Next in line of my reviews from Record Store Excursion 2012! Check out the video below if you missed it. This one bought at Paradise Bound. If you recall, this is actually one of two drummer solo albums I bought that day, the other being Over The Top by Cozy Powell.
MIKE AND AARON GO TO TORONTO
CARMINE APPICE – Carmine Appice (1981, CBS/Pasha)
Well hey. He did co-wrote “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”, and that ended up being one of Rod’s more massive hits. Why not do a solo album?
Carmine co-wrote all tracks herein, and sings lead as well. There are a couple interesting co-writes: “Drum City Rocker” was co-written by an unknown named Vincent Cusano. Cusano would later change his name to Vinnie Vincent when he joined Kiss the following year. Another alumnus from the school of Gene & Paul, Ron Leejack (ex-Wicked Lester) “Am I Losing You”.
The sound is pop rock with pounding drums, a sound I don’t mind too much. I’ve always been a fan of Carmine’s drumming, and his drum sound here is what I like. A big snare drum that sounds like a snare drum, lots of toms and a non-stop approach.
The songs are not great, especially dreadful is a tribal keyboard-drenched “Paint It Black”. Perhaps inspired by Ian Paice, Carmine chose this Stones cover for a drum salvo. He plays it very tribal but…how many people have done covers of this song and buggered them up? Most. The minority do it well.
Better is the ballad “Blue Cafe” with its mournful sounding vocal and keyboard lines. The rockers fare less well, with “Have You Heard” and “Keep On Rolling” both sounding pretty weak kneed for rock songs. The drumming’s great of course, the singing less so. Carmine barely holds it together at times.
“Sweet Senorita” which closes side one is a Bon Jovi-esque rocker that might have been hit worthy in 1981. Really the weakest aspect of the album is the vocal. Carmine’s voice lacks character, sounding very much like Joe Pop Singer. It’s too bad because “Sweet Senorita” boasts a great groove and fine guitar solo, along with memorable hooks.
Side two opens with a drum salvo!…and then this lame vocal part kicks in, “Drum city, drum city…” Yes, it’s “Drum City Rocker”. Why couldn’t they have left it instrumental? It’s otherwise fine, with punchy drum fills and a great boogie!
“Hollywood Heartbeart”, much like the earlier song “Keep On Rolling” sounds like a Journey reject, without any of Steve Perry’s vocal grace. They sound like pale imitations. I had higher hopes for Phil Spector’s “Be My Baby”, being a personal favourite. Thankfully this is more suited to Carmine’s style and he doesn’t butcher it. The backing vocals are pretty sucky though.
“Am I Losing You” is another strong ballad, a good song, a decent vocal from Carmine. I hate buying a rock album only to find that the best songs are the ballads, but in this case, that’s the way it is. Both ballads are good and have some feeling to them.
“Drums Drums Drums” closes the album, and as you can guess, it’s a plethora of drums…with Carmine’s annoying vocals! “Drums drums drums…” he sings. This is followed by an awful “Heyyyyy, heyyy, heyyy–o!” section.
Produced by Richard Polodor. It has this dry, dull sound kind like a Peter Criss solo album.
The record sleeve has an ad (expiring December 31, 1982) to send $12 to buy Carmine’s own book, The Ultimate Realistic Rock Drum Method! A quick Amazon search reveals that the book is still in print today, available for $18 on Amazon.
Next in line of my reviews from Record Store Excursion 2012! Check out the video below if you missed it. This one bought at Sonic Boom Kensington.
MIKE AND AARON GO TO TORONTO
Let’s boogie!
The lineup is impressive enough: Joining Cozy are Don Airey on keyboards/moog and Jack Bruce on bass. Guitarists include Gary Moore, Bernie Marsden and Clem Clempson. So, that’s all good.
But Over The Top starts with the disco-sounding “Theme I” (written by George Martin of all people). There’s too much of Don’s dated sounding synth. That continues into the next track, “Killer” featuring Gary Moore. Don’s ray-gun keyboard are too much, although Gary is brilliant, and a highlight to the track.
