William Michael Albert Broad was born on November 30th, 1955. Billy Idol has released 8 CDs, including a Christmas CD. A Christmas CD I didn't even know about until working on this blog. Idol first came to notice as a member of Generation X, which is where "Dancing With Myself" got it's beginning.
In October 2014 Idol released both his latest CD, "Kings and Queens of the Underground", which is a surprisingly good CD for a late career CD. He also released his autobiography, "Dancing With Myself, that same month. While Idol was at the height of his popularity in the 80's, in my opinion he released his best CD in 2005. That's the amazing "Devil's Playground".
Billy Idol's current band:
Idol's current band consists of:
Steve Stevens – lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1981–1987, 1993, 1995, 1999–present)
Stephen McGrath – bass, backing vocals (2001–present)
Billy Morrison – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2010–present)
Erik Eldenius – drums (2012–present)
Paul Trudeau – keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2014–present)
This is from about 50 years ago, so I'm glad we even have this live sound at all, I just wish it was a bit more crisp. 6) "Gallows Pole" (Traditional arr, Page & Plant):
From "Page and Plant", the sound is a lot better.
Hangman, hangman, turn your head awhile
I think I see my sister coming
Riding a many mile, mile, mile
Sister, I implore you, take him by the hand
Take him to some shady bower
Save me from the wrath of this man
Please take him
Save me from the wrath of this man, man
With Robert Plant providing an introduction. 7) "Tangerine" (Page):
Thinking how it used to be
Does she still remember times like these?
To think of us again?
And I do "Going To California"/ "Tangerine":
8) "That's The Way" (Page and Plant):
That's the way,
Oh, that's the way it ought to be,
Mama say that's the way it ought to stay, yeah, yeah oh oh
9) "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" (Jones, Page & Plant)
As we walk down the country lanes, I'll be singing a song, hear me calling your name Hear the wind within the trees, Telling mother nature 'bout you and me
10) "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper" (Traditional arr, Charles Obscure):
When I done quit hollerin' baby I believe I shake 'em on down Get my babe won't be late You know by that I mean seconds late Ah must I holler Must I shake 'em on down
A bonus half-hour concert from March, 1970 in Denmark:
This two part blog, which I'm going to try and finish today, (maybe), is about the third CD from the mightiest of all mighty rock bands, Led Zeppelin. These two blogs are inspired by a well researched article in the July, 2017 Classic Rock magazine. The excellent article was written by Mick Wall, one of Led Zeppelin's many excellent biographers.
Let me set the scene first, it's early 1970. Led Zeppelin had returned from a heartland tour of the USA. It was an incredibly lucrative tour, but left them a bit off kilter. A lot of societal forces were at work. It's just a few years after the summer of love but only a year after the Manson murders. Meredith Hunter, was killed by the Hells Angels, at a Rolling Stone concert on December 6th, 1969. Yet just a few months before that a celebration of "3 days of peace and music" had happened in a place called Woodstock.
Led Zeppelin has recently released the titanic CD, although not incredibly originally titled CD, "II". Songs on this CD include the behemoth hammer known as "Whole Lotta Love". Other songs on this amazing CD are "What Is And What Should Never Be", "Heartbreaker", "Ramble On" and "Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)". Obviously all those songs are adrenaline rock, and they were best known for these intense rock songs.
After needing to record their first two CDs very quickly, they were able to take a bit more time with "III". There were a lot of people clamoring for a "Whole Lotta Love" 2. People wanted to know how they would top their second CD. However they didn't try to top their previous CD, they just went in a different direction. Some of the influences for acoustic and mellow direction were from The Band, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills & Nash. To get the proper mind set Jimmy Page and Robert Plant visited a couple of off the beaten path locations, Bron-Yr-Aur and Headley Grange.
First they went to Bron-Yr-Aur, where they came up with "Friends", "That's The Way", "Tangerine" and "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp". They also began later songs such as "Stairway To Heaven" and "Over The Hills and Far Away". Bron-Yr-Aur was an 18th century cottage in Wales. It was a stone dwelling and roughly the name means "golden hill".
At Headley Grange, they came up with such songs as "Gallows Pole", the first song off of the CD "Immigrant Song", "Celebration Day" and "Out On The Tiles". Headley Grange was a dilapidated mansion in Hampshire.
The CD starts off with a musical assault and the banshee scream of Robert Plant in"Immigrant Song". Although "III" has gone on to sell over 6 million units and hit # 1 when it was released, many people consider it a disappointment. I'm not one of those as how can a CD with at least 7 certified Zep classics be a disappointment?
Three of these members are still alive and the death of the fourth, Bonham, was one of the main factors in the band breaking up in the first place. To get Zeppelin at their best, I'm posting the best live videos I can find as live is when they were at the peak of their powers.
1) "Immigrant Song" (Jimmy Page & Robert Plant):
From Japan, a longer version of this classic:
Key lyrics:
"We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow
The hammer of the gods
W'ell drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde, and sing and cry
Valhalla, I am coming!"
2) "Friends" (Page & Plant):
"Had a friend, she once told me, "You got love, you ain't lonely,
Now she's gone and left me only looking for what I knew":
3) "Celebration Day" (John Paul Jones, Page & Plant):
I love how prominent the bass is on this live version.
"My, my, my, I'm so happy
I'm gonna join the band
We gonna dance and sing in celebration
We are in the promised land"
4) "Since I've Been Loving You" (Jones, Page & Plant):
I've been working from seven to eleven every night
I said it kinda makes my life a drag
Lord, that ain't right, no no
Since I've been loving you
I'm about to lose my worried mind
5) "Out On The Tiles" (John Bonham, Page & Plant):
All I need from you is all your love
All you got to give to me is all your love
All I need from you is all your love
All you got to give to me is all your love
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Oh yeah, oh yeah
This video is from the classic Led Zeppelin bootleg "Live At Blueberry Hill":
This is the full "Live at Blueberry Hill" bootleg, enjoy:
This is my review of Lindsey Stirling's new Christmas CD "Warmer In The Winter", a collection of mostly Christmas classics.
1) "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", Lindsey featured on her violin. One of the truly great Christmas songs and Lindsey does great justice to it. These first two songs are my two favorite songs on this CD. This is already an amazing song, but I love what Miss Stirling adds to it.
2) "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (featuring Sabrina Carpenter), one of the most fun versions I've ever heard of this song:
3) "Christmas C'mon" (featuring Becky G), another delightful song where Lindsey's violin is highlighted by a great vocalist.
4) "Carol of the Bells"- this is probably my favorite Christmas song ever, especially the full on version. Although this version isn't the full on version, it's still good with some of Miss Stirling's creative touches.
When I say full on version of "Carol of the Bells", this is what I mean. This is the Barlow Girl version:
This is allegedly Metallica's version, I'm not so sure. This is likely the TSO version:
5) "Angels We Have Heard On High"- a very mellow version of this great Christmas classic. Sadly one of the weaker links on this CD.
This is how I prefer my "Angels We Have Heard On High", a more upbeat and uplifting mix, this is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's version:
6) "I Saw Three Ships", a very upbeat version of this song.
I like this Blackmore's Night version, a light and joyful arrangement:
7) "Let It Snow", again this track is highlighted by Lindsey's violin, but this song could really use vocals. This is a fairly traditional arrangement that would be incredibly enhanced by vocals. A nice touch with a snippet of "New York New York".
8) "Warmer In The Winter" (featuring Trombone Shorty) This original features an unnamed female vocalist, with some nice musical touches by Trombone Shorty. Again the vocals improve this song dramatically. This is the best original song on here:
9) "What Child Is This"- again another one of my favorite Christmas songs, such a sweet song about our Savior. A very moving version with Miss Stirling's excellent violin work. This song features the right amount of reverence and peaceful feeling. Originally I was going to say that vocals would have enhanced this and that may still be true. However Miss Stirling's version of this song is incredibly beautiful.
Miss Stirling's version:
Martina McBride's version:
10) "All I Want For Christmas": a decent version of this song.
11) "Time To Fall In Love" (featuring Alex Gaskarth), this original is a good song. It's powered by the vocals of Gaskarth and a fast melody.
12) "Jingle Bell Rock", another one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. Sadly this song is nearly unrecognizable from the great Bobby Helms original, and not for the good. I'm not a fan of the less than inspired arrangement:
13) "Silent Night", meh. The last two songs should have been left off of the CD.
These two songs are on the Target exclusive version, "O Come Emmanuel" is the better of the two.
14) "We Three Gentlemen":
15) "O Come Emmanuel":
Overall a good, but not great, CD. It's a serviceable CD with a few highlights, I would give it a C+. Many songs were fine as instrumentals, but an equal amount would've been enhanced by vocals. If your a Lindsey Stirling, you should add this to your collection. Although if you're a fan of Miss Stirling, you probably already have. If you're not a fan of Miss Stirling, this isn't the CD that will make you that.
I hadn't heard of Miss Grace until a few hours previously, but I stumbled across her cover of the amazing Whitney Houston's "Run To You". Thanks YouTube!!! So I'm going to listen to a bunch of her videos to see if she lives up to some of the close to Whitney Houston hype. She's no Whitney Houston, but I don't know that there will be anyone ever again as great as Miss Houston. Heck even Whitney Houston wasn't herself after a few years of her career. I will include some Whitney Houston covers, but want to see how she does some other covers.
