Rare Vinyl, Artist Signed Items and Gear Highlight the Rock Gods 'n Metal Monsters Auction

By Patrick Prince

Powerline Magazine

Walk a mile in Scott Ian's stage shoes from the 80s.

In April, Backstage Auctions will hold their annual metal auction, “Rock Gods and Metal Monsters,” and it has all the promise of being their best yet. Autographed items from bands ranging from Motorhead to The Babys will be up for auction. There are also rare Japanese vinyl bulk lots with albums from such artists as early Quiet Riot (with Randy Rhoads) and well-loved guitarist Gary Moore. And the biggest consignee for this year's metal auction is Scott Ian, guitarist and founder of the thrash metal band Anthrax. As owner Jacques van Gool explains it, the Scott Ian collection going up for auction is one for the ages.

Anthrax "Anthagram" Cabinet

"It's massive," says van Gool. "I've got like ten amp heads and two cabinets with the famous 'Anthagram' stenciled on them. I've got a dozen guitars. I've got a few dozen pedals. A few dozen straps. And all of the big stuff is autographed. Then I have a lot of smaller stuff, like fifty of his tour itineraries, handbills (including a handbill for Anthax' very first concert on August 19, 1982), laminates and guitar picks, and obscure vinyl. I probably have close to one hundred shirts. Everything is his personal stuff. All his shirts he wore personally, onstage and offstage. And one of my favorite things: in the '80s Scott wore nothing but those hi top basketball shoes and I've got three pairs of his old shoes. Which I think are totally awesome. And I've got some of his famous shorts (including shorts from a popular '80s clothing line called Jams). His casual attire is now jeans but the moment he goes on stage it's back to shorts again. It's hard to imagine Scott doing those high jumps in jeans."

"Plus, you gotta show off your tattoos, and his best tattoos are actually on his legs," adds van Gool with a laugh.

Van Halen Fully Signed Album

For those naive to the art of headbanging, Jacques van Gool believes collecting heavy metal memorabilia can be good for you. It is a great investment. "From a collector's point of view, and from a memorabilia point of view, heavy metal is equal to, let's say, the '60s psychedelic rock or the '70s classic rock. It's just the next generation. And the reason I say that is everybody romanticizes the '60s and the '70s as the two best decades in the history of music. And we all know our '60s icons, whether it's the Beatles, the Stones, The Who, you name them. Into the '70s you get yet another generation of highly collectible icons, like Queen and Kiss and a whole slew of bands in-between, there's definitely a second generation of legitimate icons. But I think that the '80s were probably the last decade to really create bands that ended up having that same die-hard following, that same large fan base that carries the same fanaticism almost as they did back n the '60s and the '70s.

Motely Crue Concert Promo

"And I think the reason for that is somewhat simple or predictable," continues van Gool. "After the '80s, the music industry changed a lot with the introduction of CDs and then eventually the digital format. And then the near disappearance of the record industry. Music has become really anonymous and invisible and it's almost become a disposable product. So if you go back and say 'Who or what in the '80s stood out the most?' It's typically metal — in terms of what survived and stood the test of time. And whether you go with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal or the birth of thrash metal and even the third wave of metal. Albeit, the third wave was far more commercial — the Bon Jovis and Motley Crues and the whole explosion with Winger and Poison and Cinderella and Slaughter and all those bands. Unlike almost any other genre of music, you had to be dedicated to like metal in the first place. It was like joining an underground club. You knew if you were going to like metal your parents wouldn't like you, your neighbors wouldn't like you, that you were most likely an outcast in your classroom and sometimes you may have had to run for your life. Metal was by no means an easy or popular choice. But I think because of that it will never let you go. Once you connected with it, it stayed with you. And I think the proof is in the pudding, because you fast forward 30-40 years and all these bands are still around. They still record. They still tour. People still buy their stuff. People still can't get enough of it. Even the most obscure bands."

August Redmoon Red Vinyl - Signed 

The vinyl records of metal’s more obscure bands are now rare gems. Backstage Auctions' metal auction is filled with bulk lots of albums from these more obscure acts, like August Redmoon, Cirith Ungol, Coney Hatch and Vicious Rumors ... and the list goes on. Take the band August Redmoon for instance. The album is now worth between $50-75. Backstage Auctions, however, has a signed copy that can go for up to $100, or more.

