Tag Archives: British

Album Of The Day, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Album Of The Day: Blue Murder – Nothin’ But Trouble

13 Comments
Blue Murder – Nothin But Trouble (Geffen Records 1993)

Blue Murder were starting to sounding hopelessly outdated on their second album, 1993’s Nothin’ But Trouble. But in 1993 my taste in music was hopelessly outdated so I gobbled it right up. Compared to their bold debut album, Nothin’ But Trouble is a more calculated, commercial effort and there’s some rote wimphem here like Love Child and Save My Love. But I didn’t mind… back then I would have listened to Mr. Blobby if John Sykes was his guitarist. And there are some blazing rockers here like We All Fall Down and Cry For Love that took me right back to the glory days of Whitesnake’s 1987 and Thin Lizzy’s Thunder And Lightning.

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

Ozzy Osbourne – Dee

17 Comments

Following on from my post about Metallica’s Orion, here’s another instrumental that’s a showcase for a much-missed legend. Dee is a brief classical guitar piece that was written and performed by guitarist Randy Rhoads for Ozzy Osbourne’s 1980 album Blizzard Of Ozz. I can’t say that, in isolation, I find Dee particularly involving or moving. But the piece (written for the guitarist’s Mum, aww) is sensitive and pretty. Not words commonly associated with Ozzy Osbourne. And in the context of the full album it strengthens the overall musicality, variety and guitar hero-ness of a hugely enjoyable record. Countless aspiring guitarists (myself included) have tried to learn Dee and I’m sure they’ll continue to do so. That’s quite an impact for a 50 second interlude. His Mum must have been delighted beyond words.

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

Judas Priest – The Sentinel

33 Comments

“The figure stands expressionless”

Over the years, Judas Priest have had a growing penchant for lyrics that basically just describe some sort of apocalyptic cartoon character. A lot of their album covers depict similar creations too – check out the Metalli-Tarkus or whatever it is on the cover of their 1984 album Defenders Of The Faith. And that same album also has one of the best songs of this particular type: The Sentinel. Just that title alone is metal as fuck. And so is the song. The guitar intro is imposing and dramatic, the pacey riffing builds to a typically phenomenal display of guitar jousting from the Tipton/Downing dream team and Boaby Halford totally delivers the goods: singing phrases like “sworn to avenge” with utter conviction. Recorded following the band’s big US breakthrough, The Sentinel brims with confidence while also retaining the cutting edge of their earlier material, closing a faultless side of vinyl on an epic sci-fi high.