I wrote a review for this album back in 2010, not so glowing. For me, the album just sat there. Even though Crash Karma are made up of members of some of my favourite Canadian bands from the 90’s wave of alterna-hard rock, nothing happened. I did the review, gave it a middling review and forgot about it.
About six months later, I’ll be damned if the whole thing didn’t just suddenly “click” with me. Rethinking my position, I had to re-write my review. I think Crash Karma works best after a few listens.
Crash Karma consist of Edwin (ex-I Mother Earth) on lead vocals, guitarist Mike Turner (ex-Our Lady Peace), drummer Jeff Burrows (The Tea Party), and someone named Amir Epstein on bass. They combine some of the best elements of the bands that spawned them. At first I saw a another faceless post-grunge band rocking past their prime, but now I’m getting it a little more. To the contrary, it sounds like these guys have some ideas to get off their chests. Wracked with Mike Turner’s angular guitar riffage and some mature and pensive lyrics by Edwin, this album rocks. Edwin is singing better than he has in years, pushing the voice to the limits we remember from the heady I Mother Earth prime. Turner is rocking much harder than Our Lady Peace, and much more straightforwardly. Burrows, freed of The Tea Party’s exotic leanings, lays down hard fast fills, recorded expertly by Turner. The result is a collection of songs that combines some of the best elements from the original bands, mixed in with some latter-day Rush. (Edwin is a veteran of Alex Lifeson’s Victor album.)
Best songs include IME-like “Like A Wave” (the opener), “Awake”, and the furious “Fight”. Another track I begrundingly like is “Lost”, a slow one that sounds a bit too close to Edwin’s solo hit “Alive”. The melodies and vibe are suspiciously alike. However there is no filler on this album. It works better as an album, a single piece, than individual songs. Rather than make a road CD with your favourites on it, this one works as a front-to-back listen.
I still don’t like the cover. The punk dude makes it look like I’m buying something from fucking Simple Plan or Theory Of a Dead Man. It’s not like the guys’ faces are all that recognizable, even in Canada. It’s a shame because this album just disappeared. I never heard the tracks on the radio and back in the early 90’s, these guys were the kings of radio. I rarely saw it in the stores, I never saw ads for these guys on tour. It seems that this album will appeal to dudes from the post grunge era, not so much for younger kids. They did release a second album in 2013, called Rock Musique Deluxe (co-produced by Terry Brown) — but I have not heard it yet. (Send me a copy, E1, and I’ll be happy to review it!)
Crash Karma: great musicianship, great songs, very good album. Check it out.
I still remember the circumstances surrounding me originally getting this on CD. As recounted in an earlier Record Store Tale, Tom and I were at a party. We were listening to some sHeavy, and Tom mentioned the Brant Bjork solo album as another must-have. Being a fan of Brant Bjork’s drumming from Fu Manchu, I ordered it without hearing a single track. Tom attempted to describe it by calling it “a cross between Fu Manchu and surf rock.” Interesting.
10 years later, when Bjork reissued it on vinyl, he added the UFO-centric Blue Oyster Cult cover bonus track, “Take Me Away”. Automatic re-buy. It doesn’t really sound like the rest of the album, but who cares? It’s Brant Bjork covering Blue Oyster Cult. But that’s not the only reason to re-buy Jalamanta.
What a beautiful record! The first thing you’ll notice is the new cover. All black with the Brant Bjork skull embossed. Beautiful. Open it up to get at the booklet with all new photos. The booklet truly is a work of art. Remember when you used to buy an LP, and you’d sit down in front of your stereo staring at the pictures, trying to make out every little detail until the record was done? Brant Bjork takes us back to that time.
The cover page is what appears to be an awesomely greasy Mexican meal, and then the final page is the empty plate — a satisfied customer. Just like with this LP. You can really get stuffed on the grooves and tones contained herein. There are plenty of low-key, incessantly grooving instruments. The music is simple, repetitive, but effective. It’s not heavy, but it feels weighty nonetheless.
The lyrics are included. Here’s an example, from “Automatic Fantastic”:
The man shakes me down, that’s why I’m broke. Rich man’s got all the green but it ain’t the kind you smoke. So we turn up the rock, and we roll it slow. We’re always flying high, and the ride is always low.
Musically, if you haven’t heard this album before, I don’t really know how to describe the songs. Bjork plays almost everything himself, and the vibe is laid back. He sings on every song but “Toot” which is handled by Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson). He’s chosen to mix his vocals way back and emphasize the unadorned guitars and drums. The mix is spare, quiet at times, loud at others, but always trippy. Imagine driving down a deserted highway on a hot summer night with the windows down. This is the soundtrack to that ride.
This is one of those album that sounds like it was just meant to be heard on 180 gram vinyl. There’s no sound like it in the world. I noticed a heck of a lot more bass, the bassline on “Lets Get Chinese Eyes” being particularly sublime. This album just sounds stunning now.
5/5 stars
“Lazy Bones” – 1:29
“Automatic Fantastic” – 6:59
“Cobra Jab” – 3:18
“Too Many Chiefs…Not Enough Indians” – 3:44
“Sun Brother” – 4:45
“Lets Get Chinese Eyes” – 4:45
“Toot” – 5:58
“Defender of the Oleander” – 7:53
“The Low Desert Punk” – 5:20
“Waiting for a Coconut to Drop” – 4:17
“Her Brown Blood” – 4:16
“Indio” – 4:15
“Take Me Away” – 5:35 (Blue Öyster Cult cover) vinyl only bonus track
2014 has already been a stellar year for quality television programming. In addition to a healthy roster of returning classics such as The Amazing Race, Survivor, and Big Brother Canada, we were treated to the greatest season of the most dramatic of them all: The Bachelor. Through your TV screens, you traveled the world, watching many beautiful women from many beautiful talent agencies throwing themselves at the most voluminous douchebag in recent memory: Juan Pablo Galavis.
Aye-yai-yai.
Not every Bachelor has the distinction of getting dumped, twice. Juan Pablo earned that record, with great effort.
The season starts promisingly. At first, Juan Pablo takes a special liking to a the talented Opera singer Sharleen, who earns the “first impression rose”. Giving a pretty girl a rose should set a Bachelor up for smooth sailing.
Sharleen is very reluctant to accept his advances; she carries nothing more than a physical attraction to the Venezuelan soccer player. Of the quality of her relationship with Juan Pablo, she said, “If only I was a little dumber.”
Batting 1000 so far, Juan Pablo!
There is also a dark horse named Andi who Juan Pablo sees potential with. Near the end of the series, the contestants are given a camera-free evening in a luxury hotel to get to know each other a little better. Juan Pablo proves he is nothing more than a narcissist by making everything about him. Fed up, she dumps him in the morning. Juan Pablo’s response to her feelings: “Is OK. Is fine,” the very words that drove her insane prior to this. Juan Pablo seems to have three words in his vocabulary: “Is,” “OK,” and “fine.” When appropriate he plays the language card to escape the wrath of Andi. Sucks getting dumped on national television I guess? Aye-yai-yai!
Juan Pablo describes himself as an “honest” family man who loves his daughter, but he plays these two things like cards too. If things don’t go exactly as Juan Pablo expects things to go, he throws his Daddy status in their faces. But is OK. Even Juan Pablo’s mother called him “sometimes very rude.”
On the final date (in a helicopter) with the runner-up, Juan Pablo said the words that every girl dreams of hearing: “I don’t know you, but I love fucking you.” After that comment of the century, he uses his comforting Venezuelan accent to assure her that “Is OK.”
One girl left. Bachelor protocol ensures an engagement ring with a diamond the size of a watermelon and a lot of sweet, sweet words. Nikki is the waiting girl. Juan Pablo holds her hands, and shares the most whimsical words of the season: “I like you a lot too.”
I hate to burst your bubble JP, but you’re a douche. (Is OK. Is fine.)
