“Mighty Rearranger” Robert Plant & The Strange Sensation, Mighty Rearranger

Those of you that have read this blog know of my love for Robert Plant and how I have full appreciation of him not resting on the success of his days in Led Zeppelin.  “Mighty Rearranger” gets jiggy with a poppin’ shuffle and groovy, snakelike guitar work, allowing Percy a solid bedrock to emote over.  Skin and Justin Adams on guitar are a fab tag team but the real cool touches here are the bits of harmonica work, boogie woogie piano lines, and the “ahhs” deep in the mix of the background vocal.  Great stuff.

“Dying Rose”, Sweet & Lynch Only To Rise

With a vibe very reminiscent of Furious George’s Lynch Mob days, our resident guitar hero teams with top notch vocalist (and Stryper main man) Michael Sweet for 3:41 of bluesy rock goodness.  Songs like this are why Lynch’s Dokken days put them several rungs above the standard hair fare of the 80’s, mainly due to the stellar guitar work mixed with rockin’ melodies.  And Michael Sweet?  He really shines here as the bluesiness is somewhat removed from his regular Stryper gig.  Fans of either artist should dig.

“Upon Azrael’s Wings” Cathedral The Garden Of Unearthly Delights

Kicking off with a Godzilla stompin’ ugly riff, “Upon Azrael’s Wings” steers Cathedral away from their standard Sabbath vibe into something a little more darker, doomier, menacing, and even hardcore in spots.  Lee Dorrian may be hard to stomach for some, but that menacing vocal is totally unique and makes these guys stand out from being a full on Sabbath copycat.  Man, so many changes here between light and shade…  it’s like a horror movie come to life.

“Learn To Dance” Flotsam & Jetsam My God

Mid-period Flots leaned heavily on the groove, taking a page from Pantera’s playbook and moving into a more comfortable chug rather than the often mathematical thrash of the early days.  AK, as usual, is aces on the vocal as he mixes in a darn near crooning style during the verses before belting it out in gritty tones during the chorus (actually a really good song to showcase the dude’s range).  Also showcases some killer melody lines on the guitar as well as Jason Ward’s punchy bass.

“What You Need” Galactic From The Corner To The Block

Aw yeah baby, Galactic bringin’ the funk but on this record including some rap artists and others to add a different shade to their typical New Orleans kick.  On “What You Need” Lyrics Born is the featured rapper as he rattles of his long list of “what you need” while the rest of the band nails (and I mean NAILS) the funk in the backdrop.  I’ve never been a huge rap fan but there is no denying the groove and flow here plus the lyrics are pretty funny (“any legal tender with a white man in the center”).  Shake ya booty!

“Breaking The Law” Judas Priest ’98 Live MELTDOWN

1998…  enter Tim “Ripper” Owens, formerly of cover band British Steel, to lead the mighty Judas Priest and record a couple of decent studio albums before Rob Halford reentered the picture and resumed front man duties in 2003.  During the Ripper years the band recorded a couple of live albums which show off the new boy’s strong vocal chops on the classics and newer material.  This take on their 1980 classic is strong, maybe slightly rushed, a little goofy via the intro (not quite as charming as Rob), but solid overall.

“Born To Be Wild” Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction Tattooed Beat Messiah

Ummmm…  ahhh…  honestly, NOT the best version of this song but a fun one from an album that is a real over the top sleaze rock treat.  It’s rare to outdo a classic but the spirit and vibe are here as Zodiac and the gang do a decent over the top take with a shredtastic guitar solo and some gang vocals on the chorus.  Pretty representative of the 80’s, so if you love the era this will do you good.

“When Pigs Fly” BulletBoys Za-Za

If there was ever a hair era band with the spirit and attitude of early Van Halen, the BulletBoys was it.  Chalk it up to the outrageousness of lead singer Marq Torien or the heavy riffing of Mick Sweda, or possibly the knob job of old VH producer Ted Templeman, I dunno.  But songs like “When Pigs Fly” had the charm of some of VH’s more riffier cuts like “Mean Streets” or “Loss Of Control” including the loose groove of the rhythm section.  Just good ol’ meat and potatoes.

“Mistreated” Deep Purple Burn

Mach III of Deep Purple certainly had its charms, steering the band in a more bluesier and slightly funkier direction courtesy of new fellas David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.  “Mistreated” is a prime example of the bluesier direction, Coverdale providing a stellar vocal and giving Ritchie Blackmore an opportunity to pull some great bluesy playing out of his magical kit bag.  Amazing thinking about how this band could push the limits of heavier rock styles and then lay back in the pocket to nail a different mood overall and come up with a major winner.

