First Spin Impressions

[Swazi]

I might wait and grab it cheaper at a later date, but then again...maybe not!

 

Hmmm ..., sounds like a good plan. Probably one I will follow ........

[Glen]

Auras - New Generation

 

Just as I suspected - 3 or 4 of good songs early on, but I was really struggling to find any other of merit, just weak weak songs with no really big hooks at all,especially in the second half. I very nearly turned it off after track 9 I kid you not. Sounds very much like Two Fires and to be completely honest, neither of their albums blew me away either, the 2nd one especially being very poor imo. I'll keep on with this one, but on first impression, not impressed at all and this could be another to add to the list of AOR letdowns.

Uh-oh....this may well arrive in the post today, doesn't bode well mate....but I'll approach it with an open mind....one man's shit is another man's sugar as they say (isn't that a quote from the bible or something?).

I've always been a bit wary of what Frontiers puts out as it's very hit and miss quality wise (more miss I'd say) they seem content to just throw anything out and hope something hits home, they really need to tighten quality control.

But what I heard of this I had high hopes for....anyway I'll give it a good chance.

 

I'm sure the glowing reviews will come from some and you may well love it mate, but it isn't doing it for me at all. As I said, I shall bare with it, but first impressions are that this is just another one of those, 'Let's try and be Journey and fail'' releases if you know what I mean. It does have some good songs in the first half as I said, but, uggh, you know, same old same old boring Zzzzzzzz. Must be something in the water in Brazil, as the N.O.W release a few weeks ago was pretty bog average aswell, although this is slightly better than that one. Frontiers have been genrally ok for me with more good releases than bad, but this is hardly gonna go down as one of their finer moments.

 

Nuts to it, I've cancelled the order .... serves Play right for being too slow shipping it. Reading your verdict raised huge doubts in my mind, I mean there's nothing really new under the sun with the old A.O.R. genre but you know what I'm like with stuff that is too safe/generic and the Blanc Faces and W.E.T. releases (also on Frontiers) just didn't do it for me even after initial soundbytes seemed promising. I might wait and grab it cheaper at a later date, but then again...maybe not!

 

Wow mate, if WET didnt do anything for you there was no way Auras was ever going to cut the mustard. I mean even from the soundbites you could hear it was not in the same league as WET.

[Nick C]

Auras - New Generation

 

Just as I suspected - 3 or 4 of good songs early on, but I was really struggling to find any other of merit, just weak weak songs with no really big hooks at all,especially in the second half. I very nearly turned it off after track 9 I kid you not. Sounds very much like Two Fires and to be completely honest, neither of their albums blew me away either, the 2nd one especially being very poor imo. I'll keep on with this one, but on first impression, not impressed at all and this could be another to add to the list of AOR letdowns.

Uh-oh....this may well arrive in the post today, doesn't bode well mate....but I'll approach it with an open mind....one man's shit is another man's sugar as they say (isn't that a quote from the bible or something?).

I've always been a bit wary of what Frontiers puts out as it's very hit and miss quality wise (more miss I'd say) they seem content to just throw anything out and hope something hits home, they really need to tighten quality control.

But what I heard of this I had high hopes for....anyway I'll give it a good chance.

 

I'm sure the glowing reviews will come from some and you may well love it mate, but it isn't doing it for me at all. As I said, I shall bare with it, but first impressions are that this is just another one of those, 'Let's try and be Journey and fail'' releases if you know what I mean. It does have some good songs in the first half as I said, but, uggh, you know, same old same old boring Zzzzzzzz. Must be something in the water in Brazil, as the N.O.W release a few weeks ago was pretty bog average aswell, although this is slightly better than that one. Frontiers have been genrally ok for me with more good releases than bad, but this is hardly gonna go down as one of their finer moments.

