 ERIK NORLANDER ‘STARS RAIN
DOWN’(THINK TANK MEDIA/BERTUS) The releases of LANA LANE and ERIK NORLANDER are unstoppable, and this time ERIK NORLANDER comes with a new CD release, namely a live one, which contains live recorded stuff from the past tours in Europe between 2001 and 2003. Erik writes extensive liner notes in the CD booklet and tells us about the finding of the new male singer for his solo material, which is of course former BATON ROUGE/MSG shouter KELLY KEELING, who shared the stage along with LANA LANE on the ERIK NORLANDER tour the past 2 years. These recordings took place during these tours, and although mostly recorded in Germany, it gives you a good idea how it all went down there during this tour. Besides Erik on keys, Kelly and Lana on vocals, we can also hear Dutch drummers Ernst van Ee (HIGHWAY CHILE) and Ed Warby (ELEGY), bassist (Chapman Stick actually!) Don Schiff and guitarist Peer Verschuren (the Dutchman who played in VENGEANCE). With such a line-up this tour of ERIK NORLANDER already was a success long before it started, and this excellent live CD is the perfect proof, which is not only interesting for people who visited the tour, but also anyone who never heard how good ERIK NORLANDER and co. is live on stage need to hear this CD. 13 songs are included here, mostly the ERIK NORLANDER classics (a lot of songs from the ‘Music machine’ album were played during these concerts) and with a playing time of 75 minutes enough listening pleasure! Check out Erik’s site and label at: http://www.thetank.com (Points: 8.7 out of 10) JOHN YOUNG ‘SIGNIFICANCE’ (HERITAGE RECORDS) Keyboardplayer/vocalist JOHN YOUNG played with SCORPIONS, JOHN WETTON and ASIA in the past, and now recently he started his own band, which also features Robin Boult (FISH), Dave Stewart (CAMEL) and JOHN JOWITT (IQ, JADIS). As the JOHN YOUNG (BAND) he has released 2 CDs, the live record ‘Live at the Classic Rock Society 2003’ and the studio record ‘Significance’ in 2002. Musically we get to hear laid-back, calm relaxing light symphonic prog/poprock like JOHN WETTON’s last couple of records. 13 songs are included in total, and I am pretty sure fans of JOHN WETTON and the late ASIA (with new singer John Payne and not the John Wetton era!) will love songs like “All gone”, “Closer”, “Underside” and “Insignificance”. The recent live CD saw JOHN YOUNG truly forming the JOHN YOUNG BAND, and also 2 new songs can be found on this CD, with as most important track “Unknown soldier”, a fantastic 15 minutes counting epic Progressive Rocksong, which is definitely John’s best work so far. I already look forward to a new full-length CD in the near future. More info can be found at: http://www.youngjohn.co.uk (Points: 8.1 out of 10) ARREST ‘NIGHT STALKER’ (MAUSOLEUM RECORDS) The band ARREST is playing typical 80s Teutonic German Heavy Metal in the style of ACCEPT, RUNNING WILD, mixed with OZZYish vocals. They already released 2 CDs, but this is the first one for the Belgian label MAUSOLEUM RECORDS. 12 songs are included, and although a cross between ACCEPT and BLACK SABBATH is indeed a good description of ARREST’s sound, I am not saying it is also in the same high level of these Metal heroes. Nevertheless, I think ARREST has released a very good True Metal record, which basically combines a bit of the classic 70s with the 80s Metalsounds, while still giving it an updated sound (keys). Bandleader of ARREST is definitely ALEX WEINRAUCH, who sings, plays guitar and keys. Best songs on the new ARREST CD are “Dancing on the edge of chaos”, “Silent truth” (even a bit like PINK CREAM 69 and AXXIS), “Shadows behind” and “The prophecy”. This is a good deal of typical German melodic Heavy Metal, with strong OZZY orientated vocal work. Fine release by MAUSOLEUM RECORDS! (Points: 8.0 out of 10) DOUBLE DIAMOND ‘STAND UP AND FIGHT’ (MAUSOLEUM RECORDS) TRUE METAL from Belgium in the shape of DOUBLE DIAMOND, a band that released a few demos and cds before this new album ‘Stand up and fight’. Without a doubt, their new CD is filled with high quality True Metal like it was played and made famous in the 1980s by bands like MAIDEN, MANOWAR, PRIEST and SAXON. The band borrows a lot from these bands, and also from the NWOBHM scene of the early 1980s, but nevertheless they do it very well and their new CD ‘Stand up and fight’ is definitely a very strong pure 80s Melodic Metal record. Especially songs like “Ride the wind”, “The seventh seal”, “Murder at midnight” and “Be strong” are great uptempo Melodic Metal which sound like a perfect mix between MANOWAR and SAXON. In the end there’s only conclusion, this CD is a must-have for the fans of True Heavy Metal! (Points: 8.3 out of 10)  IONA ‘THE RIVER FLOWS
ANTHOLOGY VOLUME 1’(OPEN SKY RECORDS) Released in 1990, ‘Iona’ was the debut album of the UK band IONA. Right from the start it was clear that this band had a sound of their own, combining Progressive Rock, Celtic and Popmusic into one exciting style. That first CD is also CD 1 of 4 re-released CDs, all packed in the limited edition release of ‘The river flows – Anthology Volume 1’ of the history of IONA. The band features the great female lead singer Joanne Hogg, who has a great voice that perfectly fits the Celtic Progressive Pop/Rock of IONA. With the release of this box, it will be for some people easier to get the first 3 releases of IONA, and as a bonus there is a 4th CD that is called ‘Dunes’, which contains new and previously unreleased material. Back to their debut from 1990 ‘Iona’, it is a pleasure to hear these calm relaxing sounds of IONA, who by the way back then sounded like DARE nowadays sounds like, with the difference that IONA has a female singer and also sadly, a saxplayer, who disturbs a little bit the music sometimes, but he’s not at the forefront all the time (so a bit like DC DRIVE/ADRENALIN). Anyway, this is the kind of music that fits the landscapes of Ireland and Wales, relaxing and pure nature, that’s what Celtic influenced music is all about and you can hear some of the best on this and the other IONA CDs. The highlights on the first CD are “The Island” and “Dancing on the wall”, 2 vocal songs and then comes my only complaint for this debut CD, which is that it’s too much focused on instrumental music, and that’s a pity because Joanne has a great voice, but happily on future albums that would become a strong mark in IONA’s music. Moving on to CD 2 of this Anthology of IONA, which is the band’s 2nd CD in their catalogue, namely the album ‘The book of Kells’, originally released in 1992. This CD contains 14 tracks, and now Joanna is singing a little more, but it’s still mainly an instrumental affair, a very relaxing one actually. Best songs this time are definitely “Revelation” and “Kells”. CD 3 in this anthology of IONA is ‘Beyond these shores’, released back in 1993. Finally more vocals and back then definitely IONA’s best record, with such great celtic progressive melodic pop/rocksongs like “Treasure”, “Today”, “Bird of heaven” (instrumental), “Healing” and “Murlough bay”. This album definitely saw the band rocking a bit more, closer to Progressive Rock, not unlike MOSTLY AUTUMN, KARNATAKA etc. The 4th CD in this package edition of ‘Anthology volume 1’ is the CD ‘Dunes’, which is a collection of new and unreleased songs of IONA. This CD is mainly instrumental, with lots of very calm epic folk and celtic parts, a very relaxing atmosphere it creates, and it’s good to see the sax has not been included in these recordings. All together a beautiful package of 4 CDs, packed in a very nice luxe edition, with extensive liner notes in the shape of a book, so that alone gives this release something special and therefore I can highly recommend it to all IONA and progfans. You can buy the package of ‘Anthology volume 1’ through: http://www.iona.uk.com (Points: 8.7 out of 10)  IONA ‘WOVEN CORD’
(ALLIANCE MUSIC)5 years ago IONA recorded with the All Souls Orchestra a concert at the Royal festival Hall in London, which was released on CD with the title ‘Woven cord’. 11 songs were played that night and it’s a pleasure to hear IONA play live, because they sound very impressive, and together with a full orchestra backing them up, the sound becomes even richer. The best track of the whole evening has got to be the wonderful progressive rock epic “Encircling”, a 12 minutes counting track from the album ‘Jounrey into the morn’. This CD also contains one unreleased IONA song, which is the titletrack “Woven cord”. All together a great live release from one of Britain’s finest in progressive celtic rock! You can buy the CD through: http://www.iona.uk.com (Points: 8.3 out of 10)  IONA ‘JOURNEY INTO THE
MORN’ (ALLIANCE MUSIC)The 4th studio CD of IONA was titled ‘Journey into the morn’, and clearly it was their strongest effort back then, basically bringing the band into a strong celtic progressive rocksound. 14 songs were included, some of them quite lengthy, and finally, female lead singer Joanne Hogg got a lot of space and she sang on 12 tracks, so not much instrumental parts this time. Also the sax has been put to the background, so what remains is a high quality release, with IONA still having their own kind of Progressive Celtic Rocksound, like a less polished THE CORRS meets MOSTLY AUTUMN meets ENYA. Highlights on this CD are “Irish day”, “Encircling”, “No heart beats” (commercial midtempo aor) and “Bi-se mo shuil part 2”. Concluded, a great album, and highly recommended to the Progfreaks out there, although you could smell a slight commercial approach to this record, but this time it is for the better and it gave the sound of IONA a stronger sound in general. You can buy the CD through: http://www.iona.uk.com (Points: 8.4 out of 10)  IONA ‘OPEN SKY’
(ALLIANCE MUSIC)The final IONA album was released in 2000, and this is without a doubt, the band’s best release so far. Finally they found the perfect balance between instrumental parts and vocal songs, where melodies are very important, while the celtic influences are still present most of the time, but ‘Open sky’ is definitely IONA’s most progressive rock orientated release. The CD contains some beautiful songs like “Open sky”, “Light reflected”, “Hinba” and “Wave after wave”, all semi progressive rocksongs with the strong female vocals of singer Joanne Hogg. The instrumental songs are really bringing us the calm celtic moments of the Irish/Welsh landscapes, and this CD is sounding like the perfect mix between MOSTLY AUTUMN, DARE and ENYA. A highly recommended CD, and it makes me already looking forward to a new album, because this one is already 4 years old, but is still sounding up-to-date! You can buy the CD through: http://www.iona.uk.com (Points: 8.8 out of 10)  MAGNUM ‘BRAND NEW
MORNING’ (SPV)2 years after the release of their comeback album ‘Breath of life’, MAGNUM comes with another new CD release, and this album is definitely their best since the mid 1980s. Finally, they rock like in their old days, although you can not compare MAGNUM’s sound on ‘Brand new morning’ with any of their older Symphonic/AOR releases. This time the band is mostly focusing on bringing strong midtempo Melodic Rock material, with a slight updated sound and the guitars upfront, so the keys are mostly put to the background. However, the choruses of all 9 songs are very impressive and catchy, rememerable of old classic MAGNUM. Gone are the days of “The spirit”, “How far Jerusalem”, “On a storyteller’s night” and “Just like an arrow”, but instead we still get to hear high class MAGNUM melodic rock in the shape of excellent songs like “It’s time to come together”, “We all run”, “I’d breathe for you” and “The last goodbye”. This new MAGNUM album is definitely better than the previous release and it brings the band back into the melodic rock sound, with the strong choruses as the band’s trademark! (Points: 8.7 out of 10)  DIO ‘MASTER OF THE
