First Spin Impressions

[heaven&hell]

Unruly Child - Worlds Collide

After hearing some mp3s of this I finally got around to picking up the physical cd and I love it. My favs so far are "When We Were Young", "Tell Another Lie", "Love it Blind", "When Worlds Collide"(this song is amazing), "Talk to Me" and "Very First Time". Really the only tunes I dislike are "Life Death"(this tune is why God invented the skip button. Never should of made the disc IMO) and "Show Me the Money"(not a bad song actually but should of been towards the end of the cd not the opener IMO). There was a lot of talk about "Insane" being a filler and I don't get that at all as I think it's a gem and reminds me of "Long Haired Woman" from the debut. All in all a damn good disc with really only one bad song and one just okay song IMO.

 

Paul Laine - Stick it in your Ear(AOR Heaven Reissue

I've had the original on CDR for years but never felt like paying to much $ for an original so never got around to grabbing this until it just got reissued through AOR Heaven this month with four bonus tracks(the same four that was on the Long Island reissue from 1995) and I'd never heard those before. This IMO is one of the better discs from the early 90's without the bonus tracks but with them it's even better. How the hell "Open Your Heart", "Keep on Running" and the stunning ballad "After the Rain" didn't make the original release I'll never know. A great cd got even better IMO. Plus the liner notes are great telling the whole story plus what happened later with Paul with D2 and what he's up to now. Highly reccomended.

[heaven&hell]

Aces High - Ten N Out

I had heard one other disc from these guys but for some reason I wasn't expecting this to have as much funk in it but it's actually a pretty good album. While many might call this disc great I just say it's really good. My fav tunes are "Jungle of Love", "Nobodys Fool", "Ten N Out", "Heartache Breakdown", "Never Again" and "Do You Need". "Remember" now is by and far the best tune and is the gem of this disc IMO. The one main problem I have is that the final tune the ballad "Eternally" is just plain dreadful and should of been left off the disc IMO.

 

Heavens Edge - S/T(Rock Candy)

As always Rock Candy Records always make there remastered reissued sound like a million bucks and this disc is no different. While I've had an original of this for years and have loved it dearly the remaster job makes this disc even better and sounds wonderful. Of course you get the 4000 word essay telling the whole band story. You also get 3 bonus tracks of demos that sure sound better than most demos I've heard. "Superstition" ,"U Got It" and "Just Another Fire" all sound great and are very good songs with the ballad JAF being a great tune IMO. I remember that one from the later released second album but don't remember it sounded as good as this version. Also it's just great to hear "Find Another Way", "Skin to Skin", "Hold on to Tonight", "Bad Reputation" and the others in remastered form.

 

Melidian - Lost in the Wild(Rock Candy)

I've always wanted this since hearing the mp3s for this a few years back but an original wasn't in my price range so when Rock Candy reissued it I had to have it. "Livin Under the Gun", "Ready to Rock", "Fire Up the Heart", "Sleepless Nights" and the great finale of "Broken Toys" make this a great slab of AOR. Great stuff and it sounds great and of course you get the band story in the liner notes, which I love. I had no idea that they toured with Tora Tora on their first tour.

[Geoff]

I want those 3 re-issues, if only for the liner notes! But seriously, the Paul Laine one sounds essential anyway, with those bonus tracks.

[heaven&hell]

I want those 3 re-issues, if only for the liner notes! But seriously, the Paul Laine one sounds essential anyway, with those bonus tracks.

 

Remind me this week and I'll let you check out any bonus tracks you want to hear.

[Glen]

Unruly Child - Worlds Collide

After hearing some mp3s of this I finally got around to picking up the physical cd and I love it. My favs so far are "When We Were Young", "Tell Another Lie", "Love it Blind", "When Worlds Collide"(this song is amazing), "Talk to Me" and "Very First Time". Really the only tunes I dislike are "Life Death"(this tune is why God invented the skip button. Never should of made the disc IMO) and "Show Me the Money"(not a bad song actually but should of been towards the end of the cd not the opener IMO). There was a lot of talk about "Insane" being a filler and I don't get that at all as I think it's a gem and reminds me of "Long Haired Woman" from the debut. All in all a damn good disc with really only one bad song and one just okay song IMO.

