On May 1, Rob Daniels from CKWR and Visions In Sound recorded a show live to tape at TheMuseum in Kitchener. Here are some photos and videos of Rob, with Erik Woods and myself.
The show, which will air in a few weeks as part of Star Wars month, covers the amazing soundtrack by John Williams and stories of the movie’s creation. Rob will take you from the bleak early 1990s, to the Special Editions, and finally to May 1999 when The Phantom Menace was finally released. He discusses the fallout, in particular with actors Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best, who bore the brunt of fan hate. On a lighter note, he also tells you the story of how Erik Woods broke the internet when he broadcast the world premier of the soundtrack!
Stay tuned in May to Visionsinsound.ca for this and much more great Star Wars content!
While we enjoyed the music, Erik and I spent roughly two hours discussing Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Like typical fans, we talked about what we would have done to make both series better! And we had some great ideas, trust me. We talked about our own ideas for the prequels, the sequels, and an Indiana Jones adventure that, like poetry, would rhyme.
TheMuseum is a wonderful location for such an event, though they need to do more advertising. Their website didn’t even show that they were open that night. The lounge area where Rob was recording had ample space and a bar.
I hope to see Rob do more tapings at the TheMuseum in the future. Long live Visions In Sound!
TUFF – What Comes Around Goes Around (1991 Atlantic)
This is going to be a little different for my style of review. I’m not going in deep, researching the players, the singles, the writers and the releases. This time I’m just listening to the songs and spitting out my words. You’ll see why.
I do like that Tuff has one member who looks like a Ramone (or Nikki Sixx), one guy who looks like he’s in Britny Fox, and a miniature Bret Michaels in the band.
Will someone please tell us what a “Ruck A Pit Bridge”? The song is pretty good. It’s generic and could be Warrant, but they wrote a decent song with decent playing here. The singer lacks any kind of identity. You could plug any singer into this…until the funk section, which horribly dates the song to 1991. Literally every band was trying this rap/rock/funk hybrid.
I groaned at the title “The All New Generation”. Really? And cowbell too. It’s their version of “Rocket” by Def Leppard lyrically, name-dropping names and even little bits of songs (“Girls Girls Girls”). They even quote the “Oh my God!” line from Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher”. This is really bad. Musically it’s fine, but the shout-rock chorus is probably overdone. Best thing about this band seems to be the guitar player. I guess someone needed a song about 80s hair metal bands, Van Halen and Aerosmith, but I didn’t. It didn’t help the rock situation at the time, just made it sound more like a joke, especially since they’re also toasting Bon Jovi, Skid Row and GN’R in an era when they were not yet legends.
Time for a ballad! Break out the acoustic guitars! “I Hate Kissing You Good-Bye” is the Mr. Skid Big Extreme ballad of the album. If you combined those bands, put them in a blender, you’d get “Kissing You Good-Bye”. It actually sounds a little bit like Sven Gali from the Great White North, but with more maple syrup on top. The singer has a decent rasp but that’s about all he has going for him. And when he name-drops “American Pie”, I barfed a little.
“Lonely Lucy” has one of those riffs we’ve heard a million times. It sounds like cookie-cutter music. Nothing here of any quality. Echoey, vacuous cock-twirling.
Side one closer “Ain’t Worth A Dime” reminds me that this album is way overpriced online. Seriously though, I enjoyed the drums. The drum part is cool. The song itself is no good and a big part of that is that the singer is so bland. At least the guitarist shreds.
On side two, we finally get a good song! “So Many Seasons” is similar to “Edge of Broken Heart” by Bon Jovi, a mid-tempo rock ballad. It loses what makes it special as soon as the singer opens his mouth, but at least Tuff wrote a good song here. It’s a little too similar to Bon Jovi, but we’ll let it slide because hey, we should be a little kind here. Good song. Good choruses. A keeper! Would love to hear another band cover it!
