I like both records. But it's well established that I have bad taste.
― unperson, Monday, 24 November 2008 04:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Interesting post, Gorge, but I thought Bobby Knight came up with that quote at the top about sportswriters. I may be wrong.
― Bill Magill, Monday, 24 November 2008 14:54 (fifteen years ago) link
The problem with the guitar solos is that, while the five replacement guitarists may (arguably) be technically better than Slash, they aren't emotionally better.
― From Russia with Loveless (J3ff T.), Monday, 24 November 2008 21:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Just got a terrific batch of stuff from the German hard psych rock label World In Sound, apparently now based at least part-time in NYC. A lot of their releases are by South American bands, and the best one in today's pile is Cosmos Kaos Destruccion (I bet you can do the translation without my help) by La Ira de Dios (the Wrath of God). They're a super-heavy psych-punk-hard rock trio in the vein of High Rise or Mainliner with a better mix (everything's not deliberately in the red) and some elements of early peak period Hawkwind as well. Really good, blaring stuff. "Por favor, dame velocidad" (please gimme speed) he howls, and I totally believe him. Recommended.
― unperson, Tuesday, 25 November 2008 20:33 (fifteen years ago) link
A rolling hard rock gathers no Moss
― ɔɐuɐɯlV uɯnʇnV (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 30 November 2008 00:27 (fifteen years ago) link
not even sterling?
― Pfunkboy Formerly Known As... (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 30 November 2008 00:29 (fifteen years ago) link
is this about those dancing days?
― I know, right?, Sunday, 30 November 2008 00:30 (fifteen years ago) link
I totally disagree with most of this, but it actually makes me curious about the bands here that I've never heard of:
http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/3172289350/show/929916
Classic Rock magazine best albums of 2008
50. The Black Keys - Attack & Release49. Todd Rundgren - Arena48. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "Dig Lazarus, Dig!!"47. Thunder - Bang!46. Tesla - Forever More45. Viking Skull - Doom, Gloom, Heartache & Whiskey44. The Jim Jones Revue - s/t43. Girlschool - Legacy42. Stonerider - Three Legs Of Trouble41. Black Tide - Light From Above40. Diagonal - s/t39. Dirty Penny - Take It Sleezy38. Glenn Hughes - First Underground Nuclear Kitchen37. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs36. Graveyard - s/t35. Lethargy - Purification34. Testament - The Formation Of Damnation33. Blood Ceremony - s/t32. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam In Goliath31. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive30. Kings Of Leon - 0nly By The Night29. Rose Kemp - Unholy Majesty28. The Clash - Live At Shea Stadium27. Joe Bonamassa - Live From Nowhere In Particular26. Endeverafter - Kiss Or Kill25. Uriah Heep - Wake The Sleeper24. Rose Hill Drive - Moon Is The New Earth23. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark22. Queen & Paul Rogers - The Cosmos Rocks21. Thin Lizzy - UK Tour 197520. Judas Priest - Nostradamus19. Marillion - Happiness Is The Road18. Pride Tiger - The Lucky Ones17. Alice Cooper - Along Came A Spider16. Motorhead - Motorizer15. Black Crowes - Warpaint14. Stone Gods - Silver Spoons & Broken Bones13. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound12. The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely11. Opeth - Watershed10. Motley Crue - Saints Of Los Angeles9. Journey - Revelation8. Big Linda - I Loved You7. Whitesnake - Good To Be Bad6. Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle Lounge5. Airbourne - Runnin' Wild4. Black Stone Cherry - Folklore & Superstition3. Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy2. Metallica - Death Magnetic1. AC/DC - Black Ice
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:12 (fifteen years ago) link
That Black Stone Cherry album is dreadful. And to think they had so much promise...but no, they're well on their way to being Nickelbackified.
― A. Begrand, Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:15 (fifteen years ago) link
The first track is pretty good, but other than that, those are my thoughts exactly.
― Gorgoroth? I hardly knew her! (J3ff T.), Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:21 (fifteen years ago) link
I actually way preferred this year's Nickelback album myself. (And I never heard much promise in Black Stone Cherry to begin with.)
