Kiss - I Was Made For Lovin' You

This is Kiss in their disco era! Paul Stanley had wanted to write a disco song, to prove how easy it was to write one. So he wrote it with Desmond Child and Vini Poncia, changed it around a little and this rock disco song took shape. Paul took it to the band proclaiming he had a disco song to record. The band recorded it but weren't too happy with it as it didn't sound like Kiss but the track sold over a million in the States and managed to reach the top 50 here in the UK. It is off the album Dynasty which also came out in 1979.

Kiss never really had many hits, singles or albums here in the UK in the 70's but it would be the 80's when they did better and became huge concert draws, I saw them live twice in the 80's and they blew me away with the shows, not bad concidering I didn't really like the band till Lick It Up came out in 1983! Here is the scan of my record and label, an Italian import!

Judas Priest - Unleashed In The East

Venturing into heavy metal, this was the first metal album I really listened to and it just blew me away. The sheer power from the music, the amazing vocals of Rob Halford and those awesome twin guitars of KK Downing and Glen Tipton made this album make me want to listen to more of this Heavy Metal that was slowly making noise in the charts amongst the new wave and punk bands.

Unleashed In The East, or Unleashed In The Studio as it is sometimes is known, is a very polished live album, that's why it has a maybe unfair extra title as it does sounds like a heavily overdubbed live album. Everything on the album sounds so clear, but Rob Halford has said that it is a totally live album but he had to overdub his vocals in a live setting as the original concert vocals (which were recorded from 2 shows in Japan) had been damaged. There are a couple of really good covers on this album, Fleetwood Mac's Green Manalishi and a great version of Joan Baez Diamonds And Rust featuring Rob's soaring high vocals and the trademark twin guitars. Released in 1979 the album hit the UK Top 10 and started Judas Priest on a world wide domination of the metal scene.

A Little More About Me!

As long as I can remember music and records have always been around me, my Parents are into rock n roll, my Aunt always played the Beatles and the Rolling Stones records. Mother tells the story that I actually learnt to read by reading record labels! But it was my big sister that really got me into music, in the early 70's she was really into Glam rock and had a crush on the Sweet & Marc Bolan. The music then was amazing, exciting and shocking (well to the adults) especially when Bowie hit the scene wearing make up and Elton John dressed, welll like he always did so OTT!

My sister always wrote the top 20 charts out every week and I used to visit her and we'd spend a Sunday listening to the radio or she'd play the previous weeks top 40 she'd recorded onto cassette off the radio. So I did the same, I'd listen to the charts, record the songs I liked and bought singles when I had pocket money. So it was Glam rock I first really got into, Sweet being my faves of that period followed by T Rex, Slade and Queen. After the Punk explosion which I didn't really get into till after event really but I loved a lot of the new wave bands that were coming into the charts, Blondie, The Police & Ian Dury. The end of the seventies came New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (Or NWOBHM as it was refered to in the music papers) which brought bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden & Motorhead, I found heavy metal to be just so full of energy and it was exciting like I found Glam rock to be!

The beginning of the eighties was Electronic music, the sound of the synths and the alien sounds that came with the tracks at that time. Gary Numan, Human League and Kraftwerk were big names connected with the music. Which led to the New Romantics who were around from 80-83 with electronic sounds and stylish clothes to match the music who brought us Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Soft Cell and ABC.

To me after around 1985 I think music started to go downhill, there wasn't anything exciting for me, it seemed to turn into safe pop music or Club hits or even R&B and Rap (which I hate, I've tried to listen Rap & R&B but apart from the odd track it's just not my scene man)! Then towards the late 90's came dance music and Trance which I really love listening to which brings back all the electronic music I'd always liked and pulsating beats of trance music brings me up to date!

Here is a photo of a very small part of my 7'' vinyl collection, I'm still sorting it all out, it takes time but I'll get it done then it will be the start of the albums!