The 1981 Listening Post - One Horse Blue - Livin' On the Edge

 Reviewed by Paul J Zickler

Released: 1981 One Horse Blue Livin' On The Edge Genre: Rock Rating: 3 out of 5 Highlights: Let Yourself Go Piece Of The Sky Full disclosure: I had to choose between reviewing this album by Canadian country rock band One Horse Blue and one by Benny “Creepy Pedophile” Mardones. Why do the words “bottom of the barrel” come to mind? (Content warning: Lots of short paragraphs. Deal with it.) Things I Like About One Horse Blue: The background vocals on the chorus of Some Night. The piano on Livin’ On The Edge (except the solo in the middle break, which is disappointing). The interesting slow/fast tempo of Runaways, an otherwise uninteresting song. The unexpected key change leading into James Wright’s guitar solo in the middle of Let Yourself Go, as well as the extended, even better guitar solo at the end of Let Yourself Go. Mavis McCauley’s voice, especially on Piece of the Sky (Mavis, who later married the band’s drummer/producer, Ron Vaugeois, also plays keyboards on this album). Things I Dislike About One Horse Blue: Unoriginal lyrics like “No one here gets out alive / Let your imagination run wild / You’re livin’ on the edge every day.” The consistent loudness of the bass in the mix when it’s basically just playing the same I-V-I notes in every song. The choice to feature the male lead vocalist(s) on nearly all these tracks when the female lead vocalist has a stronger voice. The way the female lead vocalist goes way over the top and sounds ridiculous on Bluebirds, perhaps explaining why she isn’t featured on more songs. Other Things About One Horse Blue: The band hails from Drayton Valley, Alberta, a small town surrounded by vast oil fields. They reference “Morrison Hotel” in Livin’ On The Edge, but they sound way more like Bon Jovi than The Doors. Another song, We All Have Our Heroes, is a tribute to John Lennon (“Isn’t it a pity? / Shot down in New York City”), but it sounds way more like The Eagles than The Beatles, until it suddenly shifts tempo and sounds like Tina Turner covering Barry Manilow. Three of the eight songs include the phrase “piece of the sky,” but the album is titled Livin’ On The Edge. Standout Tracks: Piece Of The Sky is a mid tempo stadium rock anthem, opening with quiet acoustic strum, soaring to a big guitar solo, dropping back down to that acoustic strum, swelling to some big harmonies, and ending with quiet vocals and piano. Mavis does her best Robert Plant, which isn’t quite up to Ann Wilson’s Robert Plant, but it isn’t half bad. Piece Of The Sky is similar to a few other songs on the album, but it just works better than any of them. Who knows why that is? If there were a simple recipe for writing and recording a good song, every band would just write and record nothing but good songs. Let Yourself Go is another anthemic stadium rocker in the mode of REO Speedwagon. It’s more of a jamming guitar tune than Piece Of The Sky, and although it’s not as good, I want to give this band two highlight songs because only including one makes them seem worse than they actually were. As someone who’s been an amateur musician since age 15 but never got it together enough to record and release any music commercially, I have great respect for people who just went for it, even if (or maybe especially if) they weren’t particularly “talented” or “special.” Like so many artists I’ve been exposed to through TLP, this band seems quite adequate at what they do without being notably great. I respect that. This will probably be the last 1981 review I will write for The Listening Post! I’ve written 48 reviews in just under 4 months, which sounds like a lot until you consider Allen was writing 2 or 3 reviews PER DAY for who knows how long. It’s a good exercise to just churn these out, and I’ve really enjoyed it, but I understand why it’s not for everybody. I recommend one per week for everybody, though. Seriously, one per week. Do it!