1991-PART Three

In case you missed Part 2…click below

1991- Part Two

Once June/91 rolled around the big releases for me that month were Skid Row with “Slave To The Grind” and Van Halen with “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”.

One day (shortly after VH came out) I was riding around on my mountain bike when I noticed a Black Mustang following me around. It was creepy actually. Did someone take out a hit on me? What’s going on here as I kept riding and since I had my Walkman jacked (remember those?) I pedalled faster.

I figured I would take a quick route home by cutting through the parking lot of a local Safeways and sure enough there was that Black Mustang parked sideways like it was waiting for me…

As I got closer to the Mustang I yanked the headphones off of my head. Isn’t it funny I can still recall the tape I was listening to was Kik Tracee a cassette I got as a freebie from my subscription to MEAT Magazine.

Anyways as I inched closer I seen a familiar face in the passenger seat of the car with the window rolled down..

It was Darr and behind the wheel was Tbone and there they were heckling like a couple of hyena’s as they knew they had me spooked and right on cue I remember the tune Tbone was cranking which was “Judgement Day” by Van Halen.

Fuckers got me good!

Tbone fresh from graduating University and securing a job in the mechanical engineering field bought himself a 1991 Ford Mustang. (man that car could fly)

Good one fella’s..

Summer of 91 was a fun summer. Some great music was coming out and considering I was working full time I could easily pick up new releases like Metallica when “The Black Album” dropped.

But by fall something interesting in music was changing and I heard a different style of music that was starting to come into the masses.

Having said that I remember purchasing The Cults “Ceremony”, Tesla’s “Psychotic Supper”, Aerosmith “Pandoras Box”, Motley Crue’s “Decade of Decadence”, both “Use Your Illusions” by Guns, and in the what the %$#* was I thinking dept. I bought Poison’s “Swallow This Live”.

One night in the fall of 91 I was hanging out with Oink’s and he had two tapes in his car. One was Ozzy’s latest “No More Tears” and the other one was a band I had maybe only read about but that band was Soundgarden with “Badmotorfinger”.

I can still hear Oink’s cranking “Jesus Christ Pose” and that song was my entry point into Soundgarden. The vocals of the late great Chris Cornell and the drums of Matt Cameron totally caught my ear.

Holy shit I thought what a heavy tune yet catchy at the same time…

My girlfriend at the time Donna began exploring other musical avenues and through her the name of Garth Brooks I had never heard, but now in her car I was listening to “The Thunder Rolls” and “Mr Blue.”

Oh boy…

Also in that same car was the first time I had ever heard Nirvana with “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.

When Van Halen announced their Canadian Tour (Winnipeg was added) I was stoked so I reached out to Guy and Daryl for tickets. They had connections with the promoter who brought acts to Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Winnipeg. So I asked the boys if they could get me two tickets for Winnipeg. They said no problem just go to the Arena Box office the day of the show and give my name. As we got closer and closer to Winnipeg I was thinking “I hope the tickets the tickets are there?”

Not only were they there but when I picked up the tickets at the box office and we entered the arena I was told by an Usher to head to the floor.

Umm, ok and next thing you know we are in the 11th row on the floor with the stage straight on. Guy and Daryl came through. The cost of the ticket for that show at the arena on Nov 7th 1991 was $33.00!

Speaking of the musical climate changing look no further than VH’s opener that night.

Alice In Chains who brought their brand of sludgy rock that night and other than seeing “Man In The Box” video on Much Music the rest of the set was new to me. The band musically was tight. Lead singer Layne Staley stood basically in-front of the mic and I recall at one point telling the front row “to get closer as he doesn’t bite!”

They were good that night but it was a changing of the guard. There you have the Seattle Sound as the opener and here comes Cali VH party rock with “Poundcake” opening the show as well as lead singer Sammy Hagar high giving the front row while hanging a pair of panties off the mic stand.

Posted below is the actual audio from AIC’s opening set that night in Winnipeg courtesy of Youtube..

VH were awesome as songs like “A.F.U”, “Runaround”, and a bunch of other tracks stood out and of course EVH was on his game…

Being down that close was LOUD! I remember during Bassist Micheal Anthony’s “Sunday Afternoon In The Park” bass solo my pant legs were vibrating!

