Bookended by Cats

Friday, May 9, 2025

Friday 80s Flashback for May 9, 2025

[I Want My DTV] -- I wanted to maintain my weekly exploration of releases that turn 40 years old this year, while also having it intersect with the fact that I'm currently in Disney World for my own anniversary. So, this week's Flashback celebrates the 1985 VHS release of DTV: Love Songs. DTV was kind of Disney's MTV. It premiered on May 5, 1984, and it featured music videos created by Walt Disney Productions. These videos took hit songs and set them to Disney animation. In April 1985, 40 years ago, Disney released a compilation of those videos in VHS format – DTV: Love Songs (1985) VHS.

The 1985 VHS collection had a playlist of 14 songs:

Juice Newton: Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me
The Temptations: Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)
Elvis Presley: All Shook Up
The Marvellettes: Don't Mess with Bill
Stevie Wonder: My Cherie Amour
Gene Chandler: Duke of Earl
The Drifters: Some Kind of Wonderful
Mary Wells: Two Lovers
The Marvellettes: Too Many Fish in the Sea
Dee Clark: Raindrops
The Temptations: Ain't Too Proud to Beg
Odis Redding: Try a Little Tenderness
Yes: Owner of a Lonely Heart
Sister Sledge: We Are Family

As you can see, some of the songs were 1980s hits, while others were older. The embedded YouTube playlist is missing only "All Shook Up" by Elvis Presley due to a copyright claim (it's noted in the video description). If you're a completist, the entry for DTV Love Songs on Internet Archive has the full playlist.

Flashback: DTV: Love Songs (April 1985)

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!

Saturday, May 3, 2025

A Transformed Impression

I'm really not a Transformers fan. But I somehow had a digital copy of Transformers: Autocracy - Collected Edition in my Kindle library. I'm guessing I had a special deal or a discount code back in the days of Comixology. So, I read it. And I enjoyed it. The art is fantastic, and it is a well plotted origin story of the Autobot/Decepticon conflict. But more than fleshing out the background of the conflict, this 12-chapter run provides an origin story of Autobot leader Optimus Prime (from humble origins as Autobot officer Orion Pax).

It's also kind of inspiring in how Optimus Prime learns about oneness and freedom.

Here are pages 85 and 86 from the collected edition.

Transformers: Autocracy – Collected, p85
(Prime in the Undergrid, finding the Matrix)

Transformers: Autocracy – Collected, p86
("I am Optimus Prime, and I have a world to set free.")

Friday, May 2, 2025

Friday 80s Flashback for May 2, 2025

[Be Your Bad Guy] -- I have not featured a two-fer flashback since the end of February, so I think I'm due. And even though we've just entered the month of May, I'm still not finished featuring April releases. So, both of this week's albums are from the end of April. We have a duo and a solo act this week. And both records were successful, though you might be more familiar with one than the other. I'm just guessing.

Be Yourself Tonight – Released 40 years ago this week (April 29, 1985), Be Yourself Tonight is Eurythmics' fourth studio album. It was their most commercially successful album. So, of the two albums featured this week, this is the one that most 80sphiles recall, at least when compared against this week's other album. That's my guess and I'm sticking with it. And I'm sticking with that guess because, in addition to that commercial success, Be Yourself Tonight is "one of the best rock/pop albums from the 1980s and one of the grandest, most creative albums delivered by the ever-appealing and innovative" duo known as Eurythmics [per Jose F. Promis on AllMusic]. This album was nominated for two Billboard Music Awards and the Brit Award for British Album of the Year. And two singles were nominated for Grammy Awards in 1986. Speaking of singles, there were a total of four released singles – "Would I Lie to You?", "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)", "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" (a duet with Aretha Franklin) and "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)" – and three of the four did really well on the charts. In fact, I'll bet you're singing one of them, probably "Would I Lie to You?", in your head as you read this, right? Oh, and as I recall, "I Love You Like a Ball and Chain" was not a single, but it did get some airplay, and rightfully so.

Mr. Bad Guy – During a proposed break from band activities starting in 1983, Queen's frontman Freddie Mercury started dabbling in recording sessions. Or, perhaps, he did more than merely dabble, depending on how much free time there was as other Queen activities did pop up (The Works and The Works Tour in 1984, for example). Anyway, Mercury's recording sessions stretched from early 1983 through January 1985. After Mercury completed 11 tracks, all of which written solely by himself, he was ready to release his first solo studio album. So, after 15 years of fronting Queen, Freddie Mercury released Mr. Bad Guy. The UK release occurred 40 years ago this week – on April 29, 1985 – while the US release occurred about a week later, on May 7, 1985. As Mercury's voice is instantly recognizable, and he had been working with Queen for 15 years, some aspects of Queen's sound do slip through. Mercury also worked with synth-pop, dance music, and disco influences, making this a decidedly post-disco record (in my estimation, YMMV). And a good one at that. Mr. Bad Guy barely made it into the Billboard 200, peaking at #159. But it peaked at #6 on the UK Albums chart, and it also made it into the top 40 of several other countries. Mr. Bad Guy was by no means a chart-topper, and even the four singles had middling chart success. Still, I think it's always a pleasure to listen to a singular vocal talent like the late Freddy Mercury. Fave tracks of mine include "Let's Turn It On", "I Was Born to Love You", "Made In Heaven", "Living On My Own", and "Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow".

