So, what have you been listening to lately?

[uwe]

Finally, some gender-appropriate hair (pop) metal, Vixen's new Live Fire album ...



... of course the Live CD sounds better than the above audience recording ...



... and features a studio bonus track ...

[amptech]

They are great! Or... were great That Daytona beach clip on youtube (87? 88?) is an example of Vixen on fire, you ask me. They were a much better band than many of the young guys back then.

[Dave W]

L7's Suzy Gardner after crowd surfing at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, about 1992: "Somebody scratched my pussy! Which is good 'cause I've got a yeast infection!"

[uwe]

Yum, what a grainy remark!

[Dave W]

Yum, what a grainy remark!

They acted raunchy, but a couple of friends who knew them back in the day said they weren't that way in private life.

[Dave W]

[4stringer77]

Very pleasurable listening indeed Dave. 

[Dave W]

Very pleasurable listening indeed Dave. 

There's a lot to be said for listening with your eyes. 

Video is 48 years old. Those girls are about my age.

[gearHed289]

Very pleasurable listening indeed Dave. 

Um, YES! 

[uwe]

There's a lot to be said for listening with your eyes. 

Video is 48 years old. Those girls are about my age.

Hi Dave, still remember me?!

[uwe]

They acted raunchy, but a couple of friends who knew them back in the day said they weren't that way in private life.

Yeast is no laughing matter, a most resilient little flora form.

[uwe]

The so-captioned "American Deep Purple" aka Legs Diamond:





I never knew their older stuff (the above tracks are from their 1977 debut), I only heard about the band via a then band buddy in the 80ies who played me this here (which I - though very 80ies - immediately liked and still like):



The Deep Purple comparison even on the older stuff puzzles me a bit. Yes they have a loud and dominant Hammond in their sound and more guitar/organ interplay than most US bands, but that is about it. And the singer is probably closer to Ian Gillan in his approach to vocal melodies than he is to Robert Plant, but still a mile away from a copy cat. He's also closer to Dan McCafferty of Nazareth than to either Robert Plant or Ian Gillan in my ears. (I even wonder whether a formative Axl Rose listened to him a bit?)

I guess the fact that Derek Lawrence (producer of the Mk I DP albums which btw weren't great productions even for the time) produced their debut had them typecasted from the start.

[Dave W]

Hi Dave, still remember me?!

That creature looks like a nutty neighbor of mine.

[uwe]

I loved "Dinosaurs" ("Die Dinos" in German, I sometimes watched them with my kids back in the 90ies), sort of The Simpsons in Jim Henson reptile drag. The grandma ("Ethel") was obviously patterned after the mother figure in Golden Girls ("Sophia") and Earl Sneed Sinclair, I swear, was really Ernest Borgnine with scales.

[slinkp]

I've never been a big metal guy. But for some reason the past few weeks I've been really into Anthrax.
For the first time in my life, at age 47!  Can't explain it.

The rhythm section (Frank Bello and Charlie Benante) are really great, they have a groove I really enjoy - on some songs it has a bit of swing to it, which is not something you can say about a lot of the thrash bands.
And I like that they are just more fun than a lot of metal, a lot of which is so relentlessly and seriously grim that I get tired of it pretty easily.

I'm not much into the singer though. Oh well.

Here's a good track: