Well, it's been a few months so I decided to go up to the attic & bring a few more vinyl treasuries downstairs so here we go!!!:
Ten Years After – ‘Undead’
Released: 1968
Label: London Records
Review by Bucky
Alvin Lee is one of my favorite Blues/Rock artists of all-time. After seeing the Woodstock movie I considered Alvin Lee to be the MVP of Woodstock & after seeing his performance in the movie I had to go out & buy whatever I could find by Ten Years After. This brings us to Ten Years After second album ‘Undead’ which obviously means that they’re “Live” & that’s what this album is. The album kicks off with an original tune titled “I May be Wrong, But I Won’t be Wrong Always” which is a great guitar driven blues jazz number. I love the way Lee introduces the second tune which he just mumbles into the mic “Erbddbdbdbderr Woodchoppers Ball!!!!” & Lee & company launch into the near 8 minute instrumental of the old Woody Herman big band tune. Lee’s guitar work is on fire during this song as is bassist Leo Lyons. Side Two begins with the slow blues of another original tune & this one is titled “Spider in Your Web” which features Lee belting out great blues vocals along with a bit of a spotlight on organist Chick Churchill. “Summertime/Shantung Cabbage” is basically a decent jazz influenced drum solo by Ric Lee. The album closes with the Ten Years After trademark jam “I’m Going Home” which has to have one of the greatest if not the greatest guitar driven opening riffs of all-time. Alvin Lee’s guitar work is loud, sharp, & earsplitting throughout the whole record but there is so much raw energy on that final track which puts it above the rest.
Brownsville Station – ‘School Punks’
Released: 1974
Label: Big Tree Records
Review by Bucky
Do you suffer from Rockin’ Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Blues??? Well, what you need for the cure is this record by the “Kings of Party” Brownsville Station! Brownsville Station was the ultimate party band back in the early 70’s led by guitarist/vocalist Cub Koda, bassist Mike Lutz, & drummer Henry “H Bomb” Weck. My sister who is 13 years older than me used see them at a club called Gilligans in the Buffalo area when they toured & she always would go on about what a great band they were to see live. That party atmosphere rubs off on the ‘School Punks’ album on the first track which is appropriately titled “The Kings of Party”. The tune starts off with Cub Koda doing a bit of a humorous stage rap about partying & then the tune kicks in with an opening riff that borrowed a bit from Alice Cooper’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy” & from there the party tune is full of recycled Chuck Berry riffs mixed with a bit of rocking Zeppelin sound. This sets the pace for the album as it’s full of early Rock n Roll influence mixed with blues & hard rock. “Meet Me on the Fourth Floor” is a rocking tune with a catchy riff & at times has a Stooges “No Fun” feel to it. “Fast Phyllis” is a fun little ditty about a girl who is into partying even if it involves the entire high school football team. According to the lyrics backseat boogie is her game. “I Got it Bad” is your typical cowbell rocker. Drummer Henry “H Bomb” Weck takes over the lead vocals on the Dee Clark hit from 1959 “Hey Little Girl”. A little fast paced medley of “I’ve Got Love if You Want it/I’m a King Bee” keeps the party going with a couple of rocking “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” riffs. The final track is a cover of Gary Glitter’s “Leader of the Gang” which rocks out & blows away the original version by Glitter. Overall, this is a great record & well worth the $2.99 I paid for it in the late 70’s.
‘The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball’
Released: 1982
Label: Island Records
Review by Bucky
Wow, what a find this one was. I totally forgot about it & now I’m ready to go out & purchase the 3 DVD set of The Secret Policeman’s Ball.The Secret Policemans Ball was developed by the British Section of Amnesty to raise funds for its research & campaign work in the Human Rights field. Anyway, when I first seen this special on TV I had no idea what it was for & could’ve cared less. All I knew was that the performances by the musicians & the comedy by parts of the Monty Python crew were incredible. As Soon as the album of the musical performances was released I bought it immediately. I believe this was the performance by Sting which helped launch his amazing solo career. It was just Sting onstage by himself with his bass belting out an unbelievable vocal performance of “Roxanne” & “Message in the Bottle”. Up next on the record are three songs by the duo of Jeff Beck & Eric Clapton. The crisp & clean sounding guitar exchanges between the two ex-Yardbirds is phenomenal as they rock their way through “Cause we Ended Up as Lovers”, “Farther on Up the Road”, & “Crossroads”. Vocalist Bob Geldof & pianist Johnny Fingers of the Boomtown Rats put on an outstanding performance with “I Don’t Like Mondays” to close out side one. Side two begins with a chilling & spectacular version of “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins. He then has a fine performance of the banjo driven “The Roof is Leaking”. The Sunshine Superman of the late 60’s Donovan is up next with great acoustic performances of “The Universal Soldier” & “Catch the Wind”. The final track is a near ten minute reggae jam titled “I Shall be Released” performed by the Secret Police featuring Sting, Clapton, Beck, & at least 15 other musicians. This is definitely a great album with plenty of star power. Now I’m going to have to search for my “Concerts for Kampuchea” two record set.
Americade – ‘American Metal’
Released: 1982
Label: ADEM Records
Review by Bucky
Why did I buy this record? Well, three reasons:
1) It was CHEAP! ($1.99)
2) I loved trying out metal bands I never heard
3) I seen the band featured Dave Spitz whom I thought was Danny Spitz from Anthrax who I was into pretty heavy into in the mid 80’s (I got the name mixed up & thought this was a previous band of his although it really his brother & he looks just like him).
The band features Spitz on Bass, Walt “Wildman” Woodward III on drums, Gerard De Marigny on lead guitar, & PJ De Marigny on lead vocals. The album starts out great complete with growls, blood curdling screams, & loud fast guitars on “On the Prowl”. The musicianship throughout the album is great but PJ’s vocals are all over the place. I could possibly get by the vocals because of the incredible musicianship on the album especially with Gerard’s lightning fast guitar shredding but a huge problem with the album is the harmonizing & backing vocals. The songwriting isn’t too bad (typical mid 80’s metal) although side 2 is much better than side one. The band performs a hard & heavy version of Grand Funk’s “We’re an American Band” which is mediocre at best. The highlights of the album are “On the Prowl”, “Go For Your Guns” (great metal tune), the heavy bass driven “Showdown”, “Little Lady Lover” (sounds like early Twisted Sister crossed with ‘Hell Bent for Leather’ Judas Priest), “California Rhthym” (good song with a Humble Pie feel to it), & “Hold on You” which is probably the best track on the album with a glass shattering scream with a great lead solo. Overall, I don’t mind the record but that 2nd side is so much better than side one. There are 12 songs (well actually 13 listed but the albums final track “Climax” lasts 19 seconds) but if they had cut it down to 8 or 9 tunes with longer solos this would actually have been a really good record. Spitz briefly joined White Lion before joining Sabbath in ’86. He also sessioned on Great White’s ‘Let it Rock’ album. Woodward joined Shark Island & later Racer X. The brothers did regroup in the mid 90’s with Woodward & bassist Greg Smith (Alice Cooper, BOC, & Rainbow) & released an album titled ‘Americade.com’.