Band(s) : Billy Talent/ Eric Clapton/ Manowar/ Mr. Big/ The Pretenders
Album title : 2 In 1
Record label : Warner
Distributor : Warner
Release date : October – December 2008
Release : (2 in 1) Double CD re-issue compilation

Formerly know as Pezz (name under which the quartet of lead singer Benjamin Kowalewicz, guitarist/ singer Ian D’Sa, bassist/ backing singer Jonathan Gallant and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk released two demos and the self-released 1998 full-length album Watoosh! album prior to being forced to make their name change after an American band by the same name threatened to sue them) this Canadian band will oft quite generally be classified under the monicker of “Punk Rock”, but in my personal opinion they’ve grown out of that limiting tag. If asked, I personally prefer the classification “Post-Pop Punk AlterNu-tive Rock”. The band’s sound is not only typified by the lead singer’s awkward and unique vocal signature, but also by a duality in the guitar sound (quite heavy overall, is consists of a more rhythmical deep sounding guitar – hence my Nu- tag, see? – combined with a less distorted and normally pitched “lead” one). On top, the guitarist (backed by the bassist) gives the lead singer a very nice complementation in the vocal department, occasionally making for triple vocal passages…nice, very nice indeed! Pure luck got the band (which had already been active since 1993) into the major league of players: the singer had invited a co-worker at Toronto’s 102.1 the edge to one of their shows. Later that same person became an A&R rep at Warner Music Canada, and the connection would get the  band a demo deal. Even before the demos were recorded, a local manager invited people at Atlantic to come check out the band…and the end result was that the band’s September 2003 released eponymous album became a joint venture between the two labels. Thanks to the successful first single “Try Honesty” and the ensuing “The Ex”, “River Below”, and “Nothing To Lose”, the album not only won Juno awards for “Best Album Of the Year” and “Best Band Of The Year”, and several MuchMusic Video Award nominations and prices, but also played sold-out shows throughout Canada (also doin’ successful European gigs – and the live success was recorded for the 2004 DVD Scandalous Travellers) and sold 3 times Platinum in Canada, peaking at #12 in the Canadian album charts (#193 on the Billboard 200, and #97 in on the album chart in Germany). After having spent late 2004 and most of 2005 touring, the band started writing new material and putting it to demos, deliberately leaking a first batch of tracks in the Fall to gain publicity. Before the actual release of the album, “someone” leaked the rest of the album. When Billy Talent II was released in late July 2006, the band’s operating manual paid off, as they saw the album shoot up to the #1 position on the Canadian charts in its debut week! A similar success was gotten in Germany, where the band became one of the 10 best selling albums that year! The album’s Canadian and German success was not repeated in the US, where it peaked at #134 on the Billboard 200 chart. On the other hand, this second album of the band under their new monicker díd hit the charts in the UK (peaking at #46). Five singles were culled off the album, and while the (album) opening “Devil in A Midnight Mass” only got to #4 in the Canadian singles chart, the ensuing three (“Red Flag”, “Fallen Leaves”,and “Surrender” – issued in 2007) all made it to N°1. However, the fifth (“Surrender” only went up to #93) While the music retained the same power, a lot of the anger was gone, the band had maured as men and as a band, and due too a less aggressive vocal approach the album was definitely somewhat calmer overall. Great stuff, and so mostly because of that specific vocal signature of the lead singer! Ouch…before I forget…the first album had an additional cd-R section containing a good 6 minutes of live, backstage, and studio footage. The second album did nót have such an added bonus!

The second re-issue of Eric Clapton material actually contains one collaboration CD with J.J. Cale in the 2006 album Road To Escondido, which is coupled to the “Back Home” album which Eric released a year earlier. The latter, released in August 2005 on Reprise Records, was Eric’s first album containing original material in 5 years (following a couple of successful reunion gigs as Cream – concert recordings were released on  CD and DVD), as the previous one (Me And Mr Johnson) was a covers album of Robert Johnson songs. On the album, besides a cover of George Harrison’s “Love Comes To Everyone” (as a tribute to his longtime friend who’d passed away in November 2001) also a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I’m Going Left”, The Sinners’ “Love Don’t Love Nobody”, 2 songs written by Eric’s second guitarist (and also member of Smokestack) Doyle Bramhall II, and a song co-written by Beverly Darnall and Vince Gill (“One Day”, of which I found no prior recorded history)… but the other 6 songs (one of which a Reggae tune titled “Revolution”) were brandnew! In 2006, a Grammy Award was handed over to Alan Douglas and engineer Mick Guzauski in the category “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical”. The album was also issued in a special DualDisc format, containing the whole album in surround sound, plus an interview with Eric, and 5 songs from the album played live in the studio, as well as 4 exclusive guitar picks with “Back Home” and Eric’s signature on ’em. Among the notable musicians, there’s guitarist Vince Gill, synth player Steve Winwood, keyboardist Billy Preston, and infamous L.A. musician Abe Laboriel sharing duties with Eric’s regular drummer Steve Gadd.
Taking profit of the fact that he’d invited J.J. Cale to play at 2004’s The Crossroads Guitar Festival, a 3-day event which Clapton had organized to take place in Dallas, Texas, he asked Cale to produce an album for him. After eventually starting to work together, the two found a common ground, and decided to make a collaboration album in stead, venturing in different moods and Blues variations. Quite a few high profile musicians [Doyle Bramhall II, Abraham Laboriel, Albert Lee, John Mayer, Pino Paladino, Billy Preston (it would be his epitaph, since he died on June 6, 2006), Taj Mahal, Derek Trucks] also agreed to work on the album, and therefore the album is definitely a gottahave for fans of both Cale and Clapton! And that the album is certainly a stand-out, is proven by the fact that in 2008, it won a Grammy Award in the category “Best Contemporary Blues Album”! (sorry I’m not able to tell you how well the albums did on various charts, but that info was simply not available to me).

When picking out two albums of Manowar to re-issue, the label might also have gone with the 1987 Fighting The World, originally issued through the Atco label (also a subsidiairy of the Warner Music Group), but I’m guessing (just a hunch) that the fact that the track “Defender” on that album again had an intro spoken by actor Orson Welles (as had happened on the band’s debut album with the track “Dark Avenger”) led to better sales in this country as well…and so perhaps there wàs no backstock to draw from when it came to “compiling” these re-issues! The choice then necessarily fell on 1988’s Kings Of Metal and its 1992 follow-up The Triumph Of Steel (since those were the only two other albums ever issued through the “Group”). Manowar had always been a somewhat weird act with their Epic Metal, and known for their lyrics concentrating on the Heavy Metal genre itself, Fantasy (particularly Sword & Sorcery), themselves, and (mostly Norwegian) mythology. Never attaining any commercial success in the US, they still dó have a cult following both there and in South America, and can find their biggest fanbase in Europe (foremost in Germany, where Fighting The World, Kings Of Metal, The Triumph Of Steel and also 2002’s Warriors Of The World attained Gold status – and with a total of 10 studio and 3 live albums to date, the band has sold a total of 9 million albums worldwide). Manowar must’ve understood by then that their fans were particularly fond of those songs which have spoken word passages in ‘em, and on Kings Of Steel they bring yet another such track with The Warrior’s Prayer, different in that a story is told (by some Grandpa) without backing music (there àre some background noises, though). It was the first album on which the band would employ the services of artist Ken Kelly for the cover artwork. Another way this album was special, was through the fact that it would be the last featuring guitarist Ross The Boss (one of the founding members), as he would rejoin The Dictators. Many consider Kings Of Metal to be the best release by the band.
With new guitarist David Shankle worked in, Manowar returned in 1992 with the probably most Epic of their albums, opening as it does with the near 29-minute long “Achilles, Agony And Acstacy In Eight Parts”, a track which  would later be laureled by a group of scholars at the University of Bologna (Italy) for the great way in which bassist Joey DeMaio (the band’s most important composer) had interpreted the Ilias without altering or upsetting Homerus’ storyline! Yes, for once the band diverted from their Fantasy or Norse mythology lyrics, and went for Greek in stead! The “spoken word” tactics were repeated for the opening passage of “Spirit Horse Of The Cherokee”, but this time the band díd glue a song onto it (nice “native” drumming style too)! I’m sure all true Manowar fans will already hàve all of their favorite band’s albums, but for collectors such as myself who might be missing one (I my case that would be Kings Of Metal) or even both of the albums, this re-issue certainly comes welcome, eh?

Supergroup Mr. Big (formed in 1988 when bassist Billy Sheehan left the David Lee Roth band – where he played with longtime friend Steve Vai – started getting together the members for a new band with the aid of Shrapnel Records owner Mike Varney) combined two of the popular Hard Rock trends of the ‘80s: a style then known as Shredding, which was closer to Metal and demanded a high technical proficiency, and that particular brand Rock often referred to as Cock Rock (which focused on melodies and listener-friendly choruses). Following their eponimous 1989 album (which did fairly well – reaching #46 on the Billboard 200 and seeing single “Addicted To That Rush” go to #39 in the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart – especially in Japan, where the band became a smash hit success: the album went to #22 on the Omicon Album Chart and sold Gold), the band got their breakthrought with 1991’s Lean Into It, most significantly with the two ballads. The truly beautiful “To Be With You” went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and to #19 on the Mainstrream Rock Tracks chart and though the other one (“Just Take My Heart”), like the more Rock-oriented single “Green-Tinted Sixties Mind”, didn’t even make the top 10 in any of the charts, it was enough to get the album to a #15 position on the Billboard 200! In Japan the album went to #6 on the Omicon Album Chart, this time selling Platinum!
The band had possibly hoped that an increase of ballads on the album (there’s 4, including a cover of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World”…another cover on the album came in the form of album closer “Mr. Big”, originally a track by Free on their Fire And Water album) would give them even better sales figures, but what with the rise of the Grunge scene at the beginning of the ‘90s, Mr. Big never equalled the success they’d had with their sophomore album…in the States, at least, because in Japan (where the band sold out tours and would release additional live albums with good results) sales would continue to be on the positive side (Platinum for 1993’s Bump Ahead, even double Platinum for 1996’s Hey Man). Personally, I didn’t care much for the band’s switch to ballads, and kinda omited to buy the album all together. It’s therefore positive that this re-issue comes out, because now I’ve finally got myself a copy of the album after all. I mean, the Rock-oriented songs are simply great!

Last in our list (at least for the moment: if sales of this re-issue series happen to be positive, Warner Music just might extend the series to even more releases in early 2009) are Pretenders with their 1986 and 1994 albums Get Close and Last Of The Independents. What made Pretenders so great, is of course frontwoman Chrissie Hynde with her special vocal signature, and her autenticity as a Hard-Rocking woman! Although the band’s music was guitar-focused, Pretenders would be categorized under Pop (I’ve even seen ‘em classified under “New Wave”…go figure!). The albums you get here, were the band’s 5th and 7th…and I have no idea as of to why it’s exactly thése albums that were put together. I can only surmize that they didn’t sell so well in the Benelux area! By 1986, the original line-up was completely overhauled (mostly due to drug-related problems) except for Hynde, and the line-up which then existed was again in for a change…playing (augmented by session player to boot) only on 5 of the eleven songs on the album (Hynde and guitarist Robbie MacIntosh recording the 6 other songs with session musicians). On the album the small hit “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (helped by  a popular video hommage to television series The Avengers), “Hymn To Her” (which became a #8 hit in the UK)and a cover of Jimi Hendrix’ “Room Full Of Mirrors” asalbumcloser. A 2007 re-issue of the album was extended with a total of 5 live, remix, and alternate versions, and the previously unreleased “World Within Worlds”.
The band’s line-up still hadn’t stabilized by 1994 (well, by now it had become clear that there wasn’t really a band, Pretenders were actually a band in name only and a mere vehicle for Hynde), as officially Last Of The Independents was credited to Hynde, then guitarist Adam Seymour, bassist Andy Hobson, and drummer Martin Chambers, this line-up only recorded the one track (“All My Dreams”), the rest being done by Hynde, Seymour, and a rotating amount of musicians on bass and drums. Funnily enough, it’s the credited line-up which would remain stable until 2006 (when the bassist was replaced by Nick Wilkinson…soon after Seymour also left and was replaced by james Walbourne). A guest appearance came from former Pretenders guitarist Robbie McIntosh on “I’m A Mother”. The album met with overall reasonable commercial success. Leading single “Night In My Veins” became a minor hit in the States, a mid-chart hit in the UK, and a Top 10 hit in Canada. Second single “I’ll Stand By You” was the album’s centrepiece ballad. It received rather a lot of airplay, and became a Top 10 hit both in the US and UK, got into the Top 20 in Canada! For the first time in her career, Hynde had collaborated with additional songwriters…in this case with the hit-making team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg (notably on the two hit songs, as well as on the album opening “Hollywood Parfume”, “997”, and “Love Colours”). Regretfully, I’ve no figures available on how well the album sold…so I’ll just add that Pretenders still exist  today. They were inducted to the Hall Of Fame in 2005.

Well, that’s it…(but only) for now, I hope! I was still gonna tell you about the other bands/ albums currently out on the “2 In 1” series, right, and luckily the label has a list out wiith àll the current stuff (because I hadn’t found out of all of ‘em through the inlay covers yet). In the “Rock” category, there’s also Garbage (with their Version 2.0 and self-titled album), Jet (with the albums Get Born and Shine On), Matchbox 20 (with Yourself Or Someone Else and Mad Season), MC5 (with the classic Kinck Out the Jams and Back in The USA), R.E.M. (Green and Monster), Skid Row (with their self-titled album and Slave To The Grind), and The Stooges (the self-titled album and Fun House). In the “Pop” category you might find a couple of re-issues in the series to your liking as well, perhaps? How about Alannah Myles’ two first albums? From Chris Isaak there’s two re-issues, one coupling his self-titled album to San Fransisco Days, the other bringing his Silvertone and Heart Shaped World albums together. More Pop comes from Chris Rea (albums On The Beach and Road To Hell), Morcheeba (Big Calm and Fragments Of Freedom), Tanita Tikaram (Ancient Heart and Everybody’s Angel), The Cars (the self-titled album and Heartbeat City), and finally Tracy Chapman (her self-titled album and Crossroads). What might also interest you, is the “Instrumental” category, where Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells 2 and Tubular Bells 3 albums stand side-to-side with Vangelis’ The City and Voices albums. If your musical tastes expand beyond all of the aforementioned, there’s also a category “Urban” (withTheStreets’ A Grand Don’t Come For Free and Original Pirate Material), “Jazz” (with Ray Charles’ self-titled album and What’d I Say), “Hip Hop” (De La Soul’s De La Sould Is Dead and Art Official Intelligence, plus Missy Elliott’s Da Real World and Supa Dupa Fly) and eventually also a “Soul” category (Aretha Franklin’s Lady Soul and I Never Loved A Man, plus Otis Redding’s The Dock Of The Bay and The Soul Album).

Tony.