Gruppo Sportivo - Copy Copy (1980)

DISCOVERED

This is the third time I have added this group to the blog. This is another solid Two-Tone release. The vocals are split similar to The Rezillos where some songs feature a female vocal and other a male vocal. On this release the female vocal remind me more of Pauline Black from The Selector.

WATCH YOUR BOY

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Paul Davis - Cool Night (1981)

MEMORY

I remember these hits on this were all over the radio. There isn't anything wrong with this album with the only exception it's 2 or 3 years past it's window. If this came out in 78 or even 79 this would have been huge. This album would have given Christopher Cross a run for his money. If your like your Rock soft or if you enjoy Pop, this album is very very good. There are some song that could rival the hits that came off of this release. There isn't a bad song on this.

COOL NIGHT

'65 LOVE AFFAIR

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Squeeze - Cool for Cats (1979)

MEMORY

I am not a huge Squeeze fan, I found many of their songs a bit goofy for the sake of being goofy. This album has a lot of that silly goofiness. From the lyrics to the oddball sounds they throw in. I wasn't going to include this album at all. The saddest thing is that Cool For Cats is the best song on here. This barely made it on this blog, and the memory  that I remember is the song was stupid.

COOL FOR CATS

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Prince - Controversy (1981)

MEMORY

This may have been a song that I saw first that was featured on a local channel 24 Music Video fill in. When Music Videos exploded everyone jumped in when they saw the success that Mtv had. The memory I have here is not really a musical part but the visual of the surgeon's animated antics on the keyboards doing his key slide. I am going to feature an additional video that I never knew existed as well. It's from the same video shoot.

CONTROVERSY

SEXUALITY

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Jim Capaldi - The Contender (1978)

DISCOVERED

This was better than I expected. It's Pop with subtle funk and disco flavors mixed in. I was going to feature the cover song "Sealed With A Kiss" but it's not the best representation of this album. There are some softer songs on here, but aren't completely terrible. I hope you enjoy the feature song.

DAUGHTER OF THE NIGHT

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Uriah Heep - Conquest (1980)

DISCOVERED

Giving this a good listen, this sounds a lot like Axe. Which is a good thing. I cannot understand why I never listen to Uriah Heep. These guys are fantastic. I am fairly certain that it was the organ or keyboards. I found them to make the music dated or less heavy. Uriah Heep does a good job of making sure their keyboards aren't over powering. 

FEELINGS

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999 - Concrete (1981)

DISCOVERED

I don't know why I never went back and listen to more 999.

I have always enjoyed them. Their mix of guitars and rhythmic bass lines are a bit more polished which is more along the lines of The Clash, and not The Sex Pistols. This is another solid release.

MERCY MERCY

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The Tubes - The Completion Backward Principle (1981)

MEMORY

One of the Saturday late night staples was SCTV, I remember John Candy and The Fishin' Musician with The Tubes. The song played was "Sushi Girl". Loved it! It was different, New Wave and melodic. It wasn't long after that I saw the featured song on MTV. It blew me away.

TALK TO YA LATER

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Commodores - Commodores (1977)

MEMORY

If you like 70s funk, most of this is a must listen to. There are two hits on here that are on opposite sides of spectrum. You have "Easy", which is a sap suck love song that got overplayed on the radio, and at the roller skate rinks. And then you have this Funk classic, that may have been over played, but No one every complained. You knew the song as soon as it started....

BRICK HOUSE

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Penetration - Coming Up for Air (1979)

DISCOVERED

This is one that I discovered a while back, but not too sorry I missed them in 1979. GOOD Female Fronted Punk was obscure, this isn't what I would consider good. In fact, most of it seems a bit noisy for the sake of being noisy. I did find one that I enjoyed and reminds me of early Blondie.

LIFELINE

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Rick James - Come Get It! (1978)

MEMORY

I remember the featured song from the nights at the roller skating rink. After a good listening to the rest of the album, there is some good stuff on here, like "Sexy Lady" and "Mary Jane". But there are some stinkers on here,like "Dream Maker", & "Hollywood".

YOU AND I

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Whitesnake - Come an' Get It (1981)

DISCOVERED

I like Whitesnake and David Coverdale's vocals, but didn't listen to them until 1984. So this is labeled as Discovered. There is some earlier stuff that I don't care for because of that damn organ, which makes it sound so dated. The organ is just waaaay to prominent. Which is a shame because the melodies are spectacular. The title track doesn't suffer too badly from their style, and the guitar solo rocks.

