Time to Get Back to Writing

I've spent so much time writing music the last couple years, I regret having spent less time writing my novels. I am regularly revising by five prior published novels with the aspiration of having them published again. But to my dismay, I have two unfinished novels at this time. One of which is the third installment of my Killer series. I had started it and maybe it's about one quarter through the storyline. It's supposed to be the final story of Trent Smith, the world's greatest martial artist. It will be a wrap in that series. And I still intend to complete it. But the other one is a middle grade novel. I was inspired to write that one, well, because I'm a middle grade teacher. For thirty years I've been teaching middle school level kids and now I'm actually teaching K - 8 kids. It's a blast really. So I figured a book about kids that age might be something fun to write. And I'm about one quarter through that one, too. I will get back to them and finish both. But I will also continue with my music. I have found that of all the things I do, whether it is art, drawing, painting, or sculpture, writing books, sports, or whatever, it is composing music that provides me with the most satisfaction. I suppose it's because I write the music, I also write the lyrics, and I record it and then I produce it like a producer would. My full discograghy (Volumes 1 - 14) is on SoundCloud at this time. And Volumes 1 - 6 are on other platforms as well. It's the full deal with my music, and that is fully satisfying as far as being creative is concerned.

Songs Now on YouTube, Spotify...etc...

I have Volumes 1 - 6 now released on YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, and some other sites that I never even heard of. I paid ten bucks or so, and they put them up. I would like to have all 14 of my albums out there, but I really have one more song I want to re-sing before I do. And that song might just be my best song of all 145 songs that I have written and recorded. It's Dream. On Volume 7 - Rockin' the Dream. I have declared that that song is a masterpiece, and yet it remains the one song that I have not re-sung since I originally recorded it. I want to re-sing it like I did for most of my other songs on the other 13 albums, but I ran out of time last summer which I had dedicated to re-singing Volume 12 and Volume 13. So once I re-sing Dream, I will then put it up on the other platforms along with the entirety of Volumes 7 - 14, after which I will continue work on Volume 15. By the way, all 14 of my albums are released on SoundCloud, which you can access on the right margin of this blog.

Volume 12 Rockin' the Cosmos

I was so pleased with the results of re-singing all the songs on my Volume 13 album, I decided I had just enough time before school resumes to re-sing the songs on my Volume 12 album as well. And that was a particularly difficult album to resing. But I had to do it. Because Volume 12 Rockin' the Cosmos is arguably my best album of all 14. Well, the case could be made that any of the 14 is the best of them all. But Vol. 12 was my first concept album. That is to say it tells the story of an astronaut in outerspace on a mission from earth. And I am pleased to say that yesterday I got it done. It's a great album with great songs and great lyrics. You may remember the two great outerspace songs, Space Oddity by David Bowie and Rocketman by Elton John. My Volume 12 Rockin' the Cosmos is similar to those two songs insofar as the outerspace theme, but it's an entire album of ten songs, not just a single song like each of theirs. And one of my most popular songs is on there, which was also true for Volume 13. Check it out in the margin to the right. But you'll have to scroll down a bit. Back to work tomorrow, though. The new and possibly final school year for me is about to begin.

Volume 13 - Rockin' the Afterlife

I talked about re-singing songs on my Volume 13, and now I am glad to say that I have completed re-singing every song on there. That's ten total songs. And I must say, all of those songs are great. They always have been. It's just that my singing wasn't so great. It's still not, but I can say that it's a lot better now. It's what happens when you dont give up. You don't quit. You keep trying. You keep practicing. And now every song on Rockin the Afterlife is a hundred times better than before. It's almost like I can't believe I wrote those songs, they're so great. But I did. And I wrote the lyrics which are great too. Check it out on the margin to the right, but you will need to scroll down a bit.

Music Revisions

So I've been waiting for the summer vacation to revise my songs. But not really revise them. What I've been wanting to do since last summer was re-SiNG some of the songs. I got a lot of that done last summer. But I wasn't quite done. I had started with Volume 1 and worked my way up through Volume 11 re-singing the songs at which I believed I could do a better job. And then school started again, and, being a music and art teacher, I had to dedicate my time to that. But here we are with another suumer and I am picking up where I left off. But instead of Volume 12, I skippped to Volume 13 because I think there were two songs there that needed re-singing most of all. Looking Back and Time in the Sun. It just so happens that Time in the Sun seems to be the most popular of ALL my songs, since it's received more "listens" than any of my other songs. Although I'm glad people like it, I was always wary of my singing voice on that song and wanted to re-sing it. Unfotunately, it's another very difficult song for me to sing. But on my second day of trying, (today) I got a version that is at least acceptable. I even improved the lyrics somewhat since I had the chance to do that. I figure it's like my novels. If you can improve any portion of it, go for it and I did. So I hope those of you have liked that song, will give it another listen. And I also hope that you agree that it's now a better version. (But I'm still no Frank Sinatra. Far from it. Very far.)

