My Summer Soundtrack

One thing I love about music is the memories associated with it; a song or an album can instantly take you back to a certain time and place. Often when I hear a particular track I will instantly remember a certain time and what was going on in my life.

One of the funniest examples for me was during the holiday season. My friend and I were just teenagers and at the time really into Def Leppard’s Hysteria album, and during the break from school we were really stuck on the song Armageddon It. That season we listened to that song over and over to the point that we starting calling it a Christmas song. Now, over 20 years later, anytime I hear that song I think of the holidays. In fact, it stirs up more festive feelings in me than most traditional holiday music.

As this summer winds down I (I hate to say that), any of the songs below may remind me of the previous few months.

10. Take Me Home, Danko Jones. I wasn’t a big fan of the album it came from, Never Too Loud, but this song stuck with me a little. If I was ever on a short drive by myself, and wanted to listen to one or two songs, I often played this one.

9. Never Walk Away, Journey. This double CD set surprised me. The lead off track from the disc containing new songs in the set is another I may have played on short drives. Journey delivered on this release, a lot of the songs were fun summertime music.

8. Cheap Champagne, Sloan. This song comes from their album titled Parallel Play. It is a fun summer sounding album all round. This is one of my favorite tracks on it.

7. The Pretender, Foo Fighters. I was a little late getting the Foo Fighter’s latest release, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. This is one great album start to finish and throughout the summer I have listened to it a lot. The lead off song here is just the first of many great ones on the record.

6. Longest Days, John Mellencamp. This is another album that surprised me. I played the entire disc through many times over the last couple of months. When we were camping during those quiet moments at night when the kids were sleeping, it sounded great. This lead off track is one of my favorites on the album.

5. Go, Def Leppard. Finally, one of my long time favorite bands come back with a great album of original songs. And as fate would have it, Joe Elliot got sick back in April and had to reschedule Def Leppard’s Ottawa show for August. As luck would have it I was planning on visiting this city in that same month. The song Go is the lead off track, and apparently they added it their set list the night before I saw them. I love the track and was delighted to hear it live.

4. Summertime, Bon Jovi This one came along for me in the early summer phases. We have a tradition here at my home; every July 1st we celebrate Canada Day with great food, drinks and good times with 50 plus guests. I always make a mix of music for the event and this track was included. I recall standing in front of the BBQ, with the sun shining down, a cold beverage in hand while surrounded by many good friends and family as Jon Bon Jovi declared, “Feels something like summertime!” It was a near perfect moment.

3. Runnin Wild, Airbourne. This is one of many great songs from their album of the same name. I played this CD a lot in July, especially in my car. Be warned: This album may cause speeding!!

2. Straight to Hell, Great Big Sea. For readers who are not aware of Great Big Sea, they are a great Canadian traditional/folk/rock band. Their latest release Fortune's Favour is probably their most rockin' effort to date. The final track on it is a great rock song that tells the story of someone who makes a deal with the devil and exhanges their soul for a great life of partying first. It is humorous and a lot of fun, and it does rock. A full post on Great Big Sea is something I am planning on doing.

1. Vengeance is Mine, Alice Cooper. If Airbourne’s Running Wild was the album of July for me, then Alice Cooper’s Along Came a Spider was the album of August. I love this album and every song on it. Vengeance is Mine is the second track on it. Once I am listening to this one, I know I want to let it play through to the end, and often do.

What about you? What were you listening to this summer? Speaking of summer, enjoy the rest of it!

Revelation and other Journey Memories

Journey is back with another new singer, a new album, and some old stuff repackaged and re-recorded all in a two CD set called Revelation. I never considered myself a big Journey fan. My memories of Journey mainly consist of a greatest hits cassette that one of my friends owned and insisted on playing in the car on a few college road trips, much to the dismay of the rest of us. Every time the cassette was inserted I used to shudder at the thought of hearing Don’t Stop Believing one more time. However, despite of this, there was a time or two we could have created one of those classic movie scenes where everyone breaks into song, similar to Bohemian Rhapsody in Wayne’s World or Elton John’s Tiny Dancer in Almost Famous. Picture five guys crammed into a Chevy Cavalier with bad moustaches and bad mullets wailing Don’t Stop Believing to the top of our lungs. I digress.

I am not sure if there is a lot of buzz about this latest Journey offering or not, but it seemed like everywhere I turned, I was reading something about the new album. Curiosity got the better of me and echoes of Don’t Stop Believing from days gone by would not stop running through my head, so I made the purchase. It contains a CD of brand new material and a second CD of all the old hits. But it’s just not the old hits digitally re-mastered and put into a new case, they actually went into the studio and re-recorded them all with their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda. Take that Steve Perry.

No mistake, the new material makes for a fun album. Listening to it made me feel like I was in the early to mid 80’s again. The guitars, keyboards and high-pitched vocals are all unmistakably Journey. There is a good mixture of upbeat tunes with the classic sounding Journey ballads. Towards the end of the disc, I find it starts to wear a little thin for me, but before it’s done there is an interesting instrumental track called The Journey (Revelation) that I like. If you are a fan of Journey, I don’t think you will be disappointed here.

The second CD contains all the songs that you would want to hear at a Journey concert, Don’t Stop Believing, Faithfully, Open Arms, Anyway You Want It, etc. In re-recording these hits they’ve stayed very true to the originals, but the sound quality has naturally improved and they have a bit of a fresh feel to them. Arnel Pineda does them all justice, and many times it sounds as if Steve Perry himself is still on vocals. It makes for another very fun disc.

Overall, a strong offering and it was better than what I ever expected it to be. This one will definitely get some playing time from me. I even attempted to serenade my wife in the car with the new version of Don’t Stop Believing in the background. Steve Perry or Arnel Pineda I was not, but at least my moustache and mullet are gone. I give the album a grade of a strong B.

Favorite Tracks: Never Walk Away, Like a Sunshower, Change for the Better, The Journey (Revelation) and yes…Don’t Stop Believing.