Watch Out For Those Road Apples!

Tonight I will be chatting it up with my pal ‘DJ DR.Dave’ who without a doubt is the biggest Hip fan I know of. Why you ask? Well for starters how about the fact that he has seen The Hip 23 times live!

Yup. That alone would classify you as a fanatic and not only that but DR. Dave also interviewed The Hip back in ’91 when he writing for the local university paper at the time.

So a bit of dive into what I would consider there best album(Road Apples) is due with a fellow who not only loves this album but loves the band and there music as much!

Join us tonight at 7pm on Youtube -Thunder Bay Arena Rock-Scotch On The Rocks.

See ya soon….

THE TRAGICALLY HIP: SASKADELPHIA (2021)

A huge round of applause for Hip drummer Johnny Fay who unearthed these six songs on this little 20 minute ass kicker of music from The Tragically Hip who hail from my pal Geoff Stephen’s hometown of Kingston Ontario!

“Saskadelphia” is the EP I needed to own on vinyl as the songs on it were recorded back in the fall of 1990 and for myself those first two Hip albums “Up To Here”(1989) and “Road Apples” (1991) are pure Gold in both songwriting, performance and production!

Producer Don Smith (RIP) and Bruce Barris(RIP) on those first two records dialled it in brilliantly as its basically the five Hipsters playing live and boy did they deliver the goods on those first two albums. Two of my all time fave records period!

The Hip thought these tunes were lost in that Universal Fire but Johnny Fay was able to uncover these six tracks well 5 actually (the sixth song “Montreal” is a live version from you guessed it, from Montreal back in 2000) are so good its amazing they were left off of “Road Apples” studio album 30 years ago!

I have told this story a few times but it was around this time that myself and Tbone caught The Hip live. The first time was back in February 1988 at Crocks and the second time was March 1990 at Lakehead University.

That March ’90 show had the Hip rolling onstage at midnight and blitzing through the debut album “Up To Here” in basically its entirety.

What is interesting is The Hip we’re road testing at the time three songs that would not appear until the following year in early ’91 when “Road Apples” was released.

“Fight” and “Three Pistols” were played that cold March night but the opening tune that night was “Crack My Spine Like A Whip”.

Yet when “Road Apples” was released “Crack My Spine” was nowhere to be found on the newly released record!

I was dumbfounded to say the least! For a split second I thought maybe its a hidden track?

Mmm nope..

What happened here? Whose in charge? Who at the record company do I speak to? Where is the “Whip” tune?

Well now 30 years later the problem has been rectified and what a great song, one of the bands best as far as I’m concerned as its the Hip firing on all cylinders as I can still picture them on that University Stage that night playing there style of barroom boogie rock.

Johnny Fay staring straight into a spotlight that night while not missing a beat behind the kit. Bassist Gord Sinclair and Lead Guitarist Bobby Baker hanging out on stage right keeping the band on the tracks while on stage left there is rhythm guitarist Paul Langlois, strumming his 6 string electric guitar. The strap being held by duct tape while a cigarette ash the length of my arm dangled from his mouth as Paul sang the backing vocals.

Singer Gord Downie (RIP) was holding centre stage with his long hair and a big bushy beard as Gord was in another zone that night while delivering the songs and not missing any lyrics. When the band would launch into the guitar solos, Gord like any great rock singer would do at times, he would dump the mic down the front of his pants!

What a great show…

Sorry, I went way off topic but these six songs are so good to finally hear. “Ouch”, “Not Necessary”, “Montreal” (Live) lead off Side A. Three stellar songs.

Side B leading the charge with the “Whip” tune makes me reach for the volume dial on the stereo! “Just As Well” is a hidden gem. The band is cooking by this point while the last song “Reform Baptist Blues” is one kick swift in the crotch as it has the Hip going 100 mph in a 55 mph zone!

Cool that they added Gord’s original hand written lyrics with different titles in the album.

Nice to see the album get to #2 on the charts in Canada as well as getting to #66 in the U.S which may be their highest chart position ever in the States.

