This review goes out to Jonathan who asked me about a year ago for more Jethro Tull reviews! Here you go buddy, and Merry Christmas!
IAN ANDERSON & JETHRO TULL – “Ring Out Solstice Bells” (2004 R and M)
Although Ian Anderson had played seasonal music many times before, The Jethro Tull Christmas Album in 2003 was the band’s first full-blown Christmas disc. The following year, Anderson released an independent single from it called “Ring Out Solstice Bells”, with proceeds set to help a wild cat benefit that he supports. The track “Ring Out Solstice Bells” is an Anderson original, jaunty and gleeful. Jethro Tull’s signature enchanted acoustic sound is well suited to seasonal music, and the vibe is captured on a great original song that doesn’t annoy like other seasonal tunes often do.
The traditional “God Rest Ye Gentlemen” is a live version from 2004. It’s worth noting that even though Tull’s Christmas Album was reissued and expanded to include a live CD called Christmas at St. Bride’s 2008, these B-sides are from 2004. They are still exclusive only to this single. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was arranged by Ian to be a jazzy and playful upbeat jam, virtually impossible to hate. It even goes menacingly electric before the ending. Then, from Aqualung is the brief “Slipstream”, also live from 2004. It is backed by lush keys.
The packaging for “Ring Out Solstice Bells” is pretty basic, just a single panel digipack. I do like the little touch of the inside cover doubling as a Christmas card. If you so wish, you could give this CD to a friend for Christmas, by inscribing their name under “To”, and your own where it says “From Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull and.” Of course no collector would do such a thing.
RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale #346: NO SOLICITORS!
Yesterday and today, if there’s one thing that drives me nuts, it’s people trying to sell us something. You know the feeling: You answer the phone, not looking or not recognizing the number, only to be asked if you want to hire a shady “duct cleaning” service that has a loose grasp of the English language.
Here are some of the methods we have used and things we have said to dissuade duct cleaning companies from calling us:
1. “Have you met Jesus?” – works every single time. 2. “Oh I’m sorry, we don’t own any ducks.” – gets them a little confused. 3. Speak back to them in French only. “Où est la poutine?” 4. I also enjoy asking them to help me solve the Tedious Tiresome Trivia question on 105.7 Dave FM.
Or, just hang up. That works too. The method you choose may depend on how irritated you are.
Reminding them that you are on the “Do Not Call” registry won’t help you. Many of these scam artists are calling from overseas, according to the CBC.
At the Record Store, we had to put up one of those “NO SOLICITORS” signs but I don’t know why since every solicitor ignored it. Never once in my time at the store did I see someone come in trying to sell me shit, look at the sign, turn around and leave. Never once. Are you surprised?
People around student age would occasionally pop in with boxes full of junk, and a big smile on their faces. They’d usually come in pairs. “Have we got some deals for you here!” they would say open entering, or something like that. They didn’t much like it when I would ignore their sales pitch and try to sell them some CDs instead. “I have a better deal for you,” I might have said. “New Cher album for $12. Do you believe in life after love? I’m the only one in this store who’s going to do any selling to anyone.”
I witnessed one guy wielding his box of junk playing chicken with an automobile in our parking lot, trying to get him to stop. He stood in the middle of his lane with his box, and moved to the right and left so the car couldn’t swerve around him. Then he went up to the driver’s window with his box. Needless to say, the driver bought nothing from that idiot.
From boxes of junk, to golf memberships, to Jehova’s Witness fliers, I have had just about everything shoved in my face at the Record Store. It was irritating, but not nearly so much as the daily phone calls from duct cleaners.
What is your favourite method for dealing with solicitors? Share in the comments.
MARILLION – A Very Barry Christmas (2001 Racket Records Christmas CD, free to Racket Club members – webfree 04)
From 1998 to 2008, Marillion released annual Christmas CDs exclusively to members of their fan club, for free. Each one was different from the previous, but you could count on some cool unreleased music every year. Of the 11 Marillion Christmas CDs, I have physical copies of nine, and legal downloads of the others that I am missing (the first two).