 

Nuts to it, I've cancelled the order .... serves Play right for being too slow shipping it. Reading your verdict raised huge doubts in my mind, I mean there's nothing really new under the sun with the old A.O.R. genre but you know what I'm like with stuff that is too safe/generic and the Blanc Faces and W.E.T. releases (also on Frontiers) just didn't do it for me even after initial soundbytes seemed promising. I might wait and grab it cheaper at a later date, but then again...maybe not!

 

Wow mate, if WET didnt do anything for you there was no way Auras was ever going to cut the mustard. I mean even from the soundbites you could hear it was not in the same league as WET.

 

Aye...no mustard cutting on this ship me hearty!

[JamesEagle]

 

Uh-oh....this may well arrive in the post today, doesn't bode well mate....but I'll approach it with an open mind....one man's shit is another man's sugar as they say (isn't that a quote from the bible or something?).

I've always been a bit wary of what Frontiers puts out as it's very hit and miss quality wise (more miss I'd say) they seem content to just throw anything out and hope something hits home, they really need to tighten quality control.

But what I heard of this I had high hopes for....anyway I'll give it a good chance.

 

Love that phrase, not heard it before, but it does sound American so maybe that's why (that or I've had my head in the sand).

 

And on that note, I've just been listening to the new Ares Kingdom album. Won't interest many on here, but sounds pretty good so far.

 

[Glen]

 

Uh-oh....this may well arrive in the post today, doesn't bode well mate....but I'll approach it with an open mind....one man's shit is another man's sugar as they say (isn't that a quote from the bible or something?).

I've always been a bit wary of what Frontiers puts out as it's very hit and miss quality wise (more miss I'd say) they seem content to just throw anything out and hope something hits home, they really need to tighten quality control.

But what I heard of this I had high hopes for....anyway I'll give it a good chance.

 

Love that phrase, not heard it before, but it does sound American so maybe that's why (that or I've had my head in the sand).

 

And on that note, I've just been listening to the new Ares Kingdom album. Won't interest many on here, but sounds pretty good so far.

 

 

Is that country & western ;-)

[JamesEagle]

 

Uh-oh....this may well arrive in the post today, doesn't bode well mate....but I'll approach it with an open mind....one man's shit is another man's sugar as they say (isn't that a quote from the bible or something?).

I've always been a bit wary of what Frontiers puts out as it's very hit and miss quality wise (more miss I'd say) they seem content to just throw anything out and hope something hits home, they really need to tighten quality control.

But what I heard of this I had high hopes for....anyway I'll give it a good chance.

 

Love that phrase, not heard it before, but it does sound American so maybe that's why (that or I've had my head in the sand).

 

And on that note, I've just been listening to the new Ares Kingdom album. Won't interest many on here, but sounds pretty good so far.

 

 

Is that country & western ;-)

 

 

Yeah, with a touch of r&b.

[Geoff]

Auras - New Generation

 

Just as I suspected - 3 or 4 of good songs early on, but I was really struggling to find any other of merit, just weak weak songs with no really big hooks at all,especially in the second half. I very nearly turned it off after track 9 I kid you not. Sounds very much like Two Fires and to be completely honest, neither of their albums blew me away either, the 2nd one especially being very poor imo. I'll keep on with this one, but on first impression, not impressed at all and this could be another to add to the list of AOR letdowns.

Uh-oh....this may well arrive in the post today, doesn't bode well mate....but I'll approach it with an open mind....one man's shit is another man's sugar as they say (isn't that a quote from the bible or something?).

I've always been a bit wary of what Frontiers puts out as it's very hit and miss quality wise (more miss I'd say) they seem content to just throw anything out and hope something hits home, they really need to tighten quality control.

But what I heard of this I had high hopes for....anyway I'll give it a good chance.

 

I'm sure the glowing reviews will come from some and you may well love it mate, but it isn't doing it for me at all. As I said, I shall bare with it, but first impressions are that this is just another one of those, 'Let's try and be Journey and fail'' releases if you know what I mean. It does have some good songs in the first half as I said, but, uggh, you know, same old same old boring Zzzzzzzz. Must be something in the water in Brazil, as the N.O.W release a few weeks ago was pretty bog average aswell, although this is slightly better than that one. Frontiers have been genrally ok for me with more good releases than bad, but this is hardly gonna go down as one of their finer moments.

