Tag: hard rock

510. Deep Purple

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(July 2023) Episode 510 is DEEP PURPLE. I had never intended to review this band, figuring the over-saturated classic rock radio hits were enough. But since several rock/metal bands I like cite them as an influence, I thought I’d give it a go. This review give me an added layer of appreciation of their classic sound (the “Smoke on the Water” era) but I do not put them on par with the others (Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath) included in the ‘unholy trinity.’ I did find some interest in their first three albums, late-60s psychedelic and proto-prog affairs, including the syncopated groove they developed on “Hush” and other songs.  One thing that distinguished Deep Purple is the prominent use of the organ, deployed by Jon Lord as a second heavy guitar.  After Ian Gillan left in the mid-1970s (he would return, leave and return again) the band fell into pedestrian boogie rock and hard rock, recording 15 albums (up to the present decade) about which I found nothing remarkable.

Favourite album: Machine Head

Favourite song: Hush

Favourite song sung by Ian Gillan: Highway Star

Favourite instrumental: Playground

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: I can’t quite recommend a greatest hits album, so just turn on classic rock radio and wait for the hits to come on.  I do point out the three 60s albums to connoisseurs of that era’s psychedelia and proto-prog.

504. Kadavar

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Episode 504 is KADAVAR. On first listen, you would think this is some overlooked 1970s heavy metal outfit. Nope; they’re a contemporary trio out of Germany who has been touring and recording over the last decade. They do an expert job of recreating not just the sound of 70s thunder rock but the look too (check out the album cover below). On the two most recent albums (one a collaboration) they venture into prog metal, with some of the best Pink Floyd mimicry I’ve heard (and it’s good).

Favorite album: Abra Kadavar

Favorite song: Come Back Life

Most interesting album: The Isolation Tapes

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Yes. I enjoyed discovering them and look forward to their next output.

497. Fu Manchu

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(Mat 2023) Episode 497 is FU MANCHU, a stoner metal band out of Southern California with a sound that perfectly evokes the skateboard, dune buggy and El Camino on their album covers. The tempo and the vocal style convey a rock-n-roll attitude, with the heavy fuzz of the guitars giving it the stoner label. The later albums come closer to straight hard rock, but still pretty good.

Favourite album: Daredevil

Favourite song: Eatin’ Dust

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: quintessential dude music

483. Monster Magnet

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(March 2023) Episode 483 of the “opus project” is MONSTER MAGNET. I didn’t know exactly what I was expected, but overall what I got what less than that. However, the first three albums are a fantastic run of space rock, a mix of Hawkwind, Spaceman 3 and Alice in Chains. But in the mid-90s they dispensed with the fun insanity and switched (sold out?) to a more radio/music video friendly hard rock sound, which bored me for seven albums.  Their most recent two albums mark somewhat of a return to the spacey sound.

Favorite album: Spine of God

Favorite song: Black Mastermind

Best freakout dirge: Tab

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: the first three albums: Spine of God, Superjudge, Tab (technically an EP)

460. Buffalo

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(December 2022) Episode 460 is BUFFALO, a heavy rock outfit from Australia from the mid-1970s. The emphasis here is on the heavy – primal, sludgy, ponderous grooves – with a special mention to Dave Tice’s vocals which sound uncannily like Chris Cornell two decades later.  Good stuff.

Favourite album: Volcanic Rock

Favourite song: Freedom

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: the first three albums are rather good

432. Budgie

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(August 2022) Episode 432 is BUDGIE. An early hard rock/heavy metal band from Wales. The clear influence is Black Sabbath, but some have made comparisons to early Rush, both as a power trio and for Burke Shelley’s high register vocals. Tony Bourge’s guitar provides fine hooks and crunch, combining for a great groove with Shelley’s bass and Ray Phillips’ drums. While not well known in the U.S., they proved influential to Metallica, Van Halen and others, not to mention all the NWOBHM bands and boogie rockers.

Favourite album: Budgie

Favourite song: Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: any fan of heavy metal (or Sabbath in particular) should have Budgie’s first three albums

385. Blue Cheer

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(January 2022) Episode 385 is BLUE CHEER. One of the loud and heavy bands from the late 1960s – and you know how much I love loud and heavy bands from the late 1960s – that is seen as a precursor to heavy metal. The sound on their first four fuzz-laden albums (the only ones you need listen to) is like Vanilla Fudge mixed with Iron Butterfly with a cup of MC5. Like many of that era, inevitably, they reformed to record some terrible albums in later decades.

Favorite album: Vincebus Eruptum

Favorite song: Come and Get It

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: for those who like 60s deep cuts and metal historians

365. Steve Vai

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(October 2021) Episode 365 of the “opus project” is STEVE VAI.  I’m not into shredder rock, but I’ve always liked Steve Vai due to his early work with Frank Zappa, not to mention his “we’re not worthy” transcription of Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption.” In fact, his first solo album sounds as much like a Zappa album as anything else.  Much of the rest is axe-man virtuosity stuff, which is not as interesting to me, although there is an occasional weird gem in there.

Favorite album: Flex-Able

Favorite song: The Attitude Song

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: for Zappa fans and guitar aficionados

355. KISS

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(September 2021) Episode 355 is KISS. I can’t think of a rock band whose fame is derived from a higher ratio of style over substance. Cock rock has not aged well (other than as period pieces in movie soundtracks), and KISS is no exception. It’s like they presciently made music in order to be mocked by Spinal Tap, and later made music that mimicked the mocking. I was too young for the KISS Army and like to think I would not have succumbed.

Favorite album: Destroyer

Favorite song: Dark Light

Oddest yet weirdly compelling album: Music from “The Elder”

Best late-period album: Carnival of Souls

Best 1978 solo album: Ace Frehley

Favorite member: Ace Frehley

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: don’t bother

296. Mötley Crüe

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(November 2020) Episode 296 of the “opus project” is MÖTLEY CRÜE. They stood out from the hair metal crowd by pushing all the buttons: a mix of cock rock, double kick pedal thrashers and power ballads, a party/bad boy reputation they more than lived up to, Hollywood glam, theatrics, a devil name-drop, and of course the umlauts.

Favorite album: Shout at the Devil

Favorite song: Looks That Kill

Compared to expectations: same