At Home in Hespeler

One likes to believe in the freedom of music.

Rush – Spirit of Radio.

Well, it’s over. 2016 is done, gone, finito, and with it goes the musical death toll like no others:

David Bowie
Glenn Frey
Paul Katner
Jimmy Bain
Sonny James
Sir George Martin
Keith Emerson
Frank Sinatra Jr
Jimmie Van Zant
Prince
Lonnie Mack
Leonard Cohen
Greg Lake
Rick Parfitt
George Michael

That’s a partial, very partial list. If your a fan of Parliament Funkadelic or Mott the Hoople, traditional blues or jazz, then the list gets worse and worse.

But there’s another name on another list, a list of – so far as I can tell – one. Back from the dead.

Frankie Miller is a Scottish singer/songwriter who had a series of good to excellent album with middling success. He could sing soul like Otis Redding, blues like Delbert McClinton and rock like Rod Stewart. Miller released 9 albums between 1972 and 1984, and had a handful of singles, neither of which charted over well. However, while not a huge commercial success, Miller was one of those guys who made a mark amongst his peers, writing songs for people like Bob Seger, Joe Walsh, Bonnie Tyler, Joe Cocker, The Bellamy Brothers, Ray Charles and Rod Stewart to name just a few.

In 1994 Miller was forming a band with Walsh, Nicky Hopkins and King Crimson’s Ian Wallace. One night in a New York hotel he was writing songs for the new band when his wife decided to call it a night. Miller was writing when she went to bed. Through the night she got up and found Miller on the floor in a pool of his own blood. He had a massive brain haemorrhage, spent five months in a coma, and when he woke up he couldn’t walk or speak, let alone sing. His career was over.

Working on a new album, Rod Stewart enquired whether Miller had any unreleased songs. Miller’s wife, through producer David Mackay, sent “two sacks full of demos.” Mackay decided to create an album of duets with the songs, and Stewart, Walsh, Elton John, Huey lewis, Bonnie Tyler, Kid Rock, Kim Carnes, Paul Carrack, Delbert McClinton and a host of others contributed to the album.

Double Take, Frankie Miller’s newest album is more than just one of the best albums of 2016, more than a resurrection of an artist who is far more worthy of fame and success than he has ever attained.

It’s one singer who 2016 didn’t get to take.

for certified professional guitar repair in Cambridge Ontario: Brian Gardiner Guitar Repair

musicians, Review, Rockin' and Rollin' and Never Forgettin', The Freedom of Music, This Week on my I-Pod Frankie Miller, Joe Cocker, Joe Walsh, Kim Carnes, Rod Stewart

Bill Wyman’s new album, Back to Basics, starts promising enough, a nice groove song called What & How & If & When & Why. It sounds solid, and so promising. Then at the twenty-four second mark, Alfie Doolitle with laryngitis starts speaking into the big recording machine, and you wonder what’s happening. What’s happening is Bill Wyman is singing – if by singing you mean whispering hoarsely in a cockney accent.

And that’s about it for Back to Basics. It’s chock full of decent songs, most notably, but not exclusively, Seventeen and I Got Time. Yet Wyman hasn’t the voice to carry a song all the way through, never mind an entire album. It’s a pity, because there’s something here, and it could be good: but it’s not.

for certified professional guitar repair in Cambridge Ontario: Brian Gardiner Guitar Repair

Album release, Review Back to Basics, Bill Wyman, Rolling Stones

Sammy Hagar and the Circle, featuring Hagar, his old pal Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, Led Zeppelin’s Jason Bonham, and guitarist Vic Johnson take a roll through Hagar’s career, with some Led Zeppelin added in for good measure, in the new live album At Your Service. Recorded at various shows during last years fall tour, At Your Service covers Hagar’s solo material, his Montrose years as well as 80’s era Van Halen (in a nod to both Hagar and Anthony).

The Circle is a band of solid professionals who all know their business. There is nothing here that’s not very well done. Whatever era of Hagar – or Led Zeppelin – you are a fan of, you will be pleased by the performances of those songs. There is no weak points or performances here.

The album features four Led Zeppelin songs, and aside from Good Times Bad Times having a bit of an 80’s feel to it, they are performed excellently. Hagar is, perhaps a bit surprisingly, a good singer of Led Zeppelin.

The highlight of the album however is the final track, when Hagar and Johnson take a seat for an acoustic arrangement of Van Halen’s Dreams, from 5150. Stripped of Eddie Van Halen’s keyboards and pyrotechnic guitar licks, it’s an extremely pretty song.

Sammy Hagar and the Circle’s At Your Service is a very enjoyable live recording that is both worth having and makes you hope this particular lineup continues to tour, and that they come to a town near me soon.

