U2 ‎– The Unforgettable Fire

U2 is a band that I can totally appreciate their earlier albums from the 1980’s but after Achtung Baby they sort of lost me.  Every album post Achtung really only had one, maybe two, songs that I liked.  But there are two albums that really stand out for me and take me back to my high school days.  The Joshua Tree and this album.  This, to me, was some good freakin’ music. This was U2’s fourth studio album released when I was 14.  I was really exploring a ton of different music during this time and it was then that I realized I wasn’t, or didn’t need to be, tied to one type of music.  Just listen to it if it was enjoyable. For The Unforgettable Fire, U2 brought in the famed Brian Eno, from Roxy Music, to help produce.  I note this because I was/am a fan of Roxy Music so this was always just a real sweet little fact I’ve always carried with me.  But the result of Brian’s influence here also changed U2’s sound, to me, from their previous War, October and, of course, Boy albums.  The Unforgettable Fire really seemed to bring U2 into more of a mainstream and mature sound.  Good or bad?  I’m sure that’s up for debate.  But then again, they only produced two, maybe two and a half, albums after The Unforgettable Fire, that I could really appreciate.

 

U2 ‎– The Unforgettable Fire

October 1, 1984 – Island Side One

1. A Sort Of Homecoming
2. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
3. Wire
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Promenade

Side Two

1. 4th Of July
2. Bad
3. Indian Summer Sky
4. Elvis Presley And America
5. MLK

Foreigner: 4

This album was in my very first delivery of 12 records for one cent from the Columbia Record and Tape Club shortly after I received my first stereo for Christmas when I was in 6th grade.  The only reason I chose this album is because the Columbia Record and Tape Club featured “Waiting For A Girl Like You” in their TV commercials.  I didn’t know much about Foreigner but the commercial got me.

There are some GREAT Foreigner tunes on this album.  Juke Box Hero, Waiting For A Girl Like You, and Urgent are probably my tops.  It was fun to listen to this again because it brought me back to that first delivery of albums… for only one cent!… and then I, or my mom, ended up overpaying for albums we wanted or simply got albums we didn’t want because we didn’t mail back the card saying we didn’t want that album of the month.  They got me.

Foreigner: 4

Atlantic – July 2, 1981

Side One

1. Night Life
2. Juke Box Hero
3. Break It Up
4. Waiting For A Girl Like You
5. Luanne

Side Two

1. Urgent
2. I’m Gonna Win
3. Woman In Back
4. Girl On The Moon
5. Don’t Let Go

Def Leppard: Rock Of Ages (12″ Promo)

Here’s a fun one… a 12″, 33-1/3, Promo copy of two of Def Leppard’s great early hit tracks from the album Pyromania.  “Rock of Ages” and “Too Late For Love”.  “Rock of Ages” is the gunter glieben glauchen globen song (which supposedly doesn’t mean a thing) and was sampled by the Offspring on their “Pretty Fly For A White Guy” track.

“Too Late For Love” is also a favorite of mine because the sic-fi-ish opening sounded great on my headphones.

Not much else to say about this particular album.  It has two great tracks and they sound fantastic!  I read somewhere, sometime, that 12″ singles sound better than their LP counterparts because the grooves don’t need to be set so close together.  Fact?  I don’t know.

Def Leppard: Rock Of Ages (12″ Promo)

1983 – Mercury

Side One

1. Rock Of Ages

Side Two

1. Too Late For Love

Pat Benatar: Precious Time

Oh Pat, how did I love thee back in the 80’s.  You were, and kinda still are, one a hot rockin’ chick.  I always really liked Pat’s music but for some reason I never really considered myself a fan.  Her music rocks and she is hot as hell so I don’t understand.  Anyway, the standout, pop culture, event of Pat Benatar for me HAS got to be where “she’s one of the three girls who have “cultivated” the Pat Benatar look” at Ridgemont High.  Totally a classic moment in cinematic history.

Top tracks on side one have got to be “Promises In The Dark” and “Fire and Ice” with an honorable mention to “Precious Time”.  All three of these tunes took me back to a specific time in my life.  These specifically to where I actually was making mixed tapes from MTV music videos on VHS.  I guess I had a lot of time on my hands.  Side two was mediocre but I need to give props to Pat’s take of Helter Skelter.  There are a few classic tunes that bands cover from time to time that I like to take note of.  Train Kept a Roll’n and Helter Skelter are two of the big ones and Pat does Helter Skelter justice.

