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Tickets There Likes: Whitesnake – Good to be Bad

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2010 by Tickets There


In 2008, Tickets There had the most horrible test of endurance we’d ever faced. Because of our combined love for Def Leppard and KISS, we put ourselves in a position that involved watching eighties hair metal love gods, Whitesnake, five times within the space of two weeks. Does it get any worse?

The first encounter came in Holland. Whitesnake took the stage and we moved within range to get a peak of what was to come over the next few days. Honestly, wasn’t that bad. Is This Love and Here I Go Again put a smile on our faces and hell, some of the unfamiliar songs were even catchy. Alright, could have been worse but four more times?

A week later TT was in Birmingham and so were the Snake. The Holland experience was a festival so there were escapes available but this was an indoor show, so there was no avoiding them. They came on stage, all white shirts, leather, big hair, full of energy and, well, kind of rocked the place. We recognized alot of the set from Holland and tracks like Still of Night, Bad Boys and Ain’t No Love were beginning to drill their way into TT’s mind.

After two more shows in Manchester and Sheffield we were hooked and by the time the last gig in Newcastle came round, we were firm fans. Whitesnake had not only pacified us, they’d turned us into fully fledged devotees and we’ve loved them ever since. When last year’s Def Leppard Dublin show was announced, we nearly wet ourselves with excitement, but when we realized Whitesnake were playing aswell, there was no nearly about it.

Good to be Bad had just been released a few months before the 2008 tour and the band didn’t shy away from playing almost half of it in their shows. Why would they,  it’s a bloody classic! Live highlights such as Best years, Can You Hear The Wind Blow, Good to be Bad and Lay Down Your Love sound as strong on record as they did when Mr. Coverdale, and co were  in the same room blasting them out. Hard, blues arena rock at its best. Best Years was the show opener for most of the gigs so hearing it again is a welcoming dose of nostalgia and happy memories for TT. Can You Hear the Wind Blow’s unmistakable opening riff and Still of the Night-esqu chorus will grab you by the balls but fear not, Whitesnake wouldn’t want to castrate you….. before the albums finished at least.

Lay Down Your Love is one of the best live songs you’ll hear in an arena. The bands classic Ain’t No Love In The Heart of the City will have to make room for this little slice of power rock. The bluesy guitars, the riffs, the infectious, unforgiving chorus will all thrust themselves upon you with force.

As for the tracks they didn’t put in the set list, there’s no shortage of material to love. Call On Me (Not that one) and Got What You Need are swaggering, balls out rock classics. All For Love is a guitar driven anthem and it’s just laced with Whitesnake’s classic pop perfection. All I Want All I Need is a hark back to the Is This Love Sound while Summer Rain and Till the End of Time are soft, melodic acoustic numbers. Till The End of Time in particular is a stand out.  Last but not least, A Fool In Love is bluegrass hard arena rock. Built on a tasty blues riff, this one should be played at every show the band do in the future. Coverdale’s voice and Doug Aldrich’s guitars are just so captivating, you’re willing to believe anything they want to sell ya and you won’t be disappointed.

Maybe Leppard owned the world of arena rock in 2008 but honestly, Good to be Bad is the real winner. Leppard’s Songs From The Sparkle Lounge was a massive improvement after the Lepp’s let poppy, no joy song writing destroy several of their previous albums but GTBB just skyrocketed Whitesnake back into the hearts of their fans and, as Tickets There can attest to, brought them in some new ones aswell. If you haven’t heard it, we can only say you won’t be disappointed if you pop over to ITunes now and grab it.

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Tickets There Likes: The Doors – The Doors

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , , , , , on September 7, 2009 by Tickets There

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I always hated The Doors. Generally when I hate a band it means I’ve given them their time and tried several times to enjoy them because I hate it when I’m wrong so I like to really give things my all before passing such an extreme judgment. Believe it or not I do have three or four Radiohead albums because I was told after I’d listen to each one that such a one was better and you know what, they weren’t. I also have two Coldplay albums because I wanted to believe the hype and turned out I was right from the beginning about them too. The Doors however are a different story. I hadn’t ever given them a chance and the main song I knew, Light My Fire, was a little boring for my tastes. Then one faithful summer they found me.

I was staying at a friend’s house for a few weeks during the summer of 04 (all those years ago J) and he played the Doors constantly. After a few days of this and then a screening of the movie to help persuade me, I finally gave in. I wouldn’t say I turned total fanatic but just enough to make me buy every album over the following year and give each ones a good grilling. Honestly I never really picked a flat out favorite and only for the sake of this review have I picked their 67 self titled debut, The Doors.

If you don’t like the Doors yet, then opening song Break on Through will go along way in convincing you of their greatness. I’m not going to say it’s a full on, stampeding chaotic master piece because that just doesn’t do it justice…but it is all those things. It’s so full of energy and quiet / loud changes with underlining D word themes a go go. In sharp contrast, Soul Kitchen is everything the tin promises. A relaxed, stripped back verse of simple guitar and piano melodies with Jims voices croaking in the background before everything collapses together for a foot stomping chorus. At times it sounds like Johns drumming is too fast for Robby’s guitars and Ray’s keyboards but oddly enough, it all works perfectly.   The Crystal Ship slips even further into the albums melon collie state. Jim’s deep voice booms over the music, haunting every change and note the band play. It’s no secret that a lot of the love people have for the Doors also relies heavily on the myths, stories and a general love for Morrison himself. He’s one of music’s true icons, appealing to people in all walks of life…except those who just don’t like him off course.

