DEEP PURPLE – =1 Live Album – 10″ Vinyl (2024 Edel)
When you buy a Deep Purple super deluxe, you get a new live album on three 10″ records every time. These records are each 45 RPM. This wonderful Deep Purple tradition carries on with this important release, the first live album with Simon McBride to be released. Let’s have a listen to all six sides.
Record 1 was recorded in Milan 2022, the same gig that yielded the B-sides for the “Pictures of You” single (“When A Blind Man Cries” and “Uncommon Man”), though they are not included here. This record opens with Machine Head‘s “Pictures of Home”, and Ian Paice beginning the proceedings with his usual drum intro. Don Airey’s organ dominates the mix, but Simon can be heard doing justice to the original arrangement. His tasty solo is his own unique composition, combining bluesy playing with shred in a way unheard before in Deep Purple. Blackmore fans who found Steve Morse to be just too different may prefer Simon McBride.
From 2020’s Whoosh! album comes “No Need to Shout”, one of the more straightforward tracks. It has a solid “Stormbringer”-like groove, but consider that Deep Purple remain unafraid to play new songs on tour every time. Simon and Don sneak in these quick licks that add season to the sauce. The chemistry with McBride is immediately undeniable.
A set highlight is the powerful ballad “Nothing At All”, probably the best song from Whoosh! Originally this song had a trademark Steve Morse guitar lick, but Simon acquits himself very well in this tricky part. It’s not identical, but the right notes are played, if in a very slightly different style. This beautiful song is harder live, with Ian Paice really smoking those drums, and Don Airey hitting his keys with more vigor.
The first record closes with another Machine Head classic, the undeniable “Lazy”, which we have so many live versions of. I have at least 34 live versions of “Lazy”, with more residing on live albums I have yet to rip to my PC. This version is the first available with Simon, and the word to use is “refreshing”. After 52 years, it is nice to have a version with another lead soloist, bringing his own powerful, melodic twist. Ian Gillan’s vocal is a little laid-back, but this version is a delight! When Ian starts playing the harmonica, it changes into something more akin to a country jam.
Record 2 was recorded in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2022. “Strange Kind of Woman” keeps us in classic territory. Somehow I get the feeling that Airey’s organ isn’t growly enough. Of course Gillan struggles with the high notes, but that’s old news and nobody should really care anymore. Simon’s solo is, once again, a fresh twist. Then they dig back even further with “Hush” from Shades of Deep Purple. Nothing different here, just the same classic groove and a killer organ solo, followed by a playful tradeoff between Simon and Don.
Side two only has newer material, beginning with “7 and 7 Is” (by Love) from the covers album Turning To Crime. Including “Hush”, that’s two covers in a row. It is cool that they were playing Turning To Crime material live, but this is skippable for most people (except Ian Paice fans who will dig the busy drum parts). More enjoyable is “Throw My Bones” from Whoosh! Don’s synth on this track is especially fun, and Simon makes it a bit heavier in the guitars. “Time For Bedlam” from InFinite closes this side. Ian Gillan struggles with the difficult vocals, which makes it harder to enjoy, though the guitar melodies are just sublime. This is a very technical track. Roger Glover holds everything together on bass while the feature players stretch out.
We are back to Milan on the third disc. Record 3 opens with the biggest surprise: “Anya” from 1993’s The Cattle Grazes Battle Rages On. It is no secret that making the album was an unpleasant experience for the band, especially Ian Gillan, but it is really cool to see them reaching back to the early 90s. This is the first version available with Don or Simon. Just as “Anya” is the only representation of the 1990s (a decade with four Deep Purple studio albums), “Perfect Strangers” is the only track from the 80s, as it often is. This is a solid workmanlike version.
The final side closes, of course, with “Smoke on the Water” and “Black Night”, leaving us without a version of “Highway Star” with Simon. This is a real shame; we hope one will come on future inevitable live albums. Ian Paice sounds great on these, and Simon’s solo on “Black Night” is bonkers, the same way that Blackers used to be bonkers.
This is a great little late-period live album. With a band and a back catalogue this extensive, it is natural that they can’t always fit in songs from Purpendicular, Now What, or In Rock. Newer material is more valuable in a live release such as this. Still…would have been nice to get “Highway Star”.
