“Part 6 in a miniseries of reviews on Rob Halford’s solo career! If you missed the last part, click here!” That was a rhyme, that ain’t no crime…Breaking the Law! Breaking the Law!
HALFORD – Live Insurrection (2002 Japanese Import)
Having a wealth of solo and Priest material to draw from, this seems like a good place for a double live album to drop. And so it was; Live Insurrection, Rob’s first full-fledged live solo outing. For me personally, this is the peak. This Rob’s home run of solo projects.
Admittedly, there is a certain sense of Rob trying to bury parts of his recent past. There are no songs from Two, and the set is Priest-heavier than prior tours. I found the Halford band to be kind of faceless, a little devoid of personality. They’re absolute pros and there is no question of them cutting it. That’s not the issue, it’s just one of…I can’t hear the different personalities of the players, compared to Fight.
On the other hand, the setlist is so much richer than Fight used to do. The songs are culled from the Halford album Resurrection, the Judas Priest back catologue, and the first Fight album, with a lot of added surprises.
These surprises include three studio tracks, two of which are tracks written by Judas Priest, but never released at the time! You also get Rob’s duet with Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, “live” (recorded during rehearsal I believe), and the two bonus tracks from the Japanese version of the Halford album, once again performed live. Rob even sings his first-ever solo track, “Light Comes Out Of Black” which was originally on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer soundtrack back in 1992. The Priest material is a great mix: old obscure stuff from Sad Wings and Stained Class, as well as more obvious stuff from Hell Bent and Screaming. Rob’s voice is in fine form, doing justice to the Priest and Fight material.
Rob’s so hardcore, he stapled his fuckin’ forehead!
The Japanese bonus track is “Blackout”. Yes, the old Scorpions tune, and recorded here with a Scorpion: Rudolph Schenker! Halford easily handles Klaus Meine’s vocal part. It’s a great bonus track, easily worth the extra cash that I spent on this import version. I got this from Amazon.com in 2002.
They give you lots of great packaging with this live album. Decent liner notes, lots of pictures, plenty to look at while you spend a couple hours listening to this platter of metal perfection. Enjoy the feast.
5/5 stars
I’ll be taking a summer break from this series. I’m a bit burned out on Halford albums now, and there are so many new arrivals to listen to! But fear not. I’ll be following this review with Crucible, another Japanese release, a box set, and more.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 211: The House of Lords Debacle
Joe was on the other end of the phone. “Mike,” he said. “I have three CDs here by a band called House of Lords. You want?”
I’d first heard House of Lords in ’88. Gene Simmons was promoting them like mad. They were signed to his new imprint, $immons Records. A guy called Loz Netto was his first signing, but House of Lords was his first rock acquisition. They included ex-members of Guiffria, Quiet Riot, and Alice Cooper. I picked up their debut on the week of release, but I missed the second and third albums.
“I’ll take two!” I responded without hesitation. “I’ll take the ones titled Sahara and Demons Down.”
Joe laughed. “I knew you’d know who these guys were,” he said. I saw the pictures of the hairdos on the back and I knew it.”
“Thanks man, send ’em my way. I will buy them both for sure.”
Yes, Tommy Aldridge was in House of Lords for a minute
Joe had the two discs sent to my store, attention to me. But in between his store and mine, they had been intercepted. Someone had written on the transfer slips, “Sell at $11.99 — no discount.”
No discount? On House of Lords? The fuck was this?
Not that $11.99 is a bad price. That was a high but realistic sticker price for used copies of these albums. I can get Demons Down on CD from Discogs right now for under 8 bucks. If I had walked into another store and found them for $12, I would have bought them without hesitation. It was the principle of the thing that bothered me. I’ve talked before about how we didn’t get staff discounts on certain special or big ticket items. House of Lords was hardly the kind of band that would negate a staff discount. In fact, my boss (who had written the note) had no idea who House of Lords was.
He had obviously seen that the two discs were being sent to me, since he had written the note. Perhaps he looked at the back and spied the Simmons Records logo. Either way he personally nixed the the discount. I called him up to ask what the deal was.
“Hey,” I began. “These two House of Lords discs. What’s up with the price? No discount on these?”
“Nope,” he answered simply.
“Why?” I asked. “Nobody knows who they are.”
“That’s just what we’ve decided they’re worth,” he replied.
