The Icon series of compilations used to be a budget CD line that you could pick up for $5 or under. Now, you can even get ’em on vinyl. Buy ’em direct from Helix mainman Brian Vollmer and he’ll sign it for you. This copy is signed by all five current Helix members, including a pre-injury Fritz Hinz.
As far as Helix compilations go, you can’t do much with just 11 tracks. Even so, Icon has some surprises and plenty of pleasers. There’s also enough difference from 2016’s compilation Rock It Science to justify it. Opening with the one-two punch of “Rock You” and “Heavy Metal Love”, Helix top loaded this thing with their best known songs. Perfect for the newcomer, or just a great party.
From there it’s “The Dirty Dog”, a long time Helix concert favourite. This is followed in quick succession by some great singles: “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'”, “Wild in the Streets” and the dark ballad “Deep Cuts the Knife”. All three songs are considered to be Helix classics. “Deep Cuts the Knife”, written by guitarist Paul Hackman, is a particularly powerful ballad. The entire first side is from the Capitol Records years, featuring the best known Helix lineup: Vollmer, Hinz, Hackman, Brent Doerner and Daryl Gray.
Side two has a different flavour. Only the hit “The Kids are All Shakin'” originates in the 1980s. This top Helix pop rock track is followed by the Helix of the 90s and today. “Good to the Last Drop” is another ballad, but much brighter than “Deep Cuts the Knife”. This is the original album mix, with minimal keyboards. Then it’s “Runnin’ Wild in the 21st Century”, kicking your teeth in at lightspeed. The last two songs feature some help from guitarist extraordinaire Sean Kelly. A razor sharp “Even Jesus Wasn’t Loved in His Home Town” comes from 2014’s excellent Bastard of the Blues. The aggressive rocker is based on the fact that Helix can’t even their new songs played on the radio in their home town of Kitchener, Ontario. Finally, the 2016 single “Gene Simmons Says (Rock Is Dead)” tells the demon where it’s at! Maybe Helix don’t get radio play in Canada but rock ain’t dead — not if Vollmer and Co. have anything to say about it!
When it comes to Helix compilations, they are so numerous that you can really take your pick. If you really care about the band, then just buy ’em direct from Vollmer at Planet Helix. There are loads to choose from, but only this one was ever made on vinyl. Or, you can just go CD! Either way, support the boys if you’re gonna buy some Helix.
White Lace & Black Leather – Classic Hard Rock Expanded Edition (originally 1981, 2019 Prog AOR)
Helix have really done it this year. They have a new album (Old School) made up of some pretty excellent songs that were never completed before. On top of that, you can also get brand new reissues of their first two indi albums, Breaking Loose and White Lace & Black Leather. Those two albums have already been reviewed in full, so this time we will focus primarily on the perks of these new CD versions.
Both discs feature lyrics, rare photos, and liner notes by Brian Vollmer. All essential things for a reissue, so what else? Unreleased tracks, that’s what else. Good ones! The hell, Brian? Where have you been hiding this stuff? If anyone assumed thought Helix cleared the vaults with their B-Sides album, they were mistaken. Maybe Universal should have been storing their tapes at Planet Helix….
Too soon?
Breaking Loose features “Let Me Take You Dancin'” (not the Bryan Adams song), apparently the first song they ever recorded, at the behest of manager William Seip. You can understand why they didn’t put it out, considering the Disco revolution going around. It’s too dance-y for what Helix wanted to be: a rock band. With 40 years hindsight, it’s bloody brilliant. Full-on horn section blasting away on a blatantly commercial rock song with just a whif of surf rock. Nothing wrong with any of that in 2019. “Sidewalk Sally” is the very first Brent Vollmer/Brian Doerner composition and you can tell by Dr. Doerner’s trademark chunky riff. This song is strictly outtake quality, but it’s notable for historic reasons (and the pretty advanced drumming by Brian Doerner).
The second album, White Lace & Black Leather, has two interesting bonus cuts as well. Brent Doerner wrote and sang a killer tune called “When the Fire is Hot”, which is one of the songs submitted to Capitol that got them signed. It’s never been released. It’s a very unpolished demo, but with a serious stomp and stunning guitar solo. The final bonus track is an unreleased early version of “White Lace & Black Leather”, which was re-recorded for their third album No Rest for the Wicked. See, for the first couple Helix albums, you had to wait until the next record to get the title track!
