#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day11

Dinner is done. Kids are home and immediately on devices. Time to choose something to watch... I mean... time for Helen to choose something she wants to watch and that I have to watch with her... #HerWayOrTheHighway #31DaysOfScotch #Day11

13. Van Halen / 5150. 1986. 3.5/5

There is an exchange in the movie Airheads that has Chazz asking Harold Ramis’s character “Whose side did you take in the big David Lee Roth/Van Halen split?”, and when he eventually answers “Van Halen” Joe Mantegna’s character immediately replies “He’s a cop”. Even though this movie was released a decade after the events it references, it was still a touchy subject and hot topic. Who made the better music – Van Halen fronted by David Lee Roth or Van Halen fronted by Sammy Hagar? As a teenager at the time, I can tell you the fight was real, and whichever side you took you would find yourself in an argument with someone. After the commercial success of 1984 and DLR’s departure, was there any hope for the next album, which happened to be 5150?

When this album came out, there was a bit of the residual shying away from allowing this album to be good to my ears. It would be traitorous to let myself actually enjoy this album, as a protest to DLR moving on from the group. Still, it didn’t take much for me to be won over to the dark side for a time. In essence, about three or four listens to the first side of this album was enough to convince me that the ship could continue on its course. And, all hysteria aside over the vocalist, why wouldn’t it continue? The rest of the crew was exactly as it had been through those first six albums, and surely they would be the posse that led the charge. And Hagar could sing, which on the first side of this album he showed with gusto. The opening stanza of “Good Enough” is a solid opening track, incorporating enough of the good vibe Van Halen sound to keep the optimism high. This is followed by the big selling single “Why Can’t This Be Love?”. The energetic “Get Up” is then overwhelmed by the high quality second single “Dreams”. In all of these tracks, the further infusion of keyboards and synths into the music is an attribute that slightly confused at the time, though perhaps not so much all these years later. It was the age of synths, and Eddie has a passion for the instrument as well. It’s just that most fans wanted to hear him playing the guitar rather than the keyboards, and these songs – especially the two singles – had him contributing a lot of one and only a slice of the other. The opening side was finished off by “Summer Nights” which always sounds as though it should have been performed by DLR.
The second side of the album falls apart a little bit. “Best of Both Worlds” is a reasonable song, though a bit standard tracked and without a lot of energy which could have been added. This becomes irrelevant as the dud ballad “Love Walks In” comes on. Seriously, Van Halen playing a true soft rock ballad? I still don’t think I’ve forgiven them for this. Sure there may have been songs in the past that have skidded close, but nothing on this scale. “5150” is a better rock track, living up to the more noticeable ideals of the band, while “Inside” is fine for what it is.

In the long run, I think this album probably highlighted its ideals better when it was released than it does now. And it probably never provided an answer to that burning question over the better prospects of Hagar or Roth. When running a rule over both 1984 and 5150 they seem to be on a similar path, one that has forked away from the guitar heavy earlier albums. Whichever man was helming the vocals for 5150 you would expect a similar result from the album. The music was changing, and while my feelings over the album haven’t changed since its release, that change is still obvious.

Rating:  “It’s got what it takes…”  3.5/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E25: The Masks

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E25: The Masks

Despite the reasonable idea of the written story, I think perhaps this episode is too drawn out to get the appropriate response from the viewer. Such is the way when you have a bed-ridden patient and a family that you are trying to cross-examine even as the story progresses.

The story is ok. An old man is dying, and his family shows up more to ensure he IS dying and that they can claim the enormous inheritance than to show any real sympathy for his own situation. Each of the family reveals their obvious character traits as they are there. As a result, in order to claim their inheritance, they must each don masks that are said to be the opposite of their character but are obviously not so, and must leave them on until midnight. Throughout the evening they all complain of being uncomfortable, but they dutifully await until the anointed hour, at which time the old man expires. Initially delighted to have become immensely rich, they remove their masks to discover why they were so uncomfortable – their faces have contorted into the same terrible expressions as the masks, forcing them to live with their character traits in full public view forever.

