So today at work on my coffee break as I was scrolling my timeline on FaceCrack out of nowhere comes direct from Iron Maiden HQ’s the news that Maiden is releasing a live album to coincide with the recently finished Book Of Souls tour. Here comes the live album!
Whut???
That was my first reaction. My second reaction was to show my pal at work Deaner the Maiden posting as well! This came out of nowhere and what a pleasant surprise as the studio album and tour were stellar!
November 17th 2017 is when this bad boy drops and I CAN’T WAIT!
The packaging looks spectacular! Check out the pics below!
Must also mention that Maiden is going to stream the Concert Video of this album for free at a date to be determined.
The full show recorded at various points round the globe!
The track listing is as follows!
01. If Eternity Should Fail – Sydney, Australia
02. Speed Of Light – Cape Town, South Africa
03. Wrathchild – Dublin, Ireland
04. Children Of The Damned – Montreal, Canada
05. Death Or Glory – Wroclaw, Poland
06. The Red And The Black – Tokyo, Japan
07. The Trooper – San Salvador, El Salvador
08. Powerslave – Trieste, Italy
09. The Great Unknown – Newcastle, UK
10. The Book Of Souls – Donington, UK
11. Fear Of The Dark – Fortaleza, Brazil
12. Iron Maiden – Buenos Aires, Argentina
13. Number Of The Beast – Wacken, Germany
14. Blood Brothers – Donington, UK
15. Wasted Years – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Posted the live version of Speed Of Light at the top of the page that Maiden dropped today as the lead single from Live Chapter!
A week or so ago I was stoked to hear a couple of tracks from this forthcoming live album from Alter Bridge (pre ordered this on iTunes) that I hyped its release by a day(September 7th) with a quick little post but with this album being on heavy rotation in my world for a week since its release back on September 8th. It’s time for the review of Live At The O2 Arena.
Myles Kennedy/Mark Tremonti/Brian Marshall/Scott Phillips have put out the ‘Contender’ for 2017 Album of the year in my book!
Hey, why not! AB’s 2016 effort The Last Hero came in at Number 3 for fav albums of the year and as with every AB release it gets better!
This album is a pure brilliant release on how a band in this day and age in the year of 2017 should record and release a live album!
Writing On The Wall starts the show off with its twirling like power riffs and Kennedy as he does on all AB tracks delivers the goods vocally!
Love the production on this album. Not any real polish, no tweaking and sounds live!
The other 18 live tracks are spread throughout AB’s 5 album career especially songs from The Last Hero being featured with Blistering versions of Crows On A Wire/Show Me A Leader/My Champion amongst others.
AB’s strength is in the writing of Tremonti/Kennedy who can write super heavy rock riffs during the course of a song yet still find that melodic bit during a chorus which Is what I would think you could say would be “Hook”. Tunes like Ties That Bind/Open Your Eyes/Isolation fit this format to a T!
Basically a ‘Hook’ followed by a swift boot in the ass musically speaking that is!
The live guitars of Mark and Myles are mixed brilliantly on this release! Myles guitar is on the left side/Mark’s is on the right and these guys are wicked players. Sure and justifiably so everyone goes on about Tremonti and how good he is! Ah yeah, just check out the track Metalingus as Mark plays like a man possessed!
But…
Myles holds his own on the 6 string something that no one ever writes about which is just goofy! Yeah we all know the cat can sing but Myles rips about a good 40% of AB solo’s on this release and I will say that opening solo on Show Me A Leader is absolutely sick! So good!
That’s the beauty of this band. A solid one two punch in the six string department. On one side you have Tremonti laying down Metallica like riffs whereas on the other side you got Kennedy playing old school power chord riffs! Best of both worlds!
Marshall and Phillips are exceptional on their instruments as well (Bass and Drums respectively) Phillips lays down a ton of cool drumming at times! Want double Bass? Want a ton of cymbal smashing? Yeah it’s all here…
19 live tracks and don’t think its just one big metal assault! No way Jose. Myles does an acoustic only song Watch Over You while Mark takes over the lead vocal on the prog rock like Waters Rising.
How about an additional 11 studio tracks that make up the Rarities portion of the album. 2 of the tracks (Cruel Son and Solace) are two unreleased songs from AB’s debut One Day Remains back in 2004! I’m not one to hunt down bonus studio tracks etc so to get them all included in this package is a total score for me!
This is a total must own if your into heavy rock with a singer who can deliver it live…..
Tomorrow (Friday Sept 8th ) drops the new Alter Bridge triple CD album! (19 Live Songs and 11 Studio tracks)
Too say I’m not stoked would be the understatement of the decade. Alter Bridge has always put out quality product with all 5 of their studio albums, Each one has gotten better than the previous one and if you recall AB’s last studio effort 2016’s The Last Hero was my third fav studio album of the year. Show Me A Leader off that album just flat-out smokes and mention must be made about the guitar duo of Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy who play at times cool classic rock riffs while colliding with heavier riffs of Metal. The fact that Myles has one of the best rock voices out there also totally helps as well at getting AB’s point across!
