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. Continue reading “Es Wird Gefeiert”; Warlock’s “Triumph and Agony” Hits 30 (1987-2017)→
Artist: Alice Cooper Venue: Fox News Building “Fox and Friends” Opener: n/a Date: 8/14/2015 Label: Universal Music
Now while this was a very new event to me as a scribe, it seems as though the fine folks at Fox News have been holding this “All-American Summer Concert Series’ set of shows for a few years now. It’s a part of their “Fox and Friends” broadcast and this fantastic idea is one that lets the bustling streets of our Big Apple metropolis get a little louder nice and early in the morning. Historically I’ve heard of sets being done by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Loverboy and Bret Michaels and when I heard that the great Alice Cooper would be doing one of these shows, I knew that I had to be there. Now the way that this works out is that with the events being free to the general public you need to get yourself in place nice and early to get the best spot to see the show. They also set up some kind of a free BBQ and that is a major attraction especially if you would like a little ribs with your morning coffee and newspaper. I didn’t get to sample any of this but I pretty much draw the line at hot dogs and cold pizza for breakfast if I must have them. Suffice it to say there was a LOT of people already there by the time I arrived and that makes sense since this is Alice Cooper we are talking about. Cooper is currently touring with Motley Crue who is on their “Final Tour” adventures and according to reports his opening set is a fantastic one.
Alice Cooper by (Ken Pierce (2015)
Alice would open up with “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and sadly while I could hear the tune clearly I was out of the way on the side so visuals were compromised while I waited to be able to go over to the concert area. At first I believed the tune to be a sound check but I felt that was not the case once “I’m Eighteen” kicked into gear. I had to say that Alice and company sounded pretty damned good and the rigid corporate offices around us had to be getting a shocking wakeup call from the thundering Metal Rock that was being dished out. Cooper’s band consists of Chuck Garric (Bass), Nita Strauss (Guitar), Ryan Roxie (Guitar), Tommy Henriksen (Guitar) and Glen Sobel (Drums) and I had to say that it was interesting to find him touring with three axe slingers. Hey if it works for Iron Maiden why wouldn’t it work for the guy that preceded so many others. I missed “Under My Wheels” based on the vantage point and getting ready time but was back out just before they kicked into “Poison”. While Cooper waited for the signal that the network was ready someone on the side of the stage brought out a chicken which caused quite a bit of laughter from the crowd and Coop. Don’t worry folks the chicken is fine and didn’t get tossed into the audience like its distant relative so many years ago. For “Poison” the whole audience was singing along and Alice would point to various members of the audience calling them poison and it was just being eaten up. Continue reading Alice Cooper @ Fox News (8/14/2015)→
