Tag Archives: Hard Rock

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

Sign Of The Times

It was a Metal Hammer magazine in 1989 which had a two page interview with a young German guitarist called Axel Rudi Pell.

I thought what a cool name. The interview was all about his debut album, “Wild Obsession” released in 1989

And I had this “buy list” that I kept in my wallet of records to buy, so I added it to the list. But I never found it available and I never ordered it. And he kept releasing albums and he kept appearing in the European magazines. The U.S and Aussie mags gave him no love and neither did any of the Guitar mags, but the Metal Hammers’ and Kerrangs’ did.

And I kept reading of the albums he kept making, like “Nasty Reputation” released in 91 with Rob Rock on vocals and the albums between 1992 and 1997 which had Jeff Scott Soto on vocals. And I kept adding his albums to the “buy list” and then I stopped.

In 1998, Johnny Gioeli joined on vocals and never left. Remember Hardline and its debut album with Neal Schon, Deen Castronovo and the Gioeli brothers. Yep that same dude. He has done 13 studio albums with Axel Rudi Pell, plus Hardline albums and Crush 40 albums for video games. If you want a hard worker in the music business, Johnny Gioeli is one.

Keeping a stable vocalist has made me a fan of ARP’s works, because he’s unlike other hot shot guitarists who just kept changing singers with each album. Actually only two come to mind at the moment, in Malmsteen and Lynch.

So I’m listening to the new album, “Sign Of The Times” and I don’t know if it’s the mood I am in, or the quarantine for the last 10 weeks, but this album is hitting all the spots for me. Every single song has something which connects.

Like in “Gunfire”, the song reminded me of Motorhead in the riffs, and you had Gioeli pulling out some cool metal vocals and then the guitar solo started and it just kept going and I kept banging that head and I was in love with the song.

“Bad Reputation” is all major key and it’s got that summertime love feel. This could have come from an ELO album, or an early Whitesnake, or Bad Company album, or even Sweet. Hell, Kiss covered this style on “Dynasty” and “Unmasked”.

The Choir voices and the violins kick off “Sign Of The Times” but when the distorted riff comes in on its own, it’s like “Heaven And Hell” and Gioeli is singing about “being on our way to better times”, and it’s got Dio all over it.

“Looking down on the ashes, we are moving on to a new world”

If you call this an unprecedented time, a time of ashes, then we hope to be moving to a new world. Time will tell how we navigate these uncharted waters.

And for all the heaviness of the song with its riffage, the guitar solo section is just drums, keyboards and bass. No rhythm guitar. It’s exactly how it will sound live and of course ARP doesn’t disappoint in the lead.

“The End Of The Line” just rolls along at about 140bpm and my foot is tapping and Gioeli is telling us that “we are running out of time”.

Any song with a title like “As Blind As A Fool Can Be” just screams epic. Before the song even started I was already thinking, “All The Fools Sailed Away”, “Blindman”, “Soldier Of Fortune”, “Sailing Ships” and “When A Blindman Cries”. And it rolls along like any ballad should.

On “Wings Of The Storm” (I know, it’s an overused title), the world gets weirder every day, so Gioeli is looking to fly far away on the wings of the storm. And the riffage by ARP is exactly how it should be. It’s got this bluesy feel in the verses, but it’s still metal. And when the Chorus kicks in, the riffs are excellent but Gioeli is the star with the vocal performance.

And no ARP song is complete without a minute and a half guitar solo. There’s actually two of em on this one. In the middle and in the outro.

“Waiting For Your Call” sounds like an awesome Scorpions song that Scorpions didn’t write.

“Into The Fire” (another overused title, I know) has this groove which reminds of “Kashmir” and “Egypt(The Chains Are On)”. And of course, the solo is worthy for a track which closes the album.

Listening to this album and hearing Gioeli on vocals has got me thinking that I really need to go back and listen to the Hardline albums I haven’t heard since the first album, which happens to be a lot albums.

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Copyright, Influenced, Music, My Stories

Winds Of Change

A music festival in Moscow that features Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Scorpions, Ozzy, Skid Row and few other acts.

Then came the Scorpions, “Wind Of Change” and its lyrics about being like brothers and following the Moskva River to Gorky Park.

Plus it’s the only song on the album written by Klaus Meine.

Where the Scorpions influenced or paid or instructed by the CIA to write this song?

Because we all know, the US and the USSR tried to outdo each other with their nuclear arsenal. When that failed, the US via the CIA tried to do what the USSR did in Eastern Europe.

Create dictatorship governments in Latin America loyal to the US. But that went all downhill as those Governments really liked to murder its own people.

But the biggest threat to the US was still USSR and Communism.

So they created a Congress For Cultural Freedom office, which was set up in 35 countries, including Eastern Bloc countries. The Office was run by the CIA and they used music as its centrepiece, to put on concerts and promote anti-communist behaviour via placing the records of banned artists secretly in the hands of citizens.

So I had a look at the “Crazy World” album from Scorpions and its lyrical references. There is no doubt that the more social conscience lyrics in “Winds Of Change” are a departure from their “rock you like a hurricane” and “rhythm of love” lyrics from their albums before. It’s not like the Scorpions didn’t write these kind of lyrics before. The Uli Jon Roth era had some songs that dealt with society and social issues.

Anyway I thought I would go through the “Crazy World” album lyrics.

So the album kicks off with “Tease Me, Please Me” and it’s about going around the world and loving lots of girls. Basically a song about groupies. “Don’t Believe Her” is about a woman who is a tease and who knows the game of breaking hearts.