Happy Birthday to an Old Friend

I am working diligently on revising my novel, The Vase, so as to resubmit it for publication, this time with an independent press. I am confident that once my latest revisions are done, it will be worthy, once again, for publication. But as I paused to consider this day, I remembered that this day, March 28th, is the birthday of an old friend. A friend I had lost contact with long ago. Actually, it's the childhood friend I had when we used to play the Black Sabbath songs. I had posted once that I would play the Black Sabbath songs on the piano, and he would sing the lyrics. No, he wasn't a singer. What he was, was a drummer. But he sang the songs in tune, and hit every note. Those were enjoyable times for me. Because, at the time, Black Sabbath was my favorite rock band. Flash forward years later, to now: I have written my own music, and as I had posted before, it was when I remembered that this childhood friend was singing the Sabbath songs well enough, even though he wasn't a singer, that I too could sing songs, especially when those songs were my own songs that I had written! So hats off to this old friend, because it was those memories that convinced me that I could sing my own songs which I do now, and you and anyone else can listen to one or all of them by clicking on any of the links to the right of this post that feature the 14 albums of original songs I have written over the years. And yes, I plan on dropping my fifteenth album this coming summer.

Book Blog and Music Blog

As I reflect on this blog and its contents, I'm reminded that I started it as a writing blog. That was because I had begun to write some novels, and fancied myself a writer. It wasn't any hubris on my part. It was prompted by my San Jose State University professors who were mentoring me during the two years I spent in the Teaching Credential Program over there. Often, it was required to write reports of varioius kinds. Actually more than often. More like it was constant. And then some years later when I was in the Master's Degree program majoring in Education, report writing again was constant. And both times the professors were telling me that I was a good writer. (Which probably explains why I was getting straight As throughout those programs.) So I had been only a moderate reader during my life, but I liked the idea of writing some novels about things in which I had an interest: Martial Arts heroes, Football heroes, along with a story about The Vase, and another interesting topic about which I had learned which was the true story of a historical character named John Dunn. And after some moderate success which saw all five novels published, I returned to an original interest wich was music. I had always been a musician, and I loved music as much as the next guy, but I also had a knack for writing original tunes. I would dabble on the piano during my spare time and write my own songs. I was never too serious about it, because I never envisioned myself becoming a professional musician or song writer. Nevertheless, I found myself writing new songs, one after another as if I were a conveyer belt putting out new songs by the tons. In a couple years, had written enough music to fill 13 conventional albums. And after a failed attempt to find a singer, I ended up being the singer. There were two reasons for this. I had briefly played with a band, all of whom wrote their own songs. I didn't want to play their songs. I wanted them to sing my songs. But they insisted that anyone who writes a song must sing his own song. And then I remembered an old friend who would sing some of our favorite songs while I played on the piano. Now that guy wasn't a singer, but he actually did sing the songs in key and he hit every note. So I thought if he could do it, why can't I? So I did. And like books, revising took place. And more revising. And yes even more revising and then writiing more songs for a 14th album. And now I am content that even though I still don't consider myself a singer, (like my friend wasn't) the singing is still in key and I am still hitting every note, and the songs are complete with a full band in accompaniment, and the vocals in place. And this blog can now be about both... the books and the music. It's on... (One caveat. This blog does not allow paragraphs. I have five paragraphs formatted in the draft I just wrote, but when I publish the draft all of those paragraphs disappear into one giant piece. Maybe I'm missing some formatting thing.)

Revised Volume 10 - Rockin' the Dark Side

Now that I have a distributor to place my music on the online platforms, I decided to redo my least favorite album. Volume 10 - Rockin' the Dark Side. It was my least favorite only because I felt that my singing on that album sucked more than any other album of mine. So I decided to go ahead and try to re-sing the songs. Every single one. I had done that before for Volume 3 - Rockin' the Hard Road. It had always been one of my favorites, but I just felt I could sing it better and I did. I had also revised some of the songs, as I had noted earlier on this blog. But with Volume 10 - Rockin' the Dark Side, it was only the singing that needed redoing. And while I was at it, I also revised some of the lyrics. But once I was in front of the mic, I had to sing some of those songs up to fifty times before I got a take that sounded right. Can you imagine that? As many as fifty times before I got a take that met my satisfaction. That's a lot of singing. The same song over and over again. And ten total songs. I wouldn't quit, though, because I really believe those songs are fantastic.

And with the success of Volume 10, I can proceed to put more albums onto TuneCore for distribution. I had noted earlier that I only have Volumes 1 - 4 on there. Pretty soon I'll put up 5 - 10. I may want to re-sing Volumes 11 - 13. But it might not be possible because on some of those songs I hit notes that I can no longer hit. It's a shame. It takes a lot of effort for me to be able to sing some of my own songs. Sometimes I can do it and sometimes I can't. It remains to be seen. As for now, however, I can be content with Volume 10. It's on SounCloud and sounds great. Check it out.

Revisions Went Well

 These past few months, I have been revising, revising, and revising. But not just my five books. My many songs as well. To date, I have completely revised The Vase, John Dunn, Second Chance, Killer of Killers, and I am pretty close to finishing the revisions to Killer Eyes.

Now to submit them to publishers again. They are better than ever, so I am optimistic. That doesn't really mean anything, I've learned, in the publishing world. It seems that so many people fancy themselves as authors, the field is gutted with submissions, and it's a hard-pressed industry to find the gems from the seemingly millions of submissions. Of course, my five books qualify.

I have also enjoyed revising many of my songs to the point that I am emboldened to continue revising even more of them. Mostly I revise songs because I want to improve the vocals. Since I am really not a singer, many of my songs must be re-sung. And the good news is that whenever I do re-sing a song on a recording, it does end up sounding better.

Which means the recordings are vastly improved for that reason. And a great thing about SoundCloud is that you can replace any of the files, (songs) on any of the Playlists (albums) at any time, and as many times as you want, (or need to.) So that is what I've been doing.

On Volume One, Rockin the First Steps, I've revised and replaced the files of the following songs: Tell Me When, It Was a Weight, Tale of Sorrow, I'm Laughing, The Moment, It's a Win, and One Day. And the vocals sound so much better now. That is not to say I'm a good singer now, I'm not. But at least I'm hitting the notes and I stay in key.

On Volume Two, Rockin the Millennium, I've replaced the following files: Demon Dance, Inferno, and Too Late. And ditto on the way they are better. On the song Too Late, I even rearranged  it so that it's about two minutes shorter. And it's better for that reason as well.

On Volume Three, Rockin the Hard Road, I've replaced all the files. Because I re-sang all the songs. And even rearranged some. As a result, the entire album is great. Those songs are some of my all-time favorites. And I'm very happy with that album now.

And the list goes on. As I was getting better every time I recorded, the remaining albums had less songs that needed replacing, but I will still keep on revising and keep on improving. 

That's what artists do.

Rewrite of Books and Songs

 I have spent most of my time revising, re-singing, re-recording, and reposting my songs that I haven't had a lot of time to post on the Blog about my books. It's fun, though. Both are fun. That is, writing books is fun and writing music.

The funny thing is, I started writing music as a teenager so many years ago. I really only started writing books about ten years ago. So that makes sense that I've written 145 songs and five books.

Actually, I started writing my first book when I was about 8. That is I was eight years old. It was a child's effort of course, and I never finished it. But in college I actually started to write and illustrate a graphic novel.  You know....like a comic book. I almost finished it too. I got three or four "issues" done, (or was it two or three) I can't remember. That is I did the art, the writing, and everything.

But in the real comics worlds a comic book is a collaborative effort. Meaning there's a writer who writes the story. Then there are THREE artists who illustrate the story, (the penciller who creates the storyboard, then the inker who inks it, and then the colorist who, you guessed it, colors it.)

Of course there is the editor, the editor-in-chief, and the letterer who puts in the word balloons and such, and probably a lot of others also.

There are some artists who have done it all alone like Jim Lee and Frank Miller and others who excelled at doing that. They are legends who took over for the prior legends....those being Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Gene Colon, John Romita, Neil Adams, John Buscema, Jim Steranko, Jim Starlin, and the list goes on.

So, my graphic novel effort took a big pause when I got married. 

But way before that, I had started writing songs on the piano. I had a piano in my house and I had taken piano lessons, so I knew how to play it. And soon enough, I started writing some very good songs. I had written a dozen songs or so in those early years. I did not have the means to record them so I had to remember them in my mind over the years. But remember them, I did.

And then the technology caught up to me. I had become an art teacher, and I was married with a son, and there was a huge "Yamaha" store not far from my house. I dropped in one day and bought one of those Yamaha portable keyboards and bingo, the music flowed. 

I wrote the equivalent of four albums in the space of a couple months. (Yes, those albums are indeed Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4.) As I said, I had already written a dozen songs for Volume 1, but I wrote a few more and put a total of 15 songs on Volume 1. Then I wrote enough songs for three more albums.

Then I bought another Yamaha portable keyboard, an even better one, and over the next few months I wrote the music for Volumes 5 through 13. After some years of just letting them sit on cassette tapes, and being unable to find a singer to sing them, I decided to sing them myself. 

Finally I wrote the songs for Volume 14 and all volumes are on SoundCloud now and can be accessed on the right margin of this blog. I think the songs are great, (if not the singing.) But I sing in tune and in key. So it works. And I am content. I am back to the books now. I will continue to revise Killer of Killers, Killer Eyes, The Vase, John Dunn, and Second Chance until new publishers step up. 

I'll keep you posted. Just don't hold your breath on those. I won't.

Revisions Continue

 Well, I talked about revising. As in revising many of the 145 songs I've written. (Contained in the 14 albums I've "dropped" at this time.) This revising includes re-singing many of them as well. And of course, the result is better songs.  

But at the same time, I've been revising my novels. I have the rights to all of them now, and I have focused on improving them. It makes sense. I'm older now, and more experienced now. I have a better understanding of how to write a novel.

So after doing so, I have resubmitted John Dunn, The Vase, and Second Chance for publication with different publishers. Each book is submitted to a different publisher, that is. (As well as different publishers than the original publishers.) It will be a long wait, but the time goes by whether you submit or not. I had revised each of those three books countless times over the past couple years, so it goes without saying they are all vastly improved at this point.

As for Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes? When I got the rights back I went right to work on revising them too. I found a publisher in the UK who specializes in the genre of Crime Fiction and Thrillers. Just right for my Martial Arts Thrillers. This publisher also noted that in his view a thriller novel should be around 72,000 words or so. So I promptly revised Killer of Killers, which stood at 88,000 words, down to 72,000 words. That's 16,000 words I cut out. And you know what? It's a lot better for doing that.

