EP. 132 My Record Store Day Haul....So Good!

They can take your seat, shrink your legroom, and apparently now charge you for a carry-on, but they can’t take the joy of a great live show and a fresh stack of vinyl. I’m back from a quick Vegas hit with Kathryn, and I’ve got thoughts, starting with why Frontier’s bag policy feels like a straight-up hustle.

From there, we head to downtown Las Vegas for Aldo Nova at the Golden Nugget on Fremont Street. I break down what worked, what didn’t, and why sound mixing can make or break a concert, especially when the vocals get buried. The night ends on a high note with a post-show conversation and an exchanged number with Aldo’s keyboard player, Michael T. Ross, which could turn into a future guest spot with real touring-musician stories.

Then it’s my personal Record Store Day: I walk through the haul, talk packaging and liner notes, and dig into classic rock essentials like Boston Third Stage, Styx Paradise Theatre and Equinox, Angel On Earth As It Is In Heaven, Journey’s pre-Steve Perry era on Look Into the Future, and KISS Asylum from the 80s non-makeup years. If you love vinyl collecting, record stores, classic rock deep cuts, and the simple security of owning physical media in an age of shifting streaming rights, this one’s for you.

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Transcript

Welcome And Where To Listen

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hey there. Welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. You know, none of you guys know this, but I've I've been off work this week and I was out running errands today, and I decided that I was going to stop in at one of my local record stores. So uh I'm, yeah, I've got a little stack right here that I'm going to share with you all. But first, as you guys know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts, and it's also available on YouTube. Just search the Ben Mayner program wherever you uh wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe. Okay. Last but not least, follow me on my socials, first, Instagram. Uh uh, it's uh Ben Maynard program, all one word, a little tongue-tied, sorry about that. Or you can uh follow me on the TikTok at the Ben Mayner program. So there are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And like I said, it was like record store day for me today. And uh so I had a little bit of fun. I was I was running some errands, and I've been wanting to do this for a while. I was not available to actually partake in the actual record store day. That was uh a little more than a month ago. And uh, you know, I've been trying to been trying to get out, get to uh a record store. Uh

Vegas Trip Setup And Aldo Nova

SPEAKER_00 1:50

finally was able to do that today. And so I wanted to share what it was I picked up. But um, you know, last week, I I don't know if I I don't think I shared it on the on the podcast here, but I I know I put out a TikTok video. Catherine and I we went to Vegas just for a quick hit, uh quick hit and run, little tongue-tied, sorry. And uh we saw Aldo Nova. So it was a week ago, almost a week ago. And um, so I wanted to, I I said in the video that I would review it for you guys uh on the next episode. So here we go. Um, you

Frontier Airlines Carry-On Rant

SPEAKER_00 2:35

know, you I'm sure if you guys are out, any of you are out traveling, uh, you know, going in through airports, that kind of thing, you know, it can be a bit of a challenge. So I'm gonna say this, and I'm gonna throw this airline under the bus because I think it's a bunch of hooey. If I don't ever have to fly Frontier Airlines again, I'm not going to. Now I didn't have any issues this uh this go-around, but I have with them previously. And sorry, Frontier, but you don't sponsor this program anyway. So whatever. But I think it's pretty bad when they want to charge you for every carry-on, not just not just your checked bags, they want to charge you for a carry-on. So they are limiting you now at no cost to one personal item. Is that a joke or what? That is absolutely a joke. So fortunately, it was just a quick hit, like I said, a hit and run for Catherine and I. We packed really light. We fit everything we needed into a backpack for each of us. And I just, we just put them under our seats and we were we were okay with that. But that is so stupid. And to me, that's just like so criminal that you want to charge your customers for a carry-on bag. I okay, I'm I'm not a fan of charging for check bags, but all right, we've been doing that for a lot of years now, many years now. So that's fine, whatever. We're all used to that. But for carry-on, give me a break. So, Frontier, you guys can go take a hike. I'm letting you know that now. And uh, like I said, if I never have to fly Frontier again, I hope that it never happens. Um,

