So today at work on my coffee break as I was scrolling my timeline on FaceCrack out of nowhere comes direct from Iron Maiden HQ’s the news that Maiden is releasing a live album to coincide with the recently finished Book Of Souls tour. Here comes the live album!
Whut???
That was my first reaction. My second reaction was to show my pal at work Deaner the Maiden posting as well! This came out of nowhere and what a pleasant surprise as the studio album and tour were stellar!
November 17th 2017 is when this bad boy drops and I CAN’T WAIT!
The packaging looks spectacular! Check out the pics below!
Must also mention that Maiden is going to stream the Concert Video of this album for free at a date to be determined.
The full show recorded at various points round the globe!
The track listing is as follows!
01. If Eternity Should Fail – Sydney, Australia
02. Speed Of Light – Cape Town, South Africa
03. Wrathchild – Dublin, Ireland
04. Children Of The Damned – Montreal, Canada
05. Death Or Glory – Wroclaw, Poland
06. The Red And The Black – Tokyo, Japan
07. The Trooper – San Salvador, El Salvador
08. Powerslave – Trieste, Italy
09. The Great Unknown – Newcastle, UK
10. The Book Of Souls – Donington, UK
11. Fear Of The Dark – Fortaleza, Brazil
12. Iron Maiden – Buenos Aires, Argentina
13. Number Of The Beast – Wacken, Germany
14. Blood Brothers – Donington, UK
15. Wasted Years – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Posted the live version of Speed Of Light at the top of the page that Maiden dropped today as the lead single from Live Chapter!
A week or so ago I was stoked to hear a couple of tracks from this forthcoming live album from Alter Bridge (pre ordered this on iTunes) that I hyped its release by a day(September 7th) with a quick little post but with this album being on heavy rotation in my world for a week since its release back on September 8th. It’s time for the review of Live At The O2 Arena.
Myles Kennedy/Mark Tremonti/Brian Marshall/Scott Phillips have put out the ‘Contender’ for 2017 Album of the year in my book!
Hey, why not! AB’s 2016 effort The Last Hero came in at Number 3 for fav albums of the year and as with every AB release it gets better!
This album is a pure brilliant release on how a band in this day and age in the year of 2017 should record and release a live album!
Writing On The Wall starts the show off with its twirling like power riffs and Kennedy as he does on all AB tracks delivers the goods vocally!
Love the production on this album. Not any real polish, no tweaking and sounds live!
The other 18 live tracks are spread throughout AB’s 5 album career especially songs from The Last Hero being featured with Blistering versions of Crows On A Wire/Show Me A Leader/My Champion amongst others.
AB’s strength is in the writing of Tremonti/Kennedy who can write super heavy rock riffs during the course of a song yet still find that melodic bit during a chorus which Is what I would think you could say would be “Hook”. Tunes like Ties That Bind/Open Your Eyes/Isolation fit this format to a T!
Basically a ‘Hook’ followed by a swift boot in the ass musically speaking that is!
The live guitars of Mark and Myles are mixed brilliantly on this release! Myles guitar is on the left side/Mark’s is on the right and these guys are wicked players. Sure and justifiably so everyone goes on about Tremonti and how good he is! Ah yeah, just check out the track Metalingus as Mark plays like a man possessed!
But…
Myles holds his own on the 6 string something that no one ever writes about which is just goofy! Yeah we all know the cat can sing but Myles rips about a good 40% of AB solo’s on this release and I will say that opening solo on Show Me A Leader is absolutely sick! So good!
That’s the beauty of this band. A solid one two punch in the six string department. On one side you have Tremonti laying down Metallica like riffs whereas on the other side you got Kennedy playing old school power chord riffs! Best of both worlds!
Marshall and Phillips are exceptional on their instruments as well (Bass and Drums respectively) Phillips lays down a ton of cool drumming at times! Want double Bass? Want a ton of cymbal smashing? Yeah it’s all here…
19 live tracks and don’t think its just one big metal assault! No way Jose. Myles does an acoustic only song Watch Over You while Mark takes over the lead vocal on the prog rock like Waters Rising.
How about an additional 11 studio tracks that make up the Rarities portion of the album. 2 of the tracks (Cruel Son and Solace) are two unreleased songs from AB’s debut One Day Remains back in 2004! I’m not one to hunt down bonus studio tracks etc so to get them all included in this package is a total score for me!
This is a total must own if your into heavy rock with a singer who can deliver it live…..
When I was starting to dabble with music in the late 70’s it was a whole different time period growing up. From a musical standpoint when I first heard KISS and there track 100,000 Years I was shocked as a 10-year-old…
Did the Lead Singer of Kiss, Stanley Eisen sing what I thought I heard sung?
