lover who did a number on him as she charged up a fortune on his credit card.

“Mainstreet”

It could be about any town in any part of the world, as we all have the same main streets and a story or two of someone who tried to make it out.

The guitar melodies and leads on this one are excellent.

“And sometimes even now, when I’m feeling lonely and beat / I drift back in time and I find my feet / Down on Mainstreet”

That’s right, you can never escape your hometown. You know every corner, every crack on the road, every curb and every smell. It’s in your DNA.

“Come to Poppa”

It smoulders along with its “Cocaine” groove.

“If you need a pacifier / Call me anytime”

This is more crude than any lyric that the PMRC found offensive in a decades time for their “Filthy 15” list.

“Suck on that”, I say.

“Ship of Fools”

The Eagles influence is present again with “Lyin’ Eyes” and “Take It Easy” combining to become “Ship Of Fools”.

“Mary Lou”

It’s a cover and it sounds like Seals and Crofts “Your Mama Don’t Dance” or “Jailhouse Rock” or “Smokin In The Boys Room”.

You know the riff I’m talking about.

In the U.S, six million copies were shipped, for a 6× Platinum certification. And “Night Moves” is the anchor to Seger’s most successful period which includes “Stranger In Town” in 1978 and “Against the Wind” in 1980.

How many artists can say that their ninth album broke em him to the masses?

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The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – May 17 to May 23

4 Years Ago (2017)

The thing with blogs and posts is that you try and write something different and creative. Like this post, titled “Dollars And Cents”. At the time I was reading a book on innovations and Charles Goodyear inspired me.

Everyone today knows “Charles Goodyear” as the inventor of vulcanised rubber. But what they don’t know is that he spent his whole life on struggle street, in and out of prison because of his money problems and six of his twelve children died because he couldn’t support them.

And when he perfected his vulcanised rubber, he couldn’t take out a patent because another scientist called Thomas Hancock took out a patent eight weeks earlier. You see, Hancock had gotten a hold of a sample of Goodyear’s final product and reverse engineered it.

Goodyear tried the courts, however the judge couldn’t understand how Hancock could have reverse engineered the invention and awarded all rights and royalties to Hancock.

It wasn’t until his journals were read by others that the following was found: “Life should not be estimated exclusively by the standard of dollars and cents.”

The Goodyear name would be recognised many years later. His achievements are world-changing but he never got paid for it while he was alive.

And the post combined F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ken Kesey, Dream Theater, Metallica and others.

These days, every town has thousands of bands who are recording themselves and releasing their music. And there are artists who have “made it” who are also releasing music. And they all want to be paid for it. Because their hard work and time spent is worth something. It’s all dollars and cents until you have that iconic hit. Only then you will be paid. When the music listening public decides it’s worthy.

Once upon a time my Release Radar playlist was pretty spot. Check out my love for The Night Flight Orchestra, Rise Against, Hell Or Highwater, Adrenaline Mob and Harem Scarem.

And when I was thinking about innovations, I thought about the cassette.

The Cassette tape allowed me to make demo after demo, mix tape after mix tape and it allowed me to copy a lot of albums from people who either had the original album or had a copy of the album from someone else who either had the original or had a copy.

For me it is was a game changer.

The record labels screamed loud and hard to their politician friends to pass new laws and stop this new sharing culture. Remember their headline, “Home taping is killing music.” A more accurate and truthful headline would be, “Home Taping is Spreading Music to the Masses” or “Home Taping Is Spreading Music And This Leads To Increased Sales Later On”.

Progressive Music always fascinated me.

In the Year 2000, the mainstream was ruled by Nu-Metal bands and progressive music was really at opposite ends of the spectrum.

On one side, you had the Dream Theater style of progressive music. This involved a lot of time changes, with the focus on high-octane technical musical workouts and each song exhibited a smorgasbord of riffs.

On the other side of the progressive music spectrum, you had the Tool style of progressive music. This involved time changes, but the focus was on groove and atmospherics, with each song building on a unique riff or bass line or drum pattern. Tool always stood by their brand and never wavered from it.

In between you had Porcupine Tree, merging Tool like aggression with Pink Floyd like atmospherics and on the extreme end you had Meshuggah with their focus on groovy, technical polyrhythms.