Fremont Street And Golden Nugget

SPEAKER_00 4:40

all right. So uh back to Aldo Nova. He was playing at the um Golden Nugget. That's right. The Golden Nugget. That's in uh downtown, downtown Vegas. And uh I don't know if you guys are familiar with that area at all, but it's on Fremont Street, and it is just like classic old Las Vegas. Now they're doing some, they've done a lot of changes, um renovations, modernizations, those kind of things. So it's it's cool, but uh um it's it's just I dig Fremont Street. They've completely enclosed it, um, put a put a cover with that's all lighted up, running down the whole entire uh street. Uh they just they've got stages out there in various areas, they do free concerts out there. Um, but um yeah, it's it's kind of cool. It's it's a cool scene unto itself. So um, so Catherine and I went to see Aldo at the Golden Nugget. We stayed at the Golden Nugget as well, so that's pretty easy, you know, staying at the same place the show is you don't have to worry about a thing. Um and uh I'll say that it was a good show. I enjoyed it very much. Um, but I'm always gonna be honest, I was a little disappointed, and there's a couple reasons why I was disappointed. Um, it seemed

Aldo Nova Set Length And Mix

SPEAKER_00 6:15

like the set was cut a little bit short, and I don't know the reasoning for that. I know that it was billed as a 90-minute set, and it cut at about an hour 10, maybe something like that. So I don't know the reason behind that, but that's what happened. I was a little bit puzzled. I don't know if anybody else paid attention to it, but I did. Um, so that was number one. Number two, um, whoever the sound guys are, they to me they really blew it. They really blew it. Um, the entire set. The each of the instruments were just fine in the mix, you could hear them just fine, but um the vocals, even the back the background vocals were a little bit more up in the mix than Aldos. Aldos were really tough to hear. His vocals were way down in the mix, so I thought that was a bit disappointing. And, you know, it wasn't like a huge room, it's a it's a um um showroom, but it seats, I don't know, 600 people, something like that. And so it's not huge. And uh you should be able to hear all the vocals clearly. I I remember the last time seeing him there, there wasn't an issue, but uh this last time there was, so I was a little bit disappointing. But um uh I

Meeting The Keyboard Player Afterward

SPEAKER_00 7:50

stuck around after the show and I met his keyboard player, Michael T. Ross, and talked to him for a few minutes. And through talking to him, um uh it came out that, you know, uh I have a podcast. So he said that he he, you know, would like to come on, you know, and uh if I'd have him on, of course. And I said, Yeah, that, you know, because he asked, Well, what do you talk about on your podcast? And so uh I let him know and he says, Well, you know, I'd like to come on. I I got stuff to talk about. And I said, that'd be awesome because you're a touring musician. I'm sure you got some great stories to tell. So we exchanged numbers and uh we're gonna work on that. He's got some uh I think he's got some good stuff to tell. He's got a good message to uh to put out there. I won't get into it right now, but uh we're gonna work on that and see how soon we can get that set up. I know that actually Michael uh is on his way to Canada, I think somewhere in the Ontario era or Ontario, somewhere, well, it could be Ontario, Montreal maybe. Um, because Aldo has a show uh tomorrow night in Canada. So I know Michael is on his way out for that, but we'll we'll get something set up and uh yeah, I'll keep you guys uh um apprised of what's happening with that.

Record Store Day Goals And Finds

SPEAKER_00 9:20

All right. My record store day, not the record store day, but mine. Okay. Uh I'm gonna start with this here. It's um actually, I did not pick this up, this particular, this particular item. I did not pick this up today. I bought this online. It is an album. It is

