Coming In April: Jason Falkner "Everyone Says Its On"

All 24 tracks from this Japan-only release will be available to CHARITY SLICE readers.

Stay tuned.

Urgh! A Music War

1981 may not seem to be the most memorable year in rock history, but, in hindsight, the ratio of great bands all occupying the Earth at the same time was pretty impressive. Perhaps the most singular collection of noteworthy "new wave" acts can be found on Urgh! A Music War, a movie that was comprised of performances from the likes of The Police, Devo, Oingo Boingo, Joan Jett, Pere Ubu and others.

The accompanying soundtrack album is amazingly solid and, despite the diversity on display here, not at all lacking in continuity.

The CD, long out-of-print, saw more than a few noteworthy acts dropped from the original 2-LP set, including stellar performances by Athletico Spizz (who contributed one of my personal fave tracks, "Where's Captain Kirk?"), Toyah Wilcox, and UB40. It does a credible job, however, of collecting some of the best of punk, new wave, reggae, and synth-pop/techno acts of the time. All tracks listed below are available to DONATE TO CHARITY SLICE readers.

Track listing:

1. Driven To Tears - The Police
2. Back In Flesh - Wall Of Voodoo
3. Enola Gay - Orchestral Manoeuvres
4. Ain't This The Life - Oingo Boingo
5. Respectable Street - XTC
6. We Got The Beat - Go Go's
7. Total Eclipse - Klaus Nomi
8. Foolish I Know - Jools Holland
9. Ku Klux Klan - Steel Pulse
10. Uncontrollable Urge - Devo
11. Puppet, The - Echo & The Bunnymen
12. Tear It Up - The Cramps
13. Bad Reputation - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
14. Birdies - Pere Ubu
15. Down In The Park - Gary Numan
16. Shadow-line - The Fleshtones
17. He'd Send In The Army - Gang Of Four
18. Homicide - 999
19. Beyond And Back - X
20. Model Worker - Magazine
21. Sign Of The Cross - Skafish

The Cult 2006 Tour mp3's

I'll never forget first hearing The Cult's UK "Revolution" EP. I was instantly transfixed by the regal, yet organic sound of this band at a time when synth-pop and goth was Britain's main export.

Granted, there were slight goth elements on the band's Love album, from which "Revolution" was taken, but those who took the time to delve a little deeper found a band that drew upon psychedelic and blues influences.

By the time their next album, Electric, was released, the band all but disassociated themselves from the goth/dance rock tag and gone in a decidedly smarmy hard rock direction. Produced by Rick Rubin, Electric was the result of a band even more enamored by American rock & roll than U2 had been during their Rattle And Hum period.

While their next album, Sonic Temple, arguably continued their transformation into a top-flight heavy metal band, most agree that the band soon lost the plot. Subsequent albums meshed half-baked material with lackluster production and saw declining sales. The band then disbanded in the mid-90's, only to reunite in 2000 to release Beyond Good And Evil for new label, Atlantic.

After once-again going their separate ways, singer Ian Astbury made more than a few eyebrows flinch skyward by joining Doors Of The 21st Century for a couple years of steady road work.

Thus, it was with some surprise that The Cult reformed and began a US tour this month. While their glory days may be long behind them, they made a couple truly solid albums that I list among my favorites of the time.

Here are some mp3's from the first show on the tour.

Track listing:

Lil Devil
Sweet Soul Sister
Peace Dog
Revolution
Spiritwalker
Rise
Rain
Fire Woman
Wildflower
Edie
Electric Ocean

Career In A Nutshell: The Police

When The Police formed in England in 1976, they were already seen as impostors who were merely riding the wave of punk rock. After all, drummer Stewart Copeland was an American transplant who'd done time in prog band, Curved Air. His brothers Miles and Ian were also well-known promoters and booking agents on the punk scene, thus any involvment they had with Stewart's band would be viewed as nepotism.

By the time Andy Summers, a veteran guitarist who had recorded and toured with the likes of Kevin Ayers and Eric Burdon's New Animals, had joined the band, the final piece had fallen fatefully into place.

Upon hearing the band perform the newly-written "Roxanne", Miles Copeland could no longer remain uninvolved. He knew a hit when he heard one and, with a bravado that belied any actual leverage he and the band may have had, called in a favor at A&M Records that landed the band a worldwide record deal.