COME AN' GET IT 

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Comateens - The Comateens (1981)

DISCOVERED

I believe I heard of this band, but never heard them. Looking at the cover, A New Wave with a female, most likely vocals, since she is front and center. This band has so much potential, but their 8 bit minimalist approach sucks it. I get it, it's artsy, it's New Wave, yeah ..it blows monkeys. One decent spot is a cover song, that she doesn't sing on which is tolerable.

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Baccara - Colours (1979)

DISCOVERED

Here is one from what I consider the Spanish version of ABBA. Light Disco dance music with pleasant female vocals and harmonies.

AY AY SAILOR

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Code Blue - Code Blue (1980)

DISCOVERED

This barely made it, only to post another band better than Joy Division. It's Power Pop, but it's not all that great. I did enjoy this song.

OTHER END OF TOWN

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Robert Palmer - Clues (1980)

MEMORY

I can honestly say I never listened to anything from Robert Palmer that wasn't played on the radio. I gave this a good listen, and it's alittle to weird for my taste. There was alsways one song that I liked from this album, besides the title track. There was a bass sound after some of the verses that always stood out when I heard them.

JOHNNY AND MARY

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Robert Johnson - Close Personal Friend (1979)

DISCOVERED

Another discovered Power Pop artist, and a good one at that. It's always a good things when I have to choose what song should represent this album. 

WISH UPON A STAR

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The Clash - The Clash (1977)

MEMORY

The Clash is up there with Punks finest, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones... There are some many awesome songs on here. It's 1977 and this rips open the genre. Each song is raw and aggressive. I am a fan of covers songs, if they are done right. This one...Better than the original.

I FOUGHT THE LAW

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Gerry Rafferty - City to City (1978)

MEMORY

There are three songs I know of from Gerry Rafferty, and all three are on here. There are two more, "Island" and "Waiting For The Day" that are similar, the remaning five songs, don't appeal to me. So of his three single from this release, it's between "Baker Street" & "Right Down THe Line", "Home And Dry" is good but it is clearly in third. Well, I will go with the first song that I heard. HOw could I deny those screming guitars near the end of the song.

BAKER STREET

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Nick Gilder - City Nights (1978)

MEMORY

I will admit, when I first heard Nick Gilder, I thought it was a chick. Well it's not...And next, when I heard the hit song, I thought, probably the only good thing on there. Well it's not. The songs have strong melodoies, and nearly any one of them could have been a follow up to "Hot Child In The City". The most memorale thing about the song, is that there was a short version and a long version, where the song picks back up after you thought it ended.

HOT CHILD IN THE CITY

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Chris Hillman & Roger McGuinn - City (1980)

DISCOVERED

Another album that based on the name and the title I would have never picked up, let alone listen to. Some track has a very slight country vibe, almost like The Eagles mixed with Tom Petty, and other are Rock or Power Pop, but the distortion on the guitars is little to none. There are some really good songs on this Street Talk, Skate Date, Givin' Herself Away and this one...

DEEPER IN

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Steve Miller Band - Circle Of Love (1981)

MEMORY

Not much of a Steve Miller fan, and this album is one of those reasons, I mean the B side is one long song. Makes sense for Steve Miller since nearly all his songs sound the same and repeat the song title over and over and over and over in the chorus. Giving this a listen, I found that I do remember the featured song and its the only track that worth listening to.

HEART LIKE A WHEEL

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Christopher Cross - Christopher Cross (1979)

MEMORY

I remember recording most of the hits off this on to a 90 minute Red K-Mart cassette. C'mon every loves Christopher Cross, don't they? There are 4 singles on here, I only knew of two of them, until I listened to the album, and I knew those other two. My goodness, this album beat Pink Floyd's "The Wall" for best album. There are some good songs on here. Nicolette Larsen, Michael McDonald, JD Souther, Don Henley, Eric Johnson, this album is star studded. The four hits include, "Sailing", "Say You'll Be Mine", "Never Be The Same", and this one...my favorite...

RIDE LIKE THE WIND

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Chris Christian - Chris Christian (1981)

DISCOVERED

This is actually really good. It's Soft Rock, very similar to Christopher Cross or Roger Voudouris. There are some that are a bit more rock...but not many. He's just two or three years behind the window for this genre.

