Round one down, on to round two…

Japan has always loved hard rock and metal and has produced their share of bands of the same ilk, bands such as Bow Wow, Loudness, Anthem, and EZO, who first appeared in the early 80’s under the guise Flatbacker.  Towards the late 80’s, KISS man Gene Simmons helmed their first stateside release on Geffen Records with the band now known as EZO.  The self titled release sported a bit of a heavier KISS\Crue crunch with some really cool melodic hooks.  Vocalist Masaki Yamada is pretty damn versatile and quite unique, easily moving between a smoother lower range singing style into more of a midrange gravelly growl.  Songs like “House Of A Thousand Pleasures”, with its chunky, muscular riff and solid drumwork from Hiro Homma and “Million Miles Away” with its swinging groove and excellent hook are great examples of how this band could write some simple but solid rock tunes (check out the speedier “Black Moon” for another change of pace).  Their second album, Fire Fire is my favorite as the production is a little bit brighter and the guitars seem to be more in your face.  Unfortunately, EZO split around 1990 and Yamada and Homma eventually went on to join fellow countrymen Loudness for a brief period.

Those of you familiar with Seattle metal\hard rock in the pre-grunge era definitely know Queensryche, likely know Metal Church, and may have a passing familiarity with Fifth Angel, a short lived band with a couple of strong discs.  Their self titled disc originally came out on Shrapnel Records and produced by Terry Date, features powerful vocals from (Dr.) Ted Pilot, excellent guitar playing from the team of James Byrd and Ed Archer, and slamming drumwork from Ken Mary.  Songs are suitably epic with quite a few solid mid-paced riffsters (“Cry Out The Fools”, “Fifth Angel”) thrown in with the occasionally speedy cut (“In The Fallout”, “The Night”), overall bringing to mind European power metal such as Helloween or Accept mixed in with MSG, Scorpions,  and Yngwie Malmsteen (especially in the lead guitar work).  Disc #2 (Tiime WIll Tell) came out a couple of years later, this time manned by Rush-man Terry Brown who brings a much smoother production style in comparison to Date.  Still, there are some strong cuts like “Dangerous Love”, “Angel Of Mercy”, “Cathedral”, and “We Rule” but the production change leaves this disc sounding more like a heavier Dokken.  Not that that’s a terribly bad thing, but with some sweetening of the vocals and choruses makes it appear as if the record company meddled with this disc looking for a hit (check the chorus of “Wait For Me” or “Broken Dreams” for examples).  After many years, this band has reunited with some members but hasn’t put out anything new.

As I’ve mentioned before, I worked in a record store right before the grunge explosion hit and we always received samplers from Concrete Marketing, who handled promotions for a number of bands during that period.  The samplers were always cool and offered up a number of different metal\hard rock oriented bands, which is how I got my first exposure to the awesomely cool alternative metal band Animal Bag.  These guys were a bit hard to describe, almost a bit of acoustic funk here, ballsy rock there, and a whole lotta psychedelia mixed together to form an interesting concoction.  I’ve fortunately picked up three of their releases and all three couldn’t be any different:  Their introductory self titled disc is a wild batch of eclectic and atmospheric tunes, bringing to mind The Doors eastern influences (“Cheerful Mary In The Rain”), Hendrix\Guns N Roses guitar freakiness (“Everybody”), Zeppelin acoustic touches (“Mirrored Shades”), and modern day funkiness like Faith No More and Saigon Kick (“Hate St.”).  Second disc is an EP called Offering, a mixed bag of originals and covers with an absolutely astounding version of Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s “Wooden Ships” that has become one of my favorite covers of all time-  amazing that this is even more laid back and psychedelic than the original; just gorgeous guitar and vocal interplay between Luke Edwards and Rich Parris.  Lastly third disc is the unreleased “Image Damage”, a disc much heavier than the first two leaning more rock than the acoustic touches found on the first two.  Unfortunately the band broke up during a record company shake up as grunge had now taken over the music world in the States.

Happy President’s Day!

“Nickel and Dime”, Allgood Uncommon Goal

The early 90’s produced some good jammy type bands right around the timeframe that grunge hit.  Allgood was a great example, forging a brief career during this period by offering up some Allmans-esque bluesy boogie rock with some tasty dual guitar work.  “Nickel and Dime” is typical of their style, offering up a laid back groove with a strong hook come chorus time and some smart guitar and bass work.  Dig into a live version from these Athens, GA boys.

“Son”, Jethro Tull Benefit

Yes Metallica fans, Tull were a “heavy” band although not entirely part of their makeup (and yes, Metallica should have won the Grammy that year :))  “Son” is an interesting twist of a cut, stomping through some sinister heaviness before breaking into their inner pomp with an acoustic and piano interlude before swinging back to the stomp.  Ian Anderson and Martin Barre really sell this one, kinda like a mix of Cream and the Beatles.

