Great Rock Albums of 1980: Bob Seger- Against The Wind

For those who read my posting for Bob Seger’s 1978 album “Stranger In Town,” I apologise in advance for repeating myself but the fact remains, Bob Seger is the forgotten hero of 70′s rock. With The Silver Bullet Band, he had a string of hits and great albums throughout the decade that live on today. Classics like “Night Moves,” “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” “Hollywood Nights,” “Old Time Rock And Roll” and my personal favourite, “Main Street” continue to give old men like me classic musical memories. Therefore, when his 1980 album “Against The Wind” was released, everyone was certain that he would continue his musical domination into the next decade.

Back in 1980, this was the album that knocked the iconic Pink Floyd album “The Wall” off the number one spot. I can see why this album is considered one of his best. It doesn’t just rest on the laurels of Bob Seger’s previous achievements but is an improvement on it, especially with the quality of the musicianship on the album. I can safely say that I think The Silver Bullet Band was at their very best when recording the album. The title track, which was a top ten hit, is a prime example. I love the musical interlude in the middle of the song where the piano and the guitar trade off each other. Then there is the ballad “No Man’s Land,” where my best memory of the song was when it was played at the heavy metal club I used to frequent in London in dedication to a fellow metalhead who had tragically passed away. From the more AOR “You’ll Accompany Me” to the more vociferous “Her Strut,” this album demonstrates why it knocked Floyd off the top spot and stayed there for six weeks.

Track Listing:

1. The Horizontal Bop

2. You’ll Accompany Me

3. Her Strut

4. No Man’s Land

5. Long Twin Silver Line

6. Against The Wind

7. Good For Me

8. Betty Lou’s Getting Out Tonight

9. Fire Lake

10. Shinin’ Brightly

Bob Seger

The Silver Bullet Band- tracks 1-3, 6 & 8

Bob Seger- vocals, guitar

Drew Abbot- guitar

Alto Reed- horn, saxophone

Chris Campbell- bass

David Teegarden- drums, percussion

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section- tracks 4,5,7, 9 & 10

Barry Beckett- piano, keyboards

Randy McCormick- organ, keyboards

Pete Carr- guitar

Jimmy Johnson- guitar, horn

David Wood- bass

Roger Hawkins- drum, percussion

I once saw a band called The Queer Boys in London who I thought sounded like a combination of The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Bob Seger. Now this would lead me to conclude that the music of Bob Seger had an indirect impact on heavy metal. Maybe it did, but what I do know is that he put out some great music and the album “Against The Wind” is arguably his best.

Next post: 38 Special- Rocking Into the Night

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Great Rock Albums of 1980: Grace Slick- Dreams

The release of “Freedom At Point Zero” proved to the world that for Jefferson Starship, there was life after Grace Slick. So, the question asked back then was “Is there life after Jefferson Starship for Grace Slick?” At first, the answer to that question looked negative as she battled with the booze in 1978 and 79. Fortunately, she overcame that battle and in 1980, released the album “Dreams,” which proved to me that Grace Slick could survive without the Starship.

In making “Dreams,” it has been said that Grace wanted to be as far removed from her links with Jefferson Starship as possible. For one, she recorded the album in New York and only used East Coast musicians in order to sever her links with the West Coast, from where she came from. Furthermore, none of the then current or previous members of Jefferson Starship appear on the album. Therefore, it was evident that she wanted a totally clean break and with “Dreams,” I can say that it definitely worked for her, even if the charts didn’t agree.

Recently, I came across a Grace Slick Greatest Hits compilation and was bewildered that there were no songs from “Dreams” on it. This is one hell of a fine album and shows that Grace’s voice is suited to many genres. First, there’s the title track which gives the album a very theatrical introduction and sets a welcome feel to the rest of it. Next, there’s the Spanish influence in the track “El Diablo” that has some rather impressive acoustic guitar on it. “Face to the Wind” is the first song leaning towards harder rock and has an impressive guitar solo and that leads to my favourite track on the album, “Angel of the Night.” This song is a total rock and I particularly love the lead guitar in the intro. I can still envision a heavy metal band covering this song, it would be ace. “Seasons,” while not a brilliant song, amuses me and should I ever return to full time teaching, would not hesitate to use it in a school assembly. The remaining tracks are more of a psychedelic/progressive sound that keep the album going. “Do It the Hard Way” and “Let It Go” definitely stand out. So, my question is: “How come this album has been ignored?”

Track Listing:

1. Dreams

2. El Diablo

3. Face To The Wind

4. Angel Of The Night

5. Seasons

6. Do It The Hard Way

7. Full Moon Man

8. Let It Go

9. Garden Of Man

Grace Slick

Note: Many musicians were used in different songs on the album, I will only name the main contributors.

Grace Slick- vocals, piano

Scott Zito- lead and acoustic guitars

Sol Ditroia- rhythm guitar

George Wadinius- guitars

Neil Jason- bass

Alan Schwartzberg- drums

Jim Malin- percussion

Frank Owens/Joe D’Elia- piano

Geoff Farr/Edward Walsh- synthesisers

This was the album that brought Grace back into the rock world and proved that she could make it on her own. Even if she did return to Jefferson Starship a year later. If you’re feeling nostalgic for great albums that haven’t been considered classic, then go and have a listen to “Dreams.” I’m sure afterwards, you might feel the same way I do about it.

Next post: Bob Seager- Against the Wind

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Great Rock Albums of 1980: Linda Ronstadt- Mad Love

Throughout the entire decade of the 1970s, Linda Ronstadt produced a string of hits, most of which I liked. Her countryfied sound had a rock feel to it made her well known to many listeners, me included. I really enjoyed her sound and as a teenage male, liked the look of her as well and unlike some of my peers, I didn’t give a shit to the fact that she never wrote any of her songs. I still listen to great singles such as “You’re No Good,” “When Will I Be Loved,” “It’s So Easy” and “Poor Poor Pitiful Me.” These were the songs that mad her a household name in the seventies.

I wasn’t surprised that when she brought out “Mad Love” in 1980, she, like Billy Joel with “Glass Houses,” decided to go for a more harder rock sound. The first song to reach my attention was “How Do I Make You” which let everyone know that Linda Ronstadt wanted to rock. She really propels herself into the vocals with this song backed up by a pretty decent guitar solo. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you took out the piano and added a harder guitar, a thrash band could easily do a cover of this song and it would sound pretty good. If one song wasn’t enough to convince people of her willingness to rock, the track “I Can’t Let Go” goes further to back up the statement. I love the guitars mixed in with her repeating backing vocals. The rest of the album is also full of some hard rocking, at least for her, tunes and even the more progressive sounding “Girls Talk” and the ballad “Hurt So Bad” does nothing to lessen the album’s sound.

Track Listing:

1. Mad Love

2. Party Girls

3. How Do I Make You

4. I Can’t Let Go

5. Hurt So Bad

6. Look Out For My Love

7. Cost of Love

8. Justine

9. Girls Talk

10. Talking in the Dark

Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt- vocals

Doug Dugmore- electric guitars

Waddy Watchel- guitar, backing vocals

Mark Goldenberg- electric guitars, backing vocals

Bob Glaub- bass

Russell Kunkel- drums

Bill Payne- keyboards

Danny Kortchmar- electric guitars

Mike Auldridge- dobro

Peter Bernstein- accoustic guitars

Peter Asher, Steve Foreman- percussion

Michael Boddicker- synthesiser

Rosemary Butler, Kenny Evans, Nicolette Larson, Andrew Gold- backing vocals

 It has been said that in the early 80s, rock ruled the world. I don’t know if I agree with this but there was a move by some artists in 1980 to a more harder rock sound. I always believed that Linda Ronstadt always had the ability to do this and the album “Mad Love” is offered in evidence to the fact.

Next post: Grace Slick- Dreams

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Great Rock Albums of 1980: The Clash- London Calling

The Clash were born out of the wave of punk rock that came out of the UK in the late 1970s. To my regret, I have never listened to their first two albums, I know, shame on me, but their third album “London Calling” definitely got my attention. I first saw them on a late night music television show called “Rock World” where the announcer described them as loud and angry. I think he used one other adjective but I can’t remember what it was. Those labels were enough to engage my interest and hearing the title track and hit single, convinced me that they were for real. 

