Communications

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Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell – Meat Loaf

This was the return of Meat Loaf. I’m pretty sure that after having one of the all time greatest selling albums he ended up skint, although I would imagine that Jim Steinbeck who actually wrote the songs is rather well off. I could be wrong on this matter and I can’t be bothered to check.

“I’d do anything . . . . “ was the main single released from this album and it’s a good song but it was over played in the 90s. I can’t remember another song from this album. It probably plays well though. I imagine 50 year old men driving their Rovers listening to this, or the presenters of Top Gear.

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Bat Out Of Hell – Meat Loaf

In the fourth year at school I used to quiz Michael Francis about a band I knew called Bachman-Turner Overdrive. He did seem aware of them and their one main hit which is also one of their worst songs! The reason I would quiz him is that he was the music guru. Every class must have one and he was ours. He regularly bought NME and we would look at the charts and wonder at the music. I hadn’t really reached my musical maturity. Anyway, I can remember seeing an album in the charts that had been in the charts for nearly 10 years! This always struck me as an administrative error. What sort of music would stay popular for that long? The answer is, of course, Bat Out Of Hell.

I can’t remember when I bought this, but I did get it on music cassette. After 1995 I lost the cassette and I think I have finally figured out that I left it with RC. I didn’t mind too much but every now and then you need some operatic rock. The riff of the title song would play in my head and eventually I bought the CD version when digitising my collection.

Bat Out Of Hell – a song that is 9:50 long. It was always a good song to play at Imperial College Radio to give you some time to make a coffee and visit the gents! Not only that but it is a great song. I

really like the 70s sound of rock and this takes it to a whole new level. Operatic themes and ear crunching riffs. “Paradise” and “You took the words” are a couple of my favourites. The CD version I have includes the song “Dead Ringer For Love” which I am pretty sure isn’t on the original release. But every song here is a stunner. It’s retro and fantastic. Well worth listening to. Very much a summer album. Just had a closer look at my iPhone and I can see that I have the wrong artwork associated with this album. That’s something to change this evening!

I bet you say that to all the boys!

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Ballbreaker – AC/DC

There are some excellent and classic AC/DC but this album is not one of them. I could probably count the number of times I have played this using my thumbs! Hey, it’s still AC/DC and just what they always write. The video for “Cover You In Oil” is rather amusing.

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Backtracks – AC/DC

There’re two parts to this album. Live Rarities and Studio Rarities. I haven’t really played it much. I just bought it to make sure that I own the entire AC/DC collection. Which I don’t as I haven’t bought the album: Live At The River Plate.

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Back In Black – AC/DC

The first album recorded by AC/DC after Bon Scott died choking on his own vomit. A fitting title. One of the world’s highest selling albums and deservedly so. It’s hard to give enough praise for this collection of ten songs. I honestly am not sure what else I can write about this album. Oh, I know. When I first bought this on music cassette there was a production error on my copy which meant that the bells at the beginning of “Hells Bells” had an echo and so did much of the first few songs. For some reason I never took the tape back to be changed. I just put up with it.

“You Shook Me All Night Long” is my favourite song on this album. Great riff, great drums and great lyrics.

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Back For The Attack – Dokken

I bought this on music cassette from the Our Price in Harlow, the one by the bus station as there used to be two of these stores in Harlow. At the time I was working for a company called Cossors Electronics which then became part of Raytheon Marine. The company made monopulse secondary surveilence radar equipment and other military stuff. Mr Cossor was one of the pioneers of cathode ray tubes! [Harlow is the home of fibre optics] I used to either cycle in to work or take the bus. This explains why I would have been near the bus station in Harlow. I would regularly by albums on tape because I could then listen to them on my rather excellent Aiwa walkman [because you care about these things it was an AIWA HS-PX410, there’s a page on these lovely machines here].

Now, I’d had the Dokken album Beast From The East for a couple of years and so I knew I liked their music. The Beast album was a live album recorded in Japan and full of classics. When I first put Back For The Attack into my walkman I was blown away by the guitar sound George Lynch had created for the opening “Kiss of Death”. It was loud, heavy and just really powerful. Don Dokken’s vocals smooth this out to produce a wonderfully mellow rock sound. Many of the songs do have a ballad feel to them but they are still great. My favourites are:

  • Kiss of Death
  • Heaven Sent
  • Mr Scary
  • Sleepless Nights

“Mr Scary” is a brilliant instrumental. It has a great main riff with a perfect introduction and build up of the main tune. The double bass drum fits perfectly and the bass playing is good. I really like it as a song and it’s one of those that pops into my head quite regularly.

“Sleepless Nights” includes the brilliant moment of the live album where Lynch makes an excellent sound with his guitar. For a few years I couldn’t tell what he was doing but after hearing this studio version I have concluded that he was playing two or three notes at the same time. In this recording he plays a sustain high note and starts the main riff below that, the live screech is him emulating this. It’s my favourite Dokken moment but on a different album.

Also on this album is the song Dream Warriors which was written for one of the Nightmare on Elm Street films. I don’t know which as I’ve never seen any of them [I could Google it but why?].

News just in:

@CornishPom: @iparish Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. A return to form after the disappointing NOES 2: Freddy’s Revenge.

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Axis Of Evil – Suicide Commando

Axis of Evil – Suicide Commando

Those crazy Belgians have a lot to answer for. I found this artist while looking for more aggrotech and hellectro. I’m pretty sure I looked on Wikipedia for associated acts and probably looked through iTunes to see related acts from Combichrist. Axis of Evil is full of dance beats, samples and club style synth sounds with some lovely disturbing lyrics over the top.

To start an album with the worldwide statistics on suicide is a brave move and one that works. Just a glance at the song titles will inform you of the style and mood of the music. Strangely I find this stuff quite upbeat and happy. It’s definitely my kind of stuff.

  • Consume Your Vengeance
  • Face of Death
  • Evildoer
  • Plastic Christ

These pretty much sum up this album!

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Audioslave – Audioslave

Audioslave – Audioslave

This is the first album by Seattle supergroup Audioslave or Rage Garden / Sound Machine as they possibly should be known. I don’t remember why I bought this on CD or when but I have a feeling I saw the video on TV at some point and thought it would be worth a punt. It turned out to be a good purchase and I went on to buy all the Audioslave albums.

The opener “Cochise” is a superb rock song, great guitars wonderful vocals and the video is pretty good too. Every song on this album is good. Some of the guitar solos don’t fit the songs and this bothered me until I found out that the guitarist was Tom Morello and then it all made sense. He’s such an experimental guitarist that his sounds really don’t fit the mainstream rock.

This is an album I’d have on in the car if there were non-rock fans in the car. I think it’s an album that everyone can enjoy and not just the hardcore metal fans. It’s about as easy listening as I get, even with the “out there” solos.

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An Atheist Album – Shelley Segal

This is really more of an EP but it is worth mentioning in this list. I downloaded this from iTunes after hearing a song played on a podcast. I can’t remember which particular podcast but probably The Humanist Hour from the AHA. Shelley Segal is not related to Steven but is from Melbourne, Australia. The songs are nice and gentle and she is the only singer/songwriter whose work I actually enjoy. It’s good to hear someone explaining rationally about religion and gods within a gentle guitar based soundtrack. Get this album to hear songs such as:

  • I Don’t Believe In Fairies
  • Eve

It’s definitely wrong to base your views on women and life on those expressed in a book.

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Asylum – Disturbed

This is a very good heavy metal album. I got it after a recommendation from Andy Smith. It’s very good to run to and has some cracking riffs. I’d be tempted to get some more stuff by Disturbed but I think it may be a bit the same. I’m currently seeking new sounds and experiences. As this is a newer album and discovery by me the standard “not sinking in” argument applies to my knowledge of this band. I know it’s good, I know I like it and I know I like playing it. Can I remember any of the songs or how they go? No.

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Asylum – Senser

I’ve been a big fan of Senser since my third year at university and Andy gave me some tapes with their songs. The album Stacked Up is still one of my favourites but this is about the album Asylum.

I have bought all the Senser albums, although there is one coming out soon which I think they are funding through an innovative route. This album is pretty good. However, Kerstin Haigh does all the singing / rapping as the main lead singer / rapper was off doing some solo projects and things with other bands.

Ah, the long song. This album has a long special song at the end. It’s 24:58 long. It that necessary? I like how bands mess around with these things but I don’t always think the results prove it worthwhile.

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Astro-Creep: 2000 – White Zombie

There are two versions of this album. This one and the remix. The remix has a far more interesting cover but let’s move on.

This is a really good album and the start of me heading into a more industrial sound rather than the clean produced stuff that I had previously liked. I don’t think there are any bad songs, although I don’t listen to it enough to know the names of all the songs. One of the issues with playing music on the iPhone is that I generally don’t know what the song is called. Back in the days of proper records I would read the dust cover from top to toe and make sure I knew the name of every song.

Highlights are:

  • More Human Than Human
  • Electric Head
  • Real Solution #9

“Real Solution #9” has a sample of one of the Charles Manson killers giving an interview about her victim on TV in the 80s. Interesting use of counter culture.

Rob Zombie and Marylin Manson toured together recently and I considered going but £60 for seeing two bands I’m not that fussed about seemed a lot of money. I didn’t go.

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Apple – Mother Love Bone

I bought this album mostly for a digital version of the song “Crown of Thorns”. I’m pretty sure this song was on a tape that a friend, Mark H, made when I was at school. I might be mistaken though as the song appears on the “Singles” original soundtrack and this came out in about 1992 or so.

So, the album version of “Thorns” doesn’t have the “Chloe Dancer” part at the beginning which I really like. So I got the album for pretty much nothing. The singer is dead, AFAIK. I could look it up but that isn’t a concern with me here. I’m pretty sure the band were also part of the Seattle sound which influenced music for about 10 years [more later].

Are there any more songs of note? I’m not sure. I haven’t listened to this enough to know. I’ve grown out of the Seattle sound now and I don’t know if it’ll come back. This is another summer album and sound.

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Appetite For Destruction – Guns ‘n’ Roses

It is very hard to give this album enough credit and praise for just being brilliant.

I bought this when I was about 16 from the Our Price record shop in Jackson Square in Bishop’s Stortford. How do I remember? Well I was just very excited at owning this rather controversial piece of vinyl. I remember opening the album in the car on the way home with my dad driving and my sister in the back seat. I proceeded to inform my father of some of the lyrics that were printed on the record dust cover. Also I have the original album cover, which the record label changed after a while over complaints about the subject matter. Funny, but I never really saw what the picture depicted, I just thought it was a good cover. So, the songs:

  • Welcome to the Jungle – brilliant
  • It’s So Easy – until you’ve heard 100,000 people shout out its most famous line you’ll never truly appreciate this song! Brilliant.
  • Nightrain – I don’t like it. It really bothers me and I think it’s a lazy song. I don’t like guitar parts that follow the vocals. Just me, I know.
  • Out Ta Get Me – Brilliant.
  • Mr Brownstone – Brilliant.
  • My Michelle – Brilliant.
  • Think About You – Brilliant.
  • Sweet Child O’ Mine – Absolutely Awesome.
  • You’re Crazy – so very crazy, great lyrics, find the acoustic version on Lies.
  • Anything Goes – of course it does.
  • Rocket Queen – Marvellous

Such a seminal album and one they could never really live up to afterwards. I reckon the teenage angst and drugs made this perfect. Very much a “summer” album, more on that later.

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Apocalypse Now Soundtrack – Various

I have been a little obsessed with Apocalypse Now! since I first watched it in my second year at university. I bought the soundtrack after Ades told me he had seen it in HMV in Oxford Street. This time being the early 90s there was no email really, no mobile phones that were cheap or small and no tweets! To find an album you had to search through record shops!
Ades informed me he had seen this and I rushed off to the tube station and got to HMV. I bought it. Happy person!
What I would really like is a full length version of The End by The Doors with all the naughty words in but I can’t find it so I’ll just have to cope with the version on this album.
To appreciate the album you need to be a fan! Considering I only watch the film when I’m feeling a little messed up it shouldn’t surprise you that the soundtrack isn’t played that often but it is an important part of my collection!

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Angst – Reaper

Reaper – a band I found out by searching for more aggrotech. I like this album, it’s got a dirty dance sound (that’s more an unclean sound rather than lots of songs to which you can dance dirty). There isn’t much in the way of vocals and what lyrics there are seem to be from movie soundtracks. Obviously it’s all rather dark and gory. That just makes it all the better.
HELLectro!

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Angel Dust – Faith No More

I knew of Faith No More from their hit song “Epic” and so asked for this for a present. ER bought it for me, I think for an Xmas in the early 90s. I think it was one of the first CDs I owned, even before I had a CD player. I know ER was rather distraught at the pictures of hanging cow carcasses on the inside cover.

This album provided a great deal of the soundtrack through my second and third years at university. I saw the band one when they supported Guns ‘n’ Roses at Wembley Stadium.

My favourites from this one are:

  • Be Aggressive
  • Caffeine
  • Midlife Crisis
  • Smaller And Smaller

All in all this is an excellent genre-busting album. Not quite metal and not quite anything else.

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. . . And Justice For All – Metallica

This is the first album by Metallica that I really heard. I was in the lower sixth form at secondary school and was already into Iron Maiden and AC/DC. Someone introduced me to the song “One” from this album and I never looked back. I have a copy of “One” the single on music cassette (cassingle) the cover of which might have a burn hole in it!

This was Metallica’s first studio album since their bassist, Cliff Burton, died. Although they released an EP and it had a good mix with the bass nice and loud this album turned Jason Newstead down. You can barely hear him. It’s a shame as he’s a good player.

“Blackened” is your classic metal/thrash environmental protest song. Hey, it happened a lot in the 80s, we were concerned about that sort of thing. Not that anyone actually did anything. It’s surprising how far humans have come in the last 30 years. Now we have people denying it actually is happening!

The song “. . . And Justice For All” is alright but I find the opening quite childish. “One” is brilliant although just an updated “Fade To Black”. I really like “Harvester of Sorrow”, just really appreciate its pace and riffs. The last three songs I can live without. I’m pretty sure they only wrote “Dyers Eve” so that they still sounded fast. The problem is the best songs are written at the end of your teenage years and after that it’s all about growing up! The anger gets replaced with money and comfortableness!

It’s not a bad album and not Metallica’s worst but it’s not in the top four.

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