Give em some props! Drummer Scott Phillips and Bassist Brian Marshall keep everyone in check while harnessing all that guitar action that’s going on around them.
This album was recorded over in England at the O2 Arena and by all accounts was the biggest show of their career.
Dig the fact that the Rarities studio portion has tracks that have appeared on soundtracks or deluxe editions but as well there are 2 unreleased songs from 2004! In other words I have none of these tracks on the Rarities set! That’s gonna change!
Here’s a conversation I had with Alice Cooper the other day..
Deke- ‘Hello Alice!”
Alice- ‘Deke! Is that actually you returning all these years later to finally buy a new release of mine?”
Deke-“Sure Is!”
Alice-“Hey Stoopid!”
Deke- “WHUT?”
As you can see I never actually had a conversation or met the man.
Believe it or not Alice’s 1991 release Hey Stoopid was the last actual Coop album I had bought as upon its release I had my brother both pick us copies of this album….
Hey Stoopid had some good stuff especially the title track and Feed My Frankenstein but as is the case sometimes I just stopped buying his stuff.
Until….
July 28th 2017! Crazy how time flies huh? Yep read some good things about this album and once I had seen a deluxe edition available I took the plunge on the preorder from iTunes.
This album peaked my curiosity on numerous levels. One being Alice has the great Bob Ezrin on board producing.
Coop has brought back some of his old hombres from the Alice Cooper Band from the 70’s(Dennis Dunaway/Neil Smith/Micheal Bruce/Steve Hunter) on two tracks Genuine American Girl and You And All of Your Friends.
Alice had Deep Purple’s Roger Glover and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons drop by for a couple of guest appearances as well!
As well Coop with his current band has added 6 old school Alice Classics recorded live in Columbus (May 2016) for inclusion as well to make this indeed a total deluxe !
The biggest one(for me ) has to be that Alice has shaken things up as well as he has enlisted of all dudes Larry Mullen Jr from U2 to slam down some drums on 9 of the 12 studio tracks. Awesome to hear Mullen Jr get out from the safe confines of U2 and smash around on the kit!
Paranormal leads the album off with a real cool catchy riff and this track features the co write and Bass playing of Roger Glover! First songs usually set the tone of an album and this one features just that. Love Cooper’s voice as he may not be the best rock singer but with this kind of music it fits his creepy like persona. Slick move at the end of the song to go back to the “well” with that opening catchy riff!
The next few tracks Deadflies and Fireball keep the Coop clipping at a decent clip. Ha! Still can’t believe Mullen Jr has these kind of drum chops in him. Unleash the beast behind the kit. Break free from those shackles that Bono has had around your ankles for decades! Atta boy Larry drum man drum!
Paranoiac Personality features a real cool like drums and bass stomp with Alice sneering and snarling like only he can do. Real cool rhythm throughout and man did someone sample that crazy ‘Psycho” sound bite?
Billy Gibbons like do I really have to tell you what band he is from? Anyhoo he and Alice collaborate on the song Fallen In Love which is a total ZZ and Alice mashup featuring Gibbons laying down that dirty guitar tone like only the Reverend can do! Great solo and can you dig it…Mullen Jr and Gibbons on the same song together?
Dynamite Road has to be an autobiographical lyrical tune that has that Charles Daniels “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” vibe to it except its played through a Marshall Amp cranked up to 10!
Another real cool groove on Private Public Breakdown which features more cool percussion with once again Alice leading the charge with the guitars sounding heavy at a slower clip than Dynamite Road but still a good swift kick in the ass …
Ahh Horns! Coop incorporates some real cool Brass in Holy Water. Basically Holy Water is like if one of Coops Boa’s put the choke on a Huey Lewis tune and squeezed the devil out of Huey! Nice shuffle like vibe!
Rats a typical like Alice tune. Straight ahead Alice rocker. Kind quirky but you gotta expect this stuff from the man known as Coop! Slick hard rock solo.
The Sound of A. Kinda a creepy send off from Alice. Bizarre like creepy vibe but this is Coopville!
So Alice gets the original mid 70’s Cooper band back together. Genuine American Girl has that 70’s like Cooper throwback sound. Nice to see Coop reunite with these guys!
The second track featuring the original Coop band is You And All Your Friends has Alice singing he’s going to burn down your city! More throwback like vibes on this tune. Real cool wicked slide guitar solo from Steve Hunter.
This album totally surprised me at how good it is! Alice steps up and give all involved full props! This album has gotten a ton of press and is selling and charting high around the world as well!
Cool how Alice has a current rock sound on the first 10 tracks whereas when the original Coop band play on the last two tracks it sounds like a 70’s throwback!
30 years ago already? Whut? EUROPE unleashed the mega selling The Final Countdown back in 1986 and it’s kinda funny as if we were to talk about my listening curve with Europe back in 1986.
