Tag Archives: Black Sabbath

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

1986 – Part 3.4: Black Sabbath – Seventh Star

I didn’t get into Black Sabbath until the mid-90’s. I knew of their existence because Ozzy and Dio did a great job promoting his Sabbath legacy.

Then Dio re-joined for “Dehumanizer” in the early 90s and I was interested to hear more Black Sabbath. So the process started.

The fact that everyone was selling their vinyl to second hand record shops definitely helped because it meant I could pick up their older stiff cheaply.

And after Grunge came out, they kept talking about the Sabbath influences in the Seatlle sounds and Sabbath’s renaissance into Mainstream superstars came when they re-joined Ozzy for a few encores on his “No More Tours” shows.

From 1983 up to when Dio rejoined, no one really cared about Tony Iommi in the same way they cared about Ozzy and Dio who had become Multi-Platinum sellers in the U.S. with their solo careers and the Sabbath/Iommi career was nowhere near those commercial highs.

So “Seventh Star” is listed as studio album number 12 for Black Sabbath and released in 1986. This version of Sabbath has Tony Iommi as the only founding member along with keyboardist Geoff Nicholls, drummer Eric Singer, bassist Dave Spitz and vocalist Glenn Hughes.

Once the album came out, Hughes didn’t last long as his addictions made him unreliable. Ray Gillen was hired to fill the vocalist spot for the tour. But even the tour didn’t last long, with a lot of shows cancelled and another restart for Iommi.

In For The Kill

A riff that reminds me of Scorpions “He’s A Woman, She’s A Man” starts off this song and I like it.

No Stranger To Love

This could have come from the Dio version of Sabbath, with its slow groove. But Glen Hughes has a very melodic, bluesy soul voice, so it was always going to come across as a commercial rock song.

Check out the solo from Iommi on this.

Turn To Stone

It’s like Richie Blackmore joined on guitars. It feels like a Deep Purple Coverdale/Hughes era cut, with a riff that reminds me of “Burn” and “Kill The King”.

Iommi delivers another killer solo on this.

Seventh Star

“Egypt (The Chains Are On)” comes to mind and I like it.

Musically, this is one of Iommi’s best.

The main riff is heavy, it sounds exotic, so metal like but it swings the way he plays it. There is a certain fluidity to it.

Danger Zone

If you want to hear one song on the album, its this. I was hooked from the harmony guitars in the Intro riff which also reminds me of Van Halen’s “Atomic Punk”.

And if that main riff doesn’t get you, the interlude/mid section would get you interested which then moves into a Bridge section.

And if the music doesn’t get ya, then the voice of Hughes will.

Heart Like A Wheel

When I hear a blues groove like the one that starts of this song, I think of “The Jack” from AC/DC.

But that blues groove is generic and overused. Remember Alannha Myles and her song “Black Velvet”. Well, it’s the same groove and it went to number 1.

These kind of songs are perfect vehicles for Hughes and his voice.

Angry Heart

This is a great riff, which reminds me of “Wishing Well” from Free and Hughes has so much fun with the vocals.

In Memory

An acoustic riff, with lightly distorted guitars start off this power ballad. It’s short and a strange end to the album.

As a classic Heavy Metal album like “Love At First Sting”, “Balls To The Wall” and “Screaming For Vengeance” it works. Hell it’s probably the best Rainbow album that Richie Blackmore didn’t write.

Compared to Sabbath’s downtuned 70s output, it’s very different. But this was the 80s and this album is a true product of its time.

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

1976 – Part 2.7: Black Sabbath – Technical Ecstasy

The sound was a bit different but it still did well.

The Grunge movement brought Black Sabbath back into the mainstream. Alice In Chains spoke of their love of Sabbath, so did Soundgarden and even Nirvana.

Kyuss/Queens Of The Stone Age also spoke of their Sabbath love.

So it was no surprise that Sabbath started selling records in the 90s.

Eventually in 1997, “Technical Ecstasy” received a Gold certification in the U.S.

It’s the seventh studio album.

Released in 1976 and produced by Tony Iommi. But he struggled with it to the point of anger against his band members who spent most of the time on the beach and on booze and drugs.

Ozzy mentioned in his book “I Am Ozzy” that recording the album in Miami was very expensive and he was confused as to why they had to sound like current popular bands. Maybe that was due to their label head Don Arden throwing his interest behind ELO during this time.

The writing was on the wall, as punk had broken through in the U.K and the Sabbath brand of doom was on its way out.

They are also in the midst of releasing a box set of this album, with all the extras that come with box sets.

Back Street Kids

The Intro/main verse riff has a similar feel to “Immigrant Song” and their own “Children Of The Grave” and I like it.

At 1.50 it goes into an excellent major key riff which reminds me of Styx/Free/ELO and acts like that.

The solo from Iommi utilizes the Major Pentatonic. It’s weird to hear happy leads.

You Won’t Change Me

The most doomiest riff starts the song off and their most melodic progression becomes the verse.

Check out the melancholic swirling organ riff from 4.11 and Iommi decorates nicely.

It’s Alright

It’s a Beatles cut and it came out of left field but then again this album is all about expanding the sound.

Bill Ward wrote it and sings it.

Gypsy

Such an overused title in the 70s and 80s. I don’t recall the word being used much in the 90s and beyond.

Bill Ward opens up the song with a drum groove that reminds me of “Sympathy Of The Devil” from The Rolling Stones.

Iommi busts in with chords which further reinforces the Stones influence.

The Pre-Chrous riff is excellent and Ozzy brings out a vocal line that he used in “SATO”.

Then there is a section which I call the ELO section, with piano and distorted guitars.

The last minute is essential listening as Iommi wails away with his pentatonic leads. A perfect closer for Side 1.

All Moving Parts (Stand Still)

The Side 2 opener and what a great blues rock riff to kick it off. And Butler on the bass is massive.

At 1.40 it changes into something different and this is why I like Sabbath. The songwriting can be progressive with the arrangement and at other times the arrangements can be more mainstream like. You get the best of both worlds.

The vocal melody from Ozzy in the verses was used again within his solo career.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor

The Intro reminds of Uli John Roth and his Scorpions work.

But after that a “No Bones Movie” cut blasts out of the speaker.

She’s Gone

I don’t know how much Randy Rhoads listened to this album, but goddamn the acoustic arpeggios on this song sound eerily familiar like the songs “You Can’t Kill Rock N Roll”, “Diary Of A Madman” and “Revelation Mother Earth”.

Dirty Women

This is classic Sabbath. So many good riffs and Iommi’s solo is excellent.

The riff at 2.30. Check it out.

