DISQUS

MichaelFortes · 5 months ago

When I first heard "When I See You Smile," I nearly gagged. Was heartily disappointed when it finally reached number one. This was around the time I discovered that, if I dislike a song that much, it's probably going to be huge. "Forget Me Not" was pretty good though. Always enjoyed hearing that one whenever I my local rock station played it.

jefito · 5 months ago

If forced to choose lame Bad English ballads, I'll take "The Price of Love" over "When I See You Smile" any day.

tmrtgo · 5 months ago

I couldn't agree more, Jefito. I always kinda loved the chorus -- secretly, of course.

Ted · 5 months ago

C'mon, Jeff! You're being a ballad snob now.

David_E · 5 months ago

Asia: Supergroup
Velvet Revolver: Marketing ploy
Tin Machine: Art project
Chickenfoot: Frat reunion
Damn Yankees: Lucky strike
Bad English: .

But yeah, "Forget Me Not" rocks.

MatthewBolin · 5 months ago

Where's the Traveling Wilburys?

Oh yeah, right. They had an entire album that was good.

Matt · 5 months ago

I like this a lot...but I would have stuck the Tin Machine track at the end....so I can skip it :-)

Sucker Train Blues was one of the better tunes from an otherwise forgettable group...

PS - still love both Bad English albums....

Ted · 5 months ago

Gasp! How can you not like Tin Machine.

edmur · 5 months ago

so what you're saying here is that so-called supergroups are always lousy?

Ted · 5 months ago

No, but they usually don't live up to the hype.

J · 5 months ago

I wish Tin Machine had been a better band, but at least it was great, as you said, to hear Bowie do a bit of rocking. :)

Ted · 5 months ago

I wish they were better, too. But it seems they didn't have that "certain something" to remain a viable band. Bowie probably got bored with it.

Malchus · 5 months ago

"40 year Old Virgin" jokes aside, the first Asia album was a substantial hit (all the way to #1, I believe).

Ted, Ted, Ted, are you seriously saying Damn Yankees are better than Chickenfoot? How can Damn Yankees be better than anything (I better watch my back cause I'm sure Nugent's aiming his crossbow at me). I'll take Sammy, Dave, Satch and Chad over Night Styx Nugent any day of the week.

And how lucky is Deen Castronovo of Bad English? The guy lands a temporary gig as the Bad English drummer and winds up being Neal Schon's go to guy for the next 20 years.

Speaking of Sammy and Neal Schon, they had their own "supergroup" in the mid 80's. Schon claims that playing the recordings of their album to Eddie Van Halen inspired Eddie to seek out Hagar when David Lee Roth went solo.

Great post, as usual!

Ted · 5 months ago

I'll send you the Chickenfoot album and you can hear how, in Maxwell Smart's phrase, they "missed it by THAT much."

Damn Yankees were more melodic -- and that lines up with my tastes. And don't think I'm slamming Asia completely. I loved many of the songs on that first album, but they kind of lost it on the second one. But I gotta give 'em props for keeping at it. Have you heard Phoenix? It's okay, but I didn't hear anything that came close to the songs they wrote on their first album.

Matt · 5 months ago

The Damn Yankees albums were great, but man, they sound dated. I don't think they hold up as albums. The hits still sound great though.

Meanwhile, while they sound dated, I'd argue that the Bad English albums have held up quite well. Some of John Waite's finest work vocally and lyrically.

RE: Deen. One of the most underrated drummers out there in classic rock, right next to Todd Sucherman of Styx.

I really like the Chickenfoot disc - I think the one thing worth mentioning is how the Chickenfoot project presents Satriani for the first time as an actual guitar player in a band setting....it doesn't sound like a band with a virtuoso guitarist noodling in between lyrics - I'm hearing Satch in a completely different light on this album after years of being a fan of his solo stuff - I'm very impressed - I expected the opposite.

Ted · 5 months ago

I've always loved Satriani because his playing was so melodic in his songs. I don't think I've ever thought of him as a noodler -- but maybe I haven't heard enough of this music to know.

Matt · 5 months ago

I love Satriani for those same reasons...but he gets slammed as a noodler by some, and I think that this disc will open some eyes for people that hear it, that might not be Satch fans as you and I have been.

Allen · 5 months ago

Where's Tinted Windows? 1/4 Hansen, 1/4 Pumpkins, 1/4 Cheap trick, 1/4 Fountains of Wayne = 100% derivative power pop cheese.

Ted · 5 months ago

They'll have to wait for a future episode of "Supergroup ... or Superdud?" Their album isn't out yet, but I did hear four songs on their My Space page. "Kind of a Girl" and "Nothing to Me" are pretty good.

Ted · 5 months ago

Scott told me the album is out, so... my bad.

DavidMedsker · 5 months ago

Still love "Sole Survivor." Never gravitated to Velvet Revolver, though a lot of that was due to their record label F'ing their customers in the A with the anti-copy nonsense. I should probably listen to that Tin Machine record again, but that line "They're just a bunch of assholes, with buttholes for their brains" has scarred me for life.

I'll take Chickenfoot over Damn Yankees any day of the week and twice on Sunday. The reason: no Styx alumni. And no Ted.

Always liked "Forget Me Not." I still think John Waite is a woefully underrated lead singer.

Ted · 5 months ago

It's hit or miss on Tin Machine, but when they hit, it's pretty damn great.