Hi everyone, thanks in advance for reading this random collection of tunes. It's all music this week.
DJ SAB reminded me of a band that I haven't listened to for ages. They worked their way into my consciousness years and years ago because Kirk Hammet from Metallica often wore one of their t-shirts. We also covered one of their songs in The Dark Violence of Beauty. This is my favourite song and probably the closest I get to listening to credible Goth music!
Judas Priest have released their 18th studio album today. We've already had a couple of singles which sounded fantastic. I've listened to the entire album twice through now. Once in the car and once whilst doing my workout this evening. Without getting ahead of myself, it sounds and feels like an absolute pearler of a recording. I can't wait to hear it on CD or vinyl because itt's pretty much everything a heavy metal fan could wish for. Here's the third single which is a bit slower but just as heavy. It reminds me a bit of "Metal Gods" from 1980s "British Steel".
Anders Osborne has been putting out records since 1989 and I'm a bit disappointed to have only discovered his music recently. The track that I heard first was a bit in the Rage Against The Machine style but I quickly found out that he's rather versatile. Anders is from Sweden originally but has been living in Louisiana for a long time now. Here's two tracks to whet your whistle...both quite different.
Rob Hirst, drummer for Midnight Oil has a new EP out with a band called Powerful Owls. It's bluesy, rootsy and well worth a listen. Of interest to Australian music fans are his partners in crime. Al Britton and Les Karski have played in legendary band such as Bondi Cigars and Dynamic Hepnotics. What a pedigree! If you like Russell Morris' latest stuff, The White Stripes or ZZ Top then this has something for you.
It would be remiss of me to mention Bondi Cigars and Dynamic Hepnotics without playing a track from each. The Bondi Cigars are essential listening for blues fans. I'll leave it to you to either work out or Google what their band name is all about. And the Dynamic Hepnotics are one of the bands I loved as a teen. It's soul, funk and real R&B with an Australian flavour.
The Dynamic Hepnotics always lead me to two other bands. They're unrelated as far as I know but similar in the fact that they are a lot of fun. Dexy's Midnight Runners, apart from having one of the best band names ever, take me back to living in New Zealand. "Come On Eileen" was all over the radio and TV non-stop. I'm yet to find a live version of that song though with half decent vocals. I imagine that it's a very hard one to sing. It does have one of my all time favourite lyrics in it though..."moved a million hearts in mono".
The other band I get lead to is the Blues Brothers. Their "Made in America" live compilation is a great album for a car trip. Plenty of toe tapping tunes and wonderful musicianship. I really like listening to the guitars because they play such cool and clean licks and fills. It's hard to pick only one tune so here's two!
I've been watching the TV series "Stranger Things" (via Netflix) and the eighties references are a real trip. From the video game arcade to the cheesy synth sound effects and the BMX bikes it's a fun time warp. The soundtrack isn't half bad either. The episode I saw today had an old Runaways tune in it. Even though it's from 1976 it fitted in really well.
That's it folks, I'm off to play Space Invaders until it's time to go to the footy tomorrow.
Rock on!
Rob
"She works at a chemist, a bit of a pessimist
Gets yelled at by old Russian men
Paid ten bucks an hour, some bloke just bought her flowers
That comes in every week for his Ritalin" - Ruby Fields,
Ritalin, 2018