Straight after that it goes into this “2112” style riff and progression.

Overall, the album is really under appreciated. Most of the 70s music had variety on the albums because artists weren’t afraid to experiment. This one is no different.

A few stray observations if I may.

Ozzy mentioned in his book that he doesn’t like the album but this is the sound that made his solo career. Plus having Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake helped with the songs and Sharon Osbourne ran the party with an iron fist.

Bill Ward can carry a tune vocally which was a surprise. It was almost Queen like.

The synth work complements the songs. So I don’t know why so many reviews focused on the synths.

And what’s the go with two robots making out on the cover.

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The Record Vault – Black Sabbath Additions

Here are some Black Sabbath DVD’s I forgot to include in the original Black Sabbath post. It’s funny that for a band who is seen as influential, my collection of their songs are the Ozzy forgeries on Ozzy releases, which I like and some of the reunion tours they have done in the 90’s.

Black Sabbath – Cross Purposes

This is from the Tony Martin era.

“Dehumanizer” came and went and Tony Iommi needed to get Sabbath rolling again. Geezer Butler remained, Tony Martin came back in and Bobby Rondinelli filled the drum slot.

If you are an EVH, the song, “Evil Eye” from the album is written by Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Tony Martin, but EVH wasn’t credited as Warner Bros Records didn’t allow it, unless they had the release rights.

So on this unlicensed “Masters From The Vaults” DVD , only “I Witness” appears from the “Cross Purposes” album.

It’s also cut down, with only nine of the sixteen songs appearing.

However when this was originally released as an official and licensed VHS box set back in 1995, the set list was much larger.

Inside Black Sabbath – A Masterclass From Tony Iommi

Another “unlicensed” product which made it into legal stores.

How was that possible?

But the labels would tell you that these problems didn’t exist before the internet.

Anyways, this has been spliced together from VHS interviews and footage so the picture quality is not the best. It was released on VHS in 1992 as “Tony Iommi – The Guitar That Drives Black Sabbath”. This 2002 release has a different title, but the cover art is the same.

And it’s all Iommi, using his own examples, to explain how Black Sabbath wrote together. Then again, the YouTube videos he’s done in the last three years are a lot better than this.

Black Sabbath – The Last Supper

Complete garbage and a waste of money.

Then again, if you like to watch interview segments interrupt the live footage then you might like it.

For me, it’s a big no.

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Van Halen

There was a post from December 2019 over at Bob Lefsetz’s blog about Billie Eilish and Van Halen.

The post is an opinion piece about how Billie Eilish said she didn’t know who Van Halen is.

And Twitter at the time started it’s normal thing and suddenly Van Halen was trending. Like everyone else, I saw their name trending and thought that VH either had new music or something bad happened.

So should a 17 year old “home schooled pop singer” know who Van Halen is?

Growing up in the 80s (for those born in the late 60s and for those born in the 70s) there was no denying Van Halen.

But for a person born in 2003.

Van Halen wouldn’t be a thing. They were missing for most of the decade.

And even when Van Halen made their comeback in 2012, it didn’t really crossover into the mainstream news for a long period of time. Adele was ruling the charts and her year old album kept the “DLR VH” version from reaching the number 1 spot, something which the “DLR VH” version have never achieved, while the “Hagar VH” version did achieve a number 1 spot and Sammy was sure to point it out.

But even then, Billie Eilish who would have been 9 and would not have cared about Van Halen. Maybe if she wasn’t home schooled and went to a school with people who had different tastes, she would have seen Junior with a VH T-shirt being all hot for teacher.

In other words, if you weren’t a Van Halen fan, or had a ticket to the show, “A Different Kind Of Truth” was ignored. But for us fans who cared, Van Halen was back. We didn’t even care what the critics said about the recycled old riffs. Come on, this is EVH. His old riffs were still better than the riffs that the other guitarists at the time came out with.

Speaking of the young generation, when Sabbath reformed and Bill Ward was out, they used the Audioslave/Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk for the album and Tommy Clueftos from Ozzy’s solo band for the gigs.

And i was at the gig, standing on the floor with people around me and these two young dudes were blowing out at how good the Sabbath drummer has kept himself. I asked em if they thought it was the original drummer Bill Ward. And they said “yes”. And then I told em it wasn’t. And they looked confused. I googled Bill Ward and showed em. And they walked away pissed at me, like I ruined something for them.

And that’s the world we live in.

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Black Sabbath’s Version of Children of The Grave And Ozzy/Randy Rhoads Tribute Version

The difference between the songs is the groove/feel.

Black Sabbath started off as a blues band and blues songs are built on grooves and swing feels. As history tells us, the guys saw a horror movie being played across the road from their rehearsal space and decided to write songs that scared people. But no matter how low they tuned, they still kept the swing groove/feel from the blues in the process.

So when Ozzy decided to cover some Black Sabbath songs for the “Blizzard Of Ozz” tour, he picked some of the classics, like “Paranoid”, “Iron Man” and “Children Of The Grave”. And from reading a few bios, Randy Rhoads (RR) was against covering these songs, as he didn’t want the project to be an extension of Ozzy’s previous band.

Regardless, “Children of The Grave” with Randy Rhoads (RR) is a stand out. RR ignored the triplet swing feel that Sabbath had on their “Masters Of Reality” version and went straight for the metal tempo feel of 146 beats per minute. RR also refused to tune down, so he fretted the C#m note instead of playing it as an open string the way Iommi does. By doing this, it allowed RR to me more precise with his picking and little melodic motifs.

And there is no doubt in my mind that by learning to play some of the Sabbath songs, RR used em all as influences for “Over The Mountain”.

If you don’t believe me, check out the Black Sabbath riff just before the “Over the Mountain” solo. And RR plays the intro/verse riff of “Over The Mountain” more or less the same as he plays “Children Of The Grave”. The only difference being, “Children of The Grave” is in C#m and “Over The Mountain” is in G#m.

And the solo break that RR throws in for the outro, made me want to learn the song. It starts from 3.15 and ends at 4.40.

There is also a little nod to all of the blues players from about 3.56, as RR plays a standard blues lick that even Ace Frehley used in “Love Gun”.

One song doesn’t take away from the other and both songs stand on their own.

If you want groove, then Black Sabbath’s version is for you. If you really like the NWOBHM and the LA Scene, then the live Ozzy/RR version is for you.

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

The Record Vault – Black Sabbath

I had Iron Man, Paranoid, Sweet Leaf, War Pigs and Children of The Grave on various metal and rock compilations, plus Ozzy had given his Sabbath career a decent outing in his solo career. I still rate the Randy Rhoads version of “Children Of The Grave” as THE definitive version of that song.