 

 

And of course 'Read My Mind' which was a top 10 song of last year for me :-))

[Dead Planet]

Aces High - Ten N Out

I had heard one other disc from these guys but for some reason I wasn't expecting this to have as much funk in it but it's actually a pretty good album. While many might call this disc great I just say it's really good. My fav tunes are "Jungle of Love", "Nobodys Fool", "Ten N Out", "Heartache Breakdown", "Never Again" and "Do You Need". "Remember" now is by and far the best tune and is the gem of this disc IMO. The one main problem I have is that the final tune the ballad "Eternally" is just plain dreadful and should of been left off the disc IMO.

 

Really good band....all 3 of their releases are quite good IMO....

[Dead Planet]

Sticky Sweet-Can't Stay Innocent

 

I wasn't expecting much from this release when I picked it up on a whim but damned if it isn't a damn good sleazy rocker and well worth the few dollars it cost me...

 

 

Randy Piper's Animal-Violent New Breed

 

Another release that I wasn't expecting much from and I ended up being blown away by how good it is...Talk about great first impressions, fantastic production work by Chris Laney, after several more spins over the weekend I can say that I prefer this to any of the WASP albums....

[heaven&hell]

Unruly Child - Worlds Collide

After hearing some mp3s of this I finally got around to picking up the physical cd and I love it. My favs so far are "When We Were Young", "Tell Another Lie", "Love it Blind", "When Worlds Collide"(this song is amazing), "Talk to Me" and "Very First Time". Really the only tunes I dislike are "Life Death"(this tune is why God invented the skip button. Never should of made the disc IMO) and "Show Me the Money"(not a bad song actually but should of been towards the end of the cd not the opener IMO). There was a lot of talk about "Insane" being a filler and I don't get that at all as I think it's a gem and reminds me of "Long Haired Woman" from the debut. All in all a damn good disc with really only one bad song and one just okay song IMO.

 

 

And of course 'Read My Mind' which was a top 10 song of last year for me :-))

 

Yes that is a great tune as well.

[Geoff]

Phantom Blue - 'Built to perform' ; I had their debut for a while and I always enjoyed it enough, but I think I got a good trade offer for it and it went. Or did it? I'm not even sure if it's still in the collection or not. lol. Anyway, saw this one cheap and snapped it up for old time's sake. It's a little more average and straight-forward than the debut, but damn, cuz, these whores... haha, no please, I'm kidding. But yeah, these shielas sure lay down some pretty sweet tracks. The hooks are decent but could have been better - they're quite subdued and obviously stripped back for the music climate in 1993 - and there's a few straight-up misses, but generally the musicianship and some cool riffs get this by. It's not amazing or essential, but it's a pretty good listen. Amazed they were signed to Geffen for this release in 1993...

 

Private Life - 'Shadows' ; I don't know what Eddie Van Halen's problem with this band was, but I'd credit him as a big reason why I'm sure they failed so miserably. Signed to Warner Bros for both of these releases, you'd think they'd have been in with a shot. The songs aren't stunning, but generally they're pretty good. Certainly worthy enough to warrant this a keeper, but the production job, handled by Edward Van Halen and some other clutz... it's just shithouse, and not what you would ever expect from a band with good label backing. Apparently someone hated the drummer in this band because you can barely hear the poor bastard on this thing. Overall, I quite enjoyed the CD and it's nice melodic rock / AOR, but shithouse production job.

 

Private Life - s/t ; and for whatever reason they teamed up with him again for album two! That's where a name gets you, I suppose. The production job is better this time 'round, but still nowhere near major label quality. I thought this album was a total write-off after the first half. In the first 5 songs, only a cover song called 'Domino' is any good. The rest are rubbish. Then comes track 6, 'Nothing to lose', which is finally listenable. And then the last 3 songs after that are also pretty good. So overall it's a bit of a dud, but the last 4 songs probably just keep it in the keepers pile.

[JamesEagle]

Phantom Blue - 'Built to perform' ; I had their debut for a while and I always enjoyed it enough, but I think I got a good trade offer for it and it went. Or did it? I'm not even sure if it's still in the collection or not. lol. Anyway, saw this one cheap and snapped it up for old time's sake. It's a little more average and straight-forward than the debut, but damn, cuz, these whores... haha, no please, I'm kidding. But yeah, these shielas sure lay down some pretty sweet tracks. The hooks are decent but could have been better - they're quite subdued and obviously stripped back for the music climate in 1993 - and there's a few straight-up misses, but generally the musicianship and some cool riffs get this by. It's not amazing or essential, but it's a pretty good listen. Amazed they were signed to Geffen for this release in 1993...

