What do you get when you mix Ozzy guitar heroics with some Zeppelin like based riff rock? Ya get Badlands.
The Guitars are handled by Jake E Lee. Lead Vocals are by Ray Gillen. Bass is handled by Greg Chaisson and Eric Singer is the Drum Dude!
Badlands kicked to the curb the Hairspray Antics Of Poison as they could play and they fused a sound that was its own. They came together at a time that perhaps wasn’t as ready for them as should have been. It happens!
The song’s speak for themselves! Opener Hard Wire leads the Charge with Jake playing super charged rock riffs while Ray(RIP) has the vocals to deliver. They had a sound that would be similar more to the 70’s than the late 80’s! Bombastic Rock I say!
The rest of the tracks are just straight ahead Blitzes of Hard Blues Rock(Streets Cry Freedom and Winter’s Call are awesome)making Badlands a band that people should talk about.
Before the release of the next album Voodoo Highway (1991)drummer Eric Singer got a call from Ki$$ and it was adios amigos as was Badlands after an onstage meltdown between Lee and Gillen shortly after.
Plain and Simple these guys Kicked Ass! Only about a year later after this album was released The Satellites called it a day but Lead Vocalist/Guitarist Dan Baird released in 1992 the classic Love Songs For The Hearing Impaired but that’s getting ahead of ourselves….
Back in 1989 though the Boys along with Baird/ Rick Richards(guitar) Rick Price(bass) and Mauro Magallen(drums) released this Fantastic Slab Of Southern Fried Rock served with a shot of Jack Daniels with a swift kick up the backside!
When it comes to these Satellite’s people always talk about the self titled debut from 1986 that featured the enormous selling single Keep Your Hands To Yourself.
Fair enough that’s what got these guys on the Musical Map and back in Hair Metal 86 with all of your Talk Dirty like tunes mixing it up with the Carrie singles of the world come these Red Neck Rockers wearing Levi Strauss clothes/Greasy hair/Riding around in the back of pick up truck’s and Loud guitars breathing Smokey Fresh Air in a genre that’s polluted with Crap Rock. These fella’s show up on the door step,kick the door off the hinges and toss a party!
1988’s Open All Night had some real good tracks like Sheila,Dunk N Dine, and the title track but lost a little steam but that problem was fixed when these boys put out Salvation And Sin!
Salvation And Sin is 14 Tracks Of Blitzing Rock….
1 I Dunno 3:10
2 Bottle O’ Tears 3:52
3 All Over But The Cryin’ 5:11
4 Shake That Thing 5:12
5 Six Years Gone 3:09
6 Games People Play
Written-By – Joe South
3:40
7 Another Chance 4:33
8 Bring Down The Hammer 4:23
9 Slaughterhouse
Written-By – Rick Richards
2:47
10 Stellazine Blues 4:11
11 Sweet Blue Midnight 6:26
12 Days Gone By 3:34
13 Crazy
Written-By – Gina Webb
3:24
14 Dan Takes Five
I Dunno blasts off at rocket speed and Dan being the main songwriter writes wicked tales of the Good and Bad side of relationships as I Dunno is just that! Richards blasts a quick lightening bolt of a solo and Good Times/ Bad Times /I Dunno/Just Pick Up The Dice And Baby Let It Roll sings Dan! Yee F’n Haw!
Bottle O’ Tears is a great tune that features the ying and yang of vocal play between Richards and Baird! This song oozes Cool! Too get a good feel of this Georgia Fried satellite tune I posted a live clip from 1989 speaking of which I reviewed these guys when they showed up to Tbay (Dec 1989) and basically took mine and Tbones hearing and obliterated it! Fantastic Show ….Anyhoo enjoy the vid and check out Rick Richards mic stand instead of guitar pics he has 3 smokes taped to his mic stand! That’s Rock N Roll Swagger!
Baird can write cool lost love ballads like All Over But The Cryin that doesn’t lag and that’s thanks to Mauro’s drumming as he pushes it out of any chance of bordering on wimpy!
