Blog Archives
Matt’s Top 25 Favorite Cover Songs: #18- Perfect Strangers covered by Dream Theater
Want to know how I got into Deep Purple? It can all be credited to Dream Theater and their awesome cover of “Perfect Strangers”. After hearing the tune and totally loving the groove I packed my bags and went in search to discover one of the best hard rock bands out there. And while nothing will beat the original track, the DT version adds a nice modern punch to the tune and I really find James LaBrie’s vocals very fitting for the tune. Enjoy!!!!!! Peace Love and Metal!!!!!
Dream Theater Version:
Original Deep Purple version:
<<Previous Entry #19
Next Entry #17>>
Version featuring Dream Theater and Bruce Dickinson after the jump:
Reggie’s Top 25 Favorite Cover Songs #18 – Comfortably Numb
Dare I say I am not a Pink Floyd fan? I never have been a fan and to this day I have heard enough of their music to honestly say they will never make my list of favorite bands. Blasphemy to some, I know. I do, however, like when other bands cover their music. I think this is some kind of genetic mutation I cannot fully explain. Enter Dream Theater and their cover of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. I totally dig it and can listen to it repeatedly, but when the original comes on, I turn the channel or whatever. Like I said, I can’t explain it.
Comfortably Numb appeared on the 1979 double album, The Wall. Obviously, it is very popular and has been covered many times. I did see a great live rendition of the song at a co-headlining Dream Theater and Queensryche show around 2003-ish. Both bands collaborated on stage for Comfortably Numb which you can see on Queensryche’e The Art of Live DVD or on YouTube or below. It was awesome to say the least especially now knowing Geoff Tate is no longer part of Queensryche.
Here is the original song recorded recently in London, 2011.
Here is Dream Theater’s version which appears on their (bootleg) release of The Dark Side of the Moon.
Below is the bonus Dream Theater/Queensryche collaboration.
Matt’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #5-#1
Is it the end already?! That went faster than I thought it would. Well, it was a lot of fun actually sitting down and drawing the whole thing out and asking myself why I love these records as much as I do. While some I dug just cause they were f’n great albums, others I found I had quite a bit of history with. I loved catching up with some classics I may haven’t listened too in a while and also rediscovering some records (some of which missed the Top 100, but I’ll make an honorable mention post in due time). The other big fun I had with this list was as well as posting all of it in its glory here on Metal State I was posting entries on a Facebook forum dedicated to metal where many others were doing just the same thing. It was/is (many are still posting theirs and some other have just begun) great to talk about all these albums with many other people and also see what their lists had to offer. I have to say, my mind is inundated with a ridiculous amount of music to check out and I look forward to hearing it all. If you’re feeling like talking some metal and use Facebook you can join the group through this link. There are cool metal nerds within and some very fun metal discussions. If you don’t have FB, I’d still love to see your list so post it to your blog, write it in the comments, or send it to me through email.
Anywho, here are the final 5 entries in my Top 100. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did making it and I hope you discovered some cool new albums to check out or were inspired to revisit something you may not have spun in a while. So, without further ado, we come to the end of ‘The List’ (which I now feel slightly depressed is over, will make up for with my top cover songs list which will begin at the start of the new year). Drum roll please! Drtrtrttrrttrrttrttrtrrttrtrtrtrrttrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtr! Peace Love and Metal!!!!!!!
Read the rest of this entry
Reggie’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time #5-1
It’s over! Here are my last five in the long journey of my Top 100 Favorite Albums of all time. As much as I look at my list I don’t think I would change anything for some time to come. If you have been following along, you know that a bunch of us at The History of Metal on facebook have been sharing our favorite albums over the course of several months. Some of us are complete while others joined in fairly recently. So, we are all still sharing. If you are new to this, it’s never too late to throw down your favorite albums. Enjoy!
Read the rest of this entry
Reggie’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time #20-16
As we journey down the path to my number 1 favorite album of all time, we have finally breached the top 20. From here on out, you will likely see more and more classic metal albums appearing on the list except for one or two that are relatively new (to me) compared to the rest. This all-time list is an ongoing effort started by our friends at The History of Metal page on facebook. Each day we list another album until we get to the end which should take us close to the end of the year. Below is my next list of five as we near our way to #1. Enjoy!
Read the rest of this entry
Matt’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #30-#26
Over on my favorite forum for rambling about metal, The History of Metal (it’s an open Facebook forum, so anyone, meaning you, can join and flap your jaw about metal with a wide variety of metalheads from all over the world), the admin made a challenge to all the members to create their top 100 albums of all time. Loving making lists I’m all on this. Between the ~1500 albums I have there is a lot to filter through and this has turned into quite a daunting, yet fun, challenge. This list will represent where I am with my favorite albums right now, if I were to do this last year or next year, while being similar, I’m sure there would be lots of differences. My only self-imposed limitation on this is I’m confining each band 3 albums in the list to avoid entire, very large, discographies over saturating it. Every 5 days or so I’ll make a post with the next 5 entries into the list. Fellow bloggers, I extend this challenge to you (and be sure to let me know where and when you’ll be posting it, I’d love to read it), and for readers without a blog join up with THOM and post yours there! Enjoy!!! Peace Love and Metal!!!