 

Private Life - 'Shadows' ; I don't know what Eddie Van Halen's problem with this band was, but I'd credit him as a big reason why I'm sure they failed so miserably. Signed to Warner Bros for both of these releases, you'd think they'd have been in with a shot. The songs aren't stunning, but generally they're pretty good. Certainly worthy enough to warrant this a keeper, but the production job, handled by Edward Van Halen and some other clutz... it's just shithouse, and not what you would ever expect from a band with good label backing. Apparently someone hated the drummer in this band because you can barely hear the poor bastard on this thing. Overall, I quite enjoyed the CD and it's nice melodic rock / AOR, but shithouse production job.

 

Private Life - s/t ; and for whatever reason they teamed up with him again for album two! That's where a name gets you, I suppose. The production job is better this time 'round, but still nowhere near major label quality. I thought this album was a total write-off after the first half. In the first 5 songs, only a cover song called 'Domino' is any good. The rest are rubbish. Then comes track 6, 'Nothing to lose', which is finally listenable. And then the last 3 songs after that are also pretty good. So overall it's a bit of a dud, but the last 4 songs probably just keep it in the keepers pile.

 

I really like the Private Like debut, 'Put Out The Fire' especially is a fantastic song. Agree that the second one was poor, I quite liked 'Night All Night', but wasn't keen on the other tracks at all.

[Geoff]

Phantom Blue - 'Built to perform' ; I had their debut for a while and I always enjoyed it enough, but I think I got a good trade offer for it and it went. Or did it? I'm not even sure if it's still in the collection or not. lol. Anyway, saw this one cheap and snapped it up for old time's sake. It's a little more average and straight-forward than the debut, but damn, cuz, these whores... haha, no please, I'm kidding. But yeah, these shielas sure lay down some pretty sweet tracks. The hooks are decent but could have been better - they're quite subdued and obviously stripped back for the music climate in 1993 - and there's a few straight-up misses, but generally the musicianship and some cool riffs get this by. It's not amazing or essential, but it's a pretty good listen. Amazed they were signed to Geffen for this release in 1993...

 

Private Life - 'Shadows' ; I don't know what Eddie Van Halen's problem with this band was, but I'd credit him as a big reason why I'm sure they failed so miserably. Signed to Warner Bros for both of these releases, you'd think they'd have been in with a shot. The songs aren't stunning, but generally they're pretty good. Certainly worthy enough to warrant this a keeper, but the production job, handled by Edward Van Halen and some other clutz... it's just shithouse, and not what you would ever expect from a band with good label backing. Apparently someone hated the drummer in this band because you can barely hear the poor bastard on this thing. Overall, I quite enjoyed the CD and it's nice melodic rock / AOR, but shithouse production job.

 

Private Life - s/t ; and for whatever reason they teamed up with him again for album two! That's where a name gets you, I suppose. The production job is better this time 'round, but still nowhere near major label quality. I thought this album was a total write-off after the first half. In the first 5 songs, only a cover song called 'Domino' is any good. The rest are rubbish. Then comes track 6, 'Nothing to lose', which is finally listenable. And then the last 3 songs after that are also pretty good. So overall it's a bit of a dud, but the last 4 songs probably just keep it in the keepers pile.

 

I really like the Private Like debut, 'Put Out The Fire' especially is a fantastic song. Agree that the second one was poor, I quite liked 'Night All Night', but wasn't keen on the other tracks at all.

Haha. That was the song that literally nearly made me take the CD out the player and give up. I found it to be the most terrible song they recorded. You really like stuff like that? Freak.

