Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 24th, 2011
Hard-rock guru of the seven seas (as long as you count the porta-johns) here with another musical review courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment. This one is entitled: Bad Co.: Live at Wembley. The concert played on April of 2010 to a packed house. As the booklet inside the package indicates, “...for a band to achieve this level of brilliance is extremely rare, to capture it on film, nearly impossible.” Well that is exactly what they did and it is my pleasure to bring that review home to you.
Bad Company (or Bad Co. to their fans) was actually a supergroup that formed in 1973. The original line-up consisted of Free former members: singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke. It also included former Matt the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist, Boz Burrell. Their first album sharing the same name as the band would go on to sell 5 million copies in the US alone and have three hot singles.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 20th, 2011
Bands tend to change members about as often as I change my disposable razor. Heck, in some cases perhaps more often. (I really need to get a new razor) Whether it is a lead singer or perhaps a drummer, in some cases nobody is safe when people start arguing (ask Michael Anthony of Van Halen). But for this review, I was presented with a band that had changed members quite a few times. In fact, only one of the original members remains and he is the drummer. Meet Deep Purple.
Deep Purple was formed in the late 1960’s. The original lineup included Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Nick Simper, Rod Evans, and Ian Paice. The band was originally called Roundabout but after their first tour quickly changed their name to Deep Purple after Blackmore grandmother’s favorite song. They broke thru the rock world after and released three albums numbers that would do quite well in the US as well as abroad in the UK.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 7th, 2011
A good friend of mine and I have had long-standing difference of opinion about Black Sabbath. He has no interest in anything post-Ozzy. I continued to buy Sabbath albums though all the band’s different incarnations, and while some releases did, I confess, require a greater degree of loyalty than others, the Ronnie James Dio studio albums (Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules, Dehumanizer) have always been favorites of mine. So the events of the last few years were something of a roller coaster ride for fans of my ilk, the joy of a new album (The Devil You Know, with this configuration of the band rechristened Heaven & Hell), followed by the shock and sadness following Dio’s untimely death. This release, a record of a 2007 concert, is a fitting valediction to a great band.
The fifteen songs are a fine selection. Doubtless, each of us will miss one favorite or another. I’m sorry that “Turn Up the Night” and “Buried Alive” were left off the playlist. But I can’t complain about any of the songs that are included. All three albums are well represented, and the absolutely necessary pieces – “Mob Rules,” “Children of the Sea,” “Die Young,” “Heaven and Hell,” “Neon Knights” – are all present and correct. Also performed are two songs – “The Devil Cried,” “Shadow of the Wind” – that were (along with “Ear in the Wall”) included on the Dio Years collection and heralded the band’s return to active songwriting.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 19th, 2011
More often than not, I don’t listen to too many female musicians. Most of them fall into the hard rock (Lita Ford, Donnas) or 80’s/90’s pop dance (Taylor Dayne, Sheena Easton). Occasionally, I will be wowed by good looks and a magical voice. I am a man after all. But when I received Sheryl Crow: Miles from Memphis – Live at the Pantages Theatre, on Blu-Ray, I was not sure what to think. Sure, she had looks but Crow’s music is ever-changing. However, I am certainly willing to give it a listen.
Most people know Sheryl Crow from her multi platinum albums, and selling well over fifteen million records domestically and probably a good thirty five million records worldwide. However, her start was kinda ominous. When she left college, she was teaching music to elementary school kids in Fenton, Missouri. Then came a couple of McDonald’s and Toyota commercial jingles. Before she knew it, she was a backup vocalist for Michael Jackson during his Bad tour.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 12th, 2011
As one could probably guess from my tender age of thirty five years, I listen to lots of 80's music. Not only did I grow up in it, the music was energetic and often thoughtful (without being too depressing). But the thing I remember most about the music on a whole is the brilliant videos behind them. David Byrne of Talking Heads was the head (literally) of one of my favorites, Burning Down the House. A great musician and pop legend, David Byrne is back to entertain us in Ride, Rise, Roar.
