I have 31 discs of music to listen to now. And a whole lotta other goodies. Here we go!
First up – books. Peter Criss’ Makeup To Breakup, and the latest from Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Guiness’ Book of World Records. I’ve leafed through Peter’s book — all he seems to do is bitch about Paul and Gene. Review will come.
Next, Queen. A total of 8 discs of awesome remastered Queen to listen to: The Miracle, Jazz, A Night at the Opera, and Live Killers!
Next up, Rush. 6 discs in each of these two Sector box sets, including 2 DVD’s in 5.1 surround, plus 2 discs of 2112. Awesome. (I already have Sector 2 and have a review of that coming in the next few days.)
And the rest: The 4 disc Cult Love Omnibus Edition. Thin Lizzy’s Life Live (2 discs), Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra, and the new Rage Against The Machine XX edition (2 discs plus a DVD).
But that’s not all. Check out this Kiss lunchbox, these movies and vintage G1 Transformers 1988 “Bugly” action figure.
Lastly my folks got me this neat Joby camera tripod. This is going to come in handy when I make my next Transformers stop motion animated movie. I did a brief 15 second screen test — check that out too!
Hope your Christmas was filled with happiness, love, joy, and rock!
It’s always great to have a contrasting point of view when it comes to a new release. So, my buddy Tommy Morais, one of the top-rated reviewers on the Canadian Amazon site, is back to give us his two cents. Tommy got the standard edition of the new ‘Smith, while I got the deluxe. Neither of us had read the others’ review when we did this.
I’ll go first. Here’s my take on the deluxe:
AEROSMITH – Music From Another Dimension! (Deluxe Edition)
When an album is a decade or so in the making (hello, Axl!), it is only certain to create one thing: expectation. And it’s difficult to approach the new Aero-platter without expectation, seeing as the pre-release hype was absolutely gonzo. “Sounds like our old stuff! Sounds like Rocks!” Etc. etc. etc.
The truth of the matter is, on Music From Another Dimension! there are elements that sound like classic Aerosmith. Mostly, it’s in Joe Perry’s riffs. Otherwise, this album is firmly in Get A Grip territory, minus Bruce Fairbairn’s trademark flourish.
The opening track, the dumb-titled “Luv XXX” contains one of those vintage 70’s sounding Joe Perry riffs, as does the next song “Oh Yeah”. Both are really decent songs, with “Oh Yeah” getting points for cool female backing vocals. Perhaps if “Oh Yeah” had been on Pump rather than this album, it would have been a hit single.
“Beautiful” is the first song that I strongly dislike. Not only does it have a dull chorus, but Tyler thought it would be a good idea to spend the verses rapping. Not exactly a return to Rocks, is it Steven? There is seldom anything as embarrassing as a rock band attempting genre-hopping into rap, unless that’s already your modus operandi, like Rage Against the Machine for example. Rush pulled it off once (“Roll the Bones”) but Aerosmith come off as desperate.
The first ballad, “Tell Me”, is up next. An acoustic ballad along the lines of a song like “What It Takes”, this is an acceptable song, but it lacks a decent chorus. Nothing outstanding. I enjoy Tom Hamilton’s rolling bassline underneath.
Then comes “Out Go the Lights”, which captures the Aerofunk of old. It has some funky harmonica and the return of the girls on backing vocals. Joey Kramer’s unmistakable drums sound absolutely massive. I think this one must be one of the oldest tunes on the album. It shares one section with “My Girl” from Pump, indicating a probable genesis back in 1989. It also shares a melody with the next song, the overrated single “Legendary Child”. “Legendary Child” is overproduced with too many layers of vocals, but Tom’s bass just kicks you in the nuts. It’s strange to hear one melody used more than once on an album, but that is perhaps because of the patchwork nature of the recording, and the fact that Aerosmith dug back into the archives for unfinished songs.
Let’s just skip “What Could Have Been Love”, which is basically the same as any Aero-ballad since Get A Grip. Instead, go straight to “Street Jesus”, an monolithic slab of riffery. This one could have been on Rocks or Toys. The whiplash-inducing tempo will leave you out of breath!
But why, oh why Aerosmith, did you bookend that awesome song with another typical Aero-ballad? And this one a duet with Carrie Underwood? So contrived. I really can’t see Brad Whitford, Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton (who co-wrote the song) sitting around at home going, “You know, we really need to get a country singer on our album.” Nothing against Carrie Underwood, I would have jumped at the chance to record with Aerosmith too.
“Lover Alot” is another single, and even though it’s uptempo, it suffers from lack of melody and really dumb repetitive lyrics. Tyler’s normally a very clever lyricist. This is just below him.
Ah don’t you know that she loves you a lot
Why don’t you know, don’t you know what you got
I even know that she loves you a lot
Why don’t you know that she loves you a lot
Ah don’t you know that she loves you a lot
Why don’t you know, don’t you know what you got
I even know that she loves you a lot
Why don’t you know, don’t you know, don’t you?
Seriously.
“We All Fall Down” is the fourth ballad, but a decent one. I can hear some serious emotion coming out of this one. Like “Amazing” from Get A Grip, this one has something special to it that speaks to me, be it the melancholy melody or the lyrics, I don’t know.
Joe Perry’s first lead vocal of the album, “Freedom Fighter”, is a surprisingly strong tune. I really like this one. Granted, it has the vibe of something that could have been on Joe’s last solo album, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s a great song even if Joe ain’t the greatest of singers.
