Harem Scarem/Live At The Phoenix(2015)

Harem  is a well oiled AOR hard rock act  that performs hard rock gems! Need proof? Look no further than Live At The Phoenix recorded July of 2015 in the bands hometown of Toronto Ontario Canada.

Harry Hess(vocals) Pete Lesperance (guitars and backing vocals) Darren Smith(drums and backing vocals) and Stan Miczek(bass and backing vocals) lay down some serious hard rock law that you the reader’s of Stick In Your Ear should check out!

As per protocol here I preorderd this album on iTunes and as usual they gave me no digital booklet so that’s the way she goes but it’s the music that does the talking and boy does it ever here over 20 songs performed top notch! Congrats to those who did the production as Darren’s drums are mixed perfectly while Pete’s guitar is never overshadowed by the pumped in keyboards on certain tracks. Stan the bass fella plays some real solid 4 string licks while Harry sings for his supper peeps! The guy is a very underated vocalist and along with Pete they write some very well crafted good old hard rock!

CD

Garden Of Eden
Hard To Love
Saviors Never Cry
Dagger
Distant Memory
The Midnight Hours
Mandy
Killing Me
Slowly Slipping Away
Troubled Times
CD

Sentimental Blvd.
Turn Around
Stranger Than Love
All I Need
Saints And Sinners
So Blind
Human Nature
Voice Of Reason
Change Comes Around
No Justice

So since its 20 songs I will pick and choose tracks and toss down some rando thoughts! Ready,Set……

For Shitz N Giggles heres my review earleir of 1993s Classic Harem album Mood Swings.https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/sonic-waves-harem-scaremmood-swings/

Pete,Darrren Harry and Stan deliver the goods sonically…..

So to begin the show Drew Masters (dude who ran M.E.A.T Magazine back in the day) intros Harem to the stage and in a minute and a half he name drops Toronto about 5 times hahaha… The dude is pumped to say the least and wheres Harem Scarem from again?

GARDEN OF EDEN-Being the lead off song and current track from Harems 13 album Garden Of Eden is a straight ahead hard melodic track! This possess all the great things about Hard Rock Harem! Excellent lead vocal! Cracking good drums,solid bass and Pete playing some real slick guitar! Oh and of course the backing vocals! It helps when your drummer (Smith) is a lead vocalist himself and is no slouch behind the mic himself. More on Smith later… I posted the live video from this show for all to see! Watch it….buy it! Simple!

HARD TO LOVE-Cool beans Hary straps on a guitar and doodles some  rhythm while Pete of course steers the guitar ship starboard side. Hard To Love is another cool rocker. Think once again like Foreigner doing steroids. Harem though on the musical side of things can flex some serious muscle when duty calls. Hard To Love has a snappy verse,an even snappier chorus and some real great guitar work.

SAVIOURS NEVER CRY-Now we are talking. Harry ditches the guitar and Pete flexs his guitar muscle with some serious cool power chords. His live guitar mix is sick! Crunchy,heavy and while we’re at toss in some wah and that’s in the first minute of this song. Darren and Stan rumble along on the drums and bass respectively to keep the song in check. Saviours is from Mood Swings and this song kicks friggin ass! The opening verse is sooo good with Darren leading the charge with the drums and the chorus is Gold! Big sweeping harmonies ,heavy guitar,thumping bass and man oh man Saviours Never Cry will boot you into next week! This tune is the deal!

DAGGER-As Saviours ends Pete throws down a huge power chord that segues right into Dagger! The drums on this song are rocking good while Harry sings it heavy here folks,not Slayer heavy but hard rock heavy and man the chorus is frigging the deal elements angst,danger, mean,pissed off and that’s Dagger. No fooling around here! Harem has come to kick your asses and as Harry sings about getting “a Dagger thru the heart!” He sings it like he means it! One other thing it’s one of Harem songs that has no backing vocals. It’s all Harry and Harry alone! Dagger is  a classic track. Different heavy sound!

MANDY-Is a musical only tune where Stan and Darren provide the back beat and Pete shows of his guitar chops in a bluesy respectful way. Pete does not overplay the songs and turn them into a wank fest! That too me is the sign of a great guitar player. Nice interlude ..

SLOWLY SLIPPING AWAY-Geez I remember this tune from 1991 and I just looked the other way! Too me it was just to Foreigner lite. Fast forward 25 years and its a great song! I think the fact that this live version gives it a bit of an edge certainly helps and the fact that the piped in keys are under the guitar helps heaps!

TROUBLED TIMES-Holy Moly this song is awesome! Troubled Times especially the course is very Journey like with the vocals,lead and backing. Let me clarify that! Journey like if they booted out Jonathan Cain and his piano and left him at a truck stop in Des Moines Iowa! Troubled Times is such a great put together song! Love the guitar during the chorus. The vocals as I said earlier are the money shot!

SENTIMENTAL BOULEVARD- Drum Dude Darren handles the Lead vocals here and this fella is a multi talented cat! Not can he only slam the drums but he’s got a great throwback 70’s rock voice to boot and  how many bands out there can you think of that have two guys that are Great Singers? The verse’s during this song are the money shot and come to think of it I seen Darren playing guitar in Helix here in Tbay…see Multi Talented Muso….

HUMAN NATURE-Def Leppard would drool to have written this song. Actually come to think of it add Stranger Than Love to the Lepp want list as well. Human Nature has such a great chorus with a tinge of power chord guitar tossed in. It’s what one would say is a Melodic Hard Rock Track! I would just say it’s Fuckin Brilliant……

CHANGE COMES ROUND & NO JUSTICE round out the album and are both from the Mood Swings album. Both are ramped up Hard Rock Tracks that will get ya pumping with top-notch performances from those all involved. Watch the vid for No Justice…

Check this one out Folk’s….

 

Spin Doctors/Songs From The Road(2015)

If you recall a few weeks back a bunch of us Bloggers did a Where Are They Now? A  feature on artists that may have disappeared from the public eye but in all reality hadn’t really. In the planning stages through email I think it was either Geoff or Bop that mentioned that perhaps  they would do the Spin Doctors! (It didn’t come to pass)….

Spin Doctors?? Great call and that got me thinking as I know I had two of their albums stuffed in a box somewhere in my basement but they haven’t seen the day of light in years. Why is it that?

As quick as that thought came to mind it quickly disappeared! Ha!

So one Saturday night I was lazing around cruising ITunes and “Ping!” A light went off in my noggin type in under search Spin Doctors. Click and boom …..

Wowzers ! These dudes are still making studio records(Good On Them) and in that mix of studio albums was a live album titled Songs From The Road.

I clicked it and sampled the tracks What Time Is it? And Two Princes.(still love that great snare drum intro on the studio album Pocket Full Of Kryptonite)

Wowzers Part Deux! Those two tracks on the minute or so preview that I had on iTunes we’re soooooooo good! I had to punch the purchase button as when it comes to iTunes even though they let you buy individual tracks I cannot do that! I need the full album meal deal….

Done deal. Straight to the iPod and Straight outside to take my 10 month old Puppy named Fender out for a stroll and sample and hope what I bought was a good call other than the two sample tracks I heard!

Cast Of Characters…Chris Barron(vocals) Eric Schenkman(guitar) Aaron Comess(drums) and Mark Whyte(bass)

Songs From The Road with the start of alarm clocks going off and Eric and his six string launch into What Time Is it? These Doctors have their own prescription pad and they play a real funk rock vibe and when they struck Gold back in 1992 with the Kryptonite Album after it had been on the shelves for a full year earlier theres was a sound that was different and i picked up on that quickly! A funky Hook is a Funky Hook! Make no doubt about it folks, these cat’s can play! Dig the swagger of the guitar,the pop of some funk like bass and Comess plays a real decent groove of rock! Plus you have to dig Barron’s Quirky type lead vocal.

Also it’s good to see these Doctors are not lazing around as they were plugging a new release entitled If The River Runs Whiskey.  A total all out blues album by the sounds of it.  Cool album title as well.

Good on them on still releasing new product long after the heyday of selling records is over.

Chris Barron urges the crowd ‘hey we got a new album” out and they feature a smattering of tracks from said release in front of  the German faithful that have gathered for this recording. Songs like Traction Blues,About A Train and of course the title track are just that Blues tunes played with a bit of a punch. Pretty good actually.

