Rainbow's Down to Earth is very good but perhaps its best feature is that it was through that record that Graham Bonnet fell in love with hard rock and heavy metal. His 80s output shows this in spades. One of the most underrated rock vocalists of all time.
Interesting take, Gowi! Will have to relisten to Bonnet's M.S.G. album...
I like him as decent melodic heavy metal vocalist, but you know that's not may favorite style. He does have a great voice though! Half of Rainbow's Down To Earth is stellar while the other half is a bit too cheesy for me. What's your favorite project that's he's involved with?
I'm going to check out all those tracks you rec'd and will let you know what I think as I get to them. 😁
mickilennialThe Most Trusted Name in NewsProfile Detroit
Rainbow's Down to Earth is very good but perhaps its best feature is that it was through that record that Graham Bonnet fell in love with hard rock and heavy metal. His 80s output shows this in spades. One of the most underrated rock vocalists of all time.
Interesting take, Gowi! Will have to relisten to Bonnet's M.S.G. album...
Ugh! Now I remember! This album has the exact same problem for me as Rainbow's Down To Earth. It starts off so strong - with the one two punch of "Assault Attack" and "Rock You To The Ground". Two of the best Heavy metal tracks of 1982. 😈😈😈 And then "Dancer" comes on and I just want to puke! 🤮🤮🤮
The following track "Samurai" is solid, but then the rest has always seemed rather forgettable to me. But DEFINITELY check out the first two tracks if you want to understand the sizable cult and excitement that Bonnet has generated for many 80's Heavy Metal aficionados.
Absolutely! Blackfoot's second album Strikes came really close to making my Top Ten. It's the Busch Light of Southern Rock. A bit generic. A bit watered down. But damn if it doesn't just hit the spot on a hot day at some biker bar off the highway after a long day on the road.
There will be a Southern Rock album in my Top Ten. This just isn't it!
Boy oh boy do I have some catching up to do. Seems like Rory was killing it for the entire 70s, and I'm just finding out now. 🤡 From a bit of reading and a bit of listening, it sounds like our hero switched gears just a bit in the late 70s from Hard Blues to Hard Rock. It was a subtle shift to be sure, and everything I've heard has been lightning! As soon as I heard this particular album - Top Priority - during my broad sweep of hard rock and heavy metal albums a few months back, I knew that I'd have to circle back. And eventually it even wormed its way into my Top 10! Which says a lot since he's brand new to me. But it's not my fault I'm so clueless! 😉 I just don't think he was promoted properly in the States. My friends are pretty clueless about him as well. Maybe he was just too much a bluesman for us American Metal heads? 🤔 Regardless, this is quite the Hard Rock album and a splendid jumping off point to discovering this brilliant Irish axeman.
Like pretty much all lead guitarist's solo outings, this is a vanity project. But, if you dig Uli's work with the Scorpions than it's definitely worth a listen especially this title track - "Earthquake" and the lead off track "Electric Sun." Uli could play. No doubt about it, and he should be considered one of the greats of 70s Hard Rock right up there with Blackmore.
Here's "Electric Sun." It rips and is one of my favorite heavy tracks of 1979...
It doesn’t get more classic Southern Rock than this. It just doesn’t. After checking out Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers, Molly Hatchet is the next best stop. Their first two albums - Molly Hatchet and Flirtin' With Disaster are the motherlode. Two of the best Southern Rock albums of the entire 70s. Talent wise they were loaded with not one, not two, but a THREE-pronged guitar attack. But, their secret sauce were the gravelly, swamp stewed pipes of Danny Joe Brown. And that became pretty bloody obvious when diabetes forced him to take a break from the rigors of being a rock star after this here platter. Molly Hatchet's next release - Beatin' The Odds beat heck all and was a sickly limp noodle without Danny Joe's weathered, whiskey soaked pipes. Stay clear of that weak sauce, kids. But, here Molly Hatchet (and their epic cover art) reign supreme. Highly Recommended!
At the gentle urging of Mercury and Dihansse, I'm going to construct my 1980s Chart over the next .
If anyone still wants me to work on my 1979 Hard Rock/Metal Countdown, let me know. I aim to please. Your pleasures are mine. Especially since I am once again single. I am all yours as they say.
I will start in the beginning - 1980. The process will be fairly simple. I will listen to all my old faves again. If it still strikes that chord. If it still demands to be heard today and crushes me with its (emotional) power, I will write about it. My goal is to cherry pick the ten to fifteen albums best albums of each year of the 80s. After selecting all of the albums for that year, I will rank them. The top ten from each year will represent in the final product.
I LOVE a lot of albums. Especially from the 80s. So my entry criteria is quite simple. I am only letting what I consider 5-Star Albums into this chart! The ones that you'd bring to a desert album if you could plan for such a thing. Have a rec? I'm all takers. Have another an idea? I'm all ears.
Thanks for being there, guys!
🥰
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
I WISH I KNEW HOW THE FUCK TO PUT COOL GIFS IN THIS FORUM! (Somehow after 8.5 years lol I still have no ducking clue). Let me tell you the gifs would be INCREDIBLE. But, alas, ‘tis not meant to be.
I am fucking stoked about this. You and one other person I consider 1980s gold mines. Forget who the other is, I’m getting old and forgetful - his 1980s chart was recently cotd. Anyway, the point is I’m into it.
I’m not a huge 80s guy. I’ll say if you haven’t heard these, I mean I like em and maybe you will too.
1980 albums of great note to me:
Roses in the Snow - Emmylou Harris
Somewhat Happy Woman Blues by a young Lucinda Williams and... lol.
Full disclosure I just looked and I didn’t realize how basic I am for 1980. My favorites are all Well Known by you (GROUP! SEX! ... Dirty Mind... the sophomore album by this band called The Cure... etc) so I’ll leave my recommendations there. _________________ -Ryan
I WISH I KNEW HOW THE FUCK TO PUT COOL GIFS IN THIS FORUM! (Somehow after 8.5 years lol I still have no ducking clue). Let me tell you the gifs would be INCREDIBLE. But, alas, ‘tis not meant to be.
I am fucking stoked about this. You and one other person I consider 1980s gold mines. Forget who the other is, I’m getting old and forgetful - his 1980s chart was recently cotd. Anyway, the point is I’m into it.
I’m not a huge 80s guy. I’ll say if you haven’t heard these, I mean I like em and maybe you will too.
1980 albums of great note to me:
Roses in the Snow - Emmylou Harris
Somewhat Happy Woman Blues by a young Lucinda Williams and... lol.
Full disclosure I just looked and I didn’t realize how basic I am for 1980. My favorites are all Well Known by you (GROUP! SEX! ... Dirty Mind... the sophomore album by this band called The Cure... etc) so I’ll leave my recommendations there.
Thanks Merc!!! Those are ALL great recs! I can actually see three of those making the cut!!!
I think you mean Jimmy Dread! Mecca Lecca is also a great resource.
Others I think know the 80s really, really well: Noisy Beast, Cellar Door, Lady Godiva, and PatrickD. LittleM for the late 80s.
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Mercury
