Grab a Stack of Rock / LeBrain Train

“Hella” Great Show? Too Much Music Part 3 on Grab A Stack of Rock!

A huge thank you for watching this show with me last night!  It so happens that John and Henry in the comments are currently buying Alice Cooper albums, and I showed off a few of ’em on this show.  In other timely circumstance, I also had on hand a rare Slash CD, in time for Slash to put out his new video on the same day, for “Killing Floor”!  Lots of great stuff happening in music right now.

In this episode we also looked at the very obscure “Vinyl Disc” format with a release from the Hellacopters.  We dove into huge chunks of Deep Purple, King’s X, Faith No More, and Marillion.  Indeed, when it came to Purple and Marillion, we ran into live album after live album, which simply have not received the time and attention they deserve.  Why?

Too much music.

I hope you enjoyed this show!  Look for a new episode of Rock Daydream Nation featuring John Clauser and myself this weekend, and a live episode of Grab A Stack next Friday.  Cheers!

 

A Music Fan’s Nightmare? Too Much Music Part 3 on Grab A Stack of Rock!

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Episode 54: Too Much Music Part 3

Welcome to the third (and final?) “Too Much Music”, a series on Grab A Stack of Rock where I simply grab a stack of nearby random CDs and show them to you, the rock fan!  Inevitably, I run into multiple discs that have never been played, or have gone unplayed in years.  That’s why we call this series “Too Much Music”!

On this show, we will dig through some of the following:

  • My favourite album of all time
  • Marillion box sets, remix albums and singles
  • Deep Purple reissues
  • Compilations
  • Soundtracks and rare promos with rare tracks
  • Blaze
  • More Canadian content
  • Lots of King’s X
  • Alice Cooper
  • Dio
  • Catherine Wheel
  • Queen
  • Loudness & more Japanese imports
  • Scorpions
  • April Wine
  • Faith No More
  • Steve Vai
  • Pearl Jam
  • Brant Bjork
  • Tribute albums
  • Deluxe editions
  • And a look at a really weird format called Vinyl Disc

All this and more.  I do not think I will be able to do the comments section due to illness.

 

Friday March 8 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube, or (HOPEFULLY) Facebook!

Grab A Stack of Rock: Brighton Rock Collections with Len Labelle, on CD & Vinyl

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and Len Labelle

Special Edition Episode:  Our BRIGHTON ROCK Collections

Established in 1984 under the name Heart Attack, from Niagara Falls Ontario came the mighty BRIGHTON ROCK!  Powerhouse screamer Gerry McGhee, Greg “Shredder” Fraser, Stevie Skreebs, Martin Victor and Mark Cavarzan comprised the original lineup.  Johnny Rogers joined in the by the first album on keyboards, and the band began making their footprint in rock history through an EP, three studio albums, a live CD and a handful of standalone recordings.  We walk you through all of it from start to finish.

Joining me for this special episode is longtime friend Len Labelle, a local collector whose history with Brighton Rock goes back to the debut.  Len talks first impressions, a brief encounter with a band member, and favourite songs.  We played two vintage MuchMusic interview clips with the band and talk about a VHS tape that we believe never came out.  Towards the end, we detoured and took a great look at A World With Heroes, a Kiss tribute album featuring Brighton Rock.  We returned course and talked about the final Brighton Rock recordings, and the present day with Storm Force.

We hope you find this episode fun, informative, and full of love.  We lost Gerry McGhee to cancer in 2020, and fans continue to miss him.  I hope we did Gerry justice.

Please enjoy this special episode of Grab A Stack of Rock with Mike and Len.  If you know anything about that Brighton Rock home video, please leave a comment or drop us a line!

