The Morning After...

The stars above in heaven are looking kindly down, upon the grave of old John Brown...

We were very online yesterday, way too much. It was a trainwreck, wasn't it? Those screaming, feminist harpies really didn't let us down. Feminists are the witches the fairytales warned us about. We here at Stroock's Books are abolitionists. Most Americans are not. We understand and respect that. All abolitionists should. 

But we'd much rather go into an election arguing that abortion is wrong than arguing abortion is great, like those Moloch worshipping feminazis and their male enablers. These people are out of their minds and have completely misread the room. 

Speaking of...our boy JD Vance won the Ohio Senate primary last night. Congrats! Also, yet another poll shows Georgia governor Brian Kemp winning the GOP governor primary. Good. Kemp won his last election. Interestingly, we saw a poll that had Sonny Purdue beating Stacey Abrams too. Hmmm....

It's May the 4th, Star Wars Day, and we couldn't care less. Youngest daughter asked if we have a Star Wars shirt she could wear. We don't. We'll say this, the Original Trilogy seems so quaint now. 

Returning to our exploration of Euphoria, here's Def Leppard's Back in Your Face:

Sounds a lot like Gary Glitter, no? Which makes sense as Def Leppard was heavily influenced by 70's British era glam rock, and Gary Glitter made a comeback in the 90s. Back in Your Face is heavily derivative, which is fine. 'I'm back...Hey!...Hey!..Hey!' It works. 

So, What's Everyone Talking About This Morning?

John Brown's body lies a mold'ring in the grave...

But his soul is marching on...

Glory, glory halleluiah...

Here's some stats from the CDC about abortion. The abortion regime in this country is in decline. The Roe vs. Wade regime is going to die faster than people think. Don't be polite about it. 'What's so goddamn important that you think a baby has to die?' We'll probably have more to say, but not now. For the record, we can think of circumstances when an abortion is necessary and moral. But not many. 

Getting back to Def Leppard week...here's Demolition Man, the lead track off Def Leppard's Euphoria:

A lot of the album sounds like this. Euphoria is a throwback to the 80s but also shows a lot of the band's 70's influence, especially Sweet.* It's an interesting sound. Most of their modern stuff sounds like they're recycling, but Euphoria sounds like they're still playing around with some ideas. 

Reports out of Ukraine indicate that the Russian advance in the eastern sector is slow with various prongs unable to act together. We've seen too many reports from sources we trust to doubt the narrative. We remain amazed at Russian incompetence. Amazing. Clearly, Putin is no threat to Europe. The Jugolavianaization of the Ukraine War continues apace, and Putin is going the full Milosevich. 

*We would have thought this was totally gay in 1988.

Monday Metal and News Whip Around

Okay...we're going to make a few edits suggested by readers and get World War 1990: The Weser to another reader, another army guy. After that, we read it one last time and it's off to the editor. July...Lawrence. 

Back to work on The New American Order as well. 

There are nearly ten million Israelis, and more than seven million of them are Jews. Remarkable. 'Since last year’s Independence Day, 191,000 babies were born, 55,000 people died, and 38,000 people immigrated to the country, according to CBS. A considerable percentage of the immigrants who have arrived in the past year are from Ukraine, Russia and surrounding areas.' Israel is a young, active and dynamic nation. 

Zerohedge tells us that some people just want war: 'On Sunday, Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) announced a new Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). If passed, the AUMF will allow President Joe Biden to deploy American troops to defend Ukraine if Russia uses chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. The Congressman issued a press release saying the legislation would establish important red lines and echoed Biden’s plea that " Putin must be stopped." Madness. Kinzinger must be defenestrated, politically speaking. 

Metal fans have probably noticed that our discussion of Def Leppard stops at 1993's Retroactive. Def Leppard has a new single out this year, we listened to it once and came away meh. A few years ago we listened to their 1995 release, Slang for the first time since its release, and don't remember a damn thing about it. On a whim last week we broke out 1999's Euphoria .We liked one song when we first heard Euphoria, and here it is:

This is a very interesting song, kind of a late 90's version of Poor Some Sugar on Me, as if Poor Some Sugar on Me was written during a disco revival. We'll be deep diving Euphoria all week here at Stroock's Books. We've listened to it once every 3 or 4 years since 99, this time we like what we hear. 

Friday Files

Jomini of the West thinks the Russians have switched to a defensive strategy in Ukraine and are trying to consolidate gains and work out their logistics. The Ukrainian's small, local counterattacks have slowed/stopped the Russian's advance. Well played. This blog believes the Russia/Ukraine war is entering its Yugoslavian phase. We expect sieges and bloody urban fighting. Prepare for the long slog. 

Awake adults shouldn't trust any information coming from the media about the Russian home front. They don't know. A thought on Russian civilian moral. We are comfortable saying that the Moscow/St. Petersburg urban elite and hipsters probably oppose the war. But what about the mechanic, the farmer, the day laborer, the truck driver, the coal miner? Our hunch is that they favor the war.

