Old Enough to Forget

I found a copy of Trooper’s debut from 1975, and this was my first time hearing the album in its entirety. Even though it contains two of the band’s best-known songs, “General Hand Grenade” and “Baby Woncha Please Come Home,” I was surprised the record didn’t go gold here in Canada. The band’s next four albums would all go platinum, with the latter two even going double platinum. What a run. The debut was produced by Randy Bachman and released on Randy’s Legend Records, although it was distributed by MCA Records  - the label Trooper would eventually move to and stay with during their commercial peak. I have always liked Trooper, and like just about every Canadian kid of a certain vintage, Hot Shots was part of the soundtrack of our formative years. I’ve had a lot of fun digging into some of their earlier albums and hearing deeper tracks I’d never encountered before. For whatever reason, the debut seems to be the forgotten Trooper record. I can sort of see why. Aside from those two...

Time for a little Canadiana. Funny how some acts can be so influential and yet be totally unknown to the rest of the world. Then again, to be fair some of these albums weren't well known at home either. You pays your money you takes your chance. I didn't have any of these albums back in the day, so it's been an interesting trip down memory lane. With Harlequin and Trooper I knew some of the songs, but on the others they were brand new to me. Sometimes that's awesome, sometimes it makes me sad to be so later to the party. I suppose it's better late than never. Harlequin - One False Move (1982) Lava Hay - Lava Hay (1990)  The Front - Gina's at a Party (1983) The Kings - Amazon Beach (1981) Trooper - Thick as Thieves (1978) Harlequin - One False Move (1982)  Harlequin's third album, and the last of their records to be produced by the legendary Jack Douglas. I still have no idea why I never got this album at the time as I liked the songs I heard on the radio,...

A few nuggets here. The Alice Cooper record has seen better days, but I've found some really cool stuff too. Besides, it's all for a good cause. Alice Cooper - Love it to Death (1971) Visions: Mission Andromeda (1987) The Records - The Records (1979) Trooper - Money Talks (1982) Eddie Schwartz - No Refuge (1981) Alice Cooper - Love it to Death (1971)  While Billion Dollar Babies was my jam, and I love that album, it never really spurred me to become an obsessive fan. I mean, don't get me wrong, when I heard his stuff I never turned it off, and when in the mid '80s he had a career resurgence I was there. A while back I walked into a shop, and out front was a box that was full of records with a sign saying FREE. Well, it was worth a look. There, sandwiched in between an old Irish Rovers record (that I already had. Don't judge me) and some obscure soundtrack was a pretty beat up copy of Love it to Death . "Well what have we here?" I slip the record out, an...

I meant to pull out my copy of Hot Shots , but as I had recently found a couple of Trooper albums I'd not heard (which outside of their greatest hits album was pretty much everything in their catalogue), I figured why not put on something that was new to me. It was either Money Talks or Flying Colors , as there were a couple of songs I remembered from Flying Colors , so Flying Colors it was. Aren't you glad you get to get a little peek into my decision-making process? I've not heard the album, so it's the deeper tracks here I'm curious about, particularly the Frank Ludwig compositions. Frank had the unenviable position of being a decent writer and a good singer in a band where Ra was a great singer, and the songwriting team of Ra McGuire and Brian Smith were the backbone of the band. This I'm sure was a pretty sore spot, and it's not especially helpful or sporting for me to sit here and stir up the embers of what is now pretty ancient history. When Frank wa...