Best 2009 Albums

2009 saw a number of good albums. These are my 10 favorite ones (alpha order):

Album: Chickenfoot
Artist: Chickenfoot
Favorite track: My Kinda Girl
I really hope this band is not going to ride off into the sunset like so many other great one-off's. Mostly I say this because I was about 1 day late to buy tickets and I missed their show. This is such a great album, all the musicians are really good at what they do and they decidedly approached this as a band, not a project. The first thing that stands out is that Satriani does not sound like his usual self. I think he wanted to sound a little less clean and more rock'r'roll. Either that or Sammy spilt Cabo all over his rack...

Artist: Fastball
Album: Little White Lies
Favorite track: All I Was Looking For Was You
Nobody does Beatles inspired pop like Fastball. They are one of my favorite bands for taking that legacy and making it sound so fresh. They are living proof that you don't need heavy synths and fake drums to make good pop.

Artist: Green Day
Album: 21st Century Breakdown
Favorite track: Restless Heart Syndrome
I've heard a lot of people say this is not as good as American Idiot. I'm not sure why there's always an urge to compare, but this is an amazing album in an of itself. If a band came out today with an album like this I believe they would create quite a buzz and GD fans would flock to them.

Artist: Hoobastank
Album: For(n)ever
Favorite track: All About You
This is such a fun album... it has that drive-a-fast-car-with-the-wind-in-your-hair kinda feel. Most songs are really good. Even though Hoobastank targets kids in their 20s with their poppy-grunge, I think even old timers will find it interesting. I do.

Artist: Hot Leg
Album: Red Light Fever
Favorite track: I've Met Jesus
Justin Hawkins can singlehandedly keep the glam alive. Songs like Chickens, I've Met Jesus, Gay In The 80's are fun and irresistable. He is over the top, right where he belongs!

Artist: Megadeth
Album: Endgame
Favorite track: 1,320
Last year Metallica and Testament, this year Slayer and Megadteh. Thrash is back, baby! All we need now is for Anthrax to come out with new material and I'll reach thrash nirvana. Anyway, Endgame is by far Dave's best album in the past 10 years. You can't find one bad track on it, it's solid from start to finish. 1,320 makes me wanna headbang. Yes, the drums break is reminiscent of Seek and Destroy... I have a theory, completely unproven: Dave came up with that break back in the pre-Kill'em All days and when Metallica used the same break in 2008 for The Day That Never Comes, he was like: "Oh yeah? Well, I'm gonna recycle it too, then!".

Artist: Pearl Jam
b: Backspacer
Favorite track: Supersonic
This is probably the least grunge album PJ ever made. It is more of a hard rock album then anything else. Very different than previous works, but just as good.

Artist: Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Album: 11:11
Favorite track: Hanuman
This year I've been in Spain and started listening more to flamenco, I think that allowed me to enjoy RyG's crossover guitar work at a level never experienced before. The whole thing is out of this planet. Look them up on YouTube.

Artist: Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Album: Night Castle
Favorite track: Night Enchanted
There is a lot of classically inspired rock and metal out there. But while most of it comes from Europe, here in the US we can now rejoice as TSO exahusted the Xmas-Metal gimmik and just now delved into endless possibilities mixing metal and classical. Tributes are paid to classical rockers such as Mozart, Bach, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Orff. Keep it coming!

A short review of "11:11" by Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Release Date: 09/07/09

Is there such a thing as Flamenco Metal? It might seem a bit of an oxymoron, but how else would you accurately describe what Rodrigo y Gabriela do? Sure, there are many influences in their unique fusion of genres, but somehow they always seem to work more than a little metal into what they do.

Listening to 11:11 I can't help but feel like they really perfected their recipe and have finally written amazing music that will make you bang your head and stomp your feet all the way through. It is remarkable how heavy the songs are, considering that all they use is little more than just two classical guitars.

All songs on this album are extremely well crafted and impeccably executed. But what sets them apart is that the music itself is really good. And this is not something always easy to find among virtuoso musicians, too often preoccupied with how the music looks good on paper. These guys know how to use their magic hands to create something that is technically beautiful and will melt your face at the same time.

The music of the 11th track, 11:11 (inspired by Pink Floyd), is a key to its cryptic title. The whole song is in 11/8 (with a feel of 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2). Even the piano notes at the end continue on the same signature. Interestingly this is the first piano I've heard them use. They make an interesting use of it to close the album.

11:11 has been released less than a month ago, and I can't put it down. All I want now is for Metallica to cover Hanuman and then I'll be in Flamenco Metal heaven!

