The Technical Issue gods were merciful last night, streaming fromLeBrain Summer HQ in Southern Ontario with only minor issues! In the episode, we counted down the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten AC/DC albums of all time. Featured lists were submitted by:
Myself
Derek from Thunder Bay
Buried On Mars (Kevin)
Holen
Uncle Meat (Eric)
Darr (Darren)
T-Bone (Troy)
A total of seven lists — the most I’ve done on these shows. And of course I messed it up at least twice! You might think that with so many lists and so few AC/DC albums, it might be a boring show. It’s not. When you include different versions of albums and a few off the beaten track, it was quite an enjoyable show with great comments.
To skip straight to the AC/DC lists, go to 0:16:30 of the stream.
Sorry the top of my head is cut off. I can’t see myself properly on the Facebook app. Enjoy the stream!
The Scorpions, in the midst of writing their next album, are the latest band to release a lockdown single in 2020. It will come as no surprise that it’s a ballad. “Sign of Hope” is a reassuring song from the guys who know how to write ballads (and reaaaally know how to paaartaaaaaaay!). Of course a ballad is appropriate for these sombre times. “Sign of Hope” sounds like Scorpions circa 1996, the Pure Instinct album. It’s gentle and peaceful. For accompaniment, it’s primarily acoustic guitars, with slight electric guitar accents that pop in and out. It’s actually quite a good ballad, short and to the point. The sparse arrangement really lets us hear the nuances of guitar, and Klaus Meine’s voice. It’s well written and memorable enough.
One could ask, “Why do we need another Scorpions ballad?” Perhaps the simplest answer is because the Scorpions are still around making music. So why not? Will they ever top “Still Loving You” or “In Trance”? It doesn’t matter, because they are in their 55th year and are still creating.
“I see empty places, empty roads,” sings Klaus, and though the streets are fuller now it’s hard to forget the sight of a deserted world. It also strangely seems like such a long time ago that this all began. But the Scorpions reassure us that “it’s gonna be alright,” and eventually it will be. We are getting there. We are indeed seeing signs of hope, but everybody needs to treat themselves well. So treat yourself to some music and grab the new Scorpions on iTunes.
3/5 stars
I also really like the single artwork, I think it’s striking and has several layers of meaning. It’s also nice to see the word CANADA so prominently!
Nita Strauss became a household name touring the world and playing lead guitar with Alice Cooper. Her natural ability and charisma ensured that the next question would be “when is she putting out a solo album?” In 2018 Strauss released her entirely instrumental debut Controlled Chaos, playing everything except drums and keyboards.
Her choppy rhythm on “Alegria” soon gives way to extremely melodic (and fast) lead work. Strauss’ talent seems to be taking a melody and making it as exciting as possible with only six strings. There are shades of Yngwie, Joe and other assorted big-namer instrumentalists without sounding like any specific one. The weakness is unfortunately the drums (by Josh Villalta) which are robotic and flat. “Our Most Desperate Hour” sports blurry fast drum blitzes that should be exciting but instead sound artificial. Worst track: “Mariana Trench” due to long stretches of bland double bass. Fortunately this album is more about the guitar. Lots and lots of guitar.
Track after track, Nita blazes a tapestry of technique. Her guitar creates moods — tension is in the air. But she also does excellent ballads. “Here With You” is the first. Guitar instrumental ballads are a thing unto themselves. She creates a powerful presence on “Here With You” with layers of guitars working together.
“The Stillness at the End” is a an examination of one of Nita’s techniques: densely layered guitars in harmony. Here she mostly forgoes speed in favour of building up the melodies. Keyboards are used sparingly, such as the intro to “The Quest” which goes full Yngwie in dragon-hunting mode. But ballads like “Hope Grows” might give us a better look at Nita’s inner workings. The sparse arrangement lets you really hear the feeling in her playing. She has an excellent sense of composition, knowing exactly when to throw on some emphasis. Indeed, I’ll go out on a limb and say that the ballads are the best tracks.