As for Killer Eyes? It was a novel with 96,000 words. And I'm just now finishing my first pass through it and I've already cut out 12,000 words. So, it's at 84,000 words now, but I'm not finished. I will give it another pass and then another, and if need be another until I'm in the 72,000 range. Can't wait. Because then, I'll submit that one too.

As for my music? I'm not quite done revising my songs yet. I still have to redo the percussion on Looking Back and maybe re-sing parts of Volume 12 and 13. Maybe I'll have time over Christmas break. The good news is I'm pretty much done revising and re-singing Volumes 1 - 11, and 14 too at this point. And those songs are all sounding great right now, even with my less-than-ideal singing voice. But I'm cool with that. Hope you are too. Hope you have time to give some of them a listen. 

Resinging Songs

Since I'm not a singer, (but I sing my songs anyway,) I have found that treating my songs the same way I treat my manuscripts, (novels) is the best way to go. That means, yes, I am revising them.  

The good thing about Soundcloud is that you can replace any file without interrupting the song's playlist or any of the stats each song or playlist has compiled. (For me, a "playlist" is the same thing as an album.) But it's not the same thing to Soundcloud. Albums to Soundcloud are real albums produced by a real recording label and released or "dropped" by those same producers.

I'm just a loner doing everything myself. But so what, I'm getting it done. Surely not with the same production values as a real recording studio, but hey, I'm not a real singer and as far as I'm concerned, the music is sounding great anyway.

Well, they're my songs, so they better sound great. And they do. I actually have 45 followers now. I know it's a far cry from 45,000 followers. In case you don't know, a "follower" is someone who has heard a song or two and decided he or she likes it enough to follow the artist to hear more of his or her songs later. And yes, some people are actually "liking" some of my songs.

One of the good things about Soundcloud is that it compiles the number of times each song has been played by someone other than me. Some of my songs are in the triple digits now. I don't know how anyone knows about my songs. I suppose people surf through the Soundcloud "line up" and choose songs at random in the genre of the music they prefer. And they can click on the heart icon which means they like the song. Some people are doing that too, even people who are not followers.

Sure, artists want people to like his or her works, and that goes for any kind of art. Whether it's fine art like drawings, paintings, or sculpture, or a performing art like music, it doesn't matter. But the bottom line is that I like my music, and that's good enough for me. 

So if anyone who's reading this happens to listen to a song or two of mine, I can only hope you will like it too. Just click any of the "album" covers in the right margin of the blog. Just be forewarned. I won't sound like Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin. But I will sound like me.

Why Should I Sing?

 About my music, I've posted often that I can't sing. And yet I do sing on the songs I've posted on SoundCloud. Well, I had to sing. No one else knows my songs. And how could they? I've been in bands before, and I have corresponded with members of other bands. Almost always they say that when you write a song, you have to sing it, even if you can't sing. How else will a real singer know how you want your song sung?

I was hoping, at first, that a singer can just hear the tune that I wrote, and then sing the words I had written to match those tunes. I was told it's not as easy as that. So for twenty some years, my songs were sitting on cassette tapes without vocals and vanishing into obscurity. Because no way was I going to post just instrumental music anywhere. It would be like posting a painting of just a background with no subject matter in it. In other words, it would have sounded incomplete.

Then I remembered something. Years ago, I would play Black Sabbath songs on the piano and a friend of mine would sing the lyrics. He wasn't a singer, but he still sang the songs, and it worked well enough for two teenagers playing  songs in the living room. But the reason he was able to do that was because he had heard Ozzy sing those songs and he knew how they were supposed to be sung.

So I thought to myself, if he could sing the songs of someone else's music, even though he's not a singer, why the heck can't I sing the songs that were my own songs?

And that is why I went ahead and finally sang the songs and posted them. With mixed results, sure. It's clear that it would have been preferable to have a real singer. But in some of the songs I think I'm actually doing a passable job. Some, I think, are better than just passable. But that doesn't mean I think I could audition for Simon Cowell. No. Not even close.

But like anything, the more you do something, the better you get at doing it, and the same can be said for singing, especially when the songs are songs that you wrote. So for the last two albums I posted, Volumes 1 and 14, I think I'm doing a better job at singing than the first albums I posted, which are Volumes 2 through 13. 

Will there be a Volume 15? I should think so. I'm already getting ideas for more original songs. It's a matter of getting back into the mood. Might be soon. Maybe I can have another album written by summertime. We'll see.

Volume 14 - Rockin' the Establishment

Hooray. I have just released my latest album, or "Playlist" as they are called on SoundCloud. Or to use the vernacular of today's youth, I "dropped" my latest album today. It's interesting how slang changes from one generation to the next. When you post new music on SoundCloud, the last song (or the last playlist) you post is the first one listed.

So from now on, each volume that I post will be first on the list. Thus, Volume 14 is first on the list now, followed by Volume 1 and so on. Since I wrote the songs in the order in which they are listed on the albums, the songs on Volume 1 were the first songs I ever wrote, followed by Volume 2, etc. 

And so this past summer, while other people were going to Hawaii, or going camping, or whatever, I wrote music, and during the course of the last two months, I wrote enough songs for another album. Then I wrote the lyrics and recorded it. And now the album is on SoundCloud as a "Playlist." I already posted the song list on my prior post, but here it is again.

