Welcome one and all to episode 401 of Signals from Mars. I'm your host Victor.
This episode I have Jeremy Weltman and Brad Dahl as my co-hosts and I also have
a really cool albums countdown from the band Queensryche. You guys have voted,
have tallied up the score and this episode gives you the complete rundown of
what you guys voted on.
Alright for all the boys and girls and gentlemen at sea and millions around the
world listening to this episode, one could only hope. Anyway so for those that
are checking this episode out for the first time maybe you're a Queensryche
fan you want to see how this countdown shakes out. The way that this works is
that I ask people to submit their 10 favorite albums by a band or from a
genre or from a year. We do these types of countdowns on a monthly basis and I
apologize for being a pain in the ass to some people reaching out continuously
and and saying hey how about you vote on this but I'm trying to be a little bit
more proactive on that level so that these so that we get some cool episodes
we get some cool countdowns and some different things. I have to be honest
with you Queensryche is a band that I have for the most part always enjoyed. It
was cool to go back and revisit their catalog because for me there are certain
albums that I do listen to quite frequently but others that I completely
forgot about and that's not exclusive to Queensryche that's you know a lot of
other bands as well. I mean there are bands that I absolutely love but yeah
there's just so much music that sometimes you just don't get around to
listening to all the stuff that they've released and you forget because you've
got other things that you're listening to. Oh yeah that album, oh wow this track
you know so ultimately 19 albums made this countdown. There's an EP in there
and usually I don't allow for live albums and a greatest hits albums but I
kind of let it slide this time around. When people submit their lists and even
if they say well no particular order well whatever's your first on your list
it's gonna be your number one my friend. So number one gets ten points, number two
gets nine points, number three eight points, you get the idea all the way down
to ten which gets one point. I tally all of those points up and that's how these
countdowns come together. It's fun discussing this with everyone else with
in this case we had both Brad and Jeremy on the show, we had Edgar in the chat, we
had John from Hooligan Nation in the chat as well live while we were doing the
show so it's cool to have that type of feedback and give and take and because
not everyone's gonna agree with you and that's kind of what makes this fun as
well it makes it a discussion. This isn't a totalitarian state where it's just
black and white where just this album is the greatest and the rest suck. Some
artists would make you think that way but I don't feel that's the case because
I think Queens Direct throughout their career has put out quality music even if
I don't appreciate every album or if they've lost me on some of these albums.
I did have the pleasure of interviewing Michael Wilton a while back this is
episode 401 I interviewed him on episode 303 so you can find that and you could
hear my discussion with him when Digital Noise Alliance came out which is a
little while ago at this point but yeah a lot of fun chatting with him and again
a lot of fun chatting about Queens Direct. Thanks everyone that voted thank
you to my Patreons to my Patrons excuse me on Patreon and let's get on with the
show!
I have to say that the new setup with the restream absolutely sucks. Just to
kick off the show just so you guys know I have to reset everything every time I
do a new show. The settings for the resolution aren't right since we
see it live I can't adjust it the mic usually resets the background resets
anyway welcome to the latest episode of Signals from Mars I'm your host Victor
joined by Jeremy joined by Brad we're gonna be doing our QueensRike special
here we had people vote on their favorite QueensRike albums and they've
released 19 no well 18 studio albums now 17 studio out plus an EP live albums and
people have voted for almost everything almost this is the first band that we've
done where there have been albums left off the list so what we're gonna do is
we're gonna kick things off here with an honorable mention no not Kansas it is
damn it is take cover the album came out November 13th 2007 released on Rhino it
is produced by Jason Slater, Mike Stone, Michael Wilton and Kenny Nemes so
technically four members of the band at that point if I'm not mistaken
I don't know Nemes no Jason Slater Mike Stone no I guess Mike Stone was in the
band yeah and so was Jason Slater was in the band at one point as well if I'm not
mistaken could be wrong anyway yeah you got me though this is a covers album
where they're covering Pink Floyd, Jesus Christ Superstar, Crosby Stills Nation
Young, Buffalo Springfield, the OJs, Queen, Black Sabbath, The Police, Peter Gabriel
Marcelo Alvarez and Sal Torre, Le Tichra and you too now no no no blue
Saraceno no blue Saraceno no Kansas no Kansas here's here's the thing they
covered Welcome to the Machine which was done like a few years before that by
Shadow's Fall which was kind of like their big introduction to a lot of
people so to me that made no no sense some songs that I wouldn't give a shit
about hearing covered again for the love of money who the Bullet Boys had been
known for doing Queens in New Wendo which fell flat neon nights which was
kind of cool synchronicity which was eh Red Rain do we really want to hear them
do a Peter Gabriel ballad and Bullet the Blue Sky which has been covered by POD
and Sepultura and I don't know how many other bands you know honestly you know
the worst thing about that song is that they actually played it live did they
and and they played it it felt like it lasted 20 minutes it was probably more
like seven or eight but it felt like 20 it was just like you guys could be
playing one of your songs you know no you had to play this awful rendition of
a song that probably somebody likes we're gonna play we're gonna play a song
off of our Nathan's Nathan's gonna say hi hi boys hey Nate hi yeah good
greetings from Idaho I see it Nate's Nate's early for the Travis Scott
countdown oh really what's that about
that's pulling your leg I am here the people that I like oh yeah fair enough
all right what does he say he said no cool so as as hey and there is Edgar
Winterson he's already predicting Empire at number one
he's either predicting it or he's hoping for it you got to see them live and we're gonna play a new song off of our new album you to cover go ahead Brad yeah that was awful I was gonna say since we know that there is how many albums didn't make the list our list of this is the that's the only one that was not voted on take cover with us
the okay I was gonna say let's try to guess what the what the other one was it didn't make it but somebody voted for American Soldier Wow I'll drink to that cheers so anyway coming in at number we number these so I don't mess this up also 16 no 18
coming in at number 18 the I said that they've they've released 17 studio albums full-length but oh there's a little I'll just leave me the wheel all right so next album was recorded from February 28th to December 3rd
2005 Wow it took them almost a fucking year to record this hunk of shit oh my god produced by Jason Slater somebody earlier today said that it possibly has the worst production that they've ever heard on an album
roast yeah he turds Jason but but but oh damn it I need to scroll I need to scroll I need to scroll Jeff Tate owns the rights to this it is operation mindcrime to
this was such a letdown when it came out oh yeah and and I will pinpoint one specific moment one specific moment which I have always talked about and that is the fact that they have Ronnie James Dio on here playing Dr. X duetting with
Jeff Tate Ronnie James Dio known for his like devious vocal like evil vocal at times that he can do you know and he's just singing clean on this and I'm thinking what's this such a missed opportunity Brad who would you like to have heard do Dr. X
no that's fine he could have done Dr. X okay all right you're right he could have he could have been he could have played the part better rather than but I think he was just brought in and told okay this is what I want you to do or either that or similar to what we've been saying about Maiden for years where
Kevin Shirley just oh we've got deal we can't say anything to him just in case we don't want to piss him off you know that type of a deal so I don't know
Jeremy anything about operation mindcrime to
yeah well obviously it just wasn't anywhere near operation mindcrime I mean it was just a mistake really I think it's you know concept albums for me have to be there to be you know they have to be done very well and we know the very well concept albums that are out there and we know the ones that are crap we don't like Judas Priest one we don't like this one and we don't like that one and this is one of those that you just you know why would why would you buy it you're not going to listen to it
all the way through and you have to be forced to listen to a concept album all the way through and the worst thing about it is that he's thinking of doing number three he's actually planning to do the third one so yeah yeah he's just announced it recently so but I mean coming back to number two which is what we're talking about
number two yes yeah yeah yeah definitely number two I mean just really just something I think I just find it boring I just find it boring and I don't the songs are not and not classic songs whereas obviously what we're going to talk I'm sure later on we might start talking a little bit about operation mindcrime possibly towards towards the end of the show and there's a big difference isn't it between the two
it's just it's just not it's just not an album I would ever buy or listen to really right I bought it even even worse I went and saw them on a tour where they did all of operation mindcrime and then all of this album and they had actors they had it set up like a play the band was often
the side not even you know just like not part of the actual stage they're up kind of off to the side of the stage and and so these guys you know that I guess there was a script that went on between songs and stuff and they acted out all this stuff during the songs and it was it just it was awful it was
even they ruined operation mindcrime for me I mean it was like you wanted you want to see the band out there doing their thing you know you don't want to see a bunch of actors running around pretending to be the characters and operation mindcrime it was just it was just awful and then you had to sit through all of operation mindcrime too
yeah it was were the tracks better live than they were on the album
you know that's a great question and I kind of really wonder how I mean I'm sure they were playing most of that stuff but there was so many backing tracks and because of the actors and stuff being on on having to be on spot and everything I'm sure they were playing to a tape through the whole thing
but you just didn't feel it you didn't feel like you read a concert at all. It just didn't feel like a concert. And so yeah I can't say that the songs are better live because they really weren't it didn't feel live. So no, I guess is the answer.
