First Spin Impressions

[Jez]

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.

 

And didn't we tell you so..

[heaven&hell]

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...

 

I agree great playing for sure but caught me off guard. Was really hoping for another Reveleation which kicked me in the face. It is much more of a hard rock disc than their classic Metal sound. It is growing on me now that I'm on my 3rd or 4th spin and I like it much more with songs like "Blues", "Chilled", "Get off the Fence" and "Black Feet" growing on me more and more.

[JamesEagle]

 

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).

 

 

Anyone agree/disagree?

 

As for today:

Arabia - 1001 Nights

Loving this so far, sounds a lot like Whitesnake (heavy Whitesnake rather than bluesy Whitesnake, which is good news for me). Title track is great with a really nice solo and 'Till The Day I Die' sounds like a really good track as well.

[Geoff]

Saxon - 'Innocence is no excuse' ; Loved it. Another one I can't believe I missed when I got into a few releases from this band all those years ago. Loved the sound and style of this album and I think the last track was the only one I didn't like. Especially liked 'Back on the Streets', 'Broken Heroes' and 'Rockin' again' after the first spin. I wasn't surprised to read in the credits that the band originally wanted to work with Mutt Lange as I definitely hear a Heavy Pettin' / Def Leppard vibe on this CD. I really enjoyed the two single b-side bonus tracks too, on this re-issue. They sounded a lot more how I picture Saxon to sound, but both good songs. Now I'm curious, should I get 'Rock the nations' asap?

 

Rick Springfield - 'Working class dog' ; Oh man, just love this guy. Not sure if I've heard the MP3s of this before, but very happy to have an original copy. Can't believe he sounded like this in 1980... that is some damn fine melodic rock on display. There's one filler towards the end ('Red Hot and Blue Love'), but otherwise this is just excellent. Great, great album.

 

Brian Howe - 'Circus Bar' ; Nice stuff. Expected nothing from this, but what a solid collection of modern AOR tunes. I think the only album I ever heard with this guy was the 'Now hear this' one from Howe II, and I sold that years and years ago. But this one is okay by me. The only complaint could be that it's a tiny bit one dimensional, but if it's a good dimension why not stick with it? Very good, consistent album.

 

Hydrosonic - 'Non omnis monar' ; oh man, what has happened to modern rock this year? Another pointless disc. About 3 good songs on this Hawthorne Heights-styled CD... but man, this is just SO forgettable. Three full months into 2010 and I think there have only been 4 modern rock releases worth mentioning so far this year.

[Jez]

Saxon - 'Innocence is no excuse' ; Loved it. Another one I can't believe I missed when I got into a few releases from this band all those years ago. Loved the sound and style of this album and I think the last track was the only one I didn't like. Especially liked 'Back on the Streets', 'Broken Heroes' and 'Rockin' again' after the first spin. I wasn't surprised to read in the credits that the band originally wanted to work with Mutt Lange as I definitely hear a Heavy Pettin' / Def Leppard vibe on this CD. I really enjoyed the two single b-side bonus tracks too, on this re-issue. They sounded a lot more how I picture Saxon to sound, but both good songs. Now I'm curious, should I get 'Rock the nations' asap?

 

Rick Springfield - 'Working class dog' ; Oh man, just love this guy. Not sure if I've heard the MP3s of this before, but very happy to have an original copy. Can't believe he sounded like this in 1980... that is some damn fine melodic rock on display. There's one filler towards the end ('Red Hot and Blue Love'), but otherwise this is just excellent. Great, great album.

 

Brian Howe - 'Circus Bar' ; Nice stuff. Expected nothing from this, but what a solid collection of modern AOR tunes. I think the only album I ever heard with this guy was the 'Now hear this' one from Howe II, and I sold that years and years ago. But this one is okay by me. The only complaint could be that it's a tiny bit one dimensional, but if it's a good dimension why not stick with it? Very good, consistent album.

 

 

The Saxon is a cool disc, and I will say it again that I think it is miles ahead better than 'Rock The Nations' which I think is probably one of their worst, with a couple of gems amongst loads of filler. I would say tread carefully, but you may well really like it.

 

The Brian Howe is one of the best I have heard this year so far. I love the new version of 'Holy Water' he has done on it, completely changes the song. Great album. I think you are getting your 'Howe's' muddled up, as Brian wasn't on the Howe II disc, completely different singer. The only other solo disc he has done was 'Tangled In Blue' aka 'Touch' a few years back aswell as the excellent Bad Co. and Ted Nugent stuff of course.