“Road Mutants” Death Angel Frolic Through The Park

San Francisco was certainly a hotbed of metal in the early to mid-80s and this lot was one of the many to make their mark on the scene (and continue to do so to this day).  “Road Mutants” is a storming mix of East Coast/West Coast thrash via punky riff, gang vocals, and clattery production plus lead vocalist Mark Osegueda is already in full metal throat at this point in the band’s history.  Come album #3 this unit really became more refined, tightening up the riffs and overall approach to become a more streamlined yet dangerous metal unit.

Some good cuts this week but I gotta go with “What You Need” over “Road Mutants” by a nose

No matter who you are voting for (Clinton/Trump/Johnson/Stein), you may be looking at the other candidates and thinking that they are…

Make sure you go vote on November 8th!

To steal a line from a latter day Billy Joel song-  when I listen to music I often go to extremes, partly due to mood, partly due to short attention span theater, but mostly because to me music is music.  It just has to have something, whether it oozes soul, a great guitar riff, a biting lyric, beautiful melody, a haunting vocal, or just an all out assault on the senses.  Granted I have my favorite genres and artists and as I’ve grown older my tastes haven’t necessarily changed too much but rather incorporated other palettes, so to speak.  And certainly, some of those palette shades may be bright and beautiful to some but may be fairly dark and grotesque to others, but that variety is the spice of life (or so they say).  Kinda like moving from that 8 pack of crayons to those new 120 pack boxes, so to speak.

So what am I getting at here?  Well, part of this is the reason I blog-  to expose some of you to artists that you may never have heard of, or maybe to get you “outside of the box” and push the realms of your comfort zone.  All music should be personal taste; just because a song is #1 on iTunes means you have to download it too or if an online or print band proclaims such and such artist as “the next Beatles” or “the new Michael Jackson” or “better than Bieber!” doesn’t mean you need to take notice and buy it because it’s the new flavor of the month.  All you gotta do is listen and determine…  how does it make YOU feel?  What are YOU getting out of it?  If it sucks, it sucks.  If YOU think it’s great, well, that’s all that matters.  And if you’re like me, you can listen to all of this back to back and enjoy the hell out of it!

Heed the words of The Dude and not Grumpy Cat!

So here ya go….  ten songs to get you outta your box and expose you to new things!  If you like it’s cool but if you don’t like it’s cool too.  Some of these may be familiar and some may not, so enjoy!

Let’s get right down to it-  THE best version of this song is not the original, not the Van Halen cover, but the absolutely riotous and smoking live version found on their fab One For The Road LP.  Sure, the original is a stone cold classic featuring one of the most notable and epic riffs of all time-  legend has it lead guitarist Dave Davies sliced the cone of his amp with a razor blade to get an even nastier tone out of his guitar (and arguably created the first strains of heavy metal); and Van Halen’s epic cover version is mostly highlighted by that blistering guitar solo that is “Eruption” (one always seems to be tied to the other come radio play); but neither holds a candle to the punked up version on display on side four, cut one on that 1980 platter.

I can hear the haters now…  “blasphemy!  The original is IT!  Young band making their mark!”…  or…  “COME ON!  The VH version tops all because…  well… it’s VH!  Listen to Ed!  He roolz!”  I say…  naaaah babeeee naaaah… no way Jose!  Just listen to that introductory rumble from Davies; like an earthquake mixed with a reckless locomotive in danger of derailing at any minute. I have a feeling that he wanted to show the young Van Halen who’s the guitar boss by putting his own unique spin on the cut, immediately roaring out of the gate with the NASTIEST Les Paul tone committed to vinyl:  all knobs on TEN and grabbing you by the throat as he kicks into the main riff followed by the band in heads down, take no prisoners mode in full swing behind him.  And brother Ray’s lead vocal is full of commanding swagger as he helps lead that charge by whipping the crowd into a frenzy.  Such a venomous take from a band that was out to show the punks (and certain burgeoning hard rockers) that these original “old” cats still had plenty left in the tank.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the original and I love the VH version but both are turgid and elephantic in comparison.  Sure, the VH one more closely mimics the original and is bombastic in its own right (those background vocals and lead solo are aces) but there is a raw energy missing that is more present in the rest of that band’s catalog.  And the original? Pure awesomeness but not as edgy as the live version, although I’ll say that Davies’ solo on it is just chonkingly perfect.  However, I think the time period played a big part with the new amped up approach:  arena rock was the new thing and the band was moving into new directions after a series of concept albums failed to hit big with their fans.  Come their new contract with Arista Records in 1977, the band was starting to feel the need to rock out again and get away from the concept format and back into straight ahead rock songs.  And rock they did, especially come One For The Road and its excellent takes on both new and old material.

So yeah, if you haven’t heard this version I strongly encourage you to listen and pick up the album too if you’ve not heard it.  Pure, raw unbridled rock and roll from a band who still had it.  Oh yeah…  after digging hard on the back cover and listening to those tones on display, I’ve had a longing for a Gibson Les Paul Artisan guitar!