MOON’ (SPV)Also the God of Metal DIO returns with a new CD, which is the follow-up to 2002’s ‘Killing the dragon’. Musically we get to hear the typical DIO stuff, which is a mix of RAINBOW, BLACK SABBATH and DIO, although this time focusing mostly on ‘real’ classic late 70s orientated Melodic Heavy Rock/Metal, with even a touch of the BLACK SABBATH Doom Metal. I think this is another high class DIO album, and maybe his best in years, because the sound on ‘Master of the moon’ is huge, owing thanks to his line-up this time (guitarist CRAIG GOLDY from GIUFFRIA, bassist Rudy Sarzo from OZZY/WHITESNAKE, drummer Simon Wright from AC/DC, UFO and keyboardplayer Scott Warren of KEEL fame). There’s all sorts of songs on this album, ranging from slowtempo (almost Doom Metal) orientated material, midtempo heavy rockers, semi-ballads and of course uptempo rockers. Best songs to check out as soon as you get hold of this new DIO CD are “Master of the moon” (strong slowtempo classic BLACK SABBATH ‘Heaven and hell’ era), “Shivers” (great uptempo melodic heavy rocker a la mid 80s DIO), “I am” (strong midtempo classic RAINBOW) and the uptempo rockers “Living the lie” and “Death by love”. This is a classic DIO record, which is an easy target for the fans of RAINBOW, BLACK SABBATH and of course DIO, basically anyone into classic hardrock/metal! (Points: 8.7 out of 10)  MELIAH RAGE ‘KILL TO
SURVIVE’(COLLECTABLES RECORDS/SONY MUSIC) Originally released back in 1988, this US band was one of those typical 80s US Power Metalband releasing a few records on a big label (CBS/EPIC), but never reaching big success. The band managed to release 3 albums, of which ‘Kill to survive’ was their debut in 1988. Now some 16 years later the album has been re-released on CD through COLLECTABLES RECORDS, together with 4 bonustracks from the band’s 2nd album ‘Solitary solitude’ from 1990. What you basically get hear is pure 80s US Melodic Power Metal like only the American s could make it, think of acts like METAL CHURCH, VICIOUS RUMORS, MEGADETH, very early ANTHRAX etc. This CD contains 11 tracks in total, with as highlights “Beginning of the end”, “Deadly existence” and “The pack”. Concluded, a lost classic piece of 80s US Metal you need to have if you’re into this kind of stuff. You can buy this CD at: http://www.oldies.com (Points: 8.2 out of 10) KILLER DWARFS ‘DIRTY WEAPONS’ (COLLECTABLES RECORDS/SONY MUSIC) This is the re-release of the 1990 release of KILLER DWARFS, with 5 bonustracks taken from the band’s final album ‘Methods to the madness’. KILLER DWARFS was a legendary fairly underrated Canadian melodic hardrockalbum, and actually ‘Dirty weapons’ was one of their strongest efforts, containing melodic hardrock like a mix between FASTWAY, GREAT WHITE, DOKKEN and SLAUGHTER, very American sounding all together. Uptempo melodic rockers like “Dirty weapons”, “Nothin’ gets nothin’”, “All that we dream” and “Last laugh” are unforgettable songs, which showcase that typical 80s North American Westcoast Melodic Hardrocksound, although KILLER DWARFS hailed from Canada. The 5 bonustracks are from the band’s 1992 release. You can buy this CD at: http://www.oldies.com (Points: 8.6 out of 10)  BLACKFOOT ‘FLYIN’
HIGH’(COLLECTABLES RECORDS/SONY MUSIC) Back to the Classic 70s Southern hardrocksound with BLACKFOOT’s ‘Flyin’ high’ album from 1976, which has been re-issued onto CD by COLLECTABLES RECORDS/SONY MUSIC. Obviously influenced by LYNYRD SKYNYRD, this 2nd BLACKFOOT album presented an own kind of Southern hardrock approach of the band that would release many more ‘better’ records in the years to follow. ‘Flyin’ high’ saw some highlights in the shape of “Flyin’ high”, “Save your time”, “Madness” and “Try a little harder”, and is in general speaking one of those CDs the true Southern Hardrockfan must own! You can buy this CD at: http://www.oldies.com (Points: 8.1 out of 10)  RIOT ‘THE PRIVILEGE OF
POWER’(COLLECTABLES RECORDS/SONY MUSIC) ‘Privilege of power’ of the legendary US Metalband RIOT was their most critical release, because it saw the band trying out different styles, although still a pure Melodic Metal release, it became clear the band wanted to mix it with other musical styles (the use of trumpets for example), maybe also due to the fact they were on a big label (CBS Records released the album in 1990, in a period when lots of bands were trying out other styles, because labels were looking for something new, which came a year later with the Grunge scene unfortunately). Anyway, this RIOT album was a sort of mixture of classic 80s hardrock/metal with some modern (for 1990) rhythms, such as the trumpets in opener “On your knees” and “Killer”. Nevertheless, this CD was also a very interesting RIOT CD, because it was a concept album about the major influence someone with great powers has, and each song reflects that theme. Musically we can still find some awesome classic melodic hardrock on this CD, such as “Metal soldiers”, “Runaway” (actually a commercial AOR tune), “Maryanne” (another commercial piece a la BOSTON), “Little Miss Death”, and the fast metal tunes in old RIOT style (‘Fire down under’) “Dance of death” and “Storming the gates of hell”. Most RIOT fans will not like this CD, because it is very different from the earlier releases, and some of the material might have been pushed onto the CD by the label, but still it has it’s highlights. Basically this is another quality CD of the most underrated Metalband ever (RIOT). They should have sold so much more records than some of the other acts that did make it (METALLICA), but just like for example Y&T they have a bunch of die-hard fans worldwide, and were unlucky in getting some big promotion in the 80s. Anyway, you can buy this CD at: http://www.oldies.com (Points: 8.5 out of 10)  FIFTH ANGEL ‘FIFTH ANGEL’(COLLECTABLES RECORDS/SONY MUSIC) In 1986 the band FIFTH ANGEL released their wonderful debut, and now some 18 years later the CD has been re-released on COLLECTABLES RECORDS. Without a doubt, this is a Melodic Metal Classic which everyone should own, especially if stuff like RAINBOW, RIOT and DIO belong to your favourite acts. This guitar orientated band from Seattle featured such shredding guitarists like JAMES BYRD (who later became known as a successfull solo artist) and ED ARCHER, while drummer Ken Mary later joined ALICE COOPER, and bassist John Macko and lead singer TED PILOT completing the line-up. Ted