Old Enough to Forget

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UFO - Lights Out

I'd heard of UFO before, but never actually heard them. The band's guitarist Michael Schenker was once a member of The Scorpions with his older brother Rudolf, but it's not like I knew much of their early work either. It just a nifty bit of trivia but that was about it. I sort of found Lights Out by accident. I'd been down to Krazy Bob's and I was looking for something specific so I tend to be able to get in and get out - usually with something I hadn't planned on getting by the time I leave. I tend to enjoy my visits when I'm the only one in the store and Bob isn't trying to entertain people with his array of parlour tricks. For me it's tiring but when he's alone, Bob is a treasure of knowledge and more often than not has an uncanny knack for suggesting something I'd not heard of before but was tangentially related to what I was looking for. One of the perks of dropping a bit of cash is Bob will often ask you to choose a record (or two) fr

Paramore - This is Why

I blame my wife for this. More to the point I blame that first friggin' Twilight movie. Goodness me, that was some fun, huh? The movie wasn't high art but the soundtrack was pretty bloody awesome. It was full of wicked alternative rock. Heck the biggest surprise to me was the inclusion of "Tremble for My Beloved" by Collective Soul. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of the band, but it felt out of place. Paramore was one of the standouts from the collection with the trio of songs they provided. It's kind of mind boggling to think that it's been over fifteen years since the world had to pick whether they were team Edward, or team Jacob ... like Jacob ever had a chance, I mean there are underdogs and then there are lost causes. My wife was team Edward, and we still have a Edward figure in the closet upstairs, in the original box I might add. I like Paramore and I have heard most of their albums except for their 2017 release After Laughter but I honestly ha

Max Webster - A Million Vacations

Max Webster was a pretty big deal here in Canada once upon a time. Between 1976 and 1981 the band would release five studio albums, one live album and a greatest hits package. All of them gold, with the exception of A Million Vacations that went platinum. They had some killer tunes, but to me they were that band Kim Mitchell was in before he went solo. Which is sort of code for I never had any of their albums back in the day. A Million Vacations is the album that contained "Let Go the Line" and the title track that have become classics over the years. True fans know that Kim Mitchell was not the singer on those songs. Well, I know that too because I they didn't sound like Kim, and now that I have the album I can read the credits. "Let Go the Line" was one of two songs sung by Terry Watkinson. The other was "Charmonium" which is also pretty good. "A Million Vacations" had drummer Gary McCracken step out from behind the kit and considering it

Boston - Don't Look Back

There are a few "HOLY SHIT" albums from my youth that still deliver the goods. Their debut is something to behold make no mistake, but in 1978 it was Boston's second album that was my first real introduction to the band. The title track was pure sonic magic and I couldn't get enough of it. I remember trying to dial in the rock stations on my stereo at night because sometimes the signal would be strong enough to reach the small town I grew up in. Every so often I'd be rewarded and I'd hear the song. It probably only happened once, maybe twice but it was enough to be indelible. Heck me and my buddy Andrew who was a hell of a guitar player when we were in our teens (far better than me) decided we'd learn how to play "Don't Look Back" and as Andrew had figured out how to play the cool rhythm parts I'd have to learn the lead fiddly bits. To our credit we did a passable job without a bass player, singer or a drummer ... although we did end up h

DeGarmo & Key - This Ain't Hollywood

Back in the early '80s Christian music was a bit of a mixed bag of Licorice Allsorts. It was pretty rare to get a good one, and if there were any of the good ones someone else usually got there first leaving me with the weird orange blobs of sugary shitness. DeGarmo & Key were among the early pioneers who had chops and made records that sounded like honest to goodness records. Of course back then my budget was pretty thin and the only exposure I had to new stuff was through some of the older kids in my youth group. I wasn't exactly a kid but I was still in high school. I'd heard some of the songs from the band's first two albums and they were solid and when they dropped their third album it took me a bit but I would pick it up in '81 and really really tried to like this it. It was the band's third album and they had moved decidedly into the adult contemporary lane and while there was still plenty of guitar the songs were more like extensions of Christopher C

Jo Jo Gunne - Jo Jo Gunne

Jo Jo Gunne were one of the first acts signed to David Geffen's newly minted Asylum Records in 1972. The band sounded a bit like Grand Funk at times, and while the band was heavy they were more of a boogie woogie rock band than the blues based bands like Led Zeppelin or early Sabbath. I'd never heard of the band before finding their '73 album Bite Down Hard and it was good enough to put the band on my radar. Although it turns out I had heard them before, I just didn't remember. I actually have "Run Run Run" on a few classic rock compilations in the basement. It's funny that while the song registered as kind of cool I never remembered the band. Not like it matters at all. So here we have the debut released in '72 and the band kicked off side one with "Run Run Run" that sets the tone for the rest of the record, and boy howdy do the fellows deliver. It's still a bit of a conundrum as to why this didn't catch on and break the band to a w