“Forever Yours” had a good riff to it. Sounds a bit Skid Row, a little familiar, but then the kiddie-chorus comes in, and it’s so corny. Tuff fans will accuse me of listening with my Rush T-shirt, but there’s something just too sickly sweet about this chorus, especially the overdubbed keys and backing vocals.
Time for another acoustic ballad, and “Wake Me Up” sounds like faux-country, with contrived piano overdubs for extra that panache. They mentioned Aerosmith earlier. Well, this is their attempt to write an Aero-ballad, but without the skillz of Tyler, Perry, or their assorted song doctors. There’s also hints of Skid Row, Ozzy, and others who hit the charts with ballads. OK song, but absolutely nothing unique or special about it. Sweet sweet love, loneliness, promises, and being unable to change yesterday. Heard it all before.
“Spit Like This” is OK. Lots of guitar pyrotechnics, but not enough song. It tries to incorporate light/hard dynamics, but it’s uncompelling.
“Good Guys Wear Black” is an ample closer, with the singer acting all tough. A few years later, Bon Jovi would write a song called “Good Guys Don’t Always Wear White”, but it would be a stretch to say Jon ripped off Tuff. This is a completely different song. Very Skid Row, with Motley Crue “shout” vocals.
OK album. Just OK. Too many “HUAH’s!” in the vocals.
2/5 stars
Fun fact: Bassist Todd Chase is the brother of Badlands’ Greg Chaisson. He left after this debut.
A1 Ruck A Pit Bridge 3:44
A2 The All New Generation 3:38
A3 I Hate Kissing You Good-Bye 4:19
A4 Lonely Lucy 3:04
A5 Ain’t Worth A Dime 3:07
B1 So Many Seasons 4:12
B2 Forever Yours 3:04
B3 Wake Me Up 4:17
B4 Spit Like This 3:37
B5 Good Guys Wear Black 4:17
Hot on the heels of the fallout from our Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years critique, I was invited back on Peter Kerr’s Rock Daydream Nation along with John Clauser and Steve Deluxe, to review the debut album by Tuff. I’d never heard What Comes Around Goes Around before, so it was a little “tuff” for me to get up to speed with the other guys. I listened to the album intensely for a week, and then we recorded this show. It is a show of which I am extremely proud.
The goal here was to be fair and honest. I think we were. I will tell you one thing: one of our panel members went in with a negative perspective, but had it changed after playing the album today. I highly recommend you check out this excellent episode. Even if you don’t like the band Tuff, or the hair metal genre in general, what we have here is a thoughtful and sometimes hilarious discussion about music that, for a little while at least, was one of the most popular genres in the world.
This is what Peter has to say about the show.
Rock Daydream Nation featuring John Clauser (My Music Corner), Michael Ladano (Grab a Stack of Rock) and Steve Deluxe (Rock and Metal Invasion) talk about Hair Metal in the 90s and specifically the Tuff debut album What Comes Around Goes Around (1991)…
For those who like it saltier, stay tuned for my written review which goes up tomorrow. It’s a little spicy.
Thank you to Todd Evans and Uncle Meat for a full two hour extravaganza of Marillion love! Despite some connection issues, the Meat Man persevered and brought with him an interesting and sometimes surprising list for his Top 11 Marillion albums of all time.
Only three albums did not get listed by anyone. Others appeared on all three lists. In fact, all of us picked the exact same #11.
One thing is clear: Each of us has an emotional connection to these records that we picked. The music is personal. It’s important to our personal history. There was a lot of love for all eras of Marillion on this night. Highlights:
Discussions on the making of certain records, such as Holidays in Eden and Seasons End.
Marillion’s knack for epic closers.
Concept albums, double albums, and live albums.
One album that made a list that isn’t technically a studio album.
Moments that make your skin vibrate.
Love for later albums including a lot of praise for An Hour Before It’s Dark and Marbles.
The mid-show break was a music video by Jacob Moon: his cover of “Kayleigh”.
