Trollheart

Quatro --- Suzi Quatro --- 1974 (RAK)


My very first rock and roll female crush, and that of thousands or more of hormones-raging teenage boys, was this lady. The first major female rock star, certainly the first female bass player to achieve fame on her own merits, Suzi Quatro was ahead of her time. Taking the British charts by storm during the early seventies and eighties she had a string of successful hit singles like "Can the can", "48 crash", "Devil gate drive" and "If you can't give me love". For us young rockers of the male persuasion, she epitomised both the allure of hard rock and the pure sex of the female performer. She characteristically wore tight leather outfits that often left little to the imagination (down, Trollheart! Control yourself!) and flouted the image of the archetypal tomboy, a woman --- a very sexy woman --- breaking into what was mostly considered exclusively male territory. Of course there had been female singers, but even the likes of Stevie Nicks and Kate Bush were more seen as "softer performers", whereas Suzi played as loud and as proud and as raunchy as any of the boys. It's probably fair to say there are more than a few young men who may have been turned on to rock initially through her (ahem) gyrating hips and husky voice.

With at present fourteen studio and numerous live albums to her credit, this is her second and contained one of her big smash hit singles, and it opens with a big statement of intent as she yells "All my life I wanted to be someone/ And now here I am!" kicking off "The wild one", a big fast rocky uptempo number, not Iggy Pop's song in case you were wondering, or indeed Thin Lizzy's later effort. Like most of her music this is written by the famous songwriting duo of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who were responsible for all her hit singles. Great bouncy piano and raucous guitar, as well as Suzi's trademark basswork, but it's her distinctive voice that you instantly recognise, though on this song it's a little higher and less raw then it would later become. Her version of "Keep a-knockin'" is prefaced by some advice to young girls about not just "giving it away" to be cool: girl power? Spice Girls? This lady started it! A real role-model for young girls, she would sadly not have as much influence then as she would have done now, as back then not too many women were into the whole rock thing, certainly not as many as now.

Great guitar solo and it's a real fun song with a slick bass line from Suzi; you really get the idea she's totally enjoying herself and jsut having a good time, while still trying to deliver a serious message to the youth of the time. The song sounds as if it's live, though I don't think it is. Big heavy crunchy blues drums and a boogie-woogie piano on "Too big" with Suzi at her sultry, unrepentant best; she'd never apologise for being a woman in what was mostly a man's world, and she could hold her own with the best of them. Perhaps a sly dig at herself, a little self-deprecating humour as she grins "I'm too big for my boots" --- oh, those boots! Is it getting hot in here? She has a great blues voice and can sing with the fervour and soul of any of the great masters, this song swaying along carried on the rising wave of her infectious enthusiasm. "Klondyke Kate", the first of three songs she writes herself (well, co-writes) is another boogie number, with a real swinging tempo and some sort of fifties style male backing vocals. You can hear the growl, the little pussycat becoming a lioness now, as Suzi gets into her stride.

A big powerful swirling organ intro to "Savage silk", on which she cuts back on her vocal for about ten seconds before unleashing the weapon we loved in the seventies, yelling at the top of her voice with real power and passion. More great piano, as well as some stirring organ from Alastair MacKenzie, soft but powerful backing vocals from her drummer and guitarist. This song is slower and more restrained than the others, but still nowhere near a ballad. The organ runs on the song really make it, then Suzi's vocal drops down to a seductive mutter before the song fades out and we're into a bg guitar intro courtesy of Len Tuckey for a storming version of Cliff Richard's "Move it" --- sorry, did you just say...? Yeah, Cliff Richard --- and somehow she manages to give the song new teeth, kicking it up the arse and rocking out like there's no tomorrow.

Another cover next in Percy Mayfield's "Hit the road Jack", where she really turns on the tomboy image; this ain't no shrinking violet you're listening to! While Suzi would never be identified with the harder singers of the punk era, she in some ways advanced the cause for women in rock by simply refusing to just fade into the background as a bass player. Up till she arrived no female bassist had ever achieved solo fame --- in fact, I don't even know if there were any female bass players --- but she changed all that, paving the way for the likes of Sheryl Crow, Joan Jett and a whole host of others. Her version of this song is slower than the more recognised ones, more based around a stuttering guitar from Tuckey and her own clean bass lines. One more cover version then in "Trouble", a watchword for Suzi Q if ever there was one! Surely the woman your mother warned you about, and that your father secretly lusted after! A real blues shuffle this one, with Suzi channelling the ghost of Muddy Waters (yes I know he was alive at the time, but you know what I mean!) with one of her most compelling and powerful performances on the album yet. Janis who?