"If you just look at the value of heavy metal vinyl," van Gool says, "it far exceeds any other genre. And it's very hard to find. Go to a used record store and I guarantee you will find fifty Dan Fogelberg albums and fifty Hall and Oates albums and fifty Journey albums, and you'll probably find a hundred Barbra Streisand albums, but you're not going to find an Iron Maiden album. Because everybody wants it."

"So, why is heavy metal so collectible? Or, why would it be good for a person to collect heavy metal?" van Gool concludes. "Well, the simple answer is value. And that has been proven. The value is there. But I think more importantly, metal has proven to be one of the few and final genres that has legitimate collectibility. And again the whole foundation of that legitimacy lies in the fact that it is a genre that requires dedication. And with dedication comes loyalty and with loyalty comes fanaticism and you tie all of that together and it kind of explains itself."

Backstage Auction's Rock Gods and Metal Monsters auction runs from April 22 to 29. The VIP Preview runs from April 14  to April 21. 

For more information and registration for VIP All Access passes go to www.backstageauctions.com

CD Review: Sixx A.M. - 7

CD Review: Sixx A.M. - 7
Eleven Seven Music
All Access Review: B+

An EP featuring seven acoustic sketches of tracks from both The Heroin Diaries and This is Gonna Hurt, the two albums SixxA.M. has released so far, 7 comes wrapped in a cloak of gothic darkness. The oaken strings, the black-hearted piano that seems to drip blood and the rich, full-bodied acoustic guitar tones – all of it is ensconced in shadowy atmospherics, graveyard meditations and poisonous opium den gloom. Occasionally, however, the door to this dim crack house opens and lets in streams of hopeful, life-affirming light that make the half-dead inhabitants’ eyes wince. As for Sixx, he walked out of his own dungeon of lost souls a long time ago and hasn’t been back since.

As serious as the heart-stopping drug overdose in 1987 that almost killed him, Nikki Sixx’s side project is the very antithesis of Motley Crue’s revved-up Sunset Strip sleaze and gleeful immersion in a carnival of sins that nearly destroyed them all. He may vicariously relive his wild days through various Crue nostalgia tours, but the dangerous drugging and boozy escapades are a thing of the past for the now clean and sober Sixx. Therapy, though, is good for the soul and it seems to be an essential part of Sixx’s recovery from addiction. Sixx A.M. has certainly helped keep Dr. Feelgood at bay.

The Heroin Diaries, Sixx A.M.’s edgy, oddball debut, served as the nightmarish musical accompaniment for the no-holds-barred autobiography Sixx wrote in the mid-2000s that chronicled a life of excess so extravagant and scary that it made you want to vomit in the dirty toilet stall right next to him. And whatever skeletons Sixx had that remained in his closet were trotted out for Sixx A.M.’s sophomore slump This is Gonna Hurt. Less daring and not nearly as original as The Heroin Diaries, This is Gonna Hurt – released as a companion piece to another Sixx book, this one an artsy photo gallery of stark black-and-white stills – paled in comparison because Sixx A.M. played it safe. But, it did, once again, release some strong emotions that had laid dormant in Sixx’s damaged soul, and there were some well-crafted songs hidden among the weeds of familiar hard-rock tropes that touched nerves and raised spirits. Some of them are completely deconstructed and reanimated on 7, like “Lies of the Beautiful People,” the dramatic reworking of which opens the EP, and “This is Gonna Hurt” – the former cutting its wrists with a tasteful, tension-filled string arrangement, percussive guitar strumming and James Michael’s expressive singing and the latter a sparse reading of the title track to the second LP comprised almost solely of wounded, angst-riddled piano.

Bruised but not beaten, the uplifting new versions of “Help is on the Way” – as affecting a track as Sixx has ever recorded, its bittersweet violins arranged and played with great care and eloquence – and “Life is Beautiful,” its chorus soaring high on Michael’s impassioned wail, have acquired greater depth and meaning. If Sixx were searching for beauty among the ruins of his past indiscretions, he seems to have found it, although “Sure Feels Right” is a sickeningly sweet and cloying love song that’s as sentimental as a Hallmark card or Uncle Kracker’s “Smile,” which means it’s made for Top 40 radio. Only temporarily weighed down by those empty calories, 7 rights the ship slightly with “Pray for Me” finding salvation with some complex acoustic picking and yearning vocals that sincerely search for divine intervention, this laboring through a section of disinterested guitar strumming that would bore even the most forgiving folkie.