“I’m sorry to have taken so long
It must have been a BITCH while I was gone
You mind if I sit down for a while
You’ll reacquaint yourself with my style”
Whoah! Did I hear the word “Bitch”. Think about it for a second. I’m 10 years old snot still dripping from my nose and I see these 4 dudes in Makeup on a KISS album called The Originals at my pal John Youngs(MIA) place and these guys KISS not only look Hellish but there cussing even if it’s one word!
Speaking of John Young. His older sister had this greatest hits album by a band called Nazareth and a tune called Hair of The Dog where lead singer Dan McCafferty growls in his Scottish accent…
“Now you’re messin’ with a
(A son of a bitch) now you’re messin’ with a son of a bitch
Now you’re messin’ with a
(A son of a bitch) now you’re messin’ with a son of a bitch”
HA…Nazareth get there point across where the line Son of A Bitch is sung 30 times on the track! KISS you have been dethroned by these 4 Scot’s …..
It’s funny as about 10 years later Guns N Roses hit the pot of gold with Appetite For Destruction album and it’s basically an anti everything record. In it though Axl Rose drops F bomb after F continually and basically goes to show you how far the F bomb had come.
Course I was 20 when Appetite was released so I wasn’t fazed but kinda funny as my younger brother Todd was getting into music in 1987 at the age of 10.(Just as I was as a 10 yr old discovering KISS) Appetite was his album and what not. My parents were always cool with this music being played in the house. I mean we weren’t burning down churches/robbing bank/drug dealing…well it would have been fun to have hoped on the NightTrain…
Sure there are other forms of music that Cuss/Cuss/Cuss like Rap and what not but I can’t really speak about that stuff but if someone is reading this feel free to angle another spin on it….
The most clever ever Cuss on an album hands down comes from Aerosmith on the all time greatest live album ever titled Live Bootleg!
Dream On (recorded in Louisville Kentucky 1977)of all tracks! Yup the ballad of Aero! The song that shot them into mega stardom and with the ever clever Steven Tyler at the mic Steven sings the Cuss word so quick….I’m not telling you what it is ..listen to the vid posted
Check it out at exactly the 2 Minute 8 second Mark!
Sometimes less is more and Steve-o is the Champ at Cussing Slyness!
Must have been back in the spring of 1988. As per our weekly rock protocol. Myself and Tbone would hit all the local record stores and check out new releases that had come out.
Our last stop was our local shopping mall Intercity which basically had two record stores that sold the most expensive CD’s/Cassettes in town and that was Music City and A&A Records. Those were our last two stops as we never expected much at these two stores. Included in the Mall were the two huge chains across Canada at the time Zellers and Sears with each store at opposite ends of the mall. Very seldom would we venture into these stores music sections as they were to put it bluntly “Shitty”.
Now having said that Tbone if you recall scored a bunch of Van Halen cassettes at Sears and peeled off the cheapie cassette tape prices that were on the crap tapes and put them on the Halen tapes.For your reading pleasure here posted below is the link!
Anyways. This one trip we find ourselves in Zellers sifting through there ridiculous priced Cassette and CD’s. As I was browsing through the cassette tapes one tape jumped out at me.
Project Driver a band that I had read about in Guitar World that featured hot-shot guitarist Tony MacAlpine. Singer Rob Rock and the dynamic rhythm section of Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge.
I called Tbone over told him this is a “Score” and we needed to get these as I had not seen Project Driver anywhere in Thunder Bay and here are two copies in Zellers of all friggin places! Yup we paid through the nostrils for this tape. I think at least $12.98 or maybe a buck or two more. (Too make a long story short we were hosed on Project Driver as it was a ton of shredding and the production sounded sterile. I can’t even remember the songs or anything. I take full responsibility for this purchase and I dragged Tbone down with me!)
So as were just about to leave I noticed off in the far corner of the Zeller’s a Jukebox! Whut? Yep you got a jukebox filled with 45 rpm single records. Singles by George Micheal/INXS/Steve Winwood/Belinda Carlisle and others. Must have been a at least 100 45’s in their….
Now Jukebox’s in the late 80s well in Tbay anyways were few and far between. But here we are and Zellers has one in there crapola music section so as I scour over what 45’s there are well looky looky…..
Sitting amidst all the 80s commercial slop is Guns N Roses with their current single Sweet Child Of Mine. Better yet on the flip side was a live version of It’s So Easy.
