The Best Metal Band of the 2000's

I am very surprised it took me this long to review this band/release.  I have enjoyed their music on Octane for years and their latest release is a few years old.  I guess it has been out so long I didn't want to review as something new, but the more I choose to keep on playing the release I just had to review the band.

The band is Avenged Sevenfold they are a heavy metal/ hard rock band out of California.  A7X (the slang name for the band) started in 99 but I didn't know of them until 06 with their release Bat Country.  The track is incendiary with shredding guitar work and pounding double bass drums.  The next big release Nightmare got me fully into the fold.  A dark metal tune perfectly balanced with dominating metal rifs and haunting lyrics.

So in 13 when Avenged Sevenfold released Hail to the King I was primed and boy does the release exceed my expectations.  First off there are no filler tracks.  Each song on the release could be a hit.  I guess what I like most about this band and this release is that it is kind of timeless.  Truly I could see me listening to this in the 80's, or 90's with thinking it was fresh and the greatest Metal.  The guitar work is on fire and once again with great Metal bands the lyrics take you with them on the story they tell for each song.

Do I have a hard time calling them the best, yeah my love of Disturbed has been mentioned on this blog many times but if you want the purist Metal band that I feel will really stand the test of time you need to check out Avenged Sevenfold and their release Hail to the King.

Til next time, listen to the best your ears deserve it.

An improperly named Solo Release

I grew up listening to ELO.  I remember the sounds from AM radio.  The band even did a great soundtrack to a very bad movie Xanadu.  ELO was a very textured diverse group.   They took what the Beattles did with strings and added synthesizers and created a unique sound.

One of the founding members and main song writers of the band was Jeff Lynne.  Jeff Lynne led the band and wrote their hits.  He was also a very successful producer and worked with Tom Petty, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and was part of the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys.  I have always liked and enjoyed Jeff Lynne's work.

Listening to XM I was excited to hear that Jeff Lynne was back with the group ELO.  There have been no new releases in over a decade.  I found the release on Itunes and was surprised at the title, Jeff Lynne's ELO.  What this means is Jeff Lynne wrote and preformed all the music tracks by himself.  I really like Jeff Lynne but felt a little cheated, it isn't ELO.  The Band ELO had incredibly talented musicians who brought their own feel to tracks written by Jeff Lynne.

Now the release is a very good solo album.  As I wrote before I really like Jeff Lynne.  A few tracks that stand out after a listen are Love and Rain, Dirty to the Bone, I'm Leaving You and One Step at a Time.  This is a great headphone album, which means you can plug or bluetooth in and zone out to the music.  I enjoyed the release, it just isn't ELO.

Til next time, listen to the best -  your ears deserve it.

Dorothy Brings back the blues

I've noticed a great trend listening to XM/Sirius Octane.  There are more women in Hard Rock and Metal then ever.  I have already discussed two of them, Halestorm a straight Hard Rock band and In This Moment the Shock and Industrial Metal. Now the ladies are taking on a bluesy style with Dorothy. 

The band Dorothy released their first EP in 2014 and it is a solid collection of five songs. The two songs that were released were After Midnight and Raise Hell. Both are rich with distortion and a roadhouse feel. The video for Raise Hell is very clever and a fun way to promote the band. The stand out track on the EP is Gun In My Hand. No this song isn't sung at the Roadhouse it should come out of the gin joint from way over beyond the wrong side of the tracks. Not quite Janis rough but the closest I have heard in awhile. 

I love the trend in Hard Rock and think it is well overdue. So give Dorothy a listen. I am looking forward to their first full release. 

Till next time, listen to the best:your ears deserve it.

Sun Storm and Joe Lynn Turner Keeping Arena Rock Alive

I was talking with my friend Spencer about Deep Purple finally going into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I asked if all of the members of the band would go in with them.  We both agreed that it is a shame that Jon Lord wasn't alive for this moment, but I said Joe Lynn Turner should go in with them.  Now I know that Spencer knows who Joe Lynn Turner is but most don't which is a shame. After all he only was the one time lead singer for Deep Purple, Rainbow and for Yngwie Malmsteen.

