Archive for the hard rock bands Category

MASTODON – “DIVINATIONS” PICTURE DISC SINGLE IS A METAL MUSIC FIND!

Posted in collecting heavy metal albums, collecting metal music, cool album covers, current progressive metal music, hard rock bands, hard rock music, hard rock music 2009, Heavy Metal, heavy metal album covers, heavy metal albums, heavy metal bands, heavy metal music, heavy metal on vinyl, heavy metal picture discs, heavy metal record finds, metal music, metal odyssey, Music, picture discs, prog metal albums, prog metal music, progressive hard rock albums, progressive hard rock music, progressive metal, progressive metal 2009, progressive metal albums, progressive metal bands, progressive metal music, progressive rock music, rock music with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 19, 2010 by Metal Odyssey

MASTODON. Hot Topic. What do these two Metal Music names have in common? I recently, (last weekend), found the Mastodon – Divinations, 12″ picture disc single… at Hot Topic. Oh, that’s not all… this Mastodon picture disc single only set me back $2.54! That’s not a type-o… $2.54. Much cheaper than a pound of imported ham, currently selling at the local deli. (The original retail price for this picture disc runs around $14). You might query, as to how did I pay such a rock bottom price for this unreal great, Mastodon picture disc. Clearance racks RULE. As I entered Hot Topic, my wife informed me she was heading to the back of the store… to the clearance racks, was my Metal suspicion. It’s funny how I always become engaged by looking over the other stuff at Hot Topic, each time I go there, forgetting to hit the clearance racks first. The t-shirts, rings, vinyl album and CD racks never fail to distract my attention from those glorious clearance racks. I can always count on my wife to hone in on those racks of discounted Metal treasures though!

It’s always a Metal thrill when you can score your favorite bands on the discount racks. This is not the first time we have found very cool vinyl, discounted at Hot Topic. Just as we were checking out at the register, one of the Hot Topic employees raced over to the discount racks where this Mastodon picture disc was found… this employee proceeded to nab the lone remaining copy of Divinations, as well as other assorted vinyl too. She said she wanted to make her move, before the discounted stuff was gone. I can’t blame her one Metal bit. We did pick up other discounted vinyl at Hot Topic that same visit… I will wait to blab about it on future posts because the finds are that unreal great.

This Mastodon Divinations, 12″ picture disc single has the following two songs:

Side A: Divinations(From the 2009 release – Crack The Skye)

Side B: Divinations (Instrumental)

I really, really, like the Progressive Metal that simmers with touches of psychedelia, from the Crack The Skye album that Mastodon released in 2009. I like it so much that I picked it to be #7 in my list of top 25 Heavy Metal albums for 2009. You can check it out by clicking the link below:

METAL ODYSSEY’S TOP 25 HEAVY METAL ALBUMS OF 2009

You can also just click on the header below to read my review for Mastodon – Crack The Skye, which I posted on May 6, 2009:

Mastodon “Crack The Skye” is a cool Metal journey to take

Here is the front view of this terrific Mastodon 12″ Divinations picture disc single:


THE ROLLING STONES – FLASHBACK: 1964 NEW HAVEN ARENA CONCERT CANCELLED!

Posted in 1960's classic rock music, 1960's rock and roll albums, 1960's vintage rock albums, 1960's classic rock bands, 1960's rock & roll, 1960's rock & roll british invasion, 1960's rock music, 1970's classic rock bands, 1970's hard rock, 1970's rock bands, 1970's rock music, 1980's hard rock bands, 1980's rock bands, 1990's rock bands, 1990's hard rock bands, classic rock, classic rock albums, classic rock bands, classic rock music, hard rock bands, hard rock music, metal odyssey, Music, rock & roll, rock & roll hall of fame inductees, rock and roll, rock and roll hall of fame members, rock and roll memorabilia, rock concert posters, rock music, rock music history with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 18, 2010 by Metal Odyssey

I just get into Rock History sometimes… well, all the time that is. It’s all about the roots of Rock and Roll that peeks my Metal interest. The Rock Music legends of yesterday are the reason we have Hard Rock and Heavy Metal today. I may have mentioned this before, (here I go again), in the event a time machine does ever get off the ground… I’m on it! My destination? A Rock concert from the 1960’s or 1970’s. If I was to take a trip back in time, it would be just my Metal luck to travel to this night on Thursday, June 18, 1964. Once I arrived to the New Haven Arena, in New Haven, Connecticut, I would then be informed that The Rolling Stones were NOT going on stage! You read that correctly… the concert was cancelled, due to poor ticket sales! Granted, this was the very early years, uh, days of The Rolling Stones… only give me a Metal break! Gee Metal whiz.

