Old Enough to Forget

I've sort of slept on this one for decades. Oh don't get me wrong I bought this when it came out. I actually got  Diamond Sun first and then worked backwards to the band's debut. It was "I'm Still Standing" that jumped out of the speakers the first time I heard it. I've always been a sucker for an acoustic intro, in this case a simple 12 string chord progression that suddenly blows up into a fantastic rock song. The album was good and I pulled "I'm Still Standing" off a couple of times to populate mix tapes. I gave the record a couple of cursory spins, enjoyed it and then put in on the shelf.  I recently found the album and figured, "Why not?" I must have been in a receptive mood when I dropped the needle: "Holy shit, this is awesome." I said. Then someone asked,  "Tell me are you a fan child?" And I said, "Yeah, I am tonight." - with apologies to Mister Marc Cohn  Glass Tiger was one of those band w...

Back in the day I had two of Melissa's albums: this one and her follow up Brave and Crazy . I was a rocker (at least I said I was, but I still liked Christopher Cross, so go figure) and not hearing anything as captivating as "Bring Me Some Water" I stopped listening to her stuff. It didn't help that the radio stations I liked didn't seem to play anything of hers so I just moved on. Of course she'd go one to have one hell of a career I know little or nothing about. Despite me thinking her debut was as good as it got for her history tells another story. If you're a fan, I mean a REAL fan you know more than me. So I'm going to just listen to this one in a vacuum and contain my commentary to the ten songs on her debut. Seems like a reasonable compromise and it'll keep me contained and hopefully on track.  The album opens with "Similar Features" and man is it a great track - it still sounds so good. I bought the album because "Being Me So...

Henry Lee Summer hit it big in '88 with "I Wish I had a Girl" from his third album and first major label release. Of course I knew none of this back in the day. I just knew the song, and for whatever reason I associate this with summertime and rolled down windows with the radio blaring. This was an album I almost bought more than once, but never did.  Over the years the song and Mister Summer faded from memory but when I saw the album in the four dollar bin I couldn't resist. This is a bit of a conundrum as my initial reaction was pretty negative. All I could hear were the inevitable comparisons to other artists, the lack of solid bottom end to the recording and some questionable drum sounds that seemed to belong on a different album. The most irritating moment coming on side two when "Wing Tip Shoes" tries to infuse some energy into the album as Henry repeatedly yells, "Git it goin'" as the band borrows from John Lee Hooker and ZZ Top and some...

Here was chugging along into August, and I have to admit that my self imposed schedule of cranking out two of these a month may have been a tad ambitious. It's likely I'll take a step back and go to once a month. I mean, I'm spending a lot of time jotting down my meandering thoughts that frankly for the most part are just on this side of being coherent ... I'll let you pick a side. Still, I've been grinding my way through my pile of records. Up for grabs this time out are another gaggle of odds and sods and repeat offenders. Let's get right to it ... are you seated comfortably? Chilliwack – Look In, Look Out (1984) Neil Diamond - Love At The Greek: Recorded Live At The Greek Theatre (1977) Pete Townshend - All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982) Loverboy - Wildside (1987) T Bone Burnett - The Talking Animals (1988) Chilliwack – Look In, Look Out (1984) At the time this felt like a reset for the perennial Canadian stallwarts who'd been cranking ou...

I'd never heard of The Rave-Ups prior to finding a sealed copy of the record. I was out of town and had popped in at a record store while the wife was clothes shopping, this happens a lot. It was a strange little shop that was squeezed into an alley entrance, and the stock was piled into the corners in a system only the owner seemed to understand. Despite it being cramped, it was fun poking around. I didn't find anything on my list, but the owner seemed determined to find something for me ... and he would rummage around while we were chatting about stuff, and he'd pop his head up occasionally and show me something he thought I might like. He managed to get a fair pile going, so I figured it was best that I just look through what he was stacking up. He had managed to get my measure pretty quickly as most of the records he'd pulled out were from artists I was aware of, and thankfully I had a lot of what he was showing me, but there were a couple that caught my attention. ...

Good Lord, here we go. Hang on, Strap in, and put in your mouth guard. Ted Nugent - Weekend Warriors (1978) Gerry Rafferty - North & South (1988) Visage - Visage (EP) (1981) Greg Kihn Band - Kihnspiracy (1983) Johnny Winter - Captured Live! (1976) Ted Nugent - Weekend Warriors (1978) This was long one of the albums I wanted, but never bought. The cover was vintage ted, and the cover was absolutely captivating. This was Ted in a single frame. Sitting here listening this is all new to me. The first pass through I didn't have any credits other than what was on the back cover. I still tend to lean on Double Live Gonzo! as Ted's high water mark, and while over the years I've filled in some of his earlier studio albums, I really never became a true blue fan. I was a pretty solid casual, and still consider myself a fan of his music. Considering Weekend Warriors came hot on the heals of Double Live Gonzo in the fall of '78 I sort of expected more of the same. Which is w...

