The Icon series of compilations used to be a budget CD line that you could pick up for $5 or under. Now, you can even get ’em on vinyl. Buy ’em direct from Helix mainman Brian Vollmer and he’ll sign it for you. This copy is signed by all five current Helix members, including a pre-injury Fritz Hinz.
As far as Helix compilations go, you can’t do much with just 11 tracks. Even so, Icon has some surprises and plenty of pleasers. There’s also enough difference from 2016’s compilation Rock It Science to justify it. Opening with the one-two punch of “Rock You” and “Heavy Metal Love”, Helix top loaded this thing with their best known songs. Perfect for the newcomer, or just a great party.
From there it’s “The Dirty Dog”, a long time Helix concert favourite. This is followed in quick succession by some great singles: “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'”, “Wild in the Streets” and the dark ballad “Deep Cuts the Knife”. All three songs are considered to be Helix classics. “Deep Cuts the Knife”, written by guitarist Paul Hackman, is a particularly powerful ballad. The entire first side is from the Capitol Records years, featuring the best known Helix lineup: Vollmer, Hinz, Hackman, Brent Doerner and Daryl Gray.
Side two has a different flavour. Only the hit “The Kids are All Shakin'” originates in the 1980s. This top Helix pop rock track is followed by the Helix of the 90s and today. “Good to the Last Drop” is another ballad, but much brighter than “Deep Cuts the Knife”. This is the original album mix, with minimal keyboards. Then it’s “Runnin’ Wild in the 21st Century”, kicking your teeth in at lightspeed. The last two songs feature some help from guitarist extraordinaire Sean Kelly. A razor sharp “Even Jesus Wasn’t Loved in His Home Town” comes from 2014’s excellent Bastard of the Blues. The aggressive rocker is based on the fact that Helix can’t even their new songs played on the radio in their home town of Kitchener, Ontario. Finally, the 2016 single “Gene Simmons Says (Rock Is Dead)” tells the demon where it’s at! Maybe Helix don’t get radio play in Canada but rock ain’t dead — not if Vollmer and Co. have anything to say about it!
When it comes to Helix compilations, they are so numerous that you can really take your pick. If you really care about the band, then just buy ’em direct from Vollmer at Planet Helix. There are loads to choose from, but only this one was ever made on vinyl. Or, you can just go CD! Either way, support the boys if you’re gonna buy some Helix.
In Record Store Tales #733, I revealed the name I wished to use if I ever got good enough to have a band: Joy in Blue. This week, I discovered lost recordings of the very first incarnation of the band. At least that is how I billed it on the cassette that I found.
There were three of us in my parents’ basement that day in ’92. Tim Solie on ukulele. A guy named Aaron (but not this Aaron or that Aaron) on electric guitar. Me on acoustic guitar and lead vocals. My biggest influences on this song are James Hetfield and Mike Patton, and I think you can hear that.
Please enjoy:
“(Can You Tell Me How to Get To) Sesame Street” (take two)
Written by Joe Raposo and performed by Mike, Tim & Aaron.
I was going to save it for my box set, but I’ll let you hear it for free.
White Lace & Black Leather – Classic Hard Rock Expanded Edition (originally 1981, 2019 Prog AOR)
Helix have really done it this year. They have a new album (Old School) made up of some pretty excellent songs that were never completed before. On top of that, you can also get brand new reissues of their first two indi albums, Breaking Loose and White Lace & Black Leather. Those two albums have already been reviewed in full, so this time we will focus primarily on the perks of these new CD versions.
Both discs feature lyrics, rare photos, and liner notes by Brian Vollmer. All essential things for a reissue, so what else? Unreleased tracks, that’s what else. Good ones! The hell, Brian? Where have you been hiding this stuff? If anyone assumed thought Helix cleared the vaults with their B-Sides album, they were mistaken. Maybe Universal should have been storing their tapes at Planet Helix….
Too soon?