“Closer” isn’t really a ballad, more of a blues, featuring some smokin’ Joe guitar. It’s good to have some Aero-blues on a well balanced album, although I think the melody leaves a bit to be desired. This goes straight into the organ intro of “Something”, which is another bluesy number, and Joe’s second lead vocal. Better than “Closer”, this one really hits the spot.
“Another Last Goodbye” is the fifth ballad. It’s a basic Steve piano ballad, and I don’t mind this one either. It sounds sincere and has a live vibe. This is what a song like “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” should have been.
That ends the album proper, but the deluxe edition has a cool bonus disc. A really cool bonus disc, well worth buying.
“Up on the Mountain” is a great little number featuring Tom on lead vocals with Steven backing him. Then Joe gets a third lead vocal on the incredible “Oasis in the Night”. Lots of lap steel here. This sounds like something that Joe might play on his front porch on a hot summer night. Just a cool tune. Finally, “Sunny Side of Love” is a melodic Aerosmith tune that probably should have been on the album proper, replacing some of the weaker songs.
Aside from Carrie Underwood, there are a slew of guest appearances that you can’t even hear — Johnny Depp, Julian Lennon, and so on. Who cares? Nobody buys an Aerosmith album because Johnny Depp is on it.
There’s a DVD too with live stuff on it. Typical live Aerosmith, it’s nice to have something recent, this is just an added bonus. Nothing really “must-have” here.
I think Music From Another Dimension!‘s biggest weakness is its length. 15 songs (+3) could easily have been trimmed to 10 (or 13). When you trim the fat though, it’s a solid…
4/5 stars
And now, without further delay, here’s Tommy!
AEROSMITH – Music From Another Dimension! (standard edition)
It’s been eleven years since the last Aerosmith studio album, 2001’s Just Push Play (and there’s also been the 2004 covers album Honkin’ On Bobo) which was really a product of its time with the band collaborating with producers that gave them a clean modern pop sound. This time around they brought back producer Jack Douglas who worked on some of the band’s best albums in the 1970’s. With the inner problems in the band and the near breakup, Steven Tyler doing American Idol fans were beginning to wonder if there was any recording going. It took a long time but Aerosmith’s 15th studio album, Music From Another Dimension is here. Initially the band said it would be a throwback to Toys in the Attics (1975) and Rocks (1976) and there are glimpses of that, but there’s also glimpses of the 80’s and 90’s Aerosmith too and a LOT of ballads. It’s as if all eras of the band are blended in one album and that’s their sound in 2012. I got to hand it to them, for a band of men in their 60’s there’s some pretty rocking material here, and I find that the band does vocal harmonies quite a lot this time around and it’s working rather well (actually they sound like they wouldn’t be out of place on a Def Leppard album). There’s some good but to me it’s an overall underwhelming Aerosmith album.
The ups with MFAD are the strong rock tracks. In fact the album starts off rather with a string of three solid rock songs. “LUV XXX” starts out with a spoken intro before kicking it into high gear, I wish the entire album was like this, it’s genuinely one of the best Aerosmith songs that’s been done since the 1970’s. It has that vibe from Toys/Rocks era and it’s fantastic. “Beautiful” is commercial Aerosmith at its best, it’s catchy, the vocal harmonies are excellent and the songs is very likeable as a whole. “ Legendary Child“ is a Grip a Grip era song that never saw the light of day. I was intrigued at first and when I listened to it I thought to myself “this could work”, and it does it rocks and it’s catchy enough I really like this one. “Can’t Stop Loving You” with Carrie Underwood is puzzling, having her on an Aerosmith album is obviously not going too well with some of the fans and it’s just not that good of a duet. “This Could Have Been Love” was chosen as the single and no surprise, it’s a ballad. I actually like this one, even if it’s a 1990’s Aero ballad rehash sounding or cheesy or sappy, I can acknowledge all of this but it still works for what is. “Street Jesus” has more of a classic rock edge to it, with even some jamming parts and the result is a longer, more vintage sounding track that works fairly well, it’s one of those the hardcore fans will enjoy the most. The Joe Perry sung track “Freedom Fighter” is one of the best songs on this album for me, it’s got a good Perry riff and even thought his voice isn’t particularly great the song manages to rocks.”Another Last Goodbye” is a fitting ballad to end the album with but it’s overshadowed by the fact that there are too many other ballads to truly stand out.
The first half of the album, I have generally good things to say about and it sounds promising and it makes you think that yes, maybe Aerosmith has some of the old rock sound we love back and it’s going to be an entire album like this. Then there’s the second side, filled with ballads and it really breaks the album’s flow. A big part of the problem is that the album suffers from the too much ballads syndrome that was present on albums like Get A Grip, and they sound mostly like 1990’s Aerosmith ballads. Six/seven (depending on who you ask) ballads on an album is just too much, and I like ballads but these are for the most part just sappy and rehashed songs that they’ve already done, except not as good or passionate. There’s just no overlooking that many ballads is overkill. The worst part is a duet with Carrie Underwood, no offense but what’s she doing on an Aerosmith album? Especially one which was reported as “back to their roots”. I found some of the lyrics here to be the band’s most juvenile yet, which is rather humorous coming from men in their sixties. Then again the album has 15 tracks, maybe a little too much and if they removed some of the ballads and Diane Warren songs (still using outside writers it seems) it would have come across as a tighter effort, it comes across as a modern version of Get A Grip (some good rock songs, plenty of ballads and it has over 14 songs and an outtake from that album as well) . Most of those ballads sound like they’re trying to be part II of “Amazing”, “Crying” or “Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing”. 15 songs may just be a little too much, if they cut some of it down it would have made for a shorter, tighter more Rock album, that’s my take on it.