Today in 2014, Marillion have released a new “best of” compilation CD of their Christmas tracks called A Collection of Recycled Gifts. This CD also features new material, but it will be most fans’ first chance to hear some of these songs. I thought that would make an excellent occasion to review a selection of the most interesting volumes of the past Marillion Christmas CDs.
I decided to start with 2001’s A Very Barry Christmas. “Barry” was their mascot during the Anoraknophobia period. This was their fourth Christmas CD, and the second I received. The content on this installment includes Christmas music, specially recorded acoustic versions, and unreleased remixes. (The reason I’m not reviewing the third Christmas album, the first one that I owned, A Piss-up in a Brewery, is this. It was later reissued as a regular live non-seasonal DVD that I can review any time. And I will, because it’s great and that one remains my favourite of these Marillion Christmas releases.)
The album commences with “I Saw Three Ships”, a studio recording of the traditional carol. Of Marillion’s Christmas music, this is my favourite song. When it opens you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a vintage outtake from Clutching at Straws or Seasons End. In fact there is even an echo of “Easter” in some of the instrumental melodies. They also segue into “O Come All Ye Faithful”, keeping things delicate but electric. “I Saw Three Ships” is, in my opinion, an undiscovered gem of the Marillion back catalogue. Then, even though it’s not listed as a separate track, Marillion’s annual Christmas message is included at the end of the song. This time only Mark and H showed up. They describe “I Saw Three Ships” as a Christmas carol hybrid, and I agree with that description.
Then, onto the presents!
The first batch of songs are taken from a 2001 acoustic session at Marillion’s home base, the Racket Club. Every tune is a brand new song from Anoraknophobia, giving fans an early opportunity to hear acoustic renditions of the new material. “This is the 21st Century” is reduced to piano and voice (presumably both by Steve Hogarth). It works well in this setting, even though the album track is long and complex. “Between You and Me” is complete with the whole band, including keyboards and drums, rendering a catchy sorta-unplugged version of their new single. “Map of the World”, co-headliner of that same single, is the stronger of the two songs, but not necessarily in this setting. I think “Map of the World” works best with all the bombast and vocal glory of the studio version. It needs to be let loose, like the character in the song who wants to see the whole world. “Separated Out” was originally the heaviest song on Anoraknophobia. It’s certainly an interesting choice to do acoustically, but I like the way it builds. It’s actually quite cool.
“Number One” is an interesting selection, because it was first unveiled on 2000’s Christmas album, the aforementioned A Piss-up in a Brewery as a preview of Marillion’s new music. The studio version was later included only on the limited deluxe edition of Anoraknophobia, so it’s a bit of a hard song to come by. The cello part is captured nice and beefy, and this ode to artificial pop singers is flawless. The thing about Hogarth’s lyrics is, he’s not really bitching and complaining. Indeed, he compares the precision of a #1 pop performance to that of a figure skater aiming to hit a 9.5. What he does is use his words to get you thinking about the subject, and I like that.
The album closes with three remixes. From the difficult to appreciate marillion.com comes the jazzy dubby trip-hop of “House”. This interesting remix by Marc Mitchell spends a couple minutes just focusing on the muted trumpet, which is never a bad idea. This is a 12 minute remix and it runs the gamut, but it certainly proves that Marillion can and do anything they want musically. Also from marillion.com is “Go!” remixed by somebody called Size 9 Cooperative. It has been robbed of its lightly throbbing pulse; it has sadly flatlined and been reanimated as a dance-bot. This is, quite honestly, terrible. If I was doing a joke remix of a song in order to make fun of remix cliches, this is how it would sound. This is one Christmas present you’ll wish you could return to the store, only to find you weren’t given a receipt. An instrumental mix of “This is the 21st Century” is more my speed. This is the album version stripped of lead vocal and laid bare. I enjoy this kind of track because you can really hear the interplay of the instruments. With Marillion, that is never really boring. This is a full-length track by the way, all 11 minutes of the song. Treated instrumentally, it has a nice ambient quality that would work well on an album such as Pink Floyd’s recent Endless River.