Of course the ear candy for me is stuff like Off My Line(which features the lead vocal courtesy of Eric Schnekman) and some cool trippy backing vocals courtesy of Barron. Jimmy Olson’s Blues  is another real good Doctor track with some nice zip on the bass from Whyte.

One of  the two  biggie tracks are Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong which features the great opening line of ‘Been a whole lot better since the Bitch left town. Been a whole lot better without her face around!”

Wowzers…Zap! Kapow! Great track especially when the fellas rock it with some big riffs before they rip back into the final verse about ‘hearing this song and i hope it pissed ya off!’

The second one is of course Two Princes with like i said earlier that real slick opening smack of the snare drum! The guitar playing by Eric is real good as is by the whole band to be perfectly blunt with  you’s. Chris replaces the Father line with a couple of Fokkers thrown in! Hey shaking it up with some cussing!  Two Princes man for being two decades old is a great rock track!

14 tracks make up this Live Album and its good to see these Guys out doing what they’re doing!

 

 

Jim Dead And The Doubters/Pray For Rain(2015)

Since I started this WordPress Blog about 2 years ago it’s been a  real trip to meet all kinds of fellow music lovers from all over the world. All the way from my pals here in Tbay throughout Canada,Europe, Australia everywhere you could think of. One such pal who also happens to dabble in music as well (and writing some real cool music reviews at his site Resurrection Songs) is J from Glasgow who also fronts the band Jim Dead And The Doubters.

How neat is it that J a guy who comments on all of our blogs has a rock album available on iTunes! Haha…Your my hero Mr J!

Seriously though, a lot of us are pumped to get behind J and his fellow Doubters!

J is the ringleader playing the guitar and singing. Stuart Begley also on guitar. Frankie Coia on Bass and Tommy Clark on drums! Together they are Jim Dead And The Doubters.

Pray For Rain was released Dec 15 2015 as I had mentioned earlier on iTunes and physical copy(cd)  as well!  The version that I posted is the title track!

J and Stu team up for some late night guitar swagger while J delivers the lead vocal. Tommy with some nice drum rolls and Frank keeping the  four letter called Bass steady anchor the song. Think along the likes of a Old School Big Sugar Mashup with The Tragically Hip.

Pray For Rain is one of those late night slower groove tracks basically lock the door on the way out. Hey! Clean up after yourself will Ya!

I posted the video for Pray For Rain ! Take a few and check it out!

Support Indie Rock ….Support Jim Dead And The Doubters!

 

Def Leppard/Def Leppard (2015)

Def Leppard 2015 is a different beast than Def Leppard from 1980,1981,1983 and 1987! Those are the years that On Through The Night,High N Dry ,Pyromania and Hysteria were released and for some that’s where it ends.

For myself  when Steve Clark passed away in 1991 the riffs went with him and I only realized after Adrenalize just how much of a impact Clark had in the songs of Leppard!

So there’s a part of me that would understand why people would think that Lep has nose dived  in regards to there studio output.

I agree  X was a pretty mellow record, Euphoria was just a wanna  be 80s record in the late 90s while Slang from 1996 is a  classic! Lep reinvents there sound on Slang and I will review that album someday as for me it’s one of thsese under the radar classics! Kinda surprising to say that about a band that sold millions upon millions in the 80s but that just goes to show you how much the musical tide had changed by 1996.

2015 and I’m still a fan of Leppard. I have no desire whatsoever to see them live as I know they won’t top the In The Round Tour of 1992 but as far as recorded material goes I have bought everything they have put out so time after time I go back to Lep whenever new product hits the street and Kabooooooooom!  October 30th 2015….Here we go…….

Now Lep as many artists/bands do they released a single called Lets Go which was to hype the self titled Def Lep Hype Machine  and I think the Mighty HMO was the first one to talk about it and I think he was iffy with it! Once he said that I didn’t want to hear it just through the iPad i thought I’d wait it out til release day!

Joe Elliot,Rick Savage,Rick Allen,Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell show up in 2015 and will they make the grade?

