There are always things to consider about having a physical collection of music – what’s your favorite piece? What’s the most expensive thing you have? What act’s works are complete in your collection? What rare or out of the way pieces do you own that are cool to have? And the most important question that we ask all of the time and plagues our bank accounts – what’s next?
Today I’m not going to ask or answer any of those questions. The one I’m going to work with is this – what is the weirdest thing in my collection?
Being weird isn’t a matter of the music itself – I have a bunch of stuff on my shelves that would be considered weird. Death metal and jazz is a hell of a combo and I’m not sure why I own several examples of it. But that’s not the issue at hand today.
What I’m concerned with is weird, as in format or presentation. I have a few oddball things that do stick out, like a few albums on DVD audio that are in bigger cases, oddly-sized box sets and things of that nature. But none of those really qualify as the most weird thing in my collection.
I considered the question for a moment but then I quickly remembered something I’ve owned for a long time that easily qualifies to answer this question. I proudly present the 2007 album from British doom merchants Paradise Lost, In Requiem.
There’s nothing odd about the album itself – Paradise Lost are a great band and I really enjoyed their material in the 00’s. But if you notice the box in the picture, this presentation is a box set. And it’s a box set of 7-inch vinyl. Yes, this is the full album presented on four small records, as opposed to a standard 12-inch record. And yes, the album is available in that standard format as well.
This box set did come with a few extras – it has the CD version of the album as well as a poster. The CD was important at the time, as we were in the “digital collection” age and it was super cool to get a CD along with vinyl so we could import the album into our collections with ease. Those days are long gone, as streaming has rendered a digital collection unneeded for many.
This edition also comes with a few bonus tracks – the vinyl has a bonus called Missing, while the CD includes that as well as Silent In Heart. These two songs were also available on a few deluxe CD versions of the album but those and this seem to be the only sources of the material. So I guess this can qualify as weird but not necessarily useless.
I honestly can’t say why I even bought this. I don’t specifically recall wanting it. I did used to order from Century Media records on occasion back then and I probably just thought it was a neat thing to have so I put it in with my usual order. It’s possible they also had it on clearance, but again I don’t remember. All I know is I bought it and here it is 17 years later.
And, all else being equal, it will remain in my collection. The box has a tiny premium online, not enough to really bother with unloading – it’s just a hair more “valuable” than its retail price. I would also figure that the box is not a high demand item – there aren’t lines of people queued up to score a 7-inch box set copy of a doom metal album from 2007.
So I will speculate that this oddball box set will remain in my collection until I’m not around to have a collection anymore. The only practical way this gets unseated as the weirdest thing in my collection is if I buy something weirder than it. I don’t go out of my way to find weird music stuff but it is out there, so that is certainly a possibility.
Do you have questions, comments or concerns? Feel free to use the comment form below, or head to my contact page.
It’s time to continue the 40th anniversary celebration for 1984. And today I’ll have a look at one of the big pop and dance hits of the year. If there’s anything my site is known for, pop and dance are not it, but there is no denying the song-crafting genius of Hall and Oates.
Out Of Touch hails from the duo’s twelfth album Big Bam Boom, which arrived in October of 1994. The album would hit Billboard top 5 and go double platinum and was carried mainly on the success of today’s single. Out Of Touch would be the duo’s sixth and final number 1 single. It was also their 14th consecutive Top 40 single, they would go on to have 29 total Top 40 placements.
With this song Hall and Oates were exploring new wave and dance territory. The group had worked with many different music styles over their long tenure, and by 1984 they were riding a wave of huge pop hits and were working with the sounds of the day. It was a synthesizer where the track was born, and John Oates came up with the chorus on the synth while not really knowing how to use the instrument and while also enjoying herbal supplements. He intended the song to go to Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics but a producer told him to keep it for Hall and Oates, which he did. Oates and Daryl Hall finished the track and yet another number one hit was born. Oates tells this story in pretty funny fashion during a performance for Ditty TV, I have embedded that video below.
Today’s song is not overly loud or obtrusive by any means but it is still a banger. It does the dreamy synth thing pretty well through the chorus while the verses are honestly standard pop rock. It is, just like the duo’s other hits, insanely catchy and this one hooks in right off the bat. Hall and Oates were able to maintain their precision songwriting while using a host of new music tech. It was exactly the kind of ear-pleasing pop that would turn heads in 1984 and the song has been one of a handful from the group to still hook in listeners many years later.
If the standard version of Out Of Touch is a bit pedestrian for you, well, you’re in luck. There is an extended club mix of the song too, which the music video uses a few parts of. If you like your songs harder and probably also your drugs harder, then the Out Of Touch club mix is just up your alley. I’ll toss that one down below, it’s totally worth a listen.
And speaking of the music video – it’s another total ’80’s offering. The beginning is a funny sequence that sees Hall and Oates trapped in a drum, then steamrolled and pinned on a wall. The video then goes into a more conventional performance bit after that, but the giant drum set does get some more screen time.
Not much more to say about this one – Out Of Touch is a quintessential ’80’s hit and another jewel in the Hall and Oates crown. I doubt anyone made it through the early ’80’s without hearing Hall and Oates and if they did they are much poorer for it.
For questions, comments or concerns, use the comment form below or head to my contact page.
