"Fire it Up" is a Kid Rock promo CD was given away in very short numbers by Continuum Records.
Amazon.com is now selling MP3 music downloads for 89-99 cents per track - best part of all...they are DRM-free!
Westerberg Returns To Action In Minneapolis
I was really excited to listen to this CD, despite that fact that REO Speedwagon has done little for me since their mid- to late 80s hey day. "Find Your Own Way Home" (2007) has been hailed as a fine return to form, a terrific comeback for a band that has sold an astonishing 40 million records since their formation in the early 70s. They even scored their first chart "hit" since 1990 with the single and third track on this release, "I Needed To Fall" (it got to 25 on the BillBoard Adult Contempory chart). It was very nice to see a seasoned band score like that in today's sorry music climate.
Most of you no doubt remember the hit that made Autograph famous, that great anthem rocker of the 80s, "Turn Up the Radio". The CD that followed the one with that hit is now highly sought after due to its scarcity. "That's the Stuff" was originally released in 1985, and the CD in 2001 (on Spitfire).
The Cult Gets Back To Basics On 'Born Into This'If the Cult's 2001 reunion album, "Beyond Good and Evil," was a heavily produced, muscular rock affair, the band took the opposite approach on the forthcoming "Born Into This," due Oct. 2 via New Wilderness/Roadrunner. The Cult cut the disc in 36 days with a mind toward re-embracing its punk-rooted past.
"Our last record, with all respect to [producer] Bob Rock ... we were guilty as much as he was, it was an overproduced record. We just went too far with it. It took about a year-and-a-half to make [and] an exorbitant amount of money," singer Ian Astbury tells Billboard.com. "This one was far more economic. We didn't want to get entrenched in debates of whether this is working or is this not working. If anything got a little bit drawn out, we just moved on to the next track.
Since 1994, Collective Soul has been churning out disc after disc of high quality melodic rock. Say anything else about them, but you can't knock their consistency. This is their 7th record in 13 years! This latest effort, "Afterwords" (2007) continues the trend and rocks with Ed Roland's distinctive voice, jamming riffs, and lofty choruses.
From the Inside put out their one and only release out so far in 2004 (Frontiers, a AOR haven in Italy). FTI is led by Danny Vaughn, a name with which most AOR and melodic rock fans should be very familiar. Danny was the main man behind the now classic AOR outfits Waysted and Tyketto. Tyketto's self-titled debut remains a masterpiece of the genre. Danny has gone on to record under the names of Vaughn, From the Inside, and most recently, simply Danny Vaughn. He's also recently joined The Illegal Eagles, a tribute band of sorts for the Eagles. Where does the guy find the time? Incidentally, most of his work, past and present, is generally rare and hard to find, and will fetch a price higher than most new CDs.
Many folks do not realize that Matthew Sweet put out a couple albums before his breakthrough "Girlfriend," the 1991 single that catapulted Sweet from generic late 80s pop rock to "alternative." No doubt it was helped with the wicked cool anime music video. To me, Sweet is and always was a pop rock artist and there is not much "alternative" about him at all. At any rate, his 1989 A&M release, "Earth" gets very lackluster reviews from fan and nonfans alike. I recently picked it up for a buck at a Used CD store and it was not as bad as the reviews made it out to be. Especially the first half of the disc, the songwriting is classic Matthew Sweet with pleasant harmonies and sing-a-long hooks.
I am not familiar with 2am, but remain impressed at what this rare and hard to find CD can fetch at ebay. One sold over the Labor Day weekend for $152.51.
Buckcherry, the LA roots-rock band is back. Actually core members Josh Todd (vocals) and Keith Nelson (guitar) are the only original members in the outfit that recorded "15" (released in 2006). But you'd never know it, since Todd's vocals and Nelson's licks are the real trademark to Buckcherry in my opinion.
So in case you haven't heard yet, Hinder is a modern alternative/hard rock outfit from Oklahoma. They put this CD out in 2005, but it really did not pick up much steam until the 2006 hit "Lips of An Angel." These guys are kind of an enigma: tough sounding with a vocalist who sounds like he's constipated and on the john after having eaten a dozen cheese graters. Yet, I bet their lyrics were written in crayon. This is probably what has earned them a lot of bad press, but hey - the formula works on the masses. And you can't knock them for having the best album cover of 2005, hands down. The CD has gone 2x platinum and spawned the additional chart hits "Better Than Me" and "Homecoming Queen."
