rock music

VIDEO: Sausagefest XIII – Part I

Thank you Windows Movie Maker for not messing up this video.  There was so much fantastic footage that I split this up into two parts.

Enjoy Part I, featuring many talented musicians and friends.

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Sausagefest Hangover: LeBrain’s list and selected pics

The addition of live bands and open jams at Sausagefest has, in my opinion, revolutionized the whole weekend for the better.  The good news is this:  I recorded so much live footage and got so many great photos that I have more than enough to put together the best Sausagefest video yet.  The bad news is this:  I recorded so much live footage and got so many great photos that it is going to take me a while to edit it together.  Patience is the key.

In the meantime:  Here are some more selected photos from this excellent weekend, PLUS my entire list of songs that I voted for.  Ultimately this year we only did a Top 75 countdown compiled from all the votes.  When that is available I’ll post that too.

In the meantime:  THANK YOU to Jeff Woods (The Legends of Classic Rock), Craig Fee (107.5 Dave FM) and Ben Ward (Orange Goblin) for your contributions this year!  Above and beyond the call of duty.

LET’S ROCK!

1 Your Wife Is Calling Sound City Players
2 Billy Oxygen Helix
3 Wish I Could Be There Helix
4 Wishing Well Black Sabbath
5 Damaged Soul Black Sabbath
6 God of Thunder KISS
7 Pictures of Home Deep Purple
8 Vincent Price Deep Purple
9 The Storm Flying Colors
10 Kayla Flying Colors
11 Shoulda Woulda Coulda Flying Colors
12 Vincent Price Deep Purple
13 I Miss My Chick Brant Bjork
14 MidLife Crisis Faith No More
15 Millionaire QOTSA
16 In The Fade QOTSA
17 It’s Late Queen
18 Keep Yourself Alive Queen
19 Solitude Black Sabbath
20 So Tired Ozzy
21 Rainbow in the Dark Dio
22 Creatures of the Night KISS
23 War Machine KISS
24 Lights Out UFO
25 Mean Streets Van Halen
26 Take Your Whiskey Home Van Halen
27 Hear About It Later Van Halen
28 Dirty Movies Van Halen
29 Sinners Swing Van Halen
30 Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers ZZ Top
31 Hangover Max Webster
32 Blowing the Blues Away Max Webster
33 Gravity Max Webster
34 Masquerade Hibakusha
35 You Don’t Have To Be Old To Be Wise Judas Priest
36 Delivering the Goods Judas Priest
37 Evil Fantasies Judas Priest
38 18 Alice Cooper
39 Dwight Fry Alice Cooper
40 Thunder in Rock Fist
41 Lay It On the Line Triumph
42 Hell Hole Spinal Tap
43 Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight Spinal Tap
44 Rock and Roll Creation Spinal Tap
45 Stonehenge Spinal Tap
46 Heavy Duty Spinal Tap
47 Big Bottom Spinal Tap
48 Cups and Cakes Spinal Tap
49 Gimme Some Money Spinal Tap
50 Listen To What the Flower People Say Spinal Tap
51 Bitch School Spinal Tap
52 The Majesty of Rock Spinal Tap
53 Break Like the Wind Spinal Tap
54 Stinkin’ Up the Great Outdoors Spinal Tap
55 Rock and Roll Nightmare Spinal Tap
56 Hush Deep Purple
57 Kill the King Rainbow
58 Long Live Rock and Roll Rainbow
59 Big Balls AC/DC
60 Dirty Deeds AC/DC
61 Ain’t No Fun Waiting Round to be a Millionaire AC/DC
62 There’s Gonna Be Some Rockin’ AC/DC
63 Squealer AC/DC
64 Ride On AC/DC
65 Fly on the Wall AC/DC
66 Danger AC/DC
67 It’s a Long Way to the Top AC/DC
68 Let There Be Rock AC/DC
69 Soul Stealer AC/DC
70 School Love Anvil
71 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down The Band
72 I Stole Your Love KISS
73 Cold Gin KISS
74 Firehouse KISS
75 Keep The Dogs Away Thor
76 The Right To Rock Keel
77 Hunger King Kobra
78 The Oath KISS
79 C’mon and Love Me KISS
80 Black Diamond KISS
81 Mr Speed KISS
82 Shock Me KISS
83 Hotter Than Hell KISS
84 Got to Choose KISS
85 Killer KISS
86 Rock and Roll Hell KISS
87 Rock Bottom KISS
88 What the Hell Have I Alice In Chains
89 No Excuses Alice In Chains
90 When You Wish Upon A Star Gene Simmons
91 San Quentin Johnny Cash
92 I Got Stripes Johnny Cash
93 I Hung My Head Johnny Cash
94 Orange Blossom Special Johnny Cash
95 Fool For Your Loving Whitesnake
96 Crying in the Rain Whitesnake
97 Come An’ Get It Whitesnake
98 Slow An’ Easy Whitesnake
99 Slide It In Whitesnake
100 Standing in the Shadow Whitesnake

