Head First by Prowess

Rock music-a genre that is either really, really loved or really, really hated.  It's had its ups and downs, victories and struggles, been mocked and frowned upon by society, and has had its fair share of stereotypes.

As for me, it is the one genre (other than blues, classical, and jazz) that motivates me, makes me feel I can do anything.  

That and more is what I feel when I listen to Prowess' (Charlotte, North Carolina) debut album, Head First.  To the best of my knowledge, this is the first debut CD that starts off with the sound effects of someone in battle, "Thunder Underfoot". "Warriors, are you ready?...CHARGE!"   

That they do in a mere five songs.

"Show Me"

"Killing a Giant"

"Overboard"

"Shaker""

"No Survivors"

It's as if certain members of Tesla, Def Leppard, and KISS had sat with them in the studio and advised them of the fun, the underlying yet overpowering drive, and attraction to the opposite sex, respectively, that all and more are staples in rock music, even today.  Those three and more are what has amazed me about this CD, which at this writing, I must have heard at least a dozen times, while simply going about life. 

It's in "No Survivors" that I hear "We are the warriors, take no prisoners", in "Show Me," "Somebody turn the darkness to day...There's gotta be somethin' better than this...You gotta fight, you can't let it be...You gotta fight your heart out...You're not the only one to ever feel alone" in "Killing a Giant." Let me go out on a limb and say that "Shaker" is one of those songs a rock band just has to have.  A song like that is so rare these days.

While I could talk ad nauseum (and even after the cows come home) about how great the music sounds, I will emphasize a feature in rock bands I don't often get an opportunity to notice: the backup vocals. To be able to choose a few selections would be impossible and would not do justice for the rich talent I hear in them.  What I will say is, they flow so well even the so-called tone-deaf could sing them.

It's in my listening to Prowess that I will try to no longer lament that rock music is dead; please join me. We lifetime lovers of rock just have to search longer and more deeply to find it.  

However, what is mostly non-existent in today's rock music, even with those with classic rock elements to it, is making it to where the listener feels they can do anything.  I can envision kids listening to Head First, like the ones in the videos where they listen to Motley Crue or AC/DC. With that said, I suggest anyone, homemaker, fast-food cashier, construction worker, nurse, lawyer, or CEO of a top-five company listen to this CD.  If they do, they will all feel like they can do their part to, as President Donald Trump says, "Make America Great Again."

Morever, Prowess needs to be played by those serving in the military, going through a hard time in their lives (with their career, family, or their health), before a motivational speech, and at marathons (having run in five, myself).  Coming from me, that by no means is an exhaustive list of places and events I'd suggest. You may think I've gone off the deep end.  Obviously, as the bridge in "Overboard" says, "I'm going over."

The Bad Dudes, Prowess, and Killing Grace

The many facets of the English language never cease to amaze me.  One of them is the use and meaning of the word bad.  If knowledge serves me correctly, this negative word became a positive one in the early 80s.  It's especially amusing when those in the music business use this vernacular to their advantage.  The same thing goes for dude.  All I will say is: That one word has had several meanings through the centuries.  

Then, I met The Bad Dudes. What came to my mind was, a group of guys who considered themselves so great together, they formed a band.  They would not take themselves so seriously and give their audiences music they could relate to, enjoy.  That they did, with their rich punk style, both in music and appearance.  Brian really stood out in all of that and more, outdoing himself in making the band look like bad dudes...in a good way, of course.

For those of you who saw the Bad Dudes and thought they were bad, as in bad, and left, shame on you.  You missed some more great music.

Yes, that's right, great music...from Charlotte, North Carolina.  Even now, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around now some parts of the Tar Heel State have a strong local music scene.  I have heard some bands of various genres from that state, primarily Charlotte and Raleigh, and liked all of them in some way...Then came Prowess.  They are on tour for their debut CD, Headfirst.

That would be the right word to say how they embraced Knoxville, boldness and with lots to give, not the least of which was some great rich rock music, talent, and charisma.  Within seconds of starting their set, I was blown away, and then some.  Those who were watching and listening knew right away what "3 seconds" means.  They did that countless times.  

Their stage presence is a cross between those of the Ventures and KISS, with an Axl-esque lead singer, who likes Elvis.  I appreciated every effort they made to give the audience great music, to the point of bass player Kenny Keeler breaking a string. Oh, these things happen all the time!  Just relax, it's going to be OK.  I loved how they made light of it without breaking the flow of the show, interacting with the audience.  After that, they plunged head first {laughs} into some more great music, complete with tight melodies and non-stop rock music that would make music heaven do the happy dance and sing.

