2025 Hard Rock Journal Vol. 1

Rory Gallagher - Blueprint. 1973 Polydor (LP). After being pleasantly surprised by Gallagher's Against the Grain (see below), Blueprint is more of what I would expect from a blues rock guitarist. I didn't derive too much out of this title unfortunately. (Jun)

Morly Grey - The Only Truth. 2000 Akarma (LP) (1972). Collection revisit (May). When I first started collecting heavily in the late 80s, I began to receive catalogs with big-time rarities. Among the top tier of those was Morly Grey, an album going for more than three times my monthly apartment rent back then. Without knowing the future, I just presumed I would never get to hear an album like that. It was exactly at that time the bootleggers started to run wild, and albums like this were available to us paupers too. After a couple of bad experiences I avoided those boots like the plague, and The Only Truth remained an album I missed in my original deep diving experience. Many years later, the always checkered Akarma showed up with a supposed legal LP reissue. Complete with the poster! Oh why not I said - especially since I had access to obtain it at a wholesale price. That's Part 1 of this review - the collector background. For Part 2 I'll cover on the music. If one was to just hear this album as "all things being equal" then I think it would be easy to walk away unimpressed. But if you can immerse yourself in the regional culture of northeastern Ohio in the early 70s, then an album like Morly Grey opens up. And that painting and font / lettering could be the cover art for the entire early 70s American private press movement. Even with that immersion, Morly Grey isn't near as adventurous, as heavy, or as psychy as many of their counterparts of the day. The 17 minute title track looks impressive on paper, but when you realize much of it is a space rock version of 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home', then it loses its punch. Many of my peers love this record but I'm not feeling it. Never have. For Part 3 of this evaluation, I now need to consider the ownership. Were it an original copy, I would treasure it to the end. Because it would come with a story of how I obtained it. If that happens at some point in my future, that would still hold true. Perhaps I'll obtain the later issued Sundazed CD or LP on the cheap via my various digging and trades. But this version? Akarma was always good at packaging, I'll give them that. But do I have any nostalgia at all for this particular LP? Nope - wholesale online mail order buy. Probably bought it in between some corporate meetings. No magical listens either. Long way of saying that this LP is out the door. But there's still room for The Only Truth in the collection if opportunity affords itself. Not essential though.

Eternity. 1981 (online). One of those sought after private hard rock albums from the abyss that was the late 70s and early 80s. Reissued on LP in 2014 by Got Kinda Lost, a Guerssen sublabel, the album was released to a larger niche audience. Looking at the cover, I know if I found an original in the wilds my hands would be sweating. It's got the look. You'd think it might be a Christian metal album actually, though it's neither Christian nor metal. As for the music, it's surprisingly straightforward for the time. Many of these type of underground bands from this era would mix in some proggy ideas or let loose in the instrumental department. No such luck with Eternity. The hype sticker suggests it has a sound more from the early 70s. Naw, too dormant for that. The guitar solos are very good, the other guys are rather static including the vocals. It's tough to figure out the audience for such a record, even in its day. Far different than fellow southern Californian residents Alkana. Good hard rock for certain, leave it at that I guess. Sealed copies of the reissue are still available online for a good price if interested. (Apr)

Steve Vai - The Ultra Zone. 1999 Epic (CD). It's hard to walk away from CDs like this when they're mint and only 69 cents, even though that's about all it's worth. I like Steve Vai though I've yet to hear anything I wanted to keep, including his work with David Lee Roth. This is a typical eclectic brew of hard rock styles with Vai's adept soloing. Something like this would have been head turning in 1979, but 20 years later, there were many of these type of albums, including from Vai himself. Fans will love it, but I remain impressed yet bored. (Apr)

*Rory Gallagher - Against the Grain. 1975 Chrysalis (LP). I'm way late to the party when it comes to Rory Gallagher. One of those artists I've heard of almost since the beginning of my time listening to FM radio, and yet have never taken the time to hear one of his albums. My loss. I never find them either, despite Against the Grain not being an expensive record (and many others appear affordable as well). The easy description is Gallagher plays blues rock. But this is far more interesting than your standard 12 bar blues. And what a guitar tone he achieves. One can hear Foghat, Groundhogs, or Frank Marino here, though probably one or all were more influenced by Gallagher than the other way around.  I preferred Side 1 to the flip. 'Cross Me Off Your List' is a particular highlight. I need to hear more of his albums before formulating an opinion and creating a page. I'm sure at some point I will find them out in the wilds. (Apr)

