RECORD STORE TALES
Parts 1 – 50
Parts 51 – 100
Parts 101 – 150
Parts 151 – 200
Parts 201 – 250
Parts 251 – 300
Parts 301 – 320
RECORD STORE TALES MkII:
Getting More Tale
#321-350
#351-400
#401-450
#451-500
#501-600
#601-700
#701-800
#801-900
RECORD STORE TALES #1124: Aurora Borealis
52 years of coming to the cottage, since my very birth, and there are still new things to see.
I used to think I was too far south to ever see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). Certainly it has never happened before. However, we are heading into a Solar Maximum, which means a high point in the sun’s 11 year cycle of activity. The sun’s magnetic field is a twisty turny-thing, and every 11 years, it gets twisted up into an increasingly excited state, and the sun ejects massive eruptions of particles into the surrounding space. When our Earth eventually collides with the charged particles, they create brilliant shows of light in the sky. There are both northern and southern borealis, and in northern Canada, people can see the lights easily. Where I live in the southern tip, we never see the lights!
May 10, around 10:15 PM, the lights came to visit the shores of Lake Huron.
Jen and I headed down to the beach, as the Boston Bruins were getting mauled by the Florida Panthers. I kept my eyes north, assuming that was where I would see the lights. Disappointed, I shouted back at Jen, “There’s nothing yet.”
I noticed something as I looked back at her. The sky was “hazy”,
“Is that it?” I asked Jen as I looked straight up. There was a cloudy streak across the sky.
Then I looked south and saw the horizon glowing green. The northern lights were not coming from the north! They were all around us, in every direction, like a glowing curtain! It was not at all what I expected to see.
The light show peaked for about 15 minutes, on a very cold night. The lights shifted and changed, ever so slowly, so that you barely noticed. You could stare at a band of green until it faded and was suddenly replaced by swirls of red. The moon was a sharp crescent and it cut a hole through a band of green, as did a handful of bright stars.
Photographs and videos, of course, only tell part of the story, and only insofar as technology can capture. The real colours and the subtle wispy cloudy bands we saw are lost in photos.
Directly overhead appeared to be the center of it all. Radiating out from a central point were bands of cloudy white, like a celestial starfish. Jen and I pondered this and wondered if the solar particles were hitting at that point.
I wish I had been listening to “Purple Rain” at that moment. It did almost look like purple rain at times.
Jen and I had a moment on the previous night, listening to “Purple Rain” during sunset. It was an uplifting, somewhat surreal moment to hear Prince soloing and singing over the sight of the glowing sky. Imagine if we had it playing during the borealis!
The bone-chilling cold of the Kincardine night cut our visit short, but I can now say I’ve seen the Northern Lights.
Bucket list achieved.
And the Oscar for Best Music Video Re-enactment goes to: JEX RUSSELL!
Folks, Jex could not make it to the show live tonight, but he prepared his list in advance and appeared by video. And folks…Jex knocked it out of the park this week. That’s all I’m going to say. Jex also provided physical product in the shape of vinyl for his picks.
Between Jex, Dr. Kathryn and I, we ended up covering some of the best music videos for:
What we didn’t cover, the comments section did! Thank you for watching and commenting on this show. On a personal note, this was a technical challenge this week as I had to manage 21 individual video files for presentation, but fortunately it went off with very few glitches!
If you watch only one thing today, watch Jex Russell’s #1 pick.
See you next week with D’Arcy Briggs and Nurse Kat as we celebrate the release of the new Arkells album Disco Loadout!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 59: Top Five Music Videos From Our Childhoods
This show is a little different, and has been in the planning stages since February. Tonight on Grab A Stack of Rock, we present to you our Top Five Music Videos from our childhoods! Dr. K will be in the special panel tonight, with Jex Russell providing his list but unavailable to go live. This particular grouping is interesting, because Dr. K and I grew up during the dawn of MuchMusic, but Jex Russell is a little younger and grew up with a completely different set of music videos.
Either way: nostalgia on tap tonight!
