The "Official" All Purpose Heavy Metal and Hard Rock Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by GodShifter, Jul 3, 2014.

  1. jeffgt14

    jeffgt14 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Juliet, TN
    And the theme song to one of the greatest TV shows ever!
     
  2. nbakid2000

    nbakid2000 On Indie's Cutting Edge

    Location:
    Springfield, MO
    What's it used for?
     
  3. jeffgt14

    jeffgt14 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Juliet, TN
    Blue Mountain State
     
    aroney likes this.
  4. nbakid2000

    nbakid2000 On Indie's Cutting Edge

    Location:
    Springfield, MO
    Never seen it.
     
  5. jeffgt14

    jeffgt14 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Juliet, TN
  6. slipkid

    slipkid Senior Member

    Continuing my quest to spread the word about great heavy/hard rock with melodic underbellies...time to turn back the clock to 1990.

    Perhaps the greatest, most melodic, hard rock album recorded in the entire history of melodic hard rock albums (yes that is total hype but it's the way I feel, and if you dig hard rock with great songs, smoking guitar, one of the best vocalists ever, you need to hear this). Also one of my favorite albums of any genre. I know every nook and cranny of this record by heart, still listen to it almost every month for the last 25 years (man I feel old).


    [​IMG]
    Riverdogs (1990)

    1. Whisper
    2. Toy Soldier
    3. Big House
    4. Holy War
    5. Baby Blue
    6. I Believe
    7. Water From The Moon
    8. Rain, Rain
    9. Spooky
    10. America

    Rob Lamothe - vocals, guitars
    Vivian Campbell - guitars, vocals
    Nick Brophy - bass, vocals
    Mike Baird - drums
    Allen DeSilva - drums on "America"
    Kevin Gilbert - keyboards on "America"

    Background from wikipedia:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverdogs
    .......
    Following an introduction to guitarist Vivian Campbell, formerly of Sweet Savage, Dio, and Whitesnake, Campbell agreed to produce Riverdogs' first demo. Vivian was so impressed by their talent, he joined the band for their debut-album, released on Epic Records in 1990,winning a prestigious Edison Award in The Netherlands. Soon after, drummer Marc Danzeisen joined the band to complete the line-up. Though fans and critics gave the album a warm reception, lack of support from their record label eventually led the band members to go their own way, with Campbell settling into the Def Leppard lineup and Nick Brophy becoming a respected engineer and producer, working with artists Rolling Stones, Avril Levine, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Kip Moore. The band still gets together to play for fun and eventually record new songs
    ........


    Basically the Riverdogs were Rob Lamothe's band. He wrote/cowrote the music/words for all their songs. Somehow he hooked up with Vivian Campbell, the guitar hotshot who made the first couple Dio albums somewhat special IMO, and Viv, after Dio and fresh off from being fired from Whitesnake (I think he was fired?), decided to help produce Rob's band's first record, but liked what he was hearing so much he asked to join the band and his growling guitar licks and screaming solos are all over this record.

    Not everybody likes Viv's playing (I do) but more important than the guitar here (as killer as it is) is the spectacular songs (& Rob's singing). Viv's playing on this album is kind of like a combination of Gary Moore (a lot of runs up & down) and John Sykes (a lot of scratchy twiddly flourishes). I think it is the best thing that Campbell has ever done, better even than his work with Dio. And I love Dio btw.

    Every song on this record is a masterpiece of melodic metal, but with a gritty edge to it. Rob's voice is perfect for these wonderful songs, it has a world weary tough side to it to match most of his songs about war vets etc (Spooky).

    Speaking of Spooky, here 'tis (this song actually gives me the chills it is so good)


    I could try to talk about/analyze some of the songs but there is nothing I can say really other than every single one is awesome.

    Here are a couple songs to judge for yourself:

    Whisper
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZfZN5FnoDs

    Big House (what a chorus)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSl6IEDRg-M

    Water From the Moon
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SirBGd7uhGU

    Toy Soldier (kind of a lame '80's looking video btw)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4dRDJBFFk8

    Baby Blue
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkdHCazMiBE

    America
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBPNBGbkZ3k



    Crying shame what happened to Riverdogs (IE: basically nothing). I think they could have been huge, but I think Epic just pulled the plug and did not promote the record after a period of time (?). Rob & Viv did do a short USA "tour" of radio stations to try to get the word out, and the label even released a promo unplugged CD of the entire album that they recorded at each of the stations. But I don't ever remember the band themselves touring (?). That promo is called "On Air" and is pretty cool - it even got bundled with the album itself at one point, think it got re-released about 10 years ago (?).