I switched gears for this week after finding out this album just had its 32nd anniversary (or birthday, whichever) over the weekend. It is a mixed bag for sure and the record marked the end of an era for the group as they continued drifting away from the golden years of the 1980’s.
Iron Maiden – Fear Of The Dark
Released May 11, 1992 via EMI Records
Iron Maiden has entered the 1990’s with a retooled, stripped-down sound. The synth era of the late ’80’s was over and the band explored a meat and potatoes rock approach on No Prayer For The Dying. That album spawned the band’s only UK number one hit but is also widely held as one of the worst albums of the entire catalog. There was more variety on display here but the sounds and vibes weren’t terribly far off of this record’s predecessor.
The band’s line-up was the same as the album prior – Steve Harris as always on bass and band leading, Bruce Dickinson on vocals, Dave Murray and Janick Gers on guitar and Nicko McBrain on drums. Martin Birch helped Steve Harris produce, it marked Birch’s final involvement with Maiden as he would head into retirement. This was also Dickinson’s final album with the group until 2000, Bruce was off to his solo career about a year later.
This also marks the end of the line for Derek Riggs album covers – this one was done by Melyvn Grant, who is now the second-most credited artist for Maiden covers. And this one was a pretty good job, very nice and different depiction of Eddie.
This is one loaded album – it is 12 tracks at 57:58, marking Maiden’s first double album. As I recall from my Iron Maiden album ranking, this one did not place very well at all, landing at number 14 on my list. As I said then, this album has a lot of variety but also a lot of varied results, so let’s jump in and see what’s what.
Be Quick Or Be Dead
The opener also served as the lead single. It is a very fast and aggressive song, something a bit over the bar for Maiden. The intensity helps drive home the song’s message about how screwed up corporations and governments are, something that has only gotten worse 32 years on. This one is really good and certainly among the album’s keepers. Grade: B
From Here To Eternity
Another single and the conclusion of the long-running Charlotte saga. It’s a muscular hard rock affair that is fairly basic but I enjoy what it has on offer. It won’t set the world on fire but I don’t have an issue listening to it. Grade: C+
Afraid To Shoot Strangers
On now to a song that fits the Iron Maiden identity full and true. This haunting track starts quietly then builds into explosive action later and it features the movements and thoughtfulness typically expected from Maiden. The song examines the first Gulf War from the eyes of a young soldier who is sent to kill – it’s a new take on the classic “government starts the war and poor people fight it” trope found in music of all stripes. It could be said this is what Maiden used to sound like before the 1990’s shift, but I think it’s more accurate to say that this is what Maiden would sound like in their second “golden” era in the coming reunion years. An absolute whale of a song, very well done. Grade: A
Fear Is The Key
Up next is a song lyrically inspired by the death of Freddy Mercury to AIDS and the concept how how no one really “gave a shit” about the disease until celebrities started dying to it. The issues around HIV and AIDS were a massive shitshow in the 1980’s and early ’90’s for sure.
This song has some good hooks and riffs though it does feel a bit odd in structure. And the song’s last few minutes really throw a wrench into the works – I don’t know what’s going on but it reminds me of Spinal Tap playing Jazz Odyssey. Hilarious in the movie, not so hot on record. Overall this one doesn’t command my attention much, bit of a roller coaster. Grade: D+
Childhood’s End
Another bit of a fierce pounder here and a song that very much offers the sound of Maiden to come for the rest of the decade. Interesting use of drums here and everything comes off pretty sharp and well done. It’s a look at how the whims of politicians lead to children around the world caught up in war, famine and other shitty situations. While this song is one of the album’s secondary tracks, it does a pretty good job. Grade: B
Wasting Love
If you had “Iron Maiden will release a power ballad in 1992” on your bingo card way back when, well, you probably cashed in. I don’t know why Maiden would do a ballad or why they’d release one in 1992 when the ballad was persona non grata in the alt-music world. But none of that is really important because the song is pretty damn good. It’s a sad look at someone trying to end their loneliness through casual hook-ups and only finding more loneliness at the end of it all. This one was a curveball but curveballs are valid pitches to throw. Grade: B+
The Fugitive
Here’s one inspired by the old TV show, there were since movie remakes and whatever. Not a bad song but not radically interesting either, easy to listen to but also easy to forget. Grade: C
Chains Of Misery
It’s a song about the “devil on your shoulder” concept. It’s an outright sleazy glam track with gang vocals and the whole nine yards. It’s not a terrible song per se but it’s so out of place on an Iron Maiden record. This song is another curveball but the pitch doesn’t really land. It’s musically just good enough to not be a total trash affair. Grade: C-
The Apparition
Whether or not you like this song hinges on what you think of Bruce’s climbing vocals through the verses here. If you like them then you probably think this ghost tale is at least ok. I personally don’t like them much and it’s all the song does so I think it’s awful. One way to make a double album is to not make it and cut certain songs that don’t work – this would be one of them. Grade: D
Judas Be My Guide
This one’s about how everyone is basically “for sale,” in that everyone has a price and will eventually sell out to the high bidder. It’s of course tied to the biblical story of Judas, the betrayer of Jesus. It’s also an absolutely fantastic song. It’s short and a quick rock track but it works on every level. The Iron Maiden “butt rock” era could have been something else if more of the songs were like this. I and many others consider this to be one of the most underrated tracks of the Maiden catalog, this one is a true hidden gem. Grade: A+
Weekend Warrior
The Maiden butt rock era might have worked with more songs like the last one, unfortunately there were also tracks like this. It’s a song about football/soccer hooliganism, something Steve Harris is quite familiar with as a West Ham United fan. Whatever the topic, I don’t know what the hell is going on with this song – it’s so basic that it hurts and it goes nowhere. It’s very close to the worst Maiden song I’ve ever heard. Grade: F
Fear Of The Dark
The title track and album closer offers a very simple premise – it’s about being afraid of the dark, being paranoid about what might lurk in the shadows and corners that light doesn’t penetrate. It’s also the Maiden song from the 1990’s that has endured and earned the title of classic.
