A series of vignettes featuring my open collection of 6″ Star Wars Black Series! I wanted to show each figure’s features in detail. These are really fun to play with, and display incredibly well. Were you born in the 70’s? Then enjoy these and play along.
For gallery #1, click here.
For gallery #2, click here.
A series of vignettes featuring my open collection of 6″ Star Wars Black Series! I wanted to show each figure’s features in detail. These are really fun to play with, and display incredibly well. Were you born in the 70’s? Then enjoy these and play along.
For gallery #1, click here.
A series of vignettes featuring my open (and one sealed) collection of 6″ Star Wars Black Series! I wanted to show each figure’s features in detail. These are really fun to play with, and display incredibly well. Were you born in the 70’s? Then enjoy these and play along.
This series is dedicated to the memory of George Balasz 1969(?)-2014.
DEEP PURPLE – Live in Graz 1975 (2014 Edel)
Any time there is an official Deep Purple archival release coming out, diehards have to pay attention. The current library of vintage live CDs is the Official Deep Purple (Overseas) Live Series. A mouthful. Live in Paris was the first in the series, followed by Copenhagen 1972 (which I missed but have to catch up on). Graz 1975 is the third, and it has a long history of incomplete releases going all the way back to 1976! Some songs were used on the single LP Made in Europe in that year. In 1996, five songs were remixed and included on Mk III: The Final Concerts. Now the entire April 3 show in Graz, Austria has been remixed again and released in its completion.
As a guy who owns virtually every single official Deep Purple release and catching up on the rest, I’m amazed at how crisp and fucking essential this new mix of “Burn” is. The liner notes call it “surely the best version of this song, ever.” Paice and Blackmore both play with an excitement and energy that is even above their standards. Lord too, but my God are Ian and Ritchie fueled up, laying down fill after fill that were of that moment. Ritchie was on the verge of leaving — he was gone after only two more shows. Even if you’ve heard this exact same recording of “Burn” from Mk III: The Final Concerts before, you haven’t heard it like this. This new mix kills the prior ones, rendering them almost obsolete. Ditto with “Stormbringer”, which captures all the energy that that was missing from Made in Europe.
I’m always pleased to hear “The Gypsy” from Stormbringer, an underrated track from an underrated album. Glenn Hughes’ young pipes are achingly powerful, drowning out David Coverdale. An unreleased “Lady Double Dealer” is the last short song before the show progresses on to long 10 minute or more jams. Ritchie’s manic pick scrapes are deliciously perfect. This usually isn’t one of my go-to Deep Purple songs, but this absolutely smokes any version I’ve heard before.
The first long bomber is Ritchie’s blues centerpiece, “Mistreated”. I confess I usually snooze through this one. This version will be familiar as one of the “bonus tracks” on Mk III: The Final Concerts. Ritchie is the main focus of “Mistreated”, and he stretches out far and wide, using bits from “Lazy”, “Sail Away” and classical melodies. Coverdale is much stronger vocally than he tends to be on this song. A ramshackle “Smoke on the Water” is also dull by comparison with the first part of the set. Its highlight is a long, building and breaking Jon Lord organ solo, which leads into “With a Little Help from my Friends”. “You Fool No One” is over 10 minutes, and it gives Ian Paice a chance to strut his stuff. Paice is one of those drummers that it pays off to focus on and really listen to, because he is always doing something interesting. All of this is outshined by a 20 minute “Space Truckin'”. Richard Strauss’ “Thus Spake Zarathustra” is a suitably bombastic segue, for a band of Deep Purple’s stature. They also detour into “Child in Time”. If you’re not wiped out by now, you will be by the end.
Gotta say that those responsible do a great job with these Deep Purple products. Absolutely no qualms about this release at all. Not essential to anyone but fans of Deep Purple Mk III.
3.5/5 stars
RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale
#353: Hotter Than Hell
Grade 8 was a shitty year. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of that shitty school. I had it up to here [holds hand right below chin] with the bullies and teachers. I had a fight with a bully at the beginning of the year, which at least kept that one off my case for the rest of it. That was also the year I got mono! The only thing that really helped get me through was rock and roll, and especially Kiss. Way back in Part 3 of Record Store Tales, I acquired Hotter Than Hell on LP, in very bad condition. I almost immediately traded it away for a bunch of other records and swag, but not before dubbing a copy on a terrible Scotch blank tape. As explained in great detail in Part 3, I grew to love Hotter Than Hell despite its flaws. Sonically, it was arguably Kiss’ worst album. I was listening to a scratched LP via a 120 minute Scotch tape that was prone to stretch and warble. I had Kiss’ worst sounding album on the worst sounding format! Yet something about it kept drawing me back.
