Another fabulous Father’s Day Score from the Familyfrom Aux33Records in Montreal!
“Live At The Ritz” has to be one of the most bootlegged live shows of KISS or it has to be close as its a radio broadcast from the summer of 1988 just as KISS was about to embark on their European Tour.
Being that this is a radio broadcast and its already 34 years old (yikes!) it sounds good as this show is out on many different formats as well as many different covers.
This version is no different as its a limited pressing of 500 copies in which I have number 387 and on orange vinyl to boot!
So for any KISS fan out there you know that this cover is all wrong! That is the cover of the KISS “Monster” album from 2012!
Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer are pictured on the front cover as well. We all know that Tommy back in 1988 was in “Black N Blue” and Eric Singer was drumming for Gary Moore and others as they were no where near being in KISS at the time. Mind you Simmons produced the “Nasty Nasty” album by Black N Blue around this time so there is a bit of a connection!
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley had ditched the makeup eight years earlier in 1980 and on board with KISS at this point time was Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr(RIP).
I’m thinking maybe they slapped the makeup cover on as a selling feature or maybe the people putting this together had no clue.
Then again the credits listed on the back cover featuring the two lineups are correct, so who knows. Imagine if they had gotten those wrong?
Either way it’s a great show to have on vinyl as for some this is “KISS ALIVE 3” and fair enough as I’m onboard with that theory.
I have reviewed this already a few years back when Mikey Ladano sent me the tracks so an actual breakdown of this album you can find elsewhere around here.
I will add its a nice looking set with it being a triple gatefold and all three records being orange as well.
Record Three- Side B is the selling feature as its a great audio recording of KISS being young and going for it before Alive broke them big in the year 1975 and changed them forever!
Pretty cool little 5 pack of KISS tracks featuring original KISS homeboys Peter Criss and Ace Frehley in the mix as well. How about that live version of “Let Me Know.”!?
That pic above is the inside layout with the correct version of the classic lineup of Simmons/Stanley/Carr/Kulick.
The pic below is the 70’s classic lineup of Frehley/Criss/Simmons/Stanley.
I’m really glad to have this added to my collection and finally getting a live version of “Bang, Bang You” on vinyl! (insert laughter here)
All kidding aside this is the warts n all recording of KISS at the back end of the 80s and its a great representation of that era of the band.
Hey Folk’s! Welcome back to another round of “Summertime Spin” where I transport you all back to those good old days of the 80’s, where certain albums had those kind of impact moments on me as a listener upon there releasewhen I was young, much younger!
Summer of 85 and I was starting my second summer working for a living as I was going on 18 my job washing dishes was basically funnelling my addiction to all things hard rock. Magazines, the odd purchase on cassette and mostly on vinyl ruled my world when payday would roll around.
One such album that came out right when I was finishing up Grade 12 was the very eagerly awaited new album from Motley Crue!
Now Playing- Theatre of Pain.
Crue was huge in 85 for some of the wrong reasons as we all know about the car accident in which Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle was killed as Crue singer Vince Neil was charged with vehicular manslaughter. A few people in the other car that Neil plowed into also were hurt.
I’m not going to go down that whole road as there has been enough written about it but come that summer, how would the Crue respond.
Before I get to far into this you have to transport yourself back to that summer of 85 with me.
Sure over time “Theatre of Pain” has been trashed by many a fan and fair enough as if you bought this at the time I bet ya liked some if not all of it.
I’m calling you out!
My point being there wasn’t much Crue to compare it to as this record was the third major release by them. (“Too Fast For Love” and “Shout At The Devil” came out in 1981 and 1983 respectively)
See thats the thing with 20/20 hindsight. What is maybe considered meh in 2021 was awesome in 1985!
So anyways with Vince Neil freshly out of the clink and back with Motley out comes “Theatre of Pain” in which I was fully invested what the band was selling upon its release.
At the time I dug that look the Crue was going for. Back in 85 I was an imperishable teen who lapped up what Nikki Sixx was pouring my way.
Let’s go Glam says Sixx and the masses bought into it. Crue must have been the first act or close to it as come a year later in 86 Poison releases on the world their debut(” Look What The Cat Dragged In”) and that Poison front cover had many fooled. You know what I’m talking about.
Actually looking back some good stuff oozed itself off this album like the Aerosmith driven “City Blues Boy”. I thought this style of sleaze rock was good.
I was burnt out at the time and still am ironically enough in regards to cover tunes as “Smokin’ In The Boys Room” I found somewhat boring on the album but I thought the video was funny enough and I could handle watching it in 1985 times so to speak.
Speaking of video. “Home Sweet Home” is a good one as this song I believe saved the album from going to the cheapie bins rather quickly. Once again I liked the video over the album version. As I loved that live and backstage footage of the band.
Sixx was smart or someone at the management was as they knew how to sell the show to a yahoo like me at the time and this video went bonkers and I bet ya sold a million copies of this record alone on that track.
The rest of the record was good not great with “Keep Your Eye On The Money” being perhaps my favourite off this album back in 85 and even now in 2021.
Sixx hit one out of the park on that one…
“Comedy and tragedy Entertainment or death Like Sister Morphine Hooked on her game Time to place your bets“
Considering the Crue was kinda in a mess at this time personally its amazing that they could pull it together and put out a record at all.
