I am not a big fan of American Idol. I am one of those people who watch the auditions just to see how bad people can be. However, if you watch American Idol, you know Randy Jackson, and may be surprised to learn that he played bass on two tracks for this album.

Frontiers was a big hit for Journey, and spawned 4 Top 40 songs.

• Separate Ways at #8
• Faithfully at #12
• After the Fall at #23
• Send Her My Love at #23

These 4 songs helped the album reach #2 on the Billboard chart, and to sell more than 6 million albums.

One of the reasons I like Frontiers, is that there is a lot more keyboard playing on it. Well, I also like it less for that same reason. I am a keyboardist, so I enjoy it when rock bands use more, but at the same time, bands that start using more keyboards than guitars soon stop being rock bands. The reason for more keyboards is that Jonathan Cain helped write a lot more music, and had a lot more influence than on previous albums.

Journey – Frontiers Track Listing

Side 1

1. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) MP3
2. Send Her My Love
3. Chain Reaction
4. After The Fall
5. Faithfully

Side 2

1. Edge of the Blade
2. Troubled Child
3. Back Talk
4. Frontiers
5. Rubicon

I included Separate Ways MP3 even though it’s probably way overplayed on the radio. It’s a good rock song, even with the keyboards, and it’s still a good example of Journey.

If you want to buy this album, you can find Journey – Frontiers album at Musicstack. You can also buy this album on Amazon.

Rush is one of those bands that dabbled in progressive music, but never fully became progressive, especially in their later years. This album, though, is considered to be an essential masterpiece of progressive music by ProgArchives.com.

Moving Pictures was one of Rush’s biggest successes, because (in my opinion) they started to drift from prog to more commercial and radio friendly music. In spite of this, Moving Pictures is still a great album. The album went quadruple platinum in January of 1995. It also went to #3 on the Billboard Pop Album charts.

Rush – Moving Pictures Track Listing

Side  One:

1. Tom Sawyer
2. Red Barchetta
3. YYZ
4. Limelight

Side Two:

1. The Camera Eye
2. Witch Hunt
3. Vital Signs

I know it may be cliche, but here is Tom Sawyer for your listening pleasure (you need Flash for this):

If you want to own Moving Pictures by Rush on vinyl, check out Musicstack. You can also find it at Amazon.

Don’t Say No also went triple platinum, because in addition to The Stroke, there were also great songs like In the Dark, My Kinda Lover, and Lonely is the Night.

If you have Flash installed, you can listen to the MP3 of Lonely is the night.

This was Squier’s (you think it would be spelled Squire, but it isn’t) second album, and one of his most popular. The biggest reason for it’s success is the song The Stroke. It really isn’t what you think it is about. It’s about the recording industry, where record execs want another “stroke”, or hit song. They don’t really care about artists, just hit songs and money. The song is, however, an innuendo. You are supposed to see the parallel between what you think it’s about, and record companies.

You can buy this album on vinyl at Musicstack. You can also buy the CD or download it at Amazon.

Led Zeppelin’s first, self-titled album (also known as 1) is a great album. It has songs on it that have lasted over these last 40 years. “Good Times Bad Times”, “Communication Breakdown” and of course “Dazed and Confused”. You can buy Led Zeppelin – 1 at Musicstack.

But Zeppelin is more than just the 10 songs or so that you hear on the radio. They were a rock band on the verge of metal (for the time) and were heavily influenced by blues. They also had the musical abilities to pull off just about any style they wanted. Jimmy Page actually learned how to play the 10 string steel guitar just for a song on this album, “Your Time is Gonna Come”. That is amazing.

It originally received some bad reviews when it was released in 1969, however, it’s obvious that no one listened to the reviews. The album went to #6 in the UK and #10 in the US. It has also gone 8X multi-platinum in the US. Rolling Stone named it #29 on it’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Wikipedia says;

Led Zeppelin’s [album] cover, which was chosen by Page, features a black-and-white image of the burning Hindenburg airship. The image refers to the origin of the band’s name itself: when Page, Jeff Beck and The Who’s Keith Moon and John Entwistle were discussing the idea of forming a group, Moon joked, “It would probably go over like a lead balloon”, and Entwistle allegedly replied, “…a Lead Zeppelin!”

If only all great ideas were that easy.

The track listing is as follows;

Side One:

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
3. You Shook Me (MP3 available with Flash)
4. Dazed and Confused

Side Two:

1. Your Time is Gonna Come
2. Black Mountain Side
3. Communication Breakdown
4. I Can’t Quit You Baby
5. How Many More Times

“You Shook Me’ and “I Can’t Quit You Baby” are perfect examples of the blues influence on Led Zeppelin. Both were written by Willie Dixon. “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” was written by Anne Bredon.

But this blog isn’t about politics, it’s about music, and I don’t think anybody loves playing music as much as Ted Nugent. From playing with The Amboy Dukes, solo, Damn Yankees, and then solo again, he has done nothing but put out great Rock & Roll.

This is one of the greatest rock artists of all time. He doesn’t need drugs or alcohol to have a good time or to write great music. He writes what he knows.

Cat Scratch Fever was released in 1977, hit #17, and went platinum in September 1977. Although there are many people out there who do not like The Nuge, due to the sexual nature of his lyrics, or his political views, or his feelings about our 2nd amendment rights, or the fact that he kills and eats animals (“venison is the perfect food”), there are still enough out there to buy his albums and make him a successful musician for the last fifty years.