Discussed this episode:

  • Brighton Rock EP (1985)
  • Young, Wild and Free (1986)
  • Take A Deep Breath (1988)
  • “Hangin’ High & Dry” 12″ single (1988)
  • Unreleased home video? (1989)
  • Love Machine (1991)
  • Room For Five Live (2002)
  • “Creatures of the Night” (2013)
  • “End of Time” (2019)
  • and Storm Force Age of Fear (2020)

Top Five Ozzy Tunes on Grab A Stack of Rock with Peter Kerr, Mike Slayen and John Clauser

Hot on the heels of his excellent interview with bassist Bob Daisley, Peter Kerr suggested we run through the Top Five Ozzy Osbourne solo songs, and a brilliant idea it was!  Ozzy’s solo career is rich, especially in the early years, with beautiful ballads and incendiary metal.  There are heavy progressive moments, advanced arrangements, and brilliant lyrics. We gave Ozzy’s career a solid listen this week and extracted our lists, and not without difficulty!

Your panel this week:

  • Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation with loads of insight and some great picks.
  • John Clauser of My Music Corner, with a guest list from Jake Not-From-State-Farm.
  • The “Dude” Mike Slayen, from San Diego, home of Jake E. Lee, and that little bit of extra guitar knowledge we needed.

I bought a guest list from Jex Russell, and the combined six lists covered a lot of ground!  Hits, deep cuts, lots of ballads, and almost every lead guitarist who played with Ozzy.  Lots of love for Randy and Jake here especially.  Besides the first two classic Ozzy records, there was a lot of respect here for No Rest for the Wicked.  The Ultimate Sin, Ozzmosis, No More Tears and Scream were mentioned multiple times.  There were a number of B-sides mentioned, and one track that almost got me disqualified!

Stay tuned for some cool honourable mentions!

Thank you everyone for watching tonight, and we’ll see you Monday with brand new guest Len Labelle, and a run through the discography of Brighton Rock.  See you then!

 

ALL ABOARD! Top Five Ozzy Tunes on Grab A Stack of Rock with Peter Kerr, Mike Slayen and John Clauser

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Episode 53:  Top Five Ozzy Tracks with Peter Kerr, John Clauser, and the return of Mike Slayen!

All aboard!  Ah ha ha ha ha!

Peter Kerr is back, having survived his encounter with Stevie Rachelle and his army of trolls!  He is also fresh from an interview with bassist Bob Daisley, so why not do a list show on our Top Five Ozzy Osbourne songs?

For this epic topic, spanning Ozzy’s solo career, I have recruited a special panel:

We continue to wish Harrison a speedy recovery.  I hope to see you back on the show soon, my friend.  We all miss you.

Tonight will be all about the Prince of Darkness, and together we will list Ozzy’s Top Fives according to each of our tastes.  Deep cuts guaranteed!

Friday March 1 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 4:00 P.M. Pacific.   Enjoy on YouTube, or Twitter!!  (Facebook has been problematic of late.)

Our Journey Collections, on Six Formats (With Tim Durling) – Happy Birthday Jon Cain! – Grab A Stack of Rock Special Edition!

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and Tim Durling

Special Edition Episode:  Our JOURNEY Collections

 

Happy birthday to Jonathan Cain of JOURNEY, as we celebrate his discography today with Tim Durling on this very special episode of Grab A Stack of Rock!  We look back at the entire discography of the legendary rock band, all the lineup changes, all the big songs, and a bunch of deep cuts as well.  On six different formats, I show you the entire catalogue, with help from Tim to fill three holes in the official collection.  (There’s still one or two essential things I need to get, but you’ll have to watch the video to find out.)

Tim Durling is what I would call a “Journey expert”.  He knows the facts and the sales numbers and the singles, and he was essential in this video coming to be.  Not just the live albums I’m still missing, but also the knowledge and personal history.  I was late getting into the band, in the late 1990s.  Tim had 10 years on me.  Thank you Tim for helping me make this video!

Together we presented CDs, cassettes, vinyl, 8-tracks, Blu-rays and DVDs of all the essential Journey.  We looked at imports from Japan, Europe, the US, and Mexico as well as different pressings with different bonus tracks.  A wide variety of Journey CD editions are here for you to examine.

