http://joeviglione.com
Contact Joe Viglione @ recordreview2001{a}yahoo.com
Varulven Records on eBay
http://varulvenonebay.blogspot.com/

How the Top 40 is constructed: My reviews of films, CDs, tv shows, club gigs, etc. and what I play on the radio each week and tv each month. The pop culture that comes my way gets posted on my Top 40

1.Jason Bourne, 2)Supremes Right On, 3)Suicide Squad, 4)Star Trek Beyond, 5)Guilloteenagers, 6)Supremes New Ways Love Stays, 7)Jeff and Jane Hudson The Middle 8)

29)Roamers, 30)J Geils Band

Joe Viglione is the editor of the JoeVigTop40.com. He is also Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He has written thousands of reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com, Gatehouse Media, Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal along with articles for the Boston Globe, Radioworld, Medialine, Arts Media Magazine, the Beat, Musician's and a variety of other media outlets.

Joe also produces and hosts Visual Radio, a twenty-one year old variety show on cable TV which has interviewed personalities such as film director Robert Zemeckis, Jodie Foster, director/screenwriter David Koepp, Michael Moore, John Cena, comics/actors Margaret Cho, Gilbert Gottfried, Gallagher, musicians Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad, David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat and Tears, Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, iconic drummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, political commentator Bill Press and hundreds of other personalities. His Joe Vig Pop Explosion radio show airs on http://bostonfreeradio.com every Wednesday 1-3 pm and works hand-in-hand with the aforementioned cable tv program, Visual Radio. Contact Joe @ recordreview2001 (@)yahoo.com

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Jason Bourne Has a Tight, Compelling Script

on August 1, 2016 by Joe Viglione

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2016/70382/jason-bourne-has-a-tight-compelling-script

Jason Bourne has a tight, compelling script from director Paul Greengrass and film editor Christopher Rouse, script elements missing from many current epics on the modern silver screen. Matt Damon is not this writer’s favorite actor, but he gets high marks here, embracing the character’s search for and through his past. It nicely bridges the four-year gap between the previous and also excellent Jeremy Renner outing, The Bourne Legacy.

The first rule of assassination is always to kill the assassin, or in Lee Harvey Oswald’s case, kill the decoy purported to be the assassin. The Bourne series takes this to heart in a way that James Bond and the Terminator can’t. Get rid of the assassins, you have no film series.

"The “hack” here “could be worse than Snowden,” sayeth an advisor, timely in how the film’s release coincides with Russia not only hijacking DNC documents but handing them over to Wikileaks. Could it be a plot to sell theater tickets? The dark masters in Jason Bourne have got even more monitoring screens up and running than both Edward Norton in Bourne Legacy and William Baldwin in Sliver put together! It’s a massive re-creating of 1993’s The Fugitive film – a bizarre fourth chapter after U.S. Marshals and Double Jeopardy (DJ not being an “official” Fugitive movie, but you know that Ashley Judd is just a female Harrison Ford in that excellent flick.) Well, the Twitter-sphere is ablaze with the obvious, that this is The Fugitive meets Jason Bourne twenty-three years later, kind of like merging Alien with Predator. And why not? The first weekend out it’s a hit, and the terrific acting from all involved indicates a combination of relish and enthusiasm, and that’s what making a good flick should be all about

The “purists” – and what is a “Jason Bourne purist?” – may disagree with me; they may feel that the trilogy is sacrosanct From Identity (2002,) to 2004’s Supremacy, 2007’s Ultimatum ... was 2012’s Legacy too much of a departure for them? As I do not have an emotional attachment to the series and find the entire thread just plain great entertainment, it matters not. The buzzing on the internet may disagree, which makes for good conversation, but all sequel-ism aside, this is an excellent motion picture on its own.

You do not need to have viewed previous entries to get what’s going on here. Jason Bourne is a movie that explains the history without putting its audience through the tedious chore that is seeing Spiderman’s origin yet again, or how the Fantastic Four got their powers (isn’t that what destroyed every single FF film?) …you just get thrown into the maelstrom without having to know anything, heck, Operation Treadstone could be a new tire by Firestone and it would matter not to the viewer. There is a cringe moment at the beginning of the film when Matt Damon gets on yet another motorbike, the Evel Knievel slant as de rigueur as Thomas Crowne’s top hat or Dracula’s fangs. But it goes by quickly and gets a pass as it fits nicely into the storyline, so all is forgiven. For this part 5 is not about the inevitable car chase that follows the bike chase, it is about Tommy Lee Jones prying into your bedroom like some Matrix agent who read too much George Orwell and Aldous Huxley (Is Brave New World really 85 years old?…) in this realm where ultra-assassins are manufactured through the most gruesome of means, the government has become the villain and the assassin is, of course, as glorified in his forgiveness as the alcoholic that gets sober. Everyone loves a comeback story, and just because Jason Bourne has come back from murdering so many people is what makes this series so violent, so violent that the audience is desensitized to that sub-plot. The guns are a mere backdrop, the killing just a flavoring, as are the cars going against the traffic a la the Matrix series and the soon-to-be sci-fi classic Lucy. Blatant about the clichés that are also just a backdrop to the central theme, which I’ve hinted at here but, well… you’ll have to see the full movie to get the punchline. It’s timely, it’s well done and it sets the stage for more of these tuned-up creatures to come out of the woodwork. Perhaps Jeremy Renner will be re-enlisted to help Jason on his next misadventure?

