2. Van Halen A Different Kind Of Truth Repost from 4/16/12

This is a journey into sound.....
(my 10th review)

...and then 28 years later Diamond David was welcomed back into the fold where he, Alexander, Edward, & Edward's son Wolfgang lived happily ever.
If there is a God & yes I do believe there must be, then some prayers are in fact answered, some fairy tales come true, world peace can be achieved, & Van Halen can have one David Lee Roth back as their frontman/singer. Sammy Hagar was a new singer for Van Halen. David Lee Roth is THE singer for Van Halen.
Back in 2007, the Van Halen Reunion Tour was alive & well. The original Van Halen line up was 3/4 intact & on tour (substitute Ed's son Wolfgang for long-time bassist Michael Anthony)
Fast forward to 2011-2012. Rumors began to swirl cyberspace that Van Halen could possibly be sort of back in the studio (5150) recording a new album. And then on January 12, 2012, rumor became reality when the first single off a yet untitled new album was released. TATTOO hit the world at large & the new/old Van Halen was off & running. By January 23, 2012, TATTOO was ranked #1 on Billboard's Hard Rock Singles chart, the #1 most played song at classic rock radio in its first week and #1 most added song at mainstream and active rock radio. TATTOO had mixed reviews. A wide range of opinions from love it to hate it. I didn't like it at first but have come to love it now. Then new rumors began to rise. TATTOO was actually based on a never released song called DOWN IN FLAMES. Then more rumors; was this seemingly mythical new album with Diamond Dave ALL old demos from the 70's that they did prior to 1984? In an interview, new/former lead singer Sammy Hagar said so, & for the most part he was right.
On February 7, 2012 all rumors were confirmed. A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH was released. 13 'new' tracks with David Lee Roth at the helm of the good yet plenty battered ship Van Halen. Now that Dave, Alex, & Eddie are all in their late 50's the kicks & jumps aren't as high. Dave's Jack Daniels stained voice doesn't quite have the same range as it used to but musically & lyrically the boys are in tip top form. Dave's singing his ass off. Eddie is not just playing his ass off he's again re-defining the rock guitar. Alex has been reborn again hard on the skins (perhaps because he is now an ordained minister) & Ed's pride & joy Wolfgang is dangerous on the bass & bonus, he can sing too.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH is the best of the re-worked past & the retro future all in the present.
The 13 'new' tracks I spoke of earlier are; 1. Tattoo. 2. She's the Woman. 3. You & Your Blues. 4. Chinatown. 5. Blood & Fire. 6. Bullethead. 7. As Is. 8. Honeybabysweetiedoll. 9. The Trouble With Never. 10. Outta Space. 11. Stay Frosty. 12. Big River. 13. Beats Workin'
All these songs have that retro feel to them & yet still manage to sound resoundingly new in my opinion. I have listened to this album in its entirety on numerous occasions & have yet to find any reason to not love this album.
Since A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH was released on CD in 2 versions (standard & deluxe) & online. I purchased the deluxe edition. That version came with two CD's. The standard album & a bonus disc (The Downtown Sessions) consisting of the band rehearsing acoustic versions of; Panama, You and Your Blues (Intro), You and Your Blues, and Beautiful Girls. A Collector's Edition vinyl album was also released. This double gatefold LP vinyl includes all 13 songs on two 180g LPs plus custom LP artwork done by David Lee Roth.
I have to admit the vinyl format is absolutely beautiful. The LP's are in a bright red color that matches the red color on the cover artwork. A silver/bronze Art Deco locomotive engine with the classic VH logo in the upper right hand corner. (speaking of which, is extremely similar to The steam locomotive featured on the cover artwork is a New York Central Railroad J-3A Dreyfuss Hudson. Aside from a reversed angle of the locomotive, the artwork appears very similar to the 1975 Commodores album Movin' On, released by Motown Records.)
The records are as flawless sounding as they are cool to look at. They are loud. They are clean. High's, mid's & lows are all in wonderful vinyl harmony. If you are a fan of Van Halen, especially the DLR era music this is definitely the album you've waited well over a generation for. That's the truth. The whole truth, & nothing but a different kind of truth. So help me God. Go Spin it.

This review is a repost from 4/16/12.  For additional artwork see the original post here:
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3. scrap224; Soundgarden- KING ANIMAL

This is a Journey into Sound.....