The Police/Outlandos d'Amour (A&M) 1978

Outlandos d'Amour opens strongly with the three-chords-and-a-cloud-of-dust rocker "Next To You". "So Lonely" continues the fast pace, but also integrates tasteful reggae groove that the band built upon even further on "Roxanne".

Over the course of the first three tracks, one gets the feeling they're listening to a band gradually finding their own identity. "Can't Stand Losing You", while not as immediate as "Roxanne", bristles with the brash confidence of a band now in full command of their sound.

Not every song is a winner, of course.

Just as critics had earlier dogged the band's extensive onstage jams as evidence that the trio were short on material, songs such as "Hole In My Life" and "Masoko Tango" are non-essential exercises in musical versatility, if nothing else. Of course, "Be My Girl/Sally", a slightly unsettling (and unfunny) spoken-word ode to a blow-up doll, accomplishes little to dissuade such criticism.

While a bit of a mixed bag, stylistically, this is a strong debut.


The Police/Reggatta de Blanc (A&M) 1979

Nowadays, a band is seen as prolific if they release a new CD every two or three years. In the 70's, even your most popular bands were expected to churn out to albums every year or so. While by no means a big band (yet), The Police released their second album within a year of their sterling debut effort and showed the world that they had truly come into their own.

No other band had yet bridged the gap between reggae and rock so effectively. Bands such as The English Beat and the two-tone movement (The Specials, Selecter, et al) had yet to get off the ground by the time this album was climbing the charts. Still, I recall many reviewers failing to grasp the innovation of this band. Instead, they wrongly pegged the band as pretenders to a punk throne the band had long ago lost interest in.

Much like their debut effort, half of the record is incredibly strong: "Message In A Bottle", "Walking On The Moon", "Bring On The Night", and "Bed's Too Big Without You" are all found here. While mostly an instrumental, the title cut is also one of my personal fave Police tracks.

The other half of the record is made up of inconsequential, albeit listenable throwaway tracks like "Contact" and "Does Everyone Stare". Still very much a democracy, writing credits are spread amongst all members of the band, with Copeland getting credit on six tracks. It is obvious there were at least two members eager to take control of the band. At this point, it was obvious to everyone except Copeland who would win that battle.


The Police/Zenyatta Mondatta (A&M) 1980

Releasing a new album every autumn like clockwork, October of 1980 brought the third Police album and, with it, mainstream success in America via their first Top 10 hit single, "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da". They followed that success with "Don't Stand So Close To Me" and went from blowing bands like The Cars off the stage to headlining their own sold-out tour.

Even with some of their most accessible material to date, the band was still pushing the musical boundaries. "Driven To Tears" is a favorite of pop fans the world over despite an odd rhythmic timing, and lyrics that showcased Sting's newfound political leanings.

Zenyatta Mondatta is an album that a lot of Police fans are on the fence about. Even Sting has gone on-record as saying the album was a rush job. While it was their mainstream breakthrough, the album is arguably a tad thin on material. Sure, one finds it hard to hate songs like "Canary In A Coldmine" or "Man In A Suitcase", but these are not songs for which the band would come to be remembered. Copeland's two contributions to this record, "Bombs Away" and "The Other Way of Stopping", are forgettable. Summer's sole contribution, "Behind My Camel", hints at his future work in motion picture scoring. I like it, but then again, I find the whole of Zenyatta Mondatta to be quite listenable in its entirety. That, in my opinion, is why this is my favorite Police record. It's only when you break it down song-by-song that your inner rock critic comes to view certain songs as lacking in actual substance or identity.


The Police/Ghost In The Machine (A&M) 1981

For the band and their fans, as far as Police albums go, Ghost In The Machine is a horse of a different color. By now, the band was no longer part of a new music movement; they were the movement. Sting, after all, was now a full-fledged pop idol and it was obvious to just about everyone by now that The Police were his band, much to the chagrin of Copeland and Summers.

Where most bands may have chosen to continue with business as usual, The Police decided to throw a wrench into the spokes of convention. They changed producers (from Nigel Gray, who'd manned the board for the previous three records, to Hugh Padgham) and unveiled songs that addressed political and societal themes.