You know what I really hated? (No, really this time!) Customers who went out of their way to tell us that Walmart or Future Shop or Best Buy had something cheaper. Much of the time, the customer wasn’t looking for a better deal on a CD. They just seemed to relish letting me know that somebody else in town had a cheaper price. Most of the time, I couldn’t have matched a rival’s prices anyway. Big box stores’ prices were often below our cost, because of the sheer quantities they purchased. Or, they sold a CD below their cost as a “loss leader” – getting somebody in the store to buy the new Backstreet Boys and taking a loss on it in hopes that they also buy other stuff.
I remember one obnoxious lady, in the store with her three kids.
“Do you know that Walmart has your Backstreet Boys CD there for $3 less than you have it? HAH!”
Really? You needed to throw that “HAH!” there at the end?
Play with friends!
The truth was, I couldn’t have cared less. We had a pricing structure that allowed us to be competitive with other record stores. Walmart have it for $3 less? Then buy it at Walmart. I’m not going to be able to compete with them on the price of the new Backstreet Boys CD. Also, those big release sales were generally just for the first few days of release. By the weekend, their prices would be closer to ours.
Essentially we only carried new stock so we’d have those titles when customers asked for them. We made all the money on the used stock and accessories. If a customer came into my store and bought the new Backstreet Boys, great. If they came into the store looking for the new Backstreet Boys but also bought two or three used CDs with it, then that’s what we were aiming for. Sometimes we tried the “hard sell” at the cash register. “Now don’t forget to stock up on blank CDs and CD cleaner while you’re here! We have this CD cleaner for $5.99.”
You want cheap new releases? Great! Who doesn’t? If that’s what you’re after then by all means, go to Walmart. But if you wanted fair prices, lots of used CD selection instead of all the new releases, knowledgeable staff and a more personal touch than Walmart? Come to us. Put your name on a waiting list for a used copy of the new Backstreet Boys. When it comes in, it’ll be cheaper than Walmart’s new copies. As an added bonus you don’t have to look at the “People of Walmart” or be treated to their impersonal style. Not good enough? Then support Walmart and big megacorporations. No skin off my sack!
Alright, to be fair, with 20/20 hindsight now we all know that Rik Emmett wanted to be a jazzbo. Back in 1990, those of us that weren’t expecting the second coming of Triumph were at least hoping for something with some balls. Either alternative would have been acceptable, but Absolutely is so middle of the road, so directionless, so antiseptic, so horridly contrived and ill-conceived, that we just had no idea where the man’s head was at.
Absolutely is purportedly a rock album, but the sterile cover reveals the terrible secret within. Absolutely is glossy and clean; overloaded with ballads and lite-rock dreck. You’re left with only a couple real rock songs. “Drive Time,” which deceptively opens the album, is a Van Halen speed boogie. (Drummer Randy Cooke is frickin’ amazing.) “Big Lie,” the second song, has a bit of that latter day pop-Triumph sound. It also has decent lyrics which are more relevant than ever today. On side two, there’s a song called “Heaven Only Knows” that has some hard rock trappings. But that’s where it ends.
“The disappearing forests should be no cause for alarm, the greenhouse effect won’t do you any harm.”
The single “When a Heart Breaks” is sappy crappy, the kind of boring ballad that was too common at the beginning of the 90’s. The rest of the album is just shamelessly pop rock. That’s not always a bad thing, I enjoy quite a bit of pop in my life, but this isn’t even good pop rock. “World of Wonder” makes me want to retch. I mean, wait until you get to “Smart, Fast, Mean & Lucky”. Think that title sucks? Wait till Rik starts rapping. When Rik raps, it’s like the Bartman. Hey, at least it was current for the time, but why did rock bands think they had to start rapping in the early 90’s? (Kip Winger, I’m looking at you.)
For fans of Rik’s guitar, there’s just not enough. A song like “Stand and Deliver” has some smoking guitar work, but it’s drowned out by claptrap and clutter. It’s a shame. I’m glad that Rik is now doing what he loves, and even found time to do a mini-Triumph reunion. Anything to forget this misguided solo project.
