Classic Rock Bottom

There's a few CDs I have that I haven't or hadn't gotten around to listening to yet. Whether they are too "old" or I end up not really having much to say about them, I'm not doing a full on review.

Instead, I'm just putting in a sentence or two about what I thought of them. I'll probably keep updating this thread as I get around to various albums that have been sitting waiting for me to play them.

Joe Bonamassa - Blues of Desperation - While there were a couple of tracks I wasn't all that enamored with, overall this album was another winning blues solo album from Bonamassa.

Boneyard Dog - Bluesbound Train - Another bluesy rock and roll record, this debut album was pretty much kicking my ass each time I listened to it.

U2 - The Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition - Sadly, while I absolutely love the album itself (it is one of my all-time favorites), the anniversary edition isn't much to write home about. Disc 1 is the original album while Disc 2 is a live concert from the Joshua Tree tour. It's not bad, but there's nothing special about it really.

Inglorious - S/T - I was really kind of hyped up about this album but I think the fact I've already sold it off on eBay might give you a hint about my final reaction to the album. Okay, that might be slightly unfair but after listening to the album four times and I couldn't really pick a single memorable song out of it, there's obviously something of a disconnect.

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Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thanks for the stamp of approval! 

The funny thing is that I never heard anything else from them again. I know there are other albums but I can't even remember seeing them getting a release in the US.

Yeah, strange.
The early-er releases were all from Asia, while the later ones were also released in Europe but none of them in US.

Kiss - Asylum (1985) - I finally added this album to my CD collection as I continue down the path of collecting all the Kiss full band studio albums.

Asylum has three well known songs on it with the tracks "Who Wants To Be Lonely", "Tears Are Falling" and "Uh! All Night". All three of the songs are pretty good and they are certainly full of a bevy of hook filled music and big choruses. I like them all, though I do think "Uh! All Night" goes right to the border of being a parody song.

I wasn't that familiar with the rest of the material on the disc but I did end up liking the lead song "King of the Mountain" The songs "Any Way You Slice It" and "Love's A Deadly Weapon" aren't bad either.

The rest of the material struck me as being filler material though.

Personally, I like it top to bottom, and you mentioned half the album as well. Not too shabby for a single release. I also like Radar For Love (being a true Kiss song) and I believe "I'm Alive" is not just underrated from this album, but also as a Kiss song in general.

Seven Witches - Xiled To Infinity And One (2002)

My favorite album from the band is Passage To The Other Side and this album is the one that preceded it. The singer for this album was Wade Black.

The band is led by guitarist Jack Frost and there's no skimping on guitar fireworks here.

The album opens with "Metal Tyrant" and that's an explosive way to start the disc. I liked songs like "Salvation" and the title track (which has a fantastic guitar solo as the song ends). "Anger's Door" had a killer heavy sound. And the cover of the Grim Reaper song "See You In Hell" was damn good.

I was a little disappointed with the song "Incubus". The slower part of the songs were annoying and dragged down the faster moving portions. I also didn't care for "Pain".

But for me the best song on the album was "The Burning" which featured a guest lead vocal from Savatage's Jon Oliva. That song was incredible and I kind of wonder what the album might've been like if he'd sung more of the album. That's not a slight against Wade Black, I just wondered.

While I didn't like this album quite as much as Passage To The Other Side but I do think it is far and away better than the Amped album from 2005.

The Scorpions - Lonesome Crow (1972) - I've always known that the earliest albums in the discography for the Scorpions were a far cry from the "Rock You Like A Hurricane" songwriting vein but when I got the opportunity to pick up the first album from the band, I couldn't resist.

I think I'd have to do a rethink if I could travel back in time a few days though. Okay, that's being slightly unfair. There's nothing overtly bad about the album but there's not a whole lot here that I could say kept my interest either. In fact, the album kind of faded into being background music while I was listening to it. 

I'll keep the album in my collection but I don't know that I'll be in a hurry to ever hear it again.

Ha, man. This one brings back memories.
(I have to say, I was wondering if you will review this purchase, and what your thoughts are going to be)?

For the longest time, I thought Fly To The Rainbow was their first album. (Like, up to mid-90s). When I met my Progressive Rock loving friend, he mentioned Lonesome Crow, and I thought he was talking about the band Skorpio, since I wasn't familiar with that band's discography. Finally, it clicked that he was referring to the Germans. I never heard anything about "LC" before that. Strangely, a few weeks later I found the CD, and I bought it. I too was expecting a different sound, even though, perhaps not "Rock You Like A Hurricane", but more like "Speedy's Coming"/"Polar Nights"/"Sails Of Charon" type of thing. As you know now, "Lonesome Crow" is nothing like that either.

Expectation is a bitch that sneaks up on you. First and foremost you have to get the "file under" part right, and in this case, that would be Classic Rock, not Melodic Metal, not Hard Rock. If you go in listening with that projection, the album sounds decent. Not very memorable, but not bad either.

That being said, my friend only likes "Lonesome Crow" from Scorpions, so there are people out there, who hear in the album more than perhaps you and I do.

Yngve,

Oh, I'm sure there are fans out there who think this is the greatest album ever. And much like those who think the same about my taste in music, I wonder what they heard that I didn't.

Overkill - Under The Influence (1988) - While I knew the song "Hello From The Gutter" from hearing it on the radio and seeing the video on TV, I'd never heard any of the rest of the Under The Influence album before picking up the album recently.

And can I just say WOW! I've always said that the demarcation line for how heavy I go with the music that I like is Overkill and they just do not disappoint on this album. While "Hello From The Gutter" remains my favorite song on the disc, there's so much here to enjoy. 

The opening cut "Shred" lives up to that billing. Songs like "Mad Gone World" and "Brainfade" are just killer tracks. I loved the intro to "Drunken Wisdom" and then the song just got better. The closing track "Overkill III (Under The Influence)" was smoking hot metal as well.

When I listened to the album last night, I immediately messaged my friend who had roadied for the band and told him I couldn't believe how awesome this album was. He wasn't surprised. 

Seriously, if you like your metal pretty damn heavy, Overkill is a really great band to check out. And if you like this album, you can then check out their masterpiece album The Years of Decay.

Overkill - I Hear Black (1993) - While Overkill is known for their fast aggressive and fairly relentless thrash nature, I was pretty surprised to discover that this album is much more groove oriented metal rather than non-stop explosive metal.

I also found that it made for a bit harder of an album to really get into. I've had to listen to it multiple times to really get a feel for it. While I don't think the band had one real breakout track on the disc (according to Wikipedia, not one song from I Hear Black) has been played live since 2002) the totality of the 11 songs turns out to be pretty strong.

Once you wrap your head around the band's musical shift on this album, the material gets stronger and more coherent. I liked the song "Weight of the World" a lot. 

The album may not make anyone's favorites list for the band but it does grow on you to the point where you can see just how solid it is.

It's the only Overkill CD I have.

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