"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is about as light as the proceedings get. Even so, there is an underlying tension that has always filled me with a sense of unease. For such a perfect slice of pop perfection, this track has always struck me as a little cold and calculated. The production of this entire record also lacks warmth and, for the most part, it works on songs like "Demolition Man", "Invisible Sun", and "One World (Not Three)".

Of course, it wouldn't be a Police album without at least five tracks one could live without. The throwaway cuts found on this record, though, are some of the most forgettable tracks of their career.

Overall, I find Ghost In The Machine to be the least essential Police record. I recognize the artistic growth taking place herein, but don't find it anywhere as listenable as past efforts.


The Police/Synchronicity (A&M) 1983

This album broke the mold (and, ultimately, the band along with it). Sting's desire to take full control of the band was now in full motion, with Copeland and Summers relegated to roles as studio musicians, merely fleshing out Sting's demos.

That Synchronicity benefitted from this arrangement is inarguable. Sting's songwriting had never been better. Songs that would have been standout tracks on any past Police effort (namely "Walking In Your Footsteps", "Tea In The Sahara" and either of the two "Synchronicity" cuts) are almost completely eclipsed by the outright brilliance of "Every Breath You Take".

Songs such as "Wrapped Around Your Finger" and "King Of Pain" contain very little of that trademark Police sound, and, instead, are built around subtle keyboard figures and benefit from Sting's exploration of his lower vocal range.

The appearance of songs like "Miss Gradenko" (co-penned by Copeland) and "Mother" (co-written by Summers) are obvious concessions to his bandmates to maintain some form of calm, it would seem. In both cases, they detract from an otherwise almost flawless record that still sounds as creative and vital as it did upon first listen over 20 years ago.


The Police/Live! (A&M) 1995

This 2-CD live set is taken from two different concerts; Disc 1 is from Boston 1979, and Disc 2 is Atlanta 1983.

While both were professionally recorded, the overall mix of both concerts (as overseen by Andy Summers according to the liner notes) is sub-par and ultimately detracts from the enjoyment of one of the best live bands of the 70's and 80's.

Disc 1 also loses points for including too many filler cuts like "Hole In My Life", "Fall Out" (I know, I know, it was their first-ever single, but it's a clunker plain and simple), and "Peanuts".

Disc 2 has but one filler cut (Synchronicity's "O My God"), but shows the 1983 live band to be rounded out by backing singers that bring an unappealing Vegas sheen to songs like "Synchronicty I", "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da" and, gasp, "Message In A Bottle".

This live set is a necessity to completists only.


The Police/The Lost BBC Tapes (1979)

These live recordings are far superior to the official live album the Police released in '95 and were taken from in-studio BBC sessions and live concerts from '78 and '79. Most notable is an in-studio rendition of the newly-written "Message In A Bottle".

The Lost BBC Tapes showcases the band's quick transition from brash up-and-comers to a band in full command of their talents.

All tracks are available for download to DONATE TO CHARITY SLICE readers.

Track listing:

1. Next to You
2. Roxanne
3. Truth Hits Everybody
4. So Lonely
5. Interview
6. Message in a Bottle
7. The Bed's Too Big Without You
8. Can't Stand Losing You
9. So Lonely (live)
10. Fall Out
11. The Bed's Too Big Without You (live)
12. Message in a Bottle (live)
13. Roxanne (live)
14. Walking on the Moon (live)
15. Deathwish
16. Bring on the Night
17. No Time This Time

Country That Doesn't Suck: Deric Ruttan

The last time I accidentally listened to a country station, I was left scratching my head. It was eerily similar to the last time I accidentally landed on a Christian radio station. Each song seemed to be nothing more than background music, over which the singer emotively over-enunciates trite lyrics telling a vapid story that pulls shamelessly at one's heart strings. Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take The Wheel" is a fine example of this burgeoning epidemic of twangy three-minute audio books for people who can't read...and don't actually like country music.

Of course, those songs that didn't try to yank tears out of my eye sockets seemed to go out of their way to make me drive my car into a tree, pummelling me with empty-headed good ol' boy sloganeering...songs that seem to exist for the sole purpose of ending up in a Chevy commercial...or worse. By the way, have you been to Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar And Grill" in Las Vegas? I hear that it's a great place to go to "Get Drunk And Be Somebody". Sigh.

And what, pray tell, is a badonkadonk?

But I digress.

