Monthly newsletter 2024
#4
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to The Story of Rock and Roll 2024. This newsletter covers episodes S7E10 to S7E13. S7 means season seven i.e. 2024 and E10 means the tenth episode of this season. These shows are available on podcasts from this website and all major podcast sites. Quick links to all things TSORR are at the end of the newsletter. Please share the newsletter with anyone who may be interested.
HIGHLIGHTS
The new Judas Priest album, Invincible Shield, is exceptional. If you are a Priest fan this is the best album they have done since Painkiller. This album returns to the melodic metal they displayed on albums such as Stained Class, Killing Machine, and British Steel. Rob Halford is in exceptional voice. He has just turned 72 and unlike some of his peers seems to be experiencing no loss of range or power. Richie Faulkner appears to be doing the work of two men. I highly recommend you take a listen. I also read Rob’s sequel to his “tell all” biography Confess. It is titled Biblical: Heavy Metal Scriptures and it is wonderful. I am so grateful he wrote it. I highly recommended it. Here is an interview that I found via Ryan Holiday who also recommended Biblical on his Monthly reading list, it’s with a guy called Mark Maron who has a podcast called WTF.
https://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1479-rob-halford?rq=rob%20halford
Mark Knopfler released a new version of ‘Going Home (theme From Local Hero)’ with 60 of the world’s greatest musicians. We listened to it on S7E12, and you can read more about it under New Releases & New Discoveries
Another highlight was the start of a new feature where we play two tracks with the same song title but by different artists. This is not a cover of a song; it is a completely different song but with the same name. After a bit of discussion on TSORR Central, we dubbed it ‘Twisted Twins’ and you can catch it around 20h00 every Thursday on TSORR Radio Show.
THE DIABOLICAL CHALLENGE
The Diabolical Challenge features four albums from bands or artists starting with a particular letter of the alphabet. Imagine you are in a record store, a good old-fashioned bricks-and-mortar store like Hillbrow Records or Tower Records. You only have enough cash for one album, and you are going through the alphabetical bins. This month we looked in bins E to I:
S7E10 = J – Jimmy Barnes, Joe Bonamassa, Joe Satriani, and Judas Priest.
S7E11 = K – Kiss, Krokus, Kid Rock, and King Diamond
S7E12 = L – Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Live, and Loverboy
S7E13 = M – Metallica, My Chemical Romance Motörhead, Megadeth
J
The tracks played were:
‘Driving Wheels’ (Jimmy Barnes), ‘Heavenly Soul’ (Joe Bonamassa), ‘Surfing With the Alien (Joe Satriani), and ‘Bloodstone (Judas Priest).
Although there was love for Surfing With the Alien, it was Judas Priest’s Screaming For Vengeance that carried the day. It’s worth noting that Rolling Stone Magazine voted this album the No 12 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.
K
The tracks played were:
‘Abigail’ (King Diamond), ‘Tonight long Stick Goes Boom’ (Krokus), ‘Let’s Ride’, (Kid Rock), and ‘All Hell’s Breaking Loose, (KISS). This one wasn’t well supported at all, no one seemed to have any passion for any of these albums, Kid Rock took it but I got the feeling that listeners were rating ‘Let’s Ride’, which is an exceptional track rather than the Rebel Soul album in its entirety. King Diamond is a tough sell for many people, but it is worth keeping in mind that the ingredients in the crucible that formed Metallica were arguably one-third Diamond Head, one-third Motörhead and one-third Mercyful Fate, King Diamond’s first band.
L
The tracks played were:
‘Turn Me Loose’ (Lover Boy), ‘Call Me the Breeze’ (Lynyrd Skynyrd), ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ (Led Zeppelin), and ‘Waitress’ (Live). The consensus was that this was not Led Zeppelin’s finest hour, and they shouldn’t get a halo vote for better albums. This left the door open for Throwing Copper which is a classic album in so many ways. Live were such a big part of the ‘90s and the change of the millennium. Well-deserved indeed.
M
The tracks played were:
‘Enter Sandman’ (Metallica), ‘Hanger 18’ (Megadeth), ‘Orgasmatron’ (Motörhead), and ‘Welcome to the Black Parade” (My Chemical Romance). Finally, we got to a letter of the alphabet where we were spoiled for choice. Picking four bands, let alone four albums was approaching impossible. Just get to these albums we had to leave out artists such as Manowar, Marilyn Manson, Mötley Crüe, Mastodon, Michael Schenker, and Machine Head. That left us with the albums above. Sometimes it’s good to leave out the classic albums to make it more interesting. Sometimes, but not always, so this time round we went all in with albums that are considered the best of all time let alone the best of the band’s efforts. Metallica was the pick for most of the challenge but then things changed after I played ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ and we ended with a tie.
THE IMMORTALS
The Immortals, featuring tracks over 7 min long, demonstrating what a band is capable of when not worrying about airplay on daytime radio, continues to be very well supported on the show. On S7E10 we had a little-known band out of Germany called Paradox. The track played was ‘Manhunt’ and it went down well, I reckon they sold a few copies of their album Pangea judging by the feedback.
On S7E11 we went listened to Pink Floyd’s ‘Pigs (Three Different Ones)’, off Animals their follow-up to Wish You Were Here and the precursor to The Wall.
