Old Enough to Forget

Screams is a band who came to my attention through my buddy Jeff. I've mentioned Jeff a few times, often in a derogatory manner as he is one of those jacks of all trades and master of all, types who despite his protestations that he is in fact just a normal guy , is in fact not normal. In short I'm more than a little jealous and proud of my friend ... A while back I found an Elvis Brothers album and I had just written up. Jeff casually brokered an introduction to Brad Elvis (Brad Steakley) and we traded a couple of really pleasant notes. Brad has a pretty active Facebook which is fun to keep up with. Anyway (yeah, I may have to edit this for clarity at some point) I found out Brad had been in a band called Screams, and that Jeff had been looking for the album for a long time. I decided I'd look for it, and I found not one, but two copies in a little second hand record store close to where I live so I sent Jeff one, and kept the other. When Brad and I were trading notes he&

Over here in Canada, well all of North America, Built for Speed was the "debut" album by Stray Cats. Back in England the band had released two fairly successful albums in 1981, and they generated enough interest to warrant a release over here. Cobbling together a eleven tracks from Stray Cats and Gonna Ball along with the title track Build for Speed hit at just the right time, and the band's raw rockabilly and '50s vibe caught on like wildfire.  Propelled by Brian Setzer's jaw dropping guitar work along with the one two punch of Slim Jim Phantom on his stand up kits, and Lee Rocker on the giant double bass, the band channelled the raw unbridled energy of a punk band with their old fashioned rock and roll. For most people, me included, this was where things started and stopped with respect to Stray Cats. While this didn't fit the definition of being a novelty act, the shtick wore thin pretty quick when they dropped the follow up in the summer of '83 it ma

While this was not the first album by The Moody Blues, it was the first album to feature Justin Hayward, and John Lodge, and it was the one that put them on the map. It was also an album that was more or less commissioned by the band's label to showcase the Deram Sound System and it's ability to record in stereo. Yeah, that was a thing once upon a time. Released in 1967 this was a heady time for musicians and new and emerging technology. Earlier in the year The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper and suddenly there was a new way to craft an album under the guise of threading the songs into a cohesive ... concept. Thus, the concept album was conceived. Working in this newly discovered vein, The Moody Blues went big with their second release. Collaborating with The London Festival Orchestra the band was able to craft pop songs that were intricate and lush and still contemporary, at least contemporary as it was in 1967. Truth be told, some of the arrangements sounded like they were arra

To the "Parrotheads" and the youngsters known as a "Parakeets" I offer no offence and have nothing but respect for the departed Mister Buffett. He always seemed like a helluva guy and someone who knew how to keep his head up. He also seemed like the kind of guy you'd want to share a drink and laugh with. For me, as one of the great unwashed, my knowledge of all things Buffett starts and ends with one song. You know the song. Do I have to write it out? Fine I'll write it out, but  I'll have to double check my spelling, but I'm hoping I get this right the first time. "Margaritaville" there, are you happy? I was in my early teens when the song had it's first run on the radio. Then slowly the song just worked it's way into popular culture, and it's sort of stayed there. At least as far as I can tell. I suppose the kids today may not know, but for decades now the song has been a constant in the repertoires of cover bands all over Nor

Back in '85 Robert Plant was staging a killer second act, and it must have felt like a kick in the nuts to Jimmy Page, the genius producer, player and arranger from all those classic Led Zeppelin albums, that he was relegated to the remainder bin. Death Wish II hardly counts as a career jump start. Surely there as a way to become a force to be reckoned with, or at least be relevant. First he needed to pull together a band. Paul Rodgers, a singer who was practically the blueprint for how to be a rock vocalist apparently needed a job. Chris Slade a drummer who had played with everyone from Tom Jones to Manfred Mann signed on. Rounding out the band was new kid Tony Franklin on bass who was literally just a kid when the other guys were out slogging it out. There was some really awesome music coming out in '85 and then there were some odd ducks. The Firm was one of those weird anomalies that looked like a duck, quacked like a duck and two of the members used to be on Swan Song rec