Once again, this blog can't help but notice that Russia has taken about half of Ukraine east of the Dnieper. The Ruskis also have a massive bridgehead on the west bank. It doesn't take a Napoleon to see Uke forces in the Donbass region are in a terrible position. Which is why we keep saying Russia is losing tactically but winning  strategically. Exit question: is this a first slowly then all at once situation?

Adrenalize, the final word. As we stated before, Adrenalize is a pleasant, harmonic album that plays to Def Leppard's strengths. Those strengths are guitar hooks and great vocals.  Adrenalize's 30th anniversary is next week. In a few months after that comes the 30th anniversary of our high school graduation. For us Adrenalize was a pleasant bit of an otherwise unpleasant time. 

The Critical Drinker (who is always right) talks about George R.R. Martin's inability to finish the Winds of Winter. Reading that, concerned fans of the World War 1990 series are wondering what's happening with The Final Storm. We had hoped to release The Final Storm this summer but...the story just isn't where it needs to be, yet. You people will be getting The Weser this summer instead, followed by The Great Salvation of 1976 which we finished reading yesterday. [But you had a plan-Ed]. What do we say about plans? Fear not. The Final Storm is 70,000 words (and counting). Remember, we spent January and February busting our hump on The Final Storm and will resume the effort...sometime this year. Yes, we know that's worryingly vague. We will have news for the Saturday Update.

What Will's Watching: Bill Maher on Adam Carolla's podcast. Carolla and Maher sit back and have a conversation. While they bash Wokeness, neither strays into actual politics. Maher talks about his life, career and what's happening now. An interesting man, a sensible man with sensible advice on life. We were intrigued by Maher's background story and also his daily routine. Maher has begun his own podcast and his first guest is William Shatner. 4/4

Below, the Friday Flag:

Nuke this Adrenalize Song

 'Hey, Senator, hot down here, isn't it?' Madeline Albright asked John McCain. Madeline Albright was neoliberal-interventionism. The ambassador to the UN and later secretary of state, Albright once asked Colin Powell, 'What's the point of having the world's greatest army if you're not going to use it?' or some such. She was a passionate advocate of the failed Oslo negotiation between Israel and the PLO and constantly advocated 'restraint' as Arafat's* terrorist murdered Israelis.

Click here for this Def Leppard unnamed video. We hate this Adrenalize song so much we won't even name it. The song is stupid and juvenile. The worst song on the album, and the worst song Def Leppard wrote between 1981 and 1992. This song usually makes the live set, sadly. That's when we go get another beer. Reader(s) should watch this live version of White Lightening instead. Note, Def Leppard live sounds pretty much like Def Leppard on the album. 

Bill Roggio, who is much less optimistic about Ukraine than a lot of the media cheerleaders, tweets his latest assessment of the war. 'The Russian advance is slow, but it is advancing,' Roggio says. To our eye, Russia has taken about half of Ukraine east of the Dnieper. Russia is executing large thrusts, successful at the strategic level while the Ukrainians are launching successful localized counterattacks. We remained stunned at Ruski tactical ineptitude. 

We won't comment on events in Russia because we don't know whose info to trust. An anonymously sourced article titled something like, 'Wife mad at Putin over war: report,' or 'Putin advisor tries to resign,' is not to be trusted. And no, we won't ask our KGB handler what he thinks. It's hard to get Russians to talk about anything, and we don't want to put him in an awkward position. Our man in Moscow works for a government publication (like every staffer at NPR or the BBC) and we just don't know what he's comfortable saying. 

Sales of The Great Nuclear War of 1975 have already surpassed books like Seven Stories and A March Through Hell. So 75 is not a flop. Also, 30 + reviews so it doesn't suck. Daily sales are up and down, but we think they'll plateau somewhere below a World War 1990 novel. We had some ju-ju yesterday and should get a scene written in book 3 today. 

*Homosexual. Died of AIDS.

Reviews, Leppards and Crabs

Def Leppard's Adrenalize was a pastiche of sounds, from early 90's pop to early 80's hard rock. Eventually they got back to that Hysteria sound of power chords, guitar licks and what we've always called 'Wall of D' vocals. We give you White Lightening:

Oh, there we go. There it is. If you're a Def Leppard fan, you waited four songs for White Lightening.  White Lightening is about Steve Clark's alcoholism and death. A trainlike bass drives the verse to a great bridge. There's an intense chorus followed by a long, multipart guitar solo. Whie Lightening goes right to the Def Leppard fan's brain. A perfect song for a serious subject. 

As of this writing, The Great Nuclear War of 1975 has 30 ratings averaging 4 + stars. Here's the two latest reviews:

Which is nice. Which was the point. Heh, the retired air force guy didn't notice I used Air Force MPs rather than the proper SPs. High praise though. High praise for sure. The Great Nuclear War of 1975 works because it's bleak, as the other above reviewer says, bleak AF. The story gets even bleaker after the little Malvines submarine adventure, with people freezing, starving or beating each other to death. [Malvines! Why you cheeky....Ed]. Readers will notice we took the teen summer camp fantasy trope (which we kinda used in To Survive the Earth) and made it a nightmare. 

