Steve Vai ~ Sound Theories Vol I & II (album review) ... The mad scientist at work again!

Style: instrumental, avant-garde, classical, rock
Label: Vai.com
Year: 2007
Home: California

Members: Steve Vai ~ guitars

 Wim Grin, Annie Tangberg, Jos Teeken, Jascha Albracht ~ cello
Erica Korthals Altes, Doesjka DeLeu, Marianne van den Heuvel, Linda Dumessie, Elisabeth Liefkes-Cats, Dennis Koenders, Simone Vierstra, Wim Kok, Erik Kromhout, Herman van Haaren, Vera Laporeva, David Peijnenborgh, Marijn Rombout, Seija Teeuwen, Arlia de Ruiter ~ violin
Aimee Versloot, Mieke Honingh, Norman Jansen, Julia Jowett, Iris Shut ~ viola
Friederike Darius, Jeanine Abbas ~ clarinet/flute
Paul van der Feen, Leo Janssen, Marc Scholten, Juan Martinez Schrijver, Werner Janssen ~ clarinet/saxophone
Willem Luijt ~ clarinet/oboe
Jaap DeVries ~ bassoon
Joeri de Vente, Hans van der Zanden ~ French horn
Bert Pfeiffer, Jan Bastiani, Martin de Kam, Hansjoerg Fink ~ trombone
Ruud Breuls, Henk Heijink, Jan Hollander, Jan Oosthof ~ trumpet
Joost Smeets ~ tuba
Joke Schonewille ~ harp
Peter Tiehus ~ electric guitar
Hans Vroomans ~ acoustic piano
Chris Opperman ~ acoustic piano/moog
Carlo van der Put ~ keyboards
Erik Winkelmann, Arend Liefkes, Tjerk de Vos ~ upright bass
Bryan Beller ~ electric bass
Martin Baai, Murk Jiskoot, Arno van Nieuwenhuize, Mike Schaperclaus ~ percussion

Many rock musicians have worked with orchestras & written orchestral scores. Personally, the few I've known have been odd albums I haven't returned to. My least favorites have been when musicians have attached orchestras to their well-known songs (i.e. Kiss, Metallica) where the orchestras have been greatly under-utilized, though I wasn't that enthused by Yngwie Malmsteen's Concerto Suite For Electric Guitar & Orchestra In E Flat Minor with the New Japan Philharmonic & Yes's Magnification with an orchestra was the first Yes album I didn't like by them, so all around the experiments haven't made me anything but a disappointed fan. Of course, by bands I like, I still listen in curiosity. Thus, I turn to SV's two CD set Sound Theories. The more I hear his guitar playing the more he has moved up in the guitar hierarchy for me. Yes, he's often awkward & over the top, but that comes with instrumental guitar players ... particularly those that have played with Frank Zappa, who I'm not a fan of. But, when I hear SV relax he can sing the blues like no other rocker. Though composing orchestral scores for most his life, so he says, SV was given an opportunity to let them live by the Co de Kloet of Dutch Public Radio & Television. SV was commissioned for an hour of music to be performed by the Metropole Orkest. The result ended up being two hours of music - didn't I say he was over the top - performed in a series of concerts over a year. Two years later he released the now heavily edited recordings to the public in a two part album - the first is Vai's guitar playing with the orchestra, while the second is only the orchestra doing some additional songs. When I write heavily edited that is no understatement - a variable that is often brought up when talking about this album, though nobody seems to have made a judgment call if its good or bad - as this is a perfectionist's albums where edits have not just been for sound quality or flow but replacing individual notes. My first response to this album is that he would have done Zappa proud as SV has never sounded more awkward & zany & swinging from mood to mood, almost to the detriment of the flow of the album, he's also not been so over-the-top. Further, I would have not made it a single set as the second volume is too much like a soundtrack to a Charlie Chaplin movie with lots of ethnic scenes as Charlie travels the world. I wish I had the visuals. It sounds like a crazy movie but not enough soft parts in the soundtrack. While its interesting it's lacking his guitar which makes it sound very different, if not empty, though still within the SV style ... SV trying to be John Williams that is. I would have released it on its own as "music by SV" ... but probably only hardcore fans would have bought it ... though Billy Joel did similar with his final studio album & broke through into the classical charts. This might be too Zappa for the classical crowd, but I thought Billy Joel was too pop for them, so who knows. One of the best songs is the first one on the first CD, "Kill The Guy With The Ball", where audience sounds give way to SV's guitar literally sliding in with his trademarkable awkward short phrases that are immediately duplicated by a part of the orchestra. The orchestra repeats that phrase while his guitar gives out another phrase copied by another section. It's a layer of repeating phrases, much like what solo guitarists will do onstage with an effects box but here its an orchestra. The effect is quite engaging. While it may be a disjointed composition - in every way - of true Zappa proportions, its real time construction made of voice-like phrases is pretty cool before it jumps into a riff like bit at three minutes out of 4 & half. This moves seamlessly right into the softer guitar oriented "The God Eaters", with Steve Vai's clean lines, showing that this is not necessarily a collection of individual songs but one large piece. It should be listened to that way, though the mood swings are enough that one will miss stuff if you don't go back & catch the individual parts. The highs & lows are too much for the ear to catch a hold of. Riffs might make rock boring but they do allow the ear to focus & adjust. But, SV does do a good job on many songs letting the guitar stand as one of the instruments & not necessarily the spotlight instrument. "The Murder Prologue" & "The Murder" deserve mention for they do indeed sound like a mini-soundtrack ... but not this time Zappa or John Williams but uncannily Yanni. There's definitely an imitative quality to the arrangements. Perhaps this is due to the fact some of these pieces come from an earlier time in his career or maybe because SV just doesn't have his orchestral non-rock voice in the hole. I'd be interested in hearing what others say about this album. It's big, brassy, in your face, typical SV but maybe a bit too much to handle. It's an experiment & that's it.

