REVIEW: Journey – Greatest Hits (1988, 2008)

JOURNEY – Greatest Hits (Originally 1988, 2008 expanded reissue)

It’s OK if your first album by anybody was a “greatest hits” of some sort.  Over 15 million people bought Journey’s Greatest Hits in the US alone, and you can be guaranteed that several of those millions were buying Journey for the first time.  Hundreds of thousands more copies still sell annually.  This has to be considered one of the most successful hits compilations by a rock band.

Even if you were a Journey diehard back in 1988, you still wanted Greatest Hits.  It had two huge Journey hits from movie soundtracks:  “Only the Young” (Vision Quest) and “Ask the Lonely” (Two of a Kind).  These songs were not meant to be obscurities; both were slated for the Frontiers album.  These are two awesome songs with insanely catchy choruses, one a rocker and one a soft burner.  Two gigantic peaks of the Jonathan Cain era of Journey, who co-wrote both songs.

“Don’t Stop Believin'” doesn’t need any additional commentary, except this:  listen to the drums.  That’s Steve Smith, the wizard of tempo.  There is a reason that Smith can often be found filed in the Jazz section.  Listen to his creative hits, cymbal work, and timing.  Yet not a lot of snare.  Same with “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”.  This is not typical rock drumming, and this is something that his replacements have had to recreate as faithfully as they could.

Greatest Hits ignores the first three Journey albums (pre-Steve Perry), and justifiably so.  Those first three progressive rock albums, as fascinating as they are, bore no hits.  “To Play Some Music” peaked at #138.  The earliest tracks are the radio staples “Lights” and “Wheel in the Sky” from 1978’s Infinity.  Incidentally these are the only tracks without Steve Smith, featuring his predecessor Aynsley Dunbar.

In 2008, Sony a series of budget-priced reissues including Journey’s Greatest Hits.  This version has one additional bonus track from Journey’s reunion album Trial By Fire from 1996.  This is a fantastic album, but the ballad chosen (“When You Love a Woman”) tips the album too far on the scales to ballads.

Through all the hits you know, and maybe a couple you don’t (“Girl Can’t Help It”? “Send Her My Love”?) you will get a clear picture of some of Journey’s facets.  But only some.  Little of their instrumental wizardry, which continued into the Steve Perry era with songs like “Dixie Highway”.  You also will not hear many hard edged moments, like “Stone in Love”.  You will however get a taste of Steve Perry’s soul, and the excellent hooks that he concocted with Neal Schon and Jon Cain.  You will absorb some awesome Schon tone.  On the later tracks, like “I’ll Be Alright Without You” and “Be Good To Yourself”, you will hear the slickness and groove of Raised on Radio.  But there are so many more key Journey tracks, as good if not better than these.

4/5 stars

Sunday Screening: The Four Horsemen – “Nobody Said It Was Easy”

In honour of our special surprise guest yesterday, Mr. Dave Lizmi!  One of the truly greatest hits 30 years ago in 1991 was “Nobody Said It Was Easy” by The Four Horsemen.  Its dirty rock and roll sound clashed with everything going on at the time.  They were rock, they were punk, they were southern, they were screaming, and they were truly special.  “Nobody Said It Was Easy” is the song that hooked us.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN

  • Frank C. Starr – vocals
  • Haggis – rhythm and slide guitars
  • Dave Lizmi – lead and rhythm guitars
  • Ben Pape – bass
  • Kenneth “Dimwit” Mongomery – drums

Thank you Dave!  Rest in peace Frank and Ken.

Surprise Guest & Lists! Top Cover Art Designers with Tim’s Vinyl Confessions, Aaron…and DAVE LIZMI!

I’ve said it time and time again:  the LeBrain Train is a show you have to see live.  Why?  Because you never know what is going to happen.  Case in point:  last month we managed to hook up an unplanned meeting between Andy Curran and Mike Fraser.  This week’s surprise was a drop-in from Dave Lizmi of The Four Horsemen!

As you may know, Dave was scheduled for a Friday night interview but had an emergency with his dad.  Saturday’s show was a planned Nigel Tufnel Top Ten list show with Aaron and Tim Durling.  We were talking about the Greatest Cover Art Designers.

