Billy Squier The Tale Of The Tape Rarest

Feb 10, 2004. SLEAZY ROSE- Caution! Filling is Hot SLUTS CRAZY SQUEALER- This is What the World. SQUIER, BILLY- Signs of Life SQUIER, BILLY- Tale of the Tape STALLONE, FRANK- s/t. STRUTT- Dreams ST. WARREN- Honest Planet SWEET LIPS- XOXOXO SWEET TEAZE- Do It Till It Hurts SWINGIN THING.

William Haislip 'Billy' Squier (born May 12, 1950) is an American rock musician. Squier had a string of arena rock hits in the 1980s. He is best known for the song 'The Stroke', from his 1981 Triple Platinum breakout album release Don't Say No. Other hits include 'In the Dark', 'Rock Me Tonite', 'Lonely Is the Night', 'Everybody Wants You' and 'Emotions in Motion'. His music is a combination of hard rock and pop rock much in the vein of Queen and other 70s rockers incorporating strong melodic hooks with hard rocking grooves. Although BILLY SQUIER was able to tour with KISS with his previous band Piper, their career never managed to take off and he decided to go it alone thus releasing his solo debut album THE TALE OF THE TAPE in 1980.

He indeed got a lot more attention on his own as the single “You Should Be High Love” got radio play and although this album didn't break any records in the sales department it still managed to spend a couple months on the Billboard albums chart. This album pretty much showcases what Billy was famous for namely strong catchy pop rock songs that have an AOR appeal and anthem arena rock possibilities. “The Big Beat” begins as a catchy no nonsense sing-about-nothing track that for some reason caught on as the most sampled song in hip-hop history. The catchy pop rock songs continue throughout the album and all is good until we get to tracks like “Who's Your Boyfriend,” which is a re-recorded track that was actually on a Piper album.

This song and the ridiculously bad “The Music's Alright” with a never-ending stream of la-la-la's at the end totally derail the flow and leave this album sagging way down towards the end. BILLY SQUIER was first and foremost a pop star with a hard rock edge so any comparisons to more talented guitar players and rock groups shouldn't even be considered. This is simple stuff. The lyrics are fairly bland never really delving into anything deeper than what you would expect from an AOR act, however Billy really knew how to make a poetic outcry out of the most mundane every day events. I've always found his music to be interesting in the songwriting department and despite some totally lame tracks here and there the ones that begin the album are quite melodic and rally up the urge for a sing-along session. Best tracks “The Big Beat,” “Calley Oh,” “Like I'm Lovin' You” and “You Should Be High, Love.”.

Enuff Z’nuff’s debut arrived in 1989 with one of the laziest attempts at an album cover you’ll ever see. Not that I don’t like peace, but jeesh, they couldn’t have spent more than 0.2 seconds designing that album cover. Then again, I guess we are lucky they didn’t put a band photo on the cover because these guys were REALLY dolled up. Tons of makeup, lipstick, and bright colors.

Check out their for lead single New Thing for a taste of Enuff Z’nuff’s “fashion” sense. Sure, the look was really girlie and glam at the time (they shed that image soon thereafter), but the actual music is addictive, effervescent, power pop. Big guitars, raspy vocals, and hooks for days is what you get with these Cheap Trick-influenced party boys. Just take a listen to the aforementioned New Thing and you have to immediately respect Enuff Z’nuff’s songwriting abilities. Infectious doesn’t even begin to describe New Thing. You can get cavities just listening to this sweetness!

I read Howard Stern’s book Private Parts many years ago (lots of laughs), and he wrote quite a bit about Enuff Z’nuff as I recall. They were one of Howard’s faves. In this case, Howard knew what he was talking about. Enuff Z’nuff also features the band’s best known cut, the melancholy Fly High Michelle. Another great song with an awesomely.

Deep tracks such as She Wants More, Little Indian Angel, and For Now sound great while driving around on a warm summer’s day. I listen to this quite a bit. A little ain’t enuff. Time to update my cassette to CD though, this ain’t 1989 anymore. ( What’s that you say?

CDs are obsolete now, too? WHAT THE F*CK!) My score: A. The Swiss trio of Coroner released their sophomore album, Punishment For Decadence, in 1988 on Noise Records. The original German pressing of the LP (catalog N0119-1) featured the cover presented on the left. In the United States, the “skeleton” was used on the LP (catalog FW 44269). As far as I know, all subsequent releases (including all CD releases) use the black skeleton cover. Evidently, Noise Records made this cover change soon after the original German release, without Coroner’s consent.