I guess back in 1985 that was saying something as Sixx, Lee, Mick and Vince were partying and pulling all nighters, a young deKe’s was getting up at 5 am to go to my summertime job at the hospital to fuel my addiction to rock and in doing so in buying albums like “Theatre of Pain”.
Record Store Day I have never participated in, as here in my hometown our one record store (which is part of a chain which shall go nameless) SUCKS at doing anything remotely cool with it.
The one time I did go down to that store (2018 I think it was) to check it they had like a lame 4 shelves tucked off to the side for RSD Titles. Not much to look at here folks just keep passing through.
Thanks for coming out!! Not!
The day was not a total waste as I did score 4 used albums at a second-hand shop and got to hang out with my daughter Lexie as well!
So that was a plus!
Fast forward to RSD Septemeber 2020. I didn’t even bother to go down to the mall but a few days before I noticed on Facecrack one of the record stores I follow from Montreal (Aux 33 Tours) that they were doing RSD but the catch was online only. They said if you show up to the store looking for RSD records not happening, all online.
Well, now I thought this was interesting. So at 1pm, all the RSD titles appeared on their website. I figured I came this far to login to the Aux 33 Tours site so what the hell…
Let’s Do This!
Click and …
My pic was Ace Frehley, with his 1989 release “Trouble Walkin” that in 2020 is the first time it would be issued on vinyl in 31 years!
I had heard good things from the blogging folk about” Trouble Walkin’.” I have never owned this album in any format so I guess it was about time right?
At the time though (89) there was so much music coming out some stuff fell by the wayside. Sure I saw this album in adds and in the stores but I still didn’t bite. My younger brother bought it and I borrowed his tape and listened to once I think.
Maybe I didn’t bite as I liked the Frehley’s Comet name and now it was just under the boss man Ace’s name. They canned Tod Howarth which I also thought was a goofy move but someone had to take the fall from the poorly received “Second Sighting” from 88.
Who knows what really went down with “Second Sighting” but upon spinning this album Ace and his bandmates at the time John Reagan(Bass), Anton Fig (Drums), and Richie Scarlet(Rhythm Guitar and Vocals) tried to get back to that rockier side of the debut “Comet” from 1987.
While Ace himself did not factor as much as he should have on “Second Sighting” he makes up for it here by contributing seven songs all in co-writes with other people.
When Ace decides to kick back and crank it up he can produce some quality rock like the opener “Shot Full of Rock”. “Five Card Stud” is a good ripping tune. The title track “Trouble Walkin'” has a pretty decent pre-chorus leading into the chorus.
Ace’s guitar work is awesome as well which has never been questioned on any KISS or solo album as Frehley has always delivered the goods!
Look who showed up and sang backup on four tracks as well? The one and only Peter Criss!
Skid Row was a big band at the time and they show up singing backgrounds on “Back To School” well Bach does as you can hear him plain as day.
How about another KISS connection and that was that both Ace and KISS had both “Hide Your Heart” on each of there albums from the same year!
Ok better yet how about two bands and two solo acts that released “Hide Your Heart” as a single in 1989!
Molly Hatchet was first out of the gate with the song followed by Ace who released his version four days before KISS released the album that featured “Hide Your Heart”(Hot In The Shade) followed later in the year by Robin Beck who released it as well.
I guess the story goes that “Hide Your Heart” written by Paul Stanley/Holly Knight and Desmond Child was rejected for the KISS Crazy Nights in 87.
Better yet Bonnie Tyler released it in 1988 as a single. So if you count that into the equation under a two-year span two bands and three solo artists released this song as a single!
None of the 5 versions set the charts on fire butI’m sure Starchild raked in a bit of cash on “Hide Your Heart”.
Ace always had a knack of taking cover tunes and making them sound like his own (2,000 Man, New York Groove), and as well on this album Ace covers the Jeff Lynne song “Do Ya” which is a great version of the song.
No Ace album could end without an instrumental and Trouble Walkin’ is no different as “Fractured III” tidy’s things up.
Considering up to RSD 2020 I really had no idea about ever getting around to getting this Ace album but I’m glad I did. Sure it was pricey but that’s what RSD is..Pricey! First RSD purchase ever so what the hell!
I like the layout and the spray-painted look of the vinyl and the music is pretty good as Ace was going for the rebound but as the album didn’t even crack the Billboard Top 100 in 89 I guess there was more Trouble Walkin’ for Ace ahead in the early ’90s as well until KISS came calling in 1995!
Nikki Sixx man! You gotta hand it to him as once again I drank from the Motley Kool Aide and was duped….
This time it’s 2008 and I’m about to turn 41!? I’m still being fooled! Haha… If you recall from my other Crue reviews I was in my late teens(Mid 80’s) when the Crue were riding high with Multiple Platinum albums/Sold Out Tours/Tons of Press and I was lapping it all up!
Funny though that some of their 80’s output which I reviewed haven’t really stood the test of time…If you dig around the site I have reviewed a ton of their stuff…
To save you time though How about a quick little summary of each review I done…
(for all you Canadian Readers we can call this the Coles Note Section I posted a pic of three titles below! Basically they were cheater books back in the 80s which would explain certain book titles in a lot fewer pages than the actual book and for ding dong’s like me in simpler english like King Lear. )*****
Too Fast For Love(1981)- Wicked Awesome Debut!
