Judas Priest - Sin After Sin

Ahh, Heavy Metal...
Back when I was a teenager, I was obsessed with heavy metal, it kinda struck a chord with my geekyness and shyness, but looking back on it, I can barely listen to most of it as it just seems rather pointless and pathetic. Like an audio version of Dungeons & Dragons. It seems to get all the geekyness and wrap it in a cloak of manufactured malice, which ends up coming across all futile. However Judas Priest are one of the true exceptions. Formed in the industrial city of Birmingham, Priest started off as a kinda post-psychedelic heavy blues band, their first album, Rocka Rolla, a total delight. It's utterly bleak, without veering into the pseudo-gothic pretentions of which the genre is now associated. By their second album, Sad Wings Of Destiny, Priest had refined their sound into a chugging behemoth, not of the Hawkwind/Motorhead style, but more streamlined, more angry. By this, their third album, the blues element had faded, and what we're left with is kinda like metal's 'year zero', in it's new and fresh sound. But was Sin After Sin the first of the new fast metal, or the end of the post-psychedelic heavies?

The album opens up with Sinner, an epic fast paced monster of a track featuring searing vocals, a steady beat and chugging riffage. The signature Priest sound. Halford's voice still has those bluesy influences during the verses, but when it hits the chorus he's screeching in splendid falsetto form. The song features religious imagery presented in a sci-fi way, while musically it's total heavy metal featuring loads of different sections building up an epic feel, with tremendous playing featuring the kind of energy that left Zeppelin and Sabbath choking in their dust. The middle break features a delicious Hendrix take by the now sadly retired K. K. Downing. This however is not the summer of love, this is ghostly and alien, with Halford over the top with menacing imagery before returning to standard form and a more standard approach guitar solo. The track just then builds up to it's climactic... climax, where Rob Halford's voice just gets higher and punchier. Ouch. It's a killer track and one of heavy metal's defining statements. The next track, a cover of Joan Baez's Diamonds And Rust just kicks right off, with a KISS-like riff. It's a more poppier metal, but it's actually good! It doesn't carry the weight of Joan's original, and so feels rather synthetic, and if done by lesser bands, would come off cheap. Here though it just works and just feels right. It's absurd, but it works as a metal song. Also some of Tipton's lead breaks lay the groundwork for their next album, Stained Class. The third track, Starbreaker is kinda the album's let down. It's really average and just kinda plods along in comparison. It's not that it's a bad track, but it lacks any real energy, and the science fiction themes just float above the track in a sub-moorecock fashion. It kinda shows that this album is solid when a track that is merely 'good' is the let down. Side 1 finishes off with The Last Rose Of Summer. See, even these leather clad bastards have a sensitive side. Unlike say, Poison's 'Every Rose has It's Thorn', this track does not feel like plastic emotions sung in order to get into the girl's (or boy's) trousers. There's a distinct post-psychedelic feel to it, which harks back to my theory, that Priest were really the last of the sixties style bands. It's not a great track here, and lyrically it's kinda clunky, but it's a superb ending to the first side of the record, closing it nicely and not giving you any hint at the barbarism that lays ahead. If the first side of this record is the closing swansong of an ageing music, then the second side is the blueprint for metal.

We start off with an instrumental break, Let Us Prey, pseudo-church guitar harmonies which bleed into Call For The Priest,  a balls-to-the-wall proto speed metal headbanging moshpitting slobberknocker of a track. It's fast, it's heavy, it's aggressive, it's got that steady fast beat. It's just a total fun track, played by superb musicians who must've surely known that they were treading new ground. The Let us Prey harmony returns with Halford now inventing power metal with his warrior-like chants before we get into a lovely duelling guitar section leading into another harmonised part just totally down and to the point. The track races to it's climax, leading to the bluesy depression-soaked rock of Raw Deal, describing Halford's experience in a famous gay bar,. The bass pounds through, the music taking various turns throughout, always coming across as bitterness personified as music. It's not bitterness against homosexuals, as Halford himself is gay, but bitterness at how it had to be kept in the dark, hidden. After describing the act of sex, the track then leads into it's climax, with Rob's screams coming through and then slamming into a post coital disregard for what has happened, in total spite. After the frank openness of Raw Deal, we're taken into Here Come The Tears Taking that psychedelic feeling of The Last Rose Of Summer, but taking it to an emotional nadir. There's no optimism here, no pretence, just unrelenting misery and Halford at his most emotive, whilst it builds up into one of the most soul crushing guitar breaks in the whole genre. Soaked in the damp fluids of the blues without sounding fake like Clapton, this just carries the track through dragging us into a resolution. Through the murky waters of despair into an explosion of emotion, which ends it all... until the next track starts to trickle in, Vague watery dots of music which give no hint at the pure anger and hatred present in Dissident Aggressor, the track that has yet to be supassed interms of metal's barbaric intent. The aggressive outlet of all the emotion that has gone on before it. Halford does not sing so much as shoot the words at you, while the rhythm chuggs along propelling us further forward, the solo not much of a solo as a mess of deliciously sharp noise which penetrates the ears before building up struggling and fighting to survive, building up to a sudden end.

This album is perhaps the only metal album you'll find that I'll mark as a 'MUST HAVE'. Because quite simply, if you've heard this album, then you've heard everything the genre has to offer. Like literally, the genre hasn't really progressed since Sin After Sin's release in 1977. Whilst Iron Maiden may have streamlined the music to it's purest form, they never take it further, and likewise the more 'extreme' areas of metal, such as black and death, are essentially Deep Purple with extra shouting.
This LP is also an example of how clever track positions make an album. the whole of the second side is set up to just bring you to an emotional peak, with anger, bitterness and sadness leading into sheer brutality. Whilst metal is seen as something of an embarassment in the music world, I have no problem admitting that I just really enjoy this record.

Frank Zappa - Broadway The Hard Way

I was unsure about whether I'd write a Zappa review on this blog, because the love and respect I have for the man and his musical vision is so pronounced that it can be hard, ney, impossible, to remove any bias. Oh well...

Picture the scene, it's the late eighties, Frank has assembeled a fresh band of virtuoso musicians and is touring once again, aided by a Synclavier synthesiser (a proper one, not one of those Casio keyboards). The political scene in the US has shifted heavily towards a theocracy, and with more corruption appearing in the news every day, Frank tours, with new material and old, always keeping an ear towards the news, always changing the music to reflect the reality of the time. This is Frank Zappa's farewell tour, this is one of three albums taken from his '88 tour. This is Broadway The hard Way!