Tracklist

CD 1

1. There’s Only One Way to Rock
2. Rock Candy
3. Good Times Bad Times
4. Poundcake
5. I Can’t Drive ’55
6. Mikey Bass Solo
7. When It’s Love
8. Whole Lotta Love
9. Little White Lie
10. When the Levee Breaks

CD 2

11. Jason Drum Solo/Moby Dick
12. Why Can’t This Be Love
13. Finish What You Started
14. Heavy Metal
15. Vic Guitar Solo
16. Best of Both Worlds
17. Right Now
18. Rock and Roll
19. Dreams (acoustic)

for certified professional guitar repair in Cambridge Ontario: Brian Gardiner Guitar Repair

Review, The Mighty Zep At Your Service, Dreams, Good Times Bad Times, Jason Bonham, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, The Circle

Tom Cochrane has been making noise that Take It Home, his 13th studio album, might be his last. At 61-years old, apparently Cochrane thinks it may be time to hang them up.

That would be too bad.

Take it Home is Cochrane’s 6th album since he dropped the Red Rider billing, and it’s a solid album. Cochrane is a songwriter first, and his writing doesn’t let him down. While there may be no Life is a Highway or Big League in the collection, Sunday Afternoon Hang and Country Girls Never Get Old are close enough for 2015.

Take it Home is, in reality, a basic Tom Cochrane album. There’s no shocks here, no breakout songs. Just well crafted songs in the rock vein, with hints of folk and country sprinkled throughout. It’s what Cochrane has always done. If you’ve liked Tom Cochrane’s previous work, then you’ll find Take It Home is a decent album.

Track list

1. Can’t Stay Here
2. Sunday Afternoon Hang
3. Diamonds
4. Country Girls Never Get Old
5. When the Lights Start to Fade
6. Pink Time
7. First Time Around
8. The Ones That I’ve Known
9. Another Year
10. A Prayer for Hope
11. Back in the Game

Album release, Record Release, Review Big League, Country Girls Never Get Old, Life is a Highway, Red Rider, Sunday Afternoon Hang, Take it Home, Tom Cochrane

When the rock world got together in 1992 to celebrate the life of Queen singer Freddy Mercury, Extreme were, in my humble opinion of the time, the highlight of the show. Not, I hasten to add, because I loved Extreme and wanted to see them, but because they blew everybody else off the stage. “That guy,” I said to people at the time, referring to singer Gary Cherone’s onstage attire, “will single handedly bring spats back into style.” Extreme were riding high at the time, two-years after their breakthrough album, Extreme II: Pornograffitti (A Funked Up Fairy Tale), and it wasn’t absurd to imagine Extreme breaking through to the next level, into the pantheon of huge rock acts.

Alas, it was not to be and by 1996 Extreme had split and singer Cherone was fronting an ill-advised version of Van Halen, having replaced Sammy Hagar in that particular piece of disfunction.

Twenty-five years after the release of Extreme II, Universal Music has given the album the remastering treatment, giving us a chance to re-examine the Funked Up Fairy Tale. On closer inspection, and the lens of time, it turns out Extreme II: Pornograffitti (A Funked Up Fairy Tale) is a better album than I remembered it.

I don’t remember, for example, it fading in with a little piano interlude over a rainfall backdrop, starting off with a hint of The Who’s Love Reign O’er Me before Decadence Dance kicks things seriously into gear at about 1:30. I don’t remember either the almost jazzy When I First Kissed You, Cherone crooning more than belting it out. As well Song for Love, both very melodic and slightly anthemic, didn’t immediately come to mind upon hearing it. The thing is, they’re not just forgotten songs, they’re all excellent, giving the album some different sounds, different flavours throughout. Even Cherone’s hippity-hop routine in When I’m President works well and sounds good.

Then there’s the stuff you do remember: “He turned me on to how funky rock ‘n’ roll can be,” guitarist and songwriter Nuno Buttencourt says of guitar legend Pat Travers. Travers adds a vocal to Get The Funk Out, an appropriate homage, as Get the Funk Out is one of the funkiest hard rock songs you’ll ever hear. Hole Hearted is a Bettencourt gem, my longtime favourite off this album and it holds up spectacularly.

Then there’s More Than Words. You’ll remember it, a lovely romantic ballad that was everywhere for a year or two. Turns out though, while it’s still lovely, it’s hardly romantic. A closer inspection and you realize, not simply a lovey dovey song:

Saying I Love You
Is not the words I want to hear from you
It’s not that I want you not to say,
but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel

Shut Up and Show Me wouldn’t be an inappropriate title, although it might have sold a few less records. No, More Than Words isn’t a romantic ballad, it’s an extraordinary vocal song, once again different than the rest of the album, just in this case, the best song on the album. Possibly the best song of 1990.

As always with these remasters, there is a Deluxe Edition that features bonus material. In this case, it’s an extra disk, that features some interesting snippets. A couple of b-sides, a radio edit of More Than Words. But beyond that, some alternate mixes of More Than Words prove beyond a shadow of a doubt it’s a pretty vocal song that works very nicely regardless of accompaniment – even with nothing but a conga drum – and are worth a listen. And Get the Funk Out (What The Funk? Mix) is a straighter up rock version of the song that gives you a hint of what the song may have been, and shows how versatile Extreme’s rhythm section was.

