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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!
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KISS – Smashes, Thrashes & Hits
KISS – Smashes, Thrashes & Hits (1988, Mercury Records)
1. “Let’s Put the X in Sex” … 3:48
2. “(You Make Me) Rock Hard” … 3:26
3. “Love Gun” … 3:31
4. “Detroit Rock City” … 3:45
5. “I Love It Loud” … 3:47
6. “Deuce” … 3:20
7. “Lick It Up” … 3:53
8. “Heaven’s on Fire”… 3:19
9. “Calling Dr. Love” … 3:38
10. “Strutter” … 3:38
11. “Beth” (Eric Carr vocal) … 2:46
12. “Tears Are Falling” … 3:54
13. “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” … 4:29
14. “Rock and Roll All Nite” … 2:56
15. “Shout It Out Loud” … 3:07
Smashes, Thrashes & Hits is a KISS compilation aimed at the MTV generation that had helped breathe new life into the band during the ’80s (this album itself would go onto double platinum status). There are five tracks that come from either Creatures of the Night, Lick It Up, Animalize or Asylum while eight tracks feature some of the band’s classic ’70s material. Most of the songs from the 1970s were remixed for this collection.
Basically, the remixes amount to nothing and I could care less whether I’m listening to original or “remixed” versions, they sound the same to my unrefined ears. In the case of “Beth”, the vocals were re-recorded with Eric Carr (who does quite a good job on the song). Two additional tracks were recorded for this album and along with having the Eric Carr version of “Beth”, they are the only reason I was interested in owning this album.
“Let’s Put the X in Sex” and “(You Make Me) Rock Hard” are definitely songs of the time and follow the same pattern of the Crazy Nights album that came out in 1987 (which, surprisingly, is not represented here at all). Very cheesy and sexually-driven and they’ve always sounded to me as if they could’ve been recorded by Aerosmith around the same time. That’s probably because frequent Aerosmith collaborator Desmond Child co-wrote these songs with Paul Stanley! Future Aerosmith collaborator Diane Warren (“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”) helped to co-write “(You Make Me) Rock Hard” as well.
Despite Paul Stanley swearing off both of these songs, I love them for the guilty pleasures that they are. I loved both of these songs from the first time I heard them and the lyrics are just plain cheesy hornball fun to me.
For an album that devotes half its space to the 1970s KISS catalog and half to their 1980s output, I think this is a solid compilation that does its job of representing both decades well. It’s not the compilation I would recommend for people wanting to discover the band but for the diehards that happen to love ’80s KISS? This is definitely worth picking up (can easily be found at a low price) for the two new tracks and Eric Carr’s take on “Beth”.
http://www.facebook.com/KISS
http://www.kissonline.com
Buy ‘Smashes Thrashes & Hits’ at Amazon.com
Motley Crue – Red, White & Crue
Motley Crue – Red, White & Crue (2005, Hip-O Records/Motley Records)
Disc 1
1. “Live Wire” … 3:15
2. “Piece of Your Action” … 4:40
3. “Toast of the Town” … 3:14
4. “Too Fast for Love” … 3:21
5. “Black Widow” [Previously Unreleased] … 4:26
6. “Looks That Kill” … 4:07
7. “Too Young to Fall in Love” [Remix] … 3:38
8. “Helter Skelter” … 3:12
9. “Shout at the Devil” … 3:14
10. “Smokin’ In the Boys Room” … 3:27
11. “Use It or Lose It” … 2:39
12. “Girls, Girls, Girls” … 4:30
13. “Wild Side” … 4:40
14. “You’re All I Need” … 4:43
15. “All in the Name of…” … 3:39
16. “Kickstart My Heart” … 4:48
17. “Without You” … 4:29
18. “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” … 4:40
19. “Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)” … 4:12
20. “Dr. Feelgood” … 4:50
Disc 2
1. “Anarchy in the U.K.” … 3:20
2. “Primal Scream” … 4:47
3. “Home Sweet Home” ['91 Remix] … 4:01
4. “Hooligan’s Holiday” [Brown Nose Edit] … 5:20
5. “Misunderstood” [Successful Format Version] … 4:58
6. “Planet Boom” … 3:23
7. “Bittersuite” … 3:19
8. “Afraid” [Alternative Rave Mix] … 4:08
9. “Beauty” … 3:46
10. “Generation Swine” … 4:40
11. “Bitter Pill” … 4:26
12. “Enslaved” … 4:30
13. “Hell On High Heels” … 4:16
14. “New Tattoo” [Single Version] … 4:02
15. “If I Die Tomorrow” … 3:46
16. “Sick Love Song” … 4:18
17. “Street Fighting Man” … 3:31
Bought this album for three reasons: “If I Die Tomorrow”, “Sick Love Song” and “Street Fighting Man”. Before anyone thinks I’m stupid for spending $15-20 for 3 songs, I actually picked up a used copy off Amazon.com for about $2.25.
