Congratulations to Kathryn Ladano for winning the Waterloo Region Arts Award in the Music category!
Check out a review of Kathryn’s latest album with her duo Stealth right here.
For more information, please go to KathrynLadano.com
Way to go Kathryn!
A Tribute to Paul MacLeod (1970-2016) by Uncle Meat
I first met Mac in the early 90s when I was dragged to the Walper by a mutual friend of ours Jeff Marsland (aka Chewie). Not long within the set he played Tori Amos – “Pretty Good Year” and Motorhead – “Ace of Spades” and I was hooked. Then being blown away by Six Months … as well as the re-named Hibakusha. Actually my most memorable Paul moment on stage was when Hibakusha broke into Supertramp’s “School” at the Starlight. One of the greatest covers I have ever seen.
Years after that I was fortunate enough to join the infamous MacLeod poker nights, and this was where we started becoming close friends. Also through him I was fortunate to meet and get to know his great and talented friends. We just seemed to enjoy pretty much exactly the same things… music…sports…darts…and I would say most of all…comedy. Considering how long before this I had admired him as a musician, it was surprisingly quick and easy for me to put that away and just look at him as my friend. A few times Paul brought up the first poker game I went to .. and said this statement that always made me laugh: “I had to be friends with you. You had the balls to tell me to my face, in front of my friends, that Scott Deneau was the the best guy you’ve ever seen with just a guitar and a voice.” I can still picture the look on his face when he would say it and it still makes me laugh.
One Canada Day at the Boathouse (the year would have been 2011 ish? maybe?) Paul played two full sets of all Canadian tunes. Some of the songs he pulled out of the air that night were classic. They weren’t perfect. Some of the lyrics were wrong. But with every song the crowd just wanted to see what was coming next. His interactions with Kevin Doyle that night were so much fun. This was followed by an after hours set of Who tunes with Paul only singing and Chris Latta on guitar. Totally kicked my ass. Hard to forget moments like these.
A few amazing years of playing darts with the man. Getting my ass thoroughly kicked most of the time. Loved going to war with him for a few years on the same team. His personality shone through every dart venue we played at. What can I say? The man knew how to own a room.
I was lucky enough many times to get the gift of him just picking up his guitar and singing. Sometimes singing along but mostly just soaking it in. And then we would go back to comedy. And lots of it. Every time I would go over to his sister’s place he would be so “on” with the comedy. Relentless. The man loved making people laugh. So, included here is one of his favourite bits from his all-time favourite comedian Norm MacDonald. This is what made the funniest guy I know laugh.
Long live old Harold Delaney.
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REVIEW: I Mother Earth – Dig (1993)
THREE REVIEWS FOR THE PRICE OF NONE!
For Aaron’s review click here.
For Boppin’s review, click here!
I MOTHER EARTH – Dig (1993 Capitol)
Toronto rock fans were ecstatic when local heroes I Mother Earth signed with Capitol and went to record a debut album with Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses). The goal was to take I Mother Earth’s long and meandering jams and turn them into recordable songs, and this was a success. With an intense mixture of metal, alternative, funk, world music and everything else, the debut album Dig was a head-turner. Loads of exotic percussion mixed with funky bass turned it into slow-burning hit. Eventually the record buying public pushed the album gold, with comparisons to Blind Melon and Jane’s Addiction.
The opening music, “The Mothers”, introduces a psychedelic bent that continues through the album. “Listen! To the Mothers!” yells lead howler Edwin, with echoey 60’s guitar behind him. This is all a fake-out: “Feel heavy!” are the first words of the next song, “Levitate”, heavy as plutonium plated bullets. The intense grinding riff and groove of “Levitate” are the perfect example of early I Mother Earth: heavy, rhythmic and intense. Edwin’s voice at the time was compared to Perry Farrell, but the two artists are easily distinguished.
