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Posts tagged Tommy Aldridge
Whitesnake – Live at Donington 1990 (@256)
15 Dec 2011
Thanks to OzOz for the review contribution.
(Review from hardrockhaven.net)
Recorded during the tour in support of Slip of the Tongue, Live at Donington 1990 showcases the band at the end of their decade of huge popularity, celebrating the glitz and glamor that was eighties metal. Add to that the fact that this tour boasted the insane guitar pairing of Steve Vai and Adrian Vandenberg, and the result is a great live Whitesnake release.
The set list covers everything one would expect from a mid-period Whitesnake show. In addition to the then-new album material, we get the pre-metal, sex-heavy classics (“Slide It In,” and “Slow and Easy”) the band’s first major UK hit (“Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City”) and of course, MTV favorites “Is This Love”, “Here I Go Again” and “Still of the Night”. While fans of the first two Coverdale solo LPs and bluesy early Whitesnake may feel the set is a bit too 1980s heavy, considering the impact both the self-titled record and their latest album had, it’s still a great celebration of the band at its popularity peak.
Musically, there is nothing to complain about. Vai and Vandenberg both exemplify 1980s shred excess, but both also understand the need to pull things back at times. Even the more blues-influenced songs retain their original vibes, which is surprising.
This album just proves that even as the musicians get older, good music truly doesn’t age.
Line-up:
- David Coverdale / vocals
- Steve Vai / guitar
- Adrian Vandenberg / guitar
- Rudy Sarzo / bass
- Tommy Aldridge / drums
Track List:
CD1
01. Slip Of The Tongue – 6:52
02. Slide It In – 5:02
03. Judgement Day – 5:55
04. Slow & Easy – 8:11
05. Kittens Got Claws – 4:58
06. Adagio For Strato – 3:00
07. Flying Dutchman Boogie – 3:53
08. Is This Love – 4:45
09. Chaep & Nasty – 4:20
10. Crying In The Rain – 13:27
CD2
01. Fool For Your Loving – 6:01
02. For The Love Of God – 5:12
03. The Audience Is Listening – 3:01
04. Here I Go Again – 5:42
05. Bad Boys – 6:16
06. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City – 8:26
07. Still Of The Night – 7:59
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Ozzy Osbourne – Bark at the Moon (1983) (@256)
24 Oct 2008
(Review from metal-archives.com, wikipedia)
Ozzy Osbourne finds a permanent replacement for Randy Rhoads in Jake E. Lee. Like Rhoads, he came from a hair metal outfit. In Rhoads case it was Quiet Riot, whereas Lee came from Ratt. Whilst he doesn’t have the distinctiveness of Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee is a perfectly good guitarist in his own right. He does very well throughout the album, and plays a significant part in the album’s artistic success.
The classic title track, with a superb guitar riff and various screeching solos from Jake E. Lee, whilst Ozzy handles the vocals with aplomb and seems to be having great fun doing it. This is rightfully considered one of Ozzy’s best. Along similar lines is ‘Rock And Roll Rebel’, with another highly effective chorus and a driving, if predictable, guitar riff.
‘Centre Of Eternity’ has an aura of ‘Mr Crowley’ due to the dense layers of gothic keyboards and a chiming, funereal bell toll which is accompanied by an eerie vocal backdrop. It soon picks up into a hard rocking riff workout with a fine lead melody, however. The climactic ‘Waiting For Darkness’ is along similarly bleak and gothic lines, albeit with some added string arrangements to add texture.
The more straight forward melodic tracks here offer a very nice respite and show off Ozzy’s way with a melody superbly. While ‘Slow Down’ and ‘Now You See It (Now You Don’t)’ are perfectly good songs, the best of the bunch is ‘You’re No Different’, with a highly distinctive and effective lead keyboard riff that works well in conjunction with the chorus, and the lovely ballad ‘So Tired’. This is one of the best as far as Ozzy ballads go, revealing his Beatles influence for all to hear whilst the double tracked choruses and the gorgeous chord progressions.
Note : Bark at the Moon’s re-issue in 2002 is actually a remix of the album, not a remaster. Many fans were displeased with the remix, noting that some elements found in the original mix are not present in the remix, namely several lead guitar parts.
