Author: bigbadburch

The Burn Pile – Remembering The CD-R

On By bigbadburchIn collecting4 Comments

For those of us at a certain age, the blank tape is a fond reminder of how we “shared” music in the distant past. You could make a mixtape if you wanted, or you could copy entire albums onto tapes. Often you could get two albums on one tape, one on each side, and be truly ready to jam out.

The cassette tape went away (thankfully, as far as I’m concerned) and the CD came along. That would slowly be phased out by digital files and then streaming services. Those two totally fulfilled and made obsolete the concept of “sharing” music – just tell someone to look up a song or album, send a link to it over a text message. It’s light years beyond the blank tape shuffle of the 1980’s.

But there was another medium for sharing music that ran concurrently with the rise of the MP3. The CD itself offered up a writable disc and by 2000, most PC’s had CD-R drives in them. Copying an album to CD was a process that didn’t take a lot of time and was super reliable, only very rarely going wrong compared the potential headaches of the cassette.

I do remember “burning” a CD in 1997 or thereabout. It took several hours and the CD wound up not working right in spots. A few years later allowed the technology to catch up and become more practical for the typical home user. Just as the idea of keeping digital music on computer hard drives was becoming a reality, it was very easy for someone to burn a CD and play it at home, in a car, or wherever.

I would take to burning CDs in the early 2000’s and wound up generating quite a pile of stuff. A lot of mine came from a friend who worked in radio at the time and was getting promo stuff from record labels. Some labels were already sending promos via digital distribution, but others sent physical CDs and I would copy a lot of those. Otherwise I was borrowing stuff out of friends’ collections and making sure I had my copy of that, allowing me to concentrate my purchases in focused areas.

My horde of CD-Rs, first time I’ve had them out in eons

The CD-R was a currency of music but it also didn’t quite take off the same way tapes did in the ’80’s. This was because the digital music revolution was happening at the same time. The time and material needed to burn a CD, while nothing that would set someone back a lot, was more than the simple act of ripping it straight to the hard drive. For more die-hard music fans like myself who are album-oriented listeners or who enjoy long mixes spanning a lot of songs, the CD was an ideal format. But for the more casual fan who is generally just into songs, simply having them on a hard drive was good enough. And with the advent of smartphones, even needing a PC was eventually phased out.

I would join the digital age somewhere around 2008, scoring my first iPod. This would naturally phase out the concept of burning CDs for me. Over the years I have occasionally made a copy of something for someone else but the days of buying spindles of blank discs were long over. And now with streaming I almost don’t even use my digital collection now, though it does have its uses from time to time and isn’t something I’m ready to part with yet. It’s not like it’s doing anything other than taking up disk space that I’m not using anyway.

What really inspired me to write this was me going through stuff and still having my two containers of burned CDs laying around. I haven’t even gone through them in over 10 years, they haven’t served a purpose for me at all. It’s finally time to send these relics of the past to the recycling center. I do have to remove them all from the paper sleeves I keep them in, but that would take all of 15 minutes if my lazy ass would get to actually doing it.

As I go through these I’ll probably check to make sure I’ve ripped everything I want to my PC. It’s probably not a big deal, some stuff I burned is stuff I now own, and many of the promos I had access to didn’t really excite me in the end. I might throw one or two on to see what I think now, but I’m not gonna spend a ton of time with it. I’m also curious if any of these degraded over time, the conventional wisdom on writable CDs is that they might not hold up over many years. But I’m not going to conduct a survey of the total pile I have.

The CD-R doesn’t really come with the nostalgia factor that the blank tape does. The CD thing was a practical matter that was no fuss, there was no need to time things right like would often happen with tapes. Just set your burn list and let it go, get out the sharpie and there you have something to listen to. People do still fiddle with CD-Rs, in some cases it’s to play music in cars and in others it can be to make and send mixes out. The full arrival of the digital age has ended the practical use of CD-Rs for most, but there are still holdouts out there, just like there are still people using blank cassettes. I won’t be joining them, for me the age of the CD-R has come and gone. But for several years it was a great tool to expose myself to way more music.

Virus – The Iron Maiden Singles Series

On By bigbadburchIn Iron Maiden Singles Series36 Comments

This week on the singles series is a big one. This is the first and only in my collection to feature Maiden’s singer from 1995 to 1999, Blaze Bayley. This one goes all sorts of different directions, in terms of triva and lore, as well as different versions and things like that.

Before I go into the single itself, I want to say that not having a lot of Blaze era stuff in my singles collection was not an outright conscious decision. No, I’m not a huge fan of the stuff Maiden did while Blaze was in the band, but there are songs I like, including others that were released as singles. In truth, these singles have always been a bit tough to come by, or at least have been since I’ve been collecting the singles in earnest. These aren’t usually the cheapest things around and that has been the biggest limiting factor on getting these into my collection. I do want all of the (obtainable) Maiden singles so the Blaze stuff will be a point of emphasis for me going forward.

On today’s single – this thing was released in a handful of formats with sometimes odd choices. My version is part one of a two CD set. I only have the first disc of the set, which I’ll detail when I get to the specific songs below. To be totally honest I find the two-part single thing kind of lame and I’m not in a hurry to pick up the second disc to this, which has (almost) the same title song and then two other B-sides also available elsewhere. But, this disc has that one (almost) same title song and two B-sides also available elsewhere, so whatever. The not cheap or easy to get vinyl version has two radically different B-sides, two tracks from the infamous Soundhouse Tapes EP, while another CD version collects a handful of other songs. I need a degree in Cdology to keep up with this crap.

