Eddie Trunk is my guest on this episode. We talk about Rock, radio and UFO. He also programs the music on this episode. Thanks to Grandmaster Michael Kirk for producing this episode.
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On this show I play a track by track review of The Winery Dogs, a new band with Billy Sheehan, Ritchie Kotzen and Mike Portnoy. I also play show reviews of Ted Nugent in Indianapolis and Bob Dylan in Mountain View, CA.
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On this show I talk about the book Queens of Noise: The Real Story of the Runaways
and play songs from a band that I discovered while reading the book called The Hollywood Stars. I play a few songs from them. I also play a show review of Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, a Stones concert review and more. I hope you like it.
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On this show I play music, read emails ,stumble over my words, I talk about a great Eddie Arnold Tribute album featuring Bebe Buell, Jason Ringenberg, and others, I play a Douchebag clip of the week, talk about Dan McCafferty collapsing onstage, Alice Cooper on the current state of Rock music and more stumbling over my words. A typical trainwreck episode. I hope you like it.
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Geoff Tate’s Queensryche.
Frequency Unknown
Deadline
4/10
Well kids… Here it is… In your face… Goddamn!… This is a sham of a sham. I know I’m late to the party for reviewing this album, but I wanted to be able to make an informed and honest review of both albums by the two faces of Queensryche. So after a quick scan of Frequency Unknown about a month ago, I am prepared to give it a go.
There is a saying in journalism, “It’s better to be right, than first.” I think Geoff Tate should have listened to these words and took them to heart when writing, recording, and mixing this album. The fist with rings on two fingers showing a bold “F” and “U” would lead you to think this is Mr. T’s not so subtle dig at his former band mates who fired him. A little “I pity the fool who fires me.” and though Tate claims, this isn’t the case, he isn’t fooling anyone.
He also isn’t fooling anyone into thinking “F.U.” is more than a Geoff Tate solo album with the Queensryche name on the cover. Despite guest contributions by K.K. Dowling, Dave Meniketti, and Lita Ford, the songs sound murky, disjointed, and lacking.
Yes, the album was rushed in order to make label deadlines and to beat the other Queensryche to the marketplace, but there is more that points to the issues with the “King of the Empire’s” work.
The main problem with the last few ‘Ryche albums has been the overall crappiness of the songs. This has a lot to do with the songwriters Mr. Tate has been using. When former Rock Star: Supernova contestant winner, Lukus Rossi, helps to pen the opener and first single, “Cold” and it is the best song on the album, you can see how working with Jason Slater, Kelly Gray, and the other usual suspects, is a liability instead of the strength. “G Love”, seems to think it is.
“Dare” is so uncomfortable to listen to because of its very clear message to Rockenfield, Jackson, and Wilton. It’s just a lame burst of lyrical taunting.
Before I get the positives, I must discuss the re-recording of the Queensryche classics, “Empire”, “Silent Lucidity”, “I Don’t Believe In Love”, and “Jet City Woman”. Tate freely admitted to doing this because Deadline/Cleopatra, offered him a lot of money to do so. Who doesn’t like money? But if you are going to re-record these songs, you have to do them justice, and give their legacy respect. In short… Yuck!
F.U. isn’t all bad. The strange thing is, that if Tate would have taken “A World Without” [Brad Gillis of Night Ranger on guitars], “Fall” [Meniketti on guitar, and “Weight of the World” [Chris Poland of Megadeth on guitars],], along with “Cold”, then worked harder on the re-makes of the classics, this would have been a good album. Not a Queensryche album, but a much better GT solo album than Kings and Thieves was.
Michael Kirk
fullblacknegro@gmail.com
Queensryche
Queensryche
Century Media
8/10
Let’s hop into the Way Back Machine and travel to 1997. Queensryche has released Hear In The Now Frontier. It’s their sixth full length studio album and with Promised Land being a strong follow up to Empire, fans were just itching to get their grubby little hands on the latest.