Thank you Tim and thank you Journey for the music!

 

Discography included:

  • Journey (1975)
  • Look Into the Future (1976)
  • Next (1977)
  • Infinity (1978)
  • Evolution (1979)
  • In The Beginning (1979)
  • Departure (1980)
  • Dream, After Dream (1980)
  • Captured (1981)
  • Escape (1981)
  • Frontiers (1983 and 2023 40th Anniversary editions)
  • Raised on Radio (1986)
  • Greatest Hits (1988)
  • Time3 (1992 boxed set)
  • Trial By Fire (1996)
  • Greatest Hits Live (1998)
  • Arrival (2000-2001)
  • The Essential Journey (2001)
  • Red 13 (2002)
  • Generations (2005)
  • Live In Houston 1981: The Escape Tour (2005)
  • Turn the Page (Live Bootleg w/ Jeff Scott Soto (2006)
  • Revelation (2008)
  • Live in Manilla (2009)
  • Eclipse (2011)
  • Greatest Hits 2 (2011)
  • Escape & Frontiers Live In Japan (2019)
  • Freedom (2022)
  • Live In Concert Lollapalooza (2022)
  • Alive In America (2022 booteg)
  • Neal Schon’s Journey Through Time (2023)

The Jex Russell Show on Grab A Stack of Rock! CDs Galore! With John Snow, Aaron KMA, and Metal Roger

Get well soon, Harrison!  The Mad Metal Man was unable to co-host tonight’s show with Jex Russell, so what did Jex do?  He grabbed the bull by the horns, the guitar by the neck, and the stack of rock by the stones!  It was the historic first-ever episode of Grab A Stack of Rock with Mike and the Mad Metal Man…without Mike, or the Mad Metal Man.

Jex, you dapper handsome movie star.  I admit, I had it coming.  It was not unearned.  But vengeance shall be mine. ;)

On with the show:  Dressed to the nines, Jex pulled out all the stops tonight.  Tonight’s musical physical media included:

Jex with buying tips, some psychedelic rock,  Hard Rock Gold, Over 60 Minutes With…, some Vital Idol, Deep Purple, DEVO, Pat Benatar, Ten Years After, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Squier, and Motley Crue ’94!

Jazz, soul & blues provided by Aaron “Mr. Books” of the KMA with: Tobin Sprout (only 1000 made), GBV, Hilliard Ensemble, John Lee Hooker, Prince, Ry Cooder, Simply Red, Gojira, Matt Costa, Oscar Peterson, Rheostatics, Kurt Vile, Live at Leeds, a live album in Toronto, the sound of Starbucks, Phil Collins, Blues Brothers, Hootie, Debussy, Yo-Yo Ma, Hans Zimmer, and dad memes.  Sadly no opera and “y’all-ternative country” (with apologies).

John T. Snow from The Collection brought on the hard rock side of things.  We had his early thoughts on the new Ace Frehley 10,000 Volts (red transparent vinyl and lentincular cover CD), KISS final show merch and memorabilia, new Collective Soul 8-track (!!), a Canadian gift from Aaron, and new Jeff Scott Soto.

Metal Roger on marital harmony, comedy relief, heavy metal and screamo.  He brought some Metallica, Death Cab, Papa Roach, Queen, Guns N’ Roses, and books!

Thank you guys for doing the show and giving me a night to just watch and enjoy.  I’ll be back Monday with Tim Durling for a special episode on the complete Journey discography!

 

 

A LeBrainless Panel with New Arrivals, Jazz, Hard Rock and Metal on Grab A Stack of Rock

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Episode 52:  Jex, Aaron, John and Metal Roger!

First order of business:  Get well soon, Harrison!  The Mad Metal Man is unable to co-host tonight’s episode, so filling in for him will be Jex Russell.

I don’t know precisely what the guys will be showing off, but new arrivals are guaranteed!  We will see Kiss, Metallica, Billy Idol, The Who, Chuck Berry and a whole whack of fresh jazz from Mr. Books.