This song is a total Iron Maiden track through and through, with running riffs and quiet/loud dynamics and about anything you’d want out of a Maiden song. After slogging through an uneven album that has some massive question marks in creative choices, this song nails everything about Iron Maiden. Grade: A+
Although this era of Iron Maiden is lightly regarded, Fear Of The Dark was a bit of a success as the group pressed on in the wilderness of the 1990’s. The album charted at 12 in the US, 1 in the UK and claimed many other top 10 positions. It has been certified gold in 5 countries and has a platinum cert from Italy. It was, as of 2008, at least in the ballpark of a US gold certification as well, no known updates on that.
So what happens when you have a few really awesome songs, a handful of average tracks, and a few real stinkers? I guess, in the end things kind of average out and I can consider this an average album. It’s not average in that all of the songs are consistent and ok – it’s average because it’s great in a few spots and awful in a few others. But average is average when all is said and done.
Album Grade: C
This would be the end of an era for Iron Maiden – they would spend the balance of the decade with a new singer and song direction before restoring the glory years line-up in 1999 and being at the forefront of the new interest in traditional metal in the 2000’s. It is easy to dismiss these albums as a lost period, but there are songs certainly worth visiting on this one.
For an explanation of the grading scale, head here.
For questions, comments or concerns, either use the comment form below or head to my contact page.
For more of what I’ve posted about Iron Maiden, check out the band index.
It’s time again to jump back 40 years to 1984 and revisit some of the great music from that great year. I’ve been running this site for well over 2 years now and, until today, I haven’t talked about a Kiss album yet. Well, Kiss released an album in 1984 so I guess now is as good a time as any.
Kiss – Animalize
Released September 17, 1984 via Mercury Records
By 1984, Kiss were re-stabilizing after a few ill-received albums and massive line-up turbulence. The band had not landed with Unmasked and The Elder, though Creatures Of The Night and Lick It Up did restore some shine to the Kiss diamond. But just as the music was turning back around, the line-up blew apart and in spectacular fashion.
By the time of Animalize, Kiss were comprised of Paul Stanley on vocals and guitar, Gene Simmons on bass, Eric Carr as drummer and new to the band Mark St. John on lead guitar. St. John would be the band’s third guitarist in two years and the spot would turn over again by the end of 1984.
It would also be fair to present the Kiss line-up as follows for this album – Paul Stanley and Eric Carr. Gene Simmons was laser focused on making an acting career and was barely present for these recording sessions. Jean Beauvoir helped out some on bass and Stanley played the opening track. Desmond Child joined in to help write a few songs, including one of Kiss’s most enduring ’80’s hits, as well as provide backing vocals. And Mitch Weismann also joined on to help write and play guitar.
Long story short, Mark St. John did not mesh with his new bandmates and was a problem during album recording. Bruce Kulick came in to help finish guitars for two songs. Kulick also filled in for St. John when the latter cited medical issues for being unable to tour behind this album. St. John would play all of 2.5 shows with Kiss before being replaced permanently by Kulick.
Paul Stanley was able to fashion a competent and well-received record out of all the mess he had to work with, including serving as the album’s producer in addition to band leader, fill-in guitarist and bassist and composer and arranger. Easy to see why he was getting stressed out while Gene was off becoming an actor and the lead guitar slot was a revolving door.
One part that Stanley was unable to salvage was that of the album cover. The cover is credited to an advertising agency as opposed to an artist. I won’t say it’s awful but it’s also not very good – there are about a million and one other ideas that would have worked better.
Will all that background out of the way, we have an album with 9 songs and a very lean 35:42 runtime. This one has had a few remasters and re-issues but I am not aware of any bonus tracks floating around, I don’t think this album got the super deluxe treatment that other Kiss albums have.
I’ve Had Enough (Into The Fire)
The opener is a shit-hot rock track that gets the ol’ adrenaline flowing from the word go. It’s a prime, uptempo blast of rock with a message of making it against all odds, that ever-present theme of ’80’s music. This one was co-penned by Stanley and Child and is a fantastic way to kick things off. Grade: A
Heaven’s On Fire
Up next is the album’s lead single. The fire theme keeps going as here Paul is getting ready for a hook-up so hot that Heaven itself will burn. It’s another song that Desmond Child helped out on and it is impossibly catchy. The chorus is infectious enough to be classified as a disease. It’s no shock that the acronym for writing good songs is K-I-S-S for Keep It Simple, Stupid; and that is in full effect here.