I do not own this album on vinyl. Hail to the KING baby! KING ANIMAL is the sixth studio album by American rock band Soundgarden, released on November 12, 2012 on Seven Four Entertainment and Republic Records. Produced by both the band and Adam Kasper, the album is the band's first in sixteen years, and the first not to be released on A&M Records since 1988's Ultramega OK.
Soundgarden reformed in 2010 after a 13-year hiatus. Following the success of the band's Telephantasm compilation release that year, Soundgarden had been working on a new album with an indefinite release date. The band went on an extended world tour between the release of Telephantasm and the summer of 2012 before word came out that a new Soundgarden album would be ready for a US fall release.
"Been Away Too Long" was the first single to be released from KING ANIMAL on September 27, 2012. On October 31, "Non-State Actor" was released through the official Soundgarden YouTube channel. The video for the song features an American flag waving back and forth with the King Animal logo replacing the stars. The week before its release, the album was streamed in its entirety for free on iTunes.
KING ANIMAL is a big, bright album, executed with precision and professionalism. The bandmembers sound older, not quite as loud, and possess a keener sense of good taste, and it sounds as if they've aged together, which is a testament to their innate chemistry. Simply put, Soundgarden sound like they belong together; Cornell sounds richer, fuller when anchored by drummer Matt Cameron, (who is now pulling double duty as fellow Seattle alumni bands Pearl Jams drummer as well) bassist Ben Shepherd, and the deceptively sinewy and brainy guitarist Kim Thayil, whose presence has sorely been missed over the past decade."
The Track Listing for KING ANIMAL is;
‘Been Away Too Long’
‘Non-State Actor’
‘By Crooked Steps’
‘A Thousand Days Before’
‘Blood On The Valley Floor’
‘Bones of Birds’
‘Taree’
‘Attrition’
‘Black Saturday’
‘Halfway There’
‘Worse Dreams’
‘Eyelid’s Mouth’
‘Rowing’
The first track "Been Away Too Long" pretty much sums up my opinion of this album & Soundgarden in general. Sure Chris Cornell has tried some different things since Soundgarden last was together like, a James Bond movie theme & Audioslave to name a few but Soundgarden is different. I grew up with these guys. They have never been my all-time favorite Seattle bands. That distinction goes to Pearl Jam but they are close to the top.
This is a Soundgarden album through & through. Sounds retro heavy & modern cool at the same time. Great album. It won't disappoint.

4. scrap224; Jack White- BLUNDERBUSS

This is a Journey into Sound.....
I do not own this album on vinyl, i only have a digital copy. First off I'm not a giant Jack White fanatic. Is he talented, yes. Does he make good music, yes. Odd, strange, perhaps even a bit eccentric, I think so. But this album has forced me to re-evaluate him.
Blunderbuss is the debut solo album by Jack White, released on April 23, 2012 through White's own label Third Man Records in association with XL Recordings and Columbia Records. The album was released in mp3, compact disc, and vinyl editions. The album was written, recorded and produced entirely by White in 2011. The first single from the album, "Love Interruption", was released on January 30 through White's website and Third Man Records website. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 138,000 copies. The album received a nomination for Album Of The Year and Best Rock Album at the 55th Grammy Awards and the single "Freedom At 21" was nominated for Best Rock Song .
Blunderbuss has its roots in White's recordings with several artists including Tom Jones. White was in contact with Wu-Tang Clan member RZA and, when RZA couldn't attend the session, White felt bad since there was a band that travelled to Nashville for apparently no reason. White decided to record several tracks that he wrote in the last 6 months of 2011, with the band. The tracks would later develop into songs that appear on the album. This album also marked the first time that Jack wrote all the songs in one session, rather than writing the material separately. Jack White has stated Blunderbuss is a record he could not release until now. He went on to state, "I've put off making records under my own name for a long time but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name. These songs were written from scratch, had nothing to do with anyone or anything else but my own expression, my own colors on my own canvas." To promote Blunderbuss, White performed "Love Interruption" and "Sixteen Saltines" on the March 3, 2012 episode of Saturday Night Live, with two different backing bands, one all-female and the other all-male. The studio version of "Sixteen Saltines" was subsequently released via White's YouTube channel on March 13. Promotional copies of the album, distributed to reviewers and radio stations, were sent as vinyl records to prevent leaks. The album leaked on April 15, nine days ahead of its official release. On April 16, Third Man Records streamed the album in its entirety on iTunes for free listening, 8 days before its release.
The Japanese edition of the album features two extra tracks - "Machine Gun Silhouette" and a cover of U2's "Love Is Blindness".
Rolling Stone named it the number 3 album of 2012.
The track listing for BLUNDERBUSS is;
1. "Missing Pieces"
2. "Sixteen Saltines"
3. "Freedom at 21"
4. "Love Interruption"
5. "Blunderbuss"
6. "Hypocritical Kiss"
7. "Weep Themselves to Sleep"
8. "I'm Shakin'" 3:00
9. "Trash Tongue Talker"
10. "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy"
11. "I Guess I Should Go to Sleep"
12. "On and On and On"
13. "Take Me with You When You Go"
For my money, I love Sixteen Saltines. Best track on the album in my opinion.
This is an excellent alternative rock album. I do recommend this album to anyone who enjoys music in general.

