Welcome 2 My Nightmare, Review

If you follow my twitter account you know already that this is going to be a very a favourable review.  I fell in love with this album pretty quickly.  I had been anticipating it for some time now as the original 1975 Welcome to My Nightmare is a favourite of mine. 

I love this recording for the same reasons as I love the 1975 original.  First of all, it is a concept album.  I admit to being a bit of a sucker for concept albums.  I love listening to an CD in its entirety as a complete work of art and the concept album completely plays into that.

Furthermore, like the first, this CD contains many different musical styles throughout.  Hard rock, ballads, a touch of disco (although done somewhat sarcastically), southern rock, seventies, and others are all thrown in the blender that is the album.   Having said that, this is predominantly a hard rock record.  There are also some different instruments used throughout as well as various sound bites and narrations for an overall quirky, humorous and fun adventure.  

I won’t go into a whole lot of detail about the story here, I don’t want to give too much of it away for anyone who may want to indulge but a few brief details none the less.  It opens with our main character (is it Alice or Steven or are they one in the same, I was never quite sure) fighting sleep.  He eventually succumbs to tiredness and the nightmare continues. Throughout the ride we get tons of typical twisted Alice Cooper imagery.  I won’t reveal how it ends.

As for the songs themselves just a few highlights as well.  It opens in similar fashion as the original release with a bit of a creepy slow to mid temp introduction to the story.  This track, titled I Am Made of You will not become the classic like the opening Welcome to my Nightmare title track on the 1975 record, but it is an awesome tune. 

There are several rockers on here including track number two, Caffeine.  It fits in here as the protagonist of the story is still fighting sleep.  Other rockers include Runaway Train and I’ll Bite Your Face Off.  There is also the much talked about duet with Kesha titled What Baby Wants, another great tune on the disc.  This one is also a harder rocker and Kesha’s vocals fit in perfectly.

Also worth mentioning is the song, Underture.  It is an instrumental number that blends together many of the melodies from this current recording as well as those from the original 1975 Nightmare. 

Although I often use the word disc in this and all my reviews, I actually purchased this one on itunes and with it came a near 20 minute track of Alice talking and taking us through the album one song at a time.  He talks about the influences and musical style of each number and walks us through the story one step at a time.  I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this too. 

I often find when you are anticipating something for a long time it can never live up to the hype.  Well for me, this one did.  I have read some mixed reviews out there, but I think just like the first one, it’s great fun and very worthy of being called a sequel to the original classic. 

Grade:  A +

Favoutite Tracks:  Put it on and let it play from start to finish.  But I do particularly enjoy I am Made of You, Caffeine, and I Gotta Get Outta Here.

What a Rush!

Turning the clock back on two classic albums from a classic band.

After spinning 1975’s Welcome to my Nightmare by Alice Cooper for a few listens I got inspired to stay in that decade and moved on to Rush’s 2112 also released in 1975, which further inspired me to stay with the band and spend some time with 1981’s Moving Pictures.

Hailing from my homeland Canada, the trio of musicians have been a mainstay in the business for over 30 years.  On a recent poll by Rolling Stone magazine they were voted the number one prog rock band of all time by a landslide.  Rush continues to have an allegiance of loyal fans and they continue to tour the world to large crowds putting off electrifying performances. 

The album 2112 is their forth release and a concept album, sort of.  It opens with a twenty plus minute track titled 2112.  This is the concept piece of the album.  It is broken down into seven parts each with its own subtitle.  The song tells the story of a futuristic world ruled by the priests of Syrinx where there is no music, among other things.  The protagonist of the story finds a guitar, learns to play it and presents it to the priests hoping for change. 

The song is certainly one of my favourites.  Musically it moves in many different directions and I have always enjoyed the story written by lyricist and drummer for the band, Neil Peart.  One of my favourite parts of the song is when vocalist Geddy Lee is singing in the voice of two different characters, the protagonist who has found the guitar and the priest who quickly dismisses and condemns the discovery.  Geddy sings the part of the guitar’s discoverer in a more mild tone and then switches to his trademark high pitched shrill as the priest continues to condemn the finding.  This musical conversation goes back and forth for some time.

