Bill’s Best Of 2007

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2007

1. Heaven And Hell – Live At Radio City Music Hall

at last a live album that does the Dio fronted era of Black Sabbath justice.

2. Velvet Revolver – Libertad

against all expectations the GnR offshoot actually justify the hype

3. Joe Bonamassa – Sloe Gin

blues perfection, even if half of it consists of covers

4. Slough Feg – Hardworlder

‘proper’ metal mixing a twin guitar attack ala Wishbone Ash with the power of early Sabbath

5. Mustasch – Latest Version Of The Truth

excellent melodic hard rock featuring the best Bond theme that never was

6. Magnum – Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow

pomp-rock perfection and an album that went a long way to recapturing their 80’s best

7. Road To Ruin – RIIR

Matt Alfonzetti returns to front an album of excellent 70s style blues based rock

8. Helloween – Gambling With The Devil

aside from one poor track a fine album that proves there is life after seven keys (again!)

9. Mother Superior – Three Headed Dog

underrated and largely unheard of US rockers with an album you’d think was a “best of” collection

10. Tesla – Reel To Real

a covers album done well, breathing new life into a great selection of old and sometimes obscure tracks

plus honourable mentions to Status Quo, Queens Of The Stone Age, Iced Earth, The Trews, Ray Davies and Paul McCartney who all produced hugely enjoyable albums this year too (and probably a few more I’ve missed)!

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TOP 5 Reissues

1. Slade – Whatever Happened To Slade

the long lost 1977 album proved to be the jewel in a fine reissue series

2. Gillan – The Singles Box

every Gillan single plus the promos in reproduced covers and a nice box – a collector’s dream!

3. Jaguar – Archive Alive Vol.1

a superb collection of rarities from the nwobhm bands early days

4. Heavy Pettin – Prodigal Songs

with this many gems not making the actual original albums it’s even more perplexing that Heavy Pettin’ missed the gravy train

5. The Answer – Rise II

one of the best albums of recent years gets better with a full CD of new songs, live takes, covers and demos added

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TOP 5 Live Gigs

1. Heaven And Hell – Cardiff Arena (14 Nov 07)

90 minutes spent in the company of legends

2. Y&T – Bristol Thekla Social (28 Oct 07)

Dave Meniketti and co. on fine form – just why did this band never get huge?

3. Man – Cambridge Rock Festival (18 Aug 07)

I’ve limited myself to one Man gig for this list so it’s the first one! Pushed close by John Otway and Stray as the best performances of a fine festival, the Manband were so good it shaped my listening and record buying for the next few months

4. The Answer – Chepstow Rock Festival (1 Jul 07)

the young Irish four-piece have no right to sound so bloody powerful

5. Twisted Sister – Hard Rock Hell, Butlins, Minehead (10 Nov 07)

he might look like Bet Lynch on a bad day but what a set Dee Snider et al produce – a hell of a show riddled with rock classics and er… Christmas songs!

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BL