Well
what are you going to do - its 1980 and 1981 you sign with a new label
take their money and Tom Dowd is no where near the studio. The thing
that struck me is how many people asked Gregg and Dickey to sign these
albums - the other being Reach for the Sky.
It always gave me pause when BOTR or RFTS albums were pushed in front of the guys for autographs. But if you came of age then and this music spoke to you then guess what - awesome - and thats how music works - all things work - and so we shouldn't be so quick to judge. I saw a lot of people want these albums signed. They would probably shrug their shoulders at my passion for Highway Call and you know its all good.
Except I don't think these two albums do the band justice in any way shape or form.
So is there music here worth listening to? Yes there is. Is it righteous.... ahhh not consistently and way over produced. Strip it back down put some teeth in the lyrics and well you have different albums.
Okay look you veer off your vision your trying to reestablish the band grab some money and pay the bills. We get it - and so when it comes time to record the material you try to bring the vision forth by the way you sing a voicing and play a phrase. I got the feeling they dressed all the music in the same overcoat of the era and that every other song was Arista taking the music in one direction and the ABB trying to take it in another direction yet all wearing the same fabric or foundation of the pop music world proven money machine artifice.
But if the lyrics are not inspired and the sound is contrived well the best that can be said is they gave it a whirl. However they did not survive the Arista and Clive Davis bastardizing of the original vision of blues, R&B, soul, gospel and jazz and the American Idolizing of our guys.
All the old fans threw up and the new ones made excuses. Large vast amounts of puke, many, many excuses.
Dickey and Gregg made a mistake and Miami Viced their sound. They danced to market forces and chased money instead of the muse. There are listenable songs here that would go well with your early 80's collection or if you are binge watching Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas - that show cracks me up - guilty pleasure - love it when they turn out their own co-workers to hook and shoot drugs undercover or was that Rush?
Tequila Sunrise is an awesome movie the 80's had some merit and gave us Mark Knopfler.
Anyway cherry picking off of these two efforts and in no particular order the songs that work best to my ears.
Leavin
The Judgement
Things You Used to Do
Maybe We Can Go Back to Yesterday
Never Knew How Much I Needed You
From the Madness from the West
Angeline
Keep on Keepin On
So Long
These are good solid of the era tunes but nine selections and one of them I'm iffy about (oh heck all of them I'm Iffy about) culled from eighteen total tracks tells you all you need to know. I bought both albums when they came out and never played them on the air or bought replacement CDs.
Robben Ford once said stick to your vision - the audience will find you or said another way.
"This above all to thine own self be true.." Polonius
Lesson Learned
It always gave me pause when BOTR or RFTS albums were pushed in front of the guys for autographs. But if you came of age then and this music spoke to you then guess what - awesome - and thats how music works - all things work - and so we shouldn't be so quick to judge. I saw a lot of people want these albums signed. They would probably shrug their shoulders at my passion for Highway Call and you know its all good.
Except I don't think these two albums do the band justice in any way shape or form.
So is there music here worth listening to? Yes there is. Is it righteous.... ahhh not consistently and way over produced. Strip it back down put some teeth in the lyrics and well you have different albums.
Okay look you veer off your vision your trying to reestablish the band grab some money and pay the bills. We get it - and so when it comes time to record the material you try to bring the vision forth by the way you sing a voicing and play a phrase. I got the feeling they dressed all the music in the same overcoat of the era and that every other song was Arista taking the music in one direction and the ABB trying to take it in another direction yet all wearing the same fabric or foundation of the pop music world proven money machine artifice.
But if the lyrics are not inspired and the sound is contrived well the best that can be said is they gave it a whirl. However they did not survive the Arista and Clive Davis bastardizing of the original vision of blues, R&B, soul, gospel and jazz and the American Idolizing of our guys.
All the old fans threw up and the new ones made excuses. Large vast amounts of puke, many, many excuses.
Dickey and Gregg made a mistake and Miami Viced their sound. They danced to market forces and chased money instead of the muse. There are listenable songs here that would go well with your early 80's collection or if you are binge watching Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas - that show cracks me up - guilty pleasure - love it when they turn out their own co-workers to hook and shoot drugs undercover or was that Rush?
Tequila Sunrise is an awesome movie the 80's had some merit and gave us Mark Knopfler.
Anyway cherry picking off of these two efforts and in no particular order the songs that work best to my ears.
Leavin
The Judgement
Things You Used to Do
Maybe We Can Go Back to Yesterday
Never Knew How Much I Needed You
From the Madness from the West
Angeline
Keep on Keepin On
So Long
These are good solid of the era tunes but nine selections and one of them I'm iffy about (oh heck all of them I'm Iffy about) culled from eighteen total tracks tells you all you need to know. I bought both albums when they came out and never played them on the air or bought replacement CDs.
Robben Ford once said stick to your vision - the audience will find you or said another way.
"This above all to thine own self be true.." Polonius
Lesson Learned
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