DVD: Thin Lizzy - Are You Ready?

Label: Eagle Rock Entertainment

Released: November 10, 2009

Are You Ready? finds the great Thin Lizzy in 1981, on tour for the less-than-great Renegade album. It also features guitarist Snowy White who, by his own admission, never felt suited to Thin Lizzy's hard rock sound and lifestyle. One would think this would add up to a disjointed and/or disenchanted performance, but nothing could be further from the truth. Whatever ills they suffered in the studio, they had exorcised them in the live show, sinking their teeth into old and new songs alike. Perhaps the band's best trait is their ability to understand and convey the energy of their songs, whether high-energy rockers or lower-key ballads, and it's completely evident here.

The concert was originally filmed for German television and the resulting video quality isn't the best (think second generation VHS copy), but the audio is fantastic. It's a perfect mix of fidelity and energy that meets the standards of the best live recordings. Sonically at least, that's what Thin Lizzy deserves and what this DVD delivers.

Rating: 8/10

Review: WASP - Babylon

Label: Demolition Records

Released: October 13, 2009

Are you sick of the 80s? I certainly am. Having the synthpop of my youth sold back to me as if it's a new thing is bad enough, but the more egregious offenders are the old hair metal dinosaurs who not only want to resell their corporate sound, but also the mindless, superficial party mentality of the Reagan years. While that stuff was a musical mixed bag, it was, with few exceptions, an emotional void.

So, one would think that perhaps the latest offering from Blackie Lawless and WASP, the band who gave us the deep and heavy "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" as well as a drunken Chris Holmes monologue in Decline of Western Civilization Part 2, would be no different, but closer examination of the band's career says otherwise. Even the stupidity of songs like "Animal" had a darkness that WASP's peers only pretended to understand and it wasn't long before WASP began expanding on that. By 1992's The Crimson Idol, Lawless, who essentially is WASP, began using his music to take an introspective journey. By 2004, he offered up the social commentary of the Neon God two part concept album. The point is that there's a little bit more to WASP than perhaps meets the eye and to lump them in with the other nonsense that's been held over from the 80s hard rock scene is unfair.

That brings us to WASP's latest release, Babylon. Musically, it isn't a real musical departure from their sound two decades ago. Some tracks lean toward hook-heavy hard rock. They're memorable and easy to fall into, but also suffer from that sense that there isn't much behind the veneer and that's where Lawless' sense of searching that underscores the album really helps out, providing substance rather than just smoke and mirrors. Much of the album leans more toward the heavier 80s metal sound and while these tracks benefit from the album's spiritual/emotional undercurrent, they don't require it. Babylon is solid today, but would have held up back in the genre's prime as well.

Overall, if you can't take 80s hard rock and heavy metal, Babylon won't change that. However, if the music is basically up your alley, but you've grown sick of its stagnation and stupidity, this might be the album that restores your faith that someone is playing your song without playing in your past. If you still wish it was 1988, you'll love Babylon and hopefully its sense of growth will rub off on you, because you need it.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Kiss - Sonic Boom

Label: KISS Records

Released: October 5, 2009

Before even listening, Sonic Boom suffers from some degree of disingenuousness just because they dressed Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer up as Ace and Peter. C'mon guys, at least Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent got their own Kiss persona. And gee, the cover art looks a little familiar too.

Sonic Boom does look back fondly on the band's classic years, particularly the loose, more distilled rock n roll of their first three albums. On the surface, that probably makes it their best album in a long, long time. Even their better albums of the last 30 years have generally been nods to current musical trends, so at least now they're giving a nod to their own success. Granted, "Stand" suffers a bit much from the late 80s in the chorus and "All for the Glory" is horribly generic, but overall, Gene, Paul and their hired guns make a pretty decent Kiss cover band. Sure, even the best songs on Sonic Boom aren't quite what they wrote 30 to 35 years ago and they don't have the fire that once fueled their drive to the top, but other hard rock bands have done worse. Much worse. Still, the cover is a better rip-off of Rock and Roll Over than the music is.

The package comes with a second CD collecting 15 old tunes, mostly from their first decade. It isn't clear what purpose it serves other than to point out the band's current shortcomings. There's also a DVD from a show earlier this year in Buenos Aires, but the performance finds them going through the motions of trying to be the Kiss of old when those days are long gone. They do shoot an impressive amount of confetti into the crowd though. It kinda makes one wonder what they're trying to cover up.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Ace Frehley - Anomaly

Label: Bronx Born Records

Released: September 15, 2009

Anomaly is the latest release from Ace Frehley, but it's also a good description of Space Ace himself in a sense. After all, he's the only member of Kiss to make any good records on his own. So, score one for Ace. On the other hand, it's been 20 years since he's released a studio album. A long layoff from recording alone raises questions, so it's hard to predict what we'll get.

Early on, the album is a much heavier hard rock offering than I expected. If anything, Ace has developed a chunkier, meatier and somewhat darker sound over the last two decades. It's not until his cover of Sweet's pop-glam classic, "Fox on the Run," that things lighten up a bit. At that point the album becomes a bit of a mixed bag. "Genghis Khan" dabbles in mild trippiness with some success. At the same time, the well-meaning "Change the World" is lyrically and musically inarticulate (even by the standards of Kiss alumni). The instumental "Space Bear" has some solid parts that would have worked well in regular songs, but is inconsistent at best on its own. Even so, there are enough songs here like "Foxy & Free," "Pain in the Neck" and "Sister" that mix a heavier approach with the glammy swagger that always influenced Ace's playing. Heavy-handed production does rob the guitar of some of that sound that always made Ace fun to hear even though he wasn't techincally a great guitar player, but it's not entirely absent.

As it stands, the album is better than expected (and better than his former band mates' latest). There's enough solid hard rock here to satisfy fans, but probably not enough songwriting to win over anyone new. At this point though, I doubt expanding his fan base was at the front of his mind anyway. The lyrical references in "Outer Space" make it quite clear that he's in no mood to break with his past. It's not a great offering, but also doesn't leave the door open for any current or former Kiss members to usurp him as that band's best solo artist. To be fair, Ace plays with some heart in a genre that is often sorely short of it and, in the end, delivers well on his past promise.

On rare occasions, CD packaging is actually pretty cool. This is one of them. While I would never steer anyone away from buying vinyl, I will say that the pyramid foldout on the CD is very cool and packaging does matter. It isn't a substitute for crappy tunes, but here it doesn't have to be, because the album wouldn't disappoint Ace's fans even if it came in a jewel case.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

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Review: Thieves and Liars - American Rock n Roll

Label: Dreamt

Released: September 1, 2009

Thieves & Liars debut, last year's When Dreams Become Reality, was a bold, expansive album. If it had a noticeable fault, it was that it didn't always turn its breadth into a cohesive whole. American Rock n Roll doesn't suffer that same ill though. It's a much more straight forward hard rock album. While nothing here is as ambitious as their debut, this album is much more even, relying more on raw passion and conviction than innovation. From the blistering rock n roll of "Walking by My Side" to the aggressive blues of "Killed a Man," Thieves & Liars successfully rein in innovation in favor of flat out rocking. While "Till the Walls Fall Down" and "Promised Land" are a little thin and lose the richness of 70s hard rock in favor of the synthetic riffs of the following decade, the album as a whole has far too much soul to be written off for a couple near misses. Overall, these songs of struggle and salvation, a hard rock gospel if you will, prove that rock n roll is anything but the devil's music.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Thin Lizzy - Still Dangerous

Label: VH1 Classic Records

Released: March 3, 2009

Probably the biggest trap into which a live album can fall is that of sounding too much like a studio album. After all, if it sounds pretty much like the studio cuts with crowd noise in between, what's the point? A live album should inject different energies or arrangements into the songs we already love, not just rehash them. It's an all too common disaster and any band on the verge of it would be wise to use Still Dangerous as a guide toward righteousness (just as much as Lizzy's established classic Live and Dangerous).

Lizzy's soulful hard rock takes on a looser feel right from the start. The sound is bright and clean, but also unmistakably live, with even their best known tracks taking on new life. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than on the blistering "Massacre" which is all the evidence needed to explain why this line-up is considered Lizzy's best. Phil Lynott's channeling of fellow Irishman Van Morrison into a hard rock format on "Dancing in the Moonlight" makes it hard to understand why something this good remained on the periphery of big time success. Every track provides a new look at Lizzy that never came from the studio albums, good as they were.