This was a great EP, ranking among some of the better examples of such a format in metal. I love the MAD-Magazine-esque cover artwork. I also loved the concept of this EP as a bit of a treat to tide the fans over during the excruciatingly long four year wait between albums. The five selections are all fun, performed competently, and sound like Skid Row. They also sound like a band who truly loves these songs and knows them backwards and forwards. It’s not quite as satisfying as you want it to be, as it’s only about 18 1/2 minutes long. (I mean hey, there’s a Ramones cover on here so there you go.) This is meant to be nothing more than a fun snack, and as such pay no more for this than you’d be willing to pay for any 18 minute CD.
Tracklist time!
1. “Psycho Therapy”
Bassist Rachel Bolan sings this Ramones-approved cover (backed by Faster Pussycat’s Taime Downe). It was chosen as the first single/video. Excellent cover, very authentic. So well received, it was even included on their Forty Seasons: The Best Of CD.
2. “C’Mon And Love Me”
Classic Kiss cover from Dressed To Kill! A great riffy Kiss song. Skid Row do it justice. It’s one of those solid, meat & potatoes rock songs that requires no frills, just some solid guitars. I think this is definitely one of my favourite Kiss covers ever.
3. “Delivering the Goods” (Live)
Featuring the Metal God himself, Rob Halford, in a duet with his buddy Baz! One thing that is immediately obvious is that Baz is absolutely pumped. But then again, he does state that he’s been waiting his whole life to share a stage with Halford. Great cover, very live sounding, mistakes and all. Still, “Delivering the Goods” is the weakest of these covers…yet it still blows away most bands.
4. “What You’re Doing”
Perhaps the best cover on the album. This is a first-album Rush cover. Back when Geddy was writing the lyrics, and before Rush were singing about how trees are talking to each other and how different sides of your brain works, or outerspace bullshit. It’s an absolutely ferocious, angry Skid Row cover with Baz paying tribute to his countrymen. Excellent, obscure choice and the only cover on the album that I hadn’t heard somebody else do before (or since).
5. “Little Wing”
A surprisingly great turn on the Hendrix classic. Very different from Jimi’s version (obviously), this sounds nonetheless authentic and classy. Of note, the Skids also did a live-in-the-studio version for the music video. I wish that version was released on a CD as well. Unlikely we’ll see that happen.
Covers records can be so very hit-or-miss, but this one is five hits. Battleship sunk. Just wish it wasn’t all over in 18 minutes.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 280: Record Store Gallery III – Furry Friends
I’m a sucker for furry friends. Who isn’t? Maybe you’re a cat person, maybe you’re a dog person, or something else! I mentioned a few weeks ago that Kitchener has a high population of Miniature Schnauzers, and the Ladano clan have owned quite a few of those.
This first picture is kind of a sad one. The year is 2000, and that’s me and my first puppy, Crystal aka Gozer. (That’s what happens when you let my dad name animals.) Crystal was a great little friend but very sick. She went blind in ’94 and had all kinds of health issues. This picture of us is the last photo taken of her. I remember the day we had to put her down, I had to work an afternoon shift at T-Rev’s store. T-Rev was out of town building a new store, and I was filling in for him as I occasionally did. It was not the happiest shift to work.
However life goes on and a year later we got Ani! Ani can be a bad little puppy sometimes, but she’s been my best furry friend for a long time now. Unfortunately Ani suffers from a lot of the same health issues that Crystal did. However she’s been a resilient little Schnauzer and has outlived her life expectancy by numerous years already. And seemingly happily too. Which is the main thing.
I brought Ani into the store one afternoon when I was off. She was so good, a little scared though. But she stayed quiet and didn’t try to escape, which she often does! Customers would occasionally bring their dogs into the store, and I never had a problem with it. Nobody pooped or peed on the floor when I was there.
Lotsa Schnauzers
Finally, I bought my own place and got this guy to go with it. This is Zoboomafoo, a leaping lemur from a hit Canadian kid’s TV show. It was on every morning before work and I started getting obsessed with it. One of our store managers, a girl who worked in Cambridge, spotted a Zoboomafoo puppet at the Cinema One store there. They only had one, and both of us wanted it! It was a race to see who could get it first. Needless to say, I won!
