Continuing forward with a bevy of Music Milestone toasts, we have arrived at the 25th Anniversary of Rush’s 14th album “Roll The Bones”. I’ll give you a moment to shake your head in disbelief about that realization. The album was one that continued the musical transitions that had begun with the previous album “Presto” and these changes found Rush music being a lot more accepted on the radio airwaves. Yeah we might have heard the classics of the earlier years on WNEW and WPLJ etcetera, but with “Roll The Bones” you were going to also hear them on the more commercially driven radio stations. I was completely fine with this if it could somehow generate a larger interest in the band for these new fans. As always this is but a toast and less deep analysis since the numbers are well documented on Wikipedia. The reflections remain personal about the work and how it affected me as a listener at the time.
Continue reading Rush’s “Roll The Bones” Still Rolling at 25 Years (1991-2016)
Tag Archives: atlantic records
Skid Row’s “Slave To The Grind” At A Quarter Century (1991-2016)
Wow can you believe that we are at the 25th Anniversary of the sophomore effort by Skid Row? Yeah my Metal friends, today is the day that their “Slave To The Grind” album was released back in 1991 on Atlantic Records. The album was a whole lot heavier than their debut which spawned the hits “I Remember You”, “Youth Gone Wild” and “18 and Life” and as result would not get the same kind of airplay that its predecessor did. I’ll admit that when this particular album was released that I was full on into the heavier side of Metal and while I enjoyed a few tracks on this one, not a whole lot of my immediate circle was listening to it and back then you kind of followed the pack a little more. I did own a copy because I loved the title track, the song “Monkey Business” and a few more that are not coming to me at the moment so I apologize. As before I’ve left the full discovery on the albums history to your own devices since all of that has been fully documented over on Wikipedia.
Continue reading Skid Row’s “Slave To The Grind” At A Quarter Century (1991-2016)
Staind @ Best Buy Theater (9/15/2011)
Artist: Staind
Venue: Best Buy Theater (New York, NY)
Opener: n/a
Date: 9/15/2011
Label: Atlantic Records
I think it’s pretty safe to say that I have not experienced a musical week like this particular one ever before and here is why. If you’ve been paying attention to our stories here on PiercingMetal.com, you will know that not only did we lay our level of Metal media scrutiny on the Metal Masters clinic, the not-so secret Anthrax show and the Road Recovery benefit honoring Slash this week, but also the mighty Big Four tour and the Doro Pesch and Arch Enemy shows that preceded the week as well. If you were a fan of the live concert scene and going to shows there was truly no better place to be than New York City this past week and a half. That being said the excitement would continue with this evening’s concert by Staind and here is how that show went down for those who were not able to make it.
Continue reading Staind @ Best Buy Theater (9/15/2011)
“Big Hits And Nasty Cuts” by Twisted Sister
Artist: Twisted Sister
Title: “Big Hits And Nasty Cuts”
Label: Atlantic Records
Release Date: 3/17/1992
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 4/5
I had read somewhere that Twisted Sister was planning on releasing remastered editions of their Atlantic Records catalog in 2010 and since the year is drawing to its inevitable close and I’ve not yet seen them; I had to wonder if the initiative has been pushed back or shelved altogether. With that in mind I started filtering around in my personal collection of Twisted Sister music and felt like listening to the bands first ever hits compilation, the cutely titled “Big Hits And Nasty Cuts” which was originally released in 1992. I remembered that when I bought it (way back when it had just come out) how the only motivating factor in my purchase had been that the release was not only going to feature the bands songs of note but also bring to the surface some vintage live material that had never been heard before. That statement is not entirely correct because the diehard Sister fans or the SMF’s as they were called, had always managed to find Import EP’s and radio recordings that were passed from fan to fan on cassette tapes. You younger fans might not remember blank cassette tapes but they were a powerful means of sharing music back in the day and I guess in some sense the original Napster. You see, long before the days of downloading tunes, the fans used to copy and copy and copy their vinyl to cassette tape and then trade with their friends for stuff they desired. We also used to have a lot of radio broadcast live shows and if you were not at the location that it was happening at, you sat in front of your tape deck pressing pause during the commercial breaks. Now where were we? Oh yes, the Twisted Sister hits package.
Continue reading “Big Hits And Nasty Cuts” by Twisted Sister
“Retrospective 3: (1989-2008)” by Rush
Artist: Rush
Title: “Retrospective 3: (1989-2008)”
Label: Atlantic Records
Release Date: 3/3/2009
Genre: Progressive Rock
Rating: 4/5
About twelve years ago we found the earliest and middle years of the band Rush being examined and revisited on two very tasty compilations which covered each part of the bands career. Delivered originally as “Retrospective” parts 1 and 2, the contents on these now out of issue CD’s can be found in one volume entitled Rush “Gold”. Since the time of the other chapters Rush has continued to inspire fans of the Progressive Rock style with another six albums and this volume picks up where the others left off by giving us music from “Presto” through “Snakes And Arrows”. What caught me immediately was the premise that how close in proximity of musical vibe the two book ended albums actually are and while they did not lose any fans between them, there were moments where the band caused their hard core fans to scratch their heads a little bit. It’s been well documented about how fans felt about “Vapor Trails” and even some who had issues with “Test For Echo”. I admit some level of guilt about finding the minor detail being a problem here and there for me as well, but that’s primarily based on my overall allegiance to the bands most classic era of material To be honest, I actually liked “Vapor Trails” a lot more than many of my friends did and was happy to see “Earthshine” being one of the included tracks. It is remixed on the “R3” album here as is “One Little Victory”, the other amazing tune from that release and its second most memorable tune. I was glad they pulled “Nobody’s Hero” out of hiding because that was an impressive number based on its lyrical drive and of course “The Pass” from “Presto” remains one of my very favorites from that release. The new album has been receiving some critical acclaim and while I felt it was very good, I was surprised and impressed for Rush that it caused them such attention. For me it was another quality piece of music from a great band, and I guess that more people “in the places of musical power” were finally paying attention to them again. That much can be viewed as a very good thing as the band deserves nothing less than induction into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame at this point in their career.
Continue reading “Retrospective 3: (1989-2008)” by Rush