Look at that, six months in, and I'm keeping up with my once a month schedule of dropping five snapshots of albums I've found. This time around it's another mixed bag of goodies, these are all new to me, which is generally a lot of fun. I finally picked up Stan Meissner's debut, and it was a nice score. I also found more Edgar Winter albums, and continue to go down the Rick Derringer rabbit hole - the man was a monster player and while not underrated he was certainly under appreciated by the masses. Probably my favourite album this time out, was finally connecting with Ian Thomas' debut album from 1973 what an incredible album. Yeah, full props to "Painted Ladies" and the drama about the hit that never was, but there is so much more to this Canadian icon. I worry that he will be nothing more than a footnote as time passes as the majority of his work remains out of print and only to be found my looking for old vinyl. Criminal, I say. Shame . shame - shame.
Here's a tip of the hat to this month's collection of licorice allsorts ...
Five For Fighting No. 6
-
The Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer (1975)
- Moon Martin - Shots from a Cold Nightmare (1978)
- Molly Hatchet - No Guts ... No Glory (1983)
- Stan Meissner - Dangerous Games (1983)
- Ian Thomas - Ian Thomas (1973)
The Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer (1975) It's kind of weird that by 1975, The Edgar Winter Group would fail to chart with their latest release. The year before
Shock Treatment had gone gold, but if anything the writing was likely on the wall, as the album before was
They Only Come Out at Night an album that would end up going double platinum and peaking in the top five in the US and Canada. All of the ingredients were still in place, Rick Derringer was producing and playing guitar, Dan Hartman was still writing and playing all sort of stuff from bass to percussion, and Chuck Ruff was laying down the groove. Edgar, Dan and Rick were taking their turn fronting, depending on who had written the song - and it really wasn't a case of too many cooks. The album is enjoyable, and there are some really great moments. Dan Hartman's "Paradise / Sides" is my favourite song from the first side.
Side two continued along with one journeyman tune after another. It's not a bad album, and when the mood strikes I get a get a kick out of it, but most of the time it's just an album that seemed to want to be all things to all people and failed to please anyone. When there are glimmers of hope they've come from Dan Hartman and the song from the second side that I enjoyed was the country rock flavoured groupie lament "Can't Tell One From The Other." I suppose people were expecting more songs with the rock edge of "Free
Ride" and the creativity of "Frankenstein" instead we get a mid '70s
pastiche of soft rock with the occasional burst of energy but for the
most part things just felt tired, and the R&B infused sense of cool
that it used to call to mind now seems like a pale imitation of what was
turning into disco.If you're wondering, no the instrumental "Chainsaw" didn't really do much, other than feel like a desperate attempt to have history repeat itself - in concert I could totally see this being added on as a coda to "Frankenstein" and it would be great - but as a standalone it just didn't work.
Ah, finally found a decent copy of
Shots from a Cold Nightmare and completed the triptych from 1978 - 1980 that for me was Moon's golden age. He was backed by drummer Phil Seymour and Gary Valentine (Lachman) on bass and this was Moon at his finest. 1978 was an oasis in the midst of the disco storm. This was my favourite of his albums, thanks in no small part to "Bad Case of Lovin' You" but the album was full of great moody tunes that just laid out a groove and oozed confidence. This was an album that in lesser hands could have been lifeless and boring. Instead there's a feeling of restrained energy and even while singing with his laid back delivery you get the sense he's curling his lip as he sang. To a lot of people Moon will be the guy who wrote songs others made famous, but to me it was Moon. It was always Moon. As to moon references, Moon got in quite a few on this album.
- Phil Seymour would have some solo success, and would also work with The Dwight Twilley Band, and sing backing vocals on some of Tom Petty's early hits: "American Girl" and "Breakdown."
- Gary Lachman was a member of Blondie during their early years, and when Blondie was inducted into the RRHOF he was there too.
