Whitesnake – Saints and Sinners – 1982 Okay, I admit it. This isn’t really fair. I’ve set a precedent with myself that the Listening Post series is a completion series. I’m supposed to listen to one band’s catalog from beginning to end and immerse myself in that chronology.The task I Continue Reading
Allen Lulu
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Rainbow – Straight Between the Eyes
Rainbow – Straight Between the Eyes – 1982 The first that struck me on Rainbow’s Straight Between the Eyes is that, while it’s very energetic and all, it’s not a very…cohesive record. The opener, “Death Valley Driver”, a cross between “Communication Breakdown” and “Radar Love” is marred by sloppy lead Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Ozzy Osbourne – Diary of a Madman
Ozzy Osbourne – Diary of a Madman – 1981 Blizzard of Ozz part 2. this one actually follows the same pattern laid down by Blizzard. Great opener “Over the Mountain”, blistering follow-up “Flying High Again”, power ballad “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll”. And so on. Instead of “Mr. Crowley”, Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Black Sabbath – Mob Rules
Black Sabbath – Mob Rules – 1981 I don’t love Mob Rules the way I do Heaven and Hell but it’s still terrific. It’s as though Iommi was challenging himself in the contest of Sabbath vs Ozzy because he’s in terrific form and Butler raises the stakes over the less Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard of Ozz
Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard of Ozz – 1980 “Daddy, I want music, not talk!” my four year old daughter shouted to me as we were on a run to the pharmacy last night. “You got it!” I said and fired up Blizzard of Ozz, which was next on the Listening Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Rainbow – Difficult to Cure
Rainbow – Difficult to Cure – 1981 So, while the other major metal relics of the 60s (Sabbath, Ozzy) mine dark and exciting territories, Ritchie Blackmore turned Rainbow into the Greg Kihn Band with a dash of Scorpions. D2C is a toothless record and a weird one. Sel-important and pretentious Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell
I thought Black Sabbath was over. We all did. Ozzy left or was kicked out. He had his own thing, which I adored. Black Sabbath was supposed to go in to that good night and disappear. The architects of metal were bloated and sad and devoid of ingenuity.How wrong were Continue Reading
Why are we WI?
A friend of mine wrote a note on his facebook page questioning what’s going on in Wisconsin. His point is that a governor is a CEO and the unions are holding an conflict of interest for the politicians in their state. It prompted me to write this.—A CEO is beholden Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Rainbow – Down to Earth
Rainbow – Down to Earth – 1979 Well, Ritchie Blackmore didn’t waste any time. No sooner is Dio out of the band, Graham Bonnett is in, and the Power Pop is in full force. From the outset, Down to Earth sounds like a band trying to be radio friendly. The Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Rainbow – Long Live Rock and Roll
Rainbow – Long Live Rock and Roll – 1978 There’s a theory that the children of a movement are more like the cult of that movement. More earnest. There’s less irony. I think that’s sort of true. And it’s no truer than it is with Rainbow. Only it’s weirder because Continue Reading