Metal Review: Judas Priest-Turbo 30

Release Date: February 3, 2017

Label: Sony

Website

This month the metal gods, Judas Priest, returned with a reminder of where the band was in 1986.  Turbo 30 is celebrated on their 30^th anniversary with a 3 CD set. The set includes a trifold cardboard fold out case containing the original album remastered and two live discs recorded in Kansas City on The Fuel of Life Tour.

I must admit this is not one of favorite JP albums but it does not lack for classic heavy metal tracks that have become staples of their live set. I have seen them 3 times now, first during the comeback tour with Halford back in 2005 promoting Angel of Retribution, then in 2010 to celebrate the great British Steel album and finally in 2014 to promote their surprisingly different and excellent Redeemer of Souls album. So, I got a taste of several different decades in live setting and have had a good dose of this band over the years and completely enjoyed it.

The title track is killer, what a grand opening for an album. Another heavy track followed it titled “Locked In.”  “Out in the Cold” was another stand out giving their rabid fans a taste of the heavy metal priest they came to know and love. “Parental Guidance” sounded more like a Twisted Sister or Quiet Riot anthem than anything from their catalog even although there were some good guitar licks.

One thing that may have got lost in translation was the fact that it was 1986, and this was a band trying to create a sound to fit the times. The problem with a heavy metal band with the reputation of JP is that they would only set their audience up for some disappointments with Turbo.  With the addition of synthesized guitars (which they would master brilliantly on the Nostradamus album many years later) and that techno sound it would water down the mix and take away some of their normal oomph and power.

This is not to say that this album was not worthy of special anniversary issue. People listen differently with the passing of time and we cannot take for granted what a great band of talented musicians this band had at its disposal. And their lead singer Rob Halford did not look like the badass that he does now. Ever since his return to the group, with lightning bolt tattoos on his shaved head and that menacing goatee - well let’s just say it has been quite a ride. They all look metal that is for sure. 

If you have a thing for this kind of release you are in luck plus you get a ton of prime JP music live which is always a good thing if you are a fan and have seen them live you will appreciate it even more. They get an A for effort on this back in 1986 and overall C+ with the addition of the live cuts. They should have stood their ground and stayed with the time-tested formula of heavy metal without all the glitter and things around the fringes. This is great for the collector and completest but for the die hard metal freaks, it’s a maybe or total pass.

3.5/5 Stars

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck

February 13, 2017

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Track List:
Disc One — Turbo: Remastered:
01. Turbo Lover
02. Locked In
03. Private Property
04. Parental Guidance
05. Rock You All Around The World
06. Out In The Cold
07. Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days
08. Hot For Love
09. Reckless

Disc Two — Live At The Kemper Arena, Kansas City:
01. Out In the Cold
02. Locked In
03. Heading Out To The Highway
04. Metal Gods
05. Breaking The Law
06. Love Bites
07. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
08. The Sentinel
09. Private Property
10. Desert Plains
11. Rock You All Around The World

Disc Three — Live At The Kemper Arena, Kansas City:12. The Hellion
13. Electric Eye
14. Turbo Lover
15. Freewheel Burning
16. Victim Of Changes
17. The Green Manalishi (With The Two -Pronged Crown)
18. Living After Midnight
19. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming
20. Hell Bent For Leather

Band Members:
Rob Halford – lead vocals
Glenn Tipton – lead and synthesized guitars
K.K. Downing – lead and synthesized guitars
Ian Hill – bass
Dave Holland – drums

Art Rock Band Schooltree Descends into Crumbling Dreamworld with Multimedia Epic Heterotopia

Boston, MA - When music trends pander to the lowest common denominator, the real rebellion discards formulas and charts a stubbornly individualistic path. That's where we find Schooltree on their second release, Heterotopia: forging a new standard in sonic storytelling and taking us through cracks in the sidewalk into other worlds.

The story
Four years in the making, Heterotopia is a symphonic odyssey through a dystopian dreamworld: a 100-minute double record in the tradition of ambitious concept albums like The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Quadrophenia.