Looking back now 30 years later that night, there was a definite vibe going down.

Changing of the guard for some as Van Halen in the 90s had no problem selling arena tickets but ask Motley Crue and Poison on selling arena tickets!

As we were heading into 1992 times were changing..

Thanks for reading folk’s. Perhaps next year in 2022 I will flashback to 1992.

Van Halen/For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge(1991)

 

Haven’t smashed out a Van Halen album review in a bit so let’s jump into the Van Hagar fire with there 1991 release For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album or as every one call’s it F.U.C.K.

Who knew back in June of 1991 when this record hit the streets that there was internal strife in the band. You had Sammy Hagar/Michael Anthony/Eddie and Alex Van Halen still looking like and functioning like a band to me anyway’s but if you read Sam’s Book Red you knew that was further from the truth as the Halen Bros made Anthony who is everyones favourite guy yet to the Halen Bros he was the kicking bag of the band take a percentage cut in songwriting and such which kudos to Mikey who  sucked it up and just kept going about his business…

So with that said ….

I was stoked and why wouldn’t I be. New Halen/New Halen so this was easily a first day purchase as since I was working I sent my younger brother Todd who was 14 at the time(with cash on hand) to pick the CD up for me and as per protocol since he was on a Rock Mission a cassette tape of the same album for him. Paying for my brothers music as well  was the least I could do as he would always deliver as when  I would get home my new release would be ready to unwrap! Bam!

So with this album Halen hire Andy Johns(RIP). Johns had quite the resume in rock as he engineered a bunch of Led Zeppelin/Rolling Stones records as well as produced stuff by Free/Cinderella and wait for it….two albums by HMO Can Con’s Killer Dwarfs!

 So I knew the production end of things would be taken care of or would they? Hmmmm ….Well the drums sound huge and they should right as Alex Van Halen was a massive player and Johns worked with Bonzo from Zep and we all know how those drums sound on the Zeppelin albums right!?

Andy though I dunno too much partying at the 5150 studios or maybe you had the Halen Bros breathing down your neck constantly about how they want to hear things. The production sounds muddy at times as it’s hard to decipher the Bass it sounds like one big wall of thud. Not clear either kinda trembly  weird..dunno what it was but the sound sounded bizarro. Than again this was nothing new as 1988’s O.U.8.1.2 production sounded all over the map at times.

Anyways my personal bitchin aside F.U.C.K is still a good album and shall we take a gander at the tracks….

1. “Poundcake” 5:21
2. “Judgement Day” 4:38
3. “Spanked” 4:53
4. “Runaround” 4:20
5. “Pleasure Dome” 6:58
6. “In ‘n’ Out” 6:04
7. “Man on a Mission” 5:03
8. “The Dream Is Over” 3:59
9. “Right Now” 5:21
10. “316” (instrumental) 1:29
11. “Top of the World” 3:54

Poundcake,HA! That ol Horn Dawg Sam starts off with some punchy lyrics about getting some Poundcake and not the kind Granny would cook in the oven if ya catch my drift. The big news was that Eddie was dabbling with a Power Drill with an pic attached to the drill and this begins the album with Al charging forward with the drums. (Correct me if I’m wrong but I think Paul Gilbert did the pick drill bit a year before on the Mr Big “Lean Into It” album but Paul never got his due or maybe I got this all wrong) Pretty cool opening song which also served as the tour opener as well. Gotta love Big Rock Dumbo lyrics and Poundcake serves the purpose but when you have EVH on guitar you know the music chops are gonna be up to snuff and by golly they are. Below I posted a rippin great version of Poundcake when Halen played on the 1991 MTV Awards and man they rock the shit outta those yuppies in the front row! This is soooooooooooo Gooooooood! Kinda funny watching this as they all seem happy but AL and Ed you know are thinking what can we do to the Bass Player after the show…

On Judgement Day Ed flexes his guitar muscle and we all scream in excitement as he still shows us all who the Boss is! Sam ditches the Dumbo lyrics and steps up  on this track and sings it real swell as well! The solo is fantastic and Ed does all that crazy tapping that well no one can do and better yet how the hell does Ed think of this stuff?

