Album Spotlight: Sonia Leigh - Mad Hatter

This, being my first album spotlight of 2018, let us go over what constitutes an album being spotlight worthy for me.
1. This shouldn't have to be said, but it has to be. It has to be an albums I've listened to.
2. No or one skipworthy song. Yeah, that's a pretty high bar. But I do albums and not songs. You may think that's quaint and/or antiquated, but that's still how I consume music. What does skipworthy actually mean? It's the song/s that one would automatically skip every single time.

Now, let's explore good music this year. That's what I intend to do.

I will admit that Sonia Leigh's Mad Hatter had me perplexed at first listen. It's like listening to your friend's eclectic playlist. She has purposely recorded music that would not pigeon-hole her. She has succeeded.

I don't like to compare artists to other artists, but as every song on Mad Hatter is a turn in a different direction, I feel comparisons, for the purpose of context, are in order.

Sonia's voice, on the more hard-edged songs, is reminiscent of Joan Jett. A lot of the songs have the quirky vibe of early Sheryl Crow. Maybe some Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders as well.

This one was hard for me. The good is so good, and there is so much good, but the bad is atrocious. Clocking in at 11 songs, it's definitely one song too long. The album closer, "Mind on the Prize", is an all out assault on the aural senses. Do yourself a favor and just end your listening after 10 songs.

I'm able to forgive one terrible song like I did with Angaleena Presley and "Country". I could forgive "Mind on the Prize", but then there is "Walking in the Moonlight", which could have been done by Demi Lovato or Carly Rae Jepsen. But there is enough there and it's catchy enough that I wouldn't actively skip it.

That's the bad. The other nine songs are fantastic. Delving into many different genres while never focusing on any particular one, it's all interesting. I like interesting. Give me something interesting and edgy over something safe and saccharine any day.

Strap into the seat and give this roller coaster of an album a try. I guarantee you  will not like it all, but you will find something to like. Sonia Leigh is talented and quirky and will have none of your BS. Not sure if I like this as much as I respect it.

Today, this is my favorite song on the album, subject to change without warning.

Hard Rock Playlist 1

This is by no means an original idea, but I thought I'd make a hard rock playlist. Not the ultimate hard rock playlist, just a hard rock playlist. That is why I called it "Hard Rock Playlist 1". This is my first and maybe last or maybe the first of many.

Spotify, for me, is the easiest way to make a playlist (and yes, I pay for premium) so I am limited to what is available on that service.

Now let me take you through the process.

1. I wanted it to come in between and hour and an hour and half. 16 songs seems to be a pretty good number, but between 14 and 18 would have worked.
2. I tried to make it semi-cohesive from one song to the next, like listening to an album.
3. I wanted to hit as many decades as possible from the '70's until now (think I did that, although I'm not sure about 2000-2009).
4. I wanted to run the gamut on the fringes of what I consider hard rock (subjective, I know).
5. I wanted it to be something you could put on in your car and drive for an hour and not want to skip anything (again success will be subjective).
6. I didn't want the songs to be obvious.

So here is the playlist with comments. The Spotify link is at the bottom.

1) "Overture/The Temples of Syrinx"  - Rush
I went with this because it is one of the best opening salvos of any record I know. "Overture" sets the mood and then "The Temples of Syrinx" just smashes the listener in the face.

2) "Queen of the Reich" - Queensryche
This continues the full frontal assault from Queensryche's debut EP. Most may know them from "Silent Lucidity" or the Operation:Mindcrime stuff, but before that Queensryche sounded much more like Iron Maiden.

3) "Legend of the Spaceborne Killer" - Crobot
This is the first song from a newer/current band in my attempt to dispel the myth that rock is dead. It's got a vibe that could have fit in '70's but doesn't sound dated. Just a good hard rock song.

4) "Rocket Queen" - Guns N' Roses
From Appetite For Destruction, one of the best hard rock albums ever, this is not an obvious choice. The hits have been overplayed, so I went with an album cut which is one of the best on the record.

5) "Gypsy Road" - Cinderella
Cinderella is one of the best bluesy hard rock bands to come out of the '80's and it's kind of a shame that they got lumped in with the "hair metal" moniker. While I think some of their slower blusier stuff better exemplifies them as a band, this song fits the vibe of this playlist.

6) "Wicked" - Million Dollar Reload
Hailing from Ireland, Million Dollar Reload is another current band with a new record due out in 2015. They would feel right at home among the '80's L.A. sleaze rock scene. Good song with a good hook.

7) "Apocalyptic" - Halestorm
More ammunition to dispel the rock is dead myth, this from the 2015 record Into the Wild Life. If you read this blog regularly, you know my affinity for Lzzy Hale and Halestorm.

8) "Two Minutes to Midnight" - Iron Maiden
Because it's Iron Maiden and you can never go wrong with Iron Maiden when talking about hard rock.

9) "Highway Star" - Deep Purple
The second of three songs from the '70's. Deep Purple was so influential on hard rock artists from the '80's up until today, I had to include them. "Highway Star" keeps the motor running on this playlist.

10) "Slide It In" - Whitesnake
While, again, this is not an obvious choice, this is from the album that preceded Whitesnake's 1987 record that catapulted them (and Tawny Kitaen) to the top of American consciousness.

11) "Rusty Cage" - Soundgarden
I never considered Soundgarden to be a grunge band. To me they were always more hard rock, as this song proves. There has never been any "yarling" in Chris Cornell's vocals and the instrumentation on this track is almost, almost thrash.

12) "Fire Woman" - The Cult
I don't know where The Cult falls in the grand scheme of genres, but "Fire Woman" is an excellent hard rock song.

13) "Heartless" - Heart
Again, if you read this blog at all, you know I love chicks that rock. And nobody did more to break ground for future generations of chick rockers than Ann and Nancy Wilson (apologies to Pat Benatar, but Ann & Nancy were first). While there are more obvious choices, this song fits the playlist.

14) "Rock Me Like The Devil" - Crucified Barbara
This, my first hard rock playlist, may be a little heavy on the female rockers, I think they get overlooked a lot of the time. Crucified Barbara is an all female current Swedish quartet who rock.

15) "I Hate Myself For Loving You" - Joan Jett
Because Joan Jett. That is all. Carry on.

16) "You Can't Stop Rock 'N" Roll" - Twisted Sister
What better song to end on. Rock is not dead.

Check out the Spotify playlist if you're at all intrigued.

Chicks That Rock: Lita Ford

Lita Ford was a member of the iconic all-girl band The Runaways along with Joan Jett and Cherie Currie.. She enjoyed a fair amount of success in the Hair Band era with moderate hits "Kiss Me Deadly" and "Shot of Poison" and here career was bolstered by "Close Your Eyes Forever", a duet with Ozzy Osbourne.

I've always felt Lita was underrated as a vocalist and not given anywhere near the credit she deserves as a guitarist. Always over shadowed by Joan Jett, Lita managed to carve out a very nice career.

Lita definitely knew how to play up the glam fantasy as the following video will attest. That may have led somewhat to her being overlooked as a serious guitarist/musician.




But you can't deny the heartfelt passion is this next song, released in 2013. There's a backstory there, but I won't go into it. If you're here, you know how to run the google machine.