Posts Tagged ‘heavy metal’
L’Amour Rocks CD (1987)
Super rare closet classick! This was put out by Mercenary/Celluloid Records in 1987 and I’ve probably owned it for 
about 15 or so years and until today I don’t think I have listened to this in about 10 years. Not even sure where I found it. Doesn’t matter. It’s got some cool stuff on here like Wrathchild (who changed their name to Wrathchild America), Attacker and Halloween etc. Those bands ended up being relatively well-known at least in the underground metal scene. Matriarch is pretty decent. Jett Blakk is pretty average thrash. The Lethal Aggression is pretty bad…but then again if you’re into skate core/thrash/NYHC/punk, you may dig this one. Meanstreak is about as average as hard rock could be. The final track by The Boys is pretty awful.
1. “Armed To Deliver” –Wrathchild (3:56)
2. “Red Dawn” –Matriarch (3:53)
3. “Battered Child” –Jett Blakk (3:39)
4. “Generic Punk” –Lethal Aggression (2:21)
5. “Emanon” – Attacker (4:04)
6. “Come and Get It” -Halloween (3:18)
7. “Lost Stranger” –Mean Streak (2:38)
8. “The Boys Keep Rollin'” –The Boys (4:14)
I’m posting this since it’s pretty rare and has some decent songs on it.
Enjoy.
That woman, she was on old flame of mine…
When I look back at Thin Lizzy’s catalogue, it blows my mind that the Johnny The Fox album wasn’t more popular. 
Other than the final track, Boogie Woogie Dance, it’s damn near perfect. Phil sings his heart out on this. Oddly enough the album is played a half-step down from standard tuning. I had read a while back that Phil wrote most of while recovering from Hepatitis and tuning down made the songs easier to sing.
Thank God for Hepatitis, eh?
There’s a lot of romanticism and sadness on this album of varying degrees. Borderline and Old Flame always tug at my heartstrings for various reasons…loves from days gone by. Phil really had a way of stringing words and phrases together.
Selected verses from Borderline:
Midnight in the big city
At the bar drinking all on my own
Just thinking about that girl and me
How something’s going wrongSeven beers and still sober
It’s time to change to something stronger
I cannot take this scene no longer
She could have told me it’s all overBack in my home town
The old place is still the same
But time can cast a spell over something
You can’t go back again
It’s just love or rejection
For this borderline case
No shit, Phil. I feel ya. And from Old Flame:
Once this flame it did brightly blaze
Among the ashes there still remains
A glowing spark in my heart
For that old flame of mine
Dude, that’s what I mean. Old crushes can sometimes die hard (with a vengeance?) . OK, that was weak.
Then the sarcastic tone of Don’t Believe a Word:
Don’t believe me if I tell you
That I wrote this song for you
There might be some other silly pretty girl
I’m singing it toDon’t believe me if I tell you
Not a word of this is true
Don’t believe me if I tell you
Especially if I tell you that I’m in love with you
The man…a lot of it is in how he sings it too. Such a unique vocalist.
Then you have Fool’s Gold. The romantic notion of leaving your homeland in hopes of finding gold, only to end up with fool’s gold. Oddly the song takes some odd lyrical turns and tells some other stories that don’t seem so related to the initial subject, but it’s still a great tune.
Then…Massacre. This song rules. It’s very metal for 1976. Iron Maiden did an incredible cover of this.
The song Johnny, Rocky and Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed and are 3 great rocking tunes as well. Rounding it out is Sweet Marie. A nice little love song about missing his woman while he’s out on the road.
If you’re even mildly a Thin Lizzy fan, this is one album that needs to be in your collection.
Enjoy the tunes.
RIP Phil.
Death To False Metal Vols I and II
I don’t even know when these came out but I’ve had the first one forever it seems. It’s definitely better than the second one. Basically it’s a bunch of underground punk/garage bands playing 80s metal/hard rock stuff. It’s fun stuff to listen to every now and then.
Enjoy.
Tyton – Mind Over Metal
So back in the day there was this great music store at Military Circle Mall called The Music Man. That’s pretty much 
where we spent our allowances and paychecks in the 80s as thy typically had the coolest selection of metal. The Music Man was pretty cool and had a really cool staff. They also offered a replacement guarantee on their cassettes and CDs if they became defective. We knew the staff there pretty well and if we bought something we didn’t like, they would typically let us trade it in for something else. I was fortunate to work there for a year or so, an experience that I will never forget.
One of the cassettes I bought in 1987 was Tyton’s Mind Over Metal. I didn’t know anything about them but they were on an Enigma sub-label which usually meant you had a pretty good chance of buying something listenable. I played this cassette quite a bit. They weren’t over the top awesome but this album had some pretty good songs on it like Destiny Calls, Will You Follow Me (wimpy ballad but not too bad), and the title track. They were sort of mid-paced swords and shields style metal. I listen to it about once or twice a year still. It takes me back to some fun times with some former friends riding around Churchland trying to find a party or someone to buy us beer. Those were fun days and I am amazed that the 3 of us are even still alive. Come to find out years later that they hailed from Houston, TX and some people I know here in Austin knew those guys and even did a show or 2 with them. Living here in Austin and getting to spend time with guys that are metal legends (to me) is pretty incredible. Our metal round table discussions are pretty amazing.
I’ve attached the download to the album. It was never officially released on CD but some Euro label bootlegged it a few years back and I ripped the tracks from the CD.
Urchin feat. Adrian Smith
Like a lot of American kids, my exposure to the NWOBHM was Iron Maiden. Sure I had heard Priest in the 70s but they 
were pre-NWOBHM. As a Maiden fan, I always loved Adrian Smith’s guitar work, songwriting and vocal abilities. When the 10 Wasted Years video came out, they showed Adrian’s pre-Maiden band Urchin doing “She’s a Roller.” A cool poppy sounding song, very British in its stylings. I adored Adrian’s A.S.A.P. and always found it to be a refreshing and original album.
Last year I found a copy of the Urchin stuff on eBay for a mere $12! I had to have it. It’s a fun CD, nothing too crazy but it’s total Adrian Smith. I always wished he’d do a follow-up to ASAP’s Silver and Gold. Unfortunately we got Psycho Motel. I have both of their CDs but haven’t listened to them in forever. Perhaps I will one day soon…perhaps not (more likely).
Anyhoo…enjoy this trip down Adrian Smith’s memory lane.
- She’s a Roller
- Long Time No Woman
- Black Leather Fantasy
- Rock & Roll Woman
- See Right Through You (live)
- See Right Through You (studio)
- Walking Out On You
- Watch Me Walk Away
- The Latest Show
- Life Time
The Metal Files 
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