Penny for Your Music

For many people, this time of year signals a new beginning – a time to look back at their perceived mistakes of the previous year and make life changes for the upcoming year.  Personally, I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions.  If I discover a way to make my life better, I normally implement the change regardless of the calendar date.

However, in the spirit of the occasion, I’ve decided to partake in the tradition this year.  Actually, that’s not completely true.  To be perfectly honest, I made a startling discovery while I was doing research for this very blog.  I was looking at a list of the top albums of 2015 when I realized that I didn’t own any of them.  That discovery prompted the question, “Just what did I buy this past year?”  Turns out, every CD I bought in 2015 was a so-called “catalog album” – an album that has already charted and then fallen off the charts.  I didn’t buy a single “new” album in 2015.  That hasn’t happened since 1981.  My streak began when I purchased Queen’s “Hot Space” in 1982.  The flood gates didn’t truly open until 1983, though.  That’s when I joined the Columbia Record & Tape Club.

For those of you who don’t remember, Columbia House (as it was called) was a mail-order music service that offered an insane number of albums or tapes for a penny with the signed agreement that you would purchase a specified number at “regular club price” within a certain period of time (usually 3 years).  The deal I signed with Columbia House was what they called a “trial membership”.  I got eight albums for a penny and only had to buy 3 more at regular club prices within the next 3 years.  The problem was that I entered into this agreement without my mom’s consent…and she was not happy about it.  She told me horror stories of how her sister had signed a similar deal years earlier and was then forced to purchase merchandise she had not ordered.  She was convinced I was about to share the same fate.  Actually, when I think back on it, there’s probably very little chance they could have held me to the terms of the agreement anyway.  I’m pretty certain that no company is legally permitted to enter into any kind of signed agreement with a little kid. 

Nevertheless, I fulfilled my end of the deal and, in retrospect, cannot even imagine how my aunt wound up in such a living nightmare with these guys.  I mean, all you had to do was return the cards on time to avoid receiving unwanted albums.  She must have been a real moron to screw that up.  Actually, she WAS a real moron…but I digress.

The Columbia deal came along at a time when I was just starting my music collection.      I had discovered a lot of new music in a short period of time and was able to acquire a large number of albums (cassettes, actually) virtually overnight.  I can still remember the eight tapes that I received:

Michael Jackson – Thriller

Men At Work – Business As Usual

Def Leppard - Pyromania

Toto IV

Van Halen – Diver Down

Hank Williams, Jr. – Greatest Hits

Billy Squier – Emotions In Motion
Devo – Oh No, It’s Devo

Looking back, I had pretty good taste in music for a little kid.  I still have seven of those in my current CD collection.  Boy, did that Devo album suck, though.  What the hell was I thinking there?  But again, I digress.

A few days ago, a good friend of mine (thanks, Paul) posted a link to an exciting story on my Facebook wall.  It seems that a half decade after closing its doors, Columbia House is again dipping its feet into the mail-order music business.

Columbia House Relaunches

While their initial business plan is geared toward the resurgence in vinyl records, one can only hope that CD’s won’t be far behind if all goes well.  If so, I think it’s safe to say that I will not only be updating my music collection with a number of new releases in 2016 (my resolution), I will be doing so under a number of aliases from a number of addresses.  I will also be hitting YOU up to join in order to get the four free selections for the referral.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

NOTE:  The original account of this story was taken from:  "Michael Jackson Got Me on Coke"

Feed the World

One of the coolest Christmas songs to come along in my lifetime was not so much a song as an event.  I still remember the first time I heard those opening chimes and those big, fat drums.  I knew it was going to be something different.  Then, I heard Paul Young.  Then, I heard Boy George.  Then, I heard Simon LeBon…and George Michael…and Sting…and Bono…and I probably blacked out after that.  Nowadays, all-star collaborations are common, but it just didn’t happen back then.  In fact, Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was the catalyst for that kind of thing going forward.  It led to charity singles like “We are the World” & “That’s What Friends are For” and events like Live Aid & Farm Aid.  What’s ironic is that many of the singers involved in the song thought they were going to be the featured vocalist or that it would be a duet between them and another artist.  Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof, who conceived and organized the recording session (AND the Live Aid concert), implemented some masterful sleight-of-hand to make the project materialize.

Along the way, there were also a handful of humorous obstacles such as Sting not wanting to sing a line that included the word “sting” in it or Bono being uncomfortable singing “tonight thank God it’s them instead of you”, which he thought sounded more than a little unsympathetic.  That’s not to mention the fact that Boy George overslept after playing Madison Square Garden the night before and barely made it to the session.

The Making of Band Aid

In the end, the song became a worldwide hit and raised millions of dollars for famine relief in Africa while being updated several times over the years by younger generations of pop stars singing for charity.  It also provided a template for rock-n-roll benefits going forward.  Bob Geldof may not have fed the world with his vision, but he certainly put bread on a lot of tables that would, otherwise, have been bare…and if that ain’t Christmas, then I don’t know what is.