After the opening number is complete there are five additional stand alone tracks that do not relate to the concept of the opening number.  Each one is a solid Rush song in its own right.  The album clocks in at just under 40 minutes.

Next up is 1981’s Moving Pictures, their most successful release to date.  It contains only 7 songs and in total also clocks in under 40 minutes .  They don’t make them like this anymore.  I would much rather hear an album with less songs if they are all stellar.  I like the days of 10 songs per album.  I guess as time moves on I am getting more and more old school all the time.  I digress…

Back to Moving Pictures.  The album opens with arguably their most well known song, Tom Sawyer.  It keeps moving from there with my favourite song on the album called Red Barchette.  Although not an epic piece like 2112's Overture, Red Barchette has plenty of imagery created by the songs lyrics and music and also tells the strory of a futuristic world where some vehicles have been outlawed.  The next track shows off the band's musicianship again with a great instrumental number called YYZ.  Next up is another of their signature and well known songs, Limelight.  There is also another lengthy piece next, clocking in at 10:24 called The Camera Eye.  I love the lengthy epic songs that we don’t see enough of anymore either.  The album closes out with two final numbers, Witch Hunt and Vital Signs. 

The album, like 2112 showcases the talents of the band, lyrically and musically.  On their most recent tour Moving Pictures was played in its entirety.  I would love to see the same for 2112 sometime too.  Both are fantastic records but I will give the slight edge to 2112.   

2112

Grade:  A +

Favourite Tracks:  Hard to pick one here, but all of the 2112 track, A Passage to Bangkok and Lessons.

Moving Pictures

Grade A

Favourite Tracks: YYZ, Red Barchette and The Camera Eye.

Although I select favourtite tracks here I recommend setting aside some time and playing each of these albums from start to finish. 

Welcome to My Nightmare

Anticipating Alice Cooper’s September release Welcome 2 My Nightmare got me in the mood to fire up the original 1975 release Welcome to my Nightmare.  I never actually owned a copy of this album until a couple of years ago.  I have followed Alice Cooper’s career and being an 80s teenager the first album I ever owned by Cooper was 1986’s Constrictor.  It contained the single He’s Back (the Man Behind the Mask) which was featured in Friday the 13^th Part VI:  Jason Lives.      

I enjoyed this album and picked up some other Alice Cooper recordings, but a couple of years ago when perusing a used CD store I cam across 1975’s Welcome to my Nightmare.  I went home, lay back with my head phones on and listened to it from start to finish.  I had heard most, if not all the songs before, but this was the first time I listened to the concept album in its entirety in one sitting.  I have several times since and it very quickly became a favourite of mine.  In addition to being a concept album centering around the tribulations of a character named Steven it has some great Alice Cooper music.

There are different styles, instruments and sounds throughout the album.  It makes for a very intriguing and enjoyable listen.  Your hard rockers are on here with tracks such as Devil’s Food, Black Widow and Cold Ethyl.  Your ballads are there including the well known Only Women Bleed.  Then are your strange and quirky songs with that B-movie or haunted house sounding keyboards such as Steven.  You will also hear horn sections and other assortments of sounds and effects including a spoken word narration from Vincent Price.  Alice himself changes his voice at times singing in a high pitched creepy childlike voice assuming the role of Steven. 

All in all there is never a dull moment on the record.  I enjoy listening to the music, the concept and the imagery Alice creates.  Of everything I’ve heard from Alice Cooper this one is far and above my favourite. 

Grade:  A +

Favourite Tracks:  Hard to pick but I will go with Devil’s Food, Black Widow and Department of Youth.  But for me this album is best enjoyed as a complete package.

