The Black Crowes/Shake Your Money Maker(1990)

 

HEY FOLK’S… This week it’s a couple of Black Crowes reviews that are on tap and Mikey Ladano is onboard as well with a couple of reviews of the same album over at his site. In other words it’s “DOUBLEHEADER TIME”.. Click the link below/pour yourself a beverage of your choice and enjoy some fine reading…

REVIEW: The Black Crowes – Shake Your Money Maker (remastered)

You know Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell  who played the   Ivories on Shake Your Money Maker must have told his bosses Mick & Keef about the Black Crowes. Wonder if the Glimmer Twins heard this album before it hit the streets for mass consumption back in January 1990?

If so I betcha Keef lost his shit when he heard that opening riff of Stare It Cold as Crowes guitarists Rich Robinson and Jeff Cease sound like a jacked up version of Richards/Wood? That opening riff has so much muscle…Ok I’m getting way ahead here ….

So It was the release of this album I came across in one of my weekly jaunts to the record store(Jan/90) and came across SYMM on CD in the new release bin.

It easily caught my attention as these 5 dudes on the cover looked rock and well it was a no brainer and I got money in my pocket burnin a hole so there ya go! (wish I could say that now!) I think I may have seen a bit of promotion in the magazines about this disc but it was little…Boy would that change in a few months!

My first impression on listening to Money Maker was how Stonesy like it was. I read later in reviews as well that it had an element of The Faces but I can’t really comment as I’m not a Faces fan…so we go with the Stones vibe but with a more amped up sound!

George Drakoulias captures the sound of the Crowes brilliantly on the debut and funny thing was when this album took off Rick Rubins name was added as co producer as Rubin owned the label but had really nothing to do with the production of this album which irked singer Chris Robinson.  Actually you have to hand it to Chris as once this album started moving units The Crowes were invited to open for ZZ Top but once Chris started saying that it sucked that some bands needed corporate sponsorship  to promote a tour( ZZ was sponsored by Miller Beer for their 1990-91 Tour. I can back Chris up as when I caught this tour the ZZ shirt underneath the Tour dates on the back had Miller as a sponsor. Kinda irked me but hey I’m the ding-dong who bought the T in the first place!) The Crowes were punted off the ZZ tour. ZZ canned em in Atlanta (Crowes turf)

Twice As Hard opens the album and from the outset you know this badboy is gonna be jammed with bunch of Riffs and a ton of Rolls! Cease and Rich drive forward with there playing and drummer Steve Gorman keeps the Crowes movin along. Chris has a bit of a southern rasp in his voice which is quite frankly Awesome. Real good put together straight ahead opening tune!

Wow man did this song take off eh? Jealous Again is track 2 and once again it’s a riff that starts the track. This is the tune I betcha Keef would say he wish he had written! The guitars play almost in a chill like vibe and ramp up with that Stonesy vibe during the chorus!

Sister Luck. Plain and simple another real slick like track. Jeff and Rich inner channel once again Keef/Ronnie and this song just drifts along and Chris sings it perfectly. Awesome Chorus!

Could I Have Been So Blind kicks the doors off its hinges with a super-duper coolness and its the Crowes taking the party and moving on.

Seeing Things is a great track! Seeing things for the first time! It may take a while as Chris lyrics say but it will be more evident as time passes on! Gorman keeps the train a moving so this track doesn’t dip into Sapville! JellyFish!

Gorman lays down the groove and were off with Hard To Handle (Otis Redding Cover) and this song was everywhere in the Summer of 91. Great beat played but the fella’s and I like that little snippet of when the tempo picks up right before the verse! Pretty cool Crowes on the road video that was shot of the Crowes to plug this tune!

Got a chainsaw buzzin’/Who’s that cussin’? and this is the opening line to the fantastic Thick N Thin! Clocking in at 2 minutes 44 seconds and it’s the Crowes rolling  up with plenty of riffs n spiffs and along with Colts bass line and Steve driving the drums this track is a scorcher. Cease and Rich’s guitars are fired  up on this album.

She Talks To Angels features the acoustic guitars that are in the forefront and its the Crowes spreading there wings and the track must be about a long-lost friend who succumbed to addictions. This track was a big single as well.

Struttin Blues another straight ahead rocker that features a nice Hammond Organ rocking along with the boys. 4 on the Floor stomper of a track!