AC/DC - The Razors Edge. 1990 ATCO (MC). A reasonable person might ask why I continue to listen and review AC/DC albums when I don't like any of them. A good question that I don't have a great answer to other than to say I'd like to document all of them and try to be as objective as possible. I have to admit the opening is quite intriguing, as Angus Young has quite the unique riff going. But once Brian Johnson begins singing with his sandpaper voice, it's back to the usual boogie hard rock complete with gang chorus'. RYM has this as their highest rated album after Back in Black including For Those About to Rock, which surprised me. I once found a sealed reissue LP of this album but there was no way I was going to break it figuring I wouldn't keep anyway. Easy guess. I can't imagine building a group page for AC/DC since I doubt I'll keep any of them. If I do, then I can consolidate all these journal entries. Otherwise it just looks like I'm bitter towards them. But I'm not, they're just outside of my enjoyment zone. (Mar)

Terry Reid. 1992 BGO (CD) (1969). Very much of its era English blues rock. Many compare to Led Zeppelin in their similar early blues rock phase, though I'm not hearing it myself, even though Reid was very much part of that circle. Some good fuzzy guitar offsets the mostly vocal tracks. The highlight for me is Pete Solley's (not Pete Shelley as is often cited) organ performance. 'Marking Time' is my favorite track by some measure, and the rest is decent, but rather mundane to my ears. Typically great BGO reissue with a full history. Also contains four bonus tracks from 1967 and 1968. On these Reid is performing a more Beatles styled Baroque psych pop, much different than the album proper. (Feb)

George Hatcher Band - Coming Home. 1982 The Goods (LP) (1980). This ended up being much more interesting than I thought it would be. I found a sealed copy a full year ago while Mrs. UMR and I were antiquing down south in Florence (Colorado). Put it in the sealed records box to eventually check out. I found the album on YouTube with little expectation. The publishing address is Charlotte, North Carolina, so I presumed country rock to be honest, especially considering his look on the cover. Nope - not that. Singer George Hatcher was born and raised in North Carolina, but relocated to England in the mid 70s and began to work with Curved Air members. So clearly he associated with next level musicians. He started his own group in England playing American styled southern rock. Eventually he moved back to Charlotte and built a new band under his name. The reviews out there are accurate when they say that Hatcher bears a strong resemblance to Bob Seger. And some of the music also recalls the Silver Bullet Band. But it's much more creative than that might imply. There's also some really strong synthesizer, clavinet, and dual guitar work here. The opening three tracks are best before beginning to devolve into typical boogie rock. But even on those songs there's usually a cool guitar break. B3 and the second half of B1 are also really good. After A3 I was thinking this was going to be a keeper, but overall just not enough meat on this bone to keep me full through the winter. Will take the profit instead. (Feb) 

Power - Electric Glitter Boogie. 2017 In The Red (LP) (2015). Got this sealed from a store in Denver for really cheap (Feb). Let's go to Bandcamp and see if this is something I want to keep. Power are an Australian band celebrating the hard charging boogie rock of their 70s ancestors, like early AC/DC and Rose Tattoo. With a dash of late 70s punk thrown in, especially considering the songwriting and vocal style. But the guitarist gets a lot of limelight, putting us back in the early 70s. I wish they were copping Buffalo instead, but this isn't bad at all. No need to keep though.

Cherry St. - Monroe. 1996 Perris (CD). Cherry St. were yet another 80s glam band out of Los Angeles. Way late to the party (so to speak), they had to borrow old cans of hairspray just to get a back row seat. By the time of Monroe, they went au natural and look like every other tattooed hard rock band trying to make a go of it. The music is straight up boogie hard rock like AC/DC and Krokus, and the lyrics are loaded with foul language. No bueno by any measure. Appears the band never got plugged in correctly, and are now a mere footnote in history. This version features three bonus tracks where they at least up the metal ante. Needed way more than that though to gain anyone's attention. (Jan)

Other hard rock albums heard but not reviewed: Edgar Winter - Roadwork (Mar); Trapeze - Hot Wire (Apr).

* - Keeping for the collection

2024 Hard Rock Journal Vol. 2 - Complete

The following came from a friend's garage sale. He had a pile of cassette tapes for a buck each, so I bought about 35 of them, many I kept as extras for the heck of it.