had a fantastic voice, and it’s a bloody shame he never did anything more than the 2 FIFTH ANGEL releases, because he easily could be mentioned alongside JEFF SCOTT SOTO (!). Anyway, this 1986 classic is now on CD available again, and what a classic release it was back then and still is. Songs like the uptempo “In the fallout”, “Fade to flames” and “Call out the warning” and the midtempo “Wings of destiny” and “Cry out the fools” are all instant classic Melodic Heavy Rockers with awesome vocals, killer choruses and superb guitarwork. This was as good as anything MALMSTEEN was bringing! Although the album was released in 1986, it was actually recorded back in 1984, so we are looking at a 20-year anniversary of this underrated US Melodic Hardrock classic. It’s a pity the album never got that big, although it did quite well in the US Billboard charts, staying there for 13 weeks in a row (in 1988, so 4 years after the release!). This is the kind of album I can easily highly recommend, and it should be in the collection of every hardrockfan! You can buy this CD at: http://www.oldies.com (Points: 9.3 out of 10) GRIM REAPER ‘SEE YOU IN HELL/FEAR NO EVIL’ (COLLECTABLES RECORDS/SONY MUSIC)  There once was a
fairytale in the UK called GRIM REAPER, a band like
thousands of other metalbands in the UK back in the early
80s, trying to make it big, but just playing that typical
80s Metalstyle. They were also like many other bands
signed to the underground Metal label EBONY RECORDS, so
further than some small success in the UK did nobody
expect, but something quite unusual happened in 1984. In
that year the band released it’s debut, and
strangely enough US radio picked up the band, and this
lead to MTV video airplay of their songs, and eventually
the first album ‘See you in hell’ climbed the
US Billboard charts, which did not happen too often for a
British Metalband. Of course DEF LEPPARD had a lot of
success in 1983 in the USA, but GRIM REAPER was much
heavier, more like PRIEST meets ACCEPT, and they got away
with it, selling up to a million records in the US alone
back in the mid 1980s. Now finally both their first album
‘See you in hell’ and their 2nd album
‘Fear no evil’ (originally released on RCA
Records) have been re-issued onto CD, both are available
on 1 CD. It’s pretty weird to hear this band after
so many years again, and still not understanding why they
became quite big in the USA, because they really played
the typical 80s Metalsound, although sometimes it sounded
quite good. The 2 albums make up 17 songs in total, with
a playing time of just 69 minutes (2 full-length albums
are included here on 1 CD!). Musically classic 80s Metal
like PRIEST meets ACCEPT meets early TWISTED SISTER meets
MAIDEN, with such great uptempo songs like “See you
in hell”, “Lay it on the line”, “Fear
no evil”, “Dead on arrival”, “All
hell let loose” and the semi-epic-aor/melodic
rockballad “The show must go on”. However, the
best had yet to come for lead singer STEVE GRIMMETT and
co., because their third album ‘Rock you to
hell’ was their finest release, but on the other
hand they split soon after, with Steve eventually forming
LIONSHEART, with whom he recently released a new CD.
Anyway, back to GRIM REAPER, this is a highly recommended
classy 80s US Power Metal orientated CD from a slightly
overrated UK band. You can buy this CD at: http://www.oldies.com (Points: 8.6 out of 10)  CANNON ‘THE HISTORY’
(POINT MUSIC)In the 1980s there were many German melodic Hardrock/Metalbands and CANNON was one of them. They released 2 LPs, and both have now been re-issued onto CD, with the addition of 13 unreleased bonus/demotracks. CANNON played your typical German Melodic Hardrock a la BONFIRE, PRETTY MAIDS, VICTORY and some ACCEPT, yet with some American Partyrock (a la RATT, WINGER and WARRANT) influences as well (such as in the midtempo groovy rocker “Wasted love” or “Heat of the night”). The results of their 1980s recordings can be found on these CDs, which has it’s highlights in the shape of such great uptempo melodic hardrocksongs like “Let’s start the party”, “Lies”, “Love and pain” (fantastic catchy melodic rocker a la 80s BON JOVI/SURGIN), “Metal Wars”, “Fireblade”, ”Strangers in the night” and “Evil shadow”. Basically you’ll get 28 songs of full power 80s Melodic Hardrock in the style of VICTORY, BONFIRE, ACCEPT, V2... The band is at the moment working on new material, which will be released on CD early next year. In the meantime, check out this great 2-CD set of CANNON, more info at: http://www.cannon-theband.com (Points: 8.4 out of 10)  JIMI HENDRIX ‘THE LAST 24 HOURS
DVD’ (DVDISC)It is now almost 34 years ago when the guitar legend JIMI HENDRIX died at the young age of 27 in a hotel room in London, but still till this day it is not known if it was a suicide or a murder. This DVD is more or less telling us an inside look into the life Jimi lived the 27 years he lived, with a focus around that unfaithful day in September. It is a very fascinating documentary to watch, because many people truly believe he died of the drugs, but somehow this DVD shows a different side of the death of one of the best guitarists ever lived, because through the years a lot of evidence have turned up, indicating this might not have been an accident or suicide, but a murder. The documentary shows us all the people who might have benefit from Jimi’s death, like his manager for example, and also why the policemen who found Jimi death in his bed were never questioned again. 34 years went by without anyone really digging into Jimi’s death, but happily there’s now a DVD available that tells us exactly what might have happened during the last 24 hours in the life of Jimi. Of course this DVD is a must-have for every JIMI HENDRIX/Guitarfreak, but I guess this DVD might appeal to about anyone, because the story is quite interesting to watch. Besides the documentary of 60 minutes, the DVD also contains an extensive 32-page colour booklet to read. Concluded, this is a must-have DVD! You can buy the DVD through: http://www.dvdisc.co.uk (Points: 8.8 out of 10)  ASIA ‘THE ULTIMATE