I will post some of the highlights. Her cover of "The Greatest Love of All" suffers the same fate as "Didn't We Almost Have It All". I'm a little disappointed by her cover of "Nothing Compares To U".
"Run To You":
I'm not a big fan of this arrangement, it's kind of boring. It's too slow. Such a shame for such a great song. "Didn't We Almost Have It All":
Very good, but not quite as amazing as Miss Houston's original version. "I Wanna Dance With Somebody":
"One Moment In Time":
"I Look To You":
Mariah Carey's "Emotions":
I'm not going to lie, this cover gave me Lauryn Hill flashbacks:
Greta Van Fleet is the heavily inspired by Led Zeppelin rock band who released their first full length CD "From The Fires" on November 10th, 2017. On Wikipedia they're calling this a double EP. The first 8 songs are from "From The Fires".
From watching the videos below, it is obvious this band is very young. They are in their late teens or very early 20s. The key members of Greta Van Fleet:
The top ten songs by Cinderella as decided by themusicaddict's very exacting methodology.
10) "Nothin' For Nothin'":
9) "Back Home Again":
8 ) "Nobody's Fool":
7 ) "Gypsy Road":
6 ) "Shake Me":
5 ) "The More Things Change":
4 ) "If You Don't Like It":
3 ) "Somebody Save Me":
2 ) "The Last Mile":
1 ) "Don't Know What You Got (Til It's Gone)":
It took me longer than I thought to post Cinderella's Top 8 songs, but here they are. I hope to soon start working on the countdown blogs for Billy Idol, my #28 Greatest 80's Era Musician.
For now I'm skipping my #28 Greatest 80's era musician, Billy Idol, but I'll get to him soon enough. I'm still working through his CDs to prepare his countdown blogs.
My 27th Greatest 80's Era Musicians are the bluesy rockers Cinderella. Cinderella was formed in 1983 in the Philadelphia area. From looking at their Wikipedia timeline, these are the key members of the band.
Tom Keifer, vocals, 1983-present
Eric Brittingham, bassist, 1983-present
Jeff LaBar, guitars, 1985-present
Fred Coury, drums, 1986-1991 & 1996-present
Gary Corbett, keyboards, 1990-1995, 2005-present
Rick Criniti, keyboards, 1986-1995
One of the things Cinderella is most known for is Tom Keifer's distinctive voice. Unfortunately he has struggles with his voice over the years. This has listened the impact this band has left on pop culture, but they're still one of the most talented so-called hair metal bands from over the years.
They have sold 15 million CDs over their career, which is respectable as I don't ever remember them being the hottest hair metal band ever. They had a very workmanlike career. They didn't rely on gimmicks, they relied on great songs and solid musicianship. That's probably why they're ranked so high on this list as I prefer great songs over gimmicks. They released relatively few CDs, so that limits the number of CDs they've sold.
But their a much different band than the hair metal bands they were lumped into, they had a more solid musical base. Their roots went back to the beginnings of rock, which came from the Blues. They were able to effectively use the Blues in their sound, without mocking it or using it derivitively. I have 88 Cinderella songs on my iTunes. Now let's get on to the Top 32 80's era Cinderella songs.
32) "Hot and Bothered":
31) "Electric Love":
30) "One For Rock and Roll":
29) "Hell On Wheels":
28) "Love's Got Me Doin' Time":
For some reason I can't find many live videos for Cinderella. So although this is a pretty crappy video, I wanted to include a few live videos. 27) "In From The Outside":
Malcolm Young, legendary bassist and more importantly one of AC/DC's songwriters, has passed away today at the age of 64. Young was born on January 6th, 1953 and died today, November 18th, 2017. Malcolm was with the band from the beginning, November 1973 until a "brief absence" in 1988 and on to his too early retirement in 2014. He had to retire due to the dementia that was making him forget nearly everything. AC/DC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, their thirtieth year as a band.
I haven't got that far in my Greatest 80's Musicians of All-Time Countdown, but AC/DC is my #13 Greatest 80's Era Band of All-time. They are probably under ranked. I look forward to listening to all of their 80's era CDs so that I can compile my countdown blogs for them. I'll be considering 108 songs for their countdown blogs from 1977's "Let There Be Rock" to their single from "Last Action Hero". That song being "Big Gun". Long live Malcolm Young. Long live AC/DC and long live Rock and Roll!!
Originally today I was going to start working on the countdown blogs for my #28 Greatest 80's Era Musicians, Cinderella. However that idea was scrapped when I heard about the death of Malcolm. I'm glad he no longer has to deal with the suffering of dementia and forced to be taken care of in a nursing home.
