Music from a Lifetime

"Shifting onto Side 2 of the album, and the goodness just keeps on coming. Opening up with the brilliant "Trapped Under Ice", the speed returns in true style and hammers along with glee. The hugely underrated "Escape" follows. It seems to be a song that has slipped through the cracks of Metallica folklore, and I for one have never really understood that. Hetfield's vocals in particular are great in this song. Perhaps part of the reason for this song's undervalue is that it is followed by "Creeping Death", certainly one of Metallica's most favoured. Forty years later it is still as good as it was back in the day. A gem.

The closing song on the album is the second of the two songs that helped Metallica pull away from the crowd. The instrumental "The Call of Ktulu" is an amazing song, combining every great aspect of the Metallica legacy. It too combines those clean guitars with the thrash and heavy metal throughout different stages of the song, telling its own tales even without lyrics to do so. The building crescendo to finish the album is majestic, and puts an exclamation mark on what is a classic album"

On this episode we are going to talk about “Ride the Lightning” by Metallica, the band’s 2nd studio album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s ‘guilty as charged, but dammit it ain’t right’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

"Rather than push hard to make these albums successful – you know, like a record company’s JOB is – they instead decided to push the band’s management to firstly replace lead singer Bon Scott (yep, that would have been a great move), and eventually pushed them to change their producers. The problem with that of course is that the band’s producers for all of their albums had been Harry Vanda and George Young – yep, Malcolm and Angus’s older brother George. Now that seems like a story that wasn’t going to end well. Atlantic’s representative flew to Sydney, and told George that for the record company to continue to invest in AC/DC, he would need to accede to their wishes, something he grudgingly agreed to. Atlantic then brought in Eddie Kramer, who had produced albums for Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Kiss, and was no doubt someone they thought could produce an album to their liking. The problem was, Kramer and the band did not gel, and it eventually came out that Malcolm and Angus were sending demos of the sessions back to George in Australia, who was obviously critiquing them harshly".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC, the band’s 6th studio album released 45 years ago this week, on today’s ‘it’s criminal, there ought to be a law’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

"Then you have the Alice songs that continue this drive but draw upon more recent ideals as well. “This Maniac’s in Love with You” draws on the fun and menacing side of Alice from the previous two albums, more a statement of Alice’s proclamation of love and the warning of that in the same breath. Then you have the closing track “I’m Your Gun”, the double-entendre laden song that became a hallmark of some of his most popular tracks from the late 1980’s albums. Middle class songs that play the role of advancing the album beyond the big tracks. And the title track “Trash” finds itself in this category as well, a fun filled upbeat song with Jon Bon Jovi joining in along the way.

Filling in the gaps between all these are other top shelf songs. “Spark in the Dark” gets the album moving after the opening track, a typically crafted Desmond Child song with Alice playing his alter ago to perfection throughout. “House of Fire” utilises Cooper’s anthemic style again, with chorused backing vocals helping him along, along with Joe Perry’s excellent solo slot on guitar. And “Why Trust You” is arguably my favourite track on the album. It moves at the best tempo, it has Alice at his moody best, and it sounds light and fun even when lyrically he is spitting venom. Modern Alice at his very best".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Trash” by Alice Cooper, his 11th solo studio album released 35 years ago this week, on today’s ‘don't matter what you say, no matter what you do, as long as it is me and you’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

"It is interesting that this album became the band’s highest charting album in the US, which to me was more through the general build of the three very good albums before it. It feels as though that peaked here with “In Rock We Trust”, and that people bought the album because of the albums that preceded it. Because to me, this album does not rate above those.

The positives here is that Dave Meniketti’s vocals are terrific on this album. I have always enjoyed his voice and the way he sings his songs, and that is no different here. And the core group all sound good as well. But the songs... well, they just don’t cut it overall. To me this isn’t a bad album as such, it’s just an average album. And more than that, in places it is just dull. This album, and the band overall, is trapped in an era where hard rock had transitioned to becoming glam metal for the attention and grandiose spectacle that was necessary to gain an audience, and where the new wave of heavy metal was moving at full throttle towards thrash metal, and this doesn’t touch either of those elements. Are there good songs? Yeeeeeessss. Are there more unremarkable songs? Yes. It’s interesting that they skewed more towards the glam rock side with their 1987 album “Contagious”, which perhaps was the right step but a little too late".

On this episode we are going to talk about “In Rock We Trust” by Y&T, the band’s 6th studio album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s ‘time has made you just a memory’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

"The arrival of Stryper on the music scene in the early 1980’s is an interesting story of returning to one’s faith and building a band around those beliefs in an industry that on the surface appeared to have little of that about it. The band itself began under the name Roxx Regime in 1983, the double x in Roxx showcasing the era of the band and the direction their music was going to take.

On formation the band looked to be a straight-out glam metal band, with brothers Michael and Robert Sweet the core. A number of soon-to-be-famous guitar players, including Doug Aldrich and C.C. de Ville, all had short stints in the band before the arrival of Oz Fox who became a permanent member of the group. At around this time they began to write songs that reflected the band members Christian beliefs, and this was the direction they followed from that point onwards".

On this episode we are going to talk about “The Yellow and Black Attack” by Stryper, the band’s debut studio EP album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s ‘that's why I wrote this song, to sing to pushin' fools’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

Hi there, and welcome to Music from a Lifetime, where today we road test a new segment on this podcast, one that I hope takes off and grows legs of its own. The idea of the format is not unique, and I have borrowed aspects of other shows that have done a similar thing over the years. So for those that find a similarity to other shows or programs remember… not stealing, borrowing… and putting my own spin on the concept.

This concept started 18 months ago on another of my podcasts, Thoughts from the Metal Cavern. And what I will be doing is adding new episodes here on this podcast.

What I’m hoping to do is do a series of interviews, a different person each episode. And on each episode we are not only going to revisit different times of their lives, but also talk about music, and just what bands and songs were influencing their lives at that time of their lives.

And the times of their lives will be the same. 12 years of age. 18 years of age. 21 years of age. All three considered ‘milestones’ when growing up. And then we will fast forward to 30 years of age, 40 years of age… and then to the present day.

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. At least, if the host can find the right stories.

So that is what you are in for today, the first of what could be many of no more of the segment I’ve called “12-18-21-30-40-NOW!”.

What you will hear today was the first episode I recorded of this idea, from back in January 2023. So I hope you enjoy it, and that you excuse the bumps along the way, as I’m still feeling my way through the concept.

And with that in mind, let’s get stuck in, to today's episode of 12-18-21-30-40-NOW! right here on Music from a Lifetime

"In 1994 came the film “Airheads”, starring Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler, along with other terrific actors and some musical cameos as well. It tells the tale of a band who are trying to get signed for a record contract but can’t seem to crack the system, and so in trying to get their latest single some airplay they accidently find they have taken over the radio station hostage, and as they say in the classics, ‘hilarity ensues’. I still love the film, I still laugh in all the right places, and the fact that the lead actor is now an Academy Award winner is even more fitting.

With movies like this, the soundtrack is important in setting the scene and the mood throughout, and having watched the film and enjoyed the music, I decided to go out and buy the soundtrack to the album, based mainly on the song that plays over the opening titles, and the song that acts as the single that the band in question are trying to get airplay for in the movie. And as with all soundtracks to movies like this, you should expect to get some cream and some crud".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Airheads” the original soundtrack album of the movie of the same name, released 30 years ago this week, on today’s ‘born to raise hell’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

"Flash forward four years, and after another two seminal albums, Iron Maiden are again on a break after their “Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour”. This time around it is Adrian who is looking to fill in his time, although on this occasion it is to write and record an album outside of the Iron Maiden scope. In recruiting members for what would become Adrian Smith and Project, shortened to A.S.a.P, he decided to go with the core of those who had been a part of those session four years earlier – Andy Barnett and Dave Colwell on guitars and support vocals. Robin Clayton came on board to play bass, while another former member of Urchin, Richard Young, took on the keyboards. Adrian had wanted Nicko to retain his place as drummer of the band, but as he was in the process of getting married, he was unavailable to join up. Instead, Adrian found a willing ally in Zak Starkey, son of another reasonably famous drummer from another band, Richard Starkey. Adrian himself, along with playing guitar, also became lead vocalist of the project. And so was born he side project and the album that became “Silver and Gold”"

On this episode we are going to talk about “Silver and Gold” by A.S.a.P, (Adrian Smith and Project), the band’s only studio album released 35 years ago this week, on today’s ‘destiny was calling me, I would never be the same’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

"The crafting of the album and the story required a great deal of planning, and indeed in the long run Alice utilised several different producers for different parts of the album and story, in order to get the kind of sonic atmosphere and theatrical environment that he felt was required to make this album work.

This led to Alice using Andy Wallace for the bookended tracks that open and close the show and the album, “Sideshow” and “Cleansed by Fire”. Much like a stage musical, these tracks take on the role of introducing the story, and then finishing off the tale, and Wallace’s style was perfect for this. He was also involved in the two tracks in which Chris Cornell contributed vocals, the beautiful ballad-esque “Stolen Prayer” and the more bombastic “Unholy War”, written solely by Cornell himself. Cornell’s backing vocals in “Stolen Prayer” are perfectly attuned to the track and worth the journey of this album alone.

Then there was the contributions of producer Don Fleming who handled the ‘street-tough’ sound required for the tracks that followed the opening of the album, “Nothing’s Free”, “Lost in America” and “Bad Place Alone”, which needed a particular aural vocal style to fill its place within the concept, and it is performed beautifully by Alice here".

On this episode we are going to talk about “The Last Temptation” by Alice Cooper, the band’s 6th studio album released 30 years ago this week, on today’s ‘she doesn't have a prayer and I'm no worse for wear’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

"Given my love for the early albums of this bands – nay, not love, obsession – you would expect that I was waiting expectantly on my local record stores doorstep waiting for the door to open on the day that this was released. Well, you would be well mistaken. Because after the release of “Chameleon”, I gave up on Helloween ever recovering, and promptly dismissed them from my mind. Then the terrible years of 1994 and 1995 took two years from my life, and it wasn’t until late in 1996 that I actually returned to my favourite record store, Utopia Records, with a life in balance and money in my account ready to spend on some new albums. On this particular day, and with no knowledge of what had happened to Helloween over the preceding three years, I discovered that in my time away, they had released TWO new studio albums, and also a double live album. With my bad memories of what had been produced on their previous two albums now having dissipated far enough back into the mist of time, I bought all three immediately, and climbed back onto the train with my other purchases for the short trip back to home, anxious to listen to all of the albums I had found. So it wasn’t until 2.5 years AFTER this album was released that I actually heard it for the first time. And it blew me away".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Master of the Rings” by Helloween, the band’s 6th studio album released 30 years ago this week, on today’s ‘yes I am, I am a perfect gentleman’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.