You had to know Kiss were going to come out with another Greatest Hits set to celebrate their 40th anniversary. This is in addition to the massive, beautiful Kissteria vinyl box set. I’m looking forward to KISS 40, since it will include some live recordings previously only available on Kiss’ Instant Live discs. It will also include “Reputation”, an early Kiss demo previously unreleased.
In addition, the Japanese will get their own exclusive bonus track, so I have pre-ordered that version from the fine folks over at CDJapan. I have been a satisfied customer there since 2008.
Complete KISS 40 tracklist is below:
‘Nothin To Lose’
‘Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll’
‘C’mon and Love Me’
‘Rock And Roll All Nite’ (Live)
‘God Of Thunder’ (Demo)
‘Beth’
‘Hard Luck Woman’
‘Reputation’ (Demo) – Previously Unreleased
‘Christine Sixteen’
‘Shout It Out Loud’ (Live)
‘Strutter ‘78′
‘You Matter To Me’ (Peter Criss)
‘Radioactive’ (Gene Simmons)
‘New York Groove’ (Ace Frehley)
‘Hold Me, Touch Me’ (Paul Stanley)
‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’ (Single Edit)
‘Shandi’
‘A World Without Heroes’
‘I Love It Loud’
‘Down On Your Knees’
‘Lick It Up’
‘Heaven’s On Fire’
‘Tears Are Falling’
‘Reason To Live’
‘Let’s Put The X In Sex’
‘Forever’ (Remix)
‘God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II’
‘Unholy’ (Live)
‘Do You Love Me?’ (MTV Unplugged)
‘Room Service’ (Live)
‘Jungle’ (Radio Edit)
‘Psycho Circus’
‘Nothing Can Keep Me From You’ (Detroit Rock City soundtrack)
In the 1990’s, T-Rev befriended a bootlegger named Ralph. I personally purchased from Ralph a Queensryche show that I had attended (and reviewed) It was a VHS copy of the last date on the Promised Land tour in 1995. Trevor purchased live tapes from him as well. They were usually single-camera, audience filmed videos. Long before Youtube came along, it was the only way you could get videos of shows from bands you liked. Ralph charged between $15 and $20 for his bootleg videos. We even saw him at a Kiss show, covertly filming.
VHS was the common format, usually fuzzy with shitty sound. I bought a few shows from Ralph of varying quality; thankfully the Queensryche show was watchable enough. It was a single camera, and unfortunately the beginning of “Take Hold of the Flame” was cut off. Still, it was a great memento of the Promise Land tour.
A lot has changed since the 1990’s. Youtube has made great vintage concert footage easily accessible for anyone. New concert footage? Usually up later that night or the next day, unless the record labels try to take it down. Regardless, unless you are hunting for a specific show, chances are Youtube have concert footage of just about every band you like, for free. They do not have footage of the Toronto Queensryche show I saw in ’95, for example, but there are plenty of videos from that tour out there for free.
Bootleg CDs? Same deal. You can find a seemingly infinite amount of concerts online. I would never purchase a burned bootleg CD anymore. I only collect factory pressed bootleg CDs, which are still being made. They’re a lot harder to come by, because again, most people can download mp3 files from any live show you can think of, for free. If they feel like burning them to a CD they can, or just keep ‘em on the computer or iPod. Hell, way back in the late 1990’s, our own CD stores were selling burned live bootlegs. I never liked doing that but it wasn’t my choice. (We didn’t make them; we bought them in huge numbers from a customer.)
Above is an actual CD that we sold in-store. This is one of only two times I bought a burned CD for myself. We stickered this one at $19.99, and we put a label on it that said “live import” so we didn’t have to use the word “bootleg”.
When I attended the the Toronto Musical Collectibles Record & CD Sale last week, I was pleased to find lots of new factory pressed bootleg CDs. I’m glad that industry is still alive somewhere in Europe. I was surprised to see burned bootleg CDs and DVDs for sale, still. In this day and age? There is no way I could pay anyone even $5 for a burned bootleg CD. I saw many: Tori Amos’ first album, Y Kant Tori Read, is one of the most heavily bootlegged albums in my experience, and I saw a burned copy for $5. No thanks. T-Rev found a burned copy of Kim Mitchell’s first solo EP. No thanks! If you can’t find or afford an original copy, it’s all online. Just burn, print some cover art on your Epson and you’re off to the races, right?