DREAM THEATER: The Number of the Beast (2002 Ytsejam Records, Covers Series)
For the most part, Dream Theater is a band you either love or you hate. Some Metal fans are put off by the keyboards perhaps, while many others find Dream Theater hard to listen to because of the effeminate tone to the voice of singer James LaBrie. On the other hand, music fans who are not into the sensibilities of progressive music would label Dream Theater as “pretentious,” or which have you. Most music fans though can appreciate the musical talent of everyone involved. They are also a very busy unit, often branching out into different projects between DT albums and tours.
While still in the band, and then after his departure from DT in 2010, Mike Portnoy has been the busiest of all the DT members. So much so, that while researching to do this review of Dream Theater’s Official Bootleg: The Number of the Beast, I was blown away with how many projects Portnoy has been a part of that I truly love. Simply said, Mike Portnoy comes off as the biggest music fan in the music business. On top of his resume of original music, his obsessively accurate tribute projects can only be pulled off by someone who is an authentic “music geek super fan”. Sound familiar, LeBrain? So yes, this review has morphed itself into a bit of a Mike Portnoy love fest. Check out this list of his accomplishments outside of Dream Theater.
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT – The two studio albums with John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin are fantastic albums. Their self-titled CD is one of my favorite progressive rock albums. With three subsequent live albums with that lineup and two albums with a name change to Liquid Trio Experiment, that makes seven albums with the great Tony Levin alone.
TRANSATLANTIC – Four studio albums and four live albums with this Prog super group along with Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), Neal Morse(Spock’s Beard, Flying Colors) and the bassist from one of my favorite bands…Marillion…Pete Trewavas.
AVENGED SEVENFOLD – After the death of their drummer, Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, during the writing of a new album, Mike Portnoy stepped in and played drums on their 2010 CD titled Nightmare. He also joined them for a few shows over in Iran and Kuwait for American troops overseas.
ADRENALINE MOB – Two albums with this band consisting of members from Symphony X and Fozzy. I honestly do not think I have heard it so can’t say much really.
FLYING COLORS – One studio album and one live album playing with my favorite musician of all time… Steve Morse. Consisting of Neal Morse again and others, including the incredible Steve Morse Band bassist Dave LaRue. Maybe you should just read LeBrain’s review of this band right “here”.
WINERY DOGS – With a more straight ahead rock and roll approach, the Winery Dogs is his current gig with bassist Billy Sheehan and guitarist Richie Kotzen. [Check out Jon Wilmenius’ excellent review here — LeBrain]
And that’s just the original music he has been a part of. He has gone to great lengths to put together live shows recreating the concerts of, and playing the music of, his favorite drummers. He has arranged one for Led Zeppelin called Hammer of the Gods. He has also done one for Rush called Cygnus & the Sea Monsters. I actually learned about these while researching the review that I haven’t even got around to yet (yes this has become a much larger project than initially thought), so I am curious to search these out. You should be as well. The one I can comment on is his Beatles tribute called Yellow Matter Custard, named from a lyric within the song “I Am the Walrus”.
Consisting of Matt Bissonette, Paul Gilbert and Neal Morse and himself, this unit recreates what it would have been like to see The Beatles live. A lot of the songs were never played by the Beatles live. I listened to this with a good friend of mine who himself is a great musician and huge Beatles fan. Listening to it brought the Beatles super-fan out of him, most especially loving the somewhat obscure tracks performed live by the band. I highly recommend checking this out if you are a Beatles fan. So that pretty much means everyone.
I can’t believe I am now just starting the intended review, but here goes. In 2002, while touring for the album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Dream Theater went on a short club tour in Europe where they played a different album in its entirety, track for track. Among the albums covered in this tour were Master of Puppets – Metallica, Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd and Made in Japan – Deep Purple. (Who covers a live album? And one of my favorite live albums of all time? Dream Theater does, that’s who).
On October 24, 2002 DT played a small club called La Mutualite in Paris, France. The album on the menu that night was The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden. From the sound of the enthusiastic crowd you can clearly hear throughout the album, this was a well-appreciated re-creation of one of the greatest Metal albums of all time.
