I’ve seen a fair few shows in my time but I’ve also missed many acts for whatever reasons. One act I had not seen live was Alice Cooper. It wasn’t for lack of opportunity – Alice has played extensively in this area the entire time I’ve been alive, it’s not like it was ever a chore to see him. I just never got around to doing so.
All that changed this past Tuesday, August 15. Alice has been touring with the Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard perpetual stadium tour and Alice has also been doing solo off-dates. My humble little village was lucky enough to land one of these shows and so now I’ve experienced the thrill of Alice Cooper live.
This show was at the Juanita K. Hammons Hall For The Performing Arts, a theater style venue on the campus of Missouri State University. I wrote about it previously when I recapped seeing John Mellencamp there. I decided to save a few bucks and take in the show from the upper balcony. While the lower two levels were nearly full, the upper portion had a fair few seats left. In my own row of 54, I was the only patron. It was kind of funny watching people in the full first 3 rows of this section jostle back and forth while I sat in peace. I was the highest person up for awhile but then a couple came and sat in the very top row, thus ruining my pointless brag about being the highest one up in the crowd. The view was still fine, though it was a steep haul getting to my seat. Here’s a pic of my view.
This was Alice playing all alone, no openers or anything. Alice has maintained a near-constant live line-up for the past decade or so, with the one exception being the brief departure and return of guitarist Nita Strauss last year. Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen join Nita on guitar, Chuck Garric handles bass and Glen Sobel has the drums.
I won’t bother trying to run down the entire setlist, because whoever from our show updated the list on setlist.fm did a piss poor job of it. I was familiar with all but two or three songs I heard so it’s not some big deal. This did feature something like 22 songs so it was a pretty jam-packed set. This was mostly a hits set, starting with massive classics like No More Mr. Nice Guy and I’m Eighteen. More of the obvious classics were played, like Billion Dollar Babies, Welcome To My Nightmare and Under My Wheels.
There was a fair bit of attention paid to Alice’s late ’80’s/early ’90’s period, as the Hey Stoopid album got three tracks in the set – the title track, Snakebite and Feed My Frankenstein. There was a huge Frankenstein that came out for a brief moment and for a second I was wondering what Eddie was doing there, but that’s the wrong show. Poison from Trash was included, as was Lost In America from The Last Temptation album.
The songs were rapid fire, one right after another. Alice was often changing garb in the very brief dark spots between songs. It’s pretty sad that a guy 30 years older than me can change clothes way faster than me but such is life. There were spots for a short drum solo and also a guitar showcase, mostly featuring Nita.
The stage set was something like a courthouse with two huge staircase things that band members used here and there. All of this would come into play later, as we got a bit of a mini-story with the last handful of songs. The Ballad Of Dwight Frye kicked off with Alice being straight-jacketed and eventually beheaded at the behest of his wife Sheryl and the band moved into I Love The Dead. But then Alice would escape, as the song Escaped kicked off. He seemed to be put away again, but there’s a solution for that – how do you get out of criminal charges? Get elected. (Ok that works most of the time, I guess) Elected ended the little story with Alice running for president, which he actually does every four years as a gag.
There was no long gap before the encore, as the band quickly shifted into School’s Out, which was an extended jam that also featured a portion of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall. Alice took time to introduce the band, his wife and himself. Nita honestly got the loudest reception of anyone, she has really staked a name for herself these past few years. The band then wound down School’s Out and that was it.
This was an amazing show, I’m very glad I finally got off my ass and went to see Alice Cooper. The crowd was very lively and into the show, it was impressive because I’ve seen some pretty lame ass crowds at Missouri shows in the past. But this all-ages group was very into Alice and was rocking the whole time. Alice Cooper has been at this for many, many years now and the guy still has it with no signs of slowing down.
I did snap a few pictures but from my bird’s nest view in the mostly dark my pics did not come out worth a damn. Thankfully my buddy Shawn was up far closer and got a few good ones, here’s one at the end of Elected.
It’s finally time – today I present my ranking of the Iron Maiden albums. This is one I sort of fussed over for a bit. I was disrupted in my original plan to do it when I started the blog because of the arrival of Senjutsu. Now that it’s had nearly two years to work itself into the system, I can get this out since it looks like it’ll probably be a bit before a new one. We’re also at the point where we can wonder how many “new ones” we’ll get, but I’d say at least one more is a safe bet.
This ranking comprises the 17 full-length studio albums. I’m not bothering with ranking EP’s and singles, that’s too much of a headache. I’ll provide some links at the bottom to my singles series and also my album cover ranking.
This will be a bit of a beefy boy, no way around that since there are 17 albums. I’m just gonna keep everything on one post for this one so it’s all in one place and easier to reference in the future. I’ll also include links where I’ve discussed an album prior, several of these have been Album of the Week before. That’s about all for the lead-up, so off to the ranking.
#17 – Virtual XI (1998)
The bottom of the barrel here is the band’s second album with singer Blaze Bayley. Never a heralded era of the band, this album exemplifies what’s wrong with that time period, and it’s not Blaze. The songs here are just kind of ghastly. Futureal is pretty good and The Clansman is a triumph. Beyond that, these songs don’t resonate. The Angel And The Gambler is a turd that should have been flushed rather than released, and many other songs on here feel like sort of jokey things or just scraps that were aired out. This album just doesn’t have much going for it.
