Classic Rock Bottom

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!

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A good one might be Fleetwood Mac and when they started to lose it. Was it the self-titled '75 release? Was it "Mirage"? "Tusk"? 

Tusk for me

I must say that I do like the Mirage album though.

How 'bout Foreigner or Styx?

Foreigner didn't really lose me until their last album. Styx lost it with "Kilroy Was Here" but thank goodness the TRUE REAL Styx came back with "Cyclorama".

One could argue that Inside Information was one of those head scratchers, it was for me.  As far Styx goes, Kilroy definitely.  And they never recovered.

I won't compare albums from Rush, because there is too much material I have not heard. But I will comment on these tracks.

I really like this Rush track. It's on a greatest hits release I have called "Icon". I believe Scott or maybe Neils has mentioned this before...but for just 3 guys, there is a lot of music going on with this track. I think it's mixed very well, so I don't feel like the keyboards are over done.

For the Priest, I did not like Turbo much at all. I have it on vinyl, and it rarely got played, compared to the rest of my Priest catalog (and I have most of their catalog), even when it was brand new. So, I can definitely say I was disappointed with this major "style change".

But, it did not keep me from staying a Priest fan, and buying more releases later on. This song is not bad, it's just not that good. I think the guitars still sound good and heavy, but the synthesizers just don't work with a heavy metal band like Priest.

The Van Halen tune is killer for me. Great softer intro and outro. Love the guitar harmonics on the outro. Eddie kills on his lead, too. DLR has his normal humorous delivery.

I'll add one more band to the discussion. The Scorpions "Humanity Hour 1" was a big departure, at least to me. I honestly only like a few tracks on that release. It's just too mellow for my tastes. But, it did not keep from purchasing the next release...the supposed final album, "Sting In The Tail". I'm sure you've all heard by now the retirement has been put off.

 

Thanks Gordon, I actually have grown to love Grace Under Pressure, it was a shock to me at the time of its release, but your right it's a very complex listen and we'll worth the price of purchase.

I'm actually in the middle of listening to Inside Information and have always liked it. There's some great songs on there (Heart Turn To Stone, Can't Wait, Counting Every Minute, The Beat Of My Heart) and I like it much better than Agent Provocateur.

 KISS, I AM ONLY SPEAKING OF STUDIO ALBUMS, THE BANDS LAST GREAT ALBUM IS 1977'S LOVE GUN... EVERY ALBUM AFTER IS PURE CRAP, BEGINNING WITH DYNASTY AND CONTINUING ALBUM AFTER ALBUM TO TODAY'S NEWEST         "FAKE KISS", I DON'T NEED TO HEAR SONIC BOOM OR MONSTER TO KNOW FOR SURE, THEY SUCK!!! THE ORIGINAL BAND IS THE ONLY LINEUP THAT PRODUCED SOLID ALBUMS, ACE, PETER, PAUL & GENE HAVE AN UNDENIABLE MAGIC & CHEMISTRY... THERE WILL NEVER BE SONGS LIKE GOT TO CHOOSE, SHE, ROCK BOTTOM, 100,000 YEARS, THEY LOST THAT MAGIC YEARS AGO...

 

 

Hard to argue with you that! Although I am a Dynasty fan, I'm all also a jilted fan who's insulted by the ripoff they are trying to sell us now.

I LOVED DYNASTY AT THE TIME AS WELL AS UNMASKED, JUST CANNOT DEAL WITH THOSE ALBUMS THESE DAYS, IT'S JUST NOT THE SAME AS THE ORIGINAL 6 ALBUMS, AND THE HARDER ROCKIN' FIRST 3... I LOVE ERIC CARR, MET HIM MANY TIMES, I JUST CANNOT LISTEN TO 80'S EITHER, THOSE WERE THE WORST, LOOKING BACK JUST NOT ALL THAT GREAT, UH ALL NIGHT (REALLY???), X IN SEX, ROCK HARD, C'MON GUYS, YOU CAN WRITE BETTER THAN THIS!!! THAT IS JUST A FEW...

 

 

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