The Last Temptation, Alice Cooper’s acclaimed 1994 concept album, spawned a couple collectable CD singles. Collectable, because 1) they had unreleased live B-sides, and 2) Eric Singer of Kiss played drums on them!
As far as Alice ballads go, “It’s Me” is not particularly special. The song fits into the story of the album, but it’s musically in the same vein as the ballads from Trash and Hey Stoopid. The mandolin is a nice touch, but Alice has more fondly remembered ballads. “It’s Me” works best as part of the album it was written for.
The two live tracks were recorded in ’91, which actually makes Eric Singer pre-Kiss in this case. “Poison” is stunning sounding live, but still with rich backing vocals. The chorus of “Poison” requires several backing singers and Alice’s bands are always equipped for the job. You can’t tell if Eric Singer is one of the vocalists, but you can easily recognise his style on the drums. That’s him alright! “Sick Things” is a strange one live; always has been. Here, it is inflamed by guitarists Stef Burns and Pete Freezin’ (Freisen).
Alice’s CD singles were hard to find in the early 90s, but thanks to the internet you can get them affordably. If you’re a Kiss collector, this is one to consider. If not, just enjoy a snapshot of Alice live during an era that is so far undocumented by a live album.
AEROSMITH – Just Push Play (2001 Sony Japan 2 CD set)
Funny thing about some pretty bad albums: sometimes the bands con you into buying them twice. They do this with bonus tracks you may need and can’t find elsewhere. Aerosmith have been guilty of this on multiple occasions. You know what they say about fools and money.
In 2001, Aerosmith did it with Just Push Play. They placed a bonus track on the European CD (“Face”), and a completely different set of bonus tracks in Japan…but excluding “Face”. As one of the looser songs on a pretty stiff album, “Face” is pretty enjoyable. So what about Japan’s exclusive song, “Won’t Let You Down”? Well, for one it’s heavy. For Aerosmith, it’s really heavy. You could picture it on a better album like Nine Lives. Though not perfect it’s a damn fine latter-day Aerosmith track. It just needs another hook.
“Won’t Let You Down” and its associated Joe Perry guitar wizardry is the most interesting of the bonus tracks, but that doesn’t mean the rest are not. Though “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” is more than slightly boring today, it was Aerosmith’s biggest hit to date. This was the first time it appeared on an Aerosmith album, and only in Japan.
The second CD has a diverse stew of bonuses. The first is a 3:17 radio remix of “Just Push Play”. It’s mostly a matter of making the guitar, drums and other elements more prominent in the mix. It’s quite a bit better than the album cut, though just as silly. You gotta wonder if anybody in the studio told Steven to try it without the rasta accent. That’s the remix I want to hear, because the chorus is great.
Moving on to live rarities, Aerosmith included a handful of previously released tracks that weren’t necessarily already in your collection. First up: California Jam II. “Same Old Song and Dance”, “Draw the Line” and “Chip Away the Stone” were all available on the various artists album California Jam II. If you have this, you don’t need to buy that. The year was 1978 and Aerosmith were still cooking live. Whether it comes from youthful or chemical energy, these tracks are faster than their studio counterparts. Rough and dirty live Aerosmith without the backing tapes and fixes: what’s not to love? “Draw the Line” has more…definition?…than the original. Still, smoking so hot that Joe Perry probably melted his strings. It’s just plain great to any live version of “Chip Away the Stone“. Top five Aerosmith song? Welcome to the collection.
That’s not all folks, as we stick to 1978 and the famous Texxas Jam. “Big Ten-Inch Record” and “Lord of the Thighs” would be familiar if you own Pandora’s Box. Strange they included two tracks that were readily available, but here they are and there’s nothing wrong with ’em.
A brief word on the album Just Push Play itself. We’ve already reviewed it in full, so let’s not rehash. Joe Perry’s least favourite Aerosmith albumy panders for hits in the most embarrassing ways. Hi-tech recording and outside songwriters watered it down. The old Tyler/Perry combination was not to be found on a single track. The other three guys have not a single writing credit between them. It’s a sad state of affairs.
If you’re a masochist like me, you’ll want to get this one for the bonus tracks. If not, just stay away.
M.E.A.T Magazine was such an awesome resource for Canadians. Their exclusive metal content really was second to none. M.E.A.T was on top of virtually every new Canadian band on the scene. Thanks to them, we knew all about I Mother Earth well before they were signed to EMI.
Then one day in early ’93, M.E.A.T arrived in the mailbox slightly thicker than usual. Inside the envelope was a free cassette tape, a promo provided by EMI. Time to see what this I Mother Earth band sounded like. Would they live up to the hype that M.E.A.T was creating?