“Lion Among Wolves”, “Pandemonium 2.0” and “The Show Must Go On” all have their own guitar thrills to enjoy. “Pandemonium” stands out due to an excellent outro guitar melody. And if you’re wondering, “Hey, is ‘The Show Must Go On'” the old Queen song? Indeed it is, featuring Nita sharing the stage with a cello (Tina Guo). Great choice on which to end the album. The cello solo is freaky.
Controlled Chaos is a good debut. The drums are a sonic stumbling block. As far as playing, composition and entertainment, Nita delivers the goods. The songs could use a little more variety to give them album some texture, but there is plenty of room for Strauss to grow as her career is just going to get bigger.
I’ve only been a victim of theft a couple times, but both times it felt like such a violation. My car was broken into about 20 years ago, and my old Discman was swiped, along with my CD of Kettle of Fish by Fish. I always hoped the thieves learned to like some good music because of me, but in reality they probably ejected the disc from a moving vehicle.
I’ve worried about mail theft over the years, but never failed to get a refund if a parcel didn’t show up. It’s trickier now in the days of Amazon. They have their own delivery drivers, and when they drop a box on your porch, they take a picture of it and call it “delivered”. There is nothing to protect you if someone grabs it after the driver is gone. Amazon won’t refund it. You’d think paying for Amazon Prime delivery would offer you some protection, but it does not. You’re actually better off having something sent in the mail.
I ordered a parcel from Amazon recently, and it was stolen right from my door. Our condo has a controlled front entrance, but anybody can get in if they wait for someone to open the door for them. My theory is that this is what happened. Perhaps the Amazon driver was delivering a package, was buzzed in, and let someone else in with them. Typically an Amazon driver will be delivering to multiple residents in one trip, and only one has to buzz them in.
Nobody was home at that time, so the driver left the parcel at my door, and took a picture of it. That’s all they have to do. I’ve never had a parcel stolen from my door, until this week.
When Amazon showed my parcel as “delivered”, with that nice little photo attached, I knew someone had snatched it while we were out. Jen began making phone calls to get security footage reviewed, and then suddenly she received a call from the police!
Whoever stole my parcel ditched it, unopened, in a park nearby. Someone else found it and called the police, who returned it to us!
I am comforted by the fact that the bad person who stole my parcel was balanced out by a good person who also could have stolen it, but didn’t. They did the right thing and because of them, I have my Captain America action figures.
Captain America figures? Is that what all this fuss is about?
I ordered Cap & Peggy Carter, Captain Marvel, and Ghost & Luis. I’d been looking forward to them all weekend. But that turned to pure anger when I thought they had been stolen right from my door. The violation made me furious but when the police returned it, I was so grateful. Thank you Waterloo Regional Police Service.
There are lots of other people who live in this building, and any one of them could have lost a delivery too. Highly unlikely that it was just me. I understand they caught the thief so I hope all my neighbours can sleep better tonight. I feel better now.
Father’s Day 2020 was one of the strangest yet, but we celebrated my dad outdoors with steaks and social distancing.
The day started quietly with an espresso at dawn, but I couldn’t wait to get cooking. Jen bought steaks and corn. I love cooking and I especially love barbecuing. Cooking for my mom and dad is one of the best hobbies I have.
The morning was spent relaxing by myself on the patio, reading Gord Downie and Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel Secret Path, the story of Chanie Wenjack. I spoke about this book a bit on Saturday’s live stream. To say reading this book was an intense undertaking is to sell the experience short. I had to stop twice to catch my breath. This powerful, true story is made so clear, so intense and spiritual thanks to the words of Gord and the images of Jeff. A book/album review is absolutely forthcoming. (Even though the book comes with a download of the Gord Downie album, I still bought the CD individually as well.)
