ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 13, 1990 By Steve Newton With winter here for a while, there’s no better way to recreate the joy of carefree summer cruisin’ than throwing some surf music on the ol’ turntable. The ol’ CD player, I mean. Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet are Canada’s foremost … Continue reading Album review: Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, Savvy Show Stoppers (1990)
Album review: Dread Zeppelin, Un-Led-Ed (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 6, 1990 By Steve Newton You gotta wonder how a band like Dread Zeppelin ever came into being. Did a down-on-his-luck Elvis impersonator drowning his sorrows in a bar knock into a zonked-out reggae fiend, who then spilled his beer on a guitarist who idolizes Jimmy Page? And … Continue reading Album review: Dread Zeppelin, Un-Led-Ed (1990)
Album review: ZZ Top, Recycler (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 29, 1990 By Steve Newton Playing the rock critic game can be tough, especially when you have to give the thumbs-down to bands that you’ve loved ever since you were a kid. The recent AC/DC album wasn’t up to snuff, and now another band I used to kill … Continue reading Album review: ZZ Top, Recycler (1990)
Album review: Blue Rodeo, Casino (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 29, 1990 By Steve Newton Ever since its eponymous first record was unleashed to rave reviews three years ago, Blue Rodeo has been the little Canadian band that could. Mixing whimsical, feel-good roots rockers (“Heart Like Mine”) with savoury ballads (“Try”)—and always putting the music before things like … Continue reading Album review: Blue Rodeo, Casino (1990)
Album review: The Vaughan Brothers, Family Style (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 18, 1990 By Steve Newton If any solace at all can be found in the wake of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s tragic helicopter-crash death, it lies in the fact that, before he passed on, Stevie got to do something he’s always wanted to do—make an album with his older brother Jimmie. The … Continue reading Album review: The Vaughan Brothers, Family Style (1990)
Album review: AC/DC, The Razors Edge (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 11, 1990 By Steve Newton Has AC/DC ever put out a bad record? I doubt it. But their efforts haven’t all been great, either. The band’s latest, the Vancouver-made (and grammatically incorrect) The Razors Edge falls somewhere between the band’s strongest (Powerage, Back in Black) and weakest (Flick of the … Continue reading Album review: AC/DC, The Razors Edge (1990)
Album review: Queensrÿche, Empire (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 4, 1990 By Steve Newton It looks like studio giant Little Mountain Sound might be getting a wee bit of local competition as far as attracting the world’s best bands to this city is concerned. Vancouver Studios was the locale that Seattle hard-rockers Queensryche chose to record their … Continue reading Album review: Queensrÿche, Empire (1990)
Album review: Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 27, 1990 By Steve Newton So what if Canuck native Neil Young deserted this fair country for the more lucrative land down south; to reinterpret Ronnie Van Zant: “A northern man don’t need him around, anyhow”. Still, whenever Young saddles up with that beautiful beast called Crazy … Continue reading Album review: Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory (1990)
Album review: Roger Waters, The Wall Live in Berlin (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 20, 1990 By Steve Newton With such a hodgepodge of guest artists—acts as varied as Sinead O’Connor and the Scorpions, Bryan Adams and James Galway—it seemed quite likely that Roger Waters’s new live recording of The Wall would turn out as a disjointed, hit-and-miss project. But despite the … Continue reading Album review: Roger Waters, The Wall Live in Berlin (1990)
Album review: Yngwie Malmsteen, Eclipse (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 23, 1990 By Steve Newton When Swedish guitar whiz Yngwie Malmsteen burst onto the hard-rock scene in ’84 with the Rising Force album, he took a lot of people by surprise—and it wasn't just his funny name (pronounced "Ing-vay") that did it. Malmsteen was a classically influenced speed-demon, … Continue reading Album review: Yngwie Malmsteen, Eclipse (1990)
Album review: Bruce Dickinson, Tattooed Millionaire (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 16, 1990 By Steve Newton Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson cut his teeth on ’70s bands like Bad Company and Mott the Hoople, and on his first solo album, the steel-throated vocalist gets a chance to loosen the thrashier chains of Maiden and indulge in some of the … Continue reading Album review: Bruce Dickinson, Tattooed Millionaire (1990)
Album review: Heart, Brigade (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 16, 1990 By Steve Newton I've been an off-and-on admirer of the Wilson sisters for many years now—heck, they used to play teen dances when I was a kid in Chilliwack, and I loved ’em. I loved ’em a lot more than I do now, that's for sure. … Continue reading Album review: Heart, Brigade (1990)
Album review: the Beat Farmers, Loud and Plowed and…Live!! (1990)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 9, 1990 By Steve Newton San Diego's prime providers of rude ’n’ rowdy rock ’n’ roll have finally done it. After years of putting on shows—a lot of them right here in Vancouver—that were so wild they verged on the criminal, the Beat Farmers have released a live … Continue reading Album review: the Beat Farmers, Loud and Plowed and…Live!! (1990)