Steve Vai ~ The 7th Song (comp) (album review) ... Mystical 7 strings!

style: hard rock, instrumental
Label: Epic
Year: 2000
Home: California

Members: Steve Vai ~ guitars/keyboards/vocals
Guests: Mike Keneally, Tommy Mars, Scott Collard ~ keyboards
Devin Townsend ~ vocals
T.M. Stevens, Stu Hamm, Philip Bynne, Bryan Beller ~ bass
Terry Bozzio, Mike Mangini, Gregg Bissonette, Tris Imboden, Deen Castronovo, Pete Zeldman ~ drums

In terms of solo instrumental guitarists when I was younger I was into Joe Satriani as he was the chart-topper at the time, inheriting the title from Yngwie Malmsteen who had already gotten lost to his own brand of classical meets rock oblivion. But, as I've gotten older I've found myself getting into Satriani's once student SV. Ironically, I first heard SV while living in Japan as my housemate was into the B'z as the guitarist guests on a SV album. With an interest in Japanese music & how it relates to American music I had my first taste of SV. He stayed in my memory as sounding different than what I was used to, but didn't pursue him further due to being in the midst of a jazz/blues phase with a little Tom Waits & Sophie B. Hawkins thrown in. Today, as a collector of guitarist Al Pitrelli I find myself returning to Vai as the two often cross paths via the shared Berkeley education & the same albums. SV got his start in the Frank Zappa band which would set the stage for a career of something different & often challenging ... what I had picked up ia the B'z. He'd later replace Yngwie in Alcatrazz with Rainbow's Graham Bonnet on their under-rated third album before touring with Billy Sheehan as part of David Lee Roth's first solo band. He'd go on to join Whitesnake & create a seven string guitar now a somewhat regular sight in rock. For me, Satriani is a rocker, Yngwie a speed freak show-off but Vai is often the most emotional & with the widest range of experimentation. Because of this he might even be the most challenging to listen to & in turn the most rewarding. SV will let a note hang in the air forever like an old blues guy or run a fast scale in a prog-rock composition. He's more than just a guitarist's guitarist but someone trying to bring guitar playing to new levels. The 7th Song (Enchanting Guitar Melodies Archives Vol. 1) compilation, his first compilation album & the first of four entries in the Archives series of fairly obscure tracks, shows the note hanging in the air side of SV. Presenting a more mystical face to creating music than his peers, SV has made it a habit to always make the seventh song on his albums the melodic rocker. The 7th Song brings many of these seventh songs together with a few other pieces to show the melodic star-gazing side of SV. The linear notes say upfront that this collection forms a reflection of his desire for spiritual communion. We've come to not expect such insights from rock stars, or at least not something sounding so unpretentious & egotistical & in turn almost unsettling. With opener "For The Love Of God", from Passion & Warfare, featuring Indian tambura-esque drones there's no question that this is an slow esoteric journey & not just a rock guitar attack. SV takes us on a journey using seemingly simple soaring guitar lines gliding slowly like calm waves & sometimes occasionally rushing towards the shore. Satriani is known for overdubbing guitar over guitar but SV often keeps to one guitar & just lets the notes come in an almost goal-less improvised sounding fashion. I'm reminded of the playing of jazz great Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, such