Remember about what I had written in the first paragraph of this review about being jacked up with a cool riff that Keef and Ronnie would and wish they could devour? This is indeed time for Stare It Cold. Big and I mean Big riffs along with Gorman snare drum that sounds like a shot being fired along with the big Bass drum propel this tune into utter coolness! This is one of the Crowes finest tracks I have ever heard! Love the Verses/Chorus/Solo’s and cue end of song crazy jam out mashup of everyone including Chris whose about to unravel at the speed of the song. Whooooosh! So good, that opening riff is pure gold! My CD has some creep out eery what the hell it is tied to the end of this track…hahaha…Silly Crowes …

When you talk about killer debut albums in the rock spectre SYMM has to be included as there are no dud’s on this album. I’m sure these songs were built from the rehearsal space into the bar stages and into the recording studio where the sonics captured the rest!

The playing on this record is infectious. Must make note of the guitars of Robinson and Cease. They intertwine each other so well and of course when this tour wrapped up Cease got the heave-ho to be replaced by Marc Ford. Shame really for Cease as everyone loses their shit over Ford and his playing on the follow-up to Moneymaker(myself included) but give it up for him. Hell I would think this is the best-selling album in the Crowes catalogue so that’s gotta stand for something correct?

Check back round these parts this upcoming Friday when myself and Mikey drop down another review….

Iron Maiden/No Prayer For The Dying(1990)

 

Maiden 1990 is a different animal than the band that released what I consider their best album ever 1988’s Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes……

Gone is Guitarist Adrian Smith who already had contributed a ton of Classic Tracks to the Maiden albums of years before. Case in point check out my review of Somewhere In Time as Smith is the MVP of that album in my eye’s. So when he bailed on Maiden I was disappointed but I knew Bassist and Maiden Creator Steve Harris would carry on as that’s Maiden’s tendency! Replace and move on!

Gone are the elaborate stage shows that came with each album release in the 80’s. A more stripped back stage with the backdrops and Eddie of course but more Marshall Amps added and yada yada. This did not bug me in the least as it’s the tunes that count right?!

So Harry and Crew recruit Janick Gers (playing guitar at the time in Lead Singers Bruce Dickinson solo band) and keep the Maiden Juggernaut heading into new frontiers. But are we ready for it?

1990 was a great year not only did we get like I mentioned earlier the fantastic Bruce solo album Tattooed Millionaire but along with it a new Maiden album as well.

October 1st 1990 is when No Prayer was released and SHOCKER I was not a first day buyer of it! I had purchased Peace OF Mind/Powerslave/Live After Death/Somewhere In Time and 7th Son all on their release dates.  My first day Maiden purchase streak ended at 5!

Reason you ask? Simple a little less than a week later myself and Tbone were gonna be in Winnipeg going to see ZZ Top and per our protocol on road trips was to load up on discs! Tbone especially as he would drop coin on say 20-25 discs on a given road trip! So with this in mind I thought i would hold out and at least purchase 1 for myself! Haha….

Still recall unwrapping the plastic from No Prayer in out hotel room in the Peg and scanning the lyrics/pics as Maiden always delivered in the cd department!

Course when I got back to Tbay the first order was to listen to No Prayer….

The Verdict! Good not Great. Not a let down either but a band that I had thought was maybe trying to ditch a bit of the past(80’s) and move into the 90’s with a new kinda look and new Metal like sound.

Maiden Men …

Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals
Dave Murray – guitar
Janick Gers – guitar
Steve Harris – bass guitar
Nicko McBrain – drums

No Prayer Maiden Mix…

Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. “Tailgunner” Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson 4:13
2. “Holy Smoke” Harris, Dickinson 3:47
3. “No Prayer for the Dying” Harris 4:22
4. “Public Enema Number One” Dave Murray, Dickinson 4:03
5. “Fates Warning” Murray, Harris 4:09
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. “The Assassin” Harris 4:16
2. “Run Silent Run Deep” Harris, Dickinson 4:34
3. “Hooks in You” Dickinson, Adrian Smith 4:06
4. “Bring Your Daughter… to the Slaughter” Dickinson 4:42
5. “Mother Russia” Harris 5:30
Total length: 43:42

Couple of things you may notice right away about the track listings! Steve and Bruce team up on three tracks. Dave Murray even steps up with 2 contributions as ex member Smith is featured in a co write with Bruce. Second of all the album clocks in at 43 minutes. Not only are Maiden cleaning house but there also doing away with the Epic Long Tune’s. All tracks are under 5 minutes except for album closer Mother Russia.

Let’s Do This…

Tailgunner has Maiden beginning studio album Number 8 with Harris and Nicko along with the guitars of Janick and Davey usher in Tailgunner! Tailgunner what a great name for a late night establishment don’t you think? I could picture it now with Tbone dialing his phone circa 1990 and a voice on the other end answering with a “Good Evening Welcome To Tailgunners How can I Direct Your call?” hahaha…oh wait this isn’t it a Dance Club? Gah! Sorry lost my trail of thought there! Maidens Tailgunner  is  a song about World War 2 Pilots…..Bruce as always delivers a great vocal “Nail That Fokker Kill That Son” ahh clever writing fella’s! It doesn’t take long to realize that Maiden to  my ears is making a Street Sounding Album. The production by Martin Birch is dry sounding which kinda suits the vibe of the album.

Second song Holy Smoke is bona fide classic in my humble opinion! Loved it in 1990 and still love it 27 years later! This song takes charge and at the time with all the corrupt TV Preachers goings on Steve and Bruce nail out a Gem writing about it. Super Duper catchy chorus! Super Duper Metal Slop Rock Solo from New Boy Janick and Wow Man! Gem! Posted the video to this song and look at those Brits! They are a funny bunch! Great video!

The title track No Prayer For The Dying  almost sounds like at some spots  like a Maiden Jig! A little slower tempo but like all Harris written tunes it’s gonna speed up and go into overdrive and lift off at which it does. Real cool leads from both Davey and Janick as they just do what they do.

Whoah! Another Gem in the form of Public Enema Number One. Janick and Dave take charge with those cool dual leads right out of the gate with Steve and Nicko taking charge in the rhythm department! Bruce as he always does take charge in his vocal delivery and man oh man another Great Track!  Watch the live video! Actually I’m pasting the last verse in the tune which features my favourite paragraph of Bruce written lyrics on this album…

A million network slaves
In an advertising new age
I don’t need a crystal ball to sell ya
Your children have more brains
Than your drug infested remains
California dreaming as the Earth dies screaming

Woo-Hooooo!

Fates Warning is a straight forward no frill’s Metal Track. It’s a decent enough one for sure and it was interesting to revisit this one as on any other Metal Release at the time this would have been a great song but with this being Maiden they set they set the Bar High.  Pretty good actually….WTF am I going on about?

The Assassin builds and builds with Harry and Nicko doing their quick snare and bass riffs. One of those tracks which is ok not great. The Verses build and build and the chorus is for me a little on the lacklustre side.

Run Silent Run Deep has Bruce singing in that sinister style vocal and man oh man after the last two previous songs kinda lagging things pick up with this track. Love the pace of it. Great chorus as well and love the guitar work and bass on this tune. Nicko man plays like only Nicko does and that’s awesome! Love how the tune ends with just Bruce and bit of guitar!

Speaking of Nicko you want Cowbell? Hooks In You leads off with a slick riff with added cowbell. Pretty good track nothing spectacular but still a decent round of Metal. Maiden man set and drank the bar high n dry.

Ok. Bruce is the only singer in the world who could sing the chorus to Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter and making it oh so catchy. Case in point when this album was first out I found myself singing it at work in a moment of pure unconsciousness except I wasn’t! Some one near by said “Pardon me” and snapped me back into reality and I mumbled away …. Great track actually and as an added bonus a real cool guitar solo! Bruce as always delivers in spades.

Mother Russia is your end of the album Harris concept piece as it’s another one of those epic pieces but for me I dunno I kinda missed the Metal Boat on this one. The playing/singing is all there of course but I just don’t get this one at all.

Maiden enter the 90’s with more of a street vibe and it’s a pretty decent album with some standout tracks and some not so standout tracks. Something has to give after a while really. I mean 8 studio albums over 10 years including tours it’s impressive to say the least.

So although Harry & Crew did not hit one totally out of the park No Prayer is still a decent album with a real couple of good standout tracks!

Kim Mitchell/I Am A Wild Party(1990)

 

That Ol Quirky Baseball Cap A Wearing and Guitar shredding(with Class) genius  Kim Mitchell put out this shortie of a 8 track(two new studio album tracks make up part of the 8) Live album in the summer of 1990.

Opener I Am A Wild Party is a great rock track period! Crank the video posted as this reek’s 1990 Good times in Loud Rock mixed With Beers and it’s plain out fun rock!

That’s The Hold is track number 2 and Live Track Number 1 and this is where Kim and his pals including long serving bassist Peter Fredette shine. This song just cooks and what a Grade A Crash Course in writing a damn Catchy Chorus! During the  guitar solo on this track Kim takes off sonically into a whole other stratosphere!