Okay.
I don't think I've ever heard them do any of these songs live.
Other than that.
I think Tate plays some of this live. But anyway, all right.
Let's, let's keep rolling here, because we're going to get to the nitty gritty when we get to the top 10 maybe, maybe.
Well, we'll see we'll see how we can move this along anyway at 17 and now that I did by
we both got it. Yeah, yeah released in March of 2009 produced once again by Jason Slater Kelly Gray, Susan Tate, and Kenny Nemes, Nemes, however you pronounce it.
It is American Soldier.
This album. Again, it was, it's a concept album, based on somebody being in the Middle East.
On tour, a military tour.
At the time I actually listened to this album, quite a bit, and I thought that it was not a return to form by the band by any stretch of the imagination, but it was better than a lot of what they had released.
I think that.
And also,
I'll say this, I think that
after Chris the Garmo left for as sideways as some of those last few the Garmo albums are. It seemed like after, I don't know Q2K, they kind of got in a rut and kind of continued to make the same type of album, and I'm not saying crap, but I'm saying
that they have the same type of feel the same type of tempo throughout. It's like them trying to do like alternative metal, almost, as opposed to them doing heavy metal which is what they were known for.
And I think American Soldier was kind of them trying to step outside of that.
Yeah, so, I don't know.
I think I was just happy for there to be a new Queen Drake album at the time and I did listen to it quite a bit. Anyway, any, any opinion on American Soldier from you guys.
It felt flat on me. I did see them touring for this album as well.
In this case they were actually were playing live, and the song, whatever they played sounded pretty good.
I just checked out to see if I was playing anything off of Operation Mindcrime 2 on yard metal and I'm not. And I'm only playing one song off of this album, The Killer. So, I like that song.
Am I right in saying that there are any real songs off this album that are played now and that's always a guide to an album, isn't it? You know, when an album's really sort of stood the test of time and it probably hasn't, it has fallen flat this particular album and it's not one that you would suddenly think about when you think about the band really.
Yeah. And I'm going to say this also the next album, which is number 16 to me is probably the worst thing they ever released.
I don't even have a single song off of this album on my on my Queen Drake playlist and I went back and listened to it and I said, surely there's got to be something.
Wow.
On here.
What is this?
Surely there is not dedicated to chaos.
Yeah.
Oh my goodness. This was released June 28th. Hey my this was released on the day my son was born June 28th, 2011.
More of the same production Kelly Gray Jason Slater.
This was on Roadrunner, which is so surprising but anyway.
This album is just really bad like they have a song on here called What We Do and what is spelled WOT.
Yeah.
Loving you. L-U-V-N-U.
Yeah.
What it should have been. What are you doing as opposed to what we do?
Yeah.
I think my impression is I remember hearing them talk about this album before it came out and it being a social commentary on what was going on in the world at this point as far as people just constantly being on their phones and I think they were going for a lot of, I guess the way kids texted back then that's why you get the weird spellings on that.
I don't think that I ever used any of that stuff in my text messages but I'm weird I use punctuation and capitals and things.
What's that?
I know, boomer.
All right, next album here.
So this is, Jeremy you pointed this out. Again, produced by Jason Slater.
And I have to say that I really like, there you have John Rotundo from Hooligan Nation podcast which I guess that on recently. John, thanks for joining us in the chat.
But yeah, he's saying mind crime number one.
We'll see on that.
Okay so the next album here this is number 15 was released in April.
Okay, Edgar Winterson is saying that Empire was his number one. Okay.
The funny thing is, it's like we're starting this off by basically talking about how bad QueensRyke is.
It's not going to end up that way. I mean spoiler alert.
I mean they obviously do like a lot of their albums.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
The next album here.
I'm going to blame all this on the production team Victor because all of these albums that we don't like, the same production team pretty much.
This possibly has the worst production of all time.
Because after it came out, right after it came out, it was remixed again.
And it was, yeah. So this is, on this album, you only have theoretically one member of the band that is Jeff Tate and it is Frequency Unknown as in FU.
I will say this. I really, really, really, really like the song Cold off of this.
It is, yes, it is, it is very processed, it is very digital, but I think it's a really cool song and the chorus is very catchy.
I heard that and I'm like, okay, wow, so even though it's just Jeff Tate, but this had Robert Sarzo on it, if I'm not mistaken, it had Simon Wright.
Who's playing on this?
I think Ty Tabord plays on it.
So let's see, yeah, Kelly Gray. All right, Robert Sarzo, Rudy Sarzo, Simon Wright,
Randy Gain, Craig Losicero from Forbidden, Jason Slater, Martin Irigoyen, Evan Bautista, don't know who either one of them are, Nita Noyer.
These are backing vocals, Emily Tate, Miranda Tate.
Guest appearances, yeah, John Levin from Docken.
Chris Cannella from Deicide, Ty Tabord, KK Downing, Paul Bostoff,
Brad Gillis, Dave Menichetti and Chris Poland.
So the original production was Moir Applebaum who mastered and remastered it.
And let's see, and then the remix production and all this was done by a bunch of different people.
Anthony Fox, I guess is how you pronounce it. I never get his name right.
Fred Corey of Cinderella fame, Glenn Fricker who's got a popular YouTube channel.
So, yeah, all right. Anyway, that's FU.
I think that was him saying FU to the rest of the members of the band.
But all right.
John is saying huge letdowns, was excited to hear it.
And wow, Mindcrime 2, my biggest rock and roll album, let down of all time.
There you go. Just remember, we just said this a few moments ago, John.
Mindcrime 2 was a huge number two. So there you go.
All right. Next album.
This is number 14. It is Tribe.
All right. This was released July 22, 2003.
Produced by Queensryche.
So Christa Garmo played, he played lead on this, but he wasn't part of the band.
I think he played on one or two songs or something. He didn't play on five tracks.
He plays on five tracks on the album. Yeah.
He plays lead guitar on tracks one to open on Desert Dance, on Falling Behind, on The Art of Life, and Doing Fine.
There are, I believe, two songs on my Queensryche playlist off of this album.
One is Desert Dance, the first single.
I like that song. But again, this was Queensryche getting into this alternative metal stuff that they, which is fine.
I don't mind that they dip their toes into this, but it seemed like they didn't leave that territory.
Like they, they recorded four albums that sound exactly the same and they weren't exactly good.
You know, they were, they were kind of lame.
Yeah. I mean, Victor, something happened with the band, obviously.
When, when DeGarmo left, everything just kind of fell flat and it stayed that way.
They kind of, I mean, none of their first, what, five, six albums actually sound the same.
I mean, they're really distinct and not just the production, but also the songs.
I mean, the songs are distinctly Queensryche though, but they're totally different albums.
It's kind of like, you know, going back to the seventies where bands would put out an album, you know,
that would be nothing like the album that came out before it.
