Deke

Martin Popoff & the Gang round up their King’s X Top Five

A huge thank-you once more to Martin Popoff for joining us on the show to talk King’s X!  We have been immersing ourselves in the magic trio from Texas:  Dug, Ty and Jerry.  And it has been brilliant.  And these were some brilliant lists.  Martin’s insight on these crucial records will be of interest to diehards and new fans alike.

Want a starter’s kit into King’s X?  Watch this show and listen to Martin.  He comes in at 0:12:45 of the stream.

Martin hung out and chatted King’s X (and a little Rush) for an hour.  Afterwards, we were joined by Kevin from Buried On Mars to continue the musical discussions.  Jacob Moon, Marillion, Def Leppard, Black Sabbath…it was a fun freeform chat that I hope you will stick around and enjoy for the balance of the show.

A huge thanks to Mr. T-Bone Erickson for the new Martin Popoff intro.

Your panel tonight was:

Thanks for Dr. Dave Haslam and KK for your bonus lists!

 

REMINDER: Martin Popoff and the King’s X Top Five lists on tonight’s LeBrain Train

Please give this one a “like” and a “share” — and give Martin your warmest welcome on tonight’s show!

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Episode 50 – Top Five King’s X Albums with Martin Popoff

For this very special 50th episode of the LeBrain Train, we welcome back Martin Popoff to talk King’s X!  It is such an honour and a pleasure to have Martin on a second time.  The subject matter:  King’s X’s Top Five albums.  Actually a monumental task.  And you can’t read my reviews and guess how I will rank them.  I will be coming at this with fresh ears and no holds barred.

These are some serious lists, and we’re sitting down with a serious King’s X fan!

Tonight, “We Will Find Who We Are”.  Is this one “Over My Head”?  Let the “Skeptical Winds” blow.  I don’t want to “Pretend”, because “I’ll Never Get Tired” of King’s X.  Please give Martin your biggest welcome, and give it a share, won’t you?

 

Friday February 12, 7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain

 

 

KING’X STUDIO ALBUMS + MORE

Part 1 – Out of the Silent Planet (1988)
Part 2 – Gretchen Goes to Nebraska (1989)
Part 3 – Kings of the Absurd (split bootleg with Faith No More)
Part 4 – Faith Hope Love by King’s X (1990)
Part 5 – “Junior’s Gone Wild” (from 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey soundtrack)
Part 6 – King’s X (1992)
Part 7 – Dogman (1994) + bonus “Pillow” promo single review
Part 8 – Ear Candy (1996)
Part 9 – Best of King’s X (1997)
Part 10 – Tape Head (1998)
Part 11 – POUNDHOUND – Massive Grooves from the Church of Psychofunkadelic Grungelism Rock Music (1998 Doug Pinnick/Jerry Gaskill)
Part 12 – Please Come Home…Mr. Bulbous (2000)
Part 13 – PLATYPUS – Ice Cycles (2000 Ty Tabor)
Part 14 – Manic Moonlight (2001)
Part 15 – Black Like Sunday (2003)
Part 16 – Ogre Tones (2005)
Part 17 – XV (2008)

 

Over Our Heads? Top Five King’s X Albums with Martin Popoff on this week’s LeBrain Train!

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Episode 50 – Top Five King’s X Albums with Martin Popoff

For this very special 50th episode of the LeBrain Train, we welcome back Martin Popoff to talk King’s X!  It is such an honour and a pleasure to have Martin on a second time.  King’s X was the subject broached (by Uncle Meat, thank you) and Martin challenged us to hone down our usual Nigel Tufnel Top Ten lists to a tight Top Five.

Topic decided, it was only after the fact I realized how difficult this was going to be!  But I think I have my top five ready.  These are some serious lists, and we’re sitting down with a serious King’s X fan.

Friday night, “We Will Find Who We Are”.  Is this one “Over My Head”?  Let the “Skeptical Winds” blow.  I don’t want to “Pretend”, because “I’ll Never Get Tired” of King’s X.  Please give Martin your biggest welcome, and give it a share, won’t you?

