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The Top Ten Albums of 2008 (#6-10)
2008 has been a phenomenal year in the rock & metal world. Legends returned with a vengeance and were met with praise and success (AC/DC, Metallica, Motley Crue) and other legends returned to be met with confusion and/or slower than expected sales (Judas Priest, Guns N’ Roses). There were a few surprises, and a few disappointment as well. Today, we take a look at #6-10, tomorrow #1-5.
6. Motley Crue – Saints of Los Angeles
The Crue really upped their game with this release. After hearing the new songs from Red, White and Crue, I was excited to hear a full new albums from these guys and they delivered. The title track is a killer Crue song and stands with all of the classics in their catalog. It also debuted with respectable sales and was supported by the fun and successful Crue Fest tour.
7. SteelHeart – Good 2B Alive
Out of nowhere, SteelHeart delivers in 2008! I was blown away by how good this album was. SteelHeart’s never been a bad band, so I didn’t expect anything horrible, but who knew modern hard rock and the 80s melodic hard rock sound could be fused together so perfectly? Milijenko Matijevic’s voice is STILL one of the most powerful in rock. Shame not many people seemed to notice this album when it came out. Many tracks were worthy of radio play.
8. Judas Priest – Nostradamus
I’ll admit, I was a bit disappointed by this album (though not as much as others) when it first came out. Concept albums don’t do much for me in general, but after giving the album a few closer listens, it’s really grown on me. It’s still bloated, overproduced and has way too much filler in the form of instrumentals, but underneath all of that, between those two discs, is a very good Priest album.
9. Buckcherry – Black Butterfly
Another album that took me by surprise. I’ve always been a fan of the idea and image of Buckcherry more than the music itself, but Black Butterfly has definitely proven the band’s worthiness to me. From top the bottom, the album is enjoyable and the band has begun to broaden their tastes a bit. This album seems to have failed to replicate the success of their last album, 15, which is a shame because it’s superior in nearly every way.
10. Various Artists – We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year
Seriously. Who woulda thunk an indie release full of heavy metal takes on Christmas songs would be good, let alone great? I absolutely love this album and I know I’ll be playing it for years to come. I almost feel a bit guilty for ranking it above some of the honorable mentions, but when I’m having this much fun listening to an album, I can’t worry about that!
Honorable Mentions. A couple of albums that were very good, but as whole, didn’t receive as many listens and weren’t as consistent. Not bad albums by any means, all are worth picking up, but they just lacked that extra something to warrant a Top 10 spot.
Tesla – Forever More
A solid effort, but just didn’t come close to Into the Now for me.
Journey – Revelation
This was actually another nice surprise, but as good as it was, I’m a hard rock guy at heart, not an AOR guy.
Avantasia – The Scarecrow
Avantasia started off 2008 in a great way, and it almost made the list, but I my interests wanes listening to nothing but an album full of power metal. That’s why Edguy made the list and this album didn’t.
Extreme – Saudades de Rock
Really strong record that featured one of my favorite songs of the year (“King of the Ladies”). A bit too slow at times to get into the Top 10 though.
Stop by tomorrow as I present numbers 1-5 of 2008! And be sure to check out these fine sites for even more best of ’08 lists:
All Metal Resource
Bring Back Glam
Hard Rock Hideout
Hair Metal Mansion
Heavy Metal Addiction
Heavy Metal Time Machine
Imagine Echoes
Layla’s Classic Rock
The Metal Minute
The Ripple Effect
Rock And Roll and Meandering Nonsense
Rock Of Ages
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
CRUE FEST – 07/15/08
Crue Fest featuring Motley Crue, Buckcherry, Papa Roach, SIXX:A.M., Trapt (07/15/08, DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan)
Yesterday’s show was a blast. If you’ve never been to DTE, it’s a pavilion that seats 15,000 and some odd change (about 8,000 of that are lawn seats) out in a nice quiet place called Clarkston, Michigan. Despite Detroit being miles away, no music acts ever play Clarkston when they’re at DTE, they play Detroit. It’s more prestigious sounding that way. A pretty nice & clean outdoor place, with tons of shops inside the gates to blow your money on heavily overpriced beer, margarita, snow cones, merchandise, mini-fans, and pizza. Just like Disney World!
MOTLEY CRUE – Saints of Los Angeles
Motley Crue – Saints of Los Angeles [Best Buy Exclusive DVD Limited Edition] (2008, Motley Records)
Track Listing:
1. “L.A.M.F.” … 1:21
2. “Face Down in the Dirt” … 3:44
3. “What’s It Gonna Take” … 3:45
4. “Down at the Whisky” … 3:50
5. “Saints of Los Angeles” … 3:40
6. “MF of the Year” … 3:55
7. “The Animal in Me” … 4:16
8. “Welcome to the Machine” … 3:00
9. “Just Another Psycho” … 3:36
10. “Chicks=Trouble” … 3:13
11. “This Ain’t a Love Song” … 3:25
12. “White Trash Circus” … 2:51
13. “Goin’ out Swingin’” … 3:27
Best Buy Exclusive Bonus DVD
1. “Saints of Los Angeles” Music Video
2. Crue Fest Press Conference
3. “Kickstart My Heart” live performance
4. “Saints of Los Angeles” live performance
Band:
Vince Neil – Vocals
Mick Mars – Guitar
Nikki Sixx – Bass
Tommy Lee – Drums
Additional Musicians:
Josh Todd – Gang Vocals
Jacoby Shaddix – Gang Vocals
Chris Taylor Brown – Gang Vocals
James Michael – Backing/Gang Vocals, Keyboards
Marty Frederikson – Backing Vocals
Melissa Harding – Backing Vocals
Produced by: James Michael
Co-Produced by: Nikki Sixx & DJ Ashba
When Motley said they were working on NEW material, I was ecstatic. I loved the new stuff, “Sick Love Song” and “If I Die Tomorrow”, they added onto the Red, White & Crue compilation. I thought they were a perfect mix of the classic Motley sound and modern hard rock, even if some Motley fans didn’t care for’em. I remember seeing them on the Carnival of Sin tour and the crowd just sitting on their hands when they played those songs. So, I was thinking we’d get an album full of sick love songs, but Motley has gone back to their roots with this album and is delivering good old-fashioned Motley hard rock.
Even in anticipation, I was kinda worried, because their last studio album, 2000′s New Tattoo fell flat with me. But SOLA definitely has bite and definitely sounds like Motley, despite the fact that Nikki’s side project, SIXX:AM, was pretty much the creative force behind it (James Michael & DJ Ashba produced and had a hand in writing every song alongside Nikki). Veteran rock songwriter/producer Marti Frederikson had a heavy hand in the songwriting as well, and Mick did also, to a lesser extent. At least, they didn’t bring Bob Rock back. He neutered Metallica for a decade and nearly did the same with Motley in 1994!
Anyway, song samples posted on Amazon.com a few weeks back didn’t give me much hope, but I don’t know what I was thinking at the time, because the album rocks and is one of 2008′s best releases. “Saint of Los Angeles” is my favorite track and is classic Motley without any modern influences. It also features “gang vocals” from Crue Fest-mates James Michael (SIXX:AM) Josh Todd (Buckcherry), Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach) and Chris Taylor Brown (Trapt). On the flipside, “The Animal in Me” screams modern rock radio to me, but is very good, and should be their next single. Nikki’s always had a good ear for writing catchy modern hard rock songs (listen to Saliva’s “Rest In Pieces” and tell me I’m lying!).
I picked up the Best Buy limited edition, but the only difference is there’s a bonus DVD, but it’s pretty cool. There’s a music video for “SOLA”, their Crue Fest press conference in full and two songs they performed live at the press conference. Plus, photo stills of the band and a bunchload of excerpts from their band autobiography, “The Dirt”.
Highlights: “What’s It Gonna Take”, “Down at the Whisky”, “Saints of Los Angeles”, “MF of the Year”, “The Animal in Me”, “This Ain’t a Love Song”, “Goin’ out Swingin’”.
www.motley.com
www.myspace.com/motleycrue