(I like the skeleton cover better anyway.) Punishment For Decadence is an album of pretty jaw-dropping technical thrash. One has to marvel at the precision and speed of the band. Baron provides the guitar wizardry that is the centerpiece of the album. Dude has some nimble fingers. Bassist Ron Royce keeps up with Baron note-for-note. Royce also provides the vocals, and to be honest, he pretty much sucks. With his trollish yelps and thick accent the lyrics are all but indecipherable.

Maybe it’s a good thing his vocals are buried deep in the mix. There’s not a lot of variation on Punishment For Decadence, so I rarely find myself listening the album all the way through. I like to cherry pick a track here and there for inclusion on my iPod play list for the gym. Small doses yield the most impact!

Pretty much any track gets the job done (like I said, not much variation). Particular faves include Absorbed, Skeleton On Your Shoulder, and Shadow Of A Lost Dream. And let’s not forget the album’s best-known cut, Masked Jackal!

These neck-wreckers are some serious groin rattling thrashers! (CD versions add an out-of-place cover of Purple Haze.) My score: B+. There were an astonishing number of great hair/sleaze/glam metal albums released at the tail end of the 80s and the dawn of the 90s.

In fact, it was hard to keep track of all the new bands that were getting signed to record deals at the time. There were so many new bands coming out that it was inevitable that many talented bands were looked over. Now is as good a time as any to go back and take a look at the plethora of quality albums that flooded the market back in the day (ESPECIALLY the ones that slipped through the cracks).

Case in point: Spread Eagle! I dare say that the Spread Eagle album (MCA Records) was the heaviest of the “hair band” albums released in 1990. These gutter rats came screaming out of NYC with some of the sleaziest, harshest stuff the genre had to offer. Three of the band’s four members originally came out of Boston, but relocated to NYC to join up with vocalist Ray West. These guys had a real street vibe that seemed genuinely dangerous.

Check out this of the Spread Eagle guys stomping around New York in the early nineties, and you tell me if these guys weren’t true street urchins. If you have never heard Spread Eagle, I liken this album to Skid Row’s 1991 album Slave To The Grind.

Like that album, the tunes are not immediate or particularly radio friendly, but they are heavy and dark. While many hail Slave To The Grind as an amazing album, few have ever heard Spread Eagle, which actually came out the year BEFORE Slave To The Grind! Gotta respect that. As far as I am concerned, Spread Eagle is a worthwhile addition to any old-school collection because of three particular tracks; Broken City, Thru These Eyes, and Switchblade Serenade.

Broken City is the album opener, and features some sick, jacked-up blues riffage from guitarist Paul DiBartolo. Ray West’s dumpster-baby shrieks put him somewhere in that coveted Axl Rose stratosphere. The sense of inner-city decay is perfectly conveyed.

Thru These Eyes starts off quite mellow with some nice acoustic guitar playing by DiBartolo. The track eventually swells into a monster.

This is the closet Spread Eagle gets to a power ballad. A really great cut. The album’s “Oh Shit!” moment, however, comes by way of the INCREDIBLE Switchblade Serenade.

Visions of bloodshot eyes and plunging needles dance disturbingly in my head as I listen to this epic sleaze-fest where West’s vocals rule and DiBartolo’s playing rips. Why is this song not legendary? (Note: The video version of Switchblade Serenade, seen and heard, is not the same version that appears on the album– the is way better.) My score: B+. There were three noteworthy Bay Area thrash debuts in 1987 — Testament’s The Legacy, Death Angel’s The Ultra-Violence, and Heathen’s Breaking The Silence. Of the three, Heathen’s debut is probably the least “famous”.

Unfortunate indeed, as Breaking The Silence may well be the best album of the lot. Breaking The Silence was released by Combat Records in the United States and by Music For Nations Records in the United Kingdom.

A few years back, Heathen offered up the full Breaking The Silence album for free download on their website. Those days are no more, as is that particular website, but it was mighty nice of ’em while it lasted! Breaking The Silence features thrash with a great degree of finesse.

The playing is crisp, the production is decent, and best of all, the hooks are memorable. My favorite track is probably Goblin’s Blade, which features great lyrics, an awesome lead riff, and a catchy chorus. The seven minute long Open The Grave is another winner, as is the cover of The Sweet’s Set Me Free (released as a single). What I really enjoy about this album is that the chaos is under control, the riffs are smart and palatable, the solos are well-composed, and the vocals are very good (for thrash).