And when we were totally cool with it and we were, as Queensryche fans, we were totally cool with them doing that.
Not putting out the same album over and over.
But that's what they ended up doing.
And after DeGarmo left, everything started sounding the same. It wasn't that there was any uniqueness between any of these albums.
I agree.
Okay. So at 13.
Where am I going here? Okay. So at 13, it is the first album with Todd LaTourie.
And I have to say that for me, and I think for a lot of people, this kind of returned the band back to what they had done early on.
It was more in the vein of what people were looking for, I think.
And I don't think anyone had a problem with, again, the band experimenting, because as you're saying, Brad, the first few albums were all different from one another.
But I think they had strayed too far off the path that people were, or at least me, I can speak for myself, to say that, yeah, this isn't what I want from this band.
I don't know all four of them experimenting, but give me something different, you know, as Gene Simmons would say.
Give me a new maze every day.
For example.
With a new piece of cheese?
Well, it could be. It could be.
Anyway, so what do you guys, Jeremy, what do you think about the Queenswreck album that came out in 2013 with Todd LaTourie?
Yeah, well, I think it's just interesting of itself because Todd's playing on it.
So, you know, we were always trying to think, well, how could they replace Jeff Tate?
And then they get a singer in who really does adapt quite well to their music.
And I think that's a good thing.
Obviously, he's got slight distinctions and some people always prefer Jeff.
I think it was still a work in progress for the band with him.
So, you know, the albums that came after, I think, have been an improvement on that first album.
So we'll get to those obviously a little bit later on.
But yeah, I agree with you.
I think they're starting to return back to something that you really want to listen to again.
And that's a good thing because they had a big lull in their career.
It's not an album that I immediately go to out of the four, you know, that he's been on now.
But, you know, it's a decent album.
Yeah, I agree with that.
Brad, anything?
Yeah, most of my friends were big Queenswreck people were just, you know, they thought this was like the best thing ever
because what they loved about Queenswreck was the more metal type stuff and not where they'd gone before, you know, with Jeff Tate after the DeGarma left.
And I got to say, I'm like, I'm cool.
I'm cool with this. I'm cool with these guys doing their own thing.
But I like the style of the music.
I think the songs are really weak, though, and kind of just bland.
You know, they didn't really stick out. They don't have big choruses.
They don't, you know, I mean, I liked it, but I didn't love it.
Gotcha.
And I've seen the bands more times with Todd LaTour than I think I ever saw him with Jeff Tate, which is kind of a crime, a mind crime, maybe.
Well, this leads us to segue into the next album.
So released in or released on November 5th, 1991.
I was not expecting so many people to vote for this.
And usually with my list with these types of shows, these countdowns, you know, that usually I say no greatest hits, no live albums, but.
Operation Live Crime was voted on by quite a few people.
And as a result, I included it. I mean, the songs speak for themselves.
Obviously, it's, you know, all of Operation Mindcrime, plus Lady War Black and Roads to Madness.
This is something that I've always wanted to own and I've never owned.
And when I say owned, I've always wanted to have the VHS or DVD version of this because I've had friends that have always talked this up so much.
Do you have a VHS player?
Well, I was speaking past tense.
Back in the day.
Yeah, back in the day.
I was going to say because you could have mine.
I would bring it to you.
In fact, if anybody if anybody wants the VHS, I would be happily happy to send it to you.
So get down in here in the comments and make some comments and stuff.
Yeah. Yeah.
Hanu, thank you for joining us and Hanu is saying don't create something what's already done and original Queensryche forever.
Yeah, I agree with Hanu.
Okay.
All right. So let's move on from here.
I do have to make a quick comment about that album because I didn't vote for it because I you know the whole live album thing.
But this tour that they recorded this on one of the absolute greatest shows I've ever seen.
I got to see him twice on this tour.
And yeah, I mean, we could spend a whole show talking about that.
But but I want I all I can say is that this is an incredible live recording and the show itself was just unbelievable.
So cool.
There you go.
All right. Move on.
Next album here at number 11.
So
where did this go? Okay, here it is. It's confusing album covers released on March 1st, 2019.
And this has whether this is sacrilegious or not to some people, it has some of my favorite Queensryche tracks on it.
It's the first to not have Scott Rockenfeld on drums. It is the verdict.
Todd is doing vocals and drums.
Blood of the Levant, especially Light Years.
Light Years is a song that I absolutely love.
I mean, I play this song all the time.
I think that as Jeremy said before, the first Queensryche album with Latorre was kind of a stepping stone.
And I personally think that the last two albums have been really, really good by them.
Really a lot closer to what I would love the band to do.
But that's just my ignorant opinion. Jeremy, anything to mention about the verdict?
Yeah, I agree with you. Blood of the Levant. It's one of their best songs that they've ever released.
Love that song.
I agree with you on Light Years. In fact, I like the first six songs on the album. I can listen to them all one after the other.
It's like the old side one of an album. It's brilliant. Love it.
It does tail off a little bit towards the end, but I think a lot of Queensryche albums do that.
I really like this album. Play it, get it out now and again and think, yeah, this is really good. Really dig it.
I think that they really thought about the songs that they were doing. So yeah, it's a winner for me.
Just a bit surprised it's so low down because I think it deserves to be a bit higher.
Yeah, I don't disagree with you, but it is 11 still. That just goes to show the magnitude of what we have in front of us.
Don't go pulling a Johann yet.
Brad, anything to say about the verdict?
Yeah, I'm going to say I liked it a lot too because I'm actually playing one, two, three, four, five, six, seven songs off this album on Yard Metal.
Holy crap, I must really like this album.
See, one more than Jeremy does because he said the first six.
Yeah, I threw some later songs in there. I don't know what's going on with that. But yeah, great. Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, so I think they're doing. Oh, that is nice.
Yeah, my first thought when I was doing this, I'm like, I don't have this on vinyl. Okay. So I had to write it down on a list to look for.
Wow.
Here's the problem, though. Okay. And I know when they came out with this album, they played some of the tracks live.
But that was the end of it. You know what I mean? They're not playing any of that. They haven't played any of that stuff live since, I don't think. Not that I've seen.
I think their issue, too, is what are they playing? Forty five minute sets, usually.
Or do they play? I've seen them headline M3 a couple of times, so they're playing it more than an hour.
And I realize that festivals bands have to be really careful about, you know, trying to appeal to audience who isn't just there to see them.
And so they'll play the more better known songs.
And all of the festivals I've seen them at, they've played none of the new music, none of the stuff with Todd, which I think is too bad. It's too bad.
And then, yeah, warm up slots. The same thing. All they play, like we saw them warm up for Judas Priest a couple of years ago.
And they were actually really good, but nothing, nothing from the Todd version of the band.
All right. So let's move on to number 10.
Number 10 happens to be the second album with Todd Latorre, Condition Human.
Now, this was released on October 2nd, 2015. For me personally, this is my least favorite of the Todd albums.
When this came out, I thought that they had taken a step back compared to the first album with him.
That said, again, that's just my opinion.
I know people that think that they've only gotten better with each Todd album, and that's cool, too.
So, Brad, what do you think about this and Condition Human?
I actually did like this album quite a bit. I liked it much better than the first one with Todd.
And I did see them tour for this album headlining. So they played, I think, two songs off it and they were really good live.
So, yeah, so maybe that's why this album, I felt stronger about it, because I actually saw them play songs off it.
They were really, really good live.
Makes sense. Jeremy, you for this one?
Yeah, just quickly. I mean, I liked it better than the first one by Todd. I thought that they did improve with each album.
And yeah, there's some good songs on it. I don't think it's all great. And there's probably too many songs on it.
You know, they just cut off a couple of eight or ten would have been fine. But yeah, I think it was a pretty good album.
You mean you don't like a 15 track album?
Not always. Sometimes.
Well, I guess one of these tracks, The Aftermath, is 59 seconds.
