The Michael Schenker Group never really cracked the market huge in North America during the 80s which in reality they should have.
They had opportunities for sure and they could never say their albums weren’t available as I always found Mikey’s records here in Thunder Bay at the record shops.
One MSG record that I never owned was Rock Will Never Die.
My pal Deaner at work was selling some albums last year and in the pile was MSG- Rock Will Never Die, a live album recorded at The Hammersmith Odeon back in 1983 but released in 1984. I was intrigued by this album as I have never owned it on any format.
Rock Will Never Die is a pretty decent live album produced by Jack Douglas (Aerosmith) that has Mikey still retaining the core of the band that being Vocalist Gary Barden, Chris Glenn on Bass and Ted McKenna(RIP) on the drums from the previous year.
Andy Nye was the keyboardist on this record and so is Derek St Holmes(Ted Nugent, Whitford/St. Holmes) on guitar who if you look at the back cover of this record does not have his picture shown!
Hmmm. Wonder went down there?
A pretty good cross-section of Michaels’s career up to this point. Rock My Nights Away is a really good track that like a few other MSG singles should have made a dent in the charts over here back in the day.
Desert Song from what I would say is the best MSG album from 1982 (Assault Attack) is featured and look at that as Klaus and Rudy from the Scorpions show up to the Hammersmith and jam Doctor Doctor with MSG.
Considering Michael currently blames his brother Rudy for everything that went wrong in his career along with Rudy swiping his guitar licks(supposedly) is hilarious. This shit as in drama never gets old. lol
Rock Will Never Die is a pretty decent spin. Not as classic as MSG One Night At The Budokan from 1982 but a good enough listen
Gene Simmons might think Rock Is Dead but myself and Schenker don’t!
deKe's Vinyl Reviews & More... 
I have Budokahn not this, but itd be nice to hear this.
Also side note, Attack Of The Mad Axeman is such a fun song. Douhn din duhn din dehmehnehmeh nuuh neh.
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Budokan is by far the better one. RWND is a decent enough spin though.
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The team behind MS really tried to break him worldwide. They said he didn’t have the right frontman and they kept changing em. But maybe the problem all along was MS. Personally MS is a big inspiration so I’ll give him time.
Plus how good is Desert Song
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Barden’s in. Barden’s out. Imagine how Gary felt but he was probably glad to get the paycheque. I mean they got on some good American tours like opening for RUSH etc.
Ego’s a bitch lol
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Don’t have this one. Just got Budokan.
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As I said Budokan is the one that is supreme in the works of MSG. It was good to hear the other songs on this that they recorded after Budokan.
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Too bad they didn’t make it big in North America – that would have been a great live album, MSG live at MSG in NYC!
Good on the TBay shops for keeping him in stock!
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No kidding Geoff. MSG live at MSG! With ideas like that MSG would have hired you on the spot.
Tbay never head a problem getting new releases on the days new music would come out which I think used to be Tuesdays back in the 80s. The move to Fridays was better
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I wonder if it was like ‘cheap tuesdays’ at the movie theatres, maybe drive more traffic to the stores on an otherwise slower day.
But I’m with you on the fridays, new release movies and music, it makes sense!
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Unless it was Maiden/VH i would buy those acts no matter what day they came out.
I recall buying KISS Revenge and Maidens Fear of the Dark on a Tuesday release date that was around April-92
Yet I also bought Jeff Healy’s Feel This on a Friday back in Oct or Nov 92..
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Nice call with that Jeff Healey album – always liked Cruel Little Number!
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Heart of an Angel I love as Jeff solos right off the hop
Caught that tour here and it was a great show
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I’m not really familiar with old MSG pre-Graham Bonnet so I would be completely in the dark as to what Barden sounds like!
The Rudy/Michael stuff (and the Bob/Bruce stuff) is just proof that some adults are actually just children.
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Barden was before and after Bonnett. There was even another singer named Ray don’t know his last name who did a tour or something. MSG was a mess at a time with singers.
Barden was good for MSG.
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Ah, Ray. Sounds like a good general rock singer name. Ray from down at the bar. LOL.
MSG was a mess with singers or Michael is a mess in general.
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Mikey was a mess in the 80s. He had opportunities but chucked it away. I thought Perfect Timing would do the trick as they opened for RUSH but it stalled.
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Never heard of this guy. You have to wonder why some people make it and some don’t get there. He seems a little full of himself. I just read where he had a chance to play guitar with Ozzy but had crazy demands…I listened to some of his guitar playing…he was really good.
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Ozzy, Aerosmith… I think at times he was his worst own enemy. Having said that MSG did put out some cool stuff.
Basically from 80 to 87 and then I got off his tour bus as the constant lineup changes started to annoy me. lol
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Aerosmith also? Yea I would say so. Consistency is important. Sometimes artists don’t think of that. There is always someone better you can replace someone with…you could do that forever…it changes your sound though.
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Aero when Perry and Whitford split. Lot’s of guys wanted Micheal. Whitesnake you name it..
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