Heaven’s On Fire charted modestly across several countries but did become a staple of the Kiss live set, it is one of the band’s most enduring ’80’s songs. Grade: A+
Burn Bitch Burn
One of a few Gene Simmons contributions here and thankfully he kept up the burning theme despite barely being around for the recording. Here Gene is apparently paying homage to the exchange of bodily fluids and the nasty germs that can come from such exchanges. The song is pretty good overall, very suitably heavy and all, though I could have done without the “whoo whoo whoo” in the chorus. But it’s not a major detraction and I do like this one overall. Grade: B
Get All You Can Take
This song is the result of a Stanley- Weissman tag team and is another just splendid rocking track. There are guitars everywhere and Paul really shows off his once-impressive vocal register here. It’s another one of those “go out and get it no matter what” songs, great for pumping iron or sitting back 40 years later and realizing you did no going out and getting it at all. Grade: A-
Lonely Is The Hunter
Another Gene track here, it’s a mid-paced offering that has a nice shape to it but doesn’t stray anywhere beyond its main, plodding riff. The song isn’t bad but it doesn’t leap out and grab attention in the way the other songs so far have. Grade: C+
Under The Gun
And now it’s on to a Stanley-Carr-Child offering that does absolutely come out scorching. This one is a guitar showcase and a balls-out rocker from front to back. There was no letting up on the second side of this album. Grade: A
Thrills In The Night
This was the album’s other single and it marries the heavy metal feel going on with the venerable Kiss sense of melody. A very nicely done song that sees a woman who is an office stiff during the day a but a total freak out on the prowl at night. Grade: B+
While The City Sleeps
Both of the final tracks were written by Simmons and Weissman. This one is a good, uptempo mover and shaker that’s again about finding stuff out in the night. It does a good job of keeping the album’s momentum going into the close. Grade: B
Murder In High Heels
The closer has a nice, playful riff and a typical premise about a hot woman out to take on the world. The song doesn’t necessarily go much of anywhere but is decently put together. Grade: C
Animalize was a success for Kiss, continuing their rebound from the turn of the decade. The album hit 19 on the Billboard chart and had several top 10 placements internationally. It was the first Kiss album since Dynasty to be certified platinum (Lick It Up would hit that mark later).
It was a great turnaround for Kiss, who wandered into the wilderness a bit at the start of the ’80’s but by this time had found solid footing and made themselves right at home in the new rock and metal scene. Even with all the band turmoil and this record almost being a Paul Stanley solo effort, Kiss were able to re-integrate themselves into a 1980’s rock scene that they helped influence with their early career.
Album Grade: B+
Animalize was a nice offering and exactly the shot in the arm Kiss needed. There are no real duds here, even the secondary songs offer worthwhile listening. And there are several highlights among the hard rock on full display here. The rest of the decade would be a topsy-turvy one for Kiss, but here they had put together the third in a string of solid albums that kept them from being a memory of the 1970’s.
For an explanation of the grading scale, head here.
For questions, comments or concerns – use the comment form below, or head to my contact page.
For my song pick this week I’m headed back to that glorious year of 1984. Today’s song was the fourth and final single from Van Halen’s monumental album 1984. The album was a smash success, making Van Halen one of 1984’s biggest acts and eventually moving over 10 million copies. Our single today did not hit quite as well as other singles from the record, clocking in at a modest 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. But it is still a beloved offering from the band.
Hot For Teacher is a fun, all out rocker that gets going from the word go with a drum intro that sounds like a motorcycle. It is a very attention-grabbing thing to hear what Alex got up to there. The band jumps in after a bit and keeps up the bombastic instrumentation for a bit, then things settle down a hair and we get the first instance of David Lee Roth.
Roth comes in with introductory banter. While DLR’s ramblings are a point of contention with some in a fair few Van Halen songs, he was totally on point here as he set the table for the song’s topic of, well, being hot for teacher. There are a few other spoken word bits through the song and here they all fit very well.
When Roth does get to actual singing he is in full force, and it’s pure magic paired with the heavy and playful riff that Eddie Van Halen lays out. Van Halen often toed the line between rock and heavy metal and at times were the line, and this song is a prime example of it. Fun and rocking yet heavy and slamming, it’s all here on display.
The music video for this one pulled out all the bells and whistles. It features the concept of a nerdy kid being overwhelmed in school by a kid version of the Van Halen band as well as a few teachers who were certainly easy to be hot for. The kid, named Waldo, was voiced by Phil Hartman. The video shows what “happened” to the band members when they grew up and old Waldo really turned his image around after growing up. In terms of concept and added entertainment value, Hot For Teacher is the number one video from the early Van Halen era.
The video came with a bit of controversy – some felt it was objectifying and sexualized, and some broadcasts used black boxes to censor when band members would grab their crotches. There are uncorroborated reports on various sites that the video did, in part, influence Tipper Gore to start the PMRC. It should be noted that neither the song nor Van Halen made the infamous Filthy Fifteen list.
As I said in the open, this was the final single from 1984. That would also mean it was the final single from the first David Lee Roth era of the band. The song was featured in the band’s set through the 9 months of touring before Roth left the band, and it appeared again once Roth returned in 2007. It ended up getting 285 live airings, not a bad total considering the song didn’t see stage from 1984 to 2004. If setlist.fm is to be taken as an accurate source, Van Halen did the song with Sammy Hagar one time in 2004. I have no idea how correct that is, though.
