Artist : Picture Country : Netherlands Release : Heavy Metal Ears/Picture 1 Year : 2001 Genre : Heavy Metal File Type : mp3 320 Info:
PICTURE had something of their own to say and over the course of their
first four LP's began to make a metal statement that would help forge
what would come be known as Euro-metal or power metal. While PICTURE's
first two LP's are not quite as "power metal-esque" as their fourth LP,
"Eternal Dark", "Heavy Metal Ears" and "Picture 1" showcase a band with
an extremely tight, aggressive, catchy and classy sound, just waiting to
make it big. While PICTURE never quite made it big, they did play on
several huge tours with much larger bands like Kiss, and as legend has
it, PICTURE often outplayed the headliners when performing as an opening
act. But back to the two LP's on this awesome disc. Both albums are
amazing, blending elements of British acts like Saxon, Motorhead,
Quartz, etc., with an almost AC/DC-like sense of songcraft. The
production is amongst the BEST of the early-80's especially on "Heavy
Metal Ears", and features a stunningly powerful guitar sound as well as
some over the top double bass drummming action, strong anthemic vocals
and rock solid bass.
Artist : Picture Country : Netherlands Release : Diamond Dreamer/Eternal Dark Year : 2001 Genre : Heavy Metal File Type : mp3 320 Info:
This is what I call an forgotten band. It's pretty hard to find their
records, or people who heard about 'em. Despite this , they're very
good! From the early eighties, these are their 3rd and 4th album. Far
from being an ordinary band, they sound very distinct. It's pure and
true heavy metal. Extremely loud, "in your face" guitars, a real big
voice from a powerful vocalist, melodic and heavy at the same time. In
my opinion,"Diamond dreamer" is a little better. Begins with the
exciting tune "Lady Lightning", followed by "Night Hunter", "Hot lovin"
and you feel high voltage waves filling in your brain. There's a very
beautiful ballad with tons of blasting guitars called "You're touchin
me". An earth shaking tune called "Message from hell", then "You're all
alone", "Get me rock'n'roll", "Lousy Lady", and the high rockin' title
track. "Eternal Dark" is darker as it suggests, and the guitar sounds
heavier on their tones, kind of...in the shadows. I strongly recomend
this Cd's for those who aprecciates pure heavy rock, from a time that
this kind of music had only on name: Heavy Metal.
1. Old Dogs New Tricks
2. Blood Out Of Stone
3. High On Fire
4. Live By The Sword
5. Now It's Too Late
6. Just Incredible
7. Who Can You Trust
8. Opposites Attract
9. Choosing Your Sign
10. A Better Soul
11. Celtic Cross
12. Never In A Milion YearsArtist : Picture Country : Netherlands Release : Old Dogs New Tricks Year : 2009 Genre : Heavy Metal File Type : mp3 320 Info:
I got there first two albums as imports and i still listen to them to
this day, this was a good comback album from a band i never thought we
would see again, its nice to see they still have the drive but as with
most legands that have been around more then 30 years ( think saxon,
accept, krokus, maiden, priest) these new albums never live up to the
music they made some 30 odd years ago, still it is nice to have this cd
if you where a fan of the early picture stuff, as you know the first 4
picture albums from 80 to 84 where great but by the mid 80s picture went
to poser crap,
1. Intro: O Fortuna
2. You're All Alone
3. Heavy Metal Ears
4. Diamond Dreamer
5. Eternal Dark
6. Griffons Guard The Gold
7. Tell No Lies
8. Intro: Lady Lightning
9. Lady Lightning
10. You're Touching Me
11. Choose Your Sign
12. Live By The Sword
13. Intro: Bombers
14. BombersArtist : Picture Country : Netherlands Release : Live 2008: Limited Edition Year : 2008 Genre : Heavy Metal File Type : mp3 320 Info: Very hard to find live album from the Dutch metallers, recorded in their 2008 tour.
1. Battle Cruiser
2. Moving Down The Line
3. Burning For Your Love
4. Stay With Me
5. She Was Made For Lovin'
6. I'm Still Flying
7. Stand Back For The People In Charge
8. You Took My Money,You Took My Pride
9. No Way BackArtist : Picture Country : Netherlands Release : Every Story Needs Another Picture Year : 1986 Genre : Heavy Metal File Type : mp3 320 Info:
The original line-up recorded their debut album, Picture 1 and their
second effort, Heavy Metal Ears in 1980 and 1981 respectively. To begin
with, they gigged throughout the Netherlands and nearby Germany and
built a following. In the meantime, they started composing their own
music. Jan would usually come up with the riffs, then the other members
would contribute their parts. After hashing and rehashing the songs,
they became the titles that would appear on the first album, Picture I.
As
a bunch of young kids, they didn’t know much about the realities of
recording. When the album came out, none of them liked the sound
quality. As they grew in popularity, they returned to the studio to
record Heavy Metal Ears and it was much of the same sound quality. It
wasn’t until they were a little older and wiser that they really got
their sound in the studio with Diamond Dreamer. However, by this time,
Ronald had left for personal reasons and they found Israeli singer,
Shmoulik Avigal. Not only was the recording done much better, but
Shmoulik had a different, and some say, more powerful voice. Many
consider Diamond Dreamer as the band’s best album.
After recording
and touring with Shmoluik for the Diamond Dreamer album, he suggested
they add a second guitarist to fatten their live sound and Chriz Van
Jaarsveld was brought in. Though he was a technically proficient
guitarist, he just didn’t gel with Jan and things went downhill. Then
Shmoulik got in a petty argument with their manager and was fired from
the band. About this time, Jan had had enough and quit for personal
reasons. To fill in the gaps, a new singer, Pete Lovell was recruited
along with a second guitarist, Henry van Manen. They went into the
studio to record Eternal Dark. This album was slicker than Diamond
Dreamer and the two guitarists significantly altered the heavy sound of
Jan Bechtum for a more technical groove that sort of worked, but started
the trend for the final albums that veered away from the Picture sound.
Around this time, Laurens could not take the rigors of touring or the
stress of all their management troubles while supporting a wife and
twins, so he called it a day.
From that point on, the only remaining
original member was Rinus. He soldiered on for three more albums,
Traitor, Marathon, and Every Story Needs Another Picture. Many described
them as going into hair metal, with very commercial and anonymous
songs. Rinus is particularly disgusted with Every Story Needs Another
Picture, as it was an album forced by the record contract, and it is
rumored the whole album was recorded by studio musicians with minimal
participation from him.
Saturday, October 08, 2016