Sounds that can’t be made, and songs that should have been on the albums.
Remix albums and EPs.
Bonus tracks, B-sides and box sets.
and one vintage 2004 Front Row Club t-shirt!
Please enjoy this excellent love letter to Marillion, with lots of physical product on three formats (cassettes, CD and vinyl). Thank you for watching!
Next week: We are back at the cottage with another list show: Top 5 Childhood Music Videos with Jex and Dr. K!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 58: Marillion Ranked! Top 11 Marillion with Todd Evans and Uncle Meat
It has been almost a decade since we’ve ranked the Marillion albums, and Meat only did five back then. Now we’re doing 11, and we’re doing them with the Contrarian that may know them best: please welcome Todd Evans to the show!
I know that my list will not be the same as the one I did in 2015. I have a strong feeling of Meat’s top six, but beyond that? Your guess is as good mine! As for Todd? I expect nothing less than intelligent and thoughtful picks from this veteran Contrarian.
Marillion is a band I’ve been passionate about for half my life, but this is the first time we’ve ever covered the band on either the LeBrain Train or Grab A Stack of Rock. Be there for this historic show, and as always we will be chatting in the comments!
Friday May 3 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or onFacebook!
Part Six-point-five of a series on KICK AXE!
Thank you to JEX RUSSELL for donating this to the collection.
KICK AXE – “Piece of the Rock” (from Rock the World – 2005 remaster) (2005 Amber Interactive)
The Kick Axe discography, though small, is difficult to complete! There are the first two albums released on Pasha in the US, and the third album on Roadrunner in the US. Rock Candy reissued the first two albums with bonus tracks, and the third without, so they’re fairly easy to get. Then we also have a fourth independent album, an early independent single, a live track released by Playboy, and two songs on the original 1986 Transformers soundtrack (under a different name). That’s about it, right?
Nope!
One important song almost slipped through the cracks. When Kick Axe were working on Vices with Spencer Proffer, the producer was considering using the band to help write the next Black Sabbath album. Additionally, Ian Gillan was out of the band, and they needed a singer. Kick Axe’s George Criston was one of the singers considered, though Kick Axe didn’t want to lose their main man. “Piece of the Rock” was one of the songs written for the Sabbath project. Though Sabbath didn’t use it, like “Hunger”, it was recorded and released by King Kobra on their debut Ready to Strike. As a result, the Kick Axe version went unheard for almost two decades.
That version, harder than King Kobra’s, is actually available on an obscure Kick Axe remaster that pre-dates the Rock Candy versions. Strangely enough, it ended up on a reissue of Rock the World, an album it had nothing to do with.
The plot thickens. Rock the World was remastered by Kick Axe’s Ray Harvey…who was not in the band when it was recorded, and is not on the album aside from the bonus track!
Kick Axe Career Retrospective
Things get crazier still – and this is something that isn’t documented anywhere, even on Discogs. Upon listening, some songs are actually longer! “Rock the World”, for example, opens with two seconds of pick-handling that is not on the original album. The Fleetwood Mac cover “The Chain” has a much longer intro (almost double its original length), with a short section restored. “Red Line” is also significantly longer. Considering the Rock Candy release has no bonus tracks, this version might reign superior. Ray Harvey clearly decided to re-edit some of these tunes as well as remaster. There does not seem to be a remix. The remastering isn’t as loud as the Rock Candy version, though it still sounds fabulous.
Where Rock Candy exceeds is in liner notes and packaging. The Amber Interactive version doesn’t have the original artwork, and actually looks really cringe! The back cover is a computer generated sword handle with a metal “X”. Need I remind you, an axe is not a sword! The front cover artwork is atrocious, even compared to the low budget looking original. It does have the lyrics to “We Still Remember”, which is interesting in itself. See how many references to other bands you can find. “In the days of the haze, the colour was deep purple.” “We ride the killing machine.” “And the wind it cries Mary.” “We won’t get fooled by helter skelter.” References within references.