It sort of descends into a fast frenetic jam there at the end, as Suzi goes completely crazy on the vocals, MacKenzie matching her on the piano, then another of her own songs, and the first ballad on the album, in "Cat size", with a lovely lilting piano line from Alastair with what sounds like violin joining in and setting a completely different mood. Very passionate, and shows Suzi could sing gently as well as belt out the rockers. Super little guitar solo from Tuckey, kind of his first real chance to take the spotlight, and he doesn't waste it. Back to the rockin' then with a storming "Shot of rhythm and blues", big growly guitar and pulsing bass, electric piano giving the song a certain progressive rock feel, though I could live without the bad Elvis impersonation by one of the band, don't know who. The last song on the album on which she has a writing input is "Friday", and though it's okay I have to admit it's not up to too much. Still, the album ends powerfully on that big hit single, again a Chinn/Chapman composition which you may know if you're as old as me. "Devil Gate Drive" was one of her huge hits (I said HITS!) and it just punches your face in and takes your breath away with its raw energy and power, Suzi jumping all over the place and screaming at the top of her voice, she and the band obviously having a great time. The song actually reached number one, being one of her two singles to do so, and it's a storming way to close the album.

TRACKLISTING

1. The wild one
2. Keep a-knockin'
3. Too big
4. Klondyke Kate
5. Savage silk
6. Move it
7. Hit the road Jack
8. Trouble
9. Cat size
10. Shot of rhythm and blues
11. Friday
12. Devil Gate Drive

Think of all the female rockers you love; those who front bands, those who have come out from bands to make a solo career, even all-girl bands like The Bangles and No Doubt. I'm not saying these people would not have achieved fame without Suzi blazing the trail for them, but there's no question that she was a trendsetter and a woman who took on the male-dominated music world to push the bass guitar front and centre for women, and prove that girls could be more than just pretty backing singers, and could rock just as hard, loud and long as the boys! God bless 'er!

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Plankton

JMJ!



Thanks for jarring (pun intended) my brain. I know what I'm puting in for the ride home tonight.

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Trollheart

Brothers in Arms

Rod De'Ath
Position: Drummer
Joined: 1972
Left: 1978
First album played on: "Blueprint", 1973
Last album played on: "Calling card", 1976
Born: 1950

The strange thing is, that actually is his name! You'd think it would be made up: sounds like something a heavy metal drummer would concoct to sound cool, doesn't it? But the story of Rod De'ath is stranger even than his name. Joining Rory as a temporary drummer in 1973 to replace the departing Wilgar Campbell, he ended up being signed permanently and was one of the mainstays of Rory's music through the seventies. When he left the band in 1978 he joined a band called Ramrod and then later moved to the US. When he returned to Europe in the mid eighties many strange stories circulated about him, some of them claiming he had died. His non-appearance at Rory's funeral seemed to prove that to many people: if Rod were alive, considering the times they had had together, surely he would have been there to pay his respects to his friend?

But it turned out that De'Ath was alive. He had apparently fallen down a flight of steps while running to catch a train, in the process injuring himself so badly that he ended up losing the sight of one eye and also hitting his head so hard that he had brain damage. He was given a maximum of four years to live, but is still around today, having beaten the odds. His eyesight returned mostly, but he was never again able to play. He cleared up the mystery about his missing the funeral in an interview in "Classic Rock" magazine only last year, when he explained that when he had been told by the doctors he had only four years at best left to live, he withdrew from public life, as he had been away for some time already and did not want to reacquaint himself with friends, only to tell them he wouldn't be around in a few years. He was afraid therefore that if anyone he knew saw him at Rory's funeral it would shock them and cause too much consternation, and perhaps detract from the importance and solemnity of the occasion. He did however attend a later memorial service for Rory, squashing once and for all the rumours of his death, and also was present at the funeral of both Rory's and his bandmate Lou Martin when he died in August last year.

