toronto

REVIEW: Paul Stanley – You Can’t Escape His KISS – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera (1999 Bootleg CD)

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA – Toronto Cast Recording featuring Paul Stanley (1999 Phantom Music bootleg CD You Can’t Escape His KISS)

Seeing Paul Stanley perform as the titular Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera was an experience I’ll never forget.  It was fall, 1999.  I remember hearing an ad on the radio on the way to work that the show was being extended due to popular demand – six more weeks!  I remember jumping around at the Beat Goes On (Cambridge location) chanting “SIX MORE WEEKS!  SIX MORE WEEKS!”  I knew I wasn’t going to miss Paul as the Phantom.  There were a lot of leather jackets in the audience.  A few Kiss shirts.  Not the usual Pantages crowd, but that’s what Paul did for Phantom of the Opera.  He crossed barriers with it.  A little later on, I was gifted a genuine Paul Stanley autograph from DJ Donnie D, who bumped into Paul on the streets of Toronto.  I had a program, an autograph, and the live experience.  All I needed was a CD of the show.

“They’d be stupid not to release a CD version of Phantom with Paul,” I reasoned.  The London and Canadian cast CD releases were bestsellers for us, despite their prices.  A Paul Stanley release would cross over to the rock crowd.  An official CD never came, but fortunately somebody in the audience was recording one of of those shows, and bootlegged it.  The date is unlisted, the CD says “Made in Japan” while the sleeve says “Printed in USA”.  (The number on the CD, 27/110/99 does not refer to a date as the ended on Oct 31 1999.)  This CD bootleg was gifted all the way from Australia, by the Mad Metal Man Harrison Kopp, who knew I had been seeking it a long time.  From Canada to Australia and back to Canada again.

A single CD release with unrelated bonus tracks, this disc focuses on the musical numbers that involved Paul and skips the rest.  This is probably sufficient for Kiss fans.

Being an audience recording, quality is all subjective.  There is some tape warble, which may or may not hinder your enjoyment.  There are people coughing in the audience; the usual sonic flaws.  You can clearly hear that Melissa Dye, Paul’s co-star playing Christine, is a professional while Paul is not.  He often resorts to a “rock frontman” voice to exclaim certain lines.  However, Paul also does an admirable job.  His tenor voice was no longer at its peak in 1999.  He was still up to the task, insofar as a rock star goes.  A tenor like Paul would never have made it to the starring role without his name marquee value.  That doesn’t actually matter when you consider that Paul helmed this show from May to October, to positive reviews.  Of course, there is more to it than just singing.  There is also the acting; the stage performance in costume and makeup.  You don’t get to see that here, but I can assure that Paul knew something about performing to music on stage in costume and makeup.  He brought the same bombast to the physical role as he did the vocal part.

The most memorable musical moments on this CD are the “Phantom of the Opera” and “Music of the Night”, which most people will be familiar with.  Paul’s performance on both is a knockout.  This bootleg recording serves as a reminder that Paul might have been an unorthodox Phantom, but he was still capable, and did the job well…even if you can hear the Kiss frontman in him, from time to time.

The track list on the back of the CD is incorrect.  There are 25 tracks total, provided below.  The bonus material includes four of the 1989 Paul Stanley solo demos:  “When 2 Hearts Collide”, “Don’t Let Go”, “Best Man For You” and the familiar “Time Traveler”.   These are followed by a 1978 interview in seven parts.  An odd potpouri of bonus material to be sure, but such is the liberty of bootleg recordings.

“When 2 Hearts Collide” belies the late 80s recording date with its ballady keyboard direction.  It sounds like a Journey ballad, but it wouldn’t have done Kiss much good back then, when fans were tiring of ballads.  Good chorus and would probably benefit from a quality official release so we can really appreciate Paul’s singing.  “Don’t Let Go” is another ballad, but more in that “power ballad” mold, with a blaring chorus.  Just like every band was doing in 1989.  It could have been a hit, or it could have been forgotten.  Either way, Paul should do his own “Vault” release and get this stuff out there in better quality.  “Best Man For You” is, you guessed it, a ballad.  It sounds like something related to “Reason to Believe” from Crazy Nights.  Fortunately, the last and best song “Time Traveler” did get an official release on the Kiss Box Set.  This one actually rocks!  In that late 80s way, with a drum machine thudding away where you wish it was Eric Carr.  The tape sounds slightly sped up from the official release.  (It happens when it’s tape-based bootlegs.)