“Alright, well I’m going to pass on them then. I’m sending them back to Joe’s store.” I was disappointed. This kind of penny-ante crap had picked up in recent years. It was petty. It seemed arbitrary.
A few years later, more copies came in. I snagged those, discount intact. Much like most of the world, the powers that be had simply forgotten who House of Lords were. And I wasn’t about to say, “Hey, by the way, in case you forgot, staff aren’t supposed to get a discount on House of Lords.”
I’m listening to House of Lords right now. The funny thing is, for such “special” items, neither is really as good as their debut!
So after all the hubbub and commotion and he-says she-says, both Queensryches have finally released their albums. The consensus is pretty clear: fans prefer the original band to the original singer. The sales figures speak for themselves. Queensryche has more than doubled the sales numbers of Frequency Unknown, and charted in the 20’s rather than the 80’s. The judge that will settle the case of who gets the Queensryche name in November said that the market would decide. If that’s indeed the case, Tate can look forward to a solo career.
In the meantime Michael Wilton, Scott Rockenfield and Eddie Jackson carried on with Parker Lundgren and Todd La Torre, and basically did what fans have been asking: revert to an earlier sound.
Instead of going through this album song-by-song, I thought I would try something different. Instead I’d like to just talk about what I like and don’t like about Queensryche. You can feel free if you disagree if you like. Uncle Meat couldn’t bring himself to review the album. He hated it so much he rated it 0/5 stars. He said that the hiring of a Tate clone only makes Queensryche look like a bunch of douchebags. His opinion was that this act alone put Tate on top, even if he did release the dreadful Frequency Unknown. He asked me to say this on his behalf:
“This is like the winner of the Queensryche Karaoke contest. Worst album of the year, of any genre.”
So there’s that. I respect the criticism about the Karaoke contest. But lemme tell you folks, even if La Torre’s Tate is uncanny, it’s also welcome to my weary ears. I like hearing a Queensryche album where the singer is actually hitting the notes. I’ve heard Tate fans talk about electronic processing on La Torre’s voice. Well, that’s pretty much rooted in the 1986 Rage For Order sound.
If I had to nail Queensryche down to a specific era, it would be Warning-Rage-Empire in that order. Not terribly original, no. I’ll let it slide though, and for this reason: when a band like Queensryche, who have musically been adrift at sea for a long time (barring the odd triumph like American Soldier), they need to re-ground themselves and regain the faith and trust of the fans. Priest did something similar with their Angel of Retribution album. Various songs sounded pretty bang-on for specific eras of the band. And you know what? That worked for me. It was what I needed. They saved the double concept album for the next record.
So, if Queensryche can progress from here, I’ll be happy and forgive them for the lack of originality. I’ll let it slide for one album. I’m also a little disappointed in the brief running time of 35 minutes: 9 short songs plus 2 intros. None of the tracks are longer than 4 1/2 minutes.
I find pretty much all the songs to be of equal quality. That is, all of them are good, some of them are better than good, none of them are poor. I’ve waited to listen to this album 5 or 6 times before I tried to review it. After that many listens, none of the songs are particularly jumping out at me more than others. But none are turning me off. All have moments of greatness here and there, sometimes in the guitars, other times the drums, or the vocals. La Torre is definitely stunning at times on this album. It’s also fantasic to actually hear Scott Rockenfield playing the drums on a Queensryche album, and sounding like Scott Rockenfield. He has a unique sound, one of his own, as does bassist Eddie Jackson.
As for the new boy Parker Lundgren? Sure, he played on some of Dedicated to Chaos, but now you can actually hear him. He meshes better with Michael Wilton than anybody else the band has had since Chris DeGarmo.
Which brings me to my final point. I still miss DeGarmo. This is nothing against Michael, Scott, Eddie, Parker or Todd. DeGarmo had some kind of magic. Look at all of Queensryche’s hits. See who wrote most of them. Queensryche absolutely miss DeGarmo, more than they do Tate.
In closing, I enjoy Queensryche a lot more than Frequency Unknown, or many albums since Promised Land. Do I like it more than Rage? Warning? The EP? No. It’s good, no mistake, but it’s not at that level. Whether they are capable of ever getting there again remains to be seen. My attention is peaked; I’ll definitely check out the next album, which the band have already started writing. In fact I’m looking forward to the next one, and hopefully the next one after that.