 

Rick Springfield is a goodie aswell and his best after 'Oz' imo.

 

I am getting a little worried, first Night Ranger pre '84 and now RS from '80. Next up Trillion and a host of Pomp rock stuff circa 77-78?

[Geoff]

Saxon - 'Innocence is no excuse' ; Loved it. Another one I can't believe I missed when I got into a few releases from this band all those years ago. Loved the sound and style of this album and I think the last track was the only one I didn't like. Especially liked 'Back on the Streets', 'Broken Heroes' and 'Rockin' again' after the first spin. I wasn't surprised to read in the credits that the band originally wanted to work with Mutt Lange as I definitely hear a Heavy Pettin' / Def Leppard vibe on this CD. I really enjoyed the two single b-side bonus tracks too, on this re-issue. They sounded a lot more how I picture Saxon to sound, but both good songs. Now I'm curious, should I get 'Rock the nations' asap?

 

Rick Springfield - 'Working class dog' ; Oh man, just love this guy. Not sure if I've heard the MP3s of this before, but very happy to have an original copy. Can't believe he sounded like this in 1980... that is some damn fine melodic rock on display. There's one filler towards the end ('Red Hot and Blue Love'), but otherwise this is just excellent. Great, great album.

 

Brian Howe - 'Circus Bar' ; Nice stuff. Expected nothing from this, but what a solid collection of modern AOR tunes. I think the only album I ever heard with this guy was the 'Now hear this' one from Howe II, and I sold that years and years ago. But this one is okay by me. The only complaint could be that it's a tiny bit one dimensional, but if it's a good dimension why not stick with it? Very good, consistent album.

 

 

The Saxon is a cool disc, and I will say it again that I think it is miles ahead better than 'Rock The Nations' which I think is probably one of their worst, with a couple of gems amongst loads of filler. I would say tread carefully, but you may well really like it.

 

The Brian Howe is one of the best I have heard this year so far. I love the new version of 'Holy Water' he has done on it, completely changes the song. Great album. I think you are getting your 'Howe's' muddled up, as Brian wasn't on the Howe II disc, completely different singer. The only other solo disc he has done was 'Tangled In Blue' aka 'Touch' a few years back aswell as the excellent Bad Co. and Ted Nugent stuff of course.

 

Rick Springfield is a goodie aswell and his best after 'Oz' imo.

 

I am getting a little worried, first Night Ranger pre '84 and now RS from '80. Next up Trillion and a host of Pomp rock stuff circa 77-78?

I can get the Saxon CD for au$9.95 but the description worries me a bit. It's not as "commercial" as 'Innocence' or 'Destiny' is it? I think I'll try it out, though.

 

Haha, different Howe, hey? No wonder this one actually sounds good.

 

Yeah, just been trying to tie up a few loose ends in the collection if I can find them for cheap. I've wanted the Springfield CDs for a while; all the 80's ones, it's just been a slow road getting them. Night Ranger was an oversight on my behalf. Saxon and Journey have just been albums I should have had ages ago. That said, did not like 'Infinity' at all and have no plans to stretch beneath 1980 for anyone else. Sorry mate, Trillion looking doubtful.

[Glen]

Saxon - 'Innocence is no excuse' ; Loved it. Another one I can't believe I missed when I got into a few releases from this band all those years ago. Loved the sound and style of this album and I think the last track was the only one I didn't like. Especially liked 'Back on the Streets', 'Broken Heroes' and 'Rockin' again' after the first spin. I wasn't surprised to read in the credits that the band originally wanted to work with Mutt Lange as I definitely hear a Heavy Pettin' / Def Leppard vibe on this CD. I really enjoyed the two single b-side bonus tracks too, on this re-issue. They sounded a lot more how I picture Saxon to sound, but both good songs. Now I'm curious, should I get 'Rock the nations' asap?

 

Rick Springfield - 'Working class dog' ; Oh man, just love this guy. Not sure if I've heard the MP3s of this before, but very happy to have an original copy. Can't believe he sounded like this in 1980... that is some damn fine melodic rock on display. There's one filler towards the end ('Red Hot and Blue Love'), but otherwise this is just excellent. Great, great album.

 

Brian Howe - 'Circus Bar' ; Nice stuff. Expected nothing from this, but what a solid collection of modern AOR tunes. I think the only album I ever heard with this guy was the 'Now hear this' one from Howe II, and I sold that years and years ago. But this one is okay by me. The only complaint could be that it's a tiny bit one dimensional, but if it's a good dimension why not stick with it? Very good, consistent album.

