The 1985 Listening Post - Streets - Crimes in Mind

Streets - Crimes in Mind

#91

March 1985

Streets

Crimes in Mind

Genre: Rock

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Broken Glass

When you click on the album, it’s not a mistake. There are two songs, back to back, both named “Don’t Look Back”. They are different songs. This is a typo. The second song is actually “The Nightmare Begins” and is a perfectly fine piece of 80s rock. 

What is a group that consists of members of other bands where none of them are especially well known outside of the niche fans of said groups? Not a Supergroup, right? An offshoot? A sub-super group?

That’s what this is. 

The lead singer for Kansas. A bassist from Deep Purple. A journeyman axeman from Britain. 

They all come together with others (including super writer Randy Goodman) to write a stadium ready mid-tempo, straight to the heart of radio programmer. 

If you like that stuff (and I do, when it’s done well) then it’s perfectly pleasant ear candy. It’s a little like, um, Loverboy fronted by Paul Rodgers. Or something like that. (“Desiree”, for example)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/crimes-in-mind/660089500

The 1985 Listening Post - Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising

Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising

#90

March 1985

Sonic Youth

Bad Moon Rising

2.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Death Valley ’69 (with Lydia Lunch)

I’ve been dreading this one.

I didn’t enjoy it during the Sonic Youth Listening Post of a decade ago. And I know that SY gets a whole lot better after this. Here’s what I wrote in 08:

“There is nothing to review here. It's more ambient than the former record. But, it's sooooo obsessed with being "haunting" that it has no soul. It almost feels like a record by The Velvet Underground, if they were all dropped acid, forgot how to play, dropped the tuning on their instruments, ate a lot of turkey, fell asleep, took a crap and then woke up to see what they recorded and though, "Oooh, no one's done anything like this since.....since...Duck Stab!

There is a song called "Satan is Boring". And that sort of sums up the whole record for me.

I hate this. I never want to hear it again. I can't wait to delete it from my computer. 

Hold on a sec.

There. Done.

Not even backed up.”

This time…I’m a little more focused and a lot less resistant to this music. (I think I wanted to hate it at the time)

But, boy, it really challenges. 

After the “Intro” it moves into “Brave Men Run (In My Family)” and that really really sounds like no one was in charge. Just a bunch of noisemakers in a studio with a lot of time and no one telling them…”umm…hey, guys? This is awful.”

But, as I have said before, I find it weirdly easy to read and write and do other things to Sonic Youth. It was 5 minutes in to “I Love Her All the Time” before I realized we had moved on to another song. (I was reading about yet another Mets loss)

So, I guess that’s something.

It was right around the middle of “Ghost Bitch” that I wanted to be done with this. And then I wondered what it might sound like live. And then I realized that it was happening when I was in college and there were a lot of people doing weird shit like this and it was fun for five minutes at the Pyramid Club or someplace but then I’d just go home with a headache. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bad-moon-rising/522275749

The 1985 Listening Post - Slade - Rogues Gallery

Slade - Rogues Gallery

#89

March 29 1985

Slade

Rogues Gallery

Genre: Glam Rock

3 out of 5

 The opening track “Hey Ho Wish You Well” is a rewrite of Run Runaway (Later, “I’ll Be There” does the same thing). Like almost note for note. 

But once you get past that obvious attempt to cash in on a hit record, the album doesn’t completly suck. It’s Slade, man. And, until The Listening Post, I had no idea how much I liked them. 

The only Mysterious thing about the “Myzsterious Mizster Jones” is why they rewrote Laura Branigan’s “Gloria”?

This sounds like a band trying to capitalize on the success of a hit single. It doesn’t have the audacity or lunacy of the last couple. 

It’s the sound of old rockers running around the track for one more attempt at the cash machine. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rogues-gallery/268333543

The 1985 Listening Post - Rick Springfield - tao

Rick Springfield - Tao

#88

March 27 1985

Rick Springfield 

Tao

Genre: Pop Rock

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:
Walking on the Edge

Somehow I managed to miss this album. And, as you know, I love Rick. So that’s weird. I mean, I know the record exists, I just never bothered to listen to it. 

I don’t really know what Rick is doing. I mean, I do. He’s writing songs the way he knows how. But he’s also really doubling down on the bass/drum sound that makes it he’s closer to dance rock. That drags everything down, IMO. And so do the synths. 

I know that Rick suffers from sometimes debilitating depression. This album feels like he’s trying to work it out in his songs but doesn’t trust his own musicianship. He’ll get closer to that about 20 years later on the hard to find shock/denial/anger/acceptance record.

This is Rick in the weeds. He’ll recover. But it’ll take a while.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tao/309485010

The 1985 Listening Post - Bon Jovi - 7800 Fahrenheit

Bon Jovi - 7800 Fahrenheit

#87

March 25 1985

Bon Jovi

7800 Fahrenheit 

Genre: Rock

2.5 out of 5

Highlight: 

In and Out of Love

I don’t hate this as much as I did ten years ago. It’s still not good but it does prove the point about Jon Bon Jovi: he’s an appropriator of what’s hot at the time. 

Like the first album was his attempt at New Wave/Power Pop, this is all Def Leppard bites. 

As the project continues you’ll all see him do this. He has no sound of his own. He just wants success. Hard to fault him for that. His devotion to the holy money grab plus his general unctuousness is what helps make people hate him. 

But he does do that well. He’s like the pop rock David Bowie. Those of you who have been with me know that I think, for the bulk of his career Bowie just took the sounds that were burbling in the underground and made them accessible to a larger crowd, gave them credibility with audiences and critics and scored legendary record after legendary record, until he became so successful that he could no longer infiltrate the underground. Once that happened, he was left to just follow whatever trend was happening (“I’m Afraid of Americans”, anyone?)