A brief talk about the albums themselves: both are chock full of great, unpolished youthful rock. Helix were just learning how to make records, but they had more than enough original material. Between the key songwriters (Paul Hackman, Brian Vollmer & Brent Doerner), they had plenty of quality songs. “Billy Oxygen”, “I Could Never Leave”, “Here I Go Again”, “You’re a Woman Now” and “Wish I Could Be There” from the first album alone are must-haves. Nobody should be forced to live their life without hearing “Billy Oxygen”. The second LP was almost as great as the first. “It’s Too Late”, “Breaking Loose”, “Mainline”, and “It’s What I Wanted” stand with the best material from the first. Sure, the band were rough around the edges, but they could already sing, play and write. They were goin’ places!
As for the mastering job, the music is not brickwalled like the versions of some songs on the Rock It Science CD. These discs are the versions to get; the expanded tracklist making them musts to the collecting fan who already own them all. Best of all, Planet Helix is offering them and the new Helix album for just 40 bucks. 40 bucks for 3 CDs is a ridiculous deal. I daresay these two albums have been steady companions to me over the years, and I look forward to re-enjoying them in this new form.
Dokken always served up large helpings of cheese. Within the framework of 80s hard rock, their second album Tooth and Nail has been elevated to the status of classic. Produced by Tom Werman and armed with nine great songs, Dokken were poised to move on to the big leagues.
The brief instrumental opener “Without Warning” leads directly into the full speed chug of “Tooth and Nail”. George Lynch was the obvious star on guitar, but “Wild” Mick Brown certainly blows the doors off with his high speed drum work. Don Dokken could hit the high notes when required, aided and abetted by bassist Jeff Pilson. The quartet could go hard or soft, or right down the middle. “Just Got Lucky” is perfect in the centre. Not too heavy, boasting a chorus that sticks, and a fiery hot guitar solo.
The lesser known “Heartless Heart” gets by for its Lynch chugging, though its chorus is left wanting. Even chuggier: “Don’t Close Your Eyes”, which Lynch leaves a smoking ruin: Don screaming over the wastes left behind by the incessant rocking. And that’s side one.
Dokken were especially good at slower, heavy songs. “When Heaven Comes Down” is one of those. Lynch’s riff holds the fort while Don conjures apocalyptic imagery. Then a classic: “Into the Fire”. This song has it all. The chorus and riff are topped only by a killer middle eight and a flammable solo. You can pass on the cliche “Bullets to Spare” which sounds like a Quiet Riot B-side. But don’t miss “Alone Again”, one of the best ballads from the entire decade. It defines the term “power ballad” all by itself. From the words, to the melody, to the legendary Lynch solo, “Alone Again” sounds as good today as it did then.
Finishing it off you’ll get the incendiary “Turn On The Action”, a cross between Van Halen, Motley Crue, and 2/3rds of the Sunset Strip. It’s a good closer, but derivative and absolutely a product of its time and place.
Tooth and Nail is two or three songs shy of 5/5 rating. Though you may debate it among yourselves, Back For the Attack and Dysfunctional are superior albums. Tooth and Nail, however, has something they don’t have, and that is a high percentage of Dokken concert classics. “Alone Again”, “Just Got Lucky”, “Into the Fire” and “Tooth and Nail” are all cornerstones of a Dokken collection.
AEROSMITH – Unplugged 1990 (2017 Zap City broadcast CD)
When Aerosmith’s MTV Unplugged aired in Canada, we didn’t get the whole show. We only got about half. Now thanks to easily acquired broadcast CDs, you can get all 14 tracks in one handy place. Because MTV were rigid about things being 100% live, you’ll get none of the annoying backing tracks that Aerosmith use today. That makes Aerosmith Unplugged a strong contender for the best live Aerosmith purchase since Classics Live II.
“Hangman Jury” is a natural for an opener, and actually superior to the Permanent Vacation album cut. “Monkey On My Back” is more surprising, being a heavier groove from Pump. Deconstructed as an acoustic jam, it lays it down hard. The first surprise of the night comes from the Air America soundtrack, to which Aerosmith contributed their Doors cover “Love Me Two Times”. Frankly the unplugged version is better. Tyler gets to honk on the harmonica and tear it up on the vocals a bit.