The Final Countdown had some great rock tracks like Cherokee/Danger On The Track and Rock The Night.
Course the song The Final Countdown song and video was played to death (will say that Europe Guitarist John Norum plays a great solo on the track) as was the ballad Carrie(no comment) but things kinda went south for me when Lead Singer Joey Tempest sang into a Heinz Ketchup bottle on the Rock The Night video( I posted a story about Joesph and The Ketchup Bottle)…
So Europe basically that year 1986-87 flatlined for me. Even when Europe released in 1988 Out of This World it didn’t do it for me(my brother Todd bought Out of This World on cassette tape) even after hearing it. Superstitious was a great track still though….
Than EUROPE closed up shop and then in the year 2000 EUROPE reforms with the same 5 guys and they still continue on to this day which is remarkable as they look and sound in decent shape. Case in point check the vid below with a recent tune from 2015’s excellent War of Kings album called Nothing To You. Killer track with Norum soloing like a lunatic on guitar! Norum is an underrated guitarist the guy is a genius on the 6 string….
The first part of this show is the full War of Kings album played in its entirety. A great slick move as Joey and the boys are like keeping it fresh and current and just not relying on some huge nostalgia only rock act….
So here comes in 2017 the actual release of the Final Countdown show recorded last year and it features a ton of tunes. On the first disc as i mentioned EUROPE plays a bunch of new stuff from the War of Kings release. These new tunes stand up well.
Remember earlier on I was talking about my listening curve with EUROPE?!
Let’s put it this way Joey and the boys have blended on there last few releases the sonics of Deep Purple and UFO into their music and have become a great straight ahead hard rock act that know the role of the keyboards just as UFO did in their heyday.
Funny how time changes one’s mind in this case whereas I have no problem listening to EUROPE now especially with the recorded output they have recently put out in the last few years.
I cannot say the same about Bon Jovi currently and even UFO for that matter. Now don’t get me wrong folk’s what I mean is when I do listen to UFO or Jovi it’s a certain era. UFO its everything from the brilliant Strangers In The Night to Making Contact. For Bon Jovi it would be Slippery thru to Keep The Faith. Basically anything these bands have put out since than I really couldn’t care less about…
EUROPE on the other hand its a role reversal with Jovi and UFO…
Europe has ramped up there sound/mixed things up sonically(hiring Rival Sons producer Dave Cobb was a brilliant move) and have made it interesting to say the least! Speaking of which EUROPE has a new album coming out this October titled Walk On The Earth. Friggin rights I’m getting it….
I can listen to Europe in 2017 whereas in 1987 I had issues with them! Haha..
Yeah I have dabbled with Styx and their music in the past. First album I ever bought of there’s was Cornerstone(1979) after hearing how good 1978’s Piece’s of Eight was.
Paradise Theatre when it came out in 1981 I skipped as I was absorbed that year musically with Van Halen discovering Iron Maiden/Def Leppard.
I found Styx to be on the safe side of rock. I wanted Loud Guitar Rock and Styx kinda wasn’t doing it for me. Nothing personal Styx just not my deal…
1983 rolls around and Mr Roboto from the Kilroy Was Here concept album was released and left a lot of people scratching their noggin’s. I just laughed at Mr Roboto?? Whut? I was more interested in Judas Priest singing tunes about Hot Rockin than some Roboto dude!
Once again I passed on Styx….
Forward 16 years later to 1999 and CanCon Legend Lawrence Gowan joins Styx and now I’m intrigued to say the least. Gowan we all know replaced original Keys/Singer Dennis DeYoung over some dude drama with Tommy Shaw and James Young. In other words Dennis got DeBoot!
With Gowan onboard I picked up a few of their live releases StyxWorld being one( check out the scorching live Half Penny Two Penny from StyxWorld!) and Styx was a different beast with Larry on the keys. They kinda rocked it back up again….
So here we are in 2017 and back in May Styx dropped a new single titled Gone Gone Gone and Styx is ramped up on this track and I watched the video as Gowan does the honour of the lead vocal and Styx have released a solid debut single. Gone Gone Gone features some wicked ass prog drumming courtesy of Todd Sucherman who plays and slays at a double bass drum clip! Nice loud jam out between JY and Tommy guitars as well.
Hey great to see Tbone’s Homeboy from Bad English bassist Ricky Phillips laying down some serious bass riffing on this track as well!
Top Notch….
So did I buy The Mission?
Nope …not yet until…..
Mikey Ladano reviewed it a week ago and for those of you that don’t follow Mikey’s blog what are you waiting for?
Anyhoo Mike rates all his albums out of 5. Styx The Mission got 5 stars…Mike does not toss around 5/5’s without merit!
I commented on Mike’s review with a “Damn you Mikey now I gotta go to iTunes and buy it!”
I did and man oh man…What a Brilliant album these cats have put out. Lemme tells ya all why!
