{"id":18819,"date":"2012-03-01T16:46:21","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T21:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=18819"},"modified":"2013-01-29T10:09:20","modified_gmt":"2013-01-29T15:09:20","slug":"axe-axeology-1979-2001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/axe-axeology-1979-2001\/","title":{"rendered":"Axe | Axeology 1979-2001<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\nStaff Writer —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"There are a lot of \u201cshould have made it\u201d stories from the 1980s, but one that really stands out is the American melodic rock band Axe. If you remember them at all, it\u2019s probably from their one hit \u2013 1982\u2019s \u201cRock n\u2019 Roll Party in the Streets.\u201d Aside from that, the band never really caught on, despite they fact that their hard rocking (yet always melodic) sound was tailor made for rock radio in the \u201880s. Maybe their heavy metal band name and album covers were at odds with their overall sound?<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, Axe remains one of the more overlooked bands from the \u201880s rock scene. Now, Cleopatra\/Deadline has given us an excuse to revisit Axe\u2019s back catalogue with Axeology<\/em>, a two-disc retrospective that spans the band\u2019s career from 1979 though 2001. There are 36 songs total \u2013 six from 1979\u2019s Axe<\/em>, six from 1980\u2019s Living on the Edge<\/em>, seven from 1982\u2019s Offering<\/em>, six from 1983\u2019s Nemesis<\/em>, five from 1996\u2019s Five and four from their 2000 album The Crown<\/em>. Rounding out the collection is a pair of previously unreleased \u201880s era songs \u2013 \u201cBad Sometimes\u201d and \u201cNo Heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

On paper, Axeology<\/em> is the perfect Axe anthology. It not only covers their better known albums, but you get a hefty chunk of their long out of print first two albums as well as some of their later material. Honestly, the remastered versions of the Axe<\/em> and Living on the Edge<\/em> material alone is probably worth the price of admission. The downside is that the songs from Nemesis<\/em> and Offering<\/em> are not the original album tracks. They\u2019re all rerecorded versions done specifically for this compilation. They sound good, but it\u2019s not the same as having the original songs. Presumably this has something to do with the fact that those two albums are still in print and licensed to another label (Wounded Bird), but it definitely takes some of the shine off this otherwise impressive collection.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re new to Axe, Axeology<\/em> really is a fantastic starting point, and longtime fans will probably want to check it out just to hear the remastered versions of the early songs and the bonus tracks. It\u2019s not perfect, but it gets the job done.<\/p>\n

Genre: AOR, Melodic Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nBobby Barth (g) (v)
\nMike Osbourne (g)
\nMike Turpin (b)
\nWayne Haner (b)
\nMark Montague (d)
\nEdgar Riley (k) (v)
\nTeddy Mueller (d)
\nBob Harris (k) (v)
\nBlake Eberhard (b)
\nChristian Teele (d)
\nAndy Parker (d)
\nDanny Masters (g)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tLife\u2019s Just an Illusion
\n2.\tHang On
\n3.\tSympathize
\n4.\tForever
\n5.\tBack on the Streets
\n6.\tBattles
\n7.\tLiving on the Edge
\n8.\tFantasy of Love
\n9.\tFirst Time, Last Time
\n10.\tCarry On
\n11.\tRunning the Gauntlet
\n12.\tFor a Little While
\n13.\tRock n\u2019 Roll Party in the Streets (rerecorded version)
\n14.\tSteal Another Fantasy (rerecorded version)
\n15.\tJennifer (rerecorded version)
\n16.\tBurn the City Down (rerecorded version)
\n17.\tNow or Never (rerecorded version)
\n18.\tHoldin\u2019 On (rerecorded version)
\n19.\tSilent Soldiers (rerecorded version)
\n20.\tBad Sometimes (bonus track)
\n21.\tHeat in the Streets (rerecorded version)
\n22.\tYoung Hearts (rerecorded version)
\n23.\tAll Through the Night (rerecorded version)
\n24.\tEagle Flies Alone (rerecorded version)
\n25.\tLet the Music Come Back (rerecorded version)
\n26.\tMasquerade (rerecorded version)
\n27.\tMagic (In Our Eyes)
\n28.\tHeroes and Legends
\n29.\tBurn Me Once, Burn Me Twice
\n30.\tWhere There\u2019s Smoke, There\u2019s Fire
\n31.\tAny Place on This Highway (is Home)
\n32.\tThe Crown
\n33.\tGood Times
\n34.\tTorturous Game
\n35.\tFoolish Deception
\n36.\tNo Heroes (bonus track)<\/p>\n

Label: Cleopatra<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 7.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines Staff Writer — There are a lot of \u201cshould have made it\u201d stories from the 1980s, but one that really stands out is the American melodic rock band Axe. If you remember […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[2317,2901],"class_list":{"0":"post-18819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-cd-review","8":"tag-melodic-rock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}