Tag Archives: cozy powell

“Es Wird Gefeiert”; Warlock’s “Triumph and Agony” Hits 30 (1987-2017)

Hails My Metal Legions, it’s time to “Heben Sie Ihre Faust” or as we say in English, “RAISE YOUR FIST” because today is the 30th Anniversary of the Warlock album “Triumph and Agony” which was released on this day care of Mercury Records. The album, while their fourth and final release, was probably the one that the fans of this type of music first learned of the band and their rocking leader – The Amazing Doro Pesch. The group was popular in their native Germany but back then it was very hard to break a band over in this part of the globe. We had Helloween of course, but even they didn’t come over here for touring all that much to my recollection. The album would feature a completely new lineup for the group and its signature, and most iconic track is the anthemic “All We Are”. I’ll go over some more about the tracks after reminding how like most of our toasts, this is a personal reflection more than its line by line analysis since that stuff has long been done on the albums Wikipedia entry.

Warlock’s new lineup consisted of Niko Arvanitis and Tommy Bolan on guitar, Tommy Henriksen on bass while Michael Eurich handled the drums. I found it interesting to learn that there were also three guest drummers on the release that included the late great Cozy Powell (a personal favorite player), Rich Richman and Sterling Campbell. The latter two I am unfamiliar with any work from across my Metal mainframe. Bolan and Henricksen would add an American Metal flair to the previously full German based band that was found delivering “True As Steel” (the preceding album). Some of the Metal fans that were more “in the know” about what was happening elsewhere in the world got into them care of that album but as I’ve said for the larger side its “Triumph and Agony” all the way. Though my copy of the original is a long unsolved mystery in terms of its location, I do have a copy of this on CD which allows me to blast it at maximum volume once more for its anniversary. I still enjoy the whole release, but like most albums there are some songs that I absolutely love from the session. Let’s take a look at the full track listing down below from the original album.
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“Thank You & Farewell” to Black Sabbath (1968-2017)

As everyone prepares for “The Big Game” with Super Bowl LI (which doesn’t mean the game is in Long Island BTW) I am thinking of more important things to my field of interests and a large portion of my mental focus today is the fact that yesterday the mighty Black Sabbath played their last gig ever and has closed their personal book on Heavy Metal history. “The End” is no longer near nor on its way and has instead arrived and passed. Today is the day that founding members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler sit back and rightfully rest upon their laurels and believe me there are many laurels to be sitting on after such a career. I thank them profusely for the just shy of fifty years that Metal music was delivered under the Black Sabbath banner. Of course, we have plenty of others to thank now as well with the original founders closing this historic tome so let’s raise the horns for them as well. The clip below is from the actual final shows ending moments and the images used are from the final show that happened in New Jersey late last year.

To the INCREDIBLE former members of the Black Sabbath lineup both living and deceased such as Bill Ward, Ronnie James Dio, Geoff Nichols, Dave Walker, Craig Gruber, Vinny Appice, Ian Gillan, Bev Bevan, Ron Keel, David Donato, Eric Singer, Dave Spitz, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen, Bob Daisley, Tony Martin, Terry Chimes, Jo Burt, Cozy Powell, Laurence Cottie, Neil Murray and Bobby Rondinelli. Some of these folks I never even realized had been members over the years but indeed they have and I thank them for their own offerings to the legendary name.
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“Monsters Of Rock Live At Donnington 1980” by Rainbow

Artist: Rainbow
Title: “Monsters Of Rock Live At Donnington 1980”
Label: Eagle Vision
Release Date: 4/22/2016
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 4/5

Fans of Rainbow and even the legendary Deep Purple should be giving continual thanks to the folks over at Eagle Rock Entertainment because their offerings have allowed them to build up a seriously stocked audio and video library for these bands. This latest release brings us back to the year 1980 where Rainbow was playing the Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donnington. This was a headlining set for the group and it was the first ever Monsters Of Rock event so historically speaking it’s a big deal for sure. Dio had moved on and now in his place was singer Graham Bonnet and based on the timing of the recording would still be showcasing material from “Down To Earth” and the forthcoming “Difficult To Cure”. Rainbow was a band that had quite a few members over the years and for this particular offering we have Don Airey (keyboards), Roger Glover (bass) and Cozy Powell (drums) in addition to Blackmore and Bonnet. I’ll be speaking about the DVD/CD version of this particular release so let’s discuss the DVD part first.
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“The Very Best of Rainbow” by Rainbow

Artist: Rainbow
Title: “The Very Best of Rainbow”
Label: Polydor Records
Release Date: 7/15/1997
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 4.5/5

After moving on from Deep Purple, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore would form the band Rainbow and really deliver some amazing music to all of the fans that might have wondered just how good his new enterprise would be. It’s been said that the bands name was derived from the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood and that makes sense since the joint is known for being host to many a Rock star. The sound of Rainbow was epic at times and commercially successful at others and during the band’s existence would feature a number of different musicians and no less than four lead vocalists. This compilation gives you a great sample of some of the bands glory but in some sense this leaves you with only a healthy taste that will find you hungry for more. With three unique vocalists being presented on the collection (Dio, Bonnet and Turner), I decided to break up my thoughts on each of their contributions to the band.
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“Black Sabbath: Doom Let Loose: An Illustrated History” by Martin Popoff

Artist: Martin Popoff
Title: “Black Sabbath: Doom Let Loose: An Illustrated History”
Label: ECW Press
Release Date:
Genre: Rock Music History
Rating: 5/5

Everyone has a story, some get told, some never get told. One of the long overdue stories that needed to be told is the history of Black Sabbath as musicians. There has not been a really thorough chronicling of Black Sabbath’s influential career based on the music and the band. Until now, with Black Sabbath Doom Let Loose An Illustrated History by Martin Popoff
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