The ones I spent money on are “Heaven And Hell”, “Volume 4”, “Sabotage”, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” and “Reunion”.

Sabotage

This was my first buy, because I came across a guitar transcription of the song “Symptom Of The Universe” and I wanted to hear how the original version sounded. And I wasn’t prepared for how good the album is.

The stoner rock sludge of “Hole In The Sky” kicks it off and Ozzy is at 10 in his vocal intensity.

And after a little acoustic flamenco doodle, “Symptom Of The Universe” kicks off.

And that Em to B flat riff is brutal like a chainsaw going through the head. Vocally, Ozzy again is at an intensity level of 10, just going for the throat.

That change at the 2 minute mark, gives the song a new dynamic, while the acoustic folk outro elevates this song to legendary status for me.

“Megalomania” from a guitar point of view, has got killer riffs all over it. Poison even used one of the riffs for a song called “Looked What The Cat Dragged In”. It’s the riff that kicks in at 3.23 when the cowbell starts.

“Take my hand, my child of love come step inside my tears, swim the magic ocean, I’ve been crying all these years”… From “Symptom Of The Universe”.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

As soon as the riff for the title track “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” kicked in, I was in head banging mode. It’s powerful and intense in the way Bill Ward smashes those drum skins and then it morphs into that jazzy like Chorus.

For all the narcotics and alcohol, the song writing is top level.

“A National Acrobat” continues the head banging. And there is a vocal melody in this song which borrows from the verse melody of “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” from about the 2.30 minute mark. That’s how good “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” is. And how cool is that trippy major key riff from the 4.55 mark.

“Fluff” is nothing like fluff. It’s an acoustic piece that just sits nicely between the two opening tracks and the next two big tracks to come in “Sabbra Cadabra” and “Killing Yourself To Live”.  

And I like the flow of “Killing Yourself To Live” with its tremolo effect verse riff. And that reference to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in the lead break, is nice and subtle.

“Who Are You” has a synth riff that sounds brutal on guitar.

But my favourite on this album is the closer, “Spiral Architect”. I love playing it on the guitar and when you spend a lot of time learning a song, it becomes a part of your life.

The way it morphs from the open string arpeggios into this major key style riff and then into a re-write of the “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” riff.

And to be honest, I reckon Randy Rhoads was influenced by this song for the “Diary Of A Madman” as well as Bob Daisley for the vocal melody. The Chorus melodies of both songs are pretty similar.

“The people who have crippled you, you want to see them burn”…. From “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”.

Heaven And Hell

I purchased this album very late. It was actually after “Lock Up The Wolves” from Dio came out in 1990. At that time, I had the cash and my plan was to get stuck into Dio’s past works starting with Rainbow. But, I also came across the Black Sabbath releases.

It’s a massive album and I couldn’t believe I was so late on hearing this. But kids these days have the whole history at their fingertips so they wouldn’t understand the past.

As with all things related to record labels, this project (like the Blizzard Of Ozz) was always meant to be a new band. Instead the world got another Black Sabbath album and an Ozzy solo album.

The first song written by Iommi and Dio for the new band was “Children of the Sea” but the opener “Neon Knights” sets the feel.

Geezer Butler was so set against continuing without Ozzy,  keyboardist Geoff Nicholls was on hand to play bass on those initial sessions. And it was Nicholls who came up with the “Heaven and Hell” bass groove from the jams the band was having, although Butler is credited.

And by the way, “The world is full of kings and queens, who blind your eyes and steal your dreams…..” from HEAVEN AND HELL.

And one more, “the moon is just the sun at night”.  

Volume 4

“Wheels Of Confusion” starts the madness and when that Em riff from the 5.20 mark comes in and plays all the way to the end, yep, it’s time to break desks.

“Tomorrows Dream” is loose and jammy, just the way a dream should be. “Changes” came from left field. The first version I heard was Ozzy’s re-interpretation for the “Live and Loud” album. But the original, has this hi-fi feel that I dig.

“Supernaut” is an intense sped up/down tuned blues romp.

While “Snownblind” showed me what happens when you spend too much time in a snowy place.

That arpeggiated section during the solo break is a nice change of those simple dynamics between distorted and clean tones. And at 3.30 they bring in this bluesy style riff and Bill Ward sounds like he’s about to break his drum kit.

Reunion

When this came out in 1998, Kiss was already doing the “Psycho Circus” victory lap while Rush never left. So there was no bigger concert ticket than a proper Black Sabbath reunion, apart from a Led Zeppelin reunion.

And they delivered a live performance on a double CD, along with two new studio tracks. While the live songs are all good, it’s the two original tracks I want to talk about.

“Psycho Man” has an outro which rocks, when Ozzy is singing “he’s the angel of death” but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it sounded like a “very unlucky” left over track from “Ozzmosis”. “Selling My Soul” on the other hand, feels like a Sabbath song.

So that is my Sabbath collection.

Blame Ozzy for it being so light, because when you see my Ozzy Record Vault collection, you will go “I get it”.

For me, there was no need to buy every Sabbath album as Ozzy more or less recorded the songs live and released them as a Solo artist.

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Music

The Spirit Of 83 To 85 Returned Between 1990 and 1992. Part 2…

I’ve been writing about 1983 for quite a while now. I didn’t think that when I started the series that more than 12 months later I would still be on the same topic. I guess the year was revolutionary to me. I always held a view that metal and hard rock music committed its own demise between 1990 and 1992 by dumbing down lyrics and simplifing their song structures. So when the bands from Seattle came out singing about social problems and personal thoughts, it was a no brainer to take the more serious lyrical subjects over the “having a good time and getting laid” lyrics.

However, during the writing of the 1983 series, most of the bands that had an impact in that year to me, also released music between 1990 and 1992 and I didn’t see much dumbing down of lyrics. Instead I saw better lyrics, more mature lyrics, lyrics that showcased highs and lows.

And my view of hard rock and metal committing suicide is changing. Yes, bands got signed to mimic another popular band.

Britny Fox = Cinderella. Tuff = Motley Crue. Steelheart = Whitesnake. Poison – Motley Crüe. Warrant = Motley Crue/Poison. Bullet Boys = Motley Crue/Poison. Faster Pussycat = Guns N Roses. Tora Tora = Guns N Roses. LA Guns = Guns N Roses. Danger Danger = Bon Jovi/Motley Crue. XYZ = Dokken. Roxy Blue = Van Halen and so forth. From memory, 95% of the lyrics of the clones dealt with having a good time, getting it on with someone and I guess having a good time again.

Here are another 6 records that have lyrical ideas and themes far removed from the clichéd sex, drugs and rock n roll themes.