GUNS N’ ROSES – New York, New York (Live at the Ritz 1988 – FM Radio Broadcast, Gossip)
‘Twas Scott who alerted me to the release of this classic Guns N’ Roses concert on CD. A few tracks from the gig are missing, most notably “Shadow of Your Love”, but most of what I remember seeing on MuchMusic back in the 80’s is intact. Although I do not recall seeing “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” on the TV version, I used to love this concert. I watched it over and over. I had seen it over half a dozen times before I even bought Appetite for Destruction. I dubbed an audio version to cassette, before my buddy T-Rev recorded the entire show for me later on. I used to know these versions better than the originals. It’s a pleasure to finally have them on CD.
Remember the sound of the guitars being picked up in the darkness before Duff’s opening bassline to “It’s So Easy”? I don’t think I’d seen a band on TV before who seemed so…dangerous. The sound of Duff singing the backing vocals are another element I distinctly remember. Axl could get pretty mobile on stage, and his vocals often fell apart mid-sentence, while Duff held it all together. He was Guns’ secret weapon, Duff McKagan. Up next in the spotlight is Slash with those chugging, scraping guitars on “Mr. Brownstone”. Axl then delivers his first classic monologue of the evening:
“I don’t know what by chance the television audience will see…what anyone will see…but what we’ll see tonight…is that we wanna dedicate this song to the people who try to hold you back! The people that tell you how to live! People that tell you how to dress! People that tell you how to talk! People that tell you what you can say and what you can’t say. I personally don’t need that! Those are the kind of people that been getting me down. They make me feel like somebody…somebody out there….is ‘Out Ta Get Me’!”
Funny story about this song. I had a highschool buddy named Anand who was the first kid I knew in our class to get Appetite. Anand had strict parents. One day he was down in the basement studying, rocking out to Appetite. His little brother strolled in during his homework, and kept coming around to bug him. He hung around long enough to learn the words to some songs, and returned upstairs to his parents singing, “They’re out to get me! I’m fucking innocent!” Anand got grounded.
Needless to say the chorus to this amazing song was beeped when I first saw it on TV. I loved it anyway. That Izzy Stradlin riff kicks it classic-style, while Duff once again holds down the backing vocals. Slash is shambolic, losing control several times but always pulling it back together, cig in mouth the whole time. I love this one big sour chord he hits at 2:25 into the song. If I remember he almost fell at that moment in the show; the audience were pulling at his guitar, but all you can hear is this big awful chord. Then it happens again at 3:00! And again at 3:10! The whole solo is a fucking disaster, and that must have been fun for the people in the front row. Guns N’ Roses were so in the face of the crowd that there was constant physical contact. That’s a fucking concert.
“Sweet Child” comes early in the set, and obviously it’s not nearly as sweet as the album version, and Axl’s hoarse. Still, Axl hoarse in 1988 is something very different from 2014, and it sounds great to these ears. “My Michelle” is credited on the back cover as written by Rose and “Stardlin”, making obvious that this is not an official release. I hope Izzy Stardlin gets paid his due royalties. The band get more and more reckless/loose/inebriated as the concert goes on. Again it’s McKagan who seems to be holding it together and cheerleading from behind.
A very intense version of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” follows which I am less familiar with because it didn’t make the TV version I had seen. Axl dedicates this to a friend named Todd who had “danced a little bit too hard with Mr. Brownstone”. Needless to say, it’s very cool hearing this song played by the classic five piece lineup. With Steven Adler on drums, it’s more to the point. The arrangement is slightly different than what you know from the Use Your Illusion I album, but it still has the slow singalong part that later evolved into the “reggae” section that they were known to play live later on. Axl was a charismatic frontman and this was his moment to show off his power over an audience.
His next introduction was another memorable one:
“About five or six years ago I hitchhiked here, and ended up stuck out…in the middle of this place. Climbed up out of the freeway, and this little old black man comes up to me and my friend with our backpacks and about ten bucks between us…and he goes, ‘You know where you are?! You in the jungle, baby! You’re gonna die!’ That’s a true story, that ain’t no lie. So ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, rats!”
