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

2022 Classic Rock / AOR Journal Vol. 1 - Complete

R.E.O. Speedwagon. 1973 Epic (1971) (LP). Orange label. I was talking with Purple Peak Jeff recently and he was telling me how much he likes the first two albums from REO. This at a time when I've formally declared 'Keep on Loving You' *the worst song of all time*. But we all know that there's a huge difference between 1971 and 1980, especially in cash driven America. OK, I'll give it a shot then! And PPJ is right - it's much better. Definitely music of the Midwest, coming from the University of Illinois area. I like the way guitarist Gary Richrath jams on the rhythm guitar almost in a proto-metal way. 'Gypsy's Woman's Passion', 'Sophisticated Lady', and the 10 minute plus 'Dead at Last' are the highlights. Unfortunately REO brings a lot of boogie to the table. I never could get into this aspect of bar rock, complete with honkytonk piano. We all have different filters, and PPJ has always shown more tolerance to it. Very good on the whole but not enough to keep. (Sep)

George Harrison - Wonderwall Music. 1968 Apple (LP). A late straggler from the RT collection. Soundtrack from a rather bizarre film, the album is noteworthy due to its mix of East and West, with an emphasis on the former. As straight listening it's rather dull but has its moments. An old colleague used to love this album, but he really loved the film more. I can appreciate the associative thinking regarding that. (Sep)

The Kudzu Band - Chittlin' Circuit. 1976 De Vine (LP). Ran across this at a thrift shop. Never heard of this Georgia based band before so I picked it up. When checking for condition, it sounded pretty cool so I went for a full listen. Not bad at all. Definitely southern rock - slightly heavy - with additional synthesizers and flute. A little bit of boogie rock too. Not going to keep it, but worth hearing for sure. (Sep)

Max Webster - A Million Vacations. 1979 Anthem (LP). As noted on the Mutiny Up My Sleeve post, I picked up one more Max Webster at the thrift shop and this was it. Very similar but perhaps a -1 off. Just a little too much pop and not enough invention. I don't see this as a grower like the other one. (Aug) 

King Harvest - Dancing in the Moonlight. 1972 Perception (LP). Real oddball here. I'm likely to buy anything on the Perception label, as they're uniformly collectible. King Harvest are a French based band made up of American expats. The music is a mix of styles, but mostly soft rock. However the cover implies biker psych rock. Weird. Worth hearing but not going to keep. (Jun)

Head East - Flat as a Pancake. 1975 Pyramid (LP). Thrift shop find. Not in the best shape unfortunately. However I bought it because it has become increasingly impossible to find and expensive. This was Head East's debut, and was released privately in the St. Louis area. 'Never Been Any Reason' became a big local hit, so A&M signed them up and released the album to a much larger audience. Head East were something of a household name in the late 1970s and early 80s. The album starts off great with the hard rocking 'Jefftown Creek'. But mostly this is boogie and bar rock, the kind of music they played on Wet T-Shirt night. Not bad at all, but not really my thing. (Jun)

Supertramp - Breakfast in America. 1979 A&M (LP). Now here's an album I never thought I'd reconcile with. To me it was the epitome of the type of music I didn't care for in the late 70s. Annoying in fact. I bought this copy primarily for resale (even as a mass commodity, this album gets a quick 15 every time). But I'm holding onto it for now. Seems every track here was a hit at the time. And the closer 'Child of Vision' is actually proggy. I'll be damned. (May)

Box of Frogs. 1984 Epic (LP). Much was made of this release when it came out. Ex-Yardbirds guys playing classic rock and roll. Rock critics have always been annoyingly conservative when it comes to new music. Politically they are uber liberal and musically the exact opposite. It makes no sense. Prog rock, for example, is the ultimate thorn in the side of a rock critic. It wasn't until only a few years ago they hesitantly suggested that Rush wasn't so bad after all. Maybe. And the rising heavy metal tide was not welcomed either. Not at all. They would roll their eyes and effeminately state "music for neanderthal macho men". Right to my face in fact. Thanks. The Rolling Stones - now THAT is what rock music is "supposed to be". Period, and it's not debatable. Box of Frogs were the darling of these "analysts". Back to the basics. But the production was all 80s. "See, we keep up too" they'd claim. All of that to say, Box of Frogs isn't a bad album and I can appreciate what they're doing here. They have plenty of guest guitarists (speaking of the Stones...), and that's where the album shines. But the songwriting is really dull and predictable. An average album in aggregate. (Apr)

*Ten Wheel Drive - Construction #1. 1969 Polydor (LP). One could make an argument that New Jersey's Ten Wheel Drive are proto to this list! It's a mix of hard rock, horn rock, jazz, blues, etc.. Not too much progressive, but worthy of inclusion for that list. (Apr)

*Good Rats - Tasty Seconds (Cover of Night). 1996 Uncle Rat (CD). Thrift shop find (Apr). Apparently this was Good Rats' comeback album after a 15 year hiatus. Similar in construct to the Good Rats I know from the 70s, except it's far more muscled up and less reliant on boogie rock. Borderline heavy metal, this packs some meaty hard rock guitar and boozed up vocals. The band is completely revived here, and the energy level is infectious. Features an all star cast of Long Island's most known hard rock and metal figures. Nothing groundbreaking here, but there really wasn't much like this in the mid 90s. Kind of reminds me of the obscure Californian hard rock band Kai Kln. This CD is a "limited edition" and appears to have been released privately to an ever shrinking fan base.

Good Rats - Ratcity in Blue. 1998 Uncle Rat (1976) (CD). Thrift shop find (Mar). I've mentioned my college dorm room floor in the past. Our Resident Hall Monitor, the same gentleman who turned me onto early Genesis, was from Long Island, New York. Not a common background for Texas Tech sitting as it does in hardcore West Texas. Like most college listeners, his tastes in music were very eclectic, and one of his favorite bands were local heroes (to him) Good Rats. I heard them as humdrum hard and boogie rock myself. This is not one of the titles he had, or that I borrowed I should say, but it's pretty much humdrum hard and boogie rock. Ah well. There's is some decent guitar work, and I would qualify the album as good overall. Nothing more, nothing less. No more room for albums such as this. Though credit to the title which is a fun sendup of the Gershwin classic.

*Demon - The Plague. 1983 Atlantic (LP). Demon are most known as one of the original NWOBHM bands. I haven't heard their first two albums (I did eventually), but that's obviously where the metal component must exist. Because on their next two, including The Plague, there's some light hard rock guitar and a lot of synthesizers. Funny I was just reminiscing about Saga's World's Apart and The Plague pretty much follows the same model. It's more obviously progressive, and has a bit more of a hard rock component. However it's not as punchy and catchy as Saga were in those days, and that's most likely why The Plague was the only original American release Demon were to ever achieve. Besides, having a moniker and emblem such as Demon did the band no favors, as anyone would expect metal here, and then not receive it. Personally this album comes at a good time for me, perfectly capturing an era that I'm currently reliving. And how about that cover? Talk about predictive! (Feb)

* - Keeping for the collection