Easily one of my top ten thrash favorites of 1987. My score: B+. You want the best, you got the best! Here we have Crazy Nights from 1987.

This brings back some memories! For this post, I’ve got a special treat; my first ever GUEST REVIEWER! That’s right, I’ve reached out to one of the world’s biggest KISS fans and he agreed to help me out with this post. Folks, my special guest is the one and the only: “The Elder”. (Completely unrelated side note: The Elder also happens to be my older brother.) This guy lived and breathed KISS all his life and no one, I mean NO ONE knows KISS better than The Elder.

(Disclaimer: Previous sentence almost certainly not true.) Here’s my world exclusive interview with The Elder on the topic of Crazy Nights! Me: At the time Crazy Nights was released you were a hardcore KISS fanatic (and still are to this day). Take us back to 1987 and tell us what your initial take on the album was once you got it into your grubby little hands. The Elder: I would like to tell you that I immediately dismissed it as too pop, too cheesy, too keyboard-heavy to be a good KISS record, but that would be a lie. Truth is, I liked it a lot in some ways BECAUSE of all those things. The thing is, when I was in first grade or so, KISS was the biggest band on the planet. But by 1987, they were all but irrelevant, especially as far as radio was concerned.

Even the so-called rock stations rarely played them. So my big hope for them when they released an album was that they would have a hit single. This album seemed like it had two candidates for a hit ( Reason To Live and Turn On The Night), which certainly sounded comparable to me to what bands like Poison or Bon Jovi were doing.

Also, it features Paul Stanley in just about his prime as a singer. Say what you want about the guy, but he had some pipes, and was one of the few guys whose vocals sounded just as good live as they did on the recordings. Obviously, the album hasn’t really stood the test of time, but in 1987, I had pretty high hopes for it. Me: I have to agree with you on the Paul Stanley assessment.

He sounds great on this record. He shows some serious range on I’ll Fight Hell To Hold You and My Way.

Did you get Crazy Nights on the day it came out? What was your format of choice (tape, LP, or CD)? The Elder: Crazy Nights was the first KISS cassette tape I ever bought as soon as it came out. Probably not on the initial Tuesday, but certainly the first week. Me: What cuts were you particularly into?

The Elder: I’d say I at least “liked” all of the tracks, with the possible exception of When Your Walls Come Down, which struck me as filler. I remember being pleasantly surprised by three of the Gene Simmons contributions; Good Girl Gone Bad, Hell Or High Water, and Thief In The Night. His additions to the two previous albums had pretty much been limited to throwaway songs about his wiener, so to hear him try to do something radio friendly actually had me pretty encouraged, because I thought that meant he was interested in being in the band again even if those songs weren’t as heavy as most KISS fans would have liked.

Then there is Paul’s My Way, which epitomizes everything that is right and wrong with this album. When KISS fans think about how far astray KISS wandered in the mid-80’s, this is the song they think of. But if you ignore the fact that it’s on a KISS album, then you have probably the finest tune Rick Astley (n)ever recorded. Me: As you are painfully aware, we did not get cable TV in our household until late ’87.

This was the first time we had access to MTV. KISS’s videos for Reason To Live and Turn On The Night often topped MTV’s Dial MTV, a show we watched religiously. I know you have some conspiracy theories on this. Please share. The Elder: Well, the fact that these songs got ZERO radio airplay yet were Dial MTV staples for weeks leads me to buy into the rumor that chart position on that show was primarily determined by how doggedly record companies jammed the phone lines with their “votes.” Me: Gotta talk about that those. First and foremost, WTF is the deal with Paul and the thong?

That had to be an embarrassment even to the most die-hard KISS fan, right? The Elder: Ungh. I can’t even say for sure that I even knew what a thong was at the time, but I had a pretty good idea that shit just wasn’t right. I had a poster of him that was almost as embarrassing. I bought it at a KISS convention.

What I picked out at the convention was a cool looking poster from the makeup era. What the guy gave me (which I didn’t realize until I got home) was a non-makeup poster of Paul pouting and striking a Samantha Fox pose. Me: Staying on the topic, Gene has got the oh-so-subtle “bass guitar as phallus” going on.

How would you rate Gene’s overall creepiness/douche factor back in 1987? The Elder: Considering this was the year that he and Paul went on Oprah and at least one of the network morning shows to brag about all the groupies they had nailed (during the height of AIDS-steria, by the way) I’d say it was getting up there.