It’s amazing these songs were left off the radar for 30 years but thanks to the determination of the guy’s in The HIP we’re all for the better of hearing Gord and the boys delivering some good time blistering rock one last time…

Vinyl Hunting In Montreal! Part 1……

 

DATELINE/ Thursday October 26th 2017/ Montreal Quebec.

F.Y.I- This is a 3 parter….Today Part 1!

As many of you folk’s know I recently had a huge Birthday! My best pal of the past 4 decades TBone along with his cool wife Christine decided to take moi to Montreal for 4 full days of whatever we wanted to do. The only thing that was scheduled was to take in a NHL game between the New York Rangers(My team) and the Montreal Canadians (Tbone’s Homeboys) Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Christine sat this trip out as she knew that myself and T have not done a dude road trip in about 15 years! The last one was back in November 2002 to go and see Rush  down in Minneapolis….

It’s been awhile….

It was only a few weeks ago I found out about this getaway so one of the first dudes I contacted was fellow Blogger Aaron from the KMA Blog as I knew Aaron had mentioned in some blogs that he lived in Montreal for a few years so I knew Aaron would be the go to for the cool record shops.

By Golly Mr Books did not disappoint!

In a matter of minutes Aaron replied to my email which he basically told me about 3 cool Record Shops and sent Google map info on where they were located in town. I quickly forwarded Aaron’s email to Tbone…..

Montreal here comes Tbone and Deke’s!

So once settled in our hotel it was time to plot our course so after a great Burger and Beer(at the Burger Bar) it was off on foot to our first Record Store stop and that was Cheap Thrills which is located in what looks like an old house and after you enter the porch you head up what seems like a set of crooked stairs  into Cheap Thrills.

Upon entering you walk right into a bunch of vinyl. Sealed section is kept separate whereas  all the used vinyl and books(tons of books) are spread throughout there own section. This place has a chill vibe amongst its employees to say the least.(ha) I wanted to score  on this trip  some CULT and Hanoi Rocks vinyl but came up short which by the end of our time in Montreal was no big deal!

Tbone dug in and started looking for me but to no avail so I moved on as I did not have a set plan to buy anything  but I give Cheap Thrills credit they had a decent supply of The Tragically Hip sealed albums and the one that caught my eye was Road Apples* which is one of my all time fav’s….

I wasn’t ready to commit on that first day in Montreal  as I wanted to see what the other stores had before I took the plunge. Moving forward if were keeping score I did return to Cheap Thrills 3 days later and purchased Road Apples (sealed) and Billy Joel’s Glass Houses** (used). They even had Ozzy’s Blizzard of Ozz used for about $14 but I dunno why, I just passed on it.

Definitely a cool place to check out. Total chill pill like environment as you could spend hours in there and the sales staff would not care as long as you brought Rolling Papers or a Bong!

Funny thing was while I was browsing away from the sales counter in the used bins T was by the sales counter and overheard the sales dude say “that fella over there has the copy of Road Apples” so I guess there were seeing if the Hip stuff was going to move out of their bins.

Well it did!

Coming up ….

Deke and T meet Spike!

*- It was cool to score Road Apples on vinyl as I had mentioned to Tbone that the Hip came out at a time(1989) right in the midst of the CD Generation as apart from the EP and Up To Here which I owned on cassette tape all the other HIP albums I owned  were all on CD’s!

**- What can you say about Glass Houses? The only Joel album I have ever owned  and probably ever will at this point as its so good from the opening You May Be Right. Billy is a partied out mess on this album which are the kind of tales/songs I tend to lap up as a listener!

Check Back On Wednesday For Part 2!

 

 

Top 10 Posts @ Stick IT In Your Ear (2016)

For fun here are my Top 10 Blogs that were published and read most by you through out 2016!

In 2016 I Posted 120 Reviews! What’s crazier is back in 2015 I posted 180 Reviews! …. WHUT??!

I Thank All Of You!

Here we go….

1-Toque- Thanks to Toque Guitarist Cory Churko for taking the time to read my review of Toque. Not long after my review was posted  on the Toque FaceCrack page but also on Todd Kerns and Brent Fitz’s Facecrack/Twitter Pages! Thanks guys and on Fitz’s page some Drum Guy named Eric Singer gave the Toque Review a Thumbs up! Ha…..

