Rule 34: To Taboo-Late The Island Party -No Exceptions

Day 9
Dear Diary

No ding dongs today? Was it really that hard? Apparently, so. The self proclaimed AOR guy was way off the target in his field of expertise. Perhaps today's AOR selection was too Hi-Tech for him? I'm sure, he has an excuse, so while we eagerly anticipate his exegesis, let's examine the Hard Rock entry. I know he has it (if you're to believe his SHT), yet behold, Creed he suggests... Like, they were around in '75 or before that. Man you're killing me. Now Jon on the other hand, almost nailed the HUngarian clue. For once, he got very close to be correct. Of course, he was completely wrong, yet about 75% right. I was looking for EDDA, which is a four letter word and he gave me DEvo, another four letter word. Plus he got 2 out of 4 letters. WOW! You almost pulled it off, but no points for trying. The correct answer for the Hungarian clue was 3 clicks away. BTW, the title of the CD was literally in the body of the clue. It was that easy. On a positive note, I hope this musical mystery from around the World, got your maps little bit less uncharted. The current standing is: Look up the list from the previous post. It's still the same.

Global News... Wait just a second. I have to compose myself for this one. He-he. Ahem... OK. On the way to conduct their boring, daily routines, the pedestrians passing across the Bristol Bridge were shocked by a terrifying "mummified man", just laying on the banks of the floating harbor. Although, it looked like a real deal, it was a bunch of metal pieces, carefully and completely wrapped in ropes, to make it look like there is a confluence between the Nile and Avon. The authorities have no clues, how the Mummy ended up under the bridge, but I do. Tomb raiders and vagabonds stole his fortune. OK, fine. The intention of leaving the Mummy on that exact spot remains to puzzle the officials. Was it a Halloween prank or a good Samaritan test? Who knows? Because, no one cares. Right? Orrrr... Maybe... Just MAYBE, someone had too much time on his hand, lots of debris polluting his beautiful sandy beach and a 16mm Sisal rope laying around. Oops, did I say that out loud? He-he.

Island News... Yesterday, I was watching the sunset. I know, I know. Why would I do that? What made me partake in this mushy-gushy pastime, was the fact that the world around me seemed so... How should I put it?... Horizontal. Suddenly the idea of the Earth being flat didn't felt so far-fetched. At first, it was just a theory, of course, but then, the more I thought about it, more convinced I got. To prove it, I had to came up with a viable answer to the million dollar question: How can the Sun rise on one side of the World and set on the other side? After endless pondering, (for about two-three seconds) I came to the obvious conclusion. It practically hit me in the face, looking down the horizon. You see, the Earth is not only flat, but... It also perpetually teeter-totters on it's own axle, hence the waves in the ocean. So, when the Sun lands on one end of the World, it slingshots the Moon to the sky, from the other end. At this point, while the Sun slowly rolls up the surface, the Moon begins it's parabolic descend, eventually crashing on the flip side. The velocity of its free fall, propels the Sun back into the orbit and the circle goes on and on. Now... Because the air has an exiguous resistance to the object flying through the space, the object in question will travel at considerably faster pace than the other object rotating on the ground, which must evade the obstacles nature puts in it's way. This discrepancy in the time module, creates the phenomena of long days throughout the Summer and even longer nights during the Winter. Be advised though, Earth has two pressure points, known as the South and North Pole. The sole purpose of these black sink holes are to prevent the orbs from falling off from the face of the Earth. Consequently, whenever one of these orbs roll over one of those craters charged with compressed magnetic solar or lunar energy, they will be launched upwards, where a temporary obstruction of the illuminated source creates the rare illusion knows as the Eclipse. Once the object falls back to the Earth, it continues to advance on it's quondam path. Yeah... I know. Science, eh? Blows your mind. And just so you know, I did send my support to Earth is Flat theory, via petition in a bottle. Now you know. Pass out!

