Bryn Haworth - The Gap

Back in '82 Larry Norman was top lining a slew of releases into the North American market with "Larry Norman Presents." At the time I had no idea these were merely repackaged releases. The Gap had come out a couple of years earlier, but in '82 this was the first time I'd seen or heard of Bryn Haworth, and it seemed intriguing. At the time, any association with secular artists was an odd badge of honour and here was Bryn Haworth with the Eric Clapton Band: Dave Markee, Chris Stainton, Henry Pinetti and Bruce Rowland. Well, that must mean something.

I wasn't sure what to expect.

I wasn't expecting what I got.

It was different, but man was it ever good.

At this point Toto IV was out, and that was constantly on my turntable, along with their earlier release Turn Back. Resurrection Band had dropped D.M.Z. and "Military Man" was one of my favourite songs. My goodness Stu Hess was near the top of my favourite guitar players ... a list that was constantly growing, and with this album I was about to add another name. Here was Bryn Haworth and an album full of mid-temp rockers that weren't so much rockers as little pieces of masterfully crafted pop. Bryn was a slide player, and a heck of a guitar player. Nothing was overly flashy, but his playing was impeccable.

This was a decidedly religious album, and I'm okay with that, at the time it was my jam. Listening now, it's a little heavy handed but it was coming out of the late '70s and it was sort of par for the course. It was preaching to the choir for sure, but hey I wasn't complaining then, and I'm not complaining now. A lot of what passed for Christian music seemed to think of the music part as an after thought. Here was an album crafted by musicians and the music mattered. This is so well played, and the band was so tight that you just go along for the ride, and if you don't agree with the philosophy or like the theology that's fine. The songs were good, and some of them so good that it's doesn't matter.

I do have my favourites of course, and there's one song here that is head's and shoulders above the rest and is probably the most accessible. "More of You" is an acoustic driven song, that features an incredible slide and wah-wah solo that still stops me in my tracks. Bryn wasn't just a passable player - he was a master player and I'd later find his name popping up on albums by Cliff Richard and Gerry Rafferty.

The other stellar track is the album's closer "Send Down the Rain" is driven by Dave Markee's bass, and the groove propels the songs and you can't help but bob your head.

It's been a long time since I've sat and cranked this one up and listened all the way through. There are so many good songs here, it's been like catching up with an old friend. It's funny at the time I sort of waited for a follow up that never came - or any that I found for a long time. I would over the years find a couple more albums, but none of them would resonate the way this one did. Sometimes that's all you need, one great album and it fills a hole, or a gap, that needed filling.

The album holds up remarkably well. The musicians were right in the pocket and there are no weird processed effects and strange production tricks that give away the time period. This is a rock record feels as fresh now as it did back in '82.

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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