Well i seen a few faces at these shows and we rocked em all!
Retro ThrowDown presents an epic battle of two albums that came out on the same day back on September 17 1991. Guns N Roses released two double studio albums (Use Your Illusion 1 & II) that set the charts ablaze at the time with huge sales and the videos to go along with the single’s.
Since Jex is going to see both Loverboy and Kim Mitchell together in Moncton it’s only fitting that we should do a Retro Throwdown on both acts.
Let’s rewind back to 1983 when the two bands featured in this weeks ThrowDown both had big selling albums. What pushed both these records was the power of video which if you were around back than you would recall that MuchMusic here in Canada and MTV in the States had a huge hand in selling these records to the masses due to there crafty videos.
Watch as Jex and deKe take you back to 83 for an epic ThrowDown battling Def Leppard Vs. ZZ Top!
Give it a watch and as always Thanks!
When you think in terms of the 1970s and live albums there were a lot of bands that did them. From AC/DC to ZZ TOP every huge band from that era released one.
In this weeks episode of Retro Throw Down the fella’s have put two iconic double live records against each other. Aerosmith with the stellar Live Bootleg (1978) which goes toe toe against KISS with their classic ALIVE II (1977) release.
Who will come out on top? Give the link at the top of the page a click and feel free to comment as well!
Once again Darr has tossed down his thoughts… thanx Pal!
Kiss Alive 2 – great sounding live album…..Stanley’s vocals are awesome…..outside of a couple songs….he should sing em all. Band sounds right….Ace’s work is great…..I want you, larger than life, Beth and Detroit rock city are definitely highlights. Solid album….. 7 out of 10
Aerosmith Live bootleg – damn Tyler’s vocals live are awesome…. Aerosmith might be one of the best sounding band when they are a bit sloppy….top of their game type stuff…..lord of the thighs, I ain’t got you are highlights, but have to admit, not a weak track on this album….8.5 out of 10
Big News….
“Scotch On The Rocks” is no more…. Same YouTube channel folk’s just a new name which is….
Keep reading… (cheap hype)
To be honest I was tired of the Scotch On The Rocks name as hell I don’t even really drink anymore so I asked my Retro ThrowDown pal Jex and my artistic director Tbone for some ideas and out of it came….
“THE DISTORTION DEN”
Same stuff on the channel just a new name….
But we are here also for Round 7 of Retro ThrowDown.
It’s a heavyweight bout between two Canuck favourites.
Helix with “Long Way To Heaven” and Honeymoon Suite with “The Big Prize”. Two albums that sold well in Canada and also making a dent into the U.S and one these two albums went to Number 1 in Sweden?
Which one you ask? Give a click to the link above and watch as myself and Jex decide once and for all whose on top of the Canuck Rock between these two!
Darr’s Review ….
Damn always thought Big Prize was a solid album, but it has aged really well. Very good album. Their sappy stuff is so much better than 99.99% of the sappy 80s stuff. Derry Greham does some great stuff on this album to give it an edge and Johnnie Dee vocals are more than solid. Honeymoon Suite always knew how to mix in the keyboards without being too keyboardy.
Solid solid solid – 8.5 out of 10
Long way to Heaven
Love me some Helix…. Feels like a bit of filler on this one but Deep Cuts The Knife and Long Way To Heaven are great songs and House On Fire is classic Helix. Not gonna kick it to the curb…,and in 85 it scratched me where It itches , but it is definitely a step below its competitor on this battle.
6.5 out of 10
Brent and Alex from Thursday Night Record Club which airs ironically on Thursdays at 9pm on YouTube came on SOTR’s and we had a great chat about not only the show but what goes on behind the scenes as well as in dealing with copyrights and doing your homework in prepping for a show. Even better it was a hoot when the show was crashed by two very special guests!
Click and give it a watch…..
In this earth shaking episode of Retro ThrowDown Round 6 we take a look at two platinum plus selling albums from 1988. David Lee Roth released his Skyscraper album in January of that year while his former bandmates with Sammy Hagar punched back in May with OU812!
Which album will come out on top of this slugfest you ask? Give the video a click and a watch.
“A hot dog and a shake
That’s what you’re hungry for
A hot dog and a shake”
Once again my good pal Dar has chimed in with an excellent summary as well…
“I listened to both album a bunch over the past week or so. Skyscraper is probably a better album that I remember, although the song Skyscraper still sucks. 2 Fools A Minute and Bottom Line are really strong songs and definitely a few other decent songs. No Eat ‘Em and Smile, but dunno if Dave could have topped that one.
Remember loving OU812 when it first came out, and might be my least listen to VH album (outside of 3) but it’s a strong album. I would have probably given OU812 like an 8.5 and Skyscraper like a 7.
Dunno why but I always hated the Skyscraper cover. Would have been like a cool inner sleeve or something, but always thought it was a weak cover….maybe that’s just me.
Looking forward to hearing your guys takes.”
https://www.youtube.com/live/whMG6zD9XY4?feature=share
Born In The USA Vs Reckless! Hows that for a throw down? Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams had two of the biggest selling records back in 1984 that went well into 1985.
Who came out on top you ask? Click the link above and give it a watch as deKe and Jex try to figure it all out in this jam packed 30 minute episode.
Thanks Folks!
Once again my pal Darr contributed his own review which is fan-friggin-tastic!
“Been thinking bout this Reckless vs born in the USA album thing.
Damn both albums are great.
Dancing in the Dark is probably my fav Springsteen song, but also love I’m on Fire and I’m Going Down….not a weak track on this album.
As for Adams, Reckless is only my 2nd favourite album of his. Into The Fire will always be my fav. Kids Wanna Rock and Run To You even though I’ve heard them sooo many times, just can’t get sick of them. Heaven was never my fav, but as far as ballads go, not bad.
After a lot of thought…. On a scale of 1 to 10″
Born in the USA – 9.0
Reckless – 8.5
Round 4 has Adrian and his band of Vandenberg’s going against Joey and his band of Europeans in what we would say is the closet battle on Retro Throw Down so far! Who came out on top? Just push play and find out!
Just click the video and viola you can watch what myself and Jex have to say….
I had my brother from another mother Darr review these two albums as well.
Here are Darr’s words posted below…
“Listened to both albums…. Both get passing grades, but neither was awesome.
Vandenberg album has some great guitar work, and would say there is no weak tracks, but dunno if there was any real stand out tracks either. Sometimes the guitar work seemed almost a bit too much. Solid but not a standout.
Haven’t heard the Europe album for ever. This album would be better if someone shot the keyboard player. If interferes with some decent tracks. Was never a fan of the final countdown and Carrie sucks, but a few of the songs I may not have heard before were pretty good. The singer has a good voice.
Final scores out of 10 (10 being an all time top 10-20 album of all time, and 1 being like Culture Club or some crap like that:”
Vandenberg – 6 out of 10
Europe – 5 out of 10
deKe's Vinyl Reviews & More... 