Earth and Earthless

My writer’s block has been cured by a pair of concerts at local clubs by a pair of bands with similar names.

Earthless, Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at the Ottobar in Baltimore, Maryland.  The Ottobar is a small club, capacity 400, up on Howard Street, in a somewhat rundown neighborhood of mostly body shops and auto repair shops – in fact, very similar to the Knockdown Center in Queens, NYC where I saw the DesertFest in May of this year.  The flip side is that it’s easy to get to (just drive up Martin Luther King Blvd. until it merges with Howard Street) and street parking is plentiful.  Moreover, the venue has a decent amount of seating, perfect for my 50+ year old back. 

Earthless themselves are mainly Isiah Mitchell (guitarist), Mike Eginton (bass), and Mario Rubalcaba (drums), from San Diego, California, USA (yes, on Earth).   Their albums are Sonic Prayer (2005), Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky (2007), From the Ages (2013), Black Heaven (2018), and Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (2022).  The material is 90% instrumentals, with the song structure essentially being nonstop 100 mph guitar solos.  This is not music with a general commercial appeal.  I find it from tolerable to enjoyable depending on my mood.  I enjoyed the show; the opening act was Black Lung (not to be confused with British band Green Lung), who are actually from Baltimore.  I can say I’m glad I went.  I had seen Earthless before, at the Rock’n’Roll Hotel in DC in March 2018, plus a few online streaming shows during COVID.  As with any band, check them out Spotify to get some idea of what to expect.  In any case the way the music is set up, every studio album may as well be a live album. 

Earth, Friday September 23, 2022 at the Black Cat in Washington, DC.  Before I go further, I’ll clarify this is an American band from Olympia, Washington, formed in 1989 (hereinafter “Earth 3”). 

There was a British band called Earth in the late ‘60s – or rather, two such bands.  What I’ll call “Earth 2” was a band from Birmingham, England – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward.  They had to change their name to Black Sabbath due to another band called Earth (hereinafter “Earth 1”).  While Earth 2 released 9 albums with Ozzy Osbourne, 4 with Ronnie James Dio (5 if you count The Devil You Know), 5 with Tony Martin, and one each with Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes, the original band which caused them to change their name only managed to release two singles, “Everybody Sing The Song”/Stranger of Fortune” in April 1969, and “Resurrection City”/”Comical Man” in December 1969, i.e. a total of four songs and no albums.  Guitarist Glenn Campbell (not the American musician often associated with the Beach Boys) disbanded Earth and founded Juicy Lucy, which put out five albums from 1969 to 1972, and four more from 1995-2006.  At an early stage they had Micky Moody, better known as guitarist with Bernie Marsden in the earlier, blues-oriented incarnation of Whitesnake.  I listened to the first Juicy Lucy album, and it sounded pretty much like all other blues-based bands of that era.

ANYHOW.

Earth 3 is mainly Dylan Carlson (guitar) and Adrienne Davies (drums).  Carlson actually took the name from the E1/E2 Earth bands, neither of which were still active in 1989 when he founded his own band.  I saw him play as a solo artist opening for Sleep at the new 930 Club in DC in 2018, then with Earth at the Ottobar in 2019 – so I can say I saw both Earth and Earthless at the Ottobar, albeit on different dates. 

By now they have 9 albums:  Earth 2: Special Low-Frequency Version (1993); Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions (1995); Pentastar: In the Style of Demons (1996), Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method (2005); The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull (2008); Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I (2011); Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II (2012); Primitive and Deadly (2014); and Full upon Her Burning Lips (2019). 

Whereas Earthless are nonstop guitar solos, Earth do the opposite:  each song picks a specific musical phrase, and repeats it over and over again without lyrics, although often with some interlude/solo in between to break up what would otherwise be the same riff simply repeated over and over again.  Like Earthless it’s a fairly raw and primitive version of hard rock music with negligible commercial appeal.  Supposedly the band was co-headliner with Iceage (more of a pop band and NOT a stoner rock band) but Earth’s set was only an hour, somewhat more than an opening act and 30 minutes short of a full set of a headliner.  However, the songs are much shorter than Earthless’ – which average out at 20-40 minutes each.   Live, they had another redneck looking guy playing guitar and bass pedals in his socks, which amplified the sound somewhat. 

Strangely, Carlson knew Kurt Cobain quite well – maybe too well.  But that is another story….

American V8 Engines

 

I’ve commented on the Pontiac 400 cubic inch V8, and the Chevrolet 305 V8.  Now I want to ease back and give you bigger picture.

Pull the cord on a gas-powered lawn mower, and you’ve got a single cylinder gas engine spinning a blade around to cut your lawn.  Look under the hood of a Citroen Deux Chevaux (DCV) and you’ll see a flat two cylinder engine.  Most economy cars have 4 cylinder engines, mostly inline, with Saab, VW and Porsche making flat 4s, and V4s exclusively in motorcycles.  Their upscale brethren can usually be found with six cylinder engines:  straight six (favored by BMW), V6s (most of the others), and flat sixes (Subaru and Porsche).  But the most epic of these is the V8.  Eight cylinders, two banks of four, generally 90 degrees apart.  The V8 replaced the straight (inline) 8, which lasted until the mid 1950s.

Despite the advent of modern electric motors, gasoline V8s are still around and will be for some time.  Even if electric cars completely replace ICE (internal combustion engines) on showroom floors, that does nothing about the millions of existing gas powered vehicles which won’t be magically transformed into electric cars overnight – if ever.  That being the case, they are still relevant, and thus V8s are still relevant as well.

Straight Eights.  While the V configuration (two banks of 4 cylinders at a 90 degree angle) is most common – and I haven’t seen a flat (horizontally opposed) 8 (Porsche used one in racing cars, but no production cars) – inline 8 cylinder engines were popular in the 1930s, 40s, and into the 50s before being phased out in favor of V8s.  Most American companies made straight eights, though Cadillac stuck with V8s, V12s and even V16s.  Buick’s straight eight was distinctive for using a more modern overhead valve format, while the rest of the straight eights used flathead (L head) engines. 

Flathead vs. overhead valve vs. overhead cam.   Flathead engines have the valves (intake and exhaust) in the block itself, leaving the cylinder head little more than a cover through which the spark plugs poke into the combustion chamber.  OHV and OHC engines have the valves in the cylinder heads.  OHV engines locate the camshaft, which opens and closes the valves, in the block, linked to the valves by lifters, pushrods, and rocker arms.  OHC engines put the camshaft(s) in the cylinder head itself, directly opening and closing the valves.  Although the OHC system is marginally superior, Chevrolet still uses the OHV format for its current LS engines. 