Cozy expertly steps his way through every track, sounding like nobody but Cozy. But these cheesey keyboard anthems don’t lend themselves well to his style. Too much disco, too much funk, too much boogie and not enough rock. Jack Bruce is great, of course, very few can do what he does. His bass here is articulate and precise but for me, too much jazz fusion and not enough anchor!
Most of this is progressive-based rock, but the dated synth echoes too many things that nobody really liked anymore. The songs are not especially stiking, and Cozy doesn’t really go nuts until the final song, “Over The Top”. The producer behind this mess? None other than Martin Birch!
Best Song: “El Sid” which has some groove and stomp to it, the keys are toned down while Jack plays some beautifully stretchy basslines, and Bernie Marsden throws in one of those bluesy solos that you know and love from early Whitesnake. (Bernie wrote this one.) Second best is “Sweet Poison” which has moments that smoke.
I dig the cover art with Cozy jumping his drums with his bike! Sweet.
2/5 stars. I think it likely that if Cozy were with us, hey’d probably regret the keyboard-saturated sound today.
TRACK LIST:
Side One – “Theme I”, “Killer”, “Heidi Goes To Town”, “El Sid”
Side Two – “Sweet Poison”, “The Loner”, “Over The Top”
1996 was my first year of managing my own store. In the very first weeks of business, in came this little gem, Japanese import, never seen it before.
The band featured Iron Maiden’s former guitarist, Dennis Stratton. Dennis of course played on the first immortal Maiden platter and a few B-sides too. The album featured one great single, “Die For Love”, which had one of the cheesiest music videos of all time. Band must rescue blonde damsel in distress from horny-looking mad scientist.
It’s actually a really cool song, very commercial but solid and I’d been hunting for it for years. Yet another treasure that fell into my lap. Japanese import, $20 used, but with my discount more like $15.
Still, I ended up passing on it. I only really liked the one song, and I had other stuff to buy that week including the new Scorpions and King’s X. So, I made a judgement call and threw it on the shelves. I put a sticker on it that said “Dennis Stratton ex-Iron Maiden” and it sold in a couple weeks. It was after it sold that I regretted my decision! I didn’t realize how rare the disc was, and I underestimated how much I liked that one song!
Thankfully it’s since been reissued. Still, wouldn’t it have been nice to have that Japanese import? Yeah.
ALICE COOPER – “Keepin’ Halloween Alive” (2009 iTunes exclusive single)
In 2009, Alice took the cool step of releasing a special Halloween single. It was a cool rock song called “Keepin’ Halloween Alive” (baby 3-6-5!) . It was a basic four piece rock song, completely unlike the previous album, Along Came A Spider. I wasn’t big on that album, and I’ve never been into any of Alice’s late period alterna-industrial-post grunge albums very much. I was much more into Dirty Diamonds. “Keepin’ Halloween Alive” is more polished and produced than that, with keyboards and overdubs, but at least it’s back to the rock sounds that I prefer.
The song was written by Cooper and Piggy D. from Rob Zombie’s band. The B-side was a “Cooperoke” (instrumental) version. It’s cool, nice to have as a bonus, but otherwise not terribly interesting.
“Keepin’ Halloween Alive”, was only available on iTunes (blech), with a very very limited release as a 7″ single. The iTunes download did come with a pdf file and a “digital booklet”, whoop de do I guess. Nice artwork, Zombie-esque, with lyrics and humour. I just don’t know who sits at their computer going through a “digital booklet” the way you sit on your coach leafing through the real thing.
One of the perks to working at a record store was taking first crack at anything that came into the store. Frequently, people who worked other record stores would sell us their promos, and often we’d happily buy them, especially when they preceded the actual album.
In spring 1997, Blue Rodeo released their next album, Tremolo. Some guy from another chain sold us a promo copy several weeks before its release date. Me being a big Blue Rodeo fan, I made sure we snagged it. We couldn’t really sell promos on the shelves, but I knew several people who’d want a copy, if I didn’t take it myself. It was just a simple black and white sleeve, so I didn’t offer much for it.
I eaglerly put it into the player. Their last album, the experimental Nowhere To Here, was a hard one to love but it became one of my favourites. I was surprised to hear that Tremolo was nothing like it. I gave it a couple spins in store but it wasn’t doing anything for me. Nah, I could live without it, I thought, at least until the original release. Then I’ll try ‘er again.
I called up Bethany, one of our best customers, and massive Blue Rodeo fan. She came in immediately to pick it up. Even though us record store guys usually prefer an official release to a promo, Bethany preferred the promo. Not only was it weeks in advance and cheaper, she considered it to be a collector’s item, so it worked out for everyone!
Eventually the real thing came out, and when a cheap used one came in, I bought it and took it home. It still didn’t click. It took several months to really grow on me, but by winter it finally had. Like an onion, I had peeled the layers and uncovered the beauty within. Tremolo, like Nowhere To Here, was far from immediate for me. Its acoustics and almost complete lack of anything electric or uptempo had thrown me for a loop. But somehow during that laid back winter of ’98, Tremolo and I saw I to eye, and we have been companions ever since.
Lesson: Albums must always be listened to over time, in different contexts, before abandoning!
First of my reviews from Record Store Excursion 2012! Check out the video below if you missed it. This one bought at Sonic Boom Kensington.
MIKE AND AARON GO TO TORONTO
TWISTED SISTER – Under The Blade (1985 remix)
The original 1982 Secret Records mix of this album was raw and heavy, like a bulldozer with a singer and sense of rhythm. Secret folded and Atlantic re-released the album in ’85 with a remix helmed by Mark Mendoza. For added measure they added Twisted’s first single, “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now!” as a bonus track.
Although less so in its remixed for, Under the Blade served as a brutal reminder that Twisted Sister were and are a heavy metal band, before the MTV hits happened. No ballads, the only slow moment is the intro to “Run For Your Life” which soon hits the gas and takes off at breakneck speed. Like a cross between early Kiss, Cooper, Sabbath and Priest, Under the Blade was an aural assault. The assault was assisted by a brutally ragtag heavy production and mix, frayed at the edges and certainly way too heavy for kiddies weaned on autotune today. Elsewhere, more melodic fare like “Bad Boys (of Rock and Roll)” and “Shoot ‘Em Down” plot the way for the more commercial years about to unfold.
But then they did that remix, and toned everything down. The drums aren’t as loud, the guitars less cutting. In short, it sounds like they were trying to make Under the Blade fit in more with the Stay Hungry sound. I did like that they included “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now!”, one of my favourite TS tracks of all time.
Production is by Pete Way (UFO), and Fast Eddie Clarke (Motorhead) takes a guest guitar solo.
If Tattooed Millionaire had not happened, neither would so many things in Maiden’s history: No #1 single (“Bring Your Daughter…to the Slaughter), Janick Gers might never have joined the band, and so on.
Due to the six months downtime between Seventh Son and No Prayer, Bruce decided to have some fun. He first recorded “Bring Your Daughter…to the Slaughter” for the Nightmare on Elm Street 5soundtrack. This opened the floodgates and before too long, Bruce and guitarist Janick Gers had more than enough songs for an album. (Other band members: Andy Carr – bass, Fabio Del Rio – drums.)
And an album there was, and what a fine album indeed! Bruce made no bones about it: This is not a heavy metal album like Maiden. This is a hard rock album, along the lines of his influences: Deep Purple, AC/DC, Mott the Hoople, and more. What was surprising even to me at time was just how good it was.
The first single, “Tattooed Millionaire” was catchy as hell while still sounding very British and uncompromising. Vocally, the song and album combines Bruce’s classic soaring voice, with his newer style of spitting out the words in a furious assault. The combination is effective; Just listen to “Hell On Wheels”. While innuendo-loaded verses are spat out, the chorus soars in a singalong fashion. “Dive! Dive! Dive!” and “Lickin’ the Gun” tackle similar lyrical territory.