Line-up:
* Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
* Jake E. Lee – guitar
* Bob Daisley – bass guitar
* Tommy Aldridge – drums
* Don Airey – keyboards
Track List:
01. Rock ‘n’ Roll Rebel – 5:28
02. Bark At The Moon – 4:17
03. You’re No Different – 5:02
04. Now You See It (Now You Don’t) – 5:05
05. Forever – 5:24
06. So Tired – 3:58
07. Waiting For Darkness – 5:15
08. Spiders – 4:21
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Ozzy Osbourne – Speak of the Devil (Live 1982) (@256)
22 Oct 2008
(Review from allmusic)
Immediately following the death of Ozzy Osbourne’s dear friend and collaborator Randy Rhoads, tentative plans for a live recording from the Rhoads tours were quickly scrapped (though recordings later surfaced in the “Tribute” album).
Instead, the deeply troubled singer opted for a pair of one-offs at New York City’s Ritz club. No one had any idea what Ozzy would do, and an evening of Black Sabbath covers was the furthest thing from everyone’s mind. Ozzy had been portrayed as a washed-up, vocally challenged frontman by his ex-bandmates, and the perception was that Ozzy could no longer sing the original Sabbath material.
Night Ranger guitarist Brad Gillis fills in for the late Randy Rhoads. The show itself took on an ominous tone with a chair visibly propped up on the edge of the stage; upon it rested a spiral notebook containing the lyrics to all the Sabbath songs of the evening, from which Ozzy read throughout the show.
Still, Speak of the Devil is strengthened by the classic combo of Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge on bass and drums, undoubtedly one the best rhythm sections of Ozzy’s solo career. And immediately, it becomes obvious that Brad Gillis was the right man for the gig. Playing Iommi to a tee, Gillis effortlessly leads the band through some of the best of the Sabbath catalog; Speak of the Devil ends up solid throughout, if somewhat unremarkable at times.
Following the recording, due to the uncertainty surrounding the Ozzy camp, Gillis would jump ship and rejoin the ranks of Night Ranger.
Line-up:
* Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
* Brad Gillis – guitar
* Rudy Sarzo – bass
* Tommy Aldridge – drums
Track List:
01. Symptom Of The Universe – 5:41
02. Snowblind – 4:55
03. Black Sabbath – 6:04
04. Fairies Wear Boots – 6:32
05. War Pigs – 8:35
06. The Wizard – 4:42
07. N.I.B – 5:35
08. Sweet Leaf (Bonus) – 5:54
09. Never Say Die – 4:18
10. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath – 5:34
11. Iron Man – Children Of The Grave – 9:11
12. Paranoid – 3:10
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Ozzy Osbourne – Randy Rhoads Tribute (Live 1981) (@256)
21 Oct 2008
(Review from amazon)
Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist Randy Rhoads was a technical genius on his instrument, but that’s only half the story. Rhoads shaped the direction of Osbourne’s first two post-Sabbath recordings, Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Ozz, which still stand as his best solo studio albums. Rhoads also was capable of pulling the best out of Osbourne onstage, a notable accomplishment in itself.
In this live set Osbourne and company run through the Blizzard album in its entirety, adding a few tunes from Diary, and the Sabbath classics “Iron Man”, “Children of the Grave” and “Paranoid”.
The album/concert begins with “I Don’t Know”, which features a fast, running guitar lead and a great, several parted solo. Next comes the world-renowned “Crazy Train”. It’s executed without a flaw, and includes careening guitar work (Randy’s fret board must be smoking by the time this song is over!) The next two songs, “Believer” and “Mr. Crowley,” are both highlighted by more great, long, technical, classical-sounding guitar solos. Track six, “Revelation (Mother Earth),” is a power ballad with soft strumming and even a piano. “Steal Away (The Night)” is very catchy, and ends with an extended, everything but the kitchen sink drum solo. “Suicide Solution” has a guitar solo, where Rhoads switches between lightning fast pentatonic and harmonic minor shredding to dimished scale runs and classically influenced arpeggio bits.
Any fan of Rhoads-era Ozzy needs this album, as well as guitar players looking for inspiration, or just amazing playing.
Line-up:
- Tommy Aldridge / Drums
- Ozzy Osbourne / Vocals
- Randy Rhoads / Guitar
- Rudy Sarzo / Bass
Track List:
01. I Don’t Know – 5:40
02. Crazy Train – 5:19
03. Believer – 5:08
04. Mr. Crowley – 5:37
05. Flying High Again – 4:17
06. Revelation (Mother Earth) – 5:58
07. Steal Away (The Night) with Drum Solo – 8:04
08. Suicide Solution with Guitar Solo – 7:46
09. Iron Man – 2:50
10. Children Of The Grave – 5:57
11. Paranoid – 2:59
12. Goodbye To Romance – 5:33
13. No Bone Movies – 4:08
14. Dee (Studio Out-Take) – 4:22
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Whitesnake – Live in the Shadow of the Blues (2006) (@192)
24 May 2008
(Review from revelationz.net)
Whitesnake is back with a fresh double live album with 20 tracks, but more appealing it contains 4 brand new studio tracks. These songs are the first new songs from Whitesnake in ages and all new tracks are written in collaboration with the splendid guitarist Doug Aldrich.