Shout At The Devil(1983)-Not bad..not as good as the debut but a pretty decent follow-up! Bastaaaaaard!
Theatre of Pain(1985)-Oh oh Vinnie destroys a band in seconds(Hanoi Rocks) while Sixx digs in his bag of trixx and tries to save this album from the scrap heap! If it wasn’t for the Home Sweet Home track I think even in the mid 80’s this album would have tanked quicker than Tbone shot gunning back a quick 12 pack of Molson Canadian Beer!
Girls/Girls/Girls(1987)- Crue keeps partying and release this piece of unproduced slop a roo! Sixx I guess is into the brown sugar and this album limps along and man oh man Your All I Need and Jailhouse Rock are the last two songs on the album and are awful. This album has a large D.N.R on it(Do Not Recessitate)
Dr Feelgood-Bob Rock finally gives the Crue a big Rock(no pun) sound that still holds up today. The title track is a smorgasboard of all great things that the Crue could do. Big ass rhythms/pounding bass/cool guitars/tons of percussion and that is just the opening track. Of course there’s silliness in the form of Sticky Sweet and She Goes Down but this can be forgiven ..somewhat!
Motley Corabi(1994)- The self titled album after Vinnie gets the boot and in comes John Corabi in which the Crue put out what I consider their best studio album since the debut and last real good album. We all know the story of the Corabi album as it tanked. The tour tanked and Nikki/Tommy send Corabi packing like it was his fault! Bullshit I say as Johnnie got a raw deal…..
Generation Swine(1997)- Vince returns to save the day. Well that’s what we’re led to believe but this album is Crue going techno metal and when I reviewed it a while back it kinda grew on me like I wanted to trash it but I kinda didn’t mind it. Sure there’s filler! Glitter is pure yuck but saying that songs like Black Beauty and Afraidare brilliant. To this day love the cover…Pigs! Generation Swine for myself is like a wart on your body that won’t go away…
There ya have my reviews. Short n simple if you want the full sordid stories of each one just search around, there all there….
Ok…so Saints of Los Angeles comes out and I want to give a chance! How many times have I been down Tricky Sixx Avenue?
So this is another one of those Crue albums that was tough listen….
13 Tracks and so I dialled this album up on my iPod. After not listening to it since well….2008 would my opinions change?
L..A.M.F is the opener albeit a minute and a half of silliness with Vince’s voice and devilish sounding guitars and what not..which leads into
Face In The Dirt is Motley flexing their muscle with a cranked up sound on guitars especially with the production. This tune is actually not a bad opener. Almost punk mashed up with Motley Metal. It’s basically the Crue defying everything around them and instead of conforming they would rather be dead? Um ok! Mars plays a real slick solo…
What’s It Gonna Take is another pretty decent track sounds total autobiographical as these guys had to fight for there right to party! Mars plays again plays some slick guitar. Sleazy Vince’s voice sounds quite good here and for good measure he tosses down a few M’fuckers out for good measure…
Down At The Whiskey keeps the autobiographical Crue tales rolling around Motley’s favourite water hole from yesteryear. Not a bad track actually. Kinda funny as I was listening to this album I wonder how many takes it took to get Vinnie to sing these songs as live he’s Mr Huff N Puff…
Actually Saints of Los Angeles the title track with its vibe and song wise harken back to the Feelgood days of yesteryear. Neat groove as Vince try’s to be a tough guy. Hahaha…Nice drumming by Tommy Lee….
I always find it amusing when dudes who are in there 40’s try to be tough guys and with MotherFucker of The Year ol Nikki is flexing his rock muscle and this tune is real good as the course is so catchy. I mean be careful when this song gets lodged in the back of your brain! Here I am again ….I’m The Motherfucker of The Year! Thanks Nikki I’m in my late 40’s and now I’m a tough guy minus the Tats/Money and Mansion! Love the video edit. Sounds like Vince is singing MotherFuger of The Year!. Maybe that’s why Sixx is flapping his arms around at those security guys in the video…..
Well…
The rest of the album kinda gets lost on me..
Animal In Me….meh!
Welcome To The Machine is a straight ahead slop of a rocker nothing special here folks. One part of this track has Vince panting right before the start of Mars solo…
Just Another Psycho another straight ahead rocker that just does nothing. Vince sings the line “I should be committed for being so Twisted” Ha…. Another Slop Rocker…
Chicks=Trouble Great title but the song just has nothing going for it. No catchy hook…no catchy like MotherFucker of The Year chorus..nothing… Next!
This Ain’t A Love Song has Tommy starting off the song with his straight ahead drum beat. Sounds like a leftover from Generation Swine.
White Trash Circus does squat….
Going Out Swinging ends the album with a full-out assault with he Crue playing a fast tempo with nothing to write home about. Even after the song slows down only to ramp back up…Not interested… Safe to say that the Crue went out swinging and striking out as well!
What can I say….
Believe it or not this album started off promising but after M’Fucker Of The Year it was a real hard listen to get through this album. Should have released this an EP. I got hosed by Sixx again!
Pass the fucking Kool Aide!
***** -of course all my reviews are in simple English/mistakes and punctuation are a total mess but you get the gist of my silliness right?
Check out my Pal Mikey and his Good Friend Uncle Meat’s spin on the KISS’s Unmasked album for a Triple Header Post Today! More value bang for the Buck around these parts!
