A week is a long time in rock 'n' roll. Especially when an Amazon.com order arrives, it's your birthday AND you visit the second hand shop. Wow, I'm maxxed out with awesome stuff to listen to. Lucky that it is school holidays!
Amazon delivered the new Stryper and Suicidal Tendencies albums and we've spoken about those already. Both are excellent and for fans of either band I doubt that there would be any disappointment at all. ST especially take it to the streets after 13 years without a studio album. The third CD delivered was from New York metal kings, Anthrax. This time around they've put out an EP named "Anthems". It's a few cover versions of songs that influenced them. You get re-workings of tracks from bands like AC/DC, Boston, Rush, Journey and Thin Lizzy. They are pretty faithful to the originals but there is a great level of energy evident on the disc and these are great driving tunes.
Anthrax – Keep On Runnin' (Journey cover) - http://youtu.be/hyHheg2j2EE
Yep, it was my birthday yesterday. 42. That's my age as well as the meaning of life as you all are aware I'm sure. I had a great day with my family. My Dad was here as well which was very special. Zoë proved herself an absolute legend, giving me the new picture disc vinyl version of the classic Iron Maiden album, "Live After Death". Now I have it on vinyl, original CD, re-issue CD and DVD. It's probably time to admit a level of obsession with this two disc opus and get copies of the original vinyl and cassette!! In terms of live albums there's not much that compares.
Iron Maiden – Two Minutes To Midnight (live) - http://youtu.be/ihbRtLrK36Y
If you've read my weekly ramblings more than once you'll realise that I really like guitars, books and music. So having my Dad to visit meant that I had time to bounce ideas off him in person rather than via email. As such a visit to Beyond Q at Curtin was in order. They have an amazing selection of second hand books (in an arrangement that means you can actually find things) as well as quite a few crates of records. I raked around and came away with two Southside Johnny LPs, one by Tom Petty (thinking of you Garry) and one I'd been looking out for by John Fogerty.
Tom Petty – Here Comes My Girl - http://youtu.be/n4nPa35CZPI
Among my other birthday gifts was a magazine from DJ Al-Ee-Sun called "Treadlie". It's about bikes (there's a shock). But not racing bikes. Not mountain bikes. And certainly not time trial bikes. It's about bikes that you ride to the shops, or commute on, or just ride for pleasure. There are loads of beautiful single speed, fixed and commuter bikes in there that are as much works of art as they are modes of transport. Riding to the coffee shop on one of these looks like a lot of fun. I'm sure there's enough room in the garage...
My good mate Dave took some time out this week to start writing a book. By my reckoning he spent a lot of time writing on his blog as well so I hope that the book got a look in! I know it's not going to be this kind of book but I like the song anyway...
The Beatles – Paperback Writer - http://youtu.be/4UpPOpq3Ck8
I'm a Star Wars fan. I've attempted to like Star Trek as well but with very limited success. I read recently that Dark Horse Comics had a new series of Star Wars comics coming out set in the time period between Episodes IV and V. Now, given that those are the best two films I thought that the comics would need to be pretty good to satisfy rabid fans the world over. After comic #1 selling out, and the reprint selling out too I finally managed to get my hands on print #3 or #4 this week. Not being a comic fan I don't have much to base my opinion on but I liked it a lot. I'm sucked in and I want to know what happens next. The artwork is pretty good too. I'll be back for more.
My Dad played me a CD when he was here of a duo made up of a guitarist and a guy on Northumbrian pipes. After the first tune I was very, very keen to hear more. It was reminiscent of Marillion (the quieter stuff) and the production was great too. So I shot an email off to the contact on the CD to see if I could buy a copy. I have a real thing about NOT copying CDs of local or small time artists. Well the reply came back short and sharp..."we don't have any CDs at present". That was it. No other information, no "thanks for your interest", no nothing. That mildly cheeses me off. I remember DJ SABMcTin emailing people in Peru and advising them how to get our CD. So, I won't name the band in question. But I will play some Marillion instead.
Marillion – Go (live) - http://youtu.be/fP9Rh6alIsw
I wonder how AC/DC feel...I spotted their debut album for sale in the Post Office today! I guess it's all money in the end. It's kind of amazing the range of stuff you can buy in there though. Books, phones, gardening implements, weather stations! I did listen to this AC/DC track in the car today though. It's from an album that was fairly huge but isn't admired much by the critics. Personally I love it. It comes from a time where the band weren't afraid to add a little extra drive to their guitars. Lately the guitar sounds are cleaner and cleaner – with just more volume as opposed to drive. This is a great track and a fun video. There was a really cool long form video featuring a few songs from this album – I remember getting it on VHS and laughing along with some rocking tunes.
AC/DC – Fly On The Wall - http://youtu.be/5BWJOETwIGc
I'll be writing later in the week on the blog about my ongoing battle to find decent news and current affairs coverage both online and in print. Feel free to let me know if there are any particular sites / feeds / apps / papers that you thing deserve mention for being good. I had also planned to explain my exasperation with our elected representatives using education as a political football, but really, I'm too angry just now. I'll let my ideas simmer.
And on that note it's time to sign off. I was going to play the original version of this next tune but I stumbled across this version and I can't resist. Laughing is so much better than being grumpy (sometimes)!
Weird Al Yankovic – I Want A New Duck - http://youtu.be/PPiOwHumu2Y
DJ Rob
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