 

A couple of other first spins:

 

Prophet - 'Cycle of the moon' ; Interesting one, this one. Very polished (too much? A little ball-less?) and different to what I've heard from these guys before. There is some great melodic rock / AOR on here, like 'Cant Hide Love', 'Sound of a breaking heart' and 'Asylum' but what really took me by surprise on this CD was the big proggy vibe. The opener, 'Cycle Of The Moon' and the horrible 'On the run' made me quite scared with how bad they were. Songs like that and the album cover make me think that Maxatexan or whatever his name is (their chief songwriter) must have been highly influenced by prog at the time. Anyway, that's the first half of the CD covered. The 2nd half is okay and I actually think the man in question, Mexatexen or whatever... I think he has a much better voice than Arcara, as he displays on the ballad at track 6. Yeah, I dunno. I'm still so stoked I found this CD at secondspin for so cheap and am delighted to have it in my collection, but if I'm being honest I think it's pretty weak overall.

 

Puzzleview - 'On the steamy side' ; absolutely dreadful. Cannot wait to see this leave my collection asap. Pathetic indie rock album that barely does even "rock" at all. I hate stuff like this. No wonder I picked it up for so cheap even though it's meant to be some kind of rarity. They should be paying people to put this near their ears.

[glam_junkie]

 

 

Puzzleview - 'On the steamy side' ; absolutely dreadful. Cannot wait to see this leave my collection asap. Pathetic indie rock album that barely does even "rock" at all. I hate stuff like this. No wonder I picked it up for so cheap even though it's meant to be some kind of rarity. They should be paying people to put this near their ears.

 

 

did the same... picked it up cos it was really cheap, and had heard good reviews of it.... but honstly: Puzzleview = turdburger.

 

gave it one listen, switched it off. pulled it out a few weeks later thinkign maybe i'd missed something, started listening again, switched it off again.

[Geoff]

 

 

Puzzleview - 'On the steamy side' ; absolutely dreadful. Cannot wait to see this leave my collection asap. Pathetic indie rock album that barely does even "rock" at all. I hate stuff like this. No wonder I picked it up for so cheap even though it's meant to be some kind of rarity. They should be paying people to put this near their ears.

 

 

did the same... picked it up cos it was really cheap, and had heard good reviews of it.... but honstly: Puzzleview = turdburger.

 

gave it one listen, switched it off. pulled it out a few weeks later thinkign maybe i'd missed something, started listening again, switched it off again.

Haha, you brave man. I wouldn't give this a second chance if the guys from the band personally flew to my house and begged me to try it once more.

[JamesEagle]

 

 

Puzzleview - 'On the steamy side' ; absolutely dreadful. Cannot wait to see this leave my collection asap. Pathetic indie rock album that barely does even "rock" at all. I hate stuff like this. No wonder I picked it up for so cheap even though it's meant to be some kind of rarity. They should be paying people to put this near their ears.

 

 

did the same... picked it up cos it was really cheap, and had heard good reviews of it.... but honstly: Puzzleview = turdburger.

 

gave it one listen, switched it off. pulled it out a few weeks later thinkign maybe i'd missed something, started listening again, switched it off again.

Haha, you brave man. I wouldn't give this a second chance if the guys from the band personally flew to my house and begged me to try it once more.

 

You'd feel so guilty if that actually happened.

[Geoff]

 

 

Puzzleview - 'On the steamy side' ; absolutely dreadful. Cannot wait to see this leave my collection asap. Pathetic indie rock album that barely does even "rock" at all. I hate stuff like this. No wonder I picked it up for so cheap even though it's meant to be some kind of rarity. They should be paying people to put this near their ears.

 

 

did the same... picked it up cos it was really cheap, and had heard good reviews of it.... but honstly: Puzzleview = turdburger.

 

gave it one listen, switched it off. pulled it out a few weeks later thinkign maybe i'd missed something, started listening again, switched it off again.

Haha, you brave man. I wouldn't give this a second chance if the guys from the band personally flew to my house and begged me to try it once more.

 

You'd feel so guilty if that actually happened.

Probably, but if I patted them on their backs I'm sure they'd be cool with it.

 

A few more newies:

 

Dizzy Park - "Stranger Than Friction" ; I've actually had this one recommended to me buy a couple of members here. I guess it was okay modern rock from 2000. Like I try to do with releases like this, I pictured this in 2000 when it was released and it'd be pretty good back then. There's as many fillers as good songs, but the good songs are pretty nice. As I said, decent for 2000 but doesn't really compare well to what has been done in modern rock since. Pretty mellow stuff, too.