As I was beginning the show, Dave messaged me to reschedule the interview, and at the spur of the moment, I asked him to sit in on the list show as well.  Dave went for it, and managed to come up with his own list with no preparation time.  Epic!

Your panel this week:

  • Yours truly (LeBrain)
  • Aaron (KeepsMeAlive)
  • Tim (Tim’s Vinyl Confessions)
  • Dave Lizmi (The Four fuckin’ Horsemen)

I can’t believe I just typed that.

History made today as a rock star joined a Nigel Tufnel Top Ten list for the very first time.  How cool is that?

Thank you Tim, Aaron and Dave for a great set of lists and a fun fun show.  From famous big names like Derek Riggs, Mark Wilkinson, Hugh Syme and Hipgnosis to more obscure artists, this was a great bunch of lists!  Lots of show & tell!

 

 

 

REVIEW: Guns N’ Roses – Dramas & Traumas (5/29/91 bootleg)

“November Rain” was played live for the first time by Guns N’ Roses on this day in 1991.

GUNS N’ ROSES – Dramas & Traumas (Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN, May 29 1991 – Deep Records bootleg CD)

The market is littered with live Guns N’ Roses bootlegs from the Use Your Illusion tour.  The band’s own official Use Your Illusion World Tour Live in Tokyo VHS tapes are an ideal source of live music from their biggest tour.  But what many fans seek is an earlier show, before Izzy Stradlin went his own way and was replaced by Gilby Clarke.  Nothing against Gilby, but Izzy only lasted about six months and has been missed ever since.  This bootleg is from the seventh show on the tour, when the material was new, unheard, and rough.  Some of the songs were dropped or rarely played later on.

Audio is average as far as bootlegs go; it’s an audience tape job with some occasional issues.  The set is complete.  “Double Talkin’ Jive” is unlisted, hidden within the larger “Patience” track.  It is also the historic live debut of “November Rain”.  Opening with “Right Next Door to Hell”, which was dropped by the start of ’92, the energy is high.  Axl takes no mercy on the demanding song, giving 100%, especially on the obligatory “fuck you”!

Guns wisely played familiar songs mixed in with the new stuff.  The albums would not be out for over three months.  Axl asks if the audience wants to go dancin’, which means “Mr. Brownstone” is up next, a low energy version comparatively.  It might be too easy to blame the new guy Matt Sorum, but you do notice the lack of Steven Adler when you think about it.  Back to new tracks, it’s the bluesy “Bad Obsession” which Axl explains was written long before “Brownstone”.   Slash rips out the slide guitar and Axl gets distracted by a hottie.  It’s the first audible appearance of another new member — keyboardist Dizzy Reed on piano.  Later on, Axl makes a big point of announcing that Dizzy is, contrary to some media reports, “a goddamn a-fuckin’ official member of the band!”

Regarding live debut of “November Rain”, Guns didn’t have a setlist.  Axl just called out the songs, feeling out the crowd.  According to Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan in a later interview by Dan Gallagher of MuchMusic:

Matt – “Axl said ‘November Rain’, and we hadn’t played it since we recorded it…in July!  In front of 20,000 people, we’re going, ‘Uh, do you remember how that goes?’  Damn near a year ago we cut this track.”

Duff – “And he has this grand piano, that raises up out of the stage.  And all of a sudden the piano raises up and we’re going, ‘What the hell is that…’“

You can almost hear the fear.  Sorum tentatively taps the cymbals, but doesn’t miss his cue when it’s time to come crashing in.  Axl mentions he can barely remember the words, but only flubs a couple.  Slash’s first solo nails most of the big hooks, while the second is more improvisational.  They all struggle a bit on the outro, but damn — they did it!

After “November Rain”, a microphone catches Slash saying, “A fucking curve ball, man!”

The two most significant tracks are the two sung by Izzy that were necessarily dropped when he left:  “Dust N’ Bones”, and “14 Years”.  Both feature raspy, Keef-like lead vocals from the guitarist.  These two tracks are very good reasons to want an early set like this.

