I'm Making a Donation to MADD Because of This Video

You know MADD, right? The acronym stands for Mother's Against Drunk Driving. Reporters caught Vince Neil in Hollywood this week outside some overpriced restaurant. It's pretty clear Vince is inebriated - which is fine - until he gets behind the wheel of his car. And then his new girlfriend climbs in the passenger seat. It's both devastating and maddening at all once. Doesn't he realize he could hurt himself or others? Doesn't he care? And to be fair, I don't know if he's really drunk. After all, I wasn't with him inside that restaurant. But still. The video causes concern.

Incidentally, December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. Watch the video...if you can stomach all the way through.

'Slash' Deluxe Edition Review

Slash's solo album has been out for a fair while now. I’ve sure spent a lot of money on it. I bought the "Sahara" CD single from Japan, the Classic Rock magazine set (twice) from the UK, I bought the standard edition locally, and then the local Deluxe edition, which was different to the new box set, it had different videos in it. Finally, I bought the recent box set, which comes with two CDs, a DVD, a pick, etc., in a box. The graphic on this box is the same as the one on the double disc edition that came out in Australia recently. I guess with the industry the way it is, the more they can sell us the same CD over and over, the more money they can make in the face of piracy, etc. The main CD is as brilliant now as it was when it first came out. The opening track is "Ghost," with Ian Astbury of the Cult. Immediately, Slash's chameleon-like ability to play to the song and the style he wants to achieve, is obvious. This sounds like the best Cult song, ever. "Crucify the Dead" is equally a song that matches the style of it’s singer, Ozzy. Ozzy has said this song is about the break up of GnR. The next song is my favorite. "Beautiful Dangerous" is amazing not least because you would not expect someone like Fergie to be able to deliver it as she does. I am surprised the clip for this song is not on the DVD, as it came out around that time. Either way, it’s an awesome song, and I don’t care about all the people online who have hammered Slash for working with her. The song works, and I don’t need to approve of her, or the other music she makes, to enjoy it. The next song is one of many with Myles Kennedy on the CD. Myles is from Alter Bridge, and was also the vocalist for the band Slash used to tour this album. It’s a very laid back song, one of many ballads on this album that I like a lot. "Promise" has Chris Cornell singing, it’s very "Sweet Child O' Mine" in the way it has a major sounding melody driving it on guitar. I don’t mind it, but it’s not the best on the CD. "By the Sword" was the first single, and it’s got the guy from Wolfmother singing. It’s a cool song. "Doctor Alibi" has to be the best Motorhead song ever, a perfect fit for Lemmy singing. "Watch This" is an instrumental and a bit of a throwaway track (as is "Gotten," that’s why I didn’t mention it, did you notice?)

"I Hold On" is a surprisingly good southern rock type song, with Kid Rock singing. "Nothing to Say" sounds exactly like Avenged Sevenfold. Actually, the one song I can think of that’s not on this CD, is a version of this song with a different tail end, and totally different words/melody, which I’ve heard online.

"Saint is A Sinner Too" is a good ballad, and "We’re All Gonna Die" is classic Iggy Pop, which sadly in my opinion means a rough sort of a riff and a lot of repetition with nothing too interesting going on. I assume though that every fan of guitar based rock has this CD in some form, and so it’s disc two where the action is. The first song is "Sahara," which is the track I paid $30 to get as a single from Japan. It’s a very GnR sounding song, to me, although the vocalist sounds nothing like Axl: it’s the nature of the riff that makes it sound that way to me.

The "Paradise City" version with Cypress Hill and Fergie was meant to be on the Classic Rock CD and was pulled. It was on the "Sahara" single, so I had it. It’s not really that interesting to me. My main point of interest was that I assumed Cypress Hill were long gone, but it seems they are still about.

Track 3 is "Mother Maria" with Beth Hart. I did not have this song before. It’s a very soft ballad. The solo is very country, as is the whole song. I like it a lot. "Baby Can’t Drive" is the bonus track on the Classic Rock version, with Alice Cooper and Nicole Scherzinger (of the Pussycat Dolls) on vocals. This is a really strong track, I was amazed it did not make the main CD. It’s classic Alice.

Track 5 is track 1 with Japanese words, and Track 6 is a radio edit of "Beautiful Dangerous." Track 7 and 8 are named Demo 4 and Demo 16. I assume this means there were lots of demos and these are the two best ones. They are interesting ideas, but obviously well short of fully fledged songs. They probably are not something you’d listen to often, but serve as an illustration that Slash is not short of musical ideas, he could have done a double album if he wanted, and if he had enough singers.

Tracks 9, 10 and 11 are acoustic tracks with Myles Kennedy: "Back from Cali," "Falling to Pieces," and "Sweet Child O' Mine." "Back From Cali" and "Sweet Child" were also on the Aussie release. The other two tracks are live tracks with a full band, "Watch This" and "Nighttrain." "Watch This" is credited as having Myles sing, but it’s "Watch This, Dave," the instrumental from the album.

The DVD that came with the Aussie version had a 3D version of the "By the Sword" video, which is not on the box set. It also had "By the Sword" live, and "Nice Boys" live with Angry Anderson singing (that is a Rose Tattoo song). The one that came with the US Deluxe box has a "Making Of," "Back from Cali" (live), the "By the Sword" video and a behind the scenes on the making of the clip, all of which were on the Aussie one, and also, a live version of Mean Bone" (with Angry on vocals) plus a track by track interview with Slash. I’ve not watched it, but I assume it’s only track by track of the main album.