Twentieth Century Fox wouldn’t be one of my favorite tracks. It’s very plain compared to the albums first three songs and falls a little on its face amidst a mess of guitars and organ melodies. Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar), a cover of a Bertolt Brecht’s song (I’ve never heard of him either, don’t worry ;), is without a doubt one of the funniest songs they’ve ever recorded and could easily be used a sea chantey in the next Pirates or, if you’re like me, you have walked home many times from the pub singing this at full volume. Light My Fire follows and ya know…it’s good. Personally I think seven minutes was a bit much and the guys don’t really pull it off but many, many others would strenuously disagree so it depends from fan to fan. Back Door Man (written by Willie Dixon) on the other hand is one of the best songs they’ve ever recorded. Since it’s another cover, I won’t praise it too much in words or it may overshadow the other tracks I’ve written about….but god it’s a savage song.

I Looked At You sounds like something The Beatles could easily have come up with but still manages to retain some of the Doors quality. Not incredibly great but simple, fun pop. After all, many people forget the Doors did start of as a more a pop group than the bluesy poets they turned into. End of the Night is more of a definitive Doors piece. Broken melodies, slow changes, hits of spiraling melodies…etc. Again it’s not amazing but there’s more Doors atmosphere here than many of the songs. The best way you can describe a truly Doors-esque song is broken music and Jims lyrics. The sort of atmospheric, incoherent yet hauntingly good music they play in seedy L.A. bars at 4:00 in the morning. Take It As it Comes is one of the better tracks at the end of the album. The lyrics are bogged down in Jims over thinking and the music flows extremely well. Ray’s keyboards belt away behind Johns crashing drums and Jims iconic vocals.

I lied, I lied about End of the Night. It is not a definitive Doors classic. Not compared to the albums final track, The End. While its style is pretty general for the Doors, it is nowhere near as far reaching, over blown and mind bendingly good as The End. The lyrics represent a peak Morrison always strived for with his music. The band comes together more here than anywhere else on the record, despite the hap hazard sound. The entire group seems to spiral off in their own little tangents, all at the same time yet they seem to pull together like waves and re-group momentarily before drifting apart again. Jims voice is once again the glue holding everything together and the song loses all sense of time and structure. The music repeats and repeats but never gets stale. Jims vocals become more and more prominent at the song moves along culminating in his screams referencing the Oedipus  complex.

If you give the Doors time, it’s very hard to hate them. If you like Rock n roll, folk, pop or blues, the Doors have something for you and it’s good. Jim may be long gone, or just hiding somewhere but his music and the band’s music is still very much alive and ready for any curious new generations that are willing to open their mind and experience what music drove a generation to throw up their arms and say ‘No’ when it counted.

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Tickets There Likes: Metallica – …And Justice for All

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , on September 2, 2009 by Tickets There

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Ya know Metallica get a very bad rap these days. It’s as plain as day that they haven’t done themselves many favors over the last few years but people seem to be forgetting they have a stronger back catalogue than most metal acts out there. Very few thrash/heavy or hard rock bands can boast so many highly regarded albums as Metallica and they’re highly impressive and widely diverse selections of song writing make them the bonafide legends they are. Forget the St. Anger disaster and forget the Napster issue and the Some Kind of a Monster fiasco. These are long over with and the Bay Area Thrashers have returned to what they do best.

I remember first hearing Metallica in the early nineties and not being hugely amazed. Then again I was a Def Lepp / GNR kid and the styles didn’t really crossover in my eyes. It was until the late nineties that one of the lads from school started pushing me to listen to them. I remember seeing a picture of Kirk Hammett. wearing Calvin Klein undero’s and thinking ‘wow, how metal is that…puke!’. It looked like Metallica had totally sold out and this didn’t give me any inspiration to check out their stuff. Now I know there’s nothing worse in this world that an uppity metal fan. Every time you talk to one of those Bruxelles chaps they’d nearly put you off the genre entirely. They’re so up their own holes it’s almost sad and they sit there and argue on and on about mundane, unimportant crap about bands who make a living dressing up in makeup and screaming about death. Not sure if you noticed folks, but it’s meant to be a bit of fun, not f**king politics ya tossers. Anyway, enough ranting about those Metalireland.com chaps, they have to pass their sad existence somehow.

So eventually I took a copy of Master of Puppets from yer man and after a few days adjusting I came to love that album and like most of the TT Likes articles, listened to it repeatedly for many, many weeks. Ride the Lightening, Metallica (The Black Album) and Kill Em All only spurred on my excitement for the bands material and overnight, became staunch classics in my books. However it wasn’t until the mighty …And Justice for All came into my possession that I found their best work. I’d been put of getting this one by many people who wouldn’t shut up about the Bass being low and the quality generally lacking compared to the other early albums. I strongly disagree folks, and I think I’m in the majority.

Opening up with the mighty Blackened, Justice is an hour’s worth of melodic / blistering riffage, doomsday lyrics and drums all backed by Hetfields more matured, powerful vocals.  I don’t care how elitist you are, there’s no denying Metallica did it better than anyone else at the top of their game. Tracks like Eye of the Beholder, The Shortest Straw, The Frayed Ends of Sanity and Dyers Eye give the album it’s unyielding power  while better know classics like the title track, One and Harvester of Sorrow give the whole record it’s unstoppable force that band have failed to recreate since, despite a pretty good effort on Death Magnetic. Justice for All’s sound is so dark and inaccessible compared to all of their other work before and after and the band can be seen to vent their frustrations, pain and anger over Cliff Burtons death. It’s true the bass isn’t exactly the stand out instrument here and this is very obviously an attempt to avoid having to admit Cliff had to be replaced. As a final tribute to their friend, Justice has a nine minute instrumental entitled To Live is to Die which the band composed using riffs written by Burton before his death.