The first step back into Aerosmith’s past is 1974’s “Seasons of Wither”. When this set was recorded in 1990, only people who owned Get Your Wings would really have known this song. The purity of the unplugged stage is the ideal setting. Then it’s onto 1975 and “Big Ten Inch Record”, the old R&B classic they covered on Toys in the Attic. The album version with full horns is rearranged into an acoustic shuffle with individual guitar solos by Brad Whitford and Joe Perry. That’s all before Thom Gimbel shows up with his sax! This version kills.
Going even further back in time, Aerosmith pull “One Way Street” from the first album featuring a cool Perry solo. For serious fans, “Smokestack Lightning” is a treat because Aerosmith have never recorded it before. The oft-imitated Howlin’ Wolf cover is a natural jam for them. They they unload the heavy artillery exactly halfway into the set: “Dream On”. Arguably the song everybody was waiting to hear; easily a highlight. Playing with minimal instrumentation is a wise way to do it, though it picks up steam at the end.
“Milk Cow Blues” is rolled out next, a rarely played number from Draw the Line. Full steam ahead just like the album version, you don’t wanna be standing on the tracks when this one rolls by. Then, as if you’re daring them to try one that fast again, it’s “Toys in the Attic”. Tyler and Perry’s voices blend naturally together in the unforgiving unplugged environment.
Returning once more to the first album, “Walkin’ the Dog” is the fifth of six cover tunes and the first encore. It’s particularly cool because you get Tyler playing flute. “Train Kept-a Rollin'” from Get Your Wings is the final cover, though presented twice: “fast” and “slow” versions. For a solid thrills-per-second ratio, you gotta go for the fast take. Finally “Last Child” is announced to the excitement of one really hyped guy in the crowd. The funky classic works surprisingly well. A highlight from a show of nothing but highlights.
The CD had a few sonic clicks and quirks that may vary player to player. That would be its only flaw. Anyone buying broadcast CDs should be prepared for less than perfect audio.
As children, we were told many stories of what being a kid was like in the 1940s and 50s. The greatest toy was Mecanno. (My dad’s Mecanno #7 set was a treasured possession.) Movies were 12 cents on Saturdays, and you could stay as long as you like. (Once my dad went to go see Red Rider with his pal Jerry Irwin. He stayed for four — well, three and a half — showings. Then his father phoned the theatre looking for him, as he was supposed to home a long time ago! Boy did he catch hell at home!) One thing my dad always emphasized to us was how sad he was that all his childhood toys were gone. His little brother wrecked some, and his dad threw out the rest. He says they’d be priceless today. All gone; somewhere in a Guelph landfill.
When kids move away from home, they don’t take everything with them. Things like old toys get left behind. That’s how my dad lost all his stuff. I had trust in him that the same wouldn’t happen to me, and my sister. The number of times we had to hear about his lost toys, his Mecanno #7 set, and all that stuff…I assumed he wouldn’t do that to us.
I assumed incorrectly.
A few months ago my sister was over at his house, went down into the basement to look at the board games…our old childhood board games…and they were gone.
We found some of them in a storage bin, but the rest had been thrown out. That included my copy of Chopper Strike, a turn based combat strategy game that came with intricate little pieces and a massive two-level board. I bought it at a garage sale for a couple dollars in the early 80s. It was complete. The game came with an army of plastic jeeps and helicopters. The copters had rotating blades, and the jeeps had moving anti-aircraft guns. Lots of easily lost components. Rare for an such an old game (1976). We played it over and over and over again as kids. I thought it would remain safely stored at the old house. It cost over $50 to replace it with a complete one again (thanks, Mom).
At least my dad saved some of the obviously valuable games, like our original Star Wars and Transformers. Everything else from Admirals to Careers ended up in the trash, lost forever. Feeling bad, my mom bought my sister a new Careers game on Ebay (and replaced my Chopper Strike).
I thought that was it. I thought the point was made. I thought our possessions were safe again.
Wrong again.
Some of my old model kits are at the cottage. The cottage is a great place to build a model. My ZZ Top Eliminator kit has safely lived at the cottage for 30 years. A few years ago I took it out, dusted it off, and secured a few loose pieces with glue. The last time I saw Eliminator, it was fine.
This time, I noticed a few things on my shelves had been moved. When I returned them to their proper places, I saw Eliminator was now a one-eyed cyclops car. A headlight came off and was nowhere in sight. It’s gone. If it had simply fallen off, it would be on the shelf, next to the car. I only had two suspects. One of the two was more credible, while the other claims to know nothing. I know it was my dad!