Side 1 opens with Elvis Has Left the building, a mock religious theme with a soft-rock rhythm. reflecting southern state country rock. The trck features random and humerous sound effects emphasising it's inherent stupidity. As you can guess, this track is about Elvis residing up there in heaven, and features such a deliberately cheesy melody while lyrically tearing down the cult of Elvis and also absurd religious views. Next, Frank takes us to the Planet Of The Baritone Women, a satirical look at the powersuit wearing women of eighties pop music. This track reflects the unusual Broadway influence which encroached on Zappa's music during his Thing Fish project. Bobby Martin treats us to some fantastic vocal technique in true musical style. It can be seen as an anti-feminist track, but that is to ignore the contrived nature of that pop scene. This idea is followed through with Any Kind Of Pain, which features on the manufactured, powdered, puffed up glamour star, the young blonde who is there to look pretty and do nothing else. Again there is a distinct musical feel to this track, it is painfully eighties, yet Ike Willis' singing really carries it with a sense of soul. It features several Zappa music tropes such as short sections of staccato arps, a totally slick liquid guitar solo, and a band comfortable enough to play around. Frank often said that he thought this was the best, most capable band he'd toured with (despite an ongoing conflict between several members, which forced him to abandon the tour) and the tightness of the playing here really shows why. They are totally at ease, which allows Frank to play an amazing solo, totally at ease. Confinement Loaf, Stupidity, Sex, Drugs, all the Zappa lyrical motiffs make an appearance here, all we're missing out on is poodles!

Side 1 ends with Jesus Thinks your A Jerk, which is Zappa at his most playful, yet also most serious. A child-like southern psuedo-religious rock sound starts the track, describing the sauded activities of those at the top of the Republican party, the corruption and religious extremism which has made the party a very dangerous bunch, which has extra relevance now, with Mitt Romney's rather... discriminatory outlook to middle eastern politics. The playful tune of this track doesn't belittle the subjects covered, infact it helps emphasise the absurdity of the religious right, and the rather simplistic mentality that they possess. The track makes it's first shift, towards kinda lounge jazz whilst talking about guns and the NRA, and the hipocrasy it involves, before returning to the bouncing rhythm and some of the more disturbing lyrics Zappa has sung, the muisc merges into a 'Twilight Zone' section, whilst we're treated to a nice mini-lecture about Pat Robbertson's rather evil nature (I dislike the words good and evil, but really... the guy is fucking hideous!). and we get this lounge-jazz Twilight Zone style thing which reminds me of the music from The Starlight Zone from the first Sonic The Hedgehog game.  The track gets rather eighties and uses the 'aspiration pop' cliches whilst talking about how bad it would be if Pat Robbertson got into power. We get this melody to end with, featuring Old Rugged Cross and the old Zappa stalwart, Louie Louie, before the Broadway style ending before the intermission (or changing of sides...). This track is Frank at his most preachey, however he is a beast and hits the nail on the head with every point mentioned. While musically, it lacks the complex hooks of other tracks, it maintains a great sound throughout and manages to tackle a disturbing subject matter with his usual lack of subtlety yet holds on throughout.

Zappa was well known for being at the cutting edge of current affairs, and able to always bring it into his music, though for some reason, Side 2 is the first appearance of a longstanding track, Dikie's Such An Asshole(sincerely Dick, we mean it), a live favourite since the early seventies! Not that it's a bad track by any means. We get some talking to start it off, and an explination of confinement loaf. Dickie's such an Asshole is not a bad song by any means, and features some of the complex runs and musical motiffs found in Zappa's earlier work, but adapted to suit the newer (much larger) band. Anyways it's about Richard Nixon (Tricky Dicky) and his rather controversial use of the FBI and related organisations. Just y'know, it's kinda at odds with the other material since it is not that contemporary(despite the appearance of confinement loaf), and so feels more dated. The guitar solo however is as razor sharp as usual, Zappa showing how to really let loose without being a technical virtuoso. The next track is When The Lie's So Big, another preachy track, yet one that I think really works despite being utterly eighties. Willis' soulful again really plays to the epic grand scope of the song/subject. Critiquing the Republican's and in particular, Pat Robertson, using the impressive brass section to really punctuate the points. This track covers America's transformation into a theocracy and the lies targeted towards the population. It also covers a few different musical ideas using them effectively as the lyrics dictate. Good track.

The preaching continues with Rhymin' Man, using an ol' southern musical twang to describe the Republicans, and the lies and scheming of the conservatives. Total conspiracy fun, whilst ending every point with different musical licks and ideas, allowing the fun of the music to come to the fore, and again show the absurdity of the situation. A nice quotation of The Knack's My Sharona helps keep a sense of rhythm and beat to propel the track towards the conclusion. The next track, Promiscuous describes the Republican's rather unintelligent view of sexuality and STI's such as AIDs, however it's done rather embarassly in this really naff rapping, which clearly lacks the energy of the masters such as NWA and Public Enemy. The idea of a CIA created illness to cull the African population however is thouroughly terrifying and would sound absurd if not backed up by official documents. The album ends with a cover of The Untouchables theme, with added lyrics about, you guessed it, Republicans. In particular their corruption and strange ways of doing things. Again it's one of the weaker tracks on the album but ends it with a listing of the exceptional band members.

It's a good album, about half the length of the CD release (which is a whole different beast and a dense package of so many musical ideas). Many people dislike Frank's late eighties work, but I think it works so well as a resurgence of his political venom which helped make him such a historic figure during the sixties. It's not a MUST HAVE, and by no means his best work, but difinately it's good and solid and has an actual purpose/meaning. A document of it's time for sure.

COMPILATION SPECIAL!

Ok, this one is different. Compilation albums don't really require the depth of a real review, since they are literally just a collection of songs, and unless specially mixed/edited to form a new album (such as Hawkwind's Roadhawks or Bowie's All Saints) treat each component as an individual. So here's three compilation albums to enjoy!

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Legend

More people know of this album than any of Marley's albums proper. We get all the classic tracks here, No Woman no Cry(this live version is outstanding), Buffalo Soldier, I Shot The Sheriff etc, etc. As you can expect, these are all great songs, and this is a perfect introduction into the world of Tuff Gong. Chilled reggae grooves by a man who has something to say, a true icon and a true legend. The disc's title says it all. A total MUST HAVE!

Lee Perry - Reggae Genius 20 Upsetter Classics

It'd always be hard to come up with a good compilation for this man, producing so many reggae classics and introducing the world to dub, Lee 'Scratch' Perry is a true genius. Highlights include The Return Of Django and I Chase The Devil, this album focuses far more on his straight reggae side. We get some lovely phased effects on the tracks but nothing as bizzare as his dub work, there's no Super Ape Inna Jungle, here, which to be honest is a shame, but Disco Devil is still great. The fail to include Perry's dub works make this a difficult compilation to recommend. The music here is all outstanding, but it's just an incomplete compilation.

