Deep Purple albums take time to absorb, especially in the current “Ezrin era”. The records are not lazy with simple songs (puns intended)! Tim and I attempted to break down the new album =1, track by track. We tended to agree on a lot of the songs.
What’s with the artwork? Is Simon a new Blackmore? What the heck is Ian Gillan singing about? Find out in this excellent episode of Tim’s Vinyl Confessions, out today.
My written review of the album will follow tomorrow morning, with the deluxe edition live discs getting the written review treatment in the coming weeks.
Here we go with the third and final (to date) Night Ranger album gifted to me by Tim Durling. ATBPO stands for And the Band Played On. And play on they did, now with Keri Kelli on guitar after the departure of Joel Hoekstra, currently in Whitesnake. Tim praises this album highly, so let’s find out why.
Some of the heaviest, slamming guitar I’ve heard from Night Ranger opens up the menacingly fun “Coming For You”. For some reason I’m thinking of “Lost In America” by Alice Cooper. This one is a grower. It jumps out more listen after listen. There are poker metaphors and a killer multi-part guitar solo! Sounds absolutely wicked, modern and technical, like Steve Stevens on adrenaline. It is quite possible that Brad Gillis is from outer space.
Second is “Bring It All Home To Me”, slowing the pace to a hard rock summer groove. I mentioned to Tim, I was hearing some twang in Night Ranger on the High Road album. I hear a teensy bit of that on the “baby, baby, baby” part of “Bring It All Home To Me”. Tim will argue that I am hearing that because nu-country appropriated a lot of 80s hard rock, and there’s an association there. Another bonkers solo here, making it two in a row for songs that fans of original guitar shred will want to hear.
More Gillis madness on the progressive sounding “Breakout”, bringing back the speed, but with a technical edge that few bands can really match. Kelly Keagy’s nuts on the drums, and fretboards are burning on the solo. This has to be one of the hardest Night Ranger songs to date. Then, a boogie piano and a surprising cocaine reference opens “Hard to Make it Easy”, and I’m resisting saying the word ” country” again…but there it is. This has line-dancing qualities. Now I’m not meaning this in a bad way. Night Ranger are allowed to stretch out and play stuff like this, and I won’t complain. The chorus sounds like Shania…just sayin’…but the dual guitar solo is more Lizzy.
We go somewhere down the crazy river with the snaky opening guitars of “Can’t Afford a Hero”, which soon transitions to a standard acoustic ballad. It would make a good Shaw-Blades track. Good tune with, again, great solo work. One of the more adventurous tunes.
“Cold As December” is a standout, with a powerful quality you can just pound your fist to. It’s just all riff and all beef! The guitar and vocals melodies are its strength. Despite its edge, the melodies and hooks shine through.
An unfortunate “We Will Rock You” drum beat soon gives way to another good song, “Dance”, a power ballad with more power than ballad. Really nice song. “The Hardest Road” is also ballady, but Kelly Keagy’s lead vocal adds a ragged raspy edge that enhances it beyond. Then the surprising “Monkey” kicks in with a serious beat. This is the song that would sound best in the car when you’re on the highway. Just non-stop stomp.
“A Lucky Man” is an album highlight, upbeat and bright, with a hint of that twang I keep hearing. This would definitely sound great at camp or cottage in the summertime. The keyboard and guitar solos are from the moon, which offsets the twang. Another personal favourite, easy peasy. Some tasty sweet guitar harmonies open up “Tomorrow”, another nice upbeat rocker with classy keyboard accents.
The closer is a “bonus track” (I ask why?) called “Savior”. It’s a little…goofy? I don’t know. Everybody’s looking for a good time? Sure. I’ll agree with that. Not sure about the song though.
Pat Torpey was such an important part of Mr. Big. Drumming, singing, writing: Pat did it all, and that’s why Mr. Big have found him so difficult to replace. His death from Parkinson’s disease was shattering to the band. They carried on with Matt Starr for a while, but they needed someone who could sing. Enter: Nick D’Virgilio from Spock’s Beard. Not just a legendary progressive rock drummer, but also a singer in his own right, Nick was an unexpected but appropriate choice for Mr. Big to record their final (?) album Ten.
