The Review Revue

Forgotten Music Thursday: Uli Jon Roth - The Metamorphosis of Vivaldi's Four Seasons (2003)

2011-09-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

Every once in awhile I stumble upon a CD that is a pure joy to listen to from start to finish, one I can’t stop listening to, where I can’t get the music out of my head even long after the banality of life has forced me to remove my headphones. Uli Jon Roth’s Metamorphosis is such a CD—an aural treat from start to finish, pure ear candy!

Uli Jon Roth got his start in the German metal band, Scorpions, back in 1972. During his six year tenure in Scorpions he displayed a strong Jimi Hendrix influence and both psychedelic and neo-classical tendencies which eventually led to his departure from Scorpions in 1978 to pursue a solo career that would allow him to stretch out in ways he hadn’t been able to within the context of his former band.

Initially Roth struggled to find himself musically walking a tightrope between his Hendrix influenced psychadelia and neo-classicism. But in the first few years of the new millennium he finally seemed to find a style that suited him perfectly, an interesting fusion of psychadelia, heavy metal, and neo-classicism. It’s in Metamorphosis that Roth’s fusion of those styles was fully realized.

Metamorphosis is Roth’s “interpretation” of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Backed by the fifteen-piece Sky Orchestra, Roth is at his absolute best in this brilliant fusion of musical styles. He has a sense of melody and adventure, putting his own spin on Vivaldi, making it sound new and fresh, as if it were written today and not in 1723. The first 13 tracks feature Roth sticking close to Vivaldi’s original and the final 14 tracks feature Roth’s re-imagining/re-interpretation of Vivaldi’s work, which at times sounds reminiscent of some of the more familiar work of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. But the album is best enjoyed when listening start to finish without interruption—or at least the first 13 or final 13 tracks should be listened to in single sittings.

The only drawback to this exceptional CD; and it’s one that’s, quite fortunately, easy to completely ignore are the spoken word intros to several of the pieces. Roth was/is a consummate flower child, and his neo-hippy spoken word intros don’t really add anything to the exceptional music, and without headphones they’re often not even audible over the nature sound effects Roth used for “background” during those intros.

This CD does beg the question, what more musical adventures does Roth have up his sleeves, and when can we expect another brilliant offering such as this one? Hopefully, this isn’t an isolated occurrence for Roth as he’s truly found his musical niche.

Related Links:
The Four Seasons (Wikipedia Entry)
Antonio Vivaldi (Wikipedia entry)
Uli Jon Roth (AllMusicGuide.com)
Uli Jon Roth (Official Site)Uli Jon Roth (Authorized Site)
Metamorphosis (AllMusicGuide.com Review)
The Metamorphosis of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Wikipedia entry)

One Second After by William R. Forstchen

2011-08-26T21:38:00.000-05:00

Heavily inspired by Pat Frank's post-apocalyptic classic, Alas, Babylon, Forstchen fast forwards to the early 21st century and instead of Alas, Babylon's post nuclear world, Forstchen's cautionary tale is one of an America crippled by an EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) attack.

On the surface the idea of an EMP attack seems far less severe than a nuclear attack as there's no fall-out to deal with nor any radiation sickness. But stop and think about it, a sudden pulse that knocks out electricity across the country all at once. Any device with ANYTHING electronic in it is fried. Some cars (pre-1980) might still run but they'd be few and far between. No Internet, no television, no radio-- basically we'd be completely cut off from each other. Instead of a UNITED States of America government would suddenly be forced to turn completely local and we'd be scattered groups of city-states.

Without TV, radio, or Internet we would be left to speculate over what happened and who was responsible. With Pearl Harbor there was radio to keep us informed, with the Kennedy Assassination there was TV and radio, with 9/11 there was TV, radio, and Internet to keep us informed. Imagine being sucker-punched back into the 19th century....

And it gets worse-- 19th century technology can't support a 21st century population! Something's got to give!

William R. Forstchen dares to imagine such a world in a cautionary tale in the tradition of great post-apocalyptic fiction like Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon and Nevil Shute's On the Beach.

What is especially chilling about Forstchen's book is stopping to take stock of your own situation as you read it. Would you be one of the lucky few survivors? or Would you be one of the unlucky many? If you're on prescription medication keep in mind there'd suddenly be a finite supply of it at your local pharmacy. If you suffer from any health ailments at all you'd find yourself more vulnerable with those who are stronger in the unenviable position of "triaging" the population to make sure the limited resources-- food, water, and medication go to those who are most likely to not only survive but help others survive as well.

While One Second After is not for the faint of heart or stomach it's an excellent read. The characters are real and tangible-- you know these people or people like them. Forstchen set the book in the town where he lives to give it a greater air of authenticity and making it all that more real to his readers. ***** out of *****

Forgotten Music Thursday: Survivor - Caught In the Game (1983)

2011-08-25T00:01:00.002-05:00

In the early eighties bands like Journey, REO Speedwagon, Asia, and Survivor not only dominated the airwaves but also filled arenas with their special blend of AOR.

A bit heavier than their contemporaries—Journey and REO Speedwagon, Survivor really burst onto the scene with a little help from Stallone and their hit Eye of the Tiger which was used prominently in Rocky III.

Caught In the Game has gone largely overlooked or forgotten by the band and by radio. None of the tracks from this album have even appeared on any of Survivor’s multiple different “Greatest Hits” or “Best Of” collections.

This oversight is quite unfortunate as Caught In the Game is likely Survivor’s most consistently strong album from start to finish. The songs are catchy and have a bit more bite than the lesser tracks from their previous albums.

The album opens with the title track, an infectiously catchy rocker and other than the ballad I Never Stopped Loving You the album doesn’t really let up from start to finish. And even that lone ballad is the 3rd track—thus getting it out of the way early—before reverting to the more mid and uptempo rockers that allowed guitarist Frankie Sullivan to cut loose a bit more.

Survivor ended up saving the best for last with the album’s closer, Santa Ana Winds, one of the best tracks the band ever recorded. With guitar solos vaguely reminiscent of some of Blue Oyster Cult’s better material of the previous decade, Bickler’s soulful vocals and the keys of Jim Peterik the song is strong from start to finish.

Today, admittedly this album sounds somewhat dated, a relic or snapshot of the early eighties. But in the context of its time, this was easily one of the better albums released in 1983. It was much to the listening public’s detriment that radio didn’t give it more attention.

(Incidentally this was David Bickler's final album with the band. After leaving for medical reasons he was replaced by Jimi Jamison. Bickler did re-join in 1992, only to be replaced in 2000 by... Jimi Jamison. Today Survivor's lead singer is Robyn McAuley. Bickler today can be heard in Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercials)

Related Link:
Survivor Caught In the Game on Amazon.com (song samples available)

One Track Mind: Toto - Falling In Between (2006)

2011-08-13T09:03:00.000-05:00

Toto has long been one of my favorite bands. Their willingness to take risks and try a variety of different styles of music has always impressed me as has their brilliant talent. After all Toto is a band of session cats. These are the guys the other bands call on to perform on their albums.

Heck these guys started out backing up Boz Scaggs on his Silk Degrees album and after the unprecedented success of their 1982 album IV they were tapped by Michael Jackson to play on his Thriller album.

In 2006 Toto released what would inevitably be their final studio album, Falling In Between. Some would argue this was their best album ever and most would agree it was their best album since IV. They certainly went out with a bang.

The album opened with the title track. From the first time I heard Falling in Between, it swiftly became one of my favorite Toto songs. It had a fiery drive to it I'd not heard since Gypsy Train on their 1992 Kingdom of Desire album.

Between Steve Lukather's fiery guitar work and the powerful vocals of original lead vocalist Bobby Kimball (who rejoined the band in 1998 after a 14 year absence), the tasteful background vocals and keyboard work of grammy winning keyboardist Greg Phillenganes, and the precise and tasteful drumming of Simon Phillips Falling In Between has it all. It inevitably set the tone for the entire album.

Related Link
Falling in Between (album review)

Forgotten Music Thursday: Supertramp - ...Famous Last Words (1982)

2011-07-28T00:01:00.003-05:00

After the smash success of their Breakfast in America album, Supertramp bought themselves sometime by releasing the live album, Paris in 1980 and re-grouped in 1982 for what would be Roger Hodgson's final album with the band.

While not as commercially or critically successful as Supertramp's seventies material, ...Famous Last Words is still a strong album and is still very faithful to the sound and musical style that the band had made their own in the previous decade.

The biggest hit from this album, It's Raining Again is perhaps one of the weaker songs on the album. It has that fun whimsical style but it also comes across as the band merely going through the motions.

The real meat & potatoes of the album are some of the deeper cuts like Crazy & Put On Your Old Brown Shoes. Both of which take full advantage of the vocals of both Hodgson & Davies not to mention the superlative woodwind skills of John Helliwell and apparently the band thought well enough of both of those songs as they did make it onto the setlist of Hodgson's farewell tour with the band.

While both Hodgson & Supertramp would later find some success separately there was a lightning in a bottle magic that crystallized on Crime of the Century and remained present through Hodgson's final show with the band in Munich in 1983. And admittedly, this album isn't as good as Crime of the Century, Breakfast in America, or even Crisis? What Crisis?! but it is still quite enjoyable and remains a worthy bookend to Roger Hodgson's tenure in the band.

Related Links & Media
Supertramp Crisis? What Crisis?! (1975) review
Supertramp Even In the Quietest Moments (1977) review
Supertramp Breakfast in America (1979) review
Roger Hodgson In the Eye of the Storm (1984) review
Supertramp It Was the Best of Times (2000) review
Roger Hodgson Open the Door (2000) review
Something Else Reviews: Featured Artist - Supertramp

One Track Mind: Nick Cave - Into My Arms (1997)

2011-07-11T21:58:00.001-05:00

Nick Cave is a brilliant songwriter. Admittedly much of his material is a bit dark for my tastes but the first time I heard Into My Arms it moved my soul. A person's religious beliefs are very personal and I dare say that no two people hold the exact same beliefs. The song is a testament of love and respect of one another's beliefs and how love can bridge those differences.

The song is sung from the perspective of a non-believer addressing his love who is a believer. The song says, I may not believe in God, but if I did I'd ask him to protect you, to watch over you, and to guide you to me. The non-believer after going through a litany of things he doesn't believe in says he does believe in love and that his belief in love should be enough to bridge the differences in belief between he and his love.

Stripped down to just Cave on vocals and piano the song grows even more starkly personal and moving with Cave's deeply emotive vocal delivery and subtle understated piano playing. Both lyrically and musically the song is a touching and at times haunting baring of a soul. The vulnerability goes far beyond moving and is easily one of the most emotionally wrenching songs ever recorded.

The song works on both a deeply personal level and on a grander all-encompassing level. We may have our differences but don't most of us at least believe in love? Isn't that belief something to build on, to get past that which divides us?

"But I believe in love
And I know that you do too
And I believe we can choose our path
And we can walk down, me and you"

Forgotten Music Thursday: I-Ten - Taking a Cold Look (1983)

2011-06-30T00:01:00.001-05:00

In 1983 songwriters Billy Steinberg (guitar/vocals) and Tom Kelly (guitar/keyboards/vocals) formed the short-lived hard rock/AOR band I-Ten.

Steinberg and Kelly have quite an impressive resume as songwriters, having penned the hits Alone for Heart and Like a Prayer for Madonna among several others they had significant cred in the music industry.

Although MTV was still in its infancy, video had already killed the radio star... If this album had been released in the pre-image concious age of music videos, it very likely would have been a hit.

As it is, 3 of the songs on this album ended up being covered by other bands-- the aforementioned Alone became a hit for Heart, Taking a Cold Look was shortened to Cold Look and covered by Canadian hard rockers, Honeymoon Suite, and I Don't Want to Lose You showed up as a bonus track on REO Speedwagon's The Hits.

The original versions have a certain fire in them that, aside from Heart's Alone, is sorely lacking in the cover versions perpetrated by other artists. Steinberg and Kelly's vocals, while not extraordinary, are certainly of a professional calibre that warrants taking them seriously and giving them further consideration than they ended up receiving.

This album seems to go in and out of print. When in print it's in the steep but reasonable $20 range (or used for only $12) when out of print I've seen it listing over $100!! I recommend taking advantage of the opportunity to get this album while it's in print at a much more reasonable cost. This album is a musical time capsule of all that was GOOD about music in the early eighties. For the quality of music on this album, it remains somewhat of a mystery to me why I-Ten weren't more well received at the time of this release. If the opportunity to listen to this lost gem ever presents itself to you, by all means open your ears, close your eyes, turn up the volume and enjoy!

Related Media

One Track Mind (Squared): Marillion - Kayleigh & Lavender (1985)

2011-06-24T00:01:00.001-05:00

Much like with tomato soup & grilled cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly, and Queen's We Will Rock You & We Are the Champions, Marillion's Kayleigh & Lavender are inextricably linked.

Listening to Marillion's Misplaced Childhood album it's easy to see that this was by design as Mark Kelly's beautiful keyboard solo acts as a segue from Kayleigh into Lavender.

Both songs are rife with Fish's brilliant image-laden lyrics:

Do you remember chalk hearts melting on a playground wall?
Do you remember dawn escapes from moon-washed college halls
Do you remember the cherry blossom in the market square?
Do you remember I thought it was confetti in her hair? - Kayleigh

I was walking in the park dreaming of a spark
When I heard the sprinklers whisper,
Shimmer in the haze of summer lawns.
Then I heard the children singing,
They were running through the rainbows.
They were singing a song for you.
Well it seemed to be a song for you,
the one I wanted to write for you, for you, you. - Lavender

Both songs also feature a biting and at times even menacing sarcasm in Fish's vocal delivery that twists and darkens the mood of both songs.

By the way didn't I break your heart
So sorry, I didn't mean to break your heart... - Kayleigh

You can hear the venom dripping from his broken heart. He's been hurt and he wants to hurt the one who hurt him. Anyone who has had a broken heart is familiar with that sentiment and Fish captures it absolutely brilliantly not only in his choice of lyrics but in how he delivers them.

While Lavender begins with a lighter tone it doesn't last:

A penny for your thoughts my dear
A penny for your thoughts my dear
I owe you for your love
I owe you for your love- Lavender

If anything Lavender is even more stark in the difference between the lighter tone of the lyrics vs. the harsher delivery of them. Sung by someone else the song could be considered light and even whimsical. Sung by Fish the connotations behind the lyrics are considerably darker.

I "discovered" Marillion in 2002. An online friend of mine who shared some of my other musical interests (Chicago and Dream Theater) recommended Marillion to me. I started with Misplaced Childhood and perhaps it was due largely to impeccable timing-- I was going through a rather rough case of heartbreak myself at the time-- but the album really spoke to me... especially Kayleigh and Lavender. Granted the girl who had broken my heart inherited her name from a Barry Manilow song that had been playing in the car when her mother was on the way to the hospital and not the Marillion song-- but the bitterness of both of these songs spoke to me at that point in my life.

One of the things that I really enjoy about Marillion on the whole is that they twist and turn on its head the negative stereotype that prog-rock is overly technical at the expense of emotion. If Marillion's music is bland and emotionless then I'm a vernicious knid.

Related Links
Marillion Misplaced Childhood (1985) review

One Track Mind: Chicago Transit Authority - Introduction (1969)

2011-06-09T00:01:00.008-05:00

While I'm part of what is considered the "second wave" of Chicago fans in that I became a fan of theirs in the eighties when they were riding high on hits like Hard to Say I'm Sorry, You're the Inspiration, Hard Habit to Break, Will You Still Love Me, and to a lesser extent Look Away, it was inevitably their back catalog that held my interest and kept me a fan all these years later.

I remember, Christmas 1991. My parents got me my first computer and Chicago's 4 cassette box set, Group Portrait. I was already intimately familiar with everything Chicago had recorded since 1981 (Chicago 16-21) but I was still rather new to their older material.

I popped in that first casette and was blown away by the opening track, Introduction, which had been the lead track on their debut album back in 1969. Terry Kath's soulful vocals and searing guitar, that wall of brass from the horn section, and a tasteful Lee Loughnane trumpet solo that was followed by a fiery Terry Kath guitar solo. I was hooked!

About a year and a half after that, the summer of 1993, my father took me to my first Chicago concert at the Starlite Theater in Latham, NY. Latham was about a 3 1/2 hour drive from my hometown. On that tour they were opening their sets with... Introduction. The faces and voices had changed somewhat. Terry Kath had died in 1978, Peter Cetera had left the band in 1985 to pursue a solo career, and drummer Danny Seraphine had unceremoniously and somewhat acrimoniously been fired in 1990. In their places were Bill Champlin (vocals & keys), Dawayne Bailey (guitar & b/g vocals), Jason Scheff (bass & b/g vocals), and Tris Imboden (drums). The horn section was still intact though as was original keyboardist/vocalist, Robert Lamm.

My father & I made the same pilgrimage in 1994 and I had the joy of meeting many of the members of the band including guitarist Dawayne Bailey, bass player Jason Scheff, trumpet player Lee Loughnane, keyboardist Robert Lamm, trombone player Jimmy Pankow, and the 2 guys who were arguably the most gracious with the fans) trumpet player Lee Loughnane and drummer Tris Imboden.

Since then my knowledge and familiarity with Chicago has grown substantially. I know their back catalog front, back, left, right, upside down, and inside out. Some of their material has aged well, some has not. But Introduction-- no matter how many times I listen to it, it's like hearing it for the first time all over again. There's a timeless energy to it. That these guys were in their early twenties when they recorded it. None of them had even graduated college that they were able to compose and perform material like this just blew my mind.

And now whenever I hear that song, my mind goes back to those long road trips with my father (my mother joined us when we went to see them in Saratoga Springs, NY with CSN in 1996 and in Toledo, OH in 1997 when they came to visit me while I was working at Cedar Point Amusement Park. But on both those tours they had dropped Introduction from the setlist).

I opened with a clip of the original line-up of the band performing the song in 1972. So it seems only fitting that I close with a clip of the band, as I would have seen them in 1993, performing the song in Toronto:

Forgotten Music Thursday: Dragon - Body and the Beat (1984)

2011-05-26T00:01:00.031-05:00

With the unofficial start of summer looming on the near horizon the time to break out good summer music is upon us.

Few CDs scream summer to me the way most of the albums Dragon released in the eighties do. I'd argue that no other band captured the overall atmosphere and spirit of summer in musical form the way Dragon did.

In 1979 after firing vocalist Marc Hunter and trying to continue without him Dragon split up and Marc Hunter released a couple of solo albums (Fiji Bitter and Big City Talk). In the early 80s Dragon decided to have another go at it. They updated their sound a bit and capitalized on the success of Hunter's Big City Talk album and single as the springboard to catapult them back onto the Aussie charts after a four year absence with the single Rain.
Rain was so successful the band headed back to the studio to record a full album leaving enough space to include their latest hit... The Body and the Beat was born. Before even opening the LP, CD, or cassette sleeve the album cover suggests opening the windows to let the summer breeze flow through.

From the first bars of their hit single Rain through to the closing bars of Fool Dragon gives the listener a full on blast of that summer breeze. The album is further augmented by hits like Cry and Magic. But capturing the overall vibe of summer the best is Cool Down. You can see the heat shimmering off the pavement, the hot sun beating down on you, the sweat forming in droplets on your forehead. This song so perfectly captures the heat of summer that even on the coldest days of winter listening to this song makes me want to crank the AC.

The upbeat vibe of Promises (So Far Away) captures the magic and fun of summer nights and further establishes the whole summer vibe of the album:

The moon is a sunlight
It shines in the night

While it sounds dated today the title track, The Body & the Beat is a fun song with Todd Hunter's solid bass chops taking center stage. The truth is, there's not really a bad track on the album-- there are good ones and great ones. If you can find this classic Aussie gem GET IT save it for a hot summer day, roll down the windows, turn up the volume and enjoy the soundtrack of summer in full force.

Related Links & Media

Dragon (Australian Archives write-up)
Dragon O Zambezi (1978) review
Marc Hunter Communication (1985) review
Dragon (official website)
Dragon (wikipedia entry)
Dragon (midoztouch.com) - Download their out of print albums in mp3 format

Australian Archives 1: Dragon

2011-05-02T19:00:00.002-05:00

Information Taken from Wikipedia:

Dragon formed as a prog-rock band in 1972. However the original line-up never released any albums. It was only after bass player, Todd Hunter, brought in his brother, Marc, as a vocalist that the band began to find success.

In 1974 they released their debut album, Universal Radio in New Zealand and followed it up in 1975 with another prog-rock album-- Scented Gardens for the Blind. While they were successful on the live circuit, their studio albums were met with very little success.

In 1975 their manager, Graeme Nesbitt, convinced them to go in a more pop-friendly direction and to tackle the Australian market. They brought in keyboardist Paul Hewson who had developed a reputation for being an exceptional songwriter. In 1976 after the release of their first pop single in Australia, This Time, the band was hit with their first setback. Drummer Neil Storey died of a heroin overdose at age 22. Dragon considered disbanding, but again manager Graeme Nesbitt came to the rescue and recommended Kerry Jacobsen as a new drummer.