Alice Cooper - From the Inside. 1978 Warner Bros. (MC). Looks like I found this on LP back in 2019 and subsequently gave it 1 star, which is really bad. I don't even remember that. Hence I now keep these journals. Let's try it again. I don't hear it so awful this go round, but yea, it's not very good for certain. Mostly limp-wristed hard rock shilling for radio time. OK only a +1, moving it to a Gnosis 6. Woof. (Aug)

AC/DC - Highway to Hell. 1979 Atlantic (MC). As noted many times before, I'm no fan of AC/DC. For me, Highway to Hell has always been Exhibit A as to why. To this day I think the title track is abhorrent. But is the whole album so bad really? After taking a deep breath I went for a full listen. I can objectively say it's better than I remembered, +2 in fact. Which is still two points from any kind of collection consideration. But I moved it from way outside of my interest area to average for the style. (Aug)

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Texas Flood. 1983 Epic (MC). I purchased Vaughan's Couldn't Stand the Weather when it first came out, but that was all I knew about his work until recently. Texas Flood is his debut and is more conservative than the aforementioned Weather album. Straight up Texas Blues with only a hint of the psychedelic. (Aug)

Jimmy Page - Outrider. 1988 Geffen (MC). Much better than I would have expected. Page takes the Led Zeppelin sound to 1988. Perhaps more like The Firm. Not as multi-dimensional as Zeppelin's classics, but they were also losing their way by the end like everyone else. You really couldn't hope for much more than this. Solid hard blues rock, though I found the first side better. (Jul)

---end of sale

Kiss - Asylum. 1985 Mercury (LP). From a local record store's $1 bin (Jun). A high priced store that inexplicably will throw in more expensive albums in the buck bin because it might have a flaw. This one has a nasty looking scuff on Side 2. It's inaudible! I'll take the deal thank you. As for the music I found this one better than the previous Animalize. Better tones and songwriting. None of which plays to Kiss' strength. Average I guess.

The Hunt - Back on the Hunt. 1980 Visa (LP). From a large garage sale buy that I've mainly covered in the Jazz/Fusion or Funk journals (Jun). I really enjoy The Hunt's debut and I'd heard the second was a major drop off in quality. Is that true? Mixed bag but 6 of the 10 are solid hard rockers. A1,A2, A5, B3-B5 are more thoughtful than expected. The other four are pretty dreadful, though A3 is maybe just too long rather than bad. They should have stuck to originals as two of the three stinkers are cover tunes. I won't keep this one but better than I expected.

April Wine - Harder....Faster. 1979 Capitol (LP). From an antique mall (Jun). I seem to be gravitating towards Canadian hard rock / AOR of late. Solid entry and some really good tunes, and some throwaways. Some of these tracks were soundtracks to my freshman year of high school. Their cover of Crimson's Schizoid Man adds one more point. 

Roy Buchanan - Second Album. 1973 Polydor (LP). From What's Left (Jun). Solid instrumental blues rock. Doesn't amp up too much but there is a little of that.

Joe Satriani. 1995 Relativity (CD). From a Kansas City area thrift store back in Oct 2023 (Jun). Solid guitar fronted hard rock / blues / metal release. Satriani takes the kitchen sink model and tries his hand at various styles. Well played and he has a good melodic sense. Not something I need to keep however.

The Cult - Electric. 1987 Sire (LP). From the Springs record show (May). This album bugs me. I should embrace it. An obvious 80s band who went decidedly hard rock, a favorite style of mine. But it's a type of modern hard rock I don't appreciate. Too self-conscious and too cool for school. I struggle to get through it. I thought my rating of 8 was too low, but if anything, it may have been a bit high.

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts - I Love Rock n' Roll. 1981 The Boardwalk (LP). From the COS record show (May). The title song was one of many soundtracks of my high school years. Not a song I ever embraced I'll quickly assess. This is their debut after Jett left the Runaways. Much credit is heaped onto Jett for releasing a groundbreaking hard rock album, an unusual move for women at the time. From my perspective, I say whoop-de-doo. This is a decidedly masculine sounding album, and The Blackhearts are dudes anyway. One would think Heart would have far more credibility on that topic, and they brought a unique feminine touch, that which is completely missing here. I consider this album boring as heck. Every song sounds the same and is borderline 50's rock and roll revivalist. Not impressed. 

