Motorhead - The World Is Yours

The return of the Lemmy and his cohorts is a pretty strong return. The band sound great and Lemmy's voice has even improved, ok that's not true I'm just more used to hearing him now. The album is good though and one of the bands better albums over the years. When the guys cook they are doing it with gas for sure and when they miss the boat oh boy its like the titanic. But if your a fan then buy it, if your a metal or punk rock fan then again buy it.

Song Highlights: Born To Lose, I Know How To Die, Devils In My Hand, Rock N' Roll Music & Bye Bye Bitch Bye Bye

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Christmas Music Shopping Suggestions 2010

This month of November in the year 2010 we have been given an awful lot of new music. Some of its been reviewed by myself here and some of it has been ignored as well. Others have just been skipped over because of too much and not enough time to listen to it. I do try to listen to everything but sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle and with the amount of new music out right now I've missed some stuff.

It would be nice to see a lot more releases around August/September/October which would give everyone more time to decide who gets which album for the holiday gift swapping plus spread out the music to give it a much more fair chance to be successful. Good bands like The Bees are invisible in a saturated release market like November has been. Not to mention excellent albums like Between Two Lungs by Florence & The Machine are forgotten because all the promotion for the latest stuff that's dropped each week this month. Another issue I've come across is that little to no promotion for artists who are a little outside the mainstream pop market. Laurent Wolf, Elin Lanto & Ben Folds who all have current releases but have had to survive with very little effort into their albums.

As always with music though the best stuff gets hosed in favor of the ones who sell millions upon millions of singles and albums. You won't see much promotion or support for the brilliant new Doobie Brothers album or the excellent Bleeker Ridge record which will be long forgotten come December buying takes hold. But in the last month and over the previous ten some awesome stuff from all genre's has been released.

Here is my list of albums not to pass by, you can gift these to those music lovers in your shopping list. Now some of the selections will be those high profile releases because they deserve to be here for being good albums. There will be a few you won't recognize but a quick search online should get you enough listening samples to allow a definition of style and genre.

Halford - Made Of Metal
My Chemical Romance - Danger Days The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys
Black Eyed Peas - The Beginning (Deluxe Edition)
Eliza Doolittle - Eliza Doolittle
Weezer - Death To False Metal
Hardcore Superstar - Split Your Lip
Keith Urban - Get Closer
Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy
Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday
Ratt - Infestation
Christina Aguilera - Burlesque OST
Kid Rock - Born Free
Shinedown - The Sound Of Madness (Deluxe Edition)
Norah Jones - ...Featuring Norah Jones
Doobie Brothers - World Gone Crazy
Hellogoodbye - Would It Kill You
Elvis Presley - Viva Elvis The Album
Good Charlotte - Cardiology
Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy
Bleeker Ridge - Small Town Dead (Special Edition)
Helloween - 7 Sinners
James Blunt - Some Kind Of Trouble
Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue
Accept - Blood Of The Nations
Zac Brown Band - You Get What You Give
Weezer - Hurley (Deluxe Edition)
Steven Page - Page One
Finger Eleven - Life Turns Electric
Ash Koley - Inventions
Steve Miller Band - Bingo!
Rehab - Welcome Home
Taylor Swift - Speak Now
Robert Plant - Band Of Joy
Kaci Battaglia - Bring It On
Colt Ford - Chicken & Biscuits
Alter Bridge - AB III
Saving Abel - Miss America
Billy Currington - Enjoy Yourself
Maroon 5 - Hands All Over
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Brian Wilson - Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin
Sheryl Crow - 100 Miles From Memphis
My Darkest Days - My Darkest Days
Vince Neil - Tattoos & Tequila
Robyn - Body Talk
Black Label Society - Order Of The Black
Disturbed - Asylum (Limited Edition)
Never Shout Never - Harmony
Hellyeah - Stampede
Travie McCoy - Lazarus
Kevin Rudolf - To The Sky
Christina Aguilera - Bionic
Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It
Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite
Jason Castro - Jason Castro
Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots (Deluxe Edition)
Danko Jones - Below The Belt
Laura Bell Bundy - Achin & Shakin
Drowning Pool - Drowning Pool
Bullet For My Valentine - Fever
Easton Corbin - Easton Corbin
H.I.M. - Screamworks Love In Theory And Practice
Wig Wam - Non Stop Rock & Roll
Godsmack - Oracle
Stereos - Stereos
Kids In Glass Houses - Dirt
Overkill - Ironbound
Gretchen Wilson - I Got Your Country Right Here

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10 Songs That Should Be On Everybody's I-Pod

It's Sunday and I have time so here we go.

