Friday 80s Flashback for March 24, 2023

[New Wave Blues-Rock] -- ZZ Top, that little ol' band from Texas (which was the title of a 2019 documentary about said band), had been doing the little ol' band thing since their debut in 1969. And their thing was mainly blues rock, but they included enough boogie rock to keep it interesting. And 1983 was certainly interesting for ZZ Top. Eliminator, the band's eighth studio album, was released 40 years ago this week, on March 23, 1983. But it was not their 1980s debut. That distinction goes to 1981's El Loco, which was a fine record with some respectable charting action; it even went Gold. But El Loco didn't have any of the impact of Eliminator.

Eliminator was very much a product of its time, and it surprisingly launched ZZ Top into hip and cool status with the MTV generation. Their music videos, coupled with the polished synth grooves on this record, made the Texas trio popular with a capital "P." And those hits carried the album into top ten status in the US and around the world (Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK). It was even a top 25 record in Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. 

All four singles -- "Gimme All Your Lovin,'" "Sharp Dressed Man," "TV Dinners," and "Legs" -- were pretty much international hits. Even "TV Dinners," the lowest charting single, still managed to peak in Billboard's top 40. The music videos featured guitarist Billy Gibbons' then newly customized 1933 Ford coupe, which also graced the album cover. That car is known as the "Eliminator" coupe, but the album name came first, and it's a reference to a drag racing term. Oh, and the "Legs" video featured the debut of the band's patented spinning guitars (I think they're patented, or trademarked maybe; they're just very recognizable)

I love all facets of ZZ Top's catalog. I was kind of raised on some of their older stuff through AOR radio and my Dad's love of 1960s and 1970s rock music. But this record holds some great memories for me. It's like they made it for my generation. So, for at least a short while in the early 1980s, these old boys from Texas shed their status as old-fogeys from the local radio station's glory days, and MTV's audience embraced them. At least, like I said, for a while. 

Flashback: Eliminator (March 23, 1983)

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That's all for the Flashback 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.

I'll see you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for March 17, 2023

[...to Remind Me] -- March 16, 1983. Forty years ago this week. The British New Wave duo known as Naked Eyes released their debut album. In the UK and Europe, this album was titled Burning Bridges (see this post's preview image above). For North America and Japan, the album was released eponymously in April 1983, and it had a different album cover (see below) with a rearranged track listing. Naked Eyes' first single off their debut, on either side of the Atlantic, was a cover of "Always Something There to Remind Me." 

You're probably humming the opening notes of the song right now, aren't you? Or, maybe, you're recalling the music video, which featured singer Pete Byrne and keyboardist Rob Fisher as journalists, or some other kind of investigators, keeping tabs on a famous woman, a woman Byrne seems to have a past with and still loves. "Always Something There to Remind Me" was penned by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in the early 1960s. Byrne always loved the song. So, nearly two decades later, Naked Eyes recorded it and their version peaked at #8 on the US Billboard Hot 100. While it also reached the top ten in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, the Naked Eyes single missed the top 40 in their native UK, where it peaked at #59.  

Naked Eyes is best known for their synth-pop cover of "Always Something There to Remind Me," but the duo (and additional credited musicians) are not a one-hit wonder. Their second single, "Promises, Promises," peaked at #11 on the US Billboard Hot 100; it also reached #13 in Canada, #15 in New Zealand, #29 in South Africa, and #95 in the UK. Sometimes, I think I prefer "Promises, Promises" to "Always," but only because "Promises" is their first single that was also 100% their own composition. Oh, and there was a third single, "When The Lights Go Out," which just barely reached the top ten in the US. 

But what about the rest of the album? I'm glad you asked. 

AllMusic critic Chris Woodstra considers this debut album to be the duo's finest moment. That might be hyperbole considering the duo released only one other record together in the 1980s, and keyboardist Rob Fisher died in 1999, well before singer Pete Byrne put together a new lineup of Naked Eyes to play shows starting in 2005. So, we don't have much of a catalog to consider. However, having made those caveats, I will confess that I do consider this debut to be a masterpiece of early 1980s New Wave and studio wizardry. You can tell which songs received the most attention in the studio, but that doesn't mean the rest of the tracks are filler. Consider "Emotion in Motion," "A Very Hard Act to Follow," and "Could Be." They didn't receive any airplay, but any one of them could have -- maybe should have -- supported a TV show or appeared on a movie soundtrack. I'm just saying they deserve a wider audience. 