Underachiever Suzi loses her body and must make her way through a parallel world of the collective unconscious to get it back. But the road she travels has been overtaken by shadows and chaos. In order to become whole again, Suzi must uncover the origins of this darkness, in a journey that takes her from the neon lights of her plasterboard horizon home to the bottom of a cursed river, where the fate of this place and her own are inextricably linked.

The recording
Produced by Peter Moore (Think Tree, Count Zero) and Lainey Schooltree, Heterotopia favors warmth and dynamics but also clarity and punch, effecting a sound that’s both classic and contemporary. Dramatic choices like distinct singing styles for each character’s voice and accompanying instrumentation guide the listener through a shifting topography layered with stacked guitar harmonies, crystalline synth leads, odd time grooves and ominous ambient soundscapes.

Heterotopia’s successful Kickstarter campaign raised more than $20,000, with signal boosts from notable artists Aimee Mann, Neko Case, Margaret Cho, Amanda Palmer and Barry Crimmins. (link: http://kck.st/1Rn2Je8 )

Brimming with ambition, this record is the sound of a group of musicians playing at their peak.

The illustrated book
In a nod to classic opera, Heterotopia’s complete libretto will be made available as a companion to the album, bringing the story and lyrics to life in a full color illustrated book. Combining influences from art nouveau and graphic novels, the artwork has a dreamlike quality that complements the music.

The live experience
Heterotopia will first be performed on March 31 at OBERON, the American Repertory Theater's stage in Cambridge, MA. The performance will take audiences inside a 3D interactive light sculpture video installation by Sam Okerstrom-Lang (Samo), a Boston-based new-media interdisciplinary digital artist and designer. Samo’s boundary-pushing work will use technology create an immersive sensory experience, blurring the line between nirvana and dystopia. From the moment each audience member enters the room, their experience will reflect Suzi’s, as the installation’s elements are activated in parallel with the performance. Key moments will be accentuated with sound and light, triggering an out-of-body sensation of navigating the worlds expressed in the music.

Lainey Schooltree
Lainey Schooltree is a Boston-based composer, performer and producer. A classically trained musician and vaudeville performer, humor and tragedy inform each other equally in her work. She explores the intersection of the new and old, always striving for the timeless in sound and theme. Her band, Schooltree, fuses literature and music to create something uniquely accessible, visceral and profound.

Lainey is the composer and librettist of Heterotopia, and will serve as performer, musical director and producer of the live experience.

Here's what the press have raved about Schooltree!

“Schooltree's music embodies the essence of Art Rock, with catchy melodies, sophisticated arrangements, lush instrumentation, and a wide array of influences that - besides classic prog - include opera, Broadway musicals and baroque pop. Lainey's dazzling vocals deliver lyrics that are humorous and thought-provoking at the same time. Highly recommended to fans of Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Supertramp, Queen and Roxy Music.” – Progarchives.com

“Schooltree (the woman) is a painstaking crafter of sound, if not an outright artisan of sound...” – Cambridge Day

“All in all, Lainey has her own stamp and an incredible sense of all aspects of music, from basic structure to finished master. Her arrangement skills are regal. Her composition smarts are sorely beautiful. Schooltree moves from art pop to symphonic rock, to haunting ballad to unforgettable music all over.” – Prognaut.com

“It takes a certain kind of courage to get onstage and make people laugh. It also takes courage to lead a rock band playing your own autobiographical, if cryptic, songs. For Lainey Schooltree, it has been a long trip transitioning from one to the other.” – The Phoenix

“Shockingly gorgeous… There’s an undeniable charm in Schooltree's music.” – Glorydaze Music

“Schooltree is a beautifully unique and experimental artist. Possessing a world of talent as vocalist, pianist, and composer, she is unafraid to let her creativity and imagination unfold and take her in whichever direction she feels like going.” – Bill Copeland News

“Lainey is the prog rock queen of modern times, with her Broadway musical vocals and theatrical cabaret presentation.” – Boston Survival Guide

“With a voice that garners comparisons with Goldfrapp, Tori Amos, Kate Bush and even Freddie Mercury, and a virtuoso command of the keyboard, singer Lainey Schooltree is a strong frontwoman who becomes two or three times actual size on stage. Believe it.”  – Boston Band Crush 

To purchase Heterotopia:
http://schooltree.bandcamp.com ;

For more information:
http://schooltreemusic.com
http://facebook.com/schooltreemusic

Press inquiries:
Glass Onyon PR
(828) 350-8158
glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Art Rock Band Schooltree Descends into Crumbling Dreamworld with Multimedia Epic Heterotopia

Boston, MA - When music trends pander to the lowest common denominator, the real rebellion discards formulas and charts a stubbornly individualistic path. That's where we find Schooltree on their second release, Heterotopia: forging a new standard in sonic storytelling and taking us through cracks in the sidewalk into other worlds.

The story
Four years in the making, Heterotopia is a symphonic odyssey through a dystopian dreamworld: a 100-minute double record in the tradition of ambitious concept albums like The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Quadrophenia.

Underachiever Suzi loses her body and must make her way through a parallel world of the collective unconscious to get it back. But the road she travels has been overtaken by shadows and chaos. In order to become whole again, Suzi must uncover the origins of this darkness, in a journey that takes her from the neon lights of her plasterboard horizon home to the bottom of a cursed river, where the fate of this place and her own are inextricably linked.

The recording
Produced by Peter Moore (Think Tree, Count Zero) and Lainey Schooltree, Heterotopia favors warmth and dynamics but also clarity and punch, effecting a sound that’s both classic and contemporary. Dramatic choices like distinct singing styles for each character’s voice and accompanying instrumentation guide the listener through a shifting topography layered with stacked guitar harmonies, crystalline synth leads, odd time grooves and ominous ambient soundscapes.

Heterotopia’s successful Kickstarter campaign raised more than $20,000, with signal boosts from notable artists Aimee Mann, Neko Case, Margaret Cho, Amanda Palmer and Barry Crimmins. (link: http://kck.st/1Rn2Je8 )

Brimming with ambition, this record is the sound of a group of musicians playing at their peak.

The illustrated book
In a nod to classic opera, Heterotopia’s complete libretto will be made available as a companion to the album, bringing the story and lyrics to life in a full color illustrated book. Combining influences from art nouveau and graphic novels, the artwork has a dreamlike quality that complements the music.

The live experience
Heterotopia will first be performed on March 31 at OBERON, the American Repertory Theater's stage in Cambridge, MA. The performance will take audiences inside a 3D interactive light sculpture video installation by Sam Okerstrom-Lang (Samo), a Boston-based new-media interdisciplinary digital artist and designer. Samo’s boundary-pushing work will use technology create an immersive sensory experience, blurring the line between nirvana and dystopia. From the moment each audience member enters the room, their experience will reflect Suzi’s, as the installation’s elements are activated in parallel with the performance. Key moments will be accentuated with sound and light, triggering an out-of-body sensation of navigating the worlds expressed in the music.

Lainey Schooltree
Lainey Schooltree is a Boston-based composer, performer and producer. A classically trained musician and vaudeville performer, humor and tragedy inform each other equally in her work. She explores the intersection of the new and old, always striving for the timeless in sound and theme. Her band, Schooltree, fuses literature and music to create something uniquely accessible, visceral and profound.

Lainey is the composer and librettist of Heterotopia, and will serve as performer, musical director and producer of the live experience.

Here's what the press have raved about Schooltree!

“Schooltree's music embodies the essence of Art Rock, with catchy melodies, sophisticated arrangements, lush instrumentation, and a wide array of influences that - besides classic prog - include opera, Broadway musicals and baroque pop. Lainey's dazzling vocals deliver lyrics that are humorous and thought-provoking at the same time. Highly recommended to fans of Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Supertramp, Queen and Roxy Music.” – Progarchives.com

“Schooltree (the woman) is a painstaking crafter of sound, if not an outright artisan of sound...” – Cambridge Day

“All in all, Lainey has her own stamp and an incredible sense of all aspects of music, from basic structure to finished master. Her arrangement skills are regal. Her composition smarts are sorely beautiful. Schooltree moves from art pop to symphonic rock, to haunting ballad to unforgettable music all over.” – Prognaut.com

“It takes a certain kind of courage to get onstage and make people laugh. It also takes courage to lead a rock band playing your own autobiographical, if cryptic, songs. For Lainey Schooltree, it has been a long trip transitioning from one to the other.” – The Phoenix

“Shockingly gorgeous… There’s an undeniable charm in Schooltree's music.” – Glorydaze Music

“Schooltree is a beautifully unique and experimental artist. Possessing a world of talent as vocalist, pianist, and composer, she is unafraid to let her creativity and imagination unfold and take her in whichever direction she feels like going.” – Bill Copeland News

“Lainey is the prog rock queen of modern times, with her Broadway musical vocals and theatrical cabaret presentation.” – Boston Survival Guide

“With a voice that garners comparisons with Goldfrapp, Tori Amos, Kate Bush and even Freddie Mercury, and a virtuoso command of the keyboard, singer Lainey Schooltree is a strong frontwoman who becomes two or three times actual size on stage. Believe it.”  – Boston Band Crush 

To purchase Heterotopia:
http://schooltree.bandcamp.com ;

For more information:
http://schooltreemusic.com
http://facebook.com/schooltreemusic

Press inquiries:
Glass Onyon PR
(828) 350-8158
glassonyonpr@gmail.com

A WILDWOOD Moon Rises In Nashville

By K.W. Poole c 2017 for WMMW

WILDWOOD is as beautiful and unique as her name. Her new release is as colorful and ominous as the moon it refers to, and as bittersweet as the uncertainties of love in lyrics.  She chose Moonrise for her first release as it is inspired by her Appalachian roots. Roots she is proud to be a part of as they are the sound and soul of the Carter legacy. Her name, like her music, is lifted from that historically artistic familial origin.  “Wildwood” comes from the Carter family song recorded in 1928 Wildwood Flower (Irving and Webster.)  A song first recorded by her Great Uncle A.P. Carter with his wife, Sara, and her cousin Maybelle.  When asked why she chose this beautiful name, WILDWOOD’s response is an organic combination of storytelling and thematic approach:

"The lyrics are melancholy and remind me of Appalachia.  The story is:

'There is a flower in the Wildwood that is loved and promised to be loved. Then one day love leaves and she is left sad and neglected."

 

She points out the name also alludes to the "darker side of life," which is the theme of her present project.

WILDWOOD partnered with South X Sea two years ago, writing and recording new material with Producer Brandon Metcalf.  The new project consists of five songs, each of which will be released as singles throughout 2017.  Friday, February 10^th the project kicks off with the release of Moonrise.   

WILDWOOD was influenced in her earlier years by legendary musicians.  June Carter Cash was her grandmother's first cousin. Lucky for Wildwood her grandmother and June were also best friends.  June and John (Cash) were a part of her childhood.  But, they were not the only musical influences in her life...

 

"Moonrise" is hauntingly beautiful, and though dark in nature, it is contagious. There are hints of Sarah McLachlan and Alison Krauss in the lyrics and music; two artists whom WILDWOOD is inspired by and has the potential to emulate. 

 

This Harvard Graduate has an extensive educational and diplomatic background. She founded a nonprofit organization - 3 Chords - in 2016 to teach refugee youth to express themselves in songwriting.

 

Moonrise - a juxtaposition of haunting and hopeful - fills the lyrics and melody with resounding notes of faithful love and broken hearts.  This single is sure to capture the Nashville scene with a refreshing take on a legendary family.

For more about WILDWOOD and her answers to The Nashville 7 please read the full article in the upcoming Nashville Music Guide CRS print issue to hit news stands everywhere...

