Old Enough to Forget

On the Edge would be the last album by The Babys and their second to be released in 1980. John Waite would go on to a hit and miss solo career, and Jonathan Cain would join Journey. This was the album I liked best when I was a kid. I hadn't heard Union Jacks, so to me this was as good as the band got. The album opens with "Turn and Walk Away" that must have been a bigger hit in Canada as I'm sure I heard it on the radio. However, in the US it stalled outside the top 40. Too bad it didn't click, it's a hell of a song. This was the band's fifth record, and the band seemed to finally know what it wanted to be. The songs were cohesive and they were good. Sure, they were rooted in '70s rock, but the band seemed to be looking to the future.  The album was produced by Keith Olsen who was pretty busy during the '70s and '80s. There aren't many albums with his name on the jacket that I haven't enjoyed.  I wish I knew what the deal is with band...

Union Jacks fell in between the trio of albums I had by the band back in the day. My buddy Andew who I'd jam with back in high school introduced me to some cool bands, notably Harlequin because he made me learn the guitar parts (as a fifteen year old I thought I got pretty close) to "You are the Light" and then we were farting around one afternoon and he was playing the lead riff to "Head First" by a band called The Babys. I thought it was really cool. It was probably not long after I picked up the album, and then when they dropped I'd snag Union Jacks and the band's last album On the Edge that came out in the fall of 1980. It's been a while since I've listened to The Babys and it's a bit weird listening now. Jonathan Cain would join Journey and John Waite would manage to carve out a pretty decent solo career. Then in the late '80s while Journey was in limbo Jonathan Cain, John Waite and Ricky Phillips would team up with Neil Schon and...