There are long solos, intros and outros, and all the stuff you expect from a Guns N’ Roses show.  The solos had yet to evolve into the forms they would take by the time they hit Tokyo, though the “Godfather” theme has its place.  They play a bit of Rod Stewart’s “I Was Only Joking” as part of the “Patience” intro, and of course “Only Women Bleed” before “Heaven’s Door”.  The “Voodoo Chile” lick always works well going into “Civil War”.  It’s also interesting to hear how the songs started out early on tour.  “Civil War” seems a bit shaky in the start, but goes nuclear by the end.

The main set ends on “Perfect Crime” and the encores consist of “Estranged”, “Sweet Child”, “Jungle” and “Paradise”.  A pretty slam-dunk way to send ’em home.  Unlike “November Rain”, “Estranged” was already humming like a well-tuned car by this time.

The two bonus tracks are interesting curiosities from the 1989 MTV music video awards.  Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers performed “Free Falling” and “Heartbreak Hotel” with Axl Rose.  They are here as a little bit of added value, but make no mistake — it’s just Axl from the band, nobody else.

As mentioned earlier, there are some sonic anomalies of the type that usually come with bootlegs.  The disc goes silent for very brief moments during “Right Next Door to Hell”.  Not a deal breaker considering the rest is very listenable.

4/5 stars

A Tribute to The Four Horsemen with T-Rev

Unfortunately Dave Lizmi had a family emergency and could not make the show tonight.  We hope Dave and his family are OK.  In the meantime, the show must go on, so T-Rev and I talked Four Horsemen memories and showed off our stuff.  It was a pretty good show if you’re interested in this great band.  We hope to reschedule Dave at some time in the future.

Start at the 0:48:00 minute mark to check out the Four Horsemen chit-chat. Everything before that is the first attempt at a Sunset Cam. Enjoy the show! And tune in tomorrow May 29, for a second show, details below…

 

SATURDAY SHOW! Don’t miss Aaron and Tim Durling from Tim’s Vinyl Confessions as we talk about the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Cover Art Designers!

 

Saturday May 29, 3:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain.

Double Feature LeBrain Train Weekend – Dave Lizmi and Tim’s Vinyl Confessions

Two shows lined up for you this weekend!

 

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and T-Rev

Friday – Episode 66 – Dave Lizmi

The Four Horsemen should need no introduction.  The only guy to play on all three albums (plus an EP) is guitarist Dave Lizmi.  He is a master of the Les Paul and his tone is sublime.  Trev and I look forward to asking him everything we wanted to know about one of our favourite bands.

Friday May 28, 7:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain.

 

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Saturday – Episode 67 – Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Cover Art Designers – with Aaron and Tim Durling

Please welcome Tim from Tim’s Vinyl Confessions and The Contrarians!  I’m so glad to have him on the show.  His collection is insane — give him a follow on Instagram and see for yourself.  The list this week is a Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Cover Art Designers.  This was a challenging list, but Tim knows his stuff and I’m sure he will have a killer set of albums to show off.  Joining us for this one will be Aaron who also has a pretty impressive collection.  This is a Saturday show, so we hope that you’ll join us!

The Saturday shows are a summer experience in order to include more people.  I hope you can make it.  As always, it’s best to participate live!

Saturday May 29, 3:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain.

REVIEW: Kevin Kiner – Star Wars “Rebels Theme” (Limited edition picture single)

STAR WARS “Rebels Theme” (Limited edition Disney 2015 picture disc single)
Music by KEVIN KINER

You know where I stand on remixes, right?  Most of them are shite, especially when you try to dance-ify music that was not intended for dancing.  If that kind of remix is your thing, that’s cool.  You appreciate something that I do not.  I just recommend that you hit the “back” button on your browser right about now, that’s all.

I liked Star Wars Rebels.  Although it did come across more “kiddie” than Clone Wars, the era and characters it covered were more to my liking.  The Imperial era, not the Republic.  Of course, it later grew and merged with Clone Wars into a greater lore, but that is not for this review.  Just saying, check it out if you haven’t.  It’s on your Disney Plus.

