Yeah, definitely give Dystopia another chance, I think it's worth it. Agree with your assessment of Hardwired, basically recycled Death Magnetic. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing I really feel like committing time to, either. At least the album has their amazing cover of "When a Blind Man Cries" by Purple.

Supercollidor had a fair bit of variety to it (and generally succeeded), it's probably why they returned to form with a vengeance on Dystopia. Have to disagree re. Death Magnetic, that's a great album, however Dystopia is much better than Hardwired.

Yes, I like Megadeth a lot. Of the "big four" of thrash (them, Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, all of whom I like), they're probably the most versatile (their experiments have generally worked out better than Metallica's, and Slayer is like the AC/DC of thrash, they only do one thing but they do it really well, Anthrax is too inconsistent). The last album (Dystopia) is brilliant, they are definitely not slowing down.

I still maintain Coverdale/Page is the "best" overall effort put forth by any one of the three ex-members of Led Zeppelin. Just IMO. Definitely, CP has held up very well. I really liked the first Firm album when it came out, but it has not aged well.

And pretty cool that he was jamming out to NIN and Tool.

Cool interview, but interesting he flags Panacea as one of Rush's worst songs; Fountain of Lamneth, and Caress of Steel overall, is very underappreciated. The whole album is a fascinating transition from more straight-ahead rock to their classic structured work.

@Badgeholder Still Great selections.

Ian Hill has a great gig, much like Michael Anthony had in VH. Great to see Priest and Megadeth still going strong, both of their recent albums are brilliant.

@Wally Hood Ha ha, great stunt, and excellent song choices.

Love Ministry, and excellent choice. Whenever I'm in an Apple or BestBuy (or similar store), I always bring up YouTube on one of the sample machines and play this one. I always think a DHS SWAT team is going to come through the ceiling...

It started with Whole Lotta Love, I was just blown away by it. It kind of went from there, but I became really hard-core after hearing (and later seeing) Song Remains the Same. I was really intrigued by how well they improvised live the studio songs, they were essentially new compositions. That was confirmed when I discovered the bootlegs, every concert was almost like a new album release.

+1 for posting some Ministry.

Agreed, excellent band.

I am not a fan of the '77 tour, but from what I can tell the playing in this show seems quite good, it's hard to tell because of the abysmal recording. NQ almost feels like '73 at times. As already noted, TU is pretty good too.

Tend to agree, Burn is DP's best album and Blackmore's playing was at it's best in this period. MK II is obviously legendary, but the MK IV lineup with Tommy Bolin is unfortunately neglected.

The classic lineup, great pic!

I never quite understood why he was allowed to share live vocal duties with Coverdale in DP. Some of his commentary to the audience between songs is really asinine as well. That said, his musical legacy is very impressive.

I regularly listen to the Coverdale/Page album, while it's been probably 20 years or more since I've listened to The Firm or Outrider. C/P definitely clicked, it's a pity they didn't follow through.

Actually prefer the previous night in Dallas (3-4-75).

Ice cream at a rock concert, in February? It was the 70's, I guess.

Artie and the boys in NY '75 are hilarious, love those guys. I seem to recall at Nassau 2-13-75, during NQ someone keeps yelling "ice cream" or something similar. It's audible on the SB a well. WTF? The tapers at Montreal '75 are also entertaining, esp. the barrage of belches as STH begins. The all-time classic is the taper at Cleveland '77 (I think the 28th) who blandly states "Oh Fuck" at the beginning of STH.

Right on about the guy singing during The Ocean in Detroit '73, what an asshole. Towards the end of Moby Dick in the same show (presumably as the rest of the band is getting ready to come back on), someone near the taper says "Page looks bored".

I've always thought this was highly amusing. Despite its well-known problems, Vancouver '73 is actually a very good night, on par with much of July '73. These guys near the taper are acting like they're surprised Page is putting on a good show. Whatever, I guess they have high standards in the Great White North.

Page looks great now by any standards, but it's particularly amazing considering the horrid mess he was in the late 70's/early 80's.

Very good news indeed. I was rather pessimistic about the outcome, glad to have been proven wrong. (Still say Page et al. made this more difficult than it needed to be.)