Once again, time to post my two cents on the first ten songs that pop up on the ol’ iPod (28484 songs strong!)

“Porch”, Pearl Jam Ten

I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest PJ fan in the world but Ten is a good album.  “Porch” is one of those rare ravers on the disc, definitely yards away from the hits as far as punch, power, and funky punkiness is concerned plus Eddie Vedder gets in a WTF moment early.  Leans classic rock come the chorus and guitar solo time as the Gossard/McCready team lay down a double tracked bit o’ goodness.  Some good tones on display here.

“Pictures Of Home”, Deep Purple Machine Head

First time I heard this song I said to myself, “so this must be where Yngwie Malmsteen stole his licks!”  Yeah, everyone knows the Purple hits but frankly, this is an underrated cut where everyone in the band shines-  great riff, fantastic organ accompaniment, killer Ian Paice drum intro, and subtly smooth Ian Gillan vocal.  But of course, Ritchie Blackmore is the big star here as he lays down one hot lead break followed closely by some cool Jon Lord Hammond runs and a brief bass swoop by Roger Glover.  Highly recommended!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4UjWtLyYBY

“Fly On The Wall”, Thunder Behind Closed Doors

Talk about a really cool band and one fantastic singer, Thunder plays that funky music here with the occasional horn stabs mixed in with some heavy rockin’ guitar.  These guys are generally a little more bluesier in their work, but this one is like amping up some Bad Company and mixing it with KC and the Sunshine Band.  A band that should be bigger than they actually are, even though they’ve carved a nice niche in their home country Britain.

“My Baby’s Gone”, Los Lobos By The Light Of The Moon

Another time for honesty, I’ve always wanted to play in a roots rock type band that leaned towards the blues and stuff like “My Baby’s Gone” is what we’d cover.  Just a really good and straight ahead blues rock cut, a little funky courtesy of the groove and percussion but definitely blues territory come the guitar work.  Shades of the Kings (Albert, BB, and Freddie) and Jimmie Vaughan with the guitar tones and stinging leads.

“Bladecatcher”, Mastodon Blood Mountain

Whoa…  if you like oddball stuff mixed in with your heavy riffage this may be for you (although if you need some singin’ this ain’t got it).  This instrumental has what sounds like a catchy tapped intro before breaking into freakout zone with a crazy distorted vocal, then swinging into a Maidenesque riff a la “Genghis Khan” before changing gears AGAIN with another cool bit that changes one more time before closeout.  Great interplay among the two guitars and bass here.

“Seven Little Indians”, John Hiatt Stolen Moments

Ahh, a feedback intro on a John Hiatt album 🙂 A bit of an oddity, but I really liked this period from Hiatt as he pushed the elements and introduced different instrumentation to his material.  “Seven Little Indians” mixes Hendrixy electric with Dylanesque rhythms and also includes some sweet mandolin interplay, making for a rewarding listen.  As always, Hiatt’s growl is a treat and his lyrics are always enjoyable and here in fine storytelling mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97phQX8HVeQ

“Bedrock Twitch”, Rock Roll Bubblegum Classics

Ha ha, yeah!!!  I’ve got no idea where I got this from but this is the original from the TV show and not the B-52s remake from The Flintstones movie.  I loved this when I was a kid and love it just as much now.  If you’ve not heard it, click below.  What I gotta know though is who is the guitar player?  Man, that’s one nasty lick!  Sure, this is a song from a cartoon TV show but it’s a great sendup of the surf rock and twist music popular at the time.  Killer horns and vocal too.

“Your World Will Hate This”, Orange Goblin Coup De Grace

Kinda funny, two songs this post with the f word proudly displayed early in the vocal.  Just two minutes of no nonsense, full on blast riffage from these stoner rock cats from bloody England, all fuzzy distortion and in your face vocal.  Not much more to say really other than a great way to get your attention at the start of this disc.  BAM!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyj92khQ9QA

“Big Teaser”, Saxon Coming To The Rescue

Saxon’s always been a big fave of mine, some cuts moreso than others although I must say that “Big Teaser” falls way down the list of go-to Saxon cuts.  It’s not bad but it leans more to the glammy side, feeling a bit like a heavy Sweet ripoff mixed with some Motorhead riffage.  This is the original version and not the version that was released on their debut album so it’s a little more raw and undercooked.  Still pretty cool stuff even if it’s lower level Saxon.

“One Of These Days”, Pink Floyd Meddle

And we end this week with an unheralded gem and one of my favorite cuts from Pink Floyd-  “One Of These Days” is just an epic builder headlined by some rushing wind effects before that throbbing double tracked bass kicks in as the centerpiece of the whole song.  Rick Wright has some fabulous keyboard stabs here, but it’s David Gilmour’s grandiose guitar work that just steals the show.  Angry, distorted, and growly slide work that’s incredibly tasty in context but when he gets into those higher note bends this song reaches another level.  Awesome.

Song of the week goes to “One Of These Days” followed by “Pictures Of Home”

A couple of weeks ago with my impending birthday, my brother proposed a road trip to Cleveland to catch the opening night of the Slayer/Anthrax/Death Angel show.  As my present, he’d buy the tickets and provide the car; all I had to do was drive.  The offer was much too tempting and one I couldn’t pass up, especially considering I’d never seen Slayer and neither of us had seen Death Angel (we’d both seen Anthrax multiple times).