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Joe Vig AMG Review of the Day - 8-2-16
"RIGHT ON" by The Supremes

"Up the Ladder to the Roof" opens the album with enticing voices and Frank Wilson's underappreciated first-class production. Right On is a textbook on how to come back from the brink of disaster. The Supremes achieved something the Doors, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Creedence Clearwater, the Guess Who, and so many others could not, go Top Ten and survive the loss of the star who the world recognized and assumed was the key element of their success. Even more stunning is that they did it two months before Diana Ross would go Top 20 with her first solo hit. Jean Terrell brought a terrific voice and new emotion to a group that would rack up eight Top 40 hits without Diana Ross. This is not your Holland-Dozier-Holland Supremes; Wilson creates a sublime stereo mix for the debut single, a wonderful-to-this-day headphone mix with sounds swirling left and right. The follow-up single, "Everybody's Got the Right to Love," went Top 25 with its politically correct theme and clever R&B pop flavors. It gives Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong a chance to use their voices to interact with Terrell, creating a true group sound. A new team, a united front. Where producer Wilson would give the girls cover tunes to sing on the follow-up -- which came eight months after this debut -- they experiment with all sorts of styles on Right On. Read more here http://www.allmusic.com/album/right-on-mw0000202111

3)Suicide Squad
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2016/70397/movie-review-suicide-squad-dc-emulates-marvel-and-its-a-winner

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DC COMICS EMULATES MARVEL AND IT IS A WINNER

Film review by Joe Viglione

Even the detested Ben Affleck's presence can't hurt this exquisitely sadistic, ultra violent "metahuman" (DC comics word for mutants one would think) flick, Suicide Squad. And any hope that they kill off Affleck somewhere in the enhanced military program is pushed aside in the "bonus track" after the credits where he and Viola Davis have a little tête-à-tête. The film does include the funeral of Superman and – in what could have been a eulogy for DC Comics attempts to get it right in the world of superhero moviemaking (outside of Christian Bale's wonderfully developed Batman Begins trilogy which resurrected a franchise that had already bit the dust time after time ) - by not just emulating but pretty much copying Marvel/Disney - is actually a jump start that was desperately needed in light of the debacle that was Batman vs Superman.

"Borrowing" Norman Greenbaum's classic song for the soundtrack from Guardians of the Galaxy just one case-in-point. Even funnier is that a 2014 website begs for "Ballroom Blitz" by the Sweet to show up in Guardians 2 and - lo and behold, here it is in the trailer of Suicide Squad. Hollywood has always been clever about stealing ideas (The Thirteenth Floor same time and same theme as the Matrix just one glaring example) but here this intentional cloning process is just what the doctor ordered. What transpires with constant (and welcome) tongue-in-cheek humor is a very dark descent into the Avengers/Guardians worlds, only with that unique, slightly altered tinge that separated DC from Marvel when both comic book titans were going at it in the 1960s. Those 60's comics and their stories contrasted remarkably with similar characters having similar powers. Here El Diablo (played by Jay Hernandez) is the evil doppelganger of Marvel's Human Torch ...but he – Diablo – “only” burned his wife and children to death in a rage. Just one of the murderous crew that have no reason to live, an exaggeration of the old “Dirty Dozen” movie where cons were recruited to fight with the good guys. And we all know how that turned out for the FBI and Whitey Bulger in real life. If you think there's too much violence on the screen these days, do not take the young ones to a film named Suicide Squad, for when it comes to criminals and their ultra-ugly crimes, it's much worse than the title suggests

Along with being Will Smith's redemption movie after after after the forgotten (at least Will Smith hopes) After Earth, relative newcomer Margot Robbie (me Tarzan, you Jane, the Wolf of Wall Street) is a demented and delightful ramping it up with one-liners that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger blush. Jared Leto of rock band 30 Seconds to Mars fame is a marvelous Joker. No one can fill Heath Ledger's shoes,
Full Review HERE:
http://rockjournalistjoevig.blogspot.com/2016/08/suicide-squad-film-review-by-joe.html