If you look at the current country singles chart, you'll see that Lyric Street Records has a new hit on their hands with Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood's duet, "Love Will Always Win". There is an artist on the label, however, that continues to go completely ignored. So much so that his debut effort for the label was only released in Canada.

Granted, he is Canadian, but last time I checked Keith Urban was Australian and damn if his records aren't all over the US.

The artist of which I speak goes by the name Deric Ruttan and, sure, he's co-penned hits for the likes of Dierks Bentley, but apparently this Disney-owned label is too busy kissing the "badonkadonk" of country's most popular adulterers (ouch, the gloves comes off) to pay proper attention to someone I consider to be contemporary country's best new artist.

How did I come to discover Deric?

I was visiting my family back in Michigan a year or so ago and happened upon the CMT channel. The video for his song, "When You Come Around" began playing and, before I could change the channel on the remote, I noticed that the drummer in the video was wearing a Ramones t-shirt. This was probably not long after I had a healthy chuckle upon seeing Justin Timberlake sporting an MC5 t-shirt on the cover of VIBE Magazine and thought this might be another case of someone thinking "maybe if I wear this t-shirt, people won't be able to tell how often I used to get beat up in gym class".

The few seconds I spent pondering this gave me enough time to realize the song wasn't that bad. I figured that since his single was being played on CMT the album itself must be readily available, but, to this day, I have yet to see a Deric Ruttan CD in a record store.

I had to buy my copy of the CD on eBay, from someone in Canada.

Deric has reportedly wrapped up sessions for his next record and word has it that this one may actually be released south of Saskatchewan.

I have hand-picked a few tracks from his first album for your listening pleasure.

When You Come Around
Unbeatable
Take The Wheel

Ministry: With Sympathy vs. Twitch

As far as synth-pop records go, Ministry's debut major label effort, With Sympathy, has always been one of my favorites.

I remember buying the album sight-unseen in 1983, having read only the briefest of blurbs about the band in Trouser Press magazine. I was immediately drawn in by Alain Jourgenson's edgy vocals and the band's use of synths in a more aggressive manner than most synth bands of the time (Ultravox, for example). Songs like "Effigy (I'm Not)" and "Revenge" were augmented by hard-driving drum patterns and urgent vocal hooks.

"I Wanted To Tell Her" continued the angsty desperation and I was rubbing my hands in hot anticipation of telling my friends about the cool new band I had discovered.

From that point on, though, things went hideously wrong. A little fluff-pop ditty called "Work For Love" came limping out of the speakers and I had to do a double-take to make sure my little brother hadn't replaced my Ministry record with the latest Culture Club single.

Even more embarrassing than that particular track was the head-scratcher "What He Say?" (my thoughts exactly), which is easily one of the more cringe-worthy songs of the 80's (and, doggone it for being such a well-kept secret - UNTIL NOW!).

The rest of the album is, for the most part, unremarkable. It is also now out-of-print.

Jourgenson, of course, went on to completely disown this record and, in the span of two years, underwent one of the more extreme artistic transformations ever. In 1985, he released the landmark album, Twitch, on Sire Records. While far from a chart success, that album was the template for the entire industrial dance music movement that spawned such notable acts as Skinny Puppy and Nine Inch Nails.

I remember being so floored by the harshness of Twitch that I actually checked to make sure my stereo wasn't malfunctioning. In hindsight, "Just Like You" and "All Day (Remix)" were, at their core, fairly accessible dance-pop tunes except for the fact that Jourgenson was coaxing the most abrasive sounds from his synthesizers. On other tracks, such as "My Possession" and "Over The Shoulder", Jourgenson and producer, Adrian Sherwood laid the groundwork for dub, house and drum 'n' bass. Synth lines attacked from all sides, the drum machines were brutal and unrelenting, and Jourgenson's vocals weren't so much sung as chanted with great ferocity. "Crash & Burn" and the title cut sounded like a German tank factory crashing in on itself.

Upon first listen to the record in its entirety, I hated it.

It was different. It was unconventional. It was inventive and it challenged all of my perceptions of pop music.

But, strangely enough, I kept listening and, to this day, Twitch stands as one of my favorite records ever.

U2: NYC Traffic "Jammed"

To promote the release of their latest album, How To Dismantle An Atom Bomb (and to film the video for the single "All Because Of You"), U2 performed on a large flat-bed trailer driven through the streets of New York City. The day then culminated with a live performance at the Brooklyn Bridge.