5. scrap224; ZZ Top- LA FUTURA

This is a Journey into Sound.....

First off, I do not own this album on vinyl. I probably never will. Although I dig the rock/blues/southern rock that ZZ Top is know primarily for, this new album has elements of all that plus a lot of the synth work they became accustomed to back in the 80's.
La Futura was released on September 11, 2012. Four of the new tracks—“I Gotsta Get Paid,” “Chartreuse,” “Consumption,” and “Over You”—debuted June 5, 2012 as an iTunes-only collection titled Texicali, which met with strong sales and glowing reviews. Music Radar summed up the tunes as “ZZ Top crankin’ up some fresh, vital roadhouse blues.” Another track, "Flyin' High,” appropriately made its world premiere in space, when the then-unfinished song played on board a Soyuz spacecraft during its launch to the International Space Station in June 2011 at the request of NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, a long-time ZZ Top fan and friend. This is when I first became aware of the album.
its first in nine years, following Mescalero. La Futura was recorded at The Foambox Recordings in Houston, Texas. The album title and album art were released on ZZ Top's home page on August 3 at 11:45 a.m. The album contains 10 tracks. “We thought long and hard about what this album should be,” Gibbons says in a press release. “We wanted to recall the directness of our early stuff but not turn our backs on contemporary technology. The result of this melting of the past and the present is, of course, La Futura.”
The track listing is;
1. 'I Gosta Get Paid'
2. ‘Chartreuse’
3. ‘Consumption’
4. ‘Over You’
5. ‘Heartache in Blue’
6. ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose, Lose, You’
7. ‘Flyin’ High’
8. ‘It’s Too Easy Manana’
9. ‘Big Shiny Nine’
10. ‘Have a Little Mercy’
There is of course a Best Buy version that contains two bonus tracks which are;
11."Threshold of a Breakdown"
12."Drive by Lover"
I cannot tell a lie. This album is not ZZ Top's best work in my opinion. It to me at times is rough. Seems over produced. By the way La Futura was produced by the one and only Rick Rubin.
Make no mistake, this is clearly a ZZ Top album, it's them in all their guitar rock glory. I do recommend it. I do enjoy it. "The Future" is upon us, & a classic band we all know & love has reminded all of us of that.

Top 10 lists and the only rule

Greetings music junkies.  It's been a while but we are back and gearing up for a new year of music.  What was your favorites of 2012?  We will be soon posting our top 10's of the year with the top 5 of each list getting double doses of reviews.  Both myself and Scrap224 will be providing commentary on both lists.  Once posted, please feel free to post in the comments section.

On an unrelated note, this is not a site for sharing music.  Links posted in the comments to any blog will be dealt with by deleting the link and the uploader will be reported to the uploading site for copyright infringement.  If you are trying to get either of us to review your own music, there is a way to do this and it is to contact us through the blog.  Unsolicited links will not be followed as we do not wish to promote copyright infringements and have no way of determining what the file is until it is downloaded.

Thanks for following this one and only rule and happy listening.

Differing Opinions #1 Anthrax Worship Music

Anthrax Worship Music

Dear reader and loyal vinyl addicts, welcome to side 2, the differing opinion and possibly either your voice of reason or an aggravation to no end, but hey, that’s the beauty of musical discussion.

Late last year Anthrax, fresh off of the Sonisphere festival with fellow Big 4 Titans Slayer, Megadeth an the almighty Metallica, released their first studio effort since the John Bush helmed ‘We’ve Come For You All’.  Gone were the gruff vocals of Armored Saint’s John Bush and what was that we heard?  A far more high pitched and more familiar voice belting out the opening lines of ‘Earth On Hell’ “The Kids have gone wild in the streets!” a line harkening back to the 80’s and the metal genre that Anthrax once championed.  Yes loyal readers, Joey Belladonna had returned to the fold to bring classic Anthrax the sound and the fury they had been waiting for.  John is no slouch in his own right, but there is only one voice that belongs at the forefront of tracks like ‘Indians’, ‘Be All End All’, ‘Anti-Social’ and the immortal classic ‘I am the Law’.  This is a return to the band that took the torch from the creators of thrash, Metallica, and injected skateboarding and comic references into the music. 

The album is amazing.  It never lets up from beginning to end and contains what are going to be Anthrax classics such as ‘The Devil You Know’ and ‘Fight Em’ Til You Can’t’.  There is complete agreement between this sites reviewers that this is indeed a stellar album and is not only one of the best of the year 2011, it is also arguably one of the best of Anthrax’s career. 