1 - Born in a Maze

2 - You Were Losin'

3 - Bad Boy

4 - Longshot

5 - Why Can't We

6 - Woman of Straw

7 - Penalty

8 - It's Money

9 - Lockdown

10 - Who's Laughing Now

I am very pleased with these songs. If I weren't, I wouldn't write them. Or I would trash them and write other songs. As for my singing, well, at least I carry the tune. If I didn't, I would trash that, too. But the singing is in tune, in key, and for the most part listenable, if that's a word. It must be because I didn't get that squiggly red underline when I wrote it. 

If you have a mind to, click on the album image to the right and have a listen. That goes for any of the fourteen alums I've "dropped" by now. I hope you like the songs. Please don't criticize the singing. I know I am not a singer. But that doesn't mean my singing ruins the music. If it did, I wouldn't have posted the songs. That's all.

Volume 14 completed

Volume 14 of my original music is now completed. That means the songs have been written, arranged, and recorded, including the lyrics and the singing that goes with it. Yes, I did the singing. No, I am not a singer. But at least I sing in key and I hit the right notes.

I am no Neil Diamond. No Elton John. No Cat Stevens, or whoever else is out there who writes and sings his own music. But I do write and sing my own music. No one else will. So I do. And you know what? I like it. That doesn't mean I think I'm as good as the aforementioned guys. No. But I don't have a label seeking to sign me. Nor do I ever have any intention to audition for Simon Cowell.

But it's something I do, and I'm glad I can do it. I even have the new album design completed, as you can see below:

And as you can see I decided on the title Rockin' the Establishment. I reached that decision based on the concept of the album. Like when I titled volumes 12 and 13 after the concepts of those albums. Volume 14's concept being an outsider working his way into the elite, to the chagrin of the "establishment." 

So as soon as the CD arrives from the guy in San Diego (the guy who puts my music onto CDs and also converts the music into mp3s,) I will post it on SoundCloud. I think that could be as soon as late next week. Stay tuned.

Volume 14 Music Composed

 As of today I have completed composing ten original songs along with the lyrics that will be Volume 14 of my music catalog. I have yet to name the album. I have two songs with titles that could work in a title. Longshot and Lockdown. As in Rockin' the Longshot, or Rockin' the Lockdown. Seeing as how this country is just emerging from a government mandated "lockdown" I might go with that. But I like the Longshot title too. It could depend on what kind of a cover design those titles can be matched to. That is a very important element, and I have yet to research any possible cover designs, as I have only just now finished with the lyrics. I had meant to make this a third album in a row that is a concept album. Like my last two albums, Volumes 12 and 13, which are both concept albums. And it is. So it could be I'll go with the Longshot. But that is not definite yet. At this point, the song list is as follows:

1 - Born in a Maze

2 - You Were Losin'

3 - Bad Boy

4 - Longshot

5 - Why Can't We

6 - Woman of Straw

7 - Penalty

8 - It's Money

9 - Lockdown

10 - Who's Laughing Now

I don't think you can discern the storyline from the titles. Maybe you can. Whereas Volume 12 was about a man in space, whereas Volume 13 is about the end of life. Volume 14 is about a man who starts from nothing, makes it big, falls back to nothing, makes it big again, and falls again to nothing. So it's not a rags-to-riches story, its more like a rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches-to-rags kind of story. And there is a love interest included with the song Woman of Straw. I went back to the love ballad genre for that one. I thought I had a good talent for those kind of songs as my Volume 1 displayed. Anyway, I'm pleased I was able to get the music written, arranged, and recorded during my summer break. I hope I can get the vocals added by next week. And once the vocals are done, I'll send the SD card to San Diego so all ten songs can be made into my fourteenth CD.  

Working on Volume 14

 Since my books are pretty much done or on hiatus, I'm really into my music now. As I've posted earlier, I have 13 total albums that I've written, composed, arranged, performed, recorded, and posted on SoundCloud. You can click on any one of them in the right margin of this blog.

I believe every song on every album is great. If I were to rank them like I did for the Black Sabbath albums, there would be several tens, some nines, and nothing under an eight. That's what I think of my music. But note that I am really only ranking the songs. If I were to rate my singing on the songs, well, then, that would be a very different story. I am not a professional singer. Actually, I'm not a singer at all. But hey, it's my music, so I can sing the songs. 

But anyway, I had once thought I would stop at 13 albums, since that's a lot of albums. And a lot of songs. 135 songs to be exact, and all kinds of different songs. Fast, slow, love, ballads, rock, jazzy and more. Alternative rock is what I mostly call the genre of music I have there. And since I will no longer be writing any new books, I am back in the music mode.

So why stop at 13 albums. I had two songs left over from when I stopped writing music about fifteen years ago. So I had always had it in the back of my mind to write at least one more album and reach fourteen albums. At this point I have written nine of the songs that will go on Volume 14. I'm in the process of composing and arranging the tenth song at this time. And I'm very happy with how they have turned out.

Once this tenth song is done, I will write the lyrics and do my singing thing. At that point I hire a man in San Diego to put the CD together, and there you go. Of course, I create the album cover design, as I've done with all the prior albums. And I'll think of an album title. I like what I've done in that regard. Meaning I start the titles as Rockin' the.... So it will be Rockin' the something or other. Sometimes I use a song title to finish the album title, but sometimes I don't. We'll see. I hope to be finished by the end of the summer. At that point, it will be back to being a teacher in the California public school system. Oh, and by the way, I'm back to teaching piano and music now. Not just art. They even bought me a new Yamaha upright piano! How cool is that? No complaints here.

