Great Rock Albums of the 70s: KISS- Destroyer

If there are any albums which I can site as being an album that converted me to metal, this would definitely be one of them. I wasn't quite fifteen when this album came out and it would be a few months after its initial release before I actually heard any of it, but when I did, I was hooked. Before, I heard this album, my idea of hard rock was Bachman Turner Overdrive but KISS's "Destroyer" album completely blew me away. This was in spite of my religious upbringing and some people trying to tell me that KISS were admitted Satan worshippers.

Track Listing:

1. Detroit Rock City

2. King of the Nighttime World

3. God of Thunder

4. Great Expectations

5. Flamming Youth

6. Sweet Pain

7. Shout It Out Loud

8. Beth

9. Do You Love Me

10. Rock and Roll Party

"Detroit Rock City" became a show opener for KISS for nearly the next ten years. I saw them in 85 and have the video of their 1984 tour and they opened both concerts with this song. Upon hearing it, I can definitely see why and is also why I include lyrics from the song in "Rock And Roll Children." Of course the album includes the ballad Beth which, as I mentioned in previous postings, is the song that young rockers like me played to their girlfriends in the hopes it would lead to paradise.

KISS:

Paul Stanley- rhythm guitar, vocals

Gene Simmons- bass, vocals

Ace Frehley- lead guitar, vocals

Peter Criss- drums, vocals

While KISS would dominate rock throughout the rest of the decade and go on to be a chief influence for many of the 80s metal bands, I'm afraid my religious affiliations would prevent me from getting into more of their music after this. However, although fear of hellfire at the time didn't allow me to admit it, this album would always stick in my mind and be a big influence on me. But it just wasn't me, many other great bands have covered songs from this album including Iced Earth, White Zombie and even Nirvana. But my favourite cover is Hammerfall's cover of "Detroit Rock City." If anyone wants to know where it all began, this album was one of the doorways.

Next Post: Led Zepplin: Physical Graffiti

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Great Rock Albums of the 70s: The Eagles- Hotel California

The Eagles are normally thought of as an easy listening band, mainly due to their countryfied sound. Throughout the seventies, they were able to cross over to both the country and pop charts with songs like "Lying Eyes," "Tequila Sunrise" and "Take Me to the Limit." The same can be said for this album because the single "New Kid in Town" hit number 43 in the country charts and number 2 in the pop charts. Therefore, it is no surprise that they have been labelled easy listening or country rock.
So if this band is considered easy listening, why did so many hard rockers like me go out and buy this album. The answer to this is simple, The Eagles can rock and tracks like "Life in the Fast Lane" and "Victim of Love" are testimony to this. But it's not just these tracks, the title track itself was able to offer something that listeners of different musical genres could identify with. It also helped that back in the 70s, people weren't as quick to categorise music like they do now. For me, it was that unique opening guitar riffs to the just hard enough rock melody throughout the middle to the cranking guitar solos at its finale. As a impressionable teenager back then, I watched a video of Hotel California and was totally blown away at the way lead guitarists Joe Walsh and Don Felder went back and forth trading guitar solos. I wonder if the metal bands who had dual lead guitarists who traded off solos got the idea here.

Track Listing:

1. Hotel California

2. New Kid in Town

3. Life in the Fast Lane

4. Wasted Time

5. Wasted Time Reprise

6. Victim of Love

7. Pretty Maids All in a Row

8. Try and Love Again

9. The Last Resort

 

The Eagles:

Don Felder: guitar, vocals, keyboards

Glen Frey- guitar, vocals, keyboards, piano

Don Henley- drums, vocals, keyboards

Randy Meisner- bass, vocals

Joe Walsh- guitar, slide guitar, vocals, keyboards

Another thing this album has in common with heavy metal of the 80s is that it has been accused of being satanic. Someone somewhere associated some of the lyrics of "Hotel California" with death and drew the conclusion that that was what the song was about. For me, I don't waste my brain cells thinking about that. I just like listening to the great music it has to offer.

I am going on holiday for a week and when I return, the next post will be KISS- Destroyer

To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to: www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

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Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Bob Dylan- Hard Rain

Whenever anyone thinks of Bob Dylan, the first thought that enters people's heads is the image of him playing an accoustic guitar, accompanied by his harmonica and singing folk style songs through his nose. It is true that most of his albums sort of fall into this vein and like me, most people who like Dylan, like him for his lyrics than for his music ability.

Then in 1976, I heard the Hard Rain album and upon hearing it, thought the album really rocked. Gone were the slow accoustic songs replaced by much harder versions on electric guitars. Old classics like "Lay Lady Lay," "Maggie's Farm" and "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" were given the rock treatment and in this blogger's opinion, sound better for it. Unfortunately, most of the critics at the time didn't share the same views as me and really came down on it. In spite of that, Hard Rain did go gold and peaked at 17 in the charts.

Track Listing:

1. Maggie's Farm

2. One Too Many Mornings

3. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again

4. Oh Sister

5. Lay Lady Lay

6. Shelter From the Storm

7. You're a Big Girl Now

8. I Threw It All Away

9. Idiot Wind

Musicians:

Bob Dylan- lead vocals and guitar

T-Bone Burnett- guitar and piano

Mick Ronson- ~guitar

Steven Soles- guitar

David Mansfield- guitar

Rob Stoner- bass

Howard Wyeth- drums and piano

Gary Burke- drums

Scarlet Rivera- violin

This album was recorded live on Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour and it shows Dylan in a different light. It also shows that Dylan can rock a little.

Next Post: Kansas

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Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Bad Company- Straight Shooter

Since we are now in summer and I have heard a lot of talk about music that makes it feel like summer, especially from my friend Metalodyssey, I thought I would offer an album that reminds me of the summer. So now you have it, the second album by Bad Company, "Straight Shooter." This album reminds me of summer mainly due to it's hit single, "Feel Like Making Love." That, to me, has always been a song for the lazy warm weather days. However, the other tracks on it compliment the summer feeling just as much. If I still had my copy, I would be laying on the grass with a beer in hand as I write this post from a laptop.
"Straight Shooter" was the follow up to Bad Company's successful debut self titled album and was a big hit for them. While the album received mixed reviews from critics, it hit the top ten in the album charts in most countries, New Zealand being an exception where it only reached 13.

Track Listing:

1. Good Loving Gone Bad

2. Feel Like Making Love

3. Weep No More

4. Shooting Star

5. Deal With the Preacher

6. Wild Fire Woman

7. Anna

8. Call On Me

As I did my background research for this post, I was shocked to discover that the track "Shooting Star" was never released as a single. It's defintely my favourite track on the album and I had no trouble finding it on a Limewire search. Furthermore, I have seen it on the odd juke box over the years. Maybe they should release it now as I'm sure many rockers would love it.

Bad Compny

Paul Rodgers- vocals, rhythm guitar and piano

Mick Ralphs- guitar, keyboards

Simon Kirke- drums

Boz Burrell- bass

There's not much more I can say about this album. Just have a listen and enjoy the summer.

Next post: Bob Dylan- Hard Rain

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Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Jefferson Starship: Spitfire

A common proverb through the years has been "Never judge a book by its cover." I have always wondered if the same concept applies to music albums. In 1983, I learned the hard way never to buy an entire album on account of one song when I bought "The Getaway" by Chris DeBurgh because I liked the song "Don't Pay The Ferryman." On the other hand, if I didn't buy the Jefferson Starship album on account of the single "With Your Love," I wouldn't have bought this album and would have been poorer for it. Fortunately, I did judge the album by its cover. The idea of a pretty lady riding on a dragon that was formed by the smoke of her cigarette was a cool image for me. To me, the "Spitfire" album was the first really cool album cover in my eyes.
Back in the late 1970s, Jefferson Starship were renowned for being a mellow out type of band. They were noted for songs like "Count On Me" from the "Earth" album and their top hit "Miracles" from the "Red Octopus" album and even on the "Spitfire" album, the hit single "With Your Love," branded this band as one who excelled in mellow out rock.