I picked up Cat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent over at Musicstack (of course). This is pure American Rock. Play it loud, play it fast, and have fun. (I am not supporting the no morals lifestyle, just talking about it.)

Cat Scratch Fever Track Listing:

Side One:

1. Cat Scratch Fever (MP3)
2. Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
3. Death by Misadventure
4. Live It Up
5. Home Bound

Side Two:

1. Workin’ Hard, Playin’ Hard
2. Sweet Sally
3. A Thousand Knives
4. Fist Fightin’ Son of a Gun
5. Out of Control

The title song ‘Cat Scratch Fever’ has been covered by a lot of people; Nitro, Motörhead, Pantera and even Homer Simpson. It is also the 32nd best hard rock song of all time according to VH1.

Ted Nugent is also a writer, from hunting (Blood Trails I and II), to cooking (Kill It and Grill It), to gun control (God, Guns & Rock and Roll), to politics (Ted, White, and Blue).

‘Ted Nugent for President – 2012′

This album gets its name from the title track “Rain on the Scarecrow”, which is about farms that have been in families for generations that are being taken away. You can buy “Scarecrow” at Musicstack.

Of course, “Small Town” is the biggest and most well known (but didn’t chart the highest) track off of this album. It charted at #6 along with “Lonely Ol’ Night”. “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” hit #2 in the US Charts. The album itself also went to #2, was named #95 on Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Albums of the 80′s.

I love the second track, which is just Mellencamp’s grandma singing along with a guitar. When artists do that, it says to me that they care about the music, and family, and not about commercialized and packaged music.

One thing about this album, is that the labels are on the wrong side. Side one label is actually on side two and vice versa. If only that made it rare and worth about $25,000 I’d be set.

Some of these songs are more applicable to America today than they were twenty years ago. For example, the lyrics of “Face of the Nation” are so appropriate to what is happening in the US today.

Track Listing:

Side one:

1. Rain on the Scarecrow
2. Grandma’s Theme
3. Small Town (MP3)
4. Minutes to Memories
5. Lonely Ol’ Night
6. Face of the Nation

Side Two:

1. Justice and Independence ’85
2. Between a Laugh and a Tear
3. Rumbleseat
4. You’ve Got to Stand for Something
5. R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.

There is not a lot of information about this album, as it didn’t make much of an impact. It is out of print, although released on CD in the mid 90′s. However, you can find Richard Wright CD’s and vinyl records at Musicstack.

Richard Wright - Wet Dream Vinyl LP

This album was released in 1978, my copy is a promo copy, so it is original, and 30 years old. What do your 30 year old tapes sound like? Rick Wright wrote and produced all of his own songs, except for the second track which he co-wrote with his wife.

Track listing for Wet Dream by Rick Wright:

Side One

1. Mediterranean C
2. Against The Odds
3. Cat Cruise
4. Summer Elegy
5. Waves

Side Two

6. Holiday (MP3)

7. Mad Yannis Dance
8. Drop In From the Top
9. Pink’s Song
10. Funky Deux

If you listen to the entire album (hard to do when you have iTunes on shuffle), you can hear definite influences from different Floyd albums. I know this because I love Pink Floyd and have every album, most on vinyl.

I am very sad that I will never get to see the original Pink Floyd in concert.

Eliminator by ZZ Top is now at Diamond status for sales. It’s not surprising as this album rocks. There are great songs such as ‘Gimme All Your Lovin” “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs”. You can buy this album by ZZ Top at Musicstack.

Eliminator is the 8th album by ZZ Top, and is #396 on Rolling Stones Greatest 500 Albums of All Time. Here is the track listing:

Side A

1. Gimme All Your Lovin’
2. Got Me Under Pressure
3. Sharp Dressed Man
4. I Need You Tonight
5. I Got the Six

Side B

1. Legs
2. Thug
3. TV Dinners
4. Dirty Dog
5. If I Could Only Flag Her Down
6. Bad Girl

Instead of an MP3 this post, I thought that I’d put up a video. So here is the video to ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin”;

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSLa08J6rv4

Can I just say that the 80′s rock.

The car on the front of this album is actually Billy Gibbons (guitar, vocals) 1933 Ford 3 window hot rod, as seen in the video above. Many of his cars are featured on album covers and in videos. Oh, and a little known fact, ZZ Top made a puppet music video for Sesame Street for the letter Z.

David Coverdale almost sounds like Robert Plant on this album. I’ve heard him sound like that before, but it really seems to come through here.

A lot of people think that this album is Zeppelin Light. I can see that, although others say that it is better than LZ’s “Walking Into Clarksdale”. I hate to categorize albums like that. I feel that if the artist is truly trying to create music, who are we to say it’s not good enough. After all, how can Jimmy Page help sounding like Led Zeppelin, he is Led Zeppelin.

This song, “Shake My Tree” is the first cut of the album, and I love the sound of Page’s guitar. Coverdale starts singing like he has a throat full of sandpaper (which I am jealous of by the way) and then starts singing up in the stratosphere, and that is where I think he sounds like Plant.

Here is the track listing for Coverdale Page:
Side One

Side Two