The debut single “Rain Will Fall”, not that dissimilar from “Levitate”, focused on the intense heavy rock side of the band. The complex beats and out-there lyrics are still there, but there is no denying the forward momentum of “Rain Will Fall”. Either stay out of its way or get swept away; it’s your choice. Edwin whispers the lyrics until the full-lunged chorus. They really liked writing about themselves: “Four brothers make the Mothers, four brothers form the one!” (Drummer Christian Tanna was responsible for all lyrics.) But check out that funky wah-wah guitar, bass and percussion! It’s worth noting that guitarist Jagori Tanna played all the bass on the album at the time. Original bassist Franz had left and been replaced by Bruce Gordon, but that’s Jag playing all the funky shit on this CD. “Rain Will Fall” has a long open jam section that shows off this incredible playing.
Time to get trippy. “So Gently We Go” sounds like a 60’s Carlos Santana slow jam. It was one of four successful singles from the album, in edited form, since the album track is seven minutes. It’s a delightful journey of joyous vocals, psychedelic flower dancing and hippie jams. Things turn intense on “Not Quite Sonic”, the most accessible of the album’s tracks. Choppy guitars and percussion set the groove, then the bass drops in the low end. “The sights are embryonic, say what you want, I’m not quite sonic.” No idea what Christian is writing about, but Edwin sings it like he means it. You can understand how this became a bit of a hit when it was released as a single. It was great to hear music on the charts that really celebrated skilled playing and composition.
Super-fast paced funky guitar that sounds like Flea playing bass (jumping around joyfully naked) opens up “Production”, the most challenging of the songs. The sheer speed would knock most people for a loop, but I didn’t see that beat-poetry section coming! “Lost My America” is easier to swallow: Big and grand Cult-like choruses, backed by laid back dusky verses.
The centerpiece of the album is the epic and heavy as fuck “No One”. More than any, this one song combines all the band’s elements for maximum effectiveness. The groove will initiate spontaneous leg-stomping, impossible to stop once started. Edwin is on full intensity with his vocals. I had this song on an early preview sampler cassette, and I played it relentlessly during the summer of ’93, treating locals to it quite loudly through the car speakers. “No one leaves the caravan,” sings Edwin, but who would want to leave? By the time the song has expired seven minutes later, if you are not dripping with sweat, then you haven’t been listening properly.
The album begins to wind down from “No One” to the end. There are no more mindblowing songs, though plenty of jaw-dropping playing. “Undone” is the quietest song on the album, stripped down and punctuated by congas and Edwin’s raspy singing. Then “Basketball” is the funkiest of them all, blazingly fast, and hard to hold on to. The final two songs, “And the Experience”, and “The Universe in You” blend together in my mind. Is Dig perhaps overly long? Ear fatigue sets in. Your senses have been assaulted with a lot of notes and words to absorb and by this point, it’s overwhelming. (And there were two more songs dropped from the album, “Subterranean Wonderland” and “Love from Revolution”, the former of which later turned up on a compilation CD called Earth, Sky and Everything in Between.) “The Universe in You” ends the album on a bluesy Sabbath note, very epic indeed.
Dig is a mighty debut album indeed, but at well over an hour in length, perhaps they should have hung onto some of these tracks for B-sides.
4/5 stars
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RIP Paul MacLeod (1970-2016)
2016 has taken another precious musical genius, and this time it hurts even more, because Paul MacLeod was one of our own.
MacLeod was the local prodigy that joined Skydiggers and launched an impressive series of solo albums. I’d heard lots of Paul’s music over the years but it was only a short while ago that Uncle Meat told me, “You have to get the CD by this band called Hibakusha. They are the local Rush.” So I did and he was right. 5/5 stars. That was the first CD of Paul’s that I bought.
Paul was very close to a number of friends of mine, Uncle Meat in particular. His heart is now broken, his dear friend gone. Below is my favourite Paul MacLeod video. Recorded live in the downtown streets of Kitchener, “Down on the Street” is simply amazing. There are many people here that miss Paul. Rest in peace.
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WTF Search Terms: Freddie Mercury’s Mic Stand edition
WTF SEARCH TERMS XXXI: Freddie Mercury’s Mic Stand edition
Gather ’round yon computers and tablets boys and girls, as we once again recount some of the…errr…more amusing search terms that led people here to mikeladano.com. If you’re new, this is a series of bizarre things that people have typed into search engines to get here. And once again, this proves that there are some pretty sick individuals out there! Let’s begin.