But it’s not all sexual innuendo. Bruce tackles more philosophical topics on songs such as “Born in ’58” (a great single), “Son of a Gun”, and “Gypsy Road”. Meanwhile, “Tattooed Millionaire” pokes fun at the rockers of the L.A. scene, loaded with cash but not too much in the way of brains.
Tattooed boys with expensive toys,
living in a bubble of sin.
Money can buy you most of anything,
fix your nose or the mess you’re in.
Some speculated that this was aimed at former tourmates, Guns N’ Roses. I believe Bruce later said the inspiration was Motley Crue!
Bruce admitted that doing a cover song for a single was “cheating”, but “All the Young Dudes” was a great choice to cover. Fear not; Bruce does it justice. Bruce kicks it in the head. Gers’ guitar work is perfect for the song, and it’s good to have a chance to hear him play a more laid-back style, unlike his usual work.
The album spawned plenty of singles, each with their own B-sides worth collecting. But luckily, the fine folks at Sanctuary put all of this stuff together, along with “Bring Your Daughter”, on a tasty bonus disc.
The bonus disc includes some acoustic music (“Winds of Change”, “Darkness Be My Friend”, and the joke song “Ballad of Mutt”). It also has some kickass live covers: Deep Purple’s “Black Night” and “Sin City” by AC/DC among them. Bonus — there’s also a studio version of “Sin City”, and some live versions of the album’s hits.
Absolutely essential: “Son of a Gun”, “Tattooed Millionaire”, “Born in ’58”.
Great: “Gypsy Road”, “Zulu Lulu”, “No Lies”, “All the Young Dudes”
Maiden’s spectacular Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour seemed the perfect time to do another live home video. Future Maiden tours were to be toned down stageshow-wise for quite a few years. It also enabled Maiden to take a break while Steve Harris took 6 months to edit the video himself. In the meantime, Adrian and Bruce were able to write solo albums. We’ll get into that.
In the meantime, “Moonchild” opens the set. Sadly the acoustic part is just a pre-recorded tape, but Bruce just howls his way through this one. As Bruce welcomes the Birmingham crowd to the show, the band break into “The Evil That Men Do”, probably the best live version of this song available. Steve charges into it and the rest of the band keep up.
This is followed by a deuce of classic Maiden tunes that were-not-but-should-been-on Live After Death! These would be “The Prisoner” and “Still Life”, also available on the single for “Infinite Dreams”. “Still Life” is a rarity to hear live so this is a nice treat; I think it’s an excellent song. One of my all time favourites.
“Die With Your Boots On” was included on Live After Death but I ain’t complaining! You can hear that Bruce has lost a little bit of his range on some of the high notes; it is what it is. It’s an awesome tune and this version has a certain reckless abandon.
The single, “Infinite Dreams” follows, and I always felt it was one of the better Seventh Sontunes. It works live, especially once the band kick it into gear halfway. And if you somehow managed to fall asleep, an especially screamy “Killers” will wake you up.
That’s it for classic Maiden for a while. The next four numbers are all from the most recent two albums: “Heaven Can Wait” (with singalong), “Wasted Years” (which Bruce seems to struggle with), “The Clairvoyant” and the epic “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. At 10 minutes long, Bruce makes sure the crowd doesn’t fall asleep, getting them to sing along.
The CD closes with a double whammy of classic Maiden: “The Number of the Beast” and “Iron Maiden”. Bruce implores the Birmingham NEC to scream for him, and scream they do.
The VHS version had two extra songs, lopped off the CD for time reasons. They are, unfortunately, an amazing “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and the single “Can I Play With Madness”.
A DVD version of Maiden England with a remastered and complete CD was confirmed by Maiden manager Rod Smallwood to be forthcoming on March 25, 2013.
Maiden England was a good package, and it’s cool to have the Seventh Tour documented on video, with that cool arctic stage set and crystal balls, and all that. Comparing it to Live After Death is just…well…you can’t. Live After Death was 25 minutes longer therefore more comprehensive, and perfectly mixed. Maiden England sounds a little more…I dunno…muddy, maybe?