Still Dangerous isn't quite a perfect album though. At just over 45 minutes, it certainly finishes the set before it's really ready. And it does take a little bit to get going, with a second half that makes the merely very good start seem a little slow. Nonetheless, it does everything a live album should. It provides a different angle on some great songs. It might not be the same as being there, but it certainly makes those of us who weren't realize that we missed something pretty great.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: Buffalo Killers - Let It Ride

Label: Alive Naturalsound

Released: July 8, 2008

It would be easy to get tired of hearing the 70s rehashed over and over if there weren't a few bands really doing something special with it. Buffalo Killers is just one of those bands. Though not quite as raw as their debut, Let It Ride turns up the soul, an ingredient not only missing from many of today's retro bands, but also from many of the originals. They have a fair bit in common with the Black Crowes (with whom they recently toured), but they're grittier with a dirtier sense of the blues. They master both power and mellowness whether taking on the understated "Give and Give" or the driving boogie of "On the Prowl." Let It Ride has more breadth than most of its peers and it keeps me from getting too tired of the 70s just yet.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Sammy Hagar - Cosmic Universal Fashion

Label: Roadrunner Records

Released: November 18, 2008

There are artists who push the boundaries, who set new standards, who break rules. Sammy Hagar isn't one of them. Anyone acquainted with his career knows this and anyone expecting him to do any of these things is surely setting himself up for disappointment. Sammy Hagar has a formula and he sticks to it with only superficial changes over the years. That being said though, Hagar is one of the best hard rock voices out there and he simply exudes fun. Actually, in a sense, he's one of rock's most honest artists. No pretenses, he is what he is, so to speak.

Cosmic Universal Fashion's title track, a collaboration between Hagar and an Iraqi band, isn't the best start, as it stumbles around in funk-laden hard rock, but the ship soon rights itself with the kind of generic rock songs that have been the staple of both Hagar's solo career and his days in Van Halen. Lyrically, Sammy Hagar, even at his well-meaning best, is just plain stupid. Frankly, a guy his age should be able to come up with something better than keggers to write about. Of course, if you're listening to Hagar's music for enlightenment, you're probably dumber than he is. A cover of the Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" cashes in on neither the original's novelty appeal nor its unabashed fun, but it is the album's only complete miscue. Everything else plays out just as expected, for better or worse.

Sammy Hagar's same old, same old won't win over any new fans, nor will it change the face of rock n roll. However, Hagar is among the best at what he does and he isn't hesitant about the album he wants to make and people have come to expect. It's true that there are probably few artists less creative than Sammy Hagar, but at least he wears that on his sleeve and puts a lot of energy into delivering his dummied-down (and somewhat fun) rock n roll.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

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Review: Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy

Label: Geffen

Released: November 23, 2008

Chinese Democracy is an album almost a decade and a half in the making. For this album alone, Axl Rose and his revolving door of musicians that make up what he still calls Guns N Roses have been at it longer than most bands take for an entire career. The Beatles changed the face of rock music in (considerably) less time. The cost of recording the album approaches the GNP of a small country. Throw in the promise of a free Dr Pepper for everyone in America (minus Buckethead and Slash, of course) and perhaps no album in history has had more hype. Frankly, I really thought democracy would come to China before Chinese Democracy would come to stores and it seemed like Axl had let it become so much larger than a rock album that he couldn't win by releasing it. It had become a joke.

As it turns out though, the album is not a joke at all. Unlike so may recent hard rock albums that have come out after long layoffs, this one actually shows that he's been up to something all this time. The album takes some chances and incorporates new sounds without losing sight of what GnR really is. That was particularly surprising, because most of GnR is in Velvet Revolver now. Nonetheless, Axl has stayed true to GnR's core without becoming stagnant. He wears a lot of his influences on his sleeve of course. His love for Elton John's over-the-top piano rock is no secret and it's in fine form here. The addition (at least at times) of NIN touring guitarist Robin Finck shows prevalently. Not every chance he takes works of course and after over a decade, the missteps should have been resolved. However, take the time and money out of the equation and Chinese Democracy is a very good record when compared to something recorded for a normal price and in a normal timeframe.

I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed in Chinese Democracy though. I was hoping that the joke it had become would play out nicely in a train wreck and provide at least a few more weeks of laughing at Axl's expense. But the joke's over. The album is solid, interesting and a bit adventurous and I guess that's better than the joke anyway.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Mötley Crüe - Saints of Los Angeles

Label: Motley Records
Released: June 24, 2008

What should we expect from Mötley Crüe at this point? They're 25 years past their prime and they certainly didn't continue to release material worthy of their recent resurgence over the years. On the other hand, they did manage to bounce back once and make a decent album with 1989's Dr Feelgood after a pair of stinkers (despite those albums' fantastic commercial success). The recent Carnival of Sins live album showed that they had enough life to put together an entertaining live set, but there they thrived on old material. At this point, Saints of Los Angeles is a crap shoot. It could go either way.

The reality is that it goes both ways. While the Crüe never even comes close to their prime, they do manage to come pretty close to their late 80s second wind at times. Maybe I'm just grateful that "Welcome to the Machine" isn't a Pink Floyd cover, but it's the first time on the album that I think the band sounds energized. Following it up with "Just Another Psycho" isn't a bad one-two punch and for a few minutes, the album really seems to be on track. They release that energy on a few tracks down the back stretch, but none more so than the closer, "Goin' Out Swingin'," which comes close to the calculated energy of "Dr Feelgood" or "Kickstart My Heart." Most of the time though, the songs just never get a good head of steam to give the impression at least that the album matters to the band. Vince Neil is particularly guilty as his voice is erratic at best. He does sound good at times, but just as often, his voice is thin and hollow.

They do attempt to incorporate some of the things that have happened since they were a good band, but the updated sound does them no favors. "Mutherfucker of the Year," for instance, incorporates a lot of the electronic effects that have been adopted by more recent rock and metal bands, but it's kludgey and unnatural. Creatively, there's simply not much that works, leaving the Crüe at their best when trying to recreate the past.

Lyrically, songs like "Chicks=Trouble" find the band at the very pinnacle of their stupidity while the we-have-to-fight-our-way-to-the-top theme of "What's It Gonna Take" couldn't even be believed by the most naive fan. While the reminiscences of "Down at the Whiskey" may have some roots in the truth, it's a rosy recollection of behavior so moronic that it simply couldn't have been that good.

In the end, Saints of Los Angeles has a few moments that aren't bad for four old guys, but the reality is still that they are way past their prime. When they try to update their sound, they fail, and when they try to relive their past, it's just a reminder of how much time has passed.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 4/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 3/10
Overall: 4/10

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Review: Totimoshi - Milagrosa

Label:

Released: July 8, 2008

Totimoshi will have a hard time living down the White Stripes comparisons on Milagrosa, but at the same time leaving a description of the album at simply that is incredibly short-sighted. There's no doubt that they've found that same rich, heavy groove as Jack and Meg, but from the first lead break, they start establishing that they're not just some knock-off.

Unlike the White Stripes or Totimoshi's own stoner rock beginnings, Milagrosa overflows with mad psychedelic energy. Not just the really heavy stuff, but also a fair taste of Deadhead psych that they likely came upon filtered through the Meat Puppets. A wall of noise, under the influence of producer Page Hamilton (of Helmet), washes over their psych/hard rock soundscape in waves that alternate with the album's outright trippiness. Even slower tracks like "Last Refrain" (which features harmonies on par with Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains) and the acoustic "Forever in Bone (Los Dos)" maintain an awesome power.

Totimoshi has come quite a way from their beginnings to make an album that draws on a variety of sources to create sonic madness. Milagrosa has the dynamics of a pot ready to boil, that crazy state that's between calm and rage.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

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Ride the boogie - "Mustache Riders" mp3

Featuring Adam Tymn of VAUX and members of Arkham and Places To Park, Ride The Boogie is set to release their self-titled LP on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Tymn took the time to give some insight on the track "Mustache Riders" and the struggles of being both an artist and a parent.

"The song is about two guys, infamously known as the Mustache Riders, that go out on dirtbikes to camp in the desert and someway or another happen to run into these laser hot chicks," explains Tymn of the above track. "One thing leads to the next and the ladies go on a nice mustache ride. The song ends leaving one wondering if these guys just had too much of something bad or that they actually had the most incredible night of their lives."

