The 1980 Listening Post - Berlin Blondes - Berlin Blondes

 Berlin Blondes - Berlin Blondes

September 1980

Berlin Blondes

Berlin Blondes

Genre: Synth Wave

1.25 out of 5

Opening with “Framework” I’m reminded of Kraftwerk. But I really don’t like Kraftwerk. I mean, sure, I get it but they never really got a giddy in my hitch. However, once the vocals started I was thinking about Sparks and how much I love them. 

Is there a connection between Sparks and Kraftwerk? That seems like it could be an 18 page essay….

It veers hard into that Sparks territory on “Science” and I realize that I only want ONE set of Maels in my world. 

When it gets more ominous and touches on Kraftwerk/Numan territory it’s much more engaging. 

I think I disliked this more than any Fad Gadget. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/berlin-blondes-expanded/1441813771

The 1980 Listening Post - Gambler - Love and Other Crimes

 Gambler - Love and Other Crimes

September 12 1980

Gambler

Love and Other Crimes

Genre: 80’s Rock

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Little Susie

Hotline

Give a listen to “Hotline”. It is a rabble rousing extravaganza that makes me wonder what became of or what could have been with this band that seemed to put it all on the table and really made a play for the ring. 

Weirdly, it’s all there. They are in that Boston, Styx vein and they have the chops. I mean, truthfully, the songs aren’t really catchy so they would have had to have had a label that was behind them. “Life on a Line” could have been a single with the right amount of cocaine fueled payola in the right markets. 

Ah, the 70s…listening to them crash into the Power Pop and New Wave 80s is really something. 

“I Put My Love” is Spinal Tap at it’s proggy best and the reason this album isn’t a 3.5.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/love-and-other-crimes/1307081025

The 1980 Listening Post - Shaun Cassidy - Wasp

 Shaun Cassidy - Wasp

September 1 1980

Shaun Cassidy

Wasp

Genre: What the Actual Fuck?

2.25 outs of 5

Highlights:

So Sad About Us

Shaun Cassidy. 

Teamed up with Todd Rundgren. 

Opened this record with a psycho New Wave version of “Rebel Rebel” and…it’s so novelty weird. It sounds like…The Strokes. Or…The Strokes sound like…Shaun Cassidy?

These are all covers. Save one track, “Cool Fire”, that he is credited as co-writing. And that song sounds like it fell off a latter day Rundgren record. Cassidy even sings like Todd. Could anyone pick Shaun’s voice out at gun point? Not even Shirley Jones could do that, I bet. 

But…it’s so…weird. Your audience is bubblegum pop…what are you doing? 

This sludge version of The Animals’ “It’s My Life” is…so strange. That’s the only word I can come up with. This album gets points for experimentation but points off for execution. 

 

This is Shaun’s final foray into music. He would go on to be a prolific TV writer and producer. I’m glad he found his niche. This wasn’t it. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/wasp/515841725

The 1980 Listening Post - Mark Andrews and the Gents - Big Boy

 Mark Andrews and the Gents - Big Boy

1980 Housekeeping

Mark Andrews and the Gents

Big Boy

Genre: Rock

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

West One

Say It’s All Right

Laid on a Plate

In A Jam

Lowlight:

A reggae version of “Born to Be Wild”. The world does not need that, Mark.

You know who this guy is?  Visually he seems to want to appropriate Squiggy’s look and that’s…not great. 

Musically? He comes out of the gate pretty strong sounding awfully like Joe Jackson. And that makes sense. He was Joe’s keyboardist in an early band they were in together. 

So, it’s like Look Sharp lite. Not as good as The Jags but it’ll do. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IswsO3ElBIM&list=PLlvn8uktX5Lu3RijEt94gcWaALmAKSE1j

The 1980 Listening Post - The Tremblers - Twice Nightly

The Tremblers - Twice Nightly

July 1980

The Tremblers

Twice Nightly

Genre: Power Pop

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

She Was Something Else

I Screamed Anne

Wouldn’t I

I was sitting in the elbow of an airport, waiting for a flight to Texas. It was one of those layovers in a city that you don’t want to be in. I can’t recall where. Might have been Oklahoma. 

I went to a Starbucks. 

Sitting with my iced coffee, I was hip deep in my Elvis Costello retrospective and I was pretty angry because I had to listen to ALL of North and North is terrible. 

In between songs I heard an English accent. Talking excitedly to another man who looked damned familiar. 

It only took a second as a fan came over to say hi to….Peter Noone and his buddy, Kenny Loggins. 

This is a Power Pop album fronted by Peter Noone. 

It’s occasionally smarmy and he obviously wants to be Cheap Trick but…dammit…Peter, you are only 37! Why do you sound like you’re from a different generation!?

There’s some cheeky goofiness on “Wouldn’t I” and “Dad Says” and in a way it reminds me of Tinted Windows, a “supergroup” with members of Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick and Hanson and that album was a lot of fun, but a bit of Power Pop Trifle. As is this record. 