“Piece of the Rock” should have been released by Kick Axe back in the day, but here it stands on an album! It sounds completely finished for release, with the lush backing vocals fully overdubbed and ready for radio. The other nice thing is that it gives you an old school Kick Axe song on an album that was largely more complex and less instantly accessible. That’s not to say that Rock the World is weak album. Our review will attest to that (links at bottom).
This version of Rock the World deserves an extra half-point for the bonus track and lengthier versions of existing songs. Extra unadvertised value is always good. Shame they couldn’t use the original art (licensing issues), but small gripe.
Deep Purple’s first new album with Simon McBride on guitar will be out July 19. Called =1 (“equals one”), it is largely a mystery what the album will sound like. Many predicted a return to “hard rock” after the last three more progressive albums. The first single “Portable Door” is not all that different from the Steve Morse era. Don Airey’s organ really dominates the solo section, as it should be. Simon’s guitar work is sublime but not showcased as some had hoped. He has this one cool lick in the riff that is really electrifying, but we want more Simon!
Ian Gillan? Reliable as ever, his voice has worn in like suede. He can still sing the hooks. Haters call him “over and done” – fans don’t care. Ian Paice is the backbone, always smooth, always identifiable, infallible. With Ian Paice on drums, Deep Purple will always sound like Deep Purple. His work here is busier than the we’ve become used to…which is just fine!
How does “Portable Door” stack up against recent Purple singles? It doesn’t have that instant “wham!” of “Vincent Price”, and it doesn’t have the hooks of “Johnny’s Band”. It’s a strong, workmanlike latter day Deep Purple single that will grow with increasing listens.
I never say this, but this time it’s true: Our first weekend at the cottage was absolutely perfect. Without a hitch. Exactly as planned, right down to the last detail. And loaded with new music!
The road trip began at 5:15 on Thursday night, April 25. Traffic was heavy, but not as heavy as the music! (We may need to look for another route out of town next time, as it took us almost half an hour just to escape Kitchener.) I had decided early in the week that the first road album of 2024 had to be Invincible Shield by Judas Priest! I had no doubt it would be one of the best road albums of the year. So confident was I, that I packed up my copy for Friday night’s Grab A Stack of Rock – Top 11 Albums to Play with the Windows Down. And I was right. “Crown of Horns” was the singalong track, though there were no duds. The album comes to a natural close on “Giants in the Sky” which has a classic Priest ending, but it’s not over yet! The bonus tracks give you a little extra road play, with a second ending in “The Lodger”. Brilliant album that kept us energized for the drive.
Priest couldn’t take us the whole way. When the Invincible Shield had ended, we moved onto Bruce Dickinson’s Mandrake Project. I haven’t had the time to absorb it yet, but Jen really enjoyed the album as we pulled down our little dirt road and into the driveway.
Everything was exactly as I left it back in October.
Taking my speakers out of storage, and making myself comfortable on the cool front deck, I chose the first porch album of the season. I didn’t want something as heavy rocking. Nor did I want something mellow and acoustic. This calls for the Arkells!
“We got gas in the tank to go all night,” sang Max Kerman from my porch. I danced away to this perfect evening. Rally Cry is the album I connected with the least last summer, being more political and less personal. This time it hit all the right spots, scratched all the itches, and began the season on the right note.
Jen noticed that I was joking around and more giddy than usual.
“Because I’m happy,” I said. “I feel alive again. This is what I had been waiting for.”
Friday was forecast as a summery, sunny day. We started early by picking up the first steaks of the season at the Beefway. We chose one porterhouse and one ribeye. This is our place to buy meat. There’s nobody better around. We stocked up on fish, pies, bacon and cooking oil. I had duck for lunch, and hot dogs and hamburgers in the evening.