as in his One Truth Band or with Devadip Carlos Santana & Alice Coltrane. He is another guitarist interested in a journey that's not about verse, verse, chorus, verse, bridge & lots of annoying vocals with cheap lyrics cluttering up the voice of the guitar. Though, it takes great skill to keep the guitar talking instrumental after instrumental & have the conversation not sound forced or boring. SV has the skill in spades maybe more than his peers who often get more technical than expressive. Most of the songs on this release were recorded in different surroundings & line-ups between 1984 & 1990, but the instrumentation is generally very simple via duos & quartets & extremely uncluttered almost as if the songs are demos. "Burnin' Down The Mountain" is a first take, so for some songs demo might not be far off the path, but a demo requires a new song to be made & that's not the case here. Even where there's multiple overdubbed guitars the result sounds like a single instrument that's just able to say two words at once like the Tibetan chanting monks (for example, "Touching Tongues") not dueling guitars as has come to be the expected norm in a solo instrumental rock guitar outing. Further, all the tracks sound like they came out of the same session, thus giving The 7th Song a cohesive sound not typical to compilations. This is mostly because the bands are without doubt taking a backseat to SV. These songs come from his solo albums & thus its about him & not about a group. Whitesnake is one place to go if you want that side of SV or any sense of band interplay. Most of the songs get a bit of background info in the linear notes showing SV as a more complicated person than many musicians present themselves as. He speaks on everything to his belief in what religion is to recording in the afterglow of a forest fire. There's no rock star mask here, but just a guy who happens to play guitar exceedingly well & has great spiritual longings. Actually, in that sense he's quite average ... but most musicians will probably refrain from putting the controversial topic of religion out there outside of disguised song lyrics. But, SV has never been afraid of putting unsettling guitar playing out there & nor is he afraid of putting unsettling ideas out there just the same. SV has a guitar style that floats & glides like water & on first listen one will easily fall into a hypnotic state, perhaps even losing just how technically accomplished he is. But, if that's the case than he does a good job. Too often highly technical guitarists astound us with their almost inhuman skills but afterwards we find ourselves with a soulless vacant experience. Yngwie has been handed this criticism too many times. SV brings the best of both worlds together. SV has so many albums that the new listener may not know where to start. For something different without pounding drums & slashing rhythms this collection is a good starting point while showing SV seemingly naked with no fancy gimmicks between his playing, his mood & the listener. There's a couple new songs included for the already fan. This includes the special seventh song, "Melissa's Garden", which is SV's first step into digital recording. All proceeds from single sales of it go to the Melissa Kravets Memorial Foundation, a eye-catching thing to read in the linear notes. "The Wall Of Light" is an outtake from the Passion & Warfare" sessions, while the simply titled "Boston Rain Melody" is the recording of a jam session during a soundcheck jam that SV added some finishing touches to for this compilation.

