This is the second half of the post that I started on Monday. This is a Bon Jovi blog primarily, after all, so Bad Medicine got their own post all to themselves. But the set by Live Wire (an AC/DC tribute band) was the main event. I probably wouldn’t have gone to see Live Wire by themselves, but I do like AC/DC, and in combination with Bad Medicine, the show was too tempting to pass up.
Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous Rock’ Category
Tribute Band Review: Live Wire at Penn’s Peak
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010The Uncoverables
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010I managed to catch part of the video for the Proclaimers song ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ while I was channel-surfing yesterday. Unfortunately, that one thirty-second encounter last night has left me with that song running through my head all day today.
Rock of Ages on America’s Got Talent
Friday, July 23rd, 2010I found a video of the cast performing on America’s Got Talent on Blabbermouth.net.
Maroulis’ performance on ‘I Wanna Rock’ was interesting. I’m very used to the original version, and Maroulis was actually bringing a more melodic sound to the performance rather than belting it out the way that Dee Snider did. He actually takes it and makes it into a real Broadway song, which is pretty cool. Plus, Dee Snider himself shows up halfway through the song.
‘Don’t Stop Believin’ came out much better as far as I’m concerned. The song actually lends itself amazingly well to an ensemble production. It comes out rather drastically different from the original recording, but once again they’ve taken it and made it perfect for use in a Broadway musical. Also, this song seemed to be better suited to Maroulis’ vocal style than ‘I Wanna Rock’. ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ really lets him shine.
The Magic of Live
Monday, July 19th, 2010When I went to the Bon Jovi show at the Wachovia Center back in March, they had ads up for the Carole King/James Taylor tour that was going to be coming through later that summer. Now, personally, I like them both well enough, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them. My mother, on the other hand, is far more attached to their work.
I tried to convince her that it might be worth the ticket price to go see them, but she wasn’t really interested in paying that much and was worried about what she’d get for the money. A couple of weeks after she passed and the show sold out, PBS aired a special filmed at one of the King/Taylor show, which was, of course, pretty much excellent.
There are some performers who are naturals when it comes to doing live shows–where what you get is so much more than just a rehash of the album. And you never really know who’s going to deliver that experience unless you go and see for yourself, though that’s changing these days.
That’s one really good thing about having the internet–as a new fan, or a returning old one, you can get reviews from normal people like yourself before you buy the tickets. That was how I knew, as a new Bon Jovi fan, that seeing them live was going to be a good show. The critics in the newspapers might not be kind, but if other fans like myself were enthusiastic, it had to be pretty good.
And as it turned out, it was that live performance that really cemented Bon Jovi’s position as my favorite band. Sure, I liked the music on the albums a lot, and Jon certainly was hot. But when I went to see them at the Prudential Center back in 2007, that was when I really started to appreciate just how great they are.
Review: Elvis in Vegas
Friday, July 16th, 2010I promised that I’d be back with a separate review of ‘Elvis in Vegas’ today. After all, it’s not every day that Meat Loaf records a song co-written by Jon Bon Jovi. That warrants a post in its own right.
I don’t know that I would have made this connection if I hadn’t known that Jon was one of the songwriters for ‘Elvis in Vegas’, but the song really reminds me of ‘Right Side of Wrong’ from Bounce. It has the same sweeping narrative feel as ‘Right Side of Wrong’, and it also has the same sort of living, breathing imagery throughout the lyrics. That’s probably Jon’s touch; he’s always been good at that kind of song that tells a story, but this one is an outstanding example.
I suppose that I shouldn’t be surprised that ‘Elvis in Vegas’ turned out to be one of my favorite songs off of Hang Cool Teddy Bear–after all, it does have Jon, Desmond Child and Billy Falcon behind it, and those three have been responsible for many of my favorite songs.
But above and beyond that, I like the song because it plays to a lot of Meat Loaf’s strengths. This is one of the few songs on this album that really taps into the expressive range that Meat Loaf can bring to his performances. He can make you believe whatever he’s singing about–and with that power behind the lyrics, this song shines. The chorus on this song is nothing less than a thing of beauty.
This song is definitely a keeper. As a matter of fact, it’s probably going to shape up to be one of my all-time favorites.
Album Review: Hang Cool Teddy Bear
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010Meat Loaf has been a longtime favorite of mine. I actually had some trouble finding a copy of this album around here when it was first released–but I finally got around to getting myself a copy.
In all honesty, I can’t rate this as one of his best outings, but it’s quite respectable all the same. (Any new Meat Loaf album has a lot to live up to–it’s automatically in company with albums like Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II–which is august company indeed.)
This album has a distinctly different sound from some of his earlier work, most likely attributable to the absence of Jim Steinman. However, it’s definitely not a bad thing. The songs here are less operatic that Steinman’s work tends to be, but are mostly all still decently well-written songs with good hooks.
My immediate favorite tracks included ‘Los Angeloser’, ‘Like a Rose’, ‘Running Away From Me’, ‘Let’s Be In Love’, ‘If It Rains’ and ‘Elvis in Vegas’.
For me, at least, ‘Los Angeloser’ is where Hang Cool Teddy Bear really hits its stride. This song opens fire, pretty much right away, dealing with classic rock and roll subject material.
