Def Leppard ~ Vault: Greatest Hits (hits comp) (album review) ... Bring your own sugar!

Style: hard rock, NWOBHM
Label: Mercury
Year: 1995
Home: England

Members: Joe Elliott ~ vocals/rhythm guitar/keyboards
Steve Clark, Phil Collen, Vivian Campbell ~ guitars/b. vocals
Rick Savage ~ bass/keyboards/b. vocals
Rick Allen ~ drums/b. vocals
Pete Willis ~ rhythm guitar

Additional: Robert John "Mutt" Lange, John Sykes ~ backing vocals
Thomas Dolby ~ keyboards

In my mind this is all you'll ever need of DL. This is not to say DL didn't make good albums, they did, but for the casual fan this might be a better buy than all the individual albums. While the albums that came after this collection are not bad, even including the interesting covers album Yeah! & the stripped down non-Mutt Lange produced but poorly titled Slang, but I've always felt DL has suffered a personality crisis to the present day where the songs don't live up to past glories. The collection marks the end of the road. Maybe they knew it at the time & this was one last moment to cash in their chips before the value went down. Will there ever come a second updated hits collection? Perhaps, but it'll be as welcomed as Madonna's follow-up to The Immaculate Collection was ... not much. Anyone wanting to know what made DL big will have here all they need to understand that variable. It goes from their earliest chart hit "Bringin' On The Heartbreak", a favorite of mine, to their last important chart peak of the 90's before grunge swept the scene away & they began their personality crisis, got old & became a cult band more interesting for continuing than what they are creating. I remember growing up two neighbor brothers around my age that I played with all the time were big fans of DL. Posters in their room & it seemed like it was all talk of sex & DL. Neither of which I knew anything about & it's only later those then popular Vanilla Ice & Fat Boys lyrics made sense. My musical ears were tuned elsewhere & it wouldn't be until I was later actively watching MTV & enjoyed "Pour Some Sugar On Me" that I began to take notice & pay more attention to who DL were. I've always waffled, though, on if DL do hair metal better, different than their peers or just more interestingly & if any of that is a fluke or talent. Or, because of my neighbor connection, am I biased to like them & they're really no different, but just with a better producer? While today do they still hold up quality-wise or have their songs ended up sounding more cliché than not? I do know the boys are men now & their current music, let alone image, is more abhorrent than not for me, more lacking energy than anything, & someone's voice sounds shot to me. Chart-topping hits are interesting in the music business as a hit isn't necessarily a song that lasts or holds up beyond the moment. Something can be popular because of who does it more so than it being good on it's own. I don't think I can answer any of the above questions to my or your satisfaction, so I'll let you listen & get back to me with your always welcomed comments. But, in your research don't worry, this isn't a band like Slaughter who had only three hits but a dozen or so tracks on their greatest hits album. These are all certified best of according to MTV plays & more than just fan favorites. But, I will hazard to say that I do think DL were a bit overly slick & polished & some of their comical lyrics do sound a bit too corny & the song too polished in retrospect ... or maybe it always really was ... or maybe the whole scene was & thankfully the description of raw has come to be a label used on more than just blues music. DL were hailed as part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, but I've always seen them as more pop than like peers Judas Priest, so I hesitate to label them as that. Though, their roots are in the 70's, just a few years shy of Van Halen, so they were there in the scene. Plus, I see them as more hard rock then heavy metal as they don't have the bite to me of real metal, or if they did grew out of it. When it comes to hits collection this has them all & I thoroughly enjoyed them then & now ... that I will say. The songs might be overly polished or corny (i.e. "Armageddon It") but I enjoy them & that's what matters. Though, this collection doesn't have much, if anything at all, to offer the long-term fans who have all the albums. They haven't added any non-hits but obscure favorites, nor have they added any unreleased material, nor demos, nor anything to make the target audience anyone but new faces. While there's nothing here from their debut On Through The Night, that might have given them attention as an up & coming British band with working class roots but had no chart hits. This collection isn't a retrospect, though it's close as it starts with "Bringin' On The Heartbreak" from their second album & continues to include songs right up until the time this collection was released. Only the lack of a debut album Billboard hit stops this from being a retrospective, which is sad on some level. Thus, this album doesn't pull any punches but gives you what the title says & that's it. Maybe I might remove of the seventeen songs "Can't Keep Away From The Flame" & the overly-syrupy "When Love & Hate Collide", but it's a trivial subtraction for what is otherwise a strong collection. "Rock! Rock! (Until you Drop)" is a bit too much AC/DC-ish across the board & I'd kill too ... or give it to another band, like AC/DC, to make a real hit out of. So often a greatest hits collection leaves some fans wondering. This almost leaves one wanting more. Or, at least I feel that way. The album is not chronological, but for some that might be trivial as their music never varied too much to make this sound like a disjointed affair with the meandering timeline. This is anthem music for large crowds & never was meant as anything but. The only real problem is it comes as a two CD set with the second volume featuring nine live tracks of the hits ... again, only the hits & nothing more. While some of the guitar solos are longer & more interesting, the recording quality is good, the songs longer, it's not essential & for a casual fan the studio versions are enough & already on the main album. The live versions aren't different enough for the non-casual fan. Personally I would have liked to have heard some obscure tracks down live, or just dump the second bonus CD altogether.