Spanked reminds me of 2 things! First of all in the credits of the album Ed was credited as playing some 6 string Bass on this song. (Oh oh..watch yer back Mikey)This song musically is creepy Halen kinda sauntering around in your backyard at 2 am looking for dope n booze. Lyrically well…read this for yourself…

“Three dollars, first minute, gosh, man
After that, cost ya four
And she be up for negotiations, mmm hmm
If you call back for more, oh oh oh ah

Now who ya gonna call
When you need that special (special)
Little somethin’, mmm
You can say what you like
It’s all confidential, whoa

All you bad, bad boys
Call her up on the spank line, huh
All you bad, bad boys
Call her up on the spank line, whoa

Hey, all you bad, bad boys
Make a mind blow
All you bad, bad boys (dial 1-900-spanked)”

So what we got here is Creepy Music Halen with Big Dumbo Rock lyrics but Sam is a clever chap as well the song is catchy in a different kind of way.  The second thing is that when I caught this show in Winnipeg(Nov 1991) the reviewer said that Halen played Spanked. Ummm no they did not as I’m a Diehard and that track was not played which proved to me that some of these critics have no idea what the F.U.C.K there writing about! Oh well Mr Reviewer just dial up 1-900-Spanked!

Runaround gets the band back on track and this is another sure fire winner with a super duper excellent chorus and this Runaround has ton of zip in it’s step. Well done after the chaotic creepiness  of Spanked. Sam Halen know there bread and butter and thats tracks like this one.

Pleasure Dome is pretty much a musical number kinda with some Sammy echoey like mumbling and stumbling as the Brothers and Anthony  keep the train a chugging.

Side 2 begins with Alex kicking In ‘N’ Out  and more silliness from Sam I Am. Now before you Hagar Fans (Trust me I’m one also) get all nutty thinking I’m beating up Sam and his lyrics he’s just comes across as a BeachBum not taking his crap too seriously and just living life so can you really blame him. Sam-innuedo are these lyrics for In ‘N’Out.

Man On A Mission is the track no one ever talks about but it’s a pretty good track that builds off of Ed’s Riff’s. Love the guitaring on this track. Pretty cool vocals especially the backing vocals of Mikey. That should come as no surprise though.

This Dream Is Over may actually be my fav off of this album. Ed soars right out of the gate with this track and he lifts right off until Sam checks in with singing. See,give Sam his due as he when he puts his mind to it can write some crafty words, EVH takes this track to the next level come solo time!

At the 92 MTV Awards show Halen cleaned up on some awards with Right Now which has Ed twinkling the ivories but do not be fooled by the piano as Ed supercharges and ramps up during the solo. Actually this was areal cool video and still is….Liked the clip where they show Mikey wanting to make a solo album….betcha Ed and Alex were chomping at the bit…..Still though this is a great song with great lyrics!

316 is a little Guitar doodle from Edward as in the year of 1991 his son Wolfie was born on the third month/16th day….

Ed begins Top Of The World  and the boys all join in and this is a great rock track and was the tour closer for the tour as well. If you listen closely to the end of the song you can here Ed picking a few bars of Jump. EVH does it the right way..he steals licks from himself!

F.U.C.K is a good Sam Halen album. At time the lyrics are loosey goosey but than again like I had mentioned in my OU812 review if Sammy confronted me about this accusation I would tell him Tbone made me say it!

Seriously though this album if the production had been notched up a bit could have been a great album as the songs are there kinda. You got serious stuff and goofy stuff(in the lyrics) so even though Van Halen was maturing age wise they still wanted you to keep them in mind when the Bong N Booze/ Doritos would come out!

ADDED COMMENT…..

Mikey Ladano reviewed this back in 2014 and gave it a 2.8/5 rating….

Here’s my  2 cents worth of a comment ..

Deke
October 3, 2014 at 5:50 pm
Yeah man the bass on here like Aaron said is aweful. The songs for the most part are good except for fruit cake toons like Spanked and Poundcake the music is good but Sam has always had a thingy for big dumb goofy lyrics but that’s who he is,Sam I Am!
Ha…but yeah in 91… I liked this one immensely but in 2014 I lean towards another Hagar/Halen album but I ain’t saying till my Sonic Wave deal..how’s that for a self plug!
But still I would plunk this a little higher Mikey than what U gave it but fair enuff…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tragically Hip/Roxy & Elsewhere (1993)

For my money you can’t really beat the early Hip Stuff! ( I was lucky  catching them live in 1988 and 1990 as that certainly helps the cause ) Case in point this Bootlegged album called Roxy & Elsewhere which states on the back of the cd was recorded in Los Angeles (May 1991) and Elsewhere.

