The 1980 Listening Post - Donovan - Neutronica

 Donovan - Neutronica

#335

by Jim Erbe

Donovan

Neutronica

Genre: Lazy 

Allen’s Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Jim’s Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Requisite ‘80’s Covers:

These both feel really obscure, but they are requisite so here goes…

“No Man’s Land,” originally recorded by Eric Bogle.  I had never heard of this song before and it was not included on the Apple Music version of this album, so I tracked it down for the sake of completeness and then listened to the original for the sake of comparison.  My takeaway…Donovan’s version is not as good and is literally endless. 

Also, “The Heights of Alma” is a cover of a traditional Irish song about the Crimean War.  I opted not to track down the original.  It’s better than “No Man’s Land” until it adds dozens of simulated fifes and makes a sharp turn to become the worst thing ever.

I was not prepared for this album.

I know very little about Donovan.  Coming into this, I knew maybe three songs and that he is Ione Skye’s dad.  That’s the sum total of my Donovan knowledge.

But I like folk music…a lot.  I grew up in a household where The Irish Rovers and Peter, Paul and Mary were big, fat, hairy deals.  And nowadays, I am perfectly happy interlacing Good Old War, The Mulligan Brothers and Old Crow Medicine Show in with the rest of my collection.  So, I figured whatever Donovan was up to in 1980 should be right up my alley.

Woof!  Like I said, I was not prepared for this album.

First of all, it kicks off with a disco song, “Shipwreck”.  And not good disco, we aren’t talking “Turn the Beat Around” or anything like that.  Nope, this is the type of disco song you’d expect from an episode of CHiPs where Ponch has to go undercover as a lounge singer. It’s straight trash.

I find myself laughing aloud when we get to chorus and Donovan belts out “Shipwrecked on the ocean of love/Sadness-bound, heartbreak ahoy”; assuming he is leaning into the corniness of the song and wrote the lyrics ironically.  But as the song progresses that phrase is repeated…a lot…and I begin to doubt that assessment.  .

Now, I am lyrics guy, I always have been.  I can appreciate a great hook or solo, but I will always favor a so-so song with great lyrics (I’m looking at you, Decemberists) over a musically outstanding song with uninspired lyrics.  That’s just the way I’m wired, sue me.

So it becomes obvious that Donovan and I are going to have a problem.  Musically, these songs are mediocre at best, the bulk of them are either a single guitar or a keyboard pretty much just plinking along with the lyrics and those lyrics...yikes!  They range from the frustratingly naïve--his protest song, “Neutron”, which is inexplicably a soft shoe number, describes bombs the way a child might “Neutron you’re a real estate bomb/the property stays and the people are gone”—to the just plain frustrating.  

“Mee Mee I Love You”, a song co-written by his eight-year-old daughter (not Ione Skye, the one who sells T-Shirts in Palm Springs), comes off as a song from a second grade musical version of Spike Jonze’s “Her”.   Maybe.  I’m speculating here because there aren’t enough lyrics to really figure out what the song is about.  But that extra “E” and the fact that there are only three lines and repeats them over and over again makes me feel like we’re dealing with a glitching computer.  

This song is the embodiment of what drives me crazy about this album.  Donovan is a talented guy, but this album just feels so…lazy,  The lyrics, the arrangements, all of it just seems like everyone put in the minimum effort required and nobody seemed to care about the results.  As a fundamentally lazy person, I get it…it’s just absolutely no fun to listen to.

In the mid 70’s my brother and his best friend set out to write a pop song that would make them rock stars.  They came up with two lines: “One, two, three, I love thee/Baby, oh, baby, oh, baby, oh.”  It’s not much of a song but it’s catchy as hell and it immediately became the stuff of Erbe Family legend.  We tease him about it to this day.  The funny thing is that that “song” would not feel out of place on this album.  I think there’s an excellent chance it would have actually 

been the lead single.

In summary, I was not prepared for this album, but I probably should have been.  I mean, Donovan himself warns you up top.  Sadness-bound, heartbreak ahoy indeed.   

