This week In ‘Hard & Metal Throwback’ 06/52
Van Halen, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, IDLES, Europe, AC/DC, Soundgarden, The Black Crowes, Guns N’ Roses, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Pantera
They are the ‘Hard & Metal Throwback’ artists selected among the 303 Posts we publish this week.
Here, they are reunited in one glorious playlist. Enjoy!
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Tracklist
![]() 1 . Van Halen . She’s The Woman“GM Shreds” is less a song than an adroit showcase of Gary Moore’s technical arsenal and emotional depth as a guitarist. Operating in the crosshairs of blues, rock, and metal, Moore’s approach to shredding isn’t about mere technical fireworks but the fusion of speed with a raw, emotional undercurrent. Among his tricks, rapid alternate picking and lightning-fast legato runs dominate the sonic landscape, offering passages that feel both frenetic and precise. Pinch harmonics pepper the piece like beams of light through dark clouds, while his expressive string-bending and buttery vibrato lend moments of tension and release. This is shredding not as shallow virtuosity but storytelling through six strings. Yet, thematic cohesion takes a backseat—”GM Shreds” leans more toward an exhibition of prowess than a structured, memorable composition. The virtuosic solos evoke his classic moments, such as the blazing legato on “The Loner” or the soaring vibrato in “Still Got the Blues,” but none feel quite as indelible outside context. The absence of a robust melodic core risks rendering the track an impressive, albeit fleeting, technical exercise. As a standalone, “GM Shreds” highlights Moore’s legacy as a guitarist who bridged the gap between blues and metal, yet it feels more like a masterclass than a song you’d return to for replay value. |
![]() 2 . Metallica . Creeping Death“Dirty Mind,” a standout track from Jeff Beck’s 2000 album “You Had It Coming,” exudes a restless energy that thrives on contrasts. The song, co-written with Aidan Love and Andy Wright, cleverly blends Beck’s guitar virtuosity with Imogen Heap’s ethereal vocals, creating a sonic tension that feels both jagged and hypnotic. It’s no surprise this track earned Beck a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 2002—his third in the category—but the recognition speaks as much to the craft as it does to the timing, landing in a post-millennium moment eager for genre blurring. The album itself offers provocations, charting at No. 17 on the Billboard Top Internet Albums and peaking at No. 110 on the Billboard 200, a reflection of its niche appeal rather than mainstream saturation. “Dirty Mind” works within this framework, its interplay of sharp riffs and Heap’s dreamlike delivery almost daring audiences to categorize it. Though heavily featured in Beck’s live repertoire and bolstered by a music video under Epic Records’ careful eye, the song isn’t just a vehicle for Beck’s famed precision—it carries an undercurrent of experimentation that stops short of being transformative. For all the brilliance in production and execution, courtesy of collaborators like Andy Wright, there’s a calculated quality to its chaos, as though every jagged edge was sanded down just enough to stay on brand. While “Dirty Mind” doesn’t rush to redefine rock instrumentals, it leans into its contradictions with intent, offering an intricate yet slightly antiseptic experience that finds its edge in Imogen Heap’s haunting contributions and Jeff Beck’s knowing restraint. |
![]() 3 . Red Hot Chili Peppers . Warped“Travelling Clothes,” a track from Tommy Emmanuel’s 2015 album “It’s Never Too Late,” unpacks the guitarist’s nomadic lifestyle with an instrumental that practically breathes lyrics. Crafted during Emmanuel’s relentless touring schedule, the piece mirrors not just the ease of well-worn attire but the security one finds in familiarity—a sentiment he channels through his precise yet emotive guitar work. Stylistically, the song leans toward the melodic terrain of Alison Krauss & Union Station, an influence Emmanuel openly cherishes. While there’s no vocal line, the composition operates as if it were penned for harmonies, layering natural harmonics and harp-like textures with a complexity that never feels dense. Recorded using his custom Maton EBG808TE guitars—an instrument as distinctly Australian as its builder—“Travelling Clothes” boasts a tone that’s as warm as it is articulate. The woodsy timbre of these guitars complements the pastoral undertones of the track, evoking open roads and quiet moments in transit. Beyond the studio, the song has found its place in workshops and live performances, with Emmanuel demonstrating the layering techniques that shape his singular sound. Take, for instance, a 2013 workshop where he performed this piece, deconstructing its intricate patterns with the ease of someone explaining everyday dress codes. But despite its charm, “Travelling Clothes” risks being overshadowed by Emmanuel’s more dynamic works; its reliance on comfort can occasionally veer into predictability. While the craftsmanship is indisputable, one wonders if the song, like its titular clothing, is better appreciated in context rather than isolation. |