Like many fans, it’s hard for me to hide my disappointment. Still better than Just Push Play that’s for sure, but I expected more from the hype Aerosmith had around this release. There are things to like but some that . I listened to it a few times by now and I can honestly say my rating is a 2 ‘ out of 5. Some of the Rock tracks are reminiscent of classic Aerosmith and energy charged tunes but overall it comes off as an album that didn’t know what direction it wanted to take. There have been some great releases by Classic bands this year, but sadly Aerosmith’s is not one of them I’m afraid.
THE DARKNESS – Hot Cakes (Deluxe edition with 4 bonus tracks, 2012 Canary Dwarf Ltd.)
The Darkness are probably the band that came out in the last decade that I truly love most. Something about this band just makes me feel GOOD. They always have. I love this band, much to the consternation of some of the people I used to work for at the record store! I love this band, so I worked their music into our wedding reception, and played a shitload of air guitar to it! I just love this band.
I loved the Stone Gods too. But this is the original Darkness: Dan, Justin, Ed and Frankie.
At first I was kind of “blah” to the idea of an original lineup reunion. I liked Richie Edwards just fine too. But Frankie co-writes a number of these tracks, and he has a great stage presence. As for Ed, his trademark drum fills might not be Neil Peart material but he has his own identifiable sound, and his fills are always dead-on perfect for what the songs need. Play air drums to The Darkness some time, you’ll see what I mean!
To get to the point, though: Hot Cakes? It’s magically delicious!
If you didn’t like their second album, the arguably over-elaborate One Way Ticket, then you’ll be happy with Hot Cakes. They’ve brought things back to the basics of guitars, bass, and drums with only the odd embellishment along the way.
But the lyrics are certainly not toned down!
Every man, woman and chile wants to…
SUCK MY COCK!!!!!
Justin’s lost nothing. He’s still bonkshit!* Except maybe just a hint (just a hint!) of his high voice. Or maybe it’s just the production that make it seem that way. It might even be my imagination. So who cares? And to sing and play lead guitar and run around like Steven Tyler? That can’t be easy either!
The majority of songs here are great, and would make my road tape. Much like the first and second albums, there are songs that I keep coming back to over and over again. You become attached to certain hooks in them and then suddenly, BAM! The song is stuck in your head! Examples of this:
“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” – Great fast catchy Darkness single, with one of their classic sounding choruses.
“With A Woman” – Simple, basic AC/DC rocker but with Justin’s flare and yet another catchy chorus.
“Everybody Have A Good Time” – “Come on people, tell me how you feel. You want a good time? Well you got yourself a deal!” Along the blueprints of the feel-good tunes from the first album.
“She Just A Girl, Eddie” – Tied for best song on the album. This is the one I can play 10 times in a row and still hit repeat (usually in the car). As for the lyrics? “There are four billion other girls, who want to make love to you.” Eddie can’t argue with that math. And speaking of Eddie, Ed’s drum fills are what I was talking about earlier — simple, powerful, perfect.
“Concrete” – Solid, riff-based song with great high Justin vocal. Catchy as hell.
“Street Spirit (Fade Out)” – Holy. Shit.
On the negatives: The album somewhat follows the blueprint of the first one. For example a ballad, “Living Each Day Blind” falls on track #5, the same place that the similar sounding “Love Is Only A Feeling” was on Permission To Land. At times it gets predictable, but thankfully the song quality back it up.
I paid a fair chunk of money to have the deluxe edition shipped here from Amazon.co.uk. I’m glad to say it: These four extra songs are worth it!
There are two acoustic demos: The campfire-like “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Love”, a song as good as any on the album proper. Then there’s a demo version of the album song “Love Is Not the Answer”, which is better than the album version. The album version seemed very much the answer to “Holding My Own” from album #1. The acoustic version loses that soundalike aspect, and exposes bare Justin’s vocal prowess.
Then there’s “Pat Pong Ladies”. No idea what this one is about since it’s not included in the lyric sheet. This one has a more layered and operatic vibe, more akin to album #2. Having said that, it’s a great tune, better than some of the album tracks. It gets positively Queen at times.
Lastly, “Cannonball (Long Version)”. As my fellow rock enthusiast, Heavy Metal Overload asked, “Where’s the short version?” Maybe Ian Anderson knows. He plays that flute part. Of course! But this isn’t a ballad, or even a Tull-like rocker. No, this is The Darkness sounding like themselves (circa album #2 with some boogie piano underneath and layered screams)!
I’m so glad this band is back. I hope to catch them live. I hope Lady Gaga’s audience is into them…now there’s an odd pairing!
IRON MAIDEN – Live After Death (1985, 1996 bonus CD, 1998 remastered edition)
…We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!
With that dramatic, adrenaline pumping speech from Winston Churchill, Iron Maiden hit the stage, careening across the boards ripping to shreds the opening riff to “Aces High”, guitars cranked and perfectly captured by producer Martin “Live Animal” Birch! Live After Death may be the perfect live metal album. Running over a mammoth 100 minutes (on LP anyway), it required specially skilled engineers to cut the vinyl, so long were the records!
