You gotta see them live, man!

This post is a bit different the the once i have written before. I'm going to look into a strange phenomenon in music and that is bands that either excel on stage or completely crumples. 

First off bands are almost always worth the experience of listening and watching them live. There is something about watching your favorite musicians perform in real life. Even though the sound might be off you get a kick out of watching them give it their all and singing along to your favorite songs. Sometime you might get surprised about a band that's warming up for the main band or something like that and in that way get hooked on a new band. But where this post starts off is with bands that kick ass live as well on record.

Metallica are kick ass in any way possible but after And Justice for all there was a feel of something missing.When Metallica (The Black Album) was at the starting point Bob Rock felt like Metallica hadn't found the vibe they got when playing live and been able to put it on tape. They were more powerful, soulful and connected much better with the audience on stage then on their records. I love some of the older stuff but do get the feel when comparing with The Black Album that the production value is lower and more narrow. The black album was much wider in it's approach and some of the songs were simpler in the build up. This meant that a wider spread of audience started to attend the concerts and had some songs that had he same feel off as well as on stage. so go see them live if you've ever thought about doing it. It's awesome!

Toto is off course the best band in the world but had you only heard the studio records then you could have some fears regarding over-production off the songs. The really create a wall of sound on every album and yes it would be impossible to recreate that on stage, due to facts like the weather, the equipment and so on. But my god are they just as perfect as it gets. Some bands stay to their songs and don't really go outside the box when performing. Metallica usually stick to their songs on stage but Toto have that ability to take their songs to a higher level. Songs get extended from 4 to 7 minutes with eZ and the way they do it always fit the song and their talents. Having a big setup on stage with many vocals and brilliant mixing helps them reach those fantastic harmonies live. The 35th Anniversary Live From Poland proves just that.

Dire Straits had a bit of the same abilities. The music might be different but they could also take their songs to another level. The version of the live show On The Night, of Romeo and Juliet features one of the best intros I have ever heard. The Piano is so soft and gentle and that Saxophone..... My god is it something els. The whole performance is brilliant and a song like Your Latest Trick is a million times better then it is on the studio record. Dire Straits really capture the simple yet refined feel they have on their albums and pump it up to fill out the entire arena or stadium. Mark Knopfler is a genius. 

Slipknot is a band on the other hand that is insane live and lack some off that fire in the studio. They are not that bad in the studio, but something like the drums on the live album 9.0: Live from 2005 are so tight it hurts and that ability live is missing somewhat on the studio albums. The guitars are a bit muddy but when you watch them go crazy with pyrotechnics, their masks and all the stuff it's just elevated to another level. They kick ass like hell and though they have never really been my cup of tee I have to admit that it really is a sight to behold.

Slayer sound like crap any way you put it but watching Kerry King killing his B.C. Rich and the huge wall of power hitting you in the chest every time there is a beat is so awesome. It is loud as hell and you can't hear anything when their done, but you stand back with a smile 10 miles wide and a huge boner cause you have just gotten blasted away by the gods of metal.though some off the records a flat and just noise it just works live. You stop carrying at some point because it is so loud and so powerful that everything els just doesn't matter.







Now to the part about bands that simply can't perform on stage. I'm leaving out shitty popular artist because I don't give a fuck what they do on stage cause they don't/can't sing themselves. But there is a trend among metal bands in particular, where they just can't play what they record. Every now and then something can go wrong on stage or your songs suck, but having completely nailed a track in studio and then ruining every thing live is different.

The speed demons out of DragonForce are one of a kind. Ever since Through The Fire and The Flames came in Guitar Hero 3 they have been household names. Herman Li is not an idiot. He really knows what he's working with on stage (I mean his Gear) and Sam Totman has the best looking Ibanez Iceman guitars ever but when they shred on stage the suck balls. They are fast guys and all that but if your going to pull of skills like the once they claim to have you can't be so loose and loud all the time. Sam is off on every live performance I have heard and it kills the solo every time. The rest of the band is muddy and seems to lack fundamental skills in knowing how to sound good and not choke everything out but being to loud and off the markings. The singers have been/are typical new age metal singer with a semi deep voice and no clue off what he's doing but on the album that song is awesome. An insane amount off work has been put into this band to make them sound good at the mixing table but my god is it hard to turn shit into gold! search DragonForce Fail on youtube and see what I mean.