After All was a band that seemed so full of promise. The band was based in Vancouver, and the members were Scott Acomba on vocals, Jordy Birch on bass and backing vocals, Todd Simko guitar and backing vocals, and Leigh Grant on drums. The band was signed to Capitol, and I'm guessing they were licensed from Nettwork but that's just a guess on my part.  I did buy the CD when it came out in '88, and even saw them open for Bruce Hornsby at the old Expo Theatre - a great venue, now gone. It was an odd pairing, but they gave it a good go, and I remember rooting for them as I'd just picked up the album and it was cool to see them run through their short set. "Bullets" was getting a little bit of airplay here at home, and I suspect it was a regional thing, but for me it counted. I can't remember if they got a little pop when they played it. I like to think they did. It was an unexpected pleasure to find the record. I didn't need it. I wanted it. This was a bit...

Fine Young Cannibals disappeared at the height of their popularity ... or at least that's how it seemed. It's a blur now as to when this came out. I know my record and CD (I got the CD first, and just recently found a copy of the album, and couldn't help myself ... although I should have) I know the pressings say 1988, but the songs were on the radio and MuchMusic in 1989. I don't think it matters, but in my mind's eye I think of sunny days and blue sky when I think of "She Drives Me Crazy" so it was probably was in the spring of '89. It doesn't matter. I do remember seeing the video for "Johnny Come Home" back in '85 and it was intriguing enough that I almost bought the album ... didn't, but almost. That album also had a cover of Elvis' "Suspicious Minds" that had a quirky cool vibe. So when a few years later "She Drives Me Crazy" hit, and boy did it hit. Those fat, and I mean FAT guitars that start the so...

If memory serves I heard "Wide World" on the radio once or twice ... but when I saw the video for "Slow Train" on MuchMusic that was it (the video wasn't really that good, but the song was). Who were these guys? What was it about this song with the strange riff and the moody vibe that was so infectious? The album was produced by Tom Treumuth who was also A&R for RCA and was instrumental in signing The Breit Brothers, and by all accounts Bob Buziak the president of RCA was behind the band as well. I know that's an assumption on my part, but he is given a special thank you on the back cover. To top it off the album was mastered by Bob Ludwig, which usually gives an album a little extra shine. The band was comprised of three brothers, vocalist and keyboard player Gary, whose name I knew from Corey Hart, Kevin on guitar, Garth on drums and Ian de Souza on bass. The album was full of finely crafted pop songs and it's still a bit of a mystery wrapped in...

Back in 1988 my old roommate Otto came home one day with a CD by Hothouse Flowers. I don't know where he heard or read about them, but he said it was supposed to be pretty good.  The first two songs were absolutely killer tracks. "I'm Sorry" and "Don't Go." Truly killer tracks. For 1988 this was quite different than most of what I was listening to. The '80s wave had crested and it was full on big hair, tight pants and gang vocal choruses ... this was organic. I also cannot remember anything aside from the first two songs. I hesitate to say they were filler, but I have zero recollection of anything else. Then for father's day the kid's allowed me to spend a $100 bucks on records, and I found this one - and was pretty stoked. I got a nice pile of stuff that ran the gamut from Linda Ronstadt to Sandford and Townsend (never heard of them but it was sealed and looked like fun.). This was the album I was most excited to hear again ... I was very te...

Many years ago I recall hearing a guy on the radio describe the song "Worlds Away" as Vancouver's unofficial anthem. A bit of a stretch, but my goodness it is an awesome song. Back in 1982 the trio of Drew Arnott, Darryl Kromm and Paul Iverson (an amazing guitar tech and luthier by the way) released their debut album Worlds Away. I remember hearing "She Controls Me" and thinking that was a really cool song. At the time I didn't get the album, but with a name like Strange Advance they were pretty memorable, and I would buy everything they ever released in real time, except that first album, unlike Pokemon, you really can't catch 'em all - but I did catch 'em all, including a long play for "Love Games" that I since lost to the ravages of time and poor drainage in the crawlspace. In 1985 when Strange Advance released 2WO where once there were three, it was now just Drew and Darryl (they did add a whole band, including a real live drummer f...