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Bruce Dickinson – Tattooed Millionaire |
| February 23rd, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1990
Tracks: Son of a Gun; Tattooed Millionaire; Born in ’58; Hell On Wheels; Gypsy Road; Dive! Dive! Dive!; All the Young Dudes; Lickin’ the Gun; Zulu Lulu; No Lies
Best track: Gypsy Road; most others on the first half are excellent too
Tracks to skip: Lickin’ the Gun, Zulu Lulu
When Bruce Dickinson decided to take a break from Iron Maiden in 1990 and record a solo album, we had no idea what he would do. I got this on the day it was released and I wasn’t disappointed. It sounds very different from Iron Maiden (esp. the last Maiden album before this, Seventh Son), but it’s still a good thing. I guess the only thing that makes it similar to Maiden is Bruce’s vocals. The music is a lot simpler and lighter than Maiden. But enough of comparing this to Maiden, we have to look at this album on it’s own merit.
It’s a good album, mostly solid throughout. A few duds (mentioned above), but mostly it’s consistent. This album is still the one with Janick Gers’ best guitar playing. He joined Maiden after this was recorded and while he’s gotten better with each Maiden album, his playing is still sloppy and undisciplined in Maiden. On Tattooed Millionaire Janick’s playing is very tasteful. He sounds good on this. The rest of the band (Andy Carr on bass and Fabio Del Rio on drums) are solid and don’t get in the way of the songs or Bruce’s vocals.
All the songs were written by Bruce and Janick, the exception being a cover of Bowie’s All the Young Dudes. He does a pretty good job with it and Janick has a nice solo in it. It’s nice to have an album of all Bruce’s lyrics, since prior to this he only got maybe 3 songs on each Maiden album. Some lyrics are pretty bad (Zulu Lulu), but some really present a side of Bruce that we never saw before this (Born in ’58 for example). The music on here is a lot more ‘pop’ than anything Maiden ever did, but it doesn’t make it any less good. The chorus of the title track is one of the catchiest things Bruce has ever done.
This album is nowhere near as good as his later efforts (Accident of Birth & Chemical Wedding), those are excellent and better than a lot of Maiden’s stuff. This is a good, solid album and real good for a first attempt. Check it out.
Rating: 86
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In 2005 all of Bruce’s albums were remastered and reissued with a bonus disc of all B-sides associated with the particular album. For Tattooed Millionaire all of the B-sides are there, in addition to Bruce’s original version of Bring Your Daughter…To the Slaughter (originally on Nightmare on Elm St 5, and then later on his Best Of album). This version is not available in the United States, but only as a UK import. The reason for this is that Sony/Legacy reissued the album for the US in 2003 with a few bonus tracks, but not all of them (like on the 2005 UK reissue), and as to not compete with the Sony/Legacy version, the ‘good’ one is only available as an import. Well, you know what to do if you’re so inclined.
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Rush – Rush |
| February 23rd, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1974
Tracks: Finding My Way; Need Some Love; Take a Friend; Here Again; What You’re Doing; In the Mood; Before and After; Working Man
Best track: Finding My Way
Tracks to skip: Need Some Love, Take a Friend, In the Mood, Before and After
Ugh, this is a bad album. It’s amazing that the band started out with something like this and then in a few years managed to make something as great as Farewell to Kings. Rush was VERY raw back in the early days. And in this case ‘raw’ isn’t a good thing. I mean, they could play just fine, but the songwriting was absolutely terrible. First off, Geddy Lee’s writing the lyrics; lots of “baby’s” and “ooooh-yeah’s” abound. So besides the bad lyrics, the band is trying REALLY HARD to be Led Zeppelin. It’s sad. I guess people liked to listen to bad music in the 70’s, because I have no idea how this was ever considered good.