The Yardbirds ~ Birdland (album review) ... Leftovers of the pecking order!

Style: hard rock, progressive
Label: Favored Nations
Year: 2003
Home: England

Members: John Idan ~ vocals/rhythm guitar/bass
Jeff Beck, Gypie Mayo ~ lead guitar
Chris Dreja ~ rhythm guitar/percussion
Jim McCarty ~ drums/b. vocals
Alan Glen ~ harmonica

Additional: Martin Ditchum ~ percussion

Guests: Jeff Baxter, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Slash, Brian May, Steve Lukather ~ guitars
Johnny Rzeznik ~ lead vocals

Let's be honest. Outside of the name this isn't really the Yardbirds nor even the brief New Yardbirds. Yes, some of the original members are here & as they got a career boost so long ago behind blues king Sonny Boy Williamson II there's nothing wrong with having a guest heavy album. The Yardbirds were actually one of the most adventurous bands on the British scene, even eclipsing the early Beatles, as they moved from a blues band to a psychedelic band with their songs remaining undoubtable classics. But, times have changed ... the bird has been plucked. Gone are the experimental wild eyed blues boys to be replaced by a plodding near middle-age tribute band. The music falls flat while the 7 new originals are interesting, but the fact that they are the best songs on the album, only one including a guest guitarist & its the weakest, doesn't say much for keeping the Yardbirds name alive. The classic songs are weak & without the risk or even bluesy swagger that they once had. Even their peers Deep Purple, which is criticized today for its FM radio friendliness that was never present with Richie Blackmore, put in a more exciting show. Originally, the Yardbirds came to an end when everyone left except for new guitarist Jimmy Page, who recruited new members, labeled them the New Yardbirds, only to have the name of the band missing from the first album & thus all we have is the name of the album - Led Zeppelin. Before Page the band also had the guitar powerhouses of Jeff Beck & Eric Clapton ... Tony Topham where are you? ... pushing the band through distinct personality changes. Nobody is pushing now. Though Beck guests for a single track on Birdland all that's left of the band is the drummer & rhythm guitarist, returning to the studio 35 years after their last recording. We don't even have original singer Keith Relf, long gone from this world, & singers can make all the difference to a band. It's like someone other than Eric Burden fronting the Animals. You don't know what you've got till it's ... The remaining members might have co-composed the songs but we turn to others to make it pop. Some bands reunite & its like the music kept developing even though it wasn't played for decades. The reunited Doors with Ian Astbury, aka Riders On The Storm or previously Doors of the 21st Century, sound as if they never broke up but kept developing. Big Brother & the Holding Co., numerous singers post Janis Joplin, are the same for those still listening. While other bands reunite falling somewhere between a tribute band & a brand new entity. The Yardbirds here are like that. It's not bad, but it's not the Yardbirds. It's a nice tribute band with no guts except when they do the new songs, which are in a Yardbirds style whatever that means. Not even the guests are able to boost the songs. Actually, the guests seem unnecessary just adding flash where a little breath would be better. The songs, most obviously "For Your Love", started life so primitively that to flesh them out works against them. The result is often one not bluesy enough nor rock enough. This was always a problem with the band since day one, not helped by the "Over Under Sideways Down" psychedelic period, but becomes more so here 35 years later. One of the problems is that there was never any real dominant force within the band & the revolving guitarists didn't help, while the band also went through numerous musical changes. There still is no dominant face, just torch carriers. To be fair, though, to have only two members of a once five member band it doesn't matter whether the two members are Clapton & Relf back from the dead or the rhythm section. There's not enough parts of the equation to take it home & give it life beyond a second rate but high profile tribute band. For those that don't know the Yardbirds outside of their major hit "For Your Love" with Eric Clapton it's time for a musical education. Just don't start with this album as they've got a rich catalog that will keep you happy awhile before you get to this release. Since Birdland the line-up has changed again. McCarty & Dreja remain & so does the revolving door.

Whitesnake ~ Greatest Hits (hits comp) (album review) ... Can't stop this snake from biting!

