Monday 31 December 2001

Uncle Kracker/Motorhead/Black Sabbath Album Reviews

Something old, something new (courtesy of a Woolworth's special offer).....

After the success of my last music review column, where I reviewed recent outings from Staind, Slipknot, and Alien Ant Farm, I thought, what the hell! I've purchased some more CD's recently, why not review them as well! So, here goes!

UNCLE KRACKER - Double Wide
If you are going to buy this album, I want all of you to do me a big favour. When you get to track three, What 'Chu Lookin At?, I want you to put all thoughts of Sean "X-Pac" Waltman ou of your mind. Why? Because I have a theory.

You see, I think this song, which was used as X-Factor's music until quite recently, is quite good. My theory that people only thought the song was so bad because they hated Waltman so much. Listen to the song, put all thoughts of X-Punk out of your mind, and then give me your verdict.

Now that I've had my little say about that song, this debut outing from Kid Rock's sidekick is very good. When I first heard Follow Me I didn't think it was that good! Now, having seen the video numerous times on Sky's god knows how many music channels, it's starting to grow on me!

The entire album is good, and highly recommended.

THE BEST OF BLACK SABBATH
I am a long time Black Sabbath, ever since that historic day in 1981 when I discovered heavy metal, having been fed a staple diet of the Bee Gees and Adam & The Ants. So when I saw this double CD in the special offer section at Woolworths, I grabbed it with my grubby little hand and made my way to the entertainments desk.

Although this claims to be a "best of" album, it can be said that it is slightly disappointing. It covers, to a great degree, the classic Ozzy Osbourne years, with such great tunes as Paranoid, Iron Man (the original Road Warriors entrance music), NIB, Planet Caravan, Never Say Die, and many more.

But it is let down by the fact that the majority of the songs are from the Osbourne years. When Ozzy left and was replaced by Ronnie James Dio, Sabbath put out some exceptional work, such as Die Young, Heaven and Hell, Turn Up The Night, and many, many more. But this is hardly touched upon here. Indeed, if it wasn't for the fact that I've been listening to Sabbath for many years, I would have been given the impression that Sabbath stopped making music around 1982.
 

Although the 80's and 90's could not be considered a classic period for Sabbath, they still came out with some great tracks - Glenn Hughes belting out Seventh Star, and their great 1987 album The Eternal Idol again come to mind.

As an anthology of Sabbath's early work, this is fine. But if you want something a little more comprehensive, that covers a lot more, including the interesting period when Deep Purple legend Ian Gillan was their front man, look for the Blackest Sabbath album.

THE BEST OF MOTORHEAD
Ah yes, this does bring back some good memories. Watching a really ugly bastard called Lemmy belt out Ace of Spades on The Young Ones, a comedy series my later Mother banned me from watching!

For those of you only familiar with Triple H's entrance music, I recommend getting this one. With some of my al-time favourite 'Head tracks, the aforementioned Ace of Spades, Overkill, Too Late, Too Late, their unique rendition of Louie Louie, and their immortal collaboration with Girlschool, an all girl group who could easily kick the crap out of the Spice Girls, this is one long trip down memory lane. It even gives us a look at Lemmy's work pre-Motorhead, with the Motorhead song originally recorded by his first band, Hawkwind. We even get a cover of an old Sex Pistols track, God Save The Queen.

However, I'm left to wonder, what was Lemmy thinking when he wrote the song Ogasmatron?

If, like me, you seem to be a Motorhead fan in passing, and you manage to find this double CD offering, then grab it. Who knows, maybe like me, you'll find it in the special offer section ofWoolworths!

Well, there you have it. Something old, something new. And that reminds me - the special offer at Woolies was buy two, get one free! I've still got a Red Hot Chilli Peppers compilation to listen to!

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