For this blog I'm going to post some of the best songs that Malcolm co-wrote. As usual I tend to focus more on the lesser known songs. I used the list coming from secondhandsongs.com
"Ain't No Fun (Waitin' Around To Be A Millionaire)":
"Bad Boy Boogie":
"Big Balls":
AC/DC on Top of the Pops? Very interesting. "Girls Got Rhythm":
Again, where are the great live performances? I almost went with a 2007 live performance but Dave was preening too much, more shouting than singing. I just couldn't do it. 6) "Unchained":
5) "Beautiful Girls":
I'm doing a lot of things for the first time with these Van Halen countdown blogs. This is the first band that has had five countdown blogs. Also this is the first time that I've had a band who's #1 songs are tied. I just couldn't pick one of these four songs as my #1 Van Halen songs.
First of all, happy birthday to my brother. Thanks for being a great brother over the years.
When I write about these bands, I listen to each song that qualifies for their countdown blog. I then write down a rating for the best songs on a scale of 3 to 5. I then break all those songs down by their individual ranking and write the blogs from those rankings. Rarely does a band have more than 5 0r 6 songs rated as a 5, which makes the countdown blogs fairly easy to write. With Van Halen I rated 22 of their songs at a 5, so now I have to listen to all the songs again so that I can write my last two Van Halen countdown blogs. Hopefully I'll have these both finished today. Below are some of the songs that received the 5 star rating, they aren't in any order at this point however. And for those of you wondering how I didn't rate "Love Walks In" as a 5 star song, I have no idea! That song sounds just as fresh as it did when it first came out.
22) "Runaround":
21) "Top of The World":
20) "Intruder/(Oh) Pretty Woman":
19) "Why Can't This Be Love":
18) "Feels So Good";
17) "Source of Infection":
This song is an Alex Van Halen showcase, 16) "A.F.U. (Naturally Wired)":
15) "Dance The Night Away":
14) "Dreams":
I couldn't find a good live version of this song, that's sad for such a great live band. 13) "Panama":
Van Halen, was formed in 1972 in Pasadena, California, with original members David Lee Roth, the Van Halen brothers, Eddie and Alex, and bassist Michael Anthony. After worldwide fame and peaking with "1984" there was some infighting and David Lee Roth left the band. A couple of years later Sammy Hagar joined the band, he then was with the band from 1986-1996. After that David Lee Roth rejoined the band briefly, followed by Gary Cherrone, followed by Sammy again and now the last I heard Roth is leading the band again. About the same time as Sammy left the band, original bassist Anthony was forced out. He was replaced by Eddie's son Wolfgang.
Van Halen has sold over 80 million CDs and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Van Halen was inducted into the Hall of Fame with The Ronettes, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, R.E.M. and Patti Smith. From Wikipedia: "The Van Halen brothers, Anthony, Hagar, and Roth were inducted, though only Hagar and Anthony appeared at the induction ceremony on behalf of the group." I don't think Anthony and Hagar showing up to represent the band is a coincidence as about the same time it was announced Roth would rejoin the band and they would go on a world tour. On that world tour Anthony and Hagar were nowhere to be seen. In the last several years Roth has lost a quality singing voice and he's going forward on fumes now. By far Hagar was the best singer of the two. while Roth got by on theatrics. (Thanks to Wikipedia.org.)
Van Halen is the first band that has enough good songs to force me to write 5 countdown blogs for
them. I have 110 Van Halen songs on my iTunes.
32) "5150":
31) "Judgment Day":
Eddie starts off the song with a Van Halen decorated drill and then the band launches into
30) "Poundcake":
I'd forgotten how good this song is, 29) "Jump":
28) "Best of Both Worlds":
27) "You Really Got Me":
Van Halen live, this performance Sammy is singing a Dave song. 26) "Ain't Talkin' About Love":
He sounds okay when he sings, but he doesn't do much of that on this song. You can hear more strain as the song goes on. And of course the band still sounds great. 25) "I'll Wait":
Here's the other side of the songs from both seasons of "Stranger Things". My first blog is the more obscure songs from the show, this second blog is the more well known songs from that great show.
Okay this one isn't well known, but it fits in with these songs. Reagan Youth "Go Nowhere":
The Clash "Should I Stay Or Should I Go":
The Clash "This Is Radio Clash":
The Smiths "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out":
The Bangles "Hazy Shade of Winter":
Modern English "I Melt With You":
Ray Parker Jr. "Ghostbusters":
Boris Pickett "Monster Mash":
Olivia Newton-John "Twist of Fate":
Psychedelic Furs "The Ghost In You":
One of the most beautiful, but mournful, songs ever Barbra Striesand's "The Way We Were":