10. Back In Blood by 69 Eyes
09. Geek Stink Breath by Green Day
08. The Zoo by The Scorpions
07. Believe It Or Not (Greatest American Hero) by Joey Scarbury
06. There's Only One Way To Rock by Sammy Hagar
05. Underground by Men At Work
04. Bus Rider by The Guess Who
03. I Want Your Love by Transvision Vamp
02. On The Dark Side by John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band
01. I Got A Girl by Tripping Daisy

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Ke$ha Is A Cannibal

To quote the title track [I eat boys up, breakfast & lunch Then when I'm thirsty, I drink their blood Carnivore, animal, I am a Cannibal I eat boys up, you better run] I'm pretty sure she's being completely honest here. This song is fun and enticing which is exactly what anyone who enjoys Ke$ha wants when they put on her music. The E.P. continues to deliver with some strong material albeit very much the same as her full length debut album. She hits a homerun with "Grow A Pair" that totally rips on the touchy feely metro-sexual dudes we actual males can't stand. Her single "We R Who We R" is a good tune as well but pales when compared to "Sleazy", "C U Next Tuesday" and the previous two I wrote about. Overall totally worth buying and I highly recommend just getting the whole damn show being the delux version with the music videos included as well. A great X-mas gift for those who love the dance pop.

Song Highlights: Sleazy, Grow A Pear, C U Next Tuesday, Cannibal, We R Who We R & Blow

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Hinder - All American Nightmare

Well this now, the fourth album for Hinder and since they broke big with Lips Of An Angel in 2005 have been struggling to find that type of commercial success. The band hasn't gotten worse they've actually gotten better but are no longer the flavor of the month. The follow-up album in 2008 didn't do much for the band and they lost all momentum from their break through Extreme Behavior an album that only had a handful of good songs.

This time around the band repeat their better moments from the past with some up tempo rockers and slickly produced power ballads. I'm not sure that anyone is going to care about the band enough to push them onto radio where some of this material would do well. The songs "What Ya Gonna Do" and "The Life" are hits in the rock climate today but they might get overlooked by the moron's at their label like what happened with the last album. There are some pretty strong rockers in "Striptease", "2 Sides Of Me" and "Hey Ho" all worth the price of admission along with the first single "All American Nightmare". The albums worst track is "Everybody's Wrong" an overblown shit ballad that is probably the song that will blow up and be a hit because I have taste in music and the masses usually do not (Stephen Included) hehe kidding.

On an ending note "Put That Record On" closes what is the bands most consistent record so far and easily their best overall release even though "Use Me" and "The Best Is Yet To Come" are still the best single songs they've written yet this album has stronger songs than the rest of Take It To The Limit. Oh and this albums cover art is WAAAAY better too!

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Vaga - Kiss Of Life

Out of the gate this is pure MOR with a seriously good helping of the 1980's pushing it along. The band actually remind me in parts of The Outfield and oft of Jefferson Starship (not the We Built This Shity Version). The 80's were ripe with bands who sounded like this, take GTR for example who are another comparison you can add to a long list. On a few tracks I can almost here Joey Tempest wailing away and the band uses a lot of keyboards to bring their sound full circle.

If your a fan of MOR (Melodic Rock) then jump aboard and give these guys a spin I'm sure they will scratch that itch specially if your missing Mickey Thomas or Marty Balin's smooth vocals.