The Eponymous US release on EMI America (April 1983)

This post's embedded YouTube playlist follows the song order found on the March 1983 UK release of Burning Bridges. If you're curious about the North American track listing for Naked Eyes, check out this video, which not only rearranges the song order, but also drops two UK tracks (the aforementioned "A Very Hard Act to Follow" and "The Time Is Now," which might have been the weakest entry, but it wasn't bad). 

Flashback: Burning Bridges (March 16, 1983)

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Once again, I remind you that the rule of three applies when doing Flashbacks. As I've made my three offerings, 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.

I'll see you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for March 10, 2023

[Introducing Bananarama] -- Before "Cruel Summer" (1984) and a cover of "Venus" (1986) put them in the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100, Bananarama released a fully fleshed out pop debut. And by "fully fleshed out," I mean it wasn't just a record of filler songs sandwiched between singles. It did well in their native UK, earning them a top ten album (#7 on the UK Albums chart), as well as three top ten singles. "He Was Really Sayin' Somethin,'" "Shy Boy," and a cover of Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" all peaked within the top five of the UK Singles chart. They all fared less well in the US, barely breaking into the Billboard Hot 100, but this record still paved the way for Bananarama's later success. 

AllMusic Stewart Mason considers Deap Sea Skiving to be the trio's best record. He points to their being "hip enough for their first single to be produced by ex-Sex Pistol Paul Cook," their collaboration with mentors Fun Boy Three ("Shy Boy"), and their funky cover of Paul Weller's "Doctor Love" as evidence of his assessment. And he might be correct: At least, I agree that the four British chart hits still sound great 40 years later. In addition to the singles, my favorite track is "Boy Trouble" -- The production and instrumentation, particularly the percussion, are just top notch. I also feel the entire album has a subtle, yet strong, fun factor at its core, and that sense of pop fun helps give this collection of songs an undeniable danceability. 

Give this under-appreciated gem a spin. 

Flashback: Deep Sea Skiving (March 7, 1983)

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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.

I'll see you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for March 3, 2023

[Still True] -- Depending on the source, this weekend's Flashback album was released on either February 28 or March 4 of 1983. Either way, it is 40 years old as of this week. I'm talking about True, the third studio release by the English new wave band, Spandau Ballet. They already had something of following in their native UK, but the release of True, and in particular the album's title track, brought Spandau Ballet international acclaim and success. 

It certainly grabbed my attention around the spring of 1983, when "True" was released as the album's third single. I still have my copy on 45-rpm.

As an album, True ushered in a new sound and style for Spandau Ballet. While they had previously pursued  the night club and dance audiences associated with early new wave efforts, audiences which the band starting losing after their second album, songwriter/guitarist Gary Kemp decided to focus on soul and R&B influences, notably Marvin Gaye and Al Green. Kemp's new songs were more lounge oriented and leaned heavily on the sound of Steve Norman's saxophone and singer Tony Hadley's expressive range, but overall were still infused with a New Romantics flair. 

"True" peaked at #1 and #4 on the UK Singles and US Billboard Hot 100 respectively, and it enjoyed global chart success. Much of that success was likely due to a music "video that cast singer Tony Hadley as a young Frank Sinatra, crooning about the sound of his soul" [AllMusic]. Spandau Ballet's next single, "Gold," also performed well, though it did not reach the mega-hit status of its predecessor: It peaked at #2 in the UK, but reached only the top 30 on US charts (#29 on both US Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box charts, and #17 on the US Adult Contemporary chart). As much as "True" is the better known single, and I do still love it, I might prefer "Gold" just a little because of its "Always believe in your soul" message. Maybe. Let me know what you think. 

True reached the #1 position on the UK Albums chart while peaking at #19 on the US Billboard 200. It was also a top ten album in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Spandau Ballet continued to release albums throughout the 1980s, and they enjoyed success in Europe, Canada, and Oceania. But they never again reached those dizzying heights to which they had soared with True. 

Flashback: True (March 4, 1983)

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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.