I have played this album so many times I could review it in my sleep. I own three copies of it, each one for its own reasons (more on that later). Iron Maiden could very well have released this album and retired, and their place in metal history would have been secured. Great value for the price of a double live album, this was at the time one of the longest double live albums ever released, with not one second of precious vinyl wasted. The package was loaded with photos and text.
Inside the gatefold
Recorded in Long Beach, California (you can tell by Bruce’s incessant shouting, “Scream for me, Long Beach!”) and the Hammersmith Odeon, the crowds are absolutely nuts for Maiden. This is one of the best recorded live metal albums of all time, thanks to Birch. The crowd is loud, the band is clear, and the harmony vocals of Adrian and Steve are perfectly audible. I’m certain there’s overdubs on those backing vocals, they’re too perfect. Whatever. Do I like the album? Hell yeah.
There are some tunes here that you don’t hear live very often, such as “Die With Your Boots On” and the 14 minute epic “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (made even better with Bruce’s intro: “This is about what not to do if a bird shits on you!”). “Powerslave” is as powerful and dramatic as the original album version, glorious solo intact. There are a handful of key Di’Anno-era tracks, such as the single “Running Free”, the growling “Wrathchild”, and the band’s early opus, “Phantom of the Opera”. Indeed, this album is worth buying for “Phantom” alone, so rarely is this played. As for “Running Free”, this may now be the definitive version of that song.
(Note: the cassette version of the album edited out the long Bruce/crowd interplay.)
Here’s the three versions I own, and why:
1. Vinyl. This was what I bought back in 1985 (my first Maiden LP), and I still have it. The original vinyl was a gatefold sleeve enabling you to read all the hidden messages on the tombstones. “Letit R.I.P.” was my favourite. Inside, the album unfolds with two fully coloured photo record sleeves and a generous booklet with liner notes from Birch and a complete list of every date on the tour. Also amusing was a list of everything they went through on tour, from guitar strings to cans of beer.
2. The 1998 remastered CD edition. The original CD releases everywhere were only one single disc, and comprised only the first three sides of vinyl, ending after “Running Free”. This CD version restores side 4 on a second CD, which included “Phantom” and “22 Acacia Avenue” among others — you can’t do without these songs! It also includes a completely different set of photos from the album release, so that’s cool if you already have the vinyl. No overlap.
3. The 1995 UK CD reissue of this album, which included all three B-sides. The “Running Free” single had two exclusive songs, which were “Sanctuary” and “Murdered In The Rue Morgue”, both with Bruce singing of course. The “Run To The Hills” single included the very rare instrumental “Losfer Words” which, as far as I know, was only played a handful of times and never again.
Briefly on the cover art: You recall last time we saw Eddie was being buried. Well, he seems to have recovered. You can see the pyramid in the background. How much time has passed? Maybe we’ll find out next album….
If you don’t own Live After Death yet, then it’s time to fix that!
5/5 stars.
I’m going to pause here for a few days, as this seems a natural place to do so. Not only does Live After Death summarize the previous 6 years appropriately, but the Iron Maiden that emerged after it would be a newly modernized Beast, “Caught somewhere in time…”
IRON MAIDEN: Iron Maiden (1980, 1996 bonus CD, EMI)
Straight out of the gates, Maiden galloped onto the international scene, with their own sound and a debut album as strong as anybody’s. An incredible album in fact, Iron Maiden had the benefit of containing songs that Steve Harris had been playing for years, in various incarnations of the band. They were road tested and taut as muscle.
The cover by Derek Riggs depicts a prototypical, haunting version of Eddie. But there he is still, roaring under the streetlight of some London back alley, probably up to no good. This cover was re-painted for the 1998 remastered edition, but I think an original is always best.
Revised 1998 artwork
Although Harris despised punk rock, Iron Maiden is punk-like in its delivery. While plowing through intricate riffs and time changes, they do so with the intensity of their punk rivals, feeling like they’re about to fly off the rails. But they never do; Maiden were absolute pros even then.
Producer Will Malone did not capture the full-on Maiden sound, sonically. It is however a step up from their EP, The Soundhouse Tapes. Maiden would not find their studio sound until hooking up with Deep Purple/Rainbow producer Martin Birch, next album.
Every song is brilliant. The opening wah-wah guitar intensity of “Prowler” warns away the timid, before the song trounces forward, propelled by Steve Harris and new drummer Clive Burr. Paul Di’Anno is absolutely at his peak as a singer, with range, grit, and power to spare. He throws it all into “Prowler”.
“Remember Tomorrow”, co-written by Paul, is a slow-burner, along the lines of those old slow Black Sabbath songs. Paul sings his ass off, and if any one song was his showcase, I would say it has to be “Remember Tomorrow”.
The tempo picks up again with the first single “Running Free”, a song that I feel never peaked until released in a live verion. Live, it’s faster and more intense. In the studio, it feels like it never quite gets up to speed. However, a classic song it remains, with Maiden’s first undeniable sing-along chorus.
7 minutes of “Phantom Of The Opera” closes side one of the original vinyl. Steve’s first multi-part epic, this is the song that proved too difficult for many guitarists auditioning for the band. Long time axeman Dave Murray could handle the material no problem. Finding a second player proved difficult, until Dennis Stratton showed up and fit the bill. “Phantom” proved to be his undoing nevertheless. While the rest of the band were out, he overdubbed Queen-like choir vocals and guitar harmonies, which horrified Harris. It wasn’t so much that Stratton had initiative and ideas to present, it was that they were so far off what what Steve’s vision of Maiden was. Stratton proved to be the wrong fit, and this remains his only album with Iron Maiden.
Side two began with the instrumental stomper “Transylvania”. This fades into a spacey ballad, “Strange World”. “Strange World” is one of the most immediate songs on the album, perhaps because it’s different from the rest. If I had to compare it to something else, it might be “Solitude” by Black Sabbath, but with guitars instead of flutes! And solos too…Dave’s epic side of solo composition.
Dave’s first ever writing credit is up next, “Charlotte The Harlot”. This fast one introduces the character of Charlotte, who turns up again in future Maiden songs. This standout song is followed by the band’s signature closer, “Iron Maiden” itself. I think it’s likely that this song will remain in Maiden’s sets pretty much forever. Not only is the riff great, but the pace is absolutely perfect for headbanging!
The bonus CD comes with the associated B-sides for this album. From the “Running Free” single, there’s “Burning Ambition”. This is an early song that wouldn’t have fit on the album, as it is too much hard rock and not enough heavy metal for the album proper. The bonus CD also contains the non-album single “Sanctuary”, another classic up there with “Iron Maiden”. This song was slipped onto the US versions of the album. It’s awesome of course! Also from the “Sanctuary” single are live versions of “Drifter” and “I’ve Got The Fire”. “Drifter” was another earlier song that would show up in studio form next album. This version has Di’Anno’s reggae-ish “Yo, yo yo yo” singalong which I have always liked. “I’ve Got The Fire” is an excellent Montrose cover, and not the last time Maiden would cover Montrose (nor this song)!
With an album this this under their belts, the future for Iron Maiden would be bright indeed.
Alright folks, strap yourselves in and get ready for the ride. After the positive feedback from my series of Kiss reviews, I’ve decided to go with popular demand and do all the Iron Maiden next. We’re going to talk about every studio album, every live album, every compilation, and every rarity that I have access to. But why not start off with a Record Store Tale? Here’s how I acquired rare editions of the crucial first 10 albums….
RECORD STORE TALES PART 116:
IRON MAIDEN’s Gonna Get Ya…No Matter How Far!
My love of Maiden is well documented. The very first blog here at LeBrain’s Record Store Tales, Part 1, was called “Run To The Hills”. It describes the first time I ever heard the band. I don’t need to explain to you why I love Iron Maiden. If you’re reading this, chances are that you already understand. Iron Maiden are more than just a band. They are a passion. With a band like Maiden, the fans strive to own everything.
The setting: Early 1996, when we still carried new CD stock. One of our suppliers dropped off a brand new catalogue. Inside, was a new listing. An exciting new listing!
Iron Maiden were reissuing their first 10 albums in 2 CD editions, with a bonus disc of B-sides! Picture discs! Iron Maiden, Killers, The Number of the Beast, Peace of Mind, Powerslave, Live After Death, Somewhere In Time, Seventh Son, No Prayer, and Fear of the Dark! Knowing that Maiden usually released a minimum of two singles per album, with a minimum of 2 B-sides per single, this was a MUST for me. I didn’t have all the Maiden singles. Not even close. Some of these songs, like “Burning Ambition” and “Invasion”, I’d never even heard before! Now I was going to have the chance to own them on CD.
The discs were expensive, even with my staff discount. But there was absolutely no way I was missing these. As an added incentive, I didn’t even own all the Maiden albums on CD yet. Most of these albums I still only owned on cassette or vinyl! So really, it was a win-win situation. Not only was I getting the B-sides, but I was also getting all the Maiden albums on CD with a minimum of overlap with my existing collection. Plus, these were picture discs with Derek Riggs’ singles artwork. Picture discs were something of a novelty at the time. Today, most CDs are picture discs and nobody cares if they are.
My boss warned me: “If you order these, you better make sure you buy them all.” There was absolutely no question of that, I’m surprised he even mentioned it, knowing what a collector I am. It’s too bad we didn’t order more, for stock. The rarity of these discs has shown that we could have sold them quickly, or better yet, hung onto them for a couple years and jacked up the price once they were out of print.
The supplier we were ordering from, the name of which escapes me, was a small-time supplier, and usually couldn’t get everything we ordered. They had about a 50% success rate. Yet he listed all these European imports that our main supplier usually shied away from. The Maiden reissues were all from Europe. I crossed my fingers. I wanted all 10. Not “some”, but all! “Some” would not do it!
A week later, the first five Maidens arrived! The following week, another chunk of Maiden shipped! They only failed to get me one disc: Fear of the Dark. Resolving to get it somehow, it turns out I didn’t need to worry about it. Two weeks later, even that one arrived. Total expenditure: About $300 with taxes! I had all 10. My Maiden B-side collection: almost complete! [Note: When I go through the Maiden reviews, we’ll cover all the B-sides, including songs that are not on these deluxe editions.]
I settled in for some long, long nights of listening. I made a compilation tape of all the B-sides that I had (including up to the current album, The X Factor), and it ended up being 3 tapes, 100 minute cassettes, which I still have. To knock so many songs off my wishlist in one fell swoop like this was the kind of thing I lived for. This was the perk of working in a record store. What a score! Today, I don’t know anybody else who has the full set of 10.
