Great Rock Albums of 1981: Eric Clapton- Another Ticket

When I remembered this album by Eric Clapton in 1981, I found myself wondering why I haven't visited any other albums he might have done in the time I have covered so far. Now, I realise that I missed both his 1978 studio album "Backless" and his tremendous 1980 live album "Just One Night." The bad thing is that I actually listened to the live album around that time and loved it, so I have no excuse. I knew that while I journeyed through time, I would miss out the odd great album but come on. No use crying over spilled coffee, especially when "Another Ticket" is such a fine album.

The reason why I am beating myself up so much over this is that I have always been a Clapton fan and really loved what he could do with a guitar. With "Another Ticket," he plays the old fashioned blues based rock that he built his reputation on. He does this so easily on tracks like "Something Special," "Catch Me If You Can," the single from the album, "I Can't Stand It," "Floating Under the Bridge" and his cover of the Muddy Waters classic "Blow Wind Blow." Then there is the ballad title track, which he reminds me of the similar type of hit "Wonderful Tonight" but without all the lead guitar in between. However, he also goes slightly country with the songs "Black Rose" and "Hold Me Lord" but he manages to pull it off. I love albums where the closing track goes out with great guitar playing and "Rita Mae" ends the album exactly that way.

Track Listing:

1. Something Special

2. Black Rose

3. Blow Wind Blow

4. Another Ticket

5. I Can't Stand It

6. Hold Me Lord

7. Floating Bridge

8. Catch Me If You Can

9. Rita Mae

[caption id="attachment_278" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Eric Clapton[/caption]

Eric Clapton- lead guitar, vocals

Chris Stainton- keyboards

Albert Lee- guitar, vocals

Gary Booker- keyboards, vocals

Henry Spinetti- drums, percussion

Dave Markee- bass

Most sane people in the world will agree that Eric Clapton is one of the greatest guitarists in the history of guitarists. I know we may know one or two that we consider better and that's cool. But whenever great guitarists get mentioned, Eric Clapton is definitely one that gets mentioned in that group. "Another Ticket" shows why he does.

Next post: Meatloaf- Dead Ringer

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Great Rock Albums of 1981: U2- Boy

The debut album from the now legendary Northern Ireland band U2 came to my attention who gave me a copy on a cassette on which he recorded from the record. Since I had no clue on anything about the band, I had to go on the music that the tape was pumping out of the speakers on my car stereo. Listening to what some have labelled their post punk, new wave sound a picture of what I believed they looked like began forming in my mind. I saw them as the standard four piece two guitar, bass and drum type of band with hair styles similar to the boy on the album cover and wearing brown tweed jackets and ties. I guess the closest thing would be sort of a combination of The Jam meets The Knack. The image of them would remain with me for another two years until when I would see that that image was completely wrong.

Thankfully, I never cared too much about images but put my faith in the music. When I first listened to "Boy," I was convinced by its conclusion forty minutes later that this was a good album. Even though there was no track listing, I knew the opener was a fantastic song and "I Will Follow" is still my all time favourite U2 song. I didn't need a track listing to see how tight this band was as the songs were very good. One advantage of not knowing the track titles is that I was compelled to listen that much closer to get an idea of what a track might be called from the lyrics. So, the track "A Day Without Me" isn't really called "You started a landslide in my ego" but that doesn't stop it from being a great song nor did it stop it from sticking in my head for over thirty years. Other tracks that stick in my head turn out to be "An Cat Dubh," "Out of Control" and "Stories for Boys" and I have to say that "Shadows in Tall Trees" makes for an interesting closer.

Track Listing:

1. I Will Follow

2. Twilight

3. An Cat Dubh

4. Into the Heart

5. Out of Control

6. Stories for Boys

7. The Ocean

8. A Day Without Me

9. Another Time, Another Place

10. The Electric Company

11. Shadows in Tall Trees

[caption id="attachment_2198" align="aligncenter" width="233"] U2[/caption]

Bono- lead vocals

The Edge- guitar, backing vocals

Adam Clayton- bass

Larry Mullen Jr- drums

I said in my last post that I would be visiting something that was a triumph in 1981 but is now a tragedy, but it's not U2. Yes, in my view, they were great in the 1980s but would go weird in the 90s but it is albums like "Boy" that keep me listening. What I didn't know when I first listened to this album is how they would go onto greater things.

Next post: Eric Clapton- Another Ticket

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Triumphs and Tragedies: 1981

As always, I like to start with the bad news first before progressing onto the good news. The biggest tragedy of this particular year for music fans of all kinds with the death of reggae legend Bob Marley who died from cancer in May of 1981.