You know... It's extremely exhausting to be smart. Pretending to be smart... Is even more daunting. Let's take a break, with musical notes floating in close succession to each other.

click on the cover to hear the samples
1. NAZARETH - Alcatraz
from "Razamanaz" CD ℗ 1973/1996

It's the first track I ever heard from Nazareth and until recently I wasn't even aware of it's covering nature. Great album. It already left a footprint here, so I won't waste my breath. Razamanaz wasn't the first Nazareth album I bought. That honor goes to their live, double vinyl, Snaz. I remember like it was yesterday; I was walking home from the school, when a newly released Snaz album smiled upon me from the darkest corner of the well lit display window. It was a live album for sure, not my favorite thing, but beggars can't be choosers, so I ran home, grabbed my savings and rushed back, with an intent to buy the product. Invigorated by success, I dragged myself home again. The idea was to relax, while listening to the record, which I most certainly did, for a while anyway. First, Side A then, Side B. They both impressed the snaz out of me. However, as soon as I dropped the stylus on top of the second Frisbee, the sound became familiar. Where have I hear this before? Then it hit me. Track 1, Side A. WTF? The label on the center, correspondingly to the jacket, listed all the songs from what should have been Side C in correct order, but it was a useless decoration on a plastic piece of snaz I already heard. In my mind, I was speeding back to the store to catch the moron who sold me this defective piece of snaz, but in reality I was probably just crawling from exhaustion. Nevertheless, I was able to make it on time, before closing and to express my disappointment towards the poor quality of the mass production. The clerk quickly inspected the remaining stock and established that every single Snaz on the premises was affected, by the exact same virus. (Quality Check Idiotus) Got my money back and a boot in the butt. I was sad. I wanted to keep the album, but they wouldn't let me. My next Nazareth purchase came years later, when their catalog got remastered, with bonus tracks. Well, I have most of them, but Razamanaz remains to be the only whole package deal for me. No, I never bought their live album on CD. Snaz that!

2. DOMINOE - The Approach / Family Man
3. DOMINOE - Gettin' Hot
4. DOMINOE - Here I Am
5. DOMINOE - Let's Talk About Life
from "Keep In Touch" CD ℗ 1988/2007

A band from Germany. The first time I took note of Dominoe was from an article listing prominent AOR releases. With inclusion of other reputable artists of high pedigree, I trusted the writer enough to take a chance on Keep In Touch, without hearing a single note from the album. Once I got the CD, I was more than pleased with my purchase. In fact, for a second I thought some of the songs I heard before, but in retrospect, I doubt that was the case. The ear warming tunes, just grabbed me from the get go.

6. EDDA WORKS - Változó Idők (Changing Times)
7. EDDA WORKS - Börtön (Jail)
8. EDDA WORKS - Mindig Veletek (Always With You)
9. EDDA WORKS - Lisztománia
from "Változó Idők" CD ℗ 1988/2000

EDDA (sometimes called Edda Works, after the book of Norse Mythology) is one of the most successful bands from Hungary. The band struggled from the beginning, with numerous line up changes and the fact that they weren't from the capital city, (Budapest) didn't help either. However, the myriad fans help them grow. Their home town, Miskolc, is an industrial city known as the "Steel City" and Edda is considered a blue collar band. Formed in 1973, their first release saw the light of day in 1980. A long time for any band to break in, but when they arrived, they came in strong. The sound of Edda fluctuated throughout their history, with few constants applied to each project, such as; melodic, catchy tunes, high-class musicianship and relatable lyrics. Edda is also one of the most prolific bands from Hungary. Changing Times was released in 1988 (it was their 7th. album) and with its politically charged lyrics expressing uncertainties and predicaments right before the fall of the Communist regime in Hungary (1989), the album served as a premonition for what was about to come. Edda wasn't shy to hold the mirror up. Their songs were reflective and critical, focusing more on the healing and solidarity, rather than violence. And what kind of Hungarian band, consisting of high profile musicians would Edda be, if they didn't tackle at least one of the Franz Liszt rhapsodies?