Rebels’ composer, Kevin Kiner, was tasked with coming up with a new theme cue.  He did this by incorporating and adapting John Williams’ original cues.  It’s almost like a mega-mix of hero themes, in 55 seconds.  It’s just a cartoon after all, not a feature film.  Kiner’s rendition of these landmark themes is perfectly suitable to the show and honours the era in which it is set, and the spark of rebellion.

Though Star Wars Rebels has two volumes of music available on soundtracks, they were never issued on physical formats.  This single is the only place you can get a physical copy of Kiner’s “Rebels Theme”.

Unfortunately, the exclusive B-side of this single is the horrid “Flux Pavilion’s The Ghost Remix”.  It adds digital beats, noise and manipulations to the “Rebels Theme” and extends the thing by five times!  For the hell of it, there’s some laser blasts, some Wookiee howls, and some yelling.  This is utter garbage that young kids might enjoy, but makes me wanna hurl.  It deviates so far from the blueprint that it’s clear the ol’ hyperdrive needs some recalibrating.  The remix is at least memorable, for whatever that’s worth.

The picture disc is nice though.  On the A-side (which is unfortunately the remix side!) it’s hero Ezra Bridger with Jedi Kanan Jarrus and droid C1-10P, aka “Chopper”.  On the B-side, the original “Rebels Theme”, you get an Imperial Stormtrooper taking aim to fire (and miss)!  One of the coolest things about the Rebels show was that it used old Ralph McQuarrie designs from Star Wars pre-history.  Chopper is based on preliminary drawings of R2-D2.  Likewise the loveable character of Garazeb Orrelios is based on early designs for Chewbacca.

Being that the decent B-side is 55 seconds long while the remix is five times that length, the rating for this single cannot be high.

2/5 stars

REVIEW: Bon Jovi – Live 2 (2014 10″ picture disc)

BON JOVI – Live 2 (2014 Mercury limited edition 10″ picture disc)

Live 2?  Surely there must be a Live 1.  It appears this 10″ picture disc is a sequel to a 1984 Bon Jovi EP called Live.  This picture disc, a limited edition of unknown quantity, collects four previously released classic live performances from the New Jersey tour.  They are remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound.

Though all the live tracks were available long ago on other rarities, the nice thing about this disc is that it actually tells you when and where they were recorded — information missing from some other releases.  This record is split into two sides — the U.S. side and the International side.

“I’ll Be There For You” (Lakeland, FL, 1989) and the next track were released on the 1993 double reissue of Keep the Faith, featuring a bonus CD also called Bon Jovi Live.  “I’ll Be There For You” was track four on that disc; here it is the lead.  A little slow, but Jon and Richie’s harmonies are the magic.  Sambora’s expressive playing is also outstanding.

Second, it is an electrifying live version of “Lay Your Hands On Me” (Giants Stadium, NJ, 1989).  Tico Torres really grabbed this song by the nuts with his opening drum salvo.  Songs like this really opened up Bon Jovi’s sound to include more roots.  The crowd noise is mixed low because you can tell it’s an endless mush of high-pitched screams!

Flipping to the International side, we are taken to Wembley in 1988.  Jon needs a doctor!  It’s “Bad Medicine”, of course.  “Doctor Bryan! I think I got it bad this time! What do you mean a shot can’t cure it? It’s like the luggage? Oh well!”  Never one of Jon’s finest songs, “Bad Medicine” is the upbeat party track of New Jersey, sometimes a necessary evil.  Over the years, you’ve just heard it enough times, and there are lots of live versions of “Bad Medicine” on uncountable releases.  This one was originally on the 1988 “Living In Sin” EP.  Comparatively speaking, it’s superior to the other live versions out there.

Finally, “Runaway” from Paris in 1988 was first made available as the B-side to “Lay Your Hands On Me”.  This energetic version is one of the best takes you will hear.  There’s a bare rawness to it, but the vocals are crisp and tight.  Everything clicks.

Although Live 2 only captures a tiny slice of the live Bon Jovi experience, it collects four key tracks.  Three of the four are really excellent examples of classic Bon Jovi live.  Not a bad buy if you don’t have them already.