At the end of it all, Hot For Teacher is one monster of a Van Halen song and a great addition to the list of hallowed songs from the year 1984. The song’s subject matter rings true with a great many students over the decades – though I must admit I personally never really had a “hot for teacher” issue. But hey, I do have this amazing song to jam out to.
This week I’m heading back to 1992 and digging up one of the most revered albums of the period.
Alice In Chains – Dirt
Released September 29, 1992 via Columbia Records
Alice In Chains were the first of the grunge bands to hit the scene in a big way in 1990. By 1992, the “Seattle sound” had taken over national airwaves and a new era of rock music was underway. This was the environment AiC found themselves in while recording their second album.
Dirt was recorded with the same line-up as Facelift – Layne Stayley on vocals, Jerry Cantrell on guitar and vocals, Mike Starr on bass and Sean Kinney on drums. The album was produced by Dave Jerden, also producer for Facelift.
This is one very dark record, with tales of drug abuse and mortality. While each big grunge act was set against a particular kind of rock that helped shape their sounds, Alice In Chains had heavy metal in their blood and were always a downcast lot. Layne Stayle’s personal demons also went a long way to informing the music of AiC, as several of the songs here form a mini-story of an addicted person crashing all the way.
Dirt comes in with a lofty 13 tracks at a runtime of 57:37. Some early pressings of the album had the track Down In A Hole as the 12th song, while most versions have it in the band’s preferred sequence at number 4. The album saw 5 single releases, all of which charted on the US Mainstream Rock charts and the UK Charts. Note that the band never actually charted on the Billboard Hot 100 until 2009, an odd fact that I wasn’t aware of until just now. This is at least what I could find while looking, it could possibly be incorrect information.
Them Bones
The album opens with a sick, heavy riff with Stayley reflecting on mortality over it. The song is a fatalistic look at how we’re all going to wind up a pile of bones, no matter what. The monstrous riff and Stayley occasionally yelling out suddenly add a creepy feel to the proceedings.
Grade: A
Dam That River
This one is heavy and more fast-paced, conventional rocker. The song was apparently written about a fight that Sean Kinney and Jerry Cantrell had – Kinney smashed a table over Cantrell’s head and the blood flow was such that “you couldn’t dam that river.” It’s kind of amazing that they kept together and also wrote a song about it. Grade: A-
Rain When I Die
This has a very nice, funky and creepy guitar running through it. The lyrics are a lament of a relationship not gone right and may have been composed based on experiences from both Stayley and Cantrell. The title “rain when I die” invokes various old cultural customs that it should rain when someone dies to cleanse everything still remaining. And yes, it did rain the day Layne Stayley died in 2002, which probably amounts to him having lived in Seattle where it rains all the time. Grade: A
Down In A Hole
This magnificent ballad that just drips in misery was crafted by Cantrell about his girlfriend at the time. I won’t get too heavy into it as I discussed this song in the past here. It is my favorite AiC song and one of my favorite songs of all time from anyone. Also, the name of the old series where I covered it was called S-Tier Songs, so the grade should be obvious. Grade: S
Sickman
This is one of several songs owing to drug addiction, which Layne Stayley would live in the grip of for the remainder of his life. Stayley asked Cantrell to write the sickest and darkest thing he could for this song, and the lyrics deal with someone who is totally aware they are messed up but are unable to fight their own thoughts and do anything about it. Grade: A-
Rooster
Up next is probably the most well-known song from the album. Cantrell wrote this about his father’s time in the Vietnam War. It is a harrowing tale of being stuck fighting a war no one wanted in the jungle of a hot, tropical land against a ruthless enemy. The song is fantastically done and maintains a tradition across generations of musicians speaking out about this war. Grade: A+
Junkhead
This one slows things down with a bit of a groovy doom-crawl. It brings the point home that it’s very tough to understand the mind of an addict, that many times it’s only another addict who can grasp what’s really going on with someone. The outsider doesn’t experience the euphoria of the high and escape from the despair of reality that the addict does. Grade: B+
Dirt
The music is another twisted mire and the subject matter is devastating – this is someone at the bottom who doesn’t want to exist anymore. It is a very deep and disturbing jaunt through the mind of someone who seems totally gone. Grade: A-
God Smack
This has a few running riffs that Jerry Cantrell would use to great effect in both AiC and his solo career. The song is about heroin, the term “god smack” refers to a heroin overdose. The music along with the willing descent of someone into addiction is like a dark circus trip. Grade: B+
Untitled (or ‘Iron Gland’)
This brief interlude was something Cantrell used to mess around with in rehearsal. It was mashed up in a small way with Black Sabbath’s Iron Man for a little fun. The few vocals here are provided by Tom Araya of Slayer. Grade: B
Hate To Feel
This is the first of two songs Layne Stayley wrote entirely on his own for Dirt. There are some interesting jumps from the quiet, buzzy verse to a noisy chorus. Here Stayley regrets even being able to feel – he knows he is an addict and is tired of the constant realization that he needs to get better, and is also sick of the judgment of outsiders who think he should “just stop,” as if it were that easy. Grade: A
Angry Chair
The other song composed by Stayley, this is a very, very dark and twisted song. This one is still about the grip of addiction, though it is couched in more abstract and metaphorical language. It is one wild ride and a very enjoyable cut. Grade: A+
Would?
