Deep Purple – Deep Purple – 1969 Deep Purple’s eponymous album comes a year after their debut AND sophomore records. And from the very first few seconds you can tell it’s a different affair entirely. “Chasing Shadows” is a drummer’s showcase and Ian Paice is up to the challenge. The Continue Reading
Allen Lulu
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Deep Purple – The Book of Taliesyn
Deep Purple – The Book of Taliesyn – 1968 The first thing you notice when you drop the needle on Deep Purple’s sophomore offering is the edge. This is a darker album, but not murkier. It’s edgier, cutting, trippier by virtue of frenzy. Mirroring the landscape that was being mined Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Deep Purple – Shades of Deep Purple
Deep Purple – Shades of Deep Purple – 1968 The Guinness Book of Records has called them the “World’s Loudest Band”. I’m sure Deep Purple contribute to the pastiche that made up Spinal Tap 14 years after this record was released. But, in 1968, Deep Purple started to change the Continue Reading
Listening Post: Fathers of Metal
I was looking back over my old Listening Posts (LPs) and rereading the Judas Priest reviews. Partially to rank them because I was bored one day waiting for my son to come home from the hospital and also because, well, I do enjoy me some Judas Priest. When it occurred Continue Reading
Listening Post: Aerosmith – Honkin’ on Bobo
Aerosmith – Honkin’ On Bobo – 2004 Aerosmith goes back to its roots and becomes…The J. Geils Band?If you go wayyyy back into the Geils catalog you’ll discover that they were one of the best blues bar bands in the country. Also from Boston, their live record Full House is Continue Reading
Listening Post: Aerosmith – Just Push Play
Aerosmith – Just Push Play – 2001 Just Push Play is, without a doubt, the ugliest record that Aerosmith has ever recorded.Still following the formula, utilizing outsized orchestrations whether or not they are appropriate, the band just comes across as tired. And we are not the beneficiaries of anything good Continue Reading
Listening Post: Aerosmith – Nine Lives
Aerosmith – Nine Lives – 1997 So, it’s been more than a year since I was doing the Listening Post for the Toxic Twins from Boston. I actually listened to this record once, but it was playing in the background while I was out in the backyard playing with Zoe Continue Reading
Listening Post: Kiss – Ranking
Excluding the solo records, of which there are too many, and also discounting the live records, even though the first one helped put the band on the map, how did Kiss rank up in the Sept-O-meter? Destroyer: A+ (100)Rock and Roll All Night: A+ (100)Kiss: A (96)Dressed to Kill: A- Continue Reading
Listening Post: Van Halen – Ranking
There are two VHs. Okay three. Let’s see how it all ranks up. Van Halen: A+ (100)1984: A (97)5150: A (96)OU812: A (95)Van Halen II: A (95)Balance: A (94)Fair Warning: B+ (88)Women and Children First: B+ (88)Diver Down: C (75)For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge: D (64)Van Halen III: F (50) Complete: Continue Reading
Listening Post: Judas Priest – Ranking
They were the architects of modern metal. On the cutting edge of rock in so many ways. So, what happened when they were given the Septenary treatment? Hell Bent for Leather: A+ (100)Screaming for Vengeance: A+ (100)Painkiller: A (97)Sad Wings of Destiny: A (96)Stained Class: A (94)Point of Entry: B+ Continue Reading