The flight started well enough, but I lost control of the drone during the return, right around the guitar solo (Vivian Campbell). It started veering to the left and losing altitude. I managed to bring it back to the beach and land it in the sand, but I thought for sure it was going to hit the water or trees. Why? It’s a “Mystery”!
To its credit, the Ruko U11MINI 4K gets incredible images with its always-level camera.
The water levels are heading back to their low point. It is a 20 year cycle. It does create beautiful imagery. Enjoy the flight.
Mystery (Dio/Bain)
From The Last In Line (1984)
Can you hear me can you see there’s a storm on the edge of the sky does it matter it does to me, i can tell you why When there’s thunder, there should be rain but it don’t always follow the rule and is the wise man always right? no he can play the fool It’s always a mystery, not what it seems to be it’s always a mystery, just like you and me We are lightning we are flame and we burn at the touch of a spark if there’s fire, but no one sees the there’s only the dark Just imagine, will you try i can see that you’ve opened your mind silver linings can disappear, but they always shine It’s always a mystery, not what it seems to be it’s always a mystery, just like you and me
RECORD STORE TALES #1172: Top 5 Storeplay CDs – A Personal List
Let it be said: The Beat Goes On had a lot of rules about what could and couldn’t be played in store. You couldn’t scare off Grandma, shopping for the new NSync CD for the grandkid. Therefore, Metallica’s Black Album was banned from store play. Musicals, classical, and a large chunk of rap (language!) was banned. Certain bands were banned outright: Kiss & Rush. (Tell me that wasn’t personal against me!) Therefore, any time I could break the rules when bosses were not around, I would try to get away with playing music that I actually liked.
Another rule stated that you must pick five CDs of different genres, put them in the changer, and hit shuffle. Me? I preferred listening to albums, not shuffles. But I was a good little employee 97% of the time. This story is about the other 3%.
Here is a list of my Top 5 CDs that I loved playing at the Beat Goes On, whether it was allowed or not.
Most definitely NOT allowed to be played in store! I didn’t care. The boss man was out of town one day in 1996, and I knew I wouldn’t be caught by anyone that mattered. Tom Morwood, who worked at our Waterloo store, popped in that afternoon to check out our jazz section. We had just opened a few months earlier. Upon hearing Holy Diver blasting from the speakers, Tom remarked: “Holy Diver? Wow. That’s ballsy man!”
I didn’t own Holy Diver yet and I was checking it out for myself. There was a lot to love, such as “Caught in the Middle” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers”. I also played The Last In Line around the same time, and loved “Egypt (The Chains Are On)”. It was a great way to discover classic music. Which, of course, wasn’t the point of working in a used music store and trying to sell CDs. “Nobody buys Dio,” reasoned the boss. In ’96, he wasn’t too far off. But I didn’t get caught. Tom wouldn’t rat me out.
This 1999 double live album came out when I was running two stores at the same time. I was in charge of my own store on Fairway Road, but that summer I was also managing T-Rev’s store in Cambridge. He was off helping put a new franchise together in (I think) Ajax Ontario, and I wasn’t given much choice in the matter. I suppose it was a great compliment and a testament to management’s confidence in me, to give me two stores to run, but it sucked. I felt like I was in exile when I wasn’t at my own store.
When this was a new release, I listened to both discs in sequence. The acoustic balladeering and jams of Blue Rodeo really helped soothe that homesick feeling. It’s a fabulous album. In particular, the live version of “The Dimestore Greaser and the Blonde Mona Lisa” really hit.
Same location, back in exile, but a different summer. I discovered Marillion in 2000. I had heard some of the Fish era stuff, but not the Hogarth. This controversial album was on the shelves, so I put it in the player. Mark Kelly looked a little weird on the inside, with the designs painted on his bald head, but let’s give it a shot. By the end of the shift, I knew I was going to buy it. I put in on a shuffle with four other discs.
As soon as it came on, I said, “Ah this must be the new Marillion singer.” Steve Hogarth perked up my ears. Several songs jumped out immediately: “Cathedral Walls”, “Under the Sun” and “The Answering Machine” in particular.
While my bosses might have scolded me and said “Don’t play Marillion, you’re not going to sell any!” a decades long obsession began by playing it in store. So there you go. The balance sheet doesn’t reflect that kind of lifetime impact.
This Cambridge band included bassist/vocalist Neil McDonald, who also worked at our Cambridge location. I genuinely loved this album he made with the Candidates. Many of the songs connected with me in a big way, such as “Barely Bruised”.
