Is there really anything more 80’s hard rock than that album cover and Rainbow in the Dark? Really, this album does push a little more into metal territory, but all the elements that made 80’s hard rock are present: the songs may seem a bit more opaque than mere songs about sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, but ever present are the big guitar solos and arena sized vocals (Ronnie James Dio is nearly the Chris Cornell of his sub-genre - crazy range and the epitome of the era’s vocal delivery). All that fun aside, I really did enjoy this album, probably a step down from Sabbath but a step up from Rainbow.
Call it a publicity stunt to sell albums or gain relevance, or maybe even a signal the band wanted to be taken seriously, but Lick It Up is the moment or at least the album where KISS shed their makeup - though not much has changed since Creatures of the Night. Vinni Vincent makes his appearance on album and has plenty of solos. The title track even recalls the party rock approach of their earlier albums. The albums seems to be weighted down though by an effort to seem current, a still heavier sound but more a product of the hair metal movement than its predecessors. Exciter and A Million to One don’t sound too bad in this light though.
By this point, Motley Crue was already closing in on pure hair metal, though this is maybe a half step before total conversion - there’s still some street sleaze about them here that emanates a sense of danger than say on albums that follow. That said, and perhaps to some extent they are the reason the cliches of Los Angeles glam rock excesses are cliche, they embody and that and then some on this album. I frankly found it to be an upgrade from their debut, and the title track, Looks That Kill, and Too Young to Fall in Love seem like foundational tracks for this brand of rock music, but there really not all that much beyond that to get excited about aside from what feels like a highly unlikely cover of The Beatles’ Helter Skelter.
Sparks - No. 1 in Heaven (1979)
Produced by Giorgio Moroder
Can an album be both ahead of its time and of its time? I don't know. But there isn't anything like this, save for the underrated follow up Terminal Jive.
Now we turn to a more electronic dance music, and despite this being well outside my wheelhouse, I quite enjoyed it. The music is pretty hypnotic with a lot of electronic elements but with a substantial amount of vocals, which separates it from the electronic pack of albums we’ve covered, not to mention the faster pace. Not something I would have otherwise run to, or may run to again, but I found it to be a strong album nonetheless.
The Essential Track: La Dolce Vita (there were 3 or 4 that could have been here)
Up Next: Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!
Yeah, my first thoughts on that at the time were pretty positive as well.
This album feels like it sort of doesn’t know whether to push forward or look back. There’s basically a bunch of tracks that toe the line between Cheap Trick’s classic rock arena sound and a new wave pop rock, and a bunch of other tracks that feel like they could have made a late period album from The Who. The latter feels like it fits them more naturally, and Won’t Take No For an Answer, and Invaders of the Heart are the best examples of that, though 3-D, which is an altogether different animal, might take the whole prize even though it seems like a big departure for them. In the end, I sort of felt mixed on this one, the split identity making it uneven rather than an album with lots of range.
This is admittedly an uneven album from a fractured band pulling in several directions, particularly the push to modernize against the formula that made them legends. Undercover of the Night is like a dance song caught in a rock band, as is to some extent She Was Hot. From there, Tie You Up, Wanna Hold You (great token Keith song), and All the Way Down feel vintage Stones while Too Much Blood goes back to that dance rock effort. This isn’t a bad album by any stretch, but it isn’t as good as the Stones had even recently been capable of.
This is admittedly an uneven album from a fractured band pulling in several directions, particularly the push to modernize against the formula that made them legends. Undercover of the Night is like a dance song caught in a rock band, as is to some extent She Was Hot. From there, Tie You Up, Wanna Hold You (great token Keith song), and All the Way Down feel vintage Stones while Too Much Blood goes back to that dance rock effort. This isn’t a bad album by any stretch, but it isn’t as good as the Stones had even recently been capable of.
The Essential Track: Wanna Hold You
Up Next: Bob Dylan - Infidels
I love Infidels. I am flying up to see my son on Monday and drive the 2,500kms home with him from Friday next week. This one made the list of albums I've downloaded for the drive. His most played song according to Spotify Wrapped last year was Neil's 'Old Man' so I figure he's in this sort of head space.
This is admittedly an uneven album from a fractured band pulling in several directions, particularly the push to modernize against the formula that made them legends. Undercover of the Night is like a dance song caught in a rock band, as is to some extent She Was Hot. From there, Tie You Up, Wanna Hold You (great token Keith song), and All the Way Down feel vintage Stones while Too Much Blood goes back to that dance rock effort. This isn’t a bad album by any stretch, but it isn’t as good as the Stones had even recently been capable of.
The Essential Track: Wanna Hold You
Up Next: Bob Dylan - Infidels
I love Infidels. I am flying up to see my son on Monday and drive the 2,500kms home with him from Friday next week. This one made the list of albums I've downloaded for the drive. His most played song according to Spotify Wrapped last year was Neil's 'Old Man' so I figure he's in this sort of head space.
Yeah it’s one I also really enjoy. It will be interesting to listen to in the context of all these albums since it’s normally nestled in Dylan runs when I get into a phase with him every couple of years.
Now we turn to a more electronic dance music, and despite this being well outside my wheelhouse, I quite enjoyed it. The music is pretty hypnotic with a lot of electronic elements but with a substantial amount of vocals, which separates it from the electronic pack of albums we’ve covered, not to mention the faster pace. Not something I would have otherwise run to, or may run to again, but I found it to be a strong album nonetheless.
The Essential Track: La Dolce Vita (there were 3 or 4 that could have been here)
Up Next: Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!
Yeah, my first thoughts on that at the time were pretty positive as well.
Sorry I didn’t mean to hijack your thread. I just love this album. My fav track is Academy Award Performance.
Now we turn to a more electronic dance music, and despite this being well outside my wheelhouse, I quite enjoyed it. The music is pretty hypnotic with a lot of electronic elements but with a substantial amount of vocals, which separates it from the electronic pack of albums we’ve covered, not to mention the faster pace. Not something I would have otherwise run to, or may run to again, but I found it to be a strong album nonetheless.
The Essential Track: La Dolce Vita (there were 3 or 4 that could have been here)
Up Next: Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!
Yeah, my first thoughts on that at the time were pretty positive as well.
Sorry I didn’t mean to hijack your thread. I just love this album. My fav track is Academy Award Performance.
Not hijacked. I pulled the prior post to use for discussion since I move real fast through these.
This seems like the first straight forward Dylan rock album in a long time. Though it starts with an almost reggae-like Jokerman, by the time we hit the fantastic License to Kill, Neighborhood Bully, and Union Sundown, this feels almost in the Blonde on Blonde era, though never quite in that quality. I and I had always been a favorite of mine and I really enjoyed Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight on this listen. I often feel like this is the album that sturdies the ship for what is one great album after the next nearly from here on in for Dylan.
The Essential Track: I and I
Up Next: The Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Okay, so admittedly this is generally not my speed, save for the title track that I, and seemingly everyone else on Earth, find endlessly addicting. There are a few other gems for me on this as well, Wrap It Up, Jennifer, and the second half of This Is the House I thought were all pretty great. In the end I didn’t dislike the album on the whole, and I certainly found things I really liked, but it won’t go down as a favorite, probably predictably so.
The Essential Track: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Up Next: Brian Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
So it seemed I was just about every bit done with ambient, but I actually have to say sticking around for this one had its rewards. I got into the second half of this (the first half, including the aforementioned Pearl Jam stage intro music wasn’t really for me), with Silver Morning starting to pique my interest, and then Deep Blue Day being really good, Weightless and Always Returning also keeping me going. This run alone probably pushed this a bit above the albums I just didn’t take to.
On this final album with Roger Waters, the whole affair, 4 years after, feels like an attempt to fashion a sequel to The Wall, at least sonically. Roger Waters is still working that awkward vocal delivery that was very effective in creating a character in The Wall, but it’s not as effective here as an anti-war epic. Granted, a good half of the album was originally written and intended to serve as a soundtrack to The Wall the movie and was not chosen for the original album despite being birthed in those sessions - so all that makes sense. This album seems less a complete waste, and more picking out the diamonds in the rough - no diamond more sparkling than the album closer, which is a real wonderful piece of music. There are other highlights for sure, but this doesn’t strike me as one of Pink Floyd’s best.
Coming off their debut self-titled EP, Confusion is Sex is far more abrasive, noise art rock at an extreme level. Packed in there are so many great ideas and sketches - Shaking Hell, Inhuman, and Confusion is Next all contain fragments of greatness but also perhaps a little too chaotic for comfort. My favorite on this was Protect Me You, which predictably is the most fully realized rock song on here. Sonic Youth made a career of these manic soundscapes, but at least at this point, this is pretty far down that rabbit hole.
Robert Plant’s second solo album feels like a good step forward for him. It’s not Proto-Zeppelin, but Plant starting to engage with his own thing. Everything here is good, with Other Arms starting this thing with a meaty electric blues and rock, and then we get right into some of the more eccentric tracks, like In the Mood, Wreckless Love, and Horizontal Departure. Stranger Here…Than over There is actually a pretty wild track - at least concerning my expectations. Even having heard this before, it exceeded my expectations.