A song I really like that nobody knows is Metalingus by Alter Bridge. I know of it because of my former interest in wrestling. Edge/Adam Copeland had this them for almost his entire pro career and it is a great song. The lead vocal is spot on and the guitar work is amazing. Mark Tremonti is working with PRS Guitars and has his own awesome signature series and from that track alone you can see why. But oh my did I get of my high horse when I heard it on a live recording. That riff has to be spot on to make any sense and Tremonti was terrible. He was so busy with his pitch harmonics that he was off beat every time he had to shine. The vocal was disgusting and I think Myles Kennedy's using Auto-tune when hitting the high notes. The palm muted sections are completely impossible to get a hold off, cause all the hits sound like a low D. It is like this every time. I don't even want to check out more of their songs cause I just know inside that it is not real.

My pet cat is one song by Soil. Their song Halo is a masterpiece. It is the best metal song to come out after the millennium right after Oblivion by Mastodon. Halo has an insane vocal performance and the whole song is crafted together so well it makes me want to cheer them on all the way to the bank. But as you might have guessed they have no clue off how terrible they sound on stage. They're having a good time on stage and the mind dead audience is sucking it all up and fail to hear how dreadful Soil are in real life.The only time this song has sounded anywhere near the original was at Ozzfest in 2002 when Zakk Wylde had to come and save them on stage. The lead singer can't scream like he does so majestically and he can't remember the lyrics. The guitar is off and the drummer always plays the drum intro to fast. WTF. How can the other guys not hear that his tempo is off at every live show i've heard. It breaks my heart to kill these guys so much, but I love this song and I believe that they just happened to create this magical song out off straight luck. That blows cause this song and the album Scared should have been a major first step for a new class of metal kings to be crowned 




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My 10 favorite songs out of the 80's

Everything was better in the 80's. Bikinis, turbos, Cars, Shirts and most of all music was at it's peek. Don't think that the 80's didn't produce some artists and songs that I rate on the level of pure shit, but when something was special or good it cancelled out the bad parts at made you focus on the good parts. This is my top 10 songs of the 80's and there is only one rule: one song per band or artist.


10. Dire straits - Money For Nothing 

I felt like I had to put Dire Straits on this list no matter what. Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits have meant a lot to me and had Sultans of Swing been released in 1980 it would have been number two on this list so Money for Nothing, Being the major hit it was had to be on it. The long intro on the singles version is really cool and to have Sting on backing vocals is just awesome. It might be one of the most popular guitar riffs ever composed and even though the song is not that typical of a Dire Straits song it still has that Knopfler feel to it. The music video was cutting edge at the time and became ultra popular on MTV. The song gave Dire Straits a wider audience and if anybody deserved to be recognized for their work it was them. It became a theme from the 80's and an instant classic over night, so it deserves a spot on my list.


9. Huey Lewis and the News - Hip To Be Square

Everytime I hear this song I think of Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho saying "Hey Paul" and then hammering an axe into Paul Allan. It gets me every single time. Other than that this song is bad ass. Huey to me is sometimes way to blues and cover music focused to my liking. I hate some of those slow California style cover ups they do, cause I think they could do much better, and this song shows it.The main riff is a great hook and the entire songs has a catchy feel to it all the way through. I have a love hate relationship with the saxophone. When over used I hate it to bits. It kills everything but other times it fits the songs feel and tone to perfection. This song, like most of their songs, is in the last category. The break down part with the entire horn section on it, is borderline to much but it comes through with the lead into the solo over the main riff. That part works amazingly well and the chorus/build up to the line Hip to be Square is great.


8. Michael Jackson - Beat It 

The best song of the best selling album of all time had to be on the list. It is one of the greatest songs of all time from a sales and poplicity standpoint and it is by all means a classic. For Michael Jackson to break into the rick scene it took something special. It took a riff made by Steve Lukather and one of the best guitar solos ever, off course made and played by Eddie van Halen. Thriller as an album is fantastic and it just missed out of my top 5 favorite albums list but it deserves every bite of the popularity it got and still gets. This song launched Michael into the world of Rock and with its music video was a smash hit on MTV. I have certain songs where I await particular moments within the song and might sometimes skip to that part I like. Beat it is close to being one of these songs, but the song itself is awesome. The one thing that stands out though is that mind blowing solo. It's out of this world. Tapping, Whammy pulls and stellar legato skills are ever present and I just can't get enough.