 

Nuts to it, I've cancelled the order .... serves Play right for being too slow shipping it. Reading your verdict raised huge doubts in my mind, I mean there's nothing really new under the sun with the old A.O.R. genre but you know what I'm like with stuff that is too safe/generic and the Blanc Faces and W.E.T. releases (also on Frontiers) just didn't do it for me even after initial soundbytes seemed promising. I might wait and grab it cheaper at a later date, but then again...maybe not!

 

Wow mate, if WET didnt do anything for you there was no way Auras was ever going to cut the mustard. I mean even from the soundbites you could hear it was not in the same league as WET.

 

Aye...no mustard cutting on this ship me hearty!

Shitballs! Goddamn this stupid new Aussie site and it's decent prices for pre-orders, or I never would have pre-ordered a CD like this before hearing it in full (I know I'm safe with Treat, Crazy Lixx and Ratt, but I took a big chance on this one). Could have just waited a few months and got it from Nuclearhell for cheaper. Oh well, hopefully I'll be one of the ones that do like it. But I got that Two Fires vibe too when I heard the samples, and I too am not a fan of those guys... I was just hoping this would be MUCH better than Two Fires. Oh well, we'll wait and see.

[Jez]

Auras - New Generation

 

Just as I suspected - 3 or 4 of good songs early on, but I was really struggling to find any other of merit, just weak weak songs with no really big hooks at all,especially in the second half. I very nearly turned it off after track 9 I kid you not. Sounds very much like Two Fires and to be completely honest, neither of their albums blew me away either, the 2nd one especially being very poor imo. I'll keep on with this one, but on first impression, not impressed at all and this could be another to add to the list of AOR letdowns.

Uh-oh....this may well arrive in the post today, doesn't bode well mate....but I'll approach it with an open mind....one man's shit is another man's sugar as they say (isn't that a quote from the bible or something?).

I've always been a bit wary of what Frontiers puts out as it's very hit and miss quality wise (more miss I'd say) they seem content to just throw anything out and hope something hits home, they really need to tighten quality control.

But what I heard of this I had high hopes for....anyway I'll give it a good chance.

 

I'm sure the glowing reviews will come from some and you may well love it mate, but it isn't doing it for me at all. As I said, I shall bare with it, but first impressions are that this is just another one of those, 'Let's try and be Journey and fail'' releases if you know what I mean. It does have some good songs in the first half as I said, but, uggh, you know, same old same old boring Zzzzzzzz. Must be something in the water in Brazil, as the N.O.W release a few weeks ago was pretty bog average aswell, although this is slightly better than that one. Frontiers have been genrally ok for me with more good releases than bad, but this is hardly gonna go down as one of their finer moments.

 

Nuts to it, I've cancelled the order .... serves Play right for being too slow shipping it. Reading your verdict raised huge doubts in my mind, I mean there's nothing really new under the sun with the old A.O.R. genre but you know what I'm like with stuff that is too safe/generic and the Blanc Faces and W.E.T. releases (also on Frontiers) just didn't do it for me even after initial soundbytes seemed promising. I might wait and grab it cheaper at a later date, but then again...maybe not!

 

Wow mate, if WET didnt do anything for you there was no way Auras was ever going to cut the mustard. I mean even from the soundbites you could hear it was not in the same league as WET.

 

Aye...no mustard cutting on this ship me hearty!

Shitballs! Goddamn this stupid new Aussie site and it's decent prices for pre-orders, or I never would have pre-ordered a CD like this before hearing it in full (I know I'm safe with Treat, Crazy Lixx and Ratt, but I took a big chance on this one). Could have just waited a few months and got it from Nuclearhell for cheaper. Oh well, hopefully I'll be one of the ones that do like it. But I got that Two Fires vibe too when I heard the samples, and I too am not a fan of those guys... I was just hoping this would be MUCH better than Two Fires. Oh well, we'll wait and see.