Breaking Loose features “Let Me Take You Dancin'” (not the Bryan Adams song), apparently the first song they ever recorded, at the behest of manager William Seip. You can understand why they didn’t put it out, considering the Disco revolution going around. It’s too dance-y for what Helix wanted to be: a rock band. With 40 years hindsight, it’s bloody brilliant. Full-on horn section blasting away on a blatantly commercial rock song with just a whif of surf rock. Nothing wrong with any of that in 2019. “Sidewalk Sally” is the very first Brent Vollmer/Brian Doerner composition and you can tell by Dr. Doerner’s trademark chunky riff. This song is strictly outtake quality, but it’s notable for historic reasons (and the pretty advanced drumming by Brian Doerner).
The second album, White Lace & Black Leather, has two interesting bonus cuts as well. Brent Doerner wrote and sang a killer tune called “When the Fire is Hot”, which is one of the songs submitted to Capitol that got them signed. It’s never been released. It’s a very unpolished demo, but with a serious stomp and stunning guitar solo. The final bonus track is an unreleased early version of “White Lace & Black Leather”, which was re-recorded for their third album No Rest for the Wicked. See, for the first couple Helix albums, you had to wait until the next record to get the title track!
A brief talk about the albums themselves: both are chock full of great, unpolished youthful rock. Helix were just learning how to make records, but they had more than enough original material. Between the key songwriters (Paul Hackman, Brian Vollmer & Brent Doerner), they had plenty of quality songs. “Billy Oxygen”, “I Could Never Leave”, “Here I Go Again”, “You’re a Woman Now” and “Wish I Could Be There” from the first album alone are must-haves. Nobody should be forced to live their life without hearing “Billy Oxygen”. The second LP was almost as great as the first. “It’s Too Late”, “Breaking Loose”, “Mainline”, and “It’s What I Wanted” stand with the best material from the first. Sure, the band were rough around the edges, but they could already sing, play and write. They were goin’ places!
As for the mastering job, the music is not brickwalled like the versions of some songs on the Rock It Science CD. These discs are the versions to get; the expanded tracklist making them musts to the collecting fan who already own them all. Best of all, Planet Helix is offering them and the new Helix album for just 40 bucks. 40 bucks for 3 CDs is a ridiculous deal. I daresay these two albums have been steady companions to me over the years, and I look forward to re-enjoying them in this new form.
It’s a rite of passage for children and adults alike: going to see the animals at African Lion Safari in southern Ontario. The children thrill to the sights of lions, rhinos, elephants and all sorts of exotic birds. Adults panic at the monkeys climbing on their cars. Sure, you can always visit the Safari in one of their tour buses, but that’s no fun.
At the African Lion Safari, the animals run free while the humans stay safely locked in their cars. Open doors and windows are prohibited, and you absolutely must not feed the animals. I saw what happens to fools that do.
We won’t get into the ethics of animals in captivity — that is not what this story is about. Many are passionate about animal rights, and that’s a good thing. This is just a simple tale of our adventure at the Safari in the early 2000s. Incidentally it’s also the last time we went.
It started with a conversation. “When was the last time you were at African Lion Safari?” My sister Kathryn, our friend Shannon, and I decided to relive our childhoods. The key was driving through the Safari in your own car. Tour buses are for chumps. To do this, you had to be willing to accept potential damage to your vehicle. I’ve never seen anyone rammed by a rhino, but windshield wipers are regularly ripped off by excited monkeys. My sister was driving a white Neon, and she decided she was willing to accept whatever happened.
We needed tunes. Stopping at an HMV store, my sister and I both bought CDs that were indicative of the times. Although it was far from my favourite album, I re-bought Crush by Bon Jovi. For the third time in a row, they re-issued their new studio album with a bonus CD. Keep the Faith had a bonus live album, while These Days was loaded with rarities on the second CD. I was disappointed but not surprised that I would be buying their new album twice, as it was becoming the norm. Crush was the weakest of the three albums. It was the first to be co-written by Billy Falcon, and it was a sign of things to come. But I had to have that bonus live CD.
Kathryn picked up a double Savage Garden. She was very much into the Australian pop rock duo, as they reminded her of an earlier band she loved — Roxette. Like Bon Jovi, Savage Garden reissued their album with a bonus live CD. Don’t scoff. Savage Garden (or just “Savage”, as I learned their fans shortened it) could really write songs. Unlike Bon Jovi, they didn’t rely on external songsmiths. And Steve Smith of Journey played drums on their second album.
We had the tunes, we had the white Neon, and we lined up to enter.
