Tag: music

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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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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 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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