  • Megadeth – Rust In Peace
  • Ozzy – No More Tears
  • Black Sabbath – Dehumanizer
  • Pantera – Cowboys From Hell
  • Pantera – A Vulgar Display of Power

“Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” deals with killing in religions name. I guess people are still killing for religion, something I struggle to understand. “Sins Of The Father” deals with a person paying for a crime committed in the name of religion. “Heresy” deals with religion corrupting the world;

People, they go to war
Because religion gives them
Reason to fight

“Dawn Patrol” deals with the aftermath of global warming, with the lyrics “the green house in effect, our environment was wrecked”. “Letters From Earth” also addresses the destruction of our environment as the lyrics deal with sending letters to an unnamed source/planet from a cold world called Earth. “Rust In Peace.. Polaris” deals with nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear war. Polaris also refers to the star that sits over the North Pole, so is Mustaine singing about a new ice age brought on by nuclear war. “Master Of Insanity” deals with killing rain falling down from the sky and cities burning. “Shattered” deals with the world as we know it ending from below. “Computer God” deals with our infatuation to technology, virtual reality and artificial intelligence and Dio more or less sums it up with the following lyrics;

Virtual existence
With a superhuman mind
The ultimate creation
Destroyer of mankind
Termination of our youth
For we do not compute

“Primal Concrete Sledge” addresses social inequality.

There’s a double standard for the way we live
If there’s nothing to have, well then there’s nothing to save

“Rise” is about how we need to push aside our differences and the influences of our tribes, so we can unite and rise and dominate the world. “No Good (Attack The Radical)” addresses the race divide in the U.S.

In the states
There’s a problem with race
Because of ignorant past burned fires
From evolution
We’ve been killing each other
I figure man should have it down to a science

In “I Don’t Want To Change The World”, the chorus lyrics deal with how a person doesn’t want to change the world and they don’t want the world to change them. It’s the metal head commandment. Just leave us be and we will get by. “The Art Of Shredding” addresses social wrongs with the lyrics;

Unity is a rare thing
Blind eyes of society bring
The category of minority
Now what are we supposed to be?
Born free to be
Powerless to change the world
With our lives in the hands of madmen

“TV Crimes” deals with evangelists on TV guranteening instant glory if people send their money. Dio again nails it. It’s basically the same topic Daisley wrote about for “Miracle Man” a few years before.

Gotta send me a plastic Jesus
There’s a check in the mail today
That’s what I need
Somebody to love

“Desire” deals with wants. In it’s essence it’s a self-reflection song of what it means to be Ozzy. “I gotta keep rocking, ’cause it makes me crazy, it makes me crazy, who needs to be cool”. In “Hellraiser”, the lyrics deal with living on an endless road, around the world for rock and roll. That’s what people wanted, to be on the road, live the life and the groupies. All the money might be in tech and banking, but they don’t have this. “Time Machine” deals with a person who refuse to change and stays the same for their whole life. “I” is also about wants.

“Poison Was The Cure” deals with Mustaine’s addictions. “Zombie Stomp” addresses drug addictions and liking the users to zombies. “Psycho Holiday” also addresses addiction while being on the road.

“Mama, I’m Coming Home” deals with being away from a loved one. It was a hit, not because Ozzy sold out, but because he crossed over to country courtesy of Zakk’s Southern Rock influence.

“Tornado of Souls” deals with a relationship break up. “Too Late” also deals with the same issue. “Walk” deals with so called friends talking crap about you to other friends and then those other friends telling you what the so called friends said. “This Love” also deals with a relationship breakdown.

“Road To Nowhere” is about reflection and how in the end we are all on roads that really lead back to ourselves and if we are too caught up with our heads in the clouds, we will pass ourselves by. “A New Level” addresses moving on from the past that involved being stepped on and spat on by lesser men to a new level of confidence and power.

“Hanger 18” deals with government/military conspiracies/cover ups. “Cemetery Gates” deals with religious conspiracies/cover ups.

“S.I.N” addresses how we deal with our thoughts when we are alone. “Mouth For War” is about using your aggression and hate for good instead of evil. Be creative instead of destructive. “Live In A Hole” also addresses our fears of breaking out of our shell and if we allow the fear to take over, we are unable to break out of the cage it creates.

Metal and rock was good. The record labels on the other hand chased the dollar and fucked it all up.

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Metal Music

Heavy F…. Metal.

In 2018, it will be 50 years from when Steppenwolf, screamed the words, “Heavy Metal Thunder” in their iconic “Born To Be Wild” song. And while the reference to “heavy metal thunder” was the loud sound of the motorbike, it seemed to stick for a style of music that was just around the corner.

But heavy metal goes back a bit further than that. You see, in the 1930’s there was a guitarist called Django Reinhardt.

He was a jazz shredder who passed away in 1953, well before heavy metal became a tour de force. But to become a shredder, wasn’t easy for Django. You see, a fire in the late 20’s extensively burned his left hand and other areas of his body. His right leg was paralysed and his fourth and fifth fingers on his left hand were badly burned. The Doctors told him that he will never play guitar again and they wanted to cut his leg off. Django refused the surgery and within a year, learned to how walk again with the help of a cane. But his two fingers remained paralysed. So Django had to relearn how to play the guitar by using his thumb and two fingers.

Fast forward to the 60’s and an unknown Birmingham guitarist tore off the tips off his middle fingers in a freak factory accident. A visit from the company foreman, alerted Tony Iommi to Reinhardt.

“It really inspired me to really get on with it, and start trying to play.”
Tony Iommi VH1 in 2015.

Although Iommi’s problems weren’t as severe as Django, he still had to do things a bit differently. While Django had to relearn how to play the guitar from scratch using less fingers, Iommi just needed to innovate. The first innovation was the creation of the plastic finger tips. The second was the down tuning of the guitar from standard pitch to accommodate the plastic finger tips.

And while Sabbath are seen as the forefathers of heavy metal, metal in general was more than just Sabbath. It was the attitude, the rebellion, the free-spirited nature, the community and gang-like mentality. And this attitude goes back to the early 60’s. In 1964, Beatles records accounted for 60% of all music sales in the U.S. according to Billboard magazine. Rock became a commercial force, priming the U.S kids for the more abrasive, distorted version of rock would enter in a few years’ time.

But to understand the Beatles, you need to go back to Chuck Berry, the father of rock and roll. The Beatles covered “Rock And Roll Music” and “Roll Over Beethoven”. John Lennon ripped off Chuck Berry for “Come Together”.

Hell, the Beach Boys ripped “Sweet Little Sixteen” from Chuck Berry and called it “Surfin’ U.S.A.”.

