TheAccountant

Worked again from home so it was back to the moving box an see what records album came out at random. First out: Accept - Staying A Life Sort of an odd way to start the day but hey, that what was at the top of the box. So I sat their at 8:00, reading and answering EM's, drinking my green tea, looking out at the snow falling silently, watching the ponds (which are not frozen) with geese paddling around in them & out beyond the ponds we have the hayfields covered in snow & out beyond them we have the woods with pine trees covered in snow from the storm last night and this AM. Then add to all that I am rocking out to live Accept, recorded in 1985 in Osaka Japan. Obviously with Udo on lead vocals. Sort of an odd way to start the day and an odd mix. But its a good album. Net out of the box: Yngwie Malmsteen - Marching Out This was interesting in that it had Jeff Scott Soto on lead vocals - something I had totally forgotten. I saw Malmsteen twice in concert in the 1980's. The first time was in late 1986 when he opened for Triumph and basically did not have a singer with him. The other time was a few years latter when he had Joe Lynn Turner with him and he opened for Lita Ford. Anyway, this was a better album then I remembered. Nothing great but it was all enjoyable background music while I worked. Decent music, awesome guitar work and some good vocals. Lyrics were nothing special but I did not expect that. Enjoyable but far from memorable. Next out of the box: Styx - The Grand Illusion This has a bunch of killer songs on it. The title track, Fooling Yourself, Miss America are all excellent. Then their is Come Sail Away - that is tied with Renegade and Madame Blue for the title of my favorite Styx song. Plus their was a deep cut titled Man In The Wilderness that was very good as well. Excellent album. Next out of the box: Creem - Wheels of Fire First off, good cover art - kind of drab color wise. Then you open it up and you get this mid / late 60's explosion of psychedelic art work. Great colors. Then the music. The first record is a studio album and frankly some of the music is a bit dated - hey the album is over 55 year old. Not a shock. But even so it has "Deserted Cities of The Heart" which is good and "Whte Room" which is a stone cold classic. Record 2 is a live album. Side 1 has an excellent version of "Crossroads" and a very good version of "Spoonful". Side 2 is a bit weaker with "Traintime" which is forgettable but "Toad" is very good - Ginger Baker kills it on that song. Made me look up form an EM sever times and go "Wow! That was killer". Classic album which may be a bit dated but it is still very, very good after all these years. Next out of the box: Europe - The Final Countdown I saw these guys on this tour when they were supporting Def Leopard (Hysteria tour). I had seen DL with Tesla earlier on the tour and I went with high hopes but it turned out to be a disappointing show. Both DL and Europe were flat. Just lacking energy and stage presence. So I have sort of negative vibes about this album and its been a few years since I listened to it. Well, the stuff that got airplay (which I had liked back in the day) is still actually enjoyable. The title track, "Rock The Night", "Carrie" & "Cherokee" are all very good songs. The rest of the album is forgettable but the songs that got airplay deserved it. Rock The Night & Cherokee are probably the 2 best. Glad I kept the record all these years. Last out of the box: VH - 1984 Not a big VH fan but this does have "Jump", "Panama", "Hot For Teacher" & "I'll Wait" - all good songs. "Panama" would be by far my favorite. Favorite studio album of the day? The Grand Illusion.

I wish I could answer your question but I can't. I never really heard the pop in their music until More but esp. with HYCAD. That song really caused my pop radar to go off. Their first 3 albums I just don't hear pop in them. Mind you, not a bad song on those albums - everything is excellent. Like you, not taking a shot - trying to explain (as best as I can) what I hear and don't hear. On the other hand Sick (esp. live versions) is starting to grow on me. Not crazy about it yet but I am stating to enjoy it. Automatic Sun - need to listen to it some more. I liked the recording I posted because Ale's bass is just THUNDEROUS. Lot of fun to listen to. The other positive is Dany's guitar work. The show I posted made me appreciate it a bit more in an odd way. She is more Pete Townsend of The Who and less Jimmy Page of Zepplin. In other words, she is more a riff master and less a soloist. Pete could solo (as can she) but he was better with rafter shaking riffs that made you go WOW. She is much less into the earth shaking solo's Page could unleash. At least that what finally sunk into my thick head as a result of watching that show. Like I said, I wish I could explain the pop thing better. Its frustrating to me that I can't. But it is good that their crowds are still getting bigger and bigger and crazier & crazier. Like seeing that.