If you have been reading my Yammering for months now! Thanks I appreciate it. You would probably know or if you don’t recall my earliest favourite bands were AC/DC/Aerosmith/Cheap Trick/New England/Queen/Van Halen & KISS.
Kiss were the first band that I had started listening to back in 1977 and my first ever live show two years later in October 1979 on their Dynasty Tour which touched down in Duluth. You can read my first ever blog posted here at Arena Rock back in August 2014 here….https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/1979-the-return-of-kiss-2/
Seven months later (May 1980) Peter Criss gets the boot out of Kiss! Wowzers! Whut? This doesn’t happen to bands or does it? My 12-year-old noggin(1980) at the time couldn’t fathom it!
Sure Aerosmith had changed members but around 1980 they were caput kinda until 1982 when they released the criminally underrated Rock In A Hard Place.
By The time AC/DC came to me it was Back In Black! Sure there was a member change as Bon Scott died and Brian Johnson replaced him so that doesn’t count.
Cheap Trick,VH and Queen all had the four original guys that started the band so how does Paul Stanley,Ace Frehley and Gene Simmons do this?
Did Peter use all the Maybelline and the other guys in Kiss got pissy pants? Who knows! Dudes in bands don’t get divorced well not until now(1980) Silly young DeKEs!
I posted that clip at the top it’s interesting to hear $immon$ comments in regards to Criss quitting. Simmons says Peter doesn’t want to tour anymore whereas Criss says the exact opposite that he will tour and he will be the Quarterback of the band calling the shots! Did Peter even tour in the early 80’s? Don’t be thinking so.
Who knows the truth? Like Nuno & Gary from Extreme said 11 years later in 1992. There’s Three Sides To Every Story.
1-Yours- which in this case is Gene & Paul
2-Mine- which would be Peter Criss
and #3 which is the …..
Truth– is there such a thing when a longtime member splits?Ha…none, all the way from Blackmore splitting from Deep Purple a couple of times to Sam Hagar being fired or quitting depending on whose spin your believing. Tons of Drama with a lot of my favourite bands. You know the culprits! One of the funniest ones was the whole Motley Crue debacle of 92. I won’t elaborate as this is a KISS post but man I think I gotta post something about it in length….
Having said that….
When it comes to leaving a band it basically fizzles out the ex members career who splits while the band he quit from continues and moves forward.
In Criss’ deal he splits Kiss when their career is in nosedive mode in North America but Pete soldiers on releases a solo album titled Out Of Control and it was like if Peter was playing his tune’s on the deck of the Titanic when it went down in the Atlantic Ocean! No one cared even super Kiss Fanboys like myself and buddy Muc! We all passed on it.
Look Mikey! CD Japan!
Kiss hired Eric Carr(RIP) and after the dismal showing of 1981’s The Elder Kiss had a smidge bit of a bounce back with(the fantastic) Creatures Of The Night (1982)even Kiss knew they had to do something so off comes the war paint and viola a resurgence in sales and MTV video spins….
Peter Criss’ solo career went straight into the bars and it wasn’t until Gene and Paul wanted to make quick cash decided to give Pete and Ace(Ace is another story for another time) another go round in 1996….
DEF LEPPARD 2017 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR W/POISON & TESLA
DATE: April 21, 2017
TIME: 7:00PM
VENUE: XCEL Energy Center
CITY: St Paul, Minnesota
Hey Folk’s! Less than 2 weeks ago my Sister, Kristin and her Boyfriend, Darren shot down to St Paul to Catch the Leppard show! Being the older bro I told her ‘Review It!” and by golly along with Darren’s help they reviewed it! Great Job! Give it a read friends!
Take it away…..
It was October of 2009 and the concert of a lifetime was only a few weeks away. I got a phone call from my brother Deke telling me that my all-time favourite band, Def Leppard had cancelled the Canadian portion of their tour. Having received more than one prank call from my brother, I assumed this was just another. I said a couple of swear words and hung up. I quickly googled and was devastated to find the cancellation in Winnipeg the next month had been confirmed.
Fast forward to February 2017. My birthday. I opened a card from my boyfriend Darren, and two tickets fell in my lap for the April show in St Paul. Figured I should invite him along…..
We arrived in St Paul with 15 minutes to spare, no thanks to Garmin. The lights dimmed and Tesla took the stage. Edison’s Medicine filled the arena with a sense of nostalgia which took me back to Grade 10. Love Song sounded like it was off the album in ’91 except I wasn’t crying into my pillow over my ex -boyfriend. Jeff Keith’s vocals were as rich and distinct as their debut in ’86. After 40 short minutes, Modern Day Cowboy closed the show. I could wager a guess and say that there were 20,000 fans wanting more.
Next up Look What The Cat Dragged In…..Poison. Bret Michaels and the band played all the classic hits you know and love to hate. Something To Believe In payed tribute to Prince on the one year anniversary of his death. C.C. DeVille played a face-melting guitar solo(in other words now would be the time to go and buy your Concert T’s) before leading into Unskinny Bop. Poison finished their encore with Nothin’ But a Good Time in anticipation of what was to come next.
Def Leppard opened with Let’s Go, their 2015 release not to be confused with Let It Go from ’81. The crowd was somewhat subdued for the first couple of songs until Foolin’ brought the capacity filled arena to their feet. The energy continued throughout Love Bites, Armageddon It, Rocket and Bringin’ On the Heartbreak. An emotional drum solo by Rick Allen had fans screaming for more. The most memorable part of the entire concert was to come. Hysteria, Let’s Get Rocked and Pour Some Sugar On Me, the everlasting tunes everyone came to hear followed. The stage went dark and the crowd went wild. After a 5-minute standing ovation the band returned to bring down the house with Rock Of Ages and Photograph.
HEY KIDS! THE ACTION IS BEHIND YOU’S!
Although it took me over 20 years to see the number one band on my bucket list, they didn’t disappoint. Joe Elliott managed to take the crowd on a ride in a time machine, and for a brief moment I was that teenage girl in ‘87 with acid wash jeans and big hair. –Kristin
This is an audio only review of the 15 songs that were released on iTunes!
Crue releases or should I say cash’s out the Final ever show recorded in the city where it all began in the early 80’s Los Angeles.
As is tradition with every single rock act nowadays is to release current tour on DVD/CD and since no one buy’s full albums anymore why not!?
The End is indeed here and it was a real interesting listen through this live(Cough Cough) set.
LIVE CD TRACK LISTING:
1.) Intro
2.) Girls, Girls, Girls
3.) Wild Side
4.) Primal Scream
5.) Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)
6.) Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
7.) Smokin’ In The Boys’ Room
8.) Looks That Kill
9.) Mutherf***** Of The Year
10.) Shout At The Devil
11.) Louder Than Hell
12.) Saints Of Los Angeles
13.) Live Wire
14.) Dr. Feelgood
15.) Kickstart My Heart
16.) Home Sweet Home
Basically it’s the Greatest Hits Live Album Set…
The Culprits….
Vince Neil – lead vocals
Mick Mars – guitar
Nikki Sixx – bass
Tommy Lee – drums
Once again I drank Sixx’s Kool Aid and thought this might be a decent spin through but as it turns out it kinda is and isn’t!
I dunno what it is but I’m kinda glad they closed up shop and I hope it stays that way. Will it over time? We’ll see but this Live Set could have been done real good and for starters the audio sounds a little on the sterile studio side with the audience cranked in certain sections. The backing vocals sound pre recorded on the song Girls Girls Girls Are those the original Female singers from 1987’s Girls album still being sampled live? Or is that prankster Sixx making me think that?!
The musical chops of Lee/Sixx/ Mars is pretty solid especially Mick’s playing as the guy in the band who is in a mess physically can still show up and carry the music is very commendable. Still have to give props to Mars playing on the Motley Corabi record as Mickey took his playing to a whole other level back than. Kudos MarsMan!
Vince! Why are you singing so angry like during the verses of Shout At The Devil? I don’t get it man….Just sing the tune Dude! Simmer down Rock Star!
Case in point…where on the studio version of Shout At The Devil Vince sings the line of…
Sure you’ve heard it all before
He’ll be the risk in the kiss
Might be anger on your lips
Might run scared for the door
But in seasons of wither
We’ll stand and deliver
The live version sounds like this to me…
Aaaaaaaaargh fore….grrrrrrrrr ar kiss ……crawwwww lips…blah door….waaaaargh wither…arrrrrrgh deliver……
I was going to post the video but nah! Brutal at times….haha….but at time’s like on Don’t Go Away Mad Just Go Away Vince steps up and sings even on Same Ol Situation and he carries it well but ah man where’s Corabi?
I mean this guy gets repeatedly ripped for his Live performance and in spots here it’s decent enough but at times Sleazy Vince just makes me want to skip the whole song….Next!
I really wish these guys would have released a Live Dr Feelgood album back in 90/91 and capitalized on their success. Me and Tbone caught the Feelgood show and it was a great indoor Rock Show. Instead in 1991 they released the first of many Greatest Hits sets/Canned Vince and even after Corabi took the fall for whatever reason after Vince returned it was over as the Crue could never regain that momentum that they had built throughout the 80s into the early 90s!
Some may say I’m being harsh here..maybe, but I dumped a ton of Loot into the Corporation Crue’s Pockets so I’m gonna say it how I hear it!
I will still say that one of the best quotes came from Mars back in 1987 when they cancelled some shows and he stated that “The snow caved in the roof” or something to that effect! Haha…Mick earned a ton of street cred in my book for that one liner! (literally)
Fret not Kids. Sixx has a new band calling itself Sixx AM.(cool name but I just cannot get into it) Tommy Lee? Who knows what he’s doing spinning albums with his baseball cap spun a little to the left. Vince is out playing parking lots/pizza parlours/basement’s/fairs and playing Crue tunes(Yawn). I should hire Vinnie to play at Tbone’s 50th Bday Party! Mick Mars from what I have read is recording a solo album and has recruited John Corabi to sing on a few tracks! Now, what Mick is doing is actually something I’m interested in! Atta Boy Mick! In this day and age of Social Media Mars is the only one I follow on FaceCrack…can’t be bothered with the rest of em!
Check out My Blog Pal 2Loud2OldMusic’s spin on The End as well by clicking the link below….
SMASH is released today! January 27th 2017! I’m on it!