Style: hard rock
Label: Geffen
Year: 1994
Home: n/a

Members: David Coverdale ~ vocals
Mel Galley, John Sykes ~ guitar/b. vocals
Micky Moody, Dann Huff ~ guitar
Rudy Sarzo, Neil Murray ~ bass
Tommy Aldridge, Aynsley Dunbar, Cozy Powell, Denny Carmassi ~ drums
Claude Gaudette, Jon Lord, Don Airey, Bill Cuomo, Alan Pasqua, David Rosenthal ~ keyboards
Tommy Funderburk, The Fabulosa Brothers, Richard Page, The Big 'Eads ~ b. vocals

Guests: Steve Vai ~ guitar
Glenn Hughes ~ b. vocals

There are numerous albums in the Whitesnake catalog that are great purchases but their Greatest Hits is a great starting point & for many might even be all that's ever needed. This collection lives up to its name with all the MTV certified hits until 1994, plus unreleased mixes and recordings that never made it to an album. The one problem is that it's a hits collection not a career retrospective. In the mid-70's singer David Coverdale formed the White Snake Band that toured two albums before the name was combined into a single word. Under the new name Whitesnake formally debuted in 1978 & included Coverdale's former bandmate from Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord. This early line-up was more blues & progressive covering B.B. King & Bobby "Blue" Bland songs. After a break Coverdale reformed the line-up in 1982 with the sound moving more towards the hard rock that was dominating the scene. They'd get their first hit with "Here I Go Again", setting the tone for what would follow with hard rock sex-laced power ballads to find their biggest success with the creation of MTV & the dominance of lots of sexy models along with Coverdale's own Robert Plant-like good looks. The band would go through regular line-up changes with Whitesnake eventually becoming Coverdale's own personal set of rotating chairs, though the sound would largely remain the same to the present day. Whitesnake has always featured some great musicians who have been greatly responsible for making the band into what it was, but they were never able to share the spotlight, thus, outside of diehard fans, for all intensive purposes David Coverdale is Whitesnake. If you like one you'll probably like the other. After 1989's Slip Of The Tongue the hits stopped, the recording slowed down with only three studio albums through 2011, Coverdale did a solo album ... basically the same sound but less flashy & more ballady but where he cut his hair short & like other musicians who did the same found little commercial success ... joined with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin for the quasi-successful Coverdale/Page & basically tried to stay alive in a music scene that turned its back on 80's hard rock. The thing about Coverdale is that he's largely never varied the Whitesnake sound after 1982. One might even call the post-1982 Whitesnake a different band than earlier outings. It's also the hit making band & pretty much all that's featured on this album. Though there is some unreleased tracks from the Jon Lord line-up this is primarily a look at the later hard rock era. This is good in the sense that if you like that era you'll like the whole album as there's a uniformity to the music and not disjointed as some compilations are, but if you want to hear the diversity of Coverdale that's largely not going to happen. Some of the unknown tracks are clearly not hits, so you will get both highs & lows, if that matters & if anything just reflects the fact that for certified greatest hits Whitesnake basically has few. If you don't like Whitesnake with its Robert Plant-esque vocalist but with a darker rasp ... doing the music many of us wish Robert Plant had done ... you probably won't be turned on to them as you might with a career retrospective. There's other compilations that are a more authoritative though the intense career boxset has yet to be released, but Greatest Hits is the most easy to find.

Alice Cooper ~ Hey Stoopid (album review) ... Feed this Frankenstein of superstars!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal, shock rock
Label: Sony
Year: 1991
Home: Arizona

Members: Alice Cooper ~ vocals/harmonica
Stef Burns ~ guitar
Hugh McDonald ~ bass
Mickey Curry ~ drums
John Webster ~ keyboards