Molly Hatchet - No Guts ... No Glory (1983) This was supposed to be a return to glory for Molly Hatchet. Danny Joe Brown who had initially left the band to focus on his health, ended up starting another band anyway, and he released his solo effort in 1981 the same year Molly Hatchet's
Take No Prisoners, was released in '81. Neither album did as well as expected and the thought was Molly Hatched need Danny Joe Brown, and Danny Joe Brown needed Molly Hatched
so vocalist Jimmy Farrar was out of a job and Danny Joe Brown was back in the fold. Also gone were long time members Banner Thomas who played bass, and drummer Bruce Crump. The album rocks from one side to the other, and the centrepiece here is the near eight minute "Fall of the Peacemakers" that is pretty much everything you want in killer rock song. Sadly the album,which is really solid, ended up charting lower than
their previous album. It's not for a lack of trying. The times were
changing and while hard rock was still in, the '70s era southern rock
was on the way out. It's not like at the time I was rushing out to buy the new Molly Hatchet album in 1983. To me they were those guys from the '70s who had the awesome album covers but my tastes in rock were leaning toward what was going to be branded hair metal. Which was honestly my loss. Listening to this stuff now forty years later, it's pushing all my happy buttons.
Stan Meissner - Dangerous Games (1983) Boy howdy look what the cat dragged in. A new sealed copy of Stan Meissner's 1983 release
Dangerous Games. My goodness, and it was under ten bucks! Tthis had long been on my list of album's to find. This will be interesting, as his '86 release
Windows to Light was an album I always liked. Sadly, regardless of how much I may enjoy this album it'll never have the same impact. Anyway rather than get ahead of myself and make assumptions let's just give this a spin or two.
Right off this is getting right into a great groove. Stan had a way of crafting great AOR (album oriented rock, I know you likely know, but maybe you didn't, and now you know, you know) that hit right down the middle (but not middle of the road just in case you think I'm calling this bland). Following The Goldilocks principle the songs weren't too hard, or too soft - they hit that sweet spot - at least for me at any rate. I like music that has an edge and Stan was able to polish things to a point where there was still a sense of urgency without sucking the life out of the songs. Of course when you hear an album like this now that's been around for forty years it's hard to listen to with fresh ears. If I'd been more on the ball and picked it up back in '86 when I first saw it, I'd likely have a different perspective on the songs. Even now I'm listening to the album and comparing it to his other solo work that came after, because I had those first. Now to mention all of the other similar rock albums I've accumulated over the years. Still, for fans of '80s AOR that had a little extra punch Stan really delivered the goods. It's weird how artists like Stan Meissner, Eddie Schwartz, and even Gary O' just couldn't catch a break.
This is where it began for me with Ian Thomas, okay, as this was his debut album it's fair to say this is where it began for pretty much everyone. "Painted Ladies" managed to crack the top 40 in the US, and from what I've read the song was a much bigger hit in many markets and was receiving a shitload of airplay but apparently to crack into the higher spots on the Billboard charts certain financial considerations were to be made to help open doors. Here at home the song was a big deal, and despite Ian getting better as his career went along, "Painted Ladies" would be his highest charting single, and his lone foray onto the US charts. I'd never heard the album before and other than a best of that came out in 1980 most of what I had was from
The Runner and on. I was pretty stoked to find a very nice copy in the dollar bin, and for a debut album it's a very mature work. Considering Ian was 23 when the album was released it's kind of mind boggling. "Painted Ladies" opens the first side, and I'm immediately transported back in time. I vaguely remember "Come the Sun" is another standout. The album is more acoustic oriented than his later work, and there are times where he's mining the country rock vein. There are hints of America and a young Neil Young here and there (probably not the best comparison as really "Comes the Sun" is probably the only song that reminded me of "Horse with No Name" but it sounded like Young) but mostly this is a showcase for Ian's voice and songwriting. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this has held up. There are no duds here, and there are times the album is pure awesomeness such as on the last track of side one "Coming for my Life." which had me mesmerized. It's a real shame (shame shame shame!) that the majority of Mr. Thomas' back catalogue is out of print as he is an artist that definitely deserves more love.
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