Old Enough to Forget

After the abomination that was Power Play ... oh, it wasn't that bad ... it just wasn't that good either. I waited for April Wine to release a new album, and sure enough, in '84 April Wine dropped Animal Grace . The classic lineup of Goodwyn, Moffet, Greenway, Lang and Mercer was still intact, and all was right in the world. Animal Grace marked the end of an era. Although at the time I had no idea this was it. I'd grown up with April Wine being a key contributor to the soundtrack of my life, and I just figured that was how it would be. Funny how you don't know it's the last time until you have the ability to look back and realize it was where things ended. Goodwyn and Mike Stone crafted new sonic territory for the band. This was April Wine, but this was the '80s version of April Wine. Right from the opening track "This Could Be the Right One," April Wine was changing with the times. It was familiar, but it was new. Cementing the new sound for me ...

Tommy Shaw. Man, back in the day Tommy Shaw was my favourite part of Styx. Like most kids my age it was The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight that put the band on the map. Not to shit on Dennis, this is about Tommy so it's Tommy's songs that'll get top billing here. I remember hearing "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" on the radio sporadically, mainly because radio in a small town sucked. Although sometimes at night I could pull in a Vancouver AM station. Then came the big guns "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" and "Renegade" and if that was all he ever wrote that would have been enough. But like they say on TV, "BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!" There was so much more, Cornerstone had the awesome "Boat on a River" Paradise Theatre contained "Too Much Time on My Hands" and um, he played guitar on Kilroy Was Here . I am not sleeping on his debut with the band, Crystal Ball , where as a newbie he was gifted the ti...

Journey released Frontiers in '83, and the band was messing around with their winning recipe. The band had always been good, but the addition of Jonathan Cain, who took over keyboards from Gregg Rolie after 1980's Departure , gave the band an extra gear. Jonathan co-wrote all of the songs on Frontiers except for "Faithfully," which he brought to the band. Heck, he was all over Escape too, but that's another story. You can read it here if you want ... or not. The band had gone diamond with Escape , a nearly impossible feat to replicate, and I'm sure there was more than a little tension in the studio as they cut the tracks. I know that Journey was supposed to be Neal's band (according to Neal), and in many ways it is, but when Steve Perry arrived it was Neal and Steve, and then with Jonathan he became the third leg of the milking stool. I'm not dismissing Ross or the other Steve. Those guys were integral to the band's sound ... right up to when t...

It was 1982 and April Wine was striking while the iron was hot, or in this case platinum. The band had finally cracked the US market a year earlier with The Nature of the Beast , and at home the band had released consecutive gold or platinum albums since 1975's breakthrough Stand Back . Power Play managed to ride the band's momentum to platinum status in Canada, but despite the album cracking the top 40 on the US album charts, it didn't translate into sales. The album was produced by Mike Stone and Myles Goodwin, and the classic line up was still intact. Brian Greenway - guitar, vocals Myles Goodwyn - vocals, guitars, keyboards Gary Moffet - guitar, background vocals Steve Lang - bass, background vocals Jerry Mercer - drums Heck, the album cover was awesome. There was Myles with his three pickup Les Paul slung over his shoulder, arms splayed out, basking in the moment. I loved that guitar. Two pickups good. THREE BETTERER! Take that, Peter Frampton! The only problem was th...

The Nature of the Beast  was the third album from the classic five-man iteration of April Wine. The triple threat on guitar: Myles Goodwin, who sang most of the songs, Brian Greenway, and Gary Moffet, backed by the ever rock-solid rhythm section of Steve Lang on bass and Jerry Mercer on drums. When I think of the band, this is the lineup that gets my motor running. By this point April Wine was well established here in Canada, with eight studio albums and two live albums under their belts. You'd think they would have started to coast and rest on their laurels a little. Nope. The band hit the height of both their commercial and creative peak with their 1981 release The Nature of the Beast . It was quite a feat, too. I loved First Glance , especially "Roller." Then the band dropped Harder...Faster and the one-two gut punch of "I Like to Rock" and "Say Hello." That three-guitar medley at the end of "I Like to Rock" just blew my mind. I mean, cou...

1981 was a great year for Daniel Amos. First, Horrendous Disc was finally able to see the light of day after being held up in red tape and label shenanigans at Solid Rock for a number of years. Then, a few weeks later, they would release the first volume of the Alarma! Chronicles. This would start a lifelong love for the band and the many offshoots and tangents that would follow. It was Horrendous Disc I picked up first, and I'll admit it was because of the association with Larry Norman and Solid Rock Records. Many of my favourite artists were on this small label: Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, and Mark Heard. So when this showed up I immediately bought it. Other than my small circle of friends who had similar taste in music, no one else seemed to have heard of these bands. There were no "hits." It was word of mouth. The cover was awesome, the insert photos were awesome - the band looked awesome. I dropped the needle and the first cut hooked me good. "I Love You #1...