Did I mention that the logo for Prawn Song is similar to the Page/Plant label Swan Song's logo? This promo CD includes Shave My Face Off showcasing M.I.R.V.'s weirdness, Sausage's Riddles are Abound Tonight with Claypool's excellent bass and Todd Huth's cool guitar, the Charlie Hunter Trio's Fred's Life, Alphabet Soup's Walkin' Roots, and From the Corn we have Carolina Do Nutt'n Worm. From what I've heard, the last one is a Les Claypool solo performance and it rocks! It starts off sounding a bit like Another One Bites the Dust by Queen, and it has a cool synth-pop industrial flavour to it. Very novel stuff.
I won this album and while I wouldn't recommend that you go out and buy it, I do think it has some cool tunes. These include We are the Champions (Queen), Gloryland (Daryl Hall and Sounds of Blackness), Blow by Blow (Fleetwood Mac), Celebration '94 (Kool and the Gang---wonder what happened to them?), and one of the best guitar instrumentals I've heard in a while: Luz, Amor Y Vida by Santana.
Summer Daze is a release featuring artists on the Summer Daze tour. The tour is comprised of Classic Rock legends Stepphewolf, Foghat, Blue Öyster Cult (BOC), and Pat Travers. The album contains some fine cuts from these bands. Steppenwolf with John Kay on vocals is featured with some newer cuts including Bad Attitude, Rocket Ship and Make the Best of What You Got. While none of these match the superlative power of songs like Magic Carpet Ride and Born to be Wild, they're catchy and bound to appeal to rock fans. In particular, the subtle syncopated drumming of Ron Hurst and the keyboard work of Michael Wilson add a nice touch to the songs.
Blue Öyster Cult is featured with live versions of their classics (Don't Fear) The Reaper and Godzilla, and a studio version of a "new" song, Power Underneath Despair. The live versions have their moments (the guitar solos at the end of The Reaper and in Gozilla are terrific and the bass solo in Godzilla is cool). The new song Power Underneath Despair, written in conjunction with sci-fi author John Shirley, is an odd song. It's got the classic doom-like feel with a dash of punk that can be associated with BOC, and Buck Dharma's guitars really shine here, but the chorus is a bit cheesy I think. Still, this is a great song and I am looking forward to the new BOC release if all the songs are of this calibre or better.
Foghat is back with the original London line-up featuring Dave Peverett on vocals/guitars, Rod Price on guitars, Tony Stevens on bass, and Roger Earl on the skins. I am not too familiar with their music, but the title of their 1994 album, Return of the Boogie Men, I think describes this outing aptly. The Foghat songs featured on this release are Honey Hush, Nothing But Trouble, and You'll Be Mine. The jams in these three songs are pretty cool.
Pat Travers is one of the more under-rated guitarists in rock 'n' roll and in this album he's given a chance for exposure. I think he fits in quite well with the other rock legends, though I think his songs are better off as instrumentals.
I'd say this is an album is a must-get if you want a memoir of the concert or if you want to find out what you missed.
This release focuses mostly on bands that walked the line between metal, rock, and progressive music during the 70s and 80s. These include Yes, Styx, ELO Part II, Pat Benatar, and Deep Purple. While it is better than Rockin' The 80's, it's not as good as The Best of Metal.