The missing link is Fates Warning. Fates Warning released an album called “Disconnected” which merged the Tool and Porcupine Tree progressive elements with the Dream Theater progressive elements and put them through the Fates Warning blender. It’s a fusion of all the best progressive elements at the time into a cohesive piece of work that can be listened to over and over again from start to finish.

Making something technical sound simple to the ear is progressive music to me.

Metallica did it with each album up to “…And Justice For All”.

Rush did it with each album until they reset their career with “Signals”.

Dream Theater nailed it with “Images And Words”.

Fates Warning nailed it with “Disconnected”.

And back in 2013, I was writing that if an artist wants to make money from streaming music, then they should stay independent and don’t sign to a label.

Or if they sign to make sure they own their copyrights. Streaming pays pretty good, provided people are listening. And the more people who embrace streaming, the greater the pool of money to divide.

Remember when AC/DC refused to have their music on iTunes and even streaming services? Now they’re on all of them.

And remember that each release is competing with the history of music

8 Years Ago (2013)

I was watching Eurovision and I came across Eythor Ingi from Iceland. He sang a ballad called “I Am Alive”. The song is average, however his voice, his look and his name stuck in my head.

So I went to YouTube. He was in a Deep Purple cover band and he covers “Child In Time”. If you want to separate the vocalists from the wannabe’s, “Child In Time” is the song.

I just rechecked on him and he’s still doing music in his native language. I would like to hear an English speaking album as well.

And did anyone hear the new (at the time) Five Finger Death Punch song, “Lift Me Up” and how similar the vocal line in the verse is to “The Ultimate Sin” from Ozzy. A perfect example of taking something from the past to make something new.

And I wrote an appreciation post on the lyrics of Jesse Leach.

We are overloaded with people creating something. The Internet has removed the entry barriers to promote creative works have diminished greatly. Artists are writing books, comics or creating art via paintings or photography.

And they create because they want to create. And at the time System Of A Down had three quarters of the band ready to do another album. But vocalist Serj Tankian was not interested.

“Kingmaker” from Megadeth was just released. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the “Children of The Grave” influence in the verses.

Finally, the Richie Sambora saga was ongoing and some serious scalping was happening in Australia, as tickets to the first Jovi shows in Australia were still available to be purchased but the shows are marketed as sold out and second shows are up for sale.

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Australian Method Series: AC/DC – Powerage

I’ve already reviewed “TNT” and in The Record Vault post I had “High Voltage”, “Blow Up Your Video”, “For Those About To Rock”, “Let There Be Rock”, “Flick Of The Switch” and “Family Jewels” reviewed.

But.

No AC/DC discussion can be had without mentioning “Powerage”.

Released in 1978. A lot of discussions are had in Australia and around the world, if this is the “album”. It’s not their most famous work and it didn’t chart well but it is seen as their definitive work, like “Sgt Peppers” and “Exile On Main Street”.

Keith Richards and Slash call this their favorite album.

The personnel for the album is Bon Scott on vocals, Angus Young on lead guitar, Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar, Cliff Williams on bass guitar and Phil Rudd on drums.

The label wanted Bon gone as they believed his voice was the reason the band couldn’t get radio play but the Young brothers wouldn’t hear it.

“Let There Be Rock” didn’t do great numbers commercially and bassist Mark Evans was replaced by Cliff Williams, but he couldn’t get a Visa to enter Australia. So because of this, it’s believed that most of the bass tracks are played by George Young.

“Rock N Roll Damnation”

The riff that spawned a thousand copy cat bands.

“Take a chance while you still got the choice”

What a lyric line from a boozer, lover and party animal. AC/DC lost this art when Bon died. Johnson had it in him but the Young brothers took over most of the lyric writing and that was that as AC became sleeker and more corporate.

Burn all your self help development books and listen to Bon Scott’s lyrics in AC/DC. They will motivate you.

“Down Payment Blues”

It’s one of Slash’s favorite songs. And mine too. Especially the riff that would be reused a few years later for “Givin The Dog A Bone” riff.

Living on a shoestring
A fifty cent millionaire
Open to charity
Rock ‘n’ roll welfare

Bon Scott might have portrayed a certain confidence and strut, but he had a soft spot for the broke, bruised and the weak of society. Because he lived what he wrote and we understood what he wrote because we lived it as well.