Sound issues aside, there’s no denying Hotter Than Hell is a powerful record. Perennial Kiss klassics such as “Got to Choose”, “Hotter Than Hell”, “Parasite”, and “Let Me Go, Rock and Roll” can be found right here. It also has one of Peter Criss’ best tunes (albeit written by Paul Stanley) called “Mainline”. I found myself immediately hooked on Peter’s raspy voice. I surmised that “Mainline” wasn’t a hit, since it neither appeared on Alive! nor Double Platinum. I couldn’t figure out why. “If Kiss have songs this good that never became hits,” I reasoned, “the rest of their albums must also be pretty good.”
Right after “Mainline” was another amazing song that I fell for: “Coming Home”. This Stanley ode to the road was chosen many years later as the opening track for Kiss’ MTV Unplugged. Back then, to me it was another classic that should have been a hit. The nucleus of the album became four key songs that I could not get enough of: “Coming Home”, “Mainline”, “Hotter Than Hell” and “Got to Choose”. Later on, “All the Way” expanded that list to five.
Those tunes kept me going. If I was having a rotten day at school, I could hum “Coming Home” to myself and feel better. For a French assignment, we had to record an introductory paragraph about ourselves, approximately 30-60 seconds long. We were allowed to do this with music in the background. I chose the opening riff to “Got to Choose” for mine. First chord — then, “Je m’appelle Michèle…” I talked for the instrumental part, and was finished before the opening line of the song. But I kept the tape running for a moment longer before I did a fade-out: “Baby, you know I heard the neighbors say…” Just so I could work a little bit of Kiss into my French class. I was probably the only one who noticed.
The bullies picked on me pretty hard in grade 8. I was assigned “flag duty”, which meant I was the guy who had to put the flag up every morning. Drawing attention to myself was never a fun thing in grade 8, and I had to do it every morning. Walking down the hall to the coughs of “Fag Boy” — a clever name derived from “Flag Boy” — was a daily torment. They also liked to make fun of my boots, which today would have been cooler than hell, since they were vintage, but then just added to misery. Thursdays were wood shop class, which meant a bus ride to another school downtown. That bus ride was without a doubt the worst part of each week. I was prone to getting sick on Thursdays, for some reason….
When I got mono (for real) I missed most of the end of grade 8, but not before being shamed in front of the entire class by my teacher. “Shame on you!” she said, because I picked the wrong school. We all had to choose which highschool we wanted to go to. We were usually expected to choose the Catholic school, but there was no way in hell I was doing that. You couldn’t have dragged me along with those kids, believe me. There was just no way. I chose Grand River Collegiate, which was closer. Plus my best friend Bob, who was two years older than me, went to that school. It would be cool to see him every day at lunch time. We never had any classes together for obvious reasons, but we conspired to get lockers side by side once. We had a great time in highschool. Those were the golden years!
Certainly better than grade 8. I’ve never told all of these stories publicly before. It is what it is, and all is certainly forgiven now. The interesting thing is how these experiences collided to really galvanize my love of that Hotter Than Hell album. Listening to it today still brings back memories of gym class, waiting for it to finally end, humming “Coming Home” to myself. And that, friends, is why such a terrible sounding record is so important to me!
Everybody seems to have their favourite kind of content. My buddy Thussy comes here mostly for the WTFs! Every once in a while, I’ll send him a list of all the weird and wacky search terms that have (somehow) lead people to mikeladano.com. As he did in WTF Search Terms XV, he’s picked his favourites. Please welcome back Thussy for this Guest Shot edition of WTF Search Terms.
WTF Search Terms XXIV: Fan Favourites – First Grade Math edition
It’s been a year since my last installment of WTF search terms so here it is: My list of fucked up shit people want to see on the internet and then somehow make it to Lebrains blog. And when I say shit it sometimes literally means shit.
10. share this click to email this to a friend
I had to include this one because how the hell does this get you to a blog about music?
9. i don’t exist
Then don’t google yourself.
8. wild party
I am a wild party.
7. shower poop guy
Why do people keep searching this?
6. swedish made penis
This sort of thing aint my bag baby.
5. first grade math
Is this the answer to the question, “what did Lebrain fail in school?”
4. orangie took like 6 shooters and some bong tokes
Excellent season, the Boys still have it.
3. porn mcgangbang
It is definitely food porn.
2. Japanporn
If this is anything like Japanese imports they are way too expensive.
