geoff tate

REVIEW: Queensryche – Empire (20th Anniversary Edition)

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QUEENSRŸCHE – Empire (2010 EMI 20th Anniversay Edition)

20 years?  Wow, they sure flew by for me! When Empire first came out I bought it on cassette, and even back then I thought it was a bit too commercial. That’s not to say Empire is a bad album, but coming off Mindcrime and the killer first single “Empire”, I expected something heavier.

Now with the benefit of hindsight, you can really hear a band coming into their own identity. Empire is kind of the end of the old “heavy metal” Queensryche and the beginning of the newer more diverse Queensryche. The next album, Promised Land was a another stride further away from sheer metal, but more successfully achieved.

This box set, very nice looking and all, would have been better released as an individual live album, because disc one is identical to the previous Queensryche remaster version. The bonus tracks are the same. (“Last Time In Paris” from the Ford Fairlaine soundtrack, “Scarborough Fair” from the “Anybody Listening” single, and “Dirty L’il Secret” from the much later “I Am I” single.  Yes, “Scarborough Fair” is a Simon and Garfunkel cover.  Much more gothic though!)

The live album is from the same tour (but not the same show) as the Operation: Livecrime album. Think of this as representative of Queensryche’s non-Mindcrime live set, so if you have both albums you kind of have one complete show. It’s a good live album, although without the Mindcrime material to balance it, it is way too Empire-heavy. 7 of the 10 tracks are from Empire. That’s not me complaining really, just an observation of the feel of the set, as an album. For non-Empire material, you get the awesome “Walk In The Shadows,” “Roads to Madness”, and “Take Hold Of The Flame”, representing the first couple Queensryche full-lengths.

(As an added note, the Operation: Livecrime reissue also had one additional song not on this, which was “The Lady Wore Black” originally from the first EP.)

The live stuff sounds great, very clear with a good performance by the band. Tate is in peak voice at this point — he nails all the notes in “Take Hold”! The whole band sounds really good, especially in the backing vocals department. It also sounds pretty live and not messed with, which is my preference.  I’m sure there are backing tapes, Queensryche do use them, but the overall feel was one of spontaneity.  The liner notes claim there are no overdubs whatsoever.

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If you’re not familiar with the Empire album and you’re buying it for the first time, you are definitely going to be familiar with most of the album’s six singles:

  • “Empire”, the dark forboding tale of drug trafficking, with killer spoken word-style vocals from Geoff Tate.
  • “Best I Can”, the power pop rock song, with uplifting (but cheesey) lyrics.
  • “Silent Lucidity” one of the three songs that defined the term “power ballad” in the summer of 1991. (The other two were “More Than Words” by Extreme and “To Be With You” by Mr. Big.) A great song with brilliantly sparse-yet-lush arrangement. Still stands up today!
  • “Jet City Woman”, my personal favourite simply for that unstoppable bass groove.
  • “Anybody Listening?”, the epic album closer, and one of the all time best songs Queensryche have ever written.
  • “Another Rainy Night”, not one of the better songs, in my opinion. Kind of repeats the pop rock stylings of “Best I Can” but with lyrics about missing some girl.

There are also buried treasures within the album tracks. “Resistance” feels like a polished-up Mindcrime outtake for sheer tempo and mood. “Della Brown” is unlike anything the band ever attempted before, an atmospheric tale of a homeless woman that foreshadows the direction of Promised Land.

The band were really gelling at this point, and an album like this makes me really wish Chris DeGarmo was still in the band. He wrote or co-wrote almost every song, and his backing vocals really enrich the record. Everybody was playing great, though, and big props to Eddie Jackson for his killer bass sound.

The package includes an Empire poster, booklet, and five postcards featuring stills from the “Empire” music video.

To sum up, there is absolutely nothing wrong musically with this album, or the bonus live album. This is a 5 star album for music, for packaging, for sound, and all that stuff. I have to deduct one star simply because the first disc is just the same Empire I already owned and I think the live disc on its own could have been released alone for the 20th anniversary of Empire.

4/5 stars (5 for music -1 for rebuying the album, again!)