Get myself a steady job
Some responsibility
Can’t even feed my cat
On social security
Hiding from the rent man
Oh it make me wanna cry
Sheriff knocking on my door
Ain’t it funny how the time flies

Eventually we all fall in line to what governments want. Obedient workers who enslaved to earn and pay taxes. And by the time you know it, your retired and then dying. Ain’t it funny how time flies when your doing routine 9 to 5.

“Gimme A Bullet”

How good is the verse riff?

And if the verse sounds familiar it’s basically the “Highway To Hell” verse riff.

“Riff Raff”

Those open string riffs with smashing power chords and that little riff towards the end that sounds like something that Mick Mars took for “Rattlesnake Shake”.

I never shot nobody
Don’t ever carry a gun
I ain’t done nothin’ wrong
I’m just havin’ fun

I thought of this song and lyric when I came across the video clip to “You Can’t Stop Rock N Roll” from Twisted Sister and how the anti noise or was it anti-fun police kept chasing em.

“Sin City”

One of the best riffs ever.

Where the lights are bright
Do the town tonight
I’m goin’ in
To sin city

And you believed every word of it.

“What’s Next To The Moon”

Lars ripped the drum groove from this song and “Dirty Deeds” for his “Enter Sandman” Intro.

Two awesome songs to use for inspiration in my opinion.

“Gone Shootin”

The tune is bluesy and not as heavy but the subject matter of losing someone close to you to heroin is anything but light.

“I stirred my coffee with the same spoon
Knew her favourite tune
Gone shootin’
My baby gone shootin’…”

“Up To My Neck In You”

It’s that Chuck Berry shuffle they used on “Jailbreak” and “Long Way To The Top”.

“Kicked In The Teeth”

It’s basically “Whole Lotta Rosie” and “Let There Be Rock” musically. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Bon Scott is channeling his Robert Plant voice.

In Australia it went 3x platinum. In the U.S only Platinum. But to me, it’s the AC/DC album. Here is a review I wrote for the album when I covered the 1978 year.

And for the Brian Johnson era “Flick Of The Switch” is his “Powerage” album.

Crank it.

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1976 – Part 1.5: Scorpions – Virgin Killer

The original cover gets more attention than the actual album. Even Wikipedia was embroiled in the controversy for showing it. I’ll go with the alternative cover.

For me, this album showcases the power of Uli Jon Roth. Four of the compositions “Virgin Killer”, “Hell-Cat”, “Polar Nights” and “Yellow Raven” are written solely by Roth (he even sings on two of em), while opener “Pictured Life” is written with Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker. “In Your Park”, “Backstage Queen” and “Crying Days” are Meine and Schenker compositions.

Rounding out the band is Francis Buchholz on bass and Rudy Lenners on drums, the underrated rhythm section of the band. Dieter Dierks is credited as assisting with the arrangements and production.

“Pictured Life”

It’s like a party is happening. There are leads all over this song courtesy of Roth.

In the intro, in the verses, in the Chorus and after the Chorus.

And one of their biggest songs, “Rock You Like A Hurricane” is very similar to this.

I also think that “Games People Play” from The Alan Parson’s Project sounds like this.

Make sure to check out the Chorus riff.

“Catch Your Train”

Rudolf Schenker delivers killer riffs on this, while Roth creates the Shrapnel label with his shred’a’licious leads.

Check out the lead break here and you will hear a lot of the 80’s players style. Kirk Hammet, Marty Friedman, George Lynch, Randy Rhoads and John Sykes.

“In Your Park”

It’s like a ballad before the word was overused by MTV and for some reason, I can’t stop thinking of “I’m Eighteen” when I hear this song.

“Backstage Queen”

They are doing the British Blues better than the Brits were doing it at this time.

Lenners and Bucholz are super locked in during the solo section and deliver an excellent groove for Roth to solo over.

“Virgin Killer”

How good is the intro riff to this?

When I heard it, I thought of “Too Fast For Love” which came 5 years later.

And the way Klaus Meine sings this, it sounds like an Aerosmith song.

Roth has mentioned that the meaning of “Virgin Killer” is “none other than the demon of our time, the less compassionate side of the societies we live in today, brutally trampling upon the heart and soul of innocence.”

And the record label thought that putting a naked 10 year old on the cover was a good idea and the guys in the band agreed.

“Hell-Cat”

Vocals are provided by Mr Roth for this bluesy number. Musically it sounds like Hendrix and vocally it should have been performed by Meine.