7. Paul Simon - Graceland

This entire album could have made my top 5 albums list if I had been in another mood the day I wrote it. It is one of those things where it just borderlines the top five but didn't make it. Anyway this track is my favorite on this album. The album Graceland was a rather bizarre project coming from a guy like Paul Simon. He usually has some ideas and songs before he enters the studio but this time he went to South Africa and started playing with some of the best local musicians. Not every song is perfect but some of the tracks and ideas they got in Africa turned into some fantastic songs. Graceland, the song, is according to Paul Simon himself the best song he ever wrote. It is one of those songs where the simplicity of the recording and production makes it big beautiful.The song starts of with all there is to the song. no more instruments other the vocals are added at any point during the song. Paul Simon has said that he only liked the drums of the original track and that the whole groove is taking its time and just flows along. The lyrics are deep and though the vocal is kind of spoken it just works brilliantly and fits the whole song perfectly. Check out the Classic Album documentary on the album if you want more prof. It's fantastic.

6. Eric Johnson - Cliffs Of Dover 

This song is on paper not from the 80's. But the thing about Eric Johnson in those early years was that nobody knew him at the time he wrote some of his best songs. This means that even though Cliffs of Dover was released on the album Ah Via Musicum in 1990 the song dates back to the mid 80's. And as you can see in an earlier post this song and Eric Johnson means the world to me. Right at the epicenter of my love for his music is Cliffs of Dover and no version is better then the one from his most flawless live concert: Live from Austin, TX 1988. The build up to the song is magical. His accord voicing and improvisation over, what turned out to be the title track on Ah Via Musicum, is incredible. You really hear why he is the master of having different sounds blending perfectly together. His way of using A/B boxes is exactly the way they are meant to be used. have two or more totally different sounding boards and rigs set up to work by the press of one switch.Then throw into the occasion that this song is the best instrumental song ever written. No wonder he won a Grammy for this song. It's one of a kind. The weird thing is that he wrote it in 10 minutes. Something so epic and breathtaking just appeared in his mind and then 'boom' turned out to be the stuff that dreams are made off.

5. Philip Bailey ft. Phil Collins - Easy Lover

First of let me get one thing straight. Philip Bailey didn't do jack shit on this record other then sing. Don't you dare to think of this song as his. This has Phil Collins' more rocky feel all over it. How the hell would Philip Bailey, Straight out of Earth Wind and Fire, write on of the most attitude and awesome feeling songs? Here in Denmark the song was used on a comedy show about some wannabe rockers and it just set the edge completely. It is a fantastic rock song that has on of the catchiest intros ever made. The main riff is plain right awesome and it's the best song I can think off when starting off your set on stage. You got Daryl Stuermer throwing a fantastic rock solo right in your face and though it gets drowned in the music video by laughter and talking it is one of the best solos to come out of the 80's. It is a really underrated song cause everybody knows it, but the fact that Philip Bailey is getting a lot of the credit without earning it is sort of forgotten. To his credit his high pitch voice works really well with the voice of Collins but this song bares the mark of a genius and that rules out Philip Bailey as the master craftsman. 



4.   Def Leppard - Photograph

Other then Hysteria I don't really have a connection to any of the other songs that Def Leppard have made.The older albums didn't feature Phil Collen so I really have no interest in them but there is one song of an album where he didn't really write that much, that gets me every time and that song is Photograph. This song kick started Def Leppard in America and though they didn't really get any fame in the UK or Europe This song showed that they would not give up without a fight. This song is one of my all time favorite guitar based track with a pop edge to it. Phil Collens high backing vocals are fantastic and that chorus...... My god is it something. A song about dreaming off a girl and looking at her photograph is something every guy can relate to and the instrumental work by the band is phenomenal. They have that feel of them being the Queen of the 80's cause they really could write some insane rock songs and power ballads.I don't care about the rest of the album as long as I can hear that guitar strum right at the get go leading into that riff. I gotta say it again that chorus is amazing.


