Never Turn Your Back

Closing out the B's with some New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Most people should recognize the band Budgie. Metallica of course has covered two of their songs, 'Breadfan' and 'Crash Course In Brain Surgery'. Both great songs from a sometimes underrated band. While I get the vocals are a bit hard to get into, read somewhere along the lines of Geddy Lee style vox. Budgie are still putting records out and made some amazing records with some great tongue in cheek song titles. However for tonight's selection I'm putting up the classic 'Never Turn Your Back On A Friend', great slice of NWOBHM. Actually one of the first true NWOBHM albums I bought. Enjoy hearing the original version of 'Breadfan'

Download

Lit Up

Posting some 'modern rock' tonight. I.e. something from the past 15 years that's been released. Buckcherry is one of those sleazy as all get out LA rock bands. Like or em or hate em they kinda make ya wanna party with some strippers. I'm posting their self titled debut for your guilty party pleasures. Solid debut album. 'Lit Up' is still one of my favorites from this band. Turn it up loud and don't act like you don't have some strippers on speed dial.

Download

Go Go Godzilla

Mid week, time for some classic rock. Blue Oyster Cult, everyone should know this band. I mean how many times have ya heard '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' or 'Godzilla'. Probably too many times to count. Still a great prog (if ya will) band. Throwing up 'Cult Classic' here for ya. Good best of comp that features all the good songs and some little gems, 'Astronomy' anyone?

Download

Middle Earth

Back end of today's posting is some Middle Earth inspired Power Metal. Oh yes kids grab the 20 sided dice and some Mt. Dew for this one. Blind Guardian were probably one of the first power metal bands I really enjoyed. While I'm not a huge Tolkien fan, the way the story gets woven into the music is pretty epic. 'Nightfall In Middle-Earth' was the first LP I bought from them. The opening dialogue gives way to 'Into The Storm' and from there you're pulled into Middle Earth. Epic power metal. Side note, the album was mixed by one Flemming Rasmussen, the same guy who produced Metallica's 'Ride' 'Master' and 'Justice' albums. Small world. Now if you'll excuse me I have a character to level...

Download

Viking Time

Back from vacation and back into the B's this week, and yes another double post. Something about sitting wasted in a bar remembering how awesome 90's alt rock always makes me forget I have a blog to update. Anyways, kicking things off this week with some Bathory. One of the most respected metal bands ever to exist. A one man thrash/viking/doom metal outfit who played less than 10 shows live ever. "Hammerheart" is the pinnacle of the Viking Metal phase if you will. Epic songs about battles that rage on. Also features 'One Rode To Asa Bay' the only video Bathory ever made. Oddly MTV did show it a few times. So find a viking helmet and a make a foil sword and enjoy.

Download

Stop It Ya Fat Penguin

Last post for a bit while I head back out home for a week. And the post kinda ties back into going back home for me. The Blues Brothers is still one of my favorite movies of all time. If it's on TV I'll watch it, no questions asked. Movie had some great musicians on it. And an even better soundtrack. So I'm going post the soundtrack. Going home a a smile and some good memories.

Download

Mr. Soul

Going back to some classic rock for today's posting. Buffalo Springfield were one of the bands I remember growing up and hearing a lot of in the house. The timeless 'For What It's Worth' still conveys the same message it did some 30 yrs ago. The combo of musicians and voices made that band huge. Stills and Young of course would cross paths later down the road. Uploading 'Retrospective' which is the best of collection. Great best of album that captures everything this band was about.

Download

Sabbath

Heading back to where Metal began for most, Black Sabbath. The original lineup of Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill to this day stands the test of time. First half dozen records from the are all classics. For today's selection I'm going with 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'. This album is one of their finest I think. Start to finish it's a monster. Great first side of the LP, flip it over and it's still great. Make sure you play this one at 11.

Download

Wasted

The other half of the punk post is Black Flag. Probably one of the most well known influential punk bands to come out of the scene. Known for launching Henry Rollins into a punk icon as well as Keith Morris too. The band started in the late 70's and steamrolled through the mid 80's before the wheels came off. 2 of my favorite records from this band are actually EP's. So I've decided to combine the two. 'Nervous Breakdown' and 'Jealous Again'. The former featuring Keith Morris on vocals and the later featuring Ron Reyes. Both straight forward in your face punk/hardcore. Along with the Bad Brains first LP, a must own for any punk fan.