Did you have either Be Yourself Tonight or Mr. Bad Guy? Or both?

Flashback #1: Be Yourself Tonight (April 29, 1985)

Flashback #2: Mr. Bad Guy (April 29, 1985)

See you in seven!

Friday, April 25, 2025

Friday 80s Flashback for April 25, 2025

[Around the World in 40 years] -- Nine years ago this week, we lost the creative force known as Prince (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016). Also this week, but forty years ago, Prince had released his seventh studio album, Around the World in a Day. This LP, the third with the backing band known as The Revolution, was quite the departure from 1984's Purple Rain, the album (and movie) that had pretty much made Prince a worldwide sensation. Prince and the Revolution took their collective musical vehicle, cranked hard on the steering wheel, and careened directly into a world of psychedelic and textured pop.

That seemingly abrupt style change might have bewildered the vast array of newer fans, but those who stuck around were rewarded. Yeah, Prince was experimenting here, but he did so with flair and purpose.

Commercially, the album succeeded, reaching the #1 spot on the Billboard 200. This made it the second outing by Prince and the Revolution to do so. And two of the album's four singles topped the charts, too, with both "Raspberry Beret" and "Pop Life" reaching the Billboard Hot 100's top ten.

Other standout gems on this record include the title track, the serene "Condition of the Heart," and the perfectly and politically charged "America."

Flashback: Around the World in a Day (April 22, 1985)

See you in seven!

Friday, April 18, 2025

Friday 80s Flashback for April 19, 2025

[Love Not Money] -- Fifteen years ago this week, British band Everything but the Girl released their second studio album, Love Not Money. This album represented a stylistic change as the band – primarily the duo of Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt – embraced serious themes and politicized lyrics driven by the polish of sophisticated pop. It is perhaps a more dour listen than their jazzy debut, but it is rewarding, at least in my opinion.

Love Not Money peaked at #10 on the UK album charts. The album's two singles, "When All's Well" and "Angel," peaked at #77 and #93 respectively on the UK Singles Chart. In addition to the two singles, "Trouble and Strife" is also a standout.

Flashback: Love Not Money (April 15, 1985)

See you in seven!

Monday, April 14, 2025

Prez Was Prescient

"With the election in chaos and a Congress mired in corruption, Twitter sensation @corndoggirl becomes the first teenaged President of the United States!"

Damn if that just doesn't mirror politics-as-reality-TV that we've suffered through since 2016. Interestingly, the above quote is a description of the second Prez comics series (Prez, Vol. 2), which ran from August 2015 through February 2016. The 2015-2016 series was an update of the 1973-1974 comic series (Prez, Vol. 1). Both series were published by DC Comics. Probably the most direct connection between those comics and modern day politics, whether the 1970s or post-2016, is the shady businessman Boss Smiley, a political boss with a smiley face for a head who appears in both series.

Sure, the second series is a more direct satire on modern politics, what with it intertwining social media, particularly the former bird app, with elections. Considering the past few months, that take kinda makes the second series feel prescient, no?

Image description (for collage at top of post): Starting in the top left and moving clockwise, we have the cover for Prez, Vol. 1 #1 (1973); a panel from that issue featuring Boss Smiley; cover of Prez, Vol. 2 #2; and the vol 2 version of Boss Smiley.

Friday, April 11, 2025

Friday 80s Flashback for April 11, 2025

[Fin(ished) 40 Years Ago] -- Crispy Ambulance is a post-punk band out of Manchester, England. And, aside from a few gaps, they have been active since 1977. Their 1980s catalog includes one studio LP and two live albums. And one of those live albums was released 40 years ago this week!

Fin was released in 1985, three years after Crispy Ambulance first disbanded. It is a live album of the songs from their later period (that is, the late period of their first incarnation, 1977 - 1982). These songs were all recorded as live performances around Europe and the UK between 1981 and 1982. The album's title comes from the fact that the band had already called it a day by the time this record came out – that is, they were fin(ished), get it?

In addition to playing their own songs, most of which were previously unrecorded, they also perform a great cover of Throbbing Gristle's "United." One of the standouts here is their own "The Plateau Phase," which oddly does not appear on the album of the same name. "Deaf" is also great, and I love that vocalist Hempsall introduces it by saying, "Here's a song you might just know...It's Howdy Doody time!"

Last year, Crispy Ambulance re-released 12 of Fin's tracks on the combo live album, Fin + Frozen Blood, on Bandcamp.

Flashback: Fin (April 9, 1985)

See you in seven!