This was the only tune of theirs that I knew really well back in early ’88. It is played tight, possibly the only song of the night that is. There’s magic in hearing this lineup play this song, their song. And speaking of them, I always enjoy Axl’s band introductions: Mr. Duff “Rose” McKagan on bass guitar. Mr. Steven “Popcorn” Adler on the drums. Mr. Izzy Stradlin on the white guitar. Axl says he and Izzy have been together for 13 years. He saves the most recognizable member for last:
“And last, but definitely not least…in a world that he did not create, but he will go through it as if it was his own making…half man, half beast…I’m not sure what it is, but whatever it is, it’s weird and it’s pissed off and it calls itself Slash.”
Slash then introduces a song about “a walk in the park”, called “Nightrain”. Of the songs they played that night I thought “Nightrain” was a little less than great. It always seems to be the one I wait to finish. Then, Slash opens “Paradise City” with a little surf rock guitar before the classic opening lick. This is the song where things got a little out of control for W. Axl Rose. Doing his trademark slinky snake dance, he got a little too close to the crowd and was pulled in. The band kept on playing and Slash took an extended solo, but you can see Axl trying to climb out. Security finally pulled him up, and then you can see Axl getting his bearings and checking himself over. His shirt and several pieces of jewelry were ripped off, but as soon as Axl sees that he is OK, he resumes snake dancing and finishes the song! Slash’s solo during Axl’s “down time” remains a show highlight, as does Axl’s quick recovery!
For encores you get Aerosmith’s “Mama Kin” (dedicated to Steven Tyler) and “Rocket Queen”. The former is fast and tight, and the latter is epic and ominous. It is a natural closer, especially with Slash’s extended soloing. Axl delivers the closing in full-on ragged scream mode, as it should be.
I’m very glad to have this time capsule of a concert in my CD collection. Highly recommended.
LEATHERWOLF – World Asylum (2006 King Record Co. Japan)
Leatherwolf were one of my favourite bands in the late 80’s. They had a unique sound, a potent mix of traditional metal, glam rock, and thrash elements. In addition they sported the Triple Axe Attack: 3 lead guitar players, and before Iron Maiden did it. When they reformed in 1999 and released the live album Wide Open, I was excited for some new music. Then, lead singer/guitarist Mike Olivieri quit, and the band hooked up with Jeff Martin (ex-Racer X, Badlands) on lead vocals. With him they did an excellent 3 song demo: “Behind The Gun”, “Burned”, and “Disconnect”, plus one instrumental called “Tension”. (Track them down!)
Then for whatever reason Martin was out and Wade Black (Crimson Glory) was in. I’m sorry, Glory fans, I’m just not that into Black. His voice is fine, particularly on the three more melodic songs that they originally did with Martin (Note: “Burned” has been re-named “The Grail”). I’m just not feeling it. On some of the other songs, he’s verging on nu-metal territory too much for my taste, like on the downbeat “Institutions”. And for some reason his voice grates on me after the length of a full album. Maybe I find it a bit too shrill.
World Asylum album is heavy, the heaviest thing Leatherwolf have ever done. The guitar solos are highlights, but the riffs are just not as memorable as the old days. The drumming by Dean Roberts is fast, precise and hit the spot. The keyboards of old are gone. I found the first five songs to be excellent, but after that the album tends to slide. At times, those metal guitar harmonies are back. At others, there’s nothing to grab me. Lyrically the “asylum” theme runs through the record, but I wouldn’t call it a concept album or even that interesting.
This Japanese edition has one bonus track, which is the great “Tools of Discipline”, originally heard on the old Wide Open live album. (It also comes with stickers!) Gotta say I prefer Olivieri’s vocals better than Wade Black’s. I prefer Jeff Martin’s vocals to Wade Black’s as well. Sorry guys. If it all came down to the singer, Black doesn’t do it for me. But in a weird twist, Michael Olivieri returned the following year, and he re-recorded all the vocals. That album was issued as New World Asylum (without the bonus track). The original singer is usually best suited to the job, but more on that in the next review below.