Part 303: Marking Your Discs

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RECORD STORE TALES Part 303:  Marking Your Discs

In the 1990’s, stealing CDs and selling them to a pawn shop or a used CD store was a fairly common way for thieves to make some money.  Today I doubt it happens at the levels I saw in the 1990’s.  You just can’t get as much for a CD today, not even close.

I had seen too many people lose valuable music to theft, and never get the discs back.  I received many visits and phone calls from upset customers, hoping that someone had sold their stolen discs to me.  But a lot of thieves were too smart to sell them in town.  They’d go somewhere else to sell them, assuming that they’d be harder to catch then.   When somebody lost dozens of CDs in a break-in, they would call all the used stores in town.  “If you see a guy bringing in a huge collection of Jazz box sets, including about a dozen Miles Davis remasters, call me.”

It was always best if you could somehow identify your collection.  Jazz box sets and Miles remasters (for example) would be easy to spot.  If somebody else called and said, “Somebody stole all my rock CDs…I had Stone Temple Pilots, Korn, Creed, Days of the New…” well, there wasn’t much hope.  These are titles that we often saw, probably every single day.  If you could somehow mark the discs as your property, however…

Different people used different methods.  In 1995, I got a call from a guy who worked at the downtown Dr. Disc.  His collection had been stolen.  He marked his discs in a unique way.  He placed a strip of tinfoil underneath the CD tray.  If somebody came in to sell a hundred CDs and they all had tinfoil under the tray, there’s your guilty party.

Most people, who didn’t care about the packaging or condition of their discs so much, would just write their name inside.  Either on the booklet, the inner tray, or the front cover.  I could never deface my music like that, and neither could T-Rev.  He came up with his own method.  Rather than mark the CD packaging itself, he wrote his initials on a tiny red sticker, and placed that somewhere unobtrusively on the CD.  If he ever wanted to remove it, he could do so without wrecking anything.

Tom didn’t share our “no permanent marks” philosophy. He embossed the front covers of his discs with a press that imprinted his initials on the front cover.  Tom gave me a couple CDs once – his initials always bothered me.  When I had the chance to swap covers with a copy that was in better condition, I did.  Tom tells me he doesn’t emboss his CDs anymore.  I’m glad he came to his senses.

T-Rev and I both have had CDs stolen, unfortunately.  Both of us had our vehicles broken into.  T-Rev never recovered the handful of discs that were in his Jeep. (I remember that one was the excellent Barstool Prophets albums Last of the Big Game Hunters.)  They never showed up, anywhere in town.  As for me, I only lost one disc – Fish’s 1998 compilation Kettle of Fish, which was inside my Discman (also stolen).  They didn’t take the CD case.  I imagine they probably threw out the CD; chances are these thieves would not enjoy the subtle sounds of Derek William Dick.  At that time, the album was not available in Canada, and I believe I had to order it directly from the official Fish site in the UK to replace it.  That cost me about $30, to replace a CD that I originally paid $7.99 for.  That was not a good day.