I can honestly say, I’ve been enjoying both the original album and the bonus material these past few weeks. Extreme II: Pornograffitti (A Funked Up Fairy Tale) is well worth revisiting.

Disc One

1. Decadence Dance
2. Li’l Jack Horny
3. When I’m President
4. Get the Funk Out
5. More Than Words
6. Money (In God We Trust)
7. It (‘s A Monster)
8. Pornograffitti
9. When I First Kissed You
10. Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?)
11. He-Man Woman Hater
12. Song For Love
13. Hole Hearted

Disc Two

1. More Than Words (Remix)
2. Nice Place to Visit (Single B-Side)
3. More Than Words (Edit)
4. Decadence Dance (Edit)
5. Money (In God We Trust) (Edit)
6. More Than Words (Non Percussion Version)
7. Get the Funk Out (What The Funk? Mix)
8. More Than Words (A Cappella With Congas)
9. Get The Funk Out (12″ Remix)
10. Sex N’ Love (Single B-Side)

Record Release, Review A Funked Up Fairy Tale, Extreme, Freddy Mercury, Get the Funk Out, Hole Hearted, More Than Words, Pat Travers, Pornograffitti, Queen

Yes has always been a bit of a favourite band of mine. Not a front line, must see, must have every record band like Led Zeppelin or The Who or the Stones. Oh sure, they changed the lineup too often to be one of the greats. New keyboard players and singers especially dotted the Yes-scape, although there was that abomination 80’s lineup that featured no Steve Howe.

I approached the new live Yes CD, Like It Is – YES At The Bristol Hippodrome, due out December 9th, with some trepidation. Seeing as it featured only three classic line up members, drummer Alan White, bassist Chris Squire and the aforementioned Steve Howe. The lineup is filled out with 80’s era keyboardist Geoff Downes and new singer Jon Davison who sounds scarily like original Yes singer Jon Anderson.

Working a setlist of classic Yes, Like It Is is a great collection of songs played to perfection. The energy is high, no 40-year band going through the motions here. Starting with a surprisingly rockin’ version of Going for the One, the set runs through such greats as Yours is no Disgrace, Steve Howe’s The Clap, Starship Trooper and I’ve Seen All Good People, before finishing up on Perpetual Change.

It’s not perfect, not by a long shot. Released in CD/DVD combo and digital formats, Yes at the Bristol Hippodrome is badly missing a vinyl release, an almost fatal flaw. If one can’t put the LP under the Christmas tree, then what’s the point of going to the trouble of cutting down a tree and propping it up in your living room? But besides format complaints, Like It Is – YES At The Bristol Hippodrome is one of the most enjoyable albums I’ve come across this Christmas release season.

Tracklist

1. Going for the One
2. Turn of the Century
3. Parallels
4. Wonderous Stories
5. Awaken
6. Yours is no Disgrace
7. Clap
8. Starship Trooper
9. I’ve Seen All Good People
10. A Venture
11. Perpetual Change

Album release, Record Release, Review Bristol, Live at the Bristol Hippodrome, Steve Howe, Yes

Being a rock guy in the 80’s was hard. All these keyboards, all the pop was being done by primarily synthesizer bands. Even the guitar players in rock bands had tone that sounded like it was coming from a little girl guitarist instead of big hairy guys: Maybe it was the make-up. But still, you found you liked a Poison or a Def Leppard or a Cinderella, mostly I suspect because you can’t hate everybody. But those electronic bands, pushing out pop songs on Casio keyboards and Roland drum machines. Those guys you could hate, every one of them.

Except, occasionally one snuck through. It was songwriting mostly that did it, and Tears for Fears where one of those bands. Listening again after all these years to their big album Songs From The Big Chair, remastered and available in a Deluxe Edition, I’m reminded of how good the songs were. The hits especially, Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Head Over Heels.

The sound on this remastering is excellent. From the opening percussion intro of the mega-hit Shout, to the gentle sway of the sax of I Believe you hear the crystal clear quality of this remastering. This is a fun album to listen to after all these years, and a should get for any fan of 80’s music.

