Author: Bill Adams
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Motörhead – Bad Magic
It’s hard to tell what happened to Motörhead between the release of Aftershock and the recording of Bad Magic, but there’s no missing the change in the band’s demeanour as this album plays. It’s possible that the new energy so apparent in Motörhead’s 22nd album comes from the new company that Motörhead majordomo Lemmy Kilmister has…
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Van Halen – s/t
The thing about albums which are truly progressive (to be clear, I’m referring to albums which break new ground – not necessarily prog rock albums) is that their impact on pop music as a whole takes a bit of time to really register. Sure, there’s a chance that they might break through, win fans and…
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Finger Eleven – Five Crooked Lines
It was very reasonable to assume that Finger Eleven had totally sold out years ago. Back in 2003, the success of “One Thing” – a mid-tempo, melancholy and balladesque number found in the late-playing of the band’s fourth album – dangled the gold-plated chain of pop prosperity before the group and they took it. After…
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Headstones @ Maxwell’s, Waterloo ON, July 10th 2015
Headstones with A Rebel Few at Maxwell’s, Waterloo, Ontario, July 10th, 2015 The caliber and quality of Headstones as a live band has never been in dispute in this critic’s mind, but that doesn’t mean the band doesn’t shine just a little brighter in some circumstances over others. To put it in simple terms, there’s…
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Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard Of Ozz LP (revisited)
“Is the reissued release of an album ALWAYS superior to the original?” Such a question is valid – particularly when one takes the recent proliferation of reissues from both major and indie labels into account. In nearly every case, a “new” re-examination of an old title comes with many sound and production renovations courtesy of the…
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Kinski – 7 (Or 8)
Without intending to sound condescending, things are really starting to get interesting for Kinski now – on their seventh full-length album. For the sake of context, Kinski willfully challenged themselves a couple of years ago when the (long thought to be) instrumental band released Cosy Moments, an album which defied convention because it featured lyric sheets…
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Gateway Drugs – Magick Spells
It’s hard to believe how long punk has been a musical idiom. For the sake of argument (because it’s hard to get many people to agree on when punk rock became recognized as a musical form), let’s say it started in 1969; that’s when MC5 released Kick Out The Jams. That’s a time period of…
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Anti-Flag – American Spring LP
It might sound a little silly to say, but the first great thing about the vinyl pressing of Anti-Flag‘s ninth studio album, American Spring, is the scale of the presentation. Before a note is heard, those who buy the vinyl will get an eyeful of the bright and beautiful album cover which looks like an…
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Reducers SF – Essentials (4 Colored LP set)
Looking back, it’s pretty incredible how fertile punk’s creative soil was in the Nineties. Sure – everyone knows the mid-Nineties as being the period which broke punk into the mainstream (pop punk) and made bands like Lagwagon, Propagandhi, Green Day, NOFX, Offspring (I’ve written this list out several times before) and innumerable others household names…
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Round Eye – s/t LP
While the debate over which recorded music format is superior (vinyl, CD and digital download, at least for right now, are the top contenders), no one who has heard it will argue against the fact that Round Eye‘s debut album was designed specifically to be experienced on vinyl. The hints are actually on the CD…