REVIEW: Cybernauts – The Further Adventures of the Cybernauts (2001)

Part Twenty-Seven of the Def Leppard Review Series

CYBERNAUTS – The Further Adventures of the Cybernauts (2001 Arachnophobia Records)

While fans awaited the return of Def Leppard with another new album to follow 1999’s Euphoria, Joe Elliott and Phil Collen released more recordings from their Cybernauts side-project, a fun David Bowie cover band featuring members of the Spiders From Mars.  This time they entered the studio (both in Ireland and Japan) to lay down some covers.  These were released on a bonus disc in a very rare, very limited 2001 2 CD issue of the Cybernauts Live album.

Hendrix’s “Manic Depression” opens; organ-heavy and slightly more psychedelic.  After that rocks your socks, an awesome rendition of “All the Young Dudes” follows.  Purists may not like Joe Elliott’s straight-ahead delivery compared to the original, but his pure love of the song comes out.  He’s not trying to be someone else.  Just Joe.  And that’s fine for Leppard fans!

Phil Collen opens “Moonage Daydream” with some very delectable guitar.  An album highlight, the guys really do this one plenty of justice.  Keyboards add the appropriate subtle lush backdrop.  The solo section is sharp and wicked.  Just a killer cover.

A fairly standard version of “The Man Who Sold the World” is satisfactory but the song is picky about who sounds good covering it.  Phil’s guitar work is notable, as it has been throughout this set.

One tune that wasn’t on the live disc was “Time” from Aladdin Sane.  Dick Decent (R.I.P.) tickles the ivories in glorious glee.  From the same album comes “Panic in Detroit”, upbeat rock that doubtless inspired bands like The Darkness and Def Leppard.  The Cybernauts sound at home covering it.  The second half of the song is just a band jamming together and having a blast in the studio.

The closing track, “Lady Grinning Soul” is an excellent deep cut to go out on.  Complex, passionate and performed with expertise.  But is it really the end?  The track time of 19 minutes tells us something is up.  After a 10 minute silence, the Cybernauts return with an unlisted bonus track.  It’s an acoustic version of “Moonage Daydream”!  Probably even better than the first version!  Stunning acoustic solo by Phil.  Worth the wait?  Well, I invite you to edit out the silence yourself and just enjoy the music.

This double disc of the Cybernauts will cost you a pretty penny.  It goes for over $200 when you can find an original.  Good hunting!

4/5 stars

Previous:  

  1. The Early Years Disc One – On Through the Night 
  2. The Early Years Disc Two – High N’ Dry
  3. The Early Years Disc Three – When The Walls Came Tumbling Down: Live at the New Theater Oxford – 1980
  4. The Early Years Disc Four – Too Many Jitterbugs – EP, singles & unreleased
  5. The Early Years Disc 5 – Raw – Early BBC Recordings 
  6. The Early Years 79-81 (Summary)
  7. Pyromania
  8. Pyromania Live – L.A. Forum, 11 September 1983
  9. Hysteria
  10. Soundtrack From the Video Historia – Record Store Tales
  11. In The Round In Your Face DVD
  12. “Let’s Get Rocked” – The Wait for Adrenalize – Record Store Tales
  13. Adrenalize
  14. Live at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert
  15. Retro-Active
  16. Visualize
  17. Vault: Def Leppard’s Greatest Hits / Limited Edition Live CD
  18. Video Archive
  19. “Slang” CD single
  20. Slang
  21. I Got A Bad Feeling About This: Euphoria – Record Store Tales
  22. Euphoria
  23. Rarities 2
  24. Rarities 3
  25. Rarities 4
  26. Cybernauts – Live

Next:

28. X

Sunday Screening: Tenacious D – “Cosmic Shame”

This non-album Tenacious D track ranked highly on Friday night’s Nigel Tufnel Top Ten lists!  From the HBO TV series it’s “Cosmic Shame”, one of their early tracks that has yet to see an audio release.  This underground deep cut is about quitting your day job and dedicating your life to your art!

It’s not just a funny song and good acoustic song, but also inspirational.  Check out this comment from Will on YouTube:  “I just quit my day job today…this has helped. It’s hard, not gonna lie, but I am getting back to what I do best. Composing and performing piano music. Thank you Tenacious D for helping my soul through this hard time.”  That’s cool.

