Old Enough to Forget

Well that didn't take long. I had mentioned didn't have the last Toronto album* when I was writing about the band's previous album Get It On Credit ,  (posted September 17, 2025) and sure enough when I was rummaging through the discount bins at Krazy Bobs there it was ... along with a baker's dozen other albums that came with me. I know there was one more album under the Toronto banner,  Assault & Flattery that was attributed Holly Woods & Toronto. Aside from Holly Woods, keyboardist Scott Kreyer was the only other member as Sheron Alton and Brian Allen were no longer in the band, so for me Girl's Night Out is the last album by the classic line up that dropped an album a year from 1980 to 1983. A blip on the radar but they left an indelible mark on Canadian rock. I know I've taken some pot shots at the band in the past and have been lukewarm to their albums as a whole. They always had a great single, and while I'd enjoy the albums they just never see...

This was the third of the three recent albums I recently found by The Babys. I've got my eyes out for the debut, but there's always something about a bands sophomore record that can be cool. For some bands their debut is a one and done. All the songs they'd spent years crafting were likely polished and presented and the real test is whether or not the band could have lightning strike twice.  I already know the answer but I'm curious to hear this one. It's been a while since I've done a song by song first impression so I'm just going to drop (carefully place) the needle and jot down my thoughts in real time ... more or less. Here we go ...  "Wrong or Right" is a sort of clunky slow burn with strings. John Waite is in fine form. A decent enough lead in track. The song really starts strong, and I'm thinking, "This is cool" and then the band goes into the duh duh duh duh duh duh duh section and sort of works but just feels out of sync wit...

On the Edge would be the last album by The Babys and their second to be released in 1980. John Waite would go on to a hit and miss solo career, and Jonathan Cain would join Journey. This was the album I liked best when I was a kid. I hadn't heard Union Jacks, so to me this was as good as the band got. The album opens with "Turn and Walk Away" that must have been a bigger hit in Canada as I'm sure I heard it on the radio. However, in the US it stalled outside the top 40. Too bad it didn't click, it's a hell of a song. This was the band's fifth record, and the band seemed to finally know what it wanted to be. The songs were cohesive and they were good. Sure, they were rooted in '70s rock, but the band seemed to be looking to the future.  The album was produced by Keith Olson who was pretty busy during the '70s and '80s. There aren't many albums with his name on the jacket that I haven't enjoyed.  I wish I knew what the deal is with band...

I recently picked up a few albums (three) by The Babys - I'm still looking for their debut, but honestly I'm not looking too hard. I have   fond memories of the band and even though I can't remember much other than a couple of songs I still like them enough to want to hear their old stuff. Go figure. Head First was released at the end of '78 and they'd enjoy some chart success in April of '79 when "Every Time I Think of You" came close to cracking the top 10. It would be the band's most successful single ... but not their best song.. It's funny listening now, as I probably enjoy it more now than I did in the early '80s when I bought this one along with On the Edge . I know that "Every Time I Think of You" was the big hit, and it's a decent enough song, but for me it was the title track that floated my boat. It was a gritty, crunchy rock song with a great riff courtesy of Mr. Wally Stocker and his tasty guitar work. Not every s...

Author's warning.*  After selling 5,000,000 copies of his break through album American Fool  in the US. John was back in '83 with Uh-Huh and proceeded to go triple platinum. However, here is Canada he was moved half a million copies of each album. He was pretty big deal here ... and he'd be a big deal for a while. I was never really a big John Cougar Mellencamp fan, I'm still not, but I like him enough to buy his albums when I find them. Oh make no mistake he was decent and in small doses pretty awesome. There was something about a whole album of John's tunes that just felt overly long. I'd almost go so far as to describe a lot of it as unvarnished pretentious rock and roll. A better name for the album would be Nuh Uh. John was earnest in his pursuit of grandeur. To be fair for all the clunkers he'd then come out with an absolute barn burner. I didn't know it at the time, but John was carving his own niche. Americana wasn't really a thing I was awar...

Toronto was always one of those bands who seemed to have a decent song on the radio whenever they put out a new album. Get It On Credit was the band's third album in as many years and the big song this time was "Your Daddy Don't Know" which is a great tune even if it sounds like the song was the result of putting "Jessie's Girl" in a blender. A tad unkind, and not entirely true, but where's there's smoke there's something burning. Doesn't matter, it's the best song on the album and one that still puts a grin on my face. This is also the album where the band had mostly worked out "What About Love" but decided it wasn't good enough ...it would end up being good enough to when it kick started Heart's career a couple years later. The album is a decent collection of mid tempo rock songs, and singer Holly Woods is ably supported by guitarists Sheron Alton and Brian Allen. I've always liked the band, and I've picked...