The Swedish rock band Europe, and their singer Joey Tempest, have been the source of many bizarre hits from the search terms. This is NOT the first time!
1. joey tempest satanist
2. satanist sign on shert of joey tempest
3. opinion of joey tempest about religion
Not sure why the obsession with Joey Tempest and religion. At all.
Here’s one to warm the heart:
4. avril fuck by bruce dickinson
And I’m sure many people have this question:
5. did freddie mercury masturbate his mic stand
Next up we have Poison. I’m sure Poison had lots of dirty sex back in the day, but this? Who the fuck wants to know? Bobby Dall is, like, the least sexy guy in Poison.
6. bobby dall sex tales
And we round out today’s list with just a bunch of dirty, filthy shit. Literally.
7. trough urinal dick parade
8. film porno women shit and piss
9. boy to boy big cock six part
10. hyenas fucking
Thank you internet! You are the gift that keeps on giving.
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#494: I Think I’m Going Bald
GETTING MORE TALE #494: I Think I’m Going Bald
(a sequel to #488: Almost Cut My Hair)
A short while back, we took a look at popular hair styles in different genres of music. One hair style we ignored, because it really knows no boundaries, is the old fashioned bald head, or the “Jean-Luc” as the kids call it today.*
When I was a young fella discovering rawk at the dawn of the 1980’s, I hadn’t seen any bald rock stars that impressed me. Now my first musical love truly was John Williams, and he was bald. Hard rock at the beginning of the 80’s wasn’t like that. There was…a uniform. Unless you were Rob Halford, Paul Di’Anno or Udo Dirkschneider, part of that uniform was having long hair to thrash about.
The only bald rockers I had seen included one rare picture of Bob Kulick, brother of Bruce, and the bass player from Blotto. I didn’t like Blotto: they also had a short haired geek with thick rimmed glasses on guitar. So, by extension, I didn’t like bald heads in rock!
Then grunge came, and long hair was no longer a “thing”. Then, even worse, our mortal rock stars began aging! How was this possible? There was no time to consider the thought, as one by one, rock stars shaved their heads completely: Rob Halford, Kerry King, Scott Ian, Billy Corgan, Joe Satriani, hell even Billy fucking Joel has lost the curls and gone cue-ball!
There’s nothing wrong with the bald head, obviously I have learned this now. I myself have rocked the bald look on and off for about 15 years now. Most people don’t do it on and off, but I’ve been blessed with a full head of hair (thanks mom’s side of the family!), and I shave it for convenience and to look tougher than I already am. Seriously though, there’s nothing better than having a shower, jumping in your clothes and heading right to work without worrying about hair. There’s nothing better to beat the heat in the summer either.
Now, funny thing. My mom and my wife both think I am going actually bald. They tell me my hairline is receding. What they don’t know is that my hairline started receding at age 16. Then it stopped and never started receding again! I have the exact same hairline I had at 16, only nobody believes me, because at 16 I was trying to hide that by growing it out! It has not moved one centimetre since highschool, and that’s a fact, Jack!
This being summer time, I have shaved it all off once again. This is the closest you may ever see to a picture of “topless LeBrains” here.
Before
After
Who are your favourite bald rockers? Do you favour Sinead O’Connor for her fearless 80’s buzz cut? Do you call it a tie between Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel? There are so many epically talented bald rockers (not looking at you, Chris Daughtry) today that it truly is hard to choose.
* Not really, but a better name than the “Bieber” which was the name of an actual fucking hair cut.
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REVIEW: Wes Craven’s Shocker – The Music (1989)
Wes Craven’s SHOCKER – No More Mr. Nice Guy – The Music (1989 SBK)
1989’s slasher film Shocker was Wes Craven’s attempt to introduce a new character to the pantheon of horror. Unfortunately, Horace Pinker and the movie he rode in on were quickly forgotten. Also forgotten was the heavy metal soundtrack, so let’s have a gander and see what you may have missed.