3. A-ha - Take On Me

I can say it pretty clear. This song is the best thing to ever get out of Norway. In reality this band is really a one hit wonder that got outside the limits.They wrote this song themselves and I can't help but to wonder. How can you create something as insane as this song and then never really produce anything worth noticing ever since. But then if you had to write one song and that one song was Take on Me then fine go ahead and do it and then leave for the Bahamas. A catchy hook, a music video that fitted right into MTV and the best male vocal performance i have ever heard and you got a smash hit that will, hopefully, last for ever. The span the lead vocals has to go from the first tone in the chorus to the last is very wide and the thing is that it just works. A lot of times you fail when you try to do to much but this is the exact opposite. This song is awesome because it's hard to sing and because of Morten Harket's voice fitting the song perfectly it is a masterpiece and a stable on every 80's playlist. This is a song that you can't hate. If you do you might as well go kill yourself, cause then you don't deserve to live.


2. Michael Bolton - How Am I Supposed To Live Without You

The best ballad ever written could not be denied. Bolton's vice, Landaus solo and the whole production is pure gold from start to finish. A metal singer singing soulful songs about love and so on is special, but not as special as his performance. Michael Bolton kicks ass. He managed to save lonely Island on their Jack Sparrow song and  the only thing I have against him is that he tours with some bad musicians who can't perform anywhere near his level. Just look at the mans hear for gods sake. It's all the goodness of the 80's mashed into one guy who put out perhaps the best reboot of a song ever. Though it isn't really a reboot, but more a version off the song. The song had already been a relative hit in 1983 when it was sung by Laura Branigan. Bolton co-wrote the song and he waited six years to sing it himself. My god am I glad I chose to sing it at the end. The chords, the solo and the general composition is world class and it is one of the best songs of all time. Every time I hear him taking over where Landau left it after the solo it gives me goosebumps.

   
1. Toto - Africa

If you know me in any way or have read some of my former posts you knew this was coming. This song is in my opinion the best peace of music ever written and recorded. The lyrics are fantastic and ahead of their time, the vocal voicing is perfect, the instrumental dynamics and compositions are perfect and even though I Love Steve Lukather I feel like I don't need him to do any more then he does. My favorite part is when the chorus ends there is a wave of instruments crashing down on the last two chords and then it just stops and you are back to the bongos and congas backing the main synth bell riff. I can't get how they managed to get it so spot on with the dynamics. A good pop song leads the listener into the chorus and this is the best example of this. After the chorus you need to be back where you started and take the rollercoaster back up again. Though the chorus at its base is a four chord song it is the example of how to do it if you want to use that pattern. This song came out in 1982 and is probably the first example of that chord combination so if you want to start somewhere why not start with the best song ever written. Nothing is ever going to come close to this masterpiece. The combination of some of the planets best musicians needing to deliver hits made this song what it is. Toto, thank you for writing the best song of the 1980's.



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My top 5 albums of all time.

For an album to be truly great it has to have more than one or two song that show the artists meaning with the album. There has to be multiple great tracks whom can be very different but they gotta have something in common. Something that appears over the course of the album and the hits never hurt nobody. In this post I'll talk about my 5 favorite albums of all time.


5. Extreme - Pornografitti

I have already talked about this album in my post about unknown songs by great bands and about Nuno Bettencourt in the post about underrated guitar players, but I'm gonna praise it once again. This is one big hail to the guitar driven songs of the 80's spiced up by great choruses, production and vocals. It is littered with mind blowing riffs and great voicing and it just shows why this band is/was so underrated. You have one of the best guitarists there was in the 90's and you let him loose to shred his brains out over and over again. Every song on this album is'n perfect. Not even close, but when 60% of a 13 song album is awesome that's more then enough. The album also shows of the bands ability to vary their work. More than Words and He-man Woman Hater couldn't be farther apart but they work brilliantly in their own way. But the main reason this album is on this list is because of Nuno's ability to create solo after solo and riff after riff. He's a genius and had Extreme appear in 1983 they would have become the biggest band at the time. Songs like Little Jack Horny and Decadence dance are filled with riff after riff after riff. One more powerful and fitting then the other. No wonder he's making millions on touring with Rihanna. Her music sucks but Nuno is ranked so high on my favorite musicians list I don't care.


