Friday 80s Flashback for January 2, 2026

[Never Say Die!] -- I was not certain how to approach this first Flashback of the new year. On the one hand, the obvious route to continue celebrating albums that turned 40 years old, and in 2026 that would mean albums released in 1986. And that does appeal to me given my affinity for that year. Then, on the other hand, is the question of whether I want to continue this effort of blogging music from the 1980s. Fortunately, for all two or three of you out there reading these posts, I've decided to at least kick off this year with at least one post. 

So, what album do I feature to kick off a new year of Flashbacks? More critically, what even was released close to the beginning of the year 40 years ago this week? Well, to the best of my reckoning, I have found an album released on January 1, 1986: Thrill of a Lifetime, the sophomore album from drummer Carmine Appice's metal band King Kobra. Appice founded King Kobra after a 1983-1984 stint as Ozzy Osbourne's drummer (he was, in fact, fired from the band by Sharon Osbourne). 

For fans of heavy metal, or hair metal, Thrill of a Lifetime is of note primarily for "Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)". That song later appeared on the soundtrack for the 1986 film, Iron Eagle. Beyond that, neither Thrill of a Lifetime nor any of its tracks seems to have charted. That must have been disappointing for Appice and crew, especially given that their debut album was fairly well received (but likewise did not reach any Billboard rankings). 

Still, "Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)" looms large in my music memory. Yes, it is kind of ridiculous, but even today I find it an infectious, fist pumping anthem. And, maybe, cranking it up is a great way to hype yourself to make your way in 2026. Even the lyrics speak to beating the odds and coming out on top:

Don't try and bring my soul to the ground

My spirit remembers old mountain magic sounds

Against all odds I'll come out on top

'Cause I never learned the meaning of what meant stop

Other notable tracks from this album include "Second Time Around" (which, I think, sounds like a TV show's theme song, "Feel the Heat", and ... maybe... "Party Animal." Like I said, Thrill Of A Lifetime is a 1980s hair metal album. It's not important or earth-shattering, but it does the job when you need to rock out. 

Flashback: Thrill Of A Lifetime (January 1, 1986)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!

Christmastime by the Swingle Singers

The Swingle Singers released a Christmas album way back in 1968. It was titled Christmastime in the US (pictured above), Noëls Sans Passeport in France, and Christmas with the Swingle Singers in both the UK and the Netherlands. The other two releases had different album art than the US release:

Cover art for French release

 

UK and Netherlands cover art

This album marked the first time the UK-based a cappella vocal group tackled something other than classical pieces, but they still applied their trademark approach of singing notes and tones in counterpoint rather than lyrics. So, this collection of carols and hymns are sung with dee-dum's and la-la's rather than actual verses. And it's actually quite a pleasant listen. 

This album was reissued in 1980 with the title Christmas Album and new artwork: 

Christmas Album (1980)

I'm not sure when in 1980 that re-issue hit shelves, but it was likely for that year's holiday season. Therefore, I'm guessing we can confidently say this particular version of the album is now 45 years old. So, even though I already posted the final Friday 80s Flashback of 2025 last Friday, consider this something of an honorable mention, or a bonus, album to close out 2025. 

The embedded YouTube video has all then songs of the 1968 release, and features photos from the 1968 US release.

Side A track listing:

1. Medley: "Jingle Bells" (Pierpont) / "Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant" / "Es Ist Ein Ros' Entsprungen" – 3:47
2. Medley: "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" / "The First Nowell" / "Go Tell It On the Mountain" – 3:13
3. "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" ("Silent Night") (Gruber, Mohr) – 2:35
4. Medley: "Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly" / "What Child Is This?" – 3:12
5. Medley: "O Jul Med Din Glede" / "Komt, Verwondert U Hier Mensen" / "Away in a Manger" – 3:53

Side B track listing:

1. Medley: "Les Anges dans nos Campagnes" / "Oh Tannenbaum" / "Bel Astre Que J'Adore" – 3:15
2. Medley: "El Noi de la Mare" / "Hanej, Nynej, Jezisku" ("Rocking Carol") / "Canzone Dei Zampognari" – 2:46
3. Medley: "We Three Kings Of Orient Are" (Hopkins) / "The Holly And The Ivy" – 3:11
4. "White Christmas", (Irving Berlin) – 2:12
5. Medley: "Stchedrivka" ("Carol of the Bells") / "Dag Visen" / "O Sanctissima" – 3:09

Friday 80s Flashback for December 26, 2025

[Still Shipping] -- And now we've come to the final flashback of 2025. There are so many albums that debuted 40 years ago that I've barely scratched the full catalog. But don't worry: It's not like I'm going to try to cover everything I missed in this one post. No, in honor of the current holiday season, and my love of progressive pop, I'm celebrating the 40th anniversary of Jon Anderson's fourth solo album, 3 Ships.

I have not been able to definitively nail down the release date for this solo outing by the lead singer of Yes. Wikipedia cites the release date as November 18, 1985. Sites like AOTY and AllMusic use December 1985, while several others more enigmatically and simply say the album was released in 1985. And, as it was intended as a Christmas release, I feel pretty save in declaring that the album has reached the status of being 40 years old by now. 

The album title is a nod to the English Christmas carol, "I Saw Three Ships". As such, "3 Ships" is one of five traditional carols included on the album, but it is the only one to receive the official MTV Christmas Video treatment. The other songs are all Jon Anderson originals except for "Easier Said Than Done", which was written by Vangelis. The Vangelis tune and "How It Hits You" were the lone singles, with only the former charting, and even then only in the UK and the Netherlands. 

Aside from the Holiday Card Pack, Jon Anderson Special Edition of the album, this was kind of a "Christmas album incognito" with only the red and green stripe on the back cover giving any hint of Christmas trappings [Dave Connelly, AllMusic]. In fact, if not for my prog rock and holiday music loving father, and my own interest in the band Yes, this album would have completely missed my radar back in the mid-1980s. And it seems many a critic and music fan did take a pass on it.

3 Ships received largely negative reviews in 1985, including a one-star rating in Sounds magazine. Retroactively, AllMusic directed fans "to let Three Ships sail by." Biggest complaints seem to be that the arrangements, particularly the synths, overwhelm Anderson's voice. As a fan of Anderson, and as someone willing to give a person a pass for attempting to stretch a bit, I find the album quite charming. And it still gets a place in my large collection of holiday-themed records. Maybe you'll set sail with it as will. 

Oh, and please note that what appear to be time links in the embedded YouTube video are simply the track durations given the hyperlink treatment, so you cannot use them to jump from track to track. Unfortunately, I could not find a playlist that included all 13 tracks from the album. But at least this video does include all 13 tracks as well as some liner note info. Enjoy!

Flashback: 3 Ships (December 1985)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!

Update – Advent 2025: The Darkness of Blighted Hearts

Posting a quick update on The Darkness of Blighted Hearts 2025 DnD Advent Calendar Story. This is also an explanation for why I have not posted since Day 7. 

The Calendar's story is quite involved, and I have not found it easy to summarize the happenings and progress. But I have been documenting that progress by copying from the calendar site and pasting excerpts into a Google doc. As of today, up through Day 21, I have just under 50 pages of content. This includes the story notes, my dice roles and choices, and the results of said rolls and choices. So, while I stopped the daily posts, I have kept up documenting along the way.

Anyway, since Day 7, I have gained a familiar (Yrsa, the bear), traversed the Bifrost, journeyed through Niflheim, battled giant icy hounds on the bridge called Gjallarbrú, exchanged words with Módgudr and Nott, uncovered Sigyn's potential treachery, skirted the roiling center of Hvergelmir's waters, pulled a great black fang (of Jormungandr) from the eye of the maelstrom, and descended the Eversteps where I found the glittering Seed of Ygdrassil. 

Phew!

Along the way, I've received various dice as my daily gifts from the Calendar. As well as three more non-dice gifts:

• Day 15: Bear figure
• Day 20: Warrior figure
• Day 21: Mjölnir pin

Bear, Warrior, and Mjölnir for days 15, 20, and 21

Only a few days left to complete this Calendar ... and its epic story.