Ya gotta hand it to Stephen Pearcy as in this day and age he still is putting out quality product. When Steve-o split from RATT in the early 90’s Stephen did not disappear no sirree folks he put out the Wickedly Excellent Arcade record which when I reviewed it I stated that the Arcade debut could hold its own against any Ratt album! Yeah man it’s soooooo good.( and thanks to Aaron at KMA who recently sent me a second copy of the Arcade debut after Aaron said the first copy he sent to me was kinda scuffed! Thanks a bunch Dude!)
Now I’m not gonna get into the whole drama of whats going in the RATT camp currently (It’s all over the music sites…) instead its to bring some attention to this 2017 version of L.A Sleazey Style done the Pearcy way!
SMASH is just that. A smattering of different rock styles. No Filler just Pearcy Killer as the songs ooze cool…
The Tunes….
1. I Know I’m Crazy
2. Ten Miles Wide
3. Shut Down Baby
4. Dead Roses
5. Lollipop
6. Hit Me With A Bullet
7. Rain
8. Want Too Much
9. What Do Ya Think
10. Jamie
11. I Can’t Take It (Album Version)
12. Passion Infinity
13. Summer’s End
The Cast of SMASH…….
Stephen E. Pearcy – Lead Vocals, Back-up Vocals……Erik Ferentinos – Rhythm & Lead Guitars, Back-up Vocals …….Greg D’Angelo – Drums, Percussion…….. Matt Thorne – Bass Guitar …….Chris Hager – Guitars, Lead Guitars on track #3
So if you’re keeping score in the Rock Trivia side of things. Drummer D’Angelo drummed in White Lion. Ferentino has been with Pearcy for a ton of years and has known him for decades as Pearcy name drops’s him in Stephen’s autobiography book Sex/Drugs/Ratt N Roll. Hager was from Rough Cutt who stuck out a decent debut album back in 85 and were managed by Dio’s people but fizzled out quick… Come to think of it Hager and Pearcy were band mates in a very early incarnation of Rough Cutt before Steve-o formed Ratt. There ya go….
I Know I’m Crazy opens the album and were off. Straight ahead 4 on the floor rocker and this is Pearcy 2017! Still a ton of Piss N Vinegar in that old Goats Voice. Right off the hop you know this album from the production end is gonna sound huge! Crunchy like guitars and hooks.
Ten Miles Wide is the second song in and Steve and crew take no prisoners as this is their strength which is a straight ahead mid tempo Hard Rock Gem! The guitars are jacked and the chorus is pure Gold! Which kinda brings me to another point as people rip on Pearcy’s vocals live but who gives a S**T! Listen to the audio below!
Rain features D’Angelo rumbling around on his kit and features the big chant chorus of Rain. A slow like brooding melodic rocker that keeps the album chugging along.
When you really dig your heel’s into Smash of course its sounds a lot like Ratt and it goes to show you who had a huge hand in shaping the sound of Ratt. Case in point Want To Much sounds like a it could have slid right in on Ratt’s 1990’s Detonator album as the guitars laid down by Ferentino and Hager have that throwback sound to Crosby(RIP)/De Martini picking on those Ratt albums! Definitely not a bad thing!
Jamie is one of those throwback 80 tunes! Hey don’t knock it especially when your speeding down Pearcy Drive as Stephen eats and sleeps this stuff. The lyrics for sure tell the tale of a lady named Jamie and you know Steve’s deal…”The way you pull into me!” sings Steve-o and he continues with “A nice surprise!” Folks this is not rocket science but just a good time party tune about a (ahem) Lady!
I Can’t Take It has been floating around on iTunes for well over a year(I’m not big on buying “Singles”) as Pearcy would release a track here and their. Supposedly he reworked it up in the studio with Ratt’s producer back in the day Beau Hill. Another great rock track that oozes a toss back to a classic sound of yesteryear! You can watch and hear it for yourself below. Lot’s of Ladies in this video to keep my Good Pal Rockin Roberts amused!
Glad to see the old Road Dawg Pearcy out there just doing it and you got to hand it to Stephen as he just keeps doing what he does. Which for me is Good Ol Fashioned 80’s like Sleaze Rock with a added twist of keeping it Catchy!
One more thing! Kinda cool that this for me is the first Hard Rock release of new material in 2017! Atta Boy Pearcy!
There I said it! Love Dokken! To me even with there 80’s output of 4 studio albums and 1 Double Live they were pretty consistent with their albums…
In 1987 Dokken released the super-duper long Back For The Attack and to this day I still remember the ads for it saying it was over 60 minutes of Rokken With Dokken! Now that’s giving the Fan base what they want. This was easily a quick purchase upon release and I along with many others scooped it up quick when it hit the shelves… If were keeping score it went to #13 on the U.S Charts and to # 25 on the Canadian Charts.
A lot of years have passed and it was when Mikey Ladano reviewed this album I thought “Sheeeeit…I gotta dust off that bad boy and give it a listen!” So listen I did and here are my Dokken Facts!
Incase you forgot Dokken is….
Don Dokken – lead vocals
George Lynch – guitar
Jeff Pilson – bass, background vocals
Mick Brown – drums, background vocals
Back For The Attack Track Listing….