Tymn also explains how the track was originally a faster number that had more of a hard rock feel to it. “Actually, I first demoed the song on the John Lennon Bus for free thanks to those guys,” says Tymn. "Glenn worked with the beat and now it has a particular shuffle and groove to it that the song needed. Kevin’s slide stuff definitely sleazes the song up nicely along with Billy’s cool guitar work throughout the song especially in the pre-choruses."

Although the verses were easy to pen, the chorus was a bit of a struggle. "I was trying hard to think of a way to make the chorus be that of a heroic cartoon theme. You know, big but simple with a catchy little melody," says Tymn, pointing out that vibe is more noticeable towards the end of the song.

Ironically the cartoon theme is the non-perverse interpretation of the story, that motorcycles were the only things being ridden. "It is hard being an artist and a parent at the same time," admits Tymn. "You have to be able to keep things over your children’s heads but still allow the older folks to dig it. I remember when we were recording this song and how everything that was being tracked was becoming very sleazy sounding."

"Mustache Riders" MP3

If you ask me, it doesn't sound like the best lyrical concept ever, but luckily, the music can make you forget the concept.

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Review: Man Raze - Surreal

Label: VH1 Classics

Released: June 3, 2008

A few months back, I heard a few pre-release tracks of this project which reunites Def Leppard's Phil Collen with former Girl bandmate Simon Laffy and brings in ex-Sex Pistol Paul Cook. The line-up certainly sounds like it could be flirting with disaster, but that preview raised my hopes that this would be a pretty good project. It mixed Collen's pre-AOR glam roots with a helping of punk rock swagger, removing the polish and safety that I would expect from any Def Leppard side-project. Sadly, the album in its entirety only delivers on that promise part of the time. Far too many songs stick to the regimented, overused AOR formula. The result is an inconsistent affair, occasionally delivering more than I'd hoped for, but usually being as dull as I'd feared.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 5/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: The Parlor Mob - And You Were a Crow

Label: Roadrunner Records

Released: May 6, 2008

There is really no shortage of bands out there today who are mining the 70s for the source of its hard rock gems. The Parlor Mob is one such band. They've obviously spent some time with Zeppelin and the Nuge and they've certainly gotten quite a bit out of that. And You Were a Crow has no shortage of great riffs and rolling rhythms. Sure the vocals basically stick to the Robert Plant formula, but they do a good job of it and they have a great sense of when to add just a bit of frenzy. Even when they practically steal "Since I've Been Loving You" on "Tide of Tears," there's something special that identifies it as Parlor Mob rather than their large, looming predecessor.

The best thing about the Parlor Mob though is that, unlike so many of their peers, they have actually found that source that they're looking for...and it's soul. It's something that the Black Crowes found out early on in their explorations of the 70s and it's translated into almost 20 years of great music. Perhaps the Parlor Mob is mining that same vein with just a harder edge. If so, And You Were a Crow won't be the last we hear of them.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: Niki Barr Band - Bloom

Label: self-released

Released: May 24, 2008

I had the chance to catch the Niki Barr Band open for the Cult a few months back and they were an outstanding live band. They played with the confidence and intensity of a headliner, not the caution and tentativeness of a local band opening for an international act. However, when I heard their previous releases, Lush and Go, I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but it lacked so much of what made their live set so good.

A lot has changed since those releases though and their new EP, Bloom finds the emphasis move from Niki Barr to band. This is the first time that all four members have contributed in all stages of the process and it shows. They've taken a harder approach this time and while songs like "Undivided" and "Alone" can tread a little too heavily in alt metal territory, they also have more edge and texture and that brings this album a little bit closer to their live show. On these first two tracks, they've tried to solidify their sound within the boundaries of rock music, making execution their strength rather than pushing the boundaries.

Things get a little more interesting after that though. "So Cruel" deals more in dissonance and sees the band stretching out a bit. "Burn" has a vaudeville feel that builds in intensity (and weird, creepy energy) until it begins to break apart, but it never does and that's the mark of a band that's onto something good. In a vague way, it reminds me of the trial sequence for The Wall (which is one of the few things Roger Waters did right on that album). "Drowsy" splits the difference between the more straightforward tracks and the tangents of the experiments, ending on a strong note. The doors are now open to experimentation and, despite not stepping all the way through them, the band is clearly on the right path to the Niki Barr Band sound.

Bloom is a solid set of songs. The vocals are richer, the music sharper and the band is more cohesive and focused. They sound better as individual musicians and better as a unit and strong production gives them a bigger, crunchier sound. As good as they were live a few months ago, I have even higher hopes now.

Catch the Niki Barr Band performing the new material at their CD release show on May 24th at the 8X10 in Baltimore.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

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Review: Ministry and Co-Conspirators - Cover Up

Label: 13th Planet Records

Released: April 1, 2008

I'm not much of a Ministry fan. Sure, Land of Rape and Honey was a very good album, particularly for its time, but otherwise they've never grabbed me. Nonetheless, when I saw Al (or Alien as he's listed in the conspiracy-themed liner notes) Jourgensen and friends were releasing an album full of covers, I was intrigued. If irreverence ever served anything well, it would likely be covers of a bunch of rock staples and perhaps no one is as irreverent as Jourgensen.

Sadly, the end result sounds like someone covering Ministry covering these songs. It has all the tell-tale signs of industrial music (overly-distorted guitars, rapid-fire beats), but nothing that sounds like it was done by a founder of the sound rather than an imitator. To be fair though, the album isn't without its fun. "Mississippi Queen" gets a jump start (and keeps the cowbell). The already dirty "Roadhouse Blues" has that dirtiness amplified by the sludgy noise. "Lay Lady Lay" does a great job of walking the not very fuzzy line between Dylan and Ministry. "What a Wonderful World" should be exempt from the kind of mistreatment that I expected to hear on this album, but it's pulled off well enough that I'm not sure it gets disparaged, even when the speed gets turned on. Is there a softer side to Jourgensen? Probably not, but give him credit for making me ask. These few exceptions aside though, the album falls short of the expectations of even a non-fan.

I removed the Dylan rating for this one, because they're all covers.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: ?/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Lesser of Two Evils: Lord Tracy versus Little Caesar

Little Caesar-s/t (1990)

versus


Lord Tracy-Deaf Gods of Babylon (1989)

Metal Mark invited me to participate in this feature over at Heavy Metal Time Machine. It was a chore to listen, but fun to write. Check it out.

Review: Clams - EP

Label: self-released

Released: 2007

Many bands take the Great Leap Forwards approach to modernization, taking an older sound and dragging it kicking and screaming through recent history into the present. Clams doesn't take that road though. Their self-titled EP channels 70s hard rock without forcing anything unnatural to happen. Whether the rhythms are driving or more laid back, the riffs are monsters with plenty of swagger and the vocals are emotional without overwhelming the music. They have plenty of crunch, but don't avoid hooks for the sake of heaviness. Even their nod to the 90s on the Alice in Chains-ish "Dead to the World" doesn't feel like they're alt rock-ifying their sound so much as just taking a natural path. "Fractures" is their most ambitious track, showing that they are equally adept at straightforward rock and prog meanderings. While this EP isn't breaking much new ground, it takes a pattern that is oft misused and sets it straight.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 4/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Voodoo Six - Faith

Label: White Knuckle Records

Released: 2007

England's Voodoo Six prefaced First Hit for Free, due out on March 24th, with this three song EP of their modern hard rock. "Faith" is the teaser's first and best track. It takes 70s hard rock and filters it through the 90s, largely influenced by Soundgarden's more mainstream, metally albums. The song isn't particularly original, but all elements are solid and Voodoo Six injects a fair amount of energy into it. They follow this up with "Feed My Soul" which is no more original, but lacks the previous song's electricity. The rhythms are lackluster, the riffs are flat and the solo is gratuitous. Like "Faith" though, it does display technical competence even if the songwriting and performance fizzle. "Crawl" splits the difference between the two, bringing back some of the punch of "Faith" without matching it. While I didn't find the Faith EP to be particularly compelling, it did show that the members of Voodoo Six are entirely competent even if they do struggle to standout. To their credit though, their skills are strong enough that they could be very flashy, yet they show quite a bit of restraint. Their biggest hurdle, even greater than a lack of any real originality, is their sacrifice of swagger for precision. Faith feels like everything is by the book rather than being elastic enough to show the band's personality.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 3/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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If you're curious about my rating categories, read the description.