Just a Tribute: Tenacious D’s top tracks

“Best show ever!” – Kevin

“Not even top 50.” – Chris Sarre

The MVP tonight was Kevin from Canadian Grooves for going superdeeeeeep with his Tenacious D picks!  “I am not worthy!” said Meat.  Indeed Kevin did dig deep into the obscure for his excellent list.  Between the three of us, you will find a terrific balance of deep cuts and mainstream hits.  All of which, you should check out!

Thank you boys for a great show tonight!  If all goes according to plan I’ll be going live again next Friday for another Show & Tell episode!

Tenacious D’s Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Tracks…tonight on the LeBrain Train

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike & Friends

Episode 110 – Nigel Tufnel Top Ten-acious D Tracks

This is just a “tribute”!  Well, no, not really.  But it will be great fun regardless.  Thank Uncle Meat, as he arranged this week’s episode and guest himself.  Tonight, Meat and Kevin from Canadian Grooves are joining me to talk about the notoriously tenacious comedy-rock duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass.  The greatest band in the world?  Perhaps — which is why we’re doing Top 11 lists of this band’s greatest songs.

The duo met in 1986 and started playing gigs 1994, with their name a reference to the basketball term “tenacious defence”.  Their demo led to the short lived TV series, befriending Dave Grohl, and eventually their debut album in 2001.  It’s been pure legend since!

Sourcing tunes from their four albums, many singles, HBO TV show and more, you can count of lots of laughs tonight.  As usual, you’ll want to catch this live!

 

Friday May 27, 7:00 PM E.S.T.  on YouTube, Facebook and also Facebook!

VHS Archives #133: Winger perform 2 acoustic tracks on Start Me Up (1993)

Fantastic interview by Erica Ehm once again, with Reb Beach and Kip Winger.  Lengthy session too, 23 minutes in total!  Starting with some country riffs (Reb on 6-string, Kip on 12-string), the boys defied the expectations of the early 90s and proved they could really play — and how!  For the Winger guys, it was already “first thing in the morning”, otherwise known as “mid-afternoon” to us;  Kip had his cup of coffee ready!  (Really good coffee, according to Erica.)

Sad observation:  We’ve seen past interviews with groups like Bon Jovi, where throngs of fans were banging on the big MuchMusic windows.  Winger only got a couple curious onlookers pulling faces.  Too bad.

Songs played:

  • “Can’t Get Enuff” (at the 5:30 mark)
  • “Who’s The One” (17:30 in)

Topics covered:

  • Why were Winger not as big in Canada as they were at home?
  • Playing for musicians
  • Videos / “the image”
  • The art of songwriting / lyrics
  • Why was the new album called Pull?
  • Reb’s instructional guitar video
  • Chris Robinson, Lars Ulrich, Beavis and Butt-head, and other critics
  • Playgirl magazine!
  • Being “rock stars”

Winger ends the session with a blues jam.

Awesome acoustic tunes and a fantastic interview.  Check it out below.

#989: Moving In Stereo

RECORD STORE TALES #989: Moving In Stereo

It was May 2002 and I was a first-time homeowner.  My dad taught me, “Never rent!  Only buy.  Put your money towards something.”  So I trusted his advice and lived at home as long as could I possibly milk it!

Moving in to my new place took a day.  I had a lot of help from family and friends.  We probably had 10 or 12 people total.  I packed up all my CDs and insisted that only I handle them.  It caused me more than a little anxiety.  I figured a few jewel cases would crack, but there were some special ones I took extra precautions with.  Coloured jewel cases are hard to replace.  The most precious CD case to me is the 1996 Deep Purple In Rock anniversary edition.  The case comes etched with signatures and other text.  Breaking one of those means either living with it, or trying to find another copy with case intact.  I desired to do neither.  In Rock survived the move intact.  I would not be lying to you if I told you that this one little item was of more concern to me than anything else I moved that day.  My stereo equipment came in second.

Some people say they have a hard time sleeping, their first night in a new home.  I did not have that problem.  After a full day of moving, I was wiped.  But also eager to get going the next day and set up my new place.  Against the better judgement of everyone who helped me move, the very first thing I did was set up my CD towers.  Having those discs sitting in boxes really bothered me.  I wanted them out, so I could inspect them and ensure they all survived intact, and I wanted them accessible.  A long day of painting was ahead!

