This was a fun show to do. Recorded at the cottage in the summer, Tim and I had a look at the Canadian Top 100 Singles chart, for September 14, 1974. There were plenty of head-scratchers and a few well-known hits. Tim provided the education, all I did was read the listings! Even so, a majorly fun episode to do. Here’s what Tim had to say:
Mr. Lebrain is back and we REWIND the CHARTS back an even half century. We discuss the most popular songs in Canada on this date in 1974.
74 CDs of a Christian parody bands called the ApologetiX? That’s just a taste of what you get when you go through the “A” section of Johnny Metal’s CD collection!
Thank you John for joining me for this blast of an episode. In under an hour, we went through a few hundred CDs from the “A” section. Lots of Christian rock from Johnny, as well as Anthrax, Armored Saint and obscure bands I’ve never heard of before! Of course we had plenty of AC/DC between us. My stack went from Lee Aaron to Autograph.
The Aerosmith section dominated the show, with plenty of CD singles (including 3″), Japanese imports, a DualDisc, EPs, a bootleg and lots of limited collector’s editions. My AC/DC collection also included 3″ CDs, DualDiscs and bootlegs. Johnny and I showed off our Australian AC/DC albums, but not the same ones! We also saw Abba, Ryan Adams (with jokes from Pete Jones on the sidelines), some Jazz, and a few very rare coloured jewel cases.
Of note: We were drinking tonight, but things did not get out of hand!
Thanks for watching everyone…it means the world to me.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 70: The “A” Section with Johnny Metal
Back to basics this week: we are literally showing off stacks of rock! With the CD collection being re-alphabetized, and with Johnny Clauser currently tackling the Accept albums on his music corner of the world, let’s dive into the “A” section!
CDs only this week. Let’s have a look at complete collections of AC/DC, Aerosmith and more! Lee Aaron, Accept, A.S.A.P., Alice In Chains…we’ll look at the whole section of my collection tonight. John will be bringing in select items from his.
Join us live!
Friday September 13 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!
ZZ TOP – The Best of ZZ Top (1977 WEA cassette)
While ZZ Top were on a break between Tejas and Degüello, it made sense to issue the band’s first Best Of. This album was released in 1977 and though it did not chart high, it did eventually go double platinum, selling over 2,000,000 copies in the United States alone.
The cassette and vinyl releases had the sides flipped. This cassette copy in hand begins with “La Grange”, which is still a pretty solid opening even if the vinyl says otherwise! “La Grange” is an ode to a house of ill repute somewhere in Texas, and it became the prototype blues/rock shuffle for a generation. This song still burns up the radio today.
One of ZZ Top’s greatest blues had to be “Blue Jean Blues” from Fandango! So slow, so fully soaked in whiskey and gasoline that you can smell it from here. Billy Gibbons is fully in the driver’s seat here, but it is Frank Beard and Dusty Hill’s unobtrusive rhythm section that allows him to emote so well.
From the first album comes the dirty upbeat blues of “Backdoor Love Affair”. It’s a combination of elements: Billy’s distorted take on the blues guitar, mixed with Dusty’s melodic bass and Beard’s perfect punctuation. By the end of the song, it’s a jam around a tasty riff.
The familiar “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers” from Tres Hombres is an incendiary duet between between Billy and Dusty. Pedal to the metal, ZZ are off on one of the best rockers from the entire catalogue. This is the kind of song that endeared them to the headbangers. Similarly, “Heard it on the X” hones in on the speedy aspect of ZZ Top’s abilities. This is another duet with Dusty and Billy, and an ode to the Mexican radio stations that informed much of ZZ Top’s upbringing.
Flipping the tape, we are now hearing what is side one of vinyl. “Tush” ain’t a bad way to start. It’s the stuff of legend today. It boasts one of Billy’s best guitar riffs, yet it’s still little more than a basic blues. It’s just a winning combination: the blues progressions played by a rocking band. Billy’s leads are as much of legend as the song itself, stinging little zips of flavour in a bluesy soup of chords and drums.
“Waitin’ For the Bus” is a steady blues. The speed has been shed for this heavy sludgy one, with Billy laying down not just a guitar solo but a harmonica solo too, one after the other like one greasy blues rock statement. Then, just like on the Tres Hombres album, “Jesus Just Left Chicago” follows immediately after. Still blues, but of a different flavour. ZZ Top were always talented at showing us different sides of the genre, while mixing it with the sensibilities of rock guitar distortion.
“Francine” is a belter, a perfect pop rock tune, with more rock than pop. Billy’s little riff is tasty as candy, and the song has the necessary melodic mettle. Even so, it is overshadowed by the slide-drenched closer “Just Got Paid”. One of ZZ’s heaviest tracks, it’s made completely digestible by Billy’s incredible guitar work.