I'll see you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for February 24, 2023

[Where's Kilroy Now?] -- In 1982, the classic lineup of Styx – Dennis DeYoung (keyboards), Tommy Shaw (guitar), James Young (guitar), John Panozzo (drums), and Chuck Panozzo (bass) – probably had no idea they were recording their last album of original material together. There are plenty of stories out there about the creative tensions that arose during the recording of Kilroy Was Here, the band's 11th studio album. And the theatrical tour to support the record, as well as that tour's sheer expense, probably did not help. 

Still, this week is the 40th anniversary of Kilroy's release. And I'm celebrating it. 

Kilroy Was Here was released on February 22, 1983. It is a concept album built around a rock opera that imagines a dystopia in which rock music is outlawed. The minifilm that accompanied the tour, and the album's song lyrics, reveal a heavy-handed mocking of anti-rock activists (primarily of the Christian variety) who were protesting backmasking. Although the PMRC came later in 1983, there are similarities between them and Kilroy's primary antagonists: the theo-fascistic MMM (Majority for Musical Morality). 

Kilroy Was Here debuted at #10, and peaked at #3, on the Billboard 200. It sold somewhere between 1 and 2.5 million copies (depending on the source), and yielded two top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Mr. Roboto" peaked at #3 and "Don't Let It End" peaked at #6. 

But Kilroy Was Here has divided critics and fans just as much as, if not more than, the band. And Kilroy broke the band's streak of consecutive multiplatinum albums. So, regarding the divide in the band, upon completing the Kilroy tour, Styx disbanded for a while. The band reformed without guitarist Tommy Shaw in 1990, but disbanded again in 1991. Shaw returned to the fold when Styx again reformed in 1995. But a few years later, in 1999, Shaw and Young pretty much forced DeYoung out of the band. 

You can easily find reviews that pan Kilroy Was Here [for example: Rolling Stone and AllMusic], or even the show. But maybe the record was ahead of its time. Along with the themes of anti-music and over-zealous religious control in government, there is a narrative that bemoans the overuse, and over dependence upon, technology. There is even the replacement of humans with machines: The Roboto units of "Mr. Roboto" are automatons that guard prisoners and carry out the MMM's orders, and yet Kilroy (as played by DeYoung) must disguise himself as a Roboto to enact his prison escape and connect with members of a resistance. 

OK, yes, the album is somewhat cheesy, and possibly even bloated. Of course, a few songs are just there to advance the narrative, but isn't that what always happens in a musical? And, if we're honest, filler tracks have always been a thing, so it's kind of weird to call out Styx for having a few of them. And even though this record uses more synths than prior outings, it's still a very enjoyable, and rocking, record. 

And as much as Tommy Shaw and James Young complained about "Mr. Roboto" (either back in the day, or in retrospect), they brought the song back to their live show setlist starting in 2018. That was a mere ten years after it appeared in a VW commercial. So, even if Shaw, Young, and DeYoung still don't see eye to eye, or even each other, at least both factions (DeYoung and Styx) agree that the song has fans. 

And, after all these years, I'm still one of those fans.

Flashback: Kilroy Was Here (February 22, 1983)

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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.

I'll see you in seven!

Black Panther - Wakanda Forever

 Dangrdafne review

What a wonderful tribute to Chadwick Boseman. So many tears. It truly was a wonderful story that included the loss of Chadwick and made it all work. I truly hope that the ceremony in the movie helped the actors deal with the loss. I felt that it helped me and felt that it allowed the public to be a part of the funeral.

I absolutely adored all the woman power in this movie. During the scene on the bridge I even said "there are three women of color as the main heroes in this movie!" I was blown away by the action and their stories. The actresses are excellent at their jobs and I am grateful for their portrayal of these incredible superheroes.

The costuming for this movie was beyond spectacular. Angel Bassett's outfits were out of this world beautiful and added even more to her beauty. I want to cosplay every outfit she wore. The white ceremony outfits were also simply beautiful and angelic. It was pure glorious beauty on the screen. I hope the costumers win the Academy Award for this movie.

I loved the music in this movie too. I feel like I don't recall lyrics in past Marvel movies, but I could just be misremembering, but each song really fit into the scenes and I definitely will seek out the soundtrack for this movie. I was a little thrown by the new Panther music but it does work very well. I do miss the tribal sound that was in the first movie but I understand why it wouldn't be in this one without Chadwick.