 

REVIEW: Twisted Sister – Club Daze, Volume I: The Studio Sessions (1999)

TSCD_0001 TWISTED SISTER – Club Daze, Volume I: The Studio Sessions (1999)

Everybody knows that Twisted Sister has been around a long time; since 1973 in fact, just as long as Kiss. However not too many people have heard Twisted’s early material outside of their first single “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now!” which was on their “best of” CD. Club Daze, Volume I fills in the gaps.

This CD is for fans only. It will have absolutely no appeal at all to casual listeners who only want songs they recognize. In fact, some of these songs are painfully bad. “High Steppin'”, “Big Gun”, and “T.V. Wife” for example are all examples of some very poor early songwriting. These tunes are in a more traditional rock and roll vibe, and are lyrically quite awful. Take “T.V. Wife” for example, written and sung by JJ French, a song about a woman who sits around all day watching soaps. Really bad song.

On the flipside there are rough and ready versions of some really decent songs, such as “Come Back” which had Dee Snider writing in a heavy metal mode. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Saviours” is a personal favourite, a 1978 attack upon disco music. “We’re gonna fight until disco is dead!” sings Snider.  And they did!

To make collectors salivate just a little more, the best tracks on the CD are the three songs originally from the (then) impossible-to-find EP Ruff Cutts (now since made available on the Under the Blade reissue). This includes an early version of “Leader of the Pack” and more familiar songs: “Shoot ‘Em Down” and “Under The Blade”. It is only these last two songs that really show what Twisted Sister was capable of and where they would go in the future.

There’s one Ruff Cutt missing (“What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)”), and a few other miscellaneous early tracks as well, but Club Daze is a compilation of these years.  Club Daze is also loaded with ample pictures and liner notes (from Jay Jay and Dee).

As an album purchase, this CD is not the greatest release. Twisted Sister were never virtuoso musicians, and it shows. Most of these songs don’t have Mark “The Animal” Mendoza on bass, who really helped make their songs heavier. Most tracks feature Kenny Neill on bass and Tony Petri on drums. This is for collectors only, and anybody who wants to know what this band sounded like in the 70’s before they did their first serious recordings, and found the sound that would make them famous.

3/5 stars

SAUSAGEFEST XIII prep: Starting to pack

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Preparation is key!  I began picking up and packing supplies for this weekend:  SAUSAGEFEST XIII, and hopefully the best one yet.

There will be the annual Countdown.  There will be live bands.  There will be meat.  There will be Uncle Meat.

I was disappointed that nobody in town seems to carry Coleman Biowipes anymore.  I had to settle for generic.  Hopefully, they are up for the tasks at hand…

I got the hair cut, and I got a flash drive full of tunes.  Got my cooler, got some Pop Tarts, my camera and a tripod.  4 days to go….

 

GALLERY: Canada Day Weekend NEW ARRIVALS!

Just in time for the long weekend, some new tunes!  I also ordered a book:  Sean Kelly’s Metal On Ice, as reading material for next week’s Sausagefest!  Seen below:  Original Soundtrack to the movie Still Crazy (thank you The Earl of Swirl for reminding me about this great film) and the new Helix album, Bastard of the Blues.

Part 299: More Journals

RECORD STORE TALES Part 299: More Journals

A sequel to Part 244: Diary of a Mad Record Store Man.  I think the journal entries speak for themselves, so here they are.

Date: 2004/08/10
On this Marillion live disc, Fish just dedicated the entire Misplaced Childhood record to Phil Lynott…he must have just passed away when it was recorded.  That’s heavy, man.  My two lyrical heroes, Fish and Lynott…

Date: 2004/08/24
Crazy to think that I’ve been in this business for 10 years, and only now am I starting to listen to Buddy Holly. Sad to think what I’ve been missing all these years!  I can’t believe how great Buddy’s music was.  It’s really clicking with me, I just love Buddy Holly!

