Music from a Lifetime

"The middle of the album doesn’t quite maintain this energy, with songs that change from the successful style of the opening, and probably overstay their welcome by being both too long and less engaging. “Malaria” is five and a half minutes of drum machine like rhythm and chanting of the song title in a long drawn out fashion that incites boredom rather than status quo. This is followed by the one real song on the album that disappoints. And – yep, you guessed it – it's the ballad. And you can’t miss it, because the title of the track is “The Ballad of Jayne”. And yes, it was released as a single, and yes it became the highest charting single by the band, number 33 on the US charts. And the video was all over MTV. But you know, is that the purpose it serves? And is that worth it for the record company and band management? Take that song off the album (and when I recorded this album to cassette back in the day I did) and this album is INFINITELY better. OK, they perform it well, and some out there may like it. Good luck to you if you do."

On this episode we are going to talk about “Cocked & Loaded” by L.A. Guns, the band’s 2nd studio album released 35 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘it’s never enough just to hold you, it’s never enough just to please you’ on Music from a Lifetime.

To cover for not being able to tour in 1976 the band released the concert film “The Song Remains the Same” along with the live album to accompany it, but the reception was lukewarm at best. A 1977 tour of the US saw big crowds in attendance, but it was then cut short by the news of the death of Plant's five-year-old son due to a stomach virus. It put the band on an indefinite hiatus.

It wasn’t until another 15 months had passed that the band reconvened and began to write and record their next album, and even that was made difficult through events. The album was named to describe its struggles after the death of Plant's son and the taxation exile the band took from the UK which resulted in the band being unable to tour on British soil for more than two years, and trying to get back into the public mind was therefore like "trying to get in through the 'out' door." And thus became the start of Led Zeppelin’s determined course to lift its profile once again, one that ultimately came to signal the end of more things than was expected.

On this episode we are going to talk about “In Through the Out Door” by Led Zeppelin, the band’s 8th and final studio album released 45 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘you swore that you never would leave me baby, whatever happened to you?’ on Music from a Lifetime.

Hi there, and welcome to Music from a Lifetime, and our next episode of 12-18-21-30-40-NOW!

These are the episodes of this podcast where our guest is interviewed about specific ages of their life and what was happening at that time. We also discuss how music is involved in those different stages of their life, and what songs remind them most of that time of their life. The ages that we discuss on each episode are 12 years of age, 18 years of age, 21 years of age, 30 years of age, 40 years of age, and then the present day. And thus comes the title of the episodes. “12-18-21-30-40-NOW!”

The hope is to mix interesting tales of life from different people, and to mix in the soundtrack of their lives to make what should become award winning podcast episodes.

Thanks for tuning in to today’s episode of “12-18-21-30-40-NOW!”, right here on Music from a Lifetime.

"Debut albums can sometimes be difficult, especially when it comes to ‘discussions’ between the band and the record company. Initially the band wanted to have the album named “Winged Assassins”, something that some fans still refer to it as today and was printed on the spine of original release vinyl albums in Europe. Beyond this, the real controversy prior to the album coming out was the song “Animal (F**k Like a Beast)”. This song was due to appear on the album as the lead off track, and as the first single from the album. However, there were a lot of problems getting that off the ground. Under enormous pressure from groups such as the infamous PMRC, and the threat that the album would not be made available for sale in the big US department store, which was a huge thing in those days, Capitol Records withdrew the song from the album and refused to release it as a single. It did get a release in the UK through Music for Nations, and, surprisingly enough, was hugely sought after as an import in the US. Eventually in 1998 when the back catalogue was remastered, “Animal” was returned to the album as the opening track. However, for us traditionalists, in our minds it does not appear on the debut album."