The album’s closer is a tribute to Andrew Wood. He was the singer of Mother Love Bone and died of a heroin overdose in 1991. The song itself offers up a bit more bright atmosphere than the rest of the very dark record, though the lyrical fare is still an addict asking if he’s even alive or if he has already died and has left everyone behind. Grade: A+
Dirt would quickly become Alice In Chains’ magnum opus. The album hit the Billboard 200 at number 6. Its 30th anniversary reissue would re-enter the same chart at number 9 in 2022. The record has been certified five times platinum in the US.
The band toured behind this album, playing all manner of shows alongside both rock and metal acts. This would mark the practical end of touring for Alice In Chains, despite releasing one more album and a celebrated MTV Unplugged set, the group would not get out on the road much in this original incarnation. Mike Starr would exit the band in 1993, replaced by Mike Inez.
But that wouldn’t matter as Dirt cemented a legacy as one of the best albums of the 1990’s. The five singles were in constant rotation on radio and MTV for years after release and are still found out and about today. While grunge was considered a reaction movement to the rock music of the time, Alice In Chains were a bridge act that made it very easy for metalheads to enjoy. AiC perfectly complimented the other alternative metal of the time, bringing in a uniquely creative scene that has yet to be replicated since.
Album Grade: A+
Dirt is a stone cold classic. The real pain of Layne Stayley’s addiction was mined for the most haunting and memorable song material. Jerry Cantrell provided a guitar masterclass in writing compelling riffs that both grab attention and work for the song. The album is harrowing in that both Stayley and Starr would lose their lives to addictions in 2002 and 2011 respectively, but it does not detract from the gift we were given with this masterpiece of a record.
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2024 has been fairly hot with releases so far and that tone isn’t changing as the year winds on. News dropped recently that none other than the Man In Black himself, Johnny Cash will have a new album hit stores on June 28th. Songwriter will mark Cash’s 72nd studio album (!) and 5th since his death in 2003.
Songwriter is an album that Cash recorded demos for in early 1993 and then shelved, as it was not long after when he was approached by Rick Rubin. The Rubin collaboration launched a late-career revitalization with the American Recordings series that grew Cash’s legend up to and beyond his death, so the Songwriter demos remained an afterthought.
These demos would be discovered many years later by Cash and June Carter’s son John Carter Cash. The younger Cash presented them to engineer David Ferguson, who had worked in that role on the American Recordings series. Cash and Ferguson stripped down everything from the demos but for Johnny’s vocals and guitar (with one exception) and then set about finding a new cast to reshape the music.
Joining in to help flesh out the album were Marty Stuart and Harry Stinson, as well as guest spots from Vince Gill and Dan Auerbach. There is also another posthumous presence on the record, as Waylon Jennings had dropped in to sing on a few songs with Cash on the original recordings.
One other interesting quirk of Songwriter – many of Johnny Cash’s albums featured a hefty dose of cover songs. This upcoming album is different in that it features all original material. Two of the songs, Ride On and Like A Soldier, were re-recorded and used on American Recordings.
With the news of the album also came the first single, a quick two-minute tune called Well Alright. The song is upbeat and pretty amusing, it’s simply about meeting up with a gal at a laundromat. It’s a song that easily puts a smile on your face and is maybe just ever so slightly suggestive in a phrase or two, but nothing out of bounds. It also sounds really good – merging Cash’s 1993 recording with 2023 musicians worked out great and the production is crystal clear without being too sterile.
I know posthumous releases can be a touch subject in the music world, and Johnny Cash is reported to have enough unreleased material to release an album a year for eons if his legacy caretakers so desired. But Songwriter is filling in a gap from a moment in time just before Cash had his last big break and I consider it an important offering for the Cash catalog. I’m also totally fine with posthumous releases, I honestly just want to hear the music so bring it on. I’m looking forward to the end of June and the rest of this album.
This will be a song of the week as well as a look at a single, as forces have conspired to make this possible. So it will actually be two songs this week since the single has a B-side.
There is a feature track of course, and that song today is the debut single from Oasis. This was the start of what would become a white-hot run through music in the mid-’90’s, no one was bigger than Oasis through 1995 and 1996. But today revisits their beginnings in 1994 so we’re not quite to their shit hot moment in the sun.
Supersonic was released on April 11, 1994 as the lead track from the debut album Definitely Maybe. The single charted modestly well for a debut band – it hit 31 in the main UK chart and popped up on several US alternative charts despite not making the Billboard Hot 100. The single would eventually be certified platinum in the UK. The album it hailed from moved over 8 million copies.
This version of the single I’m covering is the 30th anniversary re-issue of the 7-inch version. While there are several other versions of the single out there, these two songs tie in nicely together due to the story of their creation.
The band set out to record their first single in early 1994, that song was supposed to be Bring It On Down, which became a non-single track from the debut album. Noel Gallagher wasn’t happy with the song and began messing with I Will Believe, which became a B-side for other versions of the single. Then totally off the cuff, Noel wrote Take Me Away, this single’s B-side.
