Priestess - Blood

Priestess is a Montreal based rock and roll band. With all the genres and sub genres of music in the world today a band like Priestess is rather refreshing insofar that they are a straight forward rock band, there are not too many of those nowadays.

In 2005 Priestess released their first album “Hello Master,” an album I am quite fond of. Outside of Norwegian black metal and other more intense metal bands there are not a lot of musings about Satan, but if you examine the overarching theme of “Hello Master” it becomes more and more clear, at least to me, that the “master” in question is probably Satan. However there is nowhere on the album an over indulgence about the lord of darkness and the album’s songs focus on such things as love, violence and death, usual rock and roll fare. The closer “Blood” for example is about a vampire.

“Blood” represents an interesting moment on “Hello Master” as the closer it is literally the final note from the band on this offering, and it is the most unique song on the album as it is structured uniquely different and represents a notable shift in style from all the songs previous. The entire albums sounds somewhat similar to Wolfmother or to a lesser degree Queens of the Stone Age, with inspirations coming from Black Sabath and ACDC, but this last song “Blood” is less clear in what modern and classic inspirations and similarities it shares with other bands. This is probably why I like it so much.

The most popular song off of “Hello Master” has to be “Lay Down” a good rock and roll song. It helps that this song was features in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and this inclusion on this popular video game is the source of the majority of Priestess’ fame, which serves as a double edged sword. By being on Guitar Hero III significantly more people discovered Priestess however few purchased “Hello Master” and even fewer familiarized themselves with the album as a whole.

In 2009 Priestess would release a second album “Prior to the Fire” an album I failed to notice upon release and have to this day never found the time to pick up a copy, only now I have learned my apathy and poverty were only part of the problem preventing me from acquiring a copy. Priestess had a hell of a time finding an international distributor for “Prior to the Fire” as the content was not considered “commercial” enough, it is strange to discover that this is still happening given the deep well of genres and sub genres enjoyed by the international community representing the consumers of the music industry. This problem was exasperated as their local Canadian distributor refused to release the album until they found an international distributor; thus barricading Priestess from any meaningful commercial release or marketing.

There is a high level of mystery how surrounding the existence of Priestess and they appear to have more or less disbanded at this time; they are calling it a hiatus, but I am not so sure I believe them. Unknown and un-discussed problems in the band prevented them from committing to a European tour and the producing of a third album. While I hope Priestess can return on day, it has been eight years and I am dubious of their musical future.

Returning to the song “Blood” there are few lyrics to dissect but we a presented with a short narrative that tells of a lady vampire seducing a mortal man with some hesitation, possibly because of love, after all we have romanticized vampires to extraordinary lengths in modern fiction. The second verse appears to have a reversal in narrative as it is now describing the human’s side of the relationship as someone urges him to slay the lady vampire via a stake through the heart, as failing to do so would only allow her to further control and dominate him, presumably leading to his death.

It is short and it is simple.

I like the lyrics, and I like the juxtaposition of the two narrative forces; one warning of the dangers of the human and the other warning of the danger of the vampire. It is charming and clever. However it is the strong base line and punching drums that really give “Blood” its kick. It is instantly identifiable as its own unique entity in music from the very first note and is unforgettably catchy.

I honestly expected Priestess to do a lot in times gone by and it is sad to see that they have fizzled out of existence, and will unlikely ever create any new material but alas we can rest comfortably knowing that at the least we got “Hello Master” and songs like “Blood.”

- King of Braves

Covenant - Brave New World

Let us return to that kitchen prep hall I mentioned in the last review, where my younger brother and I are listening to a lot of HIM and that one song by The Kovenant, among other things. We were in a used record store buying used CDs, as was the custom back then when people still listened to CDs. My younger brother decided, entirely on a whim, to buy an album by Covenant titled “Northern Light.” The Kovenant, spelled with a “K” was unknown to us back then, we thought it was the same band and even though neither one of us could identify a single song on the album my kid brother, adventurous as he is, decided to pick it up.

We loved it.

You see, we were also listening to a lot of VNV Nation in that prep hall and Sweden’s electronic band Covenant, spelt with a “C,” is a fine contributor to that whole music scene. We were a little thrown off at the clear difference in style compared to “Mirror’s Paradise” by Kovenant, and it took a year or so before we discovered the small, but important spelling difference.

