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Monday, December 31, 2018

Blacksmith Legacy - Metal Never Dies



Blacksmith Legacy is a heavy metal group hailing from Angelholm, Sweden, which I think is pretty cool because I have friends there. It is a fantastic name, Blacksmith Legacy, the world has always correctly held the belief blacksmiths are strong workers. There has been many stories and legends about blacksmith warriors forging their own weapons and accomplishing great things. It is very easy to make a connection to such myths to metal music, power metal, and that is where my brain goes when I hear a name like Blacksmith Legacy.

There is not a lot of information about Blacksmith Legacy online. They have a website and a facebook page, but they are not entirely in continuity with each other. On their website they have the most recent news is the tragic passing of their front man Otto Ed Hanson. I know they have a new lead singer, but I do not know what his name is, but he looks awesome, he looks like a Rockstar. This is the sort of band I like to write about, mostly because they are largely unknown and thus are going largely unappreciated, but also any overlooked ignorance on my part is largely forgivable.

The band itself looks like a healthy mix of older and younger men, this could, and so far, has resulted in a good mix of experience and ambition.

To date Blacksmith Legacy has released one album, “Let the Game Begin” (2013), and one EP, “Metal Never Dies” (2015), and this year, they released the single “Time to Say Goodbye.” Based on the title of the single, you might have been able to guess that “Time to Say Goodbye” was written in memory of Otto. It is a lovely metal ballad, full of the sadness and joy.

Time to Say Goodbye:

As beautiful as the “Time to Say Goodbye” is, it is not the single track that I most appreciate, that accolade goes to “Metal Never Dies.”

On the surface “Metal Never Dies” should come across as a straight forward metal fanfare, and it does work for such a purpose. The core message is true, metal music is going to go on indefinitely, and there is everything to celebrate and forever to enjoy it in. However, based on what little I do know about Blacksmith Legacy, I feel there is something a little more going on.

As I mentioned before, Blacksmith Legacy is a combination of older and younger guys, and those older guys, they have a had a bit more of a taste of the forever, and this is surely not their first attempt at a metal band. When your dream is making metal music, and your band, presumably not your first, is relatively unknown, one of the best proclamations you can put forth is the very real truth that the dream is not dead, and we will never die. Dreams do not vanish, so long as people do not abandon them. Based on the apparent approximate age of Blacksmith Legacy, they did not let the dream die, and that is where my brain goes when I hear “Metal Never Dies.”

Which brings us back to Otto. It is doubtful, that “Metal Never Dies” is some sort of prophecy about an later realized death, but in hindsight, that is a take away that I am now fixated on. Metal will never die, and through his metal music, Otto will now live forever. So that is pretty great. I barely knew much about the man, but his face is the logo for his metal band, so his passing feels like a big deal.

I wish I had more to say, but what we need to know is that there is a rocking metal band out of Angelholm that deserves more attention. I do not know what fate awaits Blacksmith Legacy and I have yet to learn from whence they originated, but that is all part of the adventure. It is something to look forward to.

Until next year, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves 

Saturday, December 15, 2018

The Moody Blues - Have Your Heard Part 1, The Voyage, and Have You Heard Part 2



In case you did not know, we legalized marijuana in Canada recently. Naturally, I have been doing my part, and consequently, I have been listening to a lot of progressive rock.

It has always been my belief that 1969 was the single greatest year of music. I talked about this back in 2013 while reviewing progressive rock band King Crimson: https://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.com/2013/08/king-crimson-21st-century-schizoid-man.html

For that review I looked up basically every rock album that came out year and listened to them all. It was a lot of work, but highly rewarding. I gained greater knowledge and appreciation of those rock bands that I knew but only so well. The band my respect for, that grew the most, during that experiment was the Moody Blues.

The Moody Blues are probably best known for their song “Nights in White Satin” from their second studio album, the 1967 “Days of Future Passed.” A fantastic song with a highly personal tome of emotions, whatever experiences songwriter Justin Hayward channeled to write this song, it resonated with a lot people in their own personal ways and managed to climb the charts and remain popular from its inception to now. “Nights in White Satin” is the obvious launching point for any conversation about the Moody Blues, so I could not avoid it now. This song started the Moody Blues experimenting with orchestra sounds with the mellotron.

I would be lying if I acted like I knew much of anything about what a mellotron is, but thanks to the Moody Blues, I know a mellotron can do. Before the advancement of the synthesizer keyboard the creation of artificial symphony was created by other means, and one of those methods was the mellotron. With the power of this instrument I do not fully understand, the Moody Blues embarked into progressive rock. The albums that followed would become Moody Blues most psychedelic. A lot of drugs were consumed and luckily everyone seemed to come out of it with little to no damage. The only side effect, of their drug use, great music.

The Moody Blue’s forth album, the 1969 “On the Threshold of a Dream” has become my favorite. It is such a trip. The concept album flows from track to track seamlessly, almost as if it were recorded in a single shot. Performed as if it was meant to be one long epic song. The deepest this experience swallows the listener is at the end of the album, the trio of songs that wrap things up are really one song, in three parts, like the acts of play; “Have You Heard, Part 1,” “The Voyage” and “Have You Heard, Part II.”

As I write this, I am listening to the ending of this album, smoking some mix of blueberry kush and meridian, I just let the music take me away on a voyage. Cosmic and strange, alien but comforting. Good times are being had.

The three songs do work as a perfect set. “Have You Heard, Part 1” serves deliberately as an intro, calm and slow introducing the theme of discovery.

“Now you know that you are real.”

This is a helpful opening line, you know, just in case you forgot. Obvious this is a single line, but I believe it works wonderfully as the first step on this song trilogy. So lost in the progressive rock that if you had made it to this eleventh track, a soft reminder of reality is nice.

“The Voyage” is the rising action and climax of this play. The second “The Voyage” begins the sound hardens, and it rises to the piano that dances away with itself, and this is instrumental solo that serves of opening and exiting of the climax. The exact middle of these three songs is the soaring drums and strumming guitar battling each other. The rapid piano takes over once more, until he reaches the strong strings of a cello, which brings up back to continuity.

“Now you know how nice it feels.”

This is the first line in “Have You Heard part 2,” and much like the opening line in part 1, this works a calming reset. The voyage and its excitement are over, time to relax once more; and relax we should. It is real mellow experience sitting back and listening to “On the Threshold of a Dream.” Everyone knows The Moody Blues, and every knows “Nights in White Satin,” but have you heard of “On the Threshold of a Dream?”

Mike Pinder is a genius.

- King of Braves

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Blue Oyster Cult - Veteran of the Psychic Wars



Long ago, when I was still in high school, some friends and I were hanging out listening to some rock and roll, as you do. It was the nineties, and we lived in a small town and none of us had much in the way of money so were still listening to cassettes, as the transition to CDs was only beginning. One of my friends had a copy of Blue Oyster Cults Greatest Hits. It was sixteen songs and apparently, they were all hits.

At that time the radio was our only venue to listen to music, and CJay 92 had only provided us with two songs by The Blue Oyster Cult, the legendary “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and the equally awesome “Burnin’ for You.” A few years later we would discover “Godzilla” which I believe we heard in the movie “Road Trip,” but I do not feel like researching whether or not I am remembering that correctly. Basically, between the three of us, we only knew three Blue Oyster Cult songs.

I wish I could tell you, we put that cassette in and listened to it and discovered the greatness of songs like “Astronomy,” but we did not, at least not while I was present. I would discover the depth of Blue Oyster Cult later in life.

When you only know three songs by a band and only really love two of them, but they have a bunch of supposed classics and fourteen studio albums, trying to decide where to start can be a paralyzing endeavour. One easy option would have been to purchase a greatest hits collection, but that is for posers, so that is no longer an option for me, I mean I have literally made writing about music a hobby, I cannot chance being a poser anymore. I did the next most logical thing I picked up the album with the song I liked most “Burnin’ for You,” was the song, and it was on the 1981 album “Fire of Unknown Origin.”

Loved it, I freaking loved it.