 

You may like it mate, but knowing your tastes in AOR you may be a bit disapointed aswell. It does have some good songs on it, the Ballad 'In My Arms' and the title track are two good ones, but I am really struggling with this one, even after 3 more spins todays.

[JamesEagle]

Blind Date - s/t

Sounds good, need a few more listens to get into the songs, the guitar solo in track 3 is awesome.

[Glen]

Blind Date - s/t

Sounds good, need a few more listens to get into the songs, the guitar solo in track 3 is awesome.

 

aren't the songs a bit shallow ;-)

[Nazz]

Blind Date - s/t

Sounds good, need a few more listens to get into the songs, the guitar solo in track 3 is awesome.

 

aren't the songs a bit shallow ;-)

This one's a guilty pleasure of mine and very consistent despite some of the songs being recorded way earlier. Sure the songs are a bit shallow, but I think the playing on this one is fantastic (great dual guitar work, so nice drum fills thrown in from time to time, oh and great vocal harmonies). I do think it lacks a big number though.

[Geoff]

Blind Date - s/t

Sounds good, need a few more listens to get into the songs, the guitar solo in track 3 is awesome.

 

aren't the songs a bit shallow ;-)

This one's a guilty pleasure of mine and very consistent despite some of the songs being recorded way earlier. Sure the songs are a bit shallow, but I think the playing on this one is fantastic (great dual guitar work, so nice drum fills thrown in from time to time, oh and great vocal harmonies). I do think it lacks a big number though.

KILLER disc. Love that one. And speaking of awesome 80's rock for the current times:

 

Loveblast - s/t ; will drop a track by track thesis on this in the official thread later this morning, but this is kicking my ass. Got 2 songs to go, but so far this has been so awesome. These clowns writing it off based on a few samples are really doing themselves a disservice. I admit I started wondering if I'd wasted my money when I saw all the negative comments, but once I got it and it hit my player this is no doubt one of the best CDs I've heard this year. The first 5 or so songs are just monsters. It's like mid-90's indie hard rock completely polished, heavier and back in your ears. Loving this CD.

[Glen]

Well I trust your judgement mate so I might give it a go. It just sounded really [and I hate this word] generic. poor vocalist as well.

 

Maybe its cos im comparing it with the awesomeness of Treat and Crazy Lixx.

 

Once those hit your ears you'll probably think this is shite too ;-)

[Geoff]

Well I trust your judgement mate so I might give it a go. It just sounded really [and I hate this word] generic. poor vocalist as well.

 

Maybe its cos im comparing it with the awesomeness of Treat and Crazy Lixx.

 

Once those hit your ears you'll probably think this is shite too ;-)

Yeah mate, I know it won't compare to those 2 discs, but at the moment, with Taking Dawn and Reckless Love at the top of my list, it competes with those two easily. Maybe not featuring the real standout songs those two have, but with a few spins it may. Yeah, vocalist is average, but mate, as I'll note in my track by track which I'll post soon this runs rings around the new Hansel CD, which I know you dig.

 

Journey - 'Infinity' ; Haha, this was unintentional but I thought why not? I could either buy the two I wanted ('Escape' and the other early 80's one) for the same price or those two and this one in a three pack. So although I had no interest in this, I went with it anyway. I wont' be too harsh and just say that for what it is, I guess it's fine. I wasn't horrified, but it just has that whole 70's vibe that doesn't click with me. Production was not as bad as I thought it could be, but it's so simple for me. Although this isn't offensively bad, it is just such a pale comparison, in my eyes, of what was to follow in the 80's. I can't listen to this without feeling like I'm wasting time that could be spent listening to something delicious from a few years later. No song here had me very interested at all.

[Glen]

Well I trust your judgement mate so I might give it a go. It just sounded really [and I hate this word] generic. poor vocalist as well.

 

Maybe its cos im comparing it with the awesomeness of Treat and Crazy Lixx.

