Welcome one and all to episode 397 of Signals from Mars. I'm your host Victor.
And for this episode we welcome back Mr. Jeremy Weltman. We will be talking about
new albums that have been released in the month of September of the year 2024.
It is great to catch up with Jeremy and we've got some great music talk next.
I'm ready. Let's do it!
Before jumping on into the episode I do want to remind you guys that you
still have a few days left to vote for your favorite albums of 1988. What I'm
asking people to do is send their 10 favorite hard rock or metal albums. If
you send me in no particular order whatever the first album that appears is
going to be your number one. Number one is assigned 10 points. Number two is
assigned 9 points all the way down to 10 which gets one point. I tally all those
points up and then come up with the countdown that we will be discussing on
October 25th which is a week from the day that I'm recording this. I need you to
submit the list by the 23rd. You can do so by either hitting me up on whatever
social media platforms you follow the show on or just send me an email at
signalsfrommars at signalsfrommars.com and whatever you send me will be great.
Should be a fun discussion. You can join us live that night in the chat that's
going to be 5 p.m. Eastern. What is that 2 p.m. Pacific. It'll be 11 p.m. in Europe
Central European time which means that it will be 10 p.m. in the UK. So if you want
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could do so for as little as two bucks a month. We have great music discussions
there where I post videos daily. You don't have to wait around for these
monthly episodes because I'm already posting videos on a daily basis. Some of
them are cool some of them not so cool some things I enjoy. Some of them people
just say the fuck were you thinking about when you suggested this one. So yeah
there's there's a little of everything and we don't always have to agree that
that's what makes things fun. We can discuss things that we like and things
that we don't like and that's what it's all about just cool music discussions.
This episode we discuss albums that were released in September of 2024 and it's a
good month for new music so hopefully this episode helps turn some of you
people on to some things maybe you didn't know have had come out or bands
you didn't even know of but a lot of music from this month went into my 2024
playlist. I'll say that. Aside from the patreon donation you could also help the
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pretty much it we're gonna jump on into the episode thanks for listening to us
submit your top 10 list of 1988 go to signalsfromr's.com to check out all the
great stuff related to the show. Let's jump on into the episode folks.
Welcome one and all to the latest episode of signals from Mars. I'm your
host Victor and joining me is Mr. Jeremy Weltman. Jeremy how are you today sir?
Yeah good thanks Victor just getting over a little bit of a sort of flu
COVID type thing but feeling quite good and escaped two hurricanes in Florida
as well because I was there in between two of them so yeah it's been an eventful
few weeks. How are you? Well one of those hurricanes has reached me. It hit us
yesterday a lot of rain a lot of wind thankfully nowhere near as strong as
what it was in Florida although I do have a street sign that is tilted now
because of it swaying back and forth from all the wind. So yeah so hopefully
all of our friends family listeners in Florida are doing well. Supposedly the
latest hurricane Milton I believe is has been downgraded. Let's hope it's
downgrading and that it doesn't affect anyone or at least the least
amount of possible. Yeah absolutely. So we're here to talk about September 2024
and I have to say a lot of good music came out this month. I was surprised
there's some weeks where I could almost say you know what this is possibly the
best week of total releases that was stronger than any other week. Now that
doesn't mean that the strongest release of the year has come out this month but
there's still a lot of good music that's come out. So we're here to help you guys
out let you guys know break free from the rest of the lazy listeners and check
out some cool music that is coming out that just came out last month. So anyway
let's start out with September 6th where we had a self-titled release by Blitzkrieg.
We had Mogs Motel also self-titled. We had Dream Theater keyboard player Jason
Rudis release permission to fly and we also had releases from God the Throne,
God is an Astronaut, Timo Tolke, Boston Manor, Moose Cult, Grendel's Sister,
Phaethon, Black Sun, Pyron I guess, Fame on Fire, Elephant Tree, Nubuleth, Future
Palace, reissues from our Treu live album from Mr. Big, compilation which I
need to check out I haven't had a chance to listen to yet, was Fast Eddie Clark
with Make My Day the rock and roll story of Fast Eddie Clark and various artists
with Surrender to Death a history of Atlanta metal underground volume one.
