Old Enough to Forget

Neil Diamond was one of those anomalies that thrived in the '70s. The '70s were weird. I may have been a little kid when this came out, but I knew weird, and this was weird. My dad was a voracious reader and our family room was full of books ... from floor to ceiling there were books. I remember people talking about Jonathan Livingston Seagull like it was some great insight into the human condition. I mean for me at that age, the human condition amounted to trying not to get bullied in school and what time was Star Trek on? As a kid my parent's didn't load up the car to take us to the movies very often. I still held a grudge because they wouldn't take to me to see The Poseidon Adventure ... and frankly having to sit through Song of Norway as a kid was awful, but I have to admit something must have sunk in because I have a soft spot for Edvard Grieg. It was a couple years after the movie came out that it was showing at our little theatre, and we loaded up the car an...

Supertramp ruled the world with Breakfast in America , but for me it was, and will always be Even in the Quietest Moments that holds a special place in my heart. There are a few indelible memories that are forever tied to this album, and for that alone the album carried more emotional weight than it should. It's always been weird to me how some songs, and bands got to me in a way that really didn't make sense. My earliest memories are tied to music, and even at a young age it was the harder driving songs that got me excited. It's funny I never really got into metal, but hard rock certainly floated my boat. Then there was Supertramp. They weren't rock ... they were and they weren't. They were though accepted in rock circles, and they pop, and progressive to a point, but they were their own thing. Through my older cousins I had heard Crime of the Century so I was aware of the band ... but it was one of those ubiquitous Friday night music shows where I first saw a st...

Back in 1980 rock and roll was all over the place. The strange adult contemporary soft rock was right alongside the real rock and roll, and frankly it didn't seem out of place. The Doobie Brothers were probably to blame for much of this music taking over ... but honestly this was always around in some shape or form. Heck Player was mining the same vein back in '77 with "Baby Come Back" and it was Christopher Cross who really cracked it wide open showing there was gold in them there grooves. The derogatory term "Yacht Rock" hadn't been invented yet. This was just soft rock, or commercial rock, or radio friendly rock, or whatever. Now Yacht Rock is a beloved genre. Who'd a thunk it, and frankly a lot of acts who are on the boat shouldn't be ... that's the problem with labels, everybody ends up with one whether they need it or not. The album kicks off with one of the two songs I remembered from back in the day. Actually I thought there was a thi...

Opus X was a pretty big deal here in Canada when this came out in '82. While Chilliwack had been around for over a decade and was Bill Henderson's band oddly it was as a power trio that the band had it's greatest commercial success. Starting with Wanna Be a Star in 1981 that featured that most irritating and oddly really cool "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)" the band had hoped to capitalize and really break into the lucrative US market. The single would crack the Billboard top 40 peaking at number 22. Opus X a year later was suppose to drive the wedge in even further.  You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. I could tell you more about the rabbits, but I really should try and stay on topic. While the lead single "Whatcha Gonna Do" did really well here at home, it didn't perform as well as hoped in the US market, stalling literally just outside the top 40 at 41. The album was a big hit here, selling over 100,000 copies, and Bi...

I bought this on CD when this came out. Back in '86 this was a really strange album and for me, it was almost a country album (I didn't know what Americana was), and it was fitted in right alongside all of the rock that was filling up my shelves. T Bone Burnett for whatever had a special place for me, he was his own genre. Going back to Trap Door , and Truth Decay , I was expecting quirky, roots oriented music, but with this self titled effort Mr. Burnett took it up another level and stripping things down to the bare essentials. The album was recorded live to two track analog and two track digital June 24, 25,26 and July 15, 1986. It is an amazing album, and when I found it on vinyl I figured, "Oh why not?" This was the first time I'd really paid attention to the stellar dobro and lap steel work of Jerry Douglas. It's really a shame that the instrumental version of "I Remember" as to me it was the centrepiece of the album, and I'd always pair it ...

Chalk Circle - As The Crow Flies (1989) Chalk Circle is probably best known for their single "April Fool" that came out in 1986. I always paired it in my head with Eight Seconds "Kiss You When It's Dangerous, I'm not sure why, but I did. They were both infectious songs, and I was going to buy the albums ... spoiler ... I never did get them. Over time I'd forget the songs, but I always remembered the bands. Not that long ago I found Almacantar by Eight Seconds, but Chalk Circle would elude me for a long time.  Then during the great sale of '23 when my favourite, and now closed, record store decided to sell everything in the store for a toonie, I found a pristine copy of As The Crow Flies . For you kids who weren't there, by '89 (earlier, but whatever) CDs were the shit, and vinyl was dead ... the fact this was still pressed was in some respects an anomaly. Not that I'm complaining. But for those who go on about the warmth of vinyl you should ...

Good gravy here were are enjoying the lazy dog days of summer and thankfully the basements is still relatively cool compared to the rest of the house. The tunes are cranked and I'm annoying everyone in the house. Life is good. I suppose the most interesting thing to me in this bunch of records was hearing Leo Sayer's Living in a Fantasy , an album that fits with Cliff Richard's early '80s output produced by Alan Tarney. Man there was some good stuff coming in the early to mid '80s. Leo Sayer - Living in a Fantasy (1980) Christopher Cross -  Every Turn of the World (1985) Chalk Circle - The Great Lake (EP) (1986) Cliff Richard - Wired for Sound (1981) Red Rockers - Schizophrenic Circus (1984) Leo Sayer - Living in a Fantasy (1980) Man, had I known how good this album was I'd have gotten it years ago. I really, really liked the songs Alan Tarney produced with Cliff Richard. Oddly Cliff had a huge hit with "Dreamin'" in 1980, a song produced and ...