“Accidents Can Happen,” on the other hand, is a lovely, heart-wrenching ballad, augmented by searing guitar leads, about second chances and healing, themes that are dear to Sixx’s adrenaline-spiked heart. If Motley Crue is still out having a good time and staying out till all hours, Sixx A.M. is the morning after, where Sixx takes a good hard look in the mirror and thinks about mortality, God and pain. And these bare-bones revisions to previously recorded Sixx A.M. material, while perhaps not completely reinventing the originals, strip away the “sturm und drang” to reveal well-built song structures sturdy enough to support complex string arrangements and stand up to a hurricane of emotions. These are redemption songs, not for a visionary island martyr seeking to lead his people out of poverty and oppression but for a prodigal son of rock and roll who is still dealing with some heavy sh*t and is optimistic about his future. 

- Peter Lindblad

 Motley Crue Vintage Collectible Posters: Rock On Collectibles

CD Review: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

CD Review: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
RCA Records
All Access Review: A-

Aside from the bizarrely theatrical exorcism Nicki Minaj’s performed in debuting the song “Roman Holiday” to a quizzical national TV audience that still hasn’t quite figured out what in the world it was watching, the 2012 Grammys were memorable for three things: Adele, Paul McCartney’s extravagant closing number, and the Foo Fighters’ total and complete dominance in any category that had anything to do with rock music. And wouldn’t you know it? For once, the Grammys … well, they got it right.

Released almost a year ago, Wasting Light, the Fighters’ triumphant seventh studio album, finds Dave Grohl and company perfecting their tried-and-true formula of balancing big-hearted emotions with crashing, screaming, hook-filled hard rock that’s as therapeutic as burning an ex-lover’s mementos in a blazing bonfire. But, why is now the right time to reassess an album that’s been dissected and probed thousands of times by now? Four Grammys – that’s why. Well, that and perhaps it’s time to see if Wasting Light can provide any clues as to just where the Foo Fighters go from here and whether they now deserve a place at the table with rock’s greatest luminaries.  

As for the back story to Wasting Light, it was purported to be a throwback, an analog answer to today’s more artificial musical output, hatched with Pro Tools and other digital cleansers. And in many ways, Wasting Light does turn back the clock. Recorded in Grohl’s Encino, California garage using nothing but analog equipment Wasting Light was produced by none other than Butch Vig, who, of course, shepherded Nirvana’s legendary Nevermind album to immortality. One of Grohl’s old bandmates Krist Novoselic also showed up during the Wasting Light sessions to help out – playing bass and accordion – on “I Should Have Known,” and for the dramatically wistful “Dear Rosemary,” Grohl enlisted the assistance of punk hero Bob Mould to bomb away on guitar and lend his grizzled voice to a powerful duet. With the exception of Vig’s propensity for clean production and mushrooming volume and the grizzled character Mould’s vocals add to “Dear Rosemary,” none of that really mattered. In the end, it was the Fighters’ insistence on a return to a warts-and-all recording approach that favors furious energy and primal band chemistry above antiseptic, bloodless production that brought Wasting Light to a rolling boil. Of course, Grohl has had a lot to say lately about how the recording industry’s emphasis on digitally washing every song to a gleaming, spotless shine is killing music, and he’s probably spot-on about that.

Though there’s nothing on Wasting Light that approaches the awe-inspiring majesty of the gathering storm that is “Everlong,” without a doubt the most artfully arranged and affecting song in the Foo Fighters’ catalog, tracks like “Arlandria” – with its building tension and a chorus full of tricky little hooks – and the angular hit “Rope” – its aggressive stop-start dynamics taking full advantage of the band’s three-guitar attack as Chris Shiflet’s careening leads almost plow through the guard rail – speak to the album’s delicate balancing act of riding barreling grooves, torrential riffs and crashing drums roughshod over, around and through tough, indestructible melodies that refuse to be overwhelmed by any of it. As with “Arlandria,” “A Matter of Time” and “Back & Forth” surge with amplified power and roiling emotions, only to ebb slightly and reveal those gripping melodies that grab hold of your throat and don’t let go. But, as Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes in his review of Wasting Light for AllMusic.com, it’s about time that Grohl embraced the hot-wired pace and haunted desert weirdness of Josh Homme and Queens of the Stone Age – who worked with Grohl on their modern classic LP Songs for the Deaf – and he brings all of it to bear in “White Limo” and “Bridge Burning,” two songs full of horsepower that seethe with rage and practically froth at the mouth.