The Mission is a concept album! All 42 minutes of it(smart move by keeping it a neat and tidy like Concept album it’s short to hold my attention span !) telling the story of a mission to mars in the year 2033. The concept was Tommy Shaw’s idea along with producer Will Evankovich.
This album reeks of a late 70’s early 80’s vibe as the album was recorded on analog and man when you listen to the sonics this album is produced brilliantly. Total old school sound but with an updated Styx sound if that makes any sense!
If you’re keeping score there are no Babe like tracks!
Time to Slingshot To Outerspace!
Overture begins and it’s a musical little snippet a quick little opener of just over a minute before the Styxians launch a sonic attack on the track Gone Gone Gone! Posted a live clip shot by someone to show you that Styx in 2017 is meaning some serious musical muscle!
From there Styx delves right into one of the best tracks on this album Hundred Million Miles From Home. Great 70’s like guitar vibe to open the song. Tommy sings the lead vocal on this track and its so good! Awesome good use of percussion on this track with a great cool bass riff from original Styx Bass Man Chuck Pananzo making an appearance. This song is just so good! Great all catchy syrup like chorus that is oh so good! Basically one that will get stuck in your head all day! That my dear readers is not a bad thing! Crank the tune below!
JY Young sings lead on the third track and Yup thats three songs in a row with a different lead singer! Trouble At The Big Show which has a nice slick jam riff to open the track as well. You have to love the chorus’ on these tunes as they are so damn catchy! Seriously only three songs in and this album is a sure-fire winner!
Locomotive has a different like rock vibe to it as Tommy sings this tune and features a ton of real cool snap tight acoustic mixed with electric guitars mashed up with Todd’s splendid drumming.
Radio Silence is Styx heading into the unknown with no Radio Silence around for miles. No communication whatsoever and this mid tempo rocker has a real slick power riff at the halfway point and Gowan nails that Hammond organ sound to a Friggin T!!!
Gowan takes the lead vocal along with Tommy on The Greater Good which is balladish like driven with Larry’s piano and thanks to Todd drums yet again that steer this tune clear of mushville!
Time May Bend is another Gowan rocker especially when the chorus hits. ‘Shine Shine Shine On Me” nails Gowan into the mic and features some real slick 70’s synth like psychosness. Now we all know I’m not a huge piano guy but I’m always up for a good dose of Keyboard hooliganism now and then!
Red Storm more slick pic work along with some mandolin mashed up with the usual characters of drums/keys and bass. Great track that us all wondering when the Red Storm is coming in.
All Systems Stable …..quick little intro static like to launch into
Khedive which has Gowan plucking those keys with a Group like vocal and Wowzer’s did someone in the Styx camp inner channel there Brian May guitar riff a roo synched with the piano. This tune reminds me of Queen,
The Outpost. Big time Styx driven song which picks up the pace with Gowan driving the tune with this vocal and this is another one that when you listen to on the headphones has 70’s written and played all over it! Great chorus! But that should not surprise you by now!
Here’s the conclusion with the song called simply enough Mission To Mars. A late night prog night delight featuring some slick like drumming and big time lead vocals. Great sendoff …
Well what can I say?! STYX have totally blown me away with this album. Here we are in August 2017 and both Styx and Cheap Trick have released super-duper albums that have exceeded my own expectations! The crazy thing is that both these bands released their current albums (Styx with The Mission and Cheap Trick with We’re All Allright) on the same day this past June 16th!
Styx dig out and pull all the stops on this album. It’s unbelievable how good this concept piece is. Styx as I had mentioned keep it short and simple and wrap up this concept album without the fear of running it into the ground! The song structure with the interludes at times add to the whole trip Styx deal to Mars! (almost sounds like these used actual NASA radio communications a couple of times)
The Songs are all solid and Styx with their lavish harmonies totally step up on all the choruses on all the songs on this album!
I know a lot of people want Dennis back. Fair enough if you’re the hardcore fan but really for myself I’m fine with Gowan doing the Styx thing and I think Tommy and JY would agree with me…
It’s ok to revisit the past sonically with an updated sound but don’t go down DeYoung drive as you fella’s have a good thing going here…
Straight Forward No Looking Back….
Your mission that you should choose to accept is….. Buy this!
A few months back I had a great conversation with Scott (HMO) about all things Cheap Trick. We discussed at great length our fav albums of Cheap Trick(basically the whole 70’s output) and the not so good stuff (basically the whole 80’s output except for the very underrated 1982 album One On One) and the soon to be released We’re All Alright (which has been out since June 16th)
Scott said he was going to wait this one out before taking the plunge as Scott did indeed take the plunge on Tricks studio release from last year Bang Zoom Crazy… Hello. Let’s just say Scott was a tad little disappointed to say the least and I will leave it at that! Bug Scott if you want more info….
I almost joined Scott’s line of thinking. A few weeks back I was in our local record store “Sunrise Records” and I actually held the physical copy of the disc in hand. I hemmed/hawed/more hem/more haw and then put it in my pocket and walked out! HAHAHA….no I did not lift it I put it back in the Cheap Trick section and walked out. I could not pull the trigger purchase on it…..