The full length album Dig was not released until later that summer. Even the music video for “Rain Will Fall” hadn’t come out yet. This EP, titled No One, was all brand new to me. It received a lot of play. Out walking with the Walkman, in the car, at home or at the lake: I Mother Earth swiftly consumed me. I felt pretty cool hearing all this music before the masses did. They were gonna love I Mother Earth.
The cassette (repeated both sides) wisely opened with the chiming guitars of “The Mothers”. Softer and more psychedelic than I expected.
“Listen…to the Mothers…” sings Edwin. The track meanders on a little bit, not quite a full song but also more than just an intro. “A surreal sound of eight-legged groove, a serving of today’s psycadellicasy.” The clever words were written by drummer Christian Tanna, although I certainly couldn’t make them out on my own.
After a long 10 second gap, the uberfunk of “Basketball” crushes the speakers. It’s almost too fast, but surely demonstrated that these Torontonians could play. It’s more than just rock music. The exotic percussion coupled with the tribal-sounding drums really took it all to another level, whether they were playing funky or psychedelic. There’s always room for exotic percussion.
I called “No One” the centrepiece of the album, and so it is also the highlight of this tape. Rather than hyperspeed funk, this one is built around guitar riffs. There are two riffs in particular on this song that just steamroll. When joined with the full-on groove of I Mother Earth, the riffs dominate your brain. Then it gets quiet as Edwin chants “No one leaves the caravan…”, and this serves as a reset before the song comes back full strength for the kill. Listening today, it seems almost impossible for a band to have a song this advanced on their first album. It’s seven minutes of riff, percussion and melody yet there’s no fat to trim out. You’d expect something like this on a third album, not a debut.
Interestingly, none of the songs on this EP were singles. Dig ended up producing four singles. Consider the strength of this promo tape, and you can extrapolate that Dig is probably a really strong album. You would be correct.
New vehicle. New tent. New canopy. New chairs. New camera. New Kiss Crocs. New jokes. New songs. Same old me.
I have the meat, now I just need the Meat. I have specially curated a number of 8 gig flash drives full of music, including the entire Kiss catalogue. There’s an old riddle dating back to at least 2015: “How many versions of “Beth” does it take to wake up Uncle Meat?” We’ll find out!
I’m in a Bosstones mood so let’s rock! I will be openly campaigning for enough votes to get this song on the Countdown in 2020.
If you love physical media (and chances are that you do or you wouldn’t be reading this) then you probably love it in all its myriad shapes and forms. Let’s be honest, when it comes to sheer varieties, there are far more weird vinyls out there than CDs. Picture discs, shaped discs, discs with liquid or actual objects inside the record, odd speeds, colours, thicknesses…you can take the vinyl LP in so many different directions. When you mess around with the CD format (shaped discs, enhanced discs, CD/DVD DualDiscs) you often end up with a product that won’t play in all players. Vinyl tends to be good to go for whatever turntable you have, though you will need a manual over an automatic when it comes to the Vinyl Disc. That’s because it’s a 5″ disc, not a 7″, so you want to make sure you drop the arm on the media and not the platter.
When it comes to odd formats, Youtuber Techmoan (or Mat if you’re not into handles) is the expert. When I saw his video on the subject, I knew I wanted to get a Vinyl Disc just for the novelty value. This is a CD that has normal CD content on one side, but a groove on the other. This groove can be played on a record player, revealing a bonus track. I wondered if any bands I liked had ever released one.
It turns out, one had: The Hellacopters, who are vinyl-mad in the first place. I have a couple albums of theirs with vinyl-only bonus tracks. I didn’t own the album Head Off, so I went to Discogs and got the Vinyl Disc version.
In his video, Techmoan complained of the poor sound quality on the vinyl side of the CD. My copy of Head Off was factory sealed, but still suffers from pops. Perhaps I should not have played the CD side first. The vinyl side could have picked up dust from inside my computer. I played the vinyl side twice, the second time after a light cleaning. Both times there were loud, distracting pops. You can see them clearly in Audacity.
The sound quality was never going to be as good as a real record, not with those grooves packed so tight. And how deep can they actually be? Of course it has to play at 33 1/3 RPM. While it’s not as bad a flexi-disc quality, don’t expect much better performance than that. It’s flat and indistinct.