Collecting Arkells odds & ends on physical formats is an expensive prospect. This cool 10″ EP features the Hamilton band, along with Nova Scotia’s Joel Plaskett and Toronto’s Zaki Ibrahim. The three artists cover Canadian songs on this EP, from artists both famed and obscure. It is a beautiful transparent blue EP, with a basic cover design. The names of the featured artists are on the front, with the names of the artsists covered on the back. The tracklist and credits are inside, on a coloured insert. More on that in a minute.
Here is a breakdown of the tracks.
ARKELLS – “I’m Not Afraid”
Mississauga’s Owen Pallett has a career going back over two decades, previously under the name Final Fantasy. They play violin and other instruments. Here’ the Arkells cover of a tune called “I’m Not Afraid”, a powerful tune taking full advantage of their instrumental prowess. Augmented by a sax section, the song opens with a synthesizer drone, and then a pulsing bassline over it. It starts off tense and sparse, and takes a little while to launch as the arrangement slowly builds. It explodes 90 seconds in, with singer Max Kerman breaking into a falsetto on the chorus. The sax-soaked tune really flies at this point, propelled by drummer Tim Oxford, the engine of the Arkells. The best word to describe this song is simple – it really cooks.
JOEL PLASKETT – “Bittersweet Memories”
Calgary’s Leslie Feist is better known on the world stage simply as Feist. Joel Plaskett chose “Bittersweet Memories” to cover. Plaskett plays everything but the Rhodes keys (by Erin Costelo). Like Kerman before, he breaks into falsetto at times, but this gentle ballad has a steady beat and a vintage 70s easy listening vibe. It’s an excellent song, with lyrics that paint a picture. Here’s the main thing: Feist really knows how to write a song, and Joel’s no slouch on everything he plays!
ZAKI IBRAHIM – “Show Me the Place”
The final artist to get the cover treatment is the legendary Leonard Cohen. Zaki Ibrahim chose a song of recent vintage, “Show Me the Place” from 2012’s Old Ideas. There’s a very low-key and soulful arrangement featuring piano, synth, drum programs and cello. Though all of this forms a cloudy-yet-vivid atmosphere, it is Ibrahim’s vocals that really make it shine. Her layered vocals on the chorus sound are stirring and foreboding. It’s an incredible vocal performance in totality, featuring both restraint and expression. This is easily an EP highlight.
Here’s the amusing thing about this EP. There is obvious care put into both the music and the detailed sleeve notes, but they got the track listing wrong. They switched the Arkells and Plaskett tracks. In reality, Arkells are on side A, and Plaskett and Ibrahim are on side B. The sleeve notes are repeated on both sides of the insert, French and English, and both are wrong. It makes sense for the Arkells track to occupy an entire side by itself, since it is the longest at 5:19. Funny how these mistakes get made. The actual label on the record is correct.
A very enjoyable EP, with tracks that should be cherished by fans of all three artists.
The Infinite Live Recordings, Vol 2. (3 x 10″ EPs)
DVD – Live at Hellfest, Roger Glover and Bob Ezrin in Conversation
Whoosh!
Every Deep Purple album seems like the final album. Maybe this one is; maybe it isn’t. It feels like the band treat every album as seriously as if it was their last. The cover art and music of Whoosh! takes us back to 1968 and Shades of Deep Purple. The logo is similar, and there is a new version of the 52 year old first Deep Purple song ever, “And The Address”.
Opening with the lead single “Throw My Bones“, the album sets a mid-tempo pace from the start. This is a lush, catchy groove with hints of classical and funk. It began life during the Infinite sessions but was not finished until Whoosh! Purple pick it up a bit on “Drop the Weapon”, a non-preachy appeal for cooler heads to prevail. It has a similar vibe to the 1988 album Accidentally On Purpose by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover. The immediate riffs and hooky vocals are bound to make this a favourite.
“We’re All the Same in the Dark” has a cool groove and a jaw dropping funky Morse solo. Purple haven’t sounded this funky since Glenn Hughes was in the band. Airey and Glover give it some heaviness. “Nothing At All” sounds like a Morse composition, but his intricate classical-inspired interplay with Airey is sheer delight. This could be the best track on Whoosh!, and contender for one of the best songs of the entire Morse era. A massive chorus could help this one cross over on radio. Though it’s a far different song, “Nothing at All” has elements that recall “Never A Word” from Bananas. A regal-sounding crowning achievement.