#16 – No Prayer For The Dying (1990)
Up next is the first of the rather unhallowed ’90’s era. Adrian Smith had left and the band worked in a basic rock style rather than the epic stuff they had ended the ’80’s with. The songs here are fairly consistent in quality. It’s just one those albums with a very low ceiling, nothing happens on here that’s really great. It is cheesy and goofy, which isn’t a problem on its own but that’s all there is here. I don’t even mind playing this album, I can enjoy hearing it but I can also recognize that it doesn’t go much of anywhere.
#15 – The X Factor (1995)
It’s quickly into the first Blaze album. This one holds far more consistent than the second one, and has a fair few good songs with stuff like Sign Of The Cross and Lord Of The Flies. It doesn’t really fall off in quality, the other songs on here are pretty solid. It also doesn’t achieve a great deal and the darker atmosphere and “grunge-like” touches don’t much enhance the Maiden experience, but there is an album worth listening to here.
#14 – Fear Of The Dark (1992)
Probably not a huge shock that all of the ’90’s albums fill out the bottom. This one, the final album with Bruce for several years, does offer a some more variety. A few of these songs are great – the title track has been a Maiden institution since release, Judas Be My Guide is a fantastic gem of a song, and Afraid To Shoot Strangers is really good. All of the album’s singles were pretty quality efforts too.
The only problem here is with the whole rest of the album, which is a lot. It’s a mixed bag of meh song like Fear Is The Key and truly awful stuff like Weekend Warrior and The Apparition. Some editing would have done wonders for this one and it’d rank a hell of a lot higher, its top end of quality is sterling.
#13 – Killers (1981)
The second opus with singer Paul Di’Anno checks in here. This album is a bit of a grab bag, with some crushing metal songs, a couple of instrumentals, an odd stylistic departure and also some other stuff. It does have quality tracks on it but it’s also kind of a comedown off the debut’s crazy energy. Overall it works and is worth a listen but it does kind of pale in comparison to others.
And here is where the most recent album lands. When this came out I was very hyped for it, gotta have something to be excited about and a new album from my favorite band should do it. I played the album a lot on release and I found plenty on there to like – the lead single Writing On The Wall is great, as is the title track. The finale Hell On Earth is in conversation for the best reunion-era song they’ve done. What led to this being dragged down some is, well, most of the rest of it. There are songs on here that are fine but they also don’t quite achieve what Maiden has done, especially elsewhere through the reunion albums. I like hearing them but they’re also not doing a whole lot, and that’s kind of a problem with an album as long as this is.
Senjutsu was previously an Album of the Week feature on release, and one I should revisit someday. That first post is a giant mess.
#11 – The Final Frontier (2010)
This was the band’s fourth reunion album, and the point where we could say the reunion had become its own era – hell, it’s now the band’s longest with a constant line-up. This one kind of flew under the radar at the time. It isn’t an immediate album but there’s some stuff to check out on here. The two epic songs Where The Wild Wind Blows and The Talisman are spectacular, and the ballad Coming Home hits a lot harder than it would have seemed at first. The album is filled out with songs of pretty good quality, nothing here really grates on me. It’s kind of a quiet moment in the band’s catalog but it does pack a punch.
#10 – Iron Maiden (1980)
The band’s debut offered up a platter of metal the likes of which was unheard of at the time. This one has a number of bangers on it, like Prowler, Running Free and the title track. Nothing here is bad, I enjoy it all. Several of these songs see play to this day, it was a remarkable debut record.
The second reunion album offers up a variety of stuff. Most of it is pleasant yet mid-tier fare, while some songs like the title track and Paschendale are amazing. Face In The Sand is also great and is my pick for Maiden’s most underrated song. The cover art is absolutely horrible but the songs help make up for it.
Maiden had a 5-year album gap here and the long wait fueled hype over this one. I was all over the hype train when the album was announced and 8 years later I’m still on that train. The title track on this one is amazing, as is the opener If Eternity Should Fail. The Red And The Black is another epic nearly equaling the size of Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, and then this album’s finale Empire Of The Clouds blows past that by 5 minutes. I’ve always liked this one a lot and nothing has diminished for me as time has passed.
#7 – Brave New World (2000)
This was the “reunion” album and it was pure joy to hear Dickinson and Smith back with Maiden. The 1990’s were tough for Maiden and metal in general, but here was the sign that metal was back. This was a nice blend of the classic Iron Maiden sound and a look to the future. Blood Brothers is a magnificent anthem, The Wicker Man a great lead single and stuff like the title track and Ghost Of The Navigator are epic journeys no one had been on since the ’80’s. This was the kick in the ass that everyone needed at the start of the new millennium.
For those who might think your eyes are deceiving you, rest assured they are not. This is the slot for the band’s third album and the debut of Bruce Dickinson. This one does come fairly loaded – Hallowed Be Thy Name is perhaps the band’s best song ever, and cuts like the title track and Run To The Hills are stone cold classics. The Prisoner is another maybe underrated gem, and 22 Acacia Avenue and Children Of The Damned are both nice songs. But Gangland really weights this one down, as does the opener Invaders. A 2022 vinyl reissue of this one put B-side Total Eclipse on the album instead of Gangland, and honestly that version might gain a spot in my rankings, but overall I’m going with the OG stuff. It’s a case of splitting hairs at this point to decide what goes where and just a few bumps in the road give this classic album a bit of a knock in the rankings.
#5 – Piece Of Mind (1983)
And now to the following album, with its crazy cover and fistful of worthy songs. The Trooper is pretty well Maiden’s signature song at this point. Where Eagles Dare, Flight Of Icarus and Revelations are all badass tunes, and Still Life is a nice cut from the second side. The remaining three aren’t great songs but are varying degrees of nice to listen to. This was Maiden truly rounding into form and is a classic album.
