CDs for Spring!
Even More Dodgy Reviews
Spring is here again, as well as another page of new seedees!
Saxon - Wheels of Steel and Strong Arm of the Law
These two old chestnuts have been sitting on my vinyl shelf since my school days and are two great bits of NWoBHM history from Barnsley's favourite Heavy Metal sons. I saw them on this double CD value title thing and snapped it up. There is a CD for each album with eleven bonus songs put on between the two to pad out and add value, so there's plenty to rock out to here.
As for the music, these two releases cover a lot of the most famous of Saxon's songs, including such amazingly great headbangers like "Motorcycle Man", Strong Arm of the Law", "Dallas 1pm" and (of course) "747 (Strangers in the Night)", all of which are staples for a good night on the beer with friends down the local rock pub. I suppose some of the production sounds dated now and some may scoff at the "Movies for Your Ears" (thanks Biff) lyrics, but those who scoff are missing the point as the riffs keep coming thick and fast, the rhythm section keep it pounding away and the songs just rattle away so infectiously that anyone not bobbing their heads up and down by the end of the first chorus must either be stupid, too cool for their own good or dead and after all, who could resist lyrics like "Scandinavia 101... For God's sake get your ground lights on!" and the shouty call of "STOP! GET OUT! I AM THE STRRRRRONG ARRRRM OF THE LAWWWWW!" Grand stuff.
This is good, solid, unpretentious, meat-and-fucking-potatos Heavy Metal from a great band... Anyone without a bit o' Saxon on the shelves needs to get their head checked if Rock is their game and I'm sure that Large Oilrig, Deaf Barton and (naturally) Biff Byford would agree that this set is a good place to start if you are short of a title.
Saxon - Into the Labyrinth
Fast-forwarding 28 years and we get to the latest Saxon album. This is a Very Metal beast, I can tell you that from the off. By the time you get half-way through the opener "Batallions of Steel", it is very clear that this is going to be a big sounding album. Taking cues from some of the more European Metal bands, Biff and Co. use a full-on crunchy guitar sound with keyboards to get the Tr00 Metalometer running in the red with lyrics about riding out to glory and fame and it sounds marvellous. The album is chock-full of this kind of thing and it rattles along with a good deal of fury and it's hard not to like if you have any interest in Heavy Metal.
There are thirteen numbers on this album that all feature Byford's trademark wail on them. He sounds pretty damn good for the most part and the band provide (as noted already) more than an adequate backing for him. Sure, some of the lyrics are a bit on the cheese side ("Live to rock, never stop!" etc.) but again, they do provide all the imagery and feel the song needs to bring the whole thing to life. There are some nice moments, including "Slow Lane Blues" in which the Rozzers that Biff had been trying to evade for thirty-odd years ("STOP! GET OUT!" etc.) finally caught up with him and arrested him for driving too fast (based on a true story, apparently kids!)
The edition I picked up has got a bonus DVD which has some bewildering material on it. The main feature is a movie called "Perceval" featuring Mr Byford in a long beard in the role of King Arthur. Lord knows how that came about, but even though he is speaking in Italian, you can tell that you can take the boy from Yorkshire, but you'll never take Yorkshire from the boy. The other film is a German laguage film (subtitled again) about a Lighting Director called Christian Rapp, or Crap as the subtitles tell us he likes to be called. It's got Saxon on stage in it, and that's why it's here, although it's interesting to see how Saxon can still play huge headline shows on the continent with a full outdoor-sized stageshow, yet they come home and play small gigs or support slots. I found this film OK as I'm a bit interested in stage shows, but others may just find it a bit boring. The last bit is Biff talking (audio only track) about the album. The extra DVD is worth having, if only to wonder why all this is on here!
Anyhooo, the album is really worth getting and if you can get the DVD for only a quid more, then go for it as you could always watch it boozed-up for maximum comedic effect!
Luke Morley - El Gringo Retro
The first solo album from Thunder's main Guitar-slinger which was recorded and released during the first Thunder hiatus sees him present a great selection of summery good-time songs. Again, I've had this hanging round on MP3 for an age, but thought I'd best fork out for a proper copy.
