Great Rock Albums of 1984: The Bangles- All Over the Place

 

Before Prince and other more commercial types got their claws into them, The Bangles debut album, "All Over the Place" was a solid new wave sounding album. When the video for the single, "The Hero Takes a Fall" appeared on MTV one day, I thought to myself, I like this song. It wasn't heavy but there was just enough guitar in there for me.

"The Hero Takes a Fall" never broke the top forty charts in 1984, most likely because I liked it. What it did do was to further my intrigue into this band and I liked what I discovered. Like, I said above, "All Over the Place" is a decent album. There is a strong new wave sound but it stops a just short of being a hard rocker and in no way did it knock Girlschool off top spot as my favourite all female band.

The funny thing is that the album could have been a cool metal album if they had let loose with the guitars a bit more. One song that typifies this is "All About You." There is a guitar bit that sounds okay but it would have sounded amazing if they had put a fuzz box in there. The same thing could have been said about "Restless" and "Tell Me." However, there is another song that stands above even those. "Dover Beach" is where lead guitarist Vicki Peterson really gets to shred a little. I'm not going to say she's a hidden guitar great because of one solo but it would have been nice to hear her shred a little more. She does shred a little bit on "Going Down to Liverpool" but because the song is in the early Beatles form, her guitar solo sounds like something from "A Hard Day's Night." Not a bad thing and the song is okay, it just doesn't make it any real rocker.

"He's Got a Secret" is another decent song. It's about a man whose cheating on his partner and there is some good guitar work in it. However, it is the vocals of Susanna Hoffs which punctuate the song for me. Actually, the hardest rock song is, "Silent Treatment" and it's good to hear the band really let loose. I think that song should have been the closer as I was never very impressed with the one that actually is.

Track Listing:

1. The Hero Takes a Fall
2. Live
3. James
4. All About You
5. Dover Beach
6. Tell Me
7. Restless
8. Going Down to Liverpool
9. He's Got a Secret
10. Silent Treatment
11. More Than Meets the Eye

[caption id="attachment_4040" align="aligncenter" width="292"] The Bangles[/caption]

Susannah Hoffs- rhythm guitar, vocals

Vicki Peterson- lead guitar, vocals

Michael Steele- bass

Debbi Peterson- drums, vocals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAbYsxd3ADg

While I wasn't the only one who took notice of the Bangles in 1984, they pretty much came and went through the year unnoticed. Unfortunately, the wrong people, as far as this metalhead is concerned, did take notice of them and would turn them into a top forty band. That is why "All Over the Place" would be the only Bangles album I would ever listen to.

Next Post: Billy Satellite

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com 

Great Rock Albums of 1984: David Gilmour- About Face

 

Like Lennon and McCartney after the Beatles split and Henley and Frey after the split of the Eagles, I wonder if Roger Waters and David Gilmour were entwined in some music one-upsmanship after the imagined Pink Floyd split following the last album with Waters, "The Final Cut." Early in the year, we were treated to Roger's album, "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking," which I've already posted about. In the months that followed, Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour, released his solo album, "About Face."

One thing I will never do is allow myself to be dragged into any debate as to which was the better album between Waters and Gilmour. Don't even ask because even after thirty-three years, I couldn't give an answer. I like both of them very much.

Some critic back then stated that "About Face" had a commercial feel that Pink Floyd were never bothered with. I would never call this album commercial, even if in a 2006 interview, Gilmour stated that he thought that it was too 80s. Well, maybe it was for him. In my not so humble opinion, I think that the album doesn't go too far from the Pink Floyd formula. While I wouldn't call the opening track typically Floyd, I do think "Until We Sleep" a cool space rock tune. I can easily listen to it while puffing the magic dragon and might have done so. However, the next two tracks are definitely Pink Floyd style tracks. The first of these, "Murder" was written in angry reaction to the senseless murder of John Lennon. On the track, Gilmour really vents that anger with a hair raising guitar solo. "Blue Light" has a funky jazz beat with the horns and this song is probably the farthest song from the traditional Pink Floyd trademark. I like it regardless.