Jon from Sweden posted a quick little blurb on Facecrack that he was loving the new CT album. I sent Jon a message saying “really?” Jon said it was a great album…
Than….another fella named….
John over at his fantastic written Blog 2loud2oldmusic site reviewed We’re All Alright and John loved it…Check it out for yourselves… Click the link below folks’
John’s review sold me on it so off to iTunes and I downloaded the deluxe edition and as an added bonus the Trick included the digital booklet!
Upon first listen I was hooked! It’s an amazing album and it’s as CT dug back to their roots and decided to rock it out and if were keeping score this is my first new studio Trick purchase since the brilliant 1997 self titled release! 20 years it has been….
Robin Zander/Tom Pettersson/Rick Nielsen and Daxx Nielsen need to be saluted here for all intents and purposes may have in my mind made the best Rock album of 2017!
Right out of the gate Trick fires on all four cylinders on the song You Got It Going On. Zander still has one of the best sets of pipes in the biz. Listening to his voice you wouldn’t know it was 1977/1987/1997/2007 or 2017! 40 years man! What a vocal run. Rick Neilsen looking today more like a creepy old Uncle than the Geeky College nerd of 1977 still has a ton of classic riff’s up his sleeve!
First single Long Time Runnin is a great track. Straight forward hard rock done Trick style! Cool lyrics and of course a real good lead vocal by Zander. Must also mention about the production by Julian Raymond as he has produced this album brilliantly. Not too much polish on this album yet still keeping it a little rough around the edges.
The next two tracks Nowhere and Radio Lover ( Radio Lover was a demo from 97)are brilliant tracks and man I just love Tom’s 12 String Hamer Bass and Daxx’s drum workout’s on these tracks. Nowhere and Radio Lover could have easily fit right on the debut Trick album back in 76! Basically a pissed of Trick dumped into a blender with some punky attitude rock.
Brand New Name on a Old Tattoo has Robin wailing like it’s Auf Wiedersehen time. Can’t believe Zander is still rocking the throat like this in 2017. This is another hard rock track. Love the groove.
Basically let’s put it this way. 5 tracks in so far! 5 Brilliant well written Hard Rock Nuggets!
Oh oh here it comes….The ballad……oh man ….wait for it! Floating Down is ballad like for about a minute and then shift gears to a tempo that I’m comfy with! That’s thanks to Daxx on the drums. The Flame from 1988 has been extinguished!
She’s Alright has the band picking up the pace with some roots like rock action. Love the opening bass and drum groove to start the tune. Cool laid back musical vibe with a cool laid back vocal vibe.
Listen To Me is another throwback 70’s workout and Tom and Rick lock horns and stomp all over the verse’s while Robin just flat-out takes over which will come as no surprise!
The Rest of My Life ends the regular album with a mid tempo like tune. Another sure-fire winner with a real sweet Trick like chorus!
The Deluxe Version features three more tracks…!
Trick does a cover of The Move’s song BlackBerry Way with Cheap Trick’s gives it a Beatle’s like stamp. No lagging on the bonus tracks even with a cover included! Like the all the swirling like action going on in the background.
The Fly gets things back to rock with some Rick feed backing off of his amp. The Fly is a great hard rock tune with Tom playing a bunch of solid bass licks under the drums and guitar.
Everyone is saying that the final track If You Still Want My Love is the followup up 1982’s If You Want My Love. Perhaps but like the 82 classic this 2017 song is a great track. If I had it my way I would have ended this album with The Fly as I always like to go out Rockin but still since the Tricks did a solid album I can forgive em for this . Bottom line is a great track is a great track and this is well….you get the picture!
Well what can I tell ya!? Cheap Trick have dug deep into there 1970’s vibe and in the year of 2017 have totally blown me out of the water on how good of an album this is. You know my deal with these guys through this blog. Loved all that 70’s into the early 80’s output than their collective wheels came off on the various 80’s albums(The Doctor/Lap of Luxury/Busted/Woke Up With A Monster) yet I still purchased their output as Cheap Trick was one of those earliest bands that I had discovered on my own!
I must also mention that in all the rocked up glory on this album I like how Trick uses some strings throughout the album(the track Nowhere being one). For myself these kinds of things remind me of way Trick did things back on the classic Dream Police.
Hell,even the front and back covers look throwback.
So good to see these guys ramp it up with a 13 song album that flies by with one catchy hook after another…
So Hugh Dillon and his bunch of Honchos. That being Trent Carr/Tim White and some new hombres Steve Carr / Rick VanDyk and one who goes by the name of Lyle have pumped out a new 12 Song Album that these guys are calling Little Army.
Judging by the cover they look like an army of Old Dude Misfits but these ‘Stones still have a enough juice in the tank to Kick Yo Ass!
Just 4 years ago Headstones released the excellent Love & Fury album that even dented into my Top 5 listening for the year 2013 over at Ladano HQ’s! Yeah man it was that good!