Review: Mongrels - Oshawa

Label: WeirdBeard Records

Released: November 2007

Before they had an album out, I wrote about the material Mongrels had up on their Myspace page. It was a raw, manic mix of garagey soul (or soulful garage). Either way, they tapped into the excitement of the late 60s Detroit that would profoundly influence much of 70s hard rock, even if few bands down the road had proven capable of keeping pace.

On Oshawa, they've become a little more tame, perhaps tapping their old sound and refining it into something with a broader appeal. Don't be fooled, because the energy is still there, but it's no longer channeled through the MC5 and Mitch Ryder, so much as Deep Purple and Heart. The nice thing about Mongrels is that they don't lose all of the craziness of their pre-Oshawa recordings. Instead, a song like "All in My Head," with a great pop chorus, is even bolder than before. Plus, they further capitalize on Amy Torok's fantastic wail and a drummer for each channel (yeah, you get Tim Dwyer in the left speaker and Dusty Rails in the right) as well as the whole band's recognition of the role of soul in great rock music.

On Oshawa, Mongrels have found a way to both clean up their sound and make it bolder. Gone is the wild garage noise, but the cleaner sound has greater breadth and intensity. There is a certain retro hard rock appeal to Oshawa, but Mongrels manages to bring the 70s with them as a part of their sound rather than returning to the past and being contained by it.

Rating: 8/10

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Review: Thieves & Liars - When Dreams Become Reality

Label: Facedown Records/Dreamt Music

Released: January 22, 2008

When Dreams Become Reality would be an ambitious album even if it was the fourth or fifth release for San Diego's Thieves & Liars. As a debut, it's even more impressive. They draw on a lot of influences, some of which entrench them in hard rock and others which allow them to step outside. The music sits on a solid hard rock basis that ties the album together. From there, they reach out to a variety of influences. At times, they focus on the space rock freak-outs of early-to-mid-period Pink Floyd and at others on the powerful energy of Led Zeppelin. The album has no shortage of heavy power trio riffing, but still makes room for occasional touches of both Deep Purple and Motorhead. I suppose I could do without the overblown, power ballad strings on "Alone," though, oddly enough, not on "Forgotten," which expands well beyond the silly 80s soft-side-of-hard-rock conventions. Still, these are minor points. The biggest trouble is that, despite their ability to maintain a consistent sound beneath the overt influences, they never seem to bring several things together at once. Instead, it tends to be more like Thieves & Liars & Floyd on one track, followed by Thieves & Liars & Zeppelin on the next. They certainly have the ability to incorporate some of the best heavy and trippy rock in history into their sound, they merely need to stir it up a bit more. Does this keep the album from being good? Certainly not. It is very good and perhaps a few tweaks short of great.

As if bringing together a variety of sounds wasn't ambitious enough, When Dreams Become Reality is a concept album. It follows the story of St. Joseph as he is faced with the difficult decision of being engaged to a pregnant girl. Remember, this was a time and place where adultery resulted in some unpleasantness, often stoning. Joseph is given a mission from God and yet he can decide to ignore that if he chooses. For Christians and non-Christians alike, the story is an inspiring one, particularly in trying times when the right path isn't always the easy one. The concept album is tricky territory for even a more experienced band and often results in either the music being compromised or the concept itself becoming muddled. Thieves & Liars avoid both difficulties, producing music that can both stand on its on and work within the story. Most importantly, particularly for a young band, Thieves & Liars don't get bogged down being something they're not. Sure they have some trouble mixing their influences at times, but through it all, they always manage to sound like themselves.

Rating: 7/10

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Discography: Kiss (the makeup years)

Before anyone even says anything, I know that this stuff was geared toward adolescent males (and actually appealed most to pre-adolescent males). I know the lyrics are about as stupid as anything rock music has ever produced. I know the objectification of women is part and parcel of Kiss and I hate that. However, I was about six when I first got into Kiss and from 1977 until 1980, I probably listened to little else. Over the years, I've become more and more disgusted with Kiss' increasingly cheap commercialism, but I still come back to these old albums from time to time. Now, they were every bit as commercial in 1974 as they were on that Farewell Tour that didn't seem to end, but there is a difference. For years Kiss wanted to be the biggest band in the world and they went about that by writing good, fun pop/rock songs and putting on a stage show that was second to none. Everything was for sale, but frankly, even the Kiss action figures were pretty cool.

Kiss (1974)
Kiss' debut has some great songs on it. "Strutter," "Firehouse," "Cold Gin" and "Deuce" are among their best. The trouble is that it also includes "Kissin' Time" (which actually wasn't included on the first pressing) and "Love Theme from Kiss," the former a lackluster cover and the latter a complete embarrassment. Still this album had the raw swagger of the British glam bands Kiss surely wanted not just to imitate, but beat at their own game.
Rating: 8/10

Hotter Than Hell (1974)
Their sophomore album didn't polish things up, but it tends to drag too often. Sure the title track is one of their most famous tunes and "Watchin' You" and "Let Me Go, Rock n Roll" are every bit as good as the debut, but there's too much material like "Goin' Blind" (it feels like a coma) and "Mainline" (if I wanted Faces, I'd play Faces, because they're better at it). Coming out less than nine months after Kiss, it's pretty clear this one was rushed.
Rating: 6/10

Dressed to Kill (1975)
Coming only five months after Hotter..., Dressed to Kill should have suffered from the same shortage of good material, but it didn't. Sure, I've heard "Rock and Roll All Nite" way too many times, but I still get a kick out of "Room Service," "C'mon and Love Me" and really the whole album. "She" is one of their most memorable songs.
Rating: 8/10

Destroyer (1976)
Destroyer had long been my favorite Kiss album and it certainly has plenty of fine songs, from the well-known "Detroit Rock City" and "God of Thunder" to lesser known cuts like "Flaming Youth" and "Shout It Out Loud" (both of which were singles). The trouble is Destroyer is just too slick and despite good songs, the album lacks the loose fun of their earlier releases. Oh yeah, and this one has "Great Expectations," which might be the best case against it.
Rating: 7/10

Rock and Roll Over (1976)
While Destroyer erred on the side of slickness, Kiss made an adjustment on the follow-up. Rock and Roll Over splits the difference between their early rawness and the somewhat emasculated sound on Destroyer, resulting in perhaps Kiss' best record. "I Want You" and "Makin' Love" measure up to their best songs and "Baby Driver," "Take Me" and "Ladies Room" aren't far off either. Since Rod Stewart didn't want "Hard Luck Woman," the band decided Peter Criss was the next best thing. Of course he's nowhere near Rod, but it's a decent ballad nonetheless.
Rating: 8/10

Love Gun (1977)
Kiss found the right formula on Rock and Roll Over and stuck with it on Love Gun. Once again it worked, but it's a shame they didn't have one more good tune so they didn't have to cover "Then She Kissed Me." Still, the title track, "Christine Sixteen," and just about everything else here are great catchy hard rock tunes. "Shock Me" and "Hooligan," whose lyrics are dumb even dumb by Kiss standards, are still a blast.
Rating: 8/10

Dynasty (1979)
This one has taken a beating over the years and it's certainly somewhat deserved. Kiss actually had an edge prior to taking their solo album break the year before, but there's very little of that left on here. However, there are some good pop moments in "I Was Made for Loving You" and "Charisma." "Hard Times" is the hardest rocking song, but it's just plain dull. It's sad when the best song on the album is a Stones cover. The reality is that Dynasty has too much in common with what bands like Toto were doing at the same time. Yeah, I guess Dynasty deserves what it gets.
Rating: 4/10

Unmasked (1980)
This one generally fares even worse than Dynasty, but I like it a little bit more. They were still short on good songs (maybe less so than on the last album) and it really has no teeth whatsoever, but the whole affair doesn't feel as forced. I suspect that on both of these albums, Paul stepped forward to take control of a seriously listing ship and set its pop course. He succeeded in keeping it afloat, but it's arguable as to whether that was a good thing or not. Most of the album is very mediocre, but "Talk to Me" and "She's So European" save the album from "Shandi." "Torpedo Girl" isn't a bad time either, even if it's nothing to write home about.
Rating: 5/10

Music from the Elder (1981)
All I can say is the album is as bad as that video for "A World Without Heroes" where Gene (still in makeup of course) cries. I think everyone who bought this wanted to cry and wishes, like Gene, they could hide behind some goofy makeup too.
Rating: 1/10

Creatures of the Night (1982)
Kiss seemed to take Ace's (yet unannounced) departure much more in stride than they had Peter's, which seems odd since Ace was bigger contributor. Still, they saw that no one was interested in the pop leanings or, worse yet, the concept albums of a bunch of goofballs in Kabuki face. Rather than take off the makeup, Kiss instead made their heaviest album ever. It didn't increase sales much in the US, but the outcome was some of their best material. The title track and "Killer" find Kiss as a metal band really for the first time. Even the ballad, "I Still Love You," has some heavy parts and "I Love It Loud" is an anthem of inarticulate loudness.
Rating: 8/10


I've only addressed the makeup-era studio albums here and I'm just going to pretend the solo albums don't exist. While it wouldn't be so bad to spend some time with Ace's, that would force me to listen to the other three. Some would say that listening to this much Kiss at once is surely masochistic and perhaps it is, but I'm not up for the kind of beating that Gene and Peter's solo albums in particular can dish out on my poor ears.