ELO’s career was jump-started when they covered “Roll Over Beethoven”.

Let’s not forget “Johnny B. Goode”, a hit when it came out, and in 1977 the song was launched into space with the Voyager I and II spacecraft to await discovery. Chuck Berry was a metal head before metal was even around. He sang about fast cars, women and teenage rebellion. In other songs, he questioned the status quo. And since those days, metal has grown worldwide. It’s the new world music. As an article in the Wall Street Journal states;

“Today’s “world music” isn’t Peruvian pan flutes or African talking drums. It’s loud guitars, growling vocals and ultrafast “blast” beats.”

The internet and mp3 sharing has spread heavy metal music to all corners of the world. Music in general was locked up, behind gates, but now we can hear every song ever recorded online, even the songs from “out of print” albums. People from oppressive countries who wouldn’t normally have access to metal music suddenly had access via their fingertips. Metal music is a lifestyle. You live the way you look and look the way you live. There are no pretensions. And you can’t get more metal and no bullshit than Ginger Baker, a person who inspired future metal drummers going on record detesting the style. That’s exactly the free-spirit of a metaller.

“I’ve seen where Cream is sort of held responsible for the birth of heavy metal. Well, I would definitely go for aborting. I loathe and detest heavy metal. I think it is an abortion.”
Ginger Baker – Cream 

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

1983 – VI – No Parole From The Born Again, Bent Out Of Shape, Rock And Roll Frontiers As The Never Switch Is Flicked For Steeler Siogo’s Surrender.

Listening back to all of the music from 1983 got me thinking about life and time. Even though 1983 is 34 years in the past, it feels like it was more recent.

How time flys?

And I am trying to work out how certain events pushed me onto different paths and how those paths became far removed from the path I wanted to be on.

And while life might seem chaotic in 2017, it wasn’t much different in 1983. We still had terrorism back them. The IRA was very active in the U.K and we had acts of terror in Lebanon. We had changes in government that didn’t appeal to the status quo.

The frontiers are a changing.

Journey – Frontiers

“I gotta tell you that I’m not hurtin’ for a place to live and I’m not hurtin’ for money, no, but filthy rich – no. You’ve got six people in the band, you’ve got unions in this country, you’ve got people who want a big hunk of what you make all the way down the line. It’s a big circus. It takes five semis and a lot of lights, a lot of sound, a lot of crew and a lot of busses and gas! When you talk 107 shows and you talk 30,000 miles, you’re talking a lot.”
Steve Perry 

Coming into the recording of “Frontiers”, Journey was riding the waves of “Don’t Stop Believin”. The Jonathan Cain era was in full swing.

So what was next for Journey?

How do you follow up “Escape”?

They began their career as progressive rockers in the 70’s, and by the start of the 80’s they had moved into hard rock. With the addition of Jonathan Cain on keyboards and with the success of “Escape” they moved into superstar territory. And with “Frontiers”, Journey kept on polishing their sound and moving further away from their progressive blues roots. Plus they also gave a certain person in Italy a name for his future record label.

Separate Ways
It’s been covered by metal bands ad infinitum because it’s such a good song. The opening keyboard lick would work well as a guitar lick. Then when the drum groove comes in, it’s quality all around.

I would have preferred to hear some more grunt in the verses from the guitar, but this is Journey coming off the success of “Escape” and Neal Schon transitions into a song decorator.

Someday, love will find you
Break those chains that bind you
One night will remind you
How we touched and went our separate ways

The chorus melody was so good, that Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon re-used it/plagiarised it/copied it or let themselves be influenced by it on the song “Message of Love” from their 1997 comeback album, “Trial By Fire”.

Faithfully
It’s the signature ballad and the last track recorded for the album. Prince even asked Journey for permission before releasing “Purple Rain” because the chord changes are close to “Faithfully” and he didn’t want to get sued.

“I thought it was an amazing tune and I told him, ‘Man, I’m just super-flattered that you even called. It shows you’re that classy of a guy. Good luck with the song. I know it’s gonna be a hit.’”
JONATHAN CAIN 

“We all talked about it, and everybody said, ‘Nah, it’s the highest form of flattery. Let it go.’”
NEAL SCHON 

And Cain could have requested a co-writing credit on “Purple Rain,” but he didn’t.

“No, no, that’ll just bring bad juju on you, and you don’t want to do that. I just thought it seriously showed the kind of caring, classy guy Prince was.”
JONATHAN CAIN

All music is a sum of a person’s influences.

Circus life
Under the big top world
We all need the clowns
To make us smile

It’s a brilliant lyric comparing the rock and roll touring lifestyle with the life of a carnie.

Steve Perry did a great job on the vocals, especially that outro. In This Moment also use this song as an influence for the outro of their song “World In Flames”.

Troubled Child
This song is one of those underrated gems on an album. Those little nuggets.

Voices echo, from the past
Decisions made for you

The whole song is great lyrically, but it’s the above that sticks out. Something that James Hetfield constantly sings about, especially in “The Unforgiven” songs.

Ask The Lonely
It was a bonus track on the 2006 re-issue. It should have been on it.

Black Sabbath – Born Again
At the start of the 80’s, Black Sabbath re-invented themselves with the Dio led version of the band. However after the success of “Heaven and Hell” and “Mob Rules”, Ronnie James Dio said see ya later to Tony Iommi and took drummer Vinny Appice with him. Bill Ward was back in alongside Iommi, Butler and keyboardist Geoff Nicholls (RIP). So the search began for a vocalist. We all know the story of how this was meant to be a new supergroup project however their new manager Don Arden (who was also Ozzy’s ex-Manager and the father to Ozzy’s wife, Sharon) would not even contemplate it. His grudges against Ozzy and Sharon and the fact that he wanted to better them with the groups he managed would be the death knell of this project.

David Coverdale and Robert Plant were talked about as vocalists. They even received an audition tape from Michael Bolton who at that time was unknown. But it was Arden who recommended Gillian. And that is the problem. Ian Gillian is more or less terrible on it. And that album cover is now part of folklore. According to Wikipedia, Don Arden was fond of telling Osbourne that his children resembled the “Born Again” album cover.

But the songs “Disturbing The Priest” and “Zero The Hero” are pretty good musically. The lyrics are neither here or there, but the music is excellent.

Disturbing the Priest
According to Wikipedia, “Disturbing the Priest” was written after a rehearsal space set up by Iommi in a small building near a local church received noise complaints from the resident priests.

It’s underpinned by a bass groove reminiscent of “Heaven And Hell” and “The Sign of The Southern Cross”. Add to that, the eeriness of early Sabbath.