While heavy on material from "Atom Bomb", this gig is most notable for an impromptu performance of the song "She's A Mystery To Me". While it is widely known that U2 use certain "enhancements" when performing live, this particular tune beautifully showcases U2's ability to strips things down a bit.

All tracks below are available to DONATE TO CHARITY SLICE readers.

Track listing:

Vertigo
All Because Of You
Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own
City Of Blinding Lights
She's A Mystery
Beautiful Day

Bonus cuts from the Vertigo tour:

One
Love And Peace Or Else
Miracle Drug
Where The Streets Have No Name

Butch Walker: Walker Comes Alive!

We all have our guilty pleasures, right? I know a guy in a death metal band who is a huge Carpenters fan. I like my 80's music cheesy. I bought that Len record because I liked "Steal My Sunshine", knowing full-well the album would suck. It sucked three times harder than that. I dig that OMC tune "How Bizarre", but...oh, you get the point.

Anyhoo, Butch Walker is one of my less guilty pleasures. While his albums are usually pretty mixed affairs, I know he's a talented dude and want to see him put one over the fence one of these days.

The following tracks (from a 2005 Japan tour and a 2003 hometown acoustic show) are available to DONATE TO CHARITY readers:

FULL BAND:
Radio Tokyo
Uncomfortably Numb
#1 Summer Jam
Last Flight Out
Mixtape
Best Thing You Never Had
Lights Out

ACOUSTIC:
Sober
Promise
Race Cars And Goth Rock
Diary Of A SF Valley Sexx Star
Mixtape
Don't Move
Best Thing You Never Had
Cigarette Lighter Love Song
Freak Of The Week (with members of Marvelous 3)

The Best Alt-Country CD You've Never Heard: E.I.E.I.O.'s "Land Of Opportunity"

In 1986, there was a mini-revival of rock-tinged country acts. Two such bands came charging out of Wisconsin, releasing their debut efforts within weeks of each other. One you've heard of, the other I am willing to bet you haven't.

The BoDeans, whose debut effort was produced by T-Bone Burnett, received a heaping helping of press attention and moderate chart success. Ten years later, they finally hit paydirt with "Closer To Free", which was used prominently in the TV show "Party Of Five" and jetted into the Top 20.

Working twice as hard for not even half the attention was a little band called E.I.E.I.O., whose debut album, Land Of Opportunity, also featured an appearance by Burnett. Their debut album was wonderfully produced by Los Lobos member Steve Berlin (with Mark Linett) and outkicks the BoDeans' effort in every way imaginable.

Singer/guitarist Steve Summers' tales of love-gone-wrong and youthful restlessness are brilliantly candid and cinematic. If Springsteen had spent his adolescence sowing his wild oats throughout Arkansas and Texas, Born To Run could very well have ended up sounding like this.

Also, the band's pedigree is not without merit: guitarist Rob Harding had done a stint in Chicago-based rockers Off Broadway USA (who had a regional hit in 1979 with "Stay In Time"). Bassist Richard Szeluga was an original member of Cheap Trick. Guitarist Mike Hoffman was a renowned local producer who would eventually leave the band after this release to join Warner Bros. act Semi-Twang.

Twenty years(!) after its release, Land of Opportunity still stands as one of the best, yet most under-appreciated alt-country releases ever recorded.

Where the BoDeans had the strength of Warner Bros. behind them (as Warner distributed the band's label, Slash), E.I.E.I.O. was signed to the indie label Frontier Records (which had released records by Three O'Clock and Redd Kross). While Frontier managed respectable national distribution of the record, it just wasn't enough to give this album the attention that it deserved.

The band toured extensively, opening for the likes of the Bangles and Hoodoo Gurus, but, again, without the strong promotional machine of a major label behind them, they were fighting an up-hill battle.

Well, I could go on forever singing the praises of this record. I am hoping, instead, that you'll do yourself a favor and check out the tunes.

Track listing:

This Time
Hello Heartache
Get Back To Arkansas
Tear It Down
Me And Jesus Christ
Go West Young Man
Every Word True
White Lines, Blues Skies, Black Top
Blue Mountaintop
The Middle Of November
When The Stars Are Out And The Moon Is High
No Father In The Family

Semisonic: Singing In My Sleep CD5

It's easy to hate a band with a career-making/career-stunting hit like "Closing Time", but I will go on-record as saying that Semisonic wrote some cool songs.

