The Police - Live! (1995)

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Live! is a live album by The Police, released in 1995 on compact disc and cassette tape. It is the first live album of the band and the only one covering the period when it was active, being released nine years after their formal break-up. 

According to Andy Summers, the idea of releasing an album of live material by The Police went back as far as 1982. 

Up until that point, a few live tracks had only surfaced on B-sides and compilations such as Urgh! A Music War (1980). 

The plan was to have a new album of the band to act as a stopgap between Ghost in the Machine (1981) and Synchronicity (1983). 

The record was mixed and mastered in Canada but never released. Similar plans took place in 1984 at the tail of the band's Synchronicity tour, but the project was shelved again, this time in favour of a greatest hits album (Every Breath You Take: The Singles). 

In 1995, thanks to the technical possibilities and greater running time offered by the CD format, the idea regained momentum and Summers was invited to produce. The album features the band performing at two very distinct periods of its career. 

Disc one contains almost the complete concert on 27 November 1979 at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. 

It features mostly material from the first two albums, Outlandos d'Amour and Reggatta de Blanc, as well as songs only released as singles or B-sides such as "Fall Out" and "Landlord". The performance was broadcast by the WBCN (FM) radio in Boston. Disc two contains excerpts from two concerts on 2–3 November 1983 in Atlanta, Georgia at The Omni during the Synchronicity tour for the album of the same name. 

On this occasion the band was augmented by three backing vocalists. Both shows were widely known to fans as they had been circulating in bootleg format for many years. 

The 1983 shows were also featured in the 1984 Synchronicity Concert VHS and the 2005 DVD release, and a live version of "Tea in the Sahara" had been released as the B-side of "King of Pain" in 1984.

Live! contributed to refresh the popularity of The Police about a decade after their break-up, at a time when all three members were enjoying successful solo careers. 

It also had the merit of showcasing the band's live activity, and their propensity for rearranging and extending known songs such as "Roxanne" and "Walking on the Moon". 

An edited version of "Can't Stand Losing You" from the Boston performance was released as a single and reached number 27 in the UK charts, while the album itself reached number 25.

Disc 1 (1979 - Orpheum WBCN / Live in Boston) 

1.  "Next to You" - 2:57 

2.  "So Lonely" - 7:32 

3.  "Truth Hits Everybody" - 2:34 

4.  "Walking on the Moon" - 4:59 

5.  "Hole in My Life" - 4:08 

6.  "Fall Out" (Stewart Copeland) - 2:46 

7.  "Bring On the Night" - 5:16 

8.  "Message in a Bottle" - 4:27 

9.  "The Bed's Too Big Without You" - 8:53 

10.  "Peanuts" Sting, Copeland - 3:07 

11.  "Roxanne" - 4:42 

12.  "Can't Stand Losing You/ Reggatta de Blanc"  (Sting, Copeland, Andy Summers) - 7:54 

13.  "Landlord"  (Sting, Copeland) - 2:27 

14.  "Born in the 50s" - 4:18 

15.  "Be My Girl – Sally"  (Sting, Summers) - 4:51 

Disc 2 (1983 - Synchronicity Concert / Live in Atlanta)

1.  "Synchronicity I" - 2:52 

2.  "Synchronicity II" - 4:44 

3.  "Walking in Your Footsteps" - 4:54 

4.  "Message in a Bottle" - 4:35 

5.  "O My God" - 3:36 

6.  "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" - 4:32 

7.  "Wrapped Around Your Finger" - 5:21 

8.  "Tea in the Sahara" - 4:52 

9.  "Spirits in the Material World" - 2:57 

10.  "King of Pain" - 5:53 

11.  "Don't Stand So Close to Me" - 3:36 

12.  "Every Breath You Take" - 4:37 

13.  "Roxanne" - 6:10 

14.  "Can't Stand Losing You"/ "Reggatta de Blanc"  (Sting, Copeland, Summers) - 6:48 

15.  "So Lonely" - 7:26 

(All songs written by Sting except when noted.) 

The Police

• Andy Summers – guitar, Taurus pedals, backing vocals, spoken word on "Be My Girl – Sally", keyboards
• Sting – bass, lead vocals, synthesizers, oboe
• Stewart Copeland – drums, percussion, xylophone, backing vocals

Additional Personnel (Disc 2 only)

• Michelle Cobb – backing vocals
• Dolette McDonald – backing vocals
• Tessa Niles – backing vocals

    Production

• Producer: Andy Summers
• Executive producers: The Police and Miles Copeland III
• Engineers: Wolfgang Amadeus and Eddie King
• Assistant engineer: Jun Murakawa
• Photography: Lynn Goldsmith and Jill Furmanovsky
• Art direction and design: Norman Moore

Notes

Released: 29 May 1995 

Recorded: 27 November 1979, Orpheum Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts; 2–3 November 1983, The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia 

Genre: 

Length: 144:07 

Label - A&M Records

Glenn Frey - Strange Weather (1992)

Strange Weather is the fourth solo studio album by Glenn Frey, the guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the Eagles. It was released in 1992 by MCA. 