Song Highlights: Another, Headlights, Into The Wild, One Of A Kind & What It Takes

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Roger Hodgson - Classics Live

If the track listing isn't enough reason to be excited then you just don't understand the sheer greatness of Roger's song writing abilities. He's written some of the greatest songs that were produced in the 70's and was apart of one of the greatest rock albums ever in Breakfast In America along with Crisis What Crisis and Crime Of The Century his musical brilliance became the soundtrack to a generation. On this album he does a run through of the best music his former band released over the chorus of a near flawless span between 1970 and 1982. This was obviously the more important span of Supertramp's output.

Roger's voice is in fine form and his backing band is so good you wouldn't realize this wasn't from the recorded in Paris live album. With that said the tracks are all hits and classics from the time none of them are dogs and if your even a casual fan this one is worth owning.

Song Highlights: Pick any of the ten tracks they are all great!

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HelloGoodbye - Would It Kill You

The band that gave us the super catchy "Here (In Your Arms)" is back with a new sound, different members and lots of positive grooves to enjoy. The bands sound is more akin to soft acoustic pop than the auto-tuned vocal pop of their biggest single. The 2010 incarnation of the band have some of the best production you can hear on an album this year. The brightness and clarity of the instruments give the album a massive airy sound that instantly pleases my ears. Even though some of the material is lame the band still have a good portion in the positive column and a few homeruns as well. This album should not be ignored or missed the beautiful arrangements and spacial sounds are alone worth listening to the album.

Song Highlights: Getting Old, I Never Can Reflex, When We First Met & The Thoughts That Give Me The Creeps

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American Music Awards 2010

So the year of which the awards are being given out hasn't been the best but its been a good one for pop music. Lots of well written catchy pop tunes albeit too much auto-tune and digital vocal effects and much to much of the same five artists on nearly every track. But with that said here is my breakdown of the show and performances.

Opening the spectacle was Rihanna and typical of most award shows she is mixed badly and coming in cold she is most of the time out of tune missing notes here and there. She did improve as the performance unfolded but, If she was on Idol she'd be ripped to shreds by the judges and Simon would have told her she wasn't good enough to be there. Now on the other side the visual was astoundingly good. The ladies legs are some of the best pins a female could have and her costume was also very tasteful in the sense there wasn't much of one thankfully. When your as gorgeous as she is displaying yourself for us male viewers to enjoy is perfectly fine.

One thing I hate about award shows is the inherent need to thank god all the time. Who the fuck cares about that aspect of your life, keep it to yourself please! Thank the people who made you wealthy and come to your shows and buy your t-shirts, perfume and other shite then go the fuck away already. Better even stop allowing speeches completely cuz they are usually all the same no matter who's up there.

Usher takes the R&B award great goodbye now, BEP gets AMA number eight deservedly considering how they've owned the charts. Enrique Featuring Pitbull were fantastic and actually can sing in tune. I'd like to see Enrique live he's one of the better pop stars out there. Those two were one of the best of the night and sang one of the years best tunes as well in "I Like It". When Miley Cyrus came out singing her new single I was bored and then embarresed for her as she tried to emote the lyrics with awful facial expressions and hand gestures with overwrought arm swings. She has terrible stage presence and that hair tossing is just dumb and unnecessary. Her vocal was ok with some pretty flat spots tossed around she also got a weak reaction from the crowd as well.

Kid Rock sang powerfully with so much soul it was epic in itself. He didn't stand or use any flash he just bled from his soul with purity and honesty most couldn't imagine yet deliver in a performance. Ditty Dirty Money rapped poorly but rapped none the less, he's one of the worst rappers in history and I don't get why people like him. Another over blown ballad by Taylor Swift this time she wasn't terrible but she also can't really sing live. Then again even though I love her and all her charm and character she's not a great vocalist even in the studio. Ne-Yo another of the stronger performers used some nice video and sound effects to his dance steps. His stage presence is great and he can dance like Fred Astaire and Michael Jackson mixed together.