Oh, and the live bonus tracks absolutely smoke.
3.5/5 stars
FYI: The Japanese edition contains an additional bonus track, which is “Eyes of a Stranger” performed live by the new lineup. All four live tracks are taken from the same gig. Reviewed separately.
There were some pretty awesome picks this year. I have to give Scottie props for “Coming Home” by Iron Maiden, from the excellent Final Frontier album. I found some things a bit surprising, such as the overplayed-on-radio “Black Betty” by Ram Jam, placing so high.
“Thick As A Brick” was the live version, so just over 10 minutes. Other long bombers included all of “Supper’s Ready” by Genesis, which resulted in a tirade by Phil for just as long, about how much he thinks it sucks! (And he’s an old-school Marillion fan…surprising.) And of course there were several Maiden tunes that clock in well over 5 minutes.
For your edification, here is the official Sausagefest XII Countdown: 75 tracks, plus 35 tributes. One tribute for each person that submitted a list! 110 songs over one weekend! Awesome.
Most of the stuff I picked this year was too obscure. Stuff like “The Cut Runs Deep” by Deep Purple. “The Hockey Theme” by Neil Peart. “Wall of Sound” by Kiss.
I did however vote for the Countdown’s #1 song, “Toronto Tontos” by Max Webster. It was 33rd on my list, but six people also picked it, putting it at the #1 spot on Saturday night.
Four picks from my top 20 made the countdown: “Die Young”, “Zero the Hero”, “Caught Somewhere in Time”, and “Breadfan”!
So, here were my top 20 picks. Tomorrow, I will post the entire Countdown! Stay tuned…
Sausagefest is an annual all-dude, all-meat, countdown of rock. Five of us from the old Record Store attended! This year, there were 110 songs (75 countdowns plus 35 “tributes”). #1 was Max Webster — “Toronto Tontos”. Other artists who made the countdown included Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Queens of the Stone Age, Tool, Rush, and Tenacious D among others. For the history of this event, check out Record Store Tales Part 30.
Thanks to Jeff Woods and Craig Fee for your contributions — above and beyond the call of duty!
And of course, thanks to Tom our host, and Uncle Meat, Seb and Dr. Dave for the music.
Uncle Meat will be providing me with the full track list. Stay tuned for that post, too!
ROCK AID ARMENIA – Smoke on the Water: The Metropolis Sessions (2010 Edel CD/DVD set)
When some of the biggest names in both British and Canadian rock combined together to re-record “Smoke on the Water”, as a mega-collaboration charity track, I don’t care who you are: You gotta listen! Originally released as “Smoke on the Water ’90” on The Earthquake Album, it didn’t garner the attention of, say, a Hear N’ Aid, but it’s definitely a noteworthy track. The Earthquake Album contained just the radio mix, which was an edited down version lacking Paul Rodgers. This package on the other hand is a CD/DVD combo set including all 4 versions of “Smoke ’90” and a documentary.
The region 0 encoded DVD is 40 minutes long, and filled with incredible behind-the-scenes footage and candid interviews. First, an explanation of the cause: rebuilding a children’s music school in Armenia, destroyed in a 1988 earthquake. Then, the musicians arrive! Roger Taylor (Queen) is first in the door. Can’t do anything without the drums! He shows off his considerable chops while warming up. Chris Squire (Yes) is next, who reveals that all egos have been dealt with in advance of the recording. Brian May turns up with a broken arm (skateboarding accident) to offer his support; he would return to record after the arm has healed. The recording takes place over five separate sessions. One benefit of this arrangement was that it enabled Ritchie Blackmore to show up, without having to see Ian Gillan!
Oh, to be in that room…
Soon to arrive: Tony Iommi. Paul Rodgers. Bruce Dickinson. David Gilmour. Alex Lifeson. Two keyboardists: Keith Emerson and Geoff Downes. Even Bryan Adams sings some backing vocals, after he turned up just to check out the recording studio! (Gilmour can’t help but take a stab at Rogers Waters during the interview segments.) Incidentally, I found it cool that Rodgers recorded his vocals with a hand-held mike.
I’ve always been a fan of this version of “Smoke”; in fact this was the first version of that I ever heard, 23 years ago. The band was dubbed Rock Aid Armenia. They got together in late ’89, and recorded this updated sounding cover. Gillan, Dickinson and Rodgers handled the lead vocals, in that order. It’s great to hear Iommi playing those chunky chords again. Chris Squire’s bass work is fairly simple, but perfect.
