The Holy Wars

Saw Megadeth/Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath) last night. There's not too much to add to what I already said about Heaven and Hell from the last time I saw them in March. They are still a killer live show, and a reminder of how great arena rock can be.

Megadeth, performing a 45 minute opening set, was killer! Mustaine needs to be constrained more often! With a RUST IN PEACE heavy set, they came out and kicked complete ass despite having headlined the same PNC stage not too long ago.

The setlist to the best of my memory: Sleepwalker/Take No Prisoners/Kick The Chair/Washington is Next/Wake up Dead/Tornado of Souls/Hangar 18/Peace Sells/Symphony of Destruction/Holy Wars (with Mechanix in the middle after the flamenco part)

That is a pure "A material" set. Half of Rust in Peace? TAKE NO FUCKING PRISONERS??? It lends more credence to my theory that bands, with more at stake, often kick more ass as the opening act than when they headline.

Unlistenable in Headphones Pt. 1

In the age of the iPod I find that I, for better or worse, do about 80% of my music listening in headphones only. Occasionally I notice a record, usually from the 60s or 70s, that commits so many crimes against stereo that it deserves to be called out. This series will be called Unlistenable in Headphones.

First up: Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Top 2 crimes against stereo-

#1 Hard Panning bass and guitar away from each other- I think the idea at a certain point in the mid to late 70s was that the stereo field should be an accurate re-creation of stage positions. This could explain why the engineer on this record decided to always keep Iommi and Butler separated, as if they were fighting fish.

HOWEVER.........

#2 Inconsistencies in instrument placements from song to song. On Iron Man, Butler's bass is hard left while Iommi's guitar is hard right. This is difficult and distracting enough to listen to as it is, especially when the two instruments start playing different parts. It makes my ears feel very unbalanced, and makes my head hurt. Then we get to Electric Funeral where Iommi is playing two guitar parts panned away from each other (perfect!) but Butler is now HARD PANNED RIGHT?? Wha??? I noticed my head tilting to the right as I was waking up 7th avenue.

If you want to make radical shifts in instrument placement on every song that is fine, but your band better have the words Stereo and Lab in your name.

I'm on the MySpace

I put up a personal page yesterday as a good dumping ground for my tunes, and just to have a personal presence.

www.myspace.com/screambloodyvirgin. Add me.

Heaven and Hell was sick last night. The set looked like a Gothic castle, with stone steps, and pillars, and engraved crosses, and cathedral windows. They did a few cheesy things with video projections, but the show looked exactly like it should. What a great job designing the stage!

The band sounded incredible. Geezer is a complete animal acting both as the foundation and as a second melodic instrument for Iommi to play against. The power and magic that is created when they play together is truly rare. Vinny Appice was good too. He's kind of a poor man's Cozy Powell. He got the job done, but there were very few "wow" moments from him. Dio's voice started out rocky, but once he got in the groove he sounded as incredible as ever.

Amazing how after 15 years they were able to just pick right up where they left off. The new songs are incredible. Long live Black Sabbath! Long live Heaven and Hell!

Protectors of the Realm, indeed.

Sing me a song, you're the Singer.........

Tomorrow is the Heaven and Hell show at Radio City Music Hall. Heaven and Hell is the lineup of Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio singing. The name was changed to avoid "market confusion" or because Sharon Osbourne said there was no fucking way you can use the name, depending on who you ask.

The one thing that is for sure is this is the best lineup the band has ever had, even without Bill Ward on most of the records. This is about as heavy as Sabbath ever got, and they managed to add a weird psychedelic decadence to the mix as well. I love how in the late 70's and early 80's psychedelic music went less hippie and more creepy. Think Hawkwind, Chrome, The Wall, and you get the idea. Listen to The Sign of the Southern Cross on the Mob Rules record. The way the guitars naturally decay into just drums and a Moog synth is electrifying. Anyone who doesn't believe you can get more power out of minimalism needs to hear this song. I have no idea what the lyrics are about. Normal Dio shit about riding across the rainbow countryside on a magical tiger or whatever. But it doesn't matter, it is really creepy, in the same way old issues of Heavy Metal Magazine are creepy.

Ahhh yes, Heavy Metal. I was thinking about the first time I ever heard this lineup of Sabbath. I was just a wee lad, probably less than 10, watching the film Heavy Metal, an Ivan Reitman animated film based on the popular series of comics. In the film's last segment you see a peaceful "fantasy" world. As the distorted and delayed bass of Geezer Butler fires up on ES150 a volcano begins to erupt with green gooey lava. As this short instrumental builds the green gooey lava starts rolling down the volcano and submerging the village's peaceful inhabitants. But the people aren't killed. They are transformed into mutated killing beasts! As these monsters start rising from the depths of this goo, ES150 has transitioned to the hard blues riff of The Mob Rules. As Vinny Appice's drums kick in and the song is full on the monsters attack! Who do they attack? Everything! Themselves. Non-mutants. Dogs. Women. Trees. Goo. They are now mindless killers destroying everything in large packs while Dio is screaming "when you listen to fools, the Mob Rules!"

Maybe there are some tracks on Sabotage that come close to this level of awesome-ness, but to me, these are the sounds and the visuals a band called BLACK SABBATH should have. It should be dark, and goth, and creepy, and really heavy. And I will be seeing them tomorrow. Amen.