    So with the band going nowhere fast Viv Campbell left for greener ($) pastures with Def Leppard. I like Leppard but I feel he is wasting his musical talents there. Oh well.

    Rob & Nick Brophy soldiered on and released two other excellent albums on small labels in Europe (Absolutely Live and Bone). Nick moved back from bass to guitar (he moved from guitar to bass to accommodate Viv on the first album). Nick's guitar playing is not as busy as Vivian's and actually let's Rob's songs "breathe" more IMO. As much as I love the first album and how the guitar is screaming all over the place, the songs on the subsequent albums do benefit from less is more.

    Rob, Nick, and Vivian did reunite as the Riverdogs in 2011 but the resulting album (World Gone Mad) was a huge disappointment to me. Not that it is awful, but there is just not much new on it, and it is way too damn short (only 25 minutes total fer chrissakes). Several of the songs were already recorded & out on the 'net for downloading back in 2003/04. One of the songs on the album is a live cover of a Badfinger song. So there is only like 8 minutes on it that is actually even "new", if that. What a missed opportunity.

    Absolutely Live did have a bunch of new songs on it that are amongst my faves yet have never had an airing on a studio album (Can't Have You, Little Hurricane, the absolutely beautiful Raining All Over, Sweet Mystery, If Love Is the Truth, Eight Questions). Thankfully most of those circulated amongst fans as studio demos also though.

    I would be remiss if I did not also strongly recommend Absolutely Live as well as the first Riverdogs album for melodic hard rock lovers though.

    It is another of my favorite albums that I listen to monthly, so a brief word about it.

    Riverdogs - Absolutely Live (1992)

    [​IMG]


    1. Can't Have You
    2. The Man Is Me
    3. Toy Soldier
    4. Little Hurricane
    5. Raining All Over
    6. Sweet Mystery
    7. If Love Is The Truth
    8. Whisper
    9. Eight Questions
    10. I Believe
    11. House Of The Rising Sun
    12. Big House

    Rob Lamothe - Vocals, Guitar
    Nick Brophy - Guitar, Background Vocals
    Cary Beare - Bass, Background Vocals
    Ronnie Ciago - Drums, Background Vocals

    A few of the newly penned tracks at the time that I could find on youtube are below. Unfortunately I can't find Raining All Over, which IMO could have been one of the biggest melancholy melodic rock songs ever. It was written by Rob, basically singing to one of his kids about a rainy day.

    Can't Have You
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFZn42Q-LCo

    The Man Is Me
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jnzIgKV0Mk

    Sweet Mystery
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwzKhDMAKIM

    Again, if you like your rock hard yet melodic, you need this live album. It is not a cohesive one night live recording type album though - it is more like a studio album but the songs are recorded in front of an audience.

    A closing story....I used to have a website based around music. One of the things I did via it was to trade tapes (& later CDRs) of unreleased live/rare/fan recordings etc. I also had pages devoted to rock photos, lists of my favorite albums, etc. In there I had a bunch of live Riverdogs tapes on my tradelist, as well as mentioning them as being such a great band. And somehow, due to the wonder of the internet and web searches, Rob Lamothe himself found his way to my page & put an entry in my guestbook thanking me for keeping the memory of the Riverdogs alive - and not only that but his was the FIRST entry I had! I got a big kick out of that.

    Then about a year later Rob's wife contacted me and said that Rob had been drooling over some of the rare Riverdogs tapes on my tradelist (I had the last show that Vivian Campbell played on for instance) but he was too embarrassed (or something like that) to ask me for copies of any of the stuff, and that his birthday was coming up and she wanted to surprise him with some of my tapes, asking me if there was any way she could "trade" me for any of them. Trade me?? Are you kidding, I was honored to send her anything & everything, which I did, and she gave them to Rob for his birthday, which he got a big kick out of! Is that cool or what?

    OK enough rambling from me for awhile. I don't want to dominate this thread jabbering on and on....
     
    laf848, KristianS, Locutus67 and 2 others like this.
  7. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    You tricked my brain - I was thinking this was Shadow King!!

    Would both groups be equally obscure?
    :whistle:
     
  8. slipkid

    slipkid Senior Member

    OMG I totally forgot about that band! Vivian may have gone from Riverdogs to Shadow King THEN to Leppard (I forget).

    I used to have that album but guess I got rid of it (I can't find it now). Too Foreigner-ish sounding (lou Gramm on vocals) for my tastes is all I remember.
     
  9. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I think I own the Riverdogs thing, but I'm not sure.

    I'm aware of Rob Lamothe from this album he did with a guitarist named Craig Erickson

    [​IMG]

    It's been awhile since I've heard it, but I remember it being pretty good.
     
    slipkid likes this.
  10. Brudy

    Brudy Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland
    In a similar vein as Earthless, but just a few shades dreamier/post-rockier, here's something from the Danish band Papir. It's all instrumental and while not quite as riffy as Earthless you get fuzzy wah jamming with lots of dynamics. Almost like as if Explosions in the Sky and Earthless had a kid. This is from their latest record 'IIII' from 2014.

     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2014
  11. Thermionic Dude

    Thermionic Dude Forum Resident

    I just picked up Kyng "Trampled Sun" recently, and it's simply a great record. It rocks from start to finish, with great riffs, vocals, drumming, and songwriting, and sounds "bigger" than one would expect from a trio. I can hear Black Sabbath, Soundgarden, Kings X, and Mastodon influences but they have crafted their own sound. They have just released a second album, but I have not heard it.

     
  12. old school

    old school Senior Member

    Good pick I heard Papir some time ago. Very good band!
     
    Brudy likes this.
  13. slipkid

    slipkid Senior Member

    Wow, I forgot about that album. I have it but has been ages since I listened to it. Will give it a spin tonight to refresh my memory. Rob also sings on a couple songs on Erickson's "Shine" album btw. He may be on some others by Erickson but I'm not sure - I only have five of Erickson's albums, think he has at least ten out by now (I lost track).
     
    GodShifter likes this.
  14. Brudy

    Brudy Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland
    Just to keep this going, here's a song from a pre-Atomic Rooster John DuCann (although this one is actually written by the bassist John Gustafson). The band is called Hard Stuff and they had two pretty cool records in the early 70s. The albums are a little uneven, but the songs written by Gustafson are very cool - modal and strange, almost like proto-Iron Maiden at times. Lots of matching bass and guitar melodies. Some really great searing fuzz guitar tones on here as well. This is the title track from the second album, Bolex Dementia. You can hear some Zappa in there, but it's just such a strange, wild track.

     
  15. Kurofuda

    Kurofuda Active Member

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    BLACK TRIP

    [​IMG]


    You guys should dig this. Lizzy-inflected NWOBHM worship.


     
    Campbell Saddler likes this.
  16. Brudy

    Brudy Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland
    I posted in a Slayer specific thread but didn't get much response so I thought I'd try here. I want to pick up South of Heaven on vinyl - what's the best version?
     
  17. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    [​IMG]
    SUPAFUZZ
    - Supafuzz (1998)

    Superstar
    Push
    Bushhog
    Long Way Home
    Under a Gun
    You Don’t Even Know Me …
    Welcome to Another Day in the Life
    Mr. Policeman
    Downed
    Unglued
    Pretty Blank Page
    Hollow
    Breathe
    Joke

    Guitarist, David Engstrom (Black Cat Bone, Hermano) put together this trio in 1994 and played club gigs until the line-up for the band became more solid with the addition of drummer, Chris Leathers, (great name for a biker!), and bass player, Jason “Jay” Groves. The name was taken from the 1970’s guitar pedal that Mudhoney also used for the title of their record, Superfuzz/Big Muff.

    After releasing their debut Pretty Blank Page in 1997 the band became more committed to releasing original material and in 1998 the band released their sophomore release the self titled, Supafuzz, which was released on Gotham Records. Supafuzz is basically a re-recording of Pretty Blank Page with three songs added at the end that do no appear on Pretty Blank Page.