Finally the 1978 Paul interviews aren’t too action-packed.  They lack the question portions of the recordings.  The subject is Paul’s 1978 solo album, and what Paul was looking to accomplish.  (Sing more, apparently!)   He was also hoping to appeal to all Kiss fans, and new fans too.  He also hopes that none of the four solo albums would disappoint the fans.  That didn’t happen, but then there is some praise for the late great Bob Kulick and the other players on the record.  He also prophesizes that one day, Kiss will become an institution.  Was he right?  In total, it’s 8 and a half minutes of interview.

A worthwhile purchase if you can find a copy.  There isn’t much in terms of 1999 Phantom recordings out there, and this might be the best of them.

3/5 stars, balancing collectability and sound quality.  Still a must for Paul fans.

 

1. Overture
2. Angel Of Music / The Mirror / Phantom of the Opera
3. Music of the Night
4. I Remember / Stranger Than You Dreamt It
5. The Phantom’s Instructions
6. The Phantom Threats
7. The Phantom Attacks
8. All I Ask Of You
9. Masquerade
10. Wandering Child
11. Let My Opera Begin
12. The Point of No Return / All I Ask Of You
13. Down Once More
14. Finale
15. Paul Stanley – When 2 Hearts Collide
16. Paul Stanley – Don’t Let Go
17. Paul Stanley – Best Man For You
18. Paul Stanley – Time Traveler
19. Paul Stanley Interview 1978 Pt. 1
20. Paul Stanley Interview 1978 Pt. 2
21. Paul Stanley Interview 1978 Pt. 3
22. Paul Stanley Interview 1978 Pt. 4
23. Paul Stanley Interview 1978 Pt. 5
24. Paul Stanley Interview 1978 Pt. 6
25. Paul Stanley Interview 1978 Pt. 7

On This Day: June 16 2023 & 2024

On this day in 2023, June 16 fell on a Friday.  As usual, Grab A Stack of Rock was scheduled to go live that night with our very first Iron Maiden episode (which I shall re-edit and re-broadcast in 2025).  It was Iron Maiden rarities with Harrison, Aaron and a cameo by Jex Russell.

It almost got cancelled at the last minute.  Why?  See below.

I’m glad we re-ran the Adventures in Epilepsy episode last week so you can understand how it effects our lives every day of every week of every year since 2008.  She fell, and as you can see, she took a faceplant.  She insisted the show go on.  She never wants to be the reason a show gets cancelled.  And so the show went on.

On a brighter note, on this day in 2024, it was a completely different story.  Well, not completely:  Aaron was there with me once again, as we embarked to Toronto for our very best record shopping excursion to date!

Check out these episodes of Grab A Stack of Rock, and be sure to like and subscribe on YouTube!  WordPress is fun but it doesn’t keep the lights on.  If you could support us YouTube, it helps a lot!

 

 

Clockwork Angels at Revolution Recording Studios

Last Friday, Dr. Kathryn was in Toronto at Revolution Recording studio for a project.  She sent these photos!

#1158: I dated a witch!

Welcome to a series of posts related to Halloween 2024!  Holen has written some guest posts, and I have my own bag of treats planned.  Enjoy!

RECORD STORE TALES #1158: I dated a witch!

 

A sequel to #904:  2000 Dates and #616:  None of My Exes Live in Texas

 

I have held off telling this tale long enough!  There are many reasons why I haven’t told this story until now, but here are the two main ones:

  1. I didn’t want to upset my grandmother.
  2. I don’t know anything about witchcraft at all, therefore I don’t want to seem like I’m making fun of someone’s religion.

However, I also think it’s amusing to say the sentence, “I dated a witch once”.  So here we go.

I explained in Record Store Tales #904:  2000 Dates, I did a lot of online dating in the year 2000.  Every time, it seemed the girl had something unique about her.  For example:

  1. One girl was the cousin of Haywire singer Paul MacAusland, and suffered from I osteogenesis imperfecta, the same disease that affected Mr. Glass in the Unbreakable trilogy.  We went out once, and she wasn’t into me.
  2. Another girl was in AA and I actually attended a meeting with her, which was a bad idea.  We went out a few times.  She wasn’t sure if she wanted a friend or a boyfriend, so I stopped calling her.
  3. One was legally blind!  She got into that movie The Cell with Jennifer Lopez and Vincent D’onofrio for free.  She was starting a new life in a new town and I don’t think I was her best prospect.  I stopped hearing from her, until one day she accidentally emailed me.  I think we went out twice total.  She had awesome black dreads.

