Tag Archives: 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Metallica, …And Justice For All. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Four albums in and Metallica confirmed their place as the world’s biggest Metal band with the release of …And Justice For All. As years in music go, 1988 was a phenomenal year for Heavy Metal of any sub-genre, Iron Maiden had released the superb Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Queensryche had raised the bar to a new height with the epic Operation Mindcrime and Megadeth showed what was to come in the form of the interesting So Far, So Good…So What. …And Justice For All was the best of all worlds, the fusion of Progressive, the barbed sterile lyric feel in which the music reigned supreme and despite the incredible loss of Cliff Burton, the band were able to top the brilliance of the previous album Master of Puppets and give their audience perhaps arguably the finest album of their career. Out of such adversity facing the band with the loss of the superb Cliff Burton came the outstanding entrance of bassist Jason Newsted.

Magnum, Wings Of Heaven. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

For the best part of a decade Magnum had been considered one of the finest melodic/progressive rock bands that had come out of Britain during that period and especially one of the best to ever come out of the Midlands area by the time Wings of Heaven came out in July 1988.

Y Kant Tori Read, 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

When Genesis released their debut album, From Genesis to Revelation, the sales it received could have seen any of the labels that were around at the end of the 1960s keep the band at arms-length until they split up and left them bitter and forlorn musicians. Thankfully they were given time, their music given the space to find its own special way in the world. Roll on 20 years and the young Tori Amos, the woman who would go onto become of the biggest female acts of all time, was about to suffer the same fate with her debut album as part of the band with the same name, Y Kant Tori Read.

Queensryche, Operation:Mindcrime. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Nobody but an absolute die-hard fan of Queensryche could have dreamed or foreseen how the band from Washington State would come crashing into the rock/metal progressive party in 1988. The group’s first couple of albums, 1984’s debut The Warning and its follow up Rage For Order in 1986 had charted well and the sound that Chris DeGarmo on guitar coupled with the blossoming intensity in which Geoff Tate sang was interesting, erring on the side of a youthful dynamic but didn’t look as though it would ever challenge the accepted order or the new American bands coming through. Then in May 1988 all that changed, the group released perhaps still to this day their single most important work, the dystopian tale of a heroin addict and an attempt at overthrowing the American way of life in a bloody revolution, its policies and its politics that made the times unbearable for many millions. To this day Operation: Mindcrime stands out as a classic, it paved the way for the band to become one of the most highly rated bands of the time with their complexity, incredible guitar playing and unflinching attitude to the social side of American life.

Iron Maiden, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Can Progressive Rock and Heavy Metal coexist? It may be a question that vexes the purists of either genre, in modern day crossovers everything is nearly acceptable and certainly possible but in the late 1980s two bands from opposite sides of the Atlantic embarked on producing albums that embraced the concept and rich diversity that the amalgamation of two distinct entities could bring them. Queensryche’s Operation Mindcrime would come out towards the end of April in 1988, the honour though of bringing out arguably the first Progressive Metal album would belong to Britain’s Iron Maiden with their most ambitious record at the time, the sensational Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.

Dave Lee Roth, Skyscraper. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

It had been four years since Dave Lee Roth and Van Halen had released the iconic rock album 1984 and whilst the three remaining members were on a creative and production high with their first U.S.A. Number 1, 5150 and were on the verge of securing the second of 4 top spots on the bounce, ‘Diamond Dave’ was also enjoying his new found status as a solo star. There are very few people that really deserve the moniker before their name, especially when they have been so entwined with a band that had hit such incredible highs but in Dave Lee Roth, the moniker not only fits, it simply oozes polish and craves the title.

Megadeth, So Far, So Good, So What!. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Megadeth’s third album So Far, So Good, So What! carried on the fine work made by Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson on Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? Megadeth in the space of two consecutive albums became one of the quintessential American Heavy Metal bands, of which the core group of Mustaine and Ellefson certainly rivalled the Metallica foursome of Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett and the much missed Cliff Burton and Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, Frank Bello and Joey Belladonna as leaders of a brand new pack and iconic American Heavy Metal.

AC/DC, Blow Up Your Video. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Any serious rock fan has to only mention AC/DC’s name in any conversation to get sage old head nodding in approval and younger fans salivating as they prepare to hear more tales of one of the hardest rock acts to grace the genre in 40 years. From their 1975 debut High Voltage (Australia, 1976 elsewhere) through to the superb Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, the career defining Back In Black and finally the 1988 Blow Up Your Video, fans knew what to expect and they devoured each album in their droves.

T’Pau, Bridge Of Spies. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 13th 2012.

T’ Pau’s Bridge of Spies is a classic example of the changing nature of music taste that was taking effect in the late 1980’s. An album that was both well recorded and well received but which couldn’t unfortunately sustain the band indefinitely and although the 1988 follow up Rage saw the band reach another top five position, the music scene was changing, edgier, angrier and more derivative pop was taking hold. The bands that had substance to them such as T’Pau and the likes of Belinda Carlisle would fall by the way sides as casualties of pop stardom.

Rush, Hold Your Fire. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 8th 2012.

Two albums in a matter of days by the some of the kings of Progressive Rock may have had fans of the genre in apoplexy, a state of progressive nirvana that would see them upbeat about the state and nature of Progressive rock towards the end of the 1980’s. For some the disappointment of Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of Reasonwas coupled with how Progressive Rock would fare in the brave new world of resurgent electronica music and soap stars becoming music personalities.