Morley is (funnnily enough) joined by everyone from Thunder apart from Mr Bowes,which must have been a bit odd on the first day of production. But do not be fooled, this is not a Thunder album and it doesn't pretend to be. Sure, there are moments when the finger of Thunder touches the songs, but then again it would as Morley always took the lion's share of writing duties in the day. The first song is more Santana's "Smooth" than "Dirty Love" and "This World" has more than just a little touch of Steve Miller's "The Joker" in it. It's all good stuff though and Morley has created a great selection of songs.
So, what of Morley's vocals? Well, there are times when you can hear the influence of Danny Bowes on the vocals, but why would you not take some tips and inflections from one of the greatest vocalists from modern rock if you could? (I'll get my tongue out of Thunder's arse in a minute, don't worry!) Morley sings as good as he needs to to bring a lot of feel to the songs and backed up by his solid production and guitar prowess, he doesn't put a foot wrong.
This is an album for long and hot days in the garden with a cold on in your hand. There's nothing too riff-heavy on here, so if you put on "Backstreet Symphony" first, this album should chill everyone out a little. I hope now that Thunder have called it a day (again) that Morley gets round to producing some more solo stuff in this vein, as this album is a great bit of work.
Thunder - Shooting at the Sun
I suppose that when Thunder called it quits at the tail end on the 90s that it was not a total surprise that the band would announce their return a few years later. The demand for the band was always there and the live shows were always worth the money. So this album surfaced in 2002, but I never managed to buy it, and I can't really give any excuse considering my usual habit of buying this lot's stuff on release. Maybe it's due to me going off them for a while... Lord know's what I was thinking back then.
Anyway, this album is what you would expect from the band; good, straight ahead rock and roll with Bowes' vocals soaring over a solid backing. The songs seem to be very much in the "Behind Closed Doors" vein with slightly despairing lyrics for the most part. The music is all good with some classic Morley riff present (check out "Blown Away") and I can't make any complaints about it. The only thing that bugs me is that the albums after this were better than this. There seemed to be more Thunder Sparkle on the following albums. Not to say that they've made a bad record here, they've just made another one.
U2 - The Joshua Tree (20th Anniversary Box Set)
To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the release of "The Joshua Tree", several editions were re-released to fleece, I mean, tempt the faithful and this was the nicest of the bunch. Containing two CDs (one of the album and another of rarities and B-Sides), a DVD, some fancy photos and a hardback book in a nice box, the boat has been pushed out. It's a nice thing and a worthy addition to the collection.
I needn't go into the music on "The Joshua Tree" here, as most people are aware of the stuff on that album. I will say that it's a testiment to the band that the music on there doesn't sound like it was recorded two decades ago and the music continues to shine now, sounding as epic and exciting now as it did in 1987. No matter what certain people think (mornin' Rich), this album was one of the best of the 1980s and I can't imagine ever not having it on the shelves somewhere. It's all crisp and clear and lovely in sound and the songs can still bare repeat spinnings, even though most people have probably heard this too many times already!
The bonus audio CD is packed full of stuff. Since it's all culled from B-Sides and other previously unreleased sources, it all sounds a bit "bitty" in places, but the songs are good and share the same wind-swept and wide-skied sound of the album for the most part. There's some familiar stuff on here for those of us without all the singles from days-of-yore. "Silver and Gold" crops up here in a studio form from "Rattle and Hum" and "Sweetest Thing" sounds right at home here oddly enough. "Wave of Sorrow" and the second version of "Silver and Gold" sound magnificent too on here. The material is generally all pretty serious sounding stuff, but then again the band were never known for their novelty hit singles. It's an interesting selection of songs and a nice addition to the set.