Here’s the new twist: Normally we show off physical product on our show. It is called “grab a stack of rock”, after all. This time, the stacks of rock will be in the form of short video clips from each of our picks, that we will show and comment over tonight! I have personally edited these clips myself, and if all goes well, this should be a lot of fun. We are all psyched to see how this works.
Wish us luck tonight as we try something new! Either way, you can expect lots of laughs, some music history, and some cool music videos! Tonight on Grab A Stack of Rock!
Friday May 10 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!
Y&T – Ultimate Collection (Universal)
When Tim Durling, author of Down For the Count: The Y&T Album Review, found out I didn’t own any Y&T, he sought to rectify the situation. As a passionate and knowledgeable fan, he knew that I wanted to start with a good compilation that covered all the songs I liked, and as many albums as possible. The Ultimate Collection was the CD he vouched for, and he did not steer me wrong. This is an amazing compilation.
The disc opens with four songs from Earthshaker, their first album as Y&T after two records as Yesterday & Today. “Dirty Girl” is an unusual if brilliant opener. It’s both slow and heavy, with a couple genius guitar solos, one different from the other, and each telling a story. This track plods in the best possible way, with a cool signature riff and a stomping beat. The chunky “Hurricane” and an epic “Rescue Me” follow, but “I Believe In You” is a real standout from Earthshaker. This is a powerful metal ballad, like something the Scopions used to score hits with. Dave Meniketti has expert control of his voice, with a vibrato to die for.
A clutch of songs from Black Tiger (produced by Max Norman) follows. The title track from that album fades in from ominous jungle sounds (because tigers usually live in the jungle). “Cat eyes! She draws you in!” Dave is singing about a different kind of jungle here. The black tiger he’s singing about is of the feminine variety, and Dave wants you to heed his warning. “She’s playing for keeps, so you better get away!” Just a smoking metal track with stinging guitars. “Open Fire” is just as heavy, if a bit faster. These two songs boast hooks, both on guitar and vocals. Y&T are experts at this high-velocity rock, but “Forever” could fool you into thinking it’s another ballad…until it storms off, bordering on thrash metal. “Forever” definitely competes with the kind of heavy rock bands that were starting to make a name for themselves in the early 80s. Leonard Haze pushes it over the top with his adrenalized drumming.
Chris Tsangarides took over production duties on Mean Streak. We only get two heavy hitters, including the title track “Mean Streach”. (That’s a joke – listen to the chorus.) “Midnight In Tokyo” is the other, and by contrast, this song isn’t as simple or straight ahead. Complex, jazzy verses collide with melodically heavy choruses. Phil Kennemore must be credited for some really incredible, gallopy and melodic bass playing.
In Rock We Trust was produced by Tom Allom of Judas Priest fame. We only get one track from this record, the big hit “Don’t Stop Runnin'”. This one is especially notable for the backing vocals. The band probably don’t get enough credit for that, and the thick and sweet chorus is all band. Though I did see this music video on Toronto Rocks and the Pepsi Power Hour once or twice, it should have been a lot bigger. This band had a number of circumstances against then, as discussed in Tim Durling’s book, available on Amazon.
The next couple studio albums were produced by Kevin Beamish. Some may love, and some may hate, the direction this band evolved on Down for the Count and Contagious. If the songs chosen here are any indication, the band were going for a more radio-oriented mid-80s mainstream sound. They still managed to pack punch into the songs, but “Summertime Girls” and “Contagious” are notable more streamlined and polished. The melodies and backing vocals take more prominent positions, and keyboards enter the fray. I think these tracks are great. They are among my childhood favourites. I love the backwards-recorded drum parts on “Summertime Girls”.
A live track from Open Fire provides some much-needed music from the first Yesterday & Today album, which was on London Records and unavailable for this compilation. Wicked riff from Joey Alves on “25 Hours A Day”! Note the backing vocals once again. Whether they were polished in the studio, it doesn’t matter. The band can sing. This fun rock groove has a little more power than the studio version. Nice bass solo from Phil!
