Old Enough to Forget

Back to the Egg was supposed to be the return to form for Wings. Released in the summer of '79 all I remember about this album is the cover. One of the older guys (I think he was maybe 22 or 23 if that) I worked with that summer said he heard it and didn't think much of it. It was a casual comment that stuck. It would be the last album attributed to Wings. Over the years I've picked up a few albums by Wings and they've always been sort of hit and miss for me. There was a joke in the '70s that kids were too young to remember the Beatles and to them Paul McCartney was that guy who had been in Wings. Over time Wings became a footnote, and any of the classic songs by Wings were assimilated by Paul McCartney, the guy who was once in The Beatles. He was chief cook and bottle washer relegating Wings to a supporting role that was merely comprised to a floating cast of characters. It's strange how pissy I get with Wings. The number of truly amazing songs they produced o...

A year after "Eruption" changed everything Van Halen dropped their follow up aptly titled Van Halen II . For me this was my actual introduction to the band. The summer of '79 I turned 16 and I had been sent off to the Bowron Lakes to work with the Park Service's Youth Crew. It was an amazing summer, and while I didn't bring any music along with me, I did bring my guitar. Others though did bring music, and that summer I was introduced to Styx and Van Halen II. I heard Rush for the first time when someone played "Bastille Day" and I loved it. We also argued about Journey's "Wheel in the Sky" just being a lame rip off of "Layla" and we all agreed that disco sucked, but "Heart of Glass" by Blondie and "Driver's Seat" by Sniff 'n' the Tears got a free pass. We also agreed that we all loved "My Sharona" at one time but were thoroughly sick of it. Van Halen was cool. It was the perfect blend of r...

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...

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...

FM is one of those bands I knew of as a kid but had never heard anything by them. Over the years I'd hear the song "Phasors On Stun" and knew about Nash the Slash but that was about it. They were a mystery wrapped in bacon and stuffed into an enema. I recently found a couple of the band's records (not at the same time, but close enough that they were both sitting on the shelf waiting to be played) and I figured I'd play the first one. Surveillance was released in '79 and featured Cameron Hawkins on vocals, keyboards and bass, along with drummer Martin Deller and Ben Mink on stringed things (guitar, violin, mandolin) who replaced Nash after he'd left to pursue a solo career. This was Ben's second album with the band. The first time through I have to admit I wasn't really paying attention but it was cool, and I really enjoyed the science fiction vibe. Musically it was kind of progressive but it had enough of a straight ahead rock feel to keep me inte...

Boy howdy, this was more than a bit surprising - in a good way. Not long ago I'd found The Light of Smiles , Gary's follow up to The Dream Weaver , and while I enjoyed the album it really didn't have legs or stick with me after I'd put it back on the shelf. That's not a shot, I listen to a lot of stuff that frankly doesn't have a lot of object permanence - I attribute this more to me than the music. I'm old now, and I don't process things the same way. I either like it, or I don't. Sometimes I'll really like it, and sometimes things stick. When I first saw the cover of Headin' Home when I was poking around Gary's discography I was pretty dismissive. I mean really, who needed to see a deeply tanned and permed Gary sitting bare chested (okay not bare, it was covered in curly hair) and man spreading his red pants. Thankfully the image was cropped. So yeah, there wasn't a lot of appeal. I already knew there weren't any hits here, and...

Suzi ... and Other Four Letter Words was another in a long line of Mike Chapman produced albums for Suzi Quatro. It's a mystery as to how Mr. Chapman found the time to work in Suzi when he had been working with The Knack and then Blondie on their breakthrough albums that same year.  I never really kept up with Suzi Quatro in real time. I was less than a casual fan and aside from when I heard "Devil Gate Drive" as a kid, didn't know any of her songs. The little AM station in my small town seemed to play it over and over back in 1974. Of course the reality was this all likely happened over the course of a week ... but hey, time is different when you're young. Other than Happy Days and that one song I really didn't know much about her, other than she looked good in black leather. 1979 was the height of new wave (disco was still huge too, but let's pretend it wasn't), Suzi Quatro dropped a glam infused collection of tight pop songs that were honestly a ...

