Readers may not be familiar with Jake Not From State Farm, so let me introduce you. If you tune in to John Clauser’s channel My Music Corner, he’s done several great videos with Jake. Additionally, Jake will be joining us later this year for some albums on 50 Years of Iron Maiden. It turns out that both Jake and Harrison love Blaze Bayley. And so, they became friends.
Jake had a batch of duplicate CDs that he donated to Harrison’s collection, two of which I want! That damn Harrison keeps ending up with more and more CDs that I want for myself.
Joining us for this unboxing episode is the man who introduced us to Jake in the first place, Mr. Johnny Clauser. Mostly, we let Harrison do the unboxing, and lots of show and tell. Enjoy this short episode.
DUDES – The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987 MCA)
Every collector is different. My time is a valuable commodity, so when I buy movie soundtracks made up of mixed songs, I generally only play the songs by the bands I like, and I may never hear the rest of of the album. So it came to be, I have never played the Dudes soundtrack, despite owning it almost 30 years. I don’t know the premise of the movie either. All I know is the old Keel music video for “Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw” featured some of the movie footage, starring Jon Cryer, Flea, and Mary Catherine Stewart. It was clearly a comedy. Back then, they didn’t tell you what movie or album a video was from, so I never knew the movie was called Dudes until I saw the CD physically.
I bought this disc at the Record Store in 1997 mostly for Keel, W.A.S.P. and Steve Vai. One look at the cover and I said “This is that movie with the Keel song! I recognize those two guys!” And so it was.
The Keel video commences with a stern warning from a police officer: “You know, maybe this wouldn’t have happened if you looked like normal folks.” He scolds a hilariously punky-looking Jon Cryer. We know what kind of movie this is without seeing it. (Lee Ving of Fear is also in the film.)
“Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw”, produced by Kevin Beamish, is the opening track. It’s loaded with attitude and a cool riff, backed by electric slide guitar. “All I need is a rock and roll band, and somewhere new to play!” howls Ron Keel, a distinct singer that never achieved the level of success he was due. There’s a dual solo, with Marc Ferrari comedically using a pistol as a slide in the music video. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw” is one of Keel’s top tunes, and it wasn’t on their album. The drums are recorded a little clanky, but otherwise this tune is top-notch road rock.
I have never listened to the Vandals, as far as I know, in my life until this moment. “Urban Struggle” begins with a mock Indian war beat, and a mutation of The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly theme. It’s a joke song with cowboy-themed lyrics in a mock accent, and then going into a punk western style, and words about mechanical bulls. Not a song I’ll be coming back to.
“Show No Mercy” by W.A.S.P. (produced by Mike Varney) is more my speed. A non-album track, it hearkens back to early W.A.S.P. The lineup pictured inside was the current W.A.S.P., including Johnny Rod and Steve Riley. The actual track is from an earlier lineup with Tony Richards and Randy Piper. As such, it sounds exactly like the first album, and having more tunes with that sound is never a bad thing. It is a smoker, and Chris Holmes’ familiar guitar sound is welcome in my ears. This song easily could have been on the album, if not used as a single.
Simon Steele & The Claw don’t seem to have released much music over the years. Shame. “Vengeance Is Mine” is a traditional metal gallop. The vocals are decent, usually occupying a low John Bush-like growl, but occasionally releasing into a scream. There’s an awkward key change midway through, but the pace remains relentless throughout.
Megadeth’s jokey cover of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'” was on their first album as “These Boots”, but this version is slightly longer. Produced by Paul Lani, it is a different recording from the album version by Dave Mustaine and Karat Faye. It remains as entertaining as ever. It may as well be an original if not for the lyrics. You’d never think it was “These Boots” if it was purely instrumental.
A complete change of pace is the pop rocker “Time Forgot You” by Legal Weapon. Apparently they were primarily a punk band, but this is a really cool mainstream 80s rock track that could have been a big hit on radio if circumstances allowed. Singer Kat Arthurs is a breath of fresh air after the grit of Mustaine! This is the hidden gem of the album, with a strong bassline and catchy, well-recorded stabs of shimmering rhythm guitar.