LETS GO-the intro to Let’s Go is a 80s Hysteria Flashback. Is that the computer voice from Love Bites as well synched  in there? Am I tripping? Yup , Joe and crew want me to think that and at this point in my life I’m a-ok with it! Ha what’s wrong with Flashbacks? If it wasn’t for them we’d have no memory at all! The production of this song is produced well by Lep and the prechorus is pure Gold I wish they woulda went with it a little further! The chorus itself is real good and call me a sucker for Ear Candy and well Let’s Go is just that! Like the middle part where they break out some acoustic action before the sonics of the guitars take over. Special thanks to Phil Collen for not over shredding on the guitar solo! Is HMO cringing? Haha…

DANGEROUS-sure Dangerous could have fit on Adrenalize side 2(would have been a improvement). This is the school of rock that Leppard built! Quicky single like tempo! Big crisp clear backing vocals! Fast neat Collen Pickin! Elliot keeps the party going! Dangerous is a great track. I love me some good Ol hard rock bubble gum!

MAN ENOUGH-Rick Savage(bass) and Rick Allen(drums) lock horns with a snappy bass line mixed with drums and I hear Queens Dragon Attack at the start of this tune and if your gonna swipe,swipe from some of the best! Seriously this has the mix of Dragon Attack and Another One Bites The Dust! Dig the sharp jabs of a piano sting in the middle of the track! It comes out of no where! Such a cool song ! It’s different Leppard but the same Leppard if that makes sense!

WE BELONG-this is your typical mid tempo-ishy Lepp song! Each guy in this tune takes a lead vocal line! Yup the two Ricks,Vivan,Phil and of course Joe all singing there say! Has any band done that before? I’m sure Ladano would know! We Belong is a good track and 4 tracks in its ok to take a little breather! Just a little! Nice guitar work…..

INVINCIBLE-Sav and Allen start off this song while Elliot lays down a real chill lead vocal along with a real good pre chorus! It ramps up the and the guitars are crisp,drums are locked in and it’s one of those songs like all Lepp songs actually that has backing vocals but there not the usual big time Lepp style backing vocals that we all know. Lepp is changing it on the fly!

SEA OF LOVE-This album gets real interesting starting with this track! Love the hard rock strumming of the guitars mixed with some cool drums n such from Allen and this is a new hard Rock n Rolla from the boys in 2015! This is a well put together track,different rocking but just flat out rocks! Love the lyrics “drifting on the Sea Of Love…..open your mind be careful what you find!”

ENERGIZED- almost drum machine like as its that kinda mellowish tune but the chorus with the “Energized …Whoah oh Whoah !” Will leave Ya humming it long after its done! Big time added bell and whistles  added in regards to the percusion to this song and Lepp even fool the ol buzzard in me thinking I’m gonna skip this track ..Nope I didn’t and Nope I won’t! Wowzers did I just say that?

ALL TIME HIGH-I could see this tune being played  live and why not!  Love the start stop with the music and Elliot laying down the vocal in between sharp blasts of guitars and drums. It’s Lepp on overdrive as Savage lays down a straight ahead bass Line to keep the song rocking! The prechorus is rock solid quick with a good dose of don’t bore us get to the chorus!  This is something that could have fit on sneakey at the end of High N Dry! Yeah it really could have….Crank the vid posted! Damn fine song….

BATTLE OF MY OWN-Zeppelin meet Leppard in this mash up of super cool acoustic jams seriously this is a Zep sounding tune especially when the drums kick in at the half way mark of the tune! You can hear the Zep like influence in the backing track of the song! This is a great song kids! Def Zep it is and  while that may be its still Def Lepp! Listen to the vid ….

BROKE N BROKEN-HEARTED-another fantastic driven rocker with a great  bass line while Allen on the drums plays straight ahead rock! The guitars are almost Rolling Stones like during the verse’s yet cranked to 10 on the Marshalls! Even Elliot throws down some great lines in this song ‘don’t be crass or I’ll kick your Ass!” Haha! Fair enough Joe even he tosses in a “gonna huff and puff and blow your playhouse down!” Kinda silly but it fits and why not have fun….if Bandana Michaels were to say that in song in the year 2015. I would scoff! Elliot though I’m ok with! Ha! Yup I’m playing favourites!….another song posted so you all don’t think I’m talking out of my arse!

