“Ooh…  you’re not going THERE are you?”

“Why yes…  yes I am….

(imaginary conversation in my head when thinking of my next blog topic)

Weeeeeeeellllll…  kinda sorta…  actually I thought about facing off between Rumours and the self titled Fleetwood Mac album (first two Buckingham/Nicks platters) but after having watched “History Of The Eagles”, I thought to myself…  hold on there!  How about a Showdown between two of da biggest bands of all times!  Not only dat, but two of the top selling artists and albums of all times!  Yeeeahhh boyyyeeee!  Both albums released within weeks of each other; Hotel California at the tail end of 1976 and Rumours in February 1977 with both albums featuring songs that were played incessantly during my formative years as a budding music junkie and are still extremely popular to this day.  Sounds like a topic!

(imaginary conversation continues…)

“C’mon maaaaaan…  The Eagles???  Fleetwood Mac???  yer kidding me, right?  How about a showdown between Back In Black and Dark Side Of The Moon if you want best selling albums of all time?  Stick with the rock, maaaaaan” (bangs head and flashes devil horns)

“Ahhh, no dude…  think about it…  you love THOSE bands yet you have a healthy respect for the Mac and The Eagles and actually have a bit of love for them as well.  Besides, this article will get more hits than one about those other two” (eyes dart nervously, secretly hopes he is correct)

OK enough already!  Showdown is on!  Let’s break it down…

Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”

What can I say about Rumours?  Everyone knows the story…  guitarist/songwriter/singer Lindsey Buckingham and singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks join the band in 1975, success follows, and as writing commences for their next album in 1976 band relationships are splintering: Couple Buckingham/Nicks were on the serious outs during recording sessions and bassist John McVie and his wife, keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter Christine McVie were going through a rough patch of their own and heading to divorceville.  Amazingly, band drama and tension creates an odd combination of friction and magic that plays out in the lyrics of many songs featured on the album, which quickly goes multiplatinum and over the years has come to be lauded as one of THE best albums of all time and is STILL played on classic rock radio to this day.

Enough with the backstory, what about those songs?  In one word…  incredible.  I’ve probably heard each song on the radio over these past 40+ years multiple times (“Oh Daddy” being the rarest, but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard it)-  how often can you say that?  Many of these songs are classics; maybe not every single one toots your horn but there is not any I generally skip on those rare occasions I listen to it.  To hit some highlights, Lindsey Buckingham was en fuego on this disc:  his fiery playing and venomous delivery of “Go Your Own Way” is monstrous, his vocal starting off a bit distant cool yet increases in intensity throughout the verse and into that glorious chorus while tossing in some stinging guitar work during the fadeout of the song.  Throw in the bouncy “Second Hand News” and “Never Going Back Again” and you’ve got a near joyous and fun Lindsey, all heartfelt vocal and fingerpicked brilliance.  But then opposite that you’ve got “Dreams”, arguably my favorite Mac composition and definitive fave from Stevie Nicks, a song brilliantly subtle and moving courtesy of her gentle singing voice, memorable chorus, and estimable groove from John McVie and Mick Fleetwood (listen to that bass!).  And did I say “bouncy”?  Don’t forgot Mrs. McVie’s tunes; “Don’t Stop” being a bout of ooey-gooey positivity featuring a great singalong chorus quickly chased by the equally Smoove “You Make Loving Fun”- how in the hell can a band seemingly on a personal downward trend toss out brilliantly effervescent tunes like these?  And maybe the biggest band statement of all is the core of the album-  as a whole, “The Chain” may be THE Mac song that represents the heart and soul of this unit.  Take one part strident rocker, another part impassioned vocals from Buckingham/Nicks/McVie, and third part near autobiographical lyric and you’ve got one fantabulous tune from a group who, even though all are going through their own individual bouts of pain, suffering, and heartache, likely realize a certain musical bond (“The Chain”) is what will keep them together.  It is the only song on the album credited to all five as a whole.

The Eagles “Hotel California”

Like Rumours, Hotel California has its own story…  but what is fact and what is fiction?  Depends on who you believe, so let me set the record straight…  no, Bernie Leadon was not fired from the band for stealing Glenn Frey’s groupies.

What?  That’s not right?  Huh….