The show starts off with album opener “Invaders”. My first impression was how great it sounded. Lively version and a thick guitar sound. Another thing I quickly realized is this: say what you want about James LaBrie and his effeminate style. Not many singers, including Bruce Dickinson himself can sing these songs live. I have seen Iron Maiden play several of these songs live, and even in a reduced key it is a struggle for Dickinson to sing the songs how they are recorded on the album. The opening track just left me looking forward to the rest of the set.
“Children of the Damned” was a joy to listen to, again mostly because of the vocals. This is probably his best singing on the album. Bruce Dickinson would have to get himself on a Lance Armstrong-like drug program to ever have a chance of singing this song in this key again. This song is also where I first really noted one of the truly great and original things about this album. Iron Maiden is a classic two-guitar fueled machine. DT is doing this with one guitar and a keyboard. Check out the twin guitar/keyboard solo in this song and hear throughout as the guitar and keyboard trade solos. A magnificent treat for the ears and surprisingly seamlessly done.
The crowd revs up as the classic Patrick McGoohan intro to “The Prisoner” plays as it is on the album. Chanting along with the intro just before Portnoy launches into the classic Clive Burr drum beat, this makes for a great listen, hearing the energy of the crowd and their appreciation of this show. Awesome version as well I must say.
“22 Acacia Avenue” is another track that is a treat to hear live. Live favorites “The Number of the Beast” and “Run to the Hills” follow. These two Heavy Metal anthems go over with the crowd extremely well as you would think they would. A case could be made that these back to back songs are the two most popular Iron Maiden songs of all time. Agreed? Discuss….
Coming next is their amazing version of “Gangland”. This is easily the most ambitious moment of the show. Kind of making the song their own, they begin the song off as a piano ballad and then make a left turn and turn it into a progressive, almost jazz fusion-ish groove as the song closes out. Absolutely brilliant and is probably my favorite track on the album. The show ends with a perfect version of “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, and the performance is over.
This is not just re-hashing of a great album. This was a well thought out and rehearsed celebration of this album, allowing true Maiden fans to hear what these songs may have sounded like when the album was toured in the 80’s. A friend of mine scoffed at the idea of DT covering this album and I may have shared some of his trepidation before I heard this recording. After listening to it now several times it has become obvious that this is not only a very relevant capturing of Number of the Beast, but it makes a very simple statement. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the players in Dream Theater have a higher level of musicianship than really any of their peers in popular music. And as listed earlier, it seems that everything Mike Portnoy does comes from the heart of just another music fan like you and I. So who is gonna come along and play one of Dream Theater’s albums track for track? Well Dream Theater of course. Who else possibly could? Good luck with that, Three Days Grace.
Of all the Classic Albums DVDs that I own, this is one of the most frequently played. And I own a lot. In case you didn’t know, Classic Albums is a fantastic series of discs. Go back into the recording studio where the album was made, with the producer or engineer who recorded it, and the band themselves. You get to hear the original multitrack tapes deconstructed, and we get to hear the band talking about the genesis of the songs and what happened in the studio. Best of all, we get to see the band listening and discovering parts that even they forgot.
Hysteria is such a rich, textured, thick album with a long story so this DVD is an obvious slam dunk. The only thing it lacks is Mutt Lange’s knowledge (a notorious recluse). Otherwise, the band go back to the beginning with the early demos. “Animal” was sparse but remarkably recognizable while still in demo form, down to the false ending. Something like “Rocket” is deconstructed so you can hear the drum orchestra that was laid down, while Joe Elliott talks about how it was inspired. The backing vocals of “Gods of War” are laid out bare, virtually every single word sung and recorded separately! That’s the kind of album this is.
Along with that, Joe, Phil and Sav also perform bits live in the studio. This helps to illustrate the individual parts further. It is revealed to “Love Bites” was brought to the band by Lange as a country song; you can hear the roots on this DVD. Rick Allen is there to discuss his accident, an obviously emotional moment. Steve Clark is discussed too, and Vivian Campbell is on hand to talk about the numerous guitar parts that he inherited and has to play live.
