5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #153

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. Neverwhere, by Heaven and Hell

Personally, I love it when a band that had a feud within it for decades can be resolved, friendships restored, and a happy ending for all. This was definitely the case for the Ronnie James Dio era of Black Sabbath, who in the late 2000's reunited and changed their name to Heaven and Hell. They toured all the old songs and even wrote some new ones, putting out one final record The Devil You Know before Dio's death in 2010. This tune in particular definitely sounds like a more modern sounding Dio Sabbath song.

2. Boogie for George, by UFO

Believe it or not, Michael Schenker was NOT always the guitar player for UFO. They actually had a couple before Schenker joined the band in 1973. There is definitely a different sound without him, but these tunes are still pretty cool. Definitely a real bluesy edge to them that fits for the particular era that it was. It's too bad that you don't really hear a whole lot of stuff like this out of them at their live shows any more. It's all Schenker and beyond.

3. Nightmare, by Icecross

The 70's had a LOT of great under rated rock and metal bands. Icelandic metal band Icecross is definitely a prime example of this. It's probably due to geography that they never made it that big, which is a shame because their stuff was actually pretty great. It's like Black Sabbath meets psychedelic 60's rock. You will have to listen for yourself to fully understand and appreciate what I mean. It's a unique experience for sure.

4. Heart and Soul, by Michael Schenker Fest

Speaking of Michael Schenker, he has a new solo record coming out next month. He has a star studded line-up for the album with all of the singers he ever worked with in Michael Schenker Group and others as well. In fact, this song in particular has him and Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett trading licks as if they were dueling one another during the solo sections. It's pretty darn gnarly if I do say so myself.

5. Ramble On, by Led Zeppelin

Just in case you have had it with my obscure-ish stuff for the moment, here's some Zeppelin for ya. This song of course needs no introduction whatsoever. It's a classic from their second album Led Zeppelin II and it gets played on the radio all the freakin' time. The way it is put together and the unbridled passion behind it blew the doors off the hinges that were around back in the late 60's/early 70's when Zeppelin was getting started.