But, again, they were almost irrelevant at the time and they couldn’t litter the Earth with merchandise in those days because no one bought their records, much less their condoms or caskets. Plus, there was no Internet, so the D-baggery was a lot easier to ignore or even be genuinely unaware of. Me: One more question about the, how many wigs are we looking?

I’m thinking at least three. The Elder: Just Paul’s chest hair. The rest, I think, might actually be real. I know Gene wore a pretty unfortunate looking one in the Animalize era because he had cut his hair to play the villain opposite Tom Selleck in the movie Runaway (underrated classic!).

But by 1987, I’m naive enough to believe it had grown back. Plus, Paul’s latter-day wigs look like bad merkins. I can’t see why he would choose sub par wigs now if he had access to good ones then. Me: Track #3 is a Paul tune called Bang Bang You. Now we both know Paul was never particularly clever with the whole double entendre thing ( Love Gun anyone?) but in this song the chorus refrain literally says “ I’m going to BANG you.” Discuss Paul’s Bob Dylan-esque approach to lyrics. The Elder: Ungh. Don’t make me go there.

The sad part of it is I think he THINKS he’s being clever. And it got worse, as evidenced by the 1988 embarrassment (You Make Me) Rock Hard. Me: Did you catch the Crazy Nights tour? If so, where was the gig, how was the show, who opened for KISS etc? The Elder: I did see them on that tour in Providence. Ted Nugent opened. The show was OK.

In those days, they were putting a lot of emphasis on the post-Ace tunes, so there was stuff you don’t hear them play anymore ( Fits Like a Glove, War Machine). I don’t even think they played Shout It Out Loud at the show I saw, even though online sources list it as being on the set list for that tour. In fact, our cousin saw another show from that tour in Boston or Worcester at which they filmed the Turn On The Night video. That process involved the band pretending to play on stage over a recorded track which, after three or so run-throughs can try any crowd’s patience.

As a “reward” for the crowd cheering through that tedious process, KISS took Shout It Out Loud out of mothballs and told the crowd they were playing it as a bonus. Maybe they were playing it for most of the tour and just figured these New England yokels wouldn’t know the difference. Anyway, back to the show I saw, it was the only time I heard them play Bang Bang You (thankfully) and No, No, No; which had Bruce Kulick’s solo leading into it. It was also Bruce’s birthday, so the crowd (at least a third empty, I might add) sang to him.

I would have liked the show to have been a little longer. They seemed to go back to putting a bit more effort into their shows during the Hot In The Shade tour.

Me: As the older brother you always tried to get your two younger brothers into your passion for KISS, but with limited success. During the Crazy Nights days, however, with the help of our newly acquired access to MTV, I became a pretty big KISS fan for a short period of time. I even bought a KISS shirt and listened to Crazy Nights all the time. Were you proud of me, or were you too busy coiffing your teenage mullet to care that your younger brother had finally succumbed to the healing powers of Paul Stanley’s thong? The Elder: Very proud. Now you are the cataloger of all things 80s metal, most of it heavier than KISS ever thought of being. Brings a tear to the eye.

It’s a passion project, but my reader really appreciates the site (right, Mom?). Anyhoo It’s many years later, and Crazy Nights does not get a whole lot of respect from critics and fans. Has KISS disowned Crazy Nights and their “hair era”? The Elder: Certainly, when they were promoting Revenge in the 90s they sort of referred to the mid-80s era as a misguided mistake. I’m sure they’d be singing a different tune if Reason To Live had the same success as Beth. That’s really the bottom line.

Now, they can live off of nostalgia and pretend like only the makeup years were valid. But that took time. In the 80s not enough time had passed for casual music fans to want the makeup days and sound back, because the memory of how much of a fiasco the late-makeup days had become was too fresh.

For a while, KISS tried like hell to distance themselves from the makeup era. Now, they try to distance themselves from most of the 80s.

But trust me, if wearing sequins, dressing like Phyllis Diller and performing watered-down pop metal with juvenile double entendres ever comes back into vogue, Gene and Paul will be at the front of the line hailing Asylum as a visionary masterpiece that was simply before its time. Me: Whats your take on Crazy Nights in the year 2011? The Elder: An enjoyable listen that brings back a lot of good memories, but not a record that is going to hold its own if you put it up against, say, Appetite for Destruction. I’d give it a B+. Me: Any parting shots? Additional comments? Budidaya Pepaya Calina Pdf To Word.