2-Rock The Fort Day 2…The Cult/Cinderfella……-Kudos to whoever the promoter was for this show as they brought in a mix of Canadian and American Acts over Two days! Day 2 was awesome and The Cult and Cinderfella( Tom Keifer) delivered Knock Out Performances along with all the other acts that day. Thunder Bay Rocked well…I Rocked!

3-Black Sabbath/Black Sabbath (1970)- In wild anticipation of going to see Sabbath in Vancouver this past February I decided in January to review all 8 Ozzy Sabbath albums from the debut to Never Say Die. Course I get to Vancity Ozzy calls in sick and it’s a no go but fret not still had a blast with my good friends Metal Todd and his wife Nicole!

4-SLOAN/Live @ Crocks N Rolls/April 7th 2016- This was my first time catching Sloan and I was blown away at how talented these cats are at delivering a high-octane Rock Set! Plus the swap around of the instruments between the Sloan dudes just proves how good they are at everything! I will never miss another Thunder Bay Sloan show ever again!

5-Metal Heart: Aiming High With Accept- The first of 3 Book (That’s Right Mr Books!)entries in my Top 10 and Martin Popoff makes it a real good read considering I’m not the biggest Accept fan out there. But I do like a good read on Bands that haven’t had much written about them especially in Book Format! Support Martin People. Not to many writers out there that will take the time and effort to write these kinds of books!

6-KISS Rocks Vegas(2016)- Course those Old Buzzards Demon and Starchild would make it here. Rocks Vegas is the audio version I reviewed (thanks to Mikey Ladano for hooking me up) and along with Singer The Cat and SpaceMan Thayer deliver a rip roaring cool batch of tracks that sound like they didn’t monkey around at all with them in the studio! Kiss I Salute You!

7-Shout It Out Loud/The Story Of KISS’s Destroyer- Book Number 2 in the Year end Top 10 is a great read about the making of Kiss’s Destroyer album from 1976. Very thorough research by James Campion uncovers a ton of facts that I didn’t even know and I’ve been listening to Kiss for almost 40 years!

8-Def Leppard/Hysteria(1987)- This was a fun one to write about as how many bands can release a whole bunch of singles(6) which is basically Side  1 of Hysteria! Huge album sold lots and still resonates with a  ton of people out there in Blogsphere and Beyond!

9-All My Favourite People Are Broken/Brent Jensen- Brent Jensen is not only a real solid guy but a great writer who has written 3 Wickedly Excellent Reads(No Sleep Til Sudbury/Left Over People and All My Favourite People Are Broken) Brent writes books with a flair and a style that is hilarious with great stories about his Journeys  growing up to making and meeting people(Famous and not so famous) and wrapping it all up in his Books! Do take the time to check out his stuff…Worth The Cash!

9th Place Tie-Where Are They Now? /Paul Laine- A bunch of us Bloggers picked different artists and did a Where Are They Now post. I picked Paul Laine as he released back in 1990 the criminally underrated Stick It In Your Ear album from 1990. Paul is still out there making music in 2016.

10-Little Caesar/Brutally Honest… Live From Holland(2016)-
Had no idea that Lead Vocalist Ron Young was leading this pack of these L.A Rocker dudes until I came across his Facecrack page. Wowzers give it up for Caesar as they are still touring and putting out product! Case in point with this Double Live Album recorded in Holland. I purchased it off iTunes for $4.99! 21  songs for under 5 Bucks! Proving that you can just put out music and not charge a ton of cash! Brutally Honest is Live from the soundboard and is a fantastic In Your Face album! Highly Recommended!

10th Place Tie-Tragically Hipped Out At Crocks….- Was first posted in November of 2014 but when Gord Downie announced his illness this past May  a lot of us Bloggers did a post on how or where there music impacted us. I decided to repost this as myself and my Best Friend Tbone caught The Hip in February of 1988 in a small Bar here in Thunder Bay! Must have been 20 people at the show as there was a huge snowstorm and I’m sure 2000 people say they were at the show now! Haha…..