The Hip Dudes as in Bobby Baker/Paul Langlois/Gord Sinclair/Gord Downie and Johnny Fay have there own style and it’s a tilt in the direction of Bar Room Boogie Rock!

Touring in support of what is my fav album of their’s Road Apples The Hip assault the L.A  crowd and knock em on their asses!

The music is top-notch and Gord well what can you say Folk’s? There’s two Gord classic stories on here one of which is during Highway Girl where Gord talks about the Double Suicide story which is an all time great! Listen to it below…

The second Classic story coming from Gordie is his Killer Whale Tank rant during New Orleans Is Sinking. Video is posted as well below…

The Band and Gord( His improv Dialogue is just classic) take it up a whole notch on Killer Whale Tank! The Band is on Fire!

Dang I miss 1991!

Tragically Hip/Road Apples(1991)

This review  was originally posted back in Oct/14. It was decided by the WordPress Community(a week ago) to toss down a Hip Friday! Take the time to check out everyone’s Blogs that I have set up by clicking the links below…

https://keepsmealive.wordpress.com

https://mikeladano.com

https://nauticazinger.wordpress.com

https://1001albumsin10years.wordpress.com

https://caughtmegaming.wordpress.com

I tried doing a Top Whatever list of Hip Music but the first four albums are so good it was tuff to narrow it down so I  decided to revamp and in some cases add to this review! In other words clean up the writing slop….

I should also add that a few weeks back ROAD APPLES landed in my all time Top 20 via the challenge that I swung out to some of you’s via FaceCrack!…

Without further ado…..

Man early 91 it’s winter time in Tbay and what a better way to deal with the winter blahs than to have a new Hip release bestowed upon us. I still remember like it was yesterday going to the record shop and well everyone knew about the Hip as Up To Here went crazy platinum many times over so the street vibe was huge for Road Apples. Once I had it my hands I flipped it over to check out the song titles and WHUT???  Where’s “Crack My Spine Like A Whip??” The 4/4 stomper of a rocker that they opened with about a year earlier at their University show here in Tbay that myself and TBone had checked out! But you know what? After  that glaring omission once I played the cd for the first time back at home I figured why it was left off they were so many good tracks that I guess sumthin had to be left off. I must mention that the late Don Smith who produced Road Apples and the debut Up To Here nailed the sound perfectly! He mixes  this album like it was recorded live in the studio! People should notice the Sonic’s on these early Hip album’s especially how the guitars are mixed!

So let’s check out what going on down at Hip HQ’s circa January of 1991!

LITTLE BONES- Like on Up To Here Bobby Baker and his fender 6 string start off the action and man the sonics are bang on about 30 seconds Into Little Bones.  Don Smith is once again rolling tape and letting the boys groove it on down! And yep Gordo you’re hitting the nail in the head in saying $2.50 for an eyeball and a buck a half a decade.  Happy hour,Happy Hour is here!

TWIST MY ARM- Cool picking by Baker and the boys join In a mid tempo tune which I think is some of Downies best lyrics ever. Basically after  Jacques Cousteau dumps your ass overboard Gordie picks up the paddle and carries on going through life while people are constantly twisting his arm!

CORDELIA- The Hip all take a chill pill and slow it right down at the beginning of the track and ramp it up by the chorus. Actually this  song reeks super cool but for the Hip the reeking ain’t super cool but some chic that goes by the name of Mary Jane!

THE LUXURY- Quick book your night at the Golden Rim Inn and you as in yourself can hear Gordie preach to the faithful few who have joined with his brothers Hip and this tune is a jam and man so far were into album number two and these guys just play it like it is and  it gets no better than this style Hip rock! The Luxury is that but I think Gordie is going for the opposite of the luxury and people who are conned out of it. Am I making sense…??