The Super Deluxe Edition is a 4-CD 2-DVD set that comes with a 32 page booklet and a replica tour programme. The Cd’s are loaded with bonus tracks, some of which are for the strictly hardcore fan, but a lot of other, specifically the disc full of singles versions and live recordings, are worth the listen for more casual fans. The DVD’s consist of an audio-DVD and a video DVD

Tears For Fears – Songs From The Big Chair (Super Deluxe Edition) [4CD + 2DVD]
Super Deluxe Edition
TRACKLIST:

DISC ONE
1 Shout
2 The Working Hour
3 Everybody Wants To Rule The World
4 Mothers Talk
5 I Believe
6 Broken
7 Head Over Heels
8 Listen
9 The Big Chair (B-Side Shout)
10 Empire Building (B-Side Mothers Talk)
11 The Marauders (B-Side The Way You Are)
12 Broken Revisited (Ltd Cassette Version)
13 The Conflict (B-Side Change)
14 The Working Hour – Piano Version ( Ltd Cassette Version)
15 Pharoahs (B-Side Everybody)
16 When In Love With A Blind Man (B-Side Head Over Heels)
17 Sea Song (B-Side I Believe)

DISC TWO: Edited Songs – 7″ Versions
1 The Way You Are (7″ Version)
2 Mothers Talk (7″ Version)
3 Shout (7″ Version)
4 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (7″ Version)
5 Head Over Heels (7″ Version)
6 I Believe (A Soulful Re- Recording)
7 Everybody Wants To Run The World (7″ Version)
8 The Way You Are (Short Version)
9 Mothers Talk (US Remix)
10 Shout (US Single Version)
11 Everybody Wants To Run The World (Running Version)
12 Head Over Heels Radio Version)
13 Mothers Talk (Video Version)
14 Shout (Short Version)
15 Listen (Clean intro)
16 Interview With Curt and Roland

DISC THREE: Remixes From The Big Chair
1 The Way You Are (Extended Version)
2 Mothers Talk (Extended Mix)
3 Shout (Extended Remix Version)
4 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Extended Version)
5 Broken / Head Over Heels / Broken (Preacher Mix)
6 Mothers Talk (Beat Of The Drum Mix)
7 Shout (US Remix)
8 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Urban Mix)
9 Mothers Talk (US Remix Alternate)
10 Shout (Dub)
11 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Instrumental)
12 Shout (Acappella)

DISC FOUR: Unreleased Songs From The Big Chair
1 Head Over Heels (Richard Skinner Session)
2 The Working Hour (Richard Skinner Session)
3 Broken (Richard Skinner Session)
4 Mother’s Talk (Live At Massey Hall)
5 Broken/Head Over Heels (Live At Massey Hall)
6 Memories Fade (Live At Massey Hall)
7 The Working Hour (Live At Massey Hall)
8 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Live At Massey Hall)
9 Shout (Live At Massey Hall)
10 Mothers Talk (Early Mix / Instrumental)
11 The Way You Are (Early Mix)
12 Broken (Early Mix)
13 Shout (Early Mix)
14 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Alternate Single Version)

DISC 5 – 5.1 Mix and Stereo Mix
1 Shout
2 The Working Hour
3 Everybody Wants To Rule The World
4 Mothers Talk
5 I Believe
6 Broken
7 Head Over Heels
8 Listen

DISC 6 – DVD
1 Scenes From The Big Chair – Documentary
2 Interview with producer Chris Hughes
3 The Way You Are (Music Video)
4 Mothers Talk (Alternative UK Video)
5 Mothers Talk (Music Video)
6 Shout (Music Video)
7 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Music Video)
8 Head Over Heels (Music Video)
9 I Believe (Music Video)
10 Mothers Talk (US Mix – Music Video)
11 Everybody Wants To Run The World (Music Video)
12 The Way You Are (Top Of The Pops)
13 Mothers Talk (Top Of The Pops)
14 Mothers Talk (Top Of The Pops)
15 Shout (Top Of The Pops)
16 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Wogan)
17 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Top Of The Pops)
18 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Top Of The Pops)
19 The Working Hour (Wogan)

2CD Deluxe Edition
DISC ONE
1 Shout
2 The Working Hour
3 Everybody Wants To Rule The World
4 Mothers Talk
5 I Believe
6 Broken
7 Head Over Heels
8 Listen
9 The Big Chair (B-Side Shout)
10 Empire Building (B-Side Mothers Talk)
11 The Marauders (B-Side The Way You Are)
12 Broken Revisited (Ltd Cassette Version)
13 The Conflict (B-Side Change)
14 The Working Hour – Piano Version ( Ltd Cassette Version)
15 Pharoahs (B-Side Everybody)
16 When In Love With A Blind Man (B-Side Head Over Heels)
17 Sea Song (B-Side I Believe)

DISC TWO: Edited Songs – 7″ Versions
1 The Way You Are (7″ Version)
2 Mothers Talk (7″ Version)
3 Shout (7″ Version)
4 Everybody Wants To Rule The World (7″ Version)
5 Head Over Heels (7″ Version)
6 I Believe (A Soulful Re- Recording)
7 Everybody Wants To Run The World (7″ Version)
8 The Way You Are (Short Version)
9 Mothers Talk (US Remix)
10 Shout (US Single Version)
11 Everybody Wants To Run The World (Running Version)
12 Head Over Heels Radio Version)
13 Mothers Talk (Video Version)
14 Shout (Short Version)
15 Listen (Clean intro)
16 Interview With Curt and Roland

1CD, Blu Ray Audio and 1LP formats
1 Shout
2 The Working Hour
3 Everybody Wants To Rule The World
4 Mothers Talk
5 I Believe
6 Broken
7 Head Over Heels
8 Listen

Record Release, Review Shout, Songs From the Big Chair, Tears for Fears

Today see’s the release of the Led Zeppelin IVand Houses Of The Holyremasters, complete with bonus material, here in North America. The remastered albums have been available as Mastered for iTunes for some time now, so I will reserve comment on their quality besides saying, the iTunes versions are excellent. Otherwise, if you have a chance to hear the CD or LP versions, there’s no reason to believe they won’t also be top notch (and certainly I felt Led Zeppelin, II and III all were).

