Glen

Quite simply the way I rate an album is to rate each song indivdually (may seen arduous, but is OK when you are looking at 30-40 releases over a year...doesnt really take long). If a song (for me) is perfect in every way.....from intro to verse to chorus to solo (if there is one) to outro....then I will score it a 10/10. Whilst I would say that there are no perfect albums (100%) I would definitely say that there are perfect songs and lots of them. For example a couple I would rate as perfect 10/10 songs - Crown Of Thorns - Dyin For Love Jeff Scott Solo - Eyes Of Love However for an ALBUM to be perfect, every song would need to score a 10/10 and that just aint gonna happen. & if it did I would be a very happy bunny indeed. Cheers

It`s all about personal taste and arguably the diehards who go to concerts don`t want to keep hearing the same old songs, then again they may be the minority as possibly the majority of fans do want to hear the same old songs as they don`t really know all the back catalogue. LTS is the worst off Evolution in my opinion, done to death live, time to change it and replace it with Daydream or Lady Luck! Do You Recall, Sweet And Simple, Just The Same Way are three of the best well simply put any track from 4-9 would be much much better than LTS. IMO. I doubt we would ever get 'Just The Same Way' again due to the double vocals......wouldn't be the same without Gregg. What I would really love is an encore of 'When Youre Alone' and 'Lovin You Is Easy. Cheers

QFT. As I said, it's a good song and I like it plenty; it's just not one of my faves. I honestly have to say I am with Geoff on this one. Under the gun is a great song, but not one that has ever been one of my faves. Off the debut, the ones I would put on a D2 compilation are: Naughty naughty Bang bang Dont walk away Rock America One step from paradise From Screw it: Monkey business Crazy nites Comin home Slipped her the big one Yeah you want it I still think about you Get your shit together All in all there its about even in the great song stakes, its just that I think the other songs on Screw it are better than those on D2. No "Beat the Bullet" from Screw It? Just my opinion but I always thought that one was one of the most beloved D2 songs. Yeah now that really IS odd. Beat The Bullet and Dont Blame It On Love are the clear stand out tracks Screw It, IMO. Yup me to. In all honesty, the 10 I picked above is about the best compilation I've ever seen in my life. There are a couple from Revolve I would pick over some of them....... 'Hearts On The Highway' and 'Dirty Mind' for starters. Two classics in my book.

Wow, that's 5 mins of my life that I wont get back ;-) Ludicrous 'quiz'.

Those two are stunning albums IMHO... Yeah backed I love both albums, but for me the HS is beaten by a few of their other albums.....for example Higher, s/t, Mood Swings would all rate above this this so I could never give Overload 99%

QFT. As I said, it's a good song and I like it plenty; it's just not one of my faves. I honestly have to say I am with Geoff on this one. Under the gun is a great song, but not one that has ever been one of my faves. Off the debut, the ones I would put on a D2 compilation are: Naughty naughty Bang bang Dont walk away Rock America One step from paradise From Screw it: Monkey business Crazy nites Comin home Slipped her the big one Yeah you want it I still think about you Get your shit together All in all there its about even in the great song stakes, its just that I think the other songs on Screw it are better than those on D2. No "Beat the Bullet" from Screw It? Just my opinion but I always thought that one was one of the most beloved D2 songs. Yeah now that really IS odd. Beat The Bullet and Dont Blame It On Love are the clear stand out tracks Screw It, IMO.

Listening to the debut and this album back to back I really dont think there is a whole lot of difference. Both albums are really strong. I still love tracks 5-9 on the debut....just a great run of songs. & still think that 'My Derailment' is their best track. I guess that if anything the sophomore is more consistent. Great band....would love to see them play a few dates in the UK! Cheers 'esteemed member'

Edge Of The Moment was f awesome live! Yeah, I was surprised by having nothing from Revelation as well, but I guess you can only play so much in 90 mins and 'After All These Years' is too close to 'Open Arms' which they will never drop from their set! What irks me more is that the only song they play from Evolution is bloody 'Lovin Touchin Squeezin' which is the WORST song on the album IMO!! What's more they end with it.......why not end with 'Lovin You Is Easy' which would blow the roof off the joint?? Imagine Schon ending on that extended solo they do live Also I tend to think that 'Wheel In The Sky' is past its sell by date.........I would much rather hear 'Winds Of March'....now that would be cool. Cheers

:-o

np Jeff Paris - Lucky This Time

the new one sounds even more like Dokken....if that's possible ;-)

yeah bizarre. Best song live by a long shot. It was the song which Paul Laine decided to sing live at Firefest too, which was pretty awesome.

Fair enough, well put. Slightly odd though, as I love hair metal and much prefer it to AOR as a rule, but just found the songs on 'Screw It' so simplistic and lacking any kind of depth (in terms of the tunes, I don't expect philosophical elightenment from Poley and co). Maybe that's not it at all, I just find it really hard to put my finger on exactly why I really dislike the album and find the debut so much better. Only slight disappointment is 'Under The Gun' missing from your list. For me it's by far Danger Danger's best song, completely awesome in every way. I am probably misreading what you mean by "depth" but if I am reading right, I would say D2 has never been anything but a great hard rock band not to be taken too seriously. If I want depth, I will listen to Dream Theatre. That doesn't make the band any less great or the songs on Screw it any less good because of what they sing about or the style of the song. That's just my opinion. I will say this though...you hit the nail right on the head with Under the Gun. That is the BEST song on the S/T album by far and they do the song so good live without the drowing out of keyboards. I'm just not a huge keyboard person at all. The songs on the first album for the most part are good but I would love to hear them re-recorded heavier w/o keyboards. I dont actually mind the keys in Under The Gun, but do agree that the songs on the debut sound much better live. The production on the debut is definitely 'lacking' IMO.

Mmm not heard the Egypt Central - may have to check that one out. Cheers

Tinkerbell - The Great Fairy Rescue [with my 4 yr old daughter - magical. Its moments like these that make you glad to be alive]

Cheers Glen I try to remain objective when watching three of my faves, Styx are probably my joint favourite band with Rush and I genuinely thought they were superior on the night, possibly their sound quality was better than Journey (not as loud etc). Regarding Mother Father, one of the best Journey songs, I said it was pretty good but in retrospect, I didn`t like and don`t particuarly like Deens vocals on this, the rest of the song was great. Definitely too loud, sound quality wasn`t the best for an headlining act. All four Eclipse songs were really good,always great to hear new songs and less of the obvious overplayed classics. Personally I thought the beginning of 'Edge Of The Moment' was absolutely awesome - seeing Schon in full flow hammering out that riff. In fact the whole song was superb. Made some of their older hits sound like bubble gum pop.

I must admit though that after hearing the samples I was hopeful of 2 things that they would have improved on over the debut - 1. That they would have ramped up the melody 2. More guitar solos 1. was kind of achieved, 2. unfortunately was not which was kind of disappointing. In terms of point 1 there's no doubt that there are some great melodic choruses on here like 'Alive', 'Good Enough', 'Somebody wishes', 'Hurt' etc which sound like they could have been lifted from the last Daughtry album - no bad thing. But there were one of 2 dangerous lapses towards a more NU-metal sound as well. Overall a really good effort. Better than the debut? Difficult to say at this point, but definitely looking forward to more listens.

Nice review mate and by and large I completely agree with your summation, esp in that the flow of the album is excellent and you dont get drawn into a boring flow of samey sounding songs which normally leaves you struggling to remember a hook. I must admit though that after hearing the samples I was hopeful of 2 things that they would have improved on over the debut - 1. That they would have ramped up the melody 2. More guitar solos 1. was kind of achieved, 2. unfortunately was not which was kind of disappointing. In terms of point 1 there's no doubt that there are some great melodic choruses on here like 'Alive', 'Good Enough', 'Somebody wishes', 'Hurt' etc which sound like they could have been lifted from the last Daughtry album - no bad thing. But there were one of 2 dangerous lapses towards a more NU-metal sound as well. Overall a really good effort. Better than the debut? Difficult to say at this point, but definitely looking forward to more listens.