Sorry, fake news alert…  let’s take you to the REAL story.  Supposedly, Hotel California was about…  oh, I don’t know…  could it be…  SAAAATAAAAAN?  Yes boys and girls, rumours (ha ha, I see what you did there!) had it that The Eagles were Satanists and the song “Hotel California” was a hotel where real devil worshipping occurred and lots of drug filled orgies happened.  You don’t believe me?  Why, take a look at the back of the album, waaaay at the top in the middle window…  who do you think that is?  That’s Anton LaVey!  You don’t know who Anton LaVey is?  He’s the leader of the Church of Satan silly!  Why would he be on this cover if this wasn’t “HIS” church?  Listen to those lyrics about “stabbing it with their steely knives but the just can’t kill the beast”!  Hmmmm?  HMMMMMMMMMM???????

Stop it.  No, that’s NOT Anton LaVey, that’s just some dude named Elvis who works at a Burger King in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Who cares!  At any rate, Hotel California is an outstanding album featuring many classics that (like Rumours) were all over the radio in the late 70s, the 80s, the 90s…  well, you get the drift- classic rock radio features plenty of songs from this album and who could blame them?  The title cut is absolute brilliance, far and away my favorite Eagles cut of all time based on the guitar work from Messrs. Don Felder and the esteemed “new boy in the band” Joe Walsh- that beautiful ringing melody and that lead guitar trade off at the tail end of the song is sheer ear candy.  And those lyrics!  Wonderfully cryptic and obtuse, Don Henley penning a tune based on a Frey idea of a man stumbling into an out of the way hotel featuring an odd cast of characters and a scene where he’s informed that he “could check out anytime you like, but you can never leave”.    Such vivid imagery and subtly creepy content amazingly countered by hypnotic guitar wizardry makes for one excellent tune.

But what about the rest of the tunes?  “New Kid In Town” is a brilliant Frey cut, his smooth vocal with countryesque musical leanings is utterly sublime; “Life In The Fast Lane” is pure Joe Walsh, all killer riff and stellar guitar work coolly crooned by Henley; and you want more of that Walsh\Felder combo?  How about “Victim Of Love”?  A bit of semi-chicken pickin’ on the intro riff and some punchy chords, this may be the band’s most underrated rocker.  But man, don’t stop there- toss in the wistful near ballad “Wasted Time” featuring another excellent vocal from Henley backed by some fine string arrangements from Jim Ed Norman (a vibe well represented in future Henley solo cuts); and what may be the most unsung tune of them all on the album in Walsh’s “Pretty Maids All In A Row”, a song so nakedly beautiful courtesy of Joe’s plaintive vocal, the waltzlike time in which it’s played, and the gorgeous backing vocals of his bandmates.  Throw in a thoughtful and almost “longing for the past” lyric that’s executed so brilliantly and you’ve got the hidden gem on one very fine album.

The Winner?  

Rumours

Before I get into the why, I’ll fully admit that my favorite song from either record is “Hotel California”.  The haunting melody, fabulous guitar work, and captivating lyric is a deadly triple combination (is that a thing?) that is just stunning in its execution.  Also full on admission is that my favorite musician BY FAR between the two bands is the utterly incomparable Joe Walsh.  The man has written sooo many classics and produced so many great riffs that he stands above some very fine musicians here.

But yeah…  Rumours…  it all comes down to this- well, two things in particular- the melodies and the songs.  Throw in compositional variety as a third and this album is hard to top.  You’ve got some really good to excellent songs on Hotel California but it’s of a different vibe altogether, maybe a bit darker and more cynical that’s great in its own way but Rumours has a better mixture of light, shade, and rhythm (chalk that up to bassist McVie and drummer Fleetwood).  You got joy, you got anger, you got confusion, you got beauty, you got pain, you got hate, you got love, and you got damn near every other emotion buried deep within each song and soul of each musician featured on this Mac album.  If I were going to be stuck on a desert island and I had my choice of these two discs to take with me, it would be Rumours…  no questions asked.

“The show must go on!”

Likely NOT the exact words that popped into Erik “AK” Knutson’s mind when he woke up with…  ahem… a FROG in his throat, but I’ll be damned if that “frog” didn’t negatively impact him too much at the Flots gig in Covington, Kentucky a few weeks ago.  Whether it be allergies, carnal pleasures, a hangover, or something else, Knutson certainly held his own throughout the night, maybe losing a touch off the high end but still retaining that midrange belt that, after a good 30+ years or so of singing, has aged more into hardened, well aged whiskey than a finely crafted wine.  AK’s performance, along with that of his fellow bandmates, was spot on and earned quite a bit of hootin’ and hollerin’ from the crowd of about 100 or so in this small downtown bar.