Though some fans seem unwilling to allow bands to age and change, Mr. Big has done so without missing a beat. Sure, Eric Martin doesn’t sound 28 years old anymore (because he’s 63), but there is nothing wrong with his voice here. Just a little rasp, and a little less range. He has aged better than most 63 year olds you can name in the rock biz. He is still top notch, first class, and also a key songwriter here, along with Paul Gilbert and Andre Pessis. Absent from the credits is Billy Sheehan. That might explain why this album is less bass-y. Even so, in 2024 Mr. Big have come up with one of their best albums, up there with Hey Man.
The Gilbert-penned first track “Good Luck Trying” has a definite “Manic Depression” vibe. It’s a blues-rock classic, authentically rocking as if it came from another decade. It’s like a time machine, and the Hendrix inspiration is undeniable. A solid start.
Much like Hey Man and “Take Cover”, the best track is the second one. “I Am You” will be in your head for days. There’s a subtle acoustic guitar part, which is something of a recurring feature on this album. “I Am You” boasts a powerful chorus, but with an anthemic meloncholy vibe. Too bad a lyric sheet is not included, as this one has cool soul-baring words. Everything about this song is perfect, from impassioned vocals to mighty chorus. Sometimes it’s worth buying an album for one song. This is one of those songs, no hyperbole. It’s just a little different for this band, but it’s also a total pop rock anthem, and one of best Big songs in years.
We get a Zeppelin vibe on “Right Outta Here”, with bluesy verses and exotic choruses. Anytime you hear chords that we might refer to as “exotic”, Zeppelin comes to mind. Expect those Middle Eastern melodies on the guitar, and more acoustic backing. Nick doesn’t necessarily play like John Bonham, but there are the odd big hits that recall him.
In a fun twist, “Sunday Morning Kinda Girl” contains the lyric “big finish”, the name of their current tour. This song has a hard rock vibe mixed with 60s melodic sensibility. Definite Beatles vibes in the melodies, though the song is far harder than the Fab Four. Their green-tinted sixties minds must have been in tune for this song. Again, acoustic guitars can be heard in the background, but check out Paul’s very Queen-like guitar solo.
There are a few ballads on Ten. Ballads have been a thing with Mr. Big since the first album, but obviously “To Be With You” made them far more important. “Who We Are” is an electric ballad, with a bluesy style. Not as memorable as some past Big ballads, but a good song regardless. Great chorus here, and superb drum fills.
“As Good As It Gets” is uptempo acoustic/electric fun. Like “I Am You”, very different for this band and an easy album highlight. Once again, the drum work and fills here are stunning. It’s almost Rush-like. Paul brings in a very sweet guitar melody, with layers of guitar tracks thickening up the soup. This song also has one of the few Billy Sheehan bass solos on the album.
The boogie of “What Were You Thinking” has some wicked slide guitar by Paul Gilbert, housed within an uptempo rocker. Maybe the fastest tune on the album, but it’s not to be compared to old Big like “Addicted to that Rush”. This is just rock and roll. The lyrics reference Star Trek with “phasers on stun”, and you just have to love that. Another possible album highlight.
If there is a weak link, it’s “Courageous”. It’s a mid-tempo song, but not a ballad. It has some wonderful guitar, but doesn’t move the Earth. What does shake the Earth is the opening drum beat on “Up On You”. A hard rock party rocker, this features the return of the slide! Just because it’s a hard rock song with slide guitar, there is a slight Motley vibe (circa Dr. Feelgood), but only slight. Some boogie piano also helps keep things moving, but this is the most 80s rocker on the album.
Closing an album (sort of) with another ballad is daring. Yet “The Frame” is the softest of them, and a totally appropriate closer. It’s not “To Be With You”; there is no campfire rock on this album. There is plenty of music with an emotional weight, and “The Frame” has that and more. It takes a few listens to sink in, but it’s not really goodbye. There is a bonus track on all versions of the album.