Jeremy what are some of the albums that you listen to this week? Yeah so I
started out the month listening to Black Sun by Black Sun which is of course the
very likely pairing of a Finnish and Ecuadorian melodic heavy metal band. I'm
not really certain about their history to be to be fair but it seems like
they've added a female singer Netta Loren recently and while inevitably you
know there's a bit of sort of generic basis to much of this material it's
actually you know pretty good listen I think overall it's it kind of retains
that essential heaviness without moving into you know pop territory. If you still
need persuading I suggest you sort of check out the song Awake which you know
has sort of added growling and real sort of premium riffing on it so yeah that
was a big sort of thumbs up for me for you know straight from the off really. I
then moved on to the the Eagerly Awaited solo album from Phil Mogg, you know Mogg's
Hotel, Mogg's Motel should I say not Hotel, the band that also features Tony
Newton as we know and Neil Carter. After all the tragedies that have seen recent years
including Mogg's Heart Attack as it happens, it's great to hear him sort of
produce some new music given his age as well you know he's getting on a
bit now that distinctive voice is still there and it'll really be interesting to
see if the band does any live shows as well before he finally retires. The album
itself it's mostly a sort of a very decent hard-rocking album it's certainly
a little bit distinguishable from UFO which is good in a way but for fans of
the band you know like myself it's as close as we're ever going to get to a
bit more UFO as well at least in terms of new music bearing in mind of course
you know Michael Schenck has re-recorded those sort of UFO classics as well
recently so I mean that Mogg's Motel could have been my album of the week and
possibly Black Sun as well really but instead I'm choosing Blitzkrieg by
Blitzkrieg the New Obum band that were originally from Leicester they're now
based in Newcastle surprisingly this wasn't the title of their debut many
moons ago which I you know I had to look back to see because I actually thought
it was but then I realized I think they did a single called Blitzkrieg back in
the day and it sort of follows in the footsteps of Lionheart, Grand Slam,
Prey, Mantis, Demon and other bands this year that you know there's been some
really strong releases from British bands I think this is the year of the
British band though I'm gonna suggest you know lots of other bands coming out
all over the place but you know we don't always get a lot of these sort of bands
from from the UK all in one year. Blitzkrieg itself has you know it's had
zillions of band members since 1980 if you have a look on you know you'll see
them all listed there's humongous amount of band members and it's actually six
years since their last studio release I confess I haven't heard a lot of them
since they debuted 1980 and it's not a band that I've really followed but if this is
anything to go by I really need to go back and listen to some more and I
haven't had chance yet but I'm hoping maybe over the weekend I might dip in
and listen to a little bit more it's very up tempo it's old-school quality
metal it sort of belies there what I suggest we're a little bit sort of
amateurish beginnings really at you know at the outset fine rhythm section great
production and you know what's more I think it's a sort of very listenable
bunch of songs even if you know some of the subjects and lyrics are you know
fairly well trodden path and it does fade a little bit towards the end but
you know doesn't mean don't many albums so overall you know I really enjoyed it
and I'd say that's my pick of the week. Interestingly enough when you mentioned
Netta from Black Sun I'm like can't be a coincidence because our that's a
self-released album that's strange that that isn't on frontiers she has been on
in certain frontiers projects that I've posted on patreon over the years there
is a video that kind of stood out to us how when I was helping Mark Striegel
with his patreon stream how could I say this without getting into trouble but
the video kind of getting to trouble Victor getting to trouble for the fact
that she was wearing a completely see-through top which was not censored
at all. There you go. Anyway I purposely did not check out Mog's Motel because I
did want to hear your review before checking it out I know that I will but I
got to listen to a few different things I got to listen to Boston Manor, Sun
Diver that comes from Sharp Tone Records and from Sharp Tone I don't know if it's
Records or whatever that's Sharp Tone's name and label. Yeah so I've posted
videos of theirs they released an EP not that long ago which was very 90s
influenced so it gave me a reason to kind of check the album out and the full
length was okay it just seemed like it's straight away from what kind of got me
into the band a little too polished a little too commercial rock for me then I
checked out Grendel's sister Katabasis into the Abaton this is very new album
feeling very throwback early 80s sound not bad more like a pub band as you
would say and I could kind of say the same for the third album that I checked
out which was from Faith On, Wielder of the Steel very new album power metal
feel to the whole thing not bad not anything that I'd probably go back and
check out again I don't know nothing really truly kind of jumped out at me