Whatever people say about Metallica now is irrelevant. Bunch of stuck up, metal pussy’s who’ve forgotten the whole genre is about taking it easy, have a few beers and a laugh. Not procrastinating and philosophizing about who’s more metal than thou! And let’s all be honest, metal fans are mostly made up of…..should I say it?, maybe not…but you know damn well the kind of people that I mean and don’t deny it! Why the hell these folks feel the need to close turn Metal into a Pink Floyd convention is beyond me. Relax folks!

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Tickets There Likes: Def Leppard – Hysteria

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , , , , on September 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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OK, ok I have to stop putting this one of and get it out of the way finally. You all knew this was coming and I can’t count how many drafts I’ve written in an attempt to get it done. Def Leppard’s mightiest of mighty accomplishments, the golden goose, the Holy Grail of their collection and one of the highest selling records of all time, Hysteria! It was the second album I ever owned and heard in full and was introduced to me just a few weeks after Adrenalize and made me a solid Leppard fan for life. Like my live review of Springsteen, I find it very difficult to write something about this record that thousands of others haven’t said before.

Let’s start by stating it’s very rare to find an album with so few album tracks like this. Almost every single song is a single or classic with almost no exceptions. On Hysteria, the bands efforts to write perfect pop rock and heavy ballads finally paid off without a hitch. Despite Rick Allen losing his arm, Steve’s continued problems with alcohol and the bands problems in their home country, producers and initial demo’s, Hysteria proved to be a feat very few critics, fans and interested parties thought they could pull off, especially considering the new levels of quality Pyromania set for them. Even 22 years on from its release the quality of the songs and production is infallible. This is the album that artists like Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Skid Row, Europe, Aerosmith and all the other 80’s Hard rock heavyweights wished they could come up with. Although Hard Rock took a different turn when Guns N Roses released Appetite for Destruction, Leppards Hysteria was the peak of the previous sounds perfection.

No song was written or produced on this with anything less than a grand, world changing effort. While some of the song’s lyrics may sound slightly cheesy in hindsight such as Women and Pour Some Sugar on Me, only a total knob end could flaw their energy and perfection. Pop rock rears its head on several of the albums singles  and continue the job Photograph and Foolin’ had started previously. Animal, PSSOM, Armageddon it, Love and Affection and Women set a high bar for any band to reach and deck out the album with its foundations. The easily accessible, fist raising, mass sing along anthems that sealed the deal for Leppard and made them the biggest band on the plant for a couple of years. While more intimate numbers such as Love Bites and Hysteria ensured Leppard secured hordes of young females as lifelong fans.

Not to be overlooked, the guys still got the edge from the likes of Don’t Shoot Shotgun, Gods of War (Leppards one and only foray into the political world), Rocket, the heavier than heavy Run Riot (at least by Leppards standards) and the awesome Excitable. These provided the final master stroke to provide this album with everything it needed to entertain millions of fans around the work for the next two decades. Then again, no matter how serious the songs are, no matter how heavy or light the sound is and no matter what their theme, every song on Hysteria is a catchy rock classic that deserves respect from every rock fan. This is how pop rock is done folks, you won’t find any other album to equal Hysteria’s arsenal.

Nah Sayers will always be nay Sayers and the unfortunate rise of grunge music and its trend setting ideals about fashion, politics, depression, bullying meant bands like Leppard and their back catalogues were severely undermined all throughout the 90’s and early millennium. Fortunately the world is starting its traditional two decade revitalization and The Mighty Lepp are reaping the benefits. A few years ago the band were playing small theatres and state fairs but currently, they’re back in 10,000 + arenas reminding fans why they are a band that should never be forgotten. The years may have been cruel to their legacy but Joe Elliot, Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Phil and Viv are a major force to be reckoned with. They have proven they can take anything and everything the music and personal world can lash on them and still emerge unscathed and ready for the next challenge. From the moment Joe Elliot wrote the band’s name on Sheffield’s town hall’s notice board in the late seventies, the band were destined to become legends and Hysteria is the pinnacle of that legacy.

Here’s a picture of the UK 12″ Vinyl sigles from Hysteria all together.

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Tickets There Likes: Weezer – Weezer (The Blue Album)

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , on September 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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When I was younger I was a big fan of Blur and Oasis but it wasn’t until I heard Weezer’s ‘Blue Album’ that I actually became a fan of Indie music. Although my interest has become less and less evident over the last few years, Weezer opened the door to many great acts. I had heard Hash Pipe and Buddy Holly (same as the rest of the English speaking world), but had never listened to one of their albums until I started first year of college and it was passed over from Bob’s (my roommate) magical tube (sounds bad don’t it) of music. He had this plastic case with roughly a hundred burnt CD’s and no matter how many times you went through it, something new always popped up.

He recommended Weezer while he was in the grips of their buzz and I started with their debut. The damn thing was so good I couldn’t stop listening to it for around two/three months. The time it took me to walk to college from home was the exact length of the album (with a few minutes loitering to finish Only In Dreams off). I can’t say anything astonishing about it other than it’s just a great record. All the songs are catchy, fresh and heavy in their own way. Unlike the weird eco-conscious geek culture that’s taken over music at the moment, Weezer did geek rock well.

Rather than sing about the problems in the world, they kept it simple. I’m pretty sure Rivers would have trouble writing about anything other than Love but so what, he does love brilliantly and makes it more realistic. Tracks like The World Has Turned, Undone, Say it Ain’t So and Only In Dreams are classics, pure and simple. No-One Else, Surfwax America and In the Garage are the cream of the bands album tracks while My name is Jonas and Holiday are just damn good fun, don’t read into them.