Jump in Bed and Cover Up Your Head

In the spirit of the season, here are my favorite Christmas songs:


White Christmas - Elvis Presley

While most would consider Bing Crosby’s rendition of this Irving Berlin classic to be the definitive version, I always found that version to be a bit somber.  To me, it was Elvis who actually managed to capture the true mood of the song.  Of course, it certainly didn’t hurt that it was included on one of the all-time greatest Christmas albums ever released.  “Elvis’ Christmas Album” was a combination of secular & sacred songs.  The Camden reissue (which is the one I had) has sold over 10 million copies since its release 4 decades ago and contains the definitive versions of a number of favorites including “Blue Christmas”, “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem”.  It was the soundtrack to my Christmas for the first 15 years of my life.

Sleigh Ride - Amy Grant

To date, Amy Grant has nearly a dozen Christmas albums to her credit, but it was her first, 1983’s “A Christmas Album”, that contained the definitive version of this Christmas classic.  She perfectly captures the childhood excitement of playing in the first snow of the season.  Make sure you add this one to your Christmas playlist.

Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney

In 1979, Sir Paul wrote one of the most memorable “contemporary” Christmas songs ever.  The lyrics paint a vivid picture of “walking in a winter wonderland” while the sparse instrumentation gives it a sort of timelessness, as made evident by its inclusion in the 1998 animated film Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer:  The Movie.  For me, it doesn’t truly feel like Christmas until I hear this song.

Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives

Written by Johnny Marks in the early 1960’s and subsequently included in the 1964 Christmas special Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, this classic was originally intended to be sung by Larry Mann (Yukon Cornelius).  Wisely, the producers decided to give it (AND “Silver & Gold”) to Burl Ives due to his singing fame.  The song has been re-recorded a handful of times, but no other version has the charm of Ives’, which continues to hit the Billboard charts well into the 21^st century.

Christmas in Dixie - Alabama

Written by the band, this song was first released in 1982 and later included on their 1985 Christmas album “Alabama Christmas”.  Despite the title, the song makes references to cities

Above the Mason-Dixon Line, as well, and paints a timeless picture of “peace on Earth tonight”.

(Christmas) Baby, Please Come Home - U2

Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich & Phil Spector in the early 1960’s and originally recorded by Darlene Love, this song was given new life when U2 recorded a hauntingly powerful version of it (with Love on backing vocals) during a sound check in Glasgow, Scotland in 1987.  It was included on the compilation “A Very Special Christmas” later that year and (with all due respect to Love) remains the definitive version.

The Christmas Song - The Carpenters

Written by Bob Wells and Mel Torme during a blistering summer in 1945, this song became a mega-hit for Nat King Cole the following year.  However, this version from 1978’s “A Christmas Portrait”, The Carpenters’ only Christmas album to be issued during Karen’s lifetime, surpasses all others.

Jingle Bell Rock - Hall & Oates

Written by Joe Beal & Jim Boothe and first released by Bobby Helms in 1957, this Christmas classic has been recorded at least a hundred times.  Hall & Oates’ 1983 version is the best of the bunch.

My Favorite Things - Lorrie Morgan

This Rodgers & Hammerstein classic was beautifully recorded by country singer Lorrie Morgan, who was backed by the New World Philharmonic & Choir, for her 1993 album “Merry Christmas from London”.  It’s still my favorite version.

The Old Switcheroo

Recently, I saw the “Seinfeld” episode “The Burning”, during which George and Jerry have a conversation about how Jerry’s girlfriend always says “it’s me” when she calls.  As I remember, it went something like this:

George:  I’ll tell you what.  Call her back and give HER the “it’s me”.  Pull the old switcheroo on her.

Jerry:  I think that’s “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”.

George:  What the hell is a gander anyway?

Jerry:  It’s a goose that’s had the old switcheroo pulled on it.

Of course, we’ve all had the old switcheroo pulled on us, too.  In fact, it used to happen all the time back in the eighties.  Here are just a few examples:

Genesis:

Hands down, the most successful case of an established band pulling the old switcheroo is when lead vocalist Peter Gabriel left Genesis and was replaced by then-drummer Phil Collins.  Almost overnight, the band went from a cult-status progressive rock band to a hit-making juggernaut.  Their first post-Gabriel release, 1976’s “A Trick of the Tail”, became their first to make the U.S. Top 40 and its follow-up later that same year, “Wind & Wuthering”, did even better.  However, it was the third with Collins as lead vocalist, 1978’s “…and Then There Were Three”, that finally gave the band a platinum album AND a hit single.

Two years later, “Duke” would go double platinum and give the band a top 20 hit, “Misunderstanding”.  They would continue to gain more momentum (and sales) with 1981’s “Abacab” and 1983’s “Genesis”, the latter of which gave them their first U.S. Top 10 hit.

However, it would be their next album, 1986’s “Invisible Touch”, that would make the band mega-stars.  By then, Collins was already an MTV darling thanks to “No Jacket Required”, while Mike Rutherford was getting almost as much airplay with Mike & the Mechanics.  Of the eight tracks on “Invisible Touch”, five would reach the top five with a sixth becoming a video hit on MTV and a seventh winning a Grammy.  The title track would give them their lone U.S. #1.

As the nineties dawned, record buyers’ interest would shift from the slick pop/rock of the eighties toward grunge & alternative music.  However, someone forgot to tell Genesis, who appeared to be unaffected when they released their last album with Collins in 1991.  The band’s best-selling album, “We Can’t Dance” would make it into the top five while five of its singles would become Top 40 hits.  “I Can’t Dance” was the biggest, peaking at #7.

