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CD Review: Sammy Hagar’s Cosmic Universal Fashion

To me, Sammy Hagar has always typified a straight-up rock and roll kind of guy. He’s never found a place on my list off all-time favorites, but as I have said here before, I think Van Halen’s best years were during the time Hagar was with them. Besides preferring Hagar’s voice over Diamond Dave’s, I’ve never cared much for big egos. Maybe those old VH videos with Roth throwing his blond locks around and casting those“come hither” looks towards the camera just creeped me out a bit too much to ever take the guy seriously. Some footage from the most recent Van Halen tour with Roth riding a giant inflatable microphone around the stage surely didn’t help.

As far as being a straight-up rock and roll kind of guy goes, this latest effort is a bit of a departure, and some if it can definitely be classified as music with a message. Awareness about the environment seems to be a key part of the message Hagar is trying to convey with Cosmic Universal Fashion.

The CD is packaged in a cardboard case that is described right on it as being “Printed on 40% recycled paperboard,” as well as “Environmentally friendly package: No booklet, no waste.” Indeed, there is no booklet accompanying the CD as you would normally expect, which is really not a big deal for me and the cardboard packaging certainly was easier to open than that shrink-wrapped plastic fortress that CDs are usually encased in. You can however, visit Hagar’s website and view or download the booklet if you choose.

If you’re a Sammy Hagar fan, there’s a fair chance that you will enjoy this new album. For someone like myself who is  a bit more neutral where the Red Rocker is concerned, I found myself left with only one track that I really liked. I certainly don’t consider the other tracks “unlistenable,” but the one I found myself playing over and over a number of times was “Loud.” Now that’s straight-up rock and roll, and the kind of thing I would have liked to hear more of on a Sammy Hagar album.

Getting to the title track, “Cosmic Universal Fashion,” it is not your typical rock song, and it’s a difficult one for me to classify, although it has more of a machine-generated sound to it which is a bit too repetitive and certainly does not sound like any of the old classic Hagar I remember. Of all the tracks on the album, this was the one I liked the least. It’s creation is an interesting story however, since it was born out of a collaboration between Hagar and an Iraqi fan took place over the internet. Unfortunately, I found the story of the song’s creation more interesting than the song itself.

The whole album is somewhat of an odd collection, since some of the tracks don’t seem like they belong on the same CD and were made up of a collection of songs that Hagar did not know what else to do with. That’s confirmed to some degree by the credits where Hagar talks about a couple of songs he wrote with Neal Schon just before he signed on for the Van Hagar reunion and had to put his plans with Schon on hold. Those two tracks, “Psycho Vertigo” and “Peephole” are on this album, with “Psycho Vertigo” being the better track in my opinion. Deen Castronovo’s hard-driving drum work really provides a strong backbone to this guitar-driven track.

Although I have seen some criticism of Hagar’s singing on this album, I think he’s holding up pretty well at the age of 61, and to me he sounds pretty much like the Sammy Hagar I remember from the 80’s.

As someone whose favorite groups include Rush, Yes, Heart and Kansas, Hagar’s creative work, much of which has that party-inspired feel to it, has never been much of a draw for me. For Hagar fans however, this album may be worth checking out.

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Tags: Album, Cosmic Universal Fashion, Review, Sammy Hagar

Long-Awaited Guns N’ Roses Album ‘Chinese Democracy’ A Hit

I’m not sure how many copies of this new album will sell. I also do not know where it it will end up on the charts, but this album is already a hit with me. The new album landed on Best Buy store shelves yesterday and it has also been made available by the group on MySpace, where it is said to have broken records there for number of listeners.

To be honest, I’m not even a Guns N’ Roses fan and I don’t have any of their albums. However, any album that attracts negative comments from the oppressive Communist government of China deserves accolades in my book.

With news of the release of Chinese Democracy, the government of China apparently felt the need to respond.

An article in a government-controlled publication called the Global Times used the headline: “American band releases album venomously attacking China.” It then went on to say that, “unidentified Chinese Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by some in the West to grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn.”

I think I know which Chinese internet users they are talking about. The ones with the drab-looking green uniforms and the matching caps with the red star on them. You know, like the ones driving the tanks in this picture.

It’s not surprising to hear an oppressive government like the one on China talk about democracy that way. It’s not a word that’s particularly popular with the leaders in that part of the world since it threatens their power and control of the citizenry.

The good news is that there are probably many Chinese citizens who will get to hear Chinese Democracy since file sharing and pirating of DVD disks and music CDs is quite popular in that country.

Although sharing music by way of file sharing networks and copying of CDs can be a touchy subject, I’d be curious to hear what the guys that recorded the album think of that activity where China is concerned.

It’s doubtful that the government would ever allow an album entitled Chinese Democracy be distributed in that country, so I’d have to say that I’m in favor of Chinese rock fans getting their hands on this album by any means available. It seems unlikely that it will be taking any money from the pockets of the artists or the music industry in this case.

Gee, do you think this post will be enough to get my site blocked by the famed “Great Firewall of China?” I’d have to say I would consider it an honor.

