This week on Tim’s Vinyl Confessions: #8 in his Sammy Hagar Deep Dive video series. This all coincides with a new book he has out, all about the Red Rocker’s discography. V.O.A. is a special album for me personally as it was my first ever Sammy Hagar solo purchase. I bought it for “I Can’t Drive 55” but I found a whole lot more.
What did Tim and I like, and dislike about this record? Find out today on Tim’s Vinyl Confessions. Don’t Make Me Wait too long…the show will be up this afternoon!
Merry Christmas from Marillion! A happy Christmas present: all the way from New Yawk City, Mr. Davey Cretin joins Grab A Stack of Rock as surprise guest! Davey comes aboard with an already epic cast: bicyclelegs, also in his debut, and the returning Todd Evans. Together we broke down our favourites from a large pool of seasonal Christmas songs by Marillion.
Bicyclelegs has 26 Marillion Christmas releases, dwarfing my 19. More Christmas albums than studio albums. Though there was a little bit of repeat on some favourite tracks, there was also one clear winner. You’ll have to watch to see which one. There was also a bit of a discussion on a certain Christmas song made famous by Mariah Carey. Who did it better: Carey, or Marillion? I’m sure you can guess my preference.
From carols dating back to the 1600s, to drunken covers and originals, we ran the gamut of styles. Though there was levity, there was also clear passion for this band, their musicianship, and what they mean to each of us.
Next week, there will be a special live presentation of three older Grab A Stack of Rock shorts, with new intro and outro by me. I hope you will check it out. I even included an easter egg for you to find. Meanwhile, I’ll be busy recording a super-fun episode with Peter Kerr at Rock Daydream Nation.
Check out the Marillion show below:
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 81: Top Five Marillion Christmas Songs with Todd Evans & bicyclelegs
Todd Evans is back to talk Marillion once again! He brings with him Australia’s own bicyclelegs, with whom I’m covering favourite tracks from each studio album on his channel. These two progressive rock professors will be joining me to discuss our favourite Christmas songs performed by Marillion. The band have recorded both covers and originals, and tonight we’ll brief you on what we think are the cream of the crop.
I have 19 Marillion Christmas albums in my collection; for the physical media buffs, I will show you each one. For simplicity’s sake, one could also use the compilation A Collection of Recycled Gifts, which in its extended format has 15 songs to choose from.
Please join us live in the comments section tonight for some progressive rock Christmas fun. There may even be surprises.
Friday December 6 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!
NOTE: My text review of Blind Rage by Accept will go up in the coming days.
Johnny Metal and John the Music Nut have been breaking down, in detail, every Accept studio album. I jumped on board with Blind Rage, the third album with Mark Tornillo. I chose this album since I had the Japanese import and I wanted the two Johns to have a chance to cover a rare bonus track on their show.
In this episode, we break down the album track by track, with a high level of agreement between us. The Music Nut then goes through the tour in detail, discussing all the songs that were played live, and how often. Some are still played live today.
If you want a sneak preview into my Blind Rage review, watch this episode, as I tried something new here: reading my review aloud (not easy). I may have even done some singing.
Check out the show, and look for my text review in a few days.
I’m very excited to finally be doing a show with Martin Popoff this week. Martin is back on the Contrarians live Wednesday chat!
For those keeping track, this is my eighth week in a row on the Contrarians. The subjects thus far have been:
This week, a joint suggestion from Tim & Jamie: Album covers with beds, or sleeping. Lots to choose from this time.
THE CONTRARIANS – Dreaming in Stereo – Wed. December 4 – 7:00 PM EST
Please welcome new channel Slogan’s Rock & Metal Extravaganza to the scene! I met Logan and Sidney through the Contrarians. These two young knowledgeable guys have a passion for rock, and I dig their youthful perspective. Logan, for example, was ten years old when Black Sabbath’s 13 (2013) came out. When they asked me if I’d like to appear on their show to talk about Black Sabbath’s Dehumanizer album, I had to say yes. I love that album and have since it was released. Oh, how I remember those days!
Here’s how their show works: right now they are on episode two of their Triumph series, A Triumphant Catalogue. In the first 45 minutes of this episode, the two co-hosts and special guest Byron go through the album track by track. Sidney provided additional chart numbers for Canada. Then, at 45 minutes, they do the same with Black Sabbath’s Dehumanizer with me as additional guest! Each week, they let a trivia winner pick a bonus album for them to review the following week. Cool concept.
For this discussion, I showed off all my Dehumanizer-related Black Sabbath stuff. We broke down the context and history of this album, the participation of Cozy Powell and Tony Martin, and the fallout. We also went through this album track for track and rated it at the end. This was a passionate, knowledge-filled discussion with plenty of perspective from the early 1990s.
Great show boys! I will be happy to have you all on Grab A Stack of Rock. Give them a Like and Subscribe.
Click here for the Gamble Ramble YouTube channel!
ATTENTION BLABBERMOUTH/SLEEZEROXX/EVERYONE! In this video Glen “Archie” Gamble of Helix fame tells us all about the 1974 Canadian Kiss TV appearance on a show called Boogie that he knows for a fact exists and could be released soon. Interview and possible lipsynched performance video.
Also, we talked to Archie about Helix and the Joys quite a bit. In summation, here are some show highlights:
Grant Arthur from Grant’s Rock Warehaus was co-host for this special episode. Thanks for coming on Grant! Grant riffed along with us and asked some pertinent questions. Archie answered everything with grace.
Thanks for watching everyone, it was a lively comments section with some great questions (and jokes at Grant’s expense). For Archie’s previous episode, click here!
NEXT WEEK: Top Five Marillion Christmas Songs with Todd Evans and Bicyclelegs!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 80: Archie Gamble returns!
Click here for the Gamble Ramble YouTube channel!
Happy Friday! Not only is Archie Gamble (Helix, the Joys, Buffalo Brothers) back for this episode, but we plan to have some fun. We’ll be asking him the questions that we never got to ask last time, and of course, we’ll let Archie ramble!
Our special co-host tonight will be Grant Arthur from Grant’s Rock Warehaus. Thanks for filling in, Grant!
Considering our first chat with Archie went almost two hours, this time we’ll be focused on fun. Tales from the road, tales from the studio, and beyond! Who’s been rocking Archie’s speakers lately besides The Warning? Find out tonight…
Friday November 29 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!
This week’s topic is my pick!
Doing the live Contrarian chats on Wednesday nights has been great fun. I will keep going with these as long as I’m welcome and as long as I don’t burn out. For those keeping track, this is my seventh week in a row on the Contrarians. The subjects thus far have been:
For this week, Toys and Games, I’m not taking the easy way out. My list will have unexpected picks (because I let Tim have the good ones). Check out the show tonight, live at 7:00 PM.
THE CONTRARIANS – Album covers featuring Toys and Games – Wed. November 27 – 7:00 PM EST
RECORD STORE TALES #1166: A Storage Solution for Certain Promo CD Singles
I managed a CD store for 10 years. Storage was always a commodity to me, then and now. As a young guy living in a small bedroom in his parents’ house, I was running out of CD space fast. Every slot counted. An opportunity to save some slots, by replacing a 2 CD “fat” case with a slim one, was always valuable.
There are occasional promo CD singles that were cheap on packaging because, well, it was a free handout CD given to radio stations or stores to play. Front covers were optional. Sometimes, singles such as these were valuable to me, for the inclusion of edit versions or other mixes that may not have been on commercially available singles or albums.
There was one storage solution I came up with to save space in my collection, and logically file these singles in an interesting way. Have a look at the short video below.
mikeladano.com 