Weekend Spin-Hear N Aid: (1986)

Starting something new called Weekend Spin where I will babble on a bit with an album that I pulled off the shelf and spin. No in-depth stuff here just some words about the album and maybe if anything you will check out what I’ve been digging.

When Quincy Jones back in 1985 did the We Are The World tune for Africa with all the Pop-Tart  Stars at the time Quincy ignored all the Metal bands as he was too busy kissing Micheal Jackson and whoever else’s ass at the time.

Ronnie Jame Dio took that as a slap to the face of the Metal Community and along with his bandmate’s in Dio that being Jimmy Bain and Vivian Campbell wrote the over 7-minute epic tune Stars.

Ronnie enlisted a ton of Metal Heads. Basically, a who’s who of what I was listening to at the time.  8 Lead Vocalists, 14 Guitarists, 2 Drummers,1 Bassist and 1 Keyboardist.

Man, that’s a ton of rock! Quincy would Run To The Hills with all this metal blasting.

Stars is a good song as you have to keep the tune flowing especially come the solo sections. I remember watching the video numerous times and being amazed that Neal Schon actually found the volume knob on his Marshall amp as Neal just laid down a wicked solo.

Yngwie J Malmsteen, on the other hand, made me laugh as he played a million notes in about 15 seconds of solo time. 

The rest of the album featured other artists some who weren’t there to record the song Stars but contributed a tune to fill out the rest of the album.

For shits and giggles look at the pic above where it’s broken down into 6 sections of Guitar Solos.

Imagine for a second these guys were Guitar Duo’s in bands together.

How about a band featuring Neal Schon/George Lynch? Vivian Campbell and Yngwie Malmsteen? Craig Goldy and Eddy Ojeda? Interesting to see Goldy here as he was the fella who replaced Vivian when he split from Dio shortly after this release.

Accept with Up To The Limit. Motorhead contributed On The Road. Jimi Hendrix Can You See Me. Y&T blasting out Go For The Throat and The Scorpions making a break from The Zoo.

The other artists featured were more of a selling feature of this album for me as these were unreleased tracks that they donated to the Hear N Aid project.

Those were,

RUSH- Distant Early Warning (Live from Toronto 1984)

KISS- Heaven’s On Fire(Live from Detroit- Animalize Tour 1984)

DIO-Hungry For Heaven( Live from Philidelphia 1985)

I originally bought this on cassette at the time it came out. I know it was out on vinyl as well and I’m not too sure but I don’t think the Hear N Aid release was ever available on CD. I could be wrong though.

About a year or so ago I was vinyl hunting and came across this in the bins and it was a no brainer pay cash and dash. I was and still am not big on compilation albums but this one is the exception to the rule as it features acts I liked and still do for that matter. 

A fun spin for a good cause.

JUST IN CASE YOU WANT TO ORDER SOME SWAG OR BETAMAX!