    Supafuzz spotlights Angstrom’s fine singing, guitar playing, and, most importantly, great songwriting. The material on Supafuzz ranges from heavy hitting, groove heavy hard rock numbers like “Bushhog” and “Unglued” to more introspective, acoustic driven numbers like “Downed” with Angstrom laying his emotion bare for all to see.

    I think what I really like about Supafuzz is how melodic and groove heavy a lot of the numbers are. While this is definitely a heavy rock album with crunchy, driving numbers, there is also a ton of melody and brilliant hooks on this album. I’ve found myself listening to it quite a bit over the years. It’s a great album with the material running together really well. By the way, if you’re a Kyuss or Hermano fan, vocalist for both bands, John Garcia, guests on the tune “Mr. Policeman” (which is not one of my favorite tunes on the album if I’m being honest). Still, Garcia’s gruff vocals are on good display for this particular tune. “Under a Gun” could probably be a single if given the chance as its got a tune of melody and the tune is crafted really, really well.

    Two of my favorites from this album are the Alex Lifeson inspired “Push” with Alex’s signature Hemispheres like effects heavy chording and the groove heavy rocking “Pretty Blank Page” which explodes from its acoustic opening passage into a ZZ Top/The Cult zombie hybrid like stomper that slices and dices through out its 3:31. Totally great tune as I especially love the bends during the chorus parts.

    Angstrom’s vocals range in the spectrum of The Cult’s Ian Astbury, I guess, in terms of his stylistic approach. He has a fine voice and can alternate between a gruffer, raw voice for the heavier material and a softer, more melodic approach for the numbers that require that. \

    So if you’re into The Cult, James Hall (Mary My Hope, Pleasure Club, solo), Masters of Reality, Hermano, and hard rock bands with good melody, excellent musicianship, and strong songwriting, I urge you to check out Gotham Records Supafuzz. A very talented, groove heavy band with terrific hooks. You won’t be sorry.



    Full album can be heard here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaX4g1RhojA

    I'm not sure what the band is doing these days as Angstrom is still in Hermano and has started a new band called Asylum On The Hill which released a record in 2010. My suspicion is that Supafuzz is no more, but there has never been a formal announcement to this fact, so maybe the band is just on infinite hiatus. I have no idea.
     
    Exile On My Street and slipkid like this.
  18. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I have the 1972 release Bulletproof on vinyl from this band. I had forgotten that John DuCann and John Gustafson were in this band. Gustafson has been in several notable hard rock bands other than this one such as The Ian Gillan Band and Quartermass.
     
    Gumboo likes this.
  19. Brudy

    Brudy Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland
    I've been looking for Bulletproof but it's pretty rare, and pretty pricey. The same guy traded in Bulletproof and Bolex, but the owner kept Bulletproof (either for himself or to ebay). For a NM copy on discogs they start at over $100. It doesn't help that this never saw a US release.
     
    GodShifter likes this.
  20. old school

    old school Senior Member

    Before John Du Cann died he helped remaster ' Bulletproof ' on cd on Angel Air Records. I have the original LP I bought on Purple Records when it came out in 6/72 it is still in mint condition. And I would never part with it! There second effort I never got into. My favorite song on ' Bulletproof ' is " Time Gambler " a killer song.
     
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  21. Brudy

    Brudy Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland
    Yeah, Bolex Dementia isn't as solid as Bulletproof, I just have only Bolex on vinyl, which is how I do most of my focused listening these days. They're both on Spotify though, so I'll have to spend more time with Bulletproof, such great stuff.
     
    old school likes this.
  22. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I got mine through an independent seller at a flea market. He had no idea what he was selling and I had no intention of telling him. It's VG++ and I paid $7 for it! :D
     
    old school and Brudy like this.
  23. 4stringking73

    4stringking73 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Holy freaking mother of God this is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     
    GodShifter likes this.
  24. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Glad you like it ! Welcome to the thread. I hope you find other stuff you like along the way. Please contribute anything you wish !
     
    4stringking73 likes this.
  25. Brudy

    Brudy Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland
    Oh god. What a freakin steal. The guy who traded these in at my local store also had no idea what he had (he also traded a NM original Brigitte Bardot BB) and probably got peanuts. Even the guy doing the buying didn't really know all teh real values. This is one of those I'll find in some weird spot like that (at least I hope so). At the risk of increasing competition, just check out the solo at the end of this track, just sooooo sick.
     

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