[Rick and Roll]

Every once in a while I like to spin the heavy stuff, and figured Halloween was a good excuse.

Yngwie Malmsteen - Far Beyond The Sun

This cut, the second off of his debut "Rising Force", is a monster guitar lead that even blew the doors off Dr. Dot's house when I played it on the show a year ago. Has Jens Johannsen on keys...the reason I mention that is that he is a touring member and sometime studio contributor for our next band....

Mastermind - cuts from the EP "Broken"

Broken
Break Me Down
Weak & Powerless
The Queen of Sheba
William Tell Overture

Finally got back in touch will Bill Berends, guitar and midi wizard of the longtime New Jersey-based band. Seen them numerous times in Baltimore, but not in a long while. Used to be a three-piece with brother Rich on drums, a true monster. Nowadays they have Tracy McShane on vocals and Laura Johnson on bass. The Overture is an old concert favorite (and off of the Brainstorm record too), and "Weak" is a Perfect Circle song.

Ayreon - from "The Final Experiment"

The Awareness
Eyes of Time
The Banishment

Arjen Anthony Lucassen's first Ayreon CD is a bit heavier than the others...here's three cuts from the recently released 10th anniversary edition.

Opeth - Ghost of Perdition

This great opener from "Ghost Reveries" features Mikael Akerfeldt's three distinct voices. However, one of them is Cookie Monster! Powerful ending.

Michael Schenker Group - Desert Song

Nice melodic number, from "Assault Attack", featuring Graham Bonnet on vocals.

Iron Maiden - from "A Matter of Life and Death"

For the Greater Good of God
Lord of Light
The Legacy

The three last songs from their 2006 release, they're still at it and show that pushing 50 doesn't mean any drop-off.

April Wine - Sign of the Gypsy Queen

A big band in my high school days, Canadian rockers. This song was a bit more intelligent than most of the fare of the day.

Wolfmother - from their debut

Where Eagles Have Been
Mind's Eye
Witchcraft
Love Train

No pretenses about this, just straight-ahead rock. Even though "Witchcraft" has a killer flute solo, I'm not pretending this is prog. But it's a lot of fun. No "Love Train" is NOT an O'Jays cover!

Braindance - Compund Fracture

A long cut from "Fear Itself", a very interesting CD and band. Saw them at Progscape in 1995 in Baltimore (Mastermind was there too one year, maybe that one). Has a female shredder, Vora Vor. Not sure what their other CD "Redemption" sounds like.

Joe Satriani - Surfing With the Alien

Surfing With the Alien
Ice 9
Crushing Day
Always With Me, Always With You
Satch Boogie
Hill of the Skull
Circles
Lords of Karma
Midnight
Echo

What a bitchin' record. After his 1990 show, on the "Blue Dream" tour (where he opened with the title cut, a dead ringer for "Mihalis"), I was hooked. With the incomparable Stu Hamm on bass and Jonathan Mover on drums, it was easily one of the best shows I'd ever seen. Joe plays everything but drums on this (except for Stu hamm on Ice 9), and I think it's unparalled as a guitar record. "Circles" lulls you to sleep, then grabs you with a wicked lead. The lead on "Crushing Day" is aptly named. And there's some softer parts (track 4), which fortunately closed the above-mentioned show. If he didn't calm the crowd down, they'd probably have burned the city down.

Play it loud for the trick or treaters!