45 Stars Late To The Island Party
Day 20
Dear Diary,
Ladies and Gents, here we are. I wish to sincerely extend my gratitude to everyone who checked out the Island parties. Especially, to Mike who once even felt inclined to share his thoughts, Scott who almost always did and Jon who never missed the beat. Speaking of whoms, Scott and Jon split the points for one last time and as such we conclude that:
2600 pts was enough for Jon to say he knows more than Anyone Else here (Yours Truly excluded, by default).
The 2151 pts Scott accumulated are envied by Everyone Else here (except by Jon and Yours Truly), while
Every0ne Else here kn0ws abs0lutely n0thing. (If Scott, Jon and Yours Truly, may say so.)
Global News... I'm gonna keep it short, because there are couple of exciting news to report from the Island. As you might have guessed, there was a moron somewhere in the world who did something stupid and in retrospect, he has few regrets. Now, let's get to the breaking...
News from the Island... And it's a twofer. The first one is just to let you know, that I have gathered all my belongings and although with heavy heart, I'm ready to leave this Paradise re-enter the civilization. I was up early, since noon waiting for my transportation to arrive, when the approaching helicopter broke the silhouette of the smoldering sun, high up on the sky. However, my excitement quickly diminished when the pilot jumping off the eggbeater had a striking resemblance to someone I rather forget. No "Hello there!", "How are you, Sir?" or "May I help, with your luggage, Mr", but "What-Have-You-Done?" Seems like my innocent reply of: "What!?" irked the crap out of him, because boy, was he pissed. He went on and on about: ecological disaster on a nuclear level, extinction of the fauna, eradication of the flora, and something about the new hole in the ozone layer. First I thought he was joking, so I said, "So what? I just ripped the stratosphere a new one". Maaan... He went apesh*t on me. Like brother, like brother. The guy has no sense of humor. What a jerk!
Well... On a much happier note here is the... Island News 2.0. As soon as I landed here (Day 1) I found a box of puzzle pieces. Just to play it safe, I wasn't gonna mention it to anyone, because I wasn't sure if I can assemble all the pieces in the short time I got to spend here or not. 20 days later, I'm happy to report, I got the big picture... COMPLETELY Completed. AND... I must have done it in a record time too. When I get home, I'll be calling the Official Guinness World Records Judges to confirm this extraordinary achievement of mine. In the mean time, you can follow me on the Instagram, Twitter account and Facebook page, as well as check out the http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com for further updates and the big announcement, coming soon. I bet their jaws will drop when I tell them, I put ALL the pieces together, in less than 20 days. The box calls for: 6 to 8 years. BOOYA!
Not for nothing, but here is something to go with the celebration.
click on the cover to hear the songs
1. STEVE THOMSON - Don't Turn Me Away
2. STEVE THOMSON - You've Got A Hold On My Heart
3. STEVE THOMSON - I Want You
4. STEVE THOMSON - Europe
from "Steve Thomson" CD ℗ 1989
I've been searching for this CD for long time. Naturally, it has a long story too. In mid 80s one of the most celebrated Hungarian Rock singers, Varga Miklos, (with his band) released Europa, that would become a huge hit in the region and the staple song of his career. Nothing unusual there. By the late 80s, the priest of our parish, brought back from Germany a Compilation CD, mostly consisting of acts I haven't heard before. Except for one song. It was Europa, but with English lyrics. Varga was in few International bands, singing in English, so innately, I assumed it was him. However, the name in the booklet said, Steve Thomson. Obviously, I was wrong. Years went by and once I settled at my new place, I started looking for the artist, the CD and the song. Without much luck, I might add. Until couple of years ago, that is. It was a bit tiring to navigate through all the Thomson releases, because only one of them had Europe as its 12th track. (Yes, the German release, as opposed to every other pressing.) Once I got the CD, I was 3x pleasantly surprised. 1.) The CD is full of great, catchy tunes. 2.) It was produced by: Bob Marlette, a well known American producer whose list of clients is as impressive as numerous. 3.) The guitarist was: Tim Pierce (another name from the list of; shame on you if you don't know who he is) and one solo performed by Stevie Salas. To lesser extent, the fact that, M. Bolton and N. Schon also wrote songs for this album is grand in it's own way too. It gives me a tingly feeling when a song penned by a Hungarian musician gets a genuine English version treatment, by an Artist outside of Hungary. (A very rare occurrence, indeed.) BTW, Steve Thomson is from Switzerland. (In case you were wondering.) However, that feeling was somewhat tarnished during the research I did for this article, when I learned that Thomson never asked Varga's permission to cover the song. Thomson saw Varga perform Europa on the TV once and went on recording his own version. After everything was said and done, he contacted Varga and offered him an album deal in collaboration, which I assume was turned down by the Hungarian rocker, since no such thing came to fruition. Varga must have liked the song at least a bit, because he didn't sue Thomson for stealing his composition. I'm saying this, because Slovakia had the same intention during their campaign to join the European Union, what Varga stopped immediately, after hearing about it. Apparently, the new lyrics didn't match the context of the original.
