Old Enough to Forget

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...

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...

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...

I'm not sure why I filed Cock Robin away as rubbish. There was a bit of buzz when this was released in '85 and I'm sure I saw a video on MuchMusic but honestly have no memory at all. I do though remember watching The Tonight Show that year when they were the musical guest and wasn't impressed, but somehow I can remember they were on the show. The other day I figured it was a good day to go visit Krazy Bob and see what treasures he'd seeded his discount bin with. Sometimes it's a cornucopia of sonic goodies, and other times it's like he decided it was time to dump all of his Hammond organ dance records. It was a banner day and I picked up a dozen records that were all in amazing shape. You guessed it among them was the debut release by Cock Robin. The band was centred on vocalists Peter Kingsbery and Anna LaCazio and they were supported by Clive Wright on guitar and Louis Molino III on drums, both of whom would be gone by the band's second album. This isn...

Voices Carry was the debut album by 'Til Tuesday, and the the title track is one of the best songs to come out of the '80s. Of course I'm a wee bit biased. The band would only release three albums before calling it a day. Oddly the band's commercial trajectory was inverse to the quality of it's releases (at least that's how I remember it, I've not listened to them in decades). I really liked the followup  Welcome Home , but I loved the band's final album Everything's Different Now  - but by the time it was released people had moved on, and as time marched on "Til Tuesday was more or less relegated to one hit wonder status. Which was a shame. When Aimee started dropping solo records I picked them up as they came out, although I'll admit that after Lost in Space in 2002 my interest started to wane. I have yet to hear her last couple of albums. I've gotten way ahead of myself. When this dropped in '85 it was so fresh, and so differen...

"A Good Heart" was a big song in Canada back in '85. The single would sell 50,000 copies here, and the album itself would crack the top 20, but I don't think it sold enough to be certified. For me this would be the one and only time I heard the warbling Irishman on the radio.  After making his splash in the pool, there was no follow-up and in time Mr. Sharkey would be firmly relegated to the bin of one-hit wonders. It was an okay song, but honestly not one that resonated with me. Feargal was out of sight and out of mind, and he remained there. So it was a surprise when decades later it popped into my brain and I got curious. As it happened I found the album in a cheap bin and couldn't help myself.  Which is the only way you can hear the album. His streaming footprint is surprisingly thin. The album was produced by Dave Stewart who had co-produced Southern Accents with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and his own band's (The Eurythmics) Be Yourself Tonight. He...

You had to be living under a rock in '85 to not have heard "Tarzan Boy" on the radio, or seen the video. There was something goofy and infectious about the song, and it was certified 100% CHEESE. I'll admit is was one of those guilty pleasures I'd listen to in the car but I wouldn't have been caught dead with this in my collection. Of course when I found the record I had to have it. I didn't realize it was a borderline EP as the album hardly crests thirty minutes and only contains six songs. However it doesn't feel truncated or rushed. All but one song is over five minutes. "Tarzan Boy" and "Living in the Background" clock in at over six minutes and they aren't extended dance mixes, they're just longer ... but not stretched out and watered down. The album opens with the big hit, and frankly I was expecting the album to then sink like stone after the first track, and was pleasantly surprised when the follow-up "Pull the ...

Opus' Solo was one of those albums I found while looking through the online store of a little brick and mortar I liked to pop into every now and again. They used to have a few locations and over the last couple of years the other stores have shuttered, and the last survivor is a little father away and is a special trip. Anyway, they have a really solid online store, and the navigation is awesome and honestly they have a decent selection. One of the things I like to do is check for still sealed items and if they're cheap enough I'll load a cart and then go pick it up. This last time there were a couple of items that looked intriguing enough to take a chance on. Solo was a German import that was still sealed, although over the years something spilled on the cover and seeped into the packaging. It's a small stain only visible on the back top right. When I went to clean the record there was a fair bit of PVC mist which was irritating but it is what it is. The things been in...

Released in '85 this was an album that marked the end of Nick's initial run. Between 1977 and 1981 he dropped an album a year and was signed with Chrysalis and then Casablanca Records before taking a four year break and resurfacing with this self titled effort on RCA. Gone was his longtime writing partner and guitarist James McCulloch. All that remained was his bass player Eric Nelson who was still holding down the bottom end. Nick did pull together some stellar musicians, from Mr. Mister's Pat Mastelotto on drums, to Mitchell Fromm on keyboards. The two guitar players, Jeff Silverman and Steve (Psycho) Sykes are pretty solid and there are some tasty licks to be heard. I remember CFOX playing a track from this album ... once, and my memory is really fuzzy on this. I keep confusing a memory of them playing Giuffria's "Call To The Heart" with whatever song they played by Nick Gilder. The common thread is both songs sounded like they were sung by Steve Perry. I a...