4. Toto - Tambu

This album did also appear on the great songs by great artists you don't know list. And yet again it's my love to one certain musician and his band that has made me fall in love with this album. Steve Lukather is my pole star! He is a century talent in my book and has had such a great influence on me ever since I started diving in to music outside of metal. This album has flown under the radar ever since it was released. Had it been recorded by a band without the fame of Toto it would have been completely unknown due to the fact that it's a long term record. I mean long term in the way that the songs aren't hits but get better every time you hear them and really grow on you. But one thing i'm always in doubt of is whether to pick three fantastic songs over 7 good/great songs. I usually get to the conclusion that if there are four fantastic songs that really floats my boat, then I can't pick against that. On Tambu you got two of the best ballads ever in If You Belong To Me and I Will Remember. these songs shows how this band, almost no matter the lineup, can create fantastic songs time after time. Drag him to the roof  is one of the best songs ever in my book. the aggression, the guitar working along the piano and then that amazing build up to the chorus, through the pre-chorus is beyond match. Some fantastic songs here just waiting to be listened to.


3. Def Leppard - Hysteria

Def Leppard has really gotten to me in the last year or two. From one day to another I was hooked completely. It was a commercial masterpiece by perhaps the best producer of all time Mr. Robert John "Mutt" Lange. They made and album with 7 hit singles. That is unbelievable execution and perfectionism right there and then comes the songs. I'm not at all hooked on every song on this album.Some of them are ok, some are good and some are simply amazing. Women and Rocket are not bad but I think they're missing something. Armageddon it, Love Bites and Gods of war are different songs but are all good songs that shows of the bands quality and are worth listening to once in a while but the major bright spots on this album are: Animal, Pour some sugar on me and Hysteria. Animal Works because of the dynamics and it's great chorus. The build up to the chorus is vintage Def Leppard. the two guitars work great against each other and as always the voicing is great. Pour Some Sugar On Me  is one of the best rock songs coming out of the 80's. The intro is awesome and that line; Love is like a bomb is awesome, but again it's the pre-chorus working towards the chorus that really kicks ass. Phil Collen is awesome and he is a fantastic backing vocalist and if you hear s lot of the songs without the backing vocals they sound like their really missing something. The title track is a monster of a ballad with great lyric, good guitar tracks and again a great chorus. Just look at that cover, just awesome.


2. Toto - IV

Someone who knows me or have read some of my previous post would wonder how the hell can this album not be number one? And that's a good question but i'll show you later, now lets just bask in the best band ever's best album. Even if this band was pure shit and only had Africa or Rosanna on it it would probably still be on this list. I will be honest with you and say that three fantastic songs shouldn't be enough to gets this album placed this high on the list but the best song ever recorded can't be denied. Toto where under a bit of pressure from the record company after Turn Back didn't turn out the profite they were looking for and boy did they respond. The album won 6 Grammy  Awards including album of the year and record of the year with Rosanna. Rosanna is an amazing track filled with awesome shows of skill and talent. It's a fluid song with amazing production value and shows the bands hit making ability. It's sort of a fusion inspired pop song and it works perfectly. Won't Hold You Back  is one of the best ballads of all time. Again the production of the song is amazing. The slow and low volume vers goes up into a powerful and emotional chorus with a gorgeous solo at the end of the second one. Lukather is great in his vocal and there you go. Great ballad. Africa is the best song ever. Period. The instrumental construction is unmatched, the lyrics are fantastic, the chorus and the voicing in it is the best I've ever heard and the overall blend of the song is perfect. Everything is perfect. I'm an all guitar guy but I don't miss the guitar at all. That's saying something. They are the best band ever and this album shows why.


1. Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

I have never heard an album where every song is great on other then No More Tears by Ozzy Osbourne. One of my good friends and myself where talking some years ago and then he asked me if I had a favorite album and then I said No More Tears.He looked at me funny and said every song on that album is great, every riff and chorus is pure class. I couldn't agree with him any more. Zakk Wylde puts out riff greater then the other on every song and though a metal/hard rock record it has a pop feel in the composition and complexion of the songs. It works brilliantly from start to finish. Mama I'm coming Home is a soulful power ballad with a heartfelt lyric and Zakk all over it. The title track is long and more dark then most of the songs but it culminates with a simple breakdown with piano and a scrambled and reverbed male voice talking and then..... There's Zakk again throwing a monster solo at you. Don't Wanna Change The World is Ozzy at his best. fast paced and with a create connection with his sidekick Zakk, this song again comes up with a great chorus and create riffs all the way through. AVH has the riff of the album. Mr. Tinkertrain Has that classic spooky Ozzy feel to it. Zombie Stomp has the power and well the rest of the album is just as good as the above mentioned. It's a festival of great songs and talent at display all the way trough and it is my favorite album of all time.

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