Yesterday, we threw a surprise birthday party for my dad (not on his actual birthday but a week later). I had the idea, from a promotion that Dave FM did a few months back, to get in touch with Chef D about throwing my dad a private birthday dinner. My “cousin” Luigi appeared on Chef’s TV show, At Home With Chef D, last year which is when I first heard of the Chef. (He will be filming the third season of At Home With Chef D at the Kitchener Market!)
This was to be a surprise to my dad. My dad doesn’t like a big fuss, or anybody to spend a lot of money on him. He does like a good meal. No problem. What could be less fuss than a private dinner with family? And Chef D’s dinner was affordably priced. I covertly made the arrangements with the Chef. My sister lives across the street from my dad. Chef would be cooking dinner there, so my dad wouldn’t have a clue what was going on. At the appropriate time, we would coax my dad into visiting my sister across the street. (That part was harder than expected, he was getting suspicious of our intent.)
When we got my dad over to my sister’s place, Chef D and his wife Trish were already setting up. My dad was in shock. It was great!
The evening’s menu:
1. Medley of mushroom and mascarpone cheese soup
2. Roasted tomatoes, arugula shaved Parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil from Tuscany 12yr old balsamic vinegar
3. Chicken Supremes stuffed with an Apricot Chutney, Asparagus Risotto, roasted Red Pepper reduction
4. Duo of Chocolate, white chocolate coconut milk pots of cream, lemon curd chocolate shortbread cups
I don’t even know where to begin when discussing the food. I think my favourite dish was the soup, it was absolutely delightful. I also loved the roasted tomatoes. I have never had a roasted tomato like that before. Apparently it cooks for four hours, and it comes out delicious and crispy. Chef and Trish told us stories about the preparation as they served us. The spices he collected, the oils, even the plates had a story.
My dad can sometimes be a tough customer to please, but he had a great time. So did everyone else.
Thanks Chef D for making my dad’s birthday a happy one!
Normally I assign 5 star ratings to anything I review. I’ve never reviewed food before, but…
5/5 stars
Make sure you check out his site ChefDTV.com and his creations!
OZZY OSBOURNE – Ultimate Live Ozzy(1986 CBS picture 12″ record)
T-Rev bought this for me a year or two ago, God knows where he found it! All I know is that one day I got a text from him saying, “Mikey, Ultimate Live Ozzy picture disc, do you need it?” I obviously said yes, I didn’t care what it was exactly. I figured it was probably live cuts from The Ultimate Ozzy home video release. I know that Ozzy picture discs go for crazy amounts of money at record shows, and this one was affordably priced.
Picture discs don’t sound the best, and this one even has a label on the front warning the consumer of this fact. Unfortunately my plastic sleeve isn’t in the greatest shape, although the record is absolutely perfect. I love the way the turntable spindle sticks out of Ozzy’s tongue on one side. The other side has a picture of Ozzy and guitarist Jake E. Lee with the girl from The Ultimate Sin album cover. Jake’s taking a bite out of her bum.
Here’s the weird thing. Even though the label clearly states these are live versions from Kansas City in 1986 (the Ultimate Ozzy video shoot), there are no live songs. There are three tracks per side, and both sides are identical. They contain the studio versions of “The Ultimate Sin”, “Never Know Why”, and “Thank God for the Bomb”. The studio versions — not live versions! Somebody screwed up somewhere; you have to assume one side was meant to have the live tracks, and the other the studio counterparts. Information is scarce, except that there are multiple reports of the same issue for this picture disc on the web.
Thankfully, the three missing live tracks are on the Prince of Darkness box set. It’s always nice to get some live Ozzy stuff with Jake E. Lee, since it’s so rare to find. Randy Castillo (R.I.P.) is on drums, and like him or not, he has a signature style that he utilized with Ozzy. I enjoy his drumming. The live versions are more keyboard heavy than the studio counterparts. I enjoy Jake’s echoey guitar intro to “Thank God for the Bomb” which sounds cool live.