 

Lazy Jane - "Destiny" ; thanks to Dave for hooking me up with this one, from former Lancia frontman, Paul Lancia. I'm glad I got to hear it, but in all honesty I doubt I'll hear it many more times. Sorry Dave, just did not enjoy this at all. The simple fact is that Paul Lancia does not have a good, even decent voice. But in Lancia, because some of the tunes were so good, you didn't care. It never even was an issue in Pair-A-Dice either. But with Lazy Jane where the songs are a hell of a lot weaker, it becomes obvious. Painfully obvious. It's more laid back than previous albums, but the major problem is that there just aren't any good songs here. None at all.

[Fat Freddy]

[Death Angel - ACT III(1990)

 

I was never more than a casual fan of D.A. back in their heyday (I would occasionally steal my bro's copies of THE ULTRA VIOLENCE and FROLIC THRU THE PARK but never bought'em for myself) but I picked up their excellent comeback disc THE ART OF DYING during FYE's Going Out Of Business Extravaganza on a whim and I liked what I heard so I'm now trying to dig into the rest of their catalog. ACT III was their major label debut in 1990 and though it isn't balls-out, pedal-to-the-metal thrash all the way thru like ULTRA VIOLENCE was, it is still a pretty damn fine piece of late '80s metal. D.A. were always a bit quirky (I remember when FROLIC THRU THE PARK came out and the real hardcore thrash crowd were puzzled by tunes like "Bored" and the cover of KISS' "Cold Gin," cuz at the time it wasn't cool for thrash bands to admit they liked anything besides thrash) and ACT III continues in that tradition, as Death Angel expands their sonic palette once again. "Seemingly Endless Time" is a suitably rippin' opener, as is "The Organization," but overall the band seemed to be moving even further away from thrash on this one (witness the acoustic ballad "Room With A View") and into other territories. Still, an interesting listen.

 

The band's upward mobility was halted by a near-catastrophic tour van crash while on the road for this album that severely injured the band's drummer and put Death Angel on ice for a number of years. If that hadn't happened, I wonder what the follow up to ACT III would've sounded like.

 

Krokus - HEADHUNTER BLITZ

Budget priced "best of" comp that I picked up mainly cuz it was cheap, and because I didn't have any vintage Krokus on CD. The artwork and packaging is minimal/laughable, but you can't go wrong with the track list, which includes goodies like "Midnite Maniac," "Headhunter," "Eat the Rich" and of course "Screaming in the Night." There's no sign of the godawful "Burnin' Up the Night," either, which is of course a plus.

[JamesEagle]

[Death Angel - ACT III(1990)

 

Great album! Easily their best imo.

[heaven&hell]

Stratovarius - Elysium

If you liked the last disc 'Polaris' then you'll love this one. Really not a bad tune the new guitar player writes even more songs on this one. Who knew that the band could continue on without Tolki and be this good? My fav tunes so far are "Darkest Hours", "Fairness Justified", "The Game Never Ends", "Move The Mountain" and "Under Flaming Skies". The final tracks is an 18 minute epic title track.

 

Angels of Babylon - Kingdom of Evil

Pretty cool Melodic Metal featuring Rhino(former Manowar/Holy Hell) on drums and the new singer for Fifth Angel(David Fefolt). Not every song is perfect but there's enough here to make it worth a purchase if you're into this sort of metal. At times the singer reminds me of David Readman so the sound isn't that far removed from a heavier PC69 but maybe not quite as good. The song "Tear out my Heart" is the best song here. The guitar playing by Ethan Brosh is stunning.

[Metal T]

Scheepers - S/T

 

Twice through on this...great disc.Everything PF should still be but are not.Haven't been on HH in a few months and this was just released so im not sure how many here have actually heard/or have it but its a "must own"..some punishing stuff throughout-pure heavy metal.

[heaven&hell]

Scheepers - S/T

 

Twice through on this...great disc.Everything PF should still be but are not.Haven't been on HH in a few months and this was just released so im not sure how many here have actually heard/or have it but its a "must own"..some punishing stuff throughout-pure heavy metal.

 

I just noticed it was released and plan on ordering it very soon. Your review gives me high hopes.