Ironically, the band would be far less successful when they would, again, replace their lead singer after Phil’s departure in 1996.

They would record one album with Ray Wilson on vocals before disbanding in 2000.

AC/DC:

After achieving international success with frontman Bon Scott, AC/DC would find their future very much in doubt after Bon’s death due to alcohol poisoning in 1980.   With a string of seven multi-platinum albums to their credit, they would contemplate disbanding before being urged by the Scott family to carry on.  After considering several singers, Malcolm & Angus Young finally settled on ex-Geordie frontman Brian Johnson.  Bon had mentioned his admiration for Johnson to the brothers years earlier.

With Johnson in the fold, the band would complete the album they had begun with Scott.  “Back in Black” was released in July, 1980 and would become (and still remains) the band’s best-selling album.

The follow-up, “For Those About to Rock”, also did well, selling more than 10 million copies and continuing a string of multi-platinum albums and memorable singles, their biggest coming in 1990.

"Moneytalks” would make it to #23 on the Hot 100, propelling “The Razor’s Edge” to #2 on the album chart.

Over the next 2-plus decades, the band has continued to sell out shows and record multi-platinum albums with Johnson.  Their most recent was 2014’s “Rock or Bust”.

Survivor:

When lead-vocalist Dave Bickler left Survivor in late-1983 due to vocal problems, the band was a two-hit wonder with their previous album, 1983’s “Caught in the Game”, having been a commercial disappointment.  However, he would be replaced by former Cobra frontman Jimi Jamison the following year and the result would be a string of hits that would span the next half decade.

The band’s first album with Jamison would be 1984’s “Vital Signs”.  The first single with Jimi on vocals cracked the top twenty.

The next two singles from the album, “High on You” and “The Search is Over”, would make it into the top ten.

A year later, the Jamison-led lineup would be asked to do something that the Bickler-led lineup had been asked to do a few years earlier – record a song for a Rocky movie.  “Eye of the Tiger” had been propelled to #1 thanks to its inclusion in Rocky III in 1982 and the sequel, Rocky IV, would include another Survivor mega-hit.

"Burning Heart” would make it all the way to #2 and remains the band’s second biggest hit.

Survivor’s second album with Jamison, 1986’s “When Seconds Count” would give them their final hit single, “Is This Love”.  They would record one more album with Jimi before disbanding in 1989.  Over the next few years, various incarnations of the band would tour & record - one even included both Jamison AND Bickler.  Sadly, Jimi Jamison died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Memphis on September 1, 2014 at the age of 63.

Van Halen:

Without a doubt, the most controversial replacement of a lead singer came in 1985 following David Lee Roth’s very public split with Van Halen.  After considering recording an album with various guest vocalists, the band would ultimately surprise everyone by naming Sammy Hagar as their new frontman.  A relatively successful artist in his own right, Hagar would give both him and the band their first #1 album.  “5150” was released in March, 1986 and would generate three top 40 singles, including the top five “Why Can’t This Be Love”.

All four of the band’s studio albums with Hagar would reach the top spot on Billboard’s album chart and they would rack up 6 more Top 40 hits before parting ways with him in 1996.  After a brief reunion with Roth, they would eventually name ex-Extreme frontman Gary Cherone as their third lead singer.

Unfortunately, the third time was not a charm.  Their lone album with Cherone, 1998’s “Van Halen III”, was a commercial & critical flop and he was fired soon after.  It would be a decade and a half before they would release another album of new material.  “A Different Kind of Truth” was released in 2012 and saw the band reuniting with Roth after a feud that had lasted almost three decades.

Following a successful tour supporting “A Different Kind of Truth”, Van Halen is currently rumored to be working on new material with Roth.

Jefferson Starship:

In 1978, singer Marty Balin left Jefferson Starship with the band hiring Mickey Thomas as his replacement.  The hits would be fewer and further between with Thomas on vocals, although he would give them one of their more memorable songs.

In 1984, Jefferson Starship would lose their final founding member, Paul Kantner, who would then take legal action against the remaining members over the use of the name.  The band would finally settle on shortening it to Starship and would go on to score 6 top 40 hits, 3 of which would make it all the way to #1, in the latter half of the eighties.

Though the band technically broke up soon after 1989’s “Love Among the Cannibals” (which was probably the best Starship album), Thomas has continued to tour under the Starship moniker and even released another album, “Loveless Fascination”, in 2013.

Chicago:

When Peter Cetera departed in 1985, Chicago would hire Jason Scheff (son of Elvis’ bass player Jerry Scheff) as his replacement.  Scheff would go on to sing lead on all four of the band’s singles from their next album, 1986's "Chicago 18", including the #3 “Will You Still Love Me?” and an excellent reinterpretation of “25 or 6 to 4”.

While keyboardist Bill Champlin would take over much of the lead singing duties on their next album, Jason would sing lead on the top 5 “What Kind of Man Would I Be?”.

Thirty years later, Scheff remains the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band.

