Category Archives: Buckcherry
Buckcherry – Confessions (Deluxe Edition) [Review]
Buckcherry – Confessions [Deluxe Edition]
2013, Century Media Records
Disc 1 – CD:
1. “Gluttony”
2. “Wrath”
3. “Nothing Left But Tears”
4. “The Truth”
5. “Greed”
6. “Water”
7. “Seven Ways To Die”
8. “Air”
9. “Sloth”
10. “Pride”
11. “Envy”
12. “Lust”
13. “Dreamin’ of You”
Bonus Tracks
14. “Give ‘Em What They Want”
15. “When the Fire Starts”
Disc 2 – DVD:
1. “The Story Behind “Confessions”"
2. “Gluttony” (Official Music Video)
3. “On the Set: Gluttony Video Shoot”
4. “Gluttony” (Official Lyric Video)
Band:
Josh Todd – Lead Vocals
Keith Nelson – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Stevie D. – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Jimmy Ashhurst – Bass
Xavier Muriel – Drums, Percussion
Additional Musicians:
Jimmy Nichols – Keyboards
Producer: Keith Nelson & Marti Frederiksen
I find it hilarious that a bunch of heavy metal knuckle-heads are up in arms that Century Media had the audacity to sign Buckcherry and release one of their albums. The truth is Eleven Seven Music has licensed out the North American rights for Confessions to Century Media. Regardless, I’ve seen the ignorant comments on Facebook, YouTube and various metal sites claiming that Century Media is a label for “true metal” (whatever that is) and that Buckcherry are nothing more than “hair metal posers” that “suck” and that they don’t deserve to be associated with a metal label such as Century Media.
Well, maybe Century Media wants to expand their musical horizons beyond the likes of Finntroll, Necrowretch and Vattnet Viskar? If you don’t like Buckcherry, don’t listen to them! Simple as that. You’ll certainly never see me buying a Winds of Plague album.
Label controversy aside, when I heard Buckcherry was planning on releasing a concept album, I was a bit skeptical. I’m a huge fan of all of the band’s albums but I DON’T like concept albums at all. Plus, Buckcherry isn’t really the type of band you’d think would ever release a concept album. I suppose Confessions is really more of a theme album though. The theme? The seven deadly sins. “Okay, cool,” I thought to myself, “I can see a band like Buckcherry making that work”.
But Confessions doesn’t just “work”. It excels. The lead single “Gluttony” is 100% Buckcherry. It’s what you expect from the band. Bratty, sleazy and in-your-face. It’s an anthem. The rest of the album takes a slightly different tone. The lyrics are darker (written by Josh Todd, they are autobiographical) and the music is bit more serious. I’ve seen a number of other reviews state that the band has traded riffs for melodies and while I hope there’s a balance to be struck on future albums, I had to agree in reference to Confessions.
Songs like “Pride” (my favorite song from this album) and “Envy” (which should be released as a single at some point) are fine examples of the band imploring melodies instead of great riffing. Still, songs like “Gluttony”, “Wrath”, “Seven Ways to Die” and “Lust” supply the guitar goods.
When I first listened to the album nothing other than “Gluttony” struck me as a Buckcherry song. Listening to it now, the whole album has grown on me. I love it. It’s going to be tough to beat this as the best album of 2013 but it is a bit different than anything the band has done before. I mean that in a good way though. There aren’t really a lot of singles here. While the songs are definitely appealing, none of them seem like they were written with commercial appeal in mind. This is an ALBUM that needs to be listened through again and again.
The deluxe CD edition comes with a bonus DVD but I mostly bought it for the two additional bonus tracks that come with the CD. “Give ‘Em What They Want” and “When The Fire Starts” are both great riff rockers much more in the typical Buckcherry vein. I can see why they didn’t make it to the main album, not because they aren’t good but because they don’t fit in with the sound of Confessions. For a few bucks more and two awesome songs, the deluxe edition is well worth seeking out.