Katy Perry again strong performance and well anytime you get to watch her perform its hard not to drool. Her voice is great and it's not one of those perfect voices it has some quirks and charm which adds to her being defining instead sounding like all the other ones. Her pretty red outfit was sparkly and once the skirt was ripped away what can I say but wow. Oh and if you didn't hear "It's Pink Friday Bitch!" Nicki Minaj made the announcement. Justin Beiber proved yet again he can't sing very well and I've yet to hear him actually sing a line in tune. The kid is a studio magic creation and a media darling. He did clean up tonight and that's great to see a Canuck taking AMA's from the American artists. Oh did I mention how bloody awesome Kid Rock was tonight singing one of the many great tunes on his excellent new album Born Free.

Another great performance tonight was Ke$ha who pulled of a nice little medley ending with her latest single "We R Who We R". She is one of those few artists who is immediately identifiable when she sings. I really like her stuff even if its fluffy pop dance music she does it well and she can pull it off in a live setting. Bon Jovi came out and did a three pack of songs Jon sounded weak and can't sing "You Give Love A Bad Name" very well anymore but Richie's backing vocals were killer as usual. Best drummer on the stage all night was of course Tico Torres of Bon Jovi he just gets better with age and will be one of my favorite parts of the show on March 26th, 2011.

BEP came out with the coolest visuals of the show and performed "The Time (Dirty Bit)" albeit didn't sound as good as I expected after seeing them open for U2 and steal the show. Fergie was actually the weak link tonight but hey it's an award show and that's pretty common unless they lip-sync. Will.I.Am is the man and I just love his wicked auto tuned vocals, his voice is even cool when he just talks. I admit I was actually dancing while they were performing the song is just so damn catchy. When the uber talented Pink performed I was hella impressed and would go to Vancouver to see her live. She had a great choriographed dance team working her song with excellent visuals. She can nearly do no wrong with me but tonight she was cool as usual.

Christina Aguilera came out and did "Express" from Burlesque and she stole the show as she was top notch. She was absolutely the "BEST" singer of the night vocally crushing all the other females who performed. Good thing she didn't open the show cuz all the other woman would have went home not wanting to follow a nearly flawless performance. As soon as she starts singing you know right away to put on your seatbelt or your going to be blown over with the power that comes from that hot little package. Kid Rock was pretty good though if I forgot to mention him. Oh yeah and another fellow Canadian Michael Buble won an award Go Canucks Go!

Train did an acceptable version of their big single "Hey Soul Sister" but it was flawed all over the place. Then Godzilla crushing Tokyo didn't do as much damage as Santana and Gavin Rossdale did tonight when they ruined the greatest rock n' roll song ever written. I'm surprised that Marc Bolan didn't rise from the dead and beat Carlos to death with his guitar for that atrocity. It was so bad that it made me throw up in my mouth. If anyone liked that performance they are fucking retarded and have zero taste in music and I will be glad to punch you repeatedly in the nuts if your male and in the face if your female until your dead that is how fucking awful the performance was. I would rather listen to Lady Antebellum over that horrendous crap Santana spewed all over those poor people. I would have been booing if in attendance and yelling Santana sucks as loud as my voice would let me. Bloody awful and shameful and those two should be ashamed of what they did on stage tonight.

The show closed with two boy bands doing a mash-up medley which outside of not being able to sing the lead parts was kinda cool. They did a nice job of putting together their hits and the egos seemed to be in check for both Backstreet Boys and NKOTB. When they were all singing together it sounded fine but that could have been a backing track making the harmonies sound right. This awards show was good and unlike the MTV awards show a few months back had some talent and no Kanye (Shit Human) West.

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Black Eyed Peas - The Beginning

This album has much success to live up to and if the first single was any indication there is a good chance for it do the same numbers or better. This album is the continuation of The End and if anything is a little more commercial than it predecessor. The big problem is that the album has too many tracks and the group could have dumped five to make a concise and slick set of tunes of radio friendly hip-hop pop music. The album does have some highlights and some really piss stinkers on it but there is enough on the album to move the group forward in their dominance of the pop charts. This is a worthy follow up and will be a massive success for the group with easily six to eight songs that are single worthy.

