Hunters & Collectors - Live 11/18/86 @ RPM Club (Toronto)

One of Australia's finest....Hunters & Collectors.....if you know them......YA LOVE THEM!
They really should have been a lot bigger than were. I know they did a lot of road work in Canada, and had a pretty strong following here. But I don't think they could ever make much headway in the States. In my books, their "Human Frailty" (also released 1986) is a classic. I saw them live a few times - if I'm not mistaken, both times at RPM.

I guess I must have had this set hanging around on cassette for years....really don't remember. But it is yet another CFNY (Toronto) presents "Tuesday Night Live", so the quality is very good. I'd rate it around a 9 on the old boot scale.

A nice tight and raw set (their specialty!) awaits.....

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Bat Head Soup - Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne (Various Artists)

Generally speaking, I find tribute albums to be a waste of time. I mean if I want to hear certain songs, I'll pull out the CD by that artist. But there is just something about the performances on this one that really make it rock!

I went looking for a jpg of the back cover, but found this site instead - it pretty much covers all the info you'll ever need:   ALBUM INFO

Pretty much all the shredders you could ever wish for are here = Brad Gillis, Yngwie Malmsteen, Richie Kotzen, Paul Gilbert, etc......as well as some ace vocalists = Dee Snider, Joe Lynn Turner, Vince Neil, Lemmy, etc, etc.

My personal faves are : "Mr. Crowley" (w/Tim Owens & Yngwie Malmsteen), "Crazy Train" (w/ Dee Snider), "Desire" (w/ Lemmy), as well as the old softie "Goodbye to Romance" (w/ Lisa Loeb & Dweezil Zappa).

If you're looking for a nice HEAVY slice o' RAWK........go for it:

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U2 - 1983 US Festival 5/30/83

Well I thought I was pretty much done with U2 boots. I have a handful of my favourites here, that I play on a regular basis. I mean how many does a fan really need!? OK, don't answer that..........

I tripped across this one in my travels recently, and snagged just to check out the quality. I was surprisingly impressed by both the sound quality (8+ at least) and the passionate performance here. Guess I shouldn't really be surprised by the passion. I mean I've seen this band 7-8 times (from Boy tour at Ryerson Theatre onwards), and they have never once disappointed. We won't get into any discussion here about their last album........(as it sits collecting dust on my shelf......).

Don't seem to be getting ANY hits on this U2 stuff on my blog, but check it out if interested. It's likely the true fanatics have had this stuff for years......

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Jerry Lee Lewis "Live at the Star Club (Hamburg, Germany 4/5/64)

Wow! What can I say that hasn't been said before about Jerry Lee Lewis???

As a guy who grew up on 80's rock (both classic hard rock and "new wave"), I never had much time for this old boy. Of course, as I matured myself (wiser?) and started to learn more about him, my curiousity was peaked. I stumbled across this album one day, took it home, played it weeks later.....and was really blown away by it!! This ROCKS THE HOUSE from the word go, and doesn't let up until the house lights come up. Bottom line....if you are a fan of rock n' roll, and never heard this before, you owe it to yourself to check it out!!

Here's some reviews I found on-line today that pretty much capture my feelings:

1) "......but then "Mean Woman Blues" comes on, and Lewis plays the piano with such ferocity that it actually sounds digitally manipulated. NOW we're talking.

Live at the Star Club might just look like a run through of a few polite, mum-friendly rock'n'roll standards, but it rocks likes a bastard. The sheer power - it borders on the point of chaos at times - is enough for me to even overlook Jerry Lee's habit of putting his own name into his lyrics. Quite a few of these songs may be pretty badly dated, but energy and youth is timeless, and Lewis has got both by the bucketful. At times it's like listening to completely different songs rather than just cover versions.

This is the kind of album that could turn a rock'n'roll hater to the dark side. Essential."

2) "The KILLER in all his glory, proving to everybody that he wasn't washed up in the least! An utterly incredible performance - this is rock'n'roll 101, people. Anybody that starts a rock band nowadays should be forced to listen to this before recording anything or playing live - I would imagine that 99.9% of the so-called artists out there would throw away their instruments in disgrace, realizing that they had no right to try to rock! And can you say CHARISMA?"

Rock steady gang!

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Cheap Trick "Cheap Trick" (1997 on Red Ant label) REPOST

Real odd release things in so many ways. Band signed to Red Ant in hopes of reviving a sagging career by partnering with a younger/hipper/connected label. Unfortunately the timing couldn't be worse.....Red Ant went bankrupt just 3 weeks after this was released. Yet somehow I was sent a promo way up here in the frozen north (from our U.S. exporter Alliance). I remember being so down about the music business in general that time in my life....."nothing new" "everything sucks", etc etc. Not the best time to be testing out a new CT album.....