No matter the format, Buckcherry has delivered what might be their best & most consistent album to date. This isn’t a party album like their previous releases have been but it’s still a great rock record by one of the best rock bands going today.
Highlights: ALL OF IT
http://www.buckcherry.com/
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Buckcherry – Christmas Is Here
Buckcherry – Christmas Is Here [single] (2010, Eleven Seven Music)
1. “Christmas Is Here” … 3:10
Band:
Josh Todd – Lead Vocals
Keith Nelson – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Stevie D. – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Jimmy Ashhurst – Bass, Backing Vocals
Xavier Muriel – Drums, Percussion
“Christmas Is Here” is an exclusive digital single that was released in November 2010 just in time for the holiday season. I bought my copy through iTunes but it’s available at all major digital music stores.
There’s really not a whole lot to say about this single other than I like it a lot. I’m a huge fan of Christmas music (mostly the traditional tunes sung by crooners like Crosby, Sinatra, Cole, Como, Martin, Mathis and even Michael Buble) so when I found out Buckcherry was releasing a Christmas song I was very excited to check it out since BC is one of my favorite bands.
Honestly though I wasn’t expecting much, thinking this was basically going to be a throwaway track but I loved the song upon first listen. It’s not a rockin’ Christmas song like “Run Rudolph Run” or “Jingle Bell Rock”, instead BC takes a jingle jangle mid-tempo pace. It’s a laid back, feel good Christmas rock ‘n’ roll song. I think a lot of contemporary Christmas songs fall flat but “Christmas Is Here” is a modern classic and a song I’ll be playing for many holidays to come. Makes me feel all warm ‘n’ fuzzy inside and positive about the entire season and isn’t that what a great Christmas song should do? I hope it’ll be issued as a bonus track at some point on a CD.
So, is there anything these guys can’t do? Kick-ass rockers, great ballads and now great Christmas music. Best band from the last 15 years easily.
www.buckcherry.com
www.facebook.com/buckcherry
www.twitter.com/buckcherry
BUCKCHERRY – All Night Long
Buckcherry – All Night Long [Best Buy Exclusive Limited Edition] (2010, Eleven Seven Music)
Disc 1: All Night Long
1. “All Night Long” … 3:54
2. “It’s a Party” … 3:44
3. “These Things” … 3:52
4. “Oh My Lord” … 3:38
5. “Recovery” … 3:01
6. “Never Say Never” … 3:43
7. “I Want You” … 3:43
8. “Liberty” … 4:16
9. “Our World” … 3:50
10. “Bliss” … 3:56
11. “Dead” … 5:24
Disc 2: Reckless Sons Acoustic EP
1. ‘These Things” … 3:58
2. “Fire Off Your Guns” … 3:46
3. “Black Butterfly” … 3:47
4. “King of Kings” … 4:49
5. “My Friend” … 3:58
6. “Grace” … 4:20
Band:
Josh Todd – Lead Vocals
Keith Nelson – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Stevie D. – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Jimmy Ashhurst – Bass, Backing Vocals
Xavier Muriel – Drums, Percussion
Producer: Marti Frederikson & Keith Nelson
All Night Long is one of my most anticipated albums for 2010. The release of the singles “All Night Long” and “Our World” gave me great hope for this album. I was a big supporter of this band when their debut album hit back in ’99 but then they kinda drifted away after the release of Time Bomb but made a great rock ‘n’ roll comeback with 15 in 2006. 2008′s Black Butterfly was the band’s finest moment in my opinion (though most disagree) and their Live & Loud 2009 release is one of my favorite live albums of all time. I guess maybe in my eyes this band can do no wrong at this point. I’ve been lucky enough to see them in concert three times and they’re one of few real rock bands left. They have a classic sound and look but aren’t retro. Simply put, Buckcherry is good sleazy rock ‘n’ roll.