In addition to the aforementioned mega-hit, the band scored another Top 40 hit with the follow-up single, "Singing In My Sleep". Now, what made that single even cooler was the "CD5" they released that included some other cool tracks.

Imagine, if you will, a trio of white boys (albeit from Prince's neck of the woods) tackling the Purple One's "Erotic City", and doing so quite admirably.

Now imagine that same band paying respectful tribute to 70's pop fluff staple "Air That I Breathe".

Toss in a basement demo of "Closing Time" and you have a pretty cool "CD5" that is well worth the 99 cents I paid for it.

Track listing:

Singing In My Sleep (radio mix)
Closing Time (basement demo)
Delicious (non-lp track)
Erotic City
Air That I Breathe

Pezband: Laughing In The Dark

Ah, yes, 1978. Chicago.

Where else would a power pop fan have wanted to be at the time? Within a stone's throw of the Sears tower, you could've hit any number of great bands at the time: Cheap Trick, Shoes, Off Broadway, and Pezband.

Unlike those bands, who may also fall into the "power pop" category, Pezband were of that odd ilk that seemed to sound more British than most British bands of the time, right down to the faux-British accents that can be heard on such tracks as "On And On" and "Love Goes Underground" (which, by the way, has an intro that sounds like an AC/DC riff circa '78 combined with the "hells bells" from For Those About To Rock). Heck, the album was even recorded in London.

Laughing In The Dark is the band's second, and best, release. Where their self-titled debut effort had more attitude than strong songs, Laughing In The Dark is chock-full of should-be singles. It is also obvious that the band's label (Passport Records, which was distributed by Arista Records) was putting forth at least some effort to pitch Pezband as a main priority. The cover art, for example, was created by Hipgnosis, the UK art house responsible for other notable covers from Pink Floyd (Dark Side Of The Moon, anyone?), UFO, AC/DC (Dirty Deeds) and 10cc.

So, why did this album go virtually unnoticed upon release?

For starters, Pezband is not only one of the pioneering "power pop" bands, they freakin' waved the power pop banner like no other band, right down to their print ad's for this album.



Maybe that was ultimately a bad move. After all, how many major punk bands touted themselves as punk? The Ramones or The Clash may have been classified as such by the press, but they'd have been the last to claim to be a part of any movement (or jump on any bandwagon).

Also, Passport Records was on their last legs with Arista. The label would soon lose their distribution arrangement with the major label and, with it, Pezband would find themselves in the rock & roll no-zip sorting bin, so to speak. And, thus, you have the one key component to Pezband's lack of commercial success: distribution (or a serious lack thereof). Sure, they had records out, you just couldn't find them in the record stores.

All of this aside, Laughing is a great record. It should have been a hit and I will leave the rest up to you. DONATE TO CHARITY SLICERS can check out the entire album (with live bonus tracks).

Track listing:

1. Love Goes Underground
2. I`m Leavin`
3. Stop! Wait A Minute
4. Come On Madeline
5. I`m The One
6. Better Way To Win
7. On And On
8. Lovesmith
9. Black Magic
10. Gimme Gimme
11. Crash And Burn
12. Blue Wind (live version)
13. Stroll On (live version)
14. I`m Not Talking (live version)
15. I`m Leaving (live version)
16. Crash And Burn (live version)
17. Close Your Eyes (live version)

Cheap Trick: In Color V2.0 extended

Due to popular demand, the 2003 In Color tracks are being made available through March to all DONATE TO CHARITY SLICE readers.

To sweeten the pot, I am also making available three additional tracks from the same sessions to Charity Slicers:

I'm Losing You (the Lennon tune, 2003)
Fan Club (2003)
Loser (2003)

Career In A Nutshell: Starz

Starz/Starz (Capitol) 1976

From the ashes of early 70's one-hit wonder Looking Glass ("Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)") came this New Jersey hard rock act. Managed by Bill Aucoin (who also managed a little band called Kiss) and signed to Capitol Records, the five-piece seemed to have all the pieces in place for national breakout success. In fact, their debut effort was a near-perfect collection of hard-edged, radio-ready hooks that recalled Kiss and Aerosmith...perhaps too much so. Take one listen to "Boys In Action" and tell me that it isn't better than 9 out of 10 songs played to death on classic rock radio.