Ever heard of The Dudes of Wrath? This temporary “supergroup” consisted of various members from track to track, but the best song they did was “Shocker” itself. With lead vocals by Paul Stanley and Desmond Child, it’s a must-have for Kiss maniacs. If that’s not enough, Vivian Campbell, Tommy Lee and Rudy Sarzo also play on it. It’s like a collision of some of those bands — Kiss, Dio, Motley. The anthemic outro will slay you.
Desmond’s writing is all over this album, and he co-wrote a track with Alice Cooper that ended up being recorded by Iggy Pop called “Love Transfusion”. Sub out the saxophone for guitars and you could easily imagine this being a Trash B-side. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the backing track is from the Cooper sessions, because this sounds exactly like an Alice Cooper song with Iggy Pop overdubbed. All the musicians are guys from the Trash album. Do the math.
It’s hard to imagine a weirder team up than Desmond Child and Megadeth. Dave Mustaine was deep into the powders at the time, and he recorded “No More Mr. Nice Guy” with a three piece Megadeth. The late Nick Menza had joined the band already, but Marty Friedman was yet to be hired. Most Megadeth fans are familiar with this track, since it was re-released on their Hidden Treasures EP. Certainly not the band’s finest moment.
Paul Stanley reappears in a writing capacity on “Sword and Stone”, performed by Bonfire. Paul wrote it for Kiss’ Crazy Nights LP with Desmond Child and Bruce Kulick. If it had been on Crazy Nights, it might well have been the best tune on there. Paul’s demo has yet to be released in an official capacity, but it’s been heavily bootlegged. Bonfire’s version is fantastic, but it only makes me hungry for a fully recorded and mixed Kiss version. One day….
Another version of The Dudes of Wrath appear on side two, this time with Alice Cooper on vocals. “Shockdance” sounds like little more than a slowed down variation of the “Shocker” riff, with Alice and actor Mitch Pileggi rapping over it. Just terrible stuff, actually. Thankfully Desmond redeemed it a little bit with the song he wrong with Dangerous Toys, “Demon Bell”. Like Guns N’ Roses galvanized and electroplated, “Demon Bell” slays.
Voodoo X were the band of Jean Beauvoir, who Kiss fans know from his many co-writes and guest appearances on their records. He only made one record as Voodoo X, and his song “The Awakening” is damn fine indeed. At first you’re thinking, “Oh it’s just another crap ballad”. Then a riff kicks in, and it blasts right off. It’s a bit like 80’s Kiss meets Top Gun. The last band up is Dead On, pretty pedestrian thrash metal, and one of the few songs without any involvement of Desmond Child. The angry elf vocals are hilarious, but the song is almost a parody of bad metal. The album ends with a reprise of the title track “Shocker” from the first side. Basically what this means is that you get to hear Paul Stanley singing for another two or three minutes, when he was really able to hit some seriously high notes. Cool!
The worst track is probably the ballad “Timeless Love” by Sandi Saraya. Guess who wrote this putrid sappy swath of heartbreak? Desmond Fucking Child!
Shocker isn’t the greatest soundtrack, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the movie that spawned it!
2.5/5 stars
The helpful back cover doesn’t even tell you who’s on it.
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REVIEW: Helix – “(Gene Simmons Says) Rock is Dead” (2016 music video)
HELIX – “(Gene Simmons Says) Rock is Dead” (2016 music video from the forthcoming album Rock It Science)
“I don’t need no god of thunder to tell me what is great.” — Brian Vollmer
Helix are back once more, with a new greatest hits album called Rock It Science.* You gotta have a new song on a new greatest hits (teased previously as “Mystery Track”), and this new song is timely and sharp. Gene Simmons does indeed say that rock is dead. In fact he’s been saying that for over 25 years. I have a M.E.A.T Magazine interview with Gene from 1990 where he professes that rock is indeed dead. And he’s still saying it now. But Brian Vollmer retorts, “Don’t believe it when Gene Simmons says rock is dead!”