 

Friday February 12, 7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain

 

 

KING’X STUDIO ALBUMS + MORE

Part 1 – Out of the Silent Planet (1988)
Part 2 – Gretchen Goes to Nebraska (1989)
Part 3 – Kings of the Absurd (split bootleg with Faith No More)
Part 4 – Faith Hope Love by King’s X (1990)
Part 5 – “Junior’s Gone Wild” (from 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey soundtrack)
Part 6 – King’s X (1992)
Part 7 – Dogman (1994) + bonus “Pillow” promo single review
Part 8 – Ear Candy (1996)
Part 9 – Best of King’s X (1997)
Part 10 – Tape Head (1998)
Part 11 – POUNDHOUND – Massive Grooves from the Church of Psychofunkadelic Grungelism Rock Music (1998 Doug Pinnick/Jerry Gaskill)
Part 12 – Please Come Home…Mr. Bulbous (2000)
Part 13 – PLATYPUS – Ice Cycles (2000 Ty Tabor)
Part 14 – Manic Moonlight (2001)
Part 15 – Black Like Sunday (2003)
Part 16 – Ogre Tones (2005)
Part 17 – XV (2008)

T-Bone and the Gang are Done With Mirrors on the LeBrain Train

What can you say about a show that does all the following in one night:

  1. An in-depth, track by track analysis and critique of Aerosmith’s Done With Mirrors
  2. A tribute to Christopher Plummer (R.I.P.)
  3. CD unboxing and beer de-canning
  4. A world premier music video
  5. The sound of the real toilet flushing
  6. Awesome rock and roll chit-chat for almost three full hours

Why, it could only have been the LeBrain Train!  And this week, far more than 2000 words were said about Done With Mirrors.  This album generated so much passionate and sometimes dispassionate discussion that it would have been a shame if everybody didn’t get to speak their piece.  This album isn’t as polarizing as you might think.  We all found something enjoyable, we just didn’t always agree on what was enjoyable.

Your panel tonight was:

To skip ahead to the parts you may be interested in, go to the following points in the video:

  • Beer de-canning:  0:26:40
  • Encore Records unboxing:  0:28:10
  • Christopher Plummer tributes at:  0:18:30 and 2:34:50
  • Done With Mirrors discussion:  0:34:05
  • World premier music video of Current River’s Rock’n in a Rubber:  2:38:45

 

Thanks for watching and leaving the awesome comments, folks!  Tune in next week when Martin Popoff returns with his King’s X Top Five!

 

T-Bone Lets The Music Do The Talking on tonight’s LeBrain Train

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Episode 49 – “The Return of T-Bone”

 

Layin’ down some facts for you:

  1. T-Bone is one of my favourite people,
  2. “Let the Music Do the Talking” is one of my favourite songs,
  3. but Done With Mirrors is one of my least favourite Aerosmith albums.

It’s been a mere two months since T-Bone last graced our show with his presence, but this time he’s coming locked and loaded with a special album deep discussion:  Aerosmith’s Done With Mirrors.

When I ranked all the Aerosmith albums, I placed it at #11.  I gave it a 3.5/5 when I reviewed it separately, but I blame Deke for that.  He was whispering things in my ear.  “36 minutes of classic Aerorock,” is what he said.   That was six years ago, and I have not listened to Done With Mirrors much since.  So it will be interesting to see what we have to say this time out.  Deke and T-Bone are big fans.

Besides Deke and T-Bone, we’ll also be bringing in Uncle Meat and Buried On Mars.  They are coming into the discussion with fresher ears than I, so it’ll be interesting to hear their takes.

Also:  Special beer “de-canning”!   Music unboxing from Encore Records!  New Current River music video!  All coming to you live…tonight!

 

7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain

 

 

Scheduling Notes:

Martin Popoff will be back next Friday, February 12, for a King’s X Top Five show!

We are also hard at work on plenty of list shows and returning guests.  Rob Daniels and Mike Slayen will be returning when we do the Top Riffs of the 80s.  Harrison the Mad Metal Mad will be back when we tackle Top Maiden Album Covers, and a few other topics that we have cooking up.  And for a special 1st Anniversary show on March 19, Brent Jensen is going to talk about music that makes our skin vibrate one more time!

 

 

Mike Fraser takes us inside the recording studio on an epic LeBrain Train

“What happened to the guitars? Well put them back the way they were!” – Jimmy Page

A huge, huge, huge thanks to Mike Fraser for hanging out on a Friday night!  Growing up a young rock fan in Canada, we heard legend of Little Mountain studios in Vancouver.  Tonight, Superdekes and I got to ask the questions we wanted to know for over 30 years.  And Mike delivered!

Krokus.  Loverboy.  Honeymoon Suite.  AC/DC.  Aerosmith.  Bryan Adams.  The Cult.  Coverdale-Page.  So much more!  We tackled some of our favourite albums and a few cult classics.  From the Stone Gods to Canadian folksters The Rankin Family, we tried to explore the slightly obscure corners of Mike’s discography.  And we had a blast!  We took a few viewer questions, and if Mike comes back to the show again in the future, then maybe we can ask him the rest.

As I often do, I started early with an unboxing.  Start the video from the beginning if you want to catch that.  If you’re only interested in Mike (couldn’t blame you) then skip to 0:08:00 of the stream.

 

Make sure you watch all the way to the end to catch the brand new music video by T-Bone Erickson:  “Balls of Steel”.  This song is a tribute to Superdekes, who hooked us up with Mike Fraser for this show.  Thank you Deke, and thank you T-Bone for this awesome premiere video!

Feedback has been that this was the best LeBrain Train yet.  Do you agree?

Martin Popoff chills with the Three Amigos at the Rock and Roll Highschool

Thank you Martin Popoff for a thunderous rock and roll chat on a locked-in Friday night!  Confronted by three Top Five Popoff lists, Martin threw it down!  From his books to his Youtube shows, we tried to cover a bit of everything.  Thank you Martin for giving us an hour of your Friday night.  If you haven’t read one of his terrific tomes yet, check out what’s available at martinpopoff.com.  Money well spent!

We decided to take a three-pronged approach to the discussion by focusing on three Top Five lists:

  1. Deke – Top Five Martin Popoff Books
  2. Mike – Top Five albums I bought because of a 10/10 review in Riff Kills Man
  3. Eric – Top Five Martin Popoff YouTube appearances

From there the discussion flowed like a gin & tonic.

Hope you enjoyed the show!

 

 

REMINDER: Martin Popoff on tonight’s LeBrain Train!

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Episode 46 – A Chat With Martin Popoff

Join SuperDekes, Uncle Meat and myself TONIGHT as we talk to the guy who, frankly, got me writing reviews in the first place!  It was Riff Kills Man that inspired me, a book that I’ve been re-reading this week only to find new revelations.  I love when I feel validated by a review in one of Martin’s 90-odd books.

Martin’s extensive bibliography (he is the Isaac Asimov of Heavy Metal) includes definitive tomes on Accept, Rainbow, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and just about every other band with legendary status.  As my re-reading this week has shown me, Martin has a way of describing music that just resonates.  It’s a talent that I have long envied.

Please spread the word, and welcome Martin Popoff to the LeBrain Train tonight!

7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain

Martin Popoff – Top of the Bill on this week’s LeBrain Train – Friday Jan. 15

I am pleased to announce this week’s guest:  none other than Martin Popoff, Canadian music scribe extraordinaire!  Martin will be joining us to talk about his many books, YouTube shows, and assorted awesomeness.  It is a conversation I have been hoping to have for, oh, 20 years (give or take).

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Episode 46 – A Chat With Martin Popoff

Join Super “Ironballs” Deke (who hooked it up with Martin), Uncle Meat and myself this Friday as we talk to the guy who, frankly, got me writing reviews in the first place!  It was Riff Kills Man that inspired me, a book that was passed around from friend to friend like a kid passes along a nudie mag.  “Have you ever heard Gillan?  Budgie?  Thin Lizzy?”  These were the words muttered as we handed the book onto the next recipient!

Martin’s extensive bibliography (he is the Isaac Asimov of Heavy Metal) includes definitive tomes on Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Rush, Motorhead, Max Webster and just about every other band with legendary status.  Through all that I kept my treasured copy of Riff Kills Man safely in my desk at work.  I’d write Amazon album reviews on my lunch break, and I had to have Popoff nearby to consult in case of confusion or doubt.

Please spread the word, and welcome Martin Popoff to the LeBrain Train on Friday January 15!

7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain

Art by:  Saige from Weeping Willow Creations

I will be taking the next few days off from writing and posting so I can focus on preparing for this show.

Scraping the Skies of Thunder Bay with T-Bone & Deke

Thank you T-Bone and Deke for an awesome Friday night on the LeBrain Train! Tonight’s episode was the brainchild of Deke and it was long overdue.  T-Bone, an original member of Thunder Bay’s own Current River, has plenty of great stories which we only scratched the surface of in this almost three-hour chat!

Topics discussed and their locations in the stream:

  • T-Bone Tales – scattered throughout.
  • Shaun of the Dead challenge – 0:33:20.  The zombie apocalypse has come and you are unarmed.  All you have to save yourself from the horde is your record collection.  Choose five records from your collection to throw at the zombies to save yourself.  Harder than it sounds!  This segment includes a highly disputed meltdown over Tenacious D’s debut.
  • Beer de-canning from Sleeping Giant brewery’s 2020 advent calendar – 0:35:00
  • A special Def Leppard box set unwrapping and story from someone involved with the making of it – 1:27:25
  • An hour-long track by track discussion of David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper LP – 1:50:00

Truly, some of the most fun I’ve had on a Friday night.  Good stories, good times, good beverages.  Good friends.  Spend your Friday nights with us, or catch us on Youtube after the fact.  Give the videos a share if you think your friends would like watching too.  It’s all about community and thanks for being a part of it.  Special appreciation to Harrison the Mad Metal Man for hilarious commentary.  I shall dub thee:  Hilarrison.