Mean Machine (Lucifer's Friend album)

Last updated
Mean Machine
Cover - mean machine.jpg
Studio album by
Released1981
Recorded1981
Genre Heavy metal
Length39:40
Label Elektra (in the US)
Vertigo Records (in Europe)
Producer Lucifer's Friend
Lucifer's Friend chronology
Sneak Me In
(1980)
Mean Machine
(1981)
Sumogrip
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic (not rated, no review) link

Mean Machine is the eighth album by German rock band Lucifer's Friend, released in 1981. It marks a return to heavy metal, coinciding with the regained popularity of the genre with the NWOBHM movement.

Contents

Track listing

Side One
No.TitleLength
1."One Way Street to Heartbreak"4:35
2."Hey Driver"4:11
3."Fire and Rain"4:40
4."Mean Machine"1:08
5."Cool Hand Killer"4:58
Side Two
No.TitleLength
6."Action"4:00
7."Born to the City"4:12
8."One Night Sensation"4:44
9."Let Me Down Slow"3:37
10."Bye Bye Sadie"3:18
2011 CD re-release bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Old Man Roller (7 inch A-side)"3:38
12."Stardancer (7 inch A-side)"4:02
13."1999 (7 inch B-side)"4:23
14."Writing on the Wall (7 inch version B-side)"4:44
15."Stardancer (12 inch A-side)"5:16
16."1999 (12 inch B-side)"5:12
17."Moonshine Rider (Live at Rockpalast, Dortmund, Germany on December 6, 1978)"5:32
18."Sweet Little Lady (Live at Rockpalast, Dortmund, Germany on December 6, 1978)"4:39
19."Fugitive (Live at Rockpalast, Dortmund, Germany on December 6, 1978)"7:29

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodores</span> American funk and soul band

Commodores, often billed as The Commodores, is an American funk and soul group. The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman's Hermits</span> English beat rock band

Herman's Hermits are an English rock and pop group formed in 1963 in Manchester and fronted by singer Peter Noone. Known for their jaunty beat sound and Noone's often tongue-in-cheek vocal style, the Hermits charted with numerous transatlantic hits in the UK and in America, where they ranked as one of the most successful acts in the Beatles-led British Invasion. Between March and August 1965 in the United States, the group logged twenty-four consecutive weeks in the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot 100 with five singles, including the two number ones "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and "I'm Henry VIII, I Am".

Electro is a genre of electronic dance music directly influenced by the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machines, with an immediate origin in early hip hop and funk genres. Records in the genre typically feature heavy electronic sounds, usually without vocals; if vocals are present, they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through electronic distortion such as vocoding and talkboxing. It palpably deviates from its predecessor boogie by being less vocal-oriented and more focused on electronic beats produced by drum machines.

<i>Strong Bad Sings (and Other Type Hits)</i> 2003 soundtrack album by The Brothers Chaps and Y-O-U

Strong Bad Sings (and Other Type Hits) is a compilation album featuring songs by Strong Bad and other characters from the Homestar Runner web cartoon series. Strong Bad Sings is the sole audio CD spinoff from the online cartoon world of homestarrunner.com. The songs represent various pastiches of popular music, such as glam metal, folk, hip hop, techno and indie rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Fagen</span> American musician (born 1948)

Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician who was the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his work with Steely Dan, Fagen has released four solo albums, beginning with The Nightfly in 1982, which was nominated for seven Grammys.

King Kobra is an American heavy metal band founded by drummer Carmine Appice after his tenure with Ozzy Osbourne from 1983 to 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accept (band)</span> German heavy metal band

Accept is a German heavy metal band from Solingen, formed in 1976 by lead guitarist Wolf Hoffmann, singer Udo Dirkschneider and bassist Peter Baltes. Their beginnings can be traced back to the late 1960s when the band got its start under the name Band X. Their current lineup consists of Hoffmann, vocalist Mark Tornillo, guitarists Uwe Lulis and Philip Shouse, drummer Christopher Williams and bassist Martin Motnik. Accept has undergone numerous lineup changes; Hoffmann is the last remaining original member, and the only band member to appear on all of their albums. As of 2024, the band has released seventeen studio albums, five live albums and nine compilation albums.

Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars of metal with different elements of orchestral classical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra, or just keyboard orchestration.