That's true.
They didn't play that one live.
Maybe that's the only Todd era song that they're playing live now.
All right. So moving up to number nine.
I'm kind of surprised at how far up this one is.
But anyway, going back to the Jeff Tate era, this was released on September 14th, 1999.
It was Q2K.
So now this was one for me that I had to really go back and listen to again. There's stuff off of this that I like.
But I haven't listened to this album in years and I didn't remember much of it at all.
Like Tribe has Desert Dance, which I think is a really cool song. And I've gone back to that or FU has Cold, for example.
This really doesn't have anything that's like, oh, yeah, yeah. You know, the album is kind of weak, but there's the one song that I go back to.
This didn't have that for me.
Jeremy, what do you think?
Well, I was the same as you. I hadn't heard this for so long that if you asked me to write down all of Queenstrike's albums, this would have been probably the one I was searching to remember, even though it's only Q2K.
But yeah, so I dug it out. I listened to it for the first time in probably since it was released.
And I at first I thought, no, I don't like this. You know, I've got through the two or three tracks. I didn't like it.
I thought, yeah, I'll persist, I'll persist. And I started really loving it.
I just sort of suddenly opened up into a really great album. And I, you know, as I say, I can't say all of it was great, but the bits that I listened to that I liked, I liked better than many other albums.
It was really, really weird album. You know, I probably will go back to it again. Yeah, I loved bits of it.
Okay. Brad Q2K. I actually like this one quite a bit too. And I listened to it a lot at the time.
This is back in the day where, you know, you throw a CD in the car and I had this CD and we listened to it a lot.
So that's probably why it ranked so high for me. Also saw them on this tour and was on this tour because we were members of the fan club.
We got to meet the guys after the show. Okay. Which was real interesting. Kelly Gray.
Probably the largest head in rock and roll. We used to think Pee Webel had the biggest head in rock and roll, but no, Kelly Gray. Enormous.
This hat here? No, wouldn't work for him. He was wearing a cowboy hat when I saw him. I bet it was custom made.
Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. So and all those guys, none of them, you talk about how tall all of the signals from Mars crew is, except for me.
I mean, these guys made me look like an NBA flyer. I mean, they were all about Shelly's height.
She thought it was wonderful that she could stare Jeff Tate square in the eyes because they're the same height. So they're all we dudes.
There you go. Gene is laughing for you. Thanks, Gene. I appreciate that. Yeah. Gene's not a wee man. Not at all.
The guys are really nice. Eddie Jackson was kind of weird. He just seems like a weird dude. Jeff Tate was actually very, very nice.
You know, it's just kind of weird. You know, it's weird meeting people. I don't know if you've ever done a meet and greet thing, but it's just kind of odd because you can see all the people just gushing over them and you don't want to be that person.
Right. You try to think, well, what can I ask these guys that's not the same old thing? So I think I went up to, I don't think it was Jeff Tate. I think it was Michael.
And I asked him, I said, so what do you think about this Chalupa thing that Taco Bell's got? It's something they just come out with. And he was like, oh, well, yeah.
He says, yeah, well, we eat at Taco Bell once in a while. I said, cool. There you go. See that? That was my break.
You didn't tell him any poison stories? No, I didn't tell him any poison stories. I figured they weren't there to meet me.
Maybe they were. They're lost. That's for sure.
Yeah. Nice guys, but a weird situation. Yeah.
Oh, man. OK. So moving on to number eight.
Very interesting. So this was recorded all over the place. The album is all over the place was recorded in 1996, released March 25th, 1997, produced by Peter Collins, known for not only working with Queens, right, but Rush and a bunch of other people, suicidal tendencies as well, if I'm not mistaken.
It is it is it is it is here in the now frontier.
I remember buying this on CD being so pumped to hear it.
And thinking, what is this?
Because it's this album is just so all over the place.
Like Sign of the Times is cool. And I think Sign of the Times is kind of that kickoff to that like alternative side to them, where so many songs are just alternative fueled.
You, which was a second single is kind of cool. That's a good song. Yeah.
And I don't know that there's much more off of this.
Let me go to my trusty Queen Drake playlist here.
Figure this out. But, Brad, what do you think of this album?
Well, when I first heard it, plus and I love Peter Collins, but the and I did not really care for the production on this album at all.
The really just flat drums, which that was obviously a thing of the day.
And they were so they were chasing that sound where everybody started, you know, no more reverb on drums.
And yeah, yeah, it was just it just left me flat like the drum sound.
But when I saw them live on this tour, they were so damn good.
They were like we just looked at each other after the show and said, where are they going next? We're going.
Unfortunately, we had jobs and stuff. So we it was New Mexico is where they were going next. So we didn't get to go.
There you go. But these songs live were fantastic.
I'm going to say those the first single something about the times.
That was Science Times. Yeah, I didn't. I didn't. That's probably my least favorite song on this album.
Is it? Yeah, because I always thought that the captain let go of his veal.
I thought that was sort of been the lyric of his deal instead of the wheel.
So I have sign of the times, get a life, which is a track that I really like as well.
And all I want, which is kind of like a Beatles sounding song.
You know, it was almost like they were trying to be Kings X doing the Beatles type thing as opposed to Queen Drake doing their own thing.
But anyway, Jeremy, what do you think about here in the now frontier?
Yeah, I kind of echo what you guys have said. It's been all over the place.
Bit surprised it's so high up in the rankings. Obviously, somebody out there really likes it to push it up.
It really passed me by this this album.
It's not one that was in my top 10 and, you know, it's not probably not one that would ever be there.
But, you know, there's a few listable tracks on probably one or two that you picked out, Victor, get a life.
You know, those sort of tracks are OK. They're good.
Yeah. Victor, do you have the writers credits handy there?
Because I feel like at the time it seemed like this was a really heavy handed Chris the Garmo album.
It is. It is. It's Chris the Garmo wrote every track except for one.
Yeah. Which one was that? Reach. Yeah.
So Chris, at this time, I think he was on his way out. Yeah.
And yeah, well, we'll see the previous album, the one before this and what's going on there as well.
Yeah. Yeah. So this is I think this is the album where the band was just not sure what the hell they were doing, where they were going.
What I feel like at this point, things were kind of spreading out and rather than coming together.
And so this is this is the album of the band falling apart. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a pretty fair assessment.
Let's see. Coming in here at number seven.
It is their last album, Digital Noise Alliance DNA.
I listened to this when this came out and I have this on vinyl. I'm too slothish to pull it out.
But I really like this album.
Even going back to I didn't remember the song titles personally, but I was I was like, I know that I've listed this a lot.
And I looked at again, my Queen Drake playlist. I'm like, wow, I've listened to a lot of these songs a lot.
And I went back and listened to the album again in preparation for this. I'm like, yep, still really like this album.
So, I mean, I'm not surprised that it is number seven on here. I do think that.
Again, they the verdict may have I think Blood of the Levant and
and Light Years are probably better than anything that's on this album, those two specific tracks.
But I think that the album top to bottom is stronger because the rest of the tracks on here are just really good.
They kept releasing video after video for this album.
And I think it's I think it's great. My one hiccup. And we talked about it when it came out.
Why are they covering Rebel Yell?
It's terrible. Yeah.
Is that just on the CD version? It's not on the vinyl. It's not on the vinyl. Yeah.
So they shouldn't bother adding it onto the CD. There's no point.
Yeah, it's not it's not bad. It's just this is boring.
Just why bother? Yeah. Yeah. Why? Yeah. There's no need for it.
I could think of, you know, as much as I enjoy Billy Idol, I can think of, I don't know,
five or six Billy Idol tracks that I'd prefer them to cover that are more. Yeah.
You know, but let's do our own Billy Idol cover. Come on. Yeah, there you go.
Anyway. All right. So, DNA, Brad, you. It's my favorite Todd.
