Various Artists - Rock S’Cool

Details:

• Year of release : 2007
• Label : SPV99842
• Review format : 2CD

I’ve been genuinely quite impressed with this new compilation from SPV. In an age where every major collection aimed at the rock fan seems to simply re-order tracks by Boston, Steppenwolf and Kansas etc this one actually gives a nice mix of new and old as well as live and studio. The cover is suitably tongue in cheek as well and the concept, although given the a decidedly cheesy title actually shows some thought and works well, harking back to these days when many labels showcased their acts this way. Fed up of “Mullet Rock”, “Dad Rock” and “The Best Metal Album In The World… Ever… Again… Vol 2.”? If so you might also be interested in this.

Disc one in fact, as far as my taste goes, is something of a corker. Split into three lessons, we start off with the classic stuff as Lesson One is subtitled “Hard Rock”. The beginning of Whitesnake’s Fool For Your Loving has a bit of a cut ‘n’ paste feel to it as it beginning with a loud burst of crowd noise rather than fading in, and if I were picky I’d mention that it’s the present metallicised line-up rather than the bluesy original but given this is a disc to promote SPV’s current roster of artists I can live with it. Next up we get UFO blasting through the classic Lights Out live in concert before Heaven And Hell cut The Mob Rules brings the attention to the current Black Sabbath live project. Live albums suitably promoted, it’s left to Axel Rudi Pell’s Rock The Nation (the original from “Mystica” rather than the Montrose cover from “Diamonds Unlocked”) and German beauty Doro to close the lesson with Burn It Up.

Lesson Two, “Heavy Metal” cranks up the volume although the inclusion of Tim Owens era Judas Priest track Bullet Train does seem to more indicate a desire to simply get Priest on the collection somewhere as Jugulator is a bit older than most of the album showcased here - decent enough but not the best Priest showcase I think. Saxon’s Need For Speed suitably reminds me to listen to The Inner Sanctum again soon before we cut back to the live arena again for Metal Church’s Ton Of Bricks. This one leaves me a bit cold but another Tim Owens track, Beyond Fear’s Scream Machine is a stormer, as is Messiah’s Kiss lesson closer The Ancient Cries. Adding two more album to the must get list.

Lesson Three deals with “Power Metal” and showcases a genre where SPV are well represented. Jon Schaffer gets good exposure with Iced Earth’s The Reckoning lifted from “The Glorious Burden” and Demons & Wizards track Terror Train both included. The other three songs in the “lesson” come from Kamelot (When The Lights Are Down), Freedom’s Call (Queen Of My World) and the mighty Helloween go live with the classic Dr.Stein. Five tracks that pass an excellent twenty-odd minutes.

Disc two stretches my musical envelope considerably and for me isn’t as easy to listen to. Lesson Four is “Thrash Metal” with the line-up of artists being Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, Annihilator and Grip Inc. Now for me to get into a Thrash album or band much relies on the ability of the singer and on this brief sortee I was actually pleasantly surprised that the lyrics were largely clear. Kreator’s Reconquering The Throne came over as aggressive but okay, Sodom’s Bibles And Guns made me think I ought to actually listen to the promo that’s been sitting here a while despite me declining the opportunity to review it when asked, and Destruction’s Mad Butcher (live) seemed to possess something of a Megadeth touch with the snarled lyrics and there was a bit of fun had with the “Pink Panther” ending. Annihilator have caught my attention previously and the occasionally Maiden-esq Clown Parade re-enforcing the need to hear more whilst Grip Inc.’s Ostracized wasn’t too bad either. Nothing, with the possible exception of Annihilator, that I’m likely to part cash with but not bad all the same.

No, the problems really started for me with Lesson Five, “Hardcore”. The distorted guitar and hard to decipher lyrics of Biohazard on Sellout were well off my radar, as was the Sepultura inclusion Convicted In Life which despite being easy to grasp lyrically wasn’t anything I’d want to hear more of soon. Type O Negative’s Dead Again surprised me though as I found this one quite interesting, warranting at least a bit of lasting attention but the relief was short lived as Hatesphere’s growler Reaper Of Life and Raging Speedhorn’s How Much Can A Man Take were again not for me.

The four tracks of Lesson Six, subtitled “Alternative” started poorly as well with both Engel and Skinny Puppy, represented here by In Splendour and Politikil respectively do no more than convince me to avoid their music in future. Amplifier’s The Consultancy and Zebrahead’s Anthem were both listenable however though I doubt they’d get any of my hard earned either.

That’s not quite it though as track 15 marks the “Finals” and brings another of SPV’s big guns, Motorhead, to the collection in the form of the classic Ace Of Spades, a track drawn from the recent live release. A fine ending at least!

Worth also noting also that there is a companion DVD to accompany this release subtitled “A Spanking Good Clip Collection” whereas this double disc effort is simply “A Spanking Good Song Collection”.

Summary : This does exactly what a compilation should do. From the companies point of view you get a good overview of their artists and recent output, hopefully convincing you to buy an album or two from a band you may have bypassed otherwise. From the listener’s point of view it’s a bit of what you know, some stuff you may be interested in but haven’t heard enough yet to buy product of, and in my case anyway, especially on the second disc, exposure to stuff that previously would have been avoided. Not everything is to my taste but then on a compilation it often isn’t but kudos must go to SPV for resurrecting the well thought out compilation and hopefully this will lead to other labels following their lead, maybe offering a bit of genuine variety on the shelves come next Father’s Day, Birthday or Christmas.

Score : 3.5/5

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Competition

No need to even worry about e-mailing an answer in this time! Simply post the details (title, year, brief run down of what’s on it etc) of the rock/metal compilation you play most in the comments section of this post and your in with a chance of winning a copy of this 2CD collection.

I’ll draw a winner at random from all entrants in a week’s time.

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BL