Some other Posts that just fell out of the Top 10 were…Monster Truck /Sittin Heavy(2016)……Swords And Tequila/ RIOT’S Classic First Decade(Book)…..Black Sabbath/Never Say Die(1978)…..RATT/Reach For The Sky(1988)….Hip Review: Aug 5, 2016, MTS Centre, Winnipeg(Written By Tbone)

Once again …

Thanks!!

 

 

Hip Review: Aug 5, 2016, MTS Centre, Winnipeg

About A Week Ago My Best Pal T-Bone Scored The Ticket OF A Lifetime To This Show! When He Emailed The News My Return Message Was “Awesome And Review Please!” By Golly T-Bone Delivered Folk’s! Read On & Thanks T…… For Sharing…..

 

The famous quote from baseball’s Yogi Berra may never be more eloquently or bravely portrayed than the performance being given by one Mr. Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip who is demonstrating to all of Canada that “It ain’t over till it’s Fuckin’ over!” (Under the circumstances I felt the F-Bomb was a justified ad lib here.) A little piece of Canada appears to be dying right before our eyes and I don’t even understand how it can be so painful and yet on some level, so beautiful. But don’t let Mr. Downie see your tears of sadness because he’s on a mission to bring one last tour of celebration and joy to an entire nation. And he is delivering like a defiant mother-fucker!

I know one word cannot sum up the powerful performance I am so grateful to have witnessed on Friday Aug 5, 2016 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, but the one word I have that comes close is, “Wow!” I was awestruck at the magnitude of the moment and only hope my almost 50-year-old mind allows me to store this memory away forever in safe keeping. Although I cannot profess to be the biggest Hip fan in the country because there are just so many down-right serious fanatics, make no mistake I am a Fan. A proud Canadian fan. This was the fifth time I have seen them perform live (not sure I have seen any other band more) and I also have owned many of their original albums while in more recent years having downloaded most of their entire back catalogue on i-tunes. The Hip are one of those bands that transcend their music to be more than a band, more than a mere ensemble of musicians but rather rise to a level of becoming an iconic representation of the country they are obviously so proud to call home. And in return we are only too proud to call them ours. Fuck you to the rest of the world. You have no idea what you’re missing out on. (In true Canadian fashion, I apologize if my last statement offends anyone. But I hope you get my point).

Gord’s lyrics along with the bands grass roots, blue collar blend of rock, blues & country styles took on deeper meaning than usual on this night. “Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy”? I mean “Come on!” it’s only the first song and I’m already choking back some waves of emotion. But I am pounding my fist in the air, standing in my seat like I owe him at least that much. Two songs later he’s singing about Courage and schooling us on the meaning of it. This is so awesome yet emotionally difficult to watch at the same time. Around this point the first of many chants of “Gordie, Gordie, Gordie…” erupts from the crowd. Next it’s Wheat Kings and where in the country does this song carry any greater meaning than Winnipeg? And from the roars the band knows that the Wheat Kings came to rock tonight. A couple songs later and Gordie tells us he’s ‘Tired as Fuck’ and I don’t even want to pretend to know what he’s going through right now but, Wow! This is Heavy. The first set closes with a couple of new songs from ‘Man Machine Poem’, “What Blue” and “In a World Possessed by the Human Mind” which sound fantastic live. This night is just so damn powerful to this point that I am already running out of words and phrases to express how amazing I feel this performance is. By the first brief intermission I am somewhat relieved for the opportunity to take a break from the emotional roller coaster. It is at this point I want to make one thing perfectly clear, because reading back over what I’ve written thus far one might think I’m describing a weak, frail, dying man that can barely perform. This could not be further from the truth. I know Gord Downie is very sick and as a result likely weakened from treatments and he is somewhat visibly frail but this man is leaving it all on the ice here. His voice is fantastic, his usual quirky signature stage moves are at times dramatic and humourous at others as we’ve grown to expect. During his time on stage he never stops moving. And his will to deliver the best show possible under the circumstances is just down right inspirational.