The Two Best Ever Akimbo Drinking tunes are neatly wrapped up here in Go For Soda  and Lager And Ale. While Biggie solo tune All We Are  features that great vocal from Fredette is included as well!

Kim doesn’t forget about his latest release at the time RocklandWonderland as he gives us his Rock N Roll Duty while creating a Buzz Buzz Buzz!

The only drag is  this album is so short!

Rawk!

Cool Vs Gah!..Round 3…Scorpions…

Hit Between The Eyes Vs Winds Of Change

Scorpion’s came out with Crazy World in 1990 and it was a pretty solid record and a total improvement in my book than the previous release which was Savage Amusement (1988).

Zeeeee Scorps are….

Klaus Meine – lead vocals
Matthias Jabs – lead guitar, backing vocals
Rudolf Schenker – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Francis Buchholz – bass, backing vocals
Herman Rarebell – drums, backing vocals

Scorps hooked up with songwriter Jim Vallance(Bryan Adams Co Writer) and wrote some great tracks one being Hit Between The Eyes which in my opinion is a Sure Fire Scorps Rocker! Rarebell steam rolls his drums at a crazy clip while Jabs solos like a lunatic all over the map and pulls it off.(underrated lead player in my humble opinion!) Vallance helps out and delivers the Scorps a Super Duper  chorus that is oh so good while Jabs is still soloing like a lunatic! Also full props for that Duster(Moustache) Schenker is sporting  in the live video below circa 1991!

Scorps always wrote brilliant Rock tracks. Case in point! The first 6 tracks on World Wide Live(1985) support my theory!

Look at these Monster Tracks..this is how you pace your show circa 84-85!

Side one
“Countdown” (Klaus Meine, Matthias Jabs) – 0:41
“Coming Home” (Rudolf Schenker, Meine) – 3:17 (taken from Love at First Sting, 1984)
“Blackout” (Schenker, Meine, Herman Rarebell, Sonja Kittelsen) – 4:11 (taken from Blackout, 1982)
“Bad Boys Running Wild” (Schenker, Meine, Rarebell) – 3:45 (taken from Love at First Sting, 1984)
“Loving You Sunday Morning” (Schenker, Meine, Rarebell) – 4:41 (taken from Lovedrive, 1979)
“Make It Real” (Schenker, Rarebell) – 3:51 (taken from Animal Magnetism, 1980)

Wowzers thats a solid 6 Pack O Rock!

Scorps had a pretty cool knack for writing slower chill like tracks the best being No One Like You from Blackout(1982). But as time and albums wore on Scorps kinda lost steam on writing chill ballady like tunes and Winds Of Change or the Whistle Tune as i call it ( great message in the lyrics but why did the Scorps cave into the dreaded  trap of syrup rock?) Didn’t like this tune that much back in 90 still applies today….

Dunno bout Winds..i’m sure lots of you out there dig it and hats off to ya! For Me? Meh….?  I will still post the video maybe a live one to see if at all it picks up gas……

 

MMMMM…. after watching the live clip the Scorps tank is empty! Quick any one got a Defibrillator to revive this band? Than again these dudes are pushing  70 years young but man I dunno……

Crank up Hit Between The Eyes  again. That’s the Scorps I wanna listen to!

Cool Vs Gah! Round 2….Poison…

Valley Of Lost Souls Vs Poor Boy Blue’s

Poison by album three (Flesh&Blood) have taken it up a notch! Everyone knows there deal and what to expect and Jingle Jangle Flesh & Blood sells a ton and overall it’s a pretty decent album that except for a few tracks I don’t really have a problem with. Well I got a problem with Bret  Michael’s touring around his schtick prying his trade as a solo performer playing  at fairs and parking lots and playing Poison without the other guys who made up Poison!

Back in 1990 though Poison were selling out Arenas and I really turned on this band after the lacklustre performance in Winnipeg (1991) on the Flesh & Blood Tour . Poison that night didn’t give a shit and after that show I didn’t give a shit about Poison anymore…..

Why do I care that Bret  isn’t with Poison anymore? Ha! Silly finicky RnR Guy I have morphed into….

HairSpray Dudes…

Bret Michaels – lead vocals
C.C. DeVille – lead guitar
Bobby Dall – bass
Rikki Rockett – drums

Anyhoo these two tracks are from the same album!