Now into the real heart of the matter – this is, for purposes of my series, the introduction of Blaze Bayley. Blaze was the singer of British act Wolfsbane from 1984 until 1994, when he was essentially hand-chosen by Steve Harris to replace Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden. It was a strange and curious choice, one that many fans still question to this day. Again, I’m not the biggest fan of this period of Maiden but I’m also not out to shit on Blaze or just talk smack for cheap Internet points so I’ll keep to a somewhat more objective view of things here.

Virus

We have a very interesting case for a single release here, as this is the one and only Iron Maiden song that has truly never appeared on an album. While Sanctuary and Women In Uniform were non-album tracks, those two songs did appear on albums for certain territories. Virus is, in the truest sense of the word, a non-album track.

Virus was a new song recorded for the band’s first greatest hits set, 1996’s The Best Of The Beast. Maiden were probably overdue for a compilation by this point and the set was pretty well received. There are a few different versions of the comp, though all do feature Virus.

CD 1 of the single features an edit of Virus, which cuts out the 2 minute or so intro. I’d personally prefer to have the unedited track but I wanted these B-sides so I went with this. The intro is very long and weird and I know a lot of people don’t like it but I honestly kind of dig it. You’ll find that the posted video has the song in full.

When the song proper kicks in it actually starts sounding like Iron Maiden. Even then it goes into a bit of a different roll in the end, but it fits what’s going on. One of my criticisms of The X-Factor album is that it sounds very same-y in parts, here on Virus the band truly establish something that stands on its own.

Lyrically the subject could be taken a few different ways, all of which are relevant. There seems to be an admonition about the Internet, which was on a fast rise at the time of the single’s release. This is a warning that grift and corruption could increase as the landscape of information gathering and dissemination changes. Yep, nailed that one.

This could also be seen as a shot at the band’s critics and detractors. The song addresses the apathy and the need to lash out at anything, something which the band dealt with a lot of during this time period. Sure, the Internet in 1996 was absolutely nothing like today, but the same general kind of “hide behind a screen name and let loose cheap shots” thing was still in full effect. I also don’t know what parts the band members were taking as valid criticism or as shit-talking, I heard plenty of both during this time.

This honestly is one of my favorite tracks of the Blaze period. Each album offered up a few gems, but this song really stands out. It’s different enough to stand on its own but also still sounds a fair bit like my favorite band. It is odd and it does generate wildly different reactions, but I’m in Camp Virus on this one.

Doctor Doctor

Both B-sides on this single were already available as B-sides to the Lord Of The Flies single. Why the repackage them here is beyond me, though apparently the first run did not make the UK so maybe that’s why.

Doctor Doctor is a famous track from the fantastic rock act UFO. If for whatever reason you haven’t heard the original, you should probably pause reading, go rectify that, then come back. Make sure to come back. Anyway, Iron Maiden give a song they probably jammed out to a million times a run through here and they do a pretty good job of it. I’d say this is one of the better Maiden cover song performances across their catalog.

And for a bit more Maiden/Doctor Doctor trivia – Maiden plays the UFO song over the PA at live gigs just before they take the stage. If you’re out in the arena grabbing a beer or a shirt and hear Doctor Doctor hit the speakers, better get back in to your spot quick.

My Generation

The other B-side is also a cover, that’s probably obvious to most. This is one of The Who’s immortal hits and here Maiden have a crack at it. The cover is fine but it lacks that special something to put it over top. Not a bad performance but nothing here with any real urgency, this is a curiosity more than anything. Also it feels too long, they could have cut this off a bit earlier.

That wraps up the Virus single. The other CD has two B-sides that are very early cuts of Sanctuary and Wrathchild released on a compilation before the debut album was out. To be honest it’s more economical to get the full original compilation than to get the second CD of this single, though if I happen on a deal one day I might pull the trigger.

Since my collection is severely lacking in Blaze stuff, this will also be the point where we bid him farewell. Blaze’s Maiden run did not win over a lot of people, though this era does have its fans. Blaze has gone on to a very nice solo career and has just recently recovered from a very serious heart operation, so best wishes to him going forward. He has always seemed on good terms with his time in Iron Maiden and the band have respected his two albums probably more so than the two ’90’s albums preceding those.

But, with this time of the band now filed away, the next, longest and seemingly final form of Iron Maiden is to come, starting next week in the singles series.

The Iron Maiden Singles Series

Live! + One

Running Free

Sanctuary

Women In Uniform

Maiden Japan

Purgatory

Twilight Zone/Wrathchild

Run To The Hills

The Number Of The Beast

Flight Of Icarus

The Trooper

2 Minutes To Midnight

Aces High

Run To The Hills (live)

Running Free (live)

Stranger In A Strange Land

Wasted Years

The Clairvoyant

Infinite Dreams

Bring Your Daughter … To The Slaughter

Holy Smoke

Be Quick Or Be Dead

From Here To Eternity

Virus (you are here)

Out Of The Silent Planet

Rainmaker

Different World

The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg

Empire Of The Clouds

Cracker – Teen Angst (Song of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week3 Comments

This week’s song heads back to 1992 and the alt-rock scene to dig up some old treasure. While a lot of retrospectives like to paint the early ’90’s as mired in grunge, there was a fair bit of other stuff out there to check out, and Cracker gained early notice with their debut single.

Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now) did stand out from the crowd on MTV – it’s a bright, guitar-driven song with cheeky lyrics in a video clip that features nothing more than the band playing their instruments while dressed in silly gear while standing in a field.