#4 – A Matter Of Life And Death (2006)
This 2006 set was grim, grave and absolutely epic. This album heads into war, death and other topics of grand importance. It’s probably wrong to say “Maiden went prog” but fair that there was some prog influence here and there, this is still an Iron Maiden record and not really the first time the band showcased their prog leanings. There are several prime songs here like These Colours Don’t Run, The Longest Day and The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg. And there are three totally badass epic tracks, with Brighter Than A Thousand Suns and The Legacy being completely awesome, and For The Greater Good Of God being on another level than that even. This album was a masterpiece and just mind-blowing stuff from a band about 30 years old at that point.
This album marked the first of Maiden’s two-record “synth” arc. It’s eight songs that work together fantastically and not a dud among the bunch, the synth elements only enhanced the presentation rather than seeing Maiden fall into the “slap some 80’s shit on here” trap. The cover art is totally mind-blowing, with a billion things to be found for the discerning eye. This was also the first Maiden album I ever heard so that’s going to hold a special place, obviously. I have no way of knowing this, but it’s possible that I’ve heard this one more than any other Maiden record, somehow it always winds up on mine or my friends’ stereos.
#2 – Powerslave (1984)
This is the album that turned Iron Maiden into a metal institution. The two singles, Aces High and 2 Minutes To Midnight, are among the best songs Maiden have done, and the album concludes with two monstrous epics – the title track and Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, a 13 minute long plunge that is one of the band’s most celebrated offerings. Between all that is some swordfighting and a return to the realm of The Prisoner. This album is prime Iron Maiden and the reason a great many legions came to follow the band.
Topping the list is this epic sort-of concept album that capped off the synth era. There is a theme revolving around mystical things, the title concept of a person born with extraordinary powers, seeing the future and all of that. Everything is encased in a prog-like shell and provides some of the band’s most ambitious and realized music. It is a bit dense and ponderous but still pretty accessible, songs like Moonchild and The Evil That Men Do fit in quite nicely next to other Maiden songs. And the title track is more low-key one of Maiden’s best epics. This album was a whole world for my then 10-year old self to get lost in and that I certainly did, some may say I never came back from it.
That wraps up this pretty epic undertaking, but one I needed to get done. Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments below. Here are a few links to other Maiden things I’ve done, plus a placeholder for the upcoming live album series.
I could have just as easily attributed today’s song to Doro Pesch as opposed to Warlock, though officially the song was originally released as part of Warlock’s final album Triumph And Agony in 1987. This was the lead single from that album, one recorded in the US after Doro came over from her native Germany after Warlock began gaining an American audience. While Doro would be caught in a years-long legal battle over the rights to Warlock naming and material, she would launch a solo career that saw her become a heavy metal legend and one of women’s biggest influences in metal music.
All We Are is nothing complicated at all – there are a few verses and the chant-along chorus. The music is to the point and everything comes together to make a simple yet very effective metal anthem. It isn’t quite as easy to craft a simple song as many people seem to think, but here Doro and company got the formula down pat.
This one is easy to get into, whether on a home stereo or in a live setting and this has been Doro’s signature song at her many, many concerts over the decades. Doro did her best to break out in America but grunge came along and sent this traditional style of metal to oblivion for awhile. But she found a willing audience throughout Europe in the ’90’s, and by the time traditional metal got on the rise again in the 2000’s, Doro was hailed as one of the genre’s prime performers. She has only further cemented her legacy in the years since, still going strong in 2023.
All We Are would get a new version in the mid 2000’s. Doro performed the song live as entrance music for Regina Halmich, a German boxer considered one of the world’s greatest and who is also one of Doro’s best friends. Doro was joined by Destruction mainman Schmier, After Forever guitarist Bas Maas and drummer Tim Hsung for this performance. The same group would convene to record a new studio version that was released on an EP in 2007.
All We Are is, unsurprisingly, Doro’s most-played live song. I wouldn’t figure she would do a show without it, the song is her calling card and likely the first thing a lot of people heard of hers. A fair bit of Warlock’s final album still resonates through the metal fanbase 35 years later and it’s something Doro commemorates to this day. Just a few weeks ago Doro played a fair portion of the album on the hallowed stage of the Wacken Open Air Festival grounds in a set jam-packed with guests from all across the heavy metal spectrum.
Doro has been one of the most influential women in heavy metal, and she’s done so by simply executing her songs and playing shows – she made her mark without falling into the trap of scantily-clad 1980’s marketing. When the 1980’s faded away, Doro rose to prominence with a traditional heavy metal sound. And All We Are remains as her calling card all these years later, as she still commands the stage and influences new generations.
This will be a quick and easy AOTW, this live set just hit shelves last Friday and it doesn’t require rocket surgery to have a listen and look at. An old warrior relives his glory days at the site of one of his biggest historic triumphs, getting the rare chance to live in the moment one more time.
Liam Gallagher – Knebworth ’22
Released August 11, 2023 via Warner Records
Oasis played two historic shows at Knebworth House in 1996. Those gigs were the apex of Oasis’ hype and popularity and are often seen as the zenith of the Britpop movement. In 2021 the Gallagher brothers released a live album and documentary about their Knebworth experience, and in 2022 Liam was booked as a solo act to rekindle the old magic again. Over 250,000 people attended the 1996 Oasis gigs, in 2022 Liam would play two nights to a total crowd of 170,000.