“You can always pretend it was in an accident,” said my sister.
I used to think my stuff was safe in the hands of my dad. Now I realize I need to keep valuables far, far away from him!
This is one clean sounding live album. Yes it’s live, and you can tell, but there’s not a lot of crowd noise or wasted time. Opening with a full-on “Buzzards”, The Sword sound made for the stage. The Sword may not have invented the guitar riff, but they have certainly mastered the art of creating them.
“The Chronomancer I: Hubris” (from Warp Riders) has a slower Sabbathy groove circa Ozzy, but rendered heavier on the metal scale. They’re tight live, but there’s a certain rock n’ roll loosey-goosey vibe on this album as well. “Maiden, Mother & Crone” is another hot riff, amplified by the live environment.
New material is rolled out, with “Tears Like Diamonds”, “Mist & Shadow”, and “Agartha” presented in sequence. “Tears Like Diamonds” combines hook and groove into one steamrolling song. The heaviest track could be “Tres Brujas” from the third album which flies at Warp speed. Then they go into a cover of “John the Revelator” which works amazingly well as a heavy metal celebration.
The only track to appear from the debut Sword LP is “The Horned Goddess”. It ends a pretty steady onslaught of riffs with…even more riffs. If you’ve endured it, congratulations — you just might be a rocker!
No fluff, no filler. Greetings From… flies by just as fast as the spaceship on the awesome cover art.
Dr. Kathryn saw Cheap Trick at the Centre in the Square and has returned with photographic proof.
Comments:
“Cheap Trick were great! They played for about an hour and a half straight with no encore. It was a good mix of old songs and new. There were a bunch in the middle I didn’t know. Robin Zander can still sing pretty well, but his shortcomings were very obvious when he started to sing ‘The Flame’ with just himself on guitar. When he has all the other players behind him, his voice sounds much better and you can’t hear where he’s lacking. There was an extra guitar player (Robin Zander’s son Robin Taylor Zander) in the back and Tom Petersson played a twelve string bass. Rick Nielsen threw picks into the audience and I caught three! Looking back, I didn’t get any close ups of Robin Zander! He was right in front of me plenty.”
Setlist:
Hello There
Way of the World
Oh, Candy
Big Eyes
California Man (The Move cover)
On Top of the World
Stiff Competition
Downed
Ain’t That a Shame (Fats Domino cover)
High Roller
Lookin’ Out for Number One
Stop This Game
I’m Waiting for the Man (The Velvet Underground cover)
It took a while to be able to review this CD for technical reasons. From day one, this disc would not play smoothly in any computer. Most CD players could handle it, but no PC could without skipping horribly. Independent CD production had iffy quality in the early 90s. Now using external components I’ve finally been able to rip the album to PC. I have not played some of these songs in decades!
Raw M.E.A.T 3 was different from the first two volumes. The first focused on hard rock, the second on thrash. One band from Raw M.E.A.T 2 went on to big things, that being Varga. Volume 3 combined all genres of heavy music together on one disc. From the heaviest of bands (Mindrape, Sinister Fiend, Hanker, Vertical After) to pop rock hooks (Deadline, Raw Trixx, Tryton) and progressive (Destiny, Justin Sane), all bases are covered. The bands span several provinces from British Columbia to Quebec, whereas the first CD only had groups from southern Ontario.
Highlights are numerous. Perhaps Russian Blue came in strongest with opener “Mama’s Love”, a modern twist on hard rock. Deadline were right up there too, with a re-recording of “Friction Addiction” from their excellent first CD. Raw M.E.A.T 3 is the only place you can get the re-recording, which is slicker and punchier than the original. Tryton, the only female-fronted band, kicks serious ass on “Burning the Cradle”. Singer Nina Zzo had the lungs for it! (They later made an album as Loudshine.) “A Wonderful Day” by Tempted Fate is another genius track, sounding a bit like “When Death Calls” by Black Sabbath before exploding into a punk rock chorus.
It’s a very diverse CD. The bands Raw Trixx and Stone Valley both put in strong entries with “Time” and “Forever Gone” respectively. These groups employ older hard rock sounds in spite of the changing tides of rock. Slam Glory’s “Say It Like You Mean It” also fits that mold. Fans of early Queensryche and Scorpions might enjoy Destiny’s “Man Alone” which brings to mind the trademark sounds of those bands. Old-school thrash fans will dig the traditional speedy chug of Hanker and Vertical After. The Cult-like No Morals had an enjoyable, unconventional 90s edge. For Faith No More funkiness, it’s Sinister Fiend. Overlord’s “Never Enough” has a tough metal punch but with punk-like recklessness. “And if I sound bitter, it’s because I am!” Even Christian rock makes an appearance. Thunder Rider’s “For Christ’s Sake” isn’t bad, but the Quebec band had an early unfortunate image including swords, shields and hammers.
My favourite track of them all is “Illusion” by Justin Sane, which should have become a massive hit in 1992. The four piece band combined modern metal grooves with quality lead vocals and musicianship to create a nearly seven-minute behemoth of a song. It was recorded (like several of the songs here) at the renowned Metalworks Studios in Mississauga. Shame the band had a jokey name, as it does not accurately depict their music. There is a Justin Sane EP out there, reissued in 2006 as a split album with a band called Native Tongue, but it’s impossible to find.
I also approve of the names of the members of Vertical After: Kick, Stu, Rhys and Odd. I definitely want to be friends with anyone named Odd.
For the variety of quality hard rock, heavy metal and miscellaneous good stuff, Raw M.E.A.T 3 serves as an enjoyable listen and gateway to some bands you’ve never heard of before. Off to Discogs to look for more!
In the early 2000s, the best way to “share” music (note the quotations) was to burn a CD for your friends.
I had a customer, now friend, named Len. I knew him originally via some mutual highschool pals. I recognised him because he was in a Kiss air band when I was in grade 10. I befriended him later on as a customer at the Record Store, and I learned more about his taste in music and his collection. We were on the same page in virtually every way musically.
Len had a neat way of tracking his music, in the days before computers made this easy. He made a black and white photocopy of every CD cover, and filed them all in order, in a huge binder with title, year and tracklist. A work intensive process I’m sure, but it benefited me tremendously as you’ll soon see.
Len loaned me the book and said “pick anything you want me to burn for you.”
I still have all the CDs Len burned for me! One was a Kiss rarities disc (we’ll look at that another time), and another was all Bon Jovi B-sides. He made me a CD copy of the first Hurricane EP with a non-vinyl bonus track. And he put a whole ton of miscellaneous songs on two CDs that I titled, obviously, Len Mix!
The title confused a few people. I remember I had a girl over and she saw the CDs. “Are those all songs by the band Len?” At that point I may have realised I should have picked another title.
I made a list of songs that Len had that I wanted. They were generally big singles from bands I liked, that I didn’t own the album. A lot of songs I was exposed to on the Pepsi Power Hour in the 80s.
Let’s have a listen then, shall we?
LEN MIX Vol. I
Autograph’s “Loud and Clear” is a killer rocker, far less commercial than “Turn Up the Radio”. I do have the album today (on CD), but I don’t own the Krokus that follows. “Midnite Maniac” is still enjoyable, especially since I haven’t played it in over 10 years. Kingdom Come’s “Get It On” is one I own a couple times over now, and I think I like it more today than I did in the beginning. Y&T’s “Summertime Girls” is horribly cheesy, and yet so much guilty fun. It’s bright, it’s catchy and I don’t give a fuck! I still don’t own it properly on album. Nor do I own “Run Runaway” by Slade, a song I have liked since I was a little kid. I should pick up a Slade compilation, shouldn’t I?
According to MSG, “Love Is Not a Game”. I have this one on vinyl today, but Len Mix is still my only CD copy. Next, a very important song for your Ozzy collection. “Close My Eyes Forever” is by Lita Ford, featuring Ozzy in a stunning duet. Yet it may as well be an Ozzy song featuring Lita if that’s what you prefer. You can’t get it on any of the Ozzman’s albums. Today I have it on a Lita CD. Then King Kobra advise us to “Never Say Die”…”Iron Eagle”, baby! I still don’t have this album, and the song is a guilty pleasure. Not one of King Kobra’s proudest moments. You gotta admire that they all cut their hair for the music video, though.
I was always jealous that Len owned a four track copy of Def Leppard’s “When Love and Hate Collide” CD single. Mine only had two tracks! So I requested that Len burn me the demo version of the song that I did not yet own.
“Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?” asked Love/Hate. I ask myself why I still do not own Blackout in the Red Room! It was rare back then, but there is no excuse today in the age of Discogs. The Blink 182 song that follows it sticks out like a sore thumb, but I still like a lot of Blink. Travis Barker is a tremendous drummer, and these guys wrote some great pop punk. Then Kingdom Come are back with their tremendous ballad “What Love Can Be”, followed by the incredible British band Thunder. They had a number of great tracks on hard to find albums. “Low Life in High Places ” classes up the CD by several increments, but then Y&T are back to crash the party. “Contagious”, like “Summertime Girls”, sounds a bit dated today. Yet it’s just so damn catchy.
The next two songs are ones I have happily acquired on CD. Actually, Keel’s “The Right to Rock” is here on LP and CD. It’s an old classic I grew up with, and so very 1980s. So is Aldo Nova’s “Fantasy” but in a completely different way.
Len had some extra space on the end of this CD and so threw on Axel Rudi Pell’s “Tear Down the Walls”. I have not played this song in over a decade, but it sounds great! Far more modern than anything else on this disc, but Len was right to add it! Discogs tells me that the stunning lead vocal is by Johnny Gioeli of Neal Schon’s band Hardline. Of course!
LEN MIX Vol. II
That’s it for Len Mix Vol. I. The rest of the songs went onto Vol. II, which like Vol. I, begins explosively. Kingdom Come had a few bangers, and “Do You Like It” is the best of them. This one comes from their underappreciated second album In Your Face. (Legend has it that some stores thought the band was called “Kingdom” and the album Come In Your Face, and refused to stock it.)
The next three songs in a row are ones I still need to own on CD or LP: More Y&T, Autograph and Krokus. So far, all the Y&T songs have been pretty weak (though catchy and fun). “Mean Streak” is anything but weak! Y&T’s heavy metal roots are on full display with a riffy blast. Then it’s Autograph’s return, with the previously mentioned “Turn Up the Radio”! This song is probably better known today then it was in the early 2000s, thanks to video games and radio nostalgia. Krokus’ “Ballroom Blitz” cover was one that, like “School’s Out”, I grew up thinking was a Krokus original! Fortunately in time I learned the truth.
House of Lords albums were hard to come by at the time, and back then I didn’t own any but their first. On this CD is the ballad “Remember My Name”. This is from the second album Sahara which I now happily have. I don’t particularly care for this one, as it has that overly saccharine faux-romantic sound that was too common in the late 80s into 1990. But then like a kick in the face, it’s an Udo-less Accept with “Generation Clash”! Though David Reese’s tenure in the band was brief, this song is a triumph. I am happy to own the oddly titled album Eat the Heat today, because this darkly sparse prowl is still ace. What a voice on Reese, who could reach for those Udo screams when necessary.
Hey mom, Have you always followed the golden rule? Cause this just happens to be my first love. And that being a must – a must. That being playin’ my guitar!
It’s hard to come down from such a peak, and unfortunately the fall is broken by an out-of-place Blink 182 song. “All the Small Things” is such a diametrically opposed song, it’s like cold water dumped on your head! Two older goodies are not far behind: “Blackout in the Red Room” by Love/Hate, and the amazing acoustic ballad “Loving You” by Kingdom Come. It’s oh-so-very Zep, but what the hell. Zep weren’t making that sound in 1989 and there was obviously a demand for it.
The aforementioned “School’s Out” by Krokus marks their last song on this set, meaning that via Len Mix I got all the Krokus songs that I knew as a kid. Then it’s Y&T’s final song, the ballad “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”. It’s not one of their finest moments, but I would have requested this one because I had it on VHS but nothing else. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, Y&T were obviously aiming to score that “hit ballad”, but Meniketi’s always perfect voice is still a pleasure to listen to.
Thunder’s “Dirty Love” from their first album reminds me that I really need to buy some Thunder. Then comes a band from whom I only know one song. It’s a good’un called “You’re So Strange”, though the band had a silly name: Kik Tracee. Their ace in the hole was singer Stephen Shareaux. What a set of lungs on this guy! He was one of many who auditioned for the vacant vocalist role in Motley Crue in 1992. Gotta wonder what kind of music they could have made with a pair of lungs like Stephen Shareaux’s.
Moving on to the end, it’s the final Autograph song “Blondes in Black Cars”. I don’t think it’s their best moment, but I sure have a lot of childhood memories associated with the music video. I pretty much discovered what puberty was all about thanks to that video. I must have worn out that pause button.