Some countries got an instrumental track (to be reviewed later), but the bonus track in Canada is different from the one in the US and Japan. Here we get a blues cover, “8 Days on the Road”. Easily another album highlight, with someone else (Paul Gilbert?) singing lead on a bluesy drawl. Brilliant track and playing. Talk about going out with a bang! If this really is the end, then “8 Days on the Road” is a brilliant capstone. It showcases the kind of playing that Mr. Big built their reputation on.
Though Mr. Big albums have been spotty through their career, Ten is among the better records. It may go down with albums such as Hey Man as a cult classic.
Today on Tim’s Vinyl Confessions, we deep dive into the new (final?) Mr. Big album called Ten. Shockingly, it’s their tenth studio album. I know, right? It’s also a few firsts: the first album with no songwriting from bassist Billy Sheehan, and debut Mr. Big album for new drummer Nick D’Virgilio. It has been eight long years since their last album, Defying Gravity, which wasn’t bad at all. Did they top it? Did they go out on a good note?
Now that Ratt has ceased to exist as a band, we seem to be getting better and better reissues. There was that Atlantic Albums CD set that came out recently with cool bonus tracks, and a forthcoming LP reissue with that set with an additional recently-discovered unreleased track. Too bad Stephen Pearcy didn’t dig that one up in time to issue on 2024’s Rarities album, a nine track compilation of unreleased versions spanning 1982 to 1989. These include the classic lineup of Peacy, Robbin Crosby, Warren DeMartini, Bobby Blotzer and Juan Crocier. There is also one previously unheard song written by Pearcy and Crosby to add some extra value.
We open with a 1983 version of “Tell the World” from the 1984 Ratt EP. It is a less polished version of the same, complete with shouted backing vocals and echo effects. The most notable differences are the prominent busy Blotzer drum fills. This is followed by a 1982 rehearsal tape of the hit-to-be, “Round and Round”. Of course the sound quality is what should expect for a 1982 rehearsal tape. It’s garage quality and probably recorded by a boom box in a really loud room. That said, it’s still a fun listen since the band is so tight and the song was years away from the charts. It’s actually unfinished; about 90% there.
Do you know how many songs Ratt have about wanting something? We already have “I Want A Woman” and “I Want To Love You Tonight”, which might be why “I Want It All” didn’t make an album. “I Want It All” is an undated demo from the 80s that was later finished up with new bassist Robbie Crane on 1997’s Collage. This older version is rougher but otherwise the same arrangement. It’s a little different for Ratt, opening with acoustic guitars. It’s a good sassy mid-tempo Ratt track that would have fit on any number of albums post-Out of the Cellar.
The next batch of tunes are live. “In Your Direction” from Cellar is from 1987, as is “Round and Round”, “Body Talk” and “Drive Me Crazy”, though “Body Talk” is also noted as being live in Germany. “In Your Direction” is bootleggy, most likely an audience recording. “Round and Round” is clearer but a little by rote. You can hear Juan’s backing vocals clearly, and Stephen even drops an F-bomb that would have been edited out had it been released in the 80s.
“Body Talk” and “Drive Me Crazy are a pair from Dancing Undercover. The intensity of “Body Talk” is impressive, though some of it gets washed out in the thrashy tempo. The greatest sin, however, is the premature fadeout during the guitar solo. There is no such fade on “Drive Me Crazy” which fares well live. The backing vocals are a bit ragged, but it all holds together in a stampeding Ratt romp.
Back to a 1985, “Wanted Man” from Cellar is the last of the live songs. The bass drum is a bit thuddy, and nothing’s particularly clear (especially Robbin), but the performance is spot on. Listen, we all like buying bootlegs, don’t we? You should have no issue with the sound quality so long as you understand in advance, none of these recordings were intended for release.
The final song is the previously unheard “Love on the Rocks” from 1989, which did not make the Detonator record. Written by Stephen and Robbin, it’s a pretty damn solid Ratt song and one of the best sounding tracks on the album. The chorus is decent and a properly produced version would have been polished-up album worthy. As it is, it’s a good B-side or bonus track.