My favourite feature of this DVD is actually in the bonus material. It’s the chapter that covers the first shows that Leppard played after Rick Allen’s accident. Originally, Jeff Rich from Status Quo was tapped to play a second drum kit alongside Allen on stage, just in case Allen got tired, slipped out of time, or couldn’t finish the show. There were so many variables that nobody knew what would happen during what really amounted to Allen’s comeback shows. Well, for one show in the middle of nowhere, Jeff Rich was late. If he had turned up on time, maybe Rick Allen would never have found out that he could play a full Def Leppard show on his own. Allen did the show with no help on the drums, and he nailed it. Rich told Allen that he didn’t need any more help, and that was it! Jeff Rich is there to talk about that day, which was a nice touch.
Of the whole Classic Albums series, this one is certainly my favourite.
Now that Pyromania, Hysteria, Slang and Adrenalize have been remastered and reissued with bonus tracks, it is High ‘N’ Dry that needs to be given the deluxe treatment next. The fact that Adrenalize has been given an elaborate deluxe edition, but High ‘n’ Dry hasn’t even been remastered yet, is injustice. Any time I listen to High ‘n’ Dry, I leave with one conclusion: This is Def Leppard’s best album. And not only that, it’s just one of the best by any hard rock band, period.
For High ‘n’ Dry, my g-to version is my vinyl US pressing. The CD is still in my collection, because it includes two songs not on the original LP: 1984 Remixes of “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak” and “Me and My Wine” (the versions that were used for the music videos). So that’s cool, good enough reason to own the CD, but the LP has one more gimmick that you can’t get on CD. The final track on side two, “No No No”, ends in an infinite loop of Joe screaming “NO!” I love vinyl gimmicks. I also love that the vinyl has inner sleeve photos that you don’t get on CD (even if one appears to be Rick Allen’s genitals covered in whipped cream).
This is one solid LP. Def Leppard teamed up with Mutt Lange for the first time and his influence is palpable. Def Leppard had been heavy before, but now they were channeling a serious AC/DC vibe. Mutt had just produced a little album called Back In Black. Surely it was no coincidence that High ‘n’ Dry has similar riffy and sonic qualities? Def Leppard’s edge had yet to be blunted in their search for hits. Instead, it had been sharpened. On Through the Night could have been better, more tightly focused. High ‘n’ Dry is as focused as a laser beam. Aside from one guitar-driven power ballad (“Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”) every song seeks only to scorch.
Although there is not one single throw-away or filler track on High ‘n’ Dry, everybody has their favourites, Mine: The melancholy vibe of “Lady Strange” and “Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)”. The pedal-to-the-metal hard rock of “High ‘N’ Dry (Saturday Night)”, “Another Hit And Run”, and the instrumental “Switch 625”. And my personal favourite song, “You Got Me Runnin'”. I don’t know why that is so, but that’s the one right there that puts fuel in my tank.
Unlike the band that Def Leppard has become today, this album was all about the hot riffs and the Joe Elliott screams! Hard to believe it’s the same band. But, of course, today they have two different guitar players, so the meat of this band is also not the same. Having said that, the band acquitted themselves nicely on the recent live album Viva! Hysteria.
Every Leppard fan should own High ‘n’ Dry. Everybody who’s ever liked a Def Leppard song needs to check out High ‘n’ Dry. Actually, anyone who breathes should check this album out at least once. It’s on my desert island list for sure.
My favourite feature of this DVD is actually in the bonus material. It’s the chapter that covers the first shows that Leppard played after Rick Allen’s accident. Originally, Jeff Rich from Status Quo was tapped to play a second drum kit alongside Allen on stage, just in case Allen got tired, slipped out of time, or couldn’t finish the show. There were so many variables that nobody knew what would happen during what really amounted to Allen’s comeback shows. Well, for one show in the middle of nowhere, Jeff Rich was late. If he had turned up on time, maybe Rick Allen would never have found out that he could play a full Def Leppard show on his own. Allen did the show with no help on the drums, and he nailed it. Rich told Allen that he didn’t need any more help, and that was it! Jeff Rich is there to talk about that day, which was a nice touch.
mikeladano.com 