ANTHOLOGY DVD’ (DVDISC)This ASIA DVD is a nice collection of the old and new ASIA, and although I would prefer the old ASIA with JOHN WETTON on the mic, I can guarantee you that the new ASIA with singer John Payne is also very nice to watch. Musically the band changed a bit, from Sympho-AOR Rock in the 1980s with John Wetton to the more calmer progressive aor of nowadays. The band is about to release a new CD, which will be reviewed soon, but in the meantime this is a nice DVD to watch, especially if you want to compare both versions of ASIA. The clips on the DVD are mostly live outtakes, with a videoclip here and there. Of course the old ASIA classics are featured, such as “Sole survivor”, “Go”, “Voice of America”, “Wildest dreams” and 2 live in Moscow recorded live songs, namely “The heat of the moment”, “Open your eyes”, both performed at a high level back in 1990 in front of a lot of very enthousiastic Russian ASIA fans! From the new ASIA stuff the relaxing calmer progressive aor songs “Free”, “Awake”, “Wherever you are”, “Thunder and lightning”, “Arena” and “Who will stop the rain”, mostly filmed at the US Classic Rock festival from 2002. Concluded, this is a highly recommended DVD to all ASIA fans, both new and old, with some unique material to watch. You can buy the DVD through: http://www.dvdisc.co.uk (Points: 8.6 out of 10)  VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘HEAVY ROCK
MASTERPIECES DVD’(DVDISC) This is a very interesting 14-tracks counting compilation DVD, with all sorts of rare footage from mostly the 1970s and some 1980s. Of course it’s all classic hardrock what we get to see, from legendary bands like BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, THIN LIZZY, URIAH HEEP, UFO, SAXON, MAGNUM and even POISON! If we have a closer look to the included songs, the most interesting ones are “Paranoid” and “Headless cross” (both from BLACK SABBATH, Tony Martin era, very rare live footage from the late 80s), “Whiskey in the jar” (THIN LIZZY with Phil Lynott is always classic stuff to watch), “Child in time” and “Highway star” (rare DEEP PURPLE footage from the early 70s, with Ritchie Blackmore on guitar) and “Vigilante” (by MAGNUM, live recorded in 1991). Some of the others are also interesting, but not that rare, such as SAXON, UFO (“Boogie” from one of their first couple of albums), FREE, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, URIAH HEEP, POISON and a few more. Nice put together this collection, especially interesting for the fans of classic 70s Hardrock. You can buy the DVD through: http://www.dvdisc.co.uk (Points: 8.5 out of 10)  VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘CLASSIC ROCK
DVD’ (DVDISC)This is yet another very interesting DVD from the Ragnarock series, which was put together by the CLASSIC ROCK label. This compilation DVD contains 14 clips in total, with mostly rare live footage of the featured bands. Highlights on this DVD, which is of course focused on 70s Classic Rock/Hardrock, include THIN LIZZY (“The sun goes down”), DEEP PURPLE (“Child in time”), FOCUS (“Sylvia”), URIAH HEEP (“Return to fantasy”), ELP (“The barbarian”), ASIA’s “Heat of the moment” once againFREE (I’ll be moving”) and ARGENT (“Hold your head up”). There are also some lesser known rockbands featured, such as CURVED AIR, FAMILY and THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND. With a running time of 76 minutes another recommended DVD to the all-round classic rockfan! You can buy the DVD through: http://www.dvdisc.co.uk (Points: 8.3 out of 10)  VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘STADIUM ROCK
DVD’ (DVDISC)With 63 minutes a short running DVD, but just like the other compilation DVDs in these series, also ‘Stadium Rock’ offers some nice footage to watch. This time only 11 tracks are included, with more or less some of the same kind of bands (and songs too) as on the other DVD releases, so you’ll get SAXON, URIAH HEEP, THIN LIZZY, DEEP PURPLE, ASIA, MAGNUM, UFO, BLACK SABBATH, WISHBONE ASH, MOODY BLUES and MEATLOAF, all included with 1 song each, mostly recorded live in TV Music shows from mainly German, UK and Dutch TV. Just like the other reviewed DVDs in these series, also ‘Stadium Rock’ has a very nice packaging, which definitely contributes to the value of the DVD. You can buy the DVD through: http://www.dvdisc.co.uk (Points: 8.0 out of 10)  VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘GUITAR LEGENDS
DVD’ (DVDISC)Although this DVD is promoted as ‘Guitar legends’, it basically is another compilation of songs only, where the guitarist is sort of the star, but the clips are just ordinary video/live clips and so nothing really focused on the guitarists, until the guitarsolo comes around. So we’ll actually get a collection of nice video/live clips of FREE, WISHBONE ASH, DEEP PURPLE, SOFT MACHINE, FOCUS, URIAH HEEP and BLACK SABBATH. The only guitarists performing on their own are RORY GALLAGHER, STEVE HOWE and ROBIN TROWER, but most of this DVD are just the full songs with only during the guitarsolos and riffs the performing guitar legend. The mention of JIMI HENDRIX on the back of the DVD box is wrong, because he is sadly not included on this DVD. So don’t let the title of the CD make you think this is a straight guitar orientated CD, because it actually is just a nice collection of rare live performances of the bands these guitarists played in. You can buy the DVD through: http://www.dvdisc.co.uk (Points: 8.0 out of 10)  SKID ROW ‘UNDER THE SKIN