2.5/5 stars
LEATHERWOLF – New World Asylum (2007 Leatherwolf Music)
So Michael Olivieri, the original Leatherwolf singer came back on board to stay this time. So did guitarist Carey Howe, replacing Eric Halpern. This restored 4/5 of the classic Leatherwolf lineup. It made sense to have them re-record their parts on their latest album and re-release it. No sense promoting a lineup that doesn’t exist anymore, right? I think it was the right move for another reason. I’m just not that into Wade Black, the singer on the original World Asylum. He verges on nu-metal teritory too much for my taste. I’ve never liked nu-metal; I appreciate the talent that goes into writing and performing nu-metal, but it’s not music I enjoy listening to, largely due to the vocals. I like traditional metal vocals, in general.
With the new lead vocals, World Asylum was retitled New World Asylum, and released with differently coloured cover art. This is my version of choice, metal fans! Maybe it’s familiarity, but Olivieri’s voice just sounds right. The character of Leatherwolf feels like it’s in his voice. I prefer his version of every single track. The melody and recognizable character are there, and he throws in a couple of those old-school screams. The end result is not necessarily a better batch of songs, just a more enjoyable listen.
Strongest tracks here include “King of the Ward”, a slamming song with a teasing chorus. Strange how I didn’t like it on the Wade Black version. I think “Behind the Gun” is probably the best tune here. Having heard it with three different singers, I have to say this version is champion. “I Am the Law” and the groovy “Dr. Wicked (Rx O.D.)” are also pretty cool. But again, I didn’t like “Dr. Wicked” on the Wade version. It all comes down to the vocals.
The original album’s bonus track, “Tools Of Discipline”, was not re-recorded here, I guess because there is a live version available with Olivieri singing on Wide Open.
My recommendation: Leatherwolf fans, pick this up rather than World Asylum, unless you’re a die hard. Casual fans and the curious, go with New World Asylum as it’s just a better listen.
THE DARKNESS – “Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)” (2003 Warner CD single)
The Darkness wins when it comes to Christmas songs. Not content to rock up a classic, or write a crappy original, they did something that very few artists do: They wrote an original Christmas tune as good as any of their prior singles. For that reason, I heartily recommend “Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)” to discerning rock fans everywhere. If you can’t find or don’t want the single, you can still get the track on the UK best-of compilation The Platinum Collection.
Even though the guitars are thicker than a good ol’ bowl of Thin Lizzy pudding, there is no mistaking this for anything but a Christmas song. It is a joyous rock re-imagining of a Christmas carol, with the unmistakable Justin Hawkins falsetto. It is incredibly difficult not to smile. A suitably joyous music video was made for this song, featuring the band opening gifts from each other such as a double-neck guitar.
“You know those guitars that are like, double guitars?”
The B-side is a non-album track called “I Love You 5 Times”. This slow ballad features Justin teasing like a purring cat, stuttering, and joking around. It’s not one of their most outstanding songs, and wouldn’t make my own Darkness mix tape. It is however a non-album Darkness song with a typically great guitar solo, so not completely a throw-away. The A-side is the reason to get this single.
RECORD STORE TALES Mk II: Getting More Tale #344: Childhood Recording Sessions
When we were kids in the 1980’s, pre-internet, pre-downloading, the only avenue we had to share music with each other was taping. If a friend had an album you wanted, you could try to record it. For example my next door neighbor George had all the Kiss albums, on LP. All he was missing was The Elder. What Kiss albums I didn’t own myself (which was most of them) I gradually taped one by one from George. I’d write down the song titles and make a cassette cover. When George wrote down the songs, I couldn’t always read them. When he did get The Elder in ’86, he made a copy for me. For a little while, I thought Kiss had a song on it called “Escape from the Ish”.
One Sunday afternoon in ’85 I went over to his place with a 60 minute tape, intending to record Unmasked. George dusted off the LP, dropped the needle and hit “record”. At the same time, he also decided to play bass along to the whole album. Somehow, his bass bled through to the tape recorder.