The album opens with the Foghat-like boogie of "Detroit Girls", the menacing riffage of "Live Wire", and the bluesy drive of "Tear It Down". The highlight of the album, though, is "Pull The Plug"; a disturbingly frank ode to a dying girlfriend:

"She left the room for a minute or two
Now I know exactly what I'm gonna do
It's been so long since your vital signs went
And you don't look the same in that oxygen tent

Now if I get caught, I don't care if I get hung
I can't let my baby lie there in an iron lung

Goodbye my sweet
Understand what I've done
You can't suffer no more if the motor won't run

I'll pull the plug, I'll pull the plug, I'll pull the plug
I'll pull the plug on my love"

Despite touring with KISS, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and other hot acts of the day, the band's debut effort failed to break into the Top 100.


Starz/Violation (Capitol) 1977

With Jack Douglas again at the helm, the band's second effort is a boisterous effort that improves upon their debut. While highlights include the Stonesy swagger of "Cool One" and the demented lyrical exclamations of "Violation" and "Subway Terror" (which spells out, in haunting detail, the actions of a serial mugger), the album is best known for the Top 40 radio hit, "Cherry Baby", for which the band is most notably remembered.

Perhaps it is the success of this song, much like "Brandy" by the aforementioned Looking Glass, that labeled the band as a soft rock act in the eyes of the public. Many regarded the song as a slice of cheesy pop, but, truth be told, if one paid attention to the lyrics, they'd discover the song was sung from the viewpoint of an institutionalized boy longing for his, ahem, "Cherry Baby".

That this album peaked at #89 despite a Top 40 single is proof positive that someone somewhere was dropping the ball. The band recorded songs that, in hindsight, were the encapsulation of 70's rock - riffing guitars wrapped around sugary hooks, had enough going on in the looks department to make the teenage girls swoon, and toured relentlessly.

Yet, if not for the fact that my uncle (who was 18 at the time) was into the band and played their albums while babysitting for my brother and I, their greatness would probably still elude me. To many, I fear, they were lost in the pack of rock bands all trying to compete with Kiss (Angel, anyone?).


Starz/Attention Shoppers (Capitol) 1977

The first thing I noticed about this album when it was released was that the band chose to produce it themselves. I also noticed that Capitol Records let them. To see a band produce their own record back then was much more unusual than it is these says and indicated that either a) Capitol Records believed enough in them to allow them to do so, or b) Capitol Records didn't care enough anymore to say no.

The other notable thing about this record is that the band are really trying to do something different on this, their third outing. Songs like "Good Ale We Seek" (a love song about beer?) and "Third Time's The Charm" (describing a father's words of inspiration about love to his son) are remarkably original and show immense lyrical and musical growth.

While containing enough of their trademark rockers ("X-Ray Spex" and "Waiting On You"), the band treads a little more lightly here than they had on their previous releases. In fact, I've always considered this album a lost power pop gem, recalling bands such as Raspberries, Cheap Trick and Badfinger on tracks such as "She" and "Hold On To The Night".


Starz/Coliseum Rock (Capitol) 1978

After over two years of non-stop touring and recording, with very little success to show for it, the cracks in the band's foundation are evident on their last studio album. Most noticeable is that founding members Brendan Harkin and Peter Sweval are no longer in the band.

The album starts promisingly enough with the two-chord rocker "So Young, So Bad", but the rest of side one (pardon my vinyl verbiage) is somewhat tedious and unremarkable. The latter half of the record is chock-full of winners; from the upbeat power pop of "Outfit", to the heartfelt "Last Night I Wrote A Letter", to the celebratory title track.

All things considered, this album lacks the identity of the band's previous three releases and, at times, they seem to lack inspiration. You can hear that much of the fight had been kicked out of the band by this time and that is the real shame.

Metal Blade re-issued the albums in 1989, making them available on cassette and CD to fans who were just now discovering the band through raves from the likes of Motley Crue and Poison. In 2005, Rykodisc did much the same, going one step further by remastering and adding bonus tracks to the four studio albums.