Top to bottom, Wasting Light is the Foo Fighters’ most consistent album. Whereas previous efforts boasted a number of memorable hits and a maddening amount of filler that fluctuated greatly from record to record, Wasting Light is surprisingly free of waste. And if the intention was to capture more of a “live” sound, which it seems like almost every band talks about doing when they’ve hit a plateau somewhere along the way, the Foo Fighters nailed it and in the process, they’ve unleashed an album that can actually be called a “classic.” It’s the record we’ve been waiting for since that eponymous debut way back in 1994 that introduced us to Grohl the songwriter and front man, roles few thought he was capable of playing. Not at all content with growing old gracefully, the Foo Fighters have proven they have plenty of life left in them, provided they focus on bringing intensity and passion to the studio and are not seduced by the siren song of Pro Tools.

What holds them back from being considered among the true giants of rock and roll is a tendency to put blinders on and charge straight ahead into the fray, while also indulging in somewhat predictable quiet-loud-and-then-louder means of song construction. Wasting Light finds the Fighters deviating ever so slightly off the beaten path – the vocals are occasionally a little more dream-like, the dynamics a little more interesting and acrobatic. Having Pat Smear’s bold and loud rhythm guitar back in the fold can’t hurt either. In all likelihood, more of the same is going to come from the Foo Fighters. They’re too far along in their career to drastically change their personality, with Grohl, Shiflet and Smear all coming from a fairly puritanical punk background. Still, if they can find different ways to experiment with tempos and make their sound as thick and intense as possible, while never losing their melodic sensibilities, the Fighters will keep be the band that couldn’t be killed. If they simply fall back on old habits, eventually the world will tire of them.

- Peter Lindblad 

Do you collect Foo Fighters memorabilia? Check out these Foo Fighters posters on eBay!  

Metal Evolution - "Early Metal US"

Metal Evolution - "Early Metal US"
Sam Dunn
VH1 Classic


All Access Review:  B+

Back in Aerosmith’s salad days, the early- to mid-1970s to be precise, the only way a band could hit every target demographic it hoped to reach was by touring all over and then going back out on the road to do it all over again and again. Today, they call that sort of thing “viral marketing,” as Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton jokes in the second episode of Sam Dunn’s incisive documentary series “Metal Evolution.” Others might refer to it as “paying your dues.”

Hamilton and company had no other choice when they were starting out. Neither did KISS or anybody else of that era that possessed dreams of rock ‘n’ roll world domination. In “Early Metal US,” the road to stardom is paved not with gold, but with broken-down tour buses, empty booze bottles, smashed bongs and used condoms, and while Dunn doesn’t delve deeply into the more tawdry aspects of touring, metal’s most intrepid documentarian does manage to illustrate how important it was from a business standpoint for KISS, Aerosmith and Alice Cooper to be road warriors. To spread their hard-rock contagion, gigging incessantly was the only way to get your name out there – that is unless you happened to get lucky and score an unlikely radio hit, like Alice Cooper did with that anthem of youthful rebellion “I’m Eighteen.” Getting it played on a Toronto radio station, which transmitted the song to parts throughout the North American Midwest, was certainly a coup for a band that, up to that time, had been ignored by radio, even as their elaborate stage show, a fun house of horrific thrills and chills, garnered the kind of publicity they would have never been able to buy.

Recollections of life on the road are peppered throughout “Early Metal US,” with Hamilton providing insight into how vital it was for bands like his to knock ‘em dead every night. It was certainly no different for the face-painted KISS, whose traveling circus of a stage show – what with Gene Simmons’ blood splitting and fire breathing , Peter Criss’s levitating drum kit, and Ace Frehley’s guitar gizmos – surely did the trick as far as building up a fan base goes. However, as Frehley explains to Dunn while vintage images of KISS’s theatricality in concert go rushing past, it was recording the explosive live album, Alive!, that ultimately launched them into the stratosphere and perhaps saved them from calling it quits. Delivering the goods onstage meant everything to KISS, and bringing that same excitement to vinyl was just as crucial.

And as KISS went along, they would use any tool they could to make money, even going so far as to record a chart-topping ballad in “Beth” – Criss, laughing all the way to the bank, talks at length to Dunn about how Simmons and Stanley didn’t want to do it and did everything they could to sabotage it in the studio – and go along with the trends of the day by releasing, horror of horrors, a disco song. Meanwhile, in Boston, Aerosmith set about bringing its furious, Rolling Stones-inspired blues-rock to the masses, with a Jagger-like lead singer in Steven Tyler and a guitar slinger by the name of Joe Perry. Hamilton is open and candid about how Aerosmith took on the critics and won over the people with a rugged, rollicking sound that became electrically charged in a live setting, and Dunn is just as honest in describing Aerosmith’s fall from grace due to substance abuse.