Liam played his two shows in early June of ’22, just shy of 26 years after the Oasis sets. He would bring an assortment of material, both from his three-album deep solo catalog and several Oasis standards. While he played 21 songs each night, the album offers a slimmer version with 16 songs, with 9 Oasis songs and 7 Liam solo tunes. Most of the omissions aren’t really a big deal except for one which I’ll get to during the huge encore section. One song did get played on night one but not on night two – the solo single Shockwave, which is on this live package.
There was also an unfortunate omission from Liam’s band – he had often been joined the past few years by former Oasis mate Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs. Bonehead spent a good part of 2022 in treatment for cancer, which he was cleared of last September. He was unable to join Liam’s tour and Liam dedicated More Power to Bonehead at the shows.
The setlist for the live album is as follows:
Hello
Rock N’ Roll Star
Wall Of Glass
Shockwave
Everything’s Electric
Roll It Over
Slide Away
More Power
C’Mon You Know
The River
Once
Cigarettes And Alcohol
Some Might Say
Supersonic
Wonderwall
Champagne Supernova
The live set holds pretty constant through the performances – the songs are executed faithfully by the band, a few of them get an uptick in tempo due to the energy of the huge live performance. Liam holds serve pretty well through this long set. He does get a bit shouty in a few places but I think that’s a consequence of the music going hard as opposed to any issues he was having. Overall Liam sounds really good for someone who has a thyroid disease and had to re-find his voice in order to launch his solo career. He doesn’t get to some of the crazy performances he did in 1996 but his presentation here is well done.
The set jumps between solo songs and Oasis tracks for awhile, one interesting Oasis inclusion is Roll It Over from 2000. It’s not one I’d expect to be on a setlist for a huge show like this but the song works pretty well and is an under the radar pick for the set. Liam performs most of his solo singles here, when he gets to More Power he does a 4-song suite of his songs, concluding with his most renowned solo effort Once. He announces that Once is the last song, though there is one monster of an encore coming.
The encore is an all Oasis affair and kicks off with Cigarettes And Alcohol. That one is performed almost as a heavy metal or punk track, it goes heavy and hard. Some Might Say gets a bit similar treatment, while Supersonic is actually toned down a notch and has a psychedelic vibe to it that stands out even from old Oasis performances. Wonderwall is handled in great fashion, with Liam letting the crowd sing the chorus. The audience knew the words, not only to Wonderwall but most of the other songs, even Liam’s solo singles.
Champagne Supernova closes the night. Liam dedicates the song to his mom Peggy, who is in attendance. It doesn’t seem to be announced from the stage anywhere, at least on the album, but former Stone Roses guitarist John Squire makes a guest spot on the song, just as he did with Oasis at Knebworth in 1996. The album goes out with Liam thanking the crowd and then the guitar ringing out for about a minute after the band is done, apparently they have Nigel Tufnel’s old Fender with that famous sustain.
A few songs were left off, both Oasis cuts like Stand By Me and Liam’s solo songs like Why Me Why Not and Diamond In The Dark. None of those exclusions really bother me, this thing is a 76 minute long album as it is and I can understand making a few tough choices to keep packaging reasonable. But there is one notable exclusion from the Oasis encore section – Live Forever was performed both nights but didn’t wind up on the record. I would have loved to have that song on this album, but for whatever reason it wasn’t included.
The album is pretty well done, there are a few rather abrupt edits that I find odd for a label like Warner to leave on, they clearly cut something out between Liam honoring his mom and the actual start of Champagne Supernova and there are a few other spots that weren’t blended in that well. They aren’t major issues but they do stand out.
Overall Knebworth ’22 does a good job of capturing this historic performance. The atmosphere of an 85,000 strong crowd carries over through the audio, everything feels grand and heavy, like there’s literally electricity in the air. All the instruments sound good, the drums sound almost a little too good but that could just be how they set up to capture things, it’s not all that hard to get a great live sound recorded in the 2020’s. This one is more for the invested Oasis and Liam fan, though people who were in during the 1990’s might find the set a nice bit of nostalgia. It’s about as close to an actual Oasis reunion as we’re likely to get and this set does bring back a bit of that old Knebworth magic from way back when.
Iron Maiden have been known for quite a few epic songs and some grand storytelling. Plenty of songs go heavy in theme, the group have covered topics like wars, threat of nuclear destruction, historical literature, the death of beloved entertainers, and many other things. In one case Maiden did make two songs about roughly the same thing – both The Prisoner and Back In The Village are about the 1960’s TV show The Prisoner. And two other songs link to each other at least spiritually – those being The Clansman and Death Of The Celts.
But the only true saga Iron Maiden have ever engaged isn’t about historical events or grand calamities – no, it’s about a prostitute.
Charlotte The Harlot would make her first appearance in 1980 on the debut record and then she would show up three more times over the years. Calling her saga a “story” is a pretty generous application of the word story, but there’s enough here to look over the course of the second most-known Iron Maiden character.
There isn’t a ton of background info on today’s topic. I browsed through Mick Wall’s book Run To The Hills – An Authroised Biography the other day to get some good source material and all I got was a five word quote from Dave Murray and a bit of background on one other song. The folks in Maiden have not saw fit to elaborate on Charlotte’s story, Steve Harris has declined to elaborate on the matter more than once.
There is an interview somewhere out there from Paul Di’Anno that does discuss the actual woman Charlotte is based off of, but tracking the actual interview is tough. I’ll just mention that he said the woman was really more of an “easy gal” rather than a working woman and that she didn’t actually live on Acacia Avenue.