Worked from home today so that gave me a chance to pull some more records out of the moving box's to listen to. First out: Uriah Heep - The Best of Uriah Heep Given that this came out after their first 5 studios albums perhaps the title is not totally accurate. They have put out a lot of music since. Then again, most of their best work was on the first 5 albums so I guess the title is accurate. Overall I liked it - not a shock, I like Uriah Heep - esp. their early work. Next out fo the moving box: Whitesnake - Love Hunter First off, the art on the album cover is excellent. I really like it. This is why I prefer records to CD's and CD's to anything else. Moving on to the album itself well, that not so great. I believe it came out in 1979 and despite the presence of John Lord on keyboards and David Coverdale on vocals the album sounds like what it is. A late 1970's heavily blue's influenced hard rock album - and I don't mean any of that in a good way. But thankfully their is that awesome art work on the album cover. The songs though are totally forgettable - totally filler for me. But the album cover makes it with owning. Obviously I like the cover. Moving on, next out of the box: Uriah Heep - Salisbury Good album. I enjoy every song on it. Nothing really great but they are all decent and I never skip anything on it. Next out of the moving box: Molly Hatchet - The Deed is Done. First off, good artwork on the album cover. The music though, not so great. This is not Flirting With Disaster. I remember "Stone In Your Heart" got some airplay and its ok - I guess. The rest of the album (with one exception) is basically filler. An occasional riff here or solo there is decent but nothing to go wild about. The interesting exception was a song I had totally forgotten about. Its the last song on the albu,m an instrumental titled "Song For The Children". I won't say its anything very special but it was enjoyable and better than "Stone In Your Heart". Another album with good cover art that musically is basically a dud. Last out of the box for the day: Dio - Holy Diver This is no dud!! First off, excellent cover art. The art on this and The Last in Line gives me creeps but it is good. As for the music, well its awesome. An album I never skip a song on. Rainbow In The Dark is a classic but there are a bunch of other very good songs on the album. Easily the best album of the day.

First off, I disliked Sister Christian back in the day when it came out and it has not aged well with me. So I would not include it even if you asked me for my top 8 or 10 Night Ranger songs. My top 4 would be: 1. When You Close Your Eyes. Far and away my favorite Night Ranger song. 2. Don't Tell Me You Love Me 3. You Can Still Rock in America (note - 2 & 3 are basically interchangeable - they are basically equally awesome) 4. Born in California (hope I remembered that title correctly - it was the title of an album they did sometime after 2010. It narrowly edges out 4 in The Morning which comes in at #5. Saw them do it live the one time I saw them in concert and it rocked).

Was watching more video's on youtube tonight and a new show from The Waning came up. Watch it - Its very good IMO. What? First off, excellent show (most Warning shows are though). Secondly, it was at a festival and was filmed with a TV camera. In other words, excellent film quality. Third, they did a good job filming it - including number of shots where you can watch both Pau's drum work and Ale's base work. Fourth, good pyro display. But I saved the best for last. The live debut of a new song!!!! About 30 minutes in they debut a song titled "Automatic Sun".

Had a little spare time tonight so I watched this on youtube:

Worked from home today so I got opened up the moving box again. First vinyl out: Woodstock This is a 3 record set recorded at the festival. My favorite song? Richie Havens "Freedom". 2nd favorite? The Who - "We're Not Gonna Take It". 3rd favorite? Country Joe McDonald ""I Feel Like I'm Fixin To Die" 4th? Hendrix - The Star Spagled Banner / Purple Haze. Their are a few dogs on the album as I don't care for the songs by Sly & The Family Stone but overall its excellent. Next out of the box: Jefferson Airplane - The Worst of Jefferson Airplane A Jefferson Airplane greatest hits album although it only covers their first 6 album (all from the 1960's). Good stuff. Last out of the box: Bob Seger - The Distance Like most Seger albums this has some awesome songs and then a lot of stuff that is just filler for me. "Even Now" & "Roll Me Away" are fabulous songs. When I like a Seger song I really like it. The rest of the album does nothing for me however.

100% agree. VT is by far my least favorite Rush album but the show on that tour that I saw at SPAC was magic. It turned me from a Rush fan into a huge Rush fan. Before it they were one of my very favorite bands. After it they were my favorite band - no other band was even close to them. That its still the case.