but I'll give the edge to Grendel's sister only because it is pure heavy
metal sounded good
something that I think is a good listen to how about that I recommend you
checking it out all right let's move on to September 13th here big week releases
from Flotsam and Jetsam I am the weapon striper when we were kings crowbot
obsidian the Jews the Jesus lizard with rack oceans of slumber victory with
circle of life Satan with songs and crimson
winter filleth wolf bridge legions of doom Zetra big big train bones UK a
killer's confession hammer philosophy reissues from Guar live albums from black
Sabbath the damned and go ahead and die Jeremy what did you check out this week
yeah well as you say it was a busier week for releases this one and so I
started out by listening to what we might call the elephant in the room when
we were kings by striper I've mentioned it before and I'll say it again
vocalist Michael Sweet is not everyone's cup of tea that's for sure and neither
is right yeah we know that but the devoutly Christian band certainly rock
when they want to I would point that out I've never been a particular fan
myself you know I have listened to Michael Sweet since in his more solo
stuff you know but you know they sort of emerged among thousands of similar
sounding bands really at the time but I very much listen to this with open ears
and I have to say it's an enjoyable holy listen so all I would say I'm not going
to go on about striper just give them a break
delve in and you might quite quite enjoy them that's all I'm gonna say so I
followed that up with I am the weapon by Flotsam and Jetsam now as we know this
is the band from Phoenix it's very much stayed true to its melodic thrash root
since the you know the 1980s I know you you like them as well that I mean they've
been releasing albums every three years in recent times it's their 15th studio
album now which I you know found quite surprising but then you know that I've
been going a while yeah you kind of know what you're gonna get as well don't you
I mean right they have that sort of distinctive sound yeah but you know it's
what makes them one of those sort of heavy metal comfort blankets that we've
mentioned before you know which we kind of like on this on this show they you
know they combine those sort of rehashed thrashy riffs with heaps of what I
suggest as of you know firewind style melodies and it's hard it's hard really
not to like them overall I suppose you know it's equally hard to make a case for
them being the very best album of the year but you know it's an enjoyable
listening so I'd suggest everyone goes out and has a delve into that one
Songs in Crimson by Satan another great release this is sort of stripped back
metal to sort of defying modern production techniques I would suggest
it's some sort of furious bombastic sort of potent brew mysticism and 80s British
metal influences it's very different it's low budget it's a sort of glorious
distinct brand of music that you know has remained quite firmly tied to its
roots I think I hear cries of amateurish from you Victor but all I can say is
turn it up and go and see them live and be thankful the basics are still being
played with such dexterity and enthusiasm in the modern digital age
definitely give them a listen Satan fantastic you actually put them on your
on your patreon you know in the patreon group as well so if anyone wants to join
that patreon group they would get that first as well which is interesting
Circle of Life by Victory is the one I move on to it's another very pleasant
listen from the German band that features the former except guitarist
Herman Frank it's more of the same sort of up-tempo melodic hearted on the
previous release of Tomorrow which in turn was the first album in a decade
actually and it marked a second reunion for the band I heard that album the
previous one on the fine music channel Yarg Metal which we're quite well aware
of in this on this show and also in your patreon postings as well Victor I
believe this of course is right in my ballpark which is no surprise to you
it's just as solid just as tight this album as the previous one and
sufficiently heavy I would say the sort of music to sort of blast out loud after
a hard week at work for some listeners maybe Gianni Pontio is an acquired taste
on vocals but for me he's you know he's quite a perfect fit for this type of
music and in a world in which you know past masters of the metal world are
sometimes failing to deliver the goods I'd say this is quite a high octane feast
that will appeal to you know most hard rock lovers especially if you like bands
such as you know Corleone that sort of type of music so in that vein
unsurprisingly it's my pick of the week victory there you go now I have to have
delivering the goods stuck in my head all right so I listened to a bunch of
different things this week I listened to the Jesus lizard with rack that's off of
epic hack that's Mike Patton's label listen to legions legions excuse me of
doom with the skull three that's off of TP records solid doom release I listened
to a Flotsam and Jetsam I'm the weapon and I enjoyed it I think you pretty
much hit the nail on the head there's nothing new that they're doing here you
know what to expect from the band that isn't a bad thing but definitely you
know it's a good album the neck the album that is my pick of the week is an
album that half of it was album of the year material and then the last half