They didn’t love that I played this frequently in store. It was for sale, but it was unlikely that I would make a sale just by playing it. People liked buying CDs with bands and songs they already knew, generally. I was given a pass because, frankly Neil was favoured by management.
The reasons I played this in store so frequently are really simple. One, I genuinely loved and connected with this album. There are still songs, such as “Who’s Your Daddy Now?” that still connect with me. “Sold your soul for a photograph, I tore it up and had the last laugh.” I burned some bridges when I started Record Store Tales, and while I don’t know for sure that Neil was upset with me, I think it’s pretty likely. I’m sorry about that – I’ll always think fondly of him and this band.
The closest I came to a breaking point, before I finally quit the store, was when I was working (exiled) to a miserable location in Oakville Ontario. I have written extensively about this experience. The customers were generally snooty and holier than thou. A story about an asshole lawyer was a favourite with early readers of Record Store Tales.
The only good thing about Oakville was that I was working alone all day, and no bosses came there. It was like working in another province, such were the frequency of the visits from head office. The drive was really difficult and the mental health situation was not good.
And so, I played all five discs of the Kiss Box Set in sequence. Because fuck you, boss.
Best song exclusive to the box at the time: “Doncha Hesitate”, a classic sounding Kiss demo featuring all four original members, intended for Destroyer.
Had I been caught, I would have been given a boatload of trouble. But mental health is a thing too, and stuff like this helped keep me sane during a difficult few months managing two stores at once. I was pushed so close to the edge, that it was a matter of luck that I survived. And Kiss. And that’s not hyperbole. Playing the music I loved made the experience survivable, and that’s barely.
Thank you Kiss.
And that’s the list. I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane.
Harrison the Mad Metal Man continues to be under the weather, and insisted that I open his parcel in the meantime. So I got Metal Roger on the line and opened Harrison’s box.
My memory is horrible and there is a good chance I already knew about all of this stuff, but here’s what Harrison sent me in a handy-dandy video. Or, if you’re not patient, there are some photos with additional details below as well.
This video is for fans of metal, CDs, and those damned Marvel Lego blind boxes that cursed me last fall! At the end, Roger and I took a brief foray into an interesting subject – the Mount Rushmore of metal mascots. A topic for a future show to be sure.
Thank you Harrison for your generosity once again.
Iron Maiden – Live After Death – remaster in digipack
Food For Thought – Iron Maiden tribute
Dio – Holy Diver – 2005 Rock Candy reissue with bonus interview track
Welcome, welcome, welcome! Welcome back to WTF Search Terms, one and all! Yes, it’s another batch of 10 search terms that somehow led people to my site. Some terms are simple typos, others are more chaotic, but they all have one thing in common: They all led people here. Enjoy!
This first one is a simple typo, but I like it so much, I might have to change the spelling of my last name!
Written and posted on Facebook in 2010 after Ronnie’s death. Reposted here for the first time unaltered. Rest in peace Ronnie.
My exposure to Dio was initially due to MuchMusic. They played the video for “Holy Diver”, and I was quite frankly into ANY metal video where the band and/or singer had a sword and was on some kind of mission. (See: “Queen of the Reich” by Queensryche and “Can U Deliver” by Armored Saint for two more videos of this genre from the exact same time period).
However that song was undeniable. I remember having it my head for an entire day in 8th grade. It was the only thing that made some days tolerable. As much as I hated my grade 8 teacher and classes, it was always OK because I constantly has this kick-ass song playing on repeat in my head.
I sit here listening to the live version of “I” from The Devil You Know album. Dio did it again, this time with Black Sabbath. Yet another one of those songs. You only have to play it once, its impact was immediate, and suddenly you could have it playing non-stop in your head while bored to tears in class.
There was no other like Dio. When it came down it, his lyrics were pretty simple thematically. I mean, killing dragons, stopping robots from taking over the earth, fools sailing away…but underneath it all, they had this hidden theme: Don’t take bullshit. In a way that’s all Dio’s songs were ever about, from “The Last In Line” to “I” to “Stargazer”. None of these songs had any characters who ever took any bullshit.
Dio was like that. He was no-bullshit. Dio wore his wizard’s sleeves. Dio had a freakin’ dragon on his album cover in the year 2002! Who else did that? Not many and certainly nobody who got front racked a the local record stores like Dio did. But Dio didn’t care. Dio had his own sound, and he brought that sound to both Rainbow and Black Sabbath. There is a common denominator in the sounds of those albums and it is intrinsically Dio.