To me, the John Bush years, were simply a different band.  Charlie Benate, Frankie Bello and Dan Spitz, though Dan would eventually be replaced by Rob Cagiano, who, in my opinion, began to help Anthrax feel their roots solidly in the 80’s with his bigger than life riffing and his ability to completely follow the insane energy of Scott Ian on rhythm Guitar.  Albums like Stomp 442 and Sound of White Noise are great records, but were formed during a shift in the trend of metal sound and it feels as though they went for the ride but didn’t quite fit in.  Sort of like the older brother too hip to hang with the younger kids though trying hard to do so.  Coincidently, Stomp 442 was the last Anthrax album I purchased prior to the release of Worship Music. 

With Joey back in the lineup and finally sharing the stage with all of the other members of the Big 4, Anthrax have returned and delivered the album they were destined to make.  Gone are the days where they try to fit the trends and sometimes hitting it and sometimes failing.  Anthrax are best when they are innovating (I’m the Man anyone?  How about Bring the Noise?) Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica are the old gods.  They are to be worshipped and emulated by the young bands trying to get a toe hold instead of the other way around.  This is evidenced by all 4 of the Big 4 bands releasing career defining albums in the past 4 years (Death Magnetic, Th1rte3n, World Painted Blood and now Worship Music). 

This is a record that could not have been made with John Bush.  The  material is too cohesive around a central theme as opposed to an album that pulls from every direction.  The central theme of Worship Music is arguably about consumption.  From the literal sense captured in ‘Fight ‘Em Til You Can’t’ chronicling the beginning of a zombie apocalypse to tracks such as ‘In the end’ with themes of darkness consuming light and death consuming life. This is Joey’s deepest lyrics since Spreading the Disease and possibly more though provoking than the Among the Living.  In contrast to my friend and collegue, I am happy that the John Bush years are behind Anthrax.  John is  a great performer and a fantastic vocalist, but to many a hardcore Anthrax fan myself included, it was wrong.  It was like taking your buddy’s wife on a date, it was just unthinkable.  To me, I look at the John Bush era as a different band, though this is hypocritical in many ways , since many different bands change personnel, Megadeth being one of the biggest offenders of this, but the voice…THE VOICE, the voice cannot and should not change.  Joey is Anthrax.  Scott, Frankie, Charlie and Dan are Anthrax.  Rob is Anthrax…why can’t I see John as Anthrax?  He is the voice…He is Armored Saint and to me always be. 

scrap224; AC/DC- THE RAZOR'S EDGE

This is a journey into sound.....

“Don’t call it a comeback if they were already there.” I don’t clearly know if AC/DC’s THE RAZOR’S EDGE album is necessarily a comeback album but it did re-introduce the band to the listening public all the while galvanizing the already hard-core fan and creating a newer, younger fan base that has lasted ever since it’s September 24, 1990 original release.
The Razors Edge peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 charts and stayed there for 77 consecutive weeks. It also reached #4 on the UK charts. The album helped return AC/DC to its former glory. Currently, the album has sold 5 million copies in the US, certifying it at 5x platinum. The album has sold approximately ten to twelve million copies worldwide, making it the fourth highest selling AC/DC album (after Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Highway to Hell and Back in Black and ahead of Who Made Who).
Track Listing ; 1."Thunderstruck" 4:52 2."Fire Your Guns" 2:53 3."Moneytalks" 3:48 4."The Razors Edge" 4:25 5."Mistress for Christmas" 3:59 6."Rock Your Heart Out" 4:06 7."Are You Ready" 4:10 8."Got You by the Balls" 4:30 9."Shot of Love" 3:56 10."Let's Make It" 3:32 11."Goodbye & Good Riddance to Bad Luck" 3:13 12."If You Dare" 3:08
The Band Personnel: Brian Johnson – lead vocals Angus Young – lead guitar Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals Cliff Williams – bass guitar, backing vocals Chris Slade – drums, percussion.
My version is from the first set of vinyl re-masters that came out during the release of Black Ice. It is 180 gram. The sound quality is perfect.
THE RAZOR’S EDGE holds a bit personal history for me. As it came out in 1990, I was a freshman in high school. Being the sports fanatic I was back then, that was THE album the teams that I was on would use before any pregame ceremonies for that year. It was loud, fast, heavy, and downright metal-ish sounding, perfect for a 13 year old boy. I have always loved this album ever since those times (even though I sucked at most sports things back then).
For my money THUNDERSTRUCK, MONEY TALKS, & SHOT OF LOVE are my top three tunes off the album, with THUNDERSTRUCK being one of the best AC/DC songs they have ever produced.
THE RAZOR’S EDGE is worth getting if you don’t have it already. It is a landmark 90’s album, & a huge one in the AC/DC catalog. Spin It.