The devil and the priest can’t exist if one goes away

Damn right.

Zero the Hero
Accept the fact that you’re second rate life is easy for you

Conformity in one simple statement.

Rainbow – Bent Out Of Shape
MTV changed the way bands wrote albums. Suddenly experimentation, longer guitar solos or longer songs in general went out the window. Every band was trying to make that arena rock song. So it was no surprise that Rainbow would follow suit, especially after they had a few unexpected hits in “Since You’ve been Gone” from 1979’s “Down To Earth” album with Graham Bonnet on vocals, “I Surrender” from 1981’s “Difficult To Cure” with Joe Lynn Turner on vocals and “Stone Cold” from the 1982 album “Straight Between the Eyes”.

The band for the recording of this album was Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Joe Lynn Turner, David Rosenthal on keys and Chuck Burgi on drums. But the single here should have been “Stranded” instead of “Street of Dreams”.

Stranded
It’s the only good song on the album. That bass just keeps the pedal point note going, while Blackmore is free to explore so many different musical palettes.

Dog night, I’m so alone
A million miles out on my own
No one to talk, no one to care
Searching for someone, they could be anywhere

Life of a rock and roller.

AC/DC – Flick Of The Switch
It’s a solid album, coming out after the holy trinity of albums, their U.S breakthrough “Highway To Hell” in 1979, the mega selling “Back In Black” from 1980 and it’s 1981 successor “For Those About To Rock”.

Some personnel changes happened as well. Simon Wright is in the drummers’ chair, replacing Phil Rudd. Simon Kirke from the band Free also auditioned, as well as 699 other drummers. It would have been cool if it was 666 drummers.

The producer of their holy trinity albums, Mutt Lange was also out. Their manager Peter Mensch was also out. Angus and Malcolm stepped up to give the world a live and raw version of AC/DC. There are no classic songs on the album. But there is a lot of groove and swagger. The slower tempo’s make it sound HEAVY. But the songs don’t get played live, so the album remains largely forgotten to the masses.

“Basically what Mal had said was that he wanted to try and get that feeling of being in a room with it all happening. I don’t think it really worked entirely.”
Engineer Tony Platt in the book Maximum Rock & Roll

Rising Power
My body’s blown a fuse
Rising power
We’ll raise the night
Rising power

Rise/Rising = hard on. Blow a fuse = climax. Johnson is rolling out the metaphors.

Flick Of The Switch
With a flick of the switch
She’ll blow you sky high

Johnson is still rolling out the metaphors with innuendo.

Nervous Shakedown
It’s a dirty lie
It’s a shakedown
It’s lookin’ like a set-up

There is a lot of this happening today, with copyright trolls trying to shakedown internet users. The trolls put up the content and then take note who downloads the content via the public torrent trackers. Once they have a list of IP addresses, they go to the courts, so the courts could give approval for the Telcos to unmask their users and provide address details. If the courts approve, the trolls send the users letters, saying if they pay $50 to $100 and admit guilt, it all goes away, if they choose to fight it in court and they lose, then the users could be liable for thousands in fees. It’s a shakedown, a set-up.

Guns For Hire
Look out woman
I got gun’s for hire
Shoot you with desire

I wonder what Johnson means here.

Badlands
It sounds like Tom Keifer is singing this song. Musically, it’s a cross between George Thorogood’s “Bad To The Bone”, 70’s ZZ Top and AC/DC’s roots in the blues.

Again, it’s the groove that hooks me in.

“In the badlands”

Triumph – Never Surrender
I never heard this album in 1983. It became part of my collection much later on via Record Music Fairs and so forth and it was the more ambitious and melodic tracks that appealed to me.

A World Of Fantasy
How good is this song’s intro especially when the harmony guitars kick in?

Lost in your world of fantasy
Look what you’ve done to me

A Minor Prelude
It’s just a nice 90 second instrumental on acoustic guitar.

All The Way
How good is the intro?

Lyrical the theme is clichéd but the lyrics are just excellent.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Every dog will have his day
Those who wait are only wasting’ time

It’s all about the effort. In the 1900’s, research said that to achieve greatness you need to put in 10 years of practice. This was then enhanced to include 10,000 hours of practice, which was then further enhanced to say 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, which means breaking down a skill you want to learn into chunks and learning it slowly before increasing the speed.

That’s why the metronome is the best tool for any wannabe musician. Learn the song slowly and then increase the speed to its normal speed and just for fun, push the speed even faster to see how you go playing the song. Sometimes, ballads like “Alone Again” end up sounding pretty wicked at 150bpm.

That’s why the Senseball is the best tool for any wannabe football player. You start of slowly, focusing on the task at hand and slowly build it up.

Pray for wisdom – dig for gold
Can’t buy freedom by selling your soul

Recording contracts are designed to benefit the entity forking out the money to produce the works. So any wannabe artist needs to sell their soul for a shot at the brass ring.

You better watch out, you better look around
Cause what goes up is gonna come down
Everybody lives by the law of supply and demand

So true. Even the record labels live by the law of supply and demand. When people got fed up with the corrupted and very pricey supply chain, technology allowed mp3’s to be created. Suddenly music was everywhere.

Once you’ve set a course don’t change it
Luck will come to those who chase it
Don’t let anything get in your way

What a brilliant verse. Hell, the whole “Talent Code” book is based around the theory that you need to love what you do, to practice deep for a long time, so you can become an expert in your field.

Never Surrender
In the verses, it reminds me musically of Led Zeppelin’s “All My Love”. But at almost 7 minutes in length, it has a lot of musical movements and a groove that’s hypnotic.

How good are the lyrics in this?

Jivin’, hustiln’, what’s it all about?
Everybody always wants the east way out
Thirty golden pieces for the Judas kiss
What’s a nice boy doin’ in a place like this?

Everyone wants to be successful. Everyone wants to be famous. But is everyone willing to put the hard work in. Is everyone willing to be surrounded by people who will lie and deceive?

Today you found a hero tomorrow you’ll forget

This is so relevant in 2017. The speed at which we move on to new things is astonishing.

Never Surrender – we cannot be denied
Never Surrender – spread your wings and fly

To become an expert and have a chance of success, you need to be in it for the long run. The 10 years. The 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. There are no short cuts.

Writing On The Wall
It’s got that 80’s metal pedal point vibe, but in a major key instead of a minor key.

I am up here
Walking on a tight rope
But I never pause to think
That I could fall

Damn right, there is no safety net in life, especially in music.

I’ve got one short dance
On this planet
But I’ll carve my message deep into the wall

Long-time dead, short time alive. Don’t waste your days on what you can’t control.

