Monday, 27 August 2012
Sunday, 19 August 2012
When the group kick it up like on "You're Gonna Listen" they draw the listener completely into what their doing. Has enough for the rockers but could easily satisfy a dancefloor that feels like losing their minds and pogoing while attempting to bang their heads. After some oddness of intro's and mellower material the metalcore shriek comes back full force on "Comanche" that has a wicked breakdown at 1:35 in the song that drops into a marching groove about 1:40 then blends in Viking chanting, how freaking great is that! The angry pain is repeated until the songs ending which is very effective and makes this one of the albums better tracks.
With a ton of credit to Marylin Manson and Trent Reznor and on a smaller scale to Type O Negative and Ministry this album blends a bunch of what makes those artists great into a decent package. This is worth purchasing if you get off on this genre.
The band plays great music and this album has some really great riffs and solo's which are nice to hear being a Glam Rock fan as I am. The Bowie-esque "Every Inch Of You" that apes "Gene Genie" in too many ways and the ruins itself with the 'suck my cock' shriek of Hawkins is so frustrating that I get a little annoyed listening to it. Why bother writing a good song then making such a lame choice with a lyric of childish stupidity so it can't be played on radio nor when children might be around.
The second song is pretty typical awkward fare for The Darkness which isn't horrible but has too much going on within its borders. An excellent riff opens "With A Woman" that ACDC would be jealous of and man if only Bon Scott was here to belt out some lyrics to this groove. More frustration abound as the song "Keep Me Hangin' On" plays through. But here the band are pretty straight forward with less of the stupid stuff and novelty act schtick. Another really good song is "Everybody Have A Good Time" that could actually have a chance to be a hit for the group. The song has a great 70's flair and uses the Queen sound to excellent effect.
The very Saxon riff in the opening of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" is very cool but the lack of guttural aggression in the vocals doesn't turn this song into a monster. Think if Biff or Halford were leading this song and how bloody brilliant it would have ended up being. The deluxe version has some demo material that is pretty useless and a couple of bonus tracks "Pat Long Ladies" is good to be honest. It's too bad that Justin Hawkins has to be the singer and someone like John Corabi or Gary Cherone couldn't sing these songs because then this album would be freaking epic and complete masterpiece as musically there is a ton to love but vocally it all gets old pretty quickly.
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
So Loverboy thought it a good idea to re-record some of their live favorites and hits. That is where they entire project went wrong. The band sound horrible attempting recreate the greatness that was "The Kid Is Hot Tonight" the energy that went into the raw youthfulness of the song is gone and gone far away. Mike Reno can't even keep time with the vocal cadence anymore and sings it completely different ruining the songs sing-a-long fun.As each re-recorded song plays I can't understand why they didn't spend the money just doing covers of other bands songs instead of their own. How about pulling out say "Nobody" by Doucette or "The Whole Worlds Going Crazy" by April Wine both songs would sound good sung by Mike. This kind of crap just doesn't cut it in a world where selling music is a hard road to hoe.
The band continue to screw up their classics with probably the worst version I've ever heard of "Queen Of The Broken Hearts". Considering I've heard it covered by a lot of bar bands back when it was a hit. But the absolute worst thing about this album is that they attempted "Working For The Weekend" and they don't even get the lyrics right. Now c'mon at least get the damn lyrics straight.
Overall the production is majorly compressed specifically in the over the top drums the nearly derail the album all on their own. But Paul Dean who's such a nice guy and I hate to be negative about because he's always been nice to me has put his guitars through a processor that just emlinates anything organic about the re-recording. I could accept this if they would have maybe done funky acoustic versions like the excellent Helix album Smash Hits...Unplugged! which was over the moon fantastic.
Now with the new songs the story is actually a lot different. Remove a shit ton of the kick drums on "Heartbreaker" and this song is really good Loverboy. I'd also have liked to hear more echo and some delay on Mike's vocals with huge background vocal harmonies added to it. The song is a good song and Bob Rock's production is not very good which is odd because he's so consistent. The mid-tempo power ballad-esque "No Tomorrow" is again a good song that with a remix might be a comeback hit for the band because it's really that good. But the title track which is great outside of the pathetic chorus is another story. The song is strong until the break into 'Rock N' Roll Revival blah blah blah It's All About Survival' OMG it is too cheesy but I freaking love the verses to death it is too bad that the chorus is so cheesy. I'm sure with more listens I'll get used to it and just like it because the rest is so great.
If the band could have just written more originals and created an E.P. and left the cover songs of their old material nowhere to be found it could have been something special. Good thing is Mike's turned his weight issues around and has been killing it live so I can only hope the band can put out some more new material with better production and continue to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative as the old song said. Lastly the album art is excellent and take note new artists this is something most of you are terrible with so learn from the old dogs.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Adam Young hits another near home-run with "Dementia" that just explodes with twee giddiness. His voice soars over the music as he sings Dementia youre drivin' me crazy in the chorus. As I mentioned the more club/dance side of his sound is more present on Midsummer Station and showcased more so on "I'm Coming After You" that is less electro-pop that the earlier stuff. Owl City with a nice balance draws it in a little with the very danceable pop of "Speed Of Love" but there is a little disco break between the chorus and second verse that reminds of the era of dance clubs.
As with his digital dreams the album is production perfection with the synthesized drums and massive keyboards and sequencers driving every track. The albums best track is number seven "Good Time" which features a slice of Canuck awesomeness in the form of Carly Rae Jepsen. Midsummer Station has eleven tracks of sweet bubblegum to chew on and lots of summer songs to crank while drinking frozen alcoholic beverages or cold vodka coolers while camping or spending a day at the beach. This album is one of the best summer albums of 2012 too bad its officially not released until summers nearly at its end.
The stark and sadness of "Take It All Away" has such a warm embrace to the music but the lyrics are all about the emotion in the ending point of a relationship. That is twee pop at its finest just as Boy Least Likely has perfected and Owl City can also do at a top shelf level. Midsummer Station is a worthwhile listen and has too much good to dismiss because your head might be firmly lodged in your arse.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
When you take both albums back to back and compare them two camps form one who enjoys the lesser and one who enjoys the glossy edition. I'm all about the glossy version that's what I like and it was served in a package that I fell in love with immediately. I actually heard these songs live the first time as I'd not heard of the band before seeing them open for Quiet Riot. They walked out on a darkened stage started playing "Slow & Easy" with only a white light shining from behind showing only silhouettes of the awesome foursome about to change my life.
Once the power punches of the song filled the Pacific Coliseum and the show was underway I was mesmerized. The band ripped through what I remember as nearly the entire album ending with a cover of Deep Purple's "Soldier Of Fortune" which was voiced by Coverdale in the Mark III line-up of the mighty Purple. It took until the next day when I had the album in my had and was listening to it on repeat for the entire day. I think I played that album six times in a row both sides. Finding that as great as the first side was that there was just as much excellent music on side two.
Still to this day my favorite track is the crushing "All Or Nothing" Coverdale sounds amazing on this track and the epic groove Neil and Cozy lay down here is pretty killer. John Sykes plays the guitars on the re-recording but there are still reminents of Marden and Moody which is fine but the UK version doesn't have the charisma in the guitar playing that Sykes adds. His flashy glam rock leanings really take the songs to the next level.
The strange thing about this album is that when I listen to in 2012 I still get the same enjoyment from it as I did way back in the wonderful year of 1984. The sexpolation that takes place on "Spit It Out" is exactly what a sixteen year old kid driving his kick ass '70 Chevelle SS had on his mind. The brilliant title track was one of those songs that got into your brain at first listen and never leaves. It's just a masterfully written song and the Zeppelinish "Slow & Easy" was the second coming just ask Robert Plant he was very vocal about his distaste of Mr. Coverdale's ability to out sing him at that point in time.
As far as I'm concerned Slide It In is still the best Whitesnake album and their next effort with lame Vivian Campbell never held a candle to this album. The band members changed on every album from her forward and DC never achieved this level of perfection again although he did resurrect an old tune from the past that has become a classic. When buying old Whitesnake albums start here and then go back to Trouble which is great but don't expect the sound of 1987's full metal assault. Then jump to Come & Get It from there you can fill your boots with whatever you choose. But always start with Slide It In because you can't find better hard rock music or better Whitesnake music either.
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