| CD REVIEW TSM/SLW Promotions special : The Lidocaine – The Royal Ghost – Dick Wagner – Weapon Head – Wiser Time – Edwyn Zyzyx |
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Promises are sometimes hard to keep, by I managed to finish the second special of releases promoted by the TSM/SLW Promotions Agency within the time frame I had promised myself to do so. Well, I may need a day off in nature to recover from the hectic last two weeks, but I made it. Again, the bands comes from all over the world: The Lidocaine from Helsinki, Finland; The Royal Ghost from Stockholm, Sweden; Dick Wagner is a Phoenix, Arizona resident these days; Weapon Head is from the town of Goondiwindi in Queensland, Australia; Wiser Time are from New Jersey; and Ezryn Zyzyx...well, I'm not quite sure, but I guess he resides somewhere in the South-West f the USA these days (either Arizona, Nevada, or California). I've done my best to give you a good bit of reading, so I hope you'll enjoy discovering these relatively unknown bands and artists. -------------------------------------------------------- This Helsinki (Finland) based Rock/ Metal trio with Progressive leanings, consisting of singer/ guitarist Anthony Rausku, singer/ bassist Eroz, and drummer Janne Hakuli came into existence during December 2007. Two years later they were putting the finishing touches to their 10-track debut full-length (with recording (parts of which they video-recorded, to make for a 45-minute “Making Of” featurette), while occasionally posting some of the finished songs on their MySpace. By the way, Anthony and Eroz each sing their own songs, and each wrote half of the material. They now started looking for a label to release the finished product, but eventually decided to release the album themselves, which they did in June of last year. And in October they had managed to get the album available for (paid) download from most of the online sales websites (Amazon, Napster, iTunes, Play, Metali.net). Reactions started coming in, some of the more positive of which (usually speaking in superlatives) the band posted on their own website thelidocaine.com. A couple of excerpts? “...Blending intelligent and blistering compositions, heavy riffs, and a strong sense of melody...(the album)...should stimulate your interest in Heavy Progressive Rock...(Craig Hartranft of www. dangerdog.com); “...All the songs here are very solid and well performed and given the right exposure I believe The Lidocaine could do quite well internationally, if not quite setting the world on fire...” (Barry Gennard of www. glitzine.net); and it goes on in that same mood...only one reviewer (Joe Geesin of www. getreadytorock.com) posted talks about the vocals being “...a little rough...”! And in my personal opinion it this “roughness” (in the case of one of the two singers one would be more correct to say annoyingly “heady”, and in both cases the first listening session already reveals that although the guys have rehearsed the words of their lyrics to near perfection, there's an apparent tonality from singing in a language which is not quite one's own). Pity, because the music truly IS good! Catchy tunes with freaky little guitar bits...what could one want more? Well, as I see it, given the appropriate backing of a label and/or promotion/ touring agency, this band may indeed do relatively well in most European countries. The question is: will they get that chance, when there's certainly other bands out there equally deserving of a break, and those with far better singers too! Anyway, when push comes to shove, this is only my personal opinion, and as there's no accounting for taste, each and everyone has to make up his/ her own mind about this band. Check out a total of 5 songs off the album at myspace.com/thelidocaine (for samples of all 10 songs check the music player at www. thelidocaine.com). Apparently the band has already begun rehearsals for a sophomore release. 79/100 -------------------------------------------------------- The origins of this album go back to 2005, when composer Teddy Jonasson and his two daughters made up a story (in short: princess falls in love with one of the friendly ghosts of the Royal castle, princess' entourage don't like, a small revolt between those living and those having lived ensues) for a "family musical" with 5 to 6 songs. Then, in September 2006, Teddy took the idea and moulded even more music around the basis that was already prepared into a Rock Opera. When he had the music for some 15 songs he invited some industry people, and they were enthusiastic about what they heard, urged him to continue the work. Eventually the 29 songs that make up the complete show (with a duration of around 105 minutes) took him 14 months to write the music, to which another 6 months came to write the lyrics and vocal melodies. Together with producer Bengt Hilding the search then started for the appropriate musicians (a total of 12 people, including 3 guitarists, a bassist and drummer, but also people with classical instruments to add that part of the music) and singers (3 male and 3 female, each with a different character in the play), after which the two continued the collaboration to rehearse the piece...which was premiered in May 2009 to ecstatic response of the people present. Two months later freelance conductor Ulf Wadenbrandt contacted Teddy whether a recording of the piece with Sweden's famous Symphony Orchestra Dalasinfoniettan could be done. And so it was written, and so it was done, as in October of 2009 they were recorded onto 6 of the songs now available on this album. Among the musicians (guitarist Martin Stendahl, lead guitarist Jakob Svensson, bassist Torben Olsson, pianist Melker Stendahl, and drummer Zacharias Ahlvik) and singers of the piece, only a few also participated to the recordings (Svensson and Ahvik for the musicians...the singers all have some part in the album). A second show was performed in December 2009, and with the public's and media's reactions being equally as positive as after the premiere, confidence was growing. Plans were made for short tours of the complete piece in all-out bigger theaters, and for tours of smaller theaters with an acoustic version of the show. Meanwhile Teddy erected a MySpace page, with as a result that people from over the world are asking when the show will be in their town, and that Teddy's not alone been asked to write another Rock Opera already, but also to help bands with their arrangements, possibly even write a complete song for 'em. The reason for all the enthusiasm can easily be understood when you'll see the videos and hear the sound samples at (www.) theroyalghost.com and (www) myspace.com/theroyalghost. And when you'll listen to the 9-track album you'll possibly even more charmed. There's not only tracks in which the orchestral and electric band go together to perform exactly what you'd expect from a Rock opera, but also two all-out keyboard-infused Classic Rock tracks (or what do you expect from a song titled “Same Old Rock 'n' Roll”?...the other song being album closer “Under Your Bed”) and other tracks in which no electric instrument (except perhaps for the bass, but I ain't even sure about thàt) at all (“The Future's There For You”, and the smooth lullaby “In The Wind”...plus the sung passages of “In The Wind”, which gets an unexpected electric guitar & larger orchestration thrown in in the short instrumental passage). In the songs with the female vocalists you occasionally get that soprano voice with which Opera is so often personified. Nice stuff, but at first I felt a little betrayed to find only 9 songs (with a measly duration of only just over 35 minutes) on the album of the total of 29 that hold the piece...until I found out that Jonasson and Hilding have started recording new songs from The Royal Ghost musical suite for a follow-up album (a couple of rough demos were posted soon after). Meanwhile, press reactions have been favourably good, sprouting comparisons to the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alan Parsons, TranSiberian Orchestra, Rick Wakeman, and even Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds. High praise indeed, but well-deserved! 96/100 ------------------------------------------------ Yeah, I know, the question “Dick Wagner?” went through my own mind as well. Hey, sometimes we all ned to be reminded of the greatness of some of Rock History's important people, right? This American Rock guitarist (born in Oelwein, Iowa on Dec. 14, 1943) is now nearing the age of 67, and was pretty popular in the Detroit area with his first band The Bossman, scoring radio time with their song “Baby Boy” around the mid-sixties. Next up was The Frost, whom expended their area of influence throughout Michigan and released 3 albums (1969's Frost Music and Rock And Roll Music, and 1970's Through The Eyes Of Love) on the Vanguard Records label. He then formed the band Ursa Major with former Amboy Dukes bassist Greg Arama. Though short-lived, they released a self-titled album in 1972 for RCA. The guitarist was then recruited into Lou Reed's band, along with Steve Hunter (thy contributed to the landmark albums Rock 'n' Roll Animal and Berlin). Having already recruited Wagner to give the Alice Cooper song “My Stars” (on the 1972 album School's Out), producer Bob Ezrin brought both Wagner and Hunter into new recording sessions with Alice Cooper. And when Cooper's band broke up the guitar twin was enlisted, participating to the next 4 Cooper albums (starting with 1975's groundbreaking Welcome To My Nightmare, followed by the albums Goes To Hell, Lace And Whiskey, and Dada) in songwriting, composition, production...and playing lead guitar of course (assisted in most of that by Hunter). Although no longer part of the band after that, Wagner would contribute his songwriting skills to 14 more Alice Cooper albums. In 1978 Wagner released his (Bob Ezrin produced) solo debut Richard Wagner through Atlantic Records, but due to a lack of promotion the album was soon found in the cut- out bins. Over the years, Wagner has played lead guitar or written songs for albums by Aerosmith (Get Your Wings), Air Supply, Tori Amos, Burton Cummins, Mark Farmer (solo debut), Peter Gabriel (the self-titled debut), Guns 'N' Roses, Hall & Oates (Along The Red Edge), Etta James, Kiss, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Meat Loaf, Steve Perry, Lou Reed, Roy Orbison, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, a couple of albums with Tim Curry (known in the '70s from his starring role in the freaky movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show), and more (in essence, with several artists also covering his tunes, Wagner's songs and/ or lead guitar has been featured on over 150 albums...of which 14 got to Platinum status, 16 to Gold, and another 5 to Silver...add to that the fact that he got himself numerous BMI Songwriter Awards, has been lauded by Rolling Stone, Billboard, and many others...and you'll understand this guy really made a mark on the music industry?). In 2005 Wagner moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he started collaborating with Alice Cooper again. That same year saw the release of two volumes of the Home At Last compilation albums (issued through Wagner's own Desert Dreams Records), with songs spanning the guitarist's career. However, in 2007 he suffered a severe and near-fatal heart attack, and recovery being difficult, I understand that guitar playing was extremely hard at first. Still, got active again as a producer for upcoming act Wensday (no relation to Glam Rocker Wednesday 13), whom he signed to his own label. He was also producing the band Warshaw Pact, and independent artist Brandon Bullard (all of which would've had releases out in early 2010). So, now turning towards this new compilation album, which comprises 6 tracks (“Blue Collar Babies”, “Stagger Lee”, “These Days”, “Modern Times”, “Motor City Showdown”, and “Feel It All Over”) from an until recently lost session at Long View Farm in 1979. The rest of the 15 songs includes “She Said” from a solo 1988 recording session at Los Angeles' Platimum Studios, a series of 1991 recordings in different studios (album opener “Still Hungry” was recorded at Los Angeles' Trax Studios, and together with “Steal The Thunder”, “Another Twist Of The Knife”, and “Ecstacy” which were recorded at Music Grinder it features Gregg Bissonette on drums, Matt Bissonette on bass, and Greg Mandel on keyboards...other 1991 sessions include that of “Insatiable Girl” recorded at Los Angeles' Sunset Sound, and “I'd Take The Bullet” from a session at Soundside in Lawrence, MA), and sessions in 1995 at Fenton Woods Studio (Fenton, MI) sprouting Wagner's own version of the Alice Cooper hit “I Might As Well Be On Mars” (which after all he wrote) and “Darkest Hour” (both songs, just like the aforementioned “She Said” played by Wagner alone...and the same counts for the piano ballad “These Days”). To see/ hear music by this iconic Rock music figure, you can either surf to the “Music” or “Video” section on his own website (www.) wagnermusic.com (and in doing so you'll find out several songs – or at least versions of 'em – on this “new” compilation were already featured on the 2-part 2005 compilation), or try the music player at myspace.com/dickwagnermusic. You'll find material (alternating between ballads and more straight-forward Hard Rock) which is indeed very reminiscent of what Alice Cooper used to do during the '70s, and a singer whom can stand his own very admirably, indeed! Now normally I don't rate compilation albums, but just for the fun of it... 85/100 ---------------------------------------------------- For the homestead of this real nice Groove Rock/ Metal band (consisting of lead singer/ drummer Boris, guitarists/ backing singers Steve & Dave, and bassist/ backing singer Drew), we have to travel to the other side of the globe...more specifically to the Queensland town of Goondiwindi, in Australia. Although you can find a bio of the band at both their own website (weaponband.com.au) and their MySpace page, I'll give you a re-write anyway. I'm not sure just when the guys started the band (although from the small talk I gather it must've been 4 ½ years ago), nor when they did their first (demo) recordings, but when the organizers of the American Locabazooka Festival happenstanced upon the band's website in 2007, they immediately invited the band to play at that year's event. An incredible opportunity which the band would not miss, as it allowed 'em to stand on the same stages that would later be occupied by the likes of Alice Cooper and Heaven And Hell. Also, to stand tall in front of no less than 15,000 screaming music fans...and the chance to come to the attention of some of the major label A&R people one always finds at such events. Coming home the quartet decided it was time to look out for a good producer to make some quality recordings, and their eye eventually ventured towards Steve James at Byron Bay's Rocking Horse Studios. Having recorded both in Australia, Europe, and the UK, this legend-in-his-own time has albums by the likes of The Sex Pistols, The Angels, Cold Chisel, The Screaming Jets, Shihad, and more recently Airbourne, and many more to his credits. In early 2008 a collaboration (which has since grown into a truly strong bond) sprouted the band's self-titled 5-track debut EP, which soon got 'em under the attention when The Australian Songwriters Association hailed the track “The March Of Misery” by giving it a #8 position in their Song Of The Year 2008 event. All 4 of the other tracks on the EP were short-listed to the Top 100 thanks to over 3,000 entries from all over Australia. Next up, the band participated to the 2008 UK Song Writing Competition, and with over 8,000 bands participating worldwide, they got their song “the March Of Misery” into the finals, with “Bleed” also making it to the semi-finals. Back home from abroad, the band next turned their attention to Triple J, putting 3 of their songs on the website, and soon after in November 2008 they found the songs were scoring high on the Triple J Unearthed Charts (“The March Of Misery” taking the lead position at #1, “Bleed ” going to #8, and 3rd song “Can't Release The Rain” taking position at #8). As a result the band was contacted by The Going Ballisticyx Snowboard Show for the use (with full credits) of all 3 tracks (in synchronized version) on their December 28, 2008 show. The positive responses to the EP continued when the band was contacted in early 2009 by CDBaby.com editor Brad Bush for a full feature interview on the front page of the website. Evidently, since then the band's page on the site has been hit quite ponderously. Mid way Spring 2009 the boys decided it was time to start composing the material for their debut full-length so, after a 3-month writing session and a call to Steve James they went in pre-production of the album, and had it recorded at Rocking Horse Studios by the end of August. For the mastering of the album the band turned to Steve's collaborator for 20 years, Tim Young at Metropolis in the UK. As a result the 12-track albums has a truly great sound, indeed! The music itself can be seen as a derivative of good Grunge Rock, with a focus on catchy melodies which are not devout of a slight degree of Progressive elements and frequent lead & dual guitar exploits. Somewhere along the line I've come to believe that the guys perhaps play on slightly down-tuned guitars too, which makes the inclusion of the “Groove” thing mentioned earlier warranted. At any rate, the music IS catchy and attractive, and so is the vocal delivery! To get a full-length idea of a couple of songs, you'd better catch the live videos of album opening song “Bullshit Has No Sound” and the equally catchy/ groovy “Got No Money”, which are posted both at the band's website and myspace.com/weaponheadmusic, but the latter also has 40-second samples of 2 other tracks, and a full-length of “The March Of Misery” off the EP...but also re-used on the new album! Before I forget, the band closes the album with a cover of John Lennon's “Cold Turkey”, and succeed in making the slight psychedelic mood completely their own! 88/100 ------------------------------------------------------ This band was founded during Spring 2002 in the small New Jersey town of Millington by singer/ songwriter/ guitarist Carmen Sclafani, where he had been a fixture in the local music scene playing bars and clubs in the evenings while working as a commercial artist during the daytime. He had this fascination for the classic Rock 'n' Roll sounds of the '60s and '70s, with Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith at the one end, and Rolling Stones at the other, so he bagan writing and recording material in that vein...which would eventually become the self-produced 2005 released 5-track EP Introducing Wiser Time. Getting a good response for the EP from both music fans and radio stations (who started playing songs off it), Sclafani continued to do his regular performances and at the same time recorded the material which would eventually become the full-length There And Back, released in the Fall of 2006. In early 2007 he met up with drummerSteve Decker, and a personal rapport came into being which resulted decker becoming the permanent drummer of Sclafani's band. During that same period Sclafani also explored his earlier and Folkier work, and this inspired him to write and record a selection of stripped-down songs, including a song titled “What You Give – Unplugged”, which wassubsequantly released as a digital-only single. The rest of the year 2007 was spent playing around the local bars and ballrooms, with the newly formed the duo writing music for a sophomore album. In the winter of the same year they hit the studio to record Wiser Time's 2nd album All For One, released in May 2008 with a lot of out-of-State touring to follow, and now also including dates in the UK and Germany. In Spring 2009 the guys started work on their current album, and also recruited lead guitarist Jimmy Somma and bassist Damon Trotta as permanent members of the band (even got the two involved in the songwriting). The band then moved to E Studios in Brooklyn, NY, to record the new album with Tom Camuso behind the knobs (but still signing for the production themselves), and with some extra help from keyboardist Rob Clores (Hammond B3 and/or piano, or Wurlitzer keyboards on all tracks but the album closing “Working Man's Blues” which also sees Decker get up from his drum stool to play the second guitar in stead, and the cover of Free's “Seagull”), fiddle player Gary Oleyar (only on “Take Me Back Home”), guitarist Ryan Bull (on “Whiskey And Wine”), mandolin player Bruce Jepson (on “Take Me Back Home” - he also performs backing vocals on “Working Man's Blues”), and backing singers Patches (on “Keep It On”) and Pete Becker (“Working Man's Blues”). Additionally, one Jon Cornell also played the bass on 5 of the nine songs. In a review of the album in a Belgian magazine, a comparison is made toThe Black Crowes on the basis of a strong resemblance of Sclafani's vocal timbre with that of Chris Robinson...and I guess that reviewer has somewhat of a point here, although I seem to remember that overall TBC would come over a bit stronger (more Hard Rock than Folk – of course, I haven't heard any recent material by thàt band). At any rate, Wiser Time (and, oh Mysteries of Fate, if that didn't happen to be the title of a 1995 Black Crowes song...) is in that same musical street, with its mixture of Bluesey Rock and Folk, the kind of which was oft personified as “The British Invasion” with such leading UK bands as the aforementioned Free and Humble Pie. Check out the music player at (www.) myspace.com/wisertime to find the complete current album posted, as well as an early 2009 live video of the band. 90/100 ------------------------------------------------------ Ezryn Zyzyx is a wacky guy...but he's got his heart in the right place! In the short pre-release time frame Zyzyx' song “Dragons Fly” got rated #1 in the week of March 29 at Altsounds.com (out of 7,720 singles, out of all genres, it was one of only three “5 Stars” rated songs on the entire site, which has an estimated 580,000 visits per month), and the same happened at SoundClick.com for the week of April 25 (this time out of over 200,000 songs, out of all Rock genres – the New York base site gets an average 3,800,000 visits). Eventually, the same song and ”Nobody Cares” received “Platinum Audionaut” awards from uPlaya.com (a site driven by the emerging technology of “Music Intelligence Solutions”, a force into digital distribution, awareness and, most of all, digital media). So, what does Ezryn Zyzyx music sound like? Apparently listeners during the pre-release period suggested that it might appear on a play-list which includes bands such as Pink Floyd, Oasis, Train, Foo Fighters, Three Doors Down, and Colletive Soul. At any rate, that is a somewhat diverse crossing of genres, but indeed Ezryn's songs have a slight progressive complex layering (brought in with additional acoustic or electric guitar, or even with piano) underneath the catchy upper melodies. Also, while some songs will have a relative calm mood overall, others will be more excited throughout, and yet others have a bit of both. On top, the voice ties everything together. Admittedly, Zyzyx is a somewhat limited singer, keeping within a certain octave and “sedate” type of moody singing...but it typifies his music in a positive way, and makes for an album with socially aware lyrics which warrant a second listening session. Check it out for yourself : at (www.) zyzyxmusic.com you can listen to all songs on the album, and you can even get free downloads (no strings attached) of the above mentioned “Nobody Cares” and “Dragons Fly”, as well as the equally striking “My Crime”, at (www.) ezrynzyzyx.com. 90/100 Tony. |
