Last week was actually busier than it appeared to be on the surface from the post I gave. Sixx AM (a side project of Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx) released a single against COVID with guest singers Corey Taylor (of Slipknot and Stone Sour), Joe Elliot (Def Leppard) and Brantley Gilbert (Country Rocker whose song "Kick It In The Sticks" once served as Kyle Seager's Walk-up Music) and guest guitar work from Guns N Roses/Velvet Revolver/Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators rock and roll phenomenon Slash. So if you ever wanted a Motley Crue-Guns N Roses teamup, it does exist.
Hard Rock also got a couple of women-led singles with Lzzy Hale's third release in three weeks, a collaboration with Apocalyptica called "Talk To Me." Apocalyptica is actually a Cello-based Heavy Metal Project and released two singles collaborating with Sabaton earlier this year. Evanescence also released a new single called "Use My Voice" which was a powerhouse showcase for Amy Lee.
On the lighter side of things, Hope Darst's album "Peace Be Still" is the best CCM I've heard in a long time, namely because it feels free of Political ties and more focused on God Himself. Joe Legend and Gary Clark Jr. teamed up to release a great song called "Wild" that I would recommend in the wake of the shooting of Mr. Blake this week to show solidarity with these people who have suffered too much. And last but certainly not least, Dolly Parton released the first single from her upcoming Christmas album "A Holly Dolly Christmas," this being the classic "Mary, Did You Know?" a personal favorite of mine, asking the mother of Jesus if she knows how special her child will become and has already been.
It's a busy week album-wise, so here are the top albums I'm looking forward to tonight at 9:00 pm PDT.
Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony-S&M2: Metallica, the most popular thrash metal band in the world (I sat next to a man from Japan at a BabyMetal concert and "Enter Sandman" came on and we both knew the lyrics), teamed up with the local Orchestra last year for a fantastic blend of metal and orchestrated music, giving the performances an "epic" feel. "Nothing Else Matters" and "Moth Into Flame" have already been good singles, now I'm just wondering if the rest of the album can hold up to it.
Katy Perry-Smile: From Thrash Metal to Pop, Katy Perry returns to release her newest album. The last two singles have been good and fun and I'm hoping to hear more of Perry's fun style and sense of humor on this album, we all could use some levity at this point, either that or spending two hours a day lying on our beds trying to achieve mindfulness.
Allman Betts Band-Bless Your Heart: I've heard from my cousin who lives in Atlanta (which is where the group is originally from) the title is Southern for "Go **** Yourself." However, more to the point is the "Allman Betts" are Devon Allman, the son of Gregg Allman, and Duane Betts, the son of Dickey Betts, making them the inheritors of the Allman Brothers Band. The group does present a good Southern Rock style, though they can meander a bit with their guitar work. They also did a cover of Tom Petty's "Southern Accents" on their first album last year and I actually cried a little, able to identify with the feelings of growing older and things long thought to be permanent and always there changing into something unrecognizable.
Rick Wakeman-The Red Planet: A concept artist from the former keyboardist of Yes. This one is all about Mars and its topography, with track names like "Olympus Mons." Rick Wakeman has always been a fantastic keyboardist, making the fantastic "Criminal Record" in 1977 and even working with Ozzy Osbourne no less than three times; contributing the keyboards for the Black Sabbath song "Sabbra Cadabra," playing the keyboard intro to Ozzy's solo career song "Perry Mason" and having him sing "Buried Alive" on "Return to the Centre of the Earth."
Bettye LaVette-Blackbirds: A blues album by a great singer with a long history. I was once poking around her Spotify and was surprised how many British Rock Covers she had done, from "It Don't Come Easy" by Ringo Starr, "All My Love" by Led Zeppelin, "The Word" by The Beatles and "Isn't It A Pity" by George Harrison. In addition to this album featuring Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," a song too relevant for our times, this may feature a cover of The Beatles' "Blackbird," which was Paul McCartney's commentary on racial issues, asking for African-American women to "take this broken wings and learn to fly/all your life/you were only waiting for this moment to arise."
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