The first thought that pops into my brain is JACKPOT! I quickly dug into my pocket for change and dumped it into the Jukebox and selected It’s So Easy.
I was hoping for one thing and that was volume. Couldn’t find it anywhere on the outside of the jukebox so I was hoping we could hear it….
We stood around and you could hear something ….
First some crowd noise and then well here comes Duff McKagan with that classic opening bass lick and were off to the races folks! It’s loud and you could hear it well within 100 feet or so.
We howled as we couldn’t wait til Axl Rose comes off the rails at the end of the song with a tirade of F Bombs. Sure enough as Axl rained down a bunch of F-Bombs we howled with delight as it was loud and here we are in crappy music section in a crappy store!
Hey Mr Zellers! That day back in 1988 we gave your store some street cred!
About a week or two later me and Tbone returned to the scene of the crime and the Jukebox was still there! ‘Shall I cue up Gunners again Tbone?”
Tbone nodded “Affirmative!”
Only problem was someone yanked the Gunners 45 from the Jukebox! Gone…Just like that….. It’s So Easy…
When people think of Ronnie James Dio I think it would be safe to say that 1983’s epic DIO solo album Holy Diver would come to one’s mind!
My intro to Dio was when he was fronting Black Sabbath and if you’re talking about favourite Sabbath albums I would tell you it would be 1981’s Mob Rules album just from the standpoint of that’s when I discovered Sabbath back in 1981. Besides Mob Rules had a bunch of classic tracks on it!
A short while later like what happens in so many bands Sabbath and Dio got all silly with each other and Dio split and took at the time current Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice and they formed Dio along with bassist and Dio’s former band member in Rainbow, Jimmy Bain(RIP).
Of course with it being 1983 Hot Shot wiz guitarists were the things to come by and Dio recruited Vivian Campbell who basically takes Holy Diver into a whole other ballgame with his playing!
Its amazing at how this album still sounds 34 friggin years later!
Opener Stand Up and Shout has the Dio tour bus ripping down the highway with the police in hot pursuit. In other words this song sets the menu for the rest of the album. Stand Up…makes you indeed Stand Up and take notice throughout. The pace is frantic. Campbell easily becomes the one to watch on this album as he sets fire to his fretboard on the solo part of the track while Appice just slams around on his kit like nobodies business!
Track two and its the title track Holy Diver. What can I add to this song that already hasn’t been spoken or written about? I will say I love the groove set forth by Appice/Bain and another killer solo by Campbell and of course you get Ronnie’s lyrics and the way he sings. How about that opening lyrical line..
Holy Diver
You’ve been down too long in the midnight sea
Oh what’s becoming of me..
I totally think of the album cover of Holy Diver(with band mascot Murray whipping around that chain at the priest) when I hear Dio sing this line..
Jump The Tiger!
From there Gypsy soars right out of the gate with Campbell riffing like there is no tomorrow. ‘She was right out of Hell” sings Ronnie. Love the stomp of this track as the drums/bass/guitar just plow this song forward. Another huge solo from Vivian as that fret board is smoked!
Caught In The Middle has the pace set with Campbell and another straight ahead rocker. Dio soars vocally on this track
Don’t Talk To Strangers has to my ears a total Sabbath vibe as the song starts off real chill with the blend of acoustic and electric guitars and even Vinnie who was laying wast to his skit on the first 4 tracks even gets a moment of relaxation but before long the song takes off and ramps up quick! This track chills out towards the end and once agin picks up steam….
Appice sets the tone right off the bat with Straight From The Heart with his attack of the drums and Dio lays down the law with his voice and Campbell plays for his supper and man if anything this song by the guitarist sounds like a Zak Wylde composition… I’m thinking Zakk nicked some stuff of Vivian…
Invisible starts off all trippy dippy like musically but rolls right back into familiar hard rock territory with more superstar axemanship.
Ok! Raise of hands. Who has not heard Rainbow In The Dark? Exactly we all have as it in indeed in an all time classic and man what a freakin fantastic guitar solo. This song has a wicked verse/chorus/everything. Like that twisted psycho like keyboard that’s swirls in an out at times.
Hey who woke up the wolves? Shame On The Night is another Sab like scorcher that rolls at a medieval pace that even has an evil Dio like scream at the end. The song just lets itself go at the end in a Sabbath like crawl…
What a debut solo album for Ronnie James. What a scorcher of a debut for Vivian Campbell who comes out of nowhere and rockets these songs to the top. The dude shows us that back in 83 that the concept of great hard rock singer mashing up with a hot-shot 6 stringer could reap huge benefits!
