I bought/downloaded/borrowed this originally because I wanted some Bon Jovi on my phone but didn’t want to buy the original albums. I sometimes go for “Best Of” albums because you are meant to get the best of that artist. I don’t think it always works out like that though. It appears that there are restrictions on the songs put on these “Best Of” albums. Also, some albums work as albums and you should listen through the whole thing.
So, I have since bought the albums I like and so only have a few songs left in this. The six songs left are:
Someday I’ll be Saturday night
Blaze of Glory
Prayer ’94
In and Out of Love
Runaway
I’ll Be There For You (version 2)
I’m not sure why I still have the last song there. I find both versions really tedious. When I saw the Jovi at Twickenham I just wanted “I’ll Be There For You” to stop. I also hate key changes. Look, get the original albums. There’s a reason the Jovi are as big as they are, it’s good stuff.
I bought this album on music cassette in the late 80s, I’m ashamed to say it but it was probably not long after “Winds of Change” was in the charts. A good ballad is always an indication of a good band as long you then forget the ballad (they annoy me).
This album is a stunner. It’s exactly the sort of music I like. There’re songs with gang vocals, guitar slides, cheeky riffs, excellent bass work, it’s as though the Scorpions know exactly what sort of music works well in an arena. Given how long the “boys” have been around it’s no surprise that this album is well-crafted and wonderful.
I like all the songs. It’s precisely the sort of album that, when in the correct mood, you can play in its entirety.
I downloaded this album after a friend recommended it. I was after more British rock. I’ve seen The Almighty a few times and really enjoyed their shows.
This album is good. It’s playing right now on my Sonos system. It is an Almighty album. It does what it says on the tin. I think this is the first album that friend got by the Almighty and therefore he thinks it’s the best, whereas I already have a couple of albums and therefore I think Powertrippin’ is better. When you get introduced to a band you hold the albums you hear first on a pedestal, it takes a lot to remove the new sound and excitement from top place.
Look, it’s worth buying but it doesn’t stand out. Also, see Old Dog, New Tricks.
I’ve been listening to this album while I’ve been trying to get the Windows Store to work on my tablet PC [doesn’t work within a domain].
There isn’t a bad song on this album. The problem is that none of the songs are stunning either. If you want some slow, melody driven rock then this is the album for you. I don’t think I’d even describe it as thrash.
The best bit about this album is that the opening few seconds of “Symphony of Destruction” sound like the PS3 starting up. If only Sony had used a bit more of the song and then the PS3 would be truly awesome.
There must be something about music and drugs. This album was written while the members were clean.
Cosmic Egg is the follow up album to the eponymous Wolfmother album. These guys are a cheeky threesome from the land down under. There’s a story behind me getting the first album but this is about the second.
I like it, it’s not quite as good as the first album but it does contain some lovely rock. These guys are crazy mix of Zeppelin, Sabbath and Deep Purple. It really works.
I bought “Boston” by Boston because I liked some of the songs and then I had a bit of a phase with Boston albums. You know, look up the albums on Wikipedia then buy the best reviewed. I got hooked on the collection of Boston albums. I bought four albums and thought they were all well crafted so I decided to get Corporate America.
The review: the music is what you would expect. It’s Boston. They write good songs. It’s well crafted, polished and just what you want for a summer evening. The message is pretty good overall too.
Getting hold of the album was probably the best bit about this whole episode. Amazon don’t sell it, nor do iTunes. None of the major music stores stock it. I think it was self-released and in limited numbers. I ended up getting it on eBay. I also spent about GBP25 on this thing. That seems to be the going rate. I just wanted to complete the whole collection of albums [FYI I don’t do illegal downloads – just a choice I made years ago].
I have installed some Sonos components in my house. I have been really impressed with the simplicity of them. They work really well. My only complaint would be that I have to physically turn the speakers on and off as I walk around the house. I don’t want them screaming out all the time to no-one.
I want an RFID chip installed in my arm and detectors placed in my house and then that connected to my Sonos system controller so it knows which speakers to turn on and off. THAT would make me extremely happy and also BIONIC. Yippee.
Sonos 5
Sonos Connect
I lied, I have another complaint. As the Sonos controller unit reads my iTunes library I think it should be able to write to it so I get a “played” count whenever I play tunes. There are some tunes on my NAS drive that aren’t in my iTunes library but then I couldn’t care about those. It is highly unlikely I will ever play those through the Sonos system.