---collection revisits

Kai Kln - Vigoda. 1996 Rude Boys (1992) (CD). Sacramento, California based Kai Kln have much more of a Guns N' Roses thing going here on Vigoda than the pure hard rock delight of the debut Rythym of Stranger (sic). Though there's some carryover of the same energy and sound in places. Not a bad album at all, but definitely playing more to an established audience with set expectations rather than the pure retro 70s hard rock of earlier. (May)

2021 Hard Rock Journal Vol. 1 - Complete

Aerosmith - Draw the Line. 1977 Columbia (MC). Thrift shop find (Aug). Draw the Line was a much anticipated album in its day - sold like hotcakes early on - and then after most everyone had a chance to hear it - it was considered a major flop. Much ink has been spilled to explain that the band were on a steady diet of hookers and blow, that they were exhausted from non stop touring, they couldn't stand the sight of each other, and the record executives were relentless in their pursuit of profit. Therefore, Draw the Line was a muddled mess of stitched together ideas and no melodies to speak of. Essentially this was the end of Aerosmith until their remarkable comeback in the mid to late 80s (commercially speaking of course...). So everything I said above is likely to be true, and has been verified by everyone including the band. So what's interesting is to see modern reviewers kind of scratch their head and state - sounds good to me, very much like Aerosmith! They're not wrong, so why the disconnect? Because real time, Aerosmith were still completely living in the past. They hadn't modernized or changed their sound one iota. Even the Stones and the Who had moved on to new greener pastures. Aerosmith were just doing their blues and party rock thing, oblivious to the world around them. In retrospect, that's considered a good trait. Staying true to your roots and not chasing new trends to somehow remain relevant to a younger audience. It wasn't a carefully thought out decision, but the results are more or less the same. As with any Aerosmith album, they managed some good cuts, and some boring ones. They were never the greatest of songwriters to begin with. And there's plenty hear to savor: 'Kings and Queens' is one of their best tracks period; 'Critical Mass' and the title track are also fine. But some 45 years later, the bad rep lingers on. But over time, it will continue to even out.

Molly Hatchet - Flirtin' With Disaster. 1979 Epic (LP). 50 cents at Independent (Aug). They say you can't judge a book by its cover, and I counter that you usually can. But in this case, the cover has no bearing on the music whatsoever. What a waste of a Frazetta painting. And at the tender age of 14, I fell for it. I read about a band called Molly Hatchet (likely in Rolling Stone) with three guitars, and saw that cover, and bought the album sound unheard. I didn't like it all back then and couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Times have changed, my horizons have broadened, so most assuredly I will view this album in a better light, right? Wrong. I like it even less now. I'm more than fine with a southern rock album, but this is really boogie rock. A couple of decent hard rockers, but the rest of this is whiskey swilling music. The cover implies epic metal. The music is closer to The Doobie Brothers or Bachman-Turner Overdrive. What a disappointment really. It wasn't that long ago I heard the debut, and enjoyed it. Hmmm.

*Dust. 1973 Kama Sutra (LP) (1971). Collection revisit (Aug). I've owned this album since 1991 and in those days, I was 100% prog focused, so this album was an anomaly pickup. And, as such, it sort of has languished in the collection for all these years. I'm pretty sure I tried to sell it in the mid 90s through my old Creativity and Chaos lists (for $5!), but there was no market back then. There is now, that's for sure. Music like this has transcended time. As I stated on the Montrose notes, it was pretty rare to find ballsy hard rock from the States during this era. But most groups still had a base in the blues, and that's exactly what Dust brings on their 1971 debut (this copy has a blue label, so it's a second press from two years later). For the most part it's just jammin' hard rock, with marginal tunes, bonehead sex-obsessed lyrics - and killer guitar solos. Perfect. There's one blues throwaway ('Goin' Easy') and couple of other softer pieces, though the latter are well done. And they even get a bit proggy on the near 10 minute 'On a Dry Camel'. Anyway, well known album for hard rock connoisseurs. Easy +1 listen here. 

*Uriah Heep - …Very 'eavy Very 'umble. 1970 Vertigo (Germany) (LP). Picked this up in a trade with a local collector (Jun). I'd been on the lookout for a Swirl version for some years, so it was a surprise to see it in a local friend's stash. Not exactly a commodity, as these old Vertigo's are hard to source, even the popular bands. Musically, most of you know this one. The blueprint for the Heep's sound can be found right here. Heavy organ and guitars with David Byron's excellent vocals. Some mellotron and acoustic guitar for the ballads. This version has the original 'Lucy Blues' which didn't make it onto the US release. It's the obligatory 1970 UK blues track, and is the weakest on the album IMO, so Mercury had the right idea by replacing it. This replaces the basic CD I have.