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0EJIVcEkteV9TSR4DkYzXo?si=eCpHXk9rTBCB9h2zR0P49w

The 1980 Listening Post - Gamma - Gamma 2

Gamma - Gamma 2 

#334

by John Tommasino

August 1980

Gamma

Gamma 2

Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5

John’s Rating: 1 out of 5

Genre: Hard RockH

Highlights: 

Mean Streak.....

There is nothing really different or unique about this album and as far as I can tell, nothing terribly talented about Gamma. This is like a meat and potatoes microwave dinner...I found myself bored from the first song to the last. These guys just couldn't get it done for me. It's not bad musicianship it's just bland, boring music. You know those 1970s vans with wicked fantasy themes painted on their sides? This isn't one of those vans. This is like a plain green- painted van moving slowly on the freeway of my music. My rating 1 out of five stars. Don't waste your time listening to it. The coolest thing about it is the cover of the album jacket and it's not that cool of a design!

https://open.spotify.com/album/4JsdWe64xXE3KWCC9VtIfQ?si=mu3qivSDQwysa7yb6P5FvQ

The 1980 Listening Post - Mama's Boys - Original Bootleg

 Mama's Boys - Original Bootleg

#333

1980 Housekeeping

Mama’s Boys

Original Bootleg

Genre: Classic Blues rock. 

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Record Machine

This record was first known as Original Demos and it sounds like it. It was recorded in four hours. The musicianship doesn’t sound rushed, though. Just the production is weak and not fleshed out. Too bad, the band has promise. 

I just don’t know if anyone wants blues inspired Stones-esque rock in 1980. 

If this thing came out in 1973? Maybe it gets more love. Or a double bill with Queen cuz I bet you Brian May would’ve have jammed on “Record Machine”. 

Since we’re missing more than a couple tracks, it’s really hard to give this an accurate rating, hence the middle of the pack number. It might rate higher or lower, if we had the whole thing. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY5VgZjWAz8&list=PLlvn8uktX5LtxZArCQysu1pGwBjUXdvqu

The 1980 Listening Post - The Rousers - A Treat of a New Beat

The Rousers - A Treat of a New Beat 

#332

1980 Housekeeping

The Rousers

A Treat of a New Beat

Genre: The Japers

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Leave Us Alone

Ain’t Got a Minute to Lose

Ann-Louise

Take that mod-revival sound and rev it up and you get The Vapors, right? (Btw, The Vapors released a new album!!! in 2020 and there’s a couple really good tracks on it.) Following that model, here’s The Rousers. 

This is their only release and, that’s par for the course with this style, right? The last vestiges of Power Pop’s heyday, the long tail of “Peggy Sue” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” resurged with power pop and, if we think about it, it makes sense. 

You’re a 10 year old falling under the spell of The Beatles in 1966. You get a guitar and you start making music, writing songs, playing with your pals and by the time you’re 24, you’ve got a slew of songs in that idiom and it’s 1980. And you’ve been watching and listening to Dave Fenton and Paul Weller and Doug Fieger, just like the guys in The Late Show and The Jags and The Heats and Sorrows…It’s a delicious form. 

And it’s coming to an end in 1980. 

It will have a big resurgence by the 10 year olds who heard it but that’s about 20 years away. 

“Magazine Girl” is a fine example but also points to a small sub-genre of themes in rock music: The girl in the porno mag. J. Geils’ “Centerfold” and Abercrombie’s “Porn Star” Everclear’s “Volvo Driving Soccer Mom”…there’s a ton of these…and all of them better than The Rousers’. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7mWo6Yrq28

The 1980 Listening Post - B-52s - Wild Planet

 B-52s - Wild Planet 

#331

by Aaron Conte

August 27 1980

B-52s

Wild Planet

Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Aaron’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5

I have so many feelings about this album, I'll try to keep this to a review and not a diary entry. No promises. 