Tack Listing:

1. Cruisin'

2. Dance With the Dragon

3. Hot Water

4. St. Charles

5. Song to the Sun

i. Part 1 Ozymadias

ii. Part 2, Don't Let It Rain

6. With Your Love

7. Switchblade

8. Big City

9. Love Lovely  Love

Unlike the hit single, the other tracks are much more rocking and showcase the great musicianship posessed by the band. There are some good rocking tracks like "Dance With the Dragon" and "Don't Let It Rain" and there is some great progressive rock on the tracks St. Charles and Switchblade and show cases the keyboard wizardry that is Pete Sears. What I like about this album especially is that lead guitarist Craig Chaquico is let loose on most of the tracks and is allowed to show that he can smoke the fingerboard.

Jefferson Starship:

Marty Balin- vocals

Grace Slick- vocals, piano of Ozymadias and Switchblade

Paul Kantner- rhythm guitar

Craig Chaquico- lead guitar

Pete Sears- bass and keyboards

David Freiberg- bass and keyboards

John Barbata- drums

Back when the album came out in 76, before people started putting music into categories, this album worked on a lot of levels. There are good hard rocking tracks, some great progressive rock and for the top 40 followers, a solid hit single. This is a great rock album and with the cool front cover design, shows you can judge and album by its cover.

Next post: Bad Company- Straight Shooter

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Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Boston

If I could point to any one album back in my naive teenage days which opened my eyes to the world of heavy rock, it would have to be the first album by Boston. When I first heard the song "More Than a Feeling," I was completely blown away and made sure whenever that song played on the radio in late 1976 and early 1977, the volume would get turned up to full. Boston was the major turning point leading me out of relying on the top 40 played on AM radio to more harder rock persuits.

Track Listing:

1. More Than a Feeling

2. Peace Of Mind

3. Foreplay/Long Time

4. Rock and Roll Band

5. Smokin

6. Hitch A Ride

7. Something About You

8. Let Me Take You Home Tonight

While "More Than a Feeling" is the most popular Boston song of all time, (it appears on many compilation albums including three of mine) many of the other tracks can stand alone in their own right. "Peace of Mind" and "Foreplay/Long Time" also both made the top 40 charts and I know that "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" also received play on the radio. Furthermore, all of the other tracks also feature on classic rock stations and back in the late 70s, many thought that "Rock And Roll Band" should have also been released as a single, I was one of them.

Boston is:

Tom Sholtz- guitar, organ, electric piano, accoustic guitars, clavinet

Brad Delp- vocals

Sib Hashian- drums

Barry Goudreau- lead guitar

Fran Sheehan- bass

Boston's first album is the second largest selling rock album of all time, only "Appetite for Destruction" by Guns and Roses has more sales. This album while a good rocking album is quite melodic as well, which is why it works on so many levels. After 35 years, this album continues to set a standard for great rock.

Next Post: Jeffereson Starship: Spitfire

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Other Great Metal Ballads

Like I said in the last post, it is a common belief that every metal band has their "token" ballad. This is true with many of them, although I still wouldn't say that to any fans of Exodus. This next list is more of those great ballads. These aren't necessary love songs. I mean I wouldn't play "Community Property" by Steel Panther if I were going for seduction. Same with Kansas, according to Family Guy, you only listen to this one when you are walking the streets in deep contemplation. Anyway, enough of me, here's the list and a few piccies.

• Kansas- Dust In The Wind
• Lionsheart- Flights of Angels
• Anthrax- Nice F*cking Ballad
• Dogs D'Amour- How Come It Never Rains
• Warrior Soul- We Cry Out
• Dio- This Is Our Life
• Black Sabbath- Too Late
• TNT- Eddie
• Bonfire- Good Night Amanda
• Stryper- Together As One
• Heart- Allies
• Von Groove- Arian
• Vaughn- Paradise Ain't Home
• Pretty Maids- With These Eyes
• Rainbow- Rainbow Eyes
• Westworld- Suicide
• Megadeth- A Tout Le Monde (not exactly a ballad, but it is the closest they will ever come to one
• Tesla- Sail Away
• Night Ranger- Sister Christian
• Steel Panther- Community Property

I know there are probably hundreds more I can list here, so if you have your own ideas what should be included, let me know. Knowing me, I proabably missed some obvious ones.
Next post: Great Rock Albums of the 70s, Boston
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