Friday 80s Flashback for December 19, 2025

[Turn Me to Stone] -- It's the penultimate Flashback of 2025, we're deep in the holiday season, so you would be excused if you thought we'd feature a Christmas album. You'd also be wrong. 

40 years ago today, the Alan Parsons Project released their ninth studio album, Stereotomy. It marked a change in sound, which had been evolving through the 1980s. And structure for this album was also new ground for primary members Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson – Stereotomy contains three tracks exceeding six minutes in length, one of which is an instrumental, and two songs under two minutes at the end of the record. This album was also the band's first effort at a full digital production with no analog tapes. 

Stereotomy received fairly negative reviews, with the topper being the ever snarky J. D. Considine calling the album "Unnecessary surgery" [Rock Short Takes, Musician April 1986, p.92]. But it still reached #43 on the Billboard 200, and within the top 50 of several global album charts. The title track was the lone single, released in early 1986, and it peaked at #82 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was also the band's last appearance on that particular chart. 

Stereotomy may lack the genius of previous Alan Parsons outings but it is an enjoyable, if unsurprising, listen. And it does have a few glimpses of what made the band special, particularly the instrumentals: "Where's the Walrus?" and "Urbania".

Flashback: Stereotomy (December 19, 1985)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!

Mocha on the Shelf

Some of you out there know about our little companion, Traveling Mocha. And you might know that, every December since 2014, he does daily "Mocha on the Shelf" posts from the first of the month through the 25th. In these posts, he shares a photo of himself being cute, or helpful, or both cute and helpful. If you don't know about him, that's on us for not including him in our posts. 

But we're letting you know now. 

Since the first of this month, Mocha has been his helpful and cute little self over on all his socials. If you're interested, just click a link to see what he's been up to. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/mochaontheshelf2025

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=%23mochaontheshelf2025

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/travelingmocha/search/Mocha%20on%20the%20Shelf

Former Bird App: https://x.com/hashtag/MochaOnTheShelf2025?f=live

Friday 80s Flashback for December 12, 2025

[a fine debut] -- Fine Young Cannibals formed in 1984 and released their debut album a year later (forty years ago this week, on December 9, 1985). The main drivers of Fine Young Cannibals were guitarist Dave Cox and bassist David Steele of The English Beat (or just The Beat in the UK). In 1983, the Beat's vocalists, Ranking Roger and Dave Wakelin, broke away from the band to form General Public. But Cox and Steele didn't know about the split until they both received phone calls from their former band's accountant [per AllMusic]. The duo decided to form a new band as well, one that added jazz and soul stylings to The Beat's ska basis. It took Cox and Steele over a year to find their vocalist, Roland Gift.

Now, when most people recall Fine Young Cannibals, they think of either "She Drives Me Crazy" or "Ever Fallen in Love". However, those songs were on the band's 1989 album, The Raw and the Cooked, not their self-titled 1985 debut. 

The singles on Fine Young Cannibals were "Johnny Come Home" and "Suspicious Minds", the latter being a cover of the Elvis Presley 1969 hit. "Johnny Come Home" peaked at #8 on the UK Singles chart and #76 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also charted in several other countries. "Suspicious Minds" also fared well for the band, reaching #8 on UK Singles, #49 on US 12-inch Singles Sales, and #23 on US Dance/Disco Club Play among other charts. The eponymous debut album itself received critical praise and and commercial success; it peaked at #11 in the UK and #49 in the US. 

Personally, I could not stand their debut single, "Johnny Come Home", when it first came out. And I continued disliking it for several years after that. And while it's still not a song I seek out, I don't exactly jump to turn it off or skip to the next track in those rare moments I come across it. I do appreciate their cover of "Suspicious Minds," and I love that their largely monochrome music video is something of an homage to Elvis Presley. Other standout tracks for me are "Don't Ask Me To Choose" and "Move to Work." 

And without this debut album, we would not have the outstanding pop gems from their later release. 

Flashback: Fine Young Cannibals (December 9, 1985)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!