Listening to Vinnie Vincent Special - Part 2 podcast over at Decibel Geek.

Listening to Episode 42 - Vinnie Vincent Special Part 3 - Robert Fleischman. Now THIS should be interesting. Can't wait to hear what Robert has to say. For those that don't know, he was the singer on the first Invasion album but had a contract dispute with the label and that's when they brought in Mark Slaughter. I know that after the band imploded, Vinnie ended up working with Rob again. Wonder how old these podcast are and if Rob has stayed in touched with VV. We shall see......

Dana sounds like a prick...if what Rik Fox said was true....the dude has a typical LA f*ck head mentality (pretty sure he's not originally from there...but the weak willed will fall into that attitude really fast there if you have it in you which clearly he did) who was just sniffing around for deals and bonuses pairing people up (Randy with Ozzy...can you say finders fee...I am sure that is what he was all about or at least trying to suck up to these guys as much as possible) because he knew his ugly mug was never going to get him too far in any bands....because he was chasing the pretty boy nonsense in the first place.

jealous prick comes to mind.

Listening to Episode 62 - Vinnie Vincent Special Part 4 - Hirsh Gardner Podcast. I think this is the last VV Special....for the time being. I already know about Hirsh's story. Just curious to hear what he has to say.

Okay, the last time I played Vinnie Vincent Invasion in it's entirety was about 5 years ago in which I did a review for another forum. I swore at that time I would NEVER listen to this album again for a number of reasons. But here we are, 5 years later and I decided that I would give it another go and see what happens. I will say that this time around, instead of just listening to it once and than writing a review, I would give it at least 2 plays through and possibly more and see if anything stuck long term. Previous listening parties never allowed me to go more than just one spin around because my psyche just couldn't take the onslaught of notes, courtesy of Mr. Vincent. Before I get into song breakdowns (which I really don't do much of in my reviews because I rather focus on the album as a whole instead of snippets that make up the album), I will say that this debut can be summed up in the last 2 minutes of the final song (Invasion) of a guitar on a repeating loop. More on that in a bit.

Boyz Are Gonna Rock - Great opening feedback followed by a great riff that any guitar player would and should learn. That's where the good times end. Robert Fleischman vocals are so over the top that it actuall overwhelms the guitar playing. Well, that is until the solo, which pretty much characterizes what's what wrong with the bulk of the album. It's so over the top ridiculous that there is no thought behind what he is playing. It's fast notes for the sake of fast notes. Same can be said for the outro solo as well. It's a shame because the chorus itself is actually quite catchy and would be easy to hum it all day long.

Shoot U Full Of Love - The vocals are much better here with Rob dialing it down a bit and there is some melody going on here. This is one of the better tracks on the album and Vinnie's playing is fits within the context of the song with some great sustains working beneath the vocals. The guitar solo on the other hand has it's issues though. Not really a fan of his phrasing here, but it's short enough that it doesn't overwhelm the song itself and makes it listenable for sure.

No Substitute - Probably the best sounding drum track by Bobby Rock. Love the fullness of the song. The chorus is great. This should have been an easy hit song for the band. It's practically radio-friendly with the chorus. This is easily the best solo for Vinnie with the opening Whammy Dive Bombs and although he implores his trademark phrasing, he actually gives it some breathing room and makes it work with the context of the song. The song could easily be AOR if you wanted to put a label on it.

Animal - Great opening riff, another one that I would like to learn for myself. Drums sound great. Vocals are bombastic, but the sing along chorus makes listenable. The chord changes and riffs leading into the solo is fantastic. The solo.....not so much. This is a clear example of what is wrong with Vinnie being give the keys to the candy store. If he had shown restraint on his phrasing, the song would have been so much better. Same goes for the outro solo, which is redundant to say the least. Pointless.

Twisted - Love the drums on this one. It actually reminds me of that classic 80's sound, especially that of Steve Riley's from LA Guns. If there was ever a case for Vinnie to play super fast, it's this one. Because the tempo of the song dictates it, faster the better. Vinnie's phrasing is actually good and ironically short. The outro sounds like he is channeling Eddie Van Halen with his sonic wailing that is more for effect and not anything more than that. Rob's vocals are really good here.

Do You Wanna Make Love - The drums make this one sound like something that LA Guns could have done. But the chorus sounds like it could have been something that Def Leppard did, vocal wise with the harmonies. Probably Vinnie's most fun guitar playing as it's more wails instead of "lets see how fast I can pick" playing.