The end, temporarily, was 1990’s album Ten produced by Mike Stone. The ballad “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” turned me off back in the day. It was too soft for the direction I was headed. Judas Priest was dropping “Painkiller” while Y&T released a ballad. It just wasn’t what I wanted. I should have given Ten a chance. I love this song now. Though the lineup had changed, and Journey’s Steve Smith was playing drums in the studio, it still sounds like Y&T. Those melodies and backing vocals! That “touch by touch, little by little!” hook just knocks me out, not to mention Meniketti’s voice and delivery.
Y&T came back in 1995, retaining Stef Burns and Jimmy DeGrasso from the last incarnation. Musically Incorrect was the name of the album, and “I’m Lost” is an absolute smoker! You’d think it came from one of the earlier albums…because it does. It was originally on Struck Down and re-recorded here. It’s one of the fastest songs on the compilation, and the raw 9o’s production gives it a vintage sound. It’s challenging stuff. DeGrasso absolutely smokes on the drums. No wonder he ended up in Megadeth a bit later on. The same lineup remained on Endangered Species in 1997. A heavy ballad called “God Only Knows” represents that album. It’s passionate metal, with the kind of wrought-iron arrangement you expect from a power ballad. Absolutely killer lead solo work.
The final track takes us back to the beginning. A live version of “Beautiful Dreamer” from 1991 is originally from the debut Yesterday & Today. Again, it’s a little more complex, but still boasting the kind of melodies, riffs and singing that we expect from Y&T. That is, high quality heavy rock.
This is easily the best first-purchase Y&T you can make. It’s a great sampling of as much music as you can reasonably expect. Solid listen front to back, and then back to front. Liner notes are by the late Gerri Miller of Metal Edge magazine.
5/5 stars
MÖTLEY CRÜE – “Beauty” (1997 Elektra promo single)
Generation Swine was a weird album, and “Beauty” was a weird single. Just the facts.
Swine was a “reunion” album with Vince Neil, yet there are several songs with other members singing lead. Not the usual thing to do for a reunion album with your original lead singer! “Beauty” was one of the songs with multiple singers: Tommy Lee is credited for “Beauty and Head vocals”. Not only that, but Vince doesn’t sound like Vince, singing the verses in a low register. It was definitely an odd choice as the second single, when fans were expecting a return to the 80s. Not happening here! Produced by Scott Humphrey, Generation Swine dipped its toes into techno, with “Beauty” being one track that sounds nothing like Motley Crue.
Promo singles are usually not worth buying. They are strictly for collectors now who have to have everything. This one, however, might be of wider interest.
Track 1 is just the album version of “Beauty”. Vince sings the verses in that low voice, but the samples and drum loops are more disorienting. They were going for a more urban groove here, with mixed results. The lyrics, referencing prostitution, are apparently about Hugh Grant. “She got me thrown in jail, my black beauty, she’s still up for sale.” Motley Crue had the balls to put Hugh Grant’s mugshot on the CD, which makes it immediately interesting enough to be collectible.
Track 2 is perhaps more interesting. This “Audio Bio” features some pretty crazy quotes. From Rolling Stone: “The perfect union of ZZ Top celebration, and Nine Inch Nails self-immolation!” From Billboard: “There’s no denying the chemistry between Vince Neil and bandmates Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx and Mick Mars.” What?? What chemistry? Did you even listen to the album? MTV calls the album impressive, and Guitar World simply said “fuck yeah!” It’s really hilarious with hindsight. It also exposes these magazines for the hacks they often are. Not really listening, just writing what they’re told.
Give it a listen for yourself.
No point rating a promo out of five. Score one in the wild if you can, for the Hugh Grant mugshot and the unintentionally hilarious bio.
On May 1, Rob Daniels from CKWR and Visions In Sound recorded a show live to tape at TheMuseum in Kitchener. Here are some photos and videos of Rob, with Erik Woods and myself.