INDEX (To keep track of things. Also, the clues for the next weeks selection are here. Do you know; What's Coming To You?)

ROCK
500 pt
300 pt - 1979 - STYX - Cornerstone
800 pt - 1981 - ZZ TOP - El Loco
200 pt
600 pt
1000pt - 1985 - DIRE STRAITS - Brothers In Arms
100 pt
400 pt - 1988 - STATUS QUO - Ain't Complaining

HARD ROCK
300 pt - 1973 - NAZARETH - Razamanaz
100 pt - 1975 - BIJELO DUGME - Sta Bi Dao Da Si Na Mom Mjestu
500 pt
800 pt
600 pt
200 pt - 1983 - KISS - Lick It Up
1000pt - 1983 - NIGHTWING - Stand Up And Be Counted
400 pt

AOR
200 pt
600 pt - 1983 - PRISM - Beat Street
300 pt
800 pt
100 pt - 1987 - ANDY TAYLOR - Thunder
500 pt - 1988 - DOMINOE - Keep In Touch
1000pt
400 pt

MELODIC ROCK
400 pt - 1984 - VAN HALEN - 1984
100 pt - 1984 - BON JOVI - Bon Jovi
800 pt
200 pt
300 pt
1000pt - 1988 - EDDA - Valtozo Idok
500 pt - 1992 - DAMN YANKEES - Don't Tread
600 pt

METAL
300 pt - 1980 - JUDAS PRIEST - British Steel
400 pt
800 pt
200 pt - 1981 - GIRLSCHOOL - Hit & Run
500 pt
600 pt - 1981 - GORDI - Pakleni Trio
100 pt (If you don't know this, you should be thrown into a torture chamber and flogged 6 times... No wait... Triple that)
1000pt

SINGERS GONE SOLO
300 pt
1000pt
800 pt - 1983 - DIO - Holy Diver
100 pt - 1985 - REVESZ SANDOR - Revesz Sandor
600 pt - 1990 - KEN TAMPLIN & FRIENDS - An Axe To Grind
500 pt (An ex-sorceress casting spells on heavenly creatures)
400 pt - 1993 - VINCE NEIL - Exposed
200 pt - 1994 - BRUCE DICKINSON - Balls To Picasso

GUITARISTS GONE SOLO
100 pt
300 pt
400 pt - 1987 - GARY MOORE - Wild Frontier
800 pt
200 pt
600 pt (He came all the way from the Old Continent to look you square in the eye)
1000pt - 1992 - MARTY FRIEDMAN - Scenes
500 pt - 1994 - YNGWIE MALMSTEEN - The Seventh Sign

+BONUS
1000pt
500 pt
600 pt - 1991 - MARK WOOD - Voodoo Violince
800 pt

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jon on October 26, 2017 at 6:46am

Iron Maiden

Stevie Nicks

Ritchie Blackmore

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Permalink Reply by Scott on October 26, 2017 at 9:58am

I happen to have a very good reason for incorrectly guessing the AOR entry for this week, and that's the fact that NO ONES EVER HEARD OF DOMINOE! well except you of course. Heres my German Rock knowledge to date...

Scorpions!!
Accept!
Rammstein because Jon's kinda/sorta evil
Some Luft Balloons, 99 of them in fact

And Edda Works? Well we've already established my knowledge of Norwegian rock and roll, which is NIL!

Razamanaz was my intro to Nazareth as well. My brother loved this album but I didn't quite take to the band until This Flight Tonight hit the radio and then they've stuck ever since. I love 'Loud N Proud', easily my favorite album of theirs, but they have come close with several others, including this offering! Nice pick here!

Dominoe... Definitely AOR and definitely a slice in time! All the 80's production clichés are here, but the song writing is at least upbeat and interesting (tracks 3 and 4 do sound very similar to each other however)

Edda Works - this is interesting, but not something I would purchase.