The bonus material, available on the Deluxe Editions, however, gives us fodder for real discussion. Unlike the third album, which had Keys to the Highway/Trouble in Mind, there is nothing new in the bonus material, nor is there any live material like we saw on the first album. Both IV and Houses of the Holy’s bonus discs are presented as the complete album, with alternate versions, alternate mixes and instrumental versions of the songs.

In February 1971, Jimmy Page and engineer Andy Johns travelled to Los Angeles, master tapes for the fourth album handcuffed to Page (note: kidding), to master the album that would become what many consider Led Zeppelin’s most astonishing moment. He took the tapes to Sunset Sound Studios, where the state of the art studio was booked for mastering of the tapes. Job done, he returned to London and settled into Island Studios with his bandmates to play the new album: the sound was a disappointing mess. No one seems sure what happened, but it appears the equipment at Island couldn’t handle the more sophisticated mastering done at Sunset Sound, and Page returned to the Island Studio to re-master the songs yet again. Of the eight songs on the final album, seven of them were from the London mixes. Only When The Levee Breaks survived from the California mixes.

Of the bonus material on Led Zeppelin IV,the alternate mix of Stairway to Heaven from the Sunset Sound Studios session, and When the Levee Breaks from the London remixing appear. Other alternate mixes from unknown sources are Four Sticks, Rock and Roll and Misty Mountain Hop. Misty Mountain Hop shines the most, with a John Bonham count-in and a much more live sound, the song comes alive in a way it never really did before. When the Levee Breaks is also noticeably different, although not for the better. While Four Sticks sounds more live, wetter in audio geek parlance, Levee is much drier, that famed drum sound somewhat diminished in the mixing. They made the right choice going with the Sunset Sound Studio mix on this song. If we were hearing that mix, that drum sound for the first time here, now, it would be all that anyone would be talking about.

Rock and Roll and Stairway to Heaven on the other hand, have barely noticeable differences. The guitar is a little down in the mix here, the voice up there. Yes, the recorders are definitely louder, but not so much that most people would notice if they didn’t know. On the other hand, Black Dog (Basic Track with Guitar Overdubs) is an alternate take, and while the differences are subtle, at least until the ah-ha’s when a Plant adds a harmony vocal. It doesn’t work actually, sounds too much like that guy beside you at the concert singing along with the band, but you can hear them trying something. Besides, Plant’s ad-lib on the outro is outstanding.

Instrumental mixes of Going to California and Battle of Evermore are interesting, but the repetitive nature of those songs means it’s not something you would listen to more than a few times. While not something you might throw on in the car on your way home from work, throwing the LP on the turntable with a good whiskeywould make for an enjoyable hour on a Friday night.

On Houses Of The HolyLed Zeppelin’s songwriting really grew. Instead of writing pop songs, they were composing music in a rock vein. This becomes evident on the instrumental versions on the Deluxe Edition on this release. The Song Remains the Same is an interesting song unto itself without vocals. And while Over The Hills and Far Away still has it’s repetition, the “guitar mix backing track” is enjoyable. The guitar solo being a little higher in the mix is an added bonus. No Quarter is, again, a complete composition sans vocals, working perfectly as an instrumental composition. What you quickly hear is that Robert Plant was not necessary to either No Quarter or The Song Remains the Same, but manages to put together a performance that adds to the whole of the piece (although a reasonable argument could be made that The Song Remains the Same is a better song as an instrumental than with his speeded up chipmunk vocal added as on the album).

The Rain Song (mix minus piano) baffles me slightly, but only because I can’t detect the difference between the original and this one. The Crunge (rough mix – keys up), Dancing Days (Rough Mix with Vocal) and The Ocean (Working Mix) are the same. Detecting what may be different (no count in on The Ocean for example) could be a game unto itself. So while there’s nothing exciting in the remaining bonus tracks (and no D’Yer Mak’er at all), added in with the three instrumentals you get an idea of what this album could have been like. And in fact, Jimmy Page’s original idea was to start it off with The Song Remains the Same as an instrumental (in fact, it was originally called Overture) that connected to The Rain Song.

What you get from the Houses Of The Holy bonus disk is that it could have been a better album. So far, of all the bonus disks, this may be the only one I play on a regular basis instead of the original album.