But this tale doesn’t really need much sourcing or background info – it’s four songs about a hooker, how complicated can it be?
Charlotte The Harlot
The first song in the saga introduces the character Charlotte. The song is from 1980’s self-titled debut record. The song is a bit primitive but still has what would become typical Iron Maiden beats. It isn’t the most celebrated track from the debut but it does get its fair share of discussion.
Dave Murray was the sole composer of this one. He mentioned that Charlotte was “based on a true story” but apparently did not get any further into it. The song sees Charlotte leave her man and become a lady of the night, selling herself for men’s pleasure. Charlotte is the target of the song narrator’s ire, we would suppose that the “protagonist” is the man who Charlotte dumped to go sleep with anyone who had the right change.
There’s no telling what happened here – did someone get hung up on the gal who inspired Charlotte, or did Dave just decide to craft a song about her? I’m not sure and we may never truly know, but this was only the beginning of Charlotte’s story.
22 Acacia Avenue
The next song in Charlotte’s story comes from The Number Of The Beast. This would be significant as Maiden changed singers, with Bruce Dickinson now in the fold. Also along after the debut was guitarist Adrian Smith, who was the main songwriter here. Steve Harris is also credited, though Adrian brought some of this with him from his old band Urchin.
In this song Charlotte’s whoring ways are apparently catching up with her with stuff like diseases and abusive men. The song’s narrator basically takes Charlotte out of the life to get her “cleaned up” or whatever. No telling if the gent from this song is the same one from the first one and I’d gather the band didn’t think that far ahead.
Acacia Avenue is itself pretty interesting. Google returns some vague results about what it means. In some cases it does seem to refer to whorehouses, so that may be why the band chose it. There is another apparent meaning that more simply refers to British suburbs, I suppose in a way it was saying Parklife over a decade before Blur did. But I can’t really trace the authenticity of that claim and it’s not prevalent in search so I don’t know much about it. Either way it wasn’t meant to refer to a real place so it’s not radically important.
Hooks In You
It would be several years for the next installment of the Charlotte saga. This song comes from 1990’s No Prayer For The Dying. This album saw Maiden take a more stripped-down approach after a bit of a foray into more synth-driven epics. The album wasn’t terribly well-received but does have its fans. I personally don’t mind listening to it but I don’t have a ton of nice things to say about it either. It’s also worth mentioning that this song is often cited as the worst one on the album.
There is only one indirect reference to Charlotte in this song, but the reference does certainly establish who we’re talking about. The song’s first line “I got the keys to view at number 22” references Charlotte’s address, I guess she hadn’t moved in several years. She’s about to pretty soon.
The song goes into some goofy stuff about S&M and whatever kinky things a person could think of, at least in 1990. It doesn’t really “add” to Charlotte’s story, it’s just checking in with her and her freakiness. At the song’s end the man is apparently sick of Charlotte and has plans to “set her in concrete.”
This one was co-written by Bruce and Adrian, this was Adrian’s only contribution to this album as he left the band awhile before the record was out. Bruce said he was inspired to write the song based on some stuff he saw in a home he was looking to buy and it wound up becoming a part of the Charlotte story.
So, if we are to take this very loose story at its literal presentation, Charlotte either is dead or was going to be killed. What possibly could happen next?
From Here To Eternity
The final entry in Charlotte’s story comes from 1992’s Fear Of The Dark. This was the one and only time a Charlotte track was released as a single. This final song was composed by Steve Harris.
Here we get Charlotte’s mortal end, as she rides off on a motorcycle with The Beast, aka Satan, aka The Devil. Charlotte had already kind of seen and done it all in terms of mortal men, so her only remaining thrill would be the Devil himself. Apparently they got on really well together and are still riding to this day.
That really is about all there is to this tale of Charlotte. From humble beginnings as a prostitute to the infernal consort of His Unholiness, she lived quite the life. While nothing says Iron Maiden couldn’t add to the Charlotte saga, it would be reasonable to assume that Charlotte’s story is closed. Maiden could have written long sagas about any range of topics but hey, hookers are ok.
There is a lot of rumor and speculation about Charlotte’s story and the band’s motivations for writing about her. I chose not to cover some speculative things because I don’t like posting odd claims without sources, but if anyone wants to go ham in the comments about anything you know or think about the seedy truth behind the Charlotte songs, feel free.
Last Wednesday, August 2nd, was the big occasion, which I missed for reasons spelled out here. But I’ve now been at this site for two years. A late party is still a party, no?
It has been an interesting year – I’ve changed my mind a lot on stuff I want to do. It’s no big deal, this site isn’t big stakes or anything so I can pretty well do what I want. I may switch a format up again in the coming months but as of right now I’m totally undecided on that, and if so it won’t happen any time soon.
I was pleasantly surprised a few months ago to find my posts being dumped into the Google mobile feed, whatever that deal is called. In April of this year I got more views than I had for all of 2022, and that new monthly trend has largely held. While a number of posts have been pored over on it, the Iron Maiden singles series was the main focus of all of that. Perhaps the numbers will hold, if for nothing else than to feed my ego.
One thing I do want to start doing is focusing more on social media – it’s the one area I haven’t generated a great deal of action. Someone buying and then messing with his new toy was the main culprit. Social media is a slog and it can be tough to get any kind of buzz on there, but I won’t get anywhere without putting in some kind of effort.
I will divert for just a moment and talk about music in 2023 – man, there just isn’t a whole lot hitting me real hard this year. I’m sure I’ll be able to fill out a top 10 list at year’s end and there are a few pretty anticipated releases still coming, but this year has seemed kind of quiet compared to the last few. Nothing necessarily wrong with that but it’s kind of hard to write “yeah, that was ok to hear” over and over again. But there’s always the boundless past to explore.