Sunday at Download 2013 and we drove in to Donington Park. I didn’t pay attention to where we parked the car, principally because Andy said he would remember where it was. We walked up to the natural arena and met with Andy’s olds. Today was going to be a monster day and so I was really looking forward to it. I bought a t-shirt for a friend and went to get one for me – whoops – they had sold out. Never mind, that’s what eBay is for.
One last beer at 10:30, just to keep the blood-alcohol levels from dropping too much. A pint of Trooper, of course.
First band – States of Panic. I can’t remember them.
Then we walked over to a small tent and watched a London based band called Mordecai. They were good enough for me to buy their album and actually listen to it. I would see them again, preferably in a small London Club.
Cancer Bats and Coal Chamber were on the main stage next and I don’t remember much about either of them. Cancer Bats did nothing for me but Coal Chamber were a bit better. I liked the singers’ tattooed face and the bass player.
Up next on the main stage were Five Finger Death Punch and I was blown away. I’d never heard any of their stuff before but thought it was brilliant. They had fun on stage and the lead singer was brilliant at controlling the crowd. Superb.
Amon Amarth were a joke. They had a Viking ship on the stage. No, I didn’t like them. Funny how within such a tightly confined definition of music there are still bands that do absolutely nothing for me. Perhaps my views change as I “mature”.
Stone Sour on the main stage were brilliant. The lead singer just smiled through it all. I expect bands to enjoy what they do and these guys were great. One guitarist was bald and dressed in a suit. The other guy had the best beard ever. All in all I had a great time.
Over to a tent and watched Newsted. Jason got a great round of applause and I really liked the music. I have pre-ordered the album because I want more. They finished with Whiplash and, oh my (to borrow from George Takei) it was a dream come true. They were most enjoyable. We stayed in this tent to listen to POD but any band that has a Christian story bothers me and they were rubbish.
After that we saw some of A Day to Remember but curiously I haven’t remembered. We also saw 30 Seconds from Mars who could improve by literally being 30 seconds from Mars so they are nowhere near this good planet of ours.
Last band of the shebang:
RAMMSTEIN
I love the music, I love the show, I love it all. I think I could quite happily see these guys every week for a year. The sound was massive, the show was pyrotechnical mania. AND they played Buch Dick. Look you need to see them on YouTube and you need to be converted. These guys make everyone else look like pussies. Absolutely brilliant and I can’t wait to see them again.
A Day To Remember
Amon Amarth
What Rain Does
Stone Sour
Mordecai
Newsted
Rammstein 1
Rammstein 2
Rammstein 3
Rammstein 4
Rammstein 5
Rammstein 6
The End
After the show we chatted to Andy’s olds and waited for the car park queue to die down a bit. When we left them it was already 12:30 and we headed off to find the car. We had lost it. We walked completely around one car park in the chuffing dark trying to find a dark blue car!! Eventually we re-traced our routes and found the car. Left or Right? There looked to be no queue to the left of the main exit and so I decided to turn that way. Bugger, just around the corner was a massive queue and no room to turn around. Eventually after rallying through some small villages we found the M1 and headed south.
Things I don’t really want to repeat:
Seeing the pre-morning glow of the sun coming up as I drive down the M1
Stopping for extreme caffeine input
Getting flashed by a speed camera
Watching the sun arise while drive along the M26
Getting in at 5 and then getting up at 7 to go to work!
This Download weekend was one of the best things to have happened to me this year and I had a great time.
Saturday started with a slight disaster. Andy had forgotten to inform our landlady that we wanted breakfast so she wasn’t prepared for us in the breakfast room. She did manage to cobble together some food and so things weren’t so bad after all.
We waited outside our guest house for our lift to the festival. Stella and Graham eventually turned up and I started an epic day of rum and Jager. We knew we were planning to meet up with some friends inside the festival so today was going to be a bit strange with 4 of us having to decide what to do together rather than just Andy and me.
As we were walking in from the close car park (about a mile away) I could hear UFO on stage and I’m gutted I didn’t see them, I really love the tacky 70s rock sound! Once inside the festival we browsed the shops. There wasn’t anything that really stood out at me although I did buy a “Power Up” t-shirt. Eventually we met up with Dave, Jon and AN Other.
Black Stone Riders are just Thin Lizzy without the singer and Gary Moore (RIP). I just wasn’t that interested. There was no progression to the sound of the new stuff. It was just extra Thin Lizzy, add 20 years to the music and make it sound the same.