“Crying Days”

It has this arpeggio line in the intro, that appears on “Lords Of Karma” by Joe Satriani and “Hell Child” from Lynch Mob.

“Polar Nights”

This one also has vocals by Roth. Musically, it’s got a sleazy groove and some smooth legato playing from Mr Roth.

“Yellow Raven”

A ballad with some heavy classical overtones.

From the vocal point of view, I would have preferred Meine to sing on all the tracks, because as a fan of the 80’s Scorpions, it’s his voice I am used to.

Crank it for Uli Jon Roth.

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1976 – Part 1.4: Judas Priest – Sad Wings Of Destiny

It’s not on Spotify as their original label Gull owns the rights and the split between artist and label was hostile.

Judas Priest recorded this album on a very small budget, whilst working part-time jobs and living off of one meal a day. As they say, hard times and adversity breeds genius.

This album is the transition point between blues rock and a new style about to be born, which is basically the metal that I got to know.

“Victim Of Changes”

It kicks off the album, a combination of two separate songs. “Whiskey Woman” from the band co-founder and original singer, Al Atkins (who also gave the band its name) and “Red Light Lady” from the person who replaced him, Rob Halford.

The riff reminds me of “Stormbringer” from Deep Purple and both songs came out at a similar time. There is a little lick towards the end of the riff that Metallica swiped for “Seek And Destroy” which they use to “get out” of the intro riff pattern and into the verse riff. Wikipedia quotes a source that the riff was inspired by “Black Dog” from Led Zeppelin.

Regardless of the source inspiration, it’s a beautiful example of how you take little bits and pieces of what came before and make it your own.

“The Ripper”

A lot of bands at this time were doing similar riffs, borrowing from each other and allowing themselves to be influenced. The main riff here is reminiscent of “Stranglehold” from Ted Nugent, however both songs came out at the same time. It could be pure coincidence, but it also means that the artists in question had the same influences.

The Chorus riff feels like a Pink Panther soundtrack and the solo section is the way Muse do their solo sections.

“Dreamer Deceiver”

If you want to know the inspiration behind “The Warning” album from Queensryche, just listen to this.

It’s one of those moody slow tempo songs I really like from acts in the Seventies. From a Judas Priest viewpoint, this song is an underrated cut. I would even call it a masterpiece.

Halford covers so much ground with his voice, singing across four octaves at different times of the song.

And the guitar solo from Glenn Tipton. One of the best guitar solos of all time. So overlooked. It’s on par with “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd for pure emotion.

As the solo went on, Halford came in with his super falsetto ohhhs and ahhhs.

“Deceiver”

It has the triplet galloping style of riffing that Sabbath used in “Children Of The Grave” which came out in 1971. And Halford is going to town with his falsetto voice, clearly showing a certain Scandinavian singer called King Diamond, how to develop his style.

“Prelude”

It’s soundtrack music. A friend of mine said, its influenced by “The March Of The Black Queen” from the Queen “II” album. Listen to em both and you decide.

“Tyrant”

I reckon a young EVH was clearly influenced by the riffs in this song. Listen to the intro riff and you will hear it sounds like a certain Van Halen song.

“Genocide”

There is a lot of Deep Purple in this track. “Smoke On The Water” and “Woman from Tokyo” come to mind, from a groove and feel point of view.

“Epitaph”

It’s a progressive song, with layered vocals while musically, it’s just a piano riff. Black Sabbath’s “Changes” and Queen and ELP comes to mind.

“Island of Domination”

And they close off the album with a track that reminds me of “IV” from Sabbath.

The main riff sounds an awful lot like Nazareth’s “Railroad Boy” released a year earlier.

And you all know my view on this, all music is a derivative of some other music. If you listen closely, the section from 2.20 reminds me of “Wake Up Dead” from Megadeth.

For just their second album, there is a lot of ground covered.

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The Record Vault: Creed – Live (DVD)

It’s just called “Live”.

This concert was filmed on their “Full Circle” tour in 2009. Joining the usual 4 members, Scott Stapp, Mark Tremonti, Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall, is Eric Friedman on guitar.

Friedman has an interesting story.

