Old Enough to Forget

You didn't have to love the blues, to love The Blues Brothers. When the movie dropped in 1980 it was a perplexing experience (in a good way) and so over the top it quickly became must see viewing among the cool kids. I wasn't one of the cool kids, but I still saw the movie. Trying to explain to kids how cool Jake and Elwood Blues were is like trying describe what water tastes like. I wasn't a big blues fan, but bow howdy these guys were the real deal, and while their personas were over the top there was a reverence and respect to the source material. While Dan Aykroyd's Elwood was played as the straight character, it was John Belushi's Jake who had the swagger and chops. Listening to the songs on the record it's Jake who delivers the goods. Whereas the concept and the movie was written by Dan and director John Landis. These boys loved the blues, and they surrounded themselves with the best of the best. I've seen the movie many times over the years, but this ...

Released in the fall of 1982, it was probably in the summer of '83 that I first heard the title track. Phil Collins mania hadn't gripped the world ... he was blip on the horizon - you could see him coming. His distinctive drums were the reason the song grabbed me initially, but it was a killer tune, and Daryl Stuermer's guitar solo was the icing on the cake. Yes, this was the same Frida who was in ABBA, although at the time she seemed to be old as dirt she was probably only 36 or 37 years old. Of course considering I was still in my teens (okay, as late into my teens as you can get) that's a big gap. I bought the album mainly for the title track, but I found there was a lot to like and as a bonus (at least to me) was Jim Rafferty's (brother to Gerry) "I See Red" a song I always really liked. Both Russ Ballard, and Rod Argent contributed a song each, with Russ Ballard's "I Know There's Something Going On" being the big song here. There wer...

An unusual score, and one I had no idea what I was getting. I was expecting campy prog, but then again I'm not always right when judging a book by its cover. For all I knew this could have been space disco ... happened to me before. So how I did I find this thing? Let me tell you. Several months ago I was farting around looking through the online catalogue of one of the shops I like to visit, and was just seeing what was "still sealed" and if there were any deals to be had. Sadly, there are always deals to be had. One of the records I saw was this rather goofy looking album. It was a little pricey for me ... meaning it was over ten bucks, but it was intriguing. So I figured what was the harm? At best I've got a fun album that seems to be a bit of a lost treasure, as worst I'm out a few bucks but I still have a pretty cool time capsule. Besides it was still sealed and to be the one to crack it open after over forty years was too good to pass up. So I bought, cracke...

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...

There was always something strangely appealing to "The Captain of Her Heart" when this came out in '85. It was right at the height of everything cool about the '80, and then there would be these occasional outliers that would hit the radio. When Sade hit with "Smooth Operator" I was in the minority or people who couldn't stand the song. Although I suspect this has softened over the years, but my initial reaction still when I hear her name isn't positive. At. All. So it's odd that I clicked with Double, but not really. I had gotten into Michael Franks, starting with Skin Dive in '85, and it wasn't normally the sort of thing I listened to, but it was kind of cool. From there I'd pick up a few of his albums, and really liked The Art of Tea from 1975 and the song "Popsicle Toes" which kind of surprised me, considering my general happy place was rock. Double had some similar elements. I guess I'm just trying to show that I...

The Motels. At best I was a casual fan. I always sort of liked "Only the Lonely" and although the two songs aren't anything alike, it always reminded me of "Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash. Then again for whatever reason I would confuse Martha Davis (yes, I did know her name, but couldn't tell you how or why this little bit of trivia got lodged in my brain) as the Martha in Martha and the Muffins. Yeah, I know - sacrilege. When I found All Four One in the dollar section I snapped it up. There was a little bit of water damage to the back of the jacket, but the vinyl itself was mint. There were no liner notes, so that sucked, but dagnabbit the internet would have whatever I needed so it wasn't really an issue. So after a clean I dropped the needle, and the first track "Mission of Mercy" wasn't what I was expecting. It was a really crunchy new wave song with a lot of over the top guitar that was goofy fun. "Take the L" had some of ...

A Flock of Seagulls are remembered more for Mike Score's hair than their music, which is a real shame. Oh sure "I Ran" is often considered their "hit" and the band is dismissed as a one hit wonder which to me makes no sense at all considering they had quite a few songs I remember hearing on the radio. Then again I may be confusing what I heard in my car, with what I heard on the radio. Coming in a year after the release of their debut Listen was in many ways a stronger and more cohesive album than it's predecessor. Although at the time I read a particularly savage review more of less relegating the band to being a collection of hairstyles and that it's a shame Ali Score wasn't able to do more with his thinning hair.  There was very little mention of the music, other than to say it was formulaic and boring. This was the album I spent the most time with. I had picked up a cassette copy, back when for five minutes I was so sick of clicks and pops that I...