The Elder: Unless there are any lingering doubts for your readers If you own a penis, THONG = WRONG. Me: Sage advice. I am removing my thong as we speak. Crazy Nights brings back some good times for me as well. I remember me and my buddy listening to this tape over and over.

Plus, there are three gems of the “hair” era in Crazy Crazy Nights, Reason To Live, and Turn On The Night. In fact, they sound even better today than I remember, mostly because NO ONE makes music like this anymore. I’m not even going to call them guilty pleasure because I ain’t ashamed to say they KICK ASS! They get me pumped, they make me sing along, and they bring me back to ’87.

What more do I need? My score: B+. Hmmmm let’s dissect that album cover. Band name with the word “witch” in it?

Sleeveless leather vests? Fake decapitated head? Nipples blazing in the moonlight? All of these, we can be sure, seemed like perfectly good ideas at the time. (Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Pretty AWESOME, right?) Witchkiller were Canadian band that released this five-track EP before dissipating into the ether. It was one of those early, lusty, Metal Blade feasts.

It saw the light of day in the great metal year of 1984. Also, Day Of The Saxons was released by Steamhammer Records in Germany. In 1988, Steamhammer released Day Of The Saxons as part of a split CD with Obsession’s Marshall Law EP. As one could ascertain from the Halford-esque uniform that Witchkiller wore, Judas Priest seemed to be a major influence for Day Of The Saxons. To me, it sounds like Priest’s 1970’s albums were the primary influence, which is a good thing because ’70s Priest kicked ass and ’80s Priest was kind of lame at times. (Compare wicked tracks like Tyrant, Genocide, Exciter, and Sinner to poop-scoopers like Fever, Love Bites, and Defenders Of The Faith.) Day Of The Saxons kicks off with the title track which is a righteous banger. I love the lyric, “ day of the Saxons, the day the blood will flow like wine!“.

Vocalist Doug Adams has a strong metal voice. He stays comfortably within his mid-range without any serous hysterics. He won’t blow you away, but he gets the job done with clarity and adequate ferocity. The second track is Riders Of Doom, the album’s best and most dynamic cut. It has an acoustic intro that, of course, leads into a full throttle metal attack, complete with an infectious chorus. These two tracks alone, though not earth shattering classics, make this little EP worthwhile.

The final three numbers, gladly, are also competent metallic pounders. The production on Day Of The Saxons is surprisingly good for an early Metal Blade release. Excellent fidelity and a nice “dry” sound.

Compare this to the over-saturated, overly mechanical sound that Judas Priest was given on their albums from the same era. Make Fake Drivers License Online Free. I only wish that those Priest albums (especially Defenders Of The Faith) had this same kind of understated production. Day Of The Saxons is a very solid release, a worthwhile addition to your metal collection. My score: B+.

This German band got its name from their guitarist and principal songwriter “Zeno” Roth (brother to Uli Jon Roth). Zeno released but one album in the 1980s, Zeno (EMI Records). This is one of those Sunday morning albums. Obviously, life demands that ’80s hard rock and metal must be played 24/7, but there are times when serenity and tranquility reign over fist-pumping and head banging.

When I need something a little lighter, a little more AOR-ish, my ears beg for Zeno, one of the most majestic and ethereal records of the whole decade. Although Zeno was not a hit album by any means, a little investigation into the album’s back story reveals that the music industry expected great things from Zeno.

Zeno were the subject of a bidding war amongst labels, and in the end Zeno wound up receiving one of the biggest contracts ever for a brand new band. But the story gets convoluted, with Zeno taking longer than expected to record and going over budget in the process.

When Zeno was released in 1986, it was viewed as something of a failure with respect to its over-hyped expectations. The production on Zeno is pin-perfect. It’s obvious that meticulous attention was paid to capturing a full, rich sound on this record (more than likely the reason Zeno was over-budget).

Roth’s guitar work is exceptional, and his compositions seem to mirror his own reputation as a spiritual and philosophical guy. The vocals are done by Michael Flexig, a man who sings in an impossibly high register and has the pipes to give credence to these celestial and uber-melodic pieces. The lyrics are very positive; focusing mostly on love, spirit, and the belief in a higher power. People, Slayer this ain’t. Zeno consists of ten proper songs (and one brief instrumental, Sunset). I would describe nine of the cuts as exceptional or nearly so.