I listen to a lot of progressive rock and “Fire of Unknown Origin” was a perfect progressive rock album. My perspective of Blue Oyster Cult was not just enriched but I now saw them for what they always were, a highly experimental and creative progress rock band.

I have listened to a lot of Blue Oyster Cult since then. I learned to love songs from every point in their career. From their most recent album the 2001 “Curse of the Hidden Mirror” which has a song called “The Old Gods Return” which is Lovecraftian, so it really appealed to me. Or from the 1977 album “Spectres” mostly with the song “I Love the Night” a song I am enjoying so much I almost chose to write about it instead of “Veteran of the Psychic Wars.”

On “Fire of Unknown Origin” there are many songs that I would call psychedelic, but the most out there, and probably the greatest for it, is “Veteran of the Psychic Wars.” The title tells you a lot about what you are getting into before you even hear the song, it is an inward journey of hardship and self realization.

“Veteran of the Psychic Wars” opens with drums like a military march, and very quickly it is joined by the synth keyboard with strange echoing calls. With these two sounds the two married themes are presented, war and the supernatural.

The very first opening line is thus:

“You're seeing now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars,”

A thousand. A thousand psychic wars. The song title implied plural, but a thousand? That is a lot of wars. This song is already intense after only a single lyrical sentence.

I also really like this line:

“All the stars are on the inside.”

The chorus introduces all sorts of potential interpretations:

“Don't let these shakes go on!
It's time we had a break from it,
It's time we had some leave.
We've been living in a place,
We've been eating up our brains.
Oh please don't let these shakes go on!”


It was at this point in the song, on my first listen, that I began to really wonder what this song was truly about. It could be literal. These soldiers with psychic powers could be causing real damage to one and another’s brains, and the post dramatic stress of such an unorthodox, and perhaps intimate, sort of warfare could very believably leave the survivors with shakes. But this could also be a song about deep introspection, with the greater depth one soul searches, the more lost in their own thoughts they become. This second imagining of this song’s meaning fits comfortably with the use of psychedelic drugs, which were likely used to assist in the creative writing process.

I think my favorite line is this one:

“Wounds are all I'm made of!”

Once again marrying the two themes, this dark line introducing the final verse works perfectly for both. The literal wounds of a soldier dominate his memories and personality, which is made all the more harrowing when the wounds are from mind damaging psychic attacks. Or it works just as well to describe the exhausted philosophical introvert, voyaging into the violent recesses of their inner most thoughts; presumably with additional guidance from mind altering drugs.

As much as I like the idea of “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” being about a journey into one’s inner self, I think I prefer the wacky concept of psychic soldiers engaging in some indescribable war across the cosmos, battling alien psychics with projected thoughts, and in that vast infinite battlefield, the war just goes on forever and it is nigh impossible to get any sort of break from it. That is a wild science fiction tale in waiting, the stuff of progress rock dreams. Especially drug induces dreams.

The Blue Oyster Cult has always been a highly respected band, but most people are unaware of the power of their song lists. Like any great band, the more you look into their work the more you discover just how great they are. For me, there was never any surprises about the quality of Blue Oyster Cult’s music, but the style, was just what I wanted from them, even if I did not know it ahead of time.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

P.S.

“Veteran of the Psychic Wars” was on the animated movie “Heavy Metal” soundtrack, because of course it was.

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Pearl Jam - Better Man



In the nineties the world experienced a sudden outpour of new music from Seattle, Washington. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, were all getting radio play, and were becoming massively popular. These three bands were instrumental in the creation of the subgenre of “alternative rock.” This was all happening during some of my most informative years, and the importance of these three bands is well remembered by me. The impact of their presence is well documented in my memories.

At the time there was a rivalry between Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Kurt Cobain for reasons I never fully understood hated Pearl Jam. This created a cultural rift between their fans. Sides were taken, and war was declared. It was unofficially confirmed you could like one or the other, but never both.

This was a big deal. Here is a charming video of Arcade Fire’s Win Butler discussing this feud with his wife and band mate Regine Chassagne, how she could choose only one, Nirvana or Pearl Jam:


What is the resolution? Well for Win and Regine, despite Win’s insistence you can only choose one, they both, like them both; this is the reality for most people now. More than enough time has passed for everyone to realize there was never a dichotomy, we could enjoy both. The common census is that both bands were amazing.

Not me though. I am different. I choose Pearl Jam.

Maybe the impression this moment in time and my feelings about the situation has left a lasting impact on me, but once I chose Pearl Jam, I stuck to it.

I never liked Nirvana, primarily because I never liked Kurt Cobain, whom always came across to me as an ungrateful brat. I have always believed that if Layne Staley had killed himself back then, we would be talking about how great Alice in Chains were instead of Nirvana right now. However, after all this time I have come to realize there is nothing preventing us from appreciating all three bands, and whatever feud Cobain started never mattered. My dislike for Nirvana now feels more like a over zealous reaction out of loyalty to Pearl Jam more than anything else, and I can now appreciate the positive aspects of Nirvana and how they inspired so many others. However, nonetheless, Nirvana never really grew on me, unlike Pearl Jam.

I consider Pearl Jam to be one of the greatest rock bands of the nineties, if not number one. I hold them in very high esteem. I went through the same introduction phase as everyone else did back then. The album Ten came out and it was great, everyone enjoyed “Alive” and “Jeremy,” then Vitalogy came out three years later and with it their biggest hit song “Better Man.”

“Better Man” is not my favorite Pearl Jam song, in fact it is not even my favorite song from the album Vitalogy, I always really like “Nothingman” and “Immortality,” however “Better Man” is the first song I think of when I think of Pearl Jam. It has not happened very often in my life where I was just as impressed and happy with a hit song as the general public, and “Better Man” is one of the few times were the charts and I were in full agreement. It was a perfect song for radio play and personal listening, it met all criteria to impress. The popularity of “Better Man” is unrivaled in Pearl Jam’s discography. For some reason I vividly remember Pearl Jam playing a slightly modified version of “Better Man” to David Letterman on his show during his birthday. The song was a huge cultural phenomenon.

Another reason I like “Better Man” is that I can sing it respectably well, and I have successfully impressed strangers at karaoke on two separate occasions by singing it. So that is fun.

There are countless love songs in existence, unavoidably many, if no most, tread upon identical grounds, but few explore the sort of relationship depicted in “Better Man.” It is a complacent relationship, where the woman is largely disinterested but finds herself staying because;

“She lies and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man.”

There is more to it than just that, there is an expression of loyalty, or at least consideration.

“She loved him, yeah, she don't want to leave this way.”

This is a curious study of human relationships, in my younger years I found it interesting.

I hold the belief that “Better Man” falls into the category of music that is about something sad but is performed with a positive expression. The scenario at hand is rather bleak, “she dreams in color” but her reality is loveless and colourless, but worse still, she is the beholder of the feelings of shame and guilt because she cannot find a better man, so she sadly stays. However, the melody and mood of the song is not so dark, but rather energetic. Like I said before “Better Man” delivers on multiple fronts, and it is enjoyable in so many ways as to end up being loved by virtually everybody… except maybe that Kurt Cobain guy… no wonder I did not like him very much.

Part of growing older is being surprised at how much has passed through the aging of media. I remember vividly “Better Man” playing on the radio, and now it is a classic rock song. Twenty-two years have passed. I was thirteen when this song came out. My peers let it sink in, along with every meme reminding you that your childhood is now a long time ago but take joy in knowing the lasting effect and timeless nature of your nostalgia has held up.

- King of Braves

Sunday, October 28, 2018

White Zombie - Super Charger Heaven



In the year 1994, White Zombie would release their final studio album, “Astro-Creep: 2000.” This would prove to be by far White Zombie’s most successful album, releasing their biggest hit song, “More Human Than Human.” This album made White Zombie the success they were in the nineties. This is the music that made Rob Zombie a household name and helped launch his solo career.

I have always assumed the album “Astro-Creep: 2000” was named after the Misfits song “Astro Zombies.” I have always put these two things together anyway.