Review: The Ark - Prayer for the Weekend

Label: Roxy Recordings

Released: April 16, 2007

The Ark don't do a single original thing on Prayer for the Weekend, but how many bands really do? To understand a band like the Ark is to understand their influences. In their best moments they channel the likes of Queen, Sweet and T Rex. They have a huge arena-sized sound and all the necessary bombast to pull that off. Whether they're recreating the dance-infused rock of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" on the title track or the simultaneously silly and heartfelt teen anthem of Sweet's "Teenage Rampage" on "New Pollution," the Ark can can bring the best of big 70s rock into their tunes. Like their early glam influences, the Ark also successfully marries a big rock sound with candy-coated pop hooks and even the heavy hints of ELO's slick strings work well for them. Oddly enough, the Ark is at their best when they're completely over the top just like the early arena rock bands they emulate. At times, they rein themselves in and the more subdued approach hurts the album. More often though, they draw enough from the best of some of rock's most grandiose bands and package it together in a way that makes their revival pretty easy to buy into. Frankly, this is not typically my thing and yet I found myself engaged by Prayer for the Weekend rather than appalled by it.

Rating: 7/10

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Review: Dirt Mall - Got the Goat by the Horns

Label: Daykamp Records

Released: December 4, 2007

While hard rock is probably one the easiest genres to play, it is probably one of the hardest at which to succeed. It's has been played by so many for so long that it's really hard to be a standout. Sure, the old hard rock regulars will flock to anything that reminds them of AC/DC, but the legions of AC/DC soundalikes (and AC/DC themselves for that matter) aren't exactly good bands. To be a good hard rock band, you have to either find a new angle (almost impossible) or play with such unbridled energy and groove that you can't be denied.

Dirt Mall do a lot of things right on Got the Goat by the Horns. They don't rehash bad hard rock from the 80s. They don't get all dressed up in the studio like someone they're not. They don't get pretentious. They claim to be a rock and roll band and that is just what they are. However, it takes more than that to get over the hard rock hump. For the most part, Dirt Mall's energy seems to be latent on the album. It's there, but it's hidden, lurking in the background rather than pushing the songs over the edge. They do draw on some of the late 80s metalicized punk, perhaps from fellow Boston band Gang Green's later albums, but they lack the lingering punk rock punch. I think Dirt Mall is likely going for something along the lines of a hard rock Replacements, but they lack Westerberg's knack for hooks and drunken poetry. Don't get me wrong, this is good hard rock and their ability to at least look to bands that actually have substance give them an edge over most of their peers, just not quite enough to really stand out in such a big crowd.

Still, they did nail a couple tracks on this eight song album. "The Demons & the Damned" has a slow, understated groove, but it keeps the song, the album's longest at just over nine minutes, moving along its dark, moody path. The closer, "Ghosts Descend," the other of Dirt Mall's more subdued tracks, is not quite as long, but has an almost mystical energy (as well as the album's best riffs). What's great about both of these songs is that they stretch beyond the limitations without sacrificing the strengths. They don't try to artificially enhance them with the puffed up bombast of typical hard rock. Instead, they maintain their down-in-the-trenches, straightforward rock and roll imperfections that make the songs truly theirs. There's really nothing worse than a band who gives up the very bumps and lumps that make them who they are. Dirt Mall's ability to embrace them even when they expand their sound is a major point in their favor.

Like their friends in Cheater Pint, Dirt Mall don't get wrapped up in all the pretensions of their art. They simply wanna rock. Perhaps that simplicity keeps them from shaking things up at times, but they when they loosen up and let go, they make it clear that they really can play both sides. Seriously, they have a nine minute song that doesn't feel long, cumbersome or gratuitous. That alone is worth checking out. My guess is they're at their best live where they can shake free of any confines that come with the studio.

Rating: 6/10

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Review: Rainbow - Rising

After writing that Blackmore's Night review, I had to post something as a reminder that Richie Blackmore wasn't always pathetic. I guess knowing that he once did some great stuff makes his sad attempt at bring the renaissance to rock even worse.


Label: Polydor

Released: 1976

Any disappointment that Deep Purple fans must have felt when Richie Blackmore departed in 1973 not alleviated by Rainbow's debut should surely have been dispelled by Rising. It has all the power of Deep Purple while recapturing a leaner, more agile sound that was absent from Purple for some time. While David Coverdale was a fine singer, it was really Ian Gillan's shoes that Ronnie James Dio would have to fill and fill them he did. Blackmore and company's second album bridges the gap between prog rock and heavy metal in a way that would later be pursued and perfected by Iron Maiden. The music is technically superior to most of Rainbow's peers, yet maintains an energy level that challenges all but the rawest rock n roll of its time.

Rating: 8/10

DVD: Kiss - Kissology Vol 3 1992-2000

Label: VH1 Classic Records

Released: December 18, 2007

Frankly, I expected the third volume of the Kissology to be the least essential. While the Revenge tour material was likely to be decent and the Unplugged reunion with Ace and Peter shouldn't be missed, the rest followed them through their years of touring with the make-up back on and the stage show back in all its supposed splendor in what can only be explained as an attempt to milk both their first generation fans for another go around as well as a new brood of mesmerized adolescents. I mean didn't they bring back Eric Singer at one point and have him put on the cat costume?

So, my hopes were low, but I had forgotten how exciting the Unplugged performance was and how that electricity extended into the initial reunion tour in 1996. Whether it was a money-grubbing scheme or not, they did bring their best and those performances show it, particularly the MTV VMA awards show under the Brooklyn Bridge. Disc three shows them at their worst (at least since the Elder) as everyone but Paul seems to be going through more of an ordeal than a good time. To Paul's credit, despite Kiss' numerous blatant money-making ploys, he seems to have always tried to adhere to the old Motown model of making a fortune by making the best product possible. However, his audience had become nostalgic middle-aged guys, evidenced by the crowd shots (did you see that goofball with his one sleeve rolled up to show off his the Kiss Army tattoo?) and that almost never produces good rock n roll.

Disc four was a nice surprise. It's Kiss' earliest filmed performance from December 1973. Why wasn't it included on Vol. 1? In typical Kiss fashion, they're more concerned with presentation than anything else and it was felt that the footage was too raw to kick the project off. It ended up being a good decision. Kiss, love them or hate them, had a long, successful run and it would be sad to see it end with a farewell tour where their hearts weren't entirely in it (once again with the exception of Paul). After the waning energy of the Farewell Tour show from 2000 which shows them as innocuous as apple pie (though not nearly as good), it's nice to be blown away by how shocking they must've been 27 years earlier. Can you imagine having been there?

None can compete with the first volume which finds Kiss first hungry to succeed and then at their peek where they still believed that the best way to make money was to produce a quality product, but Vol. 3 really does have some essential moments, even for the cursory fan.

Rating: 7/10

DVD: Kiss - Kissology Vol 2 1978-1991

Label: VH1 Classic Records

Released: August 14, 2007

I'd be surprised if anyone expected the Kissology installments to get better as they progressed just because the band clearly peaked during the period covered by Vol 1. I didn't find it odd that Vol 2 didn't have the thrill of the first one, but I was surprised at what a step down they took in the 80s. I really don't remember it being quite that bad. Where they were once innovators (as performers, not musicians), they were followers during this second period and while they brought in several more skilled players during this time, they became a great example of why the best technical skills aren't always what gets the job done.