Ralph was still there, now selling shows on DVD. The one he was showing was still just concert footage from a single audience camera. I couldn’t have justified paying $15 for a burned DVD of that. (Some vendors were even selling bootleg Blu-rays.) Truthfully, I was very surprised. I thought something like that had little monetary value to anyone in 2014.
At least the tables and tables of burned bootleggers were easy to skip, so I could concentrate on better finds. On the drive home, Trevor and I pondered, how could Ralph stay in business? Who would pay good money for a burned CD or DVD bootleg? Times have certainly changed.
Would you pay $15 for a burned DVD bootleg of your favourite band? Under what circumstances? Or, would you save your money and just download? Leave a comment and discuss!
BLACK SABBATH – 13(2013 Universal deluxe, Best Buy, and Spotify editions)
Last year, Uncle Meat gave us his detailed review of Black Sabbath’s 13. (His rating: 3.25/5 stars. Check out his full review for the scoop on the first CD of this metal monolith.) Having had almost a year to live with it myself, I think it’s time I got around to reviewing the songs he didn’t: the bonus tracks!
The deluxe and Best Buy editions have “Methademic,” “Peace of Mind,” and “Pariah.” “Methademic” is cool for being a fast-paced heavy rocker, something I associate more with a Dio kind of sound. It’s a good track, good enough that Sabbath play it live. Geezer’s got a serious groove going on with the bass part, and Brad Wilk is playing with furious drive. You wouldn’t consider this song to be as good as any on the first CD of 13, but it’s a great bonus track.
“Peace of Mind” is of equal quality to “Methademic.” This time Sabbath have gone back to doomy, but Ozzy’s vocal melody takes it to a special place. All it’s missing is that looseness that only Bill Ward could provide. It sounds so authentically Black Sabbath, but if you concentrate on the beat, you can hear that the loose swing of old is not there. Having said that I enjoy “Peace of Mind” very much, especially when it picks up after the 2:15 mark.
My favourite of this trio of songs is “Pariah.” It occupies a mid-paced groove which chugs along nicely. Tony has a couple cool riffs in it, but once again Ozzy’s vocal seals the deal. Tony’s guitar solo is icing on the cake. I love when he has a chance to slow down and play bluesy, as he does here.
Japanese fans, and Best Buy shoppers have their own exclusive bonus track, and it’s the one with the best title: “Naïveté in Black.” You have to love that. This smoker is similar to “Time Machine,” from Dehumanizer. I don’t know why a song this good was left to Best Buy, because it’s better than the other three. It’s definitely unique among the 13 songs for sounding more like Dio-Sabbath than Ozzy-Sabbath; perhaps that’s the primary reason. Count me as a big fan of “Naïveté in Black.”
Finally even Spotify have a bonus track, which is “Dirty Women,” live. This is with Tommy Clueftos on drums, from the same show as the recent Gathered In Their Masses live DVD (but not the CD). I am fortunate enough to have an excellent quality copy of the song burned to a CD, the perfect final bonus track to 13.
But that’s not all folks. With the deluxe box set edition, there’s a DVD as well. There is a brief documentary about the reunion and recording of the new album. There are quite a few humorous moments, but I do not consider this to be much of a bonus. All this stuff is available for free on youtube. I don’t value a physical copy of something like this as much as I value a physical copy of a song.
Best moment:
Fan – “I came all the way from Croatia!”
Ozzy – “Where the fuck is that?”
The deluxe set is large and very nice to look at, but I considered it sparse in terms of worthwhile goodies. There are lots of large glossy photos, but they’re not up to handling repeatedly. There’s a print of the “God Is Dead?” single art, a 2 CD set (minus “Naïveté in Black”), and 13 on double 180 gram vinyl LPs. Everything is lovely and fragile. There’s also far too much room in the box itself for everything, so things move around inside. That’s a bit of a design flaw just to save on some extra cardboard packaging.
The Best Buy set came with a T-shirt, which I have kept in-package. You can find pictures of both versions below.