There would be a period of malaise in hard rock before Van Halen came along to inject a little hedonistic fun and a whole lot of heavy metal testosterone into an arena-rock corpse that needed to be shocked back to life. Young and cocky, with a supernatural guitar player in Eddie Van Halen, the California foursome boasted a “big rock” aesthetic, as former bassist Michael Anthony describes it to Dunn, and their thundering drums, blazing riffage and David Lee Roth’s showmanship made rock fun again. Unfortunately, Dunn and company cut short any exploration of Van Halen’s influence rather abruptly, as if time had gotten away from them and a quick-and-dirty edit was needed to wrap things up.

On the plus side, Dunn doesn’t drop the ball in detailing the impact of surf guitar legend Dick Dale and garage-rock, especially the variety that made Detroit famous, had on heavy metal’s development. Lenny Kaye is particularly articulate and concise in his analysis of garage-rock’s influence, while Dale passionately and without artifice explains how his use of thick strings and a revamped Fender amp led to increased volume. The role Blue Cheer played in drawing the blueprints for heavy metal is explored, as well, but it’s when Dunn travels to Detroit to revisit the incendiary, scene that birthed the MC5, The Stooges and Ted Nugent’s Amboy Dukes that things really get interesting. Fiery, visceral concert footage of the MC5 kicking out the jams back in the day – some of it familiar, and some of it not so familiar – and Nugent’s wild-eyed tribute to the Wayne Kramer and the boys is something to behold. And Dunn does a fine job playing up the blue-collar influence on Detroit’s toughest, most confrontational acts, like Iggy Pop and The Stooges, with James Williamson and Scott Asheton establishing a link between the automobile industry and the bombed-out ruins of The Stooges’ drugged sonics.

As usual, Dunn and his partner Scot McFayden do a wonderful job of weaving interviews with astute, knowledgeable insiders and great period video footage – the Alice Cooper material, comprised of Q&A and live imagery, is fascinating, fully realized and visually dynamic – together to tell a story. With the exception of the short shrift given to Van Halen, the editing is superb, and Dunn’s winning personality as a tour guide and intellectual vigor as an interviewer make “Early Metal US” another strong episode. Though made of compelling stuff, the KISS segment feels a little short on depth, as does Dunn’s look at Aerosmith. But, in such an exercise, time is of the essence, and for the most part, Dunn and company make good use of it.


- Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Lamb of God - Resolution

CD Review: Lamb of God - Resolution
Epic
All Access Review: B+

Completely parched and barren, save for a large fire in the distance sending plumes of black smoke into a gray sky, the cracked, dusty wasteland that graces the cover of Lamb of God’s latest epistle of nihilism, violence, betrayal and death – among other shiny, happy subjects – speaks volumes about the Virginia death-metal destroyers’ world view. That is to say, Lamb of God doesn’t seem to hold out much hope for civilization. With lines like “despair is in an endless supply” and “obliteration never looked so divine,” – culled from the tracks “Invictus” and “Ghost Walking,” respectively – Resolution is a world without pity. What could rise to become a prophetic voice crying in the wilderness for people to change their evil ways, Resolution reads more like an instrument of surrender or a suicide note.

Our darker impulses are too strong to resist. They will consume us. We will lie, cheat, kill, lose hope, find solace in the most dangerous of drugs, and then die of apathy and an aversion to truth. Sometimes, the bleak poetry of Lamb of God has a certain confrontational beauty to it – lyrics such as “stoic in silence we’re blind inside the void” touching a very tender societal nerve. But, when the famous Johnny Rotten line, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” is appropriated in the song “Cheated,” you get the feeling Lamb of God sometimes gives up trying to be original. When they later invoke the “legacy of brutality” phrase that perhaps should have been left to The Misfits later in “Cheated” … well, they just don’t appear to be trying anymore.

Of course, one song is a small sample size. Still, when it comes to Lamb of God, you take the good with the bad, and Resolution, a throwback to the rawer, more brutal recordings of their earlier work, offers a little of both. On balance, however, it blows away your expectations, Resolution forming a massive hunk of burning, twisted thrash metal that rarely cools. The constant stream of guttural, growling vocals – the so-called “Cookie Monster” style of singing that seems to divide the metal community right down the middle – often detracts from the dizzying array of frenzied, ferociously riffs, whiplash dynamics and punishing, acrobatic rhythms that make new Lamb of God recordings such an interesting proposition.