Like I said, it comes across as a reasonable story idea, but given the length of time that it takes to drag out to the final conclusion, it is not one of the episodes that you will consider as memorable for those reasons.

Rating: No more hiding behind a mask. 3/5

Thought For the Day

#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day10

After a sensational beef madras, time for a scotch and some outrageously expensive and ridiculously rubbish architecture #31DaysOfScotch #Day10 #GrandDesignsAustralia

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E24: What’s in the Box?

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E24: What’s in the Box?

It is somewhat amusing to see a tale that harps a little on the obsession of some people on watching television back in 1964, especially given the argument that often rears its head in 2017 about how much television the people of today are watching. Still, in the long run that’s not exactly what this episode is about at all. No, it is something completely different and unrelated.

Welcome Joe Britt, a character who seems to have very little redeeming qualities. Let’s bitch about our dinner, let’s bitch about our wife, and let’s bitch about out television repairman. Well, do so at your own risk, because if you have Winnie the Pooh’s voice repairing your TV, then he may just make a special tweak for you. Because once he leaves and Joe resumes his favourite position, suddenly what he can watch on the TV is his life – parts that have passed, parts that are current, and what scares him more, parts of what is to come.

OK, so without trying to overanalyse the episode, if this was occurring to you, would you not try and conclude whether anyone else could see if (which his wife could not) and then try and examine whether you were seeing things? Yes, I am overanalysing I know, and while the episode draws to its inevitable conclusions I guess you should be able to enjoy it without trying to pick it all to pieces. I have a bad habit of doing that to episodes that use either time travel or knowledge of the past or future in them.

As it turns out, two rather unlikeable characters both get their just desserts, which is perhaps the way it should be in a world where the Twilight Zone plays its parts in proceedings.

Rating:  Just turn it over to the wrestling!   3.5/5

1006. Hansen & Friends / XXX: Three Decades in Metal. 2016. 4.5/5

Over the years Kai Hansen has been an inspiration and a leader of the European heavy metal community. Not only has he been a foundation member of several bands, all of which have made their sizable contribution to the metal universe, but he has guested on several other band’s albums with either vocals or guitar or both, or even acted as a producer. His contribution to the cause has been enormous and almost unparalleled. So when he announced that he would be doing this album, which is sort of a solo project and sort of a concept project, one could only wonder just what it would produce that would be different from everything else he had done over 30-plus years.