On this episode we are going to talk about “W.A.S.P.” by W.A.S.P., the band’s debut studio album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘all night, you damn the hurt and pain, and drink the devils rain, it's screaming out your name’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"From this position so far away from those days themselves, it seems incomprehensible that Paul Di’Anno, who had been the popular and enigmatic lead singer of the biggest band of the NWoBHM era, could possibly be out of work for very long. No matter what the reasons for his dismissal had been, here was a frontman that any band out there must have been considering as a perfect fit for their sound. Or, on the other hand, if Paul himself decided that he wanted to build a band himself, surely there had to be musicians and record companies falling over themselves to become involved with him. It seems impossible to think that he could be away from the music scene for very long".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Di’Anno” by Di’Anno, the band’s debut studio album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘she's a heart user, no time for losers’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"Opinions vary on every subject – Flynn's voice is really bland and annoying, or is the perfect mixture of rage and spiritual. The songs are a mixture of mid-paced progression with groove parts and too clean parts, or have perfectly encapsulated the rise of the groove riff of Pantera and incorporated it into this next level performance. There is a recurring stop-and-go technique on the guitars that sounds unflowing and horrible, or is a great combination of the heavier riff and thrash overtones that blend with the grunge characteristics still being felt in the world. The songs are too long and boring with vocals that are not angry at all but just weak, or the songs draw on the world as Rob Flynn sees it and are a battement of the truth into the lyrics. This pretty much sums up the arguments for and against this album in particular over the years when it has come up in conversation with various groups of people that I have met through music relationships. Whatever you may wish to try and define this album as - groove metal, grunge metal, thrash metal... or perhaps just metal? - this is the grade variant that comes across when listening to the album".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Burn My Eyes” by Machine Head, the band’s debut studio album released 30 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘I'll never live in the past, let freedom ring with a shotgun blast’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"To a certain extent, that IS what Testament do on this album, but to suggest they were trying to follow Metallica’s lead can’t be concluded. For a start, guitarist Alex Skolnick himself was not just a thrash metal guitarist, having also been one of a long line of amazing guitarists that had their start under the tutelage of Joe Satriani. There is little doubt that the songs that Alex was beginning to write by this stage of the band’s career were ones where he was looking to inject more of his technical proficiency on his instruments into the songs, rather than just being called done of the ‘fastest’ guitarists in the world. So his influence, let alone any other of the writers in the band, saw him looking to expand their pure thrash roots into a band that had songs that may not be as fast as they had played before, but sounded brilliant through their skills involved. As well as this, having now toured extensively over the course of the previous two years, the band had begun to have more worldly views, seen things that peaked their interest, and gave them ideas on what to write songs on that differed from what they had written on the first two albums. And look, there are enough similarities here for someone to point out and suggest the similarities here are too close not to be deliberate. But while it would be easy to say ‘Testament was following Metallica’, it is perhaps more accurate to suggest that by this third album, the band had matured and wanted to expand its horizons, an evolutionary path that other bands had already followed for the same reasons. Or, maybe I’m just looking for reasons not to state the obvious. As always, everyone is entitled to their opinion".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Practice What You Preach” by Testament, the band’s 3rd studio album released 35 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘the promises you make, your mind goes blank, and then you lose control’ of Music from a Lifetime.

Welcome to today's bonus episode, titled The Danzig Retrospective.

Along with my erstwhile companion Steve, a lifelong Danzig fan, today's episode will discuss all 12 of Danzig's studio albums, and we will give our personal rankings from 12 to 1, with light hearted conversation and the love of music along the way.

So if you've ever wondered just what Danzig the band is like, or are a fan just waiting to shout at the speakers 'you're rankings are WRONG!" Then why not listen in to today's episode that has a little twist of cain about it, on Music from a Lifetime.

"On your first listen to the album, the change in direction of the band from their earlier albums is distinctly noticeable. There is far less of the fantasy in the lyrics and far more about... well... the pursuits of young men. And the overall style of the songs trends to the more commercial sound of American radio than soaring heavy metal anthems. And it is true that the Blackmore/Dio partnership did have songs that moved in that kind of direction - “Snake Charmer”, “Do You Close Your Eyes” and “L.A. Connection” for instance – they were few and far between.

But once you have heard the entirety of “Down to Earth”, you can hear exactly why Dio moved on from the band, and what Blackmore was hoping to produce as his overall direction for the band to take. And then you have the titles of the majority of the songs on this album, and it doesn’t take too much imagination to guess just what market Blackmore and his band were targeting. “All Night Long”, “No Time to Lose”, “Makin’ Love”, “Since You Been Gone”, “Love’s No Friend”, “Danger Zone”. There’s a bit of difference from these songs to titles such as “Stargazer”, “Tarot Woman”, “A Light in the Black”, “Gates of Babylon”, “Kill the King”, “Man on the Silver Mountain”. So yes, a big change in output, and a big change in direction lyrically and musically".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Down to Earth” by Rainbow, the band’s 4th studio album released 45 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘you ain't got a lot to say, judging by the things you do’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"On the back of this success, there was never any doubt that the band’s management and record company were going to insist that they get back into the studio as soon as possible and record a follow up album at their earliest possible convenience. Number 1 albums don’t come along too often, and when they do, you want to follow it up with another one. However, as has been shown countless times over the last half century or more, following up a successful or critically acclaimed album is just not the easiest thing in the world to do, and it does require the right approach. In the case of Quiet Riot, the question probably had to be asked - with so much to live up to after the phenomenal success of that previous album, and yet given the good vibes that followed it, you should be able to expect some good stuff from the follow-up... right?"

On this episode we are going to talk about “Condition Critical” by Quiet Riot, the band’s 4th studio album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s ‘we're all crazy now’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.