The only song I don’t love is Emergency. Exquisite cuts like Heart On The Wing, A Little More Love (penned by bassist U. Winsomie Ritgen), and Circles Of Dawn always bring a cheerful smile to my otherwise hideously ugly mug. A truly great album that flew under the radar.

My score: A+. A handful of album reviews. All from 1980. Tygers Of Pan Tang – Wild Cat One of the few NWOBHM rounders to appear on a major label (MCA Records) in 1980.

This Tygers debut offers up ten tracks of rough stuff, baring its fangs with a consistent street-wise bludgeon. For sonic variety, look elsewhere. There’s no light and shade, no peaks and valleys. Just straightforward British metal with raw energy. Can’t say there are any true standout tracks to speak of though. This was to be the one and only Tygers album featuring the unremarkable vocal “talents” of Jess Cox. From what I’ve read he seems like an interesting and fine fellow (and he has attained a certain level of NWOBHM street-cred), but he stinks.

This is something I think he and the Tygers were fully aware of, as they kept his microphone time to a minimum. A decent album, but it pales in comparison to Tygers’ sophomore release Spellbound. My score: B- Thin Lizzy – Chinatown Its Lizzy, man, so you know its good. The formula just works, period. Lynott, as always, was cooler than the other side of the pillow. John Holmes lookalike. Dude had more charisma in his taint than I will ever have in a million lives.

This was Snowy White’s first LP with Thin Lizzy. He joined ranks with Scott Gorham for that patented Lizzy dual guitar attack. Harmonizing up the kazoo. Good mix of tunes. We Will Be Strong is a positive anthem. Chinatown has a definitive groove and a cool main riff (not much of a chorus though). Having A Good Time tries to bring back those glory days down at ol’ Dino’s.

Personal fave: Genocide (The Killing Of The Buffalo). Maybe not their best work of the ’80s ( Thunder And Lightning owns that honor IMO), but worth an earful. My score: B Rush – Permanent Waves This album contains just what might be the best song of 1980, The Spirit Of Radio! It is just a perfect, radio-friendly hard rock song! The lyrics touch home, too. This is an example of Rush taking a break from their progressive tendencies and delivering a more straightforward, concise tune.

Similarly, Freewill is another exceptional hard rock single. Both are essential cuts. This pair of tunes helps Permanent Waves appeal to the casual fan (like me), while fans of their patented 1970s progressive rock will find plenty to splooge over with Jacob’s Ladder and the 9-minute long Natural Science. I personally find those particular tracks to be snoozers. Not my cup of tea, but that’s just me.

We all know at least one or two hardcore Rush fanatics that just love these more complex, sprawling Rush songs. (Maybe you are one?) Rush fans: the Star Trek fans of rock n’ roll.

My score: B The Michael Schenker Group – The Michael Schenker Group Schenker (ex-Scorpions and ex- UFO) launched his own band, The Michael Schenker Group, with this eponymous debut. Despite the man’s cemented status as a Gibson Flying V wielding guitar wizard, The Michael Schenker Group was not an album fueled by overwrought six-string wankery. To his credit, the album is very much a song-oriented affair. Gary Barden, previously an unknown, was tapped for vocal duties. He’s solid, but a tad restrained. Lead cut Armed And Ready is a tidy rocker with a simple, but mighty, lead riff. Without a doubt, this is my favorite song on the album, and one of Schenker’s all-time best cuts.

For me, side two seems to wane a bit (not rockin’ enough), but all in all this is a solid debut. I think The Michael Schenker Group was surpassed by the albums that followed it; MSG (1981), Assault Attack (1982), and Built To Destroy (1983). A discography worth digging up.

My score: B UFO – No Place To Run Paul Chapman stepped into the fray to replace the departed Michael Schenker on guitar. This was UFO’s first post-Schenker studio release. Interestingly, No Place To Run was produced by famed Beatles producer George Martin. While the album contains a few choice cuts, I can’t help but feel that No Place To Run lacks edge. Overall, the album seems a bit too business-like and serious. Phil Mogg must have been listening to tons of Springsteen, or maybe Seger, or maybe Bad Company. He channels these artists a bit both lyrically and vocally.

No Place To Run does, however, house an enormous gem in the perfect Youngblood. Not surprisingly, this cut was co-written by bassist Pete Way. He only has three credits on the album, and they happen to be the album’s most rockin’ songs. Seems Way was trying to keep the rock ‘n roll fire burning while Mogg was moving in a different, more “adult” direction. Don’t get me wrong, I can listen to No Place To Run from start to finish without a problem, I just feel it’s a little too “polite” for UFO.