Starz/Live In Action (Metal Blade) 1989

This release was part of Metal Blade Records' re-issue of the band's Capitol catalog and was comprised mostly of material from the band's promo-only Live In Louisville album (released to radio in 1978). Songs from a 1977 Cleveland show are also added to the line-up.

For diehard fans who had long sought copies of the now highly-collectable Live in Louisville, this CD is a godsend. For newcomers, it is further proof that Starz were a great band lost in the rock & roll shuffle.

I am making the entire CD available for download to DONATE TO CHARITY SLICE readers.

Track listing:

Fallen Angel
Tear It Down
Live Wire
Monkey Business
Detroit Girls
She
Rock 6 Times
Subway Terror
Cool One
X-Ray Spex
Cherry Baby
Medley (Waiting On You, Greatest Riffs of All Time, Coliseum Rock)
Pull The Plug
Boys In Action

Hey Album! V1.0

For those not in the know, before Butch Walker was the producer de jour that he is these days (producing and co-writing with artists from Midtown to Sevendust to Avril Lavigne), he was singer/guitarist for the Atlanta-based power trio, Marvelous 3. The band is most remembered for scoring a moderately successful Modern Rock radio hit in the mid-90's with a tune called "Freak Of The Week".

Prior to that, they had issued their second album, entitled HEY ALBUM!, on an indie label and garnered some hard-earned regional radio support that led to a major label bidding war. They then re-recorded the entire record, added two tracks, and then released this new version of HEY ALBUM! as their debut effort for Elektra.

Copies of the indie label version of the album have since become quite the collector's item. I know this from personal experience, having sold two copies of this CD on eBay for a combined amount of nearly $300.

Perhaps the oddest thing about the promotional push for HEY ALBUM! is that Elektra released promo copies containing the indie version of the album to the press despite absolutely no intention of releasing this version. The brief bio contained in the liner notes for the CD stated:

"The ten songs on this sampler are NOT the actual versions on Marvelous 3's HiFi/Elektra debut. Each song featured on the disc will appear on a newly recorded and mixed full-length album. In addition, there will be two new tracks not included here."

Huh?

Needless to say, copies of the Elektra sampler containing the indie versions of the HEY ALBUM! tracks have also sold on eBay for quite the pretty penny.

Now, of course, all tracks from this hard-to-find release are available to DONATE TO CHARITY SLICE readers.


Track listing:

You're So Yesterday
Freak Of The Week
Until You See
Let Me Go
Every Monday
Indie Queen
Lemonade
#27
I Just Wanna Go Home
Over Your Head
Fastboat
Cold As Hell
Mrs. Jackson

Rise & Shine, it's Da Bears!

To even the most ardent of Adrian Belew fan, his membership in the little-known group the Bears is but a footnote. As a member of this band, Belew released two albums in the 80's for the short-lived Primitive Man Recording Company (PMRC, get it?) label, which was a subsidiary of IRS Records.

Truth be told, this band had it all: soaring pop hooks, stellar musicianship, and the ability to play it straight ("Aches And Pains") or weird ("Robobo's Beef" and "Highway 2").

Jam-packed with pop hooks and angular riffs, but receiving little promotion from the label, this cool record, and the self-titled effort that came before it in 1987, soon disappeared without a trace. Belew, who had signed a solo deal with Atlantic, was soon riding a wave of success brought on the song "Oh Daddy", a single from 1989's Mr. Music Head that featured vocals by his young daughter, Audie.

By then, of course, the Bears had been put out to pasture. Even years later, it is enjoyable to dive into this record solely for Belew's guitar work. But most rewarding is the interplay between band members and ease with which this band crafts deceptively sublime pop melodies. With repeated listens, subtle nuances reveal themselves, as do idiosyncratic in-jokes (give "Highway 2" a listen and you'll see what I mean).

Mp3's of all tracks are now available to DONATE TO CHARITY SLICE subscribers.

1. Aches And Pains
2. Save Me
3. Robobo's Beef
4. Not Worlds Apart
5. Nobody's Fool
6. Highway 2
7. Little Blue River
8. Rabbit Manor
9. Holy Mack
10. Complicated Potatoes
11. You Can Buy Friends
12. The Best Laid Plans
13. Old Fat Cadillac
14. Girl With Clouds
15. Man Behind The Curtain (revised version)
16. Figure It Out (new mix)