Frosty Stilwell Debut Album Shadows

SPEAKER_00 9:45

entitled Shadows by an artist named Frosty Stilwell. And almost every single one of you in my audience is gonna say, Who is Frosty Stilwell? Okay, and that's very fair, okay, because this is Frosty's debut album. It took him about 25 years to put this album together. Frosty Stillwell was a radio guy for many, many years, probably 35 years at least. And he spent a lot of time in the LA market uh on a couple of different local radio stations. He was part of a team that they kind of dubbed themselves the triplets. There, the show was called Frosty, Heidi and Frank. And um and that show had gone away um 15, oh gosh, 15, 16 years ago. And then uh Frosty kind of went his way, and Heidi and Frank stayed together as a team, and they are now the morning team and have been since 2012 on the local rock station here, KLOS. They took over for my radio heroes, Mark and Bryan. So that's where Frosty comes from. Now, Frosty came back to Heidi and Frank um five, four, five, six years after they had had uh started their run at KLOS. And he um he was there for another three or four years, and then uh he left the show again. And so he uh good for him because now he's kind of sort of semi-retired, and it gave him time to finish his album. So Long Road a hoe. He released this album Shadows. I actually have heard some of this, and I'm going to open this up for you guys. This is a double album, it has 17 tracks on it. I don't remember which songs I've heard because it's been um uh two weeks. I think two weeks ago was when I when I heard the stuff on here, and you had to order this from his website. But um, like I said, it was either a single CD with a booklet or the double album. And uh it's got it also has a booklet in here, I believe. Yes, I'm open, like I said, I'm opening this thing up for the first time. I did take the plastic off because I didn't really want to spend time on camera wrestling with that. But um it's it's actually it's beautifully packaged. Uh, if you open up the gatefold on it, it's just got the uh pictures of the guys that recorded this album, Friends, Friends of Frosty. It it's not a band. He is basically a solo artist, but these are, I mean, his brother was one of the musicians, and then a couple friends of his um helped out as well. But it's got this nice booklet, and let me see what. Oh, yeah, okay. Oh, it looks like it's got an uh oh yeah, okay. It's got the lyrics. I'll I'll show you guys. It's got the songs and the lyrics to each of those songs, so yeah, we can all sing along. Um, and then of course, when you move to to the uh towards the back of it, you've got um credits and liner notes, that kind of stuff. So it's really cool. I think the double album, uh, I think it cost it was around 30, it was around $32 and change, I think is what it was. And then of course shipping and everything. It cost me around $35, $35 in change. But I'm not sorry I bought it. I I did like it. If you like some, I don't want to say yacht rock, but it's kind of in that vein. Uh little yacht rock or little easy listening stuff. That this'll be for you. There's some really good stuff on here. I was uh surprised that I did like it as much as uh as much as I do. So um, and it is available on the uh streaming, the streaming uh services. So let me put this down here really quick. So if you want to uh to stream it and and and check it out that way before you decide to make a purchase, then go right ahead. I know Frosty's goal, it was like I said, I think I think I said it, it was released last Friday. So what was that? The 22nd of uh yeah, the 22nd of May. That's when it was released, and I know Frosty's goal was to break the uh Billboard Top 200 album chart. So I haven't heard yet if he has. So kind of waiting on that one. Anyway, so that one is not a part of my record day or my record day shopping, anyways. But this

The Hunt For Vinyl And No Turntable

SPEAKER_00 14:55

one is. And let me let me preface this by saying I didn't find what I was looking for. I did not, didn't find what I was looking for, but I found some other stuff, and I thought, you know what? I I like these bands, I like these albums. So um, some of them that I have never owned on vinyl, uh, some I have on CD. But um I thought, well, you know what? Gonna grab them because I'm just building on my vinyl collection, of which I have no turntable to uh to play them on, but they're cool to have and um kind of cool to share with you guys on uh on the pot on the podcast. So there you go.

