Good morning! For your entertainment this fine day, please check out Rock Daydream Nation’s epic analysis of Black Sabbath’s controversial Born Again LP. Is this album hot or not? Long time readers know my feeling on this subject. Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame joined Black Sabbath’s otherwise-original lineup to record the weirdest sounding albums in Sabbath history. It could also be their heaviest, most evil sounding album with some of Ian’s most perplexing lyrics ever.
Born Again has been seen in a better light over the decades, but I still receive much mockery when I tell people how high I rank it. Will our panel today agree with me?
Joining Peter and I are a special Rock Daydream Nation YouTube panel featuring Reed Little, John Gaffney (Alchemist of Rock), and Brandon Battick (Disturbing the Priest).
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode
Episode 134: Have You SEEN This Concrete Blonde Collection?!
This week Harrison takes the hot seat as he helms an episode he’s passionate about! Its Concrete Blonde, featuring the talents of bassist and vocalist Johnette Napolitano! Harrison is taking tonight to show off his “Complete Albums, Super Rare + More”! Both Harrison and Mike focus their collecting on an end goal: getting a physical copy of every officially released version of every track. Has Harrison achieved this yet?
Concrete Blonde are a little off our usual beaten track. The alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, broke up in 1994 after scoring some major hits such as “Joey”, and reunited a number of times over the decades. Harrison will walk us through the discography tonight.
This will be a fun episode for the compact disc and physical media collectors! Join us live so we can interact in the comments!
Friday January 16 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic. Enjoy onYouTubeorFacebook.
50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: The Essential Iron Maiden
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode
This week’s bonus episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden falls on a Tuesday. This is a shorter episode, that we wanted to run mid-week.
On 12 July 2005, Sony released The Essential Iron Maiden in North America. As Maiden’s fourth compilation (and third multi-disc compilation), it was interesting for several reasons. First and most obviously, there is no Eddie on the cover. Second, it was released as part of Sony’s Essential series, and we’ll look at another disc from that series for comparison. Third, it is again mostly reverse-chronological, almost like an updated Best of the Beast without the rarities.
We’re calling it the “weirdest” Iron Maiden best of album for these reasons and more. Would you buy it? Have a watch and let us know about this truly un-essential Essential release by Sony!
Wednesday January 13 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 8:00 PM Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube.
50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 27: The History of Iron Maiden Part 1: The Early Days
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #133
Buckle up, for tonight is one of the most detailed episodes of 50 Years of Iron Maiden to date! In 2004, Iron Maiden went out on tour, but not to promote a new album. This time (and for the first time!) they were out to promote a video: The History of Iron Maiden Part 1: The Early Days, on DVD. Tonight, we break down the entire contents of the DVD release (including the special features you probably never watched!) and the tour to boot. Yes, this is an episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden as essential as any!
The DVD itself centers on The Early Days, a 90 minute documentary on Maiden history from 1975 to 1983 (the “early days”). It includes interviews with Maiden members you’ve probably never met before, such as Ron “Rebel” Matthews, Terry Rance, Doug Sampson and many more. The history of the band is run down with great care, ending in Dortmund in Germany on the World Piece Tour.
There are four concerts, in various states of completion: Live at the Ruskin (1980), Live at the Rainbow (1981), Beast Over Hammersmith (1982) and Live in Dortmund (1983). Even though we have discussed some of these tracks in previous episodes (including a full episode on the CD version of Hammersmith), we will go through every single track in exhausting detail. Then there are the Top of the Pops and other TV shows to cover! Then, Mike will take you through all the interesting details in the bonus features, such as Steve’s diary and scrapbook. Find out exactly how Steve fired original singer Paul Mario Day, and when!
When this all said and done, Harrison will guide us through the Eddie Rips Up the World Tour, including the setlists and an incident involving Sharon Osbourne. You might have heard about that one! It happened on this tour.
Don’t miss the premiere of this episode, as we always like to interact in the comments! Up the Irons!
Friday January 9 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 8:00 PM Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube.
BONUS: Tomorrow, January 10, Mike will post his written review of this DVD, never before seen, right here on this site. This review, at almost 3000 words, is for those who prefer to read! Mike never wrote a review of this release back in 2013 when he did his Maiden review series. This is brand new and will not be exactly the same as what we will present in the video. Enjoy both!