I’d love to know if these three live tracks were actually released on vinyl at all in 1986. Prince of Darkness was released in 2005; that’s a long time to wait to finally get the tracks in an audio format! I do have the Ultimate Ozzy video on VHS, but it has never been released on an official DVD. Knowing of Ozzy’s loathing for this period, I wonder if it ever will be. I doubt it. It’s too bad, because some have a fondness for The Ultimate Sin and its songs.
If this picture disc had contained the live tracks it was supposed to, I’d give it 4/5 stars. However, for a screwup this colossal:
0/5 stars. At least it looks cool.
Final note: When originally released, this disc came with postcards and a poster. I have neither.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 295: That Damn Phone Again!
Getting phone calls from simpletons is part of every day life when you work in a store. I’m sure you’ve had dozens of your own that you could share for a chuckle, if you’ve ever slaved over a hot cash register for a living. That’s to be expected. Another thing that grinds your gears is the repetition of certain questions. I would say on average, these would have been my five most common questions over the phone:
1. “When do you open/close?”
2. “Do you have (artist), (title)?”
3. “How much?”
4. “How much can you give me for my (artist), (title) CD?” (We couldn’t do quotes over the phone without seeing the product. This will be discussed in further detail in a future Record Store Tale.)
5. “Do you still have that sale on washer/dryer units?”
That last question was because people often called us thinking we were Sears. Maybe the numbers were similar. I never figured that one out, but it happened often enough!
Perhaps the question that irritated me the most due to its frequency was “Is the owner in?” After several years of hard work he no longer worked in a store. He had an office with his own phone number. This question would come many times a day from friends and business associates. I’d just give them his office number and get them to call there. His office was just in the back of the store, but we had separate store and office lines for a reason. (I remember way back in the old original store, we had one line that was for both the phone and the VISA machine. You couldn’t run a credit card if you were on the phone.)
I was most irritated the time I caught hell for one such call. A friend of his had phoned the store, but he was out of his office. I asked if he’d like to leave a message, and he declined. He did however pepper me with questions.
“I’m coming to town in a few days to visit,” he began. “Can you recommend a good hotel that’s close to him?”
I’ve never stayed in a hotel in my home town in my life. What am I a travel agency? I suggested the Waterloo Inn.
“Are there good places to eat around there?”
The questions kept coming! Did I have the number for the Waterloo Inn? Were there good bars in town to hit? Do I have the address?
This being a friend of the boss, I did my best to answer, but I really didn’t have a clue. Finally the guy hung up, once again declining to leave a message. “Nah that’s OK, I’ll try him at home later.”
So, the next day I got in shit.
“Mike,” said the boss. “A friend of mine called here yesterday looking for me. You didn’t give me the message.”
The frustration boiled inside me. Seriously? “He didn’t want to leave a message!” I defended myself. “He asked me a good hotel to stay in that’s close to you so I suggested the Waterloo Inn.”
I got a lecture on writing down messages. The good news is, his friend never called me for hotel recommendations again!
MOTLEY CRUE – New Tattoo (2000 Motley records, EU edition with bonus track and 2 CD edition)
The worst Crue album? Could be Theater of Pain, Generation Swine, or 2000’s New Tattoo. I don’t like speaking ill of the dead, but Randy Castillo was not a suitable replacement for Tommy Lee. Tommy Lee isn’t a great technical drummer by any stretch, but he has bombast and his songwriting is crucial to the Motley sound. Here, the songwriting void is filled by future Sixx A.M. collaborator James Michael.
The drum sound is flat and lifeless, the guitar is dry, and there is simply no fire here. The songs drone from soundalike to soundalike, and you will forget which is which. This is the Crue on cruise control if not pure autopilot. Of course, the band hyped this as a “return to the roots” album, which it is not. The Crue’s roots are bombastic loud chrome plated sleezy metal with loads of attitude and aggression. This is dull, pointless, meandering rock that goes nowhere. Without Tommy, I am inclined to say there is no Crue. Compare this to the Vince-less self titled 1994 album, a 5/5 star release all the way. Who is more crucial to the band’s energy?