It’s got some dynamite moments. I’m not sure it would catapult Peter into the stratosphere but for what it is…it’s fine. 

To bring everything full circle, there is a cover of an Elvis Costello song here, “Green Shirt”. It isn’t the worst thing I’ve heard. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lODYdgP734M&list=PLlvn8uktX5LuwtnVHFWACZ_jAH5EbD-n2 

The 1980 Listening Post - The Rumour - Purity of Essence

 The Rumour - Purity of Essence

August 29 1980

The Rumour

Purity of Essence

Genre: Pub Power Pop

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Tula

The Rumour were Graham Parker’s back up band. But, like The Band and Eagles, they were an actual band unto themselves. (Elvis Costello’s backup band on his first record was Huey Lewis and the News, right?)

But, it doesn’t seem like The Rumour wrote their own stuff for the most part. 

They do Bacharach, Lowe, Randy Newman and a bunch of Brinsley Schwartz songs and, with each successive tune, they prove that they were an amazing backing band. 

I’m listening to the original UK pressing, which has a different running order and some different songs. You do what you like. 

It’s meh. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/purity-of-essence-the-american-edition/432184008

The 1980 Listening Post - Swanee - Into the Night

Swanee - Into the Night 

August 2 1980 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

Swanee

Into the Night

Genre: Rock

4.25 out of 5

 

Highlights:

Tough at the Top

Falling

Where Are You Now

Ol’ Rosie

This one takes no prisoners from the opening notes. It’s a declaration. 

Swanee is here. But…who?

An Australian from Scotland who put out this scorcher as a debut. Credit to the producer for bringing out the best in everyone.

I know there’s a lot of songs on the highlights list. But, for me, Swanee hits all the right notes on that first side. Culminating in a slow, Elton John-esque piano driven piece that works as a closer for that side of the album.

Flip it over and “Beware” is the full on Peter Gunn style meets Alice Cooper deranged madness assault we need. 

And it’s terrific.

Someone drops their sticks about 1.5 minutes into “Darkness”, a tune that starts off as a piano instrumental and builds into something darker and more Springsteen like and I love that that was left in. 

This is a b.a.n.d., despite his moniker. 

Aussie rock with an eye on a stadium tour.  

https://music.apple.com/us/album/into-the-night/380062720

The 1980 Listening Post - Poco - Under the Gun

 Poco - Under the Gun

July 1980

Poco

Under the Gun

Genre: Late 70s style rock trying…

2.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Under the Gun

Poco’s 1980 offering starts off with a bang. He he he. The guitars are actually crunchier than I expected from a band I have always thought of as a soft rock outfit. 

From there, though, it dries out with predictability. I imagine the bass player in this band is either so incredibly bored or obsessively adores playing the most repetitive garbage.

It’s just a really boring record. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/under-the-gun/1434355222

The 1980 Listening Post - Cruiser - Rollin' With the Times

 Cruiser - Rollin' With the Times

August 1 1980 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

Cruiser

Rollin’ with the Times

Genre: Melodic Prog from Canada

4 out of 5 

Highlights:

Rollin’ with the Times

Down on the Street

Things Gotta Change

This one starts off slowly, “RnR Survival” teasing the rest of the album, almost daring you to take a pass. It serves as a 3 minute mellow overture to a a record that could double as a rock opera. 

It plays like ELO with less budget or Styx. 

The more it plays, the more I believe it’s a concept album and every bit as effective as any of the era. I really wonder what they might have come up had they landed a contract with a major and got pushed onto the hamster wheel. 

The confidence to pull off the bizarre horror show that is “Terror in the Streets” is on par with some of the best of The Tubes. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/rollin-with-the-times/1375297069

The 1980 Listening Post - Fandango - Cadillac

 Fandango - Cadillac

July 23 1980

Fandango

Cadillac

Genre: Rock

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Rock n’ Roll You

I’ve talked a bit about one of my favorite bands from the aughts: The Helicopters. It was a throwback hard rock outfit out of Sweden, a project by Entombed’s drummer, that sounded nothing like Entombed. 

Nicke Andersson spun off a band from that called Imperial State Electric. ISE was a pop rock group. As he got older, Nicke seemed to get more and more melodic. And yet, he still pounded the skins ferociously for Entombed, and others. 

This is not anything like that but I’m reminded of how bands and musicians go where the muse takes them.

Lead Singer Joe Lynn Turner took this project on tour and got noticed by the manager for Rainbow and that led him to becoming the latter’s lead singer until they broke up. Then he put out a decidedly boring and middling solo record that we covered in 1985. 

But Fandango. It’s like the Imperial State Electric (a fun group) before he moved on to Rainbow (a harder outfit) and then solo (something like enjoyed about as much as I did Entombed. Which is not all that much)

Joe Lynn Turner is the Nicke Andersson in reverse! (I knew I was going somewhere.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/cadillac/382225051