Bucky's Attic

[eberg15101]

Great to see the Brownsville station record, I have Yeah! on vinyl and I had a digital copy of School Punks, I think I like School Punks a little better though, it's a more solid album all around, even though "Yeah!" is great.. There is a lot more to this band than "Smoking In the Boy's Room" a lot of people don't realize that...
my favorite off of School Punks is Fast Phyllis, and their cover of Sweet Jane is possibly my favorite version

[rtbuck]

Black Sheep
Year: 1975
Label: Rock Machine
Review by Bucky

This album was a great find which I found in a used record store around 1980. I looked at the back of the album in the record store & noticed that Lou Gramm from Foreigner was in the band so I bought it without hesitation. Within a year I was of legal age & went out every weekend to see local bands & one band I used to to see was Cheater (from Rochester). They had so many great original tunes & their shows were always packed with fans. Two of the members (guitarist Don Mancuso & drummer Ron Rocco) were members of Black Sheep. Anyway, the album still sounds pretty cool & sounds similar to Free & early Bad Co. with hints of early Foreigner. It also has some progressive overtones & while it’s not an album that will blow you away, it is decent. The best track is the last song on the record & it’s titled “Woman”. The song clocks in just under 9 minutes & is definitely influenced by Paul Rodgers & Free complete with great guitars & an outstanding vocal performance by Gramm. “Power to Heal” & “Freight Train”could have easily found their way onto one of the early Foreigner records. “Woman Back Home” & “Payin’ Yer Dues” are melodic rockers with a bit of crunch at times.




Freddie Salem & the Wildcats – Cat Dance
Year: 1982
Label: Epic
Review by Bucky

Wow! What was I thinking on this record? I should have been playing this record until the grooves were worn out!! This is one smoking album with a lot of screaming guitars. I think what happened was I used to go into this used record store called Home of the Hits & for $30 I’d walk out walk out with 10-12 albums so I probably shelved this record & forgot about it without playing it.

The album kicks off with a progressive keyboard intro titled “Dark Horizon” which launches right into the solid rocker “London Town” which is an 8 minute epic that builds up & then all hell breaks loose with wild sizzling guitars (Excellent tune). The next song “Open my Eyes” is 60’s garage style tune which kicks off with a 60’s keyboard riff that sounds exactly like the guitar intro to the Who’s “Can’t Explain”. “Long Gone” is a fast paced rocker with screaming guitars by Salem (Man, I can’t believe this record & I’m only 3 songs in!). “Sunset” is a little mellower & is more of a “Pop” kind of tune (probably was to be the first single from the record). It has a cool guitar intro to it & more great guitars during the tune. Side Two kicks off with “Got the Feeling” which is another solid rocker & it also features vocals by Joni Peltz (who also supplied some vocals on Blue oyster Cult’s Club Ninja album). “Evil for Evil” starts off heavy & then shows a cool funky side with more great guitars. “Rock & Roll Woman” is a decent tune with more pop flavor (probably was to be another single). The album closes with a rocking instrumental titled “Monica”. Overall, this is a fantastic record & is worth searching for.



Brighton Rock – ‘Young Wild & Free’
Year: 1986
Label: Atco
Review by Bucky

I loved the whole Hair Metal scene back in the 80’s & often bought albums because of their look & band name. Some were decent such as DC Lacroix or Smashed Gladys & some were not so decent such as Americade. Brighton Rock was the name of a great song by Queen & sounded like a cool band name. With an album title like ‘Young,Wild, & Free’ one can probably imagine what their sound was like (especially when you think of the lyrics to Triumph’s “Magic Power”). Brighton Rock was considered Canadian Glam Metal but if you’re expecting Glam Metal in the sense of Hanoi Rocks…think again. It’s not a bad album & does have a few moments on songs like “We Came Here to Rock”, “Assault Attack”, “Save Me”, “Barricade” (the best song in my opinion which reminds me of Dokken meets WASP but this is the only song in that style), & “Rock & Roll Kid”.
Listening to side one did not set too well with me as it seemed like most of the tunes were aimed for females but side two definitely picked up for me & saved the album a bit.