Spinal Tap ~ Back From The Dead (album review) ... Back for more of the same!

Style: comedy, hard rock
Label: Spuzzle Group
Year: 2009
Home: n/a

Members: Derek Smalls ~ bass/vocals
David St. Hubbins ~ lead vocals/guitar
Nigel Tufnel ~ lead guitar/vocals

Additional: Gregg Bissonette ~ drums
C.J. Vanston ~ keyboards

Guests: Phil Collen, Steve Vai, John Mayer ~ guitars
Keith Emerson ~ keyboard

I love the Spinal Tap movie. Who doesn't? But, I've always enjoyed the music better on the albums away from the visual jokes. The music, in many ways, is more ingenious & the humor far more subtle. For all the jokes of guitar solos with feet this is an incredibly talented trio. It's difficult enough to write catchy songs, but they wrote humorous & catchy songs while imitating older styles of music with near perfection. Both their "non-fictitious" albums, the soundtrack from the movie & Break Like The Wind are thoroughly enjoyable, though for different reasons. This new release is an interesting addition that cashes in on their 25th anniversary & is probably not what fans expected. You'll find here a songs recorded in the last decade but not released on an album yet ("Back From The Dead", "Rock'N'Roll Nightmare", "Warmer Than Hell"), there's one completely new "Short & Sweet", the first studio recording of the dreaded "Jazz Odyssey" in all three parts, with the other 12 songs being remakes of songs heard on the soundtrack album. I bought this album, & probably so did many other fans, hoping for completely new songs. Where will the humor of Tap attack next? Maybe next release. The four newer songs are as classy as any classic Tap material, though nothing that blows you away. As for the rest of the album ... a greatest hits album is one thing, but this is a re-recorded greatest hits album that features new versions that are generally weaker than the originals. The point of the album is interesting but more often than not seemingly senseless & across the board pale & boring. "(Funky) Sex Farm" is a good example of this with a new & unnecessary horn line, or the new faux reggae style of "Listen To The Flower People", albeit it could have come straight off of a Bob Marley album. Many of the remakes also features changes so minor the remake doesn't seem to have any point except to hear the band play the hits one more time, while others verge into a weird prog-rock territory. & then, there's "Jazz Odyssey", which was meant as a joke the first time around about a failed band but here it's given a serious treatment & something akin to having a traditional polka suddenly appearing in the middle of a heavy metal guttural singing album. Can anyone say speed bump? Included as bonus tracks would have been better. Hearing these three speed bumps you wonder where did that come from & where or when is it going? The delayed jazz harmonica solo in the third part doesn't help. Then there's the under-looked classic "Gimme Some Money" that no longer sounds like the classic recreation it was supposed to sound like but a weird tune. If the joke is in the arrangement & you kill the joke what's the point? I will say though that Tap are great at recreating musical styles, which they might be better at than comedy. If these were new songs the array of funk, jazz & reggae would be welcomed. There's even a Celtic acapella chant called "Celtic Blues", which isn't anything great, though it ends with the wonderful joke of if they should do it with a capo (a device used on a guitar to change keys but not fingerings). It's moment of classic Tap. I believe Tap are far more talented than we give them credit for, but this is not an essential release nor a good introductory release it you don't know them. Stick to the movie & the first CD & if you enjoy that get the over-the-top Break Like The Wind. Avoid the Return Of Spinal Tap DVD but go for the acoustic Unwigged & Unplugged DVD which is a mixed bag but the good points win out. Oh, I should also mention that you should not download this album. The packaging folds out to foot high cardboard figures of the band which are totally cool. & there's a companion DVD which talks about all the songs & is hysterical.

