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Platinum Blonde - Alien Shores

Platinum Blonde

Platinum Blonde was a short blip on the landscape. Between 1983 and 1987 they released a trilogy of albums, with Alien Shores being their biggest. On their debut they were a trio comprised of Sergio Galli on guitar and backing vocals, Mark Holmes, who fronted the band, sang lead vocals, and played bass and keyboards, while Chris Steffler laid down the beat. It was a solid release and sold a couple of hundred thousand copies, which is a lot in a small-market country.

When it was time for a follow-up, the band brought in Kenny MacLean to take over bass and keyboards so that Mark could focus on being a front man. It worked. Platinum Blonde were a band who were very image conscious, and taking a page from the Duran Duran playbook, they were video friendly as well. The combination of a few really great songs and accompanying videos took the band to another level.

When the little girls took a liking to the band, suddenly they were pariahs to the fans who liked their debut. Platinum Blonde lost their street cred - at least that's how us cool kids who liked "real" bands felt. Or at least that's how I felt. Street cred or not, those funny little girls had access to money, and Alien Shores would sell over 500,000 copies here in Canada. They did manage to score a minor hit with "Somebody Somewhere" in the US.

Now, if I'm being honest, I did buy this album when I realized Alex Lifeson played the guitar solo on "Crying Over You," and I really liked the haunting "Somebody Somewhere." Even when it wasn't cool to like Platinum Blonde, I still bought the album. My rationale was they were cool when they first came out, Standing in the Dark was a really solid album, and the band toured with Bryan Adams, and later Billy Idol when he was promoting Rebel Yell. So what if this was being dismissed as a teenybopper album? There are some wicked songs on it.

Now I do have their best of on CD, as well as the very disappointing Yeah Yeah Yeah (1990), which they released as The Blondes. I was thinking about the band the other day, so I was on the lookout for their debut, but as fate would have it, it was their big album I managed to find in the dollar section. It looked to be in decent condition, and aside from the ever-missing album liner, I figured it was worth a buck. Ten songs for a buck, which is a dime a track (sorry, I'm just showing off my math prowess. Follow me for more obvious observations).

I paid my buck, I took my chance - and I got an album with a skip on it. It turns out what looked like a pristine copy was hiding an ugly secret near the end of "Animal," which actually caught me by surprise. I mean, really, this was the second-to-last song on the album and there's a skip.

I have a lot of records. This is the only album I have that has a skip on it - and I've picked up some questionable stuff for a buck. Now I've had to throw out a couple that were unplayable, but none that actually skipped. It's funny how irritating this was to me. I mean, I only paid a buck and I'm being pissy about a skip on one song, on the second side of the album, the side I don't play as often, as I really like the first side best. So from a pragmatic perspective, I'm out a dime.

I know I just shit on the second side, but I still have to give it up for a band who dedicated the second side to a concept album. It was all sci-fi themes wrapped in tight pop songs. It's good stuff.

back cover

Alien Shores was supposed to be the album that positioned the band for great things, as they seemed poised to conquer the US market. After all, here was a band who managed to score what was essentially an RIAA Gold-level album in Canada, where a Gold record was 50,000 copies. I mean, this was impressive stuff.

So what happened? Contact dropped in 1987, and while it was a logical progression musically from Alien Shores, the album didn't catch, but the lead single "Contact" was decent and did okay. The band's once fanatic fan base was now two years older, and most of them had moved on to the latest shiny thing. The band still managed to move over 150,000 copies here in Canada, which was still massive ... but comparatively a massive disappointment. This is sort of like going from Hotel California to The Long Run.

I have to admit I really enjoyed the album, both sides - skip and all (no, I didn't enjoy the skip, I lost ten cents on that skip) - and frankly, if I find another copy I'll snag it (again, with the stupid skip, it will cost me more than a bloody dime). Meanwhile, I'm looking for the band's debut, the one album I actually didn't have back in their heyday.


 


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