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This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Killing Joke - "A New Day"

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:21:26 +0000

Having rediscovered recently that VH1 Classic does still broadcast music programming of considerable interest to '80s music fans, I recently caught a rebroadcast of just a few minutes of an old episode of the classic modern rock series 120 Minutes. That was just long enough to witness the creepy majesty of one of early goth rock's most interesting bands, British group Killing Joke. The music video for the compelling "A New Day" is probably not best viewed under the influence of any sort of intoxicant, as lead singer Jaz Coleman strikes an affecting Grand Guignol-esque pose that has a tendency to stay burned on the brain. Still, this is only a small part of the story of this track - and the versatile overall gifts of Killing Joke as well.

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This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - The Kings - "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' to Glide"

Thu, 09 May 2013 21:53:54 +0000

Long-term rock music fans can probably agree that the experience of listening to some music can be optimal only if carried out in a particular track order or collection, often that presented on a seminal album or single release. In the age of digital music, such a traditional approach has frequently flirted with extinction - even if plenty of purists remain to insist on the "proper" way to hear great albums and even just great songs. Remember the whole mix tape concept? Ah well, there may not be that many of us left, but when the tendrils of commerce occasionally extend to allow the preservation of such mementos, it is certainly a time for noting if not outright celebration.

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R.I.P. George Jones - This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - "Still Doin' Time"

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:44:47 +0000

As lamented last week in this space, recent events continue to force pop music fans into facing the frequently denied mortality of our musical heroes. The April 26 death of country music legend George Jones - while not entirely unexpected given his age, recent health and long-time courtship with hard living - silences a major American music figure. Still, our sadness is tempered by the realization that Jones has left behind a tremendous number of quality recordings that will always (barring a dystopian tragedy of culture-erasing proportions) keep his one-of-a-kind, whiskey-laced lonesome vocals widely available to us all. As it happens, this sweeping statement applies to Jones' activity during the '80s almost as much as any other era in which he worked so tirelessly across six decades. Influential to almost every artist working within genres even marginally related to country (including Americana, roots rock and the modern commercial country Jones himself often disdained), this consummate interpretive singer enjoyed a remarkably consistent career filled with moving performances. And though Jones' absence will be felt deeply by those who appreciate music at its most primal and vulnerably human, his death will likely generate as much celebration and commemoration as outright pain. After all, if anyone lived a full, bursting-at-the-seams life, it was certainly The Possum.

To kick off the '80s, Jones scored a top U.S. country hit with what many observers still see as the greatest country song ever recorded, the immortal "He Stopped Loving Her Today." And while that tune's focus on mortality, heartbreak and the inseparable relationship between those two concepts will continue to receive justified attention for as long as these issues continue to grip our emotions, I'll choose a slightly different way of remembering the majesty of Jones. 1981's "Still Doin' Time" may be another one of Jones' three No. 1 country hits of the '80s, but outside of country music circles it remains a relatively little-known commodity. That's a shame - if not a surprise - and probably results from the fiercely honky-tonk sound and themes found here, which Jones made a career of exploring. Without resorting to cliches on any level, Jones takes a song co-written by a Nashville songwriter in his twenties at the time (Michael Heeney) and imbues it with grizzled life experience, all the while directly treating archetypal country music topics like drinking, prison, cheating and (last but probably least recognized) self-loathing. It's a classic, just like Jones' immortal voice and his enduringly towering impact on American pop culture.

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R.I.P. Scott Miller - This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Game Theory - "Crash Into June"

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 23:36:46 +0000

About this time last year, it was starting to seem like the flood of rock and roll deaths in 2012 was simply never going to end. After all, stretching roughly from the untimely death of Whitney Houston in February to the end of July, the pop/rock music world lost at least a dozen giants from within its ranks. Thankfully, there had been a bit of a lull in that department in the months since - until somewhat recently, when the fates seem to be attempting a catch-up. Even just this week, in fact, music fans have had to deal with the loss of folk legend Richie Havens and Divinyls frontwoman Chrissy Amphlett...