The DVD is a jewel here. There's a few promo clips in the form of an alternate "With or Without You" and a rare "Red Hill Mining Town" video, which are both great. The "Outside It's America" documentary follows the band around as they prepare to tour the album and serves nicely as an appetiser for 1988's "Rattle and Hum" movie. It's an interesting little piece which notably shows off both U2's incredibly serious public face (playing pool in some dodgy pub literally in the middle of nowhere and only occasionally smiling whilst swigging on beer and putting old country tunes on the jukebox) and the, no doubt, friendly side that they reveal only to themselves (Bono pulling some faces to the camera whilst some dodgy groupie-type who's cornered him tries it on with him). It's good to show that they weren't really that poe-faced all the time. A live show from Paris completes the DVD set. This show again is a clip of two halves. It all sounds great and looks fab, but you really get the impression that the show comes alive when the sun goes down and the best of "The Joshua Tree" material gets played. The huge and simple stage that is simply, but deathly effective lit comes alive when the sun is not on it and the size of the music takes over as they power through the latter half of the set. I'm sure it was very different if you were there on the day, of course. It's an enjoyable watch on the whole and a full-on DVD experience, although on the whole, I think that "Rattle and Hum" does the job a little bit better.
The set is completed by some "artcards" in an envelope which is basically a set of postcard of Anton Corbijn's moody black-and-whites of the band standing in the desert, which we are all so familiar with now. The book has written pieces by all the people involved in the making of the album which sheds some light on the whole thing, although some of it does shadow stuff talked about in the "Classic Albums" documentary from a few years back.
So, is it worth buying? Well, if you've got a few quid spare and get it cheap like I did, then totally. I'm not sure of the full price of it, but it feels like a tidy little set for the U2-lover in your life. It looks good on the shelf and the contents are all great, although I couldn't vouch for how exclusive some of the material is. The bottom line for me is that I spent twenty quid on it and it was worth it for me, even though I've got this album on CD and vinyl already. It's a great document of a band that reached great heights then went on to do other things and not rest on their laurels.
I'll leave this at this now... I'm a buggin' yer? I don't mean ter bug yer!
Two Rooms - Celebrating the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin
I got this for cheap since I didn't have a proper copy of Kate Bush's lovely version of "Rocket Man", but it's an album I have heard before as me mum used to have it in the car (That 2CV rocked hard) as I recall, back in the day. The rest of the songs, all covers of Elton and Bernie songs (obviously), sound suitably good for such a project. All of Rock's royalty appear on here (Clapton, Sting, Rod the Mod etc.) as well as a few then current (1991) artists such as Wilson Phillips and Oleta Adams and deliver their tunes with some panache.
For me, Kate's offering is the stand-out tune, which always seems totally lovely, but somehow unhinged, but then again I would say that. After all, I'm probably one of those aggravating people who would say that the woman burping "Oh What A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" is "a sensual and experimental piece of art", aren't I? There are some other good versions here though and it's probably good background stuff to put on if you want such a thing.
I'm rambling now... It's not bad, but don't break your neck trying to get this.
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe - Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
Recorded during a time of wrangling over the name "Yes", four of the blokes decided to go away and record their own album away from the band name under the most unwieldy moniker available which was a Yes album in everything but name. The joke at the time was that they sounded like a bunch of solicitors... ho ho. I remember buying a special cassette single at the time of release and getting GPM the album for his birthday, or something like, so I decided to spend a quid now and grab a copy.
The music on here is very much in the Rabin-era Yes vein, but slightly less poppish (for want of a better phrase). It's got all the trademarks you'd expect from an album made by the parties involved and they all sound as good as you'd hope. Anderson is still waffling on in his own way and being generally "cosmic", and the rest of them play along with typical virtuoso flare. All of the players get a chance to shine on here, Wakemen especially on songs such as "The Meeting", even if some of the sound choices on other numbers now sound a bit dated. It's a shame that Chris Squire was not playing nice as his rumble would have sounded good on here and given the "Close to the Edge" line-up a nice return to action.
On the whole, this album is pretty good, but not really a patch on some of the oldies like the aforementioned "Close to the Edge", but then again, that's a high mark to reach, even for Yes. Again, get this if you see it cheap, but check out some of the other Yes extended family albums first.
St. Elmo's Fire - Music from the Original Soundtrack
I got this for the title track obviously. John Parr's magnificent "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" which has always been a favourite since I heard it for the first time in 1985 with it's huge vocals and massive 80's production. It's a glorious tune which will always sound good to my addled old ears and I won't be told differently. I was happy to part with a quid just to get this tune.