"Out of the Blue" goes back to more familiar territory, nothing wrong with that either, but the track after, "All Lovers are Deranged" is a bit of a rocker. The lyrics were written by Who guitarist Peter Townsend and you can hear a bit of early Who in the song. It had to have been put on the album to give the listener a shock after being absorbed by the mellower track before it. "Don't Turn You Back" starts out like a Floyd-esque song but there's some interesting stuff going on in the middle of it with horns. If there was any track on the album that sounded commercial 80s, then it would be "Cruise." I have always wondered why it never was released as a single. With its more easy listening style, the trendy top forty types might have liked it even if they didn't know anything about David Gilmour or Pink Floyd. Some good organ work behind a reggae tint makes this song. Another interesting song is the instrumental that is "Let's Get Metaphysical." This goes from being spacey type Floyd to jazzy horns to some very good progressive sounds. The thing is that with all of this mixed together, David pulls it off. That must be a tribute to his genius. Then he ends things in what I call typical Pink Floyd fashion with "Near the End." A long sounded space out track with some great Gilmour guitar licks. It is the best song to end with.

One thing consistent on every song is the guitar work of David Gilmour. He does let himself go more and while I always liked his guitar work with Pink Floyd, he outshines himself on "About Face." It also helps that he put a great band together as well as some cool guest musicians to play with him.

Track Listing:

1. Until We Sleep
2. Murder
3. Love On the Air
4. Blue Light
5. Out of the Blue
6. All Lovers are Deranged
7. Don't Turn Your Back
8. Cruise
9. Let's Get Metaphysical
10. Near the End

David Glimour- guitars, lead vocals, bass

Jeff Procraro- drums, percussion

Pino Palladino- bass

Ian Kewley- organ

Additional Musicians

Steve Winwood- organ on "Blue Light" and piano on "Love on the Air"

Jon Lord- synthesizer

Anne Dudley- synthesizer

Bob Ezrin- keyboards, orchestral arrangement

The Kick Horns- brass

Luis Jardim, Ray Cooper- percussion

Roy Harper, Sam Brown, Vicki Brown, Mickey Feat- vocals

The National Philharmonic Orchestra

David Gilmour popped out onto the music world of 1984 with a great solo album. Okay, it didn't have the chart success even if Dave thought it was too 1980s. Many Pink Floyd fans do like it and so do some who weren't. A great effort from a fine musician.

Next post: The Bangles- All Over the Place

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com 

Great Rock Albums of 1984: Marillion- Fugazy

 

If there hadn't been so much heavy metal available in 1984, I wouldn't have missed the second album from the band I call the progressive rock kings of the 1980s, Marillion. While the "Fugazy" album was wowing people in the UK, I was too busy headbanging away for it to catch my notice.Was it a shame that I didn't listen to any Marillion until 1985 and this album until 87? It sure is but I've made up for it since.

At the opening notes of the album's first song, "Assassing,"I can hear a definite influence from 1970s prog icons Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Maybe it's that horn sound that reminds me of "Fanfare for the Common Man" that does it. Still, "Assassing" is a brilliant song, very underrated, even in the scope of Marillion songs. "Punch and Judy" follows next and there are elements of hard rock in the song that I truly like.

The next three songs have always melded together for me with the standout part being the middle song, Emerald Lies." "Emerald Lies" is a great versatile song that makes use of keyboards and guitars in all the right parts. This is another great progressive rock tune that requires one to sit down and listen in order to appreciate its beauty to its full potential. The song after, "She Chameleon" has always sounded weird to me but not in a bad way. There are keyboard parts that sound like a horror or sci fi film and Steve Rothery does play a mean guitar solo on it. The album closes with two of the strongest tracks on the album, "Incubus" and "Fugazi." Both are very catchy prog rock tunes that have you bouncing along until the end. There might only be seven songs on the "Fugazi" but when the album is done, you definitely feel you had more than your money's worth.

In an age where many bands were dumbing down their sound, it was great to hear that Marillion was one of those bands who continued to sound intelligent. They were musicians who actually cared about how well they played and that is evidenced on this album and other ones. One thing "Fugazi" surprises you with is with all the changes in all of the songs. One minute you're drifting off to some great keyboard wizardry from Kelly and then bang! Rothery powers up the guitar. Then there's the unmistakable vocals of Fish. He makes poetry come alive to music.

