Friday, September 11, 2020

The 1980 Listening Post - The Sherbs - The Skill

 The Sherbs - The Skill



#404
October 1980

The Sherbs 

The Skill

3 out of 5


Highlights:
The Skill

Is it T. Rex? Is it Genesis? Nope. It’s The Sherbs! An Australian band I have zero knowledge of. 
So, I’ll just let this album wash over me and see if there’s anything I can recommend. 
  1. "The Skill": Yes, front load with the single. A glam rocker with epic 80s synths that is a few years ahead of its time and also kind of sounds like they could tour with Chicago. ****
  2. "Back to Zero” - Huey Lewis meets Genesis in a Synthpop haze of radio friendliness. ****
  3. "Cindy is Waiting” - Australian Springsteen? More like Aussie Jim Steinman. Daryl Braithwait is no Marvin O’Day but he knows where the “ha!”s are. ***
  4. “Crazy in the Night” - No, not KISS’s “Crazy Nights” (although I do enjoy that song). Nope. It’s ballad time. And, honestly, it’s almost as though Jack Black was sent back in time to record this. **
  5. “I’ll Be Faster” - You’ll be boring. You’ll be a shitty Eddie Money song. **
  6. “Never Surrender” - This 80s power synth sound is gonna be all over your radio in a few years. And Loverboy spilled it all over themselves. ***1/2
  7. “No Turning Back” - This is paint by numbers 80s rock. **1/2
  8. “Love You to Death” - A perfectly fine middle of the album rock track. Full and fulsome. ***1/2
  9. “Into the Heat” - A mid-tempo Montrose-esque rocker completely overshadowed by it’s keyboard obsession. **
  10. “I’m Ok” - Wait. Are they New Wave now? **
  11. "Juliet and Me" - I bet this is a winner in concert. Fast paced, room for plenty of solos. ***
  12. “Parallel Bars” - I’ve run out of simile. It sounds like every other band that I’ve mentioned above. ***

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