The panel tonight:

  • Hosted by: Jex Russell from Jex’s Vinyl World
  • Jazz provided by Aaron “Mr. Books” of the KMA
  • John T. Snow from The Collection on the hard rock side of things
  • And Metal Roger on comedy relief and heavy metal

Historically speaking, this is the first ever episode of Grab A Stack of Rock with Mike and the Mad Metal Man, without Mike or the Mad Metal Man.  But fear not, Mike will be back on Monday with Tim Durling for a very special Journey episode for Jon Cain’s birthday!

Friday Feb 23 at 8:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 9:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube, or Twitter!!  (Facebook has been problematic of late.)

Rock Daydream Nation: Decline of Western Civilization – Metal Rock Documentary or a Hoax?

Documentary, or mockumentary?

It was truly an honour to be invited back onto Rock Daydream Nation to discuss to infamous “documentary” film The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years directed by Penelope Spheeris.  This deep discussion went right to the hotspot scenes we still talk about today:  Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P.), Ozzy, and a parade of airheads wanting to be rock stars.

It’s not a flattering look at the Hollywood metal scene in 1987-88.  The cavalcade of cartoon characters rolled out largely range from jerkoffs to misogynist douchebags.  Our panel takes the position that Spheeris set up most scenes to portray the genre and its artists in a negative light.  We discuss the portrayal of women in the film and hard rock, as well as the alleged staging of controversial scenes.

The panel:  a seasoned septuplet of rock experts comprised of:

Kudos to Reed Little for gleaning the value of rarely-revealed financial data, of being a hard rock band on the road in the 80s, from the film.  Brilliant observations and research here from Reed.  We also asked questions such as:  where were Guns N’ Roses?  What happened to Odin?  Is Ozzy unable to pour a glass of OJ for himself, and what’s with the raw bacon?  Each panel member brought something from their own unique perspectives to the discussion.

Special attention was paid to the Chris Holmes pool scene.  Is it exploitation?  A cry for help?  Partially or completely staged?  What was the impact upon W.A.S.P.’s career from that point onwards?  We had W.A.S.P. expert John Clauser on hand to give that issue a close look.  Peter Kerr pointed out that the pool scene haunts Chris to this day, as it inevitably comes up in every interview he does.  I talk about the impact of seeing the first rock star that I ever liked sitting in that pool, and how it affected me.

We looked back upon our first impressions of the film back in the day, our feelings in 2024, and memorable scenes.  From Poison, London, Aerosmith and Faster Pussycat, there’s a lot of hair to wade through.   Please give this show a watch – we are all very proud of it.

2 Much Music? on Grab A Stack of Rock! Mike’s CD Collection

Wanna see that “Holy Grail” CD I spent $300 Canadian for in 2001?  Then check out this episode.  This week’s CD show & tell is for fans of Metallica, Alice Cooper, The Four Horsemen, Coney Hatch, The Who, Sting, The Police, Pink Floyd, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Rock Candy, deluxe reissues with bonus tracks, jazz, Japanese imports, Canadian content, and Guns N’ Roses!

Revisit memories of the Mike Bullard show, and Mrs. LeBrain’s Mom.  Find ingenius way to make your own 2 CD deluxe editions.  See Rorschach blots on two different albums.  Hear about Listening stations and recommendations from Martin Popoff.  Listen to me rant about having to buy multiple deluxe copies of the same CD to get “all the tracks”.  Witness amusing stories about customers who accused me of selling them “scratched up crap”.  Hear me drop a couple F-bombs.  And of course, a big thanks to those who watched last night, and a “BOOOO!” to Metal Roger who missed me razzing him over Metallica’s much maligned Lulu album!

In the spirit of the CD bonus track, if you stay tuned to the end, you’ll get to see a very cool musical instrument made of little plastic bricks….

If you missed it, enjoy this 45 minute episode below.

 

Next week:

Harrison, Jex, John Snow, Aaron and Metal Roger go LeBrainless!