I didn’t find an original copy of Unmasked for two more years. Until that time, all I had to listen to was my taped copy, complete with George’s bass “overdubbed” on top of Gene’s! If I think back and remember really hard, I can still hear in my mind how George kept playing through the song fade outs!
Other recording sessions were far more elaborate. When George acquired Kiss’ Animalize Live Uncensored on VHS tape, he brought it over along with his own VCR, so we could dub a copy, VCR to VCR. On other occasions I would bring our VCR over to my best friend Bob’s place, and record there. My parents hated it when I disconnected the VCR! My dad always seemed to fear we’d never get it hooked up properly again! Or that we’d lose the controller, or worse, break it. But then, if we were recording at my house, my dad would always walk in and mock the bands. “What’s wrong with that man?” my dad said of Bruce Dickinson. “He keeps on screaming as if he’s in terrible pain!”
Copying music improved greatly in the 1990’s. The durability of the blank tapes improved, and dubbing from CD was infinitely better than recording tape to tape. Because of the improvements in quality, the cassettes we dubbed in the 90’s are still playable. Still, there is no comparison in sound to a CD. Finally in 2001, I purchased my first CD burner, enabling me to create the best possible sounding copies of music.
None of those improvements in technology, nor the advent of the CD-R, swayed me from owning an original CD or LP. I may have had a burned copy of the Sultans of Ping F.C., but there’s nothing better than an original. Somebody could send me a CD rip of some amazing rare bonus tracks by bands I like, which is great…but not as great as owning the original.
Why?
I don’t really know. Certainly I have plenty of friends from every age group who are content not to own any CDs. They don’t need to own it in order to listen on an iPod. That’s not good enough for me. I want the whole experience. I want the cover art (on paper, not a computer screen), I want the liner notes. I want to file the new CD on my shelves in the right order, and then gaze upon my collection of a given artist. I like to handle the artwork, the CD, and take a hard squint at the pictures. It’s hard to explain. I can justify it by saying CD just sounds better than an mp3. And as good as CD gets, sometimes vinyl can sound even better.
Even though I don’t need them anymore, I miss the old days of the Sunday recording sessions. I miss the social aspects of friends gathering in somebody’s basement or living room to share and discuss and enjoy music (all of which I later bought, anyway). I miss that feeling of heading home with some new music to listen to, right out of a friend’s collection. But I don’t miss having only enough money to buy blank tapes, instead of originals. I’m much happier now with my collection of well loved physical, original music.
I sure hope I don’t get “trashed” for this review! Incidentally, this is the first CD I ever bought, in December of 1989. I still have it.
ALICE COOPER – Trash (1989 Epic)
After the strictly heavy metal n’ horror sounds of the previous two albums, Constrictor and Raise Your Fist And Yell, Alice decided it was time to get back to more diverse hard rock sounds. This time, he immersed himself in everything that was cool in the late 80’s, and created a “theme album” about sex. Cooper albums usually have themes — Alice Cooper in school (School’s Out), Alice Cooper in hell (Goes To Hell), or Alice Cooper insane (From The Inside). Sex was a new theme for this character.
Alice teamed up with Desmond Child, champion of many Bon Jovi and Aerosmith discs, as well as Mr. Jovi and Mr. Tyler themselves, among others. The result is unfortunately what I consider to be a weak disc, dated to the times, and with only a few strong songs that have held up over the years. It is certainly a creative low, though it did sell oodles of copies and was a sort of “comeback” album for Alice.
The first track and first single, “Poison”, is by far the best song. It is strong because it is based on the riff, and though it is commercial it is not blatantly so. It has a unique vibe to it, something authentic that other bands couldn’t touch. Sadly it’s mostly downhill from there. “Spark In The Dark” is unremarkable (though it does boast a killer riff), and so is the second single “House of Fire”. “House of Fire” at least has a catchy chorus, but it is simply too cookie-cutter. You could exchange it with virtually any single from any band’s albums in 1989. Just look at the writing credits: Desmond Child, Joan Jett, and Alice. Who was this song written for?