BORN IN THE WATER-Yep some more cool slide guitar from Mr Baker and life is smart as the trees in Sault Ste Marie. The song is a good rocker and shows us as a listener that the Hip can punch the gas at a minutes notice!

LONG TIME RUNNING- Hip slows down the tour bus and shifts right into a slow melodic rocker that shows the sensitive side of Gordie ! I mean he can’t always dump the mic down the front of his pants in every song! ( I say that cuz I recall him doing it when they played Fight live, when he was shadow boxing with himself. I wish they had cell phones back in 1990! )  Real cool use of what sounds to me like slide guitar in this one and the Hip are good at not selling out on sumthin slow mo!

BRING IT ALL BACK-Paul Langlois starts off this track with his guitar and Bobby Baker shows up and well lookie here is Gordie and now there joined by Johnny and Gord and they Bring it all back to Gordie! Like so many of these songs like this one and pretty much the debut Up To Here as well these songs sound live in the studio. Man, what a lost art nowadays! Anyways the song advances into the solo with some super cool wah pedal.  Baker was on fire on these first couple of Hip albums!

THREE PISTOLS-The guitars drive this song and  I love this tune and I remember them road testing this tune when we caught The Hip live a year earlier in March of 90! I was glad this song was on it just flat-out rocks! It’s the Hip! Marshall’s cranked to 11 and rocking it to the top on this one! Baker man is locked n loaded with a whole lotta riff a roo at the end.

FIGHT- They also played  this at the same show as Three Pistols. Gordies asking why u wanna fight ? Actually I have seen Gordie fight a few times basically with himself  and the mic stand. Gordie is like a UFC cage fighter taking on himself with a mic! This is a definite jam tune!

ON THE VERGE- This a rambling gamblin’  four on the floor stomper(road tested at the  University Hip show as well that’s three tracks played a year before the release of Road Apples)  and the Hip is once again laying down serious law. Of note Langlois is not only a solid rhythm player who like Baker does not get his due cuz everyone is watching Gordie all the time but Langlois’s backing vocals kick these songs in the ass on the first couple of records! I still remember seeing the Hip with Langlois strumming his electric with it wrapped in duct  tape to keep his strap on his guitar, ploughing out super cool rhythms,chirping out backing vocals all the meanwhile with a smoke in his trap and an ash as long as my arm! Dude that’s rock n f’n roll!

FIDDLERS GREEN- The Hip after literally blowing smoke on the last four tracks decide to slow it right down with this well written tune complete with acoustics. It’s basically a front porch jam. Well done fellas ….well done!

LAST OF THE UNPLUCKED GEMS- That’s the other thing. Hip has cool song titles as well and this is one of them and to end off Road Apples is a nice little 2 minute ditty as the boys refuse to leave the porch and just keep the jam vibe going with a little more electric. Just enough to keep the rockin chair rockin!

IN CONCLUSION- I don’t think the Hip felt any pressure in doing this as a followup to Up To Here. They just kept the vibe going and it was evident in performance as well as when they came back to Tbay in 91 Tbone and myself were left in the cold as tickets went fast! Too bad would have loved to heard this record rocked live but then again it still sounds live every time I listen to it and for me Road Apples is one of their best. Kinda wish they would stayed with this sound a little longer but they were moving leaps and bounds but thanks guys for this rock solid masterpiece!

Big Drill Car/Big Shot(1992)

Cover tunes are a interesting thing in my book! They can be either real good or just real crap! No in between man just like being a Rush fan! Your either dig Rush or move on!

My buddy Moose(M.I.A) loved punk rock with the Ramones being his favourites. One day though back say around 1994 he was playing in his truck this cover version of the Billy Joel tune Big Shot

It immediately got my attention as I hadn’t heard any artist cover Joel at that time(1994). I asked him who these guys were and he said Big Drill Car! I was like ‘whose Car?” Never heard of these guys but shortly after i went and bought the live album it came from called Toured!

Toured is a Live album recorded in 1991 and Big Drill Car Features…Frank Daly(vocals),Mark Arnold(guitars),Bob Thomson(bass) and Danny Marcoff(drums)

Big Shot is a great cover by these guys! They just rock it up!