Boston Third Stage Deep Cut Details

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Uh the first one here is from Boston. It's their third album titled Third Stage, of course. I have I have not uh blah blah blah tongue-tied, I have never owned this on vinyl, so I had no idea that it was a gatefold. It's only a single album, but it does have that gatefold there, and it's got a lot of cool stuff in here from Tom Scholes. If you're unaware, um the second Boston album was released in 1978, and the third stage album took it took more than six years to write, record, and and and get it put out and produce it. Um there was a lot of stuff going on with Tom and the record company, and Tom ended up switching, uh, was able to change record companies. I think I think that Boston was on Epic Records for the first two, and then um this one came out on um MCA. So this this one here, um, in fact, I'm going to put it up right here so that you guys can take a look. But oh yeah, oh, it's got some stuff on the back, some writing on the back. What does it say on the back before I get into this? Oh see, even Tom says it took nearly six years to conceive and complete this album. No orchestral instruments or synthesizers were used to create the sounds. Each individual individual piece of music relates a human experience, and together they tell the story of a journey into life's uh third stage. And it was kind of they're kind of talking about the band's third stage, of course. Um and if you guys know anything about Boston, Boston really, I mean, it it's Tom Scholl's baby, it always has been, of course. Brad Delp was there for the first three albums, and I didn't even know this until, I don't know, several years ago that Brad Delp didn't sing on Boston's fourth album, which came out in the um early to mid-90s, like another six or eight years after this record. I didn't know that he didn't sing on that, but I don't believe I ever heard any tracks off of it. So anyway, um, so this is the third, the third album from from Boston. And it came out in September of 1986. The first single that was released off of it was Amanda. It actually had two uh well, it had four singles, but two that actually made uh made the Billboard Top 40. Uh, the first one was Amanda, not only the first single released, but the band's first and only number one hit on the Billboard Top 40. Really good song. Really, really good song. Um the second the second single was We're Ready. Yeah, that's right. That was another one. I think that one broke top uh top 10. That one uh that one reached number nine on the Billboard Top 40. The other singles were Cool the Engines and Can't You Say, and then in parentheses, You Believe in Me. So Can't You Say You Believe in Me, basically. Um those were more like those were more rock radio staples. Those did chart on the mainstream rock chart. Um, but uh yeah, they did not break into the Billboard Top 40. But it's a really good album. Um, the track track listing is actually, you know what? I don't have to. I can keep that album there for all to view and see, and I can just turn this over. Uh the track listing is Amanda, we're ready. Uh track three, the launch, four, cool the engines, and then side one closes with my destination. Side two, the album opens up with a new world, which is just an instrumental. Um, To Be a Man. Track eight, I think I like it. Track nine, the previously mentioned Can't You Say You Believe in Me. And then it closes out. Track 10 is Holy Ann. Now, the thing with this album here is um the only two members of the band from the first, I believe the first two albums, are um Tom Scholes and Brad Delp. And um Sib Hashian, who had played drums, I think he played drums on the second Boston record. Um he didn't play, he played like two songs on this one, and then he was replaced by a guy named Jim uh Mazdea. I don't know why, but you know, it's I always thought that Boston had more of a stable lineup, but I've looked through their lineage a little bit, and yeah, it really wasn't a very stable lineup. Even, you know, even before Brad Delp's departure and or you know, death, it wasn't very stable. There was a lot of changing parts, and that's kind of that kind of leads you to know that it's Tom Scholl's baby. He is Boston. So anyway, but that's it. Boston third stage.

Styx Paradise Theatre Concept Album

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Uh let's see. Okay, the next one I picked up, never owned it on vinyl, is Sticks Paradise Theatre. Theater. All right. And another gatefold, which I thought it's really cool. It's got it on the on the top half of the gatefold, because it folds, it folds vertically, not horizontally, like most records do. But so the top of the gatefold, it's got pictures of the band members, Dennis DeYoung, Tommy Shaw, oh no, I'm sorry, Jay Y, then Tommy Shaw. And then you've got uh Chuck Pinazzo and John Pinazzo. Okay. And in case you all didn't know, Chuck and John were not only brothers, but they were fraternal twins. And I'm assuming that's why they're in the same photograph here. And then down below, there's a uh down below, it's got got the song uh titles and all the lyrics right there for you to read along and sing along as you have this on your turntable. Let me uh there we go. I kind of got stuck in here. So uh yeah, I never had this one before. Like I said, not on vinyl anyway, but I did have it, I do have it on CD. Um, it is a good listen. I'm not sure. I gotta look at something here. Um I don't know if that's sticks, if that's the band's um biggest selling album or not. It's either this one or it's Kilroy Was Here. It well, Grand Illusion is another one, so it could be Grand Illusion as well. It's gonna be one of those three. But this was actually a huge seller for the band. Um, and believe it or not, it's their tenth, their tenth album. That's crazy for 1981. That's how long the band had been in existence uh previous. But um there were two singles released off of this one. The first one was The Best of Times, and that one I think I think that one went up to like number three, I think, on the Billboard chart. So uh big song for Sticks. Then the second single was Um Too Much Time on My Hands. That's a Tommy Shaw written song, sung song, and song song. Yeah, that sounded good, right? Song song. Hmm. Um that one ended up breaking the top 10 and reaching number nine on the um top 40. So uh, like I said, a big album is kind of uh just a kind of a concept album about this actual paradise theater in the uh Chicago area. And uh it it it you there's some progginess to it, which the band,