This story is about none of those women.

Cynthia was from Toronto.  She shared her surname with a prominent Star Trek character.  She was into Sloan and A Perfect Circle.  She took horrible care of her CDs.  We wanted to listen to music, and I suggested 4 Nights at the Palais Royale by Sloan, but the discs were all mixed up in her collection.  I knew it wasn’t going to work out.

We had one day together.  I drove up to Toronto, got lost, and had a huge panic attack on my way there.  No GPS, but I did have a cell phone.  That was actually the end right there.  It had nothing to do with her.  It was the drive.  I knew I’d never do that drive again.

Besides listening to music, I watched Cynthia work.  She was an online psychic.  I’m a sceptic, but the kind that would like to be convinced.  She got on her computer, opened a word file, and began responding to emails.  She scrolled through her word file, found a paragraph she liked, and hit “copy”.  “This one will work,” she said.  She had all her “psychic” readings pre-written; she just selected one that applied to the question.  “I do real ones sometimes,” she justified to me.  Sometimes.  Not that night though.

We went for a walk, we talked, and Cynthia tried to explain her religion to me.  She was a “weather witch”, she told me.  She practiced Wicca.  Wicca and witchcraft, she explained, were not interchangeable terms, but she was both.  I was pretty clear that I was comfortable where I was spiritually, but hey, cool.  I very much had a “you do you” attitude when it came to religion.  We were both raised Catholic, so we had that in common.  She had two roommates, also Wiccan.  They had a picture up in their main entrance of their horned god, which was interesting, but they didn’t laugh when I commented that their god appeared “horny”.  Come on, cut the new guy some slack!

I made it home on Highway 401 in one piece.  I knew I’d never be going back.  It was a matter of telling her.  She did not take it well.

Cynthia had made for me a little magic pouch to protect me on the highway.  When I told her I could not do that drive again, she was quite upset.  “I’ll take the bus to you!” she offered.  There were tears…I felt awful.  I had described her as a “stage 5 clinger” before, which is unkind but not untrue.  It was the first time I had experienced something like this.  I went from indifferent dates, to this!

I went out the night of that phone call with some friends to a round of mini-golf.  It helped me get my mind off things.  I shared that I was slightly afraid she’d cast a spell on me.  You always say “Oh but magic and witches aren’t real,” but I thought, “Cynthia didn’t think so.”  What’s real?  And what the hell did I know at age 28?   We laughed a lot during that round of mini-golf, but then my friend Will prank called my car phone pretending to be an angry friend of Cynthia’s.  That took some calming down after.  Later, I was teased at a staff party by my co-workers about the kinds of spells she would put on me for dumping her.  You can see why I haven’t told this story before.

Sometimes I wonder what happened to all these people I went out with during that period of time.  Married, with adult kids now?  Do they even remember me?  I’m the one writing all this; maybe I’m the clinger after all.

 

 

PHOTO GALLERY: Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and Cassettes! Mike and Aaron (and Aaron’s Dad) Return to Toronto 2024! (RST #1134-B)

RECORD STORE TALES #1134-B:  Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and cassettes! Mike and Aaron (and Aaron’s Dad) Return to Toronto 2024!

 

To read about our Toronto trip, click here.

Here is the full photo gallery of every picture I took, hunting for records in Toronto.  For all our scores, you will have to watch the video at bottom.  Here are the still shots.  Enjoy!

(There’s one awesome photo of Aaron as the 9th Bosstone that he will not let me post!)

Thank you Aaron & Wayne for this awesome trip.

VIDEO: Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and Cassettes! Mike and Aaron (and Aaron’s Dad) Return to Toronto 2024! (RST #1134)

RECORD STORE TALES #1134:  Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and cassettes! Mike and Aaron (and Aaron’s Dad) Return to Toronto 2024!

 

For the first time since 2018, we returned to Toronto.

Aaron and his dad picked me up in Kitchener around 10:00 AM.  Of course, I made them pose for a drone photo before we left!  BMV in Toronto opened at noon, so we had plenty of time, and conversation was good.  The weather was cool, breezy and sunny.  It was the perfect day.  In fact it may have been the most perfect weather we ever had for a Toronto excursion.