Madness - It's... Madness Too

As a previous single review may have hinted at, I am a massive Madness fan, always have been and always will be. This disk here in my hand is one I have owned since I was about seven years old! Thankfully it is not the standard 'greatest hits' style of compilation, missing out on tracks like Baggy Trousers and House Of Fun, instead we get some solid singles, and their great B-Sides. Stand out tracks are... man, these are all stand out tracks! Cardiac Arrest deserves special recognition though, a chart topping hit about a guy having a heart attack. Awesome. Anyways, this is a good collection of great songs, it doesn't contain all of Madness' best, but would still be a good introduction to the nutty boys.

Three compilation albums reviewed for the price of one!
This is also proof that I can write an album review in under 2,000 words.

David Bowie - Low

Low was a real watershed moment for popular music, would electronic music really work on a mainstream audience? Critics were confused, even his record company refused to let it count as part of his contractual obligation, yet it caused a storm on it's release, and ushered in a new age of a new kind of music, electronic pop. Low is one of the greatest and most important albums ever released, born out of desperation and alienation, it is Bowie's definitive artistic statement, and although many people consider it's follow up, Heroes, to be the better album, they're wrong. Heroes expands on what Bowie achieved on Low, and combined it with his more familiar sound, songs were fuller and more formed, but on Low, we had pure emotion. Snippets of information presented to us, lyrics presenting us with the essential facts and nothing more. A sense of bravery and experimentation flows throughout. This is the start of Bowie's 'Berlin Trilogy', and what a way to kick it off!

Bowie was at his end, having just starred in The Man Who Fell To Earth, he was addicted to cocaine and alcohol, he was empty and stressed, his marriage was in ruins and his career was over. Moving to Berlin with Iggy Pop in tow, to escape from his vices and renew himself, Bowie fully submerged himself in the Krautrock scene, Kraftwerk, Can, Neu! and so forth, and this was to inform his last chance, creating an album that's natural yet synthetic, inwardly depressive yet optimistic. With weird stories involving conflicts and confusion with his band, and a collaboration with the artistic Brian Eno, this album really shines and is in some respect a miracle. Mojo magazine has done numerous articles on the creation of and background to Low(including one in this month's issue!), so I'll leave it at that, and go just review the album. As you may have already guessed, I really like it!

Side A is mostly conventional music, starting with the instrumental Speed Of Life,  a motorik beat, repetitive rhythm, and a lead guitar really take us into alien territory, the lead synth gives us a hopeful melody. This is a decent upbeat song, combining Bowie's pop sensibilities with a noticeable Krautrock influence. The short and sweet nature really contrasts with the opening song of his previous album, Station To Station. A funky yet robotic bass guitar and an almost out of tune guitar take us into the second track, Breaking Glass, with lyrics inspired by a fight Bowie got himself in, we're told a story in snippets, and an acknowledgement of his own flaws. We get a neat synth sound throughout in places. It's a great, short, well written song which fades out, taking us into What In The World. With lyrics about 'a little world with grey eyes', this sounds the most 'Bowie' track on the album, with some great guitar, and the repetitive motorik beat still carrying on. The lyrics tell a story, yet still feel somewhat abstracted, and some occasionally out of time singing overlapped works brilliantly.

The hit single Sound And Vision takes us in with a pleasant guitar riff, funky bass and the same motorik drum beat. In true Krautrock style, it opens with an extended instrumental section, synth patterns and so on. It's a very upbeat piece involving sometimes undecipherable lyrics. He starts singling with the chorus and we're treated to some true abstract lyrics, this song is perhaps the true turning point on how the music is lifting out of his solitude and into a new world of colour and optimism. The next song is Always Crashing In The Same Car, which like Breaking Glass, is a very straightforward lyrical theme. Again, the same motorik beat, and some nice lead guitar work, some bubbling synths in the background over an instrumental section. Bowie really lets the groove work itself out here, the upbeat music contrasting his rather subdued and melancholy singing, but it just really works out. The solo is excellent in the psychedelic/prog style, really fitting into place. Next Bowie asks someone to Be My Wife, a cry for help during his fractious marriage which is disintegrating before his very eyes. The guitar is distorted and out of tune, the beat the same as before, the music dramatic. Our man's isolation and loneliness really comes out here, showing a search for belonging, a quest for love. A romantic way of dealing with a gruelling divorce case.  Again the guitar solo really kicks it in the bag, with equal melancholy and upbeatness. The first side ends with the instrumental A New Career In New Town, opening up with a sombre beat, and ghostly synth chords, it then kicks it up a not, bringing back the motorik beat from before, an upbeat melody and a true uplifting feel, Bowie is crawling up from the depths of desperation. As the title suggests, this instrumental track represents the new found hope he felt during his move to Berlin, and his adoption of a more electric style, free from the excesses of conventional rock. There's hints of Kraftwerk and Neu! on this track. Notably, the studio this album was recorded in was situated opposite Kraftwerk's legendary Kling Klang studio. The track fades out into upbeatness. A thoroughly enjoyable first side, nice upbeat music, and a real solid drumbeat throughout.

Side B opens with Warszawa, a track which inspired Joy Division so much that they were initially called Warsaw (Spandau Ballet were also so enamoured with this album that their name comes from an area of Berlin). starting with a moody piano beating over a subtle synth, the track opens up with a haunting melody reminiscent of Wendy/Walter Carlos' Clockwork Orange soundtrack. The piano beat becomes more synthy, emphasising a sense of isolation and yet wonder at the newly developing futuristic landscape, it's exploration not just of music, but of this brave new world. It's a sad track, and it allows itself to fully develop and emotional feeling throughout. Yes, it's sad, but it's a bittersweet sadness, one laced with silent hope. This side of the album is the one which really changed popular music, combining Brian Eno's idea of musical soundtracks for visions, with Bowie's amazing writing abilities, music of the most experimental nature! The track cools down, leading Bowie into some tribal style chanting over this haunting beat, suggesting a future world. The melody slows right down before returning to it's main motif, that of exploration. I close my eyes and this track brings forth visions of steel and glass, a clinical clean world of magic. The next track is Art Decade, featuring a moving synth melody, somehow playful yet haunting over a steady beat. Futuristic sound effects flow around, but this track really feels like isolation, loneliness, walking alone in the futuristic world and taking in the sights, sounds, atmosphere. a total synth track, this serves as the counterpoint to Kraftwerk's Autobahn, the fun of driving slows down, and we are now in a place to take in all the details of the surrounding view. The chords build up, and overtake the melody as the track fades away.