Back On The Street - To this day I still don't know why this song wasn't chosen as the lead single for Invasions debut. It's got Top 10 written all over it, especially in the days of Dial Up MTV. This song for sure would have gotten a lot of airplay both on TV and radio. The song is popular enough to have been covered countless times, most notably by John Norum. Now I'm singing the praises of this song, but it also has the most pointless guitar playing ever. A fantastic song reduced to sh*t as soon as Vinnie comes in. Had he played with some restraint, this could have been one of the best songs he ever wrote. He didn't....it's not. Maybe that's why the record company chose not to release this as the first single.

I Wanna Be Your Victim - Great riff. Sh*t man, I'm hearing a lot of LA Guns on this album which I never heard before. Beyond the riff and drum sound, I'm hearing some Phil Lewis in Rob's vocals. The riif sounds like vintage Tracii Guns for sure. I swear this has to be a LA Guns song. Solo sucks. Same sh*t, different song. Come on Vinnie, let your notes breath. I get it, you're fast.

Baby-O - Filler track and even though it has a cool riff, the song is undermined by Vinnie's playing. It's like he just lifted the solo from Boyz Are Gonna Rock because he was too busy suing people. Vinnie sure loves his stock phrasing. Not sure if restrained playing would have saved this song anyway.

Invasion - Awesome riff. It's Eye Of The Tiger.....but faster. It's a simple riff, but it sounds cool. The song itself though doesn't have much else going for it. Another filler track, although I do like Rob's vocals on this, especially the "chorus". Trying to remember another song or singer that this reminds me of as I've heard something very similar. Do I need to even talk about mindless soloing here? Not good. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the song at all. It sticks out like a sore thumb. As for the 2 minute guitar loop at the end, you can clearly tell that Vinnie had a hard on for Steve Stevens and was having fun playing with his not Ray Gun FX.

Okay, there ya have it. I listened to this back to back for the first time in my life, something I never thought I would do given the bad ratings I  gave last time. Something on the lines of 2 Stars out of 5. This time I will give it 3 Stars out of 5, which is an even bigger surprise for me. The songs are there and the album as a whole could have been a keeper had Vinnie just played within the songs rather than all over them to prove a point of being the fastest player out there.

Take your time with it. Definitely looking forward to reading what your take is on the album.

The thing I said about Vinnie Vincent Invasion's Self-Title debut, is the same for All Systems Go as I haven't listened to this one for 5 years as well. But in the case of the debut, I've always liked this one a lot. It is worlds better than the previous effort for a couple of reasons. First off, Vinnie for the most part is playing what the song needs rather than trying to strangle it for the sake of showing off. Sure, there are a couple of songs that still have the distinct phrasing of his, but it's tempered and short enough to not totally dominate those songs. The other thing working in it's favor is that the album is produced better. It just sounds good where as the Self-Title album was too processed to my liking.

But the main reason I love this album is that it showcases that Vinnie can actually write some killer songs and the bonus is that each one has incredible guitar solos that are f*cking tasty as a Apple Pie. Even though it has been 5 years since I've listened to the album from start to finish, there are two songs in particular that I have listened to a handful of times every year since basically 1988. Those songs of course are Love Kills and That Time Of Year. It would be easy to label these as "Power Ballads", but that couldn't be further from the truth. Both songs, even though they may be slow by VV standards, have a lot of balls to it. Great production on both songs and the acoustic intros for each is definitely one I would like to learn for myself on the guitar. And the solos for both make me want to play guitar now. Both are short, but they both come up big in emotion. They soar and add to the songs awesomeness.

The other standout songs on All Systesm Go are Ashes to Ashes which has a great chorus to hum along too. Killer solo that excels. National Anthem / Let Freedom Rock is another great track. Love what Vinnie does with the National Anthem with the volume swells. It's fantastic. Let Freedom Rock has a great riff (I have since learned that this is the song that Vinnie stole. I haven't been able to dig up the original song on YouTube to check out for myself). Ecstasy is definitely a power ballad for sure, but it's good. Should have been a bigger hit as it was tailor made for the radio and MTV. The last two songs you should check out are The Meltdown, an instrumental for Bobby Rock on the drums. Very cool. It's different. The last song to close it out the album is the most refreshing thing here. It's an acoustic instrumental called Ya Know' I'm Pretty Shot. I love the song enough to want to learn this one on guitar as well. Overall, this album is aces and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Vinnie is the real deal. If he had stayed the course here with another band, he could have been HUGE. After all the stuff that has gone down with him over the years, all we are left is "What could have been".