Rush was and is my favorite band but my feelings are not in line with yours. I saw them in the CA tour at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn NY. I watched the show and was 100% positive it was a farewell tour. I already viewed the album as a farewell album and The Garden as there last song. I made my peace with them going off the stage then and there. I actually saw them latter on the tour at SPAC but it was .... I don't know how to phrase it. Just an after thought. A nice afterthought, but an afterthought. I had already said goodbye. I never saw them on the R40 tour. MSG was the nearest show and it was sold out before I could get a ticket. I assumed they would come to SPAC as they normally played SPAC when on tour but they did not. Disappointing? Yes. But not earthshaking. I would have been nice to see them but emotionally I had said goodbye already. I had closure when I walked out of the Barclays Center show on the CA tour.

Page gets my vote. Just more of a gut reaction than anything else I guess.

Worked from home today so that gave me another chance to open the moving box up again. First vinyl out was: Journey - Frontiers This is where I feel it started to go wrong with Journey. The album before this one (Escape) is, IMO, their best album. This took a step back. The creative cracks are starting to show as Neil Schon & Steve Perry wanted to go in different creative directions. I shows even before you listen to the album. Take a look at the cover art. The story I have heard is that they had a huge fight over the title of the album and the artwork. If you look at Journey's prior albums they had one work titles and artwork that is full of bright colors. Steve Perry did not want that. In the end (so the story I heard goes) they compromised. Neil got the title but Perry got creative controls over the artwork. He got the dark colors he wanted vs. the vibrant colors Neil wanted. IMO its a big step in the wrong direction. The next album is the very poor Raised on Radio and their Steve got the title he wanted and controls over the artwork (plus basically he got a lot more control over the music and almost drove the band into a ditch). Although they were headed in the wrong direction the album still has 3 excellent songs (Separate Ways, Send Her My Love & Faithfully). Plus their were 2 deep cuts that were plenary surprises for me (Edge of the Blade Troubled Child). Not great but ok songs. The rest did not do much for me. Still, those 5 good songs are enjoyable. Next album out of the box: Jefferson Starship -Winds of Change First off, excellent cover art. This is why I prefer vinyl - I can appreciate the art which I can't do as much with a CD. As for the album, it has the excellent "Can't Find Love". The rest of it is filler though. Next out of the box: Eddie Money - No Control This is 2 very good songs ("Shakin" & "Think I'm In Love"). Of the 2, I prefer "Think I'm In Love" but I enjoy both. There were a few other decent deep cuts ("Hard Life", "Passing By The Graveyard", & "It Could Happen To You"). The rest is filler IMO. Next out of the box: Boston - Third Stage I remember when this came out. A bunch of us were at college & just hanging out, listening to the radio, drinking a few brews and talking. A song finished playing and the DJ goes "That was the new song from Boston that is the first single from their album thats being released next week." Their was utter chaos in the room. Jaws hit the floor, beer bottles were knocked over, people where going "New Boston?! Did he say new Boston?! OMG!! I can't believe it!! This is incredible!!! I can't believe it!!" It was crazy. Anyway, the album has a number of songs I still like a lot ("Amanda", "We're Ready", "Cool the Engines", & "Can'tcha Say (You Believe in Me)"). The rest are ok. Not like their first album but its still enjoyable. Plus good cover art. Next out of the box: Dokken - Under Lock and Key. Its no Tooth and Nail (the album which preceded it). That I never skip a song on and its just amazing. This was a step back but it still very good. Loaded with some strong songs like "Unchain The Night", "The Hunter", "In My Dreams", "It's Not Love", "Don't Lie To Me". A few other decent songs but it also has some clunkers I always skip like "Lightin' Strikes Again" & "Till The Livin End". I alway skip them. This time I listened and it reminded me why I skip them. Last out of the box: Triumph - Just a Game This is old. The album mentions that its also available on 8 track. The art is nothing special but when you open up the album you get the game inside. Thats awesome & will get back to it in a minute. As for the music its has the awesome "Hold On" & the equally awesome "Lay it on the Line". The other songs are good as well. That brings me to the game. Rules - just a single die and any number of players. There are all kind of blank squares you can land on plus a few that have stars on them. Then their are some with results if you land on them as a result of you dice roll. The goes is to be the first to the final star. But its the squares with results that are so funny. The results include: "Start - From the basement or Garage: "Take a bank loan and start a band - miss a turn" "Amp blows up at important gig - Miss a turn" "You blow away a headliner - cut across" (allows the player to skip a bunch a spaces) "Internal ego hassles - roll a 4 or start again" "You buy a new P.A. Wholesale - roll again" "Visit from Musicians union rep. Miss 1 turn" "First Single Released. Take another turn." "Good music. No gimics, no promos. Mis a turn" "Hit Single - Cur across" "Groupies think you cute! Cut across" "Opening Act blows You Off the Stage - Go back 4 squares." "Bad Reviews! Great publicity! Roll again" "Good Reviews! Who cares? Miss a tuen." "You Get your bank manager laid. Advance to the nearest star!" "Drug Addiction - Rolla 3 to be free" "Sex Scandal! Front page Coverage! Roll Again!" I love this - they just don't make albums like this anymore. .