 

At many shows, there comes a moment in it where one song gets the audience going.  I don't know the exact title of the song, but the lyrics were, "Let it ride...take chances."  Nothing is sweeter than hearing a live band play a song so well that is so deep, the best part of which was the backup vocals.  Any other reservations gave way in their cover of "Come Together," one of my personal favorites of the late-Beatles era.

Last and certainly not least, Killing Grace.  By now, I've lost count of how many times they have been here.  But it must have been enough times, in just a few short years, to where lead singer Matt Edmonson expressed boundless thankfulness to everyone who came out and to all of us Knoxvillians for loyal support.  

Only this time, he took it to a higher, deeper, personal level.






How deep is their thankfulness?  It is heard in "Take Me With You," which is on Speak With a Fist.  It was in honor of a fan who had gone to a lot of their shows. He passed away unexpectedly.  Those who are Killing Grace fans never tire of not only hearing "17 Scars," whether live or on the CD, but the story of the song and the big impact that one song made on the band's success.  Let's just say, they hadn't planned on playing that last night, wanting to do more from Speak.  But because a certain fan was there who loved that song (maybe almost exclusively) and wouldn't consider the show complete without seeing it live once again, they inserted it into the set list.  In short, they made it happen.  The same thing goes for "Nobody's Hero," their encore song.

Sinful Lilly at Manchester Hall, Lexington, KY

In early December, after many requests from many Sinful Lilly fans via Facebook to have them open up for Jackyl, it was a done deal.  

It was a killer set, proudly delivered by Sinful Lilly, themselves.  Non-stop energy that they only got more of as their hour-long set unfolded.  Guitar solos from Fredi that amazed the crowd and then some was only scratching the surface of what the entire band were capable of delivering that night.  In the few times I have seen Sinful Lilly, Fredi has done things I had never seem any other guitarist do.

Speaking of the mostly unheard of, and something I shouldn't overlook:  Trey Bledsoe, the drummer.  All I can say is:  I have a better respect for his talent, because he is a great visual timekeeper, while being an actor of sorts, and doing everything short of interacting with everyone in the audience.

Photo Credit:  Rise Up Photography

The one part of the show that stood out to me was during "California Man." I love how Fredi was pleased that he was playing for primarily a biker audience.  That they loved "California Man" in return, I know, only made them want fast-forward winter to enjoy spring.  In that way, they can get back on their Harleys and ride, maybe to California; they'd be "feeling fine."

That they were able to play for an hour allowed them to not limit the songs in their lineup.  Over the past few years, they have written such songs as "Devil Music and the Record Machine," "California Man," and "Wait Your Turn," all of which they played.

Photo Credit Rachel Leigh Vendetta

The onstage chemistry between Fredi and Nik was at its finest, from sharing the mic during a chorus, to Nik spreading himself all over the stage, to their guitar-bass solos.

But they didn't merely play it.  Uh-uh, not when it comes to Sinful Lilly.  They added passion to it, and it was over from there.

The Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show made many young men and women want to start playing guitar and drums.  While I am confident they have gained more "likes" and "followers," I wonder how many people were so inspired, blown away, by Fredi, Nik, or Trey, that they added another item to their Christmas wish list.

It is only getting better for Sinful Lilly.  It would be a good idea to see this for yourself.  And you have that chance next week...twice, and within approximately.100 miles of each other  They will be playing with Davey Suicide as part of their Born to Raise Hell tour on February 20th at the Trixie's Entertainment Complex in Louisville, KY, and with John 5 at the Manchester Hall in Lexington, KY, on the 23rd.

Lynch Mob, Brotherhood

I'm amazed that after a few decades of closely following rock music, there are many bands from the 80s and 90s who not only are still around, but are still making great music. 

One of them that only gets better album by album is Lynch Mob.  The more I listen to them, the more I am blown away by their music.  Their newly released CD Brotherhood has had that effect on me and more.

What do I mean by more?

It has brought new and fresher meaning to the words solid, relentless, fresh, consistent, polished, crisp, among many other words I don't have the capacity of think of. With that said, you could listen to this one CD no fewer than a thousand times and always hear something different every time.  

