Wax of the Week #12...Acid: Acid (1982)

When flipping through the metal bins at the local record stores in the mid-’80s, I'd stare at this Belgian group's album covers, and get a little nervous that they were one of those weird European import bands whose records would just be too heavy, guttural, and monstrous to listen to, that the primitive bestiality of the music would poison my soul and give me nightmares. Just the name (ACID!) suggested you might succumb to a bad trip by spinning their records and go off the deep end (I've seen it happen). Big dummy, I should have picked them up back then, as it turns out yeah they were somewhat primitive, but they actually played rockin' speed metal with a punky/NWOBHM edge, and had a tough female vocalist. Would definitely recommend this LP to non-metalheads exploring the genre, as it avoids some of the motifs that turn off many potential listeners (squealy guitar, cookie monster vocals, complex riffing that goes nowhere).
 

Wax of the Week #11...Accept: Russian Roulette (1986)

Bought this when it was released, but wasn't too impressed other than the song the local metal radio show played ("Another Second to Be"), but spun it recently and liked most of it. It’s pretty much straight-ahead, traditional metal all the way, and (like most German records) nicely recorded. This was the last Accept record I've gotten, so will need to explore their later stuff.

Wax of the Week #10...Accept: Restless and Wild (1982)

One of the great pre-thrash, traditional metal records of all time. Their fourth, and the first to really make headway in the English speaking world. Most heads would probably pick this as their peak album. It's best known for the furious opening cut, "Fast as a Shark," surely one of the bellwethers of the speed/thrash sound, but the whole album is great. Accept were a bit too obscure for the local party contingent growing up, but in certain circles this got a lot of drinking/bone cruise cardeck play, and has aged well. We're looking at the US pressing, which wasn't released until ’83. These guys looked pretty intense; four Teutonic rockers fronted by a stubby, gnome-like singer in battle fatigues who screamed and growled like a maniacal drill sergeant. As with most good heavy records before the modern era, the band had a sense of dynamics and included softer passages and songs to accentuate the hard parts (a songwriting/arranging skill mostly lost today). I had the previous album, 1981's Breaker, but only liked a couple of songs and didn't keep it. The demo for this LP is reviewed in my book (it's slightly different). The band (formed in 1968!) is still around, and based in the US, but now has the ex-singer for Jersey rockers TT Quick as their frontman, Udo having long since gone on with a solo career.

Wax of the Week #9...The Aaron Bell Orchestra: Music from 77 Sunset Strip (1959)

 

I still have yet to see this show (is it worth tracking down?), but you gotta love the light-hearted, swingin' crime jazz of this soundtrack cover album, which plays straight through with no duds. Crime jazz (and its descendants, spy jazz and cop show funk) create an aural world I want to live in, and I can listen to this stuff all day. If I ever win the lottery I may open a quiet, dark jazz club on a dingy sidestreet where live combos play this kind of music, a dress code is enforced, and no televisions or sports memorabilia are allowed. A dress code… remember in old movies, where the sign of a guy really down on his luck was that he was wearing a dirty suit?

Wax of the Week #8...AC/DC: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976)

Their third Australian album with the original cover. This seems to be a 1980 pressing. Big fan of a few songs on this one, namely the resigned, last-call lament "Ride On," the lascivious "Squealer," and the rockin' "Problem Child." The sinister slashing of the title track sounded a bit dangerous on the radio to teenagers back then. Amazingly this wasn't released in the US until 1981, after the huge impact of Back in Black, in altered format of course.

Wax of the Week #7...The Aaron Bell Orchestra: Music from Peter Gunn (1959)

Henry Mancini’s soundtrack to the gritty detective show, Peter Gunn, is an all-time favorite in these parts. I’ll get to that one later, but in the meantime I try and grab every one of the several cover albums related to the show. This is one that can be played straight through. Samuel Aaron Bell (1921–2003) was an Oklahoma-born jazz bassist who played for Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington. He tweaks the arrangements a little but keeps the spirit of the compositions. A good one.