Eddie Money - No Control

Eddie Money. Not one of the names that immediately pops into my mind when I think of rocks great vocalists, but when the guy sings man, he's right up there. He's got the swagger and delivery and he doesn't sound like anyone else. He sounds like, money.

I've always liked a lot of his music, but I didn't have a lot of his music. I had a few albums, his '78 sophomore album Life for the Taking, and his '82 release No Control that had "Think I'm in Love" a song that still make me grin like an idiot. I The last one I bought was Can't Hold Back from 1986, because it had "Take Me Home Tonight" on it. Dang that song was so good. It also had a cover of Stan Meissner's "One Chance" but to me it wasn't nearly as good as the original.

No Control is a really decent record, and one I probably appreciate more now than I did when I was nineteen. The big songs back then are still the big songs now. "Shakin'" is actually even better now. It was always pretty solid, but over time man that song has aged well. Of course to me the killer here is "Think I'm in Love" this to me ranks up there as one of his best. The slide guitar work alone, which frankly isn't technically all the hard to play, is what makes this song so good. It is so good.

Back in the early '80s when I got this, I didn't play it very often. I bought the record for the one song and at the time that was enough. When I found the record again it actually spent a few days on the turntable. I got the big songs I remembered on the first side, but it was the deeper cuts that I was looking forward to and the album did not disappoint.

The transition from what was the '70s to the '80s was really malleable in '82. There were hints of the new sound here and there, but there was still a lot of '70s sensibilities to be heard. The best example of this transition is listening to "My Friends, My Friends" which leans into the past, and "Drivin' Me Crazy" that is structurally new wave but sounds like Eddie. This was a rock and roll album, and it's still so good.

No Control was produced by Tom Dowd, and most of the tracks were engineer by Andy Johns. This still sounds crisp and clean that give the songs a timeless quality. They sound like what you'd expect them to sound like live.

Eddie Money is one of those guys who while never a superstar did have his share of gold and platinum albums. No Control went gold back in '82 and quietly keep selling and five years later it was certified platinum. Slow and steady wins the race.

Like I said at the start, he may not be the first guy you think of when thinking of rocks great voices, but man he was one of the greats.

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