Night Ranger @ BB King (08/17/09)

Night Ranger played a fantastic show to a packed BB King last night in New York City. With the exception of one song the whole set list was from the band's golden era between '82 and '87, resulting in a greatest hits playlist that everybody enjoyed from start to finish.

At 8.00 PM sharp the lights went down and the PA started blasting a collection of the most popular and recognizable hard rock riffs: Aqualung, Iron Man, Layla, Sunshine of Your Love, Satisfaction, Day Tripper, Smoke on The Water, and many more, even including NR's own Don't Tell Me You Love Me. An original way to set the tone, but also show how the band respects the classic rock catalog and its fans' fine taste in music.

With everybody highly energized and ready to have a good time, the band kicked it all off with This Boy Needs To Rock. It hit everybody like a ton of bricks and it took me a second to register when the solo morphed into the one of Highway Star. Brad and Joel capably harmonized the way Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord used to and what seemed to be a short homage to Deep Purple turned into a very well crafted medley. Jack and Kelly shared singing duties on both songs.

Sing Me Away was a great choice to continue and it was followed by You Are Gonna Hear From Me, the only song from their latest album, Hole In The Sun. Drama Queen would have been a better choice for me, I really like the guitar riff a la I Will Follow (U2).

As a sample of music for movies that NR recorded, they played The Secret of My Success. The song, a perfect match for Michael J. Fox's 1987 movie, is heavy on synthesizers and did not age that well, but nobody seemed to mind. Jack managed to make it interesting however when at the end he joked how every band has a “na-na” song. Kelly kicked off a few seconds of Steam’s Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) and the crowd immediately followed suit. After that they did a bit of Bryan Adams’ Cuts Like A Knife and finally they said: “OK, let’s do one that even the waiters that don’t know Night Ranger will recognize” And they played the ultimate “na-na” song: Hey Jude! That was a short but intense moment. I only would have added Land of A 1000 Dances, but there’s many more I’m sure.

The acoustic set was great as expected. Jack was saying that while he was sipping wine at his Napa Valley ranch, Brad and Joel were actually hard at work and came up with a very intricate acoustic instrumental they like to call: LA No Words. The song has not been recorded yet. I would have enjoyed it better without the fat woman behind me talking loudly to her fat friend.

With all members back on the small stage, the guys asked each other what was their first concert they attended and when. For Kelly it was the Doors in ’68, so they played about one minute and a half worth of Roadhouse Blues. Nice! For Christian it was Van Halen. He pretended to think about it and with the perfect saw-wave sound he teased with a few bars of Jump. When asked, Joel yelled: “Iron Maiden, dude!!!” and off he went with 2 bars of The Trooper on acoustic. Fun!

The Damn Yankees moment arrived promptly after that with High Enough. I love that song and I’m happy they played it, but without Tommy nobody can really sing that high. You could tell something was missing. Still, glad they performed it!

The acoustic set was closed with Goodbye that Jack wrote for his brother, who died from drug overdose.

After Four in the Morning, the show was kicked in high gear with When You Close Your Eyes and Don't Tell Me You Love Me. The encore was inevitably introduced by Christian's piano with… you guessed it, Sister Christian. I've always thought this song was a bit overrated, but I did enjoy it last night. As expected they concluded with a high octane Rock in America.

I saw later in the set list Coming of Age in parenthesis… I guess they opted not to play it. What a shame. I did hear the acoustic version a year before when Shaw/Blades performed acoustic in the same venue!

Only a couple of months ago I saw Joel Hoekstra in Rock Of Ages and noticed his killer chops. This dude was born to play metal! When a few days ago I checked out http://www.nightranger.com/, I was very happy to see he's currently gigging with them. Joel has to memorize a LOT of music between ROA and NR, but hey, two songs overlap!

Night Ranger might have been label "Hair" back in their heyday, but in 2009 they are all about the music. They don't even change instruments between songs: aside from the acoustic set, everybody stuck to their piece: Brad with the red Stat, Joel with the golden Les Paul, and Jack with a nice white bass (Hamer, I think).

With three fifths of the original lineup still intact after 29 years, Night Ranger put on a show as good as I expected it to be. The guy next to me was seeing them for the third time and confirmed that they are always that good.

Line up:
Jack Blades: bass/vocals
Kelly Keagy: drums/vocals
Brad Gillis: guitar
Joel Hoekstra: guitar
Christian Matthew Cullen: keys

Set list:
This Boy Needs to Rock/Highway Star
Sing Me Away
You Are Gonna Hear From Me
Rumors In The Air
Secret of My Success
Eddie's Comin' Out Tonight
LA No Name
Roadhouse Blues
High Enough
Goodbye
Four in the Morning
When You Close Your Eyes
Don't Tell Me You Love Me

Sister Christian
Rock in America