The 1981 Listening Post - Gerard McMahon And Kid Lightning - Blue Rue

 Reviewed by Michael O'Toole-Miyashiro

Released: 1981 Gerard McMahon And Kid Lightning Blue Rue Genre: Pop/Rock Rating: 2 out of 5 Highlights: (none) Gerard McMahon, an English-born American, spent years toiling as a singer-songwriter around the Midwest before he broke through writing for the Jerry Bruckheimer film, “Defiance” (1980). This was enough to earn him a one album deal with the Columbia Records subsidiary, ARC. He put a band together and, as a sextet, released “Blue Rue” in early 1981. I remember the album cover vaguely from when this record first came out. I was in junior high hitting the record shops (at the suburban shopping mall, it’s where my friends and I lived in the early ‘80s), and the gimmicky blue colour scheme caught my attention. Not having much money at 13, I was cautious and never took the chance on taking the album home. Over the years I caught the record in discount bins, but I never bothered to grab it. It was one of those lost records I would have never listened to until Sheffield asked me to review it for this group. Like all of us, we’d like to think that that undiscovered gem is out there, so our optimism can still surprise us. Then I listened to it … let me save you 35 minutes out of your life, this is not that gem. It’s far from the worst album I’ve heard from this period, it's clean and slickly textured (think of the Cars and their CP-30 keyboards over crunching guitars), but the songwriting just isn't there. One by one, tracks like “Night Woman,” “Town Girls,” and “Run Into Your Shadow" start with interesting riffs, but then monotonously drone on for the remainder of the tracks without a melody ever kicking in. It’s like observing the mechanical rabbit at a dog track that goes around in circles - quite revved up with nowhere to go. Also, I wasn’t expecting trenchant commentary on modern relationships, like with Joe Jackson, but McMahon’s “She’s hot and I want her” lyrical stance really needs more sonic muscle and ingenuity to have made it memorable, and this album just doesn't deliver. Finally, McMahon’s voice doesn't stand out from the mix, and his projection is unremarkable in terms of attitude. Hey, every cassette lurking in the discount barrel at Dollarama can’t always be that find. Of course, if you have 35 minutes of life to spare, feel free to listen to it … maybe I missed something.