It is. And I've seen them after this album two or three times and they haven't played a single song off it, which sums me up.
And this this album has the distinct privilege of reminding me of you, Victor.
And here's why. Number one, because you like it. Number two, when we went on that cruise where we met you.
Yeah. Yeah. This is one of the few albums that I downloaded onto my phone.
Oh, wow. So I listened to this a lot during that time.
And so, you know, every every time I hear something off this, it makes me think of that time and then hanging out with you and Bill Bout.
So very cool. This album always holds a special place in my heart for that.
That's that's that's why albums are a snapshot and make you remember
different different events, different parts of, you know, of your life.
Edgar, the Wasteland. That would that would be interesting. That album is so.
Wow. How can I say it?
Cyberpunk is a very overlooked Billy Idol album ahead of its time, in my opinion, has got some really good tracks on it.
Yeah. All right. Jeremy, DNA, anything?
Yeah, just I'm not as keen on it as you guys are.
I think that it's very much a similar album to the previous one.
I think that also similarly to the verdict, it tails off badly at the end.
I just don't think that it's an album that I like listening to in its entirety.
There are very few albums like that will come on to a couple that probably do later on.
And so I just think, yeah, it's a decent album. I'm not I'm not knocking it was in my top 10.
You know, I do like certain songs on it, but I'm not overly blown over.
You know, I'm not blown over by it. And I went I read some of the reports on it.
They were quite mixed. There were people writing reports on it, just like you've said that they really like it.
And there were reports I read, you know, reviews, should I say, that were saying it was very average.
And I'm probably in the just just above average camp for me.
That's cool. That's really cool, actually.
That's that's pretty detailed.
I'm actually with that because I mean, I can listen to some albums that I had when I was a kid.
And I can actually be in my bedroom and be like, well, I can see myself either sitting there trying to get the quadraphonic sound or laying on my bed and listening to it.
Yeah, it's it's weird how music can do that. I can actually smell things, too. So yeah, yeah.
All right. So moving on here to number six. Six.
Let's go. Promised Land.
Released. And this is so funny because as I'm looking at the dates, things started coming back.
Released October 18th, 1994, recorded between August nine ninety two and May of ninety four.
So it was almost two years to record this.
Let's not forget it was after the hugely successful empire.
So they're looking for.
Another silent lucidity on this album.
And this album, again, similar to here in the now frontier, is really kind of all over the place.
Even the first single I am I, which I've always enjoyed.
I don't know that have they ever played that song live because it's so layered like the percussion.
There's like a million things going on. I'm assuming if they've played it live, they've got a million tracks running with that.
Probably. I've seen them do it live more than once.
Yeah.
Yeah, I actually think they've done it with the authority.
OK, I think so.
Interesting. I think that this I mean, it still has some some good track, excuse me, tracks off of it.
But there are other tracks that are really kind of mind boggling.
Like I am I think is great damage, I think is good.
Damage is the best song out there. Yeah.
They played that a lot live.
And and so my other two songs off of this album that are in my playlist are left field songs.
And again, this is their tendency to try to I think do King's X doing the Beatles, which is Lady Jane and Bridge.
They're both. I mean, Bridge is an acoustic song for the most part.
Again, I think it's them trying to recapture Silent Lucidity and the popularity of that.
The difference is that the lyrics are really kind of harsh with this because it's really about a failed relationship with this was written by the Garmo.
So I guess it's all the Garmo right here. Yeah. This one, Lady Jane, all the Garmo.
Yeah. The Garmo sings Lady Jane. Does he?
I think so. Isn't that the one where it's piano? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. When they did this, they did this live. He played it. He played the piano and sang it.
Interesting. Yeah.
Let me tell you about that for a second. The tour on this. I don't know if anybody out there saw this tour. It was the most just surreal, bizarre concert I've ever been to.
That was actual concert, not where they had actors out there. They were they were the actors.
They did the whole album. Did they front the back? Yeah, they front the back.
And so we were in Portugal and we were flying back to Salt Lake, took 22 hours to get home, spend, I don't know, way too long in JFK.
And we got to Salt Lake. It was like after they had played there. So the next day they're playing in Vegas. So we bought tickets for Vegas.
We flew 22 hours, not flying the whole time, but traveled 22 hours, got home, got in the car, drove to Vegas, got there in time to get an in and out burger and then go to the Thomas and Mac arena there at UNLV.
And typo negative was warming up. OK. And they were great. And again, talk about surreal. Just I mean, those guys just awesomely weird and.
But. And then Queens, right, comes on and we had no idea what this is, what was going on with this show.
But it was I mean, the stage, it was a set. I mean, it was I mean, at all these like they set up like a little restaurant type area and all these other things in there.
But it was around the band. So it was a concert. But yet they were moving around in this thing.
Jeff Tate playing saxophone on a couple of songs, which was just weird.
And it just yeah. And then Chris DeGarmo playing just the piano and singing. It was just the weirdest thing ever.
I'm just I'm glad I saw it. But I just walked out of there just going, what the hell are these guys doing?
I think I think what happened was, OK, Empire was so good for them. I don't know how many Platinum's it did, but they actually had money for the first time.
And they took that money to buy homes, whatever, and build a studio and decided we're going to make the album we want to make kind of thing.
We don't have to, you know, chase any anything at all. And so that's this album.
I consider it just totally self-indulgent. Or the band was like, yeah, we want to just do this weird thing.
And they did. And there are parts of it that are really good. And overall, I just yeah, it's just weird.
Jeremy, what do you think? What do you think of this album?
Yeah, I think it's a bit a little bit all over the place. I just think that suffers a little bit because of what came before.
You know, everybody will compare it. A lot of the diehards actually like it.
They always try or at least they say they try to force themselves to like it a little bit and say there's a lot of love out there for this album.
But really, yeah, it's good. But it's when you, you know, you're always trying to recreate a great album that's come before and you never quite get there.
And so you're always going to suffer a bit. I think that's probably what's happened with this one.
I think if it stood on its own, maybe it was their first album that they ever released or, you know, after you kind of say, well, that's a great, great start.
Yeah, just a difficult one to fully love, I'd say.
OK, all right. So moving on to.
Well, I do have to say one other one other thing about the show, Victor. OK, so it opened up with I Am I.
OK, Jeff Tate's wearing this suit. He's supposed to be, I think, a politician.
And so he's running around the stage and all these reporters are chasing them all over the stage, trying to get quotes from him and this and that.
And at the end of it, they grab him and they tear off his clothes.
And all he's wearing at this point is these little tiny leather underwear thing.
And that's what he wore for the all of damage. Damage was the next song.
And it was hard. That was a hard watch for me.
It was really I'm like, OK, you know, I don't I don't need this is way more Jeff Tate than I want to see. OK.
And I was glad he actually put clothes on after the after damage. But I felt damaged.
That's that maybe that's what the point was. He was damaging everyone.
Yeah. Yeah. So just the weirdest thing. I don't know. I need to I wish somebody else had a point.
Mike Jones saw them on this tour. I wish he was here because I love to hear his his side of this.
All right. So coming in at number five.
It is the original Queensryche EP.
Consisting of Queen of the Rake, Knight Rider, Blinded and the Lady War Black.
Two of these four songs.
Get decent airplay on US radio. Queen of the Rake, especially.
Lady War Black, I mean, gets played every now and then just, you know, wasn't as much of a staple.
But. I mean, obviously.
I mean, after after both mind crime and and Empire, like a lot of other bands similar to Metallica with the black album,
similar to Def Leppard with hysteria, people start to go back and check out the earlier works.
And some of those songs end up on radio. So.
Brad, was this your introduction to the band, the EP?
Actually, not the next album. Well, the first album is my introduction.
But this is during this time when this came out and I don't think it was easily found in the US.
But I know they were playing stuff off of this on KNAC in L.A.
and my brother told me about about them at the time.
I was a missionary, so I wasn't listening to rock music for a little while there.
