Glen

Don't go scoring albums higher than they deserve for sentimental reasons ;-) I always thought they should have ditched the title song, and like Paul Laine the album needed a monster rocker at the end to obtain classic 90% status from me. Great album though.

never heard of Matrex before, what's the closest comparison ? Maximum should be around 80%, aren't they ? Matrex is just good 80's AOR, as per Stefan's clips (it's from 1986). As for Maximum, no way are they an 80% band. I like the album, but it got a 72% from me and I think that's very fair. Good solid riff driven glam hard rock, but severely lacking in creativity or song writing prowess when it comes to good hooks and choruses. Solid album, but nothing more. Great day, with 4 (!!) release above *80% in one day: *Kenny McGee (and Lefty) - Kenny McGee (and Lefty) KMD - Kenny McGee's Disease *McQueen Street - McQueen Street McQueen Street - 2 Stan Meissner - Dangerous Games Stan Meissner - Windows To Light *Stan Meissner - Undertow *Melidian - Lost In The Wild yeah that's the best Meissner album for sure. Might scrape at 80% from me............ Melidian got an 83% from me.

I'm kinda guessing that White Widdow will be 100% dead cert ;-)

it will probably be in Perth lol ;-)

lol. I avoided that mistake by listening to it only twice.....on Spotify 1st time = pretty average, full of unnecessary swearing, and best 2 songs were the first 2 which i'd already heard 2nd time = to make sure.............yep I was right. Over and out.

Yeah those songs are all very good. Its elsewhere that the album doesn't quite reach the mark.....hook wise. The thing about Higher is the perfect hooks. You could sing virtually every song after hearing it just once. I dont ever feel the urge to sing any songs off Mood Swings - i always enjoy it while listening and then forget it all. With Higher those hooks are glued in yr head That is what i like about it and why it is a great melodic rock album.

Nightrain is actually right this time (for once). I rated this one 77% too. A very solid, but extremely unspectacular album. Actually, amazingly, I rated the Joker album 82% too. Killer Dwarfs 80% as well. Brass Kitten I had at 74%, which is wicked close too. Congrats, Nightrain, the only one of those few you got completely wrong was Gypsy Rose. That one was correctly rated by me @ 88%. There is nothing unspectacular about it. Its a great album and super consistent as well. I loved seeing the band at Firefest as well - after all those years they did themselves proud and were one of the few who really lived up to their past capabilities as a band.

My rating - 1. No More 9.25 2. Billy 9 3. Waitin 8.5 4. Your Love 8.25 5. Isn't it Easy 9.5 6. Let's Get 9 7. H&H 9.25 8. Love Junkie 8.75 9. Kill Me 9.5 10. Love's a Bitch 9 11. B&T 10 Overall 90.9%

Oh really ???? I love that album. What dragged the score down??

No, you are not alone. Both albums are better than Mood Swings, although I would have Mood Swings a lot higher than 77%. Top 5 Harem Scarem albums; 1. Harem Scarem 2. Mood Swings 3. The Early Years 4. Believe 5. Higher There is no filler on 'Higher' and the hooks are better than Mood Swings. 'Lies,' 'Gone' and 'Reach' are weaker than anything on 'Mood Swings,' imo. I don't know of any filler on 'Mood Swings' at all. Maybe the silly version of 'Just like I planned,' but I never really considered that one of the album tracks, but more an interlude. In terms of the hooks being better than on 'Mood Swings,' not sure what would make you say something like that, but to each their own. Love the band and both albums, but I rated 'Mood Swings' 89% and 'Higher' 83%, which is a solid gap when you get to the business end of ratings. For me, 'Mood Swings' is the much better album, but to each their own. Lies and Gone are 2 of my fav songs on that album. In fact the last 4 songs are all excellent imo - one of the strongest ends to an album ever. 'Waited' is also my fav HS song. Mood Swings is a great album - the first half is melodic perfection, the second half a bit weaker. For a change the main site has the ratings about right............ s/t 9.44 Higher 9.27 Mood Swings 9.16 I reckon mine would be circa - s/t 97% Higher 95% Mood Swings 90% Oh, and for the record they re-recorded Mood Swings to re-obtain the recording rights, and for no other reason. Cheers

No, you are not alone. Both albums are better than Mood Swings, although I would have Mood Swings a lot higher than 77%. Top 5 Harem Scarem albums; 1. Harem Scarem 2. Mood Swings 3. The Early Years 4. Believe 5. Higher There is no filler on 'Higher' and the hooks are better than Mood Swings.

u are all wrong - in fact it is the bonus track 'Love on War' which takes top spot ;-)

No, you are not alone. Both albums are better than Mood Swings, although I would have Mood Swings a lot higher than 77%.

I'm gonna have to re-listen to this album over the weekend - 82% looks way too low to me.......I can see it hitting 90% pretty easily. Isn't 'Run Riot' awesome?? I must admit its been a while since I last spun this disc but I remembered that as being an excellent kick arse rocker??

What happened to Soto? Being sarcastic I assume ;-) I've not rated any albums yet in 2015 and the above list is based purely on most spins (except Art Nation, but that's a dead cert). But I doubt Soto will make the top 10.........there are some obvious fillers, and there are too many other great albums already released, with still a few to come :-)

Yeah, one of the greatest examples of the genre. I played that song so much, I thought I would grow tired of it, but I never did. yeah, despite being dreadfully cliched, it is perfect melodic rock. Fuckin' hell! You are so critical. Do you critique your wife every time you finish having sex? Or does that even happen anymore? Oh come on, after 35 years of listening to this music, I have to roll my eyes when I still see a song title like 'We Own The Night'.......... But I stand by my comment : it is a great melodic rock song.

A bit before my time, but Kiss - Love Gun and especially Alive II were played to death in my house. Much to the dismay of my poor parents - strangely i was younger than my daughter is now - she listens to Union J, i was listening to Kiss!

Great first song..........I too loved the debut, so this will be an easy pick up for me :-)

But you like 'All the nights' from HEAT? That's a point of confusion to me. I'm not a massive fan of the song either... I think it's close to the weakest on the album, but the comment in my initial rating was something along the lines of "not great, but much better than 'All the nights' by HEAT, if nothing else." I think 'All The Nights' is probably better, but my point would be both are probably the weakest songs on the respective albums............ Both pretty good, but not matching the rest. In both cases I would have preferred another hooky rocker.....or proper (non sappy) ballad.

I like both songs so far..............

The only song I'm not keen on is the piano ballad.......... So anyway, how did that make the cut, but not the supposed first single 'Leave It All Behind' which is excellent?? Odd decision.............

Again Journey will clearly win this year for me with the amazing 'Inifinity'

I thought you more or less hated this one??? Nope, certainly dont hate it, in fact I really like it.............it's just not as good as Eclipse or Rev Saints, which is pretty much what the original debut revolved around. Will probably be 8th or 9th in that list. Still a very good album, and I'm defo looking forward to seeing them live in October ;-)

My fav 2 currently are '3000 Beats' and 'Moving On'.......both arse kickers......esp Moving On....that riff and solo kills me. Listening to this song right now actually :-))))

Run Riot and Gods of War are probably my 2 favourite songs off that album :-) 'Distant Memory' is surely one of everyone's favourite songs on Harem Scarem's debut too?? I can't think of a weak song on it.......my guess would be around 96, maybe 97%.....prob in my top 10 of all time.