“The Feeling’s Back”, Suicidal Tendencies How Will I Laugh Tomorrow… When I Can’t Even Smile Today

Suicidal dives headlong into the thrash world with the How Will I Laugh album, merging their hardcore roots with more of a metal approach.  “The Feeling’s Back” kicks off with a blocky riff and smooth soloing from Rocky George before kicking things into overdrive with a ballsy riff and Mike Muir spitting out the vocal at top speed.  Gang vocals galore as the song kicks into a tribal stomp midway through with another hot solo from George, then shift to overdrive again as the song concludes.

“Bringing Me Down”, Bonham The Disregard of Timekeeping

Sometime around the late ’80s, a bit of a bluesier heavy rock revival kicked in-  Kingdom Come, Whitesnake’s self titled, Blue Murder, Badlands, etc.  One of the more unsung bands from this period was from Jason Bonham, son of Led Zep skinsman John Bonham.  Obviously Zep has some influence here but has the 80’s vibe and feel especially from the keyboards and layered guitar sound.  “Bringing Me Down” is one of the better cuts on this disc-  dig the harmonica and spot the cool Zep references throughout, especially in the drum fills.

“Voodoo”, Black Sabbath Live Evil

Hate on me all you want Sabbath fans, but I absolutely LOVE the Dio years moreso than Ozzy.  This live version of Voodoo moves mountains, taking a turn midway for some improv from the band with Ronnie the town crier warning us all that “there’s evil there”.  One of Tony’s best riffs and one of my favorite Geezer Butler bass lines as well, especially his little runs here and there.  And getting back to Ronnie…  does he ever deliver, each line delivered with appropriate menace and authority.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B9i3hj4pec

“Everywhere I Go”, The Call Reconciled

A fine little ditty that takes me back to a period in the 80’s where I was consuming anything and everything music related.  The Call craft a driving cut with some melodic ringing guitar atop a steady rock beat from bass and drums and a convincing vocal.  A bit new wave-y in spots with the keys but typical of the mid 80s as alternative rock was taking hold with newer bands like REM and U2.  One of the band’s more popular songs.

“Dance Of Death”, Iron Maiden En Vivo!

Maiden always seem to be at their best in front of a rabid crowd, this time playing for a few thousand crazy rivetheads in Chile.  Bruce in fine actorly form, over enunciating everything as if his life depended on it (one of those things that I actually love about him and Maiden in general) before this jig really kicks into overdrive with solos galore from the Three Amigos and Nicko almost running away with the bouncy beat.  As with latter period Maiden, this one has a lot of buildup before it kicks into gear and then slows down again.  Fun for the entire family!

“Fool For Your Loving”, Whitesnake Slip Of The Tongue

So Whitesnake covers themselves with guitar demon Steve Vai on six (or is it seven?) string magic, doing a fine version of their earlier, bluesier version from the glory days of the Marsden\Moody years.  I love both versions but have a soft spot for this one as I’d heard it first and because Vai lays down a fine, noodly but still melodic solo.  Layers of Vai guitars and fab vocal from Mr. Coverdale lead to a big thumbs up from me.  And yes, an over the top video too 🙂

“California Man”, Cheap Trick Liverpool University ’79

A cover from CT idol Roy Wood, Cheap Trick rock the house in Liverpool with this cut from a live broadcast from the late 70s.  For the uninitiated, Cheap Trick rocks mighty and hard and this is a great example of what you get outside of those of you only familiar with “The Flame” or “I Want You To Want Me”.  Zander is a little raspier than normal here but carries the song perfectly o’er top the always solid Bun E Carlos on drums and bass from the 12-string king Tom Peterson.  Rick is a little low in the mix but has more fun than any guitarist should.  THE DREAM POLICE!  DAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAHH!