– THE MAKING OF THICKSKIN DVD’ (DVDISC)Recently SKID ROW got rid of SEBASTIAN BACH, and with new singer Johnny Solinger at the mic they continued and even released a DVD of the making of their new CD ‘Thickskin’. Of course this is not the SKID ROW you would like to see, because SEBASTIAN BACH was more or less the main man of the band, although he was not the original founder of SKID ROW. Nevertheless, with a weak new singer they are trying to update the SKID ROW sound, which completely fails, and on this DVD you can see live performances of their new songs, as well as new versions of old SKID ROW classics. Just like what we saw with MOTLEY CRUE some years ago, also former lead singer SEBASTIAN BACH is doing successfull solo performances like VINCE NEIL did too, and then you can tell that Sebastian is more important than SKID ROW. I’ll bet he will return sooner or later back to SKID ROW, and in the meantime this DVD might then well become an interesting item, as it features a different lead singer and the fact that SKID ROW has not released any DVD before this one with Sebastian on vocals is making this DVD even more interesting! You can buy the DVD through: http://www.dvdisc.co.uk (Points: 7.7 out of 10) CARAVAN ‘THE ULTIMATE ANTHOLOGY DVD’ (DVDISC) CARAVAN is one of those typical British Progressive Rockbands that have been making records ever since Prog was invented. They managed to release a great DVD, which contains a live performance of the band. In total 11 tracks are included, with a total playing time of 82 minutes. Fans of that typical 70s classic rock/progrocksound so many UK bands were playing 30 years ago will love CARAVAN, although sometimes it is getting quite calm, with even some jazzy moments. On the other hand this makes CARAVAN a very interesting band to check out if you haven’t done already. And I think this DVD is a nice way to start, especially because live on stage they form a strong team, which results in a crystal clear performance of their songs. A must-have DVD for the all-round progrockfans! You can buy the DVD through: http://www.dvdisc.co.uk (Points: 8.4 out of 10)  URIAH HEEP ‘THE ULTIMATE
ANTHOLOGY DVD’(DVDISC) If we would make a list of bands that released the most DVDs so far I think URIAH HEEP would easily top the charts, because there have been so many URIAH HEEP DVD released the past few years, and now we are looking at another one titled ‘The ultimate anthology’. Like the title says, this is a collection of their best songs recorded during their 35-year career. All the HEEP classics are presented here, such as “Stealin’”, “July morning”, “Gypsy”, ”Easy livin’” and “Lady in black”, along with some of their newer material. The nice thing about this HEEP DVD is that we are not just watching one show, but a compilation of all sorts of performances (mostly live) from various years, although quite a few are from the Magician’s Birthday performances. Nevertheless, this is a must-have DVD for the HEEP fans, although we are actually waiting for some of HEEP’s rarest material from the 70s with a certain David ‘Lord’ Byron singing, because that kind of material has not been issued so far. You can buy the DVD through: http://www.dvdisc.co.uk (Points: 8.3 out of 10)  BONFIRE ‘THE EARLY DAYS
PART 1: CACUMEN – CACUMEN’ (LZ RECORDS)Before there was BONFIRE, they were called CACUMEN and released a few fantastic LPs under that moniker in the early 1980s. It’s a pity CACUMEN never became famous, because those few records are instant classics that I even rate higher than the following BONFIRE records. I believe they released 3 albums under CACUMEN, and all of them contained fantastic classic 80s Melodic Hardrock, with biting guitarwork and very strong melodies, like a mix between SCORPIONS and DOKKEN, with some UFO influences as well. Happily, now after 20 years all the CACUMEN material has been re-issued onto CD, and this has been done on the LZ Records label from Hans Ziller, the BONFIRE/CACUMEN guitarist. I am very glad to inform you that in total 5 CDs have been released as part of the BONFIRE – The early days series. These 5 parts contain all of the early 80s CACUMEN material (part 1-2-3), the EZ LIVIN’ album (part 4) and LESSMAN/ZILLER (part 5), so all BONFIRE related material under a different name, and these re-issues come with bonustracks/demos, so without a doubt these 5 CDs are definitely very interesting and highly recommended to any Melodic hardrockfan. It’s by far so much better than the recent new BONFIRE album, as this is the classic material everybody wants to hear BONFIRE playing. Now if only the band would play these old CACUMEN classics once again, that would be awesome! Anyway, part 1 of the BONFIRE – The early days series contains the debut album from the very early 80s (1980 perhaps???) and this was the only album I had not heard before, so I really was looking forward to it, especially since I love the other CACUMEN so much. The CD contains 12 songs in total, of which 9 songs are from the original LP release, and as bonus we’ll get 3 more songs (demos and a single from 1979!), so definitely worth checking out. The music itself is of course just like the other CACUMEN and BONFIRE material, namely classic melodic hardrock like SCORPIONS meets UFO and DOKKEN. Highlights are opener “Berlin girls” (uptempo melodic rocker), “No reason to fight” (strong semi-ballad), “Magic spell” (great uptempo melodic rocker) and “Riding away” (another great uptempo melodic rocker). Although it was the start of CACUMEN, and it’s not as good as their other material. this first album is still offering enough great moments.. However, the best had yet to come on their 2nd album, which is reviewed as BONFIRE – Thea early days part 2, of which you can read the review below. You can buy this CD through: http://www.bonfire.de (Points: 8.3 out of 10)  BONFIRE ‘THE EARLY DAYS
PART 2: CACUMEN – BAD WIDOW’ (LZ RECORDS)The 2nd full-length CACUMEN contained some instant classics, and is without a doubt one of my favourite early 80s Hardrock releases, so the re-issue onto CD (with 2 bonustracks) is much appreciated over here. The CD contains such brilliant early 80s Melodic Hardrock, like the perfect mix between SCORPIONS, DOKKEN and IRON MAIDEN. The (twin) guitarwork was stunning and vocally Claus Lessmann was singing like no German singer had done before in the early 90s (which was singing without an accent!). Songs like “Games of loneliness”, “Broken man”, “You are my destiny”, “Tonight”, “Strong desire” and “I’m gonna make it someday” are all instant classic early 80s Melodic Hardrocksongs. Especially the song “Games of loneliness” may be called a Classic, because this song has got everything you want to hear in a classic Melodic Rocksong, it starts as a ballad, gets uptempo towards the end, and somehow it sounds like a cross between SCORPIONS “Still loving you” and Y&T “I believe in you/Forever”! Finally, the CACUMEN classic is out on CD and I can recommend it to anyone who likes classic 80s Melodic Hardrock! You can buy this CD through: http://www.bonfire.de (Points: 9.0 out of 10)  BONFIRE ‘THE EARLY DAYS