Album release, Review Deluxe Edition, Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV, Remasters, Stairway to Heaven

No band has made more hay out of their catalogue than The Who. In their first 40-years, between 1965’s My Generation and 2006’s Endless Wire, they produced 11 studio albums and 20 compilation albums – plus another 5 compilations since. With this years Quadrophenia: Live in London, they have as many live albums as studio albums.

So if you’re Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey, the last remnants of The Who, what better way to celebrate the bands 50th anniversary than with a greatest hits album, The Who Hits 50!?

Stretching from their pre-Who days with The High Numbers Zoot Suit and their first singles as The Who, I Can’t Explain, Anyway Anyhow Anywhere and My Generation to the post-Y2K collection of hits, 2004’s Real Good Looking Boy, 2006’s It’s Not Enough from the last Who studio album Endless Wire and Be Lucky, recorded earlier this year.

As always when you get a collection from a band has been around as long as, and have had as many hits as the Who, the 42 song set is loaded with great material and almost anyone is sure to find a number of songs they like, and one or two they are less keen on. But every significant era of The Who, the early singles, Tommy, Quadrophenia, the 70’s rock, the Kenny Jones era, is well represented here. Personal favourites that I don’t get to hear often enough, Postcard and Who Are You’s Trick of the Light are on the album, compensating for what I consider too many of the early pop singles. Those early singles, however, have never sounded better. The sound on this collection is excellent, with everything sounding clear and clean.

Overall The Who Hits 50! is a solid collection that sounds great and has enough material for everyone to enjoy. If you happened to have bought the last three Who collections, I’m not sure you really need this one. But if your looking for some Who, this is a great set.

Tracklist

1. Zoot Suit (as the High Numbers)
2. I Can’t Explain
3. Anyway Anyhow Anywhere
4. My Generation
5. Substitute
6. The Kids Are Alright
7. I’m a Boy
8. Happy Jack
9. Boris the Spider
10. Pictures of Lily
11. The Last Time
12. I Can See For Miles
13. Call Me Lightning
14. Dogs
15. Magic Bus
16. Pinball Wizard
17. I’m Free
18. The Seeker
19. Summertime Blues
20. See Me, Feel Me
21. Won’t Get Fooled Again
22. Let’s See Action
23. Bargain
24. Behind Blue Eyes
25. baba O’Riley
26. Join Together
27. Relay
28. 5: 15
29. Love Right O’er Me
30. Postcard
31. Squeeze Box
32. Slip Kid
33. Who Are You
34. Trick of The Light
35. You Better You Bet
36. Don’t Let Go The Coat
37. Athena
38. Eminence Front
39. It’s Hard
40. Real Good Looking Boy
41. It’s Not Enough
42. Be Lucky

Album release, Review Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, Be Lucky, Greatest Hits, I Can’t Explain, My Generation, Quadrophenia, The Who, The Who Hits 50, Tommy

A guy knows what he’s going to get when he buys a Bob Seger record: rock and roll played on a straight four beat. Add in a dash of new country guitar pickin’ and you have a Bob Seger album for the new millennium. It used to be such an album was something to look forward to with eager anticipation, as I fondly recall doing for Like a Rock in the mid-80’s. But Seger’s songwriting has diminished over the years, his ability to find a new, unique, interesting way to play an E-chord exhausted, and what’s left is a collection of familiar sounding songs.

There’s nothing wrong with Ride Out, Seger’s latest album, released this week. If you liked his last number of albums, you’ll like this one well enough. The collection of decent songs, in fact, improve on multiple listens, and the early released songs, Detroit Made, Hey Gypsy and The Devil’s Right Hand after a few weeks of listening are my favorites on the album. The same can’t be said, however, of You Take Me In, the early release balled which was boring on first listen, and boring now that’s it’s heard in the context of a full album.

Seger has a go at politics with It’s Your World, a song in which he decries the state of the world without offering solutions (it is a bit rich, the multi-millionaire singer complaining about cash is king), and if the depth of Your World amounts to the depth of Seger’s politics, it’s a good thing there’s 50-years between here to The Ballad of the Yellow Beret. His attempt at Americana, Adam and Eve, also fails pretty miserably.

Hey Gypsy, on the other hand, Seger’s tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, is an album highlight. You’ve never heard a Texas shuffle played so squarely, so tightly on the beat, as this, but it works magnificently and will likely be a strong addition to Seger’s live set in his upcoming tour. The acoustic song, Listen, one of the bonus songs on the Deluxe Edition of Ride Out, is another highlight of the album.

There’s a number of good enough songs on Ride Out, but let’s also be clear, there’s no Hollywood Nights or Rock and Roll Never Forgets, no ballads as good as Mainstreet, no acoustic numbers of the calibre of Night Moves or Against the Wind. If your looking for Seger to find that magic touch he had from the mid-70’s to the mid-80’s you’ll be disappointed. But if your looking for Seger to meet or exceed what he has done the last couple of albums, he has.