Valley OF Lost Souls is the opening number on the album and Valley is the kind of song Poison excels at! The tune drives at a furious pace (for Poison Standards that is!) that crashes into a real slick catchy chorus! Check out the lyrics below

Living it up, giving it up
Living in the valley of lost souls
Wanting it all, taking the fall
Living in the valley of lost souls

Basically the tune is about being age 16 and running towards a dream! The only real downer about this track is the solo by C.C as like many of his solo’s he overplay’s it or that’s what it sounds like to me. But make no mistake of it Folks this is a great album opener!

Yeah I said it……

Flesh And Blood though by the end of the album kinda runs out of steam and its kinda funny that when a group of guys known as Poison get success they start thinking “Hey We Can Be Like Old School Aerosmith” that line of thinking in my book is Wrongo!

Ha! Check out this live clip of Michael’s’ and Crew trying to Aero It Up?  I will tell you that when you watch this clip and the first minute is just Bret blasting air into his Harmonica playing and to me it’s Meh! Tbone back in the day after a few beers and when it was late at night would blast the harmonica and man I would friggin howl.  Almost Borderline Cool! Needless to say Tbone kept me amused with his Antics whereas Bret doesn’t!

Tbone-1……BMichael’s-0

It’s one thing for a band too say “Hey  these guys  are our influences”  but it’s another to slap it down on (back than) vinyl and …

Well you be the judge……

Where Are They Now? /Paul Laine

So Bop The Blogger and Aaron asked around who wanted to do a Whatever Happened To Blog on various artists! I kinda kicked around the idea about doing one and well guess what? I joined the ranks and  after you read my stuff take some time and check out my fellow friends and their throwback artists! Here are the links….
https://keepsmealive.wordpress.com
http://mikeladano.com
https://nauticazinger.wordpress.com
https://1001albumsin10years.wordpress.com

Paul Laine is the dude I chose to yammer about! Surprise surprise he’s a Rock guy kinda…. Lemme tell ya’s all about it….

Paul Laine came out of Vancouver and released a real solid slab of AOR Hard Rock with his debut album called Stick It In Your Ear(released 1990)! Ha! Great title for a blog  also right? Right!

My interest in Laine came about by reading about his album in the now defunct Canadian Magazine titled M.E.A.T!  In the article the thing that jacked up my curiosity level was the fact that Laine scooped the Late Great Bruce Fairbairn to produce! Fairbairn man he produced all the biggie early 80s albums(Loverboy) mid 80s classics (Bon Jovi) late 80s masterpieces (Aerosmith) even into the 90s Rock  (Van Halen and Kiss). Fairbairn sadly passed away in 1999 but he left quite the catalogue of work behind and this being the reason I took a gamble on the Laine album as I knew if anything the production would be top-notch!

Laine even with Fairbairn in his back pocket still delivered a pretty decent bit of rock with the songs! Stick It In Your Ear  stands up on its own merit with the songs like We Are The Young,Dorianna, Break Down The Barricades and Is It Love amongst tracks from the 13 song debut.

When you watch the top video posted of Is It Love you will see the suits and ties of Laines record company tried to market him as a 1990 Bon Jovi and it kinda failed not due to the material mind you but the climate of music as right below Vancouver was Seattle and its filthy dirge grunge bubbling underneath ready to explode and Bam did it ever!

Is It Love and no it’s not that sap drip dry Is it Love version by C#*kSnake Er I mean Whitesnake this is power pomp rock done to a T! The money shot is the chorus and that is due not only by Laine as the writer but by Fairbairn weaving his magic at the recording console! You want hit…I will try to give you a hit kid!

Back to the video and its a hoot to watch check out the storyline and editing of it! Cut to band …cut to Dude and Hooker Chick,Hooker Chick hangs out with Boss Hog but Chick likes  Dude,Cut to Band, Cut to Boss Hog don’t like Dude,Boss Hog catches Chick And Dude  and now theirs trouble,Hooker Chick shoots Boss Hog and splits with Dude and Laine shows up at the end on the street after  Hooker Chick and Dude flea! Bandana Micheals and Poison would have slopped up over this concept back in 1990 but they made the Unskinny Bop Video instead…hahaha..

After 1990 Laine kinda disappeared for a bit  but in the early 90s he joined that cheese-mo American Act Danger Danger  and  stayed with them for 11 years! Atta boy Paul still doing what you’re doing …

Laine has even dabbled recently in a country rock outfit called Darkhorse and even has something brewin over at Frontier Records (home of all things AOR). Good on him man not giving up and ploughing forward and doing what he wants to do!

