Unplugged In New York

Some of you fine readers out there will recall a time when MTV played nothing but videos. You'll also recall a little show called Unplugged, in which bands would strip down to acoustic guitars and jam out on their hits. So lets take a little trip back to the best one, if not certainly most well known one with Nirvana.

Nirvana at one point was the biggest band in the world. And I believe would probably still be if Cobain didn't join the 27 club. Riding high of the success of the grunge movement and the release of 'Nevermind' and the much grittier 'In Utero', the band had been in talks with MTV for a while to do an Unplugged show. Finally in '93 it happened. Recorded on November 18, 1993 at Sony Music Studios in New York, Nirvana would show the world a night they wouldn't soon forget. Instead of playing their hits, the band focused on playing some of their lesser known material as well as a handful of covers by the likes of The Vaselines, David Bowie, The Meat Puppets, and Lead Belly. It took many for a loop who were expecting to hear the hits. Instead they got a man bearing his soul while in the middle of detoxing. The pinnacle of the album of course is the final cut, a Lead Belly song entitled "Where Did You Sleep Last Night". Look no further than the final line of the song in which Cobain goes up an octave, cracks his voice, and you get goosebumps. The track would serve as a reminder of what a showman Gen X had just lost.

The album wouldn't be released until after Cobain's death. In fact the album didn't see the light of day until almost a year later in November '94. The DVD wouldn't see light of day til '07. The album of course would go on to sell millions of copies worldwide. Serving as what would be at the time the final release of the band. Of course we all know how the music business works and there's money to be made. Several posthumous releases have been issued in recent years. Again making Nirvana a top selling act.

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Showtime, Storytime

It's been a bit since I've featured anything female fronted. So lets change that with some Nightwish. Perhaps the biggest band to come out of the Symphonic/Opera Metal scene, Nightwish has been turning out albums since '96. The band once thought to be constant and never changing has gone through a few lineup changes in the past decade. Now on lead vocalist number three. The band has enlisted former After Forever frontwoman Floor Jansen. And really what better way to debut her vocal talents than on a double live album.

'Showtime, Storytime' was recorded Live at the Wacken Open Air Festival on August 3rd, 2013 and the album was released a few months later in November. This marks the debut of Floor on vocals and she kills it. A perfect fit, that most fans thought would replace Tarja when she was fired by the band. Floor fills in where Tarja left off with an amazing versatile vocal range and it shows on in the Live environment. This album captures the bands more recently material, covering some of the more well known Nightwish tracks. While I wish this album went a little deeper into the bands catalog, it's a good starting point to show off the new members.

Nightwish continues to release new material with the upcoming release, 'Endless Forms Most Beautiful', the bands first official studio album with the new members. I will continue to say that Nightwish is a good starting point for people not necessarily into Metal. While it's a bit different, and to some hard to take in, it does show that there are other sides to an ever growing genre.

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The Year Of The Voyager

Time to unleash another Double Live Album in your general direction. This time is comes from Seattle based Nevermore. Formed out of the ashes of the well received Sanctuary, Nevermore rose to some degree of fame with their self titled debut in '95. The band initially started out as a mix of Power/Thrash, before evolving into a mix of Progressive/Thrash/Groove metal by the late 90's. Underrated by some, but recognized as one of the more standout American Metal bands by many, Nevermore released two critically acclaimed records in '99's 'Dreaming Neon Black' and the follow up '00's 'Dead Heart In A Dead World'. Both albums seemed to set the path for the band into the next level, but sadly a constantly rotating lineup of Guitarists and health problems saw the band dissolve and as of this year officially disband.