“Songbird”, Fleetwood Mac Rumours

I’ve always been a sucker for a song with minimal accompaniment, this song being “perfect” in many ways (pun definitely intended).  In an album full of hits, this is highly, highly underrated, one of those songs that would have sounded great tacked on the end of the album but we’ll do with it being the last cut on side one.  Christine McVie sings this beautifully, laying down an equally emotive piano part with lite acoustic guitar touches from Lindsey Buckingham.  My tastes in music definitely lean to the rock stuff but I love a beautiful melody.  Great recording  too with its concert hall feel.

“Wounded Knee”, Marty Stuart Badlands

Ahh, country music…  I own very little and dislike a lot of what’s popular today (with a rare exception or two), but I own quite a bit of Marty Stuart’s material.  To me, Marty is the real deal and shows huge respect to his forefathers Cash, Haggard, Williams, Tubbs, etc with his choice of material.  “Wounded Knee” is a bit of a country shuffle with great acoustic picking and other guitar coloring throughout, with a picturesque lyric sung from an Indian’s perspective (very Cash-esque in delivery).  Leans a bit gospel in vibe and delivery, which is a large part of country classics of yore.

“Descending”, The Black Crowes Amorica

If I ever put together a list of favorite Black Crowes songs, “Descending” would be damn near the top.  I would go so far to state it is my favorite Chris Robinson vocal ever-  the man brings the soul; a little bit of Rod Stewart, a little bit of Otis Redding, and a whole lot of Southern charm.  Sure, everyone knows the hits but this song is a great example of the all around talent in this band-  the slide work of Marc Ford is slick and sweet (“slide like mercury”… man!) and younger bro Rich Robinson rounds it out with some great guitar as well.  And that piano!  Holy schnikies….  just some fine, fine playing from Eddie Harsch throughout but he gets major points for that intro and the absolutely beautiful coda to round out the song.  One of those songs that may come up on shuffle that I have to replay a couple of times just to soak in the awesomeness of it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40RsqaEavk8

“No One To Depend On”, Santana The Best Of Carlos Santana

Originally on III, this Gregg Rolie penned tune is one of the stellar cuts from the early era, a simmering guitar and percussive led Latin groove until it pulls a switcheroo midway through for some mind bending solo work from Mr. Santana himself and a 17-year old wunderkind named Neal Schon (before he scooped up Rolie to go on and form Journey).  The first two minutes of this cut before the rock freakout in the middle are just a hot and steamy groove, so much so that I can picture the walls sweating in the recording studio.  Man, this band back in the day must have been something to see.

“Time After Time”, The Hooters Hooteriaztion:  A Retrospective

Your trivia question of the day… “who co-wrote the Cyndi Lauper classic Time After Time?”  Your answer… Rob Hyman, founding member of Philly’s favorite sons The Hooters.  This version is a bit of an oddity as it is sung by Hyman, although the arrangement and musical accompaniment are dead on the version made famous by Lauper, in which he also sang background vocals..  The fans on this live cut obviously dig it, but I’m so attached to the hit version that it’s a bit strange to hear this sung from the male perspective (although it is a song about relationships so it should work either way).

“Bad Karma”, Spiritual Beggars Mantra III

For the uneducated, Arch Enemy main man Michael Amott’s side project are these fellow Swedish stoner gods, Spiritual Beggars bringing a bit of Sabbath heft and Purple swing to their psychedelian stomp.  Not really a stoner band per se, the Beggars rock with more might and less sludgy tempos, more in line with their heavier 70s brethren although you get patches of fuzziness here and there (listen to that intro bass).  Great growly vocal from Spice with cool drum solo from sticksman Ludwig Witt and Robin Troweresque solo from Amott.  If you dig the bluesier rock bands that came along during the late 60s/early 70s these guys should be up your alley.  Cut below is an example of the band’s earlier style with Spice.