Another thing I should point out. Although I am obviously very hung up on Gord’s performance due to his present situation. Let it be known that the importance and gravity of the moment are not lost on the other members of the band who are equally important and impressive in delivering on this night. Let’s face it, this has to be difficult for them as well and they all play with hearts firmly on sleeves while pouring everything they’ve got into their playing which is perfect in tempo, synchronicity and groove this is a group of well-seasoned individual musicians who collectively are a powerful force especially in a live setting. Johnny Fay and Gord Sinclair are the foundation and engine that drives each song, while lead guitarist Rob Baker tastefully colours between the lines of the grooving rhythm laid down by Paul Langlois. These guys don’t play like it’s a job, they play like they love it and they mean it. They know what’s at stake and they will not disappoint.

I cannot go throught the entire set list song by song or I will end up repeating myself at nauseam, so instead highlights for me during what I will refer to as the second set are “Man-Machine-Poem”, “Poets”, “Bobcaygeon” and then following Phantom Power’s “Membership” there is another pseudo-intermission where Gord leaves the stage briefly (Wardrobe change) and the rest of the band remains to jam in his absence.

Following this break Gord re-joins the band for what is a mini ‘Road Apples’ set which begins with “Last of the Unplucked Gems”, “Little Bones” and “The Luxury”. Then during “Long Time Running” (One of my all-time favourites) I scared half the audience around me as I belted this one out as loud as I could as if I wanted Gordie himself to hear me. This set then closes with yet another ‘Road Apples’ classic “Twist My Arm”.

At this point all of the band with the exception of Gord (Downie) exit the rear of the stage and he remains alone under a spotlight, does not say a word but slowly and deliberately walks about all four sides of the stage, saluting the crowd and doing his very best it seems to try and make eye-contact and give a personal good-bye to all 16,000+ in attendance. The roar of the crowd during this whole time which felt like it lasted at least 10 minutes just progressively got louder and the weight of emotion in the building became almost unbearable. At this point I only stopped my aggressive clapping momentarily from time to time to wipe my eyes because at this point I couldn’t take it anymore. I don’t care who can see… I am moved to tears.

When Gord finally did exit the stage there was no doubt this crowd wasn’t letting these guys go anywhere. Another chant of “Gordie, Gordie, Gordie…” (probably the fifth so far on the night to this point) roars through the rafters. And yes, I am yelling my fool-ass-off as well.

The crowd continues to roar but even if you weren’t looking you knew the band was climbing back on-stage as the roar finds yet another gear. This place is cooking! “Boots or Hearts”, “Opiated” and a little ditty no-one has probably ever heard of (something about New Orleans sinking) are played and the energy level remains at full fever pitch. Just before exiting the stage from this encore set Gord embraces each member of the band individually making meaningful eye contact with each of his long-time mates and has some words for them which from my vantage point looks like a “This is our last time in Winnipeg” moment. The band waves, the crowd roars and the boys exit the stage yet again.

More chants “Gordie, Gordie, Gordie …” The Peg knows this is it and they aren’t ready to say goodbye just yet and even if the fat lady was singing, you wouldn’t have been able to hear her. “What do ya say boys. Let’s give the ol’ Wheat Kings a couple more for ol’ time sake?” And so they do….

“Springtime in Vienna” and an emotional finale of “Ahead by a Century” where the line “The disappointing you’s getting me down” is powerfully repeated many times by Gordie as if to say “I’m sorry, I didn’t plan it this way”. Cymbal crash, Deafening Roar, Waves, Salutes, Emotion … and then ‘goodbye’ … Over!

“Wow!” As I said before it’s the only word I have.

Set-List:

Set 1:

At the Hundredth Meridian

Pigeon Camera

Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)

Wheat Kings

Machine

Tired as Fuck

What Blue

In a World Possessed by the Human Mind

Intermission :

Set 2:

Streets Ahead

The Lookahead

Man Machine Poem

At Transformation

Escape Is at Hand for the Travellin’ Man

Poets

Bobcaygeon

Membership

Intermission :

Set 3:

The Last of the Unplucked Gems

Little Bones

The Luxury

Long Time Running

Twist My Arm

Encore 1:

Boots or Hearts

Opiated

New Orleans Is Sinking

Encore 2:

Springtime in Vienna

Ahead by a Century

Muc’s All Time Top 20 Albums..

So a few weeks back I tossed out to some folks via FaceCrack to throw down what they would consider their favourite Top 20 Albums.