While not essential, this Ratt compilation is a solid addition to any collection. It’s for the fan that has everything but wants a little (back for) more. But that cover artwork? Surely they could have done better than that.
Deep Purple’s first new album with Simon McBride on guitar will be out July 19. Called =1 (“equals one”), the music seems to heading into a riffy direction. The band have just released a new CD single, something of a tradition for them during the Bob Ezrin era in this late part of their career. This single includes two tracks from the album, including the recently released “Portable Door”, and two live tracks with Simon recorded in 2022. Let’s have a listen and hear what the Purples have in store.
Track one, “Pictures of You” has a pretty cool and weighty riff. Backed by Don Airey’s organ, it’s one of Purple’s catchiest riffs in recent years. The chorus follows the riff melody. “These pictures of you are too good to be true,” sings Ian Gillan. Ian’s voice is pushed to its current limits, which is often the thing you hear people moaning about the most, but it’s really no issue. Simon comes in with a wicked catchy solo, before the whole song detours into a dainty Don Airey piano part with Simon doing volume swells overtop. Though only 3:50 long, “Pictures of You” packs a lot into a short time.
Without a gap, the band breaks into something completely different, ominous and heavy: “Portable Door”. Ian Paice is the backbone, always smooth, always identifiable, infallible. With Ian Paice on drums, Deep Purple will always sound like Deep Purple. Don Airey’s organ really dominates the solo section, as it should, and Simon’s guitar work is sublime. As for the tune itself? Top notch.
The live tracks were recorded October 17 2022 in Milan, Italy. These tracks will not be on the deluxe box set version of =1, and are exclusive to the single. First up is the classic blues “When A Blind Man Cries”, and we get to hear Simon do what Simon does. Perhaps more interesting though, the arrangement includes a new lounge-y into with piano. “Blind Man” feels slower than usual, but Ian Gillan is in fine voice. Simon takes center stage on the guitar solo, and it’s so phenomenal that you can hear the audience break into applause at its conclusion. It’s slow and passionate until he lets rip. Having Don Airey follow is almost anti-climax. Welcome to Deep Purple, Simon McBride!
The more recent “Uncommon Man” closes the disc, with a beautiful guitar solo backed by heavenly keyboards. As one of Purple’s more regal songs, it sounds great on stage. Roger Glover gets a little bit of the spotlight just before Simon’s solo, but this is a pretty faithful version. Most importantly, it is good to see that Deep Purple do not drop songs from the latter part of their career out of the setlist. (There are three other live versions of this song with Steve Morse available on other releases: Celebrating Jon Lord the Rock Legend, To the Rising Sun in Tokyo, and the Now What?! Live Tapes Vol. 2)
With only 5000 copies worldwide, this is sure to be a collector’s item.
QUEEN – “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” Ruined By Rick Rubin EP (1991 Hollywood Basic)
Mercifully, it’s short. But did they know they were making a piece of shit? “Ruined by Rick Rubin”. “Mix Engineer Under Protest: Brendan O’Brien”. “Engineering and Additional Bad Ideas: Jason Corsano”. Those are the actual credits. They had to know these remixes were awful. Connecting the dots, this remix EP must have been the brainchild of Hollywood records.
Rubin claims that “We Will Rock You” was a perfect record already, so he thought “I can’t improve upon it, I may as well throw the whole kitchen sink at it,” more or less. This was a single that went along with the 1991 reissue of News of the World, which included the first remix here as a bonus track. Not much of a bonus, really!
“We Will Rock You” begins with the sound of a scratchy record, then the handclaps, before everything goes bonkers. A droning sound is accompanied by drum loops. This goes on for a while, with the original track playing underneath, guitar solo and all. Then it explodes with additional drums by the Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith (credited here for “bombastic skin attack”. Flea is on additional bass (credited as “supercharged bass from hell”). Records scratch, people shout “yeah” (or “blah” or something), until it is mercifully all over after an agonizing five minutes. One of the worst remixes in music history.