Surely enough, when I spun it I was not impressed. On first listen I remember digging "You Let A Lot Of People Down" and not much more. I might have played it once after that, then I promptly handed it off to my best pal Alex.

About a 1000 years later (well about 13 to be exact....)......Alex asks me if I can find this one on the Net for him. Somewhere along the way, he'd lost/given away/misplaced his CD. I download it for him, and send him tracks. A day or two later, Alex (w/impecable taste as always!) says he loves the album, etc etc. So I listen to trax again, and I'll be damn......THIS SUCKA ROX!!!!
Can't believe I passed on this one the first time around.

Anyhow, enough of my blabbin'......if you're here, ya came for this......

Rock Steady!
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Foster and Lloyd "Foster and Lloyd" (1987) REPOST

Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd's first release from back in 1987. Seems like a long time ago. Not sure what happened to Bill Lloyd, but Radney Foster was still kicking around in 2002. I got his "Another Way To Go" CD, and it's got some great stuff on there as well. As for his current activities, I'm not really in the loop on them.....

But this Foster Lloyd album is a real solid effort! I still pull this out on a regular basis and really enjoy it. As far as I'm concerned, there is not a bad cut on the album. I remember a 90's trip with my good friend Alex down to see our bro Mike in Windsor. We played it in the car for Alex, and even he was impressed (and that's not an easy thing to do!). So we ended up playing that one almost non stop when rolling around town. Great memories.........

Back in '87, I was really into the "new music" as well as my classic rawk but I was interested a bit in country. A co-worker told me to try this one on for size. I really dug it, and bought my own CD. It is "country" in vibe I suppose, but it's really about great (pop) songs, deep (sing along) grooves, as well as heartfelt perfomances. What more could you want??

As a rule, I don't post legit releases. But after some research it looks like this one is no longer available. Damn shame/no surprise really in this day and age. I was going to post that Radney Foster CD too, but it's still available to buy.

Check it out!
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Various (1993) - New Stuff Two

Here's a little blast from 1993! Used to be a Canadian mag called IMPACT back in the day. Every month they would give out a "new music" sampler with the magazine. Didn't last for long, but you could always find a few new things of interest on there.

On this edition, I fell head over heels for Randy Bachman's "Prairie Town", featuring none other than guest Neil Young on vox/guitar. Story went that they knew each other for a short time back in their Winnipeg days, and Randy wrote this one with Neil in mind. They laid it down together, and a while later a video shoot was scheduled. Neil showed up for the shoot, despite the fact that he was battered and bruised from a hang gliding accident a few days before. But he didn't want to let Randy down......what a trouper! I never did buy that Bachman album, but still get off on "Prairie Town".....worth the price of admission here alone.

A few other interesting acts here: The Lawn, Snow, 13 Engines, Rhymes With Orange, The Phantoms, Colin Linden, as well as The Tea Party.

P.S. I have a few other volumes here too if anyone is interested......?

Enjoy.
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Van Halen - Pacadena Civic Auditorium Dec. 20, 1977 (REPOST)

Interesting early set here from these Monsters of Metal! Their classic debut album was released in Feb. 1978 so this show predates that event by a month or so. Entire band is flying in fine form here - especially mouthpiece Diamond Dave and shredder Eddie (no surprises).

After some research, I found that in some places this set is listed as Dec. 20 and in others it's Dec. 15. Regardless, the year is 1977. My trax were ripped from a vinyl LP (remember those kids!?) that I borrowed from a friend at work. To top that off, it had an old school cover printed in glorious black & white, and it was just titled Van Halen "Live". Looks likes it's been issued since on CD under several titles - "Civic Pride", "The Atomic Punks" , etc.

It was a real kick to get such an early recording after some many years of yearning for one. I'd rate the sound on this at 8 to 8.5 - rough in a few spots but with a real nice crunch to it.
So here is it gang.......Rock on!

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Bash & Pop - "Friday Night Is Killing Me" (REPOST)

Yet another one of those "used to have on vinyl" releases......got this back in 1992 and was pleasantly surprised by it. The vinyl got liquidated long time back, then about 3-4 I still heard some of these tracks rattling around in my big mellon (always a good sign!). I tried to sniff out the CD only to realize it was now out of print. I ended up buying through an Amazon seller, and overpaying for a cut-out. But hey I now have it on CD, and still really dig this one!!

Stylistically not that far off the Replacements. Escpecially faves like Never Aim To Please, Hang Ups, and Friday Night Is Killing Me. If you're a Mats fan and haven't heard this......get down to it my friend.

Damn shame both Westerberg and Stinson aren't still putting out cool music in this day & age. But with the way the "business" is.....why bother!? I see Stinson is still trudging around with Axle "Fruitcake" Rose......suppose he's got to eat too......

Rock Steady Gang!

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