I had thought this mix up was a silly mistake made exclusively by the two of us, but no, apparently this was actually a big thing. Kovenant, of Norway, used to be Covenant but were sued and forced to change their name to “The” Covenant, but that did not work either because there was already a Dutch metal band called The Covenant, because of course there was, so The Kovenant was the final name for the Norwegian metal band discussed in the last review.

Nonetheless Covenant, the Swedish one, and their 2002 fifth studio album “Northern Light” was enjoyed among one half of the Kelly brothers so much that my same kid brother went out and got their at the time new album “Skyshaper.”

We loved it.

“Skyshaper” came out in 2006, and holy shit, that was eleven years ago, where has the time gone.

I really enjoyed songs like “Call the Ships to Port,” “We Stand Alone,” and “Invisible and Silent,” off of “Northern Light” so it seemed doubtful that a better offering of music could have been put forward by the Swedish electronic band, but Covenant delivered with “Skyshaper.” From the fantastic opening of “Ritual Noise” to the satisfying ending of “The World is Growing Loud” a more or less perfect electronic album exists. There are a great couple of humours, but somewhat introspective songs like “Happy Man” and “The Men.” More than anything the track that stood out to me was “Brave New World.”

As someone who makes the effort to read a lot, my natural instinct when someone utters the words “Brave New World” is to make a connection to Aldous Huxley. In Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” technology has made it possible for people to be produced in labs and everyone is sedated into numb happiness. That is not what is being described in the song by Covenant.

The “Brave New World” the idea, the term, the expression, has become a vague colloquialism to broadly mean “the future.” Much like how “Utopia,” which is Greek for “nowhere,” and Thomas More was attempting to describe a civilization that was the total opposite of English society, but now the word is thought to describe paradise; Huxley’s “Brave New World” now simple means a radical, often assumed, technologically advanced, super society. This is the “Brave New World” which we are engaging when listening to Covenant; Covenant’s “Brave New World” is the promised land.

“Where is the promised land?
Where is the brave new world?
Where do all dreams go when they die?
Oh, we can move the streets today.”

Covenant in this song is describing the disappointment and the surprise that the future world is not what was expected, it is not paradise, it is not brave or new, or really anything to be thrilled about. The future just ain’t what it used to be.

There is a verse describing growing isolation:

“The lights are fading out,
Before our eyes.
We lose each other,
And we celebrate the peace.”

Another describing a lost sense of purpose:

“Our lives are changing,
Faster than we think.
We flow like dancers,
Crashing in the dark.”

And another about pollution, physical and psychological, very topical:

“Another morning broken,
Shattered sheets of lead.
Clouds the size of oceans,
Inside and above our heads.”

There are not many words outside of the three verses listed above. The chorus repeats many times, asking the same three questions and no answer is ever given to the rhetoric. It feels very natural for a song of the nature and style of “Brave New World” to be repetitive; it is an electronic song and as such indulges into the hypnotic and atmospheric sounds. The “celebrated” beat is naturally both catchy and symbolically able to lull the listener into a complacent state of relaxed acceptance.

I would argue that the overall symbolism of this song is mild, but the sound is wonderful and attractive, and that is such a fine offer of art it leaves so little to demand more. The fact that there is anything of a conversation of value put forth is encouraging in its own right, Covenant could have elected to be a purely instrument/synthesised band but they elected to enrich their music, and us the listeners, with little drops of poetry, and in the end that is pretty much exactly what we all want in our music.

That random purchase by younger brother really worked out for the best.

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

The Kovenant - Mirror's Paradise

My younger brother and I worked together in the kitchens for many years and we often found ourselves working the prep hall and listening to CDs, because people still listened to CDs back then. We both really enjoyed the music from the CKY soundtrack which was mostly songs by Finnish love metal band HIM, but there were other tracks we really enjoyed like Kovenant’s “Mirror’s Paradise.”

We must have listened to “Mirror’s Paradise” hundreds of times back then, and then as my music collection grew and grew the song was half lost in my now nearly ten thousand song playlist on my computer. It came up on random the other day, and for probably the first time in five years I heard “Mirror’s Paradise” and thought of my kid brother, those prep halls, and everything else that ran with my memories and those times.

It has been over a decade since I discovered “Mirror’s Paradise” and I surprise myself how I had never looked any deeper into Kovenant, and to this day I have barely heard an album’s worth of their tracks. Who are Kovenant?

Kovenant are a Norwegian black metal band, I probably could have guessed that, what from the screaming and everything; classic Norway.

To date they have released four studio album, with “Mirror’s Paradise” appearing as the first track on their third 1999 album “Animatronic.” They managed a fourth studio album release in 2003 but have been largely inactive since then. I would have suspected the band had dissolved but apparently there is still talk about producing a new album and the band claims Kovenant is still a thing. I have not had the time to dig up the details but it appears that fan reception to change was negative enough to really upset some of the members of Kovanent. Where they darker heavier before? I do not yet know.

If I am being perfectly honest about it, as I go through the various songs on youtube by Kovanent, I like them, but I do not love them. Nothing compares to “Mirror’s Paradise.”

Perhaps it was the right song presented to me at the right time in my life but “Mirror’s Paradise” is the sort of song I will never get tired of and could listen to every day for the rest of my life.

If you look at the other one-hundred ninety one reviews on this blog you will see that I like European metal a lot but I have little to no love for the “black” metal scene. The raw growling of a Gwar or the screeching of Cradle of Filth is a little too much for me. As someone who loves the melody of vocals these... interpretations of singing; and I use that word with its most liberal meaning imaginable; largely fail to be used effectively as a melody.

Someone on the track “Mirror’s Paradise” is doing their best Dani Filth impersonation. Ten plus years ago I did not think, or perhaps have the means, to look up who was singing on this track, but I always thought it might have featured that demon singer from Cradle of Filth, checking now I can find no such evidence suggesting so. What distinguishes “Mirror’s Paradise” from other extreme metal songs is the stoic and deep voice that sings the chorus, this strange notion that we should be able to decipher the words is present. I also really like the female harmony vocals. The overall final product is a more symphonic experience, which is exactly what I like.

The song “Mirror’s Paradise” still feels very demonic in sound and theme, but the lyrics reveal that true meaning of the song is an anti-religious one. This song is an aggressive song about how there is no after-life.

“How can you love it...
How can you believe it...
How can you need it...
When there’s nothing there?”

There is a very strong movement in Norwegian black metal towards Satanism, but there is an even stronger movement in Norway in the general population towards atheism and agnosticism, so I cannot feign even the smallest surprise that a Norwegian metal band would so directly and forcefully sing about the horrid nightmare of having all your dreams of an afterlife spirited away from you when you close your eyes for the last time.

It is a dark take on the subject, but reality is a brutal uncompromising beast with zero consideration for our emotions, and a if we wish to be honest in our philosophies about life and death we will have to weigh the overwhelming probable certainty that Kovanent are correct and there is literally nothing waiting for us when we take our great leap into the dark.

“You smile... but it’s all despair.
You love... but there’s nothing there.”

So when we pause to take “Mirror’s Paradise” as a whole there is so much more than just sound and fury of their black metal origins, but an emotional and thoughtful truth being thrust forward to our ears and hopefully our minds. It is typical that a metal song should be about death, but “Mirror’s Paradise” evokes something a little more than raw death, it challenges the uncomfortable notion that we can cheat death; it demands a look at our true morality, and all that we are, one day ends. You can see why this song has stayed with me over all this time.

- King of Braves

Electric Youth & College - A Real Hero

They say history repeats itself, and in many ways they are right. Musically they are right.

There are a lot of reasonable explanations as to why trends and fads from the past can become popular again but I suspect the most powerful motivation is nostalgia. Young people are very impressionable, and your first love will typically carry greater weight on your heart then the loves that follow, and again I am talking about music here. So when people grow up and become creative persons there is often a very powerful urge to embrace the sorts of sounds and songs they adored when they were young, and this is probably why every decade has a resurgence approximately twenty or thirty years after the fact. If you do some quick math you should be quick to realize I am currently talking about the eighties.

The eighties were a different time, but I suppose all times are different from all other times when you think about it, anyway the eighties was a strange animal. Glam rock had influenced hair bands, garish bright neon colors were the new black, but so was black, metal music was born, and pop music entered its golden age. I was there; I was alive during the eighties, I was too young to fully appreciate how important Guns N Roses or Def Leppard would become, I just thought they were cool dudes, with cool music, and I had a cool T-shirt of them, and it is interesting to think I witnessed the whole gambit of their careers over my lifetime, but I am not the only one, my whole generation went through this together and it affected us; the eighties is our decade of nostalgia, whether we like it or not.

The eighties are popular again and this is no surprise, it has been thirty years past and artist now in their thirties are looking back to their childhoods and remember how much fun they had back then. Edguy’s last album “Space Police” was adverted as “more eighties than the eighties ever were” and Tobias Sammet made a serious effort to prove that claim true. Tegan and Sara’s recent album release “Love You to Death” is embracing the eighties style in a big way. It is sort of weird those two acts are the first examples I think of to prove this point, but the point still stands.

I think I should finally get to the point, another place we have seen a return and an embrace to the eighties is cinema, and since this is a music blog I should probably focus on soundtracks.

In recent years a handful of movies have stood out to me as very eighties, not just set in the eighties but embracing eighties themes and style. I am very fond of movies like “Nightcrawler,” “It Follows,” and the “Maniac” remark, all of which were very eighties and had really strong eighties inspired soundtracks. I also enjoyed the comedic “Turbo Kid” and “Kung Fury” but those movies while comparably eighties are in a whole other category of their own. Most importantly is the movie “Drive,” not only is this the best movie of all the films I just mentioned but it also has the best soundtrack and the best single song we could pull from this collection, Electric Youth & College’s “A Real Hero.”

Bronwyn Griffin and Austin
Garrick; Electric Youth.

Electric Youth is a musical duo from Toronto, where basically Bronwyn Griffin sings and Austin Garrick plays the synthesizer and drums.

College is one of many projects by David Grellier, who for as far as I know, functions similarly to Austin Garrick as far as purpose and function when it came to the collaborative creation that is “A Real Hero.”

“A Real Hero” is so convincingly eighties that I struggled to believe that is was a new song when I first heard it. Clearly very careful consideration and deliberation was invested in the selection of sounds that creates the rhythm section of this song, I would suspect a time machine was used, but time machines are not a thing still... thanks Obama.

But, what is “A Real Hero” about?

My first instinct was always to tie it to the movie “Drive,” and I always suspected the course had a direct meaning to Ryan Gosling’s character;

“And you, have proved, to be,
A real human being,
And a real hero.”

Ryan Gosling in "Drive."

Ryan Gosling effectively plays a sociopath in “Drive.” His lack of empathy comes across more stoic than anything else, but there is an uneasy intensity in the cold and cool way he handles the conflicts facing him. This manifests itself in the elevator scene where Gosling efficiently and brutally stomps a man to death in front of his love interest who is left horrified of him, with his reaction being one of distant indifference. So... it could be argued, and I believe very effectively, that Gosling’s character in “Drive” did indeed need to prove himself to be an actual human being, perhaps by becoming a hero and avenging Bryan Cranston’s death, and after all Gosling’s character is in fact “emotionally complex.”

Oh... spoilers by the way.

Mel Gibson in "The Road Warrior."

However there is an alternative source of inspiration for “Real Hero,” and that is the “The Road Warrior.” Speaking of the eighties... “The Road Warrior” is an awesome movie that tragically has been eclipsed in very nearly every way by “Mad Max Fury Road;” but this is not a movie review, though I doubt myself sometimes, this is a music review, and “A Real Hero” may be about Mad Max.

“Against the grain of dystopic claims,
Not the thoughts your actions entertain.”

Mel Gibson’s Mad Max, comes across as a heartless stranger, indifferent to the plights and struggles of others, but in the end he goes very far out of his way to save the day. His actions are not the same as his thoughts.

Captain Sully
Sullenberger, a real hero

But there is one more verse to consider:

“A pilot on a cold, cold morn,
155 people on board.
All safe and all rescued,
From the slowly sinking ship.
Water warmer than,
His head so cool,
In that tight bind knew what to do.”

Well... that is very specific, this has to be something; and it is! It is about Captain Sully Sullenberger, who successfully safety landed a plane, presumably with one hundred and fifty five passengers, after a flock of geese flew into the jet and disabled it. I think it is safe to say that Sullenberger is a real hero, a real life hero, and I doubt anyone has reason to question his qualification as a human being, a real one at that, unlike the last two fictional characters we just finished discussing.

I have to give credit to The Hollywood Reporter for informing me about some of the details here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/drive-soundtrack-captain-sully-254349

Evidently it is not reaching to project Mad Max onto this song; it is in part Austin Garrick’s intention.

It is an interest soup Electric Youth have stewed with “A Real Hero.” Triple heroic inspirations, with a collaboration of talents, and very heavy eighties influence. Not to repeat myself but “A Real Hero” so perfectly captures the sound of the eighties I thought for certain it was some lost classic from that decade, or maybe an Italian hit that never surfaced in North America. I always suspected Electric Youth to be Italian... I do not know why.

So the eighties are back, and depending on how you felt about it the first time around, this may or may not be a good thing. This too will pass and we will have yet another odd catalogue of great songs that seem out of time, belonging to other moments in history altogether, and that thing, history, will continue to repeat itself.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

P.S.

I really like this live version:

Lindsey Sterling - Shadows

In 2010 Lindsey Stirling competed on the fifth season of “America’s Got Talent.” She was voted out in the quarterfinals where professional British jerk Piers Morgan told her the world had no use for a hip-hop violinist. Like a lot of things Piers Morgan has said, he was wrong.

The music industry is changing. There was a time when most people were dependent on the radio to discover new music; then came music television; then for unknown reasons music television stop playing music, now we have the internet. No one, including Piers Morgan, could possibly have known how the internet would support and encourage musicians in so many new horizons. For Lindsey Sterling it was youtube; with a variety of videos comprised of original material, covers, and many collaborations, Lindsey Sterling has become incredibly popular, now maintaining eight million subscribers.

Sterling is an interesting case study for a variety of reasons; she is a fine example of the new blue print on how to gain an audience and become a musical sensation in the modern world, and also she is yet another reminder that the world craves original, unique experiences, and a hip-hop violinist is a new thing that Sterling currently holds the monopoly on. Lastly is the interesting divide between consumers, Lindsey’s audience exists almost exclusively online and it is almost entirely interacted with there, and then there is everyone else who still depends on radio and television to assist them on this front and they almost entirely have and could not have heard of Lindsey Stirling or any other internet based musician.

Two of my closest friends are huge fans of Lindsey Stirling. Many a drunken evening we have embarked upon taking turns choosing youtube videos to watch and every evening my two friends would go down a rabbit hole that always thoroughly endorsed Lindsey Sterling. To be honest I was not taken with Sterling initially. I had no negative comments to share but she struck me primarily as an interesting but forgettable creature. Given just how wild the internet has become a girl covering pop songs and video game music on violin did not overly impress me, but this got me thinking why do people like Lindsey Sterling so much?

There are several reasons.

Yeah, she is pretty cute.

Lindsey is unique. Piers Morgan was too quick to dismiss the popularity of something new and daring, and violin covers of hip hop songs was certainly something new.

Lindsey is talented. It is so strange we tend to overlook such obvious things when writing critiques, but we do. Lindsey is a very good violin player, and people like that, believe it or not.

Lindsey is cute. Yeah, she is pretty cute. She has captured the market for magical violin playing frolicking elf girls. Speaking of magical frolicking elf girls:

Zelda Medley:

Lastly, video games, Lindsey is popular because of video games. My friends are gamers, a title I cannot honestly claim to wear anymore, I played the hell out of World of Warcraft for a while there (for the horde!), but as a “gamer” I checked out long ago. There is something fantastic about gamers they are infinitely loyal and supportive. If you like the game they like, you are suddenly friends. If an actor voice acts in a game, gamers will start following their entire acting career. If cute girl dresses up like a video game character, gamers fall in love with her; should she thereafter make music videos about games like “Assassins Creed,” “Halo,” “Dragon’s Age,” “Skyrim,” “Final Fantasy,” and “The Legend of Zelda,” she is set for life. Lindsey Sterling having done exactly this, she now has a huge loyal fan base who will follow and support her forever.

Well I am not a gamer, so that angle did not hook me.

I was on a rabbit hole adventure on youtube by myself when I stumbled across Sterling’s “Shadows.” It was then I began to truly appreciate what she was all about.

“Shadows” falls into the category of original material. It is no surprise that an original musical composition is what won me over, I firmly hold to the value that creation is just as, or more so, important then performance.

Broadly, Lindsey does two primary things, she plays violin (obviously), and she dances. Most of her music videos are a combination of playing violin and dancing about the place with the energy of a magical elf girl, as explained earlier. “Shadows” is a full on embrace of these two talents with a charming concept that is both artistic and fun.