Surely then, Rod De'Ath is one person who can confidently and accurately state: rumours of my death have been wildly exaggerated!

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Breaking away --- Jaki Graham -- 1986 (EMI)

You could go through my album, CD or digital music collection and probably not come across another soul or disco album --- unless you count Tina Turner --- but this album for some reason made its way onto my record shelf back in the eighties. Maybe it was that I was on the radio with a late-night show at the time, and her single, which was also the title track, was in the charts. This album I do remember getting cheap, so cheaply in fact that it made sense to buy it on the assumption other singles would be released from it (they were) and as I recall although it didn't make me a fan of Jaki Graham or have me heading down to my local disco, it surprised me as being not totally crap. I haven't listened to it since the radio station closed down, and I do wonder now if I will still feel the same about it, a quarter of a century later?

Before we get into the actual music though, I must point out that it's almost not a Jaki Graham album, as the pawmarks of Derek Bramble are all over it. I originally believed him to be married to Graham, but I see now I am incorrect: she's married all right but to someone else. In that case I don't know why he has such an overbearing presence on the album, but he writes almost every song, produces, arranges, engineers the album and plays guitar and keyboards as well as providing backing vocals. Oh, and he arranges the strings and programmes the drum machines too. Bloody Hell! As I say, it's only short of having his name on the cover instead of hers! Talk about creative control being taken out of your hands. But then, as I mentioned, I don't know the background behind these two, and maybe he was and is a great friend of Graham's and was helping her out. Or maybe he's just huge in disco/soul circles and she was glad to have his input. I really don't know, but if you look at the back of the album and count the number of times Derek Bramble's name appears, well, it's a lot is all I'll say.

So what about Jaki then? Can she sing? Well yes she can, and right from the start she shouts then sings the title of the opener, the perhaps appropriate "Set me free". It's got that upbeat brass so typical of soul records of the late eighties, with good backing vocals and digital piano with funky guitar and bass, and it bops along nicely. Stabs of sharp synth are added throughout the melody, again another thing common in music of this genre at the time. It's not the worst start to an album though it's really not my kind of music. Good sax solo halfway through from --- well, I don't know: there are three or four guys credit with "brass" in the liner notes, so I couldn't tell you who is responsible for the sax, but he's pretty good. The song itself is, not surprisingly, a little repetitive: I always found disco, soul and funk to be somewhat pedestrian in its structure, though the title track opens with a nice low sax and piano line before bright synth and much more upbeat and happy brass kicks the song up a few notches.

Graham has a great voice, of that there's no doubt; she's not of the school that believes you shout, roar or drag out every syllable a la Mariah Carey, Whitney or Leona Lewis. She sings strongly but doesn't warp or twist her singing and it's quite pleasant to listen to. "Breaking away" is another uptempo song but slightly slower than the opener, with another fine sax break and some sort of samply synth work running through it. Again, you'd have to wonder: two tracks both with the theme of escape or getting away from something. Are we being given a message here? Or is that too deep for what is essentially a soul pop album? Whatever the case, "Still in love" has a beautiful strings opening, and if Derek Bramble is indeed responsible for their arrangement then he did a fine job. A happy, bubbly synth and some Rose Royce-style drum pads then takes the song in a semi-balladic direction, and Jaki's voice is clear and soft on the vocal. Nice backing vocals too, sprinklings of piano and keyboard running through the song like a meandering stream, with a really nice guitar solo in there, while "Love under moonlight", despite its ballad-like title, ramps up the tempo again.

Built on a solid little bassline, it reminds me of early Judie Tzuke in many ways, particularly "Sportscar" and "I am the phoenix", and is probably the funkiest of the tracks on the album up to this point. Nice to hear the guitar (yes, played by Bramble --- Derek Bramble appears by kind permission of Derek Bramble!) get its chance to shine and take the spotlight, and though it's relatively restrained it's a break from the synth-heavy material we've heard up to now. Nice blast of brass, which I admit could be sax or trumpet or even trombone: I'm not great with identifying brass instruments. I do remember not having much time for "Let's get blue", which returns to the digital piano melodies, with those drum pads again echoing and bursting out, this time with a male vocal duetting with Jaki. I think I remember it being credited as, you'll never guess, Derek Bramble, but I can't confirm this at the moment. I'd say it's him though. It's a fairly simple and banal song and I don't like it now any more than I did twenty-five years ago when I first heard it. It does have some Stevie Wonderesque harmonica, though I have a feeling it's synth-created.