“To Be With You In Heaven” is about a woman who will treat you like crap, but her loving is so good, that Klaus would walk through the darkest hell to be with her in heaven. “Restless Nights” talks about making love in Paris and London and rocking hard in Dallas and Rio. Basically the song is about touring and the “sexcess” that comes with it.

“Lust Or Love” is easily predictable based on the title. “Kicks After Six” is about a woman who works nine to five and is a slave to the suit and tie, seven days a week, but each night, this good girl gets her kicks after six and becomes a bad girl who wants it bad.

“Hit Between The Eyes” is a dumb song about feeling tension on the street, getting closer to some invisible heat and that if someone wants to cut you down to size, you can never argue with a 45. Maybe it was their attempt at a social issue around gun control, but then the chorus comes in and it makes no sense whatsoever. Like he is ready for the hit between the eyes, but he wants someone to get him out alive because he is too young to die.

“Money And Fame” is about a woman who just wants money and fame and how she is using Klaus as a stepping stone to something greater. “Send Me An Angel” is about a wise man who is giving advice and to be honest it’s pretty dumb lyrically.

So all the songs listed have lyrics which are pretty standard and about relationships.

Keith Olsen said when he was hired to produce the album, he found the lyrics really dumb and he asked for outside writers like Jim Vallance to come and work with them and tighten em up. But the overall message was still dumb.

And then you have “Winds Of Change”.

With music and lyrics written solely by Klaus Meine.

Songfacts and all of those other websites say that Klaus Meine was inspired by the band’s first visit to the USSR in 1989 for the Music Peace Festival.

Manager Doc McGhee said that Klaus was whistling the melody and he had the basis of the song written in Russia. But look at the lyrics.

Was Klaus capable of writing lyrics like these on his own or did someone else (a CIA ghost writer or speech writer) use Klaus’s melodies and write them for him?

Read this from Keith Olsen;

Interviewer:
You produced The Scorpions Crazy World album, tell us about the recording sessions for that album?

Olsen:
I really liked working with all of them as they were really cool people. Herman Rarebell [drummer] was the guy who spoke the best English, because he had lived in the UK for a while, so he was really good bilingual. So Klaus, Rudolf, Matthias and Francis had a very limited vocabulary in English. So they had a lot of the lyrics always had tease’, please’, me’ very simplified lyric which made us bring in some very good lyric writers to help write.
Keith Olsen in an interview at Ultimate Guitar

And when I look at the lyrics below, it sure feels like the words came from someone else.

I follow the Moskva down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night, soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

The world is closing in
Did you ever think that we could be so close, like brothers
The futures in the air
I can feel it everywhere, blowing with the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

The wind of change blows straight into the face of time
Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say

Everyone went to a dictionary to see what a balalaika is.

Regardless if conspiracy or truth, or if they became celebrity James Bond’s, rockers and rock music, changed the world.

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Music, My Stories

Are We Fans Of The Music Or The Artist or Both?

I never looked to music for the artists. I would wake up and say, I gotta play this song or that song.

I listened and became a fan of hard rock music because the lyrics resonated and gave me something to believe in. The message was in the songs and as a kid growing up, music which was aggressive and laced with attitude, was screaming for attention.

As a by-product of all of these different reasons, I would then follow the artist who wrote those songs and I would consume their other releases.

But eventually I would fall out with the artist because they ceased to connect with me. And sometimes I would fall back in.

And it didn’t matter who was the best player. It never was about that. All the biggest acts didn’t have the most technical players and singers. But they could write.

And if they couldn’t write anymore or they ran out of ideas, then outside writers would come in to assist them. Like Aerosmith, Kiss, Ozzy and Bon Jovi just to name a few. At least no one was assisting Tom Keifer. But the again Keifer disappeared for a decade and a bit, while the other acts continued.

I was listening to “Blizzard Of Ozz” and it never was a hit record. Hit records were irrelevant back then, and only became relevant when MTV became dominant and people tried to rewrite history. The artist sustained their careers because we believed in their message. And who wrote the message is still disputed when it comes to Ozzy. Bob Daisley says he wrote em.

Some artists break the mold and lead us into new sounds and territories while others capitalize on the mold.

Love em or hate em, but you can’t deny Motley Crue and how “Dr Feelgood” took the sonics of heavy rock and made it heavier and punchier, something that got James and Lars very interested. And it took a pop rock producer called Bob Rock to deliver this. He’s a star. He paved the way for other heavier bands to dominate the charts.

Want to talk about stars?

How about Dee Snider?

He said what he thought, and he poured his passion into efforts like free speech. And he got ostracized for it by people tied to the hip to the record label. Like Lars Ulrich and his Napster crusade a 14 plus years later

People like Dee Snider appear in our lives to tests the limits, and not shy away from them. And he got stiffed by the labels during the heyday of hard rock on MTV between 1988 and 1991 because of it.

Artists from back in the day did not kiss ass. Ask Roger Waters. He was his own singularity. He would deliver the album when he decided it was ready. Not when the record label rep said it was ready. Or his Pink Floyd band mates. Or when John Kalodner said it was ready. Although I must admit I am a fan of albums that John Kalodner was involved in.

Axl Rose is a star. He did shit in his own way. He wrote with whoever he wanted and rejected all the norms of the record and tour cycle. But every star is subject to hate and criticism.

The key is not to give in to the pressure.

Kind of like Michael Jordan.