And who else can claim such a hardcore resume? Elf, Rainbow, Black frickin’ Sabbath, and Dio itself! Not to mention some of the totally unsung stuff he’s done, not least of which was Hear N’ Aid. Google the video, you’ll understand completely. Nobody else can claim that they’ve done what Dio’s done.
But more than that, Dio has been there with us. Dio’s been at wedddings, funerals, on roadtrips, in basements and bedrooms all over the world. Wherever you were rocking out to “Holy Diver” or “Rock and Roll Children” or “Neon Knights”, if you’re a Dio fan then you know what I’m talking about. If there was one constant in rock, it’s been Ronnie James Dio. You knew he’d never sell out and he never did. He wore his metal on his (wizard’s) sleeves and he made it OK for you to do the same. If you felt like crap because you were the only kid in school with a Black Sabbath T-shirt, Dio’s lyrics and message always said “It’s OK, because you’re onto something that they can’t see.”
Man, I’m gonna miss Dio. Like most of you, I have every album, every Sabbath album, every Rainbow album…I’ve known “Die Young” for 25 years. Now there will be no more. I don’t know if metal has ever suffered a loss like this before. This is certainly one of the biggest losses the genre has ever experienced, and I am including Hendrix in that body count. After all, Hendrix was a spark, here and gone before anybody got to know the man. Dio though…we’ve been following Ronnie James Dio’s career and music for most of our lives. But no more. Now we go on without Dio, yet no matter what…”WE ROCK”.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 1: Dio – Dreamers Never Die review with Uncle Meat
As I was leaving for work on Friday morning, I thought to myself, “You know, I wonder if Harrison or anybody would feel like going live tonight. Just shoot the shit for an hour. It might be a fun way to be social on a Friday night and it only has to be an hour.”
I messaged Harrison in Australia just as he was tucking in for the night, and he graciously agreed to get up early and join me for an impromptu live stream. Setting his alarm clock, Harrison prepared for our first live show since July!
One of the many recurring themes here has been the awful experiences of being a metalhead in Catholic school. A story that has somehow escaped being told until now is the one where those bastard kids gave me the name “Fag Boy” for a whole school year.
Grade 8, the 1985-86 year, had to be the worst. It was kicked off by a huge fight with the school bully Steve Hartman, a total piece of shit, but at least I won. Not that it helped. I was teased relentlessly all year for my love of Kiss and Judas Priest. Then I had mono. Incidentally, Catholic school bullies are the worst and the teachers didn’t give a fuck. When one kid, Ian Johnson, got into a fight with another bully, the teachers made them walk around the schoolyard together hand in hand. What was that supposed to do?
The only thing that made life easier that year was beating Hartman in September of ’85. That kept him off my back for the school year, although there were other bullies waiting in the wings. Jeff Brooks, who stuffed snow down my jacket every Thursday after shop class. Kevin Kirby, who copied my homework. Towards the end even Hartman was campaigning for a “rematch”.
My sister used to call that school the “Hell Hole”. She would sing Spinal Tap’s “Hell Hole” when we drove by. This is a little kid in grade 4 calling her school that name.
At the start of the eighth grade, to learn social responsibility, we all had to volunteer for something. There were a limited selection of slots for each role we were offered. I cannot remember all of the duties that were set out on our menu of options. Volunteering at the church was definitely among them, but I volunteered for the one I thought would be the most interesting: security! On a regular basis, we were to walk around the school when it was closed to make sure all was well. Keep an eye out for anything wrong, like vandalism. It was perfect because I was always biking around that direction anyway. It was really the most appealing of all the options to me.
I’m sure you have already guessed they didn’t give me the security assignment. No, I was given something that was supposed to be better, but was actually far worse. It was such a dubious honour. I was Flag Boy.
I wasn’t athletic, I was a skinny kid who openly listened to Judas Priest. No way were they putting me on security. They gave the two open positions to a couple of the athletic kids. I don’t think either of them did any security that year.
As Flag Boy, I was responsible for putting out and bringing in the Maple Leaf at the start and end of every day for the year. It was worst at the start of the day. When announcements were about to commence, I had to get out of my seat and leave the class, which always seemed to amuse them. Then I had to walk down the hallway past the other grade 8 classroom, who always mocked and laughed and pointed at me as I went. They called me “Fag Boy” from day one. What made it even worse were my boots. My dad gave them to me. I thought they were so cool. They didn’t have laces, they had dual zippers. The boots only made me more a “Fag Boy”.