Max Webster was a pretty big deal here in Canada once upon a time. Between 1976 and 1981 the band would release five studio albums, one live album and a greatest hits package. All of them gold, with the exception of A Million Vacations that went platinum. They had some killer tunes, but to me they were that band Kim Mitchell was in before he went solo. Which is sort of code for I never had any of their albums back in the day. A Million Vacations is the album that contained "Let Go the Line" and the title track that have become classics over the years. True fans know that Kim Mitchell was not the singer on those songs. Well, I know that too because I they didn't sound like Kim, and now that I have the album I can read the credits.  "Let Go the Line" was one of two songs sung by Terry Watkinson. The other was "Charmonium" which is also pretty good. "A Million Vacations" had drummer Gary McCracken step out from behind the kit and considering it...

"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 continues 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 beg...

The summer of 1979 belonged to The Knack. Produced by Mike Chapman who was half of the infamous dynamic "Chinnichap"duo with Nicky Chinn. Mr. Chapman had an ear for candy and by gum (bubble gum, baby!) with The Knack he managed to catch lightning in a bottle. The album would go double platinum in the States, and in Canada it would move over 400,000 copies.  The album was a big deal. Or so you'd think. The reality is a little more complicated. Going back to my teenage years "My Sharona" was the song that propelled the band into the stratosphere. Kids everywhere could play the opening riff, and like "Smoke on the Water" it gave the song a sense of simplicity that belied the song's complex structure and numerous changes. It's a mini masterclass in musical excellence and there are no bum notes or wasted space. You don't even have to hear all of the opening riff to "name that tune." I ate it up until it made me sick, and so did an awf...

Don't judge me. It showed up in the dollar bin, and it was in pretty good shape and over the years my appreciation for their stuff has actually surprised me. Unless you were a hardcore fan who thought they'd jumped the shark on an ironing board after their initial run in the '60s this collection was all you'd ever need. When I was living through disco hell first hand in real time a lot of what was passing for music just seemed so basic and lifeless. Oh sure it had a beat, it had to have a beat so you could zombie dance as you jerked from one foot to another and occasionally moved your arms. Of course there were always a few who knew a few moves and expected you and everyone else to form a circle and clap for them. Then there was the stuff by the Bee Gees. There was nothing basic or simple about their arrangements. Even then I secretly liked a lot of what I heard. You had to give a nod to good when you heard it. They were next level, and they knew it ... and for a few sh...

Number thirteen and still plugging away. I have notice though that I'm not keeping with the theme as consistently as I had expected. The intent of dropping a bunch of mini blurbs was to save me time and to allow me to put down some thoughts on albums without having to go too deep. You know, "Oh I liked this one." that sort of thing. But nope. My balloon is apparently very much full of hot air. Some of these are longer and I suppose I could have just blown a little more air into them and released them on their own. But I didn't, still I did get in a couple of short ones, so I'll take it as a win. Welcome to the summer baby. Get a drink, pull up a chair and let's waste so time shall we? Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf (1968) Max Webster - Live Magnetic Air (1979) Ian Thomas - Long Long Way (1974) The Grass Roots - Golden Grass: Their Greatest Hits (1968) Mel Tillis - Night Train to Memphis (1967) Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf (1968) Steppenwolf is one of those bands who...

Screams is a band who came to my attention through my buddy Jeff. I've mentioned Jeff a few times, often in a derogatory manner as he is one of those jacks of all trades and master of all, types who despite his protestations that he is in fact just a normal guy , is in fact not normal. In short I'm more than a little jealous and proud of my friend ... A while back I found an Elvis Brothers album and I had just written up. Jeff casually brokered an introduction to Brad Elvis (Brad Steakley) and we traded a couple of really pleasant notes. Brad has a pretty active Facebook which is fun to keep up with. Anyway (yeah, I may have to edit this for clarity at some point) I found out Brad had been in a band called Screams, and that Jeff had been looking for the album for a long time. I decided I'd look for it, and I found not one, but two copies in a little second hand record store close to where I live so I sent Jeff one, and kept the other. When Brad and I were trading notes he...