FOREVER YOUNG- holy crap another great track! 3 minutes of pure brilliance! Yep! It’s all hear driving drums and guitars during the verses and a ass kicker of a catchy chorus! Seriously I already got 4 vids posted from this album! I could post the whole damn album it’s that good! Ear Candy is great Ear Candy and this is one of them!

LAST DANCE-is a folky acoustic vibe! Not a rocker by any stretch of the imagination but a good song never  the less. Lepp dabble with a lot of acoustic on this album almost weaving in and out of various tracks! It helps when you got the songs to back it up…..this song is acoustic driven with a nice electric solo thrown in at the end…..

WINGS OF AN ANGEL- end of the album Gem! Wings Of A Angel is one of the best written Leppard songs I have heard in years! The song builds in the verse and when it hits the pre chorus its shifts back and upon first listen I was like …crap here we go but Lepp nail to a T a fantastic written chorus with great backing vocals and it must be Campbell who plays the solo as he co wrote this tune and what can you say! Leppard have schooled me bigtime in the do not count us out department! Notice taken! Crank ….no, Jack up the volume on the video!

BLIND FAITH-and so the album comes to a end with some acoustics and a chillness vibe all around the Lep Campfire. This song reminds me of a shot of the Beatles mixed with Wings and just as I hear that scenario! Kaboom comes the drums and some heavy devy guitars courtesy of Campbell and Collen and as quickly as they come they go back to the campfire  for a end of song chill out!

IN CONCLUSION-In my humble Rock opinion this self titled Def Leppard 2015 Lep release is there best since Slang and perhaps even since Hysteria! Yeah it’s that good! Amazing that Joe and the boys had enough gas in the creative tank to crank out 14 tracks that are all pretty damn good in each there own way!

Leppard borrows from there past,borrow from some greats yet keeping a eye on the present and rolling it all into one big ball of Rock!

The thing that’s most surprisng is that  the album for me gets real good from about track 6 on starting with Sea Of Love! The first 5 tracks are all good but man Leppard shift gears into a real mode of  great writing, fantastic arrangements,production and performance and tempo changes on the last 8 tracks!

2015 and I never thought I would be saying that about a Leppard album!

Leppard 2015 is easily making my year end list at Ladanos site……

 

Van Halen/Live At The Tokyo Dome (Part Two)

 

So Monday’s post I talked about the first half of Halens Live From The Tokyo Dome!

Today i will focus on the other 13 tracks that Dave,Ed,Alex And Wolfman Jacked slammed out ….

BOTTOMS UUUUUUUP!

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY-gottta love Alex playing that cowbell and before you know it Dave and company are Dancing The Night Away! Man Eddies guitar is just jacked and can you not dig it! He plays with such ease I mean how do you not fuckin airband to this guy! Anyhoo the band takes a breather so Dave can chirp the crowd about wearing his Dance Shoes and that Mr ..well his Japanese friend is present and  it’s Dave being Dave! But guess what this is the portion of the show where Dave totally shows up and sings da songs! Seriously he does!

I’LL WAIT- man one of those Gems from the 1984 album and VH meld drums,guitars and a mountain of keys into a grand slam Gemmer! Frigg man somewhere Micheal McDonald is smiling knowing he is the only dude ever to get a uncredited co write on a VH album! Alex Slams some real good beats and doesn’t comform to the keep it simple analogy! Dave steps up and the Ed And Wolf sing some good backing vocals…yeah seriously they do! See the pattern emerging here?

AND THE CRADLE WILL ROCK- man the opening song on my all time fav album (Women And Childern First) sets the course! Love that opening riff with Ed on his guitar it’s so frigging bad ass! The band Rock it forward and Dave leads the parade and too be honest at first the backing vocals sounded different almost off like but over time Ol Cynical Guy(Moi) digs it! Of course Roth pleases us by telling us “have you seen Jrs grades!?” Ed rips Into the solo and Dave cusses out the F Bomb and Ed,Wolf and Alex blast off a few bars of Smoke On The Water! Wowzers man….this cooks not in a Walter White way either!