Another strong feature of the Satellites is that when they cover tunes like Games People Play they make it sound their own which is a plus for these guys. Bassist Price handles the lead vocals on this track while Richards plays some wicked cool slide geetar action!
The party can’t always be rocking Another Chance features acoustic and mandolins guitars while each guy in the Satellites takes a line(not that kinda line!) vocally and it shows that these guys can shift gears at a moments notice!
SlaughterHouse is an under 3 minute Blitz of guitar riff action that features Richards doing double duty both singing and playing the slide rock guitar action…..
As you all know by now how I dig end of the album Gems well let’s give a shout out to the last track on the album Dan Takes Five which barrels out of the gate with a heavy like an AC/DC opening barrage of guitars and drums and this song is just is so good and for Dan its therapeutic as it’s basically him writing about himself going through his divorce….I posted the lyrics below talk about autobiographical but delivered with a SledgeHammer! Watch…I mean Crank the vid!
“Dan Takes Five”
Stuffed my heart in a bag slammed the back door
if I get home it’d be a home no more
took off runnin in the middle of the night
I was aimed for anything that felt half right
look out baby I’m gone a little ride
I see my name written on the center line
moon looks good air is cool
every bone been broken in the Golden Rule
Well I’m flyin through Dothan with radio
Taylor’s Ole Time Opry’s playin Hank Snow
sing’s my nightmares in his song
I say I’m with ya man I’m just movin on
look out baby your wish came true
you got your freedom the house and the whole F.U
I got the thangs that I need
I took the car my pride and three pairs of jeans
My brain is bleedin got nails in my spine
but I ain’t gonna stop ‘fore that empty line
radio’s fadin road’s like a snake
it’s two in the mornin’ and I’m wide awake
look out baby Gates of Eden got closed
but New Orlean’s open see the pretty lights glow
I’m goin in to get myself lost and found
it didn’t take too __damn long to tear a good thing down
It may not be ideal
but at least we’re not running at the mouth
I-10 to San Antone
woke up and went south
fleeced at the border
for thirty five and some change
but that’s a small price to pay
runnin from the pain
look out baby I’m gone a little ride
there’s a brush fire on the highway
gonna burn both side
wish I could throw our sins
in the flame and smoke
I’ll call you up if and when I reach hope
Wowzers what a way to end this album! From I Dunno to Dan Takes Five and everything in between this album Smokes!
As 1989 was ending its Decade Of Decadance Motley Crue decided to give us one more shot of syrupy,somewhat cheesy sleazy tunes all finely produced by Bob Rock. How about one more kick at the crash cart with Dr Feelgood as we roll into 1990….
The biggest change is of course Nikki Sixx,Mick Mars,Tommy Lee and Vince Neil recorded this album sober and in Vancouver British Columbia.
Magazines such as Kerrang,Circus and Rip were all over the pre hype sober Crue and so we’re myself and Tbone! I bought whatever was printed about the Crue (back in 1989) and then would spew it at Tbone verbally to keep him up to date!
Crue was big news and what way to get even bigger hype about a new Crue album than to start a fight with Bon Jovi over in Russia of all places when a bunch of Metal Acts gave their time (hahaha) to play a music festival called Make A Difference Foundation(say no to drugs kids) to give a jail free pass card to Doc McGhee at the time who was Motley and Jovi’s manager!( Doc got nailed with tons and tons of weed so too not got to jail he rallied all his bands to help him out! Doc is literally Dr Feelgood! Haha)
The story goes is that when the show took place the Crue were promised things and when they didn’t get them and Bon Jovi did whatever they did it pissed off the Crue and they fired McGhee on the spot flipped out on Bon Jovi so much that when Tbone and myself caught the Crue Feelgood tour in the summer of 1990 Tommy Lee chirped “Bon Jerkoff” more than a few times during the show!
Silly multi millionaire tattooed boys looking for trouble with non tattooed boys! Can’t we all give Peace A Chance! Hahaha…Actually I would have loved to seen a dust-up of Alec John Such (Jovi) and Mars. Ha! I could see it now….Alec putting Mars in the sleeper hold and Nikki coming in from behind with the steel chair and cracking Such over the head to free Mick!
Ok,I’m getting carried away here so back in Sept 1989 here comes Motley rocking and rolling and man when I just wanna listen to Silly Dumbo Rock! Look no further folks…..
TERROR N TINSELTOWN-Mars and his guitar along with Nikki slobbering all over his bass and Tommy smashing around the drums enter the Emergency Room and after the power opening you hear a heartbeat and some dispatcher calling for Dr David and slam your into..
DR FEELGOOD- Big loud bass rumblin along with Tommy slamming his drum kit into overdrive! This is the new and improved 1989 Crue featuring a ton of percussion,different rhythms with Vinnie not sounding as squeaky vocally on previous albums! The Sonics here are mega huge and you got Bob Rock to thank for that! He makes Motley sound tough like they mean business and hell Bob makes Mick sound demonic in that talk box thingy and Mars even pushes his fretboard into full-out rock mode during his blistering solo! Sheeeit Mars has stepped up, gone is the droney echoey guitar sound from the Tom Werman produced previous Crue albums….
SLICE OF YOUR PIE-Steve Tyler does his “dippy da da yah yah ” jibber at the beginning of Pie and the Crue rip into a Aero Groove with this tune! It slinks sleazy LA Rock and were all the better for it! This song is quite decent and even as I type this in 2016 it’s a solid piece of horny Cheeseball rock. In other words I lapped this shit up sonically back in 1989 and well in 2106 yeah ummmm I’m still diggin it! The end of this tune the Crue kind of monkey around with or swipe if you like The Beatles ‘She’s So Heavy” ha…Beatle Crue! Slick move and the end sounds heavy in a slow prowl groove like stomp on your neck kinda way!
RATTLESNAKE SHAKE-Tommy and his cowbell along with Count Chocula Err I mean Mick Mars leads off with some neat slide picking and here’s another Aero Like Groover complete with horns and Tommys driving drums and “Do The Shake Shake Shake” Gosh I miss the late 80s when all you had to worry about was when the next album release or tour was hitting the road or in Tbones case when the next Bad English record was gonna drop!
KICKSTART MY HEART-Mars leads the charge with Kickstart My Heart doing a Dippin N Doodlin with his wang bar and Kapow here’s Tommy and Nikki locked in and this song just slams! How can it not get you pumped. Sleazy Vinnie delivers a good lead vocal and toss in some “Whoah ……Yeahs!” You can never go wrong when you add Whoahs and Yeahs now can Ya? I always like how they chilled in the middle part of this tune where Vince yammers on about when they started the band. The song than lifts off and Mars does his talk box deal and power out a real super-duper balls out ending which goes into..
WITHOUT YOU-The ballad! Ha! Shifting gears and compared to that complete diaster of a ballad from the Girls Girls Girls Abum (Your All I Need) this is a better tune. The chorus musically is pretty good I mean the lyrics of “I’ll wilt and die!” are cornholio like yuck but still I recall Tommy Lee on MuchMusic saying that Nikki wrote this tune about Tommys marriage to Heather Locklear and like all music like marriages it imploded! Nice gesture Nikki did for Tommy though he probably would go bonkers if he heard this song now! Hahahaha …..
SAME OL SITUATION-This is a cool no frills straight ahead rock track that works well within the song structure of the Crue! Vince finds some coolness and rolls with it. As always, Tommy’s drums are mega huge and slam down some more cowbell please! The chorus is catchey and Wowzers,listen to Sixx play that bass line under Mar’s guitar solo! Atta boy Nikki and whoosh this is a great track
STICKY SWEET-Some more Aero like groove and Steve Tyler is doing once again his “yippity yap yappy” schtick and we’re off! Sticky Sweet is late 80s excess kind of song and it’s friggin amazing that Sixx when the decade went from the 80s into the 90s Sixx and his songwriting stepped up lyrically speaking in the 90s starting with Primal Scream and the opening line of “Broke Dick Dog” classic and of course the lyrics were along with the music on the 1994 Motley Corabi just gold! But here we are still in 1989 and “Shes soooo Stickeeeeeee!” Hahaha….Friggin Sixx!
SHE GOES DOWN-Hey this song was probably my pal Rockin Roberts theme song back in the day! Ha! Hey who sampled Mars doing up his fly at the beginning of this track? Crank the video posted and listen to the guest appearances from the Cheap Trick fella’s as well! The music is quite good (cowbell and a shift of the tempo)the lyrics well its 80s cheese mo dumbo rock! Gene Simmons would have sold his soul to have these lyrics for Kiss’ Asylum album a few years earlier!
DONT GO AWAY MAD,JUST GO AWAY-Decent single! Nice blend of electric and acoustic guitar on this track. The prechorus is well written piece of schmooz ear candy Rock! Do you remember the video to this tune when Neil was away form the Crue and then halfway thru the video they all hook up with high fives and slaps on the back like they missed each other! Friggin actors…hahahaha! Of course less than two years later (1992) Neil gets shit canned from Motley and they go all verbal postal on him in the press and well guys Don’t Go Away Mad….Just Go Away with lawyers and a payout!
TIME FOR A CHANGE-Yep in the lead singer department eventually! This tune is a departure from basically everything before it that’s on this album. Slow kinda like tune, not sappy but kinda there….
FINAL YAMMER- Ha… so Nikki pulls one more out of the hat with some decent Rock and for all intent purposes this was their last anything kind of seller! Nothin came to close after for the Crue In regards to record sales than the millions that they sold back in 1989-90.
Ha,I always liked this cover you know Leon Sphinx! But what was on the inside is kinda a mess of epic perportions! Like all the other albums that Kiss released I bought quick and well I think you can gather that by now right?!
And well oh well this is my last 3/4s Kiss Week Filler Blog and some of you are probably going where’s The Elder? Too be honest I thought it would be here but nope it has its moments of Brilliance(did I just fuckin say that) with The Oath,Escape From The Island, Dark Light,I, some goofiness like Just A Boy…some dumb Simmons rock like Mr Blackwell but man I hated The Elder in 1981 but 2015 it’s a tolerable Kiss Record(did I just fuckin say that!)
You know by 1989 Kiss was in trouble and when they plucked Hot In The Shade out in 1989 this album it took me only about a few spins to realize that there was a tons of filler on this album.
1989 when I think of big rock records three come to mind rightaway! Motley Crüe with Dr Feelgood,The Cult with Sonic Temple and Aerosmith with Pump! 3 classics for sure in the songs (especially Pump) and in production once these albums were spun on my cd player Hot In The Shade took a total backseat! The reason it’s simple ..the songs Yep,there’s a couple of pretty good tracks but man there’s a bunch o junk here I will explain!
Hot In The Shade when I first read about in Circus or maybe Hit Parader was that it was gonna be 15 songs! Holy crap that’s impressive sez I! So come Sept of 1989 here comes Aerosmith, Motley Crüe and Limping towards the finish line Kiss!
Gene and Paul dropped the ball with lots of so so songs, a few good ones (which I will talk about)
GOD OF BLUNDER ….BAD ROCK N ROLL
RISE TO IT- this is a good song! A bluesy intro and boom drums guitar bass it’s all here and Rise To It is off an running! It kicks pretty good cool verses,good solo and Stanley delivers a great vocal!
BETRAYED- Shit man Simmons delivers the $$$ on this track! And lookie he co wrote this with Ace Frehley oops I mean Tommy Thayer the dude who now is Ace Frehley in Kiss but it’s not surprising as Thayer was in Black N Blue a band Simmons had produced but they lay down a great song here one of Simmons best songs since like Creatures! Good solo and Eric Carr drums this thing into mashville! Good stuff two songs in two winners….
HIDE YOUR HEART-so 1989 and both Kiss and Ace Frehley release there own versions of Hide Your Heart and quite frankly I couldn’t care less! Well,I shouldn’t be too harsh on Frehleys version as I only heard it a few times as my younger bro Todd had a copy of it on cassette tape! This studio version of Hide Your Heart is ok i mean whatever it’s single time fellas and too be honest with Ya I prefer the live version video from the HITS that I posted. Check that one out especially at the 3 minute mark when Stanley uses a woman’s high heel shoe as a guitar pic! See it to believe it!