The Deluxe set is in a CD sized box, and it contains the booklet, the two CDs and DVD in cardboard sleeves, a pick, and a voucher for the ‘fan wall’, an interesting idea where fans submit photos, and they are used to make a mosaic picture of Slash, which is then sent out as a poster to everyone who bought it. I bought this four weeks ago and submitted my photo, it’s on the online mosaic picture (they have a tool so you can be shown where you are), but my attempts to contact support about getting the poster gave me only useless advice, and since then, the due date for submissions has passed. It remains to be seen if I ever get my poster; that whole side of things does not appear to me to be well organized. However, while I have bought this CD at least five different ways, I still think it was all money well spent as this is one of the best CDs of 2010 for me, for sure. This box is really the only way to get it, but either way, if you don’t have it, and you’re reading this site, you need it.

Reckless Loves Does Christmas!

If you'll recall, I despise Christmas music. In fact, too much Christmas music makes me crazy. As in, I start to sweat and twitch and I get really agitated. But, I can take a tune here and there. Especially if the song is in Glam fashion. Enter Reckless Love and their version of “Jingle Bells.” Check out the glory note!

Reckless Love recorded “Jingle Bells” in 2009. What do you think?

'This Is Gonna Hurt...'

This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx is the new book project by Nikki Sixx. Like the Heroin Diaries, SIXX:AM will record a new album with some songs drawn from Nikki's new book.

Here's the first official look at This Is Gonna Hurt. As you'll soon see, this is a true teaser - not much revealed at all.

Get This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx on April 26 via HarperCollins/William Morrow.

Accept, 'Blood of the Nations' - Album Review

From the first notes of the new Accept album Blood of the Nations, you know you’re in for classic metal. Vocalist Mark Tornillo is a great fit for this band and a worthy successor to Udo Dirkschneider, who, of course, is doing his own thing nowadays and did not take part in this reunion.

"Beat the Bastards" is closely followed by "Teutonic Terror," surely as good a one, two hit as the opening of any classic metal CD. The riffs and lead breaks fly thick and fast, Mark screams over the top and the end result is frankly far better than anyone had any right to expect. The current "Give 'em the axe" slogan found on a lot of the tour merch, comes from a line in "Teutonic Terror." The third song is "The Abyss," which starts with a really open riff, before breaking down to an arpeggio figure. If anything, this song is better than the first two, and really gives you a feeling that the whole album is just going to go from strength to strength. The light and shade of this song only make the heavy sections heavier. This whole album is classic metal, where techniques like this are used, where real songwriting happens instead of just layer after layer of super heavy riffs and growly vocals, as is so common nowadays. The next track is the title track of the album, "Blood of the Nations."

Another strong, riff based song, is followed by "Shades of Death," which starts like a ballad but soon heats up. "Locked and Loaded," "Time Machine," "Kill the Pain," song after song of classic metal keep on coming. The quality of the song writing and the playing is consistently good right through. "Rolling Thunder" is a straight ahead metal song, with less light and shade compared to the ones before. "Pandemic" is definitely one of the best tracks on the CD, and it has the classic line "It’s a metal disease." I’m not sure what it means, but I love it.

"New World Comin’" starts with some gnarly bass. One thing I really took away from the LA show is what a great bass player Peter is, something that I don’t think comes to the fore on the albums as much as it should. " No Shelter" and "Bucket Full of Hate" round out the album in style, both straight ahead metal songs. I have the Japanese edition, so I have one more song, "Land of the Free." It’s not markedly different from the other songs, although it has a galloping rhythm, which I don’t remember noticing before. If you’re a hardcore fan, it’s worth having, but it’s not any better than the songs you get.

Lots of bands are getting together again nowadays, probably some for the money and some for the music. Whatever their reason, Accept have shown they have a lot of good music still in them. If you love traditional heavy metal, then you need this CD, and you should also check out their live show, which is killer, if you get a chance.

I'd Like These 3 Bands to Reunite (You Know, Like Now)

Which band would you like to see reunite - beyond Guns n' Roses? I throw GnR in there early because I know everyone will say "Original GnR!" but I want some more creativity in this thread today.

There are literally tons of bands that could reunite with original members, and most will never happen for all sorts of reasons. Still, we can dream. I have a few choice reunion wishes, and some of them may surprise you. They include:

Queensryche with Chris DeGarmo
Van Halen (no disrespect to Wolfgang, but I want Michael Anthony!)
Skid Row

Now, the chances all three of my wishes ever happening are about as likely as Axl Rose calling up Slash for a golf date and a late lunch. Basically, it ain't gonna happen folks. Still, can you imagine? Better yet, let's get Queensryche, Van Halen and Skid Row to reunite...and perform one big concert together! How wild would that be? Sebastian Bach, David Lee Roth and Geoff Tate could all sing some weird cover at the end of the show. I think that would be awesome...the thing memories are made of!

Can you tell I'm feeling wacky on this winter Monday?

[As an aside, can I just say I think that someday we will see a Skid Row reunion? I can't believe that Sebastian Bach will never sing with the original lineup again...even if it is just for a special one-off show. I just worry that when/if it does happen, we'll all be under whelmed].

Here's an awesome live version of "18 and Life" from 1991:

'Up From the Ashes'

How is it that I don't own Don Dokken's solo record Up From the Ashes?

Last night I was clicking around YouTube, looking for something new to enjoy while doing my web surfing. I came across Don Dokken's "Stay" and noticed John Norum (you know, from Europe) playing guitar. After my double take I realized I wasn't listening to a Dokken track. Turns out I like "Stay" a lot. Since I don't own Up From the Ashes, I did a little research and learned the album came out in 1990 on Geffen. This surprises me because I was a huge Geffen fanatic. After all, they were the label home of Aerosmith so I thought just about everything that label did was golden. (Remember, folks, I was a dumb kid way back when).

So, all that said, I'm kind of excited I have a "new old" album to discover. At this point, that doesn't happen for me very often. Do you own Up From the Ashes?

"Stay"