I gifted Aaron a copy of Tim Durling’s Y&T book, Down For the Count, and Aaron gifted me two T-shirts, two CDs, and one Hot Wheels.  You will see these in the video that I spent the day filming.

“I’ve never seen somebody so excited for video editing!” remarked Aaron.  Of course!  When you had a day like we had, you can’t help but be eager to show it to the world!  I spent 2.5 editing it on Monday night.  The video tells the whole story.  We strolled the streets of Kensington Market, and we sifted through the aisles and aisles of CDs.  We only planned on hitting two stores:  our regulars, BMV and Sonic Boom.  We had a bonus stop at Paradisc Bound (first visit since 2012).  We scored at every single store!

“We’re going to do best at BMV,” predicted Aaron, who was correct, but we didn’t do poorly anywhere.  BMV won for prices and used CD selection.  Sonic Boom, unfortunately, has started pricing certain discs according to Discogs highs.  An old copy of Iron Maiden’s No Prayer for the Dying was jacked up because the cover art changed on the remastered editions.  An out of print Helix Get Up! EP was going for a ridiculous $40 on CD, even though all the songs are duplicated on the Power of Rock and Roll album.  Used cassettes, the kind that people used to dump in Thunder Bay landfills, were sometimes $10 each — same as they sold for when they were brand new.  A Razor album was $200 on used CD.  These are things they never jacked up back in 2018 when I was last there.  Something has changed, and it wasn’t cool.  Ultimately I did pay a lot of money for two used CDs at Sonic Boom.  Ultimately I decided I wanted them, even though I was paying way too much.

BMV was just awesome.  I scored eleven CDs and four records there, for a total of $107.  Some were things I was trying for the first time, others were albums I needed to help complete some collections of certain bands.  (One record was a gift that shall not be appearing here, for obvious reasons.)  We lost track of time easily.  I have no idea how long we were in BMV, but long enough to find what we wanted and then some.  Of note:  Their old 3-for$10 bin has changed.  It is now simple $2.99 each.  Perfect!

Aaron’s dad was exploring Toronto on his own, but was waiting for us when we met up for lunch at Pauper’s Pub.  There are so many great places to eat in our little area of Toronto, but we hit the Pauper’s Pub every single year.  That’s an endorsement.  Service was great and so was the food.  I had some blackened salmon, and unlike many places, it wasn’t dry and tasteless.  It was tender and loaded with flavourful roasted veggies.

We made our way through the sights and smells of Kensington on our way to Sonic Boom.  There, a giant Arkells display took up the front window.  The band played there two weeks prior, selling copies of their new 7″ single “Big Feelings”, which was sold out in one day and not in stock.  In fact they only had one Arkells left in stock, period.

We did well enough at Sonic Boom, though the store is becoming more…corporate?  “Like a bigger Sunrise Records,” said Aaron.  Lots of Reaction figures, Funko Pops, socks, and other assorted accessories.  We were not there for those things.  Reaction figures are $30 a pop now and prohibitively expensive, even though they had Phil Lynott, Cliff Burton, Lemmy, the Beastie Boys and more.  When we come to Toronto, we focus on the real deal:  the music.  I bought two “holy grail” items albeit overpriced, that I was hoping to find in Toronto but didn’t expect to.

I grabbed a Mango Pepsi to wet the whistle as we walked back to the car, meeting up with Aaron’s dad along the way.  He was a little bit behind so we had to kill 15 minutes.  Paradisc Bound was right there, and they had a record that I had been wanting since I first started in music retail back in 1994.  It was right there in front of me.  It was meant to be!  For $15, I added one final score to my tally.  The funny thing was, I had just been talking about this record with Jex Russell last week…and there it was.  Elvis truly is everywhere.  (That’s a clue, though you will see the record in the video.)

The drive home was a little stoppy-starty, as Toronto traffic is.  It took us one hour to get back up to Highway 401, and another hour back to Kitchener.  Aaron and his dad drove two more hours back to Owen Sound…and they wouldn’t let me pay for lunch!  Nice guys, those two.  Aaron had to work Monday morning, too!

If you want to see every single thing we scored, check out the video.  Can’t wait to return!

#1133: Mike and Aaron Return to Toronto – Today!

RECORD STORE TALES #1133: Mike and Aaron Return to Toronto – Today!

