Skyscraper

#1056: Spring Metal on the Other Side of Winter

RECORD STORE TALES #1056: Spring Metal on the Other Side of Winter

I think many people share my sentiment that this winter was absolutely brutal.

Since ages past, it has always been a celebration when the sun emerges warmly after a long, cold winter.  Memories flooding back.  So many memories.

1986.  On the back porch at the cottage, playing “Turbo Lover” and “Locked In”, freshly recorded in mono from MuchMusic, from the brand new Judas Priest album Turbo.   I was probably told to turn it down….

1987.  On my bike.  I had received The Final Countdown by Europe for Easter.  It was difficult for me to get into; different from what I was used to.  I remember cruising down Carson Ave on my bike with that album in my head.  Best track for me:  “Cherokee”.  I loved the keyboard hook and the chorus.

1988.  I was given Skyscraper by David Lee Roth for Easter.  It became a “warm weather album” that spring, played many times weekly in a Walkman while riding a bike or strolling through the neighbourhood looking for girls.  (Not that I ever found any.)  Memories of setting up my ghetto blaster on the front porch, with Skyscraper serenading the street.  That cassette wore out rapidly.  It was one my first CD re-buys a couple years down the road (spring ’91).

1989.  Trying to look cool, and practicing my guitar on the front patio for the world to see.  I was never any good, but I am sure that “Mary Had A Little Lamb” really delivered the spring-like vibes I was laying down.  In my earphones were things like New Jersey by Bon Jovi, House Of Lords’ self-titled debut, Quiet Riot’s latest with Paul Shortino on lead vocals.  Amazingly though, 1987’s Hysteria by Def Leppard was still in my Walkman.  The album had incredibly long legs.  I was hoping for one more single, which never came to be.  I picked “Love and Affection” as my favourite in ’89.  Then, I had some new buys!  We had just joined Columbia House.  I split the membership with my sister and picked up these treasures that rocked my whole spring:

  1. Leatherwolf – Leatherwolf
  2. Motley Crue – Girls, Girls, Girls
  3. Hurricane – Over the Edge
  4. Stryper – To Hell With the Devil
  5. Stryper – In God We Trust
  6. White Lion – Pride
  7. Sammy Hagar – VOA

Shortly after the first seven, I added Triumph Stages to the list, which carried on rocking me into the summer of 1989.  That year was one of the most critical in my life as a music fan, and the spring motherlode from Columbia House had a lot to do with it.

1990.  I was now working at the local grocery store, Zehrs.  Short-haired and geekier than ever, I was really getting in Black Sabbath.  Pushing the shopping carts in long lines, singing “Sweet Leaf”, but having no idea what it was about.  When I declared it as my favourite Black Sabbath song, people reacted strangely and I didn’t know why.  I guess they thought I was into the pot!  I thought the “Leaf” of the song was a girl named Leaf.

1991.  The end of highschool loomed…I felt very free.  Very excited about the future.  The future of hard rock.  Little did I know!  I was listening to a lot of the new Mr. Big that spring, an album called Lean Into It.  I thought they had really refined their sound.  I had also taken the dive into indi rock, and Raw M.E.A.T was absolutely one of my favourite CDs that spring.

Good place to end this trip down memory land:  happy memories, all of them!  I wonder what will be dominating the car stereo with the windows down this spring?

Advertisement

Scraping the Skies of Thunder Bay with T-Bone & Deke

Thank you T-Bone and Deke for an awesome Friday night on the LeBrain Train! Tonight’s episode was the brainchild of Deke and it was long overdue.  T-Bone, an original member of Thunder Bay’s own Current River, has plenty of great stories which we only scratched the surface of in this almost three-hour chat!

Topics discussed and their locations in the stream:

  • T-Bone Tales – scattered throughout.
  • Shaun of the Dead challenge – 0:33:20.  The zombie apocalypse has come and you are unarmed.  All you have to save yourself from the horde is your record collection.  Choose five records from your collection to throw at the zombies to save yourself.  Harder than it sounds!  This segment includes a highly disputed meltdown over Tenacious D’s debut.
  • Beer de-canning from Sleeping Giant brewery’s 2020 advent calendar – 0:35:00
  • A special Def Leppard box set unwrapping and story from someone involved with the making of it – 1:27:25
  • An hour-long track by track discussion of David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper LP – 1:50:00

Truly, some of the most fun I’ve had on a Friday night.  Good stories, good times, good beverages.  Good friends.  Spend your Friday nights with us, or catch us on Youtube after the fact.  Give the videos a share if you think your friends would like watching too.  It’s all about community and thanks for being a part of it.  Special appreciation to Harrison the Mad Metal Man for hilarious commentary.  I shall dub thee:  Hilarrison.

Chewing the Fat with T-Bone on the LeBrain Train

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Episode 40

This special 40th episode of the LeBrain Train is brought to you by T-Bone!  That’s right folks — after months of isolation in the wilds of Lake Superior, finally we have the one and only T-Bone from Thunder Bay joining us this week.  Deke and I will be talking rock with a true original.  On the docket this week:

  • An advent beer calendar “de-canning”
  • An in-depth discussion on David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper LP
  • A mental musical exercise based on Shaun of the Dead

…and lots more

T-Bone has contributed to list shows in the past but this is his first real live experience on the LeBrain Train.  T-Bone’s past submissions to the show were all Nigel Tufnel Top Ten lists and you can check out his rock pedigree in the following shows:

We hope you enjoy tonight’s rock as we chew the fat with T-Bone.