Though considered an improvement from Frey's previous album by most critics, it went largely unnoticed by the public. 

It was a commercial disappointment, failing to chart in the US, and none of its three singles reached the Top 40, a first for Frey. "Part of Me, Part of You" was earlier released as part of the Thelma and Louise soundtrack and peaked at #55.

With his solo career fading, Glenn Frey got serious on his fourth album, but many of the album's sentiments sounded strange coming from him. 

"He Took Advantage" was subtitled "Blues for Ronald Reagan," but it came more than three years after Reagan's 

retirement, and Frey's 1984 song "Better in the U.S.A." could have served as Reagan's campaign song. 

On "I've Got Mine," Frey sang about how people in limousines don't care about "us," but when was the last time he was on the outside of a limousine looking in? 

Frey was out of his league going for the kind of philosophical/political territory better handled by his old partner Don Henley. So, although Strange Weather signaled a new commitment by Frey to his career, it missed the charts entirely.

(The album concludes with "Part of Me, Part of You," an Eagles-like tune used in the 1991 film Thelma and Louise.) 

Track listing

1. "Silent Spring" [instrumental prelude]" (Glenn Frey, Jay Oliver) - 0:40 

2. "Long Hot Summer" (Frey, Jack Tempchin, David "Hawk" Wolinski) - 5:17 

3. "Strange Weather" (Frey, Oliver, Tempchin) - 5:03 

4. "Aqua Tranquillo" [instrumental]" (Frey) - 0:50 

5. "Love in the 21st Century" (Frey, Kortchmar, Tempchin) - 6:12 

6. "He Took Advantage (Blues for Ronald Reagan)" - 4:42 

7. "River of Dreams" - 6:07 

8. "I've Got Mine" - 5:35 

9. "Rising Sun" [instrumental]" (Frey, Oliver) - 0:38 

10."Brave New World" - 6:20 

11. "Delicious" - 3:47 

12. "A Walk in the Dark" (Frey, Oliver) - 5:18 

13. "Before the Ship Goes Down" - 4:31 

14. "Big Life" - 4:18 

15. "Part of Me, Part of You" - 5:57 

16. "Ain't it Love" - 4:04 

Personnel

• Glenn Frey – lead vocals, backing vocals, all instruments and programming (1-14), acoustic guitar (15), arrangements
• Jay Oliver – all instruments and programming (1-14), additional keyboards (15)
• Robbie Kilgore – additional keyboards (1-14)
• Mike Harlow – additional programming (1-14)
• Scott Thurston – acoustic piano (15)
• Benmont Tench – organ (15)
• Mark Goldenberg – guitar (15)
• Jerry Scheff – bass (15)
• Kenny Aronoff – drums (15)
• Lenny Castro – percussion (1-14)
• Al Garth – sax solo (7)
• Chris Mostert – sax solo (8)
• The Heart Attack Horns:
  • Bill Bergman – tenor saxophone
  • Greg Smith – baritone saxophone, arrangements
  • John Berry, Jr. – trumpet
  • Roy Wiegand – trumpet
• Rosemary Butler – backing vocals
• Valerie Carter – backing vocals
• Bobby Martin – backing vocals

Production

• Producers – Glenn Frey and Elliot Scheiner (All tracks); Don Was (Track 15).
• Engineers – Mike Harlow and Elliot Scheiner
• Second Engineers – Tim Nitz and Chris Rich
• Recorded at Bill Schnee Studios, Cherokee Studios and Soundcastle (Hollywood, CA); Mad Dog Ranch (Crawford, CO).
• Mixed by Elliot Scheiner at Mad Dog Ranch.
• Digitally Edited and Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound (New York, NY).
• Production Coordination – Ivy Skoff
• Art Direction – Vartan Kurjian
• Design – Sarajo Frieden
• Cover Art – Carl Johansen
• Photography – Caroline Greyshock

Notes

Released:  June 23, 1992 

Recorded:  1991 

Genre:  Soft Rock 

Length.  65:13 

Label - MCA Records

Gung Ho - Raw Meat (1991)

Gung Ho is een Nederlandse 90ties powerfunk band. 

Zevenkoppige powerfunkformatie met leden die hun sporen ruimschoots verdiend hebben in groepen als Candy Dulfer's Funky Stuff, Lois Lane, Diesel, Margriet Eshuys Band en One Track Charlie (Grote Prijs Van Nederland-winnaars in 1988).

Ook een van de vele groepen die begin jaren negentig (hard) rock met funk en rap ging mengen. En dat gebeurde ook in Nederland.

"Freedom" haalde de tipparade nog en "Shotgun Wedding" heb ik meen ik ook wel eens op de radio gehoord.
Klinkt niet onaardig, maar haalt lang niet het niveau van bv. een Urban Dance Squad.

Track listing

1.  President  (3:34) 

2.  Acid Rain  (3:37) 

3.  Would You Believe That  (4:18) 

4.  Obsession  (4:03) 

5.  Be My Girl  (3:34) 

6.  Shotgun Wedding  (5:09) 

7.  Freedom  (5:46) 

8.  Phone Number  (5:02) 

9.  Gimme the Power  (4:01) 

10.  Checkmate  (4:15) 

11.  Hard Times  (3:32) 

12.  Raw Meat   (Music By, Lyrics By – Hans Siemerink, John Helder, Ludwig Smith, Menace, Paul Keuzenkamp) (4:51) 

Companies, etc.