[heaven&hell]

Holy Grail - Crisis in Utopia

Awesome new band that sounds like a mix of classic Metallica with classic Maiden. Along with newer bands like White Wizzard and Cauldron these guys are leading a whole new wave of classic sounding metal bands but this band is heavier than the other bands I mentioned and have some of the classic thrash influence thrown in along with the Maiden/Priest/Dio sound. Good stuff.

 

Avantasia - Angel of Babylon

I'm late on this one but I did pick up the Wicked Symphony release but for some reason this one was a little harder to get and didn't get a domestic release so just got around to picking it up. I think I might like this one a little more than the WS release as it seems to have Jorn even more involved and little more rocking tracks. Still it's not as good as the excellent "The Scarecrow" release.

 

Motorhead - 1916

Having seen a few of these tracks/videos on Headbangers Ball back in the day I figured I'd dig this and I do. Not really any bad tracks but the cream is "I'm So Bad", "No Voices in the Sky", the very original "Nightmare/The Dreamtime", "Angel City" and pedal to the metal "Ramones".

 

Armored Saint - March of the Saint

I can't believe at how big of a Saint/John Bush fan I am I've never owned this disc although I knew most of the songs from other releases. This is a killer album and I'm embarassed that I didn't own this sooner. The title track is still awesome but I really dig "Stricken By Fate" and "False Alarm" from their original demos.

 

Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol

Great album with many great tunes and some I'd heard before from the Live in Japan release. Really five or six great songs with the others very good as well. I know most NR fans list this as one of their best and I can't disagree as it's very good.

 

Night Ranger - Midnight Madness

Another great release from the band with really no bad songs and at least a handful of great ones. I'm totally sick of "Sister Christian" with it still getting played so much but "When You Close Your Eyes" is nothing short of amazing.

 

Night Ranger - Man in Motion

This is my fav NR release as I type this. I've had this for probably a year after getting it in a trade from Terry but I can't remember if I ever gave it a proper listen. I'm not sure how well this one did sales wise but if it didn't sell well that's no fault of the songs as they are all great for the most part. Excellent MHR album.

[Dead Planet]

Night Ranger - Man in Motion

This is my fav NR release as I type this. I've had this for probably a year after getting it in a trade from Terry but I can't remember if I ever gave it a proper listen. I'm not sure how well this one did sales wise but if it didn't sell well that's no fault of the songs as they are all great for the most part. Excellent MHR album.

 

Definitely their best release....

[heaven&hell]

Night Ranger - Man in Motion

This is my fav NR release as I type this. I've had this for probably a year after getting it in a trade from Terry but I can't remember if I ever gave it a proper listen. I'm not sure how well this one did sales wise but if it didn't sell well that's no fault of the songs as they are all great for the most part. Excellent MHR album.

 

Definitely their best release....

 

Glad to see I'm not crazy then.

Looking over on the main site it appears we might not be the only ones.

[Fat Freddy]

Winger - THE VERY BEST OF WINGER

OK, so I've never been more than a casual fan of Kip & Company over the years. They had a few good songs here and there but never enough to get me to buy a full album. But when I came across this comp in the cheap bin @ Walmart, I went "Hey, looks like all the songs I like are on here. Woo hoo! Cheap shortcut!"

 

I will say that the track listing for this disc seems totally bass-ackwards. I know that ole Kip is particularly proud of Winger's PULL album (1993) and that he considers it their best work, but when you consider that the album only sold a few dozen copies back in the day, it seems odd to stack the deck of a "best-of" with five or six songs from that album right off the bat and burying the so called "hits" (i.e. "Madalaine," "Hungry," "Seventeen," etc. - y'know, the stuff everybody wants to hear!) towards the end of the disc. If Winger arranged a live set in this manner, they'd be getting stuff thrown at'em long before "Can't Get Enuff" finally comes in at track #8. I personally would've set up the track listing in chronological order, but for whatever reason Kip chose not to consult my opinion on this project. Oh well.

 

As a casual fan, I'm satisfied. This has all the Winger on it that I'm probably ever gonna need.

[Jeff]

Lillian Axe - Deep Red Shadows

I thought for $4 it would be worth it if I could find one song that was decent. Out of the 9 songs, I managed to talk myself into copying track #9, an instrumental no less, to my computer. The lyrics are horrible, when I actually managed to pay attention to them long enough, the music has nothing catchy or memorable. This won't get a second play unless something changes for me and my musical taste in the coming years.