You also end up with inner groove distortion over the entire song, simply because a Vinyl Disc is basically all inner groove. Look at the pictures below. The entire disc is well within the runout groove on an LP, being just a little larger than the label. It’s darned close on a standard 45. Point is, compared to real vinyl, this disc is tiny, and that has consequences.
Distortion and noise matters less with a band like the Hellacopters. A little inner groove distortion sounds OK on them, but not for other groups. So, the vinyl side of the Vinyl Disc is a novelty. Serious record fanatics are not going to want to listen to it, because it won’t be up to par for them.
What about the CD side? No issues whatsoever. It plays exactly like it should, with no side effects that sometimes plague non-standard CDs. In this case, the album is only 36 minutes long, which I am sure will have many people asking “then why bother with putting another song on the other side? Why not put them all together on the CD side?”
A very good question.
Look, this type of CD was launched in 2007 and only lasted about a year. There was a reason it didn’t catch on, and you can hear that reason. For 99% of the population, all they would have needed was all the songs on the CD. It’s the 1% of us nutters that love weird stuff like this. There is a very, very low number of people who sit up at night thinking, “Would it possible to play a CD on a record player if it had grooves?” But I promise you, we exist, and our questions have been answered.
Yes, it’s possible.
But no, there really isn’t a good reason to want to do it. Oh, I suppose if you had an album that was just over 80 minutes, and you needed to leave a song off (like Extreme did), you could have put it all on one Vinyl Disc. But for far less cost, you also could have just included two CDs.
The vinyl disc comes with a little spacer, like a foam donut, so the larger CD hole will fit nicely on a record player. This ensures nice smooth play.
Whoever it was that figured out how to marry a CD to a record, they are unsung geniuses. They answered the questions of insomniac format-heads worldwide, and they got it to work.
Just because it doesn’t work particularly well doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it.
The Icon series of compilations used to be a budget CD line that you could pick up for $5 or under. Now, you can even get ’em on vinyl. Buy ’em direct from Helix mainman Brian Vollmer and he’ll sign it for you. This copy is signed by all five current Helix members, including a pre-injury Fritz Hinz.
As far as Helix compilations go, you can’t do much with just 11 tracks. Even so, Icon has some surprises and plenty of pleasers. There’s also enough difference from 2016’s compilation Rock It Science to justify it. Opening with the one-two punch of “Rock You” and “Heavy Metal Love”, Helix top loaded this thing with their best known songs. Perfect for the newcomer, or just a great party.
From there it’s “The Dirty Dog”, a long time Helix concert favourite. This is followed in quick succession by some great singles: “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'”, “Wild in the Streets” and the dark ballad “Deep Cuts the Knife”. All three songs are considered to be Helix classics. “Deep Cuts the Knife”, written by guitarist Paul Hackman, is a particularly powerful ballad. The entire first side is from the Capitol Records years, featuring the best known Helix lineup: Vollmer, Hinz, Hackman, Brent Doerner and Daryl Gray.
Side two has a different flavour. Only the hit “The Kids are All Shakin'” originates in the 1980s. This top Helix pop rock track is followed by the Helix of the 90s and today. “Good to the Last Drop” is another ballad, but much brighter than “Deep Cuts the Knife”. This is the original album mix, with minimal keyboards. Then it’s “Runnin’ Wild in the 21st Century”, kicking your teeth in at lightspeed. The last two songs feature some help from guitarist extraordinaire Sean Kelly. A razor sharp “Even Jesus Wasn’t Loved in His Home Town” comes from 2014’s excellent Bastard of the Blues. The aggressive rocker is based on the fact that Helix can’t even their new songs played on the radio in their home town of Kitchener, Ontario. Finally, the 2016 single “Gene Simmons Says (Rock Is Dead)” tells the demon where it’s at! Maybe Helix don’t get radio play in Canada but rock ain’t dead — not if Vollmer and Co. have anything to say about it!
When it comes to Helix compilations, they are so numerous that you can really take your pick. If you really care about the band, then just buy ’em direct from Vollmer at Planet Helix. There are loads to choose from, but only this one was ever made on vinyl. Or, you can just go CD! Either way, support the boys if you’re gonna buy some Helix.
White Lace & Black Leather – Classic Hard Rock Expanded Edition (originally 1981, 2019 Prog AOR)
Helix have really done it this year. They have a new album (Old School) made up of some pretty excellent songs that were never completed before. On top of that, you can also get brand new reissues of their first two indi albums, Breaking Loose and White Lace & Black Leather. Those two albums have already been reviewed in full, so this time we will focus primarily on the perks of these new CD versions.