1. selling piss julian
“Meth?!?! He’s selling piss, you fucking dumb dumb.”
MOTLEY CRUE – Saints of Los Angeles (2008 Motley Records, Japan)
Man, if there was one band due for a comeback, it was the Crue. I mean, seriously! They went from the top of their game in 1991, coming off of Feelgood and Decade, only to have their lead singer abruptly leave. Then of course the awesome new album with the new singer flopped, because he wasn’t the old singer. Vince came back, Tommy left, and the band released the mediocre New Tattoo. After a hiatus, Tommy Lee returned again for a big successful reunion tour, and the Crue finally managed to put out an album. Saints of Los Angeles was better than expected, and did hearken back to the good old days.
You hear that a lot; “hearkens back to the old days”. Aside from the overly glossy production, this album sounds like the natural followup to Dr. Feelgood and “Primal Scream”. Of course, it was contrived that way. Nikki talks about this being a concept album following the the storyline of their book The Dirt, but really that is just an excuse to revisit the old (successful) Motley sound. Sure, why not? I’ll buy that.
Despite all odds, this album does succeed. From the opener “LA.M.F.” (which is an obvious homage to “In The Beginning” from the Shout album and “T.N.T.” from Feelgood) to the final track “Going Out Swinging”, there’s hardly any filler here. Just about every song kicks. No ballads, unless you want to count “The Animal In Me” (which I don’t). Hey, and think of it: Sharp fans will recall that Feelgood itself was originally conceived as a concept album with no ballads. Interesting.*
Guitar riffs are kicking, Vince is singing as good as you could hope, and all the songs shine. There’s even the odd female backing vocal, recalling the Nasty Habits. Only the production drags this down to a lower level, I simply find it too processed and glossy. Bob Rock would have added more thud, but that’s just my opinion. Song wise, winners include the title track and first single. Other highlights are the glam “Down At The Whiskey”, “Face Down In The Dirt” (see, The Dirt is in the title!), the swaggering “What’s It Gonna Take”, and the chugging “Just Another Psycho”. Those would be my favourites on an album of consistent song quality. All but “Welcome To The Machine”, which sounds like a transparent ripoff of Ace Frehley’s “Shot Full Of Rock”. I can’t believe I seem to be the only one pointing this out.
I was disappointed by one thing: look at those writing credits. Mick Mars has just one co-write, ditto Tommy Lee. Vince Neil: No writing credits at all. Instead, the album was mostly written by Nikki and his Sixx AM cohorts James Michael and DJ Ashba along with hired songsmith Marti Frederiksen. So, is this a Crue album or another Nikki Sixx solo album featuring Motley Crue? You decide. It sounds like Motley, but c’mon. Both Mick and Tommy were cornerstones of this band’s songwriting. It feels like Nikki just got his buds to write like Mick and Tommy.
There’s one item I’d still like to get, related to this album. I want to track down the CD single for “Saints of Los Angeles”, which lacks the CrueFest nobodies’ “gang vocal”. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think that a bunch of nobodies from Trapt or Papa Roach need to be on a Crue album. So I’d like to hear that one.
Other than these minor complaints, Saints wins. When you’re listening you’ll forget who wrote the songs, and you’ll just dig the fact that Tommy is back on drums and Mick is playing better than ever. God bless Mick Mars — that man is a rock and roll machine. He is the MVP on Saints of Los Angeles.
OH! And the Japanese bonus tracks, let’s not forget those. The liner notes tell us nothing about where or when they were recorded, but they are obviously more recent. “Kickstart My Heart” is the first, and Vince Neil sings with that annoying habit of singing every other word. He lets the audience take lines when he can’t. “Saints” slams, though.
4/5 stars. Crue fans will love it.
*It’s true. According to a 1989 Hit Parader interview, not only were the band considering a concept album, but Nikki Sixx stated that he wanted Feelgood to be all hard rock, no ballads. The ballads they had collected such as “Rodeo” and the newer “Without You” were to be included on a second new album to be released in 1990 called Motley Crue: The Ballads. Bob Rock reportedly talked them out of the “no ballads” concept. Then the concept was recycled for what would become Motley Crue (1994). Before Vince bailed/was fired, Nikki said there were to be no ballads on the next Crue album.
RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale
#352: “It’s All Helix’ Fault!” — The Story Of My Tooth
I know I’m not alone, among men who once had an intense fear of the dentist. As soon as I was old enough to refuse to go, I stopped going. (Prior to that, I simply hid the reminder cards that periodically arrived in the mail!) I’m not saying that was a smart thing. It wasn’t. I’m over that fear now, but as these old journals reveal, that phobia later came back to bite me in the ass…with a weird connection to the rock band Helix.