When the first pair of boots wore out, my dad gave me his second identical backup pair. Ironically those boots would be considered so retro and stylish today.
The abuse that year was pretty bad and I faked sick a lot. I faked sick mostly on Thursdays, which was shop class. They bussed us to another school, St. Joseph, which had a woodworking shop. The supervision was minimal and the bus rides were all but intolerable. At one point or another I just decided I couldn’t take it anymore and faked sick as many Thursdays as I could. By the time I got sick with mono for real, I had several incomplete projects in woodworking. I was home for the rest of the term, and I never had to worry about those Thursday bus trips again.
Having mono sucked a lot, but Thursdays on the bus were far worse. I considered it more than a fair trade.
While sick at home for real, I absorbed as many Pepsi Power Hours as I could. I heard Hear N’ Aid for the first time. I became addicted to “Rough Boy” by ZZ Top because of that damn music video. (I guess I learned from an early age that I’m really a leg man.) My heavy metal credentials grew by leaps and bounds and I listened to more and more songs: “Metal on Metal”, “Never Surrender”, “Turbo Lover”, “Rock and Roll Children”. To this day, I associate those songs with my sick time in 1986. Especially Dio’s “Rock and Roll Children”. The surreal music video suited the way I felt physically. It didn’t look like the real world and I didn’t feel like myself.
My association of heavy metal music with relief from the outside world was cemented that year. I had always come home to the comfort of a few Kiss tapes. In 1986, sick with mono, I was safe from the school and surrounded not by bullies but by Ronnie James Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, and Bruce Dickinson. They didn’t call me “Fag Boy”, in fact their lyrics encouraged me to dig for strength. Recovering from my illness, I had built this wall of metal around me. It would be my armour for life.
I don’t know if those kids remember calling me “Fag Boy”, or if they would admit it. I know I wouldn’t recognize Hartman if I saw him today. They used to talk about forgiveness a lot in Catholic school. You can forgive, but you never forget.
Holy Diver, You’ve been down too long in the midnight sea, Oh what’s becoming of me.
Ride the tiger, You can see his stripes but you know he’s clean, Oh don’t you see what I mean.
I can’t believe it has been this long. 20 frickin’ years ago I started talking to a metalhead in England named Dan Slessor, from Brighton. He has since deleted his social media and I’m no longer in touch with him. Hi Dan! I hope you are well. Drop me a line.
I was very happy for him when Dan told me had started writing for Kerrang! (I still have an issue with one of his articles, and Josh Homme on the cover.) He had achieved the Dream. Best of all, he got to interview rock stars for the magazine: Tom Araya, David Coverdale, Joe Elliott….
And Ronnie James goddamn Dio!
One of Dan’s signature moves was to ask bands a joke question, in hope that they have a sense of humour and it would loosen things up. It worked with Tom Araya when Dan asked him if Slayer ever killed time on the tour bus by seeing how many pencils they could stuff in their pubes.
I recently dug up an old message from Dan. It was just after he interviewed Dio. And folks, I can testify that in May 2008, Dan did ask Dio if he had ever ridden a tiger.
Dan told me that while Ronnie did answer in the negative, “Dio was awesome dude – and judging by his amusement, I think I’m the first person to ever ask him if he’d actually ridden a tiger….”
Ronnie passed away only two years after that interview. You gotta give Dan credit for that one! I don’t know anyone else who has asked Dio that question.
Dan, I hope you are doing well and if you stumble upon this, please drop me a line, I’d love to catch up!
DIO – Live In London – Hammersmith Apollo 1993 (2014 Eagle)
The only good thing that came from Ronnie Dio’s death is the number of reissues and live albums we’ve gotten since. One of the more overlooked eras of Dio was the “Tracy G” era, Strange Highways and Angry Machines. Dio had just reunited in the middle of the grunge movement. Tracy G (ex-WWIII) was not to everybody’s taste. While he could indeed shred, he also utilized shrill noise and harmonics in his guitar work which isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. He could, however, lend Dio a heavier edge necessary in 1993. Add in bassist Jeff Pilson from Dokken and veteran drummer Vinnie Appice and you have one hell of a lineup.
Dio assembled a setlist with his best material, but ignoring a couple albums. Lock Up the Wolves and Dream Evil were considered disappointments when they were new. Even Sacred Heart is skipped over on this live album, in favour of old classics and a healthy serving of new songs. Sabbath and Rainbow only get a song a piece.