“Jesus Came Driving Along” by Swedish band The Leather Nun is like a gothic punk rock hybrid. The vocals are recorded low in the mix and odd sounds are rampant, but it’s pretty cool. It has a beat you can drive to, which might be the intent.
I was never a big Jane’s Addiction fan, but “Mountain Song” is a brilliant piece of swirly-whirly rock brilliance. A big Jane’s fan told me at the time that he never heard this particular version of “Mountain Song” before, produced by the band themselves. He considered it a rarity. The riff to “Mountain Song” seems like it has been ripped off so many times over the years since. There’s a Zeppelin-esque massiveness to it, but with a tribal beat, an 80s haze, and a howling Perry Farrell. Utter musical magnificence.
Punk band The Little Kings have a very cool song here called “The Lost Highway”. The exaggerated warbling mannerisms of the singer recall Elvis a bit, as the band chop out a greasy rockabilly sound behind him. It’s hard hitting and unique. It goes breakneck for a moment, and then back into a rockabilly groove.
A short instrumental from the movie score, “Dudes Showdown” has twangy guitar, and tense synth backing. It certainly sets a scene. It sounds like a setup for a climax.
The final song is almost a coda. It’s Steve Vai’s rare rendition of “Amazing Grace”, which he has since released as part of his Secret Jewel Box collection. At the time however, it was one of those scattered one-off rarities. Vai goes surprisingly delicate here, with heavy, dreamy guitar effects and a very experimental arrangement of the traditional music. Steve used to say, “Sorry, I can’t help myself!” and here’s an example. He couldn’t help doing something completely different.
And that’s the album! Not bad actually, with only the Vandals track being the one I’d skip today.
This track comes by the suggestion of the Mad Metal Man himself, Harrison! From the near-immortal album Countdown to Exitinction, this song relates to suicide, not dental surgery, but we’ll go with it anyway.
I had wrists donning slits Flowing constantly My broken body in a wreck Wrapped around a tree A crosswalk hit and run The finish line for me People clutter in the gutter Take a look and see
No escaping pain You belong to me Clinging on to life By the skin o’ my teeth
No escaping pain You belong to me Clinging on to life By the skin o’ my teeth
My blood flows through the streets Deluge from the wounds Empty jars of sleeping pills On the dresser in my room My wet-brain neighbor cranes His neck to see In time, the white lights, a train Bearing down on me
No escaping pain You belong to me Clinging on to life By the skin o’ my teeth
No escaping pain You belong to me Clinging onto life By the skin o’ my teeth
I won’t feel the hurt I’m not trash any longer That that doesn’t kill me Only makes me stronger I need a ride to the morgue That’s what 911 is for So tag my toe and don’t forget Ooh, to close the drawer
No escaping pain You belong to me Clinging on to life By the skin o’ my teeth
No escaping pain You belong to me Clinging on to life By the skin o’ my teeth
There are way too many CDs in my collection that I don’t like, but I own for one or two rarities. ECW Extreme Music is one of those many. I have never watched an ECW wrestling match in my life. I only know one of the wrestlers pictured inside, Bam Bam Bigelow, because he was in the WWF when I was a kid. I don’t like the 90s version of wrestling with the blood and barbed wire. And I don’t like much of the music they used.
First is the generic riff/loop combo of Harry Slash and the Slashtones, whoever that is. Skip that repetitive crap to get to a White Zombie remix. “El Phantasmo and the Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama” was a great groove from Astro-Creep: 2000. The “Wine, Women & Song” mix by Charlie Clouser is from their remix CD Supersexy Swingin’ Sounds. It’s an enjoyable remix, which is something best appreciated on its own rather than on a remix album.
Somebody named Kilgore did a carbon copy cover of “Walk” by Pantera, presumably because using the original would have cost more? It’s embarrassingly copycat. Your friends who don’t know will assume it’s Pantera. Fortunately a great Megadeth tune is next. Cryptic Writings is an underrated album, and “Trust” was probably the second best track on it (right after “A Secret Place”). This instrumental mix is an exclusive and has emphasis on Marty Friedman’s lead guitar which replaces the vocals.