![]() 4 . IDLES . Danny Nedelko“Blues Grinder” occupies a curious space on Ronny Jordan’s 1992 album “The Antidote,” released through Island Records, a division of Universal Music Group. As an instrumental piece, it feels less like a standalone statement and more like connective tissue for an album that balanced smooth jazz sophistication with acid jazz’s urban grit. Performed live on February 5, 2012, at the Moody Jazz Cafè in Foggia, the song gained an immediacy through its trio format, with Jordan’s guitar interplay backed by Mel Davis on Hammond and Dave Moore on drums. In this setting, the track reveals its rhythmic elasticity, though the Hammond often feels like a scene-stealer, overshadowing Jordan’s understated tone. Despite its appearance on “The Antidote,” the track itself never entered the charts, a reminder that while Ronny Jordan’s oeuvre includes one UK Top 40 single and four UK Top 75 entries, “Blues Grinder” functioned more as a deep cut than a commercial centerpiece. The piece surfaces on streaming platforms such as Spotify and in fan uploads on YouTube, where variations on its live and studio renditions bloom, albeit within tightly defined stylistic parameters. Though slickly arranged, the track’s groove-driven framework occasionally borders on predictability, lacking the dynamic tension found elsewhere in Jordan’s catalog. Ultimately, “Blues Grinder” represents a snapshot of a musician content in his craft but offers only fleeting glimpses of the inventive impulses responsible for Jordan’s brief flirtation with chart success. KEXP tape IDLES . Heavy Lungs in London (2019) |
![]() 5 . Europe . Rock the Night“Go Get It” is a high-octane display of musical interplay, performed live by Pat Metheny and drummer Antonio Sánchez, and while it doesn’t feature in “Trio 99 > 00,” recorded with Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart in 2000, it retains Metheny’s trademark approach to complex rhythm and melody. Sánchez, who debuted with the Pat Metheny Group on the 2002 album “Speaking of Now,” complements Metheny’s fluid guitar with a percussive dynamism that feels less like accompaniment and more like a charged conversation between equals. Metheny’s melodic improvisations find their match in Sánchez’s restless, razor-sharp drumming, creating a push-and-pull tension that fuels the track’s intensity. Characterized by an upbeat tempo and intense improvisational flourishes, the song swings between tightly constructed grooves and bursts of freewheeling energy. Metheny bends and finesses his guitar lines with an ease that belies their complexity, but the real intrigue lies in the chemistry between him and Sánchez. The live setting magnifies their synchronicity, capturing a spontaneity that studio recordings often polish away. Yet for all its craftsmanship, the track’s relentless pacing can feel a touch claustrophobic, with little reprieve from its virtuosity. There’s an exhilaration in its unpredictability, but listeners hoping for moments of melodic breathing space might find their patience tested. Still, as a snapshot of Metheny and Sánchez igniting each other’s creativity, “Go Get It” serves as an unfiltered glimpse into the mechanics of musical alchemy. |
![]() 6 . AC/DC . Touch Too Much“Concert With Class” by Frank Gambale, featuring Steve Smith, Ric Fierabracci, and Steve Tavaglione, offers a 90-minute showcase of instrumental dexterity and genre-crossing ambition. Opening with “The Italian Song,” Gambale sets the tone with his signature sweep and economy picking techniques, underscored by Tavaglione’s saxophone flourishes and Smith’s restrained but intricate drumming. It’s technical mastery wrapped in melodic accessibility, though its polished precision can feel more calculated than spontaneous. “The Seduction” leans into jazz fusion’s cooperative spirit, with the quartet trading lines seamlessly—a study in musical chemistry. Yet, the energy occasionally wavers, caught between showcasing complexity and sustaining momentum. The set’s centerpiece, “Mysterious Arrangement,” reintroduces Gambale’s self-invented Gambale Tuning, pushing the boundaries of tonality. While impressive, the innovation verges on self-indulgence, occasionally losing emotional resonance in favor of intellectual exercises. “Thunder from Down Under,” plucked from Gambale’s 1990 catalog, gains a live reinterpretation that swings between muscular interplay and moments of overextension. As with much of the concert, technical precision sometimes overshadows visceral connection. “Passages” and “Thinking Out Loud,” drawn from Gambale’s mid-’90s releases, ground the set with thematic clarity, their live renditions tighter but less ambitious than newer pieces. Here, Smith and Fierabracci shine, anchoring Gambale’s flights of fancy with groove and stability. By the closer, “Brave New Guitar,” Gambale recalls his 1986 roots while infusing fresh urgency into its live execution, thanks in no small part to Tavaglione’s textured contributions. It’s climactic without veering into excess, ending the concert on a measured high note. “Concert With Class” is a study in technical brilliance, yet its occasionally detached delivery leaves emotion fighting for space among the virtuosity. |
