The 1982 Listening Post - Men Without Hats - Rhythm of Youth

Reviewed by Chris Roberts/Rob Slater Released: March 20 1982 Men Without Hats Rhythm Of Youth Chris' Genre: Anti-Hat, Dancing Rights Imbecile Anthems Rob's Genre: Devo’d Bowie Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5 Chris’ Rating: 3 out of 5 Rob's Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Chris' Highlights: The Great Ones Remember I Got The Message The Safety Dance (original version) I Like Rob's Highlihgts: Ban The Game Living In China The Great Ones Remember I Got The Message The Safety Dance Things In My Life The Great Ones Remember - Reprise [Allen's Note: This has never happened before. I inadvertently assigned a record twice. I really don't know how that happened. But, for you reading pleasure, here are two Listening Poster's takes on Men Without Hats.] Chris Robert's Review: Rhythm of Youth improved over a few listens, but I don’t recommend the album as it appears on the streamers, the CD or 90% of the vinyl versions. The best way to hear this album is the original release, before it was retooled to take advantage of Men Without Hats monster hit, “The Safety Dance.” I won’t say any version of Rhythm of Youth is particularly great. But the original version of Rhythm of Youth at least had a plan. The original song sequence clarifies certain musical themes: the snippet of tinkling piano from “Ban The Game” ties into “Cocoricci (Le Tango Des Voleurs”) at the end of Side A; and brings out the highlights (“The Great Ones Remember,” “I Like,” and “I Got The Message”) that get lost and overwhelmed by the smash dancefloor-awareness hit. These songs taste a little like Depeche Mode’s Speak & Spell bubblegum, or a Telex missive— enough for a couple spins. (The retooled version includes two versions of TSD. The first SD you’ll encounter begins with an unnecessary “unplugged” vocal prelude, and makes the album drag after less than a minute.) On many songs, Ivan Doroschuk’s baritone and lyrics suggest the Hats strived for greater importance—I find them hard to take seriously. Considering that “The Safety Dance” is just a negative Yelp review for the local discotheque: “They were so rude and stupid! They wouldn’t let us Hats flail around like well-dressed, new wave aliens! We would give them ZERO stars if we could!” Meanwhile, they refused to dress appropriately for the Canadian winters. “Wake up sheeple!” they’d say. “A real man doesn’t wear a hat!” In the end, the Hats themselves are just a footnote to “The Safety Dance,” which bafflingly grows in stature over the years. Not only is “The Safety Dance” the new battle cry of the vax nation (Alaska Airlines ad: “if your friends don’t mask, and IF they don’t mask, well they can’t fly this airline”) but no less than indie pop darling Angel Olsen has included her “serious” version of “The Safety Dance” on her latest EP. I prefer the dancefloor grievances of the original SD, but now that this review is over, I’m probably done with any version of this song for a couple decades. *********************** Rob Slater's Review: I was very surprised how much I liked this album. The songs I like best are catchy and not quite as much synthesizer focused: "Ban the Game." I love this intro song, sort of cinematic. Then the gigantic hit, "The Safety Dance." Who does not get this stuck in their head. I think I may have “hated” it when it came out. I was a snob for anything but my musical tastes, which were pretty eclectic. Then "Living in China" sounds like a David Bowie tune. What year did "China Girl" come out?" "The Great Ones Remember" is a Great One, but I've noticed, specifically with this song, that once he starts singing, I immediately like it a lot better. If the intros were only about 10 to 15 seconds it would be fine. This intro was 35 seconds. For some reason I like the intro for "I Got the Message" better. This may be my third favorite song. Kind of Devo with more music and less monotony. It is repetitive, but for some reason I don't mind it as much and I stopped consciously listening about halfway through. Then the French lyrics started and it was more interesting. Yet “Cocoricci” is really meh for me, despite the French.. I really love, "Things in My Life," that again sounds like Bowie. The rest are all meh, until the reprise of "The Great Ones Remember." It’s as great as the actual song. Nice closer.

The 1981 Listening Post - Neal Schon & Jan Hammer

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: November 1981 Neal Schon & Jan Hammer Untold Passion Genre: Decent Keytar Music With Homages To A Lot Of Other Bands Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Mediumlights: I'm Talking To You I'm writing this after listening to it twice while working on wiring electrical outlets. So, all the skips are on the third listen. This album is much better as moderately loud background music. It would drive my partner, Elena, nuts! After about 30 seconds, she'd skip ahead and say something about wanking. Wasting Time - What you would expect, lots of wanking. Neil Schon's voice is better than one would expect. Lyrics/rhymes are on the mundane/obvious side. I'm Talking To You - This one’s a little more accessible, with the wanking a little more backgroundy. Some nice keyboards from Jan. The Ride - The opening is inauspicious. Then a little nice guitar. Then more goofy 80s synth. Then a little nice guitar. Finally, after about 3:00 annoying keyboard breaks, there's a nice one that sounds like Rhodes piano. The bass is nice, sounds like Geddy Lee's Rick. I made it 1:35 out of. 4:41 (instrumental) I'm Down - Nice vocals from Neil. Not sure how to define this, but I don't really appreciate it, other than the skill of the players. Some aspects of Alex [wife's and] Lifeson guitar that sounds like a RUSH song that I wouldn't actually like. Arc - The opening to this Jan Hammer instrumental is good; it sounds like Judas Priest, I made it 1:12 out of 3:58. (3rd time) It's Alright - some more Judas Priest-like guitar. The bass player has limited opportunities to show off. Repetitive and boring. 55 seconds. Hooked On Love - 33 seconds in and it gets decent, but I actually skipped forward and then went back a few seconds to nail this timing. More stupid, obvious rhymes. Skipped about halfway through. On The Beach - Nice opening. I could hear this as a live Journey song. Definitely. The keys are understated, and not too 80s. Still became a little repetitious, but at least we don't have any lyrics to make it worse. About halfway through a little annoying Hammer, not Max's Silver one, however, which might not be a bad idea. Just a little tap. All in all, a decent song. Hammers interludes that are annoying happen rarely enough to not ruin the song. Actually listen to it all the way through, all 5 minutes 27 seconds. Untold Passion - I actually like this Hammer instrumental, though clocking in at 7:02 tells me I probably will want to skip ahead to the bonus track. Nice guitar solo about halfway through. I believe there hasn't been much, if any guitar up to this point in the song. It's at least interesting. There's more guitar as it goes on and that's nice. But it's repetitious. It would be a quite nice song at about 4:44. Planet Empathy - It sounds like Styx, one of Dennis DeYoung's less interesting songs. Putting this on as a bonus track instead of on the original album was probably a good idea. Never mind, if they shortened the beginning, I would definitely keep it on the album. Some nice flamenco sounding guitar, though I think it's electric. And then some rather pleasant wanking. Overall, a decent album to listen to while you’re making pizza, building a house, or working on a story set in the '80s. It’s kinda like a Steven King novel that would be so much better if someone did some editing.

The 1981 Listening Post - Mother Gong - Robot Woman

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: January 1981 Mother Gong Robot Woman Genre: Disco Jazz Prog (I didn’t really hear any rock, but the lyrics are sort of early Yes) Rating: 1 out of 5 (your mileage may vary if you love Devo, you love (or tolerate) wanking jazz, Prog, and bad disco. I think it is well done for whatever it is) Highlights: (The first 8 bars of Billi Bunker's Blues until the second line of lyrics. I think it’s supposed to be ironic. The music under it is nice. DNF) 1. Disco at the End of the World/Mother's Place: Benny Hill runs into Devo with special guest Peter Gabriel in his Sledgehammer mode with a large helping of Disco Jazz. 2. Robot Woman: This one is at least interesting. I like the Robot Woman’s Voice-over better than the music. In fact the voice overs and background noises are preferable to the music. 3. Machine Song/The Sea: This one is weird, kinda listenable, but I didn’t remember it after the next songs. Spacy themes, I think. I had to go back and listen to the beginnings twice to differentiate. Voice over sample: “I need your screwdriver,” she says in a very sexy voice. I think this might be a decent song, but DNF. 4. Searching The Airwaves: Poor recording I could hardly hear it at max volume on my laptop, but the video helped me figure out that if I was listening to this when it came out AND a stoner, I might have thought it was cool. DNF. The videos for the songs that have them are weird (I expect fans made them), but appropriate for getting high and watching. 5. Military Procession/Customs Man/Fire/Red Alert/Stars: 16 minutes and 51 seconds of bizarreness. I couldn’t listen all the way through. [Oh, it’s actually like 4-5 individual songs. If they’d been different videos, I might have listened to each of them, but I was done. DNF These might be individual songs (6-9), but I don’t care enough to check. 6. Billi Bunker's Blues: Decent music, but I couldn’t stand the “Kill a Commie for Mommie,” theme. 7. (or 11) Australia: Reggae disco Devo. This might be listenable, but I was so tired by the other songs that I didn’t listen to the whole song. I was SO DONE, by this time. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of describing this album so people could tell if they’d like to listen to it. It is almost weird enough to listen to, but some sort of mind altering substance is probably necessary for enjoyment. DNF. It seems this album is a trilogy, and there are supposedly some serious fans, but I don’t get it. I feel like I took one for the team on this one. I’d be happy to have my hour back. Seriously, I intended to write about 12 words, but I don’t like to do things half-assed anymore.

The 1981 Listening Post - Curves - Curves

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: 1981 Curves Curves Genre: SoP (Soporific and/or Soft Pop) Rating: 3.33 out of 5 (whew - see note at bottom of review) Midlights (Highlights if you’re high?): Baby It's You Is It All Right Over The Line Curves by Curves - I like the album cover, and the music is great if you LOVE the BeeGees (when they didn’t really rock), Neil Diamond, Eddie Rabbitt, and Kenny Loggins. Many of the Curves band members went on to additional mediocrity and obscurity. It was challenging to find out about them, but the damn covers took me down a staggering, swirling vortex of rabbit holes (Herein referred to as Rabbi Tholes after I typoed Rabbit Hole, thought it was cute, and wondered if a thole was a thing. It’s actually two things. Thing One is that it’s usually a wooden pin for oars and other marine uses. Thing two, it means "endure" in Old Scots. So, if you’re an ancient Jewish Scotsman, it means Teacher Endure. I am a teacher, and I endured this album. Now you are enduring this teacher’s review.) The album opens with “Baby It's You/When You're Close To Me,” a COVER slash original. Cuz, when you put the pretty good, hooky pop song cover on the same track as your own mediocre-r song, it’s not really like starting off with someone else’s song, amiright? Rabbi Thole #1: “Baby It's You” was written by Chris Norman and Pete Spencer - one half of Smok(y)ie, a British band I’d only ever vaguely heard of with hits mostly written by Chinn & Chapman [Rabbi Thole #2: (Including “If You Think You Know How to Love Me”, seared into my lusty 12-year-old brain by Pat Benatar and Spider Giraldo)]. “Baby It’s You” is one of their songs NOT written by ChinniChap, and should not be confused with “BabE It's UP TO You,” also recorded by Smokie, but written by neither of the above. Reviewers note while reviewing the review: Rabbi Thole #3: Not only did ChinniChap write most of Smokie’s hits, but another ChinniChap song Smokie recorded was “Heat of the Night,” later to become the title track of the Benatar’s debut album which contained “If You Think You Know How to Love Me.” Also, I have a great falsetto from wanting to keep singing Pat Benatar songs after my voice changed. “I Can't Stop Loving You.” Cover. Rabbi Thole #4: Written by Alan Silson and Terry Uttley, the other half of Smokie. A mediocre 1970s hangover version of a decent song, not to be confused with the most excellent pop song of the same name. “Over The Line.” Cover. I liked this one despite (or because of?) the instrumentation. Written by Guidry/Setser/Seals. Rabbi Thole #5-6: Greg Guidry wrote a bunch of forgettable SoPo tunes for folks like Exile, Climax Blues Band, and Robbie Dupree. Eddie Setser & Troy Seals [Cousin of Jim Seals (of Seals and Crofts) and Dan Seals (of England Dan & John Ford Coley)] also wrote “Seven Spanish Angels.” “Is It All Right” - Probably my favorite track. Rabbi Thole #7: Did the band actually write this one? I actually woke up with it stuck in my head this AM. “One More Goodbye/How Many Times.” BeeGees much? Another COVER slash original. “One More Goodbye” is written by Gerard McMahon. Rabbi Thole #8: (AKA Gerard MacMann, singer/songwriter of “Cry Little Sister” from “Lost Boys,” aka Rabbi Thole #9.) “Lightning.” Rabbi Thole #10: This song IS Gloria, written by Umberto Tozzi, Trevor Veitch, and Giancarlo Bigazzi for Laura Branigan. SORRY for the ear worm. Maybe this will help. “Tell ya ‘bout my baby, well, ya know she comes around…” The following songs may have been good or bad, I’m not going back to check: Movin' On, The Time Is Right, Isn't It A Shame OKAY. I HAVE TO BE DONE. [I wrote this two edits ago!] SHEFF IS GOING TO SEND LOST LITTLE SISTER SONGWRITERS’ SOULS THROUGH THE ETHER TO STEAL MY SMILING SLUMBERTIME!!! Leaving you with my comments on TWO reviews of the band: 1. “recorddigger - Slick Pop Rock AORsters Southern CA outfit with slickly produced catchy pop rock coupled with AOR and commercial FM radio intentions.” ~ Rob: Slick Pop Rock. Would that be Slop Rock? 2. “tonissive - very unknow but fantastic band of aor-pop” ~ Rob: If only I could unknow them and get my 3 hours of following Alice down to Dunderland. On further reflection, I don’t want to unknow them. Concerning the rating of this musical extravaganza: My first response was I CAN’T DECIDE out of 5. Between 2.5 & 3.5? Worth listening to if you listened to Afternoon Delight become #1 on the Top 100 songs of 1976 and loved it. Rabbi Thole #11: Bill Danoff wrote that song and co-wrote another of my favorite songs of the 70s,“Country Roads, Take Me Home!”

The 1981 Listening Post - Astre - Foresight

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: 1981 Astrë Foresight Genre: Prog Wannabe Wank (Call me MAYBE, because I'm not YES, but I want to be. Is the keyboardist Dick Halfasleepman?) Rating: 2 out of 5 (is bad) Highlights: (No) Not a total Dis'Astrë, but I’m definitely going to dis Astrë. The opening instrumental is decent prog rock with some guy playing with his organ. Okay, the second track is more like Kansas, I think. And the not altogether unpleasant vocalist, but nothing to write home about for me. It kind of sounds like a demo for a rock opera. Some hints of Dennis DeYoung. I get really tired of lyricists and musicians who keep repeating the same thing over and over and over again. Some hints of spinal tap here without being funny. Okay, now we get some guitar wanking. Yay. Not. Then some bass guitar wanking somebody wants to be getty leave. Uh, Geddy Lee. Then Neil Peart drum fills. It's like a bad knockoff YYZ. What say we call it YVR, Allen, eh? And it's 6 minutes long. DNF at 4:00. Oh, it's called Lar-Asia. Were they going to claim they thought it up while they were on a train from Bangkok or something? Astrë channeling Dennis DeYoung really bad. (Damn, I was hoping that voice recognition would type Ashtray.) DNF Omg. Another DNF. I skipped ahead 3 minutes and swear I heard the same exact instrumental bit again for about 30 seconds. A 10 minute epic. Jumping right into the middle of a song called World Class. World class what? I'm not sure. At least it's only 4 minutes long. As Count Rugen said to the Impressive Clergyman in the Princess Bride, "Skip to the end." I can tell from YouTube that they're short anyway. Track 9. Part IV (of something). The Waiting. Yes, it was the hardest part. Or should it be The Wanking on the hardest part? Maybe they should have called this album Foresk… Uh, never mind. At least this one sounds like somebody's dying. And it ends with an orchestral track that sounds like the credits should be rolling. Maybe they could have put it into a video with some funny cut scenes. If it started with these last four tracks (I-IV), I might have liked it better, but I'm not going to go back and check. If you like prog rock, your mileage may vary.

The 1981 Listening Post - Slander - Hemi-Conscious

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: 1981 Slander Hemi-Conscious Genre: Hairy Heavy Metal Punk - Sound Of Aberdeen 10 Years Before Nirvana! ;-) Rating: 2.25 out of 5 (Probably higher if you’re an actual punk fan) Highlights: House Of The Rising Sun I'm A Believer Not especially my jam, but better than Astrë and Panache. (Oh, and they’re Canadian, eh.) Practically a live recording. Very sparse with aspects of “That 80s Canadian Sound” I’ve been trying to describe. I was realizing that I could probably just contrast it with Spector’s Wall of Sound. This is more like Canada’s Window of Sound. Or maybe the Cat Door of Sound? ;-) Track 2: Jailbait, you’re so great. Yeah. Sadly it’s the longest of the 15 songs at 3:21. Two covers. Punkishly quick. The Chuck Berry cover is better than 8 Days a Week. This so reminds me of the crap we would do in my first band. We played everything too fast, without the excuse of intending it to be punk. ;-) We just couldn’t keep a steady tempo. Our drummer would start out fine, but every verse got faster, but not in a particularly interesting way. ;-) They somehow make some 2:22 songs sound long. Okay. A punk cover of the House of the Rising a Sun isn’t bad. I think it even helped me like the next one more than I would have. Again, it feels like this was all recorded live, and that by this time they’d gotten into a groove. “I’m A Believer” is good as well. The covers are more fun and memorable than their originals. I know the Clash did punk covers of pop tunes, I think I would like these guys if that’s all they did. Sadly, the coolest thing about this album is the title: HEMI-conscious. The cover has a late 60s Mopar (Pymouth Satellite or GTX, or Dodge Coronet?) painted black with a legendary 426 Hemi engine in the foreground. I thought it was really cool until I realized they’re all aiming sledgehammers at the car and the engine. Well, except for the guy with the punk-mullet who is playing with his shifter knob.

The 1981 Listening Post - Panache - Dancer at the End of Time

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: 1981 Panache Dancer At The End Of Time Genre: New Romantic (????) Pop Melange Rating: 2.5 out of 5 [I don’t even know, I let it play] I don’t hate this, but I’m not sure why not. It’s all over the place. Some great bass lines, some great drum fills, some nice vocals, but then there’s the repetition (within songs), the horrible electronic drums, massive weird and random instrumentation, monotone ‘harmonies’, video game noises, sirens, repetition. BIG IN JAPAN I think some of the lyrics might be interesting. Mixing is totally strange and seems amateurish. It’s a pretty amazing mess. I don’t actually regret spending the time listening to it. There are periods of seconds, measures, sometimes even most of a verse or chorus that I really like, then it’s suddenly something else. It definitely sounds like early 80s with a dash of 70s peppered throughout. It’s a strange melange of pop genres. No. It’s an orgy of pop genres. 80s electronica, new wave meets disco DEVO, massive random instrumentation. Songs start out sounding like rock then end up somewhere else. “Mirror music on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all.” Oh, and I ran into dead ends finding much of anything about them. I’ll include the note from DISCOGS because everyone else who mentions the band uses this description, too. ;-) "Panache were a New Romantic band from the early 80s. Paddy (formerly of Cuddly Toys) formed the band by hiring Terry as bassist after doing the audition among 300 people through Melody Maker. The rest of members were selected among his friends. The band were particularly popular in Japan. Just before coming to Japan after their debut on Toshiba EMI, Colm and Paddy left the band. After disbanding Panache, Paul joined The Temple OV Psychick Youth.” OK. LAST SONG IS A LOST SPINAL TAP Side project single: It’s called “THE END OF ALL SONGS.”

The 1981 Listening Post - Jim Messina - Messina

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: June 1981 Jim Messina Messina Genre: Better With Loggins (but stealing from everyone else) Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Highlights: Sweet Love Whispering Waters Move Into Your Heart (all heavily derivative of fairly obvious sources) I'm not sure exactly why I like this better than Mother Bong, or whatever their name was [Ed. note: Mother Gong - though Mother Bong is a better band name]. But even though it's got many of the same elements, it's much more tolerable. Not saying that I love it, but it's more tolerable. I didn’t look anything up, including the song titles before I wrote this, then inserted the titles later. Track 1: Money Alone - The opening guitar reminds me of something, maybe from the '70s. Heart. Then Jimy Buffet. Uh, horns are way to late 70s plus some BeeGees harmonies. Track 2: Sweet Love - This one has the same feel, and I think the same notes as the Hand Jive in Grease. Any idea why he can practically steal it right across. Track 3: Break The Chain - Okay, this one is to discoee for me. DND. Uh, TYVR (thank you voice recognition) and autocorrect. DNF. The musician's ship is excellent. Track 4: Child Of My Dreams - Okay, did he go write this with Kenny Loggins? It sounds like a Kenny Loggins song. Very sweet and nice, and some sort of ode to his child. Kind of like the house at Pooh corner one. Really pretty guitar work. Track 5: Whispering Waters - I wasn't expecting to like this one. But it does have some nice guitar, good harmonies, and cool background noises. CSN(Y). It has a bit of a story that echoes back in time. Track 6: Lovin’ You Every Minute - I assumed this song was called "Pauline". [Nope] Which reminds me, I haven't yet written a song with a woman's name. My longest unrequited love was Roxanne and I just don't think that could, or should be done. Straight disco ballad with a duet. Some really stupid lyrics, cheap, for the rhymes. But the woman singing the other part of the duet, really kind of rocks. Track 7: Stay The Night - Nice beginning, then he starts singing, and I wouldn't say it ruins it, not quite. This is the song with Pauline, Pauline Wilson. His duet partner, she is better than he is. Track 8: Move Into Your Heart - [Nope that's Track 9. Track 8 is "It’s All Right Here", so I missed a song in there. Oh, well. Not going back to see what I missed] Opening line: "I love you in blue jeans and a sweater." No, no, no. "I love you in blue jeans and white t-shirts." If this doesn't have a gospel choir coming in any second I'm going to be really pissed off at Jim. Cuz it's a nice gospel hymn from the organ to the guitar. Though I'm not sure Jim has enough soul. I'd love to hear a cover of this by Stevie Wonder or somebody. Okay, there's the gospel choir. This song is really good, I can even forgive the fact that he doesn't have enough musical soul by saying that he probably has enough regular soul. And I don't think it's rubber. Never mind on the Stevie Wonder cover, the song isn't deep enough. Really, the only problem with the song, besides what I mentioned above, is that it is in no way a religious song. Unless women are your religion. Which I guess is possible! It might have been mine at some time(s) in the past. I own Kenny Loggins Greatist Hits. That’s enough.

The 1981 Listening Post - Madcats - Streetgame

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: January 7 1981 Madcats Streetgame Genre: Canadian Rock Rating: 2.75 out of 5 Highlights: Summer In The City Street Game - Nice start. Ah, that Canadian sound. Vocally, sounds kinda like Warren Zevon. Call It Quits - Not a bad song. Some nice harmonies. The second singer has a mellower, higher voice. Sounds like somebody I can't think of right now. On the second listening (kind of just skipping through the songs) I think it's better than I thought it was. Long Distance Callin' - Nice. Almost R&B. Really repetitious lyrics, though. Ooh, an incidental note. :-) Save Me - Decent song. I think the drummer is actually pretty good. And so is the guitarist. Probably they're all pretty good, but I don't like much of the keyboard sound and choices. Young Man's World - Pretty sure they stole the intro from Manfred Mann's Blinded by the Light. They're trying to be tricky and chang time signatures temporarily. It almost works. These guys are the Canadian Styx. Most of their songs, sadly, are copying Styx's earlier stuff, which in my opinion wasn't as good. And too much Dennis DeYoung and not enough of John Young's guitar. More You Than Me - Yup, Styx. Brown Baggin' - Okay, this song is the best so far. A 50s honky tonk piano song, well, only for a little bit. But I really find that I don't like the synth stuff from the '80s. I'm assuming the title is some sort of sexual reference. Execution - Well executed. :-) The guitar work is really nice, and the song works really well until the second break. But it doesn't totally kill the song. I Like It - I don't especially. But it's better than about half the stuff we've heard so far. Actually it's pretty good, but I wouldn't put it on a playlist. Damn it, there comes the synth after doing perfectly fine on the piano. If I had a quarter for every time they said, "I like it," I could probably buy a six pack of beer, and drown my sorrows from the worst of these songs. Summer in the City - Requisite '80s cover. What's the point? Actually, I know the point - it's a better song than all the ones they wrote themselves. And finally a song where the synth organ actually sounds pretty good and appropriate. They do a nice job on this. Not very original, but listenable. Harder Rock than the original. A highlight. Can't help but think their better songs, at least the ones that stuck with me, are on side 2.

The 1981 Listening Post - John Miles - Miles High

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: August 1981 John Miles Miles High Genre: Foreign Survivors Of The Kiss Starship (Hard Pop Rock with a little too many other less well-played genres to prove how eclectic he is) Rating: 3 out of 5 (I didn’t mind listening to this one. Mostly.) HighMediumlights: (the first 2-3 songs) Peaceful Waters One Step Closer To Paradise The album that Paul Stanley would have made backed by Survivor or Starship. On the next song he sounds like Lou Gramm fronting Chicago. Sex (TYVR, I’m leaving that one intact) and horns and lots of keyboards. And a pretty fine guitar player. Not as bombastic as Meatloaf, but could be Roy Bittan on the keys. If it’s John Miles, I’m impressed. Maybe we can call it grenadastic. Also has kind of a "John Parr St Elmo's Fire" feel. I can hear why Turn You Loose was a single, despite sounding like it was from the late seventies. I guess we're only a few years out from that here. Foolin' - another lost Ferengi, uh, I mean Foreigner song. I think I may have heard it on the radio, but it could also just be that it's so spot on representative of the late 70s early 80s that I can’t tell. I can tell you it’s not, “Fu, fu, fu, foolin’!” Don't Want The Same Thing. Kind of Bee Gees. "Don't want to change things." This pretty much sums up the song. Almost the same as the last one. Out Of The Cradle. Pretty nice Motown, jazz, old time rock and roll blend. Listenable. Definitely good musicians. And it's only 3 minutes and 49 seconds. As opposed to the same thing he didn’t want above, which was the same thing for 5 minutes and 35 seconds. Hold On. This song is 32 lines long. 10 of those lines are verses. Cute. They’re actually in the Limerick rhyme scheme, AAbbA. Enjoy the last 17 lines, with "Hold on" as BLAB BA and “don't let go” replaced with DonLego! Won't you BLAB BA darlin' BLAB BA? Nights are so long Now I know Won't you BLAB BA, can't you BLAB BA? I was so wrong, DONLEGO, DONLEGO, DONLEGO Won't you BLAB BA darlin' BLAB BA? Nights are so long Now I know Won't you BLAB BA, can't you BLAB BA? I was so wrong, DONLEGO, DONLEGO BLAB BA, darlin' BLAB BA Nights are so long Now I know Won't you BLAB BA, can't you BLAB BA? I was so wrong, DONLEGO Won't you BLAB BA, darlin' BLAB BA? Nights are so long…….. Notice how creative he is. The number of times he sings DON’T LET GO varies each chorus: 1x, 3x, 2x, 1x… Hhhmmmm… I wonder what that means? I assume that the double ellipses (or triple [Nope 2 ⅔ ellipses]) might mean that he repeats BLAB BA DONLEGO even more times than Genius Lyrics (a site that this set of lyrics should NOT be on) represented with words. I will not go back and listen to verify. Peaceful Waters. Nice ballad, a bit Steinman-y, but without a whit of wit. I see what Miles is doing… for Miles and Miles. It's kind of like an Irish folk song. Four lines of verse which are only actually two lines repeated twice. Then sing four bars of doobie lala, then the chorus, two new lines repeated twice, lather, rinse, and repeat, if you need the song longer, sing the first verse again. Finish with two times through the chorus. Yes, 2x2x2=8 Dancing for Joy. Too much Motown flavored disco. Can I have some green Kool-Aid instead? One Step Closer to Paradise. Another not too bad Foreigner cut. But, I think I'd only listen to it parked at night with the company of someone I wanted to see partially disrobed with the dashboard light. More good guitar work. But, like I noted above, if you're near paradise, but not by the dashboard light, you are probably just wanking by yourself. Reggae Man. Hey, Mon, you wrote the most average Lou Gramm reggae song in history. Reggae BOAT (Blandest of All Time). Or it could be Reggae BLOAT (Blandest Lyrics of All Time). Oh, this is almost interesting. Have Devo sing the monotonous, "The reggae man good for you..." counterpoint. Closer To You. Okay, Mr. Miles, you really shouldn't have stolen cutting floor songs from the Bee Gees. I think you even stole the backup singer tracks, or their backup singers. I didn't actually skip some of these songs because I was trying to get the review down while music was still playing. :-) Some of them probably coulda, woulda, shoulds been DNFs. All the musicians, especially Mr. Miles, seem very talented, but the songs are pretty mediocre. This is great as long as you're happy listening to a cross between Chris stuffer (TYVR Christopher) Cross and Ferengi Starship. John, eclectic attempts don't really suit you. You should have stuck to what you do well, Cruise Rock (slightly more fiery than Yacht Rock. Many of the musicians mentioned above have probably done at least one of those Rock & Roll cruises for former Rock “Stars” who can’t afford to go on cruises any other way.)

The 1981 Listening Post - Steve Blimkie - Chasing Paper Tigers

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: 1981 Steve Blimkie Chasing Paper Tigers Genre: PowerPop Rating: 3.75 out of 5 (4.25 stars for the music and 3 stars for the lyrics. IF YOU LOVE POWER POP, this might be an LP Discovery) Highlights: Ridin' Into The Night Never Been A Winner Gimme A Taste I Don’t Wanna Know Ridin’ Into The Night - Nice power pop. Hardly even sounds Canadian. How did they get this sound without Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock? ;-) Foto Magic - ERMEGRD. Great tune. The lyrics suck. "Foto Magic" repeated 13 x. Never Been A Winner - Good one, but too many times through the same phrase. Magazine Boys - Annoying phrase repetition like the previous two. "Magazine Boys" repeated 12 x. You’re Boring - Who are you talking to Stevie? Good song except for the title and the poor choice of the phrase they’re going to repeat umpteen times. And WTF? A prog RUSH instrumental break? Gimme A Taste and Here Today, Gone Tomorrow - Good songs. Same issues as the others. Memories On Fire - Good song. LOVE the music. Yup, Memories On Fire, but we can’t remember what the memories are about so we’re just going to sing Memories On Fire, and then variations of "whatchit(or me)burn". Would it be possible to write a chorus that was more than 3-4 words repeated 6-8 times? I Don’t Wanna Know - Sweet track. Blimke sounds like Elvis Costello here. In a good way. Breakdown - Good cut. I’d love to take this album and cut out almost all the chorus vocals, then write new lyrics and add my own vocals. ;-) Rabbitthole Side Note: Lead guitarist Dermot “Derry” Grehan and drummer Dave Betts would go on to Canadian fame (and some U.S. singles) in Honeymoon Suite. Derry became the primary songwriter for nearly all their hits, "New Girl Now" being one of my faves, and especially “All Along You Knew" on The Big Prize album. They’re still making music, though not much.

The 1980 Listening Post - Whitney, Hardin, McCracken & Townsend - Boast of the Town

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: 1980 Whitney ∙ Hardin ∙ McCracken & Townsend : Axis Point Boast Of The Town Genre: Wanna-be-band of musicians with cred. Some of their parts are less than the sum of their parts. Way eclectic. That’s the biggest plus. Rating: 2.5 out of 5 “Standouts” 1. Boast of the Town: Oh my God, aren't you supposed to start out with your best song? How long is this, 7 minutes? And one of the wankingest solos at the end. 2. Home Made Wine: I don’t remember. 3. Empty Sky: And oh my God-da-DaVita! Please don't tell me this is a whole album side! :-) Okay, not bad, listenable in the background. Not too long. 4. Rock 'N' Roll Circus: Not bad, repetitious. Rock and roll, that's what they say, but I'm not sure how rock and roll it is. Saxophone is actually not unwelcome. Which may tell you something. 5. My Love: Thankfully short. Guitar and saxophone thankfully wanking at the same time, so we didn't have to have one after the other. 6. Red Hot And Blue: Nice drum work with the guitars managing to stay in with the rhythm, but boring as hell. You're red, and spinal tap. Skipping the rest of this one. 7. Manyana: Got to give them credit. They're eclectic. Strings and decent piano. Pretty good almost loungy song. A little bluesier and better than that. Some Beatles sounds, but fairly generic. A bit of ELO, again without any brilliance. 8. Fire Mountain: Are these guys Canadian? They sound like they recorded in Canada and then had somebody else add some reverb and layers like a Donald Trump border wall of sound, rather than I Phil Specter. "Laser on the fire mountain." Wow. 9. Trouble: Nice start, but my expectations aren't high. This might have been the album opener if I was the a&r man. These guys put the okay in mediokre. Still, this is one of the top two songs on the album. Maybe not. I'm in trouble. On the double. Double trouble. No, you're not. No, you're in a band called Axis Point. 10. Drinking Song: Okay, this sounds like an extra song Extreme would have added as a bonus track. More Randy Newman or has elk (his ilk). Actually, this is kind of cool. Just doesn't fit with anything else on the album. 11. Okay, guys, did Dan Baird write this song, because it wasn't good enough to get on a Georgia Satellites album? Not that The Georgia satellites weren't derivative, but they were fun, witty, and sometimes even poignant. (Please don't kick me out of the Listening Post for using that word. :-)) that said, this is replaced the other two mediocre songs as my favorite on the album. We'll see if they don't screw it up at the end. OMG! Two things. Number one. I'm a doof. This song is not by that band; it is by Dan Baird. Number two. It isn't really good enough to be on a George's Satellite album, which is probably why Dan Baird put it out. George's Satellites, even if the biggest part was Dan Baird, we're greater than the sum. 12. I don't think these guys understand that if you don't start out with strong stuff nobody's going to hear the decent stuff at the end. (This decent song is actually by Steve Gaines.) Well, I had fun.

THe 1980 Listening Post - Max Gronenthal - Max

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: 1980 Max Gronenthal Max Genre: Late 70s Disco Pop Melange Rating: 3.21 out of 5 (sort of a B-) Highlights: Shana Say It Again Love Shows Another Bee Gees wannabe band. I've Got Something Here For You - might have been a hit in 75. Rockin' Chair - Meh. No. 70s crap song. Shana - Cool rhythm work. Nice guitar. Reminiscent of Jane by Starship. A little long. Have A Good Time - I can hear the future sound with .38 Special, also Foreigner. Where Do You Go - Meh. No. Back to the 70s crap song. DNF Say It Again - Decent song, a bit Motown-y. Here We Go Again - Nice piano, which is his primary instrument besides his voice. Near To You - Now we’ve got some. DNF Love Shows - Great beat. I’m movin’ my feet and my butt. Roll Home - Decent song to end with. Some great musicians, good mixes and orchestrations. Mostly folks you’ve never heard of, even if you’re an OCD liner-note reader like me. He probably deserves to be a little better known. When I first read Max Gronenthal, I thought, “Not a great name for a marquee.” Sure enough. Started going by his middle name, Carl, by the time he joined .38 Special in 87, (after a bit more research and a few more Wikipedia grammar corrections, I discovered that his 3rd solo album used his middle name for the ‘stage.’) Try anything for that breakthrough, before you take a job with an established band like .38 Special (Don’t get me started. At least not yet. Can I Have .38 Special when it comes around?) and Grand Funk Railroad. He may be a victim of eclecticism, too. Though A&R said, “We don’t have a single.” If I was the A&R man, and I think I’d be a good one, as I’m sort of a pop-slut, I would have started the album with Shana or a Have A Good Time or Love Shows. To quote Rusty Russell of Nashville’s Music Row Magazine "He is absolutely, without question, among the top handful of Blue-Eyed Soul Singers ever". Ignoring the grammar issues, I’d say NO! He’s no Adele, Amy Winehouse, George Michael, Rod Stewart (oh, wow, check out my search for “blue+eyed+soul+singers,” Eric Clapton, Janis Joplin. Heck, he’s not even a Michael Bolton, who I happen to have REALLY liked.

The 1980 Listening Post - Frankie Eldorado - Frankie Eldorado

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Frankie Eldorado Frankie Eldorado Genre: Power Pop With Some Stolen Elephants (I mean elements, from other bands/genres) Rating: 3.25 out of 5 (C+ for the musicality) Lights - High, Mid, Low, Blackouts: (LAST 3 songs!) Note: He sounds like he could have used some John Kolodner - John Kolodner. Cause this A&R (amateur) says he don’t hear a single. This album was SO MUCH better the 2nd or 3rd time as I was working on my addition. Actually, even an earworm here and there. While I don’t think Eldorado has any gold here to discover, it’s good energy music, especially if you don’t listen too closely to the lyrics. Warning: If you LOVE Power Pop, give it a listen. Let me know if you think it’s better than a 3.25. Most all of this is written while sitting listening to it with my laptop on my lap. Also, right after I was editing my novel. So, hyper critical Rob wrote the 1st part. Then I was annoyed at not getting anything done and put it on in the garage. The last three songs aren’t described, but I’d actually start there. Almost seems like they put the songs on the album in the order they wrote them and got better over time. Perhaps, to give each album a fair shake I ought to listen to it without writing the review the first time. Good Thing: Poor man’s Cars. Some nice elements. 2:33 amateur/old school fade. Can't Tell Love: High school lyrics, rhymes. Catchy tune musically. Fine Time: Beatles meets Eagles. The Beagles? Not a bad song, just to a great song. Do I Like You: Hella catchy, kinda cute. Less than 2:30. So doesn’t overstay its welcome. Ain't That Peculiar: A little too heavy on the fakey keys. Uber repetitive. Kinda just noise. Overstayed its welcome. I Know: Stolen K.I.S.S. guitar. Not sampled, but might’ve been better. Ouch. A rhymed couplet almost exactly like one of mine I wrote. Okay, I was 15. Nice guitar ornamentation. Actual solo, nothing to write home about. Too long at 3:30. Cut 22 seconds and it would have been fine. Hey Little Girl: Lots of Casio keyboard and a few slightly upgraded sounds. Including a cheap imitation of the R.E.O. Riding The Storm out siren. Don't You Take: Good? relisten Dancing With Me: Fake LIVE? but good? Crazy:

The 1980 Listening Post - Sailor - Dressed for Drowning

 Reviewed by Rob Slater

Released: 1980 Sailor Dressed For Drowning Genre: Soft Adult Contemporary (for folks contemporaneous to 1977) Rating: 3.33 out of 5 (whew, see note at bottom of review) Highlights: Runaway Hat Check Girl - (successfully Beatlesque) Starlight - (successfully ELOesque (ELOish?)) The real highlight is the witty marine theme of the band, album title, first song and the cover art. They’re trying to be the BeeGees, E.L.O., the young sticks (Deyoung Styx! TYVR), Beatles, A𐐒BA and show tunes pretenders like Manilow‘s Copacabana. Especially Pearl Harbor. Too light of a sound for such a serious subject. I would definitely consider this rock adjacent. The vocals are great in a late 70s not quite disco way. PEARL HARBOR lyrics excerpt: Touched down in Hawaii, we fell from the sky A B-17 full of lonesome GI's Inspected by generals with gold on their chests Then a girl, she put garlands of lflowers . . . . The Pacific at midnight and stars filled the sky I was holding her so tight, her swimsuit was dry Then on the horizon and out of the dawn Came the sound of tuned thunder A mechanical swarm Aloha... (something's comin', comin', engines hummin', hummin') Aloha... (She's got warm lips, smooth hips, makes my soul flip, wow!) Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor... (Chorus:) Tora Tora Tora, Dive bomb love. . . . To the sound of Glenn Miller, we danced cheek to cheek [vocalised horns] I've waited all week To call you and tell you this time it's goodbye My bags are all packed and I'm ready to fly Aloha... (Repeat chorus) Sayanora… Is he metaphoring his erotic desire???? How did anyone think this was a good idea????? Is he metaphoring his erotic desire to the Japanese attack? I think there might have been a couple good songs after Pearl Harbor, but my desire to write more was shot down after reading the above lyrics. NOTE: This is the note at the bottom of the review. I must have gotten interrupted, as I do not remember what the note was going to be about. So, this is more like the Monster at the End of the Book. Maybe I’ll remember when this is posted. ;-) I’m not sure that it wasn’t that I gave it a 3.33, but didn’t really like it?

The 1982 Listening Post - Alabama - Mountain Music

 Alabama - Mountain Music

February 25 1982

By Rocket Rob (Slater)

Alabama 

Mountain Music

Allen’s Rating: 2 out of 5

Rob’s Rating:  2.0 for rock. 3.0 for country music from that time.

Genre: CCR (No, not the band, well, not mostly. More like NNW=North North West. This Album is Country Country Rock. Maybe even CCCR, but that sounds like the Soviet Union, which they’re definitely not. Lots of instruments, but no balalaikas.)

Highlights: (If you’re like a little rock in your Country. I know, there is a Little Rock in our country {If you’re a United Statesian.})

Mountain Music

Green River

​I'm not sure why this album is on our list. The first four songs are definitely, as the title suggests, mountain music. Pretty classic country fiddles and guitars and lost love and dead dogs and pick up some of the side of the road. 

Green River, sounds like Creedence Clearwater Revival and it’s good, though it doesn’t sound as much like Alabama. [Just looked up the album on Wikipedia. Guess who wrote the song? You probably already knew. John Fogerty wrote it. When I listened to him singing it I recognized the song.“Duh, Rob."]

After that it's “oh god, smooth pop with a tinge of easy listening.” This album makes the Carpenters seem like RAWK.

Loving You is Killing Me is also country rock with a little hint of whatever came after disco that was mainstream electronic dance music. Not that I liked it, but it does kinda skirt the rock category.

https://open.spotify.com/album/1DegGDbKzEP9xthtOV9ldL?si=0m77ASrESDumOQa4ggfJYA&dl_branch=1

The 1981 Listening Post - Slade - Til Deaf Do Us Part

 Slade - Til Deaf Do Us Part

#570

By Rob Slater

November 13 1981

Slade

Till Deaf Do Us Part

Rob Slater

Genre: Father of AC/DC, Grandpa of Quiet Riot, Brother of Sweet, and on this album Son of    QUEEN!

Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Rob’s Rating: Solid 4.75 (was a 4 on the first listen.)

Highlights:   

“M'hat M'coat” - Amazing, bluesy instrumental

"Ruby Red"

"That Was no Lady that Was My Wife"

"Knuckle Sandwich Nancy"

Nevermind, they’re all good.

This album’s running theme (joke) is Rock ‘n’ Roll Religion. You can see it in five of the titles and hear it in many of the other lyrics.   

The opening of "Rock and Roll Preacher (Hallelujah I'm on Fire)" is, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to...” This isn't Prince, but makes you wonder if he heard it and a few years later it inspired the beginning to his song. Though there are the more obvious inspirations.

"Lock Up Your Daughters" starts out sounding like Queen. Can you say, “Tie Your Mother Down.” Actually it continues to sound like Queen.

Both of these songs make you realize where AC/DC must have gotten some of their inspiration.

The first track rock and roll preacher sounds a lot like for those about to Rock We salute you except I think there's gunfire instead of cannon fire. Interestingly enough, Noddy, got the nod to audition for AC/DC after Bon Scott died. I think he would have been much better for AC/DC, though a major blow to SLADE (Who he didn’t tell about the audition). His naughty song writing chops would have kept things at a Bon Scott level, I think. Though we probably wouldn't have Back in Black, which would be a shame.   

"Funk Punk & Junk" (B-side of "Ruby Red") Bonus track on the new extended edition is a GREAT song. (And Slade almost always did extra B-sides of good songs that didn’t make the album. Massive amounts of music over the years.)

They remind me a lot of Sweet as well, though Sweet had a fair amount of U.S. success. It's hard to believe that these guys had put out 9ish (Some were mixes of releases) studio albums by this point. You could certainly see how Quiet Riot did fairly accurate respectful covers and made them into monster Hits in the US. But why not Slade? The mention that they’re a bunch of ugly blokes, but that didn’t seem to hurt AC/DC. They were usually costumed unusually.   

It would take an invite by Ozzy Ozbourne to open the Reading Festival as a replacement that lit the American fire. In 1981 they released TWO albums. This was the second. We'll Bring the House Down was a collection of previously released and new works. This one was all new and aimed for a harder sound. It was successful at that, but still did not bring them the recognition they deserved on this side of the pond. It would take "My Oh My" and "Run Runaway" (Which I loved.) in a few years to finally break into the American market, sadly they stopped touring in ‘83 before the Quiet Riot singles even came out.   

I wished I’d gone back then and found all this great music. If I don’t get The Very Best of Slade for Christmas or Birthday in February, (Their #1 album came out on my 7th birthday.) I will be buying it for myself! Now, excuse me, I’m going to go listen to it again.   

https://open.spotify.com/album/5TaKuX3UNuNwNLLmAFRsHG?si=BP3Si4DkT_aZQwWiD-EgjQ

The 1981 Listening Post - The Buggles - Adventures in Modern Recording

 The Buggles - Adventures in Modern Recording

#564

by Rob Slater

November 11 1981

The Buggles

Adventures In Modern Recording

Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Rob’s Rating: 2.2.5 out of 5

Genre: 80s New Wave: Yes or No (Get it?)

1.        "Adventures in Modern Recording" - Nice anthemic opening. Then an almost DEVO groove. NIce harmonies when the chorus hits. Awesome. But it’s about 55 seconds too long, mostly in the chorus.

2.        "Beatnik" - Yes of the 80s. Then another repetitious chorus. 44 seconds too long.

3.        "Vermillion Sands" - Pleasant. Jazzy.  It’s very soundtrack. Horns. Synthesized I assume. Repetitious chorus. 3:33 too long. Though if they cut off the end and made it an instrumental song for a side one ending… that might work.

4.        "I Am a Camera" - Another pleasant tune. Very YES. No surprise that a different version appeared on YES’ album Drama with Horn and Downes. Repetitious chorus. 2:22 too long. 

Side two

1.        "On TV" - Rap/Devo. I like the interstitial music, but not the howling over a rap beat. Repetitious chorus. :33 sec. too long. .

2.        "Inner City" - Love this intro. Pretty good song. Repetitious chorus. 22 sec. too long. 

3.        "Lenny"- Kinda boring. More YES. Nice vocals. 1.11 too long. 