“No Need to Shout” opens with the growl of a Hammond. “Just a bunch a crap, you’re talkin’ out your hat!” sings Ian on a song featuring rare female backing vocals. This is one of a few new Deep Purple songs that display a pissed-off attitude. “I got your message loud and clear, the meaningless ringing in my ear.” Add in a couple naughty words and you can tell Ian isn’t having any of it. Cooler though is “Step By Step”, a very different kind of song with perhaps some lineage with “Vincent Price” from Now What?! The haunting, ghostly quality of “Step By Step” sets it aside with a cascade of keyboard accents.
Purple start to boogie on “What the What” (a friendlier way of saying “What the Fuck”). While Don’s hammering the keys, Steve stabs out with some tasty guitar twang. If any song recalls “old” Deep Purple, it’s “What the What”, which could have been on 1973’s Who Do We Think We Are! But that album completely lacks the joie de vivre of “What the What”. Then Purple get heavy on “The Long Way Round” which just drives. The keyboard solo is out of left field but is a spacey masterwork to itself. There’s even a sly Black Sabbath callback — “I promised myself I would not get Trashed again.” Then the song dissolves into a beautiful, quiet stream of notes. This serves as a great lead-in to “Power of the Moon”, an excellent track previously heard on the “Throw My Bones” single. It stalks prey in the cover of night.
Another heavy growl unexpectedly opens “Remission Possible”, an absolutely smokeshow of fretwork. It’s a brief instrumental interlude just before the excellent “Man Alive”. This track, enhanced by orchestra, sounds absolutely massive. It has serious heft, but it’s not weighed down. Ian is writing about some heavy themes and it will take deeper analysis of the album as a whole to decipher them all. Roger Glover was very happy with Ian’s writing on the album, which takes a more contemplative tone without going heavy-handed.
The final side of vinyl begins with another instrumental, the aforementioned “And the Address” from Shades Of. Deep Purple have occasionally re-recorded old material with new lineups, such as “Hush ’88” and “Bludsucker”. This cut of “And the Address” has more momentum. The only guy present who played on the original is Ian Paice, but Don Airey is a dead ringer for Jon Lord. “And the Address” is one of the most enjoyable songs on Whoosh!, probably surpassing the original recording.
There’s still one track to go: the “bonus track” called “Dancing In My Sleep”. Safe to say it’s called a “bonus track” because it’s the most different of all the songs. It’s an Airey conception based on a cool little techno beat. Though it’s certainly not dance music, it does have one foot in that world and it’s a sheer delight to hear Purple stretch out into new territory 52 years into their game.
A seriously fine album this late in the career. An album so fresh that it is hard to rate so soon. But clearly a high point, with a band still exploring new ideas completely unafraid of what people might say. In fact, a band who still has something to say. Something worth listening to.
4.25/5 stars
But that’s not all of course. Go big or go home. Check out the rest of the box set’s contents in detail below.
The Infinite Live Recordings, Vol. 2
The previously released Infinite Live Recordings, Vol. 1 came out in 2017. The concept behind the series is simple: pure live releases with no overdubs. Vol. 2 comes from a show in 2017 on the Infinite Tour in Rio. It is the big bonus in this box set, and present on a set of three beautiful 10″ coloured records. 72 minutes of live Purple — essentially, a double live album.
The opening thunder of “Highway Star” is robust on purple 10″ vinyl. How these guys can still blast through it full speed is unknown, but they do it. Mr. Gillan still gives it his all, which is not the same in 2017 dollars as it was in 1970 dollars, but still more than the average mortal his age. Mr. Morse and Mr. Airey give each version of “Highway Star” a different feel, while Mr. Paice in the back is the only original member left from the 1968 lineage. Sticking to Machine Head, Purple seamlessly go into “Pictures of Home”. The old familiar groove of Mr. Glover is comforting warmth from the emptiness, eagles and snow. Morse’s solo is a composition to itself, and then Airey gets to put his spin on Jon Lord’s classic organ solo. Then it’s an unfortunate side flip as the band goes back to In Rock with “Bloodsucker”. Gillian is more a verbal timekeeper than the screamer he once was, but the track is otherwise flawless and heavier than lead. A more mainstream hit, “Strange Kind of Woman” flows from that, and relaxes the groove a bit. Don Airey gets his first of two solos (this one organ) as the last track on this disc.