The 1975-1979 line-up of Dragon consisting of: Todd Hunter: bass guitar; Marc Hunter: vocals; Paul Hewson: keyboards & vocals; Robert Taylor: guitar; and Kerry Jacobsen: drums brought Dragon their first wave of success with Aussie hit singles April Sun in Cuba, Are You Old Enough, and Still In Love With You from their albums Sunshine, Running Free, and O Zambezi.

In 1979 Dragon attempted to break into the US market in a disastrous tour with Johnny Winter in which Marc Hunter nearly incited a riot by referring to a Texas audience as "faggots." Upon their return to Australia the band was forced to fire Marc. His drug abuse was adversely affecting his voice and his brother, Todd, felt that the only way to save Marc from himself was to fire him from the band.

The band enlisted singer Billy Rogers to replace Marc and brought in violinist, Richard Lee in an attempt to change their sound and direction with their new singer. They released one album, Power Play, that was a commercial flop prompting the band to disband in December of 1979. Meanwhile Marc cleaned himself up and recorded his debut solo album, Fiji Bitter, and scored a minor hit with Island Nights. He followed up Fiji Bitter with Big City Talk in 1981. The title track was a minor hit for him.

In 1982 Dragon reformed, initially under the auspices of paying off their old debts. Drummer Kerry Jacobsen left for health reasons and was replaced by Terry Chambers. In 1983 Dragon scored a number 2 hit with Rain. In 1984 Dragon saw a return to their late seventies era fame with their Body and the Beat album. Dragon's success was further helped by the success of Marc's 3rd solo album, Communication in 1985.

Sadly keyboardist and songwriter Paul Hewson left Dragon and died of a drug overdose on January 9, 1985. Drummer Terry Chambers and guitarist Robert Taylor left the band shortly thereafter. Chambers was replaced by Doane Perry (currently in Jethro Tull) and Taylor was replaced by Australian guitar ace, Tommy Emmanuel. The band brought in Todd Rundgren to produce their next album, Dreams of Ordinary Men and toured Europe supporting Tina Turner under the name "Hunter" in 1986 (incidentally Dreams of Ordinary Men was released in the US under the band name, Hunter. The US version of the album also included a remix of their 1982 hit Rain).

The band briefly split up but released Bondi Road in 1988 with guitarist Randall Waller and drummer Barton Price. They continued touring into the 90s with the Hunter brothers, their longtime producer Alan Mansfield, and an ever changing line-up of keyboardists, guitarists, and drummers.

In 1995 Dragon released Incarnations, an album featuring new arrangements of some of their biggest hits with a litany of notable Australian guest musicians augmenting these adventurous new arrangements.

In 1997 Marc Hunter was diagnosed with severe oesophageal cancer. Marc underwent a litany of traditional and experimental treatments and his friends in the Australian music industry even performed a couple of concerts to help defer his medical costs. At the first of the benefits, Marc appeared on stage and thanked his fans for coming. For the second benefit he was to ill to attend but sent a video thanking his fans and friends. That concert was released on CD as "The Concert for Marc" and includes a who's who of Australian musicians including Little River Band vocalist - Glenn Shorrock, Australian Crawl frontman - James Reyne, Midnight Oil vocalist - Peter Garrett, Cold Chisel vocalist and Australian vocal legend - Jimmy Barnes, Barnes Cold Chisel bandmate guitarist and vocalist - Ian Moss, Men At Work vocalist - Colin Hay, Daddy Cool and later Mondo Rock vocalist - Ross Wilson, Southern Sons lead vocalist - Jack Jones, vocalist Wendy Mathews, and even former bandmates guitarists Robert Taylor and Tommy Emmanuel. Sadly Marc Hunter succumbed to his cancer on July 17, 1998.

In 2005 Todd Hunter reformed Dragon with vocalist/guitarist Mark Williams, guitarist Bruce Reid, and drummer Peter Drummond. They released the 2 CD Sunshine to Rain in 2006 featuring acoustic arrangements of Dragon's biggest hits and fan favorites performed by the current line-up of the band. On July 1, 2008 Dragon were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. They were joined on stage by Australian Crawl's James Reyne and Cold Chisel's Ian Moss to perform April Sun In Cuba and Rain. In 2009 Dragon released Happy I Am, their first album of original material since 1988's Bondi Road.

One Track Mind: Steve Lukather - Hate Everything About U (1997)

2011-04-30T07:41:00.000-05:00

In 1997 Steve Lukather released his most raw and personal album to date, Luke. After his then recent divorce Luke was an emotional blood-letting of sorts. Hate Everything About U is perhaps the most heart-wrenching of the songs on the album.

Employing the same songwriting tool that 10cc did on their hit I'm Not In Love-- repetition. Lukather's repeated claims of hate instead reveal a heartbroken love. Lukather rattles off a litany of reasons for his "hate" that expose his love, regret, and broken heart.

At the time I first heard this song in 1998, I was still nursing the wounds of a broken heart suffered a few months before this song was a sucker punch to my heart. While the whole album resonated with me Hate Everything About U and Always Be There For Me (but that's another review for another time) hit a particular nerve. And while I've long since moved on I still look back on both of those songs fondly as they helped me get through a bit of a rough patch

Forgotten Music Thursday: The Hounds - Puttin' On the Dog (1979)

2011-04-28T00:01:00.003-05:00

In 1979 John Hunter and The Hounds released their second and final album, Puttin' On the Dog. While not as strong or ambitious as their debut, Unleashed, their sophomore release has its moments and is still quite enjoyable.

The album opens with a fun rousing cover of Doo Wah Diddy Diddy. The Hounds interpretation of this rock classic while enjoyable neither takes anything away from nor adds anything to the original version leaving the listener wondering why they bothered covering the song in the first place.

Angel of Fire is perhaps the best song on the album. It has a fire and energy to it that would not have sounded out of place on their debut and, perhaps more than any other song on the album, it recaptures the overall fun spirit and energy of Unleashed.

Next is yet another cover, this time they decide to tackle the Stones Under My Thumb. And again while an enjoyable cover it neither adds anything to nor takes anything away from the original version. It's slightly more enjoyable than their cover of Do Wah Diddy Diddy.

Other than Angel of Fire, the next 4 tracks are some of the strongest on the album and are all original songs. Of the four songs (Gotta Find a Way to Meet You, The Moth and the Fire, Workin' On My Cool, and Horses), The Moth and the Fire is the strongest and is easily the 2nd best song on the album.

The balance of the album is somewhat uneven-- an original tune, Spiders, a cover of The Kinks Who'll Be The Next In Line, and the album closes with a strong finishing track, Along The Lane.

After further researching this album I noticed that there was a bit of a personnel shift in the band between the 2 albums. Gone were guitarist Jim Orkis and drummer John Horvath and in their place were guitarist Donald Griffin and drummer Michael Neff. Given the general uninspired "going through the motions" vibe of the album I'm left wondering if the personnel change was prompted not by Hunter or anyone in the band but by record label executives or producer Jeffrey Lesser. The absence of Orkis was especially noticeable as Orkis had co-written 4 of the songs on Unleashed. Perhaps the 3 covers are the result of the absence of Orkis and the corollary lack of his creative input in the songwriting process.

If you've heard and enjoyed Unleashed chances are you'll also enjoy Puttin' On the Dog... You just won't enjoy it quite as much. If Unleashed was a feast, Puttin' On the Dog is the microwave reheated leftovers of that feast you have for lunch the next day.

Related Links
The Hounds Puttin' On the Dog

Forgotten Music Thursday: The Hounds - Unleashed (1978)

2011-03-31T00:01:00.020-05:00

It's 1977. You're at Just Angels Lounge in Harvey, IL. The floors are sticky and the stench of cigarettes & stale beer hangs like a fog in the air. You're packed like a sardine with the rest of the standing room only crowd near the restrooms where the ammonia stench of the urinal cakes has your eyes watering. The bar is packed and the audience is waiting for The Hounds to take the stage.

The Hounds were a mainstay of the south-suburban Chicago bar scene in the late seventies. Led by the charismatic keyboardist/vocalist, John Hunter the Hounds performed a lively brand of late seventies hard rock with tinges of glam mixed in.

Hunter would take the stage dressed in a silver jacket, ratty old jeans, and a handcuff dangling from his right wrist. And given their local popularity the Hounds played to packed houses.

Truth be told, I'd never heard of these guys until quite recently. A colleague of mine had the pleasure of seeing the Hounds live in the late seventies before they signed their recording contract.

After a bit of investigation I found a high quality rip from vinyl of Unleashed. From the opening bars I felt my feet sticking to the floor, my eyes watering from that ammonia urinal cake stench, I smelled the cigarettes and stale beer. I was instantly transported back to the Just Angels Lounge.

The Hounds were a band that wore their influences somewhat on their sleeves but mixed those influences together in a way that was distinctly their own... Whether it's the Mott the Hoople tinged When the Boppers Turn to Rockers the suggestions of David Bowie on Janeane Tangerine or even John Hunter channeling Mick Jagger on I'll Be Your Magic Man you get a fun album full of delightful seventies musical influences.

After listening to this I find it a pity that the Hounds only released 2 albums (Unleashed and Puttin' On the Dog) and unfortunately they never released any live albums. While Unleashed is thoroughly enjoyable it only hints at the band's showmanship. It lacks the energy and the chemistry between the band and the audience that was present in their live shows.

That being said, if you're looking for an excellent sample of late seventies hard rock nostalgia you really can't do much better than Unleashed. Try it, you won't be disappointed.

Related Links:
The Hounds Unleashed (download the album)

One Track Mind: Jim Steinman - Left In the Dark (1981)

2011-03-18T00:01:00.005-05:00

Jim Steinman first came to fame as Meat Loaf's songwriting collaborator on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album in 1977. After a rigorous touring schedule Meat Loaf literally lost his voice. Frustrated and growing impatient, Steinman soldiered on without Meat Loaf recording and releasing Bad For Good in 1981.

While Left In the Dark was later covered by Barbra Streisand and Meat Loaf, I still prefer Steinman's version over either Streisand's or Meat Loaf's. Much of this is due to Steinman's spoken word intro which was missing to the later covers. Steinman's delivery which comes across as menacingly painful. The sound of a man so hurt and wronged he doesn't know whether to lash out at his lover or curl into a ball and block out the world:

Where did you touch him?
And how did it feel?
How did you let it begin?
What did he whisper?
When did you cry?
And where do you think it will end?
How long did you do it?
Why did you stop?
Did you get to try anything new?
How good was he honest?
And where did you go?
And who made the very first move?

Steinman's version also excels in his vocal delivery. There's no arguing that he lacks the range of both Meat Loaf and Streisand, often struggling to hit the same notes they both hit with ease. But his struggles to hit some of the notes come across as emotional pain that add to the song's effectiveness, as if he's struggling to fight back the tears of the cuckolded and jilted lover.

The strings and piano add to the heart-wrenching pain of the lyrics which are some of Steinman's best:

There are no lies on your body
So take off your dress
I just wanna get at the truth

You can hear the struggle between love, pain, and hate expertly conveyed not just by Steinman's brilliant flair for lyrics but in that anthemic over the top delivery that are a trademark of so many of Steinman's songs.

All in all, Left In the Dark, is one of the most emotive and heart-wrenchingly beautifully written and performed songs I have ever heard. But don't take my word for it, let the song speak for itself.

Song Download from Amazon (note, the song is mislabeled as "Medley" on Amazon.com)

Forgotten Music Thursday: Hunters & Collectors - Juggernaut (1998)

2011-02-24T00:01:00.000-06:00

Several Australian bands tried to crack the U.S. market. Only a small handful (INXS, Midnight Oil, Little River Band, AC/DC, Crowded House, and the Bee Gees kinda sorta) were successful in that endeavour.

Much to our detriment, one of the groups whose attempt to crack the US market was met with little or no success was Hunters & Collectors-- a gritty pub rock band with a horn section.

Early on Hunters & Collectors were driven largely by their rhythm section-- John Archer on bass and Doug Falconer on drums and the gritty vocals of Mark Seymour. As the years progressed the bands music grew increasingly more accessible, the horn section became a stronger component of the band's sound and Mark Seymour really came into his own not just as a vocalist but also as a singer.

In 1998 the band decided they'd broken all the new ground they could. They entered the studio for one final studio album-- Juggernaut and a farewell tour (Juggernaut - Say Goodbye 1998).

While not as commercially succecssful as 1993's Cut or 1994's Demon Flower-- Juggernaut is easily Hunters & Collectors most accessible album. While their earlier material certainly had an audience, many found it to be a little TOO adventurous and at times a bit too pretentious in its adventurousness.

While this album lacks any real stand-out tracks it also lacks "filler" material. It's a consistent and strong and respectable album from start to finish.

There's something imminently enjoyable about hearing the horns "dancing" with Seymour's smooth vocals on True Believers, the infectious groove of Higher Plane, and the classic H&C sound of When You Fall which recalls the stylings of much of the "Hunnas" earlier material.

If you're looking for something a little bit different, an exit just far enough the main highways of music to be both enjoyable and accessible... This final farewell from a band that decided to burn out rather than fade away is well worth a few spins on your CD player.

Forgotten Music Thursday: John Barry - Themependium (2007)

2011-01-27T00:01:00.000-06:00

With a career spanning over 5 decades, John Barry has made a name for himself as one of the most in demand film score composers-- perhaps only second to John Williams.

Included in this exceptional box set are not only Barry's more well known works for the Bond films (including the signature theme) but also material from his Oscar winning scores for Born Free, Out of Africa, The Lion In Winter, & Dances With Wolves.

The set is rounded out by a handful of some of Barry's lesser known works including TV themes and material from his scores for Raise the Titanic (easily the best part of this Golden Razzie winner of a bomb), Somewhere In Time (the hauntingly beautiful theme that yanks on the heartstrings and some might argue is more memorable than the film) not to mention material from Day of the Locusts, Body Heat, Frances, Peggy Sue Got Married and many more. For fans of film scores this is a must have as Barry's scores were so brilliant they at times were even superior to the films he was scoring (Raise the Titanic and Frances are cases in point).

While it could be argued that much of the material on this box set is well known (the Bond themes in particular) much of it is not. And pulled from the context of the movies and shows the music is taken from, much of the "forgotten" and even some of the more well known gems are what stand out the most as they are strong enough to stand on their own even without the films they are from as a frame of reference.

There's a distinct and haunting beauty to much of Barry's work. Considering the length, scope, and breadth of Barry's career a single CD collection would not do him justice. This box set is an excellent place to start delving into Barry's extensive body of work and could conceivably inspire the listener to delve deeper into some of the full scores that are merely hinted at in this set.

Related Links
John Barry (wikipedia)
John Barry - The Man With the Midas Touch

Forgotten Music Thursday: Jimmy Barnes - s/t (1985 - US) )For the Working Class Man (1985 - Australia)

2010-11-25T00:01:00.095-06:00

The combination of 14 Australian Top 40 albums for Cold Chisel and 13 charting solo albums, including nine No. 1s, gives Jimmy Barnes the highest number of hit albums of any Australian artist. Yet in the United States, Barnes is virtually unknown.

In 1985 Jimmy Barnes, took another stab at the US market, this time as a solo artist. His band, Cold Chisel had, at best, a lukewarm reception when they'd attempted to crack the American market a few years earlier.

Unfortunately, largely due to poor timing, Barnes was met with a similar lack of enthusiasm on his solo attempt. While he was arguably far more talented than Bryan Adams, his music was far too similar to that of the Canadian rocker who had beat him to the punch for people to take much notice.

Luckily for Barnes the album was a smash hit that went multi-platinum outside the United States and even yielded 1998, 2003, and 25th anniversary (2010) re-releases in Australia. Working Class Man (penned by Journey keyboardist and the album's co-producer, Jonathan Cain) was even used in the American film Gung-Ho (featuring actor Michael Keaton). The title song was so popular in Australia that the film was re-titled Working Class Man for its Australian release.

Incidentally Cain thought so highly of Barnes that he approached him about possibly replacing Steve Perry in Journey. An offer which Barnes thankfully politely declined.

The album features some solid blues tinged rockers that have aged far better than much of the material from the eighties. While the track order was changed substantially for the re-releases the album is equally enjoyable whether the songs are listened to in the American track order:

1. No Second Prize (Barnes)
2. I'd Die To Be With You Tonight (Sandford)
3. Working Class Man (Cain)
4. Promise Me You'll Call (Barnes)
5. Boys Cry Out For War (Barnes)
6. Paradise (Barnes)
7. Without Your Love (Arnott, Barnes)
8. American Heartbeat (Cain)
9. Thick Skinned (Arnott, Barnes)
10. Ride The Night Away (Jordan, Little Steven)
11. Daylight (Barnes)

Or with the Australian track order:

1. I'd Die To Be With You Tonight (Sandford)
2. Ride The Night Away (Jordan, Little Steven)
3. American Heartbeat (Cain)
4. Working Class Man (Cain)
5. Without Your Love (Arnott, Barnes)
6. No Second Prize (Barnes)
7. Vision (Barnes) (Bonus track not on original release)
8. Promise Me You'll Call (Barnes)
9. Boys Cry Out For War (Barnes)
10. Daylight (Barnes)
11. Thick Skinned (Arnott, Barnes)
12. Paradise (Barnes)

Admittedly the first time I heard Jimmy Barnes voice (his duet with fellow Aussie vocalist, John Farnham, When Something Is Wrong With My Baby) I was not a fan. His rasp grated on my nerves. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Barnes voice had snuck under my skin and started to fester. Over time a voice that I once found grating I've grown to absolutely love.

While some might argue that Barnes is best enjoyed within the confines of Cold Chisel, I'd counter that his solo material challenges that argument quite convincingly. While his solo material is not necessarily superior to his material with Cold Chisel it is certainly on the same level of quality. If Barnes voice doesn't grab you at first, give it time. He has a swagger to him that demands to be noticed and inevitably enjoyed.

There's an easy enjoyability to this album from start to finish. The album is augmented by guest contributions including late 70s/early 80s pop chanteuse Kim Carnes, the aforementioned Jonathan Cain, and the highly respected Aussie vocalist Renee Geyer.

In hindsight I can understand why, within the context of the mid-eighties, this album failed to generate a stir in America. However, at the same time, I'd argue this album has aged far better than many of the albums that were far more popular at the time of its release. It lacks the oversynthesized keyboard saturation that was so prevelant on other releases from that era that was so welcome at the time but now makes those releases sound so dated. The tracks written and produced by Jonathan Cain even show him exhibiting far more restraint with Barnes than he exhibited in Journey. (**** out of 5)

Related Links & Media
Working Class Man video (Australian)

Working Class Man video (American)

I'd Die To Be With You Tonight video

Ride The Night Away video

Boys Cry Out For War video

No Second Prize video

Daylight video

Jimmy Barnes (official site)
Jimmy Barnes (wikipedia)

Steve Lukather - All's Well That Ends Well (2010)

2010-11-04T00:01:00.002-05:00

In his latest outing Steve Lukather shows he's still at the top of his game. While his last album, Ever Changing Times, was thoroughly enjoyable; All's Well That Ends Well, shows that Lukather is at his best when he's at his most personal. Much like with his 1997 album, Luke, Lukather gets a bit more personal than on his other solo releases.

The album opens with Darkness In My World. The opening is somewhat ambient in nature until almost two minutes into the song when Lukather shifts gears with an infectious rhythm groove. This is one of the more melodic examples of AOR I've heard in awhile. Despite the advent of iTunes and single-serving music, Lukather proves album oriented music still has its place.

On My Way Home sounds like it wouldn't have been out of place on Ever Changing Times. The style is reminiscent of that album. Lukather has said that this album is a continuation of that album and On My Way Home is certainly a track that bridges the styles of the two different albums together. The vocals are tight and the song has those trademark jazz fusion influences that Lukather is known for. The guitar solo hints to one of Lukather's influences and close friends, Larry Carlton.

Can't Look Back is Lukather's look back at looking forward in his life. The song captures Lukather's nature of restlessness. He's been a perpetually active musician since before Toto's inception in 1977 between touring, recording, and doing sessions at a pace that would drive many of us to exhaustion. The song features a soulful guitar solo, the kind Lukather has come to be known for.

Don't Say It's Over is one of Lukather's trademark ballads lyrically reminiscent of Toto's I'll Be Over You but musically it completely fits into the musical jigsaw of this album.

Flash In the Pan is a hard driving rocker displaying Lukather's trademark lack of restraint. The song is balls to the wall from start to finish. One of the more amusing and fun songs on the album.

Watching the World displays Luke's growing disenfranchisement with the political establishment and the general state of the world. "Sitting here watchin' the world, fallin' apart, oh, what can you do?, Standing in the shadows of lies and deceivers, When does it end?"

