3 Aug, 2009 Nickelback Top 20 Review

Nickelback Top 20 Review

#  Album:                                          Track Title:
1) Dark Horse                                  Something In Your Mouth
2) Silver Side Up                            Never Again
3) All The Right Reasons            Someone That You’re With
4) All The Right Reasons            Animals
5) All The Right Reasons            Side Of A Bullet
6) Dark Horse                                  Burn It To The Ground
7) All The Right Reasons            Next Contestant
8) The Long Road                           Because of You
9) Dark Horse                                  S.E.X
10) The Long Road                        Believe It or Not
11) Curb                                             Fly
12) Silver Side Up                          Woke Up This Morning
13) The Long Road                        Throw Yourself Away
14) Curb                                             Left
15) Dark Horse                                Shakin’ Hands
16) The Long Road                        Figured You Out

Wow that took a while to getting around to me doing this.

 I have in the meantime been listening to my original top 20 tracks I placed onto a CD in the car.  I have come to like a few of these more than others.

 I have not included the slower radio tracks – as these did not really do it for me.

 Here are the 16 tracks:

 No. 1

Album:                          Track Title:

Dark Horse                  Something In Your Mouth

 Why I like it:

Powerful Words – making you wonder about the subject and undertones noted

Great Beat – especially when played loud

Love the change in tempo and beat.

 Best Part:

“Got to meet the honey with the Million Dollar Body…” such a catchy tune…

 NO 2

Album:                Track Title:

Silver Side Up    Never Again

Why I like it:

Very Powerful – a bit disturbing – but realistic.

Story telling in the eyes of a little boy.

Excellent beat and also varied tempos and sequences.

The swearing – is extremely appropriate! and the tone – the same.

Best Part:

“Fathers a name you haven’t earned yet..” and the beat sequence that this goes through and continues with… – love it

NO 3

Album:                                             Track Title:

All The Right Reasons               Someone That You’re With

Why I like it:

Fast Beat – Great story. Foot tapping.

True to Live.

Really gets you rockin’ – especially in the car – LOUD!!!

Best Part:

“When I hear your favorite songs you sing…and I borrow things that I don’t need just for conversation sake…instead of being out with me – you must be out with them” – the beat during this sequence is awesome..

NO 4

Album:                                           Track Title:

All The Right Reasons               Animals

 

 

Why I like it:

INTRO – very powerful. Then the story gets started…

Very good lyrics – and only after a few times of listening will you hear them all – or “catch” them all first pass.

Just a couple Animals…

Best Part:

“I guess nobody every taught her to speak with a full mouth” – mmmm did not hear or understand that the first time round…

Also… “That’s my dad outside the car…”

 

NO 5

Album:                                            Track Title:

All The Right Reasons               Side Of A Bullet

Why I like it:

Powerful / Rough / a tad violent

Love the guitar for this track.

Best Part:

“Finger on the trigger – loaded bullet”… A very emotional track and you can fell the anger.

 

NO 6

Album:                                     Track Title:

Dark Horse                              Burn It To The Ground

 

Why I like it:

Hey…

Great Beat – foot pounding stuff

Fast paced track with great drums!

Two Tone or 2 parts to the song – notice the pace of the singing change after 2nd half of the song. Powerful ending.

Best Part:

“That shit makes me bob shit crazy…”  – just a great track overall.

NO 7

Album:                                            Track Title:

All The Right Reasons               Next Contestant

 

Why I like it:

Slow start – building up the story – then into the good stuff.

Also a bit of an aggressive take.

Like the story being told…

 

Best Part:

“I even feel the ladies are twice as crazy…” – “This time somebody’s getting hurt…” “Is that your hand on my girlfriend?” – great drum sequence half way through!

NO 8

Album:                                                   Track Title:

The Long Road                                    Because of You

Why I like it:

Drums…

Rocking Intro…

Change in tempo throughout the song and the beat is great.