The show, which will air in a few weeks as part of Star Wars month, covers the amazing soundtrack by John Williams and stories of the movie’s creation. Rob will take you from the bleak early 1990s, to the Special Editions, and finally to May 1999 when The Phantom Menace was finally released. He discusses the fallout, in particular with actors Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best, who bore the brunt of fan hate. On a lighter note, he also tells you the story of how Erik Woods broke the internet when he broadcast the world premier of the soundtrack!
Stay tuned in May to Visionsinsound.ca for this and much more great Star Wars content!
While we enjoyed the music, Erik and I spent roughly two hours discussing Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Like typical fans, we talked about what we would have done to make both series better! And we had some great ideas, trust me. We talked about our own ideas for the prequels, the sequels, and an Indiana Jones adventure that, like poetry, would rhyme.
TheMuseum is a wonderful location for such an event, though they need to do more advertising. Their website didn’t even show that they were open that night. The lounge area where Rob was recording had ample space and a bar.
I hope to see Rob do more tapings at the TheMuseum in the future. Long live Visions In Sound!
TUFF – What Comes Around Goes Around (1991 Atlantic)
This is going to be a little different for my style of review. I’m not going in deep, researching the players, the singles, the writers and the releases. This time I’m just listening to the songs and spitting out my words. You’ll see why.
I do like that Tuff has one member who looks like a Ramone (or Nikki Sixx), one guy who looks like he’s in Britny Fox, and a miniature Bret Michaels in the band.
Will someone please tell us what a “Ruck A Pit Bridge”? The song is pretty good. It’s generic and could be Warrant, but they wrote a decent song with decent playing here. The singer lacks any kind of identity. You could plug any singer into this…until the funk section, which horribly dates the song to 1991. Literally every band was trying this rap/rock/funk hybrid.
I groaned at the title “The All New Generation”. Really? And cowbell too. It’s their version of “Rocket” by Def Leppard lyrically, name-dropping names and even little bits of songs (“Girls Girls Girls”). They even quote the “Oh my God!” line from Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher”. This is really bad. Musically it’s fine, but the shout-rock chorus is probably overdone. Best thing about this band seems to be the guitar player. I guess someone needed a song about 80s hair metal bands, Van Halen and Aerosmith, but I didn’t. It didn’t help the rock situation at the time, just made it sound more like a joke, especially since they’re also toasting Bon Jovi, Skid Row and GN’R in an era when they were not yet legends.
Time for a ballad! Break out the acoustic guitars! “I Hate Kissing You Good-Bye” is the Mr. Skid Big Extreme ballad of the album. If you combined those bands, put them in a blender, you’d get “Kissing You Good-Bye”. It actually sounds a little bit like Sven Gali from the Great White North, but with more maple syrup on top. The singer has a decent rasp but that’s about all he has going for him. And when he name-drops “American Pie”, I barfed a little.
“Lonely Lucy” has one of those riffs we’ve heard a million times. It sounds like cookie-cutter music. Nothing here of any quality. Echoey, vacuous cock-twirling.
Side one closer “Ain’t Worth A Dime” reminds me that this album is way overpriced online. Seriously though, I enjoyed the drums. The drum part is cool. The song itself is no good and a big part of that is that the singer is so bland. At least the guitarist shreds.
On side two, we finally get a good song! “So Many Seasons” is similar to “Edge of Broken Heart” by Bon Jovi, a mid-tempo rock ballad. It loses what makes it special as soon as the singer opens his mouth, but at least Tuff wrote a good song here. It’s a little too similar to Bon Jovi, but we’ll let it slide because hey, we should be a little kind here. Good song. Good choruses. A keeper! Would love to hear another band cover it!
“Forever Yours” had a good riff to it. Sounds a bit Skid Row, a little familiar, but then the kiddie-chorus comes in, and it’s so corny. Tuff fans will accuse me of listening with my Rush T-shirt, but there’s something just too sickly sweet about this chorus, especially the overdubbed keys and backing vocals.