Ford Flathead (1932).  While Chevrolet had an ill-fated V8 in 1916, the first popular V8 was the Ford Flathead, debuting in 1932.  Instead of being a luxury car engine, this was mass-produced, so most Americans could drive a car with this V8.  Not only were the cars themselves popular, but the V8 started the trend of hot-rodding, birthing the performance aftermarket.  The main two displacements were 221 (3.6L) and 239 (3.9L), maxing out at 85 HP.  Although Cadillac (1948) and Oldsmobile (1949) came out with their overhead valve (OHV) (modern style) V8s earlier, it was the Small Block Chevy V8 (1955) which toppled the Ford Flathead from the throne.  Ford phased out the flathead in 1953, replacing it with its Y block (OHV) series in 1954.

Small Block Chevy 1955.  Introduced in 1955 in 265 cubic inches, later growing to 283 (1958), 327 (1962), 350 (1967), and 400 (1970), with the 305 (5.0L) coming into the picture in 1976 as a fuel-economy variant.  The 400 was never very popular, leaving the 350 (5.7L) as the optimal size for performance.  The SBC went into Novas, Camaros (in which the 350 debuted), Chevelles, Corvettes, Bel Airs, station wagons, vans, and pickup trucks – plus marine versions as well.  By 1998 the LS engines took over and are now the favored hot rod engines.  But while the SBC is no longer under the hood of anything you can go into a GM dealer and buy today, it’s still available as a crate engine from GM (as is the LS).

Innovations of the SBC:  very light – even lighter than the stovebolt (Chevrolet) straight six; well breathing cylinder heads with stud-mounted rocker arms (though it was Pontiac which invented this innovation); and a one piece intake manifold which also covered the lifter valley (contrast with Pontiac’s two piece manifold).   Mass produced with excellent power for its weight, the small block Chevy knocked the Ford flathead off its throne.   

The Big Three.   That would be General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.   GM consists of Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac.  Ford includes Mercury, Edsel, and Lincoln.  Chrysler also includes Dodge and Plymouth (also known as"MOPAR").

Other, defunct car companies also made their own V8s; of these, American Motors (AMC) lasted the longest.  Popular displacements included 304, 343, 360, 390, and the largest, the 401.  Like many V8s of a given series, they were the same size externally; like Pontiac, AMC did not have “big blocks” or “small blocks”.  Oddball AMC models like the Gremlin and Pacer could be purchased with the 304 – and hotrodded with the 401, which would otherwise be in the Javelin (muscle car) or full size models.  Studebaker, Packard, and International Harvester also made their own V8s.

Hot Rodding.  An engine’s “displacement” is the cubic volume of its cylinders (leaving aside rotary engines, only made by Mazda, for the purpose of this discussion).  A cylinder has a height (stroke) and diameter (bore).  An engine makes power by bringing in air, mixing that with a specific ratio – 14.7:1 (stoichiometric) – of fuel, and igniting that mixture with a spark plug.  The larger the cylinder, the more air can be thus processed, and thus more power.  However, the bore and stroke are internal dimensions; the external dimensions generally remain the same.

Although Pontiac, unlike other GM divisions, did not have “small” and “big” blocks, it stratified its V8s into three parallel series.  The smaller engines, the 326 and 350, served as entry level.  The larger engines, the 389 and 400, were mid-level, and the larger engines, the 421, 428, and 455, were reserved for the full size cars – the Bonneville and Catalina.  However, all these engines are the same size externally.  One Saturday morning back in 1963, the Pontiac techs and engineers, led by John DeLorean, realized that the 389 V8 would drop into the entry-level sized LeMans in place of the 326 it was being sold with.  The 389-equipped LeMans was much faster and more fun to drive.  “Pity we can’t sell it with that engine,” they thought.  “Well, we can – as an option” – the GTO.  An instant success! 

GM vs. the others.  With Ford/Mercury and Chrysler, the corporate family shared engines across divisions.  Cadillac and Lincoln make their own engines, which have more in common with each other than with their division brothers.  GM, until 1982, had each division making its own, which caused some confusion.  Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick all had 350 cubic inch V8s, all four being completely different.  All four had a 400 cubic V8, again all completely different.  Chevrolet’s largest big block was a 454, while Buick, Olds and Pontiac (“BOP”) all had a 455 – and all were different.

I have to laugh at this.  In the early 70s, GM started switching around V8s in its different divisions, without telling the customers, assuming they didn’t know or care – and many of them didn’t.  Until…one Oldsmobile customer (Joseph Siwek) brought his brand new 1977 Olds Delta 88 into the local Olds dealer for service.  The tech gave him back his Olds V8 parts, telling him the Chevrolet (not Oldsmobile) 350 V8 in his new car didn’t need them.  “Chevrolet V8?  But I bought an Oldsmobile!”  Tech shrugs, “I guess they’re putting Chevrolet V8s in Oldsmobiles now.”  This irate customer sued GM for false advertising and won.  They didn’t stop the policy, but the court ordered that they add a fine print disclaimer to the sales material warning customers that their GM vehicle might be equipped with an engine made by a different division of GM.  Automotive History: The 1977 Oldsmobile Chevrolet Engine Scandal – There’s No Rocket In My 88’s Pocket | Curbside Classic

The most pertinent example of this was when Pontiac stopped making V8s in 1981, and all 1982- (third and fourth) generation Firebirds wound up with a Chevrolet V8 under the hood.  This was even more tragic because until the 350 became available in 1987, the best Chevrolet V8 you could get in a Firebird was a 305, most of which struggled to reach 200 HP.  In addition to putting out considerably more horsepower than the 305, the 350 also puts out far more torque and responds much better to performance modifications, which is why it remains the most popular displacement of the classic small block Chevy V8. 

GM has a pecking order of its divisions.  The basic idea is that a GM customer would start out with a Chevrolet, and progressively upgrade to the other divisions as he/she got better jobs.  Trade your Chevrolet in for a Pontiac, trade your Pontiac in for an Oldsmobile, trade your Oldsmobile in for a Buick, and finally upgrade to a Cadillac.  Failing the last, most hearses (station wagons used to transport coffins) are made by Cadillac, meaning your last ride is likely to be in a Cadillac, even if you’re not alive to enjoy it.

Chevrolet.  I’ve already described the revolutionary small block.  In addition, there are two big block series.  The first was the W block variety, from 1958-64, in 348, 409, and 427 cubic inch displacements.  The 409 features in the Beach Boys’ song of the same name: “my four speed dual quad positraction 409”.  The valve covers look like inverted W’s, but the heads didn’t flow nearly well enough.  So they started from scratch with the big block (1965-76 in passenger cars), in 396/402, 427, and 454 displacements.  The big block remains in existence as a crate engine, a monster 632 cubic inch, 1000 HP behemoth, which will presumably drop in where a 396, 427 or 454 used to be. 

