The Reverend's Favorite New Albums of 2025

Much like the swallows return to Capistrano, each year I check out the various "best of" album lists in different publications. As I've stated before, I'm old as dirt, and a lot of today's pop music isn't being made for me. I'm OK with this...my tastes are pretty eclectic, anyway. 

Much of today's disposable pop music does little but enrich the bank accounts of record label execs, and few of those featured on today's lists will forge long-term careers. I see few legit new "rock" LPs on young writers' lists, and absolutely no blues grooves. So I thought I'd put together my own danged list. 

Yeah, because I'm a rockin' geezer, my list tends to skew towards classic rock and blues musicians. These aren't necessarily the 25 "best" albums of the year to anybody but me, and the list largely reflects the new music I bought or acquired in 2025...

The Black Keys - No Rain, No Flowers
Steve Boyd - King of the Losers
Tommy Castro - Closer To the Bone
Bootsy Collins - Album of the Year #1 Funkateer
Alice Cooper - The Revenge of Alice Cooper
Marshall Crenshaw - From the Hellhole
Guided By Voices - Thick Rich and Delicious
Buddy Guy - Ain't Done With the Blues
Luke Haines & Peter Buck - Going Down To the River To Blow My Mind
Curtis Harding - Departures & Arrivals
Peter Holsapple - The Face of 68
Cristone "Kingfish" Ingram - Hard Road
Jason Isbell - Foxes In the Snow
Jethro Tull - Curious Ruminant
Willie Nile - The Great Yellow Light
Old Town Crier - Peterson Motel
Richie Owens - Redemption
Rich Pagano & the Sugarcane Cups - Hold Still Light Escapes
Piper & the Hard Times - Good Company
Robert Plant - Saving Grace
Mitch Ryder - With Love
Todd Snider - High, Lonesome & Then Some
Dave Specter - Live At SPACE
St Paul & the Broken Bones - St Paul & the Broken Bones
Superchunk - Songs In the Key of Yikes
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Mad Dogs & Englishmen Revisited
Walter Trout - Sign of the Times 
William Tyler - Time Indefinite
Webb Wilder - Hillbilly Speedball
Tommy Womack - Live A Little

Links are to That Devil Music album reviews...

 

The View On Pop Culture: Los Straitjackets, Witness U.K., Alice Cooper, Moses Avalon's Secrets Of Negotiating A Record Contract (2001)

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It’s an established fact among experts in these sorts of things that Los Straitjackets have long been the coolest psychotronic surf guitar band in the known universe. Clad in Mexican wrestling masks, these mutant offspring of an unholy marriage of Dick Dale and Joey Ramone have kicked out four incredible albums of surf-garage-rockabilly instrumentals since 1995. With album number five the fantastic foursome hit upon a novel idea – why not add vocals to the songs?

They do just that on Sing Along with Los Straitjackets (Yep Roc Records), enlisting the help of accomplished vocal technicians like Raul Malo of the Mavericks, Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer, Dave Alvin, Allison Moorer, Exene Cervenka of X, and many others. The result is a glorious collection of cover tunes, Los Straitjackets providing the power and various singers contributing the finesse to classic rock, pop, and country material like Roy Orbison’s “Down the Line,” Jessi Colter’s “I Ain’t the One” and Scooter Davis’ “The End of the World.” Guitarists Danny Amis and Eddie Angel blaze like a house afire while beatmeisters Peter Curry and Jimmy Lester hold down the bottom line behind folks like the Rev. Horton Heat, Big Sandy and Nick Lowe. The hippest CD you could buy this year, Sing Along with Los Straitjackets cements the reputation of these maniac musicians as the baddest surf-rocking daddios ever!

The recipients of the biggest British music press hype since Oasis recorded their first demo tape, Witness U.K. have lived up to every compliment thrown their way. With their second album, “Under A Sun” (MCA Records) they seem to be poised to break through to a stateside audience unaware of the furor the band has created in their homeland. Treading the same introspective folk-rock vein as R.E.M., who Witness U.K. is often compared to, the band also incorporates influences as diverse as Tim Buckley, Van Morrison, and Neil Young into a distinctive sound. Beautifully crafted songs like “Here’s One For You” and “Dividing Line” feature singer Gerard Starkie’s powerful and engaging vocals. Delicious harmonies, multi-layered guitars and a dense rhythmic undercurrent match the band’s thoughtful lyrics. Radio-friendly, intelligent, and charismatic, “Under A Sun” shows that Witness U.K. is much more than the typical British pop band.

Rock legend Alice Cooper never really went away, you know – he’s been busy recording albums, performing live and inspiring dozens of lesser artists. Like many aging rockers, the major labels want nothing to do with Cooper, who still commands a sizeable following even if he can’t move the multi-Platinum™ numbers that a copycat like Marilyn Manson can. The five families’ ignorance is our loss, however, ‘cause with the indie effort Dragontown (Spitfire Records), Cooper delivers his best solo effort since Welcome To My Nightmare. Dragontown kicks off with the unrelenting “Triggerman,” an ultra-cool tune that, in a better world, would dominate FM radio. From there Cooper jumps into a collection of songs that portray a rock ‘n’ roll purgatory where Jim Morrison, John Lennon and Elvis Presley rub elbows with disgraced nuns and psychotic soldiers in tunes like “Sex, Death And Money” and “Disgraceland.” Cooper’s theatrical style and macabre vocals are perfectly suited for the nightmarish imagery of his lyrics while unrelenting instrumentation both cuts wide swaths of destruction and jabs precisely like some manic musical sword duel. After thirty-plus years, Alice Cooper still creates music that is both hypnotic and horrifying, Dragontown proof for young metalheads that the old dog still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