It is said that things happen in 2s and 3s.  When it comes to Lynch Mob, it comes in 5s.  And it is only awesomeness.  You will hear and feel limitless attitude and unleashed hard rock-style creativity with the lyrical themes.  Complicated love, a confused mindset (that's the best way I can put it), and life on the road--you can't get much better than that.  If I didn't know any better, I would think these songs are in respective order on a soundtrack for a rock hard musical production.

The "storyline" only made me want to hear more, the boundless limits and talent of this band; no intermission needed.

In the years I have listened to Lynch Mob, I know they don't play only rock.  They have occasions where they'd play different styles of music.  Let's just say that when I heard "The Forgotten Maiden's Pearl," I felt like dancing into a calypso-style dance.  That's just my funny way of saying the acoustic guitar and Oni's voice complement each other.

Nothing is finer than the staccato intro for "Black Mountain." Jimmy's grooves are so clear, anyone listening who doesn't have rhythm can easily do it.  It gets even more intricate in "Dog Town Mystics." Let me just say that may have taken some supernatural ability, and is a pattern I'd advise other drummers to try to duplicate.  They are difficult times, but we all get through them, right?

Where the true heart is of Lynch Mob lies in "Miles Away."  There is something to be said about turning down the volume and turning up their hearts...and heartaches.  George is at his best in his bluesy guitar break.  For the record, I don't recall backup vocals giving me goosebumps.

It's in the last song on the CD "Until I Get My Gold" that you hear a fantastic culmination of talent and then some.  Lynch Mob-style fusion at its best.  If you hadn't heard the myriad facets of Oni's voice, you will in this song.  What a bow to put on the CD!  But you will only want to replay it, I promise you that.

Though I have heard many hard rock bands' albums and noticed some "weaknesses" (for a lack of better words) in their music, all I can say about Brotherhood is, you can certainly ask me to find one in this album.  But it may take a while.  I will never get around to that.  Instead, I'll be ever-captivated by the creativity, talent and professionalism Oni, George, Sean, and Jimmy generate in their music.

Brotherhood is a hard rock dessert, topped with whipped cream and a cherry, that continually makes listeners only come back for more (and it has no calories or fat, to boot).

Next time I look up the words solid, relentless, fresh, consistent, polished, and crisp in the dictionary, I expect to see a picture of Lynch Mob.

Book Review: Visions, Dreams, and Rumours

There is power in the reason and significance of the first record you ever bought.  Mine was Wild Heart, Stevie Nicks' second solo album.  For the better part of a year, I had listened to "Stand Back," "Nightbird," and "If Anyone Falls," and loved hearing it every time.  It was only right for me to buy the album...and to keep it for life.  

I later found out she was part of Fleetwood Mac, the one pop band who brought us such hits as "Don't Stop," "Go Your Own Way," and "The Chain," one of my personal favorites from the album.  

Stevie Nicks an ever-creative soul who refuses to give up, whose one and only passion is music no matter what happens, and who gives to things bigger than herself, and is a sage to other young women emerging onto the music scene.

What stood out to me in the production of Rumours was Nicks' "Silver Springs" was originally nine verses long.  She was asked to make it shorter.  But she had a hard time with that because she felt like the beauty of the song would be compromised.  What she also had to overcome was, that song wouldn't be on the original album for Rumours.

I don't consider it coincidental that while I was reading this book, Tom Petty died an untimely death, and I experienced a stressful personal situation.  I loved reading how her love for Tom Petty was at a superfan level, and so strong, the band made her an honorary Heartbreaker.

My respect for the late Tom Petty only great stronger when he encouraged Nicks in a low point in her career, taken from page 311 of the book

Heartache and heartbreak are what Stevie herself is no stranger to.  In addition to her life and complicated times with Lindsay, she experienced the death of her best friend, and a had longtime battle with cocaine addiction that almost caused permanent brain damage, thanks to the drug being handed out like candy in the making of Rumours.  Between her hit songs, both with the Mac and as a solo artist, and her personal journal writings, there is nothing she hasn't written.

That inspires me.  I can live on that alone for the rest of my life if I could.  What have I done since reading this biography?  Written down my dreams soon after waking up, writing more now in my spare time instead of wasting time on social media, and writing in a Favorite Moment a Day journal. In so doing, I have had my own visions and dreams.