While they may not have been able to survive with Ace and Peter any longer, Eric Carr, Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick all exemplify why some bands are better off with less technically proficient players. There is no doubt that Carr and Kulick and even Vincent were better technicians, but the resulting cleaner sound was generally as dull as the new hair metal glory they were chasing.

After the Creatures of the Night material, there is little here that needs to be seen by anyone not blinded by a mindless love of Kiss. Nostalgia did make me want to see Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park again, but good sense made me turn it off and leave it in the memories of my Kiss-obsessed childhood. The unmasking on MTV may seem like a big moment in rock history, but it doesn't have any heart like the reunion did in the next decade even if both were strictly about maximizing their profits.

The make-up may have run its course, but once Kiss took it off, they also became followers, walking through the hair metal door that they may have opened, but that they had previously avoided walking through by being uniquely Kiss. Their music never broke down any barriers like their performances did, but through most of this volume, even their performances weren't over the top.

Like the other volumes, it is a nice package for the money (probably due to their marketing teams cost benefit analysis), but it isn't essential for anyone except die-hard fans.

Rating: 5/10

Review: Sebastian Bach - Angel Down

Label: Get Off My Bach/MRV/Caroline/EMI

Released: November 20, 2007

In light of the number of 80s hair metal has-beens trying to cash in on a sadly nostalgic public, I didn't have tremendously high hopes for Sebastian Bach's latest, his first album in eight years. The upside of this record is that Bach didn't entirely bow to the past. From the opening track, it's pretty clear that Angel Down isn't just a cash-in on the sound of the first and most successful Skid Row album. It's a pretty heavy affair that taps more into his Slave to the Grind-era work along with some of the churning crunch of metal's more recent practices.

The downside is that while the songwriting and playing is soild, it's also largely uneventful. There were five tracks that Bach didn't contribute to as a writer and he wrote the rest...with help. Unfortunately, that help streamlined everything into a very generic hard rock format. What do you expect when the producer co-wrote four tracks and another one got "help" from Desmond Child who wouldn't know innovation if it hit him over the head. Even the songs written by band members don't show any desire to establish their own sound rather than just rely on Bach's voice and waning starpower. As I got further into the album, I became hopeful that he may have forgone the ballad. You can imagine my disappointment when "By Your Side" began. On top of the writing, the band is tight, but not all that enthusiastic. Technical skill is seldom a substitute for actually feeling the music and the difference between those two becomes more and more evident over the course of the album. The over-hyped presence of Axl Rose on three tracks was completely forgettable.

None of this made the album outright unlistenable, but it did keep it from reaching the level of a few other hard rock/heavy metal blasts from the past that came out this year. The one thing that really did the most to point out what's wrong with Bach's work is his cover of Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle." If you're going to take the swing out of an Aerosmith song, you better have something good in its place. Bach and company have nothing. They play it entirely safe, straightening the shuffle right out and robbing it of its swagger. This really sums up the album well. On the songs that don't have to measure up to Aerosmith's prime, Bach's conservatism isn't as clear, but the cover lays it all out in the open.

Rating: 5/10

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Review: Queensryche - Take Cover

Label: Rhino

Released: November 13, 2007

A cover here and there isn't a bad thing and often playing covers helps a band know itself. But there's a big difference between the occasional cover that pops up on an album or a live set and releasing a whole album of someone else's songs. This trend, similar to the current trend of Hollywood remakes, made me fear for the creative future of rock n roll until I realized that the bands making these albums are generally those whose creative force have either never been strong or are so far in the past that they may just as well not have existed. While most who can take honest stock of Queensryche today would argue that they are the latter, I tend to think of them as a band who was, despite a good deal of technical prowess, not all that interesting in the first place.

Needless to say, I didn't expect Take Cover to be very compelling and it wasn't. The covers on this album range from uninteresting to unlistenable. Of all the tracks, I suspected a band as emotionally crippled as Queensryche had the best shot at success with the deliberate coldness of Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine." Instead of allowing their weaknesses to work as a strength, they feebly attempt to make it emotional. Of course, they fail, but success wouldn't have been much better. It's as if they never understood the song in the first place.

When I saw "For What It's Worth" on the track list, I was surprised, but Queensryche did kind of fancy themselves social commentators. Unlike Buffalo Springfield though, they failed to recognize that love is a big part of social protest and their cover doesn't have a drop of it. In most cases, I'm pleased when a band tries to add their own flair to the interpretation, but there's one caveat: the change has to work. This one doesn't. A band with all the political import of the Candyskins was able to move me more with their lite jangle pop version.

They go on to rob "For the Love of Money" of its groove (it's sad when you're outdone by the Bullet Boys), "Innuendo" of its power (Geoff Tate is a sad excuse for Freddie Mercury and he's closer than any of his band mates are to their counterparts in Queen), "Synchronicity II" of its urgency (did they read that one right off of the sheet music?) and "Red Rain" of its poignancy (I didn't think it was possible not to be moved by that song). I don't think I can even bring myself to talk about their misdeeds on "Bullet the Blue Sky," but it certainly would have been bad enough without extending it past 10 minutes. Were they being serious with that one or was it supposed to be funny? Even though I couldn't bring myself to laugh, I hope comedy was their goal.

The bottom line is that a good cover should do more than just a reinterpret the music. It should show an understanding and, more importantly, a love for the song. Either Queensryche doesn't love the songs on Take Cover or they are completely incapable of conveying their love. Either way, this album is a failure even among all the failures that make up this sad new convention practiced by bands that are desperately trying to show their relevance.

Rating: 1/10

Contest: Queensryche - Take Cover

I have a copy of Queensryche's new covers collection, cleverly titled Take Cover, for giveaway. I'll send it to the person who has the best definition for what a queensryche actually is. The best answer might be serious or it might be funny, who's to say. Go ahead and post your answers in the comments and I'll choose a winner on Monday, November 26. Check back to see if you're the winner, because I'll need to get contact info from you.

I'll have a review posted soon, so check back if you're interested.

Review: The Flairs - Shut Up and Drive

Label: Bad Reputation

Released: November 2007 in Europe (June 13, 2006 in North America)

The Flairs play a brand of hard rock that falls somewhere between glam and punk. Shut Up and Drive is a peppy album of chunky rhythms and snotty vocals that seldom lets up. Aside from a 3/4 female line-up, it's nothing out of the ordinary. The music falls somewhere between the Donnas and the Pandoras, but lacks the light-hearted bluster of the former and the gritty toughness of the latter. Aside from their cover of Skid Row's "18 & Life," they are entirely listenable even if uninspiring. However, the cover is poor enough to drag the whole album down a notch. It does nothing aside from regurgitate the original only without the ability to sell its contrived nature as reality. There is nothing difficult about the Flairs and once the album is playing, there's no reason to turn it off. The trouble is there's nothing compelling to come back for another listen.

Rating: 5/10

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Review: Fell Far Behind - Reaching the Red Line

Label: self-released

Released: September 18, 2007

There are bands that do most things right, but the few things they lack make all the difference between being good and lousy. Fell Far Behind is just such a band. They have many of the pieces in place: They're tight, they understand hooks, they're polished and the production on Reaching the Red Line is very good for a self-released album. However, they forgot to add emotion and they forgot to have original ideas. They play emo by the book and their only innovation (if you can call it that) is to bring the big guitar riffs of the 80s forward to the 00s. Like the melodic hard rock bands that influenced their approach, they too want to draw some of the energy from the edgier music of their time, water it down and pretty it up. While some songs do kick off with a burst of excitement, that feeling is short lived. They all quickly degenerate into dull repetition, sounding not just like every other song on the album, but every generic emo song on the planet. Mixing it up with a few ballads doesn't help them any more than it did their lackluster 80s forebears.

Fell Far Behind may well make it to the big time, but it will be for all the wrong reasons. They are easy and palatable, but never challenging, never even approaching the "red line" the title suggests. In a certain sense, they are good, but good at the things that can be learned, not the intangibles. Their music is carefully constructed, but only in an effort to mimic the vision of others. It's as if their heads are in the right place, but not their hearts.

Rating: 3/10

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Review: Chiodos - Bone Palace Ballet

Label: Equal Vision Records

Released: September 4, 2007

After finding a fair amount of success with 2005's All's Well That Ends Well, Chiodos were in a position to coast safely into their next album. Instead, they chose to further break out of the emo-screamo scene that spawned them and follow their arena-sized prog-rock dreams.

