Category Archives: Song Reviews

Capsule reviews of songs

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Song Reviews

David Lee Roth – Big Trouble (Song Review)

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“I feel like a yo-yo, I’ve been here too long”

Big Trouble‘s magical “I bet if you asked them, our heroes would say…” hook alone is enough to make it one of my favourite songs ever. But the track, from David Lee Roth’s 1986 album Eat ‘Em And Smile, also has a hypnotically groovy and sexy riff running all the way through it, a dazzling career-peak performance from guitarist Steve Vai, and Dave Lee Roth rapping away at his witty, quirky and evocative best. As always, he ain’t talking ’bout love, but Big Trouble is romantic and profound. Like a glimpse into Diamond Dave’s philosophy of life. Because Roth knows what our heroes would say. Somehow, he knows.

Black Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal, Song Reviews

Bathory – One Rode To Asa Bay (Song Review)

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“The God of all almightiness had arrived from a foreign land”

I often worry I use the word “epic” too much in my reviews but there is no song more deserving of the term than Bathory’s majestic One Rode To Asa Bay. The Swedish band’s seminal 1990 album Hammerheart explores Viking life, belief and mythology but its climatic track One Rode To Asa Bay depicts the arrival of a Christian missionary intent on erasing that way of life. The use of choral keyboards and relentless, driving repetition gives the song a hypnotic grandiosity and it’s impossible not to get swept up in Quorthon’s raw, impassioned storytelling. This is the extreme metal Stargazer. Epic.

Classic Rock, Genre, Progressive Rock, Song Reviews

Jethro Tull – The Witch’s Promise (Song Review)

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“Lend me your ear while I call you a fool”

I’ve always been a sucker for a bit of folk and fantasy in my rock so I instantly fell in love with The Witch’s Promise the moment I saw Jethro Tull’s 1970 performance of it on Top Of The Pops (as part of the 1993 BBC series Sounds Of The Seventies). It took me years to find it on an album but luckily I videotaped the show so I could continue to partake of the song’s wonderful vocal melodies and lush layers of acoustic guitars, flute and keyboards. It had the swinging, hippy pop style of the band’s early material but The Witch’s Promise also pointed the way forward to the folkier, singer/songwriter focus and lush orchestrations of Jethro Tull’s future work. It was a watershed track that introduced me to one of my favourite bands and, by extension, the wider world of folk and prog rock. And it still bewitches me to this day.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Song Reviews

Van Halen – Hear About It Later (Song Review)

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“But I ain’t home… at night!”

Van Halen’s fourth album, 1981’s Fair Warning, was one of their toughest, edgiest records but on Hear About It Later the band sound more like their old party-hearty selves. The bouncy main riff and the happy harmonies of the chorus are all classic feelgood VH. But, unhappy with band and producer interference, Eddie Van Halen was sneaking into the studio overnight to get his guitar parts just the way he wanted them. And the extra layers of dives, bends and swirling open chords gives the song a nocturnal, neon atmosphere. Pesky frontlegend David Lee Roth ends up stealing the song all the same. His performance is alluringly stand-offish until he offers an emotional olive branch in the middle-eight (“you can try me at home”) that ends up being the song’s, and maybe even his, greatest moment. And he didn’t even have to work any night shifts.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Song Reviews

Winger – Purple Haze (Song Review)

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“Lately things don’t seem the same”

Winger’s glam metal re-imagining of Hendrix’s Purple Haze was doomed to fail, considering the relative positions of Hendrix and Winger on the Cool-o-meter Of Rock. I’ll give Kip and pals kudos for being brave/cocky enough to put their own spin on such an untouchable classic but the end result leaves me neither happy or in misery. It’s not so awful that I’m thinking “scuse me while I skip this shite” but in bringing the song in line with their own brand of 80s virtuoso sleaze, Winger also manage to bash out all of the dark, lysergic funk that made the original so intoxicating in the first place. Which is probably why…*points at Cool-o-meter* Winger down here, Hendrix up here.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Song Reviews

Sammy Hagar And The Waboritas – Things’ve Changed (Song Review)

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“Wondering, if you still got it in ya”

Here’s a feelgood classic rock song from a year that had very little of that going about. On Not 4 Sale Sammy Hagar And The Waboritas managed the rare feat (in 2002) of sounding like they were actually having a ton of fun bashing out songs like Things’ve Changed. It’s basic, familiar stuff but it’s also warm, catchy and delivered with infectiously easygoing charm. I love the mix of Who-like strummed acoustics and thick power chords and Hagar’s voice sounds great. Until this week I hadn’t listened to Things’ve Changed for over a decade so I can’t really say it’s essential but one listen was enough to have the song bouncing around happily in my head for days. It made me feel good. So no changes there.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Song Reviews

Enuff Z’Nuff – In Crowd (Song Review)

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“My favorite songs everybody says are lame”

In 1991, the rock “in crowd” was looking increasingly like a bunch of grunge numpties. So miserable. Much better to throw your lot in with glam outsiders Enuff Z’Nuff who released their pop metal masterpiece Strength that same year. It never scored the commercial breakthrough it was tipped to achieve but, never mind, it still holds up today. In fact, I listen to it and enjoy it more than ever. Here’s one of the album’s best tracks, In Crowd. It’s a brilliant sleazy rocker with a killer riff, Cheap Trick-grade hooks and smart, self-deprecating lyrics. Despite using the phrase “so miserable” seven times, In Crowd is a ton of fun.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Song Reviews

Aerosmith – Make It (Song Review)

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“What have you got to lose?”

I remember buying Aerosmith’s Columbia years compilation Box Of Fire back in the mid 90s. I didn’t know a lot of the band’s 70s stuff and I was worried I’d risked too much cash on 13 CDs worth of albums I might not like that much. But the moment I heard the first riff of Make It, the opening song on their 1973 debut album, I knew it was going to be ok. Make It is a great, gutsy opener and a decent song but it’s the guitars that really umm… make it. It’s chock full of dirty drop-D riffing and colourfully wonky soloing. And that intro riff, with its goosebump-inducing suspended chord and mini-gallop, still knocks me out as much today as it did back in 1994. Money well spent.

Genre, Progressive Rock, Song Reviews

King Crimson – Larks’ Tongues In Aspic, Part One (Song Review)

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Metalheads shouldn’t be discouraged that I’m ending my instrumental series with some progressive rock. On Larks’ Tongues In Aspic, Part One, King Crimson unleash the kind of demonic power that your average black metaller would gladly sacrifice their corpse-painted left bollock to have access to. Being a prog track, there are also plenty of other tangents and moods here, from muscular jazz funk to bucolic classical and a climax of ghostly voices and spellbinding lead bass from the late John Wetton. But the way the sung erupts from its twinkly opening and ominous violin into that diabolical, violent riff… there are no words.

Classic Rock, Genre, Song Reviews

Bert Jansch – Alice’s Wonderland (Song Review)

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Many of my favourite instrumentals come from the world of acoustic folk/traditional guitarists. The mid-60s was a golden era for the genre, with many major artists releasing albums of groundbreaking creativity and virtuosity. Today’s pick comes from one of these albums: it’s Alice’s Wonderland from Bert Jansch’s 1965 debut. Recorded live in a kitchen on a borrowed guitar, the lo-fi recording puts you right in the room with Jansch as he picks dreamily through an array of beautiful chords and timings, only settling down briefly for a sublime, swinging vamp. It seems loose and improvised but the repeating passages and the way the chords all lead into one another suggests otherwise. It’s an extraordinary piece from a magical era, musical genius of the most unassuming and laid-back kind.