VHS Archives #27: Helix teach Erica Ehm how to drum! (1988)

Brin Vollmer and Greg “Fritz” Hinz were in the MuchMusic studios in early ’88 to show Erica Ehm how to play the drums! Enjoy this clip of an epic drum trio.

REVIEW: Tommy Shaw – Girls With Guns (1984)

TOMMY SHAW – Girls With Guns (1984 A&M, 2013 BGO Records)

When Styx split, both Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung were quick to release solo albums.  All we had to judge them by was their new singles.  Dennis came out of the gates with a ballad (“Desert Moon”).  As 12 year old kids in 1984, we took no interest in what Dennis was doing. Tommy Shaw, on the other hand, had a bright pop rocker called “Girls With Guns”.  It was loud, fun and featured a great music video all done in a single take.  Neither song sounded like Styx, but “Girls With Guns” sounded more like what we were into.

Dennis’ album outsold Tommy’s, but Tommy’s rocks better.

The title track is of course the main feature.  Dated with 80s keyboards or not, it is still a great song.  This was proven by Tommy when he performed it acoustically without the keys.  It’s just rock with joy, and a great beat.

“Come In and Explain” has a progressive Styx vibe and easily could have worked in that context.  Instead, it’s a great Tommy Shaw solo track.  It has a blue collar groove but highbrow keyboards.  Another great song is the ballad “Lonely School”.  It has a classic sound, albeit a cheesy classic sound.  The album alternates between cool and corny, and some songs that straddle the line.  There’s nothing dreadful.

This CD was a “holy grail” item of mine for years, but was reissued in 2013 as a remastered double CD with Shaw’s second album What If.  The CD also features two extended songs, presumably because vinyl couldn’t hold the full length.  Glad to have Girls With Guns in my collection, though I won’t be racing to play it every week.

3/5 stars

VHS Archives #26: Motley Crue spill the dirt on Vince Neil’s car crash (1985)

You’re right Tommy; that car accident was a “misfortune”.

Rest in peace Razzle Dingley.

VHS Archives #25: Rik Emmett of Triumph – the Holy Grail of videos – Power Hour 1987 live performance!

It’s Friday so here’s something you’ll want to watch from start to finish.  This episode of the Pepsi Power Hour on MuchMusic should be considered a “Holy Grail” find for fans of Triumph. Foreshadows of Triumph’s impending breakup can be sensed in this excellent interview, coupled with a performance of “Let the Light (Shine On Me)” and a guitar duel with protégé Sil Simone! All on live, national television.

Rik was always comfortable in the Much studios and gave great interviews.  (I have at least two more on tape.)  He is one of the world’s premier guitarists, as you will hear in the guitar duel!  Rik also performs Triumph’s “Let the Light (Shine On Me)” acoustically.  (Listen for that one bum note!  Live television, people.)

Topics discussed include going solo (seriously!), guitar, heavy metal, Whitesnake, Steve Vai, and more.

Believe me when I say you won’t regret watching this whole interview/performance.  Special mention must go to Erica Ehm, a charismatic host who had great rapport with Rik.

VHS Archives #24: The Scorpions discuss Crazy World (1990)

Usually Scorpions interviews involve Klaus, Rudolph and Matthias.  In October 1990, Dan Gallagher got to talk to Herman “Zee German” Harebell, Rudolph Schenker and Francis Buchholz.  Topics discussed include replacing producer Dieter Dierks with Keith Olsen, and Canada!  “You know how to rock and roll!” says Herman.

Roger Waters’ The Wall – Live in Berlin had just been released.  The Scorpions were asked to open the show with the first song “In The Flesh?”  Dan inquires about that gig and playing behind the Iron Curtain, and then asks them to say “apple strudel”!

Check out this cool interview with the Scorpions, another great example of the kind of quality television we got with the Pepsi Power Hour.

VHS Archives #23: David Lee Roth grilled by MuchMusic (1991)

I’ve long maintained that MuchMusic’s Power Hour was the best hour of Canadian television in the late 80s.  The music, the interviews, and the personalities made it a very special show.  Far better than anything MTV had on offer. Much respected the Metal. The Power Hour was a fun show, but not a lightweight one.

David Lee Roth sat with Denise Donlon in January of 1991, to promote his new album A Little Ain’t Enough.  She didn’t let him off easy.  “I think David Lee Roth is smarter than the music you make,” she says bluntly.  And she doesn’t let him wriggle out with rehearsed answers.  “Sure, the world’s a stage and I want better lighting!” Roth has a tendency to just go off on his own little segues, but Donlon doesn’t buy it and presses further.  Dave likes to go by rote, but she kept questioning.  Her point being that David Lee Roth is a witty, well read, worldly individual, and she was disappointed to see his new video (“A Li’l Ain’t Enough”) was another showcase for hot girls.  She also asks about the blackface, which was not nearly as front-page in 1991 as it is in 2019.

Gotta give Denise Donlon credit for this.  Even if you think she’s attacking him (which she’s not), you have to give her credit for being one of the few who are able to get David Lee Roth off script.

Unfortunately I was forced to edit out the musical clips from this video.

VHS Archives #21: Winger on MuchWest (1990)

Kip Winger and Reb Beach were on MuchWest with Dixie Dregs fan Terry David Mulligan to talk about their second album In The Heart of the Young.  It’s kind of sad, really.  Kip says that Winger are pretty close to being a headlining band, not foreseeing the turning tide of the 1990s.

Check out this interview on location in lovely Vancouver.

REVIEW: Styx – Brave New World (1999)

STYX – Brave New World (1999 BMG)

Most bands have stinker albums somewhere in their history. For Styx, that would be their sadly disappointing reunion album Brave New World.  Styx were not exactly in harmony with lead singer Dennis DeYoung, and this would be his last album with the band.

The most obvious evidence of the dischord in the band is that Brave New World sounds like two groups.  In one:  Tommy Shaw and James Young.  In the other:  Dennis DeYoung.  The songs with Shaw and Young singing have hardly any DeYoung, and vice-versa.  It sounds as if they could find no common ground.  Far removed from the days of old, when even a disagreeing band could sound like a group.

The single “Everything is Cool” is by far the hardest rocking and best song.  There are a few decent ones, such as the exotic title track, but nothing that the band would still perform on stage today.  The most Styx-sounding track is Dennis’ ballad “While There’s Still Time”.  That’s right, a ballad!  Shaw’s “Just Fell In” is also swell, with a 1950s vibe.  Other songs such as “Number One” are annoyingly modernized.  The late 1990s is not a period that has aged well in music.  The production, the mish-mashing of styles…Styx seemed to pick up on the bad parts of these trends.  Too much programming, too many samples.  Not enough Dennis!  DeYoung can only be distinctly detected on a handful of tracks, mostly ballads.  These are often the best songs…all but “Hip Hop-cracy”, which is so painfully 1999.

It’s kind of a shame that the Styx reunion sputtered the way it did, but the silver lining was their second life with Lawrence Gowan.  The Styx reunion album was sadly a bust.

2/5 stars

VHS Archives #20: Lee Aaron on the Hostess Sneak Previews (1992)

Lee Aaron was out of the gates in ’92 with her first greatest hits CD called Powerline.  The single was “Peace on Earth” originally from 1991’s Some Girls Do album.  Check out what Lee had to say to Steve Anthony on MuchMusic’s Hostess Sneak Previews.