Date: 2006/11/25 17:28
Title: The Big Update: “It’s All Helix’ Fault! — The Story Of My Tooth”
So just to get up to speed:
Until today, I haven’t seen a dentist since 1989. I have an intense fear of doctors and dentists. That has kept me away, until now.
This morning Jen and I headed out to United Rentals to drop off a CD I burned for one of the ladies there (Bon Jovi hits & B-sides). From there we went to the grocery and candy stores to mow down on a feast of goodies. And that is where this story truly begins.
I was chewing on some Laffy Taffy, and it was terrific. After I was done, however, I felt a throbbing in my upper left jaw. It was my troublesome wisdom tooth. It’s been causing me mild to medium pain for a little while. Normally, I’d just kill it with Advil and it’s fine. I knew the tooth was impacting on the other teeth, because when it was sore, they were all sore. Being the stubborn person I am, I just popped Advil. I knew it would have to come out one day. I kept putting it off because of that phobia.
Lately the tooth hadn’t even been bothering me. I think I’ve had one toothache in the last month. All seemed well for the forseeable future.
I should have known there would be an imminent problem when Jen presented me with our Helix tickets for next Friday. You see, last time we saw Helix, she had to have an emergency tooth extraction just before. She was still in pain by the day of the concert. It really hampered her enjoyment of the show, but she still gave them an R.
So here she’s presenting me with the Helix tickets. The very next day I’m in agony with a fractured wisdom tooth! I don’t blame the Laffy Taffy, I have only myself and Helix to blame!
I sat here in agony for a short time this morning. When I say “agony” I am not kidding. Those of you who’ve had this problem know what I’m talking about. The entire left side of my face was paralysed with pain. The upper and lower jaw were throbbing, and there was a stabbing from the wisdom tooth. Jen started calling dentists that are open weekends.
After probably an hour of calling around, she found a doctor that did extractions on Saturdays, but was booked solid. That doctor referred her to the hospital, who referred her to a guy named Dr. A. Jones. Dr. Jones had no bookings today. My dad drove us down because I couldn’t even see straight.
The whole way there I was freaking out, because I couldn’t even remember what a dentists office looked like. But we got in, and it wasn’t so bad. The doctor was good, he pumped me full of painkillers, and pulled that dirty cocksucker out of my mouth. I’m here now and the painkillers are only starting to wear off. I’m going to pop a T3 soon. I’m about to try to eat. Life is good once again.
I forgive you, Helix!
MICHAEL HUNTER – River (1995 Racket Records, 2013 reissue)
99% of people who stumble upon this review won’t know who Michael Hunter is, and that’s fine. He’s one of Marillion’s crew. He’s Mark Kelly’s keyboard tech, and he’s a producer in the studio as well. This album came to be when Marillion were looking for some ambient music to open their Brave tour. The wanted to set the mood right for that dark concept album, played in its entirety. If you own one of the live albums from that tour, (though not Made Again disc 2), then chances are you’ve heard a little bit of River.
According to the liner notes by Marillion’s Steve Hogarth, the album was composed and performed, not merely programmed! The bits of music used are lifted from Marillion’s Brave, and other records, and re-composed into a 42 minute album. There are no songs, but the music is divided into seven numbered tracks (I – VII). There’s no point discussing them individually. Sometimes you can’t even tell when one section has ended, and another has begun. Sure, there are changes in mood and texture, but River remains a largely monolithic block of music. It’s watery sounding, and very atmospheric.
I had River going when I was playing a computer game (called Lux, which is the same as Risk, but with infinite maps to conquer). River felt appropriate to the video game setting, in fact it reminded me of some of the music in the old Rama video game from the 90’s. Unfortunately the CD is mixed quietly by today’s standards so I had to crank it a bit to get the listening balance right.
Bits and pieces are familiar. If you know Brave, then you have heard some of these keyboard and guitar sounds before. It doesn’t feel like “Brave remixed” any way, however. Somehow Michael Hunter used those sounds to actually compose an original piece of music that stands as its own work.
Fans started requesting that the Brave live intro music be made available on a CD, so Marillion released the Michael Hunter album on their own label Racket Records and made it available to order in 1995. That sold out, and they re-released it as a Front Row Club optional release (FRC-006). That meant that members of Marillion’s Front Row Club subscription service could get the album, but it wouldn’t be sent to them automatically. They had to “opt in” to get it, since it wasn’t a “new release” but a reissue. Some members already had it. I did not, but for whatever reason I didn’t opt in to get it. I considered it outside of the Marillion discography, and in many respects it is. In 2013 it was reissued once more (each time with slightly altered cover art), and I finally decided to snag it as part of my annual Marillion website order.