just tailed off I think the first half of the album is really really good and
then all of a sudden it seemed like they ran out of ideas the the songs aren't
bad they're just not as strong as the other half it is the album obsidian by
crowbot crowbot has tried a lot of years and this is the first time that they've
come back and truly done something straight-up hard rock I think if you
how could I put this if you're looking to get a early skid row feel kind of a
GNR type feel there's a lot of that going on here without being overly you
know overly 80s LA I think a lot of people will enjoy it so again this is
my pick for the week it is obsidian by crowbar
the 20th saw releases from cedar with the surface seems so far night with
night wish with yester wind Michael Shanker with my years in UFO brand
Bjork trio with once upon a time in the desert eclipse with maglo manium to on
to others never never land Charlotte Wenzel the obsession vision divine with
blood and angels tears brightened eyes with agonies bespoke groza with Nadir
the black Pacific with here comes our wave reissues from doggy dog with walk
with me and live albums from skid row live in London and rainbow with live in
Munich 1977 Jeremy what did you check out this week
yes I started out the week listening to Michael Shankers my ears with UFO an
album of rerecorded classics as we know each one with a different vocalist when
I first heard these I kind of liked it a lot but notably because I thought
Shanker in sort of injected some life into these tunes mostly by keeping sort
of true to the originals but also you know giving a bit of a one-take studio
feel to it and occasional new frills added to the odd song or two it's also
interesting I thought hearing a range of top-notch vocalists in their own rights
or trying out these the best for me being Europe's Joey Tempest on only you
can rock me you know I thought he was good on that I think he'd be good as a
UFO see here you know overall but much as I enjoyed it I couldn't help thinking
you know why not just buy strangers in the night and hear the original band
playing all these tunes because you know that that was there's nothing to match
Shanker Pete way and film mog all together so it all seemed a bit rather
pointless in the end if Andy Parker and Paul Raymond as well let's throw them
there you go yeah there you go add them all in and you've got a great band the
only thing I can think of you know if he if he does play these live it'll be a
welcome thing you know it's just a hearing play a whole set of UFO we might
get on to that topic a bit later as well I moved on to the Swedish band Eclipse
with their latest release Megalomanium 2 on the heels of Megalomanium that was
released in 2023 I think I mentioned in your patreon group picture I can't decide
if I like this band or not I mean I you know I bought I bought wired in 2021 and
you know I certainly like that album and I think there are sort of very decent
melodic hard rock outfit when they really rock out in a bit like their
sort of compatriots heat from Sweden as well I'm not sure sometimes that you know
they're a little bit wimpy as well on some of the tracks and so but bit of a
mix I'd say bit of a mix which is fine then listen to blood and angels tears by
the Italian band vision divine which must be sort of doing something right as
they've been active since 1999 apparently which shocked me it's
probably fair to say it's the kind of album you know I do enjoy from time to
time and you Victor probably don't but hey we're here to promote all types of
rock in the rock and metal genre and to all listeners as well you know
they're all different so I think though even you might get a little something
out of it most of the songs are quite heavy as it happens they're quite
engrossing and even if progressive power metal is not quite your thing the
melodies sort of hit home quite well the guitars are fluid you know and for me
the keyboards are fairly carefully integrated into it without being too
prominent so you know it's an album with a lot of dubbed vocals mixed in so vying
for supremacy but I think it all works pretty well to be honest so yeah there's
obviously going to be generic aspects to this type of music but I think they do
it well it's an enjoyable listen it's an act that I would certainly listen to on
a festival bill and for a change I'm gonna pick this one as my album of the
week okay cool all right so I got to listen to a few of these just to give
you my take on the Shanker album similar to what you said although there are some
vocalists that repeat towards the end some of these work really well Joey
tempest with only you can rock me is really good as you pointed out natural
thing with D Snyder I liked a lot love to love with Axl Rose I love a lot I
think you could have a shoebox mic'd on that track and it would still be
phenomenal I just love that song so much and that main one of the main verse
riffs is a huge influence on a lot of different guitars who have regurgitated
that my biggest issue is this lights out with Jeff Scott Soto sounds really bad
his vocals just destroy the song for me he's singing ultra low which there's
really no need to do so the two Joel and Turner songs made me think of exactly
what you said before why would I play this again if I can just put on
strangers in the night and get that young hungry energy that the original
UFO had back in the day there are a few others the Michael Voss track as well
there there are a bunch of vocalists that sound a lot alike and you would
think okay well they kind of sound like Phil Mogg well they don't they just kind
of come across the generic singers to me which kind of diminishes the songs a
little bit but again there are some tracks that I do really really enjoy I
heard that Eric Cronwall was gonna be the vocalist for the tour at least the
European like that should be good what else I listed the Bram Bjork trio
because I did get to interview Bram Bjork years ago with a previous trio
release and it was okay you know kind of paint-by-numbers stone or rock really
not terrible but really nothing new that we're listening to here see there I
think that see there's debut album is one of the best debut albums of all time
especially from a rock band they've never recaptured that start to finish
but every album has at least a few tracks that sound great the surface seems
so far is similar to that it's got three songs that I think made my now there's
more there's four tracks that made my 2024 playlist here and will ultimately
go into my see their playlist as well but my pick of the week is on to others
with never never land man if you're into if you're into like Sisters of Mercy if
you're into some type of negative it's a mix of gothic rock with straight-up hard
rock there's a lot of different things going on here and they cover Ramones
towards the end of the album it's not bad the deluxe versions what I'm what I
listened to on Apple Music and it does go a little long for me but still I mean
the album is solid for for the most part so that is on Duna and that's my pick of
the week cool so moving on to the last week in September we had new releases
from Richie Cotson with Nomad the return of the Black Dahlia murder with
servitude oceans with happy be witcher with spell shock Harriet with devour by
the mouth of hell or devoured by the mouth of hell serious black with rise of
Akhenaten I don't know how to say that turbo kill with champion high parasite
with forever we burn awake the dreamer with Holocene also releases from our
hollow our home ripped to shreds EP's from surge tank in with foundations
sleep theory with paper hearts reissues from UFO and storm corrosion live album
from UFO and oh actually I messed that up because there are two reissues from
the band pentagram as well so for me
I got to listen to or no let's go to what you got to listen to first I kind
of dumped the order there sorry I don't care if you want to go first that's fine
but if you want me to go that's fine as well okay so okay so Nomad by the
prolific Richie Cotson was a real disappointment to me I can't say you
know I can't say I followed everything he does it in the past but you know I
kind of like his heavier moments I like the blues he's done with Iron Maiden
Axeman Adrian Smith I like his voice you know I've liked some of the stuff in the
past that I've dipped into there are one or two highlights here on the table is
you know a kind of a typical Cotson funk rock and when he does that kind of track
he's a winner you know he's a real winner I like that sort of stuff but
there just wasn't enough of it here this is too much navel gazing and snoozing on
the summer veranda to be of any any decent stuff but you know dip in pick
out a couple of songs for sure but you know you won't like much of the album
much better though was rise of a Kenaton by Sirius Black this is the melodic
power metal band that's been active now for a decade as you're no doubt aware by
now Victor I do like this genre of rock and metal and there are some really good
songs on this this is their seventh album you know it has some great vocals
it's pretty well produced you know given that they haven't spent zillions of
dollars on it at the end of the day it's all about the songs as well and there
are quite a few here that are worth listening to including Shields of Black
with its soaring chorus to really remind you there is a you know a hell of a lot
of good music out there which is why we're here of course doing these
monthly reviews and it's good new music I'm gonna then move away from that and
pick something which is a re-release as my album of the week I could have picked
Sirius Black and you know I want people to go out and listen to it but it was a
bit of a lean week and the re-release I'm picking is Seven Deadly by UFO it was
their 20th studio album it was released in 2012 and I think it was a really
decent bunch of songs from you know the band at the time it actually got to
number one in the UK rock and metal charts as well so I think it's obviously
one that appeals to you know the British listener the the re-release
contains a few bonus tracks but they're nothing special it's really the the ten
originals that demonstrate the band's talents for you know writing very
listenable rock tunes sure thing this is far from the heyday songs written with
Schenker let's let's put that out there you know and let's forget about that you
know they went past that era but you can't help listening to
tracks like Wonderland, Burn Your House Down or even Waving Goodbye which you
know you will have a tear in your eye really knowing that this was a band that
they kept going through thick and thin through all the lean years when metal
waned and they laid out the path for all these great new bands that we listen to
every week and for that reason the late great UFO because they are finished is
my album of the week.
Okay cool so I listened to Oceans with Happy that's on nuclear blast, Oceans I
really like some of their previous music this one kind of just didn't connect
with me I got to listen to Champion by Turbo Kill that's something that is
similar to Sirius Black so I recommend you checking it out I also listened to
let's see the Surge Tankin Foundations EP that's off of Gibson Records that was
okay probably one of his I don't want to say solid but more like System of a Down
releases that he's ever put out and my pick of the week is gonna be High
Parasite with Forever We Burn that is on Candlemask Spine Farm candlelight
Spine Farm thinking of the band Candlemask so this is an interesting
album it's got touches of industrial rock it's got touches of extreme metal
with some guttural like vocals and it's got some over-the-top electronics at
part in parts and the sorted vocals in parts stuff that really catch my catch
my ear more so than my eye but yeah so cool album some really cool tracks off
of it that I enjoyed and was surprised with it I had posted I think at least
one video on patreon and it's kind of the reason why I checked the album out
and sounded pretty cool beginning 10 so there you go my pick of the week is High
Parasite with Forever We Burn real quickly here let's go over our picks the
first week you picked Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg by Blitzkrieg I was to say it
wasn't Mugs Modell I picked the Grendel's sister second week here I went
with Crobot and Obsidian and you went with Victory with Circle of Life yeah
third week you went with let's see here Vision Divine Vision Divine with Blood
and Angels Tears and I went with Onto Others with Never Neverland and the
final week you went with Sirius Black and well yeah in the end I chose UFO but
I'm glad you said that because I want to go with Sirius Black Kenaton because
it's a new music let's go with that it's new music okay okay yeah I was I was
thinking I wasn't paying attention I wasn't Sirius Black but no okay here's
black not that I wasn't paying attention I just forgot yeah and and my pick was
High Parasite with Forever We Burn cool so guys if you haven't checked some of
these albums out you have your work cut out for you let us know what you think
and real quickly here as we always enjoy doing we have some other topics and
questions to discuss and let me just prepare myself to ask these as opposed
to what I've done up to now long day folks long day anyway so we've talked
about Shanker and UFO Michael Shanker has floated the idea of doing one more
show with UFO with doing these tracks
it's an interesting idea
yeah man
given given what we just talked about this new Michael Shanker release if we
had Phil singing these songs in 2024 would we feel differently about this
release yes I think I think I would but then again would I need to hear them on
a record because they've done that record together so you know whether they
need to actually rerecord them is another thing I think that Phil Mogg's
voice is so so UFO then anyone else singing it it just doesn't sound quite
right to me I mean yeah as I said I like the Joey Tempest version I thought
because Joey's got a great voice he's got a great voice for melodic hard rock
so he fits in very neatly into that but for me it's it's all about Phil Mogg
because he's got a very distinctive voice Phil you know he's not he doesn't sound
like anyone else so the problem with all this is that we know Shank is going out
on the road doing this anyway with Eric Grumwell so you're gonna get to see them
live doing that and we know that Mogg's getting on a bit and he's doing this
Mogg's motel so whether he's gonna want to take out Mogg's motel and just do a
few dates he sounds as if because he's been
nearly does want to do too much whether they just do the odd show I don't know
what they're gonna do maybe do a festival maybe do you know five dates
around the UK who knows I'd love to see it because
Shanker and Phil together to me a UFO classic UFO it's the closest we're gonna
get right and I'm thinking that well as I was listening to these to these songs
I kept thinking man I miss Phil's voice on this this is too generic like the
playing was great like I'm not gonna take anything away from Michaels playing
or even what Slash did on this album and also Joe Hoekstra also guests on it
they're playing is phenomenal but the vocals some of these tracks just fall
short I I think Eric is gonna do a good job with this and depending on what band
Michael has around him it could be really cool but I mean even with what
he's done with with his temple of rock stuff would would you mind having Phil
sing some songs with them with with Robin McCauley and maybe one of the
other vocalists you know maybe swap fill in instead of one of the other guys
that you've seen with them I don't think that's gonna happen I don't want to see
that because I think that I think that if Phil and Shane if Phil of Michael
Shanker get together they'll only play UFO together if that's all that's gonna
happen I mean you got a bare man that Phil Mogg is a very strong character of
his own right and he will he will he won't sing any of Shanker's songs it'll
just be it'll just be UFO and I think that's right that would be good but you
know Shanker himself has played UFO songs for years you know he plays three
or four tracks every show he always plays doctor doctor right but he doesn't
play it with Phil and it's just interesting that he reached out to him
through the magazine it's almost like he I think I haven't read the article yet
to be honest because I've got the magazine in question so I'm eager to
read it because I think the essence of it is that he's reached out through
managers but hasn't the word hasn't got out to to Phil yet if that's the kind of
essence of it it's one of those you know where they sort of talk through a
through a separate medium because they're trying to trying to put feelers
out it's a question of whether Phil's come through his his heart attack and he
just believes you know I've got a year or two left to do stuff Michael says he
wants to do it with me hey let's do it we can earn a bit of cash here and we
can have a bit of fun yeah absolutely and that's that's the whole thing you
know the heart attack can he even tour anymore and like you said you know with
Mugs Motel is it just a few shows that he'll do and that's it maybe he can't
even do shows with Michael I don't know yeah so we'll see
Iron Maiden doing the 50th anniversary tour in 2025 I have to say I mentioned
this today during my VMR podcast I checked out the set list and I was I
was personally disappointed because the the press release that they put out said
that they were revisiting like early tracks and and stuff like that songs
that they won't be playing ever again on tour and and I'm thinking oh my god
they're gonna bust out to tame a land or you know they're gonna bring out I
don't know the duelists or or something like that the the set list is going to
focus on the early on the first few albums going up to Seventh Son yes the
first nine albums first nine albums okay this is what they played yesterday I
didn't realize it actually started this part of the tour yet so okay that this
is interesting caught somewhere in time stranger in a strange land the writing
on the wall days of future past the time machine the prisoner death of Celts can
I play with madness stop stop Victor you've confused the two tours this is
the somewhere this is the bat somewhere back in time future past or okay I
think this is a future past or they're still on the next tour is going to be
different it's the first nine albums
all right so you're the one you're quoting now has got stuff off the new
album it's the future yeah which okay so that's the one I saw that's the one I
saw last year right yeah so we haven't got the we haven't got the set list yet
for the new tour which is going to be next year okay so let's let's just see
let me see
because I'm not gonna say that okay so you are correct so I'm getting my panties
in a bunch here for no reason whatsoever because this is good this is good because
you're gonna get really excited about the new tour now because you're on a
downer so this is great yeah because it says world tour dates for the 50th
anniversary run for your lives tour yeah and this is still future past okay you
are correct you are correct sir yeah so I was reading this this set list and I
was getting awfully annoyed because I'm you know I was seeing a lot of the new
album here not half as annoyed as me because I sat through that show and I
had to set sit through you know 10 12 minutes songs quite there's a few songs
I'd like death of the cells and a few others you would have hated it but
actually you know it's still maiden it's still live music so you know it was a
good show it was a good show but it wasn't the show that I wanted to see and
the show that want to see is coming up next year I think it's gonna be better
definitely better yeah so let's see days of future past the time machine
writing on the wall death of cells and hell on earth so they played five songs
off of shit jitsu yeah Alexander the great lasted a you know probably a whole
lifetime of a nine-year-old child right here the dark is another awfully long
track caught somewhere in time is really long but I love that song yeah but I
mean here's here's the here's the thing with this set list
yeah fear of the dark you know I used to love that song thought it was great to
hear people chanting along with it but by the way right writing on the wall
was very good live that's a really good live song it's much better live than on
record but but death of the cells you could you know you can dispense with
that one that's fine yeah so so that's the thing you've got five songs plus
Alexander the great fear of the dark that's like an hour's worth of music
right there yeah those those six seven songs yeah why are they closing on
wasted years which is like three minutes long the trooper which is four minutes
long iron maiden which is two minutes a lot you know it doesn't even get the
three minutes yeah just closing out with a few hits but I guarantee next year's
tour is gonna be something special it's gonna be great I'm hoping I'm hoping
yeah let's let's hope I don't end up sticking my foot in my mouth again and
if I do well hope hope it's because they're they're actually doing what they
promised yeah
speaking of maiden let's talk about reissues
because reissues and shipping of albums there's a there's a local place that's
handling all the reissues of the first the first seven maiden albums and the
prices aren't bad they're like between 22 to 26 euros Amazon has the last year's
reissue or two years ago reissue of number of the beast which is a triple
album and cost 84 euros which is just ridiculous you know this is this is what
I don't get and it will be my constant gripe with Iron Maiden they've released
and re-released their albums countless times and nobody gives them shit over it
and it isn't cheap either enough and
killers for example they released they were released killers in the US oh it's
it's a reissue of the original killers released in the US so it's missing
Twilight Zone sake why would you do that why the release of number of the beast
no longer has total eclipse on it because the original didn't have it you've been
selling it like that for 30 years release it with total eclipse come on
yeah besides that these shipping costs are just
way too much so what was your recent experience with that yeah it was an album
I wanted to buy I mean it was the shipping costs I can't remember the exact