A sophomore release from The Great B-52's came to your local Record Town, Camelot Music, Peaches, Strawberries, Coconuts or Tape World in August of 1980. Fred the Cancerian from New Jersey, sister and brother Cindy and Ricky, both Pisces. (She likes Chinese noodles and he likes computers.) Kate the Taurus and Keith the Scorpio. 

We forget that the B-52's first self-titled release happened in the late seventies, pre-dating their Athens, Georgia brethren R.E.M. people. People! These guys were torch bearers that led the new wave revolution. 

Blondie, X, Siouxie and the Banshees, Talking Heads, also from the late seventies were just maybe a bit too serious. 

When you put on a B-52's record, either of the first two, there is a distinct feeling that you're in for a "Sue-pr-EYE-z!!! Yeah, we just thought we'd drop in!" Cancel your date. Turn off the tv. Unplug the phone. Who's to blame? 

 Live they were also a force. Keith bashed it out on a mismatched second hand set of drums, swinging those uptempo beats as well as anyone. Kate softly and purposefully keyed out the bass notes and melodies on her synthesizer. Cindy hard rocked all the extras from cowbells, to tambourines, to bongos and sang like a siren. Fred was an entertainer like we had never seen. Unassuming, and confident in his lazy know-it-all substitute English teacher who found himself filling in for gym class. Ricky deserves his own review. There aren't enough words to say how he much he influenced guitar bands. Playing a six string guitar with only five, sometimes four, strings, that were heavy gage (like bass) strings, creating at times, two separate guitar lines, he aggressively plucked out notes and melodies that became everlasting anthems to an "alternative" music scene. 

You lean in when you put on "Wild Planet" because it opens with a fade in. A fade in! On the first track of a new wave record in 1980! That kind of confidence is enough to demand you play this album start to finish. Not to mention they open with "Party Out of Bounds". Introducing the phrase to the Kids in America that would sadly be co-oped in 2006 by brohaim Guy Fieri (for those of us who actually do watch the Food Chanel). Amazing guitar inter-play, call and answer, with keyboards and the classic lead vocal sharing of Fred and Kate. Plus someone's "getting bombed" as in drunk, and that was a term I hadn't heard from my friends yet (only my parents) so curious; very curious. 

 

"Dirty Back Road". Where I grew up, we had lots of dirty back roads that I wasn't allowed to drive on yet, but somehow this song was what it felt like to take those roads to school, home or to grandmas house. Plus it had Kate and Cindy (two of the fifty-two girls) singing it to me together. *swoon* Their melodies are just heavenly on this track. Really sweeping and it moves along at a nice strut. 

 

"Runnin' Around". I'll take this cigarette break to relax a minute and say, maybe not the best song to put third on their second release ever. I would've saved this one for the second side, close to the end. Turns out, like all the songs on this album, this was written when they were also writing the first album, AND it was an instrumental. So that tells you something. Save it for pre-show music over the P.A., or release it in twenty years with a box set. If you listen to it as imagine the vocal not there, it's a pretty kick-ass piece of music. What a band. 

"Give Me Back My Man". Cindy Wilson, the Stevie Nicks of new wave, the shy sister of your pal Ricky, who tells her girlfriend who tells you that she wishes you asked her to prom, I mean...dear reader, as a young boy in central New York, this opened up the doors of perception as the boomers say. Kristy McNichol, Tatum O'Neal, a couple of girls from The Facts of Life, and Cindy Wilson. Sorry...this has become a diary entry. I'll mention Ricky's guitar playing here again because it can not be overstated that this guy was a trailblazer who has never been given his comeuppance nor the respect he deserves. There are so many guitar lines here (you might need headphones) that it's amazing he could so this live - and for that matter I highly suggest you open a new YouTube window here right now, type in "b52 1980 Capitol Theater November 7" to see it for yourself. 

 

Brings us to close out side one with the beloved "Private Idaho". A dance classic, and for a band who already had two dance classics under their dance belt, this solidified their future as a preeminent party band. "Private Idaho; on the ground like a wild potato." I mean C'mon. I dare you to make a record now with actual instruments and people, sing that and wait for the internet to burn down your house. At this point in the review, I'm not going to mention how great the music is because they made a near perfect second record, in the same place (the Bahamas) with the same people, with the same songs they wrote in the late seventies when KISS was so fat they had a laser show, all the Eagles had bloody noses, and college rock, or new wave, or even worse, alternative music was only left of the dial under your covers late at night. 