I’m glad I did. While I wouldn’t listen to this frequently, since I don’t often crave long ambient pieces, it definitely will come in handy.
3.5/5 stars
RIVAL SONS – Great Western Valkyrie (2014 Earache)
From Long Beach, California, here are the Rival Sons! They have come to save hard rock. Gene Simmons is a fan, so let’s check ’em out. Great Western Valkyrie is their fourth album, but until last year I’d never heard of them.
Rival Sons are groove. They are old fashioned. I hear early influences from as far and wide as Sammy Hagar and soul rock. “Electric Man” exemplifies this. If the guitar player were the flashy type, you could mistake this for a new Chickenfoot composition. Radio loves this kind of song right now. It has vibes of the Trews and Royal Blood; the groove of bands like Death From Above 1969 but with a bluesy singing voice. They apply a distortion and reverb to the lead vocal, which does sound cool but strikes me as a bit gimmicky.
I found the second track, “Good Luck” to be a bit dull. Rival Sons seem to have psychedelic rock influences too, which isn’t really my bag, baby. “Secret” features singing Jay Buchanan doing his best Robert Plant blues voice, and it’s another ferociously grooving track. The riff is similar to “High Time” by Leadfoot, and the groove recalls “How Many More Times” from Led Zeppelin I. “Let me tell you a secret, and I know you’re gonna keep it!” screams Buchanan over a killer bass groove. Then “Play the Fool” utilizes a simple, stop-and-start rock riff, and a wicked time change. “Good Things” has a dusky nightclub feel. This is the song on which I’ll step out and take a pee. It’s still playing when I get back, because it’s almost six minutes long.
Track 6 is “When the Levee Breaks”…Err, I mean the single “Open My Eyes”. Sounds suspiciously like Zeppelin there. You may have heard this one on the radio (I have). It’s a great track, but undeniably based entirely upon Led Zeppelin. The echo on the drums is lifted directly from Bonham and there are even acoustic breaks. Back in the 1980’s there was a band called Kingdom Come that got raked over the coals for copping some Zep influences and milking it, but that’s nothing compared to “Open My Eyes”. It’s a Zeppelin rip pure and simple! That’s fine…enough time has passed that nobody cares anymore (plus Zeppelin ripped off everybody else).
“Rich and Poor” slows the pace, bringing us back to the psychedelic 60’s. If the Doors had a different singer, maybe this is how they would sound. I don’t particularly like the Doors, so onto the next one, “Belle Starr”. This song goes from fast to slow sections…just when I thought they were givin’ ‘er again, they slowed it down. I’m just itching for some rock again. Oh, there it goes! This track is almost grungy, especially with that rolling bass underneath recalling Soundgarden. I hear Rush influences too. I’m not 100% sold on “Belle Starr”. Not yet, anyway. Led Zeppelin is all over “Where I’ve Been” too, in an epic quality. Finally “Destination on Course” closes the album on a distinctly bluesy note. Singer Buchanan really blows the doors off, and the angelic backing vocals have me forgetting that “LZ” band for a change. The bluesy guitar solo is icing on the cake — just awesome. On a track like this, Rival Sons establish their own sound.
Great Western Valkyrie is an album I look forward to checking out more in the future. I think it has potential. I know there are bonus tracks on other editions, which I have not investigated. If I end up liking the band enough, I will check them out.
3.5/5 stars
| 1. | “Electric Man” (Take You to the Sugar Shack) | 3:20 | |
| 2. | “Good Luck” (It’s Going to Hurt Right Now) | 3:18 | |
| 3. | “Secret” (Just Bring Me a Jar Full of Shine) | 4:41 | |
| 4. | “Play the Fool” (The Way That Girls Talk) | 3:18 | |
| 5. | “Good Things” (Boy with a Bomb in His Jacket) | 5:56 | |
| 6. | “Open My Eyes” (Folding Like a Jack Knife) | 3:56 | |
| 7. | “Rich and the Poor” (Her Teeth Bound by Braces) | 5:15 | |
| 8. | “Belle Starr” (The Gem Inside Sparkles Yet) | 4:35 | |
| 9. | “Where I’ve Been” (The Habit Wasn’t Cheap) | 6:18 | |
| 10. | “Destination on Course” (Slipped from the Rail) | 7:06 |
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