Check out WILDWOOD:                                     Website: sheiswildwood.com             Instagram: @sheiswildwood

We are a Nashville based International Promotional & Networking Alliance for female Music Industry Professionals!
WMMW offers educational seminars/retreats, guest speakers, showcasing, conferences with industry speakers, promotional opportunities and more…by always seeking diversity in participation.
WMMW embraces and welcomes ALL genres of music.
wmmwusa@yahoo.com
Facebook/ Women of Music Music of Women

 

Blackfield Feat. Steven Wilson Release Lyric Video For “From 44 To 48” From Forthcoming New Album “Blackfield V”!

The Steven Wilson penned song from the new studio album “Blackfield V”

London - Ahead of the release of their new studio album “Blackfield V” on March 17th through Kscope, Blackfield, a collaboration between Israeli songwriter and musician Aviv Geffen, and British musician and producer Steven Wilson, have released a new lyric video for the song “From 44 to 48”.

Steven Wilson comments on the song “Even though I don't really write songs with specific projects in mind, as soon as I wrote this one I knew it was for Blackfield.” He continues on the idea behind the track, “From 44 to 48 is a song about growing older and letting go of dreams.”

Watch the video here:

The new studio album “Blackfield V”, written and recorded over 18 months in both Israel and England, contains 13 linked songs that form a flowing 45 minute ocean themed song cycle. The duo expertly handle the vocals, guitars, and keyboards, with Tomer Z from the Blackfield band on drums, Eran Mitelman on keys, and string arrangements performed by the London Session Orchestra. “Blackfield V” is a powerful journey through catchy melodies, lush arrangements, and stunning production, with legendary producer / engineer Alan Parsons working on three of the album's key tracks.

The pair make for a formidable musical force; Geffen has worked with legendary producers Tony Visconti and Trevor Horn, has played live with U2 and Placebo, and is currently a judge on the Israeli TV show The Voice. Wilson, after a long tenure as the leader of the hugely influential band Porcupine Tree, has since embarked on a highly successful solo career, achieving 3 UK top 40 albums (the most recent also making the top 3 in Germany, and The Netherlands), and 4 Grammy nominations.

Tracks:
1. A Drop in the Ocean (1.23)
2. Family Man (3.37)
3. How Was Your Ride? (3.58)
4. We’ll Never Be Apart (2.54)
5. Sorrys (2.58)
6. Life is an Ocean (3.26)
7. Lately (3.24)
8. October (3.31)
9. The Jackal (3.56)
10. Salt Water (2.39)
11. Undercover Heart (4.02)
12. Lonely Soul (3.42)
13. From 44 to 48 (4.31)

Blackfield V will be released on the following formats all of which are available to pre-order now: http://found.ee/BLACKFIELD_V

2 Disc - CD / Blu-Ray: presented in a deluxe media book with the Blu-Ray offering audiophiles a listening experience second to none, with the album in high resolution stereo and 5.1 surround sound. Includes a 36 page colour booklet

Double 180g heavyweight LP: cut at 45 rpm and presented in gatefold packaging with a four page booklet and a free mp3 download.
CD – digipack CD

LP Picture Disc: a Limited Edition single disc 140g vinyl with MP3 download, highlighting the stunning Lasse Hoile artwork

Digital 
(USA fans note: CD, CD/Blu Ray, LP & picture disc will be available on 17th March, digital format available 10th February)

Fans can also view a clip offers a taste of 3 tracks from the new album - “Family Man”, “Sorrys” and “How Was Your Ride”. Created by long time collaborator Lasse Hoile (www.lassehoile.com) the clip can be viewed here: http://found.ee/Blackfield-V-album-montage. All 3 tracks featured in the montage clip are available as instant downloads on pre-orders of the digital version of the album.

Blackfield online:
https://www.facebook.com/Blackfield-103704446366593
https://www.facebook.com/avivgeffenofficial
https://www.facebook.com/StevenWilsonHQ
https://www.instagram.com/avivgeffenmusic
https://www.instagram.com/stevenwilsonhq
http://stevenwilsonhq.com

FOR HI-RES BAND IMAGES / LOGOS / COVER ART: http://www.kscopemusic.com/media/blackfield

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com