I should take special time to mention that Say it Ain’t So and Only In My Dreams are two of the bands and the genre’s greatest assets. The Harmonies, melodies, riffs and full on force of those two songs is incredible especially in comparison to the other songs on the record. Rather than churn out standard ballads on an album of heavier material, the band mix the loud guitars, tension and melody so well it makes the songs stand out a mile without decreasing the albums overall quality

I never took as fondly to Pinkerton (although I do love it) and I after a couple of goes I gave up on Green and Maladroit and never bothered with the last two. After Buddy Holly being as close to pop perfection an indie band with loud guitars can get, Beverly Hills just seemed to piss all over their legacy, but who am I to judge? When I release one song in the same league as any of their stuff I can gripe, but until that day I’ll keep it shut.

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Tickets There Likes: Iron Maiden – Powerslave

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , , on September 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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I tried writing this review last night and have about three paragraphs done at home but I can’t stand the idea of that Radiohead chaps face at the top of my blog so I’m rushing through this one to replace his fecking hideously boring presence with the mighty Maiden’s Powerslave cover. I hope all of my readers are Iron Maiden fans because people, this is the real stuff right here. Forget the Kings of Leon, Killers and all that other rubbish, if you want to have fun, Maiden are the men (or AC/DC, but what ever).

I suppose being a TT Likes and all, I’d better bore you all with the usual speal of how I discovered the band. It was back in nineteen hundred and ninety three (1993). Roughly a year after the Leppard, Guns N Roses and Meatloaf phase had settled in. I saw a copy of their A Real Live One tape in the new release section of Sligo’s Record Room. I was completely taken with the cover and had to get it. In those days I didn’t buy many record because I had no money and not a lot of access to stores that sold them. I remember loving their sound as soon as I heard it and everything went from there. It’s not a very exciting story and I couldn’t be bothered trying to invent wacky stories and lies to keep yis entertained. I did managed to meet Dave Murray a few years ago but that’s not very exciting either, we were both hammered and nearly went for a drink in his hotel until I realized myself and my girlfriend would be stranded in town if we didn’t catch the night link and I had no other money for taxi’s. Thinking back that was a very, very stupid thing to do but it’s in the past.

I didn’t manage to get my hands of Powerslave until 98 when I picked a copy up in Athlone shopping center. They easily had the best Maiden section any shop can boast outside of Dublin (or at least they did in those days), and it’s remained my favorite Maiden album ever since. First of all you have Aces High , then 2 Minutes to Midnight which basically means it’s the greatest maiden album of all time two songs in. Then you have Losfer Words, a nice metal instrumental before Flash of the Blade which is a grand wee number similar to their earlier material. The Duellists is a savage typical Maiden number with a savage wee chorus as is Back in the Village (except this is probably my least favorite number ion the record) but the best is yet to come. The albums title track is one of the bands finest moments. One of the best riffs the band has ever written and some of their most surreal lyrics. It’s just such a grand and mighty anthem that adds that classic Maiden danger that makes their legacy as strong as it is. The album winds up with the incredible, riff filled Rime of the Ancient Mariner. A lengthy wee track but filled with surprises, changes, harmonies, melodies and everything else Maiden could squeeze in. Seeing this one live is real treat.

Well that’s it, short and sweet but I don’t like to repeat the exact same praises and such in every single review. Also, the album only has eight songs and as I’ve said before, this isn’t exactly an album review series, more of a ‘why I like this’ series 😀

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TICKETS THERE LIKES: AEROSMITH – AEROSMITH

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , on August 31, 2009 by Tickets There

Aerosmith - Aerosmith 1973

I’ve always been a part-time fan of the Smith. When I was younger I heard Walk This Way, Dude Looks Like a Lady and all those other hits everyone in the world heard many years ago. Their appearance in Wayne’s World II strengthened their image in my head (much like Alice Coopers in the first). However things took a turn for the worst when they released I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing before I ever got a chance to adopt them as a real favourite in the music books. This lack of Tyler, Perry and the boys continued until I decided to pick up a copy of their Devils Best of a couple of years ago. Listening to Love In an Elevator, Livin’ On The Edge, Sweet Emotion, Falling in Love and all the other hits was a nice little retro visit and the door was opened up again to truly appreciate Americas greatest hard rock band.

The first step of this revitalization was clear, start from the beginning so I picked up a copy of their self-titled debut album and it didn’t take long to get hooked in. Stephen Tyler’s voice was so simple in 1973. He had none of the cliché trademark he emphasise these days and the band’s sound was much more low-key. They could have been compared to the likes of AC/DC rather than Guns N Roses. There is also a distinct lack of ballads that bogged their later eighties, nineties and current career with one exception, Dream On. A powerful ballad styled song with a style all of its own, which stands out miles from the other tracks on this record.

Opening with the stripped back, riff filled Make It. Aerosmith dishes out one classic after another that puts many of their later work into a cold, dark shade. Somebody, One Way Street, Write Me and Movin’ Out provide the back bone of this album while a cover of Rufus Thomas‘ Walkin’ the Dog, Mama Kin and Dream On make it the classic it is. Mama Kin’s opening riff, blues rock piano melody and swagger is pure rock n roll and without a doubt the bands first definitive hard rock track.

If you’ve only ever heard the greatest hits and you want to find out more about Aerosmith, check this album out. Toys in the Attic and Pump can WAIT, trust me.

