Gibbo

Von Groove???? Badlands????? Hurricane?????? Okay, I'm out of this thread before I start throwing punches! I tend to agree with most of that. VON GROOVE never got near their debut, never even close. Badlands sucked IMO, and Hurricane (although hardly the worst follow-up) went in a less commercial direction and lost me as a fan. Fair Warning is a good shout too, though they made it all okay again with the awesome "Go!"... Hmm... I think I preferred Badlands' second CD to their first... You and me both, mate ...

I honestly had to use the HH search engine to see if there was another sophomore album called "Screw It" other than that from Danger Danger. Nope, so yes I vote for a crucifixion... No totally kidding, you have the right to your opinion, even though I 100% disagree with you. Yeah, the 'Screw It!' question reminds me of this quote from the ship's captain in an episode of Blackadder, "Well, opinion on the matter is divided m'Lord. All the other captains say it is. I say it isn't." I just think the songs on the debut Danger Danger CD were fantastic, the second album wasn't a patch on it and the songs were nothing special at all. A couple of other second albums that I found disappointing: Faster Pussycat - Wake Me When It's Over (fantastic debut CD, this was very poor in comparison) Fear of God - Toxic Voodoo (after the genius that was 'Within The Veil', this was very bad) Bang Tango - Dancin' On Coals (I've ignored 'Live Injection' as it wasn't a studio album; 'Psycho Cafe' was brilliant, 'Coals' had 2 good songs on it, the rest was pretty weak) I'm with you when it comes to Bang Tango ... I really, REALLY tried to like 'Dancin' ...', but only the title track really stood out for me ...

If you can get BBC4, this sounds like it could be decent viewing: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/southern-rock-on-bbc-tv/

I reckon you're right - I can just see this all going to ratshit ... Hope so. As we've discussed elsewhere, I much prefer Sabbath with Tony Martin to any of their other eras. Sadly Ozzy is always going to pull in more wedge though. I'll have you listening to the RJD-era material before you know it ...

I reckon you're right - I can just see this all going to ratshit ...

... and in case you were wondering, I thought VH3 was utter bilge (although that didn't stop me from buying a ticket for the associated tour that was subsequently cancelled)

Completely disagree! It sounds like nineties DLR! I think you need to clean your ears and get your facts straight mate! 90's DLR? Even the biggest VH hater would look like a fool stating that the new one is not a return to the sound of the DLR era. I'm guessing you've only heard the first single Tattoo...be honest! 75% of the album was originaly written in the 70's...not sure how that converts to 90's DLR. A lot of the material (in one form or another) might date from the 70s but, soundwise, the album doesn't even come close to capturing their heyday ... I swear people in England didn't get the same release that we did in North America. Apart from the production being modern and fuller of course, the band's sound is spot on to what they were in their heyday. Once not a fan, never a fan. Sorry, mate - but I'm a fan ... have been since I was 13 (which is a fair old while ago) ... I bought the albums (even VH3), tracked down the bootlegs, seen 'em twice with Sammy, seen DLR solo ... would you like me to go on? My own opinion - whether you agree or not - is that the new album doesn't capture their classic sound ... I just don't rate the album - and, believe me, I wanted to ...

Completely disagree! It sounds like nineties DLR! I think you need to clean your ears and get your facts straight mate! 90's DLR? Even the biggest VH hater would look like a fool stating that the new one is not a return to the sound of the DLR era. I'm guessing you've only heard the first single Tattoo...be honest! 75% of the album was originaly written in the 70's...not sure how that converts to 90's DLR. A lot of the material (in one form or another) might date from the 70s but, soundwise, the album doesn't even come close to capturing their heyday ...

...I thought that was the serious bit. It's only what the rest of us have known for years ...

Keel, by a country mile ... they're far more consistent than the other two ... I have to say, Helix have left me cold - can't see the appeal at all ...

I'm sure it will slip out before June. If the band is that BIG there is no way to keep it quiet for that long. And why would they want to keep it quiet...? If they really have a headliner they would announce it so it would boost ticket sales. Yeah, but they say they can't announce it for contractual reasons or something. Rumours at the moment suggesting Machine Head (which bears no relation to 6.6.6 as far as I know and would definitely put me off going to the festival) and Mercyful Fate. The latter would make sense and fit with the vague clues we have. Probably more likely than my guess. As we've previously discussed elsewhere, I may not be held responsibile for my actions if it's Mercyful Fate ... I'd happily sell my grandmother to the glue factory to see THEM! Sadly, Machine Head are being mentioned in connection with a lot of UK Festivals this year ...

I'm gutted, but unless my next batch of ebay CDs fetches about £1000, I just won't be able to do it. Any chance of a little Farcry warm up show in London? Didn't happen for me this time round and the finances are going from bad to worse, so I definitely won't be able to make the HeavyHarmonies Firefest meet this year. At least this way I won't get a good kicking for my Treat, Poodles and Vain baiting on the forum... Hit up the MOR Cruise next year, and I'll see to it you get a good kicking then. Might even through you overboard. Awesome. Really feeling the love here. BTW, cruise? I might just be able to afford it as long as it's only going up and down the Medway! Living in Kent, I would have thought that 'cruising' would be right up your street, mate. As it were ...

The New Order gets my vote every single time ... an absolute classic from start to finish ...