For now, it was time for the main event: the first Grab A Stack of Rock from the cottage! It was a 3 PM afternoon show, and Jex was on board with his Top 11 Road Songs, in contrast to my album picks. Once again, everything went really well! Though Jex was late with work (the only unscripted thing about it), it will go down as one of my favourite shows ever. The roaring fire in the background was something new. I love playing with my visual setting, on Grab A Stack of Rock, at the cottage. Thank you Jex for an amazing start to the year. I hope we can do more, but even if we can’t, I got to do the fireside show that I had hoped for. Scratch that off the list.
The rain began Saturday, but it only got warmer. Another day on the front porch was in order, but first we went into town to see what was new.
We hit up a thrift store. I keep seeing all these guys on Facebook buying everything they can at thrift stores. I don’t know what they do with the CDs afterwards. Do their play their new Trisha Yearwood albums? Do they try and flip them? I found nothing in the gospel and country that they had, except for one signed CD by an unknown artist. The Facebook people would have bought them all; I chose none. I don’t buy for investment and I don’t really need a lot of music “on spec” when I barely have time to enjoy what I own.
Saturday was a weird day. It’s hard to explain exactly what happened, but as the day went on the feeling got more intense. I was having Deja Vu feelings every few minutes. It wasn’t specific memories, just…overall feelings. They were usually centered around people from my childhood, but I don’t know why. I would be cooking steaks in the back yard, and having Deja Vu feelings from grade school, but I was unable to nail down any specific memories. It was just a weird feeling like, “I have done this before,” but unable to identify a specific memory. I just felt like it was childhood. It intensified at dinner time. Perhaps the aromas of the cooking brought me back to Saturday dinners at the table, with steak and corn. Our steaks were perfect.
I mentioned earlier that everything went down without a hitch. That is not entirely true….
The Toronto Maple Leafs shit the bed. We shall not discuss this. It is not a good subject.
Otherwise, everything went perfect. I was starting to feel sad on Sunday morning, as I did the dishes and packed my bags up. Deciding what to bring back home and what to leave behind, I felt sad.
“Not this time,” I said, and I fought it back.
We played Kiss on the way home. Unmasked, Rock and Roll Over, and Asylum. These albums of childhood happiness drove the sadness away, and I woke up Monday morning feeling good.
This year’s first weekend at the cottage was a diametric contrast to 2023, which ended prematurely when I decided to go home early.
2023’s first weekend began with anxiety, as my former co-host was focused only on her solo show, and did not seem to care at all what I was doing. That weekend was not just supposed to be my return to the lake, but also hers. This is where we met (online) and bonded. I could not wait to return and do it again. She couldn’t seem more disinterested. She began stripping online that weekend, and I knew the friendship was all but over. I knew that was a road I could not follow, and I knew she wanted me to, even though she refused to come right out and say it. The writing was on the wall, that cold and rainy weekend. Within seven days, the friendship had ended, as I knew it would. She would never join me at the cottage again, even though we had spent six months planning it.
Not this time.
2024 is off to the right start. Even if Jex can’t do as many summer shows with me this year, we accomplished what we set out to do. An amazing weekend was had. The music we road tested passed the gauntlet, and we are ready to get on with the summer.
Back into Lego for a little over a year now, I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to do something with gears, the more complex the better. Ideally I wanted something motorized. The Lego Audi was an affordable option.
Powered by three motors and six AA batteries, the motorized parts these days are quite different from my time. I recall having a giant Lego brick that you could turn into a tank, which was handy since that’s how it was shaped.
Building a set like this is a process of discovery. You’re not sure what exactly you’re doing at first, until things comes together. The front end, with two motors, came first. One motor is dedicated to the rack and pinion steering. There are a pair of nice heavy shocks for the front suspension. The rear end has another pair of shocks, and a bluetooth power box that syncs up to a phone app.
The controls are simple and even have brakes. These might come in handy if racing indoors!
Part Six-point-five of a series on KICK AXE!
mikeladano.com 