The action continues on transparent burgundy vinyl, and “Lazy”. Morse’s signature string bending is the star of this show. There are a couple different twists in this fresh version including a nifty Gillan harmonica solo. Then it’s the only new song of the set, “Birds of Prey” from Infinite. It’s weighty and worthy of its place. Steve Morse is the Captain on this flight. Gillan ends the track on a joke and then, after a side flip, introduces Don Airey’s keyboard solo including Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mr. Crowley”. This diverse and fun solo goes into “Perfect Stranger” (no “s”?) which has steadfastly remained in the setlist ever since its 1984 conception. Gillan is shaky but the Purple is solid.
The final vinyl, clear 10″ power, commences with “Space Truckin'” signalling the beginning of the end. “Smoke on the Water” is the penultimate moment, slow and groovy after all this blazing rock. Ian Paice has a couple nice moments on this one and Steve Morse’s stuttery solo is completely compelling. One more side flip, and Purple end the set with their first hit “Hush” and the “Peter Gunn” theme. Glover goes funky on this one with a bassline a little like “Another One Bites the Dust” in parts.
An entertaining and good live album, but one you won’t play often simply because Deep Purple have 846 live albums (exaggeration).
There is still more live material from the same tour in DVD form included in this box set.
Live at Hellfest
Next we have a double feature DVD: A live show from Hellfest in 2017, and an interview session with Roger Glover and Bob Ezrin. The Hellfest show has a much longer runtime with more new material. They open the show with “Time For Bedlam” from Infinite. Ian doesn’t even attempt to sing it in tune, but we’ll always cut the guy some slack for still getting up there and givin’ ‘er. The track has a “Pictures From Home” vibe, and the band look cool playing midday in shades. Into “Fireball”, Ian Paice leads the charge as if it was 1971. Don Airey has an Ozzy bobblehead on his keyboard! Then it’s “Bloodsucker”, powered by Paicey. “Strange Kind of Woman” is a nice melodic respite after a pair of piledrivers like that. Ian ends this one with a bizarre freeform spoken word beat poetry bit, but with Morse shredding next to him.
The Jon Lord tribute from Now What?!, “Uncommon Man”, is heartfelt, and a solid track from their current era. It sounds massive. As good in quality is “The Surprising” from Infinite, something of an epic, and performed with full gusto. Intricate symbol work by Paice.
After a brief pause, it’s on to Don Airey and “Lazy”. A high speed workout like that merits something slower to follow, so it’s “Birds of Prey” from Infinite, a steady groove with dynamics. Steve Morse’s solo takes center stage and it’s a melter. “Hell To Pay” picks up the pace. Not Purple’s most remarkable single, nor the best version, but nice to have in live form. Airey’s jammy keyboard solo on this track is stellar, just as the sun starts going down. Then he gets his own full-blown solo, with the Ozzy bobblehead there next to him during “Mr. Crowley”. Roger Glover just watches from the side as Don goes to town through familiar melodies and themes. The crowd eats it up smiling.
Don takes it into “Perfect Strangers” without missing a beat, and soon the rest of the band joins him. This version has some stellar Morse guitar trickery. The set is almost finished, with only “Space Truckin'”, “Smoke on the Water”, “Hush” and “Black Night” left to satisfy cravings for the classics. Even at the end Paicey still brings that thunder. “Hush” has the “Peter Gunn” theme attached, and “Black Night” brings the show to a massive finish.
It’s absolutely delightful watching Ian Paice play the drums, as he mouths along to every beat as if playing beatbox along to himself. It’s fantastic and an expression of pure joy.
It’s not over yet. The DVD has even more content.
Roger Glover and Bob Ezrin in Conversation
The DVD also includes the conversation with Roger Glover and Whoosh! producer Bob Ezrin. This is another full 70 minutes of content. Ezrin was involved with Purple from the jamming stage in Nashville and speaks in terms of “we”. One of the biggest takeaways from this interview is a piece of wisdom from the late Jon Lord as told by Roger Glover. Lord didn’t want to do more than two takes of a solo. More than that, and he starting thinking too much.
The pair discuss the lyrics, the songs, the title (nicked from Faulty Towers), the playing, and more. It’s lovely watching the pair just enjoy Steve Morse’s harmonics. “Like capturing lightning,” says Roger. Watching this portion of the DVD will enhance your enjoyment of the album. It’s fun knowing what parts of the songs turned on the musicians and producer. “Stretch out,” advised Bob. And so Purple interpreted that as stretching it out every way. “I wanna put the Deep back in Purple,” said Bob. The boys also praise Ian Gillan’s focus, from eating right to meditating. They even go back in time and talk about Glover’s joining of Deep Purple in 1969.