Download

The Fat Elvis

Once again falling behind here and once again a double shot today. More like a triple shot of punk. First up is the Austin TX based punk/hardcore band The Big Boys. Along with The Dicks, The Big Boys were pioneers in the early punk scene down in TX. The band developed a different style of punk, in fact almost developing funkcore with the addition of a horn section. A great live band whose shows often involved food fights. The band abruptly split in 84 with members of the bands forming various other bands. 'The Fat Elvis' in the companion to the earlier compilation album 'The Skinny Elvis'. Wide mix of material on this album, but by far check out the cover of Kool & The Gangs 'Hollywood Swinging'. Great listen for the punk fans.

Download

Blow By Riff

Second posting focuses on some guitar wizardry. Jeff Beck is one of the best guitarists ever. Sadly doesn't get mentioned often enough in the same breathe as say Clapton, Page, Hendrix, Van Halen, etc. Of course he has played in a group that featured two of those above mentioned groups, that group was The Yardbirds. Along with the first LP from The Jeff Beck Group this album is prolly the most recognized and the best. 'Blow By Blow' is just that, 9 tracks of amazing guitar work. Doesn't help to have Stevie Wonder guest on the album either. Time to crank this one to 11.

Download

Surfs Up

Few days off with work and being sick, gonna double post here. Read that as work and drinking by the way. Going for some older stuff here. Mainly some surf rock if you will. The Beach Boys when I was younger were one of my favorite groups. Still are too. Something so simple about singing about catching the perfect wave or showing up the fellows with that sweet little ride of yours. Maybe it's cause I was born and raised in California and that surf culture somehow is instilled in me. So for the first post here I'm posting 'The Sights And Sounds Of Summer', the album is a newer best of collection. The album features mono/stereo mixes of the classics and spans the groups career. Perfect cruisin' music.

Download

The Thrill Is Still There

I'm going back and updating this post a bit in honor of the passing of BB King this past week. BB was a legend, the King of Blues influenced so many Guitarist and brought the sound of the Delta Blues into so many homes over the years. Not only could he play, he wasn't above of appearing in movies or spreading the news about Diabetes in TV ads. And no matter where he went, his trusty friend Lucille was there in tow. I had the chance to see BB play a couple years back at my job. Sometimes it pays to work in an entertainment venue. Leading up to the show I had read the reviews and heard the stories about BB only playing three songs and rambling on for an hour. I shrugged it off and said, dammit the man can still play, I'm like a five year old on Christmas. Day of show I got to talk to a lot of people before hand who had fond memories of seeing him in years past and who were like me excited to see him play. The sad reality of it was, the reviews were right. I saw a broken old man, who was barley able to hold a guitar and who's best years were well behind him. It was almost an hour before I heard the unmistakable guitar tone that was the legend. I watched the inevitable train wreck that was happening. Seeing people walk out in confusion and disgust was hard. It's always hard to watch someone try to continue on when you know the end was a while back. The end of the show marked him playing, which trailed into ramblings and a bunch of people going up to the stage as he signed albums.  The next day the press had a field day with the show. In fact it was still getting brought up the week of his passing. We were one of the last show he played. A co worker reminded me of that as we sat around talking about it the next day. That's pretty sobering to say you saw of one BB King's final shows ever. While it was the show I had wanted to see as a fan, it was cool to say you saw one of the greats on the Blues Mt. Rushmore. I found a clip of BB play with SRV, Albert King and Paul Butterfield. It's linked below. It's an amazing jam session and if you aren't familiar with any of those people, might I suggest checking out some of their works, so you can appreciate what music is.

Preview
Download

Music From...

Taking tonight's pick into a little bit of a different direction. The Band were a collective group of amazing musicians who at one point were the backing band for Bob Dylan. Hailing from the great white north of Canada, The Band released several critically acclaimed albums over their career. And what better way to go out than to have a movie/documentary made about you that features the like of Clapton, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr and many more. The Last Waltz stands up to being one of the best concert films ever made, as well as providing some 'coke booger' jokes over the years. Instead of posting the 4 CD collection that is The Last Waltz, I'm opting for the classic 'Music From Big Pink'. This is the deluxe expanded edition feature several bonus cuts. Stand out tracks here include 'The Weight' and 'Chest Fever'. Great album for fans of classic rock.

Download

Banned Much?

So after seeing what's happened to the majority of music blogs, I've decided to lay low for a bit and consider keeping this up and going. After some thought I've decided to continue posting albums on a daily basis. Coming back to the A-Z thing, kicking this week off with B's. Once again a pretty diverse mix of stuff here. Starting things off with a punk attitude. Hailing from DC the Bad Brains were credited as being a major influence and player in the punk movement. The self titled debut is just non stop in your face punk at it's finest. This album should be in everyone's collection and if it's not well here ya go...

Download