_________________________________________________________________________ 4)STAR TREK BEYOND

Star Trek Beyond – The Metaphor is Obvious

on July 24, 2016 by Joe Viglione

In the first Tim Burton Batman movie Jack Nicholson’s joker marvels “Where does he get all those wonderful toys?” Fast forward 27 years from that 1989 film and the foundation for 2016’s Star Trek Beyond is “Where do they get all these wonderful gadgets?”
Gene Rodenberry’s penchant for flashing lights and space-aged sounds has been replaced with high-tech glitzy devices that truly hold a science fiction fans attention. Chris Pine is settling into his James Kirk role nicely, it’s just too bad that Fast and Furious director Justin Lin (and by extension writers Simon “the new Scotty” Pegg and Doug Jung (along with the uncredited Roberto Orci, Patrick McKay, John D. Payne and, obviously, the late Gene Rodenberry) make this affair, as the previous two, a color-by-numbers sequel to the original series while in another dimension. It’s that unsettling aspect to this series that upends the aforementioned “settling” by Chris Pine.
Going through the nebula is brilliant, finding a hidden world in uncharted space, exactly where the show should be going, but it always comes down to the villain and this one is not very special. Wrath of Khan he ain’t. The evil genius “Krall” is a take-off on the Fantastic Four’s enemies The Krulls and actor Idris Elba is about as exciting as boring old Ahdar Ru’afo (played by F. Murray Abraham) in 1998’s Star Trek: Insurrection. If you are going to recycle make-up from a previous film, why go with bad make-up as well as a bad villain badly played? And to morph the Ahdar Ru’afo complexion with the ferengi from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is just plain lazy filmmaking, especially when the contrast with the stunningly beautiful Enterprise and all her bells and whistles, and huge, revolving, gigantic space station Yorktown with all its space-age Hollywood glamour, makes the diminished villainy a drag on all that is good about this new epic. READ MORE HERE:
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2016/70335/star-trek-beyond-the-metaphor-is-obvious

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2016/70335/star-trek-beyond-the-metaphor-is-obvious

5)GUILLOTEENAGERS

CD Review

The Guilloteenagers Cheese Balls to the Wall

Review by Joe Viglione

The Guilloteenagers (Gheee-OH-teenagers) CD Cheese Balls to the Wall had Club Bohemia resplendent in…cheeseballs, of course, for the record release party for this excellent and consistent disc. “The Guilloteenagers Are Back” blasts open the disc with early Alice Cooper meeting iconic Boston punk band Unnatural Axe and it doesn’t let up. “50 Seconds” takes the Black Sabbath “Paranoid” riff and brings it to the Ramones, smack dab in their face. The onslaught continues with a chant over power chords on the two minute, seventeen second suspended anthem “Let’s Get Greasy,” a middle finger response to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” Hannah Montana’s “Let’s Get Crazy” and Slade’s “Mama, We’re All Crazee Now.” Beer is a main theme here, and why not when cheese balls are bouncing all over the placeBefore Greg Walsh formed the band Pop Gun his song “Packie Run” was a staple on Boston Radio. “Part Deux,” track 4 from the Guilloteenagers at 2:04 is the logical continuance of bad-boy behavior. . And when you hear the energetic “Even Though I drink a lot” it sounds like the Real Kids on methamphetamine. All the songs on this eight song disc are under two and a half minutes save the last two, “Ride On King Jesus, Ride On” and “Michelob” (but, of course!) which clock in at 4:01 and 3:33 respectively.

Guilloteenagers hit you over the head with their aural aural assault, Buck-oh-Nine continues the blitzkrieg, drums wailing away happily, the bass plowing under the guitar stream. It brightens up a bit with “Books Endorsed by Kirk Cameron” – a bouncy, happy chainsaw riff with vocals that sneer unintelligible philosophy. It doesn’t matter, it’s all in good fun. “Ride on King Jesus, Ride On” slows things down a bit, the Lady Mondegreen (misheard lyric) here sounds like “Bright on…so long…” while the closer, “Michelob” is the “Ballad of Dwight Frye” gone frontal-lobe beer commercial. Blatant, indulgent, and proving that a mind can be a wonderful thing to get wasted on.

https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/theguilloteenagers
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6)The Supremes
New Ways but Love Stays
AMG /Joe Vig Review of the Day 8-3-16

AllMusic Review by Joe Viglione [-]

In 1970, a determined Supremes recorded three albums -- unprecedented for a band who'd lost a superstar lead singer. That all three albums launched hits in the Top 25 is amazing as well. New Ways But Love Stays is the second volume of this film as directed by producer Frank Wilson, containing the post-Diana Ross Supremes biggest hit, "Stoned Love." Co-written by Frank Wilson, as was the other Top Ten smash, "Up the Ladder to the Roof" from their debut with Jean Terrell on lead vocals, Right On, the two albums were recorded almost simultaneously. "Everybody's Got the Right to Love" was recorded on April 22, 1970 and released almost immediately; "Stoned Love" began recording on March 2, prior to the second hit from the Right On album. They are extraordinary girl group recordings. The cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is a reinterpretation, the way a good cover should be, with sound effects and a sultry vocal -- a mixture of rock and gospel. "Come Together," "Love the One You're With," and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" are the other three covers on New Ways But Love Stays. This is the genius of the Supremes on their own. With Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye making inroads and developing their skills as producers and songwriters, Frank Wilson broke the girls out of the Holland-Dozier-Holland formula, bringing different flavors and styles to this class act.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/new-ways-but-love-stays-mw0000674884

