REVIEW: Sammy Hagar & the Best of All Worlds Band – The Residency (2025)

SAMMY HAGAR & THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS BAND – The Residency (2025 Big Machine Rock)

Chickenfoot are back!  A rose by any other name, right?  Nothing wrong with it.  Nothing at all.  It would have been nice if there was some kind of official Van Halen tribute show, but since nobody else wanted to do it, it’s up to Sammy.  The songs deserve to be kept alive, both Sammy and Roth eras.  There are only three Roth songs here, but we didn’t expect more.  Recorded in Vegas during April and May 2025, the album was produced by Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, and Chris Lord-Alge.

The truth is that when Michael Anthony sings those backing vocals, things just sound a little Van Halen-y.  Joe Satriani is one of the only guys in the world I’d want to hear play Van Halen songs besides Eddie himself.  Sure, Joe doesn’t play the same.  Eddie was freewheeling and improvisational.  Joe is schooled and plays with forethought.  He is more than capable of pulling Eddie’s tricks and trademarks, but tends to stay away from slavish imitation.  He may do a pick scrape exactly where Eddie did it on “Top of the World”, but he doesn’t necessarily play all the hooks and fills exactly as Ed did.  He usually plays them close enough that the solos are true to the original while not being exact copies.  In other places, he goes off into jazzy territory that wouldn’t have been explored before.  That is really the way it should be when it comes to a tribute to the greatest guitar player who ever lived.  He wouldn’t want to hear Joe imitating him, either.

Kenny Aronoff is one of the best drummers suited around, always in demand.  It would have been nice if Jason Bonham was still around, but Kenny might be better suited to the Van Halen material (listen to him on “Summer Nights”).  Adding those necessary backing keyboards (and guitars and vocals) is Rai Thistlethwayte, from Australia’s Thirsty Merc.  Normally he’s a frontman and hitmaker unto himself, but this is a pretty tempting gig to take.

As for Sammy himself, Hagar is one of the most reliable figures in all of hard rock.  Barely aging as the decades pass, and always releasing new music and touring behind it, Sammy Hagar is rock and roll’s unsung stalwart.  He may often say too much, but on stage, he’s still in great shape.  Now, the songs are detuned a little bit to accommodate the aging human voice.  This is unavoidable.

The live album opens with the tribute to Eddie aptly called “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight”.  (The studio version is on a rare 7″ single that is very hard to find.)   Joe Satriani plays several licks that are in homage to Edward the Great.  Simple but poignant lyrics like “Since you’ve been gone, things don’t feel the same.”  It’s a decent enough song, but likely wouldn’t have attracted much attention if not for the words.  Decent song but only notable for its lyrics and intent.  It would not have been a standout on either of the two Chickenfoot albums.

It soon becomes evident that this album is as much a tribute to Sammy as to Eddie.  There are five Sammy solo hits included:  “One Way To Rock” (which admittedly Van Halen played live on the 5150 tour), “Eagles Fly” (unnecessary), “Mas Tequila!” (almost insulting considering that Eddie disapproved of Sammy promoting his tequila while on tour with Van Halen), “Heavy Metal” (which Van Halen never played live) and “I Can’t Drive 55”.  Contrast this with the two David Lee Roth era songs included:  “Panama”, and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” (which Sammy doesn’t even sing; Rai does!).  Not even “Jump”, which Van Halen released as a live single with Sammy singing.  Throw in Montrose’s “Rock Candy” and it’s clear this isn’t entirely about the mighty Van Halen.

The setlist includes a few delights.  “There’s Only One Way to Rock” gives Joe a chance to really stretch out.  “Humans Being” was neglected by Van Halen, but this band does a great live version of it.  The only shame is that due to the decades past, Sammy doesn’t sing it in that monotone rasp.  Joe though, wow, he really nails the Eddie vibe on the guitar solo!  This version of “Humans Being” really shows why Joe was the right guy for this gig.  Meanwhile, Michael’s bass reminds us of why he was so integral to the band’s sound.  It’s great to hear “5150” (though the title should be in quotes on the back cover).  “Rock Candy” and “Heavy Metal” are awesome, regardless of the shift in focus away from Eddie.  “Love Walks In” is an interesting way to close the album, but it does work.

We always like to complain about setlists for shows like this.  It would probably have been appropriate to drop “Eagles Fly” and “Mas Tequila!” in favour of other songs (definitely not “Little White Lie”).  Anything to represent the Balance album would be welcome.  Sammy even could have included something from I Never Said Goodbye, an album that Eddie played bass on and co-produced.  That said, the album remains a solid listen.

Some diehards (or those who claim to be) won’t give The Residency a chance, but any fan of these musicians will love to hear how they interpret the works of Van Halen.  Pretty satisfying.

4/5 stars

Off The Charts: Least Favourite KISS Songs Per Album

It started with Joey Suto, and our awesome list of Top KISS Songs from every album!  Then Peter Kerr suggested worst KISS songs, and I ran with it, and wrote a controversial list.  Dan Chartrand picked up the ball, and decided to make a video on the subject.  You’ve read my list, but now you can watch an entertaining video list from Dan and Sidney from Slogan’s Rock and Metal as well.

No surprises here – my list is unchanged.  I did however have quite a few questions and comments as to “why” I made my list the way I did.  These are finally addressed in this video.

Slick and fast, we raced through the KISS studio albums in an hour.  A great viewing.  Don’t miss this one.

REVIEW: Mötley Crüe – Cancelled (2024 EP)

MÖTLEY CRÜE – Cancelled (2024 Big Machine EP)

I’ll give Motley Crue credit for two things:  1. Giving us some decent packaging for the Cancelled EP, in the day and age of cheap-out wallets.  This has a full jewel case and booklet.  2. Employing John 5 as their new guitarist.

That’s about it.  John 5 aside, this band has acted shamefully in recent years, and giving us sub-par new material is no consolation.  Sure, it’s great that Motley are releasing new music on CD.  It’s fine that they’re working with Bob Rock again.  It’s not good that these new songs are generic and boring as hell.  This EP feels lazy.

“Cancelled” has a pounding riff.  Vince does a patented “WOAW!” at the beginning.  John absolutely smolders.  Then… the song really starts, but there’s no song here.  The lyrics are actually irritating.  As if Motley Crue ever got “cancelled,” and the less said there, the better!  The positives to the song are the riff and the shredding, both of which can be credited to John 5.  The solo even recalls the classic days for a little while.  Vince is actually singing fine for his age and stage of his career, but he sounds bored to death.  Any spark to this song sounds artificial; either from the production or the hired flashy guitarist.

The single, “Dogs of War” has never stood out.  Same formula.  Slammin’ riff, and unmemorable song.  Production and guitar.  “Don’t let those bastards get you down,” sings Vince, knowing that he’s sailing easily into retirement.

The final abomination is “Fight For Your Right”, the Beastie Boys cover, and it’s actually the best song here.  Why?  Because the Beastie Boys wrote a song!  One with some verses and a chorus that you remember to this day.  Once again though, Vince sounds bored to tears.  As if he’d rather be at another rager than in the recording studio.  Anywhere but where he was right then and there!  Tommy sounds like he’s enjoying himself, and John’s spewing guitar slag out of the speakers in a far more interesting display than anything the singer has on offer.  Whammy tricks and noisy notes galore, it’s great that John 5 is able to loan this kind of playing to Motley Crue.  Does it fit?  Does it sound like Motley Crue?  Not the Crue of old, no.  Mars had his own blues-based style and while John can play anything he wants, he’s not Mars and he’s not trying to be Mars.  If Motley Crue themselves were more interested in writing good tunes that integrate John into an actual band, we’d have potential here.

I really hate when Vince says, “Tommy!  Sixx!  5!  Let’s make some noise!”  It just doesn’t have the same vibe as “My buddies Sixx, Mick and Tom,” even though it does feel like they’re copying themselves.

Final quality control note:  This disc will not play in my brand new PC without horrible background noise, one of only two or three in my collection with that issue.

1/5 stars

🅻🅸🆅🅴: Boxing Day Bash & Christmas Music Hauls with Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode

Episode 131:  Boxing Day Bash & Christmas Music Hauls with Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation

With bellies and ears full, please join Harrison and I with special guest Peter Kerr, on Grab A Stack of Rock live!  Tonight is the night that we reveal our Christmas musical hauls (and other recent scores).  The pictures in the thumbnail images are just spoiler-proof teasers and placeholders (though time permitted we will look at those recent arrivals too).  We’ll just have to see what the other guys have in store, because I write these posts in advance!  I can tell you that on my side, I have four new discs to discuss, a cherished musical heirloom, a new music T-shirt and more!

I’ll also reveal what I spent my Christmas money on.

Tonight, 7:00 PM EST, the boys are back in town.

Friday December 26 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

#1229: Have You Played Atari 2600 on Christmas Eve?

Nostalgia filled me as I whiled away the afternoon hours.  Christmas Eve was here again, and I wanted to drift back in time.  I am never happier than when I think back to the early 80s, and how wonderful and perfect Christmas Eve was.  Now, so many of us are gone.  Uncle Paul and Grandma have left us, and Aunt Maria is not well enough for Christmas anymore.  By mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve back in 1981, or 82, or 83…I’d be anxious to the point of explosion, waiting to get things started!  We had to kill time, am eternity of time.  Or so it seemed.  What was really a few hours felt like days.  So we’d go down to the basement and try to stave off the combination of boredom and anxiety, by playing Atari 2600.  Meanwhile upstairs, Mom would be furiously preparing for the arrival of guests, while dad sometimes worked or sometimes flipped channels between March of the Wooden Soldiers and A Christmas Carol.

The old Atari 2600 still works, but it’s at the lake awaiting next summer’s fun.  Emulators capture most of the experience, minus the joystick.  And so I cued up some games.  Things that would remind me of the past… the competitive past with Dr. Kathryn, playing the classics.

Time-appropriate music was necessary.  I chose the Brian May Starfleet box set.  Even though I’d not been aware of Brian May or the album back in 1983 when it came out, listening to new music was also a Christmas Eve tradition, and disc two of the set is fresh to me.  The combination worked.

I started out with an old Uncle Paul favourite:  Activision’s River Raid.  Either due to being years out of practice, or the lack of a joystick, I fared poorly.  I remembered all my old strategies, such as slowing down to refuel, but I couldn’t even get past the second bridge.  Let’s try something more fun.

The second game I played was an old “M Network” cartridge, now emulated online, called Frogs and Flies.  It wasn’t rated highly by us back then, but it is strangely playable.  The object is to jump your frog, and catch more flies with your tongue than your opponent (or computer player).  There are only two controls:  one to jump and one to flick out your tongue.  The graphics, featuring the frogs jumping on lilypads in a pond, capture the transition from morning to night.  The game is on a time limit, and once it is night, it ends.  Top score wins.  (I won.)  Well, that was fun.

Brian May and Eddie Van Halen solo’d together as I tried the old Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi – Death Star Battle game.  This is not a game that we owned, but we did rent it at least once (in the summer, actually).  I remembered it being really cool, but I did not destroy the Death Star in 2025.  Unusually for games of the time, it was a two-stage game.  First, you (the Millennium Falcon) must battle TIE Fighters and Imperial Shuttles as you wait for a hole in the Death Star’s shield to appear.  Once through the shield, you must now destroy the Death Star by shooting out blocks, creating a clear shot to the main reactor.  This while being attacked by fighters and the Death Star’s superlaser itself.  I did not do well.  The strategy here is to move to the far right or left, and lure the laser’s sights as far from the center as possible.  Then, zip to the middle and take shots at the Death Star for as long as you can before the superlaser is locked on you again.  You only have a few seconds.  I found this un-fun and only tried a couple times before quitting.  The Empire wins this time.  (No sequel trilogy.)

I searched around for a few games.  I tried Pitfall, considered one of the best games on the console, but bored quickly of repetitive scenes.  I played Vanguard, but it took me over 10 lives just to kill the first Gond.  Then Freeway…chickens literally crossing a road.

Before I knew it, it was just about time to depart and get merry.  I probably spent more time searching for a game that I wanted to play, than actually playing.  Just like the old days.

Pac-Man.  Haunted House.  Frogger!  Damn Frogger, that one had me going all Christmas Day when it came out.  I thought it was the best Atari game ever made.  It may well have been.  Those were indeed the days.  Monopolizing the TV to play Frogger all day.  Food?  A distraction!  Taking away from our Atari time!

Christmas Eve ended with a new set of Uno games.  Something I probably also received from Uncle Paul one Christmas Eve back in the 1980s.

Full circle.  The more things change, the more they stay the same, and that is a comforting sentiment.

The Contrarians Live: Full List of My Episodes

 

All my Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet
  21. Greetings From New York
  22. Done With Mirrors
  23. Eyes Without A Face
  24. Rock Out With Your Clock Out!
  25. Album Covers You Can Hear
  26. Album Covers You Can Smell
  27. Huh?!? Album Covers that Send the Wrong Message

#1228: XX

RECORD STORE TALES #1228: XX

It was 20 years ago when I finally snapped.  Two decades since that fateful day when I finally reached the breaking point.  The day I ended the most toxic relationship I’d even been in.

December 19, 2005, I quit the Record Store.

The story has been told multiple times, but I have had two decades now to put it behind me.  Perspective changes.  If the “me” of today was quitting that store in 2005, I’d have been a bit more assertive about why I was quitting.  It is safe to say that I left that job for one reason and one reason only.  Even though you can’t change the past, it is sometimes interesting to reflect back in terms of personal growth.

What don’t kill ya, makes ya more strong, as James Hetfield once said.  I am a fucking lion.

There was a lot to love about working in a Record Store, especially the early days.

The most important and lasting impact of the Store is not any of the musical treasures I acquired.  Not my mint condition Shine On box set by Pink Floyd.  Nor the numerous Japanese imports, or the limited edition releases.  None of the things in my collection can compare to the relationships made that lasted the test of time.  I look at my Facebook friend list and count the names.  There is Jade, and Kyle, and Ian, and there is Trevor!  And the Sausagefesters:  Uncle Meat, Joe Big Nose, Tom, and Dr. Dave!  Two Matts, a Pat, an  Ashleigh and a Kate!  And Chris, who I trained and now works at the beloved Encore Records, still selling music to the masses.  Of these friends, I remain close to Uncle Meat.  We’ve had trials, tribulations, and tornadoes in our lives but here we stand.  This list just includes the ones I worked with, but I have friends that I met as customers, such as the infamous Aaron KMA.  Aaron and I will be celebrating our 30th Friendaversary in spring of 2026.

It was unfortunate that it ended the way it did, but I had to hit a moment of rock bottom before I would take the bold move of quitting my job of 12 years.  I’ve never been good at breakups.  Just ask any of my ex’s.   There were the five stages of grief after I left, mixed with a tremendous high of new experiences and new achievements.  The anger stage of grief took a while.  There was fallout, and that’s on me, but like I said…anger stage of grief.  Bridges had to be burned so that I was left with only the positive people from that period in my life.  Many supported me in my journey; some did not, and I’m left with the ones that did.  I am grateful to all of them.

Sometimes I think about what it would be like to still be there, an old dog slinging music from behind the counter.  Part time of course; not manager.  It would be hilarious because I’m not the same person anymore and I don’t take shit like I used to.  The Big Boss Man would have a harder time pushing me around.  I don’t think it would last long.

I still shop there, though the old locations from my day no longer exist.  The staff are mediocre.  I’m not saying that to be mean.  A lot of us were mediocre from day to day back then.  However, I always made sure every customer was at least said “Hello” to, and they don’t do that anymore.

20 years have come and gone in the blink of an eye.  How can I sum it up?  I came out of my cocoon.  “I am, I’m me.”  And I hope the next 20 years reveals just as much growth as the last 20.

Happy XX to me.

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: Top 11 Maiden Art (edited for length)

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode:
Top 11 Maiden Art

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode

Original broadcast:  May 12 2021

Back in the pandemic days, long before 50 Years of Iron Maiden was a thing, we used to do three-hour shows.  People needed something to do, and something to watch.  Unfortunately, as good as our lists and topics were, the shows were too long and meandering.  Well, not anymore!  I have toiled away and edited down our epic Top 11 Iron Maiden Art show to a manageable hour.  Now it enters its rightful place as a watchable bonus episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

Our group of four picked our favourite Eddies from past and present:  Myself, Harrison, Mr. Books and original co-host Deke. We split our picks from albums, singles, and tour shirts.  Through it all, we saw some epic art from Derek Riggs, Melvyn Grant and others.  A monumental set of lists!  The format was called a “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten”, meaning we went up to eleven!  Check out the picks, some of which are pretty obscure and little-seen!

Thanks for watching, and if you just want to know what Maiden art we picked, check out Aaron’s hand-written list below!

Friday Dec 19 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

SPOILER – Do Not Read if you intend to watch the episode.

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

What’s coming up on Grab A Stack of Rock? And why is Dan wearing his lifeguard hat?

A quick conversation between Mike and Dan…what’s up with the hat??

 

Worst KISS Song on Every Album – the list

By the suggestion of Peter Kerr!  Hot on the heels of our best KISS song lists, here are my WORST songs by my favourite band!  One song for every studio album, plus one song to represent the many extra tunes that Kiss have in their discography!  Enjoy – or don’t enjoy -the list of stinkiest Kiss songs of all time!  (Peeeeww!)

NOTE:  Some of these albums have no truly bad songs.  Hotter Than Hell and Destroyer, for example.  Therefore, I just had to stick my neck out with my “least best”.  This is a much more difficult list than picking favourites.

A really hard list.  Worst song from Hot in the Shade?  Get in line.  Worst song from Lick It Up or Creatures? Much harder.  Even The Elder was difficult.  In most cases I went with my first instinct.  I hope you enjoy this list – and sorry Joey about “I Love It Loud”!