Jim Santora Jr - Underrated Rock Book: The 200 Most Overlooked Albums 1970-2015

Underrated Rock Book

The 200 Most Overlooked Albums

1970-2015

Jim Santora Jr

Underrated Rock Book

Copyright 2018 by Jim Santora Jr

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

Editor: Jim Santora Jr, Jim Mosley

Cover Design: Kevin McElroy

Text copyright 2018 Jim Santora Jr and Jim Mosley

Photographs copyright 2018 Jim Santora, Jennifer Hickman, Leroy Hickman, Ed Mason, Byron Crowley

The copyright in the original album cover designs is retained by the record companies, artists, photographers, and designers.

All photography has been approved for use by the artists, photographers, and/or their management

ISBN 9781722845186

Underrated Rock Book is dedicated to the memory of Ron Roff

Acknowledgments

A FEW PEOPLE THAT WERE instrumental in offering many suggestions as a part of my research: thanks to Dominick Schork, Jim Mosley, Wayne Gonzalez, Jeff Morin, Byron Crowley, Chris Dymmel, Jordan Borenstein, Kevin Law, John Erickson, Dan Chrzan, Rob Mallory, and Steve Shaver. Thanks to all of the radio programs, stations and music pages that helped me get the word out about this project: Raven Radio & Rock City Demolition, Philly Rock Radio & The Saloon Rock Club Radio Show, Andy Julia, Larry Errera & The Idiots Radio Show, Lisa Cook (Tainteds Music Pit) and Musical WTH. Special thanks go to all the people over the years that I have had the opportunity to work with where music was involved. All the writing jobs, DJ gigs, radio station stints and various bands that I got to perform, record and rock peoples faces off. Each one of these opportunities put me on the path to continue to explore music and encourage me to finally sit down and put my thoughts on paper: John Weissner (aka JT Rage), Ed Mason, Jason Mento, Kurt Dillon, Paul Pernice, Don Valentino, Rick Drill, Leroy Hickman, Jonathan Dizzle Davis, Michael Angel Cruz, Rich Petkevis, Scott Quinn, Lex Santana & Hot Rock Radio, Chris Leone, Greg Orlandini, Chuck Penza, Jimmy Caputo, Steve Cavico, Nate Zilla, Winnie Winters-Craft, Chris Bundy Howe Steve Nakovich and my brother John Santora. A huge thank you to all the artists, management, record labels and public relation companies that took time to respond to e-mails and submitting photos for the book. It is very appreciative to all of you. Special thanks to Catherine Jean Hubbard, Chip Ruggeri, Steve Karas, Eric Alper, Alan Moy, Michael Pilmer, Deb Klein, Corrosion of Conformity, Steve Blaze of Lillian Axe, Ruthie Morris of Magnapop, Devi Akanand, Peter Wark, Randy Jackson of Zebra, Beth Fieger Falkenstein, Chris Penn from Tripping Daisy, BC from Weaving the Fate, Chris Adam from Smash Into Pieces, Ron Burman from Mascot Records, Sean Danielson of Smile Empty Soul, Louie St. August of Mass, Sallie McManus, Ben Owen, Mermaid Records, Robert Toren, Jeremy Johnson of Core, Rebeca Qualls of Recovery Council and Darrell Millar of Killer Dwarfs. To my parents, Linda, and James Santora Sr: Thanks for allowing me to rock, even though it was too loud, and you didnt understand all of it. For letting me rummage through the family entertainment center to listen to all the 45s, Albums and 8-Tracks as a kid. That collection was a great starting place. Thanks to my children Joshua and Abbie: As the two of you got more into music, you both seem to have gotten some of your musical genes from your Dad. Which I have seen in some of the direction music has taken both of you. Some of the selections for this book have been directly or indirectly the result of music you managed to bring to my airwaves over the years. Love you both. My final thanks go to my wife Jennifer: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to sit down and finally write this book. You have also influenced me as well. Your tastes are different from mine, and that gave me a chance to listen to some of your favorite artists, which were intriguing and opened plenty of other directions for how this book took shape. Words do not express how much I appreciate you. Love you always and forever.

Table of Contents

A RE YOU READY TO ROCK ? An Introduction

Underrated Reviews

0-A

B-C

D-E

F-G

H-I

J-K

L-M

N-P

Q-R

S-T

U-Z

Underrated Rock Lists

Links

Are You Ready To Rock? An Introduction

U NDERRATED COMES FROM the word Underrate. A verb meaning underestimates the extent, value, or importance (of someone or something). Being underrated or considered that is really a matter of opinion and always open to debate. Examples from sports, movies, hobbies and even what we do at our place of work could be considered underrated, though the same argument could be said about being overrated as well.

The Underrated Rock Book was the culmination of my lifelong fascination and love of music. I have always had this idea of capturing some of the most underappreciated and overlooked artists and albums in one forum. My introduction to rock music began by raiding my parent's music collection back in the early 1970s. Where Elvis, Beach Boys, Elton John, and Chicago among others became my starting point. My Aunt gave me a copy of the Kiss Destroyer album for Christmas in 1976. From that point on, I got into heavier rock music. In addition to Kiss, my favorite bands going into my teenage years were Cheap Trick, Rush, and Aerosmith. As I started high school, I was into hard rock and heavy metal, but I was a closet new waver and used to hide my Simple Mind 45s behind my Judas Priest albums. By the time I graduated, my collection of favorites had included artists like The Cult, Dokken, and Loudness.

Graduating high school, I really had no plan. I didnt know what I wanted to do. As a kid, I used to play Disc Jockey in my room but never thought of it as a career choice. That was until I enrolled at Atlantic Community College and found out there was an in-house radio station. It was called WACC (or Radio WACC, pronounced wack), and it was a free-form station. This was my home for the next three years. During my time, I really got into so many styles of rock music, I was blown away by how many artists I had not listened to. I would do a metal show, an alternative rock show and then some hodgepodge shows of anything I could get my hands on. One of the cool things during this time was that I got to listen to all the cool 90s bands when they werent cool yet. Soundgarden, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soul Asylum, Goo Goo Dolls are a few that come off the top of my head. Pearl Jam was Mother Love Bone, and Cracker was Camper Van Beethoven.