2022 Hard Rock Journal Vol. 1 - Complete

Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic. 1975 Columbia (LP). I find Aerosmith - even in their classic era - very hit and miss. Their debut is essentially bar rock with one monster track (the ubiquitous 'Dream On'), while Draw the Line is a throwback early 70s blues rocker with a couple of interesting ideas. On the other hand Get Your Wings is a fantastic hard rock album, their best in my estimation. And Rocks is also very good, an album that is generally considered their pinnacle achievement by the overall listening populace. But what of Toys in the Attic, their most commercially successful album? It sits between the two I just listed above and features both of their most known hits 'Walk This Way' and 'Sweet Emotion'. Both of which I enjoy. So therefore this should be an easy keeper. Not so fast. The opening title track packs a nice punch and 'Round and Round' is a solid heavy track. The rest is boogie, blues, and bar rock. I remember hearing this album all the way through in the late 70s and early 80s, and it never moved the needle. 40 years later, it still doesn't. It's good and that's about it. Bye bye. (Dec)

Demon - The Unexpected Guest. 1982 Carrere (LP). The only Demon albums I know are the Saga-ish The Plague (very good) and the Pink Floyd-ish follow up (good). Since Demon are considered part of the NWOBHM movement, I just presumed that it came from their early albums. Nope! This, their second album, is muscled up hard rock. Which I do like, but I found this album pretty boring overall. Doesn't have the melodic sensibilities of their next album, and there isn't much proggy invention either. (Sep)

Alcatrazz - No Parole from Rock N' Roll. 1983 Rocshire (LP). I remember Alcatrazz well from my freshmen year of college. They were most famous for having Yngwie Malmsteen as their lead guitarist, and they featured former Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnet. This is a good hard rock album, as Malmsteen didn't noodle his way through it, and Bonnet is a great singer. I have too much of this kind of thing already, and there's not much nostalgia with Alcatrazz itself, so I'm letting it go. (Jun)

Atlee - Flying A Head. 1970 ABC/Dunhill (LP). More blues rock, and nothing really to distinguish it from the others. (Jun)

C.K. Strong. 1969 Epic (LP). C.K. Strong is the first album to feature future Penthouse Pet model Lynn Carey. It's blues rock all the way, no doubt influenced heavily by Janis Joplin. Except Ms. Carey is a hell of a lot more attractive. She went on to lead Mama Lion for two albums and I believe she still sings at jazz nightclubs to this day. Anyway, I'm not a Joplin fan (musically) and this didn't do that much for me either. (Jun)

Rose Tattoo - Scarred for Life. 1982 Mirage (LP). I had bought the predecessor to this album real time while still in high school. I forget the track now they played on the radio, but I quite liked it, so I plunked down real money for Assault & Battery. It turned out to be very disappointing, and that was the only track I liked on it. Essentially Rose Tattoo are AC/DC clones, trying to capitalize on their fellow Australian's success. I found this sealed at a local store (way cheap), not something you're likely to see at this late date. Rather than break the seal, I listened to the album on YouTube. Yea, same impression. It's AC/DC like hard boogie rock. Not for me, but if you're a fan, Rose Tattoo gives you good value. (Jun)

Billion Dollar Babies - Battle Axe. 1977 Polydor (LP). From that same store they also had a sealed copy of this album (even cheaper). Same thing, rather than break the seal, I checked it out on YouTube. Billion Dollar Babies is made up of former Alice Cooper Band members, hence the moniker. It's pretty much the same kind of hard rock / glam rock that Cooper was peddling at the same time. Pretty average on the whole, but not bad. (Jun)

Nazareth - Hair of the Dog. 1975 A&M (LP). There are two songs that I know from Nazareth, both played to death when I was young. And they both reside on this album. The title track ("son of a bitch...") and 'Love Hurts'. And they are fairly representative of the album present. I never liked either song, so I never pursued Nazareth after all these years, and that proved to be the right move. The dollar bin snagged another victim (except the resell factor...). Hair of the Dog is mostly non innovative hard rock with decent guitar from Manny Charlton combined with the distinctive voice of Don McCafferty. The latter coming awfully close to AC/DC's Bon Scott at times. To my ears, they're terrible. Love might hurt, but that's nothing compared to McCafferty. I was about to label the album as average, but the final 10 minute track 'Don't Judas Me' is really quite good, especially the guitar work, which borders space rock. Still not enough to keep though... (Mar)

*Aerosmith - Get Your Wings. 1984 Columbia (1974) (LP). Bar code reissue in shrink and barely touched. I've come across the debut a couple of times while "looking for inventory", but this is the first time for me to snag Get Your Wings. Commercially speaking, it's also their most obscure album considering the megahits of that debut through Draw the Line. This is the rough and tumble Aerosmith I enjoy, much more so than its predecessor. No nonsense greasy, dirty fingernails hard rock. Tyler's unique scratchy voice hollering over Perry and Whitford's jammin' guitars. I still get a charge out of their cover of 'Train Kept a Rollin', the album's best known cut. Keeping this one for sure. (Mar)

