The 1981 Listening Post - The Tubes - The Completion Backwards Principle

The Tubes - The Completion Backwards Principle #129 By Tom Mott April 28 1981 The Tubes Completion Backwards Principle Genre: Rock Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5 Tom’s Rating: 3.9 out of 5 Highlights Talk to Ya Later Mr. Hate Attack of the 50 Foot Woman Think About Me "As I mentioned near the close of the last record, this record you are now playing is another example of the Completion Backwards Principle. If you can possibly manage the time, please play both sides at one meeting." Yesssssss! So cooooool! Forty years later and I still have that memorized. I feel vaguely guilty that I requested this one, because my love for the Tubes mostly begins and ends with this album, But The Completion Backwards Principle was a big part of my 1981 life. Or maybe my 1982 life. Things happen later in Lompoc. My Non-Chicago-Listening (NCL) brother brought this back from the freshman dorms at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. It was exciting and energizing; a soundtrack for moving ahead and escaping our home town. I experienced this album 100% as Party Rock -- Friday night dorm dance party! -- not as something within a larger Tubes history. Any listening notes below about David Foster are retroactive, or (dare I say) completion backwards. Is it the classic album that I remember? Let's dive in ... TALK TO YA LATER -- Yes! A great song for blasting on your car's cassette deck on the way to the mall or the beach or Carl's Jr. Not in a bitchin' Camaro, but possibly in a Datsun 260Z, and definitely in a Mazda GLC. A GREAT song. SUSHI GIRL -- I had the vague sense in 1981 that this was meant to be dirty. The cliche "Asian-y" sounds don't age well. Otherwise it's a solid rocker. AMNESIA -- I don't remember this song. Irony! It's a slice of classic David Foster. Oh wait, yeah, I remember the chorus. Meh. MR. HATE -- A super-fun slab of schlock a la BOC's Godzilla, that seems tailor-made for their live act. There's an odd little 5-second snippet of a song at the end of this. I want to hear THAT song! What's the story? Is that a Spotify mistake, or something else? ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN -- Another quiry rock gem that sounds tailor-made for their live act. This come off as camp, theatrical Steely Dan. And that's the end of Side 1. So far, it's fun! Party rock with some camp. A weak David Foster track in the middle, but otherwise, it's solid. The band's playing is super tight -- studio-musician tight. The bass is clean and funky and up in the mix. Fantastic drumming, courtesy of Prairie Prince, whose name is the only one I remembered besides Fee Waybill. I'm not a big David Foster fan. But pairing him with The Tubes mostly seems to be working. Side Two begins with ... THINK ABOUT ME -- oh yeah! Fast-paced "new wave" synth eighth-notes. Fun song! This needs Terri Bozzio singing it, but Fee does OK. A good one. A MATTER OF PRIDE -- Filler-ish. A fine rocker. I'll take it over Toto, but I can think of a bunch of other middle-of-side-two songs I'd rather listen to. DON'T WANT TO WAIT ANYMORE -- hmm, another one I don't quite remember. That's not Fee Waybill singing! It's (clickety-clickety-clack) Bill Spooner, their guitarist. This sounds like David Foster-era Chicago. Not. My. Thing. POWER TOOLS -- starts with a bass riff cribbed from The Kinks, and that's OK. Then simultaneously mellows-out and angulars-up. Weird. LET'S MAKE SOME NOISE -- an album (or cassette) closer. It's fine. A bit repetitive. Sounds like a concert ender. Strong piano that smells like Jools Holland. The wrap-up: For an album that was such a big part of my 1981 listening experience, I remember it much less than other albums from 80/81. TALK TO YA LATER is sooooo strong, it single-handedly lifts the album up a point or two. That's a killer song! There are strong hints of SHE'S A BEAUTY here -- that Tubes + David Foster + Steve Lukather thing. But I like this better than their next album Outside Inside. You know what this reminds me of?!? Was (Not Was) Born to Laugh at Tornadoes. Strong drums and funky bass lines, solid songwriting, tight production, quirky and humorous lyrics, fun party rock ... but not the masterpiece I want it to be. I'm rooting for it, dangit, but now that I'm done, I want to listen to Don't Say No or Soul Mining as a cleanse. https://open.spotify.com/album/3YVb9ns1i0WdzF1cdnLYWi?si=iSZ1Ixx-RlCcFOe95dKz-A