Also, I totally remember the Chrysalis label this was released on.  Chrysalis sold off it’s library in 1990 and 1991 to EMI… which of course I had to look up on Wikipedia where I also found out that the name, Chrysalis, was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis.  Learn something new everyday. P.S. – The liner notes included lyrics… again… love that!!!

 

Pat Benatar: Precious Time July 6, 1981 – Chrysalis Side One

1. Promises In The Dark
2. Fire and Ice
3. Just Like Me
4. Precious Time

Side Two

1. It’s A Tuff Life
2. Take It Any Way You Want It
3. Evil Genius
4. Hard To Believe
5. Helter Skelter

Elvis Presley: Moody Blue

Well the time has come to get into it… and by “it” I mean Elvis.  My mom was a HUGE fan and her stack-o-wax for Elvis is deep.  I grew up with a lot of Elvis playing around the house so I can appreciate his music, I’m just not a fan.  But this album was always my favorite because, well, the vinyl is blue.  I thought that maybe it might be worth something being an original pressing.   Looking on eBay most people are selling, or trying to sell, their copies for around $10.  I was hoping for more… not that I would sell though.

Side One opens up with the famed “Unchained Melody” (not sure if Elvis made that tune popular or not but it’s decent).  Side two opens up with what I would consider my favorite Elvis tune… “Way Down”.  I state that as my favorite because I remember, when I was around 8, buying an Elvis album in a bargain bin and this was the most rocking-est tune on the entire album.  It’s kind of dark, funky, with a cool synth rhythm to it.  Fun to listen to again.  To tell you the truth, I would not know a good Elvis song from a bad one because I was exposed to all of these tunes so much as a kid that they are engrained into my being.  His music just never really influenced me much.

Outside of that, an okay listen but the blue vinyl makes it for me.  There will be other Elvis albums posted here since I have a ton.  I thought I’d better get a start on them so I can spread them out a bit.  I don’t think I could handle back to back to back albums.

  

Elvis Presley: Moody Blue

February 2, 1976 – RCA Records

Side One

1. Unchained Melody
2. If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
3. Little Darlin’
4. He’ll Have To Go
5. Let Me Be There

Side Two

1. Way Down
2. Pledging My Love
3. Moody Blue
4. She Thinks I Still Care
5. It’s Easy For you

Loverboy: Loverboy

No joke… my very first concert on my own was Loverboy.  I was like 11, 12, or 13 years old, somewhere around there, and I went with a friend.  We simply got dropped off at the concert and then picked up when it was over.  I thought it was cool as hell back when I was 11 but today I can totally see how it may not have been the best idea.  There was a point in my life where I was a bit embarrassed about this being my first concert but I’ve come to accept it and celebrate it.

The hit tracks on this album are “The Kid Is Hot Tonite” and “Turn Me Loose” which are still my favorite.  Regardless, Loverboy, to me, always had a very signature guitar sound led by Paul Dean.  It was that sound that defined Loverboy for me.  Outside of Loverboy, Paul didn’t do much of note playing in bands like Brutus and Streetheart to name a few.  He was awarded the Composer of the Year award for this album which is cool.

Decent album if you consider only side one.  Side two sounds a bit dated but a few tracks still have that cool edge to them… just not as cool today as it was back int he early 80’s.

 

Loverboy:  Loverboy

March 28, 1980 – Columbia

Side One

1. The Kid Is Hot Tonite
2. Turn Me Loose
3. Always On My Mind
4. Lady of The 80’s

Side Two

1. Little Girl
2. Prissy Prissy
3. Teenage Overdose
4. D.O.A.
5. It Don’t Matter

Journey: Escape

…or should I say E5C4P3?  This was the 1st of what, 10?, albums I received for only one cent from the Columbia Record and Tape Club.  I could probably name you at least 7 of those 10 albums I received in that first shipment.  It was my very first journey (see what I did there) into my own world of music.  I didn’t always make the best choices but that was the great part of the discover, right?  I was in 6th grade and had JUST received my first stereo for Christmas that year and signed up for the Columbia Record and Tape Club that next week.  So a very memorable set of first purchases for sure.