Black Sabbath Albums from best to worst

 I had rated every song on every Ozzy era Black Sabbath album, which brings me to the concluding post on the matter, which is ranking the albums from best to worst. (Worst being a relative term, as the word implies not good, which is not the case. They are all good.)

So we have a three way tie for first place. Black Sabbath, their debut album, Paranoid, their second effort, and Master of Reality, their third, all rate a ten, which is because every song on all three of these albums rate a full ten out of ten. Meaning every song is a great song. Note that I do not include that one song that was added to their debut album when it became a CD. I don't like that song much, but since it wasn't on there for the first twenty plus years, I won't consider it for THIS ranking.

The listing is as follows, with the overall rating in parentheses:

Album Title                            Rating        Ranking

Black Sabbath                     (10/10)        Tied 1st     

Paranoid                              (10/10)        Tied 1st       

Master of Reality                (10/10)         Tied 1st      

Vol 4                                      (9/10)            4th             

Never Say Die                     (8.5/10)           5th              

Sabotage                             (8.25/10)       Tied 6th     

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath  (8.25/10)       Tied 6th

13                                          (8/10)             8th

Technical Ecstasy               (7/10)            9th

So in conclusion, my favorite albums are the first three. Interesting to note is that all three of those albums were released within one year of each other. Black Sabbath and Paranoid both came out in 1970 and Master of Reality came out in 1971. So they must have had the songs written and compiled long before they made it big. Then, starting with Vol 4, they had to start writing songs to meet contractual deadlines. So that could be why the ratings are lower. Remember, these rankings reflect my preference after listening to these albums for close to fifty years now. Time has passed, the band is done, and that's what happens to everyone sooner or later. Too bad they were having problems with Ozzy during the recording of Never Say Die, and then with Bill for 13. But problems seem to happen with every band sooner or later. Such is life.

Black Sabbath - 13

Thirty-five years after the last Ozzy era Black Sabbath album was released, they put out this album, titled 13 after the year it came out: 2013. Since I called this an "Ozzy" era review of the Black Sabbath music, I'll go ahead and include it in my "Ozzy era" review. But there is one huge caveat, which is the absence of Bill Ward, the band's original drummer. And that is more than just a huge caveat. It's a downright shame. As in shame on the other three band members. Shame on them for cutting Bill Ward out. I never heard a single reason good enough for them to do what they did to Mr. Ward. At first there was only Bill's reason for not joining them on this endeavor: an "unsignable" contract. 

For Bill Ward to say that, it must have been a dogshit contract. I might believe they were offering him pennies on the dollar in comparison to what the others were earning. But that just didn't make sense. I had always thought the earnings were a four way split. That must have changed. And clearly Bill was feeling more than just slighted. He was straight up insulted. Also, clearly, the others, or maybe just one of them, (I would fathom a guess here, it was Ozzy,) just did not want him around anymore. And the reason why I am pointing my finger at Ozzy is because it was Ozzy who finally said that Bill was too old to perform, citing the rigors of such a physical instrument as the drums.

I think it's bullshit. Bill Ward was and I believe still is a great drummer. I mean does Ozzy think he weathered Father Time any better than Bill Ward? If he thinks that, the joke is on him. I would bet that Bill Ward's health was and still is every bit as good as Ozzy's was and is. I don't wish to get into any specifics, but I don't think it's a stretch to believe that Bill is in better shape than Ozzy. Sure Ozzy can still sing, but I have to think even he will admit he doesn't sing as well as he used to sing. And even if Bill can't play the drums as well as he did 35 years ago, I bet he can play the drums now, as well as Ozzy can sing now. So, yeah, that was a bullshit reason. There must be another reason. So, as an outsider, and as a fan, I can't forgive these guys for cutting out Bill Ward from their final album.

Whatever. That's my opinion on the matter. I had said when I began this topic, that I was a fan, but I also said that it didn't mean they could do whatever they wanted with my approval. And besides the fact that they don't need my approval, they don't have it for cutting out Bill Ward.

13

So let's get on with the review. And I start with the album cover design. I don't really care for it. A flaming number 13. Very little imagination there. For a final album cover they might have thought of something better. As for the album title of 13, as I wrote above, it represents the year the album came out. It was 2013, and the album hit number one on the charts. I suppose it was the hype that after 35 years they came out with another album, even though both "Black Sabbath" and Ozzy had put out many albums in the meantime. And I actually liked some of them. But I would have preferred it if they never parted ways. Just like I would have preferred Bill Ward for this album and the tour.

End of the Beginning

They started with heavy metal on their debut album, and they ended with heavy metal on this their final album. The lead song has a slow, plodding beat, but it picks up with a catchy Iommi riff. And Ozzy hits the notes and sounds like Ozzy. I don't hear anything on there that Bill Ward couldn't handle. It's a long song over eight minutes, but it holds up. Still it does not quite match their classic first songs of their other albums. But it's not a big drop off, so I'll give it a nine out of ten.

God is Dead?