![]() 7 . Soundgarden . Spoonman“Roger The Dodger” from Julian Lage’s “Modern Lore” stands as a tightly constructed exercise in musical malleability, where simplicity finds itself reshaped with an almost painterly use of color and dynamics. Within the framework of Lage’s second electric trio album—built upon the sonic groundwork of its predecessor “Arclight”—the track borrows heavily from the aesthetic of late-1950s “country jazz,” balancing nostalgia with a sharp contemporary lens. It’s less a piece that screams for attention and more one that captures a listener’s curiosity through its understated self-assurance. Lage navigates the tune’s structures with effortless calm, letting his skill speak in rippling whispers rather than grandiose statements. Jesse Harris’s production gives the track a rounded polish, though it’s hard not to suspect that part of its restraint comes from a carefully curated setlist that sought equilibrium rather than risk. “Roger The Dodger” offers neither the boldest melodies nor the most intricate arrangements on the album, but perhaps that’s the point—it acts as a grounding moment amid “Modern Lore’s” broader palette, demonstrating Lage’s knack for finding depth in the understated. Performed live, such as during his Paste Magazine session in 2018, the track showcases his technical mastery with an ease that can almost feel too effortless. It’s impressive, no doubt, but perhaps leaves one longing for a moment of raw unpredictability to puncture its smooth edges. Still, as part of “Modern Lore,” “Roger The Dodger” is less a singular statement and more a piece of a mosaic—sturdy, balanced, and self-contained. |
![]() 8 . The Black Crowes . Hotel Illness“Get You Back,” nestled among Shawn Lane’s live recordings, functions as a vibrant fingerprint of his technical brilliance and artistic sensibilities. Its presence on his live album “POT: Live” aligns with a period in Lane’s career where his genre-blurring guitar mastery became a defining characteristic. Recorded during a performance at MIT in Hollywood on February 5, 1993, the rendition captures not just Lane’s frenetic precision but also the emotional tensile strength he weaves into complex chord progressions, like E maj, A maj, and B maj, which drive the song’s structure. This isn’t guitar pyrotechnics for its own sake. Instead, Lane’s work rejects bombast for intricately layered phrasing that resists categorization, akin to an abstract painting where the brushstrokes reveal new dimensions upon closer examination. Gaining momentum in the Memphis music scene with bands like The Willys, his early Hendrix covers infused with original material gave hints of what would come. Yet “Get You Back” feels decisively Lane—commanding but unassuming, technically audacious but committed to songcraft. Its inclusion in a NAMM show lineup alongside Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani seems almost too fitting—a rare moment to see this otherwise underappreciated craftsman hold his own among technically formidable peers. The track, in many ways, epitomizes Lane’s lean into both virtuosity and subtlety, eschewing the self-aggrandizing grandeur often tethered to the shred-guitar era. There’s intent buried between the notes, even if the notes, at times, outpace that intent before you can fully process it. “Get You Back” may not place itself neatly within any hall of commercial fame or mainstream recognition, but its resonance as a piece of Lane’s unorthodox legacy persists. The wider relevance of his career, illustrated by later international tours and respected collaborations, always circles back to these early sparks of genius. |
![]() 9 . Guns N’ Roses . Civil War“Holy Mother” by Eric Clapton is both an introspective cry for solace and a measured reflection of spiritual longing, all steeped in the turbulence of the late 1980s. The song, tucked into Clapton’s 1988 album “August” under producer Phil Collins’ glossy, synth-heavy wings, is equal parts raw prayer and polished studio confection. Emerging during a time when Clapton grappled visibly with alcoholism and inner chaos, the track enlists co-writer Stephen Bishop, who first pieced it together in his room before Clapton fleshed it out into its full form. In its recorded incarnation, the song is steeped in personal vulnerability but somewhat burdened by the era’s overwrought production aesthetic, which occasionally feels at odds with its delicate emotional undercurrent. Arguably its most compelling moment arrives not on the studio version but in Clapton’s live performance with Luciano Pavarotti, where the duo, supported by the East London Gospel Choir, melts together into a striking blend of blues and operatic gravitas. For all its poignancy, though, “Holy Mother” failed to resonate widely, peaking at a lukewarm 95 on the UK’s Official Singles Downloads Chart—a chart performance befitting neither the stature of Clapton nor the reverence of the song’s themes. Faint echoes of Mark Knopfler’s “The Princess Bride” score in the wavering melodic structure are hard to ignore, though whether these were conscious influences or coincidental parallels remains in the realm of conjecture. “Holy Mother” exists less as a commercial centerpiece in Clapton’s discography and more as a quietly enduring artifact of an artist wrestling with himself, suspended between polished vulnerability and the era’s sonic tendencies. |