Marcoff on drums and Arnold on his 6 string set the pace and man Frank hits the vocal to a T on this song! He sings it not screams it and his “Whoah, Whoah Whoah,Whoah” section of the tune is funny as heck but cool never the less!

Big Shot is just a simple straight ahead cover no frills punk n roll….

Big Drill Car never made it huge but give the vid posted a play and get on with your day!

Ha….you had to be a Big Shot did Ya?

 

Tesla/Psychotic Supper

As a music lover of hard rock I gotta give some long overdue credit to Tesla and after 230 posts here at Arena Rock it’s about time I drop a studio review on these cats!

For a added bonus check out my very good Blog Pal Mike Ladanos spin on Tesla’s very first album Mechanical Resonance! Click here Peeps….

From Sacramento California comes Jeff Keith,Frank Hannon Troy Luccketta,Brian Wheat and the guy with the coolest name in rock which no one can pronounce Mr Tommy Skeoch!

Mechanical Resonance comes out in 1986 and they hit the ground running with Modern Day Cowboy as the leadoff single and holy hell these guys are fuggin ugly but man they take there craft serious and all the cool rock action is stuffed into the 4 minutes of Modern Day Cowboy! Cool groove cool drums,cool production,good lead  and backing vocals,real good dual lead guitar players(take a bow Frank and Tommy)  plus they just dressed like normal dudes,t shirts,jeans and you didn’t have a hard time figuring out there image! Unlike Poison with the cover of Look What The Cat Dragged In from 1986 as well I mean we’re the Poison  guys dude chicks ?? Geezus Murphy!

Anyhoo 1989 and The Great Radio Controversy is released and its stuffed full of a hour of Tesla rock and some day I gotta slam some words down on that great album but today it’s …..back to 1991 and Tesla feeds us Psychotic Supper(yeah that was a pathetic lead in)

Signs…Signs …..

CHANGE IN THE WEATHER-Put this in your pipe and smoke it! Hey man that’s the Tesla boys chirping that through the speakers and Hannon and Skeoch play some funky wah and it jams along with a real cool groove! Tesla man could play there instruments and Change In The Weather is just that! A great friggin opening number and we’ll crank the friggin video! Geez sorry for my tone there folks I think I gotta put something in my pipe and smoke it!

EDISONS MEDICINE- some real crazy wild playing at the beginning and man that has to be Skeoch for me this band has not been the same since he split or booted or whatever the problem was with him. This song has a real good verse and Jeff Keith the fucker can sing I mean to me at times he sounds like a dude version of Janis Joplin he can sing when he wants to and he can screech when he needs to! The chorus is real good and thats the others thing with these guys as they could also sing backing vocals real well not just studio but live! Read about it here when I caught the Psychotic Tour back in 1992 live at Mike Ladanos favourite city Duluth Minnesota….https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/5-man-loud-electrical-jam/

DONT DE-ROCK ME-straight Rock track and at the 2 minute spot Troy The Drummer dude smashes down a 30 sec drum solo where he pummels the crap out of his kit! Of course with Tesla there bread and butter are in the axe chops of Skeoch and Hannon and well they do what they do best they guitar dual Til the end of the track! Don’t De Rock ….Don’t De Rock Me ! Got it!

CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT-cool mid tempo tune and Jeff Keith sings some real cool lines on this song! The prechorus,chorus all jive and the boys play some neat Pickin guitar patterns with some good old power chords tossed in for added musical pleasure.

SONG AND EMOTION-Tesla back in 88 opened for Def Leppard on Leps Hysteria tour and thanks to Joe and the boys Tesla were well on there way! Song And Emotion is dedicated to the late great Lep guitarist Steve Clark who passed away early 1991. Song And Emotion is a 8 and half minutes of a solid slow burner that goes all over the musical rock map! Starts,chills,builds up,power riffing,ends chill it’s all here and a great tribute to a fallen comrade!

TIME -has a real 1975 Aeromithy vibe to it especially the way Troy plays them drums! The song just grooves with and oooozes cool especially during the chorus! Skeoch and Hannon groove the guitars and push the song until Keith screeeeeeeeches Time at the end! Great track!

GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL-I love me Acoustic Tesla and this tune applys in our election year here in Canada (October 19th 2015 goooooo vote readers!) This is a short real catchy just under 90 seconds of classic Tesla! Love the barking dog at the beginning of the track and Yep “Give me a home where the deer and Buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play bet your ass we’ll blow EM all away!” Great track crank it as I posted the vid!