Song Highlights: The Situation, Own It, The Time (Dirty Bit), The Best One Yet (The Boy), Love You Long Time, Someday & Whenever

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10 Songs That Should Be On Everybody's I-Pod

It's time!

10. Into The Pit by Halford
09. I Love You More Than Rock N' Roll by Thunder
08. Rockin' All Over The World by Status Quo
07. Ladybug by Presidents Of The USA
06. Jihad by D*A*D
05. (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon
04. Rated X by Pat Benatar
03. I Want Pussy by Steel Panther
02. Rock Me by Great White
01. Lift U Up by Gotthard

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Stereo Lab - Not Music

I had no expectation going into this album but found them charming to say the least. The song are great and the arrangements harken back to a lost era. This is not for the pop music fan its more for the jazzier listener or those who are a little left of centre musically. There are many psychedelic elements mixed into their sound with that flower power California hippy trip drawing much inspiration. This album is a wonderful listen on your high end stereophones with the lights off and eyes closed. You can get pretty lost in the feeling and melodies when in a mellow relaxed mood. Good music for a tired soul in need of being rejuvenated with sound.

Song Highlights: Supah Jaianto, So Is Cardboard Clouds, Leleklato Sugar, Delugeoisie & Aelita

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Burlesque OST (Freaking Brilliant!)

If you have fifteen buck in your pocket like music that kicks ass and a singer who has one of the best voices you'll ever hear then buy this CD. It's by far one of the most infectious albums your gonna hear this year and Christina sounds absolutely amazing. This is the kinda stuff that she does best and sounds most comfortable vocally. The two Cher tracks are effective and will probably be more so once I see the movie. It's a no brainer that I will see this film more than once and probably buy the DVD the day its released just for her performances. A truly brilliant soundtrack and chalked full of ass shaking, toe tapping classics.

Song Highlights: The Beautiful People, Something's Got A Hold On Me, But I Am A Good Girl, Bound To You & Show Me How You Burlesque

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It's Pink Friday Bitch! According To Nicki Minaj's Tweet

So the leaked album appears and of course I had to listen to it cuz she's all the rage right now. So after a couple of listens I've decided I don't actually mind this stuff. She isn't the greatest thing to wear slutty clothes and too much make-up but she's a pretty good rapper. I can see this album doing well with over the holiday season being snapped up for stocking stuffers. As expected the production has lots of digital instruments and looped beats along with vocal effects. It's 2010 pop/hip-hop and with that comes all the computer enhancements. Even with those tweaks you can't hide flow and skill when it comes to rocking a microphone which as I said early she does very well.

All the featured artists on the album do add to it this time round which is also a surprise. Specifically Eminem spits some excellent venom on his showing and Natasha Bedingfield is particularly solid as well. The sampled Joe Satriani track Always With Me, Always With You or at minimum borrowed hook is another shining moment. The show stopper Will.I.Am. is on the albums best track and one of most catchy songs of the year as well.

Song Highlights: I'm The Best, Ride Thru Me, Fly, Check It Out, Your Love, Last Chance & Hello Good Morning (remix)

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Nelly - 5.0

This is one waste of time and there is no point in listening to it let alone purchasing it. Nelly is one of the best rappers there is and when he's got a good track he is almost untouchable in the music genre. On 5.0 the songs are weak and really not for mass consumption lacking much of the flare you get from Ludacris or Flo Rida's dancefloor jams. This album has more in common with run of the mill R&B than it does with high energy hip-hop and is a pass. Not to mention doesn't even include the gem "Tippin' In The Club".

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My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys

Here it is finally the album I've been waiting over two years for and could it live up to the astoundingly good Black Parade album was the question. The album is a totally different monster from Parade and with that said its still them but with a sunnier sound. The album is almost as good as Parade but again I've not had the amount of time and close to a hundred listens front to back as I did with the last album. The band have expanded their sound with more synth's and production elements that only add to their depth. MCR are easily one of the best album creating bands around in the current music world. They understand that creating an album is more than just coming up with ten or more songs tossing them on a long player and calling it an album.