It gets worse. An instrumental remix follows. This is just the loops and scratches, and whatever samples thrown in. There are things that sound like horns, and more of that droning sound.
The next track ruined by remixes is “We Are the Champions”. This version is blasphemous. A rapper chants, “Aint it funky!” between Freddie’s lines. The pointless loops and additional bullshit are present and accounted for. The choruses are relatively intact, but forget about the verses. Did “We Are the Champions” need drum loops and reggae dubbed in? Unlistenable.
Back to “We Will Rock You” with the “Big Beat A Capella”. This means the vocal track from the song, without the handclaps, but stupid drums (and even steel drums) looped over. Steel drums on “We Will Rock You”.
Finally, there is the “Zulu Scratch A Capella” remix of “We Will Rock You” and I don’t even wanna bother. It’s mostly just the vocal track with minor manipulations and a few scratches. The only good thing about it is its brevity.
This remix EP is for collectors only. If you’re a Queen completist, or a Red Hot Chili Peppers diehard who has to have every note that Flea farted out, go for it. Everyone involved should be embarrassed about this flaming turd, and judging by the credits, I think they are.
BRIAN MAY – “Too Much Love Will Kill You” (1992 EMI/Parlophone CD single)
The first time that most of us heard “Too Much Love Will Kill You” was in 1992, at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. Surely one of the biggest and most spectacular such events ever hosted, Queen played a scorching set with guests that night. One of the highlights was a song that Brian May humbly said was the best he had to offer. That song was the ballad “Too Much Love Will Kill You”, which Queen recorded but did not release on The Miracle (until 2022). For that album, the band chose to only include songs written solely by the four core members. “Too Much Love Will Kill You” was co-written by Brian with Elizabeth Lamers and Frank Musker. A few months after the concert, May would release his solo version of the song on his album, Back to the Light, and also as a single. (There is now a deluxe edition of Back to the Light, containing all the songs from this single.)
“I’m just the pieces of the man I used to be,” croons May after a a delicate intro. A song about being torn between two lovers, you somehow actually feel sorry for the guy who’s trying to choose between two women. “Too much love will kill you, just as sure as none at all.” May’s version is different from Queen’s, with lush orchestration taking up much of the space. It’s absolutely gorgeous! Queen’s version was as well, and it may be difficult to choose between versions. Brian takes a lovely acoustic guitar solo, which is so rarely heard from the master of electric layers of bliss. His vocals are impassioned, perhaps even more than Freddie’s were. Though loaded to the gills with strings and accoutrements, it’s a spellbinding version.
Second on the single is a rocker named “I’m Scared”. If it were a Queen song, it would be one of the harder-edged. It’s a speedy ride through an amusement part of guitar and drums (by Cozy Powell, with bass by his Black Sabbath and Whitesnake compatriot Neil Murray). Brian talk-sings for most of it, which works well, especially when he mockingly has trouble getting his words out towards the end. It’s a performance, and the chorus ain’t bad regardless of the vocal storytelling. It’s too weird for radio, but could be one of those cool deep cuts.
Track three is the “guitar version” of “Too Much Love With Kill You” which, believe it or not, is an instrumental. Brian’s electric guitar takes the place of the singer. It’s a cool and unexpected version. It’s an incredible, lyrical version. Brian takes liberties and doesn’t play the vocal melody note for note, but you can make it out just the same. This could be one of May’s greatest guitar performances, simply because he uses his instrument to speak in a way that very few guitarists can do for four minutes straight. He changes voices, he adds luscious trills, and it’s an absolute knockout.
The last track is a re-do of lead single “Driven By You”, with Cozy and Neil. Brian played bass on the album version. This version is hard and punchy. The song is a melodic rock classic. If it had come out a couple years earlier, it could have been a summer hit. Cozy and Neil were in Brian’s live band, so having them re-do the track for a B-side probably made sense. It’s really strong, and the bass and drums are both in your face. Diehard fans will absolutely be able to recognize the legendary rhythm section. Cozy in particular has a signature sound, and Neil does as well to a lesser degree.
