Night Ranger - 7 Wishes

Before people took cheap shots and shit on Winger and discovered Nickelback there was Night Ranger. The band who started out as a killer rock band, unleashing "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" back by the twelve string sonic assault of Jeff Watson, and Brad Gillis, who was fresh off of his stint as Ozzy's six string slinger. It was awesome.

Then came "Sister Christian" and all of a sudden it didn't matter that the same album had songs like "(You Can Still) Rock in America" and the power ballad "When You Close Your Eyes" the guys had jumped the shark, shat the bed, screwed the pooch, sold their souls to the corporate machine. They had sold out. They were a joke now, and any rock credibility was swirling the drain. They had as much cachet as Culture Club. Which was too bad as I was a card carrying member of the shit on Night Ranger club. It didn't matter that I like their songs, and even secretly liked "Sister Christian" they were a mock band.

"So wait a second," I can hear you asking "don't you have Midnight Madness?" Yes, I have it ... but in my defence I only got it about a year ago. "Why did you get it?" Fine, I got it because "Sister Christian" was on it. I love that song. Fine you happy?

Night Ranger was running in a parallel lane to the bands who were setting the foundations of what would be hair metal. Night Ranger was first and foremost a rock band that knew how to craft a pop hook with big guitars. They also weren't above trying to get lightning to strike twice. "Sentimental Street" was almost desperate in it's attempt to replicate "Sister Christian" that it almost succeeds. It know I just crapped on it, sort of, but I'll give props where they're due ... it's a pretty good song, and frankly has aged pretty well. The songs here are all pretty catchy, and nothing really takes you out of the experience. For me the song that set my ears to twitching was "Interstate Love Affair" my goodness that's a great song. The sleeper that still gets me in the feels is the album's closer, "Goodbye" if there was a slow dance hall of fame, my goodness this song gets my nomination.

7 Wishes would go platinum their second album to hit a million. It would be another two years between releases, and by the time they released their fourth album Big Life their audience was a lot smaller. The album would go gold, and it would be their last album to be certified gold, not counting their greatest hits, which is always a nice little bit of validation.

Still on 7 Wishes the band was still the same guys who had been around since the beginning. Jack Blades played bass and sang lead vocals. He also wrote a lot of the songs. Kelly Keagy was on drums and also sang lead. While the keyboards were never in your face, Alan Fitzgerald knew how to had the right textures in the right place to serve the songs. Then of course it was the guitar gods, Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis. Goodness gracious, they may not get the credit they deserve, but they were the real deal.

I always sort of wondered why the band couldn't maintain their momentum and sort of fizzled out and fell off the radar. They're still out there doing their thing, Jack, Brad and Kelly are still hanging in there. Which is kind of cool, just goes to show, you can still rock in America.

P.S. I happen to like Winger, and Nickelback.

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

Old Enough to Forget

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