It was a scorching hot August day; thanks to God for air conditioning. Taking the car allowed us to linger in certain habitats, and skip through ones we were less interested in. Early in, we saw one family that must have been feeding animals, because now they had a big brown bear leaning on their car, staring through the closed windows. This is why you don’t open the windows or feed the animals. Fortunately there are park workers in zebra-striped trucks roaming the grounds to keep an eye on things. Injuries are rare, though recently a trainer was badly hurt by an elephant.
We were having a great time right into the monkey habitat. Unlike most drivers, we were hoping to catch a few monkey passengers. Swiftly, one attached himself to Kathryn’s side view mirror. I say “himself” because he sat on that mirror with his legs wide open, balls blowin’ in the wind. He was having a great old time, sitting on her side view with his balls dangling free. I like to think that Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” was playing at that exact moment. It looked quite relaxing and comfortable for our monkey friend. His balls hung like red Christmas ornaments.
You can tell this story is pre-cell phone cameras. Otherwise we would have video and photos to prove it.
As Monkey Nuts let it all hang out over my sister’s mirror, I noticed behind us a car full of children. They had New York license plates, and they were pointing and laughing hysterically. At first I thought they were laughing at the testicles, like I was. They were not. I figured that out when Monkey Nuts jumped ship for somewhere else to hang.
“What are they laughing at?!” I asked with frustration in my voice. They were still pointing at us!
“Don’t worry about it!” scoffed Shannon.
I was still puzzled.
We figured it out in short order.
After exiting the Safari, we all got out of the car to stretch our legs. Then, it was all clear. On the roof of my sister’s white car was a perfectly hilarious monkey poo. While Mr. Testicles was distracting us on the side view, a friend of his must have been on the roof, using it as his own personal commode. After leaving his deposit, it began to cook in the hot August sun.
As Jon Bon Jovi said himself, “Say it isn’t so. Tell me it’s not true”. Ah, but it was.
Our first stop on the ride home: a drive-through car wash. It was tragically too late. The poo residue was stuck on there, and good. She was going to have to clean this one up manually, and she was on her own with that.
Savage Garden probably said it best on “The Animal Song”.
“Cause I want to live like animals, Careless and free like animals, I want to live, I want to run through the jungle.”
Let your balls hang free on the side view mirror of life.
We didn’t have a VCR in 1980. You could rent them; this was usually reserved for special occasions. That meant, unlike today, we couldn’t just watch the latest Star Wars any time we felt like it. The best way to re-experience the movie was on your own, with action figures and soundtracks. The Empire Strikes Back was my favourite album at that time. I played certain tracks on those records so often with my kid fingers that they started to skip.
I used my parents’ big living room hi-fi. Giant wooden speakers as heavy as oak doors. A turntable, an 8-track, and a receiver. Once I discovered Star Wars, I think I used it more than they did. The Empire Strikes Back came in a luxurious gatefold, with photos from the film, liner notes, and a generous booklet. It didn’t take long for the rips and tears to set in; that record was well loved. Usually, I would plug in the set of headphones and listen quietly while turning the pages of that booklet. On weekends, my sister and I would probably set up a big battlefield and re-enact the movies, with the soundtrack playing in the background. The most frequently played tracks were “Yoda’s Theme”, “The Asteroid Field” and of course “The Imperial March”. Sometimes we would ambitiously re-enact the entire movie in sequence using the whole soundtrack.
We had to improvise. There were lots of characters and vehicles we didn’t have. When the Wampa ice monster attacks Luke Skywalker and knocks him off his tawn-tawn, we had to use Chewbacca as a stand-in for the monster. Before we had a Boba Fett, we used a Micronaut with an actual missile-firing backpack. We didn’t have an AT-AT, so we used my sister’s cardboard Jawa sandcrawler. The centrepiece of our play time was usually my huge Millennium Falcon toy.
Before anyone gets too nostalgic for the good old days, I’ll remind you those Kenner toys were actually quite shit. My two biggest toys, the Falcon and the X-Wing, both broke immediately out of the box. The wings on the X-Wing never worked right and I had to wedge marker lids in the wings to keep them open. The hinge for the boarding ramp of the Falcon snapped when my dad put it together. He tried to glue it, but ultimately the door was held on by an ugly piece of masking tape. Sturdy toys they were not, and parts were always popping off. The guns refused to stay on the wings of the X-Wing. The canopy of the Falcon always popped open mid-flight. It too eventually got locked down by masking tape.