I pre-ordered the Best Buy edition because it was only $9.99 and also it comes with an “exclusive” second disc — the Reckless Sons Acoustic EP. Well, I guess Best Buy is correct in saying this version of Reckless Sons is exclusive because while they are offering six acoustic tracks, iTunes is offering seven (an acoustic version of “Sorry” is the extra track). It’s a shame digital music gets preferred treatment these days but that’s just the way it goes when CD sales continue to drop. I don’t download albums so I guess I’ll have to settle for this inferior Best Buy version of the EP.
The Acoustic EP is good for what it is. The original plan for the album was for all of it to be acoustic but they scrapped that idea presumably after all these acoustic songs were written. The songs are what you would expect: ballads and mid-tempo numbers. Not really something I would want a full album of but for bonus content it’s pretty good. Some of these songs would have fit in well onto the actual All Night Long album. The song “Black Butterfly” was actually written for the album of the same name but for whatever reason was not included.
As for the actual All Night Long album, for any that were disappointed by the detour the band took a bit with Black Butterfly, I think they’ll find much to like here. The album is straight-forward meat & potatoes rock ‘n’ roll. It’s Buckcherry doing what they do best — sleazy rock songs about sex and partying. There is no “Crazy Bitch” or “Too Drunk…” here and maybe that’s a good thing. I’m glad they’re not trying to re-write previous hits. I have found every single song to be enjoyable, no filler here. Of course, there’s the few obligatory ballads but I think that’s an area where Buckcherry excels. “These Things” and “I Want You” fit in just fine with the rest of the great ballads this band has written.
In a cool nod to their debut, the album cover and inside art features photos of a live model made up to look like the painting of the girl on the cover of their debut. Apparently, her name is “Cherry Girl”. And the real girl is pretty hot!
Okay, I do have one complaint — the first disc seems to have trouble playing my computer. Reckless Sons will play just fine but All Night Long seems to have a 99.9% fail rate on this computer. I have tried it on a laptop, two DVD players and a car and it plays there fine with no problems but I guess it hates my computer. I’ve only been able to get it to play once and that was after I had restarted the computer. I ended up ejecting the disc to listen to Reckless Sons and then went to put All Night Long back in and it was back to not playing! This is very frustrating because I listen to 98% of my music on my computer.
Other than that, this is an amazing release and it’s a very strong contender to be my favorite album of the year.
Highlights: “All Night Long”, “These Things”, “Oh My Lord”, “Never Say Never”, “I Want You”, “Our World”, “Dead”, “Fire Off Your Guns”, “My Friend”
BUCKCHERRY – Live & Loud 2009
Buckcherry – Live & Loud 2009 (2009, Eleven Seven Music)
1. “Tired of You” … 3:44
2. “Next 2 You” … 3:56
3. “Broken Glass” … 4:39
4. “Check Your Head” … 4:56
5. “Lit Up” … 4:42
6. “Talk To Me” … 3:48
7. “Rescue Me” … 3:48
8. “Rose” … 4:02
9. “For the Movies” … 5:13
10. “Ridin’” … 4:41
11. “Lawless and Lulu” … 4:27
12. “Everything” … 4:31
13. “Sorry” … 4:04
14. “Crazy Bitch” … 7:37
15. “Cream” … 4:05
Band:
Josh Todd – Vocals
Keith Nelson – Guitar
Stevie D. – Guitar
Jimmy Ashhurst – Bass
Xavier Muriel – Drums
Producer: Keith Nelson
Buckcherry is easily one of my favorite acts to come out out the ’90s (though they barely made that decade, their debut was released in 1999) and are one of the best hard rock outfits going today, in my opinion. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them live three times and hope to see them again in the future. They always put on a fun energetic show, they’re a great live rock ‘n’ roll band. Maybe they aren’t perfectionists and technical wizards but rock ‘n’ roll isn’t about perfection. They aren’t as sloppy as a band like Poison but they have just enough to lend extra charm to their shows.
Live & Loud 2009 is a great representation of what the band is all about. I’m sure the usual touch-ups were done in the studio (in fact I think I hear Josh Todd backing himself on the vocals at one point) but I can say that if anything was changed, the changes were very minor because I know what they sound like live. I actually saw the band on this tour, unfortunately they weren’t recording for this album at the show I went to near Detroit. The whole album was recorded over the course of a few shows in Canada in May 2009.