Cracker were not necessarily “alt-rock” in the truest sense – their music incorporated elements of country and roots, and the band’s principal members David Lowery and Jonathan Hickman were very wary of any genre tags. But Teen Angst was certainly an alt-rock tune in the alt-rock era, and even with the band’s varying tastes and influences, the song got plenty of play on the airwaves.

Teen Angst has a pretty standard and familiar for-the-time musical bent. Its lyrics also don’t reinvent the wheel but are pretty sly and smart in their own way. The world may need this or that, but kicking back with a drink is probably the safe approach to it. And I don’t know how folk singers came to take the brunt of the chorus’ wrath, but it’s pretty funny stuff. And in the end it does what a lot of songs seek to do – pick up the lady.

Teen Angst would hit the top of the Billboard Modern Rock chart and get position 27 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, in fact Cracker had very little success on that chart, even with their most-known song from 1993, Low.

That makes for an interesting conversation about “one-hit wonder” status, which is typically measured by the Billboard Hot 100 and getting one song on it to the top 40. Cracker didn’t do that at all, so what does that really make them? The one-hit wonder thing is an odd conversation, for my money it doesn’t really apply to Cracker since I feel like Teen Angst was a decent success along with Low, though this kind of stuff is hard to arbitrate.

Cracker always have been a unique entity anyway – they had some degree of success with albums and singles through the early ’90’s but never truly had massive status there. Their music does go in several different directions and each album is a bit of a journey. Their main draw has always been on the live front, where they have been a viable touring act since their formation.

Teen Angst is a nice slice of life from back in 1992 – fits the scene very well while also standing out from it, but is also a great song to check out 31 years later. Some songs just work no matter what era they’re originally from.

Megadeth – Peace Sells … But Who’s Buying? (Album of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week7 Comments

This week it’s time to dig out the seminal second album from what would become thrash legends and another of the foundational albums of the “Big 4 of Thrash” movement.

Megadeth – Peace Sells … But Who’s Buying?

Released September 19, 1986 via Capitol Records

My Favorite Tracks – Peace Sells, Devil’s Island, The Conjuring

Megadeth had released an essentially self-produce debut, Killing Is My Business, a year prior. The album did light sales but did put the world on notice that Metallica’s former guitar player was up and running with his new outfit. Major label Capitol Records came calling on Megadeth and signed the group to a deal while the follow-up album had already been mostly recorded and really only needed a remix.

Megadeth’s line-up was the same as it was for the prior record – Dave Mustaine on guitars and vocals, Chris Poland on guitar, Dave Ellefson on bass and Gar Samuelson on drums. This line-up stability would not hold for very long.

The cover art was done by Ed Repka and has been one of heavy metal’s most celebrated album covers. The distinct image of Megadeth’s mascot Vic Rattlehead on a For Sale sign outside a United Nations building that was destroyed in an apparent nuclear strike is one of heavy metal’s enduring images. It would lead to a lot of work for Repka and notoriety for Megadeth.

Today’s affair is a lean one at 8 songs and 36 minutes, though packed with songs that would come to define both Megadeth and thrash metal.

Wake Up Dead

The opener was issued as a single in the UK. The song kicks in straight away with monster riffing and a tale Mustaine spins of sneaking into his house, trying not to wake his lover because he fears she’ll kill him if he’s caught coming in late. This was apparently based off true events, Mustaine was living with one girl but in love with another, but was also homeless and needed the girl he was living with not to know he was messing around.

The lyrics are funny but rather brief, it is the guitar work that is the star of this song. Mustaine and Poland absolutely go off all over this song, both with electric solos and also some rhythm changes to keep the song fresh and moving along. It is absolute guitar wizardry on this album and it gets started right out of the gate.

The video for this song was directed by Penelope Spheeris, known for her work on the Decline Of Western Civilization series.

The Conjuring

The second track gets into the subject of evil – specifically performing occult rituals and summoning the Devil. It is another solid, breakneck thrash tune with a dash of sinister riffing thrown in to truly deliver its insidious message home.

The Conjuring was a song removed from the Megadeth setlist for many years, starting in 2001, due to the born-again Christian beliefs of Mustaine. Eventually in 2018 he was convinced to play the song again and it has been a fairly regular part of modern setlists.

Peace Sells

The sort-of title track is next and it offers up what has become one of Megadeth’s signature songs. The instantly memorable bass line opens the track, a snippet that would be used by MTV News for a very long time, and apparently without compensation. As the other instruments join it’s pretty clear this is going to be a song not to be forgotten.

The song famously rattles off a list of stereotypes about metalheads and Mustaine sarcastically retorts to each – “What do you mean I don’t pay my bills? Why do you think I’m broke?” being one of many snarling and honestly accurate observations. The song was meant by Mustaine to counter the negative perception of metalheads, showcasing that the group were far more intelligent than conventional wisdom let on.

Peace Sells hit gold as a single and has been carved in stone onto the list of greatest Megadeth songs. Even in the wake of future success for the band, Peace Sells might be the band’s most distinct and recognizable song.

Devil’s Island

The hard hitting thrash does not relent as this song slams through a haunting story about Devil’s Island, a former French prison in French Guiana in South America. The prison was infamous for ill treatment of inmates.

The song outlines the plight of a condemned prisoner who is eventually spared from execution, but must then face the reality that his life will be spent on Devil’s Island and the execution might have been a better option.

Good Mourning/Black Friday

This two-part song begins with an instrumental, then transitions into a savage account of a serial killer inspired by occult influences. Black Friday goes a pretty breakneck pace through the account of this butcher. The song has become a something of an unofficial theme for the day after Thanksgiving in the US, at least among metal fans.