White Zombie is presumably named after 1932 horror film of the same name. This old film stared Bela Lugosi, and I know I have seen it, but my memory is a bit foggy, but it predates the iconic “Night of the Living Dead” by many years and has the more folklore like interpretation of voodoo zombies.

“More Human Than Human,” is a reference to “Blade Runner” the excellent 1982 science fiction film staring Harrison Ford where he is hired to track down and eliminate rouge androids who, are arguably, more human than humans.

Rob Zombie, if that is his real name, it is not, his real name is Rob Cummings, is clearly a fan of cinema, and likes to take inspiration from many sources for his music.

It was the year 2001, and I found myself in the passenger seat of my friend’s Lincoln as he drove us around town. One of the few cassette tapes he had on hand that we listened to until we wore it out, was White Zombie’s “Astro-Creep: 2000.” To this day it is the only album of White Zombie’s that I have any meaningful knowledge of. Although I did listen to Rob Zombie’s solo album “Hellbilly Deluxe” countless times, whilst stoned in another friend’s basement right around the same time, but that is another story altogether.

I distinctly remember the huge popularity of “More Human Than Human,” upon the release of “Astro-Creep: 2000,” and how people in my generation were still listening to that song frequently by 2001. It is a half way coincide that my friend and I happen to be listening to that album at that time in that Lincoln, but it was clear that “More Human Than Human” has staying power. However, as much I as I enjoyed “More Human Than Human,” and I still do, the song I hold uppermost for White Zombie is their third single from that same album, “Super Charger Heaven.”

“Super Charger Heaven,” had much less presence on any king of top list, but it was popular and very well liked for a time. As I remember it, it was the clear second-best song on “Astro-Creep: 2000,” well according to everybody else it was the second-best song, I actually liked it more than “More Human Than Human.”

As determined earlier, Rob Zombie is a big fan of cinema, especially horror, so much so, he now spends more time making horror films then music. The point is, something Zombie does, that I appreciate, is throwing in film clips into his songs and he does this in “Super Charger Heaven.”

“Look, I know the supernatural is something that isn’t supposed to happen, but it does happen.”

This comes from “The Haunting” 1963. I have not seen it.

“Insipientia corde suo, non es deus. Non est vita qui adorem, non es usque ad unum. Es excommunicatus, ex unione fidelium.”

This Latin translates to:

“Foolish of heart, thou art not a god. There is no life for those who do not adore, and to a man thou hast not. Thou art excommunicated from the union of the faithful.”

And comes from “To the Devil a Daughter” a 1976 Hammer film. Unfortunately, I have not seen this one either.

Then we get the best part:

“It is not heresy, and I will not recant!”

While this is a line from the same Hammer film, “To the Devil a Daughter,” what we hear in “Super Charger Heaven” it is famous actor Christopher Lee speaking. Christopher Lee was such an amazing man, and this would be one of the earlier examples of him lending his voice to a hard rock and metal music. More on that eventually.

As a fan of horror films and metal music, these sound clips do add an extra bit of charm to the song “Super Charger Heaven.” However, this alone is not what endears me so to “Super Charger Heaven,” we also got that killer opening.

We start with the ominous sounds and that first movie quote speaks, and then guitar. Electric guitar striking out in rapid slashes. The drums blast away at the same time rampaging through an intro like a thunder storm. That beat carries through the whole song, and at every bridge that rushing lead guitar leaps out and rocks out. At no point is there a guitar solo per say, which is uncharacteristic of most of the music I listen to, but instead there are many small moments when that great lead guitar pops in and wails. This is a good example of a heavy metal song that is balanced. Everything works together nicely, no one in the band it trying to outshine anyone else, they all play their parts perfectly and the result has a great flow to it. A runaway song of heavy sounds.

I have never completely understood the lyrics. I have tried to conjure together a coherent narrative or message, but I have been unable to so with “Super Charger Heaven.” Everything Rob Zombie says in “Super Charger Heaven” is cool. Every line sounds clever, but I cannot pin down what point, if any, is actually being communicated. Unlike other confusing lyrical tales, I am not convinced Rob Zombie is just sprouting gibberish, there is almost a demonic story being told, I just do not get the reference and/or am struggling to find the continuity of his original tale. None of that mattered to me when I was a young man though, because I always liked the chorus enough to not overthink the rest of it:

“Yeah Devil man Devil man calling,
Devil man running in my head Yeah.
Yeah Devil man Devil man calling,
Devil man running in my head Yeah.”


Now remember, this song came out in 1994 and I was listening to it between the years of 1995 through 2002. This is mostly pre-internet. I only had the knowledge of my own person to fall back on when it came to conjecture. “Devil Man” I knew what that was, but at the time, I had no way of knowing if Rob Zombie knew, and even less way of knowing if he was referring to it in his song.

In grade school, I was the guy in my group of friends who discovered anime. As a young man I really enjoyed the excitement of cartoon violence, and nothing delivered on that better than the “Devil Man” OVAs. So, I always suspected, but never knew for certain if Rob Zombie was intentionally referencing that anime.

Well, now that internet is at full power, we can confirm in the affirmative that Rob Zombie was referencing the ultra violent anime “Devil Man” when he wrote “Super Charger Heaven.”


If grainy videos from fans cell phones of Rob Zombie’s live performances where he plays the origin scene of Devil Man OVA is not evidence enough, how about the LP cover art:


You know, I had never seen that LP art before until very recently. That is Devil Man, right there in the cover art. No one is getting sued. Everyone is having a good time.

It feels nice knowing that Mr. Zombie and I have some things in common, and that belief as a young man proved true about Devil Man. For years it felt like Zombie and I were in rare company, not a lot of people knew about Devil Man, at least not the complete story.

Something magical happened this year. In January Netflix sponsored, or produced, I forget which, “Devil Man Cry Baby.” This new telling of the old manga was so popular, that it was being declared the anime of the year, even though it was January when it came out. To the best of my knowledge this bold claim is still holding true. Everyone uses Netflix, so Devil Man had had a rebirth in popularity and the character and the story are now more popular than ever.

Devil Man Crybaby,
The first animated version
to tell the whole story.
One of the disappointing things about the original OVA of “Devil Man” is that is only has two parts, and after that they ran out of money and were unable to finish the story. There was a stand-alone movie called “Devil Man - Amon Apocalypse” which more or less serves as the third volume, but most people never saw it, and it did not complete the saga. Sixteen years ago, I read the manga, I found a fan English translation online and I read it with the upmost interest, and it floored me. I could not believe how it ended.

The ending is bleak.

It would be poor form to explain the whole story and ruining the twists for those who have not watched “Devil Man Crybaby” yet, so I will be vague. It is a very sad ending, terrible things happen, things that will make you cry. “Devil Man Crybaby” adapts the content to the current day perfectly and tells the story in full. For sixteens years I have been walking around with all this pain in my heart knowing how “Devil Man” ends, and reading and watching everyone’s reactions online now, was a very good time for me. It was amusing watching everyone else go through the motions, and it felt like I was making a connection with people. Sixteen years is a long time to keep spoilers to yourself, and an even longer time waiting for someone to experience it in a similar way.

Rob Zombie knew who Devil Man was way back in 1994, presumably earlier than that. I felt a connection to a fellow fan and it made me enjoy his music just a little bit more. But after the release of “Devil Man Crybaby” I look at Rob Zombie and the song “Super Charger Heaven” and I feel like, he knew. Zombie probably read the manga too, and I bet he knew the nihilistic ending as well. I wonder how many years he was walking around hurting before more the general public learned about it. And I wonder how much he is enjoying seeing everyone go through the motions after seeing “Devil Man Crybaby.”

It seems to me that life has been kind to Rob Zombie. His music remains popular and relevant, and I wonder if there will be a new wave of interest in White Zombie and “Super Charger Heaven” now that the Devil Man is more popular then every. I hope so. I have also really liked the Devil Man reference in “Super Charger Heaven.” I liked it before it was cool.

- King of Braves

Monday, October 22, 2018

Van Halen - Runnin' With The Devil




One goal I had this year was to only write about bands I have never about written before. Which made me think about all the rocks bands who are really important that I have never gotten around to rambling about. Among them is Van Halen.