Best Part:

2 mins + in – beat gets slow then – builds up for a powerful finish. “Watch you die…” 

NO 9

Album:                         Track Title:

Dark Horse                              S.E.X

Why I like it:

Topic is interesting

Love the play on the S.E.X – and what each word stands for…

S – is for the simple need

E – is for the ecstasy

X – is to mark the spot

Good beat and tunes

Yes is always the answer – if you ask the question

Best Part:

Loving what you underwear, wonder what’s up under there – wonder if I’ll ever have it under my tongue…” – great lyric writing…

 

NO 10

Album:                                                   Track Title:

The Long Road                                    Believe It or Not

Why I like it:

Great sound

Half way – slow down – then the build up

The words make you think

Best Part:

“Most of us feel like we are losing ground…” “Believe it or not everyone needs to feel loved”

 

NO 11

Album:                                  Track Title:

Curb                                        Fly

Why I like it:

Has a classic sound to it

Hear a different side of Nickelback

Mother say wings for you and I

If I take this am I going to die – you and I will fly – learn to fly

Bullets Fly

Best Part:

“If I take this am I going to die…” A lot of play on the word fly with bullets and and and…

 

NO 12

Album:                                      Track Title:

Silver Side Up                          Woke Up This Morning

Why I like it:

Beat is great

Has a lot of great drums, guitar an lyrics that make a great track

Highs and Lows – that after hearing a few times – ready get under your skin.

Best Part:

“I’ve been a looser all my life, I’m not about to change, if you don’t like it there’s the door – nobody make you stay – there ain’t no woman on the plant who can deal with it”

NO 13

Album:                                       Track Title:

The Long Road                        Throw Yourself Away

Why I like it:

Powerful Tone

A bit of a rough topic

great When loud

very strong words

Best Part:

“Damn you for thinking we would never mind….Why don’t you throw yourself away…” WTF

NO 14

Album:                                  Track Title:

Curb                                        Left

Why I like it:

Good Intro

Different Tempo to the usual

Change of tempo during a line – and just carrying on

Guitar

 

Best Part:

“Before he died – I swear I could have heard.. HHMMM – I AM…” Builds up every now and then.

NO 15

Album:                                     Track Title:

Dark Horse                              Shakin’ Hands

Why I like it:

HEY…

Basic instruments – but powerful lyrics and interesting story

HEY…

Great beat

Must be loud though

Best Part:

“You are bound to get a little dirty digging for gold…” “She didn’t make it this far by just shaking hands”

 

NO 16

Album:                                       Track Title:

The Long Road                        Figured You Out

Why I like it:

A twist in a song – well this has one…

Can relate to the song

Gets really intense and personal

Love the change in gear and the “Attack”

Best Part:

“I love my hands around your neck” “Dirt on your knees…while you still looking up at me” “Too many long lines in a row – now I know who you are.”

 

Wow that took a while to compile – no time tonight to add the audio – maybe another post or an edit to this one to follow.

Cheers, Kevin

17 July, 2009 Work, Sleep, Eat, Work

Wow it has been too long since my last post, 19 June – that’s almost a full month ago. Well things have been really busy on all fronts work, work and more work, a bit of riding a bit of hiking and a bit of partying.

Well off to the mountain biking again on Sat and hiking on Sunday plus a bit of rugby on Sat. Should be a good weekend – but it can always turn out differently – it usually does.

I still have not forgotten to do the Nickelback top 16 review – still on its way.

No more time, till next time.

Cheers,

Kevin

22 June, 2009 MTB back on track and Father’s Day.

Saturday morning was mountain bike ride time. I was late for the guys, but we had a good day overall. I managed to test drive Nokia’s Sports Tracker software, and wow it is impressive! A full review with images is in order.

Sunday was Father’s Day and my 3 year old made me a lovely card and tie – too sweet, but i think the teacher had a bit off a hand in the making here too.

My dad had a braai for his day, it was a good day, brother got a hole in his ear from the african grey!

Cheers, Kevin

19 June, 2009 Bike Problems

Tuesday was a public holiday and me and my brother decided to have a ride. We met up at 7:30am so we could sleep in a bit – but it was not enough. The car park was not too busy on this morning. I had just installed Sports Tracker for my mobile and was looking forward to test drving the software. My brother mentioned he had worked on his bike by changing the chain etc – but I thought that sounds great. Well instead of our usual 33km – we managed to do almost 2km – his new chain did not agree with his old cogs. Damn – we will have to make it up this Saturday and Sunday.

Software Review on Sports Tracker should be good. Until Later

Cheers, Kevin

11 June, Mountain Bike and Update

Today is already the 11th June – wow how time flies.

Things have been rather hectic, double header this past weekend. Social ride with my brother and a few of his mates and an old work mate I have not seen for years – nice to catch up with him. It is amazing when riding in a group of 5 as we were this weekend – you land up talking to each of the other guys during the ride. I spoke with each of the guys and caught up with each of them – great.