Bad Omen

This one builds with an elaborate intro before launching into a more mid-paced version of the sound found elsewhere on the album. It’s another guitar wizard entry, with both leads and some of Mustaine’s god-level rhythm work. This song is also about the occult, this time a few people stumble into a satanic ceremony where the participants basically get what they asked for, of course it doesn’t end well.

I Ain’t Superstitious

Up next is a cover song, from what was originally a blues tune in the 1960’s penned by Willie Dixon and performed by Howlin’ Wolf. The song was famously covered by Jeff Beck, with Rod Stewart on vocals.

Megadeth’s version is suitably thrashed up for the record, it isn’t a stumbling block and the music perfectly fits the album. It also manages the great task of also not sounding like shit, something that can easily happen when metal bands decide to “spice up” non-metal songs. The Megadeth-isms work pretty well here and the song is an enjoyable listen.

My Last Words

The album closes with one last thrash barnburner and of course another guitar workout. This one goes all out as Mustaine relays a tale of people playing Russian roulette. The song perfectly matches the intensity that must be felt when playing one of the stupidest “games” ever invented. While the song stays on the rails much of the time, it does twist and turn a bit towards the end and the hard-hitting outro/chorus. It is perhaps one of thrash metal’s underrated tracks and one that Dave’s former bandmate Lars Ulrich cites as his favorite Megadeth song.

Peace Sells … But Who’s Buying? was a true moment of arrival for Megadeth. The album did not chart well initially but did see sales that would lead it to a US platinum as well as other international certifications. It was well-received critically on release and in years since has gone on to be considered one of the cornerstone albums of thrash metal. It joins Metallica’s Master Of Puppets, Slayer’s Reign In Blood and Anthrax’s Among The Living as the pillars of the Big 4 of Thrash.

The Megadeth line-up would not hold for long after the album’s release – both Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson were fired for excessive drug use just after touring for the record. Both Mustaine and Ellefson would remain and cycle through a few members before nailing down the band’s most stable line-up entering 1990.

For Megadeth it would mark only the first of many career achievements. While many bands only get to record one great album, Mustaine and company would do it again a few albums down the line with Rust In Peace, then they would achieve heights of commercial success next on Countdown To Extinction. Many acts would give up valuable body parts to record one thing as great as Peace Sells…, yet for Megadeth it was but one of several notches in the belt. The argument over Megadeth’s best moment can be contested, though this album is certainly in the conversation.

From Here To Eternity – The Iron Maiden Singles Series

On By bigbadburchIn Iron Maiden Singles Series33 Comments

This week’s Maiden single is the second from the Fear Of The Dark album. And given the missing singles from my collection, this one will be a major exit point for the band, but I’ll get to that later on in the post.

The cover sleeve lacks Eddie and is either a band shot from the video or Satan with a motorcycle and a bunch of people hanging out, which my version is. This was only the second time they’ve done a cover photo like that, though it does come up again here and there in the future. Note that there is a different cover for one of the many, many different versions of this single.

This one really has a lot of different variations and content across the differing formats. I have a 12-inch vinyl with the single and two B-sides. I would consider the 4-track CD single a great one to have as it holds a second special B-side, perhaps someday I’ll track that one down. There are also etched records and other vinyl variants with some different B-side content on them.

From Here To Eternity

The single is another hard rocking cut, it gives off a “biker” vibe which was not something you’d normally get with Iron Maiden. I do think it’s a case where Maiden succeeds in the hard rock arena. This one is simple and catchy, yet still sounds like Iron Maiden. They weren’t always “on” in the ’90’s but this is one example of them getting their new direction right.

The song is about a motorcycle ride, but not just any random one. This is the final ride of Maiden’s other character, Charlotte the Harlot. A lot of people are familiar with her song of the same name from the debut and also the sequel 22 Acacia Avenue from The Number Of The Beast. Not quite as known are Hooks In You from No Prayer For The Dying and this one, marking the final two chapters of Charlotte’s story.

And Charlotte goes out with a bang – she heads off into the sunset on the back of a motorcycle piloted by none other than heavy metal’s best friend, the devil himself, Satan. This doesn’t mark a “fall” for Charlotte as opposed to a match made in, uh, Hell I guess. The former resident of 22 Acacia Avenue heads off with her new lover into eternity.

At some future point I’ll have a post covering the Charlotte saga in its entirety.

Roll Over Vic Vella

This B-side is available across most versions of the single except for a few 7 inch pressings with a different cover instead. This song is a bit of a cover, obviously being Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven. The altered lyrics pay tribute to the band’s long-time roadie Vic Vella, and the spoken bits at the beginning and also interspersed through the song are a conversation between Vic and Steve Harris.

While this comes off like a cheap gimmick, as the band had been having a run of through the ’90’s singles, this one actually works pretty well. The song itself is pretty good, a pretty high octane rendering of the original that won’t win awards but also gets the job done. And it’s a nice tribute to a long-running crew member, it’s a pretty cool thing for the group to do.

No Prayer For The Dying

For the real treasure of this single, we get a live cut of the title track from the prior album. This was recorded at the Wembley Arena in London during December 1990. It’s a great sounding performance and was captured very well.

The great thing about this B-side? Unlike most other Maiden B-sides, this one is truly not available anywhere else. This is the only place to get it. The band with almost as many live albums as studio records did not issue an album of this tour and this song was not included on any of the three live albums that came out after Fear Of The Dark. This is a true rarity among B-sides and makes this single release very special.

And the CD version I mentioned earlier has another cut from the same album – Public Enema Number One, one of the better cuts from No Prayer… It makes that CD version very special.