*Hex A.D. - Astro Tongue in the Electric Garden. 2020 Fresh Tea (LP). I wasn't sold at first on the 3rd album by this Norwegian band. The first track sounds like Candlemass and 'Astro Tongue' has all the trappings of a typical Stoner album. While those two genres are welcome here, it's not something I'm on the lookout for. I have plenty already and will likely trim some off the collection. Ah, but not so fast. Things get much more interesting on the proggy 'The Day the Sky Exploded', where keyboards and meter and thematic changes add a whole new dimension to their sound. The other two tracks on side one are pre and postludes. Fortunately all of Side 2 maintains the momentum, and there's even some Iron Maiden like riffing. The album sits at the border of hard rock and metal, with more than a nod to progressive rock. The difference maker is keyboardist Mags Johansen who brings a raft full of vintage keys, most notably mellotron and Hammond. The band's image is also mixed - the album cover demonstrating psychedelic prog, whereas the fonts and titles are Stoner all the way. The hype sticker is misleading as well, where it states this album is for fans of: Rush (huh?); Rainbow (que?); Iron Maiden (yes, but only Side 2); Opeth (well maybe, I know little about this band beyond Blackwater Park). In addition to the fine cover, there's a four page insert with band photos, lyrics, and album credits. (Mar)

*Radio Moscow - New Beginnings. 2017 Century Media (LP). San Diego's Radio Moscow is a band I'm familiar with but never heard until now. Strong heavy psych influenced hard rock would be the summary. High energy and great guitar work. There's a lot of this kind of music on the market, but Radio Moscow distinguishes themselves. Borderline Stoner, but avoids most of the genre trappings. Excellent offering. Packaging is quite extraordinary - comes with a full poster, lyric inner, company advert and, most importantly, a factory pressed CD. Very good value overall. (Feb)

*Piel de Pueblo - Rock de las Heridas. 2012 Beat Generation (Spain) (1972) (LP). As I mentioned about seven years ago (seems like yesterday), I had a plan to revisit many of these bluesy hard rock albums from Argentina. This is one of the good ones, with blistering guitar throughout. Nothing subtle about it. Nice reissue as well. (Feb)

* - Keeping for the collection

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

2020 Hard Rock Journal Vol. 1 - Complete

Def Leppard - Love Bites / Billy's Got a Gun. 1987 Mercury (SP). Yet another surprise from RT. What's an early 60s folk collector doing with this? lol. Anyway - GOSH the A side sucks. It seems each band throughout the 80s was trying to top the other for pandering to a perceived feminine audience. Whatever, it's terrible. The flip is a live version of a track from Pyromania. No room for improv it would appear. Not a great song to begin with. Waste of 11 minutes overall. (Dec)

Aerosmith. 1973 Columbia (LP). Thrift shop find (Dec). At this point, Aerosmith were nothing more than a harder rocking bar band. Two exceptions - 'Movin' Out' is an excellent hard rock number. And then of course there's 'Dream On'. Even though I've heard it precisely one million times, I still find myself captivated by it. Steven Tyler has never been better. And a good thing he gave it his all here. Hard to imagine Aerosmith going much further if it weren't for the blockbuster hit. 

The following came from a local record store, all at 50 cents a pop! (Nov)

Stone Fury - Let Them Talk. 1986 MCA (LP). This is the second album by Stone Fury, before firing up Kingdom Come. The first one was a pleasant surprise and I decided to keep it (and it has its own post here). I should really hate this - from the cover to the obvious synthesized mid 80s styled AOR sound. But these guys have a good command of hard rock, and the songs are pretty decent. Even the synthesizer work is good, a bit Berlinish at times! I'm not keeping this one, but it's better than you would think.

Witness. 1988 Arista (LP). An Atlanta based group, Witness were a bit better than the ones below. They featured a tough female vocalist and even featured some Hammond organ, which was highly unusual for the day. In the end though, all the songs tend to blur together. It's a +1 on Will and the Kill but the genre is about the same. Not worth holding onto.

Victory. 1985 CBS Associated (LP). German group who more or less emulated same era Accept and Krokus. Started out with a couple of decent riffs, but deteriorated quickly. Just like the aforementioned bands. Dearth of material.

Will and the Kill. 1988 MCA (LP). From Austin, Texas, Will and the Kill played the stereotypical American hard rock of the day. Not sure what the allure was in those days for this sound. Not creative, no guitar hooks, and not even good solos. Annoying vocals. 

Kings of the Sun. 1988 RCA (LP). Great name for a band! Should be some weighty stuff here. Bzzt! Australian group with no imagination, and decide to sound like Rose Tattoo and AC/DC. I'm not fond of this type of boogie hard rock. What a waste of a good moniker.

---end of sale

Longtran - Everydays a Weekend. 1984 private (EP). From a Denver area record store (Nov). Presumably Los Angeles based metal / AOR hybrid. A bit like Bon Jovi I suppose. They have a good sound for the time and certainly had a chance to make it based on the quality here. The vocals are a bit overwrought though. Outside of my interest area, but a curious listen. Spine says Everydays a Weekend, so I think the discography sites out there have it wrong.

Bon Jovi - 7800° Fahrenheit. 1985 Epic (LP). Thrift shop find (Oct). What was it about the mid 80s that made these kind of albums popular? I hated them back then, and they've actually aged worse. Bon Jovi's debut was pretty decent actually (not enough to keep mind you...), but the well was already empty by this sophomore effort.

*Uriah Heep - Look at Yourself. 1971 Mercury (LP). From an LP buy in Monument (2019). Uriah Heep are the consummate hard rock band dabbling with progressive. To me, they exude cool. By 2020 standards that is. For those who have a copy of the Rolling Stone Record Guide under your pillow, then Uriah Heep represent everything they hate. History has been kind to these long time warriors. I said this in another Uriah Heep post, but it bears repeating: Seems every high school hard rock garage band of the late 70s used Uriah Heep as a blueprint. I never did own this on LP back in the day, the cheap CD being my introduction. LP wins. (Sep)

* - Keeping for the collection