I KNOW HOW THAT RABBIT FEELS...

RIP Ronnie James Dio

2010-07-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

How fitting that my last entry was right after going to see Ronnie James Dio with Heaven & Hell. As I stated before, it was an awesome show. Nobody could have imagined that less than a year later the amazing RJD would no longer be with us. I was pretty surprised at how hard Dio's death hit me. The thing is that his music has been part of my life since I was 14 years old, and that's quite a while.

I moved to the US a month shy of my 14th birthday. On my first day of school, I noticed that a whole bunch of kids were wearing t-shirts that said "DIO" on them (a few others had Y&T t-shirts). It turns out there had been a concert the night before, and I found out in short order that Dio was a band. A few months later, I bought the cassette tape that would shape my music direction forever" K-Tel's compilation Masters Of Metal! Besides Rush and Maiden, it had a Dio tune; it was either Rainbow In The Dark or Holy Diver (there was a second Masters Of Metal tape!), but that's a story for a different day!

A short time later I got both Holy Diver and Last In Line and those albums have regularly been in my playlist pretty much ever since. I saw Dio in concert a short while later, dragon slaying antics and all. I also saw him in 2000, 2004 and 2009.

As far as his musical output, I'm basically a pretty big fan of his stuff from Rainbow on, but his recording career goes way back to 1959! His first recordings were doo-wop tunes, and even at that stage you could totally tell it was him! I think Dio's long, constant recording/performing artist career is unparalleled in Rock. In addition, he was part of three legendary, must-have albums: Rainbow's Rainbow Rising, Sabbath's Heaven And Hell, and his own Holy Diver. I hope his wife, Wendy, goes to the archives and release it all!

I never met him, but he seemed to be a pretty decent guy, a good businessman and very appreciative of his fans. His philosophy in life seemed to be basically "be a good person", and it certainly came out in many of his songs when he wasn't singing about dragons and rainbows and Magica!

So the Rock world lost a true giant and legend. I'll close with a few lines of his Rainbow song A Light In The Black:

Something's calling me back,
There's a light in the black,
am I ready to go?
I'm coming home.

The image above is credited to SHF's RTurner who worked the projection booth for Ronnie's memorial service in L.A.

Two more Heaven & Hell clips

2009-08-19T09:26:00.001-07:00

Here are two more clips from the Heaven & Hell show at the Warfield in San Francisco on Monday, August 10, 2009. The first one is the song Die Young. I had problems with the camera's zoom, so there are no closeups. Still a smoking performance. This one includes most of Tony Iommi's unaccompanied guitar solo at the beginning.

The second one is for the song Neon Knights. The band actually plays a bit of the song Country Girl, but I basically missed all of that. Good thing because I got to Neon Knights right when it started pretty much. The tragedy of this clip is that I ran out of memory right after Iommi's second guitar solo. Here it is:

I like my little Nikon Coolpix camera, but the lesson I learned is that I need to get on with the times and get a newer, better camera.

Heaven & Hell! :D

2009-08-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

I really let the switching venues from San Jose to San Francisco almost make me not go, but I did and I'm really glad I did. I took BART to the Powell Station in San Francisco and only had to walk a couple of blocks to get to the line. I went all by myself and I really wanted to join in the conversation of the group that was behind me. I texted a couple of my good friends, including Baeleron who lives in Irvine and is my Metal concerts partner too, even though we haven't been to one since like 2005 (the Irvine Maiden show).

They let us in shortly after 7:00. I kind of wanted to see if I could upgrade my ticket, but decided against it seeing the way they were herding people in like sheep. When I went in, I remembered that I had been to the Warfield already back in 2002. Bael and I had tickets for the Judas Priest / Iced Earth show in September 2001, and well, everyone knows what happened then so the bands couldn't travel and the show got postponed. It got rescheduled for like February 2002, but by this time Anthrax had taken Iced Earth's opening spot and Bael had moved to Southern CA. Nothing against Anthrax, but I really wanted to see Iced Earth. Anyway, I had an extra ticket and I almost didn't go because no one wanted to go with me. Finally I convinced my Bryan Adams-loving friend and roomate to come with me, so we got there just as Anthrax had ended their set and were literally walking away from the stage. I really liked the show with Ripper... but anyway, back to H&H.

I went into the general admission area and took a spot in the third section from the stage right in front of a barricade over on the right (if you're looking at the stage). It was a good spot and that's where I stayed for the whole thing.

First off was Coheed and Cambria. Their set started at 8:00 sharp! They were pretty good and there were a few songs that I enjoyed a lot. I'm not very familiar with their work although I do have one of their CD's. It's clearly Claudio Sanchez's band and he's really good. They played a shortened version of maiden's The Trooper. I had my ancient Nikon Coolpix camera handy so I took some video:

I thought the second guitarist was going to take the second solo and you can see I went his direction, but didn't play it. Some peopple in various forums complained about the opening act, but I thought C&C were great and enjoyed their set very much.

Heaven & Hell came on about a half hour after C&C, and their set smoked! I'm not going to go into detail since I took some video! I was there mostly to see Tony Iommi, but Dio, Geezer and Vinny were all great. It was cool to see Geezer in his element (I had seen his metal core band open for Bruce Dickinson back in '97). It's hard to believe Dio is 67 years old. The set was 90 minutes long and, in my opinion, just right. Here is some video I took.

My camera is old and crappy, but for me this is a nice way of keeping memories of some of the shows I've gone to.

The Mob Rules (opening song):

Time Machine (including part of Vinny's drum solo):

Falling Off The Edge Of The World:

I have a couple more that I haven't uploaded, but I had problems with those. For Die Young I had probelms with the camera's zoom, and for Neon Knights I ran out of memory before the song ended. Maybe I'll upload them anyway. No one looks at my stuff anyway! :)

By the way, I've been in a pretty sour mood since last night, but listening to Grace Under Pressure this afternoon put me back in a good mood!

Heaven &... Hell! >:(

2009-07-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

August 10! The date I've been waiting for a while now. This is the date of the Heaven & Hell's (or "Black Sabbath with Dio" - TM Yngwie Malmsteen) concert. I bought my ticket way in advance during the so-called "pre-sale". If I go to a concert by myself, I don't really like general admission anymore, so I get assigned seats instead. I got a pretty sweet seat over at the San Jose State University Events Center. I like that venue. I've seen a few concerts at the Events Center, and I work not far from there. I had planned on going to grab a bite to eat after work and then walk over to the venue.

Good plan, right? All I had to do was patiently wait... But of course everything had to go to... hell. The band's official site announced that the concert had been moved from the SJSU Events Center to... The Warfield in San Francisco. I couldn't believe it. I strongly, strongly dislike driving to San Francisco. I always get lost, there's never any parking and I don't really like being out there late at night. My dislike of going to SF is so great that I have skipped shows where I would have very liked to have gone, only because it's San Francisco. I have nothing against the city or those who live there, please don't get me wrong. I don't mind going if someone else drives and keeps me out of the whole trying to find the address and/or a place to park. I just don't like driving over there. Why oh why, if it was a low ticket sales issue couldn't they have moved the concert to, let's say, the newly remodeled San Jose Civic Auditorium (across the street from work pretty much!)? I really want to go to this show, so to freakin' San Francisco it is.

But wait! That's not all! A few days ago, I got an e-mail from Ticketmaster saying among other (stupid) things that those with $60 tickets had the choice of 1) getting an assigned seat, or 2) get general admission entrance and be able to get in 1/2 hour before everyone else. Those with $50 tickets would just get general admission and be let in at the regular time. Since I got my ticket a long time ago, I went back to check the e-mail receipt. $67 total. Surely I must have a $60 ticket, so I'll just take the assigned seat option, right? Wrong! I have a $50 ticket, just that I was charged ALMOST $20 IN FEES!!!

So I'll be going to a concert that I really want to see, except that everything surrounding it is what, in my own personal case, is WRONG about going to concerts.

I found out BART stops fairly close to the Warfield, so I'll be going that route more than likely. I'd still rather walk in San Francisco at midnight back to the BART station with my legs hurting from standing for hours and hours and having to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get ready to go to work, than driving there. Hopefully the talks between BART and the union will have been resolved by the 10th.

The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams indeed.

And yes, no one's holding a gun to my head to go!

er... Happy New Year everybody!

2009-05-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

It's like the middle of the year pretty much and in a way it doesn't feel like it! As far as this blog is concerned, it has felt like this: "I guess it's not so bad if I post a couple of months after the new year." Yeah, more like six months! Anyway, it's not that big of a deal. It's not like anyone reads this. :)

So, for now, I've decided to stop posting my target CD's. I've acquired a few more, but as I mentioned previously, I don't want to turn this into my target CD gallery. I also got a couple more gold CD's: Montrose's first album by Audio Fidelity and Van Halen's first album on DCC. I'm still holding out for a DCC Ride The Lightning at a good price. Pictures of my discs may pop up once in a while though.

So, what's new? Ah! I'm finally going to a concert! It takes place on August 10 at the San Jose State Events Center and is none other than Metal's favorite senior citizens Heaven & Hell! This is exciting because I always wanted to see Sabbath (this is the Mob Rules, Live Evil, Dehumanizer and almost the Heaven And Hell lineup of Sabbath). I'm going by myself because no one wants to go with me. My two good friends who would go live pretty far away. I'm going to stay healthy so I actually make it to the concert unlike last year's Iron Maiden show. I'm more excited about this one because it's close to work and I have a good seat. The SJSU Events Center is a good venue too. I saw the Gypsy Kings there once, and maybe one more concert. In 1999 Maiden was set to play there for their Ed Hunter Tour, and they went as far as setting up the equipment, but it got canceled because Dave Murray broke his pinky the night before in L.A. We had press passes too. Oh well... but yeah! I'm excited. Coheed & Cambria will open. I have one of their CD's and sound like a pretty good progressive rock band. The singer sounds like Geddy Lee!

I've been also discovering Genesis believe it or not. Obviously I've always known about them and even had a few of their CD's, but this was the year of Genesis discovery. Right now, I'm partial to the Collins-Banks-Rutherford-Hackett stuff, but I'm getting into the Gabriel-era more an more. If you know me, you know I'm a big Daryl Stuermer fan, so all eras have an appeal. I'll write more about it in a later post (let's hope!). So far I've been able to acquire original issue Genesis CD's on the Virgin/Charisma label from Trespass through Duke I also have a few targets, a couple of Vertigo ones and other original issue discs on Atlantic. I also got two of the Genesis box sets (1970-1975, and 1976-1982), but I'll write more about that later on.