More Queensryche:

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part I

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part II

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part III

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part IV

REVIEW: Geoff Tate – GT EPK (2012)

What can you say about a guy who’s already had two lineup changes before his new “Queensryche” has even played a single gig?  As usual, I’ll let Geoff say it all…

GEOFF TATE – GT EPK (2012)

EPK:  “Electronic Press Kit”, something an artist releases to the media to promote themselves. See above.

Although this has been out for months, it was only recently that Uncle Meat brought it to my attention.    While he was over recording our most recent video, he said to me, “LeBrain, you have to see the Tate video.  This thing is ridiculous.”

So I watched.  And I laughed.

Cheesey?  Check.

“Oh yeah.  I love my job.”

Pretentious?  Check.

“I guess I’m an experience junkie.”

Trying to look cool?  Check.

“I usually take a couple of motorcycles on tour with me…ride between cities.”

Stuff nobody cares about?  Check.

“Oh there’s my beautiful wife, Susan.”

Nothing in here about spitting at drummers, getting in fights, or carrying bladed weapons though!  Do you want to see something really funny?  Skip ahead in the video to 2:38.

“Oh, wait, watch this.”

And then he does this lame “jump”.  I mean, if he was David Lee Roth and did that cool spiral kick thing, that would something worth waiting and watching for.  Not…whatever that was at 2:38.

Don’t take it from me though!  Here’s some quotes from my esteemed Sausagefest colleagues.

Grant:  “Got about three minutes in before vomiting all over my keyboard. The ‘Two Girls One Cup’ of personal biographies.”

Scottie:  “WTF was that…”

Iron Tom Sharpe:  “Imagine what that cock seepage would be like if he was still good (and relevant) and they hadn’t sucked for the last 15 years…Nothing is sadder than seeing your heroes as they really are…”

Dave:  “He was always a cheeseball. The guys around him simply obscured that.”

Meat:  “Music’s latest train wreck.  So awful you just can’t look away.”

That’s all.  That’s all I can stomach.

0/5 stars

TATERYCHE

Part 167: Top Five Discs that Got Us in Shit at the The Beat Goes On

RECORD STORE TALES Part 167:

Top Five Discs that Got Us in Shit at the The Beat Goes On

featuring Uncle Meat

2012’s rockin’ stats, for your amusement!

In 2012, I posted 493 articles.  I did 157 chapters in a continuing series of Record Store Tales which has been extremely satisfying.  The rest have been a series of reviews, and rants!  Very popular was my series of Kiss reviews (53 of them!), when I covered every Kiss album in sequence. Currently, I’m finishing up my series of Iron Maiden reviews (42 so far in a series of 45), covering every album and rarity that I have access to. It’s been a blast!

Some personal statistical highlights:

1. Doing an interview with Brian Vollmer, of Helix (my 4th interview so far), which was a huge blast for me as a fan and writer.

2. The many Guest Shots (10 so far!) from contributors such as Tommy Morais, Statham, T-Rev, Mrs. LeBrain and Uncle Meat.  It’s been a pleasure to read and publish your work, gentlepersons.  Keep sending me stuff!

3. Record Store Excursion 2012, and the resulting video.  I love making videos, and this was a blast. At last check, it’s had almost 200 hits (194 to be exact) including some of the people at the stores that we reported on!

Thanks to all the readers out there who’ve made 2012 so much fun here at LeBrain’s Blog.  Let’s kick 2013 into overdrive.

My top ten posts of 2012, by hits:

Editorial: Paul Stanley’s voice problems 741
REVIEW: KISS – The Box Set (Deluxe mini guitar case edition!) 273
GEOFF TATE: Solo album KINGS & THIEVES song samples available now 270
REVIEW: Black Sabbath – Master of Reality deluxe edition! 254
REVIEW: KISS – Destroyer (Resurrected) (2012) 227
REVIEW: KISS – “Hell or Hallelujah” single! (2012) 211
Ex-Queensryche’s GEOFF TATE UPDATE: Still a douche 202
REVIEW: KISS – Destroyer (and a word about that 35th anniversary Resurrected thing) 193
UPDATE: Queensryche’s Tate is a Douche 185
Part 71/ REVIEW: Pink Floyd – Shine On (9 disc box set) 185

Top five LeBrain-reading countries:

Country Views
Canada FlagCanada 13,754
United States FlagUnited States 6,242
United Kingdom FlagUnited Kingdom 2,417
Brazil FlagBrazil 739
Finland FlagFinland 629

Here’s a fun one:  Top five Google searches that led people to LeBrain’s Blog!

queensryche split 82
paul stanley voice 76
kiss revenge review 71
geoff tate is a douche 68
kiss hell or hallelujah 66

LOL…Geoff Tate is a douche!  That’s awesome!