Lucifer's Friend was a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. The group was an early practitioner of heavy metal and progressive rock; they also incorporated elements of jazz and fusion into their music, especially in their fourth album Banquet of 1974. Beyond heavy metal, the band has been cited, too, as one of the pioneers of doom metal, helping to define both genres due to their heavy sound and dark oriented lyrics of their debut Lucifer's Friend of 1970, and returning to their roots in 1981 with Mean Machine, although more influenced by speed metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Bowness</span> British singer

Tim Bowness is an English singer and songwriter primarily known for his work as part of the band No-Man, a long-term project formed in 1987 with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.

"Black Diamond" is a song by American hard rock band Kiss, written by rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley. "'Black Diamond' was written almost exactly as it is," he said, "except that the riff wasn't there; Gene [Simmons] brought that part in … It's all about arrangement and embellishment. That's what you're supposed to do in a band: come in and add something. But that doesn't mean you wrote the song."

<i>Johnny Winter</i> (album) 1969 studio album by Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter is Johnny Winter's second studio album. Columbia Records released the album in 1969, after signing Winter to the label for a reported $600,000. As with his first album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, Winter mixes some original compositions with songs originally recorded by blues artists. The album reached number 24 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

<i>Richard Marx</i> (album) 1987 studio album by Richard Marx

Richard Marx is the debut studio album by singer/songwriter and record producer/arranger, Richard Marx, released in June 1987.

<i>Sneak Me In</i> 1980 studio album by Lucifers Friend

Sneak Me In is the seventh album by Lucifer's Friend, an album in which Mike Starrs, formerly of Colosseum II, replaced John Lawton on vocals for a second time. This album and the previous Good Time Warrior (1978) were an attempt at a more commercial, accessible style which met with limited success. Starrs was replaced by the returning Lawton, for 1981's Mean Machine.

<i>Genesis 1970–1975</i> Set of 5 albums by Genesis

Genesis 1970–1975 is a box set of five studio albums by Genesis featuring Peter Gabriel. It was released on 10 November 2008 in Europe by EMI and on 11 November 2008 in North America by Atlantic/Rhino. The 7-CD/6-DVD box set includes newly remixed versions of the albums Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The band's 1969 debut album, From Genesis to Revelation, was excluded because of the band losing the rights to it. The fifth pair of discs includes B-side songs, 3 rare songs from BBC Sessions in 1970 and the never-before-released Genesis Plays Jackson soundtrack. Each bonus DVD features audio versions of the albums in 5.1 surround sound, as well as videos from each album's corresponding tour, new interviews, and photo galleries. The European version includes CD/SACD Hybrids instead of standard CDs. EMI also released a limited edition six disc vinyl box set containing the original albums only on 24 November 2008.

<i>Nightshift</i> (album) 1985 studio album by Commodores

Nightshift is the 11th studio album by the Commodores, released by Motown Records on January 15, 1985. It was the group's last album on the Motown label before switching to Polydor.

<i>Good Time Warrior</i> 1978 studio album by Lucifers Friend

Good Time Warrior is the sixth album by Lucifer's Friend, an album in which Mike Starrs, formerly of Colosseum II, replaced John Lawton on vocals for the first time. This album and the following Sneak Me In (1980) were an attempt at a more commercial, mainstream style which met with limited commercial success. Starrs was eventually replaced by the returning Lawton for 1981's Mean Machine.

<i>Mind Exploding</i> 1976 studio album by Lucifers Friend

Mind Exploding is the fifth album by German hard rock band Lucifer's Friend. This album marks the point where they returned to a more hard rock oriented style with less of a progressive rock sound. It is more or less the missing link between I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer (1973) and Banquet (1974); with the hard rock driven sound of the former, it still has the occasional horn section and progressiveness of the latter. This is the last album with John Lawton on vocals before he joined Uriah Heep. Lawton returned to Lucifer's Friend in 1981 to record the Mean Machine album.

<i>Keep It Hid</i> 2009 studio album by Dan Auerbach

Keep It Hid is the debut solo album by the American blues-rock musician Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, released on February 10, 2009, through Nonesuch Records. The second track, "I Want Some More", was featured in season 2, episode 2 of Peaky Blinders. "Heartbroken, in Disrepair" was featured on the 2011 video game Need for Speed: The Run. The final track, "Goin' Home", was included in the soundtrack of the 2009 film Up in the Air.

<i>The First Time</i> (Kelsea Ballerini album) 2015 studio album by Kelsea Ballerini

The First Time is the debut studio album by American country pop singer Kelsea Ballerini. It was released on May 19, 2015, by Black River Entertainment. The album's track listing and cover art was released on April 1, 2015. With the album's first three singles all reaching number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, Ballerini became the first new female artist to send her first three releases to the top of the charts.