It has been 40 years since we lost Phil Lynott. To mark the occasion, Tim Durling recruited myself and John the Music Nut to meticulously document our Thin Lizzy CD collections on video, once and for all. While I clearly had the biggest collection (and size does indeed matter), I still need three box sets to “complete” my Lizzy CD collection.
Please join Tim, John and myself as we go through every album one by one, and discuss the history of Thin Lizzy from the beginning right to the John Sykes and Ricky Warwick eras of the band. We have physical CDs to marks several post-Lynott lineups, and loads of compilations and box sets too. A truly comprehensive episode, and probably the best single-episode overview on the Lizzy discography that you’ll find on YouTube. Enjoy!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode
Episode 132: Blotto’s Back!
What a way to kick off a happy new year! Please welcome back to the show, and live for the first time on Grab A Stack of Rock: It’s Blotto!
The guys have had an incredible year. With the release of Hello! My Name Is Blotto – The Movie!, Blotto and director Rob Lichter have attended numerous premieres and film festivals. They have been presented with awards, and recognized for their talent and humour. Again, what a year they have had!
With everything that has happened, the only way to cap it off right was to have the band back on Grab A Stack of Rock to celebrate. With the movie out, we have so much more to talk about! We’ll be asking followup questions. We’ll be talking about the film festivals and celebrations of Blotto history. We’ll ask about release plans of The Movie and anything else you want to know about. This will be a live episode, so ask your questions.
Harrison “Blocko Blotto” will be co-hosting this interview, and will meet Blotto face to face for the first time. They will finally get to meet the guy who made them into Lego minifigs. This will be exciting.
Friday January 2 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic. Enjoy onYouTubeorFacebook.
It started with Joey Suto, and our awesome list of Top KISS Songs from every album! Then Peter Kerr suggested worst KISS songs, and I ran with it, and wrote a controversial list. Dan Chartrand picked up the ball, and decided to make a video on the subject. You’ve read my list, but now you can watch an entertaining video list from Dan and Sidney from Slogan’s Rock and Metal as well.
No surprises here – my list is unchanged. I did however have quite a few questions and comments as to “why” I made my list the way I did. These are finally addressed in this video.
Slick and fast, we raced through the KISS studio albums in an hour. A great viewing. Don’t miss this one.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode
Episode 131: Boxing Day Bash & Christmas Music Hauls with Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation
With bellies and ears full, please join Harrison and I with special guest Peter Kerr, on Grab A Stack of Rock live! Tonight is the night that we reveal our Christmas musical hauls (and other recent scores). The pictures in the thumbnail images are just spoiler-proof teasers and placeholders (though time permitted we will look at those recent arrivals too). We’ll just have to see what the other guys have in store, because I write these posts in advance! I can tell you that on my side, I have four new discs to discuss, a cherished musical heirloom, a new music T-shirt and more!
I’ll also reveal what I spent my Christmas money on.
Tonight, 7:00 PM EST, the boys are back in town.
Friday December 26 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic. Enjoy onYouTubeorFacebook.
50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode:
Top 11 Maiden Art
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode
Original broadcast: May 12 2021
Back in the pandemic days, long before 50 Years of Iron Maiden was a thing, we used to do three-hour shows. People needed something to do, and something to watch. Unfortunately, as good as our lists and topics were, the shows were too long and meandering. Well, not anymore! I have toiled away and edited down our epic Top 11 Iron Maiden Art show to a manageable hour. Now it enters its rightful place as a watchable bonus episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.
Our group of four picked our favourite Eddies from past and present: Myself, Harrison, Mr. Books and original co-host Deke. We split our picks from albums, singles, and tour shirts. Through it all, we saw some epic art from Derek Riggs, Melvyn Grant and others. A monumental set of lists! The format was called a “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten”, meaning we went up to eleven! Check out the picks, some of which are pretty obscure and little-seen!
Thanks for watching, and if you just want to know what Maiden art we picked, check out Aaron’s hand-written list below!
Friday Dec 19 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy onYouTube.
SPOILER – Do Not Read if you intend to watch the episode.
mikeladano.com 