The next track is Weeping Wall, vibes enter the scene, creating a constant beat, as a harsh synth takes the lead, the beat dictated by synth. The lead melody is playful yet again somewhat haunting, but the beat ups the pace compared to the previous two tracks. A distorted guitar emanates a sense of melancholy, while the rest of the track is upbeat. Is this our man bowie coming to terms with himself? chanting returns, crying, while then repeated by the synth melody. It's a track which feels lonely, yet also feels alive. It's got concealed hope, like most tracks on this album. The melody is utterly sublime, and at the end some heavy chords take over before it fades into silence. The album closes with Subterraneans, which greets us with some more alien chords, and some reversed sounds, it's a melancholy sound, describing again this strange futuristic world. To a man coming out of isolation/addiction, the world around him must have seemed strange and alien. The melody is haunting, based upon swells of sound, heavenly yet haunting. Bowie's chanting makes a return, following the melody, and suddenly the chord swells feel less melancholic, the melody less haunting, yet the track is still ghostly. A saxophone now comes in, an almost filmic sound, playing over the backing , flowing like liquid into Bowie's chants which're again both upbeat and downbeat, the track brings back the sax as it draws to it's close, Sax over chanting over synth, it's that sense of bittersweetness, that carries the album onwards, with more melodies overlapping, building a sensation before fading into silence forever.

To say this album is a MUST HAVE is a total understatement, it is truly one of the most amazing experiences that your ears can receive. A totally new world unleashed on an unsuspecting public. I think that everyone should get a copy of this album, regardless of taste, you'll find something amazing inside. A mixture of conflicting emotions, new sensations and unbeatable writing. I first heard this album at the age of seventeen, and seven years on and hundreds of listens later, I am still finding new things, new sounds, new feelings. This isn't just Bowie's finest hour, but popular music's finest hour!

I have Low on CD and Vinyl, as well as the single Sound And Vision on vinyl, and I do have to say, the CD version has more clarity of the sounds, it is very precise, yet lacks the air and volume of the vinyl release, which feels far more spacious. The CD is like a high definition photograph, highly detailed yet flattened, while listening to it on Vinyl is like being there and taking it all in. Both are of high quality, and so I'll leave it to you to make your mind up, I prefer the vinyl LP due to it's sense of space and density.

Sly And The Family Stone - Stand!

This ain't no disco chic, this is when funk got serious, this shit's dangerous. This is Sly And The Family Stone. Stand! was the family Stone's last albums of their 'psychedelic period', before they went into a much harsher, grittier, urban sound, and for a band as influential as Sly And The Family Stone, this album manages to stand tall as a masterwork. This also saw the band fracture, with drugs, ego and personality clashes, as well as their adoption by various black nationalist groups(something Sly didn't like at all) and the sense of hopelessness prevalent in early 70's black culture after a turbulent end to the sixties, Stand! was their last cry for optimism. But, does Stand! stand up as an album worthy of such importance? Let's find out!

A drumroll kicks off the title track, Stand!, a song that picks up a soul groove with an optimistic sound, and an amazing chorus of 'STAND! STAND! OOOOH!'. It's a call to stand up for your life, stand up for what's right. Lyrically, it's straight forward but pretty poetic in it's simplicity, and Sly's singing goes perfectly with his music. The track only gets funkier, branching into P-Funk style (P-Funk was heavily influenced by these dudes) and then fades out into track number two, Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey. Protesting against the racial discrimination from both sides (Sly And The Family Stone were a massive multi-racial band) over a heavy dirty beat, like Hendrix from the back alleys. There's a badass instrumental break and this dark funky dirty beat just continues, highlighting the band's future direction. The beat allows some psyche weirdness to kick in, an organic liquidic sound, a collage of singing and sounds, before that dirty chorus is reprised. "Don't call me Nigger, Whitey! Don't call me Whitey, Nigger!" I'm sensing something Beefheartian in this track, from Sly's menacing voice, to various elements in the rhythm and the heavy harmonica solo. Abba Zabba. With such an extended instrumental groove, it's in the fucking zone in this nasty way that the likes of James Brown could never achieve. It's dangerous music.

I Want To Take You Higher is a total psychedelic funk-rock track of epic proportions, and was a massive hit. The groove is totally where it's at and the guitar oozes charisma in a way that's Hendrix-y, but also of it's own. To be honest, this song is as pure funk as you'll ever get. Optimistic, hopeful, and damn right where it's at. It shows a band that's so tight and working so well, the drum beat keeps up with such a pace and the duelling male/female vocals carry such character. It's impossible to feel down when listening to this track! Somebody's Watching You is the title of the fourth track, more traditional soul like, a traditional groove with a horn section over the top. It's groovy and a neat quieter downside after the loudness of the previous tracks. It's got a nice instrumental break, but generally doesn't carry it's weight as much as other tracks. It's a good singalong though. The next track asks you to Sing A Simple Song, and a great guitar lick and female vocals kick off another great track, a neat dirty groove, a simplistic chorus carried up by amazing singing, and a wailing funkster. This brings all different elements together from awesome vocal harmonies, Arthur Brown style wailing singing, talking, great dirty vocals and a call and response approach to the verses, over an amazing James Brown beat and groove, and a great funk-meets-ska horn section in the middle eight. It's a very busy song despite it's misleading title, over a repetitive beat. It works great.

Track six is Everyday People, a soul track, with a more subdued Sly Stone, a great piano-driven repeating groove, backing vocals tacking the lead. Sly is far more soulful here yet still manages to carry his usual energy. This is a far more commercial track, again like the title track, calling for a more open and enjoyable society. It's the shortest of the tracks but still great. Guitar and drums lead into Sex Machine, a slow groove draws us in, bringing forward the staple funk staccato guitars. A very organic liquid harmonica plaing through an early vocoder returns once again, creating a surreal atmosphere. This is an extended jam over a great beat leading to such a funky guitar solo, more groovier than Hendrix could reach, similar to that of Eddie hazel from Funkadelic. I am a massive massive fan of jam tracks, so this just works fantastically for me, a nice walking beat, a funk solo what's not to like? It's so easy to see why Miles Davis took this as his inspiration for his jaw-droppingly amazing Tribute to Jack Johnson and On The Corner albums. Needless to say, this one track seems to resonate so much amongst prettymuch every instrumental funk-influenced track made afterwards, even European bands such as Can and Brainticket. Sly's bizarre sound kicks back in over the amazing guitar and then the bass takes over as the lead, something quite rare, and then a heavily distorted guitar powers and screams through the music a great dirty sound, before returning to the main rythm now accompanied with a saxaphone solo and a heavier drum beat/solo that just rolls along amazingly, almost tribal, slowing down train-like. This track lets every player shine. Aparently the band where making fun of each other during the recording, resulting in them ending the track with laughter. It's great when a band has fun while playing. The album finishes with You Can Make It If You Try, returning to the album's starting style of upbeat optimistic P-Funk-esque funk. Interlocking vocals, ace instrumentation and a great fun playfulness of the melodies. This is a fun track indeed. Again it's hard to feel down when this great groove is playing. It goes into an instrumental break carrying on with the groove, and letting the soul-chorus singers get the feeling going. The album fades to silence. Ended with some backwards speaking.