My score: B Accept – I’m A Rebel This was Accept’s second album. Some versions were simply titled Accept (and had a different cover). That’s confusing because Accept’s first album (1979) was also called Accept.

Anyway, I’m A Rebel pre-dates Accept’s “signature” sound which, IMO, began with 1981’s Breaker. What we have here is a mixed lot. The album’s best track is the title cut; a song that wasn’t even written by Accept, but rather by the older brother of AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young. Evidently, AC/DC actually worked on this song a few years earlier but never used it on an album. It’s a simple tune, with a driving beat and Udo’s best vocal on the LP. Bassist Peter Baltes provided vocals on two of the eight cuts on I’m A Rebel.

The two songs, No Time To Lose and The King are both mellow and ballad-like. Baltes’ voice is clean and ordinary, a stark contrast to the trollish shriek of Udo. No Time To Lose is pretty good, while The King is simply average. I would recommend the I’m A Rebel album only to curious Accept fans interested in hearing the band search for direction. My score: C+ Motorhead – Ace Of Spades Did you ever look at someone and think to yourself “I bet that person’s breath really f*cking stinks”?

Well, that’s what I think when I look at Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead. I bet his breath is just rancid. Well, anyway Lemmy the wart-faced scumbag, along with Fast Eddie (guitar) and Philthy Phil (drums) gave us Motorhead’s most famous album in 1980, Ace Of Spades. Motorhead may well have been the word’s heaviest band in 1980. The LP deals cut after cut of fast, loud, rudimentary heavy metal from a loaded deck of twelve songs. Lemmy’s distorted bass and signature voice are essential to the patented Motorhead sound. And though Lemmy has almost no vocal range, he is surprisingly melodic in his vocal delivery.

Choice cuts include the classic title cut, Love Me Like A Reptile, and the ultra-heavy album finale The Hammer. Furthermore, (We Are) The Road Crew is a very cool homage to roadies with the album’s best lyrics. Honestly, I’m surprised there aren’t more heavy metal songs about roadies.

It seems part and parcel to heavy metal lifestyle and lore. Seems there is a lot of untapped lyrical potential in the life of a roadie! The Chase Is Better Than The Catch is another fave. This track is not as fast as the rest, and has a mean, pulsating groove. This album is good, filthy fun.

My score: B+ Ted Nugent – Scream Dream Call him The Nuge. Call him Uncle Ted. Call him The Motor City Madman. I shall call him “asshole”. Having seen Ted Nugent multiple times on various VH1 shows in the 2000’s reinforced my belief that too much exposure to rock and roll stars is always a bad thing. So many of these rock stars are just complete douches once you “get to know them”, whether it be by reality TV, or tell-all books, or what have you. Ignorance is bliss, I say.

I guess that’s why, despite worshiping hard rock and heavy metal music for my entire life, I have never had any interest in actually meeting a rock star. Scream Dream was the last Ted album to reach gold status, as the eighties saw his career take a commercial downturn. Many consider Scream Dream to be the last album of Ted Nugent’s glory years. There are ten tracks, and Ted provides vocals on all but a few. Drummer Cliff Davies sings one cut, and guitarist Charlie Huhn pitches in for a deuce. Needless to say, the album is a pretty fun ride, steeped in seventies style hard rock, with nods to rhythm and blues and old-style rock n’ roll.

Wango Tango is the album’s best known cut; and its pretty good except for the spoken word part which finds Ted acting borderline retarded. Other faves include Hard As Nails and Spit It Out.

I have Scream Dream on cassette, but still haven’t got around it to updating to CD. I guess you could say Scream Dream falls just shy of essential. My score: B Quartz – Satan’s Serenade Here we have a 12″, 3-song EP by Quartz. This 45-rpm rounder came out on Reddingtons Rare Records (and was licensed to Logo records). It appeared on black, blue, and red wax. (Here’s a featuring pics of the blue vinyl release.) The record included two spanking new Quartz cuts in Satan’s Serenade and Bloody Fool.

The third track was a remix of Roll Over Beethoven taken from the Live Quartz album (1980). The two new cuts are worth seeking out for Quartz fans. Quartz’s 1980 LP Stand Up And Fight (reviewed ) was a tremendous album, featuring Quartz in their all-too-brief prime, so its nice to have some extra material from that same time period. The production is lacking a bit, especially compared to the exceptional production of Stand Up And Fight (which was on a major label, M.C.A. Records), but it is not a significant deterrent to accessing these solid chunks o’ granite.