Side 1
1. “Kiss of Death” George Lynch, Don Dokken, Jeff Pilson 5:51
2. “Prisoner” Lynch, Pilson, Mick Brown 4:20
3. “Night by Night” Pilson, Lynch, Brown, Dokken 5:23
4. “Standing in the Shadows” Dokken, Lynch, Pilson 5:07
5. “Heaven Sent” Dokken, Lynch, Pilson 4:52
6. “Mr. Scary” (instrumental) Lynch, Pilson 4:31
Side two
7. “So Many Tears” Dokken, Lynch, Pilson 4:56
8. “Burning Like a Flame” Lynch, Pilson, Dokken, Brown 4:46
9. “Lost Behind the Wall” Lynch, Brown, Dokken, Pilson 4:19
10. “Stop Fighting Love” Pilson, Lynch, Dokken, Brown 4:52
11. “Cry of the Gypsy” Dokken, Pilson, Lynch 4:51
12. “Sleepless Night” Lynch, Brown, Pilson 4:32
13. “Dream Warriors” Lynch, Pilson 4:42
13 Tracks! That’s a lot of L.A Hullabaloo so let’s see what the Dokken Crew can muster up…..
Lynch one of the 80s Guitar Hero’s leads off with a SuperStar Riff that charges out of the gate and that would be Kiss Of Death. George is cranked and blasting off like a rocket along with Pilson and Brown leading the charge for Don and his melodic rock voice to come in and take over. Don sings the tale of the Kiss Of Death and it’s about Aids and Wowzers has Don been hanging out with Bono circa 1987 in preaching? Na…..this is Dokken! On one hand Don will tell you all be careful about what you’re doing while on the other hand Dokken and staff were stocking up on Party Treats! Great opening track and Lynch lifts off….
Prisoner being Track 2 is one of mine and I believe Mikey Ladano’s Fav’s as well! It seems to be a forgotten Dokken track as I don’t think they ever tackled this live but it oozes cool! Lynch once again sets his guitar ablaze right off the bat with a great intro solo while the verses are chill and the chorus take us into money shot…
Night By Night keeps the party going and its a great song and like many a good band the song is built by the riff. This mid tempo rocker features some good vocals by Don and George of course takes over. Like all good thing syrupy from the 80s Night By Night will keep you humming all night long…..ummmm thats a stretch but if you were my age when this album was released(I turned 20 in 1987) you’ll know what I mean!
Yep. I dig Standing In the Shadows. The Boys dig deep and come up with a real good pre chorus which is Dokken catchy. Lynch plays another one of my fav solo’s here. That is the thing with these guys and Ratt. Both of these bands had great lead guitar players Ratt with Warren Di Martini and Lynch hanging around Dokken. Plus they had the songs to back it up.
Heaven Sent is melodic Dokken at it’s best. George takes a different approach and instead of playing Guitar Hero he takes a back seat plays some nice clean electric almost Ed Halen like picking. The chorus is an excellent written piece of Rock. The song falls far from wimpdom as Brown keeps the song moving at a decent clip!
Mr Scary is George locking Don out of the studio and slamming down a bunch of Riff N Rolls in a musical Tour De Force with Mick slamming double bass drums while Pilson plays his Simple Simon Bass Licks and Lynch solo’s solo’s and solo’s…..
Thats just Side 1
So Many Tears is a Dokken Melodic Metal To A T! Great straight ahead rocker to start things on Side 2! Dokken 87 was a great band and there friggin egos between the guitar player and singer destroyed this band. At the time I always thought why can’t Dokken be like Sam Halen in getting along and such. Boy was I a ding a ling in thinking that way! George and Don combusted as they were about to really make the move from opening act into Headlining Arenas and KABOOM! They all went solo and came nowhere near what they had as a unit in Dokken. Maybe they had suffered brain damage from all that hair spray whiffing around when they shot the cover for 1985’s Under Lock And Key. See Hair Do’s Pic Below…..
HAHAHAHA….remember the video to this tune! This is the case of a Fruity Video ruining a good tune. At the time I giggled as Don and The Boys are blasted off their rockers and hanging off a Fire Truck! Ok I Geddit…Burning Like A Flame if you close your eyes and not watch the video is a real good track..Frigg Yeah I’m posting it…
Did you watch it? Cool in some ways back than when you were a 80s Rocker in LA and you could get Loaded and cruise around on a Fire Truck while Mick Brown plays his drum sticks on a ladder for Fucks sake! Sounds like I’m bitter? You bet your Ass I am! Hahaha… In 1988 I was washing dishes in a Hospital Kitchen while George is playing pool with his guitar in a rock video! Aaaaaaaargh! FTW!
For myself and myself only the next three tracks Lost Behind The Wall/Stop Fighting Love and Cry OF The Gypsy are ok tracks. Nothing I really want to discuss about them but that there ok. Filler like perhaps? I dunno when I spun them for this review after not listening to them for years they didn’t really do it. Even back in 87-88 I recall these songs being a slog to get through…
Sleepless Nights! Wowzers what a great end of the album GEM! Lynch set’s sail with a Sleazy L.A. like Riff and were off! This mid paced walloper has a real good chorus and yes as per protocol whether Don likes it or not George carries a lot of the Dokken albums with his playing. Real cool use of some percussion during the chorus as well. Bona fide Winner! Sleepless Nights puts the Dokken train back on track after the slight derailment of the previous 3 songs!
Dream Warriors. Another decent tune which was included here as I didn’t ever seldom buy Soundtrack albums. (Come to think of it Tbone had a pretty decent one back in the day which I should review sometime) Dream Warriors is a decent paced end of the album throwdown track album which the boys hang out with Freddy Kruger…. Read an interesting blurb (Think it was in the excellent I Want My MTV book) that when Dokken was filming the video to this track i read something about Krugers Finger Nails/Blow and Dokken? Ummm you figure it out…….HA!
