Andrews Rock Blog

The news came out yesterday that The Beatles would be the focus of a new video game next year from the makers of Rock Band. Contrary to initial expectations, the Fab Four’s foray into video games won’t be an add-on to that particular franchise, but something totally new, a journey through the entire history of the band, from their first album to their final days. Those are pretty much all the details that have been revealed, but the concept has got Beatles fans salivating as to what the game’s story will be. Personally, I’d love to see a Rock Band-esque career game where you can choose which member of the band you want to be, with John, Paul, George, and Ringo all having their own storylines to follow and exclusive songs to play. How about you - what sort of game do you think would do justice to the Beatles?

Let me know, and then use FABFOUR as your weekend bonus code. Oh, and be sure to check out the Jack Nation magazine Tuesday for my review of the new Guitar Hero: World Tour.

 Last night I was part of a near capacity crowd that took in a performance by former Talking Heads leader David Byrne, who’s touring in support of his new album with Brian Eno, “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today”. Along with tunes from that one, which is currently only available online but should hit store shelves in a few weeks, Byrne played a ton of classic Talking Heads material, including “Take Me To The River”, “Once In A Lifetime”, “Live During Wartime”, and “Burning Down The House”. The band was tight and recalled the Heads glory days. It’s hard not to listen to those tunes and not bop your head up and down, tap your toes, and shimmy in your seat.

As you may or may not know, Talking Heads got their start in the 1970’s playing the legendary New York punk club CBGB’s, alongside future Rock and Roll Hall Of Famers like the Ramones, Patti Smith, and Blondie. While the club closed down a few years ago, and beloved owner Hilly Krystal passed away last year, memories of CBGB’s continue. This week Living Colour, one of the best band’s to come out of the late 80’s, has released a live album recorded at CBGB’s back in 2005. The band is in tight form, and Vernon Reid is still a killer guitarist. However, because it’s a soundboard recording, the vocals of Corey Glover are a little more buried than they should be. I was also disappointed in the liner notes, written by club veteran ”Handsome” Dick Manitoba, who talks about the history of CBGB’s but doesn’t make one reference to Living Colour at all. Shoddy packaging, but the music delivers.

Today’s bonus code is CBGB.  

Man, I love Halloween. It’s one of my favourite times of year. The movies, the tunes, and the costumes. I thought today I’d just throw out a few Halloween related things to get your primed.

Of all the Halloween icons out in the rock world today, my pick for the best has to be Rob Zombie. Not only was White Zombie a scary band, but they managed to create a catalogue of tunes that actually stand up over time. I dare you to not turn up “Dragula” or “More Human Than Human” when it comes on over the radio. Those songs just kick. Of course, Zombie’s also branched out from music in film, directing “House Of 1000 Corpses”, “The Devil’s Rejects” and last year’s remake of “Halloween”, which, while not as great as the original, still has its moments. I was trolling around for some cool Rob Zombie stuff to post and wound up coming across a great parody of “House Of 1000 Corpses” that you should check out below. It’s funny even if you haven’t seen the film.

Speaking of zombies, a few weeks back I was sent a copy of a book called Zombie Movies - The Ultimate Guide by Glenn Kay, which traces the history of the genre from the 30’s all the way up to 2008. It’s a fun read. Kay is doing a signing down at the World’s Biggest Bookstore tomorrow night, so if you’re into the undead check it out.

Today’s bonus code is…ZOMBIES. Enter it and then have the swellest day ever.

Every couple weeks we get some new Led Zeppelin rumours. Here’s the latest, along with what’s the truth. John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Jason Bonham have indeed been rehearsing together. They haven’t been specific as to what they plan on doing; we don’t know if it’s new material, classic Zeppelin, or a combo of both. We do know that Robert Plant is not currently interested in touring as Led Zeppelin. According to Jones, Plant isn’t into making “loud music” at the moment. We know that various singers have passed through the door over the past few months, including some dude that was in the band Alter Bridge.

Now here’s the new rumour. Apparently one of the other singers who dropped by to sing was Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. Maybe he didn’t, maybe he did, but now there’s all these headlines like “Tyler To Sing In Zeppelin”; in fact, I used that for Breaking Rock News, but I included a question mark. Either way, whatever Page, Jones, and Bonham decide to do, it won’t be Steven Tyler singing on the road with them. Aerosmith is working on new material and will in all likelihood be on the road this spring. So scratch that one off the rumour list.

But it does lead to an interesting question -  assuming we’re not going to see Robert Plant on the road with his former bandmates, who would you accept in his spot? A familiar singer or a total unknown? I wonder if David Coverdale would be interested in the gig.

Let me know your pick and then use RINGER as today’s bonus code.

Last night 3,000 invited guests (including Jack Nation member Doug Edwards) were in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to watch ACDC rehearse for their sold-out Black Ice world tour. The show’s been getting raves, and sounds like it was everything ACDC fans were hoping for. The band played an 80 minute set, but the full show will be significantly longer judging by the set list floating around the net. You can check that out and video footage from the show below. Now comes the band’s two sold out shows at Rogers Centre, in November and January. Of course, you can score tickets through 92.5 Jack FM with the 9am pay song with Samantha Stevens. It’s that easy.