Be sure to check back in the coming days and weeks for all the reviews, starting with The Soundhouse Tapes, to the present day…
Part 39 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!
KISS – The Box Set(Deluxe mini guitar case edition, 2001)
These days it’s pretty common to see deluxe versions of box sets, for the mega-fan who just has to have everything. In 2001, it was less so. Am I giving Gene Simmons credit for creating the concept? Kind of, yeah. This, the very first KISS box set, was available in three editions. First I’m going to discuss the one that I chose — the mini guitar case edition — and we’ll go from there! Gene is pretty much a business genius, and he knows if he makes something available, people will buy it. “If you build it, they will come.” I don’t blame him in the least and I’m the last person who’d call him “Greed Simmons”. He’s not taking our money — we’re giving it to him.
So, leave it to KISS to package one version of their first box set in a miniature replica guitar case. Granted there have been much cooler box looking sets before and since (see: ZZ Top, Pink Floyd) but everybody needs a KISS box set in a case like this, don’t they?
Well, I did. It’s a handsome sturdy black case, with handle and silver KISS logo emblazoned on the front. If memory serves it cost me about $250. I got it from the American Amazon site, I had it on pre-order and I was so stoked to get it.
Included are 5 CDs (around 6 hours of music), an awesome hardcover book with loads of liner notes and rare photos, and 31 rare or unreleased tracks. Some have been released on singles or compilations before, which I will discuss in greater detail, but most are previously unheard.
The box doesn’t hold the CD jewel cases all that well when you open it, so be careful. Under one of the CDs is a secret compartment, with a thing of silica gel (“DO NOT EAT” helpfully written upon it) and keys for the case!
Before I go through the discs, I’ll mention a few things that KISS fans often moan about when it comes to this box set:
“Gene promised the entire Wicked Lester album, and it’s not here.”
“There was supposed to be entire early KISS show would be in the box.”
“Gene said there’d be a video or a DVD.”
“The Elder demos are not on here, and Gene said they would be .”
“Where’s ‘Rip And Destroy’ and the acoustic version of ‘Beth’?”
“I have bootlegs of this stuff already, and it sounds better on the bootlegs.”
Since the release of this set, KISS have released ample DVDs (the KISStory series will be hitting 4 volumes this year) so I think that point is moot. When questioned on other points, Gene always responds, “Be patient. It’s coming.” A buddy of mine, Mike Lukas of the band Legendary Klopeks, actually asked Gene some of these exact questions in person, and Gene said, “I know. It’s coming. Be patient.” I’m sure that will bear out to be true. As for the sound quality issues, I have bootlegs of some of this stuff on CD already, and none of them sound better than this box set, so I don’t know where people got that better sounding stuff. And plenty of this stuff has not been bootlegged before.
Onto the music!
DISC 1:
This CD starts off with a whopping 12 rare tracks before you even delve into the first KISS album. The first two, Eddie Kramer demos of “Strutter” and “Deuce”, have been released before on singles and compilations, but many casual fans did not have them until now. These tracks just smoke, with “Strutter” being quite a bit longer. They are raw and have great playing from Ace. Three tracks from the Wicked Lester album are included. Wicked Lester was Gene and Paul’s original band, which transformed into KISS when they fired the other three guys. Many Wicked Lester tracks were later recorded by KISS. Yes, it would have been nice to have the whole album. Maybe it will be released officially one day, maybe we will have to live with the crap-sounding bootlegs. If it is never released, I won’t blame Gene. It’s pretty terrible.
More demos abound including an early Gene song and an early Paul song. Both hint at some directions they would explore within KISS and their solo albums. A live take of the unreleased song “Acrobat” follows (essentially: “Love Theme From Kiss” melded with an unreleased song called “You’re Much Too Young”, which contains an early version of the “Detroit Rock City” riff — whew). From here, there are nine tracks from the first three albums, ending with “Rock And Roll All Nite”. Not a terribly generous slice of music from those first albums, but it does prevent too much duplication with the songs already included as demos.
DISC 2:
Live tracks from Alive! kick off this disc, which is mostly made up of songs from the 4th through 6th KISS studio albums. One really cool track is “Doncha Hesitate” which was completely unknown to me previously. It is especially cool because unlike later KISS demos, it includes all four members. Plus, it is actually a really great song! It just didn’t fit in with the direction of Destroyer; it is clearly in the mould of early KISS, which is why it never made the album.
Paul’s “God Of Thunder” demo is here (Paul’s lead vocal and alternate lyrics about Aphrodite), as well as an early version of “Dr. Love” called “Bad Bad Lovin'”. The disc ends with another previously unheard song, a Gene demo called “Love Is Blind” which reveals his crooning Beatles roots.
DISC 3:
This disc chronicles KISS’ decline in popularity in the early 80’s. It starts out with a bang, “Detroit Rock City”, which is out of chronology. Some tracks from Alive II and the solo albums (with another Gene demo) take us into the disco years. The demo and live versions of the disco tracks reveal the harder edge intended when those songs were written. Not many rarities on this disc, although “Nowhere To Run” is included, one of my all time favourite songs from KISS Killers, an import-only hits compilation with bonus material.