IRON MAIDEN – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988, 1996 bonus CD)
Maiden finally did it. After years of denying that their albums had been concept albums, Maiden went ahead and wrote a concept album! The circumstances were coincidental. The album was to be their seventh. Steve Harris had already written his album epic, the title track “Seventh Son of Seventh Son”. Meanwhile, Bruce had written down lyrics such as “Seven deadly sins, seven ways to win…” Seizing this serendipitous moment, Maiden plunged forward with the tale of a boy born with healing powers and the ability to see the future…everyone’s but his own.
A boy born as the seventh son to a seventh son, in some folklore, was prophesied to have such powers. But the inability to foresee his own fate was a cruel joke by none other than Lucifer himself. In the story, the sides of good and evil battle for the soon-to-be-man’s soul, hoping to bend his powers to their will.
If Bruce was a basket case on the prior album, Somewhere In Time, he had bounced back by Seventh Son. With no less than four writing credits out of eight songs, Bruce must have been satisfied that Maiden were incorporating acoustics, and keyboards. It was all in the name of texture and light & shade. Bruce had hoped that one day Maiden would make their Physical Graffiti and perhaps this is it.
I recall when it came out that there was some backlash: Some Maiden fans did not take too kindly to the obtuse lyrics, acoustic guitars, and softer more progressive direction. When you listen to both albums back to back, on a whole I think Seventh Son is heavier than Somewhere In Time, by a hair. Yet compared to Powerslave or Killers, clearly this was new and different. Some didn’t like that, while others took the time to get to know and love Seventh Son. I can recall being perplexed by the lyrics, struggling to figure them out, and wondering if the symbols written on the lyric sheet were clues.
At the same time that Maiden were exploring new directions, so was cover artist Derek Riggs. No longer wishing to draw Eddies with axes in people’s heads, he came up with something very different that suited Maiden’s more mystical musical direction. Here’s another one I wish I had on vinyl! Clearly no longer on our plane of reality, but still with his cybernetic implants, Eddie seems to be giving birth to a new generation of Eddies! On the back, the Arctic ice forms seem to represent past Eddies. Altogether, seven of them…
The acoustics and keyboards are evident right from the get go as they form a major part of “Moonchild”, written by Bruce and Adrian. It’s a strong opener, quickly getting up to speed, with lyrical angels and demons swooping upon you as Bruce spits out the words. I recall Bruce saying in a Canadian interview that he enjoyed playing multiple characters on the album, and when singing as the Devil, he drank “a couple cups of tea.”
Steve’s “Infinite Dreams” begins slow, in line with past Maiden ballads, the sound of precious Fenders caressing your ears as our protagonist emerges from a nightmare. Soon the tempos change (more than once!) and Bruce lets loose a scream from hell. (As kids, this is the first time we noticed Bruce losing some of the smoothness and range of his high voice.)
The first single, “Can I Play With Madness” is third. It too was controversial in a way: The music video didn’t have Iron Maiden in it! Aside from some Powerslave footage playing on a TV in a catacomb, the video starred Monty Python’s Graham Chapman and a certain Mr. Eddie. The mystical video did little to enlighten us kids on the meaning of the lyrics! Musically, it’s another anthemic Maiden hard rock single, but perhaps the most commercial one yet.
The second single, “The Evil That Men Do” closed side one. Like the previous song it was written by the triumvirate of Steve, Bruce and Adrian. It boasts a powerful singalong chorus and some great guitar melodies. Lyrically, our protagonist has now “slept in the dust with his daughter,” and I think you can guess who’s daughter he’s referring to. This song represents one of the very few times Maiden sing about love, albeit in this case it’s a sub-plot of a concept album.
Side two opened with Steve’s 10 minute epic, “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” which essentially sums up the plot so far. It’s not as dynamic as some past epics as “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, nor as riffy. It is still quite an excellent epic, slow and meandering but of course with ample changes and parts to keep your attention. Like “Rime” it has a slow spoken word section in the middle.