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7)Jeff and Jane Hudson The Middle

11 tracks

Artist: Jeff and Jane Hudson

Title: The Middle

11 Tracks

Review by Joe Viglione

Well, one of our all-time favorite Boston bands, the Rentals, echo back to reality with their prime motivating force, techno wizards Jeff and Jane Hudson releasing THE MIDDLE, a cd which includes two re-worked Rentals classics, “Elephants” and “Gertrude Stein.” Opening with the title track, “The Middle” we encounter a forest of cosmic sounds, Jeff Hudson giving an hypnotic reading that climbs a spiral audio ladder gathered from some hidden place of inner space. “Innocent” follows – a haunting melody Jane sings as if locked in some glass prism, the synth-bassline directs as it also drives the dance beat. This music would be perfect to blend into the deep house nights at Club Bohemia in Cambridge, and would merge the underground rock with the dance music which currently play to two separate audiences. The emphatic piano stakes the claim of the song’s title.

    With a thump-a-thump bassline Jane indulges Captain (Star Trek Next Generation) Jean Luc Picard’s favorite line with “Make It So,” bringing back thoughts of Boston’s November Group and its explorations of these continuous vibrations and themes. “Friday 1” is simply amazing, 3-D depth with persistence of aural vision. The guitars annunciate as the keyboards set the pace, drums rollicking along as if a human got inside the computer beat

    The three minutes and fifty-three seconds of track 6 -“Up Til Now”- groove along with the proficiency we’ve come to expect from the sound research that this collaborative engage in. The vocal reads/sings the lyric in an authoritative manner, commanding to keep up with the soldier like instrumentation. With Greg Hawks going ukulele and Lord Manuel Smith exercising his creativity in an alternate reality, Jeff and Jane have the genre cornered throughout this New England region. This is synth rock meets Metropolis, touches of techno, machine shop, industrial, electronica all swirling and cascading as in the delightful “Forever.”

    “Los Alamos” goes back to the themes from the duo’s Manhattan Project back in the 1980’s, Jeff asking the favor, the music on a sideways roller coaster, an eerie piece but one of the best on a consistently solid outing. “Victory” and “Sleet Blues” close out this imaginative disc, dissimilar and making for an interesting conclusion. “Sleet Blues” winding and turning, bordering more on synth jazz than blues, but enough elements of the latter to qualify a spot in the title.

1. The Middle

Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson

	4:12	$0.99
2. Innocent Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		3:36	$0.99
3. Elephants Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		3:49	$0.99
4. Make It So Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		3:50	$0.99
5. Friday 1 Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		4:25	$0.99
6. Up Till Now Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		3:53	$0.99
7. Gertrude Stein Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		3:39	$0.99
8. Forever Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		3:27	$0.99
9. Los Alamos Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		4:12	$0.99
10. Victory Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		4:12	$0.99
11. Sleet Blues Jeff Hudson & Jane Hudson		4:18

https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jeffhudson3

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8)Santana / McGlaughlin

9)Jack Bruce

10)Elvis Costello

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11)Blue Manic "Stoned" Single

Image 0909 August 4, 2016

Song: Stoned

Band: Blue Manic

Blue Manic dive right into the four minute and forty-eight second riveting blues/rocker, “Stoned,” guitars sparkling, resplendent in raw energy. It’s a harder edge than when they performed live at Club Bohemia on Thursday. August 4, 2016, the band more earthy from the stage, the volume showing the quartet’s tendencies for loud. The intro goes fifty-one seconds before the story unfolds with rhythm guitarist Max Grebe taking on the lead vocal chores and explaining it in no uncertain terms, Blue Manic exploring a variety of avenues as Corey Downs pounds away on the drums, aided and abetted by the bass of one Jared Greiff. Mike Tate (who sings on other tunes) and Grebe are responsible for the dual guitar blasts. At the 3:25 mark “Stoned” becomes an almost different tune, guitars screaming in a frenzy as the group jams for a minute and twenty three seconds bringing this unique composition to its conclusion. Impressive, and hard hitting. Stoned was the title of a Rolling Stones bootleg decades ago

· · Bio from the band’s Facebook page.

Blue Manic is a new alternative rock group based out of Allston, MA. Blue Manic’s fuzzy guitars, balanced vocals, and assertive percussion produce a unique and aggressive mix of grunge rock that’s firmly based in the blues. Formed in late 2014, Blue Manic was born out of each member’s desire to meld rock, blues, and psychedelic influences to create something that pushed the boundaries of what they’ve done before. The members’ backgrounds include diverse experience playing in new wave, blues, funk, and jazz groups, and they continue to work on writing and solidifying their catalogue to reach a brand new audience.

