First Spin Impressions

[Nightrain]

Before I start:

 

1. Although, as usual, he's gone crazy, I'm kind of glad to see Tim's thoughts on the Moratti disc. I like it, quite a bit, but I don't quite think it got even close to the hype of certain un-named memberglens. There's some delicious and sultry mid-tempo melodic rock which was actually reminding me of the much loved (by me) disc from Shadows Fade, but I also found at least half the disc to be only okay. Don't get me wrong - certainly not bad. Just not brilliant either.

 

 

Yeah to each their own. Ive played this through about 10 times, and I love it. To say (TIM!) that this album has no choruses or hooks again leaves me scratching my head. I actually much prefer his vocal performance here because for most part he doesnt sound like he's got his nuts in a vice like he does with FF. Will defo appeal to the AOR crew more than others..........be interested to hear what Swazi & Jez etc think?? Guys??

 

Don't worry, Glen ! I am with you on this one all the way. I love it !! I think "Second Wave" was his best FF job and this is coming very close.

 

do you guys think that Second Wave is better than Freelight ?

i personally think their latest one is slightly better but need to revisit Second Wave coz it's been sitting unplayed for quite a while

[TIM (2)]

Before I start:

 

1. Although, as usual, he's gone crazy, I'm kind of glad to see Tim's thoughts on the Moratti disc. I like it, quite a bit, but I don't quite think it got even close to the hype of certain un-named memberglens. There's some delicious and sultry mid-tempo melodic rock which was actually reminding me of the much loved (by me) disc from Shadows Fade, but I also found at least half the disc to be only okay. Don't get me wrong - certainly not bad. Just not brilliant either.

 

 

Yeah to each their own. Ive played this through about 10 times, and I love it. To say (TIM!) that this album has no choruses or hooks again leaves me scratching my head. I actually much prefer his vocal performance here because for most part he doesnt sound like he's got his nuts in a vice like he does with FF. Will defo appeal to the AOR crew more than others..........be interested to hear what Swazi & Jez etc think?? Guys??

 

Don't worry, Glen ! I am with you on this one all the way. I love it !! I think "Second Wave" was his best FF job and this is coming very close.

 

do you guys think that Second Wave is better than Freelight ?

i personally think their latest one is slightly better but need to revisit Second Wave coz it's been sitting unplayed for quite a while

 

I didn't think "Freelight" was as good. I loved both the first two - though that tinny production is still a major sticking point - and "High Tension Wire" pretty close behind with it's much better production. All of these are light-years ahead of his soulless new album though. I do accept that I'm not as into AOR these days (apart from the real big-name discs that are usually on Frontiers) but every now and then I'll pick up a new AOR release and wonder why these people bother to still release this stuff? With a zillion better AOR albums in my collection than this, mostly from the 80's/90's it would simply never be played again. If you're not going to make an album that's at least as good, certainly in terms of sound/production, as the best from the 80's then just don't bother...

[Jez]

Before I start:

 

1. Although, as usual, he's gone crazy, I'm kind of glad to see Tim's thoughts on the Moratti disc. I like it, quite a bit, but I don't quite think it got even close to the hype of certain un-named memberglens. There's some delicious and sultry mid-tempo melodic rock which was actually reminding me of the much loved (by me) disc from Shadows Fade, but I also found at least half the disc to be only okay. Don't get me wrong - certainly not bad. Just not brilliant either.

 

 

Yeah to each their own. Ive played this through about 10 times, and I love it. To say (TIM!) that this album has no choruses or hooks again leaves me scratching my head. I actually much prefer his vocal performance here because for most part he doesnt sound like he's got his nuts in a vice like he does with FF. Will defo appeal to the AOR crew more than others..........be interested to hear what Swazi & Jez etc think?? Guys??

 

Don't worry, Glen ! I am with you on this one all the way. I love it !! I think "Second Wave" was his best FF job and this is coming very close.