The early part of the decade saw the band continue to rise despite lineup changes and label issues. In '08 the band released their first Live Album/DVD. 'The Year Of The Voyager' is a double Live album that pulls from the bands entire catalog. Recorded on October 11, 2006 at the Zeche Club in Germany, the band pulls out all the stops and shows people what a Live Nevermore gig is really like. Originally slated for recording in Sept of 06 but delayed due to health issues for frontman Warel Dane, the album was delayed a month. By this time the lineup changes were in full swing. Guitarist Steve Smyth had left the band due to turmoil and the recording of his other projects. Replacing him was then current Jag Panzer axeman Chris Broderick, who had previously helped out for Live shows in '01-03. Just a few years later the band would release what is now their final record in 'The Obsidian Conspiracy'. Guitarist Jeff Loomis and Drummer Van Williams would soon leave the band after the release. The band recruited new members and toured briefly before going on hiatus. In '15 Warrel Dane officially put Nevermore down. The members old and new continue to play in various bands. Jeff Loomis in addition to releasing two solo records now plays in Arch Enemy. Chris Broderick, just left Megadeth and is working on new projects. Warrel Dane and Jim Sheppard reactivated Sanctuary. And Van Williams has issued some new projects as well. Nevermore had the potential to become really big, but problems complicated the matter and the band barely made it out of the underground, a shame for a talented group.

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No Sleep Til Hammersmith

Time to take it back to another classic Live Album. This time from the mighty Motörhead. Lemmy has been fronting the band since '75, since Hawkwind gave him the boot. The man has been hailed as God in the Metal community since album one it seems. Motorhead has influenced hundreds of bands, maybe none so more than Metallica, who for Lemmy's 50th dressed like him and ripped through a set of Motorhead classics. 40 years on, Motorhead is still touring and putting out new material, proving once again the adage, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

'No Life Til Hammersmith', the name alone reminds people of one of the best Live records ever in the Hard Rock/Metal scene. Released in '81and with already three classic albums under their belt, 'No Sleep Til Hammersmith' proved to the rest of the world that Motorhead was indeed the loudest band on the planet and they meant business. Recorded in '81 at the bands Leeds and Newcastle gigs, the band churns out 11 classics. Don't believe me, each of those songs is still played Live today by the band. This is no nonsense headbanging, fist pumping Metal. It's dirty and meant to go to 11.

This rip is the 180-gram LP version on the album. So dust of the old Hi-Fi and crank this one up to 11.

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S&M

Continuing on with Live album that were sort of a bands swan song, we pick up with Metallica's '99 release with the San Francisco Symphony 'S&M'. I say this could be looked at as a swan song only because it was the last album til 03's 'St. Anger' and it was the beginning of what may have been the end for the band.

Recorded at The Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley California on April 21 & 22 1999, Metallica did what very few bands had tried before, playing with a full symphony. In the years since it seems to have become a rather common thing. But in '99 a handful of other bands did it with limited success. Back by Michael Kamen and the San Francisco Symphony, the band too a handful of songs they thought would work well with a backing symphony. In addition the band premiered two new tracks that had been leftovers from the 'Load/ReLoad' sessions. "No Leaf Clover" and "- Human" were added into the setlist. The former occasionally is still played live, while the latter has yet to be ever performed again. The album opens with the classic "Ecstasy Of Gold" and then kicks into the wonderfully done "The Call Of Ktulu". From there the next two hours are filled with hits and misses. The accompanying DVD does however work better with some visually stunning additions as the band plays. However this double Live album could've worked better as a single album. Not to say I don't enjoy it, cause I do, there's just some tracks that don't fit well.

Metallica has been ahead of the curve for sometime. The first of the Big 4 to really sell millions and turn people onto Metal. The symphony thing was a bit of a gamble however. The band had previously worked with the late Michael Kamen on an "Elevator" version of "Nothing Else Matters", it seemed like it would pay off. And in a way it did. In fact the band went onto to play with the Berlin and New York symphonies for one off shows. By the end of '99 Metallica was on tour through Europe on "The Garage Remains The Same Tour" and by the end of the year played a handful of shows with Ted Nugent, Sevendust and Kid Rock. By the time the new decade had started the back went back out on an ill fated Summer tour which proved to be the last tour for a while. By the end of '00 Jason Newstead had played his last show with the band and the band went into a spiral as well documented in the movie 'Some Kind Of Monster'. The band of course has since rebounded and continue to make music and tour. It's funny to look back though and wonder what if the bands final album was 'S&M'. It's seems like it was a fitting end to that era of Metallica.

By the way I failed to mention this is a rip of the 3 LP issue of the album. This is the original issue of the record, not the 6 LP one that came out recently. First time I believe it's been played in full.

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Rude Awakening

Today's post you can kind of place under the farewell Live Album category. Initially upon its release, it was the bands final release. I speak of course of Megadeth. The band founded out of the ashes of Dave Mustaine's bitter dismissal from Metallica in the early 80's, is among the Big 4 of Thrash Metal. Never one to shy away from inner struggles and band changes, Megadeth had been on a downward slide since the '97 release of 'Cryptic Writings' and the even more Pop Rock friendly 'Risk'. By the turn of the century most people could see the writing on the wall and had written off the band by the time the '01 release of 'The World Needs A Hero'.

The new century brought about another lineup change for the band. Brought into the band were Guitarist Al Pitrelli (Savatage/TSO/Michael Bolton/BoC) and Drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (MD 45/Alice Cooper/Y&T). The band attempted to go back to their Thrash roots with a new album, but sadly it came across more like a Modern Rock Radio attempt. Trying to capitalize on the Megadeth name, the band released a delayed Live album in 'Rude Awakening', a two disc album that was originally supposed to be recorded in Argentina, but was delayed due to the 9/11 attacks. Instead the band chose their current hometown of Phoenix Arizona to record the album. Recorded over two nights in November of 2001, one night at the Rialto Theater in Tucson Arizona and the next at the Web Theater in Phoenix Arizona. The album was filmed for a DVD and released to go along with the album. Oddly enough the Web Theater is no more and is now being used by the University of Arizona for their College Of Medicine. The album pretty much plays out as a farewell show. 2 discs full of new material as well as the classics. An overall solid performance as the band would fall apart just a few months later.

I got to see Megadeth on this tour, just a few weeks after 9/11 happened out here at a little venue called Pop's. The place was packed, I mean wall to wall, I barely could move. They had one opener in a Nu-Metal band called Endo, then it was two plus hours of Megadeth. This was prime Megadeth too. Dave was pissed off and played like it the entire night. By years end the band would be done due to Junior leaving and Dave's shoulder injury. Of course the band reformed a few years later and continues to put out material, although having half the band leave yet again does put some pressure on em. I got to see Megadeth again a few years back when I was in Arizona, again with a different lineup. Dave at that point was the only original member. The band seemed to have lost it's edge, kinda leaning back onto to their Modern Rock Radio sound. Sadly this is one of the few bands I just wanna see the hits played and none of the new material.

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Deadly Lullabyes Live

New year so lets pick up after a long overdue absence with some good ol' fashioned Theatrical Metal. I speak of course of the legendary King Diamond. Perhaps best known for bringing Black Metal into play in the early 80's with Mercyful Fate and then later continuing on with his solo band. King has always brought the macabre and wonderful storytelling into his bands. His solo work of course consists solo of concept albums. In that sense Live records can be a bit difficult, but King has managed to put two out during his long career.

2004 marked the release of the double Live record 'Deadly Lullabies Live'. A disc record collection that showcases King's solo work from 'Fatal Portrait' up to 'The Puppet Master'.  This release is a far cry from the previous Live effort in 1990's 'In Concert 1987: Abigail' which pulled heavily from the masterpiece 'Abigail'. Here we see material from albums, 'The Eye' and 'Abigail II: The Revenge' being played for the first time. The songs are pulled from the '03 Puppet Master Tour, King's first US tour since the '00 House Of God trek.  This is what a Live record should be. Full of hits, great sound, and not a whole lot of wasted space with stage banter.

I was lucky enough to catch the opening night of this tour in Los Angeles. It was my first time catching King live and I was lucky enough to talk with the band before the show and King was even nice enough to sign my 'Fatal Portrait' CD. There's one thing that King doesn't do for Live shows and that's phone it in. Even in a small club you get the full theatrical experience. Always worth the cash to see a King show.

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