Tremonti really got behind him around 2002/3 but his journey starts in 1996, when Kenny Wayne Shepherd pulled him onstage for a jam session. He got a Fender deal at 13 and a developmental record deal with Steve Vai’s label Favored Nations at 15. He appeared on the excellent Submersed album “In Due Time” (released in 2004) and as the rhythm guitarist with Creed on their reformation tour. He’s also in the Tremonti band.

Creed gets blasted for various reasons by critics and haters, but if you look at their output and the years those albums came out, you will notice that their releases acted like a bridge between eras.

“Human Clay” is that album that bridged the 80’s and early 90’s with the newer sounds from the late 90’s. After “Human Clay” we would get hundreds of derivative bands, in the same way we got hundreds of hard rock bands in the early 90’s.

I think of “Human Clay” in the same way I think of “Sad Wings Of Destiny” from Judas Priest which bridged the derivative blues rock from the early 70’s and space prog rock into a sound that I know as metal.

“Bullets”

It’s a great opener, very metal like. Check out the intro riff for aggression.

It’s also the second single from Creed’s third album, “Weathered”.

When I watched em in Sydney on the “Weathered” tour, they also opened with this one.

“Overcome”

“Please allow us to re-introduce ourselves. We have overcome”, Stapp said as he introduced the song.

From the new album, and it was like Creed never broke up. But it was a different Creed as well, as Tremonti delivers a killer lead break.

“My Own Prison”

“When we got back into the room after six years of not playing together, I asked Mark, “what do you want to play” and he said, “let’s go back to the beginning”” was how Stapp introduced this song.

And “My Own Prison” begins. Its slower tempo groove fits perfectly in the set list after two heavy openers.

“Say I”

One of my favourite tracks from Creed as it incorporates a few different feels and styles. If you like Tool, then the verses would remind you of Tool. If you like hard rock, then the pre-chorus will remind you of hard rock. If you like metal, then the intro and chorus riff will remind you of metal.

For me, this is a deep album cut and to see it in the set list, I wish I was in Houston watching the show.

And they jam the interlude groove, which I didn’t think they would do. But they did, making the concert experience different from just playing the song as per the recording.

“Never Die”

“This song is about innocence”, Stapp said in his introduction. I still reckon this is an awesome Pearl Jam song. Maybe more so for the vocal than the music, as the riffs from Tremonti incorporate so many different styles. And if you read his interviews, you will feel like you had the same upbringing as him and his discovery of music.

“Torn”

One of my favourite songs to jam to. Tremonti is a master at creating a great riff.

“A Thousand Faces”

This is another album cut, which defines the Creed sound and make sure you check out the Tremonti solo towards the end of the song.

“What If”

How good is the Chorus and that chromatic Metallica/Megadeth like interlude?

Then they jam. The solo section has Tremonti and Friedman trading licks and none of it is from the studio recording. It’s all part of the live show.

“Unforgiven”

If you are a fan of Creed because of “Higher” and “What’s This Life For” then you will be bored by this song. It’s basically speed metal and aggressive.

And Creed brought back the big Rock N Roll show. Check out the photo below.

They had a similar stage design with pyro and flames in 2003, which at the time was “anti trends” as most bands from 1994 and onwards operated in shadows.

“Are You Ready?”

The groove of the riff is head banging stuff.

“What’s This Life For”

One of my favourite songs from the debut. It’s a ballad, but those last two minutes of the song, are excellent.

“Faceless Man”

“This next song is very personal to me”, Stapp said as he introduced this.

Its cinematic and this part of their music always get overlooked. This track was hidden behind the hits, “Higher” and “With Arms Wide Open” but this track is the piece d’resistance on the album as it moves between rock and ballad and rock and ballad.

And I hated learning it, because I had to change my tuning to an open D5 tuning. But, I believe the open D5 tuning just makes you play with an eastern feel, so make sure you check out the main eastern sounding riff.

This song is Creed folks.

Put it on and crank it.

“With Arms Wide Open”

The anthem, with its “Dust In The Wind” inspired progression. And while it was written for the birth of a child, the song has taken on many different meanings. Tremonti’s finger picking gets a highlight moment, but that defining moment would come with “One Last Breath” a bit later on.

“My Sacrifice”

This song doesn’t get the respect it should. The riffs are stellar and the vocal melody is iconic.

“One”

From the debut album, another song with a killer riff that is fun to jam.