In moving aside from his other musical commitments in order to put this album out, it had to be a conscious decision that he wanted to be free to make something that couldn’t be held within the framework of the other band’s he has been associated with. He obviously wanted to be free to make decisions with the direction of songs without being held accountable to a band or the fans of that band and judged in that court. So apart from bringing on board musicians from other band’s to lay down the album, he has also invited some special guests and friends to help him out along the way.
I listened to this album a lot in the weeks after its release, and for me there was one glaring difference between it and Gamma Ray. I like this album a lot and listen to it with ease. But, how many songs here jumped out at me so much that I knew them from their opening riff, and knew the lyrics and actually sing along with them every time they come on? The answer is, about half, and that was significantly less than every Gamma Ray album ever, even than last couple which have probably not been quite up to the extremely high standard of the others. Therein lies the rub. It isn’t a Gamma Ray album, it is an obvious attempt by Kai to get out there and do something a bit different from what he has done with his number one band.
The band members here are excellent and perform their jobs accordingly. Eike Freese, the vocalist and guitarist from Dark Age, Alexander Dietz, the bass guitarist and backing vocals from Heaven Shall Burn and Dan Wilding, the current drummer of Carcass all play terrifically and sound fantastic, especially in songs like “Born Free”, “Contract Song” and “Follow the Sun”. Despite this being a Kai Hansen driven album, their contributions should not be overlooked.
All of the songs apart from the opening track feature friends participating, contributing either vocal parts or guitar solos to the mix, which makes it a fun romp throughout. “Born Free” acts as the single and opening track from the album, setting the scene for what is to come. “Enemies of Fun” combines the appearance of original Gamma Ray and current Primal Fear vocalist Ralf Scheepers and lifelong friend and Iron Savior frontman Piet Sielck for vocals. This is followed by “Contract Song” which has quite a bit of anger and angst behind it, and Dee Snider from Twisted Sister along for the ride. Yes, you can happily spit out the lyrics in this song, the venom behind them is obvious and somewhat joyous to sing along to. “Making Headlines” enables Tobi Sammet to return the favour Kai offered him on the first two Avantasia albums by combining his great vocal strength alongside Kai’s. This is followed by “Stranger in Time” which has another great combination of talent, with Tobi joined by current Gamma Ray part-time vocalist Frank Beck and also Michael Kiske, with some great harmonies and melody lines.
Into the middle of the album, and there is a change in tack and direction. “Fire and Ice” starts the process – and has anyone else picked up the similarity towards the end of this song to the end of Halford’s “Silent Screams” from his Resurrection album? That had to be deliberate, surely! “Left Behind” is the best example of a change in style for Kai and his music, with the writing feeling as though it was very much driven for the vocals of Clémentine Delauney initially before the introduction of the growl/scream vocal combination from Marcus Bischoff and album bass guitarist Alexander Dietz from Heaven Shall Burn. This is exacerbated by the very power ballad stylings of “All or Nothing” where Kai and Clémentine combine their vocal talents again. The changes in style here for me are the most difficult to get used to. It’s not that they are bad. In fact, they are performed fantastically. What I like most is that Kai has taken the opportunity of doing this on his own album rather than within the framework of his main band. I only wish other bands would do the same thing rather than mixing their song styles.
“Burning Bridges” helps to pick up the slackening tempo, but it is still very much in a straight forward hard rock song, with a simplified rhythm and drum basis and Kai not extending his vocal range in any way, keeping to a mid-range almost all the way through the song. The vocal talents of Eike Freese are also utilised here. The album finishes on a highlight though, with “Follow the Sun” rifling along with a great riff and drum pattern, and the awesome vocals of Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kürsch leading the charge with further help from Marcus Bischoff. This is almost the most energetic song on the album, and it is an excellent way to bring it to a close. Those vocals from Hansi and Kai here are awesome.

Since the first moment I heard him sing and play on a Helloween album, and when I first held in my hands the vinyl release of Gamma Ray’s Heading for Tomorrow album, Kai Hansen has been one of my music heroes, a man who seems to make magic flow from his fingers and vocal chords. Every other project and guest appearance he has made has always improved and lifted because of his involvement. This album did take a while to grow on me, but it has become one of my favourites in recent times. In the long run, that is no surprise whatsoever.

Rating:  “The key to your own heaven and the hell of your demise”.   4.5/5

Thought For the Day

#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day9

Sunday arvo in the Cavern. Scotch, chilli chips and footy. Is it really Monday tomorrow? #31DaysOfScotch #Day9

Time to Go, Bernie

Thanks Bernie. How about you just go back to dreaming you mean anything to anyone while we ignore you exist at all #corkhead pic.twitter.com/yZoZJW27OV

— Bill Peters (@westkiama) July 9, 2017

Stephen King Book #13: The Running Man (Published as Richard Bachman). 4/5

Book #13. The Running Man.
First published May, 1982

In many ways I am happy that I actually saw the movie “The Running Man” before I read the Bachman/King novel of the same name, of which the movie was apparently ‘adapted’ from. Why? Simply because apart from the name of the novel and the name of the protagonist and his adversary, there is almost no similarity between the two. The movie hints at a man convicted of a crime he didn’t commit being seconded to this ‘game show’ to pay for his crimes, and the course of events that follows. It is completely different from the book, and, as much as I love the movie, and can easily watch it any time, the book is much darker and less trivial.