I still remember the circumstances surrounding me originally getting this on CD. As recounted in an earlier Record Store Tale, Tom and I were at a party. We were listening to some sHeavy, and Tom mentioned the Brant Bjork solo album as another must-have. Being a fan of Brant Bjork’s drumming from Fu Manchu, I ordered it without hearing a single track. Tom attempted to describe it by calling it “a cross between Fu Manchu and surf rock.” Interesting.
10 years later, when Bjork reissued it on vinyl, he added the UFO-centric Blue Oyster Cult cover bonus track, “Take Me Away”. Automatic re-buy. It doesn’t really sound like the rest of the album, but who cares? It’s Brant Bjork covering Blue Oyster Cult. But that’s not the only reason to re-buy Jalamanta.
What a beautiful record! The first thing you’ll notice is the new cover. All black with the Brant Bjork skull embossed. Beautiful. Open it up to get at the booklet with all new photos. The booklet truly is a work of art. Remember when you used to buy an LP, and you’d sit down in front of your stereo staring at the pictures, trying to make out every little detail until the record was done? Brant Bjork takes us back to that time.
The cover page is what appears to be an awesomely greasy Mexican meal, and then the final page is the empty plate — a satisfied customer. Just like with this LP. You can really get stuffed on the grooves and tones contained herein. There are plenty of low-key, incessantly grooving instruments. The music is simple, repetitive, but effective. It’s not heavy, but it feels weighty nonetheless.
The lyrics are included. Here’s an example, from “Automatic Fantastic”:
The man shakes me down, that’s why I’m broke. Rich man’s got all the green but it ain’t the kind you smoke. So we turn up the rock, and we roll it slow. We’re always flying high, and the ride is always low.
Musically, if you haven’t heard this album before, I don’t really know how to describe the songs. Bjork plays almost everything himself, and the vibe is laid back. He sings on every song but “Toot” which is handled by Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson). He’s chosen to mix his vocals way back and emphasize the unadorned guitars and drums. The mix is spare, quiet at times, loud at others, but always trippy. Imagine driving down a deserted highway on a hot summer night with the windows down. This is the soundtrack to that ride.
This is one of those album that sounds like it was just meant to be heard on 180 gram vinyl. There’s no sound like it in the world. I noticed a heck of a lot more bass, the bassline on “Lets Get Chinese Eyes” being particularly sublime. This album just sounds stunning now.
5/5 stars
“Lazy Bones” – 1:29
“Automatic Fantastic” – 6:59
“Cobra Jab” – 3:18
“Too Many Chiefs…Not Enough Indians” – 3:44
“Sun Brother” – 4:45
“Lets Get Chinese Eyes” – 4:45
“Toot” – 5:58
“Defender of the Oleander” – 7:53
“The Low Desert Punk” – 5:20
“Waiting for a Coconut to Drop” – 4:17
“Her Brown Blood” – 4:16
“Indio” – 4:15
“Take Me Away” – 5:35 (Blue Öyster Cult cover) vinyl only bonus track
DREAM THEATER: The Number of the Beast (2002 Ytsejam Records, Covers Series)
For the most part, Dream Theater is a band you either love or you hate. Some Metal fans are put off by the keyboards perhaps, while many others find Dream Theater hard to listen to because of the effeminate tone to the voice of singer James LaBrie. On the other hand, music fans who are not into the sensibilities of progressive music would label Dream Theater as “pretentious,” or which have you. Most music fans though can appreciate the musical talent of everyone involved. They are also a very busy unit, often branching out into different projects between DT albums and tours.
While still in the band, and then after his departure from DT in 2010, Mike Portnoy has been the busiest of all the DT members. So much so, that while researching to do this review of Dream Theater’s Official Bootleg: The Number of the Beast, I was blown away with how many projects Portnoy has been a part of that I truly love. Simply said, Mike Portnoy comes off as the biggest music fan in the music business. On top of his resume of original music, his obsessively accurate tribute projects can only be pulled off by someone who is an authentic “music geek super fan”. Sound familiar, LeBrain? So yes, this review has morphed itself into a bit of a Mike Portnoy love fest. Check out this list of his accomplishments outside of Dream Theater.
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT – The two studio albums with John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin are fantastic albums. Their self-titled CD is one of my favorite progressive rock albums. With three subsequent live albums with that lineup and two albums with a name change to Liquid Trio Experiment, that makes seven albums with the great Tony Levin alone.