PART 3: CACUMEN – DOWN TO HELL’ (LZ RECORDS)The 3rd album of CACUMEN was titled ‘Down to hell’, and this was definitely the album that was actually the beginning of BONFIRE, also due to the fact 3 of the 7 original songs were later re-recorded as BONFIRE. The fantastic uptempo melodic rockers “Longing for you” and “Starey eyes” both were re-recorded on BONFIRE’s ‘Don’t touch the light’ release, while the beautiful melodic rockballad “I still need you” was later re-recorded in an acoustic version and re-named to “You make me feel” for the BONFIRE album ‘Point blank’. On this CD you can find the 7 original CACUMEN songs from their ‘Down to hell’ release as well as 3 additional bonustracks (live and demo songs). Although this is not CACUMEN’s best release, it still has a few fantastic melodic rocksongs on offer like the semi-ballad “The day before” and the uptempo rockers “Longing for you”, “Woman” and “Starey eyes”. It’s amazing that 3 CDs full of CACUMEN material have been released, because this pre-BONFIRE band deserved much more attention back in the early 80s, because some of their songs were as good as anything SCORPIONS did around that time! You can buy the CD through: http://www.bonfire.de (Points: 8.7 out of 10)  BONFIRE ‘THE EARLY DAYS
PART 4: EZ LIVIN’ – AFTER THE FIRE’ (LZ
RECORDS)BONFIRE guitarist HANS ZILLER spent a little time in the band EZ LIVIN’, with whom he recorded the album ‘After the fire’ in the early 90s. Musically it was a step into pure late 80s US Arena Melodic Mainstream Hardrock, with big harmonvocals and catchy choruses, perfectly suitable for American radio in the early 90s when bands like FIREHOUSE, DANGER DANGER, WARRANT, WINGER, DAMN YANKEES, SLAUGHTER were the next big thing. EZ LIVIN’ however managed to release only 1 CD, which has now been re-released as part of the BONFIRE ‘The early days’ series. Besides the 11 original album tracks, we an also find 4 unreleased demo tracks, so definitely this is something interesting for the fans of the genre in which EZ LIVIN’ can be placed, but also the BONFIRE fans will like this CD a lot, because it’s not that far away from what BONFIRE was doing on their ‘Point blank’ album. Songs like “Die for rock”, “Too late for paradise”, “See the tears”, “Take me’ and “Hold on” are those typical US orientated late 80s Melodic Rocksongs with big hooks and catchy choruses, ‘Hair Metal’ it was called back then. Anyway, a good album, although BONFIRE’s high level is never reached on this EZ LIVIN’ CD. You can buy the CD through: http://www.bonfire.de (Points: 8.3 out of 10)  BONFIRE ‘THE EARLY DAYS
PART 5: LESSMANN/ZILLER – GLAUB DRAN’ (LZ
RECORDS)BONFIRE main members CLAUS LESSMANN (vocals, guitars) and HANS ZILLER (guitars) recorded an album in German some 10 years ago, and this album has now been re-released, with the addition of 11 demos, so definitely something worth checking out. Although the songs are sung in German, the music is still classy Melodic Rock in the typical BONFIRE style. Some of the songs are actually original BONFIRE songs, just a bit stripped down with a lot of acoustic guitars and of course the German language. I will not mention any songtitles, because these are all in German, but I can guarantee a BONFIRE fan, this CD is a must-have, because it’s typical BONFIRE, only slightly different. Besides, this re-release comes with many unreleased songs, so one more reason why purchasing this CD if you’re a BONFIRE fan. You can buy the CD through: http://www.bonfire.de (Points: 8.2 out of 10)  RICHIE KOTZEN ‘GET UP’(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) Guitarplayer RICHIE KOTZEN played in 2 very successfull bands in the past, namely MR. BIG and POISON. In between he also continued relasing solo albums, and ‘Get up’ is his latest release, out on the Italian label FRONTIERS RECORDS. The new CD is filled with good groovy Hardrock with a strong 70s vibe. Richie himself can actually sing quite well, with a sort of PAUL RODGERS meets DAVID COVERDALE meets SAMMY HAGAR meets GLENN HUGHES kinda approach, while the guitarwork of him is very groovy (a la JIMI HENDRIX) and pure 70s Hardrock. 11 songs can be found on the CD, and if you like one, you will love them all. Songs like “Fantasy”, “Get up”, “Still” and “Never be the same” are all good groovy Hardrocksongs like a heavier version of BAD COMPANY, with a strong GLENN HUGHES kinda touch, but also a slight sort of mix between CROWN OF THORNS, LENNY KRAVITZ and MOTHERS FINEST might not be out of place here. Although this is not an interesting album for prog/melodic rock/aor/fans, it is definitely something worth checking out if you’re into classic 70s groovy hardrock! (Points: 8.0 out of 10)  SURRENDER ‘SURRENDER’(ESCAPE MUSIC/BERTUS) One of Canadian’s best singers of all time is without a doubt ALFIE ZAPPACOSTA, and besides a successfull (Canadian) solo career, he also played in a band called SURRENDER between 1978 and 1982, with whom he released 2 great albums. Now both albums have been re-issued onto CD, with the addition of 8 unreleased bonustracks, so this is definitely a must-have! The debut album of SURRENDER was released in 1979, and contained some high class progressive melodic rock with pomp rock influences, kinda like RUSH and SAGA, yet with some lighter influences as well, while on the other hand it sometimes rocks quite hard too. The follow-up was the mini-LP ‘No surrender’, a slightly more commercial melodic rock/aor record, while we all know that ZAPPACOSTA made some beautiful AOR in the start of his solo career (with the legendary songs “Nothing could stand in your way” and “I think about you”), but sadly drift away into Popmusic during  the late 80s/early 90s.