Jon does the same thing, but instead of the underground, he goes straight for what’s already on the charts. 

All that said, it’s unmemorable and unsurprising. Keep the hit, dump the rest.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/7800%C2%BA-fahrenheit/927202862

The 1985 Listening Post - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Southern Accents

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Southern Accents

#86

March 26 1985

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Southern Accents

Genre: Rock

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Don’t Come Around Here No More

Make it Better (Forget About Me)

I know this might be anathema, for some this was an era defining moment where classic rock met the video era and was triumphant. 

And that’s as true for me as anyone, I guess. But, boy do I not like this record. What I hoped would happen is that, as I got older, I would find a deeper appreciation for Tom and this album because when I first did a Listening Post retrospective on TP I really didn’t like it. I thought it about on par with Long After Dark, which I gave a D+. I handed Accents a solid D, although it did have a couple breakout tracks. 

What I am struck by this time, at the outset, is how much Petty sounds like Bob Dylan if he had a stomach flu and was trying not to throw up or trying to contain his explosive diarrhea. Nothing is coming easy to him on “Rebel”, the opening track, he just comes across as a Bruce Springsteen clone and I know that he’s capable of more than that. 

I’m guessing the title leans heavier on the “accents” than the “southern” because then we get the R&B near-disco track “It Ain’t Nothin to Me” and it’s terrible. 

Much like how Queen’s Jazz had nothing to do with actually Jazz this one is even worse: No one expected Queen to put out a Jazz record but you could be forgiven if you were disappointed that this isn’t a Southern Boogie Rock record, given his track record. But if you can make it through the morass of hodgepodginess, you get rewarded with the terrific “Make It Better” and “Dogs on the Run” (sandwiched around the fucking annoying “Spike”)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/southern-accents/891475620

The 1985 Listening Post - Keel - The Right to Rock

Keel - The Right to Rock

#85

March 26 1985

Keel

The Right to Rock

2.25 out of 5

“The Right to Rock” is straight out of the ACDC playbook. Except that Ron Keel isn’t Brian Johnson. Instead, he sounds like he’s trying not to throw up while impersonating every 80s metal voice he’s ever heard. 

Is this just a Twisted Sister wannabe band? They prove that Gene Simmons is a shittier producer than he is a songwriter and he co-writes half the songs on this album. Listen to “Easier Said than Done”. It’s 80s era Kiss. I mean, it sounds JUST like Kiss. How did it not end up on a Kiss record? Did it? I mean, it sounds like every other Kiss song from the era. 

The rest of this is exactly what you’d expect. (Although the lead singer is marginally better than Graham Bonnet)

Just seeing if you’re paying attention. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-right-to-rock-25th-anniversary-edition/350502109

The 1985 Listening Post - Paul Young - The Secret of Association

Paul Young - The Secret of Association

#84

March 25 1985

Paul Young

The Secret of Association

Genre: Blue Eyed Soul

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Every Time You Go Away

“Every Time You Go Away” is The “I don’t wanna know what love is” of 85. Yes, I know it’s a cover of a Daryl Hall song that H&O already released a couple years before but, see what happened right there? I wrote the title. You read the title and blammo, the song is in your head. And now you have to go wash it out with a different earworm. 

Good luck. 

I have to wonder, as I did with the last Paul Young album and those of so many other vocalists…did American Idol take over this lane? I don’t know enough about the white boy soul genre but it seems to me like 17 years later, Elliot Yamin would be shooting for this exact position. 

One really should listen to Paul’s version of “Soldier’s Things” and then go RIGHT to Tom Waits’ version, if you want a reason to hate Paul Young more. 

The second half of the album is mostly co-wrtten by Paul. Which means competent tracks that fit his style and voice and are impeccably dull. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-secret-of-association/408372934

The 1985 Listening Post - The Power Station - The Power Station

The Power Station - The Power Station

#83

March 25 1985

The Power station

The Power Station

Genre: Dance rock

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Some Like it Hot

Get it On (Bang a Gong)

Dance music with guitars. But realllllly well produced. 

Heavily front loaded to the point where I wished it would’ve just been an EP.

The hits hold up, the rest not so much but I have to give them credit. They took a 10 year old song and made it into a vibrant, dance rock gem. 

The rest? I don’t expect much from Robert Palmer so, I was not disappointed. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-power-station/894224064

The 1985 Listening Post - Elliot Easton - Change No Change

Elliot Easton - Change No Change

#82

March 25 1985

Elliot Easton

Change No Change

3 out of 5

Highlights:

Help Me

Wide Awake

I listened to this once before, during my Cars retrospective, about 10 years ago. And then I forgot about it. 

Listening to it outside of the Ocasek catalog it’s not as terrible in comparison. 

But that’s the problem. I keep comparing it to the more famous band that he was in instead of just listening to it in it’s own right. And, were I to do that, I would have to say he’s a less interesting/less talented Rick Springfield. 

This is Power Pop. In the tradition of Raspberries & Bay City Rollers and The Spongetones & Shoes & The Romantics & &&…just that the hooks aren’t there, just listen to “Help Me”. 

It’s a record out of time. It’s not of 1985. It belongs in 1975.

Side Two is where the shit hits the needle and you start to wish you'd never heard this. But, you can't unhear the faux R&B, white boy soul and semi-rap of "I Want You". Which sounds like the Theme to Sanford & Son if written and recorded by Dee Dee Ramone.

But the album tries to right itself with the Country Rock, "The Hard Way", a song that suffers from mediocre lyrics & bad singing but has an easy, truck down the highway, big country sound, but is ultimately a failure.

The record fumbles around but finds it's energy towards the end. "Change" is a rocker, the kind we hope would come from the fingers of the legendary southpaw axeman.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/change-no-change/74721060