I have an elaborate interest with Van Halen, or at least, an interest I am going to elaborate on.

When I was young and depended on the radio for music, Van Halen was a constant. I listened to Van Halen all the time, almost as much as I listened to ACDC or Black Sabbath. If I was pressed to list the most important rock bands of all time I would have included Van Halen in the top ten and would have negotiated with myself whether Van Halen or Guns N Roses were the greatest rock band to come out of the eighties. It was Guns N Roses obviously, but when I was young I was not entirely sure.

So, I held Van Halen in very high esteem, and I purchased three of their studio albums and had a copy of their greatest hits and enjoyed them thoroughly. But that was it. After I graduated high school and began listening to more David Bowie and European metal, I kind of forgot about Van Halen. Kind of.

Then something fun happened. While my younger brother and I were working at the bar as line cooks we were gifted tickets to see Van Halen at the Saddledome. Some secret Santa gift lottery amongst the bar management had the unforeseen consequence of the head of marketing and the head manager winning their own gift, so they decided they would give them to someone would appreciate it, and those Kelly brothers in the kitchen were rock and roll rebels, so they gave them to us. It was a great concert, this was the tour where David Lee Roth rejoined the group, so it was the perfect time for someone our ages to see them. Because I had been listening to Van Halen less and less at that point in my life, I got a wonderful reminder of how many great songs Van Halen have. It was really good time, it reinforced my love of Van Halen. But after a few years I kind of forgot about them again.

Van Halen is one of the most influential and best rock bands to come out of the eighties, so they deserve respect and to be mentioned, and since this year is bands I have never talked about before they are top of the list and I better think of something insightful to say; and hopefully I can.

The chronology of Van Halen screams the eighties, because they were such a fundamental contributor to the sound of that era, but technically their beginnings start in the late seventies with their first two albums, the self titled “Van Halen,” and the follow up “Van Halen II” being release in 1978 and 1979 respectably.

A strong start is a fair way to describe Van Halen’s entrance into the music scene. Their first album was a big hit and several of their best songs are on it. Furthermore, the first half of their first album is probably their best set of songs:

- “Runnin’ with the Devil”
- “Eruption”
- “You Really Got Me”
- “Ain’t Talking about Love”
- “I’m the One.”

That’s the first side of their debut album. I believe their best song is “Runnin’ with the Devil” and it is the first song on their first album. It is followed by their most famous, and I believe to be their best instrumental/guitar song “Eruption,” which is some of Eddie Van Halen’s best work. After that we get two more of their biggest hits, of which I strongly prefer “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love,” the Kinks cover of “You Really Got Me” while very fun, is not my favorite. Rounding off this first section is “I’m the One,” easily the least famous of this record side, but a very good rock song with a great guitar intro.

What a start.

“You Really Got Me” was Van Halen’s first single, but it was a cover song, so really, Van Halen’s first true single was “Runnin’ with the Devil,” their second official single. “Runnin’ with the Devil” has always been my favorite Van Halen track. I think a lot of people’s favorite Van Halen song is “Runnin’ with the Devil.” It is one of the most natural songs to love.

After what I believe to be a car horn echoes past, we open with a great bass intro, one of the most memorable opening bass lines in all or rock and roll. The chorus is sung by both David Lee Roth and bass player Michael Anthony and they are both awesome. Michael Anthony is kind of an under rated musician. Sure, the bass line in “Runnin’ with the Devil” is simple but the consistent timing to the rhythm is very impressive.

There is a lot of belief that Van Halen were early day rock and roll Satanist, and the popularity of a song called “Runnin’ with the Devil” contributed to this belief. I suspect, like most “Satanist” rock stars it is all tongue and cheek. Nonetheless announcing your outlaw life as parallel to the devil’s ways is fun and more importantly very rebellious. The spirit of rock and roll, rebellion. David Lee Roth sings about being an outlaw and how, once on that road, there was no going back. Freedom is a glorious but potentially dark thing, as there is nobody out there worry about the rebel now. I know some people like to hate on Roth because he has performed poorly during some live songs, but this is the early days of Van Halen and Lee Roth’s voice is powerful in “Runnin’ with the Devil.”

Lastly, we have to take a moment to acknowledge the greatness that is Eddie Van Halen. No one in the world was playing guitar like Eddie when he hit the scene. I am incapable to giving proper due to Eddie’s guitar tricks, because unfortunately, I do not fully understand them. I just really enjoy listening to his work and the combination of “Runnin’ with the Devil” followed by the instrumental “Eruption” is a perfect display of what Van Halen truly special. It has everything to do with Eddie’s guitar.

I never needed to write this out, everyone who knows anything about rock and roll already knows all about Van Halen and “Runnin’ with the Devil,” but looking at my song list in these reviews, I felt obligated to say something about this amazing track, even if all I did was gush over how great it is.

- King of Braves

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Greta Van Fleet - Black Smoke Rising



They are saying it is the second coming of Led Zeppelin, so get hyped.

Greta Van Fleet are a smash breakout hit rock band. Their success is most unprecedented. No one in the band is even twenty-two years old yet. They have yet to record an official debut album. They released their first single last year, and with that and a couple LPs, they are selling out everywhere on their first North American tour. Their popularity and success do not match what would be expected from their current creative output. How does this happen?

The first thing everyone notices about Greta Van Fleet is that they sound a lot like Led Zeppelin. It is not possible for anyone to ignore this fact. Many rock bands have attempted to sound like Led Zeppelin and to the best of my knowledge and memory, Greta Van Fleet is the first band to actually pull it off. They legitimately sound like Led Zeppelin.

A very talented guitarist can study Jimmy Page and with the right guitar and the right tuning, learn how to copy his rifts to close approximation. A very talented drummer can study John Bonham and with the appropriate set of drums copy they can sound convincingly the similar. Every human being has a voice that is theirs, some people posses a talent to impersonate others and very talented singers can reach beyond their natural tenor and sound like someone else entirely, however no one has ever been able to mimic Robert Plant’s voice, until now.

This is like someone pulling Excalibur out of the stone. If a boy can sing like Robert Plant, then a boy shall be rock and roll king. I believe we are not all forced to conclude that Josh Kiszka is the chosen one.

Naturally there is a lot of discussion surrounding Josh Kiszka’s voice.

One perspective is, this is the first time in rock and roll history we have someone who has a natural singing voice nearly identical of our lord and savior’s, Robert Plant. This is a gift that needs to be shared with the world. We cannot fault Josh for having that singing voice, it is his natural singing voice after all.

Or is it?

Most people, including myself, hold this second perspective where we are pretty sure Josh had to work really hard to learn to sing like that, and fair enough, if I could sing like that I would, and believe me, I have tried. I have heard that Josh started singing like this because he was tired of the being drowned out by the instruments. I believe this is true, but I also believe there is a deliberate effort to sound like Robert Plant.

Someone should get Robert Plant’s opinion; oh good, someone already has:


Naturally I agree with Plant, it is pretty obvious that Greta Van Fleet have molded their sound after Led Zeppelin deliberately.

The real question at hand is, is it a good thing or a bad thing to sound so much like Led Zeppelin.

There is the very real negative side effect to sounding too much like someone else, especially when that someone else are rock gods, for if we are to forever compare Greta Van Fleet to Led Zeppelin they will forever be a second-place candidate, the inferior product, and listeners will likely grow indifferent to them in time. Some critics will say their sound is uninspired, and indeed some already are saying that. But to Greta Van Fleet’s credit they have wisely avoided doing any Zeppelin covers, while that would be tempting as it would create a great pop from current listeners, it would seal their fate as an imitation. Also, to be fair, while Zeppelin is clearly their greatest inspiration, I heart a lot of Rush and Heart in their sound as well, and while it is significantly less clear I suspect the “Van” in their name comes from Van Halen, and the “Fleet” comes from Fleetwood Mac, I am just guessing on that last part though. The point is, there is more going on here then a Zeppelin tribute.