So, yeah, how's that for an update? Not much going on. In the meantime here is an extremely crummy picture of my Genesis CD's on Virgin/Charisma through Seconds Out:

Just when I thought I was out...

2008-12-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

By now you are probably aware that I like 70's progressive rock a lot, particularly Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It's nice to remember discovering this band, listening to the stuff for the first time and being like totally amazed. There used to be a used book store downtown back in the 80's and they sold used LP's too. I got a lot of records there usually for anywhere from $1 to $4 (my parents still maintain that I must have spent a fortune there, but I really didn't!). I got the bulk of ELP records there. One of them was Pictures At An Exhibition. With the exception of two tracks, I never got into this one as much as I did with the others, but with the passage of time, I have warmed up to it more and more. That brings me to my next target CD:

So ELP is the first band in my collection with two target CD's! There is another variation of this one (teal). According to the target CD source, "This disc is common, unlike the teal variation, which is scarce". Ha!

I'm sure everyone remembers the funny Twisted Sister music videos from a long time ago. I always liked the guy at the beginning who totally yells! He's awesome. I had Stay Hungry on LP as well as other TS releases, and had never upgraded to CD... until now! This is one that I actually held off getting until I could find a target. The target reference place lists this one as not being particularly easy to find, and I wanted to prove it wrong (in my mind at least), so here it is:

The disc is in really good shape! Not mint, but as good as can be expected given its age. This is the skinny on it: "This disc is hard to find, but not impossible. Condition is a real problem. Most copies seem to be pretty beat up. A nice mint copy is to be prized. Apparently, metal fans like to use their CD's as frisbees". My CD's as frisbees? I beg to differ!

By the way, there is one other target CD that I would like to have , and it is Dio's The Last In Line. Got one?

Now, for a totally different type of thing. I've been a fan of Tango music since I was a little kid. My grandfather used to listen to one Tango song in particular (Cuesta Abajo - it's a movie as well), and it's probably my favorite. My favorite Tango singer is Carlos Gardel. He was around before my time, but I think he was a superb singer and enjoy his recordings very much. A long time ago, I got a cassette tape by a trio called The Tango Project. I liked their instrumental versions of Tango standards a lot and up until a few years, the tape got quite a bit of airplay. Well, a few days ago, I was walking out of the used music shop, when I happened to glance at the CD in one of the bins. Since it was only like 5 bucks (I would have paid full price for it) I picked it up on the spot. When I opened it, to my surprise it was a target CD! So here it is:

Now I know there is a second CD by The Tango Project. I'm not going to look for a target though since apparently it's pretty impossible to find. This is what the target reference place has to say about this one: "Like all Nonesuch target discs, this is quite uncommon, though it is slightly easier to find than most". Yeah, rain on my parade man. :)

Diver Down - Pretty underrated I think (another target CD!)

2008-12-11T22:44:00.000-08:00

I think by now you've realized Van Halen is a favorite band of mine. I actually like both the Roth and Hagar eras (sorry Gary, haven't gotten into your era yet). I remember when the whole breakup happened, guys at my school who were fans kept saying that Eddie was going to let Sammy play all the guitar while he played his "keyboard crap". Then the first single Why Can't This Be Love came out, and those guys were pretty disappointed. I personally didn't mind and actually liked the song, although I had to admit that it was a different, and definitely more commercial direction. 5150 came out and the band's picture in the back of the record was awful. They looked like a pastel version of Toto or something. Anyway, I'm digressing. The point is that I managed to get a Target CD of their (in my opinion) misunderstood album Diver Down. I like it a lot. It was the third album I heard by them (1984 and self-titled being the first two). This one is panned because it has a lot of cover songs, but I think it showed a very versatile band showing that they could play all sorts of styles. It has two guitar virtuoso tunes, and one of my favorite VH songs Secrets. The guitar playing in that one always amazes me.

This target CD is "not terribly hard to find" (as is the case with just about every one I get!). I didn't know a target existed since I had a made in West Germany version that was not a target. I just assumed that was the nly West German version. Anyway, I think it looks great. Here it is:

One last thing. This blog is turning out to be The Rush Fan's Target CD's Blog. I don't want it to be like that, or just showing off parts of my measly "collection". I just get lazy and there's no time but I'll get to writing some of my thoughts on albums I like and why. How's that?

Asia self-titled, oh yeah! (another target cd)

2008-12-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

I remember when I was a young kid and watched the video for Only Time Will Tell. I remember liking it a lot, but having no idea who sang it. Fast forward two years or so, and I heard Emerson, Lake and Palmer for the first time. I was pretty amazed at their instrumental prowess! Some time later I found out that Palmer was in this "super group" called Asia (I knew ELP hadn't been around for a few years), so I got the self-titled LP from the used record store when I was able to do so. I put it on the turntable when I got home hoping to hear more Karn Evil 9 type music and was kind of disappointed when AOR came out of my headphones. It was a good, catchy song nevertheless (Heat Of The Moment), but I was hoping for the ultra-progressive stuff. Then the next song played. it was Only Time Will Tell and I immediately recognized it as that song whose video I saw a few years back and that I loved! I was pretty happy and I guess that sentimental trip down memory lane (I was like 13-14! LOL!) made me like the album very much.

One thing that always made me think "that's too bad" is that I was never able to see the original lineup in concert. I wouldn't have minded seeing the Greg Lake-led version, but 1) I was too young even for that, and 2) I think they only did a few shows in Japan. Anyway, since I've been pretty out of the loop with concerts, I missed a chance to see them in the 25th anniversary tour (my understanding is that they played the whole first album in order at the San Francisco show), but I got the DVD Fantasia Live In Tokyo, which looks like a pretty good representation of their live show, so I'm happy. I would still like at some point to see Steve Howe in concert.

I got the first album on CD a while back, but an opportunity to get this target CD cheap came about recently, so I took it. It's a nice disc made in West Germany. How about those targets! :) Oh! and for a change, the source for target CD information I use says this one is sort of hard to find now!

My first DCC CD's!

2008-12-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

DCC Audio Classics is the other company that produced audiophile CD's other than MFSL that I know of. I first became aware of these when I started visiting the Steve Hoffman Forums (Steve was the remastering engineer for DCC), and noticed that people would, for example, recommend the DCC for the best sounding McCartney CD. "What the heck is DCC?" I would ask myself, until I realized they were out of print, hard to find expensive gold CD's (of course). My experience has been that these are harder to find (and more expensive) than the MFSL discs. As with the MFSL's, I'm not looking to build a collection or anything, and there are a few DCC CD's that I would definitely like to have. There are tons more that I would like to have, but don't need to (like Deep Purple's Made In Japan). In the past few days, I've managed to get three DCC discs. Two were unexpected surprises and I got them for cheap, and one I sought out and was not really cheap (but not a bad deal).

The first one is Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. Way back then I had the cassette Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits and pretty much liked all the songs. I got it because I knew The Beatles were fans, so I figured I should give him a try. I got a couple of his earlier albums and liked them even more (when it's just him and his guitar). For a kid learning English, listening to his early songs was a hoot! I later got a live album with Dylan and The Band but I didn't like it so much. I discovered that my preference for Bob Dylan is his stuff prior to his motorcycle accident. I had never had this album before, so when I got a chance to get it cheap, I jumped at it and here it is! It does sound good, but then again, I don't have another CD with these songs that I can compare it too, so I'm satisified that I have the best sounding CD version.

The second one is Paul McCartney's classic Band On The Run. If you know me, you know I'm a big Beatles / McCartney fan. In 2002 I went to five of his concerts, including the Los Angeles show which was videotaped for the DVD release. I had seats close to some celebrities who made it to the film, but was my arm even in the DVD? Of course not! Anyway, I have all of Paul's official albums and then some. Since I've liked his music since I was little basically, I had a lot of his discography in mostly LP's and some tapes. When I finally decided to get CD's, I got all of his 1993 remasters. These remasters are not well-liked by a lot of people who frequent the SH Forums. They always recommend getting the DCC's or the Fame pressings, or first pressing Japanese CD's or something, and of course, not only are they impossible to find, they're expensive too, so 1993 remasters for me it is! DCC released several of McCartney/Wings CD's and I would like to have them, but I'm not going to spend a lot of money getting them. As you can imagine, I was pretty happy when I saw this one in the used bin at the price of any other used CD, so I didn't think twice about getting it! This one came with everything! The slipcase, the poster and the lift-lock case! I haven't gotten a chance to give it a spin yet, but I have high hopes for it. As for other McCartney DCC discs, if I see them and the price is good, then I'll get them, otherwise I'll have to live with what I have! One of this days I'll write a Beatles / McCartney post.

Now, this is one that I definitely wanted and actually put a little money aside so I could get it. It wasn't cheap, but the price wasn't back breaking either. Definitely for a lot, lot less than what they go for on E-Bay. What can I say about Master Of Puppets that hasn't been said already? Must have classic. This one is a good representation of the Metallica I grew up with (Cliff Burton era). The other one I want is Ride The Lightning, and I shall patiently wait until one pops up at a reasonable price. I don't know why, but in my opinion, Metallica never got their bass recorded right, even up to the present day. This one puts it a little bit more upfront (but just a little).

So there it is. My first DCC discs. There is one more I would like to have and it is Van Halen's first album. My only issue is that the inserts are glossy and it's easy for them to get soiled with prints. As my discs are used, there is not much I can do about that. When I tried to use a CD cleaning cloth to wipe the label side, it got streaks, so if you know of a good way to clean these discs, let me know.

Wow! Another target!

2008-12-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

This one was a nice surprise! It's Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads. Can't say I'm an uberfan of the Heads, but this one I do like a lot. I got the cassette tape back in '85 or so (I think I traded it for a cassette of Dokken's Under Lock And Key) and it got a lot of airplay in my boom box! I particularly liked the song Once In A Lifetime because of Tina Weymouth's bass line. As a matter of fact, I had one of those stereos that had a timer/alarm thing where you could set it up to go on at a particular time, and I cued the tape to the beginning of the song to wake me up. The ironic thing is that even though I sleep like a log, I am able to wake/get up rather quickly, so the tape almost never got to the bass part! This is one I never got on CD for some reason until now (cheap too! lol).

I know now that not all the songs in the film are in this CD, that there were edits and the acoustic drums were replaced by drum machine, and that there is another release that has all, etc. but this one has a special place because it reminds me of a simpler time in my life, and of a lot of musical discovery. I like it just the way it is.

This one was made in Japan apparently for the UK/US. Also, my information source for target CD's says: "This disc is fairly easy to find" of course! I like the color scheme, particularly the blue:

What do you know? Another Target CD.

2008-11-29T08:49:00.000-08:00

This is a really cool one because I found it at the used music store for CHEAP! (of course). This is The Cars' second album Candy-O. I've always liked The Cars. One of their songs (I won't say which one!) is an all-time sentimental favorite of mine. Fine, I'll tell you which one. It's the song Drive. I don't know why, but this is one song I like immensely since I first heard it. The weird thing is that I actually heard it when it came out just when I was in my Van Halen-Triumph-Scorpions-Judas Priest funk just right before I got into Rush and Maiden. Drive. Go figure. Having said that, other than the 2-CD Anthology, up until now I never had any of their albums since the aforementioned anthology had basically all the songs I know and more, plus they get played plenty on the radio. One thing that I've always maintained is that Elliot Easton is the perfect guitar player. Listen to any song by The Cars. Any song (well, except Drive, lol), and Elliot Easton's guitar playing is just perfect. There is nothing wrong with his playing, his sound, the way it's recorded and how it relates to the song. I think Elliot would make an awesome collaborator to Paul McCartney. You know what would be an awesome McCartney band? One that includes Elliot on lead guitar and me on guitar/bass/backing vocals! Yeah right (the "me" part).

Anyway, I found this really cool looking disc in the used bins. It's the second target cd I've found in a store. This one was made in West Germany, and of course is the most common variation of the disc. In my opinion, it's the best looking one of the handful I have:

What do you think? :) Pretty cool, huh?

Congratulations Mr. President (& two more Target CD's)

2008-11-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

So, the elections took place a couple of days ago. I left work early anticipating a super long line since that's what the radio had been reporting, but when I got to my polling place it was pretty empty. No waiting in line or anything. I did notice that the parking lot started getting fuller as I was leaving. Here's to things getting better!

I got another target CD! It's The Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. ELP was one of the first bands I really got into. I remember being like 12 years old and being totally amazed at Karn Evil 9. My favorite was the 1st Impression (not the more popular 2nd one - what a dork). I got the Best Of on cassette when I was about 14, but was kind of underwhelmed with it, particularly because I did not really care about songs like Tiger In A Spotlight and Peter Gunn, and even though I like them, I would have preferred more progressive-rock madness like Trilogy rather than Lucky Man or Still... You Turn Me On. Subsequent compilations, particularly the box set The Return Of The Manticore rectified what in my opinion was a substandard collection, so I never upgraded to CD when it came to this release.

Until now...

It was cheap too, so here it is:

For the type of stuff I like, I always wanted to be Greg Lake. Awesome bass player, pretty good guitarist and great singer. Kind of like a jacked up Paul McCartney second man (position currently held by Brian Ray). This is one band I've never seen in concert, and probably never will. *sniff*

I also got another one. This is the first one I've gotten in a store as opposed than from an individual! It's a Japan issue of Van Halen's 1984, very much like the S/T target in a previous post. Dirt cheap too. I know I say I've gotten my target discs cheap and it's true. I wouldn't pay much for them since the masterings are not unique from what I understand. Anyway, here it is:

As is the case with the S/T, this is the most common variation. Oh well! When I became aware of Van Halen, this record was brand new and Jump and Panama were getting a lot of airplay. Van Halen is one of my favorite bands. I saw David Lee Roth's first solo tour in '86 with Billy Sheehan and Steve Vai, and also saw Van Halen with Sammy Hagar with Slash's Snakepit opening. Missed them in their reunion tour.

On the other hand, Yes is touring with a Jon Anderson-sound alike, kind of like Journey did with their Steve Perry-sound alike. I'm not against bands doing that, and in these two particular cases, the singers have turned out to be superb, so I need to find out when/if they're coming to town because I would like to see their show, especially since they appear to be playing songs off the Drama album like Tempus Fugit! I just checked and there are no West Coast dates announced. I hope they schedule some and come through here.

You know, I used to pull a very convincing Dennis De Young when I was younger, and believe I could still pull it off, so Styx guys, keep me in your radar. I should put up a video in YouTube! :) I bought a live CD with the current singer, and I sound more like Dennis than he does. Like that is ever going to happen!

Work kind of has been sucking more as of late, so I can't help but be even more envious of a guy like Eddie Trunk who has the kind of job(s) I would love to have! I'm not envious in a mean way. More power to Eddie, but I bet you I know more useless music facts than you! I've kind of been considering getting a second part-time job at a place like Rasputin Music. I would love to be their cataloguing guy or something. Thing is, I've never worked retail ever, so they wouldn't hire me! LOL! Even though it's sucking, I'm pretty grateful for my job though.

One more thing. I heard Paul Di'Anno is finally touring the US. No Bay Area shows, but there is one in Southern Cal. I'm seriously considering going to it. Paul Di'Anno is like the Metal Chuck Berry of sorts. He has a band in every country where he tours. Maybe I'll finally get an autograph in my The Soundhouse Tapes 7 inch.

The madness continues!

2008-10-22T23:26:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Actually, I discovered in the months that passed between my last post and now that a couple of people actually came and visited the blog! Thank you guys, thank you very much, you're a beautiful audience.

In my last post, I mentioned that I had acquired a few more MFSL CD's. I have, but it looks like I may have to start unloading them because of the economy or something. It sucks because I had kind of always funded my CD buying from the sale of other CD's of mine, but folks have kind of stopped buying my offerings. And I've had some pretty good deals! Don't quite know what to do to, I don't know, advertise what I have for sale... well, I can put up a list in a webpage, duh! And don't get me started with E-Bay! Their fee structure is becoming ridiculous and my feeling is that they're trying to get rid of the smaller or casual sellers in favor of people with stores or something. My understanding is that selling through Amazon is not much better. Oh, and PayPal! But I actually don't mind PayPal fees so much since theirs is actually a service I can appreciate. Oh well. The point is that I haven't been buying any CD's as of late.

I managed to get a couple more "target" discs! And I got them for quite cheap too. The first one is Van Halen's self titled. The cool thing is that is a target made in Japan and it doesn't have those loud color schemes. Turns out it's the least rare of the Van Halen self titled targets, but I don't care. Here it is:

My scanner is dirty and I was too lazy to clean it before I made this can (it's late and I really should be in bed). The other one is 90125 by Yes. Talk about loud color schemes!

So, there it is! I now have three target discs! Unless I find them super cheap at the used music store whenever I go back, it looks like that's going to be the extent of my target CD collection!

Ah, one collection that I managed to complete was the Made in West Germany/Germany CD's of Rush CD's through the first self-titled one to Chronicles. I managed to gather this collection pretty cheaply too and, even though it took a lot of looking around, I was able to get them in a relatively short period of time. I noticed that there were those made for the European market and some for the US market - they differ in the printed things in the disc themselves, but you know what? I'm not going to worry about that! I think the rarest one of the bunch was a made in West Germany set of Chronicles. I don't think many of those were made. I understand there are more made in plain Germany copies floating around (I have one of those), but not made in West Germany. Like I said, the madness continues. One question I have regarding Rush WG discs is that I don't know if an "atomic" version of A Show Of Hands was released. All I could find was a Vertigo "swirl" one (like the Def Leppard from a previous post). Does anyone know?

As it turns out, I didn't get to see Iron Maiden. Won't go into details, but I got pretty sick and even had to be hospitalized, and that happened the weekend after the concert. I'm OK now, but it wasn't fun.

Well, I'm going to end this post here for two reasons; one, because I need to go to sleep now and two, because my wife told me I make my posts too long, so from now on, shorter posts from The Rush Fan. Nighty night!

Time just flies man... My first Target CD

2008-05-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

It really doesn't feel like the previous entry was back in December of last year! Not a lot has happened anyway. I went to a Bon Jovi concert last month. That's a band I think got better with time. The concert was really, really good. My sister is a big fan, and we have been going to Bon Jovi concerts every time they come to town since about 2000. I'm really surprised at how packed the San Jose Arena (or whatever corporate name it's called now) is for their shows. They do not disappoint. I'm by no means a Bon Jovi connoisseur, but they play all the songs I know by them. Jon Bon Jovi looks like he could be in his twenties. It was interesting that this time around they had a second guitar player onstage, and also a fiddle player since they play some country songs now. One thing I don't like is that they have a guy playing bass for them named Hugh McDonald, and if I'm not mistaken, he has been playing with the band longer than their old bass player did, however, he does not have full-member status. That just sucks, but then again, he's making millions playing bass. Only in my wildest dreams could I make a living playing music. McDonald should put a band together with Daryl Stuermer and Chester Thompson. I could sing for them! LOL. Anyway, it was an entertaining show. Getting out of the parking lot took a while! By the way, if I ever went to see Genesis, I'd go primarily to see Daryl Stuermer!

It appears that I might be going to see Iron Maiden again next week. I admit that I'm too old for general admission. At this point, if I can't get an assigned seat, More than likely I won't be going. It's not snobbery, it's just that I get really tired and it affects me the following day. Well, I'm really not too old, but definitely out of shape, but that's another story! Anyway, the times I've seen Iron Maiden, it has been from assigned seats, but kind of far away. Not a complaint, but at some point I would have liked to see them up close. Well, it looks like I got a ticket for next Wednesday's show, and it's a general admission pit ticket. Close to the band? yeah! On my feet the whole time? Booo! I wasn't even planning on going. They'll be at the Concord Pavilion (or whatever corporate name they're using now). Why Concord? It's far away. What happened to the Shoreline? Why not the SJ Arena? Concord??! It's hot there and it means I'll end up getting home really late, and it's on a WEDNESDAY! What the heck!? Plus, I'll be going by myself! Yeah, I know, it it bothers you that much, don't go. That's why I'm saying it looks like I might go.... I'm such and old man (and not even 40!). Oh yeah, Maiden released yet another greatest hits compilation. Let's see... Best Of The Beast, Ed Hunter, Edward The Great (2 versions), The Essential Iron Maiden, Somewhere Back In Time. That's just way too many. I have a few bones to pick with Maiden, but that's a topic for a different day. We'll see what happens.

Iced Earth came out with vinyl replicas of their Century Media releases. I only bought the Alive In Athens one. It looks pretty sweet, although I don't think the vinyl release looked like this CD release. if I remember correctly, the original vynil was like in a box. No matter, this is a fine reproduction. Even the discs themselves look like old school vinyl! When Schaffer and Co. hit the Bay Area, I'll be there for sure! Who knows when that'll happen since I understand Iced Earth is not longer like a "full-time" band. I wish I had seen them with Ripper, but I'm not complaining about Matt being back! I did manage to obtain an audience recording of one of Ripper's last shows with IE.

So, my first target CD... When CD's first came out, a bunch of them had a design that looked like a target. Some people think that because they were straight transfers from the original masters used for the vinyl, untweaked and all, they sound better than subsequent pressings. I don't know about that. These target CD's seem to be picking up steam as collector's items and people are beginning to pay up for them. I got this one in a lot I purchased pretty cheap. It's Ratt's Out Of The Cellar. Looks pretty. I don't think I'll be hunting for target CD's, but they look nice. When CD's first came out, I was too young to buy any and did not have a CD player, so I don't have any targets or made in West Germany discs from back then. MFSL discs is another story. There are a couple of hundred of them that have come out, but I think I've got the ones I want so far (yes, my MFSL collection, although small, has come a long way since my last post!). The only one I would really like to have is Rush's 2112. As for other audiophile discs, I would like Metallica's Ride The Lightning, and Master Of Puppets on the DCC label. Those are kind of scarce it seems and go for a lot of money, so I'll just wait to see if one comes my way without having to pay through the nose.

So, here's my Target CD (actual disc):

My first MFSL (MoFi) CD's!

2007-12-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

The Steve Hoffman Forums are a cool place. I had been "lurking" there for about a year and a half, and finally joined a couple of months ago. It's a great resource with tons of very knowledgeable people. It is a place to discuss sound quality issues. I won't go as far as saying that it is a place for audiophiles because I am not one and I'm there and haven't been kicked out or anything. I don't want to generalize, but it appears that some prevalent opinions are:

Mono is better than stereo
Vinyl is the way to go
Original issues of CD's are better than remasters
Japanese pressings sound better
Discs made in West Germany sound better
"Target" CD's sound better
MFSL and DCC gold discs sound better

I don't necessarily agree with all of the above (particularly the first three with which I am somewhat familiar), but I recognize I've had some of those tendencies, even as a kid, for example, I just totally loved the sound of my records (vinyl LP's) played on my old Fisher stereo through my big Koss headphones. I loved the warm, full sound and perhaps the imaginary drone of the needle going through the surface. I never really liked cassette tapes and didn't start getting CD's until the early 90's. I didn't jump on the MP3 bandwagon until fairly recently. I had been a pretty big fan of Mini Disc, and I liked the way my vinyl and cassette transfers sounded in it. I knew there was compression, but I figured the format was specifically created for music, so I was happy. Too bad Sony ruined the format's chances for success here. Anytime I mentioned MD to my friends, they would just come back with the argument that CD's were cheap, CD-R's were cheap and nothing would take the place of CD's. I never thought MD's were designed to take the place of CD's, but were a digital answer to cassette tapes, except much cooler and better. Anyway... I finally embraced MP3's and even got an iPod.

I could write extensively on my audio preferences, and perhaps I will when I don't feel so lazy! One of the results of reading the posts in the forums is that now I look for all sorts of "better sounding" versions of stuff I like. Most of the time, the stuff is super hard to find and/or super expensive. I don't have a lot of extra income to indulge in seeking this stuff out (none, as a matter of fact!), so whatever I get is by pure luck really.

Two CD's I like and had never owned on CD are Def Leppard's Pyromania and Hysteria. Because I'm cheap, I had always looked for used copies under, say $7.00, but those two, particularly Pyromania, hold up their value really well. One day I spotted a copy of Hysteria for like $3.95. I debated for a minute because I had been thinking about getting the deluxe version with a bonus disc, but hey, the price was right, so I bought it. When I got to my car, I opened the case and to my surpirse, the disc inside was a gold, Mobile Fidelity Sounds Lab one! The Steve Hoffman Forums have taught me that MFSL discs sound better, so I was happy. I played it at home and it sounds pretty good... It has to, since I have nothing to compare it too! I went to the forums to share the good fortune, and was told that the one to really have was the Pyromania one because it was significantly better sounding than any other version. I put the information in the brain for future reference, and there it stayed.

On one of my other forays into the used bins, I came across a copy of Pyromania, at the right price of $6.99. To my surprise it was one of the aforementioned made in West Germany discs! I picked it up and was very happy to finally have this favorite of mine (I like it better than Hysteria) on CD, and a good sounding one (according to some).

Then came the moment of weakness. There was a mint condition MFSL Pyromania, made in Japan up for auction, and I ended up winning it. It wasn't cheap, but I've seen others pay more for "lesser" copies. It looks great, and it comes in the original packaging (some weird CD holding arm inside the jewel case. Sometime between now and going back to work, I will do a sound comparison between the MFSL and the West Germany discs.

All in all, I think I managed to get some pretty cool items and not pay an arm and a leg for them. The Steve Hoffman Forums are a great place for information and reference, but join at your own wallet's risk! (for those devoid of a sense of humor, I do like the forums a lot).

Old posts below!

2007-10-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

Last summer I decided to finally put together a "music-stuff" blog and put it up. It was originally designed to be some sort of music stuff review thing, and I actually started it but soon realized that it wasn't a really original idea and that as a reviewer I am, frankly, not that good. I had actually envisioned "great" things for the other blog, going as far as signing up with adsense (HAHA!). Anyway, I started this blog and just kind of continued on with it, and pretty much abandoned the other one. For some reason. I saw it today, and decided to consolidate postings here, so I went ahead and moved the posts. I had actually started a post about Uli Jon Roth, so I may just finish it up and post it here.

I also decided to change the blog layout and go with the one I had in the original blog (they're all pre-set, so it's not like I'm having to do something big!). I think the text space is too narrow, so I may just switch back. Who knows? Why don't you, my gentle reader (!!??) tell me what you think? hehe.

Below are three "reviews", one of the Phil Lynnot tribute Gary Moore DVD, the other one of Paul Di'Anno's limited edition CD where he did what else? Maiden songs, and the other one is of the then-recently-released Replay X3 DVD by Rush. In retrospect, they're not that bad as far as commentaries go, so here they are!

I still don't get why Rush has to release everything in digipak! It's such a hassle. Anyway...

RUSH!! Replay X3

2007-10-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

This is from July 25, 2006.
----------------------------

Rush: Replay X3

Finally... Rush released some of their long out-of-print videos on DVD in the massive Replay X-3! The videos are: Exit... Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure Tour (or whatever the name is) and A Show Of Hands! The package comes with a bonus audio CD with the soundtrack of the Grace Under Pressure DVD. It's cool to finally have the stuff officially released. I own / have owned those videos in some form or another pretty much for years though. I plunked down good money to buy Exit... Stage Left and A Show Of Hands when they were available to purchase in stores back in the 80's. Those videos were not cheap either. They cost me like $30 each, and when I bought them, the prices of music videos had gone down already! I remember a friend of mine buying the Scorpions' World Wide Live video for like $50 when it came out (somehow, I ended up with that video, and I still have it, so Ernie, wherever you are, if you want it back, I have it!). The Grace Under Pressure video I never could find. My only memories of it were from a video a friend of mine taped off the TV. They had a show in one channel where they played concerts at midnight on Saturdays.

Then came the DVD era, but of course those weren't available. Demand was there, so it didn't take long for a Brazilian company to put them out on DVD. The GuP show was not available though. The Brazilian DVD's had a lot of useless extra stuff on them, and the video transfer wasn't that good. It gave my VHS tapes a rest though. I later got a supposedly official release of ESL on DVD from Singapore. It was professionally packaged, and the video transfer, while still not up to snuff, was a vast improvement over the Brazilian version. The Singapore ESL DVD was my copy of choice. it wasn't bad really.

One day a couple of years ago, I talked to this guy via e-mail. He happened to have made some transfers from the original laserdiscs on to DVD of the GuP, and ASoH videos, so I got some copies from him. The transfers are excellent, and the ASoH DVD has the song Lock And Key, which was only released in the laserdisc version! (not even the current Replay X3 has it). So, yeah, the videos have been out there on DVD for some time if one really wanted to get a copy!

If you buy the set at Best Buy, the audio CD has four unlisted, extra tracks tagged at the end; Limelight and Closer To The Heart (again!) from ESL, and The Spirit Of Radio and Tom Sawyer from ASoH. As far as a review goes, they're all great. I can't be objective with Rush. I've read a lot of comments here and there from people complaining about the anamorphic screen, about Lock And Key, about complete shows, blah blah blah boo hoo hoo. All I can say is "Shadduup!" Be grateful it's out officially on DVD.

My personal favorite is the Grace Under Pressure concert. It's my favorite album and is very sentimental for me I guess. That was the first new tape I got of Rush, and although I didn't like it that much at the beginning, it's gotten to be one of my favorites!

Oh, the pictures are on the Amazon site by the way.

Paul Di'Anno does more Iron Maiden!

2007-10-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

This one is from June 25, 2006.
---------------------------------

The folks over at Paul Di'Anno official website are selling a very limited edition (150) CD titled THE CLASSICS: The Maiden Years. I ordered my copy and got it in the mail a few days later (very quick delivery!) in an envelope adressed by Lea Hart himself!

Paul's voice has really held up well throughout the years and I enjoyed listening to the CD for the most part. As his voice has matured, it gives a new depth to some songs when he adds a very deep growl, so that sounds cool. Wasn't he like 20 when they recorded the first album? I liked all of the songs, except the new version of Strange World. The guitar work is annoying on that one.

These new versions by Paul are really good, but not necessarily better than the original ones. Out of all the Maiden singers, I think he's the one whose voice whose range has remained very much the same as always, and even has added depth to it by virtue of the passage of time. Bruce Dickinson is great, but his range is (of course!) not the same as 1982, and Blaze, although in my opinion has found his voice on is solo work and sounds awesome, does not sound the same as he did during his Wolfsbane days.

According to the site, only 150 copies were pressed. I doubt that very much. Supposedly, one can only get one copy. If you're a fan, it would make for a great collectible, but I doubt it will set the Iron Maiden collectors' market on fire.

I know he gets ripped on because he still does Iron Maiden songs, and even participates in Iron Maiden tributes. I say let him do all the Maiden he wants and cash in if he can. He's Paul freakin' Di'Anno! As far as I'm concerned he could tour every year and do Iron Maiden and Killers! He's entitled to it. With the exception of the song Transylvania (an instrumental), all the songs from the first album are here, plus Wrathchild, Murders In The Rue Morgue, Killers and Women In Uniform. I wonder what the economic incentive is though. My understanding is that Maiden bought him out for a lump sum andthe result is that he does not get any royalties when he releases Maiden tunes. He still does release them though because that is his legacy I suppose.

Too bad he doesn't tour the United States! I think the immigration department won't give him a visa or something. That's too bad. I bet he would have pretty successful tours here.

So, this is a good one to have. It's nice to have a disc of new recordings of Maiden tunes sung by Di'Anno instead of having to get one of those tribute CD's with a whole bunch of different singers only to hear one or two tunes sung by Paul. I'd get one of those tribute CD's if they had Paul do a Bruce or Blaze era song!

I read in the Maiden newsgroup that someone read an interview where Steve says Iron Maiden will do 15 studio albums and call it quits. After the new one comes out, there will be one left. I say it's time to start making memorable shows and bringing in Paul and/or Blaze to sing a couple of songs with the band, and maybe Dennis Stratton to play too. That would be something!

Gary Moore still rules! (the video, not quite)

2007-10-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

This one is from May 29, 2006.
---------------------------------

Last week I watched the Gary Moore and Friends: One Night in Dublin - Tribute to Phil Lynott DVD. Basically, a Phil Lynott statue was unveiled in Dublin on the 20th anniversary of his death, and Gary Moore played a concert where he paid tribute to Phil. There were some special guests who had played in Thin Lizzy and they played some Lizzy songs. This is what I thought of the musicians:

Gary Moore: Well, he's Gary Moore and he rules. He's one of the last two or three musicians I'd like to see in concert. I'm not a big fan of his blues trip though, but I'm sure that's what's paid the bills for him, so keep bluesin' Gary. Me? I'm stuck in his Hard Rock era, particularly from Corridors of Power through After The War. I'd really love to have some video from this era, but none is really available anymore. I e-mailed this guy one who has this huge list of videos to see if he wanted to trade or something, but he never replied. He played a local show in '87 I think, but I couldn't go because it was an over 21 place and I wasn't 21. Anyway, the show! His band consists of Brian Downey (who also rules) on drums, and some guy on bass. His guitar playing is awesome, but a big complain I have is that during Black Rose, when he was playing his awesome kick-ass solo, the cameras were everywhere but the fretboard! I mean, I love the guy, but I don't really want to see Scott Gorham hitting a power chord while Gary is turning over the world on its axis with his solo!

Brian Downey: Believe it or not, this is the first footage I've seen of Downey (I have the Lizzy show from Sydney, but that one has another drummer). Maybe he displayed more energy when he was younger, but now he looks very, veeerry relaxed when he plays. It sounds great though. He's bald too.

The bass player: He was good and stayed in the background (plays for Jethro Tull or something?). Looks like me a little. They should have just called me and I would have gladly played bass and looked better on this!

Brian Robertson: This guy has always been sort of an enigma for me. I've always read praises for the guy; the fiery young guitar player and stuff like that, but my reaction to his playing for Lizzy has always been kind of "meh". Maybe because he was 17 when he joined Lizzy and he was playing concerts, and THAT'S remarkable. At 17 I was trying to play in my bedroom like Chris Squire or something. Also he was a druggie, I believe, and some people praise that as being a characteristic of musical geniuses or something. I've never seen a shot of the guy's face either! He's always had his hair over his face, and here he was wearing sunglasses as well. His playing was the worst of the show. While they were playing Emerald, it seemed as if Gary was trying to motivate him to play better during their duel. I still don't see what the big deal is about this guy. He sucks.

Scott Gorham: Pretty cool California guy. His playing was always pretty competent, and his posing skills have gotten better with age. He's a Rock Star and you can't help it but crack up seeing him when he's up on stage. The camera shows him posing instead of Gary paying his heart out during Black Rose as I mentioned before! His interview is the one I enjoyed the most on the DVD extras. During the show, he never stops posing for the camera!

Eric Bell: His claim to fame, as far as I'm concerned, is that he payed guitar with Lizzy, and the two well-known songs from his time with the band are Whiskey in the Jar and The Rocker, and his playing rules in both songs. Beyond that, I don't know much about him. He handles some of the vocals during Whiskey in the Jar, and he sounds worse than Gary!

The Show: I'll have to go with the assumption that this was not the complete show. The DVD show is very short. I was thinking that Robertson and Gorham should have gotten to play together, all the guitar players should have taken solos at the end, etc. but the truth of the matter is that it was a Gary Moore show, and he's a better guitar player than all of those guys anyway. It starts with a blues song (boo!) and it ends with Parisienne Walkways (yay!). After the blues song, Gary plays Jailbreak and Don't Believe a Word before bringing in Robertson. He sticks around for a couple of songs and then Gorham comes in. To me, the tunes Gary did with Gorham were the most enjoyable part of the DVD. They played Black Rose, Cowboy Song and The Boys Are Back in Town. Eric Bell played on and sang part of Whiskey in the Jar. Then Gary closes. Gary handled vocal duties and did a really good job considering that, in my opinion, Phil songs are pretty hard to sing.

Extras: There was like a 25-minute long interview segment where all the guys get air time. Scott Gorham was the highlight of the interview segments because he seems to be a pretty laid back and open person.

I was able to extract the sound and make me an audio CD of the show (fits in one CD), and that's been getting a lot of airplay in my stereo/computer. As a matter of fact I'm listening to it right now. It's a good one to have.

I like Thin Lizzy a lot, but prefer Live and Dangerous and subsequent releases (Black Rose, Chinatown, Renegade, Thunder and Lightning, Life/Live), and that makes me an unusual fan I guess because everyone seems to prefer the "classic" line-up with Gorham/Robertson. In addition to those, I have Dedication and Jailbreak. I admire Phil Lynott a lot. He was a great songwriter, bass player and singer with a lot of soul in his singing and songwriting. I think that even though he doesn't admit it, someone like Bruce Springsteen was heavily influenced by Phil.

So, my gripes:

DVD concert too short.
Where was John Sykes (doesn't he front Lizzy now?)?
Needed more jamming by all musicians at the same time.
No close-ups of Moore's fretboard during Black Rose.
Brian Robertson.

Other than that, it's a good one to have.

Senior Citizens Who ROCK!

2007-09-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post and I don't even know what I'll write. My years-long writing block continues. Why were there no blogs when I was in college?! I was so prolific back then! Oh well. Work has been sucking as of late, and I just seem to not be able to get anything done in general.

So, let's see... what's new in my music world since I last left you, my loyal reader (namely ME!)? 3 Inches Of Blood released their new album Fire Up The Blades, so let's start with that. I'll spare you a song-by-song review and give you my general impression. It's a really good album with what we've come to expect from Pipes, Hopper and company (which happens to be a brand-new band). I assume they had a bigger budget since they brought in some nu-metal producer who's apparently well known... Gordy somethingorother. In some spots we can hear an old-fashioned keyboard, and also cowbell, but it's still a great album to listen to and get all pumped up. For me, it is a good driving album. I managed to get an autographed copy!

OK, let's see... Oh! Beatallica finally released a CD!! The original songs are no longer available on their site (although I'm sure they are widely available if one looks for them). I love this band and was an active participant in their message board a while back. I ordered a t-shirt from their site when they became first available (the design is no longer available... is it a collectors' item I wonder?) and corresponded for a short while with founder member KRK. There was a whole legal thing going on with Sony (Beatles) and Lars Ulrich coming to their aid too. Anyway, now they have their own CD although writing is credited to McCartney, Harrison and Lennon. I URGE you to buy it. Do it through the link in their website, or look for it in your record store (I've seen it in the bins). KRK left the band (he played everything in the original recordings), and the songs in the CD were recorded by the current touring band. Guys, do a West Coast jaunt. You've been to Europe for crying out loud! For the unitiated, Beatallica play mostly Beatles tunes in the classic (Cliff era) style of Metallica. It's really awesome, especially if you like Cliff era Metallica and The Beatles (like me). I ordered the "fan-pack", although I don't know if it's still available.

What else? Oh yeah, Rush came out with a new studio album called Snakes & Arrows. The music is really good, after all, it's Rush. I like it better than Vapor Trails. The sound is a lot better than Vapor Trails. I really don't like jumping in the "remasters-are-too-loud" bandwagon, and although Vapor Trails is not a remaster, I agree with those who say it was mixed loud! Snakes & Arrows sounds really good. The album also had a MVI (Music Video Interactive) release, which is some kind if DVD, super-douper audio with multimedia thing. I got it, put it in the DVD player and it sounds even better! So, yeah, get that too. I don't know of any other MVI releases, but I could definitely get into them. Apparently the MVI disc of Snakes & Arrows is a limited edition of 25,000, so get yours. Here's the sad story. Rush came into town and for the first time since the Presto Tour, I didn't go see them. :( I did manage to get some great recordings from the current tour though, and hopefully there will be a DVD release. I wonder if they'll do a second leg.

Speaking of DVD releases! The Appice-Butler-Dio-Iommi (yeah! Vinny should go first sometimes!) line-up of Black Sabbath is touring as Heaven & Hell. They came into town and again, did not go. I usually wait to get tickets on the day of the show since many times they release unused comp tickets on that day, but opted not to go because I was simply not in the mood. I had a job interview that did not go to well in my opinion, so I just went home. pretty dumb, huh? Anyway, they've been kicking major bouteé, which is remarkable because Dio is 65 years old! There have been many good quality recordings floating around, but the Radio City Music Hall performance was officially released on CD and DVD. So far, this is hands down one of the best live videos ever. Maiden should take notice in case they release another DVD and realize that several camera cuts per second does not necessarily make an exciting video. The CD and DVD are out now, but Rhino Handmade is going to release a limited edition deluxe set sometime in October. I've pre-ordered mine, but have seen the DVD and it is awesome.

Well, quick and dirty, that's what comes to mind right now. Iced Earth comes out with their new album today. Somehow, I've had the songs from the new album for a few days now, and although I'll wait to make my comments until after I buy it, I'll say now that it's really, really good. Ripper has an amazing voice, but I've been hearing a lot of overdubbed choruses like Blind Guardian and that's not necessarily a good thing for my ears.

Anyway, check back because I'll publish this bare bones, but my intent is to come back and add some pictures and links. Oh! The last post was silly and it's a shame that it was at the top for so long. I just thought the picture of Fernando Von Arb is priceless, and the reason I left the entry there is because someone who was kind enough to respond to my BX3 post, putn the comment in the Von Arb post by mistake. I do not get the whole smashing-your-instrument thing though.

I never got the whole smashing your instrument thing

2007-02-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

I couldn't cheer for it or anything, but oh, what a crowd pleaser it has been over the years! Even mild-mannered Fernando Von Arb has done it! And he did it with an AX!!

The Best $30 I ever spent (or My New Best Concert Experience!)

2007-01-27T00:56:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a long one! Last Wednesday night, I drove to San Francisco to catch the BX3 show at a place called Cafe Du Nord. What is BX3 you may ask? well, it's like the G3 concerts, except that this is with bass players! This show features none other than Jeff Berlin, Stuart Hamm and Billy Sheehan! These guys are three of the top bass players of all time. It was an awesome concert at a great venue and it's probably knocked the 1999 Iced Earth show as My Best Concert Experience! It was a very unexpected thing which almost did not happen for me. Here's my story.

Last Monday night, I managed to get a two-CD set of a BX3 concert that had taken place the previous day in L.A. I'm kind of out of the loop nowadays with concerts, and I didn't know this tour was happening, so after a couple of clicks in Google, I was looking at the official page. I was freaking out because Jeff Berlin was actually part of this! I immediately went and got a ticket to go to the show. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, I was able to listen to the recording I had gotten, and it was awesome! Now, I really, really strongly dislike driving to San Francisco, but this was a special ocassion. I went home after work and spent a few minutes there before heading out. Now, I live near Oakland, but decided not to take the Bay Bridge (it was about 7:20 PM when I left home. The show started at 8:30), so I went south on 880 and took the San Mateo Bridge to 101 North (the toll just went up to $4.00! Yikes!). That worked out just perfectly and the venue was pretty easy to find (for a change!). I had to park really far away as there were no parking garages that I could see... well, there was this one place but they charged $8.00, so I found a spot in the street. Like I said, it was many blocks away, but it looked like a safe neighborhood. I walked what seemed to be a long distance to Market Street where the venue is. It is a very fairly small, but cozy place. I got there at around 8:20 and I noticed there were people standing in front of the stage. I went to the merchandise table and bought Jeff Berlin's Aneurythms CD (buy it!) and an autographed poster, then went to the floor. There were two guys with whom I talked for a little while; two cool dudes from Sacramento who are a couple of concert warhorses, and then the show started at around 8:40...

Before I keep going, let me share with you how I "discovered" these musicians. Also, FYI, I knew by around age 11 that I wanted to be a bass player, initially because Paul McCartney was my favorite Beatle, but bass turned out to be my favorite instrument to listen to, and there was something about keeping time that appealed to me.

Even though I was just a kid, the 80's was a great time for me from a music-exploring standpoint. I was constantly discovering and being amazed by all sorts of different styles of music and artists. For quite some time I used to go to a place called The Record Factory a few times a week after school. The Record Factory was this awesome independent store that had lots of import albums and a well-stocked magazine stand. I'd go there and read the Hit Parader and Circus Magazines mostly since, even though I listened to all sorts of stuff, Metal was what I identified with for the most part. I got to know about a lot of bands and musicians that way (good and bad!). Then I would look through the record bins, and since I didn't have money to actually buy any albums, I would instead look at them and read stuff like the credits in the back to see who played, who produced, what year, etc. (weird, huh?) I bought Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force album in '84 I believe, based on the unusual name (he obviously wasn't going for commercialism!) the back cover picture and the fact that he thanked Bach, Paganini and Hendrix in it. The record didn't disappoint of course and I became an Yngwie fan. One day I read an article in a Hit Parader about Yngwie where he raved, in part, about this bass player named Billy Sheehan. I guess they were doing some kind of tour together and jammed at the end of the shows. There was a picture of them where it truly looked like they were jamming, so I looked for his records. The Record Factory had two Talas albums (Sink Your Teeth Into That, and Live Speed On Ice), and ended up buying them. The music was OK, but Billy's playing just blew me away! I played both records a lot, and except for the solos, I tried my best to play along. Before this past Wednesday night, I had seen Billy in concert twice, once with David Lee Roth, and later with Mr. Big. As an aside, let me just mention that the Mr. Big / Winger show was truly awesome and oozed and reeked of musicianship! Billy has remained one of my favorite bass players.

I went from reading Hit Parader to reading Guitar Player and Guitar For The Practicing Musician. Guitar player had this flexi vinyl disc in their issues (that's how I discovered Steve Vai and Tony Macalpine for example!), and one time there was a song by a band named Racer X, with Paul Gilbert on guitar. Seeing as to how I was totally into the Neo-Classical style of guitar playing, hearing this was pretty cool. I read an article (maybe the one in that issue) where Paul Gilbert said he had played in an album by a guy named Jeff Berlin, and how he (Paul) was not terribly familiar with the song Crossroads, which was featured in the album. I found the Pump It! tape and bought it, not knowing who this Jeff Berlin guy was. I wanted to listen to Paul Gilbert in Crossroads, which was the second song on side B, so I fast forwarded the tape to side B and pressed play. Bach was the first song on that side, and Jeff's playing totally slayed me. By the time the tape ended, I was like in a trance. I was pretty disturbed for a while because I couldn't figure out how someone could play a Bach-bass-solo-song and pull it off so beautifully. I played this tape all the time, and bought the Champion LP as well. I also bought Bill Bruford's Master Strokes because I'd seen that he played with him. I decided at that point that Jeff Berlin was the ultimate bass player ever, and still hold that opinion. I could never afford (at that time) to buy his instruccional video tape, so for years and years I never actually saw any footage of him. I enjoyed his columns (and sense of humor) in Guitar Player, and I knew he didn't really tour, focusing instead on teaching and taking care of his sick boy (who has since recovered!), so for me, Jeff Berlin was always one of those musicians that I actually thought I'd never be able to see live. *sniff*

When the David Lee Roth band first came out and Steve Vai and Billy were the hot ticket in the country, they got interviewed by just about every music magazine. In these interviews, Steve would rant and rave about this Joe Satriani guy. Needless to say, the publicity worked wonders when Joe released his Surfing With The Alien album. I went and bought the tape, and also Not Of This Earth, and enjoyed them a lot! I loved Driving At Night off Not Of This Earth. Joe embarked on a tour and when it came to town, I couldn't go because the venue was an over 21 place and I was just a pimply teenager. The day of the show, Joe had a signing session at the Campbell Tower Records (RIP). I took both my tapes and was like tenth in line. By this time I actually had a bass. The cheapest of the cheap, and used, but a real bass nevertheless, and I was proud of being a "bass player"! (I was actually not bad at all!). As Joe signed my tape inserts I made some small conversation with him (Joe was really nice and patient - thank you Joe):

Me: "I'd love to go to your show but I'm not old enough"
Joe: "I'm sorry about that, but we'll probably be coming back in the future".
Me: "Are you going to play "Driving At Night"?"
Joe: (delighted that I liked the song) "It's not in our set list, but might play it in the future"
Me: "Hey, I play bass. If you ever need need a bassist let me know!" (I was kidding ofcourse)
Joe: "Have you heard of Stu Hamm?"
Me: "No"
Joe: "Well, he's really amazing!"

On my way back home, I remembered Stu Hamm's name from the credits in Steve Vai's Flex-Able, so I immediately played it when I got home. The playing is good, but if you've heard the album, Stu doesn't stand out, like soloing or anything, so I had no reason to believe he would be anything out of the ordinary. That night the mighty KOME broadcast the concert (which I taped - and still have the tapes!), and as I listened to Stu's spectacular playing, particularly his unaccompanied solo, couldn't help but feel like an ass for having told Joe Satriani that I played bass when he had Stu Hamm in his band! I have since seen Stu in concert a couple of times with Joe, and have always been amazed at his technique and feeling. Anyway, in a nutshell, that's how I came to know the BX3 musicians. Back to the show...

The stage was pretty small and I immediately recognized Billy's set-up, I also figured the Hartke cabinets were Stu's and by default, the small amps to my left were Jeff's. All three of them came on at around 8:40 and kicked things off with The Star Spangled Banner (Billy on vocals), and then on to Jeff's set. I was in cloud nine not actually believing that after more than 20 years, I was finally seeing Jeff Berlin play, and he was basically in front of me! I was hoping he's play some of the older stuff that I knew, like Dixie, but it didn't matter. The tunes he played were awesome. Actually seeing his rendition of Tears In Heaven being played right in front of me is a highlight of my life! Jeff IS a funny guy and seemed to have a lot of fun playing to a crowd full of musicians (something he acknowledged). After a way-too-short set, he introduced Stu Hamm. I snapped some pictures, and here's one of Jeff. Can you believe I was this close?

The guys used the same guitar player and drummer (Jude and John), who by the way, really impressed me with their versatility and adaptability. There was no waiting between sets, and Stu started his set almost immediately. He played his trademark Moonlight Sonata with a portion of the outro of The Beatles' I Want You (She's So Heavy), which sounded wonderful. His technique is amazing and he was right there in front of me! He's cool for putting together this bill! After another way-too-short set with an awesome set list, he introduced Billy Sheehan. Here's a picture of Stu playing something impossible!

Billy Sheehan didn't mess around. he started playing with a vengeance right from the get-go and never let up! Again, he was right in front of me, and I was thrilled to be able to see up close how he played some of his trademark stuff! The bass was really funky looking, but I was so close, I could not get a picture of the whole bass! (it's not a complaint mind you!). They played the DLR-era version of Shy Boy, which had not been part of the set I had listened to previously. They also jammed to one of my favorite Jeff Beck songs from the Wired album, Led Boots. Here's a really good shot of Billy:

After his set, Jeff and Stu came out to play a few more songs. One of the songs they played was Spinal Tap's Big Bottom! They also played Crossroads with Jeff handling vocal duties and Billy doubling Jeff's bass solo! At the end they all briefly exchanged basses. Billy ended up with Stu's bass and played a funky slap riff, something he would never normally do! Here's the only picture I could get of the three of them together:

After the show, they all went to the merchandise table to greet fans. I think I was one of the first ones to greet Jeff. I was speechless and too nervous to say anything really. I tried to tell him I had waited over 20 years tofinally seeing him play, but I doubt he even heard me! I managed to ask him if he still hung out with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. His eyes lit up and said that he's the best the WWF ever had! He then told me that Roddy has cancer, the same as his son, but that he (Piper) is doing great. He autographed my CD insert and took a picture. He was very gracious and talked to everybody. I also bought Billy's Cosmic Troubadour and Stu's Stu Live X2. Billy had quite a crowd around him, but was also really cool, signed my CD and took a picture. To think of all the things I would have liked to say, and all that came out was thank you! Stu was also very nice, signed the booklet and took a picture as well. I asked him if there was going to be a DVD release, and he said maybe! I say that if something needs to be documented, this tour is it!

This was one of the great experiences of my life. In all honesty, I was there to see Jeff Berlin, but to see the three of them was a privilege and very historic. If you doubt that, look at this picture and tell me how often something like this happens in life!

So, now we're in 2007

2007-01-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

I've spent some time in the past few weeks thinking about what I'm going to do this year, and that includes this blog! I think I'll make it my "all things music" place, rather than just a display of a few things I have.

That will come I'm sure, but for now, let me just share this little gem I got a few weeks ago. This is Iced Earth's Burnt Offerings, but the kicker is that this is the rough mix! I had actually seen one of this up for auction a couple of years ago, but I was too late for it (it ended up selling for like a couple of bucks), so when I saw this one, I couldn't pass it up. I ended up paying a lot more than a couple of bucks, but I'm glad to have it. I've listened to it, and quite honestly, it doesn't sound that rough to me! I still need to compare it to, say, the remastered version. I'm sure I'll find differences then. Maybe this weekend.

Oh! After posting the My Best Concert Experience entry, I read a statement from Jon Schaffer where he almost disowns the Alive In Athens DVD! I see his point, but it's still a good one to have in my opinion. The message was actually from last September, and come to think of it, I haven't really seen this DVD out there that much.

By the way, I found out what Matthew Barlow is doing nowadays. He's a great singer. One of the greatest I think, but if what he's doing is what makes him happy, then that's cool.

Missed Concert? No More! (or Roy Z.)

2006-11-25T21:08:00.000-08:00

Back in '03 sometime, I was all set to go see Rob Halford and band in San Francisco touring behind the Crucible album. I ended up getting a pretty bad case of the flu and ended up not going. I had seen Halford open for Iron Maiden at the Shoreline Amphitheater back in 2000, and what a show! The icing on the cake for the '03 Halford show was that producer Roy Z. was part of the touring band! I actually had seen Roy back in '97 over at Slim's in San Francisco when the Tribe Of Gypsies (three fifths of it anyway) was the backing band for Bruce Dickinson when he toured behind the excellent Accident Of Birth album. For that particular concert, I had no idea who Roy Z. was and my only concern really was to see Adrian Smith, so I did not pay attention to Roy and the rest of the band. I ended up getting a recording of the show, so I don't feel like I missed out that badly since I can at least hear Roy's playing too. TANGENT AHEAD!! The ticket listed "Geezer" as the opening act. I did not think much of it and assumed it was just some inconsequential band. You can imagine my surprise when THE Geezer walks onstage! I told the girl I went with "HEY! THAT'S GEEZER!!!" She just looked at me like saying "duh! that's what it says on the ticket!"

Anyway, I became a Roy Z. fan and sought out all of the Tribe Of Gypsies albums - no easy task since they are all out-of-print Japan-only releases. I got them and not only did the band become one of my favorites, Roy became one of my favorite guitar players too. As it turns out, he has also produced some of my favorite albums by Halford and Dickinson, as well as Judas Priest! (Angel Of Retribution). I was pretty bummed out when I couldn't go to the show. The Tribe played a show in southern California back in July, but unfortunately I was on a family vacation, and just now while checking for links for this post, I found out the Tribe played another show last Saturday! Why heck!? I could have gone to THAT! So much for being on the Tribe's mailing list.

Now, here's another tangent. Currently, Iron Maiden have settled on AOR producer Kevin Shirley. I sense that they very badly want to have a relationship with a producer like they did with Martin Birch, but at the same time they still hope at this stage to perhaps get radio airplay. Kevin Shirley is a fine producer and has made really good albums with Maiden. As good as they are though, I wouldn't go as far as calling them classics (maybe A Matter Of Life And Death will get there). Martin Birch produced their classic albums, but Martin Birch was not an AOR producer! He was a Metal producer (Deep Purple, Rainbow, Sabbath for example), so what Maiden need, in my opinion is another Metal producer, who like Martin, has a track record of producing classic Metal albums (Chemical Wedding and Resurrection anyone?). The answer is Roy Z.! If it is indeed true that their next studio album will be their last, let Roy Z. produce it and have them go out with a bang! It will probably never happen though for some silly Steve Harris reason like he's not British, he's not old enough, or because he produced Bruce Dickinson's albums. A pity, really. Come on Steve and Rod. You're not bankrolling The Sanctuary Group anymore (here too). Priest got Roy, how about you guys?

Anyway, I just got a hold of a video of a Halford show from 2003 in Japan. The video is really good for the most part, and the audio is even better! Now I can watch a Halford show with Roy in it. He's featured quite a lot, so that's cool. Now I can't feel like I missed out that badly!

Oh, and the Tribe Of Gypsies need a guy like me as their singer. Big original Santana band fan, native Spanish speaker (fluent AND correct grammar user!), great voice (yeah!), and quite handsome! :) Oh boy... here are a couple of screen shots from the Halford Japan 2003 DVD I got:

My Best Concert Experience

2006-11-20T23:07:00.000-08:00

Today I got a new DVD. I got Iced Earth's Alive In Athens. This was recorded back in 1999. The 3-CD set has been in circulation since then, but I was not aware there was a DVD version of the shows. My guess is that it probably came out not too long ago. I've watched part of it and it sure does bring back memories!

I discovered Iced Earth through my friend Baeleron back in 1998 sometime. He had the CD for Dark Saga. He played it for me and I was impressed with 1) Jon Schaffer's fast guitar playing, and 2) Matt Barlow's vocals. I thought at the time that Iced Earth had picked up where Metallica left off. He let me borrow the CD and the last three tunes of the CD got a lot of airplay in my stereo! That was pretty much the extent of my Iced Earth knowledge and like that it stayed for the next few months. One day Baeleron told me Iced Earth would be touring the States and that there would be a San Francisco show at a place called Cocodrie. I don't remember when exactly the concert took place, but when we went in, I was surprised at how small the place was! Also, it was some sort of matinee show because it started sometime in the afternoon. We were there early enough that we caught Iced Earth's soundcheck. They played 2 songs, Burning Time and another one. Matt Barlow looked like a total geek! His hair was pulled back and was wearing big glasses! I thought it was really cool that we were there for the soundcheck.

There were several bands that played that day. The first band was a local band whose name I cannot remember. Some kid with a blonde afro started checking up the microphones, and then he starts growling! Their set was short and to me memorable because it was my first live exposure to growling vocals (don't ask me to pinpoint the exact genre). Next up was the band of some guy who had been sitting next to us and talking to some other dude about how Norway was the happening place for Metal. He brought a torch as a prop and had painted some kind of devil on his chest. He was cracking us up because he kept sticking his tongue out like Gene Simmons. He played and sang his heart out. His songs were long an had multiple time changes, but they all.. well.. sucked. I don't mean to rag on the guy and his band. At least they can say they were on the bill with Iced Earth and I can't!

Then the advertised bands started playing. Next up was a band called Destiny's End. They played melodic Metal and the singer had a pretty high-pitched voice. They were good, but perhaps a little out of place. You could tell they were pros though. Their set piqued my interest during the encores when they played Priest's Beyond The Realms Of Death. I was eagerly awaiting the climactic scream towards the end of the song, but right at that spot started playing Livin' After Midnight (I don't like that song at all). Next up was a band called Nevermore. Jon Schaffer and other Iced Earth members were watching the show and Baeleron went up to them to get his CD booklets signed. Nevermore were pretty good, but I still don't know any of their music.

Up to this point we had been sitting in the back. The place was full but not jam-packed with people. I figure that there could not have been more than 250 people inside, which was surprising given Iced Earth's stature. Bael and I stood up, walked up to the front and stood by Jon Schaffer's monitors right in front of him. The stage was not high. It was at knee-level. Iced Earth played a blistering set. They played as if they had been playing in front of thousands! It was interesting how Jon Schaffer had this aura of stage general! It's definitely his band. Barlow's vocals were amazing! They played all the songs I knew and more. After they finished their set, we, along with some other fans jumped onstage to meet Jon. I shook his hand and thanked him for an awesome show. He was pretty gracious and stayed talking to other fans. I remember this kid asking him what chords did he play in X song, and Jon patiently told him. I was very happy to have been there. Not only that, we got out early enough to go grab a bite to eat, hit a couple of record stores looking for Maiden collectibles and get home at a decent hour!

That my friends was my best concert experience ever.

Bael and I were looking forward to seeing them again in 2001 opening for Judas Priest, but the concert was to take place the weekend after Sept. 11, and we all know what happened. The show was rescheduled for February of '02 or something, but by this time, Anthrax had replaced Iced Earth and Bael had moved to southern CA. I went to the show (Ripper on vocals!), but that's another story.

Here's part of a screen shot from the DVD:

Best concert video recording ever?

2006-10-30T12:02:00.000-08:00

I was very disappointed with Maiden's Death On The Road DVD. As a matter of fact, I think I'm not supposed to have a copy since it appears that there was never an official North American release. Something about quality control issues. I got a copy from a used record store. After popping in the DVD in the player with anticipation, I turned it off in the middle of the second song. The reason is because of the several camera cuts per second! I did not count the camera changes per song, but I did count several per second! It was a great show and a great setlist, but it was ruined and rendered unwatchable by (supposedly) Steve Harris' editing. It felt like I was watching an episode of Pokemon or something, although Pokemon has less cuts.

Last week, a DVD of a video recording of Maiden's show from this past November 12 made it to my posession. It has a nice, unobstructed view from the center, and it was recorded in high definition (converted to standard def). The video quality is very excellent, and so is the audio quality! It's good enough to transfer to audio CD, which is what I did of course! I am extremely happy to have this. Even though this is a single-camera recording, the video quality is so good that the zooms make you forget it's just one camera! I'm more of an audio guy rather than video, but, in the video quality department, this one takes the top prize in my book! Comments on some torrent sites are calling this the best bootleg ever! I'm very happy to have a watchable Maiden concert video. Below are some screen-shots. What do you think? (of course my e-mail address is not in the DVD).

Maiden Show!

2006-10-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I drove all the way to Southern California to go see Maiden. The show was in Irvine (the Verizon Amphitheatre or something).

I went there with my good friend Baeleron (remember him? You should). My original plan of taking a couple of days off work for a long weekend fell through, so the trip had to be very quick. I left Northern California at around 4:30 AM, and made it down there at around 10:00. Whenever I drive down there, I try to leave as early as I can because I figure L.A. traffic will not be bad early in the morning. Well, at 9:00 AM traffic was already jammed down there. WARNING! Tangent ahead: I like Southern California a lot, and I have always thought it would be pretty cool to live down there. I've gotten pretty close to making the decision at times, but all it takes to dash any hopes is to experience traffic congestion down there. Traffic congestion really brings out the worst in me, so I'll just live with Bay Area traffic. Don't get me wrong, Bay Area traffic is bad, but not as bad as L.A. traffic.

Anyway, we hung out for a while, and then went over to the venue. It was pretty packed, and by the time we got there (7-ish), we did not really have any time to get a t-shirt or a tour book. We took our seats, and when looking at the stage, I noticed a 3 Inches Of Blood banner! I know that some band that I don't know had been opening for them, and there was none announced for the show that day, so I freaked out because 3 Inches Of Bl ood is one of my favorite newer bands! I was really stoked because I had wanted to see them live, but there was never a show close by that I could go to (I think they came to the Bay Area, but I missed it or something). They stormed the stage and had a really good set! I knew all the songs except the new ones they premiered (new album due in March '07!), and at some points, much to the annoyance of the people around me, I tried singing along with Cam Pipes! Well, I could not have been more annoying than the two drunk guys to the left of us who kept screaming their annoying, loud, drunk screams all night (good thing I did not bring my tape recorder!). They said that it was the biggest crowd they had ever played for, and that it was a dream come true for them to open for Maiden. I get the impression that them playing was sort of a last minute deal. One only has to listen to their music to know they have been inspired by Maiden! Them playing it was really icing on the cake man! If you have not listened to their stuff, go over to their website where they have some songs you can listen to. They may get a bit overwhelming in the vocal department. After all, they have two singers.

Maiden came out at 9:30 and it was a great show! There are many reviews out there, so I'll spare you the pain of reading another one. Suffice it to say they played the whole album, played some classics at the end and put on an awesome show. I will say however, that in my opinion, playing the whole album is a brilliant move and that it's a shame they started doing it just now. They are promoting a new album, and what better way of increasing the probability of a fan making some sort of emotional connection with a song/songs from the album than playing all the songs live? By the time they're done playing the new album, the crowd is more than ready to hear the classics, which Maiden delivered! At the end of the show everyone goes home happy, unless you're generally grumpy about life.

So, I have a few questions? Did 3 Inches Of Blood open for Maiden at any other shows? I hope this turns out to be a great opportunity for them.

Was there a tourbook? I personally did not even get close to the merchandise table, but I noticed that no one (at least that I could tell) had a tourbook. I guess I can go to their website and see if they're selling them there. If you have an extra one and want to sell it...

That about does it. If they tour again anywhere close to here, I'll make an effort to get tickets that are fairly close to the stage. I've never seen Maiden from up close.

Here are a couple of pictures courtesy of Baeleron (thanks for the tix dude!). The first picture is of the venue's marquee as seen from the freeway exit. The second one is of 3 Inches Of Blood onstage, and the last two are pretty good shots of Maiden. I understand there is a really good quality video of one of their shows floating around out there. Do you have it? :)

OH YEAH!!! Maiden plays whole new album!

2006-10-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

Maiden kicked off their tour last Wednesday in Hartford, CT. Reports stated that they played the new album in its entirety! I was a bit hesitant to believe it since Maiden has been known for their rigidity when it comes to playing certain songs in every tour. Well, the show was recorded and the next day, the recording was posted. I was curious to know so went ahead and downloaded it. To my pleasure, Maiden DID play the whole album! The set list for that show was as follows:

Intro
Different World
These Colours Don't Run
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
The Pilgrim
The Longest Day
Out Of The Shadows
The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg
For The Greater Good Of God
Lord Of Light
The Legacy
Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden
2 Minutes To Midnight
The Evil That Men Do
Hallowed Be Thy Name

The trend nowadays is for bands to play their classic (old) albums in their entirety, but playing the complete new album is a very gutsy move. For people like myself who have been wishing for years that they do something with the setlist, this is a very refreshing thing, particularly if one likes the new album (I do!). Maybe someone who is a newer fan and who has not heard The Number Of The Beast played for the 135843th time might be disappointed, but not I! Barring anything extraordinary taking place, I'm set to go down to Irvine on Oct. 21st to see the show with a good friend of mine.

According to the taper, the show was recorded on a cassette tape. Maybe I'll dust my old portable cassette player and give it a go when I go to the Irvine show! Well... maybe not. :) It is a very, very good sounding audience recording. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the whole album got played. I'm really looking forward to the show.

So far, 2006 has produced two of the best albums I've heard: A Matter Of Life And Death, and Dweller On The Threshold by the Tribe Of Gypsies

Maiden on Mini Disc

2006-10-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

I really got to like the MD (Mini Disc) format a lot. I first became familiar with it through some Japanese friends a little over 10 years ago. They got me this cool looking Sanyo one directly from Japan. I ended up giving it to a friend of mine because it was so cool (I got a newer one), and he never used it. I thought the format had a lot of potential. I understand MD's were popular in England as well. People I talked to here in the States were always skeptical of the format and never really gave it a chance. I always got the argument that CD's would never be replaced and were cheaper. I never thought MD's were designed to replace CD's. I think it was more to sort of have the same functionality as cassettes, except MD's were so much cooler and could do more stuff. When MP3's started gaining popularity, I stuck to MD because I figured it was the only sort of portable digital music thing created specifically for music. Well, everyone knows the story of how MP3's became the format of choice for digital music, and I don't really know where MD's stand now (I've since embraced MP3's and even got an iPod).

I haven't bought any new MD players/recorders, or even blank MD's since I have many and they're erasable. I'd still like to get a stand-alone player/recorder that records in both SP mode and MDLP mode. The portable I have, although it plays both SP and MDLP, only records in MDLP format, and the old stand alone player I have cannot do anything with MDLP. The gaps MP3's create bug me when it comes to live recordings (when there's a continuous live drone), so I'm using MD's to archive my live CD's more than anything. I have a ton of cassette tapes with live recordings, so I'll probably transfer them to MD's and keep them in there until I'm ready to transfer to CD. I have enough music transferring projects to last me through retirement! My hobbies are the geek type. Why couldn't it be mountain biking or something that would keep me in shape!

Being signed to Sony (Portrait/Columbia or something), Iron Maiden released a couple of their albums in the MD format. As far as I know, Brave New World and Best Of The Beast (are there any more? Let me know). I recently got a hold of a Best Of The Beast MD. Someday I'll track down the other one. This is the first pre-recorded MD I've ever gotten, and I had never seen one at any store. I always thought the packaging would be very similar to the blank MD's - a small storage box with some artwork, and the actual disc with artwork. Much to my surprise, the packaging of this particular MD is about the size of that of a cassette tape. I assume the Brave New World one is similar. Check it out:

Pretty cool, huh?

A Cool Iron Maiden Promo CD

2006-09-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

This is a promo CD from 1996 released to promote what in my opinion is the best "Best Of" Iron Maiden compilations, the 2-CD set titled Best Of The Beast.

I really have not seen this CD out there that much. I believe this disc is part of a bigger promo package that includes a video and other things. Seeing as to how I'd rather have CD collectibles, this promo is quite a nice item to have in the collection. Do not get me wrong, if I could have the whole package (if it indeed is part of a bigger package), I'd totally love to have it.

The CD has an interview with Steve Harris and it was released by EMI. The disc's serial number is BEST 001 and as far as I'm concerned, it did not come in a jewel disc with artwork or anything (I keep it in a slim, clear jewel case. If you know any more details of the disc or its package, let me know and I'll post the info here, or just make a comment.

Here it is (and is actually a nice picture!):

From Here To Eternity

2006-09-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

Iron Maiden put out all sorts of things. Re-releases galore, promos and multiple-part singles. My goal used to be to get everything! Now it is basically to have as many promos as I can, and all of their songs on CD. I recently completed a nice set of the From Here To Eternity single CD's. There are probably mor eitems of this out there, but I'm pretty satisfied with this. I have:

The Epic Records promo CD. Maiden released two albums in North America on Epic, and they released a number of nice promo CD's, which was weird because no proper single was released in North America
The UK digipak CD single. Digipaks are cool, kind of a pain in the butt to store and handle, but cool nevertheless.
The Japanese CD single. I got this one unexpectedly. I really was shooting for a Dutch CD single, but the price got too high, so I got this one instead. Wasn't cheap, but not bad either. Japanese issues are packed really nicely, but somehow I feel this one is kind of shoddy. It's great, but perhaps not up to par with other Japanese items.
The Dutch CD single. Holland, Holland, Holland... Why does Holland get all sorts of cool stuff? I wanted the CD single version in a slim CD case, and here it is! It took me a while to get it, but it's finally here and stored somewhere in my garage!

So there it is! A nice (I think!) From Here To Eternity collection. I also have the 7" vinyl and the picture disc wit the free plinth somewhere, but like I said, I'm concentrating on CD's now. Do you know of any other CD single/promo issues of this out there?

What do I collect now?

2006-09-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

I really wouldn't go as far as calling myself a collector. I have some pretty cool stuff, but nothing really valuable. I mean, I don't have a mint condition First State Butcher Cover or anything. Basically, I like to collect mostly promo CD's by Iron Maiden, Rush, Paul McCartney/Beatles, Metallica (pre-loads) and of other artists I like. I usually get all CD singles by Maiden, and whatever I can of McCartney. Then I like to get rare or limited edition CD's of artists I like, particularly if they have extra songs. A lot of the Japanese pressings tend to have extra tunes. I'm basically done with vinyl. I think vinyl is really cool, but I don't have the storage space. I don'thave storage space for CD's either, but I'm working on it! I want to hear from you if you have similar interests.

I think the highest-priced collectibles I have are: An original The Soundhouse Tapes 7" (and CD too!), and two old Urchin 7" singles. Maybe I'll show off some of my collection in here! That's an idea.

The history of the handle "the_rush_fan"

2006-09-09T22:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah well, I've been buying and selling on eBay since about 1997-1998. My username then was "analogkid2112@hotmail.com" (analogkid2112 was already taken). That worked really well. I was a pretty active usenet... citizen? and posted regularly in a number of newsgroups. I used the same name to post and do eBay stuff. Do a Google search and you will find a whole bunch of archived posts.

Everything was fine until eBay started realizing that a lot of people were contacting each other and making deals without having to pay fees, so they sent an announcement that all usernames that were made up of an e-mail address would have to be changed to one that was not an e-mail address. That affected me directly, so I had to eventually change it or be asigned one by eBay. The aforementioned analogkid2112 was already taken, so I changed it to the non-creative "the_rush_fan".

So there is a little bit of background on the username.