"Luv 2 much" starts on a sort of electronic noise then jumps into an almost Art of Noise/Janet Jackson/Prince hybrid, with a staccato guitar, pulsing bass and running synth line. It came across to me then, and it still does now, as a poor ripoff of the sort of songs made popular by the likes of the Purple One and Michael's sister: it just doesn't sound like something I would have expected from Jaki Graham, given what I'd heard up to then. I think it was a shamless attempt to cash in, but don't think it worked. Lots of synthy trickery to try to pad out what is a pretty dull and ordinary song; just did nothing for me. The first of two songs on which Bramble collaborates with another songwriter, "The love of your life" is a good bit better. Maybe he needed someone to channel his creativity or just push him in another direction. Quite similar in ways to some of the material Phil Collins was putting out around that time, it has some nice peppy horns, a decent hook and a great vocal from Jaki, as well as some funky guitar from Bramble.

And he teams up with the great David Grant for "The closest one", which certainly has some punch in it, almost veering into rock territory on occasions. Big heavy powerful drums drive the rhythm and the synth line is frothy and sprightly, with good backing vocals from again Bramble, whose final songwriting effort, "Step right up", was the last single taken from the album, all four of which got into the UK top twenty. It's okay but nothing special: big honking synths and a snarly bass pull the song along in a marching dance rhythm, but it does feature one of Graham's most powerful and decisive vocal performances. The album then ends on what was the big hit single, and the only one not written by Derek Bramble. "Mated" features Grant again but not in terms of songwriting; he duets with Jaki on this song which became something of the signature of the album, even though of the four singles released this one was out before the album and reached the lowest chart position. It's a twee little love song but the voice of David Grant does add a lot to it. It has an almost boyband hook in the chorus, and you could certainly hear Westlife, One Direction or any of that lot singing it. It's the sort of song that doesn't have to be a duet, thought it does work better as one. For a closer I've heard worse, but I've also heard better.

TRACKLISTING

1. Set me free
2. Breaking away
3. Still in love
4. Love under moonlight
5. Let's get blue
6. Luv 2 much
7. The love of your life
8. The closest one
9. Step right up
10. Mated

I think when I was listening to this the first time I was trying to convince myself that I hadn't wasted my money, because only looking at it from the viewpoint of "Ah it's not that bad!" makes this album worth listening to at all, certainly now in my almost fiftieth year. I wouldn't say it's a terrible album --- it certainly has a few okay tracks --- but it's not the sort of thing I would listen to of choice. Of course, as I said in the opening section I'm not a fan of this sort of music, so maybe I'm missing something really great about it. Some of you may enjoy it: some of you probably will enjoy it. But for me it's just a pretty generic pop/disco album that had I not needed to satisfy the endless requests of my three radio listeners back in the eighties I would never have considered buying.

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Trollheart

One eye on the sunrise --- Nine Stones Close --- 2012 (Prog Rock)


Conceived originally as a solo project for guitarist Adrian Jones, Nine Stones Close (no, I don't know what it means either, and I don't know if it's "close" as in "close the door" or "close" as in "close to you"...) have had essentially three albums now, though the first one didn't really feature a band as such. This is their second as a full unit, and although I have yet to hear the previous efforts, this album only just barely missed out getting into my top twenty albums of 2012, purely because I decided to listen to it too late and had the list all ready at that stage. But it's definitely one of my "unofficial" favourite albums, another one I found hard to stop playing and move on from once I began listening to it.

It opens on some weird little electronic noises then a pure, beautiful piano not a million miles removed from Mark Kelly's best slides in. The soft ambience is suddenly blown apart though by some powerful guitar and punching drumming, as choral voices on the synth join the melody, and "Faceless angel" becomes one of three instrumentals on the album, with some quite Gilmouresque guitar from Jones to take the song to its tinkling close and into the very Marillion "Secret", so much so that the opening guitar riff is almost identical to "Torch song" from their 1984 "Clutching at straws", the last album with Fish. Beautiful crying guitar and swirling synth though and a yearning vocal from Marc Atkinson soon pulls the song away from being any sort of a clone or copy, though the somewhat annoyingly familiar riff does run through the track, making me unconsciously sing "Read some Kerouac/ And it put me on the track/ To burn a little brighter now." Try it: it works disturbingly well.

It is though a lovely ballad and a real showcase for the band's tight-knit musicanship, with some powerful backing vocals and another storming solo from Adrian Jones. One of the standouts comes in the form of the dramatic "Janus", with a big instrumental opening, heavy percussion, almost siren-like guitar and thumping bass which runs for almost half the track's length before some beautiful classical-style piano and soft sizzling synth takes the melody. You might think a six-minute instrumental would drag but it doesn't at all, and the guitar work in this track is truly stunning, displaying Jones's expertise on his instrument of choice. It might seem a bit much to follow this with another instrumental, but "... And dream of sleep" is a purely guitar-driven piece, with some violin on synth adding to it, a little percussion but mostly a showcase again for Jones on the guitar. It's soft and folky with a nice little pastoral sound, less than two minutes long, and leads into the title track.

This is in fact almost the longest track on the album, though there is one that beats it out, this one clocking in at over twelve minutes, and starting on something similar to what we have just heard, acoustic folky guitar in a kind of early seventies Genesis vein, with a soft vocal from Atkinson which suddenly gets more powerful and rocky as the whole track takes an upsurge, Brendan Eyre's keyboards laying down some warbly organ and Pieter van Hoorn's drums pounding like breakers on the shore as the song moves into a fast, seventies progressive instrumental phase. Some almost Zeppelin guitar from Jones then as it goes along, until halfway in when it all slows down and returns to the soft guitar of the opening, with some little flute and violin sounds on the keys, some almost vocalise from Marc Atkinson just riding along the edges of the melody. Guitar and bass then begin building as the keys march behind them and the vocals come back in, getting stronger as the song approaches its denoument. A big heavy rock ending brings this epic to a close, and we've still another to come!

After that you'd no doubt be expecting a shorter, gentler song, and indeed this is what we get with "Eos", a nice little guitar line complementing Adrian Jones's understated vocal in again, it has to be said, a very Marillion sounding tune with a healthy dose of Floyd in there too. Lovely soft guitar solo and some fine keyboard work, echoing the theme of the opener, "Faceless angel", and taking us into another long track, the almost ten-minute "The weight". With a big guitar feedback opening this pulls no punches from the start, a solo kicking it off that you would normally expect to hear around the middle, or even end of most songs. This then drops back to a very introspective (come on! I haven't used that word for a while now!) guitar line and gentle vocal, deep percussion and thick bass then supplementing the tune and fleshing it out more. "The weight" is followed by "The distance", with very Steve Rotheryesque guitar that ventures into sitar territory at times, the vocal this time right out of the Steve Hogarth playbook. This song, great as it is, could very easily be on a current Marillion album.

In complete contrast however, "Frozen moment" is like something out of a Van der Graaf or Zep setlist, with heavy squealing guitar and powerful keys, tripping drums and a strong vocal. Starting off rather frenetically it soon settles down into something of a mid-paced groove, and it has indeed time to settle, as it runs for over thirteen minutes. It's got a real dramatic feel to it, very epic with a lot of changes and one of the best vocal performances from Marc Atkinson on the album. Also some great guitar histrionics from Jones, and some great interplay between he and Eyre on the keys. The album then closes on one more instrumental, a lovely piano and violin piece which goes under the appropriate title of "Sunset", and rather bizzarely puts me in mind of Billy Preston's big hit "With you I'm born again". Hidden message?

TRACKLISTING

1. Faceless angel
2. A secret
3. Janus
4. ... And dream of sleep
5. One eye on the sunrise
6. Eos
7. The weight
8. The distance
9. Frozen moment
10. Sunset

I really do love this album and it's been quite a revelation, however I think the band's name may be a little user-unfriendly, perhaps. I would like them and rate them a lot more if there weren't so many strong similarities to Marillion in their music, but then I suppose you have to expect that any band who plays progressive rock is going to have listened to, soaked in and eventually be influenced one way or the other by the greats. Nine Stones Close do at least retain enough of their own individuality to hold their own identity, and like Big Big Train reviewed recently were accused of sounding very Genesis-like, there's probably nobody who doesn't know Marillion's work who would not agree they do sound a lot like them at many times. Mind you, I said this about Knight Area too (and it's true) but that didn't stop me from enjoying the music this band has to offer, nor having no hesitation in naming it one of my favourite albums of 2012.

Don't let it stop you, either.

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Trollheart

Heaven and Hell --- Black Sabbath --- 1980 (Vertigo)


Definitely one of my all-time favourite Sabbath albums. I've always been more of a Dio fanboy than an Ozzy-follower, though I wouldn't doubt the greatness of the work he did with Sabbath, but this album has it all really: elements of Rainbow, foreshadowings of Dio the band and eight killer songs. The title track, "Die young", "Children of the sea", even the opener, all have that exciting feel of Sabbath changing from just a dark heavy metal band into something more approaching a progressive form, with longer songs and fantasy themes, mostly of course driven by the new guy. The band are in fine fettle, and really seem to enjoy themselves on this album, so it's a pity that one album later RJD would be on his way, though it would set the scene for his own eponymous band to take the stage.

This album works on every level: as a crunching metal successor to albums like "Sabotage", "Vol 4" ands "Master of reality", as a more progressive Sabbath and as a peek into the future, at least as far as Ronnie was concerned. There are few Sabbath fans who will not have this in their library! A true classic!

TRACKLISTING

1. Neon nights
2. Children of the sea
3. Lady Evil
4. Heaven and Hell
5. Wishing well
6. Die young
7. Walk away
8. Lonely is the word

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Unknown Soldier

This journal now has 99,903 views, I'm wondering what will happen when it reaches 100,000 will that number actually fit on the 'view' section.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

An unbelievable milestone!

When I started this journal, back in 2011, as my second attempt at doing so, I never in my wildest dreams expected I would get this many views. I'm delighted, humbled, honoured and proud to have provided you all with sufficient entertainment that you kept coming back, to take The Playlist of Life to this incredible peak.

So far as I can see, no journal in this section has ever reached anything close to this, at least as far as records go back --- yeah, I'm that sad that I checked! --- and I'd just like to pay tribute to everyone who's visited; whether you've come here once or are a regular viewer, whether you comment or not: you've all made this possible and I thank you.

I'd like to thank my mother, my manager, the Academy .... Seriously, thank you all for staying with me, and I hope I've managed to keep you engaged and interested over the last three years. Of course I realise I may not always get it right, but if you don't tell me I just assume I'm perfect so if you've something to say, at any time, good or bad, leave a comment.

And now, off I go on a victory lap. By car, of course: I AM almost fifty after all!

Thank you once again, and here's to the next hundred thousand!

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Trollheart

Well, so much for this being a weekly slot. To be completely honest, I never expected it to be: intentions and ambition are all well and good, but the reality is that with three journals to write, my other offsite work to do and trying to have something I laughingly call a life as well, the chances of my reviewing a new album from outside the usual sphere of my musical preferences and tastes once a week was simply never going to fly. Even monthly reviews would not be in any way guaranteed. Bimonthly? Whenever-the-hell-I-feel-like-it-ly? More realistic.

So here I am with the second in this new series, looking at an album by a band I have never heard of but know to be working within a genre I have no time for, and have heard little of, other than secondhand. This time it's punk. But not just punk: hardcore punk. Mind you, some websites are calling this southern rock, which seems odd. Anyway, whatever the case, punk is something I have never liked. You can talk all you like about the influence the Sex Pistols had on music, but I have never seen it, nor will I ever. To me, all Johnny and the boys did was make a mockery of rock music, and to say they "shook up the music scene" and use that as an excuse for the kind of off-key, noisy, blatantly laughable music they ... well, an argument for another day perhaps. Let's just say I'm not punk's biggest fan, and leave it at that, yes?