To be truthful, I really do like the ‘popular’ songs off this album, Finding My Way and Working Man. A couple others are OK (What You’re Doing, Here Again), but mostly it’s a bad album. I know hard-core Rush Dorks will hate me for not liking this (those people even like I Think I’m Going Bald!), but I think if a group makes a bad album, even if it’s their first try, they still need to be yelled at for it. I’m willing to admit that this is one of the worst albums in my collection (not counting some of my wife’s stuff) and the only reason I still keep it around is that I have it on cassette and you can’t even give cassettes away these days. Avoid this one at all cost, you can get the good tracks in many other places (live albums, compilations).
Rating: 52
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Ratt – Reach for the Sky |
| February 23rd, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1988
Tracks: City to City; I Want a Woman; Way Cool Jr.; Don’t Bite the Hand That Feeds; I Want to Love You Tonight; Chain Reaction; No Surprise; Bottom Line; What’s it Gonna Be; What I’m After
Best track: City to City
Track to skip: I Want To Love You Tonight
Yes, it’s Ratt! I do admit that I actually like these guys. When I was in junior high and high school, this was one of the many metal groups my friends and I listened to. Nowadays, most people think of this as ‘hair band’ music and wouldn’t give it a second chance. I really, REALLY hate the term ‘Hair Band’. Yes, I am more than aware that all the guys who are said to be in this genre had big hair. What really annoys me is that the current way of thinking is to call any heavy metal from the 80’s a ‘Hair Band’. I’ve heard Megadeth and Anthrax be called ‘hair bands’. How absolutely wrong and totally ignorant! So anyway, I prefer to call this pop-metal stuff either Glam Metal or just Pop Metal. It is still heavy metal, so it should be referred to as such.
Ratt is no exception. Along with Motley Crue, Ratt is one of the few glam metal bands I like, or even liked back in the day. My brother had all the Ratt albums, so I’m pretty familiar with all of them. Besides the Best Of compilation, Ratt ‘N’ Roll, this is the only Ratt album that I think is worth owning. The rest are OK, but this is pretty enjoyable (well, as enjoyable as Ratt can be!). If you listen with an open mind, you’d find that there’s actually some good guitar playing (courtesy of Warren DiMartini, who even Frank Zappa thought was a good guitarist) and good songwriting. Steven Pearcy’s vocals were never that great, and they do get on my nerves a bit, but they’re tolerable.
If you’re wanting to get a Ratt studio album, this is one to consider. If you just have a passing interest in the band start with Ratt ‘N’ Roll. All things considered this isn’t a bad album, it’s just pretty good. Another reason to get this is for City to City, which is one of my favorite Ratt songs and one they stupidly left off of Ratt ‘N’ Roll. That in itself makes this album essential for fans of Ratt’s music.
Rating: 82
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Phish – Phish (The White Tape) |
| February 23rd, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Recorded: 1984-1986; Officially released: 1998
Tracks: Alumni Blues; And So To Bed; You Enjoy Myself; AC/DC Bag; Fuck Your Face; Divided Sky; Slave to the Traffic Light; Aftermath; Ingest; NO2; Fluff’s Travels; Dog Gone Dog; He Ent to the Bog; Run Like an Antelope; Minkin; Letter to Jimmy Page
Best tracks: Divided Sky, Alumni Blues
Tracks to skip: Ingest, NO2
This is a collection of early Phish demos, both band and solo, that was released as part of the Phish Archives in 1998 (available through Phish’s website). The demos were recorded between 1984 and 1986. Most of the stuff on here is by guitarist Trey Anastasio, a few tracks (Alumni, AC/DC, Dog Gone Dog) feature the full band and a few more are by bassist Mike Gordon. Since these are demos, the quality isn’t as great as normal albums. However, for being demos, the quality *is* pretty good.
A lot of early Phish classics make their first appearances here, some in different form. You Enjoy Myself isn’t the full-blown song it would become on Phish’s debut album, Junta; it’s only a small vocal section. Featuring Trey on multi-tracked vocals it shows a great blueprint of how complex the song is. Very short but beautiful. Also there are great short versions of Divided Sky and Slave to the Traffic Light.