As for the rest of the stuff on here, you get Billy Squier trying to sound like Def Leppard (right down to the "Rock, Rock never stop" intro, "Rock of Ages" chorus and whizzy sound effects), Jon Anderson in his full 90125 Yes era glory and Fee Waybill going for it with a very AOR offering which sounds pretty good. Other stuff includes an Airplay tune, which sounds oddly like early 80s Rush for some reason. David Foster's "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" appears twice, with and without a vocal track, which is all good, but works better with the accompanying images of Emilio Estevez and co. er... falling in love on screen, I suppose.
In terms of this as an 80s movie soundtrack, there are others which work a lot better and are more consistant, but this one is fine if you like that kind of thing. Put it this was though, I wasn't going to spend a quid on this before I'd spent two quid on a DVD of the film itself... But that is a different story!
Airbourne - Runnin' Wild
Now then, now then! Do you want some great riffing guitars? Do you want painful vocals singing songs of wine, women and song? Do you want a group of scruffy-looking beer-drinkers from Australia in the band? Do you want short and sharp songs that get right to the point? Do you want some serious rock and roll? Well, if you do AC/DC are coming to town soon... Failing that, you could do a LOT worse than pick up the debut album by Airbourne.
I'm sure that there are people out there who wil dismiss this band as a bunch of Acker-Derker copyists, which is a fair comment, but they just do it so damn well. Whilst this album is on, you can almost smell the spilt beer and sweat that this music is made for experiencing in the presence of! The band manage to sound like a total rip-off yet totally fresh. They've obviously learnt a lot from those old DC songs and have brought the best of it to their album.
This is a stormer of the album and I'd recommend it to any fan of Da Rokkk, but I reckon that this band would be even better in the live arena, which is something I hope to experience as soon as I get the chance!
The Answer - Everyday Demons
This is the second album by another of Ireland's finest. This is a storming collection of bluesy rockers from a band who are obviously as tight as a face-lift (Thanks to Sally Friedman for that) with a vocalist who sounds so damn good that this album damn near slinks out of the speakers into your ready and willing ears. I would be so bold as to say that his vocals are up there with Messers Bowes and Coverdale in terms of expressiveness and power... and that's a high accolade, even from some scrotty oik like me!
The songs all sound good, but I really want to live with this album and give it a lot of ear-'oling like I did the debut album. If you get the chance, pick up the two-disk edition as the extra live recording from Japan on disk two is storming and shows the band at the height of their power with their heads-down sound.
I should write more about this one when I've lived with it more... and I probably will. Need less to say, at this point, you can hold this band (and their second album) up alongside Black Stone Cherry's second album from the tail-end of last year of proof that there is still a good hearty selection of bands rocking it out hard, bluesy and groovy.
Bon Jovi - 7800 Degrees Fahrenheit
For sake of completion, I got this cheap to replace the ol' vinyl copy, as you do. I hadn't heard this (apart from "Tokyo Road") for such a long time, I wondered if time would give me a different opinion of it. I always though (as a lot of people seemed to do) that this was not a great album, but did have some good songs hidden in there. On spinning it again, I still kind of think that. It's funny that listening to it now, you can pick out so many parts where the band have just gone for bits they've liked from other albums of the time. For example, "In and Out of Love" suffers under the shadow of the bit of "Pyromania" that it's ripped-off. Luckily, by the time the band had got to "Slippery When Wet", a lot of this kind of copying had been smoothed out into a clear "Bon Jovi" sound that served them much better the third time around.
This said, there is some entertaining stuff on there. "The Hardest Part Is The Night" still sounds great and "Silent Night" is a good ballad. The aforementioned "Tokyo Road" is still a magnificent sing-a-long tune of the sort that Jovi became the master of on following platters.