Every youngster who has ever picked up a guitar or a drumstick has dreamed of achieving fame and fortune playing music – “following that rock ‘n’ roll star” as songwriter Threk Michaels has called it. Out of the thousands of bands that begin this sojourn, some will manage to make a name for themselves on the regional bar circuit while a mere handful ever get the chance sign a recording contract. Without exception, though, every single one of these superstar wannabes is at a disadvantage when dealing with even the smallest of labels. Secrets Of Negotiating A Record Contract (Backbeat Books), the second book by pseudonymous author Moses Avalon, shows that the label always holds all the cards.

An award-winning engineer and producer, Moses Avalon has a unique perspective forged by almost two decades experience in the music biz. If his excellent first book, Confessions of A Record Producer (Backbeat Books) blew the lid off the industry’s dirty little secrets, his latest effort deciphers the various pitfalls, loopholes and booby traps found hidden among the dense legalese used in the typical recording contract. Avalon offers segments of real contracts, explains what the provisions mean in real life and offers an analysis that is educated, informative and tempered by a great deal of experience and humor. Working with several music industry lawyers, Avalon has created the first blueprint available for musicians to negotiate their contract with knowledge and insight. Heed the Reverend’s warning – if you are a musician, no matter the genre – you should carry a copy of Secrets of Negotiating A Record Contract with you until you know it like you do your instrument. Get it now! You’ll thank me later... (View From The Hill, October 2001)

Archive Review: Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies (1973/2001)

By 1973, Alice Cooper was one of the hottest bands in rock ‘n’ roll. Featuring the flamboyant on-stage antics of lead vocalist and band namesake Cooper and a sound that was a cross between metal-edged blues, hard rock and camped-up show tunes, the band struck gold with their fifth album, 1972’s School’s Out. By the time that they would enter the studio to record what would become their masterpiece – Billion Dollar Babies – the band was on the verge of breaking up. Suffering from tensions created by constant touring, the ever-growing complexity of their stage shows and problems created by the extreme overuse of alcohol, the band nonetheless put together ten songs that would become the keystone of the Alice Cooper legacy.

Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies

Remixed by producer Bob Ezrin and reissued by Warner Archives and archival experts Rhino Records, Billion Dollar Babies was originally released in 1973 to overall critical acclaim and great commercial success. It became the band’s best-selling album, it led to one of the largest-grossing and spectacular tours in rock history and it inspired a legion of hard rock, punk, and heavy metal bands to follow. Today, nearly 30 years after its release, it stands out as a landmark of rock music. Cuts like “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Hello Hooray,” and the vastly underrated and oft-overlooked “Generation Landslide” stand as rock icons. “Elected” is every bit as funny and relevant in the new millennium as it was in the Nixon era while lesser-known tracks such as “Raped and Freezin’” and the macabre “I Love the Dead” did their best to launch the Goth and death metal genres.

Released by Warner/Rhino in two versions, those who merely want a taste of one of rock’s most unique and influential bands can go for the single-disc reissue of Billion Dollar Babies. For long-time fans or the curious, the “deluxe edition” of Billion Dollar Babies includes a second disc of live tracks and outtakes that is well worth the few extra dollars to buy. Featuring eleven songs taken from two Texas shows in April 1973, it offers killer performances of “Elected,” “Hello Hooray,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” and “Billion Dollar Babies.” It also includes live versions of older Alice Cooper faves like “I’m Eighteen,” “My Stars,” and “I Love the Dead” as well as a handful of outtakes from the Billion Dollar Babies sessions.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Two years after the release of Billion Dollar Babies, Alice Cooper the band would break-up and Cooper the individual would start a lengthy and productive solo career that continues to plod along today. Along with his contemporary Ozzie Osbourne, Alice Cooper has been granted “rock godfather” status by today’s heavy metal kids. Through the years that followed, however, Cooper and his bandmates would never again make rock ‘n’ roll as primal, vital, and energetic as they would with these ten tracks. (Rhino Records, reissued June 6th, 2001)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2001
        
Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies

Short Rounds: Holiday Gift Suggestions (2019)

Reviews of holiday gift suggestions in 150 words or less…

Cindy Lee Berryhill – Garage Orchestra (Omnivore Recordings)
One of the leading figures in the ‘anti-folk’ movement of the 1980s, which sought to bring punkish intensity and creativity to a staid old traditional sound, singer/songwriter Cindy Lee Berryhill’s first couple of albums were a mixed bag but, by the time of 1994’s Garage Orchestra, Berryhill had found a delicate balance of influences like Dylan, Patti Smith, and the Beach Boys in developing her own voice. Reissued by Omnivore, Garage Orchestra has been expanded with a slew of bonus tracks, but the ten original songs sound as fresh and endearing as they did 25 years ago. Berryhill’s expressive vocals and erudite lyricism on songs like “Radio Astronomy,” “I Want Stuff,” and “Every Someone Tonight” color outside the lines while musically she tends to follow wherever whimsy leads her. The result is a magical musical journey that has held up surprisingly well over the past quarter-century (and worthy of rediscovery). Berryhill’s 1996 LP Straight Outta Marysville was also recently reissued by Omnivore with a half-dozen additional bonus tracks. Grade: A   BUY!