Europe BONUS
5. MANDOKI - Mother Europe
from "Mother Europe" EP-CD ℗ 1993
Usually I don't do bonuses, but why waste my endless researches, so the story of Europe continues. Until today and to my best knowledge, the only Varga Miklos sanctioned English version of the song, Europa is the one performed by Leslie Mandoki. Mandoki who? OK, you asked for it. Leslie Mandoki was one of the male members of the German singing, dancing, Pop group; Dschinghis Khan. (Not to be confused with any Heavy Metal band of same name or boy band of today, since these guys were well in their ages and did not look like headbangers.) Dschinghis Khan, represented Germany in 1979s Eurovision Song contest and they were considered Germany's answer to ABBA. I liked few of their songs, but the dancing was laughable. Isn't that the way it is? Anyway, after Dschinghis Khan disbanded, I was shocked to learn that Mandoki embarked on a new career as an accomplished Jazz drummer, with some enviable connections. This transition would be the equivalent of Buddy Rich or perhaps Gene Krupa joining 'N Sync. Sure, stranger things have happened in music before and since, but few will top this one. Mandoki transliterated the lyrics of Europa and made it sound even more dramatic in English. Then he called up few of his buddies for a session, (mostly unknown names), like: Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Jack Bruce (Cream), Bobby Kimball (Toto) and David Clayton-Thomas (Blood, Sweat & Tears) to record what turned out to be a somewhat Prog. Rock version of the song, with a Band Aid feeling.
Europa BONUS Pt. 2
6. Varga Miklós Band – Európa
from "Európa" CD ℗ 1985/2009
You heard so much about Europa and Europe, why not check out the original that inspired the cover versions? Not much left to say about the tune, except few leftover trivia tidbits. Did you know?
-Varga Mihaly asked Varga Miklos to write music for the lyrics of Europa. Varga Miklos scrapped the lyrics for the song called "Blue Jeans" (Kek Farmer) and without the slightest change, matched the new lyrics to the existing music.
- They performed the song for the first time in 1984, in front of a movie audience, who called them back 3 times to encore the song. As they were leaving the stage, a marketing manager from one of the biggest Hungarian record companies, offered them an album deal, on spot.
- The single version of the song alone, sold in excess of 170.000 copies.
- At the time still unknown, Szekeres Tamas played the guitar on the album, 4 Years before releasing his first solo project and joining the ranks of the world famous shredders, like; Joe Satriani, Tony MacAlpine, Joey Tafolla, Paul Gilbert, etc.
DEF LEPPARD - Hysteria
2CD Delux Ed. ℗ 1987/2006
After Pyromania prepared the stage for Def Leppard, the expectations were high for their new album. And just prior to Hysteria hitting the shelves, I read an interview with Joe Elliott talking to a Rock Magazine. He said, the aim of the new album is to establish the band as an artist with perfect record score of immaculate releases. He brought up Led Zeppelin as a benchmark to match and how much they desire to achieve that goal. According to his confessions, if they were able to use 50 seconds of the recorded material in any given day, that day was considered to be a productive one. This kind of dedication was driven by "Mutt" Lange's perfectionism. At first, I was skeptical, but once the album came out, it blow my mind. I think, with Hysteria they achieved more than what they bargained for. It is not only the pinnacle of their career, but it's the Melodic Metal album that every Melodic Metal album should be compared to. It came with a drawback, though. The only way from here was: Down.