It was a hot afternoon but at least my parents have a back deck with some shade. I lit the gas and let the flames do their work. I incorporated some new techniques that I picked up watching YouTube videos over the winter. I let the steaks get up to room temperature, then patted them dry and seasoned with just salt, pepper and garlic powder. Nothing fancy and no marinate was necessary. I overcooked mine a bit for my liking. Everybody else likes them a bit more done than me. I forgot how hot my dad’s barbecue can get. But they were still juicy and flavourful, I just prefer them a little more red.
We chatted current events, the cottage, and Uncle Don Don. My mom saved for me what was left of his CD collection (I gave my sister first dibs and she took Frank Zappa’s Hot Rats.) Mom asked me to sort through the music, but I decided to take them home to do that here. The CD covers have the telltale yellowing of a smoker’s home and I didn’t want to handle them and have to prepare dinner too.
There are a few CDs here that I’ll have to keep. I’m missing several Tragically Hip. I don’t have that Lee Aaron (her debut). I could probably use some Johnny Winter, George Thorogood, Garbage, and Jane’s Addiction. A few of these are duplicates; I have all the Deep Purple and Alice Cooper albums. But those are two bands that Uncle Don influenced me to get into. “Child In Time”, he said. That was the song he praised. He has two versions of “Child In Time” in this cardboard box.
Looks like I’m going to be owning Jackyl, Haywire and Collective Soul too. Cool. I’ll go through the box in detail in the coming days.
My dad enjoyed his Father’s Day meal, and we had a nice visit. The first one in many months. It wasn’t hard to stay sanitised and distant, but it was different. Just something we have to live with for a while. Hopefully not too much longer. I’m starting to get tired of the same old scenery from my little patio at home. I want to get back to the lake. Because of various health concerns and vulnerabilities, we’ve all agreed that we can’t all be at the same cottage at the same time, so we’ll have to take turns. I’ll have to wait a little while longer to cook my dad a nice barbecue chicken dinner (skin on, of course). It’ll happen though — eventually.
I hope all the fathers had as nice a Father’s Day as my dad did.
Saturday’s show was not without its difficulties but it ended with another tremendous list. The main event this week was a Nigel Tufnel Top Ten list for superhero movies. The special guest for this epic segment was for the first time, the one and only Holen MaGroin! We had lists submitted by Harrison the Mad Metal Man, John T. Snow, Rob Daniels, and of course Holen and myself.
I was excited because I knew, especially with guys like Rob and Holen, we were going to get interesting and diverse lists. I expected Harrison to go mental, and I somewhat got that. John Snow also came in with some out-of-the-box suggestions. The lists were magnificent and it is fair to say that the overall winner was Batman, but in so many configurations that you will have to watch for yourself. Honorary mentions to Christopher Reeve and Robert Downey Jr. Enjoy the lists! Start the stream at 1:24:20 if you only want to see the lists.
In another feature I tried to hook up with both Deke from Arena Rock and KMA‘s Aaron in his live stream debut! Although I had difficulty hearing Deke, this brief segment can be found at 0:59:50 of the stream.
I also unboxed my latest musical arrival, Gordon Downie‘s Secret Path, both the CD and the graphic novel. Because they were shipped separately, the unboxings can be found at 0:47:45 and 1:11:55.
BONUS: Not part of the live stream, but I did get some video of a chimpmunk playing hide & seek with me. For Ladano’s Wild Kingdom, hit up 0:19:08 of the stream!
I hope you enjoyed this week’s fun, and hopefully next time I won’t have as many technical issues!
Thussy here with another Sunday Chuckle Takeover. You can buy absolutely anything on the internet, and Wish.com is definitely a site that offers some of the weirder things. Here comes another four that the powers-that-be think we cannot live without.
Chicken helmets, and they come in seven different colours. I want to go out and buy a chicken just to buy it a little helmet. Ride down the road on a motorcycle with a chicken sitting on the gas tank. Pull up to a biker bar with little Oscar Goldman.*
A home laser tattoo removal system. There are some things that should never be done at home and tattoo removal is definitely one of them. What are they going to sell next, My First Home Laser Eye Surgery Kit? Don’t add another stupid decision to an already stupid tattoo choice. If a professional put the tattoo on you get a professional to take it off you.