You'll Remember can best be described as a fusion rocker. It would not have sounded out of place on Ever Changing Times and is one of the "common threads" that ties this album to its predecessor. The guitars and vocals are definitely pop rock, but the keyboards and rhythm speak more to Luke's fusion influences.

Brodie's has a bad-ass blues vibe it's the pissed off bitter counterpoint to the more melancholy Watching the World. The lyrics are fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) have a fair share of pop-cultural references to big-screen TVs and Facebook pages. It makes the song prescient for our times but over time will likely "date" the song to this era.

The album closes with the instrumental fusion rocker, Tumescent (You've got to love Luke's highbrow sophomoric sense of humor-- great song title for an instrumental piece!).

From start to finish the album is one of Lukather's best. Mixing the polish of 2008's Ever Changing Times with the dark personal vibe of 1997's Luke for an album that works on many levels.

Related Links
All's Well That Ends Well promo video clip

Steve Lukather (official site)
Steve Lukather (wikipedia)

Forgotten Music Thursday: Brian Vander Ark - Resurrection (2004)

2010-10-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

It was once said of Billy Joel that his mass appeal is due to his ability to write songs which can be so personal and individual for so many different people. Each of his songs can conceivably mean something different to every listener. Where Billy Joel has left off, others have risen to the challenge of writing songs that have that similar mass appeal. Brian Vander Ark is such a singer and his album, Resurrection shows some of the best material of one of the best singer/songwriters of his generation, picking up the torch left by the likes of Elton John, Billy Joel, and Bruce Springsteen, but with a style all his own.

Despite the success of their 1997 hit The Freshman few people (outside of Michigan at least) are familiar with The Verve Pipe in general and the songwriting talents of their lead singer, Brian Vander Ark in particular.

While the Verve Pipe didn't grab me at first, there's no denying that Vander Ark's songwriting has only improved with each successive album. His solo album, Resurrection, follows in the natural progression of the Verve Pipe's 2000 release, Underneath. The two albums make excellent companions to one another.

The opening track, 1229 Sheffield has some of Vander Ark's more clever turns of phrase:

Returning our bottles for ten cent deposits
I'll drink us two dollars more...

The pet names you once gave me, we soon gave to the pets
I still come when you call them, just to be sure

There's a naked honesty to Vander Ark's songwriting that some may describe as "angsty" but to pigeonhole it would do it a great disservice. Another highlight to the album, And Then You Went Away probably best captures Vander Ark's "heart-on-the-sleeve" angst:

You hung your favorite picture so you could see it everyday
Then you went away, then you want away
It's by the window garden you said you'd water everyday
Then you went away, then you went away...

Slipped on the velvet curtains you had custom made
Then you went away, then you went away
And there's my new best friend, the one you took in as a stray
Then you went away, then you went away

Much like many of his Verve Pipe songs, there's a common theme of the evolution of relationships-- people growing together, growing apart, and the circumstances we face in relationships and the effect those events have on the relationship-- sometimes making it stronger, other times tearing it apart. This theme, tackled initially on the opening track, 1229 Sheffield is revisited on Mileage:

Pass by the high school
A memory rerun
When I was seventeen couldn't wait for twenty-one
I pass by the church
Where I married you
When you were twenty-one and I was twenty-two...

So I speed past the building
I always wanted to
Since I was twenty-one, almost twenty two
If I'd had the nerve
I'd have quit there before
You turned twenty-three and couldn't take me there any more...

The album as a whole is Vander Ark at his very best. His voice is soothing and consistently interesting. The songs never falter, there's not a "weak" or "skippable" song on the CD-- if anything most songs fall victim to the repeat button and with each new listen provide the listener with the gift of a new perspective. This is an album that only improves with each listen. So listen and enjoy!

Steve Hackett - Out of the Tunnel's Mouth (2010)

2010-10-15T21:00:00.001-05:00

Every once in awhile a song, an album, or even just a simple solo-- be it vocal, guitar, keyboard, or some other instrument will send chills up and down my spine. Admittedly that hasn't happened in a long time. There have been albums I've enjoyed. And while I've dared music and musicians to wow me it's been quite awhile since I've been gobsmacked by an album. Steve Hackett gave me a much needed and long overdue musical sucker punch with his latest release.

While not as well established or known as his former bandmates, Steve Hackett has developed a respectable and devoted cult following since his departure from Genesis following their Wind & Wuthering album in 1977.

In the years since his departure from Genesis, Hackett has explored several different musical styles-- classical, flamenco, world music, jazz, and even the prog rock that he'd come to be known for in his five years with Genesis.

Of all of the albums that he has recorded since his debut, Voyage of the Acolyte, none of them has married all of the music styles that he drew upon for influence as well as Out of the Tunnel's Mouth. The Genesis influences are unmistakable and it leaves one wondering if this album is what Genesis might sound like today had Hackett been the driving creative force in the band instead of Banks, Rutherford, and Collins. Incidentally, the album also features Hackett's predecessor, Anthony Phillips, playing 12 string guitar.

The album starts with the hauntingly beautiful, Fire On the Moon, there's a dark haunting quality in the opening of the song thanks to the music box that complements Hackett's guitar and vocals throughout the song. At about 1:10 the song shifts from haunting to transcendent and majestic before shifting back to haunting at 1:37. The song shifts back and forth between haunting and majestic throughout. Hackett's vocals are reminiscent of Pink Floyd's, Roger Waters and David Gilmour. The guitar solo that comes in at 2:46 is one of the most emotive solos Hackett has recorded since Firth of Fifth on Genesis Selling England By the Pound. Hackett graces the song with a second guitar solo starting at 4:36 that picks up where the first had left off at 3:25. There is a beautiful keyboard piece that dances around Hackett's guitar solos. It never over-powers the guitar it merely accents the better elements of Hackett's fretwork.

Nomads starts with a brilliant flamenco flavored acoustic guitar solo that further showcases Hackett's versatility. As with Fire On the Moon the vocals on Nomads are more used like an instrument than for lyrical effect. Heck the phone book could be sung to the same melody and make the song just as satisfying. That being said the lyrics are well written and certainly leave some of Hackett's fans wondering why Banks, Rutherford, and Collins didn't utilize Hackett's talents more when they had the opportunity to do so. The flamenco guitar resumes at 2:45 into the song before Hackett switches from the acoustic flamenco to his trademark electric guitar at 3:07 for another brilliant solo that is nearly as enjoyable as the solos in Fire On the Moon.

The style and mood of the album shifts from the light and airy flamenco tinged Nomads to the pastoral prog-rock vibe of Emerald and Ash, a song that would not have sounded out of place on a Caravan album back in the seventies. The song is chocked full of imagery. The song is also colored with some beautiful sax playing by Rob Townsend. This song also features not only Hackett on electric guitar but Anthony Phillips on 12-string acoustic guitar. The two former Genesis guitarists sound absolutely brilliant together.

Tubehead is a more straight ahead instrumental rocker with Yes's Chris Squire guesting on some frenetic bass playing. Where the previous material was lighter and more relaxed. Tubehead has a dark crunchy edge and plays like a train running full speed ahead.

The mood shifts to somber and melancholy on Sleepers. Much like with Fire On The Moon, Nomads, and Emerald and Ash there's a haunting beauty to Sleepers making for yet another brilliant track on an album that had already been consistently brilliant. The mood on the song shifts from melancholic to dark and sinister at 4:53. If ever there was a song that screamed of Halloween, Sleepers is it. Hackett's guitar playing evokes spooky haunted houses on chilly fall evenings.

Ghost In the Glass has a light jazz fusion vibe to it. The percussion suggests a dimly lit jazz club after closing. The acoustic guitar work of Anthony Phillips gives way to the haunting electric work of Hackett whose electric playing is augmented by a string section of violins and violas. Much like the keyboard work on Fire On the Moon the additional strings accent Hackett's guitar playing.

Still Waters is deceiving in its title as it has a rolling blues vibe to it adding yet another musical style this already musically diverse album.

The album closes with Last Train to Istanbul which has more than subtle hints of Middle Eastern influence. You can hear the train chugging along at a moderate but steady pace through the Turkish countryside. There is a lot going on in the song and it's easily the "busiest" song on the album. With so many different styles coming into play and so many different influences you can listen to the song multiple times and hear something new and different each time.

What makes Out of the Tunnel's Mouth so enjoyable from start to finish is its accessibility. Not all of Hackett's explorations into other musical styles have come together as well as this album. Despite featuring so many different musical styles there is a cohesiveness to the album. All of the songs sound like they belong on the same album. And all of the songs, despite the myriad of different styles, are distinctly Steve Hackett. I'm willing to go out on a limb here and say this is the best solo album of any member of Genesis past or present and better than any of the albums Genesis has recorded since Hackett's departure (Five out of Five Stars... or if you prefer a PERFECT TEN on a scale of 1 to 10!)

Related Links
Steve Hackett (official site)
Steve Hackett (wikipedia)

Black Country Communion - Black Country (2010)

2010-10-10T17:44:00.001-05:00

Sometimes music jumps out and grabs you on the first listen, other times it merely plants a seed that slowly grows inside you. Black Country is an interesting mix of songs that do both.

The opening title track, Black Country, grabs the listener and holds on tight with Glenn Hughes vocals and driving bass along with Jason Bonham's exceptional drumming leading the way for much of the song with Joe Bonamassa playing some solid guitar throughout. This is the perfect opening track for the album as it is a force unto itself. Hughes vocals are just as powerful as they were in his days in Deep Purple.

One Last Soul was the lead single released in mid-August. While catchy with some killer vocals by Hughes, it's actually one of the weaker tracks on the album. It lacks the punch and attitude of Black Country and some of the stronger tracks that come later on the album.

The Great Divide chugs along on the backbone of Hughes bass playing Bonham's drumming. Hughes vocal wails are reminiscent of Robert Plant at his vocal peak in the seventies showing that even pushing sixty he still has a tremendous range and can still rock harder than many guys half his age.

While there are no weak tracks on the album and Black Country Communion is to 2010 what Them Crooked Vultures were to 2009 (THE supergroup of the year), easily the best tracks on the album are Song of Yesterday and Too Late For the Sun. The latter of which features an extended jam that really shows what this band is capable of when allowed to stretch out and improvise, whereas the former is the antithesis of Too Late for the Sun, it's a beautiful and well constructed song from start to finish. Where Too Late For the Sun has pure unbridled raw energy, Song of Yesterday has a more refined polish to it. Joe Bonamassa shines throughout the album but Song of Yesterday is easily his best track on the album. That's saying a lot given the overall strength of the album.

This album was recorded rather quickly, most songs were cut with as few takes as possible which gives the album a very pure energy. There's a rawness to the material that speaks to the general spirit of classic rock and at the same time enough polish to really display the brilliant talents of each of the band members.

Black Country Communion has captured the spirit and vibe of the bands that inspired them. If you're jonesin' for some twenty-first century classic rock this album should top your list!

Related Links
One Last Soul live

Interview with Glenn Hughes

Glenn Hughes & Joe Bonamassa performing Medusa

Black Country Communion (official site)
Glenn Hughes (official site)
Glenn Hughes (wikipedia)
Joe Bonamassa (official site)
Joe Bonamassa (wikipedia)
Jason Bonham (official site)
Jason Bonham (wikipedia)
Derek Sherinian (official site)
Dereik Sherinian (wikipedia)

Forgotten Music Thursday: Moving Pictures - Days of Innocence: The Ultimate Collection (2003 expanded re-release of 1981 album)

2010-09-30T00:01:00.007-05:00

In the early eighties there was a spike in interest in all things from Down Under. Little River Band who had risen to popularity in the late seventies saw their popularity grow. Groups like Split Enz, Men At Work, INXS, the Hoodoo Gurus, Crowded House, Icehouse, and Moving Pictures also made their indelible stamps beyond their own watery borders. While some of these groups are still remembered fondly, some are still even active, many of them have also faded into obscurity. Moving Pictures fall into the latter category.

Initially their success was limited to their own native shores. They saw moderate success on Australia's Countdown with their song, Bustin' Loose and then it all blew wide open when they released What About Me? It quickly became a worldwide hit, buoyed by its rotation on the then rather new and fledgeling MTV (remember when they still featured music videos?)

Their debut album, Days of Innocence which features both the minor "local" hits, Walls and Bustin' Loose as well as the worldwide smash, What About Me? is a delight with its sax-laden power-pop, catchy hooks, forays into New Wave, and the vocals of Alex Smith. In 2003, with Moving Pictures back catalog out of print. This collection featuring Days of Innocence in its entirety along with a handful of non-album singles and the stronger material from their follow-up album, Matinee, which remains out of print to this day was released to sate the public interest in this band.

Given the extra material on the album, one can easily determine why Matinee remains out of print. While the material is enjoyable it hasn't aged well and is not as strong as the first 10 tracks that make up the original Days of Innocence album. That being said, this import is a thoroughly enjoyable snapshot of the best this band had to offer before they split up, went their seperate ways and the band became but a footnote, the subjects in a grainy music video, and an ocassional earworm that would surface on eighties themed radio shows in the United States and Australia.

With the album's dated sound, listening to it is a time machine of sorts. If you close your eyes when listening to it you can not only hear the eighties but feel them seeping into your pores and taking you back to the era in which the music was recorded.

Related Media and Links
What About Me music video

Days of Innocence: The Ultimate Collection (Allmusic.com review)
Days of Innocence (wikipedia)
Moving Pictures (Allmusic.com)
Moving Pictures (wikipedia)

Gotye - Like Drawing Blood (2006)

2010-09-23T00:01:00.002-05:00

Normally electronica is not a musical genre I pay much attention to. Other than my forays into the solo work of former Dream Theater keyboardist, Kevin Moore, under the Chroma Key moniker I've given electronica a rather wide berth. That's not to say I dislike electronica more that it's never really been on my radar.

I was recently introduced to Gotye by the husband/wife musical blogging duo YourZenMine who were generous enough to send me Gotye's 2006 album, Like Drawing Blood. Given Wally De Backer's rather transient nature, the story behind the recording of the album reads like lost chapters from John Birmingham's He Died With a Felafel In His Hand- as the album was recorded in various Melbourne bedrooms between 2003 and 2005.

Gotye (pronounced go-ti-yay, like you would pronounce the French "Gaultier") is Belgian born, Australian bred Wally De Backer and while somewhat unknown here in the United States, De Backer is an ARIA award winning singer-songwriter who derives his music (self-admittedly) about 99% from sampling.

Like Drawing Blood is a delightful lo-fi album with a decidedly indie feel that is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. De Backer's voice is very listenable and well suited to his music. The mastering however is purely brilliant and betrays the lo-fi nature of the recording of the album giving this lo-fi gem a well polished hi-fi feel.

There's an ambience to the music that feels perfect for long relaxed drives with the windows down. While the CD is still only available as an import here in the United States it is available for download from Amazon's mp3 store for a very reasonable $6.99. The album is well worth such a reasonable price tag. Given its accessibility and pop sensibilities I'd argue that this is the perfect "gateway" album to either introduce new listeners to electronica or to win over listeners who in the past have been rather apathetic to the genre.

Related Links

Hearts a Mess video

Learnalilgivinanlovin' video

Like Drawing Blood (YourZenMine review)
Like Drawing Blood (wikipedia)
Gotye (official website)
Gotye (wikipedia)

Dream Theater - Train of Thought (2003)

2010-09-18T00:01:00.001-05:00

After the rather uneven double CD, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Dream Theater showed a tremendous return to form in this prorgressive heavy metal onslaught.

Where previous releases and even subsequent releases featured a somewhat more polished or refined brand of metal... Train of Thought has a gritty and raw edge that sets it apart from much of the rest of Dream Theater's musical oevure.

Its this grittiness that makes this one of Dream Theater's best albums, if not their best overall. From start to finish, with a short respite in the middle of the album with Vacant there's an edge to this album that seemed to have been missing from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.

The album opens with As I Am. While the lyrics are almost groan-inducingly bad at times, the music more than makes up for the song's subpar lyrics ("I've been trying to justify you/in the end I will just defy you"- c'mon guys, we know you can do a lot better than THIS!).

And thankfully after the lyrical hiccup of As I Am the album improves substantially with This Dying Soul the 2nd part of Mike Portnoy's Twelve Step Suite which he began on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence with The Glass Prison detailing Portnoy's battle with and recovery from alcoholism. Many of Dream Theater's fans have gained inspiration from Portnoy's suite and the band does a brilliant job of giving Mike's story a fantastic musical voice.

On Endless Sacrifice the band really stretches out with some brilliant solos. And as one who has never been tremendously keen on James LaBrie's vocals I'd argue this song features some of his best vocals since Images & Words. The song builds slowly until about the 2:07 mark when the band shifts from gentle and melodic to raw and crunchy and back again. It's easily one of the best songs on the album as it shows the versatility and breadth of the band's talents.

Honor Thy Father is one of the heaviest songs the band has ever recorded. It starts chugging along building in intensity like a freight train with no brakes. There's a greater anger and bitterness to the lyrics that the band had not really exhibited since 1994's Awake. This also features some of Jordan Rudess' better keyboarding.

Vacant is a brief slow, somber, and melancholic piece and at just shy of 3 minutes easily the shortest song on the album-- it gives the listener just enough of a respite to catch his or her breath before the metal onslaught continues with Stream of Conciousness and In the Name of God which finishes out this brilliant album.

For many fans this was the album they'd been waiting for since Awake. For others it was just a bit too raw and crunchy and lacked enough of the band's softer and gentler side and polish of some of the band's other albums. But for this listener, this was the album that put the METAL back into progressive metal for Dream Theater, and it did so with a large bold-faced exclamation mark!

Related Media & Links
As I Am video

This Dying Soul video (Pt. 1)

This Dying Soul video (Pt. 2)

Endless Sacrifice video

Honor Thy Father video

Dream Theater (official site)
Dream Theater (wikipedia)
John Petrucci (official site)
John Petrucci (wikipedia)
Mike Portnoy (official site)
Mike Portnoy (wikipedia)
John Myung (wikipedia)
James LaBrie (Official Site)
James LaBrie (wikipedia)
Jordan Rudess (Official site)
Jordan Rudess (wikipedia)

Tamara Champlin - You Won't Get to Heaven Alive (1995)

2010-08-30T14:08:00.001-05:00

A career session vocalist and songwriter, Tamara Champlin, has only released one solo album-- You Won't Get to Heaven Alive. For years her voice has graced her husband, Bill Champlin's, solo albums.

Why Tamara was never a bigger star remains a mystery. She can sing like no one's business, not to mention she's very attractive-- oh wait the mainstream music industry only cares about one of those two things-- and it's not her actual singing talent they'd look at, unfortunately.

At the same time, listening to Tamara's one (and thus far only) solo album however it could be argued her lack of mainstream success could be due to timing. As good as the material on her solo album is that even at the time of its release it sounded three to five years too late. Had this album been released in the late eighties or early nineties it likely would have been met with considerably more fanfare.

So let's pretend this album was actually released in the late eighties or early nineties and look at it through that prism instead...

Tamara tackles an impressive variety of styles with tremendous pop sensibility. There are horns on a few of tracks: Backstreets of Paradise, Rock and Roll Tragedy, and Crawl - the horn charts have an attitude, a swagger to them that sets them apart from many of the horn charts featuring other rock and pop songs of the era. Roll the Bones features some great harmonica playing by Chicago drummer, Tris Imboden, showing his talents aren't limited to his drum kit.

Lyrically, Tamara tackles several themes and issues. Purple Black and Blonde is a not at all subtle stab at domestic violence: "Miss Misery regrets she'll be unable to attend, The fall she took last evening left a nearly fatal end, Her husband talks in circles, He insists she was alone, But the neighgors say the house is like a military zone."

All of the material also shows hints of the blues that seems to suggest Bonnie Raitt. Whether it's the aforementioned harmonica on Roll the Bones, Tamara's vocals on Stone Cold and Only Love an undercurrent of the blues ripples under the surface of the entire album.

The only real drawback to the album is it's dated sound-- largely due to the guitar parts that sound like trademark eighties guitar solos. The material is, for the most part, quite strong, re-visiting the material with a more contemporary eye for arrangement might spell greater success. (*** out of 5)

Related Links
Tamara Champlin (facebook)
Tamara Champlin (myspace music site)

Forgotten Music Thursday: The Cruel Sea - The Honeymoon is Over (1993)

2010-08-26T06:58:00.002-05:00

When I was a senior in high school I received a sampler cassette from Polygram Records featuring recently released and up and coming material from their stable of artists/musicians. Much of the material fell flat with me. Only two songs really impressed me. One of which by a band I'd never heard of, The Cruel Sea. Their single, The Honeymoon Is Over, instantly caught my attention.

Fast forward a few years to about 1997 or 1998. I was scanning the shelves of the Sandusky library and stumbled upon this CD, The Honeymoon Is Over by the Cruel Sea. I immediately signed out the CD and furthered my familiarity of this band beyond just the title track.

But first a little background. The Cruel Sea started out as an instrumental group performing in a Sydney pub so small their guitarists would have to move around to afford the pool players the space to take their shots.