7. CARAMBA - Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot
8. CARAMBA - Ali Baba
9. CARAMBA - Donna Maya
10. CARAMBA - Anna Kapoe
from "Caramba" CD ℗ 1981/2011
There was a Radio show I was listening to every Sunday as a kid called, "High Noon" or a.k.a. "Tup-Tup", hosted by a humorist and a Radio persona, Minimax. You think I'm funny? (Yeeees, you do.) You didn't know Minimax. He was 2x as funny as I am. And he played some of the weirdest music from around the world. Now you know where my inspirations come from. When he played Caramba's "Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot", I was hooked. I looked for the vinyl everywhere. Even sent him a snail mail with a question about the band, but he never got back to me. (Maybe my mail was lost in the endless corridors of the correctional facilities he often visited for making fun of some powerful people. Who knows?) I searched for the album in Sweden, even though I assumed the band was from Spain. Caramba, right? Well, it turned out, the band was from Sweden, but every other detail remained hidden. Not until the age of the internet was I able to secure a copy of the album and few years later, when it was first released on a CD, I was waiting in the line to get mine. So what do we know about Caramba and their self titled sole release? Let me see: They sung in gibberish, phonetically resembling the characteristics of the region of their songs. It was recorded in the studios of ABBA. Some of the numerous band members were: DR FRITZ HÖFNER, ABDULLA PRESLEY, ZINGO ALLAH, CLAPTON COMBO and HAZZE KAMIKAZE, to mention few. (Spoiler Alert: They were all fake names) However, two identities were later revealed. One of them was Michael B. Tretow, who produced the album, but he is primarily known as the main engineer of ABBA. The other was Ted Gärdestad, who extensively collaborated with ABBA, especially during the 70s and before they became famous. But who are the rest of these incognitos? We might never find out. Rumor has it, Björn and Benny were themselves involved in the project, but those speculations were neither confirmed nor denied, to this date. Furthermore, it's believed that all the supporting musicians of ABBA were involved in Caramba, which would make the album a side-project or at very least a long lost ABBA album. Do we really want to know who they are? After all, wouldn't it be better for Kiss if they never took off their masks?
INDEX (To make sure I'm not leaving any of my baby's behind.)
ROCK
PINK FLOYD - Wish You Were Here (1975)
STYX - Cornerstone (1979)
ZZ TOP - El Loco (1981)
ELO - Secret Messages (1983)
HOBO BLUES BAND - A Vadaszat (1984)
DIRE STRAITS - Brothers In Arms (1985)
FLEETWOOD MAC - Tango In The Night (1987)
STATUS QUO - Ain't Complaining (1988)
HARD ROCK
NAZARETH - Razamanaz (1973)
BIJELO DUGME - Sta Bi Dao Da Si Na Mom Mjestu (1975)
RAINBOW - Difficult To Cure (1981)
MAGNUM - Chase The Dragon (1982)
THIN LIZZY - Thunder & Lightning (1983)
KISS - Lick It Up (1983)
NIGHTWING - Stand Up And Be Counted (1983)
QUEEN - Miracle (1989)
AOR
RUSS BALLARD - Into The Fire (1980)
PRISM - Beat Street (1983)
TRIUMPH - Surveillance (1987)
URGENT - Thinking Out Loud (1987)
ANDY TAYLOR - Thunder (1987)
DOMINOE - Keep In Touch (1988)
STEVE THOMSON - Steve Thomson (1989)
LAOS - We Want It (1990)
MELODIC ROCK
VAN HALEN - 1984
BON JOVI - Bon Jovi (1984)
SCORPIONS - Love At First Sting (1984)
WHITESNAKE - Whitesnake (1987)
DEF LEPPARD - Hysteria (1987)
EDDA - Valtozo Idok (1988)
DAMN YANKEES - Don't Tread (1992)
COZY POWELL - Drums Are Back (1992)
METAL
JUDAS PRIEST - British Steel (1980)
BLACK SABBATH - Heaven & Hell (1980)
ACCEPT - Breaker (1981)
GIRLSCHOOL - Hit & Run (1981)
SAXON - Denim & Leather (1981)
GORDI - Pakleni Trio (1981)
IRON MAIDEN - Number Of The Beast (1982)
CACOPHONY - Go Off! (1988)
SINGERS GONE SOLO
ALICE COOPER - Welcome To My Nightmare (1975)
GILLAN - Future Shock (1981)
DIO - Holy Diver (1983)
REVESZ SANDOR - Revesz Sandor (1985)
KEN TAMPLIN & FRIENDS - An Axe To Grind (1990)
DORO - Angels Never Die (1993)
VINCE NEIL - Exposed (1993)
BRUCE DICKINSON - Balls To Picasso (1994)
GUITARISTS GONE SOLO
MSG - Michael Schenker Group (1980)
JEFF BECK - Flash (1985)
GARY MOORE - Wild Frontier (1987)
JON BUTCHER - Pictures From The Front (1989)
LITA FORD - Stiletto (1990)
JOHN NORUM - Face The Truth (1992)
MARTY FRIEDMAN - Scenes (1992)
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN - The Seventh Sign (1994)
+BONUS
CARAMBA - Caramba (1981)
DR. FEELGOOD - Fast Women & Slow Horses (1982)
MARK WOOD - Voodoo Violince (1991)
ARS NOVA - Goddess Of Darkness (1996)
Once again, thanks for checking out these Island Parties. Hope you enjoyed the music as much as I did selecting the presentations. Now that you heard mine, let me hear yours. I would love to see the list of 60 CDs you'd take to a secluded place. If you will, use the rules I set forth, to keep your list consistent with mine, but you are free to implement your own guidelines or don't take directives at all. If you decide to follow my decrees, here they are:
- The cut off date is 1997.