 

"Devil in my Car" opens side two. Okay okay bad choice here. This song may be the definition of "filler". A song that simply fills space on a full-length album. This would be where my mother yells from the kitchen, "will you please turn that sh*t down?! All they do is yell the same thing over and over again!!" (Yeah mom, and 'she loves you yeah yeah yeah' was real poetry.) 

 

"Quiche Lorraine" picks you back up and throws you into the stratosphere. With its Twilight Zone opening and spoken/sung lyric by our master of ceremonies Fred, we learn about his very small, two inch tall, toy poodle named Quiche Lorraine. Dyed dark green, with a strawberry blonde fall (hairdressing), sunglasses and bonnet, designer jeans with appliqués on 'em. What a punk this little dog is; needlepoint sewing designs on its designer jeans, and running away from its devoted owner who gave it so much leash. 

 

"Strobe Light". A fantastic phone sex song for the new generation. We all knew the words and enjoyed playing it out as much as any Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

 

"53 Miles West of Venus". Perfect close out track. Eerie and friendly at the same time. Light hearted and smart. They could've very easily titled it "52 Miles..." but who wants that? They already gave us "52 Girls" on their debut album, no need to belabor the point, and speaking of belaboring the point, the only lyric in this last song is the title of the song. Over and over yet it doesn't become annoying. They had that quality The B-52's; they walked a line where they had great catchy songs, and could attract people on the side lines of life. 

A very real powerful rock band live, yet seemingly friendly and inviting. Their volume and madness wasn't pushing away as many bands were doing, they definitely wanted you at their party and were happy to supply the punch.

https://open.spotify.com/album/1K4t7Jv7DuolDWnFLxKxkd?si=-E3fdxN2Rm2JcV4-n-8clQ

The 1980 Listening Post - Robin Lane and the Chartbusters - Robin Lane and the Chartbusters

 Robin Lane and the Chartbusters - Robin Lane and the Chartbusters

#330

1980 Housekeeping

Robin Lane and the Chartbusters

Robin Lane and the Chartbusters

Genre: Power Pop/Rock

2.25 out of 5

I’d heard the name “Robin Lane and the Chartbusters” for decades. But, honestly, hand to Sky Daddy, I thought Robin was a guy’s name. Like Robin Gibb. Robin and Batman. I had no idea it was a female fronted project. Who sounds a bit like Christine McVie & Exene Cervenka. 

I don’t know why on earth someone made the decision to open this thing with that mid-tempo non ballad that belongs in the middle of the record. 

Okay, whatever, it’ll pick up. Right?

Ugh, this really doesn’t. Not until “I Don’t Wanna Know” does it show a sign of life, but that’s all the way at the END of Side One! Why not open the record with your barn burner? Even if it’s a pedestrian piece of programming. Sheesh. 

Side Two opens with at least more energy but, let’s be honest, Robin is busting any charts. Not only had the industry moved on from this sound but she’s not good at it, the songs are dull and she is as uninviting a singer as I’ve heard. 

Meh.

The album is the first 11 terrible tracks here:

https://music.apple.com/us/album/many-years-ago-complete-robin-lane-chartbusters-album/1465207251

The 1980 Listening Post - The Stray Trolleys - Barricades and Angels

The Stray Trolleys - Barricades and Angels 

#329

1980 Housekeeping LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

The Stray Trolleys 

Barricades and Angels

Genre: New Pop/Power Wave

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

The Secret Dreams Of A Kitchen Porter

A Bluebeat Kid

Gunslinger 

Flamingo Road

This is Martin Newell. Before he would become The Cleaners from Venus, a project I have found to be hit and miss, and after he left some other band I will never listen to, he made this album, a collection of memorable and sparkling post-sixties retro-pop. It fits in perfectly with the players of the time and I don’t know why he couldn’t get out of the shadows here, because it’s filled with great stuff that could sit alongside Nick Lowe and Graham Parker. 