 

Once those hit your ears you'll probably think this is shite too ;-)

Yeah mate, I know it won't compare to those 2 discs, but at the moment, with Taking Dawn and Reckless Love at the top of my list, it competes with those two easily. Maybe not featuring the real standout songs those two have, but with a few spins it may. Yeah, vocalist is average, but mate, as I'll note in my track by track which I'll post soon this runs rings around the new Hansel CD, which I know you dig.

 

Journey - 'Infinity' ; Haha, this was unintentional but I thought why not? I could either buy the two I wanted ('Escape' and the other early 80's one) for the same price or those two and this one in a three pack. So although I had no interest in this, I went with it anyway. I wont' be too harsh and just say that for what it is, I guess it's fine. I wasn't horrified, but it just has that whole 70's vibe that doesn't click with me. Production was not as bad as I thought it could be, but it's so simple for me. Although this isn't offensively bad, it is just such a pale comparison, in my eyes, of what was to follow in the 80's. I can't listen to this without feeling like I'm wasting time that could be spent listening to something delicious from a few years later. No song here had me very interested at all.

 

Lonely opinions are always the best mate ;-)

 

Pretty much considered a classic AOR album, including the Journey classics 'Lights', 'Feeling That Way', 'Patiently', 'Wheel In The Sky', 'Winds Of March'

 

It has to be said that Schon was pretty much on fire around this era, esp on tracks such as Winds Of March - the solo on that is just awesome. Perry was on the top of his game as well.

 

This was probably bettered (just) by Evolution and Escape that followed but this remains my firm 3rd fav disc from them. The songs and sound they achieved across this period (Infinity - Frontiers) has/have often been copied but very rarely if ever matched. Timeless stuff.

[Geoff]

That's amusing, because I actually didn't think Schon sounded so good on 'Infinity' at all to be totally honest. Now, let's get down to the other two:

 

Journey - 'Escape' ; I liked the first 4 songs here ('Keep on runnin' was a cool tune I'd never heard before). 'Open arms' is a very nice ballad too, and even 'Mother, father' is nice enough. But the middle section's pretty baron on this CD. I found tracks 5-8 to be pretty much filler material. Overall, though, I think this album's a keeper. Better than I thought and a cool one to keep in the collection I think.

 

Journey - 'Frontiers' ; I should start first by mentioning that I really strongly disgreed with a comment Dave (LV KIX) made recently, that new release CDs suffer from a few good songs for people to download off Itunes and a bunch of filler. I don't agree at all. Good bands create good music and bad ones don't - always have, always will. It's that easy. There are as much old CDs with fillers as there are new ones. It's all in the quality of the band. With that said, onto this CD. The first 6 songs are great! I already knew most of them, and liked them ('Seperate ways', 'Send her my love' and 'Faithfully' are all great). But 'After the fall' was a wonderful tune I didn't know well, and 'Edge of the blade' was a cool guitar rocker. I liked it. But dudes, track 7-10? WTF? That's got to be one of the biggest half-assed efforts in music history. Talk about rounding up the fillers to finish the CD. I thought 'Troubled Child' was weak, but the last three are just useless. Such lazy tracks compared to the first 6. Overall, the CD is a definite keeper and I enjoyed the first half a lot... I admit I should have had this CD a long time ago... but shame on them for the end of this CD.

[Jez]

That's amusing, because I actually didn't think Schon sounded so good on 'Infinity' at all to be totally honest. Now, let's get down to the other two:

 

Journey - 'Escape' ; I liked the first 4 songs here ('Keep on runnin' was a cool tune I'd never heard before). 'Open arms' is a very nice ballad too, and even 'Mother, father' is nice enough. But the middle section's pretty baron on this CD. I found tracks 5-8 to be pretty much filler material. Overall, though, I think this album's a keeper. Better than I thought and a cool one to keep in the collection I think.