11:16 pm photo by Joe Viglione, Blue Manic live at Club Bohemia August 4, 2016 Image 0906

image 0903 11:16 pm August 4 Blue Manic
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12)The Rolling Stones Stoned LP

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13)Kids Like You And Me Compilation

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14)Lesley Gore Biography

15)Carly Simon Biography

16)Ralph Nader

17)Jaco Pastorious

18)Frank Sinatra

19)Doug Osborne

20)

21)

22)

23)

24)Hurricane - Over the Edge

Review by Joe Viglione;

As I am a critic for All Music and had recently reviewed a Foreigner DVD featuring lead singer Kelly Hansen in place of Lou Gramm, I found this CD doing research and decided to get a copy. It's super - especially the Bob Ezrin connection and the cover of Alice Cooper's "I'm 18". I also wrote a full review for this disc - very impressed with it...and while at a taping of the Boston band MASS on St Patrick's Day they told me they toured with Hurricane...they were both on the Enigma label. Small world. Was very impressed with Hurricane's Over The Edge - it is a metal album with staying power, lots of hooks and great production values thanks to the producer of Guns 'n' Roses, Mike Clink, and the aforementioned supervision from Ezrin

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTsGREoFAMY

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25)Anthropoid - film review
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26) Boston Anthology #5 on eBay

http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/BOSTON-ROCK-ROLL-ANTHOLOGY-Vol-5-1985-Varulven-LP-VAR8D-NR-MINT-w-sleeve-RARE-/370619669849

27)Jared Varulven 45 on someone's eBay store

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jared-45-Space-Traveler-VARULVEN-/262089214992

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28)Barry Manilow Live 1976
Review by Joe Viglione
The classic double live album at the height of his early fame in the 1970s, Could It Be Magic/Mandy, I Write the Songs, Looks Like We Made It, It's A Miracle, Daybreak. He was the second coming of Johnny Mathis, a cross between Mathis and Liberace, and this 1977 LP - following Frampton Comes Alive (1976,) Bob Seger's Live Bullet (1976,) J Geils Band Blow Your Face Out (1976) - was the Middle of the Road following the hard rockers into the world of double discs. It's an essential collection as it captures Manilow at a specific point in time and shows the necessity of splashing live performances across two discs (three would have been even more preferable. Historically, in the era before compact discs, record labels didn't want to issue double vinyl. The costs were higher, more publishing to pay, more cardboard, more mother stampers, all the things that make vinyl more costly than the cd format. Rock Journalist Joe Viglione, 8-22-16.

Varulven Records on eBay
http://varulvenonebay.blogspot.com/

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29)The Roamers
Don't Matter b/w Nothing At All
Someone is selling our disc for 40$ on eBay
Good Going!!!
The Roamers
Don't Matter
Nothing At All
varulven records
vinyl VG++
sleeve VG++slight corner
We Ship World Wide

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Roamers-45-SLEEVE-Dont-Matter-VARULVEN-/262086417186?hash=item3d05915b22

Another dealer selling same item
THE ROAMERS- Don't Matter b/w Nothing At All 7" record. - Varulen Records. 1980.
Original U.S. pressing.

Great Boston Power Pop band.
A scarce record, even around Boston.
Condition: Vinyl: NM. Sleeve: VG (corrective writing on back)Labels: NM

Will ship securely. Record outside of picture sleeve. With record in a new white 45 paper sleeve.
Picture sleeve will be in new plastic 45 bag.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-ROAMERS-7-POWER-POP-RARE-NM-1980-VARULVEN-RECORD-KBD-45-BOSTON-PUNK/331942428428?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38636%26meid%3D1447fec94cb846fa9229769531cc1843%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D262086417186&rt=nc

THE ROAMERS 7" POWER POP RARE NM 1980 VARULVEN RECORD KBD 45 BOSTON PUNK

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30)J Geils Band Blow Your Face Out

AllMusic Review by Joe Viglione [-]

Double-album live sets came into vogue in 1976 after Peter Frampton's sales went through the roof for A&M, Bob Seger found fame with Live Bullet on Capitol, and the J. Geils Band released its second in-concert document in four years, Blow Your Face Out. There is great power in these grooves recorded over two nights, November 15 and November 19, at the now deconstructed Boston Garden and in Detroit at Cobo Hall. Here's the beautiful dilemma with the Geils band: Live: Full House, recorded in Detroit in April of 1972, contains five songs that became J. Geils standards, and none of them overlap on the 1982 EMI single live disc, Showtime, chock-full of their latter-day classics. Can you believe there is absolutely no overlap from the first or third live album on this double disc, which came in between (except for "Looking for a Love," uncredited, which they slip into the intro of "Houseparty" on side two)? The Rhino CD contains Jeff Tamarkin's liner notes, while the original Atlantic album has an exquisite gatefold chock-full of photos, and inner sleeves with priceless band memo stuff à la Grand Funk's Live Album. Sides one and two are great, and three and four are even better. "Detroit Breakdown" rocks and grooves, with tons...
Read more here:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/blow-your-face-out-mw0000311676