There is one other single from Fear Of The Dark and also a few singles from the following live albums. However, I don’t have any of those and that means for the purposes of this series, it’s time to say farewell to Bruce Dickinson. Bruce would leave Maiden after the touring behind Fear… in order to dive fully into his solo career. There are indications that Bruce wasn’t happy in Maiden and Steve wasn’t always happy with Bruce, but a lot of that is secondhand information that I won’t go much into.

It would mark the band’s most drastic shift, only behind when Bruce first joined and gave Maiden a voice to match their musical ambition. Bruce would go on to a critically acclaimed yet not commercially glamorous solo career. For Iron Maiden, their story after Bruce can be told on the next single of this series. And while Bruce was gone for six years, in terms of this series he’s only gone for one single. Until then.

The Iron Maiden Singles Series

Live! + One

Running Free

Sanctuary

Women In Uniform

Maiden Japan

Purgatory

Twilight Zone/Wrathchild

Run To The Hills

The Number Of The Beast

Flight Of Icarus

The Trooper

2 Minutes To Midnight

Aces High

Run To The Hills (live)

Running Free (live)

Stranger In A Strange Land

Wasted Years

The Clairvoyant

Infinite Dreams

Bring Your Daughter … To The Slaughter

Holy Smoke

Be Quick Or Be Dead

From Here To Eternity (you are here)

Virus

Out Of The Silent Planet

Rainmaker

Different World

The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg

Empire Of The Clouds

Slayer – Die By The Sword (Song of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week4 Comments

Welcome to now-regular Tuesday posting and the new home of my infant series Song of the Week. I’m sure the premise is easy to grasp – I’ll talk about a cool song each week. Sometimes the song will just be one I want to talk about for no other reason, other times the song might have some link with events, the day in question, or whatever. Today is more of the latter.

This is June 6th, which is a special day in the world of heavy metal. It is the International Day of Slayer, or International Slayer Day if you’re more concise. This was started in 2006 (6/6/6, heh heh heh) as a means to honor Slayer and also mock certain other entities. Slayer themselves called it a day in 2019, which maybe was a great time to quit a band when looking back in hindsight, but their legacy lives on and this is a day to pay respects to them.

Last year I dove into the thrash masterpiece Reign In Blood to honor the day, this year I’m going all the way back to 1983 and the debut album Show No Mercy to highlight a favorite of mine. This was Slayer’s debut which they put up the money to record. I’d say the gamble paid off after 36 years of heavy metal terror.

Die By The Sword is, much like the whole of the album, an immediate and sinister tune that’s a call to arms, but of course for the legions of the fella down under. (Satan, not Australians) Musically this is a fairly standard early thrash number, in fact maybe a bit more thrash than other songs on the debut. The verses move along at a more fast, speed metal pace while the brief chorus chugs along more in what would become familiar thrash territory. It’s a conventional song structure but the very short chorus makes its final reprise at the end a bit abrupt, though with Slayer abrupt is a household term.

Lyrically the song is full of fairly crude references to glorifying Satan and slaughtering, well, whoever; all of this was common fare among early Slayer songs. There is some actual, biblical basis for the song’s title and premise, as Jesus offered a paraphrased version of “live by the sword, die by the sword” in the Book of Matthew. Of course in the “ceremony of opposites” fashion of heavy metal, Slayer are talking up the concept as opposed to cautioning on it as Jesus did. And that concludes today’s Bible study.

Die By The Sword is a fan favorite from among the early Slayer catalog, it was the band’s 12th most-played song live and the highest placing among tracks from Show No Mercy, at least according to Setlist.fm. It makes many appearances on the several live materials released over the years and was one of the early songs played on night one of the band’s two-night finale in November 2019. While Slayer changed form well away from the sound of their early material, Die By The Sword was one that stuck around for the duration.

Liam Gallagher – Why Me? Why Not. (Album of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week6 Comments

This week’s pick goes a bit back to 2019 and the second solo album from Oasis’ cantankerous former frontman. Liam Gallagher had returned in 2017 after a hiatus and was an in-fashion hero for a crowd now well engaged in Britpop nostalgia. His first album was an unexpected success, could he keep it up?

Also, as a note – I had totally forgotten that brother Noel was releasing a record last Friday when I decided to pick this Liam album for AotW. Or maybe I did it subconsciously, I don’t know. Either way, here it is.

Liam Gallagher – Why Me? Why Not.

Released September 20, 2019 via Warner Records

My Favorite Tracks – Once, Shockwave, The River

After the explosive break-up of Oasis in 2009, Noel Gallagher launched straight into a successful solo career while Liam and the rest of Oasis fell short with their Beady Eye project. Liam returned to the scene in 2017 with his solo debut As You Were, absolutely defying skeptics by picking up a UK number one and taking high spots on charts all across the world. The table was set for a knockout follow-up.

Liam has crafted his solo albums with the collaborative help of many musicians. While Liam’s own lack of songwriting has been a criticism of him from some circles, it is fairly standard business in the music industry so I don’t see the issue.

The actual writing, performing and production credits for the album are far too extensive to go over here. Two primary contributors were Greg Kurstin and Andrew Wyatt, both of whom have very impressive music resumes. Both would shape the bulk of the album’s songs as well as produce a majority of things.

As for the album’s name, this Radio X article tells the story – the name is based off two drawings done by John Lennon that Liam had come into possession of. One was a purchase, the other was a gift from Yoko Ono.

