Classic Rock Bottom

Steve Vai - The Story Of Light

1. John The Revelator

2. Book Of The Seven Seals

3. The Moon And I

4. Weeping China Doll

5. Racing The World

Dokken - Broken Bones

6. Broken Bones

7. Burning Tears

8. For The Last Time

9. Fade Away

10. Tonight

Steve Harris - British Lion

11. This Is My God

12. Lost Worlds

13. A World Without Heaven

14. Judas

15. The Lesson

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I'll start out with the one, I've heard already:

STEVE HARRIS - 4 out of 6

It's better, than I had feared. The singer is actually a cross between Di'anno and Dickinson, but he is not as powerfull as either of them. I've only heard the album once, but I would like to hear it again, and since there's a lot to listen to, at the moment, that's a good sign for me. I read in the review in Classic Rock Magazine before I heard the album, that the lyrics were bad, and I can't say that I dissagree. The song-titles are even worse than the song-titles from the Dokken-album. The song-titles on the Steve Vai-album looks far more interesting.

Niels, I totally agree about the lack of power in his voice.  Otherwise, it's not bad.  To me it sounds like he's channeling Tommy Shaw on the song Judas.  By the way, I think that song is outstanding.  Probably in my yearly Top 10.  I don't know if the album will make my Top 10, but if not it will be an honorable mention.  I think it's pretty good.  I don't have a problem at all with the lyrics.

And check out that Steve Vai.  It's really good.

I thought the vocalist on British Lion almost seems like he is whispering at times, he should use more force. Otherwise, the album is good and I like the lyrics. Some songs have elements of Maiden, some have their own vibe. I have only listened to it once. I added the (LOUDER) version MP3s to my cell phone so I can listen to it again tonight, with headphones vs. the stereo. I might like it better that way. 

The Dokken album is very good. It is never going to replace Breaking The Chains, Tooth and Nail or Under Lock and Key, but there are some good/solid tracks on it. I dug out my Tooth and Nail cassette, and listened to it while driving last night. I had to borrow my parents Yellow Nissan Truck as my car is in the shop. The stereo is the stock, old-school cassette radio. :)

NP Acoustic Dokken - One Live Night.

 

 

Steve Vai--Thumbs Up

Started off a bit odd, but I still liked it. I haven't picked up a new Vai album in years and even though I like this, I'm not getting it. It sounds like a Steve Vai album which is good, but with the exception of "Sex & Religion" and  "The Elusive Light and Sound, Vol. 1" (mostly for "Head-Cuttin' Duel") I just don't find myself revisiting his past albums a lot.

Dokken--Thumbs down

Wow. This sucks. I have never been a Dokken fan, except for parts of "Tooth And Nail". Don Dokken sounds bored here. Is he just going thru the motions or something? The rest of the band sounds rote, nothing stands out at all, not even the geetaring. This sounds like a really bad 80's album. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the song "Breaking The Chains"? Well, I have now and every song here is even worse. Is that possible? I guess it is. Good golly, I'm dumping flammable liquid into my ears and lighting them on fire.   

STEVE VAI - 2.5 out of 6

I never was a fan of mr. Vai. To me he was a second-hand Eddie Van Halen-clone, around the days of Alcatraz or the first couple of Dave Lee Roth-solo albums. These days, it's sounds like he's more of a Frank Zappa-clone, but FZ WAS his old "master". Track no. 1 is not very good, it's a funny start with the ancient blues-sound, but the song never goes anywhere. Track no. 2 is just terrible. I HATE gospel. The start of the song sounded a bit like something from a Frank Zappa-recording. Likewise in track 3, Vai's guitar-solo is almost a copy of how Zappa was playing his solo's. Try and listen to a track from the FZ-album "You Are What You Is" called "Theme from the 3rd movement of sinister footwear". Track 4 is not bad, but instrumental tracks usally bore me..........track 4 is a little better, but.......