Styx Equinox Plus Turntable Shopping

SPEAKER_00 24:55

when they broke in the early 70s, they were known as a you know very progressive rock band. And um so this still contains some of that progginess in it. It's good stuff. I like it, it's a good listen, and like I said, um a big album in their catalog. Um what else? What else? Let me see. Um oh I say it's a good listen, but as you guys know, I don't I don't own a turntable, so it's difficult. However, the record store that I was at today, I I stopped by two record stores, and the first one had absolutely nothing. Nothing of interest. Well, uh, I take it back. They actually had one. They had one album I was interested in buying. And it, you know, I probably should. I think it was like, I don't know, $6.99 or something like that. Um, but um, but I was like, uh, I don't want to just buy one record. So I passed. Maybe I'll go back and get it though. I'm not gonna tell you what it is, but it's a good one. It's uh it's one of my favorites. It's definitely from one of my favorite bands as well. So uh the next one I picked up was Sticks Equinox. I think we have talked about this one. I think we talked about this one not too long ago uh on a previous episode. Let me look at something here. I'm gonna open this up because this, I believe, is yes, this is the this is the album that was released right before the following album, which was shoot, what oh, Crystal Ball. Crystal Ball was the album that followed this one, and Crystal Ball was the first album to feature Tommy Shaw. Well, this does not have Tommy Shaw on it. This is the album right before his his um his debut in the band. This features who was an original member of the band, John Kurolewski on guitar. And I'll be honest, I'm gonna tell you this. I had no idea that Tommy Shaw replaced somebody in the band. I thought that Tommy Shaw came in as an addition to the band. So I was unaware of that. And I think I've and I've told you guys before about the uh Styx albums that were on another label. Uh I think it was their first like four albums uh on an on an album label called Wooden Nickel. And uh they go back to like 1971. But um this one here, Sticks Equinox. Let me put it right there for all to see. Uh on the inner sleeve, there's a nice black and white photo of the band. There's John Kuraluski right there in the middle. This guy right here. Okay. You've got uh, let's see, Dennis DeYo, J.Y. Young, John Kuraluski here down below in the middle. Then where my finger is covering the face, that's Chuck Pinazzo. And then right here, John Pinazzo. Ah, that was pretty good. I did okay doing it backwards uh for all who are watching. The um this was not like a huge seller for the band. The big song on this on this album was Lorelei, which is a really good song. It's a it's a uh it's a it's an up tempo song, good song. I really, really like it a lot. Um this out this this album for the band, it stalled at number 58 on the um on the uh top 200 album chart in 75, uh 76, because the album was released in December 75. So in 76, that's when it stalled at 58, and it eventually was certified gold just before the Grand Illusion album was released in 1977. So uh I don't know other than other than Lorelei, I'm not sure. Oh, maybe Sweet Madame Blue. That might be the other track that I have heard. But yeah, I don't so this would be interesting. I I actually look forward to um I look forward to getting a turntable and trying to listen to some of this some of this stuff. This is what sucks, though, right here. See in the corner, that's the sticker, that's the the the price tag, and these albums, one one of the albums has plastic on it, but still the price tag is on the album cover itself and not the plastic. I um yeah, I wish they wouldn't do that. I and I I these are like old school um price tags, so the glue on these stickers is not gonna be easy to to get off. So I don't think I'm gonna mess with trying to get these price tags off. I'm just gonna have to live with it, right? What are you gonna do? Um, I think I started to say and I didn't finish my thought, but the the second record store that I went to where I picked up all this stuff, um, they actually have um they have some turntables in there and some speakers. They have one set that's a turntable with a set of speakers. And it's uh quality-wise, it's pretty good, but the the um the needle that comes with it is not all that great. So uh you'd have to turn around and just buy another stylus or needle. We called them needles way back when it's actually called a stylus. Um but they did have some separate turntables and separate speakers as well that are um, I don't want to say like starter level, but you know, good quality. Good quality. I've heard of the brands before, so I know that it's gonna be good quality stuff uh and not too terribly expensive. I think I could probably get out of there um at about 300 bucks for a turntable and um a set of speakers, yeah, somewhere around that. And if I buy it online, I'm gonna have to pay for