TRANSATLANTIC – Four studio albums and four live albums with this Prog super group along with Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), Neal Morse(Spock’s Beard, Flying Colors) and the bassist from one of my favorite bands…Marillion…Pete Trewavas.
AVENGED SEVENFOLD – After the death of their drummer, Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, during the writing of a new album, Mike Portnoy stepped in and played drums on their 2010 CD titled Nightmare. He also joined them for a few shows over in Iran and Kuwait for American troops overseas.
ADRENALINE MOB – Two albums with this band consisting of members from Symphony X and Fozzy. I honestly do not think I have heard it so can’t say much really.
FLYING COLORS – One studio album and one live album playing with my favorite musician of all time… Steve Morse. Consisting of Neal Morse again and others, including the incredible Steve Morse Band bassist Dave LaRue. Maybe you should just read LeBrain’s review of this band right “here”.
WINERY DOGS – With a more straight ahead rock and roll approach, the Winery Dogs is his current gig with bassist Billy Sheehan and guitarist Richie Kotzen. [Check out Jon Wilmenius’ excellent review here — LeBrain]
And that’s just the original music he has been a part of. He has gone to great lengths to put together live shows recreating the concerts of, and playing the music of, his favorite drummers. He has arranged one for Led Zeppelin called Hammer of the Gods. He has also done one for Rush called Cygnus & the Sea Monsters. I actually learned about these while researching the review that I haven’t even got around to yet (yes this has become a much larger project than initially thought), so I am curious to search these out. You should be as well. The one I can comment on is his Beatles tribute called Yellow Matter Custard, named from a lyric within the song “I Am the Walrus”.
Consisting of Matt Bissonette, Paul Gilbert and Neal Morse and himself, this unit recreates what it would have been like to see The Beatles live. A lot of the songs were never played by the Beatles live. I listened to this with a good friend of mine who himself is a great musician and huge Beatles fan. Listening to it brought the Beatles super-fan out of him, most especially loving the somewhat obscure tracks performed live by the band. I highly recommend checking this out if you are a Beatles fan. So that pretty much means everyone.
I can’t believe I am now just starting the intended review, but here goes. In 2002, while touring for the album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Dream Theater went on a short club tour in Europe where they played a different album in its entirety, track for track. Among the albums covered in this tour were Master of Puppets – Metallica, Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd and Made in Japan – Deep Purple. (Who covers a live album? And one of my favorite live albums of all time? Dream Theater does, that’s who).
On October 24, 2002 DT played a small club called La Mutualite in Paris, France. The album on the menu that night was The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden. From the sound of the enthusiastic crowd you can clearly hear throughout the album, this was a well-appreciated re-creation of one of the greatest Metal albums of all time.
The show starts off with album opener “Invaders”. My first impression was how great it sounded. Lively version and a thick guitar sound. Another thing I quickly realized is this: say what you want about James LaBrie and his effeminate style. Not many singers, including Bruce Dickinson himself can sing these songs live. I have seen Iron Maiden play several of these songs live, and even in a reduced key it is a struggle for Dickinson to sing the songs how they are recorded on the album. The opening track just left me looking forward to the rest of the set.
“Children of the Damned” was a joy to listen to, again mostly because of the vocals. This is probably his best singing on the album. Bruce Dickinson would have to get himself on a Lance Armstrong-like drug program to ever have a chance of singing this song in this key again. This song is also where I first really noted one of the truly great and original things about this album. Iron Maiden is a classic two-guitar fueled machine. DT is doing this with one guitar and a keyboard. Check out the twin guitar/keyboard solo in this song and hear throughout as the guitar and keyboard trade solos. A magnificent treat for the ears and surprisingly seamlessly done.
The crowd revs up as the classic Patrick McGoohan intro to “The Prisoner” plays as it is on the album. Chanting along with the intro just before Portnoy launches into the classic Clive Burr drum beat, this makes for a great listen, hearing the energy of the crowd and their appreciation of this show. Awesome version as well I must say.
“22 Acacia Avenue” is another track that is a treat to hear live. Live favorites “The Number of the Beast” and “Run to the Hills” follow. These two Heavy Metal anthems go over with the crowd extremely well as you would think they would. A case could be made that these back to back songs are the two most popular Iron Maiden songs of all time. Agreed? Discuss….