Not one, I repeat, not one great song here, but plenty of mediocre ones. “Hell On High Heels” isn’t too bad, but it’s certainly not up to the standards of Motley Crue singles past. Also half decent is “Punched In the Teeth By Love”, a title which dates back to 1991’s Decade of Decadence. Unfortunately the majority of New Tattoo is clogged up with dreck like “She Needs Rock N’ Roll”, “Hollywood Ending” and the title track. Nothing stands out after numerous listens.
MVP: Mick Mars, who always seems to nail a tasty solo when needed.
The saving grace to this particular release is the live disc with Samantha Maloney (ex-Hole) on drums. It is more fun and entertaining than the album itself, but maybe that’s because the live disc is 66.6% oldies. The two demos included are no better than the album versions, but collectors should be aware that Europe got a version with a different bonus track called “Time Bomb”. On top of that, Japan got an exclusive song called “American Zero”. It’s too bad it was relegated to Japan alone, because it might be the only track that actually hearkens back to the good old days.
Avoid. A bore and a chore to listen to. Pick up 1994’s self-titled release instead.
Welcome to the semi-regular feature where I reveal stunningly weird search terms that led people to mikeladano.com For the last installment, Heavy Porn Metal edition, click here!
WTF SEARCH TERMS XX: Questions & Comments edition
1.is john norum bald and wears awig(ask Jon Wilmenius, he knows everything about bald Swedish rockers!)
2.did pete woodroffe play in led zepplin (I sincerely hope nobody over the age of 15 needs to ask who was in Led Zeppelin.)
3.chad kroeger douche (yes.)
4.dave donato sucks(meh.)
5.styx goofy keyboard player (Lawrence Gowan is goofy?)
6.what would a record store smell like (as I said in Part 57, farts.)
I read the news today that bassistRandy Covenhad passed away at age 54 of undisclosed causes. My friend and former customer as well as a bassist himself,Warren Murchie, shared a few words regarding the passing of Mr. Coven.
By Warren Murchie
I met Randy Coven first off at a gig he had doubling up with Stu Hamm. Now, Stu’s albums are really good, not only as a bassist but also as a songwriter, and his works with Joe Satriani were incredible to say the least. I do have to say though that at this double bill, with both Randy and Stu and their respective bands and solo CDs, it was Randy that really stepped forward and was nothing short of incredible.
I HAD to talk to the guy afterwards, knowing he was someone that really had something to say to bass players in my mag. He proved to be forthcoming, informative and knowledable, and a hell of a decent character. (Many years later I met Stu Hamm in Switzerland at a bass clinic and he was a great dude too!).
As to Randy,both then and now I regret the fact that he did not have the opportunity or perhaps the wish to really create a portfolio of works. The guy was a brilliant bassist, equal to Billy Sheehan or Gary Strater of Starcastle, but of a different bent musically. It seem to be a good fit that Randy worked both with Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen over the years. He was, as Chris Squire was and is, a Lead Bassist. Like Chris however, Randy knew when to back off and work in a band environment. He could be a Team Player while still being so dazzlingly good he stood out regardless — perhaps because he could play at an Yngwie or Steve Vai level if he needed to, but also knew when to just shut up and hold the groove down.
We are all beholden to Randy, for all he added to the instrument over his all too short life. I know the world of bassists is head over heels in love with what Jaco Pastorius gave to us as a lighthouse in the dark for inspiration, but Randy, never receiving his just dues, added so much as well and demanded little. We are all lesser for the loss of him! If reincarnatinon is true, he will be screaming back here to bring us the next chapter of where bass is going to….
RAINBOW – Finyl Vinyl (1986, 2 CD Rainbow Remasters edition)
Finyl Vinyl was the third Rainbow album I bought, right after Rising and Straight Between the Eyes. The year was ’96, and the place was Dr. Disc. I bought it on vinyl initially, because the original CD edition omitted two tracks for space limits (a major flaw with double albums issued in the early CD age). However what I did not know until recently was that the vinyl also omitted a song: “Street Of Dreams” which was only available on cassette!
This complete 2 CD remaster contains all the songs from all the versions. For sheer portability reasons, it made sense for me to own this. I have filed my vinyl copy away, and I now rely entirely on this new Universal CD version.