Bruce Dickinson (and Roy Z) is next with a lacklustre cover of “The Zoo” by the Scorpions. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it, it’s just a cover, but it’s also a non-album track that collectors will want. Too bad it’s not exceptional like most of Bruce’s output. It’s just good not great. Another cover follows: Motorhead doing “Enter Sandman”! It’s as bizarre and weirdly perfect as you’d expect it to be. Grinspoon are next with their fairly stinky version of Prong’s “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck”, robbed of all its snarl. John Bush-era Anthrax are more impressive with Metallica’s “Phantom Lord” from Kill ‘Em All. It’s breakneck, and also very cool to hear a Big Four thrash band covering another Big Four group.
Pantera, minus Phil Anselmo, are here for their cover of ZZ Top’s “Heard it on the X”. It’s both ZZ Top and Pantera at the same time, and that’s kind of remarkable. That’s it for this album though — nothing worthwhile from here out. What’s the point of having a cover of “Kick Out the Jams” (courtesy of Monster Magnet) but then beep out the naughty words? Somebody named Muscadine decided to do “Big Balls” by AC/DC, a pretty obvious bad idea. Just awful. Then it’s more of Harry Slash to end the CD with some more pure filler.
CMC International released a lot of low budget crap over the years, and this CD is pretty poor. There are five pages of merch advertising inside, including one for a ECW Extreme Music 2. I skipped that one. This CD is collectable for the Bruce Dickinson, Anthrax and Motorhead tracks. But these are cover tunes we’re talking about, so tread wisely.
MEGADETH – Countdown to Extinction (2004 Remixed & Remastered edition, originally 1992)
Dave Mustaine is a visionary, there is little question of that. He knows what he wants with each record and goes for it. With this one, “precision” was the word of the day. Recorded digitally, Countdown to Extinction is perfection embodied. Not one bum note, every beat is metronomically correct. So what could possibly be improved on a remaster?
This excellent series of Megadeth remasters are actually all remixed from the original tapes. This was done with Dave himself at the helm, still the perfectionist. Countdown being flawless already, I’m sure he didn’t have to do much remixing. You can hear some changes and some additional effects added here and there, and some different takes of instrumental tracks. In general though, the differences are the kind only diehards will notice. This CD sounds three-dimensional even on the cheapest of sound systems. Dave Mustaine, this is your Sgt. Peppers!
I won’t even bother discussing the tunes. You know them all anyway. “Symphony of Destuction”, “Sweating Bullets”, “Foreclosure of a Dream”…they are all excellent examples of technically sharp and aggressive heavy metal. For bonus tracks, you get one hard-to-find B-sides and some interesting demos, but not the coveted rare Trent Reznor remix.
Wes Craven’s SHOCKER – No More Mr. Nice Guy – The Music (1989 SBK)
1989’s slasher film Shocker was Wes Craven’s attempt to introduce a new character to the pantheon of horror. Unfortunately, Horace Pinker and the movie he rode in on were quickly forgotten. Also forgotten was the heavy metal soundtrack, so let’s have a gander and see what you may have missed.
Ever heard of The Dudes of Wrath? This temporary “supergroup” consisted of various members from track to track, but the best song they did was “Shocker” itself. With lead vocals by Paul Stanley and Desmond Child, it’s a must-have for Kiss maniacs. If that’s not enough, Vivian Campbell, Tommy Lee and Rudy Sarzo also play on it. It’s like a collision of some of those bands — Kiss, Dio, Motley. The anthemic outro will slay you.
Desmond’s writing is all over this album, and he co-wrote a track with Alice Cooper that ended up being recorded by Iggy Pop called “Love Transfusion”. Sub out the saxophone for guitars and you could easily imagine this being a Trash B-side. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the backing track is from the Cooper sessions, because this sounds exactly like an Alice Cooper song with Iggy Pop overdubbed. All the musicians are guys from the Trash album. Do the math.
It’s hard to imagine a weirder team up than Desmond Child and Megadeth. Dave Mustaine was deep into the powders at the time, and he recorded “No More Mr. Nice Guy” with a three piece Megadeth. The late Nick Menza had joined the band already, but Marty Friedman was yet to be hired. Most Megadeth fans are familiar with this track, since it was re-released on their Hidden Treasures EP. Certainly not the band’s finest moment.
