Chilliwack - Breakdown in Paradise

Breakdown in Paradise was aptly titled. When Chilliwack signed to Mushroom Records, the little label that signed Heart and put out their first two records (although Heart would later write "Barracuda" as a diss track to their former label), their first two records for the label, Dreams, Dreams, Dreams and Lights in the Valley would go platinum in Canada. After Mushroom Records head Shelly Siegel died in '79 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, Chilliwack's bad luck in labels would continue and when Solid Gold Records went tits up in 1985 it ended the careers of more than a few Canadian bands.

Anyway, Breakdown in Paradise was one of those records that mostly worked. The opening track is probably still my favourite song on the album, and the second track "Trial By Fire" was a ballsy rocker that was a taste of things to come on the band's later albums. The blistering solo is pure "Too Loud" and the groove is pretty infectious. The weirdly clunky "148 Heavy" is a song I remembered from back in the day. The almost disco-like groove with Bill's near falsetto is really engaging. It's a song that shouldn't work, but it's really cool. Go figure.

Side two, a side I'd just finished listening to, was enjoyable and instantly forgettable. I mean, it's strange, I literally just finished it and I can't remember what I heard. So, I'm playing it again. There are only four songs, it won't take long. Just hang on a bit.

So I'm jotting down notes while the songs are playing, and the opening track "So Strong" had some really cool elements to it but it sort of went in one ear and out the other. "Last Time" has some strong "Arms of Mary" vibes going on. Decent song and Bill's voice is so good, but it just didn't click. Sort of a trend as the last couple of songs played through. Even the piano ballad that closes out the record really seemed to be going for the epic finish. It actually gets close, and frankly if I had a lighter I'd probably burn my thumb. While it's playing I'm totally engaged. Chilliwack was always a band that (to me) had some great singles, and over time they amassed a pretty impressive body of work, but their albums while enjoyable just never seemed to stick the landing.

Ab Bryant debuted on bass on this one, with guitars by John Roles, Brian MacLeod and Bill Henderson. Brian would also play drums on all but three of the album's tracks that were done by Bucky Berger before he left the band. Brian also provided the keyboards. But wait, there's more: He also sang lead vocals on "Let it All Begin." Drummer Rick Taylor who managed to get his picture on the back cover didn't play on the record and by the time Chilliwack was ready to record again the band had been reduced to the trio of Bill, Brian and Ab.

Styx - Paradise Theater

Styx was hands down one of my favourite bands as a kid. They were a strange band, even back then. They were a hard rock band, almost progressive at times, who had a penchant for sucky ballads. I know there's a tendency for people to zero in on "Babe" as the song that killed the band's credibility. The roots go way back to almost the beginning when Styx released "Lady" on their second album. It showed a side to the band that needed to be kept in check, and for the most part the band kept things on a pretty tight leash. The band had been setting a gruelling pace, releasing an album a year (two in 1972) and by the time they released Paradise Theater (if I end up writing theatre later it's because that's how we spell it here) in 1981 they'd dropped ten albums in less than a decade. I snapped this up as soon as I saw it, and it became a fixture on my turntable. Like the band had announced on "Borrowed Time" from 1979's Cornerstone , ...

David Baerwald - Bedtime Stories

The little sticker on the shrinkwrap says, "You may remember David Baerwald from David & David's Boomtown ..." You bet, I remembered David Baerwald. Back in 1986 Boomtown was an album with moments of sheer brilliance. The whole album may not have been as top shelf as the first few tracks, but that didn't matter - it is an excellent album. I waited for a follow-up ... and waited, and then in 1990 it was a solo David, David Baerwald, who dropped Bedtime Stories . I snapped it up. "All For You," the opening cut, is still my favourite song on the album. It was mesmerizing. I'm not sure if the song got any airplay, it may have, but that may have been wishful thinking on my part as it was on a lot of mix tapes at the time and I heard it a lot in the car. The CD had a great booklet with all of the musician credits and lyrics. Oddly, when I found a sealed copy of the record (a great score), it just had a plain paper insert - the picture of David walking wit...

Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

"Cars" was really the only song I knew by Gary Numan. I knew the name of the album the song came from. Over the years bits and pieces of trivia are accumulated, but in terms of his music it was still distilled down to one song ... It would be too easy to write Mr. Numan off as a one hit wonder, and I suppose in terms of actual chart hits this was his defining moment as a solo artist. Of course this really means nothing, as Gary Numan would drop an album a year pretty much through to the end of the '80s. He'd then slow down a little but continued to make music. While The Pleasure Principle was Gary Numan's debut solo release in '79, he actually cut his teeth on a couple of albums in a band called Tubeway Army, first with the band's self-titled release in 1978, and then on Replicas that came out in April of '79. By the end of Tubeway Army's run most of the band would follow Gary into his solo career. Paul Gardiner, who had been with Gary from the b...

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