Thats very hard!!! I have never sat down and figured it out for Rush, who I like more than Priest, much less even thought of trying it for Priest. Well, I will give it a shot. To start the show we will have: The Hellion Electric Eye Heading Out To The Highway Those 3 were easy picks and easy to place at the start of the show. After that I am not certain of the order but the remaining 17 songs would include: Breaking The Law Beyond The Realms of Death Diamonds and Rust Turbo Lover Victim of Changes Devils Child You've Got Another Thing Coming The Green Manalishi (with the two pronged crown) Giants in The Sky Sons of Thunder Crown of Horns Never The Hero's No Surrender Blood Red Skies Dragonaut Judas Rising United That gets me to 20. Might be very mellow for some folks. Yes, I included You've Got Another Thing Coming and Breaking The Law but why not? I like them. No Hell Bent For Leather is painful - that was the hardest song (followed by Ripper, Hell and Back and all of the rest of the Screaming for Vengeance album, followed by the rest of British Steel) to leave out. What about you?

I have it around here someplace. Been a few years since I watched it but I sort of remember that it had a killer set list but that somehow it just did not match up to the energy on either Rising in the East or Battle Cry. In fact, I would say that I recall thinking at that point that they were in decline and a legacy band that was mostly done. Seem to recall I thought it was decent but not Rising in the East. Not close. I picked up Battle Cry as sort of a "well, let me give this a shot." I had actually not picked up the album that they were supporting. I was blown away - esp. during Ritchie Faulkners solo during "You've Got Another Thing Coming". I remember Rob introducing him at the end of the solo to the Wacken crowed and being like "Who is this guy? The reincarnation of Randy Rhodes? Holy spit! I need to watch this again (and again and again and again)" Thats when I realized Priest had something left and I needed to pick up the album they were supporting. I am listening to my entire record / CD / DVD collection as I unpack it following my move but mostly only listen to it when I work from home so it may take several more years for me to get through everything. One of these days I will work my way back to it and give it another viewing.

That was the impression I got from some youtube videos I watched. Not a knock on Priest but Saxon was just very good.

100% agree. They were still good & the 2 albums they put out after Rob rejoined are good (Angel is the better of the 2 IMO) but even so they were becoming a legacy band. Then KK left and Richie was a huge addition. The first album with him was good - about as good as Angel IMO. But when I saw the Battle Cry DVD it hit me they had some gas in the tank - that their was something there 2 watch. I was like "To bad KK is gone but this new guy, Ritchie Faulkner, what is he? The reincarnation of Randy Rhodes? This is a band I want to keep listening to. There is something here. They are not done yet". The rest is history - and history that is still being made. I really feel that the HOF made a mistake by not inducting Ritchie. Its his addition that provided Priest with the late career supercharging that helped get them into the HOF. BTW - I liked the positive spin on Ritchie and agree with it. The negative spin would be that KK saved the band by leaving. I would not agree with that. It would be like arguing that John Rutsey saved Rush by getting the boot. Not accurate in either case, nor positive. Much better and accurate to focus on the positive of Ritchie and Neil (and appreciate all that John and KK contributed)

I went with the Steel Mill option (like everybody else so far). I have their first album and I find it to be decent. Nothing special but its ok. Have not found the second album on either vinyl or CD so I have not been able to get it and have not listened to it. I think I herd one or 2 songs on Youtube and they were decent. Ok but nothing special.

