Old Enough to Forget

Foreigner was one of those bands people loved to dump on. They were a commercial behemoth, and the band had been on a killer run releasing one multiple platinum album after another since their debut in '77.  Apparently their previous albu m Head Games  from '79 had reportedly "under performed" compared to Double Vision. Which doesn't make any sense, for goodness sake the album has gone on to sell over 5,000,000 copies in the States alone ... sure Double Vision sold a couple million more than that south of the border but  Head Games was hardly a failure. Whatever the reason the band would take some time and literally regroup. They'd jettison Ian McDonald (keyboards, guitars, backing vocals) and Al Greenwood (keyboards) and emerge as a lean mean hit making machine. Depending on where you got on the wagon reactions to 4 were a little split. For me, I'd always liked the songs I heard on the radio, but my first album was Head Games , and that was a transitio...

Obladi obla dah. This month has a double shot of The Knack a band I've gotten into lately. They were so much more than a one hit wonder. I also figured four was enough this time. Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974) The Knack -  ... But the Little Girls Understand (1980) The Knack - Round Trip (1981) Foreigner - Inside Information (1987) Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974) I bought this as a curiosity, and it was a curiosity I got. I'd seen so many copies in the dollar bin it just seemed too interesting to pass up. I'll be the first to admit this would have been an astounding show to see live; however, hearing it as a stand alone experience is a little more disconnected. While there were parts that were certainly engaging, and I was particularly enamoured with the narration by David Hennings, there there were quite a few sections where in the cold light of day you hear the imperfections evident in the performance. While it can b...

Back in 1984 I knew this band from the video for "Tenderness" that seemed to be on whenever I turned on the television to watch MuchMusic. Admittedly it was a catchy song, but that was as far as it went. I mean really that year Van Halen crushed it with 1984 and Toto dropped Isolation an album that was met with silence, but was to me amazing and they were in heavy rotation most of the year. There were so many great albums that me taking a foray into English new wave laced with ska wasn't really on my radar. Still, I never forgot that one song. So last week I was diving in the bins and there between a couple of Neil Diamond albums was All the Rage . Well, for a buck I was at least going to get one good song. The album was in iffy shape, but the jacket was okay, but the liner notes were gone.  Now, having recently spent time with Haircut One Hundred I was pretty much in the same neighbourhood as General Public. Curious I looked the band up and there were a number of little ...