Old Enough to Forget

Money and Cigarettes , Eric Clapton's 1983 album is one of those neither fish nor fowl releases. As a kid Eric Clapton was one of those has beens who was a big deal in the late '60s and early '70s but his output through the rest of the decade to me was spotty. I actively disliked "I Shot the Sheriff" and thought "Cocaine" was stupid. I couldn't see the appeal to "Wonderful Tonight" although my buddy Gord loved it and it was his wedding song. I'm probably just strengthening the argument that I'm just an unwashed Luddite who has no idea which end of a telephone pole goes in the ground. I suppose I should have just said I wasn't really a fan of a lot of Eric's solo work and left it at that.  So why buy this at all? I found it for a buck, and I may not have been much of a fan, but come on - it's Eric Clapton and whether I'm a fan or not the guy is a legend. Besides I'll admit to really liking his late career resurgen...

The cover to this album seemed so familiar from my teenage record store explorations, but for the life of me I had no idea who they were. I had always assumed Straight Eight were a Canadian band ... you know what they say when you assume something: According to Merriam Webster's online dictionary the word assume has a few different connotations based on meaning and usage, but the one I was using which was to take as granted or true was number four from a list of seven variations. I should probably just use the word "Suppose" next time to avoid confusion. After all, I don't want to make an ass out of you or me. Sometimes you can judge a book by it's cover, or an album by it's art - sometimes you can't. Whatever preconceived notions I had formulated in my developing brain would turn out to be nonsense. I suppose what supported my assertion (almost said the ass word, tch tch) that Straight Eight were Canadian was the label: El Mocambo. This was a pretty infam...

After a few punk albums with Generation X, Billy Idol stepped out (or sold out  according to the stalwart punk rockers who felt betrayed by his change in direction) and launched his solo career. Billy teamed up with guitarist Steve Stevens and the two of them created a hybrid punk bubble gum genre that was equal parts sneer, attitude and catchy hooks. Billy was one of the cornerstones of the '80s and here in Canada he was a pretty big deal proportionately outselling our neighbours to the south. I always liked the songs on the radio, but aside from hearing one of his later (at the time) albums  Whiplash Smile once at a friends (a cursory listen didn't do much to solidify Mr. Idol as anything warranting a purchase) I never bothered to buy anything. Billy Idol was released in '82 and the song I really remember is "White Wedding (part 1)" a song that still gives me a big grin. The album would go gold in the US and move 100,000 copies here in the Great White North, eh...

One of the first songs I learned on guitar was "Tush" and to this day it's one of my favourite songs to play. I still remember the first time I heard "Tube Snake Boogie" at a youth group dance ... the irony isn't lost on me, and it was so good. We yelled for it to be played again so we could sing along with the part where he's singing about the sister. Good times. When '83 rolled around videos were suddenly a thing, and boy howdy ZZ Top managed to marry cool with the blues, big beards, cool cars and chicks. Boom. Suddenly the band was more than that little ol' band from Texas. With Eliminator,  ZZ Top's eighth album, the band was propelled into the heart of the mainstream. They may have had several gold and a platinum album under their collective belts but as with all things, there are levels, and holy moly Eliminator was a whole 'nother level for the band.  The album had legs (how could I not?) and for a couple of years the band was r...

Blue Ridge Rangers was released in 1973 on Fantasy Records. The album was a collection of traditional and cover songs that were arranged and produced by John Fogerty. I suppose when it first came out it was a bit confusing. Was this a John Fogerty album? Was there a band? Who were the silhouettes on the cover? Why did they all look like the same person? Was this a giant FU to Fantasy records? After the initial run of pressings I'm guessing there was some pressure to rebrand the album, and subsequently John's name was featured more prominently. The Blue Ridge Rangers came out a year after the final CCR album  Mardi Gras marked the end of an era. I cannot imagine the pressure applied to a still young John Fogerty (28) to replicate the magic he had created with his previous band. While Mardi Gras  was a gold selling record, I suspect that was more the general public's muscle memory as it is generally considered the nadir of the band's output. I imagine there were words ...

Steppin' Out is not an album for the casual fan. I'm the first to admit that I'm not all that well versed in all things Armatrading, although over the last couple of years I've picked up a few of her albums, and I've really enjoyed them. Some more than others, but they were all good. While the album was "Recorded 'LIVE' in North America" the album was not released in the US. Apparently this was at the behest of Joan herself as she didn't think her album sales there warranted a live album. So those in the UK, Europe and Canada (yay) were the lucky recipients. The album itself is surprisingly short, just nine songs and clocking in at less than twenty two minutes a side, which for a live album seems a tad skinny. Most of the songs are full band with the title track being a solo version featuring Joan on guitar. The first couple of plays through, the album felt dull and frankly kind of boring. Which I found strange. Maybe my expectations were a li...