 

Journey - 'Frontiers' ; I should start first by mentioning that I really strongly disgreed with a comment Dave (LV KIX) made recently, that new release CDs suffer from a few good songs for people to download off Itunes and a bunch of filler. I don't agree at all. Good bands create good music and bad ones don't - always have, always will. It's that easy. There are as much old CDs with fillers as there are new ones. It's all in the quality of the band. With that said, onto this CD. The first 6 songs are great! I already knew most of them, and liked them ('Seperate ways', 'Send her my love' and 'Faithfully' are all great). But 'After the fall' was a wonderful tune I didn't know well, and 'Edge of the blade' was a cool guitar rocker. I liked it. But dudes, track 7-10? WTF? That's got to be one of the biggest half-assed efforts in music history. Talk about rounding up the fillers to finish the CD. I thought 'Troubled Child' was weak, but the last three are just useless. Such lazy tracks compared to the first 6. Overall, the CD is a definite keeper and I enjoyed the first half a lot... I admit I should have had this CD a long time ago... but shame on them for the end of this CD.

 

I agree that 'Back Talk' is the worst song Journey have ever recorded, utter rubbish, although I do quite like 'Rubicon'. It has been said alot that 'Back Talk' especially should have been omitted and the magnificent pairing of 'Ask The Lonely' and 'Only The Young' put in it's place. Thankfully now on the recent remastered version, those 2 little beauties have been added, making 'Frontiers' even better. Disagree slightly on 'Escape' though mate, as that for me is pretty much a perfect disc and definitely one of my top 10 discs of all time.

[Jez]

Scorpions - Sting In The Tail

 

I liked 'Humanity Hour 1' a whole lot when it was released back in 2007 and I thought that it put the Scorps firmly back on the map after the slightly patchy 'Unbreakable' and the down right awful Eye II Eye'. I'm pleased to report back that 'Sting In The Tail' is an absolute blinder of a disc and out does 'Humanity' in virtually all departments. Songwise it is absolutely spot on and has most definitely the best collection of riffs per album I have heard in a long time and it all sounds absolutely brilliant. 'Raised On Rock' is a great opener, 'The Good Die Young' and 'Lorelei' are super ballads and I can say that so far, I like every track on here. If this is their last album, then they bowed out with an absolute gem of a disc. Looking forward to more spins and this 'Could' be the best album this year so far.

[Geoff]

Scorpions - Sting In The Tail

 

I liked 'Humanity Hour 1' a whole lot when it was released back in 2007 and I thought that it put the Scorps firmly back on the map after the slightly patchy 'Unbreakable' and the down right awful Eye II Eye'. I'm pleased to report back that 'Sting In The Tail' is an absolute blinder of a disc and out does 'Humanity' in virtually all departments. Songwise it is absolutely spot on and has most definitely the best collection of riffs per album I have heard in a long time and it all sounds absolutely brilliant. 'Raised On Rock' is a great opener, 'The Good Die Young' and 'Lorelei' are super ballads and I can say that so far, I like every track on here. If this is their last album, then they bowed out with an absolute gem of a disc. Looking forward to more spins and this 'Could' be the best album this year so far.

Wow, that's one impressed dude! I think it's a good disc, and it's fun to see them go back to 1990... but truth be told, 'Crazy World' was a pretty average release by comparison back then. In 2010 I like 'Sting in the tail' and as I said, it's good stuff, but I personally much preferred 'Humanity Hour.' I like most of the new disc, but also can't find many songs I really, really love. A lot of people are talking up those ballads, especially 'Lorelei', but I honestly found the ballads quite dull on this CD.

 

I agree that 'Back Talk' is the worst song Journey have ever recorded, utter rubbish, although I do quite like 'Rubicon'. It has been said alot that 'Back Talk' especially should have been omitted and the magnificent pairing of 'Ask The Lonely' and 'Only The Young' put in it's place. Thankfully now on the recent remastered version, those 2 little beauties have been added, making 'Frontiers' even better. Disagree slightly on 'Escape' though mate, as that for me is pretty much a perfect disc and definitely one of my top 10 discs of all time.

