Music from a Lifetime

"With a new worldwide record deal secured following this release, the rejuvenated four piece went about the task of writing and recording their first album with wholly new material since 1990’s “Detonator” album. After a break of nine years, and with the music industry having been through a great deal of upheaval over that period of time, it was always going to be interesting to hear just what the band would come up with for what could essentially be regarded as their comeback album. To throw more confusion into the mix, the band decided that the album title would be “Ratt”, which while being the band’s name, was also the name of their first EP back in 1984. The dual naming was not to be the only confusion part of the new album when it finally reached the shop shelves".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Ratt” by Ratt, the band’s 7th studio album released 25 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.

"Back in Year 11 in high school, about six months after my friend group went from having a couple of people who had listened to heavy metal music before, to our entire cavalry being on board, we had an exchange student from the US turn up for a few months. Fortunately for us, Steve arrived bearing cassettes of his favourite bands and albums. Amongst them we were first introduced to bands such as Night Ranger and Ratt. And also the band Dio through the two cassettes he brought with him, “Holy Diver” and “The Last in Line”. And after we had ALL gotten copies of these albums on cassettes of our own, the joy and obsession with the band Dio began. For me, at least. And it is a love that has continued to grow over the almost 40 years since, and an obsession that has never died.

I can’t tell you how much I listened to this cassette, over and over again. It was a time in my life that I had so much going on in regard to school and sport, and the amount of music that was flooding my existence as a result of discovering heavy metal was immense. It was overload. Maiden, Metallica, Ozzy, Sabbath, Megadeth, Purple. And yet Dio still kept up with all of them, constantly on rotation in the car once I had my drivers licence, or at home in my bedroom on my portable tape deck. This and “Holy Diver” just kept being played. And I never got sick of them. I knew every note, every word, every nuance of this album, singing along on the invisible microphone, playing guitar alongside Vivian on my cricket bat. Man I loved this album. Wait... what I mean is... man, I LOVE this album".

On this episode we are going to talk about “The Last in Line” by Dio, the band’s 2nd studio album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s ‘two eyes from the east, it’s the angel or the beast’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

Today marks three years since I started recording this podcast, and so I thought that for this episode I would take the opportunity to share some thoughts with everyone about what goes on in my head when I think about it.

It's my fireside chat, from me to you, to answer some of the questions I have had over the years that hopefully will be of some interest. I talk about how I came to start recording this podcast, the history behind it and the motivation. I talk about how it is structured and the fun I have in doing it. You can also hear about plans for the future... if the podcast lasts that long.

It's not an essential episode, just me talking for 45 minutes. If that doesn't suit, ignore and move on. If it does, I hope it provides some interest.

Thanks for tuning in, and here we go again, on Music from a Lifetime.

"A follow up with 1997’s “Shadowlife” saw the band move towards an alternate rock sound that appeared to not be as enjoyable to the band's fanbase, and had seen the tensions between Dokken and Lynch continue to escalate once again. Lynch’s behaviour had already seen the band dropped by their label due to him leaving a live radio broadcast moments before the band was supposed to play, and having pushed the band into the new musical direction he was quoted in an interview as saying "This is the perfect record. This is gonna be the end of Dokken, and that is what I wanted to accomplish”.

Suffice to say, Lynch was fired by the rest of the band after a long dispute, though he then tried to sue the band when they went on tour with a guitar replacement in Europe’s John Norum, an action that failed in court. After the tour, Norum was forced to leave due to other commitments, and so the band brought in former Winger and future Whitesnake guitarist Reb Beach as his replacement. Beach suited the band as he had been a prominent guitarist in the same 80’s era where Dokken had thrived, and so the foursome went into the studio to create their new album, aptly titled “Erase the Slate”."

"To be fair, Queen chose a pretty awesome time to record a live album, as the set list that they played on this tour was second to none. Certainly, the absence of any material from their first two albums is perhaps an oversight, but by this stage of their career, with so many successful singles and songs that were fan favourites, and seven albums worth of material to choose from, making set lists was never going to be an easy thing. Would I like to have had songs from that era represented? Absolutely. But choosing songs to leave out would have been the hard part. And the fact that a song like “Somebody to Love”, which was the third song played on most nights of this tour, was left off the album, is incredible to believe. So yes. Choices to be made. So, let’s just be thankful for the songs and album that we have here to enjoy".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Live Killers” by Queen, the band’s debut live album released 45 years ago this week, on today’s ‘I was told a million times of all the troubles in my way’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

"For so many fans, this album was the first that they had experienced the band, and what better way to be introduced to Faith No More than the barnstorming opening track “From Out of Nowhere”, which blazes out of the speakers without warning and trips the album into overdrive from the outset. Energetic and browbeaten from the start, it is a killer opening, and surely impressed the fans who knew the first two albums with the onus on the new lead vocalist.

Everybody on the single’s release knew “Epic”, a song particularly well named for the way it sounded and the way it was treated on release. The video is mayhemic, and indeed created some controversy because of the vision of a fish out of water, flapping madly to breathe. But it was the manic energy of the track both on screen and on vinyl and CD that made it so popular, that drove the sales of the album because it funnelled the popularity of the single into people wanting to dive into the album itself and find out what else they could find. Surely no one left disappointed".

On this episode we are going to talk about “The Real Thing” by Faith No More, the band’s 3rd studio album released 35 years ago this week, on today’s ‘it’s not over yet, you don’t remember I won’t let you forget’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.

"While I did pick this up on CD at some point following the demise of the band in the mid-1990's, my best guess is that it was after the demise of Cobain, and a point at which I had played both “Nevermind” and “In Utero” to death and went back to find this album as a stop gap. I was also eventually gifted this on vinyl by a work colleague, who had a still shrink wrapped second edition vinyl on the Sub Pop label, unopened and unplayed, which he claimed he would never listen to because he didn’t have a turntable. So that was an absolute bonus. Cheers Trent.

One of the problems with re-listening to this album over the past couple of weeks has been that at the same time I have been listening to an album that was released just five days after this, one that got a far greater exposure around the world, one which I knew a lot more of on its entry point to the world, and is a far superior release in every way, shape and form".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Bleach” by Nirvana, the band’s debut studio album released 35 years ago this week, on today’s ‘Barney ties me to the chair, I can't see, I'm really scared’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.