On episode 12 we had a very special track. Mark Knopfler and Friends released a new version of ‘Going Home (Theme from Local Hero)’. The track features 60 of the world’s favourite Rock Stars including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Joe Bonamassa, Slash, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Satriani, Ry Cooder, Brain May, Pete Townsend, Steve Via, Dave Gilmour, Waddy Wachtel, Brad Paisley, Tony Iommi, Peter Frampton and of course Mark Knopfler himself. All proceeds go to the Teenage Cancer Trust. Mark Knopfler is doing amazing charity work, raising funds and auctioning guitars for worthy causes. It is so nice to see musicians doing this, David Gilmour raised $ 21 million by auctioning off his guitars, and Mark Knopfler’s guitar auction raised $ 11 million. These two British guitarists are certainly leading the way when it comes to giving back to society. The track itself is stunning, just trying to get your head around who is playing what and when is fascinating. I am hoping that they will release some footage of the making and recording of this masterpiece
We ended the month with S7E13 and The Doors and their awesome track ‘When the Music’s Over’ off their 1967 release Strange Days. It is amazing to think this was recorded in 1967, it is absolutely timeless.
NEW RELEASES & NEW DISCOVERIES & SAD GOODBYES
Judas Priest’s Invincible Shield is well and truly out, I can’t stop listening to this album. It is apparently their highest charting album in the UK, rising to No 2 on the album charts, and better than British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance did back in the ‘80s. I am not sure if it is possible to compare digital with old-school vinyl, it may no longer be apples with apples but that is what I read or heard.
We also got the long-awaited release of ‘Local Hero by Mark Knopfler and Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Hero’s but as that’s been discussed in Immortals we’ll move along.
Thanks to Marq Vas for alerting me to Riley’s L.A. Guns. This is an offshoot of the Tracii Gunns / Phil Lewis L.A. Guns formed by their former drummer Steve Riley and bassist Kelly Nickels. Riley and Nickels were long-time members of L.A. Guns and part of the band on Cocked and Loaded and Hollywood Vampires when L.A. Guns reached their commercial peak. Steve Riley also played for W.A.S.P. on Inside the Electric Circus and The Last Command. The album, titled The Dark Horse, is good solid ‘80s rock. It’s got Scott Griffen on guitar, and he does a great job. Steve Riley sadly passed away in Oct 2023 so this is a posthumous release and they released it on what would have been his 68th birthday.
It was a great month for Blues with the full release of Dan Patlansky’s awesome new album Movin’ On and Philp Sayce’s The Wolves Are Coming. Both these albums are exceptional. Dan just keeps on putting out high-quality albums, each with its own unique character and feel but always solidly sticking to the style he is synonymous with. Philip Sayce has put out his best album in my view. He is all over it, with plenty Hendrix-esque guitar blizzards. I am loving what he has done on The Wolves Are Coming
We got the title track off the new Pearl Jam called ‘Dark Matter’ and on S7E13 the follow-up called ‘Running’.
We also got Mick Mars’ The Other Side of Mars which features Jacob Bunton on vocals. It is a great album, the reviews are very good, four and a half stars on Amazon, so it has gone down well for him. Mick Mars has been seen as an underdog for many years so it’s great he is having success with this release. If you read The Dirt you will know that he put up with more than he fair share of shit at the hands of the rest of the band.
Bruce Dickinson’s latest solo Project is out. It is called The Mandrake Project and it has grown on me over the last month. Although I miss the incredible triple lead guitar that makes Maiden so special, Bruce has compensated with a fair amount of keyboards and some awesome guitar work courtesy of Roy Z. He has worked with Roy for years on other solo projects and the two of them also produced the album. Bruce himself is sounding excellent, in fact in my opinion he is sounding way better than he did on Maidens last effort Senjetsu
Blackberry Smoke’s drummer Brit Turner lost his battle against glioblastoma and passed away at the age of 57. This is the same terrible fate that befell Rush’s drummer Neil Peart back in 2020. We paid tribute with a track off their 2018 release Find a Light and a track Called ‘Till the Wheels Fall Off’.
Vended released a new track which was good enough for me to check out their 2021 release, an EP titled What is it //Kill it. Yeah, I know, very unsociable but they are kids. The kids of Corey Taylor and Sean “Clown” Crahan of Slipknot. With Simon Crahan on drums and Giffin Taylor on vocals they are certainly mining the Slipknot vein but there is a simplicity and rawness to what they do which comes from being a five-piece not a nine-piece. I like it, see what you think.
SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE
It was pretty quiet other than the new Dan Patlansky album, Movin’ On which we have discussed already. Just to add that as usual, it is fantastic, showcasing just what an awesome guitarist he is. Every album has a slightly different feel to it, possibly because Dan tends to change producers fairly often, which keeps it fresh. This one gives off a very clean, happy vibe. I am guessing that working with his band and doing the production together with long time drummer Andy Maritz at Andy’s studio really allowed them to relax and stretch out a bit.
CHEERS @#$%’s
The shows discussed in this month’s newsletter can be heard as podcasts S7E10 – S7E13. Feel free to drop me a message on The Story of Rock and Roll Facebook page or via email at thestoryofrockandroll1@gmail.com. If you want to be added to TSORR Central WhatsApp Group, send me your number on this email address and I will send you an invite link.
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Take care and keep rocking.
James