Bucky's Attic
- Thread starter rtbuck
- Start date
rtbuck
Senior Member
About time you dusted this attic out Bucky.
I like Brownsville Station and Ten Years After, never heard of Americade before...
Americade is a bit rough on the ears because as I said There are too many songs on the album. The songs that are bad are pretty bad especially the vocals, harmonizing, & backing vocals.
rtbuck
Senior Member
^^^^ Yeah, it starts off fine w/ the first track maybe even the first few tracks then the next 3 tracks are pretty bad which kills the flow of the record but I really think the musicianship is pretty good for that style
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
my favorite off of School Punks is Fast Phyllis, and their cover of Sweet Jane is possibly my favorite version
rtbuck
Senior Member
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.
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
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
Senior Member
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
Senior Member
Magic he looks quite different from the picture on the inner sleeve of that album!
