This week on Tim’s Vinyl Confessions: #8 in his Sammy Hagar Deep Dive video series. This all coincides with a new book he has out, all about the Red Rocker’s discography. V.O.A. is a special album for me personally as it was my first ever Sammy Hagar solo purchase. I bought it for “I Can’t Drive 55” but I found a whole lot more.
What did Tim and I like, and dislike about this record? Find out today on Tim’s Vinyl Confessions. Don’t Make Me Wait too long…the show will be up this afternoon!
Buy Red On Black: The Listener’s Guide to Sammy Hagar at this link.
A big thank-you to my co-host Jex Russell and special guest Tim Durling for this informative, fun and funny look at the career of Sammy Hagar. The show was also about this new book that Tim has out about the Red Rocker.
OK, sure, the show went off the rails from time to time, but there were plenty of highlights:
Enjoy the show!
Show notes:
How do you go about asking Greg Renoff to write a forward. Just “Hey Greg…”?
Thanks for the shout out about the “late tax”.
Do you think Roth still listens to Montrose?
Have you ever heard “Sammy Hagar Weekend” by Thelonious Monster?
Regarding the “contractual obligation album”, there was a lot of information here that I was not aware of before, such as that note inside 5150 that says “Sammy’s solo albums can be found on Geffen records.” When you first notice that?
Capital Special Markets – were these only serviced to certain kinds of stores?
THE QUIZ:
Who engineered Chickenfoot III? – Mike Fraser
What is the name of the alien race that Sammy believes abducted him, and inspired many of his lyrics? – The Nine
Did the Sam & Dave actually happen, or was it just a Mandela Effect?
To coincide with his new book RED ON BLACK: The Listener’s Guide to Sammy Hagar, Tim Durling and I took a deep dive on album #3: Musical Chairs.
Here’s what Tim has to say about this episode:
“@GrabAStackofRocK’s Mike Ladano joins me for this look through Sammy’s third album, his second to be released in 1977. For the most part, we agree on this one. Be sure and subscribe to Mike’s channel for great content.“
This is the last show recorded at the cottage in 2024, in front of a nice fireplace. I unboxed my copy of the book on this show. Buy your own by clicking below!
Purchase RED ON BLACK: The Listener’s Guide to Sammy Hagar.
“One of the best shows I have EVER been a part of!” – Mike
“It’s definitely a top shelf RDN show for sure!” – Peter
The pleasure is always mine when I get to be a part of Rock Daydream Nation. I absolutely love Peter’s show; it challenges us and it entertains you. This was a relatively easy show for me. All I had to do was listen to Van Halen all week, and pick my favourite and least favourite songs from the Roth albums. That’s it! Beats workin’!
Tim Durling joined us for this amazing showcase of tunes, with some surprises. What was clear is this: least favourites are all but irrelevant. They’re all favourites to different degrees! I learned that I tend to gravitate to the more melodic side of Van Halen. Meanwhile, Peter was able to glean some meaning behind some of Roth’s lyrics.
Top shelf RDN is right. Top Jimmy would be proud.
A sequel to last week’s show! Last Wednesday, we saw quite a few brown album covers when we looked at minimalist album art. This week we’re following that up with brown album covers! I will be joining the Contrarians LIVE tonight at 7:00 PM EST for this excellent topic idea. Each of us has ten picks. I will have the honour of sitting on a panel with:
60 unique picks for brown cover art. I’ve given my list a twist: all Canadian artists!
THE CONTRARIANS – Brown Album Covers – Wed. October 23 7:00 PM EST
I will be joining the Contrarians LIVE tonight at 7:00 PM EST for an excellent topic idea: minimalist album covers. Each of us has ten picks. I will have the honour of sitting on a panel with:
70 unique picks for minimalist cover art. This outta be good. Link is below!
RECORD STORE TALES #1159:
The Community is Dead – Long Live the Community!
Once Upon A Time, the old WordPress music Community was an important part of our daily breakfast. It was a wonderful way to connect and talk music with like-minded folks. It was even a good way to seek support in our lives.
Then in 2023, the Community died. I don’t know why, and I no longer care. It’s possibly a “type of feint, or fake technique, whereby a player draws an opposing player out of position or skates by the opponent while maintaining possession and control of the puck.” People just…disappeared. Ghosted. I actually don’t want to know why. “Let the past die,” Kylo Ren said. “Kill it, if you have to.” That is done, but not by my own hand.
I knew it was dead in 2024, when several people from the old Community refused to watch or acknowledge my trip to Toronto with Aaron, the Community’s spiritual leader. It was a shunning, with intent. Rest in peace, Community!
Whatever their issues are, I hope they find peace and harmony, wherever they went and whatever they are doing now. I miss them. But there was a silver lining.
A new Community awaited me. A bigger, more welcoming Community. A Community that stretches from Australia to America, east coast to west, and up north to Canada. A stronger Community. For me it began as the old Community died in 2023. Marco D’Auria encouraged me to work with the Contrarians, and suddenly I started getting invites to appear on other shows, such as Rock Daydream Nation and My Music Corner. With these fine folks, together, we have rebuilt what was lost. Bigger, better, faster, stronger!
I welcome you to the Community! A place where we support each other, collaborate, and celebrate the power of music! A place where you will not be judged for your mistakes, nor shunned.
Welcome…I bid you welcome!
Today August 26 at 3:00 PM EST!
Aerosmith have called it a day, at least insofar as playing live is concerned. While we know a series of reissues is coming, it is likely that Aerosmith are done as an active band. I never got to see them live, but at least I did get to participate in this great Top Five album ranking with Tim, Jex and Will! (The same team that did a “least favourite Kiss list last year.)
The task was simple: Pick our top five Aerosmith albums, and two runners-up. This time, Jex didn’t go wild and pick, like, Just Push Play as his #1. In fact we think these lists were pretty rock solid! Some lesser-appreciated albums were given love, and the “big ones” were well represented. Studio only, no live or compilations.
Please enjoy this show as much as we enjoyed making it.
Today on Tim’s Vinyl Confessions, we deep dive into the new (final?) Mr. Big album called Ten. Shockingly, it’s their tenth studio album. I know, right? It’s also a few firsts: the first album with no songwriting from bassist Billy Sheehan, and debut Mr. Big album for new drummer Nick D’Virgilio. It has been eight long years since their last album, Defying Gravity, which wasn’t bad at all. Did they top it? Did they go out on a good note?
My written review will go up tomorrow.
A few weeks ago, Tim & I tackled a classic Helix album on Tim’s Vinyl Confessions. Check out this 4:07 mini album review, in which we discuss the album and the rare Canadian glow in the dark cassette.
The album should have been bigger than it was, so hopefully we spread some appreciation in the video below.
mikeladano.com 