It has been a long, strange last few years, hasn’t it?

Aaron and I went record hunting in Toronto almost annually, for years, ever since 2012.  The goal was to buy music.  Lots, and lots of music.  Records, CDs, whatever.  We always did very well, and I began documenting everything for YouTube.  The video series has proven to be very popular.  But Aaron and I haven’t been to Toronto since 2018.  Why?

2018 was our annus horibilis.  Jen was sick.  Cancer.  She survived.  Her mother did not.  The only reason I went to Toronto with Aaron that summer was because “Mum” insisted.  “Go with your friend,” she told me.  Within six months of Jen beating cancer, we lost “Mum”.  I loved her mom.  I don’t say that lightly.  We were very close.  Because Jen is the kind of person who can sleep in until noon given the chance, her mom and I would patiently sit together, drinking coffee and watching old movies.  Our favourite topic to discuss was, of course, Jen!  Jen didn’t like this too much.  She hated when we talked about her!  God, I miss her mom.

2019 was the summer we spoiled ourselves, and I elected not to go to Toronto that year.  Jen and I celebrated our 11th anniversary, since we missed our 10th in a hospital waiting room.  In 2019 I got fat, grew my hair long, and spent as much time at the cottage as I could.  Since 2018 was the year without a summer, I vowed to take advantage of every minute from that moment on.

We all know was happened in 2020, which dragged on into 2021…

I became something of a hermit during this time.  Most of my friends would tell you they don’t see me often.  The one I’ve seen the most is Rob Daniels.  (Watch this space for a video!)  I haven’t seen Meat in over two years…Scott Peddle I saw last year…same with Max the Axe.  What friends have I seen?  Not many.  I’m an introvert by nature, and if the pandemic did any damage to me, it was to give me an excuse to burrow into my little hole and not come out.  And so I haven’t gone to Toronto with Aaron since then.  I did have lunch with him in Port Elgin last summer, but our record shopping excursions remained on hold.

It takes a lot of mental energy for me to force myself out the door and to be social, but Aaron really makes this easy.  He does all the driving.  He’s pleasant company.  So is his dad, Wayne, who also comes with us to Toronto.

So, today, Aaron and I return to Toronto with Wayne.  We’ll be hitting up BMV first in the morning.  Then Pauper’s Pub in the afternoon, followed by the finale at Sonic Boom.  I am not bringing a list.  I’m winging it.  I am waiting to be surprised and ready to be spontaneous.

Wish us luck.  Mike and Aaron are returning to Toronto!

 

Mike and Aaron go to Toronto: The Complete Series + More

If you weren’t following back from 2012 to 2019, you may have missed all the Mike and Aaron Go to Toronto excursions!

From 2012 to 2015, Aaron and I went to “Taranna” every year to go hunting for CDs, records, books and more.  We always made our regular stops:  Sonic Boom, BMV and Pauper’s Pub.  Some years, we hit up shops like Kops Records, Paradisc Bound, and Moonbean for coffee.  I missed 2016 and 2017 to go to TF Con in Toronto instead.  There are only so many dollars!  Aaron and I returned in 2018, at the behest of my late mother-in-law, who was dying of cancer.  “Go with your friend,” she insisted.

After her passing, Jen and I decided to spend the summer of 2019 at the cottage.  We were not able to go at all in 2018.  We made up for lost time, but in 2020 the pandemic hit!  Aaron and I were not able to return to Toronto together since.

I always documented and edited these trips into videos.  I recently compiled all these videos (and some bonus stuff) into two live streams that you are able to watch below!  Both streams have bonus footage!  The first has a musical unboxing from Aaron.  The second stream has a brand new chat with Aaron that you have never seen before!

Aaron and I will be returning to “Taranna” in 2024.  Watch this space…

VHS Archives #142: Alice Cooper Does Toronto – From the Rooftop in 1991

Alice Cooper was back in Toronto in 1991, promoting his new album Hey Stoopid in a big way:  by playing on top of the iconic HMV building at 333 Yonge St!  Shades of Let It Be, but with long hair and mascara, Alice’s band rocked the streets below.

Cooper also spoke to MuchMusic’s Michael Williams about the new album, and collaborating with L.A. friends such as Axl Rose.  He dropped a tidbit about their new album and a certain song called “The Garden”.

There’s also a segment here of Alice meeting fans from Operation Rock N’ Roll that same year.  Check it out1