“The Prophecy”, written by Dave Murray and Steve Harris, continues the story. The seventh son has foretold a disaster and the village is doomed. The townspeople do not believe him. Yet disaster does strike while “Lucifer smiles, looks on and waits,” and the town blames him for bringing a curse! Musically this is not the best song on the album, and it comes close to filler territory. Yet the end of it is an intricate medley of sad acoustic guitars, weaving an ancient-sounding melody. It is moments like this that are a great example of Maiden and acoustic guitars working together appropriately. The third single, “The Clairvoyant” begins with some of Steve’s patented rinky-dinky bass melodies before the dual guitars crash in. This melodic winner, written alone by Steve, is one of the best. Not only are the verses soaring, but it is taken to a whole higher level when Bruce digs into the choruses. Nicko’s drum fills are exactly perfect (as they always are) punctuating the right moments with thunderclaps and rain. It ends with a bright note though: “As soon as you’re born, you’re dying…to be reborn again!”
Does that happier fate befall our protagonist? Spitting out disgust at the society that rejected him, he indicts them for their crimes. “So I think I’ll leave you, with your bishops and your guilt. So until the next time…have a good sin.” Yet he finds that to be reborn again might not be a good thing after all, Bruce throwing in a hinting snicker at the end…The name of the song is “Only the Good Die Young”, and it is a great Maiden closer. One of the best. And you just have to love that ending!
Yes, Seventh Son is indeed a triumph. I think the reaction to it at the time was more indicative of the times. People feared for Maiden losing their edge, as Priest seemed to do (Turbo), while newer heavier bands citing Maiden as an influence gained some traction. If Maiden had gone even softer after Seventh Son, then I think that a portion (a minority) of fans would have given up on them. Maiden seemed to be aware of this, though…
I find Martin Birch’s production to be a tad muddy…just by a hair though. I’d like it a little brighter personally. Minor nitpick.
For the first time, fans had four singles to collect! “Infinite Dreams” was thrown out there as a single at the end, right around the time of release for the new live video, Maiden England!
Singles breakdown is below. For whatever reason, although the other nine songs are included, the 1996 2 CD reissue of the album excluded “Heaven Can Wait”. Too bad. There was room on the disc.
“Can I Play With Madness” included the comedy song “Black Bart Blues”. Please allow Bruce to introduce you to Black Bart, a suit of armor that rode on the back of their tour bus! On the heavier side, Maiden throw in an authentic cover of “Massacre” by Thin Lizzy. As I kid I was amazed it was cover, because it seems custom made for Maiden once you hear this version!
“The Evil That Men Do” (besides having the best cover art, that folded out into a Monsters of Rock poster) had two great B-sides: Re-recordings of old Maiden classics, with Bruce singing! In fact neither Bruce, nor Adrian, nor Nicko were in the band when “Prowler” and “Charlotte The Harlot” were originally done. The new versions, dubbed “Prowler ’88” and “Charlotte The Harlot” ’88 are captured nice and raw, much like the originals but with better production values. Bruce really nails it on “Prowler ’88”
“The Clairvoyant” was released a a live single surprisingly, in gatefold sleeve no less. It contained live versions of “The Prisoner” (finally, since it wasn’t on Live After Death!) and the aforementioned “Heaven Can Wait”, complete with “whoah-oh-oh” singalong.
“Infinite Dreams”, which coincided with the new live video, was also live. It was backed by awesome live versions of “Killers” and “Still Life”, two more songs that weren’t on Live After Death. A CD version of this video didn’t come out until 1994 so for a while this was the only place you could get them.
The Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour portended some changes. The stage productions had gotten so large that the band were afraid of being lost in it all. Bruce complained on Canadian TV that he’d sweat buckets on stage only to have a fan approach him and ask him something about the “fucking crystal ball”. But deeper problems were afoot. Bruce seemed creatively revitalized, but Adrian was clearly unhappy on stage. The band knew it. But in the meantime, Steve Harris had a live video to edit, and Bruce had plenty of time off for solo activities…
5/5 stars
1996 2 CD reissue: 4/5 stars – knocking off a point for excluding “Heaven Can Wait” live.
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