I’d known about the Flotsam and Jetsam show for months and based on the strengths of their last couple of records (plus the return of founding guitarist Michael Gilbert) I quickly marked this on the calendar as a must see.  Unfortunately, my brother and I missed the Overkill show just a week or so earlier but made the vow that we would not miss this one.   As a long time fan of these guys back to their first album Doomsday For The Deceiver I was itching to catch the band, never having seen them live “back in the day”.  I’ll admit that I was a little bummed that my son did not go with us as he is also a fan and had the cool idea to bring a sign requesting to play bass on the crushing “Hammerhead” from that very first album.  Thought it was a fantastic idea because…  trust me…  he CAN play it!

On to showtime…  opening band Dead By Wednesday was good with their brand of meaty metal, even tossing in a heavy cover of the Van Halen classic “Unchained” amidst a handful of band originals.  As opening bands go they did a fine job, keeping the audience entertained and even impressing my brother enough to drop $25 on their three CDs at their merch booth (haven’t listed to them yet but I’m looking forward to it).  Singer Rob Roy’s throaty growl was decent enough but I thought guitarist Dave Sharpe and drummer Opus (how about that name?) were the highlights, the former throwing out some fiery solos and the latter truly crushing it on the skins during their roughly half hour set.

After Dead By Wednesday’s tear down and a brief break, it was time for the Phoenix, Arizona thrashers.  Starting off with lead track “Prisoner Of Time” from their recent disc The End Of Chaos, Flotsam absolutely nailed it and brought a good dose of fun throughout the night as well.  Short of AK wisecracking about his vocal issues there was even a bit of good natured banter between the singer and his longtime guitarist Gilbert, the latter seeming to enjoy Knutson’s predicament but gently goading in bringing out the best in his fellow bandmate.  This really came to fruition in final song of the night “No Place For Disgrace”, intro’d by AK as an open option in the setlist for the guitarist to make any selection.  However, when the guitarist kicked off the intro chords to this fan favorite you could see AK shake his head, smirk, and mouth “fuck you”, which brought a big smile to the former’s face.  Other moments included a solo tradeoff between Gilbert and guitarist Steve Conley during “Smoked Out”, both guitarists doing a bit of showing off and Gilbert “blindly” playing a solo with a fan’s hand covering his eyes.  During Conley’s solo Gilbert played a bit of titty twister with his fellow guitar slinger, something which did not seem to perturb the other half of the dynamic guitar tag team as he flashed some sweep picking and nimble, fleet fingered runs to counter Gilbert’s solid old school licks.

As for the songs, it was a veritable feast of mostly old school thrash from the bands’ first few discs but man, if these last two releases don’t rank near the top of Flots’ extensive catalog for most fans then I don’t know what to tell you.  For every song played from the 80s and early 90s it was ably countered with a modern day classic- after the aforementioned intro cut the band ripped through a white hot version of “Desecrator”, followed by 2016’s killer “Seventh Seal”, then back to the debut with a truly hammering “Hammerhead” (fill in bassist Bill Bates was fantastic on this one), and then back to the new album once again with a monstrously melodic “Demolition Man”.  There was not one weak moment in the setlist all night and I could not argue with any of the song selection other than missing “N.E. Terror” but considering that the band has put out well over 10+ CDs and their recent material is some of the best stuff they’ve ever done (check out the mighty “Life Is A Mess” from their self titled from 2016) that’s a very, very minor quibble.

As with any great show that my brother and I have seen, I’m always dragging out the back catalog from any band that makes a big impression and the Flotsam and Jetsam show did just that.  My brother and I left mighty impressed with slightly sore necks intact and the urge to throw a Flots’ CD into the deck.  On the ride home it was The End Of Chaos but for the rest of the week it was a serious run through of second disc No Place For Disgrace with maybe a few run throughs of the stronger cuts on that 2016 self titled.  Major thumbs up to the band and a tip o’ the cap to AK for giving it his all without feeling quite 100%-  it was one absolutely killer show!

(Oh yeah, one other thing…  got to give it up to drummer Ken Mary, a really great player that has been around the block and then some.  I was a little worried about how he’d fit in after Jason Bittner moved on from the last album considering how much of a kick in the pants Bittner gave the band on that 2016 self titled but he really nailed it at the show and had a bit of that good natured, stick twirling/tossing flair thrown in to boot.  Solid, solid choice!)