Goddamn, should have tried to pick up the remastered version instead. Oh well, not to worry. Maybe one day. Yeah, the tracks I didn't like so much on 'Esacape' weren't quite as bad as those last 3 on 'Frontiers' but they didn't do much for me either. Anyway, glad I finally got these two albums, though 'Infinity' is already on my trade list.

[JamesEagle]

Blind Date - s/t

Sounds good, need a few more listens to get into the songs, the guitar solo in track 3 is awesome.

 

aren't the songs a bit shallow ;-)

This one's a guilty pleasure of mine and very consistent despite some of the songs being recorded way earlier. Sure the songs are a bit shallow, but I think the playing on this one is fantastic (great dual guitar work, so nice drum fills thrown in from time to time, oh and great vocal harmonies). I do think it lacks a big number though.

 

Had a few more listens to Blind Date, quite a good album. As for a big number, I thought 'She's Walking' was a great song, the solo is fantastic, definitely the standout track for me.

 

Makes me wonder though, should there be a companion thread to this one? This is about first impressions, what about when you've heard a new CD a few times, wouldn't it be good to have a thread to post thoughts after getting used to an album?

 

I know there's the 'what are you listening to right now' thread, but that often tends to be just a list with no comments and is not just about new CDs. I often change my mind about CDs after 3 or 4 plays and would be interested to see whether others do the same when they get a new album.

 

Anyway, back to topic:

The Last Vegas - Whatever Gets You Off

The band's sound is quite good, no songs are leaping out at me yet though. Needs a few more spins…

[Nazz]

Had a few more listens to Blind Date, quite a good album. As for a big number, I thought 'She's Walking' was a great song, the solo is fantastic, definitely the standout track for me.

Tis a great song, that's for sure

 

Makes me wonder though, should there be a companion thread to this one? This is about first impressions, what about when you've heard a new CD a few times, wouldn't it be good to have a thread to post thoughts after getting used to an album?

 

I know there's the 'what are you listening to right now' thread, but that often tends to be just a list with no comments and is not just about new CDs. I often change my mind about CDs after 3 or 4 plays and would be interested to see whether others do the same when they get a new album.

 

Good idea. There's a thread for revisiting CDs that you haven't listened to in a while, so I guess it fits somewhere in between. Opinions about CDs definitely change and sometimes it takes more than 3 or 4 plays (Vain's No Respect comes into that category for me - took me a lot of spins to finally appreciate that album, now it's one of my all time favs).

 

Lifehouse - Smoke & Mirrors: On Geoff's recommendation. Wow, pleasantly surprised by this album, definitely more hooky than they were previously. Skipped the last couple of albums because they sounded a bit dull and flat, but they seemed to have more life to them here.I'll post a track by track in the dedicated thread for this one after a few more spins.

[Glen]

That's amusing, because I actually didn't think Schon sounded so good on 'Infinity' at all to be totally honest. Now, let's get down to the other two:

 

Journey - 'Escape' ; I liked the first 4 songs here ('Keep on runnin' was a cool tune I'd never heard before). 'Open arms' is a very nice ballad too, and even 'Mother, father' is nice enough. But the middle section's pretty baron on this CD. I found tracks 5-8 to be pretty much filler material. Overall, though, I think this album's a keeper. Better than I thought and a cool one to keep in the collection I think.

 

Journey - 'Frontiers' ; I should start first by mentioning that I really strongly disgreed with a comment Dave (LV KIX) made recently, that new release CDs suffer from a few good songs for people to download off Itunes and a bunch of filler. I don't agree at all. Good bands create good music and bad ones don't - always have, always will. It's that easy. There are as much old CDs with fillers as there are new ones. It's all in the quality of the band. With that said, onto this CD. The first 6 songs are great! I already knew most of them, and liked them ('Seperate ways', 'Send her my love' and 'Faithfully' are all great). But 'After the fall' was a wonderful tune I didn't know well, and 'Edge of the blade' was a cool guitar rocker. I liked it. But dudes, track 7-10? WTF? That's got to be one of the biggest half-assed efforts in music history. Talk about rounding up the fillers to finish the CD. I thought 'Troubled Child' was weak, but the last three are just useless. Such lazy tracks compared to the first 6. Overall, the CD is a definite keeper and I enjoyed the first half a lot... I admit I should have had this CD a long time ago... but shame on them for the end of this CD.