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TICKETS THERE LIKES: WHITESNAKE – WHITESNAKE (1987)

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , on August 30, 2009 by Tickets There

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Ya know, Tickets There were never fans of Whitesnake. Yep, it’s true I’m ashamed to say. We always thought they were cheesy, comical and too poppy, an idea shared by a lot of people it turns out and one thought by Def Leppard haters as well I’m sure. All that came to an abrupt end lat June however when yours truly got to see the mighty Whitesnake five times in the space of three weeks.

It all started in Holland at the Arrow Rock Festival. KISS and Leppard were there and so was Tickets There. Whitesnake were playing just before Motorhead and KISS and I remember being slightly surprised at the strength of pretty much their whole set. Even the classics like Here I Go Again and Is This Love was incredible and Whitesnake officially moved up a notch in my books. A few days later I was in Birmingham where Def Leppard and Whitesnake were on the second night of their co-headlining UK tour. My enthusiasm for the snake had diminished rapidly in a few days as the enthusiasm of seeing Leppard indoors for the first time in five years took hold. Again I was surprised and even found myself recognizing some of the material from Holland. Coverdale’s presence and voice should be more than enough to convince anyone and his tongue in check humour and mannerisms are all part of their really enjoyable show.

After another three nights around the UK, Tickets There returned to the emerald isle as a changed man. The first thing I did was get my hands on a copy of their 1987 self titled LP and the rest is (present) history.

Now I know some of you will find it very difficult to come to terms with a band who wear open shirts and actually move on stage and more than likely you wont be able to take any band that uses the word Love as often as the Snake do in their song titles but trust me, it’s worth it and 1987 is as good a place to start as any. You have everything here like Give me all your Love, Here I Go Again, Children of the Night, Straight from the Heart, Is this Love and my personal favourites from this record, Bad Boys and the mighty, the awesome, the mouth wateringly heavy and incredible Still of the Night.

Don’t turn your nose up at it, don’t dismiss it as cheap, stereotypical joke music. I did that and was very, very wrong. If you’re a fan of rock or metal. Whitesnake have something for you and it’s good!

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Tickets There Likes: Def Leppard – Adrenalize

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , on August 9, 2009 by Tickets There

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What? You were expecting the third Def Leppard Likes to be about Hysteria? Sorry, one more to cover first. Adrenalize gets a very special place in my heart as it’s the very first album I ever owned. This is the mother of all my music tastes and the big bang that caused the chain of events that have shaped the way I live my life ever since. Although the album isn’t generally regarded by fans as one of the bands best, it is. Think I’m a little biased saying that? Well I quite obviously am but I also truly believe it.

I was being driven back to boarding school by my mum one day in March 1992, just after my eighth birthday. It was a dark, wintery Sunday night and out of no where my mum produced this cassette and asked me what I thought of it. She put it on the stereo and we listened to it the whole way up to Dublin. The cassette was (quite obviously) Adrenalize and I loved every bit of it. Let’s Get Rocked what so full of attitude and so cool how could you not love it at eight years old. Leppard were also an interesting choice for first band. They had a drummer with one arm and that seemed very normal for some reason. At the time I imagined that metal bands were so hard most of them probably had missing limbs and it didn’t bother them (eight people, don’t judge). They had a legendary guitarist that had just died the year before and a back catalogue so juicy it was unrealistic. Over the next three months, my mum bought copies of Hysteria and Pyromania and every week we’d listen to Leppard solidly for the three and a half hour drive to Dublin and home on Fridays. I also managed to get a walk man and a copy of all three albums to keep a school where I quickly became the coolest kid in class for about a month because I had a tiny little leather jacket (which I still have) and listened to rock bands.

After three months of almost solid Leppard devotion (Meatloaf had managed to slip in aswell, not to mention the awesome Guns N Roses), I was brought to the Point Depot to see my very first rock concert. Def Leppard’s 7-Day-Weekend tour came to the Ireland and it saw the band play completely in the round. You can read more about that here – Click Here

Anyways, Adrenalize. If you didn’t like it or haven’t heard it, I suggest sitting down and listening to the mighty Personal Property (that guitar solo ugh!!), Stand Up, Tear It Down, Heaven is or I Wanna Touch You and experience pop rock at it’s very finest. Hard n loud guitars, monster riffs and anthems enough to win a war.

Then there’s White Lightening, the bands tribute to the late Steamin’ Steve Clark. Steve died in January 1991 and his death marked a major shift in Leppards sound and song writing. Adrenalize is the last Leppard record of it’s kind and White Lightening is a great tribute to the man who made their early albums so special.

I stick Adrenalize on now knowing it’s not as great as I praise it to be, but listening to those songs brings back memories of the early days of discovering music and discovering a new band you can still love as much as ever seventeen years later is a very special thing for everyone.

What’s yours?

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Tickets There Likes: Guns N Roses – Use Your Illusion I

Posted in Album Review, Music, Ranting, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , on August 8, 2009 by Tickets There

GnR--UseYourIllusion1

There is one band in the world that has always come close to beating Def Leppard to the top spot in my all time favorites.  A band that I consider to be the greatest hard rock band of all time. I first discovered Guns N Roses in 1992, just a couple of months after Def Leppard when an older brother of one of my friends leant me the Use Your Illusion 1I& II albums in boarding school. Knowing that I was a Leppard and Meatloaf fan, I think he wanted someone else to share the mighty Guns with since everyone else had never heard of any rock bands. I remember trying Use Your Illusion I first because I preferred the cover and was instantly blown away by the sher force of the Axl’s voice and the guitars. I’d never heard anything like this and all of a sudden Leppard didn’t hold the holier than though pedestal I’d placed them on. Shortly after I managed to get copies of the alums from a traveller outside Mullingar at a wee market at some roadside restaurant like the covert and Guns were firmly brought into my life.

Aside from Adrenalize, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to an album so much in my life. Use Your Illusion I oozes sleazy Rock N Roll and as I got older, I understood more and more of the ands lyrics an hidden connotations. It was like an album that grew more and more mature with age and that’s the prime reason it never got left on the shelf when new bands came into my life. Despite being as big of a fan as I was, I’d never even heard about Appetite for Destruction or Lies and wouldn’t discover them for another  eight or nine years. Even when Appetite did come along, it’s never managed to replace Illusion 1 as my favorites; even now I can listen to that album and enjoy it as much as I ever did.

Before getting into the songs (and honestly, I don’t write these to try and review the greatest songs in my life. If you don’t know them there isn’t much point in you reading these), I should say that to appreciate the Guns, you really need to look at their career rather than just their music. Think of them like The Sex Pistols and you will understand Rock N Roll like the Pistols make you understand the true meaning of punk. Rock n Roll is meant to be an attitude more than the music. It’s that attitude that defines real rock n roll rebellion. It’s not anarchy, it’s lazy. It’s about doing what ever you like and not letting anyone tell you otherwise. Yeah it sounds cliché but that’s what it’s all about and if there is one man in rock who lives up to every single word of that, it’s W. Axl Rose.

Axl has never and will never do what record companies, fans, and mates, family or the press expect, pressure or beg him to do. Yes I’m sure there are all these underground guys who do the same but I’m sorry, Axl is the one with the millions under his belt and he still does what he likes and makes it work at his level. He didn’t give up after the Illusion and release one watered down alum after another for the following twenty years. He also didn’t go out of his way to keep the classic line-up happy and he continued Guns N Roses in his own way with the whole world laughing at him. Even the rock press and diehard fans failed to see the brilliance behind his methods and still today the fans that claimed to stand behind him still bitch log and beg for tours, special edition albums and music videos all the while their forgetting that none of these things will make the bands latest album Chinese Democracy any better. Axl is a musician who’s quite happy to let the music speak for its’ self. If anyone else did it and said that’s what they were doing, the world would cherish them and praise their musical integrity but unfortunately for Axl, they lampoon him.

Well I hope you will read this and look on Axl more favorably. He is not a front man interested in keeping old fans happy by travelling the world selling a decaying shell of a once great line-up, who’s former members have gone on to destroy their legacy’s and tarnished their images as the rocks leading hell raisers (except Izzy). He’s doing what he wants, how he wants to do it and any fan of rock n roll out there who criticizes, laughs or attacks him for this hasn’t got  fucking clue what rock n roll is all about. You’d be better of buying your Motorhead t-shirts in Top Shop and singing along with Summer of 69 when it’s one and leave it at that because Rock has enough posers already.

Anyways, Use Your Illusion I eh, great album. What else can I say?

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Tickets There Likes: KISS – KISS

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , , , , , on August 7, 2009 by Tickets There

Kiss_first_album_cover

“Turn it up, this is my attitude, take it or leave it”

OK, this is the third time I’ve tried writing this introduction. The first 1,000 word draft will now go towards a politics in music blog I’ll try and publish this weekend. The second was 500 words that took the quote above and harped on and on about the underlining simplicity in Rock n Roll and the destruction caused by ego’s and money. Those words have now been deleted and it’s time to talk about the hottest band in the world, KISS.

I first discovered them while watching a wee film called Detroit Rock City in 1999. I had heard of the seven foot icons from magazines and seen pictures but didn’t actually know what they sounded like until I’d seen the movie. Ninety minutes later I was on the phone to the Record Room in Sligo asking them to order in KISS and Destroyer. When I picked up the albums I could hardly contain myself. Fortunately I had taped DRC and spent a week watching it over and over again, thanking god for opening my eyes to one of the greatest bands I’d heard in years. Everything about KISS became appealing. They weren’t pushing politics, they weren’t preaching about charities and they weren’t Radiohead. They dressed up in black costumes, make-up and blew their stages to pieces during live shows. On top of that they played bad ass, catchy as hell rock n roll, sold almost everything in the world as a KISS product and had a bass player who is so full of himself and honest about his views on the world, you’d be foolish not to admire him.

So how should one go about starting their love for the America’s greatest rock n roll band? By buying their debut album off course.

KISS is without a shadow of a doubt one of the bands strongest albums. Opening with the dirty styled Strutter, the band display their talent for catchy hooks, duel guitar leads and riffs, high piercing vocals and lyrics that only grow as the album progresses. Nothin’ to Lose and Firehouse are great little numbers that carry their own little iconic place in KISS’s history and live in Firehouse’s case.  The mighty Cold Gin is one of the bands masterpieces. Pure rock n roll that personifies the bands characters and gives them their true sound. Let me know chirps things up abit while the anathematic Kissin’ Time might act as a deterrent for those of you who don’t already love KISS..so skip that one. Fortunately the best is still to come.

The incredible Deuce brings to a high very few bands can keep going but 100,00 Years and the enormous Black Diamond manage to keep them on a high to close the album with a balanced mix of heavy guitars, perfectly suited solo’s, theatrics in the lyrics and more control over song writing and melody than most bands can only wet-dream about.

KISS are more than a band, they’re a life-style. Get into them quick is my advice and ‘baby get ready, because they’ll be KISSin’ you’ next year!