HOT FOR TEACHER-Alex slams that real cool double bass at the start and the Ol buggers clocking over 100 mphs  behind that kit! I mean how cool is that as a single,back in tha day when  the drummer guy smashes the complete shit out of his drums to lead off a single! Ed steps up and does his hammer ons and we’re off! Wolfies bass is just a runaway rig on a highway and man the kid can play especially when he locks it in tight with dad! Dave of course on this version keeps up whereas I have heard versions where he’s been gassed by the first chorus! This tune just  flat out rocks and we’re all for the  better !

WOMEN IN LOVE- Wowzers this is a great version! Dave keeps his shit together and compliments(????) Ed and Wolf on there backing vocals and I gotta agree! They sound reaaaaal good! Of course Ed takes it to the next level with his guitaring in the solo and the sonics and chops of Wolf and Uncle Al are locked n loaded!

ROMEO DELIGHT-whoah Nelly! This is one of my faves from these guys! Ed sets the bar to super speed and brother Alex obliges while Wolfie plays some Wah pedal at certain junctions and this song Kicks Ass! Ed hammers home the solo! Dave actually doesn’t forget the fuckin words for the most part and man this is Heavy Halen! I can’t believe they steamroll this song at a quick pace but after the solo Dave goes into speaking Japanese once again while you hear some chuckling in the background and before to long HALEN crashes and burns this song down! Love the ending Dave even tosses in a WOW and its In tune! Ha…..seriously this is Halen when the Blow and Jack are pumping at full throttle! (Back in 1980 that is……)

MEAN STREET- Ed does that crazy good opening solo and than Theres the riff and brother Alex and the Wolfman join in the circus and Dave you know what he sings this tune real good! He dials in the chorus and keeps the song moving with jibber jabber banter slash vocal delivery like only he can do! Dig the middle part right before the solo! I kinda wished Dave would done the OL “There’s Babeeee” line right before Eds solo along with the “turned to from hunterd into Hunter” spiel but Dave probably doesn’t remember much from 1981 so be it…but he’s doing fine……

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS- well truth be told Dave kinda comes unglued vocally a little during the verses and during the chorus Ed And Wolf do the heavy lifting vocally. This track is a classic and that’s the great thing about this live album! It’s basically a compilation of mine and many others high school years(1981-1986)! Take a bow Tbone! Except for the Different Kind Of Truth stuff of course! The song just takes off at the end it’s just plain out awsome….’ Aaaah Yeah ….Beautifuuuuuuul Giiiirls!”

ICE CREAM MAN-Dave plays acoustic man and the dude is a decent picker….and the boys ramp this song up as in Ed just blasts the solo into another stratosphere as he does all the time!

PANAMA-see the pre hype Tokyo Dome album release I wrote here in regards to Panama….https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/cool-lil-numbers-van-halenpanama-live-2015/

ERUPTION-9 plus minutes of one of the greats on guitar! Need I say more……

AINT TALKIN BOUT LOVE-the Tour de Force from the debut album and Dave wrote like he’s the King and it’s his strutting number “like I told you before….Ah Before!” Ok boss! Also thanks to Ed this is one of those all great opening riffs it hooks in straight away and not before too long there’s Brother  Alex locked n sync with Ed and they drive this baby home! Love the singalong ending at the end….” Hey Hey Hey,” All time great!

JUMP-so the Tokyo Dome is about to blow its top when the biggest single of the HALEN  catalogue is played. Of course Go ahead and Juuuuuuump! Funny thing is of all the live versions I have heard Halen playing Jump live the keys sound weak! The studio single there at the forefront and as much as I hate bands drowning in the layers of keyboards this is the one song where I think the keys should be cranked live, give it some Oooomph! Sonic gripe aside Dave man he’s cooked vocally on this tune. That’s ok man you delivered Romeo Delight and Meanstreet at about the 3/4 mark of the show and kept your shit vocally together! So for that! I saluuuuuute You! Of course when your live at the show towards the end of Jump Halen is pumping out confetti all over the place so it’s like no ones paying attention to what Dave is jibbering on about anyways!