DISC 4:
There are even fewer rare tracks on this disc, which is strange because there are tons of demos from the 80’s floating in collector’s circles. I guess they’re probably just not that good. This CD covers Lick It Up (1983) through to Hot In The Shade (1989): The non-makeup part of the 80’s. “Ain’t That Peculiar” is one of the best rarities here, an Eric Carr demo of what would become “Little Caesar”. There is also a demo of Paul’s “Time Traveller”, a keyboard-based pop rock song which has not aged well. Unfortunately, due to squeezing so many albums onto this CD, Lick It Up is criminally underrepresented. It had many more great songs than just the two singles presented here. “Let’s Put The X In Sex” should have been dropped in favour of “Exciter”, “And On The 8th Day”, or “A Million To One”.
DISC 5:
Eric Carr’s final recording (and Eric Singer’s first with KISS) was “God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II”, which kicks off this disc. Eric Carr was sick with heart cancer, and was unable to play drums on the track. He did sing the background vocal, which is a highlight of the song. Eric Singer, who had played with Paul Stanley on his 1989 solo tour, was called to replace Carr for the sessions. Sadly, that replacement would have to become permanent when Carr died in November of 1991. I would have preferred the original mix of this song, from the Bill & Ted soundtrack, personally.
As far as rarities go, there is not much on this disc. A Gene demo of “Domino” is neat, but underwhelming. “Got To Choose” from the Japanese version of MTV Unplugged is very welcome, but where is the live take of “New York Groove” from the Japanese version of You Wanted The Best? I would really like to have that in a digital format — I only have it on vinyl.
“It’s My Life”, from the Psycho-Circus sessions, was an old KISS song written back in the 80’s and first released by Wendy O. Williams on an album written and produced by Gene Simmons. KISS finally released their own version of it many years later on this box, and it purports to include the entire original band playing on it. I am skeptical of this, but it does definitely have a verse sung by Ace Frehley, while Gene sings the main part. “Nothing Can Keep Me From You” is on here, a terrible song from the Detroit Rock City movie, and actually more of a Paul solo song since no other members appear on it. The unreleased full-length version of “Childhood’s End” from Carnival of Souls (featuring a coda called “Outromental”) round out the non-album stuff.
A bad song choice or two from Revenge, some of the wrong tracks from Carnival of Souls, and a few too many from Psycho-Circus are the main flaws with this disc. A track from Alive III would have been nice.
The box set ends with the “live” (not really though, actually dubbed) version of “Shout It Out Loud” from the Greatest KISS album, and a “preview track” from what was intended to be the forthcoming Alive IV: “Rock And Roll All Nite” (the only song to be repeated). This version of Alive VI ended up getting shelved in favour of a symphonic live album, which was then dubbed Alive VI: Kiss Symphony. The original version of Alive VI has since been issued in another KISS box set.
As I said earlier in the review, I am sure that KISS will release more rare stuff in the future. It has already started to happen with the afforementioned KISS Alive Box, and KISSology DVD sets. As Gene said, be patient, it’s coming. On the whole, quibbles aside I very much enjoy listening to the KISS box set. It is quite interesting to hear the band evolve, and you gain an appreciation for their charisma and songwriting. Regardless of what the critics say, Kiss are quite talented songwriters. Often simple, but we’re still listening to them almost 40 years later. And they said it would never last six months.
The liner notes are quite insightful if not entirely accurate (Peter Criss did not play on any tracks from Psycho-Circus except one, no matter what the notes say).
I mentioned there were other versions available. There is a basic version, with a softcover version of the book, in a simple black box. It retails for around $100. That’s the version most people should grab. The only difference is the box it comes in, and the softcover book vs. hardcover. Oh, and the guitar box also came with a print of a note in what appears to be Paul Stanley’s handwriting, talking about the long awaited set. Not a huge deal.
It comes with an RIAA gold record of Kiss Alive! and apparently “hand written” liner notes in gold ink on parchment paper. Retail price to us Canucks: $850 smackaroos!
Part 6 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster! See the end for a bit of a preview of the forthcoming Destroyer: Resurrected too.
KISS – Destroyer (1976)
DISCLAIMER: I’m not the biggest fan of Destroyer. I loved the cover as a kid, and that cover led me to expect the album to be heavier. Also worth noting: I got mono real bad around the time that I got this album, so upon initially hearing it, I was constantly sick.
I strongly like four of the tracks today, which unfortunately have become overplayed:
Detroit Rock City
King of the Night Time World
Shout It Out Loud
God of Thunder
And let’s face it, Kiss fans can take or leave “Beth”. Unfortunately for Peter Criss it was the only hit that he had a hand in writing, and during the reunion got way overplayed. It was nice hearing it again at first, since it had been dropped from the set for about 17 years. I’m sick of it now. We’re all sick of it. Kiss felt the song was a throwaway, and it kind of is. A novelty.
Other tunes:
“Sweet Pain” — not a big fan. I find it dull.
“Flaming Youth” — again, not a big fan. I think Ezrin got carried away with production on this one, and to be honest I’ve never been a fan of the “Mad Dog” riff in the middle.
“Great Expectations” — never liked it. Always thought it was a novelty even moreso than Beth. But the live version on Alive IV is stunning.
“Do You Love Me?” — I have no idea how this song continues to be played live. Maybe when Nirvana covered it, it got a new life? It’s just too simple.
Ezrin’s production is probably too sweet for my tastes. On the Alice Cooper stuff he was a little bit more rock, a little bit more raw. As I said, “Flaming Youth” is drenched in production. Calliope? Why? I don’t know.
