Old Enough to Forget

For a moment in the early '80s it seemed like The Tubes were finally going to get their due.  After back to back gold albums in Canada, a feat they never managed in the US - then again there were more zeroes required to go gold there, the band was on a roll. Then came Love Bomb ... I guess the band decided they needed a change and after a couple of albums helmed by David Foster that found the boys moving away from their more outrageous elements to focus on commercial success, they would once again bring Todd Rundgren back into the fold to produce their 1985 effort Love Bomb . Now I had been waiting for the follow up to Outside Inside for a couple of years and I remember seeing a video for "Piece by Piece" and liked the song, but the video was awful. I only ever saw it once ... it's on YouTube if you're inclined. I tried to find the record once or twice and then more or less forgot to keep looking. Besides, I had Fee Waybill's 1984 solo effort Read My Lips ,...

My first exposure to The Tubes came with "Talk to Ya Later" a song so good even Gil Fisher, The Fishin' Musician had them up to Scuttlebut Lodge to play it for his television viewing audience. It was at that moment I realized The Tubes weren't like most other bands as they opted to play "Sushi Girl" and not the big hit - that to me was cool. The Completion Backward Principle was the band's first release on Capitol, and was produced by David Foster, who wasn't yet known as the king of schmaltz, also co-wrote some of the best songs on the album. Those being "Talk to Ya Later" and the incredible "Don't Want to Wait Anymore" a song so good it's mind boggling that it was a massive hit - Bill Spooner took lead vocals on that one, and absolutely killed it - no small feat as I consider Fee Waybill one of rock's greatest vocalists. No, I'm not kidding. This was where I started with the band, so like any starting point i...