Some of my Peep’s got right into it( I thank you all who participated) and submitted their picks which I laid down a few rules being that you could not duplicate artists and not to include Live Albums!

Some people are just plain old Rule Breakers  and one of them is Muc  (I have known for close to 36 years! ) Ha! But I was glad he submitted his Top 20 and most of the stuff I have heard but there are a few submitted I had never heard!

With  Muc’s Top 20 I thought I would talk about all his Top 20 albums with just one or two sentences explaining them to you all……(Muc’s Top 20 is pictured below)

Muc….grow back that Mullet Dude……

Lets Do This…

AC/DC’s “BACK IN BLACK’ – Yup with titles like Given The Dog A Bone,Shake A Leg and the greatest song ever written about Hookers(What You Do For Money Honey) we all learned life lessons from Jonno,Angus and the rest of the DC’ers!

RUSH’s “MOVING PICTURES”-What happens when you get three virtuosos(Lee/Lifeson and Peart) locked up at Le Studio in Quebec back in 1981? A bona fide all time great piece of Kinda Prog Rock that is relentless in the chops of the musicians and the songs just explode and  after one spin of Moving Pictures we all became Air Drummers thanks to Mr Peart!

BLACK SABBATH’s ” HEAVEN AND HELL- 1980 ushers in Ronnie James Dio as the new Sabbath vocalist and Iommi/Butler and Ward shift gears and deliver a  rock solid masterpiece! Neon Knights  leads off the charge and if you want your Sabbath Sludged like how it was with Ozzy you came to the wrong house…..

JUDAS PRIEST’s “Unleashed In The East- What a rule breaker that Muc fellow is. Unleashed is live so I can forgive him as this is Priest on fire before they became Turbo Lovers. Unleashed is when Priest   sang songs about Genocide and toss in a Green Manaleshi With The Two Pronged Crown while we’re at it!

THE KILLER’s ” SAM’S TOWN”-Don’t know too much about these guys but I will say that the tune When We Were Young is a great piece of written rock. Muc moves into the present time pretty much with this one…

KISS “ALIVE 2”- I will say that Kiss Alive 2( not counting the actual studio portion of it)  is the second best Kiss studio album next to the first Kiss Alive album! Money Bags  Simmons and Stanley along with Piss Tanks Criss and Frehley deliver a Sonic Juggernaut to our young minds back than and delivered of course the marketing with Alive 2 which included that real cool Live Pic in the gatefold along with booklet and  washable Tatoo’s??

MATTHEW GOOD “White Light Rock N Roll Review”-Too be honest I only own a couple of Good albums but the guy still makes it to Tbay now and then to play and still puts out albums so Kudos to him for that!

PEARL JAM “10”-When I think of 1992 ,this album  is at the top of that heap as it did lend a helping hand( along with Nirvana and others) to demolish Bret Michael’s into the foothills of his L.A Mansion crying into his Bandanna! Mr Vedder! I thank you for that!

THE CLASH “LONDON CALLING”- Even though Muc was full-out 100% Hard Rocker you can see that by  some of his picks he could listen outside the musical box and give The Clash credit as they were one of the first bands I knew of to deliver a double studio album. Train In Vain is still a real good track…..

HONEYMOON SUITE “BIG PRIZE”- Surprised to see this one here! These guys were the deal here in Canada back in 1986 and thanks to the production of the late Bruce Fairbairn, Honeymoon delivered a blistering set of Rock Tracks that even featured  Mike Ladano’s Homeboy Ian Anderson(Jethro Tull) playing some cranked up flute on All Along You Knew!

FOO FIGHTER”s “THE COLOUR AND SHAPE” – Dave Grohl  before he became Mr Everywhere  delivered a real good album and had a good knack(no pun,keep reading) for writing real cool big rock riffs that even an Old Geezer like me could relate too! Case in point,Monkey Wrench and Hey Johnny Park…

DEF LEPPARD “On Through The Night”- Yes! Classic Lepp and when Muc bought this back in 1981 I purchased at the same time Iron Maiden’s Killer’s! On Through The Night is Lepp going for the throat with nothing to lose and no signs of pouring any kind of sugar at all!