The theme of the dystopian future is well explored, along with the state-run free-vee on at all times to distract the majority of the population from their lives. Abject poverty, constant and deathly sickness, with little hope for their own existence beyond the meagre offerings they have. It is a desolate and frightening picture being painted

All along, you are left in no doubt that The Running Man is a death sentence. No one gets out alive, and all you are doing is trying to earn money for your loved ones before you meet your end. The fact that all of those who are trying to be participants on these various game shows go through such a rigorous selection ‘process’ only adds to misery and frustration that is obvious in this future. In much the same way as the previous Bachman novel The Long Walk, this is a future with a dead end, and a very short road leading to it.

King manages to weave in plenty to this story despite its relatively short span. He successfully portrays the society of the future as well and truly divided between the have’s and the have-not’s. The have-nots are living in poverty, surrounded by crime and death as they try to maintain their meagre existence, leading as it does to trying to gain admission to these ‘game’ shows in order to find some money. The game shows are the lifeblood of the TV networks, as fodder for the state run free-vee which attempt to beguile the public from trying to question their existence by hypnotising them with this entertainment. On top of this, apart from the (not seen) government running almost like a police state, the high ranking network executives have the power and the money, and men like Killian are the ones who run the show. Within this, and throughout the novel, we see how this arrangement buries the truth of things such as how the air pollution levels are in the process of killing them all. And all the while, we read as Ben Richards tries to beat a crooked game and avoid his fate by being caught by the Hunters and publically executed on national television.

The tipping points of the novel are well explored. There is never any doubt that Richards is playing an unbalanced game. How much power and surveillance can the Hunters access? Though it is never revealed, it is suggested they have limitless power to access whatever they want to in order to track down their prey. The chase and confrontation at the YMCA gives the first opportunity for heart rates to rise and to guess Richards will be caught.
The interlude with the family of Bradley, and Richards’ appraisal of the dangers of the pollution, and his escape though the road blocks to get out of Boston, all act as the human side of the story, the tying in of the unreality of the story to basic human elements. It works well as a buffer to the outer aspects of the novel. The utter despair and stupidity of the mother of Richards’ next hiding place, who reveals his location and by default causes the death of her son instead of ‘saving’ him as she wanted to, throws the novel back into turmoil. From here, the kidnapping of Amelia Williams and her ultimate complicity in not only going along with what Richards needs her to do so he can stay alive, but also eventually lying for him to do so, and the part it plays in the final confrontation is electrifying. The reader shifts between the same emotions as the trilogy of characters involved – Richards, Williams and Evan McCone, the Chief Hunter who is awaiting their arrival at the airport, where they hope to escape. Between McCone threatening to kill Richards on the spot, Williams playing along with Richards’ story in the hope of having McCone believe she is telling the truth, and Richards just plain winging his responses in the hope they are bought by all and sundry, it is a scintillating period in the lead up to the final act.

Perhaps there are some holes, but the story is entertaining and thrilling along the way. If you aren’t investing your time trying to pick pieces out of the plot, and you are just happy to go along for the ride to the conclusion, you will have a good time and find yourself cheering for the underdog all the way through. I always find it is worth it when I revisit it.

Rating: “Killian, I’ll be back”. 4/5

Thought For the Day

#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day8

It's a tough arvo for Collingwood supporters, even when you have a bundle on Essendon at $2.20 #31DaysOfScotch #Day8

Thought For the Day

1005. Iced Earth / Incorruptible. 2017. 3.5/5

I’m probably going to go down that same old street that I usually do when it comes to Iced Earth and their albums. It’s not a deliberate thing I assure you, but as with any band out there, you will have fans who can ignore the obvious, fans who will embrace the obvious, and fans who will be turned away by the obvious. Those factors will promulgate your feelings on this and every album by the band according to which sector you fall in to. So, for me, this is another Iced Earth album that has all of the qualities that can make it a great album, and album that old fans and new fans alike can gather around and love for all the right reasons. In many ways it dials back into the best days of the band. When the songs are motoring along, this is when the album is at its best.

“Great Heathen Army” starts off with the Iced Earth gallop, and Stu Block’s vocals rocket out of the speakers with the double kick accentuating and the hard line riffing of the guitars. “Black Flag” continues in a similar direction, again focusing on the tough rhythm of the song and Stu’ vocals. There is some real old school Iced Earth in the mix. “Raven Wing” is a perfect example of this, because not only does it musically come from the that era, but Stu’s vocals really come in with an amazing similarity to former vocalist Matt Barlow’s vocal tones. This could have been a poor rehash, but the heavy influence of the drums and heavy guitar riff rather than softening it back like Schaeffer often does makes this a beauty of a track, that perfectly references the past in the current band setting. I think it gets better with every listen. I can even forgive the following song “The Veil” because of it. This is where the tempo gets dialled back, accessing those tendencies of a power ballad without actually being one, but it just softens and slows back a notch too far for my liking. These are the kind of songs that I believe sometimes holds Iced Earth back. Too much of a reflective side.
“Seven Headed Whore” rights the ship with immediate impact, the flying double kick and Stu’s faster higher vocals coming to save the show. When he combines those two shades of vocals in a song it sounds amazing. Terrific song. “The Relic (Part 1)” doesn’t quite retain that vitality and seems caught between two vibes that don’t gel too well. The pseudo-instrumental “Ghost Dance (Awaken the Ancestors)” is fine, apart from the fact that it does just sound like any other Iced Earth song waiting for lyrics, with one big long rhythm piece, rather than the music speaking for itself. It’s no “Losfer Words” or “Orion”. “Brothers” too has a similar way about it, and tends towards the boring more than anything else. It lacks the quality listeners are looking for.
“Defiance” returns to the harder and faster tempo of the earlier songs on the album with more power in the vocals as well. Closing out the album is the almost-ten minute epic “Clear the Way (December 13, 1862)”, which winds its way through periods of quiet building to heavy guitar and drums, and is a pertinent way to conclude the album.

And so once again I have come to the end of an Iced Earth album, and once again I find myself sitting on the edge of the precipice. Depending on which way I fall I can love this album or be disappointed by this album, and once again I find that I cannot fall either way. There is much to like about the first half of the album, but there is much to be slightly disappointed in the second half of the album. I would suspect that the huge fans of the band will think this album is a triumph and be spectacularly happy with it. For me, as I hinted at during the start of this review, I find the album enjoyable to listen to without being able to rid myself of that feeling that with just a bit of a spit and polish it could really be terrific.

Rating:  “I am fates magician, I'll strip you of your doubt”.  3.5/5

#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day7

Nothing better than great movies and scotch o'clock #House #31DaysOfScotch #Day7

Thought For the Day

It's a Tad Chilly...

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E23: Queen of the Nile

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E23: Queen of the Nile

Do you get the feeling that this episode gives everything away far too early? It’s all and good for a story to give enough clues such that you can try and work out the plotline yourself without having it handed to you on a platter, but sometimes you’d like it to be a little less obvious.

When reporter protagonist Herrick shows up to interview the golden actress superstar Pamela Morris, her immediate similarity to a long-supposed-dead Egyptian queen Cleopatra sends off alarm bells in his head. Not the which are then exacerbated when he meets Morris’s mother, who then claims not to be her mother but her daughter. Like any good journalist he follows up with those claims, but then makes the mistake of confronting Morris once he has enough evidence to support what he now believes. Surely, in such a scenario, you would have approached this in a completely different fashion, but no, Herrick does not, and suffers the consequences that the Twilight Zone dishes up to him.

While the story is worth following as the pieces of the puzzle fall into place (much quicker for the viewer than the character unfortunately), the conclusion is a bit too predictable and unsatisfying to give the episode a high mark against the others found in the series.

Rating: Her daughter even TOLD you about the scarab beetle! 3/5

#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day6

Is it Friday yet? #31DaysOfScotch #Day6