Date 2005/01/30
Some dude was just in here throwing a pencil at us because he didn’t have a receipt.  I AM TOO OLD FOR THIS SHIT.  I need to get THE FUCK out of here.

PENCIL THROW

 

 

 

REVIEW: Motley Crue – New Tattoo (2000 European, 2 CD editions)

MOTLEY CRUE – New Tattoo (2000 Motley records, EU edition with bonus track and 2 CD edition)

The worst Crue album? Could be Theater of Pain, Generation Swine, or 2000’s New Tattoo. I don’t like speaking ill of the dead, but Randy Castillo was not a suitable replacement for Tommy Lee. Tommy Lee isn’t a great technical drummer by any stretch, but he has bombast and his songwriting is crucial to the Motley sound. Here, the songwriting void is filled by future Sixx A.M. collaborator James Michael.

The drum sound is flat and lifeless, the guitar is dry, and there is simply no fire here. The songs drone from soundalike to soundalike, and you will forget which is which. This is the Crue on cruise control if not pure autopilot. Of course, the band hyped this as a “return to the roots” album, which it is not. The Crue’s roots are bombastic loud chrome plated sleezy metal with loads of attitude and aggression. This is dull, pointless, meandering rock that goes nowhere. Without Tommy, I am inclined to say there is no Crue. Compare this to the Vince-less self titled 1994 album, a 5/5 star release all the way. Who is more crucial to the band’s energy?

Not one, I repeat, not one great song here, but plenty of mediocre ones. “Hell On High Heels” isn’t too bad, but it’s certainly not up to the standards of Motley Crue singles past.  Also half decent is “Punched In the Teeth By Love”, a title which dates back to 1991’s Decade of Decadence.  Unfortunately the majority of New Tattoo is clogged up with dreck like “She Needs Rock N’ Roll”, “Hollywood Ending” and the title track.  Nothing stands out after numerous listens.

MVP:  Mick Mars, who always seems to nail a tasty solo when needed.

The saving grace to this particular release is the live disc with Samantha Maloney (ex-Hole) on drums. It is more fun and entertaining than the album itself, but maybe that’s because the live disc is 66.6% oldies. The two demos included are no better than the album versions, but collectors should be aware that Europe got a version with a different bonus track called “Time Bomb”.  On top of that, Japan got an exclusive song called “American Zero”. It’s too bad it was relegated to Japan alone, because it might be the only track that actually hearkens back to the good old days.

Avoid. A bore and a chore to listen to. Pick up 1994’s self-titled release instead.

1.5/5 stars

REVIEW: Rainbow – Finyl Vinyl (2 CD edition)

RAINBOW – Finyl Vinyl (1986, 2 CD Rainbow Remasters edition)

Finyl Vinyl was the third Rainbow album I bought, right after Rising and Straight Between the Eyes. The year was ’96, and the place was Dr. Disc.  I bought it on vinyl initially, because the original CD edition omitted two tracks for space limits (a major flaw with double albums issued in the early CD age). However what I did not know until recently was that the vinyl also omitted a song: “Street Of Dreams” which was only available on cassette!

This complete 2 CD remaster contains all the songs from all the versions.  For sheer portability reasons, it made sense for me to own this.  I have filed my vinyl copy away, and I now rely entirely on this new Universal CD version.

I love Finyl Vinyl and even though it was issued posthumously and consists mostly of unreleased live songs, I think it’s one of the most enjoyable Rainbow albums to listen to. It contains music from all three of the original Rainbow eras: Dio, Bonnett, and Turner. It leans most heavily on the Joe Lynn Turner era, with only a couple songs from the Ronnie James Dio era. Graham Bonnett also appears on two songs, and there is an instrumental B-side from his Down To Earth era as well. It is worth noting that the B-sides contained herein have been issued on other albums since.