As far as what’s coming up in the rest of 2023, be assured there is more Iron Maiden on the way. Hell, I could probably run various Iron Maiden series for a few years (and I probably will). The Maiden live album series will be up in September and I’ll let that close out the year, then I’ll open 2024 with the psychotically ridiculous song ranking. I’ll also have a new review set coming soon, probably also sometime in September. It’s not huge but it also should run through the next few months.
There will also be a handful of gig recaps on the way as I’m actually going to a few shows in the next little bit. I’m not certain if I’m attending a few more big-ticket concerts (though I’m going to try), but there are a few smaller club shows I will certainly be at. I also totally forgot to run down a show I went to earlier in the summer so I’ll try to get my lazy ass on that soon.
One other thing that will pop up relatively soon – I’ll start doing more one-off album reviews, these with actual scores and all that. There’s no great “system” to it, stuff will just show up when I have it ready. There’s also a fair chance a lot more of the heavier stuff will be included in these, it’s a more suitable format for that than my typical “Album of the Week” presentation.
That probably wraps up all I wanted to say. As always, thank you to all who read these piles of words. I know time is a fleeting thing and there are millions of other things to read, see and do, and I really appreciate everyone who stops by to spend a moment here.
It’s on to year three for this site. And yes, tomorrow’s post is related to Iron Maiden. No great mysteries here.
The song pick this week is a track from Sammy Hagar’s fourth solo album Street Machine. This album hit in 1979 and was kind of a lull in Hagar’s career – he wouldn’t see true solo success until 1982 and Standing Hampton. But there were still plenty of worthy songs early on in Sammy’s first solo outing and today’s track is one of those.
This Planet’s On Fire (Burn In Hell) did get a singles release in the UK though it didn’t set the UK charts on fire. It would feature over 40 times in live setlists through the early 1980’s before Sammy joined Van Halen and ran off to mega-stardom. He does not appear to have played it since, though such setlist aggregation sites aren’t always accurate so I don’t know.
Today’s song is one of Sammy’s heavy metal-leaning tracks that he was very fond of doing. He had tried to keep Montrose in a metal direction in the early 1970’s, which led to his exit from that group. While Sammy often plied his trade in rock, he could be found exploring the emerging world of metal from time to time.
The standout part of this song is, of course, that riff. It is a roller coaster ride up and down the fretboard on this one. It will get a person to take notice, that’s for sure. There is also plenty of soloing in the wordless moments to keep the guitar lesson going. Hagar would revisit this style of running riff a few years down the line with the song I Don’t Need Love from Three Lock Box.
Lyrically the song is pretty easy to figure out – everything is messed up and everyone has punched their ticket to H-E-double hockey sticks. It doesn’t sound like a bad thing in this case – as with a lot of Sammy at his best, it’s a party all the way to the bottom. It’s not the same kind of Hell as in a preacher’s sermon or as depicted by about 666,666 black metal bands. Maybe it’s really more like Heck, I don’t know.
This song has kind of hung out in the lower rung of Sammy Hagar’s catalog. His time in Van Halen will always be the topic of discussion, and his solo stuff includes his big hit I Can’t Drive 55 and his more modern incarnation as a hard rock Jimmy Buffet. His brief stint with Montrose might garner more attention than a lot of his early solo career before ’82, even.
But Hagar’s early stuff has gained some notice. I know I was one of many to gravitate to this song the first time I heard it way back when. And I wasn’t the only one – in 2022, Dave Mustaine and Megadeth cut a cover version of it for certain versions of their album The Sick, They Dying … And The Dead! The cover featured vocals from Hagar as well.
This Planet’s On Fire may not have set the world on fire, but this is still top-notch stuff from the Red Rocker. It doesn’t get much better than this trip straight to Hell.
In 2004, one of Sweden’s leading purveyors of death and thrash hooked back up with an old flame, threw a few new bits into their metal, and had a day with the response.
The Haunted – Revolver
Released October 18, 2004 via Century Media Records
My Favorite Tracks – Who Will Decide, Abysmal, Sabotage
The Haunted have a curious history, having been formed in 1996. The band was formed by 3/5 of the former lineup of Swedish death legends At The Gates, who had broken up one day prior to The Haunted’s founding. The band was founded by brothers Jonas (bass) and Anders Björler (guitar) and Adrian Erlandsson (drums), all former members of ATG. They were initially joined by vocalist Peter Dolving and guitarist Patrik Jensen. Dolving and Erlandsson would leave The Haunted after the band’s first album, to be replaced by Marco Aro and Per Möller Jensen.
The Haunted gained acclaim on their next two albums with a pretty straightforward Swedish thrash sound. Marco Aro left the band somewhat suddenly in 2003, which led to the group seeking a reunion with original vocalist Peter Dolving and the release of this album.
The album’s name was styled as rEVOLVEr, which was meant as an indication that The Haunted’s music was evolving from its entrenched roots in Swedish thrash. Though for the sake of clarity I will style the album’s name as Revolver in this post, maybe someone will get confused and think I’m talking about The Beatles. A few seconds of riffs from The Haunted album will likely correct any confusion.