If you just got paid today, pick up some ZZ Top.
Notably, this cassette pre-dates any of the ZZ Top remixing shenanigans that happened in the 80s, so purists will get only the original classic tracks.
4.5/5 stars
I conducted this interview with Eddie Jackson of Queensryche in October of 2001. My first interview ever. Eddie gave me over an hour of his time, and told me afterwards it was a lot of fun! The interview was later compressed into an article for Global Bass magazine. I am re-posting it here with the audio now available on YouTube, as well as Soundcloud and a full text transcription (links below).
We recorded direct from the telephone to a cassette deck. It was a great in-depth chat about the band at the time, lineup changes, and the Live Evolution CD that they were currently promoting.
Topics discussed:
…and much more.
Links
Audio
I wanted to play a game of Ms. Pac-Man for this video, but it appears my Plug and Play did not survive the winter. This is a real shame since it also had Pole Position and Dig Dug on it. It will be difficult to replace, as it was a version that came with a cartridge slot. Alas, replace it I must. These used to be cheap, $20 to $25 at Toys R Us.
In this video, I played a regular version of Pac-Man. I didn’t do too badly for being so out of practice, but you’ll see a couple spots where I got frustrated.
RECORD STORE TALES #1154: The Roar
When summer turns to fall at the lake, there is a constant roar. It is always there. It is a mixture of a churning lake only meters away, dulled by the branches of the evergreens, but amplified by the wind. The wind is steady now, always pushing us towards fall.
When we arrived on Thursday night, the weather hadn’t turned foul yet. It was still warm, and the wind was tame enough to fly. I took the drone up for its first lake flight in a month. We haven’t been here for a long time. And now, it’s time to wind things down. No more stocking up on food and games for the season. Instead we are faced with a full freezer needing consumption, and a shelf of Uno variants that we just never got around to.
Models kits unbuilt. ZZ Top’s Eliminator, and a gold C-3P0. Never got to ’em this year. And now there’s no time for it this year. Next year, maybe.
We drove up to the sounds of Triumph Stages, a cottage classic. It took us almost the whole way. When here, we played ELP’s Brain Salad Surgery for research purposes. Opinions were mixed. More on that another time.
My usual routine involves setting up on the porch with my speakers and some music. It’s getting darker sooner, and this was probably the last weekend of the year for that routine.
Now, there is only the sound of the roar.
LEGO Bumblebee 10338 (2024)
The set that got me “back” into Lego was 2022’s 10302 Optimus Prime. The fact they made a fully transformable Prime out of Lego bricks was unbelievable, and it was incredibly fun to built. It took two years, but a second toy in the line has now emerged: everyone’s favourite yellow Volkswagon, Bumblebee!
‘Bee featured heavily in the first two issues of the Marvel comics but soon faded in importance. Meanwhile, in the Sunbow cartoon, he was a main character. In both iterations, he was friend of a human boy named Witwicky: Buster in the comics, Spike in the cartoon. As a toy, Bumblebee was a “minicar”: less detailed, smaller, and affordable. He was a “penny racer” Volkswagon, small and compact, but could transform into a robot in two or three seconds, unlike bigger toys.
The Lego version of Bee has 950 pieces and costs $120. Prime had 1508 pieces at double the price. Bee is also far more complex in terms of construction and transformation. Prime has always been a simple design: fold out the legs and arms and that’s the most of it. Bee has to fold up from a tall robot to a compact car. There are a lot of steps and tricks to transforming Bee. He has a lot of hinges and flaps that have to be moved out of the way. Bee, however, has one weakness that Prime did not: partsfotming. Partsforming is a derogatory term for a transformation that involves removing segments and putting them back again in a different place. On Bumblebee, that would be his windshield/backpack. The first step of transformation is to remove the windshield segment, and fold it up. It will eventually become Bee’s jetpack.
Building was fun without a lot of repetitive steps. There are also some new parts in this set, parts that are new in particular colours, and lots of printed details including two Autobot logo tiles. We start at the feet. Once both feet are complete, we clip them together. This becomes the front of the car. From then on, we are essentially building Bumblebee in car mode. In that sense, it’s not that different from building other large Lego kits. As you build, you’re not entirely sure what is going to go where when he transforms, and that is part of the fun. When you’re done, you have a really nice Volkswagon model with the curves more or less in the right places. Leeway must be given for some gappiness in front and back, but it could pass for a Lego Volkswagon model in this mode. Lego also gives you some extra pieces: Two plain yellow tiles for those who want the Autobot logo hidden, and an alternate license plate. The license plates allow you to name your car Goldbug or Bumblebee. Goldbug was a name that Bee went by when a new toy of his was issued in 1987. Bumblebee was the first Transformers character ever reissued with a brand-new toy.
