Stylus over Substance (Volume 7) Spilt Enz, A Flock of Seagulls, Red Rider, The Moody Blues, Gordon Lightfoot

Digging through the pile and sorting the odds and ends up for grabs turned out to be a mixed bags of nuts. There were some here I'd not had a chance to sit with all the way through, and a others that were old friends I hadn't spent time with and it was time to catch up.

• Split Enz - Waiata (1981)
• A Flock of Seagulls - The Story of a Young Heart (1984) 
• Red Rider - Neruda (1983)
• The Moody Blues - The Other Side of Life (1986)
• Gordon Lightfoot - Don Quixote (1972)
  

Split Enz - Waiata (1981) Right off the bat let's give credit where credit is due here. "One Step Ahead" is an absolutely killer track. I'd go so far as to say it's the centrepiece of the album. A close second is "History Never Repeats" another composition by Neil. Now I am fully aware that I never had this back in the day so sitting here listening four decades later is hardly fair. The lens I'm looking through is not the same as the one I had when I was a teenager. The songs on Waiata are steeped in early '80s new wave and there are elements of the outrageous there is still a lot here that holds up really well. I was always drawn to the sweet pop songs and I have to remind myself that Split Enz were not a commercial band despite their commercial appeal. They could be brash, noisy and at times irritating as they pursued their artistic vision. They were an alternative band, before there was really a category for that kind of stuff. There's a lot to like here, and a few challenging pieces that are there to make you appreciate the good ones. Still this was classic era Split Enz and it's still a fun listen.

A Flock of Seagulls - The Story of a Young Heart (1984) I still find it hard to believe I never picked this up when it came out. "The More You Live, The More You Love" was a song I loved the moment I first heard it, and the last forty years have not diminished my feelings on it at all. It is a near perfect pop song. Considering I bought a lot of stuff that was really questionable back in my youth, why I passed on this I'll never know. I'll give it a couple more spins, but my first impressions are a little mixed here to be honest. This is still A Flock of Seagulls, but the songs felt different, not necessarily more polished, but they had sanded some of the new wave edges down, and moved in a more alternative direction. "Remember David" is about as hard rocking as they ever got, and it's a pretty cool song. It's very different and yet is still very much them. The band was trying to evolve and embrace some of the new sounds and maintain their edge. This was their third album in three years and the musical landscape was changing very quickly and the guys in the band were still young men and were making a play to stay relevant. Of course it wasn't to be. The song that got the radio play "The More You Live, The More You Love" was the anomaly on the album, it sounded like their other stuff. I found myself really enjoying the songs and hearing Paul weave his sonic textures while playing with a harder edge was really cool. Sadly this would be the band's final album with the classic line up. The band would limp along without Paul for one album and then it would just be Mike Score remaining as the lone seagull. The Story of a Young Heart was better than I had hoped which made me feel a little sad as I lost out on forty years of memories. Of course the other way to look at it is the way everyone seemed to take the band. First album was great, second album not so much and the third time was a bust ... and those people would be wrong.

Additional. Yeah, I decidedly to keep this on the turntable for a couple of days and it was a grower. This is truly an overlooked album.

Red Rider - Neruda (1983) Red Rider was on a tear with their first three albums. After "Lunatic Fringe" melted a lot of faces, particularly mine Red Rider was on my radar. Neruda was another step forward for the band. The band was fully embracing technology and was creating it's own sound that was a near perfect blend of new wave and old fashioned rock sensibilities. Looking back now it's more alternative but it was accessible. Still a hard sound to describe as Ken Greer's guitar textures and arrangements were so interwoven into the songs. Neruda saw the departure of original keyboardist Peter Boynton who was replaced by Steve Sexton. It's hard to tell if this was a stop gap or what, but it would be a one and done. Which always perplexed me as a fan, as I could only go by what I heard and the guy's fingerprints are all over this album. Back in the day there were a number of really decent tracks here, and as an album it was a solid listen. There was one song that prickled the hair on my neck then, and still gets me in the feels. "Napoleon Sheds His Skin" is just so tasty. The interplay between Ken's slide work and the keyboards is so good. This was a really solid album and looking back this was more or less the last truly killer band effort. Not sure if it's considered a lost classic, but it's definitely worth giving a spin.

The Moody Blues - The Other Side of Life (1986) I always found it cool that The Moody Blues found their second wind in the '80s. For me I became a casual fan starting with their '81 hit "Gemini Dream" and that would continue with "Blue World" from '83 and then the last gasp at least for me as it was where I fell off the bandwagon was "The Other Side of Life" from their 1986 album of the same name. The albums were a different animal altogether ... they were inconsistent as I remember them but when they were good it made up for everything. Of course The Moody Blues were a vanguard band of the '60s and near originators of orchestral rock. The fact that the band never seemed content to rest on their laurels and were constantly trying to push themselves into new territory was pretty impressive. For a band who was steep in progressive rock their latter albums didn't just embrace technology they leaned into it. One could argue that The Other Side of Life is a more techno album than it is prog, with the heavy use of drum machines, synths and programming. The music at times was clunky and the song structure owed more to the band's legacy than you'd think, it was just polished up with the latest gadgetry. It didn't all work, a lot of the songs here are kind of, well, embarrassing ... but not unlistenable. When they were good they were awesome, and I have to admit John Lodge's closing track "It May Be a Fire" is a spectacularly beautiful song. I know one could argue he must have been listening to "People Get Ready" by Jeff Beck a year earlier as Justin's guitar work is eerily similar. I knew Justin was a competent player, but his work here is pretty special, even if it's very derivative of Beck's singing lead playing with a tremolo. Yeah, that sounds like I'm shitting on the song ... I'm not, it really is pretty awesome. The band would release a few more albums but it was the end of the band's commercial run. They did go out on a high note for all that.

Gordon Lightfoot - Don Quixote (1972) Going back and revisiting the albums I never heard as a kid can be a lot of fun. I've managed to find a few of Gord's early '70s albums over the last number of months and they've been a lot of getting to know. Don Quixote was in pretty decent shape except for a pinch scratch that managed to mess up the first tracks on side one and two. Thankfully on "Don Quixote" which is one of my favourites here, there's just a slight pop, but on "Ode to Big Blue" there were a couple that were irritating but passed quickly.

Gordon Lightfoot is one of those strange artists who was never considered a rock star but he had so much credibility he was treated like one. Listening to the delicate and acoustic songs here they're steeped in folk but there's an earnestness to the delivery that demands your attention. Structurally the songs are anchored by acoustic guitars provided by Gord, Terry Clements and the legendary Red Shea propelled along by Rick Haynes bass. Heck, you know I'm a sucker for a whistling solo, and Gord obliges by bringing "Brave Mountaineers" home with a wonderful warble. Most of the songs have strings and rather than give the songs a sickly syrupy feel they add to the texture. They're quite frankly beautiful to listen to.