Nevertheless, the 20 songs on this CD are showing you the
rock side of ALFIE ZAPPACOSTA. His voice was (and still
is) a pleasure to listen to, with a lot of soul and
without a doubt one of those perfect voices you
immediately love... Anyway, the music is a mixture of
progressive rock, melodic rock, aor and pomprock, with
many great uptempo rockers like “Anyway you
want”, “Turn down the mission”,
“It’s all been done before” (later
re-recorded as ZAPPACOSTA) and “Buddy”, but
also relaxing AOR/Pomprock here and there (“Big city
streets”, the fantastic FRANKE AND THE KNOCKOUTSish
“Strange strange way!”, “Hold me
close”, “Melody” and “Young
seaman”). Concluded, a must-have for the ZAPPACOSTA
fans, who have been waiting a very long time for these
legendary SURRENDER albums to be re-issued onto CD and
now you’ll even get 8 unreleased SURRENDER gems,
what more do ya want!(Points: 8.8 out of 10)  BONRUD ‘BONRUD’(FRONTIERS RECORDS/BERTUS) From out of nowhere comes BONRUD, a hot new AOR band from the USA, lead by guitarist/bassist/ keyboardplayer and producer PAUL BONRUD. Together with the very good singing Dave Hendricks and drummer Paul Higgins, this new band is bringing us classic 80s AOR in the style of SURVIVOR, JOURNEY, FOREIGNER, SHOOTING STAR, PREVIEW... The big surprise is the fact that none-other than KEITH OLSEN (NIGHT RANGER, SAMMY HAGAR, RICK SPRINGFIELD, FOREIGNER, WHITESNAKE, OZZY...) mixed the CD. Included are 11 songs that all fall in the spirit of classic 80s AOR, and it sounds indeed quite good, although the real high level of mentioned bands is not reached unfortunately, but it’s good to see a true new act from the USA playing AOR. In general this band is not too far away from OUTLAND and DOUBLE CROSS, 2 more new AOR acts that released their debut CDs recently. Opener “Leap of faith” is the kind of classic uptempo AOR rocker you will love if you dig the first SURVIVOR, mid 80s 38 SPECIAL, SHOOTING STAR and PREVIEW. Next track “The phoenix” is a nice midtempo AOR tune that actually does nowhere, but has a catchy beat. The first song that can be called ‘sensational’ is up next, namely the superb semi AOR ballad “Desperate heart”, which sounds like the perfect mix between SIGNAL, FOREIGNER and SURVIVOR. This song has some awesome LOU GRAMMish vocals and an amazing chorus that all AOR fans will fall in love with... The CD continues with lots more great (and sometimes very sensational) pure 80s AOR, with as absolute highlights besides the already mentioned AOR Classic “Desperate heart”, “I’ve changed” (wow, uptempo AOR rocker like the 1979-1983 Dave Bickler SURVIVOR period), “Date with destiny” (very catchy uptempo AOR, probably one of the best songs on this CD), “Give me a chance” (so 1980s early 80s fun uptempo AOR/Radiorock) and closing track “Hollywood movie star”. Concluded, I think I am safe to say that the AOR fans have another new winner in the shape of BONRUD... (Points: 8.7 out of 10) KLAATU ‘PEAKS’ (BULLSEYE RECORDS CANADA) In the 1970s the Canadian band KLAATU was very popular, and were a sort of 70s progressive pop/rock version of THE BEATLES. They released about 6 albums between 1976 and 1982, and this ‘Peaks’ is a nice compilation of some of their greatest hits. Although the band had a lot of Pop orientated songs in their repertoire, sometimes they rocked a bit, such as on “True life hero”, “Love of a woman” (TOTOish) and “I can’t help it”. However, I am afraid the best of KLAATU CD shows a more Popside of the band, and their regular albums have more rock to offer. However if you’re keen on BEATLES influenced 70s Popmusic you will love KLAATU! You can buy the CD through http://www.bullseyecanada.com (Points: -) GSO ‘HOW TO GET A HEAD IN LIFE’ (GMR MUSIC) GSO from Sweden is playing very groovy Hardrock with a strong modern approach. This is how GUNS’N’ROSES would sound like if they would record a new CD, so big groovy guitars, a modern touch in the production and screaming lead vocals. None of the 12 tracks really stand out and in general this CD reminds me of the recent new TESLA record, mixed with some VELVET REVOLVER and BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION. Check it out if you liked these releases! You can buy the CD through: http://www.gmrmusic.se (Points: 7.3 out of 10) THE POET AND THE DRAGON ‘LIVE...SOMEWHERE IN THIS WORLD’ (GMR MUSIC) Nicely done, but this acoustic duo (consisted of DOGS D’AMOUR vocalist Tyla and BACKYARD BABIES guitarist Dregen) is basically copying TENACIOUS D., without ever reaching that high level. 16 songs are included, and from start to finish we can listen to 2 acoustic guitars with vocal/harmonyvocals, where they have some fun lyrics here and there, but towards the end it gets a bit average. It was all recorded live (somewhere) and is actually only recommended if you dig something like TENACIOUS D. or if you were present the night this gig was recorded, but basically this is not really interesting for the Rock/Hardrock/Metalfans... You can buy the CD through: http://www.gmrmusic.se (Points: 6.9 out of 10) ARCHER ‘MILESTONE’ (DEMO CDR) It’s really a pity that the sound of the demo CDR of the American band ARCHER is quite average, because the included music is very impressive actually. ARCHER is playing good old pure 80s uptempo Melodic Rock with both AOR and Hardrock influences. The guitar playing is excellent, the lead vocals are very strong (on the song “Window in time” you can truly hear that the band’s lead singer Marty Farris has a superb voice!!!), the hooks are catchy, the choruses are memorable and in general speaking this ARCHER knows exactly how to really play classic 80s melodic rock. Songs like “Everyday”, “Misty morning” and “Real as can be” are fantastic 80s Melodic Rock/AOR songs a la AXE, SHERIFF and CITA. If only the band would be able to record their music with a big production, then this might well be a very sensational band. They still are of course, but it’s now just that we have to leave with a weaker sound/production, and that’s a pity, because they can make something special, believe me! I would have given this more than 9 points if the sound/production was better, so I think you now get an idea how good this band really could be, perhaps in the near future! More info at: http://www.archerrocks.com and e-mail at: TMS_music2001@yahoo.com (Points: 7.7 out of 10) (All reviews by Gabor Kleinbloesem, except where noted) |