Tracklist

Detroit Made
Hey Gypsy
The Devils Right Hand
Ride Out
Adam and Eve
California Stars
It’s Your World
All of the Roads
You Take Me In
Gates of Eden

Listen (Deluxe Edition only)*
The Fireman’s Talkin’ (Deluxe Edition only)*
Let the Rivers Run (Deluxe Edition only)*

*(Note: There is a Target only CD version with 2 extra songs)

Album release, Bob Seger, Record Release, Review Bob Seger, Detroit Made, Hey Gypsy, Hollywood Nights, Like a Rock, Mainstreet, Night Moves, Rock and Roll Never Forgets, Stevie Ray, Stevie Ray Vaughan

Abba were my parents 70’s rock band. It has taken me years to appreciate what they are, the songwriting, the musicality, the entertainment value. So I was looking forward to Live At Wembley Arena, the chronicle of Abba’s Nov 10, 1979 Abba concert, the last of a six night residency at London’s famous Wembley Arena. While it’s a good album, everything that is/was wrong with Abba is in high evidence. The disco beat to too many songs, the horrible stage patter, the bad schtick between the performers onstage. You can almost hear the bell bottoms and sequins at times.

The above aside, however, it is an album loaded with hits and, not always the same thing, good songs. Abba, if nothing else, crafted high quality songs wrapped up in a catchy pop beat. whether it’s mature relationship songs like Knowing Me, Knowing You or The Name of the Game or pop wrapped up in historical allegory like Waterloo, Abba had a number of good songs.

Live At Wembley Arena’s is an excellent album, if you can overlook the sound of the clothes.

Tracklist

Gammal fabodpsalm
Voulez-vous
If it Wasn’t For the Nights
As Good as New
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Rock Me
Chiquitita
Money, Money, Money
I Have a Dream
Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)
S.O.S.
Fernando
The Name of the Game
Eagle
Thank You For the Music
Why Did it Have to be Me
Intermezzo No. 1
I’m Still Alive
Summer Night City
Take a Chance on Me
Does Your Mother Know
Hole in Your Soul
The Way Old Friends Do
Dancing Queen
Waterloo

1970's, Record Release, Review Abba, Knowing Me Knowing You, Live at Wembley arena, The Name of the Game, Waterloo, Wembley

I’ve never quite got why Styx has been a much maligned act through the years. Oh sure they can be a little slick, almost perfect sounding, but really, that’s worse than Neil Young’s guitar being out of tune? According to a number of critics, yes. For some strange reason, Styx always got the too smooth, too good label. Much of the blame must fall of Dennis DeYoung, who has one of those voices that never misses a note and sounds effortless.

With his new album/DVD Dennis Dennis DeYoung And The Music Of Styx Live In Los Angeles (2CD/DVD), DeYoung runs his seven piece band through 17 Styx songs badly in need of re-examination. DeYoung’s voice is, at 67-years old, still almost flawless, still rings out like a bell. Evidence suggests there has been no age related deterioration of DeYoung’s talents.

The songs stand up very well, and the quality of songwriting stands out throughout the CD. It was fun to rediscover songs like Crystal Ball and Suite Madame Blue which are excellent, as is much of the music. Hearing Mr. Roboto after all these years, on the other hand, feels like watching Billy Squire playing Rock Me Tonight, full dance included.

But Mr. Roboto is the exception, and a re-hear of Lady, Too Much Time on My Hands, Rockin’ the Paradise, Foolin’ Yourself and Come Sail Away is well worth the listen. Blue Collar Man particularly stands out.

The CD of Dennis DeYoung And The Music Of Styx Live In Los Angeles (2CD/DVD) really is a good solid collection, and worth the listen.

Due in stores October 17th in Europe and October 21st in North America, and is available on 2CD/DVD, Blu-Ray and digital. As well, the television special, An Evening With Dennis DeYoung And The Music Of STYX concert special airs on AXS-TV, on October 21st, 2014.

Track listing:
Audio:
CD1

1. The Message (intro)
2. The Grand Illusion
3. Lady
4. Lorelei
5. Blue Collar Man
6. Show Me The Way
7. Mr. Roboto
8. Crystal Ball
9. Don’t Let It End
10. Too Much Time On My Hands

CD2

1. Rockin’ The Paradise
2. Desert Moon
3. Babe
4. Foolin’ Yourself
5. Suite Madame Blue
6. The Best Of Times
7. Renegade
8. Come Sail Away.

Video

1. The Grand Illusion
2. Lady
3. Lorelei
4. Blue Collar Man
5. Show Me The Way
6. Mr. Roboto
7. Crystal Ball
8. Don’t Let It End
9. Too Much Time On My Hands
10. Desert Moon
11. Babe; Foolin’ Yourself
12. Suite Madame Blue
13. The Best Of Times
14. Renegade
15. Come Sail Away.