3.5/5 stars

REVIEW: Ratt – Dancing Undercover (Part Three of The Atlantic Years series)

Part Three of Five

RATT – Dancing Undercover (Originally 1986, 2020 reissue — The Atlantic Years 1984-1990 box set)

Ratt’s fortunes continued to fall on their third album Dancing Undercover.  Their debut went triple platinum and the second album went double.  You didnt need an expert prognosticator to predict that the third album would go platinum and no further.  Which is still very respectable, but the trend was not good.

Opening single “Dance” was solid, with a poppy melody and stuttery 80s guitar lick.  Sleazy pop, rodent style.  A stock Ratt prowler comes second, called “One Good Lover”.  It packs punch, wicked guitars, and a few decent hooks.  Without missing a beat, they accelerate into “Drive Me Crazy” which has a speedy Hollywood-built engine.  Drummer Bobby Blotzer impresses with the machine gun fills.  Unsurprisingly, the drummer has a writing credit on it.  Decent tune, with a clunky arrangement.

The band slides into “Slip of the Lip”, which made for a pretty cool live-style video.  It is a clear album highlight, and most successfully nails the sleaze rock vibe that Ratt peddle in.    They end the first side on the incendiary “Body Talk”; straight-up Ratt thrash.  Probably the heaviest Ratt track ever, even “Body Talk” made for a wicked video.  It was hard to picture Ratt pushing it this fast and hard, but they did, and successfully so.

“Looking For Love” had to be a sleaze rocker. The second side doesn’t open on a great song, but it certainly is a Ratt song.  You couldn’t mistake it for any of their peers.  It does boast a pretty good chorus, even if the rest of the song doesn’t quite nail it.  On the other hand, “7th Avenue” has a menacing vibe and not much else.  “It Doesn’t Matter” has some life.  Unfortunately the second side just doesn’t have enough bite, nor enough good songs.  “Take a Chance” borrows a few chords from “Slip of the Lip” but isn’t nearly as good.  At least the closer “Enough is Enough” has a nice clean guitar part for variety’s sake, but side two is virtually without hooks.

This edition comes with a single edit of “Dance” as the bonus track, which at least allows the album to end on a good song, albeit a repeated one.

2.75/5 stars

The Atlantic Years 1984-1990:

 

 

REVIEW: Ché – Sounds of Liberation (2000)

CHÉ – Sounds of Liberation (2000 Man’s Ruin)

Almost immediately after his debut solo album Jalamanta, Brant Bjork was back with another new project and album.  Ché, featuring former Queens of the Stone Age drummer Alfredo Hernández, and Unida bassist Dave Dinsmore, only made one album.  But it is indeed the Sound of Liberation.

“It’s the Ayatollah of Rocka Rolla baby!”  Seven songs, 35 minutes.  Brant Bjork on guitar leads off “Hydraulicks” with a sharp, stabbing riff.  The laid back vibe of Jalamanta is gone, though its emphasis on repeating simple riffs is put to good use here.  A few vocal and guitar overdubs add some brilliant depth to a pretty raw, live-sounding recording.

“Stabbing” is another good adjective to describe the second track, “The Knife”.  Or perhaps hammering, as this song doesn’t let up.  The chorus is but a brief reprieve from the relentless rhythm.  “We can break the knife, so it won’t cut you, never cut you…”  But the instrumental “Pray For Rock” has a completely different vibe, a slow Sabbathy one with a Ward-like drum patter.  Then it suddenly goes full U2, if U2 were a stoner rock band from the desert.

The title track “Sounds of Liberation” enters.  The main three-note riff has some heft!  Solid track followed by another solid track, “Adelante”.  Hard hitting, choppy, aggressive.  Gets the point across.  Awesome drums by Alfredo Hernández.  But it’s the second-last track “Blue Demon” that really impresses, as a late-album highlight.  “Pick a room, man, ’cause they’re all the same,” sings Brant.  The riff has a certain electric aura, and the song just grooves.  It’s an ode to living free.

The final track is another instrumental, “The Day the Pirate Retired”.  The focus is on the riff, bristling with electric energy.  The band really jams here, with the fluid bass providing unexpected smoothness.

The CD packaging is interesting, with the front cover artwork on the back tray, and the back covert artwork on the front.  Kind of confusing when you see one on the CD shelves for the first time.

4/5 stars