Angel On Earth As It Is

SPEAKER_00 31:45

shipping, that kind of stuff. So it probably caught, you know, I'd save myself some money if I just went and picked it up myself. Uh so the next one, I I own this on CD. This is the first time I've I've uh had it on vinyl, and it's from one of my favorite bands. Oh, there's nothing on the inner sleeve here. Okay. But it is the uh let me sorry, just being real OCD here. I want to get that album sleeve right back in there, just like so. One of my favorite bands. It is the third album from Angel entitled On Earth as It Is in Heaven. I'm gonna try to get that glare off for those of you that are watching. There it is. And I love it. Isn't that great? Because you see the Angel logo right here, you see the band coming across the the album cover, and then it's like a mirror there right down here as well. And so is the angel logo, but it's it's all it's it's like it's upside down, so it's great. So I could turn the album this way, and it looks the same. Or I can turn it this way, see, isn't that great? Or look at that, see the back? That's awesome. Look, you don't know whether it's upside down or right side up. I'm so confused, Ben. Anyway, the third album from Angel again, on earth as it is in heaven. It's the last album. It's the last album to feature uh bassist Mickey Jones, who was replaced uh by um Felix Robinson moving forward. Um, it was released in 77. This album here, uh, I may you I may have said this previously, Angel and one of my favorites again, Kiss, were on the same label, Casablanca. And Eddie Kramer, who certainly did quite a bit of production for KISS in the 70s, uh produced this one. It's a it's a good-sounding album. Um it's one of the better um selling albums from Angel. And it still has songs that they that that are in the set when they play live to this day. The um track listing is Can You Feel It? They still play that. She's a Mover, Big Boy, Telephonics Change, they do that still. White Lightning, On the Rocks, uh You're Not Foolin' Me. The uh That Magic Touch Cast the First Stone, and it closes out track number 10 with Just a Dream. Um, the band at the at this time they were touring just non-stop, opening up for all kinds of bands and getting tossed off of um numerous tours because they were putting on such a great show. They were putting the headliners uh to shame. So um the album ends up peaking at number seven uh 76 on the um on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. So um not bad for Angel, could have been better because as you guys know, they still, well, maybe you don't know, but they never really had a hit song on the radio, not in the sense of top 40 radio, never had a hit, which is a really just a shame, an absolute shame, an absolute crime, uh, and a great band. And they're coming to town in August,