LS Engines.  With the notable exception of the ZL1 427, all Chevrolet V8s have iron blocks.  Corvettes received aluminum cylinder heads on its TPI engines, but the block itself remained iron.  In between the Tuned Port Injected 350 (L98) in Firebirds, Camaros and Corvettes was the LT1 V8, with aluminum cylinder heads, reverse flow cooling, and Optispark ignition, bringing power from 240 (L98) to 275 (LT1).  But GM started from scratch with an aluminum block for the LS engines, the current standard V8s.  4.8, 5.3 and 6.0L displacements are in trucks, 5.7L and 6.0L in Camaros and Corvettes, all the way up to 7.0L for its most powerful versions. 

Pontiac.  Its three series of V8s are noted above.  Add to this the 265/301 from 1980-81, a last-ditch effort, including turbocharging the 301 in Trans Ams and Formulas.  Pontiac brought its V8 out in 1955, the same year as Chevrolet.  As noted, Pontiac is closest to Chevrolet in the pecking order.  Oddly, when it came time to make the F body (Camaro and Firebird), Oldsmobile wanted in, but GM thought a third variant would thin the market out too much.  So they thew Olds the bone of allowing them to jazz up the Cutlass with the Hurst/Olds model in 1968, silver and black with the 455 V8.  Imagine an alternate universe where you have Oldsmobile F-bodies in 1967-69, 1970-81, 1982-92, and 1993-2002.  Mind.  Blown. 

As noted, Pontiac doesn’t have big or small blocks, and its V8s range from 326 to 455.  In addition to the small block, Chevy has the big block, generally in 396, 427, and 454 displacements.  Pontiac dropped 455s in Firebird Formulas and Trans Ams in the 1970s, from 1971-76, while Chevrolet never did the same with Camaros – and it phased out the 396 after 1972.  Dealers like Yenko (in Pennsylvania) or Baldwin-Motion (on Long Island) may have dropped 427s and 454s into Chevys themselves. 

Pontiac cylinder heads.  The standard heads have semi-circular exhaust ports, so-called “D” port.  The Ram Air II, IV, 455HO and SD455 heads have round ports.  The round port heads flow much better than the D ports, which is why those engines are the top Pontiac V8s.  When Edelbrock decided to make aluminum versions of Pontiac cylinder heads, they used the Ram Air IV heads as a starting point, although their aluminum heads actually have D ports – but the “D” is on its side.

My closest experience with Pontiac V8s came in 1998, when I purchased a 400 out of a Trans Am which had gone bad.  I put it on a stand in my parents’ garage and gradually broke it down to the block itself.  The machine shop confirmed that the block and crank were history, so they went into the trash.  The heads were “6X”, a later D-port variant (no Firebirds after 1974 have round port heads).  I took out all 16 valves and cleaned them, later having some of the parts bead blasted and painted.  I still have some of the parts (oil filler tube guide). 

Oh, and Pontiac is named after a famous Native American chief from the Detroit area.  Its earlier logo was an Indian head, and later switched to a down-pointing red arrowhead. 

Oldsmobile.  Oldsmobile was second, after Cadillac, to produce an OHV V8 (1949).  Small blocks include the 330, 350, and 403.  The 403 replaced the Pontiac 400 in 1979 Trans Am automatic transmission applications (“6.6 Litre”) for 185 HP, vs. the 4 speed manual Pontiac 400 (“T/A 6.6”) with 220 HP. Big blocks include the 400, 425, and 455.  Someone put an Olds 455 from a 1972 F-85 in my 76 Firebird.  Someday I might even get it running.  Olds V8s have rear mounted distributors and an oil filler tower in the front of the engine, as opposed to simply a cap on the valve covers most V8s use.

Oldsmobile’s logo features an uprising rocket, with “Rocket” frequently invoked in the name.  [Clutch: “My Rocket 88, fastest in the land, crucial, crucial, VELOCITY!”].    

Buick.  Small blocks range from their aluminum 215, all the way up to 350.  Big blocks include 400, 430, and 455.  Somewhat confusingly, the big block series replaced the first V8 series (1953-64) (the Nailhead, due to small valves) which ranged from 264 to 425 cubic inches, including a 401 cubic inch variant.  Buick V8s have front mounted distributors.    

Cadillac.  The first GM division to produce an OHV V8, in 1948.  This series lasted all the way the 1970s, ranging from 331 cubic inches all the way to 500 cubic inches, the largest displacement V8 engine ever available in a US car.  And since the Cadillac V8 isn’t much larger than any other, some hot rodders will drop a Cadillac 500 into another car. 

Northstar and Blackwing.  While the non-Chevrolet V8s – except for Oldsmobile diesel V8s – died in 1982, Cadillac, being GM’s luxury division, kept their own V8s.  For awhile these were the Northstar engines (1993-2011): all aluminum, shared with Oldsmobile, and capable of running without coolant.  The newest Cadillac V8 is a new design, the Blackwing, a 4.2L twin turbo OHC V8, from 2018-2020.

Moving off from General Motors…

Ford.  Ford eventually phased out its flathead V8 and joined the rest.  Then it came up with a variety of different families and displacements.   302 (5.0L) is probably the most popular, winding up with a carburetor and then EFI in 1979-93 Fox body Mustangs, often with the 5 speed manual (5.0 5 speed).  The 351 can either be a 351 Windsor (same family as the 302) or Cleveland (different family).  For larger engines, there’s the 427, the 428 (including the 428 Cobra Jet), 429 (Cobra Jet and BOSS), and the 460.  Then they phased out the 5.0L in favor of a new design 4.6L, and then went back to 5.0L displacement for a new version of the engine.  To be honest, I’ve never been much of a fan of Mustangs.

Ford V8s – Post Flathead.  Part 1: Y Block (1954-64).  As noted, the Flathead was retired in 1953, replaced with the Y block, which was a more modern OHV design.  The Y blocks have a strange intake setup where the ports are on top of each other rather than side by side.  The lifter design, solid lifters adjusted by the rocker arms, was the most troublesome part of the design.

Part 2:  Windsor/90 Degree (1964 – present).  260, 289, 302, 351W.  Of these the 289 was common in the first Mustangs, and the 302 more common in Fox body Mustangs as the “5.0L”. 

Part 3.  335 Series (1970-75).  351 and 400, with the 351 Cleveland (named after the factory they were made in) the most popular.

Part 4.  FE Series (1958-76).  390, 427, and 428 are the most famous examples.  And the most famous of these is the 428 Cobra Jet, arguably the best street V8 Ford made in the muscle car era (1964-75).

Part 5.  385 Series (1968-75).  429 and 460.  The largest engines Ford made.  These include the Boss 429, the closest thing to a hemi engine Ford made. 

Chrysler.  Small blocks:  318 (5.2L), 340, 360 (5.9L) are the most popular displacements.  The small block Mopar V8 can be recognized by its rear-mounted distributor.  Big blocks: 383, 413, 426, and 440 are the most popular displacements. These include the 440 Six Pack (three two barrel carburetors) and the 426 Hemi.  A 360 will drop in place of a 318, a 440 in place of a 383, but the Hemi heads are so much larger and the engine so much wider, that fitting a Hemi in car that didn’t come with it is not an easy task.  There was actually an earlier Hemi V8 in the 1950s, distinguished by its rear mounted distributor; the 66-71 Hemi has its distributor in the front. 