What a great single, combining rarities with hits and a deep cut. A total score.
I love admitting to my past musical sins. Perhaps others will learn from my mistakes.
I was in grade 11, a mere 16 years old, when the music video for “Youth Gone Wild” hit the airwaves. Skid Row were the latest thing, a band promoted by Jon Bon Jovi himself, from his home state of New Jersey. We didn’t know yet that the lead singer, Sebastian Bach, identified as a Canadian. He grew up in Peterborough Ontario, just on the other side of Toronto. In fact, I didn’t know that I already had something of Bach in my music video collection. I had a brief clip of him, with teased up hair, in a prior band called Madame X. This band was led by Maxine Petrucci, sister of Roxy Petrucci from Vixen. They featured a young Sebastian Bach and Mark “Bam Bam” McConnell whom Bach would play with in VO5. I wasn’t into any of those bands. I was pretty hard-headed about what I liked and disliked.
In Spring 1989, I first encountered “Youth Gone Wild” on the Pepsi Power Hour. It could have been Michael Williams hosting, but whoever it was, they hyped up this new band called Skid Row. I liked getting in on new bands from the ground floor. Made them easier to collect when you started at the start. At that point, I wasn’t even sure how many albums Judas Priest actually had. I was intrigued enough to hit “record” on my VCR as the music video began. I caught the opening “Ba-boom!” of drums, and sat back to watch.
While I wasn’t blown away, I kept recording. The key was the singer. If the singer sucked, I’d usually hit “stop” and rewind back to where I was. The singer passed the test: he didn’t suck. I kept recording.
After about a minute, I pressed the “stop” button, and lamented that this new band wasn’t for me. What happened? What did Skid Row do to turn me off so quickly?
I can admit this. I’ve always been open about the fact that I was very image-driven as a teenager. We all were! With the exception of maybe George Balazs, all the neighborhood kids were into image to some degree or another. I was probably driven by image more than the average kid, consuming magazines and music videos by the metric tonne. So, what exactly was wrong with Skid Row?
I’ll tell ya, folks. It was serious.
The bass player had a chain going from his nose to his ear.
I just could not. I couldn’t put a poster on my wall with some band that had a bass player with a chain that went from his nose to his ear! No way, no f’n way.
I pressed rewind, and prepared to record the next video over Skid Row.
That summer, the glorious, legendary summer of ’89, I went with Warrant. I bought their debut album sight-unseen, based on a blurb in the Columbia House catalogue. Warrant were the selection of the month. “What the hell,” I thought, and checked the box to order it immediately.
Meanwhile, Bob Schipper and the girl I liked, named Tammy, were really into Skid Row. They knew all about my issues with the nose chain. They got under my skin about it a bit, but I wouldn’t bend on Skid Row.
“18 and Life” was the next single, a dark power ballad that was easy for me to ignore. “I Remember You” was harder to pass on. It was the perfect acoustic ballad for 1989. You had the nostalgic lyrics, which Bob and I both connected with. Somehow, we knew that 1989 was the absolute pinnacle. We knew this would be the summer to beat! Bon Jovi and Def Leppard were still on the charts. Aerosmith and Motley Crue had new singles out with albums incoming. We walked around singing “Summer of ’69” by Bryan Adams, except we changed the words to “Summer of ’89”. We just knew. “Got my first real six string…” we sang. And we both had our own fairly new guitars that we could barely play.
“I Remember You” was a massive hit, and still I resisted.
“Because of the nose chain?” Bob Schipper questioned me.
Absolutely because of the nose chain!
I stood firm for two years. Bob Schipper went to college, and Tammy was long distance and not meant to last. I felt a bit like an island by the time 1991 rolled around. I felt alone. My best friend was gone, I had no girlfriend, and most of my school friends went their own ways. I was a loner like I’d never been in my life before. Music was my companion, and my beloved rock magazines were my library.