Time for another acoustic ballad, and “Wake Me Up” sounds like faux-country, with contrived piano overdubs for extra that panache. They mentioned Aerosmith earlier. Well, this is their attempt to write an Aero-ballad, but without the skillz of Tyler, Perry, or their assorted song doctors. There’s also hints of Skid Row, Ozzy, and others who hit the charts with ballads. OK song, but absolutely nothing unique or special about it. Sweet sweet love, loneliness, promises, and being unable to change yesterday. Heard it all before.
“Spit Like This” is OK. Lots of guitar pyrotechnics, but not enough song. It tries to incorporate light/hard dynamics, but it’s uncompelling.
“Good Guys Wear Black” is an ample closer, with the singer acting all tough. A few years later, Bon Jovi would write a song called “Good Guys Don’t Always Wear White”, but it would be a stretch to say Jon ripped off Tuff. This is a completely different song. Very Skid Row, with Motley Crue “shout” vocals.
OK album. Just OK. Too many “HUAH’s!” in the vocals.
2/5 stars
Fun fact: Bassist Todd Chase is the brother of Badlands’ Greg Chaisson. He left after this debut.
A1 Ruck A Pit Bridge 3:44
A2 The All New Generation 3:38
A3 I Hate Kissing You Good-Bye 4:19
A4 Lonely Lucy 3:04
A5 Ain’t Worth A Dime 3:07
B1 So Many Seasons 4:12
B2 Forever Yours 3:04
B3 Wake Me Up 4:17
B4 Spit Like This 3:37
B5 Good Guys Wear Black 4:17
Hot on the heels of the fallout from our Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years critique, I was invited back on Peter Kerr’s Rock Daydream Nation along with John Clauser and Steve Deluxe, to review the debut album by Tuff. I’d never heard What Comes Around Goes Around before, so it was a little “tuff” for me to get up to speed with the other guys. I listened to the album intensely for a week, and then we recorded this show. It is a show of which I am extremely proud.
The goal here was to be fair and honest. I think we were. I will tell you one thing: one of our panel members went in with a negative perspective, but had it changed after playing the album today. I highly recommend you check out this excellent episode. Even if you don’t like the band Tuff, or the hair metal genre in general, what we have here is a thoughtful and sometimes hilarious discussion about music that, for a little while at least, was one of the most popular genres in the world.
This is what Peter has to say about the show.
Rock Daydream Nation featuring John Clauser (My Music Corner), Michael Ladano (Grab a Stack of Rock) and Steve Deluxe (Rock and Metal Invasion) talk about Hair Metal in the 90s and specifically the Tuff debut album What Comes Around Goes Around (1991)…
For those who like it saltier, stay tuned for my written review which goes up tomorrow. It’s a little spicy.
Thank you to Todd Evans and Uncle Meat for a full two hour extravaganza of Marillion love! Despite some connection issues, the Meat Man persevered and brought with him an interesting and sometimes surprising list for his Top 11 Marillion albums of all time.
Only three albums did not get listed by anyone. Others appeared on all three lists. In fact, all of us picked the exact same #11.
One thing is clear: Each of us has an emotional connection to these records that we picked. The music is personal. It’s important to our personal history. There was a lot of love for all eras of Marillion on this night. Highlights:
Please enjoy this excellent love letter to Marillion, with lots of physical product on three formats (cassettes, CD and vinyl). Thank you for watching!
Next week: We are back at the cottage with another list show: Top 5 Childhood Music Videos with Jex and Dr. K!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 58: Marillion Ranked! Top 11 Marillion with Todd Evans and Uncle Meat
It has been almost a decade since we’ve ranked the Marillion albums, and Meat only did five back then. Now we’re doing 11, and we’re doing them with the Contrarian that may know them best: please welcome Todd Evans to the show!
I know that my list will not be the same as the one I did in 2015. I have a strong feeling of Meat’s top six, but beyond that? Your guess is as good mine! As for Todd? I expect nothing less than intelligent and thoughtful picks from this veteran Contrarian.
Marillion is a band I’ve been passionate about for half my life, but this is the first time we’ve ever covered the band on either the LeBrain Train or Grab A Stack of Rock. Be there for this historic show, and as always we will be chatting in the comments!
Friday May 3 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!
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