The standard release comprises 11 tracks with 39 minutes of listening. There are other versions with different bonus tracks but I have the standard vinyl so that’s what I’ll run down. 3 bonus tracks are available on Spotify’s version of the album.

Shockwave

The opener kicks things off with a barnburner. A little bit of a honky tonk flavor seasons this mid-tempo banger that sees Liam fully embracing his return to the limelight. It’s no secret that Liam is one of rock’s bad boys and he counters his detractors with this excellent song.

One Of Us

Another single release, this song mellows things about a bit and gets into some more melancholy territory. The song is clearly about Liam’s estranged relationship with Noel and is most likely a call to get Oasis back together. The video clip only furthers the concept, using a famous shot of the brothers from the past and updating it to today’s sadder state of affairs. The songs goes out on a bit of a gospel kick which seems a bit odd at first but I’ve gotten used to it.

Once

This was also a single and was the song that really made me truly sit back and pay attention to what I was hearing. This is a sad ballad about the realization that you can’t recapture the magic of years gone by, you really only can do it once. The song might have roots in Liam’s brotherly relationship but the theme is universally applicable.

There are touches of what might be over-production in the song, such as the echoing “once” in the latter part of the song, but small issues don’t derail the magnificence of this track. Now with three albums to his credit, this song is easily the best of Liam’s solo career. The video for this one is also great, it features Manchester United football legend Eric Cantona delivering a magnificent performance.

Now That I’ve Found You

This one moves on to more upbeat territory, it’s a pretty simple yet very effective number. The song does have more serious underpinnings, though – it is about and dedicated to Liam’s daughter Molly, who Liam did not have a relationship with until Molly was 20.

Halo

This song is a fast one with a piano-driven focus. On first listen I wasn’t all that into it but after repeat spins this moved up to being a preferred tune. The song is simple and is dedicated to Liam’s fiancee Debbie. It’s a fair bit of fun on an album that has its share of haunting moments.

Why Me? Why Not

The title track is another bit of simple but nice pop and rock. It does see Liam exercising his vocal range a bit more, something he’s been able to start doing again after years of medical issues nearly ruined his voice. This song’s theme is pretty well spelled out in the title – why not Liam?

Be Still

This one runs with a nice, kind of dirty guitar riff (I would’ve liked a bit more dirty but look at what I normally listen to). The song is a bit of a tribute to Liam’s mother Peggy, who was a guiding force in the Gallagher brothers’ somewhat shambolic early life, and remains so today. This song is another that sees Liam rise up and move on despite the obstacles in his way, a pretty standard theme for his career.

Alright Now

The next track has a very old school, classic song feel. It’s a bit of a departure but it’s nicely done and doesn’t veer so far off that it’s distracting. No telling what it’s about, seems to be one of those “that’s how life is” kind of songs, with the good and bad and all inbetween.

Meadow

If someone wasn’t aware that Liam was a huge fan of The Beatles, this song will inform of that fact. It’s pretty standard lyric-wise, hold your head up and press through the bullshit. Feels maybe a bit abstract compared to the rest of the album but still a workable song.

The River

This was a single and is another total banger, another hard rock track akin to Shockwave. This time Liam is advising against trusting the way things are going. It’s a very fitting track for the modern day and the dystopian atmosphere around everything. A very nice way to pick up some steam after the last few songs meandered a bit.

Gone

The album closes with an epic kind-of ballad featuring some attention-grabbing instrumentation. The song deals with the end of a relationship, no real idea exactly who Liam might be singing about here as he’s had a few end in his day. This one got released as the final single but that was just after the COVID lockdowns started happening so it kind of got lost in that shuffle.

Why Me? Why Not. was another smash success for Liam Gallagher. The album gathered another UK number one and also hit on charts in over 20 other countries, which included 5 other top 5 placements. The album was certified gold in the UK. Just as a wave of Britpop nostalgia was rising up as that group were nearing the 25th anniversaries of their milestone efforts, Liam struck gold as a solo performer.

There wouldn’t be a huge touring cycle for the album due to COVID but some songs were worked into an MTV Unplugged set and also as Liam did a performance while floating down the River Thames in 2020. Regular touring resumed in 2021 and Liam finally went out with these songs as well as working in a number of old Oasis favorites.

Liam Gallagher isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, both musically and personality-wise. But he showcased the ability to step out of his brother’s shadow in his solo career, moving albums and live tickets at a fever pace. Bringing a collection of songs of this caliber certainly didn’t hurt.

The Song Remains The Same – Against The Wind

On By bigbadburchIn The Song Remains The Same5 Comments

It’s time again for that silly little game where I take a handful of songs that have the same name but are not the same song. I’ll pit them against each other and see which one I like the best. Today’s works well because there are only three and I’ve only heard one of them and, as of the writing of this intro anyway, I don’t know who the winner will be but I have the same idea about that most of you reading probably do.

As with all of this series, this post should not be taken as a guide to all of the songs with this name. I just use a few websites to quickly run down things and decide if a particular one strikes my interest. Today I didn’t make it past A when I found this one that has a few talking points to it. There is no research on these things, I’m sure there are hundreds of songs called Against The Wind out there if someone really got to looking. These three are from well-known acts so I’ll run with them.

Bob Seger

I’ll lead off with the obvious choice. Against The Wind is the title track from Seger’s 1980 album and is one of his most popular songs. This was a single and did good business, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also gathering a number 6 in Canada. The single went US platinum and the namesake album sold over 5 million US copies. For some bonus trivia, Glenn Frey of the Eagles does backing vocals on the song.

On the topic of Seger and his hit songs, here’s a brief tale I told awhile back recalling his first ever number one hit.