Coming next is their amazing version of “Gangland”. This is easily the most ambitious moment of the show. Kind of making the song their own, they begin the song off as a piano ballad and then make a left turn and turn it into a progressive, almost jazz fusion-ish groove as the song closes out. Absolutely brilliant and is probably my favorite track on the album. The show ends with a perfect version of “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, and the performance is over.
This is not just re-hashing of a great album. This was a well thought out and rehearsed celebration of this album, allowing true Maiden fans to hear what these songs may have sounded like when the album was toured in the 80’s. A friend of mine scoffed at the idea of DT covering this album and I may have shared some of his trepidation before I heard this recording. After listening to it now several times it has become obvious that this is not only a very relevant capturing of Number of the Beast, but it makes a very simple statement. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the players in Dream Theater have a higher level of musicianship than really any of their peers in popular music. And as listed earlier, it seems that everything Mike Portnoy does comes from the heart of just another music fan like you and I. So who is gonna come along and play one of Dream Theater’s albums track for track? Well Dream Theater of course. Who else possibly could? Good luck with that, Three Days Grace.
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….
It’s the end of PRIEST WEEK! It was all Judas Priest all week, and what better way to end it then with a 12 CD remastered box set? Monday: Rocka Rolla (1974)
Tuesday: Priest…Live! (1987) Wednesday:Metal Works 73-93 (1993) Thursday: Demolition (2001 Japanese version)
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 272: PRIEST WEEK – The Re-Masters
When Judas Priest began reissuing their albums in 2001 (in three waves of four CDs each), of course I had to have all 12. I’ve been a fan of the band since I was a kid, and my complete Judas Priest collection has always brought me much joy. Priest’s “Re-masters” series included all the studio and live albums from 1977’s Sin After Sin to 1990’s Painkiller. Each was expanded with two bonus tracks, with the exception of the live albums. Unleashed in the East contained the four bonus tracks from the Japanese Priest in the East release (which I already had) and Priest…Live had three extra songs. (Today, there is a new budget box set that collects the entire Halford era into one box called The Complete Albums Collection.)
In late 2001, local record store legend Al “the King” dropped into my store to sell some discs. Nimble-minded readers will recall that on day 1 of Priest Week, Al King sold me my vinyl copy of Rocka Rolla in 1989! Al now worked at another store in town called Encore Records. Al’s a good guy. He didn’t see us so much as competition, because really we catered to different groups of people. There were certain discs that Al couldn’t sell at Encore (pop and mainstream stuff), and he knew I would give him the fairest prices in town, so he came to me. It was a good mutually beneficial arrangement. I wanted his stock and he wanted the money!
On this afternoon, I chatted with Al while going through his discs, and he informed me of a forthcoming Priest collectible.
“It’s expensive,” he began, “but it does look cool. It’s a UK import. I sold one to this really excited guy, but Mark’s trying to order another one in. If you want it no problem, but fair warning, it’s not cheap.”
“Tell me more!” I said to Al.
The details were scant. The box set was titled The Re-Masters, and it contained four CDs with room for the other eight, sold separately. The CDs included with the box were the first four of the Columbia years: Sin After Sin, Stained Class, Killing Machine (Hell Bent for Leather) and Unleashed in the East. It was an attractive box, printed to look like it is held together by metal rivets. There was also supposed to be a booklet included. At the time, I was obsessed with collecting the “best” versions of anything. This meant having all the songs, and the best packaging available. I asked Al to hold the box for me. At various points in the conversation, I felt like Al was trying to talk me out of buying it due to the price! What Al didn’t understand was my deep obsession for this band.
A few days later I headed down to Encore and bought my treasure. I eagerly opened it up and discovered one little additional bonus! Nothing major, but cool enough for me: the four CDs included had embossed silver logos on both front and back covers, instead of the regular printed ones. This differentiated the discs from the versions I could buy separately at retail. Also, Hell Bent for Leather was indeed included under the UK name Killing Machine, something I hadn’t seen on CD before. Finally, once all 12 discs were collected, together the CD spines read JUDAS PRIEST and depicted their “devil’s tuning fork” logo. The spaces for the 8 discs sold separately were taken up by individual foam spacers.