But when I got home, he's like, yeah, you got to find you got to find something by these guys.
Queens, right. And check them out.
He he thought that Jeff Tate, he said he's he's he's a better Halford than Halford.
And I was like, oh, that's interesting, because I don't think he's now.
I don't think he sounds anything like Halford back back in the day, maybe because nobody else sounded like that.
I can see that, especially on this on this album, on this EP.
But yeah, I think the EP is fantastic. And I, you know, I don't know that it was actually released here right away.
It seems to me there's a story about Kerrain getting a cassette tape of this and making a big deal about it and putting it in the magazine.
And then after that, I was like, boom. And that led them to getting their record deal.
Hmm. Jeremy, go ahead. What do you think? Yeah, well, I just seem to remember hearing this as the first stuff by Queens, right.
So I'm thinking maybe it was through the Korang thing, because, yeah, I definitely had Queen of the Rite.
It's definitely one of the first songs I ever heard by them.
I was into this kind of music really before they even erupted on the scene.
I mean, it's come out the sort of New Wave of British Heavy Metal type stuff.
You know, it's raw. It's not overproduced.
But there is that sort of slightly prog element that's just creeping into their songs.
And yet it's still heavy metal. And it just sounded great.
You know, it's got some it's got some strong guitars on there.
But it's also got, you know, that sort of basic sort of stuff that I was into at the time in the early 80s.
And, you know, it's just four tracks, but it's it's great. Yeah, I like it.
So apparently, Korang got a hold of the demos
for the EP and they wrote like a big glowing review of it.
And due to that, the EP.
A lot of people got turned on to the EP and then they were signed.
And at the time when the EP was released, Jeff Tate was in another band called Myth.
He had just, you know, he was helping them out by singing on this.
And when the EP exploded, he left the other band to stay with Queens, right?
So have you ever seen the video for Queen of the Reich?
I probably have, but I don't remember it right now.
OK, this this is everybody's homework assignment here.
Go on YouTube when we're done or after you watch this.
You're already on YouTube watching this.
Go afterward and watch Queen of the Reich by Queens, right?
It's hilarious. Highly hilarious. Man, it really I think it goes right in there with Dawkins breaking the chains for ridiculous videos.
All right. So at number four.
Tis the warning.
Ooh, released on September 7th, 1984, recorded in London, actually.
Record again, Angel Recording Audio International, Abbey Road and Mayfair.
Produced by James Guthrie.
With the singles warning and take hold of the flame.
Brad, your opinion.
This is the first thing I heard by Queens, right?
OK.
So this is the album I found that is the only thing there was a little record store in West Valley, Utah, that had a fairly decent metal section, a lot of imports and stuff.
And they had this album. So I got this, went home, threw it on and I'm like, what the hell is this?
I mean, it was. Yeah, I mean, at this time what we had, you know, quiet riot doing their thing with their first album.
And then this, you know, all that's the early 80s stuff happening.
And then this album. And I thought, and these guys are these guys obviously aren't trying to be like any of these bands that are selling records.
I hope these guys are able to sell some records and keep it going, because this is pretty cool stuff.
Nothing on this album really jumped out at me is what I would call a, you know, a hit.
I guess Take Hold of the Flame became a big, fairly big song for him. But I love this album. I just love it.
I listened to it like crazy, man. Put it on a cassette tape, kept it in my car.
I did get to see him on this tour as well. Warming up for Kiss. Everything ends up coming back to Kiss, doesn't it?
Yeah, so they were they were warming up. It was the Animalize Tour. And these guys at this point of their career were they were so well rehearsed, so tight.
I mean, the two guitar players, you know, Michael Welton, Krista Garmo, their work together was fantastic.
And I mean, they hit the stage, they had the energy, they were running around, they were playing everything perfectly.
Jeff Tate could sing his ass off. And I also thought it was interesting because in the choruses, it's actually the Garmo that hits that does the high stuff.
He does the high harmony over Tate. And, you know, they were so good. Yeah.
And then Kiss came on after that. And it was a it was a bit of a letdown, I'm not going to lie.
As much as I love Kiss, man, these guys, guy, they were great.
So this is when I knew that this is a band that I'm going to be a fan of for a long time when I saw them first time playing on this tour.
Jeremy, your opinion on The Warning?
Yeah, like this album, I think if I can sort of give a bit of an analogy, I think the EP was a bit like the Iron Maiden debut album.
This is like Killers and then they move on and then they have their Number of the Beast a bit later.
It's kind of like, you know, it's a band that's developing, developing their sound, developing what they want to do and their sort of progressive type style of, you know, their elements in there.
I thought it was great when it came out. I think it's I just wish they could do this kind of thing now, in a way.
You know, there's a sort of certain rawness to it, which I like about bands.
And if anyone had listened at the very beginning when we did this, they might think we don't like Queensrite because we were dissing a lot of their albums.
But now we're really getting into those albums that we really enjoy and we'll play again and again.
And The Warning is one of those. It's loved by all Queensrite fans, I think.
And rightly so, you know, there's a lot to be said for it.
OK, number three.
Let's see if we can surprise anyone with number three.
So this was recorded in Canada, California.
They've had some big name producers work with them over the years.
That's really interesting.
This was my introduction to them.
And I was not into them at all.
The album was released on June 27th, 1986.
It is. Rage to Order.
So let me just set this up because it was the video for going to get close to you.
Oh, God, that was the weirdest thing.
Puffy shirts, just the over the top, puffy hair, the hair, the eye, the you know, the eye shade and everything else.
I'm like, what the hell is this?
Close to you. Are you serious? What is this?
What is this? I was freaking out.
I'm like, because there were people telling me these guys are the next big thing.
They're going to be, you know, the next maiden, the next Judas priest.
They're going. And I'm like, no, they're not.
There's no way that this band is ever going to get any airplay on my radio.
There's just no way.
Brad, Rage to Order.
Yeah, you're right, because I saw the video before the album came out and I'm like, what are these guys doing?
I mean, it's just that. Yeah.
Something really, really weird happened to that point.
And I've not I've not heard anybody in the band address this like whose idea was this to wear those outfits, to do that to their hair, to do the do the makeup.
I mean, and then it wasn't just for that video either.
I mean, it was the whole I mean, the album, you open it up, it's like, holy crap.
What are these the guys that I saw open for kids?
Is this what kids did to them? I don't know what what happened here.
But I don't know. But now I look back and I applaud them because it's not like, hey, let's make that album over again, kind of a thing.
It's like this. This is a really, really different album than any of the rest of their albums.
And there's some great songs on here.
And I'm going to get next to you. I don't think I've ever heard them play that live.
And I'm OK with that.
It's a cover song. Yes, covers.
What's your name? The dog?
That little dog, Bella. OK. Yeah. Yeah.
I guess she's Canadian. So wait.
Oh, it's saying that's OK.
That's why they recorded part of it in Canada because of this song.
That's probably why I was pitched. It was probably recorded in one of the same studios or something similar.
Yeah. So it says the band's management insisted on Queen Drake taking an image associated more with glam rock, glam metal or Gothic metal.
As a result, the promo photos and album artwork depicted the band members wearing trench coats, heavy makeup and perms.
So blame management.
Jeremy, Rage for Order. Yeah, I guess the look is, you know, we're talking about the mid 1980s here and a lot of people went for various looks and what have you.
And, you know, I never really noticed the look at the time. I just heard the music first.
So I suppose maybe the videos didn't translate over in the UK as much.
And it was for me, it was the first time that they really started to write proper songs, you know, really, really commercial, but powerful songs.
You know, Walk in the Shadows is one of their best songs.
Yeah. Yeah. I Dream in Infrared as well. Another great song.
They started to think about the songs, you know, what makes a band successful is great songs.
You know, you can sound great and you can have that sort of vibe.
But if you don't have the songs to go with it, you know, you're not going to be a band that will eventually be talked about on signals from Mars sometime in the future.