Journey Before Steve Perry Era

SPEAKER_00 35:55

so I will be there. Definitely will be there. All right, the next one that I picked up is from the Oh my goodness. It's like from one and one A, the last two albums. This is the second album from Journey Look into the Future. Most of you have probably never seen that album before. I've talked about it on the podcast in the past. Um, probably just the one time when Spaz and I ranked our studio albums. This is pre Steve Perry. This album was released in January of 1976. Steve Perry didn't actually join um Journey until 1978. The album cover is the same on front and back, just the colors a little bit different with this little kind of looks like a crystal ball, of course. Look into the future, right? That's a little bit different color, but you've got you've got the members of the band, uh Ainsley Dunbar, then Neil Sean, Ross Valerie, and Greg Raleigh. Oh, you can't see that because the light, sorry, and then Greg Raleigh here. Um but uh at this time, Journey went from a five-piece to a four-piece. Their original rhythm guitarist and um songwriter as well, George Tickner, decided to leave the band. He didn't really um wasn't really into just the touring nonstop and and the grind of the road and that kind of thing. So he chose to bow out. And so Journey went from five down to four. They were a four-piece on this album, and then they were a four-piece on the follow-up album, which was Journey Next. But uh my album sleeve here is kind of coming apart, but so I gotta be careful with it. But it's kind of it's it's cool. I like it because there's some um there's some just some photos of the band right there, some black and white photos, you know, the guys. It's uh nothing special, but it's kind of cool, and at least it is to me. And the uh the track listing, it's got uh what does it have? I think it's got seven or eight songs on it. Let's see. Uh, it opens up with On a Saturday Night, and then track two is It's All Too Much. That's a George Harrison cover. Uh track three is Anyway. Track four is She Makes Me Feel Alright. And track five to close outside one is You're on your own. Now, the opening track on a Saturday night, really good song. Really, I really like that song a lot. And She Makes Me Feel Alright. Those are really good songs. Um Greg Raleigh does a good job as a lead vocalist, but I think it when you when you hear when you hear him sing, maybe, especially if you, you know, love Journey with Steve Perry, then you kind of understand why they why the manage the manager uh Herbie Herbert, you know, kind of told these guys, look, you're getting yourselves a lead singer. You need a lead singer, and we're bringing one in. So um, but you know, um Greg Raleigh does do a good job. He does have a good voice. Certainly he's not gonna be uh a crooner like you know Steve Perry and and and others. Uh so side two has three songs uh Look Into the Future, the title track. That one is probably the longest song that Journey has in their recorded history. It's over eight minutes long. Uh Midnight Dreamer, and then it closes with I'm gonna leave you. And that is gonna be my favorite song on the album, I'm gonna leave you. That is to me, it's a killer song. Absolutely love it. So good. So let me put this one in here. This album is a little different. It opens at the top, not the side. Okay, set this one down. All right, and last but not least, I said one and one A, right? So we have to finish with an album by this band.