4.        "Rainbow Warrior" - My favorite song, I think. Repetitious chorus. 11 sec. too

5.        "Adventures in Modern Recording (reprise)" - I think I’ve written enough.

        Bonus tracks on a later version: Almost a requisite 80s cover: Fade Away starts out as an homage to Buddy Holly then devolves other than the harmony vocals. At 2:36 it may only be 0.0 sec. Too long. I stopped playing the next one: Blue Nylon.

This is a decent album for an elevator or background or playing during the credits of a movie set in 1980. I thought it was better the first time through when I was listening while building my own music room/studio to wank around with my own music. May be worth listening to once if you don’t have to pay for it. At 34.29 it may be 11:11 too long?

YES, but lacking Drama and not really an Album. Could have used a lot more YES. Horn admitted to being bored by the time he was done recording. An outside producer could have helped, but I’m not sure Howe. Sher wood have been better if it was short, ‘Kay? It was hard to stay aWake man. My eyelids kept falling Downe. To paraphrase some Chillawack lyrics: Jon, Jon, Jon, this went on too long. Maybe a Bru for dinner would have helped. Cheers. Trevor did Squierrel away much of the work for adaptations for later YESSONGS.

I did have fun writing this review, though! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7GXRxL4SkM&list=PLlvn8uktX5LtyBzpyYxvx82d28thVqKoB

The 1981 Listening Post - The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Butt Rockin'

 The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Butt Rockin'

#534

By Rob Slater

September 3 1981

The Fabulous Thunderbirds 

Butt Rockin’

Genre: Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll. Take those old records off the shelf, dust ‘em off an’ play all them songs yerself...

Allen’s Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Rob’s Rating: Solid 3.75. B+ all the way. They didn’t really want to work hard enough for the A! ;-)

 

Okay, I only ever heard their singles. Knew that Stevie R.V.’s older brother Jimmie Vaughn was in the band. Thought he was the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter. Nope, Kim Wilson sings most and plays the harp (harmonica).

But this album is Butt Rockin’. It’s also

Toe tappin’

Finger snappin’

Booty shakin’

Fifties fakin’

Cover takin’

Love makin’

Heartbreakin’

Guitar slingin’

Drumstick flingin’

Harp playin’

Loss of datin’

Blues appropriatin’

Master… Oh, never mind…

1. "I Believe I'm in Love" - Awesome. 

2. "One's Too Many (And a Hundred Ain't Enough)" - Okay.

3. "Give Me All Your Lovin’” - Awesome.

Cover Section. Tracks 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 are ALL Requisite 80s Covers.

4. "Roll, Roll, Roll" - Great Requisite 80’s Cover. 

5. "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" - Nice tune. Tex Mex blues. Fits the style.

6. "I Hear You Knockin'" -  Good.

7. "Tip on In" - First one that really does nothing for me. 

8. "I'm Sorry" [NOT A COVER] Decent tune.

9. "Mathilda" - Last cover. Awesome horn section. Totally 50's throwback, but it works so well... got my hips shakin’, 50s fakin’...

10. "Tell Me Why" - You can tell where the Texas Tornadoes and Los Lonely Boys got their sound. Course, Texas Tornadoes members had been makin’ songs like these for years.

11. "In Orbit" - Okay, it's got a nice beat, a lot of harmonica, but it doesn't have the deep groove that I hear in the other songs. Should have stopped at 10 songs with "Tell Me Why" and maybe added “I Got Eyes” as a 6th bonus 80s cover.

This records rocks and rolls, skitters and strolls, backseats and bowls (as in the lanes in those happ’nen’ shoes, singin’ the blues… Yeah. It’s like they’re one of the greatest cover bands EVER! If I was their A&R man, I’d have added one more Cover and taken away an original. Fun to listen to quite a few times, but it won’t change your life.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6RSHcScSrS0TfYjTt34YBO?si=ulKIf11xRcSGgzR-Y05hig

The 1981 Listening Post - Saxon - Denim & Leather

 Saxon - Denim & Leather

#477

By Rob Slater

October 5 1981

Saxon

Denim & Leather

Genre: Smack Dab in the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal).

Allen’s Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Rob’s Rating: Solid 4.25 (was a 3.75 on the first listen.)

Highlights: 

Princess of the Night

And The Band's Played On

Fire in the Sky 

Denim And Leather

        

My first rock concert in 1981 was Cheap Trick at the Paramount in Seattle. You can read the somewhat fictionalized version of the long strange drive to the concert in the back of a carpeted, seatbeltless Chevy Van here: “The Swamps of Jersey” (mashed together with several other concert experiences over the last 40 years as part of my collection of {eventually} 100 short stories and a pandemic frame story built around them.) Promoting this album, Saxon opened for Cheap Trick at least on the leg of the tour that I saw. Kind of an odd pairing. 

I remember two significant things about their show. The first was the lead singer grabbing the guitarist’s crotch and later taking a sweaty towel and rubbing it on his own crotch before tossing it out into the audience. I was a sheltered 13 year-old boy from a small town and I thought they were loud and gross. Definitely nowhere near as cool to me as the KISS records Cheap Trick tossed out. The second thing was that the guitarists could spin their guitars like ZZTop. The unison double spinning guitars was cool until about the third time!

Mostly what I remember is that I really didn't like them. I wasn't ready for anything that loud, having only just discovered Def Leppard's On Through The Night and a year or two away from realizing that I loved the Scorpions, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. So when I saw this album and realized that it was for the tour I saw them on, I decided to give them another chance. Glad I did.

The first side opens with Princess of the Night. Cool song. Sounds totally like Maiden thematically and aurally. Pretty cool; an old train that used to bring the narrator his mail is long gone. Vocals sound like a combo of Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson.

Never Surrender also sounds like a Priest/Maiden. Nice interstitial guitar work and understated leads. 

The next three songs, Out Of Control, Rough And Ready, and Play It Loud, run together for me, but not in a bad way. I was hammering, sawing and nailgunning to them. Seemed especially appropriate. In the LP days, I would have definitely gotten up and flipped it over.

And The Band's Played On was their first single for the album. It kicks off side two with power.  Written about the original Monsters of Rock Tour 1981. There are band name and lyrical nods for all the bands that played what was not expected to be a continuing tour!

Midnight Writer (Midnight Rider. TYVR [Thank You Voice Rec.]. That’s an awesome Author’s Blog title. Midnight Writer. I think Dokken had a song with the same title. Midnight Rider not Writer.) follows strong, though more rock and less metal.

Fire in the Sky really rocks. Apocalyptic. Sorry I gave Saxon short shrift.

Denim And Leather is a tribute song to all the fans of NWOBHM who made the wave happen. Pretty catchy if also a little cheesy.

https://open.spotify.com/album/40v5zR6YBrjhkodFEjZcKs?si=o32iR61dQFycoF76bvOXNQ