If it does or doesn't achieve the same level of success of its predicessor won't be because its not as good only because fans are fickle and not loyal. This album sits @ number two on my best of the year and is a hair below last years hold over still in number one.

Song Highlights: Bullet Proof Heart, Sing, Vampire Money, Planetary (Go!), Summertime, S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W, The Only Hope For Me Is You & The Kids From Yesterday

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Magic Kingdom - Symphony Of War

As far as epic metal/progressive metal go there are so many bands that miss the mark with their inability to step away from their music long enough to listen to it and hear why it doesn't quite make the cut. Magic Kingdom are one of those bands who lack production to really make this music sound as good as it should. The songwriting is pretty good overall and the band has chops albeit their singer is typical of the genre. Some of the songs on the album are total barn burners and would sound brilliant with a better treatment in the studio. "Evil Magician" is begging for Bruce Dickenson to save it from mediocrity or "I'm A Lionheart" would sound much better performed by current day Saxon both decent tunes. Again the sameness over the chorus of thirteen tracks hurts the listening process as well.

The best part of this album is the "Metallic Tragedy" story and is was worth the entire time spent listening to the album.

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Keith Urban - Get Closer

Here is another album by the hit making machine named Keith Urban. He's been one of Nashville's most prolific hitters for awhile now. Get Closer is no different than the usual fare from him and he's in fine voice on the album with a handful of singles ready to head to the top of the charts. Overall this is a stronger album than some of his others and easily better than Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing but not quite as good as Golden Road with that said if you enjoy Urban's brand of 70's soft rock with a country twist then you will not be disappointed here.

Song Highlights: Put You In A Song, Your Gonna Fly, Long Hot Summer, Georgia Woods & Shut Out The Lights

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Helloween - 7 Sinners

The follow-up to their epic masterpiece Gambling With The Devil arrives with great anticipation and with that comes expectation for greatness. The albums production values are amazing with the thunderous drums leading the way on the opening cut "Where The Sinners Go". The songs militant stomp and huge chant chorus does not disappoint. The opening orchestral keyboards blast off "Are You Metal" which the answer is a resounding YES!

As the album progresses the songs keep within the Helloween style with a few nods to the very early days of the band here and there. Being one of the premier power metal bands they are expected to deliver seriously good metal and on 7 Sinners they have done that in spades. Michael Weikath and Andi Deris are the main songwriters with Deris taking the lead and creating the bulk of the material on 7 Sinners. So with that comes a lot of serious fun headbanging tunes which is why I love this band in the first place. This album is a must have for any and all who even consider themselves a fan of hard rock or metal. Not quite as good as Gambling but damn close.

Song Highlights: World Of Fantasy, Long Live The King, You Stupid Mankind, Are You Metal, If A Mountain Could Talk, I'm Free & Faster We Fall

Helloween - Are You Metal by Splash

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10 Songs That Should Be On Everybody's I-Pod

A new ten pack and its a heavy one for the most part, this is a no wuss edition.

10. Elimination by Overkill
09. The Bitter End by Stone Sour
08. All For You by Annihilator
07. Skeleton Christ by Slayer
06. Contortion by Fight
05. Raze by Exodus
04. Henchmen Ride by Testament
03. Nosophoros by Evile
02. Rock You To Hell by Grim Reaper
01. Princess Of The Night by Saxon (AWESOME!)

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Top 20 Ozzy Osbourne Songs Of All-Time

After seeing Ozzy for the fourth time I thought I'd do an Ozzy Osbourne list for my blog.