Listen to that New Wave Reggae riff on “Ten Million Years” and tell me that it isn’t as good as anything Costello was doing at the time. 

What is there to say here? Sometimes an album is just chock full of well made songs that, when you drop the needle, you just let it play out and flip it over and keep on rolling. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/barricades-and-angels/1480273117

The 1980 Listening Post - Pat Benatar - Crimes of Passion

 Pat Benatar - Crimes of Passion

#328

by Luca Barnacles

August 5 1980

Pat Benatar 

Crimes Of Passion 

Genre: Radio Friendly Unit Shifter, before we had the term 

Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5 

Luca’s rating: 2.5 out of 5 

Highlights:

Treat Me Right

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Hell is For Children

Wuthering Heights

Obligatory 80s Covers: 

The 60s "You Better Run" (The Rascals) 

The 80s “Wuthering Heights”

His white Rickenbacker bass slung low, Bob looked like he should be in The Pretenders. 

Jeff, a long dark wavy shag framing Steve Perry’s nose, had a Mesa Boogie Mark II-A that sounded massive. 

I had a huge Tama kit in “white satin”with single headed toms, a massive 8 inch deep Ludwig snare, and Laura. 

Laura sang. 

We were dating, so I suppose the band was inevitable. 

Laura’s father had a nice clean warehouse space in an office park where we would meet at night to rehearse. The repertoire wasn’t anything I was actually into, but what the hell, the players were great. Our set list was exactly like our rehearsal space, suburban and nondescript. We never played out before we broke up. The two songs I really remember rehearsing were Toto’s “Hold The Line”, which I still hate, and Pat Benatar’s “Treat Me Right”, the Crimes Of Passion album opener. 

This album must be fantastic. It’s quadruple platinum, it spent over a month at the top of the charts blocked from the #1 slot only by John & Yoko’s postmortem Double Fantasy sales surge, and yet aside from knowing a few of songs that thoroughly saturated the airwaves I really couldn’t recall *feeling* anything about this record. 

It’s not bad. Better than I remembered, in fact. The production doesn’t sound terribly dated and horribly 80’s. The songwriting (mostly by others) is often better than good, the instrumental performances are solid if unsurprising and never inspiring, and the woman can certainly sing. But – a dear friend once summed up the banality (in his opinion) of U2 by observing that nobody ever cranked up a U2 album & danced their ass off. Did anybody actually dance to this shit? Were there unnoticed legions of young Americans inspired by this album to the radio up all the way and pre-create a Wayne’s World Worthy scene? Crimes of Passion – much like Benatar’s image at the time - wants to be edgy, tough but pretty, a Leather & Pinky Tuscadero hybrid. Ultimately, it’s a sheep in wolf’s clothing. It’s a Delorean – on the surface, sleek, innovative and sexy – underneath utterly conventional and a disappointment in the horsepower department. 

Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” was a daring and inspired choice (and I really wonder whose choice that was & what directions Pat might have taken were it a voice more often listened to), but aside from that & the three hits there’s not much worth revisiting here. It’s not a bad record, it’s just not worth getting dressed up for the reunion. A radio friendly unit shifter before we had the term. After 38 years Pat Benatar is still married to Neil Giraldo, and there’s a lot to say for an enduring relationship like that. Her last charting album, Innamorata, peaked at #171 in 1989. 

Bob, who still has that white Ric, became an EMT. 

Jeff suffers neurological damage from an accidental overexposure to methyl ethyl ketone. 

I never played in a cover band again. 

Laura married the unbelievably nice owner of a chain of wicked cool record stores. 