Worked from home for part of the day so that gave me a chance to open up my moving box's again and whatever came out got listened to. First out: Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny Good songs, esp. Victim of Changes and Ripper but the production stinks. Thats a major drawback to the album. Next out of the box: Styx - Paradise Theatre Several quite enjoyable songs (Rockin The Paradise, Too Much Time On My Hands, The Best Of Times & Snowblind). Good artwork for the album as well. Enjoyable overall. Next out of the box: The Firm - The Firm This has 2 songs I recall getting airplay (Radioactive & Satisfaction Guaranteed - of the 2 I prefer Satisfaction Guarenteed). Enjoyed them back when the album came out and still do. Also the last song on the album "Midnight Moonlight" was a pleasurable surprise. I did not recall it at all but I enjoyed it. The rest of the album, despite the vocals of Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Pages guitar work, does not do much for me. Last out of the box today: Reo Speedwagon - Wheels are Turnin' This has the excellent "Can't Fight This Feeling" plus the almost as excellent "Live Every Moment". Its also got the very good (but not as good the 2 previously mentioned songs) "I Dowanna Know" & "One Lonely Night". In addition, it has the song "Rock 'N Roll Star". This thing I did not recall at all and it never got airplay but it was rather enjoyable . Plus the albums title track was also enjoyable (again, I did not recall it getting airplay and I did not recall the song). The other songs on the album did not do a lot for me however. My favorite album of the day? The Reo album. Now if only the Priest album had been properly produced.....

Re: Painkiller you nailed it. That is what puts me off. It has its moments but overall no thanks. Sin after Sin - got to admit its been a while since I have listened to it. As I continue to unpack I will find my copy of it and give it another listen. With regards to Rocka Rolla, same thing. Need to find my copy and give it another listen. Been a while. As for Sad Wings - ironically I just pulled it out today and listened to it. Yes, I hear exactly what you are saying. Good songs - I enjoy them but they pale compare to the live versions due to poor production. I seem to recall thinking once "Thank goodness British Steel had the production it had. Its production was way better than the 1970's Priest work. So much of their 1970's work suffers from poor production." So I don't find your comment to be controversial at all - I sort of agree.

Redeemer is the album that really got me back into Priest. Got into them after seeing them on Ram it Down. Collected their older work and loved it. Painkiller was a dud and was not into their Ripper era work. Angel I really enjoyed and Nostradameous was ok but some how I just had the feel that they were a group that was running out of gas. That they were just (mostly) running on the fumes of their past greatness. Enjoyed their live DVD's but they were winding down a great career. Then Redeemer came out and it really impressed me - way more than Nostradameous. Its on par with Angel which was their best work since Ram it Down. Then I picked up the live DVD from their show at Wacken when they played supporting that Redeemer. That show made me really take notice and it convinced me that adding Ritchie Faulkner had added some new gas to the tank. That they were a band that was not just running on fumes - they had something left. For me Redeemer is good and it was a start that got the engine revving up again. What has come since has been special. But no Redeemer then no Firepower etc. One just leads to the others. By the way - all the songs you mentioned get a heck yes from me.

OMG!! I got to see Sabaton years ago in a club in NYC on the opening night of Nightwish's Endless Forms Most Beautiful tour and they were amazing. Never though I would get to see them ago. At the time I said it was like having Priest open for Rush - that was the dynamic in a way. Been hoping to see them again. Thanks for the awesome news!! This is great.

A agree - he was sort of laid back in how he was saying he liked it. Guess I will take his words over his body language here.

I have long said I thought Firepower was their best album since Screaming For Vengeance and I would rank this on par with Firepower - that high praise in my book. Both are light years better than Painkiller which I rank as perhaps their worst Halford era work. I really don't care for it. So no disagreement here.

I generally like his reviews (guess I must be in the minority here) and this was no exception - plus I thought he really liked the album. He seemed to like all the songs with 2 exceptions and even those he thought were ok. Of course they are 2 songs I really like. O well.

That would be amazing if that held to form in the US!!!! I recall Uriah Heep did open for them over here a few years ago (pre-pandemic) but due to a conflict I could not go to the show. I have a lot of Uriah Helps albums and would like to see them. Saxon is a band that, I am ashamed to say, somehow fell through the cracks with me. Never got into them but recently I had listened to a few of their songs on youtube and was like "These guys are another legendary band I missed out on - now I see what they were a big part of the MWOBHM. Got to explore them some more." Given their history, style of music and that they just released a new album I thought they would be a perfect match to tour with Priest - it was the combo I had in mind to tell the truth. Thanks - now I just have to get tickets and keep my fingers crossed.

I did not notice that (shame on me!!). Now I will just have to go listen to it again - o what a terrible fate (LOL). Actually I just got done listening to the album a 2nd time and Sons of Thunder is emerging (along with Gates of Hell, Crown of Horns, Escape From Reality, Giants In the Sky & Trial by Fire) as one of favorites from the album. Thats a lot of favorites but this is a heck of an album. Also listened to: Dio - Killing the Dragon Good album. No Holy Diver or Last in Line but its decent. Glad I found a vinyl copy. As I said, its my preference and it helps me enjoy the artwork.