20. Over The Mountain
19. Rock 'n' Roll Rebel
18. No More Tears
17. Miracle Man
16. Crazy Train
15. Shot In The Dark
14. Perry Mason
13. The Ultimate Sin
12. Breakin' All The Rules
11. Goodbye To Romance
10. That I Never Had
09. Mr. Tinkertrain
08. Crazy Babies
07. Mama, I'm Coming Home
06. Flying High Again
05. Soul Sucker
04. Bark At The Moon
03. I Don't Wanna Stop
02. Fire In The Sky
01. So Tired

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Ozzy Osbourne & Halford @ Save-On-Foods Memorial

The night started with the entrance of the Metal God and his band Halford. From note one the band was on fire and Rob's vocal was pitch perfect. He slayed with selections from the current Halford album Made Of Metal. He played the title track, Fire & Ice, Thunder & Lightning to name a few from the album and each one sounded amazing and fresh. The classic Green Manalishi along with Diamonds & Rust were included in set which both sounded tight. Rob reached back into the 90's for a ripping rendition of Nailed To The Gun which nearly brought a tear to my eye. I sang loudly along just as I did when the band blasted through the nights amazing opening number Resurrection and the wickedly good Made In Hell which quickly followed. Overall the Halford set was bloody awesome and Mike Chlasciak was easily the best guitarist to set foot on stage all night.

Ozzy appeared with no introduction after a long winded video intro of nonsense. The concert started with Bark At The Moon and it was a good live version but then the played out set jumped around the first two solo albums and a few classics from his Black Sabbath days. I am one of the few who can't stand most of the first two solo records and I'm so damn bored of songs like Crazy Train, Suicide Solution & War Pigs. The absolutely terrible guitar solo performance by Gus G would have been a good time to take a nap. The guy can play but he has nothing special going on and I wasn't impressed with his skill set at all during the solo section.

Not to mention Gus G couldn't shine on stage setting his fretboard a fire with flashy fingering all he could do was play passable covers of songs written by much more skilled and better players outside of Randy Rhodes who I find completely overrated. After seeing Ozzy with Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde who played on his two best albums Bark At The Moon and the golden masterpiece No Rest For The Wicked can't be touched by the G-man.

Ozzy ran through all the crap he's been playing live for years ignoring all but his single Let Me Hear You Scream from the 2010 album. This was very disappointing because I'd have liked to hear some new songs instead of tired versions that we've heard a million times. The complete absence of Down To Earth and Black Rain stuff not to mention No Rest really killed the Osbourne set and how fresh and exciting it could have truly been. After stealing two of Rob Zombie's band members adding them to his couldn't save this from just being a run of the mill cover band.

To be honest I would have prefered to have not heard any Sabbath tunes and him concentrate on the last 5 of 6 albums of material to bring to life a setlist more fitting of the times. The lack of songs like "Miracle Man", "No More Tears", "Perry Mason", "Thunder Underground", "Gets Me Through" "That I Never Had", "I Just Want You", "Not Going Away", "I Don't Wanna Stop", "Soul Sucker" and "Fearless" are almost shameful because all of those tunes are in keys he can hit without stressing his voice to cracking. The audience would have loved to hear those songs performed with great delight and his band could have actually played music more akin to their tastes and own styles instead of rehashing the over played and now boring tunes of yesteryear.

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I'm Just Too Damn Excited!

Well three days until the metal god arrives to rock Victoria and I have to admit I'm as giddy as child on christmas morning. Being such a fan of Rob Halford I am just as excited to see him perform live as I was the first time way back in 1984. This is one of my all-time music heroe's who commands the stage like nobody's business. The music that Rob is responsible for creating hits that perfect chord for me and the songs never become tiring or boring or stale or old.

When the man hits the stage and plays his 50 minute set in support Ozzy Osbourne I will have seen him perform six times and each time it was great. I'm sure Ozzy will be good but won't be anywhere close to having the same effect on me. I've seen Ozzy many times before and he's good live but when you've seen Jake E. Lee twice and Zakk Wylde twice Gus G just won't compare. Not to mention no Randy Castillo bashing the kit makes an Ozzy show albeit good but a sad one knowing the Randy past away long before he should have and what a great talent was lost that day.

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Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run Special Edition

I will start by saying this album is not only a five star masterpiece its a slice of the McCartney genius that if you don't own your collection is not complete and your an idiot. The big special edition is remastered and given a really nice treatment. A Christmas present for any real music fan ok even the pop drivel kids and metal heads too!

