The Motels - All Four One

The Motels. At best I was a casual fan. I always sort of liked "Only the Lonely" and although the two songs aren't anything alike, it always reminded me of "Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash. Then again for whatever reason I would confuse Martha Davis (yes, I did know her name, but couldn't tell you how or why this little bit of trivia got lodged in my brain) as the Martha in Martha and the Muffins. Yeah, I know - sacrilege.

When I found All Four One in the dollar section I snapped it up. There was a little bit of water damage to the back of the jacket, but the vinyl itself was mint. There were no liner notes, so that sucked, but dagnabbit the internet would have whatever I needed so it wasn't really an issue.

So after a clean I dropped the needle, and the first track "Mission of Mercy" wasn't what I was expecting. It was a really crunchy new wave song with a lot of over the top guitar that was goofy fun. "Take the L" had some of the broody elements that would be found on "Only the Lonely" with a rock edge and some nice keyboard work. So far this is really solid. "Only the Lonely" is such a crisp song it does not sound like a something from '82 (of course it was). The guitar solo in this song is so good. Funny how the new wave elements didn't seem as prevalent in my memory, but hearing it now in the context of the first couple of songs it fits right in. "Art Fails" continues the momentum and has a great sequenced rhythm running through the song that's really cool. The closing track on the first side was a bit of a surprise "Change My Mind" has Martha Davis dimming the lights while the band plays to a smokey room. Her voice may not have the richness of some of the jazz greats, but it was a cool song and showed the range of the band.

Side two opens with "So L.A."another new wave slow burn. This is a quirky song that has more going on than you'd expect for a simple pop song. To bad they decided to fade the song as the guitar solo was about light things up. Speaking of quirky, surf new wave is a new one for me. "Tragic Surf" is a lot of fun, and good lord you gotta love a twangy guitar. I'm surprised the guitar wasn't drenched in spring reverb, still it sounded pretty cool, and the the solo here makes up for the early fade on the previous track. I'm not sure if this is just me reaching, but "Apocalypso" kind of reminded me a little of Blondie's "Rapture" in tone and swagger. I'm not sure why I started adding notes to each song, but since I'm almost done I may as well finish. It's interesting the band decided to cover "He Hit Me (and It Felt like a Kiss)" a song that when it was first released drew some backlash for the subject matter, and even Carole King who co-wrote the song was sorry she'd written it. From what I've read Martha had a pretty rough go of it at an early age and this was her using the song from the first person. For all that, musically it's a good song, you just have to play deaf to the lyrics. The album closes with a sour note, actually a whole song full of them. "Forever Mine" plays like an updated version of "Can't Hurry Love" that just feels lifeless. Although there are people who really like songs like this, so maybe it's just my bias. I couldn't stand the Phil Collins version of "Can't Hurry Love" either. Still it really is the only song on the album I didn't care for.

This was a really pleasant surprise, and there are some wicked songs here. Not least is "Only the Lonely" which has managed to stay fresh after all these years. They were all so good, and I have a new found appreciation for the band

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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