FREEDOM SLAVES-a mode tempoish Tesla driven number featuring Keith during the verses. The dude has a flair for kinda singing kinda talking through the songs and making them sound cool! Freedom Slaves is a great track!

HAD ENOUGH-man this tune has Skeoch all over it! Frazzle Dazzle Speeding Finger Picking Whammy Bar Workout Extravaganza! Had Enough ramps it back up into Tesla Rock Mode!

WHAT YOU GIVE-boom out just like that comes the acoustics! Big sweeping 7 minutes plus of Tesla acoustic rock! Big builder of epic perportions as that’s how many a Tesla tune is built.

STIR IT UP-mid tempo Tesla rock! Hannon and Skeoch one punch this bad boy out as they do on many a Tesla tune. Keith tosses down the vocal while Troy plays the beats….

CANT STOP-Tesla ramps it up and keeps the party Groovin and Shakin with late night snacks and after all the hits are done out comes ……

TOKE ABOUT IT-the album starts with putting it your pipe and smoking it and ends with Toke About It! Ha it’s High Tide and Tesla Grass! (Get it?) This is just a good time end of the album chill out tune! Grab the Doritos and were off …Skeoch and Hannon can play many styles on there 6 strings and they were a great guitar team. Cop a buzz c’mon on down and join the party…..

IN CONCLUSION- Tesla are a great no frills hard rock act and by that I mean they show up,plug in and friggin let it rip! Psychotic Supper continues Tesla’s string of solid studio records. This was there third there next one Bust A Nut is a kicker as well! Tesla is currently still going strong (opening for Def Leppard)and too be honest I haven’t bought any product of theres since they released the live album (Coming Atcha Live)back in 2000 or so…..don’t know why …..

 

SONIC WAVES….Skid Row/Slave To The Grind

Ya know from Aug 1989 to June 1992 i seen Skid Row 5 times! 4 as a opener and once as a headliner when they actually showed up to Tbay back in June Of 92! (Reviewed here)

You Can’t Be King Of The World If You’re SLAVE TO THE GRIND….

Skid Rows debut of course was pretty good with the singles 18 & Life(dug the vid with those two schmucks in it and one of them going to the slammer! Hahahaha..your crime is time!) I  Remember You(meh)and some silly cheese like Big Guns and Rattlesnake Shake and man they got on a huge arena tour in 1989(opening for Bon Jingles Jovi) and of course it took off from there.

June of 1991 and Sebastain Bach,Dave Sabo,Rob Affuso,Rachel Bolan and Scotti Hill release to what I would even call today a classic! Yeah man for sure,why the fuck not? There is no early nineties Cheese Whiz slices on here what it does have is a heavy dark undertone,heavy songs not all fast heavy some heavy riffs,stellar production from Michael Wagner(bass sound on here is awesome) good all around vocals,it’s all here kids….sooooooo….

The Party’s Over So Get The….well you know the drill…

MONKEY BUSINESS-some neat guitar picking by Hill And Sabo start off the album and before you know it ,Baz hollers and drums and bass join and man the sonics are reaaaaal good! The bass here is mixed awesome! It’s evident when you compare track one from Rows debut in 1989 (Big Guns ) and track one  from STTG (Monkey Business) gone is the cheese whiz fruit ball lyrics in its place is a leaner meaner Skid Row and no messing around! The solos and drums are heavy….. Great start…..

SLAVE TO THE GRIND-so we go from heavier to real heavy and man this song cooks! Affuso on his drums double bass this track like a runaway train and man the lyrics are good,the solos are ripping fast and Baz is hammering down some real vocal chops! I still will chirp at work “Won’t be the one left behind”  Hahaha….people at work might  think I’m crazy or they just ignore me..hahaha…it’s all good!

THE THREAT-drums, guitar bass are dumped in the Skid  Row Music Blender and out pops The Threat! This song is great real slick verse,cool chorus and the bass is just jacked on this! I’m really surprised more of these bands back than didn’t try to high jack Bolans bass sound on this record! 24 Friggin  years later and it still sounds good! Well to my blown out deaf left year!(that ones for you Metal Todd!)