He had the skill, but so did many other players of his era like Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone. His performance under pressure, and executing the correct skill under pressure and when the trophy was on the line, well that’s special. A separate skill that is developed with experience. It takes time. It takes some pain and some hurt.

But when he retired, people didn’t stop following the Bulls and those NBA championships he won sustained like good songs. Enough to get a new lease of life via “The Last Dance” documentary on Netflix.

And even though the artists haven’t had the same public acceptance as their earlier songs, those songs that sustain.

So music and lyrics got me interested, eventually I became a fan of the artist and moved in and out of between just liking the song or just liking the artist or both.

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Influenced, Music, My Stories

Circus Rock ‘N’ Roll History from 1969 to 1989

Ahh, the history of rock and roll from Circus in 1989 makes interesting reading. Like all histories, there is a bit of revisionist writing taking place based on what is or was popular at the time.

Because history is always written to suit the winners or the populist viewpoint. Sometimes revisionist history sheds new light on historical events because of new evidence or new interpretations of previous evidence. But generally its seen as showing history in a distorted and dishonest way.

We see it a lot these days with our current leaders trying to reframe themselves to suit their own revisionist narrative.

So in 1989, whatever was popular, would get a small sentence.

Bon Jovi is mentioned as releasing their little known debut album in 1984, because in 1986 they would take over the world with “Slippery When Wet”. And by 1989, Bon Jovi ruled. If “Slippery When Wet” and the follow-up “New Jersey” sold like the first two Jovi albums, well Bon Jovi wouldn’t even get a mention here.

Metallica in 1989 was just another speed metal band with a cult following.

But if you read the 80’s histories written after 1992, well it’s all about Metallica and their ground breaking albums in “Kill Em All”, “Ride The Lightning” and “Master Of Puppets”. Or their ground breaking technical thrash metal album in “…And Justice For All”.

It’s a very different history and Metallica is featured prominently and so is Ozzy.

Because for all of his mis-deeds, Ozzy has survived and he’s become part of popular culture. But by 1989, Ozzy was not as big as he was in the early 80’s.

His next comeback happened with “No More Tears” a few years later and then the Ozzy brand just kept getting bigger with Ozzfest, The Osbourne’s TV show, the Black Sabbath reunions in between and so forth.

If you read any history of rock music, Black Sabbath and Ozzy are featured, however in the 70’s Black Sabbath was seen as a really extreme act to be classified as rock. Now they sound like kids playschool music compared to the other extreme acts.

Joe Perry is mentioned as re-joining Aerosmith in 1984, but if “Permanent Vacation” and “Pump” sold as much as “Done With Mirrors” then there would be no conversation of Joe Perry re-joining.

No-one could escape what happened with Vince Neil and Razzle. It’s mentioned and so is “Shout At The Devil”.

Judas Priest just kept getting press for the wrong reasons. Concert vandalism and subliminal messages. What about the excellent releases that kept coming?

“Condition Critical” is mentioned as well as Kevin DuBrow’s big mouth hindering the albums promotion which eventually led to his dismissal.

Twisted Sister is mentioned twice, once in 1979, as an unsigned band selling out a 3000 seat theatre in New York and once again, in 1984 as Dee Snider is arrested for swearing too much.

Van Halen and 1984 and David Lee Roth’s are mentioned.

Going back to 1969, it starts with The Beatles last gig. Steppenwolf is mentioned, for their “heavy metal thunder” follow up, “Magic Carpet Ride”. There are arrests for lewd behaviour, drunkenness, drug possessions and there are deaths and for a bonus, there is Ted Nugent winning a National Squirrel Shooting Archery Contest. WTF.

How would have this Rock’N’Roll history look if it was re-written in 1999, 2009 and 2019?

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

The Record Vault – Black Label Society

I don’t have a lot of Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society on physical. I have three albums from BLS and his Pride and Glory album, which I will talk about when I get to the letter P.

But I do stream his songs like crazy from the last two albums, “Catacombs Of The Black Vatican” and “Grimmest Hits” and I have written various blog posts about certain tracks from those albums.

Anyway, let’s talk about what I have in my collection.

1919 Eternal

This is the first physical purchase I got from BLS.

I didn’t jump on the BLS earlier releases when they came out. Maybe I just wanted Zakk to work with Ozzy and write music for Ozzy only. Whatever the case, this was my first entry.

“Bleed For Me” kicks off the album.

The speed metal like riff and sparse production got me interested.

The syncopated verse riff which merges the speed metal riff from the intro and the vocal melody sound brutal. The kicking chorus melody and that riff under it is perfect.

This grave of life, I give to you
Ignore what was, you know it’s true
Realms of fear, they speak the truth
What has past, I hand to you

Bleed for me, I’ve bled for you
Embrace me, child, I’ll see you through

Zakk put a tribute to his Dad in the booklet, and the title “1919 – Eternal” is in reference to his Dad’s year of birth and how his memory to Zakk is eternal.

A lot of the songs reference WW2, a war his father was involved in. Zakk is writing in a conversation sense. It’s like we are a fly on the wall, while Zakks father is telling him about his views on life.

“Lords Of Destruction” basically destroys.

The talk box vocal melody, the fast picked metal riffs and that droning/ringing note makes this song fit the modern metal scene which at that time involved bands like Korn, Spineshank and Disturbed.

But make no mistake, this is Zakk paying homage to his heavier Black Sabbath influences first and then decorating the song as he sees fit.