Adelitas Way - Home School Valedictorian Pagans Mind - Heavenly Ecstacy

@ Faron. Nice write up mate. Just a couple of points........ Lucky we are all different eh??! I personally hated Styx. I know Ive never been a fan, but I do really like the Paradise Theatre album. I thought most of the songs were just bloody annoying - far too drawn out. As you say the only song which really rocked was 'Blue Collar Man'. Re Journey. I thought Pineda was spot on at Wembley. If anything I wish he'd sung Mother, Father as well as Dean's vocal deliverance was pretty poor I thought, which is unusual for him as he is usually v good. Bit of a mistake me thinks giving him arguably the most difficult song to sing?? He used to sing 'Still They Ride' which is much easier IMO. I agree that it was LOUD - too loud IMO. To feel the bass thumping your chest in an arena that size is a rare thing these days and I think the sound engineer could have toned it down a little as it did detract from the overall sound quality. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the Journey set - and the new songs sounded awesome eh?? Cheers

Only slight disappointment is 'Under The Gun' missing from your list. For me it's by far Danger Danger's best song, completely awesome in every way. You took the words right out of my mouth. Easily their best song (by a mile!), and usually their encore song, so they must think so too ;-)) I would also have Naughty Naughty in my top 10 too. So would probably be 6-4 the other way for me. BUT both great discs for me too. Cheers

Dan, Quite a few loved it...ive never been a real fan I must admit.

For Bel's Boys debut album People Lets Go (co written with Alistair Griffin and Chris and Tony Griffiths) Reaching Out For Do's album Do (co written with Alistair Griffin) Angel By My Side For Khymera's 2nd album,A New Promise Alone Let It Burn All That I Have Tomorrow Never comes Fields Of Fire Give In to The World All Is Gone For Khymera's 3rd album,The Greatest Wonder Ablaze (intro) Beautiful Life Borderline Burn Out Since You Went Away Love Had Come And Gone No Sacrifice The Greatest Wonder Fight For Yesterday If I Can't Be Love Will Find You Stay Forever The Other Side Tommy Funderburk's album, Anything for You To Say You Love Me House of Lords 5th album, World Upside Down Million Miles Ghost Of Time Tracks written or co-written for Ted Poley's album, Smile If I Cant Change Your Heart Going Blind Waiting Line Where It Ends From The Inside's album (featuring Danny Vaughn), Visions If It's Not Love Listen To Your Heart 21st Century Days Of Hunger One More Night In Heaven. For Sunstorm and Joe Lyn Turner's album, House of Dreams Divided Dont Give Up The Spirit Inside House of Dreams For Issa's album, Sign of Angels (co written with Nick Workman) River of Love As I Live And Breathe For First Signal ft Harry Hess's album First Signal Into The Night This City First Signal

The new songs were excellent live last night at Wembley. They played 'City Of Hope', 'Chain Of Love', 'Resonate' and 'Edge Of The Moment'. 'Edge Of The Moment' was totally awesome....made some of the old hits sound like 'bubble gum pop'. I think some of these songs need to be heard live, cos they were so atmospheric and Schon's playing was just out of this world. I`m off to Birmingham to see them later, probably the four tracks I would want to hear off the album apart from To Whom It May Concern. Can`t wait to see three of my favourite bands Just IMO. Styx - show 4/10 Performance 4/10.......pretty shocking IMO, never really been a fan and this cemented why lol. Foreigner - show 6/10 performance 7/10......pretty impressive really. Hanson was great, good choice of songs, well performed Journey - show 9/10 performance 8.5/10......show was amazing. Screens, lasers, pretty epic really. Performance was generally great, esp Arnel who hit every note going. One or two little blips where they tried to change up the songs, but nothing major. Sound was overall very good, but a little too loud and in places the drums were a tad boomy....but this is minor gripes on an otherwise flawless performance. Great choice of song too. I just posted a you tube of Faithfully which will give you an idea. Cheers

Awesome gig. Arnel was amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hok_siPkPIM&feature=related