So here we are in 2017 at the halfway point of the year and this is a new band(kinda) with a new sound (kinda) and whats for certain is Hugh is still pissed(definitely,not kinda) …. well read on….
So for the first time in Headstones history a second guitarist and a keyboardist are added and to be totally honest with all of you’s out there I kinda(ha) hemmed and hawed about this as that is the one thing I always dug about these guys as they were just a ripping good time 4 piece in your face with a hard smack of Hugh’s right hand smacking you across the side of your noggin attitude thingy…
And now keyboards? Fuck??! But the keys add a texture still buried under Trent and Rick’s guitars but still there for the taking…
Yeah I’m ok with it! Like Hugh cares what this Hillbilly(MYSELF) thinks in Tbay! Ha!
From Kingston Ontario…….Headstones!
Devil’s On Fire opens the album and its Hugh firing actually the whole band is rocking and making a statement to the listeners out there that the Headstones are back so deal with it! Quick uptempo paced tune! Love Dillon’s attitude as by the second verse he sound’s pissed which comes in handy as he can ramp up and blow hell fire into the harmonica so basically if the Devil Is On Fire not too far behind is Hugh and Crew!
The rest of the albums 11 songs follow the same (kinda) blueprint of yesteryear Headstones. But don’t kid yourselves into thinking it’s just another same ol same ol. Nope it’s a kicking good time album. I like the fact that the guitars sound clean not all dirty and distorted out a different sound that is used on Broken and the title track Little Army in which Hugh loses his shit literally lyrically about the cold hard truth. Mid tempo like burn of a track!
Timbo on the bass and Lyle the drummer drive the start of Sunlight Kills The Stars with some psycho like piano playing tag along with Hugh’s vocals! A different sounding track but make no mistake this is still rock!
For Your Consideration is a buck and 44 second tune. Ripping down the Dillon express and the wheels are coming off. I always liked when the Headstones do this kind of stuff. Short and to the point with a punch in the face added as well! Yee Haw!
Whoah we are now talking! Dead To Me is a killer tune that goes back back to the Teeth And Tissue days mixed with a modern twist. ‘Gutless Fuck’ Your sucking the life out of me!” Hollers Hugh and just like that he gets all amped up during the chorus and chills out during the verse! Hughie is in fine form here folks! The days of onstage smoking and spitting may be gone but he still has that edge..
Captain Of The Shit Out Of Luck has to be contender for coolest song title of 2017! The song as well is a straight ahead rocker with more cool harmonica mixed with the guitars make this a mashup of epic proportions. It’s good to see that were at the halfway point of the album and this track and Dead Again keep that vibe going and making you the listener wanting more!
The View Here takes the previous two shit kicker of tracks and chills out with Steve and his keys keeping pace with Hugh and its a good tune. Give it up as they could have written 12 Smile And Wave tracks but what would that get em? Your right 12 Smile And Waves!
HeadStones go back in the archives as Hugh sings the tale of finding a postcard from 1989 and smoking dope from a corn cob pipe from a place called Kingston. My 5 cents is the fact that this will be the next single or close to it and I can giggle at work when I hear Hugh chime the line”Smoking dope from a corn cob pipe!” when the song is played on the radio. Of course with it being so damn catchy it will probably stick around in my noggin for hours after….Ummmm maybe this isn’t a good thing! Damn it… this is good track. Very autobiographical!
From Kingston were on a road trip with the Headstones and were off to Sunny California ! Well not exactly..,,Hugh kinda sings the tale of one getting caught up cruising around at night in the lights in Los Angeles. Keys drive this tune over the guitars (kinda) and that’s alright as Hugh takes this song over…There is a story here folks!
Oh boy here’s one called Done The Math. A mix of piano/electric guitars and drums. Hugh sings and kinda talks his way through this tune. Something about combinations/misdirection and social deceptions! Wowzers….deep!
Don’t Think At All ends the 12 song 39 minute album in typical Headstones fashion. Trent and Rick built this song and combined with the drums this is an end of the album stomper track! Hugh name drops a ton of cities throughout. Hugh is like a singing version of Goggle Maps! Next stop ….Hughs Fist…My Face!
Great Friggin Rock Record!
These guys have never played it safe. Back in the mid 90’s through to the early 2000’s when Headstones would roll into Tbay these cats did not give a Fuck about anything. Dangerous came to mind as would our fair city be the one to drive Hugh off the cliff. No it never happened but it made going to see them an interesting show as they always delivered live..
So with Little Army they are once again not playing it safe. Doing it how they want and fair enough and seriously man would these guys really care…
Mikey Ladano has to be the biggest Deep Purple Fanboy I have ever known. The dude loves his Purple so when this album dropped in early April of this year I knew Mikey in his review would give Purple’s latest Infinite a fair shake!