Paul Stanley reappears in a writing capacity on “Sword and Stone”, performed by Bonfire. Paul wrote it for Kiss’ Crazy NightsLP with Desmond Child and Bruce Kulick. If it had been on Crazy Nights, it might well have been the best tune on there. Paul’s demo has yet to be released in an official capacity, but it’s been heavily bootlegged. Bonfire’s version is fantastic, but it only makes me hungry for a fully recorded and mixed Kiss version. One day….
Another version of The Dudes of Wrath appear on side two, this time with Alice Cooper on vocals. “Shockdance” sounds like little more than a slowed down variation of the “Shocker” riff, with Alice and actor Mitch Pileggi rapping over it. Just terrible stuff, actually. Thankfully Desmond redeemed it a little bit with the song he wrong with Dangerous Toys, “Demon Bell”. Like Guns N’ Roses galvanized and electroplated, “Demon Bell” slays.
Voodoo X were the band of Jean Beauvoir, who Kiss fans know from his many co-writes and guest appearances on their records. He only made one record as Voodoo X, and his song “The Awakening” is damn fine indeed. At first you’re thinking, “Oh it’s just another crap ballad”. Then a riff kicks in, and it blasts right off. It’s a bit like 80’s Kiss meets Top Gun. The last band up is Dead On, pretty pedestrian thrash metal, and one of the few songs without any involvement of Desmond Child. The angry elf vocals are hilarious, but the song is almost a parody of bad metal. The album ends with a reprise of the title track “Shocker” from the first side. Basically what this means is that you get to hear Paul Stanley singing for another two or three minutes, when he was really able to hit some seriously high notes. Cool!
The worst track is probably the ballad “Timeless Love” by Sandi Saraya. Guess who wrote this putrid sappy swath of heartbreak? Desmond Fucking Child!
Shocker isn’t the greatest soundtrack, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the movie that spawned it!
2.5/5 stars
The helpful back cover doesn’t even tell you who’s on it.
Getting More Tale #433.5 presents: A worldwide online event! THE TOP 15 ON THE 15th – Guest shot by Uncle Meat
This is an event spanning many sites and writers in the World Wide Web. I will link to as many as possible; my own Top 15 can be found here. A few months ago, the challenge was thrown down to all comers: List your top 15 albums of all time! The date September 15 was chosen for the deadline.
Uncle Meat laboured hard on his Top 15, eventually whittling it down from a list of 31 great records*. Without any commentary, here they are. His only requirement: No live albums.
15.Rust in Peace – Megadeth
14. Screaming For Vengeance – Judas Priest
13.Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos
12.Close to the Edge – Yes
11.Consolers of the Lonely – The Raconteurs
10.Clutching at Straws – Marillion
9.Reign in Blood – Slayer
8.Operation: Mindcrime – Queensryche
7.Whale Music – The Rheostatics
6.Misplaced Childhood – Marillion
5.Moving Pictures – Rush
4.Roxy and Elsewhere – Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
3. Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys
2.Hemispheres – Rush
1.El Corazón – Steve Earle
* For shits and giggles, here are the rest of The Meat’s albums that didn’t make the final cut.
Welcome back to the WEEK OF SINGLES 2! Each day this week we’re look at rare singles. Today, we’re looking at lots and lots of them! WARNING: Image heavy!
RECORD STORE TALES Part 269: CD Singles (of every variety)
Featuring T-Rev
I’m going to take the blame for this. It was I who got T-Rev into collecting singles in 1994-1995. Oasis kicked his addiction into gear big time, but it was I that sparked his interest in singles. According to Trevor today, “I suppose it was Oasis that started that ball rolling…then Blur taught me the tricks…Metallica helped mix the sauce…and then I was almost a pro, like you!”
T-Rev was already familiar with the dominance of singles in Europe. “They’re so much cheaper in England!” he told me then. “They have entire walls of them, like we do here with albums, but with them it’s singles.”
He had seen me go crazy for some of the singles that came into the store in the early days. He saw me plunk down my hard earned pay for CD singles by Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and many more. He didn’t get why I was spending so much money on so few songs. CD singles are much rarer here and commanded (new) prices similar to full albums.
“Why do you buy singles?” he asked me one day. “I don’t get it. The song is on the album, they come in those little cases, and they’re expensive.”
“I buy them for the unreleased tracks,” I explained. “I don’t buy a single if it has nothing unreleased on it, but I want all the different songs.”