The album basically doubles as a “best of” and features 5 tracks from 2008′s Black Butterfly which is a good thing because I think that’s their best album yet. The only track off the top of my head I think they missed out on including is “Too Drunk…”. Which is really weird because it was Black Butterfly‘s lead single and was a minor hit on rock stations. What’s even more strange is on the reissue of Black Butterfly it was replaced by the band’s cover of Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” (a song they recorded for NASCAR). I guess that explains not including it here but why would you remove a single from the album in the first place? The song caught a lot of flack for being a too similar to “Crazy Bitch” but I still love it.
Speaking of “Crazy Bitch”, it’s the highlight of the album. In a live setting, the band adds a bit of funk to it and Josh Todd’s stage rap introducing the song is good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll debauchery and fun. The version here is 7 min 37 sec but when I’ve seen them they’ve stretched it out to about the 10 minute mark.
Upon release, the album was going for about $9.99 but I picked it up for $7.99. I’m not a huge fan of live albums but for bands I really love I’m more prone to buy them. I’m glad I picked this up and anyone who isn’t sold on Buckcherry’s studio albums may be able to appreciate this release a bit more.
Highlights: “Tired Of You”, “Next 2 You”, “Broken Glass”, “Check Your Head”, “Lit Up”, “Talk To Me”, “Rescue Me”, “Everything”, “Crazy Bitch”
BUCKCHERRY – 15
Buckcherry – 15 (2005, Eleven Seven Music)
Track Listing:
1. “So Far” … 3:19
2. “Next 2 You” … 3:28
3. “Out of Line” … 4:22
4. “Everything” … 4:23
5. “Carousel” … 4:31
6. “Sorry” … 3:46
7. “Crazy Bitch” … 3:22
8. “Onset” … 3:35
9. “Sunshine” … 4:12
10. “Brooklyn” … 3:59
11. “Broken Glass” … 3:31
Band:
Josh Todd – Lead Vocals
Keith Nelson – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Stevie D. – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Jimmy Ashhurt – Bass, Backing Vocals
Xavier Muriel – Drums, Backing Vocals
Additional Musicians:
Mark Watrous – Keyboard
Produced by: Mike Plotnikoff, Paul DeCarli, Keith Nelson
This album kinda passed me by, even though I picked it up soon after it was released. I was happy the band was back and had a huge rock radio hit with “Crazy Bitch” (then later a pop hit with “Sorry”), but outside of “Crazy Bitch”, I didn’t really listen to the album much. Sometimes, when I buy many CDs within a short span of time, some get lost in the shuffle and not played as much. Perhaps 15 suffered that fate.
And that’s just too bad because this album is REALLY good. In fact, I’d place it right behind my favorite Buckcherry album, 2008′s Black Butterfly. Whatever Josh Todd & Keith Nelson are doing since bring the group back, it’s working for me. There’s a looser, heavier 70s vibe than what was found on their self-titled debut and Time Bomb.
A good handful of songs here have been a part of their live show when I’ve seen them: “Next 2 You”, “Broken Glass” (which sounds even better live), “Out of Line”, “Everything”, “Onset”, and of course “Sorry” and “Crazy Bitch”.
Highlights: “Next 2 You”, “Everything”, “Sorry”, “Crazy Bitch”, “Onset”, “Broken Glass”
BUCKCHERRY – Black Butterfly
Buckcherry – Black Butterfly (2008, Atlantic Records/Eleven Seven Music)
Track Listing:
1. “Rescue Me” … 3:12
2. “Tired of You” … 3:07
3. “Too Drunk…” … 4:02
4. “Dreams” … 3:51
5. “Talk To Me” … 3:28
6. “Child Called ‘It’” … 2:55
7. “Don’t Go Away” … 3:49
8. “Fallout” … 3:36
9. “Rose” … 3:53
10. “All of Me” … 3:45
11. “Imminent Bail Out” … 3:11
12. “Cream” … 3:34
Band:
Josh Todd – Lead Vocals
Keith Nelson – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Stevie D. – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Jimmy Ashhurt – Bass, Mandolin, Backing Vocals
Xavier Muriel – Drums, Backing Vocals
Produced by: Keith Nelson & Marti Fredericksen
I bought this album the day it was released, but prior to that, I was surfing the net checking reviews on it. A place I frequently visit, AllMusicGuide, gave it one and half stars out of five. Ouch. Other sites are claiming it’s pedestrian and some giving as much praise to say it’s “okay”. Wow. I don’t get that at all here.