Look at those ticket prices! $2, $3, and $4 respectively! Golly… if you spent an additional $2, your probably going from nose bleed seating to front row! Plus, it was only one show! If The Rolling Stones were to appear for only one show today, or any day, anywhere in the last four and a half decades… your talking pandemonium breaking loose! Throw in the fact, this historical concert poster also states there are three opening acts as well – The Chiffons, Younger Bros and The Epics… no fans for them either in New Haven, Connecticut, back in 1964!

I can easily stare at this concert poster of The Rolling Stones and easily wonder – what was the general public thinking back around this date? Maybe the hardness of The Rolling Stones was a tad too controversial for the general public, after all, American Rock and Roll back around 1964 was all about falling in love and surfing. (No, I am NOT making fun of American Rock and Roll of that time, only I am trying to make sense out of this cancelled concert). Maybe the cancellation of The Rolling Stones that evening correlates with America not being ready for a harder Rock sound? Were people scared to go see The Rolling Stones? It was in the month of June after all, a blizzard cannot be blamed for New Haven Connecticut not being into The Rolling Stones. A Hurricane? Doesn’t seem likely. Whatever the case might have been for this concert not selling tickets, it is one heck of a Rock moment in time to ponder!

Granted, The Rolling Stones were extremely new Rock and Roll recording artists to The United States general public, embarking on their first American Tour, with their second American album – 12 x 5 still to be released in October of 1964. Essentially, The Rolling Stones were touring with just one American album release under their Rock and Roll belts, (after only one month), that being England’s Newest Hit Makers, (released in May of 1964). Still, there is NO excuse! The Rolling Stones should have had some type of a showing of fans, at the New Haven Arena that Summer night on June 18, 1964. (In my Metal opinion).

The whole premise of my bringing this historic date in Rock and Roll history to light, is to wonder out loud to the world… WHAT WERE PEOPLE THINKING back on June 18, 1964? It’s THE ROLLING STONES! Without argument, one of the most historic, influential, original, talented and famous Rock bands to ever walk planet Earth! The Rolling Stones, (along with The Who, The Beatles, The Animals and The Kinks), arguably CREATED HARD ROCK! If this date in Rock History proves one thing, it’s that yes, The Rolling Stones DID pay their Rock and Roll dues. At the end of my Metal day, I am leaving this up to social psychologists, cultural think tanks and Rock Music historians to figure out. All I can do is look back on this date in Rock Music history and shake my head in disbelief.

* Please note that the word Golly was used on Metal Odyssey, yes it was, in the second paragraph.

* Metal Odyssey’s source for this unreal great story on The Rolling Stones cancelled concert of June 18, 1964 and it’s historic poster is from: Vintage Concert Posters.com

Where Have You Gone, UGLY KID JOE? Come Back!

Posted in classic rock, Hard Rock, hard rock bands, Heavy Metal, heavy metal news, metal music, metal odyssey, rock music, rock music news with tags , , , , , , on September 22, 2009 by Metal Odyssey