 

 

The Saxon is a cool disc, and I will say it again that I think it is miles ahead better than 'Rock The Nations' which I think is probably one of their worst, with a couple of gems amongst loads of filler. I would say tread carefully, but you may well really like it.

 

The Brian Howe is one of the best I have heard this year so far. I love the new version of 'Holy Water' he has done on it, completely changes the song. Great album. I think you are getting your 'Howe's' muddled up, as Brian wasn't on the Howe II disc, completely different singer. The only other solo disc he has done was 'Tangled In Blue' aka 'Touch' a few years back aswell as the excellent Bad Co. and Ted Nugent stuff of course.

 

Rick Springfield is a goodie aswell and his best after 'Oz' imo.

 

I am getting a little worried, first Night Ranger pre '84 and now RS from '80. Next up Trillion and a host of Pomp rock stuff circa 77-78?

I can get the Saxon CD for au$9.95 but the description worries me a bit. It's not as "commercial" as 'Innocence' or 'Destiny' is it? I think I'll try it out, though.

 

Haha, different Howe, hey? No wonder this one actually sounds good.

 

Yeah, just been trying to tie up a few loose ends in the collection if I can find them for cheap. I've wanted the Springfield CDs for a while; all the 80's ones, it's just been a slow road getting them. Night Ranger was an oversight on my behalf. Saxon and Journey have just been albums I should have had ages ago. That said, did not like 'Infinity' at all and have no plans to stretch beneath 1980 for anyone else. Sorry mate, Trillion looking doubtful.

 

my guess is that you would hate Trillion with every inch of your being

 

you're still a loser though for not liking Infinity ;-)

[Jez]

Saxon - 'Innocence is no excuse' ; Loved it. Another one I can't believe I missed when I got into a few releases from this band all those years ago. Loved the sound and style of this album and I think the last track was the only one I didn't like. Especially liked 'Back on the Streets', 'Broken Heroes' and 'Rockin' again' after the first spin. I wasn't surprised to read in the credits that the band originally wanted to work with Mutt Lange as I definitely hear a Heavy Pettin' / Def Leppard vibe on this CD. I really enjoyed the two single b-side bonus tracks too, on this re-issue. They sounded a lot more how I picture Saxon to sound, but both good songs. Now I'm curious, should I get 'Rock the nations' asap?

 

Rick Springfield - 'Working class dog' ; Oh man, just love this guy. Not sure if I've heard the MP3s of this before, but very happy to have an original copy. Can't believe he sounded like this in 1980... that is some damn fine melodic rock on display. There's one filler towards the end ('Red Hot and Blue Love'), but otherwise this is just excellent. Great, great album.

 

Brian Howe - 'Circus Bar' ; Nice stuff. Expected nothing from this, but what a solid collection of modern AOR tunes. I think the only album I ever heard with this guy was the 'Now hear this' one from Howe II, and I sold that years and years ago. But this one is okay by me. The only complaint could be that it's a tiny bit one dimensional, but if it's a good dimension why not stick with it? Very good, consistent album.

 

 

The Saxon is a cool disc, and I will say it again that I think it is miles ahead better than 'Rock The Nations' which I think is probably one of their worst, with a couple of gems amongst loads of filler. I would say tread carefully, but you may well really like it.

 

The Brian Howe is one of the best I have heard this year so far. I love the new version of 'Holy Water' he has done on it, completely changes the song. Great album. I think you are getting your 'Howe's' muddled up, as Brian wasn't on the Howe II disc, completely different singer. The only other solo disc he has done was 'Tangled In Blue' aka 'Touch' a few years back aswell as the excellent Bad Co. and Ted Nugent stuff of course.

 

Rick Springfield is a goodie aswell and his best after 'Oz' imo.

 

I am getting a little worried, first Night Ranger pre '84 and now RS from '80. Next up Trillion and a host of Pomp rock stuff circa 77-78?

I can get the Saxon CD for au$9.95 but the description worries me a bit. It's not as "commercial" as 'Innocence' or 'Destiny' is it? I think I'll try it out, though.

 

Haha, different Howe, hey? No wonder this one actually sounds good.

 

Yeah, just been trying to tie up a few loose ends in the collection if I can find them for cheap. I've wanted the Springfield CDs for a while; all the 80's ones, it's just been a slow road getting them. Night Ranger was an oversight on my behalf. Saxon and Journey have just been albums I should have had ages ago. That said, did not like 'Infinity' at all and have no plans to stretch beneath 1980 for anyone else. Sorry mate, Trillion looking doubtful.