Red, White & Crue is the band’s fourth compilation and came hot on the heels of the reunion of all four original members. This time it was Tommy Lee returning after having had some minor success with his rap-metal group Methods of Mayhem and two solo albums. The late Randy Castillo (ex-Ozzy) was Tommy’s replacement in the band and later when Randy became ill, Hole drummer Samantha Maloney would join the group in a touring capacity.
For my money (as little as I paid!), this album stands as the superior Crue compilation. Of the 5 compilations the band has released, this is the only collection to feature two discs (although a single disc version was released) and therefore it’s able to cover a lot more ground. It certainly makes 1998′s Greatest Hits album obsolete as it includes the two new tracks that came from that album. Quality begins to take a dip with Disc 2 as the collection is set up in chronological order and we’re taken through the Corabi album, Generation Swine and New Tattoo songs.
The album ends on a high note with three new tracks. “If I Die Tomorrow” and “Sick Love Song” are classic Crue songs in my opinion and were foreshadowing what would come later on Saints of Los Angeles. Great mix of modern hard rock and the classic Crue sound and two of my favorite Crue songs ever and in my area they both got some decent airplay. The final new track is “Street Fighting Man”, a cover of the Rolling Stones song (and Josh Freese actually plays drums on this song). A good effort though I’m not a big Stones fan. A fourth new track called “I’m a Liar (And That’s the Truth)” made it onto Japan pressings of this album. I checked the song out on YouTube and while it would’ve been nice to see it included, it’s the least pleasing of the newly recorded songs. Kinda generic.
For old school fans, there is the previously unreleased “Black Widow” (You mean there are MORE songs that didn’t make it as bonus tracks to those reissues ) which was demoed in 1983 for Shout at the Devil but morphed into “God Bless the Children of the Beast”.
Listen, anytime a band releases a “best of” or “greatest hits” compilation, the debate can rage on endlessly about which songs didn’t deserve to be on the album and which songs did. Sure, we can all sit back and pick this album apart and list what we’d take out and put in but I think this is a great career overview, warts and all. They didn’t focus only on songs from the original four members, they didn’t try to pretend Corabi didn’t exist or that they didn’t go that weird alternative/techno route with Generation Swine and I think that’s cool. For better or worse, this album shows you all eras of Motley Crue… which is what a compilation should do, in my opinion, unless you’re calling it a greatest hits album.
This is the compilation I would recommend to anyone looking to get into the band. More than likely, the most amount of enjoyment is going to be found on Disc 1 as every song there is classic old school Crue but Disc 2 still has a few gems to offer.
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http://www.motley.com
Buy ‘Red, White & Crue’ at Amazon.com
Concert Review: Poison (7/07/11)
Poison
Opener: Top of the Orange
7/07/11
The Amphitheater at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Alabama
Bret Michaels just doesn’t stop. It seems like he’s constantly touring. When Poison isn’t touring, he’s doing solo shows and even when Poison is on the road, he finds time to schedule solo shows! Poison is in the middle of a big summer tour with Motley Crue and the New York Dolls but the band has scheduled a number of headlining shows as well on off days. Warrant is opening for them on a number of those shows but unfortunately were not present for this Orange Beach concert.
Top of the Orange
I was hoping there would be someone opening the show but it wasn’t until a week before the show that The Wharf’s Facebook page announced that Mobile, Alabama-based band Top of the Orange would be curtain jerking. I checked a few of their songs out online and they seemed like a decent current-sounding hard rock band with songs that fit in with the rest of whatever rock radio decides to play these days.