Bone Palace Ballet has some leanings into the realm of the Mars Volta, primarily with Craig Owens' vocals, but they aren't quite so esoteric, staying rooted in things the common rock fan can get a handle on. Like My Chemical Romance, they have tried to push the boundaries of their own genre to something much bigger, drawing not only on the influences of hardcore and metal, but also the operatic nature of Queen and the jazz-rock of early Chicago, and they do it well. The songs seem longer than they are, not because they're tedious, but because they move outside of the standard rock song structure and an awful lot gets packed into each one. While they have expanded their sound and minimized their reliance on growling vocals, they have also become heavier, adding another layer of intensity. There are times when they lapse into the typical, but those moments are the exception as Bone Palace Ballet spends more time pushing the limits than adhering to them.

As the field of prog-influenced metal/hardcore/emo/screamo gets more and more crowded, Chiodos looks to be one that will stand above the masses and dictate rather than follow. Bone Palace Ballet is a significant step forward from the group's already challenging body of work.

Rating: 8/10

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Review: The Cult - Born Into This

Label: Roadrunner Records

Released: October 2, 2007

In the late 80s, the Cult released a string of amazing records: Love, a psychdelic goth-rocker; Electric, their simple hard rock riff factory; and Sonic Temple, the album that exploded into the middle ground between its two predecessors. As successful as they were, several misguided, unfocused efforts in the 90s derailed their progress. That made 2001's Beyond Good and Evil such a huge surprise and that surprise in turn made the follow-up, some six years later, a tough act to chase.

On Born Into This, the Cult don't quite bring the same energy level that they shocked us with six years ago (or at least they don't bring it in the same way) and that makes the first listen a little disappointing. However, subsequent passes leave that last album in its time as the Cult rediscover a more distant past. This album isn't as consistent as most Cult albums. Instead of really melding their hard rock and goth egos, they alternate with one side dominating and then ceding control to the other on the next track.

Those expecting a primarily hard rock album (i.e., the Electric fans) might be disappointed, because the songs that lean their direction are the the weakest tracks. Songs like "Dirty Little Rockstar" only work because the Cult can bring their tremendous performance power to bear on even a mediocre song. It's really the songs influenced by their pre-Electric recordings that shine the brightest along with "Holy Mountain" which finds Ian Astbury doing '68 Comeback-era Elvis with conviction. However, the Cult's half step back from the hard rock with which they'd found so much success doesn't mean the album doesn't rock every bit as much once you get on board with the new (old) direction.

Although the production is weak and doesn't help the album really take off and while Duffy and the new members may not be quite in peak form, Astbury still walks that line between the dark poetry of Morrison and the cartoonish bombast of Danzig. Overall, the Cult finds its groove and captures the shamanistic feel that has made their best work seem more like a tribal experience than just a rock record.

Rating: 7/10

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Review: Skitzo Calypso - Between the Lines and Beyond the Static

Label: Bi-Polar Records

Released: 2007

Between the Lines and Beyond the Static is a solid rock album. It has riffy guitars, crunching rhythms and vocals with nice range and movement. The production is crisp and clean and brings out the best in the band's abilities. This largely straightforward hard rock album is heavy, but not too heavy and polished, but not without feeling. They apply the standard formula for the genre very well and that's both their strength and their weakness.

The songwriting and production both play into this. There's nothing technically wrong with either, but the result is a collection of songs that are memorable more because, in a sense, you already know them than because they're instantly captivating. While this is the eighth album under the name Skitzo Calypso, it's only the second with the full band and the first to be a truly collaborative effort. The result of working together seems to have tempered their creativity rather than expanded it. Perhaps they're just getting the feel of their common direction, but their first shot at it seems to be something along the lines of Bang Tango meets Alice in Chains meets Godsmack meets System of a Down. Occasionally, an inkling of goth insinuates itself into the music and that is, despite it being goth, hopeful. "Hello Mother, Hello Father" even finds the band moving beyond the formulas and into more organic territory. The lyrics are also a saving grace. Their peculiar subjects and interesting imagery are refreshing in a hard rock context where we usually get nothing but misogyny and insobriety.

Skitzo Calypso still has a way to go in order to establish something that is truly their own, but they have the technical ability once they find their direction together. They've established that they have solid skills and now they need to free those skills in order to unlock their power. When the music does stray from the standard, they appear ready to fly and the lyrics display an interest in being rather skewed, but too often this album feels planned and hesitant. They have every possibility of breaking out if they use their new collaborative to spin free of the hard rock center of gravity.

Rating: 6/10

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Check out the Myspace review of Skitzo Calypso side-project Niki Thunders and the Temperamentals.

Review: The Soda Pop Kids - Teen Bop Dream

Label: Full Breach Kicks

Released: September 4, 2007

In their prime, Sweet was only about a half step from being the Bay City Rollers, but that half step made all the difference in the world and Sweet remains one of the best of the early glam bands. However, their close proximity to badness is a potential pitfall they pass on to any band that imitates them. Hence, sounding a bit too saccharine is the Soda Pop Kids biggest problem.

The album starts off on the wrong side of the fine line between Sweet's pop rock goodness and the Bay City Rollers' sickening sweet imitation. The whole album is merely an homage to early 70s glam rock, but the first four tracks lack the edge and energy that better bands combined with AM pop hooks into that inarticulate rock expression of William Blake's innocence versus experience. However, the album picks up down the stretch. Starting with the dirty rock n roll balladry of "Another Cigarette Ends," the album draws a bit on the New York Dolls and pulls itself back onto the right side of the aforementioned line. Whether it's the agitated shuffle of "Six Gun Senorita," the loose soul of "Bloodshot Eyes" or the straightforward pop energy of "The Soda Pop Sting," the second half finds the Soda Pop Kids offering up a worthy tribute to an underserved genre that had its name stolen by inferior though vastly more popular bands a decade later.

Teen Bop Dream is no more trying to change the face of rock n roll than it is trying to hide its identity. This is a revival record that brings very little to the table that wasn't done 35 years ago. However, once it hits stride, it captures a lot of the best qualities of early 70s glam, making it a fun listen even if they are just as cartoonish as the album cover.

Rating: 6/10

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Led Zeppelin (kinda) new releases announced...

Once Zeppelin announced their one-off reunion gig set for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund benefit concert on November 26, 2007, you knew the re-issues and repackagings wouldn't be far behind. Rhino Records has announced a pair scheduled to come out just before the long awaited reunion.


Mothership is a 24 track double CD drawing songs from each of Zeppelin's studio albums. You should already have these songs, because there's really no excuse not to own all of the Zeppelin catalog, but you will get the bonus of liner notes by David Fricke. It's scheduled for release on November 13.

Track Listing:

Disc One
1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Communication Breakdown
3. Dazed And Confused
4. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
5. Whole Lotta Love
6. Ramble On
7. Heartbreaker
8. Immigrant Song
9. Since I've Been Loving You
10. Rock And Roll
11. Black Dog
12. When The Levee Breaks
13. Stairway To Heaven

Disc Two
1. Song Remains The Same
2. Over The Hills And Far Away
3. D'Yer Maker
4. No Quarter
5. Trampled Under Foot
6. Houses Of The Holy
7. Kashmir
8. Nobody's Fault But Mine
9. Achilles Last Stand
10. In The Evening
11. All My Love

Mothership website


A week later on November 20, Rhino will re-release the soundtrack to the 1976 film The Song Remains the Same. Zeppelin themselves are overseeing remixing and remastering of the original tracks plus the addition of an additional six left off in 1976. Of course it remains to be seen if the song really does remain the same or if this process has salvaged something from this surprisingly poor effort. Even if it hasn't saved it entirely, you get liner notes from no less than Cameron Crowe.

The same day, Warner Home Video will issue the DVD with all 14 songs from the original concert. It features newly remixed and remastered sound, 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, and more than 40 minutes of added bonus material, including never-before-released performance footage of "Over The Hills And Far Away" and "Celebration Day"; plus performances of "Misty Mountain Hop" and "The Ocean"; a rare 1976 BBC interview with Robert Plant and Peter Grant; vintage TV footage from the Drake Hotel robbery during the New York concert stand; and a Cameron Crowe radio show.