Handling the lighting for many of their shows was Beasts of Bourbon vocalist, Tex Perkins who took a liking to many of their instrumental arrangements. Perkins approached guitarist/band founder, Dan Rumour about putting lyrics to some of their instrumentals.

Initially, due to scheduling obligations with the Beasts of Bourbon, Perkins was only able to perform with the Cruel Sea ocassionally. In 1993, when the Beasts were on hiatus, Perkins was able to devote more of his time to the Cruel Sea and finally became a full member of the band.

Perkins timing was fortuitous, in 1993 the Cruel Sea released their Australian smash hit album, The Honeymoon Is Over. Which is the only of their albums to receive much notice in the United States.

The Honeymoon Is Over mixes instrumental roots rock with tracks featuring the gravelly voiced Tex Perkins. The instrumental and vocal tracks are equally enjoyable making this album an excellent soundtrack for summer parties and grillin' out on the barbie.

The album opens with the fun and somewhat whimsical Orleans Stomp which suggests hints of instrumental sixties surf music.

The title track is the ultimate in break-up songs with lyrics like: I'm gonna send you back to wherever the hell it was you came/then I'm gonna get this tattoo changed to another girl's name. The groove is infectious and of all the songs on the album it's easily the most radio friendly.

Delivery Man features a killer groove and a smooth but raspy vocal by Tex Perkins.

But all of the songs are thoroughly enjoyable with an easy-going, laidback vibe. While they would find continued success in their native Australia with Three Legged Dog, Over Easy, Where There's Smoke, and finally capping off their brilliant career was the 2CD live set We Don't Work We Play Music this album marked the beginning and end of their impact on the US market.

While The Honeymoon Is Over was not The Cruel Sea's debut album it is easily one of their most accessible albums and I'd venture the best place to start if you want to explore The Cruel Sea and get to better know their catalog.

Related Links
The Honeymoon Is Over live

The Cruel Sea (allmusic)
The Cruel Sea (wikipedia)
Dan Rumour & The Drift
Tex Perkins

The Cat Empire - s/t (2003)

2010-08-19T21:12:00.000-05:00

If you were to look "Party Band" up in the dictionary you'd find a photo of The Cat Empire performing live. These guys are the epitome of what a party band should be.

Take a bit of ska, a pinch of funk, a few hints of funk, a cup of reggae, a teaspoon of rap, and a tablespoon or two of jazz toss it in the blender, set it to puree... and you'll get The Cat Empire.

The band is comprised of Felix Reibl (percussion & vocals), Harry James Angus (trumpet & vocals), Ollie McGill (keyboard & backing vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums), & Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala (decks & percussion). The band is often backed by the brass duo, The Empire Horns (Kieran Conrau/trombone, Ross Irwin/trumpet flugelhorn & backing vocals, & Carlo Barbaro/tenor sax).

As a lover of horns, I'm especially pleased that The Cat Empire does not skimp on the horns when the songs warrant a good solid wall of brass but also know when to show restraint when the material doesn't warrant any brass.

One might not expect such an eclectic mix of different styles would mix well, but The Cat Empire mixes various different genres with a deft skill that speaks volumes to their musical talent and overall creativity.

Their 2003 debut album starts out with a festive, catchy bang with How to Explain which remains a staple of their live shows to this day. Days Like These is a catchy fun romp as well, although not quite as fun as How to Explain.

The album picks up speed again with The Chariot with catchy, upbeat lyrics and an infectuous beat that is near impossible to avoid dancing to. The band would re-visit this song with a slightly different arrangement on their 2nd album, Two Shoes, but this version has a catchier groove than the more recent updated 2005 arrangement.

The lyrics are at times at empowering and other times downright amusing:

And my knees were shaking
And my jaw was dropping
And my eyes were squinting
And my smile was growing
And my pants were bulging
And my hands were sweating
And my chest was beating
So I cry 'excuse me,
What is the secret to your song?'

Cause when you're walking along
When you're walking along:

Your legs are a melody my hands
Would like to play
And your hips are a note
That does take me away
And your face and your eyes and your hair
And your waist and your smile
Drive me to distraction - excerpt from The Rhythm

After The Rhythm the album downshifts and borrows more from the band's jazz influences. The material is no less enjoyable and it puts on display the full breadth of their musical talents.

While The Cat Empire has released several more exceptional albums, and their 2005 follow-up Two Shoes is easily superior to this debut. The album is the best place to start as it whets the appetite for the even better music that was yet to come.

Related media & Links
How to Explain video

The Rhythm video

The Chariot video

Days Like These video

Hello video

The Cat Empire (official website)
The Cat Empire (wikipedia)
The Cat Empire (CD) (wikipedia)
Felix Reibl (wikipedia)
Harry James Angus (wikipedia)
Ollie McGill (wikipedia)

Robert Lamm - Subtlety & Passion (2003)

2010-08-12T16:16:00.000-05:00

The fourth time was the charm for Robert Lamm. While he'd had success as a member of Chicago, writing hits and fan favorites like Beginnings, Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?, 25 or 6 to 4, and Saturday In the Park; his solo material was rather uneven.

His debut, Skinny Boy, was overly self-indulgent and generally pretentious. The only tracks worth listening to at all, let alone repeat listens were the title track which was also found on Chicago VII and Fireplace & Ivy. And with his solo version of Skinny Boy the horn chart had been removed making it somewhat lacking compared to the Chicago version.

The material on Life Is Good In My Neighbourhood was a substantial improvement. The lyrics were what his fans had come to expect given the material he had composed for Chicago. However, due to an over-reliance on synthesizers the album ended up sounding more like a collection of demos than a finished product.

In My Head saw 3 duets with Phoebe Snow. Now Ms. Snow is a fine singer and her voice complements Mr. Lamm's quite nicely. However including 3 duets with her on one album was a bit of overkill. Not all was lost as there is some strong material on the album; Watching the Time Go By featuring Gerry Beckley from America and the late Carl Wilson from the Beach Boys is at least as good as the version included on the 2000 Beckley/Lamm/Wilson trio project, Like a Brother a year later, Love of My Life features some of Robert's best vocals since he was in his vocal prime in the late 60s/early 70s and the alternate arrangement Robert includes on Sleeping In the Middle of the Bed Again from the then unreleased Stone of Sisyphus album, while not as good as the Chicago version, is certainly still worth listening to.

But finally with Subtlety & Passion Robert was firing on all cylinders. This is the solo album his fans have been waiting for for years. Considering that all of the then current members of Chicago performed on this album in some capacity or another and Lamm even wrote a song around an unreleased guitar solo by the late Terry Kath (Intensity) it could be argued that Subtlety & Passion was much more a Chicago album than Chicago XXX ended up being a few years later with its over-reliance on session cats standing in for members of the band.

Most of the songs feature horns and most of the horn parts are played by Chicago's horn section giving even greater credence to this being more of a Chicago album than Chicago had recorded in a long time. And what makes the songs so enjoyable is that they sound like Chicago SHOULD have sounded in the years since the passing of Terry Kath and departure of Peter Cetera. There's an easy-going and likable familiarity to the material which makes it reminiscent of Chicago's long string of hits throughout the seventies.

Some of the standout tracks include the I Could Tell You Secrets, Another Sunday, Gimme Gimme, The Mystery of Moonlight, and the aforementioned Intensity. The album, from start to finish, is a bit of a return to form for Lamm whose material in the eighties left a bit to be desired-- especially when compared to the brilliance of Chicago's early years when he was largely the band's principal songwriter.

This, not Chicago XXX, is the Chicago album that their fans had been waiting for for years. And unlike XXX, most of Chicago actually performed on the album and it wasn't over-produced to the point of sounding completely sterile. If you are or were a fan of Chicago, skip Chicago XXX and pick up Subtlety & Passion. The former will leave you scratching your head wondering what happened to this once great band, the latter will put a smile on your face and make you believe that they've still got it... well at least one of them does.

Related Links & Media
Somewhere Girl live

Another Sunday live

I Could Tell You Secrets live

Intensity live

Gimme Gimme live

The Mystery of Moonlight live

Robert Lamm (Blue Infinity)
Robert Lamm (wikipedia)

Toto - Turn Back (1981)

2010-08-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

If reviews could be crystallized into single words "ambivalence" would likely be the most appropriate word to describe Turn Back. The material is considerably more consistent in its quality than on 1978's Hydra. However the production is somewhat muddy and at least one of the performances is a bit of a head scratcher.

Having heard a live bootleg of A Million Miles Away from 1996 sung by Steve Lukather not by Bobby Kimball as was done on this album, Lukather's voice was much better suited to the song leaving this listener wondering why Kimball was given the nod on the vocals on the studio release all those years ago.

There really is a lot to like about the music on this album, however given the muddiness of the mix (at least on the US released versions of the CD) it makes the album largely unlistenable and thus it makes the album largely frustrating. Here are eight songs of quality varying between merely good and thoroughly enjoyable but being mixed so poorly the listener really has to struggle to enjoy the songs.

Given better production and mixing this album really could have been much much more and considerably better than it ended up being. Luckily Toto would work out the kinks in the studio for their multiple grammy winning smash follow-up, IV, just a couple years later.

Kimball's vocals are easily better than they had been on Toto's first 2 albums and arguably even better than on IV, Lukather's guitar work and vocals are also easy on the ears the keyboard tandem of David Paich and Steve Porcaro is in top form and the rhythm section-- Dave Hungate on bass and the late Jeff Porcaro on drums-- fuhgeddaboutit.

Some of the standout tracks include If It's The Last Night, English Eyes, and the rather unusual love song I Think I Could Stand You Forever (note to the lads having trouble with the lasses-- this is NOT a line to use on a girl you may be interested in and thus this is not a song to be used to try to woo the object of your affections).

I've read that the Japanese release is a considerably better/less muddy mix but I've not heard it so I can't vouch for that. If you find or get your hands on a better mix of this album chances are you'll thoroughly enjoy it. And heck if you can get past an album sounding like it was recorded in one of the bathrooms in Grand Central Station you might even enjoy the sub-par US released mix of the album.

Related Links
Toto (official site)
TotoNetwork.com
Toto (wikipedia)
Steve Lukather (official site)
Steve Lukather (wikipedia)
David Paich (official site)
David Paich (wikipedia)
Jeff Porcaro (wikipedia)
Steve Porcaro (wikipedia)
Bobby Kimball (official site)
Bobby Kimball (wikipedia)
David Hungate (wikipedia)

Forgotten Music Thursday: Bill Champlin - Runaway (1981)

2010-07-29T00:01:00.004-05:00

The "perfect pop album" is a rather lofty platitude to heap on an album. But if ever an album deserved that label, Bill Champlin's Runaway is one of the more worthy of that consideration.

Produced by the then up-and-coming producer, David Foster, back when Foster was still largely unknown by those not "in the know."

Much like with Chicago 16, Foster's formula for success was intact with Runaway. He brought in the best of the best session cats to augment Champlin's vocals and keyboard chops.

Where Champlin's solo debut, Single, still had many of the blue-eyed soul leanings of Bill's then former band, The Sons of Champlin, Runaway, was a step more in the direction of his future adult contemporary/pop leanings of Chicago. While some of the Jerry Hey horn arrangements (in particular Take It Uptown and Satisfaction, the latter of which Chicago actually included in their live set in the early 80s) would not have sounded out of place on a Chicago album, there's still enough of Bill on here to distinguish this as his album and not a Chicago-wannabe album. The grit is still in his vocals, although that grit is considerably more polished with David Foster at the helm than it was during his days fronting the Sons of Champlin.

What makes the album as a whole so enjoyable is its consistency. There's not a weak track to be found, a testament to both Champlin's songwriting and Foster's production. The closest any material comes to being weak is Stop Knockin' On My Door which musically is as good as anything else on the album, however lyrically it comes across more as a novelty song. But even the novelty of the lyrics can be excused as Bill's way of showing he's not taking himself nor his music TOO seriously. He still knew how to have fun and the lyrics are a testament to that fun-loving nature.

Given the personnel associated with this album its comparisons to Chicago 16 and 17 are completely unavoidable. And perhaps the only way this album could have been improved upon would have been with the participation of Peter Cetera. There was an undeniable vocal chemistry between Champlin & Cetera that was never more evident than on songs like Sonny Think Twice from Chicago 16 or Hard Habit to Break from Chicago 17. Had that vocal chemistry been discovered just a bit sooner, I have little doubt that Cetera would have made an appearance on this album as many of these songs sound tailor-made for Champlin and Cetera collaborations, the two of them trading off on vocals much as they did on the aforementioned Chicago albums.

But even without Cetera's participation, this album is thoroughly enjoyable to listen to and is easily one of Champlin's best solo endeavours.

Related Links
Bill Champlin (official site)
Bill Champlin (wikipedia)
Other Bill Champlin related reviews/articles on this site
David Foster (official site)
David Foster (wikipedia)

Jim Steinman - Bad For Good (1981)

2010-07-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

Some albums are borne out of unbridled creativity, some are borne out of contractual obligations, and then there are some that are borne out of sheer impatience.

In the midst of a rigorous and exhausting tour schedule in the late seventies Meat Loaf literally lost his singing voice... for several years. Meanwhile his collaborator/songwriter, Jim Steinman, was getting anxious and chomping at the bit to record a follow-up to the wildly successful Bat Out of Hell album.

Finally Steinman decided to record the album himself. This ended up being the Meat Loaf album that never was. Over the years bits and pieces of this album have appeared on various other Meat Loaf albums (Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through, Lost Boys & Golden Girls, Out of the Frying Pan (and Into the Fire) all appeared on Bat Out of Hell II; Left in the Dark appeared on Welcome to the Neighbourhood; and Bad For Good appeared on Bat Out of Hell III).

For the most part, Steinman opted to do the vocals himself. On Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through he enlisted the assistance of studio vocalist Rory Dodd (best unknown for being the voice Michael J. Fox lip-synced to on Johnny B. Goode in Back to the Future). Steinman wasn't and isn't a great vocalist he is passable but his voice lacks the range of Meat Loaf so on some notes that Meat Loaf would have hit with ease, Steinman struggles with. On Left in the Dark this actually works to Steinman's advantage. His struggles to hit the notes come across as emotional pain and it fits the part of the cuckolded husband being portrayed in the song perfectly. In contrast, Meat Loaf hits the notes with relative ease but his vocal delivery lacks the depth of pain that Steinman's delivery has.

Considering there are only 3 songs on here that (at least to my knowledge) that are yet to appear on albums by Meat Loaf (Stark Raving Love and Dance In My Pants and the instrumental The Storm) one can get at least a glimpse of how this album may have sounded had it been released as Steinman originally intended-- as a Meat Loaf album. Having heard the Meat Loaf arrangements of many of the songs on here though, I'd have to counter that as much as I might prefer Meat Loaf's vocals on songs like Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through and Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire) I'm not necessarily as keen on his arrangements on Bad For Good (although I do dig the Brian May guest guitar bit on Meat's version) or his vocals on Left in the Dark.

All in all though it is an enjoyable album. It IS trademark Jim Steinman and even if one finds his vocals lacking at times, the strength of the material tends to outweigh his vocal shortcomings (especially, as already mentioned on Left In the Dark, where his vocal limitations actually give the song more emotional credibility). Some may shy away from the over the top anthemic bombast of Steinman's work. But there's something to be said for over the top musical theatrics--"If you don't go over the top, you'll never see what's on the other side." (said by Steinman himself)

Related Links
Dream Pollution
The Dream Engine
Jim Steinman's blog
Jim Steinman (wikipedia)

Maxus - s/t (1981)

2010-07-14T18:10:00.001-05:00

On the heels of the success of Toto in the late seventies, another group of LA session cats decided to form a band in a similar tradition. Vocalist, Jay Gruska; keyboardist, Robbie Buchanan ; guitarist, Michael Landau; bassist/vocalist, Mark Leonard; and drummer Doane Perry formed Maxus.

Where Toto's sound was more on the rock end of the spectrum, Maxus decided to lean slightly more to the jazz fusion side. Gruska had released a solo album in the seventies; had married Jennifer Williams (daughter of famous film score composer, John Williams); produced his brother-in-law, Joseph Williams, debut album; and had co-written the lead off single from Chicago 16 (What You're Missing). Buchanan had played the piano player in the Bette Midler film, The Rose, and toured with Midler in support of the soundtrack album. Doane Perry hadn't done much work prior to his time with Maxus, but following the band's split he played with the likes of the Fairport Convention, Stan Getz, Lou Reed, Dweezil Zappa, Todd Rundgren, Pat Benatar, and Dragon before inevitably being invited to be the drummer for Jethro Tull in 1984. Prior to his brief stint with Maxus Michael Landau was competing with high school classmate, Steve Lukather, to become the guitarist for Toto and since his time in Maxus he has literally played on thousands of albums for hundreds of different artists.

All 9 songs on Maxus one and only Michael Omartian produced album are enjoyable and imminently listenable. However, nearly 20 years later they all sound quite dated with that early eighties over-synthesized vibe dripping from every song.

If one can forgive the over-synthesized sound (and given the era in which the album was released, one should at least consider forgiving the band's love affair with synths) the music is an excellent snapshot of that era.

Gruska's voice is pleasant but somewhat unremarkable and given the other vocalists popular in the early eighties having a pleasant voice was not quite good enough to push Maxus to that next level nor to bring them greater success than they inevitably found.

If you're looking for an interesting musical relic and a musical snapshot of a long past era this fits the bill. But listening to the album it's also easy to understand how and why this band only spawned a single album before their dissolution and the later success of some members. The promise of their talents is certainly audible but those talents never quite gelled the way the talents of their contemporaries in Toto did. For the sub $10 download price from Amazon.com it's certainly a worthy investment although I wouldn't recommend paying much more for this release.

Related Links
Maxus (wikipedia)
Robbie Buchanan (wikipedia)
Michael Landau (official site)
Michael Landau (wikipedia)
Doane Perry (wikipedia)
Michael Omartian (official site)
Michael Omartian (wikipedia)

Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

2010-07-01T00:01:00.002-05:00

Dream Theater doesn’t ever really do anything “small.” They are the quintessential band of musician’s musicians. Even those who aren’t necessarily fans tend to respect them for their musicianship.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings is no exception to that rule. The album is essentially a return to form that takes all of the things the band did right on 2007’s Systematic Chaos and builds on them making for a truly exceptional album.

They also delivered in spades by releasing the album in 2 different formats—a single CD standard version with a very attractive sub $10 price tag (depending on where you purchase it) for those minding their budgets in these economically difficult times and a more auspicious 3 CD Deluxe edition which features not only the full album on Disc 1, but also a CD of Dream Theater covering some of their favorite material by the likes of Rainbow (Stargazer), Queen (a medley of Tenement Funster/Flick of the Wrist/Lily of the Valley), The Dixie Dregs (Odyssey), Zebra (Take Your Fingers From My Hair), King Crimson (Larks Tongue in Aspic Pt. 2), and Iron Maiden (To Tame a Land), and a third disc featuring an instrumental version of the album. The instrumental version of the album truly gives the listeners a chance to hear things they might have missed, those delightful moments that sometimes get hidden underneath the operatically trained vocals of James LaBrie.

Whether you choose to get the standard or the deluxe edition, you’re in for a treat. This is arguably the band’s best and easily their heaviest album since 2003’s Train of Thought.

With A Nightmare to Remember the album starts with a crack of thunder followed by a soft but ominous keyboard intro in minor chords by Jordan Rudess before Petrucci and Portnoy join in on guitar and drums respectively. Portnoy’s drumming is frenetic yet precise like a runaway train with Casey Jones as the engineer—no brakes but still fully in control. Thanks largely to Rudess’s keyboard work, the song sounds and feels like a classic horror movie. It tells the story of a car accident and how it changes the lives of those who survived it and the general loss of innocence experienced following the accident.

A Rite of Passage is one of the most accessible and radio friendly songs on the album. Anchored by a killer guitar riff by John Petrucci the song is about secret societies and organizations (in particular the Masons). The vocal harmonies are some of the strongest on the album (perhaps surpassed only by the harmonies on the Queen covers on Disc 2 of the Deluxe edition) and the guitar riff has hints of both Led Zeppelin and Metallica but when Petrucci’s guitar solo starts at about 5:18 into the song it’s purely Dream Theater. The solo is trademark Petrucci at his absolute finest.

Wither is also quite accessible but not quite as catchy as A Rite of Passage. It’s also easily the slowest yet shortest song on the album, giving the listener a brief (five minutes, 25 seconds) respite before the band kicks it back into high gear.

The Shattered Fortress is the final piece of Michael Portnoy’s 12 Step Suite that he began on 2002’s Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence with The Glass Prison and has continued with a new piece on every studio album since then. It’s a brilliant finale to his seven plus years in the making musical epic. With thematic elements of the other pieces in the suite, the band has brought the 12 Step Suite full circle and given it an exclamation mark of an ending.