“Destiny”, CJSS World Gone Mad

Boy, did I wear this tape out back in the day.  Local legends CJSS were THE metal show to catch back in the mid to late 80s and we were proud to have a guitar god in our own backyard in David Chastain.  “Destiny” is one of the more melodic builders, Russell Jinkens with a strong vocal with great backing from Skimmerhorn and Sharp.  Definitely more Eurometal than what was going on at the time, a bit Accept-y in spots and some galloping Maiden towards the end.  A great live band, walls and walls of Marshalls and huge drum risers.  Link below is to a different cut.

“Never Say Never”, Slunt The Best Thing

The third cover song in this post, Slunt covering the early Romeo Void classic and putting a nasty, guttery spin on it with heavy guitar and snarly vocal.  Led by one time MTV VJ Abby Gennet, Slunt should appeal to the Faster Pussycat\LA Guns\Spread Eagle crowd, minus the ballads.  As much as I like the original, this is a really cool version.  “I might like you better if we slept together”…  yeah, you remember that song don’t you?

“Old Friend”, Allman Brothers Band, Hittin’ The Note

And a slippin’ and a slidin’ we go… an awesomely cool tune sung by the great Warren Haynes with second guitar accompaniment from Derek Trucks.  A song for the guitar lovers in all of us and those that dig the blues.  Not too reminiscent of old school Allmans but a good song is a good song even though no other ABB member is on it (although that may be Jaimoe’s foot keeping the beat).  Much love for songs like this, just sparse guitar and vocal and nothing else.

Man, some tough choices for song of the week here but “Voodoo” wins the prize with “Old Friend” the surprise choice for second place.

So I went to a couple of shows recently and was totally knocked out by both.  Over the years I’ve become a bit of a Primus fan, especially after picking up a couple of discs from the used bins and being sucked in obviously by the talents of Les, Ler, and Herb (and Brain and Jay, for that matter) and just digging into the oddball grandeur of it all.  Primus was touring behind their musical remake of the “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” soundtrack, a bit of a strange choice but not so strange when in the hands of bass genius Les Claypool.  The band kicked off the show in a fairly sparse setting, low on the lights and in front of the theater curtain, and fired off about 8-9 classics before taking a half hour break and coming back with the “Wonka production”.  Costumes, inflatables, candy, Oompa Loompas(!) and big screen showing clips from the classic movie were present as the band played their new album “Primus and the Chocolate Factory (with Fungi Ensemble)” in its entirety.  Talk about a bold move!  The crowd absolutely at it up, with many dressed as characters from the movie as well.  The boys encored with three more classics from the catalog before sending the crowd home happy.  My awesomely cool bass playing son Ian went with me and snagged a t shirt and the new “chocolate” vinyl.  Quite the show!

Flash forward a few weeks to a show I’ve been waiting for for months:  the mighty EXODUS!  I mentioned my awesomely cool bass playing son-  well, he’s got himself an awesomely cool band as well and had the opportunity to open the show!  Unfortunately they were down a couple of band members and were forced to play as a trio with no vocals.  That said, they did an OUTSTANDING job!  Very proud of Ian, Michael, and DJ and how they were able to pull it off.  More to come on these guys in a future blog so stay tuned 🙂

After a few other bands and multiple changeovers it was Exodus time!  My brother and I had seen the band back in 2004 on the Tempo Of The Damned tour, playing in front of a very small crowd (maybe 50 people, tops) in Indianapolis.  While that show was great (it was my first time seeing the band in person), it was awesome to see a much, much larger crowd having some good friendly violent fun as the Exo dudes took a slight detour from their slot on the Slayer tour and played a full gig at the Madison Theater in Covington, Kentucky.  Their new CD “Blood In, Blood Out” has many great cuts on it and it’s great to have the one and only Steve “Zetro” Souza back at the mic.  I’m too old to get in the pit anymore but I was standing a little to the left as mayhem broke out throughout the night, especially during classic cuts such as “The Toxic Waltz” and “Bonded By Blood”.  The guys were at the top of their game and I must say that Tom Hunting is A BEAST behind the kit!  I don’t like just hearing the drums, I like to feel it too and Tom definitely brings it.  These guys are only playing six songs opening for Slayer but if you get to catch them on an Exodus only gig YOU NEED TO GO.  Thrash at its finest.