During these huge play battles, my sister and I would take over the entire living room floor. There was a coffee table that usually acted as Imperial headquarters. You could park a TIE fighter on the shelf underneath. All the while, John Williams and the London Symphony spun behind us. I’d flip sides and cue up another track, or just play “The Imperial March” again.
When we were done playing Empire, we would do our own original stories. We usually set these “pre-Empire“, since Han Solo was frozen in carbonite at the end of the movie. He was a favourite character and we had two Han Solo action figures: original Han and Hoth Han. I loved Hoth Han. Not only did he look cool but he was the only figure you could take his gun and plug into a holster on his hip. It was hard to really make good coherant “pre-Empire” stories though, because we also wanted to play with other cool figures like Lando, and Yoda. It didn’t particularly matter because we had tremendous fun without a logical story.
I’ll say it again: improvisation. We built a custom multi-level Cloud City out of cardboard boxes. It had sliding doors and sort of an elevator. We made our own figure-compatible vehicles out of Lego. Before I had a figure of Han Solo frozen in carbonite, I took my Solo and put him in a glass of water. If I put him in the freezer for a few hours, I’d have a frozen Han ready to go for the next adventure. My dad was bemused to go into the freezer and find Han Solo in there so frequently.
No matter the story or setting, the Millennium Falcon was there. You could fit several figures in it, with two in the cockpit, one in the gunner’s chair, and several tossed into the opening rear compartment. The cool thing about the gunner’s chair was that it rotated in sync with the top quad-cannons. The Falcon’s rear compartment was equipped with a space chess table (called Dejarik), a Jedi training area (you know, for that one scene), and a smuggler’s compartment with secret hatch. This made it more of a playset than a ship, but it did have several features that made it more a ship than a playset as well. Close up the rear compartment, raise the working landing gear, and you are airborne. The Falcon also had sound effects and a large battery compartment where the escape pod would have been. While playing on the living room floor, if the track “The Asteroid Field” was playing, you just had to get the Falcon ready for take off. Close the ramp, the canopy, and the rear compartment. Raise the landing gear and you were space-bound! Then I’d fly the ship around the living room in sync with the swells and crescendos of the theme. It really felt like Star Wars at that point.
In 1981, the first Indiana Jones soundtrack was released, also composed by John Williams. It was official then: Williams was my favourite. I didn’t have very many records; most of the others were “Story Of” soundtracks with full narration and dialogue. That was another way to re-live a movie in a pre-VHS household, but I kept coming back to the actual movie scores. I outgrew the “Story Of” records but not the scores. Even so, nothing topped the original two-record set of The Empire Strikes Back. When Return of the Jedi was released in ’83, it was only a single record. It didn’t have as many memorable cues. I loved and cherished it, but not as much as Empire.
Besides, in 1983 something else happened besides the end of the Star Wars trilogy. I was getting older, and there was this new song out. I heard four words — “Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto“, and my world shifted once again! But that, friends, is another story.
Dokken always served up large helpings of cheese. Within the framework of 80s hard rock, their second album Tooth and Nail has been elevated to the status of classic. Produced by Tom Werman and armed with nine great songs, Dokken were poised to move on to the big leagues.
The brief instrumental opener “Without Warning” leads directly into the full speed chug of “Tooth and Nail”. George Lynch was the obvious star on guitar, but “Wild” Mick Brown certainly blows the doors off with his high speed drum work. Don Dokken could hit the high notes when required, aided and abetted by bassist Jeff Pilson. The quartet could go hard or soft, or right down the middle. “Just Got Lucky” is perfect in the centre. Not too heavy, boasting a chorus that sticks, and a fiery hot guitar solo.
The lesser known “Heartless Heart” gets by for its Lynch chugging, though its chorus is left wanting. Even chuggier: “Don’t Close Your Eyes”, which Lynch leaves a smoking ruin: Don screaming over the wastes left behind by the incessant rocking. And that’s side one.
