Last week was all I could’ve hoped for and then some. There was a surprise Hayley Williams album I’ve not yet taken the time to listen to, but I hope it’s good, while Foo Fighters delivered passionate grunge-based alternative rock, really doing well on “Holding Poison,” “Love Dies Young,” “Shame Shame” and “Waiting On A War.” The Prog Collective had a good version of “Whiter Shade of Pale,” sung by Graham Bonnet of Rainbow and Michael Schenker Group fame, while Brandi Carlile released a great cover of “Country Roads, Take Me Home,” Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa released a good remix of “Prisoner” and Black Sabbath released two tracks from their upcoming Ronnie James Dio deluxe editions!
There are quite a few releases
this week I’m looking forward to, this will be one busy week:
The Pretty Reckless-Death By Rock and Roll: A woman-led Rock and Roll/Metal
band whose lead singer Taylor Momsted teamed with In This Moment and Lzzy Hale
for a cover of “We Will Rock You” last year, this album features more kick-butt
rock and roll. I’m mostly interested in
the track that features Matt Cameron and Kim Thayil, which will be a mini
Soundgarden reunion. It’s called “Only
Love Can Save Me Now,” and if it’s like the title track or the track with Tom
Morello which have been released as singles, it will be a good song.
Joel Hoekstra’s 13-Running Games: The second album from one of the side
projects of one of Whitesnake’s guitarists.
Joel Hoekstra’s 13 features Tony Franklin (Blue Murder, The Firm) on
bass, Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio) on drums and alternating vocals between
Jeff Scott Soto and Russell Allen. The
first album was a soaring example of unrestrained power rock and thus far, the
second album looks to be much the same.
Joel Hoekstra is probably the closest you’ll get in modern rock to the
talent of Randy Rhoads, as well, and he excels at being a virtuoso.
Tommy Bolin-Shake the Devil; the Lost Sessions: Tommy Bolin was a guitarist
for a band called Zephyr before joining James Gang for their 1973 and 1974
albums. He joined Deep Purple in 1975 to
fill in after Ritchie Blackmore left and actually lived in the same house as
bassist Glenn Hughes, who has since referred to Bolin as his “brother.” Tommy Bolin made a small solo career, sadly
dying of a drug overdose in late 1976, thus keeping us from ever seeing what he
was fully capable of. This release
features outtakes for his last studio release, “Private Eyes.” The released single of “Bustin’ out for
Rosey” is, in my opinion, better than the version on the Private Eyes album,
and I look forward to more.
Dio-Holy Diver Live and Evil or Divine; Live in New York City re-releases:
In the 2000s, Ronnie James Dio released two live albums with his band Dio, both
of which are no longer available on digital catalogues. I bought Holy Diver Live before it went away
and it is a fantastic live album, this gives me the chance to put my favorite
tracks into my Spotify library. Also, I
can experience Evil or Divine; Live in New York City for the first time.
Jon Foreman-Departures: A solo album from the frontman for Switchfoot, this
appears to be a deeper and more emotional album than the previous Switchfoot
album, which was a mood booster at the start of 2019. The singles mention grappling with doubts all-too-familiar
to the righteous in the last five years, that the heartless and cruel go
unpunished while the kind get undeserved hardships thrown their way with the
callous shouts of “you deserve it!” I’m
not a theologian, I can’t tell you what drives people to be so evil to riot in
the capitol, restrict moving to this country based on religion, restrict
service in the military based on something you can’t change and deny the
validity of your faith based on who you show compassion to. My only guess is Satan dwells in their hearts
and minds because they love the law more than God or people, they love control
and power more than brotherhood or sisterhood.
I feel we should outgrow this, but I know I will face this worldview
until I die. So I’m hoping Jon Foreman
has practical answers beyond just “read your Bible more,” such as what specific
book and chapter to read, because random verses and chapters are only sometimes
helpful.
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