I cannot remember the first album I played in my new home.  Strange, because normally I’d commit that sort of thing to memory.  It was probably Kiss.  I like to use Kiss for firsts.  I do remember the first movie I watched.  It was The Phantom Menace.  I wanted my first movie to be a DVD, and I wanted it to be a Star Wars.  The older Star Wars films would not exist on that format until 2004.

I set up the CD towers, put the discs back in their alphabetical homes, and was relieved that only a couple cases broke.  I then painted around them.  Priorities.

The funny thing about these memories is how much space I thought I had back then.  I had so many empty closets.  I didn’t have enough stuff to put on my shelves.  To say things have changed would be an understatement.  Due to lack of storage, there are CDs everywhere in random order.  We need to hire a carpenter and get some proper CD shelving made for this place!

After a solid weekend of working, painting and assembling, I was settled into my new place.  I had my first guests over that Monday.  I loved my new place, but I did not have long to enjoy it.  The following week, I was on my way to Prince Edward Island, determined to find the home of Stompin’ Tom Connors, and eat lobster at least once a day.  Success on both counts.  But I couldn’t wait to get home again.  I had a new Deep Purple box set of official bootlegs waiting for me to finish listening.  12 CDs.  I only had time to hear the first three discs before departure.  And you can bet your last dollar that I picked up where I left off, with disc four.

Jen moved here in 2008.  It’s cramped but we make due.  Her illness set us back in the sense that we haven’t been able to move somewhere bigger.  But it’s home.  It’s our home.  It has 20 years of memories.  I’m proud to say that many of them are musical in nature.

VHS Archives #132: Fight’s Rob Halford & Jay Jay talk books (1993)

Rob Halford once said he devoured books.  What books were Rob and Fight bassist Jay Jay reading in 1993?  MuchMusic had this segment called “Between the Covers” with Erica Ehm, encouraging kids to read by talking to rock stars about books.  It’s only 1:15 long but interesting regardless as there are so few interviews with Jay Jay.

REVIEW: Cybernauts – Live (2001)

Part Twenty-Six of the Def Leppard Review Series

CYBERNAUTS – Live (2001 Arachnophobia Records)

While fans awaited the return of Def Leppard with another new album to follow 1999’s Euphoria, Joe Elliott and Phil Collen released some recordings from their Cybernauts side-project, a fun David Bowie cover band.

But not just any cover band.

Cybernauts were formed as a tribute to the late Mick Ronson, featuring Spiders from Mars members Trevor Bolder, Mick Woodmansey, and Dick Decent.  The liner notes are a little bit contradictory when it comes to specific recordings.  One page in the booklet says the disc was recorded at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, August 7 1997.  On another page, Joe Elliott states that the album was “pulled together” from a five gig mini-tour.  Dublin was the final date on that tour.  18 tracks, and almost 80 minutes of music comprise this live disc.

Without any preamble, we jump right into the rock and roll of “Watch that Man” from Aladdin Sane.  Cybernauts are naturally a little more heavy handed but Leppard fans will love it.  Things get punky with “Hang Onto Yourself”, full speed ahead, with Phil Collen whipping up some guitar magic to salute Ronson, while the original guys bang it out with bedevilling youthful energy.  Massive hit “Changes” comes next, a little chunkier than the version you’re used to but still brilliant.  Joe’s lead vocal has the Leppard sound, the Spiders’ backing vocals sound like Bowie.  It’s a mash-up of two bands.

Acoustic guitars come out for “The Supermen”, but then Phil kicks in with the distortion.  So far, an album highlight though purists might baulk at the heavier rock approach.  It’s followed by an emphatic “Five Years”, with Joe doing an excellent job of the complex vocals.  Bouncing from album to album, they do “Cracked Actor” next, a nice boogie.  The familiar “Moonage Daydream” is welcome, and the keyboards recreate the lush backdrop authentically.  Another album highlight with exceptional lead work by Phil.

A Mick Ronson solo cut called “Angel No. 9” from his second album Play Don’t Worry is rolled out next, with a wickedly tasty guitar lick.  A brilliant selection, the backing vocals by the Spiders are quite sweet.  “Jean Genie” is so familiar is almost skippable, but they pretty much had to play it — can’t blame them.

It’s pretty much non-stop classics from there on it.  “Life on Mars” featuring Dick Decent on piano has a more delicate touch and they do a fine job of it.  “The Man Who Sold the World” works well with the keyboards providing the backbone and Phil Collen doing his best Ronson.  “Starman” is great fun; Joe is clearly enjoying himself.