The positives of sounding like Led Zeppelin are obvious, you get to sound like the greatest rock band of all time and we have well seen people are responding to that with great jubilation. The music industry has fragmented into subdivisions of genres more so now then ever, and the pop music industrial monster is struggling to keep up with this change, and one thing they have always under appreciated is the appeal of that sixties and seventies classic rock style. There is a huge following to this day of people who proclaim that was the greatest era of music; I am one of them. We were so hungry for more that when Greta Van Fleet showed up most of us did not care if they were an imitation or not, we just wanted that sound back.

This situation reminds me of the band The Darkness. If my memory serves me correctly The Darkness performed a decent cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and people began comparing their sound to Queen, and this surged their popularity for a time. Obviously, the comparison is not perfect because The Darkness while inspired by Queen and others did not really sound like them, they were their own band with their own style and sound, but you can see why I see the similarity in the return to classic rock and the appreciation the world has for it can be, and I think should be made. It confirms that all generation enjoy and love the style of Zeppelin and Queen.

Greta Van Fleet do not have too many songs yet, but from what we have so far, I like their titular track from their first LP “Black Smoke Rising.” A fine sounding Zeppelin song, that is not a Zeppelin song. A nice walking the line between imitation and original creativity. It possesses that sense of mysticism with a call to face the challenges forcing our world, the very make up of an epic classic rock song. I had a lot more to say about the band than a specific song this time, but yeah, “Black Smoke Rising” I think that is the best track they have to date. Probably the best example of sounding like Led Zeppelin without being Led Zeppelin.

A final thought. It does not matter who Greta Van Fleet sound like, or how they managed it. What really matters is good music, and they have thus far delivered on uppermost important criteria. It is my hope that Greta Van Fleet will not only be popular with the current youth but will inspire them to discover the gods of rock and roll past. My other hope is when Greta Van Fleet create their first few albums they develop their skills and find a style more so their own, they have a great sound now, but it is not theirs. Sounding like Led Zeppelin is an awesome thing to be, but to become legends they will have to find a way not to be the next Led Zeppelin, but instead become the first Greta Van Fleet.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Friday, September 14, 2018

Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand in Mine



The sounds of the guitar speak to my soul. There is very little music I listen to that does not include a guitar, the opposite however, music is nothing but guitar, I listen to quite a bit of guitar music. I may have mentioned this in the past.

Sometime ago a friend sent me a link to an Explosions in the Sky song expressing his wish to hear my opinion about that band. It is always very nice when someone respects your musical tastes and wants to share something with you and are legitimately interested in your feedback. After listening to 2000’s “How Strange, Innocence” and 2003’s “The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place,” I knew I had been blessed with another guitar focused instrumental band that I would be enjoying hence forth. I took it as a compliment that my friend trusted me to like this band, it showed good taste by both of us and a respect therein.

It is good to have friends.

Explosions in the Sky hail from Austin, Texas, which is one of the US cities I most wish to visit someday. Consisting of three guitarist, Michael James, Munaf Rayani and Mark Smith, and a drummer Chris Hrasky, Explosions in the Sky’s music revolves primarily around the sound of guitar. In almost twenty years they have not a lineup change and that is impressive.

This is not the sort of band most people hear about often. The absence of lyrics eliminates them from the possibility of pop consumption, and long experimental instrumentals are not exactly the most popular genre of music. In fact, I suspect Explosions in the Sky are more famous for their work providing songs for various television show’s soundtracks than their albums. There is a logic to this band finding a place in soundtracks, their songs are very moody and ambient, perfect for filling a scene. However, this makes them all substance, no flash, an artistic minded person’s dream band, but invisible and silent to the conventional music scene. Obscure but great, a perfect choice for Music in Review.

The music of Explosions in the Sky has this power over me that cause me to fall into a trance where I listen and my mind wonders, which is great for my own personal creativity, even while at work, but this creates a trivial challenge remembering the individual songs. It takes some fantastic to stand out within such a series of beautiful melodies, but one song managed to so for me, “Your Hand in Mine.”

This is one of those times I wished I was better educated in music theory, so I could better dissect the magic of a song like “Your Hand in Mine.” Alas, I am but a poor player at such things, so I will have to use my layman’s understanding to express the jubilation of this masterpiece. I call it the crawl. The steady pacing towards complication, towards layers in canon. A methodical sequence of individual guitar notes dances from beginning to end, carrying the entire song on its journey. The other two guitars leap in for the climatic moments and depart and allow for the next bridge and resurface with greater passion every time. What I presume would qualify as the lead guitar in this situation, wails long and longingly during the various climax and when it finishes, and the solo guitar slows ever more so towards a sweet ending everything leaving the listener with unexplained feelings of hope.

No words required.

It has to be heard to be understood, so do so with the link provided.

I am very thankful I live in a world with music like Explosions in the Sky. I am also thankful for friends like the one mentioned earlier who turned me onto Explosions in the Sky. Two things in life I have always been able to count on to cheer me up and help me along, are my friends and music.

- King of Braves

P.S.

I also really like "Remember Me as a Time of Day" from the 2000 album "How Strange, Innocence":

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

The Night Flight Orchestra - Lovers in The Rain



The Night Flight Orchestra is one of many bands that are engaged in the revitalization of 80’s style music. This is a fine thing, there was a lot of great rock and roll in the 80’s and a lot of heavy synth driven music that was enjoyable for the most part. Taking those elements and combining them with modern electric guitar progressive metal rifts results in a lot of great music. Remember Edguy’s “Space Police” album, that was freaking amazing, good times were had by all. Now imagine that concept being spread across a band’s entire discography, that is sort of what Night Flight Orchestra are like. This analogy works if you are coming from an Avantasia/Edguy perspective like me.

I have been aware of, and casually listening to The Night Flight Orchestra for years, but I have never been a big fan. It is not like I had a dislike for the band or anything they ever did, it was more that I never heard a song that jumped out at me and made me want to listen to them more. The only song of theirs I truly enjoyed was “Gemini” and as much as I love that song and video, that was not enough to capture my interest and make me a big fan.

A few years go by and I more, or less, forget about The Night Flight Orchestra, then whilst listening to all the new songs on Nuclear Blast’s youtube channel the new Night Flight Orchestra song comes up, the name of the band jogs my memory a little, and I struggle to remember them but I recall soon thereupon, and “Lovers in The Rain” plays and it is great.

Expecting great songs from Nuclear Blast is what I do, and I would agree that “Lovers in The Rain” is a great song, but it was unexpected. This is not what I normally consider metal, and it is a very different sound from what I typically hear on Nuclear Blast. Not being a pretensions twat that does not bother me, rather it made me marvel with curiosity. At last I wondered about The Night Flight Orchestra and what else they had to offer. Long story short, I still really like “Gemini,” but I also really like “Lovers in The Rain.”

“Lovers in The Rain” is structurally very straight forward; intro, two verses, chorus, two verses, chorus, bridge, final chorus, outro. While simple, this format has worked countless times in the music world historically and continues to work pleasingly so, and with good reason, that reoccurring pattern recognition works wonders on the human brain. We all enjoy it, even if pretensions music critics do not want to admit it. Quick and catchy and with no time to waste, the standard for capturing the attention of new listeners, and perfect for radio play, not that many people care about the radio anymore. It caught my ear, made me listen, and stuck with me as a mainstay on my playlist ever since.

One thing I have learned over time is that I have much greater chance of success of turning people onto good music if a colorful artistic video accompanies it. I guess enjoyable visuals help the human mind relate and remember enjoyable music, and I think there is a good probability that if my rambles are insufficient to turn a few ears to “Lovers in The Rain” than the music video should do the trick, because the music video carries as much charm as the song itself.

The story told in “Lovers in The Rain” music video is that of a young boy reading a comic book about a futuristic oppressive society with a hooded protagonist being chased by evil robotic overlords. The unexpected happens when the young boy from our reality is teleported within the pages of the comic. Whilst inside he and the hooded figure are chased by flying insect creatures with laser guns. The pursuit persist until the young boy unleashes his newly discovered super powers of energy projection and saves the day. With this display of heroism, the hooded figure introduces herself by revealing her purple face. The boy expresses love at first sight and they walk away together with the promise of new adventures.

