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Wildstreet – Easy Does It
Wildstreet – Easy Does It (2012, self-released)
1. “Easy Does It” … 3:25
Band:
Eric Jayk – Lead Vocals, Guitar
Ian MacPherson – Lead Guitar, Vocals
Aaron Joos – Guitar, Vocals
Ali Hassan – Bass, Vocals
Brian Beck – Drums
“Easy Does It” is the new single from modern glam/sleaze rock ‘n’ rollers Wildstreet (set to be released through iTunes on January 24th). Though a Wildstreet III album is a ways off, the band wanted to give the people a taste of what’s in store once that third release does arrive.
I came across this band years ago while browsing Retrospective Records’ site and ordered the debut from there and loved it. The first album was very much inspired by the slick glam metal and Def Leppard sounds. The Wildstreet II E.P. was a bit of a departure that went for a more sleazy & raw sound that was influenced by AC/DC and High ‘n’ Dry.
“Easy Does It” continues Wildstreet’s path down the road of straight up no-frills rock ‘n’ roll. It’s easier to compare the song to Wildstreet II but as much as I liked that E.P., I think “Easy Does It” is even better and it gets me excited for the third release as the band continues to find their own rock ‘n’ roll identity.
If you’ve missed out on this band, track down their first two releases. You won’t be disappointed. Then, make your way to iTunes on 1/24/12 and purchase “Easy Does It” and watch out for the “Easy Does It” music video that will be premiering on January 30th.
www.wildstreetmusic.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Wildstreet/8342603261
www.youtube.com/wildstreet
Eric Carr – Unfinished Business
Eric Carr – Unfinished Business (2011, Auto Rock Records)
1. Eric speaks to the fans
2. “Just Can’t Wait”
3. “Troubles Inside You”
4. Eric talks about his music
5. “No One’s Messin’ With You”
6. “Carr Jam 1981″
7. Eric talks about audition
8. “Shandi”
9. “All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose”
10. “Dial L For Love”
11. “Elephant Man”
12. Eric Talks about Mark St. John
13. “Midnite Stranger”
14. “Eyes Of Love”
15. Bill Aucoin talks about Eric
16. “Through The Years”
17. “I Cry at Night”
18. Eric kidding around at a Kiss album rehearsal
Producer: Linda Caravello & Beth Jordan
On the 20 year anniversary of Eric Carr’s death, the Caravello (Carr) family decided to honor Eric by releasing Unfinished Business, an album featuring a number of Eric’s demos that were recently fleshed out and re-recorded with the aid of a number of musicians. Also featured are voice clips of Eric Carr. A similar project called Rockology was released by the family in 1999 but that album was nothing but demos & rough mixes with the only tampering being done by former KISS band mate Bruce Kulick who tried to re-mix the tracks and improve production as best he could.
Notes about the songs:
- “Just Can’t Wait” (1987) was originally released on Rockology as an instrumental but this time around there are lyrics & vocals for it and there’s a good reason this new version comes off like Danger Danger — Ted Poley sings on it. I think it was one of the better songs from Rockology. It’s nice to hear it with a vocal track but I think it still stands as a great instrumental as well.
- “Troubles Inside You” (1987) features KISS collaborator Mitch Weissman on vocals. Sound quality isn’t that great given that it’s a demo but it’s a cool rocker.
- “No One’s Messin’ With You” (1989) is an early demo of what would morph into “Little Caesar” from Hot in the Shade.
- “Carr Jam 1981″ (which originally appeared on KISS’ Revenge album) & “All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose” (originally appeared on KISS’ Lick It Up album) are covers by the band ZO2.
- “Shandi” features Eric on vocals and comes from his 1980 KISS audition. These demo tapes remained lost until 2006 when they were rediscovered by Eric Carr’s family. The entire four-song audition was produced on CD in extremely limited quantities and released as The 1980 KISS Audition EP and sold through www.EricCarr.com. This particular version lifts Eric’s vocals from the audition tape and adds new music performances and arrangement.
- “Dial L for Love” is a near complete demo track (no vocals) from 1987. Could’ve been a really good rocker.
- “Elephant Man” never got past the lyrics stage in 1991 when Eric passed away. Music was composed for this song from scratch by Bob Gilmartin (who provides vocals & guitar) and Nick Clements. Eric’s sister and niece sing backing vocals, Twisted Sister’s A.J. Pero plays drums and Europe’s Kee Marcello provided lead guitar on the intro.
- “Midnite Stranger” comes from a demo that Eric had given ex-KISS lead guitarist Mark St. John back in 1986. Mark had contacted the Carr family in 2006 and gave them the tape and the plan was for St. John to add more guitar parts but the project was never completed due to Mark’s passing away in 2007.
- “Eyes of Love” is another song that was originally on Rockology. This version is considerably better with newly recorded music. All of Eric’s vocals remain while Seether’s John Humphrey plays the drums and Benny Doro plays everything else.
- “Through The Years” is a compilation recordings of Eric on drums from his teenage years up to live performances with KISS. Very cool thing to hear.
- “I Cry At Night” is a song from 1967. It was written by Eric and recorded by The Cellarmen, which was his very first band. Very much inspired by the Beatles and general rock/pop sound of bands at the time.
The rest of the tracks are short sound clips from interviews either with Eric or about Eric.
Overall, this is a great disc for KISS fans to add to their collection. Carr is one of the most loved members the band has ever had and this is another great trip back in time to see what a cool guy and great talent he was. Hopefully the Carr family has more demos and outtakes ready to go because I’d love for third album to come along. Hopefully we’ll get some new kick-ass versions of “Somebody’s Waiting”, “Nightmare” and “Can You Feel It” if that ever comes about!
Highlights: “Just Can’t Wait”, “Troubles Inside You”, “Shandi”, “All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose”, “Eyes of Love”, “Through The Years”
www.EricCarr.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Eric-Carr-Official/146128105398320
Steel Panther – Balls Out
Steel Panther – Balls Out (2011, Universal Republic Records)
1. “In The Future” … 1:28
2. “Supersonic Sex Machine” … 3:10
3. “Just Like Tiger Woods” … 3:41
4. “17 Girls In A Row” … 3:41
5. “If You Really, Really Love Me” … 2:25
6. “It Won’t Suck Itself” … 2:54
7. “Tomorrow Night” … 2:58
8. “Why Can’t You Trust Me” … 4:01
9. “That’s What Girls Are For” … 3:59
10. “Gold-Digging Whore” … 3:55
11. “I Like Drugs” … 4:19
12. “Critter” … 3:38
13. “Let Me Come In” … 3:30
14. “Weenie Ride” … 4:20
Band:
Michael Starr – Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals
Satchel – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Lexxi Foxxx – Bass, Backing Vocals
Stix Zadinia – Drums, Backing Vocals
Additional Musicians:
Chad Kroger – Vocals (“It Won’t Suck Itself”)
Dane Cook – Spoken Words (“In The Future”)
Producer: Jay Ruston
The mighty Steel Panther has returned with another round of heavy metal parody. What’s great about these guys is that while they certainly have the glam-metal mimbo image down pat, these guys can actually get pretty heavy when they want to. Just check out “Death To All But Metal” from Feel The Steel or this album’s “Supersonic Sex Machine” (which apes Judas Priest’s “Rapid Fire” quite well). As far as musicianship goes, these guys are no joke.
There’s a bit of a trade-off with this album in comparison to Feel The Steel. FTS had funnier songs (“Asian Girl”, “Death To All But Metal”, “Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’”, “Community Property”) but I think overall Balls Out is a much more consistent listen. And this is coming from someone who LOVED Feel The Steel! I’m not sure if the joke has played itself out or what, maybe it’s a case of “been there, done that” but I wasn’t as entertained by the lyrics this time.
Don’t get me wrong, the lyrics are humorous and still a big part of Steel Panther’s charm. They are, after all, a parody and you get the overly sexist lyrics that belittle women (seventeen women if you believe Michael’s tale in “17 Girls in a Row”) with references to anal sex, oral sex, gold diggers, “weenie rides”, drugs and masturbation while asking important questions like “Why can’t you trust me?”
Musically, their style hasn’t changed a bit. It’s glam, it’s hard rock, it’s heavy metal! Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Warrant, Poison, Ratt, etc. are still the main influences and Satchel gets to show off just how much of a monster he is with his guitar. There’s some filler such as “Weenie Ride” and “I Like Drugs” but overall this is a very strong rock/metal release that puts it near the top of the pack for 2011.