Ugly Kid Joe "America's Least Wanted" small album picBack in October of 1991, Ugly Kid Joe released their debut EP – As Ugly As They Wanna Be. 1991 was a year smack in the middle of the Grunge Music invasion… Ugly Kid Joe didn’t seem to care in the least. The mix of Hard Rock, Funk Metal and Heavy Metal had me more than interested in Ugly Kid Joe, I bought As Ugly As They Wanna Be and it served me right – back in 1991. Parodies aside, I could care less about what the titles of Ugly Kid Joe’s albums were making fun of… it was the funky heavy grooves of their songs that mattered most to me. Everything About You was a song that sounded unlike anything I was into back then, (Thrash, Death, Speed and mainstream Heavy Metal was what I was used to). When I first heard Everything About You, the first bands that came to mind that I was familiar with, in the Funk Metal genre, was Living Colour and Anthrax when they did I‘m The Man. White Zombie for certain had some Funk happening in their Metal back then too, yet this Ugly Kid Joe was not the dark side of heavy Funk either. This band was not as flamboyant as Faith No More, there seemed to be more of a street level accessibility to Ugly Kid Joe back in 1991-92.

Ugly Kid Joe made the funk in their heavy come out and smack me offside the head. Metal Music be my saving grace, I became hooked by Ugly Kid Joe, both by their music and persona. 1991 and 1992 were turning points with Metal Music, so many great Metal Bands were still around and largely ignored by the mainstream media… Ugly Kid Joe busted onto the scene and was very hard to ignore, in my Metal opinion.

Ugly Kid Joe - group photo promoObviously the freshness of Ugly Kid Joe caught on with MTV and FM radio, it had to. Ugly As They Wanna Be and America’s Least Wanted (from 1992), both sold over 2 million copies each, this Ugly Kid Joe sound really caught on, an undisputed Metal fact indeed. Ugly Kid Joe was not just about putting the funk into Heavy Metal, no sir. Their cover version of the legendary Black Sabbath’s classic Sweet Leaf exemplified their fondness for the heavier side, all the while paying tribute to their Heavy Metal influences. Ugly Kid Joe was not the refined and glamorous Hair Metal Band nor were they an extremely pissed off Extreme Metal Band. This was a band that was not even in the middle for they were so unique.

What Ugly Kid Joe brought to the masses was a mixture of Heavy Metal genres, almost as if they grabbed ahold of the very best of what these genres possessed and intertwined them all into their very own sound. To the best of my Metal memory, Ugly Kid Joe was not a copy cat band and no other Heavy Metal Band followed after, that sounded like Ugly Kid Joe either. (Maybe there was, I just never heard of them and they never lasted very long).

In 1992, I bought America’s Least Wanted and could not have been happier about it. Listening to Ugly Kid Joe cover the late Harry Chapin classic Cat’s In The Cradle only solidified the diverse musical nature of this band. I was astonished as a Metalhead back in 1992… here is Ugly Kid Joe, covering songs from Black Sabbath to Harry Chapin. Cool. I had bought a Harry Chapin greatest hits album in the late ’80’s, (keeping it a secret amongst my Metalhead buddies), yet Ugly Kid Joe made it known to the Metal world they dug Harry Chapin – I realized then that music is one big connected family.

I really look back on the first two Ugly Kid Joe albums with the utmost Metal fondness, this band was different, a Heavy Metal band that was fun without ever displaying any artificial pose to their music or appearance. Menace To Sobriety was released in 1995, followed by Motel California… I gave both albums their justified listens and due, yet I still uphold the first two Ugly Kid Joe albums as their finest moments.

The Metal bottom line is this, with all of the revivals going on in the Heavy Metal genres, especially with reunions and reunion tours, it would be cool to once again see and hear Ugly Kid Joe. It is not my intent to say that Ugly Kid Joe was the best thing since light beer, rather they were a cool band to choose from the Heavy Metal buffet… and still are. So many bands from the 1980’s and 1990’s are huge again, making albums and touring… Ugly Kid Joe would most likely be quite the hit with this new generation of kids that are just getting into Hard Rock and/or Heavy Metal. The Ugly Kid Joe look and sound is all around, as I meander around in public, (especially the Malls) in 2009. This now vintage band would fit right in today…  what once was old is new again – yet this is only my Metal opinion… and I am sticking to it.

Ugly Kid Joe:

WHITFIELD CRANE — vocals 

KLAUS EICHSTADT — guitar

DAVE FORTMAN — guitar 

CORDELL CROCKETT — bass 

SHANNON LARKIN — drums 

Ugly Kid Joe "As Ugly As They Wanna Be" large EP pic