![]() 10 . Deep Purple . King of DreamsJoe Bonamassa’s performance of “Beck’s Bolero / Rice Pudding” relishes in its origins while reframing the material through his own interpretive lens. Originally crafted by Jeff Beck and his cadre of collaborators—Jimmy Page, Nicky Hopkins, Tony Newman, and Ron Wood—“Beck’s Bolero” serves as a linchpin of British blues and rock lineage. Performed live on July 7, 2017, at London’s Old Royal Naval College during the Greenwich Music Time event, Bonamassa situates the track within the context of his “British Blues Explosion Live” album, released in 2018. Here, the guitarist approaches the weight of this heritage not with reverence alone but with a deliberate precision, parsing out the melodic intricacy of the piece while layering it with his hallmark tonal control. The transition into “Rice Pudding” nods to Beck’s rock-forward tendencies, and Bonamassa hones in on the riff-driven structure with a clarity suggesting not mimicry but homage. Unlike the florid tendencies that sometimes swamp live tributes, his rendition maintains a deliberate restraint, trusting the material’s original heft to resonate without excess dramatization. Not without significance is the fact of its repeated inclusion in subsequent live tours and events, such as the KTBA Cruise in 2019, which speaks to Bonamassa’s commitment to preserving this moment in his repertoire. The recording exudes technical mastery, but the emotional stakes can feel dwarfed by its meticulous execution at points. A tighter alignment between the evocative luster of “Beck’s Bolero” and the swagger within “Rice Pudding” might have deepened its resonance. What remains, however, is a study in craft—sharp, polished, and unwaveringly respectful of its pioneering antecedents. |
![]() 11 . Aerosmith . Walk This Way“Mystery Mountain,” performed by Neal Schon and company on the 2018 live album and concert video “Journey Through Time,” oscillates between homage and reiteration. Originally hailing from Journey’s 1976 album “Next,” this track captures a transitional phase in the band’s sonic evolution, nudging away from their progressive rock inclinations toward something more accessible, though not yet radio-dominant. In the live rendition, Neal Schon’s guitar work is reliable, weaving a fabric of bluesy, jagged riffs that echo the song’s early ambition without fully modernizing it. The presence of Gregg Rolie, flaunting his dual role on keyboards and vocals, adds texture but occasionally feels dated, as though he’s still treading the same musical territory mapped decades ago. Marco Mendoza’s bass is sturdy, keeping rhythm intact but rarely leaping beyond utilitarian duty, while Deen Castronovo’s dual contributions on drums and vocals offer a surprising twist—channeling both precision behind the kit and dependability as a vocalist. John Varn rounds out the ensemble on keyboards and vocals, though his input feels overshadowed by the weight of nostalgia anchoring this lineup. Recorded at The Independent in San Francisco, this performance carried the noble purpose of raising funds for victims of the 2017 North Bay fires. While the intent elevates the evening, the song struggles to connect on a broader scale, its performance more a timestamp than a reinterpretation. “Mystery Mountain” serves its purpose for fans dedicated to Journey’s deeper cuts but does little to expand its horizons. |
![]() 12 . Pantera . WalkThe 1983 live renditions of Eddie Van Halen’s solos—“Eruption,” “Cathedral,” and a segment within “Secrets”—performed at Buenos Aires’ Estadio Obras Sanitarias, are as much exercises in technical prowess as they are showcases of his boundless creativity. “Eruption,” originating from Van Halen’s 1978 debut album, remains a sonic blueprint for aspiring guitarists. Its two-handed tapping and sweep picking techniques, both at their most distinctive here, still surprise with their seamless execution. This specific live performance amplifies the studio version’s raw energy. Where the original feels like a tightly-packed firework, the stage version seems to let the flames linger just enough to burn brighter. Yet, while the virtuosity remains unmatched, the spontaneity often gets weighed down by its clinical precision, trimming the chaos without quite replicating its studio immediacy. Meanwhile, “Cathedral” from the 1982 album “Diver Down” feels like the polar opposite. Here, Eddie’s volume swells create a sonic shimmer that’s part hymn, part apparition. The cathedral-like resonance distances it from typical rock solos, though the technique, while inventive, leans more on aesthetic than on emotional heft. Its beauty seems more intellectual than visceral—like watching a craftsman carve marble but rarely feeling the weight of the statue itself. The segment within “Secrets,” also off “Diver Down,” brings the subtler side of Eddie’s playing into focus. While the soloing doesn’t entirely detach itself from the melodic structure of the song, it feels unanchored in places, as if experimenting with rhythmic space. It’s here that the live interpretation borders on indulgence, only occasionally recapturing the breezy charm of its studio counterpart. Collectively, these performances straddle the line between innovation and indulgence. Eddie Van Halen’s technical mastery radiates throughout, but the live context—particularly for Buenos Aires 1983—sometimes sacrifices emotional resonance for showmanship. A guitar genius at his apex, perhaps, yet not untouched by the weight of his own expectations. |
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