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Tickets There Likes: Def Leppard – High ‘N’ Dry

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , on July 30, 2009 by Tickets There

Def_Leppard_-_High_'n'_Dry

Hopefully you’ve gone out and bought Pyromania, if not…..like I said, you’re a sap. Or, maybe it’s because you haven’t read the review so go do it now https://ticketsthere.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/tickets-there-likes-def-leppard-pyromania 

Good, now you’re back. So The Mighty Leppard exploded in the states with that album, made them the biggest band in the world…etc. Now it’s time to find out what they were like before all the mega stardom. Well, to start with they always had the harmonies and relied upon catchy vocal hooks to sell their songs to the general public, but before Pyromania, they used a lot more guitars to back everything up. High N Dry was the bands second album and an unbelievable leap forward from their first. While On Through The Night has some fearsome tracks on it, it’s nothing compared to HND.

Any listener will be convinced of this when they hear the opening notes of Let It Go, the albums first track. The song has a killer duel guitar riff and tonnes of sporadic/bluesy solo’s that would put any musician in their h’penny place. Not because they’re extremely difficult, but because they are so perfectly placed its mind bending. Enough shite, it’s just a savage track. This is followed by the shredding, although slower at first, Another Hit and Run which is as foot stomping, head banging friendly and face melting as anything else out there…..except Heavy Metal :p. Unfortunately I refuse to discuss the albums title track because I used it as my alarm for over a year and now I cant stand to listen to it, but I should mention it was on the infamous PRMC’s Filthy Fifteen list in 1985. This was a list made up by that Tipper Gore bitch and her cronies of the fifteen songs they found most offensive in the world. HND gets a mention due to ‘excessive drinking references in the lyrics.

Things turn around completely with Leppard’s first proper ballad, Bringin’ on the Heartbreak. The video may be as cheesy as KISS in the eighties but it’s fun people, relax. Not everything can be the White album. Steve Clarks legendary Switch 625 follows and shows Leppard’s raw, danger afloat guitars with some fierce drumming to boot. That riff is just incredible and well worth seeing live if you can. You Got Me Runnin’ is more of a filler song, but on this album that means it kicks ass. It’s just pure, down to earth rock n rollll!!! Love it! Classic stomping song with a good dose of Joe’s swagger. Same thing again for Lady Strange. These are songs you grow to love after the hits. On through the Night is faster, more full on balls while second last song Mirror, Mirror has one of the bands definitive chorus’s. No, No, No, finishes things off and without the excessive repeats of the word No at the end it’s just great 😀

Well that’s it in a very hastily written nut shell. Now, what album to do next? This Tickets There Likes series wont last forever so I’ll be choosy but you can damn well bet Guns N Roses – Use Your Illusion I, Weezer – The Blue Album, Metallica – …and Justice For All and the big one of them all, Def Leppard’s Hysteria will all feature over the coming weeks.

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Tickets There Likes: The Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , on July 28, 2009 by Tickets There

Never_Mind_the_Bollocks

Tickets There has had a deep rooted fascination with God’s filthiest hooligans. Ever since I first saw the wax work of Johnny Rotten in London’s Rock Circus in the early nineties, I’ve been fascinated. His appearance was so shocking and so different to anything I was used to and the fact that his name was Johnny Rotten only added to my enthusiasm to find out more. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait long as the Rock Circus had another exhibition that featured infamous video’s (I think) and this included Sid Vicious’ video for My Way that shows him shooting several audience members. To yours truly, this was a real event and I was captivated. First you have this sneering, red haired maniac called Johnny Rotten and next you have a murdering psycho Sid Vicious. I was officially hooked…..and then it was back to Ireland where there was no such thing as the Sex Pistols.

I don’t remember when I got the album. I do recall it was several years later but I can’t actually remember the first time I heard it. In fact, I find it very hard to remember a time in my life without it. Never Mind the Bollocks is the ultimate outburst of anger and sarcasm for young people. The music is basic pop with none of the frills the likes of Pink Floyd indulge in, with lyrics so scornful British monarchs and politicians must have thanked god they weren’t handed picked for any tracks…except the Queen of course.

There basically isn’t one song on this album that couldn’t be considered a classic. The opening track Holidays In The Sun is an upbeat pop number with an attacking message on holiday goers taking advantage of other countries problems and misfortunes. In contrast, the angry, hate fueled Bodies rips in straight afterwards with vulgar lyrics and a commonly interoperated message of Pro-Life, which Lydon now denies. Knowing Johnny Rotten, this song is hardly likely to be a simple story. No Feelings is another full on attack of guitars n drums about …well, what’s the point in me describing these things? I think everybody knows exactly what this album is all about. Anyone reading this is more than fully aware what the Sex Pistols stood for and what they accomplished. If you don’t, there are some great things in store for you..Unless you’re one of those soulless weirdo’s I’ve mentioned before.

I think kids would do well to have this album drilled into them. The fight seems to have left their hearts all together and they’ve become to bogged down in the rap/hip-hop/Paris Hilton nonsense. It just seems to be destroying their creativity, their originality and their minds. I’m sure many would disagree with this next statement, but Tickets There firmly believes that Never Mind the Bollocks was a peak that has barley been reached since of youthful aggression, intelligence and makes more of a statement that any other punk album ever released…even more so than the Clash!

What amd I talking about? I don’t know, kind of rushed this one so ShutD-Up!

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Tickets There Likes: Def Leppard – Pyromania

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , , , , on July 27, 2009 by Tickets There

Def_Leppard_-_Pyromania

If there is one band on God’s green earth that has meant more to Tickets there, and the man behind Tickets There (no, not the guys in Eyebrowy, me ya knob!), it has to be Def Leppard. Despite Guns N Roses, Marilyn Manson, Elvis Presley, Turn, Metallica and many, many, many others over the years coming close, Leppard are and always have been the clear frontrunners of my personal favorite artists. They are the band that thought me the key core values of good music, Talent, Entertainment and Performance. Leppard may have become the arse end of most music related jokes in the nineties but they are finally clawing their way back to their former heights and slowly rebuilding their credibility around the world. For those of us who stood by them after their career nosedived after Adrenalize, this is like the second coming because if there is one band in the world who deserves to have an album in everyone’s collection, it’s Leppard, and if you’re going to start anywhere, it might as well be Pyromania.

