The 1981 Listening Post - Hilly Michaels - Lumia

 #680

1981 Housekeeping LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

Hilly Michaels

Lumia

Genre: He’s the drummer for Sparks, for Christ’s sake.

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Look at That Face

Our Love Will Last Forever

I’ve Got No Right To Love You

Reach for the Vitamins

“Look at That Face” is goofy fun that calls to mind the marriage of Sparks and Bob Geldof. And that fucking works. Now, toss some Jim Steinman in there and you got one helluva bonkers record. 

When I’ve run out of things to say, I look to other people to find the words for me. In this case it’s Dave Thompson in Allmusic who writes: “another potpourri of manic pop bubblegum, shot through with some of the most adventurously idiosyncratic songwriting of the age”

Damn. That’s perfect. 

I don’t know Hilly’s first record but if it’s as bonkers and delicious as this I want it. 

The majestic ballad that is a highlight of Side One, “I’ve Got No Right To Love You”, really should have been a hit for…I dunno…Celine Dion or someone. It’s got Diane Warren’s stamp on it, why not Hilly?

Hey! GE Smith played guitar on Hilly’s previous one! Sadly, not here. Here it’s Rick Derringer. 

I would have played the shit out of this with Roger Taylor’s Fun in Space and thought, well, that’s a pretty good year for drummers!

It’s only available as a Google Drive download, folks. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1K7HzpQo0twK6n950yb3VBOCC2zLbLYE8?usp=sharing

The 1980 Listening Post - Hilly Michaels - Calling All Girls

 Hilly Michaels - Calling All Girls

May 28 1980 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

Hilly Michaels

Calling All Girls

Genre: New Wave

4.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Calling All Girls

Teenage Days

Shake It and Dance

U.S. Male

Turn Me On Your Radio

Devotion

Something On Your Mind

You know this guy. Listen to that title track. It explodes with New Wavosity and was ALL over MTV back int he day. Then you never heard it again. Like, you hear Plastic Bertrand more than this tune and this song is better than “Ca Plane Pour Moi”, which is an excellent example of the genre.

This came out on my birthday in 1980 and I would have been very happy in retrospect if someone would have given this to me. 

Hilly played with Sparks and this is Sparksalicious. 

This is produced by Roy Thomas Baker and it sounds like it was produced by RTB. It’s clean and crisp and multi-layered and just plain weird when it needs to be. 

Is RTB in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? He really should be. 

Greg Hawkes plays keyboards on this as well. 

Listen to “U.S. Male” and tell me that it doesn’t belong on Angst in My Pants. It’s actually better than 50% of that album and that album is great.

“Turn Me On Your Radio” should be a New Wave radio staple. Dammit.  

“Devotion” is a 1980s Glamtastic updating of that sound that BCRs couldn’t quite capture. Cuz you need RTB on the knobs to make that happen, boys. 

“Something On Your Mind” is an updating of that Kimono My House style that we all loved.

This album is a New Wave classic and people should talk about it more.

It’s a crime that we only have access to this via Google Drive downloads. Get it. You need this. But they are FLAC files and those are a bitch to convert. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QoumrVOkCc3FpmKHRC9WeVtiI3HmQwA-?usp=sharing