I’m sure he Treats Her Right.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7HlWbMlmhASeeZ61ZiHpWJ?si=biXZUst7TgeORe_xREl5Nw

The 1980 Listening Post - Dakota - Dakota

 Dakota - Dakota

1980 Housekeeping

Dakota

Dakota

Genre: Very Mediocre Glam Rock

2.75 out of 5

What kind of band opens for Queen? This band. They opened for Queen on the 35 city tour of the US in 1980. This third rate Hudson Brothers/Bay City Rollers/STYX-ish sounding borefest of wannabe glam bordering on Yacht Rock.

No chance they would upstage Freddie but, let’s be serious, it would take giants to upstage Mr. Mercury. I mean, dozens of acts played Live Aid and, with barely any practice, who stole the show? 

Exactly.

So, maybe it doesn’t matter who opens for Queen. But this band is exactly the kind that would not put an end to any of the gabbing in the stadium as beer fetchers made their way to their seats. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/dakota/669382615

The 1980 Listening Post - Terry Brooks and Strange - To Earth with Love

Terry Brooks and Strange - To Earth with Love 

#326

August 1980

Terry Brooks and Strange

To Earth With Love

Genre: Psychedelic Monster Solos

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

It’s a Beautiful Day

We only have a handful of tracks from this psycho-delic release. 

Mr. Brooks can’t sing. He doesn’t write songs as much as puts finger tapping monstrosities over rudimentary chord structures with an epic amount of feedback and fuzz. Brooks tries so damned hard and I have to give him points for some of it. “It’s a Beautiful Day” is quite the electro-noodle extravaganza that it saves this record from dipping under “2.5”. At times Brooks is downright genius and at others so derivative to verge on boring. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmxXOfv24E4&list=PLlvn8uktX5LsA5p_1e0BR5_kae4M_en1e 

The 1980 Listening Post - 24 Carrots

Al Stewart - 24 Carrots 

#325

by Aaron Conte 

Al Stewart

24 Carrots

Genre: Singer Songwriter

Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Aaron’s Rating: 3.5 out of

Highlights:

Candy Came Back

The Ringing of Bells

Constantinople

Midnight Rocks

Running Man

There was a period of time in my life when I really liked soft rock and fusion jazz; Michael McDonald, Dave Grusin, Carole King, Christopher Cross, David Benoit, Gerry Rafferty, James Taylor, England Dan and John Ford Coley, Andrew Gold, Weather Report, Steely Dan, etc.. Precise sounds and perfect notes, sweet voices comforting my adolescent anxieties.

Al Stewart was no exception. His 1980 release "24 Carrots" is a great example of good songs; meaning, this is a record by an artist who had just come off two platinum selling releases with giant hits (you know him from "Year of the Cat' and "Time Passages" respectively). You're getting the tail end here of what probably were leftovers from three years of writing some great songs, and these are similarly not to shabby even if they just aren't as catchy and memorable. 24 Carrots, I'm guessing he was feeling confident in his ability to sell at least one last gold album...but, I can't say there's much here that you're missing. If you enjoyed Al's brand of comfort troubadour songstering, you'll enjoy this record. In fact the only thing you are missing is his really very bad attempt at something new with "Mondo Sinistro". It's the only track where I found myself becoming more and more angry the longer I listened...I couldn't figure it out. What is it? What am I so angry about??  "It's these cans! He hates these cans!!" No you jerk. It's the horrible Al Stewart song blasting in your ears.

I like the color yellow, in fact it's my favorite color. When you put a nice sunflower yellow next to a naval orange and then next to a rich brown against beige, I think you come up with this album. It's a van parked by the side of the Pacific Coast highway on Sunday. Not changing the world or influencing todays youth (or the youth of 1980), but it's sure nice to look at. In fact you might draw other peoples attention to it, "hey check that out! Wicked! Let's go home and watch CHiPS!"

In fact, there's so little of note here that I went back and watched him and his band do "Time Passages" live on YouTube from 1978. What a great song. Touching, musical, walks the happy-sad line just the way you want it. I think if you have a hankering for some Al Stewart, you should just play "Time Passages" over and over again with a light sprinkling of "Year of the Cat" and move on.

