Happy October!

Hello Friends,

October's finally here and you know what that means... falling leaves, chilly nights, Oktoberfest, apple pickin' & Halloween.

Oh, and Vampira!

Slade - "Far Far Away" (1974)

T.G.I.F. Friends!

The band Slade has never let us down* and we'll be singing this song as the first ice cubes rattle kicking off Happy Hour!

Enjoy!

(*unlike your mom)

Turkish Delight

Midnight Express Soundtrack (1978) - Casablanca Records

Hello Friends,

On the turntable tonight, we've got Giorgio Moroder's soundtrack album to Alan Parker's 1978 movie about a hash-smuggling American who gets caught and jailed in a Turkish prison.

Spoiler alert: Its no picnic!

Based on the (mostly) true account of Billy Hayes, the film's script was written by none other than Sir Oliver Stone.  

Very synthy & dreamlike, Moroder's soundtrack is at times haunting and powerful.  There's a couple of vocal tracks that end up sounding kind of dated and cheesey, but the 8-minute opening track alone ("Chase") is worth the price of admission.

Its so good, in fact, that it won the Academy Award for best original score for that year!

Nice job, Giorgio!  You have yet to let us down!

And remember kids, just say No!

o-o-oh billy!

RATING: 4 dreams that keep my soul alive out of 5

Iron Maiden - "Speed Of Light" (2015)

Hello Friends,

If this doesn't melt your face, well then, I'm afraid you don't have a face.

Iron Maiden's 16th Studio album came out this month and it captures the band in all their galloping metal beauty!

\m/

Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me (or else...)

Mac Davis - "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me" (1972) - CBS Records

Hello Friends,

We've been on quite the Mac Davis kick lately.

(Actually, someone gave the local Goodwill all their Mac Davis records.  Their loss = Vinyl in the Valley's gain!)

This album is great!!  Early 70's country-soft-rock at its peak!

Every single song is a potential Solid Gold classic with the title track being the top of the heap! (here)

Songs like the opener, "Dream Me Home", "Everybody Loves A Love Song", "Whoever Finds This, I Love You" & the record's closer, "The Words (Don't Come Easy)" are velvety smooth soulful & sappy tunes that fall somewhere in between Dewey Cox and Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac.  (Fleetwood Mac Davis?)

Things do start getting a little pervy on Side One's uptempo "Naughty Girl": 

Well Dixie Farmer was a hot young blooded, dimpled, devil child A churnin', burnin', backseat bundle built to drive a young boy wild She taught me all about life and love in a Georgia cotton field I ain't never seen nothin' like her since and I know that I never will She was a naughty girl She took advantage of my youth She was a naughty girl But she taught me the gospel truth, woo-ooh

Actually, Dixie Farmer sounds like kind of a whore.  But that isn't even the worst of it! How about a contender for best song title from 1972 with Side Two's "Spread Your Love On Me"?   Eww! What a CREEP!!  

Although, like most of the songs here, its as catchy as a case of the crabs*!

(* Not that I would know!)

RATING: 4.0 A little old man walks along shuffling through the autumn afternoon and the autumn leaves reminded him another summer's come and gone out of 5

Asia - "Heat Of The Moment" (1982)

TGIF Friends,

The heatwave here has finally broke and we couldn't be happier!

Hello Fall and So Long night sweats!

Here's some early 80's Prog Rock supergroup to get you through get you pumped up for the weekend!

Zex - "Savage City" (2015)

Our favorite new punk band from Ottawa!

Fucking Great, eh?

Lana Del Rey - "Chelsea Hotel No 2" (2013)

Hello Friends,

We're not sure what to think of Lana Del Rey.  We think we like her, but we just may love her.  The jury's still out!

At her best she sounds like a sad and tortured torch singer in a seedy nightclub in a David Lynch movie. 

Here she is covering one of our favorite Leonard Cohen songs. 

Enjoy!

Texas In My Rear View Mirror

Mac Davis - "Texas in My Rear View Mirror" (1980) - Casablanca Records

Hello Friends,

For a short period of time in the 1970's Casablanca Records dominated the music universe. 

Due in no small part to the arena-sized success of KISS, as well as being directly involved in the ground floor of the burgeoning disco movement as early supporters of Giorgio Moroder & Donna Summer, Casablanca Records, for a time, looked unstoppable.  But massive egos and cocaine habits usually force all good things to end a little sooner than they should and Casablanca was no exception.  (For a great read with all the nasty details check out the book, "And Party Everyday: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records"  by longtime Casablanca employee, Larry Harris!)

Anyway, by 1980, Casablanca was really branching out and delving into newer, and hopefully trendsetting, arenas.  They flirted with some pop-oriented country music acts that were far removed from the more successful Outlaw Country movement going on elsewhere.  They signed bands and performers like Pure Prairie League, Tony Joe White and singer-songwriter Mac Davis.

Born in Lubbock, Texas, Mac Davis made quite a splash in the late 60's by writing some hits for Elvis (including "In the Ghetto" & "A Little Less Conversation") as well as having his own Solid Gold hit in 1972's "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me" (here).

Known for his not-so-subtle innuendos and often overtly sexual song lyrics (see: "Baby Spread Your Love On Me"... ewww), on paper his move to Casablanca Records in the late 70's seemed like a match made in heaven! 

His 1980 release Texas In My Rear View Mirror is part country, part pop, part blue-eyed soul and part soft rock.  A forgotten gem which lacks any truly big hits and whose songs are a little all over the place, but it still makes a great soundtrack for late summer listening when the days are still warm, but the nights start to get cool and crisp!

Things get started with "Hooked on Music", a Johnny Cash-style shuffle which has Davis tipping his cap to his friend and mentor Elvis Presley as well as Lubbock Texas's original favorite son, Buddy Holly.

"Remember When (Beverly's Song)" is as sugary sweet Solid Gold pop gem that borders very close to the tried-and-true Yacht Rock formula.

"Me 'n Fat Boy" sounds like it could have been written by Paul Simon.

"Hot Texas Night" is a sultry country rock ballad reminiscent of Rhinestone Cowboy-era Glen Campbell.  

Side One concludes with the great & sappy "Sad Songs".  Featuring some great pedal steel guitar work, its probably the purest country song on the record it featuring great, sappy lyrics like:

"Sad songs are like dumb old dogs 
Who can melt you by just lookin' up in your eyes,
Like they're tryin' to tell you 
There'll always be someone who cares
If you like or if you die..."



From start to finish, Side One is really good.  Again, its a little all over the place so you get a little bit of country, pop, soft rock, folk, et cetera.  Side Two continues with that theme although the songs aren't quite as good!

"Texas In My Rear View Mirror" IS good however.  Really good. An autobiographical, bouncy country-pop tune about leaving the town that you grew up in order to head west in search fame & fortune and finding out that fame & fortune are cruel mistresses. All told without any semblance of bitterness or cynicism.

The soft rock schmaltz is back with "Hello, Hollywood", think of the band America, but lighter... and with more saxophone.

"Rodeo Clown" seems to be Davis's response to the more cynical Outlaw country artists of the time basically stating that he'd rather be a rodeo clown and make his fans laugh rather than make them introspective and depressed.  Not a great song by any stretch. 

More 70's soft rock with "Secrets" which sounds like REALLY watered-down Hall & Oates.
  
The record's last song, the gospel-inspired "In the Eyes of My People" isn't all that bad, but again its really over-produced and oozes schmaltz!   Some songs on this record have aged better than others and this isn't one of 'em!

Still, overall, not a bad record if you don't mind some cheese served with your whiskey sour!


RATING: 3.5 hot texas nights waiting for the rains out of 5