Dave's 500 Bus Albums No 25 - Iommi & Hughes "Fused" (2005)

In my opinion this has far more right to be called a Black Sabbath album than "Seventh Star". 19 years has made a helluva lot of difference. Rock and metal has moved on, and Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes have just got better. I thought "The DEP Sessions" was good, but this is simply awesome.

Don't be fooled by the opening track "Dopamine". It's a perfectly serviceable Metal song, tight and radio-friendly, but it doesn't prepare you for the onslaught to follow. Every subsequent track on this album shows just what a band can do when everything goes right - the production is crystal clear, Hughes' vocals are 100%, complementing Iommi's razor-sharp guitar, and the energy emanating from this album is astounding.

Best Song? Last track - "I Go Insane". This 9 minute magnum opus encapsulates everything you need to know about British Heavy Metal for the last 40 years.

And when you've finished the album, go back and play it again!

Dave's 500 Bus Albums. No. 2 - Scorpions "Comeblack" (2011)

Formed in Hanover in 1965, Scorpions (note lack of "the") are coincidentally another German rock band who do not deserve the label "krautrock" (except perhaps their first LP "Lonesome Crow" which is a good example of what "krautrock" is often taken to mean). The decision to sing in English has directly resulted in their continuing success as a worldy-reknowned Heavy Metal act, and personally one of my favourite bands. They seemed to be everywhere in the Metal Years of the 1980s.

And now they're retiring. This is their final album, and an unusual choice. "Comeblack" consists half of re-recorded Scorpions classics ("Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Wind of Change", "Still Loving You" to name but three), and half of cover versions ("Tainted Love", "Children of the Revolution" etc). Is it any good? Well, yes. It's not a "Blackout" or a "Bat Out of Hell", but every track shows the band's musical proficiency, and the album is full of Scorpions trademark wall of sound riffing and bleeding-ear solos. Klaus Meine's voice is a bit more "cautious" than I remember, but the he is in his 50s and he's been screeching out vocals for the band since 1970.

Yeah, it's a good album, and I found myself wanting to sing along to more than one track. On the strength of one listen ("Tainted Love") the wife's asked for it to be put onto her USB pen drive for the car. What more can you say? Recommendation enough.