“One Last Breath”

On Songfacts, Tremonti mentioned that “One Last Breath” is one of his favourite riffs. On YouTube it’s got a massive amount of views. On Spotify, it’s at 135.3 million streams, even more than “Higher” which is sitting at 110.1 million streams or “My Sacrifice” at 127.3 million streams.

This song really highlights Tremonti’s clean fingerstyle.

In a Guitar World issue, Tremonti mentioned how he would have devoured all the Classical/Baroque stuff, but subliminally his style developed by devouring the acoustic pieces from metal and rock artists, like “Mechanical Resonance” and the style of Frank Hannon or the fingerstyle stuff from Metallica on their slower tempo songs and instrumentals like “Call Of Ktulu”.

“Higher”

The closer. If you don’t know it, then you haven’t been part of the mainstream.

By the end of it, the band is drenched in sweat, Stapp went shirtless and the thousands of fans in attendance would have gone away happy. It’s not always perfect, but hey, that’s why it’s called the live show. And no live show is the same as the last show. If we wanted perfect, we would listen to the studio albums.

P.S. I forgot that I had this DVD when I did the original Record Vault post on Creed.

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

1976 – Part 1.3: Boston – Boston

It’s another band I really got into during the 90’s and I’ve posted my record collection of Boston here.

It was a Guitar World issue that got me interested to hear Boston as it spoke about the making of the album, Tom Scholz diligence to sound and it also had a transcription of the opening track, “More Than A Feeling”. At 445.7 million plus streams on Spotify, it’s a monster track.

At 29 years of age when the album was released, Tom Scholz wasn’t your typical rock star in waiting, working as a project manager for Polaroid with a Master’s degree in engineering and writing songs that he liked to hear in his basement when he wasn’t working. And as good as Scholz is, he needed a voice for his songs, and that voice came from Brad Delp.

Disco also ruled the airwaves when this album hit the record stores. Most labels passed on the band because they didn’t believe a guitar heavy rock record could even chart. But Scholz stumbled onto a sound that would be imitated by all bands since.

My favourite is “Peace Of Mind” purely for the guitar leads in the intro and the outro. On Spotify, its sitting at 117.8 million streams.

I then ignored the rest of the album for a long time, finding it generic. An Epic A&R rep even said to the band in one of the rejection letters that they have nothing new to offer and sounded generic, but then credited himself as discovering the band when they broke big.

Then in the 2000’s I revisited the album.

“Foreplay/Long Time” came into my life and I didn’t notice it before but it has a similar riff in it as “More Than A Feeling. On Spotify, its sitting at 74.4 million streams.

“Rock And Roll Band” and “Smokin” are your standard blues rock fares, with “Smokin” having a more ELP vibe in the middle section. It’s also sitting at 47.3 million streams on Spotify.

And the other tracks are “Hitch A Ride”, “Something About You” and “Let Me Take You Home Tonight” showcase a more of blues country rock feel, but compared to the massive first two songs, they are lost in the “deep album cut” landscape. And it’s those first two tracks which sold the album throughout the world.

17 million sales in the U.S alone. Not bad for an album recorded in a basement.

In 2013, Scholz filed a termination notice to claim back his copyrights to the debut album and “Dont Look Back” as per the clause in Copyright Law which allows him to do so after 35 years. And it ended up in the courts.

Who knows if he succeeded?

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

1976 – Part 1.2: UFO – No Heavy Petting

My UFO experiences started in the 90’s. The band UFO, just in case anyone was wondering.

“Lights Out” (released in 1977) is the gold standard along with the live album “Strangers In The Night” (released in 1979).

But.

“No Heavy Petting” deserves more love.

The band for the album is Phil Mogg on vocals, Michael Schenker on guitar, Danny Peyronel on keyboards, Pete Way on bass and Andy Parker on drums.

Any idea about the monkey on the cover.

“Natural Thing”

The intro riff is great to play and one of the best committed to tape.

And I was pointed towards “Rock N Roll Queen” from Mott The Hoople as an influence. The guitar player on that is Mick Ralphs before Bad Company.

“I’m A Loser”

Written by Schenker and Mogg. The acoustic intro riff has influenced a lot of the 80’s bands.

How good is the piano melody in the section when “hard times, out on the streets” is sung?

And the lead break from Michael Schenker is guitar hero worthy and I’m pretty sure forgotten by all.

“Can You Roll Her”

The song is written by Peyronet, Mogg and Parker.