Where the hell was this when I was a kid? A muffler for when you put a playing card in your spokes. So then I wouldn’t just be annoying my parents riding around the driveway I could amplify it and annoy the entire neighbourhood.
Meat socks, all I know is my bacon budget would go way up because every time I wore these they make me crave bacon. Also why is one of the options to make your socks looks like shoes, just wear shoes.
Trying out some new stuff today: expect two test live streams at 2:00 PM EST and 6:00 PM EST. As with past weeks, I will also be going live casually during the day.
The 2:00 PM test stream will feature a new guest.
The 6:00 PM test stream will feature yet another brand new guest, and another Nigel Tufnel Top Ten list. This week we’re shaking up the subject matter and we’ll be counting down the Top Superhero Movies of all time.
I’m also expecting a musical delivery sometime Saturday, so I hope to do a cool unboxing. This, you are going to love.
So, fingers crossed that all this stuff will work out! Catch the action Saturday June 20. Facebook: Michael Ladano
GETTING MORE TALE #838: Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days
I couldn’t believe it when that red Daytona pulled into the cottage driveway.
“Is that Bob?” asked my dad. It sure was!
Bob’s parents had a trailer not too far from our cottage, part way between Kincardine and Goderich. It wasn’t unusual for him to drop in, but this time was different. He was about to start a new job and wanted a little vacation before his first day. He chose to come and stay at the cottage with us!
You might think it strange that he just showed up unannounced, but that’s not unusual for cottagers. My dad’s friend Ron often showed up with his whole family, completely unexpected. Bob had an open invitation; he was always welcome.
We raised hell that week. Bob didn’t know, but my cousin Geoffrey and his family were also scheduled to visit. Geoffrey was…how do I put this? Hyperactive was the word they used, but at that age, he was…impossible! I am glad he had since turned into a fine normal young man, but back then you could only take so much Geoff at a time! Naturally, Bob and I ganged up against him, which was a nice change of pace! It was during that week that Geoff infamously pierced his ear, while we took the blame for it. I didn’t trick Geoff into anything, I just chickened out. But that was just one of the many things we did that week.
Bob was obsessed with one album in particular that summer: Extreme’s Pornograffitti. In that Daytona, we all cruised endlessly to the sounds of that album. My grandmother, in the cottage two doors down, was not impressed by our loud hootin’ and hollerin’. I was at that age when I thought being loud and obnoxious was funny.
Pornograffitti is a special album, but that summer it was extra-special. We played it on a loop, and I had just about every song memorized. I asked for and received it for my birthday later that month. While I liked all the rockers, “Hole Hearted” really hit me where it counts. Its melancholy exuberance reflected how I felt at that time. (I know that sounds like a contradiction!) I was both excited and scared to be starting a new journey in my life, at University. Fall was only a couple months away and I was nervous. Whatever the case, the acoustic strumming of “Hole Hearted” was exactly how I felt, before I jumped into the deep end of school.
It was a beautiful summer, bright and warm. Bob and I took the canoe out onto the lake. There was a rock far from the shore, that was just inches below the water. Finding it was the trick. We were determined! I knew roughly where the rock was located, but once you’re out on the featureless water, it was difficult to pinpoint. Yet we found it relatively easily, by carefully looking for little crests of water where it rolled inches over that rock.
We dropped anchor and stepped onto the rock. There was room for both of us. Singing heavy metal songs at the top of our lungs, we both “mooned” the shore. We were so far out that nobody would have been able to see. I guess I’ve always been an exhibitionist. But we did it — we mooned a crowded Lorne Beach.
As my dad likes to remind me, we could have been arrested!
Ah well. “We didn’t,” was my answer then and now!