Against The Wind has been one of Seger’s most influential songs, it had a special pull with the country artists of the 1990’s and beyond and also stretched out to many across all genres. It is a very nice song that checks a lot of boxes – sad but hopeful, polished yet personal. It’s one that seems primed to run off with the win today, but let’s at least check in on the other contenders.

Bonnie Tyler

A name familiar to many, Tyler had a few big hits in the 1980’s and was a star through Europe in the ’90’s. That is where today’s song is found, her Against The Wind is from the 1991 album Bitterblue. While it did not have US success, it did well in several nations on the Old Continent. This was also a single and put up modest results across several European singles charts.

This song is a prototypical soft rock ballad of the time. Bonnie has a great voice as always, though the song is not one I’d give a ton of repeat spins to. I don’t think it’s bad at all, it’s honestly a very nice song, just not one that moves the needle for me much at all. Bob Seger doesn’t have much competition here.

Stratovarius

While Bob Seger and Bonnie Tyler are well-known names to varying degrees, Stratovarius might not be quite as familiar to as many. But their pedigree is no less impressive – Stratovarius are one of the chief architects of the late 1990’s-early 2000’s power metal boom. While Stratovarius would become a keyboard-charged power metal stalwart, this song from 1995 sees them still in a transitional phase. This version of Against The Wind is from the band’s 1995 album Fourth Dimension and was released as the lone single for the record.

Now, I’ll talk all day about the influence Stratovarius had on the power metal movement, but one thing I’m honestly not is a Stratovarius fan. I never got into their stuff that much, I was much more drawn into Blind Guardian and Sonata Arctica when it comes to power metal. Startovarius is a more unabashed, full-on melodic power metal attack while the other bands listed have underpinnings in thrash and classic rock, respectively.

But my summary of Stratovarius tends to focus on their albums after Fourth Dimension. I honestly haven’t heard a note of this before I pushed play to write this piece. And well, I like this song quite a bit. It does sound firmly in the power metal vein, though not off in the sort of thing this and many other bands would get up to later. It’s fairly meat and potatoes and I dig this a fair bit.

Now, the question is – do I dig the Stratovarius song more than Bob Seger? While it’s closer than I first suspected, the answer is no. The winner of today’s silly little contest is Bob Seger. I don’t think that’s a real shock to anyone, though huge props to earlier-era Stratovarius for giving me something I may need to go back and check out.

That does it for this post and for the week. Have a great weekend and remember – the new Song of the Week series picks up on Tuesday next week. That is June 6, which as it turns out holds some significance in heavy metal. Until next week.

Be Quick Or Be Dead – The Iron Maiden Singles Series

On By bigbadburchIn Iron Maiden Singles Series32 Comments

This week we are on to the album Fear Of The Dark. It would be Iron Maiden’s second in the 1990’s and it would mark a final album for a band member, at least for awhile. This stuff is the end of an era but Maiden went out swinging.

There are a pile of different versions of this release. I am holding a US CD copy that is almost “complete,” we’ll get to that later. The cover art was done by the band’s long time artist Derek Riggs, though it’s worth noting that he did not do the art to the full album’s cover and was soon on the way out. In fact, as far as I can tell, this is Derek’s last appearance in this singles series. Some of that is due to me not having a few live ones that come just after this, but for the purposes of this series it’s worth noting that Eddie’s iconic artist did his final work. There has been use of and involvement with Derek since then so I’ll correct this if I find I’m wrong down the line.

Not a whole lot else to say before I get into the music, but it is worth mentioning that the single did very well on the charts, getting to number 2 in the UK and charting in many other countries. While this period of Maiden is generally regarded as their weakest, they did have their biggest chart success during this time and also had strong album sales. Things are weird sometimes.

Be Quick Or Be Dead

The single is a tune penned by Bruce Dickinson and Janick Gers. It is based on a series of scandals and frauds that were all over the news at the time, mainly British and European stuff that I’m not terribly familiar with. But it’s all the same, we’ve always had our share of garbage like that in the US.

As for the song, this one is HEAVY. Sure, Iron Maiden are a metal band, we all know that. And yeah, they have heavy stuff, many parents couldn’t handle what they were hearing when Maiden made their rise in the ’80’s. But this song is just on another level heavy. It’s fast, ferocious and will absolutely rip your throat out. The band did more on the heavy side during the Blaze Bayley years but I’m sure they got up to a lot again that went like this.

While Fear Of The Dark will forever be known for its title track, this song is one of the highlights of an album that is a mixed bag of tunes but offers some quality cuts. This was always one of my favorites from the record and its vitality didn’t make the ensuing years any easier to digest.

Nodding Donkey Blues

The “all versions” B-side is just what the title suggests – Iron Maiden are playing the blues. This is an original composition that is credited to each band member, I suppose as a way to share the blame. The song is a laughable and crude one about picking up a hard luck woman. Obviously the song is a total joke and should be discussed in that context, this isn’t competing with Rime Of The Ancient Mariner for lyrical analysis. It’s one of those things that’s funny to hear the first time but any entertainment value wears off quickly. To borrow from the British, Maiden are having a wank here.

Space Station No. 5

It is again a Montrose cover, Maiden previously covered I’ve Got The Fire (two times even). This time, Maiden chug out a serviceable version of the song.

For the first two minutes, anyway.

After the first bit, Bruce goes into some extended sequence of gibberish on the mic. No telling what he’s up to there. Then there’s a solo and as the song picks up pace toward the end, Bruce decides to announce a horse race between gems like Wanker and Prick, as well as Metallica.