Putting this toy together was finicky, since there are so many hinges that clip into place. Getting to the head and seeing the printed face was a nice surprise. Lego could have included an alternate toy-accurate face to go with the license plates, but that of course would add to the cost. The windows are transparent blue, which looks so cool and matches up with some later toy versions of the character. There is also a tiny transparent piece with a little cartoon bee printed on it. That goes behind the windshield, as if a little bee was loose inside.
Bee also comes with a name plate, and a blue blaster gun, similar in design to his Sunbow character. The original toy and comic versions of Bee were unarmed, but later toys include weapons, some similar to this blaster. It clips onto a bar hidden on his hands. You don’t need his fingers to hold it, but all eight fingers do move – something that Lego Optimus can’t do. Lego have learned from that model, listened to fans, and the improvement is here in Bumblebee.
Bee has limited articulation in robot mode. The knees and feet cannot move. The hips can, and there is a little bit of an elbow hinge, with about 90 degrees of movement. You can rotate the arms 360 degrees at the shoulder, and get a little bit of poseability there. He can stand very sturdily in robot mode, with rubber pads on the bottoms of his feet keeping him from slipping too much.
Prime rated an easy 5/5. Bee has more value in price per parts ratio, and has a more complex transformation, while still including plenty of printed pieces. The only thing Bee has going against him is the partsforming, but that’s it.
4.5/5 stars
RECORD STORE TALES #1153: The Roots of Trauma
I don’t remember the photo session, but I remember the picture clearly. My red, white and black shirt is what I recall the most easily about this picture. I couldn’t remember my age or what I looked like in the photo, but I remember that shirt. This portrait was on display at my parents’ house for many years, along with others depicting my sister and I as children.
When I saw this picture again, for the first time in probably decades, I was shocked. I looked into my own face and I read my own mind.
I still make that face. know every angle of the eyes and the curvature of the mouth. I am intimately familiar with that face. It is the face of anxiety and fear. If you have ever seen me make that face, it wasn’t a good day.
You can’t blame my parents. Back then, nobody knew any better. Baby was crying, baby didn’t want his photo taken. So you ignored the crying, you sat the baby down, and you let the photographer take the photo. There were going to be lots more photos. He’d better get used to this.
I look at the picture and I don’t see a baby crying for his first portrait. I see the fear and the need to be understood. I was always “shy” around strangers. You can imagine how I felt, with this strange photographer and in this weird place with a shag carpet beneath me and a dreary grey background. My parents were probably frustrated that they were paying for this photo, and this baby keeps crying. I can read that face. It’s the face that says, “I’m in distress here and why isn’t anybody listening to me?”
My whole life, I have felt like people don’t listen to me. They either don’t understand what I’m trying to convey or they just won’t listen. I have had dreams about this going back to when I was a kid. Trying to tell people what I’m feeling or what I need, and being dismissed. Eventually the frustration at not being understood boils over to screaming. To me, there is nothing worse than not being heard. To this day, sometimes the only person who understands what I’m saying and feeling is Jen.
In this picture, I see a need. I clearly wanted the hell out of there, and back home where felt safe and sound. I needed someone to hug me, tell me it was alright, and it will be over in just a minute. I needed someone to touch me and say, “I know you’re scared, this is all new to you. I know that camera and all that stuff looks scary. I know that person is a stranger, but if you need me I’m right here and I won’t let anything happen to you.” I needed that time being reassured. I can see it in my face. It’s as clear as words on paper.
This picture makes me feel a lot of things. I see my entire future laid about before me. So many fears. Going to school, learning to drive, living alone…that’s the face of someone who doesn’t want those things. He wants to stay home with his mom and dad, where he would be safe and surrounded only by familiar things and people who love him. This is the face of someone who is so uncomfortable that he is questioning why mom and dad are doing this to him. This is the face of someone who feels utterly alone inside.
It was over in minutes and forgotten, but I can’t help but feel that seeds were being sown.
There’s nobody to blame. Nobody knew any better. I couldn’t even talk, let alone understand all this terror I was feeling. I couldn’t have said “That person is a stranger and something about them is bothering me, I don’t know what those things are, I don’t like being up on this table covered with a shag carpet, and can someone please just tell me what is happening right now?” All I could do was cry.
I hate being this way. I hate the constant anxiety that nibbles away at me every day. I hate the feeling of not being understood. It’s amazing to think that I can see all this in my baby picture.
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