• Marketed By – CNR Records
• Distributed By – CNR Records
• Phonographic Copyright ℗ – CNR Records B.V.
• Copyright © – CNR Records B.V.
• Published By – The Company Of The Two P(i)eters
• Published By – Johalupa Songs

Credits

• Arranged By – Gung Ho, Menace
• Arranged By [Background Vocals] – Menace 
• Arranged By [Horns And Strings] – Klaas Berings, Menace 
• Co-producer [Additional Production] – John Helder, Ludwig Smith, Menace 
• Mixed By – Attie Bauw, Menace 
• Music By, Lyrics By – Hans Siemerink, John Helder, Ludwig Smith, Paul Keuzenkamp
• Producer – Menace 

Notes

Release: 1991

Genre: Funk

Totale tijdsduur: 51:42

Label - Bite Records

Steve Vai - Passion And Warfare (1990)

Passion and Warfare is the second studio album by guitarist Steve Vai, released in May 1990 through Relativity and Epic Records. It has been certified Gold by the RIAA.

Passion and Warfare was written based on a series of dream sequences that Vai had when he was younger, and in the guitar music book of the album, Vai sums it up as "Jimi Hendrix meets Jesus Christ at a party that Ben Hur threw for Mel Blanc". 

It was all recorded in The Mothership studio at his home in the Hollywood Hills, a 1,600-square-foot (150 m²) building in which his guitar parts for Whitesnake's 1989 album Slip of the Tongue were also recorded. 

As such, Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale has small spoken parts on the album; Coverdale, Adrian Vandenberg and Rudy Sarzo are credited with backing vocals. Vai states that planning the album started as early as 1982, but was shelved after joining the David Lee Roth band and not picked up again until parting ways with Roth in 1989.

Widely acclaimed as his best album, Passion and Warfare finds Steve Vai coming into his own as a composer, as well as bypassing vocals almost entirely. 

His style isn't quite as derivative of influences Frank Zappa and Joe Satriani as it was six years earlier on Flex-able; while some of Vai's sense of humor is still evident on tracks like the cock rock strut of "The Audience Is Listening," it is mostly replaced by a spiritual reflectiveness on ballads like "For the Love of God" and "Blue Powder" and dignified, committed rockers like "I Would Love To" and "Liberty." Vai is a more distinguished composer than most of his guitar-shredder contemporaries, and rather than simply showing off his technique, he isn't afraid to experiment or take chances in his playing. Thus, Passion and Warfare is arguably the richest and best hard rock guitar-virtuoso album of the '80s. 

Track listing

1.  Liberty - 2:03 

2.  Erotic Nightmares - 4:15 

3.  The Animal - 4:01 

4.  Answers - 2:56 

5.  The Riddle - 6:24 

6.  Ballerina 12/24 - 1:43 

7.  For the Love of God - 6:03 

8.  The Audience Is Listening - 5:30 

9.  I Would Love To - 3:41 

10.  Blue Powder - 4:44 

11.  Greasy Kid's Stuff - 2:58 

12.  Alien Water Kiss - 1:10 

13.  Sisters - 4:07 

14.  Love Secrets - 3:40 

(All tracks are written by Steve Vai.)

Personnel

• Steve Vai – guitar, Eventide H3000, keyboard (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 11), bass (tracks 8, 9, 11), arrangement, engineering, production
• David Rosenthal – keyboard (tracks 2, 9, 13), background vocals
• Pia Maiocco (credited as Pia Vai) – keyboard on one chord (track 4)
• Bob Harris – keyboard (track 10), background vocals
• Chris Frazier – drums (tracks 1–5, 8, 10, 11, 13)
• Tris Imboden – drums (tracks 7, 9)
• Stuart Hamm – bass (tracks 2–5, 7, 10, 13)
• Nancy Fagen – "vocals & hysteria" (track 8)
• Jamie Firlotte – boy vocals (track 8
• David Coverdale – background vocals
• Rudy Sarzo – background vocals
• Adrian Vandenberg – background vocals
• Pascal Fillet – background vocals
• Laurel Fishman – background vocals
• Lillian Vai – background vocals
• Pam Vai – background vocals
• Joel Kaith – background vocals
• Corky Tanassy – background vocals
• Jamie Kornberg – background vocals
• Lauren Kornberg – background vocals
• Corinne Larue – background vocals
• Famin' – background vocals
• Darla Albright – background vocals
• Laura Gross – background vocals
• Rupert Henry – background vocals
• Suzanna Harris – background vocals
• Julian Angel Vai – background vocals
• Pascal Fillet – mixing
• Bernie Grundman – mastering

Notes

Released:  May 1990 

Recorded at:  Studio The Mothership 

Genre:  Instrumental rock, progressive metal 

Length:  53:15 

Label - Relativity Records