Black Pumas – Black Pumas (ATO Records)
The self-titled debut album from Black Pumas – the Austin, Texas duo of Adrian Quesada and Eric Burton – is a magnificent hybrid of psychedelic-drenched rock, throwback soul, and contemporary R&B with more than a hint of old-school funk to be found in the blood-red grooves. The two co-produced the album and they hit all the right beats, bringing a modern neo-soul feel to the performances while still managing to capture the heartbeat of 1960s and ‘70s-era Stax Records, Sly & the Family Stone, and Parliament-Funkadelic. With ten original songs, Burton has a lot to work with, and his bluesy vocals edge close to Otis’s turf while Quesada is a nuanced, but powerful guitarist. The studio players fall in behind Burton and Quesada to create a mesmerizing tapestry of sound, but it’s the masterful combination of all these factors – songs, vocals, instrumentation, and production – that propel Black Pumas above their contemporaries. Grade: A+   BUY!

Alice Cooper – Bread Crumbs EP (Ear Music)
I haven’t been a big fan of a lot of Alice Cooper’s recent work, but this nifty lil’ 10” vinyl EP kicks ass! Aided and abetted by guitarists Wayne Kramer (The MC5) and Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad) and drummer Johnny “Bee” Badanjek (The Rockets), among others, Alice pays tribute to his Motor City roots with five cover tunes of songs originally recorded by Mitch Ryder (“Devil With A Blue Dress On”), Suzi Quatro (“Your Mama Wont’ Like Me”), Bob Seger (“East Side Story”), the MC5 (“Sister Anne”), and the Dirt Bombs (“Chains of Love)” as well as a couple of rockin’ new tunes in “Detroit City 2020” and “Go Man Go.” Alice has seldom sounded better, really investing his musical charisma into these performances, and his scratch band plays like starry-eyed teens on a collection of hard rock, punk rock, and garage-rock that sounds like 1970 all over again… Grade: A-   BUY!

Robyn Hitchcock & Andy Partridge - Planet England EP (Ape House)
This collaborative effort between two of rock music’s mad geniuses offers the best of both Robyn Hitchcock and XTC’s Andy Partridge. Although Planet England features only four cool tunes on compact disc or collectible 10” vinyl EP, there’s a lot going on in these grooves. Both artists share a distinctive British pop sensibility that skews their compositions towards the complex, lyrically and musically, and they play off each other here like old friends, with all the chemistry that implies, each song overflowing with lush instrumentation. “Turn Me On, Deadman” has a decidedly Hitchcock slant, while “Got Me…” evinces a distinct Partridge whimsy. The other two tracks on Planet England are equally quirky, charming, magical, and entertaining as only two well-respected gentlemen who have forged a career on the fringes of rock music could create. Caution: after spinning Planet England a couple of times you’ll be yearning for a full-length Hitchcock/Partridge album… Grade: A+   BUY!

Handsome Dick Manitoba – Born In the Bronx (Liberation Hall)
With the testosterone-fueled swagger of a professional wrestler and a larger-than-life personality custom-made for rock music, Handsome Dick Manitoba made his bones as frontman for legendary ‘70s-era sonic terrorists the Dictators. He formed Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom in the late ‘80s with a couple of Dictators bandmates, but Born In the Bronx is Manitoba’s first bona fide solo album. You won’t find any secret penchant for folkie ballads or wimpy pop tripe here, just scorched-earth rock ‘n’ roll with a surprising blues edge. Recorded in Nashville with producer/musician Jon Tiven and a cast of talented musos, Manitoba infuses story-songs like “Thicker Than Blood,” “8th Avenue Serenade,” and “The Cooker & the Hit” with gritty, street-smart gravitas. His somber, updated cover of P.F. Sloan’s “Eve of Destruction” is eerily prescient’ Manitoba’s vocals throughout the album capturing the aspirations of every young man and woman whose life was saved by rock ‘n’ roll. Grade: A   BUY!   

The Muffs – No Holiday (Omnivore Recordings)
With Kim Shattuck’s death from ALS earlier this year came an outpouring of grief from the rock ‘n’ roll community. Shattuck was a beloved figure on the scene, a member of 1980s-era distaff garage-rockers the Pandoras and founder of pop-punk pioneers the Muffs, the band recording a trio of albums for Warner Bros. during the ‘90s before going indie. No Holiday, recorded during Shattuck’s illness, brims over with the charm and intelligence that has become Shattuck’s trademark sound. Although much of No Holiday is softer around the edges, with more introspective songs, perhaps, than the band’s earlier work, a few tunes like “Late and Sorry” or the raucous “Pollyanna” could easily have fit on those first couple of albums. Shattuck’s distinctive raspy, shouted vocals capture the energy of rock ‘n’ roll while her underrated guitar playing could often be both subtle and over-the-top. No Holiday is a fitting tribute to Shattuck’s passion and talents. Grade: A   BUY!

Check out Kim Shattuck’s other band, the Coolies – Little Steven’s Wicked Cool Records has re-pressed the band’s recent Uh Oh! It’s…the Coolies 10” EP on colored vinyl as a tribute to the late singer, songwriter, and guitarist with 100% of the profits from sales donated to The ALS Association Golden West Chapter.

Harry Nilsson – Losst and Founnd (Omnivore Recordings)
Harry Nilsson found modest success as a singer and songwriter during the 1960s and ‘70s, scoring a handful of Top 40 hits and earning the respect of contemporaries like John Lennon and Ringo Starr. He’d gone over a decade without releasing an album when he went into the studio with producer Mark Hudson in the ‘90s but sadly died before they could finish the project. Hudson has resurrected these tapes for Losst and Founnd, sweetening Nilsson’s demo vocals and adding instrumentation by folks like Jim Keltner, Klaus Voorman, and Nilsson’s son Kiefo. The result is nine new original Nilsson tracks and a couple of inspired cover songs that explore the singer’s love of pop and rock music and display the man’s undeniable musical charisma. It’s been almost 40 years since we were gifted with a Harry Nilsson album, but for longtime fans of the artist, it’s better late than never! Grade: B+   BUY!

The Rosalyns – Outta Reach (Pig Baby Records)
A veritable “supergroup” of distaff rockers, the Rosalyns features multi-instrumentalist Birdy Bardot along with members of the Loons, the Schizophonics, and the Gore Gore Girls. Credentials like these mean that their debut LP, Outta Reach, rocks like a trailer park in a tornado. The Rosalyns formed a few years back to pay tribute to pioneering “girl groups” like the Pleasure Seekers and Ace of Cups, the band pursuing a similar sonic blueprint, i.e. unbridled 1960s-styled garage-rock with swaths of psychedelic color. They put their original spin on classic songs and obscurities alike here, infusing tunes like “Give Him A Great Big Kiss,” “Hanky Panky,” and “Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko Bop” with plenty of howling guitars, heavy bass, explosive percussion, and old-school keyboards. You haven’t lived, though, until you’ve heard the Rosalyns tear up the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy” like a pack of hungry she-wolves. Highly recommended…and pick up a copy of the Schizophonics new LP when you check out the indie Pig Baby Records website! Grade: B+    BUY!

Bobby Rush – Sitting On Top of the Blues (Deep Rush Records)
Blues legend Bobby Rush, at 86 years old, rocks a performance like singers a third his age, and has been doing so since long before most of us were born. Rush has been recording since the early ‘60s, creating his own unique fusion of blues, soul, and funk. Rush follows-up on his 2017 Grammy™ Award-winning album Porcupine Meat with the stellar collection Sitting On Top of the Blues, one of the most entertaining entries in a catalog rich with such. The self-referential “Hey Hey Bobby Rush” is a brash, swaggering ode to the blues while “Recipe For Love” is a rollicking instrumental showcase for Rush’s underrated harmonica skills. The sweltering “Pooky Poo” is a Swamp Dogg-styled old-school R&B jam and the bawdy “Bowlegged Woman” is trademark Bobby Rush with good-natured ribald humor. Vashti Jackson provides guitar on most tracks, the Mississippi bluesman’s talents providing a counterpoint to Rush’s vocals and harp-play. Grade: A   BUY!

Previously on That Devil Music.com:
Short Rounds, April 2019: Steve Earle, Nils Lofgren, Lone Justice, Adam Sandler, Sour Ops, Robin Trower, Jimmie Vaughan 
Short Rounds, March 2019: Tommy Castro, Gary Clark Jr, R. Stevie Moore, Jason Ringenberg, 3x4
Short Rounds, February 2019: Pete Berwick, Big Star, Ted Drozdowski, Walter Trout & Watermelon Slim

Spotlight on Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper band photo courtesy of Enigma Records

Alice Cooper (band) Discography:
• Pretties for You (Straight Records, 1969) *
• Easy Action (Straight Records, 1970) *
• Love It to Death (Straight Records, 1971)
• Killer (Warner Brothers, 1971)
• School's Out (Warner Brothers, 1972)
• Billion Dollar Babies (Warner Brothers, 1973)
• Muscle of Love (Warner Brothers, 1973)

* Later reissued by Enigma Records' Retro imprint, and again by Warner's Rhino Records archival label.

Alice Cooper, the band, was orignally signed to Frank Zappa's Straight Records label, home to oddball rockers like Captain Beefheart and the GTOs and hipster comedian Lord Buckley. The band – comprised of lead singer Alice (née Vince Furnier), guitarists Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith – had been kicking around the late '60s L.A. rock scene for a few years before releasing their first two albums for Straight. When neither album achieved any sort of commercial traction, the band pulled up roots and relocated to Pontiac, Michigan near Furnier's hometown of Detroit.

Alice Cooper's outrageous hard rock sound went over aces with a Rust Belt audience with a taste for honest, raucous rock 'n' roll after experiencing bands like Iggy & the Stooges, the MC5, SRC, and Ted Nugent. Working with young producer Bob Ezrin, the band scored a hit single in 1970 with their classic "I'm Eighteen," which kicked off a string of Top 40, Platinum™-selling albums that culminated in 1973's chart-topping Billion Dollar Babies. After the release of Muscle of Love – the band's fifth album in three years, the hard-touring outfit broke up.

Furnier took the "Alice Cooper" name with him out the door, launching a successful and legendary solo career with 1975's Welcome To My Nightmare, which hit #5 on the charts, and following it up with albums like Alice Cooper Goes To Hell (1976) and Flush the Fashion (1980). Cooper's solo career hit the skids during the nerf-metal decade of the '80s, though, the singer finally scoring a Top 20 album with 1989's Trash. Cooper's solo career continues to this day. The other band members didn't fare nearly as well, Bruce, Dunaway, and Smith forming the band Billion Dollar Babies, which released a single album titled Battle Axe in 1977.

The original Alice Cooper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, the band reuniting to perform at their induction ceremony (sans Buxton, who sadly passed away in 1997 at 49 years old).

Archive Review: Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare (1975/2002)

When Alice Cooper, the band, broke up in the mid-‘70s due to the rigors of stardom (insert imagination here), many thought that Alice Cooper, the man, was history. Alice was, after all, an honest-to-god freakshow, the controversial artist behind such future classics as “School’s Out,” “Billion Dollar Babies,” and “I’m Eighteen.” Without the backing of strong musicians such as Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton, cried the critics and other observers, Cooper was on his way to becoming nothing more than an interesting footnote in the checkered history of rock ‘n’ roll.

The 1975 release of Alice’s solo debut, Welcome To My Nightmare, proved the critics wrong and provided Cooper with some degree of vindication. With the benefit of hindsight, we critical types now consider Cooper to be one of the legends of rock ‘n’ roll, a heavy metal godfather who has influenced artists such as Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, among many others. Back in ’75, though, teenage whiz kids such as myself couldn’t have cared less about the ruminations of a bunch of erudite college grads slumming in the ghetto of rock criticism. Alice Freakin’ Cooper had a new album out and for hundreds of thousands of high school stoners, rockers, and underachievers, that was good enough for us!

Conceived by Cooper as a concept album (which tied in with the effects-laden stage show and wildly successful tour that accompanied Welcome To My Nightmare), the album both blazed new trails and also revisited classic Cooper-styled songs. It introduced Cooper the ‘crooner’, yielding a monster hit in the ballad “Only Woman Bleed” that won the artist a new distaff audience and opened the door for power ballads by contemporaries like Ozzie and a slew of ‘80s hair bands. Welcome To My Nightmare also further defined horror rock with monster cuts like the title track, “The Black Widow” (complete with children’s choir) and “Cold Ethyl,” with narration provided by the crown price of terror, Vincent Price. “Department of Youth” was a stylistic throwback to Cooper’s previous band sound, with Detroit rocker Johnny “Bee” Badanjek delivering a solid drumbeat behind Cooper’s vocals. To replace the muscular sound of his long-standing band, Cooper recruited Lou Reed’s rock ‘n’ roll animals, guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, who stacked up fiery riffs like so much sawmill fodder throughout the songs on Welcome To My Nightmare. 

The remastered Rhino reissue of Welcome To My Nightmare brings new brilliance to the sound of this classic album and adds previously unreleased live versions of “Devil’s Food,” “Cold Ethyl,” and “The Awakening” culled from an ABC television special. Manic liner notes from Cooper biographer Jeffrey Morgan and a handful of rare photos round out an exceptional package. Although I personally would like to have seen Rhino begin their restoration of the Alice Cooper catalog with early albums like Love It To Death or Killer, the work that they’ve done with Welcome To My Nightmare and, previously, Billion Dollar Babies, is nevertheless impressive. If your knowledge of Alice Cooper is limited to his early band work or more recent metal horror albums, you owe it to yourself to check out Welcome To My Nightmare. (Rhino Records)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2002

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare

New Music Monthly: August 2018 Releases

Wow, if the new releases trickled into the stores throughout July, the month of August opens the floodgates. New albums from blues singer Shemekia Copeland, alt-rockers Robert Poss (Band of Susans) and Interpol, Rich Robinson's the Magpie Salute, metal up 'n' comers the Oh Sees, White Denim, and the Lemon Twigs will tax any fan's finances. Throw in a live album by Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul and archive releases from the Hampton Grease Band, Crack the Sky, the Posies, Status Quo, Bob Marley and many more and August is guaranteed to break the bank!

If we wrote about it here on the site, there will be a link to it in the album title; if you want an album, hit the 'Buy!' link to get it from Amazon.com...it's just that damn easy! Your purchase puts money in the Reverend's pocket that he'll use to buy more music to write about in a never-ending loop of rock 'n' roll ecstasy!

AUGUST 3
Gene Clark & Carla Olson - So Rebellious A Lover   BUY!
Shemekia Copeland - America's Child   BUY!
Ronnie Davis & Idren - Come Straight   BUY!
Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Hampton Grease Band - Music To Eat   [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
James House and the Blues Cowboys - James House and the Blues Cowboys   BUY!
Winston Jarrett & the Righteous Flames - Jonestown   BUY!
Robert Poss - Frozen Flowers Curse the Day   BUY!

AUGUST 10
The Gladiators - Presenting the Gladiators   BUY!
Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul - Soulfire Live!   BUY!
The Magpie Salute - High Water I   BUY!
Walter Salas-Humara - Walterio   BUY!

AUGUST 17
Blue October - I Hope You're Happy   BUY!
Thee Oh Sees - Smote Reverser   BUY!

AUGUST 24
Alice In Chains - Rainier Fog   BUY!
Crack the Sky - Crackology   BUY!
Crack the Sky - Living In Reverse   BUY!
Neil & Liam Finn - Lightsleeper   BUY!
Interpol - Marauder   BUY!
Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - With Animals   BUY!
The Lemon Twigs - Go To School   BUY!
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Kaya [40th anniversary edition]   BUY!
The Posies - Frosting On the Beater [deluxe reissue]   BUY!
White Denim - Performance   BUY!

AUGUST 31
Angel - Angel: The Casablanca Years [box set]   BUY!
The Band - Music From Big Pink [50th anniversary edition]   BUY!
Alice Cooper - A Paranormal Evening at the Olympia Paris   BUY!
Amos Lee - My New Moon   BUY!
Nick Mason - Unattended Luggage   BUY!
David Olney - This Side or the Other   BUY!
Status Quo - Down & Dirty at Wacken   BUY!
Aaron Lee Tasjan - Karma For Cheap   BUY!
Various Artists - The Soul of Baltimore: The Ru-Jac Records Story [box set]   BUY!

Album of the Month: It's another hard call, but in a month crowded with great music, I'm going to go with Shemeka Copeland's America's Child album. One of the top two or three best blues singers in the business today, Copeland returned to Nashville to record America's Child with talented producer and guitarist Will Kimbrough and a cast of great singers and musicians like Emmy Lou Harris, John Prine, Mary Gauthier, Al Perkins, Rhiannon Giddens, Steve Cropper, and more. Although Copeland veers close to Americana territory on a couple of songs (and does so well), America's Child is pure-D blues, Copeland mixing socially-conscious tunes with bluesy romantic moments, calling on the talents of skilled wordsmiths like Kimbrough, Prine, Gauthier, John Hahn, Kevin Gordon & Gwil Owen, among others. She even delivers a fiery take on the Ray Davies' Kinks classic "I'm Not Like Everybody Else." 

Alice Cooper Guitarist Michael Bruce’s No More Mr. Nice Guy

Guitarist Michael Bruce was an integral part of the sound and fury that was the original Alice Cooper band. Co-writer of many of the band’s best-known and beloved songs, Bruce was around for classic Alice Cooper albums like Love It To Death, School’s Out, and Billion Dollar Babies. After Alice left the band to pursue solo stardom, Bruce and fellow bandmates carried on under the name Billion Dollar Babies at first, recording a single album titled Battle Axe. The guitarist would later forge a lengthy and impressive solo career that includes a half-dozen albums as well as a pair of recordings with the band Ant-Bee.

In February 2018, Gonzo Multimedia will be reissuing Bruce’s critically-acclaimed biography No More Mr. Nice Guy as part of a limited edition box set. The box includes the book, written by Bruce and his Ant-Bee bandmate Billy James, originally published in 1996 and recently updated; as well as a signed certificate, a 1996 interview CD, and reproductions of Alice Cooper group memorabilia. The box set is limited to 250 copies and is currently available for pre-order through PledgeMusic.

For Michael Bruce/Alice Cooper fans there are also a couple of other items on the Pledge Music page that might pique your interest. If you don’t want to pony up $67 for the deluxe box set, you can buy Bruce’s No More Mr. Nice Guy bio by itself for a very reasonable $13.50 (plus shipping) and/or pick up a copy of the very first show by Billion Dollar Babies on CD for a mere $12.15 (plus shipping). Performed in Flint, Michigan in 1977, Billion Dollar Babies included Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, and Neal Smith from the original Alice Cooper band as well guitarist Mike Marconi and keyboardist Bob Dolin. The book and the CD are available in a bundle for $24 (plus shipping).

In a press release for the box set, Bruce says “it’s not often we get a chance to redo, remake or, in this case, re-release a book...my book. It is with much thought, great enjoyment, many thanks, and heartfelt appreciation for family, friends, and fans that I present the re-release of No More Mr Nice Guy, a compilation of hilarious rock ‘n’ roll stories and life events that made me the man I am today.” Check it all out on the PledgeMusic website.

New Music Monthly: July 2017 Releases

July is on the horizon and our New Music Monthly column of upcoming releases is heating up! There's lots of great new tunes coming from folks like Blind Guardian, the Melvins, Cheap Trick, Neil Young, the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, the Tangent, Steve Vai, and the Nighthawks, among others. Throw in CD reissues of classic, albeit overlooked albums from Arthur Alexander, former Uriah Heep frontman David Byron, Nick Lowe, Screaming Trees, and the Cars as well as lust-worthy vinyl reissues of LPs by Iron Maiden and we're all going to have to get a summer job to pay for all this cool music...
 

JULY 7
Blind Guardian - Live Beyond the Spheres   BUY!
Broken Social Scene - Hug of Thunder   BUY!
David Byron - Babyfaced Killer [reissue]   BUY!
Haim - Something To Tell You   BUY!
Melvins - A Walk With Love and Death   BUY!
Screaming Trees - Dust [deluxe reissue]   BUY!
Steve Vai - Modern Primitive   BUY!
 

JULY 14
Arthur Alexander - Arthur Alexander [reissue]   BUY!
Cheap Trick - We're All Alright!   BUY!
Lifehouse - Greatest Hits   BUY!
Nick Lowe - Nick the Knife   BUY!
Nick Lowe - The Abominable Showman   BUY!
Alan Vega - IT [vinyl]   BUY!

JULY 21
Chris Robinson Brotherhood - Barefoot In The Head   BUY!
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood [deluxe 4 CD/1 Blu-ray reissue]   BUY!
Mr. Big - Defying Gravity   BUY!
The Ramones - Leave Home [40th anniversary deluxe reissue]   BUY!
Violent Femmes - Two Mics & the Truth: Unplugged & Unhinged In America   BUY!

JULY 28
Alice Cooper - Paranormal   BUY!
Arcade Fire - Everything Now   BUY!
The Cars - Candy-O [expanded reissue]   BUY!
The Cars - Panorama [expanded reissue]   BUY!
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Black Moon [expanded reissue]   BUY!
Iron Maiden - Flight 666 [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Isley Brothers & Carlos Santana - Power of Peace   BUY!
The Nighthawks - All You Gotta Do   BUY!
Prong - Zero Days   BUY!
The Tangent - The Slow Rust of Forgotten Machinery   BUY!
Various Artists - Brown Acid: The Fourth Trip   BUY!

Album of the Month: The 40th anniversary reissue of the Ramones' Leave Home album follows the blueprint of the mucho successful deluxe reissue last year of the band's 1976 self-titled debut album. This 40th anniversary reprising of the band's sophomore effort, 1977's Leave Home, offers up three CDs and a vinyl LP as well as a swanky booklet. The first disc includes the remastered version of the original album's 14 songs as well as anniversary mixes; disc two offers up 33 unreleased alternative takes, remixes, and rarities; disc three documents a 1977 live show at New York City's notorious CBGB's club with 19 scorching tracks. As for the vinyl record, it looks like it features seven tracks comprised of the 40th anniversary mixes of tunes like "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment," "Suzy Is A Headbanger," and "Pinhead." Gabba gabba hey, y'all!  

Rhino Records celebrates Rocktober with Vinyl Reissues!

Archival specialists Rhino Records has announced their first ever “Rocktober” celebration, the label planning on releasing limited-edition vinyl reissue of some classic – and some not-so-classic – rock ‘n’ roll albums throughout the month of October. The party kicks off on Tuesday, October 4th, 2016 with an über-cool slate of titles that includes Deep Purple’s Machine Head and Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry.

The celebration continues throughout the month, each Tuesday bringing a brand new batch of vinyl goodies from the likes of the Stooges, the Small Faces, Iron Butterfly, ZZ Top, and the Flamin’ Groovies, among others. These audio flapjacks will only be available at participating brick and mortar record stores, so fluff up your sleeping bag and get ready to camp out overnight to buy the cheap thrills vinyl of your choice from the handy list below.

October 4th
• Deep Purple – Machine Head (clear vinyl, limited edition of 2500 copies, $21.98 list) *
• Foreigner – 4 (red colored vinyl, limited edition of 2400 copies, $19.98 list) *
• Jet – Get Born (180gr black vinyl, $21.98 list) +
• Twisted Sister – Stay Hungry (pink & black starburst colored vinyl w/band poster, limited edition of 2500 copies, $21.98 list) *

October 11th
• Iron Butterfly – Heavy (stereo version, 180gr black vinyl, $19.98 list)
• ZZ Top – Eliminator (red colored vinyl, $19.98 list)

October 18th
• Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies (green, yellow & orange marble vinyl w/one billion dollar bill insert, limited edition of 3000 copies, $24.98 list) *
• Small Faces – First Step (orange vinyl, $19.98 list)
• The Stooges – The Stooges (gold & brown colored vinyl, $19.98 list)

October 25th
• Buckcherry – 15 (10th anniversary vinyl edition, $19.98 list) *
• Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know (two-LP set on dark orange & gold colored vinyl w/band poster and etching on side four, limited edition of 2000 copies, $27.98 list) *
• T-Rex – T-Rex (remastered vinyl & CD release, $19.98 list each) +
• The Flamin’ Groovies – Groovies Greatest Grooves (two-LP vinyl set, $27.98 list)

* Only available in the U.S.
+ Only available in North America

CD Review: Dick Wagner's Dick Wagner

Chances are that you’re familiar with guitarist and songwriter Dick Wagner’s talents even if you don’t recognize his name. As frontman for the mid-to-late 1960s Motor City hard rock outfit Frost, Wagner was a contemporary of such legends as the MC5, the Stooges, Bob Seger, and Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes. After Frost had run its course, Wagner formed the power trio Ursa Major (with former Amboy Dukes bassist Greg Arama). That band’s lone Bob Ezrin-produced 1972 magnum opus a magnificent beast of shimmering, buzzing guitarwork, explosive rhythms, and Wagner’s wordy, Dylanesque lyrics that went absolutely nowhere on the charts.

Although Ursa Major’s self-titled LP flopped and the band broke-up, Wagner developed a friendship with their young producer and Ezrin – fresh off a hit with Alice Cooper’s School’s Out album – would use Wagner as his secret weapon in the studio. The guitarist would record and tour with Cooper throughout his initial solo years and well into the 1980s, writing hits like “Only Women Bleed” and “I Never Cry.” Ezrin partnered Wagner and fellow Detroit guitarist Steve Hunter with Lou Reed, the pair bringing lightning to the Hall of Famer’s Berlin and thunder to Rock N’ Roll Animal. Wagner would later play on sessions (and hits) by Etta James, Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, and Kiss (playing acoustic guitar on “Beth”). It was the dueling guitars of Wagner and Hunter that set fire to Aerosmith’s “Train Kept A-Rollin’,” from the band’s Get Your Wings.