The sound is bloody perfect, as if they meant to release a double live album all along. Having Pilson on bass lends a heavy, low grumble and immaculate backing vocals. Tracy G might be an acquired taste on guitar but there’s no question he could do the job. He gets an extended solo on “Pain” that displays shredding, noise and musicality. Vinnie Appice gets a long solo too, as part of a “Heaven and Hell” / “Man on the Silver Mountain” medley. Eventually the band returns and they pound out a machine gun riff with monstrous Pilson bass licks. Incidentally, it’s Jeff Pilson that captures that old Black Sabbath/Geezer Butler groove better than any other bassist Dio has had.
This is a phenomenal live album. Sure, you can buy live Dio with better known lineups and songs. You can get live stuff with Vivian Campbell or Craig Goldy. This setlist is considerably different from those, and the sound is heavy as hell!
Vocalist extraordinaire Jim Crean is back with two new solo albums. Not only is there a 16 track covers album called Gotcha Covered, but also The London Fog, a new original CD. As usual, Crean boasts a killer hitlist of special guests, including Carmine & Vinny Appice, Mike Tramp, Rudy Sarzo, Chris Holmes, Steph Honde and plenty more. Buckle up — it’s a heavy duty trip.
The London Fog goes wide open from the start, with the two new songs Crean released on last year’s Greatest Hits: the excellent “Scream Taker” (tribute to Ronnie James Dio) and the riffy “Conflicted”. “Scream Taker” features Dio alumni Vinny Appice and Rudy Sarzo. These tracks follow the traditional blueprints of classic 80s metal, particularly “Conflicted”. (The dexterous bassist that I initially mistook for Billy Sheehan is actually A.D. Zimmer.)
Want more riffs? Then get “Broken”! There’s a great chorus here: Melody and power, with some tasty licks from Steph Honde. “Aphrodisiac” takes things to a more nocturnal place, but more menacing. Still, there’s always room for some dirty rock, and that would be “Lady Beware”. If Dokken’s classic lineup released another song today, it would probably sound a lot like “Lady Beware”. This is the kind of rock we all miss, and have a hard time finding today.
Jim Crean is equally at home on rockers and ballads. “Let It Go” (with Honde on piano and keyboards) has an epic quality for a ballad. It might be a bit Scorpions, Whitesnake (circa 1987) or Guns N’ Roses…the comparisons are up to the listener. The keyboard solo is a cool touch. Then heavy sounds circulate on “Loaded” (more Zimmer on bass), but yet Crean maintains a knack for melody.
A familiar voice welcomes you on “Candle”, a Mike Tramp (Freaks of Nature) cover featuring Tramp in a duet. The song is new to these ears, and I like how the parts shift and change moods. A riff for the ages follows, on an original track called “1981”. Again I’m reminded of Dokken, the classic era. It’s hard to recapture a time period with such clarity, but Jim Crean has a talent for writing that way. Some of his originals could very well be from another time. (Drummer Colleen Mastrocovo gives “1981” a serious kick.)
Another obscure cover: Robin Zander’s 1993 solo track “Time Will Let You Know”, a classy ballad from an underrated album. Jim doesn’t try to sound like Robin Zander, but does it justice. Then it’s Rod Stewart’s dance classic “Passion”. Very few singers have the right rasp to do Rod Stewart justice, but Jim Crean is one of them. That’s the always slick Tony Franklin on bass. And get this! Franklin’s Blue Murder bandmate Carmine Appice, the same guy who played on the the original “Passion”, also plays on this cover. He approaches both versions very differently. Rod’s version is slick dance rock, and this is more like metal that you can dance to. Same song; familiar but a completely different arrangement. If John Sykes ever played with Rod Stewart, maybe this is what they could have sounded like.
“Passion” could have closed the album and you’d be completely satisfied, but there’s more. A funky “Fool” sounds like Aerosmith, and who’s that on guitar? Ray Tabano, the original Aerosmith guitarist before Brad Whitford joined the band! This song is more Aerosmith than anything that band has recorded since 1993! Then it’s another lesser-known cover and duet: Angel’s “Don’t Take Your Love” featuring original Angel singer Frank DiMino. Great melodic rock songs are always welcome, and this one is truly great.
Finally comes the metallic closer “Tears” featuring Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P.). The contrast between the heavy riffs and Jim’s melodic vocals is what makes this style work so well for him. The riff has a W.A.S.P. vibe, but Crean takes it in a totally different direction.
Another fine album from Jim Crean and friends. Fans of hard rock “the way they used to make it” will thoroughly enjoy.
4.5/5 stars
Check back for a look at Gotcha Covered, coming soon.
mikeladano.com 