Blackfoot – Siogo
The first time I heard Blackfoot was via a Spotify Discover playlist and it was the song “Send Me An Angel”.

Send Me An Angel
I can’t live with all this doubt

Are we good enough?

Is this song good enough?

Do I look good enough?

So many expectations we place on ourselves just to please others. And then we wonder, why so many doubt themselves. It’s even worse today with social media.

Teenage Idol
Standing in his hometown
Waiting for the bus that’ll take him
Farther than he’s ever been

I’ve shown them what a pretty life I’ve made
Even though I’ll miss you badly

It’s the ultimate sacrifice. A career in music vs loved ones you need to leave behind. As Jonathan Cain wrote in “Faithfully”, the road is no place to raise a family.

Alcatrazz – No Parole from Rock N’ Roll
When I was starting out in bands, one of the guitarists in the band was a huge Yngwie Malmsteen fan. The drummer of the band was also a fan of Malmsteen and he had this album on LP, so I dubbed it on cassette from him. Home taping was spreading the music.

But the Alcatrazz story is much deeper than Malmsteen’s brief appearance. Like a lot of other bands in the 80’s it was a pseudo supergroup of musicians. You had a 20 year old guitar hero in Yngwie Malmsteen, a 30 year old experienced bassist in Gary Shea, a 33 year old experienced drummer in Jan Uvena, a 24 year old keyboardist in Jimmy Waldo and a 35 year old vocalist with major label experience in Graham Bonnet.

The story starts with bassist Gary Shea and keyboardist Jimmy Waldo. After their band “New England” lost their singer, they moved out to L.A to work with a guitarist called Vinnie Vincent and a new band called Warrior. Vinnie Vincent at the time also had a deal in place to co-write songs for Kiss. ‘Boyz Gonna Rock” and “I Love It Loud” appeared on the first Warrior demo. On the strength of that demo and the songs that Vinnie had written, he was asked to join KISS. We all know how big “I Love It Loud” became.

And from the ashes of Warrior, the embryo of Alcatrazz was formed.

With a dodgy manager on board, who took royalties meant for the band into his own pocket, Alcatrazz was a go. Shea actually reckons Malmsteen lost a lot of money when he left due to the thievery of their manager.

Island In The Sun
It’s the opening track and a Malmsteen classic. Actual songwriters are listed as Yngwie Malmsteen, Jimmy Waldo and Graham Bonnet but there is no denying the Malmsteen sound.

In their nine by five rooms, became inspired
By the silence in sight of the city

Is it about prison or something else?

Jet To Jet
It’s a Malmsteen and Bonnet composition. It’s pretty safe to say that all the music is from Malmsteen and Bonnet wrote the lyrics.

How they stared as we made our exit
We’re white they’re all brown
Dr. Livingstone where are you when we need you the most
We’re white as ivory on the Ivory Coast

Is the song about the arrival of white men in Africa?

Is the “Jet To Jet” title referring to the colour black (as jet is a shade of black)?

Hiroshima Mon Amour
It’s another Malmsteen/Bonnet composition. Bonnet was inspired by the 1959 French film Hiroshima Mon Amour, (translation: “Hiroshima My Love”), which he had seen in school. The film recounts the Hiroshima bombing and tells of the human suffering in the aftermath.

“I was always horrified by what happened. And Hiroshima, my love, it was like, goddamn, you know, I didn’t want that to happen again. So I read up a little bit about it, and that’s how that came about. It was something I thought should never have happened. It was just a horrible thing. I couldn’t believe that the Americans would do this, or anybody would do that to anybody. It was sort of a protest song in a way.”
Graham Bonnet 

The fireball would dim the sun,
Promising death in its cruellest form

There is no good in war, but man, when you read about the fall out and the cancers still happening even today, you get to understand the gravity of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hiroshima Mon Amour
As we beg to be forgiven do you spit
In our face and curse us all.

Incubus
A short Malmsteen instrumental that he would use in his solo career.

Too Young To Die, Too Drunk To Live
It’s another Malmsteen/Bonnet composition.

Chemical kids lost in the street,
Looking for some kind of saviour
Perverted minds lead them like sheep
Into the slaughter they have to face

Chemicals once upon a time = alcohol. Today, chemicals on the streets mean so many different things.

There’s time to die but she just needs more time to live

A brilliant line. In the last six months I have attended 4 funerals. Two for people aged 40, one for a person in their 60’s and one for a person a few weeks short of their 80th birthday. 40 is way too young to die.

Years from now
Look how they change
They’re so mature and respected
Makes them laugh
They were such fools
So unaware of the real live world

Some made it to an older age so they could look back, others didn’t.

Steeler – Steeler
From interviews in Guitar mags, I knew that Yngwie Malmsteen was in the band Steeler. Also in the band was vocalist Ron Keel (from Keel) and former W.A.S.P. bassist Rik Fox. The band produced only one album.

The album was released September 25, 1983 but I didn’t hear it until very much later.

“Steeler was formed by in Nashville and fought our way to the top of the LA hard rock scene in the early 80’s – it’s a great story, and if you want to know all the details, I suggest you check out my official autobiography “Even Keel: Life On The Streets Of Rock & Roll,”. Success is a relative term – Steeler sold a couple hundred thousand albums, while my band KEEL has sold several million albums.”
Ron Keel 

It was Ron Keel and then guitarist Michael Dunigan who came out to L.A to scout gigs. Once they got a feel for the place, the whole band and crew came out. Eventually the original line up splintered because Ron Keel felt threatened by the level of musicianship on the L.A scene and he believed he needed to get better musicians.

Mike Varney, the owner of Shrapnel Records played Ron Keel a demo tape of Malmsteen and he was on a ship from Sweden to L.A. Rik Fox looked like a rock star and got the bassist gig. By making changes, Keel lost the camaraderie and chemistry within the band.

For Malmsteen, this was a four month stopover in his grand vision for greatness. The stop-over involved 9 shows, the recording session for the album and two song contributions in “No Way Out” and “Abduction”.

Cold Day In Hell
It’s listed as a Ron Keel song and it’s one hell of good rock song. More in vein with what Keel would sound like, but without a Malmsteen lead break.

Empty eyes of heartless friends
The night is mine again
Bitter streets of evil stares
No one listens, no one cares

The lead break from Malmsteen is a classic.

No Way Out
It’s written by Ron Keel, Mark Edwards and Yngwie Malmsteen and although the lyrics are hit and miss, it’s still a good listen.

