Flash and the Pan - Flash and the Pan

Flash and the Pan was the brainchild of Harry Vanda and George Young. The duo had been active since the '60s, first with a band called the Easybeats, and from there they would launch George's two younger brothers Malcolm and Angus' band AC/DC. They would produce them up to 1978 before the band engaged Mutt Lange (who then was still Robert "Mutt" Lange) to produce their 1979 release Highway to Hell. Mutt was an interesting fellow, and although synonymous now with slick hard rock (or slick Shania albums) he also produced The Boomtown Rats The Fine Art of Surfacing in 1979 as well.

From what I've read the origins of Flash and Pan go back to the later '70s, where they had released a couple of singles, starting with "Hey St. Peter" in 1977 and "Down Among the Dead Men" in 1978. They would release their self title album at the end of 1978, and then in 1979 the album would be released in North America on Epic.

While I don't really remember the album, I remembered the name. The album did better in Canada than it did in their home country, although it did even better in Sweden. The cover, at least here, was a really cool new wave looking thing. I think I also confused them with another band, but for the life of me am coming up empty. Whatever, it's not going to cost me any sleep. I can say unequivocally that I had no idea who Vanda and Young were at the time and I had no idea they were the duo behind the album. I just remembered Flash and the Pan as being a cool new wave band, but have no idea why.

Musically this is really a lot of fun. It's got that talk / singing new wave vocal thing going on and reminds me a little bit of M, and the songs are pretty catchy, and even the clunky almost cringe worthy "The African Shuffle" gets better with repeated plays. There's also a moodiness to many of the songs that creates a real atmosphere of tension. There really was something pretty cool about the first generation of new wave. You really did feel like you were on the edge of tipping into the future. The blending of technology with music was yielding some great tunes.

Vanda and Young were studio rats, and like Frank Farian (the brains behind Milli Vanilli and Boney M.) seemed more at home playing with 24 tracks than they did going on the road playing live. Except unlike Frank, Vanda and Young took credit for their creations.

The two early singles are among the stronger cuts on the album. The album wisely opens with "Hey St. Peter" which sets the tone for the album. As I listened to "Down Among the Dead Men" I kept thinking to myself, "Good Lord, Jim Steinman and Dean Pitchford borrowed pretty heavily from this to craft their '84 hit with Bonnie Tyler "Holding Out for a Hero" when I looked to see if anyone else had noticed I came up with ... nothing. Maybe it's just me.

It usually is.

As the album closes out with George singing the new wave anthem "First and Last" I'm left thinking to myself, "Man, that was cool. I'm going to play this again." So I did, and then I did it again, and then once more for good measure.

This was really quirky and fun, and the duo wasn't above mixing disco with new wave. A song like "Man in the Middle" shouldn't have worked ... but it did.

Sort of describes the album.

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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