The album was so-so, but something changed. The duel harmonies of Wilton and D’Garmo were missing. The sonic pulse of Jackson and Rockenfield was tempered. Tate’s vocal acrobatics were long gone. The songs were OK, but the signature sound coul not d be found.
As the years rolled on, the albums got worse. There were glimpses of promise, but much like a lover who is nothing but a flirt that leads you on, Queensryche, the band that I obsessed over for a decade, turned into a rock tease
And then it happened. Jackson, Wilton, and Rockenfield finally had enough of what seemed to turn into a relationship that looked like a marriage with a an enabler fueling a controlling spouse. Tate was fired, lawsuits were filed, two version of the band hit the road and the studio, and for now, all that seems to be left are negotiations and rock songs.
After Tate’s first shot across the bow of the S.S. Queen of the Ryche in the form of his album Frequency Unknown, the only question left was what would the remaining founding members, most recent guitarist Parker Lungrenand, and former Crimson Glory vocalist Todd LaTorre do?.
The answer is a self-titled return to where the band left off after Empire. In interviews, Tate says that he never wanted to rest on the laurels of the band’s signature sound. That’s fine. Experimentation is great. Rush experimented to the point you barely knew where the synthesizers began and Power Windows ended. Even the Gods from the Great White North, knew when it was time to get back to their roots. And I’ll tell you this. I haven’t taken a nearly 20 year vacation from Rush albums.
After an opening ditty by Rockenfield, things get rolling with the punch of a Lungren written track called “Where Dreams Go To Die”. With the punch of the return of the guitar harmonies, the melodies of the chorus, the lyrics with purpose, and Todd LaTorre’s Atlas strong vocals, it is clear that Queensryche is back. When it comes to reclaiming “The Empire”, these guys are not fucking around.
This is not a long album. It clocks in at a little over 35 minutes, but much like the first two Van Halen albums, Queensryche with Todd LaTorre rockin’ the mic packs a ton of punch into the nine full tracks. Don’t believe me? Listen to “Fall Out,” “Spore”, “Redemption”, and my personal favorite, “Don’t Look Back”. Which, by the way, is the first song written by LaTorre and Wilton, when their partnership was just going to be a side-project.
Does this release fill your empty belly? Not quite. However, it’s the best musical appetizer fans could ask for while the band works this effort, then hits the studio to record the songs they either didn’t finish in time for this release, and the new tracks they have already started to demo.
No matter how the trial that determines who gets the “Queensryche” name and all that goes with it turns out; it is clear that all this band needed was to break up with their singer, and find someone new who has the same fire and passion for the same kind of music.
I guess you could say that Todd is the frontman equivalent to the amazing person you meet after a horrible long term relationship. The one who pulls you out of your funk, helps you see the world in a different light, and makes you believe in love again.
Michael Kirk
fullblacknegro@gmail.com
Megadeth
Super Collider
Trade Caraft
5/10
Dave Mustane said that with this new album, he really had to make sure he didn’t fall into old writing habits now that he has written an upwards of 200 songs. With the last three megadeth albums, it seems that he is staying true to that discipline. So, with Super Collider you have to wonder what went wrong.
Everything starts off pretty well with “King Maker”, a galloping tale of substance abuse that could fit on Countdown to Extinction, but then the lull hits and hits hard.
The title track, which is also the first single, is a waste of time and sounds like those Alice Cooper songs from about 1996 to present where he’s trying to do something cool, but the coolness is lost somewhere between bad lyrics and iffy choruses. Though I’d like to say it gets better, it doesn’t. On “Burn”, Dave actually rhymes fire with desire. Even at his most drugged out and bitter moments, he didn’t go to that old trick.
Take heart because it does pick up with “Dance In The Rain”. Songs about the human condition and being dicked over by corporations and the Powers The Be has always been a very strong song writing pimp hand Mustane has always featured in classic and modern Megadeth offerings.