The Saturday ride was a 36km ride in and around the farm (Northern Farms) – with an extra loop inside the farm which was great to get to see a bit more of the farm – I will eventually get to know the different routes with-in the farm.

The Saturday ride took us approx 2.5 hours – a few stops waiting but nothing hectic.

Sunday was an awesome day – stayed over at my brothers house – braai that evening – then at 6am – up and cycle to the start of the Sunday JMBC (Johannesburg Mountain Bike Club) – which was in Honeydew for this week. What a ride. It is called the Urban Assault – as you do a fair bit of riding through residential areas to get to the more remote areas. We passed between residential complexes, schools and houses to get to the remote areas towards Ruimsig towards Krugersdorp. I know the area – but not from the off-road side of things.  There was a new hill I met – “Heart-Break-Hill” – and yes I did have a small pill up the hill – going so slow up a very steep hill and the big rocks got in my way and I met the ground to my right – Barry thought it was quiet funny – me trying to ride up this monster incline while almost everyone else was walking.

The ride took very long as we had 2 punctures and a lot of waiting for the group to re-group. In the end I started getting tired and in need of some food – it was 11am – nearly 4 hours after we started that we were back.

Picture: This is unfortunately a pic using my cellphone and I will try get a better one next time. It is of planes taking off in the distance – but because it is so cold in the morning – the plane taking off is leaving a trail behind it looking like a straight cloud – really impressive – but will try get a closer pic and a better quality picture.

Sunrise with Plane Trails in the Distance

Cheers, Kevin

May 26, 2009 – Mountain Biking and Rugby Update

 

Mountain Biking

Morning Sunrise

This is once again on the way to the Mountain Bike starting point (approx 20min from my place). This particular place where I took the photo is the Lion Park – which has a bit of a game farm and Lions.

Enough Sleep?

3 hours sleep is enough…

After the Ride

The boys after the ride…
Saturday was a good outing with the boys, 33km route – a bit slower than usual – but 1 of the three had only had 3 hours sleep and a bit of tequila a few hours earlier. The day was great – cold in the morning (got to get those full hand gloves) full sunshine and not too windy. There was a stream of cars coming through the farm going to a traditional funeral or wedding – 5 min delay or so.

No incidents on the ride – just a normal ride – we nearly took a different route – but maybe next time we will mix it up.

This Saturday there is a race planned in the Magaliesburg mountains – wow should be good. We are planning on doing the 45km route – not up to the 75km route just yet. Damn just found out that this race is full and will have to catch the next one.

Sunday may also be a slow day on the bike – with a friend from work & his family – will see how the weekend goes.
Rugby Update

Well the Super 14 Rugby final is on this weekend, after a great semi-final by the local South African team – they now have a home final – and it should be a cracker.
I believe they are the favourites – based on their recent efforts.

The final is on Saturday after the mountain biking and will have to see how it all goes – should be a good day anyway.

Cheers, Kevin

May 19, 2009 Mountain Biking, Kids Party and Rugby Update

 

Mountain Biking

Morning Picture – on the way to the Mountain Bike Farm we ride at.

Saturday was another great day for mountain biking, me and Shaun did a 33km ride – along the usual route, but we crossed paths with 3 serious riders that did not like to ride on the gravel road and showed us a single track path through the grass-lands.

Compared to the course I went last week, this detour and a few others made the ride and route more enjoyable and scenic. Shaun was not 100% on the day and started complaining a bit about legs and stuff.

The day was cold and overcast – which is much better than the belting sun at 7am-8am. We started our ride at approx 7:10am. It took us approx 1h 30min – maybe a bit longer.

Kids Party

Happy Birthday

Saturday afternoon was Jayden’stime – a birthday party at Lifestyle (nursery and tea garden with kids party venue). It was a 4th Birthday for a class mate – Kamo, who was dressed as spiderman for the day and his party theme was spider-man.

Rugby – Super 14

Log as at 19 May 2009

Wow what a rugby weekend – right down to the last 5 minutes of the last game of the last round before the semi-finals.

Bulls made it out on top for a home semi-final – should be a great rugby weekend again with 2 games – the final next weekend.

Will get the details soon. My leader-board position – not looking too good – still 17th – hoping for at least 15th position – will have to see.

Anyway – weekends are not good posting days for me – busy with MTB, Jay etc etc – will have to see how things go – must try get that dinner review from Murray and Heather.