Hearing all these demos you get a real sense of what this group of 4 musicians would become in just 2 years. This CD of course is aimed at the hardcore fan, someone who is more interested in the development of the band than a cohesive and well-produced album. This isn’t something I play that often, but it’s enjoyable. Some songs are quite cool, some are very silly (like Mike Gordon’s songs Fuck Your Face and Minkin). Overall it’s a nice thing to have, but not an album you’d put on at a party (even if it’s a party of Phish-heads). Not always consistent, but always interesting.
Rating: 77
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California Guitar Trio – Yamanashi Blues |
| February 2nd, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1993
Tracks: Yamanashi Blues; Melrose Avenue; Corrente; Walk Don’t Run; Ricercar; Pipeline; Beeline; Chromatic Fugue in D Minor; Tenor Madness; Sleepwalk; Carnival; Prelude in C Minor; Ciaccona; Blockhead; Kan-non Power
Best track: Melrose Ave. or Kan-non Power…too hard to pick
Track to skip: Ciaccona drags on for a LONG time (11 minutes!), it gets pretty boring after a minute or so. A nice piece, but it just goes on WAY too long.
This album was one of the first to be released on Robert Fripp’s then-new Discipline (Global Mobile) Records. I think this came out at the same time as Trey Gunn’s 1000 Years and the Robert Fripp String Quintet (that’s the CGT with Fripp and Gunn). Unless you were familiar with Guitar Craft, then hearing this in 1993 would have been something very new and fresh. Well, I guess it was fresh sounding stuff in a way. The sound of the original pieces, to my ears, still sound fresh.
After getting Crimson’s VROOOM, I noticed the ad for this and decided to give it a shot (they were opening up for Crimson in ’95). It immediately grabbed me and knocked my socks off. The Trio are 3 acoustic guitarists who tune in Fripp’s New Standard Tuning which gives the music a much different quality than if they were in the old standard tuning.
Out of the 15 songs, only 6 are originals. I think the originals are the best part. The rest of the covers are either fun little things or Bach pieces arranged for 3 guitars. 5 of these are by JS Bach. Taking all that into account, this is a very eclectic release. Surprisingly, it all flows together very well and it makes sense. This one is a lot more ‘raw’ than their other albums; that gives it a very innocent kinda quality.
I like this one a lot. The CGT’s originals get a lot more dense and complex in the later albums, but there’s something special about these first ones. This one is a little tougher to find in stores, but it’s totally worth it if you see it. For an absolute, just get it from the Discipline website. This is VERY accessible music and something I think most people would enjoy.
Rating: 91
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Megadeth – Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? |
| February 2nd, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1986
Tracks: Wake Up Dead; The Conjuring; Peace Sells; Devil’s Island; Good Mourning/Black Friday; Bad Omen; I Ain’t Superstitious; My Last Words
Best track: Whole damn thing
Track to skip: I Ain’t Superstitious is kinda goofy, but I think that break is needed between the powerhouses of Bad Omen and My Last Words. It’s short anyway, so just let it play.
Dave Mustaine is a Great guitar player. Listening to this, comparing it to all the current ‘nu-metal’ stuff out there, this just blows all that away. This album is full of so much excellent stuff. Complex and brutal songs, unexpected twists and turns, and guitar playing that was some of the best of the 80’s. Mustaine wasn’t a ‘shredder’ by any means, but he could play rings around those guys. Instead of trying to show off, Mustaine uses his guitar work to better the song. Go Dave.
I haven’t listened to this album in a while, maybe a few years, but MY GOSH is it good! If you’re at all interested in metal, then this is essential. If not, then you should be, because this album is so good. The only weak parts on the album are Mustaine’s vocals. He became better in that area pretty quickly, and anyway, the music more than makes up for some weak vocals.
Some of the lyrics are kinda silly now (all the Satanic type stuff) but it doesn’t really matter. This music is all about attitude and intensity. This sounds nothing like post-1992 Megadeth and that’s a GOOD thing. This rocks so hard, I love listening to this and I know that everytime I put it in I’ll get a big smile on my face. Buy it now, and crank it up.
Rating: 95
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