Joe Lynn Turner has a voice everyone who has listened to Arena and Hard Rock will recognize.  The sound of his voice is raspy, strong and tough but tender on the ballads.  I first heard him as the lead singer of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.  He brought the group back to mainstream rock with the songs, Stone Cold, Death Alley Driver, and Street of Dreams.  After Rainbow he sang for Yngwie Malmsteen for a few great CDs,  His final trip to the mainstream charts was back with Blackmoore for a Deep Purple release Slaves and Masters.  Unfortunately the Deep Purple sounded more like Rainbow, which I was fine with but Deep Purple fans weren't.  Then Arena and Hard rock passed out of the mainstream and so did Joe Lynn Turner.

Why do more people not know of this great lead singer?  I think two big reasons.  First he never really fronted his own band, it was Balckmoore or Malmsteen's project that he sang on not his.  The other is he sounds like Ian Gillian and Lou Gramm, they were much more popular bands and Joe Lynn Turner got lost in the shuffle.

Fortunately, Joe Lynn Turner never stopped working and in doing some digging around I found his latest project Sunstorm.  For the past nine years he has been putting out releases with this new line up. The latest Emotional Fire is incredible!  I listened to the first track and I was taken back to my car driving to college. The sound is straight out of the Arena Rock era and the great thing is I haven't heard the songs played to death on radio.

I strongly suggest to all who love the Arena and Hard Rock area pick up this fresh but familiar sound of Joe Lynn Turner and Sun Storm you will be happy you did.

Till next time, listen to the best  - your ears deserve it !

Karen Carpenter's lost gem

Growing up The Carpenters were one of my mother's favorite groups.  She loved Karen Carpenter's singing and the music of Richard Carpenter.  I remember listening to many of their albums on a weekend afternoon.  Karen Carpenter had a wonderful voice and she knew how to deliver what her brother wrote.  The Carpenters ruled the soft rock to easy listening area of the AM dial in the 70's.  I don't think there were many weddings that "We've Only Just Begun" wasn't played at during that time.  Were the Carpenters a really great duo?  Sure the songs that  Richard Carpenter wrote are classics.  Were some of them more than bordering on sapy?   Yes. I really think Karen didn't get her due as a vocalist or the fantastic drummer that she was due to the sapy factor.

In 1979 Karen worked on her solo release with producer Phil Ramone.  As I have read and heard  about from interviews is that Karen wanted to explore a more mature and modern sound.  As 1980 came around she brought the release to A&M records only to have Albert and Moss to urge her not to release it. As described by her producer Phil Romone, after a painful decision she shelved it and had to pay back the money it took to make it.  Three years later, Karen Carpenter left us due to her struggle with Anorexia.  Growing up with the Carpenters, her untimely death really hurt.  If anything good came out of the loss was that a disease that had been in the dark for too long came out into the light.

So I grew hearing of the lost album.  It was just the past few years that I found that the album was actually released.  I found a copy on ebay but didn't pull the trigger and buy it.  So while watching a recent special on the Carpenters I got curious about her lost release. Yes, Apple music has it and after a few times listening to the music  I believe Albert and Moss were wrong not to release it.

Now I am reviewing the music with the mindset of living in 2015, but I remember 1980.  Sex and sexuality was there but on the fringes of popular culture and certainly the nice girl from the Carpenters didn't sing about Making Love or her First Time.  Looking at the lyrics from the next century it seems so tame but Madonna and Prince hadn't taken over main stream music yet.  So I can understand their decision, but boy we missed out on some great music.

Karen Carpenter the album is filled with catchy, if a bit dated songs.  I think it could have really moved Karen's career along to new areas.  Making Love in the Afternoon is a track that Peter Certera wrote and sang background vocals on.  With no doubt I am sure that the track would have been a mega pop hit.  It's a catchy well sung track that I could listen to over and over again.  If I had You is another pop hit and finally her cover of Still Crazy after all These Years is a lost classic.  Truly her delivery of that song could have a blog written about it alone and is a testament to how great a vocalist she really was.  The only knock I have on the album is that the music style to some of the songs is a bit pop disco sounding. which is something that  was done a the time.  The music isn't enough of a knock on the album that I wouldn't recommend it.