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31) The Digs

They call themselves a punk/rock band from Boston and feature Andre Dedousis on bass, Jeff Demas on guitar and Steve Knowles on drums. Their homemade disc, “A Second Take Demo” I picked up at the Cantab downstairs, Club Bohemia, a month or so ago and you can get it here. Read more here:

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/61515/review-digs-second-take-demo

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32)Satch Kerans

On Riverboys, veteran New England area performer Satch Kerans delivers his perfect pop/rock material with precision and a heartfelt authority. In the title track "he quotes, Blake, Ginsberg..." on a Tuesday morning, featuring the beautiful backing from the all-star group on the cd. The singer does an admirable job solo, keeping the album's vibe intact [...]

http://www.tmrzoo.com/page/9/?s=joe+viglione

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32)Tsunami of Sound

Drenched in the reverb of guitarist Dave Esposito, the classic “Mr Moto” gets the whammy bar and lots of love and care opening up this dynamic and authentic perspective on instrumental surf rock. The two minute and fifty-two second rendition of the Belairs classic – which originally clocked in at 2:09 on Surfside records – is splashier, echoey-er (is that a word? Well, it is now!!) and a tad more elaborate. This New England based group (a quartet, though without Arlington’s Bob Damiano they performed as a trio on Saturday and still had a big sound,) take their favorite surf rock classics and “wet them up” – adding lots and lots of reverb, thus the album title Wet Sounds – a take-off on the Beach Boys Pet Sounds. Read more here:
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/61687/cd-review-tsunami-sound-wet-sounds

33)Maxx 12

The hard-hitting song titled after the band Maxx12 itself opens up the 16 track wonderfully packaged eponymous CD, Maxx12. Lead vocalist Albert Mendez has a voice that reaches into the Brad Delp/Steve Perry/Lou Gramm heights, and he shows it off well on the quick two minutes and thirty-eight seconds of the opening tune. The album itself crosses hard rock genres, “Headed for the Sun” utilizing a clever guitar riff and plodding rhythm a la Deep Purple’s “Perfect Strangers” or Roxy Music’s “Manifesto,” with Mendez again leading the charge on another composition that borders on anthem, the group two for two in that regard.
Read more here:

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/63047/music-review-maxx-12

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34) Review: I Was Awake – “The End”

on November 25, 2015 by Joe Viglione

Found this CD on the freebie shelf at Club Bohemia, downstairs at the Cantab in Central Square. The rough mix of “The End” (not the song by The Doors) has a voice of Chris Harvey, maybe an octave above Geddy Lee of Rush, with a thunderous, dark dirge which vacillates as if in a murky kaleidoscope. Aggressive and determined rock with a tinge of hardcore over its pop leanings.

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2015/68344/review-i-was-awake-the-end
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35)GUNS OF BRIGHTON

CD A Selfish Call To Arms

Review by Joe Viglione

A Selfish Call To Amrs is a serious take on punk rock meets metal, the product delivered by Markie D (Mark Duchane) guitar/vocals/songwriting, Anthony Aubrey (drummer) adding harmony vocals and crunching percussion and former Virginian (the state) Lee Holland on bass who joined the group in July of 2012. A fourth member rounds out the trio-gone-quartet, recently added Mike Lucantonio on 3^rd harmony vocals and lead guitar.

The official video of Track 4, Heroes of the Past is a perfect example of what is store on the eight track disc. exploding power-pop metal with the groove of a Maglev propelled train (magnetic levitation):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JeMWpwWAwk

“Rude Boy Warning” is a quick burst of the Ramones meet AC/DC with some poignant lyrics – “Like father like son / but for some of us it ain’t much fun.” The 2:33 short, succinct essay has an eleven second phone call added to it, and from there it is right into the Ska-influenced “All the Young Hooligans” – a change of pace from the relentless onslaught of guitar-powered melodies. This is not your grandpa’s “All The Young Dudes” from David Bowie’s pen, more like Bob Marley playing at Aerosmith’s old Mama Kin club where the House of Blues is now.

Opening track A Call To Arms gives an acapella 18 second admonition before “Unjustifiable Mistake” kicks things off, three minutes and 29 seconds of driving rock and roll. All of the songs are under three minutes and thirty seconds, “Unjustifiable Mistake” actually the longest of the eight cuts at 3:29. Duchane’s voice works on record and in concert, the group showing off its skills in live performance August 30, 2014, a Labor Day weekend special at Club Bohemia at the Cantab. Guns of Brighton rocked the hall with louder versions of the (if there's any justice in the world) soon-to-be classics on this disc.

While most groups are advised to issue a single or an EP at best, Guns of Brighton double the pleasure with a short-but-sweet 8 tracks, tunes like “Ready for Salvation” have accurate backing vocals and Aubrey’s steady beat to keep things uniform in the controlled mayhem. Great job on the CD and terrific live.