Switching Gears in the Red Velvet Car

I say switching gears because this is often what this 13th studio release from Heart does, it presents us with a few different sounds and styles throughout.  And for me that’s the appeal of this strong record from the band.  I never get tired or bored of the same thing over and over again.  It opens up with a strong track, There You Go, which has a bit of an upbeat groovy sound to it with a steady acoustic guitar riff taking us through.  Next up we switch gears for a hard hitting rock track called WTF which fits very well with the band’s 70’s classics Magic Man, Barracuda and Crazy On You.  Switch gears again and we are listening to a slow and sultry title track.

On this record we are hearing a bit of hard rock, a touch of folk, and a dash of blues.  Anne’s vocals sound as great as ever as well as the guitar work from sister Nancy.  Even though there are different sounds and styles presented it all blends together nicely making for a great overall appeal.  As noted, there is a touch of hard rock here, but this album as a whole is on the mellower side.  But if you are in the mood to wind down and drift off these songs are great.

There are songs I like better than others on here but I can play this one from start to finish, no filler.

Grade:  A –

Favourite tracks:  WTF, Hey You, Queen City, Sunflower

Night Ranger's Somewhere in California

I was craving some new music.  I still thoroughly enjoy purchasing a new album and listening to it from beginning to end, one of life’s simple pleasures.  I am still a bit old school like that.  I do use itunes sometimes, but still often go for the complete recording, be it in disc or digital format. 

I was perusing the many other excellent blogs and sites as listed to the right and made some selections.  This particular recommendation came from the Hard Rock Hideout. It was an interesting choice for me; I never in my life purchased a Night Ranger recording.  For the most part I am only familiar with their singles in the eighties.  I was in the mood for some melodic hard rock, nothing too serious and nothing I had to put a great amount of thought or effort into.  It is summer and I am on holidays.  This disc fits the bill very well and I don’t mean that disrespectfully. 

It has a bit of an eighties feel to it and it’s definitely hard rock for the most part.  In fact, it is a bit more hard rock that I expected a Night Ranger disc to be.  Although the keyboards are a part of this band’s sound, it’s the guitar riffs and big choruses that make many of the songs infectious.   

It starts off with a great lead off track, Growing’ up in California, and I picture people in convertibles driving around with the top down and this one cranked.  That is the tone throughout much of the album.  The second song, Lay it on Me, is probably the heaviest and one of my favourites.  And the upbeat fun natured songs continue from there with another of my favourite tracks, Bye Bye Baby (Not Tonight).  It slows down with a decent ballad on the fifth track with a song called Time of our Lives. It’s not a real slow ballad having more of a mid tempo pace.

I must admit at around track 8 or 9 (there are 11 songs in total) I start to get a little bored.  Maybe it's because it’s all starting to sound alike, or maybe the songs are not as strong.  I am not sure yet.  I should put the theory to the test and play the songs in reverse order, but either way I am really enjoying this disc! 

One great thing about this circle of blogs that I visit is listening to (or reading) what others have to say, others who also share a passion for music and for rock and roll in particular.  I probably would have never considered buying a Night Ranger album simply because over their 30 year career they haven’t found their way into my collection before now.  It’s funny how the seasons affect my listening mood sometimes; I was in the mood for some fun summer rock.  By reading Hard Rock Hideout’s review I had a very good idea that is what I was getting and it was exactly that.  Thanks again.

Grade: B 

Favourite tracks:  Growing up in California, Lay it on Me, Bye Bye Baby (not tonight),  No Time to Lose Ya

Bringing Back the Grade

When I restarted this blog I made the decision that when I reviewed albums this time around I would not assign them a rating, but rather just discuss the recording and give some thoughts, either positive or negative.  In the (Original) Rock Brigade Blog I used a letter grade – I am a teacher after all. 

However, after further reflection I thought it would be more fun to reinstate the grade.  You put yourself out there a bit more, and sometimes you look back and think you were off in your original assessment, but that’s ok too.

On my favourite sports channel, TSN, respected hockey annalist Bob Mackenzie proclaimed he did not like doing playoff predictions and would not make them.  I thought that the fun of the broadcasters on TSN was the banter and the discussion between them about their individual choices of winners and losers.  My CD reviewing system is the same thing.  Putting that final stamp of a grade on it creates more discussion allowing us all to offer up our differing or similar opinions.  In other words, not "wimping out" and leaving the grade off it.