It's hard to imagine now, but this movie was sort of a biggish deal. Following The Breakfast Club a few months later St. Elmo's Fire hit the threatres. The cast was a hodgepodge of members of the so called Brat Pack, and both movies were produced by a guy named Ned Tanen who was behind some pretty impressive movies. The Breakfast Club is a coming of age classic now, whereas St. Elmo's Fire is mostly a forgotten misfire that was surprisingly popular when it was released. I'll admit that I took my girlfriend at the time to see it. It was a bit weird seeing many of the kids who a few months earlier were in detention playing a more age appropriate role. In many ways it was a foreshadowing of Friends , except this wasn't funny or all that good. However, there was the soundtrack. David Foster was all over this, and it's a sort of mixed bag of horseshoes. I happen to like David Foster, but there are times his style of music, keyboard sound choices, and layers of syru...

Two Worlds came out in 1985 and the '80s had a sound, and by gum this was it. The flat splat of the drums, crisp guitars and gang vocals and sparkly keyboard parts. Body Electric was one of those bands who never really got out of the starting blocks. I remember seeing a poster for the band's debut on the wall at Little Mountain Sound. It was a cool cover, but all I knew was it was Frank Ludwig's new band, and as talented as Frank was, I never really got into his stuff. When "Do You Think They Can Tell" got some minor airplay in Vancouver I thought it was pretty cool, but it was the ballad "Don't Look Back" that clicked with me. That was an awesome song. So I picked up the E.P. and with only 5 songs, it was really all killer no filler. The album was produced by Bill Henderson and it sounded like a continuation of his '84 release Look In, Look Out . The album felt like a taster of things to come, except there wasn't anything else. This was a ...

 a -ha are often associated by the unwashed as an '80s one hit wonder who aside from their clever cartoony video and impossibly high notes on the chorus on "Take On Me" never did anything else. I suppose in the US this is sort of true as Hunting High and Low remains the band's only platinum record - making them at worst a one album wonder. Still, I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual. I have a lot of half baked thoughts swirling around in my head, and am trying to get them to settle down. I suppose the problem is I have about forty years of baggage with the band. I've followed them faithfully, even enjoying their lamented '93 release Memorial Beach (which at the moment I can't recall any of the songs) and bought the download of their 2022 True North (which I'm also drawing a blank on ... but I didn't spend a lot of time with that one). Their catalogue is liberally sprinkled with astounding songs. The band is still centred on the talents of M...

Before people took cheap shots and shit on Winger and discovered Nickelback there was Night Ranger. The band who started out as a killer rock band, unleashing "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" backed by the twelve string sonic assault of Jeff Watson, and Brad Gillis, who was fresh off of his stint as Ozzy's six string slinger. It was awesome. Then came "Sister Christian" and all of a sudden it didn't matter that the same album had songs like "(You Can Still) Rock in America" and the power ballad "When You Close Your Eyes" the guys had jumped the shark, shat the bed, screwed the pooch, sold their souls to the corporate machine. They had sold out. They were a joke now, and any rock credibility was swirling the drain. They had as much cachet as Culture Club. Which was too bad as I was a card carrying member of the shit on Night Ranger club. It didn't matter that I like their songs, and even secretly liked "Sister Christian" they ...

Good gravy here were are enjoying the lazy dog days of summer and thankfully the basements is still relatively cool compared to the rest of the house. The tunes are cranked and I'm annoying everyone in the house. Life is good. I suppose the most interesting thing to me in this bunch of records was hearing Leo Sayer's Living in a Fantasy , an album that fits with Cliff Richard's early '80s output produced by Alan Tarney. Man there was some good stuff coming in the early to mid '80s. Leo Sayer - Living in a Fantasy (1980) Christopher Cross -  Every Turn of the World (1985) Chalk Circle - The Great Lake (EP) (1986) Cliff Richard - Wired for Sound (1981) Red Rockers - Schizophrenic Circus (1984) Leo Sayer - Living in a Fantasy (1980) Man, had I known how good this album was I'd have gotten it years ago. I really, really liked the songs Alan Tarney produced with Cliff Richard. Oddly Cliff had a huge hit with "Dreamin'" in 1980, a song produced and ...

Back in '85 Robert Plant was staging a killer second act, and it must have felt like a kick in the nuts to Jimmy Page, the genius producer, player and arranger from all those classic Led Zeppelin albums, that he was relegated to the remainder bin. Death Wish II hardly counts as a career jump start. Surely there as a way to become a force to be reckoned with, or at least be relevant. First he needed to pull together a band. Paul Rodgers, a singer who was practically the blueprint for how to be a rock vocalist apparently needed a job. Chris Slade a drummer who had played with everyone from Tom Jones to Manfred Mann signed on. Rounding out the band was new kid Tony Franklin on bass who was literally just a kid when the other guys were out slogging it out. There was some really awesome music coming out in '85 and then there were some odd ducks. The Firm was one of those weird anomalies that looked like a duck, quacked like a duck and two of the members used to be on Swan Song rec...