My current vehicle is my first to have a built in USB port. What a revelation! Only in the last few years did I finally make the digital leap with my Sony mp3 player. Now with the car USB port, I finally have the ability to bring music with me in the car, without worrying about damaging a CD or packaging. It’s a very liberating little gadget. Listening to a Deep Purple box set in the car is no longer an exercise in delicacy.
The first music that I began ripping and loading onto a flash drive were in fact my box sets. Let’s face it: some box sets (Pearl Jam’s Ten, Pink Floyd’s Shine On, Deep Purple’s Listen Learn Read On) are not very portable. I find the car to be a great place to listen to a box set. This week, I decided to revisit my 12 CD Marillion singles box sets, straight through. Everyone who drives to work on a daily basis probably spend a lot of time in their cars. It works for me to listen to something really long and involved on my drives, over the course of a week. Many of my reviews have been mentally composed in my vehicle.
Unfortunately it’s not the perfect setup. The GM factory stereo has some flaws. One thing that bugs me is it doesn’t display the track times, unless you’re fast-forwarding or rewinding. It also doesn’t interface well with the big 32 gig flash drives I’ve tried. The stereo can’t remember where it left off on a drive that big. Now I use a couple 8 gig drives, which work much better. I can pick up the tunes exactly where I left off.
The biggest and most annoying flaw is that it will not play certain mp3 files. I have never figured out why. I get an “id3 tag error” on some files. Some cassette rips, and some bootleg CDs will give me that error when ripped and played in the car. Some official CDs even give me an issue once ripped. Anthrax’s Anthems EP for example won’t play in my car after I ripped it. (I should try re-ripping and see what that does.) Others are no problem.
It’s incredible how much things have changed since I was a kid, when it comes to listening to music. When I think back to packing cassettes, and then CDs, for road trips…and now just loading up a flash drive, it’s amazing. Yet the process remains the same: I still go through album after album trying to find the perfect batch for a particular trip. The ease of doing so has been a massive shift for my listening habits. I don’t know if they still make vehicles without USB ports, but unless something better comes along, I will never do without one.
QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS – Live in Ukraine(2009 Hollywood 2 CD/1 DVD set)
The show was dubbed “Life Must Go On”, with funds raised going to AIDS research. Queen had never played in Ukraine before. 350,000 people would be in attendance at the gig, which also functioned as Queen’s tour kick-off. No pressure.
The massive 28 song setlist consisted of Queen classics augmented by Free and Bad Company tunes, and songs from Queen + Paul Rodgers’ studio album The Cosmos Rocks. The stage has two huge screens on the sides, and an even bigger one behind. A taped intro to “One Vision” leads to the band taking over with a rapturous entrance. There is also a center ramp that takes the members right into the crowd. I have always liked Paul’s slant on Freddy’s songs. He’s not the same singer, not in the slightest, so the vocals lines change organically and it works. Unfortunately “One Vision” is shortened so as to lead into “Tie Your Mother Down” which is right up Paul’s alley. Brian and Roger do their share of the backing vocals, and it sounds pretty Queen-like. (The live band is rounded out by longtime sideman Spike Edney (keyboards), Danny Miranda (bass) and Jamie Moses (backing guitar.))
“The Show Must Go On” came early in the set, and Paul really poured everything into it. Even with his “cool biker’ stage look, he had the crowd in the palm of his hands, especially when twirling that mike stand over his head. “Fat Bottom Girls” sounds a little odd without Freddy, but Paul manages. Of course Brian and Roger do their part to help.
I found “Another One Bites the Dust” to stumble awkwardly, as I anxiously awaited the song to end so we can get on with it. “Hammer to Fall” is vastly better, and this flows cleanly into “I Want it All”. Brian smiles away as Paul commands the song in his own way. “I Want to Break Free” works better than you’d think, and Brian’s guitar is sublime.