Sadly, Mike Portnoy’s father died in the time between this and Dream Theater’s last album (Systematic Chaos) prompting Portnoy to write The Best of Times, a moving tribute of his love for his father. His bandmate, John Petrucci did the same on 1997’s Falling into Infinity with Take Away My Pain. As different as the two songs are, they are both rather moving expressions of grief suffered at the loss of a parent. The song starts with a subtle and beautiful piano solo by Jordan Rudess that segues into a moving guitar/piano duet with John Petrucci before Petrucci’s acoustic guitar is replaced by an electric one at about two minutes and forty seven seconds into the song. Unlike Take Away My Pain which was a moving plea from a grieving son, The Best of Times, is more a celebration of a life. Portnoy’s lyrics reflect on the happy times he spent with his father and the positive influence his father had on his life.

On the Count of Tuscany, the guitar work by Petrucci is exceptional as always. The sense of harmony in his work on this song is brilliant. He and Jordan Rudess play guitar and keyboard (respectively) so tightly that the two instruments nearly sound as one. At over nineteen minutes long The Count of Tuscany makes for a long and quite musically adventurous closing to the album. The vocals don’t even begin until almost four and a half minutes into the song (@ 4:21). The song also marks a continuation of John Petrucci’s penchant of telling fictional stories in his lyrics. Some fans enjoy this lyrical approach, but personally it’s the music far more than the lyrics that grab this listener.

From start to finish Black Clouds & Silver Linings is a technically proficient, hard and driving heavy metal onslaught of an epic album. It is best enjoyed start to finish in one sitting, if you can manage the time to do so. Given the skill and talent of the band, there is so much depth in this music that it’s quite easy to listen to this album several times and never hear it in quite the same way twice.

Related Links
Dream Theater (official site)
Dream Theater (wikipedia)
Mike Portnoy (official site)
Mike Portnoy (wikipedia)
John Petrucci (official site)
John Petrucci (wikipedia)
John Myung (wikipedia)
James LaBrie (official site)
James LaBrie (wikipedia)
Jordan Rudess (official site)
Jordan Rudess (wikipedia)

Between a Heart and a Rock Place by Pat Benatar

2010-06-25T00:01:00.006-05:00

Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, the Donnas, Fergie... the list goes on and on. But their careers likely would have been considerably rockier and likely even a bit less successful had women like Pat Benatar not paved the way for them.

Most of us know her hits Heartbreaker, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Love is a Battlefield, Invincible, and We Belong to name but a few. But there's so much more to her story than her hits and the path not only to her success but once she attained it was far more difficult than most realize.

Even if you're not a big fan of Ms. Benatar's music, and admittedly prior to being approached for this review my familiarity with her work was largely limited to her hits, Between a Heart and a Rock Place is a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Pat gives a very candid snapshot of the music industry of the late seventies and throughout the eighties-- its superficiality, its obsession with image, and the many double standards applied to female musicians that weren't necessarily applied to male musicians-- at least not to the same extent.

The stories that are told of record label executives and the peek behind the curtain to see the Wizard that Ms. Benatar provides throughout her book shows the considerably less glamorous and far less savory side of the music industry; How they tried to tell her how to look, how to dress, discouraged her relationship with her guitarist and later husband Neil "Spyder" Giraldo, and even attempted to hide her pregnancy for her first daughter and make her feel ashamed of it; all of it would make for quite an incredible novel but what makes it even more chilling-- it's all true!

Without giving too much away-- this book is a must read for any fan of music, anyone curious about how the recording industry works, and certainly for any aspiring musicians whether or not you happen to be fans of Pat Benatar as a musician. The insights provided give a glimpse of how much popular music has evolved from the late seventies to the present and it's all through the eyes of one of the most successful female rockers in the history of rock and roll!

Related Links & Media
Promo video for the book's release:

Pat Benatar(official site)
Pat Benatar (wikipedia)

Forgotten Music Thursday: Level 42 - World Machine (1985)

2010-06-24T00:01:00.073-05:00

If you had a pulse and an FM radio in 1985 chances are you are at least peripherally familiar with Level 42’s Something About You. Peaking at #7 on the US Billboard Charts. It was and remains Level 42’s most successful US single.

But Level 42’s story is one of much greater success in their own country than in the United States. All but the most die-hard of fans in the US would be hard pressed to name any of their other songs. World Machine, the album that really made the US sit up and take notice of Level 42 only peaked at #18 on Billboard’s Top 200 album charts here in the US, whereas in the UK not only did the album peak at #3, it remained on the charts for 72 weeks!

Besides the ever familiar, Something About You, World Machine features several thoroughly listenable and enjoyable songs like Lying Still, World Machine, Coup d’Etat, Leaving Me Now, and Physical Presence The cornerstone of Level 42’s sound is the contrast between bassist/vocalist Mark King and the high falsetto of keyboardist Mike Lindup. Their vocal and instrumental stylings are further augmented by brothers Boon Gould on guitar and Phil Gould on drums. World Machine would be the last of Level 42’s albums to feature their original line-up as the Gould brothers, disenchanted with the more pop-friendly direction of the band opted out.

All of the songs have a relaxed jazz/fusion vibe—largely thanks to the Gould brothers and funk influenced bass grooves compliments of Mark King. What is undeniable throughout the album is the superlative musicianship of the entire band. These guys were and are musician’s musicians.

As this is Level 42's most commercially successful release, it is also an excellent album to start with when delving into their catalog. A 2009 re-release included a 2nd CD with dance remixes and live versions of many of the songs from the album which, while nice, are a bit unnecessary for those who are merely casual listeners of the band.

But in the end, the best thing about Level 42 is their fusion of pop with jazz and funk created a sound that was rather uniquely their own. Few other bands have been able to pull off such an interesting blend of styles with such aplomb. If you enjoyed or were a fan of Steely Dan or possibly of some of Toto's more jazz-oriented songs, chances are you'll thoroughly enjoy Level 42 as well.

Related Links & Media
Something About You video

Level 42 (official site)
Level 42 (official Facebook)
Level 42 (official Myspace)
Level 42 (wikipedia)
Mark King (wikipedia)
Mike Lindup (wikipedia)
Boon Gould (wikipedia)
Phil Gould (wikipedia)
Wally Badarou (wikipedia)
Gary Barnacle (wikipedia)

Fate Warning - Disconnected (2000)

2010-06-11T00:01:00.003-05:00

Fates Warning were arguably one of the first bands that could be described as progressive metal. From the beginning they’ve been fusing elements of both genres into a style all its own. Other bands, such as Dream Theater, Queensryche, and Opeth may or may not do it better (depending on who you ask), but Fates Warning pre-dates them all in this brilliant hybrid that might best be described as Yes meets Metallica.

After the departure of original vocalist, John Arch, in the late eighties Fates Warning took a few years to really regain their footing with Ray Alder. They arguably hit their creative peak with A Pleasant Shade of Grey, but I’d argue that was merely the first of several strong albums. 2002’s Disconnected, is both more accessible and slightly less adventurous. But in being more accessible, I’d argue it’s the best of Fates Warning’s albums for the uninitiated to start with. As with A Pleasant Shade of Grey, ex-Dream Theater keyboardist, Kevin Moore, lends his talents to Fates Warning. Its his collaborations with Fates Warning that later led to his partnership with Jim Matheos in their band, OSI that married the harder edged metal guitar chops of Matheos with Moore’s more ambient keyboard influences.

Starting with the ominous Disconnected Part 1, Disconnected draws the listener in. It’s in this opening that Kevin Moore’s influence is most evident. There’s a haunting ambience with an abrupt end before the heavy metal onslaught of One.

One is arguably one of Fates Warning’s strongest songs. Alder’s vocals are soaring and brilliant. Moore’s keyboard influences are a bit more subtle and less obvious but still noticeable.

So picks it back up where Disconnected Part 1 had left off. Matheos gives the intro a haunting ambience before the riffing comes in with Moore’s keyboard and shortly thereafter Alder’s vocals. While at a slower tempo than One, the crunchy guitars and Alder’s soaring vocals are trademark prog-metal.
Pieces of Me picks up the pace a bit. There’s a chugging and steady yet frenetic intensity to the song. It also suggests musical themes that would later be more fully explored by Matheos & Moore on some of the more uptempo music from the first OSI album in 2003.

There’s a general ambience throughout the album that is generally lacking on albums of many of Fates Warning’s contemporaries. If you're new to Fates Warning, there's not a better place to start than Disconnected!

Related Links
One (Live in Athens)

Disconnected (Wikipedia)
Disconnected (AllMusicGuide review)
Fates Warning (Official Website)
Fates Warning (Wikipedia)
Jim Matheos (Wikipedia)
Ray Alder (Wikipedia)
Joey Vera (Wikipedia)
Mark Zonder (Wikipedia)
Kevin Moore (Wikipedia)

Ian Moss - Six Strings (2005)

2010-06-07T15:41:00.002-05:00

As the guitarist for the definitive Australian pub rock band, Cold Chisel, Ian Moss is an Australian icon. He’s also one of their better kept secrets. During Cold Chisel’s long hiatus (1983-1998) Moss recorded and released a small handful of solo albums.

Six Strings is probably the closest Moss has come to a greatest hits package. This live acoustic set shows Moss performing acoustic arrangements of some of his better known songs both as a solo artist and as a member of Cold Chisel.

In the early volatile years of Cold Chisel that saw Jimmy Barnes frequently quitting and rejoining the band Moss was frequently called upon to step up and sing lead for Cold Chisel. This gave Moss some good practice as a vocalist. While not in the same league as Barnes, his smoother vocals gave Cold Chisel a different weapon in their musical arsenal. Even after Barnes would return to the band, Moss would sometimes continue contributing lead vocals. With some of those songs like Saturday Night and Bow River that were included in this collection the acoustic arrangements while enjoyable lack the swagger of the Cold Chisel versions. It’s the lack of Barnes raspy growl on the background vocals that takes some of the steam out of the acoustic versions. However the acoustic arrangements of The Party’s Over, Never Before and My Baby give the songs a new life. The Cold Chisel versions sound considerably dated compared to Moss’s acoustic updates.

The acoustic arrangements of Moss’s solo back catalog are thoroughly enjoyable. Tucker’s Daughter, Two Seconds Too Long, and Angel Eyes are all excellent arrangements. Moss provides brief introductions to many songs indicating who wrote them. Many were long time Cold Chisel bass player, Phil Smalls, compositions as Moss has recorded many of Smalls works both as a member of Cold Chisel and as a solo artist.

The applause throughout is light. It gives the performance a very relaxed and intimate small coffee house feel. As far as live albums go, this one is a gem to be listened to on a pair of high end headphones with the lights turned low.

Related Links
Tucker's Daughter (live)

Bow River (live)

Saturday Night (live)

Ian Moss (official site)
Ian Moss (wikipedia)

Forgotten Music Thursday - Roger Hodgson - In the Eye of the Storm (1984)

2010-05-27T00:01:00.005-05:00

Debut solo albums by former members of notable groups tend to come in one of two varieties-- restrained and tentative or explosive brilliant bursts of creative energy.

After his tremendous success in Supertramp, Roger launched his solo career with this creative explosion of a debut. Not only did Roger write, arrange, and produce his debut he also played most of the instruments. This is a solo album in one of the purest senses of the word.

The album opens with ambitious and cynical eight plus minute Had a Dream (Sleeping with the Enemy). There was a single edit, however it barely cracked the Billboard charts. This is likely because any editing of the song would do/did do it a huge disservice. The song is best enjoyed in its entirety, as are all seven of the songs on this rather auspicious album.

The album then shifts to In Jeopardy which at times hints at the Greg Kihn band hit from a year or two before this album's release... That is to say it sounds like how the Greg Kihn hit might have sounded had it been recorded by Supertramp instead of the Greg Kihn Band. Despite the similarities it is a different song that hints and insinuates the other song without ever really plagiarizing it.

Lovers in the Wind is the album's shortest song at four minutes, thirteen seconds. It has a slow building piano intro reminiscent of Fools Overture from Supertramp's Even In the Quietest Moments. The vocals are also reminiscent of Fools Overture. There's a wistful melancholy undercurrent throughout the song that keeps in line with Hodgson's at time biting and cynical and other times laidback and melancholy vibe on this album.

Hooked on a Problem and Give Me Love, Give Me Like sound like they could have come straight off of Supertramp's Crisis? What Crisis?! Hints of Sister Moonshine and A Soapbox Opera are evident on both songs and musically it is from the same vein of most of the material from that album.

I'm Not Afraid sounds like Roger picking up right where he left off with Supertramp on Famous Last Words. There are hints of Crazy that can be heard at different times throughout the song.

The album closes with the haunting melancholy of Only Because of You. The song shows off Roger's multiple talents (vocalist, keyboardist, arranger, percussionist, songwriter, producer, etc.) Perhaps moreso than any other song on the album this is an example of all of those talents coming together just right. Musically it's also an excellent bookend for the album. It complements the opener, Had a Dream (Sleeping With the Enemy) quite beautifully and gives the listener sense of coming full circle and gives the album a sense of completion.

As already stated, the Supertramp influence throughout the album is unmistakable to the point where it could easily be argued that Roger sounds more like Supertramp after leaving the band than they sounded after continuing on without him. All that's missing are the trademark Davies/Hodgson collaborations that made those albums so enjoyable. And given the somewhat divergent direction that Supertramp went following Roger's departure evidence would indicate that he was largely responsible for their trademark sound. Their sound suffered more from his departure than his sound/style did.

Despite having only seven songs, the album clocks in at just over seven minutes. Only one of the songs falls under five minutes with several being over six minutes and a couple are even over eight minutes long. While not progressive rock in the purest sense of the word the album could certainly be described as progressive pop-- the somewhat more accessible "little brother" to prog rock.

Unfortunately, Roger's 1987 follow-up Hai Hai would lack the brilliance and creativity of his debut and an injury would curtail his career until the late 90s. Thankfully he finally did show a return to form in 2000 with Open the Door.

While Roger's career in Supertramp is still well respected his solo career, given its sporadic nature, has gone largely forgotten by all but his most die-hard fans since his departure from the band.

This album is a "must-have" for any fan of Supertramp and it's even a little bittersweet as one wonders what material they could have continued recording had Roger never parted ways with them and its easily better than any of their post-Roger output.

Related Links
Other Roger Hodgson/Supertramp reviews
Roger Hodgson (official site)
Roger Hodgson (wikipedia)
Roger Hodgson (AllMusicGuide)

Harry Chapin - Portrait Gallery (1975)

2010-05-23T23:47:00.001-05:00

Starting with 1974's Short Stories and right up until his untimely passing in 1981, Harry Chapin released a series of consistently brilliant albums. Portrait Gallery was one of the best of his best albums. The quality of the material is considerably more consistent than on Verities & Balderdash.

Opening with the whimsical yet cynical Dreams Go By. The clarinet and the whistling provide a backbone of whimsy to the relatively cynical lyrics that tell the story of a couple who grow up together sharing their dreams but keep putting off their dreams when life gets in the way. The song ends with a gentle but regretful, "But I guess our dreams have come and gone, you're s'posed to dream when you are young."

The album then shifts to Tangled Up Puppet, which makes for a unqiue companion piece to Cats in the Cradle from the previous album. This time, instead of missing his son growing up and becoming a man a father laments as his daughter grows less and less a part of his life and becomes increasingly more her own woman. As a father of a little girl this song packs a wallop every time I listen to it-- "I'm a tangled up puppet, all tangled up in knots, and the more I see what used to be, the less of you I've got." The message, as with Cats in the Cradle is clear, treasure and make the most of the time you have with your children as that time doesn't last.

Star Tripper while one of Harry's weaker songs, lyrically, from a musically perspective is one of Harry's more hauntingly beautiful compositions. There's a somber melancholy vibe that drips from every note. The song shows the less glamorous side of the life of the astronaut. Given that the NASA was in a bit of a lull at the time, it could be argued that the song is also metaphor of the space program in general and the general apathy the public was starting to display towards the space program.

Babysitter had the potential to be a huge misstep, but Harry manages to turn what could have been a sophomoric locker room tale into a poignant coming of age story. As a young man laments that, "I was much too late to be the first to make you a woman, but you were the one to make my mother's son a man." The song delves into the beauty of the experience of first love and the impact that first love had on the rest of the man's life, long after the experience had ended.

Harry delves into his back catalog for Someone Keeps Calling My Name. The song initially appeared on a then (and now) long out of print and largely ignored album that Harry and his brothers recorded as The Chapin Brothers in 1966. The original version was later re-released on Harry's 3CD box set, Story of a Life. The original and considerably shorter version was in the tradition of the Kingston Trio and other folk acts of the mid-60s featuring Harry, Steve, and Tom Chapin harmonizing and trading vocals. Harry dusted off the song and added several verses stretching the song from just under three minutes upt to six and a half minutes. The vocal harmonies with his brothers are replaced on the newer version with a group of women echoing as Harry sings the chorus. The verses Harry adds tell the stories of Jenny who is "four fingers old," Jason is "ten birthday's old", Jonathan at "fifty seasons old", and Jamie who at "15 years has been too young,"

The Rock is one of Harry's finest story-telling gems. It's an instantly catchy Chicken Little-esque tale about a young man who warns his townspeople that the large rock that leans over his town is about to fall. The townspeople are dismissive of his claims as the rock has always been there and as far as they were concerned it always would be. Without help, he decides to take matters into his own hands and figure out ways to stop the rock-- "he ran under with one last hope that he could add a prop, and as he disappeared the rock came to a stop, the people ran into the street, but by then all was still, the rock seemed where it always was or where it always will be, when someone asks where he had gone they said 'ah he was daft, who cares about that crazy fool?' then they'd start to laugh."

Sandy is a song Harry wrote for his wife, the same wife he detailed in his I Wanna Learn a Love Song on his previous album. Of the two songs, I Wanna Learn a Love Song is imminently more enjoyable.

Dirt Gets Under the Fingernails is an O. Henry-esque story of irony about a mechanic and his wife with aspirations of being a painter. The payoff at the end is thoroughly enjoyable. Musically the song is a bit dated but it works but the lyrics make up for it.

Harry brings the epic back to his albums with Bummer, at just shy of ten minutes it's his longest piece since Sniper and A Better Place to Be from 1972's Sniper and Other Love Songs. It tells the tale of a man who grew up abused and on the wrong side of the law yet he somehow manages to earn a Medal of Honor and a handful of Purple Hearts in Vietnam. Upon his return he falls back into his old habits and comes to a bad end. When his body is retrieved they find him clutching onto his Medal of Honor and a smile on his face. The song features a rather dated 70s horn chart and string arrangement giving the song a similar epic over the top anthemic vibe reminiscent of Sniper.

The album closes with the somewhat more upbeat and tongue in cheek blues tinged Stop Singing These Sad Songs creating a nice bookend for Dreams Go By which opened the album. Much like Harry's live favorite, Circle, this album come full circle ending on a similar upbeat fun vibe to that which it began.

Portrait Gallery was Harry's strongest album to that point and arguably none of his other studio albums, save for 1977's dual LP Danceband on the Titanic, would quite equal the quality of this album.

Related Links and Media
Harry Chapin (official site)
Harry Chapin (wikipedia)

Harry Chapin - Verities & Balderdash (1974)

2010-05-18T20:00:00.000-05:00

From first glance this album has a forceful message. With Harry sporting an Uncle Sam "I Want You!" pose he singles out the listener before the album is even purchased.

Largely due to the oft-covered Cats in the Cradle, Verities and Balderdash is Harry Chapin’s best known album. Harry was busy in 1974 as this was the 2nd album he released that year (although Short Stories was recorded in 1973 it wasn’t released until 1974). Short Stories and Verities and Balderdash bookend each other nicely. Harry and his band built on the strengths of Short Stories and recorded what some would argue was his best album to that point.

The album opens with Cats in the Cradle which may actually have done the album a disservice in the era of LPs as there are a lot of other excellent songs on the album and any listener who might hear Cats in the Cradle may or may not have continued on to the rest of the album. Anyone skipping the rest of the album is doing him or herself a tremendous disservice.

After Cats in the Cradle is the autobiographical, I Wanna Learn a Love Song which tells the tale of how Harry met his wife, Sandy, several years before. The song later became a staple of Harry’s live set.

Shooting Star is another of Harry’s story-telling gems about a woman married to a man who is mentally ill. At its core it’s a beautiful love song—a woman standing by her man through all of his mental difficulties even as the rest of the world would either laugh at or ignore him.

One of Harry’s most popular live staples, 30,000 Pounds of Bananas, made its first appearance on Verities and Balderdash. As enjoyable as the song is, the live version took on a life of its own and easily eclipses the original studio version that appears on this album. Both musically and lyrically this is a purely fun and enjoyable album. The live version is sped up at points to great effect as it fits the lyrics as Harry tells the story of the out of control truck of bananas. Incidentally, the song is based on an actual truck crash in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Other notable tracks include Vacancy and What Made America Famous, an ode of sorts to our nation's then upcoming bicentennial. Today it sounds somewhat dated but it's still an enjoyable song when enjoyed within the context of when it was recorded.