The second video posted is Laine recently in Australia playing some Melodic Rock Festival doing some of those tunes from Stick It In Your Ear and the fella looks and sounds good as his voice is still there! Trainwreck does not need apply here folks!

Thanks for reading!

Now scroll back to the top and click those links and enjoy some fine reads and writes from some Great Bloggers!

SONIC WAVES…Jeff Healey Band/Hell To Pay

Who better than the Late Great Johnny Carson to introduce Jeff Healeys 1988 appearance on the Tonight Show with a little bit of background history on Jeff! Well done Mr Carson(1988) Watch this video from the debut album  and See The Light!

Who didn’t dig Healey(RIP)and posse around the late 80s and early 90s!? The dude played a mean strat,sang and wrote a good song,made cover tunes sound his own and put out a pretty good run of material of studio records especially the first three albums (See The Light,Feel This ) and this one Jeffs second album Hell To Pay!

1990,Jeff and his music just cook on this release…..

Also of note they brought in some heavy hitters including Mark Knopfler,George Harrison,Tbays own Paul Shaffer and my pal Space Aces favourite rock dude Jeff Lynne!

Can’t pull the wool over Jeff….he’s a Confidence Man!

FULL CIRCLE- Healey nails a scorcher of a opening riff on his Fender Strat and we’re off and due to Ed Stasium’s stellar production he has given the Healey band a real kick of sonics! Full Circle upon first listen man grabbed me and booted my hair metal ass into next week! This is the real deal! Jeff nails down a superb solo while Joe Rockman (bass) and Tom Stephen (drums) keep the beat driving! Love this tune but I think you kinda gathered that right?! Awesome stuff and a great start! Crank the video folks ……love that Hammond organ courtesy of Bobby Whitlock.

I THINK I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH-Mark Knopfler wrote and plays on this single from the Healey boys! Like any good rock track Theres a ton of riffs all over the place but it’s kept in check by both Jeff and Mark! This is a mid tempo track. This song did well for them!

I CANT GET MY HANDS ON YOU-Boom! Jeff and crew ramp it back up and this song rocks! Healey rocks this song with guitar hero solo tricks thrown in and Stephen smashes the song out on his drum kit at the end. Super duper cool verses,love the playing of Healey on this as he goes from super clean sounding Strat to the solo where he ramps up into some real cool heavy tone!

HOW LONG CAN A MAN BE STRONG-I was always ok with Jeff’s slower tunes I mean on the debut See The Light of course he had Angel Eyes so Jeff threw down the gauntlet on telling me as a young music buying whipper snapper that there was gonna be slower tunes on my albums! So for that I was ok with it! How Long is a good song and this is one of many on this record where the sound is filled out huge by keys!

LET IT ALL GO-love it love it! This song written by John Hiatt Is a great song. The tempo along with the verses and chorus are gold in my book! Super laid back chill vibe in this tune. Cowbell peeps! Like Jeff says “You gotta Let It All Go so it doesn’t burn a hole in your heart!” Should have been a huge single in my book! Than again what do I know….

HELL TO PAY-the title track and lookie at the cover with the Healey band decked out in leather! There ready to rumble in a nice Canadian kind of way! BUT when push comes to shove Jeff will crack you over the noggin with his guitar! Great tune and backing vocals on this album as well from Sass Jordan.

WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS-allrighty so Jeff pulls in the heavyweights and that would be the writer of this classic song and that’s George Harrison(RIP) who wrote this tune! Here,George sings and plays acoustic while Jeff electrifies it and plays some real cool licks. Think about for a sec…this is a Beatles classic so not only do you have to do it justice by covering this song but you bring in the actual dude who penned it! Man,that’s impressive !

SOMETHING TO HOLD ONTO-this song is a song with a quick tempo with Jeff doubling up on acoustic on electric and the Hammond B3 organ plays a huge part in the sonics on this song! The solo in this tune is one of my favs and Jeff lets loose and jsut takes it to the top!  Great song ….better solo! Actually all of Jeffs solos are classics! Who the fuck am i kidding!

HOW MUCH-the singles could have kept rolling with this one as well! How much has a real snap happy chorus,the money shot in my book along with the Sass J’s backing vocals and the use of the piano to enhance the chorus as well! This tune like many is why I love Jeffs studio stuff. By that I mean he plays his guitar during  the verses nice and cleaney but come solo time he can shift it into some nasty heavy toneage! In other words he doesn’t puss out his sound! How much is another winner here at Arena Rock!