Too bad that when Campbell joined Def Leppard in 1992 they didn’t let Vivian wail on the guitar like he does on the early Dio albums.
Holy Diver proves that and basically made me purchase 1984’s Last In Line right away upon its release.
I always wondered what Ronnie’s old Sab mates(Tony and Geezer) thought at the time around 1983 when they heard Holy Diver for the first time as Sabbath was out recruiting Ian Gillian for Sabs Born Again album?
I’m thinking Geezer and Tony muttered something like “Ahh freakin fizzle sticks. We gotta step up!”
Tomorrow (Friday Sept 8th ) drops the new Alter Bridge triple CD album! (19 Live Songs and 11 Studio tracks)
Too say I’m not stoked would be the understatement of the decade. Alter Bridge has always put out quality product with all 5 of their studio albums, Each one has gotten better than the previous one and if you recall AB’s last studio effort 2016’s The Last Hero was my third fav studio album of the year. Show Me A Leader off that album just flat-out smokes and mention must be made about the guitar duo of Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy who play at times cool classic rock riffs while colliding with heavier riffs of Metal. The fact that Myles has one of the best rock voices out there also totally helps as well at getting AB’s point across!
Give em some props! Drummer Scott Phillips and Bassist Brian Marshall keep everyone in check while harnessing all that guitar action that’s going on around them.
This album was recorded over in England at the O2 Arena and by all accounts was the biggest show of their career.
Dig the fact that the Rarities studio portion has tracks that have appeared on soundtracks or deluxe editions but as well there are 2 unreleased songs from 2004! In other words I have none of these tracks on the Rarities set! That’s gonna change!
April 1979 and Ozzy get’s the boot from Black Sabbath and Sabbath went and hired Ronnie James Dio as the Ozzman’s replacement!
In this corner you have Ozzy Osbourne(ex Black Sabbath singer) and in the far corner you have Black Sabbath (with than current vocalist) Ronnie James Dio.
April of 1980 Sabbath release the Dio fronted Heaven and Hell album. Ozzy counters in Sept of 1980 with the release his debut album Blizzard of Ozz.
November 4th 1981 Sabbath releases the Mob Rules album while just 3 short days later(Nov 7th 1981) Ozzy rolls out his second solo album Diary of A Madman.
December 1982 Ozzy puts out the double live Speak of The Devil album which features all Sabbath tracks.(Ozzy to his credit said the record company wanted a double live album of late guitar hero Randy Rhoads but Ozzy quashed it saying there was going to be no cash grab as Randy had died just six months earlier in March of 1982)
Also in December of 1982 Sabbath put out their own double live album titled Live Evil. (Great cover as well)
Haha..these guys(Ozzy and Sabbath) took pissy pants to whole other level as one was trying to outdo the other with releasing albums the same month and even days apart. Silly Old Farts!
Anyways Dio and Sabbath put out a pretty good document of the Mob Rules tour with Live Evil but during the mixing of this album both Dio and drummer Vinnie Appice exited Sabbath and in the band it was two Americans (Dio and Appice) vs two Brits(Iommi and Butler). A Black Sabbath Royal Rumble with accusations and turmoil in regards to stuff being tweaked in the studio when the two other guys weren’t around. On Live Evil Ronnie James Dio is listed as just Ronnie Dio and Vinny while he was credited as a full-time member on the studio Mob Rules album but come on Live Evil Vinny falls under the Special Thanks category.
Well it’s safe to safe to say Geezer and Tony wanted to stir things up now …
Having said that…
Live Evil though is a great listen even in 2017 and to be honest I enjoyed this album more now in 2017 than in 1982 (Thanks Aaron). 14 tracks all together. 8 of the track are from the fronted Dio albums and I can tell you all that the songs Neon Knights/Mob Rules/Childern of The Sea /Voodoo/Sign of The Southern Cross are all played brilliantly.
Ronnie does justice on the Ozzy tracks and I admit back in 1982/83 it took a while to wrap my noggin on how Ronnie sang songs like Black Sabbath/NIB/War Pigs/Iron Man but he pulls it off on his own terms.
Amazing how in the span of just under 2 short years(1980-82) Dio/Appice’s tenure in Sabbath would be done with two studio and one live album under their belts….
Of course Dio/Appice return to Sabbath in 1992 with the Dehumanizer album but by late 1992 Dio/Appice are out again.
Until…
2006 when Dio/Appice hooked up once again with Butler/Iommi (this time calling themselves Heaven and Hell instead of Black Sabbath)until Ronnie’s untimely passing in 2010….
Rock Album, Concert Reviews And The Odd Book Review
