Hidden Treasures - Where it all went wrong

[Scott]

Hind Sight is always 20/20

In a succesful bands career there are those head-scratcher albums. Albums that represent the beginning of troubled times ahead. But at the time they made them, they made total sense.  You know those albums where your favorite rock band scored a hit with a disco beat, incorporated keyboards, or changed something about their previous success.

These are the ones that came to my mind, take a listen, let me know what you think and what albums messed up a good thing from your perspective!

 

PLAYLIST --> http://snack.to/atk5b3nu

	RUSH - Grace Under Pressure 1984 1 - Red Sector A Might as well start with the more arguable album in this post. Some may say Permanent Waves, others Signals. In fact even Wikipedia says that Signals was the major shift. But for me this album was the beginning of a major shift into keyboardville for Rush because it was also a big stylistic change as well. They brought in the same Producer who had worked with Simple Minds and U2, which failed miserably when he ran out on them during the recording sessions to work with Simple Minds. We should probably be thankful he took off and Peter Henderson finished this as a co-producer with the band or this may have been even more weird. Today the album sounds much better than when it first came out, its actually a very decent album with some great songs but it took me years to reconcile my feelings about this album and give it a place of respect in the Rush catalog.
	JUDAS PRIEST - Turbo 1986 2 - Private Property Following the success of Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith (AKA Screaming For Vengeance II) the band curiously added Guitar Synthesizers. Halford has said the band was into new technologies and experimenting with new sounds. Whatever the reason, the fans have a Love/Hate relationship with the album. For me its one of those albums I received very well when it came out but as time has passed it hasnt held up as well. I like about half of the tunes still, while the other half are just OK.
	VAN HALEN - Best of Van Halen, Vol. 1 1996 3 - Me Wise Magic So why limit our scope to albums when theres songs that have similar or even bigger impacts. Did this song make everything spiral out of control  with Van Halen or did it start them on the right path? It started the argument with Hagar, and then Roth was in then got kicked out again after acting like a fool on Mtv, and then we got Gary Cherone. UGH!!! Thankfully they came back last year with Roth and got it right! The future is bright ... or is it!

[RJhog (Admin)]

Haven't listened to your picks yet so I'll get back to you on that.  As far as the subject goes, I'd say:

1. Kiss - Ailve II (best song All American Man) - You knew I'd start here, right?  Many would say Dynasty, but I say Alive II.  This is where folks started phoning in their performances.  And were not just talking about the studio tracks on side 4.  At least 3 tracks from the "live" side were just sound check performances with crowd noise piped in.  And how 'bout those Paul Stanley backing vocals while also singing lead.  Pretty impressive.  With Ace and Peter being virtual no-shows, this started something that has stayed with the band it's entire career.  Except for now of course, Eric and Tommy never miss a studio session.  Wouldn't it be cool if we found out 10 years from now that Ace had came in a laid down a couple of solos for Tommy on Sonic Boom?

More shortly...

[Scott]

I was oblivious to all of that when it was going on, for me the real trouble was most noticeable with Unmasked.  Of course, hindsight being 20/20, you are indeed correct!

[RJhog (Admin)]

Same here, I had no idea when it was actually happening.  

2. Def Leppard - Adrenalize (Best song Tonight) - Maybe it started on Hysteria with all the over the top production, but definitely with Adrenalize.  Too many ballads maybe, although the best song to me is a ballad (Tonight).  Of course, the death of Steve Clark.  I totally lost this band until a few years ago.  Using that 20/20 hindsight, there are some outstanding individual tracks since then, but not necessarily any great albums.

[RJhog (Admin)]

3. Bon Jovi - Keep The Faith...sort of (Best song Keep The Faith) - I know, there is no love lost between Scott/Jon and Bon Jovi.  But that doesn't stop me from mentioning them.  The reason I say sort of is that Keep The Faith (1992) was released before These Days (1995) and they should have been swapped.  These Days is a fantastic album, I mean fantastic!  But Keep The Faith started this thing that they are still wallowing in today...nad-less soft rock.  Everything since then sounds like one long song that just won't end.

[Scott]

I had WORK IT OUT from SLANG on my short list for this post...  But the beginning of Def Leppards trouble began when they lost Steve Clarkes song writing

[Jon]

Slang is a good album though. Better than "Andrenalize" and I think it's better than "Hysteria". So, to me, they lost it with "Hysteria"  gained it with "Slang" and lost the living loving hell out of it with "X".

[Jon]

Interesting...I thought Kiss lost in with that self-titled album in '74.

[Niels (Mod)]

"Red Sector A" is my favorite Rush-track!! I LOVE it!! Both melodi and lyrics. It always get's me, when Lee sings "for my father and my brother t's too late, but I must help my mother to stand up straight". VERY strong lyrics!! Like a movie in one song. This is one of my favorite Rush-albums, but I also became a fan around 1987, so I still like this one and "Hold Your Fire".

"Turbo" was thelast great Priest-album, but it sounds very dated nowadays. The album was only second, as best album for me in 1986, after "Rage For Order". I saw Priest on the "Turbo-tour" and I was a big fan around that time. Halford had even some kind of long hair back then.

[Scott]

I first heard Rush when my brother brought home Caress of Steel.  The tune "I Think I'm Going Bald" really made me laugh as a kid.  But what it really did was get me interested in the band as Bastille Day and Lakeside Park stuck with me...

[Jon]

Don't forget Queen and "Hot Space". Lost a lot of fans with that one, yet it's a really good album. To me Rush lost it with "Power Windows". I used to hate GUP, but like it now. It's kinda like "Signals"...back then, no way. Now I love that album. 

[Scott]

I love Hot Space to, and considered including it, but I always thought that Flash Gordon was the album that was the one fans scratched their heads at

[Jon]

I don't think so since it was considered a soundtrack. There's actually some good stuff on there though. I'm sticking with "Hot Space" especially in America.