While not quite as strong as Short Stories, Verities & Balderdash is consistently enjoyable and shows Harry's further growth as a songwriter with the albums stronger tracks including his trademark, Cats in the Cradle. Give it a listen, you won't be disappointed.

Related Links & Media
Cats In the Cradle (Live on PBS Soundstage)

30,000 lbs. of Bananas (Live @ Rockaplast 1977)

What Made America Famous (live on PBS Soundstage)

Harry Chapin (official site)
Harry Chapin (wikipedia)

Forgotten Music Thursday: Harry Chapin - Short Stories (1974)

2010-04-29T00:01:00.082-05:00

Short Stories was the next step in Harry Chapin's musical evolution. After finding his footing with Heads & Tails and Sniper and Other Love Songs Harry comes across considerably more self-assured and comfortable in his shoes on Short Stories. While Short Stories lacks the epic seven to eleven minute tracks like Dogtown, Sniper, and A Better Place to Be from his first two albums Harry manages to say less with more.

W.O.L.D. tells the tale of an aging DJ constantly seeking happiness at his next stop on the radio dial only to one day find his life, looks, and youth have passed him by. The song was inspired by Boston DJ, Jim Connors who was instrumental in Harry's early success. Chapin overheard a phone conversation Connors had with his ex-wife that sparked a deep discussion between Chapin & Connors and that conversation was the inspiration for this song. The song is told through a phone conversation a DJ is having with his ex-wife, although you only ever hear his half of the conversation.

Harry hits another homerun with Mr. Tanner which tells the tale of a humble man in Dayton Ohio who runs a dry-cleaning business and has a talent for singing in local plays and shows. After increased pressure from his friends and neighbours he uses up all of his savings to book a concert hall in New York City to audition. Being crushed after receiving some rather unkind reviews, Mr. Tanner returns to Dayton where he never sings again, "excepting very late at night when the shop was dark and closed, he sang softly to himself as he sorted through the clothes." What drives the song home are the haunting background vocals of bass player, John Wallace as he sings O Holy Night. According to interviews this song was inspired by a couple of rather harsh reviews Harry read in the New York Times-- Harry actually quotes segments of both reviews in the song.

As good as all of the tracks are, of all the tracks on the album it is really buoyed even further by the aforementioned tracks and by the achingly beautiful Mail Order Annie. A sad tale of two lonely less than attractive people who, through unusual circumstances end up fighting that loneliness together-- a similar theme to what Harry tackled on the previous album with A Better Place to Be.

Once Harry found his voice, his comfort level and gained a bit of self-confidence as an artist his albums were elevated to another level. Short Stories is the first in a series of several Chapin albums that truly showed Harry at his creative peak, a peak he rode through the rest of the seventies and up to his untimely passing in 1981. Honestly, from this album on, there's not a weak one in Harry's entire catalog.

Related Media & Links
W.O.L.D. video

Mr. Tanner video

They Call Her Easy video

Mail Order Annie video

Harry Chapin (official site)
Harry Chapin (wikipedia)

Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore

2010-04-28T00:01:00.004-05:00

Christopher Moore is nothing if not irreverent. Having long since read all of Moore's books I've started re-reading some of his earlier works that I discovered all those years ago.

In WWII a bomber, The Sky Priestess, lands on a remote Pacific atoll in Micronesia, Alualu. The people of the island have come to be known as The Shark People, as Alualu is the only place in the world where the sharks are more afraid of the people than the people are of the sharks. The pilot of the Sky Priestess, Vincent, is viewed as a God as he delivers cargo and glimpses of western civilization to the islanders. He also proves much more successful at establishing religion on the island than the Catholic missionary that was recently killed by the Japanese. After all, it's much more impressive having a God that you've actually met in person. Vincent promises to return with more cargo for the Shark People but The Sky Priestess gets shot down by the Japanese before Vincent is able to make good on his promise. And thus a cargo cult is born.

Fast forward a few years and an idealistic Christian missionary doctor, Sebastian tries to succeed where the Catholic priest failed. Unfortunately, for Sebastian, the Cargo Cult has taken hold. The Shark People show crucifixes as 2 propellers crossing each other, they portray any images of Jesus that they see wearing a WWII bomber jacket. They worship Vincent and many even name their children after him.

Sebastian meets Beth an "exotic dancer"/nurse on a trip to San Francisco for a medical seminar. Beth bears an uncanny resemblance to the woman painted on the fuselage of The Sky Priestess in a photo they both discover at the San Francisco library and a brilliant idea is hatched. Having little luck converting the Shark People to Christianity, Sebastian decides if you can't beat 'em, join 'em and Beth becomes "The Sky Priestess" in a rather unscrupulous medical scheme funded by Japanese businessmen that are keeping Sebastian's mission work on Alualu afloat.

Tucker Case is a bit of a loser, a pilot for a cosmetics magnate that uses his charms to lure middle-aged cosmetics distributors to bed. After an ill-fated in-air dalliance Tucker finds himself seriously maimed and out of a job. Tucker receives a job offer from Sebastian to fly his Lear jet on medical supply runs between Alualu and Japan. Given Tucker's recently revoked pilot license and at that point limited prospects he's encouraged to take the job by his friend, Jake Skye, and a mysterious WWII bomber pilot that keeps mysteriously appearing to him.

On its surface, Island of the Sequined Love Nun is a fun and somewhat whimsical read. Under the surface it's an interesting take on origins of organized religion that the reader may or may not agree with but should at least take the time to ponder. Having read all of Moore's novels before and since reading this one, Island of the Sequined Love Nun has remained a favorite of mine. I'd argue this also makes an interesting companion piece to Moore's much more popular and successful Lamb: The Gospel According to Christ's Childhood Pal, Biff. And Tucker Case was a popular enough character that he made another appearance in Moore's zombie Christmas novel, The Stupidest Angel. All in all, if you're new to Christopher Moore all of his books are thoroughly enjoyable, Island of the Sequined Love Nun is as good a place as any to start your literary journey into Moore's rather quirky imagination.

Related Links
Christopher Moore (official website)
Christopher Moore (wikipedia)

Lindsay Aline - Illusion (2009)

2010-04-20T17:00:00.027-05:00

I was recently approached by the management of Lindsay Aline requesting that I review her debut album, Illusion.

Upon first listen I'll be the first to admit this is not normally the kind of music I would listen to. It's generally a bit too light for my tastes.

That being said there's no denying Ms. Aline's talent her voice is reminiscent of Evanessence's Amy Lee. Her style is closer to My Immortal than to Wake Me Up Inside.

There's a haunting yearning in her vocal delivery on most songs. While there is some variance of style from song to song there's a bit too much similarity for my tastes. All of the songs are relaxing and easy to listen to and could easily stand on their own. But the sum of the whole does show a lack of variety.

All of that aside, this is Ms. Aline's debut album and as far as debut albums it's certainly a worthy outing. I can't help feeling that she's holding back though. As I listen to songs like What Would It Be Like (easily my favorite on the album or Pop My Collar with its beautiful muted trumpet backing her hauntingly beautiful voice. I can't help but feel Lindsay is giving but a glimpse of herself... She's giving just enough of herself to whet the listener's appetite. There is an undercurrent of untapped potential that resonates under each song. Even if that talent is never FULLY realized Lindsay is talented enough that she'll have a respectable career. But if she ever really taps into her full potential she will be a force to be reckoned with.

If you're looking for a relaxing Sunday afternoon CD, Illusion should certainly fit that bill, but I do challenge Ms. Aline dig deeper, the talent is undeniably there. She's given us a taste of what she's capable of, next time I hope she feeds us the meal. (7 out of 10)

Related Links
Lindsay Aline

Harry Chapin - Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972)

2010-04-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

While not as commercially successful as his debut, Sniper and Other Love Songs is a far superior album to Heads & Tails. Harry’s vocal delivery and range are substantially improved, the production is superior, and the overall quality of the material is far more even and consistently good. Where Heads & Tails was largely buoyed by Taxi & Dogtown, there’s not a weak track on Sniper and Other Love Songs.

The first half of the album, or what would have been side 1 of the LP is anchored by Sniper which is easily one of Chapin’s most vocally challenging songs. Later in his career Harry would rarely sing the song as he confessed, “It tears my voice to hell.” While no real names are actually used. The song is a fictitious account of actual sniper Charles Whitman who killed 14 people and wounded 32 others from the clock tower at the University of Texas in 1966. The song is so ambitious in its scope it plays out like a screenplay examining the psychology and mindset of the sniper. Harry alternates between singing the voice of the sniper, the eyewitnesses and an objective narrator showing a tremendous range and an impeccable ability to shift between different vocal deliveries within the same song.
The other standout track on the first half of the album is Burning Herself. After the soft more acoustic folk stylings of And the Baby Never Cries, Burning Herself is a somewhat jarring piece. Compared to the other songs on the album it’s largely out of place, but it’s that rather jarring out of place style that makes the song that much more effective. There’s an anger and hostility to the lyrics that needs to be noticed.

The second half of the album is equally strong, if not stronger. It features the hauntingly beautiful A Better Place to Be about a night watchman and a rotund waitress who “both know all about loneliness and living all alone.” It also features the catchy sing-a-long, live-staple Circle.

All in all, Harry sounds decidedly more comfortable and self-assured in his second outing. The quality of the material is consistently better and you can clearly hear Chapin’s growth as both a singer and songwriter. *** ½ (out of *****)

Related Video & Links
Sniper

A Better Place To Be

Circle

Harry Chapin (official site)
Harry Chapin (wikipedia)

Harry Chapin - Heads & Tails (1972)

2010-04-01T07:11:00.004-05:00

While not as well known or remembered as some of his contemporaries, Harry Chapin’s career thrived on a sizable and devoted cult following and the respect of many of his peers.

Despite not being as strong as many of his later albums, on his solo debut, Heads & Tails, Chapin shows glimpses of his talent as a singer/songwriter. Musically, the songs are quite an eclectic mix. As would be the trend on future Chapin compositions, the cello (played on this album by Tim Scott) is a cornerstone of his folk-rock sound on every track. The album also features Chapin’s longtime bass-player/background vocalist, John Wallace (he continued touring with Harry right up to Harry’s last show).

The trouble with the album is that it’s rather “bottom heavy” that is to say on the LP side 2 was considerably stronger than side 1 (or on the CD, Tracks six through nine were stronger than tracks one through five).

The second side starts with Taxi, easily one of the best songs Harry ever wrote or recorded—so popular amongst his die-hard fans that it yielded Sequel in 1980 that picks up several years after Taxi leaves off. As much as I enjoy Taxi, I’d argue that the live versions I’ve heard are superior to this original studio version. Where Harry’s voice is somewhat youthful and innocent on the studio version, there’s a grizzled world weariness to his vocals on the various live recordings I’ve heard of the song that gives the song a bit more emotional weight. An interesting footnote to Taxi, the movie Taxi Driver was supposedly a cross between Taxi and Sniper which appeared on Harry’s 2nd album, Sniper and Other Love Songs.

Dogtown is the #2 of a 1-2 punch on side two. It’s another glimpse at the storyteller style of songs that Harry first exhibited with Taxi and would become increasingly more prevalent on Harry’s subsequent albums. It’s the tale of a town of fishermen’s wives in Massachusetts. With their husbands out to sea so much they all have guard dogs to keep them safe in their husband’s absences. The song relates their hard lives even mentioning one widow who had already buried 3 husbands who had drowned. The song also features the wives of these fishermen asking, “Am I his widow or his wife.” and asking if they’ll have to give their husbands to the sea or the sky. The emotional intensity is undeniable and Harry’s delivery is considerably stronger and more intense than on Taxi.

The album closes with the haunting autobiographical Same Sad Singer. The song is spare and yearning but the lyrics lack the punch of songs like Taxi and Dogtown. Harry does make up for the weak lyrics (weak in comparison to Taxi and Dogtown) with a strong vocal delivery. The sorrow and loneliness drips from each tender note he sings.

While Harry would come to perform stronger material on later albums, his debut made for a respectable start and a glimpse of the better material that he’d release as his career matured and progressed. For the casual listener, it’s generally a “pass”, but for the more die-hard fan and those who are interested in hearing his musical evolution it’s an excellent place to start one’s musical journey. Feels like ** 1/2 (out of *****)

Related Video and Links

Harry Chapin (official site)
Harry Chapin (wikipedia)

Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed (1967)

2010-03-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

Lush and beautiful from start to finish the Moody Blues Days of Future Passed is possibly the very first progressive rock album, not to mention one of the first successful concept albums. Ambitious, adventurous, and symphonic—while a product of its era Days of Future Passed has, for the most part, aged remarkably well.

The album is a delightful mixture of late sixties psychedelia and symphonic rock. The symphonic pieces performed by the London Festival Orchestra which was conducted by Peter Knight. Knight wrote most of the orchestral pieces around musical themes that had been written by Moodies Justin Hayward, Ray Thomas, Mike Pinder & John Lodge.

Admittedly some of the rock pieces are moderately dated but with new mixes they have also remained relatively fresh.

Initially Deram Records approached the Moody Blues to record a rock version of Dvořák’s New World Symphony. Little did they know that the Moodies had already started writing Days of Future Passed around a live stage show. The basic concept, a musical journey of the passage of time from day to night was nearly doomed to failure before recording even started. A combination of symphonic music with rock had never been done before, at least not to the extent that the Moody Blues were planning. Understandably the executives were wary—properly executed Days of Future Passed did have tremendous potential, but improperly executed the album had the potential to completely alienate fans of both rock and symphonic music. The risk of failure was tremendous.

Despite the odds stacked against them, the Moody Blues made it work. Days of Future Passed was a commercial and critical success thus paving the way for bands like Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, and Emerson Lake & Palmer to release similarly musically adventurous albums in the late sixties and into the seventies. Had Days of Future Passed failed chances are record label execs would have been reluctant to bankroll the musically adventurous albums of the aforementioned prog rock bands and thus deprived the listening public of some truly fantastic albums.

While the Moody Blues didn’t quite get it perfect, they got it right and they were the first to do so successfully. The Beatles may have had Sgt. Peppers and many may consider that as the first concept album. But it could be argued that Sgt. Peppers concept only bookended the album whereas the Moody Blues remained true to the concept from the start to the finish of Days of Future Passed making it truly the first concept album.

Days of Future Passed can also be considered part of a trifecta of albums that really motivated the shift from singles-oriented to album-oriented releases. Prior to 1967 many albums were merely collections of singles with filler material. On the first handful of Beatles and Beach Boys albums the songs were largely inter-changeable. That is to say any singles from any of their albums would just as easily have fit on any of their other albums. With the Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beach Boys Pet Sounds, and the Moody Blues Days of Future Passed there was a definite shift to individual songs being pieces of a greater whole—the whole being greater, not equal, to the sum of its parts.

Related Links
Days of Future Passed (allmusic.com)
Days of Future Passed (wikipedia)
Moody Blues (official site)
Moody Blues (allmusic.com)
Moody Blues (wikipedia)
Justin Hayward (official site)
Justin Hayward (wikipedia)
John Lodge (official site)
John Lodge (wikipedia)
Mike Pinder (official site)
Mike Pinder (wikipedia)
Ray Thomas (wikipedia)
Peter Knight (wikipedia)
London Festival Orchestra (wikipedia)
Deram Records (wikipedia)

Forgotten Music Thursday: Al Kooper & Mike Bloomfield - Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68

2010-03-25T00:01:00.002-05:00

While this show was recorded in December 1968 with the full intention of being released shortly thereafter, it instead sat long forgotten and presumed lost until 2001 when Al Kooper was going through some old tapes in his possession stumbled upon this show. He cleaned it up a bit and finally almost thirty-four years after it had originally been performed and recorded it was finally released.

Sometimes when musicians team up there’s an undeniable, unmistakable, and absolute electric chemistry between them, such was the case with Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper. Teaming up initially for the SuperSession album, a series of concerts were scheduled on both the East and West Coasts at Bill Graham’s Fillmore East and West venues.

While that chemistry is certainly enjoyable in the studio, it’s even more tangible in a live setting. In addition to exhibiting Bloomfield’s virtuosity on guitar, Johnny Winter also guests on It’s My Own Fault. Hearing Bloomfield and Winter playing side by side is an enjoyable treat in and of itself.

The electric energy of Kooper and Bloomfield I’d argue rivals the considerably more famous Steve Winwood/Eric Clapton/Ginger Baker collaboration, Blind Faith. There’s an honesty and a respect between Bloomfield and Kooper that is evident on each song. Rather than rival egos challenging one another as was the case of many supergroups since then, Bloomfield and Kooper play homage to each other and do a tremendous service to one another’s talents—because of, not in spite of their mutual respect and apprectiation of one another.

Perhaps the weakest link on the album are Al Kooper’s vocals and the sub-amateurish drumming of Johnny Cresci. While his voice is enjoyable when he remains within his range, on 59th St. Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) Kooper attempts to sing outside of his range with less than enjoyable results. This is a minor quibble as the concert was largely instrumental and was more a display of Kooper’s talents on keyboard and Bloomfield’s undeniable abilities as a blues guitarist firmly in tune with Chicago’s brand of urban electric blues. Johnny Cresci was woefully under-talented compared to the talents of Kooper and Bloomfield whose playing was strong enough to overshadow much of Cresci’s drumming—unfortunately not quite enough to completely eclipse his sub-par playing.

Forgotten for thirty-four years this concert was well worth the wait and it’s a blessing to fans of Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield, Johnny Winter specifically and of great music in general that once found by Kooper he had the good sense to share this release with the listening public.

Related Links
Al Kooper (official site)
Mike Bloomfield (official site)
Al Kooper (wikipedia)
Mike Bloomfield (wikipedia)
Johnny Winter (wikipedia)

Chocolate Watch Band - No Way Out (1967)

2010-03-18T00:01:00.001-05:00

While they were fixtures of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene of the late sixties, time has not been kind to the Chocolate Watchband. Today they remain largely forgotten by all but the more avid listeners of music from this period.

For those unfamiliar—close your eyes and imagine the Rolling Stones… now picture a runaway freight train ramming the Stones through a mushroom clouded prism of psychedelia. That sound is the Chocolate Watchband.

Their music has not stood the test of time as well as some of their contemporaries largely because, other than a very small handful of bands from that era, psychedelia burnt out (like many of the musicians who performed it) within a relatively short span of time. Its popularity was not sustained and the spaced out trippy keyboard sounds remain relics of the bygone era in which the music was originally recorded.

There was a definite Stones influence that was especially evident on songs like Come On (which sounds so reminiscent of the Stones you might even check the liner notes to make sure it’s NOT Mick Jagger singing). And speaking of the Stones, these guys had a rather huge pair—it takes a pair to tackle music as diverse as the aforementioned Stones influenced Come On to the Wilson Pickett staple In the Midnight Hour to the spacey Pink Floyd-esque instrumental Dark Side of the Mushroom (which predates PF’s Dark Side of the Moon by several years).

If these guys had adapted and changed with the changing times they likely would today be mentioned in the same breath as guys like Jimi Hendrix, the Jefferson Airplane, the Who, Pink Floyd, and other bands that today get name-dropped like jelly-beans into a musical Easter Basket. The talent was there, but perhaps the vision was not. As quickly as they appeared and were noticed, they had disappeared.

Today No Way Out is a time capsule of the Summer of Love—and it’s one of the better (if lesser known) capsules of that era. The most dated of their songs Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love In) is catchy upbeat and features more of those Mick Jagger-esque vocals that the band was known for in their prime. The album is enjoyable from start to finish with not a weak track on it not to mention a seminal album of its era and of the psychedelic genre.

Related Links
The Chocolate Watchband (official site)
The Chocolate Watchband (wikipedia)
The Chocolate Watchband (allmusic)

Marc Hunter - Communication (1985)

2010-03-15T19:34:00.001-05:00

There’s an inexplicable comfortableness and familiarity with Marc Hunter’s Communication. It’s the long lost friend you’ve met for the first time. Even though you’ve never seen each other before there’s an instant ease as if you’d known one another your whole lives.

From start to finish Communication is that friend. It’s that album I listened to incessantly when it came out in 1985… except it was never released in the United States and now it’s 2010 and it just leaves me feeling like this is the album I would have been listening to incessantly in 1985 had I been aware of its existence at the time.

There’s not a bad track on the album, Hunter’s voice is as I’ve discovered continually enjoyable whether it’s within the context of his solo material or singing lead with Dragon.

Speaking of Dragon Communication is also the more laidback mellow younger brother to Dragon’s 1984 album, Body and the Beat.

Admittedly the programmed drums keep this album firmly planted in the decade in which they were recorded but the songs are well crafted and the material is strong in spite of the dated sound that the programmed drums give the material.

Urban Tribal has a haunting quality to it and is one of Hunter’s better vocal performances either as a soloist or with Dragon. The Empty Beach is a snapshot of a day alone at Bondi Beach. Lyrically it’s to Australia what Jimmy Buffet’s songs are to the Caribbean. Simple Words feels like a single although, the title track remained the only single released from this album (and it did enjoy moderate success in Australia).