The question mark saves the title of this song, otherwise, controversy would overshadow it. It's a slow heavy metal song, and it has a good melody. It's another long song, again over eight minutes, almost nine even. Which makes it two long songs in a row! The lyrics are good, but it still doesn't match the great second songs on their earlier albums, considering those songs include Paranoid, The Wizard, After Forever, etc. But it's still a really good song, so it's another nine out of ten.

Loner

This is a good song, too, and it seems like a flashback to their earlier years. It's another Iommi riff song, as are most of their songs, but as I listen to this song, and I do like it, I can't get over the damn shame that Bill Ward is not there. I honestly believe he would have been a better drummer on this song, and probably on all of the songs. Still it's good, so I'll give it yet another nine out of ten.

Zeitgeist

Another throwback to their earlier years. This song is clearly a carbon copy of their first great slow song, which was on the Paranoid album. Yes, I'm talking about Planet Caravan. Which I had rated a ten out of ten. Well, this song is still a good song, and I like it. But that's because I really liked Planet Caravan. The mood is similar, the beat is similar, the percussion is similar, and even the lyrics are similar. But it's not Planet Caravan, so I will give it a nine out of ten.

Age of Reason

This song is the first one on this album that really perked my attention. Talk about throwbacks, this song might fit on any of their earlier albums. The band really recaptured that Black Sabbath mystique on this song. So, yeah, I really like this song. To me, it's the first song on this album that matches the greatness of their earlier songs. I love the heavy metal start, and the way it maintains it's greatness throughout the duration of the song, even when the beat slows down at parts. And we are treated to a classic Iommi guitar solo that is straight from the 70s. It's the first ten out of ten on this album.

Live Forever

This song reminds me of some of those songs on Vol 4. And there is nothing wrong with that. But some of those rated eight out of ten. Nothing wrong with that either. I really believe that Iommi was putting out his best effort to match his greatness from the 70s, and it's a successful effort for the most part. But it's a match of those earlier eight out of ten songs, so it gets an eight out of ten.

Damaged Soul

This song has some problems. It's a good song, and another long one, almost eight minutes, and the transition of the different parts seem not too smooth to me. It is a slower song, and it's the first time Iommi's guitar work is not as great as I had been used to hearing it. I don't know what the problem is. I know he had health issues during this time. But I doubt that is the cause. Ozzy plays the harmonica, but it's not as good as, say, it was on The Wizard. We also hear him dubbing over his voice to create a vocal harmony again, like he did on the album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. I don't think he needed to. To me this song is not as good as the others, so I rate it about a six out of ten.

Dear Father

Another long song. It's over seven minutes, and it seems to me to be more reminiscent of the songs Ozzy sang during his solo period. But it also reminds me of Vol 4 as well. Iommi is back in shape so it's a seven out of ten. The song ends with a thunder, rain and a church bell. Perhaps it was supposed to be the last song, which is why they ended it that way. But there are more songs.

Methademic

Like this one. It's a  blasting heavy metal song, the way I like it. Iommi still has it, make no mistake about that. He comes up with great riffs like no one else. And he is the king of heavy metal, make no mistake about that, either. He is fully on with this song. But it still doesn't reach the level of greatness that I expect from him. But it almost does. Thus this song is a nine out of ten.

Peace of Mind

We are treated to more than the usual eight (or nine) songs for a song line up on Black Sabbath albums, and for the first time on a Black Sabbath Ozzy era song, the song lineup reaches ten songs if you include this one. It's a good song, and I like it. And it happens to be the shortest song on the album at 3:41 long. Nothing wrong with that. But to me, as for how good it is, it rates about the same level as the Dear Father song, so it's a seven out of ten like that one.

Pariah

Instead of completing the song lineup at eight, (or nine) as was typical for the Ozzy era albums, they added three more songs, concluding the song lineup with this song, the eleventh on the album. It's another song that starts out slow, but Iommi's riffs are good and the song speeds up, then slows down again. It's not a great song, which is a let down, considering how they always had great songs conclude their albums. Never Say Die was the only album that didn't. But this song falls way short of that bar, also. So it's a six out of ten.

In conclusion, this album features only one song that rated a ten out of ten. But most of the songs did rate a nine or an eight, which means it's still a very good album. Nevertheless, this album is not a favorite and I rarely listen to it for the simple reason of what they did to Bill Ward. He's the only band member I had an opportunity to meet. The story goes like this: my friend and I had snuck onto the stage during an Ozzfest concert. The bands had yet to perform, and the curtains were closed, so we were up there at a time when no one else was there and no one could see us. We were just hanging out wondering what to do when Bill Ward appeared and proceeded to tune up his drums. When he finished, he was walking back to where Ozzy, Tony, and Geezer probably were, so I called out, "Hey, Bill!" He turned and came over and talked to us for several minutes. So it would have been better if Bill Ward was the drummer on this album. Aside from the concluding song, it's the only critique I have of this album. But it's a huge critique. They dissed Bill Ward and I'll never forgive them for that.

Black Sabbath - Never Say Die

The final album with Ozzy as the lead singer was this one. Their eighth album. Yes, thirty-five years later they released another album. But for the time-being, (thirty-five years time-being, that is,) this was the final album with Ozzy as the lead singer. It was the end of an era. Both Sabbath and Ozzy continued putting out albums after this. As it was, Never Say Die concluded the Fab Four's collaboration. I like the album, but it seems a lot of people don't. I'm not sure why. What I do know is that during this period in their careers, it was a weird time for the Sab guys.