I tried with Mastodon, I really did. I just didn’t get on with it and thought they were a bit rubbish. Since Download I have been trying to listen to The Hunter in the house and it still doesn’t really do anything for me. This is a shame as I’ve been looking for some new sounds to get into.
Sky Valley Mistress. Hmmmmm. Well I wrote this down in the list of bands I watched on the Saturday but I can’t remember. There, said it.
Alice In Chains came on next and I really like their music. It’s moody, depressing and haunting. They sounded really good and it was nice to see them for the first time since 1991 but I was hungry. I am ashamed to say that Andy and I went to get some food.
Motorhead were OK but really just what you’d expect from Motorhead. I would have liked to hear the song “Motorhead” because it’s among my favourites, but then it’d be hard to beat the classic “No Sleep ‘Till Hammersmith”.
We headed back into the crowd for Queens of the Stone Age and . . . . . we just chatted all the way through their set. They were really uninspiring and boring. It’s a shame because I actually like two of their songs but they just didn’t really do it for me. I even turned away from the stage to chat to my friends!
We were in place for Iron Maiden. No moving now except inwards. Really looking forward to it. The lights dimmed and there seemed to be some activity on the stage when a Supermarine Spitfire (possibly VC version – it had straight tipped wings) flew over the crowd from behind the stage, circled a few times and did some more fly overs. Absolutely brilliant. Best bit of the day so far.
Maiden came on and were typically Maiden. It was a very good show with lots of fire, Eddie and singing along. There were a few songs I would have liked to hear and a couple I would have preferred they hadn’t played. I think they played two from the Fear of the Dark album which I don’t care for. I’m waiting patiently to hear Revelations live. Maiden were good, but I found that Slipknot blew them away. Maybe because I’ve seen Maiden about 6 times since 1988?
Saw Aesthetic Perfection at the Camden Underworld last night. There were four bands on the bill. Apart from the headliners the only one I liked was Kommand and Kontrol. They had a good mix of electronica and guitars, they considered themselves The Gentlemen of Electronica, worth a watch.
Aesthetic Perfection were good but let down, as other bands were, with some technical issues. During the evening speakers stop working, microphones died and guitars died. The sound was poor as the PA speakers were aimed too directly towards back, the closer to the stage you got, the worse the sound (more than at other venues).
Aesthetic Perfection essentially showed the other bands how to do it. Odd make up, hard sound and disturbing lyrics. Everything that makes a good evening!
Just been playing some AC/DC while completing a few laps on the GT6 demo. All of a sudden, well, not really, it was the next track but “You shook me all night long” came on.
It is a brilliant song. I just love it. The riff, the lyrics, the late 80s. How it makes me feel. How it makes me happy.
Just awesome.
Friday
I left work and battled through the traffic at the Dartford Tunnel and then the M1 just being busy. I found the hotel easy enough and Andy had left the key under the door mat so that all worked out ok.
Had some rum and got a cab to the festival. It took at good 25 minutes to walk from the taxi rank to the main arena. I tried getting in touch with Andy but with so many mobiles around a concentrated site the signal was appalling.
I’m In
Bullet for my Valentine
I could hear and see this band as I was walking around the arena trying to get some food and Jagermeister. They sounded alright. Not really my stuff, but not the worst in the world. I was more interested in seeing the Friday night headliners.
Bullet from the Jager tentMore Bullet
Slipknot
I have know about this band for a long time. My first contact with them was when they played “Wait and Bleed” on TFI Friday in about 2000 or so. I bought the first album straight after that and then even the next two. I hadn’t bought any more and didn’t really listen to it that often. That will change. They were fantastic. The show was excellent and has made me a huge fan.
Slipknot 1Slipknot 2
Slipknot The End
After the show it was great to meet with Andy and his parents. On the way back to the guest house we argued about the usual things we argue about!
I am smellin’ like the rose that somebody gave me on my birthday deathbed.
I am smellin’ like the rose that somebody gave me ’cause I’m dead & bloated.
These lyrics pretty much sum this album. I downloaded it recently because I have had these words circling in my head for the last twenty years. After that time the song seems a bit of a let-down but worth playing now and then anyway. I think I have looked up this band on Wikipedia and they sold loads, but maybe I got that mixed up with someone else.