Animotion:

After releasing two albums and scoring two hit singles in 1985, including the top 10 “Obsession”, Animotion found themselves in need of TWO lead vocalists when both Astrid Plane and Bill Wadhams departed in 1988.  Cynthia Rhodes (Penny Johnson in “Dirty Dancing” and Richard Marx’s wife) and Paul Engemann (former Device member alongside Holly Knight, who co-wrote “Obsession”) were chosen as their replacements.  The Rhodes/Engemann lineup would record one album, 1989’s “Animotion”.

Though “Room to Move” would crack the top ten, the album did not sell well and the band broke up soon after.

Toto:

Toto enjoyed their biggest success with 1982’s “Toto IV”.  However, just as the band was concluding their tour and preparing to begin work on the follow-up, lead singer Bobby Kimball was arrested on drug charges.  The charges were dismissed by May of 1983, but he was subsequently fired from the band.  His replacement was former Le Roux frontman Fergie Frederiksen.  The band would record and release “Isolation” with Fergie in 1984.

While Frederiksen would sing lead on half the album, the one hit single was sung by keyboardist David Paich.  Fergie was released by the band in 1985 at the close of the “Isolation” tour with the band citing difficulty working with him in the studio as a reason.

Toto would hold auditions for a new lead vocalist, ultimately choosing Joseph Williams, son of composer John Williams.  Their first album with Joe was 1986’s “Fahrenheit”.  The album was more successful than “Isolation”, but its two hit singles were sung by guitarist Steve Lukather.  Williams would enjoy HIS first hit single with “Pamela” from 1988’s “The Seventh One”.

Although “The Seventh One” was their most successful album since “Toto IV”, the band fired Williams after the end of the tour due to his own drug problems.  They were set to reunite with Kimball, but the record label pressured them to instead hire South African singer Jean-Michel Byron.  He would sing on the four new tracks from their 1990 compilation album “Past to Present 1977-1990”.

The songs Toto recorded with Byron were more dance-oriented than their past hits, which could have given them a second wind on the nineties charts had they continued along that path.  Unfortunately, the band was unhappy with his flamboyant stage presence and had relegated him to backing vocalist by the close of their 1990 world tour.

Lukather would take over the bulk of the lead singing duties on 1992’s “Kingdom of Desire” and 1995’s “Tambu”, but Kimball would return for a trio of albums beginning with 1999’s “Mindfields” (the best of their post-eighties albums).  He would again depart after 2006’s “Falling in Between” making way for the return of Joseph Williams on 2015’s “Toto XIV”.  The band is currently on tour with Williams.

Journey:

After Steve Perry’s 1996 hiking accident delayed the band’s tour prompting them to cut ties with him, Journey found themselves without a frontman.  They would hire former Tall Stories singer Steve Augeri to replace Perry.  The Augeri-led lineup would release “Arrival” in 2001.  That album would give them their final top 40 hit, “All the Way”.

Augeri would also sing on 2005’s “Generations” before being let go due to vocal problems.

The band would find their next lead vocalist singing Journey songs on YouTube.  Arnel Pineda would sing on 2008’s “Revelation” and 2011’s “Eclipse”.

Pineda continues to tour and record with Journey.

INXS:

After Michael Hutchence’s death in 1997, INXS would not perform publicly for almost a year before playing shows with a number of lead vocalists including Terence Trent D’Arby, Russell Hitchcock and Jon Stevens.  Stevens was actually named an official member in 2002, but would only record one song with the band before departing to pursue a solo career.

In 2004, the band announced that they would search for a new frontman through a reality show called Rock Star.  After a season-long American Idol-esque competition, they named Canadian J.D. Fortune as their singer.  The band’s lone album with Fortune, 2005’s “Switch” (or, as I like to call it, “Switcheroo”), received positive reviews while “Pretty Vegas” would become their final U.S. Top 40 hit.

Amid rumors of Fortune’s drug problems and friction between him and the band, they would tour through 2011 but would not release any more new material.  In 2012, the band announced their retirement.

From the "Cradle" to the "Underground"

Few rock ‘n’ roll stories are more unlikely than that of a spiky-haired punk rocker from a suburban residential district in northwest London who became an MTV darling.  The rise was all but meteoric for William Broad, who changed his name to Billy Idol and enjoyed a degree of success as lead singer for Generation X before going solo and becoming an eighties pop/rock icon.  Riding on a string of Top 40 hits highlighted by “White Wedding”, “Eyes Without a Face”, “To Be a Lover”, “Sweet Sixteen” and the #1 “Mony Mony”, Idol became one of the most recognizable commodities in popular music by the end of the decade.

As the nineties dawned, Idol seemed poised to continue his streak into the new decade.  Despite a breakup with longtime bandmate Steve Stevens and a motorcycle accident that nearly cost him his leg & did cost him a potentially successful movie career (he had been cast in major roles in “The Doors” and “Terminator 2”, but lost both due to his injury), his “Charmed Life” album was well-received and enjoyed an enormous amount of airplay on radio and MTV.  “Cradle of Love” even earned a Grammy nomination.

Unfortunately, his luck was about to run out.  At a time when his contemporaries were struggling to find their place amid the new grunge movement, Billy found himself at a fork in the road.  Had he continued along the bluesier path down which he had started on “Charmed Life”, he might have enjoyed a degree of success similar to that of Bon Jovi.  However, he took a calculated risk by embracing the new digital technology of the time and recorded a concept album.  “Cyberpunk” was released in 1993 and was touted as being one of the first by a major artist to be recorded completely by computers.

The album was panned by critics and shunned by fans.  It was around that time that Billy suffered a near-fatal drug overdose.  With his life AND career in shambles, he would shy away from public life to focus on being a father.

Over the next decade, Idol’s output was minimal.  In 1994, he and Stevens reunited and contributed the title song to the movie “Speed”.

In 2000, he appeared on Tommy Iommi’s solo album, co-writing and singing “Into the Night”.  A year later, an appearance on VH-1’s “Storytellers” prompted a hits compilation that included a remake of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget about Me)” (which was actually written for Billy in the first place, but he refused it).  During this period, he also played himself in “The Wedding Singer” and lent his voice to the animated film “Heavy Metal 2000”.

It wasn’t until 2005, though, that he would release another full album of all-new material.  As a whole, “Devil’s Playground” was probably Idol’s weakest.  However, it was propelled to #46 on Billboard’s Top 200 based largely on the strength of the first single, “Scream”, which stands among his best.  The song peaked at #34 on the U.S. Rock chart, but was inexplicably excluded from the otherwise excellent 2008 hits compilation “Idolize Yourself”.

Six years would pass before Billy would release another album of all-new material.  “Kings & Queens of the Underground” was released on October 14, 2014, a week after Idol’s autobiography, “Dancing with Myself”, hit bookstores.  It was also around that time that his #1 1987 hit “Mony Mony” was being heard in heavy rotation on national television thanks to its inclusion in a Nissan Sentra ad campaign.  It was a marketing blitzkrieg that put Billy virtually everywhere at once.  As a result, “Kings & Queens of the Underground” debuted at #34 on Billboard’s Top 200, his highest debut EVER.

Though the album received lukewarm reviews from many music critics, it’s easily Billy’s best since 1983’s “Rebel Yell”.  Much of the album sounds like his music from that time.

His “Kings & Queens of the Underground” tour is officially over, but Billy promises to be back on the road in the U.S. soon.

http://billyidol.net/update-from-billy-08-31-15/

Stop Believin'

Though few artists were bigger in the eighties than Steve Perry & Journey, both were very much in limbo by the dawn of the nineties.  Journey had quietly disbanded after 1986’s “Raised on Radio” with Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain forming Bad English with John Waite & Ricky Phillips, Cain’s former Babys bandmates.

The band would release two albums, 1989’s self-titled debut & 1991’s “Backlash”, and score 3 Top 40 singles before disbanding in 1991.

Meanwhile, Steve Perry delivered his second solo album to Sony in 1988 only to have it rejected by the label.  It would be 6 years before he would finally release new material.  1994’s “For the Love of Strange Medicine” was met with mixed reviews and would only generate one Top 40 hit.

The following year, Steve would finally agree to a Journey reunion with the “Frontiers” lineup of Schon, Cain, Ross Valory and Steve Smith.  The resulting album, “Trial by Fire”, would be released in 1996 and would contain the top 20 “When You Love a Woman”, as well as three other singles that would hit the Mainstream Rock or Adult Contemporary charts.

Though the album had a few too many slow songs, it also had its share of rockers and haunting mid-tempo numbers.  Steve’s voice was flawless and the band was able to effortlessly recreate the “Frontiers” sound over a decade after that classic album was released.

Unfortunately, just as “Trial by Fire” was building momentum and the band was preparing to embark on a world tour, Perry was injured during a hiking accident & would be unable to perform without hip replacement surgery, which he was reluctant to undergo.  Finally, the band decided to move forward without him, hiring former Tall Stories vocalist Steve Augeri as his replacement.  Their first album with Augeri, 2001’s “Arrival”, would give the band their final Top 40 hit.

In 2005, Journey was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Steve Perry made a surprising appearance.  Later that year, the band celebrated their 30^th anniversary with a new album entitled “Generations”.  The album failed to generate a hit single and Steve Augeri was let go in the midst of a tour in 2006 due to a “chronic throat infection”.  Jeff Scott Soto would fill in for the remainder of the tour.

In 2007, the band would begin a search for a new lead singer, ultimately settling on Filipino singer Arnel Pineda, whom they found on YouTube singing Journey covers.  Their first album with Pineda was 2008’s “Revelation”.  Two of its singles would become hits on Billboard’s AC chart.

The follow-up, 2011’s “Eclipse”, would give the band another AC hit.

They continue to tour extensively with Pineda blowing audiences away with his vocal chops that rival Perry’s at his peak.

But what of Journey’s former lead singer, the man who made famous all of those hits that Arnel is now singing to sold-out crowds all over the world?  Well, after almost 2 decades out of the limelight amid rumors of throat problems that had rendered him unable to sing, Steve Perry resurfaced at an Eels performance, of all places.  He had been a fan of the band for years, eventually meeting them through a mutual friend, resulting in him becoming a regular at their rehearsals and weekly croquet games.  Over time, they convinced him to sit in with the band at rehearsals, never dreaming that he would eventually take them up on their invitation to join them on stage…but that’s just what he did one night in 2014 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Perry joined The Eels for an encore during which he sang “It’s a Motherfucker”, “Open Arms” and “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’”.

Clearly, he wasn’t attacking the high notes like he used to*.  Was that because he CAN’T...or was it because he hadn’t sung in almost 20 years and was just out of practice?  Who knows?  He has said in recent interviews that he’s working on a new album.  He’s also expressed interest in reuniting with Journey at some point.  That seems highly unlikely, though.  Given their current worldwide success with Pineda, it’s doubtful that they would want to risk alienating him (even though he’s stated that he would welcome a reunion of Steve and the band) for an aging Perry who may not even be able to sing their songs anymore and probably wouldn’t be in it for the long haul anyway.  No, as romantic an idea as a reunion of the classic Journey lineup might be, it’s NOT going to happen.

*Here's an excellent article about Steve Perry’s voice:

Steve Perry - A Bit Confusing, Frankly

Indiana Jones & the Stone of Sisyphus

Since the dawn of rock & roll, fans have been intrigued by rumors of unfinished or unreleased musical works.  The masters of Green Day’s “Cigarettes & Valentines” were stolen from the recording studio and the band chose not to re-record the album, producing “American Idiot” instead.  An electric version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” exists but has never seen the light of day.  The Beach Boys’ fabled “Smile”, the most legendary unreleased album of all time, was finally released in “approximated” form in 2011 after nearly half a century of speculation & deliberation.  In each case, the circumstances are different, as is the ultimate fate of each album.  Some are finally made available, be it complete or in part, many years after the original intended release date.  Others remain mysteriously out of reach.  All of them leave us wondering what might have been.

Below are my top five unreleased (or eventually released) albums by eighties artists in order of when they would have been released:

Prince – “Crystal Ball” (1987)

In 1985, Prince & the Revolution began recording tracks for “Dream Factory”, which began as a 9-song follow-up to “Parade”, but would eventually become a double-LP.  Unfortunately, Prince had a falling-out with several members of the band and scrapped the project in favor of a “solo” three-album set called “Crystal Ball”.  However, due to the poor sales of “Parade”, Warner Bros. balked at the idea and convinced the purple one to trim it to a double-LP again.  He would cut seven tracks, add “U Got the Look” and release it as “Sign o’ the Times” in 1987.  The original track listing for “Crystal Ball” was as follows:

Rebirth of the Flesh

Play in the Sunshine

Housequake

The Ballad of Dorothy Parker

It

Starfish & Coffee

Slow Love

Hot Thing

Crystal Ball

If I Was Your Girlfriend

Rock Hard in a Funky Place

The Ball

Joy in Repetition

Strange Relationship

I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man

Shockadelica

Good Love

Forever in My Life

Sign o’ the Times

The Cross

It’s Gonna be a Beautiful Night

Adore (Until the End of Time)

The seven songs that were cut would later show up in one form or another.  In 1998, Prince would release an album called “Crystal Ball”, but it would bear practically no resemblance to this version outside of the inclusion of the title track.

Steve Perry – “Against the Wall” (1988)

Following Journey’s “Raised on Radio” tour, the band formally disbanded in 1987.  Steve Perry would soon return to the studio to begin work on the follow-up to his 1984 solo debut, “Street Talk”.  After months of work, the album, entitled “Against the Wall”, was practically completed when Sony executives informed Perry that they were not satisfied with the musical direction of the songs.  The project was scrapped and Steve wouldn’t release his actual second solo effort until 1994’s “For the Love of Strange Medicine”.  That album would not contain any of the songs from “Against the Wall”, though several of those songs would be used as B-sides for some of its singles.  Seven of the songs would appear in their completed form on Steve’s 1998 compilation album “Greatest Hits + 5 Unreleased”.  A songwriting demo of a song called “It Won’t be You” also appears on the collection and, presumably, was meant for “Against the Wall”, as well.  Two more songs from the “Against the Wall” sessions would appear on the 2006 reissue of “For the Love of Strange Medicine”.  That means the final track listing for the unreleased album might have looked something like this, although an actual track order is anyone’s guess:

When You’re in Love (For the First Time)

Against the Wall

Forever Right or Wrong (Love’s Like a River)

Summer of Luv

Melody

Once in a Lifetime, Girl

What Was

It Won’t be You

Can’t Stop

Friends of Mine

In retrospect, the label probably made the right call on this one.  While “Once in a Lifetime, Girl” and “It Won’t be You” have the same infectious melancholy that made “Street Talk” a blockbuster hit, most of the other tracks alternate between lightweight pop songs and bland ballads that likely wouldn’t have found a place on late-eighties radio.

Mr. Mister – “Pull” (1990)

After releasing their 1985 breakthrough “Welcome to the Real World” and the commercially disappointing 1987 album “Go On”, Mr. Mister went back into the studio in 1989 to record what would have been their fourth album.  Entitled “Pull”, the album was an introspective collection of songs that were not to the record label’s liking.  As a result, the band was dropped by RCA and subsequently broke up.  Lead vocalist Richard Page would go on to co-write Madonna’s 1994 hit “I’ll Remember” with Patrick Leonard.  The two would eventually form Third Matinee, whose lone album “Meanwhile” would also be released in 1994.

However, the final Mr. Mister album would remain unavailable until 2010, when Page would finally release a remixed version on his own Little Dume Recordings.

After the lackluster performance of “Go On”, it’s unclear why the band chose to go further in the same direction.  It would probably have been a better idea to return to the catchy, guitar-oriented sound that made “Welcome to the Real World” so likeable.  However, maybe their sophomore album was just a case of catching lightning in a bottle.  Their other three albums certainly sounded nothing like that one, though they sounded very similar to one another.  Regardless, I’m a huge fan of Mr. Mister and I like “Pull”, but this is another case where the record label was probably right.

Chicago – “Stone of Sisyphus” (1994)

Recorded in 1993 and intended for release on March 22, 1994, Chicago’s “Stone of Sisyphus” was, according to band members, meant to be a musical statement and a conscious effort to avoid the pressure of trying to create hit songs.  Producer Peter Wolf, who took the reins from David Foster, urged the band to make music they loved.  Initially, the album was met with excitement from Warner Bros. executives who commissioned cover artwork and even printed t-shirts.  However, roughly one month before the album’s scheduled release, the label inexplicably rejected the project and asked the band to go back into the studio & record another album.  The band was devastated by the decision.  They would complete their contract with Warner Bros. with 1995’s “Night & Day:  Big Band”, which would perform modestly on the charts, and subsequently end their relationship with the label.

Over the years, “Stone of Sisyphus” would acquire legendary status among fans.  Many of its songs surfaced as bootlegs or live versions.  However, in 1998 the album would finally be released in its entirety (minus one song) a full 14 years and ten albums after its original scheduled release date.

It’s hard to say how successful “Stone of Sisyphus” might have been in 1994.  It definitely doesn’t sound like anything that was on the radio at that time.  In fact, it sounds a bit more like the Chicago of 1974, although a couple of the songs have a hip-hop flavor.  Considering that the albums the band actually produced during that period didn’t exactly burn up the charts, I’d say this might have been just crazy enough to work.  Regardless, it’s worth a listen if you’re a fan of classic Chicago.

Duran Duran – “Reportage” (2006)

Hot on the heels of their 2004 comeback album “Astronaut”, Duran Duran went back into the studio to record a self-produced album that the band members have called angry, political, indie rock.  Unfortunately, when a rough mix was submitted to Sony, it was rejected for not having an obvious single.  The label suggested that the band record a couple of additional tracks with a producer who could give them a more commercial sound than the guitar-driven tracks they had already completed.  After meeting with a few producers, they settled on Timbaland, even as their relationship with guitarist Andy Taylor was dissolved due to an “unworkable gulf”.  As they began working on the new tracks, they eventually decided to shelve the “Reportage” tracks and start over from scratch with what would become “Red Carpet Massacre”.  In the years since, they band has expressed a desire to someday release the “Reportage” album, although none of its songs have ever surfaced ANYWHERE.

:-)

Thunder Sometimes Happens When It's NOT Raining

I had heard the song a few times, but I think it was probably the first time I ever SANG "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show that I noticed an error in the lyric.  There's a line in the last verse that states that "he's headed west from the Cumberland Gap to Johnson City, TN".  I had lived in east Tennessee for several years at that point and I was pretty familiar with the geography of the area by then.  I immediately thought, "Wait a minute.  Johnson City is about as east as you can get and still be in Tennessee.  How could it be WEST of the Cumberland Gap?"  I jumped on Google Maps and my suspicions were confirmed - Johnson City, TN is actually about 100 miles SOUTHEAST of the Cumberland Gap.  How could Ketch Secor have not verified that before fully committing to it?  I find that very strange.

It got me to thinking, though, about other songs that have just plain gotten some well-known fact wrong.  I actually came up with nine on my own before consulting Google and finding a couple more.  Here they are in order of egregiousness:

1.  Fleetwood Mac - "Dreams"

Thunder not only "happens when it's raining", it sometimes happens when it's not.  I'm not really sure what else I can even say about this one.  It's just inexplicable.

2.  U2 - "Pride (In the Name of Love)"

MLK was shot at around 6:05 p.m., not "early morning", on April 4.  Why not just say "early evening"?

3.  Sade - "Smooth Operator"

Granted, Sade wasn't born and raised in America, but the line "coast to coast, LA to Chicago" is inexcusable.  "Coast to coast, LA to New York" in that cutesy little way that she sings would've worked fine...and it wouldn't have been wrong.

4.  Bruce Springsteen - "Glory Days"

Although the term "speedball" was supposedly used in baseball as early as 1918 and at least as recently as 1955, by the early-eighties it meant something VERY different.  It was widely-known to be the cause of John Belushi's fatal drug overdose in 1982, which would have almost certainly been prior to Bruce Springsteen writing this song.  It makes no sense for him not to have used the universally-recognized pitching term "fastball".

5.  Band Aid - "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Actually, there MIGHT be snow in Africa this Christmastime.  The Atlas Mountains in Morocco get regular snowfall throughout the winter months from December through February.

6.  Toto - "Africa"

Technically, Kilimanjaro doesn't rise "like Olympus above the Serengeti".  They're 230 miles apart by car (179 miles apart by plane).

7.  AC/DC - "Shook Me All Night Long"

Brian Johnson goes on and on in the verses about how "SHE was the best damn woman that I'd ever seen".  However, in the chorus he seems to be referring to a completely different woman when he proclaims "YOU shook me all night long".  Why is he telling the woman who just shook him all night long about some other woman who was the best damn woman that he'd ever seen?  Was he deliberately trying to piss her off in order to get some angry sex from her?  Or was he trying to get rid of her after he'd gotten what he wanted?  It's very confusing.

8.  Pet Shop Boys - "Left to My Own Devices"

Neil Tennant made me look stupid once because of his mispronunciation of Debussy in this song.  It's deb-you-SEE, not duh-BOO-see.  Damn it.

9.  The Police - "Don't Stand So Close To Me"

Sting mispronounces Nabakov as NAB-uh-kof instead of nuh-BOE-kof.  Also, in "the book", Humbert is in his mid to late-thirties when he meets Delores.  That's not exactly an "old man".

10.  Geico - The commercial with Europe

The announcer states that "if you're the band Europe, you love a final countdown - it's what you do".

The truth is:  The band Europe does not LOVE a final countdown and nothing in the lyric gives any indication that they do.  If anything, the band seems to find the final countdown to be bittersweet and they appear to have a degree of apprehension as to what comes AFTER the final countdown.

The song went to number one in several countries and made it into the top ten in the U.S.  Therefore, it's probably accurate to say that the band Europe loves the song "The Final Countdown".  Somebody at that ad agency just got a little too cute for his/her own good.

Honorable Mention:  Alanis Morissette - "Ironic"

Okay, Alanis isn't, technically, an eighties artist.  However, according to her Wikipedia page, she recorded her first demo in 1987...and that was enough to get her on the list as an honorable mention.  I'm not going to dissect every single example of "non-irony" in her lyric, but "rain on your wedding day" is not ironic.  It sucks, but it's not ironic.

It's just...not.

One Vegemite Sandwich, Hold the Vegemite!

It's been said that "a fingerful of vegemite is like like a meaty, salty punch in the face"...and that's pretty much how I would describe it.  It was in Massieville, OH sometime in the nineties when a guy from New Zealand who was 6'1" and a bit doughy, to be honest, offered ME a vegemite sandwich.  I gladly accepted it and excitedly took a bite.  It was...not good.  In the interest of detente, I finished it before remembering that there were no strained relations between the U.S. and New Zealand.  I vowed that day to never eat it again...and I never have.

I learned something else from that guy, too.  I learned that New Zealanders DO NOT like to be mistaken for Australians.  I assume that works the other way, as well, although I'm not sure about that.

Nevertheless, a number of Australians found prosperity in the (other) land of plenty in the eighties.  Some like Olivia Newton-John, AC/DC and Rick Springfield first became famous in the U.S. LONG before MTV killed the radio star.

Others became stars as a direct result of the aforementioned Music Television.

Several would enjoy limited success on the U.S. charts.

A few eighties Aussies, though, have continued to make viable music into the 21^st century.  I've talked at length about Rick Springfield in recent posts and I'll be spotlighting AC/DC soon, but there are a few others.

Kylie Minogue hit the U.S. Top 40 three times in the eighties with “I Should Be So Lucky”, “The Locomotion” and “It’s No Secret” – all three were from her 1987 debut album “Kylie”.  She wouldn’t hit the chart again until 2001 when she stormed back with this top ten hit:

Since then, she’s only hit the Top 40 one more time but has topped the U.S. Dance Chart 6 times.

INXS was a hit-making machine in the late-eighties, reaching the top ten 5 times with songs from 1985’s “Listen Like Thieves” and 1987’s “Kick”.  The hits would be fewer and further between in the nineties with only 2 more top ten hits, both from 1990’s “X”.  Fate would deal a seemingly fatal blow to the band in 1997 with frontman Michael Hutchence’s death.  However, the band would embark on an American Idol-esque search for a new lead singer in 2005, eventually choosing Canadian J.D. Fortune.  Their lone album with Fortune, “Switch”, put them in the U.S. Top 40 again later that same year:

Unfortunately, friction between Fortune and the band led to him leaving for good in 2011.  The band would announce their retirement in 2012.

Crowded House appeared to be destined for superstardom when their debut single “Don’t Dream It’s Over” hit #2 on the U.S. Top 40 in 1986.  Their chart success would be short-lived, though, with only one more top forty hit, the #7 “Something So Strong”.  Their second album, 2008’s “Temple of Low Men”, was a commercial disappointment.  Subsequent albums would also fail to generate Top 40 hits, although the band enjoyed a degree of success on the Modern Rock chart in the late-eighties and early-nineties.  After a hiatus of nearly a decade and a half, they would return in 2007 with an album very reminiscent of their self-titled debut.  “Time on Earth” was their first since the suicide of drummer Paul Hester in 2005.

None of its singles charted in the U.S., but it was their highest charting album since the eighties.  I highly recommend it if you're a fan of the band.  It's easily their second-best.

Midnight Oil had one of the most prolific runs of all the Aussie acts, releasing an album every 2-3 years from 1978 through 1998.  Though they only had one U.S. Top 40 hit, 1987’s “Beds are Burning”, they enjoyed tremendous success on the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts.  In 2002, after a 4-year hiatus, they returned with “Capricornia”.  The album failed to chart in the U.S., although the first single received considerable airplay.

I still can’t get that Kylie Minogue song out of my head.