WHAT CAN THERE BE

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Roy Sundholm - Chinese Method (1979)

DISCOVERED

From the Band name, album title and album cover, I had no idea what to expect. I was surprised to hear it was Power Pop mixed with horns and brass and piano and not half bad.

GO ZERO

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Thin Lizzy - Chinatown (1980)

DISCOVERED

To me there are two songs that define Thin Lizzy, "Jailbreak" and "The Boys Are Back In Town". I do have to admit there are some good songs on here. I do admit that Phil's vocal style isn't among my favorites, and in my opinion the reason I didn't listen to more Thin Lizzy.

WE WILL BE STRONG

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Billy Thorpe - Children of the Sun (1979)

MEMORY

I was familiar with Billy Thorpe as he was featured on Exposed II, with "Just The Way I Like It" and Let Me Outta Here", which I enjoyed, but none of those I would consider Hard Rock.

I remember borrowing this from the library with much anticipation. I was quite disappointed. I expected the music to be harder. After listening to it again, there isn't much on here for me. Everyone has heard the title track thanks to massive radio airplay. There was more than one version, one with the intro, and one without. To me, the intro makes the song.

CHILDREN OF THE SUN

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Boney M. - Children of Paradise (1980)

DISCOVERED

Now this a single and not an album, but the featured track was never released on their next album in 1981. It's a 70s Disco cover song of a late 60s classic from Iron Butteryfly.

GADDA-DA-VIDA

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Chicago - Chicago XIV (1980)

DISCOVERED

Again, I never listened to this before...I have no idea why I didn't listen to more Chicago. They have their sounds down. I will admit, there are a few songs on here that aren't all that but there are some that deserve a little more ears. This one rocks a little bit more than usual.

HOLD ON

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Chicago - Chicago XI (1977)

MEMORY

I remember when this came out, and it was a get ready for school morning song. The song is so simple yet complex at the same time. A typical Chicago song, intricate harmonies and subtle sounds that compliment each other. I am only familiar with the hit that was played in heavy rotation when it came out. The rest of the album is what you would expect, very good and easy on the ears.

Peter Cetera only sings on the hit which is featured.

BABY WHAT A BIG SURPRISE

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Chicago - Chicago 13 (1979)

DISCOVERED

If you like any Chicago at all, then you will like any Chicago at all. Their style is so unique and defined in such a way that is each new song has that familiar feel to it. I can honestly say I never listened to this before going through the albums of this era, but there is some great stuff on here. Both Peter Cetera and Donnie Dacus share the vocals on this.

MAMA TAKE

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Chic - Chic (1977)

MEMORY

Another Roller Skating Classic that was almost a certainty it was played more than once per night. I had no idea where Yowsah came from so I did a little searching. Apparently it's a Corrupted form of "yes, sir," thought to have first appeared in minstrel shows of the Jim Crow era. Who knew?

DANCE, DANCE, DANCE (YOWSAH, YOWSAH, YOWSAH)

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Cheryl Lynn - Cheryl Lynn (1978)

MEMORY

There are many things that just don't fit. The name with the face, that isn't what I envision Cheryl Lynn to look like. Her voice, I do not see it coming out of that face. This song was played all over the AM going to school radio.

GOT TO BE REAL

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Mondo Rock - Chemistry (1981)

DISCOVERED

This stuff is fairly soft but the melodies are catchy as are the lyrics. I love the organ, it gives it that European sound, but these are are from Australia.

COOL WORLD

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Chelsea - Chelsea (1979)

DISCOVERED

I know when I heard them, I dismissed them think they were a bit of a mess. With music the way it is now, these guys are leagues ahead of what is considered music now of days.

TWELVE MEN

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Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick (1977)

DISCOVERED

Going back to listen to early Cheap Trick.. it is still a bit raw, but it does show how much they have gown from when they started.

HE'S A WHORE

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Live Wire - Changes Made (1981)

DISCOVERED

If you like The Romantics you should like this. It's upbeat and has some decent songs on here. Not much I can find on this band, except they are from the UK.

CHILD'S EYE

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Jimmy Buffett - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes (1977)

MEMORY

So this album and this artist is nothing special. But there is nothing like watching a man try to reach a goal a fail time after time after time. This man has one song, and it's on this album. Cheese burger in Paradise? please... that song blows sailors... Jimmy Buffet the one hit wonder that never stops trying. There's booze in the blender...