The laidback relaxed but at times melancholic vibe permeates the album from start to finish. But there’s honesty in the music that gives it the aforementioned familiar feeling. Even if you aren’t personally in touch with what Hunter is singing about, you know the type of people of which he sings. They are the characters in the movie of our lives so sit back relax and get to know these ten new friends.

Related Links

Marc Hunter Communication (YouTube video)

Marc Hunter (wikipedia)

Blood Sweat & Tears - New Blood (1972)

2010-03-10T16:12:00.004-06:00

Aside from their self-titled sophomore album Blood Sweat & Tears struggled under the vocal leadership of David Clayton-Thomas. While largely forgotten, the Jerry Fisher era of Blood Sweat & Tears was an all too brief breath of fresh air at just the right time. 1972’s New Blood marks Fisher’s first foray on lead vocals for BS&T.

His vocals are more on the soulful and less on the crooning end of the spectrum. And while New Blood exhibits the classic BS&T sound Fisher’s vocals give their material more of a New Orleans/Dixieland jazz vibe than Clayton-Thomas’s vocals did.

While there are no big hits and much of the material would largely be unrecognizable to all but the most seasoned of BS&T’s fans the music is quite enjoyable from Down In the Flood to I Can’t Move No Mountains to the amusing take on aging, Over the Hill, to the melancholic So Long Dixie. While the material still is not as strong as on the band’s debut, Child Is Father to the Man, it’s easily their best material since then.

The album closes with Snow Queen/Maiden Voyage an eleven and a half minute musical adventure allowing Fisher to stretch out his vocals and giving the horns plenty of time to show what they’re capable of. Despite it’s length it remains one of the most enjoyable tracks on the album.

While compared to other Blood Sweat & Tears albums New Blood certainly stands up well, perhaps its greatest flaw is that it has not aged as well as other material from the early seventies. The sound is so dated that if you close your eyes and just listen perhaps you might open them to find yourself in 1972. Which, depending on your personal proclivities may or may not be a bad thing.

Related LinksNew Blood (allmusic.com)
New Blood (wikipedia)
Blood Sweat & Tears (official site)
Blood Sweat & Tears (wikipedia)

John Petrucci - Suspended Animation (2004)

2010-03-09T17:58:00.008-06:00

As far as guitarists go, John Petrucci is a master of his craft. While not quite as well known as some of his contemporaries (Steve Vai and Joe Satriani come to mind) he’s more than proven himself as the guitarist for Dream Theater.

Given Petrucci’s level of talent it could be easily argued that a solo album from him was long overdue. But in 2004 he finally released Suspended Animation. Much of the material that appears on Suspended Animation was written for and performed on many of the G3 tours which Petrucci participated in with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani through the mid 2000s.

The album is completely instrumental and reminiscent of the material on the Liquid Tension Experiment albums recorded in the late nineties with bassist Tony Levin and his Dream Theater bandmates Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess. The big difference being that those albums were musical collaborations that at times allowed all members of the quartet to shine either collectively or individually—Suspended Animation focuses, and rightly so, on Petrucci’s guitar playing.

Perhaps what is most striking about this release is Petrucci’s strong sense of melody. While this is also noticeable on his work with Dream Theater, when the focus is more strictly on Petrucci that strong sense of melody is considerably more noticeable.

Petrucci’s playing also dispels the myth that progressive metal lacks emotion. Every song on this release displays a depth of emotion and a genuine love of the guitar.

Each song brings a little something different to the table Glasgow Kiss has a traditional Scottish vibe to it with Petrucci’s guitar replacing where one might expect to hear bagpipes.

Tunnel Vision features some excellent multi-tracking and the intro is reminiscent of some of the more experimental material from the Liquid Tension and Liquid Trio Experiment releases.

Wishful Thinking is essentially an instrumental power ballad. It has all the elements a hair metal power ballad minus the lyrics and vocals. It further displays Petrucci’s versatility on guitar. Where other tracks on the album display Petrucci’s sense of melody, much of Petrucci’s fretwork on Wishful Thinking is more a demonstration of his skill at harmony. Vocals aren’t really necessary as Petrucci does an excellent job of making his guitar “sing.” The song is also a welcome respite after the relatively hard driving musical onslaught of the first 3 tracks. It allows the listener to catch his breath before launching back into a more metal oriented onslaught on Damage Control.

Curve is another example of Petrucci using his guitar to play “vocalist” much like on Wishful Thinking the guitar is played where one might normally expect the vocals. Curve is considerably more up-tempo.

Lost Without You is another ballad. This one has been around awhile as Petrucci was playing it live at Dream Theater concerts off and on for a few years before it finally has seen official release on Suspended Animation. It has less a metal and more a jazz fusion feel at first but with occasional metal-oriented rhythm guitar work added as accents to Petrucci’s leads. The most apt description would be metal/jazz fusion an interesting combination of musical styles that isn’t traditionally explored (kind of like Icelandic/Vietnamese fusion food).

The album closes with the longest track, Animate-Inanimate in which all of the musical elements and styles Petrucci explored on the previous seven tracks come together like a delicious stew.

Unfortunately, this album has not, to date, been released domestically in the United States. While it’s certainly worth the price of a traditional domestic CD, I wouldn’t recommend it to casual listeners at the rather steep import price tag of $34.99. Not releasing the album domestically is doing Petrucci fans a tremendous disservice as the music certainly is enjoyable and should be heard. The import price tag just makes it a bit too prohibitive for more casual listeners

Related Links
John Petrucci (official site)
John Petrucci (wikipedia)

Suspended Animation

Collective Soul - s/t (1995)

2010-03-05T17:43:00.004-06:00

I'm not sure whether or not it's a glitch in my musical wiring but unlike many of my peers, grunge music never really spoke to me. I tried to get into it, I really did. But I just never connected with the likes of Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, or any of the other bands that were spawned by the influence of those bands.

I just didn't see what white suburban kids had to be so pissed off about. Our standard of living was generally comfortable we weren't mired in an ever escalating police action half a world away, there was no draft.

So, between 1992 and 1995 I stuck my head in the sand and tried to pretend that musically the 90s didn't exist.

As a freshman in college my roommate had Collective Soul's s/t sophomore release. He'd play it from time to time and bloody hell, wouldn't you know it, I had a reason to remove my head from the sand. I had reason to acknowledge the music of the 90s.

From start to finish this album is (pardon my French) fucking brilliant. While there are other albums that I enjoyed bits and pieces of in this era. This one grabbed me by the cojones and my heart and mind followed eagerly. It took the best aspects of classic rock and hit the fast forward button to the nineties to give a then modern spin to a classic sound and Collective Soul pulled it off in spades.

Whether it's Smashing Young Man, December, Where the River Flows, The World I Know, or the perpetually catchy Gel this album has a little something for everyone. And if you were to only ever purchase one album per decade, I'd argue that this would be a serious contender for THE album to purchase for the nineties.

And while Collective Soul has released a few other decent albums since this one, none of them have quite matched up to the musical brilliance of their sophomore release. All of the pieces just fell into place in just the right way-- like throwing a jigsaw puzzle into the air and having it land with all of the pieces fitting together as it landed. Lightning in a bottle is usually only captured once in a musical career. This is Collective Soul's lightning. Uncork it and intoxicate yourself already!

Related Links
Collective Soul (wikipedia)
Collective Soul (Allmusic)
Collective Soul (official site)
Collective Soul (wikipedia)

Steve Hackett - Voyage of the Acolyte (1975)

2010-03-03T17:52:00.004-06:00

Released while he was still in the band, Steve Hackett’s debut solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte, is the Genesis album that wasn’t. Even the cover art is reminiscent of the style used on the covers of Foxtrot and Selling England By the Pound. Following Peter Gabriel’s departure from the band after the over-indulgent The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Hackett released this hauntingly beautiful album in which his remaining Genesis bandmates Rutherford, Collins & Banks contributed to in various ways shapes and forms.

The album at different times offers glimpses into what the post-Gabriel Genesis would sound like (at least initially) and at other times shows glimpses of what Genesis COULD HAVE sounded like following Peter Gabriel’s departure had Hackett been granted more creative control on the first two post-Gabriel studio albums (A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering). Instrumentally the Genesis influences are so unmistakable that one might be left wondering if some of this material might have ended up on a Genesis album had Peter Gabriel NOT left.

Hands of the Priestess Pts. 1 & 2 features some beautiful flute solos reminiscent of Peter Gabriel’s solo in Firth of Fifth (from Selling England By the Pound). And throughout, Hackett dares to defy the stereotype that progressive rock lacks emotion. There’s a poignant beauty throughout both pieces that leaves the listener wanting for more.

A Tower Struck Down is more a preview of the musical offerings that Hackett would release following his own departure from Genesis a few years after Peter Gabriel than anything Genesis might have recorded during or after Gabriel’s tenure in the band.

Star of Sirius features guest vocals by Phil Collins and would not have sounded out of place on A Trick of the Tail. Hackett’s guitar is gentle and understated allowing Collins vocals to carry the song and at the same time providing a gentle accompaniment to those vocals.

The album closes with Shadow of the Hierophant a nearly 12 minute epic that starts softly and gradually crescendos with increasing intensity and volume before fading to silence in a gentle anti-climax.

For fans of the classic Peter Gabriel era Genesis this is a must have. It’s largely a musical bridge between The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and A Trick of the Tail. While predominantly instrumental the musical themes have a distinct Genesis sound.

Related LinksSteve Hackett Voyage of the Acolyte (Wikipedia)
Steve Hackett Voyage of the Acolyte (Allmusic.com)
Steve Hackett (Official Site)
Steve Hackett (Wikipedia)

INXS - s/t debut (1980)

2010-03-01T17:47:00.004-06:00

In 1980 long before they hit it big worldwide, INXS released their self-titled debut album. While most of the material on this album would be unfamiliar to all but the most die-hard of INXS fans there is something about the music that makes unmistakably INXS. There’s a cohesiveness and chemistry in the band and you can even hear the beginnings of Michael Hutchence’s self-assured front-man swagger in his vocals.

What is perhaps most remarkable about this release is the strength of the material. While INXS hadn’t yet found their sound, indeed they seem to be trying a handful of different musical styles on this release to determine which they were most comfortable with. It’s perhaps that adventurousness that the album owes its strengths.

On the flipside, the greatest strength of this debut is also one of its greatest flaws. Because the band was trying so many different styles they never fully invested themselves in anyone of those styles. And while you can hear the band’s cohesiveness on each individual track, as an album the material is so varied there’s a lack of that cohesiveness spread out over the album as a whole.

This album is a definite testament to INXS versatility and musical ability and just about any of these songs could have been released as singles but without a commitment to any specific direction the album lacks any direction at all. Thankfully the band would later find that direction and become a pop music juggernaut worldwide a few years later.

Generally this release would only find fans either in the most die-hard of fans or with those truly curious of the band’s evolution. If you’re one who is familiar with INXS’ hits there are glimpses of that kind of material in songs like In Vain, Roller Skating, or Body Language but for the most part the material on this album is considerably different from the INXS you’re likely familiar with.

Related Links
INXS debut (allmusic.com)
INXS debut (wikipedia)
INXS (official website)
INXS (wikipedia)

Inxs (Self-titled 1980 AUS Import)

Forgotten Music Thursday: Poco - The Last Roundup (2004)

2010-02-25T00:40:00.002-06:00

Starting today, on the fourth Thursday of every month a "forgotten" album or band will be featured.

Recorded at a live show for a tentative late 1977 early 1978 release, The Last Roundup was instead shelved upon the departure of all but two members of the band’s line-up. While the concert did find its way into the hands of collectors and bootleggers and floated through the bootleg circuit for nearly thirty years, it remained largely unheard outside a core of those die-hard Poco fans.

It’s unfortunate as this is one of the best live albums I’ve ever heard. It was one of Timothy B. Schmit’s final appearances with Poco before he departed to replace Randy Meisner in the Eagles (ironic considering he joined Poco to replace Meisner). This performance also features a guest appearance of then departed founding member, Richie Furay.

This live set opens with the autobiographical Livin’ In the Band followed by a country arrangement of the Steely Dan song Dallas before it shifts gears with the stirring J.J. Cale (Cale is better known for writing Cocaine and AfterMidnight both of which were made popular by Eric Clapton) ballad, Magnolia. Where Cocaine and After Midnight were upbeat and rollicking songs, Magnolia is a more melancholic piece with a pervasive longing that tugs at the heart strings.

Honky Tonk Downstairs is just a generally fun song with very country lyrics, extremely tight vocal harmonies, and a thoroughly enjoyable melody.

P.N.S. (When You Come Around) is a Paul Cotton penned piece that Cotton brought with him from his days with Kal David in Illinois Speed Press. The Poco arrangement is decidedly more country-tinged than the harder rock/blues tinged ISP version from the early 70s.

Sagebrush Serenade is an upbeat crowd pleaser, the audience can be heard clapping at times. As with most of the songs in this set, the vocal harmonies are very tight, arguably tighter than their contemporaries, the Eagles. But then again where the Eagles walked closer to the rock side of the country-rock tightrope, Poco was planted more firmly on the country side of that tightrope.

Indian Summer is another gentle ballad that gives off a similar vibe to America’s Ventura Highway From the opening lyrics: “There’s a fool moon in the sky, it’s got a hold on me, I’m hypnotized, like your love it’s getting stronger, just give my heart a little longer, Indian summer is on its way, it’s cool at night, and hot all day” the song draws in the listener. I can almost picture people sitting on blankets on the lawn, wearing sweatshirts or sweaters and singing along with the band.

Other stand out tracks include Starin’ At the Sky and the Timothy B. Schmit penned Keep On Tryin’ his first hit with Poco. The vocal harmonies are arguably the tightest of this whole live set making it one of the most enjoyable 2 minutes and 43 seconds of music on any album. The only flaw is the song’s brevity as it leaves the listener wanting more.

The Dance is a trilogy of songs from the Indian Summer album. Given the personnel changes in Poco over the years, I believe this is one of the only live performances of this excellent song, it’s certainly one of the best as well. The lyrics are enjoyable, and it can’t be stressed enough how tight the vocal harmonies are. The melody hooks into the listener and doesn’t let go for the nine plus minutes of the song.

Following the Indian Summer tour Timothy B. Schmit left to join the Eagles and most of the band opted to call it quits leaving Paul Cotton and Rusty Young to soldier on. Ironically Poco would go on to score one of their biggest hits in this era with Crazy Love off the Legend album (another fun bit of trivia, the artwork on Legend was designed by late Saturday Night Live alum, Phil Hartman, prior to his career as a comedian/actor). As such, The Last Roundup is a time capsule marking the end of an era for this often overlooked and very underrated band that has often gotten lost in the shadows of the considerably more famous band that spawned them, Buffalo Springfield, and the hugely popular band that poached two of their members (Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmit), The Eagles.

As far as live albums go, few match the energy and pure chemistry exhibited by Poco on this set. Everyone in the band was “on” for this performance, it was one of those perfect concerts where everything came together just right… and luckily for us, over 30 years later, it was recorded for posterity and luckily it finally saw release in 2004.

Related Links
Poco (official site)
Poco The Last Roundup (Wikipedia)
Poco (Wikipedia)

Chicago V (1972)

2010-02-23T18:41:00.004-06:00

After a string of double-LP releases and the arguably over-ambitious quadruple-LP live album, Live at Carnegie Hall, Chicago released their first regular length album. What arguably sets V apart from many of Chicago’s subsequent albums, the band crams as much creativity and talent into this single-player as they had into Chicago III, which had its moments but also could have benefitted from a bit of editing.

The album opens with the Lamm penned A Hit by Varèse. An enjoyable musical excursion that shows a band firing on all cylinders musically and lyrically laments Lamm’s boredom with the music of the day and his thirst for something more adventurous… and that something more adventurous is exactly what the band delivers on this track.

The band changes gears slightly on All Is Well which features a sublime horn chart and a thoroughly enjoyable melody and some of Chicago’s tighter vocal harmonies in an era in which they were arguably known far more for their musicianship, musical adventurousness, and instrumental prowess than their vocal harmonizing capabilities.

Why Now That You’ve Gone was never released as a single is beyond me. It’s easily one of Chicago’s best album cuts ever, bar none. Starting with some solid and infectious drumming by Danny Seraphine, Robert Lamm’s organ and Terry Kath’s rhythm guitar follow shortly thereafter, followed by the horns, and Terry’s vocals. The rhythm grabs you by the short and curlies, the horns get a death grip on your soul, and Terry’s souful vocal guides you through this catchy musical journey. If this had been released as a single it would have been a nice counter balance to their later string of soft-rock saccharine-driven tight melodic late seventies and early eighties soft rock staples.

Lamm’s socially conscious Dialogue Pts. 1&2 follows. The song is a conversation between a socially conscious ideologue (sung by Terry Kath) and an out of touch student who is just going with the flow (sung by Peter Cetera). While the horns are present on Dialoge Pt. 1, it’s much more notable for the tight rhythmic chemistry between Kath, Cetera, and Seraphine and features some of Peter’s finest bass playing. In later years Peter of course became much more known for his vocals, but throughout Chicago and predominantly on this and songs like State of the Union, Peter’s melodic style and bass-playing chops are quite evident. Dialogue Pt. 2 is more of an instrumental showcase than vocal showcase but also features some tight vocal harmonies from both Terry and Peter.

The album does not let up on While the City Sleeps featuring Robert trading his lead vocals with a tight harmony vocal led by Peter Cetera. The song also features what might be an otherwise overlooked Terry Kath guitar solo with the horns offering a soft musical carpet to layer his guitar over. The juxtaposition of Terry’s raw guitar against the smooth horns draws greater attention to both the horn chart and to Terry’s solo. The only complaint one might have of this song is that the ending is somewhat abrupt and anti-climatic.

Saturday In the Park was the opener on side 2 of the LP. It’s an excellent opening track and on the CD release it feels somewhat lost in the middle, sandwiched between While the City Sleeps and State of the Union. It’s success as a single is a testament to its popularity. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable and un-offensive track about spending a Saturday in Central Park that happened to fall on the fourth of July (which would insinuate the song was written in 1970, the most recent Saturday to have fallen on the fourth of July at the time of the song’s release).

State of the Union is one of Lamm’s socio-political gems. Musically speaking it’s an excellent song, Peter shines both on vocals and on bass. The horn chart is one of the best on the album (although, in all fairness, I’d argue there’s not a weak horn chart on the album). Terry’s rhythm playing is also enjoyable but (at least on the Rhino re-release) has been pushed more to the back of the mix in favor of bringing Peter’s bass and the horns closer to the front of the mix and making them considerably more noticeable.

Goodbye is another example of a band firing on all cylinders and all the pieces coming into place just right. The song is a look back on the previous few years of the band’s existence and a farewell of sorts to Los Angeles (Chicago V was recorded largely in NY and the next several albums would be recorded at producer, James William Guercio’s Caribou Ranch in the Colorado Rockies). The song is good throughout but really hits its stride at about the 3:37 mark (“Feels so good to be soaring, ‘Cause LA was so boring, Goodbye”) and then again at about the 4:06 mark a musical reprise of sorts (“There must be room for growing, somewhere else, and I’m going, Goodbye”). Between this and the aforementioned A Hit by Varèse, there’s a definite vibe a band that’s creatively restless and hungering for a change of scenery both literal and figurative to re-fill their creative juices.

The LP closed with Alma Mater, a somewhat more elegiac and mournful look at the previous few years. The vocal harmonies are tighter on this song than perhaps any other. From start to finish Chicago V, in addition to being a creative triumph is possibly the band’s most consistently lyrically autobiographical album. Alma Mater is also a look to the future—“We must set new goals, we must not lose control of the possibility, of finding the discovery, that would let everybody see, that we were just meant to be”).

The 2002 Rhino re-release continues the musical journey with an instrumental version of A Song For Richard and His Friends, a song that had previously only appeared on Chicago Live @ Carnegie Hall release. It was and perhaps remains Lamm’s most outspoken middle finger at the establishment song ever. A song whose somewhat prophetic lyrics begged for Richard Nixon to quit… In 1971, over three years before he actually did. The instrumental version includes a heavily distorted Terry Kath guitar solo. Stripping away the lyrics the song does get a bit of new life as it allows the listener to focus more on the music and less on Lamm’s politics. The horns are slightly out of tune, on purpose (I’m guessing) as a reflection of the discord (or would it be dis-“chord”) felt at the time in which the song was written. While the instrumental does certainly have its moments, chances are it would largely be skipped over by the casual listener and only the more devoted of the fans would take the time to give it a fair listen. Trying to be objective, the inclusion on the re-release neither adds to nor subtracts from the album with its inclusion.

The re-release also features an early arrangement Mississippi Delta City Blues a song that the band had played in their early days on the Chicago club circuit before relocating to L.A. and would later appear with a somewhat different (and arguably better) arrangement on Chicago XI, Terry Kath’s final album with the band.

