Michael Sembello - Bossa Nova Hotel

Michael Sembello is probably best known as the dude who performed "Maniac" and absolutely nailed the guitar solo. It's a near perfect pop song and a song I always really liked. A lot. I always wanted to get the song, but I didn't want to get the Flashdance soundtrack, because I didn't want to. It was too much like having to listen to the kids from Fame all over again, and I know Irene Cara was a fine vocalist and all that but I never really liked her stuff, and I'm sure the passage of time has softened the edges off my opinion, but I'm sticking to my guns. I do remember almost getting this album. The cover had two oiled up dudes levitating off the ground while the guy in the white diaper cupped the other little dude's junk. It was a weird cover and Michael Sembello with his half black, half white face looked like a reject from the Star Trek episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" was sitting reading an old Godzilla comic. It was a little too much for my 20 year old brain.

So I passed.

Over time the song would appear on numerous '80s anthologies and collections so I didn't need to worry about picking up the soundtrack, or Michael's album. Forty years later I'm flipping through the discount section and I stumble upon Bossa Nova Hotel, and it's in decent shape and was under three bucks. It was actually a harder decision than you'd think, because a few months earlier I actually did find a copy of the Flashdance soundtrack for a buck, and it was in pretty decent shape - so I'd already scratched the itch that was "Maniac" so did I really need to get this one?

Apparently the answer was yes, I did need this. Okay, want - I wanted this. I was curious, after all - setting aside the weird cover, it was quite possible this was a hidden gem. After all, this wasn't an after thought, or some low budget indie recording. Phil Ramone produced the album, and Michael himself was a seasoned session player who had worked with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. So the dude could play.

I've been listening to the album most of the afternoon while working on stuff in the basement, and this is certainly an enjoyable middle of the road album that sounds great. For lovers of what has now devolved into the genre "Yacht Rock" this album would likely float their boat. Reading up on the album and Mister Sembello it would seem he wanted to introduce Brazilian rhythms into pop music. Sort of like Sergio Mendez but without the coaches whistle, and long before Paul Simon had the same idea. If the Police could fuse rock and reggae, he could fuse Bossa Nova with rock. Okay, light rock.

The results are a little bit like "The Thing with Two Heads" except instead of the charm of Rosie Greer having it out with a mad scientist attached to his neck you have the bastard love child of Christopher Cross (and I LOVE CHRISTOPHER CROSS) and Michael McDonald singing along to a Linn Drum machine. Any of the urgency and magic Michael managed to capture in "Maniac" was a one off. "Godzilla" is a song so inexplicably bad I wanted it to succeed. I had hoped it was a call and response to Blue Oyster Cult's song of the same name. Nope.

The album closes with the truly strange "Superman" that oddly juxtaposes Jesus Christ with Superman, and normally I'm all for weird and wonderful, but this was just ... off.

He's as fast as a speeding buller
Change the water into wine
And the last time he came
They cursed his name
With a Krypton cross
They cut him down
Superman
Are we ever going to see you again?

I suppose it explains why diaper dude from the cover has the sword in the side wound, and the other guy has the green rock around his neck ... then again, I'm probably reaching here. It would be fun to ask Mr. Sembello about the cover.

Still if this is playing in the background it's enjoyable enough, and for that my bitching and moaning it's a decent release, but sadly nothing special. It mostly just calls to mind artists who have done the same thing, only better.

Did I mention "Maniac" was a near perfect pop song?

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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