Stan Meissner - Windows to Light

The first time I heard "One Chance," I was blown away. There was something about the song that caught me right in the feels. It's strange: despite all of the music I've been exposed to over the years, the number of songs that have truly gotten under my skin is relatively small. Top of mind at the moment, I'll list a few, because we all like lists.

"Shooz" by Styx, yeah I played it to the point where I can't really hear it anymore.
"Special Girl" by Eddie Schwartz
"Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music" by Larry Norman
"Might as Well be on Mars" by The Pukka Orchestra
"Roller" by April Wine

Of course, as I start writing things down, my brain starts adding more and more: "What about this one?" So maybe the list is a little longer than I thought. Let's just say "One Chance" was in the right place at the right time. Objectively, I can tell you that this is not the best song ever recorded, but there was something about it that just got to me. Oddly, when Eddie Money covered the song on his '86 album Can't Hold Back, I did not care for his version. Weird.

This is a hell of a way to start. I'm already off track. 1986 was a year full of great music, and this album spent a lot of time on the turntable. I still find it strange I never picked up his 1983 album Dangerous Games (I have it now) when Windows to Light was still fresh. For whatever reason, this was where I started, and I would later pick up Undertow when it came out in 1992, and even find a way to get his "band," Metropolis, the album he recorded with Peter Fredette on bass and lead vocals. That was back in 2000, and that was it. That isn't to say Mr. Meissner isn't involved in music - he's just behind the scenes for the most part now.

But this album was special. Sure, some of the drum sounds now are pretty dated, but boy howdy, back in the day this was as cool as cool got, and those reverse gates and wet splats were dripping with '80s happy juice. Stan has one of those great voices that's just different enough to be recognizable but still accessible.

Then there was Stan's guitar playing. Just enough rock, with tasty leads that didn't sound overly processed. Gotta love an overdriven Strat that's pushed to the front of the mix.

I am still partial to the first side, as right out of the gate Stan delivers three killers in a row: "I Want Everything," a song that was more or less my mantra through 1986; he followed that up with "One Chance," the song that got me to lay down my cash for the album; and then the wicked "Heart of Ice," which is the antithesis of a squishy love song. This isn't to say the other songs on the album are duds. They're good songs, and I still enjoy listening to the album. He does still manage to throw in the mandatory ballad, and "Hold Me" is a great big song and a solid finale to the album, but this is first and foremost a rock record.

The band supporting Stan here was solid. Peter Cardinali played bass and, a few years later, would join Ian Thomas in The Boomers, in addition to running his own record label. Mike Sloski played drums, and Kevan McKenzie was credited with electronic drums, so I guess he programmed the machine. Of course, every decent '80s album needed someone to program the Fairlight, and on this one that was Rob Yale.

Years ago now, I e-mailed Mr. Meissner a couple of times, and he always wrote back. He was very gracious and would answer my seemingly endless pedantic questions. I don't know if it's a licensing issue or if A&M has just buried Stan in the vaults like they have with so many other artists. None of his albums are available on streaming platforms or available to buy on iTunes. Which is a shame, as this was a great album (they all were), and for fans of guitar-driven '80s AOR, this was about as good as it got. Too bad they pulled the curtains on Stan's records.

If you're able to find a CD copy, you'll be pleased to find three bonus tracks that weren't on the record. They're decent songs, and anything new from Stan is always a good thing.

Styx - Paradise Theater

Styx was hands down one of my favourite bands as a kid. They were a strange band, even back then. They were a hard rock band, almost progressive at times, who had a penchant for sucky ballads. I know there's a tendency for people to zero in on "Babe" as the song that killed the band's credibility. The roots go way back to almost the beginning when Styx released "Lady" on their second album. It showed a side to the band that needed to be kept in check, and for the most part the band kept things on a pretty tight leash. The band had been setting a gruelling pace, releasing an album a year (two in 1972) and by the time they released Paradise Theater (if I end up writing theatre later it's because that's how we spell it here) in 1981 they'd dropped ten albums in less than a decade. I snapped this up as soon as I saw it, and it became a fixture on my turntable. Like the band had announced on "Borrowed Time" from 1979's Cornerstone , ...

David Baerwald - Bedtime Stories

The little sticker on the shrinkwrap says, "You may remember David Baerwald from David & David's Boomtown ..." You bet, I remembered David Baerwald. Back in 1986 Boomtown was an album with moments of sheer brilliance. The whole album may not have been as top shelf as the first few tracks, but that didn't matter - it is an excellent album. I waited for a follow-up ... and waited, and then in 1990 it was a solo David, David Baerwald, who dropped Bedtime Stories . I snapped it up. "All For You," the opening cut, is still my favourite song on the album. It was mesmerizing. I'm not sure if the song got any airplay, it may have, but that may have been wishful thinking on my part as it was on a lot of mix tapes at the time and I heard it a lot in the car. The CD had a great booklet with all of the musician credits and lyrics. Oddly, when I found a sealed copy of the record (a great score), it just had a plain paper insert - the picture of David walking wit...

Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

"Cars" was really the only song I knew by Gary Numan. I knew the name of the album the song came from. Over the years bits and pieces of trivia are accumulated, but in terms of his music it was still distilled down to one song ... It would be too easy to write Mr. Numan off as a one hit wonder, and I suppose in terms of actual chart hits this was his defining moment as a solo artist. Of course this really means nothing, as Gary Numan would drop an album a year pretty much through to the end of the '80s. He'd then slow down a little but continued to make music. While The Pleasure Principle was Gary Numan's debut solo release in '79, he actually cut his teeth on a couple of albums in a band called Tubeway Army, first with the band's self-titled release in 1978, and then on Replicas that came out in April of '79. By the end of Tubeway Army's run most of the band would follow Gary into his solo career. Paul Gardiner, who had been with Gary from the b...

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