Having said that, Ezrin pulled a few tricks out of the bag on this album that are really cool:
1. Grand piano subtley doubles the guitar riffs on most songs. It is audible on “Shout It Out Loud”, but you can hear it if you really listen on the other tracks. It gives the riffs a little extra BOOM!
2. The sound effect intro to “Detroit”, and the walkie-talkies on “God Of Thunder”. Genius atmospheres. No wonder this guy would later produce Pink Floyd!
3. Songwriting. Ezrin really helped Kiss learn about songwriting craft, and Kiss would never be the same.
So there you go. It is undeniably a classic, but it does not represent what Kiss really sound like. Maybe if Kiss had continued down this road immediately and tried some production stuff on their own, without Ezrin, they would be a different band today? But they didn’t, and Kiss returned to rock and roll on the next album, which I like better.
3/5 stars
AND NOW!
Destroyer: Resurrected (35th Anniversary Edition)
This baby is coming in August. A full-on Bob Ezrin remix of Destroyer, plus unheard demos. Now I know a lot of you don’t particularly care for remixes, but if Ezrin is helming it, I believe there will be a point to it. Ezrin is a producer of integrity and I don’t believe he would waste our dollars or time if this remix wasn’t somehow going to be worth it. I don’t know if the original mix will be included. But who cares? Everybody owns that and it’s not being deleted.
Ezrin pulled the tapes from the vaults and painstakingly remixed the entire album, enhancing the sound and bringing out its rich texture and vibrancy, while keeping the integrity of the original recording intact. Destroyer: Resurrected will also include rare and unreleased recordings rediscovered during the remixing process, plus the originally intended cover artwork.
I’m now hearing it’s only going to be 1 disc, but with the original Ken Kelly cover art (Alive! costumes), read more here!
MOTLEY CRUE – Shout at the Devil (2003 remastered edition)
If Too Fast For Love was nothing more than a gloriously wreckless demo pressed to vinyl, then perhaps Shout is the first “real” Motley Crue album. It is certainly among the best, with only Too Fast and ’94’s self-titled coming close to the metallic goodness of this disc in my world. It is a shame that the original cover did not survive to CD (a pentagram embossed on a pure black cover) because it was a statement of purpose: You are about to Shout at the Devil.
Instead, the CD (and cassette!) cover had four makeup wearing dude-chicks scowling, primping, preening and teasing. However, it was the 80’s, and it was OK then. Don’t let the cover scare you away. The Japanese vinyl replica CDs also have a replica of the original pentagram cover. I had one years ago, but sold it off to buy the remaster with bonus tracks. But we’ll get to those later.
The album opens with a piece that, when we were kids, I loved and played over and over again because it just sounded cool: the spoken-word “In The Beginning”. “In the beginning, good always overpowered the evil of all man’s sins…” It sounded cool, so we used it on Halloween tapes and just about anything else we could think of.
Then, the opening chords of “Shout At The Devil” hit you right between the eyes, Mick’s guitar as wreckless and hammering as ever. The man had yet to really discover his bluesier talents; for now he was just content to sloppily riff you to death. All is well. Vince Neil drunkenly slurs every lyric, but it works. Tommy’s drums are as simple but as hard hitting as ever. Really, Tommy’s not a great technical drummer but his hard hits give him a great sound perfect for this album.
You should know most of these songs: The adrenaline rush that is “Looks That Kill”, the mid-tempo harmonies and drama of “Too Young To Fall In Love”, and even the Beatles cover “Helter Skelter”. Side two of the album is the real surprise, loaded with non-singles that kick as much butt as the singles. “Red Hot” is a proto-thrash number, while “Knock ‘Em Dead, Kid” is as good as anything on side one. There’s also the equally good but controversial “Bastard”. The PMRC attacked it for the line, “In goes my knife, I pull out his life, consider that bastard dead.” When I was 12 years old, we owned this on cassette. There was no lyric sheet and Vince Neil slurred so much, you couldn’t make out the lyrics. I had no idea at all what he was singing until about a decade later. By then I was old enough to understand that it’s just storytelling.
There’s a bit of filler in “God Bless the Children of the Beast”. It’s nice for Mick Mars fans, a caveman version of neo-classical guitar, but otherwise it’s just an intro to the manic “Helter Skelter” cover. Kind of like how Sabbath used to throw in a slow instrumental just before hammering you once again with riffage, just that I think Sabbath’s stuff was a little better executed.
The bonus tracks here are rough and not nessesary, except for collectors (like this guy!). “I Will Survive” was completely unreleased until the first run of Crue remasters came out. It’s a decent track but not up to the album’s lofty standards. “Hotter Than Hell” is a demo version of “Louder Than Hell” from the next album. (Not availablke on this CD is a great track called “The Black Widow”, finally released a little later on Red, White & Crue. Also missing is “Sinners and Saints” which is on Supersonic & Demonic relics.)
There are also three more demos from the albums sessions: “Shout”, “Looks That Kill” and “Too Young”. The 1999 remastered edition did not have “Too Young To Fall In Love”. That was a Japanese bonus track instead.
There’s also a music video for “Looks That Kill” for your PC if you care, but I don’t. All the Crue vids were made available on the Greatest Hits DVD.
I believe Shout At The Devil is the essential Crue album to own, and also a great metal album for any collection. Yes, Priest, Sabbath, Maiden and Purple are the cornerstones, but Motley Crue for a short time were the flag bearers. This is a great sloppy metal meal, a burger and fries with all the works. Enjoy the meal.
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