#30 King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime by Faith No More
While the bulk of King for a Day… features the heavier material that FNM are known for Mike Patton, Billy Gould, Mike Bordin, and Co. took more deviations from their metal/hard rock roots. The uber-smooth crooning in “Evidence” makes me feel like those girls in those famous Beatles videos, the Tom Jones/Las Vegas inspired “Star A.D.” make me feel like a high roller, and “Caralho Voador” make me feel like I’m chilling on a nice tropical beach (with Satan). Then there’s the heartfelt ballads. “Take This Bottle” is a sweet little country inspired rock ballad and “Just a Man” with it big soul back up singing, fat grooves, beautiful lyrics, and amazing vocal performance by Mike Patton easily sends shivers down my spine. And then there is the heavy metal and groove filled end to the record with nutzoid tunes like “Cuckoo for Caca” and “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”. With so much substance and diversity on this record, it has always boggled me why this record never received the accolades that FNM’s earlier work did.
Read the rest of this entry
Matt’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #40-#36
Over on my favorite forum for rambling about metal, The History of Metal (it’s an open Facebook forum, so anyone, meaning you, can join and flap your jaw about metal with a wide variety of metalheads from all over the world), the admin made a challenge to all the members to create their top 100 albums of all time. Loving making lists I’m all on this. Between the ~1500 albums I have there is a lot to filter through and this has turned into quite a daunting, yet fun, challenge. This list will represent where I am with my favorite albums right now, if I were to do this last year or next year, while being similar, I’m sure there would be lots of differences. My only self-imposed limitation on this is I’m confining each band 3 albums in the list to avoid entire, very large, discographies over saturating it. Every 5 days or so I’ll make a post with the next 5 entries into the list. Fellow bloggers, I extend this challenge to you (and be sure to let me know where and when you’ll be posting it, I’d love to read it), and for readers without a blog join up with THOM and post yours there! Enjoy!!! Peace Love and Metal!!!
#40 Imaginations from the Other Side by Blind Guardian
What more could a metal head nerd ask for? A band that writes top shelf quality metal and sings about things such as fantasy, sci-fi, history, video games, and all other nerdish troupes. When a buddy mentioned that Blind Guardian was Lord of the Rings metal I knew I had to check them out and my introduction to them was by way of the classic Imaginations from the Other Side (which was their most recent album at the time). My teenage nerd brain was melted, not only were there high energy rockers on the album, but the band had been able to write some of the best metal ballads ever (which, at 15 years old, I wasn’t a huge fan of yet). The Arthurian “Past and Future Secret” and “Mordred’s Song” will go down as a pair of my all time favorite songs by the Bards and my neck still hurts from the copious amounts of headbanging done to “I’m Alive”.
Read the rest of this entry
Reggie’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time #45-41
As we journey down the path to my number 1 favorite album of all time, you will likely see more and more classic metal albums appearing on the list. Many of these albums have been my favorites for decades while some are relatively new….only came into my life in the last couple of years. This all-time list is an ongoing effort started by our friends at The History of Metal page on facebook. Each day we list another album until we get to the end which should take us just up to the end of the year. Below is my next list of five as we near our way to #1. Enjoy!
Read the rest of this entry
Theme Thursday – Concert DVDs
Personally, I am huge fan of a live show. I love the energy, the performance, the roar of the crowd, and most importantly the decibel level of my favorite songs being played by talented metal musicians. I like being in a crowd of peers; people who have at least one big thing in common with me…the band! I like looking at all the band shirts and sparking up conversation about the shirt you are wearing. It is all well worth going to work the next day red-eyed and ears ringing. The only bad thing about a live show is that the things I love about them rarely translate well to film. Some concerts have serious production value which is always cool, but in the end a DVD/Blu-Ray concert just does not do a show complete justice. Does that stop me from buying them? Hell no, it’s the next best thing to being at the show. The theme this week is about some concert DVDs that I think are so well made that, if you are a fan of the band, these are must buys.
Read the rest of this entry
Album Review: Shadows Over Lothadruin by Wind Rose
The debut album, Shadows Over Lothadruin, by the Italian Symphonic Power Metal band Wind Rose is an interesting listen. On one hand I found myself quite captivated by the rich melodies, huge symphonies and orchestrations, and huge guitars and vocals. On the other I kept slipping into the ‘been there, done that’ state of mind. Now, I don’t think having your musical influences shine on a record is necessarily a bad thing and it has led to many great albums. But, when I’m listening to a record and find myself constantly going, ‘oh, that sounds just like Symphony X, Dream Theater, Blind Guardian, etc.’ it pulls me out of the experience some when it happens enough times. But I really like those bands, so what’s the problem? You see how the angel and devil are pulling on both sides here. But all in all, when I reached the end of Shadows Over Lothadruin, I found myself satisfied with the release.