Apparently, “London Calling” isn’t as loud or angry as the first two Clash albums. I agree that in some of the songs, there are hints of other forms of music like ska and reggae. But now as it was then, this album was definite punk in my eyes. There are so many examples I could chose from but the ones that stick out for me are “Revolution Rock,” “Spanish Bombs,” “The Four Horsemen” and “Lover’s Rock.” However, I won’t take anything away from any of the other tracks because in my humble opinion, there is not a weak track on the album. 

Track  Listing:

1. London Calling

2. Brand New Cadillac

3. Jimmy Jazz

4. Hateful

5. Rudie Can’t Fail

6. Spanish Bombs

7. The Right Profile

8. Lost in the Supermarket

9. Clampdown

10. The Guns of Brixton

11. Wrong’em Boyo

12. Death or Glory

13. Koka Kola

14. The Card Cheat

15. Lover’s Rock

16. The Four Horsemen

17. I’m Not Down

18. Revolution Rock

19. Train in Vain

The Clash

Joe Strummer- rhythm guitar, vocals, piano

Mick Jones- lead guitar, vocals, piano, harnmonica

Paul Simonon- bass, vocals

Topper Headon- drums, percussion

Punk made the cross Atlantic voyage from Britain to America sometime in the early 80s. One of the vessels that carried across the ocean was The Clash and this album. It certainly got me listening and I know I wasn’t the only one. 

Next post: Linda Ronstadt- Mad Love

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Great Rock Albums of 1980: Billy Joel- Glass Houses

Back in the late 1970s, Billy Joel was known as the singer who sat behind a piano and sang such ballads as “Just The Way You Are” or more pop oriented tunes like “Piano Man” or “My Life.” I admit that I liked these very songs back then, after all, they weren’t disco. However, I knew that he had the potential to be a little harder with his sound. Evidence of this can be sighted with songs like “Only the Good Die Young,” (I always thought the song would have been perfect if they used a fuzz box with the guitar) the guitar in “Big Shot” and my all time favourite song of his, “Captain Jack.” In 1980, Billy Joel finally realised this potential with the “Glass Houses” album.

If you asked any hard rocker and many metalheads back in the 80s about Billy Joel, they would probably say they liked “Glass Houses” or at the very least, it was an okay album. It helps a great deal that the album begins with that famous glass breaking sound followed by my all time second favourite Billy Joel song, “You May Be Right.” The rest of the album follows on with catchy rock tunes like, “Sometimes a Fantasy” and the big top forty hit “It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me” which as far as hit singles go, is not that bad. I won’t say that this album ranks with any of the monster metal albums but I have to give Billy Joel and “A” for effort in trying to go harder here.

Track Listing:

1. You May Be Right

2. Sometimes a Fantasy

3. Don’t Ask Me Why

4. It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me

5. All For Leyna

6. I Don’t Want To Be Alone

7. Sleeping With The Television On

8. C’etait Toi (You Are The One)

9. Close To The Borderline

10. Through The Long Night

Billy Joel

Billy Joel- vocals, piano, synthesisers, harmonica, accordion

Dave Brown- guitars

Richie Cannata- organ, flute, saxophone

Liberty DeVitto- drums, percussion

Russell Javors- guitars

Doug Stegmeyer- bass

“Glass Houses” will go down in history as the one Billy Joel album found acceptable by many metalheads. Unfortunately, his later albums would go down the trail of 1980s commercial rock; although he did play piano on the Twisted Sister song “Be Cruel To Your School.” Even the thought of “Uptown Girl” still makes me want to put on some Venom or Slayer and smash things up. As a rock album, this one is all right with me.

Next post: The Clash- London Calling

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Great Rock Albums of 1980: The Beatles- Rarities

You are all now totally convinced that I have completely lost the plot. A Beatles album in 1980? They had broken up ten years prior to this. I will be the first to admit that this “Rarities” album released in 1980 was yet another attempt to milk more money out of The Beatles name off the many fans who followed and still follow them now but that didn’t stop me from buying this album. I admit, I have always been a big fan of The Beatles and while I question why some of the tracks on this album are considered rarities, there are others on it that made me decide that I had to buy it.

