Old Enough to Forget

 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...

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 ...

"Life in a Northern Town" has long been one of my favourite songs. A dreamy (see what I did there?) song that seemed to be out of sync with the trends of the times, and yet it fit like a glove at the same time. The song propelled the band into the public consciousness but didn't seem to pull the album along with it. I know for me as much as I loved the song, and it's association with co-producer David Gilmour, a little nugget that was often mentioned on the radio, I never bought the album. I likely wasn't the only one. The song would over time become one of those tracks that would appear on multiple '80s compilations, as for the band, they were relegated to that most horrible of fates: The one hit wonder. Of course as is the case with so many of these bands who had their 15 minutes of fame, there was a lot more going on. Airplay and hit singles (in the singular) often do not define a band. For me it would take almost thirty years for me to hear more of their ...

Here we are, five months in and holding steady. I'm not sure this is worth continuing, but for me these little snack size tidbits are perfect when I don't have a lot to say, but there was something worth jotting down. Whether it was worth your time or not is a separate issue, and I make no guarantees this will be a worthwhile. For all you know, this is a cheese shop, or I could just be deliberately wasting your time, and I don't have any cheese. Five for Fighting No.5 Dave Loggins - Apprentice (In a Musical Workshop) (1974) Rick Derringer - Sweet Evil (1977)  Cliff Richard - I'm Nearly Famous (1976) Little River Band - First Under the Wire (1979) Harlequin - Harlequin (1984) Dave Loggins - Apprentice (In a Musical Workshop) (1974) I still find it strange looking at cover pictures from the early '70s, everyone looked so wise and world weary - and old. Looking at the stylized photo of Dave Loggins on the cover you'd think you were looking at an elder statesman...