Highlights: ”Supersonic Sex Machine”, “Just Like Tiger Woods”, “17 Girls In A Row”, “It Won’t Suck Itself”, “If You Really, Really Love Me”, “Critter”
http://www.steelpantherrocks.com/
http://www.facebook.com/steelpantherkicksass
Black Veil Brides – Set The World On Fire
Black Veil Brides – Set The World On Fire (2011, Universal Republic Records/Lava Records)
1. “New Religion” … 3:50
2. “Set the World on Fire” … 3:39
3. “Fallen Angels” … 3:45
4. “Love Isn’t Always Fair” … 4:13
5. “God Bless You” … 3:18
6. “Rebel Love Song” … 3:57
7. “Saviour” … 4:23
8. “The Legacy” … 4:40
9. “Die for You” … 3:43
10. “Ritual” … 3:30
11. “Youth & Whisky” … 3:30
Band:
Andy Biersack – Vocals
Jake Pitts – Guitar
Jinxx – Guitar, Violin
Ashley Purdy – Bass
Christian Coma – Drums
Producer: Josh Abraham & Christopher Walken
Hollywood, CA’s Black Veil Brides are among the current crop of Hot Topic darlings and while there are a few screamo moments on this disc, the band has much more in common with ’80s metal than some might realize. The cool thing is the band doesn’t try to hide their influences. They cite Motley Crue & KISS as big influences (which is obvious based on image alone) but have also stated Def Leppard’s Hysteria was the inspiration for the recording & production process of this album.
Surprisingly, BVB is made up of some good talent. Pitts & Jinxx are a very good guitar duo and have no problem playing fast & furious while firing off solos. Vocalist Andy Biersack can growl and scream with the best (worst) of the current trendy metal crowd but the guy can actually sing too and that’s when this album is at its best. Thankfully, the screaming is kept to a minimum on Set The World On Fire and the band doesn’t come across as the cliched angry, disenfranchised or depressed youths like so many other bands from the metalcore movement.
With elements of glam metal, speed metal, power metal & metalcore, the Brides bring what I would call extreme glam metal to the masses. Their look and sound is heavy and unique enough to interest the wrist-cutters but there’s enough of an ’80s metal influence (featuring catchy choruses and slick production values and even a power ballad thrown in) to grab the ear of those that are fans of the Age of Aqua Net.
By the way, my copy of the album came with a mini fold-out poster of Jake Pitts. How cute.
Highlights: ”Set the World on Fire”, “Love Isn’t Always Fair”, “God Bless You”, “Saviour”, “The Legacy”, “Ritual”
http://www.bvbarmy.com
http://www.facebook.com/Blackveilbrides
Alice Cooper – Welcome 2 My Nightmare
Alice Cooper – Welcome 2 My Nightmare [Classic Rock Fan Pack Exclusive Limited Edition] (2011, Universal Music Enterprises/Spinefarm Records UK/Nightmare Inc.)
1. “I Am Made Of You”
2. “Caffeine”
3. “The Nightmare Returns”
4. “A Runaway Train”
5. “Last Man On Earth”
6. “The Congregation”
7. “I’ll Bite Your Face Off”
8. “Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever”
9. “Ghouls Gone Wild”
10. “Something To Remember Me By”
11. “When Hell Comes Home”
12. “What Baby Wants”
13. “I Gotta Get Outta Here”
14. “The Underture”
Bonus Tracks:
15. “Under The Bed”
16. “Poison” (Live at Download Festival)
Band:
Alice Cooper – Vocals
Steve Hunter – Guitar
Damon Johnson – Guitar
Tommy Henriksen – Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Chuck Garric – Bass
Glen Sobel – Drums
Additional Musicians:
Michael Bruce – Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Dennis Dunaway – Bass, Backing Vocals
Neal Smith – Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Ke$ha – Vocals
Dick Wagner, John 5, Keith Nelson, Tommy Denander, Vince Gill, Keri Kelli, Patterson Hood, Pat Buchanan – Guitar
Piggy D, David Spreng, Jimmie Lee Sloas – Bass
Jimmy DeGrasso, Scott Williamson – Drums
Rob Zombie, Kip Winger – Backing Vocals
Welcome 2 My Nightmare is a reunion for all different eras of Alice Cooper. Take a look at the credits! The surviving members of the original group are here (Bruce, Dunaway & Smith) and they have some co-writing credits too, the original Nightmare era guitar duo of Steve Hunter (back in the band full-time) and Dick Wagner are present, more recent Alice gunslingers Kerri Kelli and Damon Johnson (who recently left and has been replaced by Orianthi of all people!), Jimmy DeGrasso, Piggy D (who worked with Alice on “Keepin’ Halloween Alive”), Kip Winger sings backing vocals, Desmond Child co-wrote “I Am Made of You” and Bob Ezrin is producing!