NEVER SAY DIE

I always start with the album cover design and this one is strange to me. I don't really get it. Two pilots in pilot garb I don't recognize. It looks to be an American jet behind them. But I had never seen American pilots wearing a get-up like the ones they are wearing on the cover of this album. What is it supposed to mean? There are no songs in this album that are about pilots. And what the album's title, Never Say Die, has to do with pilots is beyond me. As for the album title, it is the name of the lead song on the album. So the Sabs finish with four out of eight albums named after a song in the album. But I don't like the cover design. It makes no sense. Maybe the worst cover of all their albums.

Never Say Die

As for the lead song, it's pretty good. A simple riff, and a good beat. That's a good combo. But is it as good as the other lead off songs on the other albums? No. When compared to the first songs of their previous seven albums, it does not rate as high. Think about the song Black Sabbath, on their first album, then War Pigs on their second album, then Sweet Leaf, then Wheels of Confusion, then Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Hole in the Sky, and even Back Street Kids. Well, it's as good as Back Street Kids anyway. So I'll give it the same rating: a nine out of ten.

Johnny Blade

The second song on this album lives up to the great second songs on all their albums. Only the second song on Technical Ecstasy failed to live up to that. But the second song here does. It starts with that synthesizer again, but the song does not depend on it. Iommi kicks in with a great riff and it's a great song. It's a story type of song about a kid named Johnny Blade. Maybe someone in the band was thinking about writing a novel about a "back street kid", (inspired by the lead song on Technical Ecstasy perhaps.) Whatever. It's a great song and a ten out of ten.

Junior's Eyes

An offbeat song,  but a good one. It starts with Geezer's bass riff, and then Tony begins playing. It is a moody song. Still a heavy metal song. I read somewhere that Ozzy's father had just died, and this song was inspired by that. I don't really know. I never heard Ozzy talk about it. I've only heard that the band was going through a lot of turmoil during this period. It's a good song. A nine out of ten.

A Hard Road

Another great song. It's the last song on Side 1, so think of NIB, Iron Man, Children of the Grave and Supernaut. It has a great riff, some great singing, and great lyrics. Altogether a great song like those other great songs. So it's a ten out of ten.

Shock Wave

The lead song on Side 2, Shock Wave is a great song. It's my personal favorite song on this album, and it's a great heavy metal song. Iommi shines here. The lyrics are a fallback to the doom and gloom lyrics of their earlier work. I had no problem with the lyrics being positive but Sabbath made their name with doom and gloom lyrics and the evil forces and evil power mentioned here gets them back to their roots. My only critique is the oo-ooo, oo-ooo Beach Boys type background vocals near the end. But it's only as the song is ending so I won't let that lower my rating which is a ten out of ten.

Air Dance

Another offbeat song, like Junior's Eyes. It seems that the Fab Four, although going through some personal problems, were at the same time putting out some experimental music as this song displays. And in this song, as in Junior's Eyes, they are successful. It's a sad song about a woman who was the "queen of dance" but then, as time went by, saw her star fall, which if you think about it, is inevitable for us all. It kind of crosses into a jazz type song near the end, but it's still Iommi and he has already shown to be a versatile guitarist. To me the song is a nine out of ten, like Junior's Eyes.

Over to You

Another great song. It has great guitar riffs, great singing, and great lyrics. A positive type of message, but so what. It's a great song. It has some melodic changes with what seems like a harp in there, but that doesn't take away from the greatness of this song. It's a ten out of ten. Hands down.

Break Out

This song is an instrumental. And it's well documented how the band was having problems during the recording of this album. I heard that Ozzy had enough at this point, and refused to sing any more in the recording studio. So the last two songs had to be recorded without Ozzy. And on this song they used saxophones. Does it work? Not for me. I think they might have been better off nixing this one from the album's lineup. But they didn't, so to me it's a five out of ten.

Swinging the Chain

Sabbath's albums typically had eight songs each. (Vol 4 the lone exception with nine.) So it would have been fitting for them to nix the prior song and keep the song lineup at eight. As it is, this song, Swinging the Chain is the ninth song on the album, joining Vol 4 with a nine song lineup. But with Ozzy no longer participating at this point, Bill Ward took over the singing for this song. Do I like this song? Not so much. I would have liked it better had Ozzy been the one singing it. It's got some good things going for it, and the beat change at 2:53 was one of those good things. But as a final song for a Sabbath album it doesn't hold up. Not when you consider Into the Void, Fairies Wear Boots, Spiral Architect, and Dirty Women. On the Sabotage album, The Writ came close. This one doesn't come close. So it's a five out of ten.

In conclusion, this album was on track to being one of Sabbath's finest albums. I mean, check it out. The first seven songs were rated nines and tens. They just needed one more song to wrap it up. But then Ozzy flaked and they were left in the lurch. Saxophones were not the answer, and with all due respect to Bill Ward, Ozzy needed to sing that last song. But, to me, it's still a great album, and as a final album for the Fab Four, it has a special place in their discography. Don't believe the nay-sayers and the haters who diss this album. It has great songs, and it's a great album.