David Essex - Rock On

Ten year old me didn't know what to think of the song "Rock On" as it was a unusual thing but strangely hypnotic and cool too. It was etched into my developing musical preferences. I never forgot the song.

I blame Jack Wagner for Michael Damian being able to release his version of "Rock On" - yeah, I know that's not fair or accurate, but dang it the only singing soap opera star I need (I was going to try and work an "All I Need" reference in there somewhere, but it seemed like a lot of work for zero pay off) is Rick Springfield.

Let's just pretend that never happened shall we (although I will reluctantly admit his cover version was "okay").

Before finding this album, the only other song by David Essex I was aware of was "A Winter's Tale" a song I found a few years ago, that has become one of my favourite holiday tunes. It is a stunning piece - although my daughter thinks it's rather "meh" but likes that I am so passionate about it, so it evens out.

I found his debut album Rock On in the dollar bin, and I'm listening to it for the first time - the vinyl is in amazing shape, what a find. I have a nice cup of coffee and the dog is sleeping by my feet and no one is around. Ideal conditions to take this in. The album opens with "Lamplight" which is interesting but I'm not really sure what it was trying to be, apparently it was a hit. The first few songs are kind of cool, weird and interesting and quirky. Ah, here comes "Rock On" my goodness this song sounds fresh still. I love this song, I may not have known what to think of this nearly fifty years ago (wait, how long now? WTF, when did that happen?) but this song is worth the the dollar I paid for the album. Anything else I get out of the release is all gravy.

The second side opens with a spacey almost reggae song titled "Ocean Girl" oh yeah, here come the steel drums ... this is an unusual song. Man, you have got to give it up for the early 70s stuff - you could pretty much do anything and get away with it.

Reading the back cover there's a notation in the credits where is lists Ondes Martinot - John Morton. I had to look that one up, as I had no idea what that was. Well, apparently it is an instrument invented by a guy named Maurice Martenot. Sound wise the closest thing is a theremin but this is a bit different. Let's just say it sounded cool.

So far not a lot of gravy, but it is an interesting listen, and I will go back and run it again because I'll have missed things the first time through. It is an eclectic mix of songs and styles - heck he's even covered "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" originally by Simon and Garfunkel - which is a pretty brave thing considering Art Garfunkel has some pretty big shoes to fill. He gives it a shot. The song is nicely arranged and it maintains a bit of the atmospheric and dreamy elements of the original, but goes off in a slightly different direction.

One thing I noticed was at lower volumes the album sounded sort of anemic - so I turned it up a little more and listened to it again, and lo and behold things came to life.

The album was an interesting experience. You can hear his penchant for theatrics and the dramatic. I guess I was hoping to find a buried treasure full of songs that would be as awesome as "Rock On" but that wasn't the case. It's not quite my cup of tea, but I'm still pretty stoked that I found a copy. If nothing else hearing "Rock On" was enough for me.

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...

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