Dokken put out a fine album stuffed with 13 tracks! I think if they would have shaved of the 3 song’s that didn’t do it for me they would have still had a decent 10 song album which was a lot stronger than what others were putting out at the time…….
A Huge Round Of Applause For My Good Pal HMO Who Came Through And Sent Me An Copy Of This Kiss Radio Broadcast from Dec 8th 1984! Today this post hits on well Dec 8th 2016!
KISS 1984 was on the upswing after the Successful Non Makeup Bounce Back of Mr HMO’S fav Kiss record Lick It Up. Gene and Paul after the 1983 into early 1984 Lick It Up Tour kicked Guitarist Vinnie Vincent to the curb and began auditioning guitarists and Mark St John (RIP) got the Golden Ticket and became the New Guitarist in Kiss and played some decent riffs on the Animalize album most notably on Thrills In The Night where St John tapped into all things 80s Metal Shredder Style and plays a wicked slick guitar solo….
Anyhoo St Johns arm went numb and he couldn’t play and Gene And Paul hired Bruce Kulick who along with Eric Carr went on the road to promote Animalize and with MTV ruling the airwaves a concert was recorded and edited (Ha) for broadcast which was also released on VHS.
I had a copy of this on VHS and its 80’s KISS! All gloss/ Stanley a mess in the wardrobe department and Gene with that Crazed Road Warrior like look with a Wig?? HMO! Can you confirm Gene’s use of the Wig here? He had his hair trimmed short for that acting role in Tom Sellecks Shatty Movie Runaway.
Ramseeeeeeeeey! (Ged It?)
So Here’s Those Fun Loving Ding Dong’s KISS and me at the time (1984)taking my hard-earned allowance and making yet another Cash Donation to the Kiss Fund and just loving it back than and even now as it was great to hear this album in full!
90 Minutes of Unedited KISS and Hilarious Stanley Crowd Banter…Frigg Yeah ….
Let’s Do This!
The Tracks…..
1. “Detroit Rock City” Paul Stanley, Bob Ezrin
2. “Cold Gin” Ace Frehley
3. “Creatures of the Night” Stanley, Adam Mitchell
4. “Fits Like a Glove” Gene Simmons
5. “Heaven’s on Fire” Stanley, Desmond Child
6. “Thrills in the Night” Stanley, Jean Beauvoir
7. “Paul Stanley’s guitar solo”
8. “Under the Gun” Stanley, Eric Carr, Child
9. “War Machine” Simmons, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance
10. “Eric Carr’s drum solo”
11. “Young and Wasted” Simmons, Vinnie Vincent
12. “Gene Simmons’ bass solo”
13. “I Love It Loud” Simmons, Vincent
14. “I Still Love You” Stanley, Vincent
15. “Love Gun” Stanley
16. “Lick It Up” Stanley, Vincent
17. “Black Diamond” Stanley
18. “Rock and Roll All Nite” Stanley, Simmons
Basically this Set List is KISS pushing 80s Product and I basically Licked It Up! Sorry Folks that was gross….
Track 7 is kinda disturbing as Paul Stanley plays a solo!?? No Ace Frehley…..No Vinnie Vincent and Paul is not going to let New Dude Bruce Kulick solo so whats a Starchild do? He solo’s……His band his deal but Gah…. Great Rhythm Player but not a solo thingy….
Speaking of Paul someone posted all of his stage banter from this show into one 8 minute Video clip that’s on YouTube! This is pure 80s Arena C**K Rawk GOLD! It does not get any better than this. Think about it for a second as Stanley uses up 8 Minutes of Kiss’s 90 Performing minutes to banter and toss down another 5 minutes with the guitar solo…hahaha…
Here ya go Folks….Starchild in the 80s…..
HA! It does not get any better than 80’s Stanley Raps……
The band itself when Paul isn’t doing his Stand Up Comedy Routine between tracks play these songs at Hyper Speed. The Tempos are all sped up which is very noticeable now and not so much back than as I was just buying into what KISS was selling and KISS themselves were trying to keep up to all the bands at the time that were coming at them and passing them in Record and Ticket Sales.
Watch Below as Demon and Paulie want you to dig em..84 Style!
Isn’t the Thrills In The Night live vid classic!? Hardly any camera time for new Guy Bruce and during the solo they show Paul in slow motion jumping from the ramps instead! Haha….I will give Paul a few bonus points for his Killer Sideburns…Those Burns Are Bad ASS! Love Gene’s somewhat aloofness. Gene looks stunned to me. Must have gotten notice before this performance that the Runaway Movie tanked quicker than Kiss’ Elder album….
So for KISS it was like “We will show these Bands how it’s done!” Perhaps at the time it was the way to go as KISS was a new band themselves so to speak. Getting new members and ditching the war paint.
I really dug this Live Flashback as it brings me back right to my youth and by than KISS themselves were fast tracking to the age of 40….
If you’re a KISS fan and come across this show in any way/shape or form. Pick It Up as it’s a good Flashback from a Genre that we can discuss forever!
Geez theres a part of me that wants this era of Kiss to come back. I think I have officially lost my mind!
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