Old Enough to Forget

Let's just say it wasn't the cover that caught my eye. Three young men whose pictures were ready to be cut out and put into some young girls locket. "Ooooh that Gordon is dreamy" No, it wasn't the cover, it was the band's name: Steamer. My inner twelve year old started to giggle. Steamer . I was really hoping that at my age I would have started to mature at least a little.  I didn't recognize any of the musicians names: Gordon Henderson, Mike Hilliard or Ed Hilliard. I did find it strange that there were no other musician credits to cover the instruments Steamer didn't play. I did see one name, that was at one time a pretty big deal in the music industry here on the West Coast through the '70s and '80s, Mister Terry David Mulligan who always went by three names. Steamer was part of the Canadian Talent Agency and the album was distributed by Pickwick Records, a label that seemed to specialize in budget re-issues and Christmas albums - at least t...

Ladies and gentlemen, The Elvis Brothers. I stumbled on their 1985 release Adventure Time a few years ago and really liked it, which sent me hunting for their other records ... and where I live they're a little harder to find but as it turns out not impossible, as I have found the first two records. I found not one, but two copies of Screams (I sent the other to a friend who lives in Illinois who was trying to find a copy), the band Brad was in back in the late '70s. Their first couple of albums came out on Portrait, and when the label folded in ’86, the band went on hiatus for seven years. I doubt I’ll ever track it down, but the original trio took one last kick at the can in ’92 with Now Dig This  - after which they once again faded into the pop ether. I found a pretty nice copy of their debut  Movin' Up by accident (it happens) last April and I immediately sent a pic to my buddy Jeff who wrote back without missing a beat telling me which tracks he really liked. I hav...

Back in '84 both Roger Waters and David Gilmour put out solo albums. David's record dropped first and a month later Roger, who had enlisted Eric Clapton, released  The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking.  If people were expecting to settle the Waters / Gilmour debate, all the solo albums did was give the people little flags to plant in one camp or the other ... often both. I had both albums, and frankly I never really gave Roger's release more than a cursory listen ... although over the years it has grown on me. Over time both albums would be certified Gold by the RIAA in the states, but sales were nowhere near what Pink Floyd delivered - even  The Final Cut went double platinum. Roger wanted to be Roger, and David it seemed was trying to stay relevant. About Face spent a lot of time on my turntable back in '84. In hindsight a few of the songs on the album haven't aged that well, and even David himself stated that listening now the album has some great moments but it...

Mr. Mister was huge ... then they weren't. Here in Canada the band's previous album Welcome to the Real World went triple platinum moving over 300,000 units. That's a lot of music per capita and I did my part by buying a record. I remember waiting for the follow up album ... and I don't know how I missed it. I suppose part of the problem was I didn't hear anything on the radio or see a video on Much Music. My sense of object permanence is kind of ... oooh a squirrel. In the fall of 1987 Mr. Mister released Go On ... and while I may have missed the boat, others didn't and the album would still go gold in Canada (50,000) and the band's music would appear in a few soundtracks, from Stand and Deliver, Stakeout , and I am absolutely positive they had a song in the Patrick Dempsey movie Can't Buy Me Love ... I'm certain of it. Don't ask me why I remember that - or why I saw it in the theatre, but not what I had for breakfast. "Stand and Deliver...

Uncertain Country was another one of my Marco Polo Platters , and I bought this because it looked cool. I figured it would be artsy and independent. The back cover showed both Factor, and the government of Canada logos, which is code for artistic grants. I'm not judging at all (not yet anyway), I think it's great there's support for the arts. I just hoped it sounded good too. I'm going to give this a couple of spins before I sit on my stool of judgment and spew my nonsense. I am really looking forward to this one. I love the anticipation of the unknown.  First a little homework. For those in the know you can skip ahead to the parts where I jibber jabber about the record. Nothing I'm about to jot down will come as a surprise to the band's fans. I am for the most part largely oblivious to a lot of new stuff that's out there. I hear bits and pieces, often through my son who has a pretty eclectic CD collection. Yes, CD that's his media of choice. I like mos...

I got this a while ago, not like 1987 a while ago, more like a couple of years ago. I found this one still sealed and it was around ten bucks ... why not? The credits didn't give a lot away for me, but I saw Neil Geraldo's name listed in the special thanks, and as I am a sucker for word association that was enough for me. Now if I was a fan of Patti Smith I may have recognized "Dancing Barefoot" in the track list but I'm not (at least not yet, never say never) and although I've heard her version, back in '79 this more or less flew over my radar. Interestingly, the version here really isn't a cover, as Ivan Kral co-wrote the song with Smith and was a member of her band at the time. Her version is great, and I have to say the Eastern Bloc version is one of the standouts on the album. I am jumping ahead of myself a bit, but I'll leave that there as it may be important later ... or not. I'm as curious as you are now to see if I end up connecting th...