In 2006 MOPAR resurrected the Hemi as a modern, fuel injected engine in 5.7L and 6.1L (later 6.4L) displacements in the Magnum, Charger R/T, Challenger R/T, and Chrysler 300.  All have two spark plugs per cylinder with individual coils on each cylinder.  I had a 2009 Charger R/T from 2015 to 2020, which had the standard 5.7L Hemi (370 HP).  The SRT8 version, in 6.1L, had 420 HP.  Then they upped the ante with a supercharger, the Hellcat, putting out 700 HP.  Although MOPAR has announced the end of gas engine Chargers and Challengers, the Hellcat V8 is available as a crate engine – should you have the $$$.

Again, the trend seems to be to phase out ICE engines for electric motors, but given the extremely limited recharging infrastructure and length of time necessary to recharge – compared to filling up your gas tank in 5 minutes – the full transition is years down the road, so to speak, if ever.  And crate engines suffice if we need to replace an older V8 with a new one.  LS swaps have become more common and popular among GM owners, as the LS engine is light (all aluminum), reliable, and not only powerful in stock form, but respond well to a richly developed aftermarket. 

Ronnie James Dio

 

This is about the heavy metal singer popularly known as Ronnie James Dio (don’t forget the JAMES!).  Originally named Ronald Padavona.  He changed it to RJD in 1961 as his career was getting started.

Recently I finally listened to Masters of the Moon, his tenth and final solo album.  We’ve seen him in concert as a solo artist, with Black Sabbath, and with Heaven & Hell.  Elf & Rainbow were before we were old enough to go to concerts.

While he was in various bands before Elf, these were not quite the same music (aside from the Elf precursor bands, which did not release any full albums).  I lack even the curiosity to track it down to listen to, but we can laugh at him in short hair and a suit like everyone else back then.  I doubt he was flashing the Devil Sign at audiences back then – or even in Rainbow.  

Elf.  Three albums, S/T (1972), Carolina County Ball (1974), and Trying To Burn The Sun (1975).  These have a far different flavor than his later work, though I’ve only listened to the first one; #2 and 3 are not on Spotify, and the first one didn’t impress me enough to buy the other two.  The lineup of the third album, aside from the guitarist, became the first lineup for Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. 

I don’t hear anyone really spreading the Gospel of Elf, so it seems this band gets its attention by way of morbid curiosity for those of us who want to hear what he was doing before Rainbow.  Oddly, I have heard Elf cover “War Pigs”, long before Live Evil.  It’s standard 70s blues-rock, what you’d expect to hear from Free or Rory Gallagher.  Competently executed with a familiar voice, but beyond that, more of a curiosity than something you’d keep going back to over and over again.

Rainbow.  Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow (1975), Rising (1976) and Long Live Rock’n’Roll (1978).   Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, upset and frustrated that his own band became too Soul Train-y thanks to Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale (“shoeshine music” is how he described it) on Stormbringer, quit after that tour.  As ELF had been opening for them, he simply hired them as his backing band – for the first Rainbow album.

By Long Live Rock’n’Roll, Blackmore decided he wanted to move in a more commercial direction and sell zillions of albums – his next singer was Graham Bonnet (Down To Earth).  Dio left the band and eventually hooked up with Black Sabbath, who were missing a singer after they fired Ozzy Osbourne in April 1979. 

These Rainbow albums actually have somewhat of a prog flavor to them, certainly compared to Down to Earth and the subsequent Joe Lynn Turner (looks like Blackmore has a thing for three-name singers – can we call him “Joe Turner?”) albums.  Blackmore loves classical music and blends that in from time to time.  However, I wouldn’t call Rainbow a prog band, and for obvious reasons it sounds more like Deep Purple than any other band. 

Black Sabbath (Part 1).  Heaven & Hell (1980), The Mob Rules (1981), Live Evil (1982).  While Ozzy was starting his solo career with Randy Rhoads, Tony & Geezer got to work with RJD.  Bill Ward started off as the drummer, then leaving, to be replaced by Vinnie Appice.  These are my favorite RJD albums, with my favorite RJD songs:  “Neon Knights”, “Children of the Sea”, “Heaven & Hell”, “Lonely Is the Word” + “Voodoo” and “The Sign of the Southern Cross” (I still can’t stand “The Mob Rules”). 

 When it came time to mix Live Evil, the live album recorded on the Mob Rules tour, the band members accused each other of bumping up their relative contributions in the mix, so Mr. Dio left in a huff of pride and decided to go off on his own.

Solo Career (Part 1).  Holy Diver (1983), The Last In Line (1984), Sacred Heart (1985), Dream Evil (1987), Lock Up The Wolves (1990).  He started off with Vivian Campbell for the first three, Craig Goldy taking over during the Sacred Heart tour and playing on Dream Evil, and Rowan Robertson for the last one.  The rhythm section of Jimmy Bain (bass) (Rainbow) and Vinnie Appice (drums) (Black Sabbath) continued up until Lock Up the Wolves, at which point he had Teddy Cook on bass and Simon Wright, well associated with AC/DC, on drums. To me they all sound exactly the same.  It’s generic heavy metal with fairly pretentious lyrics.  With Dio calling all the shots, no one was going to tell him not to do anything, and thus they fall short of the two Black Sabbath albums – or even the Rainbow albums. 

Black Sabbath (Part 2).  Dehumanizer (1992).  Black Sabbath had recently released TYR with singer Tony Martin, and done a brief tour supporting that album, when they managed to patch things up with Dio and reunite.  “Thank you, Mr. Martin, your services are no longer required.  Buh-bye!”  That reunion lasted for one album and a tour supporting it, which we saw at DAR Constitution Hall in August 1992 in Washington, DC.  Due to their cancellation of the June 1986 show in Paris on the Seventh Star tour, this was the first time my brother and I were finally able to see Black Sabbath in concert.  The set included material from Dehumanizer, of course, but also from Heaven & Hell, The Mob Rules, and a handful of Ozzy/Sabbath songs. 

The tour wrapped up in Costa Mesa, California, right at the same time Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears tour ended nearby.  Ozzy agreed to come on for an encore, but Dio refused to play the concert, so Rob Halford (of Judas Priest) took over for the main set.  Dio’s explanation seems to be that he was only contracted to play up to the show before that one, but that begs the question of why he refused to play that one and earn a little bit more.  Logic suggests his pride was hurt, he left to resume his solo career again, picking up where he left off.

