Queen City Kids - Queen City Kids

I was at one of my favourite haunts the other day, and I was looking for Riggs lone album, but it was not to be. I don't know why I keep looking as "Radar Rider" and "Heartbeat" are on the Heavy Metal soundtrack and I have that, but it's been on my list ever since I passed up a cassette copy back in 81. Anyway I got to talking about this and that with the owner about unheralded bands that should have been bigger. He says he has a treat for me, but he had to find it. He wouldn't tell me what it was as he wasn't sure he had it. Last time he did this, it cost me twenty bucks and I ended up with a Haircut One Hundred album, that I have to admit I did enjoy.

After a few minutes he pulls out a Queen City Kids record. I thought it was a hair metal band that had a song featured on Peacemaker. Don't ask, I'm trying to understand my train of thought on that one too. I couldn't have been farther off the mark if I'd been blind folded, spun in circles, given a traffic cone and shoved in the direction of the dog.

The record cost me four bucks and was in decent shape but was missing the inner sleeve. I was looking forward to hearing this one. After all, there's a treasure trove of gold hidden out there just waiting to be re-discovered. Besides the back cover picture was really cool.

I start reading up on the band and Queen City Kids originally hailed from Regina, Saskatchewan where apparently they cut their teeth before moving to neighbouring Manitoba to record their debut. It's amazing how many bands actually came out of Winnipeg - it's a long list, but Harlequin is one, and another was less well known: The Pumps who released Gotta Move, that had the song "Success" on it. They would swap some members out and try again as Orphan. I'll have to dig those out at some point.

Here it was 1981, it was the 80s baby, we'd have rocket packs by the end of the decade. Chicks in plastic wrap was sure to be a thing, the future was now. I'm guessing the kids in the band were trying to get ahead of everyone by showing off their plastic wrapped model who bore more than a passing resemblance to Helena Bonham Carter, with suitably mussed hair - to be fair they were a step ahead of Robert Palmer, then again his ladies at least combed their hair.

The band was signed to Columbia records (I'm guessing for Canadian distribution) and here I am just over forty years later hearing this for the first time. Holy shit, this is great stuff. It cleaned up okay, but there were a few more pops and clicks than I wanted, but they were mostly on the dead space between songs.

This wasn't metal, or new wave, it was just a great rock record. The guys even do their own Romeo and Juliet / Don't Fear the Reaper themed song (okay, it's really more like "Last Kiss" without the lament) with "Excitement of Love" that is really a very cool song. The whole album is solid, and I really got a kick out of intertwined vocal harmonies on "Down Again" a song that really jumped out at me. There are a lot of good songs, each time through something else jumps out, the last time through it was "Secret Smoke" man the guitar tone is smokin' (ha ha ha).

The guys would release a follow up in 1982 (that I'll be on the look out for) and then after that they packed up their toys and called it a day. The band still does the occasional reunion show, and there are a few videos on YouTube that show the guys still have their chops. They may not longer be kids, more like old goats now - but there are perks for getting older - You can order from the seniors menu at Denny's.

There's also a great time capsule they self released called 1981: Live that is worth looking for as it captures the band in their element.

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure. I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi...

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again. I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t...

Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack

It was going to happen sooner or later. Nostalgia is a cruel Mistress...she can dull the sharpest edges and over time can even soften the hardest of opinions. I found this in the dollar bin, and frankly at a dollar I was worried about what this would cost me. Not only from a monetary perspective, but my time, and more important my credibility. Fourteen year old me was screaming "Don't you dare. DON'T DO IT! Put it down. Walk away!" Then there was grey bearded me holding it and looking at it, thinking, "How bad could it be? I actually kind of like "Staying Alive" and me buying this record won't bring disco back, and no one will have to know I bought this." I pulled the album out of the bin, and carefully took out the records. They'd seen better days, and there were a couple of decent scratches that would no doubt make their presence known later. The jacket was in decent condition, and both of the albums had the original sleeves. I dusted the...

Old Enough to Forget

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