“The Width of a Circle” is the long bomber, clocking in at almost 10 minutes.  Progressive, guitar heavy and epic.  After that exercise, “Ziggy Stardust” is rolled out, and always welcome.  That guitar riff, the familiar melodies, they never tire.  Of course, Leppard covered it a couple times but not as convincingly as this.

The Velvet Underground’s “White Light, White Heat”, which also appeared on Ronson’s second album, is a party.  Backing vocals on this are awesome.  Joe teases a “goodnight” at this point, but the tracklist on the back reveals three encores.

“Rock and Roll Suicide”, “Suffragette City” and Mott’s “All the Young Dudes” are a pretty good three-for-three.  Encores that start slowly and laid back like “Rock and Roll Suicide” does are often like a mini-set unto themselves.  “Suffragette City” blasts forth with punky energy and then “All the Young Dudes” is the anthem to end the party.

But that’s not it for the Cybernauts.  In 2001 they did a Japanese tour, recorded some stuff in the studio, and released it.  We’ll talk about that next time!

4/5 stars

Previous:  

  1. The Early Years Disc One – On Through the Night 
  2. The Early Years Disc Two – High N’ Dry
  3. The Early Years Disc Three – When The Walls Came Tumbling Down: Live at the New Theater Oxford – 1980
  4. The Early Years Disc Four – Too Many Jitterbugs – EP, singles & unreleased
  5. The Early Years Disc 5 – Raw – Early BBC Recordings 
  6. The Early Years 79-81 (Summary)
  7. Pyromania
  8. Pyromania Live – L.A. Forum, 11 September 1983
  9. Hysteria
  10. Soundtrack From the Video Historia – Record Store Tales
  11. In The Round In Your Face DVD
  12. “Let’s Get Rocked” – The Wait for Adrenalize – Record Store Tales
  13. Adrenalize
  14. Live at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert
  15. Retro-Active
  16. Visualize
  17. Vault: Def Leppard’s Greatest Hits / Limited Edition Live CD
  18. Video Archive
  19. “Slang” CD single
  20. Slang
  21. I Got A Bad Feeling About This: Euphoria – Record Store Tales
  22. Euphoria
  23. Rarities 2
  24. Rarities 3
  25. Rarities 4

Next:

27. Cybernauts – The Further Adventures of the Cybernauts

Who do you think you are, Benjamin Franklin? (Sunday Chuckle)

Yesterday around noon, some tornado-force winds ripped through town with a healthy dose of rain.  All told, I read that 38 hydro poles went down along with numerous trees.  It took about seven hours to restore power to where I live.

Some areas still had electricity, so Jen and I went out looking for a place to get lunch.  Lots of intersections with no power to the lights.  We drove past a Tim Horton’s with no electricity.  The three employees were our in parking lot with brooms clearing debris, and had pylons blocking the drive-through.  Yet in our brief time driving past, three cars drove into the Horton’s looking for coffee.  As if Tim Horton’s have their own nuclear power generator in the basement, or like the customers could magically turn on the power for them.  The girls with the brooms just stared incredulously at the numbskulls who thought that this was the one business on the whole street with power!

That was fun! Snow & Tell Cassette Friday

Though John and I both have diminished cassette collections compared to the glory days, we had more than enough to show off for an hour.  John has acquired some lovely copies of some of his favourites from Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Billy Idol, Needtobreath, Kiss, and many more.  I had some oldies from Quiet Riot, Judas Priest, Bonham, and more, but I think much more interesting were the homebrew tapes I have left.  Some are “bootlegs” that I made and some are copies of albums, but the artwork in some cases were pretty cool.  I spent a lot of time making cassette copies of things like the two Blackjack albums, 24 kt Purple by Deep Purple, and Guns N’ Roses Live at the Ritz.  We also looked at a whack of cassingles by a variety of bands, some newer releases, some cassette box sets, and more.

After the cassettes, we played a quiz game and had John guess the identity of surprise mystery guest “X”.  Well, John guessed after one clue.  But we thank “X” – aka Lana! – for joining and talking about the new Def Leppard Diamond Star Halos, and the news of a Spinal Tap farewell film.

Thanks for an awesome night John & Lana, and all who watched and participated in the comments!  See you next week – CanadianGrooves and Uncle Meat will be back for a Tenacious D – Nigel Tufnel Top Ten list show!