Solo Career (Part 2).  Strange Highways (1993), Angry Machines (1996), Magica (2000), Killing The Dragon (2002), Master of the Moon (2004).  Tracy G (?) on guitar for the first two, Craig Goldy for Magica and Master of the Moon, and Doug Aldrich on Killing the Dragon.  Bass duties switch from Jeff Pilson (Dokken) and Jimmy Bain (who is on Magica and Killing The Dragon); drums were Vinnie Appice for the first two, Simon Wright for the remaining three.  People give Ritchie Blackmore grief for his perpetually changing Rainbow lineups; Jimmy Bain himself scoffed, “our banjo player kept shooting himself in the foot firing players left and right.”  But it looks like Dio had the same problem.  On the other hand, his wife Wendy is often described as playing a similar role as Sharon Osbourne, managing him (as well as other metal acts).  Who made the personnel choices?  No idea, and not particularly concerned either.

In any case, these are five more albums which sound exactly the same, and sound essentially the same as the previous five: generic metal, generic metal guitar solos, and the same pretentious lyrics. 

Heaven & Hell.  The Devil You Know (2009).  It seems the bridges with Tony & Geezer weren’t entirely burned.  However, Iommi’s dispute with Ozzy about the rights to Black Sabbath ensured that this reunion would be called something other than Black Sabbath.  They picked this name, put out another album, and toured it.  If the prior three albums were “Black Sabbath” then so was this, in all but name. 

For some reason I don’t really care much for Dehumanizer and The Devil You Know, compared to Heaven & Hell and The Mob Rules.  I don’t know what happened in the first ten year gap, or the second 17 year gap. 

Live Appearances.  We were too young to see the Heaven & Hell or The Mob Rules tours with Black Sabbath, but we did manage to see him on his solo tour for Sacred Heart, at the Zenith in Paris, on May 5, 1986.  Someone tossed a banner at him, interrupting him while singing, prompting him to respond, “thanks, dick!”  As noted earlier, we managed to catch Black Sabbath on the Dehumanizer tour in DC, on August 7, 1992.  Then Dio again on his solo tour for Strange Highways, at a small club in Springfield, Virginia, Boots – better known as Jaxx, and far smaller than the indoor arena the Zenith in Paris – on September 21, 1994  The last times we saw him on stage were all with Heaven & Hell, Merriweather Post Pavilion (May 18, 2007), Nissan Pavilion (August 7, 2008), and Merriweather again (August 23, 2009).  He passed away from cancer on May 16, 2010, so that ended his concert appearances and album releases, though I understand his hologram (???) has been making appearances.  Jedi Dio?  Who knows.

Of the material he did, from Elf through Heaven & Hell, the only albums I really like and enjoy are Heaven & Hell and The Mob Rules.  Elf is … interesting, but not particularly enjoyable.  Rainbow is like a pretentious version of Deep Purple for me, “Rainbow Eyes” being my favorite.  Still, it’s enjoyable in itself, more so than his solo material.  I have all three Dio-Rainbow CDs (plus Live in Munich 1977), and Down To Earth through Stranger In Us All on CD.

As for his solo albums…   All ten sound pretty much the same to me.  Whether the guitarist is Vivian Campbell or Craig Goldy, it’s the same each time.  Some riffs, a technically astute but unmemorable guitar solo, and lyrics invariably invoking a rainbow at some point (for which I suppose we can blame Blackmore).  He’s like a prog singer, but backed up by a generic heavy metal band.  It’s like James LaBrie of Dream Theater took over from Vince Neil in Motley Crue. 

Paul McCartney Live

 

I guess my writer’s block has cleared up briefly due recent circumstances being sufficient inspiration, e.g. seeing Paul McCartney live for the first time.

Lots of us are Beatles fans.  My recollection is that some time after moving to Paris in January 1979, and John Lennon’s death in December 1980, I got the Red Album (1962-66) and Blue Album (1967-70), though listening to them in reverse order.  Then my parents got me the US albums – on my own insistence – rather than me being sensible and simply going down to FNAC and getting the British versions sold in Europe.  We were in the Four Seasons (lawn & garden + toy store) section of the PX in SHAPE, Belgium, in December 1980 when we heard over the PA, by AFN Radio, that John Lennon had been shot in NYC.  That conclusively ended any chance of a Beatles reunion.

Having been born in 1969, clearly I was not in a position to see the band live from 1963-1966; in fact I was born during their Let It Be sessions in January 1969.  I started seeing concerts in Paris at age 15, in October 1984.  Of the four Beatles, Paul McCartney was the only one to tour consistently from their breakup in September 1969 to the present.  Over all that time I never managed to see him in concert – until now.  Thanks to my brother Matt for taking me with him to the show at Camden Yards in Baltimore, the home of the Baltimore Orioles.

McCartney’s current band, which has been together for over 20 years, consists of Rusty Anderson (guitars), Brian Ray (bass & guitar, depending on which McCartney happens to be playing on a song), Wix Wickens (keyboards), and Abe Laboriel, Jr. (drums).  They all did their jobs competently enough – as you would expect – and none came close to stealing the limelight from McCartney himself.  Ray bears a remarkable resemblance to GNR bassist Duff McKagan. 

The entire live show, from start to finish, was approximately 3 hours, from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., including the encore.  40% of the set (15 of 37 songs), mostly in the first half of the show, was McCartney’s solo material.  I suppose we’re in awe of his talent, but it seems that without the benefit of John Lennon’s participation and feedback, his solo material falls well short of the quality of his material with the Beatles.  I never did collect his solo albums, as even the “greatest hits” (“Live and Let Die”, “Jet”, “Let Me Roll It”, “Band On the Run”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, etc.), ostensibly his strongest solo material, didn’t impress me.   The same holds for John, George and Ringo.  Even All Things Must Pass, often lauded as the best solo album by any of them, fell flat for me.  I want to like all these songs, but I can’t.   From the audience reaction during the show – mass exodus to the bathrooms and concessions during the solo songs – I can tell I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.   And it certainly didn’t escape the attention of McCartney himself.  Basically he told the audience, “whatever, I’m going to play whatever I want.”  While he doesn’t hide the fact that he was in the Beatles – he’s certainly proud of it, and rightfully so – he does want us to know that this is a Paul McCartney concert.  That being the case, however, he knows as well as I do, that if his set was 100% solo material with a few Beatles songs played in the encore, he wouldn’t be filling up Camden Yards, he’d be lucky to sell out Royal Farms Arena a few blocks away.  Sorry, Paul. 