IN CONCLUSION- of course if you have been a Halen fan for as long as myself and Tbone have  (34 years and counting!) we all want the Oakland Fair Warning Tour 81 show in our hands and pummelled into our ears! For sure, but it’s not happening well maybe some day it will and i can eat Crow!

I love this live album and why not…the production is live, no tweaks as in this day and age of everyone filming shows with there phones Halen would have been called out for fixing up the tracks but I never read anything about that sooooo Live it is!

Right Here Right Now the Sam I Am fronted live Halen from 1993 was aweful! Not the songs or the performances mind you but the production was so sterile I cannot listen to it and the live video to accommodate it was edited with so many shots from 3 different shows it was aweful! Man they hosed me on that debacle ….haha….yet I still subscribe !

Dave for all the hammering he gets on YouTube and from people is pretty good here! I have no qualms even though he shows off his Japanese speaking and I have no idea WTF he’s saying  but its humour to me and good for him as he doesn’t take his shit too seriously at the age of 60! ha! Vocal wise he unravels but kinda keeps it in check somewhat!

Ed plays like he always does and that’s with ferocity and he knows when to lay back and knows when to rip it up! He’s simply the greatest guitar player in my time..NUFF said!

Alex man is always laying down the law with the drums! He drives Ed and Wolf while Dave is driving off somewhere out in space haha..thats Allright though it works….

Wolfie man is the MVP on this album for many a reason! One being the fella can play! Check out Everybody Wants Some and Romeo Delight for points of reference or the dual bass/guitar in Chinatown! That shit is real! Second he can hold his own vocally in the background dept! Plus he has his ear on the ground in regards to the song selection of those first 6 Halen albums! For that Wolfie …thanks a million dude!

So if you want a real Live album check the Tokyo Dome show out……

IRON MAIDEN/Speed Of Light

I’m comimg  out of my vacation blog sabbatical to talk about this new ass kicker Maiden Track Speed Of Light( written by Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith) from the forthcoming  Maiden album Book Of Souls! Just announced a World Tour starting in 2016!

Speed Of Light has been on high rotation on my iPod since the pre order on iTunes dropped Speed Of Light on August 14th 2015! I babbled some comments I believe at the great HMOs site along the lines of ” Yep no ITunes on this one,I’m buying the physical product(cd) ,Blah Blah,Blah!” Umm. Well I caved! Ha! ITunes has done the right thing and that’s include the booklet when the full album drops on Sept 4 2015.

It was off of Robbo’s(Arena Rock Faithful reader) iPhone that I first heard Speed Of Light! The Internet in our  city pooched on Aug 13th and our house didn’t get it back Til supper time Aug 14th. Robbo had downloaded it already so I basically swiped his iPhone from his hands at work held the phone to my blown out earlobes and the first thing I said to Robbo was “Holy Shit!! There’s Cowbell!”

Speed Of Light is a great track in my opinion. A few comments that I have heard  say it sounds like Guns N Roses. Too be honest I don’t hear Gunners in the song I hear Maiden! Since summer of 1981 when I first purchased Killers I have always bought all of Maidens product the day of release! (First day buyer Folks!) so Ya call me Fanboy! Ha! Book Of Souls will be no exception!

Speed of Light starts off with Maiden Boogying out of the gate with the three Guitars of Dave Murray,Adrian Smith and Janick Gers along with Nicko McBrains cowbell, Steve Harris bass and here’s the Air Raid Siren the one and only Bruce Dickinson doing his patent howl and we’re off !

Kevin Shirley the producer of this song and album has given the album a big live bassy feeling. Shirley  on this song anyways toned down Harry’s galloping bass and cranked up everyone else around to make it sound like one big live jam!

The song has a strong verse and the pre chorus into the chorus is the meat and potatoes of this song Bruce at age 55 plus can still belt it and come solo time here’s the 3 Amigos on guitars doing there thingy by each having a slice of the solo!

As the song heads to the finish line with another tip to the the chorus  Maiden with about 25 seconds left goes into there big power ending. Drums a smashing,guitars a crashing….I love Maidens end of songs blowout endings the best ever being Powerslave (studio track) …Wowzers that’s how you wrap up things folks!

Great song Sez I! Do you agree with me?  Feel free to discuss!