Track Listing:

1. Assassing
2. Punch and Judy
3. Jigsaw
4. Emerald Lies
5. She Chameleon
6. Incubus
7. Fugazi

Fish- vocals

Steve Rothery- guitars

Mark Kelly- keyboards

Pete Trawavas- bass

Ian Mosley- drums

Marillion would make the major breakthrough to my listening ears a year later and I would embrace them. Eventually, I would go back through their catalogue and savour the music thanks to my first wife who was a big Marillion fan. That would be the first concert we went to as husband and wife. With all of that said, "Fugazi" was too good of an album for me to miss out on in 1984.

Next post: David Gilmour- About Face

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at; tobychainsaw@hotmail.com 

Great Rock Albums of 1984: Scandal (Featuring Patty Smythe)- The Warrior

 

Honeymoon Suite's "New Girl Now" wasn't the only rock song that got my attention during the summer of 1984. The other was a song called "The Warrior" by Patty Smyth and Scandal. For me personally, there wasn't much in it between the two songs, I really liked both of them. However, the single buying public didn't agree with me at the time. "New Girl Now" only made to around #53 in the Billboard charts while "The Warrior" got all the way to number seven. But what do the public know?

If it wasn't for the fact that I luckily caught a concert by Patty Smyth and Scandal on the radio one night in early 1985, I would have had them down as two hit wonders. It was that radio broadcast that convinced me to explore what would be the band's only full length album, "Warrior." I thank the fact that I was in the right place at the right time because I would have otherwise missed out on a good album.

The weird thing about "Warrior" is then, like now, each time I listen to it, my enjoyment of the album alternates. One listen has me thinking, "What a great album!" while the next time, I might think, "Eh, it's okay." However, I never thought lower than the eh, it's okay.

"Warrior" stacks its three singles on the first three tracks, leading off with the best known one. Then comes "Beat of a Heart" which got a good bit of airplay and I do like it. As for the next track, "Hands Tied," I don't ever remember hearing it outside of the album. That doesn't mean it's a bad song but I do think it's not quite as good as the first two. The rest of the album is still good. One song that really sticks out is "Only the Young" but that song was written by Steve Perry, Neil Schon and Jonathan Cain of Journey who sold the song to Scandal, who do a good job in their recording of the song.

"All I Want" is probably the heaviest song on the album. There are some crunching guitars on it and it does host what I consider to be the best guitar solo on the album. Unfortunately, the credits don't reveal which guitarist plays the solo so I guess we'll never know. "Talk to Me" is almost as hard and the guitar solo matches the previous track but it takes a second or two before the song gets into full swing. The rest of the album goes out on a less harder tone beginning with the ballad, "Say What You Will." Not bad as far as rock ballads go but it doesn't chart in my personal list of great ballads. "Tonight" does take things back to pre ballad feelings and though the guitar solo is pretty cool, it's not quite as rocky as tracks six or seven. As for the closer, it follows on from its predecessor fine and is the best track to close the album with.

Patty Smyth proves on "Warrior" that she can deliver the goods vocally. I never understood why she didn't go farther in the music world. I'd take her over Madonna any day! Then again, I would take any female rock or metal singer over Madonna. As for the rest of the band, I will say that they are competent. Except for the guitar solos, I won't say they're spectacular but they know how to play and they get the job done.

Track Listing:

1. The Warrior
2. Beat of a Heart
3. Hands Tied
4. Less Than Half
5. Only the Young
6. All I Want
7. Talk to Me
8. Say What You Will
9. Tonight
10. Maybe We Went Too Far

Patty Smyth- lead vocals

Zack Smith- guitar, backing vocals

Ivan Elias- bass

Keith Mack- guitar, backing vocals

Thommy Price- drums

Additional Musicians

Peter Wood- synthesizer

Pat Mastelotto- drums on 'Only the Young'

Andy Newmark- drums on "Hands Tied"

Frank Previte- backing vocals on "Hands Tied"

Norman Mershon- backing vocals on "Hands Tied"

"Warrior" was the only album released by Scandal. Patty Smyth would put out some solo albums a few years later but little, if anything, would be heard from Scandal. Is it a shame? I tend to think so because this is a good to okay album and who knows what they would have come up with if given another shot.

Next post: Marillion- Fugazi

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com