Mikey raved on about it even reviewing a couple of the singles before the actual album dropped! He was invested in this album Huge. I commented that the track Time For Bedlam was pretty good. But to be fair I thought I would wait for Mikey’s review of the whole Purple Meal Deal of Infinite to see if i would purchase it myself!
When the album was finally released Mikey reviewed it and raved about it so I took the plunge a few days later and purchased it myself!
Before I go any further I like the cover of that Ice Freighter carving it’s way thorough the Ice and making the DP Logo. Very bright looking!
Actually this is my first Deep Purple purchase of a new studio since 1996’s Perpendicular which featured Guitarist Steve Morse making his Purple studio debut replacing everyone’s favourite Loose Cannon Man In Black Ritchie Blackmore.
I guess you could say I was long overdue to hop aboard the Purple Tour Bus and give it another go!
Boy…Am I glad I ever did!
“Time For Bedlam”
“Hip Boots”
“All I Got Is You”
“One Night In Vegas”
“Get Me Outta Here”
“The Surprising”
“Johnny’s Band”
“On Top Of The World”
“Birds Of Prey”
“Roadhouse Blues”
Ian Gillian/Ian Paice/Don Airey/Steve Morse/Roger Glover along with producer Bob Ezrin(Alice Cooper/KISS/Pink Floyd/Hanoi Rocks) have put out a real fine piece of Hard Rock that delves into the sound of there 70’s past but have also made it sound modern as well basically a mashup of the 70’s and 80’s with an added touch of keeping it current!
Time For Bedlam begins with a Gillian like chant almost hypnotized if I say so myself and before long the boys in the band fire up behind him and this is a good straight ahead rock track. Guitarist Steve Morse and Keyboardist Don Airey lock in together and Ezrin does a great job at keeping the mix of the guitar and keyboard from not overpowering the other. The chorus here is the money shot! Great opener! Must also mention the one line Ian sings which is ‘Sucking my milk from the venomous tit of the state’ Is Tbone writing lyrics for Deep Purple?
So we delve back into the time capsule and put our Hip Boots on and this is a swampy like Purple N Jam tune. Love the lyrics to this one.
You can bury me up to my knees in shit
Or anything else… I don’t mind a bit
You think I’m gonna drown but you’re wrong
‘Cos man I got my hip boots on
Hip Boots just sounds like a total Jam tune as I had mentioned and I just love the laziness feel good vibe it projects….
Purple open All I Got Is You with that eery creepy like Hammond Keyboard Sound that we have heard for years but don’t be fooled as the song picks up the Paice(ha) and propels the song forward with tons of Morse and Airey Guitar/Keyboard mashing up throughout this song and the album as a whole!
One Night In Vegas is a great song with a ton of fun like Gillian lyrics where basically he was snapped up on drink in Las Vegas met a girl went to the chapel had no recollection of this happening and they are still together 30 years later! True story? Dunno but a great tune with some nice riffing by Morse.
Drummer Ian Paice’s drums sound awesome at the beginning of Get Me Out Of Here. Ezrin once again let’s the boys get to it and this is one of those tunes that has a decent pace to it with the keys and bassist Roger Glover producing a huge wall of sound but make no mistake when I’m listening to this album I don’t think of it as I’m hearing a bunch of old guys playing rock. No sir! I’m thinking it’s a bunch of old guys creating new Rock!
The Surprising leads off with some real cool 6 string picking courtesy of Mr Morse. This song eases of the Purple Gas Pedal a bit but Paice and his drums keep the song moving forward. Hey,I have no squabbles about slow songs but I hate slow like mush tunes like many act’s get sucked into but as long as the drummer fella keeps the beat moving forward. I have no problems whatsoever!
Now here’s a cool tune called Johnny’s Band. A song that is written about a dude named Johnny and the fella’s in his band which would be Bill/Pete and Benny, Johnny’s Band in the lyrics of this song hit the top than hit the skids(like so many do!) but Johnny keeps given ‘er even though he’s playing the clubs. Cool interplay between Steve on guitar and the vocals of Gillian on the chorus!
On Top Of The World has a pretty cool groove to it and thats because Airey knows how to add space to let Morse soar on these songs on guitar.
Time for a psychedelic like stomping tune that’s called Birds Of Prey. This song is out there, kinda trippy but enough oomph to not make it a wimpy waste of space. This track has Ian and the boys out there to and heading into infinity and beyond. Basically loading up and going Space Truckin!
Roadhouse Blues. Yup this is The Doors cover from decades back and you know what! I love this cover of it. Tons of harmonica/tons of guitar and tons of musical swagger shown in Roadhouse Blues. Here’s a little tip for you folk’s out there reading this…’Yeah, keep your eyes on the road, your hand upon the wheel!”
The iTunes version I purchased has 4 added bonus tunes. Paradise Bar/Uncommon Man/Hip Boots(demo)/Strange Kind Of Woman(live)
What a great record in the year 2017 from The Deep Purple Fella’s! It’s cool to see a band with about 50 years of history being able to cook up a batch of great rock tracks.