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This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Carlene Carter - "Madness"

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:05:19 +0000

Blessed (or cursed, in some ways) by an ongoing association with music royalty through collaboration, marriage and direct family ties, country and roots rock artist Carlene Carter produced three interesting albums during the early '80s that proved she was a bona fide talent even when such links were put aside. The daughter of June Carter Cash and stepdaughter of Johnny Cash, Carter's entire coming of age must have been riddled with the expectations of a massive legacy. Nevertheless, she had established a legitimate solo career in her early twenties that included a romantic as well as professional partnership with English pub rock and roots rock legend Nick Lowe, with whom she established an entertaining, throwback sound that blended country, rockabilly and pop music elements in creative ways. Over the years, perhaps Carter has been overshadowed by the career of stepsister Rosanne Cash...

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This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - O-Positive - "up, Up, UP"

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:38:44 +0000

I'll go ahead and get this (literally) shameless plug out of the way, but it does need to be said. Mike Marrone, music director of Sirius XM's brilliant channel, The Loft, is one of the world's foremost champions of great music across all genres and eras. Now, the reason I begin with such a seemingly left-field introduction is because - without Mike's professional recommendation the other day - I would still be completely unaware of O-Positive, the sophisticated late-'80s Boston guitar pop band that should have become and should yet remain one of the era's well-established legends. But we all know that's not always - or even often - the way the world shakes out, especially when it comes to that thing we call entertainment.

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This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Any Trouble - "Girls Are Always Right"

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:13:31 +0000

As a relatively longtime power pop enthusiast, I was less than pleased recently when I realized - upon hearing this absolutely indispensable guitar rock gem of the early new wave era - that I had been so long unaware of the fine British pub rock band that conceived and recorded it. Led by cerebral, slightly nerdy frontman Clive Gregson, this group produced some genuinely superior music at a time when it probably seemed to some music observers that such bands were a dime (or even a nickel) a dozen. However, one listen to the exemplary "Girls Are Always Right" - as well as the entire 1980 LP (Where Are All the Nice Girls) on which it appears - confirms instantly the melodic singularity and compelling lovelorn perspective of Gregson's nimble compositions. For me, this is one of those songs whose specifications I needed immediately to write down or save in a text file in order to procure right away when time or opportunity allowed. The joy through pain and self-analysis espoused on this tune certainly invites similarities to the best contemporary work of Elvis Costello or Graham Parker, but Any Trouble is far from just another imitator of the skinny tie singer-songwriter tradition.

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This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Mac Davis - "Let's Keep It That Way"

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:22:31 +0000

Back in the late '70s, when my early childhood pop music listening tastes pretty much followed the middle of the road (MOR), country pop and soft rock leanings of my 40-something parents, one of my first concerts naturally included Mac Davis, one of the wry, widely appealing kings of these genres. Hey, all music enthusiasts have to start somewhere, and as starting points go, the eclectic, easygoing stylings of Mr. Davis are far from the worst place to begin. Aside from the fact that this artist's top-selling 1980 album, It's Hard to Be Humble, possesses a cover photo that seems to have been taken during the latter, tipsy portion of a Playgirl photo shoot, Davis is a genuinely accomplished songwriter whose compositions often tend to fare best when they're relatively serious. That record's title track, for example, doesn't extend much beyond silly and half-heartedly self-deprecating. But Davis is capable of much more.

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This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Tim Curry - "On a Roll"

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 06:20:55 +0000

In light of singer/actor Tim Curry's history of hamming it up on stage and screen as the main Rocky Horror pop culture icon, it could be easy to dismiss his brief period of solo work as yet another chapter in the same story. In fact, it's not unreasonable to imagine that the lyrical focus of this song could be the proper way to serve up a Frank-N-Furter to the ravenous cult at a midnight screening. However, ultimately Curry's string of three solo albums released during the late '70s and early '80s have a bit more to offer than mere novelty. Not always much more, frankly (apologies for that), but certainly Curry has little to prove in terms of his versatility as a performer. Therefore, when he's having fun with a track like 1979's "I Do the Rock," Curry earns enough good will to allow him a few indulgences.

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This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - The Comsat Angels - "You Move Me"

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 06:38:16 +0000

I have previously considered The Comsat Angels, one of the most nimble British post-punk bands of the '80s at combining keyboards and guitars in a lyrical way, for a feature in this space. I can't precisely say why it's taken so long for me to spotlight this band, other than vaguely blaming the centrally flighty nature of nonlinear brain functions. Nevertheless, now is the time to give this fine quartet its due - or at least a portion of that abstract notion.

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