We then go back to the lull with “The Blackest Crow”. It isn’t even that this is a bad song. Initially I thought it would be about Barack Obama, but it’s actually about a guy who was left shaken and broken by his lady love. (And yeah…I said it… And it isn’t racist… I’m a black guy). As I said, the song isn’t bad. It’s a country tinged toe tapper, but maybe a guest appearance by someone with a smoother voice who can carry a country song would have helped.
I have the deluxe version of this album; which is a 50/50 split on songs worth listening to. “All I Want” is not. “A House Divided” is. Before I wrap this up, I can’t forget to point out, there is a really good cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Cold Sweat”.
I don’t know, man. Maybe Down and other bands just putting out EP’s is the way to go. If Dave Mustane just took the strongest compositions and left off the hard to pallet portions, no one would have felt cheated. However, in this case, Super Collider misses as a long player.
Michael Kirk
fullblacknegro@gmail.com
Black Sabbath
13
Vertigo
6/10
This album got its start about 12 years ago when the original line-up of Black Sabbath decided to head into the studio with Rick Ruban as the Knob Twister. This would have been the first time the Fathers of All Things Metal would have put out a full album of new material since Never Say Die, in 1978. However, Ozzy’s Down To Earth album took priority over the project. Plus that little reality show thing and the reunion of the “Heaven And Hell” version of Sabbath, slowed things down even further.
Then the dream of the original band putting out the new album died when Bill Ward said, “Kiss my ass.” When he was offered less than everyone else for the reunion.
This did not stop Ozzy, Geezer, and Tony. Not even cancer treatments every six weeks by Iomi could slow down this lumbering locomotive of doom. They just through Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine) into the furnace, with 666 tons of the blackest coal mined from the deepest part of wherever you go, as you travel into the void, and chugged on.
With all that said, I must admit I had a really hard time listening to this album. As a whole, 13 did not hold my attention very well. I tried listening through speakers, but I found myself distracted by something else. I tried smoking a bowl of weed to help mellow me out, but the sweetest of all leaves either made me sleepy, or there is just something about “Live Forever” that makes me want to nap. Even while writing this review, I fell asleep before the end of the aforementioned track, only to wake up with the opener “End of the Beginning” playing again, very loudly, through a rather good pair of headphones.
There are just so many things missing in the sound of this record. Though Brad Wilk is a fucking awesome drummer, his Bonham-esque style doesn’t fit with Sabbath, and trying to fill in for Bill Ward seems forced at times.
The production of Rick Ruban makes everything sound like one big chunk of iron being thrown at your face. The brilliance of the first six Sabbath albums was the fact you could hear the separation between the players. You could focus on Ward’s mad man swing on “Rat Salad”, while the band played on. Though Tony and Geezer played off of each other, you heard them both do what they do in a partitioned way that allowed you to geek out on how they worked together to make “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” so brilliant.
Ruban’s production takes what I just pointed out and completely muddles the musicianship by squeezing everything together to the point it makes these very accomplished players sound like a sludgy stoner metal band trying to cover up their inability to sound professional…. Holy shit!… Rick Ruban has figured out how to make Black Sabbath sound like Wolfmother.
Ozzy is … Well…. Ozzy. He sounds great, but what he’s singing just lacks spark. Geezer doesn’t phone in on his lyrical contributions to the eight songs on 13, but he doesn’t make you want to sing those lyrics back.
Sidenote: how is it Ozzy can have a conversation and sound like a mush mouthed character from a Dickens novel, but sing as clear as a summer’s day?
Iomi’s playing is as good as ever, and he proves that not even chemotherapy can keep him from delivering blistering solos and solid riffs, though, the riffs just repeat over and over, leaving you wanting something else.
The songs just don’t go anywhere. They follow the same formula; slow , slow, chorus, slow, slow, bridge, fast jam with solo, slow, slow, and stop!
I don’t really dislike any of the songs, except for Zeitguist”, which is not much more than “Planet Caravan” part deux. “Loner” and “Damaged Soul” prove the band was trying and were definitely walking along a path of good intentions, but the execution fell a bit short.
Michael Kirk
fullblacknegro@gmail.com