MARGARITAVILLE

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Eric Carmen - Change of Heart (1978)

MEMORY

Okay, so it's not very manly, but I really enjoy this song. It has some great hooks, and I remember his falsetto all over this. It's one of those songs you hear and think, Hey, I know this one...There is a few covers on here but they are nothing special.

CHANGE OF HEART

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Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Chance (1980)

MEMORY

There is some decent stuff on here. But there is one song that I absolutely love. I'm not much of a Springsteen fan. He is kinda like Dylan, the man can write, but the man can't sing. After hearing the original, Manfred Mann's version is FAR superior in every way. Don't call for your surgeon, even he says it's late, it's not your lungs this time, but your heart holds your fate.

FOR YOU

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Atlanta Rhythm Section - Champagne Jam (1978)

MEMORY

I remember loving "So Into You" and getting this from the library. I remember being a lot more country than I would have liked. I do recall the title track and that was okay. I also recall liking "I'm Not Going To Let It Bother Me Tonight". There was once in particular that I remember recording of the radio on to a cassette tape, because I thought it was fantastic. One thing about Imaginary Lovers...Satisfaction Guaranteed!

IMAGINARY LOVER

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Chaka Khan - Chaka (1978)

MEMORY

There really isn't too much on here that I would listen to on a regular basis, but this one is quite awesome.

I'M EVERY WOMAN

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Chic C'est - Chic (1978)

MEMORY

I'm fairly certain that even with my older brother who embraced the Disco culture, I still would have made room for some Disco music. mainly because of roller skating. Here is another one for the rink. I do remember the BIG BASS in the ending chorus of the long version. Just come on down to 54, am I the only one that notice the weird speed changes near the end?

LE FREAK

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Heatwave- Central Heating (1977)

MEMORY

If you went skating during it's peak, you heard this. Possibly more than once a night...Possibly more than twice a night...It's not a bad song. It's reminds me of when disco was king and if you didn't dance you weren't cool. I was not cool. I love the funky groove and the bass line. I do remember, the trumpets in the song. That's what made it for me.

GROOVELINE

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Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch - Celi Bee & the Buzzy Bunch (1977)

DISCOVERED

Well, her idea of Superman and my idea of Superman, quite a bit different. It's a fun and interesting song, that has a Super Hero in it, so it's a post.

SUPERMAN

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The Selecter - Celebrate the Bullet (1981)

DISCOVERED

One of the hardest things for me to find is a decent Two Tone band. I didn't know of the album until after it was released. I wish this was a little bit better, but it's Two Tone, so I'll allow it.

BOMBSCARE

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Kool & the Gang - Celebrate! (1980)

MEMORY

Let's me first say this...I hate the title track. It was over played to the point were I will instantly skip it or change the channel if at all possible, There is only a few songs in this genre that I hate WORSE than Celebrate, one is Sister Sledge - We are Family. I did find another track on here that is a lot better and have no idea why this one did make it bigger.

TAKE IT TO THE TOP

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Jim Carroll Band - Catholic Boy (1980)

MEMORY

I remember this and I found it weird, a song about death. It's about different people and how they died. WTF? All in all it's not too bad. I will admit that most of everything that is one here sounds a lot like People Who Died, simply because of the way he sings, but City Drops Into The Night is a little slower and quite enjoyable. I have to post the song that is the only memory from this album.

PEOPLE WHO DIED

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Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever (1977)

MEMORY

This is who the freaks listened to, the ones that wore their olive green army coats, smoking cigarettes in the their cars, during lunch in the student parking lot. I had very little friends in high school. I was a geek, a nerd. In the late 70s, nerds had ZERO social status. There was a small group of outcasted freaks that eventually invited me into their fold, and one of them had an 8 track player. Our lunch was a variety of Kansas, Supertramp, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and an occasional Harry Chapin and Charlie Daniels Band and of course Ted Nugent. He was known as The Motor City Madman. The album cover nailed that persona, and he sang about poon tang! I remember the intro to the second song...EPIC!!

WANG DANG SWEET POON TANG

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Bobby Caldwell - Cat in the Hat (1980)

DISCOVERED

It's pop, but the songs have a nice groove to them, almost a Steely Dan quality to them. This would be a good album to put on and decompress.

IT'S OVER

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