The 1981 Listening Post - Chilliwack - Wanna Be a Star

 Chilliwack - Wanna Be a Star

#443

By Chris Natale

September 1981

Chilliwack

Wanna Be A Star

Genre: Rock & Roll

Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5

Chris’ Rating: 3 out of 5

Highlights:

 Tell It to the Telephone

Live for a Living

My Girl

Chilliwack?  Yes, early MTV’ers...that Chilliwack.  The group of guys looking down into a 50-gallon drum, starting a fire in it, and doing a little harmonized do-woppy kind of thing.  Turns out it’s also the seventh largest city in the province of British Columbia.   Note to self: avoid “New Rochelle”, “New Bedford”,  or “Trenton” if I get a band together…

Wanna Be A Star was their ninth album, eleven years into their career.   The album appears to be a thematic one...focusing on the band’s quest for rock and roll famedom.  The first cut oddly starts with a Gregorian chant kind of intro.  Not my thing, but certainly original.  The album continues with several tracks very typical of that early 80’s anthemic sound.  Fast drums, heavy bass, and ever-present synthesizer accents frame the vocals.  Any producers who was in search for a track to accompany the montage in a movie that focuses on how the main character is preparing to take their big revenge missed a golden opportunity in “Too Many Enemies”.  You can just feel the angst.   Star is certainly not something I’d cue up for listening to now, but it was a solid performer for its time.

https://open.spotify.com/album/5wNswr8i8yHBRrijyMKADW?si=AojWPeRQS8KVkSH4h6FtbA

The 1980 Listening Post - Chilliwack - Breakdown in Paradise

Chilliwack - Breakdown in Paradise

#174

by Rob Slater

Chilliwack

Breakdown in Paradie

Genre: Canadian Styx

Allen’s Rating 4 out of 5

Rob;s Rating: 2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Trial by Fire

148 Heavy 

Road to Paradise

Breakdown in Paradise 8th album from Chilliwack, a band from Vancouver, B.C. not far away from here. Chilliwack is a nearby town, whose name means "valley of many streams" in the Salish language.

They've got the rockers, ballads, and the keyboard songs, decent lyrics and great harmonies. Unfortunately, for the most part they don't have hooks in most of them. Very listenable.

Best songs: 

The opening song Communication Breakdown sounds like a rough cut version of the soundtrack song with too much keyboard. It makes the next song, Trial By Fire, glow and burn well. 

The next song that stuck out to me was 148 Heavy. It's about a plane trip heading to Toronto, YYZ (Soon to be a great Rush song!), from the West Coast of Vancouver probably YVR. 

        “When you left in the west it was only afternoon

        Half alive and awake you're flying into the moon

        with a drink and a smoke and a movie - you're O.K.

        There's a girl in the seat beside you - been there all day”

A few uneven spots, but the rest of the album is decent as well. Like many things Canadian! 

Wish they called it breakdown to paradise, as the 1st song is Communication Breakdown and the sun is Road to Paradise, which was the original working title of the album. The breakdown is because of the label going under, which also received the blame for this album not doing well. I think the album is just kind of a C+ endeavor. The follow-up is where they really clicking with the hooks.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0MYWdc7KYlyCyXFGnBfQdb?si=TEHmeZ0JQXe13xN3XxZhOw