*Tony Joe White - ...Continued. 1969 Monument (LP). Same garage sale as below (May). It wasn't that long ago that I learned of the term swamp rock. It was applied to those Louisiana imposters Creedence Clearwater Revival. I just figured it was a regional term, because CCR isn't anything musically special in my world. Tony Joe White, now this guy is swamp rock. The record went on at 150 grams and came off at 300 - filled with moss and seaweed and mud. I had to wash up after hearing this album. A thick wedgy wah wah guitar, Hammond organ, pounding drums, and White's soulful vocals sounding like Elvis on Quaaludes is a new sound for me. The music is rooted in country blues - with a side of absinthe. It's heavy rock, but in its own way. And look at that guy, is he cool or what? This is the grimiest album in my collection. A must own, obviously.

*Tony Joe White - Tony Joe. 1970 Monument (LP) Garage sale find (May). A most creative man with no imagination for album titles (his next one is brilliantly called Tony Joe White). This album starts off as ...Continued ended. Right back into the mud we go. Overall the album does feel more self-conscious that White now seems to understand what his signature sound is all about. There's a bit of "gather round the campfire and let Uncle Tony Joe tell ya about a little lady down in New 'Awlins...". All the same, there's plenty of sludge to bathe in here, and it rates out about the same. What a great find, this Tony Joe White is.

Steppenwolf - For Ladies Only. 1971 Dunhill (LP). Thrift shop find (May). I know surprising little about Steppenwolf. Like everyone else, I really enjoy 'Born to Be Wild', arguably the genesis of heavy metal music. But mostly what I've heard is a straightforward rock band, with out of tune rough vocals, typical of its era. A lot of bar and boogie, and not a lot of invention. The late-era For Ladies Only LP fits that description - unfortunately. There are a few good moments here, just enough to take it to an average rating. I'll still pickup the others as I see them. As for the packaging, the less I say about the inner gatefold (and insert), the better. Jeez.

*Grand Funk Railroad - We're an American Band. 1973 Capitol. Yellow vinyl (LP). One of the odd albums out in the funk-soul estate sale (Apr). I guess the band does have funk in the name after all... I thought GFR had already jumped the shark by this point, as the title track is fairly ubiquitous here in the States, and somewhat annoying. But I was surprised to learn that I'd never heard anything else off this album. And it's mostly aces too. The addition of Hammond organ is exactly what the band needed at this point. There's no wild jams as in the past, but the songwriting has improved and there's some great instrumental guitar as well. Easy keeper.

AC/DC - Back in Black. 2003 Epic (CD). Same as below (Mar). If pressed to name my favorite album by AC/DC, it would likely be Back in Black (1980). Which isn't the same thing as stating I think it's great or anything. Just that it's probably their most accomplished. This is the album that introduces Brian Johnson as the lead singer replacing Bon Scott after his untimely death. Johnson sings in a similar manner to Scott, but he's better at it honestly. Back in Black has many hits that long time hard rockers will be familiar with. AC/DC are what they are. I don't think I'll ever find anything that's worth keeping for the collection, though I'll always keep an eye out for their LPs. As with Let There Be Rock, this is an excellent reissue released in a tri-fold digipak and informative liner notes.

AC/DC - Let There Be Rock. 2003 Epic (CD). Garage sale find (Mar). All these years later, and I still don't understand the allure of AC/DC. I don't think I ever will. When I was first getting into metal in 1979 and 1980, AC/DC were considered one of the landmark groups. Most of my peer group loved them. I have no idea why. In retrospect, AC/DC were very much a product of the Australian rock scene of the 70s. Boogie rock was the name of the game downunda, and AC/DC were a part of that movement. A bit more amped up - and certainly more energetic than most - but compared to a band like Buffalo (a group I wouldn't hear for another 20 years), AC/DC were fairly lightweight. Never could go for Bon Scott's vocals either. I find them annoying. It's been many a year since I sat still for a classic AC/DC album, and Let There Be Rock (1977) defines that status as well as any of their albums. Nothing moved the needle on this listen. I'd call it average hard rock at best. Excellent reissue BTW. Housed in a digipak with full liner notes. 

*The Five Americans - Ignert Woman / Scrooge. 1969 Abnak promo (SP). From the RT collection (Feb). I don't know anything about The Five Americans despite the fact they have a lot of recorded music. The A side is excellent hard rock with great guitar. Scrooge is a bit more groovy, with piano and sax. Still a pleasant period piece. Yellow vinyl. You'd think something like this would be rare, but it isn't. 

* - Keeping for the collection