Cheers, Kevin

14 May, 2009: Music Review – Nickelback

 

Nickelback

 

Today is a quick one – a music review of the band Nickelback. Well I’ll list the bands albums to date and a picture of each. I would like to give you my Top 20 songs of theirs – but time is not on my side today. I will do a top 20 post in the near future.

 

Albums:

 

1. Nickelback 1995 – Hesher EP
2. Nickelback 1996 – Curb
3. Nickelback 2000 – The State
4. Nickelback 2001 – Silver Side Up
5. Nickelback 2003 – The Long Road
6. Nickelback 2005 – All The Right Reasons
7. Nickelback 2008 – Dark Horse

 

 

 

Hesher

 

 Their first album is actually an EP – this means that there are not enough songs for an album and is called an Extended Play – so a few more songs than a Single – but not enough for an Album. Got it? Well it was their first tracks compiled for release.

 

Nickelback 1995 – Hesher EP

 

The ones I like from their first album-

 

• 01 – Where
• 03 – Fly

 

The name of the EP / Album – Hesher – it is said to come from one of the friends of the band or band members who always said “Hey Sure” to questions asked!

 

Curb

 

 This album was named so due to a boyfriend and girlfriend crashing into each other in a car crash – on the way to see each other – but the one did not know the other was on their way to the other!

 

Curb 1996 Orig Cover

 

The State

 

 This album I do not recognise any tracks that stand out – but Top 20 still to come – may include 1 or so…

 

The_State_(Original_Cover)

 

 

Silver Side Up 

 

 How you remind me… That is all I have to say – that is the biggest track from this album and possibly the band…

 

Nickelback Silver Side Up

 

The Long Road

 

Yeah – another one of those I can not find a track to comment on…

 

Nickelback – The Long Road

 

All The Right Reasons

 

Photograph is a very good radio play track – and still gets plenty of airtime.

 

All The Right Reasons

 

Dark Horse

 

Wow – this album has plenty of good songs. The words are really well thought out, and powerful and a bit rough at times!

 

Dark_Horse

 

That took a bit longer than I expected but – it is well worth it to be able to see all the album names and pics in one listing. As I mentioned I will be posting my Top 20 quiet soon – and maybe even a bit of audio – that would be really cool.

 

Cheers, Kevin

 

 

13 May, 2009: Rugby Update, My Boy’s Awesome Attitude and Mountain Bike Pics

 Rugby Update

 Currently the Super 14 is on the go – with one weekend of Rugby before the semis and finals. The current log is as follows:

Super 14 Leaderboard as at 13 May 2009

                                             Played   Won   Lost      Points
Bulls                                         12        9          3          42
Chiefs                                       12        8          4          41
Hurricanes                             12        8          4          39
Crusaders                               12        7          4          37
Brumbies                                12        8          4          37
Sharks                                      12        8          4          36
Waratahs                                 12        8          4          36
Force                                        12        5          6          31
Blues                                         12        5          7          31
Highlanders                           12        4          8          24
Lions                                        12        4          8          24
Stormers                                 12        4          8          23
Reds                                          12        3          9          18
Cheetahs                                 12        2          10        11

Super 14 Log on 13 May 2009

  

This weekend there is a game between all 14 teams – so 7 games this weekend. Friday night is my team’s home game – Lioms. As you can see they are in the bottom half of the log.

 This Super 14 season has been much more interesting for me due to the Superbru involvement. Superbru is a free prediction website that allows you to join a pool of friends and compete against each other in picking the winners for each game. So a leaderboard of your say 20 friends is stored on the website showing the position each person is in. I’m in 18th position – with my aim of about 15th position – possible – but we will see.

My Boy – He Has an Awesome Attitude

My son Jayden is 3 1/2 years old and is an amazing young boy. Yesterday we were bathing and usually when we are finished bathing – I let the water out and his bath is over – but this day he was having fun playing in the bath and when I said to him we were finished this is what he said:

“Daddy – when I bath with mommy she does not let the water out and lets me play. Daddy maybe we can try that hey?”

This just tells me at lot about the way that he dealing with a situation – he could have responded to me when I said we were finished in the following manner:

“NOOO DADDY I DON’T WANT TO GET OUT” – “I WANT TO PLAY” – and he could have been screaming, moaning – but in this case he choose to handle the situation in a very positive, reasoning way – and he is only 3 1/2 years old! – maybe video clips and pics of him to follow.