QUICKSAND JESUS- cool title and pretty good moody slow kinda heavy groove and this song has the big power chorus but no sirreeee! This ain’t no Poison mush this is Skid Crush(ha) Sabo and Hill are young guns totally fuggin ugly dudes but hey these two cats have the metal chops down and when they have too they can put the breaks on the speed riffing and chill out some huge bombastic rock! Baz nails the vocal and well he does that all over this record! Jesus would be proud!

PYSCHO LOVE- Affuso locks his drums with Bolans bass and boom this song is off the hook crazy good and it goes cuckoo when the two guitars join! The cymbals are smashing loud during the chorus and it’s about the only thing that is louder than Bazs voice(kinda). Also love a bit of feedback towards the end and that makes me believe that the Marshalls are cranked in the studio!

BEGGARS DAY-Ha…sometimes don’t always expect the expected here at Arena Rock! You want to know my deal with Get The Fudge Out!? Naaa not today as its Beggars Day! This tune reminds me of a later day Aerosmith rocker the chorus is pretty damn good I mean they kinda go with the big gang backing vocals but still though a real good track one worth checking out…see vid above!

LIVIN ON A CHAINGANG- Baz and the band smash some heavy action off the hop and boom Baz is hollering and you know what? We are all Livin On The Chain Gang…the lyrics in this say it all I think these lyrics sum up Monday-Friday working…’Busted on a rock pile /Dusted in the heat/Shackled to the system/And draggin my feet….

CREEPSHOW-big drums and big riffs start this groovy like metal shuffle of a tune. Hey the lyrics are kinda Gene Simmons big dumbo arena rockish stylings but you know what? I will cut the Row fellas some slack! The music i dig the lyrics not so much but hey ..I saw your baby at the Creepshow! Ok sometimes goofy funny stuff ends up being funny shit!

IN A DARKENED ROOM-kinda moodish piece of slower paced metal! Skids aren’t Soft Row here Ummm no way quite the contrary amigo! I don’t care who the hell you are you can’t go 120 mph all the time just don’t pull a Journey like power junk ballad on me! Sabo and comp don’t care they just do,what they do!  This tune has a great solo in it!

RIOT ACT- super duper riffing guitar,off the rocker drumming and a singer going bloody mental and this is Skid Row trying to derail the train off the tracks! This song rocks the lyrics are genius! The  guitar metal solo is genius! Baz sings good and doesn’t do any goofy falsetto and kicks it in the ass! Still remember them playing this in Tbay and I betcha they shaved off a full minute off of this track playing it live! Speed man …and not by playing it quick but the stuff that makes you play it quick!

MUDKICKER-ok I will say it this is one of Skid Rows best tunes! An end of album slow Sludgey Sabbathey kind of grind that just fuckin rules! The song starts off slow an heavy and Baz rips down the vocals the bass is friggin cool heavy along with Affusos drums and man oh man a bonafide classic! Holy hell ring the bell just dig this song! Love the lyrics in this tune and man does it not tell the truth about everyday living. Having said all that watch the video and you can sing along at work as the lyrics are posted! Mudkicker ..Kick …Kickin me down …Mudkicker Kick…Kickin me down….tell your boss man or lady DeKEs sent Ya! For a ass Kickin good live version click the link to the Tbay show above for Mudkicker!

WASTED TIME- yeah man the Skids end this heavy record with a heavy umm  ballad kinda thingy! It’s ok man I can handle this as they put it at the end and fair enough. The solos in this song are good this thing rocks in a different kind of way! I mean Poison well they can get lost…..

IN CONCLUSION- Skid Row 1991 in my mind basically took a bands like Poison,Trixter,Bullet Boys and gave them a swift hard kick in the ass into the cheapie bins in my books! It’s amazing that The Skids grew    by leaps and bounds from the debut in just over 2 years! Gone was the sterile production of the debut,gone was Big Guns(sorry Aaron…Ha!) and those tuity metal fruity kinda tunes. In its place was Slave To The Grind with heavy songs,playing,production,artwork everything hell there lyrics are classic I mean how can you not dig the use of the word “SAPSUCKER”in Mudkicker!

Exactly!