Blindingly fast one minute and crushingly heavy the next, “Invictus,” with its thick, snaking grooves, is a prime example of their ability to change directions seamlessly and drag you by the collar to whatever hell awaits them and you around the next turn. Pressing the accelerator, Lamb of God wants to go even faster on the lean-and-mean, breathtaking police chase that is “Cheated,” reaching Mach 10 most the way – its flies by with such speed that it’s almost impossible to notice the lyrical missteps. Slower and somehow more insidious, “Insurrection” pummels the solar plexus with double-bass drum madness and then rises like a monstrous rogue wave to do damage to whatever small vessel is in its path. Still, after the adrenaline boosts of “Invictus” and “Cheated,” it sounds labored, as if Lamb of God is physically drained from all that came before it.

And there is a whole lot of prologue to dig through before arriving at that exhausted state. The sludgy, bulldozing opener “Straight for the Sun” – which almost dares anybody to attempt to be heavier than that – simply plows into the beehive of activity that is “Desolation,” a track that is pure pandemonium. The occasional wraith of twin-guitar melody appears out of the chaos in “Desolation,” and it’s a welcome bit of comfort in an atmosphere of destructive chaos, much like the acoustic intro to the hard-hitting “Ghost Walking” absorbs some of pain from the beating Lamb of God doles out in “Guilty.” 

Resolution is an interesting title for Lamb of God’s seventh studio effort, not counting the eponymous debut album they recorded as Burn the Priest. Surely, they don’t offer any answers to society’s ills, and while some of their lyrics advocates a self-sufficient, “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” philosophy that is empowering, Lamb of God also seems resigned to seeing life as full of agony and pain and perhaps not worth the trouble. That said, for the most part, the band seems revitalized and incredibly agile at this point in their development, even if Resolution – one of the most hotly anticipated heavy metal albums of 2012 – occasionally masks the band’s stunted songwriting growth and decaying melodic structure with stormy bluster and nonstop action. They have yet to craft a truly memorable song, something every one of the Big 4 can do in their sleep. Still, when vocalist Randy Blythe screams, “I am the one who’s left to take the fall” in “The Undertow,” a stunning amalgamation of blitzing, unrelenting riffage and quick tempo changes, you can’t help but be mesmerized by the power and the rage Lamb of God can barely control. 

- Peter Lindblad

Metal Evolution - "Pre-Metal"

Metal Evolution - "Pre-Metal"
Sam Dunn
VH1 Classic


All Access Review: A-

Pinning down that exact moment of conception when heavy metal became a living, breathing entity is next to impossible, as most observers know all too well. There was no “big bang” that, in the blink of an eye, brought this screaming, bloody musical anti-Christ – something akin to that evil baby with the fangs and devil horns that graces the cover of Black Sabbath’s Born Again album – into existence. Although some will argue that heavy metal’s arrival was heralded by Steppenwolf when John Kay uttered the words “heavy metal thunder” in “Born to be Wild” or that its birth occurred the moment Blue Cheer dropped that sonic atom bomb of psychedelic blues that was their cover of “Summertime Blues,” others might point to the first Black Sabbath album or the tragic industrial accident that claimed the tips of Tony Iommi’s fingers as the origin of this particular species. No doubt, all of these events played a role in giving life to the genre, but heavy metal’s creation story is a far more complex tale than even filmmaker Sam Dunn imagined when he undertook his “Metal Evolution” documentary series, an extension of his highly acclaimed “A Headbanger’s Journey” film. And it’s no accident that he included the word “evolution” in the title.

With the probing mind of an anthropologist and a fan’s heart, Dunn, ably assisted by partner Scot McFayden, examine in great detail the roots of heavy metal in the inaugural episode of VH1 Classic’s “MetalEvolution,” “Pre-Metal.” Immersing himself in the Wacken Open Air experience, Dunn launches into what is quite possibly the most academic installment of “Metal Evolution” with a fairly scientific approach, expounding on the neuroscience behind the fatal attraction people have to metal. Scientist Laurel Trainor of McMaster University studies this kind of thing, and on “Pre-Metal,” she talks in-depth about the effect of aggressive music on the body and mind, while measuring Dunn’s head and exposing him to various musical genres during a staged experiment with him. Over the course of “Pre-Metal,” Dunn journeys back in time to study, somewhat predictably, the influence of classical music, blues and jazz on metal’s development, while also taking detours to Sun Studios in Memphis to investigate the accidental discovery of distortion and to Britain’s Marshall Amplification factory to see how founder Jim Marshall, through trial and error, tried and ultimately succeeded in building an amp that would satiate Pete Townshend’s desire for overpowering volume.

