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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Art Of Live – Queensryche
I bought this album so that I could have some Queensryche and I figured a live album would have the best collection of songs.
It’s ok. I listen to it occasionally.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
. . . 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.
The American Way – Sacred Reich
This is a thrash album. During the mid to late eighties there were a number of bands who changed the sound of metal. Metallica and the rest of the big four are considered the trailblazers. I found Sacred Reich while on holiday in Saint-Jean-de-Monts during 1990. One day while walking in the town we found a market and one of the stalls was selling music cassettes.
I bought this album purely on the front cover and it being surrounded by other bands to whom I listened. After a few listens on the car stereo and possibly a Walkman the album really grew on me. I think I recognise it as brilliance now. I love all the songs, even 31 Flavors! Recently I downloaded a digital version and it’s now on my iPhone. I find this album particularly calming and often its mood matches mine perfectly. There might only be eight songs but they are all good.
Given that this album was released in 1990 I consider the political messages of the song Crimes Against Humanity rather prescient. The song is about humans polluting the Earth and although this was a major concern in the 80s it is more of a concern now with anthropocentric global climate change affecting our planet! Sacred Reich aren’t the only band to criticise human pollution, Testament and Metallica have also written songs much to the same effect.
Amorica – The Black Crowes
I downloaded this album in the last year or so. I first saw the Black Crows at the Monsters of Rock festival in 1991. They opened the show to be followed by Queensryche, Mötley Crüe, Metallica and AC/DC. I was really impressed with them and bought their first album.
I became aware of this album in my last year or so of living in London. I remember seeing posters in tube stations of the cover of the album. If you are unaware it is a close up of a woman’s bikini bottoms with some pubic hair showing. I understand it caused some controversy in the USA when It was issued and the record company had censored covers ready!
I never got around to buying the album in 1995 or so as I was moving out of the blues/hard rock genre into a more rap/metal mix (Senser and Faith No More). I was quite happy just listening to the band’s first two albums.
As for now, I’ve listened occasionally to this but nothing stands out. I might need to listen to it more but as I mentioned before most new music just sits on the edges of my memory core and doesn’t sink in. There are some exceptions, mind!
All Hell’s Breaking Loose At Little Kathy Wilson’s Place – Wolfsbane
I saw Wolfsbane support Iron Maiden at some time, I think. I’m trying to remember how I got into them but apart from possibly seeing them as support I have no idea. I bought this EP (kinda) on music cassette originally. It is easily the best British Heavy Metal album of the early nineties. There might only be six songs on this record but they are seriously worth having.
My personal highlights from the track listing are:
- Steel
- Paint The Town Red
- Loco
- Hey Babe
- Totally Nude
- Kathy Wilson
The only slightly wobbly song is Hey Babe and that’s still good in comparison to all the other stuff out there. Seeing Wolfsbane live was great and I think I saw them at The Marquee many moons ago. Apart from the song Manhunt on another album it’s just worth getting this EP.
It took me a while to find this on CD. When I was going through a phase of digitising my collection and replacing all my music cassettes and vinyl albums I searched for Kathy Wilson everywhere. I think I finally bought it from an Italian trader on eBay. The volume is a little quiet but then I think that is how the early CDs were made. In recent times it appears that they have cranked up the volume. In reality they’ve just added 5 to all the volume levels, I’m not sure you get better sound quality.
All Beauty Destroyed – Aesthetic Perfection
There are two bands I consider to be the lead players in the aggrotech / hellectro sound. Combichrist and Aesthetic Perfection. One of the saddest things about me finding this style of music is that I started with the best two bands and the rest just don’t quite match up. More in later editions of album review.
All Beauty Destroyed is an awesome album. The beat is perfect for running. The tunes are memorable and the lyrics freak me out. It’s perfect. Favourite songs are:
- A Nice Place To Visit
- Hit The Streets
- Mother*
If you don’t want to kill yourself before listening then this could help you on your way. It’s a fresh approach to dance music with catchy upbeat tunes and samples and then some sick and gravely vocals over the top. It’s all rather over the top and brilliant. It’s emotional gone crazy.