The last cookie that Rhino tossed the fans on the re-release was the single-edit of Dialogue Pts. 1 & 2. Its inclusion is somewhat unnecessary as a sizable chunk of the song was removed for the single edit (over two minutes).

Between 1969 and 1972, Chicago released 3 double LPs, a quadruple LP live album (Live at Carnegie Hall), a double LP live album (Live in Japan), and this album. In hindsight one might argue that the band essentially “blew their load” on these releases. And certainly an argument could have been made for them to have better paced themselves as subsequent albums displayed a noticeable drop in quality and a shift in direction from being musically adventurous to being more pop-friendly. With that in mind, Chicago V marks the end of an era. There would still be occasional flashes of the creativity and adventurousness displayed in this era, but as time progressed those flashes of creativity and adventurousness grew increasingly fewer and farther between.

Related Links

Now That You’ve Gone (Live)

Saturday In the Park (Live)

Dialogue Pts. 1 & 2 (Live)

Chicago V (Wikipedia)

Chicago V (AllMusic)

Chicago (official site)

Chicago (Wikipedia)

Chicago III

2010-02-20T12:29:00.006-06:00

How many bands do you know of that have released three consecutive double albums within the space of two years? Between 1969 and 1971 Chicago released 3 double LP studio albums and a quadruple LP live album. That's the equivalent of 10 albums worth of material in less than 3 years! It's a staggering musical statement by any estimation.

And while later albums certainly displayed glimpses of the creativity and musical talent of this period in the band’s tenure, none of them quite matched the consistently high quality of the first three albums.

Chicago III starts with Sing a Mean Tune Kid, a musical tribute of sorts to those which came before them and paved their way. It features a blistering guitar solo by Terry Kath, not to mention it exhibits a strong musical chemistry between Kath’s guitar and the keyboard/organ playing of Robert Lamm.

As Sing a Mean Tune Kid fades out it’s replaced by Loneliness Is Just A Word, a song the band had been playing since their days paying their dues on the Chicago club scene prior to their move to Los Angeles. The Chicago III version is of course considerably more polished and well rounded than the earlier version, thanks largely to the superlative production of James William Guercio.

Perhaps what sets Chicago III apart from their debut or Chicago II are the occasional country-influenced flourishes on songs like What Else Can I Say or Flight 602, perhaps giving the clearest example of the direction Peter would inevitably steer his career following his departure from Chicago. Terry’s guitar also shines front and center a few tracks later on I Don’t Want Your Money.

On the remastered 2002 Rhino re-release, Peter Cetera’s bass playing is particularly audible (incidentally, Rhino did an excellent job on bringing Peter’s bass-playing closer to the front of the mix on all of their Chicago re-issues).

Much like on Chicago II which featured the multi-part It Better End Soon anti-Vietnam anthem and the Ballet For a Girl in Buchannon (the latter of which spawned two of Chicago’s more memorable hits, Make Me Smile and Colour My World), Chicago III features the multi-part Travel Suite, An Hour In the Shower, and Elegy. All three pieces have their moments, Travel Suite features a fast-paced Danny Seraphine drum solo, Motorboat to Mars, the aforementioned country-tinged Flight 602, the live staple Free, At the Sunrise would not have sounded out of place on a latter day Beatles album with the McCartney/Lennon-esque vocal chemistry of Robert Lamm and Peter Cetera being the hallmark of the piece. But perhaps the strongest part of the Travel Suite is the underrated instrumental gem, Happy Cause I’m Going Home which features some of Terry Kath’s better acoustic guitar playing marked a soft counterpoint to his heavier electric guitar work on other tracks and truly displayed his versatility. Add to that there’s enough cowbell to make even Christopher Walken happy. The band was truly exploring and utilizing the studio space with the cowbell. To this day Happy Cause I’m Going Home remains one of my favorite Chicago album cuts. The song starts with the trademark layered approach that had become a staple of many of Chicago’s earlier songs, Terry counting them in, starting with his acoustic guitar, followed shortly by Peter’s bass, and shortly after Peter comes in, Danny’s drums before the rest of the band joins the rhythm section. There’s a scat vocal throughout that dances around the instruments and is an instrument in and of itself. And despite not being as well known as his solos on Colour My World or Just You & Me, Happy Cause I’m Going Home has perhaps the best flute solo Walt Parazaider ever recorded (although his solo on the Live At Carnegie Hall version of It Better End Soon would also be in the running for that honor). His solo is syncopated with more cowbell, some solid drum fills by Danny Seraphine, and some of the most melodic bass playing that Peter ever laid down.

The band takes a brief break with Mother and Lowdown before launching into An Hour In the Shower. Both songs are enjoyable, Lowdown has some decent guitar work by Terry even if he didn’t personally care for the song, he still put his heart into it.

An Hour In the Shower is perhaps the most unusual song ever recorded by Chicago. Instrumentally it’s as good as anything else on III (or II or their debut for that matter), but paying attention to the lyrics one might be left scratching one’s head. The song is by and large an ode to a morning routine (“Now I usually have my breakfast which consists of tasty Spam, Yeah, I could eat it all day long, But I only love one brand, and I can’t find it way out here, So I’ll have to take a pass, settle for some hash, what a drag, you’re not here, Oh sweet sweet Spam”), masturbation (“Now I lay me down to sleep, and I dream of my treasure map, it shows me where my maypole’s buried at, and I dream of all the fun I have when my maypole comes out to play” and later “Just reach underneath your bed, and turn on your electric friend, yeah, and turn your thoughts to me, cause you know where I’ll be, and you can join me in my hour in the shower”), and environmentally unfriendly water consumption (Terry sings of both starting and ending his day with hour long showers—2 hours in the shower a day!)

Following the perpetually amusing Hour In the Shower the album takes a decidedly pretentious turn with Robert Lamm reciting the Kendrew Laschelles poem, When All the Laughter Dies in Sorrow which opens the third and final multiple part musical piece on the album. Once Upon a Time features another thoroughly enjoyable flute solo by Walt Parazaider before James Pankow offers an equally enjoyable trombone solo before both Walt and trumpeter Lee Loughnane come in. The horns eventually blend into a cacophony of noise that fades out as the sound of car horns fade in along with the sound of jackhammers and other unpleasant reminders of modern life. The car horns and jackhammers crescendo into a toilet flush and the piece ends with the instrumentals The Approaching Storm and Man vs. Man: The End.

While not as consistently strong as their debut nor as polished as Chicago II, Chicago III was then and remains today a thoroughly enjoyable album. It remains one of the most creative albums in their rather extensive catalogs and while, Elegy may have been a bit of a “miss” for me, credit has to be given for having the stones (of Sisyphus?) to try something so outside the norm. And, Elegy, to me, is the lone “miss” on an otherwise excellent album.

Related Links

Chicago Lowdown (1972 live video)

Chicago (official website)
Chicago III (Wikipedia)

Chicago III (allmusic.com)

Chicago (wikipedia)

Boston - Walk On (1994)

2010-02-08T04:46:00.002-06:00

"But there's no Brad Delp!"

It's one of the biggest gripes I've heard about this album, and I heard it repeatedly. If it's any consolation Delp did rejoin the band for the subsequent tour to promote the album.

That being said, Delp or no Delp this is a thoroughly enjoyable album. While Fran Cosmo's voice isn't quite as distinct as Delp's he does have the range Delp had in his prime and he is equal to the task of the material on the album.

And in all fairness to Mr. Cosmo he and Delp both took turns singing lead on former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau's 1980 solo album.

Given the strength of the material on Walk On, that I'd argue is possibly the best material Boston had recorded since Don't Look Back or possibly even their debut (if I were being particularly generous). Tight soaring vocal harmonies-- Check, trademark tight Tom Scholz "guitarmonies"-- Check, superior musicianship-- Check. I'd argue the timing of Walk On and the long delay (8 years) between albums likely contributed far more to its relative lack of success (compared to Boston's other albums. When you couple in that this album was released in the era of grunge, this album was far too polished to compete with the much rawer production that was coming from the likes of Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Pearl Jam around that time.

The album starts with a bang on I Need Your Love and keeps up the pace on Surrender to Me before the 12+ minute Walk On medley begins. Perhaps my lone complaint about this album was that Walk On was broken up into 4 tracks on the CD. None of the 4 tracks can stand on their own given the flow of the medley, I'd rather Scholz had made Walk On a single 12+ minute track. He still could have listed the different parts on the CD sleeve or in the liner notes. On some CD players the transition from track to track is rather seamless, but on others there can be a slight "hiccup" between each track that is somewhat jarring in an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable piece.

Following Walk On is the unoffensive but comparatively weak, What's Your Name. In all fairness, even being the weakest song on the album, What's Your Name remains thoroughly enjoyable.

Magdalene, is a re-working of a song by Hybrid Ice, a band that found regional success in the early eighties in their native Pennsylvania. Having heard both Hybrid Ice's original version and Boston's version I've got to say that Scholz took a good song and made it great. The Hybrid Ice version is enjoyable enough, Scholz kept the choruses but changed the verses substantially and the harmony vocals by David Sikes and Tommy Funderburk are so tight they give me chills. To this day Magdalene remains my favorite song on this album. It just sounds as if everything fell into place. I'd even go so far as to say Magdalene blows their hit Amanda out of the water.

The album closes with the upbeat We Can Make It. It's an upbeat song about working together to change the world, it's the hints of a message that has crept increasingly more into Tom Scholz's lyrics in the years since.

If you've generally ignored this album due to the absence of Brad Delp, you're doing yourself a tremendous disservice. This album is superior, in every way, to 1986's Third Stage and is easily one of Boston's strongest albums-- Delp or no Delp.

Related Links
Walk On (wikipedia)
Walk On (AllMusicGuide)
Boston (official site)
Boston (wikipedia)
Tom Scholz (wikipedia)
Fran Cosmo (wikipedia)
Gary Pihl (wikipedia)
Tommy Funderburk (wikipedia)

Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Don't Know How to Party (1993)

2010-02-04T03:18:00.004-06:00

Straddling the line between punk and ska, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones had a hard driving sound with a healthy dose of brass.

Part of the appeal was Dickie Barrett. He couldn't and can't really sing. That is to say he hits the notes but his voice is not one that anyone would describe as pleasant... any other voice wouldn't quite fit in the Bosstones. Barrett's vocals are as much a trademark of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones sound as their horns are.

After cutting their teeth on a couple of indie-releases, Devil's Night Out (1990) and More Noise and Other Disturbances (1992) the Mighty Mighty Bosstones finally found themselves signed to a major label (Polygram) and while Don't Know How to Party grew their audience and started to get them noticed it wasn't necessarily a breakout hit.

But at the same time the Bosstones were at the forefront of the brass-laden ska and new swing resurgences of the late nineties. The nice thing about the Mighty Mighty Bosstones-- their songs are fun party fare. They never take themselves too seriously. These are the theme songs emenating from fraternity houses of the mid-90s. There's a happy-go-lucky vibe to the music that captures the mood of the mid-90s... An anti-grunge if you will (the Bosstones often performed in loud plaid suits-- not exactly the uniform of the Nirvana generation).

That being said there's a screeching anger on some songs that would not have sounded out of place on a Nirvana or Pearl Jam album. But that anger is often tempered by following angry songs like A Man Without with lighter party fare like the infectious Holy Smoke.

Admittedly the Mighty Mighty Bosstones aren't for everyone, but if you're going to check them out, Don't Know How to Party is the best place to start. It's easily one of, if not THE strongest album the Bosstones ever released from the frenetic Our Only Weapon to the live staple from that era of the band Seven Thirty-Seven/Shoe Glue

Related Links
Mighty Mighty Bosstones (official site)
Mighty Mighty Bosstones (wikipedia)
Dicky Barrett (wikipedia)
Nate Albert (wikipedia)
Joe Gittleman (wikipedia)
Joe Sirois (wikipedia)
Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton (wikipedia)
Dennis Brockenborough (wikipedia)

Bill Champlin - No Place Left to Fall (2008)*

2010-02-03T03:00:00.006-06:00

In his first solo release since 1996, Bill Champlin demonstrates he's still got "it." For those unfamiliar, Champlin is a grizzled veteran vocalist, organist, songwriter who cut his teeth with his namesake band, the Sons of Champlin in the late sixties and through the seventies before stringing together a couple of Grammys (in 1979 for co-writing the Earth Wind & Fire hit, After the Love Is Gone and in 1983 for George Benson's R&B hit Turn Your Love Around) and a twenty-eight year stint as one of Chicago's three primary lead vocalists.

Towards the end of his tenure in Chicago, Champlin found the time to move from southern California to Nashville and record No Place Left to Fall. Ever the consumate professional, there is a definite polished quality in his production. But, at the same time, No Place Left to Fall is a departure from his previous albums. The material is considerably "swampier" than what fans of Champlin are likely used to. The blue-eyed soul is still there, but where on his previous albums the organ was there, on No Place Left to Fall it's no longer merely "there," it's quite prominent. Bill's love for his B-3 is evident throughout.

Throughout the album, Champlin explores his influences, the soul and R&B influences are never far from the surface but he does inject hints of country (on Angelina) and the aforementioned tight production is a product of his 28 plus years in Chicago. Where he does Chicago one better is he knows when to stop polishing. Some of Chicago's more recent releases were produced to the point of sterility where no emotion was left in the songs. Champlin knows when to keep polishing and when to show restraint and allow a bit of grit to seep onto the album.

He even takes one of Chicago's biggest hits, Look Away, which he and Chicago took to number one all the way back in 1988 and rearranges it and sings it the way HE wants to, on his own terms. Where the Chicago version sounded forced, Champlin's acoustic arrangement sounds more soulful and Champlin is decidedly more comfortable in his own skin than he was when singing the Chicago version all those years ago (and for several years since, night after night, year after year on the road).

All in all this album is bittersweet. Chicago had Champlin's talents at their disposal for twenty-eight years. It's his solo material that really shines a light on how under-utilized Champlin was during his tenure in Chicago. Perhaps if they'd loosened the leash on Champlin, he could have restored some credibility to their music, credibility that started to slip away even before the untimely passing of Terry Kath in 1978. His membership in Chicago was a musical gift, and for 28 years, that gift was largely squandered and reduced to singing Terry Kath-karaoke.

If you think you know Champlin based on his contributions to Chicago, prepare to be pleasantly surprised. No Place Left to Fall blows away even his best contributions to his now former band and affirms its place as one of his best solo endeavours.

*released digitally and on CD in Europe and Japan in 2008. Not released on CD in the US until August 4, 2009

Related Links
No Place Left to Fall (allmusic.com)
Bill Champlin (official site)
Bill Champlin (wikipedia)

Esperanto - Rock Orchestra (1973)

2010-02-02T02:07:00.002-06:00

Esperanto were a European progressive rock outfit of somewhat unusual origin. Belgian violinist Raymond Vincent, pianist and musicologist Bruno Libert, and a pair of Italo-Belgian brothers, bassist Gino Malisan and his brother drummer, Tony Malisan. The core of the band was Belgian but it was on a trip to England that the original Belgian unit found the remaining members that would give Esperanto their unique sound.

After experiencing success in his native Australia with the Twilights and later Axiom, Glenn Shorrock decided to travel to England in a bid for international success. He was struggling and finding little or no success in England. The Belgians got in touch with producer David Mackay who knew of Glenn Shorrock and bada-bing Esperanto had a lead vocalist. After hearing a trio of Cliff Richard's back-up singers, Joy Yates, Janice Slater, and Bridget Dudoit their sound was complete.

Esperanto had a sound that was uniquely theirs. With violinist Raymond Vincent there are hints of American prog-rockers, Kansas but Vincent's violin playing is in more of a classical European vein than that of Kansas.

Shorrock, Yates, Slater, and Dudoit gave a glimpse of what was to come later when Shorrock would join Mississippi with Graeham Goble and Beeb Birtles and morph into Little River Band. Their vocal harmonies are tight and contribute to the uniqueness of Esperanto's sound. Another preview of Little River Band would come in the form of Statue of Liberty which Glenn would re-record with LRB on their debut album. The Esperanto version comes across a bit more bombastic and over the top than the somewhat more stripped down LRB version that would be recorded three years later.

After an extensive tour the band retired to a castle in Wales to record their next album. Shorrock decided to take his leave and return to Australia forcing the band to find a new lead singer, Keith Christmas. They also started working with King Crimson lyricist, Peter Sinefeld as their producer.

But it's their 1973 debut that is particularly interesting given Glenn Shorrock's post-Esperanto career path. The album shows Shorrock in a decidedly different light than his material with Little River Band would later display and gives the listener a greater appreciation of Shorrock's vocal versatility.

The album, besides being an interesting rarity is a well-done and thoroughly enjoyable album. The material is predominantly strong. While perhaps not to the same level as other groups whose places in music history are a bit more assurred (Yes, ELP, King Crimson, etc.) Esperanto is still certainly worthy of a few listens.

Related Links
Esperanto (The Official Site)
Esperanto (wikipedia)
Glenn Shorrock (wikipedia)

Starcastle - Fountains of Light (1977)

2010-02-01T04:07:00.003-06:00

Along with groups like Styx & Kansas, Starcastle was an American response to the British prog-rock of the sixties and seventies. Their sound and style is largely reminiscent (some would argue disparagingly that it was derivative) of Yes.

Listening to their first 3 albums (of which Fountains of Light is the 2nd) this comparison is not only understandable but fully warranted. In addition to the Roger Dean-esque cover artwork the synth heavy music is reminiscent of Tormato era Yes. Which makes Starcastle an even more interesting anomaly in that their first three albums pre-date Tormato. So somehow Starcastle managed to not only sound like a derivative of, but also a pre-cursor to Yes.

Terry Luttrell's (ex-REO Speedwagon) vocals are reminiscent of Jon Anderson, the tight vocal harmonies and even tighther rhythm section make for a thoroughly enjoyable sound. Unfortunately the synthesizer heavy stylings of computer programmer Herb Schildt have not aged well.

Dated synths aside, Fountains of Light is an delightful and very listenable album. Other than Fountains which opens the album, most of the songs range from just over three minutes to barely over six. Their brevity making them a bit more accessible than Yes's at times over-indulgent romps but at the same time this also contributes to the derogatory labeling of Starcastle as "Yes-lite."

Another interesting twist in Starcastle, their driving force and arguably their band leader, Gary Strater, was the bass player. There's a tightness, one might argue even a symbiosis between Strater's bass and the drumming of Stephen Tassler. It's these tight rhythms that were arguably better than that of Yes that set Starcastle apart and make them worthy of consideration in their own right, as opposed to being merely a poor man's Yes as the critics seemed to pan them as over the years.

Related Links
Starcastle (wikipedia)
Starcastle Fountains of Light (wikipedia)
Starcastle s/t debut (Review Revue)
Terry Luttrell (wikipedia)
Herb Schildt (wikipedia)

Steve Hackett - Darktown (1999)

2010-01-30T03:55:00.003-06:00

One of the common complaints of progressive rock is that it's all technique and no feeling or emotion. The ever versatile Steve Hackett took that stereotype head-on and flushed it down the toilet with his 1999 release, Darktown.

The album starts going full speed ahead out of the gate with the instrumental Omega Metallicus a heavily distorted musical onslaught, heavy on the bass, heavy on the distortion and totally in your face from the first note to the last before shifting to the darkly ambient title track.

Darktown is a largely Vincent Price-esque spoken word piece on the backdrop of heavily distorted Robert Fripp-esque guitar flourishes. Indeed if Price had still been alive when Hackett had recorded Darktown his voice would have been a perfect fit. That being said, Hackett does an admirable approximation of Vincent Price in his vocal delivery.

While the whole album is incredibly strong, something that I've come to notice from most of Hackett's solo material incidentally-- the consistency of quality. I don't believe Hackett has ever recorded a song that could be described as "filler." His material varies in quality from very good to excellent. There is no mediocrity.

The other standout track is The Golden Age of Steel, in it Hackett tells a tale of a young boy during WWII who seamlessly switches sides in the ongoing war in order to survive and profit. In the excellent liner notes Hackett describes the song as an example of "opportunism at its worst." Hackett's voice while not great is certainly passable and does work for the material he is performing. His vocal style is reminiscent of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. That being said Hackett's strength is certainly much more with his guitar than his voice. And it's for his guitar that this album is well worth listening to.

Incidentally this was one of the first solo albums of Hackett's I ever purchased. The cover art jumped out at me. There was something so dark but at the same time so beautiful about it and I wanted to hear the music that would inspire a photo of a tombstone as its cover artwork. I was not then, nor have I ever been disappointed with that decision.

Unfortunately, this album is now out of print in the United States. If you are able to find it at a decent price either as a new import or used I highly recommend it. If you think you know Hackett from his work in Genesis in the seventies prepare to be surprised. Prepare to be taken on an ambient and haunting musical journey. In the end, you'll be glad you did.

Related Links
Steve Hackett (official site)
Steve Hackett (wikipedia)