David Byrne was born in Scotland in the spring of 1952. He knew how to play the guitar, accordion, as well as the violin before he even entered high school. David went through a couple of minor bands before landing his first major gig with the Talking Heads in 1975. The band went on to do great things and several of their albums went gold with sales well over 500,000 copies. Unfortunately, the group broke up in 1991 after creative differences and David Byrne went on to a solo career.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 11th, 2011
Musically, I've been told before that I'm not that broad. I primarily like my hard rock and it doesn’t matter whether it is a flashy piece from the 80's or a grungy alternative piece from the 90's. But there is something that a lot of the music I listen to has in common with each other. A great guitar track. From the brilliance of an Andy Timmons to the soothing energetic sound of a Tom Cochrane. It is only fitting that a blu-ray capturing the guitar god simply known as Jeff Beck graces my door step. Furthermore, he is having a party honoring the late Les Paul. This ought to be a treat.
There is a concert inside the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City tonight. Let’s see who is playing. Well, there is Darrel Higham on guitar and vocals. He’s been a lead guitar with rockabilly bands since the late 80’s. Then there is Darrel’s wife: Imelda May, a fairly established Irish singer who has sang with many greats and loved the world over. Then there is Al Gare on bass who has often played with the husband and wife combination.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 31st, 2010
Classic Albums is a television series that airs on VH1. Each episode is basically a short documentary chronicling the genesis and creation of a, you guessed it, classic album. These stories are told through archival footage, video clips, and interviews with the band members, production people, along with fans and notables in the industry. This episode highlights two seminal albums by Canadian prog-rock legends Rush: 2112 and Moving Pictures.
The first part of the disc covers the early career of the band, going over their initial success and their first few albums. After their concept album Caress of Steel fizzled with critics and fans, Rush was given one last chance by their label, Mercury Records, to create an album that had mass appeal. The band, outraged and defiant, wrote 2112, a treatise on conformity featuring a dystopian world where individuality and music have been smothered out by a fascist religious order. Though the album’s influence and acknowledgement to Ayn Rand’s Anthem was the source of some controversy, its themes of non-conformity and individualism, along with the fact that the music itself had pushed conventional boundaries and was, to put it simply, awesome, ignited fans all over the world. 2112 is described on the disc as the first time the group sounded like Rush. It is the album that defined their sound and truly set up their careers for everything that would come after.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 20th, 2010
The album, Holy Diver was released on May 25th, 1983. It was Dio’s best work featuring two singles that would hit the American top 40. It would actually take a full year for the album to hit Gold and almost 6 years to reach Platinum status. However, Dio remains popular today and is still listened to around the world. With that said, it is my pleasure to bring you the last recorded concert of one Ronnie James Dio as he plays the Astoria Theatre in London, England.
October 22nd, 2005. It is the final stop of an 11 date British Tour and Dio has hit the Astoria Theatre in London along Charing Cross Road. However, despite the band playing there a multitude of times, this one was a little different. Earlier in the year, Rock Candy Records had re-released the epic Holy Diver and the band had to figure out a way to best promote the re-release. They came up with the idea of playing the entire album, front to back in order.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on September 15th, 2010
This Blu Ray is the merging of two previously released concert DVDs. One taking place in Boston comes from their reunion tours of recent years, and the other is an extremely rare acoustic appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. By having these combined into one package makes for a nice compare and contrast for both fans and newcomers of this highly influential, alternative rock band. Both setlists are enormous and ensure that this is a must buy for longtime fans.
The Boston “electric” show is much truer to the Pixies sound, as always orchestrated by frontman Black Francis (aka Frank Black; aka Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV). This show demonstrates the band in top form as they ease into the frenetic punk energy they've had since their 1980s debut. Meanwhile the acoustic show makes for an interesting experiment but I have a feeling that only true fans will be able to listen past the new arrangements and strange lead guitar changes to hear what they are meaning to play in all of their “classic” tunes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 7th, 2010
Black Label Society formed officially in 1998 and released their first album Sonic Brew in late October. At first, the record was only received in Japan but later they found an American label in late spring of the following year. They would go on to produce many albums, tour the world and basically generate rock n roll and mayhem wherever they went. Eagle Vision decided to bring concert footage to Blu-Ray from their European Tour in 2005. It is simply called Doom Troopin Live.
In 2005, Black Label Society produced their sixth studio album entitled Mafia. It was a commercial success and sold over a quarter of a million copies. This would be the only record that the band would release under the label, Artemis Records. As per their usual promotion, they toured to sell the album to their die hard fans. This time they traveled to Europe and did a series of concerts. This disc focuses primarily on the Paris Chapter with a few songs from their infamous stop at the Astoria.