This album rocks! I dare say it’s Buckcherry’s best. I was there at the ground floor with their debut and that was good, but nearly half the album was filler, IMO. Time Bomb I skipped out on due to poor reviews and then I came back with 15, which like their debut, was solid but nothing special outside of a few great songs, I thought.
So here we see the band’s fourth release and I think this is their most well-rounded album yet. The first three tracks are a great punch full of rock (with the funky “Too Drunk…” being this album’s “Crazy Bitch”) and the fourth track “Dreams” features the band mellowing out, just a bit, to talk about love.
You can definitely say there’s a 15-like format as far as the singles go, with the aforementioned “Too Drunk…” and a wannabe “Sorry” called “Don’t Go Away”, but so what? The songs are strong. Songs like “All of Me” show a different and maturing sound of Buckcherry and that’s cool. There’s really not a whole lot of filler here at all and I imagine I’ll be playing this one for sometime to come.
Fun Fact: The band played “Too Drunk…” and “Tired of You” (and sounded great doing them) during their setlist at the Detroit CrueFest show I went to back in July. 
Hightlights: “Rescue Me”, “Too Drunk…”, “Tired of You”, “Dreams”, “Talk to Me”, “Don’t Go Away”, “All of Me”, “Cream”
www.buckcherry.com
www.myspace.com/buckcherry
BUCKCHERRY – Buckcherry
Buckcherry – Buckcherry (1999, DreamWorks Records)
Track Listing:
1. “Lit Up” … 3:35
2. “Crushed” … 3:40
3. “Dead Again” … 3:24
4. “Check Your Head” … 4:32
5. “Dirty Mind” … 5:00
6. “For the Movies” … 4:34
7. “Lawless and Lulu” … 4:09
8. “Related” … 3:28
9. “Borderline” … 4:26
10. “Get Back” … 3:08
11. “Baby” … 4:27
12. “Drink the Water” … 4:18
Band:
Josh Todd – Vocals
Yogi Lonich – Guitar
Keith Nelson – Guitar
Jonathan Brightman – Bass
Devon Glenn – Drums
Additional Musicians:
Steve Jones – Background Vocals, Guitar
Kim Bullard – Keyboard
Produced by: Terry Date & Steve Jones
Ah, good ol’ Buckcherry. I remember rock sites and magazines were hailing them as the saviors of rock upon their arrival. A band that would bring back “true” rock & roll not seen since the glory days of Guns N Roses at the beginning of the decade. So is it the best debut since GNR’s Appetite for Destruction (as Metal Edge magazine said)? Nope.
It’s pretty good though. All the GNR similarities got me really excited for this album, but it was a bit of a letdown. Of course, if you’re expecting a band to compare to the peak years of GNR, you’re always going to be disappointed. It’s a half & half album for me. Half is filler (I never cared for “Lit Up”), half is good stuff. I do remember playing it a lot as soon as it came out and “Lit Up” was all over radio and “For the Movies” spent some time there as well.
Good, but nothing special, but hey, it was definitely better than the alternative rock, nu metal and rap-metal junk that MTV & radio was force-feeding everyone at the time.
And how ’bout that cover? Oh, how I stared at it… >=)
Highlights: “Crushed”, “Dead Again”, “Check Your Head”, “Dirty Mind”, “For the Movies”, “Lawless and Lulu”, “Borderline”
www.buckcherry.com
www.myspace.com/buckcherry
