Day 0522 - Back to Mystery City

Hanoi Rocks "Back to Mystery City" (1983)

The book referred to these guys as the meeting point between glam-rock and punk... which I kind of doubted and assumed they'd just sound like every other 80s rock band - newsflash: I was wrong.  This does have the anthemic vibe, flashy guitar solos and some of the glitz that I'd associate with glam; but also has a lot of humour to it and punky energy and swagger in places.

A couple of members of Mott the Hoople helped the band produce this, their third album overall, and their first with new improved drummer Razzle.  The success of the album landed them a three album deal with CBS.  Unfortunately the band broke up after Razzle was killed in a car accident while a passenger in the car of Vince Neill from Motley Crue.

Day 0070 - Aftermath

The Rolling Stones "Aftermath" (1966)

The first RS album where they wrote all of the songs themselves... and it benefits from this, with a nice variety of strong songs.

Brian Jones (who was apparently a bit bored by this point) stretches out beyond his guitar duties to add some sitar, marimba and a variety of other instruments.
Several tracks were omitted for the US edition of the album; but they got 'Paint it Black' instead, which is pretty sweet compensation!