Dick Wagner’s Solo Debut Album

Given their friendship and strong working relationship, it was only natural that Ezrin would produce Wagner’s 1978 solo debut album. Both men pulled names from their extensive Rolodexes, lining up a talented studio band for the project that included guitarists Steve Hunter and Domenic Trioano (from the James Gang); bassists Prakash John (Parliament/Funkadelic) and Bob Babbitt; and drummers Whitey Glan and Allan Schwartzberg. Considering Wagner’s hard rock credentials, his solo debut comes across – at first blush – as a relatively lightweight affair…kind of like a boxer dropping pounds to punch down in a lower weight class. That doesn’t make it a bad album, just an unexpected cruiserweight effort, with a greater reliance on melody and songcraft than previous, which would serve Wagner’s songwriting efforts well in the future.

The album opens with a cover of Andy Pratt’s elegant “Some Things Go On Forever,” a piano-driven ballad that manages to channel a bit of the old Ursa Major magic nonetheless with intertwined guitars and beefy rhythms. “Don’t Stop The Music” is a similar construct, albeit a Wagner original, and it treads awfully close to Gary Wright/“Dreamweaver” turf with a chiffon arrangement, ethereal instrumentation, floating vocals, and Ernie Watt’s wired jazz-funk sax solo playing off of Wagner’s soulful fretwork. The song itself is an ode to rock ‘n’ roll and the DJs playing it on the radio, lyrically wrapped with a bow and concealing a deceptive romantic undercurrent.

Go Down Together

Lyrically, “Nightwork” echoes Wagner’s late-career return to the blues, the song a hard-luck tale turned smooth R&B romp with sultry backing vocals and subtle horn flourishes. It’s Wagner’s fluid guitarplay that stands out, though, driving the performance into a more soulful corner, the guitarist mixing scraps of Ernie Isley, George Benson, and Sly Stone in creating his own bluesy, funky contemporary edge. By contrast, “Heartlands” comes across as a country-flavored, Segeresque symphony with acoustic git pickin’ and a folkish lyrical slant with Wagner’s plaintive vocals up front and high in the mix, wearing his sentiment on his sleeve before the entire band kicks in and swerves the entire affair into the melancholy-tinged “Oceans.”

With a little louder guitars and a tougher arrangement, I could easily see “Oceans” as an Ursa Major jam. It’s more nuanced here, though, with swelling, lush instrumentation; obligatory whale cries in the background (it was the late 1970s, after all…); and some prog-rock styled playing that wouldn’t sound out-of-place on a Pink Floyd album. “Go Down Together” is the album’s foot-stomper, Wagner’s opening solo knocking down anything “Terrible” Ted tried to do during the decade. An up-tempo six-string rocker with honky-tonk piano, strident rhythms, and sizzling fretwork, it’s one of Wagner’s finest rock ‘n’ roll moments with a great storyline and an overall vibe that could have made it a big hit if FM radio hadn’t gone all wussy and corporate by ’78.

Motor City Showdown

Swerving the listener once again, “Small Town Boy” is nifty lil’ slice of pop-rock fluff with island rhythms not all that far, aesthetically, from Pablo Cruise or, better, Jay Ferguson’s “Thunder Island,” about as radio-friendly a tune as you’d find in the era. Wagner takes his cue from Nashville with the country-rock tune “Hand Me Down Heartaches,” a lovely melody surrounding finely-crafted lyrics and backed by the slightest of twangy instrumentation that works mostly because of Wagner’s earnest, emotionally-charged vocals. It’s a song ripe for rediscovery by a Music Row establishment hungry for new material.

Wagner closes his solo debut with the grandiloquent “Motor City Showdown,” a street-savvy medium-tempo soft-rocker just a step away from Jim Steinman with its swells of orchestration surrounding and coddling Wagner’s oblique ‘Sharks vs. Jets’ story-song lyrics. It’s a strange but effective song to end the album with, veering dangerously close to the prog-rock edge in its ambition but with an undeniable singer/songwriter veneer lying close to the surface. It’s a gorgeous performance, and the musicians imbue it with a sort of majesty and grandeur that’s out-of-sync with contemporary rock sounds (circa 1978). Appropriately, Wagner’s searing guitar solo is threaded through the outro, ending the album with a quiet dignity.     

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

As a major fan of Wagner and his late 1960s/early 1970s bands Frost and Ursa Major, as well as his sideman work, I still somehow missed hearing this album when it was first released. I might have been surprised at the time if I had heard it at the time; and maybe only a little less so in hearing it now, given its ambitious performances and the often lush arrangements provided Wagner’s frequent power ballads. The album sold poorly in spite of the guitarist’s reputation – a reality ascribed to Atlantic Records’ enormous blunder of naming the disc Richard Wagner (rather than Dick Wagner, the name by which he performed), which allegedly confused record stores into stocking it in the classical music section. With this long-overdue reissue, Real Gone Music has corrected this mistake and re-titled the album Dick Wagner. 

Decidedly less blustery than much of Wagner’s earlier band work, his never less than stellar guitar playing provides the steely muscle rippling beneath the surface of many of the album’s songs. Dick Wagner is definitely an album of its time, and yet also curiously out-of-step with late ‘70s trends in rock music, which just further spotlights Wagner’s unique vision and talents. If you’re not expecting the second coming of Frost or a sequel to Rock N Roll Animal, you’ll find a lot to like among the lofty pop-rock tunes to be found on Dick Wagner. Grade: B (Real Gone Music, released November 4, 2014)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Dick Wagner's Dick Wagner