Walk in my world of war and mass confusion
Peace is a word that no one cares of knowing
Death is the drug of choice amongst the masses
Engines of hell forever burning faster

So powerful.

In my lifetime there have been small wars here and there about oil and dick sizes.

The biggest global conflict I have seen is COVID-19.

And it’s funny how some of the governments tried to keep the economy open even though the scientists told them to lockdown much early on. So the body count kept rising and then they acted.

I guess death still is the drug of choice amongst our leaders.

“Demise Of Sanity” has a head banging riff throughout.

It’s gonna break you, son, it’s gonna rot you through
Forget the past and all you ever knew
You’ve never known such fear, you’ve never shed such tears
It’ll have you wishin’ you were never here

All that has been, all that’s to be
No tomorrow, the demise of sanity

The war stories of Mr 1919 Eternal Wylde continue. I can’t even remember Zakk’s real name or surname. It feels weird to type Wylde.

I studied WW2 in History at school and one of the texts we looked at, was letters sent back home to loved ones, and a similar quote stood out to me, about, not knowing such fear.

“Life Birth Blood Doom” has the excellent chorus line of “Life birth blood doom, the hole in the ground is coming around soon”.

I walk through fire, I feel no pain
Fields of war which fuel my veins
In the end, son, I was once like you
Cut me, child, you’ll see I bleed

War changes everything. Events change people.

How will the current pandemic change everything?

“Bridges To Cross” feels like it came from the 70’s and Zakk has a certain style when it comes to ballad like songs which just works for me. And the lyrics on this song just connect.

Hands on the wheel
All is straight ahead
Left behind

Having a car and hitting the open road gave me freedom.

Freedom to leave behind whatever I wanted to leave behind.

But my Dad once said that the family and the ties to the family play the biggest part in a person’s live. He had the guts to leave Europe behind, even when his Dad (my grandfather) threatened to kill all of my Dad’s brothers and sisters if Dad left. It was my grandfather’s way of making Dad stay. Dad called his bluff and made his way to Australia.

Second guessing all that I once said
I once said

My spirit is bent and there’s blood on my hands
The more I’m down, the less I understand
Once so found, now so lost
I ask no questions, it’s just one more bridge to cross

I struggled between the ages of 30 and 35. It was a great time and a tough time. I don’t even know how that makes sense.

During that period my life went from no kids to three kids. The most beautiful moments of my life. Suddenly I had responsibilities, and that scared me a lot. I had to care and provide for someone more than me.

And one of my kids got so sick he spent all up 21 days in hospital as the only way the antibiotic could be administered to a three year old child was via a drip. The relationship with my wife was up and down, as financial pressures and children and our own needs, made the arguments worse.

At least my entertainment budget didn’t diminish, much to the displeasure of others. I couldn’t stop that. It would have been the end of me, if I couldn’t go out and buy CD’s and experience new music.

All is black and white
Wouldn’t change even if I could
I’ll take what I’m handed
Whether it’s damned or if it’s good
If it’s good
If it’s good

Amen.

Truth in those words.

Eventually all of the memories and the past become words on pages which will eventually tell the history of my life or our lives. I will take what I’m handed and I will do the best I could to make it work, regardless if its damned or not.

“Battering Ram” feels like the “You Could Be Mine” drum intro on acid and steroids. And the lead break is insane. Chromatic craziness I call it.

For I am eternal, battering ram

I love that lyric line.

It brings back memories of “Battery” from Metallica and “Bulldozer” from Machine Head. Because if you want to live your life as free as possible, you need to be a battering ram, putting aside all the restrictions which people place in front of you and try to stop you from chasing your dreams.

“Refuse To Bow Down” and “Beserkers” have some brutal riffs in those songs.

“America The Beautiful” is a nice acoustic 2 minute piece that basically sounds like you step outside your house, breathe in the smells of your area, hear the sounds and just smile at how beautiful and peaceful it all is.

Overall, it doesn’t have big songs like his Ozzy days but a lot of songs with some excellent riffage.

The Blessed Hellride

This came next. By buying this, it felt like I was joining a motorcycle bike crew.

“Stoned And Drunk” kicks off the album.

Poppin’ pills and drinkin’ booze, smokin’ everyday
Stoned and drunk completely gone,
my world is here to stay

As Zakk says in one of the verses, “were I’m rolling, I’m never knowing”.

It’s easy to fall into dependencies and so hard to get out. I’ve seen it with my older brother, four times caught drunk driving, and each time was meant to be the last time. And now his marriage has crumbled apart and every time I call, he’s drunk, completely gone.

It’s a vicious cycle.

“Doomsday Jesus” grabbed me by the throat and threw me down to the ground with its metallic precision and syncopated riffs merged with sludgy Sabbath. And because Zakk developed a voice that sounds like Ozzy, it’s like I’m listening to an Ozzy album song.

Horsemen rolls, tomorrow’s fading fast

When those biblical horsemen roll through town, there will not be much left. Or they could join the party and get high and drunk with everyone else. Either way, the horsemen win.

I was already familiar with the riffs from “Stillborn” as Guitar World had a transcription and I started to play the riffs.

But I was blown away at how good the vocal melodies are.

Plus the Ozzman makes an appearance as “The Special Guest” because Sony (or maybe, you know who) wouldn’t allow them to use Ozzy’s name to promote the album.

How good is that bit, “I waited here for you, so loooooong”.

“Final Solution” is a pinch harmonic festival and man, that riff before the solo, which becomes the backing riff for the solo, is powerful.

Plus the solo is a guitar hero spotlight.

“Destruction Overdrive” has this 16th note riff that keeps rolling on about a song which tells us that the masses gather around as the drug of choice is found and the hate machine keeps rolling on.

“Blackened Waters” is one of those Zakk Wylde “ballad to rock” songs with that 70’s classic rock and metal feel. And that last 1 minute and 10 seconds, is excellent as it all quietens down and then builds up into the solo.

Mafia

This was a first week purchase.

And man “Fire It Up” just gets me rocking every time.

That talk box intro through a voice loudspeaker for the main riff is perfect and when the whole band fires up, its head banging time.

Fire It Up
Let the engines roll

It should be everyone’s daily motto. Fire up your engine and starting rolling.

Accept your war
It is what it is

Own your decisions, your mistakes and your greatest achievements. It is what it is. Your greatest competition is you.

“Suicide Messiah” is another rocker and “Forever Down” has a wicked guitar solo.

“In This River” is a great song. The way Zakk plays the piano is very 70’s like. It just has this classic rock feel.

In this river all shall fade to black
In this river ain’t no coming back

“Been A Long Time” sounds like a cross between “War Pigs” and one of those songs that Zakk was involved in via the “Rock Star” movie with Mark Wahlberg.

“I Never Dreamed” is a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover and it has a kicking intro lead which keeps on repeating throughout the song and it gets me interested.

Well that’s a wrap on Black Label Society, I think Bad Company is next.

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Music, My Stories

New Tattoo Tour, Australia, 2000

The tour that wasn’t.

The Crue had no press in Australia at the time. It’s like they didn’t even exist. Acts like Limp Bizkit, Matchbox 20, Blink 182 and Pearl Jam ruled. The only 80s act that could still draw big crowds was Bon Jovi and “Its My Life” was a massive comeback song and it proved to be a stayer on the charts.

So it was a bizarre feeling when I saw this advertisement on September 7, 2000 for Motley Crue shows in two months time.

Small time windows like this; from when tickets go on sale, to when the shows are meant to be on, just don’t happen in Australia. There is at least, as a minimum 6 months to a year notice.

And Australia wasn’t getting a lot of live acts at this point in time, especially hard rock acts who weren’t selling a lot because our AUD dollar was low compared to the USD, so to bring the acts out and pay them their US fee, meant the prices here would be extraordinarily high.

Plus it was a risk for the promoter, because an acts draw was always based on record sales. And hard rock acts just weren’t selling like they used to.

Anyway who was I to argue.

The mighty Crue we’re coming to town.

Yeah it’s not the Crue that I knew growing up as Tommy Lee was missing and his replacement Randy Castillo was undergoing cancer treatment, so Samantha Maloney was behind the kit.

But it was still the Crue.

The bad boys (now mid 30s men) we’re coming to town and playing the same arenas like it was 1989.

But “New Tattoo” didn’t set any charts alight when it came out in Australia. It was no “Dr Feelgood”, so this tour would need to rely more on the hardcore audience to buy tickets for nostalgic purposes rather than any new fans because of the “Generation Swine” and “New Tattoo” albums.

So I purchased tickets for myself, my wife and a few friends, as the gig on November 23 fell on my birthday. I thought man, it they make it and they don’t kill each other before hand, as the airport incident between Tommy and Vince was still fresh in my mind, then it would be a great birthday present.

Then on October 27, almost a month after tickets went on sale, the Crue cancelled their Australian tour which for a band as big as Crue was, it was only going to be their second ever tour of Australia. There first one being the “Dr Feelgood” tour.

The press release said it was because of “personal circumstances beyond the bands control” but Sixx filled in the blanks later when he said it was due to low ticket sales.

No shit.

But I didn’t think they would cancel because of low tickets. Like come on, it was still the Crue. Surely they still had enough fans to sell out. I guess in 2000 they didn’t care enough.

Redemption came in December, 2005 when they came to town and sold out a bigger arena than they had scheduled to play in 2000.

5 years. Things change a lot.

It goes to show what a game changer Napster, file sharing and “The Dirt” book were for Motley Crue.

Having their music easily available around the world because of file sharing, increased their fan base exponentially, which led to ticket sales and “The Dirt” book sealed the deal.

It gave them a golden run of another 12 plus years and if COVID-19 doesn’t kill it, they have their comeback tour planned on the backs of “The Dirt” movie. Funny how “The Dirt” was pivotal in two comebacks.

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

Locked Out Of Heaven

The debut Revolution Saints album was number 5 on my 2015 list. And they just released their 3rd album this year.

Revolution Saints is a supergroup of musicians who have been around for a long time.

Deen Castronovo (was discovered by Neal Schon and was then given a chance to play in Bad English by Schon) is on drums and vocals. It was a shame that a few months after this album was released, he was in the press for all of the wrong reasons. He even lost his Journey drumming gig because of it.

Doug Aldrich can shred and he helped prolong the careers of artists like Dio and Whitesnake, while Jack Blades has a stellar resume with Night Ranger, Damn Yankees and writing songs for other artists with Tommy Shaw. But the star of the album is an Italian songwriter called Allessandro Del Vecchio. He’s like the Desmond Child or Jim Vallance or Max Martin for Frontiers Records president Serafino Perugiono.

And “Locked Out of Paradise” is written solely by Alessandro Del Vecchio. There is a live version of the song on the “Light In The Dark” deluxe version, which shows the power of the song.

The palm muted intro for the first 20 seconds and then the power chords come crashing in with metronome drum rolls precision from Castronovo supplementing the build into the verses.

From about 38 seconds we are into the verse. Its rocking, its melodic and it builds nicely into the pre-chorus and that tasty arena rock chorus.

“We’ve been locked out of paradise, we lost our battle to survive”

Paradise is this elusive utopian refuge we try to get to. But we can’t quantify it or measure how far we need to go to get there, so we keep chasing it. My view to get there, is drip by drip, little steps at a time and trying to make each day, each week, each year, each decade better than the previous.

“Bring your heart to me, what do you touch?, I’m just a man with a hope”

Because in the end all we do is hope. We feel that our expectations and desires for a particular thing to happen are getting closer to the event. So we keep hoping. Some keep praying. And we keep going.

For the debut album, the songs were already written by other writers, so all Aldrich had to do was learn the riffs, put his unique spin on them and then work out what he needed to do for the solos.

Which are quality.

The lead break for this song is well-structured and well thought out, as Aldrich pulls out various techniques from his arsenal. It starts off melodically, builds nicely and ends with a guitar acapella two bar shred fest before moving back into the song.

By the end, I am pressing repeat just to hear that intro again and that guitar solo.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

March 2020 – Part 3

Here is the final post of March 2020 releases that have interested me in some way. Here is the playlist.

Higher Ground – Reach
It was their song “Live Or Die” from a few years ago which got me interested in the band as it was a cross between all the good things I like from Muse and melodic rock.

“Higher Ground” has more of that pop vibe, a fusion of jazz/reggae in the verses and Swedish rock choruses inspired by classical music.

The First Time – Khymera
The intro just hooks me in. I’ve heard similar songs with these kind of melodic intros and still to this day I stay riveted and interested.

“You’ve got me running for the first time” is the hook and in the second verse, “the price of love is misery”.

What The Dead Men Say – Trivium
I’m really digging the first two single drops from Trivium.

“What the dead men say is just between us” is the hook here, and the music just goes for the throat at full throttle with some wicked shredding along the way.

Shadows of The Night – Vandenberg
Adrian Vandenberg knows how to write some killer songs and the dude can play, referencing some classic heavy metal riffs on this one. Plus he’s finally allowed to use his surname again, so gone is the Moonkings and its just Vandenberg again.

Verdict: I like.

Wings Of the Storm – Axel Rudi Pell
Here is another dude who can play.

The world we are in gets weirder every day

Damn right it does. Who would have thought that we would be in lock down. So many businesses that I thought were resilient are closing doors. Looks like nothing is left in reserves for a rainy day.

And we are working from home, the kids are doing school from home and we leave the house for essentials only.

Fly eagle fly
Far away on the wings of the storm

It’s easier said and done these days.

Shadowman – One Desire

This is a good song, the full 6 minutes of it.

One Desire came into my radar a few years ago and I saved a few songs and now they have a new album about to drop and I’m digging what I am hearing so far.

“A shadow in the window hiding”

It’s descriptive but hey who hasn’t seen a shadow when we’ve walked past a window which reflects back to us our surroundings.

Broken – FM
FM came into my life because of Phil Soussan. Soussan was in band called Wildlife with Steve Overland and Chris Overland who would go and form FM a few years later.

Soussan wrote “Shot In The Dark” with the Overland brothers who wrote the original lyrics and they demoed a version of the song. And Ozzy was gifted a hit that he somehow magically co-wrote and no credit was given to the Overland brothers.

And This is one good song.

Let’s not pretend there’s nothing to mend

Been reading how relationships are turning sour due to the COVID-19 lockdown. I guess people didn’t really want to be with each other

Devil You Know – Electric Mob
The bluesy groove is old and it’s been used by thousands of other songs. Electric Mob amp it up, modern it up and they get my attention with it.

I’m interested. What comes next.

Outlaws and Outsiders – Cory Marks
There are a few guest musicians here. Travis Tritt, Ivan Moody and Mick Mars all appear.

The riffs between “Devil You Know” mentioned above and this one are very similar, with a Nickelback/Shinedown style chorus.

I’m interested. What comes next.

Actually, I just listened to “Hangman Jury” from Aerosmith and the riffs are similar.

In The Blood – Dizzy Miss Lizzy
I’m really digging the groove on this song.

There is this bridge like section from about 2.54 to 3.07 which they bring back as a solo from about 3.40 to 4.05 which really gets the foot tapping and the head moving. And to top it off, they finish the song with it.

And I always like a song which makes me want to pick up the guitar to learn it and this song ticks all the boxes.

IWSYA – Voices
Footsteps – Voices
Unknown – Voices
Heavy Metal Overlord did a review of this album and it got me interested to check these guys out. Thank you HMO.

The acoustic riff in “IWSYA” is melancholic and the melodic vocals add to it. From about 2.55 it gets these scattered reverbed black metal like screams, but the song sounds like a progressive song that bands like Haken and Tesseract are known for.

“Footsteps” is the closer and a two note arpeggio riff rings throughout in the intro as the drums play a math metal like tom roll.

It kicks in after that and the song rolls forward with an unbelievable three note violin lead riff which starts to become prominent from the middle of the song and it keeps on repeating to the end.

“Unknown” has an intro which gets me interested.

I think it’s the bass that does it for me on this song. It drives the groove, while the drummer and the guitarist decorate, if that makes sense.

Mother (Album) – In This Moment
I am a fan of the “The Dream” and “A Star Crossed Wasteland” albums and that style of hard rock with melodic vocals. But those musicians on those recordings have moved on except for Maria Brink and guitarist Chris Howorth and the new band kept morphing their sound, into the atmospheric, tribal beat driven style they have now. And I wasn’t expecting much from this album, but I was blown away.

“Fly Like An Eagle” is a Steve Miller cover and its done in a way which is unique to “In This Moment”. The drums establish the tribal war cry and the song keeps building. “Legacy” has a vocal melody that could have come from either “The Dream” or “A Star Crossed Wasteland”. And the way the song rolls, with its Def Leppard/Journey style of guitar decorating works for me.

“We Will Rock You” is another cover, and again done in a way which is unique to In This Moment with guest vocals from Taylor Momsen and Lzzy Hale. “Mother” is powerful, as soon as the anguished “Mother” chant starts. “Holy Man” has this section which reminds me of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and I like it.

“Lay Me Down” sounds like it came from “The Hu” with an infectious chorus and a “Lay Me Down” gospel chant which I like. “Into Dust” is the third cover on the from alternative rock act Mazzy Star and like all of the covers on the album, it is done in a way which captures the tribal roots style drumming and atmospheric build of what In This Moment is like now.

When “In This Moment” signed with Atlantic, I thought their career would be over because labels are always willing to play the short-term game. Labels are willing to cut more corners, to make money now than in the future. But it looks like “In This Moment” is given freedom to do what they want, to build their career even further. There’s plenty of room to win if someone takes a longer view than the others.

And that’s a wrap for March.

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

March 2020 – Part 2

And now for the releases that came into my life in March. By the way here is the overall playlist.

Future World (Live) – Pretty Maids
Pretty Maids have been making music for 35 plus years. Although they might not have the same superstar status as other acts from the 80’s, 35 plus years In the business is no small feat. The fire still burns to create and release new music and recently they have been mining their vaults for live recordings.

And “Future World” was written back in the late 80’s about listening to the fools who brought the human race to fall.

And in the era of COVID-19, we will come out of this much different to what we were before we went in. A new generation will be created and a new wonderland will come. A future world.

Signs (Live At Abbey Road Studios) – Tesla
Tied To The Tracks (Live At Abbey Road Studios) – Tesla
Do we need another Tesla acoustic album?

For me, anything from Tesla gets my attention.

If it’s good, it will get my attention for a lot longer.

“Signs” was a hit for the band, and “Tied To The Tracks” is a brilliant cut to bring out in an acoustic format and to show your audience that you are still writing great songs. In case you weren’t aware, this track is on their “Shock” album.

Signs and rules do restrict our freedoms. While it may not seem like a big thing these days, once upon a time, long haired people couldn’t apply for a job and not everyone could enter restaurants/eateries in the same way we can today.

The original song was written in the late 60’s and it was released as a B side by the group “Five Man Electrical Band”, but became bigger than all of their songs.

Fake News – Shakra
Thousand Kings – Shakra
Turn The Light On – Shakra
New Tomorrow – Shakra
These songs are from Shakra’s new album “Mad World”. 25 plus years in the business for these Swiss veterans.

“Fake News” has a riff which brings back the swagger of “Appetite For Destruction”. It’s funny how as a term used by legitimate news sources to describe the fake news of news outlets pushing the political agenda of their owner has been turned around to be used by people and organisations to describe every news source which is critical of them.

“Turn The Light On” has this Scorpions “Rock You Like A Hurricane” vibe.

All Eyes On You – Smash Into Pieces
This could have appeared on the new Ozzy album. It’s a pop rock / pop metal gem with lyrics about a mercenary.

Killer for hire, soldier of fortune
Gotta walk thru fire for what’s important

Again – Earshot
This is from 2004 and Earshot has come back into my life again this month. This band merged the grooves of Chevelle and Tool and the melodies of Staind into awesome modern rock songs ranging between 3 to 5 minutes in length.

As I ponder my
Thoughts and fears in life
I stand tempted to throw it all away

2004 seems so distant in 2020 and with all the problems happening.

Why would you want to throw your life away when the world is trying its best to take it from you?

Mr Big Shot – Collateral
Promiseland – Collateral
This band from the UK came from out of nowhere via a Spotify playlist.

Vocally the singer sounds like a cross between Sebastian Bach and Mike Matijevic from Steelheart. Musically, it sounds like Dan Huff’s Giant with an 80’s vibe.

All Over But The Cryin’ – The Georgia Satellites
Deke over at Thunder Bay posted a review of “The Georgia Satellites” barroom brawl, debut album from the mid 80’s.

“Keep Your Hands To Yourself” from the debut album in 1986, is the song which got them noticed and it’s a great song title. And the way the song is structured and performed, it has the crossover appeal into country/southern rock, which it did perfectly. Of course it was no surprise that in the 90’s, quite a few country artists rocked it up like these guys.

But my favourite song is from their third album, “In the Land Of Salvation And Sin” released in 1989. It’s like a cross between Tom Petty and something that Lynyrd Skynyrd would write. It sounds fresh today even though it is over 30 years old.

The War We Made – Red
I’ve liked Red since I heard their first album “End Of Silence” in 2006.

Hear a voice when the light is gone
Never know whose side it’s on
Think you’re gonna see someone
But you are the only one

I see this songs message as the war was made by the one person and the two voices within that one person.

The Reckoning – Silvera
This song has a wicked intro. And I have no idea who is in the band or their origins.

Desperado (Radio Edit) – Soilwork
Bjorn Strid is one hell of a vocalist, moving from his death metal voice to soaring melodicism.

