Great Rock Albums of 1979: Cheap Trick- Dream Police

You're under arrest for having an illegal dream. At least that was the joke making it's rounds at the time this brilliant release from Cheap Trick was making its rounds in 1979. But they were driving me insane, those men inside my brain or at least I thought so. Anyway, I first saw this album literally the day before I left for boot camp and so I wasn't able to buy it. That would be another six months when "Dream Police" would be the first ever album I bought on casette. Unfortunately, three years later it would meet the fate that was the drawback with casettes, it would get eaten in the machine.
"Dream Police" is definitely for me, the best Cheap Trick album ever. When deciding to visit this album, I came to the realisation that I hadn't listened to it in full since that fateful day when my tape player ate the casette, nearly 30 years ago! But thank the Lord for YouTube and I get to take a very cool walk down memory lane. Usually, when I listen to something I haven't listened to in awhile, it takes a minute or two before I get refamiliar with it. Not the case with "Dream Police." Each song is like I have been listening to it constantly for the past three decades. That is something that makes this album so good.
The album brings back some other memories as well. "Gonna Raise Hell" was the theme tune every evening my buddies and I went out for a wild liberty session. That's what we were bent on doing and that's what we did, we raised hell. The other tracks can be either good for listening to with a few brews or cruising down the main drag in the car. The hard rock backdrop with the fun attitude displayed by Cheap Trick when hearing this album make it flexible for both.

Track Listing:

1. Dream Police

2. Way of the World

3. The House is Rocking (With Domestic Problems)

4. Gonna Raise Hell

5. I'll Be With You Tonight

6. Voices

7. Writing On the Wall

8. I Know What I Want

9. Need Your Love

Cheap Trick

Robbin Zander- lead vocals, rhythm guitar

Rick Neilson- lead guitar, backing vocals

Tom Peterssen- bass, lead vocal on "I Know What I Want," backing vocals

Bun E. Carlos- drums, percussion

I have always considered Cheap Trick to be a fun band. While I have no doubt they take their music seriously, they seem to have a good time doing so. "Dream Police" is proof in the pudding that you can make a dynamite album and still have fun at the same time. My big regret is that I never got to see them live.

 

Next post: The Eagles- The Long Run

To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Froogle and Barnes & Noble and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London

Great Rock Albums of 1979: Dire Straits



The first time I heard the Dire Straits song, "Sultans of Swing" I was in the marines listening to it with a bunch of my marine buddies. One of them stated, "It's Bob Dylan" and another added, "And he's got Clapton backing him up on guitar." While I would have loved to have seen such a calloboration, I am satisfied with knowing that Dire Straits is the closest I will ever get to it. Besides, Mark Knopfler  is a much better vocalist than Dylan and on this album he plays guitar almost as good as Clapton.
In spite of the fact that "Sultans of Swing" reached number four in the US charts, this first album by Dire Straits is definitely not a one song, the rest filler album. There are many great tracks that shows the guitar talents of Knopfler and supported by the rest of the band. Of course, the forementioned song is my favourite Dire Straits song of all time but there are some other good tracks on the album as well. It's the later tracks that do it for me like "Soutbound Again," "In the Gallery" and "Wild West End." However, the entire album is a good soft rock listen with some fantastic blues guitar licks compliments of Mark Knopfler.

Track Listing:

1. Down to the Waterline

2. Water of Love

3. Setting Me Up

4. Six Blade Knife

5. Southbound Again

6. Sultans of Swing

7. In the Gallery

8. Wild West End

9. Lions

Dire Straits

Mark Knopfler- lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar

John Illsley- bass, backing vocals

David Knopfler- rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Pick Withers- drums

I didn't get to hear this album until 1980 and I have always concluded that it was just one of those albums that came out when I was in boot camp in the summer of 79. Furthermore, in 1985, when everyone was raving about "Brothers in Arms," I automatically thought back to this album and remembered that it was more genuine offering than the more commercially produced one in the mid 80s. This is the album I will always associate most with Dire Straits.