Finyl Vinyl contains a lot of my favourites, and in great versions too: “I Surrender” and “Miss Mistreated” sound great live. Pop rock goodness, made classy as only Blackmore/Turner can do it.  “Jealous Lover” is a standout midtempo burner from the Joe Lynn era.  Blackmore’s picking is resplendent.  Unfortunately the two Dio-era songs don’t have the fidelity of the later Turner recordings, but you can’t have a Rainbow collection without representing Ronnie James.  That is done via unreleased 1978 live versions of “Man on the Silver Mountain” and “Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll”.

My only complaint: The photos inside are too damn small and blurry. One of my favourite things about the vinyl release was that there were pictures of almost every incarnation of Rainbow, but here you can barely tell who’s who. Too small, too blurry like a bad scan; the booklet should have been expanded. Also, the credits still contain some errors that were never corrected from the original vinyl issue (see Wikipedia).

Still, great music, and finylly (ha ha) complete!

4.5/5 stars

CONCERT REVIEW: Brent Doerner’s Decibel – 3/10/2007, Edelweiss Tavern, Kitchener ON

I keep finding these old concert reviews that I forgot to post here!  Enjoy this one from former HELIX guitarist Brent Doerner.  This was written the day of the show.  Photos from an old crap Motorola phone.

BRENT DOERNER’S DECIBEL – March 10 2007, Edelweiss Tavern, Kitchener ON

It was only an hour ago, but it is already a blur.

Just after 9:30 pm, Brent Doerner’s DECIBEL hit the stage at the Edelweiss with earthshaking volume. The three Gibsons of Shane Schedler, Ralph “Chick” Schumilas, and Brent himself were crystal clear and gelling beautifully. I can’t even remember what song they opened with, but it might have been “Taking The Colour Out Of The Blues”, one of the best tracks from their debut CD. This was only their second “real” show, and the new lineup (featuring bassist Hilliard Walter and Brent’s twin brother Brian Doerner, fresh off a Saga tour) sounded hot. Most importantly, the pressures of playing to a hometown crowd didn’t phase them at all, and they looked like they were having an awesome time.

Brent Doerner has evolved from Helix’s lead gunslinger to a frontman in his own right. I suppose if one is in a band for a decade and a half with a guy like Brian Vollmer, you’re bound to learn something about being a frontman. Yet Brent has his own style. He points to the crowd, he interacts with them, he slings his guitar to the side and sings to them. He hoists his guitar like a shotgun for emphasis, and does it all as if it’s second nature. The guy is a natural, no doubts there.

All the best tunes from the CD were played, in effective order, along with four new ones. And let me tell ya, folks, these weary heavy-metal eardrums of mine rarely hear a song as good as “Maybe Love”. The song has only been played twice, and they band are still working out the kinks, but could you tell? No, this song smoked, as more than one person in the audience noticed. As my fiancée noted on the way out, “that song was the single.” And yes, indeed, if Decibel were to suddenly press up a slab of 7” vinyl, that would be the song to put on the A-side.

Video for “Maybe Love”, after some lineup changes and a name switch to My Wicked Twin

The show was not without technical problems, but the band overcame with lots of comedy courtesy of Brian Doerner, and a wicked impromptu drum solo from the rock god. In the dark. He couldn’t have even seen what he was doing, but did that solo ever smoke. While some bands would view a blackout as a disaster, Decibel turned it into a rare chance to see a drum solo by one of Canada’s most underrated percussionists. And he made sure that lots of people got complimentary sticks, too, which was really cool.

One of the many highlights of the show was Shane Schedler’s vocal turn on “Never Turn Your Back”. Not to be outdone, however, Hills Walter kicked out the jams on his vocal “Dancin’ Frogs” featuring not a dancing frog, but a dancing blonde in a top hat, fishnets and Decibel panties. Sweet!

Such was the reaction from the crowd that Decibel were unexpectedly forced to retake the stage after they had already said goodnight. Having nothing else to play, they played “Taking The Colour” one more time, this time with even more excitement. The crowd ate it up, every last morsel, and left very very satisfied.

You simply must see the band live. If you care about rock and roll, if you care about local artists, then you must see this band live. If you don’t, you are the only one missing out.

Good show boys. See you next time, front row center.

5/5 stars