Record Release, Review Denis DeYoung, Styx

Lots of artists these days, 30+ years into their career as rock star, are putting out albums that sound like mediocre versions of their last good album – or worse, mediocre versions of the album after their last good album. John Mellencamp, nee Cougar, isn’t one of them.

Mellencamp is, and always has been, a storyteller. His new album, Plain Spoken, released on Tuesday at the usual outlets, is proof of this. The ten songs set is a collection of vignettes told in the classic John Mellencamp style. However, while Mellencamp can hardly help but sound like himself after 22 albums, Plain Spoken does not sound like a rehash of previous efforts.

There’s no A-1 songs on Plain Spoken, no Jack and Dianne or Cherry Bomb, no Key West Intermezzo, not even a Walk Tall. But there’s also no dogs here. It’s an album of those second tier songs that dominate Mellencamp’s albums, good songs, maybe a few that could crack the old top 30 charts, but no big hits, no song to make you stop dead in your tracks. Just good solid songs, written by a master storyteller. Nothing at all wrong with that.

Tracklist

1. Troubled Man
2. Sometimes There’s God
3. The Isolation of Mister
4. The Company of Cowards
5. Tears in Vain
6. The Brass Ring
7. Freedom of Speech
8. Blue Charlotte
9. The Courtesy of Kings
10. Lawless Times

Record Release, Review John Mellencamp, Plain Spoken

I did something I have never done before: after receiving free, high-fi .wav files for The Feed’s Outsider, after giving it a one-off listen, I went to their webpage and pre-ordered the vinyl LP. Outsider was simply that good.

I decide to bother downloading something for review usually based on a single song. So I gave My Blues a shot, and was blown away. It’s a great song but more so, it has a great groove. The rhythm section of Kevin Bowers on drums and Ben Reece on bass (and saxophone), are create a groove that vocalist/keyboardist David Grelle and guitarist Jordan Heimburger move around inside of to create great songs.

The influences permeate the album, without a dominant one coming forward: Is it 60’s rock? 70? That sounds like White Stripes or Wheezer, T-Rex or Deep Purple, but at the end it’s uniquely their own sound. It’s rock and roll. And very good rock and roll at that.

The Feed’s Outsider is simply a great sounding, great feeling album that should be on any rock fans must hear list. Damn it’s good.

Outsider is available now at the usual outlets, or you can pre-order the vinyl LP from The Feed’s website.

Tracklist
Celestial Calling
Outsider
Rexy
Stella
My Blues
Everybody Wants You
Victim
Strut
Maggie Jean

<br />

Review My Blues, Outsider, The Feed

Robert Plant’s new album, lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar, due to hit stores next Tuesday, get’s name half right: Lullaby, yes; Ceaseless Roar, not so much. Plant, in fact, as has been his habit for the past 3 to 5 albums, seems to be barely interested in singing. Putting together a band, hanging out with them, giving cryptic interviews, writing songs, he very much seems to enjoy. Singing, however…

Plant is backed by a band of his own creation, The Sensational Space Shifters, and they are solid throughout this album. The album rocks hard, has a pretty balled, some celtic, some folk, and a singer that sings half octave songs at slightly above a whisper. The band deserves better, as do Robert Plant fans shelling out $40 for a deluxe vinyl edition expecting some of that roar the title promises (full disclosure: I shelled out $40).

The album was announced with such promise, Rainbow being released along with the official announcement. The first single, Rainbow is heads and shoulders the best song on the album, and not coincidentally, the one of two songs where Plant stretches his vocals out the most. Read that again and, if you haven’t heard any of this album yet, go hear Rainbow, and imagine a world where that is stretching the old vocal chords. That’s the sad state of affairs Robert Plant has fallen to.

There’s plenty to celebrate in the songwriting, with Turn it Up, Somebody There and Poor Howard all very good. Most people commenting on the album are speaking fondly of the ballad Stolen Kiss, and in fairness, it is Plant’s most interesting, and possibly best, vocal on the album. However, that Plant can”t be bothered to come up with melodies any more complex or interesting than Bah Bah Black Sheep for most of the album is disconcerting.

You will read a number of reviews, a number of articles in the next while saying that lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar is Robert Plant finding new horizons, stretching his musical chops or bravely going forward &tc. &tc. It’s all a pile of bullocks. If you like what Plant has done the last few albums, certainly since Raising Sand and The Band of Joy, then you will love this. It is easily the best of the three albums. However, if, like me, you haven’t particularly enjoyed Robert Plant’s forays into trying to impress NPR listeners, then don’t, as I have done, throw away $40 on an album you will never bother opening.

Tracklist
Little Maggie
Rainbow
Pocketful of Golden
Embrace Another Fall
Turn it Up
A Stolen Kiss
Somebody There
Poor Howard
House of Love
Up On The Hollow Hill (Understanding Arthur)
Arbaden (Maggie’s Baby)

Review Ceaseless Roar, lullaby and..., Robert Plant