Next post: Cheap Trick- Dream Police

To buy Rock and Roll Children: go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London

Great Rock Albums of 1979: Queen- Jazz



Coming off the success of the 1978 smash, "News of the World," Queen proved with the follow up album, "Jazz," why they were a force to be reckoned with back in the late 70s. For me, "Jazz" was every bit as good as their last albums and some of the predecessors as well. Track after track on this album is consistently good and has me bobbing my head along each time I listen to it.
I remember when I heard the very first track, "Mustapha," I wondered whether or not they were taking the proverbial. Maybe Freddie Mercury was doing a Frank Zappa bit and I had the paranoid worry that they were going disco. However, down the line of the song, the guitars kicked in and all was well after that. Then came my favourite track on the album, "Fat Bottomed Girls" and the hit "Bicycle Races" as well as some other fine songs climaxing with "Don't Stop Me Now." A very good album indeed and I'm glad I'm paying tribute to it here.

Track Listing:

1. Mustapha

2. Fat Bottomed Girls

3. Jealousy

4. Bicycle Races

5. If You Can't Beat Them

6. Let Me Entertain You

7. Dead On Time

8. In Only Seven Days

9. Dreamer's Ball

10. Fun It

11. Leaving Home Ain't Easy

12. Don't Stop Me Now

13. More of That Jazz

Queen

Freddie Mercury- lead and backing vocals, piano

Brian May- guitars, lead and backing vocals

Roger Taylor- drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals, electric guitar, bass

John Deacon- bass, electric and acoustic guitar

I have to confess, back in 1979, I tried very hard to dislike Queen, due to my homophobic views back then. Something I regret now. However, when I heard the singles from this album, I couldn't help liking them. The music of Queen has the aura that is very hard not to like and today, I am a full fledged fan.

Next post: Dire Straits

To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London

Book Review: Laina Dawes- What Are You Doing Here?

Not many posts ago, I revealed a book written by Laina Dawes entitled "What Are You Doing Here?" In the book, Ms Dawes tells us of her experiences as a black woman who is into heavy metal, the music she was into and the bands she saw. She also relates the experiences of other African American women who love heavy metal as well as some black female artists who can totally rock. Now that I have read the book in its entirety, I can say that what I read was truly eye opening indeed.
Let me get one thing clear and I know that no one is actually saying this but I am not ashamed of being born white. No one can help the colour of the skin they were born with and that is one reason I take a huge exception to anyone of any race who persecutes human beings who were born of multi- racial parentage. That aside, I am often embarrassed by some of the things my ancestors have done throughout history like slavery, discrimination, the colonization and subjugation of the African continent by Europeans. Now, having read this book, I am ashamed that white, male metal heads could act this way. I have always said that heavy metal could unite the world but after reading I still see that metalheads have a long way to go before we can do this. Furthermore, while I have campaigned against the right wing belief that heavy metal turns you into a criminal and gets you to hate your country, I have also campaigned against the left wing view that our genre of music is sexist and racist. I now know that I may have been wrong because Dawes tells of many experiences of both.

 

                                         Laina Dawes

In "What Are You Doing Here?" Dawes tells quite openly of her negative experiences and some of the positive ones. She had to face down attitudes such as "You think you're white" as well as the "only one" syndrome being the only black female at many shows. However, the whole time she never comes across was playing the victim. In fact, she tells how she doesn't let those attitudes stop her enjoying the music she loves and reading some of the acts she's into, I would love to go to a concert with her. Just no one tell Mrs 80smetalman.

The one thing that is really done well in the book is how she traces the history of rock and metal back to its origins. I began this blog with Jimi Hendrix, (another great black musician who help found metal as we know it today) but she goes back even farther than that to some of the great old blues musicians including BB King. In this case, Laina is absolutely correct in the fact that we as metalheads owe the origins of our music to music originally started by African Americans.
So, I would encourage all to grab a copy of "What Are You Doing Here?" It not only shows us the true origins of our music but also points out that heavy metal still has quite a long way to go before we gain true harmony.
Next post: The Moody Blues- Long Distance Voyager
To buy Rock And Roll Children go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html
Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London