Lehigh Valley Rocks
By Vix
(SugarBuzz Oklahoma City)
SugarBuzz Magazine
One of the bonus' in writing for Sugarbuzz is I get loads and loads of CD from local bands all over the US. These guys pour their heart, soul and all their money into a CD in hopes they make it big. This is nothing new. Before the invention of CD's there were cassettes and so on. Back in the 80s it was the same. Many bands hoping to make it and 90% of them died off with the change of taste of the music mobs, closing of venues that supported their passion to play and of course internal turmoil within bands.
How many times have you been sittin around and you think "I wonder what happened to "insert your favorite band from your town here"? Well Butch Maloney and Tom Lefevre did just that. They started talking one day about the bands that used to rock their hometown Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania. In conversation they thought about how cool it would be to put together a compilation of all the bands that they loved from between 1984 and 1994. After a little time and narrowing down the scope of music to Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal may I present the 2 CD set Lehigh Valley Rocks.
I can’t review every song on the CD because if I even tried not only would I be here writing forever but you would be thinking DAMN this is long. And my point is not to just get the info to you kiddies but also to peak your interest enough that you get off your asses and pick up a copy for yourself. So I am going to highlight a few of my favorites.
CD 1 opens with Tease singing "Party Hardy". This song is appropriate for an opening song. It captures the throaty guitars of the 80's, the lyrics talk about how we all lived back in the 80's and the singers voice is exactly what I remember about the 80's hair bands.
The second song on CD 1 is my favorite on both the discs. Sweet Tequila belts out "I won’t be Crying". If you listen to it you know why I love it so much. It hooks you from the first 3 notes and I can sing along by the time the second bridge comes up. It has a little AC/DC sound to it and it just flat out rocks balls. Shok Grafitti and Destroyer throw in a heavier edged metal sound to the songs with "Push Comes to Shove" and "When Morning Comes". Idle Threats and Mizery serve up the power ballads that 80's bands were famous for with "Find A Way" and "Lost Without You". And wrappin up CD1 is The Mob with a song called "In for the Kill" and Washed with yet the best ballad on this CD "Alone".
CD 2 opens with The Mob again singing "Angry Young Child". This is a damn good band and no wonder Butch and Tom put them on this compilation more than once. This CD is a considerable amount heavier than CD 1. It takes you back to the days when the metal scene was changing all over the US. Going from what we so lovingly now a days call "Hair Metal" or "Glam" to the rougher heavier metal of the early 90's. Luckily we aren’t having any music with the cookie monster vocals that you can’t understand any of the lyrics. It is heavier but it is mastered so well that you can distinctly hear the vocals and lyrics.
I really love Kings Chamber singing "Whenever I'm Near" and "Once upon a Cross" By Apathy. You don’t get to slide through this CD without a ballad though and it is served up in a big way by Kraken with "The Dark". Do me a favor when you listen to this song, close your eyes and listen and tell me, is it just me or is that Don Dokken singing? Damn, this coulda been on Tooth and Nail and gone gold. This is by far my second favorite song in the set.
I wish every city had a couple of guys that would do something like this. It really makes me reminisce about being in Dallas and the bands that were huge to me back then. How I would love to have more of these kind of CD in my mail slot.
Kudos to Butch and Tom for pulling off a great collection of music that I am sure a lot of people there will appreciate for a long time to come. I am not from that area of the US and I haven’t ever been there, but the music clearly rocked the house and unfortunately a handful of talented guys didn’t make it big and they should have. So stop telling yourself "I won’t know any of that music so I don’t need to get the CD". Yes you do. Diversity is the key to expanding your music taste and knowledge...You owe it to yourself to pick this up. Seriously!
You can check the Lehigh Valley MySpace pages at the links below and give the tunes a listen. And when they have infected your brain and you realize how ridiculous you look carrying your laptop around listening to that one song you got stuck in your head you will buy the whole thing. There are a lot of artists and songs on the CD's I didn’t mention so please listen to all of them and see who you like the best.
Cuz like the CD Cover says "Lehigh Valley Rocks!"
Butch Thanks for turning me on to this amazing collection from your past! Great job!
Vix in the Armpit signing off "Peace Fuckers"
http://www.lehighvalleyrocks.com