Very sad - the first two Montrose albums are perennial favourites in Gibbo Towers ...

Warrant - Uncle Tom's Cabin

Hell, yeah - I'm with Evil Rick on this one ... Fair Warning has got to be one of my favourite albums of all time ...

Iron Maiden, by a country mile ... although I also like the Black Metal stylings of I ... shame they weren't on the list

Queensryche, definitely ... nothing they've released since 'Empire' has really interested me ... Bon Jovi are waaaaaaaay past their 'sell by date', and - as much as I love Van Halen - I think that Eddie and the boys are flogging a dead horse ...

I still have no idea why you let people add their own reviews - having read the reviews on this disc on the site most people seem to be melodramatic clowns more interested in having a pop at the review than arguing an opinion. Stuff like: "Andrew I don't think I'll ever trust your reviews again", or comments about bias towards bands like VH and Harem Scarem. People disagree, deal with it. Reviews are supposed to inform/educate/shape peoples buying habits. Who gives a toss whether people trust the reviews, when you run a site you can post what the fuck you like. And if you have a bias towards bands like Harem Scarem, so what? Everyone has favourite bands that they probably have some bias towards, even if they do release a weak album. Great post this. I hope the site continues to allow people to post their own reviews as I like reading others' opinions. However, as you say, you can always choose to ignore a person's reviews if he/she doesn't share your tastes. Personally I use reviews to decide which songs to check out, then I make my mind up. And I always read a range of reviews before deciding to buy or listen. I can see why people might get wound up when fans of the same band disagree on what is or isn't a good song or album, e.g. if someone said to me, "I'm a huge fan of Bolt Thrower, but I think IVth Crusade is a weak album" I would assume he was f***ing mental and needed his head tested, but it's still only an opinion. Arguing about opinions on music is about as worthwhile arguing that red is better than blue. I'm a huge fan of Bolt Thrower, but I think IVth Crusade is a weak album ...

On the 'plus' side, at least said friends can test the CDs to make sure they work properly That said, you start ordering stuff by The Darkness and you're on your own, mate ...

Or maybe the after the Lou Reed album they all denounced Metallica and moved onto another band. I think that those were the days when the name Metallica had an air of greatness about it. The brand was flawless and everyone wanted their merch or to see a gig, and bands wanted to copy their style. These days no-one wants to copy them because they don't really have any style, and who wants to buy a Lulu t-shirt or pay a lot of money to hear those songs live? People were genuinely shocked when "St.Anger" came out and it showed they had very few good ideas left, but what's more shocking these days is that "St.Anger" is not the worst thing in their discography. Staying on top of your game is tough, especially as new bands come along and you have to step your game up, but Metallica haven't been able to compete for donkey's years. Their first 3/4/5 albums (depending on your taste) will always be legendary, but making some great albums 20 years ago doesn't buy you the right to a permanent fan-base and since then they've been passed by a zillion better bands IMO and are no longer worthy of your hard-earned money... my bro saw them at O2 a couple of years back and said they were awesome (and he's been to 300+ gigs) so I guess they can still cut it in the live arena. Thing is though that a live performance is like a greatest hits package in many ways, it points to the fact that in their day, they recorded some amazing songs, but then when you mix in the newer stuff, it really stands out like a sore thumb, but while you are in the euphoria of hearing a great performance, it kind of softens you opinion on the new tracks. Play those tracks on their own or a whole album of them, and your opinion will once again be that the new tracks are shite. These days Metallica mostly leave out those new songs anyway. Plus they just don't play the old songs as well as they used to anymore. Machine Head sometimes play "Battery" as part of their set and it has all the ferocity of the original, whereas when I've seen Metallica play it they make it sound like a mid-tempo metal song rather than a raging thrash tune... I saw some recent footage of them playing 'Trapped Under Ice', and it was nowhere near as ferocious as it originally sounded ... I appreciate that they're all older, and maybe don't have the stamina that they had all those years ago, but most of their peers have now overtaken them in terms of consistency of material AND performance levels ....

It's just been announced that Sabbath have pulled all dates for 2012, with the exception of the Download Festival. Fair play, they're saying that this is for the sake of Tony Iommi's health, but apparently the cancelled Sabbath dates will be taken on by Ozzy, with a variety of 'guest musicians' (the ubiquitous Zakk Wylde being one.) He plans to play some Sabbath numbers with Geezer, as a tribute to Tony, but I can't remember which venue(s) will get to see that ...

It was a tape of Van Halen's show at Wembley in 1993 ... with a bit of luck, a mate of mine will be able to record it to CD for me ...

I'd be happy if they could just be bothered to put 'Maiden England' out on DVD ... I had that on VHS when it first came out, and that was a cracking show ...

Your mate ain't a VH fanboy then, otherwise he'd be all over this like a frickin' rash. Make your own mind up I say Hm ... not sure I'd go with the 'fanboy' tag (thanks, James!) but, yeah, I'm a fan ... and this just sounds tired to me ... what I've heard just doesn't get me excited (and, believe me, when I heard they were recording with Roth I was as happy as a five year-old on Christmas morning ... after all, hadn't we all been wanting this to happen since they recorded those bonus tracks for the first 'Best Of' compilation?) The words 'flogging' and 'dead horse' spring to mind ... but, hey, at least we'll get to hear them doing some of the old classics when they tour ... assuming, of course, that they make it to the UK ...