A stupid title which doesn’t do the fast paced and frantic music any justice. The guitar riffs in the intro/verses and little guitar melodies in the Chorus are excellent.

Schenker goes to town when it comes to the lead spotlight, combining his brilliant pentatonic playing with fast picked Aeolian Minor runs. The way it is constructed would influence countless of other guitarist to “work out” their leads.

“Belladonna”

Written by Schenker and Mogg.

When I hear this song, I think of “Soldier Of Fortune”. It more or less follows the same pattern. But I also think of “Try Me” which would come on the album after. And Scorpions would write songs like this in a few years’ time.

The Schenker solo is memorable, but on “Try Me” it’s outta this world.

Make sure you check out the classical like guitar melody that Schenker starts playing after the solo.

“Reasons Love”

What a great funky, sleazy and bluesy guitar riff to kick off the song.

“Highway Lady”

It’s your standard blues rock fare with Schenker wailing away in the solo.

“On With The Action”

Written by Schenker and Mogg.

The riff to kick this song off is like doom metal, if downtuned. Its heavy.

The groove in the song makes it a favorite of mine but the song is forgotten by the masses when it comes to discussions about UFO.

And if you are a fan of excellent guitar playing, make sure you check out the solo here as well. All of the 80’s guitar heroes copied it.

“A Fool In Love”

It’s written by Frankie Miller and Andy Fraser and it’s a “Honky Tonk Woman” meets “All Right Now” blues romp.

“Martian Landscape”

Written by Peyronel, Mogg and Parker. It’s one of those songs that the 70’s bands put on albums that was a bit progressive and experimental. And sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. This song worked for UFO and it’s the precursor to “Love To Love”. And a riff in “Love To Love” gave birth to “Desert Song”

In other words, “No Heavy Petting” is an underrated hard rock record, a link between the derivative 12 bar blues and hard rock as I know it.

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Copyright, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – May 10 to May 16

4 Years Ago (2017)

Barry McKay was at war with Steve Harris over “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and “The Nomad”.

I posted my viewpoint and McKay posted his replies and we had a bit of a back and forth.

I did my 7th post on the the year 1983. It included the bands Slayer, Queensryche, UFO, Motörhead, Heavy Pettin, Saxon and Choirboys.

And I was questioning how many of the social media followers artists have are actually fans or invested in what the artists has to say.

And it’s okay to be influenced. For example, Poison – “Unskinny Bop” (1991).

The song has over 7 million streams on Spotify. The guitar riff is influenced by the intro guitar riff in Billy Squier – “Powerhouse” from 1986.

The bass lines are very similar to the bass line from 45 seconds onwards in Great White – “Mista Bone” from 1989. Then again, that running bass line is pretty common in most songs. You hear it in “Disturb The Priest” from Black Gillian’s album “Born Again”.

And “Unskinny Bop” still sounds original.

8 Years Ago (2013)

I was discussing the prices of tickets for Bon Jovi’s Australian tour.

If a Bon Jovi fan wanted to sit in Row 1 and purchase a Diamond VIP package, the price of one ticket is $1975 + $10 booking fee.

If a Bon Jovi fan wanted to sit in Rows 2 to 5 and purchase an Emerald VIP package, the price of one ticket is $1475 + $10 booking fee.

If a Bon Jovi fan wanted to sit in Rows 6 to 13 and purchase a Sapphire VIP package, the price of one ticket is $975 + $10 booking fee.

And for the Sydney show, these VIP tickets had been sold out. And after the JBJ website sale, the next stage of the sales was the Telstra pre-sales, the Showbiz pre-sales, then the Ticketek VISA pre-sales and the general pre-sales and finally the public release.

What a collusive, exploitive and unregulated process.

And the Telstra presales were a disaster. The website went down and people couldn’t get tickets but eBay had tickets on sale for triple the price.

In other words the band was scalping its own tickets.

And the “What About Now” album continued its free fall, sitting at 133.

And I was always trying to tie together various threads from different artists. This post was called “The Crazy Lifestyles of the Rockers and Metallers”.

All our heroes are flawed and far from normal.

I was spinning the “Operation Mindcrime” album and wrote about the title track, “I Don’t Believe In Love” and “Eyes Of A Stranger”.

Continuing my Queensryche kick, I wrote about “Bridge”.

And “Silent Lucidity”.

And how good is the Vince Neil – Exposed album?