Hope you didn’t party too hard last night.  Let’s rock 2013 like there’s no tomorrow!

Most Anticipated New Releases of 2013 (?)

I was having an offline discussion with the mighty Heavy Metal OverloRd and The CD Whisperer about the albums we’re most excited about in 2013.

It’s easy to think back just one year and remember how we couldn’t wait to see if the new Van Halen would be a triumph or disaster.  Now it’s the end of the year once again, and as long as the world doesn’t end on December 21, there are some cool releases lined up for the new year.

What are you most excited for?  Is there something in particular that you KNOW you’ll be buying before you hear a single note?

I have five must-buys in 2013.  Here’s my list.

queensryche

5. QUEENSRYCHE

This could end up being a total disaster.  Replacing a beloved (albeit knife-weilding) original frontman with a relative unknown is a huge risk.  Kudos to the band for trying, I’ll play along.  The key will be to walk a fine line between avoiding a retread of the past, and reminding fans how good they used to be.  Not an easy task.  Will Todd La Torre be up for it?  Time will tell.

crue

4. MOTLEY CRUE

Nikki has said the band is writing music to follow the lacklustre single “Sex”.  They’ve got tour dates with Kiss lined up in the new year.  I’ll admit I’m actually not that excited about a new Motley release, but I have been faithfully following this band through ups and downs through their entire career.  I even bought New Tattoo!

Voivodtarget

3. VOIVOD – Target Earth

This one has a confirmed release date of January 22.  Although some may say that the idea of a new Voivod album without the late guitarist Piggy is sacrilege, life goes on.  This is the first album in over two decades with Blackie on bass.  From what I’ve heard of the first single, “Kluskap O’Kom”, it does sound like Voivod.  I’ll be supporting the boys in 2013, count on reading my review in the new year.

Sabbath Logo

2. BLACK SABBATH

Some might say that the idea of an “original” Sabbath album without Bill Ward is sacrilege!  Hell, I might be one of them!  But I love this band, and I have to have faith that the combined might of Sabbath plus Rick Rubin will produce something worthwhile.  Will “Scary Dreams” be on there?  I sure hope so.  First album with Tommy Clufetos on drums, a much more metronomic drummer, so I wonder if Sabbath can capture that loose vibe of the precious first 8.

Purple

1. DEEP PURPLE

Confirmed for an April 26 release.  Confirmed that Bob Ezrin is producing.  Confirmed song titles:  “Out Of Hand,” “Hell To Pay,” “Weirdistan,” “Uncommon Man” and “Above and Beyond.”  “Above and Beyond” is a tribute to late organist Jon Lord, who passed away far too soon.  “Weirdistan”?  I love it.  That title can only come from Ian Gillan.  Astoundingly this is the fifth album with Steve Morse and third with Don Airey.  And some said they’d never last without Blackmore!  I will most definitely be pre-ordering whatever cool editions the band has lined up.

What are you psyched about in the new year?  I want to hear from you.

GEOFF TATE – Yup…still a douche

This is news to me.    “Queen of the Reich” isn’t a popular Queensryche song?

“Actually, it’s not very popular at all. It’s funny actually a lot of people don’t know about that song. A lot of people don’t care about that song. It’s an early song that was written and it shows. It’s funny the reaction you get because it’s a lot of blank stares. In fact it’s the same stare you get when you play a new song that nobody’s heard before. People just aren’t that familiar with it. Given there are a few hardcore fans that might know that song or like that song and know what it is but the majority of the people there don’t. So it’s not really a song that I enjoy singing strictly because lyrically its pretty adolescent.”

I wish Geoff would just shut up.

This crowd didn’t seem to mind the song (that Geoff didn’t write):

More Queensryche:

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part I

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part II

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part III

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part IV

The “real” Queensryche — new song samples, new trailer!