Revolver is a hefty slab of music, no matter which configuration it comes in. The standard edition features 11 tracks at 47 minutes, while the red-covered deluxe edition offers 2 bonus tracks. And as usual, the Japanese version has its own bonus track and keeps another track from the deluxe set. For brevity’s sake I will go over the standard tracklist though I have always had the deluxe version. Here is the standard album’s tracklist:
No Compromise
99
Abysmal
Sabotage
All Against All
Sweet Relief
Burnt To A Shell
Who Will Decide
Nothing Right
Liquid Burns
My Shadow
The album opens with a pair of songs that are pretty standard fare for The Haunted – brutal, fast and loud. No Compromise and 99 both come in hard and stay that way. No Compromise is one of a few songs on the album that isn’t woefully negative in its outlook, it is more of a rallying cry for the outcasts. 99 is a very bleak look at the state of the system and doesn’t offer much in the way of hope, something that isn’t to be found on this album hardly at all.
Abysmal starts off as something quite unexpected – this is, in many respects, a ballad. It starts off very quiet, with Peter Dolving almost speaking the lines, until the song suddenly gets much heavier though keeps its dirge-like pace. The song lives up to it’s title, this is as dark as it gets with no way out and no light at the end of any tunnel.
Up next is Sabotage, which is a full-tilt delivery that is like punk on steroids. It’s followed by All Against All, a more mid-paced track that is a very harsh look at an ended relationship. This one has the “feel” of a hardcore song though still bringing its thrash underpinnings. The Swedish thrash and death sound was a huge influence on the metalcore scene and here we have one of the Swedish bands putting it all together.
If you were hoping that Sweet Relief would bring you respite from the bone-crunching riffs and stark lyrical themes, well your hope was misplaced, as the song slams in and keeps the metal flowing. The next song might be the one you’re really looking for – Burnt To A Shellis another quasi-ballad and this one is also not negative to the point of being psychologically disturbing. It does offer some of that bleak imagery but also gives a fair respite from it in the chorus.
Up next is Who Will Decide. This is another hard one and also features guest vocals from Sick Of It All frontman Lou Keller. This song really exposes the true problems with the system and why things never really seem to get truly better. And this was recorded in 2004, this one is even more relevant 19 years later.
The album heads into the home stretch with Nothing Right, another hard hitter that spells out exactly what the title says. Liquid Burns comes in next and is a very messed up look at some crazy relationship and abuse stuff, as well as the influence of alcohol and its numbing effects on the ills of society. The album closes with My Shadow, this being a full-on “ballad” and also the bleakest of the bleak in terms of theme. This conclusion is the most desperate and hopeless song of them all, just totally giving up and being nothing.
Revolver was a remarkable moment in The Haunted’s career. The album served to both honor the musical legacy of the band as well as update the sound a bit and it slotted in nicely alongside the emerging metalcore movement of the early 00’s. If The Haunted were living somewhat in the shadow of At The Gates, Revolver saw them cast off that legacy completely and fully flesh out their own identity.
It isn’t a huge secret that the lyrical themes of extreme metal tend to dwell on the negative side, but on this album the lyrics truly are dynamically written to be as hopeless as possible in many cases. It’s not like a lot of metalheads even really take in the lyrics on a lot of death or black metal – the voice is often just another instrument. But with this album Dolving’s vocal delivery is comprehensible and the words truly stand out in their desperation when they’re taken in.
The Haunted would continue course with Peter Dolving for three more albums before he departed the group in 2012. The band would also contend with double duty, as At The Gates reformed in 2008. The band nearly split up but would reconvene with singer Marco Aro and release yet more vital music in the 2010’s.
For all of the band’s history in the hallowed Swedish metal scene, Revolver might be the most unique and dynamic moment of The Haunted’s catalog. The songwriting featured variety and dynamics and the lyrical content went to a place far scarier than the imagined hells of most metal albums – the cold, stark facts of reality for many hopeless souls.
I borrowed the title from a UFO album and song not because I want to talk about UFO today, but because it fits the topic at hand. UFO is one of those bands I need to sit down with and check out more, I am woefully uneducated on them. This is a pretty cool track, I’ll say that.
Anyway – I had a whole week of posts planned. I got to all of one of them, the Album of the Week. As anyone can clearly tell, I haven’t posted since then, despite all these big plans which included celebrating the two-year anniversary of this site, which was on Wednesday the 2nd. I also haven’t read anyone else’s posts this week much at all.
So what happened? Well, the title should give you an idea. On Sunday night just before midnight, a very gnarly storm rolled through my area. A very large tree fell from my neighbor’s yard and the impact of that messed up my electric meter and knocked my power out. The damage from the storm was the most severe that area power crews have seen in at least a decade. I was without power from that point Sunday night until late morning Wednesday. And it’s been over 90 degrees outside during that time (about 32 for those of you who use that). And to top it all off, the power outage caused my job to get backed up and I had a few 12 hour or so shifts in that time I also didn’t have power at my house. It was not a pleasant week in the first half.
And yeah, in a way it’s relevant to the music interests I discuss here – of anything I own, the “pride and joy” would be my vinyl collection, which isn’t the world’s biggest but is a bit pricey in spots. That was sitting in a house without A/C in that kind of heat for roughly 60 hours. In fairness, the nights cooled off enough to be tolerable and the records are in a room with several windows so there is good airflow. Everything turned out ok, at least as far as the stuff I spot-checked so far, but I was getting close to the point where I would have to get everything out of the house if the power didn’t come back on soon. That is a relevant factor for any vinyl collector to consider – of course records can survive power outages in winter weather, but in the dead ass heat of the summer, they are sitting ducks in any kind of extended outage.