Additional: Steve Croes ~ synclavier
Robert Bailey ~ keyboards

Guests: Slash, Steve Vai, Mick Mars, Vinnie Moore ~ guitar
Joe Satriani ~ guitar/b. vocals
Nikki Sixx ~ bass
Jai Winding ~ keyboards
Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Keeling, Lance Bulen, Stan Bush, Mike Finnigan, Zachary Nevel, Mick Wilson, Corky McClennan, Shaun Murphy, Tony Palmucci, Jack Ponti, Vic Pepe, Scott Bender, Terry Wood, Sherwood Ball, Cali, Nick Coller, Ian Richardson, Gary Falcone ~ b. vocals

Cooper has confessed in his autobiography to having spent the early 80's drunk & moving through musical styles that didn't work for fans or him. In the late 80's, after a series of hard rock albums that slightly brought him back on course albeit with no chart hits, he deliberately teamed up with hit maker/songwriter Desmond Child to get back on the charts after a decade & become again the respected musical force he once was. Trash was a return to glory via heavily commercialized hard rock, a fresh image & a successful world tour featuring an array of future icons in his backing back (Al Pitrelli, Derek Sherinian, Jonathan Mover, Eric Singer). Albeit, Child is known for penning love ballads for Cher, Aeromith & Bon Jovi & didn't much change his style to suit Cooper's style. But, the album achieved its goal while establishing Cooper as a leather wearing hard rocker balladeer still surrounded by his famous props. But, it's the follow-up Hey Stoopid, sans Child & an over-reliance on love songs but keeping everything else, that finally brought Cooper completely home. It didn't have the plethora hits that Trash spawned but that's more a reflection of changing MTV audiences than the number of future classics on the album. Back in full force is the tongue-in-cheek horror themes that had worked so well for Cooper but abandoned(i.e. "Might As Well Be On Mars" one of two remaining tracks with Child, "Feed My Frankenstein", "Snakebite" co-written with Kelly Keeling of Dokken & the Michael Shenker Group, "Burning Our Bed" co-written with Al Pitrelli, "Hurricane Years", "Hurricane Years", "Dirty Dreams", "Die For You" co-written with Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx & Mick Mars), while underneath humor was an array of emotive love ballads & cutting social commentary, the former taking a more prominent role in later albums particularly the Brutal Planet trilogy. The corny sounding title track was actually a cry against those wanting to commit suicide with "Hey, hey, hey stoopid, they win, you lose" ... though many may not realize that Cooper is more than shock rock but has opinions & a positive social message. Remaining on Hey Stoopid is also the commercial sheen that had glossed up Trash & really works for Cooper however much raw music is cherished over commercialization. Cooper doesn't cuss, have nudity or do anything horrid on stage like many of his imitators & anything but a non-commercial sound would fail. Though, gone forever is the experimental flavor of the 1970's Alice Cooper band, here confirmed with an array of guest hard rock guitarists to prove this is a new Cooper. Hey Stoopid would be the mold for everything that has come since. All the pieces are here that would get developed further, from the leather to the humor to the guest musicians, to memorable chorus lines. This is also one of the stronger releases with some of his most memorable songs, though this is firmly rooted in 80's hard rock while Cooper would later experiment with industrial (i.e. Brutal Planet) & power metal (i.e. The Last Temptation). The post-Trash Alice Cooper is a heavy metal vicious beast. The songs are fairly generic 80's metal but what sets them apart is Cooper's recognizable vocal style, catchy lyrics that are more mini-narratives & unpredictable musical arrangements. Cooper wants you to go to on an emotional ride with him & he does it very well with this release, oft forgotten but deserving a new listen.

Alice Cooper ~ Classicks (live, hits comp) (album review) ... Star studded & not quite classics as you know them!