HIGHWAY OF DREAMS-is another tune where Jeff and the boys play the song a pretty decent clip and the thing about this tune is how at the end it kinda goes a little wonky,trippy ha! But this is Jeff,Joe and Tom starting to chill out towarss the end of the record! Dig Jeffs playing in this one…..

LIFE BEYOND THE SKY-this mid tempo rock track brings Hell To Pay to a close. It’s funny revisiting this album (gulp) 25 years later that this track and Highway Of Dreams are the two that I aways never visited and well that’s my bad! These are two great songs that should not be overlooked and fair enough time to show EM some love! I like the use of Jeffs clean guitar sound on this one! I mean your don’t have to be blazing on the fretboard at 125 mph all the friggin time. This song proves this theory!

IN CONCLUSION- Hell To Pay Indeed! This is a important record folks! Give these guys there due man as in 1990 they weren’t following the hairspray musical trends of that era instead they were blazing there own path of tunes! Writing and gigging and doin it there own way! Full props man! Healey is missed no doubt about it and do yourself a favor and check Hell To Pay out………

SONIC WAVES….ZZ Top/Recycler

This Blog is for Geoff who writes a real excellent blog that you can find at 1001albumsin10years.wordpress.com   Take the time friends and check it out!

October 1990 and the Tops release Recycler and it’s the followup to Afterburner which came out 5 years earlier in 1985! So I guess the two long beards (Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill )and Stache(Frank Beard) figured it was about time right?

Recycler I have always liked and that’s maybe due to the fact that myself and Tbone caught this tour in early October 1990 a good few weeks before the actual release of the album. So perhaps that’s why maybe I like it  as much since that was the tour I saw who knows but they also threw down some real cool musical mustard on these tracks for the most part! Here’s the review of the show….https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/recycled-in-the-peg/

Tbone is still looking for La Grange!

CONCRETE AND STEEL- ZZ blast off from the start and this is a great opener! No one and I mean no one has the guitar tone of Billy Gibbons! You hear him and you know it’s him! Plus not only does he play the wicked guitar his voice is so tailor made for this band. It’s a win win. Beard on the drums and Hill on the bass push the song along and it’s the start of the decade and it’s good to have the Tops back boogie Rockin!

LOVETHING-Beard slams down some Thunder and the guitars go in slo mo and than pick up and this is a great track. Tons of percussion jives up the backing tracks and it rocks in a ZZ kinda way! Lots of good Ol sexual innuendo here in this song at Top HQ’s! 2 songs in ….2 sure fire winners!

PENTHOUSE EYES-ZZ takes off with there bluesy cool riffs mixed with Beards drums and we’re off an running to the Penthouse! Isn’t it great when ZZ gets into story telling like this two …..”can’t blame a boy for asking!” Chirps Billster and Wowzers he’s chilling in the Penthouse. Tons of slipping and sliding Blues Riff a Rolla on this track!

TELL IT-this tune is one of my favs from Recycler! TELL IT,tell it like is …Sez Billy and I’m onboard. This song is a cool little creepy crawl of boogie woogie Blues rock! Just a real good laid back tempo! What better way to introduce Gibbons guitar solo with someone chirping BANG! …that’s also the one thing about ZZ tunes not only do you get the great solos in the song but also the great outro solos that take the song out!

MY HEADS IN MISSISSIPPI-hangover is what this reminds me of! Not myself with a hangover but the two Beards and Stache with em! Gibbons voice fits this tune to a T! Cool gruff voice and real catchy guitaring add the salt to the pepper for this tune! I just love it. Crank the video folks!

DECISION OR COLLISION-bam bam this song is pure solid driving ZZ Top! A pretty good tune goes forward Into Billyvilles zone which is guitar blues rock! Good stuff…and a pretty snappy happy ZZ tune!

GIVE IT UP-love the opening riff from Gibbons. Than all the bells and whistles of ZZs driving late 80s sound is unleashed BUT this song still cooks man I love it. Now that summer is upon us when your barbecuing some juicy steaks and knocking it down your hatch with some cold suds crank this track! And invite uncle DeKEs over! Hint hint Probie! Ha!

2000 BLUES-great slow mover groover of a track! Gibbons like he always does lays down a great guitar! 200o Blues is just that Blues down low down sleazy breezy ZZ style! Sign me up!