Back in 1980 my dad and I were sitting downstairs watch TV while we were playing Monopoly (a game I seldom one, and I never got to be the dog) and I think it was on PBS or something, and it was about music or something. I don't know what it was, but it was on. I can't remember what it was about, but there was a segment that stood out that was likely talking about music and television. Then they talked about something or other and then played a song that stopped me in my tracks: The hook was infectious, "Two triple cheese, side order of fries." The song played, and frankly I don't remember much about the video, but I remembered the name ... Commander Cote, and the segment went on and talked about his early work with his old band the Lost Planet Airmen. It stuck with me. What always struck me was I never sought out the record, or anything else by Commander Cote.  But, I never forgot. Then a while back I found the wicked We've Got a Live One Here! the band's...

As a kid I loved the song "Downtown" and I knew it was by Petula Clark (pronounced pe-CHOO-la) and that's as far as it went. I probably saw her on TV and that's where I was exposed to the song. I'm pretty sure that I didn't hear it on the radio back in '65. It's always interesting to read up on an artist who'd been well established in other parts of the world, when they're introduced into the North American market. Downtown is described as her debut hit album, although she'd been around since the mid '50s amassing an impressive list of hits in Europe. According to the short essay on the back cover she'd sold an astounding 20,000,000 records before debuting over here with "Downtown" back in '65. The album was produced by Tony Hatch, who conducted and wrote many of the songs on the album. Musically this is that strange mid '60s pop that was more an extension of the '50s. The vocals are drenched in cavernous rever...

Right off the bat let's shine a light on the elephant in the room. "Wouldn't It Be Good" is probably the song he's best remembered for, and for good reason. The petulant sulky song about the whiny kid who's self absorbed in his problems and you have no idea how bad he's got it. Waugh, waugh, waugh. It's also an absolutely killer song, and it is still an absolutely killer song. It was also the tip of the iceberg, but in order to understand the depth of his talent you'd have to immerse yourself and most people didn't bother. Frankly I can't claim to know that much either, I only have his first two albums. Those first two albums gave us a decent look at the bits floating on top, we were able to take a  picture and then moved on.  Maybe instead of trying to craft some elaborate and disconnected allegory (is it an allegory?) about frozen water, I should have just pigeon holed Nik as a one hit wonder ... but that wouldn't have been accurat...

Don't judge me. It showed up in the dollar bin, and it was in pretty good shape and over the years my appreciation for their stuff has actually surprised me. Unless you were a hardcore fan who thought they'd jumped the shark on an ironing board after their initial run in the '60s this collection was all you'd ever need. When I was living through disco hell first hand in real time a lot of what was passing for music just seemed so basic and lifeless. Oh sure it had a beat, it had to have a beat so you could zombie dance as you jerked from one foot to another and occasionally moved your arms. Of course there were always a few who knew a few moves and expected you and everyone else to form a circle and clap for them. Then there was the stuff by the Bee Gees. There was nothing basic or simple about their arrangements. Even then I secretly liked a lot of what I heard. You had to give a nod to good when you heard it. They were next level, and they knew it ... and for a few sh...

Dave had been doing pretty well sitting in the producer's chair in the early '80s, his work with The Stray Cats was so good. However he was first and foremost an artist in his own right. For over a decade his solo career had chugged along at a steady clip but in terms of commercial success Dave seemed to bubble just below the surface. Most people if they know his name will generally site his 1972 hit "I Hear You Knocking" and that's about as far as it goes. For me that's how it started too. Over the years his name had appeared on enough recordings, including the band Rockpile, that when I found Information I snapped it up. The back cover listed Jeff Lynne on bass and synthesizer, and Richard Tandy on synthesizer, both from ELO. Jeff also produced a couple of the tracks which was a bonus as far as I was concerned. I've always loved this kind of straight ahead rock and roll. It's more varied than simply labelling it rockabilly ... it's just good old ...

The Monkees. These guys were my musical heroes. Accept no substitutes. As a kid I had no idea they were a manufactured band, and that the TV ran for only 2 years between 1966 - and 1968 and broadcast 58 episodes. I grew up on reruns in the early '70s and while I loved the show, it was the concert and performance parts of the show that I really loved. The songs were so good and even back then I found Davy Jones to be a little (ha, because he was short) irritating, and his contributions were limited to the cute songs and playing maracas. even if he could play four of them at a time ... which admittedly is harder than it looks - so is playing the tambourine but that doesn't mean I have to like it. By 1967 The Monkees were a pretty big deal, and by golly they were busy. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. was their third album in that year, and the second one where the boys were in charge. Often dismissed as inconsequential artists they had enough sense to bring in good s...

Number thirteen and still plugging away. I have notice though that I'm not keeping with the theme as consistently as I had expected. The intent of dropping a bunch of mini blurbs was to save me time and to allow me to put down some thoughts on albums without having to go too deep. You know, "Oh I liked this one." that sort of thing. But nope. My balloon is apparently very much full of hot air. Some of these are longer and I suppose I could have just blown a little more air into them and released them on their own. But I didn't, still I did get in a couple of short ones, so I'll take it as a win. Welcome to the summer baby. Get a drink, pull up a chair and let's waste so time shall we? Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf (1968) Max Webster - Live Magnetic Air (1979) Ian Thomas - Long Long Way (1974) The Grass Roots - Golden Grass: Their Greatest Hits (1968) Mel Tillis - Night Train to Memphis (1967) Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf (1968) Steppenwolf is one of those bands who...