 

I agree that 'Back Talk' is the worst song Journey have ever recorded, utter rubbish, although I do quite like 'Rubicon'. It has been said alot that 'Back Talk' especially should have been omitted and the magnificent pairing of 'Ask The Lonely' and 'Only The Young' put in it's place. Thankfully now on the recent remastered version, those 2 little beauties have been added, making 'Frontiers' even better. Disagree slightly on 'Escape' though mate, as that for me is pretty much a perfect disc and definitely one of my top 10 discs of all time.

 

You either love the Journey sound or not. The last few tracks on Frontiers are weak, there is no denying and that's what always make me laugh on the main site page when so may folk describe the album as Journey's finest moment. It certainly contains some of their best songs, in particular 'Separate Ways' and 'Faithfully' are monster tunes, but for me Frontiers is probably my 4 or 5 fav....I think I may even prefer Revelation as an overall album.

 

[ps....filler on 'Escape'. madman]

[aMetalhead1966]

Armored Saint - La Raza

 

Had high hopes for this one but still not sure about it. I'm actually on my second spin and while it's much better than my first impression it still has left me a little cold when compared to their previous discs. There's some good grooves going on and John Bush sounds great as always but there's quite a bit of Latin feel to many of the tunes and if I wanted that I'd listen to Puya or something like that. It is more melodic than the last disc 'Revelation'(has it really been 10 years?). Overall it's more of a Hard Rock disc and less Metal than before. I was hoping more for something closer to the great 'Symbol of Salvation' but they've moved on plus it appears that Joey Vera has written all of the music with no input from the guitar players and that shows. It just seems that besides a handful of tunes they just don't mesh well together. "Left Hook From Right Field" is my fav tune so far. Hopefully it's a grower but so far I'm dissapointed.

 

It is a bit of a departure from their Metal sound..Chilled being My fave track so far...Overall pretty good but don't

expect SOS part 2....Some Great playing on all counts...but as stated not a Metal release...

[Geoff]

Night Ranger - 'Dawn Patrol' ; Wow, how much of a poofter am I for only just getting this in my CD collection now?! I'll definitely need a few more spins but this sounds like it'll probably be my favourite overall Night Ranger CD. I hadn't purposely avoided this at all, but when some people assaulted me for not owning it and I went out and got it asap, I have to admit I was a little concerned about the fact that this was released in 1982. Well wowser, this is excellently produced and they have a good solid rocking sound with FAR less keyboards than I expected. Spun 'Man in motion' again yesterday too and I would have to call these two my favourite Night Ranger CDs. How good are the first few songs on this CD especially? I can see why 'Don't tell me you love me' got so many votes in Dave's poll. It'd probably be in my top 3 too.

[Glen]

Night Ranger - 'Dawn Patrol' ; Wow, how much of a poofter am I for only just getting this in my CD collection now?! I'll definitely need a few more spins but this sounds like it'll probably be my favourite overall Night Ranger CD. I hadn't purposely avoided this at all, but when some people assaulted me for not owning it and I went out and got it asap, I have to admit I was a little concerned about the fact that this was released in 1982. Well wowser, this is excellently produced and they have a good solid rocking sound with FAR less keyboards than I expected. Spun 'Man in motion' again yesterday too and I would have to call these two my favourite Night Ranger CDs. How good are the first few songs on this CD especially? I can see why 'Don't tell me you love me' got so many votes in Dave's poll. It'd probably be in my top 3 too.

 

Backed on this and Man In Motion being the best 2. I never decide which way round tho. both awesome.

 

[mmm having said that Midnight Madness is pretty great too and would challenge these two closely]