Old Enough to Forget

Haywire were nearly the shit through the late '80s to the early '90s. They dropped their debut in '86 and the two singles from Bad Boys seemed to be everywhere. Haywire were suddenly in the mix with the big Canadian acts: Corey Hart, Gowan (yeah before Styx he was the real deal baby) Glass Tiger and of course the king himself Bryan Adams. Then the band really broke with their second album, and "Dance Desire" was a huge hit. The whole album was rock deliciousness with some spectacular guitar work from Marvin Birt and Paul MacAusland's soaring vocals. The power ballad "Thinkin' About the Years" features some jaw dropping work by Marvin. Marvin was (still is) a monster player. I love Marvin. Then the band seemed to disappear right when they were red hot. Three years later they emerged with Nuthouse in 1990, right when Haywire's bread and butter musical style was about to be flushed down the toilet. Which was a shame as the guys went all in on be...

Getting this was an accident, but I'm not complaining or crying foul. My old record store shuttered and moved to a warehouse and now runs an auction to purge inventory. For me this is a bit of a double edged sword. Over the last couple of years I'd ended up with a lot of stuff as I fished through the dollar section, and every so often splurged when it was my birthday or Christmas. The end result being a shortage of storage space, and an inability to expand as it was made clear from the onset that I couldn't take up more space. It was the auction section that became my win some lose some playground. I'd scan through the listings, and click on a couple here and there to satisfy the minimum bids, then walk away until things closed. This last cycle there were a couple that caught my eye, and this one. Soft Cell's Happiness not Included was on yellow vinyl. I really didn't want it but it looked interesting, and until I brought it home didn't know it was a relati...

I have one album in my collection that is actually new, not old new, NEW new. This is it. It's an  album I got because I took part in a fundraising campaign to help Jeff realize his dream of putting out an album on vinyl. I also got it because I felt guilty for making fun of his desire to release an album that was recorded digitally and then put it out on plastic to have that "warmth" only vinyl can deliver. He took offence at this (and rightly so) and defended his desire, proceeding to outline how it was recorded, and mixed specifically to enhance the vinyl experience. Incidentally quite a number of my favourite albums decades ago were full digital recordings that sounded awesome on record - yeah, I'm specifically thinking of In Transit by SAGA- it was also one of the first CDs, so there. He may have a point, or it may just be an ear placebo. What REALLY enhanced the experience was having a big old album cover to hold on to, with a nice insert. I also have the CD...

Today I'm taking a break from my vinyl reminiscing and writing about Graeme Williamson's wonderful and breathtakingly beautiful posthumous release Because You Were There . Those who know me, know that one of my favourite records ever is Pukka Orchestra's debut album. For whatever reason that album is indelibly ingrained in my musical DNA. I remember Neil Chapman (Pukka alumni, and fret wizard) mentioning in passing through one of our infrequent exchanges he was working on fleshing out some demos and recordings Graeme had made before his passing in 2020. Then the other day I received a digital copy of the album, complete with a comprehensive booklet (something sorely missing from the majority of releases, and sadly when I looked for it on iTunes it wasn't part of the download, hopefully that can be fixed). They say you can't go home again, but hearing Graeme's distinctive voice was like a homecoming of sorts. There's still a bite to his lyrics but the angry y...