KISS Asylum And The 80s Look

SPEAKER_00 41:10

And it is the 13th studio album from this band, and it is Kiss Asylum. It's released in September of 1985, and as you can see, it is post-makeup. So this is the non-makeup era of the band. This album is uh guitarist Bruce Kulik's first studio album with the band. He uh became a member of the band during the previous tour, which was for the Animalize album. Um, previous guitarist Mark St. John was unable to fulfill his obligation to the band after recording the album. Uh, he played roughly one and a half shows. He had come down with a condition called Writer's Syndrome. And it just it it made him unable to play uh due to his his hand swelling up like a balloon, and he had some other arthritic conditions as well. So he had to bow out. Bruce Kulik comes in, takes over, finishes out the tour, he becomes a uh member of the band, and this is his first studio album. Um it uh when you when you look at the album, I think I may have talked about this before, too. I'm not sure, but doesn't really matter because not everybody watches everything. This album cover to me, and then the back, the back cover, it and it might be hard to see on on the screen just because it's a little bit of a distance away, but it reminds me of like something that Andy Warhol would do. Just the coloring and the layout. That's that's kind of what it reminds me of. But and it was the 80s, too, so you know you never know. Now I know Andy Warhol didn't do this, but you know, it could have been an inspiration for it. But the album cover is very similar to the Dynasty album cover in the fact that you've got uh you've got Gene and then Paul up on top next to each other, on top of um Eric Carr, who on the dynasty album cover would have been Peter Chris, and then Bruce Kulik, who on the dynasty album cover would have been Ace Fraley. So you have the same layout, uh, just you know, and then each guy still is represented by a color uh Paul Purple, Gene Red, uh Bruce Blue, and Eric Green, which were the colors of the original four members in KISS. Uh that Came about during their solo album period in 1978. So it's some similarities there. They look actually pretty normal on the back for the 80s. When you um take the album out, the inner sleeve, some black and white photos. Uh let's see, what do we got here? We got Paul. Paul here on the right side. And then we've got uh, I think it's Eric. No, is it Eric or is it yeah, Eric. We've got Eric over here on this side, and you got song, song lyrics, and stuff in the middle there. On the next side, you've got Gene and Bruce with the songs and the lyrics, and the clothing is pretty normal. Uh, the one single that was released off of this album uh was Tears Are Falling, fantastic song. And uh for radio play, I don't I don't even know if the song, I don't think the song charted on the top 40. As a matter of fact, I know it didn't, but it was uh the the video was a staple on MTV. And um and when they were out touring for this album, the clothes were pretty ridiculous. The clothes were ridiculous in the Tears Are Fallen video, and I think there were two other videos for All Night and Who Wants to Be Lonely, and same thing. Clothing pretty ridiculous. Um, you know, Gene was kind of looking like um Phyllis Diller a little bit. It just, yeah, it it was, it was ridiculous. But you know what? Here's here's the thing. Those were the times. That's how it was in the early to mid, even to the back towards the back end of the 80s. There was a good five, six-year period where that was very prominent, you know, a lot of uh a lot of colors, uh, a lot of crazy clothes as well, you know, frills and all that kind of stuff, uh, just silliness. It was just the fashion. It was just the fashion. And if you love music, you see beyond the the silly fashion, you know, the teased hair up here and uh and all that stuff, and you just hear the music. And uh fortunately, I was able to do that. The album, it's a good album. Some people think it might be the best non-makeup kiss album. Um, it is good. I do like it a lot. Um the the the lead track on it, King of the Mountain. One of the best kiss songs, really is one of the best kiss songs. It is so good. And Eric Carr's drums are thunderous on that uh on that song. It's so good. Um, but it's not my favorite non-makeup album. Um, it's it's one of it's it's up there, but it's not my favorite non-makeup album. But a lot of people like it. I mean, the production's really good. Um the the previous album, Animalizer, was a little bit more, I don't want to say slick because it wasn't more, it wasn't slick. It uh I don't know how I say it. It just it was a little bit different. You could tell in the production and the sound a little bit, this one was a little maybe seemed a little more raw. Um, and then you went into the Crazy Nights album um two years after this one. Completely different production on that one, totally different production, a completely different animal. And this one was co-produced by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, which was kind of the thing uh in the 80s there. Uh, they were doing a lot of that production themselves, um, for better or worse. But uh good album. I like it. And yeah, I hope you guys like it too. If you you know, if you haven't heard this one, but you are a hard rock fan or a KISS fan, check it out. You know, music's free these days, fortunately or unfortunately, so you can just go and stream it wherever you want and or listen to it on YouTube, whatever it is. Uh, and then if you like it, then you can go and buy the uh album or go buy the CD or whatever, just so that you have physical music. Physical, physical music is always good to have, like I've said before. When you have the physical copy, no one can take it from you. Some way, somehow, it can always fall off the streaming services, but when you have the physical copy, it's yours forever. That's that's the best part. Um, so yeah, I hope you guys kind of enjoyed my record store shopping day. I I actually hope

Why Physical Music Still Matters

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to have more of them. Um, I want to hit my local record store where I um where I grew up. It's still there. It's been there. Gosh, it has to be uh probably 60 years, maybe. Maybe not quite 60, definitely over 50. Definitely over 50 years, but maybe close to 60 years, if not 60. Um still there, and it's an institution. Uh, so I need to get back over there. I want to see if they've got something that I like, uh, something that I'm looking for, and uh, we'll see. I actually I did order an album. I did order um, it's not like not a big secret, but I did order a copy of uh Journey Escape. I bought it on eBay, so that should probably be coming sometime this week. Um I I bought that for a future future episode. Trying to think ahead, anyways. So uh yeah, kind of a quick one today. Uh just record store day, my record store day. So uh, and a little bit of a trip down uh well, not really memory lane because I didn't share a whole bunch of stories with this stuff. I could have a little bit, but nah, that wasn't the point. The point was to get you

Wrap Up And Subscribe

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these albums. So, anyway, look, you guys know that this program is available wherever you get your podcasts, wherever you stream them, it's there. And it's on YouTube as well. So take your pick and subscribe, okay? Uh, then you guys can follow me on my socials, on Instagram. It's simply Ben Maynard program, all one word, or on the TikTok. It is at the Ben Maynard program. All right. I had some fun with this. I hope you guys did too. Um, maybe it'll encourage you to just get out there and go shop your local record store, right? They do some really good stuff, okay? So check it out and then check me out next time around, okay? I'll see you guys soon. This is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend.