Last week on Rock Daydream Nation, Peter Kerr and Martin Popoff broke down the history of Australian producer team Harry Vanda and George Young. You may recognize those names from the AC/DC albums in your collection. As I recently discovered, Vanda & Young were also responsible for the early Rose Tattoo records. What else have Vanda & Young brought to the music world? Watch this episode of Rock Daydream Nation and hear about their best works.
Like PS Audio’s Paul McGowan, I’ve been accused of deleting unflattering comments. I think Paul nailed it here.
If you’re incapable of commenting without saying someone is “deaf”, a “Nazi”, or an opinion is “complete BS”, then I’m not wasting my time having a “conversation” with you. Neither is Paul. Go elsewhere to spew it. Paul sums it up pretty well here. “Boink! I don’t talk like that, and neither should you on my channel.”
For the record I’ve deleted:
Sort of a followup to our controversial roundtable discussion on The Decline of Western Civilation Part II: The Metal Years, this time Peter Kerr invited me back to talk about a band I never listened to before: Faster Pussycat.
John Clauser went into this show with a negative opinion after some not-so-great live gigs. I went in with almost virgin ears. I knew the songs Faster Pussycat had in the movie, and I liked them. Peter challenged John and I to listen to the whole album and discuss our conclusions. The results may surprise you!
See if you can spot my subtle jab at Tuff singer Stevie Rachelle who accused us all of being “probably Rush fans” when he didn’t like our Decline episode.
Here’s Peter’s description of the episode:
Rock Daydream Nation featuring John Clauser (My Music Corner/The Contrarians) and Mike Ladano (Grab a Stack of Rock) go back to 1987 and put a spotlight on the self titled debut album from ‘Faster Pussycat’. Is this the best Hard Rock Debut album you’ve never heard of? Part classic rock with a dash of glam with a hint of blues…. We do a song by song analysis and talk all things Faster Pussycat…Remember, don’t change that song and check out the show! (There is even a Faster Pussycat video on the show)
I bought the CD specifically for this show, and my written review will go up Monday the 11th. Enjoy the show!
I am so proud of this episode of Rock Daydream Nation with Peter Kerr. The story goes something like this:
(Australian accent) – Hey Mike, how would you like to do a show on Purple Rain by Prince?
(Canadian accent) – I’ve never listened to a Prince album in my life, are you sure you want me to do this? Because I would.
(Australian accent) – Yes that’s exactly what I’m looking for.
So I went into this very curious, since I have heard the praises of Prince sung by many that I respect. I listened to Purple Rain eight times in the week leading up to this show. As for how it all went? You’ll just have to watch and see. This is how Peter describes it:
First time listener to Prince “Purple Rain” – Rock Daydream Nation featuring Mike Ladano…The premise of this show is that Mike has never listened to a Prince album. We have remedied that situation and have assigned Mike to listen and appraise the 1984 album ‘Prince and the Revolution “Purple Rain”‘. This was a fun, meaningful show that reviews the music of Prince but also looks at the historical context of Purple Rain – the album and the movie.
Peter, thank you so much for inviting me to do this show. It’s my favourite Rock Daydream Nation yet!
Merry Christmas one and all! Whether you celebrate or not, I wish you all a merry December 25! I hope you are not working today, and I wish you true joy on this morning.
If you’re sick of all the shows on TV, and tired of your Christmas albums, the Arkells have just what you need. The Hamilton band have their “Fireplace Channel” all set on YouTube. You can listen to acoustic renditions of all their hits from the Campfire Chords record, while Max hangs stockings and brings you cookies. Put it on a loop and enjoy with your tea and gifts!
Please drop a comment and let me know how you’re doing on this Christmas day. I value every one of you.
Mike
I was honoured to be back on Geoff Stephen’s excellent show, the 1002nd album, to talk this time about a special song instead of an album. I don’t know why I’m drawn to acoustic-based music when I’m with Geoff, but I know he loves a lot of those old Blue Rodeo songs. I instinctively chose “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” from Five Days in July, a remarkable song from a spontaneously recorded album. It captures the cold and loneliness of a Canadian winter, yet with the warmth that only acoustic guitars and electric bass can nullify. But don’t let me spoil it for you. Here’s Geoff and yours truly with our chat on “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” by Blue Rodeo. My favourite.
I love getting a musical education from Todd in the Shadows! He’s musically educated and far more knowledgeable about pop and hip-hop than I’ll ever be.
Run DMC are not my thing, and I was largely ignorant of their influence and their unique style. Todd demonstrates their beats and importance with plenty of video clips. But his main focus this time was their “comeback” album Crown Royal. An album that took years to make and release, due to legal wranglings over guest appearances and DMC’s lack of involvement. Todd conjectures that a disapproving D didn’t record a single note for this album. He could be right. A trainwreckord indeed, Crown Royal sounds like a desperate attempt to meet Y2k head on, and failing. No amount of Fred Dursts or Third Eyes Blind could save this record commercially and artistically.
This was a 30 minute viewing that flew right by. Entertaining and educational.
Weaksauce, Watch Mojo! Weaksauce! Never trust non-music people to come up with decent music lists. Is that gatekeeping? Damn right – and Davey 504 is the gatekeeper. There were a couple songs that he considered worthy of the list…and many he just made mincemeat of.
Watch and learn.
Now that you’re all down from your 420 high, it’s time to take it down low!
Nate Navarro’s new bass has an extra-long string length, enabling him to go lower than ever. Check it out! This is a 42″ scale Sub Octave Bass Guitar from Lignum!
From 1994’s live album Once And For All, it’s Loudness with the EZO cover “House of 1000 Pleasures”. Masaki Yamada (ex-EZO) was the singer, and this live album kicked absolute ass. That riff really grooves.
Hope you enjoy.
mikeladano.com 