So if you are looking for a wonderful artist who explored new areas to only be denied, give Karen Carpenter's solo album a listen.  And I have to say it is nice to live in a world that at least we are starting to respect female artists for the complete Woman that they are.

Til next time, listen to the best - your ears deserve it.  

Kylie: Christmas in the Disco

It is December and in the spirit of the season I am going to review some of my favorite Christmas CDs.

Kylie Minogue is the greatest Disco Princess outside the USA.  In my mind she should be the greatest in the states too but for some reason she has never fully gone over around here.  Kylie has been on the music scene for decades.  In 1988 she broke on the US shores with a cover of the classic Locomotion.  After that she disappeared from the States for a while.  Now the rest of the world was enjoying the disco diva, but Kylie was another one of those artists that didn't just come across in the USA.  I got back to listening to her in 2001 with the Fever CD. The video of Can't Get You Out Of My Head was futuristic and hot.  Kylie not only is a great singer, but certainly not hard to look at. Fever was a great disco/dance CD and I enjoyed it.  But unfortunately like with her appearance in 88 she left the US pop carts.

With Kylie being in the charts world wide as long as she has been I was surprised that this year's release is her first Christmas CD.  Drama/Switchblade Kitten, an old and dear friend, suggested I review the release and I couldn't wait.

The new release is a mix of what you would expect in a Christmas CD and some surprises.  The CD starts out with the Christmas standards and they are okay but how many times have you heard Winter Wonderland and It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year?  Now what I was looking for was found in the tracks like I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter, Every Day's Like Christmas and Christmas Wrapping.  These tracks are fun, poppy and danceable, Christmas Wrapping has a enjoyable contribution from Iggy Pop.  Kylie just smokes on Santa Baby and since she seems to be Madonna's successor in the Dance world it is appropriate she gives her own take to the classic that Madonna torched in the 80s.  The standout on the release is Kylie's cover of 2000 Miles.  Her voice molds the the feel of the song and shows that Kylie can really deliver an emotional ballad.

If you want to listen to a great artist that most of the world seems to enjoy more than Americans; I would give Kylie Christmas a listen.

Til next time listen, to the best - your ears deserve it.

Vandenberg a looked over Guitar god

One of  favorite guitarist  is Adrian Vandenberg.  The first reaction from most people is "Who?"  My reply is normally the blond guitar player in the Whitesnake videos.  Most of the time that works.  The fact that he is known as the 2nd best guitar player in someone else's band is a shame because he is so much more.

The 80's were the time to be a lead guitarist.  They were the gods of the age.  There were many of the gods on  MTV and shredding the stages with their mighty axes.  Unfortunately with so many gods on the scene some really notable guitarists got lost.

Okay the fact that I knew of  Vandenberg before Whitesnake was thanks to Mark "Blender" Benson. Mark was just able to find some real gems and the band Vandenberg was an outstanding discovery. The band had three albums in the early 80's and unfortunately other than Mark they never found a large audience.  I only own the Greatest Hits CD but I have listened to every album from many road trips with Mark.

What I find great about Adrian Vandenberg's style of guitar play is that unlike many other guitar gods of that time, is that guitar playing fits with the song instead of please suffer through this until my guitar solo comes in.  On the track Different Worlds he switches from classical guitar to electric naturally and it fits within the frame of the song.  The rest of their greatest hits CD is an perfect example of  early 80's hard rock.

I saw Whitesnake on tour where Adrian Vandenberg and Steve Vai were both playing guitar.  This is where my admiration for Vandenberg's guitar playing was cemented.  I am not taking anything away from Steve Vai, He is a technical genius on the guitar, but compared to Vandenberg he seemed like a little boy trying to show off.  In Vai's defense this was the style of the age and maybe this is why Vandenberg got lost in the mix.  When Adrian came to play his solo it was more like a master working on his art.  There was a passion and soul built into his playing along with the technical brilliance.   All I can say is that my date at the time swooned when he played.

This was the highest point of Adrian Vandenberg's career.  He faded away with the guitar gods of the age.  If you are looking for the best of early 80's hard rock I would give them a listen.

Til next time: listen to the best - your ears deserve it.