The bit itself is amusing but it’s not something that really elevates the song any. In and of itself I don’t really care, again Maiden have a trillion singles out and if they want to jack around here and there, that’s their business. It does kind of suck because Space Station No. 5 is one of my favorite Montrose songs, both from the band and from Sammy Hagar’s early solo career. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more reverence toward the original, but in the end it’s a pile of whatever.

On my US version of the single, this is the end of the line. But, on international editions and the 12-inch vinyl, there is yet another track to behold. I’ll go ahead and include it here since I don’t feel it’s worth the effort to post a new entry to this series if/when I do get the record.

Bayswater Ain’t A Bad Place To Be

On some versions this track is hidden and a part of Space Station No. 5. On most vinyl that I’m aware of, the song is actually on the A-side after the lead single. Here, Maiden again have a go at their manager Ron Smallwood. Janick plays a bluesy acoustic riff while Bruce imitates Ron ranting about various things. For eight minutes.

The premise here is funny but holy hell does this drag for way too long. This is the first time I’ve played the entire thing since the mid ’90’s and this might be the last time I play the whole track in my life.

I don’t have every single and I can’t recall some of what’s to come, but this collection is probably the worst pile of B-sides Maiden did in their career. They started having a wank and didn’t stop until the tape ran out. Thankfully we get something better next week – well, mostly.

That does it for this single and its lukewarm bonus offerings. Yes, that is a stock photo up top rather than the actual single from my collection – this CD is somewhere in with the roughly 800 other CDs I own and I’m not sure exactly where. I’m tired and want a nap and I’m gonna do that instead of looking for it. I’ll update this someday when I bother finding the disc.

The Iron Maiden Singles Series

Live! + One

Running Free

Sanctuary

Women In Uniform

Maiden Japan

Purgatory

Twilight Zone/Wrathchild

Run To The Hills

The Number Of The Beast

Flight Of Icarus

The Trooper

2 Minutes To Midnight

Aces High

Run To The Hills (live)

Running Free (live)

Stranger In A Strange Land

Wasted Years

The Clairvoyant

Infinite Dreams

Bring Your Daughter … To The Slaughter

Holy Smoke

Be Quick Or Be Dead (you are here)

From Here To Eternity

Virus

Out Of The Silent Planet

Rainmaker

Different World

The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg

Empire Of The Clouds

Iron Maiden – Alexander The Great (Song of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week6 Comments

It’s time for a new series. I do an album of the week so it’s obvious and fitting to also do a song of the week. It wasn’t something I originally planned on but after thinking about it a bit I figured why not? It provides a way to do some more quick content (this one will be a bit longer for various reasons) and it allows me to cover a pretty wide range of stuff the album of the week might not get to.

The Song of the Week will start running on Tuesdays next week and thereafter, this one is going live today because I wasn’t planning on starting it yet but the perfect subject for the first one fell into my lap. To the shock of no one I’m sure, the first Song of the Week entrant is from my favorite band.

Iron Maiden – Alexander The Great

Today’s song is the final track from Maiden’s 1986 album Somewhere In Time. It is a rolling epic that goes for 8 and a half minutes. The music fits the vibe of the synth-driven album pretty well but also firmly camps itself in “epic Maiden” territory with the signature galloping riffs and a few movements and changes to keep things from being stale. The song ventures a fair bit into some different moods through its run. And while I don’t think Maiden have ever fully “gone prog,” there’s a bit of stuff in here that at least borders on that territory.

The song’s theme is probably very easy to extract from the title – Alexander The Great was an ancient ruler who conquered a vast range of territory in 320-something BC. Alexander was a genius military commander who won many against the odds battles. His exploits were legendary and have been passed down to military commanders even today. His empire was insane for the time, though it quickly fell apart after his unexpected death.

One aspect of Iron Maiden’s appeal is how a fair number of fans know their history from Maiden songs. That might make a history teacher cringe, but it’s pretty well true. And this one is a great song for that – the lyrics really are a recounting of what he did, with a bit of flavor added in here and there.

The song was not released as a single though it’s held as a beloved and perhaps underrated part of the Maiden catalog. It also holds the same distinction 50 other Maiden songs do – it has not ever been played live on a stage…

This is the part where people who wish to avoid The Future Past tour spoilers should leave. I don’t really know why or how one would avoid such news, but I’ve seen people out there that don’t want the setlist spoiled for them, so here is your warning.

SPOILER ALERT

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What I just typed above the spoiler portion is no longer true – as of May 28, 2023, Alexander The Great has joined the list of songs Iron Maiden have played live. It saw its live debut in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This was largely expected as of the announcement of the Future Past tour, since Somewhere In Time was going to be a focus of the tour along with Senjutsu. It’s widely speculated that Alexander The Great is the real reason for even giving SiT some stage time, though in fairness that album hasn’t gotten a ton of live love beyond Wasted Years anyway.

Alexander The Great was the holy grail of unplayed Iron Maiden live songs. It was the popular request of many fans, dating back to 1986 honestly. It’s difficult to think of what a new number one would be for that, I doubt there will be a true consensus pick out of the remaining unplayed songs.

This does alter a few posts I did back in October of 2022 – in two posts I ran down all of the songs Iron Maiden had not played live. That number went from 51 to 46 over the weekend, as four songs from Senjutsu also got a live debut. I’ve updated those posts to include the new information – head here for part one or over here for part two of that brief series.

That will do it for the debut of the Song of the Week series. This one had a bit extra with it, future posts won’t go this hard but one might pop up now and again. Look for future SotW posts each Tuesday from here on out.