In 1983, Leppard could barley fill a town hall in England as headliner, but in the US, people were flocking to their support shows to catch a glimpse of England’s hottest new act. After successful introductions with their debut On through The Night and it’s follow up, High N Dry, the band finally had a ready and willing fan base to unleash their full potential onto. Pyromania became one of the biggest selling albums of the eighties and the only thing that stopped it reaching number one was the biggest selling album of all time, Thriller. The combination of Leppard and renowned AC/DC producer Mutt Lange producing the album together paid off in bucket loads as the band became mega stars in the States almost overnight. The mix of catchy, riff driven anthems and Joe’s raw yet piercing voice painted a new coat on the aging rock machine and gave the whole genre a new lease of life.

Opening with the first of many anthems Pyromania has to offer, Rock Rock Till You Drop, the album is immediately given an upbeat, captivating feel as the band deliver what are essentially pop songs with much, much more of an edge……. and a lot more guitars. The massively successful Photograph follows and up’s the bands’ sound several notches which seems to be the trend of Pyromania, make each song bigger, better and more enthralling than the last one. Stagefright gives the band one of its most iconic opening live songs before the haunting Too Late For Love offers a new kind of Love songs with more attitude than Bon Jovi could ever offer.

Die Hard The Hunter brings the rock swagger back to the album before the mighty Foolin’ stampedes across everything and gives the album one of its greatest building, atmospheric compositions. Where the hell can you go from there? Well, they have an answer. It’s called Rock of Ages. One of the Rock N Metal’s greatest assets and one that even non-Leppard fans will admit to loving. Does it draw the line between cheese and music? No it certainly does not because most people these days think anything Tom Yorke, Frank Black or Chris Martin didn’t write isn’t music. Unfortunately for you lot, while you are watching the blandest, most self-indulgent, over hyped musical farces on the planet crying and preaching at you, us folk who appreciate the fun, the attitude and the full on rock n roll spirit of ‘real bands’ will be having a blast and won’t be reminded about starving kids in Africa or today’s popular disease.

Back from my rant, Comin’ Under Fire and Action Not Words bring the album near it’s close with another few bursts of catchy riffs that constantly change and include small guitar spirals and heavy bass that constantly compete with each other for melodies, harmonies and cutting edge vocals and solos. The fearsome Billy’s Got a Gun gives the album one of its most unappreciated moments and unfortunately, ends the Pyromania.

More than any album I can think off, Tickets There Suggests you go and buy this one immediately and if you don’t like it well, you’re really thick and it’s more than likely you don’t have a soul. If you do, come back and see my review of High N Dry (Which I’ll do when I’m damn well ready). Don’t jump straight into Hysteria, it’s too soon 😉

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Tickets There Likes: Judas Priest – British Steel

Posted in Album Review, Music, Tickets There Likes: with tags , , , , , , on July 27, 2009 by Tickets There

Judas_Priest_British_Steel

If there’s one album that’s had my attention more than any other in the last six months, it’s the mighty British Steel. I think I bought it about six years ago, put it on a shelf and never bothered to actually listen to it. Other things just kept getting in the way. It wasn’t until I saw them live in February that I realized just how good they are. So, after the gig I went straight home, found the album and stuck it on. Five months later and I’m still listening to it almost every day (well….that’s a big almost). The ferocious power and energy in their lyrics, vocals and playing is mind crushing and becomes more and more piercing with time.

The fearsome Rapid Fire opens proceedings with lyrics cast from the bowls of metal and slow, yet thundering guitars to whip it along. Rob’s powerful voice bleeds through the headphones as the guitars and drums push a slow, steady riff along like crippling waves in the back ground. Solo bursts or frequent and you kind of feel like a geek because you aren’t out eating iron rods and anvils for a living. The grandness and slowly building Metal Gods is next and this notches the album into second gear. The band once again display a steady, repetitive riffs that introduces slight changes as the song gathers momentum before crashing down and grabbing you by the neck for the slow, grueling chorus. Metal Gods is a true metal classic and the opening riff of Breaking the Law almost pales in comparison. Not that any sign of weakness lasts long here. The incredible force of Grinder brings, in my opinion, British Steel to its peak of perfection. It’s intensely driven raw power is so dominating and raw, it’s hard not to jump on your desk and not thrash your head rapidly during its verse. It’s a song begging to be played on every Harley Davidson spiraling towards hell and one that would scare the devil himself out of reprimanding you for doing so.

United changes the direction of the album entirely. Rob’s vocals become more relaxed and the riffs drop much of their punishing characteristics. United is quite simply an upbeat sing along that adds a new sound to the album. You Don’t Have to be Old to be Wise and Living After Midnight are more like rock classics rather than the metal anthems at the start of the album. They’re fast, loud and just F**king brilliant. Second last song, The Rage opens with a slow bass and drum intro before the guitars slide in with Rob’s voice back in full teeth cutting metal glory. The final Steeler finishes the album in much the same style it started in. Fast riffs that plunge into bellowing storm bringers. Shredding solo’s and bursts of booming drums and delayed guitars plough together before reforming to add a sense of darkness and danger behind Rob’s mighty instrument (no pun intended).

On the re-release, the album comes with a bonus track of Grinder Live and it is quite simply one of the best live metal recordings ever. If you haven’t got this album yet, go and buy it now and get some metal up yer ass!!

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