 

my guess is that you would hate Trillion with every inch of your being

 

 

Despise would be a better word I think

[JamesEagle]

HolyHell - s/t

Gothic metal, a genre I have had enough of (I love some Nightwish and Tristania, but I've reached a point where I've had enough of this music). However, I heard a few samples and had to check out the CD. Some pretty good, varied songs. Second half of the CD starts to get boring, but the last track sounds pretty good. Decent.

 

Trixie - s/t

I'd describe this as hard rock with some sleaze elements, rather that out and out sleaze glam. Again, first few songs sound good, but after the first 5 or 6 tracks the rest seemed to blur into one.

 

Vicious Rumors - Warball

Heard the first track, 'Sonic Rebellion' before and not overly impressed with it. Not a bad track, but not up to VR's extremely standards imo. However, I didn't find that to be indicative of the album overall; lots of good songs and great guitar solos.

 

As always, these need to be revisited for a conclusive verdict...

[heaven&hell]

Crazy Lixx - New Religion

 

Holy crap this cd is good. Someone should send this one to Def Leppard especially the very Lep like "My Medicine(ROCK)" and remind how to write good tunes. My favs so far is "21 Til I Die", "Blame it on Love"(can't get this chorus out of my head),"Witching Hour"(their heaviest tune yet), "Lock Up Your Daughter" and "Road to Babylon". In all honesty every song on this disc is great. I wasn't sure if they could top the excellent "Loud Minority" release but I think they've done it here. This puts them into the big leagues with fellow Swedes Hardcore Superstar and Crashdiet.

[Jez]

Crazy Lixx - New Religion

 

Holy crap this cd is good. Someone should send this one to Def Leppard especially the very Lep like "My Medicine(ROCK)" and remind how to write good tunes. My favs so far is "21 Til I Die", "Blame it on Love"(can't get this chorus out of my head),"Witching Hour"(their heaviest tune yet), "Lock Up Your Daughter" and "Road to Babylon". In all honesty every song on this disc is great. I wasn't sure if they could top the excellent "Loud Minority" release but I think they've done it here. This puts them into the big leagues with fellow Swedes Hardcore Superstar and Crashdiet.

 

 

I think it is a really good disc, with some good consistent songs, but it isn't quite living up to it's reputation/hype so far for me. I think the best songs on the Treat and Reckless Love discs (of which it is getting compared to) are way way better than the best ones on here. Don't get me wrong, I really like it, but not as much as others it seems.

[Geoff]

A few recent one-spinners:

 

Priscilla - 'High fashion' ; this one isn't too bad for the most part. Decent sleaze/glam tunes though they don't exactly offer anything that begs one to ask how the hell they never got signed. I enjoy the decent enough recorded songs, but the last few tracks should not have ever seen the light of day. Absolutely rubbish super poor demo quality. Sadly, the songs sounded good too.

 

Angeline - 'Confessions' ; Pretty good stuff, this. I'll need a few more listens, but this is cool melodic rock disc with a bit of a modern twist. Not off-the-charts awesome, but solid. The title track was very nice. Some good strong choruses on this one.

 

Rick Springfield & Jeff Silverman - 'From the vault' ; YUM! I have no idea who Silverfish is, but Springfield's songwriting is all over this. There are a couple (literally) of duds, but mostly this is great, great stuff for Rick Springfield fans. I really enjoyed this.

 

Kid Skruff - 'Angels with dirty faces' ; Nice. A couple of duds (again not many) but for the most part this is pretty good stuff from a band I'd never heard of before. Worth checking out for hair metal band completists.

 

The Classic Crime - 'Vagabonds' ; good solid modern rock disc. I like one of their first 2 albums, but I'm not wild about the band generally. This one has some pretty awful verses along the way, but the choruses are very catchy and well executed. It certainly doesn't save modern rock from a poor year so far, but it's a decent disc.

 

Kids In Glass Houses - 'Dirt' ; wow, this was really nice. Tim (2) recommended these guys to me a few years ago and I hated their last album so immediately lost interest in them. Having heard this, maybe I need to check out their earlier work? Great pop rock with some killer tunes on this. Some great hooks and definitely an album worth checking out.

