Old Enough to Forget

Well, things have been bustling in the house over the last little while. Mainly the boys took over the basement between semesters and that meant I more or less lost the use of the turntable while they played games to all hours of the night. I still manage to get some time in and relax but I've been tasked with a number of spring things too ... the driveway and back patio won't pressure wash themselves ... This time out is another collection of odds and sods. A couple of these were new to me and a few of these I'd not heard in years and years. Without further adieu I present to you the tenth iteration of Stylus over Substance ... no jumping, I don't want to skip the record. Rick Springfield - Tao (1985) The Kinks - Word of Mouth (1984)  Streetheart - Quicksand Shoes (1980) Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Dancer with Bruised Knees (1977) Kansas - Vinyl Confessions (1982) Rick Springfield - Tao (1985) This was one of the more overlooked albums by Rick Springfield. I bough...

I'm still digging myself out from the pile of records in the basement. Not that I mind, but my goodness there's a lot of stuff to go through, and frankly I don't want to short myself on anything so I'm still trying to spend time with them before putting them away. Oh, some will stay put for a long time I suspect, but there are always hidden gems and treasures among the old things that are new to me, A mixed bag this time of the familiar and not so much. The Who - Face Dances (1981) Rick Springfield - Hard to Hold (1984) Gino Vannelli - Brother to Brother (1978) Red Rider - Breaking Curfew (1984) Doucette - Coming Up Roses (1981) The Who - Face Dances (1981) This would be the band's first album after the death of drummer Keith Moon. Sitting on the throne behind the kit was Kenny Jones, who had been a member of The Small Faces. The album was produced by Bill Szymczyk and yielded the classic, "You Better You Bet" that helped pull the album to platinum s...

Ah, Michael Damian. Well, it was bound to happen at some point. To be honest I've been actually looking forward to this, mainly because I had packed a lot of baggage in advance and was just waiting for a chance to unload on what I was hoping would be a big pile of monkey droppings. I'd have my revenge for "Rock On" and nothing was going to get in my way. Everybody knows that actors are often just frustrated musicians who were too pretty to be taken seriously. Then again, why is it that musicians want to be actors? Sigh. The album I found was his 1984 debut "Love is a Mystery" on Columbia. Dang, this label was home to some pretty awesome acts. Maybe this was a novelty release. Thankfully the copy I found for my dollar had the liner notes, and the core band was Michael on vocals and keyboards - and chimes (couldn't find a triangle?), Larry Weir on guitars and keyboards, and Tom Weir on drums. A quick peek on the internet revealed that Michael, Larry and To...

I found a sealed copy and figured why not? It could be really good ... or it could be truly horrific. Staring at me from the cover picture was a dapper looking young man sporting a few days of scruffy stubble looking like a young Rick Springfield (I do not mock Mr. Springfield). As far as I knew, and I knew nothing about this album. It could be anything, as it wasn't opened - kind of like Schrodinger's cat, except it was vinyl. I'm not really a cat person. I had my fingers crossed and hoped for good. What I got was actually pretty good. It was a pop record with a bit of crunch, at times a lot of crunch which was pretty great. This is an album that wouldn't have existed without Michael Jackson's Bad , an album I actually bought. Don't ask, since I staunchly avoided getting Thriller ... even though I secretly liked some of the songs. Come on, "Beat It" was worth the ticket price. The other artists this brought to mind first though and actually had more...

Ten year old me didn't know what to think of the song "Rock On" as it was a unusual thing but strangely hypnotic and cool too. It was etched into my developing musical preferences. I never forgot the song. I blame Jack Wagner for Michael Damian being able to release his version of "Rock On" - yeah, I know that's not fair or accurate, but dang it the only singing soap opera star I need (I was going to try and work an "All I Need" reference in there somewhere, but it seemed like a lot of work for zero pay off) is Rick Springfield. Let's just pretend that never happened shall we (although I will reluctantly admit his cover version was "okay"). Before finding this album, the only other song by David Essex I was aware of was " A Winter's Tale" a song I found a few years ago, that has become one of my favourite holiday tunes. It is a stunning piece - although my daughter thinks it's rather "meh" but likes that I ...

I honestly figured this was worth the dollar. Going in I knew that "All I Need" was an earworm - back in 1984 I worked in an office where we had a TV in the break room. Whoever got there first could choose the channel, regardless of how many other people would end up in the room. At least that was my interpretation of the rules. Most afternoons I'd have to sit and suffer through General Hospital. However, there were enough times where I'd get there first and change the channel to watch Looney Tunes that people made a concerted effort to beat me to the break room. So with respect to General Hospital it provided interim employment to Rick Springfield and like Pernell Roberts got to play a doctor on TV - although Rick got to play another character as well, a rock star named Eli Love (I am not making this shit up).  Given my love for his music I can give him a pass. However, there was another young cocky character named Frisco Jones who in the 80s was breaking hearts and ...

I make no apologies for liking Rick Springfield. I had to flip a coin to pick whether to play Working Class Dog , or go with 1983's Living in Oz . Tales you lose, if you want to read about "Jessie's Girl" it'll be another day on a different post. From 1981 through 1984 Rick Springfield put out an album a year, each going platinum in the States. Oddly enough in Canada Living in Oz sold less than Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet and that one sold less than Working Class Dog - he was trending down.  Which was a shame as Living in Oz was pure power pop driven by the guitar wizardry of the incomparable Tim Pierce. Funny if you read the reviews that were out at the time Rick was a bit of a conundrum as he was supposed to be the pretty boy pop star who wasn't supposed to have actual musical chops. He was also an (gasp) actor on a soap opera, the man had no shame. Since I didn't watch daytime TV I never saw him with a stethoscope draped over his white coat. T...