“Love Me Do,” “Help” and “Penny Lane” are all well known Beatles classics to me and I do not consider them to be rare. They are all good songs nonetheless and only added to my desire for this album. The case is also true to one of my all time favourites “I Am The Walrus,” a song that continues to amuse me some four decades later. “Sie Liebt Dich,” which is the all time classic “She Loves You” sung in German is for me a definite rarity and also my first piece of evidence that music can be enjoyable in whatever language it is sung in. “Across the Universe” would have been another one where I debated it being called rare. However, the version on this album is different to the one I heard on The Blue Album. The song begins the sound effect of a flock of birds flying off and the chorus is accompanied by a children’s choir and is very well done. I still get a kick out of the next to last track “You Know My Name Look Up the Number” where there is a vocal part by one of them using a woman’s voice. It reminds me of Monty Python.

Out of all the tracks mentioned, there is one track that stands alone. “Helter Skelter” is the track that makes this album for me, even if the the version on this album omits that famous rant from Ringo, “I got blisters on my fingers!” As most people agree, The Beatles influenced many genres of rock music and the song “Helter Skelter” is my evidence that they even had an influence on heavy metal. Two metal bands I can think of off the top of my head, Motley Crue and Vow Wow, have recorded covers of this Beatles classic as well as Pat Benatar in her more hard rocking days.  I probably would have bought this album for this song alone.

Track Listing:

1. Love Me Do

2. Misery

3. There’s a Place

4. Sie Leibt Dich

5. And I Love Her

6. Help

7. I’m Only Sleeping

8. I Am the Walrus

9. Penny Lane

10. Helter Skelter

11. Don’t Pass Me By

12. The Inner Light

13. Across the Universe

14. You Know My Name Look Up the Number

15. Sgt. Pepper’s Inner Groove

The Fab Four

John Lennon- guitar, vocals

Paul McCartney- bass, piano, vocals

George Harrison- guitar, vocals

Ringo Starr- drums, vocals

Back in the 90′s, I was at a 60′s theme party where the self appointed deejay was playing a bunch of one hit wonders who nobody remembered and as a result the dance floor was empty. I suggested putting this album on and once I did, the dance floor filled right up. This is proof that everybody knows The Beatles even if some of their songs are considered rarities. On a personal note, if I were producing this album, I would have included the songs “Octopus’s Garden” and “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” but that’s just me. The Beatles influenced a lot of rock music, even heavy metal. So when you put on your next metal album, think of them.

Next post: Billy Joel- Glass Houses

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Great Rock Albums of 1980: Queen- The Game

This album first came to my attention back in 1980 when the single “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” was played on a juke box in a bar whose name I can’t remember. At first, I thought it was an Elvis Presley song and I wasn’t the only one. That whole song radiated The King, especially Brian May’s guitar solo. When I discovered it was actually Queen, I was even more impressed and liked the song that much more.

Of course, most people not in metal, those who worship the Top 40 charts especially, identify “The Game” with the number one hit single from the album, “Another One Bites the Dust.” That song crossed over into previously uncharted territory for Queen because it also reached number one in the soul charts. I remember many of my African American comrades in arms listening to it extensively and found it a little amusing one day when one such comrade said to another, “These are a bunch of white boys.” However, I doubt that many of them actually bought this album. What I always liked about that song is that it showed what a brilliant bassist John Deacon was.

My record buying philosophy has always been not to buy an album on account of one or two songs. The three prominent singles from the album: the two I already mentioned plus “Play the Game” are not indicative of this album. “Play the Game” is a decent opener but the second track, “Dragon Attack” is a total rocker as is the fourth track “I Need Your Loving Tonight,” which after many years of not listening to it, is now firmly entrenched in my brain like it had been back then. The last five tracks are all classic Queen and that includes my favourite track on the album, “Don’t Try Suicide.”

Track Listing:

1. Play The Game

2. Dragon Attack

3. Another One Bites the Dust

 4. I Need Your Loving Tonight

5. Crazy Little Thing Called Love

6. Rock It

7. Don’t Try Suicide

8. Sail Away Sweet Sister

9. Come On

10. Save Me

Queen

Freddie Mercury- vocals, synthesiser

Brian May- guitars, vocals, piano, synthesiser

Roger Taylor- drums, percussion, vocals, piano, rhythm guitar

John Deacon- bass, vocals, guitar, synthesiser

“The Game” has been considered more of a pop album and with some of the singles from it, there is scope for that argument. However, I’m not going to argue it here, For me, “The Game” still radiates some classic Queen and is a brilliant album.

Next post: The Beatles- Rarities

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