Namor was well done and the special effects for him were seamless and I was very impressed with how realistic he was. I did mention during the one underwater scene that even though I liked Aquaman, that this was the Aquaman movie that one was trying to be ;) Again I have no history with any of these characters, so I had no issues as some do and I liked the story and the portrayals.

I am grateful that some how I was not spoiled on anything in this movie and I will not spoil anything here now. I did figure out one thing while the movie progressed but I am ok with that. It is best if you can just watch and let everything unfold. I think it was an excellent story, told very well.

I do definitely wish we saw this movie in the theater, as I think it would have been all encompassing and hit even harder for the action but I am also so glad I was at home to cry throughout this movie.

Another excellent addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

4 paws

Friday 80s Flashback for February 17, 2023

[The Power (Light) of Earth, Wind & Fire] -- In early February 1983, Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) released their 12th studio album, Powerlight. Longtime 80s-philes (do we have any of those following this blog?) might recall that I featured three tracks off that record for a 2/2/2018 Flashback post, but I highlighted only three tracks, two of which were singles. But now that Powerlight has turned 40 years old this very month, I'm going to feature the entire album. And I'll lean heavily on my previous post. 

So, first off, I don't know if the kids these days remember, or even know, that back in the 70s and early 80s we had this little band called Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF). Of course, this little band wasn't really so little. I mean, here is the personnel listing for their eponymous 1971 debut album, and here is the list for their 1983 album, Powerlight. Building from a funk foundation, they blended R&B, soul, jazz, disco, and even early electronica among other musical styles into a force to be reckoned with. And they had a horn section, The Phenix Horns, that was the envy of the industry. For example, after catching EWF on tour, Phil Collins brought The Phenix Horns in for several Genesis and even solo tracks. 

Speaking of EWF on tour, they were known for elaborate stage shows. I remember Earth, Wind & Fire in Concert, a 1984 TV movie that showed their Oakland Coliseum concert which had been filmed in December 1981. During the performance of "Jupiter" (the song starts around the 47:50 mark in this video), they staged a battle with an evil Darth Vader-esque entity. I don't think that video is quite the same show I watched – I seem to recall the evil entity entering the fray from the audience rather than already being on stage – but you'll get the idea. 

But back to the this week's album, Powerlight. The record buying public responded positively to the album's release, lifting it to #4 and #12 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums and the Billboard 200 charts respectively. Three of the nine tracks were released as singles between November 1982 and June 1983: "If You Fall in Love with Me," "Side by Side," and "Spread Your Love." They were also the first three tracks on Side A of the vinyl and cassette releases, though the release order did not exactly match the track listing order. Back in 1983, I had the cassette release of Powerlight. "If You Fall in Love with Me" was not only the album's lead single, it was also the lead track on Side A of the cassette. That meant I could easily and quickly access it. And I often did. While "The Speed of Love" wasn't released as a single, it is burned into my music memory because it was the first track on Side B of cassette I owned. I honestly don't know if I still own that cassette. Maybe I'll do a little search and provide an update later.

Back to the singles, "If You Fall in Love with Me" was the lead single off Powerlight. It was released in advance of the album, in November, 1982. It reached #17 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #4 on the US Billboard Black Singles, and #31 on the US Billboard Hot Dance/Disco charts. It was also nominated for a Grammy. And, as far as I can tell, this was the only single to receive the music video treatment. That video pretty much features the band performing in the virtual reality of a retro-futuristic Egypt. While the video effects were close to cutting edge at the time, they now they remind me of late 1990s screen savers. "Side by Side," the album's second single, was released in April of 1983. It peaked at #15 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. Billboard (April 9, 1983. p. 47) described the song as a "blending of jazz vocals and chords in the funk of a rhythm ballad." "Spread Your Love" was the third and final single released off Powerlight, hitting the airwaves in June of 1983. It peaked at #57 on the US Black Singles chart, but it really deserved a wider audience. 

Seriously: The message of "Spread Your Love" – that human love is damn serious – is one that is still very much needed today. 

Flashback: Powerlight (February 1983)

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Once again, I remind you that the rule of three applies when doing Flashbacks. As I've made my three offerings, 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.

I'll see you in seven!