He opens well as you would expect, doing what he does best. "Running Man", "Midnight Rocks", and "Constantinople" deliver that strong smell of Pierre Cardin cologne for men, pacific island interior design with some Malibu garden lighting. A good thing depending on your age, your mood and your blood alcohol level. After that you sober up with a dip in the ocean and some ceviche that doesn't sit quite well.

I will say there are a couple tunes here that sound vaguely as though Al and Bruce (Springsteen not Hornsby) met up one night on the boardwalk "down the shore". 

"Candy Came Back", a solid grade of A, echos of early Huey Lewis and the News with a near perfect Clarence Clemens sax solo tacked on to the middle. I mean I had to look it up just to believe it wasn't him playing.

"The Ringing of Bells" has the same sax tone, with some Gerry Rafferty and Billy Joel thrown in for good measure. This could be the last good song Al wrote, and really, because he wrote "Time Passages", he could have just stopped there. I get visions of NYC in 1977 when I hear this song. Good vibes man and great slacks.

Ok it's a good album, but just good, and for Al Stewart I expected more. I always get my hopes up though, so I'm used to the let down. I just would rather not have to clean bong water out of my orange shag carpet, nor pick change out of the key bowl for bus fare.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2ZdGfu9ZkkWBjOJftgJDjF?si=9JMnPjBMTQG1pV5KRxqlNg

The 1980 Listening Post - Tirez Tirez - Etudes

 Tirez Tirez - Etudes

August 1980

Tirez Tirez

Etudes

Genre: Mellow Experimental Post-Rock

1.5 out of 5

These guys should tour with Tuxedomoon. Put a lot more fuzz on “Razorblade” and I think we get close to Shoegaze. If, instead of the minimalism it was maximalist, you might get into Galaxie 500 territory. The rest of it is globs or experimentation. 

And in the end it’s just torturously boring. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlR1OYoiHdw

The 1980 Listening Post - Barnes and Barnes - Voobaha

 Barnes and Barnes - Voobaha

#323

August 1980

Barnes and Barnes

Voobaha

Genre: Novelty Wave

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Fish Heads

Gumby Jaws Lament

I Hope She Dies

Something’s in the Bag

There is a comic store in the valley that I used to frequent. DJs Universal Comics. That’s where my pulls were even though I didn’t live near it. Pulp Comics should have been my haunt. But I liked the owner. And he made great recommendations to my wife when she was looking for presents for me. He was the one who suggested The Pro by Jimmy Pamliotti and Amanda Connor and Garth Ennis. A hilarious book, I reached out to Jimmy when we were designing the cover of Throttle Back Sparky’s album and he let us use it! Even while they were negotiating with MTV to turn it into a series! 

I was in that comic store one day when Billy Mumy walked in. Of course I knew who he was. How could I not? And I really wanted to say something. Anything. But I couldn’t. And that was my own fault. Not out of being star struck but I knew that Cat, the owner, would say something about me being in a band, since I was always on my way to rehearsal when I stopped in to his store. And that conversation would most likely turn to the fact that Bill was also in a band; The Jenerators. And I couldn’t be a part of that conversation.

See, the drummer for The Jenerators is an actor that I knew. I’m sure he’s a good musician, but he’s a nemesis of mine inasmuch as I have always felt that he was a destructive force to my union. He was single handedly the reason we went on strike in 2000. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with him but at that point it was more hate. The guy was a mentor of mine until I learned just how problematic he was. 

He softened when I was in charge of our negotiations, but, after I left, he gained more power and they are, once again, pretty fucking destructive. 

So, I didn’t want to have that conversation.

But, dammit, I wish I did. 

I’d never heard Barnes and Barnes save for a couple tracks. But this thing is wild, man. Yeah, I know they open with a cover but it’s kind of delicious. Like entry level Residents. Deconstructing The Beatles in a way very dissimilar from Utopia’s take (which is to prove that the Emperor had no clothes, while adorning themselves in the same wardrobe, lovingly) is a brilliant way to start. 

And down the line it gets more and more disturbed. “Gumby Jaws Lament” calls to mind Ween or even Bloodhound Gang, though much more rudimentary in its production.

While we all know (and love) “Fish Heads”, I would submit that it’s not even the most subversive song on the album, nor the best. It’s sufficiently weird, yes. But the rest is much more accomplished and horrifying (“Something’s in the Bag”)

A stellar work of subversion at the tail end of a very paranoid era in America. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/voobaha/192468449

The 1980 Listening Post - Yes - Drama

 Yes - Drama

#322

by Timothy Sprague

August 18 1980

Yes

Drama

Genre: Classic Prog Rock

Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Timothy’s Rating: 5 out of 5

Highlights: 

Tempus Fugit

Machine Messiah

I did not become the major Yes fan that I am until 90125 came out a few years after this while I was in high school and the band completely blew my mind live at Boston Garden.  So I did not have any of the angst that older fans had when they first heard Drama along with the shocking news that much beloved singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman had been replaced by Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, aka The Buggles, of Video Killed the Radio Star fame.  Many were quite dismayed.  Others were happy to support existing members Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White.  The fact that they sold concert tickets without telling anyone that Jon and Rick would not be there probably didn’t help the album’s reception. (But they did set a record for consecutive sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden on the Drama tour.)  The Buggles were being managed by Yes’ manager Brian Lane and he asked them to help work out some new songs.  Trevor Horn kept wondering when Jon Anderson was going to show up to sing and eventually was told that wasn’t happening and would he please be the new singer? After protesting that people were going to hate them, Trevor and Geoff agreed.  Then proceeded to be pelted by batteries and other hard objects while on stage.  

But if you set all that aside, it’s actually a very good album, a strong cross between Yes, The Buggles and Asia, which Steve and Geoff would go on to form after Yes broke up shortly after the live tour.  Howe’s guitar is more heavy-metal-sounding, especially on the opening track Machine Messiah, and all of the songs are much more accessible than something like Tales From Topographic Oceans.  Horn has a very good singing voice that we haven’t heard much over the years since.  And the harmonies with Howe and Squire are what keep this sounding like a Yes album.  The enduring gem on this album is Tempus Fugit, which ranks up there alongside other classics like Heart of the Sunrise and Starship Trooper.  Fans would have to wait years after the Drama tour to hear the song again, other than Squire working it into his extended live bass solo on subsequent tours.  Jon Anderson refused to perform anything from this album when he rejoined.  But after he was removed in the mid-2000s due to the band’s impatience with his respiratory problems not healing quickly enough, we finally got to hear it live, albeit with Anderson impersonator Benoit David on vocals. 

Fans of this album should check out Fly From Here (The Return Trip), a reworking of their 2011 album produced by Trevor Horn.  The original release, Fly From Here, had Benoit David on vocals but they later had the smart idea of re-recording it with Horn singing and it sounds as if the band went into the studio and made a new album to follow up Drama in 1981.  

https://open.spotify.com/album/7pIdphNSHXEjdXdThmgOOb?si=WEkD4a-wSGK-7lo_jupnlg

The 1980 Listening Post - Saga - Silent Knight

Saga - Silent Knight

#321

August 1980

Saga

Silent Knight

Genre: Rusharillion

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Compromise

I don’t know what’s going on. Like, that first song, “Don’t Be Late (Chapter Two)” is about a young Albert Einstein. But I didn’t really get it. It might as well be about Neil Simon’s Chapter Two. It sounded fine and all but I didn’t follow the story line. And, that storyline apparently picks up later on “Too Much to Lose (Chapter Seven)” but what happened to Chapters 3-6??? 

Ah.

Apparently this story is told out of order and is from the previous albums? But, why? Why are Chapters four and six on the first album and One and Three on the second album but you have to wait for the third album for Chapter Two? 

I have a headache and that’s not just from the music.

So, Saga fans, I have to ask: Is there any value in listening to a playlist of The Chapters?

This is a pretty ambitious album but I get the feeling they can do better. Well, I know they can, cuz I’ve heard better but not the immediate next stuff. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/silent-knight/1457350188