7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain

 

 

 

Just Listening to…David Lee Roth – Skyscraper

Just Listening to…David Lee Roth – Skyscraper

This is the first Just Listening post for an album I’ve already reviewed in full.  I tackled David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper back in 2013, rating it 4/5 stars.  However a recent conversation with singer/songwriter Derek Kortepeter led me to try to listen with new ears.

It started with Derek’s message to me.  “Unpopular opinion:  Skyscraper is better than Eat ‘Em and Smile,” he said.  “Better songs, better guitar, tons of awesome synth…when you have tracks like ‘Perfect Timing’ and ‘Knucklebones’ how can you go wrong?”  Derek says “Perfect Timing” might be his favourite song on the album.

Derek definitely has some good points.  It’s easily arguable that Skyscraper has better guitars.  Steve Vai was in the co-producer’s chair, and he layered his guitar parts as if he was building one of his own solo albums.  They’re very dense, yet melodically intertwined.  As for the synth, he has a valid observation with some songs like “Skyscraper”.  That song verges on progressive rock; it’s got so much going on, including synth and layered Roth vocals.  However I think the synth was overdone on tracks like “Stand Up“, which doesn’t even have Billy Sheehan on bass.

Skyscraper is an almost absurd album in some respects, with Dave pouring on that “charasma” to the nth degree.  There are so many “woo’s” “wow’s” and “oh’s” that you could make an entire song of just that.  Steve Vai was the star on Skyscraper, and as I said in my original review, how much you like Skyscraper will depend on how much you like Steve Vai.  I like Steve; I think his music and playing is fascinating.  Rock fans often don’t want “fascinating”, they just want the riffs and the choruses.  Eat ‘Em and Smile was much more about the big guitars and choruses, but it’s also just a fabulous record.  Skyscraper is colder sounding by comparison, and often drifts into experimental pop rock excursions.  It also suffers for the lack of Billy Sheehan, who wasn’t given a lot of creative freedom.  Where there should be bass, often you will hear synth.

Sorry Derek, you have made some really great points, and Skyscraper really is a great album.  It’s brave and fun and experimental, but it’s also cold with little bit of filler (“Stand Up”).   I’ll always rate it high…but not as high as Eat ‘Em and Smile.

REVIEW: David Lee Roth – Skyscraper (1988)

 

DAVID LEE ROTH – Skyscraper (1988 Warner Bros.)

Changes were afoot in the land of Roth after the success of Eat ‘Em and Smile.  Keyboardist Brett Tuggle was hired in as a full-time member.  Steve Vai was promoted to the rank of co-producer for the next album.  Billy Sheehan was put on a leash, his busy bass stylings reduced to typical pop rock lines on much of the new material.  One song even had a programmed bass instead of the real thing.

It seemed like a sudden about-face.  David Lee Roth had left behind the Van Halen-nouveau trappings of the last album in exchange for a much slicker and more commercial sound. What resulted was Skyscraper, a synth-heavy odd duck that nevertheless spawned a massive hit single still getting radio play today. Revisiting it, this almost (only almost!)  sounds more like a Vai album than a Dave album. That’s not a bad thing, depending on how you feel about the 6 (soon to be 7) string master. Certainly, his loopy noodling was reaching an early peak here, but his stylings are not for everyone.

My biggest complaint would be the sidelining of Billy Sheehan.  I mean, you’ve got possibly the best bass player in the universe in your band:  Exploit that!  Don’t keep him playing 1/4 notes.  In a 1988 Hit Parader interview, Sheehan said that he had to leave the band in order to express himself.  He referred to the “note police” (Roth) who ordered him to play it simpler.  After Skyscraper, he was replaced by drummer Gregg Bissonnette’s brother Matt (no slouch).

The opening rocker “Knucklebones” is a great song, but falls a little limp.  Skyscraper‘s production is cold, sterile, and digital; like in that 80’s way before the technology had really come along.  It does boast complex guitar riffing mixed in with idiosyncratic Dave lyrics. Dave has acknowledged that Vai was in the driver’s seat for this album, and its complexity is a testament to that.

Elsewhere there are some progressive moments (the title track, “Hina”), stage-ready rockers (“Perfect Timing”, “Hot Dog and a Shake”), good time ballads (“Damn Good”) and whatever-the-hell (“Three Fools A Minute”). All of this is surrounded by a fun, party-like atmosphere courtesy of Dave as the band’s hoots n’ hollers along.

I consider this album to be a brave experiment, and Dave’s highest artistic achievement. Not his best album, but his most artistic.  While not as instantly likable, rocking, or consistent as Eat ‘Em And Smile, it is endlessly ambitious, layered, and most importantly fun. Dave is the ringmaster of the greatest party in town. Skyscraper is the party where the smart dudes stop in for a beer.

Craig Fee at 107.5 Dave FM, the world’s biggest Van Halen (not Van Hagar!) fan has this to say:

I still have a soft spot for “Just Like Paradise,” “Stand Up” (the more you do it the less you fall down!) and “Hot Dog & A Shake.”  With Steve Vai on lead guitar, this album is a killer follow-up to EEAS.

I’m glad I asked Craig for his comment because our song likes and dislikes on this album are almost opposite!  My faves?  “Skyscraper”, “Hina”, “Just Like Paradise”, “Knucklebones”  My filler: “Stand Up”!  So there ya go.  Maybe this record has something for everyone?

4/5 stars

“Promo only!  Not for sale!”