I never liked Lionel Richie, and honestly never really gave two shits about the Commodores. I didn't want to count how many times she was a lady. When Lionel fancied himself the third wheel to the Prince / Michael Jackson milking stool I had to suffer through Can't Slow Down  when I was at my girlfriends house. She also loved the Cats Soundtrack too ... ah the blush of a first love. I will say though that I did love Louie Shelton's guitar solo on "Hello" you gotta give credit where credit is due. It was a weird thing when I found myself strangely enamoured with "Nightshift." I found the album cheap back in the day and I think I played it once before filing it away. I did pull the title track off for a few mix tapes but I never really gave the album a chance. I listened once and passed judgment and that was that. During my recent trip to Krazy Bob's to flip through his discount bins I found several copies of Nightshift , and each time I saw a copy I ...

After a string of somewhat lacklustre albums Heart reinvented themselves as mainstream rockers, got picked up by Capitol Records and dropped one of their biggest albums ever in 1985. The band employed outside writers on over half of the tracks including the rejected Toronto track "What About Love" that became the band's first big hit in years, and after that the hits kept coming  "These Dreams" which would go all the way to number one, along with "Never" and "Nothin' at All", and "If Looks Could Kill" which was pretty cool. I wonder how much of this was right place, right time ... whatever the case Heart was back, and the album would sell over 600,000 in Canada, and over 5,000,000 in the States. Not bad considering their previous two records hadn't gone gold, and the band seemed to be done. Heart is one of those bands I never really gave much though to. When I was a kid I absolutely loved "Barracuda" and "Magi...

Breakdown in Paradise  was aptly titled. When the band signed to Mushroom records, the little label that signed Heart and put out their first two records (although they'd later write "Barracuda" as a diss track to their former label) their next two records Dreams, Dreams, Dreams and Lights in the Valley would go platinum in Canada. Then in '79 Mushroom Records head Shelly Siegel died and the label started to flounder, and Chilliwack kept plugging away hoping for the best. When the album finally dropped in December of 1979 the label no longer seemed to be capable of marketing or pushing singles to radio. There must have been some word of mouth no doubt as I remember the album and I liked "Communication Breakdown" and always thought it was a hit. There were enough copies printed that it's not a hard album to find. Who knows how many copies, maybe the record keeping sucked and the album actually did better than what was reported on the charts. Regardless, t...

I was this many years old when I finally realized it wasn't Seals & Croft ... it was Seals & CROFTS. Well, better late than never I guess. Seals & Crofts had a pretty good run through the early '70s. While I'd never have called myself much of a fan I had to admit that their radio hits were syrupy ear candy. I still love "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl" and when I saw the Greatest Hits album in the bargain bin (along with about twenty other albums that came home with me ... it was a good haul) I had to get it. So I did. The album after a deep clean was remarkably pristine and the liner notes were still inside the jacket. Sadly it was just a lyric sheet with no credits. At least the back cover listed the producer - Louis Shelton, the legendary session guitarist who I assume also played guitar on the album.  This is a great sounding record, and the intertwined harmonies of James Seals and Dash Crofts are so good. It would have been cool to ha...

April Wine was striking while the iron was hot, or in this case platinum. The band had finally cracked the US market with The Nature of the Beast and at home the band had released consecutive gold or platinum albums since 1975's breakthrough Stand Back .  Power Play managed to ride the band's momentum to platinum status in Canada, but despite the album cracking the top 40 on the US album charts it didn't translate into sales. The album was produced by Mike Stone and Myles Goodwin, and the classic line up was still intact. Brian Greenway - guitar, vocals Myles Goodwyn - vocals, guitars, keyboards Gary Moffet -guitar, background vocals Steve Lang - bass, background vocals  Jerry Mercer - drums Heck the album cover was awesome. There was Myles with his three pick up Les Paul slung over his shoulder arms splayed out basking in the moment. I loved that guitar. Two pickups good. THREE BETTERER! Take that Peter Frampton! The only problem was the songs. The band had been cranking ...

When I first bought There Goes the Neighborhood I knew who Joe Walsh was, but other than a couple of songs on the radio I hadn't had the opportunity to hear any of his solo records. This was also true of the Eagles, but that's only tangentially related. The first Eagles record I'd pick up was Eagles Live in 1980 which more or less cemented my appreciation for Joe Walsh as a player. When Joe released There Goes the Neighborhood in '81 it would be my gateway into his solo career. I didn't quite know what to do with this one when I first heard it - this was a weird album. To me Joe Walsh was the rocker who wrote "In the City" for The Warriors soundtrack and was the guy who did "Rocky Mountain Way" and despite my teenage protestations that Triumph did it better - in the long run, Canada's other power trio couldn't hold a candle to the original. Of course "Life's Been Good" is pretty much the penultimate Joe Walsh song, but th...