Three of the new studio tracks are solid rockers. Coverdale also uses some of the old tricks in the book to adapt fans to the new material, since “Dog” opens with Coverdale’s classic howl. The up-tempo “Ready to rock” has a wall of Led Zeppelin like guitars and a killer solo. A chunky riff and yet another killer solo from Aldrich makes “If you Want Me a” potential live favorite. The best rocker is “If you want me”, since it has the best melody line. The song is a hybrid of classic melodic Whitesnake and a fresh powerful modern edge. “All I Want Is You” is a brilliant power ballad. The thick bluesy guitar sound gives goose pimples.
Most of the live recordings are from the recent world tours. All 20 songs are amazing, representing the legacy of Whitesnake. Hearing those astonishing songs performed by an amazing band and Mr Whitesnake himself David Coverdale makes “Live..In the Shadow of the Blues” one of the best live albums of 2006. The songs off “Whitesnake 1987″ never get worn out and they still sound fabulous – in fact they sound very similar to the record and the solos are note for note. The two songs off “Slip of the Tongue” album, Judgement Day and The Deeper the Love works really well live. Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach are a dangerous guitar duo.
The band’s performance is damn consistent and the songs are timeless. On top is Coverdale’s expressive and unique voice, which has suffered a bit from the many years in rock ‘n’ roll. “Live : In the Shadow of the Blues” is the perfect present for the aged rock fan who loves quality rock.
Line-up:
* David Coverdale / Lead Vocals
* Doug Aldrich / Guitar, Backing Vocals
* Reb Beach / Guitar, Backing Vocals
* Timothy Drury / Keyboards, Backing Vocals
* Uriah Duffy / Bass, Backing Vocals
* Tommy Aldridge / Drums
Track List:
CD1
01. Bad Boys
02. Slide It In
03. Slow An’ Easy
04. Love Ain’t No Stranger
05. Judgement Day
06. Is This Love
07. Blues For Mylene
08. Snake Dance
09. Crying In The Rain
10. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of City
11. Fool For Your Loving
12. Here I Go Again
13. Still Of The Night
CD2
01. Burn-Stormbringer Burn
02. Give Me All Your Love Tonight
03. Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues
04. The Deeper The Love
05. Ready An’ Willing
06. Don’t Break My Heart Again
07. Take Me With You
08. Ready To Rock (New Studio Record)
09. If You Want Me-I’ll Come Running (New Studio Recording)
10. All I Want Is You (New Studio Record)
11. Dog (New Studio Recording)
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Whitesnake – Live in the Still of the Night (2004) (@320)
23 May 2008
(Review from blogcritics.org)
Whitesnake has always been a revolving door of musicians supporting band founder and frontman David Coverdale since the breakup of the classic line-up. “Live In The Still Of The Night” is certainly no different, finding Coverdale again surrounded by five hired guns, who breath new life into the band. They certainly have the muscle to resurrect this blues-rock dinosaur at a time when most of these “nu-rock” bands need to be stepped on with a two ton paw.
Coverdale can still belt out the arena-rock ballads and blues-metal anthems with the best of them, and he oozes enough charisma to keep the audience eating out of his hands for the entire show. Doug Aldrich is clearly from the older Jimmy Page/Gary Moore school of blues-based rock guitar. He even has a ’58 re-issue Gibson Les Paul that he persuaded Page to scratch his initials into with a fork. Reb Beach is more from the ’80s, Van Halen/Steve Vai school of flash guitar, but he can still do it all. Coverdale has clearly given Aldrich the spotlight in this band, as he takes the majority of the guitar solos, and even gets two full songs “Blues For Mylene”, and “Snake Dance”, which were essentially his solo vehicles. Beach does add some excellent rhythm guitar and the occasional colorful solo, but was much less in the spotlight.
The setlist is a decent mix of old and new, going all the way back to the beginning with the Snakebite slow-blues ballad “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City”, and as far forward as the Slip Of The Tongue anthem “Judgement Day” from 1989. The 1987 album Whitesnake gets the lion’s share, six of the album’s eleven songs are performed.
Line-up:
* David Coverdale – Vocals
* Doug Aldrich – Guitar
* Reb Beach – Guitar
* Marco Mendoza – Bass
* Timothy Drury – Keyboards
* Tommy Aldridge – Drums
Track List:
01. Burn – 8:32
02. Bad Boys – 5:27
03. Love Ain’t No Stranger – 4:40
04. Ready An Willing – 6:03
05. Is This Love – 4:50
06. Give Me All Your Love – 4:53
07. Judgement Day – 5:23
08. Blues For Mylene – 3:53
09. Snake Dance – 2:08
10. Cryin’ In The Rain Pt1 – 4:37
11. Drum Solo – 5:15
12. Cryin’ In The Rain Pt2 – 3:04
13. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of – 9:05
14. Don’t Break My Heart Again – 6:08
15. Fool For Your Lovin’ – 4:49
16. Here I Go Again – 6:56
17. Take Me With You – 7:15
18. Still Of The Night – 8:54
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Whitesnake – Slip of the Tongue (1989) (@256)
18 May 2008
(Review from amazon, rollingstone.com, wikipedia)
Following the success of 1987, Adrian Vandenburg became a permanent member of Whitesnake. He and Coverdale co-wrote most of the songs of the upcoming successor album. Unfortunately Vandenberg suffered a debilitating hand injury related to isometric exercises and was unable to participate in the album sessions. With all of the foundation tracks completed, guitarist Steve Vai was called in to record all the guitar parts. The rock world and guitar fans everywhere waited with batedbreath for the result of this union.
The problem with Vai is that he always tries to sound like himself, because he’s a very authentic player. In doing this, he tries to avoid using blues and pentatonic-based licks. Instead of playing standard metal cliches, he overplays with his killer (but rather progressive) chops, going for unexplored avenues. The result is that, in a band like Whitesnake, he frequently moves away from the main song’s focus.
Unlike any Whitesnake album, there’s a lack of deep emotion all along this album — like the proverbial Ice Queen. Not passionate enough to evoke pleasure, not rude enough to spark contempt, it is an album that shies from both ends of the emotional spectrum.
Nevertheless, the re-recording of the earlier hit from “Ready An’ Willing” album, “Fool For Your Loving”, became an MTV favourite; while such raunchy rockers as the album-opening title track, “Cheap An’ Nasty”, and “Kittens Got Claws” fitted in well with the then-thriving party/glam metal climate. Even core fans found comfort in hard rockers like “Judgement Day” and “Wings of the Storm”.
A world tour of “Slip of the Tongue” was followed by a period of inactivity. It was no secret that Coverdale wanted out of the business at that point. He’d grown uncomfortable with the corporate, image-driven entity he felt Whitesnake had become. In a candid period interview, Coverdale sums it up in one sentence: “It got louder and louder, and so did I, to the point now where I have to get dressed up as a ‘girly man’ and tease ones questionable pants or hair and it’s all getting a bit … boring”.
Whitesnake officially went on hiatus in 1991.
Line-up:
* David Coverdale – vocals
* Steve Vai – Guitars
* Rudy Sarzo – bass
* Tommy Aldridge – drums
with
* Glenn Hughes – back vocals
* Tommy Funderburk – back vocals
* Richard Page – back vocals (4)
* Don Airey – keyboards
* David Rosenthal – keyboards
Track List:
01. Slip Of The Tongue – 5:20
02. Cheap An’ Nasty – 3:28
03. Fool For Your Loving (1990 version) – 4:11
04. Now You’re Gone – 4:12
05. Kitten’s Got Claws – 5:02
06. Wings Of The Storm – 5:01
07. The Deeper The Love – 4:22
08. Judgment Day – 5:16
09. Slow Poke Music – 3:59
10. Sailing Ships – 6:03
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Pat Travers – Radio Active (1981) (@320)
13 Jun 2007
Request of Lou.
(Info from wikipedia, pattravers.com)
After an appearance before 35,000 people at the Reading Music Festival in England, both Thrall and Aldridge announced they were leaving the band to pursue other projects. Travers and Cowling forged on with drummer Sandy Gennaro and released Radio Active in 1981.
“Radio Active” was much different than Travers’ previous work, with more emphasis on keyboards than heavy guitars. On Radio Active, Travers plays everything from soulful ballads to Pink Floyd inspired instrumentals.
A co-headlining tour with Rainbow followed, and the two bands performed in major arenas across North America.
Line-up:
* Pat Travers – Guitar/Keyboards/Vocals
* Mars Cowling – Bass Guitar
* Sandt Gennaro – Drums
* Michael Schrieve – Percussion
* Pat Thrall – Guitar
* Tommy Aldridge – Drums
Track List:
01. New Age Music
02. My Life Is On The Line
03. (I Just Wanna) Live It My Way
04. I Don’t Wanna Be Awake
05. I Can Love You
06. Untitled
07. Feelin’ In Love
08. Play It Like You See It
10. Electric Detective
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Black Oak Arkansas – Ain't Life Grand (1975) (@256)
24 Feb 2007
(Review from amazon.com)
What does a band do when in its first half dozen albums it has established itself as a populist band of rural boys who alternate between a musical love for metal and roots music, and a lyrical bent which features songs about sex, metaphysics, and Arkansas ways? Change, grow, and flourish, of course!
“Ain’t Life Grand” shows a Black Oak Arkansas with a more polished sound than any of their previous albums, and yet a sound which can satisfy both the band’s “rocker” fans and the fans of the band’s quirky, populist absurdities.
Although Black Oak Arkansas was a band from the south who sang about regional themes, rock historians tend to place Black Oak Arkansas in a different basket from the other “southern” bands such as the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band or Charlie Daniels Band. Black Oak Arkansas went their own way, as self-taught music populists who combined a love for regional settings and metaphysics with a love for both heavy metal and bluegrass conventions. Although Black Oak Arkansas’ early studio albums might be comparable to the softer sound of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, the band live (and on their live album) rocked with a three guitar attack as if metal were going out of style. During their early days, musicianship (excepting Tommmy Aldridge) was not considered their strong point–instead, in the pre-punk era, this was a band of kids who picked up guitars to escape rural poverty.
“Ain’t Life Grand”, however, shows that the band was not entirely immune to the influence of “southern rock”, nor to the earlier influences of the sixties artists. Moreover, “Ain’t Life Grand” shows that even the most resolutely populist band can acquire a bit of polish after spending a decade on the road 300 nights a year. The result is an entirely pleasing album.
The album opens with a surprising cover of George Harrison’s “Taxman”. Black Oak Arkansas had a love for backing harmonies, which work very well here. In “Fancy Nancy”, the band tackles one of their usual lyrical exercises in somehow retro-sensibility erotic longing, over a solid, very appealing bass-driven melody. In “Keep On”, the band deftly handles an upbeat country-pop song, and in particular Jim Dandy’s vocals have a sweetness to them which belies the usual “mouth full of crackers” image attributed to his work. The songs “Good Stuff” and “Rebel” fit more or less in the traditional “southern rock” mode, while “Back Door Man” features good production values over the band’s trademark “nasty” lyrical themes. “Love Can Be Found” is a jaunty, poppy number celebrating the variety of human expression, while “Diggin’ for Gold” is a workable but unmemorable tune. The album closes, though, with two of the most fun Black Oak Arkansas tunes. In “Crying’ Shame”, a redeeming, ringing guitar-glissandi rocker is accompanied by a winning lyric about the disadvantages of urban living, while “Let Life Be Good to You” is a peppy anthem-like upbeat celebration, the kind of unrestrained common-man bit of fun that Black Oak Arkansas could do so well.
This album is a recognizably Black Oak album, but it shows an Allman Brothers influence not often in evidence for Black Oak Arkansas. The productive values are extremely good here, giving the band a richer sound without making them sound over-produced. In past albums, the studio albums seemed to present a somewhat more rockin’ Ozark Mountain Daredevils, while the live album had shown a metal party band. This album shows both sides of the band, to good effect.
They say that the road exhausts and drains a band, but this album, the culmination of years on the road, shows that it can mature, define and polish a band, too.
“Ain’t Life Grand” is a fascinating album, of a curiously interesting band.
Line-up:
* Tommy Aldridge – Drums
* Pat Daugherty – Bass
* Jimmy Henderson – Guitar
* Stan Knight – Guitar
* James Mangrum – Vocals
* Ricky Reynolds – Guitar
Track List:
01. Taxman
02. Fancy Nancy
03. Keep On
04. Good Stuff
05. Rebel
06. Back Door Man
07. Love Can Be Found
08. Diggin’ For Gold
09. Cryin’ Shame
10. Let Life Be Good To You
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