 

Secret & Whisper - 'Teenage fantasy' ; oh my christ. There's a couple of bands out there that have really grasped onto the sound and style of Saosin. None more so than this. Picture BB Steal by comparison to Def Leppard. If you played this to any Saosin fan they'd assume in an instant it was actually Saosin. That said, the sound is done to a T and there are a few decent songs, but song-wise there's nothing here to compare with Saosin's debut. If you do like the band, though, check this out as a missing album from them. Vocals, guitar, style... man, to a T I tell ya!

 

Halifax - 'Align' ; what happened to these guys? Great debut EP, solid debut album and now this? Another EP, with a track featuring Phil Collen too (?). Without being absolute shit, this is pretty much throwaway modern rock. I don't get it. It's been about 5 years since the debut album and it's taken that long to record 6 bland songs for a new EP? Thumbs down.

[Glen]

Crazy Lixx - New Religion

 

Holy crap this cd is good. Someone should send this one to Def Leppard especially the very Lep like "My Medicine(ROCK)" and remind how to write good tunes. My favs so far is "21 Til I Die", "Blame it on Love"(can't get this chorus out of my head),"Witching Hour"(their heaviest tune yet), "Lock Up Your Daughter" and "Road to Babylon". In all honesty every song on this disc is great. I wasn't sure if they could top the excellent "Loud Minority" release but I think they've done it here. This puts them into the big leagues with fellow Swedes Hardcore Superstar and Crashdiet.

 

 

I think it is a really good disc, with some good consistent songs, but it isn't quite living up to it's reputation/hype so far for me. I think the best songs on the Treat and Reckless Love discs (of which it is getting compared to) are way way better than the best ones on here. Don't get me wrong, I really like it, but not as much as others it seems.

 

Stunning album....not a filler in sight and definitely the first 5 songs are all killer.

 

Amazing choruses, kick arse solos.

 

Right up there with Treat for me.

[JamesEagle]

Just listened to Brother Firetribe - Heart Full of Fire for the first (and possibly last) time before I sell the CD. I'm not going to post my impression of the album on here for fear of being lynched.

[TIM (2)]

Just listened to Brother Firetribe - Heart Full of Fire for the first (and possibly last) time before I sell the CD. I'm not going to post my impression of the album on here for fear of being lynched.

 

Looking at the list of bands you like (White Lion etc) I'm amazed you wouldn't like this. Too many keyboards?

[JamesEagle]

Just listened to Brother Firetribe - Heart Full of Fire for the first (and possibly last) time before I sell the CD. I'm not going to post my impression of the album on here for fear of being lynched.

 

Looking at the list of bands you like (White Lion etc) I'm amazed you wouldn't like this. Too many keyboards?

 

That might have something to do with it, but mostly it was just the quality of the songs.

 

Now come on fellas, put the noose away...

[Glen]

Just listened to Brother Firetribe - Heart Full of Fire for the first (and possibly last) time before I sell the CD. I'm not going to post my impression of the album on here for fear of being lynched.

 

Looking at the list of bands you like (White Lion etc) I'm amazed you wouldn't like this. Too many keyboards?

 

That might have something to do with it, but mostly it was just the quality of the songs.

 

Now come on fellas, put the noose away...

 

Some great songs on that album....still not as good as the debut tho.

 

Id take BF over White Lion

[Geoff]

The Giant Leap - s/t ; great new release from this solid Finish AOR/melodic rock band. If you like On The Rise's debut, or Nelson at their best, this is a must. More consistent than the debut with some great catchy songs. I like it.

 

Surviving Sunrise - s/t ; good, solid modern rock CD with old school guitar riffage here and there. No real fillers here at all, just a bunch of good solid tunes. Worth checking out at least.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/survivingsun

[Geoff]

Forgot about this one:

 

Honeymoon Suite - s/t ; this one isn't too bad. No leaps of glee or anything from me and there are not doubt about as many fillers as there are good tunes, but stuff like 'Burning In Love', 'Funny Business', 'Heart on Fire', 'Turn My Head' and 'Face to Face' were all good AOR/pop rock songs. It is a small shame about the fillers, but there's enough on this to call it a keeper.

[Glen]

Forgot about this one:

 

Honeymoon Suite - s/t ; this one isn't too bad. No leaps of glee or anything from me and there are not doubt about as many fillers as there are good tunes, but stuff like 'Burning In Love', 'Funny Business', 'Heart on Fire', 'Turn My Head' and 'Face to Face' were all good AOR/pop rock songs. It is a small shame about the fillers, but there's enough on this to call it a keeper.