All in all, I think it is a great music video. I do not watch videos at work, I listen to them, you know, because I am working. It so happens that I stumbled across “Lovers in The Rain” while at work, so I listened to the youtube video probably a half dozen times before I finally watched the video. So, for me personally, the song “Lover in The Rain” was enough to get me onboard for it, I did not need the visuals to win me over, but maybe it will help others to appreciate this fine piece of entertainment.

I wonder if The Night Flight Orchestra sell actual physical comic books depicting the events and visuals from the “Lovers in The Rain” music video. That would be a good idea for merchandise on their website and at their concerts. I think it is a good idea.

So yeah, The Night Flight Orchestra “Lovers in The Rain,” good song, good music video. Good stuff.

- King of Braves

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Electric Light Orchestra - Prologue-Twilight



The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) has two primary inspirational sources, the Beatles and classic music. It is very easy to hear the Beatles inspired rifts in songs like “Mr. Blue Sky” or “Kuiama.” The classic music inspirations are everywhere and readily noticeable, from their first album “10538 Overture” or the ending half of “Mr. Blue Sky.” “Mr. Blue Sky” is a very good example of everything ELO is about.

In the early days of ELO, a more acoustic sound prevailed, and this corresponds with Roy Wood’s creative contributions of the band. After only two years Woods left ELO and left Jeff Lynne as the sole primary song writer and clear leader of the group going forward. In short time Lynne would gradually transform ELO into a band experimenting with fancy science fiction like sounds that we have all come to love about progressive rock.

Unimportant side note, my best friend prefers some of the older days ELO songs where as I am fonder of the otherworldly sounds of the later days ELO. I find this interesting since we have the completely inverted opinions on the matter for Bob Seger, who did the exact opposite of ELO and become more folk rock as time went on.

Sometimes I feel like Jeff Lynne is an underrated guitarist and song writer; in most ways that we can judge such things, he is not; Lynne is praised by critics and highly respected by his peers, and ELO was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in 2017, so it is safe to say Lynne and his art is deeply appreciated. Nonetheless I see something a little different about his situation. The founding members of the supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys includes, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. Lynne is by far the least recognized and famous out of that list, and maybe he should not be. Even if he is doomed to be the least famous in that impressive cast, casuals should probably recognize his work more. But I say something like this in about half of my reviews, so take that for what you will.

ELO would produce an album a year, every year, up to 1977 with the release of their most successful album ever “Out of the Blue.” This begins the saga of my three favorite ELO albums, “Out of the Blue” (1977), “Discovery” (1979), and “Time” (1981).

Like a lot of people, I am particularly fond of “Time.”

“Out of the Blue” is probably ELO’s best album, but “Time” is a close second. From the psychedelic cover art with the cosmic water and a planet droplet, to the trippy sounds contained within, “Time” is a pinnacle example of ELO and Lynne’s stellar creativity. From the opening “Prologue” and “Twilight” that brings the sci fi like experience to the front, to the ending with “Hold on Tight” and “Epilogue” that ends the musical space odyssey and brings us back to continuity. “Time” is more or less a concept album, I just have not figured out what the concept is just yet; probably time.

Among the most popular of ELO songs of all time is “Twilight” and it is typically paired with “Prologue” as the two songs flow together perfectly and intentionally. There are many progressive rock songs that feel like a space adventure, and many more that explore the concept of reality through the spectrum of dream and alternate timelines, but there are few that are as extravagant as “Twilight.” I hesitate to use the word bombastic, as that is a back handed compliment suggesting a lack of substance, and while “Twilight” is over the top, it does not lack in metaphysical analytical depth.

The song could be thought of an introduction to the concept of “Time” the album title and theoretically the concept that drives the album artistically, but the struggled expressed in “Twilight” is dream vs reality and how to determine which is which is difficult in the twilight moments of departing into slumber and stirring into wakefulness.

Prologue introduces this idea:

“Just on the border of your waking mind,
There lies another time,
Where darkness and light are one,
And as you tread the halls of sanity
You feel so glad to be unable to go beyond.”


A dream? An alternate world? A different time? Or some insanity? Very out there. Very progressive rock.

The intro to the choruses if probably my favorite lyric from the song

“With your head held high and your scarlet lies,
You came down to me from the open skies,
It's either real or it's a dream,
There's nothing that is in between.”


Something is either real or it is not, that is actually some decent philosophy thrown in there, whether it is intentionally or not.

It could be a frightful prospect, being unable to discern reality from dream, but “Twilight” is just so enthrallingly joyful. Everything about the narrator’s experience sounds more like an adventure, a high adventure of cosmic magnitudes. A fun visit meant to be temporary but being extended perhaps indefinitely comes across more like a vacation becoming a lifestyle, and there is nothing fearful about that. The prospect of going on an otherworldly trip has always appealed to me, like Prism’s “Take Me to the Captain” or The Moody Blues “Beyond the Threshold of a Dream,” and ELO’s “Twilight” taps right into that.

“Prologue” and “Twilight” have received a resurgence in new found popularity and I can point to exactly the reason; this video:

Daicon IV Promotional Animation:

Nihon SF Taikai is a science fiction fan expo in Japan and when it is hosted in Osaka it is nicknamed Daicon, it is a Japanese pun, I believe stemming from the exhibition centre that hosts the event in Osaka. In 1981, it was the third time Osaka hosted the event and they hired a group of amateur animators to produce a promotional video, and those animators called themselves Daicon, presumably in honour of the expo they were working for. They produced a nice video of a young girl growing a giant daikon which is also a spaceship. Charming. Get it, daikon is a vegetable, and Daicon is similar; of course you got it.

Two years later Nihon SF Taikai would be returning to Osaka, and Daicon, the animation studio, would be rehired to make another promotional video and this time they made it count. The young girl from the first video is now an all grown up anime playboy bunny, and she goes on a rampaging adventure which includes… everything? She has a light saber fight with Darth Vader, is attacked by the xenomorph from “Alien” who is wielding Discovery One from “Space Odyssey 2001,” she rides the Stormbringer sword like a flying surfboard, which is a sword from a fantasy series I have never heard of, and while doing so she flies past the Arcadia from the Captain Harlock series, and the SDF1 from “Macross.” From there we are bombarded with images of characters from anime, comic books, science fiction and fantasy literature. For comic books I spot Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman and Captain America. For fantasy literature I spot Conan the Barbarian and Gandalf. There is plenty of Gundam in there too. On top of all of that there is a bunch of stuff I do not recognize but can safely assume come from something. There is just, everything.

It is amazing they did not get sued; oh wait, they did, by ELO for using “Prologue” and “Twilight.”

It is amazing they were only sued by ELO.

I do not know the whole story, but I believe ELO won the lawsuit and that is why it is very difficult to find a high-quality video of Daicon IV. Still, the internet is an invincible beast and it cannot be denied, so Daicon IV will forever be online somewhere in some level of quality.

The rediscovery of Daicon IV is a relatively new phenomenon. The internet has unleashed the nearly lost promotional video and understandably fans of geek culture have rejoiced in its splendor. What a wacky video, so many unlicensed references, and that group of amateur animators who named them Daicon, they became Gainax, the studio that gave us Gurren Lagann and Neo Genesis Evangelion, how crazy is that? Now ELO’s “Twilight” is very well known, it is rapidly becoming ELO’s most famous song and it has everything to do with that unlicensed video from Daicon IV.

Now I am in no position to tell Jeff Lynne what to do, but my advice would be, embrace this. Let go of any lingering legal battles with the existence of the Daicon IV video and let it be promoted or promote it yourself. This is great publicity. Once you do that… then Disney and everyone else can get their turn to sue the video…. Nonetheless I still think it is a good idea.

I take joy in the fact I used to listen to “Twilight” before fans of geek culture thought it was cool. Pretty cool watching this explosion in popularity. It is nice to see Jeff Lynne and ELO getting some well deserved love for one of my favorite ELO songs.

- King of Braves

Monday, July 30, 2018

April Wine - Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love



Speaking of Canadian classic rock, April Wine is one of the best bands we ever created.

Similar to other Canadian classic rock bands, April Wine in the current day is a group that primarily tours Canada playing their classic hits, of which they have many. I grew up with April Wine being mentioned in the same breath as Rush and the Guess Who, but when I reflect on it now maybe they have more in common with Chilliwack and Prism. All five bands mentioned in this paragraph are freaking awesome, so no insult is intended, or even possible, by any comparison, and while Rush and the Guess Who are celebrated as cultural icons, Chilliwack and Prism are great gems unjustly mostly forgotten, and maybe April Wine is somewhere in the middle.

April Wine formed in 1969 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Forty-nine years and twenty studio albums later, it is probably safe to say April Wine is a legendary Canadian rock band. Like any band that survives so long there is a single man driving the dream onward into eternity, and that man is Myles Goodwyn. Goodwyn functions as guitarist, lead singer, primary song writer and leader of April Wine. He is the only remaining original member of the band, and it is probably safe to say that April Wine is his band, his dream.

Of all the albums April Wine has produced, the only one I actually own is “Stand Back” (1975) their forth studio album, I also own their greatest hits, and god I am such a poser sometimes. The principle reason I sought out a copy of “Stand Back” was that it contains a hit song “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love.”

There is a instant charm to “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love,” the opening chords are immediately catchy, and that initial rhythm carries the song through out. Like many radio perfect rock songs, “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love” is a three-chord song. There is a many a joke about how three chord songs are cheap, and easy to play, but like anything, and everything, in life, just because something is not high level deep art does not diminish it’s quality or it enjoyment level. The sad truth that the technically talented and critically analytic must accept is that three chord songs are fucking catchy, and some of them are simply, perhaps by their simplicity, really good songs. The three chords in question for ““Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love” are G, C, and D.

I sat down to learn how to play “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love” and god am I rusty. In theory it is an easy song to play, what being three chords and all, and I used to be really good at moving from G to C to D, but I will need to practice getting back into the groove of it. Alternatively, I could learn the bar chords that are correctly being used, but I was never good at those, so I do not know about that.

So “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love” open with Goodwyn hitting us with the iconic three chord guitar rhythm and then he hits us with the iconic opening verse:

“Red and yellow, seasons changing gear,
Giving her all I am, reaching out with loving care.
You know she can feel it, oh yeah, she never has to try,
Going on forever, oh yeah, knowing that's the reason why.”


Maybe this verse is not as iconic for others as it is for me, but for me, it is very special. I believe I heard “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love” once a day for most days of my childhood when I used to listen to the radio, exactly the right amount of times to fall deeply in the love with the song and not become overplayed to me.

As stated at the beginning of this ramble, I mentioned that I do not know how well known, or remembered, April Wine is outside of Canada. Perhaps they benefitted from the Canadian content laws like Chilliwack, and like Chilliwack, April Wine is a good enough band they should not have to rely on the governmental assistance to be heard, classic rock stations the world over should be including April Wine songs in their repertoire.

Of all the many April Wine songs I know, when I sat down to write this up a review about the band, the song that first came to mind was “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love.” Sweetly upbeat and wonderfully catchy, it is a perfect radio friendly classic rock song, and that is probably why it has stayed with me, and so many other Canadian’s for so long.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Chilliwack - Fly at Night



Speaking of Canadian classic rock not too well known outside of Canada, Chilliwack is an excellent rock band most non-Canadian’s do not remember.

Named after their hometown, the city of Chilliwack, British Columbia, and yes, that is the name of an actual city in Canada; Chilliwack the band formed in 1970 by lead guitarist Bill Henderson. The band would be active eighteen years, and in that time they would produce eleven studio albums and at least six big hit songs in Canada, including my favorite “Fly at Night.”

In 1997 Bill Henderson reformed the band and has been touring Canada ever since. They frequently show up for the Calgary Stampede, and play the local casinos, I keep meaning to go and see them, but I have never gotten around to it. Similar to another Vancouver based band Prism, the lineup has constantly been changing and no new albums have come out in a long time, but both Canadian bands appear content to tour Canada playing their hits. It is a humble existence, but I think it is very wonderful in many ways, they are successful, they are paying their bills doing what they love, and they have many great songs and many loyal fans. That makes for a pretty good life.

As previously stated Chilliwack had approximately six significant hit songs in Canada, and the one I grew up hearing the most often on the radio was “Fly at Night.” It was among my favorite songs that got played frequently. Before I discovered the complete work of Chilliwack or knew their band name, I made the mistake of thinking “Fly at Night” was a Neil Young song, and they do sound a little alike to an untrained ear, but I made the same mistake with America’s “Horse With No Name” when I was kid, so maybe the problem is just me.

I believe “Fly at Night” is a perfect example of a perfect classic rock song. It opens calmly with just the acoustic guitar and the singer and after the intro the electric guitar replaces the acoustic and the drums and bass join in, the basic fundamental four-piece sound take over and the whole thing is mellow and real easy going. The acoustic takes the bridges and the outro. this brings a sense of balance and continuity to the song. All the fundamentals of a good old rock and roll song is present and everything is proficiently well done. “Fly at Night” belongs in every classic rock fan’s playlist.

The lyrical content is nothing too deep, Chilliwack recants the experience of about traveling by plane while on tour. While the subject matter is simple, the poetry is not, every line is a very clever way of describing the experience.

Like how they describe the expanse of their travel and now exhausting it is by saying:

“And when you close your eyes,
Sleep comes fast.
When you fly the universe,
Well, you need some rest.”


Or, how they describe the rock concerts themselves with:

“Ooh, we like the big wide spaces,
Yeah, we like a sea of faces.
Time is just a rubber band.
Time is at our command.”


It is really nice stuff and makes for two very good verses.

Of all the music genres in the world, classic rock is the deepest I listen to, and I can say without exaggeration that Chilliwack’s “Fly at Night” should be included along songs like America’s “Horse With No Name,” or Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” and while most people are familiar with the later two I hope one day soon people are equally familiar with “Fly at Night.”

While Chilliwack has faded into obscurity for the most part they are kept alive by a cult following and, I hate to say it, perhaps, Canadian content laws. I heard Chilliwack on the radio a lot growing up, and there is no doubt they deserve to be on all the classic rock radio stations in Canada, with or without government sanctioned Canadian content standards, but it is sad, to me, because I suspect they would not receive this well-deserved playtime if not for those laws. In reality, Chilliwack should be receiving similar treatment in US radio stations, and frankly globally as well. Satellite classic rock radio stations should be including Chilliwack, at least “Fly at Night” as a regular on their playlist. I grew up with this being normal, and it is strange to me knowing that it is not for most of the planet.

One of these days, hopefully soon, I will catch Chilliwack when they are playing at a local casino.

- King of Braves

Sunday, July 1, 2018

The Guess Who - Running Back to Saskatoon



I have written on a couple occasions about music beloved within Canada’s boarders that is largely overlooked outside of the great white north. The most interesting reviews I have written about this subject revolved around the Tragically Hip, which is the best example of this phenomena. I have thus dubbed the Tragically Hip, the most Canadian band of all time. The only counter argument anyone offered up was the Guess Who.

The Guess Who are a really good pick to represent Canadian classic rock. While they are a very good band, they are even more so, a very Canadian band.

I have heard multiple different versions of the origins story of the Guess Who’s name, so my confidence in getting it right is a little lacking, but I will try nonetheless. Formed by Chad Allan in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the original name of the band included his name and they quickly ran a gambit of various names soon there after:

- “Allan and the Silvertones”
- “Chad Allan and the Reflections”
- “Bob Ashley and the Reflections”
- “Chad Allan and the Expressions”
- “The You Know Who Group”
- “The Wonder Who?”
- And finally: “The Guess Who”

Changing the name to “Bob Ashley” after the keyboard player, I believe was done as a gaff. They dropped the “Reflections” because there was some kind of trouble, copyright or legal maybe, with an active rock band in the US called “The Reflection” and so they had to change it to “Expressions.” But then Chad Ashley left the group, and Burton Cummings took over as lead singer. The gaffs of silly names returned and they happened to be calling themselves “The Guess Who” when they finally hit it big with their fourth album “Wheatfield Soul” and their hit single “These Eyes.”

I think that is how it happened.

Today’s conversation is about being Canadian, and The Guess Who are Canada’s first notable big rock band, so by default they represent the nation in a significant way. Hence the Guess Who are a great choice for the most Canadian group ever.

The question I wish to ponder is, what is the Guess Who’s most Canadian song? Most of their songs are good rock songs about the things we can all relate to, but they do have at least one song that stands out to me as uniquely very Canadian and that is “Running Back to Saskatoon.”

What makes “Running Back to Saskatoon” so potently Canadian, I think is pretty obvious, it is a song about returning home to the province of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan is one of Canada’s ten provinces, and a running joke is that nothing ever happens there. Geographically Saskatchewan is little more than a flat expansion of farmland. Driving through Saskatchewan on the Trans Canada Highway is considered by Canadians as an extremely boring endeavour. The city of Saskatoon is the largest city in Saskatchewan with a population of approximately two-hundred and fifty thousand people. It is a small city in the prairies that few outside of Canada know about. Singing a song about Saskatoon is an extremely Canadian thing to do. But it does not end there.

The Guess list out other obscure Canadian municipalities describing their travels back to Saskatoon. The chorus starts by listing three towns in Saskatchewan, and soon there after four more relatively unknown Canadian municipalities.

“Moose Jaw, Broadview, Moosomin too,
Running back to Saskatoon.
Red Deer, Terrace, Hanna, Medicine Hat.
Sing another prairie tune.
Sing another prairie tune.”


Yes. Those are all places in Canada. We have a town called Moose Jaw.

I Have been to Red Deer and Medicine Hat several times. Red Deer is the stop gap city between Calgary and Edmonton. I used to visit both Red Deer and Medicine Hat for wrestling tournaments when I was young. The only town I am not very familiar with is Terrace, a small town in Northern British Columbia.

All these little places throughout the prairies are Canadian gems, and there is a low chance of anyone outside of Canada having ever heard of them. The average American might think the Guess who were saying a bunch of gibberish, but I suspect they would figure it out pretty quickly if they decided to think about it.

“This tune is home grown,
Don't come from Hong Kong.”


There is a very large Chinese population in Canada, I can attest to this fact in Calgary, but as I understand it, Vancouver has a very influential population base originating from Hong Kong, so maybe the inclusion of that Southeast Asian metropolis, is used as a choice comparison for that reason, and not just because it is foreign and for it’s impressive size. I feel that this line is a self acknowledgement of the Guess Who’s blatant embrace about how Canadian this song is. Just a home-grown song about Canada, not giant China, not our neighbour the USA, just singing about the parries of central Canada.

The point is, how Canadian can you get? Cause it does not get much more Canadian than singing about Saskatoon.

Not unlike my last review of UFO’s “Only You Can Rock Me,” I am much more familiar with live versions of “Running Back to Saskatoon” than the studio version, so much so, I am not sure I have ever heard a studio version. I am no longer convinced there even is a studio version. From what I understand the Guess Who first performed the song live and it appeared on live albums after becoming a popular live track.

“Running Back to Saskatoon” is a simple song, a nice catchy tune meant to charm more than impress. Maybe that is why The Guess Who never bothered to record a studio version, and that is absolutely why it became a cult classic for live performances. Quirky and fun “Running Back to Saskatoon” is a nice little song about a humble little place, which is just like a slice of Canada.

Sunday, June 17, 2018

UFO - Only You Can Rock Me



For well over a decade I have been listening to UFO’s greatest hits, and in that time my favorite song of theirs has always been “Only You Can Rock Me.” The version of “Only You Can Rock Me” on the version of my copy of UFO’s greatest hits, is a live version, a very good live version. It was not until some time, very recently when I picked up a copy of “Obsession” (1978) that I finally heard the studio version of “Only You Can Rock Me.” It must have been close to fifteen years I have been listening to that live version, and only after listening to “Obsession” did I fully realize the truth, that I had never heard the studio version before. It was beautiful. As good as that live version is, there is something about the refinement of a well written song being properly recorded in high quality. It was a tranquil moment for me.

UFO was founded by Phil Mogg, who has functioned as the lead singer, primary song writer, and sole consistent member of the band. Like other legacy bands that would not yield to time Mogg has kept the dream alive despite numerous line of changes and two two-year hiatuses. To date UFO has released twenty-two studio albums, that is a serious commitment by Mogg and worthy of respect, I have listened to several, but nowhere near all of them.

My introduction to UFO had a winding path to it, which starts with the Scorpions.

Everyone knows who Rudolf Schenker is; at least everyone should know who Rudolf Schenker is. He is guitarist and founding member of the Scorpions along with lead singer Klaus Meine. Not everyone is as familiar with Rudolf’s younger brother Michael.

Michael Schenker worked with his big brother on the first two Scorpions’ albums “Lonesome Crow” (1972) and “Fly to the Rainbow” (1974), but after that he wished to branch out, concerned he would end up living in his brother’s shadow. Rudolf, being a great guy, at least from what I know of him, was very supportive of Michael going his own way. Michael would return to the Scorpions briefly in 1979 to work on the album “Lovedrive” this is one of the few Scorpion albums I do not know very much about, so I will have to look into that soon, as I am surprised to learn Michael returned at all.

Michael Schenker’s first stop after leaving the Scorpions was to join up with UFO. It is these albums that include Michael that I am most familiar with. It is these albums that UFO is most famous for. In total Micheal Schenker was involved in eight UFO albums over the course of two tenures, the first five, the ones I know, from 1974 to 1978, and three later from 1995 to 2002, I am not familiar with those.

After his first stint with UFO Michael would end up working on his quasi solo band Michael Schenker Group (MSG), however his work with UFO is what he is best known for.

There is something of a cult following for Michael. His popularity has maintained itself over time, but like most people, I really only know him for those early UFO albums, and a little bit because of those early Scorpions albums. I often feel bad typing out something like that, like I should know better, but there is a reason why most of us only know that part of his work, that reason is that it is really good. I feel even worse going on about Michael when Phil Mogg is the true leader of UFO and probably deserves more attention and praise.

“Obsession” would be the last album Michael worked on with UFO, before his temporary later return, and in recent listens it has been the one I have given the most attention. As stated “Only You Can Rock Me” is my favorite UFO song, and it being the first track on this album, makes “Obsession” a good candidate for my favorite UFO album.

There is an interesting game of steps of separation that exists in classic rock that can lead us to somewhat forgotten gems. The Scorpions are huge and likely to be remembered forever, and with that guitarist Rudolf Schenker will be immortalized, but his brother, less successfully but similar to talent, will the advantage of being remembered by association and then for his great work. UFO, a band clearly worthy of compliment gets recalled because of Michael, and Phil Mogg gets noticed as the workforce singer and song writer he is. That is how this discovery happened to me, and it only encourages me to dig deeper.

I am filled with questions, like what was UFO like before and after Michael Schenker? How good is MSG? And hey, Graham Bonnet was the lead singer on the album “Assault Attack” and I just a review explaining how his band Alcatrazz was a primarily forgotten classis. Another degree of separation with a similar story.

Writing reviews like this are challenging, because there is some much I am still discovering, but it is also a major source of enjoyment in my live. UFO, five good albums that I know, “Only You Can Rock Me” is really great, I could have just said that for now, but I cannot because there is so much more to take in, and I look forward to it.

Oh, and by the way, “Only You Can Rock Me” is really good. So, good I am willing to ramble on about a band I do not know very much about, just to share with the world how good of a song it is. Phil Mogg sings not only well but at a pace where he nearly overlaps himself, and I do not know if a recording trick is being used or not, because that live version I am so deeply familiar with he creates the same affect. Michael has a great, but short solo, and all in all it is a quick punchy song. A straight forward, high quality rock song, exactly the sort of thing I love.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves