Old Enough to Forget

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...

This is an album I have never heard. Oh I know a few songs from Teaser and the Firecat , I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I wasn't even a tween when this dropped, but I remember being moved by "Morning Has Broken" and I found it weird the first time we sang it in church. I had no point of reference to associate a song I liked on the radio with a song a bunch of old people were singing in unison at church. So I just did what kids do, I accepted it and moved on. Then a couple years later Sister Janet Mead score big with "The Lord's Prayer" bringing into vogue for about ten minutes the singing nun armed with a classical guitar. It was a thing. Just watch the movie Airplane, it was still reverberating a few years later. It was perplexing but I just took it in stride. I wasn't phased when Jesus Christ Superstar made Jesus mainstream. Like a young Larry Norman sang, "This time last year, people didn't wanna hear. They looked at Jesus from...

As a teenager I knew more about Yes from their Roger Dean album covers than I did about their music. When I eventually upgraded my old Sound in the Round record player to a stereo that could go loud in the late '70s, the receiver also had a built in 8-track player. While never a fan of the fade out and click in the middle of a song, I did have a couple of cartridges I'd picked up, and I actually had a copy of Fragile , that I have no recollection of getting and played it a few times and remember not getting it at all - although "Roundabout" was as awesome as it was perplexing. Then the tape got eaten and that was that, and I didn't really think about Yes until the fall 1983 when the radio station across the line played this weirdly cool song called "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by ... Yes. Well, I remember thinking "That was cool." However, the classic Howe lineup wasn't my jam. I liked the Trevor Rabin era, and am still partial to his work wit...

At the risk of seeming like a Luddite I was never a big fan of The Who. Sure there are a lot of songs I like ... I mean a lot, but for whatever reason I just never think of them when I think of my favourite bands. I'd seen Roger's solo albums in the racks as a kid, and he had some cool covers, and I did have a couple of his solo efforts on CD. I really liked Under a Raging Moon , and to a lesser extent Rocks in the Head.   The other day in between a couple of old Leo Sayer albums, and a badly beat up Rick Wakeman record (that looks really cool, but unplayable) there staring at me with his piercing blue eyes was a rather young (still under 30) Roger Daltry looking sultry with his wondrous curly mane haloed from behind. "Buy me." he said, "I'm only a dollar, buy me." So I put down my loonie and went to walk out, but was told I was short the tax. Dang and we don't pennies anymore either so I ended up looking for more stuff to justify using my card. Anyw...