Tags: Album, Chinese Democracy, Government, Guns N Roses, Release

AeroZeppelin?

The rumors about a possible Led Zeppelin tour have taken a rather dramatic turn with a new report that Aerosmith frontman, Steven Tyler has been jamming with them, and being considered as a replacement for Robert Plant for a tour that has been anticipated since the success of the group’s performance at London’s O2 show last December. Plant has been holding out on any commitments to tour with the group, and seems content working with country singer Alison Krauss for the time being.

Tyler reportedly spent several days in a U.K. studio with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham, and although it was said that they had a great time, it was also reported that Tyler kept, “…fluffing his lines. He got quite flustered about it,” a source was quoted as saying.

For the full story, check out The Daily Mail.

Speaking of Aerosmith, guitarist Brad Whitford was quoted recently regarding concerns about the group’s inevitable slide into old age.

Even though the official word about the group’s work on their new album is that they are waiting for Steven Tyler’s foot injury to heal, Whitford thinks other factors may be at play, including concerns about his own mortality.

Talking with Billboard, Whitford says, “You have more than average concerns about it (injury), I guess, but you can’t do anything about it.a Like a lot of other things in life, you don’t get to call the shots on these things, do you? We’re just … getting older.”

In light of the reported studio work that Steven Tyler has done with Led Zeppelin lately, one might get the impression that he is recovered sufficiently from his foot injury to resume work on a the new Aerosmith album. Perhaps Tyler is not as concerned about his age as Whitford, but if a tour with Led Zeppelin is a real possibility, he sure has a lot on his plate for an old guy.

Read more about Whitford’s comments at Billboard.

Tags: Aerosmith, Album, Led Zeppelin, Steven Tyler, tour

Gilmour Now Rules Out Pink Floyd Reunion

Saying that he is having "too much fun" on his own, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour does not see any possibility of a Pink Floyd  reunion. There was talk last spring about a possible reunion after drummer Nick Mason was quoted as saying that he believed that the right event could bring the group back together again for a reunion.

If there is ever a Pink Floyd reunion, it appears that Gilmour is not interested in participating. The group did reunite for a performance at 2005’s "Live 8" charity event, but Gilmour now says "…once was enough." He goes on to add,  "The gig itself was "excellent, really enjoyable. The rehearsals were less enjoyable. The rehearsals convinced me it wasn’t something I wanted to be doing a lot of."

Despite some stormy relations within the group in the past, particularly between Gilmour and bassist Roger Waters, Gilmour says his reluctance to consider another reunion has nothing to do with bad relationships, and more to do with the fact that he feels it is something that he has done and seems satisfied with the current direction his career is moving in, revealing that he will be working on a new album at some point.

Gilmour also brings up the fact that he values family more than music, something we hear from other aging rockers these days that have probably spent more time away from their loved ones than they wanted, due to the demands of their musical careers.

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Gilmour’s most recent project is a new concert album and DVD set that is scheduled for release on September 23. Recorded during the last date of his 2006 On An Island tour, where he performed at Gdansk, Poland in the shadow of the shipyard that gave birth to the Solidarity movement in 1980. The event was intended to honor the 26th anniversary of Solidarity,  which is credited with contributing to the downfall of Poland’s then-Communist government.

Look for a review of the new set here as soon as I am able to obtain an advance copy. As a long-time Pink Floyd fan myself, I’m looking forward to hearing how Gilmour and his current line-up sound when they perform some of those well-known Pink Floyd songs from days gone by.

Tags: Album, David Gilmour, DVD, Pink Floyd, reunion

Edgar Winter Aims To Revive Classic Sound of The 70’s With New Album

Can anyone who listened to the radio during the 1970’s possibly forget the legendary hits “Free Ride” and “Frankenstein” by the Edgar Winter Group? During the peak of its popularity, I recall a period when it seemed as if “Frankenstein” was being aired at least once every hour on the radio stations I was listening to at the time.

Edgar Winter seems to miss the old days, and I guess when I comes to music, there are a few of us who feel the same way. Winter’s new album Rebel Road. Inspired by his work on Ringo Starr’s “All Starr Band” a couple of years ago, Winter decided to do something about the lack of music which embodies the same spirit of freedom that so much of the music from the 1970’s represented to him.

Rebel Road features a few well-known performers who lent their talents to the effort, including Slash, former lead guitar man for Guns N’ Roses, country music star Clint Black and Edgar’s brother Johnny, whom Edgar has been jamming with since their teenage years.

Winter seems to be quite pleased with the final result of the work that was put into Rebel Road, and has high praise for both Slash, who plays lead guitar on the title track, and Clint Black, a fellow Texan who helped bring a little country sound to the album.

I think there’s little doubt that Edgar Winter considers himself a bit of a rebel and certainly does not consider himself a mainstream kind of guy, and as he points out in the video interview below from Living Legends Music, definitely “not a nine-to-fiver”

I don’t think many people would argue with him on that point.

Rebel Road was released on July 8 on the Airline Records label.

Tags: Album, Edgar Winter, Rebel Road, Video