Old Enough to Forget

Night Ranger released Dawn Patrol in the waning months on 1982. The band would pull three singles off the album with the last one dropping in the summer of 1983. The album was slick as snot, with a twin guitar assault that was more than capable of melting faces. Jeff Watson on one side with his mind bending dexterity and Brad Gillis, fresh off a stint with Ozzy was on the other. Brad was also on Mr. Osbourne's Speak of the Devil -  also released in November of '82. I suspect Brad's departure was amicable as Ozzy & Sharon got a shout out on the back cover.  Night Ranger found their voice early on with bread and butter slick rock and roll. This was '82 and hard rock was coming into the mainstream. The band also managed to pull off the two lead singer trick and make it look easy. Bassist Jack Blades and drummer Kelly Keagy took turns singing their own songs while occasionally writing together. Their voices were similar but different enough to give the album a nice back...

Ah Steve Stevens. Back in '89 by buddy Bruce had this and said I absolutely had to hear Steve's cover of "Action." I've always liked that song, and it was indeed a killer cover. I would go out an buy the album based on that one song. I played it a couple of times looking for shiny songs to add to mix tapes. I found two: "Atomic Playboys" and "Action" and then more or less shelved it after passing judgment. It was a decent album with a fantastic cover, but it wasn't anything special. The CD is on a shelf in the studio where it's been sitting for a long time, and it never occurred to me that this was ever released on vinyl. Well it was, and I found a copy ... a rather juicy mint copy at that and it was cheap. The cover by H.R. Giger is as awesome as ever. Yes, he's the guy that designed the original Alien. I bought it. I'm a sucker. I have no regrets ... more on that as I go along. It's been a while since I've sat and real...

By 1981 The Cars had released four albums in four years. When they dropped Shake It Up late in '81 the band suddenly had a top 10 hit with "Shake It Up" an infectious earworm that contained yet another brilliant Elliot Easton guitar solo. While the other singles from the album that dropped throughout 1982 didn't get as much traction the album still went double platinum and the song "Since You're Gone" is one of my favourite songs by the band ... ever. Roy Thomas Baker was again in the producer's chair and with Shake It Up the band crafted a collection of tightly packed new wave pop songs. It was more of the same, but different - but not as different as the songs on the previous album Panorama . It's always fun reading old reviews, and apparently the reviewer (Alan Niester) with the Globe and Mail back in '81 wrote. "Ric Ocasek and the boys have produced an understated and decidedly underwhelming package that makes no attempt to deviate...

Stand Back is one of those infamous albums from my childhood. I only had a couple of records as a little kid. One of them was Bill Cosby's 1964 release I Started Out as a Child , that I was gifted when I was 10 (the other one was The Tale of Jemima-Puddle Duck  by Vivien Leigh - yes I still have it). I played that album near to death. I remember when I was in grade 7 and one Friday we were allowed to bring in records to listen to. I brought in my record and played "The Lone Ranger" expecting the class to erupt in spontaneous laughter ... only to have the needle unceremoniously lifted before it ended. "That's not music!" One of the cool kids brought in a copy of Stand Back . "THIS IS MUSIC!" There was a lot of kerfuffle as someone thought he heard Myles say the "C" word ... not cancer, on "Highway Hard Run" so they spent several minutes lifting the needle and trying to hear the offending word. I find it weird that this is still...

Roxy Music released their first album simply titled, Roxy Music in 1972, and a decade later released their final and arguably their best known (and best) album Avalon in 1982. Avalon was my introduction to the band, and frankly was also my exit. I did end up with Siren at some point, and did like "Love is the Drug" but honestly I never really let the album breathe ... I think it got a cursory spin and I took off the one song for a mix tape and then shelved it. I was young and didn't know any better ... that's what I'm going with. I also suspect that at some point I'm going to end up with more Roxy Music albums in my collection. It was  Avalon  though that was the perfect combo of restrained smokey cool and the songs and performances felt effortless. Brian Ferry himself was the epitome of cool, and was joined by Phil Manzanera on guitar and Andy Mackay on saxophone, both of whom were masters of their craft. Others were brought in as needed. Alan Spenner and Ne...

This was the first album I bought by 38 Special. I had no idea that "Hold on Loosely" was a big deal, I just knew that the song was amazing. We had limited radio when I was a kid up north, and unless it was word of mouth or something I'd read about when browsing the magazines I was pretty sheltered. When Special Forces dropped in '82 I snapped it up. Right off the bat the band was kicking in the door and "Caught Up in You" became my second favourite song by the band. The rest of the album then sort settled into a groove as one decent but not especially memorable song after another played. Some of the songs were goofy, "Back Door Stranger" probably isn't a thinly veiled play on words. If it was it was way more subtle than Deep Purple was when they were singing about knocking on a back door. You can take the 12 year old out a teenager, but you can't take a 12 year old out of a teenager. No that wasn't a typo. Now while I'm being casua...