“But the unreleased songs aren’t usually any good, are they?” he continued.
“Sometimes,” I answered. “But check out this Bon Jovi single here.” I handed him a CD single that I had bought recently at an HMV store. “This one has ‘Edge of a Broken Heart’. It’s a song that was recorded for Slippery When Wet, but it didn’t make the album. Sometimes you find these amazing songs that are totally worth having. Sometimes you only get live songs or remixes, but I still collect those because I try to get everything.”
When Oasis came out with (What’s The Story) Morning Glory, there were ample new singles out there to collect with bonus tracks galore. T-Rev got me into the band very quickly. Oasis were known not just for their mouths, but also for their B-sides. Noel Gallagher was passionate about giving fans good songs as B-sides; he wanted them to be as good as the album. Oasis had a lot of singles from the prior album Definitely Maybe as well, and one non-album single called “Whatever” that was absolutely marvelous.
Once T-Rev got onto the singles train, he had his own rules about what he wanted to collect and what he didn’t. Packaging was important to him. He hated CD singles that came inside little cardboard sleeves. He couldn’t see them once filed on his CD tower, because there was no thickness to it; no spine to read from the side. It didn’t matter what was on those CD singles; if the packaging sucked T-Rev was not usually interested. This applied when we both started collecting old Metallica singles. I found an Australian copy of “Sad But True” with the rare B-side “So What” at Encore Records for $20. This came in a cardboard sleeve; T-Rev didn’t want it. (He also already had a live version via the Live Shit: Bing & Purge box set.) Oasis started releasing their old singles in complete box sets, but T-Rev was only really interested in collecting the UK pressings. There were a lot of variables to consider. If you can’t or don’t want to buy everything, you have to set rules and pick and choose.
Once we understood each others’ needs, we were able to keep an eye open for each other. T-Rev knew if it said Bon Jovi, Faith No More, or Def Leppard on it, that I’d be interested. If it was a Brit-pop band like Blur or Supergrass, he’d want it (as long as it didn’t come in a paper sleeve). Foo Fighters too, or virtually anything with Dave Grohl. Our collections grew prodigiously with rare tracks, EPs we never heard of before, and loads of Metallica. I believe at one point, T-Rev and I had nearly identical Metallica collections, duplicated between us. More than half was singles and rarities. We used to joke that there were probably only two copies of some of these things in town, and we had both of them in one apartment.
T-Rev sold a lot of his singles but not all. He still has some treasures. Highlights include a Steve Earle tin can “Copperhead Road” promo (that he got from local legend Al “the King”). There’s also Megadeth’s uber-rare “Sweating Bullets” featuring the in-demand “Gristle Mix” by Trent Reznor Then there was a Blur thing, some kind of “special collectors edition” signed by Damon Albarn, in a Japanese pressing. Trevor’s seen one sell for upwards of $100. Then there was another band called “A”. As Trevor said, “Remember these guys? It was like ‘Britpop punk’. I liked it anyway.”
Also still residing in his collection: a Japanese print of Oasis’ “Some Might Say” that has two bonus tracks over the domestic version, and two versions of Foo Fighters’ “Big Me”. One is from Canada, the other from the UK. Both have different tracks. I’d forgotten about these until I saw the pictures.
Those were the glory days of collecting. I miss collecting CD singles. I preferred hunting the stores downtown to get all the extra tracks to the way it is now. Now, often you need to buy an iTunes download and several “deluxe editions” to get all the songs. CD singles were just better, period. Even just for the cover art of those Oasis singles, singles were much more fun to collect. I miss those days!
T-Rev sold a lot of his singles but not all. He still has some treasures. Highlights include a Steve Earle tin can “Copperhead Road” promo (that he got from local legend Al “the King”). There’s also Megadeth’s uber-rare “Sweating Bullets” featuring the in-demand “Gristle Mix” by Trent Reznor Then there was a Blur thing, some kind of “special collectors edition” signed by Damon Albarn, in a Japanese pressing. Trevor’s seen one sell for upwards of $100. Then there was another band called “A”. As Trevor said, “Remember these guys? It was like ‘Britpop punk’. I liked it anyway.”
mikeladano.com 