I love Finyl Vinyl and even though it was issued posthumously and consists mostly of unreleased live songs, I think it’s one of the most enjoyable Rainbow albums to listen to. It contains music from all three of the original Rainbow eras: Dio, Bonnett, and Turner. It leans most heavily on the Joe Lynn Turner era, with only a couple songs from the Ronnie James Dio era. Graham Bonnett also appears on two songs, and there is an instrumental B-side from his Down To Earth era as well. It is worth noting that the B-sides contained herein have been issued on other albums since.
Finyl Vinyl contains a lot of my favourites, and in great versions too: “I Surrender” and “Miss Mistreated” sound great live. Pop rock goodness, made classy as only Blackmore/Turner can do it. “Jealous Lover” is a standout midtempo burner from the Joe Lynn era. Blackmore’s picking is resplendent. Unfortunately the two Dio-era songs don’t have the fidelity of the later Turner recordings, but you can’t have a Rainbow collection without representing Ronnie James. That is done via unreleased 1978 live versions of “Man on the Silver Mountain” and “Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll”.
My only complaint: The photos inside are too damn small and blurry. One of my favourite things about the vinyl release was that there were pictures of almost every incarnation of Rainbow, but here you can barely tell who’s who. Too small, too blurry like a bad scan; the booklet should have been expanded. Also, the credits still contain some errors that were never corrected from the original vinyl issue (see Wikipedia).
QUEENSRYCHE – Promised Land (1994 EMI, Japanese import)
I’m sure the pressure was on to top Empire, so what did Queensryche do? They retreated to an isolated but luxurious cabin on an island, and wrote & recorded an introspective atmospheric masterpiece of a record. Far from record companies and hangers-on, the band focused on the art. By their own admission, the isolation (plus smoking pot and drinking wine) were catalysts for this great album.
I spoke to bassist Eddie Jackson about 13 years ago regarding this album, and I told him I thought it had a lot in common with Rage For Order. He didn’t see it at first, but both albums feature loads of sound effects and atmospherics. Neither album is a true concept album, but both have recurring themes and ideas that run the course of the CD. Promised Land is a deeply personal CD, mostly slower-paced, and one that must be listened to with headphones on.
Drummer Scott Rockenfield came up with the opening piece, “9:28 a.m.”, which is a collage of tones and sounds, ending with some shattering chimes and a baby’s birth. This melds into the first song, “I Am I”, not a typical Queensryche rocker by any stretch but certainly one of the most brilliant things they’ve ever composed. Tate’s lyrics begin the introspective theme of the album, backed by odd percussion instruments, voices, sitar, cello (by guitarist Chris DeGarmo) and droning power chords. There is so much going on beneath the surface of this song; that is why I say that headphones are required.
A skipping CD sound leads straight into the next song, the heavy and dark “Damaged”. “Damaged” is about psychological damage, the effect that bad relationships and experiences have on the self. At various times, Tate’s voice doubles and triples and quadruples, seemingly indicating multiple personalities, or perhaps voices in head. At one point it sounds like his voice has short circuited. Eddie Jackson told me that effect was a total accident in the studio that they couldn’t duplicate.
DeGarmo’s “Out Of Mind” follows, an acoustic piece regarding mental illness. It is a nice quiet composition with spare drumming and a beautiful DeGarmo guitar solo. This break in the pace continues with the next acoustic song, “Bridge”. DeGarmo’s shattered relationship with his father is the theme here. He has hinted before at issues with his father, (“Are you my father? The one that was promised?” from “Screaming In Digital”) but here we get more of the story. His father wishes to mend bridges, but DeGarmo tells him, “You never built it, dad.” A sad tale, and an odd choice for a single, but a single it was.
Side one ended with the powerful epic title track which is nearly 9 minutes long. Anchored by Eddie Jackson’s rumbling bass and Geoff Tate’s atmospheric sax, this is a mindblowing song. The lyrics deal with the fact that as youths, we are told that the world is our oyster, and a promised land is waiting for us. But it doesn’t pan out that way for everybody. There are many voices and sound effects in the background of this song, and Tate’s vocal is wracked with feeling. You can hear that this is taking place in a bar (“Drinks for all my friends!) Again, use headphones!