So far I have been blogging this time around I have reviewed two dics, This is Gonna Hurt by Sixx AM and Mirrorball by Def Leppard.  See more detailed thoughts in my original reviews below but because neither has a letter grade, here it goes.

This is Gonna Hurt suits my tasts perfectly.  There may be a couple songs on there I don’t like as much as the others, but there is nothing on there I dislike or nothing on that I feel the need to skip over when playing from start to finish.  Grade A+

I also don’t feel the need to skip over anything on Def Leppard’s Mirrorball.  But again, this is a live album, so it acts like a bit of a greatest hits CD too.  Still, it’s a fun record and sounds great.  Grade:  A

There you go.  See all my other letter grades on the (Original) Rock Brigade Blog by clicking here. 

Class dismissed for today. :)

Take a look into the Mirrorball

I have written about Def Leppard several times on my (Original) Rock Brigade Blog and since I have made "my comeback" this is the second time in just four posts.  I have followed their career from the near beginnings as closely as I have followed any band.  I have their complete catalogue and for a stretch there were a few albums I couldn’t really get into.  Slang, Euphoria and X all had their moments and when I listen to them now I tend to favour them more than at the time of their release.  But they didn’t grab me like the music they played when I was in my younger years. 

However, in recent years in my opinion they have put out some very solid recordings.  For me it really started again with Yeah!, the 2006 release of all cover songs.  I was hesitant about a covers album, but I faithfully buy all Def Leppard releases.  To my surprise this one quickly gained heavy rotation from me.  Most of the covers were not clichéd and it was a very fun record.  Then came Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, the 2008 release of all new original material.  In my opinion this was their best effort since the mega selling Hysteria.  

Now after over 30 years in the business they release they first full length live album, Mirrorball.  This one has two CDs worth of live tracks, plus three new songs and a bonus DVD.  I was curious to how this one would come across because of Def Leppard’s known signature slick produced studio sounds. It works and it works very well.

All their hits that we have heard many times are on this one, but in many cases they sound fresh again.  Some songs come across as more upbeat than they do in their original format. The songs Animal and Hysteria, for example, are both great mid-tempo songs from the Hysteria record.  On Mirrorball the songs have more of a lively (no pun intended) feel to them and more of a jump to them.  It is refreshing to hear the multilayers of the original versions of many of these songs stripped down and sounding so great in their live format.  Def Leppard have also been known for putting off a great live show and it is captured here nicely. 

There are a few songs on here that the casual fan may not be familiar with including Switch 625 (an instrumental number from the 1981 album High n Dry), three songs in total from The Sparkle Lounge record and Action, from 1993’s Retroactive album.  There are 21 live tracks in total (most of them very familar) plus the three aditional new songs.  I would have liked to have heard another track or two from High n’Dry or even something from On Through The Night, their very first full length album.

The three new studio recorded songs are also solid tracks.   The first, Undefeated, has a guitar riff on the verses that almost keeps with that stripped down feel but moves into the normal vocal blends that we often find in Def Leppard songs.  It is a catchy tune and I heard vocalist Joe Elliot mention in an interview that they may use it as their opening number on their summer tour.  The song’s opening steady drum beats that lead into the guitar riff makes it a good choice for that purpose for sure.  The second new track, Kings of the World,  has a Queen like feel to it being laced with numerous vocal harmonies.  The final new song, It’s All About Believing, also has a catchy riff and that unmistakable Def Leppard sound.  

The DVD is fun enough to watch too.  There are some live performances and some backstage behind the scenes footage, including some banter between the guys and Billy Idol when he opened up for them on some dates during the Sparkle Lounge tour. 

In my pervious post I had said that I hoped this would be a fun record to play while relaxing on the deck with summer fast approaching.  It is that for sure.  If you catch Def Leppard live this summer on tour with Heart I would love to hear about it. 

For all my other Def Leppard thoughts in my blog posts including a couple of concert reviews click here.