Click the link to listen to 1983-Part6

1. Separate Ways (Words Apart) – Journey
2. A World Of Fantasy – Triumph
3. Send Me An Angel – Blackfoot
4. Island In The Sun – Alcatrazz
5. Stranded – Rainbow

6. Disturbing The Priest – Black Sabbath
7. Rising Power – AC/DC
8. A Minor Prelude/All The Way – Triumph
9. Faithfully – Journey
10. Jet To Jet – Alcatrazz

11. Flick Of The Switch – AC/DC
12. Never Surrender – Triumph
13. Hiroshima Mon Amour – Alcatrazz
14. No Way Out – Steeler
15. Writing On The Wall – Triumph

16. Cold Day In Hell – Steeler
17. Badlands – AC/DC
18. Ask The Lonely – Journey
19. Incubus / Too Young To Die, Too Drunk To Live – Alcatrazz
20. Zero The Hero – Black Sabbath

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

1981 – Part 3 – “Don’t Live For Pleasure, Make Life Your Treasure”

Black Sabbath – Mob Rules
“Mob Rules” was released at the same time as Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhoads “Diary Of A Madman” album. For both Sabbath and Osbourne albums it was a case of “what worked before, lets repeat it”. There is a book out by Mick Wall called “Black Sabbath: Symptom Of The Universe”, that mentions how it pained, Tony, Geezer and Ronnie to see Ozzy’s 2nd album doing so much better than theirs.

Martin Birch was on hand to produce and engineer again and it is also the first Black Sabbath album to feature Vinny Appice on drums, who replaced original member Bill Ward. “Mob Rules” was plagued with stories of drugs and arguments.

The arguments started after the success of “Heaven and Hell”. Warner Bros, offered Dio a solo deal, while also extending the Black Sabbath contract. The solo deal didn’t go down well with Iommi and Butler. In addition, during the mixing of the album, Iommi and Butler had a falling out with Dio due to some misinformation being spread from their engineer about Dio sneaking into the studio at night to raise the volume of his vocals. Dio was also not happy with how he was represented in the artwork. Eventually, it all proved too much and the solo deal Dio got proved the out.

“Turn Up The Night” is a derivative version of “Neon Knights”. Hell, it could have been on a Thin Lizzy album.

“Voodoo” is a derivative version of “Children Of The Sea” in its groove. It even tried to occupy the same space that “Children Of The Sea” did in the album sequencing.

“Sign Of The Southern Cross” is a derivative version of “Heaven And Hell” and “Children Of The Sea” combined and the foundation of the sound that would become “Dio”. The best on the album.

“The Mob Rules” feels like a derivative version of “Tie Your Mother Down” from Queen.

“Country Girl” feels like a Led Zeppelin track.

“Falling Off The Edge Of The World”, is a brilliant song as well, technically an early influence to what Iron Maiden and Metallica would achieve and build their careers on.

“Over and Over” is a derivative version of “Black Sabbath”, purely for its sludgy groove.

“Don’t live for pleasure, make life your treasure” ….. from “Sign Of The Southern Cross”

Thin Lizzy – Renegade
Since “Chinatown” proved to be a cult hit with the guitar team of Scott Gorham and Snowy Shaw the year before, like all of the other bands that released music in 1980, it was a case of “what worked before, lets repeat it” in 1981.

And each album, has a song or two that sell it, and in this case “Angel Of Death” and “Hollywood (Down On Your Luck)” are the songs. Lynott does a brilliant job blaming the “Angel of Death” for the Great San Francisco Earthquake, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust prophecies of Nostradamus.

“I’ve seen two world wars
I’ve seen men send rockets out into space
I foresee a holocaust
An angel of death descending to destroy the human race” ….. From “Angel Of Death”

“Nobody gives a break
When you’re down on your luck
Everybody’s on the take
When you’re down on your luck” ….. From “Hollywood (Down On Your Luck)”

UFO – The Wild, The Willing and The Innocent
“Lonely Heart” has got this Springsteen vibe happening, but the song that I go to first, is “Profession Of Violence”. It’s got that Gary Moore “Parisienne Walkways” feel. If you haven’t heard “Parisienne Walkways”, trust me, you have heard it, because many years later, the song morphed into “Still Got The Blues” and Moore’s biggest hit.

“Down the halls of justice, the echoes never fade
Notches on my gun, another debt is paid” ….. from “Profession Of Violence”

Rainbow – Difficult To Cure

How good is “I Surrender” with that classical vibe, over a pop structure. Written by Russ Ballard, to me, Ballard was a musician known for writing good songs that other artists covered or made better.

“Can’t Happen Here” is one hell of a good song and a very underrated Rainbow cut. It has all the elements of a protest song, a good rock and roll vibe and all the guitarinisms that Blackmore is known for.

“Supersonic planes for a holiday boom
Rio de Janeiro in an afternoon
People out of work but there’s people on the moon
Looking for the future” ….. from “Can’t Happen Here”

“Spotlight Kid” is another classic Rainbow tune, this one about the trappings of fame and what happens when the crowds are gone. And what about that “Burn” like solo section.

“Jokers and women they hang ’round your door
They’re all part of the scene
Just like a junkie you’ve got to have more
It’s a pleasure machine” ….. from “Spotlight Kid”

Midnight Oil – Place Without A Postcard
An Australian political band, known around the world for their songs “U.S Forces” and “Beds Are Burning”. This is their third album, released in 1981 and like most of their albums, it is 75% filler, so it was no surprise that the “singles” are the album tracks that still resonate today.

“I’m an innocent victim, I’m just like you
We end up in home units with a brick wall view” ….. from “Don’t Wanna Be The One”

“Armistice Day” has a lyric that more or less sums up the bullshit weapons of mass destruction, twenty years later.

“I went looking for a war, but the only guns I saw
Never used in anger”

Lead vocalist Peter Garrett has a voice that you either like or hate. There is no getting used to his voice. Glyn Johns produced the album, however the band and Johns clashed frequently, and even more so, when the band refused to record more commercial pop songs for a U.S release.

Iron Maiden – Killers
It’s essentially a Steve Harris solo album.

Each album has a song that sells it. In this case, it is “Wrathchild”. That bass intro groove from Harris, makes you want to press repeat over and over again. Because I had the “Live After Death” album, and “Wrathchild” was on it, I had no real desire to spend my money on “Killers”. It wasn’t until the 90’s that I finally heard the full album.

“I was born into a scene of angriness and greed, and dominance and persecution” ….. from “Wrathchild”

“Prodigal Son” is another favourite and I dig that acoustic intro that sounds very similar to the intro that Randy Rhoads wrote for “You Can’t Kill Rock N Roll”.

“The devil’s got a hold on my soul and he just won’t let me be” ….. from “Prodigal Son”

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