 

Lovin the Moratti disc. It starts better than it finishes admittedly, but overall it is a really good album with some good songs. Love the set up of the band aswell with Reb Beach, Tony Franklin, Fredrik Bergh and Brian Doerner.

 

On a side note,I was not exactly disappointed with Moratti in Saga and I thought the album he did with them was really good, but he is a much better fit doing stuff like this, so i'm glad that Michael Sadler is back in Saga and Moratti is back doing the AOR stuff.

[Glen]

Before I start:

 

1. Although, as usual, he's gone crazy, I'm kind of glad to see Tim's thoughts on the Moratti disc. I like it, quite a bit, but I don't quite think it got even close to the hype of certain un-named memberglens. There's some delicious and sultry mid-tempo melodic rock which was actually reminding me of the much loved (by me) disc from Shadows Fade, but I also found at least half the disc to be only okay. Don't get me wrong - certainly not bad. Just not brilliant either.

 

 

Yeah to each their own. Ive played this through about 10 times, and I love it. To say (TIM!) that this album has no choruses or hooks again leaves me scratching my head. I actually much prefer his vocal performance here because for most part he doesnt sound like he's got his nuts in a vice like he does with FF. Will defo appeal to the AOR crew more than others..........be interested to hear what Swazi & Jez etc think?? Guys??

 

Don't worry, Glen ! I am with you on this one all the way. I love it !! I think "Second Wave" was his best FF job and this is coming very close.

 

Lovin the Moratti disc.

 

so im not going mad - thankyou guys. Thought for a moment I was listening to another disc!! lol

[Geoff]

Sledgehammer Ledge - s/t ; when this one popped up cheap on CD Baby and a few of us picked it up I believe a few of the reviews were pretty poor. There are a couple of fillers in the middle of the disc, but man it got off to a good start and the last couple of tracks are great too. I think it's a good solid heavy rock album, and a hell of a lot better than other equally hyped indies. If you like WASP, Randy Piper's Animal and Starrats, give this one a go. I think most punters here will get a kick out of this one.

 

Sick Trigger - 'The Stand' ; really not that bad at all. Something about the artwork and presentation had me thinking this would be rubbish. It's certainly no classic and it has it's fair share of fillers, but it also has a decent share of good, suprisingly "hooky" tunes. Again, I wouldn't say go out and buy it, but if you see it cheap somewhere (which is the only way you'll see it, I dare say) it might be worth a punt. Good hard rock disc.

 

Saker - s/t ; wowser did this start out great. Even if they're not all super, the style and vibe of the first 7 songs from 1991 is awesome. Great 80's style hard rock. Unfortunately, the 2nd part of the album made up of tracks from 1994 and I think two from 1996 as well? Either way, the later tracks are considerably weaker and do take away from the quality of the start of the CD. I really can't stand it when bands go down this route, and there are SOOOO many that did it. It's like I hear with the Garrison demos too. They made amazing songs for what would/should have been their debuts but afterwards they completely change style, to this hook-free, "grooving" kind of rock swagger. The songs are such crazy filler material, I just don't get how or why they did it? There's plenty of bands who went down this road who were signed too - I actually made a thread here about it once. It really shits me. Oh well. The first 7 songs are great, though.

[Geoff]

Snow White - 'One Cold Night' ; I thought there was a thread on these guys, but I just couldn't find the mofo. Another CD Baby special brought to my attention by Justin, if I'm not mistaken. I'm finally getting to hear a couple of these CDs I bought literally as long as a year ago, and there's some good ones. This being one of them. It's under-produced and basically played - some of it even sounds a little out of time in places, but it's not bad. The songs aren't mind-blowing, but these guys were pretty good. Considering it was clearly recorded on a negative dollar budget, they've done okay. Like I seem to be saying a lot, it's not essential and there's no need to classify it as a must-own, but it's not bad at all. Good melodic rock / AOR.

 

Seether - 'Finding beauty in negative spaces' ; my one word summary in the what's spinning thread - 'dreary' - pretty much sums this one up. I really don't like this band, but it was another cheapie from Marky-Boo so I thought I'd give it a go. I think there was one half decent song, just 'cause it was amusing - something like "F*ck me like you hate me." But this nu-metal kind of sickens me to be honest.