Track Listing

Disc One
1. Rock And Roll
2. Celebration Day
3. Black Dog*
4. Over The Hills*
5. Misty Mountain Hop*
6. Since I've Been Loving You*
7. No Quarter
8. The Song Remains The Same
9. Rain Song
10. The Ocean*

Disc Two
1. Dazed And Confused
2. Stairway To Heaven
3. Moby Dick
4. Heartbreaker*
5. Whole Lotta Love

* Not on original soundtrack release

Review: Underground Rebels - Insult to Injury

Label: self-released

Released: 2007

The Underground Rebels have a decent hard rock pedigree featuring former Faster Pussycat guitarist Brent Muscat and former Cult drummer Lez Warner, but the band is really the creative (or not so creative) child of singer/guitarist Kurt Frohlich. Those expecting the swagger of Faster Pussycat or gritty hard rock of Electric-era Cult, beware, because this album won't measure up to those expectations.

It actually starts off well enough, delivering good energy and at least some catchiness even if it isn't breaking any new ground. Unfortunately for the glam fans who might be drawn to this, the better of the two actually sounds more like pop punk than hair metal. Over the course of the album, there are a few tracks that repeat the semi-success of the first two, but most of the album gets bogged down in being bland and generic, borrowing from the likes of Def Leppard, Billy Squier and even Godsmack (yikes!). Toward the end they try to capture a bit of Stonesy swagger, but end up sounding even weaker than the Stones themselves these days. The Underground Rebels also offer a pair of covers, "Tainted Love" and "War Pigs." The former comes out okay, but largely due to the fun inherent in the song, not due to any compelling elements of their version. Their "War Pigs" cover is the real disaster though. If you're going to cover Black Sabbath, either make it heavy (like most bands) or make it different (like the Cardigans' excellent cover of "Iron Man"). They do neither, offering up instead what might as well be the elevator version. It's sad.

The Underground Rebels try to create their sound be bringing together the most generic elements of popular music and the result is fairly amateur. They (or Frohlich at least) don't seem to be in a good place as artists. They're trying to make a record that sells based on what has sold in the past rather than gambling on what may sell in the future or being true to an artistic vision. The result is an album that would have some appeal and perhaps a little more novelty value for glam fans, but little for the rest of us.

Rating: 4/10

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iTunes

Review: Hanoi Rocks - Street Poetry

Label: WolfGang Records

Released: September 3, 2007

There really are far too many bands still lingering around from the hair band heyday of the late 80s. It seems like every time I turn around, there's another one releasing an album that tries to recapture the days when they were more popular than they ever deserved to be or touring to cash in on nostalgia for the days when it was cool to be dumb. When I saw that Hanoi Rocks had a new album, I feared that they would be no different. What I found is that not every band from those days is washed up and cashing in. Over a quarter century since their first album, Hanoi Rocks sounds as fresh as ever.

One thing that really makes them stand out is their underlying pop sense. Their songs are as gritty as the best the genre has to offer, but under that grit, there are hooks. These aren't Mutt Lange or Desmond Child hooks either. These are the kind that come out of a real band that knows itself. Better still, none of them is a great player, but they don't cover it up with slick production. Instead, they wear their lumps for all to see and their genuine nature gives these songs a depth that their contrived peers, with all their formulas for success, can't touch. Even better yet, they don't just stick to the standard hard rock framework. They reach back to the original glam bands of the 70s, throw in great pop and soul and even hints of funk and Western at times and the album has greater texture for it without abandoning the core sound.

Unlike so many bands where the individual players tend to show off at the expense of the songs themselves, Hanoi Rocks makes every note count. They play as a band in the truest sense of the word. You can hear it, amond many places, in the solo in "Hypermobile." It's simple, yet interesting. Most importantly, it's concise, never for a moment being about the player instead of the song.

The liner notes contain the common "no synthesizers" disclaimer, but on Street Poetry, Hanoi Rocks goes beyond just avoiding synthetic instruments, they avoid being synthetic. The title track, when taken along with the story of the street poet in the notes, is touching and the song really brings that to life. Rather than write about parties and chicks, they take on some serious, very human subject matter. They leave their own truth on the table and that lets them get away with song titles like "Teenage Revolution" and "This One's for Rock n Roll." Had the album not gained my trust, I would likely have dismissed both songs on their titles alone. What's with this "teenage" thing? These guys are well into their 40s! However, because they made me take it seriously, I found that "Teenage Revolution" is really talking seriously to kids, not about them or at them. Had they not established that this album has a heart, I might have missed that.

There are a few tracks that border on filler toward the end, but they only stick out because the rest moves forward with purpose and honesty. While they jump out of the gate with the opener, "Hypermobile," they tie the album up neatly with "Fumblefoot and Busy Bee," more of an epilogue than a song in its own right. It's a bit different than the bulk of Street Poetry, but as such provides the perfect closing.

With only two original members and being so far from Hanoi Rocks' heyday, there is every reason to bet against Street Poetry, but don't take that bet, because it, unlike the album, is a loser.

Rating: 8/10

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Review: Bryan Ferry - Dylanesque

Label: Virgin

Released: June 26, 2007

One would think that an accomplished artist who dedicates an entire album to covering another single artist must be both enamored and well-versed in his or her subject. An all-Dylan Bryan Ferry release might sound a bit odd considering that Dylan speaks to our hearts in warm, organic imperfections while Ferry speaks in cold, precise formulas. Still, it at least piques some interest. How will someone like Ferry put himself into Dylan's songs without stripping them of Dylan? How will Ferry show his love and understanding of these songs?

From the opener, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," it becomes clear that Ferry isn't up to the challenge. He fails to capture anything remotely reminiscent of Bob Dylan. Even the short studio time (the album was recorded in a week) doesn't loosen things up. He largely takes the music as it would appear in a songbook and plays it in his own adult pop style. It has no life, no passion, no point. When Ferry takes on the 60s protest anthem "The Times They Are A-Changin'," he shows only that the times have indeed changed, but not for the better. There is no sense of anything other than status quo in a song that should, with little effort, drip with revolutionary spirit. But even in these fragile times, Ferry can't muster anything that would stir anyone's pot on a social level (although I must say it stirs my pot a bit that he expects anyone to pay money for this album).

Dylanesque also includes two Dylan songs that were successfully covered by others, a bad choice for Ferry when he's already struggling to create credible covers for himself. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a far cry from Dylan's original and Guns n Roses 1991 cover. As if that weren't sad enough, he also chooses "All Along the Watchtower." While it isn't as bad as a lot of the album, it strives more for Hendrix's definitive version than Dylan's. Even with guitar help from Robin Trower, Ferry's is an utter failure next to Hendrix.

Only once over the course of 11 tracks does Ferry come anywhere close to pulling off what he's attempted. "Positively 4th Street" is a fine, though non-essential, track where Ferry hasn't removed all semblance of Dylan's soul. It certainly doesn't make the album worth buying, but instead raises the question as to why the whole album couldn't have at least hit this mediocre bar.

One would think that Bryan Ferry must be both enamored and well-versed in Bob Dylan's work to have even attempted Dylanesque, but it doesn't take long to start wondering why Ferry would bother, because he surely neither loves nor knows Bob Dylan.

Rating: 2/10

Myspace: Salute 27

Salute 27 takes their name from the many rock n roll deaths at the age of 27 (Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Robert Johnson). After listening, it's kind of appropriate that their name is a tribute to the past, because their music definitely is.

"Going to the Lake" is pure 70s hard rock from their 2006 demo. The riffs are solid though unoriginal. Nonetheless, it can't be simply dismissed, because Salute 27 does inject fresh energy that makes me expect they're a fine live act. "Acoustic Ride" is a preview of their forthcoming EP. It's country blues feel doesn't feel quite so regurgitated as the previous track, but it's not as instantly likable, either. Still, there's something interesting going on that becomes evident over the course of the song. "Right On," also from the 2006 demo, is back to the 70s hard rock angle, but is once again played with some passion that gives it great energy where it lacks creative spirit. "Take Me Home," from the demo once again, is probably their weakest track. It's bluesy rock that reaches back more to late 80s hard rock than it does to the 70s. As such, the band's enthusiasm isn't as evident here. If they're going to copy a style, they should at least make sure it's worth copying.

Salute 27 has only been together since last summer and they do sound very tight as a band for such a short existence. Their fervor goes a long way to make up for their conventionality and perhaps time with open up new avenues of creativity for them. The music is good and I suspect translates very well in the live show. While I don't expect their EP to shake the foundations of rock music, I do suspect that it may be very enjoyable for anyone who hasn't already had enough of the riffs of the 70s.