The CD includes an updated 2010 remix that cuts down a lot of Keith Emerson’s cheesey keyboards. Emerson stated that he wanted to put his own stamp on his parts, based on ELP’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”. He probably wouldn’t be happy to be mixed down on this version, but his keys always stood out like a sore thumb to me. The 2010 mix adds in a lot more previously unheard guitar fills instead. Other extras include a previously unreleased version of the song, with an entire Ian Gillan vocal take.
This is a great little-known recording, and I’m glad an obscurity like this has finally been reissued properly.
4/5 stars
Footnote: In 2011 and 2012, Gillan and Iommi followed this with a single and compilation album under the name WhoCares; also featuring Nicko McBrain, Jon Lord and Jason Newsted!
WATCHMEN : The Ultimate Cut – The Complete Story (2009 Warner 4 disc blu-ray set)
Directed by Zack Snyder, 216 minutes
What’s the greatest comic book movie of all time? I’ve seen a lot of them. There’s quite a few I haven’t seen as well, but it’s a great topic for discussion. I always have to put Watchmen on the table when discussing great comic book adaptations.
Watchmen is a complex tale. Its original comic was ambitious, containing page after page of dense backstory information in the form of documents and faux-magazine articles, all very relevant. There’s even a parallel story taking place, a comic within a comic, which directly reflects one (or arguably more) of the characters in the main story. Characters and their psychology are key. In addition, neither the comic nor the movie are linear. The story unfolds within different time periods, flashing back and forth, as we learn more about the characters, their motivations, and the world they inhabit.
It is the world they inhabit that was the hook for me. I’m a sucker for alternate universe stories. Here’s one that sets us on Earth, 1985, but things have unfolded very differently. The influence of various superheroes/vigilantes has caused history to unfold very differently. Specifically, it is the presence of Dr. Manhattan, who puts a swift and decisive end to the Vietnam war, who influences history the most. In this 1985, Richard Nixon is still president, and masked vigilantes are now outlawed.
The Watchmen are a group of such vigilantes, originally known as the Minutemen. Some, such as Dr. Manhattan truly are superhuman. Others, such as Nite Owl and his successor Nite Owl II, are mere mortals with high-tech gadgetry and skill as their allies. All have retired, some in fame and some in anonymity…all but one. Rorschach. He remains active, alone and wanted.
The movie begins as a murder mystery. Someone has managed to identify and kill Edward Blake — The Comedian, once one of the most dangerous heroes alive. To overpower and murder Blake would require an individual of tremendous resources. Who? And are other former vigilantes also at risk? Rorschach seems to be the only one who wants to know.
Being a fan of the graphic novel, I was very happy with the way that Zack Snyder captured Watchmen. It was done with love and care. The things that are discarded, I didn’t miss so much. The things that he changed, I understand why it was done. There’s one layer to the story/mystery that has been discarded, probably to keep this thing under 4 hours! The things that are reverently exactly the same as the comic made my jaw drop in awe. The acting performances are what they are, but I have to give special mention to Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach.
The soundtrack is one of the best in recent memory. Outside of Wes Anderson, I haven’t loved a soundtrack this much in a long time. It’s awesome from the stunning Bob Dylan classic “The Times They Are A’Changing”, to Nat King Cole, to Simon and Garfunkel, Hendrix and Philip Glass, and probably the weirdest use of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in movie history. The soundtrack is where it’s at. The movie even contains a Village People sighting! I’ll skip My Chemical Romance.
This Ultimate Cut weaves the comic-within-a-comic, Tales Of The Black Freighter, previously only available on its own, into the main body of Watchmen. These segments are narrated by Gerard Butler. New live action linking sequences connect the movie to Black Freighter, much like it worked in the graphic novel. People who haven’t read the graphic novel might not understand what “Black Freighter” is doing there, but they should probably start with the less daunting theatrical cut to start with anyway.