At this point of the show, Brian introduces Paul to the crowd, who then sings Bad Company’s “Seagull” acoustically. This is a show highlight, as Paul occupies that ramp in the middle of the crowd. Paul then introduces Brian as the “greatest guitar player in the universe” (I won’t argue), who does “Love of My Life” solo acoustically on a 12 string. Brian’s sweet voice is augmented by 350,000 others. Brian then invites Roger and his bass drum up the ramp with him, and they do “’39” together, possibly my favourite Queen song ever. But it’s just a fake-out; Brian invites the backing musicians to join them and “’39” is fully fleshed out. It’s funny seeing all five musicians out on that tiny platform in the middle of the crowd, but what a treat for those down there!
Roger Taylor is left on stage with Danny Miranda, and they proceed to play his electric upright bass with drum sticks. This turns into a medley of famous Queen basslines, all played with sticks. Nonsense aside, Roger is left to solo on his scaled-down portable kit. This jazzy solo is another solo highlight, as Roger demonstrates his underrated skills on the traps. As the solo progresses, his drum tech gradually sets up a full kit around Roger. By the end of it, Roger breaks into “I’m in Love With My Car” with the whole band.
Finally Paul Rodgers returns to the stage for the latter half of “Say it’s Not True”, a stunning ballad for Freddy. Halfway through the set now, and this is the first new song. With Paul back, they decide to do a couple more of his songs: “Shooting Star” and “Bad Company” (Paul on piano for “Bad Company”). Both sound great with Queen; the guys’ backing vocals work perfectly, and the crowd clearly knows them. During “Bad Company”, a slide show of that band runs on the giant screens.
May is front and center for his guitar solo, and the crowd loves every note of it. This solo goes into “Bijou” from Innuendo, featuring the pre-recorded image and voice of Freddy Mercury. This then leads into “Last Horizon” from Brian’s solo album, Back to the Light. Unfortunately this appears to be the part of the show during which one would leave to urinate. “Bijou” and “Last Horizon” are both great, but it’s too much slooow soloing for too long. The bit only starts to come to life when guitarist Jamie Moses joins Brian for a harmony lead.
Paul straps on an acoustic for a laid back version of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” which degenerates into guitar noodling. Finally comes Queen’s “new” single “C-lebrity” which is a song I like a lot. It boasts a solid rock riff and a great performance by Paul Rodgers. Bad Company’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and the song everyone had been waiting for, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, follow. Both songs fail to really combine the elements of Queen + Paul Rodgers fully. “Feel Like Makin’ Love” is a little too sweet when performed by Queen, and “Bohemian” is done with the recorded image and voice of Freddy singing the song. The crowd doesn’t seem to mind, but it doesn’t work for me. Paul only shows up for the heavy part at the end.
Fortunately one more new song was played: “Cosmos Rockin'”. I wish there were more. Yes there are a lot of songs to be played, but surely a solo could be cut in order to play more new material. It feels as if Queen + Paul Rodgers weren’t even giving the album a chance. It’s not like radio is going to play it, so you have to play it live. The song is well received with the crowd jumping and down. When they sing, “We got the whole house rockin’ to the mighty power of rock n’ roll,” I believe it! They are dancing and going absolutely nuts!
There are only a few “must-plays” left, and undoubtedly “All Right Now” is one of them. Paul Rodgers has certainly lost nothing through the years and that riff sounds great coming from Brian May. And finally, the traditional duo of “We Will Rock You”/”We are the Champions”. I’ve always felt these highschool rally perennials are probably best experienced live. It’s a “had to be there” feeling, since these singalongs are probably more fun to experience than to watch. Although Paul since both songs differently from Freddy, I like his slant on them.
Wikipedia reports (unsourced) that digital download versions of Live in Ukraine contained two bonus tracks: “Radio Gaga” and “A Kind of Magic”. I’ve been searching online for years and I’ve never found them available anywhere, so take that with a grain of salt. Both songs are available live on another Queen + Paul Rodgers album, Return of the Champions. That album has enough different live material from this one, such as “Can’t Get Enough”, “Wishing Well” and “These are the Days of Our Lives”, that both are worth owning.
QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT – Live, July 13 2014 at the Air Canada Center, Toronto
I have to start off this review by saying I love Queen. I have listened to more songs by Queen than almost any band ever. I am told when people I know hear Queen, Steve Miller Band, Black Sabbath or 80’s metal, they think of me. So the review you are about to read really pains me to write. But I have to be true to myself and review the band as I saw them last night.
I went to this concert expecting to hate every little bit of Adam Lambert. I hated him on American Idol. Yes, I know. I hate to admit it, but for a while I did watch that show. How, you say, can a died-in-the-wool metal head and 70’s hard rock lover watch American Idol? Well. To answer that question, my family time TV viewing was limited to the type of shows we could watch together. Having a young pre-teen in the house meant only watching family type shows when she was awake. And she loved American Idol. At first I liked Adam Lambert. He was not your typical contestant on that show. But then he started showing off his pipes too much, and it got annoying. All of the viewers knew precisely when he was going to wail, and we got sick of him.
Then I heard the news that he was going to be the next lead singer for Queen.
Queen and American Idol. That is sacrilege. This would be like Gary Cherone in Van Halen. It wouldn’t work. It couldn’t work.
However, it did.
I hate to say this, but the three shining spots of the concert last night really had nothing at all to do with the original line up of Queen.
First, Adam Lambert was actually great. If Freddie Mercury was incredible, then Adam Lambert was great. He was spot on. He was campy, in a Freddie kind of way, and his voice was in top shape.
Second, Neil Fairclough, the bass player they hired to replace the retired John Deacon was amazing. His stand up electric bass was the biggest bass I have ever seen. It sounded sweet. And then he let Roger Taylor use drumsticks to play the bass (a first for me).
Third, Rufus Tiger Taylor. He is the son of Roger Taylor. And he has some serious chops. I didn’t realize how good he was until my wife pointed out to me that he was better than his dad. And last night, he was.
The concert was going along great, and then Adam Lambert left the stage, and the show for me mostly fell apart.
Please don’t get me wrong I love Brian May, but he was mostly off last night. His entire night sounded about a half second behind. His finger work was slow. His guitar solo (which was roughly 30 minutes) was about 28 minutes too long. It started out with a few minutes of Pink Floyd , then onto some Zeppelin, back to Floyd. I don’t think he was trying to copy David Gilmour or Jimmy Page, but the elements were there. At least I hope he wasn’t trying to copy them because he was doing a piss poor version if he was. For a guy that has seen many guitar virtuosos over the years, this was like watching a Junior High guitar talent show. The worst part for me was when Brian May screwed up in “Bohemian Rhapsody”. It was a real fingernails on the chalkboard moment for me.
During the song “Love of My Life”, Brian moved down to the front of the stage alone with an acoustic guitar. He admits he is not a singer. Well, Brian we quickly figured out why. Your voice was awful. God awful. And you chose to have the audience sing the other half of the lyrics of the song. You could have heard a pin drop when the 100 or so people in the entire audience of 15,000 that actually knew the lyrics were singing (whispering?). Here’s a hint. Choose a song most of the audience knows if you want them to sing the lyrics for you, or put the lyrics up on a screen.
Coming from the area of the world where Neil Peart is from, and having seen Rush in concert many times (and more recently seeing how good Tommy Clufetos can bang the skins), the drumming of Roger Taylor was another let down. It wasn’t bad. It just didn’t wow me. But in 2014, solos really are passé unless you are really amazing, and Roger Taylor was not. He does not have a great singing voice either, which really showed when he tried to fill in for David Bowie during “Under Pressure”.
His son is a real up and comer though, and I hope he finds his own way in the music industry. It seems especially tough on children of famous musicians.
After the horrible “Love of My Life”, Brian May talked about space travel and how we were all going on a journey and we may never come back, then all of the musicians(other than Lambert) went to the front of the stage and did “’39”. Pardon me while I yawn.
Please Adam, come back and save us from this snooze fest. As the lights go down and the audience sees Adam there is a huge cheer.
However, after a couple of classic Queen songs, they forced him to sing a remix of a little known Freddie Mercury disco song called “Love Kills”. He announced Queen was using this version in an upcoming album. In my opinion, they should do a new album with new material, perhaps throwing in a few B-sides of old material, or do a live album. They could include Freddie, Paul Rodgers, Freddie Tribute Concert songs and Adam. Just my two cents. Also in my opinion, the band had plenty of time to come out with this new album before the tour, but they didn’t. And all they had for sale at the swag booths were $40 T-shirts. I have enough T-shirts thanks. Not one CD or vinyl. Nothing.
The entire show for me was like “backwards day”. I assumed Brian May and Roger Taylor would be the highlight of the show. I told my wife the only reason I am going was to hear Brian May. But the cast of nobodies were better.
I should end the review by stating the whole is better than the sum of its parts for Queen + Adam Lambert. When they are together doing classic Queen songs, they sound great. When they do solos, and off-key singing, it didn’t work.
If they had included 8-10 more songs, and skipped a lot of the solos, I would have rated it higher.
My wife summed up the concert when we got back to the car by stating she liked The Lady Gaga concert a few nights before better (No, thankfully I did not attend that one). I told her “Don’t say that!”
For me, Adam Lambert was 8.5/10, the band without Adam 4/10, so together the show was 7.5/10. Too bad. It could have been much better.
[This works out to3.75/5on the five-point LeBrain scale. Thank you Boppin for this amazing review! — LeBrain]
RECORD STORE TALES Part 278: The Return of Dan Dan the Box Set Man
Astute LeBrain readers may recall that one of my customers, Dan aka “Box Set Man”, always had cool stuff in his collection. It was he that gave me an original Ritchie Blackmore photo from a private collection in Part 168: The Constipated Ritchie Blackmore. In January 2005 he appeared at my door once again to sell me some goodies. While I did not record everything Dan sold to me that day, I did take note of the five that I was going to add to my personal collection!
Please excuse me if I sounded a little over excited. I always tried to journal honestly!
Date: 2005/01/11 21:43
WOW.
HOLY SHIT.
Oh God oh God oh God!
YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE AMAZING ITEMS THAT CAME INTO WORK TODAY. I am going to have an expensive January. I am going to MISS this part of my job. [I had applied to several jobs.]
Here’s the complete list of cool shit that I need to buy:
1. DVD – Harold & Kumar. We got in two used copies already! [It was only released the week before, on Jan 4.]
2. CDs – Deep Purple 25th Annivesary box set–JAPANESE IMPORT BABY! Not much on there that I “need” but it does have all three edits of “Burn”, in fact it looks to have every single edit from every 7″. Also has two mono mixes. Must have.
3. CD – Jethro Tull – Bursting Out-Live (remastered)
4. CD – Jethro Tull – Jethro Tull Christmas Album
5. CD – Queen – On Fire: Live At The Hollywood Bowl
One cool thing is that I still have all five of these items, all still in the same condition that I found them in! Thanks Dan, wherever you may be….
The “A” is for Aaron! Thanks man! This parcel wasn’t a total surprise but the contents inside sure were! I’m really excited about many of these items. (The Olivia Munn film looks great…) I’m so overwhelmed I don’t even know where to begin.
BRIAN MAY & FRIENDS – Star Fleet Project (1983 Capitol Records)
This near-legendary mini-album is probably infamous for the wrong reasons. Ask a friend if they’ve heard this record. If they haven’t, they may respond, “But that’s the one with Eddie Van Halen, right? And they did that song for Clapton, and he hated it, right?” That’s how the story goes anyway.
The fact is that Star Fleet Project is actually really good, and so is “Blues Breaker (Dedicated to E.C.)”. And yes, this is one of Eddie Van Halen’s rare cameos outside his eponymous band. I am a fan of both Queen and Van Halen, but my love of Van Halen trumps my love of Queen. As a Van Halen fan, it is really exciting to hear Eddie playing outside his band’s box. On a technical level, I don’t know exactly how Eddie is torturing his guitar strings, but I sure love the sounds that come out of it. I’m hearing Eddie at what many people consider to be his creative peak. This is the era of 1984, “Jump”, and “Beat It”, considered by many to be the greatest guitar solo of the decade. It’s sheer nirvana to hear Eddie tapping over Brian May’s trademark guitar sound. It’s two things you never pictured together. Once you hear them together, it’s like Reece’s peanut butter cups!
Eddie throws every trick he has into the bag. Tapping, squeals and eruptions, it’s all here. As for Brian, he does double duty on lead vocals as well, on two tracks: “Star Fleet” and “Let Me Out”. “Star Fleet” (8 minutes in its album incarnation) is a theme song that Brian covered, from a Japanese show that his son was a fan of. It’s the most commercial of the songs, but I have to say I love it. The chorus isn’t the best, but the guitar playing blows my mind every single time.
Queen fans may enjoy the piano blues “Let Me Out” best, as it sounds like it would have fit right in on News of the World. I can imagine Freddie putting his spin on it quite easily. Brian takes the first solo, but next time he says “Help me, Edward!” and it’s Van Halen playing the blues. You don’t get this on Van Halen albums. Brian and Ed alternate, and then Eddie blazes the fretboard shredder style. To hear these two guys going back and forth over a blues progression is such a monumental moment.
The final track (and all of side 2) is the infamous “Blues Breaker”. I’m not sure what E.C. didn’t like about it (I’ll just assume he was too humble to accept such flattery). You don’t get to hear Eddie Van Halen nor Brian May jamming very often. This is the second such jam, and this one well over the 12 minute mark! You’ll wonder where the time went. As an admirer of both guitarists, I’m constantly in a state of anticipation for what they will play next. The backing band are not slouches either: Alan Gratzer – drums, Phil Chen – bass guitar, Fred Mandel – keyboards. They captured this stuff mostly live off the floor, and that’s the way the record sounds.
Finally, a word about the current status of this mini-album. Used vinyl is probably your best course of action. While this is easy to find on counterfeit bootlegs, official CD releases were scarce and confined to rare CD singles and Japanese imports, vinyl is much cheaper than any of those. I first encountered this record in the collection of a creepy dude, as recounted in Record Store Tales Part 229: Silent Knight. That was 1994, and I still have never seen any of the CD releases of Star Fleet Project in person. Besides, that big robot on the cover just looks better on an LP sleeve doesn’t it?
1990: Everybody was buzzing about the sophomore album by Boston’s Extreme, and their stellar lead guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. Extreme II: Pornograffitti (“A Funked Up Fairytale”) is one of the last great hair metal albums of the era. It is chock full of diverse songs, great playing, great writing, and adventurous arrangements. Big kudos must of course go to Nuno whose guitar playing is at once tasteful and (pardon the pun) extreme. Not to be outshone is lead vocalist Gary Cherone who was at his peak here.
A loose (very loose) concept album, Extreme II commences with atmospheric rainfall, which introduces us to “Francis”: our protagonist and the kid on the front cover. The crashing licks of “Decadence Dance”, the first single, interrupts this moment. Gary’s lyrics are witty and Nuno’s fingers nimble. The song kills.
There is a wide swath of styles covered on Extreme II. Obviously funk is a big one (“Get the Funk Out” with a blazing horn section, “When I’m President”, the title track.) Of course there are the landmark acoustic ballads “More Than Words”, “Song For Love” and “Hole Hearted”. The cool thing about this trio of singles is that all three ballads are different. None of them share the same style as well. “Hole Hearted” is more a campfire rock song than a ballad anyway. While “More Than Words” is now considered the prototypical acoustic ballad, it must be remembered that when it came out, it was unlike most. It contains no drums and only one acoustic guitar. Gary Cherone’s vocals merge harmoniously with Nuno’s creating this lullaby effect.
Other interesting songs include the lounge tune, “When I First Kissed You”. I once read Nuno saying that his inspirations were Queen and Prince, artists who were fearless to include different styles on their albums. Meanwhile, “Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee” contains some of the greatest and fastest guitar soloing of any era. It doesn’t get much more diverse than this withoug losing coherance, but Extreme II holds together as a concept and an album.
The album is filled out with killer hard rockers: Songs like “Suzy Wants Her All-Day Sucker” and “He-Man Woman Hater” are some of the catchiest rock songs this side of Aerosmith, but are tricky enough to keep your interest peaked. By the time the album ends, you’ll be exhausted from rocking out so much, but you’ll still want to start over again from the beginning. The album appears to be designed that way, since it closes with the same rain and thunder.
This is a must-own classic for any hard rock fan who likes it smart.
5/5 stars
Once you absorb this album, you have to pick up the following companion pieces:
1. The “More Than Words” and “Hole Hearted” singles, which contained different remixes of “More Than Words”, one being A Capella with congas.
2. The “Song For Love” single, the B-side of which was Extreme’s amazing cover of Queen’s “Love of my Life”. Incredible cover, which was designed to segue into “More Than Words”. They did it this way when played live, as they did at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.
3.The Guitars The Rule the World (the first one, not Vol 2). This has a Nuno Bettencourt electric blues instrumental called “Bumble Bee (Crash Landing)”. This is the second part to “Flight of the Wounded Bumble Bee”, which on the album was trimmed down to exclude the “Crash Landing” portion. When I recently ripped this album to my computer, I used Audacity to recreate the original complete “Bumble Bee” track. I dropped the file into the correct place on the album to create an “unedited” Pornograffitti experience. It was kind of cool how it worked, segueing into “He-Man Woman Hater”.
In a previous chapter, I talked about my early online musical presence in 1994. Before creating the Record Store’s original online ads, I also got an early start to writing reviews. The early reviews weren’t very good, but I definitely tried. Unfortunately back then, there wasn’t much of an online audience for reading reviews of rare Motley Crue EPs!
I did make contact with a few other music fans and collectors in the area. One guy went by the online handle of “Silent Knight”, named after the classic 1980 Saga album. He seemed like a nice enough guy, although I soon learned that first impressions can be deceiving. He had a party at his house that I went to, and it was cool. I overlooked the fact that he was in his 30’s living in his parents’ house. I also overlooked his absolutely massive collection of porno videos. If I recall correct (and I think I do because the subject came up), the VHS tapes adorned one whole wall of their living room. Turns out Silent Knight was not just into watching, but also into making.
You can trust me when I say I was more interested in his record collection. He had a great batch of rarities, including some that I wanted. He invited me over for a recording session, where he taped me the classic Brian May & Friends EP, Star Fleet Project. He had this crazy blank tape with a metal shell. I don’t know what the tape was that I used anymore, but the tape that I chose was shite and the recording was almost unlistenable. However, I also recorded from him some Glass Tiger B-sides for my sister, Black Sabbath’s Seventh Star, and the immortal “Rodeo Song” by Showdown.
Silent Knight and I had a falling out after that. He made some antisemetic comments. I don’t know if he was serious or just trying to get a reaction. I decided to cut him loose, as I didn’t need that kind of negative personality in my circle of friends. Good thing I did. Turns out the guy was a total creep. I know, the guy with the wall of porn VHS tapes was a creep? Who could have predicted that?
Months and months later, some time in ’95, I started getting emails from somebody else new to the online world, but having learned my lesson I kept my distance. Later he asked me an odd question. “Hey, I heard you totally called the cops on somebody else that posts on these boards! That’s cool man! Who was it?”
I told him that he must have me confused with somebody else. Then he revealed himself to be none other than Silent Knight under another handle! Apparently, someone had called the cops on him regarding his Wall O’ Porn. I don’t know any details about what he had in the Wall O’ Porn (I really was not interested in checking out somebody’s porn collection) so I have no idea for what reason the cops would have been called, or by whom. He said I was his only “enemy” who had seen his collection, therefore I was his number one suspect for ratting him out to the cops. He was trying to get me to confess with his fake account. The funny thing is, even after he failed (since he had the wrong guy) he still thought it was me.
After I got over his baffling behaviour, my fury set in. I told him to leave me alone or someone would definitely be calling the cops. I blocked him on every email I had and never heard from him again.
And just a few weeks ago, I finally got a proper listenable copy of Star Fleet Project on vinyl. Suck on it, Silent Knight!
Here is a book that I heartily endorse — for beginners. I bought my best bud Peter a copy of this for his birthday a couple years ago. For a guy like Peter, a general survey book like this is perfect. It’s boiled down to the essentials, by a guy that many trust: Eddie Trunk.
I normally don’t go for this kind of book, because what can Eddie Trunk tell me about Judas Priest in three pages that Martin Popoff didn’t in his excellent book, Heavy Metal Painkillers? So this book is for the people that just want the facts, ma’am. Anybody who’s listened to Eddie Trunk’s show on Sirius XM knows that this guy is the real deal — he knows his stuff, he knows the bands personally, and he doesn’t pander. He has a genuine love for the music, all of it. His personal touch helps make his radio show that much more enjoyable. Same with this book.
After Rob Halford’s forward, Eddie presents his essential hard rock and heavy metal bands, in alphabetical order. AC/DC, Aerosmith, and all the way down the line. You may take exception to some of the bands that he skips over (I read on a message board that Quiet Riot were ticked that they’re not in here) but I think by and large he hit the nail on the head. The bands that he does include…well, it’s hard to argue against them, and you only get so much page space, right? And this is a gorgeous book. Full colour photos, every page. Beautiful. Lots from Eddie’s personal collection, you’ll see a very young Eddie Trunk meeting the bands as a kid!
In addition, Eddie gives you a discography for each band (not perfect, there are a couple errors here, as in inevitable in a book like this). He also lists the members of the bands, and the most important ex-members and sidemen. So when you get to Queen (and yeah, you may argue that Queen is not a hard rock band) you’ll see the four original members, and Paul Rodgers listed beneath them. Finally, Eddie gives you his list of his ideal mix CD for each band. Go ahead and make your own, and see if you agree!
As a gift to Peter who likes the music but doesn’t know the details, he gleaned plenty from this book. Before reading it, he only knew of one Billy Squier song. Eddie Trunk got him up to speed. Thanks Eddie!
5/5 stars
For a guy like me, and quite possibly you as well:
2.5/5 stars
Added note: I know there is a Part II as well, but I have not checked it out.
There were some pretty awesome picks this year. I have to give Scottie props for “Coming Home” by Iron Maiden, from the excellent Final Frontier album. I found some things a bit surprising, such as the overplayed-on-radio “Black Betty” by Ram Jam, placing so high.
“Thick As A Brick” was the live version, so just over 10 minutes. Other long bombers included all of “Supper’s Ready” by Genesis, which resulted in a tirade by Phil for just as long, about how much he thinks it sucks! (And he’s an old-school Marillion fan…surprising.) And of course there were several Maiden tunes that clock in well over 5 minutes.
For your edification, here is the official Sausagefest XII Countdown: 75 tracks, plus 35 tributes. One tribute for each person that submitted a list! 110 songs over one weekend! Awesome.
mikeladano.com 