THE KNACK “Get The Knack”-Muc I think mentioned that this is his all time favourite album! Fair enough as it was jammed pack  with simple rock and real catchy tunes and a song about Sharona!

CHEAP TRICK “DREAM POLICE”- This album landed in my Top 20 as well. It’s a Sonic Boom of Epic Proportions in song structure and string selection along with Rick Nielsen’s quirkiness with a singer in Robin Zander who could belt it out made this a win win..

FLEETWOOD MAC “RUMOURS”- How many copies did this sell? 20 mill and counting? Who knows but man I think Mick Fleetwood has the coolest Skullet ever! Well Kim Mitchell pre 1990 had a good Skullet as well….

THE TRAGICALLY HIP ” FULLY COMPLETELY”-You can’t really go wrong in my estimation with the first 4 Hip albums! This is a dud free album and man The Wherewithal is an absolute blast of genius!

IRON MAIDEN “PIECE OF MIND” –Atta Boy ! Maiden deliver a Bombastic Slab O  Metal that just blew us all away! Dickinson soars vocally while the rest of the Maiden’s lay down the British Metal Law Musically! Epic comes to  mind!

SEVEN MARY THREE “DIS/LOCATION- Can’t really comment here but if Muc says so ……well its his Top 20 ….

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “BORN TO RUN”- I can see this one here as Muc always dug the Boss! The title track sez it all doesn’t it??

SEX PISTOLS “NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS”- Ha!Muc being different but fair enough.Amazing how much a game changer this was for many people yet it sold peanuts but every rock fan knows of its existence! Bizarre….

Well there you have it my friends!

 

Darr’s Top 20 Albums OF All Time(2016 Edition)

Darr I have known for about as long as I have known Tbone and there’s a simple explanation  for that and the answer would be that Darr is TBones younger brother( not by much though!)

Darr growing up got the knowledge of all good things Rock from myself and Tbone! Basically it worked like this. I would buy the product. Than pass it on to Tbone and from the inner sanctum of Tbones Basement Bedroom Darr would hear and be and be captivated by the Sonics Of Rock ….

Like what I did to Tbone I loaded up a syringe of Roth Era Van Halen and shot Darr up ! From there he gathered up all things  Rock(1987-88 or so) and found his own path. Digging around buying stuff and I would occasionally check in to see his growing Cassette Collection growing by leaps and bounds. After a short while I knew my work with Darr was done!

So here we are almost 30 years later and when I posted my Top 20 Albums on Facebook Darr delivered and real Super Duper List like along with his old brother as like all good friends do to another  I called them out publicly!

After Darr posted to my FaceCrack page his Top 20 and we bantered a bit I knew I had to yammer  about his selections.

Time To Dissect…..See Darr’s Top 20 Below….

The Cult Electric and Guns N Destruction just like Tbones and my list made the cut! 1987 Babee……

Aerosmiths Pump(1989) makes an appearance and why wouldn’t  it? Its SoberAero but it still reeks some sleaze ball like slickness that is a classic for sure and just like the Aero albums of Toys In The Attic and Rocks. Steve-o and Joe put the ballad right at the end of the album and I’m real fuckin good with this move! Not a dud on this album and as we had all seen this tour in Winnipeg(March 1990) that may have swayed Darr somewhat but make no bones about Pump! It’s  a bonfide classic!

Like his older brother,Darr selected ZZ Tops Eliminator and this little Texas Nugget rocks bad ass! ZZ Nation is alive and well with the brothers in Tbay!

Heres  something that Darr pulled out of the Rule box and was a pure genius move! He selected Two Van Halen Albums! Now the rules were you couldn’t  pick two albums by the same band so Darr picked the Van Halen debut(1978) with Dave Roth singing and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)with Sammy Hagar singing. True its the same band in name but two different animals in the studio! Van Halens debut is the juggernaut of Guitar Brilliance and the Vocal Shenanigans of Roth while F.U.C.K is Sam fueled with his own spin on tunes like the immortal  Poundcake,Right Now and how could we forget Spank! HA!  Not to be outdone Darr even selected Dave’s Eat Em And Smile  as a Top 20 ….Well Played Darr….