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

Australian Method Series: Choirboys – Midnight Sun

I’ve already written about Choirboys previously, especially their 80’s album in the self-titled debut released in 1983 and “Big Bad Noise” which had the monster hit, “Run To Paradise” released in 1987.

So how do you follow up a monster album released in 1987. Well after all the touring, opening up for large U.S acts and going back into the studio to write and record, the gap was 4 years.

That’s right, 4 years.

It’s a long time.

Instead of recording in Australia, they went to Cherokee Studios in L.A with producer Marc Tanner who used to be an Elektra recording artist.

“Midnight Sun” hit the streets in 1991. And compared to “Big Bad Noise” which was certified double platinum in Australia, “Midnight Sun” has no certification.

For a great album, it gets no love or attention. Even on Spotify, there are no songs from this album in the Top 5 of most listened songs from The Choirboys.

“Midnight Sun”

It’s got this AC/DC style groove (think of “Live Wire” with a bit of a Springsteen/Mellencamp vibe.

Lyrically they are the devils boy, is walking the streets of society as the keeper of the midnight sun.

“Our Empire Falls”

This song should have been a hit.

Standing with her back to the ocean
Is this the final curtain call?
Still trying to make a deal with the sunshine
It′s over, it’s over

Once bathed in glory
But now your image is fading

And check out the lyrics, which deal with faded glories and contemplating suicide. This from an act who was expected to write party anthems.

Tonight is the night our empire falls

“Rise Up”

Their blend of different rock styles is perfect. This song is a great example of how a song can still sound hard rock but be catchy and commercial. It’s a mixture of an AC/DC (that “Live Wire vibe again), Bryan Adams and “Jessie’s Girl” from Rick Springfield with a bit of Def Leppard.

The intro alone has the drums and bass playing a simple hard rock groove.

It’s no surprise that Mellencamp’s music is heard in Australian artists, as the “Scarecrow” album was massive.

‘Cos I see the best of things
Lies somewhere in the kiss of knowledge
Bullshit ends when faith begins
If you’re down at the bottom, at the end

Rise up

“Place With No Love”

A great ballad with a weird music video featuring a character in a leather fetish mask.

“Rendezvous”

It’s got this “Radar Love” style drum groove and a film clip with people hitting the road to meet up somewhere.

Now we’re on the road to our Rendezvous
With nothing, there’s nothing to lose

These lyrics connect straight away.

Australia is a massive place with vast distances between towns. The only way we used to be connected was via the motorways and suburban roads and railways. So hitting the road to meet up is part of the Australian psyche.

How can you fly with your feet on the ground
Take all of your dreams, let’s get out of this town

We all wanted to escape our hometowns to try and achieve our dreams. These days the kids are okay to live at home we’ll into their 30’s.

“Only In America”

This song melts. When I hear it, I think of The Cult, AC/DC crashing with Springsteen.

Only in America you read my rights to me
Only in America I watch my trial on TV
Only in America only in America
I won’t ever be alone
Then why do I feel so lonely

“Battle Boulevard”

Check out the intro.

It’s just bass and drums and then the guitars come crashing in with power chords and a nice little lead.

I hear the guitars playing My Generation
That used to be our song
And I can feel the beat down on the boulevard

“Going Home”

This feels like a hard rock “Need You Tonight” from INXS.

But I’ve lived a dreamer and I’ve lived in hope
But I don’t want to stay here on my own

I’m going home

“Romance Street”

A rocking ballad if that ever could be a thing. To me, it’s an awesome cut in the vein of “Born To Run” Springsteen.

“We Believed”

When “The Killers” came out, I thought of this song. Because it felt like “The Killers” sounded like this.

In the end, The Choirboys was just another Australian band trying to break into the larger U.S market, which didn’t pan out as expected. And while the first two albums sounded “Australian” (whatever that means, but the label reps kept saying shit like this), the “American” sound was here on this album, and the song writing is mature and the lyrics get you thinking.

Useless fact, fast forward a few years from this, I was in a band opening up for Choirboys in a small pub with about 200 hundred people in attendance.

And vocalist/guitarist Mark Gable along with bassist Ian Hulme were the only original members, but they still brought it live.

The band is still going today with the line up that did this album. Jamming with Gable and Hulme, is guitarist Brett Williams and drummer Lindsay Tebbutt.

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