Ezrin particularly loved seeing magic unfold live before his eyes and ears, captured on tape. He is obviously a fan of Deep Purple as musicians and as people. Whether you can get into Ezrin-era Purple or not, there is real chemistry between band and producer.
You’ll probably only watch this conversation once, but you’ll be glad you did that at least. There is so much knowledge and history to absorb here that all fans are advised to give the whole thing a spin.
Summing up
The box set itself comes with a cool black T-shirt with the “strolling dissolving astronaut” graphic. This is the second album in a row with simple excellent art design for Deep Purple. The astronaut recalls the music video for “Knocking At Your Back Door” from 1984. He appears in numerous places in this set in different forms. There are three art prints (two 12×12 and one 12×6), and of course all this music! The vinyl copy of Whoosh! comes in a gatefold sleeve with credits and photos. It sounds phenomenal with plenty of bottom end. For lyrics, you’ll have to dig into the included CD copy.
Of course, if you don’t need all the extra live stuff and added goodies, you could just buy Whoosh! on CD, vinyl or download. It’s frequently said that the benchmark for Purple is Purpendicular. “Best album since Purpendicular,” fans often enthuse. Whoosh! could be the best album of the Ezrin era, and is a contender for best of the Steve Morse epoch. A serious fan will want the whole box with the three live 10″ discs. They are beautiful to look at and sound good on the turntable. Though the set is expensive, this is the kind of thing I’m willing to pay for.
DEEP PURPLE – “Throw My Bones”/”Man Alive” (2020 10″ Edel single)
As a general rule, I won’t listen to new Deep Purple until I have a physical product in my hands. These days that usually happens in the form of a new single. Deep Purple will be back with a new album Whoosh! produced by Bob Ezrin in August 2020. Until then, they’ve issued a three track single with one exclusive new song. How nice of them!
A huge thanks to John of 2 Loud 2 Old Music for gifting this vinyl. Certain new releases are difficult to find today (for obvious reasons), at least without spending money on huge markups by secondary sellers. Music friends are the best kind of friends — make one today!
A word about the cover art: love it! Though not identical, the new Deep Purple logo is strongly reminiscent of the original Shades Of Deep Purple logo from 1968. The astronaut is similarly retro. He even recalls the similarly-garbed “archaeologists” in the music video for “Knocking At Your Back Door”. And now, for the first time, the needle drops on the vinyl and we find out what the new Deep Purple sounds like.
“Throw My Bones” has one of those quirky Steve Morse guitar riffs but then it’s backed up by those lush Don Airey keyboards. This is one of the catchier songs that Deep Purple have written in the last few years. Morse’s solo is as breathtaking as usual, but the sparkling keyboards are what makes this song shine.
The second track is the non-album “Power of the Moon” which prompts the question: if this didn’t make the album, just how good is the album? Because this track is excellent. It’s different. Its quiet passages are mesmerising. Once again it’s Morse and Airey who really take it to another level.
Finally we have “Man Alive”, a song adorned with an orchestra. Under the deft guidance of Bob Ezrin, something powerful and dramatic hits the ears even though Deep Purple don’t really do “heavy” anymore. “Man Alive” is the song that detractors call the “environmental agenda song”. Hey, if Deep Purple can say something relevant to today and get you to think, that’s great. We don’t always have to hear about strange kinds of women from Tokyo. The lyrics are assembled intelligently and thoughtfully.
A lot of people bitch and moan about Ian Gillan. For the most part, it’s not the singer delivering the hooks in these new songs. Just as Steve Morse has had to adapt to his damaged right wrist to keep playing, Deep Purple have adapted to Ian Gillan’s age. The songs don’t blast like they used to; they breathe. Ian’s voice is multitracked to give it some thickness. Incidentally the vocals were recorded in Toronto, a city that Gillan has history with.
Longtime Purple fans who enjoyed Now What?! and InFinitewill enjoy these new songs just as much. The cool thing about Purple is that they have distinct eras. We might be in the tail-end of a Bob Ezrin era (and the whole saga in general) and with time, the Purple/Ezrin collaborations will be looked back on fondly. The Ezrin albums don’t sound like the Bradford discs, the Glover productions, or any of the others. They’re more subtle and show a band growing even in their later years. Whoosh! could be a nice capstone to a career. We shall see.