Style: shock rock, heavy metal, hard rock, greatest hits, live
Label: Epic
Year: 1995
Home: Arizona

Members: Al Pitrelli, Stef Burns ~ guitar/b. vocals
John McCurry, Pete Freezin' ~ guitar
Hugh McDonald, T-Bone Caradonna ~ bass
Derek Sherinian ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Greg Smith ~ bass/b. vocals
Jonathan Mover, Bobby Chouinard, Mickey Currey, David Uosikkinen ~ drums
Robert Bailey, Alan St. John, John Webster, Steve Croes ~ keyboards

Additional: Dan Wexler ~ guitar
Zachary Nevel, Vic Pepe, Tony Palmucci, Scott Bender, Corkey McClennan, Lance Bulen, Terry Wood, Shaun Murphy, Sherwood Ball, Cali, Gary Falcone, Ian Richardson, Nick Coler, Mick Wilson, Mike Finnigan, Stan Bush ~ b. vocals

Guests: Slash, Steve Vai, Joe Perry ~ guitar
Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, Kelly Keeling, Jack Ponti ~ b. vocals
Joe Satriani ~ guitar/b. vocals
Nikki Sixx ~ bass

Before reviewing this compilation/live album let me note that this was released by the label after Alice had left & thus his involvement was minimal, so the outcome may not be exactly what he'd release if given full creative control. Like the Megadeth greatest hits albums released by Capitol Records after the band moved to Sanctuary Records in 2000 ... it's all about a label continuing to make money on an artist now making money for someone else. That being said ... how do you get fans to buy a greatest hits package that has tracks probably everyone already has in their collection? Well, you can focus the greatest hits collection on a particular theme, here being the leather era look of a now sober Alice. Next, you record a new track or two that you set beside both classic tracks & some lesser known more recent tracks. But, what do you do when your musician has left your label & thus there's no new tracks forthcoming? Of the 15 songs on Classicks, a name suggested by Alice himself, one track is a new song, albeit it's actually an underheard B-side, eight tracks are recent while six are classic tracks from the 70's but performed live by the 1989/1990 touring band. The idea is that all the tracks have the same 80's hard rock sound & not reflect the eclectic musical changes that have highlighted Alice's career. This album was looking for new generation of fans who liked one style of music & it was loud, bombastic & full of guitar. When it comes to greatest hits compilations this is one of the more unique approaches I've seen. It's right up there with Asia re-recording all their old songs for Anthology, albeit this is far more successful & enjoyable as the touring band isn't trying to duplicate which was Asia's goal. Classicks is supposed to be a greatest hits collection but the recent tracks are culled only from the then most recent Trash from 1989, Hey Stoopid & The Last Temptation, while the classic tracks are all from the Alice Cooper Band & 1975's Welcome To My Nightmare. Thus, besides lacking quite a few classic hits, there's a near fifteen year gap of recordings missing from this album making its status as a true greatest hits albums weak. Albeit, no hits really came from the ten albums released in that time, but there's a few gems such as "You & Me" that keep them from being completely forgettable though they largely are according to both fans & Alice himself in his autobiography. But, the MTV era hits are here that culled a new generation of fans, though only Trash really scored any real hits. But, though Trash spun off four videos & the most commercial success its strangely represented by the single track "Poison" while the other two albums, that might have spurred less hits but have stronger songs, are given more than their fare share of attention considering their minor commercial impact. It's almost as if Trash had gotten enough success & now the label wanted some attention on the other lesser selling albums. Alice of the late 80's/90's was a heavy metal guy, far different than his 70's/early 80's persona, brought home by the live versions on Classicks of classic Alice Cooper Band hits that are far different & more wild than their 15-20 year old studio counterparts. Taken directly from the Trashes The World video they are raw two guitar onslaughts with a high energy band including future Savatage/Megadeth/Asia/Trans-Siberian guitarist Al Pitrelli, future Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian, under-rated drummer Jonathan Mover of GTR with Steve Howe, guitarist Pete Freezin' & bassist T-Bone Caradonna. It's the band that would set the sound & look for Alice through the present day with current shows being a development of the Trash look. Eric Singer, famous for his future tenure with Kiss, would replaced Mover soon after filming the video but no official recordings of his time with the tour exist. This tour line-up, supporting the release of Trash, on this compilation only feature the band playing the classic songs. At first the live tracks sound messy & cluttered with guitars roaring in a way not heard before, though they are a perfect reflection of how Alice updated his sound for the 80's, putting aside the more prog elements of the songs for a more headbanging sound. The songs might be re-arranged but remain untouchable classics. Anyone who doesn't know the contemporary music by Alice is missing an important chunk of his career. This is a good starting point for someone unsure of if they might like his current sound, plus as a bonus it features numerous guest musicians. Personally, I'd buy The Last Temptation first, then consider this compilation or the other two studio releases if I liked what I heard. The Last Temptation has some of the most heart-breaking songs Alice ever recorded, telling the story of a boy lost in the world & eventually discovering God as this album marked Alice's Christian conversion. In many ways this is a lopsided compilation as it's featuring a studio band then a completely different live band & thus sounds like two albums. But, to hear 80's Alice one could do a lot worse. The albums on the new record label that would follow this compilation would see Alice going even heavier & into industrial & bringing the character to its scariest thus Classicks ends up the end of an era & a photograph of past glories.