I can’t say that I developed into a true Journy fan in these early years but, today, as I got a bit deeper into this album I had remembered it being chalked full of more hits than it actually is.  I mean I would never judge Steve Perry’s voice.  All the track sound fantastic.  I thought this just had more of their hits on it.  Don’t Stop Believin’ and Stone In Love starting off the album?  I mean come on!  That’s a great start to any album.  But from that point forward I guess my hopes were a little high.

I’ll have to give this one another spin sometime soon just to double check my perceptions. I would hate to give up on such a classic album too soon.  Although I wasn’t blown away by it it was still a good session.

 

Journey: Escape

July 31, 1981 – Columbia

Side One

1. Don’t Stop Believin’
2. Stone In Love
3. Who’s Crying Now
4. Keep On runnin’
5. Still They Ride

Side Two

1. Escape
2. Lay It Down
3. Dead Or Alive
4. Mother, Father
5. Open Arms

Van Halen: 1984

Oh yes!  What an album!!!  I was 14 when this baby came out and I remember loving everything about it.  From the cover with the baby angle smoking a pack of cigarettes to almost every single track on this.  It was also the last album that David Lee Roth appeared on for Van Halen.  After David the band turned essentially into a totally different band with ol’ Sammy.  then after Sammy the band kind of fizzled away.  But that’s another story.

This particular piece of vinyl is in relatively great condition from the cover to the album sleeve to the vinyl itself as you can hopefully see from the photo.  This is not a reissue.  This is the original pressing.

Top tracks?  Well, pretty much the entire album.  And I think it was around this time that Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” was released.  And as a Van Halen fan at the time it was hard to believe that Eddie would play the guitar track, or solo, on it.  But 1984 was most definitely one of my favorite albums of the times.  I even had the album on cassette (purchased not recorded) so that I could jam to it driving around… after I turned 16 of course.

I’m glad this baby (album cover pun intended) is in my library!

 

Van Halen: 1984

January 9, 1984 – Warner Bros.

Side One

1. 1984
2. Jump
3. Panama
4. Top Jimmy
5. Drop Dead Legs

Side Two

1. Hot For Teacher
2. I’ll Wait
3. Girl Gone Bad
4. House Of Pain

Talking Heads: True Stories

I actually remember this purchase.  Sound Warehouse on Dry Creek Road and University just south of Denver where I grew up. I don’t remember if I purchased this album before or after the movie came out though.  I “think” before.  I have always been a big Talking Heads fan and I remember being excited for a new album.  But yes, this album was released around the same time as the movie which featured all of these same tunes.  A strange film but a must see just for the the glimpse you get into David Byrne’s head. This album was always a bit strange to me because of the movie.  I couldn’t separate this album from the movie which made it difficult for me to determine if this is a great heads album or or just a good soundtrack to a strange movie?  Either way, I like it today so we’ll call it a great album.  I remember “Wild Wild Life” playing on both MTV and the radio a bunch which was great for us TH fans. Interesting note for those that are unaware.  Radiohead, the band, took their name from the song “Radio Head” off this album.  It’s true… look it up. Reading the liner notes “Hey Now” featured members of the St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School Choir from Dallas.  These kids are probably in their late 30’s today?  How cool would that have been to be somewhat credited on a ‘Heads album?  Where was I?  There’s also a note from David Byrne on the sleeve kind of explaining what’s going on here:

This is not the soundtrack to the movie, TRUE STORIES. Rather this album contains Talking Heads versions of songs from the film.  In the movie, which I directed, most of the songs are sung by the actors and will be available on separate recordings.  Additional, the musical score to TRUE STORIES is available on Sire Records, Cassettes and Compact Discs.  Thanks, this was fun.

– David Byrne

I’m going to have to track this movie down here soon and give ‘er a watch again.

Talking Heads: True Stories October 7, 1986 – Warner Bros./Sire Side One

1. Love For Sale
2. Puzzlin’ Evidence
3. Hey Now
4. Papa Legba

Side Two

1. Wild Wild Life
2. Radio Head
3. Dram Operator
4. People Like Us
5. City of Dreams