Alice Cooper wanted to do a Detroit garage rock record and pay homage to his roots. And so we have The Breadcrumbs EP, six tracks of stripped down goodness, ironically produced by Bob Ezrin. The 10″ vinyl is limited to 20,000 copies. Somehow, by the grace of the black widow, we scored #48!
For these special songs, Alice is backed by the MC5’s Wayne Kramer, bassist Paul Randolph, Grand Funk’s Railroad Mark Farner, and Detroit Wheel Johnny “Bee” Badanjek. A remake of Alice Cooper’s “Detroit City” (from The Eyes of Alice Cooper) is an appropriate starting point:
Me and Iggy were giggin’ with Ziggy and kickin’ with the MC5, Ted and Seger were burnin’ with fever, and let the Silver Bullets fly, The Kid was in his crib, Shady wore a bib, and the posse wasn’t even alive.
That’s some rock and roll poetry right there. Not one of Alice’s finest songs but worthy of a second chance. Then “Go Man Go” is a new original composition co-written by Wayne Kramer. It’s punk rock Alice, as authentic as the bands he’s paying tribute to. Bob Seger’s “East Side Story” closes the side on a steady groove, right out of Hendrix’s version of “Gloria”.
A really funky “Your Mama Won’t Like Me” (Suzi Quatro) is the centrepiece of the EP. Horns blastin’, Alice hasn’t been this funky since his dance-oriented Alice Cooper Goes to Hell in 1976. “Devil With a Blue Dress On” (Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels) is the soulful side that Alice occasionally shows. It’s merged with “Chains of Love” (J.J. Barnes) which pulls everything back to rock. Finally “Sister Anne” by the MC5 puts the snot on the nose and the grime in the rock. Kramer’s simply awesome riff is perfectly complemented by Cooper.
If copies are still available, get one. Cooper fans will love the change of pace, while rock and rollers will adore the authenticity.
RICH ROBINSON – Got to Get Better in a Little While (2016 Universal 10″ clear single for Record Store Day)
This really pretty record (a single or an EP, who cares?) was found on the Taranna 2016 expedition with Mr. Books. It’s apparently a Record Store Day exclusive from April 2016, although I had no problem getting this one for $16.99 in October. This my first purchase of anything by Rich without his brother Chris. Knowing the Black Crowes, I was fairly certain it wouldn’t suck. I was still surprise to see on the back, an ad for not one not two not three but FOUR Rich Robinson “Expanded Editions” on CD and LP! Who knew? Not this guy!
“Got to Get Better in a Little While” is a Derek and the Dominoes cover, apparently one that Crowes used to do regularly, as does Rich. You have to hear this if you like bluesy rock that produces pure smoke from sheer musical chemistry. Yes, Clapton is God and the original can’t be touched, but a real jackass could easily make this song sound like shit. Rich does the opposite, and it sounds as part of his musical being. There’s some deep bass that just cuts through, and this goes on for eight and a half minutes of jam session heaven. Just bop along.
The second side has two Rich originals. Greasy late night blues is on the menu. “Look Through My Window” sets a scene of steamy Tennessee dusk. Brilliant stuff for any fan of slippery slidey guitars. Then an acoustic/electric tune called “Falling Away” closes on a first light of a quiet dawn. Great tunes, both, making up a tidy little 16 minute EP. Or single. Whatever!
The vinyl itself is clear and thick. The package doesn’t say anything about clear vinyl, but you almost expect clear or coloured when you buy these limited editions. It looks lovely spinning with its green label. Great little EP, reasonably priced for the collector and fan.
MASTODON – “White Walker” (2016 Warner 10″ picture disc single)
Disclaimer: I’ve never seen a single episode of Game of Thrones, although I will admit a crush on Emilia Clarke, and a man-crush on Kit Harington. And I don’t really know a lot about Mastodon. I know they rock — and that’s enough.
Since Sunrise Records in Kitchener opened up again back in April, I’ve been doing my best to support them. Taking a chance on something I haven’t heard before, and finding the artwork badass as hell, I plopped down for Mastodon’s “White Watcher” single. There is nothing typical about this song. The war drums opening the track sound as if from battle. The lyrics certainly paint a picture: a cold and desolate land full of despair. There is little musical backing, just some spare acoustic guitars and a few atmospheric electric licks until the haunting guitar solo kicks in. It’s atypical of any Mastodon I’ve heard.
The B-side is the A Cappella version of “White Walker”, with just one voice. I love how it reveals the imperfections of the human voice. It sounds like something a character on the show might be singing, before battle. The mourning feeling is there in the grooves of the record.
