Stylus over Substance (Volume 10) - Rick Springfield, The Kinks, Streetheart,Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Kansas

Well, things have been bustling in the house over the last little while. Mainly the boys took over the basement between semesters and that meant I more or less lost the use of the turntable while they played games to all hours of the night. I still manage to get some time in and relax but I've been tasked with a number of spring things too ... the driveway and back patio won't pressure wash themselves ...

This time out is another collection of odds and sods. A couple of these were new to me and a few of these I'd not heard in years and years.

Without further adieu I present to you the tenth iteration of Stylus over Substance ... no jumping, I don't want to skip the record.

• Rick Springfield - Tao (1985)
• The Kinks - Word of Mouth (1984) 
• Streetheart - Quicksand Shoes (1980)
• Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Dancer with Bruised Knees (1977)
• Kansas - Vinyl Confessions (1982)
  

Rick Springfield - Tao (1985) This was one of the more overlooked albums by Rick Springfield. I bought it when it came out, and honestly was pretty dismissive of most of the album. I wanted less dance beats and more rock and this new style didn't resonate with me. Oh, there were still some really solid songs here, the first side opens with three pretty solid songs but to me it wasn't what I wanted to hear. Of course time would have the last laugh as I was finally able to listen to the album, I mean really listen and it is a hell of a record. Very dark. Rick was still processing the passing of his father and generally trying to figure out what the meaning of life was. 

Musically this was the culmination of the styles he had been working into his music since Living in Oz a couple of years earlier. Rick had really developed his own style that incorporated electronic, dance and a firm foundation of rock. I firmly attribute this to Tim Pierce's contributions on guitar, but make no mistake this was Rick's album from start to finish. While some of the keyboard patches are a little out of step and dated, it doesn't matter. After a string of platinum albums in the States, Tao would go gold, but this was the end of Rick's impressive commercial run. Oddly, it's an album that I really enjoyed a lot more now than I did back in the day.

The Kinks - Word of Mouth (1984) Coming off the success of State of Confusion The Kinks dropped Word of Mouth in 1984. I remember hearing "Living on a Thin Line" on the radio, and it was really cool. I liked it, but don't recall hearing it much after that. If it was on rotation it was really, really light. The song stuck with me though, and I meant to pick up the album, but with all the stuff coming down the pipe I sort of forgot. It would take me four decades to finally add this to my collection. It was really good. Now, I've been listening to the band's early '80s output and have found those albums to be really enjoyable, so when I got to Word of Mouth I was primed and ready, and the album delivered. From the opening song "Do it Again" there was an urgency to the songs, and the guys were making a case that they weren't going to be irrelevant in the '80s. It was a pretty solid case, but the general public seemed to have other ideas. The result was despite their best efforts they were now irrelevant. Which was too bad, but then again I didn't buy the album back then either. The surprise here was little brother Dave, who always seemed to be relegated to living in his brother's shadow. His voice while okay, didn't have the same punch, and while he could write, he wasn't as prolific as Ray (at least judging by the songs he had on the albums). So it came as a surprise that my favourite song on the record, "Living on a Thin Line" was written and sung by Dave. Heck even "Guilty" his other contribution to the album was really good. It shouldn't have surprised me, as I do have one his solo albums and it was pretty solid. For me this is a far as I got with the band. Oh, there's more that came after, and who knows maybe one day I'll find something else. Heck, I'll go back in time too, after all there's a lot I've missed over the years. I may make up for lost time ... or not.

Streetheart - Quicksand Shoes (1980) Streetheart was a band that was just on the periphery for me when I was a kid. Oh sure, they had some big moments and it's always kind of weird they weren't a bigger part of my musical landscape. The band followed up their  really solid 1979 release Under Heaven Over Hell with the Quicksand Shoes early in 1980. It's an album that didn't really generate a lot of buzz, and none of the songs here got a lot, if any radio play. When I found the album I was kind of surprised I didn't recognize any of the songs. After all, the band seemed to pull a big song off their albums. 

Playing the album was a bit of a let down, I'm not sure if I wasn't in the mood, or what but it all just felt kind of uninspired. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. They're passable and enjoyable for all that. I don't think you can lay this at the feet of Manny Charlton (Nazareth's lead guitar player and producer back in their heyday who produced the album. The songs just didn't have any zip to them. It's an album that seemed like a misstep and the band would quickly regroup and release Drugstore Dancer before the summer of 1980, by then though much of the band's momentum seemed to have dissipated. At least that's how I saw it. There were still some big songs by the band on the horizon, but I wasn't really interested anymore.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Dancer with Bruised Knees (1977) It's weird the stuff that gets filed away under miscellaneous that you have no idea how it got there. Somewhere I'd heard of Kate and Anna, but really didn't have any idea what they were about. I knew they were Canadian, and that they were well regarded. So I was kind of excited when I found Dancer with Bruised Knees. The record was in decent enough shape and it seemed like a good score. The album opens with the title track, and I was perplexed. "What, is, this?" I know it was the mid '70s and things could get weird but somehow in my mind I was expecting slick harmonies wrapped in Linda Ronstadt styled pop. What I got was sort of hard to describe, but as the album went on, I found myself getting immersed in the songs and the mood. I found the French Canadian songs to be particularly enthralling. There was something about the arrangements, which were folksy and quirky that allowed the sister's voices to blend and envelop the songs. That being said, this was a pretty challenging listen, at least for me, the first time through. As you'd expect, and I had hoped a couple spins in and the rougher edges had started to soften. It won't see a lot of day light, but it was a really cool find. I love that this got made and actually found an audience.

Kansas - Vinyl Confessions (1982) This was the first Kansas album I ever bought. At the time I got it because Kerry Livgren was the guitar player, and in the Christian community there was a lot of buzz that somehow we'd managed to take one back from Satan. Heck, Kerry even played guitar on some of the songs on 2nd Chapter of Acts 1981 album Rejoice. Yeah, I bought it. I bought a lot of Christian music back in the day ... so much of it was really ... really questionable, but not all of it. Anyway, when Kansas dropped their new album I snapped it up as soon as I could find a copy. "Play The Game Tonight" was probably the standout track for me, but there were a lot of really good songs on the album - at least to me. This would be the first of two Kansas albums to feature John Elefante on lead vocals. I really liked John's vocals, and over the years I've picked up all of his solo work. 

Given the hole left by singer and songwriter Steve Walsh there were some big shoes to fill in both departments, and from where I sat John managed to step in and step up. By 1982 Kansas was no longer the band they were in terms of commercial sales, but they were still a pretty big deal and it was a lot of weight to place on the shoulders on a young man who had to get up to speed in a hurry.

The results were pretty good, at least to me. Having the Heartattack Horns a couple of songs must have felt like sacrilege to to many, and while the band was was making an effort to transition into the next decade the reality is they were firmly anchored to their '70s roots. Still, for me this was where I got on the bandwagon and it was enough to make me excited for the future, and I also started to pick up their back catalogue. It made me a fan.