JC_AOR

I'm not sure if people in other parts of the world will know what I'm talking about, but here in Australia there is a fast growing craze for these "my family" stickers that people display on the back windscreen of their cars. They're basically stickers of stick figures representing the people who make up your family, pets included.

Like this one for example:

They look harmless enough I know. But it seems most people that have these stickers on display are the "soccer mum" types who drive around like lunatics in their SUV's and large 4WD's. Surely if you have such a nice family and young children, you want to protect them as much as possible by not driving like a fuck wit. Then there's the point that many have raised about these stickers, potentially making your children more vulnerable to pedophiles. I don't really think that these stickers would make your children more vulnerable but it's an issue that has been raised.

Anyone else seen these around?

The latest I've heard is that this new album starts out strong but will not please the AOR fans.

One word - Disgusting.

Read this absurd comment left by someone about the videos:

"TO the people outraged about this question: do you eat meat? If so you are contributing to the suffering of animals as well. You are a hypocrite, the only reason u r outraged about this is because bunnies are so cute. You have no problems with cows or sheep being slaughtered. And i'll bet you will step on a bug or swat a fly without thinking twice. Why don't you grow up?"

Keith's new album 'Get Closer' is out now. Nothing really new here. If you liked he last few albums you will like this one too. Good stuff. Apparantly there is a US Wall Mart version being released with extra tracks. I bought the standard presing here in Oz and it has 10 tracks.

Do you wake up beside a really hot Swedish chick?

Please explain a swedish hangover...how would it differ from say an Aussie or US or English hangover

This is the menu at a burger shop in Peru. My mate is over there at the moment. I'd definitely go for the Deep Purple burger I think.

I'm loving this album, it will surely be in my top 10 this year. The packaging and booklet of this digi pack is one of the best I've seen. It's a really sturdy digi pack with lyrics, photos and a track by track rundown by Lukather. The don't call it the "Limited Edition Deluxe Version" for no reason. If only all bands could put this much effort into the packaging side of things...

I like it. I can see how it might be considered non HH's material as it has similarities to those female fronted symphonic metal bands, but this is different to those, more melodic rock and not so symphonic.

Yeah I bought this album already and will not be buying it again. It really pisses me off when something gets re released such a short time later with bonus tracks etc. It's almost a bit of a "fuck you" to the fans that already purchased the album when it came out. I've already downloaded the new version.

As far as I know they only released the one EP as seen here on the AOR FM website.

I have the EP in MP3 format. Pretty cool melodic hard rock.

Marvellous album! Not a filler in sight - a definite top tenner for me'!

I agree, this will be in my top ten as well. The two bonus tracks 'Only You' and 'Consume Me' are great as well.

Matt and his new lover, Tara, were getting naughty naughty on the dancefloor. Lot's of sexy time. Good on 'em, though, she's a nice young lass.

 

As for how many people there? Tough call, I'm never a good judge on things like this. Would there have been 100 people there, guys? Another thing that I don't know if others will agree with, but I loved sound in the place. Often in a tiny little dive like that the sound is terrible and the music is too loud and vocals muffled and it's just a wall of sound. Not so on the night. Volume was perfect in my opinion and everything sounded nice and clear and as it should. Seriously, on paper it was a hole of a place - The Bald Faced Stag - but it went alright.

Go Matt!!

Sorry I missed this gig. Sounds like it was awesome.

Are we any closer to having the Garrison tracks re-issued on CD? I heard a few whispers recently that it is getting closer but still no info about it.

Those whispers better get louder. I have to admit that demos with sound quality this poor usually go straight to the "never again" pile for me, but I still play these regularly. The sound quality kills me but the songs are just that good I cannot ignore.

I think Andre may know more about this but he's holding out on us

C'mon mate, any news?

Are we any closer to having the Garrison tracks re-issued on CD? I heard a few whispers recently that it is getting closer but still no info about it.

Is this the guy that had a ballad or pop rock song all over the radio years ago (like late 80's early 90's)?

That would be 'missing you'. Great song but he has plenty more where that came from.

According to Andrew at MR.com:

"New John Waite back to his Temple Bar/Figure In A Landscape style. Singer/songwriter and in fine voice!"

This has me very excited. Apparently it will be released early 2011 on the Icon/Vantage label.

Here you go, Justin. This is the translation of the short paragraph on the back cover:

 

"For bands from the princedom Liechtenstein it is difficult to present their music to a larger audience, due to the small size of their country and the lack of an own radio or TV station in Liechtenstein. This release documents the musical creativity of young formations in the princedom. 13 rock bands demonstrate a representative profile of the music scene in Liechtenstein, with tracks that range from soft rock ballads to heavy metal sound. We hope to have made a small contribution to support these young bands with this release. We wish them much success and the necessary enthusiasm to continue their musical engagement in the music scene of Liechtenstein. "

Hey Swaz, thanks for the translation. Much appreciated.

I bought both of their albums not so long ago.

Pretty standard early 90's Hard Rock sound. The vocalist has quite a deep tone, and sounds like he's singing for a heavy metal band. For me, these vocals are probably the weak point of the disc, not because they are in any way bad, but because they seem like they don't suit the music. Some cool songs on here, just one ballad I think and the rest is pretty rockin stuff with plenty of nice guitar solos.

The second album 'It's Up to You' is much harder to find but musically, more of the same. I prefer the first album.

Paranormal Activity - but it must be watched late at night/early in the morning with all lights off, a quiet room, on your own or with just one other person. If you do that it will scare you.

Sony have just released a Springsteen box set containing his first 7 albums. It comes in a really sturdy red box. It contins just one booklet for the whole box which doesn't really have anything new in the way of photos/bio etc - just copies of the original album notes. Still a pretty cool pick up for $40-50.

Cool, sounds like everyone has been pretty pleased by this label. Looking forward to geting my order.

Great album, been playing it quite a bit lately.

Did you pay $11 and he confirmed it was cool? I paid $11 and then noticed it was for local pick-up so I sent him another $2 for the "shipped" option. Haven't got a reply yet but I assume it's all good to go.

 

Yeah, I agree it sounds like good stuff.

 

Yeah I think $11 is for USA and it works out to $13 for Australia.

Either way, a very sweet deal based on those samples. How good's the Aussie dollar at the moment too!

It's awesome for buying CD's, bad for the Australian economy, great for our music addictions.

You know I'm surprised that this Gary Johnson CD hasn't been talked about more. I haven't seen it mentioned on any of the Melodic Rock websites yet and I'm pretty sure the CD has been out for a while now. I'm not claiming that this is the next best thing out there, but these songs are sounding pretty darn good to me.

Did you pay $11 and he confirmed it was cool? I paid $11 and then noticed it was for local pick-up so I sent him another $2 for the "shipped" option. Haven't got a reply yet but I assume it's all good to go.

 

Yeah, I agree it sounds like good stuff.

Yeah I think $11 is for USA and it works out to $13 for Australia.