On the last day of studio time, the band messed around with an instrumental. Also in the room were brothers Chris and Tony Griffiths of the band The Real People. Tony suggested that the bit Oasis were playing could be a hit song, so the band worked up what became Supersonic.
As a note on writing credits – Noel is the sole credit, though he did later confess that Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan helped him write the chords. Tony Griffiths also played some songwriting role but was not given a credit, Noel’s decision to leave the Griffiths brothers out of credits on the debut album was an issue that caused infighting in Oasis. I know, I know, no one could imagine the members of Oasis fighting among themselves.
Supersonic
The feature song opens with a bit of drumming then kicks in to a riff that plods along but has a bit of bite to it. The song’s run maintains this riff’s shape, with only minor alterations through the chorus. It is a pretty chill, laid-back affair with a bit of guitar work to provide a jolt of energy.
The lyrics open with a simple yet wise line – “I need to be myself, I can’t be no one else.” It is also the only part of the words that make any kind of sense at all. All of the rest of the lyrics are nonsense rhyming exercises. It’s a song that is all vibes and no meaningful underpinning – trying to find a deeper meaning to Supersonic will land you on the bottom of the Mariana Trench with nothing to show for your dive. This is a song style Oasis would excel at in their early career.
There is a shout-out to The Beatles in the song, something Oasis would do a lot of through their run. This one is simple, it’s an open mention of Yellow Submarine as one of many vehicles discussed through the track.
Supersonic is a great song to put on to just chill and not have to give a damn about anything for a few minutes. I ranked this one lucky number 13 awhile back when I lined out my 20 favorite Oasis tracks.
Take Me Away
The B-side is an acoustic track with Noel also handling vocals, something he would do every so often through the Oasis run. It’s a very nice and simple tune about just sitting and chilling for a bit longer as everything around you falls apart. There are a few homages to Beatles lyrics in this one, I’ll leave you all to find them. This is one of many B-sides considered underrated by the Oasis fandom, which I guess would make it not underrated if everyone who cares about Oasis rates it highly.
That does it for this look at the first and also newest Oasis single. It would be the start of one hell of a run through music as these lads literally took over the world for a bit of time.
My posting schedule is still all messed up – though the things that happen are minor in significance, things do keep happening and they keep pushing me back. I will again pivot and adjust and get things on track.
This week I’m going to pull out the “EASY” button. Slayer did not release an album proper in 1984, but they did release two distinct records – an EP and a live set. Today I’ll discuss the EP, which is very short but a significant marker in Slayer’s development.
Slayer – Haunting The Chapel
Released June 1984 via Metal Blade Records
Slayer’s debut record Show No Mercy was a huge success for upstart label Metal Blade, so label head Brian Slagel quickly commissioned an EP from his hot new act. The members of Slayer – Tom Araya on vocals and bass, Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman on guitar, and Dave Lombardo on drums – were brought to a North Hollywood studio with Slagel himself turning the knobs on the production console.
The studio would have a negative effect on sound initially but also provide a hell of a positive. The studio did not have carpeting, which meant that drums slid everywhere when Dave Lombardo tried to play them. He had to resort to having the band’s roadie help out by holding the drums. This roadie was Gene Hoglan, widely known today as one of heavy metal’s greatest drummers after stints with Dark Angel, Death, Testament, Strapping Young Lad and many others. Hoglan also helped Lombardo set up the latter’s first double kick drum and helped him along with how to play it. All these years later both drummers are considered the top of the pack, but forty years ago it was them trying to figure out how to hold a kit together in a shitty studio.
Since this is just an EP there’s room for another funny Gene Hoglan story – Gene recounted in this 2006 interview with Decibel Magazine about Slayer that when he joined up to be the band’s roadie, he thought he was only going to be working the lights. He didn’t know he was also supposed to help schlep gear in and out and set up the stage show. The band gave Hoglan his walking papers a bit later, and he would join Dark Angel not long after.
Also involved in the EP’s production was Bill Metoyer, who held the engineering role on Show No Mercy. Metoyer recounts in the same Decibel interview that he was Catholic but for whatever reason had no problems with the lyrics on the debut album. But when he heard Tom Araya belting out the first lyrics to the EP, which were “The Holy Cross, symbol of lies, intimates the lives of Christians born, he quipped that he would be going to Hell for it. Metoyer seemed to take it in stride and is still very much among the non-Hell dwelling living today, having served as producer to a massive list of metal albums since then.
With those amusing stories out of the way, let’s get to the topic at hand. The original version of Haunting The Chapel was three songs, the first three in order here. The fourth song was added later on in a reissue capacity, I will include it here today because it’s not a ton of ground to cover. The total runtime with the added song is 16:55, I hope you all didn’t have anywhere important to be.
Chemical Warfare
Up first is a track with a fairly hefty six minutes. Slayer here shift gears some from the “general chaos and evil” of their debut album and head decidedly into a thrash direction. And this song is thrash, 100% through. It does retain that cavernous, evil Slayer feel but this is pure thrash. There are a few changes in structure to keep the fairly long track moving along.