Back covers with silver embossed “tuning fork” logo, and without.
The bonus tracks were a mixed bag of live and demo songs from all over Priest history, but some, such as “Race With the Devil” (The Gun cover) were incredible and classic. One by one, I added to the set. Some discs came in used rather quickly: Point of Entry was one such disc. Others I had to order via Amazon, or buy in-store at Encore, such as Turbo and Painkiller. But I did get them all, and my complete Priest Re-Masters set has served me well for over a decade now. Although I have since bought the newer deluxe editions of Screaming for Vengeance and British Steel (with bonus DVDs) I have felt no need to replace this box set with anything else. Having to buy the discs individually and complete it myself makes it rare to find, not to mention the box was made only in small numbers. Some fans expected more out of the box set, and some were upset that the Gull Records and Ripper Owens years are not represented inside, even though Ripper was still the current singer. My attitude was and is, “Who cares?” It’s a great looking set and it comprises a complete era of Priest. I like it a lot and according to Al King I’m one of two guys in town that own it. Cool.
This is the second time I’ve reviewed a version of Def Leppard’s ill-fated Slang CD. As Joe Elliot says in the booklet inside, the band were considering calling it Commercial Suicide, such were the changes in sound. The mid 90’s was not a kind time for rock bands of Def Leppard’s ilk. Everybody had to adjust, and Leppard chose to do so by making their sound darker and more organic. That was fine with me. I’ve already reviewed Slang; a 4/5 star album in my books. For your convenience I’ll talk about the original Slang album at the end of this review. For now I just want to talk about the “Deluxe Edition” and the bonus tracks.
Like many Def Leppard albums before it, Slang produced a number of excellent B-sides. Some are on this CD. Some are only available on the iTunes version. I have all the singles anyway, but iTunes also have two exclusive unreleased tracks of their own. (You can buy these songs separately; you don’t have to buy all of Slang again to get them.) These two songs are early demos of “All I Want Is Everything” and “Move With Me Slowly,” the latter with Phil singing. While “Move With Me Slowly” is similar to its incarnation on CD 1, “All I Want Is Everything” is drastically different. It’s a much more standard “power ballad” at this stage, little resembling the song it would become. This take is not to be confused with the “first draft” of “All I Want Is Everything” on CD 2, which sounds a lot more like the album counterpart.
That’s one issue with the Deluxe Edition of Slang. There is a lot of repeat. Songs you will hear three times in one version or another include “All I Want Is Everything”, “Gift Of Flesh” (previously known as “Black Train”) and “Deliver Me” (previously known as “Anger”). Especially when you include all the different bonus tracks, the Deluxe can be a hard slog to listen to in entirety. I had to split it up over two nights.
But it is worth it. Although some demos barely differ from the album counterparts, some have different lead vocals by Phil or Vivian. There are some unreleased songs that I have never heard before. “All On Your Touch” is a nice ballad that was only finished in 2012. Then there’s Vivian’s funky-Zeppelin song “Move On Up” which is quite adventurous. Some of the demo versions, such as “Raise Your Love” (an early version of “Slang”) differ quite a bit from the album versions. Although listening to the Slang Deluxe is a long journey, it’s also a very interesting one in terms of hearing how Def Leppard wrote and recorded it.
Almost all the B-sides for Slang were included on one version or another, except for live B-sides. Songs included are the old-school sounding “When Saturday Comes,” and the instrumental “Jimmy’s Theme” which are only on the iTunes version. (See below for complete track listing including all iTunes bonus tracks.) “Move With Me Slowly” is a bluesy, ballady number that could have been a single in its own right. Ditto “Can’t Keep Away From the Flame” which could have been an acoustic single. “Burn Out” and “Worlds Collide” are also B-sides, but these two were not released until 1999 on the singles for “Goodbye”. Both are heavy, heavy rockers.
Let’s talk about the packaging. I’ve heard a lot of surprise and complaints when this CD arrived inside a big fat “double” CD case. That is kind of a surprise; you don’t even see these with 3 CD sets anymore let alone a double. The booklet inside is nothing to write home about. There are some words from Joe and lots of live photos, but nothing in the way of specific liner notes. If you’re wondering where these songs were recorded or released before, info inside is vague. There are track listings for all the Slang singles, but that only covers part of it.