Benhatzel – ‘Undeniable'
Year: 1983
Label: High Pockets Records
Review by Bucky

Benhatzel is a power trio from Buffalo, NY lead by guitarist Paul Benhatzel. I seen them a few times & they put on great shows especially Paul’s guitar playing but this record shows what their main weaknesses were…song writing & horrible vocals. There are a few decent tracks here but the bad tracks outweigh the good tracks. “I Know” is a pretty decent song & the instrumental break during the tune actually reminds me a bit of mid-late 70’s UFO. “When You Gonna Get a Real Job” is a fun rocker & the title track “Undeniable” is sensational as it kicks ass the way Ted Nugent can. It’s full of loud guitars which overshadow the vocals & if the whole album was like this they may have had something but with songs such as “Give it Up”, “Hold On”, “You’re the one” & the embarrassingly bad “She’s Wrestling Men” there was no chance.

[Magic]

I definitely could dig the Freddie Salem album. I love the Outlaws

Did you know he also played with a heavy metal band, too, called The Godz

here is an Outlaws song all metalled up:




Freddie lives in Akron

[rtbuck]

Originally Posted by Magic I definitely could dig the Freddie Salem album. I love the Outlaws Did you know he also played with a heavy metal band, too, called The Godz here is an Outlaws song all metalled up: Freddie lives in Akron

Wow! I never realized he was in the Godz & I have at least one of their records. Magic, that album is definitely worth searching for!!!

[rtbuck]

Magic he looks quite different from the picture on the inner sleeve of that album!

[Magic]

The Godz 1985: Steve Schuffert (left), Eric Moore (center),
Freddie Salem (top, right), Jimmy Clark (bottom).

Eric Moore appeared in what was originally called Freddie Salem and the Wildcats (named after a project and album Freddie had worked on earlier.) Salem played guitar in The Outlaws and Eric and Freddie had met back in '79 when The Godz were opening for them. This new group consisted of Eric/Freddie/Steve Schuffert on guitar and Sandy Gennaro (from Cindy Lauper's band) on drums. In time, Jimmy Clark replaced Sandy Gennaro on drums and the band was aptly dubbed The Godz. Eric and Freddie co-wrote the Godz' 1985 album '"I'll Get You Rockin'"



The Godz 1987: Freddie Salem, Eric Moore, Mark Chatfield, and Kevin Valentine

The Godz' 1987 album "Mongolians", a domestic release on the independent Grudge label.

Those are the 2 albums that Freddie was with The Godz

[rtbuck]

I'm Back again & just returned from the attic with 4 more review!!!! (Vinyl Is great!)



B.T.O. – ‘Street Action’
Released: 1978
Label: Mercury
Review by Bucky


How could there be a B.T.O. without Randy Bachman? Easy, his younger brother Rob was still in the band! This is the first of 2 B.T.O. albums without Randy Bachman. Bassist C.F. Turner switched over to guitar & the band hired ex April Wine bassist Jim Clench.

First off… the album cover caught my eye in the record store one day. A pretty blonde hair girl wearing a nice dress & high heels is flagging down a car on a city street corner in the evening. The back cover features the girl sitting in the passenger seat of a car applying lipstick & the whole concept had my 16 year old mind racing (hmmm was she a hooker who just gave a gentleman the time of his life?). Next was the inner sleeve which was nothing major but back when I was a kid I always loved this kind of inner sleeve which had photos of different album covers put out by the record label. I used to look at the sleeve & figure out what records I would want to buy & this sleeve featured albums by Rush, the Runaways, Thin Lizzy, Graham Parker, City Boy, & Rod Stewart among others.

Anyway, onto the record which starts out with Rob Bachman kicking out an upbeat drum intro to the album’s first cut “I’m in Love”. The tune has a pop southern rock style to it & features some good old southern fried guitars at the end. This is really a decent album overall & although it has a couple mediocre songs on it there are definitely more than enough good tracks that will make the album worth the price. The best song on the album for my tastes is the last song “The World is Waiting for a Love Song” which has a heavy feel to it mixed with blues overtones & blues guitar riffs. “Down the Road” features some great sounding power chords mixed with a rocking sound in the same vein as Bad Co. & Foghat. The title track is a heavy rocker featuring a great vocal style (not meaning that Turner’s voice is beautiful but I love the way he uses his vocals) & “For Love” sounds like classic B.T.O. “A Long Time for a Little While” is just an overall cool sounding tune with a cool beat & speaking of “cool”… “Madison Avenue” is just that, as the song begins with a soft guitar intro that lasts for a couple of minutes & is followed by a bit of power before lulling into an unbelievable musical interlude featuring some great percussion, saxophone, & jazzy guitars.

