Kevin Paige - Kevin Paige

I found a sealed copy and figured why not? It could be really good ... or it could be truly horrific. Staring at me from the cover picture was a dapper looking young man sporting a few days of scruffy stubble looking like a young Rick Springfield (I do not mock Mr. Springfield). As far as I knew, and I knew nothing about this album. It could be anything, as it wasn't opened - kind of like Schrodinger's cat, except it was vinyl. I'm not really a cat person.

I had my fingers crossed and hoped for good.

What I got was actually pretty good. It was a pop record with a bit of crunch, at times a lot of crunch which was pretty great. This is an album that wouldn't have existed without Michael Jackson's Bad, an album I actually bought. Don't ask, since I staunchly avoided getting Thriller ... even though I secretly liked some of the songs. Come on, "Beat It" was worth the ticket price. The other artists this brought to mind first though and actually had more in common with was Robbie Nevil who had a pair of really great albums in the '80s, particularly his '88 release A Place Like This. However, Michael was more popular, and sadly Robbie's career was already trending down even as his albums got better. Curse the fickle public who can't appreciate a good thing.

The album kicks off with a fun one two punch with "Anything I Want" and "Don't Shut Me Out" that were apparently released as singles and cracked the top 40, but I'd never heard them. I found it kind of interesting that this far into the '80s Kevin was still throwing keyboard orchestra blasts into his music for emphasis that was so over, but it did work, I guess he was going in early to be retro. Kevin also seemed to have a penchant for throwing in the classic Michael Jackson "Whooo hooos" here and there. Don't misunderstand me, everyone was doing it in their own way, this was just more pronounced. Besides it worked. It isn't lost on me that when this came out he was only 23 years old (yeah, I looked it up) and this was a remarkably mature work. He was also a pretty frickin' talented kid.

For a debut effort, Chrysalis must have had a fair amount of faith in Kevin's vision for the album, as in
addition to arranging and producing the album, he performed all the vocals and instruments. If nothing else that's pretty impressive.

Heck this was pretty good, but for an album that had clear ambitions to be a power pop album it was a bit of an odd duck. I tip my hat to the early blending of some rap elements into a pop/rock song and the results were decent.

Like I said, I actually liked this ... more than I thought I would once I realized what I had on the turntable. For me there was just enough crunch and rock here to push my happy buttons. I can also hear why this didn't catch as well. If this had come out a few years earlier it would have likely been right in the sweet spot.

With the benefit of time served I don't have to worry about when it came out, I can listen to it and enjoy it just as it is. What it is, is good fun.

As far as major market releases Kevin would be a one and done, which was too bad as I'm sure there was more to be had from this talented musician. I suspect like so many other artists that are just a step out of the limelight he's out there still doing his thing and likely killing it.

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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