“It’s Only Heart Talking”, which was not written by Alice, is a decent ballad made more special with Steven Tyler’s duet. Otherwise, it is forgettable and inferior to later Alice ballads such as “Might As Well Be On Mars” and “Stolen Prayer”. Smash hit, though, so there’s that.
The lyrics to “Trash”, a duet with JBJ himself, are so bad it’s not even funny. “If my love was a lollypop, would you lick it?” Did Jon Bon just say that? “I’m Your Gun” is hardly better. I just can’t bear to listen to those songs. If you’re in the mood for some absolute dreck, check out “This Maniacs’ In Love With You”.
One of the more interesting songs that didn’t make the album was “The Ballad Of Alice Cooper”, written by Jon Bon Jovi. There is a poor quality demo of Bon Jovi doing it in his best Alice voice out there. I think it might have been better than most of the tracks on the CD. The Japanese version, however, does have great live versions of “Cold Ethyl” and “Dwight Fry” recorded during this era. (They can be found on the Alice Cooper Extended Versions CD today.)
This album like its sequel Hey Stoopid was loaded chock full of cameos. Just scanning the credits, besides Bon Jovi and Steven Tyler, I see: Kip Winger, Hugh McDonald, Joe Perry, Richie Sambora, Steve Lukather, Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton. I think these cameos are very little more than hype.
Cooper’s albums tend to go in similar pairs (Nightmare/Goes To Hell, Constrictor/Raise Your Fist, Brutal Planet/Dragontown). Trash is no exception. Although Cooper realized that Trash was too soft and weak, Hey Stoopid is essentially a brother record to this one. I find it to be much much stronger by comparison.
I would tell casual fans instead of picking up this CD, to pick up something like Cooper’s Classicks. You’ll get the major tracks from this as well as some rare live ones.
FIGHT – “Christmas Ride” (1994 single, 2009 free download reissue)
Some people think Halford III: Winter Songs was Rob’s first Christmas release. Truth be told, I don’t even own Winter Songs. Christmas music is barely just above tolerable for me. The completist in me wants to own everything; the music lover in me doesn’t really care for Christmas tunes, metal or otherwise. Besides, in 2009 Rob’s website was offering a limited time free download of “Christmas Ride”, a song Rob recorded in 1994 with Fight! 20 years ago! Unreal.
Don’t let the jingle bells throw you. That soon turns into revving engines, and a chugging Fight riff not too dissimilar from the stuff they did on War of Words. This was, however, probably recorded during the Small Deadly Space sessions, because Mark Chaussee is credited on guitar, even though Russ Parrish appears on the cover.
Either way, it’s purely metal. Rob is screaming in his upper register for all but the choruses, for which he howls. There’s absolutely nothing Christmas-y about the music (which is fine) but I just can’t get into the chorus of “Christmas ride!” The lyrics are funny enough. Fight have paid tribute to Santa this time: “The fat man’s coming and he knows no fear, He’s a big red rebel with some mean reindeer.” There’s even a reference to breakin’ the law: “Cruising ’round town breaking every law, He’ll come back next year to crank it up some more.”
I’m assuming Rob is referring to the crime of break & enter. He may also be breaking various aviation laws, but I don’t know how that works. I’ve never read about any charges being pressed, or warrants being issued, so I’m assuming that these minor infringements have been overlooked because of all the gift giving and so on.
But OK, it’s an alright song. Nothing special, though it does quote the “Nailed to the Gun” riff at one moment. It was released as a promo-only fanclub release in 1994, which I have never laid eyes upon. The free download offer was a legal way for me to get the tune. It also came with “Rob Halford’s Holiday Greeting” (11 seconds)! “Hey everybody, this is Rob Halford from Fight, wishing you all a crazy heavy metal Christmas and an insane, wild manic New Year!” There I spoiled it for you.
Would love a physical copy of this, for the collection. This is for fans only. Grandma will not dig it if you play this at your Christmas dinner this year.
mikeladano.com 