A Tribute to Tom Petty

I can't remember specifically the first time I heard Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.  If I had to make an educated guess, it was the early '80s and the song was "Change of Heart"  I noticed a lot of older boys were into the music.  In my single digit-age mindset, I thought to myself, "I'm not supposed to listen to this music."  Looking back on it, it was a profound way of telling me that I have unlimited access to a band whose music will have more of an effect on me than I could imagine at that time.

Flash forward to summer of 1984.

I bought my first ever vinyl record:  Wild Heart, Stevie Nicks' second solo album.  I had listened repeatedly to such hits as "Stand Back" and "If Anyone Falls."  When I bought it and listened to it right away, I noticed there was a duet Stevie had with Tom Petty, "I Will Run to You."  This became just another favorite of mine from this album.  To this day, I am enraptured in Nicks' and Petty's complementary harmonies, the crystal-clear musical chemistry, and the simplicity of the vocals and lyrics.  In fact, this was the first song I cued up when I first heard of Petty's sudden death.

I was to continue to discover all of that and more about Tom Petty's music as the late '80s unfolded. Next came "Don't Come Around Here No More" in 1985.  It was that stinging, piercing pitch and not-hard-to-notice simple guitar riff that only lured me in a little bit more into their music.

It finally manifested itself in 1989.  For you veteran rock music listeners, I don't need to tell you about the heavy rotation radio stations around the country played of "I Won't Back Down" and "Free Falling."  At the time, I didn't realize the purpose of this, the positive effect it would have on anyone growing up around that time.  To this day, no matter where I go, whether to or from the grocery store or across the country, I can't tune into a rock or pop station without either song playing.  And every time I do, for those three or four minutes' worth of song, it takes me back to 1989, where life was altogether simpler. 

I can't overlook "Mary Jane's Last Dance" as part of the soundtrack as I was trying to discover my purpose in life. Aside from the obvious subject of the song, I lesson I learned every time I heard it was:  Don't get so caught up in the busyness of life that you forget to lay back and listen to some music.

That I uphold even more so now.  What would I cue up at random times?  "American Girl." "Running Down a Dream," "The Waiting," or even that additional timeless duet with Ms. Nicks, "Stop Dragging My Heart Around."

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the power music should have on you, a great lesson I have put into practice after thirty-five years of listening to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

So, it's no wonder I shed a few tears when I learned of the passing of Tom Petty.  But I have dried them and lifted my hung head again, determined to go out "Into the Great Wide Open" and start "Learning to Fly."

Retro Review: In Color, by Cheap Trick

The 1970s, a decade of even louder rock & roll than the previous decade was capable of delivering.  This one decade brought along novel concepts, such as nostalgia in music, as heard in Don McLean's timeless classic "American Pie"; the first benefit concert, disco music was all the rage, and the idea of a live two-record album was born.

In the midst of all of the loud rock & roll teenagers listened to at that time was a band called Cheap Trick, Robin Zander on lead vocals and Rick Nielsen as lead guitarist. Their second studio album, In Color, produced by Tom Werman, was released just seven months after their debut studio album, Cheap Trick.  Though they failed to chart in the States, they had a fan base in Japan with these two albums.

The album starts out with a short but simple message:  Are you ready to rock?  Though it is a rhetorical question to this day for the lifetime rock music followers, it is a great way to start off an album in the late '70s.  What makes me drool are the sound effects.  It's just to make sure you're "all ears." because the songs ahead are going to blow your ears and your mind.

The quality of the music only gets better.  

Of course, you can't forget the immortal "I Want You To Want Me."  Sadly, this song didn't receive any favorable attention or ratings until the Live in Budokan album a few years later.  And the rest, they say, is history.

This one album has the sounds I have always loved about Cheap Trick:  loud but simple guitar melodies, vocals, and drum patterns.  It's the type of music I can play for days and years on end without ceasing.  The simplicity of this music is heard in such songs as "Southern Girls" and "Clock Strikes Ten." That latter song, and many more that were to come from Cheap Trick, makes me feel forever young.  

Another trait about 70s rock music that I consider unusual is, rock bands recording at least one disco song.  Hey! If the Rolling Stones and KISS did it, why shouldn't Cheap Trick, right?  "You're All Talk" has a raw disco-esque rhythm, combined with vocals of the same kind to appropriately and simultaneously contrast and fuse with the beat.

Though it has taken me 40 years for my ears to be graced with this album, I'm glad to have spent the summer listening especially to Cheap Trick, especially the songs I had never heard, most of which are on this one album.  Am I ready to rock?  Well, even more so; I know you are, too.