Dokken were especially good at slower, heavy songs. “When Heaven Comes Down” is one of those. Lynch’s riff holds the fort while Don conjures apocalyptic imagery. Then a classic: “Into the Fire”. This song has it all. The chorus and riff are topped only by a killer middle eight and a flammable solo. You can pass on the cliche “Bullets to Spare” which sounds like a Quiet Riot B-side. But don’t miss “Alone Again”, one of the best ballads from the entire decade. It defines the term “power ballad” all by itself. From the words, to the melody, to the legendary Lynch solo, “Alone Again” sounds as good today as it did then.
Finishing it off you’ll get the incendiary “Turn On The Action”, a cross between Van Halen, Motley Crue, and 2/3rds of the Sunset Strip. It’s a good closer, but derivative and absolutely a product of its time and place.
Tooth and Nail is two or three songs shy of 5/5 rating. Though you may debate it among yourselves, Back For the Attack and Dysfunctional are superior albums. Tooth and Nail, however, has something they don’t have, and that is a high percentage of Dokken concert classics. “Alone Again”, “Just Got Lucky”, “Into the Fire” and “Tooth and Nail” are all cornerstones of a Dokken collection.
AEROSMITH – Unplugged 1990 (2017 Zap City broadcast CD)
When Aerosmith’s MTV Unplugged aired in Canada, we didn’t get the whole show. We only got about half. Now thanks to easily acquired broadcast CDs, you can get all 14 tracks in one handy place. Because MTV were rigid about things being 100% live, you’ll get none of the annoying backing tracks that Aerosmith use today. That makes Aerosmith Unplugged a strong contender for the best live Aerosmith purchase since Classics Live II.
“Hangman Jury” is a natural for an opener, and actually superior to the Permanent Vacation album cut. “Monkey On My Back” is more surprising, being a heavier groove from Pump. Deconstructed as an acoustic jam, it lays it down hard. The first surprise of the night comes from the Air America soundtrack, to which Aerosmith contributed their Doors cover “Love Me Two Times”. Frankly the unplugged version is better. Tyler gets to honk on the harmonica and tear it up on the vocals a bit.
The first step back into Aerosmith’s past is 1974’s “Seasons of Wither”. When this set was recorded in 1990, only people who owned Get Your Wings would really have known this song. The purity of the unplugged stage is the ideal setting. Then it’s onto 1975 and “Big Ten Inch Record”, the old R&B classic they covered on Toys in the Attic. The album version with full horns is rearranged into an acoustic shuffle with individual guitar solos by Brad Whitford and Joe Perry. That’s all before Thom Gimbel shows up with his sax! This version kills.
Going even further back in time, Aerosmith pull “One Way Street” from the first album featuring a cool Perry solo. For serious fans, “Smokestack Lightning” is a treat because Aerosmith have never recorded it before. The oft-imitated Howlin’ Wolf cover is a natural jam for them. They they unload the heavy artillery exactly halfway into the set: “Dream On”. Arguably the song everybody was waiting to hear; easily a highlight. Playing with minimal instrumentation is a wise way to do it, though it picks up steam at the end.
“Milk Cow Blues” is rolled out next, a rarely played number from Draw the Line. Full steam ahead just like the album version, you don’t wanna be standing on the tracks when this one rolls by. Then, as if you’re daring them to try one that fast again, it’s “Toys in the Attic”. Tyler and Perry’s voices blend naturally together in the unforgiving unplugged environment.
Returning once more to the first album, “Walkin’ the Dog” is the fifth of six cover tunes and the first encore. It’s particularly cool because you get Tyler playing flute. “Train Kept-a Rollin'” from Get Your Wings is the final cover, though presented twice: “fast” and “slow” versions. For a solid thrills-per-second ratio, you gotta go for the fast take. Finally “Last Child” is announced to the excitement of one really hyped guy in the crowd. The funky classic works surprisingly well. A highlight from a show of nothing but highlights.
The CD had a few sonic clicks and quirks that may vary player to player. That would be its only flaw. Anyone buying broadcast CDs should be prepared for less than perfect audio.
GETTING MORE TALE #762: When Is Your Art Really “Done”?