Stand! truely is an album that not only lives up to it's reputation, but totally surpasses it, as a landmark of popular music and easily one of the must have albums of all time. I love funk, and I love jams, so this just makes me so happy. The group's later sounds became dirtier and minimalist compared to this orgasmic display of sheer over-the-top creativity, but are still great. You really do have to buy this album at the earliest opportunity!

Mort Garson - Electronic Hair Pieces

Mort Garson is perhaps one of the most influencial unknowns in twentieth century music, his experimental electronic music, made in the sixties, was lightyears beyond what anybody else could dream of. With a string of albums such as the Wozard Of Iz, Signs Of The Zodiac and Black mass, Garson created space age worlds of never before heard sounds. Proper electronic music, proper surreal worlds. This album is a take on the infamous musical, Hair, rendered in an amazingly futuristic and yet somewhat haunting way by Garson's genius. (NOTE: I have not seen the musical, so imagery I use to describe is inspired solely by the music on this record)

A springy aquatic rythm brings us into the first track, Aquarious, verses out of tune and violin like until the chorus plonks in, recognisable and layered of electronic sounds. The music keeps it sounding wet, dripping and the chorus has this kkinda epic majesty to it. It's amazingly done with all analogue electronics. No singing here, just pure space age music. Track two is Frank Mills, a gentle walking kinda music, echoed chords replace soft guitar strums, and a plonky keyboard forms the main melody, resembling an old Sega Master System game's music. It's very sweet and very short. We then get into Be In (Hare Krishna) via a pulsating rythm and a harsh sounding electronic lead, a distorted keyboard. The music pulsates further with percussion taking in, it all loops around the central melody with extra pianos to give texture, then suddenly it gets loud. Violent and fun, the synthyness comes up, the pulsating rythm becomes stronger, and the lead becomes more frivolous and we get treated to some fun pre-Hawkwind spacey wooshes. It's sounding very much like BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, I guess because of the same gear being used. The famous song Good Morning Starshine enters witha Super mario brothers style bassline, a space age keyboard souond plays us the melody, extra texture comes in and we hear the famous 'moog cat' sound. This track keeps a good pace and is nice and gentle after the psychedelic trip of the previous number. Garson manages to bring a nice optimistic sound to what could be harsh electronics a-la Kraftwerk, but this is the polar opposite.  Side 1 ends with Three-Five-Zero-Zero, starting with harsh electronics and wooshes in a very very Radiophonic style, we then get a lovely plonky rythm and beat comming along, and a melody which sounds like it's played flat, but could just be the patch used for it. It's haunting indeed, contrasting the previous song. At moments it's melancholic, at others it marches along. Harsh sounds and whooshes take over ontop of the beat, creating a total headfuck. Kinda an ideal end for the first half of a truely unique trip.

Side two begins with a menacing rythm, punctuated by drowning arps and then the melody comes in in a rather weak whispy noise, background arpeggios come in and more textures make the sound thicker. The track melds into Land Of The Free, and it returns to the normal track. this is the famous song, Hair, but turned into a haunting futuristic world. Bleak and cynical. Track two, Easy To Be Heard, begines more lighthearted and exploratory, it has a sense of wonder and yearning adventure. A playful moog sound for the melody that stretches out to find itself, and is really enjoyable. A flute-like sound comes in, adding more to this adventerous sound, we're walking through woodlands or forests or across landscapes, hills and valleys. Track three askes the question, Where Do I Go? in a wonderful spacey playful tune, it sounds like it's kinda cold and isolated yet warm at the same time, it is very curious, the music reflects the puzzling question in it's title. It's a kinda meandering melody, but seems to stay rather safe, but some nice jazz hooks at points do keep it fresh. Yes, jazz hooks in electronica. The track fades out and we are left with just two more numbers, first is Walking In Space, A majestic WHOOSH followed by a pinky melody become the motif of this ditty. It then bounces and layers on reverbed and echoed sounds, a proper space age feel, before becomming a kinda jazzy number with a decent bassline, space jazz, but not in the Sun Ra variety. Whooshes again return to remind us we are in space, and the rythm changes once again, upbeat and active. Fun and playful. The album finishes off with Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures), starting with a nice beat and some slamming playing just with incredible weight behind the echoed notes. It sounds truely menacing and archaic at the same time, the gentler melody is haunting and melancholic, also almost detuned. Even the playful sections are ghostly. The beat becomes even more aquatic as the track continues, and the whole number fades away.

this album is still such a new and exciting sound, creating a full range of emotions and space age noises with electronic instruments. Mort Garson takes the hair music, and creates his oqen world with it, old hippy ideals become cynical and isolated in a futuristic soundscape. Garson was a true master of layering electronic sounds to create impossible music, and was lightyears ahead of his contemporaries in the field of electronica. This album truely deserves to belong in every home, a real MUST HAVE.

Various - Transformers The Movie OST

In 'The Real Frank Zappa Book', Frank makes the observation that the world will not end by war or global disaster, but by Nostalgia. Death by nostalgia, culturally, really is a serious issue. It's only 2012, yet people are already nostalgic for 90's entertainment, 12 years! This kinda of nostalgic sentiment provides a major problem, as it inspires people to copy what has gone on before and to avoid making anything new or exciting. Sometimes an initial nostalgic sentiment really pays off (such as 2005's relaunch of Doctor Who, which updates the classic series and modernises/simplifies it for a new audience) while others result in Status Quo continuing to drag their zombie corpse asses around on yet another bland tour of contentless music, because their fans are too stubborn to admit that new music can be good, and too stubborn to admit that Quo have never been good.
ANYWAYS... This is about a movie soundtrack, A Transformers movie soundtrack. No, not the movie with Linkin Park and over-abundant racism, the original 1986 animated movie. Like many shy/geeky children, I loved Transformers and still find it at times interesting (particularly the 1980's british comics), but however I cannot allow myself to talk about that here! This is about music! The Transformers brand is half held-up by nostalgia and half held-up by new fans, the nostalgia crew however seem rather single minded with an almost religious zeal. The singer Stan Bush's career is pretty solidly secure solely because of the aging Transformers fandom, and his role in the music for this movie.

