Crazysam

Leppard was one of my favorite bands during the '80s. I'm still a big fan, but most of what they've put out after Retroactive has been disappointing to me.

New single sounds great. The last album was good but I thought it lacked the consistency of the debut. I'm looking forward to hearing more from this one.

I could appreciate Alex wanting to put together a tribute concert at some point, to honor his brother and the band's legacy. But anything more than that just doesn't seem right to me. After Eddie passed Van Halen the band ended.

That is pretty rare, one of the only other examples that comes to mind is King's X

That first single is decent. Based on this interview, “Kick” was the last track they finished for the upcoming album. Phil and an outside writer, Dave Bassett, came up with the riff and core song idea.

I've always dug that song as well and have it in my 80's pop rock/new wave playlist

Agreed, they've gone from melodic metal to more of a hard rock/melodic rock style. The verses of this new track in particular really highlight those differences if you listen back to back with their earlier material. I'm sure some fans will be turned off by the changes, but I like the song.

I like Aaron's playing style as well. I plan to give it another spin as I may feel differently about it now. To your original point, I'm glad you stumbled across something that you're really enjoying. That doesn't happen for me as often as it did years ago, but as you mentioned it's one of the best experiences to have when listening to music.

I recall being disappointed when I heard this one back in the '90s. I liked the album Nothings Sacred by Laaz Rockit and a friend of mine told me about this release. When I saw the cover and the new band name it was an immediate red flag. And upon listening to it I realized they, like many other 80's thrash bands, had jumped onto the groove metal band wagon. Some cool riffs amongst the tracks and not a bad album, but I've just never been much of a groove metal fan.

I had similar thoughts when I listened to it with regards to being reminded at times of the style from the debut. I was pleasantly surprised that they went in that direction and I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to

solid track, I agree with those who commented on the chorus being a little weaker though...as far as the comparison with the new Skid Row track w/ Erik, it's pretty close for me, but I'd give a slight edge to Skid Row mostly because it was a lot better than I was expecting

I'm still a big fan, but as Captain pointed out they've been hit and miss on their last couple studio albums. I look forward to hearing the new track and still hold out hope the guys have one more great album in them.

my favorite production of his is Back for the Attack

Interesting, I hadn't heard that, but considering the similarities in style it makes sense that something like that transpired during those recording sessions

I'd pick Rust in Peace, as Glen pointed out, that production is immense

He was busy working with Bryan Adams on Waking Up...but he co-wrote the songs and helped with the several of the arrangements on Adrenalize. My pick for his best production would be Hysteria.

I agree with Doggy, my favorite production job by Mr. Benson would be Bang Tango's Psycho Café

While it's not amongst the ones you listed, I always thought Balance was Van Halen's best sounding album during the Hagar years.

Here are two articles on some of the events from 2014 that lead to President Yanukovych being removed from office in Ukraine. One of these articles is an opinion piece, so consider that for what it is. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/russia-ukraine-war-kiev-conflict https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25182830

I feel terrible for the people of Ukraine and the soldiers on both sides. And I strongly believe the invasion should be condemned by other world leaders. But some people believe steps taken by the current U.S. administration (and prior admins to varying degrees) contributed to escalating tensions leading up to the invasion . If you look back to the last 15 years in particular, the U.S. has encouraged consideration for inviting Ukraine, and other countries that were part of the USSR, to join NATO knowing Russia was strongly opposed to doing so. There is also the belief that the U.S. actively supported the coup in 2014. And ever since the coup the U.S. has provided billions of dollars in military and financial aid to Ukraine.

Pretty Maids is my pick from the montage, but there were a lot of great albums that year

A great comeback by Whitesnake and Dokken's best release since Erase the Slate, but my choice from the montage is Marcello/Vestry

Good albums from the Scorpions, Ted Poley, Sixx: A.M. and Crazy Lixx but my pick from the montage is PC69

Tough call for me between House of Lords and Wig Wam, but I'll give the nod to HOL