[Nightrain]

SYLVAN - Posthumous Silence (2006)

 

probably no one here will ever listen to this one, but if somehow you like Pink Floyd, Riverside, or Porcupine Tree, this album is a good one. There are couple or maybe three songs which I think are weak, but the rest are very good psychedelic / prog pieces, softer than Riverside, but the ambience is there. I like what I hear but of course not in the same league as those three, intrigued to listen to their previous album, Artificial Misery (2002) later on, which a friend told me as another great one.

[Geoff]

Soil - 'Scars' ; average nu-metal. Again, only got this because Mark practically gave it away. Didn't expect to like it, and I don't... but there was one good song towards the end which I'd rip from it when/if I sell it.

 

Solus Rex - 'King stands alone' ; pretty good Retrospect band, this one. It's not a magnificent disc and I'd need a few more spins to report accurately, but it seemed to be pretty good hard rock, maybe a little like Lillian Axe ala 1993-ish.

 

Spellbound - 'River of love' ; decent melodic rock / AOR indie. Really can't give it any more than "decent."

[phaffas]

 

 

Solus Rex - 'King stands alone' ; pretty good Retrospect band, this one. It's not a magnificent disc and I'd need a few more spins to report accurately, but it seemed to be pretty good hard rock, maybe a little like Lillian Axe ala 1993-ish.

 

Just got rid of that and dont miss it. The samples sounded interesting, but i gave it so many chances. In the end it just sounded messy.

[Geoff]

 

 

Solus Rex - 'King stands alone' ; pretty good Retrospect band, this one. It's not a magnificent disc and I'd need a few more spins to report accurately, but it seemed to be pretty good hard rock, maybe a little like Lillian Axe ala 1993-ish.

 

Just got rid of that and dont miss it. The samples sounded interesting, but i gave it so many chances. In the end it just sounded messy.

Yeah, I'd have a hard time ordering someone to go out and buy it and it did seem to weaken as the CD went on, but I thought I heard a few pretty good tracks in the first half.

 

Sinner - 'There will be execution' ; admittedly I do still have about 3 songs to go on this one as it spins as I type, but I think I can safely offer this first spin impression... unless, what have we here? As I type this 'The River' plays and this seems to be the most interesting song by far so far... wow, this one is better. A bit more of a throwback to their melodic days. It's not perfect, because Sinner's voice is so rough these days and kind of struggles on a more melodic song like this, but nice effort anyway. But as I was going to say, the album is filled to the absolute brim with good hard rock / metal riffs and killer solos, but where is the interest in any of these songs... except 'The River?' There just doesn't seem to be any attempt at all to offer a decent hook or chorus. Good riffs is one thing, and one thing that gets me involved right away. But this CD is a perfect example of showing that you need to back it up. You can't just throw in a bunch of juicy riffs and expect that that will suffice. Okay, let's see how this goes. 'Liberty of death' has just started out with another monster riff. Sounds awesome so far... now let's wait. Hmm, not bad. Decent chorus. The whole CD really isn't bad at all... I just wish there was a bit more effort put into the choruses.

[Nightrain]

PANZER PRINCESS - Get Off My Back (2011)

 

the latest offering by Demon Doll, but sadly, it's on CDR pressing. The description of Hanoi Rocks meets Junkyard isn't too far, but I think they put out a very good album here, putting a bit of Kix and GNR touch (but then GNR is also heavily influenced by Hanoi Rocks).

 

Several great tracks I like here are 'Panzer Princess', 'Bumville Judge', 'I'll Be In Your Way', No Good', 'Gag Me, Cuff Me', and 'Rob The Bank', but the rest ain't crappy either, probably only 'A Mess' which I think is a filler and the last one, 'Oh No', which doesn't count since it only lasts few seconds.