Apparently they’ve been making quite a name of themselves in the Gulf Coast area and according to their website they’ve opened for 3 Doors Down, Staind, Shinedown, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin and Theory of a Dead Man among others… Now you can add Poison to that list!
While I didn’t expect Poison to do a 2 hour to 2 1/2 hour set, I certainly didn’t expect Top of the Orange to play so long either. I thought 4 or 5 songs and then it’d be time for Poison but The Orange had played a healthy set. While Top of the Orange won’t be drawing any similarities to a band like Poison and their sound owes more to the ’90s rock scene and bands like Theory of a Deadman and Nickelback that’s what made the experience cool — you get to see a young up ‘n’ coming playing a totally different style than the veteran headliners. Variety is the spice of life!
I know I’m going to completely screw up the set list, but here’s what seems familiar (though I think I’m leaving off a song or two and I know the order isn’t right):
Set list
“Let Me In”
“Nowhere”
“Truth Be told”
“Cutting Me Off”
“Immigrant Song” (Led Zeppelin cover)
“Who Turned Off the Sun”
“Sex Kitten”
“Why Can’t”
Poison
Poison is out on the road this summer with a tour they’re calling “Glam-A-Geddon 25″ in honor of the band’s 1986 Look What the Cat Dragged In debut. Odd then that some of the band would wear Open Up and Say… Ahh! t-shirts and that album cover was a part of the stage setup. Could it be they are embarrassed by their debut album’s super glammy cover?
I’d seen Poison once before but it was a good show. Much like Def Leppard, I know they don’t change up the set list much from year to year but these guys are still a fun band and certainly the premier glam metal band and are proud of that fact so to me it was worth taking the time and money to see them again.
As I said, there weren’t too many surprises with the set list. They band went through all their signature songs but actually sounded better than when I saw in 2009 (although I think it was more of a technical issue that day). Compared to when I first saw them, they’ve dropped “Something To Believe In”, which has been played on some of the Motley shows, but added “I Want Action” (which I thought was awesome) and “We’re An American Band”.
Poison started off the show in a cool way, or maybe it was just coincidental — the lights went out, the stage started to glow and then AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” started to play and it played in its entirety as Poison’s skull backdrop was raised on the stage. Seemed like part of the show to me. Both finished about the same time and then a spotlight hits the drum kit and a guy walks out in a jacket, hat and bandanna covering his face and spray paints “Orange” on one kick drum and “Beach” on the other. He takes off the jacket and bandanna and it’s revealed to be none other than Rikki Rockett!
From there the band was on fire — literally! You had green flames, yellow flames, orange flames, pyro, etc. going off at various times throughout the night. Backdrops were changed a couple of times, it was a get stage set up. The entire band was energetic all night long and Bret is really one of the best front men to come out of the ’80s.
I was counting on Setlist.FM to already have the set list up but it’s not there yet. I KNOW these are the songs played but I may have one or two out of order. I’m about 85% sure this is the correct order though!
Set list
“Look What The Cat Dragged In”
“I Want Action”
“We’re An American Band” (Grand Funk Railroad cover)
“Ride The Wind”
“Your Mama Don’t Dance” (Loggins & Messina cover)
C.C.’s Guitar Solo
“Fallen Angel”
“Unskinny Bop”
Rikki’s Drum Solo
“Every Rose Has Its Thorn”
“Talk Dirty To Me”
Encore
“Nothin’ But A Good Time”
Just a fun night all around, the venue was not as full as the Def Leppard show but still close to being packed. Top of the Orange got a good reception, it seemed like about a fourth of the audience knew who they were so that helped add to the enjoyment of watching them. Poison was indeed “nothin’ but a good time”. The band has caught a lot of flak over the years from peers and rock fans but I’ve always enjoyed them. They aren’t the best musicians or the most thoughtful lyricists but they always bring fun and a good time to the table and what more do you really need in a rock band?
Def Leppard – Mirror Ball: Live & More
Def Leppard – Mirror Ball: Live & More (2011, Mailboat Records)
Disc 1
1. “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)”
2. “Rocket”
3. “Animal”
4. “C’Mon C’Mon”
5. “Make Love Like A Man”
6. “Too Late For Love”
7. “Foolin’”
8. “Nine Lives”
9. “Love Bites”
10. “Rock On”
Disc 2
1. “Two Steps Behind”
2. “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak”
3. “Switch 625″
4. “Hysteria”
5. “Armageddon It”
6. “Photograph”
7. “Pour Some Sugar On Me”
8. “Rock Of Ages”
9. “Let’s Get Rocked”
10. “Action”
11. “Bad Actress”
12. “Undefeated”
13. “King Of The World”
14. “It’s All About Believin’”
Disc 3 – DVD
- Behind the Scenes on the Sparkle Lounge Tour 2008-2009
- Live Performances: “Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop)”, “Armageddon It”, “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, “Hysteria”
- Music Videos: “Nine Lives”, “C’Mon C’Mon”
Band:
Joe Elliott – Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Phil Collen – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Vivian Campbell – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Rick “Sav” Savage – Bass, Backing Vocals
Rick Allen – Drums, Backing Vocals
Produced by: Def Leppard & Ronan McHugh
Wal-Mart nabs yet another exclusive North American release from yet another band that has fallen into the classic rock category but this time it’s a live album (and more!). It’s a proven method for success these days as the album debuted at #16 on the Billboard charts in the U.S. with approximately 20,000 copies sold.
The live tracks were all recorded somewhere out there over the rainbow (it’s never specified exactly when and where in the liner notes) during the Sparkle Lounge tour that ran from 2008-2009. As someone who saw that tour and most recently caught them on tour in support of this album I can safely that Mirrorball is a good representation of what the band sounds like live. Obviously there is polish and trickery in the studio that cannot be replicated live (certainly true when it comes to a band like Def Leppard). As most “live” albums go, there is a little tinkering done not-so-live but this is still a faithful representation that plays out like a live greatest hits.
Which is basically what Def Leppard has been doing for a number of years now — a greatest hits set list, which is fine, but after awhile you wanna see them throwin some fan faves that they haven’t played in a number of years. The most recent album Def Leppard is playing live from in 2011 (other than “Undefeated” from this album) is 1993′s Retro Active! They’ve released 5 albums since then but all are being ignored… that’s a bone to pick for another time. Live versions of “Action” and “Bad Actress” are tacked on near the end of the album, supposedly they are “bonus” tracks. I guess maybe the Frontiers edition doesn’t have these songs?
Although I would’ve picked this album up regardless, the real bait for me was the three new studio tracks:
- “Undefeated” is a classic Leppard. The first few times I heard the leaked form on YouTube, I liked it but wasn’t really impressed (Joe’s voice seemed pretty weak). Since then, the song has grown on me in a big way. I’ve got it on my iPod for when I run and it’s a great choice to open the shows on the current tour. Sounds even better live. Classic Rock magazine said it was “as good as anything they’ve written in the last 30 years”. I wouldn’t go that far but it is a very strong number that is definitely as good as anything from the past 15 years or so.
- “Kings of the World” sounds like a track that didn’t make it onto Sparkle Lounge. Total Queen-worship here which the band doesn’t deny at all. Lyrically, it is very similar to Queen’s “Princes of the Universe” from A Kind of Magic. Slow song but good.
- “All About Believin’” wraps up the audio portion of Mirrorball and sounds like it could’ve come from Euphoria. Another good song.
http://www.defleppard.com
http://www.facebook.com/defleppard
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Vamp Le Stat – Bloodline
Vamp Le Stat – Bloodline [Limited Edition] (2010, XXX Records America)
Original Release: 1993
1. “Madame Blue”
2. “Swing Child”
3. “Bitch”
4. “She’s Not In Love Anymore”
5. “Guns 4 Hire”
6. “Chain Around My Heart”
7. “Madame Blue” [Studio reference mix]
8. “Swing Child” [Studio reference mix]
9. “She’s Not In Love Anymore” [Studio reference mix]
10. “Guns 4 Hire” [Studio reference mix]
11. “Chain Around My Heart” [Studio reference mix]
Band:
Jimmy Tuttle – Lead Vocals, Guitar
Jeff Jones – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Brian Boozer – Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Bret Blackburn – Drums
Producer: Jeff Jones
Vamp Le Stat is a L.A. glam band that got their start in the early ’90s. In 1992, Jeff Jones (you can read my review of his RockHard ’86-’96 compilation here) joined the band and that is when they recorded and released the extremely limited pressing of 2,000 copies for Bloodline. According to XXX’s website, the full title of this album is Bloodline: Rites of Passage but I don’t see the subtitle anywhere on the CD or the packaging. Apparently, there is a loose concept to this album as it deals with a vampire stripper named Suzie. The story continued in 1994′s Bloodline 2: Thrill Of the Kill which I have not heard yet and was just finally released to the public in 2010.
Although Jimmy Tuttle is not the best vocalist his voice suits the sound of the band. Speaking of that sound, I don’t want anyone thinking they are a slick glam act like Poison or anything. There’s a bit more street cred to their sound. Vamp Le Stat comes across as a really solid rock band you might expect to hear playing in a bar or strip club. It’s a trashy bluesy glam sound, something a bit more raw than the popular commercial glam acts of the day and the only band that comes to mind for comparison is Babylon A.D.
All of the studio mixes are bonus tracks and were not a part of the original issue. I don’t have the best trained ear when it comes to telling the difference between certain mixes and with remastered albums There are some differences I’ve been able to pick up and have found myself enjoying the studio mix of “Swing Child” better than the original version. Still, it’s always nice to have some additional tracks whenever possible.
Cutting the album down to its core, there are six songs here. 5 of which stick out in their own way (“Guns 4 Hire” is a fast paced rocker but doesn’t really work for me). “Madame Blue” starts off with a bit of atmosphere and keyboards setting up the album’s concept before the guitars kick in and set forth with a trashed up bar band stomp. “Swing Child” is another good bar room rocker. “Bitch” is the song with the most groove and how can you not want to sing along to “baby, you’re a biiiiiiiiitch”? Next up is the ballad “She’s Not In Love Anymore”. It’s a good ballad but this is where Tuttle seems to suffer a bit on the vocals. I just don’t think ballads are his strong suit, he’s better off singing trashy rockers. “Guns 4 Hire” features some impressive guitar work from Jeff Jones but as a song it’s just kinda there. “Chain Around My Heart” closes out the original album is again starts off with some atmospheric keyboard work and transitions well into a dirty rocker.
Hardcore glam fans will dig checking out this obscure release.
Highlights: “Madame Blue”, “Bitch”, “She’s Not In Love Anymore”, “Chain Around My Heart”, “Swing Child” [studio reference mix]
www.xxxrecords.com
www.facebook.com/pages/XXX-Records-America/195247653847340
Crashdiet – Generation Wild
Crashdiet – Generation Wild (2011, Frontiers Records)
Original Release: 2010, Universal Music/Gain Records)
1. “442″ … 0:54
2. “Armageddon” … 4:06
3. “So Alive” … 4:13
4. “Generation Wild” … 4:05
5. “Rebel” … 3:23
6. “Save Her” … 3:26
7. “Down With the Dust” … 2:47
8. “Native Nature” … 4:39
9. “Chemical” … 4:17
10. “Bound to Fall” … 4:16
11. “Beautiful Pain” … 4:42
Band:
Simon Cruz – Vocals
Martin Sweet – Guitar
Peter London – Bass
Eric Young – Drums
Producer: Johan Ramström and Patrik Magnusson
Crashdiet (or Crashdïet, if you prefer) are yet another glam/sleaze act from the country seems to have an unlimited supply of them — Sweden. Seriously, I bet you can’t drive down the road in that country without running over of these bands. I’ve heard and liked number of Crashdiet’s previous songs like “Riot In Everyone” and “It’s A Miracle” but for some reason I never got around to picking up an album. I’m sure high import prices are what kept my curiosity at bay. Generation Wild is their third release and also debuts their third vocalist — Simon Cruz. Cruz replaced Olli Herman (who left Crashdiet in 2008 to devote more time to Reckless Love) who replaced Dave Lepard (who commited suicide in 2006).
Well, what we have here is a reissue of the band’s 2010 album that was originally issued by Universal/Gain Records. They have since signed with Frontiers Records and this re-release looks to consummate the new deal. Though there are some international pressings of the original release with extra tracks, from what I can tell the only addition on the Frontiers version is the “442″ intro (Maybe a change in album art too?), so this reissue really is of no interest to anyone who already has the 2010 release, BUT… with Frontiers’ wider distribution, this album should be easier to come by for North American listeners and should most definitely be picked up.
By this time, most people should know what to expect from the glam acts of Sweden: parts Def Leppard, Motley, Guns, KISS, Skid Row, etc. Some acts are more polished and AORish than others, some acts are sleazier than others. I like both sides of the fence and apparently Crashdiet does as well because they are straddling said fence. The gang vocals and harmonies are very reminiscent of Def Leppard but songs like “Armageddon” and “Generation Wild” have just enough bite. In fact, the whole album has enough bite that you don’t feel like you’re listening to cheese that expired in the 1980s. Like most bands that play that modern glam, Crashdiet are exactly that: modern.
From all accounts, Crashdiet is a success in their home country if you define “success” as having your album debut at #3 on the album charts and then getting your music video for “Generation Wild” banned on your country’s version of MTV! It’s a shame there’s not a huge market for these bands in America. In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy the music Crashdiet creates. If you’re into Hardcore Superstar, Wildstreet, Vains of Jenna, Dirty Penny, Crazy Lixx, Reckless Love, Jettblack and so on, this is an album and band you should not miss out on.
Highlights: ”Armageddon”, “So Alive”, “Generation Wild”, “Save Her”, “Native Nature”, “Chemical”, “Beautiful Pain”
http://www.crashdiet.org
http://www.facebook.com/realcrashdiet
Jeff Jones – RockHard ’86-’96
Jeff Jones – RockHard ’86-’96 (2010, XXX Records America)
1. “Gonna Get Wild”
2. “Madame Blue”
3. “Mississippi Wine”
4. “Caught In the Heartbreak”
5. “Don’t Drop It”
6. “Powerdrive”
7. “Hot n’ Love”
8. “Bitch”
9. “Into The Night”
10. “Warning From The Sky”
11. “Chain Around My Heart”
12. “No Way Out”
13. “Breakin’ Out” [EMI demo version]
Jeff Jones is a songwriter/guitarist/producer that has been in a number bands over the years. He was a founding member of St. Elmo’s Fire (formed in 1978 in California) and played in the glam band Vamp Le Stat in the early ’90s. He also has worked a solo artist and has started up XXX Records America in order to reissue his previous works and to release new material as well. This album is a compilation that spotlights his work in St. Elmo’s Fire, Vamp Le Stat and solo material.
I’ll be honest with you, I am not familiar with Jeff Jones, St. Elmo’s Fire or Vamp Le Stat. In fact, I’d never heard of any of them so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I popped this disc in. I really didn’t know where this guy got off issuing a compilation when I’d never heard of him! Truth be told, I’m happy to have this disc in my collection. This is an album that takes you back to the glory days of the Sunset Strip! The album is chock full of enough glam and hair to make you wonder just why none of these bands caught a major break. I could understand Vamp Le Stat not making it in the early ’90s but it is the St. Elmo’s Fire material is strong enough that it should’ve built up a buzz for the band in the ’80s.
Hair metal junkies will definitely get their fix on this one. This isn’t polished pop-metal, it’s no frills hair METAL. RockHard is a good collection of raw Sunset Stripped rock ‘n’ roll and I’m interested in hearing the rest of XXX’s reissues. So yes, Jeff Jones has some nerve… and I’m glad he does!
Highlights: “Gonna Get Wild”, “Madame Blue”, “Caught In The Heartbreak”, “Powerdrive”, “Hot n’ Love”, “Bitch”, “Chain Around My Heart”
www.stelmosfire.net
www.myspace.com/stelmosfire2007
www.myspace.com/jeffjonesworld
www.xxxrecords.com
www.facebook.com/pages/XXX-Records-America/195247653847340