So why have I chosen a punk record? Well, look at the cover! How could I resist? Not only is this a (supposed) parody of or (maybe) tribute to one of my alltime favourite Sabbath albums, the title is hilarious too. Even if the music is awful --- as I expect it to be --- this is something I could not let slide by without at least allowing it to assault my ears one time. So take a deep breath and get ready, cos we're going in!


Bat Sabbath: Bastards of reality --- Cancer Bats --- 2013 (Label unknown: nobody will tell me!)


Surprisingly, this album is very hard to find (unless you want to pay full price: er, no thanks Mister Jobs! You ain't getting rich beyond the grave at MY expense!) so I've had to track down the individual tracks --- of which there are only five anyway; it's more an EP than an abum --- on YouTube. And so...

First impressions: Unfortunately the only recording I can find of their version of "Children of the grave" is live, so you have to allow for that, but even so, it is AWFUL! Just noisy and messy with no real attempt at melody, though in fairness not as bad as I would have thought. The studio version of "Into the void" is better, and though it was never my favourite song on "Master of reality" the boys here give it a decent enough go. Think Ozzy may be turning in his grave though! I know he's not dead...!

Likes: The fact that these are Black Sabbath songs; guitar work is decent enough

Dislikes: Singer's voice. Very growly and gravelly and then screechy; hard to make out what he's singing. Oh well, this is punk after all! Actually, he's not too bad on the studio versions, so maybe it's just the live performances where he screams too much that are putting me off. Still, not my style of vocalist at all. Way too loud on the live versions. Not enough variety in the studio versions to stand these tracks out from the originals.


Development of album: Okay, well I'm realising now (not sure why I didn't at the time) that far from being a cover of the album "Master of reality", this is a mixture of songs from that and "Paranoid", with "Iron man" and "War pigs" thrown in, so it's a little lopsided in that regard. That said, they've picked some good ones, though again the only version of "Iron man" I can find is live, so the sound is again pretty bad. Also kind of hard to rate the band, as the crowd, obviously Sabbath fans, are shouting the lyric most of the time. Hmm. Not to mention the video is stopping and starting all the time. Gaah! I know, I should stop being so tight and just buy the damn thing, but as Mo once said in "The Simpsons" about paying his bills "I don't wanna!" And "NIB" is also live, and played at such volume that it distorts, and I simply can't even listen to it, which takes us to the final track, another one off "Paranoid". Wait a minute what's this --- oh. I thought for a moment I'd come across a video of the full album, but it was the actual Black Sabbath one. Oh well. At least I've got a studio version of "War pigs" to listen to. Yeah, that's not bad, not bad at all...

Overall sound: Loud and noisy!

Reminds me of: Why I hate punk. Ah really, it's not that bad: I've heard worse metal bands, though not many...

Favourite track(s): "Into the void" and "War pigs", really only because they're the only ones I could get studio versions of and the live ones were just terrible.

Least favourite track(s): Have to be their live version of "NIB", played at a volume that would cause even Lemmy would clap his hands over his ears!

Overall effect on me: Bit bemused. The studio versions are okay but nothing great, while the live versions are in general almost unlistenable. Hasn't softened me towards punk anyway. I wouldn't see it as an insult to Sabbath, but not a total homage either.

TRACKLISTING

1. Children of the grave
2. Into the void
3. Iron man
4. NIB
5. War pigs

So, the rating. Well, based on how little I listen to this type of music we should score high on one die, but then again, that's tempered by the fact that I already know these songs (admittedly from another genre), so I'm not exactly walking into the valley of the shadow of evil...

Die one: How did I enjoy this? Not so much, though a lot of that was down to the unavailability of studio versions. Even given that though, the versions I did get to hear weren't that different to the originals, so I wouldn't consider it a worthy purchase, had I bought the album. I'd have to say at a stretch


Die two: How unfamiliar was I with this genre? Completely. Like I said at the beginning, the only punk I've heard has been the likes of the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks et al. But --- and it's a big but --- (no, not mine!) I do know these songs, so again I'm not treading totally unfamiliar territory. Still, based on the genre alone this must get a


Therefore, total rating for this album: rolling the dice I've come up with

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Batlord

I'm assuming by car you mean rascal scooter?

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