Review: Crazy Lixx, "Riot Avenue"

Maybe it’s a longing for simpler, better times, but I’ve found myself listening to a lot of 1980s-influenced hard rock lately, both comebacks from bands of the era and newer acts that play the style. Perhaps no one I’ve heard nails it better than Sweden’s Crazy Lixx.

Riot Avenue is the band’s third release, but it’s my introduction, and I may have to go back and check out their previous albums. What we’ve got on this record is a very faithful reproduction of the better aspects of the glitzy 1980s hard-rock scene. The songs here are all catchy numbers with great guitar riffs, tight harmonies and big hooks. Had it been released 25 years ago, no doubt it would have been a huge record. This is a band that sounds like it actually belongs to the era rather than a group of guys who were probably toddlers during the heyday of the scene.

Review: Jackyl, "Best in Show"

The output from these Kennesaw, Ga.-based rockers has often been uneven since their 1992 debut, but when they hit their stride, it’s great fun. They hit it hard on Best in Show, possibly the best record they’ve put out since their 1994 sophomore outing, Push Comes to Shove.

Best in Show delivers exactly what you’re looking for in a Jackyl album – sleazy party anthems that owe more than a small debt to the likes of AC/DC and classic Ted Nugent.

You have to listen no further than the first single from the record, “Screwdriver,” to see what this album is all about. Yeah, singer Jesse James Dupree’s pregnant pause in the delivery of the chorus – “I wanna screw … driver” – is completely predictable, but it doesn’t make it any less entertaining.

Review: Ozzy Osbourne, "Speak of the Devil" DVD

First off, the name of this DVD might be a little confusing. Though recorded on the same 1982 tour, this is not the visual companion to Ozzy’s album of the same name. While that record was made exclusively of his versions of Black Sabbath classics, the setlist on this DVD primarily pulls from his solo works. In fact, we only get a trio of Sabbath songs – “Iron Man,” “Children of the Grave” and “Paranoid” to round out the evening.

 The show, filmed in June of 1982 in Irvine Meadows, Calif., highlights a strange period in Ozzy’s career. Guitarist Randy Rhoads, who was responsible for most of the big riffs and searing solos on these songs, had died in a plane crash only months earlier in March. For a time, Ozzy thought that he might not want to go on, revealing in his 2010 autobiography that he told his wife he didn’t want to be a rock ‘n’ roller anymore.

Those feelings, seemingly, hadn’t quite been put on the shelf by the time this show was recorded, as it’s somewhat uneven. At times, Ozzy looks like the madman we know and love, at others, he’s almost uncomfortable on the stage.

Review: Blackberry Smoke, "The Whippoorwill"

I apologize in advance if this review becomes very personal, but there are just some times that you listen to a record and know that it’s going to be a big part of your life for a long, long time.

It hasn’t happened to me in quite a while, but the feeling was instant on my first run through the latest from Blackberry Smoke. The songs on The Whippoorwill hit me right where I’m living right now, which makes it mean a little more to me. That aside, it’s just filled with incredible songs, funky Southern grooves and hooks that the original Skynyrd lineup would be envious of.

This is Blackberry Smoke’s third full-length album, and while I’ve enjoyed their previous records, I’ve never come close to loving them this much.

Stuck in my Head: Jorn, "Ride Like the Wind"

Who could have guessed that a Christopher Cross song would have so much traction in the metal world? 

This is at least the third heavy cover of the song that I’m aware of. British metal icons Saxon recorded it in 1988, and the extra-vowel-loving thrash act Speeed, featuring members of Annihilator and Seven Witches, remade it in 1999.

Of the three, this cut from Jorn’s recent Frontiers Records release, Bring Heavy Rock to the Land, is also my favorite.

Norwegian wailer Jorn Lande is, in my opinion, one of the top hard rock vocalists out there today. He mixes the best elements of big voices like Ronnie James Dio and David Coverdale for a bold, powerful and classic delivery. That voice brings some much-needed power to the song.

Review: ZZ Top, "Texicali"

Now this is more like it.

When we got our first taste of new ZZ Top music a few months back with “Flying High,” I was seriously disappointed. I didn’t like it. It wasn’t even close to what I was hoping for from the pairing of Top and Rick Rubin.

Then came the Jeremiah Weed spot featuring “Gotsta Get Paid,” and my interest level immediately jumped back up. After watching the commercial a couple of times, I couldn’t get the “25 lighters on my dresser, yessir” refrain out of my head and searched in vain for a full version of the song to hear, right up until the four-song EP Texicali dropped.

Stuck in my Head: Metallica, "Escape"

The decision to play 1984’s Ride the Lightning in its entirety a couple of weeks ago for their inaugural Orion Music and More Festival brought a historic moment for Metallica. It intrigued me so much that I tuned in to Fuse TV’s live stream of the concert online to see it.

The sixth track on the album, “Escape,” is one of only a handful of songs from their catalog that the band has never played live. Oh, there’s been a snippet of it in a medley here and there over the years, but they’ve never played the whole song, and it’s said that no one in the band really likes it. I can’t understand that since it’s one of my favorite tunes on the album.

Review: Twisted Sister, "Club Daze Vol. II: Live in the Bars"/"Live at Hammersmith" (remasters)

It’s been a good few weeks for Twisted Sister fans. First, Dee Snider’s Dee Does Broadway hit the shelves, now the Armoury Records Remaster Series delivers a double-dose of live music for the band’s SMFs.

First up is Club Daze Volume II: Live in the Bars, remastered by bassist Mark Mendoza. Originally released in 2001, the album starts with a pair of 1984 studio tunes that didn’t make the band’s classic Stay Hungry album – “Never Say Never” and “Blastin’ Fast & Loud.” Both were finished and recorded for this album’s original release. Neither are as strong as anything from Stay Hungry, but both are solid tunes. “Blastin’ Fast & Loud” is the winner between the two, capturing a little more of the raw sound.

Review: Dee Snider, "Dee Does Broadway"

You can thank a couple of warped senses of humor for this gem: The idea for Dee Does Broadway was born out of voicemails that the Twisted Sister frontman and Alice Cooper exchanged, each singing show tunes to the other.

Snider decided to take it a step further and record rock versions of some of the biggest songs from Broadway. His only criteria was that they couldn’t be rock songs to start with – nothing from shows like “Jesus Christ Superstar” or “Rent.”

My only complaint is that, among the guest stars on this record, he couldn’t get Alice to drop by and do something with him. The prime candidate for a Cooper/Snider duet?: “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd.” If ever there was a show tune made for a creepy, crazy metal treatment, this is it, and Snider’s version is fantastic.