Every film in the eighties had a feel good hair anthem, and Transformers The Movie is no exception. The soundtrack kicks it off with Stan Bush' famous (or in-famous) The Touch. All the cheese in France could not come close to even making this song's opening keyboard riff, it's terrible. Bush does his best 80's rock, yelling our dreary lines with an amazing faux-passion which makes it seem like he kinda pretends to care (though now, since this song is all he's known for, he prettymuch has to care, but being an eighties singer, you can never tell). This song is prettymuch the best example of a guilty pleasure ever. It's terrible, but makes you smile. We hear a crash, a menacing guitar line and now N.R.G join in the soundtrack with their heavy metal track Instruments Of Destruction. It must have been had being a metal band in the eighties, you kinda have the Judas Priest influence but then the ever increasing pop influence. This song sounds like it's on that crossroads, trying to souond menacing but not really getting it. Generic solos not really doing much over an 80's echoed snare beat, and the predictable falsetto vocals to end on, but the guy ain't no Rob halford, though he gives it his best shot.We next get the first of three (well if we include the next track, four) Vince DiCola tracks, Death Of Optimus Prime(gee, I wonder what scene this music is played over), it's fantastic. A soft piano piece over ghostly synths, a subtle bounce on the bass notes propells the music at a slow pace, the synthy swells move us, then the percussive section signals the final moment of the great Autobot. An arped section comes on with an optimistic softness, and a horn section, there is hope for them after all? The sad melody of a synth guitar sound kicks in, and an ominous sound emerges. To counteract that track, we are jumped right into Dare. Another Stan Bush track, literally made of a thousand cows worth of cheese, but this is kept fully in place by what is a realy decent synth sound provided by Vince DiCola. It's upbeat, go gett'em kinda music, perhaps suitable for joggers? the track breaks out into an amazing synth break, built on layers of synths bass and drums that just works so well, and sounds so cool that it makes the track itself. It must be said that Vince DiCola is fantastic throughout the film, and a convention exclusive score is avaliable at high price on the second hand market. With more of that guy's music, it's well worth a purchase!

Spectre General come in with the Twisted Sister style Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way, it's eighties heavy metal, it's fun fluff, nothing really noticable though, it's really really average. The guitar solo does a good job at keeping the main melody going and playing around with the heavy metal guitar cliches, but that's all. Next up however is the crowning glory of the metal part of thsi soundtrack, Lion's rendition of The Transformers (Theme). We have a steady beat comming up, then Doug Aldrich's(yes, The Doug Aldrich, modern day Whitesnake guitar hero) guitar bulds up into the the first verse, actually heavier guitars than other 'metal' tracks on the soundtrack. The chorus really jumps out with ther hair metal vocals and heavy metal guitars, it's a guilty pleasure for sure, but when Aldrich jumps in with the solo, it's really really good, it's better than this soundtrack deserves. The verses are prettymuch standard power/battle metal, and kinda suit a franchise/movie based on war. The guitar solo and licks though are just really good. Next we have another amazing DiCola track, Escape. A soft spacey playful quiet section takes us into space, broken up with a beat, a gentle melancholic melody and then we get into the track, it's eighties action track music, with the joy of Vince DiCola's synth sound and playful sense of melody. A reprise of the melody found in the Death of Optimus Prime is featured, it's a recurring motiff throughout the film. This track manages to be both playful and yet dramatic/menacing at the same time while still sounding totally synthy. Little flourishes like the 60's organ sound playing around the 80's synth and guitar sound create a different texture than you'd expect. And the rythm changes throughout reflecting the action on the screen, rather than staying on one constant stream of music. The main motiff returns and is played with before fading.

Spectre General make a return here with their consumption track Hunger, which is not at all about drug abuse/crime. It's really REALLY disturbing to hear this in the context of a children's movie, but I guess it's still not mysogynistic/racist to the point of having a harmful effect on society like the modern transformers movies, and let's face it, the few children who actually watched this film in the cinema are too geeky to have gotten into drugs, but still, it just doesn't feel right. Also it's a very average track, aided by being in one of the best scenes of the film. DiCola's final track on the album is next, Autobot/Decepticon Battle (catchy title!). It plays with the standard rythm found throughout, the main motiff, and a funky synth-bassline, the changes in music keep our ears on their toes, and when it gets into the main action element of the music, the recurring motiff is giving extra eighties guitar menace! Various other elements from the score return, unifying it in a way many composers neglect to do these days. DiCola does keep suprising us with different and exciting synth sounds throughout and interesting ways of interpreting the familiar elements, sometimes adding a more militaristic edge, sometimes drawing from P Funk influences, and constantly chopping it throughout, keeping it fresh and non-repetative despite the use of familiar elements, rythms and melodies. We end with Weird Al's classic Dare To Be Stupid, which is just pure enjoyable randomness. He keeps just listing and playing with the old sayings about being stupid, telling us to make a mountain out of a molehill, and ordering us to bite the hand that feeds us. Like the rest of the songs here, it's fluff, but has a bouncing 80's beat to just raise the corners of your mouth.

Ultimately, the only real tracks worth listening to are the theme by Lion, and the Vince DiCola tracks, however the convention exclusive soundtrack has much much more of his work on it, and I really want to get me a copy of it. He's a much underrated soundtrack composer of the eighties, and is one of the few working in hollywood where his music can be listened to on it's own without visual reference, so I'd recommend getting his score for this film. Just perhaps not the other tracks!

John McLaughlin & Carlos Santana - Love Devotion Surrender

Love Devotion Surrender, one of the more controversial fusion albums released, features the guitar prowess of both Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin at the top of their spiritual form. 'Why is it controversial?' I hear you ask, well it is inspired by the teachings of Guru Sri Chinmoy (one of those gurus who became very influencial during the post-psychedelic age, where musicians wanted to continue their spiritual journeys which they had begun during acid trips) and pushed Santana further and further away from his rock beginings. I did intend to ignore the spiritualist aspect of this album, and focus solely on the music, however with the gatefold featuring a passage from Sri Chinmoy, and photographs of the guitarists looking remarkably cult-like, I think it's the elephant in the room, and really should be mentioned. The passage represents a very naive view, asking of us to devote ourselves to spiritualist teachings. It also reflects gender stereotypes within the fist paragraph. Did I say reflects? I mean reinforces. The idea of fully surrendering ourselves to one specific goal/teaching/belief is something I find really disturbing, it's like deliberately limiting human potential. I'm a spiritualist of sorts, and I think it comes down to bettering ourselves, doing what we can to help other people, doing what we can to achieve the best we can. Meditate, but don't surrender your life to it. Ok, to avoid getting into a rant and starting to bitch about religion, I think it's time to get down and boogie (well... meditate) with some 'machine gun' guitaring from two guitar giants.

Side A serves as a tribute to John Coltrane and starts with A Love Supreme, a cover of the track Aknowledgement. It bursts into our ears with a flurry of guitar shredding, leading into a soft groove, where John and Carlos improvise over the top in a Free Jazz manner. There's a sense of real emotion behind what they're playing, something modern shredders lack. Larry Young's organ plods at the back keeping a nice sense of musicality which gels the guitars to the rythm. Chants of 'A Love Supreme' come in as it gets quieter, and Larry Young's organ meanders around in a deliciously playful fashion. Doug Ranch's bass really propelled this track forward. Track 2 is an accoustic cover of Coltrane's Naima, a dreamlike beautiful melody which drifts around your head, you close your eyes, inhale from your joss stick, and man, it's good. 
A quiet organ drone takes hold, leading us into an amazing drum roll and then guitar and chanting. A Love Divine begins. It's some beautiful guitar soloing going on here over this constant jazz beat, the guitaring itself has a distinctly more jazz feel to it. Yeah it's much more fusion than the previous tracks, allowing both McLaughlin and Santana have a decent amount of room to really let themselves go and stretch out their wings. At times McLaughlin's guitar is so fast it melts your ears. Again though, this never feels like showing off, there really is an emotional context to his playing which bounces off the wall towards you. "A Live Devine is yours and mine"

The B side introduces us to the epic Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord, based on an old Bible hymm. It starts with an organ vamp, overwhich McLaughlin plays some of his most amazing and weightless licks, you close your eyes and feel your body raising from the ground. Then a steady moving rythm kicks in, John again just flying higher and higher. He's often been called the 'John Coltrane of the guitar' in that he combines blistering speed with such pure spirituality, and this is proof of that. The backing groove is as undeniable as the lead, it's a simple groove, but when it locks fully into place, it just gets your head moving, getting you in the position for John's sublime guitar masterwork. I have to say, with the constant rythm going on, this is a perfect track to pick up a guitar and jam to, it's just great. The guitar masterclass only gets better and better and then winds down to a close. We have one track to go, Meditation. A softer piece, a walking piano draws us inside, a gentle melody, Santana's guitar providing suport. This kinda track is traditional for closign off 70's albums or music.

As you may have guessed, I am far more into John McLaughlin than Santana, the dude just does it for me. McLaughlin's been one of the biggest influences on my guitar playing and I just love how he does what he does. Musically, this album is really enjoyable, and John's guitar slinging is at the top of it's form, and just listening to it makes me want to pick up mine and just shred. The tones are all honey sweet, and there is a distinct sense of spirituality flowing through the music, though it never becomes overpowering. Sri Chinmoy despite all his controversies has done a lot to promote peace, and without him, we wouldn't have had this album.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno - Iao Chant From The Cosmic Inferno

The Acid Mothers family of bands are easily the most exciting thing to happen to music in a very long time. Springing into action around 1999, they continue to weave their own brand of cosmic rock throughout the known universe. Constantly touring, no other band has the same level of devotion to music as these guys, and I would definately recommend everybody go see them at least once, because there is seriously nothing else like them on the face of the earth. Combining Stockhausen's unmelodic approach to music with Hawkwind's heavy jamming, yet taking it over the top to unheard of levels. Guitarist Makoto Kawabata says that he is acting as a radio transciever for his own inner cosmos, relaying to us the music he hears in his head. And boy... is it one hell of a cosmos!

Iao Chant From The Cosmic Inferno features only one track, a sprawling 50-so minute rendition of Gong's epic, Master Builder. The track, titled Om Riff From The Cosmic Inferno takes us fully into overdrive as we start off with some gentle meditative glissando drones, spacey beeps and boops start appearing, and then... The Mighty Om Riff kicks in, and refuses to let you go, coupled with the Iao Chant (provided below) takes you on a right proper spiritual journey. The groove locks properly in place within an instant, and Makoto's guitar launches into an insane sonic freakout of improvised glory. Trying to not sound like gushing admiration, but the man is so outside of the box, it's unbelievable, like he is to guitar what Sun Ra was to piano! Using his instrument to channel proper cosmic vibes. After several minutes, the track takes another turn, into this repeated delayed riff over a totally rockin' beat, you close your eyes, your mind travels through space and you drift away. Time becomes meaningless, all there is is you.

You and the cosmos.

The sweet glissando ambiant drones make a pleasant return here, these aren't just drones though, these are full on music of the spheres. The bass comes back in, a dirty groove takes hold, the guitar comes back, it is sweet. After several minutes in that dark, dirty, sweet place, the familiar groove locks back into place, a delayed riff appears, then we blast off further into the heavens than before, chanting returns, this is not music, it's a spiritual experience. The Mighty Om Riff thunders back, we go further and further into the universe, there is no way back to Earth now! It glisses out, and returns to the ambiant droning/chanting from the start of the track. We have been taken to the furthest reaches of the universe and back, and it was good.


IAO
(ancient pagan chant balancing male & female)
ZA EE ZAO
(invoking forces of darkness/shadow)
MA EE MAO
(invoking powers of mother love)
TA EE TAO
(invoking energies of light)
NOW

Yes - Close to the edge

Yes.... Yes, Yes, Yes... Seen by many as the height of Progressive Rock's pretentions, an example of all that should be avoided, right? Well no. Prog is hardely the dirty word it used to be, and has one of the largest dedicated audiences of any genre around. I think we all go through that phase where we're anti-prog, but in reality, it's a dumb way of thinking. I'd never really sat down and properlly listened to Yes until a month ago, I had brought this album randomly as I had just started collecting LPs, and my oh my, this was a brilliant introduction to the band.

After a short introductionary soundscape of droning and noise, like a kind of natural sound, Yes break in with a free jazz/fusiony instrumental introduction, a pure cachophony of delicious prog, broken up with  the occasional chant of 'Ahhhh' before sequeing into something more musical and melodic. It swings in a pleasant way, very musch what oyu'd expect from prog. John Anderson's vocals creep in, a higher pitched version of your typical rock vocals. There's an element of Sting in his voice? Yes, at times it almost verges on 'white boy reggae', about six years before it hits the mainstream. However it is prog through and through. The music breaks into a quiet water-like section, reflecting the subject theme of The River Man, Siddhartha. A beautiful noise breaks in as we are treated to Rick Wakeman on an organ, becoming something of a spiritual point, like a moment of ecstacy, before erupting into the full Wakeman keyboard majesty. If you have a wizard costume, put it on for this part. the main lyrical theme returns and feels more joyous.