I recall in 1988 or so, Roger Waters was on Howard Stern’s show.  His own Radio Kaos tour struggled to fill small clubs, while his erstwhile comrades in Pink Floyd were filling stadiums playing Pink Floyd material.  Stern pointed this out, much to Waters’ annoyance; certainly Waters himself was well aware of this, even if he may have been too proud to admit it.  Nowadays Waters has no trouble playing stadiums – playing Pink Floyd material.   He wouldn’t do so if he insisted on a set of predominantly solo material.  As much as he downplays the roles Gilmour, Mason and Wright played in making Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall, his solo material comes nowhere close to that level – for that matter, neither does The Final Cut, the last Pink Floyd album the four of them recorded, which Gilmour describes as a de facto Roger Waters solo album.  Likewise, the Beatles were a case of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.  Removing Lennon from the equation was bound to impact the quality of the material, as much as McCartney’s pride might demand otherwise.  Of course, the same holds true for Lennon’s solo material.  Yoko Ono isn’t nearly as capable a co-composer as Paul McCartney, is she?  Somehow I doubt Yoko herself would make that claim.

Be that was it may, McCartney is astute enough to recognize that most of the audience were too young to see the Beatles play live.  He also knows that the Beatles’ strongest material, from Sgt. Pepper through Abbey Road, was never played live by the band itself – except that rooftop rehearsal in London on January 30, 1969.  So we got material from Sgt Pepper, The White Album, Abbey Road, Let It Be, and a few older songs thrown in like “In Spite of All The Danger”, “Love Me Do”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, and his homage to cannabis, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, though compared to Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf”, the connection to MJ is by no means apparent by the lyrics.   If he didn’t tell us it was about MJ I’d have no hope of guessing that on my own.  Imagine what the far more direct and in-your-face Lennon would have written if he had the same goal. 

Ringo himself is touring with his All-Star Band, so he can play his own Beatles songs himself.  John and George are no longer with us.  Naturally McCartney was going to play the Beatles songs he wrote and sang himself, but he gave us a few tributes.  For George it was “Something”, started off on ukulele, and fortunately continued on electric guitar.  For John it was “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, and then a “sing along” thanks to Peter Jackson, of “I’ve Got A Feeling”, using John’s isolated vocals from the rooftop concert.  So again, I appreciate that for all his pride in his own solo material, ultimately McCartney knows and accepts that we came here to hear the closest thing to a Beatles concert any of us are likely to experience.  And that was more than good enough.

And he played “Helter Skelter”.  And there was much rejoicing…

Setlist:  Can’t Buy Me Love; Junior’s Farm; Letting Go; Got to Get You Into My Life; Come On to Me; Let Me Roll it; Getting Better; Let ‘Em In; My Valentine; Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five; Maybe I’m Amazed; I’ve Just Seen A Face; In Spite of All the Danger; Love Me Do; Dance Tonight; Blackbird; Here Today; New; Lady Madonna; Fuh You; Jet; Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite; Something; Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da; You Never Give Me Your Money >> She Came In Through the Bathroom Window; Get Back; Band on the Run; Let it Be; Live and Let Die; Hey Jude;

Encore: I’ve Got A Feeling; Birthday; Helter Skelter; Golden Slumbers >> Carry That Weight >> The End.

Of these 37 songs, 15 were solo songs and 22 were Beatles songs.  I could probably name 15 John Lennon and George Harrison Beatles songs to replace them, and McCartney would be privileged to respond, “very well, make up your own playlist of the 37 Beatles songs you might want to hear in concert - and stay at home and listen to it.  This is a Paul McCartney concert, not a Beatles concert.”  Ok, fine.  So I’ll pick 15 Beatles/McCartney songs which could sub in for those solo songs:

The Long & Winding Road; Maxwell’s Silver Hammer; Back in the USSR; Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except for Me and My Monkey; She’s Leaving Home; Eleanor Rigby; I Saw Her Standing There; All My Loving; And I Love Her; Yesterday; The Night Before; Michelle; Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band; Rocky Raccoon; Paperback Writer

Mind you, these aren’t all of the McCartney songs, only my favorites.  But I would put any of them against “Live And Let Die” or any other solo song.  Moreover, many of these were in fact played by him in concert on earlier tours, meaning they filled in a setlist slot which would otherwise be a solo song.  Am I fussing too much?  Do I want to see the manager?  Nope.  I enjoyed the concert – and giving me “Helter Skelter” erased any inclination to complain to McCartney himself.    

In any case McCartney will turn 80 on June 18.  So far as I could tell, he looked spry.  He could move along, play the guitar, bass, mandolin, ukulele, keyboard and piano with no trouble.  He can also still sing.  He knew who and where he was (Baltimore) and had plenty of clever, cheeky comments to make, even a story about Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton (kids in the audience: “Jimmy who?”).   I dare say if he couldn’t perform, he wouldn’t still be touring, but we’re seeing borderline cases.  Phil Collins was having issues.  I saw the Moody Blues a few years ago, and they had a second drummer in addition to Graeme Edge on stage, who was clearly doing the heavy lifting.  Charlie Watts is gone, as is Bill Wyman, leaving Mick & Keith as the only original Stones left (though Ron Wood has been with the band since the mid-70s, far longer than Brian Jones and Mick Taylor combined).  Who knows, however, how much longer McCartney has before he needs to retire for good.  So it’s good we saw him while he’s still up and running.  Amen!

Ammunition

 

I’m sure most people who don’t care about guns don’t care about ammunition, but I find the topic useful for addressing some of the issues which come up in gun control.

With regard to cannabis legalization, many people who oppose it likewise seem to be militantly ignorant about marijuana, its forms and uses, etc.  It’s like not only do they oppose cannabis use, per se, but they also seem to oppose learning anything about it.  What’s flower? What are edibles?  What is concentrate?  And why would someone give edibles, which aren’t cheap, for free to children?  Again, learning about it doesn’t mean you have to try it.  God forbid that if you learned that it’s impossible to get addicted to, or overdose, on marijuana, you might actually stop trying to ban it.  The #1 “drug” which causes problems in this country is alcohol, and that little experiment from 1920-33 called “Prohibition” didn’t exactly solve it.  Banning MJ hasn’t been any more effective and likewise caused far more problems than it solved.

Likewise with guns. Someone posted pics of various people, all Americans, posing with ther gun collections.  Massive negative reaction.  “These people are sick!”  No, they’re not sick to own guns at all, not sick to own more than one, and not sick to be proud of their collection.  Almost certainly these people purchased their guns legally and do not use them in crimes.  Either they use the guns for target shooting (legal), hunting (legal) or legitimate self-defense (also legal).  Not your cup of tea, yeah, we get it.  But not illegal OR morally reprehensible, no matter how many mass shootings are occurring.  It would be nice if these gun owners were able to stop those shootings, but they are not deputized to do so.

The cartridge itself consists of a casing, a bullet, gunpowder, and a primer or percussion cap.  Up until cartridges were developed around time of the US Civil War, muzzle loading weapons had to be loaded manually.  The breech is the entrance end of the barrel; the muzzle is the exit end of the barrel.  First the gunpowder, then the bullet, rammed down, a percussion cap placed below the hammer at the breech, and then the gun is ready to fire – once.  The whole process had to be repeated each time the gun was fired.  [This itself made a small, well-trained professional army far superior to a mass of untrained volunteers.] Revolver ammunition was finally produced in cartridge form, and rifle ammunition for the Sharp’s carbine.  This used black powder gunpowder.  The invention of cartridges allowed guns to be loaded at the breech instead of this cumbersome business of loading from the muzzle.  Breechloading then allowed semi- and full-automatic firing.