DISCLAIMER: Today is a little more meanderambling than normal.  Oddly this wasn't the record I had intended to write about ... I was pulling out Heatbeat City and Panorama came out at the same time. So being me, I played both. It was strange and my reaction was backward to what I remembered. Back in the day it was Heartbeat City that I played to death ... I mean I had their other albums and they were good, but man oh man to 21 year old me Heartbeat City was far and away their best album. I hadn't actually played Heartbeat City end to end for a long time, and while I still thought it was great, it was  Panorama that felt fresh. It was the drums. David Robinson had a way with his fills and the way his tom toms jumped out of the speakers was just so good. They were fat and demanded attention. He didn't overdo it and not every song needed extra fills. Heartbeat City was mainly Fairlight programming and it was cool at the time.  Panorama was the band's third album ...

I had no intention of getting a copy of Here's to Future Days ... but here we are. Thompson Twins were a band who by 1985 managed to shed half of their North American audience compared to their previous release. Oh the album would be certified platinum here in Canada and the States, but this was the end of the band's commercial run. For Here's to Future Days the band enlisted the ever reliable Nile Rodgers to assist with production, and honestly the album makes a game effort. However I was at best a cursory fan and while I really, really liked "Lay Your Hands on Me" the rest of the songs I could take or leave ... although I was curious to hear what they'd do with The Beatles "Revolution" and now I'm not curious anymore. I'd rather not shit on the album because it's hardly fair. I wanted one song, and I got the song I wanted and it is still an amazing piece of music. To commemorate the occasion I danced by myself in the basement with my f...

David Cassidy was striking while the iron was cooling. Rock Me Baby followed a few months after his previous album Cherish went  gold domestically.  Rock Me Baby  would stall just outside the top 40 at 41. His solo career would fare better in the UK and Australia but in North America but it certainly seemed like the gold run for The Partridge Family and David's solo career had come to an end in the first half of '72.  It must have been incredibly perplexing for a young 22-year-old David, who seemed to be trying to step out of the bubblegum pin-up world he was confined to. Like a lot of people who grew up in the '70s The Partridge Family was essential television, but actually listening to the music outside the confines of the show was a lot to ask. I liked The Osmonds, but I wouldn't be caught dead listening to Donny. Icky ... germs. When I found a copy of Rock Me Baby I snapped it up. Why not? The album cover looked cool, although the back cover was goofy. My ...

I remember seeing the cover for Shabooh Shoobah  in the early '80s and trying to work out how to say the band's name. Without radio or video I just assumed it was pronounced inks . The band would slowly start to build here in Canada and "Original Sin" got quite a bit of airplay, and then came "What You Need" which was a pretty big song. I thought they were good, but there were a lot of good bands and I only had so much money.  Kick was one of those albums that managed to connect with people in a big way. Fronted by Michael Hutchence who was simply mesmerizing and backed by an incredibly tight band INXS delivered a near perfect album. The timing could not have been better and the album would go on to move over 20,000,000 copies, almost ten times more than their previous record and it would be the band's high-water mark. At the time I had no idea this was as big as it was. I knew who the band was before Kick came out, and while I knew it was a popular albu...

1985 was a hell of a year for cool music. Dire Straits was right there in the mix with some of the best songs of the year. Dire Straits was still Dire Straits flitting on the periphery of what was in vogue while somehow managing to be at the centre of things. A year that saw albums by The Cult, Talking Heads, Tears for Fears, John Cougar Mellencamp along with a host of others that are too numerous to mention without taking up most of this post. This album was huge - it would move over a million copies in Canada, nine in the States topping out at over thirty worldwide. Of course to twenty two year old me, it was "Money for Nothing" that floated my boat. Much like "Industrial Disease" did from Love Over Gold . I was at best "a sort of fan" but didn't have their records. My roommate had the band's live album Alchemy (which I heard after Brothers in Arms ) and "Telegraph Road" remains to this day one of my favourite songs by Dire Straits. I...

A while back I snagged a bunch of new albums in an auction. I didn't think I'd win them, I just thought it would be cool if I won, so I put in a low ball and forgot about it until I got a message telling me to come and get them. Among them was Robin Trower's Bridge of Sighs . I knew about Robin Trower but really hadn't heard anything. The closest I got was a cover version of "Bridge of Sighs" by Steve Lukather from his 2021 album I Found the Sun Again .  Robin Trower was essentially a power trio comprised of Robin on guitar, with Reg Isidore on drums and James Dewar on bass and lead vocals. The guys weren't messing around with pretty pop songs, they were a rocking blues combo. Robin's blistering and tasteful guitar work was right up front, as was James' powerful voice. He sounded to me at least like a wicked blend of Paul Rodgers and David Clayton Thomas ... more Paul than Dave to be honest. All of this was enveloped by Reg's drumming ...  incl...