 

i think it's a great disc and i'll rate it around 8 on the first spin

[glam_junkie]

PANZER PRINCESS - Get Off My Back (2011)

 

the latest offering by Demon Doll, but sadly, it's on CDR pressing. The description of Hanoi Rocks meets Junkyard isn't too far, but I think they put out a very good album here, putting a bit of Kix and GNR touch (but then GNR is also heavily influenced by Hanoi Rocks).

 

Several great tracks I like here are 'Panzer Princess', 'Bumville Judge', 'I'll Be In Your Way', No Good', 'Gag Me, Cuff Me', and 'Rob The Bank', but the rest ain't crappy either, probably only 'A Mess' which I think is a filler and the last one, 'Oh No', which doesn't count since it only lasts few seconds.

 

i think it's a great disc and i'll rate it around 8 on the first spin

 

 

I rather like these guys aswell. Quite a different sound. As i mentione din a review of these guys quite a while back on glitzine... "I can imagine that if we piled Jetboy, Hanoi Rocks, DAD and the Peppermint Creeps in the back of a horse-drawn cart and drove them through the deep south of the US, whilst providing them with cowboy hats and copious amounts of sour mash, by the end of the trip we'd end up with something sounding sorta like Panzer Princess."

[Geoff]

PANZER PRINCESS - Get Off My Back (2011)

 

the latest offering by Demon Doll, but sadly, it's on CDR pressing. The description of Hanoi Rocks meets Junkyard isn't too far, but I think they put out a very good album here, putting a bit of Kix and GNR touch (but then GNR is also heavily influenced by Hanoi Rocks).

 

Several great tracks I like here are 'Panzer Princess', 'Bumville Judge', 'I'll Be In Your Way', No Good', 'Gag Me, Cuff Me', and 'Rob The Bank', but the rest ain't crappy either, probably only 'A Mess' which I think is a filler and the last one, 'Oh No', which doesn't count since it only lasts few seconds.

 

i think it's a great disc and i'll rate it around 8 on the first spin

 

 

I rather like these guys aswell. Quite a different sound. As i mentione din a review of these guys quite a while back on glitzine... "I can imagine that if we piled Jetboy, Hanoi Rocks, DAD and the Peppermint Creeps in the back of a horse-drawn cart and drove them through the deep south of the US, whilst providing them with cowboy hats and copious amounts of sour mash, by the end of the trip we'd end up with something sounding sorta like Panzer Princess."

Haha, sounds like I dodged a bullet by not ordering that one. To each their own, but definitely doesn't sound like a disc for the G-Scallop.

[heaven&hell]

Phoenix Down - Under a Wild Sky

Basically a Kane Roberts solo album and it is a very good disc. Not as great as Saints and Sinners but still a very high quality release with many great tunes. Also nice to hear "Reckless" from the Rock Star movie and not sure why that tune didn't make the movie soundtrack as it was shown in the studio in the movie. Good stuff!

[Nightrain]

Melidian - Lost In The Wild (1989)

 

got this disc from Amazon, selling for only $7, so it's a steal. I read most of the great reviews on HH and i snap it with no hesitation and turns out to be a winner. Sad it's only 9 tracks, I found it to be a great combo of Dokken and a bit of Survivor, the vocal is like Paul Stanley meets Kip Winger and the guitars are smokin' hot. Great disc, probably only the title track is the real filler, the rest are solid.

 

Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun (2000)

 

i'm a fan of PT since In Absentia and right now I'm backtracking their old catalogue one by one. Their pre-In Absentia looks like heavily influenced by Pink Floyd, the spacey stuff, but with adequate modern influences. I like this a lot, probably slightly better than Signify, and 'Last Chance To Evacuate' is the only track I don't like and 'Russian on Ice' will be better if it's shorter.

 

Private Angels - Nailed (2011)

German hard rock, not very impressive but pretty good actually. You've heard it all before, European style such as Scorpions, Krokus, Accept, Victory, and stuffs. The first half is a bit average, some are good, but the second is much better. 'Shine On' is the best of the bunch, 'My Haunt', 'Valiant Song', and 'Private Shelter' are another great tracks here. Some killer solos there as well but the vocal is too deep for my taste, not bad though. Good album!

