Communications

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Best Of – Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie J Malmsteen

Why do I know this man’s work? Who got me into this stuff? I’m pretty sure that Andy Smith saw Yngwie play a concert and I didn’t go. Somewhere along the way I ended up with a couple of his songs on tape or heard them while at friends houses.

Eventually I bought a live album by the man. This was not that one.

Sometime later I downloaded a Best Album so that I had some studio versions of his work. I doubt that I’ve listened to it all the way through, in fact none of the song titles scream out at me.

Oh well. The guy is an awesome guitarist and I saw him play at Shepherd’s Bush. It was a good gig. Different, but good.

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Beast From The East – Dokken

Mark Hodges persuaded me to buy this album shortly after my sixteenth or seventeenth birthday. I had some record vouchers and wanted new vinyl. I’d only been into decent music for a short while and so it was important to make the correct choices.

This is a gatefold live album recorded in Japan. The cover illustration is a picture of a whole back tattoo. I really like the sound of a four piece band when the guitar does a solo. I like hearing the rhythm section keep the beat going while the guitarist just goes off on one. The sound of this album is perfect.

When I bought this on CD it didn’t come with my favourite song, “Sleepless Nights” and I’m a bit annoyed about that. For the last twenty five years the middle section of that song has stuck in my brain. George Lynch’s guitar makes an awesome screeching sound and it has sent shivers down my spine since around 1988.

My highlights on this album are:

  • Unchain The Night
  • Kiss Of Death
  • Mr Scary
  • It’s Not Love

Mr O would say this is an album of pure cockrock and he wouldn’t be wrong. The 1980s produced some great sounding bands and I’ve spent quite a bit of time and money buying proper versions of the albums friends had taped for me.

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Batman – Prince

I went to see the film Batman [the Tim Burton version] with Alan Barnett when it came out. He thought it was great but I was somewhat underwhelmed. I think I had expected a rather realistic film rather than the dark and glossy beast that Burton produced. Also, I didn’t like the helicopters at the end, can’t remember why, I just remember I didn’t like them. I have had similar problems with most superhero films, they don’t seem to work. Mind you, I will now say that I really liked the original [Burton] Batman as I dislike the recent versions even more, they are over hyped and I just don’t find them interesting.

At this time SJR was into Prince and I had listened to a few of the albums and taped some also. Lovesexy and Sign O The Times. I bought this album on CD and I’m pretty sure it came in a rather nifty tin case with the Batman logo on it.

The songs are really good. It has a certain funk and style that I associate with Prince and it’s good summer music. “The Future” and “Batdance” stand out to me.

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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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