You hear a person leaving the bar, walking across a gravel lot. This melds into industrial city sounds. Soon the next track has begun, “Disconnected” (writted as “Dis con nec ted” in the lyric sheet). Tate’s vocal is spoken, to great effect. When he speaks in a staggered manner (“I must…release…my…rage…”) it is so understated; yet another mindblowing moment. Again, this song is anchored by Eddie Jackson’s deep bass lines, underscoring. Due to the odd staggered vocal, this song will not be for everybody. On the surface, it sort of resembles “Della Brown” from Empire. This song seems to be about feeling disconnected from the world around us, despite the technology that supposedly brings us together.
“Lady Jane” follows, revisting the mental illness theme. This is a dramatic piano-based song; the piano is played by Chris DeGarmo. The next track is the most straightforward song on the album, “My Global Mind”. A rocker with few frills, this is perhaps the most Empire-sounding of all the tracks. The plaintive “One More Time” comes next, with some amazing melodies and a fairly standard song structure.
All this leads into one epic final song, “Someone Else?” which is simply piano and voice. The lyrics, as with all of Promised Land, are incredible and Tate’s vocal is among the best he’s ever sung. Looking back, the person he is seems to have been someone else all along. This look back ends the album, which of course started with the birth sequence. Very nice bookends.
The Japanese got bonus tracks (of course), one of which is “Real World” from the Last Action Hero soundtrack. Strings are the main feature here, by the late Michael Kamen. The arrangement is a little too saccharine for me, but that’s Kamen for you. Then we also have the “full band” version of “Someone Else?” which adds an entire verse, but loses the piano arrangement that made the song special in the first place.
The remastered edition of Promised Land (which I don’t have and don’t need) has two additional live tracks, which were “Damaged” and “Real World” recorded in ’94. There were, of course, lots more live tracks available on singles at the time, but for those you will have to track down the actual singles. Some of them, such as “Dirty Lil’ Secret” which was issued with the Empire remaster, for whatever reason. And of course there was the ultimate rarity, an acoustic song called “Two Mile High” which was recorded specifically for the Queensryche’s Promised Land video game. This too is not included on the remastered CD, leaving the song frustratingly unavailable today.
On a final note, when I saw ‘Ryche live in Toronto on the final date of the Promised Land tour, they played the entire album live (albeit not in order), a good 10-15 years before doing so was in vogue. That’s how strong this album is, and that’s how good this band is.
Headphones are a must. Multiple listens are a must. Queensryche have never been deeper or more trippy. A masterpiece.
In addition to sharing stories that I hope make you laugh, I also like to share my knowledge from over a decade of Record Store experience. As a manager, I knew customer service was king. It was easy for some stores to beat us on pricing. It was also a given that one or two stores had better stock. Because of location and client base, some stores simply got in cooler used music. These are things you have limited control over. What you can control is your own customer service.
Rule #1: Ask everybody* (in a non-intrusive, non-annoying way) if they need help finding anything.
The reason for this is really simple. People are shy. They’re less likely to ask you for help than they are to leave if they can’t find what they are looking for. If you don’t scare the customer off by being overbearing, you have at bare minimum indicated that you are available for questions if they have any at any time. This invitation can make the difference between a sale and a not-sale.
I have had experiences when I approached people, and it immediately made a difference. I walked up to a guy and asked if he needed help, and he simply responded, “No, thank you.” Then, 30 seconds later, he had a question for me about a CD. A lot of people say “no” immediately as a knee-jerk reaction. Their shields are up and they don’t want to be “sold” anything. But now that they think about it, they can ask you that question about the CD in their hands.
Rule #2: Don’t double up!!
I was out shopping today. I went to two stores: Reebok, and ECS Coffee. I went to both stores having a good idea of what I was looking for. Customer service was pleasant at ECS, not pushy, but a little much for my taste. What I always tried to avoid doing was “doubling up” on a customer. That means, if Suzy asks the customer if they need help, then James should not ask the same customer 5 minutes later. I ran into this at ECS, but they were very pleasant and it was easy to forgive.