PRISONER OF LOVE,READ MY BODY- didn’t like these songs in 89 not revisiting them in 015!
LOVE IS LIKE A SLAP IN THE FACE-Simmons cowrote this with Vini Ponica! You remember him right from Monday’s post he botched the sonics on Unmasked! Actually I don’t mind this song it’s later day Gene singing and plodding along on his bass and well it’s a mid tempo rocker better than the two previous tracks for sure.
FOREVER-this is power ballad 101 and this song basically saved Kiss’ Ass as the record was tanking down the charts and viola Stanley croons FOREVER and Michael Bolton who co wrote this cashes his royalty cheque from Forever at the bank! So even if you never heard this record you have heard this song! No! I’m not showing the vid! But I will say myself ,Tbone,Darr and Rugg have laughed and made many remarks about Simmons and his music stand in the Forever video!
SILVER SPOON-Paul takes the vocal reigns on this one and it’s another no fascinating straight ahead rocker. Not even really worth talking about!
CADILLAC DREAMS,KING OF HEARTS- Nope and Nope!
THE STREET GIVETH AND THE STREET TAKETH AWAY-Kulick begins this track with some cool acoustic and bam into the full rock meal deal with drums,bass and electric guitar. This is one of the back end of the albums better tracks! Simmons kinda of and I say that loosely kinda pulls this one out of the fire! Check out the vid…..
YOU LOVE ME TO HATE YOU- alright than, I dunno 1989 and I was just tired of all these big ass power ballads being everywhere and in saying that this song was no where to be found….skip……..
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL- Nope don’t care……
LITTLE CAESER- ok so after 9 years of being a good employee Gene and Paul let Eric Carr(RIP) take the lead vocals on this track. It’s too bad the song is kinda lacklustre. Nothing to really write about…..but man why did not Kiss tap into Carrs vocals more oh yeah I know Gene and Paul that’s why!
BOOMERANG- that’s what i want to do with this record but if it’s a Boomerang that means it would come back to me…um no thanks!
IN CONCLUSION-The hype for this record was sold to me on 15 tracks that Kiss was putting out and I bought the hype of course! But pretty soon after purchase I just could not wrap my noggin around this record and it quickly faded away from my sonic senses!
I think Kiss even new this as when they went out to plug this record on tour they played like 3 tracks off of it and they played mostly 70s stuff as that was what the fans wanted. The live stage was awesome and it would have been the tour to see!
My bro Todd was out in British Columbia with the family in August of 1990( I was working and did not go) and he got to see this show with Winger opening! My bro loved Kiss and man he called me a day later saying that he bought me a Kiss shirt and it had a bunch of dates on it and Thunder Bay was one of them! I was like “You fuckin kidding me?” Yep,it was there (wish I still had the T shirt)
As soon as I got off the the phone with my brother I called the Fort William Gardens(local barn/arena) to see what was going on. The lady told me they had Kiss pencilled in for Oct 7th 1990!
What a score this was gonna be for me and Tbone as we had tickets to see ZZ Top in Winnipeg on Oct 6 1990! I called the Winnipeg Arena and they too said they had Kiss pencilled in for Oct 5 1990!
BAM! So here’s the plan! Me and Tbone would go to Winnipeg a day earlier see Kiss on the Saturday night! Catch ZZ in Winnipeg Sunday night and than high tail it back to Tbay on Monday and catch Kiss on Monday night! Done Fuckin Deal!
Paul Stanley broke some ribs and a bunch of dates including The Peg and Tbay were scrubbed! Bummer man…..ZZ though was awesome!
Kiss though I think they know they released some scrap but come 1992 when they knocked out Revenge it restored my faith…man that’s a great friggin album!
Thanks for reading my Kiss Filler Week and if you dig these three records more power to Ya and I hope we can still be cool with each other! That includes you Gene And Paul! Hahahaha…..
NEXT……check out a don’t expect the expected Sonic Waves Kiss review tomorrow….
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