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36) Elsewhere

Review: Elsewhere 4 + 1 E.P.

on June 13, 2015 by Joe Viglione

Met the lead singer/guitarist of Elsewhere, Michael Aroian, at the Model Cafe in Allston for the June 2015 edition of the Rock n Roll Social and he gave me a copy of the new E.P. created with Boston notable David Minehan of Wooly Mammoth Studio (Minehan out on tour with The Replacements at the time this essay is written, June 11, 2015.)

The disc starts off with “Multi-Man,” a highly commercial slice of what the group calls “Progressive Punk.” Perhaps ‘progressive/alternative’ is more like it as the guitar, bass and drums all combine for a driving and smart pop tune which fluctuates from the music of Sparks, King Crimson (think “21st Century Schizoid Man” on steroids,) the Romantics, Rush and much more, all put into a mixer to come up with something fresh, new and exciting. “Multi-Man” is the PICK TO CLICK on the Top 40 this month of June, 2015. The full-length that starts the CD off is 5:09, the radio edit clocks in at 4;12 and concludes the disc.

“We’ve Got a Movement” has cascading guitars to complement the revolutionary theme. With the addition of his keyboards, guitarist/singer Aroian builds a big sound, think Peter Townshend and the Who circa the Who’s Next / Lifehouse phase.

Track #3 is a live version of “Waiting Alone for a Spotlight,” the studio take on the album entitled 1981 album. Recorded Live at Ralph’s Chadwick Diner in Worcester you can hear the studio version of it on YouTube:

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2015/66542/review-elsewhere-4-1-e-p
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35)Rod Stewart and the Faces
Ooh-La La
"I wish that...what I know now...when I was younger...when I was stronger...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_xwnb3cymc

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36)Mystics Anonymous

She Wanted the Future

Release date: June 2015

Reviewed by Ed Wrobleski
August 8, 2016

This fourth E.P., She Wanted the Future, from the Northampton Massachusetts based group, Mystics Anonymous, is, in this writer’s opinion, a journey through a variety of popular genres that today’s audiences are attracted to, all wrapped into one visionary sound that is highly enjoyable. With the vocals/bass guitar of Jeff Steblea along with his comrades, Brian Marchese, Matt Silberstein, and Andrew Goulet, this unique package should have a solid place in whatever your favorite listening device is.

The opening, title track, “She Wanted the Future,” sticks in your head, so catchy, a sort of Blink-182 inspired-from-their- “All the Small Things” excursion. Strong lyrics for “Imperfections” is the band’s perspective on current politics and the atmosphere of violence. "(I Want to Be A) Mathematical Rarity” is equally appealing, an album that grows on you quickly with its references and/or tip of the hat to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Barenaked Ladies. It concludes with a sixties psychedelic echo guitar. "Maudlin, You Liar" is more of – and most welcome - sixties retro musical styling, a little “Manic Depression” beat from Mitch Mitchell, a dash of Jefferson Airplane/Jorma Kaukonen guitar playing with Steblea’s vocal channeling Mr. Mojo Rising himself throughout the track. It all closes out with a cosmic sound for “St. Elmo’s Fire,” which has nothing to do with the John Parr track from the 1984 film – it’s a cover of Brian Eno’s tune of the same name and it’s got everything. And so does this disc. It’s a keeper.

Guest writer Ed Wrobleski of Talking Hendrix radio

https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mysticsanonymous5

Mystics Anonymous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNihfQcQg30&list=PLUSRfoOcUe4apFOGUYOxPcDhU_SosN6rR

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37)HOT SAUCE

FUNK THE BEACH

CD Review by Joe Viglione

"Baby Please (Don't Go)" is smooth and beautifully produced r & b that one would find populating the Top 40 in the 1960s, respectful of its roots and bringing that classic sound into 2016. Recorded in November of 2014 at Big T Productions in Quincy, Jeff Shwom's vocal is an everyman pleading, not Arthur Conley or James Brown shouting please...please...please, not Levon Helm re-working Marvin Gaye's "Baby, Don't You Do It" (which Levon truncated to "Don't Do It," ) Hot Sauce brew their blues sauce for a newer generation. The same formula works with "French Perfume Blues," where vocalist Shwom takes it from an American perspective on Bryan Ferry's first solo work on cover songs from his early Roxy Music days. Not spoken word, but not wailing in pain, more like just devastated by love and stuck in the mood that makes for that bluesy feeling. "Shake It Up!" may be the title of a Cars song and album, but this is more like J Geils with Cory Magno's squawking guitar and the general mayhem of the band condensed into a fun stomp. In 1973 the final studio album from Rod Stewart and the Faces Ooh La La, landed in the stores the year that Ian Lloyd and Stories' Blue-eyed-Soul reigned supreme on the charts with "Brother Louie." In 2016, 43 years later, Hot Sauce give us a similar title - "Oo La La" - drenched in a laid-back style trumpeter Hugh Masekela keeps alive, perhaps if Masekela's usual tempo was slowed down with backing from Janis Joplin's Kozmic Blues Band. At 3:25 it is short and sweet and despite the 70s motif noted above, it also harkens back to the 60s. The instrumental "Tribute to Mr. McGriff" grooves like the Hot Sauce Thursday night colleagues at Cambridge’s Cantab Lounge, Chicken Slacks Soul Revue. It's a good show case for the double trouble of Fabricio Bezerra's saxophone and CD co-producer Cory Magno's guitar. Closing track #6, "Jimmy Lou," drives well thanks to the magnificent Lee Lundy's bass and Osi Brathwaite's drums. Lundy is a staple in multiple bands at the Cantab and is quickly becoming a legend on the local scene.