The band sound OK, but Jon's vocals sound so damn forced at times and he squeals a lot. Thank god that Bruce Fairbairn turned up and helped to smooth this out on following albums. I think that it's Jon's vocals that make some of these tunes grate a little, but you can hear the potential. I think that when he relaxes into it a little more, you get a better sound from the man. The production does sound so dated on here. I think it's the keyboards that is a big culprit here, but that's always going to be the case in 80s rock albums of this ilk.
So time hasn't done too much to improve it, but it's still a reasonable collection of songs from a band just on the edge of becoming a world class act.
Europe
For some reason, I rediscovered my age-old affection for Joey Tempest's band of Swedish brothers and decided to replace some of my vinyl copies with shiny squeegees.
Europe - The Final Countdown
BUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
BUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
DAH DERRRR DAAAAAHHHHH DERRRRRRRRRRRR
DAH DER DAH DER DERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...
From the first twenty seconds of this album and the title track of Europe's third and breakthrough album, you know the kind of thing you are going to be treated to on this album. It's all huge, soaked in lush keyboards, crackling guitars and Joey Tempest's massive vocals. After the relatively heavy first two albums, this one totally fell-in with the Post-Pyromania and Post-Slippery When Wet rock climate and went for the hooks. With this in mind you get some storming songs like "Rock the Night" and "Cherokee" as well as some massive balladry in the mind-bogglingly huge "Carrie" which features some of Tempest's most over-wraught vocal delivery ever.
As for the title track, I defy anyone to hate this tune. It's a massive song and I do love it with both the irony that the song deserves and a true love of a tune that I could not get enough of as a fourteen year old lad discovering the world of rock. The band sound great, the fanfare is iconic and Jon Norum's guitar solo is a real face-melter. Even if you think it's the cheesiest bit of pap ever, you CANNOT deny the genius of lyrics like:
We're heading for Veeee-NUS (Veeee-nus),
and still we staaaaaand tall.
Cos maybe they've seeeee-NUS
and will welcoooommmme us alllllll, yeah!
I think that everyone should give this album a try. It's a winner...
Europe - Out Of This World
With new guitar player Kee Marcello in place, Europe carried on as they left off with a collection of eleven songs from the band's top drawer and one from their back catalogue (in the true vein of their Whitesnake heroes). Opening with the irresitable vocal harmonies and Deep Purple keyboard opening, "Superstitious" welcomes the listener to an album that continues the bands exploration of all things tasteful and rocking. Honourable mention must go to Mr Marcello and his incredible solo in this song which still takes my breath away and makes me smile twenty one years after first hearing it.
The band on here sound great and in those terms, this is a better album that "The Final Countdown". The songs are generally better and more memorable on here also, which is great and go a long way to disproving the general wisdom that Europe were a one-trick pony after the commercial success of "The Final Countdown" single. Songs like "Lights and Shadows" and "Ready or Not" are good steady rockers whilst the pace is dropped for the big balladry of "Coast to Coast". A personal high-point is the rerecording of "Open Your Heart" which is afforded a massive production here. It's a great song and (in my opinion) is improved on this album with a great vocal per(m)formance, improved arrangement and steaming solo. The ghost of "The Final Countdown" rears it's head for "Tower's Callin'" which is a slight drop in the album for me, but generally it's all good stuff and it's a shame that Jovi's "New Jersey" came out around the same time (as memory serves) and overshadowed it.
Europe - Prisoners of Paradise
Just before the big bad Grunge movement came along and ruined 80s rock for everyone, this album surfaced. Veering between a very poppy sound ("I'll Cry For You") to a harder-edged rock approach ("Seventh Seal"), this album doesn't settle in quite as quickly as "Out of This World", but when it does it rewards the listener with some top tunes. It's hard not to like the title song for a start. With it's Springsteen-esque (or warmed-over "Livin' on a Prayer", depending on your viewpoint) lyrics of kids doing their best to find their way through life and massive hooky chorus and huge intro which attempts to out-pomp "The Final Countdown" pretty successfully, it's hard not to get caught up in it all.
In the end, Tempest writes songs that do sink in and become old pals and this album continues the trend set by the previous two albums. It's just that this album seems to take a few more chances and there are some bits that after a few spins, make sense and provide a good listening experience.
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© 2006 Graham T. Ebbrell