Steve Morse totally rules on this album as he plays flawlessly not overdoing it with a whole bunch of wanker fest wang bar diddle daddle look at me soloing! Nope! Than again Morse has never been that kind of 6 stringer! Everything about this album is solid…Songs/Musicianship/Singing/Production. It’s all here!
So by now you all know that New England early on were one of my go to listening bands when I was 13 and listening to the usual suspects back in 1980(KISS/Cheap Trick/Queen/Judas Priest) New England had an AOR Pomp about em and they should have been mega but for some reason it alluded them.
Not to me though as the self titled debut(1979) and Explorer Suite (1980)are both classic albums that have stood the test of time.
Fast forward to 2014 and the original New Englander’s John Fannon(guitar/vocals) Gary Shea(bass) Hirsch Gardner(drums) and Jimmy Waldo(Keyboards) recorded there show in the New England area and finally in early 2017 it has found its release to the world!
Tracks
1. Seal It With a Kiss live 3:50
2. L5 live 4:20
3. Hello Hello Hello live 3:42
4. Alone Tonight/ Shoot live 7:54
5. Holdin’ Out On Me live 2:52
6. Conversation live 3:26
7. Shall I Run Away live 6:21
8. Turn Out The Light live 2:08
9. Honey Money live 4:01
10. Explorer Suite live 7:23
11. Hope live 6:30
12. Nothing To Fear live 5:38
13. Don’t Ever Wanna Lose Ya live 6:57
14. You’ll Be Born Again live 2:48
15. I Know There’s Something Here new studio track bonus track 4:08
Total Running Time: 71:58
That’s right Friend’s 2 Seconds short of a full 72 minutes of Hard Rock delight which upon first listen let’s me the listener know that these talented cat’s have not lost a step vocally or musically in over 30 years!
iTunes here in Canada finally added this to the New England back catalogue and BAM! A quick download ….
The boy’s start off with Seal It With A Kiss which was the leadoff song on Side 2 of Explorer Suite(if you’re keeping score) and New England lifts off after Waldo’s synth like swirl’s begin the tune and this song is a great track. Catchy everything/music/lyrics/singing it’s all here. What a lead off….
L-5 is the second track in and up til this release I had never heard it as it was off the Walking Wild album. L-5 keeps the rock rolling right into Hello Hello Hello from the self titled debut keeps the momentum pushing forward. I have said it before in my reviews of New England that Waldo has a firm grip on running the key’s as he enhances the sound/makes it atmospheric to let John’s guitar soar at certain points. So many bands could have taken a cue from these guys on how to add keyboards in the scope of a rock band.
Alone Tonight keeps the party rolling right into one of my Fav New England tunes ever and thats Shoot. Shoot is a rocker of a track with Waldo driving the Hammond like Jon Lord did in the hey daze of Deep Purple while Fannon inner channels his Ritchie Blackmore at the start of the solo especially! Love Shoot it features all the trappings of a Great Hard Rock Track in fast tempo/driving drums/walking bass line/cool vocals/loud guitar and huge slam dunk of an ending and this is still early on in the show!
Gardner slams the drums hard at the start of Holdin Out On Me as well as I believe handling the lead vocal as well! Its another one of those great New England hard driving rock tracks. This is a song i had never heard til this live album as the third New England album Walking Wild never made its way to Thunder Bay! Better late than never …
The next three tracks…Conversation/Shall I Run Away/Turn Out The Light are stripped back with acoustic guitars piano and great harmonies as the England boy’s put the breaks on the Hard Rock still though even though the tracks aren’t blasting they are still delivered exceptionally in a live setting.
The Fella’s ramp it back up with the opening number from 1980’s Explorer Suite and thats the great track Honey Money. Another straight ahead rock track which is so good to revisit this one as well.
Speaking of Explorer Suite it’s played to perfection as it weaves Prog like elements throughout proving that these cat’s can play.
Hope is played followed bv Nothing To Fear with John singing opening and than the rest of the boy’s ripping into it once the song picks up the pace with Hirsch handling the lead vocals…
John tells a great story about opening for KISS on the Dynasty Tour in Montreal( I won’t give it away…go and buy this CD) which leads into a brilliant opening riff by John and it’s Don’t Ever Wanna Lose You.
You’ll Be Born Again ends the show with just piano and John’s voice! Kinda of a neat twist to end the show …a chill vibe so to speak…
BUT WAIT….
A bonus studio track is added titled I know There’s Something Here which is the first new studio track in over 30 years! Something for my pal Mikey Ladano to since his teeth into!
I cannot stress enough how cool it is to finally hear these studio tracks live! Top notch performances in regards to vocals and musical muscle are delivered throughout. The best part it that New England 2017 is the same four guys that I discovered back in late 1979!
Mikey Ladano has to be the biggest Deep Purple Fanboy I have ever known. The dude loves his Purple so when this album dropped in early April of this year I knew Mikey in his review would give Purple’s latest Infinite a fair shake!
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