DOKKEN - 3.5 out of 6

"Broken Bones": Don never had a great voice, and it hasn't gotten better with age, like Billy Gibbons voice has gotten better. It sounds just like what it is: A boring Dokken-song without George Lynch, but there's a George Lynch-clone. Dokken without Lynch is like AC/DC without Angus Young. But the song is not BAD-bad, only boring.

"Burning Tears": Oh, I need some speed on this song, not another.....okay, here we go...and here it slows down again. Nice guitars, in fact. But Don sounds bored. I really like the guitars on this one, though. It (the guitars) sounds like something from "Empire" by you know who. Again it's not as bad a song, as I had expected, but I'm pretty much bored.

"For The Last Time": THIS will bore the hell out of me, I'm sure. No, once again it speeds up. Nice! Hmmm, I AM surprised, that this album actually sounds okay, not great but okay. I WAS a Dokken-fan around '84-'88. The guitarist is pretty good, but he's no Lynch of course. Again, not a great song, but it's okay.

"Fade Away": This time, I expect the track to be okay, and it has a nice beginning. It annoys me a bit, that the guitarist tries so hard to sound like Lynch, because he can play, and should find his own style. Hmmmm, again a bit boring, but not bad at all.

"Tonight": I hope this last one, has a good speed, and it DOES!! But then it slows down again. The same pattern as the other songs. Not bad at all, a boring vocal from Don, but a very nice Lynch-guitar sound from a good guitarist, and a song that's a bit on the boring side, but overall not bad at all. I guess that must count for the whole album, then?!

Nice picks, RJhog.

STEVE VAI ... 2 Thumbs 40% up

I have Passion and Warfare, Alien Love Secrets, and Fire Garden, all albums I enjoy from time to time.  Like Jon, I thought this got off to a shaky start and continued into the second song. Kind of felt like church!  But just as soon as I began to lift my hands in praise, the double bass drum kicked in and I had to stop and pay attention.  So this thing really got good at track 3 (I could go without hearing the first two again), as expected cool innovative geetars throughout.  This was a 2 out of 5 listen for me, which will keep me out of purchaseville. 

DOKKEN ... Two Thumbs looking for the next thing

I like that title track!  Nice work musically, but I also hear the boredom in his vocal performance and it kind of gets monotone, but the riff, beat, pace, bass line and geetars were really good!  Burning Tears was not very good, but the next track, For The Last Time, is quite good!  Getting the feeling this is an every-other track album.  Fade Away, eh... it was OK but nothing special and the closer, Tonight, didn't help this either.  Kind of with Don Dokken on this one, time to move onto something else.

STEVE HARRIS ... Two Thumbs confused as what to do next

First thing I notice is the volume is much lower than the other albums posted here.  Mastering issue?  I can hear the Maiden influence only slightly in his bass line, but the overall music is much different than expected maybe its the pace.  He mentioned on That Metal Show that this has been in the works for several years, maybe if there was time to focus only on this it may have come together better.  Vocally its weak, but musically I like it.  I'm on the fence on this one.  I need more listening time but wish it was mastered better.

I think the vocals are too low in the mix.   Maybe it's because the singer is not that great.

Steve Harris--2 something out of a lot

I went into this not expecting Iron Maiden, but I expected it to be good. And it really wasn't. The vocalist is pretty bland and really not that good. None of the songs really reached out and touched me, except for the last song. Yep, the ballad. Judas was weird...it suddenly stopped and then started again, but it wasn't like "No More Tears" which continued on with it's greatness. I am SOOOO glad I didn't buy this when it was under 10 bucks. Thanks for saving me money, whoever posted this! 

I picked up the Steve Harris and Dokken CDs, I have not listened to then yet. I listened to a Saxon CD last night instead. I already listened to the Vai online, but can't really form an opinion on it yet. I read on another website that Mick Brown has once again left Dokken? Will this be the last CD from them? Perhaps.

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