And so, yeah, this was a real step up, a real step up of an album.
And they were finding they found their way, I think, on this album and moved on from there, really.
So, yeah, it gets big thumbs up from me. I think it was probably in my top three or whatever as well.
OK. All right. So we're down to two. And then there were two.
OK, let's see if Edgar's right.
I will say that these two albums are the only two albums that were on absolutely everybody's list.
One of them
received
almost every vote was a 10.
Or almost every point was a number of votes.
One, two people voted at number two
and three people voted it their third favorite album.
Oh, I'm that's the debate.
I'm curious, Victor, do anybody vote Rage for Order is their favorite.
Yes.
OK, I need to meet that person. OK, three people did.
Wow. OK, we'll talk about that later. I need a list. OK.
So anyway, so number two.
Where's where's my information? Oh, here we go.
You forgot which one
recorded. Well, let's see.
I know it was produced by Peter Collins.
Why both of them were.
Yeah, yes, they were. All right. So there you go. That was pretty good.
Edgar wants a drum roll. I can do that for you.
Oh, no, that's the wrong.
I think that's actually appropriate as well.
Oh, where do I have my drum roll?
Well, I was trying to do one
on the tabletop, but it's not coming through, I guess.
Coming in at number two. No. OK.
Coming in at number two, released in September of 1990.
It is their biggest selling album by far.
Empire.
But an album. Yeah, listen, this album.
This album was my number two, but top to bottom
is a great album. I think the only track
that I get off of this is maybe Della Brown.
Yep. Everything else, everything else off of this.
Well, and Silent Lucidity, my bad. I've just heard that so many times that
if I never hear that again, because I
I don't think that represents what I enjoy from the band personally.
I mean, I look at everything else on here that I really enjoy.
Best I Can I love the thin line I love.
I was listening to this yesterday and just hearing
Jeff Tate, are you happy now that line just the way he delivers it.
It's like, damn, it's just great.
Jet City Woman, Another Rainy Night Without You, I love Empire, obviously.
Resistance, I think is great. Hand on Heart is great.
One and only, I don't remember. I love one and only.
Are you OK? Yeah. Anybody listening?
And last time in Paris, which is kind of the song
was on the Ford Fairlane soundtrack, but it came out right before Empire.
And it got them on a lot of radio stations at the time.
And I remember hearing that and thinking, wow, this sounds nothing like mind
crime, but it sounds really cool.
And I remember at the time them talking about how they're working on something
that was going to be really big. And this was more in the direction that they were going in.
So. Yeah, I think this album is great.
It's tremendous. And I love seeing here on
Wikipedia how many different places
gave all these albums shit reviews where
it was just beyond ridiculous. But whatever.
Jeremy, I know you love this album. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, yeah, I bought the remastered version recently.
I had it on CD, obviously, when I first got in and still have this CD.
They suddenly started writing brilliant songs. I mean, you've just gone over them.
There's no point repeating it. They're all brilliant.
For me, it's my favorite album of the lot simply because it's not a concept album.
And I can listen to it in its entirety in one go.
And that's one of the reasons why I love it so much. There isn't a song I miss on it.
The remastered version, by the way, is absolutely superb.
It sounds the sound quality is amazing on vinyl.
They wrote hits on this album. They wrote, you know,
they just they just raise their game to some to a level that they couldn't really
match again. Obviously, they brought out Mindcrime. We'll talk about that in a minute.
But they were peaking. And you can't really get much better than this album.
Any band would be proud of an album like this. And for me, you know,
it's always going to be my favorite. I can listen to it all the time.
And I have seen them once live. They came to London, played outside
at a festival gig. I think Jeff Tate was with them at the time.
And they only did about six or seven songs, but they obviously did about three from this.
And they were great live as well.
Brad, go ahead. Yeah. Well, well put, Jeremy.
I think you summed up everything great about this album.
And it was definitely their peak. And I just don't think they dealt with success very well.
You know, when you know, the thing that was holding the band together probably was struggling to be successful.
And once they got there, and maybe some of the guys that didn't like the other guys as much,
it got to be like, well, why do I have to put up with this anymore?
But this album, seeing this tour, the guy they played almost didn't play everything off this album,
but they played most of it. And it was brilliant. I mean, they opened up with Resistance.
And when they hit the stage with that, it's just like these guys,
you just felt like this is the best band in the world right now. These guys.
They were so good. Everything was so tight. The backing vocals, the guitars, the drums, every.
I mean, yeah, best I can.
They did a little skit there in this. They had like a treadmill on the stage.
And so part of it, you know, the storyline here is about this guy who was a basketball star
and then he gets shot and ends up in a wheelchair. He becomes a writer.
So at the beginning, Jeff Tate's dribbling around the stage with a basketball.
And he goes, he gets on this treadmill and he's running on this thing with the basketball.
And then there's a hoop hoop there. And he comes in and lays it up.
And he made it in the two shows I saw. And I kept thinking, I wonder how many of these shows he doesn't make the shot.
Because again, he's only like five, two. OK. He's just a wee man.
I think it looked like a regulation basket, too. But.
But yeah, if you don't like this album, it says it says more about you.
That's all I can say. How can you not like this album? This is fantastic.
This is great music. You don't even have to be a heavy metal person to like this album.
Yeah, that's actually that comes on to what I was going to say.
There must be a lot of people out there who have heard heavy metal music, but they don't get deep into it.
And they'll know Iron Maiden, they know Judas Priest, they know the bands, Metallica, the bands that are in the public eye.
But if you had to recommend an album by a band they've never heard of before,
this is a sort of album you could recommend someone and say, just listen to this.
You've never heard them before, but it's just super quality.
Yeah, yeah. This this also I was in the hospital
at the time when this album came out and a friend of mine brought me the cassette and I had a little Walkman that I could listen to.
And so I had I had two cassette tapes that people have brought me when I was listening to the album.
One was a Black Gear album and the other was More Than Tear. I liked it so much better.
But yeah, so this always takes me back to those times, too.
I can smell the antiseptics and I can hear the beeping and stuff in the background.
Yeah, this this album's huge. Albums. This is a great album.
Maybe it should have been number one, Jeremy.
I've made my case for it. So I think I'm yeah, I'm I can't say anything bad about it. I can't.
Yes, as you guys are talking, I was looking up the setlist for one. I saw them back in 2001.
And before I said about playing I am I and it turns out that I saw them play I am I live.
How about that? So yeah. So this is the greatest hits tour.
They played Walk in the Shadows, Roads to Madness, The Lady War Black, London, Screaming and Digital, I am I, Damaged, Empire, Silent Lucidity.
I almost said what we used to call the song all the time, which is silent stupidity.
Another Rainy Night Without You, Jet City Woman. Then there was the intro tape with I Remember Now and then it's Revolution Calling,
Spreading the Disease, Electric Realm, The Mission, Sweet Sister Mary, I Don't Believe in Love, My Empty Room,
Eyes of a Stranger, Take Hold of the Flame and Queen of the Rike.
I have to think that they didn't play all of these songs because Halford and Maiden were playing before and after.
And you have to see that tour. Yeah. Yeah.
I see that tour. I don't think they came to Utah with the production. I would have loved it though.
Yeah. So it looks as if I happened to pick a setlist that was extra long there to read off.
But. All right. Anyway, number one, we've kind of already given it away.
The cat is out of the bag. It is Operation Mindcrime, released in May of 1988, recorded in Pennsylvania and Quebec, Canada, recorded by Peter Collins.
It's funny that it says Singles Eyes of a Stranger and I Don't Believe in Love because there were videos for a lot more than that.
Calling had a video.
Spreading the Disease had a video.
The Need to Lies had a video. Breaking the Silence had a video.
And there was a live video for either the mission or yeah, I think it was the mission was the live track, which may have come off of live crime.
But anyway, again, at this time, I was still in my hater phase.