Far too early for comment. But I will anyway.

The first song snippet didn’t sound like Queensryche to me (more like Racer X!).  The second and beyond did…keep in mind these must be demos because they’re not hitting the studio until next month.

I’m sure the Tate camp will be pissed off at them saying they are the “masterminds” behind Mindcrime and Empire…that was probably taking it too far.  This is turning into a PR war.

I’m encouraged.  Produced with Jimo Barton again!  You’re not gonna get that much from a few seconds’ worth, but a couple of these songs sound like possible winners, and have the “Queensryche sound”.  (Nobody sounds like Rockenfield!)  It does sound a lot better than pretty much anything from Hear In The Now to present.  But will it be memorable and live up to The Warning or Rage For Order?

We’ll see in 2013.

Discuss.

REVIEW: Hear N’ Aid – Stars (1986)

HEAR N’ AID – Stars (1986 LP, Japanese CD)

It is hard to believe that this monumental album, a piece of rock history, was only issued on CD in Japan! Finding a domestic LP or cassette isn’t hard (I’ve owned it on all three formats including CD) so hunt your record shops.  I know Wendy Dio has a CD/DVD reissue lined up, hopefully including the full album, single edit, and the video and interviews.  If you’re reading this Wendy…

At the time, all funds went to starving people in Africa, hence the name Hear N’ Aid.  The inspiration was something fairly obvious:  No heavy metal people outside of Geddy Lee was involved in the numerous famine relief projects of the time!  (Geddy sang a lead on the excellent “Tears Are Not Enough” (1985) by Northern Lights, but nobody metal could be seen in “Do They Know It’s Christmas” or “We Are the World”.)

“Oh, you knoooow that we’ll be there!”

Showing the world that heavy metal bands and fans aren’t a bunch of assholes, Jimmy Bain and Vivian Campbell of Dio came up with the concept for Hear N’ Aid.

The main track, “Stars”, by Hear N’ Aid is a tour-de-force. Written by Bain, Campbell and Dio, this is essentially an epic extended track with a soft intro and heavy verses, and tons of guests. They assembled virtually every major metal singer who was willing and available to take part. That means you will hear Quiet Riot singers Kevin DuBrow and Paul Shortino (still with Ruff Cutt at the time) singing together for the first and only time in history! Rob Halford, Don Dokken, Eric Bloom, Geoff Tate, Dave Meniketti, and Dio himself all take lead vocal slots too.

When the guitar solo kicks in, prepared to be blown away. With Iron Maiden guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith playing backing harmonies, you will hear the monstrous talents of George Lynch, Yngwie Malmsteen, Vivian Campbell, Craig Goldy, Neal Schon, Buck Dharma, Carloz Cavazo, Brad Gillis and Eddie Ojeda all taking a few bars. No charity track had ever attempted to assemble not just singers, but guitar players, on one track before.

All this is backed by drummers, bassists and keyboard players from Dio and Quiet Riot. There are more backing singers than I can name, but most notably, Derek Smalls and David St. Hubbins from Spinal Tap. Of course.

The rest of the album is filled out by songs donated by bands who couldn’t take part in the song, but still wanted to help the starvation situation in Africa. Therefore you will get a live “Heaven’s On Fire” from Kiss, from their Animalize Live Uncensored home video. This is the only place that the audio track was released on. There is an unreleased live “Distant Early Warning” by Rush, and rare ones by Scorpions and Accept as well.

Tracklist:
1.Hear ‘n Aid – “Stars”
2.Accept – “Up to the Limit” (live)
3.Motörhead – “On the Road” (live)
4.Rush – “Distant Early Warning” (live)
5.Kiss – “Heaven’s on Fire” (live)
6.Jimi Hendrix – “Can You See Me”
7.Dio – “Hungry for Heaven” (live)
8.Y&T – “Go for the Throat”
9.Scorpions – “The Zoo” (live)

5/5 stars

MORE Geoff Tate news: His side of the split?

OK folks, as usual I’ll let Geoff say it all.

On the “original” Queensryche with Todd La Torre:

They started a side project called Rising West, and they quickly found out that it didn’t have any value in the marketplace. They couldn’t sell any shows. They couldn’t get booked for shows. And that’s when they fired me and tried to use the name Queensryche to book shows, so they could all make a living.