Sure, lots has changed, but Helix keeps going. It’s not the 80’s anymore. Very few can sell 2,000,000 copies of an album today. It’s hard to make a living just by selling records. You have to diversify. Everything has changed — but like many things, the more they change the more they stay the same. Rock is not dead. In many respects, rock is more popular than ever. Helix are still producing great quality music, and “Gene Simmons Says) Rock is Dead” is one more gem for their rock crown. Daryl Gray and “Fritz” Hinz are still there on the rhythm section. Chris Julke and Kaleb Duck handle the axes just fine. This could have been on an album like Back for Another Taste.
As far as the video goes, Brent Doerner directed this one. The Gene impersonator is bang-on — I hope Helix don’t get sued for this! The video celebrates the old school. It’s performed at Speed City Records in London, Ontario. (Look for cool posters of bands such as Gob and VoiVod, who Gene slammed in the 1990 M.E.A.T interview.) I really dig Daryl Gray’s Helix logo bass guitar. That looks like a bitch to play. Brent captured the fun side of the band in the video. It’s not glossy, but I think it does the trick.
There’s no release date yet, but Rock It Science should be available to purchase soon. Check out the CD cover, also designed by Brent Doerner.
Rock is dead? Hardly. Gene’s been wrong before, and he’s wrong again.
4/5 stars
*The title It’s ROCK Science, Not Rocket Science was a working title for 2009’s Vagabond Bones.
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REVIEW: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane – Original Soundtrack (1990)
THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE – Original Soundtrack Recording (1990 Elektra)
This movie stunk. Somebody had the idea: “Hey, let’s get Andrew Dice Clay to headline a raunchy comedy movie, and get a hard rock soundtrack! The kids will love it.” The movie and soundtrack were loaded with famous names: Wayne Newton, Sheila E., Vince Neil, Priscilla Presley, Robert England and so on. It didn’t help; the movie tanked and its resultant soundtrack was a hodge-podge of music that no one listener would like all the way through.
There is plenty to dislike on this CD.
A past-his-prime Dion remade “Sea Cruise” with Don Was, rendering it limp like a stunted child of the 1980’s. Skip the unbelievably terrible Sheila E. track. The Teddy Pendergrass song is also pretty awful, in a nondescript 80’s fashion. Tone Lōc dropped a turd with “Can’t Get Enough”, despite a phat Hammond organ riff that must have been sampled from something much better. Finally, Andrew Dice Clay taints both the band Yello and the song “I Ain’t Got You” with his voice. The Yello track is just synth music with movie dialogue on top. Then “I Ain’t Got You” is less than two minutes long, so at least it’s relatively painless. I don’t know if somebody had the idea to launch Dice as a rock star next, but if they did, it failed miserably.
There are a few songs that could be considered keepers.
Billy Idol was experiencing a comeback at the time, with the classic-tinged “Cradle of Love”. It combined new wave production values with rock and roll stylings of the 1950’s. Striking while the iron Idol was hot, the song is included on this soundtrack as the opening number. It was Idol’s first single, post-Steve Stevens. It featured his new guitarist Mark Younger-Smith, and ex-Ozzy bassist Phil Soussan who briefly appeared in the movie as one of Vince Neil’s bandmates. (He later became one of Vince’s bandmates in real life.)
Speaking of Vince, Motley Crue contributed the Dr. Feelgood outtake “Rock ‘n Roll Junkie”, well before it was released on Decade of Decadence. This mix is slightly different than the one commonly released on Motley albums. Vince sings an audible “Uh!” sound at the 30 second mark on the usual versions. That is absent on the Ford Fairlane mix. There is also a stronger flanging effect on the bass during the intro of the common version. So, for Motley diehards, this CD presents one mix that you don’t own elsewhere in your collection.
I have no idea how Queensryche got involved with this soundtrack; they were even on a different record label. “Last Time in Paris” was an accessible rock track; an outtake from the sessions for the forthcoming Empire. It would not have been one of the best Empire tracks, but it’s good enough for fans of vintage ‘Ryche. Chris DeGarmo employs a slide on his guitar solo, and Geoff Tate throws down a sassy lead vocal.
The final track was also an outtake from a forthcoming release: Richie Sambora’s Stranger in this Town solo debut. Sambora recorded a classy cover of Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary”. Sambora was displaying previously unseen depth and blues chops. “The Wind Cries Mary” was later included on a deluxe edition of Stranger in this Town, but by and large most Bon Jovi fans have not heard it. With this track, Richie had the best tune on the soundtrack.
The verdict on this “rock and roll detective” movie sountrack? It gets the dreaded Flaming Turd.
1.5/5 stars
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REVIEW: Bean – The Album (1997 soundtrack)
BEAN – The Album (1997 Mercury)
Every once in a while, you just have to buy an album for one song!
Never mind that Randy Newman’s classic “I Love L.A.” isn’t on the CD, even though it was the most memorable song in the Bean movie. Included instead is “I Love L.A.” as performed by…O.M.C.! Remember him? “How Bizarre”! His one hit had expired and I guess somebody thought they could re-work the “magic” on “I Love L.A.”. Maybe because both guys have a kind of flat voice, somebody assumed it would work. It does not! Why this would have been recorded, instead of simply using the Newman classic, I have no idea at all.
NOT INCLUDED.
You can also safely skip Boyzone (boy band crap but at least with a 70’s groove), somebody just called “Louise” (70’s-sounding easy listening), Thomas Jules Stock (barf-inducing pop), another person just called “Gabrielle” (60’s sounding soul), “Blair” (really stinky rap), and Code Red (saccharine soul pop). Some of these tracks aren’t even in the movie. If you want to hear some soul or funk, just put on an actual album by an original artist.
Songs you may want to give a moment to listen to include the campy 80’s classic “Walking on Sunshine” (Katrina and the Waves). You never know when you might need that song in a collection. Another good one to have is “I Get Around”, the original surf classic by the Beach Boys. From 1964, the Boys were in perfect voice, singing Brian Wilson’s genius melodies. Unfortunately it is interrupted in the fade by Peter MacNicol with movie dialogue. There are a number of tracks with this issue. Wet Wet Wet do a surprisingly decent version of “Yesterday” (in the movie, sung by Peter MacNicol). It’s too sweet and shopping market ready, but hey: it’s “Yesterday”. Movie dialogue spoils this one too, at the start of the track. Why do that? I’m not familiar with the Wet Wet Wet discography, but this song does seem to be exclusive to the soundtrack (or at least was at the time). What a way to ruin a track for the fans.
Worth noting is loop-laden “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Susanna Hoffs. This funky version is worth having for Hoffs fans, but everyone else can safely stick with the Steeler’s Wheels original. Also fun is “Art for Art’s Sake”, the 1975 original by art-rock band 10cc. In the movie, Mr. Bean works at an art gallery. Get the connection?
So what’s the one song I bought this album for? A rarity.
Back in 1992, Bruce Dickinson was working on solo material with the UK band Skin. The album would eventually become Balls to Picasso, but it was a long way getting there. I’m not sure what led Bruce to Mr. Bean. Divine intervention perhaps? Two of England’s finest exports had to meet, I suppose, and when they did, they covered “Elected” by Alice Cooper. This was done for a music video coinciding with the general election that year. As a final track, the Bean soundtrack reissued this hard to find single. Bruce sings the vocals rather straight, very raspy, very much like his 1990 No Prayer for the Dying voice. Rowan Atkinson in character as Mr. Bean reviews his campaign promises between Bruce’s growls. “To help the Health Service, I promise never to get ill.” Other promises include stopping everyone in Dover from going to the toilet (cutting pollution). “I’m the nice one in the tweed jacket,” he says. “Well it was a present actually.”
I’m a Mr. Bean fan, but there is little of appeal on this CD. After all, Mr. Bean’s gimmick is that he rarely speaks. Therefore, the movie dialogue stuff isn’t necessary. It’s a shame they ruined tracks by putting dialogue on the fades. If they had included the Randy Newman track, I might’ve been able to bump this CD up by half a star.
1/5 stars
Sorry Mr. Bean. Your CD gets the dreaded Flaming Turd!
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