Whitesnake before that Crazy Cougar slid all over hoods of cars made Darr’s list with Slide It In!(1984) Great add Darr as the late great Cozy Powell slams those drums and you have John Sykes( playing chill before he’s let loose a few years later on the 1987 album) along with others like Jon Lord and David Coverdale singing about everything Sex,Sex and more Sex! Hey Sex sells so Slide It In!

AC/DC take Darr on the Highway To Hell(1979) and He’s not coming back folks! Night Prowler,Get It Hot are some Gems there that never get discussed and they should! I need to review that bad boy someday!

Bryan Adams with Into The Fire resonated with Darr and this is another great surprise! This album at the time when released in 1987 kinda stalled publicly as it wasn’t Reckless Part Deux! Adams served up a change ball to us and for Darr he took the pitch! Atta Boy! Hearts On Fire from this album is one of the best tunes I think Adams ever wrote!

Bono and U2 make the grade and you can read my thoughts on TBones post about Achtung Baby(1991).

But a real  deadly pick was The Black Crowes with Shake Your Money Maker(1990) Holeee Fudge Darr! This is easily a piece of Rock Gold! Those two wacky Robinson Brothers nailed this one out of the park and into the next decade,make that two and half decades and the album still cooks! Thick N Thin I just love ..no we love it all!

Like on a few lists Def Leppard shows up and for Darr Its pyro rock n roll with Pyromania (1983). What can I say about a  album launching sonics into another stratosphere ….Man Oh MAN……

Darr does not leave the Canadian Rock behind and picks Rushs debut from 1974 with John Rutsey on the drums and Darr must have taken a shine to the throwback sound of the debut. Why Not? This little debut cooks quicker than Tbone frying Finnish Pancakes in the morning after a hard nights Drinkin!

Tragically Hip show up 20 years later after Rushs debut with Day For  A Night(1994) and compared to my fav of the Hip Road Apples  Day For Night is darker more moodier than Apples kinda like as if the Hip were to take a sledgehammer to a bag of Apples! Day For Night would come to fruition! Mopey Hip but it works! Grace Too is a beauty of a opener!

‘Here I Am I’m On The Scene’ so says Gordie Johnson and Big Sugar are here with 1998s Heated a mash-up of ZZ Top  and Bob Marley with a huge dose  of fuzzed up reggae like tones! Even Randy Bachman plays on Let it Ride and old BTO nugget that Bachman wrote…Sweet add as well….

Rest In Peace! Cupids Dead! Yup that would be Three Sides To Every Story(Yours, Mine And The Truth)  by Extreme and can you once again say Shock A Roo! Darr dug deep into his Sonic LunchBook and Wowzers Nuno and Gary would be pleased to see this! Pretty impressive that back in Grunge 92 these boys could toss out a solid rock record and still have it sell….somewhat!

Dazed And Confused a soundtrack that features amongst others a whose who of Classic Rock! Sabbath,Kiss,Foghat,Cooper,Sweet! There all here…..crank it,drink it,snort it whatever it may be! Added bonus points to Mr Darr for this being the first Soundtrack on any list I seen! A round of Kudos please!

Darrs last couple of picks that I’m gonna talk about are real cool one of which I’m familiar with and one I’m not with…

Jack Whites  Lazaretto just was released two years ago(2014) Too be honest my old buzzard mind has no idea about anything about this release but if Darr included It Lazaretto must be a Solid Ball Of  Rock! Great pick and perhaps one I should seek out myself and Darr can load up the Sonic Syringe and shoot me up with a dose of Jack Rock!

Beastie Boys Paul Boutique came out in 1989 and I even bought this on cassette and it was a huge departure as for myself I was weened on Fight For Your Right To Party from 1986 but man The Beasties change-up the sonic atmosphere and well how about a round of applause for “Shake Yo Rump” Ha…love that tune Mega Pumping Bass! Darr not only stepped out of the box on these two albums but he kicked the snot out of the box! Well done Son!

Actually out of Darr’s  Top 20 list I have only reviewed  4 of these 20 picks.  So I hope you’s all dug it!