Both discs feature lyrics, rare photos, and liner notes by Brian Vollmer. All essential things for a reissue, so what else? Unreleased tracks, that’s what else. Good ones! The hell, Brian? Where have you been hiding this stuff? If anyone assumed thought Helix cleared the vaults with their B-Sides album, they were mistaken. Maybe Universal should have been storing their tapes at Planet Helix….
Too soon?
Breaking Loose features “Let Me Take You Dancin'” (not the Bryan Adams song), apparently the first song they ever recorded, at the behest of manager William Seip. You can understand why they didn’t put it out, considering the Disco revolution going around. It’s too dance-y for what Helix wanted to be: a rock band. With 40 years hindsight, it’s bloody brilliant. Full-on horn section blasting away on a blatantly commercial rock song with just a whif of surf rock. Nothing wrong with any of that in 2019. “Sidewalk Sally” is the very first Brent Vollmer/Brian Doerner composition and you can tell by Dr. Doerner’s trademark chunky riff. This song is strictly outtake quality, but it’s notable for historic reasons (and the pretty advanced drumming by Brian Doerner).
The second album, White Lace & Black Leather, has two interesting bonus cuts as well. Brent Doerner wrote and sang a killer tune called “When the Fire is Hot”, which is one of the songs submitted to Capitol that got them signed. It’s never been released. It’s a very unpolished demo, but with a serious stomp and stunning guitar solo. The final bonus track is an unreleased early version of “White Lace & Black Leather”, which was re-recorded for their third album No Rest for the Wicked. See, for the first couple Helix albums, you had to wait until the next record to get the title track!
A brief talk about the albums themselves: both are chock full of great, unpolished youthful rock. Helix were just learning how to make records, but they had more than enough original material. Between the key songwriters (Paul Hackman, Brian Vollmer & Brent Doerner), they had plenty of quality songs. “Billy Oxygen”, “I Could Never Leave”, “Here I Go Again”, “You’re a Woman Now” and “Wish I Could Be There” from the first album alone are must-haves. Nobody should be forced to live their life without hearing “Billy Oxygen”. The second LP was almost as great as the first. “It’s Too Late”, “Breaking Loose”, “Mainline”, and “It’s What I Wanted” stand with the best material from the first. Sure, the band were rough around the edges, but they could already sing, play and write. They were goin’ places!
As for the mastering job, the music is not brickwalled like the versions of some songs on the Rock It Science CD. These discs are the versions to get; the expanded tracklist making them musts to the collecting fan who already own them all. Best of all, Planet Helix is offering them and the new Helix album for just 40 bucks. 40 bucks for 3 CDs is a ridiculous deal. I daresay these two albums have been steady companions to me over the years, and I look forward to re-enjoying them in this new form.
Dokken always served up large helpings of cheese. Within the framework of 80s hard rock, their second album Tooth and Nail has been elevated to the status of classic. Produced by Tom Werman and armed with nine great songs, Dokken were poised to move on to the big leagues.
The brief instrumental opener “Without Warning” leads directly into the full speed chug of “Tooth and Nail”. George Lynch was the obvious star on guitar, but “Wild” Mick Brown certainly blows the doors off with his high speed drum work. Don Dokken could hit the high notes when required, aided and abetted by bassist Jeff Pilson. The quartet could go hard or soft, or right down the middle. “Just Got Lucky” is perfect in the centre. Not too heavy, boasting a chorus that sticks, and a fiery hot guitar solo.
The lesser known “Heartless Heart” gets by for its Lynch chugging, though its chorus is left wanting. Even chuggier: “Don’t Close Your Eyes”, which Lynch leaves a smoking ruin: Don screaming over the wastes left behind by the incessant rocking. And that’s side one.
Dokken were especially good at slower, heavy songs. “When Heaven Comes Down” is one of those. Lynch’s riff holds the fort while Don conjures apocalyptic imagery. Then a classic: “Into the Fire”. This song has it all. The chorus and riff are topped only by a killer middle eight and a flammable solo. You can pass on the cliche “Bullets to Spare” which sounds like a Quiet Riot B-side. But don’t miss “Alone Again”, one of the best ballads from the entire decade. It defines the term “power ballad” all by itself. From the words, to the melody, to the legendary Lynch solo, “Alone Again” sounds as good today as it did then.
Finishing it off you’ll get the incendiary “Turn On The Action”, a cross between Van Halen, Motley Crue, and 2/3rds of the Sunset Strip. It’s a good closer, but derivative and absolutely a product of its time and place.
