Month: May 2013

Posted on

Blue Murder – Blue Murder

When Whitesnake had their massive eponymous album in 1987 they went through so much strife that the band didn’t survive. The guitarist went on to form Blue Murder and they produced this album. I bought this on music cassette from the Our Price shop by Harlow bus station. It was in the rock section and one of those albums you look at, look at the band, look at the titles of the songs and then think it should be worth the money. This was a bargain!

The sound is so British and heavy. The songs are pounding slow beats of pure rock heaven. The style is similar to 1987 but the feel is much more heavy. I really like it. It still gets played quite regularly which is good for an album 20 years old. My highlights would be:

  • Riot
  • Sex Child [slightly worrisome though]
  • Valley of the Kings
  • Blue Murder
  • Ptolemy

The British sound of the 1980s is one of my favourites. I love the NWOBHM style and this is what it evolved to become.

Posted on

Blow Up Your Video – AC/DC

It’s hard to inform you just how much of an influence this album has been! I bought this when I was 16. AC/DC had charted with “That’s The Way I Wanna Rock & Roll” and I really liked it. So, I bought the album. I then recorded it onto tape and I’m pretty sure I took that tape on our last family holiday to the island of Jersey where we stayed at the Hotel Central. I remember listening to these tracks while I stayed in the hotel’s annex on my own. This album has provided the soundtrack for my introduction and descent into metal and for the summer of my GCSEs and 1988.

Once you get into a band you want to listen to all of their stuff. I started to buy the back catalogue, all of which will be mentioned in these communications.

Blow Up Your Video is not the best AC/DC album but it is one of the better ones. All the songs are classic AC/DC with catchy rock’n’blue riffs and good lyrics. Strangely, not many of the songs here are to do with sex. There isn’t a song a will skip when I listen to the album. The only thing is that AC/DC don’t play any of these songs in their live set which is a shame!

My highlights are:

  • Heatseeker
  • That’s the Way I Wanna Rock & Roll
  • Kissin’ Dynamite
  • This Means Way

This album just means so much to me.

Posted on

Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chilli Peppers

I have a feeling the Chilli Peppers along with some other bands mentioned before are somewhat over-rated. I bought the album What Hits? and I really liked it. The songs were fast and raw.

I bought this album. Now, I can recognise it is a good album and I can almost see why people rave about it and the Chillis but they just don’t do it for me and so are over-rated.

“Suck My Kiss” and “Give It Away” are my favourites. The rest don’t bother me. I really disliked the Chillis when they became super popular (it’s in my psyche to dislike popular stuff) and stuff like “Dani California” etc just makes me want to puke.

Posted on

Blade Runner – Vangelis

Every now and then you need a bit of chill-out music. Where would someone like me turn for that?

Films.

Most of my classical and easy listening knowledge comes from music in films. Blade Runner is an excellent film made atmospheric by the music contained within.

This is that music. Simple.

Posted on

Blackout – Scorpions

In the late 80s those cheeky Scorpions had a massive hit with “Winds Of Change” from the Crazy World album. I bought that album – no bad songs there just classic straight talking rock.

After a while I bought this on music cassette. The cover has a man screaming with his eyes being impaled with eating forks. Just sayin’!

Look, this was released in 1982 and I listen to it still. The songs are really good and catchy. It’s not ground breaking rock, in fact it’s rather derivative, but it is a very well constructed album and brilliant. How many great German bands are there? [quite a few in these pages].

There isn’t a bad song. My personal favourites are:

  • Blackout
  • Can’t Live Without You
  • Now!
  • Arizona
  • China White

There you have it. I’m a fan of the Scorpions. Not enough to have a tattoo but a fan.

Posted on

The Blackening – Machine Head

Years ago I bought the Burning Red album by Machine Head and was impressed with the dark sound. I remember I was living in Brentwood at the time so this was 1999 or so. About a year ago I decided to buy another Machine Head album. I got this one. It’s alright. It sounds the same as the first one I got and is good for a run or winter music.

Posted on

Black Ice – AC/DC

This album proved to be a return to greatness for the grandfathers of rock. This band have been around for so long and made some less-than-brilliant albums that all hope had been given up. I heard about this album while listening to the Bruce Dickinson rock show on BBC Radio 6 Music. He was raving about how good he thought it was and what a return to form it showed. I was curious. Bruce is a big AC/DC fan and so he couldn’t be wrong.

This is a complete wonder of an album. It doesn’t have the gritty rawness of the Bon Scott albums but it is crafted and written brilliantly. It has everything you could want. Blockbusting riffs, brilliant drums, good lyrics and thundering bass. It’s great.

All the songs are good. Well worth putting on in the car for a summer drive. It’ll cheer you up.

Posted on

Black Gives Way to Blue – Alice In Chains

This album was part of the “catch up with what bands I used to like have been doing” phase from about a year ago. I had thought that Alice were dead, much like their singer but then this was released in 2009 with a new singer.

I’m amazed at how good his voice sounds and how much like the original he is. It is very much an “Alice” album. Slow, heavy, melodic and haunting. It’ll freak you out. Well done Mr Alice.

Posted on

Bitter Sweet and Twisted – The Quireboys

This album came along with “A Bit Of What You Fancy” when I downloaded it from iTunes. It really bugs me when joint albums are downloaded. I don’t like them being stored on my phone as one album so I mess with the properties to make them into the original versions.

I’ve not listened to this album.

Posted on

A Bit of What You Fancy – The Quireboys

At sometime in the sixth form someone saw The Quireboys support another band. That’s all the memory I have about why I would know this band. I bought this album on vinyl and I would classify it as good old fashioned British pub rock and roll. This album is well worth a listen. I like the melodies and the singing. This is definitely a summer album. I can imagine playing this in the garden with the sun glaring down and saturating the whole village in glorious shine.

I listened to this album so much in my formative years that I think all the songs are ingrained. My favourites are:

  • 7 O’clock
  • Sex Party
  • Long Time Comin’

This was a great purchase.

Privacy Policy Proudly powered by WordPress