Friday, June 14, 2013

Song of the Week #250

Hi everyone and welcome to this week's ramblings.

Last week I promised some reviews and while they may be brief, here we go!

Iggy Pop has been making great music for a long time. His first outing with The Stooges was in 1967 but of course "Raw Power" released in 1973 is their seminal work and a classic. There are a couple of different mixes of that album doing the rounds - one by Bowie and one by Iggy. However, the new album is what I'm here to talk about. They last made an album in 2007 and before that in 1973. For fans of the "Raw Power" album you won't be disappointed.  The music is loud, abrasive and appropriately sloppy. Iggy's voice sounds great - almost ageless. Personally I think that some of the lyrics, in fact a lot of them, are just plain dumb and crass but that's part of the band's schtick I suppose. Is this a good starting point if you haven't listened to the band before? Not really. Spend your money on "Raw Power" and then come back to this one. I'd give it 7 Iggys out of 10.

Iggy and The Stooges - Burn - http://youtu.be/RDGG2k3tbIw

It's no secret that I think Baby Animals were one of the greatest Australian rock bands never to crack it really big. They had it all; great riffs, top tunes, great band, fantastic singer, good videos...but it didn't last for a number of reasons. They're back though, well 1/2 of them are. Suze De Marchi and David Leslie return on their LP, "This Is Not The End" with a new bassist and drummer. What ensues is a solid rock and roll album that isn't a far cry from their self-titled, magnificent, debut. I'm really hoping that this CD does well and a tour including Canberra appears. Suze's voice is still strong and Dave's swirling tasty guitars still float my boat. You should buy this album now.

Baby Animals - Bonfires (live) - http://youtu.be/eB2CtZVAE5w

Finally Ozzy Osbourne has reunited with most of Black Sabbath (Bill Ward - drums is unwell and also there are arguments about contracts...) for a killer album. Ozzy last recorded with the Sabs in 1978 before getting the axe. Black Sabbath carried on with a variety of band members over the years and some is great but most was average. Ozzy carved himself a niche as a great solo heavy metal singer and put together some great live bands. His recorded output has been pretty good for the most part; especially for a guy that struggles to string two coherent words together. This album, with the same title as the latest release from Suicidal Tendencies (which confused my iPod) is classic Black Sabbath. In fact if you played any of the tracks in a 70's Sabbath mix perhaps only the recording quality would give them away as being new. But is there anything new? Not really. Does this matter? Not really. The album is as Sabbath fans would've hoped for; heavier than a heavy thing, doom laden and atmospheric. Standard lyrical themes abound and while it isn't a literary triumph, it's far from terrible. Black Sabbath are the original heavy metal band - the group that launched a thousand clones and influenced almost everyone in the hard rock and metal genres. The track I've chosen is very like Planet Caravan, not a bad thing at all. I love this album for its sonic boom, big bottom end, beautifully driven guitars, bodacious bass, sens of space and even the cheesy vocal effects. It's the soundtrack to the apocalypse. Get it now.

Black Sabbath - Zeitgeist - http://youtu.be/EmbEQcuGUQ4

Sticking with the heavier stuff for a moment, I went back in time and had a good listen to Megadeth's "Countdown To Extinction". Why? Why not. The truth is that other than their covers of "Paranoid" and "Anarchy In The UK" I'd really not listened to them at all. A while ago I was at Chez Laff watching "The Big 4" concert on Blu-ray and Megadeth were playing...I filed it away in my brain that they weren't nearly as horrid as I'd decided they were and vowed to have a better listen. And then I forgot all about it. That was until last week where a review of their new album popped up. The new single sounded OK but with the album unreleased (I think it's out now) I went looking for some good stuff. A quick fly through some reviews on Amazon led me to this album from 1992. Well, I was pretty impressed. The guitars are razor sharp rather than the throaty drive of say Metallica. The drumming is solid too. But the riffs are the real winners and make this a great LP. Lyrically, Dave Mustaine is pretty annoyed with almost everything. Add to that a voice that sounds like he sucks sour lemons while he records and it's a mean, angry record. And I liked it. Try this...

Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction - http://youtu.be/67bTpVQfB6U

I spoke about the TV show Lilyhammer last week. Well, thanks to MC Grandma the DVD is here. We've watched 4 episodes so far and once you get used to the dialogue going in and out of Norwegian and English it is a real hoot. Steve Van Zandt is awesome as a grumpy old gangster. I couldn't recommend the series more highly.

This song is especially for my little brother.

The Hooters - And We Danced - http://youtu.be/zB1Q-PfUvN0

Let's finish with something truly beautiful.

Don McLean - Vincent - http://youtu.be/dipFMJckZOM

DJ Rob

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