We had huge beach fires at night, and found plenty of activity during the days. There was one afternoon that we took a trip up to Bruce Nuclear. We usually did that once a year, to go on the tour. There were actually two tours: one indoors through the visitor’s centre, and a bus tour through the grounds. Bob came with the family on the bus tour. And we were awful. I don’t mind saying so. That poor tour guide had to put up with our running commentary. The grounds included nature preserves, and she was telling us about the wild deer that you could sometimes see in the trees to our right.
“Yeah, that one has two heads!” chuckled Bob out loud. Chuckled, or heckled? That’s up to interpretation.
I like to say that we were like Tom Green, but without the video camera. If only we had one! We were definitely a public nuisance. And I’m definitely an old fart now, because I would find that behaviour annoying today.
But we didn’t hurt anybody. Nobody got arrested. We were loud and annoyed a few people, but at the time I thought that was very rock n’ roll. We were ahead of our time. My cousin started his summer by getting a hole in his ear and Bob and I had one last hoorah together. That all sounds real good to me.
ALICE COOPER – Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits(1974 Warner)
Picture this: a kid, just turned 17. An older uncle named Don Don. Recording tapes off each other in the summertime. I didn’t know much of Alice Cooper. “Teenage Frankenstein”, “The Man Behind the Mask”, and “I Got A Line On You” were the songs I knew best. I heard a bit of a live version of “I’m Eighteen”, and a Krokus cover of “School’s Out”. That’s all I knew. But my uncle had Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits in his tape collection, and I had a blank tape.
I recorded Greatest Hits on one side of a 90 minute cassette. (Eventually I taped Trash on the other side.) My impressions at that young age were mixed. The music sounded old fashioned. Not at all like his 80s stuff. While some songs (“Desperado”) flat out lost me, after a couple listens, other tunes started to jump out.
Some of the elements that appealed to me were the lyrics. “She asked me why the singer’s name was Alice, I said ‘listen baby, you really wouldn’t understand.'” (“Be My Lover”.) “The Reverend Smith he recognized me and punched me in the nose.” (“No More Mr. Nice Guy”.) Of course, “Elected” too — that goes without saying. Simple, comedic and effective lyrics.
The huge orchestration behind “Hello Hooray” hit me where it counts too. I grew up on soundtracks and orchestras, so anytime a band used a big bombastic arrangement like that in rock song, it immediately appealed to me. Even then I was aware of Bob Ezrin from his work with Kiss.
My favourite song on the whole thing was “Teenage Lament ’74”. What is it about that song? The old-fashioned jangly rock and roll? The unforgettable “What are you gonna do?” chorus? Although it’s fallen by the wayside since, “Teenage Lament” is still an Alice Cooper triumph of triumphs. On the cassette version, it had a place of honour — second song, side one, right after “I’m Eighteen”. I couldn’t figure out all the words but I got the jist. I still love what I perceive to be its old-fashioned sound. Alice Cooper didn’t need to be heavy to be awesome. I was learning this. None of Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits would be considered “heavy” by the standards of the time when I first heard it (1989).
“Is It My Body”, “Under My Wheels”, and “Billion Dollar Babies” were the next songs to slowly reveal themselves to me. “Muscle of Love” and “Desperado” were the last ones to enter into this new Alice love affair. Before long, they were all memorized. Then it was time to start collecting the albums! Billion Dollar Babies seemed like a wise choice, since I liked so many of its songs on Greatest Hits. And that’s how a greatest hits album is supposed to work. It is meant to whet the appetite and make you want more.
Today Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits has been supplanted by more recent, more complete greatest hits discs, remastered for the modern age. That’s fine and well, but Greatest Hits works better as a first Alice. The track order, the more concise running time (41 minutes), and of course the classic cover art made this something special. It’s historic as it was the very last product released by the original Alice Cooper group before Vincent Furnier went solo. Also worth noting: all tracks were remixed by Jack Richardson, but you probably won’t even notice. Completionists, pay attention.
Want an awesome first experience with Alice Cooper? Follow my lead and check out Greatest Hits.
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