So they had a big hit with the main song from the album although I’m not sure which one that was now. I even listened to this in the car about 3 days ago in preparation for writing this but nothing really sticks in my mind.
It’s well written, played and produced but it lacks a certain something! Maybe the hate and angst of teenage song writing?
Got this album off John S. Wanted to know some Kraftwerk and I’m pretty sure that when getting to know a new artist it’s best to go early in their career. I’ve listened to this once, in the car, when the family were there so I wasn’t allowed the music loud.
The comment from the other in the car was:
This sounds a lot like all the other stuff you listen to
Quite simply – it doesn’t! It’s early electro-pop music which is really well written. More listening required!
That’s how Rich described the sound of Ugly Kid Joe many years ago and I argued against it for about a year. Eventually we asked a Mossad agent and he agreed with Rich. So, wavy guitars it is!
“I Hate Everything About You” was my first UKJ song and a brilliant little song of teenage angst and annoyance it is. Then they released “Neighbour” although they probably spelt it “Neighbor”! I bought some albums on vinyl, I think, you can check on my older websites. Much like Dan Reed Network, when I went digital I decided to get a best of. I really like this collection of songs. UKJ really were / are a good band.
When I saw Bon Jovi at Wembley Stadium there were two support bands. Van Halen and Ugly Kid Joe. Actually, I think there was a third band but they were rubbish. Ugly Kid Joe were brilliant and blew away Van Halen and were pretty close to dumping on Bon Jovi. I would say that BJ and UKJ were about even!
I saw this band without having heard of their stuff when they supported Bon Jovi in about 1990 at Wembley Arena. It was a good concert overall and BJ were pretty much on form. The support band was Dan Reed Network. I thought they were pretty good and so I bought “Slam” and “Heat” when that eventually came out. When I went digital as the previous albums were on music cassette I just bought a “best of”.
Now, every song on here is worth listening to. The sound is a weird rock-funk crossover thing. It sometimes sounds very 80s, but I kinda like that. My highlights are:
Baby Now I
Rainbow Child
Stronger Than Steel
Tiger in a Dress
Now, I can remember being with my dad in the car driving along Gilden Way in Harlow. I had put “Slam” in the tape player and we had heard the first side and the player reversed direction for the start of side two (check that out you digital freaks, two sides of TAPE for an album). The start of the second side starts with police sirens. There was a moment of panic as both dad and I thought there were police chasing us or coming up and we’d need to move over. Once the music cut-in it was a bit more clear what was happening. Fools!
I’m not sure I can let you know just how highly I think of the song “Rainbow Child”. It is just rather beautiful. I originally bought this on a YELLOW vinyl 12 inch single. I love the old days. There aren’t many songs that can reduce me into an emotional wreck but this one comes extremely close. I just can’t rate it highly enough. “Rainbow Child” along with “White Wine In The Sun” crumble me!
Look, this is a collection of the best songs by Anthrax. If you like Anthrax then this should be brilliant. I can now confirm that it is.
All the songs on this album are great. It’s pretty hard to choose the songs I should highlight. I’ve already mentioned “Anti-Social” in a previous review so I can skip that. There’s something special about the music produced by bands at the start of a new movement. It really does affect how you think and move. Anthrax were, and still are, one of the big four, so the recognition amongst metal fans is great. It’s a shame that only Metallica have really penetrated the main market, but then they had to sell out to do so.
My favourites are:
Armed and Dangerous
Bring The Noise
Make Me Laugh
Got The Time
If you don’t know anything by Anthrax then get this. It’s a great introduction although I think the songs sound better in their original homes on the proper albums in the chain of songs and time where they were put [Not sure if that scans well, I’ll re-write if it’s poor].
This album is quite clearly the product of a band who are finding their ground. It’s good but unfortunately it’s not as good as their later stuff. This was the last album by this band that I downloaded and probably just as well. Had I got this one first I wouldn’t have carried on. As it is I consider Combichrist and Aesthetic Perfection to be at the peak of their music genre.
As this is a recent purchase and I’ve only really listened to it on runs I can’t be sure about stand out tracks. Just having a look at the titles doesn’t help apart from noticing that the second song on the album is missing. How does that happen?
So they had a hit song that sounded rather different and had a white man rapping and then you buy the album. The first song gloats about how many times you can sing the word “fuck” in a song and you suddenly realise that they are rubbish.
It’s just not very good. Makes me laugh just thinking about it!