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38 Heretix
The Adventures of Super Devil 1993
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Adventures-Of-Super-Devil-by-Heretix-CD-1993-superdevil-/371694985630?hash=item568abf619e:g:PMEAAOSwZ1BXeA8X

Album Notes
This Boston-based alternative rock band could have gotten a better shake from Island Records, as they had a bit more punch than their contemporaries from the same region, O-Positive. Vocalist Ray Lemieux and guitarist/keyboardist Brian Hill wrote the songs that get propelled by the big sound of the 1980s, when A Flock of Seagulls were flying one way and edgier sounds were filling in the gaps. Producer Ross Humphrey, who worked with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Cliffs of Dooneen, keeps everything very to-the-point, though a little spice would have been of great value here. The choice of covers and their execution is always a telling point, and taking Marc Bolan's "Mad Donna" is a smart move; letting it border on hard rock, however, is not. Though not on any T. Rex tribute LP, it may have fit better on Resurrection of the Warlock than Exalted Companion, the latter a British release which featured another Boston act, Childhood, a group with a similar sound to Heretix. Ron Scarlett's quirkiness on the Childhood cover of T. Rex raises it above the usual tribute fare, and it's that distinctiveness that is missing on the Heretix effort. Their sound works better on the originals, "Always Darkest" overflowing with angst, a negative tune of no hope. The lighter alternative sound is there on Ray Lemieux's "Sheriff" and the cover of Donovan's "Season of the Witch." At five minutes and 46 seconds, "Season of the Witch" is the longest track, and though it is competent, it doesn't really give the listener a sense of what Heretix was all about. This was about three years before Nirvana would hit; the up-tempo Bo Diddley of "Promising Promises" has Heretix on the pulse of '80s groups finding an edge, the generation after new wave which anticipated modern rock. Interesting that "World Full of Tears" exemplifies the sound of the times and perhaps gives the best sense of what the band was trying to say. The purple CD cover has the four bandmembers' heads in north, south, east, and west positions, and it is all very interesting. They just needed a bit more personality and record company support. ~ Joe Viglione
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38)Rare Earth Willie Remembers

AMG / Joe Vig Review of the Day, Rare Earth's WILLIE REMEMBERS AllMusic Review by Joe Viglione [-]

Their fifth album in a three-year span, Willie Remembers, is one of the more refined releases by Rare Earth -- not as spotty as the previous discs that contained their hits and far better than their late-'70s work. Their decision to craft an album of all originals is their undoing, though, because as good as Willie Remembers is, it is still an effort by a mainstream group whose creativity was limited to what became their bread and butter: their reinterpretation of Temptations classics. "Think of the Children" and "Come With Your Lady" are among the very best album tracks by Rare Earth ever, but they pale in comparison to the songs the band put on Top 40 radio. Producer Tom Baird pens "Good Time Sally," and it sounds like a Bachman-Turner Overdrive cover outtake of a similarly titled Grand Funk Railroad 45 rpm that suffered the same fate in 1976 as this single did four years earlier. It didn't get far. It's not that memorable in melody or performance, and though the guys look very happy in the extravagance of the triple gatefold, they weren't as popular (or as inspired) as their contemporaries, the band Chicago. "Every Now and Then We Get to Go on Down to Miami" is OK, but doesn't hold up to repeated listenings. "Gotta Get Myself Back Home" is also decent, but this is stuff Wet Willie and even Creedence Clearwater Revival did a bit better, boogie rock so inoffensive that it becomes redundant, despite the quality playing. "I Couldn't Believe What Happened Last Night" closes out the album with 12-minutes-plus of jamming. It's more precise than the jam on "Get Ready," the unedited long version of their first hit, but so what? It sounds nice enough but goes nowhere.

The Joe Vig Top 40 Dot Com www.joevigtop40.com Our Fun Monthly Review of Pop Culture

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Christopher Reeve bio pic, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius Ian Hunter, Steve Hunter, AN OPEN LETTER TO TODD PHILLIPS ON HIS FAILURE AS A DIRECTOR....SEE #40 Joker: Madness of Two, Peter Noone,

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