And I was like, yeah, there's no way these guys are going to be big. There's no way, blah, blah, blah.
Dial MTV was playing the track Eyes of a Stranger all the time. It was voted number one. And I'm like, I don't like this. I don't like this track. Blah, blah, blah.
You know, I was I wasn't I wasn't having it.
I don't believe in love came out. And still, I mean, I had.
I was leaning more towards into it. I'm like, do I really like this band? I can't like this band. I've never liked this band, so I can't just.
And then all of a sudden, a video for Revolution Calling comes out and I'm watching it.
I think I was getting ready for I was in high school.
And I heard on my phone, what garbage are they putting out now? And and I'm listening to the song. I'm listening to the lyrics.
I'm like, wow, these lyrics are actually really cool.
And then it gets to the chorus. I'm like, that's a cool chorus. So I was sold Revolution Calling is the song that made me a Queens Drake fan.
And as a as a result, this was the second CD I ever owned.
The first CD I got was Back for the Attack by Dockin because it was seven dollars and it was the cheapest thing I could pick up.
And Revolution Calling got stuck in my head.
I was around the time of my birthday and I went out and got this album and have loved it ever since.
This is an album that is a huge part of the soundtrack of my life because I listen to I still listen to it all the time.
I really like Empire. And that's the thing. Empire is an album that every time that I go back to it, I think, why don't I listen to this more?
Because I really like Operation Mindcrime.
The other thing, too, is as I was receiving a list today, the person I'm sending it to me said, you know, it's a shame that they kind of peaked with these two albums
where they really peaked early on and they've put out a lot of stuff that really is nowhere near the level of what they did on these two albums.
And I think that that is very true.
I often talk about the fact that a new album doesn't need to be the favorite or your best or whatnot.
But they've released so much subpar material that a lot of just same music that makes you think, how could this be the same band?
Oh, wait, it isn't because Chris, the Garma wasn't around.
Oh, it is because this or that was going on.
And I think you're right, Brad, with your assessment on promised land.
I think that they put up with a lot of shit.
They were with each other so much.
They were fighting. They were hungry.
And then finally, they got the money that they wanted.
And they said, fuck it. We don't have to please anyone else.
We're just going to please ourselves. And hey, if you don't like the track, I don't care because this is going to be, you know, my my track.
Chris, the Garma leaving Queens, right?
It's almost as if Steve Harris would have left Iron Maiden.
Totally. You know, they were, you know, I've seen them.
Well, as you know, so many times with him and every time without him, nothing without him has even come close to the same feeling that he got when he was in the band.
And it wasn't just him. It was just the unit.
Those guys were working so well together.
You just felt like these guys, they just they're brothers, you know, which apparently they're not.
But at that time, they were they were all on the same.
They were all pulling on the same side of the rope together. Right.
During up until after Empire, I think.
And I don't know.
You know, we need Jeremy, we need we need somebody from Rock Candy to get a hold of somebody in this band or maybe three people in this band and do a big discussion about recording promised land and what was really going on with the band at that time.
Yeah.
Yeah. Or maybe we could do that, Victor. Come on.
There you go. You've talked to you interviewed Michael Wilton. He was by which, by the way, that's the absolute best Michael Wilton interview I've ever heard.
And I've heard of you. And he's usually doesn't chat much at all.
But with you, he was really quite lively and you of course, that's great questions.
So, well, I mean, you're the man for the job.
I appreciate that.
Sure. If I were able to interview interview him again. I'm sure promised land would be something that that would be brought up.
But we need Jeff Tate's version too and then we somehow we got to get Chris to Garmo. It's like, dude, let's just talk about this. Come on, you, you can do it. I know you don't want to be in the band and all that kind of stuff.
You want to fly airplanes, but come on, there's got to be part of your heart that wants to talk about these islands.
Yeah, I think we'd have to buy a ticket on one of his flights.
I'm in.
Let's go.
Hey, Chris, you ever fly to Spain.
Let's go. There you go.
We got to stop in Manchester first and pick up somebody.
There is an airport.
Right.
Jeremy, your thoughts on Operation Mindcrime.
Yeah, I mean, obviously it's a classic. It's one of the best concept albums that's probably been produced by any band, I guess.
It's very popular amongst the fans. It's always rated as their best by many people and probably by many in your own poll as well, Victor.
The only reason why I didn't have it as my number one, I'm not so keen on concept albums because you have to listen to them from beginning to end.
I do obviously love a handful of songs on this, which I think are amongst their best, and that's why it's a brilliant album.
But it's not my first choice. Sometimes when I'm listening to it, there are one or two songs on it that don't particularly resonate with me because I think you have to invest your time in the story.
You have to invest your time in that story that they're doing. But they pushed themselves to the limit on both Empire and this album.
Then they peaked and they never achieved the greatness of these two.
So yeah, it's a great album. I understand why it's number one. It wasn't my number one, but obviously it was my number two.
So it's great.
That's what my question was, Jeremy. Where did this rank for you?
But yeah, I don't see these two albums, Empire and this one are both just tremendous.
Yeah, it's hard to I get what you're saying, though.
It's like when I hear them play songs off of this live, to me, it's not as magical being pulled out of the album and just being put into a live set as it was that first time.
I saw them do this the entire album front to back live. That was unbelievable.
Guy Jeff Tate was such a good singer back then. Not that he's not a great singer now, but he was so good back then.
I mean, he hit this stuff without effort at all. He was just nailing it, just nailing it.
And the whole band. Now, it's not that they don't sound good now. Todd LaTourie is fantastic, but there's no magic on stage.
There's just no magic. Those guys just stand there. They look like they'd rather be somewhere else when they're playing now.
Michael Welton, especially. He looks about as bored as I've ever seen.
And I mean, a lot of the times these guys, I saw him once where in between songs, everybody would leave the stage.
And then, you know, they have like a little intro thing for the next song and they come walking out.
And I mean, it was just like, where'd you go? Where are you guys going? You know, I'm going to go backstage, get a beverage real quick and come back.
And that was just like they look like they just did not want to be there. Anyway, I love Queensryche. I love what they did.
I wish they still had the same magic now, but they don't. And it ain't coming back.
Even if they got back together with all the original guys, it probably wouldn't be as good.
So, yeah, but these two these two albums here, Empire and Operation Mindcrime.
There were Runaway one and two. There were no other albums that came close.
Two and three Rage for Order and The Warning were separated by a little.
So it was kind of back and forth with the two of them. But then after those two, the next thing is the what the EP, I think.
Yep. Yeah. And it they got double what the EP got.
So I think the bread and butter are those first four albums. And then after that, there's good stuff in between there.
But it's just not at that at that same level. No, it's unfortunate.
And I think you guys mentioned it. We want to talk positive about this band and the catalog.
But there there are some some huge missteps.
And I do think that they will be the first to admit it, given that what happened with with them bringing Todd into the band and wanting to go back and, you know, more of a classic direction.
But I don't know. But the good thing is they're releasing good music again now, you know, and it's yeah, you want to listen to the last couple of albums and you get to hear some more.
That's a good thing. Yeah, absolutely. Well, right. So awesome.
We'll end it on that. I do want to thank Jeremy and Brad for joining me live. Want to thank Edgar Winterson.
Want to thank John from Hooligan Nation for joining us.
Hainu who joined us there briefly.
Thanks all you guys for for your support and for being here tonight.
Next week, we will have an interview with Jason McMaster.
Really cool.
And I very nice guy.
And yeah. And then after that, Jeremy and I will be back to talk about albums that came out in the month of November and probably recap a little December, get you guys ready for the end of year countdown, which we're probably going to be doing on the 27th.
So we'll see. Anyway, once again, thank you, folks, and we will see you next time right here on Signals from Mars. See you, folks.
Thank you for listening to the Signals from Mars podcast. You can subscribe to the show on all your favorite podcasts, platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon and more. Go to signalsfrommars.com for more information. This concludes our show.