Lyrically, the song tackles the subject of spiritual awakening of Siddhartha, based confusingly on a novel by Hermann Hesse, where the titular character (Siddhartha) is around in the same time as Gautama Buddha (who was originally Prince Siddhartha, and had a spiritual awakening...) Anyways, around this time in the seventies, rock was at a point, leaving the faux-spirituality of the late sixties behind, many had begun to really look into it, and themselves, and this spirituality is a recurring theme of Yes' music at the time. The lyrics are often nonsensical when viewed in a logical sense, but serve as an expression of the abstract ideas found in such a subject.

Side two starts with a nice gentle accoustic piece, folky and playful. Totally light like a field. Wakeman's mooging around adds a gentle breeze and Anderson starts singing, and it eventually becomes proggier, reminding me of King Crimson's 'In The Court Of The Crimson King'-meets-arena-rock. It's that kinda aspirationy sound that'd usually be found at the end of a prog epic. And that it does, It returns to the playful melody and then gets proggy. I'm sensing a pattern here. And it ends. Kinda a fade out, a whimper rather than the bombast of side one.
We're then treated to a funky prog number, propelled by a neat guitar riff, Hendrix-lite, because every guitarist has their Hendrix copying moments. Prog Hendrix though sounds a bit different from most, especially when aided by Anderson's vocals making it totally 100% yes. It plays with prog tropes all too easily, and yes Wakeman has his harpsichord sound breaking through. Howe does his solo bit, it's Howe by numbers, in a track that's totally  prog by numbers. I must admit. It's decent, and enjoyable, but I don't know, I find it kinda lacking.


All in all, Close to the edge is a really good album. The second side feels rather uninspired compared to the first, but ultimately, well worth getting. Even if just for the Rodger Dean gatefold painting. But yeah, I think every record collector should have this album, it's totally of it's time yet timeless. One of the best of the 'pure-prog' releases, and Yes' highlight. This is the first of my 'MUST HAVE' reviews.

 The dreamlike gatefold. Love you man!

Mr. Big - What If...

Mr. Big are perhaps the best example of a heavy metal supergroup there is. Any band which includes Paul Gilbert from Racer-X on guitar and the unstoppable bass guitar juggernaut that is Billy Sheehan, has to be paid attention to. And boy, were they. In typical metal fashion though, they got the hits, then sunk into their groove and after growing tensions, eventually disbanded in 2002, reforming in 2011 and releasing What If... (and yes, that really is a pig flying on the cover...)

I love Paul and Billy's playing, as musicians they strive to just stretch the technical ability of their instruments, and while shred guitar is often written off as self-indulgent wankery, so what? Generally it's the self indulgent musicians who come up with the ideas which inspire everybody else (examples: Miles Davis, Frank Zappa). However with some players this is a valid criticism (hello Yngwie!) and I guess, should be always taken into account. Masturbatory playing is groovy as long as something comes out of it, and so does this album produce the much needed musical jizz, or the painful friction rashes on the metaphorical foreskin?

Track 1, Undertow, 80's style metal riffage takes over, 80's style singing is provided via Eric Martin and there's little else to say really. It's a very very old style track, 80's American heavy metal as it always was. American Beauty kicks things up a notch, still generic as hell. Though there is a notable Queensryche influence really creeping in if you ignore Gilbert's speed metal playing, especially in the solo, where he's really allowed to take flight. Track 3, Stranger In My Life is exactly as the title makes you imagine, a fucking power ballad. After Bruce Dickenson's 90's classic, Tears Of The Dragon, you'd have thought everybody else would have just given up on power ballads, but no. We have this nasty little turd. Skip it.

Nobody Left To Blame however is a much better track, musically more going on, some interesting textures in the sound, and some sweet delicious Paul Gilbert licks. It's very post-Pearl Jam, though I don't think mainstream American rock has really left the 90's yet. Billy Sheehan's ripping bass takes hold with Still Ain't Enough For Me, we are truely back in '89 speed metal territory here, but Sheehan's bass is so godly that we can let it live. Pat Torpey's stable drumming provides a solid groove for Sheehan and Gilbert to enjoy themselves. Best track of the album so far, deserves some headbanging. Once Upon A Time is perhaps best ignored, it's fucking dull.Hopefully, the next track isn't as far as they can see musically, for As Far As I Can See is again very very generic. Torpey's beat still pounds the same, so repetative it reveals the massive amount of variety in Kraftwerk's motorik drum lines. I get the idea that this album would just work better if everything was removed apart from the solos, which remain fun.

All The Way Up is again best ignored. Boring. Starting with a decent interlude, I Won't Get In My Way is a pretty decent if inoffensive arena rock track, I can imagine the crowd singing along at the chorus. So far, Mr. Big have taken no risks with their comeback album, it's all standard fare, Gilbert and Sheehan's improved playing provide some interesting hooks, but with just three tracks left, can they kick it up a gear?
Around The World treats us with a neat speed metal track with a catchy sing-along chorus. It keeps it's pace, it's enjoyable and you can smell the beer and hairspray! Lyrically, it's written by a five year old, but it is a good example of that kinda enjoyable 80's metal, wanking instrumental sections and all, especially at the end. Guitar playing like molten honey. I Get The Feeling is clearly about the feeling of wanting to be David Lee Roth (which naturally we all get from time to time, but the spandex just don't fit). Unforgiven returns to the speed-metal-meets-Queensryche sound to mixed results, the playing is tight, the drums still boring, the track still kinda meh. The solo can't save it.

You'd think I really hate this kinda music judging by my negative review, but it's something of a guilty pleasure, as a guitarist I love listening to players push things as far as they can go, and I think that's why I don't like this album as much as I should. Billy Sheehan has had an amazing time in Steve Vai's band, and to come from something so quirky and interesting as that, to then just providing standard bass lines is a tragedy. Likewise, Gilbert has won the respect of almost every guitarist alive during his solo career, he doesn't need this. Comeback records really are the difficult ones to do, you have to get the balance just right between doing something new and exciting, and also appeasing the fans. Judas Priest hit it perfectly with 2004's Angel Of Retribution, and Hawkwind with 2010's Blood Of the Earth, though Gong's 2032 tried to do too much, with no real substance or support behind it. Here, Mr. Big have just gone to appease the fans, and as a result, done nothing new, exciting or interesting.

Also, I really need to think of a better, quiker and easier way of doing album reviews rather than by a track-by-track breakdown!!