Pros: The Earth-Saving Jam® that, um, saved the Earth?
Cons: Lack of original material recorded at the festival.
The Bottom Line: Even with a mistake or two, still an OK display of popular hair metal doing something different for a cause. Drunk or not, they still managed to save the world.
sleestakk's Full Review: Stairway to Heaven, Highway to Hell
The day Hair Metal saves the world.
On August 12, 1989, seven of the world's most famous hair metal rock groups descended on Lenin Stadium in Moscow in search of the eighth spirit, that when combined with the other seven metal spirits, would create an old school rock & roll jam in the final moments that was only a fantasy until then. These pop metal bands uniting on two special days was an effort to save the soul, the Gaia if you will, of the Earth from further drug and alcohol abuse. At least in theory.
Unfortunately there was one major problem in all this (problem one); most of the musicians asked to attend were drug and alcohol abusers at the time. As the plane flew the groups across the ocean to the Moscow Music Peace Festival all in the name of, all in the name of MADF - The Make A Difference Foundation, booze and narcotics ran rampant. The long-hairs toasted each other and their decision to come together to save the planet or Russia or the last drink. Something, anyways.
Despite the arena-sized egos, the Peace Festival was a tremendous success and MADF was officially launched as "a non-profit organization dedicated to combating drug and alcohol abuse among youth via a pro-responsibility message (again, in theory)." And the colorful crew found the eighth artist they needed in Jason Bonham (who possesses the spirit of the his father) to form The Earth-Saving Jam® at the end and wrap the show. Hair metal did it. For two days the youth of Moscow were released from oppression as guitars clashed, drums bashed, and countries unified. The Gaia was restored and the planet was saved.
"It feels... warm."
Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell represents that event and is the only official recording to commemorate the gathering for Music & Peace in Moscow. But the show was broadcast worldwide so plenty of boots exist for all the performers. And somewhere I have a few crummy cassettes of the show I recorded off the radio the days when the festival went down.
If nothing else, the STH/HTH album was at least a unique concept for its time; all the tracks are cover tunes and twist is that each band had to chose something by an group or artist that succumbed to drug and/or alcohol abuse. And ya have to remember; this was in '89, years before tribute albums were in vogue. So I have to give credit where credit is due and that's to Bruce Fairbairn and Doc McGhee for coming up with the idea for MADF, the festival, and the album (watch a few VH1 Behind the Music specials if you wanna know who those guys are). And it's not so much that this was an original idea because it wasn't. But it was pretty cool at the time and they did save the world, natch.
Don't listen to the usually unabominable Dr. Phibes69, cuz personally, I like the album and recommend it even though there's nothing groundbreaking by any of the bands. The production is fairly weak but altogether, this collection of tunes is just plain fun. And if you aren't having fun after assembling half a dozen 80's hair metal bands performing tunes by dead rock stars, then, well... uh, yeah. Whatever.
Highlights include the Crüe's sexy rendition of Tommy Bolin's "Teaser" and the Scorp's upbeat version of Pete Townshend's "I Can't Explain" which are both rawkin' tracks already before the metal touch was added. It should come as no surprise that Nikki Sixx and the Crüe consider TB an influence and you don't need to see footage of Nikki chuggin' of fifth of Jack to believe it. Overall, "Teaser" is probably the strongest effort on the CD, and the Crüe own those raunchy grooves as if they wrote 'em (incidentally, Mötley was the only "clean" band on the bill having gone straight after Nikki's previous OD).
Sebastian Bach and Skid Row put just the right amount of Big Hair Bombast® in the Pistol's "Holidays in the Sun" and made punk friendly again long before Green Day landed. "The Boys Are Back In Town" was a tune made for Jon Bon to cover. And somehow Jovi takes Phil Lynott's AOR hit to an all-new pop rock status perfect for the carnival rides just off the Garden State Parkway or the supermarket parking lot in Iowa.
Cinderella pays respect to Janis Joplin in "Move Over" and no shocker that Tom Keifer went with the raspy blues singer, producing a heart-squeezing yet punchy tune that's closer to the blues mama's spirit than late-80's heavy metal. To me, this one flies under the radar but shouldn't be ignored. And strangely (or not), I'm wildly crazy about Gorky Park's Russian vibe on "My Generation" which has enough camp and schmaltz layered on to make a seemingly horrible cover-tune completely enjoyable. Yeah, it's so bad it's good. Sure, they are the one non-famous act to show up (or be invited), but these Russkies have the spirit of American Pop Metal in their Soviet souls.
Although most of the tracks I consider decent, flaws exist. As much as love the old man, I have to say that Ozzy's "Purple Haze" sounds a bit silly with all reverb and effects. Also Zakk's over the top guitar pyrotechnics are a little much and just sound forced. At least with Jimi, it came naturally; he was loose and free. Here the track is too ballsy for its own good. And unnecessarily long. At least "Teaser" at 5+ minutes is interesting.
And while I understand and appreciate Jason's eulogy to his father, the original "Moby Dick" was enough to quench my thirst for Zeppelin-esque drum solos for a lifetime. Yet it makes sense to include it since Jason was the 8th spirit after all and completed the wave necessary to save the world. The studio cut includes Bon Jovi's Tico Torres among others to round out the pounding percussion.
I think the other main problem with STH/HIH (problem two), is the lack of live material from the show. Bruce really could've created a worthy package had he made the record a 2-disc set with one CD of original tunes taken from the live performance. The exclusion of these probably has more to do with legality of all the labels allowing the work but it's something that should've been pursued to really make this a must-own album. Instead, all we get is The Earth-Saving Jam® that concluded the festival. It's a cute addition and much fun to hear these leather-clad boys rock together but gets tiresome after the first listen. And hearing nasally Klaus Meine (of the Scorpions) sing "chu ain't nuthin' but a hound dog" is a tad more annoying than funny.
Ah well. At least the planet had its Gaia returned until Seattle came along and kicked the shit out of it for a few years. No wonder hair metal has made a revival as of late; our world needs its soul saved once again. And it's my birthday today, dammit!
Cheers and rock on, Russia!
Track Listing:
1. "My Generation" - Gorky Park
2. "Holidays in the Sun" - Skid Row
3. "I Can't Explain" - Scorpions
4. "Purple Haze" - Ozzy Osbourne
5. "Teaser" - Mötley Crüe
6. "The Boys are back in Town - Bon Jovi
7. "Move Over" - Cinderella
8. "Moby Dick" - Jason Bonham & Friends
9. "Hound Dog" - The Earth-Saving Jam®
10. "Long Tall Sally/Blue Suede Shoes" - The Earth-Saving Jam®
11. "Rock & Roll" - The Earth-Saving Jam®
Great Music to Play While: Saving the Earth, of course!
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.