[caption id="attachment_2191" align="aligncenter" width="259"] Bob Marley[/caption]

Whether one was a devout reggae fan, Bob Marley worshipper, total stoner or none of the above, there were very few people around my age at the time who couldn't help but shed a tear at the passing of this great legend. His music brought reggae into the mainstream for many people, me included as did his relaxed, "be mellow" attitude towards life. Something we all probably still need to adhere to these days. While Bob may not be with us and I have to agree with his son Ziggy's philosophy that money doesn't buy life, his music still is alive and very well in the world today. R.I.P. Bob Marley

[caption id="attachment_2193" align="aligncenter" width="196"] The Round Up[/caption]

Now onto the first triumph which was at the time a local one for me and the sad thing was that I never got to see it due to being in the service. In June of 1981, Southern Rock converged on Philadelphia's JFK Stadium as some of the great Southern Rock bands played what I later learned was a brilliant show. Oh, how amazing it would have been to see the likes of The Allman Brothers, Molly Hatchet, 38 Special and the Marshall Tucker Band on the same day. Unfortunately, I didn't and therefore I implore anyone out there in the cosmos who is reading this and went to this great festival, please share your experiences!

[caption id="attachment_2192" align="aligncenter" width="214"] Donington 1981[/caption]

The second tragedy came in the form of another great music festival across the Atlantic. In the August, the second Monsters of Rock Festival at Donington Park took place. With AC/DC as the headliner and the likes of Whitesnake, Slade and Blackfoot on the bill, it couldn't help but to be a great show. Of course, I wasn't at this one either but I do know someone who was and he said it was a brilliant day. It also explains why Blackfoot didn't appear at the Round Up.  Furthermore, the promoters did a good job in ironing at some of the things that went wrong at the 1980 festival. So, two great musical shows on both sides of the ocean, the result was two triumphs for rock and metal in 1981.

There was one more triumph in 1981 but that deserves its own billing and will be spoken about later. To give a hint, it was considered a total triumph in 1981 but nowadays, it is more of a tragedy.
Next post: U2 -Boy
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Great Rock Albums of 1981: ZZ Top- El Loco

I first listened to "El Loco" in conjunction with another classic ZZ Top album "Tres Hombres." For me, it turned out to be a double delight getting to listen to two great albums by the same band one after another and it marked another turning point in my musical life. It wasn't until 1981 that I listened to any ZZ Top at all. That was because back in 1977, the uncle of my best friend had one of their albums, (I don't know which), and he said it sucked and I was dumb enough back then to let that influence my music listening tastes. That is why I never listened to them back in the 70s and why I don't allow things like that to happen anymore.

"Tres Hombres" has my two favourite ZZ Top songs of all time on it. You'll have to read my 1979 post to discover which ones, but "El Loco" is a very good album too. The album was also the beginning of a turning point for the band musically. It was the first album they would use synthesisers in some of their songs and I must comment that they do a grand job of it on the track, "Groovy Little Hippy Pad." For the most part, however, they stay true to their more bluesier roots. The first track "Tube Snake Boogie" is a classic and still has me rocking away to it whenever I hear it. Billy Gibbons shows his guitar worth on that and many of the other songs here. The final two tracks, "Heaven, Hell or Houston" and "Party on the Patio" are definite standouts. The band also reinforces another dimension to their music in the fact that they have a sense of humour with their songs. "Ten Foot Pole," "Pearl Necklace" and the fore mentioned "Groovy Little Hippy Pad" bear witness to this. All in all, I remain thankful to yet another old marine buddy who opened my eyes to more cool music in the shape of ZZ Top and "El Loco."

Track Listing:

1. Tube Snake Boogie

2. I Wanna Drive You Home

3. Ten Foot Pole

4. Leila

5. Don't Tease Me

6. It's So Hard

7. Pearl Necklace

8. Groovy Little Hippy Pad

9. Heaven, Hell or Houston

10. Party on the Patio

[caption id="attachment_1585" align="aligncenter" width="251"] ZZ Top[/caption]

Billy Gibbons- guitar, vocals

Dusty Hill- bass, keyboards, vocals

Frank Beard- drums

I may have missed some of the classic ZZ Top albums when they came out in the 70s, although I did make up for that in the 80s, it didn't stop me from appreciating what a great band ZZ Top are. The more I travel back in time, the more I have grateful I am to the USMC. Hard core Republicans might not like this fact but my experiences there opened a great chasm in my musical awareness and played a major role in shaping me in the metal head I was to eventually become. I can say that ZZ Top had an hand in that too.

Next post: 1981 Triumph and Tragedy

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