So who are: Big Linda, Pride Tiger, Rose Hill Drive, Rose Kemp, and Dirty Penny?
Not sure I've ever heard Thunder, either, though I've definitely heard *of* them before.
Had no idea Uriah Heep put out an album this year, either.
Unjustifiably missing on that list: Rose Tattoo, Rick Springfield, Helix, Night Ranger, Ted Nugent's live album.
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:24 (fifteen years ago) link
I have a self-titled Thunder album from 1980 that Wounded Bird reissued, I remember correctly they play mildly interesting roadhouse rock. Had no idea they were still together/reunited.
― Gorgoroth? I hardly knew her! (J3ff T.), Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:27 (fifteen years ago) link
That was weird spacing... also, it should be IF I remember correctly. I mean, I could probably throw the CD on, but I'm lazy.
― Gorgoroth? I hardly knew her! (J3ff T.), Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:28 (fifteen years ago) link
That must be a different Thunder, these guys are ex Terraplane who were around in the late 80s. God why do I remember this stuff?
― Matt #2, Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:33 (fifteen years ago) link
Alice Cooper - Along Came A Spider
I completely missed this, is it worthwhile in any way whatsoever?
― Matt #2, Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:35 (fifteen years ago) link
I couldn't even make it through the thing. (And I'd actually liked 2005's Dirty Diamonds OK. Think we talked about this somewhere upthread, actually.)
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:41 (fifteen years ago) link
The Thunder I know had a US debut -- were more well known in Britain as regular openers for the mighty Quo, I think -- at the end of the Eighties/early Nineties. Made some noise due to a single and video for "Dirty Love" -- which is a funny, amusing and very catchy song. The video had the drummer, a short bald guy in a ballerina's outfit and dirty sneakers. I recall it being on MTV a lot. The rest of the album was only fair by comparison. Second album and they were about through here although they had more in the UK.
I've a best of collection. It's OK, was very cheap used and contains "Dirty Love" which is the entire reason for owning or investigation. Most of what they did was standard hair metal, boogie and ballads.
Gave 'em a review in the newspaper which essentially said you'll probably hate most of the album but damned if the single won't keep you coming back to it.
― Gorge, Tuesday, 9 December 2008 23:50 (fifteen years ago) link
Helix had a new album? I'm amazed I didn't know that. Good, I take it?
― A. Begrand, Wednesday, 10 December 2008 01:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Yep. Wrote about it here:
http://blog.rhapsody.com/2008/05/hair-metal-pion.html
I think George wrote about it on his blog earlier than me, too.
And Thanksgiving weekend in Michigan (true story), I convinced my younger sister to go out to her garage and find her legendary cassette copy of Walking The Razor's Edge and donate it to my collection. She said she'd bought it for the "great ballad", which must have been a hit in Detroit, or at least Windsor, at the time. She also got excited when she saw an old Giuffria cassette (self-titled) of hers out there. (She'd bought that for a ballad at the time, too.) The two boxes of cassettes in the house were pretty much all John Cougar and Bryan Adams ones (hers, like I say in that Helix review) and Pat Benatar ones (her husband's), except for the Firm and a couple other things.
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 10 December 2008 01:15 (fifteen years ago) link
George beat me to the Helix album by four months:
http://www.dickdestiny.com/blog/2008/02/sludge-in-70s-recent-cost-effectives-us.html
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 10 December 2008 01:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Haha, yeah, Helix's ballad (cover of "Make Me Do Anything You Want") was quite the crossover hit in Canada.
I should track that new album down, good to see it was well-received. They were just in my city playing some tiny dive, flogging a Christmas album or something, and I sort of wanted to go, but didn't. I saw them a couple of times in the mid-80s when they were selling out 3000 seat theatres in Canada.
Bleh, I remember Giuffria..."Call to the Heart", that was the big song of theirs.
― A. Begrand, Wednesday, 10 December 2008 01:49 (fifteen years ago) link
Demonstration of the Korg Pandora by me. Basically, much of the technology is devoted to putting a classic rock band in a box the size of a cigarette pack.
― Gorge, Saturday, 13 December 2008 03:10 (fifteen years ago) link