 

Sara Sucks - Ride It Hard (2011)

The band's name is totally awful, but the music is very good as I recall. A bit sleazy but more of a solid hard rock. I heard this while concentrating on playing games on my PC so I might need to listen to this one again before saying anything, but I remember the first half being better, not very memorable album, but will be wise if you can find it cheap, say less than $5 or $6.

[Jez]

Yes - Fly From Here

 

Recent releases since the excellent 'Talk' back in '93 have been pretty patchy for the most part, so I approached this first studio album in 10 years with a little caution. When listening to this, you are automatically taken back to Yes from the early 80's Trevor Horn/ Geoff Downes 'Drama' era, so if you like that album (which I most certainly do), this will sit very comfortably. Downes is back on Keys (and quite excellent they are) whilst Trevor Horn now sits in the production seat, rather than vocals, which have been taken over by Jon Anderson soundalike Benoit David. Material wise, the 5 part 'Fly From Here' (written originally for the 'Drama' album) is the main reason to buy this, as it is a brilliant 20 odd minutes. The rest is all top quality Progressive rock with the typical Yes touches, which all adds up to a quite stunning album and one of the best they have released, even this far into their career.

 

Airrace - Back To The Start

 

Straight to the point - the Airrace debut 'Shaft Of Light' was one of THE best AOR albums ever to come out of the UK and when it passed by with hardly a whimper and the band fell apart, the music world and the AOR/MR genre especially lost a talented band for sure. 18 years coming, finally the 2nd album appears and a very very good one it is too. Obviously the typical '80's production on 'Shaft..' (especially those electronic drums) has made way for a more muscular, guitar oriented sound, but one thing is for sure, the quality of the songs is most definitely still well in order, with opener 'Keep On Going' and 'Call Me Anytime' being particular highlights. Super album and good to have them back

[Geoff]

Another week, another bundle of first spins. I do enjoy the progress I'm making through this lot!

 

Matt Sinner - Back to the bullet ; not bad at all. I was a little disappointed to hear the production was still a bit average on this one, as I was hoping for something a bit more juicy. Don't get me wrong, it sounds fine... it's just I was hoping for a bit more beef in the drums department. Anyway, if you like Sinner you'll like this. Very much, to me, just seems like the next Sinner album. Even has 2 other band members from Sinner in that era.

 

Sinner - No more alibis ; wowser! Probably my favourite CD I've heard in these huge stacks I've been making my way through. How did I miss this one first time round? This is the most commercial / melodic Sinner disc I own (Along with 'Comin' out fighting') but with a great ballsy production job to back it up. Songs are melodic, great hooks... there's even keys on this one! Just a really great melodic hard rock CD.

 

Sinner - There Will Be Execution ; not bad at all... sounds a lot like the hard rocking Sinner from the early days of the early 80's. Much better than the more metallic stuff that had plagued a few albums and just wasn't working out for them, songwise. A couple of nice melodic tunes in there too... yeah, this was a good one.

 

Stikki Fykk - Fazt Carz An Rock n Roll Starz and Stikki Fykk - Sleazy We Meow ; Oh my christ! I bought these from Sam @ Retrospect for a few dollars, and he did warn potential buyers how bad they were. Shame on me for not listening! I can literally pencil it in that these guys are officially the worst band I have ever heard in my entire life. Both CDs were absolute f*cking garbage, like you'd not fathom until you heard it... which I do not recommend. I guess it's meant to be glam / sleaze metal or something. I don't know or care. I get that they're taking the piss and in the case of Steel Panther, which is one of my favourite bands at the moment, I dig that. But this is just done SOOOO badly. There is no effort to try and write a half decent song, play properly or just do anything that would warrant recording a CD. I f*cking hated these, and artwork was as bad as the music. C*nts.

 

Stone Fury - Burns Like A Star ; YUM! I don't know how or why this band passed me by - probably because they're too expensive? But thanks to Azintex I picked these two up, and I love this. I knew it was a Lenny Wolf project, but I didn't know Bruce Gowdy was there too. It's nice because you have a mix of the 2 styles that would make both these guys decently successful. I personally absolutely loved this CD as it was more melodic rock than the more Kingdom Come-esque 2nd disc. Great album.

 

Stone Fury - Let Them Talk ; good follow-up. Definitely not as good as the debut, and a big indication of what Lenny would go on to do with Kingdom Come, who I love too. This is a good solid CD, but the weaker of the two.

 

Survivor - Caught in a game ; not bad for some vintage AOR. Another one I never bothered with, but it goes alright. A few plodders on here, but a few solid songs too. A good one, but not great.

 

Sweet Sybil - s/t ; Nice. A little bit of a mixed bag, but overall this is another good solid release from Eonian. If you love hair metal from the early 90's, this is well worth checking out.

 

Syrum - s/t ; interesting CD here. A pretty good mix of modern and old school hard rock. The band features a guitarist from Babylon AD and definitely has a hint of latter day Babylon AD in the sound, including a cover of their 'Sky is falling' song. Overall, it's a nice blend of the 2 styles over the duration of the CD, with a few very nice tracks. The song 'Ugly on the inside' for whatever reason sounds like a Ted Poley track - craziness, and the closing ballad, 'What I'm trying to say' is a real spine tingler. You could argue it's a little corny perhaps, but I dug it. Overall, a CD worth checking out if you can pick it up for a nice price.

[glam_junkie]

 

 

Stikki Fykk - Fazt Carz An Rock n Roll Starz and Stikki Fykk - Sleazy We Meow ; Oh my christ! I bought these from Sam @ Retrospect for a few dollars, and he did warn potential buyers how bad they were. Shame on me for not listening! I can literally pencil it in that these guys are officially the worst band I have ever heard in my entire life. Both CDs were absolute f*cking garbage, like you'd not fathom until you heard it... which I do not recommend. I guess it's meant to be glam / sleaze metal or something. I don't know or care. I get that they're taking the piss and in the case of Steel Panther, which is one of my favourite bands at the moment, I dig that. But this is just done SOOOO badly. There is no effort to try and write a half decent song, play properly or just do anything that would warrant recording a CD. I f*cking hated these, and artwork was as bad as the music. C*nts.

 

 

 

 

I do believe i also questioned your purchased of this absolute crap when they appeared on your 'recent buys' list. I've seen them compared to some pretty good glam bands so checked them out on myspace or somewhere similar and could not find anything slightly appealing in the trash that theys guys have released. And that's coming from someone who can find something appealing in most glam. I agree that these are the worst band ever put on cd.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

 

 

Stikki Fykk - Fazt Carz An Rock n Roll Starz and Stikki Fykk - Sleazy We Meow ; Oh my christ! I bought these from Sam @ Retrospect for a few dollars, and he did warn potential buyers how bad they were. Shame on me for not listening! I can literally pencil it in that these guys are officially the worst band I have ever heard in my entire life. Both CDs were absolute f*cking garbage, like you'd not fathom until you heard it... which I do not recommend. I guess it's meant to be glam / sleaze metal or something. I don't know or care. I get that they're taking the piss and in the case of Steel Panther, which is one of my favourite bands at the moment, I dig that. But this is just done SOOOO badly. There is no effort to try and write a half decent song, play properly or just do anything that would warrant recording a CD. I f*cking hated these, and artwork was as bad as the music. C*nts.

 

 

 

 

I do believe i also questioned your purchased of this absolute crap when they appeared on your 'recent buys' list. I've seen them compared to some pretty good glam bands so checked them out on myspace or somewhere similar and could not find anything slightly appealing in the trash that theys guys have released. And that's coming from someone who can find something appealing in most glam. I agree that these are the worst band ever put on cd.

 

Now I'm interested. I've got to hear this.

[Geoff]

 

 

Stikki Fykk - Fazt Carz An Rock n Roll Starz and Stikki Fykk - Sleazy We Meow ; Oh my christ! I bought these from Sam @ Retrospect for a few dollars, and he did warn potential buyers how bad they were. Shame on me for not listening! I can literally pencil it in that these guys are officially the worst band I have ever heard in my entire life. Both CDs were absolute f*cking garbage, like you'd not fathom until you heard it... which I do not recommend. I guess it's meant to be glam / sleaze metal or something. I don't know or care. I get that they're taking the piss and in the case of Steel Panther, which is one of my favourite bands at the moment, I dig that. But this is just done SOOOO badly. There is no effort to try and write a half decent song, play properly or just do anything that would warrant recording a CD. I f*cking hated these, and artwork was as bad as the music. C*nts.

 

 

 

 

I do believe i also questioned your purchased of this absolute crap when they appeared on your 'recent buys' list. I've seen them compared to some pretty good glam bands so checked them out on myspace or somewhere similar and could not find anything slightly appealing in the trash that theys guys have released. And that's coming from someone who can find something appealing in most glam. I agree that these are the worst band ever put on cd.

 

Now I'm interested. I've got to hear this.

You don't want to. Seriously. You'll thank me if you don't.

 

Yeah Lindsay, I think I remember you saying something. I should note, I got each CD for $1 or $2 and like you I'd heard positive things about the band, so I thought for that price it was worth a try.

 

I was wrong.

[Nightrain]

Scorpions - Lovedrive

 

decent release, three gems here, 'Always Somewhere', 'Holiday', and 'Is There Anybody There?', but since all of em can be obtained in their compilation, this album isn't essential, but an okay one to fill in the collection.

 

Seks - Harder Than You

 

hmm, a mixed bag here. 2/3 80s glam and 1/3 alternative/modern rock kinda stuff. I'm not really diggin' the vocal part which I think the style suits a thrash band better, but the guitarist is a real power horse, I'm lovin every minute of it. Album is half good, half average, couple of fillers maybe. Need to listen again, but not as good as I first expected, but maybe I set the bar too high.

 

Tesla - Twisted Wires and The Acoustic Sessions

you know the term 'Tesla never disappoint'? and fuck yeah they still hold that flag high. Remember Five Man Acoustical Jam? now this is the real sequel to it, but done in studio with no cheering audience. The songlist was unique, they pick out the not-very-familiar tracks, no Love Song here, no Signs, and no Modern Day Cowboy, so basically if you buy this, you'll complement the earlier release because no same songs at all.

 

2 new songs and 1 Climax Blues Band cover song included, this is a totally enjoyable disc and shot straight up to my top 20 list of 2011. One thing that bothers me is that 'Caught In A Dream''s chorus was pulled lower than the original, don't know if Jeff can't reach the high notes anymore but hopefully he still can. Other than that, it's a superb disc!

 

Yes - Fly From Here

 

not a big fan of their old works, i love 'Talk' and some songs on 'Union', but interested to re-listen to their classic catalogue later. Some friends say it's very close to 'Drama', I've heard Benoit David's album, Mystery, before, and I'll say it's a pretty damn good neo-prog release, and this one isn't very much different. A good disc and interested to explore more later, probably buy one when the price is right.

[Jez]

Jim Foster - Power Lines

 

A welcome first time on CD re-issue of this 1986 solo album from Jim Foster. Canadian AOR in the vein of, Rick Springfield, Stan Meissner with a bit of good old Loverboy thrown into the mix aswell. All in all very nice stuff, typical of the era, so maybe a little dated for some, but i'm a real sucker for this kinda stuff, so a big thumbs up from me. Nice work Yessterrock

 

 

John Wetton - Raised In Captivity

 

I'm a big fan of Mr. Wetton from his solo work to his stuff with Asia and beyond, so this was pretty much a no brainer for me. Initial 2 spins proved to be a bit of a disapointment if I'm honest, especially when you compare this to albums like the awesome 'Battle Lines'. There are some good moments on here for sure, but they all seem to come fairly early on, leaving a bit of a flat second half. I shall persevere with this one, oh yes, but my initial opinion is that this is a bit average.

 

Queensryche - Dedicated To Chaos

 

Pretty apt title for this one. I had heard and read that this one is a complete disaster and the 2 songs I heard were quite frankly horrific. Hmmmm, so what to make of this as a whole. Firstly I will say that it isn't all bad and is pretty much comparable with my opinions I had with 'American Soldier' i.e 3 or 4 good tracks and a whole heap of not much else. 'Get Started' kicks things off and is a pretty good track, as is 'Hot Spot Junkie' & 'Hard Times. The rest goes from the average to the frankly rubbish, 'Wot We Do' being a particular awful 4 minutes. The whole thing is experimental yes!,and the band has been trying to stretch their musical boundaries for a fair while now with varying degrees of success, but unfortunatley, apart from the Ryche faithful,I can't see alot of other people going for this one in a positive way.

[Geoff]

Rick Springfield - Hard to hold ; bit rubbishy, this one. Only 6 of the 10 songs are actually RS tracks (3 other artists and one instrumental) and of those 6 songs, most of them aren't that good. The CD gets off to a good start with the first couple of songs, but overall this disc is really only for the real die hard RS completists.

 

Rick Springfield - Rock of life ; I guess I could say I was a little disappointed, purely for the fact that I was kind of hoping for this to be the best RS disc I ever heard. It wasn't that, but it is still bloody excellent. So don't get me wrong; love the CD. It just isn't his best of all.

 

Ten2nine - s/t ; not too bad. It is very patchy, but there was one killer melodic rock song on it which kind of saved it from immediate delegation to the trade pile. It'll probably still end up there as it's a pretty average CD... but there was one good song! If you ever heard the band, Stone, this is who these guys remind me of. A CD full of almost non-HH-ish kind of basic rock, but both CDs have one delightful melodic rock tune on them.

[heaven&hell]

Queensryche - Dedicated To Chaos

 

Pretty apt title for this one. I had heard and read that this one is a complete disaster and the 2 songs I heard were quite frankly horrific. Hmmmm, so what to make of this as a whole. Firstly I will say that it isn't all bad and is pretty much comparable with my opinions I had with 'American Soldier' i.e 3 or 4 good tracks and a whole heap of not much else. 'Get Started' kicks things off and is a pretty good track, as is 'Hot Spot Junkie' & 'Hard Times. The rest goes from the average to the frankly rubbish, 'Wot We Do' being a particular awful 4 minutes. The whole thing is experimental yes!,and the band has been trying to stretch their musical boundaries for a fair while now with varying degrees of success, but unfortunatley, apart from the Ryche faithful,I can't see alot of other people going for this one in a positive way.

 

Being a completist I gave in a bought American Soldier and pretty much hated it so they won't get me this time. I very rarely listen to anything past Empire so this band is pretty much dead to me now. A shame to since I love their early stuff. I personally think Geoff Tate is out of his mind and until someone gets him to understand that they'd sell more records if they actually recorded music that's similar to their classic material I'm afraid this band is done. If he wants to experiment he should do it on a solo album like his last horrible self titled solo disc.

[Nightrain]

Serpentine - Living and Dying in High Definition

 

wow, another surprise of 2011!

Many uptempo AOR, very energetic, the lush of keyboard touch is also majestic, the chorus is highly infectious, some gems here are the keys-driven 'Philadelphia', the tender ballad 'Love Is Blue', the magnificent uptempo 'Cry', the beautiful midtempo 'Best Days of Our Lives', and many more, no bad track at all folks!

 

This get a solid 9 from me, and it's only a single play, what an album!, can't wait for the real CD release, should be out by August 26th on AOR Heaven

 

ps. Tony Mills is still on the record but Matt Black is replacing him on tour, and Black is recording two bonus tracks for Japanese release.