The video for “Shadows” has Lindsey playing before a propped up wooden base board in presumably a garage, possibly a warehouse. The light is shot at such an angle to project her shadow upon this said baseboard and as the song progresses her shadow begins to deviate from her own actions, and then breaks into a full dance while Lindsey plays, then they play together again for a while, with the shadow’s accompaniment possessing a sound distortion that is muffled. This visual ascetic gives the viewer a very engaging representation for every sound that this song produces. I really, really like it.

I really like the song “Shadows” itself as well. I really like the ebbs and flows of Lindsey’s violin and I love the subdued accompaniment of the “shadow’s” violin. I also really like how the climax of the song punches out with a silencing of the backbeat just before it arrives. It is a really good instrumental, has a lot of personality.

My two friends, have discussed at length how one day they would plan a trip down to Seattle, or Portland, or Denver, or really anywhere in the United States and see Lindsey Sterling perform live, because they were quite convinced she would never tour Canada. I, the more experience concert goer, always told them to just wait. A few days ago, on August 4th, of this year, Lindsey Sterling played the Jubilee Auditorium in our home of Calgary. Naturally the three of us attended.

I have seen a lot of concerts now, and visually, Lindsey Sterling may have been one of the best. There was some very intelligent thought put into how to present the liveliness of her music videos into a live performance. I suppose I should talk about “Shadows.”

"Shadows" live in Los Angeles

The fourth song of the show was “Shadows.” The road crew brought out three projections and as Sterling played her shadow was projected onto one of the blank slates behind her. Then Lindsey acted all surprised and cute when her shadow began deviating from her own actions. Then about midway through the song a stage size projection screen was dropped and Lindsey’s shadow was then cast onto that and dances away as the song concludes.

This full screen backdrop served the next couple of songs really well. “Elements” was next and the visuals for the rain and then flames were very impressive. Then they played a song I am not familiar with, but I really liked it, Lindsey used one of those machines that records what you play and plays it back in a loop, allowing a single person to create their own rhythm section for a song live, I really dig that kind of stuff, and as for the visuals a bird cage was gradually drawn upon the empty canvas behind her and then a pair of trees, it was simple but nice.

I think Lindsey Sterling made a
pretty good Aerith.

If I had one complaint, it would be Lindsey did not indulge her gamer fans enough live. She performed a nice medley of five or her most popular video game covers, but it was fairly short. Dare I say most slyly, “do not forget who brought you to the dance Lindsey.” The bulk of Sterling’s popularity can be directly linked to gamers, and while not a gamer myself I thought that medley should have been at least twice as long. Also a huge part of Sterling’s charm is her willingness to dress up as video game characters. I cannot fault someone for preferring to focus on their own creative work, but still, you see what I am saying.

The music industry has changed. Taboos such as nerdy or non-mainstream subject matter and weird creativity techniques are no longer a barrier to entry, now they keys to success. The old music industry would never give Lindsey Sterling a serious chance, but the new one embraces her and lifts her up to heights once thought impossible. The times, they are in fact, changing.

- King of Braves

P.S.

It does feel a little bit odd/needless to post on the Internet an article promoting Lindsey Sterling, as this is the one realm she is so well known.

Cheap Trick - She's Tight

A couple of years back I got to see Cheap Trick and Def Leppard in concert at the Stampede Roundup. My ticket was a gift from my boss at the time, she wanted to reward me for all my hard work and she knew I listened to a lot of music, and she correctly guessed that this included Cheap Trick and Def Leppard. It was great seeing Def Leppard but I was more excited to see Cheap Trick.

Live, Cheap Trick like to introduce themselves as the “best band in the world,” while this is surely meant as a playful boast I take such claims seriously, and I must disagree with Cheap Trick, they are not the best band in the world, in fact I suspect only the most diehard of Cheap Trick fans, and presumably Cheap Trick themselves, could believe such a claim. When we consider the greatest bands of all time we tend to think of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Queen and Black Sabbath, and all those bands are British, so perhaps an argument could be made that Cheap Trick are America’s best band, but I still wouldn’t believe that, I mean The Doors are a thing. Anyway that is enough over-thinking regarding that.

Cheap Trick is one of those bands whose repertoire of songs is very deep and enjoyable. The greatest hits album for Cheap Trick could never suffice as proper appreciation for the band, they have too many great songs that were never hits, or just minor hits on the radio, and as a consequence many great songs are largely forgotten in the sands of time. Cheap Trick’s three most famous songs are surely “Surrender,” “Dream Police” and “I Want You to Want Me,” which is somewhat tragic because I do not like two of those songs. “Surrender” is such a classic that I have nothing but praise for that song, but the other two, I have always felt were kind of lame, not bad songs, but certainly not great, at least in my opinion, so it is something of a bummer that these three songs dominate Cheap Trick radio presence, and also their live performances.

This problem, if we can call it that, manifested itself when I saw them live, or any time I watch a live performance of Cheap Trick on DVD or youtube. During the Stampede Roundup I was really hoping to hear songs like “Southern Girls,” “This Time Around,” or “Gonna Raise Hell,” I thought if they would play at least one or two of those songs, or any of the other songs I adored I would be a very happy man, and they played none of them. This is not to claim the concert was bad, it was good, they were good, they played “Surrender” and that rocked, but they also played “Dream Police” and “I Want You To Want Me,” and I was lukewarm of that. It is a bizarre position to be in when you have so many songs but only so much time to play them live, Cheap Trick by necessity needed to focus on their three most popular songs and other hits that and choice picks, and it just happened that it did not align with what I would have preferred.

Alright we are four paragraphs in and this review is beginning to read like a criticism of Cheap Trick, when in reality I am attempting to give them a runabout compliment. The compliment being Cheap Trick have so many great songs that a fan like me will always be disappointed with any greatest hits album or live concert, because there is too much Cheap Trick I want to hear. They may not be the greatest band ever, but they are a really freaking good one. That’s the take away here.

I mentioned my admiration of songs like “Southern Girls,” “This Time Around” and “Gonna Raise Hell” but in addition to those three, and perhaps my favorite Cheap Trick song is “She’s Tight.”

There are countless rock songs about women, and many, if not most, are hyper sexual. It should require literally no meaningful insight to deduce that a song titled “She’s Tight” is sexual in nature and referencing the high quality of a woman’s genitals. We often refer to songs like “She’s Tight” as cock rock songs, as they are ultimately the ideal sort of songs to rock out to. The pace is fast and the subject matter is encouraging, cock rock songs are always ideal for enjoying ourselves and bonding with one another, also they assist in broaching the subject of actual sex with would be lovers, because intentions can become painfully obvious in the embrace of such song and lyrics.

What separate “She’s Tight” from the run of mill cock rock songs is quality, which is really just another way of saying personal preference. There is a lot of praise, and not necessarily all of it sexual, being heaped upon this mystery women being described to us in “She’s Tight,” and there is a flimsy argument that “tight” might be referring to “cool” as that was an alternative for “cool” in California at the time of this song’s release, but it is impossible to interpret this song as anything other than purely sexual, in fact it might be a song about a prostitute.

“She’s Tight” may not be the classiest or deepest of songs I have brought up on this blog, but not everything needs to be. It is a great song regardless of its lack of depth, and it is a very fun song from a band that focus was primarily on good times and other positive themes.

- King of Braves

Triumph - Lay It On The Line

Canada has produced some of greatest three member bands in the history of classic rock in the forms of Rush, The Tea Part, and Triumph; or at the very least, Canada has produced three of my favourite trio rock bands, but maybe I am biased, being Canadian and all.

Rush is easily the greatest progressive rock group of all time. The Tea Party, while tragically underrated, are probably the best band of the entire 90s, big claim I know, but I stand by it. Lastly we have Triumph, I suppose it would be an exaggeration to claim that Triumph was one of the greatest 80s rock bands, but the truth is, they were. Sure Triumph will never have the grand fame and success of Guns N’ Roses or Van Halen, and sure former hair bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard will always be more famous and recognizable as super duper 80s, but certainly worthy of mention is Canada’s Triumph.

It helps a lot that I grew up in Canada where I was subject to the radio playing a minimum of 35% Canadian content, and as a consequence classic rock station play a lot of Rush, The Guess Who, April Wine, Chilliwack, The Tragically Hip, Neil Young and Triumph; never enough Tea Party though. For those of you reading this who are not Canadian (which is most of you) you are getting a great lesson on Canadian classic rock, look up these bands if you have not already.

I have never really agreed with the Canadian content laws, I have always felt the strength of Canadian music never needed government regulation to assist in representation, Canadian television on the other hand, maybe. Nonetheless Triumph gets a fair amount of radio play that they would probably not receive otherwise, so in this hyper specific example the content laws worked out okay I guess.

I talk a lot about bands that are quasi-forgotten in the chronicles of classic rock, I mean the last review was about Free, and Triumph somewhat fits this mold. Sure, here in Canada, many Canadians remember and enjoy Triumph, and Canadian fans of classic rock mostly remember Triumph, but people outside of Canada? Not so much. Americans who absolutely love 80s rock probably remember Triumph, but that is a very narrow range of fame, and in turn, that is a very limited amount of appreciation for one of the better bands to exist in the late 70s and 80s.

I claim that Triumph is a 80s rock band but they started their career in the mid 70s, and my favorite albums of theirs are their first three, which were released 1976-1979. The 80s saw the release of the majority of their radio hits, “Magic Power,” “Follow Your Heart” and “Never Surrender,” but again, their best songs, in my opinion, were all from the 70s, “Hold On,” “The Blinding Lightshow,” “Street Fighter Man,” “Rock and Roll Machine” and best of all, “Lay It on the Line.”

“Lay It on the Line,” at a glance is a very good rock song about heartbreak, but I have always believed the song to be about a confused love. There is this strong implication of mixed messages being received by Emmett’s narrative character, and he is left extremely unsure where he stands with this woman he is pursuing. It is an unrequited love, but a perplexing one;

“It's the same old story all over again,
You turn a lover into just another friend.
I want to love you, I want to make you mine,
Won't you lay it on the line?”

As the song progresses the frustration in Emmett’s voice grows, and a demand for answers becomes the central theme;

“I'm tired of playing all your foolish games,
I'm tired of all of your lies making me insane.
I don't ask for much, the truth will do just fine.
Won't you lay it on the line.

You got no right to make me wait,
We better talk, girl, before it gets too late.
I never thought you could be so unkind,
Won't you lay it on the line.

You know I love you, you know it's true,
It's up to you, girl, what've I got to do?
Don't hold me up, girl, don't waste my precious time.
Won't you lay it on the line.”

I particular like the line “don’t waste my time,” it is much easier to move forward, or move on, if we simply know where we stand with one another, and it can be highly aggravating being buried under such uncertainty. This awkward push and pull some people do to potential lovers when they are uncertain about their own feelings, or unsure how to tactful reject the advances given to them, is, however unintentional, probably the worst thing someone can do; which brings us to the what is likely the primary theme of this a song; honesty.

I can hardly offer meaningful relationship advice to anyone so I try to lean on Rik Emmet’s wisdom as much as possible here, but a great source of distress and collapse in many relationships, romantic and otherwise, is failed communication and especially when important feelings are withheld. The expression of Emmett’s narrator in “Lay It On The Line” is almost one of anger, and this stems entirely from his discomfort of not knowing what to do, or how to feel, about a would be lover’s refusal to simply to be honest and open with him. The best line in the song sums everything up perfectly; “I don't ask for much, the truth will do just fine.” I also like to think that is not asking too much, but like the narrator and presumably Emmett as well, I have had to live through many such experiences where something as necessary and readily available as the truth have been withheld at the cost of time and respect.

“Lay It on the Line” was released on the 1979 album “Just a Game” and the cover art depicts a variety of games, and what I never knew until recently is that each object, each game, is meant to represent a song from the album. Evidently the chess board, lying mostly empty, with pieces fallen over, is meant to represent “Lay It on the Line.” A chess board with conditions set that make the game unwinnable represents the story in “Lay It on the Line.” It is a very fair sentiment, that love is an unwinnable game when one of the players refuses to communicate.

I wanted to end this review with a touch of levity. I wanted to link a Space Ghost Coast to Coast webpage where each character had a personal profile that read exactly like the character had written it themselves. Moltar, the poorly drawn lava man, and producer of the cartoon talk show, had his page consisting mostly of ramblings about rock bands like The Ramones, Boston, and of course Triumph. There was a very comical analysis of “Lay It on the Line” there within, but unfortunately I cannot find it anymore, so that is a shame.

I suppose the moral of this review is twofold; Triumph are a great rock band and deserve more love, and also, we should make an effort to be more understanding of those who love us.

Try to be good to each other people, and lay it on the line.

- King of Braves