So what you’re saying Geoff is that the firing had nothing to do with the spitting and the physical assaults and so on and so forth?  This argument doesn’t even make any sense.  Geoff’s claiming that Queensryche fired him, because their side project couldn’t sell any shows?  I’m sure they don’t need a side project to sell shows to make a living while they’re in Queensryche?  If business was as good as Geoff claims, anyway.

On Glen Drover, guitar player in Tate’s new “second” Queensryche:

I had known of him but never met him, but I’ve seen him play a number of times with Megadeth, and I thought he was a fantastic player; just a real fluid, effortless guitar player. And then talking with him, he’s just a really cool guy, very down-to-earth. He’s a Canadian guy who likes hockey and beer, and I’m all down with that.

Alright.  I’m down with that too.

And lastly, on his solo album:

It just happened pretty quickly, and I worked at a pace that’s pretty normal for me, really. A lot of what you hear on it are first, second or third takes. It was pretty immediate, us sitting in the same room, playing together, feeding off each other, and just kinda making stuff up as we went. So it was a fun, immediate record, without a lot of rehearsing it into the ground. Not a very polished record, not over-produced and slick. It’s pretty raw.

OK, that doesn’t sound bad.  Has anybody heard the record yet?  I’ve read good things, but Christmas is coming.

More:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/geoff-tate-2012-interview/

More Queensryche:

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part I

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part II

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part III

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part IV

REVIEW: Geoff Tate – Geoff Tate (2002)

With Geoff’s recent departure from the original Queensryche and his decision to form a simultaneous second Queensryche, I felt I should pull Geoff Tate off my shelf, where it has sat collecting dust for almost 10 years.  The web (and comments on this site) has been abuzz with opinions on every side of the Tate situation, so dig in and let me know what you think.

GEOFF TATE – Geoff Tate (2002 EMI)

When I first heard this album 10 years ago, it seemed a lot more “different” than it does now.  Now I listen to it and I can hear aspects of it (repetitive drony guitar bits, drum programs, mellow vibes) that Geoff  incorporated into Queensryche albums that came later.  But this is clearly a Tate album and not a Queensryche record, “Helpless” being one that would not have fit in on any Queensryche album.

Yet try as I might, I cannot get into this album.  It has moments that I like (again, “Helpless” is an example with strong vocal melodies and guitar parts), but mostly just fleeting moments. “Helpless” in particular has a nice acoustic guitar solo, flamenco in flavour, that is appealing to me.  Yet I find the song still sunk by (what sounds like) awful programmed percussion and bass.

Up next is “Touch”, a nearly tuneless mellow drone with something that sounds like telephones dialing a melody in the background.  Ugh. The track after, “Every Move We Make” has a nice simple guitar melody, a pretty one that could have had some feeling in it, but it’s choked under a blanket of samples and effects.  Geoff never comes up with a memorable vocal to go with it either.  It does have some nice sounding (real) drums, and some cool guitars. “In Other Words” rests itself on piano and acoustic guitar backed by what sounds like viola.  The music is pleasant sounding, just not memorable.  It picks up steam towards the end.  Perhaps this one could have made a most excellent Queensryche album closer, similar to “Someone Else?”, in another world.  “A Passenger” has memorable moments, although it awkwardly stumbles from one section to others that sound nothing alike.

Best song:  Epic closer “Over Me”.  Great cascading guitars, liquid bass, no nonsense.

There’s nothing wrong with albums like this, every artist needs to explore their creative muse.  More power to Geoff for doing it.  But I’m not particularly into this kind of mellowness.  Back in the record store days, if I had no idea who Geoff Tate was, I wouldn’t know where to file it and I guess that’s the point of doing a solo album like this.  At no point does it rock, but it’s also too aggressive in spots for Easy Listening and New Age.  It incorporates aspects of world music and electronica but couldn’t be called either.  None of that is bad — I love a lot of records that can be described in similar ways, when genres collide.  (Accidentally On Purpose, by Gillan/Glover perhaps?)  The problem here boils down to the songs — they’re just not all that good.  Marillion make albums that you might say sound like this — but better.

2/5 stars