All’s well that ends well I guess, and now the week is about over, I’m back in the sweet embrace of my true love in life, air conditioning, and my records are seemingly safe from damage. All this really means for the site is that I’ll push the posts from this week to next. Most everything is 90% ready, I’ve been using that method to write lately and I get a lot more done as opposed to trying to finish everything in one go. I usually only schedule the post the day before it goes live so I wasn’t prepared to have content flowing out in the event of something like this. But I’m sure I, everyone reading and everything else will be fine.
I guess that covers it for the mysterious absence this week. Next week I’ll kick out what I intended to do this week and everything should get rolling normal again, and also the week after next I’m off work with not a whole hell of a lot to do, so the site should be firing off posts pretty regularly. See you all then.
This week I’ll take a look at an EP that had both some live and studio tracks on it. One of the songs would gain hold on MTV and launch the commercial peak of “Evil Elvis.”
Danzig – Thrall-Demonsweatlive
Released May 25, 1993 via Def American Records
Glenn Danzig was in a pretty good spot entering 1993 – his profile had risen considerably on the back of three strong albums and the music environment was accepting of a lot of alternative metal that probably wouldn’t have gotten the time of day in the ’80’s. Danzig would become one of the flagship acts of this “alt-metal” movement with the hit contained here.
The cover art was done by renowned comics artist Simon Bisley. This was the first of many collaborations between Bisley and Danzig, as Bisley would soon join Danzig’s new comic book company Verotik as an artist.
The band’s lineup remained the same as it had since the group’s inception – Glenn Danzig on vocals, John Christ on guitar, Eerie Von on bass and Chuck Biscuits at the drums. This roster would remain for one more studio album after this then all three others besides Danzig would vacate their positions, marking the end of the “classic” era.
This EP comprises two parts, as well as a “hidden” track. The hidden song was on track 93 of the CD, leaving 86 tracks of silence between the listed songs and this bonus. This was a thing back in the CD days and not the last time Danzig would use the gimmick to place a hidden song. As a note to those hunting for this on Spotify, only the 7 listed tracks appear on that service.
Thrall
The first three songs are all new studio recordings, done in early 1993. All of the songs were knocked out in a day. Up first is the heavy banger It’s Coming Down. This is one of the heavier tracks the old Danzig lineup did. It is a very meat and potatoes metal song, with very few lyrics and just a bunch of heavy riffs and drumming. This one works pretty well and is the highlight of the new songs. There was a music video filmed for this but it contained a lot of bondage scenes in it so MTV said no. A less saucy version is linked up at the end of this post.
Up next is The Violet Fire, a bit more of a gothic vibe to this one but still a pretty heavy tune. The lyrics are about the dark arts of seduction, a Danzig staple. The last of the three studio cuts is Trouble, which is a cover song. In keeping with Danzig’s nickname and vocal styling, the song is an Elvis cover. The song is suitably spruced up for the atmosphere of a Danzig song and works pretty well. It’s fair to say that a lot of people listening to this EP in 1993 might not have been aware that this was an Elvis song.
Demonsweatlive
The four live tracks are from a 1992 Halloween concert at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in the Los Angeles area. The entire show was pretty available in bootleg form, though that boot probably came about as a result of this EP’s notoriety.
Up first is Snakes Of Christ from the album II – Lucifuge. Like everything here, this is an excellent live version that captures the raw and gritty sound of this music at its best. One of two cuts from the self-titled debut is up next. Am I Demon gets a whole new level of energy from the live outing and sounds like Danzig at the top of his demonic underworld. This could be considered the prime offering of the live cuts, though another one would go on to claim all of the glory.
The third song is Sistinas from III – How The Gods Kill. This is a bit of a different song, being a quiet ballad that fits Danzig’s style pretty well despite being well outside the usual heavy offerings. Even when I was a dumb 15 year old listening to this and only wanting heavy stuff I could appreciate a slower tune like this one.
Another song from the first album rounds out the live stuff – Mother was a single initially but did not move the needle back in 1988. Several years later, the song’s appearance on this EP would catapult it and Danzig into another layer of the atmosphere.
What appears first on the EP is the actual live cut from the Irvine show. It is certainly a live performance, it is a much more raw and open vocal outing from Danzig than any sort of studio track. It is a worthy live cut, as all four of these songs are, but it’s also not the version that actually got popular, even though footage from the same live performance is in the music video.
After letting the CD play for about seven minutes of silent tracks, track 93 hits with the Mother 93 mix of the song. This is a re-recorded version the band did in studio and is the single release that wound up getting so popular. The video was put with this new studio version and the release got huge traction on MTV.
Mother would hit the singles charts, getting to number 17 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Chart and just missing being a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, getting to 43. Sales of Thrall-Demonsweatlive and the original Danzig album would shoot up after the video’s explosion, netting the original a platinum cert and this EP at least a gold, its actual certification status is a bit murky and it may also be platinum.
Mother has lived on as a mainstream one-hit wonder and found use in many movies, video games and other places over the years. Danzig would depart his hard gothic metal sound a few years later, specifically citing the “MTV audience” as one he was happy to part ways with, though he did also appreciate his time in the sun.
While this is just an EP and the actual version of the song that got popular was an odd hidden track, Thrall-Demonsweatlive was a triumphant moment for the first iteration of the Danzig lineup. The breakout success of Mother can be attributed to the changed state of rock at the time, back when the song first came out it didn’t move the general music audience but did bring on some of Danzig’s core fans. This EP might not have been the touchstone moment it was without the single doing insane MTV business, but there are still several worthwhile cuts to check out here.
The Crooked Wanderer 