 

Mmm. this is pretty shite. There's a couple of songs i like on this - in particular the first 2 tracks 'New Girl Now' and 'burning Love'....but man did they kill this when they released 'The Big Prize'...a differenet league altogether.

[heaven&hell]

KIDD SKRUFF - Angels with Dirty Faces

Like most discs being issued for the first time there's some great and some not so great. First off I love the album cover. The first 5 or 6 songs are top notch with the last 4 being more of demo quality and nothing I need to really hear again but the first half is pretty good hard rock with "Sixteen", "Lonely Hearts"(sounds like early Bon Jovi), "Save Me" and "Shooting Star" being my favs.

 

Jet Red - Flight Plan

This is pretty good so far and has a DVD of a live show from 1990 where there doing tunes from this disc and their debut. My fav songs so far off this disc is "See the Light", "Trouble", "After the War", "More and More" and "Dance on the Line". I expect this to get many future spins.

[JamesEagle]

KIDD SKRUFF - Angels with Dirty Faces

Like most discs being issued for the first time there's some great and some not so great. First off I love the album cover. The first 5 or 6 songs are top notch with the last 4 being more of demo quality and nothing I need to really hear again but the first half is pretty good hard rock with "Sixteen", "Lonely Hearts"(sounds like early Bon Jovi), "Save Me" and "Shooting Star" being my favs.

 

Jet Red - Flight Plan

This is pretty good so far and has a DVD of a live show from 1990 where there doing tunes from this disc and their debut. My fav songs so far off this disc is "See the Light", "Trouble", "After the War", "More and More" and "Dance on the Line". I expect this to get many future spins.

 

Not listened to the CD yet, my copy arrived this week, but completely agree on that - one of the best covers I've seen for ages! Love it, will have to see if I can find anything else by the artist.

[heaven&hell]

Treat - Coup De Grace

 

This is by far the heaviest thing that this band has done and at first it kind of caught me off guard. I did notice that former vocalist Mats Leven co-wrote 3 songs. Basically this is Modern AOR and they've been able to take their classic sound and update it with a modern production and they've done it well but I was expecting 'Dreamhunter' so it took me a few songs to appreciate it. It is a good album and I'm sure it'll grow on me more with repeated spins but I don't think it's a 100/100 but maybe more like 90/100. My fav tunes so far are the killer "We Own the Night", "Heaven Can Wait", "Skies of Mongolia", "Roar", "Paper Tiger", "Breathless" and "The War is Over".

[Geoff]

Naked - 'Let's get naked... and start a revolution' ; thanks to Stefan for throwing this one in our last trade. There's quite a lot of weak stuff on here, sadly starting with the opener and then 2 tracks later the title track is a dud too. But on the flipside there are some excellent more melodic/commercial songs like 'High On Blue Love', 'Touch' and 'Freakin' Out' and 'Trouble' are both pretty good too. In all honesty, I don't think they're a very good band and the fillers are plentiful, but I'm happy enough with the stronger tracks which are good "party rock" tunes. Crazy Finns...

[heaven&hell]

Priscilla - High Fashion

This is one of those what might of been type stories. For the most part the songs are fun and very good in the Pretty Boy Floyd/Early Poison tradition but damn the production is not good at all. It sounds as if the singer was in one room while the band was in another if that makes sense. If the production was up to par this could be a Sleaze Glame classic. The top songs to me so far are "Wake Up the Neighborhood", "Lick N A Kiss", "Love in Action", "Always Think of You", "Broken Angel" and "Just Can't Stop". This kind of reminds me of the stituation with the Gynger Lynn disc from last year with great tunes but crappy sound.

 

 

X-Piracy - Dodge City Limts

Not much to say here but this is by far the worst thing that I've heard from the Sun City label. Usually I like most everything they put out and I bought this blindly without listening to samples but this is s huuuuuge let down. I'm not sure I understand what kind of music this even is. Sure there's elements of Hard Rock there but it seems to me that their just fucking off and not really taking it to seriously. Someone else might love this but I guess it's not really for me. I will say there is a decent tune or two towards the end but by then it's to little to late IMO.

 

 

Pearl - Little Immaculate White Fox

This is Meatloaf's daughter and fiance of Anthrax's Scott Ian. Scott even plays on the cd, tours with the band and co-wrote a couple of tunes. I have to admit I've never been a big fan of Female fronted hard rock for some reason but I picked this up for my wife and after one spin this is pretty damn good IMO. I've also checked out some stuff on youtube and it seems she brings it live as well. Good high energy hard rock with a mix of 70's and 80's with a killer singer. Recommended.