The box set includes four discs, beautifully packaged. Hardly a complaint to be registered. The box is heavy and sturdy. Included is Watchmen: The Motion Comic, packed in its own case, 5 hours long on its own. One disc is the expired digital copy of the theatrical cut (whoop de do) and another disc is loaded with special features. Best of these is Under The Hood, which is based on the graphic novel segments covering Holis Mason. Mason, the original Nite Owl I, wrote an autobiography called Under the Hood; this film is a faux-documentary on his story. It is presented as a television program from 1975 re-run in 1985, including commercials and scratchy footage. At 35 minutes, this is an absolute must. Other special features include brand new audio commentaries, for those who dare to keep going deeper. This set is just loaded. Unfortunately I found the sound level inconsistent, I had to turn it up and down frequently.
Having said that, I’m not going to discard my Director’s Cut of Watchmen. Clocking in at almost four hours, watching this version is a commitment. I know that occasionally, I will want to watch the “shorter” version of the film. Since a digital copy of the theatrical (shortest) cut is included here, maybe you won’t feel the need to double-up on Watchmen editions. For an enriched viewing experience, set aside the four hours one afternoon and enjoy.
COLEMAN BIOWIPES
$3.99 for resealable package of 30
July 5-6 2013 was the weekend: the annual all-rock, all dude Countdown event known as SAUSAGEFEST. This particular installment being Sausagefest XII. As discussed in Record Store Tales Part 30, and as seen in last year’s video, I suffer from a certain level of anxiety regarding the restroom arrangements. As in, there aren’t any. And I’m not as young as I once was, and the plumbing doesn’t always work as well as it used to when I was in my 20’s.
To the rescue came Biowipes, by Coleman! Not only can you shit with a clean bottom, but also a clean conscience: the Biowipes completely biodegrade in just 21 days. (Less I’m sure if you ate the bacon-wrapped jalapenos that we consumed.)
The Biowipes are large enough (20 x 25 cm) and tough enough to handle whatever you need to do. There are 30 of these moistened towelettes in each package, by my estimation and usage, probably enough to get you through 10 days in the woods.
6/5 stars
Seen below: Some of the many reasons these wipes were necessary!
While a certain percentage of readers know me as “LeBrain” on 107.5 Dave FM, my first radio appearance was actually a decade ago. Back in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, we used to get interview requests from a lot of students. Some were in business, some were in broadcasting, but they all wanted to talk to someone at the record store, usually the owner since he founded the whole operation on his own.
In this case, I was approached by a broadcasting student. He asked me if I’d like to do a radio interview over the phone regarding Napster, downloading, and how that was affecting the music business. Normally in the past all interview requests were passed on onto the owner. I thought that I could handle this one myself.
Even though I had serious doubts about the health of physical music sales at the time, I put on the brave face. There were still positive things happening.
“We haven’t noticed a decline in sales,” I said. “At least not a major one. The industry is responding to these concerns. I fully agree that $20 or more is too much to pay for a CD. I can tell you that if anybody is getting rich off the price of CDs, it’s not independent chains like ourselves. The markup we make on new CDs covers the shipping of the product to us and our overhead, and that’s about it.
“As I said though, the industry is responding. They’re putting bonuses inside the CD that you can’t get by downloading it off Napster,” I continued. “You’ll notice lots of bands, System of a Down for example, putting bonus DVDs or CD-ROMs in the package for virtually the same price.” Metallica too. Lars has obviously learned something from all this: Inside the then-new Metallica CD you got a free full length DVD plus a free concert to download on mp3.
I wasn’t optimistic about the future of physical CD sales, but I didn’t let on. I’d heard the buzz from customers and even staff members, downloading more and more, where they used to hunt for songs in brick-and-mortar stores. Some staff members of a certain generation refused to download on principle, but we were a shrinking group.
“Since I sell used discs,” I continued, spinning it positive, “a lot of the downloaders are selling off their collections to me. For us it’s turning into a winning situation since I have more, and better, stock than 5 years ago.”
The interview aired a day or two later. As it happens my boss happened to hear the interview and liked it. Although it might not seem like a big deal to all readers, I was just proud of myself for taking the initiative and doing it myself. He was surprised to hear the interview, since I hadn’t told him about it. I was confident in my experience and communication abilities, and I wanted the opportunity.
It wasn’t the last. The next one was a TV interview, for the local cable access channel. I don’t know if my boss ever saw that one, but he wouldn’t have liked it as much – all my facial piercings were visible! The idea of a dude with a labret stud and nose ring representing his store on TV might have been too much for him to handle!
mikeladano.com 