My score: B Samson – Head On This band gets its name from their guitarist Paul Samson, an old-school player with a sweaty, barroom style. Despite being the band’s namesake, Paul Samson had to take a backseat to two limelight-stealing characters within the band’s ranks; Thunderstick (the mask-wearing drummer) and “Bruce Bruce” Dickinson (the charismatic vocalist). Head On was Samson’s second full-length LP.

It is one of the better-known NWOBHM offerings from 1980. The album’s opener, Hard Times, is one my favorite NWOBHM songs of 1980, highlighted by Bruce’s self-harmonized vocal “solo” near the song’s conclusion. Though certainly listenable and accessible, the Head On album is not without its weaknesses. I think Thunderstick overplays quite a bit, and his snare drum sounds like a trash can (in fact, the drum sound as a whole is pretty poor). In addition, “Bruce Bruce” acts a fool, all too often going over-the-top with his vocals. The bizarre lyrics don’t help matters either. In my (worthless) opinion, “Bruce Bruce” and Thunderstick combined to make Head On a more frantic record than it needed to be.

But one can postulate why Paul Samson didn’t reign these two guys in they were his meal ticket after all. Samson’s follow-up to Head On, 1981’s Shock Tactics is much better. My score: B- Billy Squier – The Tale Of The Tape (1980) Ex-Piper front man Billy Squier signed a record deal with Capitol Records and debuted as a solo artist with 1980’s The Tale Of The Tape. Squier would eventually reward Capitol for their faith by delivering three platinum albums. But The Tale Of The Tape wasn’t one of them.

While this album lacked any true hits, it was a consistent effort, and one can definitely hear a star in the making. Though it was Eric Clapton that first influenced Billy to take up the guitar seriously, you’re more likely to hear cues from Led Zeppelin in Squier’s music — especially in the Robert Plant vocal stylings. Squier liked to mix lusty drum beats with ragged, open chords — all of it crafted with an eye towards radio airplay. As mentioned above, this particular Billy Squier platter didn’t give birth to any hit singles, but if you spend some time with the album you’ll really start to take The Tale Of The Tape close to your heart. The album is probably best known for the song The Big Beat — which has been sampled countless times by rappers (thanks to its pounding drum intro). Other notables include the breezy Calley Oh, the plaintive Like I’m Loving You, and the catchy Who Knows What Love Can Do. In the end, The Tale Of The Tape has been vastly overshadowed by the successful albums that proceeded it.

In fact, it is positively dwarfed by its mammoth follow-up Don’t Say No — a triple platinum smash from 1981. But if you’re a Squier fan (and why wouldn’t you be?) you’ll eventually get around to The Tale Of The Tape, and to a time when Billy was just getting warmed up! My score: B+. I wish I could tell you I knew something about this obscure Texas band called Xcel, but I really cannot. I got nothing. An internet search turned up very little.

Just the basics: their lone LP was Deliver This Dream and it’s rarer than a beard on a baby. It came out in 1986 on TRI Records. Somebody got around to bootlegging Deliver This Dream onto CD in 1983 (Hot Metal Records). Update (November 2012): Tons of new info has now come to light regarding Xcel! Deliver This Dream contains eight tracks of low-budget, but spirited heavy metal. The production, unsurprisingly, is wafer thin. This drains the album of its full potential, but there is still plenty to enjoy about this ol’ nugget.

I guess the biggest asset that Xcel brought to the table would be the vocals of Kevin Luke. Can’t say he sounds like anyone else at all. He has a unique style whereby he doesn’t really project his voice. He has kind of a tender, breathy delivery, and also a smooth falsetto. More than likely he recorded his main vocal in a single, or very few takes, as sometimes the volume of his voice wavers a bit. All in all, he gives an engaging performance.

Deliver This Dream is by no means a serious contender for one of the greatest “power metal” albums of the ’80s, but it sure has its moments. The opening track, Deliver This Dream, is a stellar cut with some ripping riffs and nice melodies. The album’s absolute highlight, however, is the closing number, Last Ride Of Ichabod Crane, which, as you can guess, has some cool lyrics and a dark atmosphere. Incidentally, this quasi-epic cut was actually released as a single. Old school metal fans who love to unearth obscure gems will find Deliver This Dream worthy of attention. Have a listen if you like. My score: B Post navigation.