Onto next weeks trickery...

Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Stevie Nicks - Bella Donna
no idea...

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Permalink Reply by Yngve J. Chapleen on October 26, 2017 at 9:25pm

Granted Dominoe is little bit obscure, but an AOR guy should know them. If that was though, your knowledge will be further challenged by my entries. Journey, Foreigner, Loverboy, Toto, Survivor etc. are all BIG AOR bands, but they have some nice all encompassing Best of CDs out there, which I own and little bit less of their separate albums. Since there aren't any compilation CDs on my Island list, you got to think outside the box.

Just curious: Would you consider buying EDDA, if they were singing in English?

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Permalink Reply by Scott on October 27, 2017 at 3:45pm

Valtozo Idok is a very strong song, had that been the only offering here I would wanted to hear more. But the subsequent tracks didn't rise to the same level. Granted listening to foreign vocalists singing in their native language is a challenge, but I suspect that this may me true for more than just American listeners, and I'm not speaking about English versus other languages as the example. What about Norwegians listing to Japanese vocals, Spanish vocals, etc... do the same barriers/biases exist? Id bet they do to some degree.

Still its very interesting to listen to. Some time ago our friend Niels posted a series of songs and videos from the band Gasoline as I recall there was much to like and not like about them, yes, including their humorous videos. But Id like to think I'm open, but I get the challenge...

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Permalink Reply by Yngve J. Chapleen on October 27, 2017 at 8:55pm

I was just wondering if the music alone held your interest enough. I know artists who don't sing in English have an impossible task to get recognition in the States. You guys are pretty biased that way. Here in Canada at least the French artists break the charts. I wonder if any non-English song ever charted in the States at all? Not trying to be provocative, but I think this is just a USA thing. In other non English speaking countries English singing bands not only chart, but they do become Legends too.

Of course, feel free to correct me. This is just my impression. It certainly isn't true for me. I even had a phase when I wanted, at least one CD/album from every country on the Earth. Not necessarily in their native language though (English would be fine and Instrumental even better), but I gave up looking after I realized how many country existed. However, if something comes from an unusual place it does have a chance for at least getting heard by me.

Some languages sound better than others if you don't understand the words, that's true. For example, I don't speak Italian. but I have a decent collection of Italian songs, because it sounds well, with music. On the other spectrum, it's the recent Japanese releases that sound all in a same key to me. It's like they try really hard to sound the same. This is only for the last 2-3 years. Before that they had some diversity.

As for the vocals in all the other languages for me it comes down to the talent, uniqueness, and vocals fitting the music, even if it isn't from a great talent. Edda, I can understand, so there is no problem there and because of that I was wondering how they sounded to you. Thanks for elaborating.

I have another question. Which do you prefer?

a.) A good singer singing the song in a foreign language you don't understand, or

b.) The same singer singing the songs in English with a heavy accent.

There is no right or wrong answer, just preference.

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Permalink Reply by Scott on October 28, 2017 at 8:21am

Eres Tu was a big hit in the 70's...
99 Luft Balloons in German and English was huge in the 80's

Rush even sang a couple lines of French on Circumstances and they're the greatest band ever!

OK so not many but I'm sure I've missed some... And the answer to the questions is "A"

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Permalink Reply by Yngve J. Chapleen on October 28, 2017 at 1:12pm

Well that's about 2 songs more than what I thought the list is going to look like, so I'm impressed. However, that was one song in the 70s and one in the 80s. What happened to the 90s and upward? Did Grunge and Teen Idols killed the international scene, as well? Damn, I knew it. Thank God for Justin Bieber and Nickelback, with their Canadian language releases and AC/DC, with their Australian lyrics (3 chords and 2 finger solo's) still providing some diversity.

My choice would also be A (Although, I'll make an exception for UDO, because he has a character, and Klaus Meine, just because he's been doing b.) for so long, that a.) would confuse the heck out of me)