That’s how Skid Row eventually got me. Sebastian Bach had a good friend in Drew Masters, who published the excellent M.E.A.T Magazine out of Toronto. Drew’s praise for the forthcoming second Skid Row album, Slave to the Grind, was unrelenting. He caught my ear. I was looking for heavier music in my life, not satisfied with Priest’s Painkiller as one of the heaviest albums I owned. I wanted more rock, and I wanted it heavy.
The other thing that got me was the collector’s itch. When I found out that Slave to the Grind was released in two versions with different exclusive songs, I was triggered. I had to have both.
“I’ll make a tape, and put both songs on my version!” It was a pretty cool idea.
Costco had Slave to the Grind in stock. They had the full-on version with “Get the Fuck Out”, the song that was excluded from the more store-friendly version. Columbia House stocked the tame version, which had a completely different song called “Beggars Day”. I bought the CD from Costco, the vinyl from Columbia House, and suddenly I was the only guy in town who had the full set. I made my cassette with joy, recreating the Skid Row logo on the spine, and writing the song titles in with red ink.
“Get the Fuck Out” was track 6, side one. “Beggars Day” was track 7, side one. I still have them in that order in my mp3 files today.
Sure, there was an audible change in sound when the tape source went from CD to vinyl, but I couldn’t afford two CD copies. Little did I know how cool it would be later on to have an original vinyl copy of Slave to the Grind.
I loved the album. I loved all three of the ballads. The production was sharp. There were excellent deep cuts: “The Threat”, “Livin’ on a Chain Gang”, and “Riot Act” were all as great as any of the singles. Furthermore, the singer had taken it to new heights of intensity and excellence.
I let Skid Row into my heart that day. It was a good decision. Skid Row accompanied me through times good and bad, lonely and angry. They were my companion through it all, and they’re still pretty good. It was meant to be!
ALICE COOPER – Breadcrumbs (2024 earMUSIC, expanded reissue of 2019 Edel EP)
Wait a second…”Breadcrumbs“? I thought the full title was The Breadcrumbs EP? It was, but with the addition of two bonus tracks, it appears that Breadcrumbs has been upgraded to an album, with a modified title and altered cover art. Interestingly now the artwork highlights the production of Bob Ezrin.
Back in 2019, Alice Cooper wanted to do a Detroit garage rock record and pay homage to his roots. The Breadcrumbs EP was originally six tracks of stripped down goodness on 10″ vinyl and limited to 20,000 copies. (I own #48!) Now on CD, it is expanded to include the 2020 standalone Covid-era single “Don’t Give Up“, and a live track from 2022.
For the first six tracks (the original EP), 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” is anchored 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.
The world suddenly changed in March of 2020. By May, Alice had made his statement on Covid-19: “Don’t Give Up”! It’s the most direct, most topical, and the least “Alice” song of the bunch. Why? Because this time he’s not telling stories, or covering a rock classic. This time he’s addressing the listening directly and talking about current events. Wisely, he just stuck to the feelings.
“Yeah, I know you’re struggling right now. We all are, in different ways. It’s like a new world that we don’t even know. It’s hard to sleep, even harder to dream. But look, you got seven billion brothers and sisters all in the same boat! So don’t panic. Life has a way of surviving and going on and on. We’re not fragile and we sure don’t break easy.”
Since it was 2020, the single was recorded in home studios and eventually released on vinyl, with a different version appearing on the Detroit Stories album. This is the first CD release of the original 2020 version. Musically you could call “Don’t Give Up” a power ballad. It has a very 80’s guitar figure, with Alice speaking his message over it. The chorus is more modern, with Alice singing as plaintively as he can. It was never a remarkable track, but it was an important one in its time.
2020’s live version of “Go Man Go” features his live band, including Hurricane Nita Strauss on lead guitar. This is a short blast of live track, and well recorded, at Hellfest 2020. Probably just because of the live vibe, it’s a more enjoyable listen.
Nobody likes getting double-dipped and having to buy the same thing twice. However, we’re used to getting fleeced by now. It’s easy to ignore.
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