That, in and of itself, is a fascinating piece of history, as the story of how the famed Marshall stacks grew into these monstrous delivery systems for explosive sound is inextricably tied to heavy metal’s rise from music’s primordial ooze. No less an innovator than Marshall, Sun Studios’ Sam Phillips had an ear for fresh, exciting sonic possibilities, as the story of “Rocket 88” and the damaged amplifier that wrapped what is considered by many as the first rock ‘n’ roll recording in hot, fuzzy distortion indicates. And Dunn and company link indirectly that historic moment with Dave Davies’ “You Really Got Me” riff – one that many metal musicians cite as having aroused their hard-rock sensibilities – in a subtle way that speaks to their ability to combine all these diverse elements into a cohesive and entertaining package. 

Not at all surprisingly, the non-scientific portion of “Pre-Metal” starts with Black Sabbath and explains how those doom-laden chords that sprung from Iommi’s imagination – their genesis found in classical music – filled their first album with horrifying menace and supernatural uneasiness. From there, Dunn segues into a discussion of classical influences, exploring how Niccolo Paganini’s frantic violin technique put Yngwie Malmsteen on an endless quest to conquer increasingly complex and virtuoso passages and the impact of opera on the vocal theatrics and dramatic stagecraft of the likes of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford and Queensryche’s Geoff Tate. Going deeper, with great enthusiasm, producer Bob Ezrin reanimates the unbridled bombast of composer Richard Wagner’s grandest epics and transplants it into the body of arena-shaking heavy metal – the connection a logical one and not at all earth-shattering, although it’s hard not be moved by Ezrin’s explanation.

If nothing else, “Pre-Metal” establishes, yet again, that winning documentary style of Dunn’s that meshes his relaxed, albeit exuberant and intense, dedication to the cause with the amazing cross-section of interviews with heavy metal icons, lesser-known players, music-industry insiders, journalists and any other contributors who would talk to him with relevant and interesting historical treatises, rare, insightful anecdotes, a combination of incredible vintage and contemporary footage of some of rock and metal’s finest performers. Scott Ian, Kirk Hammett, the MC5’s Wayne Kramer and others talk about the salvation metal brought them, as Dunn and his collaborators seek to broaden the perspectives of “Metal Evolution” as far as they can. Then, they take it one step further, as they do in the segment on the blues’ influence on metal. With Hammett and former Deep Purple bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes adding their own two cents worth, they take great pains to get to the heart of that hellish, animalistic quality the blues has – especially apparent in the works of Robert Johnson and Howlin’ Wolf – that made the vocals and starkly minimalist instrumentation of its greatest architects so chilling. Meeting with the man who was the last living member of Howlin’ Wolf’s band, Hubert Sumlin (who actually died in December), Dunn – doing what every great interviewer does in that he divorces himself from the conversation and lets the subject tell his or her story the way they want – describes the scary power and roiling emotions inherent in the music and lyrics of a man who was uneducated in the classic sense, but who knew all too well the trials and tribulations that torture human beings.

While there is a structure to Dunn’s storytelling that is well thought out, the “Metal Evolution” series, and “Pre-Metal” in particular, reveal a tendency to step off the reservation when the spirit moves him. And it moves him in ways that are sometimes mysterious but are mostly rewarding and vital to his dissertation, which is what “Metal Evolution” is. The editing is superb on “Pre-Metal,” as almost every quote packs a punch and the appearance of concert and candid footage from long ago or today quickens the pace and adds visual interest to the piece. As those who have been watching from Day One will undoubtedly realize, Dunn and his crew were only getting started with “Pre-Metal.” 

-Peter Lindblad

Metal Evolution - "Pre-Metal"

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CD Review: Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom

CD Review: Paul McCartney - Kiss on the Bottom
Hear Music
All Access Review: B+

In sharp contrast to the full-blown, star-studded spectacle that was his grandiose performance of the medley “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End” at the 2012 Grammys, Paul McCartney’s new album of re-imagined standards – plus a couple of new tracks from the former Beatle – is tastefully understated and quietly elegant. Apparently feeling nostalgic for the vintage music that made his parents’ generation swoon, McCartney, ever the romantic, got the itch to lovingly record a set of soft, jazzy renditions of forgotten classics from the mythical Great American Songbook for Kisses on the Bottom – the title a line from the opening track on the record, the Fred Ahlert/Joseph Young composition “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.” Somewhere, mum and dad McCartney are dancing cheek to cheek to their boy’s musical valentine to them.

Trading in his grand piano and his Rickenbacker bass for Diana Krall and a host of top-notch jazz session players – plus contributors Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder – McCartney went to the right place to make Kisses on the Bottom. Setting up shop in Capital A Studio in the famed Capitol Records building in Hollywood, McCartney sang his vocals into what turned out to be the mic Nat King Cole once used, as he relates in the fascinating Q&A included in the album’s liner notes. Everybody from Cole and Frank Sinatra to Dean Martin and Gene Vincent recorded there, and the ghosts that haunt the room surely paid a visit during the Kisses on the Bottom sessions to see what McCartney and his producer, Tommy LiPuma, was up to. Though he admits to being a little intimidated by the atmosphere, McCartney rises to the occasion.

Warm and wryly romantic, McCartney’s nuanced singing – he does not play an instrument on Kisses on the Bottom – sinks in the downy comforts of Krall’s gentle piano sketches, and on occasion, almost disappears into the candlelit glow of pieces like “Home (When Shadows Fall)” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” Nevertheless, both tracks are carefully and beautifully arranged, with the dewy “It’s Only a Paper Moon” a country-tinged firefly of light guitar and shuffling rhythms dancing around a light, back-porch melody. Better still is the aching “More I Cannot Wish You,” a song from “Guys and Dolls” that was cut from the movie. Tender and moving, the song is treated with the sweetest string accompaniment imaginable and the kind of subtle playing that pricks hearts, with McCartney adopting the role of the grandparent sharing a lifetime of wisdom with a little girl that comprises the track’s narrative. It’s an affecting moment, one that listeners won’t soon forget.

Turning ever more playful, McCartney trips the light fantastic when turning on the neon cocktail jazz lights of “The Glory of Love,” “We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)” and “Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive” – all three songs sung with his trademark humor and an easygoing outlook on life’s joys and sorrows.  Although the mood shifts into a dreamier state of consciousness on the slumbering “Always” by Irving Berlin, McCartney and company narrowly avoid falling into a deep sleep, as “My Very Good Friend the Milkman” tiptoes slyly about with mischievous intentions and the bluesy twilight of “Get Yourself another Fool” seems to be swept along by a lonely, heartbroken janitor – or the London Symphony Orchestra to be precise – remembering a particularly satisfying kiss-off given to some thoughtless lover.

Of course, it’s the two McCartney originals that created the most buzz for Kisses on the Bottom, and “My Valentine,” the first single, comes closest to revisiting the breathtaking pop beauty of The Beatles’ “And I Love Her” or “Here, There and Everywhere.” Despite some lovely guitar picking by Clapton, Krall’s touching piano and string arrangements that enhance the sense of longing in McCartney’s voice rather than overwhelm it – as say Phil Spector might be tempted to do – “My Valentine” doesn’t quite have the sparkle of those diamonds. McCartney’s “Only Our Hearts” closes out Kisses on the Bottom, and like the black rose that is “My Valentine,” it is imbued with sadness that comes from the idea of missing someone that feels like a part of you.

It’s a little surprising that McCartney sounds so depressed on “My Valentine” and “Only Our Hearts,” given his fairly recent tidings of good news where his own heart is concerned. Still, McCartney has experienced his share of disappointments, and he wrings out every emotion that love can elicit on Kisses on the Bottom, from unabashed joy to regret-filled feelings of loss and pain. While his vocals aren’t always as strong or as full of character as one would like, McCartney does his best to honor the material, much of which is similar to those beloved old standards he used to sing with his family on occasions like New Year’s Eve – the significance of which is explained by McCartney in the liner notes. As inspired as he was by Elvis and other rock ‘n’ roll originators, it’s evident from Kisses on the Bottom – where the instrumentation is rich and complex, and so are the glorious arrangements – that McCartney’s songwriting was influenced just as much by Gershwin and Cole Porter. A labor of love for him, Kisses on the Bottom is a touching tribute to the craft of songwriting, the kind that many would find schmaltzy these days but that which, in a less vulgar age, made couples dance close and stare into each other’s eyes until they forgot everything else around them. And, it just might make you fall in love with McCartney all over again.

- Peter Lindblad

Great selection of Paul McCartney Collectible Posters: Rock On Collectibles - Paul MCartney Posters

And if you collect Beatles memorabilia in general: Backstage Auctions Beatles Collectibles