Tooth and Nail is two or three songs shy of 5/5 rating. Though you may debate it among yourselves, Back For the Attack and Dysfunctional are superior albums. Tooth and Nail, however, has something they don’t have, and that is a high percentage of Dokken concert classics. “Alone Again”, “Just Got Lucky”, “Into the Fire” and “Tooth and Nail” are all cornerstones of a Dokken collection.
AEROSMITH – Unplugged 1990 (2017 Zap City broadcast CD)
When Aerosmith’s MTV Unplugged aired in Canada, we didn’t get the whole show. We only got about half. Now thanks to easily acquired broadcast CDs, you can get all 14 tracks in one handy place. Because MTV were rigid about things being 100% live, you’ll get none of the annoying backing tracks that Aerosmith use today. That makes Aerosmith Unplugged a strong contender for the best live Aerosmith purchase since Classics Live II.
“Hangman Jury” is a natural for an opener, and actually superior to the Permanent Vacation album cut. “Monkey On My Back” is more surprising, being a heavier groove from Pump. Deconstructed as an acoustic jam, it lays it down hard. The first surprise of the night comes from the Air America soundtrack, to which Aerosmith contributed their Doors cover “Love Me Two Times”. Frankly the unplugged version is better. Tyler gets to honk on the harmonica and tear it up on the vocals a bit.
The first step back into Aerosmith’s past is 1974’s “Seasons of Wither”. When this set was recorded in 1990, only people who owned Get Your Wings would really have known this song. The purity of the unplugged stage is the ideal setting. Then it’s onto 1975 and “Big Ten Inch Record”, the old R&B classic they covered on Toys in the Attic. The album version with full horns is rearranged into an acoustic shuffle with individual guitar solos by Brad Whitford and Joe Perry. That’s all before Thom Gimbel shows up with his sax! This version kills.
Going even further back in time, Aerosmith pull “One Way Street” from the first album featuring a cool Perry solo. For serious fans, “Smokestack Lightning” is a treat because Aerosmith have never recorded it before. The oft-imitated Howlin’ Wolf cover is a natural jam for them. They they unload the heavy artillery exactly halfway into the set: “Dream On”. Arguably the song everybody was waiting to hear; easily a highlight. Playing with minimal instrumentation is a wise way to do it, though it picks up steam at the end.
“Milk Cow Blues” is rolled out next, a rarely played number from Draw the Line. Full steam ahead just like the album version, you don’t wanna be standing on the tracks when this one rolls by. Then, as if you’re daring them to try one that fast again, it’s “Toys in the Attic”. Tyler and Perry’s voices blend naturally together in the unforgiving unplugged environment.
Returning once more to the first album, “Walkin’ the Dog” is the fifth of six cover tunes and the first encore. It’s particularly cool because you get Tyler playing flute. “Train Kept-a Rollin'” from Get Your Wings is the final cover, though presented twice: “fast” and “slow” versions. For a solid thrills-per-second ratio, you gotta go for the fast take. Finally “Last Child” is announced to the excitement of one really hyped guy in the crowd. The funky classic works surprisingly well. A highlight from a show of nothing but highlights.
The CD had a few sonic clicks and quirks that may vary player to player. That would be its only flaw. Anyone buying broadcast CDs should be prepared for less than perfect audio.
One of the most hard-to-find rock collectables this season has been…a pair of shoes? Crocs, no less?
Well folks, at mikeladano.com we are profoundly pro-Croc. If you are among the many who think the shoe should not even exist, then this review will not be for you. Just letting you know.
Kiss, who will put their logo on everything from condoms to coffins, have now finally completed the triumvirate with the venerable Crocs. This crossover, almost as monumental as Spiderman joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, should have been obvious. Kiss Crocs took everyone by surprise and the shoes quickly sold out. They are a sleek, black shoe with the classic Destroyer-era logo emblazoned on the front. The same logo can be found on the heel. This all ties in with Kiss’ epic End of the Road final tour.
If you’ve never worn Crocs, be assured they are a durable shoe. They are ideal for housework, camping, and swimming. The plasticy-rubbery material is both soft on the foot yet offering firm support. There is no-slip traction on the inside of the shoe and a decent tread on the sole. This makes them ideal for river-walking while visiting Sausagefest 2019.
The Kiss Crocs come in four different styles, including one with an Ace Frehley moon boot look. This one, the “classic clog”, is the only one with holes in the front of sides of the shoe. This makes it better for water, as the others will simply fill up instead of draining out. The choice is up to you — we recommend the classic.
ALICE COOPER – “It’s Me” (1994 Epic single)
Crocs – Classic Kiss clog (2019)
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