Now I must admit, the first time I heard a Slayer album it literally scared the crap out of me.  I’d already heard (and dug) the song “Black Magic” but when we finally purchase Hell Awaits I was scarred forever.  Dropped the needle on the self titled intro cut and was “treated” to evil incarnate- and that was before the music started!  I’m kidding…  kinda… 🙂  That said, I will admit that I’m not a HUGE Slayer fan but I do like a good chunk of their songs and figured I can’t pass up a free ticket and the opportunity to hang with my brother for the evening.

So the day of the show we had one minor problem…  my brother couldn’t meet until 3 PM and the show started at 7:10 PM, and our drive was right around four hours.  Being that we are big Death Angel fans, we high tailed it to Cleveland but got there midway through DA’s set.  What we did see was pretty damn good-  long standing members Mark Osegueda on vocals and Rob Cavestany on lead guitar were dead on hot, as were the rest of the band.  We only got to see two and a half songs but they were mind numbingly good-  nice and punchy thrash.  Unfortunately, their time on stage was just five songs but they did a fine job warming up the crowd.  Can’t wait to catch them live some other time.

As for Anthrax…  well, we’ve seen them a number of times and they always put on an entertaining show.  Unfortunately, these days I’m not quite as big a fan as I used to be-  the last two albums have their moments but I pine for another all out thrash assault like Among The Living.  All that said, they did a decent job mixing up newer cuts with their older classics during their one hour set (although I could have done without “Antisocial”; replace that with “Madhouse” and I would have majorly approved) plus Joey Belladonna was more energetic than I’d ever seen him-  lots of running around the stage and encouraging crowd participation.  Oh yeah, Scott and Charlie and Frankie?  All great players who have a lot of fun up there, especially during crowd pleasers “Caught In A Mosh” and “Indians”, my two faves from the night.  Just watching Cholly play drums is amazing and Scott is a mini-maniac.  WAAAARRRDAAAAANCE!!!!  Not my favorite show from them but it was good nonetheless.

I had zero expectations for Slayer.  I was actually thinking, “how many Slayer songs do I actually know?  Four?”.  Well ladies and gentlemen, I know MANY MORE Slayer songs than I’d realized and HOLY CRAP were they good.  Well, I’ll be a little honest…  there were some songs that they played that I didn’t really know at all which were kind of “ehhh”, but once they broke into the greats I was all in.  Sure, some of you may say “it ain’t Slayer without Hanneman and Lombardo” but Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph do a fantastic job filling in for those two guys.  I’ve always had a bit of man love for Holt anyway due to his day job with Exodus so he gets a pass from me, but I will admit that I would liked to have seen Lombardo behind the kit.  That said, Bostaph totally kills it back there and by the end of the show I was thinking “Dave Who?”.  As for those Slayer mainstays Tom Araya and Kerry King?  Aces.  Tom’s voice was in really good shape considering that this was the first show of the tour, plus he was hitting a lot of those highs and screams in many of the songs.  And King IS Slayer, so you know what you’re getting with him (although I miss that armband thingie with the nails that he wore in the old days).

Highlights of the Slayer set were definitely the classics-  “War Ensemble”, “Postmortem”, “Dead Skin Mask”, and the final four cuts of the night; those that made me realize that this was a GREAT show:  “South Of Heaven”, “Raining Blood”, “Black Magic”, and the insanely awesome “Angel Of Death”.  Not too familiar with the new album other than lead track “Repentless” but I must say the other cuts from the album were just OK-  throwing one in after three classics in a row brought the energy level down for a brief period.  Would like to have heard “World Painted Blood” instead of “Hate Worldwide” from their previous album but that’s just me.  Oh yeah, they played “Hell Awaits” too but it didn’t scare me this time (ahhhh ha ha ha ha ha!!!).

All in all, a great show and one that killed my hearing for a couple of days.  We drove straight home after the show and I hit the bed around 4 AM with ears ringing.  I woke up the next day dialing up some Slayer classics on the iPod before I went into work-  nothing like using “War Ensemble” as a wake up call first thing in the morning!

Yes dear readers, if you came away from watching and/or listening to the above video you may be thinking, “boy, that guy looks and sounds awfully familiar”-  well it should:  Simon Collins, lead vocalist and drummer in Sound Of Contact, has the good genetics and the smooth vocal timbre of his pop, former Genesis and solo great Phil Collins.  But if you focus solely on the young Collins, you’re missing out on a formidable progressive rock band whose debut album Dimensionaut showcases some excellent musical moments that hearken back to the prog greats of the past.  Fellow bandmates Dave Kerzner, Kelly Nordstrom, and Matt Dorsey, along with Collins, have written a fantastic album filled with some well written melodic cuts featuring fantastic musicianship and beautiful soundcapes, maybe none moreso than second single “Pale Blue Dot”.

Starting off with a haunting, phased keyboard pattern that echoes throughout the song, “Pale Blue Dot” is a winner led by a warm vocal from Collins and his restrained yet pulsating drumwork that helps propel the song.  Kerzner’s keyboard work adds much to that vibe and pulse, and Nordstrom (or is it Dorsey’s?) guitar line during the chorus adds a counter to those keys by lifting the song to an even greater melodic height.  Simply a very cool and very beautiful progressive rock song- great melody, great musicianship, and great vocal.  Dad and his former band should be proud.

For those of you that dig Marillion, post Gabriel Genesis, and newer Porcupine Tree, this one is for you-  as for the rest of Dimensionaut, it is well worth your money.  Look for a new album from the band sometime in early 2017.