I think pretty much all eras of Alice are represented! I’m surprised Alice didn’t bring back Eric Singer, Derek Sherinian, Ryan Roxie, Eric Dover, Kane Roberts and Jason Hook! In addition to all of those people, Rob Zombie, Vince Gill, John 5 and Ke$ha also perform.
All of this star-power and buzz over doing a sequel to Welcome To My Nightmare has worked as the album sold roughly 21,ooo copies and debuted at #22 on the Billboard charts. This is Alice’s best chart debut since Trash.
Before I get into the music, I want to say that this Alice Cooper Fan Pack from Classic Rock magazine is just outstanding. I had ordered the Fan Pack for Whitesnake’s Forevermore and while that was a good package, this is even better. Not only do you get the album (in what I guess what is the standard hardcover booklet format for these Fan Packs) but there’s a School’s Out pin, Alice Cooper face paint, Alice cut-out face mask, 2 two-sided posters and finally the 132 page magazine called Classic Rock Presents Alice Cooper.
With that out of the way, I will agree that this album is a “return to form” in that it has returned Alice to his old school schizophrenic ways. After dabbling in industrial metal and garage rock for the last decade, Alice is back to genre-hopping. Auto-tune, Rolling Stones, disco, pop-rock, surfer music, symphonies, Tom Petty, rag-time… It all has a home on this album.
The good/bad thing about Alice is that he’s never been afraid to throw his blood-stained top hat in to practically any genre of music. Case in point, after starting off with the piano from “Steven”, “I Am Made of You” is a ballad complete with vocals done in auto-tune and some electronic beats in the background and a piano. I did not like it when I first heard it, but the song has grown on me and is now one of my favorite tracks here. Next, “Caffeine” kicks in with some rowdy rock ‘n’ roll. My first thought when hearing it was that it sounded like Velvet Revolver. Well, I wasn’t too far off because song was co-written by Buckcherry’s Keith Nelson. This and “I’ll Bite Your Face Off” (with its Stonesy vibe) are the most straight forward rockers of the bunch. “The Nightmare Returns” is a short instrumental still incorporating parts of “Steven”.
“The Congregation” is a pretty good Beatles-inspired number that sounds like a track from The Last Temptation but it took me a few listens to get in to. And hey, what album would be complete without that classic Alice ballad? Here that song is “Something To Remember Me By”, a great companion to those late ’70s ballads of his. The next highlight on this album for me is “What Baby Wants”. A true guilty pleasure for sure, it’s a pop/rock song featuring Ke$ha. The final two standouts is the Tom Petty-ish “I Gotta Get Outta Here” and the Fan Pack exclusive “Under The Bed”, a mid-tempo ballad that could’ve come from the Hey Stoopid era.
So, like I said, there is good and bad when Alice attempt to cover so many genres. When he succeeds, he really succeeds. When he fails… yuck. With Vince Gill on guitar, the country-rocker “A Runaway Train” can’t go away fast enough but I can kinda here old school Alice in it. Immediately following is the vaudevillian rag-time of “Last Man on Earth”. Just awful but I can’t decide if it’s worse than “When Hell Comes Home” (which is garnering rave reviews for featuring all the surviving members of the original group).
As for “Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever”, that’s just goofy fun. Something you might hear from Alice in the early ’80s. Basically filler as is the surf rock of “Ghouls Gone Wild”. “The Underture” closes out the standard edition of the album and it’s an instrumental bring in pieces of songs from both Welcome To My Nightmare and this album.
Overall, the songs are just so varied I think you have to really be patient and let it all soak in. After the first listen, my head was spinning was variety of music. With each listen, I’m picking up on songs more than I had before and while there are some really bad songs on this disc, they are few and far between and the songs I like I like A LOT. Having said that, Welcome 2 My Nightmare is easily Alice’s best since The Eyes of Alice Cooper if not The Last Temptation.
Highlights: “I Am Made Of You”, “Caffeine”, “The Congregation”, “I”ll Bite Your Face Off”, “Something To Remember Me By”, “What Baby Wants”, “I Gotta Get Outta Here”, “Under The Bed”
http://www.AliceCooper.com
http://www.facebook.com/AliceCooper
Buy ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ at Amazon.com
Bonus Words:
Welcome 2 My Nightmare continues a rather disturbing trend of offering different bonus tracks depending on which edition you buy: the regular edition of this album has no bonus tracks, the Classic Rock Fan Pack has “Under the Bed” and a live version of “Poison”, the deluxe edition features a cover of The Animals’ “We Gotta Get out of This Place” and live versions of “No More Mr. Nice Guy” & “The Black Widow”, the vinyl album has “Flatline” and finally iTunes gets the exclusive “A Bad Situation” (which you can’t even purchase as a single, you HAVE to buy the whole album to get it).
I really couldn’t care less about the live tracks but there are four brand new tracks scattered about that I would have loved to have been included on at least ONE edition of the album so I could just buy that one! It’s a cash grab and I don’t think this practice is very fair to the fans. I can’t imagine a significant number of fans are going to buy all of these albums to get those handful of bonus tracks because you’re looking at someone having to spend $80-100 total to snatch up all of these editions. I really don’t understand the thought process here and Alice isn’t the only artist guilty of it. If anything, this only seems to increase the likelihood of illegal downloading.
After that little rant, I have to be honest: I have two copies. The CR Fan Pack and then a standard edition (no bonus tracks) that came with Alice’s autograph when you pre-ordered… Hey, at least I didn’t buy an extra copy for bonus tracks!
Def Leppard – X
Def Leppard – X (2002, Island Records)
1. “Now” … 3:58
2. “Unbelievable” … 3:58
3. “You’re So Beautiful” … 3:31
4. “Everyday” … 3:08
5. “Long Long Way To Go” … 4:38
6. “Four Letter Word” … 3:07
7. “Torn to Shreds” … 2:56
8. “Love Don’t Lie” … 4:46
9. “Gravity” … 2:33
10. “Cry” … 3:17
11. “Girl Like You” … 2:49
12. “Let Me Be the One” … 3:29
13. “Scar” … 4:59
Band:
Joe Elliott – lead vocals
Rick “Sav” Savage – bass guitar, vocals
Rick Allen – drums
Vivian Campbell – guitar, vocals
Phil Collen – guitar, vocals
Producer: Pete Woodroffe & Def Leppard
It’s been a long time coming but I finally sat down and gave this album another spin. I bought it as soon as it came out and probably gave it 4 or 5 spins before deciding it was a disappointing follow-up to Euphoria. 9 years later, I’m listening to it again. I would’ve actually checked it out (again) a few years earlier but I lost my copy and finally snagged another copy a year or two ago.
Euphoria was no slouch of an album. It’s their most recent album to go gold, “Promises” was a minor radio hit, the album was hailed as a return to form by fans & critics alike after the alternative leanings of Slang and the band was all over VH1 at the time enjoying the renewed popularity that many “eighties bands” were experiencing.
So why, then, did the band go in yet another direction by turning in their poppiest, softest-rocking album to date? Well, I guess the lure of the almighty dollar was just too much. Sure, they sold 500,000 copies of the last album but what about going double platinum like Bon Jovi did?
Obviously inspired by the success of Bon Jovi’s Crush and “It’s My Life”, Def Leppard recruited some of the very same songwriters that the boys from Jersey had partnered with on that 2000 release. Names like Max Martin, Andreas Carlsson and Wayne Hector were all over the place in the late ’90s/early ’00s as they wrote hits for a number of boy bands like Backstreet Boys and pop tarts like Britney Spears. The band was obviously content to just let the “hits” come to them as not a single member had a hand in writing “Unbelievable” or “Long Long Way to Go”!
It blew my mind at the time that Def Leppard was able to recover from the cold response for Slang by handing in Euphoria (one of their best albums, IMO) and then do another turnaround with X. I actually lost a bit of respect for the band at the time because it was such an obvious cash grab and phony attempt at staying relevant.
Nine years on, my judgment isn’t as clouded and I can look back and say there are a number of good tracks on this album despite a few tracks where the band tries to play the role of a boy band. Funny thing is, the songs I ended up liking most are on the first half of the album — the half that features lots of outside co-writing credits! Tracks 6-13 were all written by the band with only producer Pete Woodroffe stepping in to co-write a few songs.
The one song I instantly loved off this album was “Now”. To me, that is a classic Def Leppard sounding song and actually does sound like something to follow-up Euphoria with. “Scar” is another very good guitar-oriented song that rocks a bit harder than the rest and sounds close to something they might’ve done in the ’80s.
The album is full of mid-tempo numbers and ballads. It’s a complete pop album but I have a lot more respect for it now. It’s not a classic but it’s not bad at all and I upgrade it to “decent” and remove it’s previous status of “bland”. Maybe I’m going soft.
Highlights: “Now”, “Unbelievable”, “You’re So Beautiful”, “Everyday”, “Love Don’t Lie”, “Cry”, “Scar”
http://www.defleppard.com
http://www.facebook.com/defleppard
Buy ‘X’ on Amazon.com!
