Old Enough to Forget

In May of 1981 I was given a pile of Christian records ... okay maybe not a pile, but it felt like a lot. I don't remember all of the titles but I do remember How the West was One by 2nd Chapter of Acts. This was my introduction to Phil Keaggy and his playing melted my brain. One of the vocalists in the band was a skinny young kid who sounded like a boy when he spoke and had a huge voice. It seemed inevitable that he'd release a solo album at some point. That point came in 1979 when Toward Eternity  was released, according to Mr. Ward's website he was 18 when he recorded the album, which is sort of mind boggling. I probably got it in 1982 when I was 19, and the most ambitious song I'd written to that point was "49 Rats Eating Beer-sausage." I remember reading the credits as I listened to the songs, and was really excited to see Phil's name listed on most of the tracks. The album opens with a one two punch that still makes me grin like an idiot. This is di...

The Adventures popped up on my radar back in 1988 when I heard "Broken Land" on the radio ... once. I was at work at the time and the some caught my attention. I waited patiently in the hopes the song would be identified, and thankfully when it was over I got to hear a mumbled titled by The Adventures. I found the album, and got more than just the one song. It was so good and so different than most of what was in my CD player at the time. A year later they dropped Trading Secrets with the Moon , and while I never heard any songs on the radio, my mix tapes pulled a few songs and then I lost track of them. During the dying days of Krazy Bob's I popped in more than usual, often dropping more cash than usual because it was the end of an era and there were still treasures to be had while they could be had. This particular trip was only to mine his discount bins, which he would often seed with hidden gems. He was never shy about pointing out stuff I missed. On this particular v...

I'll admit that I was drawn and sort of repelled by "Mimi on the Beach" when it first showed up on MuchMusic back in 1984 ... however, like the Borg were so fond of saying, "Resistance is futile." The song grew on me, but it wouldn't be until after I bought The Speckless Sky , based on the irresistible strength of "One More Colour" that I started to consider myself a fan. "One More Colour" may have been a hit in terms of cracking the top 40 here at home, but it should have been huge .  This was the album that made me a fan. Shortly after I went and bought No Borders Here . I kept up with her releases for many years. I still consider myself a fan but times change and I didn't (still don't) have the necessary budget to buy everything that I want. Streaming is fun but having the whole world at your fingertips does sort of take the shine off things a little. Weird. Regardless, with The Speckless Sky , Jane was back with her band, Al C...

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...