Oh, and a week and a half dozen listens to “Black Ice” later, I still stand by my opinion that it’s too long. There are a ton of great songs on the album (”Big Jack” and “Stormy May Day” stand out) and had the makings of a real classic, bit it should have been 5 songs and 15 minutes shorter. If it would have been 40 minutes, it would have been a classic ACDC album. Not that it really matters. The album is on track to sell over 1 million copies in North America alone this week, including over 300,000 in Canada alone.

If you’ve been listening to the album this week, let me know if “Black Ice” has grown on you or not. Then use WILKESBARRE as today’s bonus code.

ACDC Tentative Tour Set List:

01. Rock ‘N Roll Train
02. Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be
03. Back In Black
04. Stiff Upper Lip
05. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
06. Thunderstruck
07. Hard As A Rock
08. The Jack
09. Hells Bells
10. Shoot To Thrill
11. You Shook Me All Night Long
12. TNT
13. Whole Lotta Rosie
14. Let There Be Rock
15. Highway To Hell
16. For Those About To Rock
17. Anything Goes
18. Big Jack
19. War Machine
20. Black Ice
21. Bad Boy Boogie

 Yesterday 92.5 Jack FM started spinning the title track to the long awaited “Chinese Democracy” album from Guns N’ Roses. Personally, I liked it. I thought Axl Rose sounded great, and the tune itself is extremely rocking. I’m not sure who’s doing the guitar solos, but I’d wager Buckethead is on there. In fact, I just checked Wikipedia and he’s got lead guitar credit, so I guess I’m onto something.

People seem to think the new album is supposed to reinvent the rock wheel. It’s not. As we get closer to it’s release I’m sure I’ll have more to say about “Chinese Democracy”, but let me just say this. Axl views himself as an artist, and it’s taken him 13 years to craft this particular piece of art. The goal is to make a great album, not redefine the rock world. End of story.

On that note, take a listen to “Chinese Democracy” here and let me know what you think, good bad or indifferent. Then use WAXLROSE as today’s code.

Last night I hung out on the couch watching U2’s Under A Red Sky on DVD. The film, which is about 25 years old, was recently reissued with an additional 5 songs added to the running order. It’s probably been about 15 years since I last watched the concert and I have to say it holds up amazingly well. I know a lot of people are down on Bono, but there was a time when he was still simply a singer, aiming to be the best in the world. The same could be said for his bandmates, all of whom were clearly inspired on this rainy night at Red Rocks back in 1983.

Check out “Surrender” from Under A Blood Red Sky and then use SURRENDER as today’s bonus code.

Ok, I know I’m opening myself up for lots of criticism from you guys, but I’m going to give you my initial thoughts as I’m making my way through the new ACDC album “Black Ice”.

The album starts off strong with first single “Rock and Roll Train” and keeps kicking through song 5, “War Machine”. But then things start to sound the same. Which shouldn’t be surprising since this is an ACDC album, but the big problem is that “Black Ice” is 15 songs long. As Jeff mentioned this morning on the show, the best ACDC albums, ones like “Back In Black” or “Highway To Hell” are 10 songs or less. In and out, blow your mind, and they don’t spend much more than 40 minutes or so to do it.

That being said, I’ve still got a few more songs to go, so I may feel differently after a few lessons, but I thought I’d share these initial thoughts. Have you heard “Black Ice”? If so, let us know how you’re feeling about it. Then use 15SONGS as today’s bonus code.

No rock today, folks. No blog code either. Just wondering if you could help us out. Last night me and the missus were driving south down Bayview between Sheppard and York Mills when we spotted a poor dog walking across the street, narrowly avoiding getting run down. My wife and I managed to get the collarless but well-groomed and clearly shaken dog into our car, and we drove around the area looking for the owner with no luck. We then took the dog to a few vets in the area, where we discovered he wasnt microchipped and nobody recognized him. We left our names and all our details, called the Humane Society and did the same. In the meantime, our own pooch had a roommate last night. She was very hospitable.

We’re heading back to the area later today to walk the pooch around and hopefully find his home and owners. On the off chance you know of anyone who lost their dog in the area yesterday, drop me a line asap. I feel pretty bad for the dog, who we’re calling ”Dodger” in the meantime, since he so artfully dodged traffic yesterday. The vet says he’s either a Shitzu or a Maltese.  We’re taking care of him but we’d love to get him back to his owners. At which point I will yell at them for losing their dog and having him out without a collar on.

UPDATE: I’m happy to report that Pepsi has been tearfully reunited with his owners this afternoon. I gave them a scolding, but the poor dog had just had a bath which is why is his collar was off. But all’s well that ends well. Tune in next week when I give a giraffe the heimlich maneuver.

We’ve been having a debate at work the last few days - are we humans or are we dancers? That the question posed by The Killers in “Human”, the first single from the band’s upcoming album Day and Age, due in stores November 25th. I’m pretty sure I’m a human; my dancing is essentialy a shuffel with my hands in my pockets.

I don’t mind “Human” but right off the top, I don’t think it has the passion of previous Killer singles like “When You Were Young” or “Somebody Told Me”.  On their last album, 2006’s Sam’s Town, the Killers were aiming for Springsteen and U2-esque heights. Depending on your point of view, they either succeeded admirably or failed miserably. I don’t really hear either of those influences in the new single.

Take a listen, let me know what you think, and then use HUMAN as your weekend bonus code.