Randy Coven ~ Funk Me Tender (album review) ... No treble for Malmsteen & Vai bassist!

Style: hard rock, funk, instrumental
Label: Guitar Recordings
Year: 1990
Home: New York

Members: Randy Coven ~ bass
Jim Hickey ~ guitars
Todd Turkisher ~ drums

Guests: Steve Vai, Al Pitrelli ~ guitar
Wayne Shuster ~ sax
Mark Wood ~ violin

Opening with an over the top distorted "Star Spangled Banner" a la Hendrix, Funk Me Tender features an eclectic mix of a dozen instrumentals spanning funk to rock, all strung together with the jazz-rock funky bass of Randy Coven of the bass school of T.M. Stevens, Billy Sheehan, Stanley Clark, Bootsy Collins and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. As a bassist myself I tend to gravitate more toward the other end of the spectrum such as Bill Wyman, John Paul Jones, Geezer Butler and some of the traditional jazz guys where the bass remains firmly a rhythm instrument, but there's no questioning Coven as a major talent. A highlight of the album is guitarist Jim Hickey whose loud distorted solos really give many of the songs their flavor and form, undoubtedly honed by years of the band playing together in gritty Tri-State clubs as the complicated rhythms and melody lines have a gritty urban sound. I find instrumental albums are also difficult ones to approach, let alone discuss. I find it hard to figure out whether it's good or bad as you can't base your ideas on traditional song structure of verse/chorus/verse/chorus. While, what can seem bad might only be reflective of the mood of the listener. Also, lyrics often dictate a mood of a song but that variable is absent. Though, "Toronto Blues" is a slow blues in both name and feel, but songs like "Manhattan Mama" "Tree" "Poached Antelope" and "Chopped Sewage" don't exactly imply any emotion, unless one is a member of Greenpeace. And, I hate to just look at the album from the point of view of technical prowess as Coven can definitely create some very emotional grooves. I do like the fact that the songs aren't completely centered on the guitar. Coven's bass, named Sammy, often sits right up front creating a duet style, akin to jazz pianist Bill Evans work with Scott LaFaro. The drumming is probably the only thing that is subdued, but it provides the important job of keeping the beat so everyone else can go to town. I will say that the instrumental flavor of the album largely shows it's age when such things were still frequent. Nobody is making albums like this anymore either in style or instrumental approach. Guesting on the album is Coven's collegemate Steve Vai with his recognizable slick sound. On "Uptown", playing an quasi-indistinguishable "second guitar" is Al Pitrelli in one of his earliest recordings, playing rhythm, a solo underneath Jim Hickey's solo and a little outro. He almost gets lost, though provides an interesting way of boosting the sound of the guitar without electronics or overdubs. He'd later play with Alice Cooper, Megadeth, Savatage, on some of their best output, along with their transformation into Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Violinist without compare Mark Wood, whose played with Celine Dion, also plays on two tracks. It's not everyday you get violin on a funky rock album, particularly sounding more like a keyboard than a guitar. For those interested in mid-80's instrumental prowess, or maybe I should say back in the days when such things still seemed to matter, Coven is a guy worth hunting for.

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.