Herein lies the risk for The Great Salvation of 1976. There's lots of cabinet meetings about problems we think are interesting, reconstruction, elections, etc etc. There's still plenty of vignettes but these are more hopeful. They feel kind of like the scene in Independence Day in which all the fighter pilots from various nations are gathered in the desert. Which was totally cool. We're almost done with the print readthrough. The ending feels a bit short. 68,000 words. We'll rap things up in April.

This blog has men on the ground all over Canada. Yellow Knife, Moose Jaw, White Horse, Cambridge Bay (Ok, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Quebec). One of them informed us that the communist NDP made a deal with the Libs for Justin to stay in power till 2025. Our man is skeptical the deal last that long, but still. You asked for Justin. You voted for Justin. Canada, you deserve Justin Trudeau. 

What Will's Watching, Black Crab: This Guardian review is spot on, 'There’s a civil war on in Sweden, and yet no one seems to know why. It’s gonna be a bad one, as imagined by the sporadically tense and consistently pointless Netflix thriller Black Crab, which sends the country into a state of dystopian devastation only five short years removed from the present.' Black Crab must sound more menacing in the original Swedish. At times the cinematography is beautiful, but overall Black Crab does not reach the heights to which it aspires. 2/4 

Let's Get Meh

Def Leppard's Adrenalize is a hodgepodge of songs reflecting various stages in the band's career. Stand up, Kick love into Motion is a very early 90's song, soft and pleasant with a lot of harmonies. The album's last track, Tear it Down ,has a lot of power chords. One could slip Tear it Down onto 1981's High n Dry and it'd fit right in. The linked performance is actually from the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. 

Let's look at Adrenalize's first track and first release, Let's Get Rocked.

Look there! It's 1992 but the hair is still big. That's right, trends don't stop because the decade changes over. 1981 has more in common with 1978 than 1988. 1992 had one fashion foot in the late 1980's. Also look, on this Top of the Pops performance, Def Leppard is a four man band.

When we first heard Let's Get Rocked in a posh London hotel room, we were kind of meh about it. The song wants to sound like Poor Some Sugar on Me and imitates the opening. The verse is...okay. The chorus sounds like it was written in 15 minutes to get the song over with. The guitar solo is stripped down and minimal, but lacks punch. Let's Get Rocked never achieves the heights to which it aspires. 

We've never loved this song but we're in the minority. We've seen Def Leppard a half dozen times this century and Let's Get Rocked always makes the song set. It's better live. 

Monday Metal

Next week (31 March) is the 30th anniversary of Def Leppard's Adrenalize. Back in '92*, we didn't even know Adrenalize was coming till we saw it on display at a massive record store in London, our grandparents took us there for a graduation present. When we got back to the hotel, we popped the cassette into our Walkman and were...kind of underwhelmed.

In the 15 years since Def Leppard released On Through the Night, they evolved from post-glamrock to  hardrock, to sharp-edged heavy metal to...early 90's rock. Adrenalize has a lot of soft guitar rifts and melodies. At least a couple of songs would make perfectly good romantic mood music. High and Dry (1981), where every song had searing vocals and guitar rifts, Adrenalize was not. 

Everyone likes to talk about Grunge, but the early 90s were also a time of pop one hit wonders and love ballads. Adrenalize is a product of its time. Also, lead guitarist Steve Clark had died in 1991, so the album was a four man rather than a five man effort. Adrenalize simply lacked the punch of High and Dry, Pyromania, and Hysteria.

Which isn't to say Adrenalize is bad. The album quickly grew on us that spring, becoming part of the soundtrack of and a great comfort during a very difficult time. This week is Adrenalize week at Stroock's Books, and we'll be doing a deep dive into the album. 

*Reference.

Monday Metal

Every time Def Leppard plays this live, the crowd goes wild:

Bringin' on the Heartbreak was a 'Deep Hit' if you will, a mildly successful song that the millions of fans the band got through Pyromania wouldn't have heard.  

One night in 1988 MTV played this video. We've been hooked ever since. 

We're  learning it on guitar. As an example of what dyslexia does to a mind, we are unable to memorize the rif no matter how many times we play it. We have to follow along with the tabs.

Bringin' on the Heartbreak is from the band's second album, High n Dry. It's rough and dirty sounding, which is why the subsequently smoother and radio friendly Pyromania was such a big deal.

Check out those guitars as they rip through Let it Go.

By the way, we used to own a pair of Union Jack shorts just like the drummer Rick Allen's.

[Thanks for the visual-Ed]

Monday Metal: Unta Gleeben Glauben Globan Edition

Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of Def Leppard's Pyromania.

With Pyromania Def Leppard became a huge band in America, propelled by the hooky and radio friendly Photograph. They were good looking guys too, at least in a 1983 sort of way, and MTV mainstays. Our older sister bought Pyromania.

Rock Rock was the opening track and hearkened back to the band's glam-rock roots. While Photograph was pop, the band kept its' edge with classics like Rock of Ages. Billy Get Your Gun is a lesser known track with some great lyrics.

By the way, the band is touring this summer, and will perform Hysteria in its' entirety, which is totally cool. We'll be there.