As our friend the Heavy Metal OverloRd says, this probably doesn’t deserve the title “Deluxe Edition”. In fact, I asked HMO if he’d like to weigh in on this, since he has some strong opinions about it. For fun I asked him to comment in Scottish slang:
Def Leppard ur a bunch a fannybaws by the way. They hink the new edition of Slang is a “deluxe edition”. But it isnae. This widnae even huv been deluxe in 1995, never mind noo.
When it turned up I wis pure gutted. I thought the booklet had better be snazzy but it wisnae either. Just a wee hing where Joe tried tae mind stuff fae back in the day. Nae liner notes. Nae lyrics. Nuhin. Just some shite photies. My old copy had two discs, a slimmer case and lyrics. And some photies an aw! Gid wans. One of them oan a bus like they were aw goin doon the toon or somethin. How wis that no deluxe but this is deluxe? If they’d called it a “2CD Edition” that wid huv been awrite but they didnae. This is “deluxe”… cept it isnae. I don’t have a Scooby whit they’re playin at. Eejits.
Well said. Lastly, I want to leave you with a look at the actual original album, Slang. Here’s all the pertinent text from my previous review in case you’re too lazy to click the link. It’s a great album and I’m glad it’s getting a second look today.
DEF LEPPARD – Slang(1996)
“Truth?” is a thunderous opener, laden with modern sounding samples and rhythms. Even better is the hypnotic “Turn to Dust”. Although it moves slow, it has loads of exotic atmosphere and instrumentation. Neither of these songs sound like old Def Leppard. There are major changes, including acoustic drums, darker tones and a noticeable lack of shout-along gang vocals.
It’s still the same spirit though. There’s an obsessive attention to detail, layers of backing vocals, and tasty choruses. It’s just 1996’s version of those things. Listen to the title track, “Slang”, for example. It doesn’t sound like anything Leppard have done before, but you can see it as “Sugar” a decade later if you like.
“All I Want Is Everything” is another personal favourite, a great ballad but again unlike what Def Leppard has done before. It has a certain power to it, without being loud and obnoxious. It has a plaintive quality and a fantastic chorus.
Next is “Work It Out” , a contribution from “new kid” Vivian Campbell. It is absolutely loaded with cool guitar squeeks and squonks, no wankery, but a new kind of guitar heroism. These little adornments are there in the mix waiting to be discovered, under suitably thick drones of rhythm guitars. I love this song, which really proved to me that Leppard had successfully adapted their sound to the mid-90’s. A shame it didn’t sell.
Phil’s “Breathe A Sigh” is one that threw a lot of people for a loop. Either Spin or Rolling Stone (I forget which) compared it to TLC. Indeed, loops make up a large part of the percussion parts, and the band seem to be trying R&B on for size. What keeps it Def Leppard are the layers of droney guitars in the back of the mix, and the immaculate vocal choirs.
Interestingly, Slang was stacked with four singles in a row, “Breathe A Sigh” being the final single. This does not mean the album is out of ammunition. “Deliver Me” brings back the heavy. Leppard In Chains? Def Temple Pilots? Not one of the best songs, “Deliver Me” at least balances some of the softer material. Better is “Gift of Flesh”, a driving riff rocker with some slammin’ drums from Rick Allen. Phil wrote this one. I bet it would have been smokin’ live if they ever played it.
This fades directly into a lush but quiet ballad called “Blood Runs Cold”. I could imagine some old-timey fans running away in fear that their nuts would shrivel, at the sound of this one. I love this song, but I’m not sure it needed to be followed by yet another ballad, “Where Does Love Go When It Dies”. Although not a single, “Where Does Love Go When It Dies” was recently dusted off by the band as part of their recent acoustic medley. It is more upbeat than the previous song, and has a folky campfire quality. It also gives the album a sense of flow: an upturn before the dramatic closer.
“Pearl of Euphoria” is that dramatic closer, which returns the listener to the dark, powerful tones that we began with. Leppard don’t often reflect a strong Led Zeppelin influence, but you can definitely hear some “Kashmir” here. Not only is Rick Allen laying down a Bonham-esque groove, but some of the guitar bits flying in and out of the speakers remind me of the sound collage section in “Whole Lotta Love”. It’s a great closing song.
4/5 stars
iTunes bonus tracks:
1. “Truth?” (Demo Version) – Previously on “Work It Out” CD single. 2. “Work It Out” (Demo Version) – B-Side from “Work It Out” with Viv singing and completely different from the other versions on the Deluxe. Viv referred to it as his “Crowded House” version. 3. “All I Want is Everything” (Demo Version) – Exclusive. 4. “Move With Me Slowly” (1st Draft) – Exclusive. 5. “When Saturday Comes” From the film When Saturday Comes and “All I Want Is Everything” single. 6. “Jimmy’s Theme” From the film When Saturday Comes and “All I Want Is Everything” single. 7. “Cause We Ended as Lovers” (Solo track by Phil) From the Jeff Beck tribute album Jeffology: A Guitar Chronicle and “All I Want Is Everything” single. 8. “Led Boots” (Solo track by Viv) From the Jeff Beck tribute album Jeffology: A Guitar Chronicle and “All I Want Is Everything” single.
We had just started repairing scratched CDs via a GTA-based third party contractor. They were able to remove a miniscule layer of plastic from the playing surface, rendering a smooth surface that would not deflect your CD player’s laser. The result was a playable, sellable CD, with a clouded appearance on the CD itself. The cloudy look was usually very minor, although it was sometimes enough to turn a customer off of buying the CD.
After repairing the scratched discs, they would be put in brand new CD cases and then on the shelves to sell. But we also had to mark each disc as “repaired” somehow, so that if any were returned as defective, we would know they had been fixed. We could then get the fee for fixing the disc credited back to us, or the contractor could try to fix it again and buff it deeper. Either way, we needed to mark them, somehow.
The best way to fix a surface scratched CD
We agreed that the least problematic way was to stamp the inner (usually blank and hidden) sleeve of the CD, the part underneath the plastic tray. We stamped it with our store logo. For most discs at the time, nobody would ever notice the stamp unless they pulled the case apart. The only problems were with discs that had inner picture sleeves under clear trays. We were forced to put the stamp directly on the artwork in those cases, a process that killed me every time. I hated defacing a CD. It’s not something I would ever do to my own property.
Around this time, AC/DC just released the luxurious Bonfire box set, a monolith of rock containing many separate additional treats: A pick, a bottle opener/keychain, a sticker, and a temporary tattoo. This was high on my priority list, so I put my name in our store’s computer reservation system for the first used copy that showed up.
It was only a few weeks before a used copy did show up. One of the higher-ups decided to work in my store that day. A man came to the counter with some CDs to sell, and the Bonfire box set. It was mint, complete, everything intact. However the higher-up didn’t consider the set as “mint” as I did; she determined that one of the CDs from the Let There Be Rock set was scratched. It had a tiny nearly invisible mark on it not even the size of a hair, but not a scratch. She dutifully stamped the inner tray and put the CD in the pile to be sent out and fixed.
I was disappointed that the tray had been defaced, but there was no way I was letting that disc get sent out and fixed. It would look worse, with the cloudy finish. I preferred the un-fixed finish with that tiny hairline mark that I could barely see. I can see the scratch even less today with my aged eyesight!
I bought the set but that stamp is still there. I covered it up with a white sticker, and was grateful that the box set didn’t have clear CD trays with artwork underneath.
That stamp still bugs me. I still see it there, and it still bugs me! How do you feel about things like this? Defects in the physical musical product that you love? I know I can’t be alone.
Postscript: Years later some damn rat kid stole the stamper. On my watch!!
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!
The details were scant. The box set was titled The Re-Masters, and it contained four CDs with room for the other eight, sold separately. The CDs included with the box were the first four of the Columbia years: Sin After Sin, Stained Class, Killing Machine (Hell Bent for Leather) and Unleashed in the East. It was an attractive box, printed to look like it is held together by metal rivets. There was also supposed to be a booklet included. At the time, I was obsessed with collecting the “best” versions of anything. This meant having all the songs, and the best packaging available. I asked Al to hold the box for me. At various points in the conversation, I felt like Al was trying to talk me out of buying it due to the price! What Al didn’t understand was my deep obsession for this band.
Around this time, AC/DC just released the luxurious 
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 