The future had arrived in 1980 and it was dragging the dinosaurs into the light. Suddenly Pete Townshend was standing in the open, looking around like he meant to be there. Perhaps he did. I mean, as a kid I wasn't unaware of who he was. Who he was. Ha, that's good one. I kill myself. Bottom line though, he was old. Woodstock old. That was old. So it was weird to hear and see so much of Pete Townshend at the beginning of the '80s when there were new sounds and new artists that were demanding attention. Okay, when I say so much, it wasn't as much as you'd think but the songs that were generating what seemed like constant rotation was probably over in the space of a couple of months. As a teenager time and physics don't work as closely as they do when you get older. Time is malleable, and those summer months where I first heard "Let My Love Open the Door" were magical times. Full of late nights by the lake, sleeping in a cabin, working in the bush with

Here we go kids. Hope you're ready as well start the slide into the summer months. Junary can be a weird month where it's either too hot, too cold, or too boring. I'm still working my way through the records I bought last December, and while I'm still adding to the pile I'm trying to slow down. Having my favourite record store go tits up was really bad for them, but good for me. Although they do have an auction, and at times that's been a problem but that's my cross to bear. This time out is another mixed bag of nuts. Some of the albums I had back in the day, and others are new to me. It's always fun to sit down, turn on and turn it up. Rock and Hyde - Under the Volcano (1987) Three Dog Night - Naturally (1970) The Moody Blues - This is The Moody Blues (1974) Carl Perkins and NRBQ - Boppin' the Blues (1970) The Kinks - Give the People What They Want (1981) Rock and Hyde - Under the Volcano (1987) A couple years after Payolas tried and failed to gr

My dad loved Harry Belafonte. By extension as a kid and to this day I love Harry Belafonte. He always seemed to be a guest on the variety shows, and there was always something serious and also whimsical about Harry Belafonte's songs. He could be funny and endearing but he was also serious and was an activist for civil rights. All of this was of course alien to me. All I knew was here was a man who knew hold an audience in the palm of his hand and was a master at his craft. In the early '80s I discovered that one of my best friends Tony also loved Harry Belafonte, and his favourite song was "Matilda" which to me was fantastic. We would sing the song in our loudest voices, and it didn't really matter that we both loved rock and roll ... there was still room for Harry. There was always room for Harry. The records my father had I took many years ago, and then subsequently lost to water damage. Still bugs me that I didn't put those bloody boxes up off the concrete

The Doobie Brothers, yeah I know what you're thinking. Actually, I have no idea. More than likely you're likely asking, "What were you thinking?" Fair. As a kid it was "China Grove" that really got under my skin. That riff. Bam! My aunt and uncle had an 8 track copy of The Captain and Me along with a few others that to this day are indelibly stamped into my DNA. It's weird though that I don't remember more about that tape, aside from the weird fades and clicks as it moved from track to track and the cover. Something about that overpass just felt, sad . There were a few songs by the band I always really liked, but by the time I really got into music, the band was old and tired. Well, old at any rate they'd been around for years, how old were those guys? I mean my goodness I was listening to them when I was ten. Then when Michael McDonald joined the band things changed. There was a four year period between 1976 and 1980 then this new brand of Doob

Ladies and gentlemen, MUD. I had no idea these guys existed until the early '90s when one Christmas I saw Bernard and the Genie . It's probably the greatest holiday movie ever. With Lenny Henry and Alan Cumming and an incredibly nasty Rowan Atkinson. I taped the movie from the television broadcast and for years and years we'd re-watch our spotty copy, complete with the cheesy commercials. The soundtrack to the Richard Curtis film was absolutely amazing, and among the many, many classics was "Lonely This Christmas" by MUD. Okay, to be fair I didn't know who sang the song at the time, but I really, really liked it. When I found a CD called Instant Christmas Collection that featured a lot of UK artists I finally knew. It was MUD. Of course it was produced by the kings of Glam, Nicky Chinn & Mike Chapman. Goodness gravy them there two dudes were a gold spinning dynamic duo. Oh, the remake simply called Genie with Melissa McCarthy ... um.  Pass. I tried, and