This is a wicked song with its lyrical depiction of being hit with chemical weapons, a terrible way to die or be wounded. Anyone who thinks Kerry King or Jeff Hanneman couldn’t play solos should listen to this song – they were both quite capable of playing. The song is great and is an early Slayer classic. Grade: A
Captor Of Sin
This one calls back to the evil ways of Show No Mercy, though still retaining a thrash underpinning to it. It’s a wild ride as the son of Satan comes to Earth and takes over, vanquishing everything in its path. The bad guys win this one. Grade: B+
Haunting The Chapel
The title track is another Satanic romp through holy victims. It’s another dissonant, thrash-filled journey on the Dark Lord’s conquest of the mortal realm. It doesn’t offer a whole ton of dynamics but it’s still a quality Slayer track. Grade: B
Aggressive Perfector
This final song, a bonus on reissue versions of the EP, was originally released on the third volume of the Metal Massacre series. This was the first Slayer song ever released, pre-dating the debut album. It does stand out with a bit less production than the other three songs but this is not a rudimentary throw-away track – it’s a very good early offering from the group. Grade: B
Haunting The Chapel did not perform on charts but it was a solid release that kept Slayer’s name in the forefront as the thrash scene unfolded in the mid-’80s. Even today with the band’s work (apparently) done, the EP stands as a fan favorite for its marked transition between the first two albums. The first two songs remained live favorites through Slayer’s entire career and the EP is still sought after 40 years later.
Album Grade: B+
This was a well-done EP that offered up fresh material, it was not by any means a throw-away effort just to make a buck. It was a smart way to help out both upstart band and record label, both of whom became central to heavy metal in the years since.
I had a pretty big change in how I do things as far as music is concerned, and I thought it’d be a good bit for a post. Digital music has been around a very long time if you want to consider the CD, but for my purposes today I will refer to the MP3 or digital revolution of the early 2000’s, that which more or less displaced the CD as a viable format.
In the early 2000’s I was not an early convert to hard drive-based digital. I was “old school” and still respected the physical format of music. I recall between 2004 and 2006 people I knew were themselves fully converted to the iPod or whatever MP3 device was around. I was not having it, I was very die hard against it and was a total elitist snob about it. Yes, I had digital music on my computer where I made playlists out of albums I wouldn’t necessarily buy, and yes that digital music was not necessarily acquired legally, but I was still in the “so and so put out an album, and I’m going to buy it” mindset. And the prevalent format at the time was still the CD, this was just before the hipster revolution that saw the massive comeback of vinyl.
It wasn’t until sometime in 2008 that I relented and got my first iPod. A good friend bought a new one for himself and sold me his old one at a good price. I had all of my CD collection and also copied my friend’s collection to a hard drive to put on my new iPod. Additionally I had great access to several other friends’ CD collections and I was able to quickly build a massive digital library. I had my iPod almost stuffed, and it was something like 17,000 albums or some crazy shit like that.
And going digital did truly work out well. I have to give props to those who spoke well about it when I was too obstinate to listen. It changed how I listened to stuff, mainly in that I would give far more time to albums I had laying around but didn’t often play. I also took more chances on styles outside of my general vision, even if I didn’t always land on something I really wanted to hear again.
As time wore on, the concept of maintaining a digital collection gave way to streaming. Spotify was first, then many others hopped in the streaming market. It’s far more convenient to pay a few bucks a month to access a vast catalog of music instantly than it is to rip CDs or buy digital downloads. Just as digital became the prevalent format, the concept of a streaming library overtook a hard drive full of stuff. Artists might not get paid worth a damn out of streaming and especially Spotify, but that is another conversation for another time.
Once Spotify worked out a few early issues (their search function was pure trash when it first released) and they cut deals to land many prominent artist hold-outs like Metallica, Pink Floyd and others, I did start using it. Far easier for me to check out an artist I never heard of on there and decide if I liked them enough to buy the album, rather than shell out on a blind purchase that I may not like and, at least in terms of a CD, was now worthless due to the digital market.
I did still hold on to my digital collection, though. For a long time phones had SD card slots and it was really easy for me to keep my digital collection on it. I would use some whatever player to access my own collection and then use Spotify when I was playing stuff I didn’t own or new stuff.
That all changed just last month, when I upgraded my phone. Most smartphones no longer use SD cards, their own internal storage is pretty huge. I decided to not move my digital music collection over to my new phone – I have more than enough space if I don’t move it, but copying it all would take up nearly half of the storage.
This does mean that I’m now using Spotify for all of my on-the-go music. I do download stuff if I’m gonna be in a spot without service, but it’s all streaming for me now. I either go for albums I know and love, new stuff I want to check out, or old things I missed. I also have some massive playlists I’m building based on decade or genre, those are works in progress but I’ve already got a massive amount of stuff on a few of them.
It is cool how Spotify sucks as much as any other digital music player when it comes to the shuffle feature. I’ve never found one that has a really good randomization, most of them seem to gravitate to songs that get played a lot, and that often means the first batch of songs it plays out of a shuffle. I have seen worse programs, but the Spotify shuffle does leave something to be desired. It has a massive recency bias, in that if I add new songs to a playlist, well, guess what I’m gonna hear on my next shuffle? I guess it gets the job mostly done, though.
That just about wraps up what I wanted to say about this next step in my listening evolution. I do still maintain both vinyl and CDs at home, but it’s all in on streaming now for me when not at the house, or when checking out unfamiliar stuff. I do wonder what the “next steps” in music listening are, but I’m far too old and unimaginative to speculate on how things might go.
The Crooked Wanderer 