Typically a firing pin is held forward by a spring, and held back against the spring by the trigger mechanism.  When you pull the trigger, this releases the firing pin to strike forward against the cartridge’s primer cap, igniting the gunpower inside the cartridge, which pushes the bullet down the barrel and out of the gun.  The bolt mechanism has an extractor, so when you work the bolt again, it extracts the empty cartridge and allows the next round to feed. 

Bolt-Action.  Once the cartridge was developed, a breech loading rifle could exist.  At first these were single shot.  You opened the bolt, loaded a single cartridge, closed the bolt, and fired when ready.  Then you worked the bolt open again to eject the empty casing, loaded a new cartridge, and continued.  By the 1880s, an internal magazine was developed which allowed 5-10 rounds to be stored at a time (usually 5), loaded by chargers (which remained in the rifle) or stripper clips (which ejected once the rounds were in the gun).  By WWI guns with removable magazines came out (e.g. the Chauchat light machine gun and the Browning Automatic Rifle), which could be preloaded and carried in bulk.  Pistols and submachine guns also use detachable magazines.  However, most, if not all, bolt-action rifles have integral magazines, mostly 5 rounds, except the Lee-Enfield, which can store 10. 

Although nominally rendered obsolete by semi-automatic weapons, in practice bolt actions are supposedly more accurate than semi-automatics, and thus remain in favor and in use mostly as sniper rifles – and as hunting rifles.  Moreover, trained soldiers familiar with their rifles can cycle the bolt action fairly quickly. 

Semi-automatic.  The gun fires one bullet each time the trigger is fired, the bolt being worked back to firing position either by recoil or gas operation.  The most famous is the M1 Garand of WWII.  The French actually had semi-automatic rifles in WWI, the RSC 1917, but the design was flawed and unreliable.  The French switched back to bolt action (MAS36) for WWII.  Germany had its Gewehr 43 and the USSR had its SVT40 during WWII, but as a practical matter only the US was widely using semi-automatic weapons in that war.

Full automatic.  The gun fires continuously as long as the trigger is held and ammunition is supplied.  Ammunition is supplied by a magazine (assault rifles or light machine guns) or belt-fed (machine guns).  The rate of fire might be anywhere from 250 rounds per minute, average about 500-600 rpm, or as high as 900 or 1200 rounds per minute.  Needless to say, the higher the rate of fire, the more difficult the weapon is to control and the sooner you will run out of ammunition.  A higher rate of fire also increases the risk of jams or misfires.

In many cases, full auto actually simply wastes ammunition, and soldiers find that semi-automatic weapons work fairly well as infantry weapons, leaving the full auto business to submachine guns and machine guns.  The FAL is often in semi-auto only mode, and the US military ramped back the M16A1 (full auto) to three round bursts (M16A2).  A weapon which can fire either full- or semi- auto is called select-fire.

Different types of guns fire different types of ammunition. 

Pistol. 9mm, .40 S&W, .45.  At low end of ammunition in terms of power is pistol ammunition, fired from a handgun.  Revolvers, remarkably enough, still seem to be popular.  Pistols are also popular:  Beretta (my favorite), Glock, and Sig Sauers are the most well know brands.  They vary from fairly compact, easier to conceal or easier for people with smaller hands to deal with, all the way up to the Desert Eagle, which fires a .50 round.  The famous .44 Magnum is on the top end of the revolver selection.  These all fire one bullet each time you pull the trigger.  Revolvers have to be reloaded in their cylinder – though there are speed loaders which expedite this process – whereas automatics have magazines, ranging from 8 to 15 round capacity.  My Beretta uses 15 round magazines.  Is 15 round “high capacity”?  Well, for a handgun it could be.  Then again they sell drum magazines for pistols, though I rarely see anyone use them.  Drum magazines are disfavored even for submachine guns.

Pistol ammunition has a fairly low muzzle velocity (less than 1000 feet per second).  Probably the most popular caliber is 9mm, aka 9mm Luger after famous German handgun, the first one to use that caliber.  Next are .45 ACP (a US caliber, famous in the 1911 automatic), .40 Smith & Wesson (in between the two), .38 Special – popular in police revolvers, and .380, used in the Walther PPK and Colt 1908, being one step below 9mm and used in many compact fireams.  In the original James Bond novels, Bond carries a gun in .32, until MI6’s armorer insists he upgrade to .380 as .32 is too weak, at which point he adopts his famous PPK.

A weapon which fires pistol ammunition full auto is a machine pistol, but better known as a submachine gun.  The most famous SMGs are the Thompson (.45) (US/UK/Canada) (.45), MP40 Schmeisser (9mm) (Germany), M3 “Grease Gun” (.45) (US), Sten Gun (9mm) (UK), Uzi (9mm) (Israel), and the PPSH (7.62x25) (Russia), all of which (except the Uzi) were most prominently featured in WWII.  The Russians equipped entire units with PPSh, whereas in most other armies it was the squad leader (sergeant) who carried the SMG.  Most of these use box magazines, with the Thompson and PPSh famous for 50 and 71 round drum magazines.  The PPSh had a relatively high rate of fire – 900 rounds per minute.  The Thompson was famous for being favored by gangsters in the ‘20s and ‘30s, and was adopted by the Allied armies in WWII, though the final high production variant, the M1, deleted the provision to use a drum magazine.  It was expensive to mass produce (as well as heavy), so the US developed the Grease Gun, whereas the British developed the Sten gun, both fairly cheap but effective – and much lighter. 

Full power Rifle/MG.  Generally .30 caliber or 7.62mm.  In the late nineteenth century the French invented smokeless powder, and a rifle to fire the cartridge, the 1886 Lebel.  That cartridge is the 8x50mmR.  Originally it had a round nosed bullet (Balle M) and then they sharpened the point (“spitzer”) (Balle D) in 1898.  Before the Lebel, everyone was using black powder.  Smokeless powder, in addition to being smokeless, was far more efficient and made all black powder weapons obsolete, forcing everyone else – most notably the Germans – to change.  They also had to change when the Balle D replaced the Balle M.

Rifles tend to be fed by chargers/stripper clips, or magazines; light machine guns generally use box magazines; and heavy machine guns use 500 round belts. 

Britain: .303 (7.7x56mmR).  Used in Lee Enfield bolt action rifles of WWI and WWII, the Bren light machine gun, and the Vickers heavy machine gun.  The British were the last to upgrade their roundnosed cartridges with a spitzer design (Mark VII) in 1910.