price now but we're looking at 30 odd euros shipping cost us around 30 euros
so you know it's a price of an album just to ship it I mean it's just
ridiculous and then you add that on to the price of the album which wasn't
cheap I mean it was a you know it was a special edition type you know with a
nice colored vinyl which you know we like to collect obviously if we're gonna
have a choice between black or colored vinyl we like a nice color vinyl
because we're you know proper metal fans and you know we want to we want to keep
those albums and play them and show them off and whatever we want to do with them
you know we're into that sort of stuff but we don't want to be taken to the
cleaners over this either I mean you know we were talking I think just around
the time just after the you know the pandemic albums were like $20 or 20
quid or 20 euros weren't they and you'd pay 24 25 for a colored one and now
you're looking at 30 35 but then it's the shipping on top and like you say
some of the Iron Maiden ones I've seen them for like 60 pounds 65 pounds for
the current album Senjutsu what is going on here you know and then I went to
America and I went to Walmart other shops are available but you know
Walmart is the one available that's selling them cheap you know you can get
an ACDC gold release Highway to Hell I think it was $24 in there you know site
20 quid there you go that you got one you got a Metallica one that's fantastic
2297 there you go that is a reasonable price for an album perfect you want to buy it and
I mentioned to you off the air the other day and justice for all double-green
album yeah 2797 so it's 24 pounds in the UK for a double colored vinyl it's
fantastic from a big band as well we're not talking a small band here that's
that's 50 euros in Europe yeah that same release agree on it is 50 euros yeah the
re-released a limited edition re-release that's coming out in Europe for
somewhere in time with the future past poster and yellow vinyl cost me $29 in
Walmart I saw that they're re-releasing it here in Europe it costs I think it's
70 mm-hmm it's $29 in the US yeah yeah so you know yeah go no they're forcing
they're forcing people to do this stuff they're forcing people again we mentioned
this a bunch of times you're forcing people to not buy if you sell it for a
reasonable price people will buy it but if it comes to the point and and they're
taking advantage that they have fans that are willing to plop down the money
people that are our age or older yeah willing to shell out the money because
they're collecting it and oh I need to have this edition this is the only
edition of number of the beast that I do not own so I must have it Jesus so so I
think it's the management the the labels you know the and the band obviously
they're not gonna come out and say you know don't buy it because you know it's
helping heat their pool essentially it's helping them through their third and
fourth marriages with some of those members but man stand up for your fans
and say no it's enough we don't need to do this we you know okay because I can't
imagine that they're selling all of this stuff well you know what happens to the
picture this reissues that they did a few years back what happens to all the
CD reissues there that it's it's madness yeah you're saying can I play with
madness so do you remember a few years back Victor people used to give away
CDs because they were earning money live and you know we ever gonna get to the
stage where they might just give away some vinyl that shows because they you
know that they're earning the money from the shows these big bands they don't
need to the I remember you to the they gave away their latest album the CD you
know they just said you can get hold of it for free well I think they used it as
well I've got a muse CD which I think was free that you to album was not
great no it wasn't but you know that they didn't issue it on that basis that's
the one really yeah yeah it wasn't wasn't a great album but then again you
know you might say the same of Book of Stools but I bet you'd you'd applaud the
fact if they gave away free yeah I would for the fans who want it yeah yeah yes
that that I do think you know that's that's about how much that album is
worth so yeah I'm just scared that they're gonna that that that they're
just gonna price people out of a lot of this stuff they need to really be
conscious about what what they're charging people for for this stuff you
know they can't cry oh well Napster and this and that and no now it's you guys
pushing people towards streaming because people just can't afford it we've said
this time and time again kids are not gonna spend all their money on an album
no they're gonna they're gonna pay 20 bucks a month to stream countless albums
and that's it that's just how it is yeah and some bands they only produce a few
hundred albums now there's not the days whether you were selling shedlows there
some bands are just issuing a limited edition of a few hundred and if me and
you Victor are saying we won't buy them with their core purchases yeah yeah yeah
we're the ones they need to listen to us they need to listen to your show I hear
what we're saying we're crying out to them we are listen to us because we want
to buy your stuff just price it right correct I agree we do have one more
topic but we don't have time to discuss it we will discuss it during a future
episode Jeremy I do want to thank you for joining me today it is always a
treat to discuss music with you and for those that are listening you have your
work cut out for you check out these recommendations and if if those don't
work for you just check out some of the other albums that that are rattled off
tonight so on that note we will be ending the episode we appreciate you
joining us and we will see you next time right here on signals from Mars see you
folks