Bucky
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The Ozark Mountain Daredevils – ‘It’s Alive’
Released: 1978
Label: A & M
Review by Bucky

In 1980 I seen a commercial on TV for a record put out by K-Tel records titled ‘Southern Fried Rock’ featuring Blackfoot, Molly Hatchet, Charlie Daniels Band, & the Allman Brothers. The cover featured a huge sunny side up fried egg & it looked great so I asked my Dad to drive me to the local ‘Two Guys’ Department store so I could buy the album (I also bought Nazareth’s ‘Malice in Wonderland’ on that trip). I got home & slapped the ‘Southern Fried Rock’ album on the turntable & was blown away by the first track which I had never heard before “If You Wanna Go to Heaven” by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. I would play that song over & over & never get tired of it. One day soon after I was in a used record store & came across ‘It’s Alive’ by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils so I picked up the double album. The first thing I noticed was the song “Jackie Blue”& I thought “Could this be that same AM radio pop tune???”. I then noticed “If You Wanna Go to Heaven” & the real selling point for me… “It’s All Over Now”. I loved the Rolling Stones version of “It’s All Over Now” & had recently discovered the phenomenal live version of it by Johnny Winter so I bought the Double Live record. Putting on this record today I immediately thought of “Hot Summer weather & ice cold Beer…” (This phrase was used on the intro to “Ooh Boys (It’s Hot)”. This is a fun country/bluegrass southern fried album & is worth the price for side 4 which features the A.M. Radio hit of the 70’s Jackie Blue, the acid rock “Noah” (Great tune!), “If You Wanna Get to Heaven” & “It’s All Over Now”. The rest of the album is entertaining although it may be a bit too much country & not enough rock & roll for my tastes but with songs like “Black Sky”, “Chicken Train”, “Ooh Boys (It’s Hot)” & “Commercial Success” it does make it an overall decent album.

Bucky
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Schon & Hammer – ‘Here to Stay’Released: 1982
Label: Columbia
Review by Bucky

This is the second album by the duo of Journey/Santana/Bad English/Hardline guitarist Neil Schon & Jazz Fusion keyboardist Jan Hammer. I first found out about this duo while watching MTV in the early 80’s & they played the video for “No More Lies”. I thought the song was great & I went out & bought the record which I thought had a cool album cover featuring the Arm & Hammer Baking Soda like drawing & instead of Arm & Hammer it read Schon & Hammer.

This is a good album with a different type sound but it still rocks especially on its single from the album “No More Lies” which has a chorus that will stick in your head & it is full of plenty of hooks in the music to reel you in. My favorite tune on the album is the hardest rock tune on the record & it’s titled “Self Defense”. The song was written by Schon, Jonathan Cain, & Steve Perry & it even features Perry on backing vocals. Speaking of vocals, Schon sounds great on “No More Lies” but on the rest of the album the vocals are handled by Glen Burtnik who eventually found his way into Styx. I actually prefer side one to side two but there are a couple good tracks on side two such as “Time Again” & “Peace of Mind”. Every song is good on side one. “Turnaround” is another rocker & “(You Think You’re) So Hot” is cool sounding & Funkified. “Don’t Stay Away” is a decent mellow song which I think had hit potential for the early 80’s.
I think this album is worth checking out because as I said it’s a bit different but it rocks.

Bucky
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Wrathchild – ‘Stakk Attakk’

Released: 1984
Label: Heavy Metal Records
Review by Bucky


This is a great album in my book. It’s a bit of everything I Liked in the 80’s…Glam, Rock & Roll, Heavy Metal, & even a hint of Punk. Many of the songs here are written as anthems & they will have you throwing you’re fist in the air singing along with the chorus of almost every song. The problem with them was maybe they were a bit too much into the High hair, the make-up, & the Costumes as they were a wild combination between Kiss, Twisted Sister, Gary Glitter, & the NY Dolls so nobody could take them serious. This is a fun record & is worth it just for the anthem “Kick Down the Walls” which will kick your ass. Songs such as the title track, “Too Wild to Tame”, & “Trash Queen” really revisit the whole glam scene. They do a great cover of Gary Glitter’s “Alright With The Boys” which Joan Jett also covered on her first record. “Wreckless”, “Law Abuzer”, “Shokker” …with titles like that you know what you’re in for.