 

Jayden Playing in the bath

Mountain Bike Pics

Here are a few pics of our Mountain Biking outings, note the breakfast after the  ride.

Sunrise before Mountain Biking

Last Week’s Sunrise

Kevin and Barry

Me with bike at the car

Post Race Chow – Breakfast Roll or Boerie Roll

 

Three days and 3 posts – not too bad!

Well dinner is planned for tomorrow evening at Murray – so I will try get the recipe and meal feedback – not sure if this will mean a skip of a post for tomorrow – but the feedback on the meal should make up for it – and maybe even the recipe.

Cheers, Kevin

12 May, 2009: Mountain Bike funny, tv-series and Health-Drive.

Mountain Bike Funny (Well to me and brother Barry it was all giggles)

 A week back me and my brother went for a mountain bike ride, this is something I have only recently joined in with my brother and a few of his mates. This day it was just me and Barry and after a 33km ride we went for the highlight of the ride – the pit stop for a good breakfast roll with bacon (sort of) and egg (me) and boerewors roll for Barry – coffee and beer is also in there.  To eat our breakfast we went to sit on the wooden benches. There were 2 long benches joined and we sat at the one, and soon after us sitting down another guy came to sit down – so we both looked over casually and at the exact wrong moment both looked straight at him – but because he was bending down to get into the bench (he was a reasonable size guy) – he leaned away from us pushing his arse towards us – when we saw a sight I will not forget in a while. A huge hole right in the middle of his cycling shorts that was just wrong! Well I tried to carry on the conversation with Barry – but then the snickering started (he had to have heard us). Anyway before we were crying with laughter I had to go get another beer – and luckily the line was a few people deep – so I could get my composure again!

Barry told this story to his girlfriend – and when he told her – he packed up laughing again – and she could not understand what was so funny – that was when we realized it was one of those that you had to be there for it…

Anyway I found a picture that is approx 90% accurate of what we saw – take a look…

 

TV-Series Review

I have a sizable collection (1TB) of TV Series of various genre, but have only managed to get to watch a small percentage of these. Last night I decided to watch the first episode of a few of these and get an idea of which are worth the time to spend watching. Well I was in for a surprise…

The Unit - Title Screen

I had very little expectations of this TV Series – so when I put it on I thought it would be slow and a typical military show – but it turned out to be a mixture of 24 (TV-Series) and a hijacker type movie. It was really much better than I had anticipated.

What I liked:

• Storyline of the wives back at the base
• The secrecy of “The Unit”
• The pace of the 40 minutes – wow
• The strong characters (especially the big black dude – excellent actor from 24)
• Big Budget action – more than I expected

Overall a really great premier – it was Season 01 and Episode 01 that I watched and I must say I will be looking into the rest of S1 and S2 and S3 and S4 – but when I have time…

Health Drive

Well what I call a health drive does not mean the same as what many others may define it. I have always made a real effort to eat breakfast – usually high-fibre bran. Lunch has for the better part of the last 7 years consisted of catered / canteen lunches at work – but lately this I have started to stay away from as the portions are usually too large and if I have dinner as well then I have essentialy had 2 huge meals for the day!

So I went off to the local supermarket and came up with the following for my Fruit Salad:

• Bananas
• Apples
• Mellon’s
• Paw-Paw
• Pineapple
• Oranges

I then took a portion of each and landed up with a medium-sized bowl of fruit salad that looks like it is going to last a week! – we will see.

So tomorrow it is fibre-bran, yogurt, fruit salad for breakfast – lunch I usually have a tuna salad and dinner that depends.

Health Drive – well I mentioned that it was not much – but a bit better than before! Now that gym membership that lapsed I will need to get my arse into gear.

….

Well another day another post, wow lets see if I can keep the momentum – we will see. I have a potential dinner review on the cards… I meet up with a friend who I do some work with on a program for him and I have dinner there most Wednesday evenings and his wife always makes it a special occasion (even after 2 year) by dressing up and spending most of the day planning the meal and getting the ingredients for the recipe of choice for the evening. So I may even include the recipe (even if it is just for me to have a place where I put the recipes for reference for me…).

We will see if the dinner is on this week and if the dinner is worth writing about… (but even if it is not there are always interesting stories Murray tells me I can share). Oh while I am on Murray I can do a quick mention of the Avo tree that he game me, well 2 the big one did not make it but the small one is doing ok – maybe a picture of that sometime soon…

Cheers, Kevin