2023 Classic Rock / AOR Journal Vol. 1 - Complete

ZZ Top - Deguello. 1979 Warner Bros. This album contains a good number of their familiar radio hits. It came after a three year hiatus, and the group were energized. They changed their sound a bit to go with the times, something they truly mastered on Eliminator. I think this is a very good album, but I don't need to own it. Got this far in life without it, and it's not something I'm going to clamor to hear. Most of the tracks are played at the grocery store anyway lol. (Oct)

Sugarcane Harris - Sugarcane. 1970 Epic. Denver show find for cheap (Oct). Well regarded blues rock album, but I didn't derive much out of it. More blues than rock. I liked the opener though. This is the second album for me to try from Harris, but it's not looking like his albums are going to be my thing. (Oct)

Genesis - Abacab. 1981 Atlantic. Found this at a thrift shop this week for a buck while in the Colorado mountain interior (Aug). It was in perfect shape, so why not hear it one more time? Like just about every other dyed-in-the-wool prog fan my tolerance for pop era Genesis is pretty low. As mentioned here before, I didn't even know Genesis was a prog band until I got to college a couple of years later. I always liked the title track with its random synthesizer leads and motorik styled drums. Even though the song is the most proggy thing here, the fact remains it was the big hit from the album and it makes you wonder why they didn't reconsider their decision. The rest of the album is not so bad if taking into account the early 80s radio mindset. Some of it reminds me of Toto of all bands, especially the horn driven numbers. Taking the emotion out of it, I'm tempted to keep it. But the downsizing must continue, and as I said about a recent ZZ Top tape, I have no nostalgia here. And if I did, it would be mostly on the negative side. Glad to have reconciled with it though. 

*Malo - Evolution. 1973 Warner Bros. Finally the all elusive 3rd Malo album! At least in the wilds, this is by far the hardest title to track down. Not only that, but this is the first time for me to hear the album. And it lived up to expectation, including the cover. Just as great as the others from the original quartet of albums. For Latin rock fans, Malo are ground zero (along with brother Carlos of course). Found at a local store, and I paid close to retail for it (they usually charge less, but I had to have it). (Jul)

Saga - Behaviour. 1985 Portrait. By the time Behaviour was released I was an entrenched Saga fan. World's Apart and especially Heads or Tales were (and remain) very important albums in my collection. As mentioned many times here already, 1985 was a pivotal year for my musical development, and I consider it the time I began my deep dive into progressive rock. So when I saw the new Saga at the record store, I looked at it closely, and said no way. It just didn't feel right. 38 years later, I grabbed one for a buck at the Austin Record show to see if I had made a mistake all those years ago. Nope - it ended up sounding exactly what I thought it might sound like. My instincts proved correct. The production is completely overdone and Gilmour's keyboard tones are awful. And Negus sounds like he's drumming echoed pillows. Only Michael Sadler sounds the same, bringing his unique vocal style to what sounds like an Atari soundtrack. I found myself enjoying Side 2 more than the first - perhaps the shock factor had worn off by then. These guys could still write decent tunes even at this point, so it's a good album overall. Not enough to keep. And while I can be apologetic about it today, 38 years ago I would have abhorred it. (Jun)

*Rare Earth - Get Ready. 1987 Motown (CD) (1969). Funny about this title. I've had it on vinyl a few times, and I never felt compelled to keep it. Part of that is it's nigh impossible to find the vinyl in decent shape. When I saw this CD at a thrift shop last week, I thought to myself "you know you never see this on CD". And it was perfect mint. Sure enough, it is much more scarce in this format. I'm finally warming up to the long title track. I think the poor decision to close with the drum solo always ruined my experience. I'm not too fond of their cover selections, especially 'Tobacco Road' and 'Feelin' Alright', the latter in particular I find nauseating. Overall though I enjoyed a +1 listen. (Jun)

Billy Thorpe - Children of the Sun. 1979 Polydor. My memory stated that while the title track is awesome the remainder of the album is nothing of the sort. This copy fell to the buck bin at a local store, so I decided to hear it again after some 40+ years. That memory proved to be correct. This is 1979 pop rock with one very strange anomaly with the song 'Children of the Sun'. You'd think if an artist actually gets rewarded for being creative, he might stick with that formula. No way. Off it goes... As an aside the best use of this track IMO was used at the beginning of a season of Fargo several years ago. (May)

Kevin Ayers - Yes We Have No Mananas. 1977 ABC. Free from a local store (Apr). Ayers is considered prog royalty given his participation on the first Soft Machine album. So anytime an artist like Ayers releases a garden variety pop rock record, it has to be appended with a much more regal genre tag. "Intelligent Pop" states the radio station notes on my copy. Art rock, art pop, progressive pop. All fancy terms to obfuscate what the album really contains: Corporate approved radio friendly fare. This album is mostly worthless until the last two tracks, especially the finale, that shows Ayers still had a couple of good ideas left in the tank. Overall it rates out to about average. ABC also had Steely Dan in their ranks and they were much better at this sort of thing.

Supertramp - Crime of the Century. 1974 A&M. Estate sale find (Apr). I thought I'd heard this one recently, but it was Even in the Quietest Moments. I've reluctantly accepted Breakfast in America in recent times, but what of Crime of the Century from five years earlier? There are three major hits here including 'School', 'Bloody Well Right', and 'Dreamer'. None of which excite me too much. Supposedly the rest is labeled prog rock, but I really don't hear it. More of the same. The major exception to this is 'Rudy' by far and away my favorite track here and the only one I'd personally label as progressive. Overall a good and inoffensive record.

Steely Dan - Gaucho. 2003 MCA (SACD) (1980). I found a pile of SACD's from an estate sale recently, mostly classical, but this one and a Billy Joel release were the outliers. I can't sit still for Joel, and that CD is already sold and gone. But I held this one back (and some of the classical which my wife and I enjoy while having a late afternoon glass of wine). I've never actually heard this album, and I do like Aja. Gaucho comes across to me like a caricature of their sound. It's just way too slick. I'm amazed the original album didn't come with a tube of polish. It's not bad of course, but what pleasure can I possibly derive from it? For middle aged moms. (Apr)

Golden Earring - Eight Miles High. 2001 Red Bullet (CD). Collection revisit (Apr). For many years I had it in my head that their side long version of Eight Mile High was the best rendition out there. But not really. It meanders and features a long drum solo. 'Fraid to say but The Byrds' original is all one needs. I prefer the harder rocking tracks on the original side 1, but I didn't hear enough to keep this.

Libra - Winter Day's Nightmare. 1976 Motown. There is a store in Greenville, South Carolina that I liked. Great selection, nice owner, fair prices. But I couldn't find one thing to purchase and I really wanted to support him. So I bought this one (Mar), since I have their debut in my collection (though I recall nothing about it). And my stance has softened considerably on prog bands who were trying to stay relevant with more commercial material. And that's exactly what Winter Day's Nightmare is. However, in this case, the material is pretty weak. It's not very catchy. In fact, it's a bit irritating almost. Side 2 has some elements that raised the rating (nice guitar work for example), but not near enough to keep. How odd was it that this Italian prog band ended up on Motown anyway?

Prism - Armageddon. 1979 Ariola. In my story about how I discovered Def Leppard, I mentioned a radio station down in San Antonio that was responsible for that. They also played a lot of cool AOR type music, and always the best tracks such as 'Last Chance' by Shooting Star. I could have sworn they also played a great song from Prism, and given that this was from 1979 and had a near 8 minute track called 'Armageddon' that this must have been it. Nada. What a pile of pop slop this album is. Almost no redeeming qualities whatsoever. This Canadian band is willing to slurp it up to get on the radio. I like me some good AOR. This is bad AOR. Probably the worst album I've endured in a year. Found this at a Denver area store and paid $5. I overpaid by $4.99. (Jan)

Kayak - Royal Bed Bouncer. 1975 Vertigo. Collection revisit (Jan). I really enjoy their first two albums but this one just doesn't register as much. Just too much pop slop here for me to dig into for the long haul. Not agreeing that the songwriting is at a higher level. Beautiful gatefold almost had me keeping it, but need to make some room here.

* - Keeping for the collection