And speaking of the record, what artwork! The A-side is a brilliant painting of a White Walker, while the B-side is a still from the show. The snowy landscape and ragged people huddled around fires certainly illustrate what the song feels like. Incredible single.
Gratitude to James Kalyn of the KMAfor acquiring this treasure.
JIMMY PAGE & THE BLACK CROWES – Live at Jones Beach (2017 The Orchard Record Store Day EP)
Aficionados of Led Zeppelin and the Black Crowes rejoice! It has been a long time since the fantastic concert collaboration, Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes Live at the Greek (2000). That double CD delivered a surprisingly bang-on dose of legendary Zeppelin cuts and blues covers. Here, it’s a seven piece band consisting of Page, Rich Robinson and Audley Freed in a lethal triple guitar lineup. The band was completed by vocalist Chris Robinson, drummer Steve Gorman, bassist Greg Rzab and keyboard player Eddie Harsch. Now you can hear three more tracks, from an additional concert at Jones Beach.
As expected, Pagey and the Crowes are whipped up into a blues jam rock frenzy loaded with atomic playing. Off to Middle Earth with “Misty Mountain Hop”, a song easily conquered by Chris Robinson. You may be surprised by how comfortably it fits the Crowes. “Bring it on Home” seems more their style, and with Jimmy they turn it into a loud rocking assault. The three guitarists are really able to bring to life “In the Light”, giving it the kind of depth it has in the studio. Chris and Rich double the vocals to emulate the production on the Physical Grafitti original.
4.5/5 stars
This was a 200 word review in the tradition of the#200wordchallenge.
We’ve had a couple strong new releases in a row here of late: The newHelixandJudas Priest albums have been particularly great.
I guess two out of three ain’t bad.
NEW RELEASE
QUIET RIOT – 10 (2014 iTunes or Amazon mp3 download)
I’ve made no secret of my dislike for the happenings in Quiet Riot recently. I find their current reunion, with no original members, to be tenuous at best. Singer after singer, Quiet Riot stumbled onwards before finally hiring Jizzy Pearl of Love/Hate and Ratt fame. With Pearl they’ve managed to record an album. 10 is the name of that album, another thing I find a little disrespectful. The name 10 seems to me to imply it’s their 10th album. It’s not; all fans know Metal Health was their third, not first, album. This seems to play into an earlier attempt to re-write the Quiet Riot related Wikipedia pages to state that Metal Health was the band’s first record. Why? I can only speculate that this is done to promote the current Quiet Riot as having “original members”, when in fact they have none.
However, I’m going to listen with open ears, because that’s what I’m here to do.
First track, “Rock in Peace” is one I like quite a lot. What I don’t like is the muddy, muddy sound. The drums sound like they’re in another room. It’s too bad because I think the song has potential. As for Jizzy, it’s easy to adjust to him as lead singer of Quiet Riot. Although he doesn’t sound like the late Kevin DuBrow too much, he does have certain screamy qualities in common with DuBrow. This enables him to adapt to the Quiet Riot sound. The lyrics quote the band’s biggest original hit, “Metal Health”, which is alright. Halford’s quoted himself before too. OK, so production aside, not bad.
“Bang For Your Buck” has some tasty guitar by the talented Alex Grossi, making his first Quiet Riot album appearance here. Unfortunately the otherwise fine song is held back by Jizzy, overreaching and straining. Grossi really does redeem the song especially with the solo…but damn this album sounds muddy. Congested. Like I have a head cold while listening to it.
Third in line is the weird titled “Backside of Water”. I don’t know what that title means, and since this is a digital release, there are no lyrics. It smokes along nicely, with more fantastic Grossi guitars, but it’s an unremarkable song that doesn’t sound like Quiet Riot, except in the sense that Quiet Riot has a lot of unremarkable songs. The Ratt-like “Back on You” is outtake quality. I’m sensing that the guys think they can just throw a shout-AC/DC-style chorus on something and call it catchy, but it doesn’t work that way.
“Band Down” is what you’d call a “down n’ dirty” rocker. I’d call it dull, and poor sounding. I think they’re trying to recapture that “Stay With Me Tonight” vibe, but without a memorable chorus. But “Dog Bone Alley” is worse, absolutely sunk by horrendous backing vocals. It has a slinky, heavy groove, and some smokin’ guitars, but that’s not enough to build a song with.