BURGERMAN- Ok ok so ZZ even though know its 1990 old habits die hard and hey let’s toss Deke and Tbone a musical patty and call it  BURGERMAN! It’s all here a ton of toppings layered with guitars,bass and a loaded up drum sound and a loaded up ZZ! BURGERMAN though is a pretty funny tune from the two beards and stache!

DOUBLEBACK-I tell Ya I love this tune! Sure it’s from Mikey J Foxes Back To The Future Film but this song is Gold! I love the pre chorus and chorus it’s the best of what ZZ does and that’s play a catchey hook! Gibbons nails down some sleazy meaty biggie bouncy riffs of Texas Rock! ….”Running high and low don’t know which way to go I gotta DOUBLEBACK my friends”..sings Gibbons! Wowzers 25 years old this song is and I still love it as much as I did back in 90!

IN CONCLUSION-Afterburner i loved side one of that record and it kinda tailed off for me after Planet Of Women led off side 2 ..read it here….https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/sonic-waves-zz-top-afterburner/

ZZ slam back with a real solid effort and perhaps I dig this one more like i said for the fact that I caught them on the Recycler World Tour?! Who knows for sure but I will say it was a step in the right direction and i still spin this one quite frequently! ZZ was headed into the 90s and they were rolling with the changes but still doing there own deal! Good on them and good for me!

 

 

Cool Lil Numbers….Warrant/Mr Rainmaker

Hahahaha….Yep it has to be done here at Arena Rock! Snicker amongst yourselves,giggle if Ya have to but I tell Ya man Warrant of course got pasted for the Cherry Pie song but the album of the same name had some good songs on it  that no one talks about! Well guess what Arena Rock Faithful….time to face the facts Jani Lane(RIP) could write a decent rock track Mr Rainmaker was one of em!

Warrant sold tons of records from about 1989 thru to 1992 and good on em man and many of you may laugh now about it  but you along with me  bought this stuff!

SO, HA!

Jani and his cohorts Steven Sweet/Joey Allen/Erick Turner and Jerry Dixon were I remember back in the day hammered in the press as the guitars supposedly on the debut  Warrant (Dirty Rocking Filthy Stinking Rich /1988)were played by a studio guy as Turner and Allen weren’t cutting the mustard in the studio so to speak! I even held it againest them myself and It took me forever to buy the debut. It sounded 80s especially the drums and stuff plus the ballad Heaven Geezus could you guys make it more obvious for a hit! So yeah I tuned my senses elsewhere…

But in 1990 the band made it known  hey our two guitar players are on here. They even had there producer vouch for them so fair enough so I bought Cherry Pie and once you get past the Fruity opening track there’s some good tunes…Uncle Toms Cabin/Love In Stereo and of course Mr Rainmaker! Of course Warrant had to have fodder on Cherry Pie like I Saw Red but whatever….

Mr Rainmaker starts off and man it’s a damn catchy tune! The verse is good and the chorus is good early 90s hard rock! Let’s call a spade a spade here folks! If it wasn’t for Jani Lane these other guys well they wouldn’t have become rockstars as Lane was the main everything in this band(singer/songwriter). Too bad the vices got to Lane..

If you want to listen further check out Dog Eat Dog Warrants third release which is there best but by than the backlash began.

 

 

Cool Lil Numbers…Robert Plant/Liars Dance

All righty friends usually in the Cool Lil Numbers section here at Arena Rock I’m throwing down Loud Rock tunes but today lets shift gears and talk about a great acoustic track from Robert Plants Manic Nirvana(1990) album titled Liars Dance!

I have said it before and I’ll say it again for me back in the day of buying things music I loved those songs crunched on the end of the record that are absolute Gems! Liars Dance is that and much more. Next to the Roberts ode to horn dogs tune (Big Love, track 2) this is my fav from Manic Nirvana.

Liars Dance is just Robert and his guitar player Doug Boyle and Boyle plays a real cool acoustic piece that clocks in under 2 minutes 40 seconds! (Studio Version,Live Version is a little longer)Crazy how catchy this tune  is in such a short order of time!

Bobby and Dougie don’t screw around and they take the Don’t Bore Us Get To The Chorus approach and it pays off in spades! Love how Boyle just cranks up the strumming halfway thru like a crazed man and just shifts right down into the catchy verse! Awesome stuff…

Dig the words I mean where else would you fine the line….

Trees cry-men bow/Kneel before the fatted cow/Lets take a little moo before we go/No we won’t be back again/Won’t be back again….

I posted the live clip and you can see how they pulled it off in that kind of setting….

Great Friggin Track….