MSG’s “Gimme Your Love” was their other single from Perfect Timing, an album I now have on LP but would like on CD for the bonus tracks. I’m getting the feeling an Amazon order order is forthcoming. Following MSG is a remix of “Armageddon It” by Def Leppard, from the same since-acquired single as “When Love and Hate Collide”. At 7:44 it’s a bit much, but I’m a Def Leppard completionist. Once again Len had a little bit of space at the end of a CD and so wisely included the brief Dokken instrumental “Without Warning”.
It’s important to note that these CDs would have taken Len a bit of time to put together for me. Few of us kept our music on computer. Len would have been painstakingly switching discs in and out of his computer to make these for me. The addition of bonus tracks shows how much care he put into it.
For Len Mix Vol. I and II, I’d say the verdict is clear. These were a blast to listen to again.
ALICE COOPER – A Paranormal Evening With Alice Cooper at the Olympia Paris (2018 Edel)
You don’t so much ask if a new Alice Cooper live album is good; instead you just ask what songs are on it.
A Paranormal Evening With Alice Cooper at the Olympia Paris (what a mouth full) features “Hurricane” Nita Strauss on lead guitar, Chuck “Beasto Blanco” Garric on bass, drummer Glen Sobel, and guitarists Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen. Guys like Garric and Roxie are the veterans, but Nita Strauss is a serious focal point. She can really shred.
The setlist spans most of Cooper’s career. The CD even opens with “Brutal Planet”, which was the set opener back in 2000 on the Brutal Planet tour. The industrial-tinged song is less jarring live. From there, onto the oldies: “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, “Under My Wheels” and “Department of Youth”. Alice’s band are capable backing singers and they tend to focus on the melody while Alice does his schtick with character. I won’t tell you who Alice name-drops in “Department of Youth” (remember, it used to be teen idol Donny Osmond). That’s a surprise.
Another surprise: the fabulous “Pain” from Flush the Fashion. The powerful dark pop is heavier live, enriched by three guitars in harmony. Alice can still infuse the song with suffering, even decades later. Back to an oldie for a moment with “Billion Dollar Babies” (absolutely massive with three guitars) and then another surprise: “The World Needs Guts”. Very few songs from Constrictor get played live, and this one is a live album debut. There’s a certain nostalgia now for the Kane Roberts era, and “The World Needs Guts” thrills my gorilla on this album. Then to another niche album, 2005’s garage rock of Dirty Diamonds. It’s an underrated gem of an album, and so “Woman of Mass Distraction” is a welcome selection, though others would have been more interesting.
“Poison” is a perennial, and here it is again representing 1989’s Trash album. Every Cooper lineup has its own touch with it. This one isn’t the sleekest version but it’s the most thunderous. To cap off the first CD, it’s “Halo of Flies” from “Killer”, almost 11 minutes in length. This is the kind of deep cut you crave, complete and unedited. Once again, the three guitars really enrich the sound.
Another regular, “Feed My Frankenstein”, is one I could live without. But this one is a generational song. Fans who grew up in the early 90s remember it from Wayne’s World. It’s the song Mrs. LeBrain sang along to in the car. Boring to some, a highlight for others. Then it’s back to “Cold Ethyl” from Welcome to My Nightmare, a stone-cold classic (pardon the pun) highlighting the rock and roll side of Alice. The trade-off guitar solos are a newer twist. From the same album comes “Only Women Bleed”, and really the only slow song in the set. Alice doesn’t need to take it slow!
It took this long to play the one and only new song, “Paranoiac Personality“. It’s not always like this — in the past Alice has peppered his set heavily with new material. For whatever reason, this time the focus is on the variety. There are new songs that will unfortunately never get the chance to shine live. Still, it’s hard to complain, especially when the next song is “Dwight Fry”, the second epic on the album. A medley of “Killer” and “I Love the Dead” keep that same vibe.
“I’m Eighteen” is the beginning of the end, with “School’s Out/Another Brick in the Wall” ringing the final bell. Listen to the band introductions for something that Alice rarely does. Take a minute and appreciate how great Alice’s band is — and always has been no matter the lineup!
A Paranormal Evening With Alice Cooper at the Olympia Paris (say that three times) comes highly recommended. Anyone who collects Alice Cooper will find something here that they’ve wanted to hear live. Has any artist been as great as Alice for as long as Alice? Very few, and this album proves he’s still the one and the only.
HELIX – Icon (2018 Universal vinyl)
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