Alex Grossi, Jizzy Pearl, Frankie Banali, Chuck Wright
Quiet Riot’s biggest stumbling block has always been songwriting. That’s why some of their biggest hits are covers. Quiet Riot 10 continues that frustrating tradition. Just like albums such as Alive and Well had some good songs and solid moments, so is Quiet Riot 10. And that’s only six songs!
What Quiet Riot did to make a full album is include four live songs, kinda taking a page out of the ZZ Top book, a-la Fandango! These tracks are all obscurities, songs not available in live versions before. They all feature Kevin DuBrow, but could Frankie have not found better sounding recordings? From Quiet Riot III is a horrid sounding version of “Put Up or Shut Up”. This is bootleg quality, and not even good bootleg quality. Too bad; sounds like it was a good version. Then, from the stinky Rehab CD comes an unnecessary “Free”. So it’s heavy, whoop-de-do. It’s a shitty song, and the vocals are so damn distorted at times that it sounds as if Kevin’s under water. “South of Heaven” too suffers from these sonic defects. It seems like they were going for a Zeppelin “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” kind of vibe, but as if the mothership crashed into “The Ocean”. (See what I did there?) Kevin even yelps, “Push, push!” It’s a shame because Frankie really is a smokin’ drummer.
The final track is a nine minute rock n’ roll medley. This is a great jam. Humble Pie’s “Red Light Mama, Red Hot!” is a great little obscure choice. Kevin sounds like he’s having a blast. Actually the whole band sound like they’re having more fun here than they were playing their own originals. This seques into other more familiar hits, still harkening back to that old British blues rock sound.
Live many albums of Quiet Riots past, 10 stumbles and fails at times, while producing pleasing hard rock surprises at others. The sonic issues are a surprise to me. I hope a physical CD release, if there is to be one, would improve the sound.
2/5 stars
1. “Rock in Peace” 4:00 2. “Bang For Your Buck” 3:52 3. “Backside of Water” 4:18 4. “Back on You” 3:24 5. “Band Down” 3:17 6. “Dogbone Alley” 4:29
Live 7. “Put Up or Shut Up” 4:18 8. “Free” 4:05 9. “South of Heaven” 5:25 10. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Medley” 9:22
For further reading, check out Jon Wilmenius’ review of Quiet Riot 10.
THEM CROOKED VULTURES – “Mind Eraser, No Chaser” (10″ single)
I love unique looking items and this sure qualifies. Enveloped in a transparent red sleeve is a 10″ picture disc; this is something to behold. It looks great and you’ll want to put it in some kind of protective sleeve right away to keep it pristine, which is what I did.
The A-side contains the album version of “Mind Eraser, No Chaser” and a live cut of an unreleased song called “Hwy 1”. This live track was recorded in January in Sydney, Australia. It’s an awesome tune, punctuated by some seriously dexterous playing from John Paul Jones. Those who have heard his solo album Zooma know exactly what I’m talking about. I really liked this song a lot, it gets into a great groove, locking in with Dave and Josh, and a melody that makes it a real standout. If it had been on the album it would have been one of the choicest cuts.
“Mind Eraser, No Chaser” itself was one of the better album tracks as well, making this side a great listen. It’s a pretty succinct track that could be easily mistaken for a Queens of the Stone Age song. No matter that John Paul Jones is 1/3 of the band, Them Crooked Vultures simply resembles QOTSA more than they don’t.
The B-side is an 11-minute interview conducted by film director Liam Lynch (Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny). It’s actually quite a good interview, with all three members of the band. Both Dave Grohl and Josh Homme went into the album without having played their “main” instruments in a long time (drums and guitar respectively). John Paul expresses his disappointment that many metal bands are simply parodies of the genre; but that the Vultures are certainly not. My favourite quote is Dave Grohl’s:
“I’m never nervous about hitting ‘record’, and I’m never worried that, ‘hmmm, I hope I come up with a riff’. ‘Cause riffs…I don’t have a problem coming up with riffs. It’s songs that are important. I even said that to Josh after the first we time we jammed. I said, ‘You know, you and I could fill the Grand Canyon with riffs. But we need to write some songs’. That’s the hard part. And that’s where John comes in handy ’cause he’s the genius composer/arranger.”
This was an April 17 2010 Record Store Day exclusive, but even today you can find them all over the place. Don’t pay more than you need to, because you don’t need to.
DEEP PURPLE – =1 Live Album – 10″ Vinyl (2024 Edel)
mikeladano.com 