Reebok were more aggressive, and I was actually tripled up there, not including the greeter who informed us of their 40% off sale. Sales people were everywhere. At the record store, I really tried to avoid this. Usually we’d have two staff members on duty, so you could easily double up on customers. What I tried to do was co-ordinate it a little better. I’d communicate who I had spoken to. “The guy in the blue there? I’ve already asked him for help, but his buddy in the red I have not.” If I saw a staff member making their way to a customer I’d already asked, I’d try to get their attention before they asked again. I think it worked out pretty well. We reduced the doubling up factor pretty successfully.
Try these tips out in your own stores. Let me know how it works out for you!
* We were allowed to make exceptions in cases such asThe Lady in Red.
Yesterday we examined Judas Priest’s British Steel, the original album and first CD of this three disc set. Today we’ll look at the live stuff and packaging. If you missedyesterday’s installment, click here.
JUDAS PRIEST – British Steel (30th Anniversary Edition, 2010 Sony)
You could buy the British Steel 30th Anniversary Edition in several configurations:
A CD/DVD set with the album and a live DVD of British Steel played live in 2009,
A 2 CD/DVD set with the live 2009 concert duplicated on CD (minus one song),
iTunes download with all the music from both CDs plus the missing song (“Prophecy”).
The 2 CD/DVD edition is beautifully housed in digipack, with lots of photos in a nice booklet with essay. The photos are all from their recent tour; none are vintage, which disappointed me. I would have loved some fly-on-the-wall photos of them recording this album at Ringo Starr’s house, Tittenhurst Park. Maybe no such photos exist?
The second CD, only available in this edition, is packed to the brim. “Prophecy” wouldn’t have fit or the CD would have run over 80 minutes. Otherwise, it is a straight stereo mix of the same content on the DVD. With audio being my primary medium to enjoy, I obviously needed the version that came with the live CD. The iTunes bonus track was available for separate purchase, so that was easy to add to my files, once ripped.
The third disc of course is the DVD. Backed by a British Steel backdrop, Priest played the album in sequence remarkably well considering their ages! Only drummer Scott Travis wasn’t around for the original album, but he plays the drum parts pretty straight to the original, minus Dave Holland’s robotic coldness.
The main question people have when discussing Priest live is, “What was Halford’s voice like?” It is true that he is an older man today and has to restrain himself and change arrangements in order to sing the songs. This is no exception, but man, when he screams, he still has it! He just screams less, which makes sense. The vocal melodies of some songs have been re-arranged, which may or may not be to your taste. Surely, the vocal melody is such an important part of each song. Halford sings what sounds like harmony parts to the original melodies in order to sneak around certain high parts. It is what it is. And, as per many concerts, the audience sings some choruses on their own when it comes to the big hits.
I was pretty impressed with the live stuff after British Steel. This is surely one of the best live versions of “Victim of Changes”. Halford nails that angry end scream perfectly, I thought his head would explode. “Hell Patrol” was a nice touch. “Freewheel Burning” stumbles a bit. “Prophecy” was excellent, and I’m glad a Nostradamus track was included. Halford seems to relish spitting out the words. Satisfyingly, “Diamonds and Rust” is done in its electric version. An excellent surprise. The album ends, predictably, with Halford’s “audience participation” thing, and “Another Thing Coming” which I could probably do without at this point.
One thing I’m starting to notice, is that Priest are sort of nerdy live. From Rob’s audience participation thing (“Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah YEAH yeah!”), to the stage moves, to Scott Travis’ weird drum stick thing on “United”, this is the concert equivalent of a Star Trek convention in some ways. But Priest have never been trendy, and they’ve always seemed oblivious to it. I guess that’s what makes them cool.
The DVD is rounded out by 30 minutes of interviews with Rob, KK, Glenn and Ian (no Scott). This is the kind of thing most people would probably only watch once, especially when the Classic Albums series already released a full DVD of the making of British Steel.
Now to the British Steel 30th Anniversary set as whole: As good a package as this is, I wish there was less emphasis on the “today” portion and more attention paid to the 30th anniversary of the original album. There is at least one unofficial full concert CD from the 1980 tour out there (live in Denver), released unofficially. Surely Priest could have included some vintage live recordings as well?.
4/5 stars. Despite my beefs, this is a great collection for your collection!
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