- No Best Of's..., Compilations or Soundtracks.
- One entry per Artist.
- To cut you a break, use the BONUS section (4 albums only) for the Instrumental (at least half of the album should be Instrumental) Pop (no rock connections, whatsoever) and International albums. Surely you can come up with 4 albums of International, Pop and Instrumental to fill those last 4 spots. I will even let you use International Artists that perform in English, as long as they are NOT from the following Countries or Regions: USA, Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Rep. of Ireland, Scandinavia, Germany or Switzerland (unless they perform in a language other than English) Any Artist from the countries or regions not mentioned earlier are good to go, even if they sing in English.
- You can follow my divisions of music styles or keep some and replace others with music styles of your own choice. Or use all new categories, if that's your desire. (Yes, you can make International, Pop, and/or Instrumentals as a category on their own, but then you have to come up with something else for the Bonus section.)
- You want to test my knowledge? Present your selections with clues. Like I did. I welcome the challenge and I'll do my best to figure out what they are. Reveal your answers later.
Later.
Views: 154
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Yngve J. Chapleen on
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Jennifer Connelly in Career Opportunities.
You chose wisely, Sir.
But what the heck is that behind door, or should I say, window #2.
It must be a mixup.
This is what I left there, unless someone stole it:
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Permalink Reply by Scott on
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Yes! Second place out of a field of 2! This makes me a Silver Medal winner and a loser at the same time. Though this feels a bit like playing the Patriots in the playoffs... (cough*cough*riggedcough*cough*)
I own 23 of these 60 listed here which surprises me as the names listed on the remaining 37 almost totally escaped my purview. Thankfully I was able to discover 4 pretty freakin' hot Asian women in a band all about keyboards and learned one wanted me bad! Its true so don't even try to prove me wrong... I learned that Queen is sometimes Pop, sometimes Disco, sometimes Rock and sometimes Hard Rock. Ive also learned that I know very little about the music overseas (Non-British music anyway) - for which I am grateful to have heard a sampling of now...
What's next?
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I think your observation sums my taste up pretty good, Scott. I'm a sucker for big releases and the ones that should have been, but for some reason they weren't. What you won't find in my collection is what I consider to be of a mediocre quality, that fall's somewhere in the middle.
I'm glad I could bring few artist here, that had no other chance to show up.
Next?
Good question, and it's one I gave a thought to, so here is my answer. When I started LTTP, I posted albums that weren't included here, but not many people responded to them. I thought, the obscure selections was the problem, so I created the Island parties, where I can present some well known albums too (and spend sh*tload of time writing). In retrospect, I don't think my obscure selection was the problem. Some people just don't care for whatever I put up. Which is fine, so I'm going back to albums not, or rarely mentioned here. I will also include as many albums I can in one spot (find a common thread to follow, or spotlight an artist career, restricted to what I own, of course) to dispatch as many albums as I can in a short time, since I don't see myself doing this forever.
Also, I'm re-examining my selection method. There are albums I like a lot and they get trashed here, probably just because they were posted by me. Therefore I'll stay clear of those releases. Instead, I would be concentrating on Classic Rock or other Classic, yet obscure releases of quality, so when they get trashed, it will reveal the hypocrites.
One small change will also occur, which is more of a technical issue. On the weeks I post NMC's I won't post LTTP's. Just less work for me. That's all.
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I think more people read through these forums than comment, granted there's not a ton of us on here, but were an informal, raz each other, fun group. I personally woudl love it if more people chatted, but it seems more people do Facebook and Twitter than ning... Whatever. I like the personal touch on here anyway. But in the end we are dealing with a bunch of middle aged Americans and our close Dane friend Niels from time to time. So now you have a feel for this which we all stepped through...
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