Outside of three of the best rock songs ever written "Band On The Run", "Jet" and "Let Me Roll It" the album has some other stellar material like "Mrs. Vandebilt" (Ho Hey Ho) and "No Words" that are proof of Sir Paul's undeniable genius. "No Words" could have been a Beatles song as its really that good. The 2010 Band on the Run reissue is the first release in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, and the remastered sound is superb. The sound on the previous, 25th Anniversary, remaster was pretty good, but this is noticeably superior. I didn't mind shelling out the cash to actually pick up the CD this time around plus I only had it on cassette and vinyl so it was inevitable a CD version would be added to my collection.

Listeners may not be able to pinpoint any differences during the title track, but at some point during the irrepressible joy that is “Jet”, even non-audiophiles will recognize that this sounds bloody fantastic. All of the rockers sound great, but the softer tracks like “Bluebird” benefit, as well. There are several details and flourishes in the arrangements that I swear I’d never noticed before, but I won’t go quite so far as to say this is like hearing the album for the first time. I have to say the DVD is a giant piece of awesomeness that only Barney from How I Met Your Mother could grasp. A real treat is "Let Me Roll It" from the One Hand Clapping session at Abbey Road, the song is brilliant in its original form and to know it's being recorded live off the floor at the Beatles legendary studio just evokes something special in the performance for myself.

One of the greatest rock albums of all-time and does nothing but re-enforce that belief with this top notch remaster. Brilliant baby just brilliant!

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Underoath's Ø (Disambiguation)

Let's be honest here Underoath are Tool inspired progessive metal that goes that extra mile sometimes to bring in elements of screamo and brutal metal with all sorts of industrial noises and effects. The band at times sound like they are stealing pieces from Pink Floyd, NIN and Mudvayne three acts that are still far ahead of Underoath on the quality scale of rock musings.

With over the top shrieking and screaming to under developed melodies this album completely misses from beginning to end and there is no real reason to bother unless your a fan of driving pencils into your ears and sticking an electric sharpener on the end to grind them down. Success doesn't equal talent and this band is proof.

Now it's time to hit the delete button on this albums folder to rid my hard drive of garbage.

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Rihanna Gets "LOUD"

Rihanna's last record was a complete disappointment and no matter how much her label paid the radio to push her singles didn't change the fact that the music was utter crap. Could she redeem herself I believe she could because until Rated R she was one of my favorite female pop artists. The girl does improve overall and returns with a higher quality songwriting on Loud. The production is massive and her voice sounds fantastic as usual one thing I appreciate is the lighter use of auto-tune on her vocal. She uses some effects as that would be impossible in today's pop world but its tasteful all the time allowing her spectacular vocals to soar when necessary.

This album will be a major success without needing huge pushes from her label to make it happen. There are four hit singles for sure and the Drake featured one is not in my list and maybe the worst song on the album. I don't get the big deal about the out of time rapper and yes I'm Canadian and I'm dissing him, he's no K'naan for sure! Although this album is not perfect there are enough strong songs to push it to the top end of the charts.

Song Highlights: S&M, Man Down, Only Girl (In The World), Complicated, Cheers (Drink To That) & Love The Way You Lie (Part II)

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Kid Rock - Born Free

The Kid is back with what I can say is his best set to date. The album leans to the mellow side of his sound but the songs are well written and his delivery is soulful. He believes in what he's laying down and that is why it works no matter what genre he's rocking his strut to. I would say this album is a southern rock that bleeds outlaw country. I would have enjoyed a few kick ass rockers full of his hip-hop swagger but this time the album stays pretty far away from that whole shtick. This album will please anyone who misses the good old days when the blues dominated rock n' roll. If your expecting metal guitars and drum machines you will be wholly disappointed and should not go into this album waiting for that to happen. But if you like acoustic guitars, harp and a old school southern soul music this will give your ears an excuse to do a happy dance. Well done Kid you truly are the savior of rock n' roll and all things good in current popular music.

Song Highlights: The First Time (In A Long Time), Slow My Roll, Born Free, God Bless Saturday, Flyin' High & Rock Bottom Blues

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