Lyrically speaking, ‘Like a Rose’ is classic sleaze rock–which you know I like. But this one comes served up with a side order of Meat Loaf’s style, and it comes out a unique entity. The production here is also excellent–there’s just enough layers mixed into it to make it sound full, but it doesn’t overpower the vocals. This particular song just oozes attitude–and Meat Loaf is one of the few artists with enough swagger to really pull of a song like this.
‘Running Away From Me’ and ‘Let’s Be In Love’ are actually the songs from this album that remind me most of some of Meat Loaf’s earlier work. This probably the most operatic that this album gets. And Meat Loaf is always at his best when presented with material that veers toward the operatic. (I think that’s why his partnership with Steinman was always so fruitful.) ‘Let’s Be In Love’ especially has that expansive sound that I tend to associate with Meat Loaf.
‘If It Rains’ has a little bit more of a pop sound to it. But then again, a lot of Meat Loaf’s work doesn’t veer too far from pop radio, and he brings his distinct voice to bear here. Mix that up with a good hook and it all works out.
I think one of the things that I really like best about this album is that it mixes things up a little more than some of Meat Loaf’s other releases.
I’ll dive a little deeper into ‘Elvis in Vegas’ on Friday.
Rock of Ages is touring!
Thursday, April 29th, 2010An article on Constantine Maroulis from the Los Angeles Times confirmed my hope that there would be a touring production of ‘Rock of Ages’. (Of course, if I had been paying attention to the official site, I’d have noticed that there was going to be a tour a long time ago.)
I had wanted to see the Broadway production back in December when I went to New York City, but I got overruled, and I haven’t gotten to make a trip back since then. (That was, I’ll admit, a spur of the minute idea. We didn’t go to see the show–I just happened to notice that there were half-price tickets available at the booth in Times Square when we walked by.)
But at least there are a few venues in this area that run a lot of touring productions of musicals. It’s a lot easier to get to see a show when I don’t have to devote the better part of the day to riding a bus into Manhattan. If the touring production does stop at one of the theaters around here, it’ll be relatively easy for me to get in the car and just go.
Maroulis got a lot of praise for his stint in the Broadway production, and if he’s doing the touring production that means that it should be pretty good.
Songs that make me cry…
Friday, April 23rd, 2010I had my Zune on shuffle earlier today, and the song ‘I Want You’ came up. I hadn’t listened to that song in a long time, but it still plays with my emotions whenever I hear it. That gave me the idea to revisit a few of the songs that can make me cry when I hear them.
‘I Want You’ – Bon Jovi
There’s something so heartfelt in this song, that it just gets me. The first few times that I listened to Keep The Faith, this song didn’t particularly stand out. But then one day, it just sank in. I was sitting at my computer playing Bejewled with the stereo on in the background, and the song just hit me like a ton of bricks. There’s something so completely anguished about the chorus, especially at the end.
‘Blood Money’ – Jon Bon Jovi
Whenever I hear this song, I remember the night that I got to hear Jon sing it live at the Prudential Center back in 2007. I wasn’t as familiar with Blaze of Glory back then, so this really stands out as the moment that I first appreciated that song. Plus, the performance that Jon gave that night was completely stellar. It made the lament of the lyrics come to life for me. I just remember how electric that moment was–with just Jon’s voice soaring through the song and into that strange sort of silence that you can only get when thousands of people suddenly go completely quiet.
For some reason, these songs seem to be hardwired straight into my emotions.
Storm Thorgerson slideshow
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010The BBC site has a video gallery of album cover art created by Storm Thorgerson. This includes some very iconic covers, including Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
The neat thing about the gallery is that not only do they show the wide range of art that he has created, the audio interview delves into the ideas behind a lot of the work. So often we get to hear the musicians themselves explaining what went into the music. It’s much rarer to get to hear the rationale behind the cover art.
I’ve long said that the cover art created for rock and roll albums is an underappreciated art form, so for me this particular video clip was a rare treat.
In some ways, creating cover art must be far more challenging than being free to create whatever you want. Yes, it’s a marketing piece, designed to sell the music inside. However, it also has to mesh with the music inside, or it won’t truly accomplish its goal. (Though, that being said, true meshing isn’t 100% necessary. One of the first covers to be discussed in the video relies on subverting that linkage. But even at that, it still says something important and vital about the band that created the music inside that cover.)
All told, I found the video quite fascinating, and rather too short. I would have liked to know more about some of the covers that he created. Anyway, go check it out. If you’re at all interested in album art, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Fun article on Rock of Ages
Monday, April 5th, 2010There’s a fun article on the rehearsals for the Canadian production of Rock of Ages on the National Post site. It doesn’t go into a lot of details, but it gives a neat little window into the kind of mindset that it takes to put on a show like “Rock of Ages”.
I still have to get around to actually seeing the stage production of ‘Rock of Ages”. I wanted to get last-minute seats for the evening performance the last time I was in New York, but I got overruled. (Everyone else wanted to have dinner at the Thai place on Restaurant Row and then head home.) And these days, I don’t get to make trips into Manhattan as often as I used to. These days I need to play way further in advance.
Well, at least when they get around to making the movie, I can watch it on DVD.