Bazaar Royale ~ Hard Times Celebrate (EP) (album review) ... Music for the rebel!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal, rap
Label: Bazaar Royale
Year: 2008
Home: New York City

Members: Bazaar Royale ~ vocals
band n/a

Guest: Phil Collen ~ Guitar

Bazaar is credited with creating yet another sub-division of metal - ghetto metal. But, before you groan & say you already know what it sounds like ... Bazaar is one step ahead! Actually, he's literally been one step behind having lived in the ghetto of New York City nearly homeless & broke, a victim of the record label playground before his chance was given & choosing to go back to singing in the subway before going through the game again without being given an opportunity. Heavy metal is, at its core, an expression of angst which makes for a perfect bedfellow for the blues of the ghetto. Why the two haven't been more exploited might have a lot to do with racism. No one talks about white people living in the ghetto, though they do. But, if his ethnicity gives Bazaar an unnatural edge he's also not laid back & enjoying the ride but giving it every punch he can muster to some startlingly genre-bending results. The result brings in an honesty not found in a lot of metal bands with their 'angst-ridden' middle class backgrounds. The blues of the ghetto also are given a dose of optimism & hope in Bazaar's lyrics in his musical suite of self-discovery. But, back to him being one step ahead ... a voice like a Motown soul singer straining to get as much emotion as possible into the air against a rhythmic rock guitar & keyboard background that's layered in such a way to sound more simple than it really is. "Rebel In Me" also features occasional dips into falsetto or what's a pretty close Axl Rose imitation, something deemed impossible until hearing Bazaar. Each song is its own little world showing quite a range of diversity & sounds, but none of them venture into the waters of uncontrolled riffing, sloppy rhythms or over the top solos, with the vocals always keeping the focus like a conductor. At times (i.e. "Hard Times Celebrate") the band falls into basic rhythms while Bazaar does a quasi-rap over it. But, this isn't profane fast rapping but something more akin to Tupac's soft side, or for the rocker's reading, the famous Aerosmith/Run-DMC meeting. Rap when it was honest but not ugly. Bazaar has been catching the ear of all those who hear them. I'd agree! Check him out. 

Graham Bonnet ~ The Day I Went Mad (album review) ... The day I became a Graham Bonnet fan!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal, power metal
Label: Escape Music
Year: 2001
Home: Los Angeles

Members: Graham Bonnet ~ vocals
Kevin Valentine ~ drums

Additional: Mark Eric ~ guitar
Michael Alemania, Teddy Andreass ~ keyboards
Jamie Carter, Tim Bogert, Matt Boyd ~ bass

Guests: Slash, Vivian Campbell, Danny Johnson, Bruce Kulick, Mario Parga ~ guitars
John Thomas ~ guitars/keyboards
Tony Franklin ~ bass

Maybe I listen to too much music that sounds alike cause I swear a lot of it I forget as soon as the headphones come off. Or, maybe a lot of it is just not that memorable regardless of how good the musicians are. Then, occasionally, I hear something & I can't get it out of my head & I realize how really bland everything I've been listening to is in comparison. I originally started this review months ago but the album has been going around in my head so much I didn't want to let it out of my thoughts by finishing the review. I've felt like a parent having a kid leave home. Will I ever listen to the album again once it leaves me? Will I listen to the next album by this artist sooner than later? It's an album like The Day I Went Mad where I realize my problem is an overdose of bland music & I'm frightened to return to it ... I might go mad. This is a wake up album. I even wrote an e-mail to someone about how good this album was & I was only on the 3rd song. Brit Graham Bonnet is one of the lesser names of 80's singers, though it's not because he hasn't been prolific nor because he has an incredibly recognizable & it's not because he doesn't talented set of vocal cords somewhat in the style of Rob Halford. While his trademark James Dean-esque greaser look in an era of hair metal, though recently he's also been known to show up in a suit, has given him lots of coverage. Further, he fronted Rainbow after Dio left along with the Michael Schenker group & was in Alcatrazz with Satriani & Vai respectively. But, like many musicians the chart-topping hit has eluded him & thus his legacy/name recognition isn't reflective of what it should be. This album is cornucopia of alt-rock, Queen-esque operatic choir, 80's rock & power metal & maybe even a little grunge by way of Alice In Chains. The band is great but it's Bonnet's voice that is the key moving it all to a new level. As good as Halford, Dio, Ozzy or any other famed singer with a voice that can scream or get down to a grinding snarl. The Day I Went Mad is full of incredibly memorable riffs spanning a musical spectrum where each song is like a mini-musical world of its own with none of them sounding alike & not a bit of filler & every song, more importantly, rocks out. You actually begin to wonder what the band sounds like if they just let loose & rock out in a jam session. Some bands you know need the studio, but these guys sound like they could make magic anywhere. But, while this cornucopia approach can make for a difficult listen, & has been the weak spot of many albums, Bonnet's voice is the rope that keeps it all together. I didn't know Bonnet before I came across this & picked it up because I like the name of the album, it reminded me of the Queen song "I'm Going Slightly Mad", but this is one of the most spectacular releases I've accidentally took a chance on. If you can't tell - I've been made a fan. Highly recommended for everyone who likes to rock! Further, this is an album that actually sounds original in a world where nothing is original anymore. Featured in guest spots are Slash, Def Leppard's Vivian Campbell, KISS's Bruce Kulick, The Firm's Tony Franklin & members of Firefly.