The first person to do this was Rob Halford. He moved between baritone and falsetto. King Diamond took it to another operatic level. Then everything in the 90’s went to rap, melodic or guttural. There was no crossover. And then everything started merging again.

Lost (feat Sully Erna) – Stitched Up Heart
Sully Erna pops up everywhere as a guest vocalist.

It’s how this song came onto my radar. I am a Godsmack fan.

The thing with these kinds of song is that once Evanescene nailed it with “Bring Me To Life”, every band with a female singer started to try to recreate the formula. And 17 years later, people are still trying to recreate that same magic.

And “Lost” has a massive chorus.

Habit – Adelitas Way
This band is good. They’ve now put some serious years on the board and their growth as artists in evident in their song writing. This song has so many pop like elements, yet it still rocks hard.

I can’t help myself, I got a habit.

It’s a wicked line. So simple and yet so effective.

Yep, habits are hard to break. Some habits I don’t want to break even though the moral police and health police tell me to do so.

It’s got this lick in the intro and in the solo which lingers after the song is finished.

The Sweet Escape – Poets of The Fall

I really like Poets Of The Fall. The Alexander Theatre sessions is basically them playing some of their favourite songs in an acoustic setting. And the melancholy of those songs, comes through even more in this kind of set up.

Under a canopy of stars
Where thought and truth divorce
In that latticework of dreams we are shameless

Seriously, how good and descriptive are these lyrics.

There is no attempt to rhyme or to find words to rhyme, just a story to be told about making a sweet escape.

By The Blues – Conception

Now Conception came into my life in the 90’s with their album “In Your Multitude”. It had this concise form of song writing that took all of the best elements of progressive bands into 4 to 5 minute length songs.

And then they disappeared. I couldn’t find anything on em, although the internet many years later did highlight that they did a few more albums and then broke up or went on hiatus.

But in the last few years they have reformed and it’s good to have them back in my life. If you like metal and rock with a dose of Euro feel, then Conception is the band to check out.

Part 3 coming up.

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

March 2020 – Part 1

So my March listening started off with tracks from January and February that I liked. I have written about these tracks already.

Here is the March playlist.

Circle The Drain – Machine Head
I like the melodic metal side of Robb Flynn. And he crushes on this song, as it moves between melodicism, nu metal and groove metal.

Feeling Whitney – Royal Bliss
The original Post Malone version is pretty good as well, a cross between “Dust In The Wind” style fingerpicking and modern rock.

Royal Bliss turn it into a modern pop rock song. And that also works.

Naked City – Jorn
Running Up That Hill – Jorn
Lonely Nights – Jorn
What does Kiss, Kate Bush and Bryan Adams have in common?

Bubbles – Framing Hanley
“I hear the nervousness in every word that is said” and in these pandemic times, I hear it and I see it loud and clear as our leaders make panic policies and suspend the sitting of parliament. I guess the bubble has burst and what comes next no one knows.

We are in uncharted waters here.

Come Clean – H.E.A.T
Dangerous Ground – H.E.A.T
Melodic Rock at its best. The Chorus in “Come Clean” is super catchy, with a R nought of 2.

Under The Graveyard – Ozzy Osbourne
At this point in time, it’s on the playlist.

Will it be in 10 years’ time?

Maybe. And on the COVID-19 news front, writer, guitarist and producer of this album, Andrew Watt has been diagnosed as having it.

Let’s hope for a speedy recovery as other musicians have already died, from an ex-Riot member, Fountains Of Wayne bassist and a country songwriter/guitarist.

Catastrophist – Trivium
I have been a Trivium fan for 13 years now.

It’s funny how fast time goes and it’s funny how many haters this band gets as well, because the old school metal fans don’t like the screaming, the old school death metal fans think it’s too fake and they just can’t win. But they can play their instruments, and they can play it well.

Singer Matt Heafy even put in time with former Emperor guitarist and vocalist, Ihsahn, learning the art of Black Metal and progressive songwriting. Not a lot of artists can lay claim to that.

F8/Inside Out – Five Finger Death Punch
These two songs work brilliantly together.

“I stand alone, I guess I knew it all along” and it feels more like that these days than ever before. We look at our leaders and our heroes from music and entertainment to give us some insights, but in the end, the decisions made are ours to make alone. And our heroes are as clueless as us.

Because Of You – Storm Force
This song just refuses to go away from my life. The music, the verse lyrics and that chorus. All so familiar and i like it.

“The world is yours today always something going down”. For me 2020 has seen; devastating bush fires which brought forth air quality issues, then came the rains and the floods. And now, we are at the start of the biggest threat in my lifetime, COVID-19. So we look to our families, our partners, our children and our friends for inspiration and reflection.

Dear Agony – Breaking Benjamin
The mood of this song gets me. This song gives me hope, even though it’s a depressing song itself.

“Dear Agony, just let go of me, suffer slowly, is this the way it’s gotta be”.

No it didn’t have to be this way. Fighting for life is more important than anything else in the world.

Aeromantic (Album) – The Night Flight Orchestra
Let’s just say that this album would most probably appear in all of my monthly reviews, because it is so damn good.

Songs like “Aeromantic” and “Taurus” pick up the energy. My favourites are the closer “Dead of Winter” and “Transmissions” with that violin solo.

Change The World (Album) – Harem Scarem
Have I mentioned that Pete Lesperance is one hell of a guitar player?

Part 2 for March coming up.

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