“Where are the starting points and where are the end points? When’s a song ‘done’? What the fuck does that mean anyway? ‘Done’? When’s a record ‘done’? Where does a record start; where does it end?” — Lars Ulrich, Some Kind of Monster
When Lars Ulrich asked the rhetorical question “When is a song ‘done’?” he wasn’t just yammering meaningless bullshit. In fact he was colourfully paraphrasing Leonardo Da Vinci, who said “A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned.” Da Vinci might be the best known example today of someone who laboured over his art. Many of his paintings, including the Mona Lisa, conceal previous unseen versions beneath layers of paint. Scanning the paintings with modern technology, we have been able to discern Da Vinci’s works in progress. It is a little like peaking inside the mind of a creator as they create.
Imagine you’re finishing a painting of something completely imagined inside your head. How much time will it take to be “done”? Perhaps you have to make that sky a little more blue, or cloudy, to match your vision. You will never be able to take a photograph of your imagination, so painting something is by its very nature a compromise. You must decide when you are satisfied that you have accomplished your goal. Let’s say you added that cloud to your painting. It looks good to you. Then you take a step back and look at the whole painting. The corner where you added that cloud now looks too busy. Did you overdo it? Was the painting already “done”?
The same applies to music. Axl Rose laboured over Chinese Democracy for 15 years. There are, of course, some major differences between recording a Guns N’ Roses album and working on a painting. With the rock album, there is far more outside pressure and this can become the dominating influence. Even if outside forces end up pushing you to do something opposite from what they want, it has now effected your music. The music will not take the same shape that it would have without that outside pressure. Is that a good or bad thing? It can be either! Axl re-recorded the album at least once, and continually updated it as new members joined the band. By the time 2008 rolled around and the record was “finished”, dozens of musicians and producers and managers and writers had made some kind of impact, no matter how small.
Let’s not forget George Lucas either. The Star Wars creator fiddled with his movies continuously. Do you really think the 1997 special editions were the first Star Wars that were changed? Not even. The initial updates happened in 1980, when George re-titled Star Wars as Episode IV: A New Hope. He fidgeted with them steadily, even beginning a fairly recent conversion to 3D until he sold the rights to Disney in 2012. (Only Phantom Menace was released in 3D, with Disney putting the project on hold in favour of the sequel trilogy.)
You can obsess over and overthink art. You can also rush it, and end up with something “unfinished” that might actually be better. This often happens out of necessity. Black Sabbath famously recorded their first album in two days. They had been playing the songs live for months and were tight as hell (pun intended) but also had a very limited amount of time in the studio. Maybe they would have loved to stay in there, experiment with different amps and guitars, get different sounds, but there was no time. And so the debut album Black Sabbath pukes overloaded guitar, and you can hear amps hum. You couldn’t have made it better if you tried. (Zakk Wylde will try and will not succeed.) Whatever they did on that album, they did out of necessity and it just happened to work.
Though my “art” is usually the written word (and occasionally video), I also love recording song introductions. This is for our annual “Sausagefest” party, and it’s something that allows me to really get creative with sound. In recent years, in addition to introducing the songs, I also create an introduction for myself. It’s sort of an audio collage of things I found funny. This started out of necessity — it was the only way I could get my comedic bits into the evening! Now it’s something I work and obsess over. And this is the question I’m currently struggling with: When is it “done”? I started recording bits for it almost a year ago, and I began piecing the whole thing together on May 11. Now we’re at the tail end of June and I’m still making changes!
Without giving it all away, I like to begin my intro with a certain, recognizable musical theme. You’d know it. This year, a certain unnamed rock band recorded their own version of that classic theme. I happened to be playing that album in the car when I realized, I had to use it! As soon as I got home, I started editing the audio track that I thought was “finished”. In a couple minutes, I removed the original theme and replaced it with the 2019 rock version. It was a few seconds longer than the original so I also had to extend the space it fit into, but that’s pretty easy to do. Now I’m even happier with the intro.
When will it be “done”? It will be “finished” when time is up and I’m forced to turn it in. Until then, I continue to listen for room to improve.
I’m no Leonardo, or a Lucas, and I’m not even a Lars Ulrich (although we have shared the same hair style on numerous occasions). I do, however, have a keen understanding that art is never done in the eyes of the creator.
HELIX – Icon (2018 Universal vinyl)
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