Germany:  7.92x57mm aka 8mm Mauser.  Used in the Gewehr 98 rifle (WWI), Kar 98K rifle (WWII), various Maxim machine guns during WWI, and then in the MG34 and MG42 machine guns during WWII.  Germany eventually developed a semiautomatic rifle, the Gewehr 43, but it was never very popular.  The initial 1888 version was round nosed (Patrone 88) and upgraded to spitzer version (S Patrone) in 1903.

Russian:  7.62.54R.  Initially used in the Mosin-Nagant 91/30 bolt-action rifle, plus the famous Maxim machine gun.  The Russians upgraded from round nose to spitzer in 1908.  The Maxim was fairly heavy, so the Russians devised a clever tripod mount with wheels.  They also mounted the machine gun on horsedrawn carts during the Russian Civil War (1918-22), kind of making it a machine gun chariot.   By WWII they had the Degtyarev light machine gun SVT-40 semiautomatic rifle.  Although the Russians switched over to the AK47 after WWII, they kept using machine guns, and the Mosin-Nagant, like many bolt-action rifles, remains popular as a sniper rifle.  So the full power round remains in full production.

US.  .30-06.  In 1903 the US copied the Mauser to make the Springfield, and the roundnosed cartridge was the .30-03.  Three years later they switched to a spitzer design, the .30-06.  That round was used in WWI in the Springfield, 1917 Enfield, and Browning Automatic Rifle, and then the Browning machine gun – 1917 water cooled, 1919 air cooled.  When the Garand came out in 1936, it was also chambered in .30-06.  In 1958 this round was superseded by .308/7.62x51 NATO.   The M14 and FAL use .308, as do the GPMG, the M60, and M3 (modern version of MG42) machine guns. 

The French started out, in 1886 and WWI, with 8x50R Lebel, which is a rimmed round.  The original round nosed cartridge (Balle M) was upgraded to a spitzer variant (Balle D) in 1898; in addition to being the first to use smokeless powder, they were the first to use spitzer bullets.  Before WWII they switched over to a rimless round, 7.5x54mm, used in the MAS36 bolt action rifle which served as their standard rifle – until June 1940.  However, the French weren’t able to produce enough MAS36’s to equip their entire army, so they had to rely on WWI Lebels and Berthiers in the older caliber.  After WWII they managed to ramp up production of the MAS36 and equip their armies fighting in Indochina and elsewhere. 

Both Italy and Japan started the war with relatively lower power rounds.  For Italy, they started out with 6.5x52mm, and switched to 7.35x51mm, which meant having to rechamber their earlier guns for the new caliber.  Oddly, Lee Harvey Oswald’s Carcano was chambered in the earlier 6.5x52mm caliber, and certainly sufficed to put two rounds through Kennedy and one through Connally (the first shot which struck Kennedy).  For the Japanese, they began the war with 6.5x50R, and switched to 7.7x58mm, meaning rifles and machine guns were either chambered for one or the other.  Needless to say, switching in the middle of the war caused logistical issues. 

Intermediate Cartridge.  During WWII, the Germans discovered that the full power 8mm Mauser round, designed for optimal accuracy out to 300 yards, was unnecessary, as tactical encounters by German troops were occurring well closer than 300 yards.  They designed a smaller round, 7.92 Kurz, and a weapon to fire it: the STG44 (Sturmgewehr, Assault Rifle).  The smaller round was lighter, the troops could carry more, and the recoil was less, making the weapon easier to control on full auto.  The STG44 was the world’s first assault rifle.  They made about 400k of them, and they were very popular with German troops in the later part of WWII.  For their part, the Russians had come to the same conclusion, and their man Kalashnikov designed their own equivalent, the AK47, though this gun came out after WWII was already over.  Since the Russians switched over to the AK47 by the time of the Korean War, they had a huge surplus of PPSh SMGs left over – which had been their main weapon, along with the Mosin-Nagant 91/30 bolt action rifle, during WWII.  They supplied Mosin-Nagants and PPShs to the North Koreans and Chinese in the Korean War.

In the late 50s, Eugene Stoner invented the AR15, which the US military adopted as the M16, during the Vietnam War.  Stoner specifically designed the 5.56 (.223) cartridge with a bullet that would tumble as it penetrated flesh, doing more damage than a 7.62/.308 bullet which might simply pass through flesh altogether.  Sadly, the US military couldn’t help messing with the AR15 – a matter of pride as Stoner was a civilian – and the original M16 was fairly unreliable.  The M16A1 fixed most of these issues.  Later the Army figured that full automatic was overkill, and modified the gun to fire three round bursts, which became the M16A2. 

The semi-automatic, civilian version of the M16 is the AR15, firing the same 5.56 mm round.  

The AK47 fires a shortened version of the original 7.62x54R rifle round, known as 7.62x39.  In the 1970s the Russians changed their round slightly, from 7.62x39 to 5.45x39, in the AK74.

.50 Caliber/12.7mm.   Short of 20mm or 30mm cannon rounds, .50 is about as large a caliber as you’ll get with an infantry weapon.  Although there is a Barrett .50 bolt-action rifle, the most famous .50 weapon is the M2 Browning, used by the US since WWII, still used today.  The Russians have a DSKK machine gun in 12.7mm. 

Muzzle Velocity & Recoil.  Muzzle velocity is the speed at which the bullet leaves the gun.  Typically pistol rounds will have a muzzle velocity less than 1000, whereas most rifle rounds have a muzzle velocity over 2000.  Of course, that muzzle velocity translates into recoil.  On a pistol, the recoil will cause the pistol to raise up after you shoot it.  On a rifle or shotgun that recoil will be felt on your shoulder where the stock rests when you shoot.  Other things being equal, faster muzzle velocity = greater recoil.

JHP vs. FMJ vs Steel Core.  As I see it, ammo essentially comes in three varieties.  Steel core is the cheapest.  The bullet is made of lead but with a small steel core.  Although it’s cheap to buy in bulk, when it comes time to fire it at the range, NOPE!  The range won’t let you shoot it, as it causes problems.  So you’re left with a lot of cheap ammo you can’t use for target practice.  If there was a real war and you wanted to shoot it at someone, then it would be useful.  But for target practice at most ranges it would be useless.

FMJ is the next up.  Lead bullets with no steel core.  Average prices and the ranges won’t give you hard time.  This would be right smack in the middle.  It’s cheaper than hollow point and more expensive than steel core.  This is what you want most of if you intended to shoot at the range.

Jacketed Hollow Point is the most expensive.  The bullets actually have a hollow point with a brass jacket.  When the bullet hits the target, it expands like a mushroom to do more damage.  They’re more expensive than FMJ so it would be a waste to use it for target practice.  If you bought the weapon for self-defense, this is your “shit hits the fan” ammunition you load in the gun for real emergencies.  If you bought the weapon for both target shooting AND self defense, you might load one or two magazines with hollow points and set them aside from “in case you really need it”, and use the FMJ to shoot at the range.