“Out Of The Night”, Steve Miller Italian X Rays

Early 80’s Steve Miller was a bit more experimental, introducing more keyboards, synthesizers, crazy sound effects and what sounds like obnoxious electronic drums.  That said, “Out Of The Night” is not a bad little cut but is definitely a sign of the times in the early 80s, new wave tics here o’er top a semi rockin’ groove (think ZZ Top’s Eliminator in spots).  Best part of the cut is Steve’s trippy, layered vocal, which is always a staple of anything he puts out.  I have a huge amount of respect for artists like Steve Miller, who are always willing to stretch here and there on records in order to bring you his next aural platter (“Fly Like An Eagle”, anyone?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvAZ8F3R-No

“In Your Town”, Rory Gallagher Live In Europe

Rory Gallagher is an example of an artist that I’d heard about (especially in guitar circles) but never heard any material from.  He’s not someone that has a classic rock radio staple (at least here in the States), but my familiarity all changed one day as I was browsing through a local record store and heard the clerk playing Live In Europe.  It seemed that the intensity of each song went up a notch on cut after cut, so much so that I just had to find out just who in the hell this was that was playing.  “In Your Town” just has fearless, non stop boogie, almost John Lee Hooker-esque in spots as it runs down the same groove throughout with little change.  Rory is on fire not only lead wise, but vocally as well as the band bashes with all their might.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm99WtK_hPE

Song of the week goes to “Descending” by a country mile, and there are some very good cuts this week.

Ahhh, the late 80’s…  if you turned on MTV you saw a lotta hair, a lotta glam, a lotta pouty faces, and frankly, a lotta crap.  Power ballads were di rigueur and hard rock and heavy metal was the music of the day.  Fortunately, my tastes were leaning more thrash metal at this time but there was still some music in the rock vein that was bending my ear that was way cool (junior), with a lotta balls ‘n crunch.  One shakeup in the music world was led by Guns N Roses, leading the charge with their own brand of Aerosmith bravado meets the Stones wallop and swagger.  Shortly thereafter came Jane’s Addiction, mixing a depth of a different color by via a swirling mountain of alternative vibe and heady classic rock.  Some bands followed suit and added more color to their palette while others churned out a heavier tune.  Rock/metal was adopting different flavors into the early 90’s, offering up a slew of new and exciting bands in the pre-grunge days.  Here are three examples in Part 1 of this episode of Under The Radar.

Hailing from New York City, Spread Eagle came stomping out of the gate in 1990 with their debut self titled disc in the mold of early Aerosmith, Motley Crue, and classic Van Halen, even outpunking Appetite era Guns N Roses.  Sporting a ready made guitar hero in Paul DiBartolo, songs like “Scratch Like A Cat”, “Broken City”, and “Back On The Bitch” swing with mighty riff and tasty guitar work, offering up swinging and sweeping leadwork a la Eddie Van Halen.  In the vocal department, Ray West somewhat resembles a bluesier Axl Rose but belting, singing, and screaming in an even more convincing fashion.  Lyrically though a bit juvenile in spots with songs like “Hot Sex” and “Spread Eagle” not winning any literary prizes, certainly the weakest part of the disc.  Production is hot and nasty, with decent bottom end and certainly more of an unproduced, live feel overall.  Both the self titled and second album Open To The Public are hard to track down but are well worth seeking out if you can find them, although I prefer the self titled’s looser production moreso than the smoother second disc.

Yeah, two NYC bands in a row….  first thing I picked up out of this disc was how in your face the production was-  everything seems to be pushed into the red and LOUD:  guitar, drum, bass, and vocal, right up front and immediately grabbing your attention.  Collision was a very solid power trio that only put out two discs, the self titled and Coarse in the mid-nineties.  Each song on the self titled (my favorite) settles into a mid-paced swinging groove, nothing too fast, nothing too slow, just serious riffs, solid bass, outstanding vocals, and massive, kicking Bonham-esque drums.  This disc was definitely an oddball of the time and didn’t really fit, sounding like something straight outta the 70s a la Grand Funk Railroad (who they cover with “Creepin'”).  It’s like these guys just showed up in the studio, flipped the switch, and cut everything live.  Check out “Who Do You Love”, “True Love”, “Juicy Lucy”, and the downright funky and thumpin’ swing of “Things”.  Coarse is a mighty fine disc too, not as loose as this one but a bit darker and spacier in tone and vibe overall.

Last band of the week released only ONE record but featured a couple of heavyweight players in the highly underrated John Corabi (soon to be of Motley Crue) and six stringer extraordinaire Bruce Bouillet, fresh outta the recently (semi)retired Racer X.  A bit reminiscent of Steven Tyler in the vocal department, especially as many of these songs have a feel similar to vintage Aerosmith.  However, Crab’s whiskey soaked vocals feel more in the pocket on the bluesy swing of “Never Loved Her Anyway” and Zep-esque “Man In The Moon”, kicking into an even higher gear with the monstrous “Tell Me Why”, “I Don’t Care”, and “Outlaw”.  As for Bouillet… this disc is far removed from the guitar pyrotechnics of his previous band, offering up a more song oriented approach but plenty of space for tasty guitar work throughout each song.  Unfortunately, the Crue came a’ callin’ and Corabi left to record the much maligned Motley Crue record as Vince Neil’s replacement (a shame as it is a great record).  Good luck finding this record but it is WELL worth your money!