The Romanelli Music Diary: The Final Countdown

[Romanelli]

69

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Animals by Pink Floyd

PINK FLOYD
ANIMALS
1977-CAPITOL
Produced By PINK FLOYD

1. Pigs On The Wing 1
2. Dogs
3. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
4. Sheep
5. Pigs On The Wing 2

Ha ha! Charade you are! Pink Floyd's 8th album is the beginning of the unraveling. Based loosely on Animal Farm by George Orwell, it's the point where Roger Waters and his massive ego began to take over the band. "Pigs On The Wing" is a short acoustic song that starts and ends the album, with 3 long songs sandwiched in between. "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" is as good as it gets, while "Dogs" and "Sheep", which were actually outtakes from the previous album Wish You Were Here, drag on. There was a lot of fighting during the recording, and later a disagreement about royalties and songwriting duties (Waters took over as the band's writer on this album, as well as most of the lead vocals). It's all starting to show here.

It's still a unique album, and has aged as well as almost any Floyd album. The packaging is excellent as well. But it's far from their best work, except for the middle track, which makes it worth having on its own.

If you happen to have the 8 track version, there's lead guitar on "Pigs On The Wing" by Snowy White.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

70

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Children Of The Sun... Revisited by Billy Thorpe

BILLY THORPE
CHILDREN OF THE SUN...REVISITED
1987-PASHA
Produced By SPENCER PROFFER & BILLY THORPE

1. Children Of The Sun
2. We're Leaving
3. We Welcome You
4. Solar Anthem
5. The Beginning
6. Earth Calling
7. Turn It Into Love
8. Free Enterprise
9. East Of Eden's Gate

Billy Thorpe had been a huge star in Australia since 1964, but he was unknown in the US. That almost changed. In 1979, he released the space opera album Children Of The Sun, and its unbelieveable title track. But just as the song was rising up the US charts, Thorpe's label, Capricorn Records, filed bankruptcy and everything stopped. The song became a cult favorite and died a quiet death. But it really is an incredible song.

Revisited is not the re release of the album. The first 5 songs are side 2 of the original album, followed by 3 new tracks and "East Of Eden's Gate", the title track from Thorpe's final solo album in 1982. The songs are remixed, which is unfortunate because the terrific bass on "Children" now sounds tinny instead of booming. To find the original album, you have to dig through vinyl bins and hope you get lucky.

Thorpe went on to be the main writer and frontman for Mick Fleetwood's Zoo. He is still revered in Australia, but in the US he will always be an almost one hit wonder. Thorpe died in 2007 at the age of 60.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

71

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Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf

MEAT LOAF
BAT OUT OF HELL
1977-CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL
Produced By TODD RUNDGREN

1. Bat Out of Hell
2. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
3. Heaven Can Wait
4. All Revved Up With No Place To Go
5. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad
6. Paradise By The Dashboard Light
7. For Crying Out Loud

Bonus Tracks
8. Great Boleros Of Fire (Live)
9. Bat Out Of Hell (Live)

In 1977, rock & roll was at a crossroads. Punk was coming, disco was on it's way, and the art rock of the decade was dying. Enter Meat Loaf. Having been in Hair and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as recording an album for Motown, the big Meat was no stranger. But this album caught everyone by surprise, and it probably wouldn't have been a hit in any year other than '77. A mammoth lead singer sweating in a tux belting out overly dramatic songs about sex in a car and the consequences of making a promise to love her till the end of time when all he wanted was a piece of ass...brilliant. But it does have its place in rock history.

The songs were written by Jim Steinman, whose flair for the dramatic is unprecedented in rock. It's all bombast and drama, and most of the songs now sound kind of ridiculous ("Paradise By The Dashboard Light"...are you kidding me?). The title track is still terrific, almost on a par with Elton John's "Funeral For A Friend". But the rest is way too clever and overdone. Rundgren, Edgar Winter, and Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg from the E Street Band are among the musicians used.

It's pretty pompous stuff, but it was at the right place at the right time. I can say this...if it had been used as the soundtrack for Grease (which it well could have), I wouldn't cringe at the movie nearly as much as I do now. The most interesting part is the last bonus track, the live "Bat Out Of Hell". You can hear his Loafness' voice crumble to nothing by the end of the song.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[zdwyatt]

[Romanelli]

72

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Swing The Statue! by Victoria Williams

VICTORIA WILLIAMS
SWING THE STATUE!
1990-ROUGH TRADE
Produced By MICHAEL BLAIR & VICTORIA WILLIAMS

1. Why Look At The Moon
2. Boogieman
3. Clothesline
4. Tarbelly And Featherfoot
5. On Time
6. Holy Spirit
7. Summer Of Drugs
8. I Can't Cry Hard Enough
9. Wobbling
10. Vieux Amis
11. Weeds
12. Lift Him Up

Before she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and before her marriage and musical partnership with The Jayhawk's Mark Olson, Victoria Williams recorded two solo albums. Swing The Statue! is the 2nd of those. Her unique voice and style give her folky gospelly songs something special...I don't think you could ever be sad listening to Victoria Williams. She sings about plants, nature, inantimate objects and spiritual stuff with an infectious abandon.

Swing The Statue! is nice to listen to. Nothing really jumps out at you as great, but it does leave you feeling a little better than when it started. She's a breath of fresh air for sure.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

73

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Lost In America by The Gathering Field

THE GATHERING FIELD
LOST IN AMERICA
1996-ATLANTIC
Produced By DAVE BROWN & THE GATHERING FIELD

1. Lost In America
2. Rhapsody In Blue
3. Bound To Be
4. Middle Road
5. Midnight Ghost
6. Are You An Angel?
7. Love Me Good
8. Win You Back Suzanne
9. And I Wanted
10. The Sould Is Human
11. Blue Sky Song

The Gathering Field recorded this album in 1995, and they became big favorites in Pittsburgh. A radio station caught ahold of "Lost In America" and made it a local hit, which got the group a deal with Atlantic Records. After re-releasing the album, they were lost in the corporate shuffle, leading to them getting out of their contract and back into obscurity. Which is too bad, becuase this could have been big. This is a fine roots rock album. Bill Deasy's songs are about Kerouac and Americana, and the band, led by Dave Brown's lead guitar, is excellent.

"Lost In America" is a fine song. "Rhapsody In Blue", "Bound To Be", and "Are You An Angel?" all could have been hits. The band recorded two more independant albums before breaking up in 2002. If you can find this one, it's well worth having. A fine debut album from a band that should have gone places.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

74

Life Begins At 40 Million by The Bogmen

THE BOGMEN
LIFE BEGINS AT 40 MILLION
1995-ARISTA
Produced By JERRY HARRISON

1. The Big Burn
2. What's Behind Your Coat?
3. Yellar
4. The Third Rail
5. Dr. Jerome (Love Tub, Doctor)
6. Suddenly
7. Piss Tongue
8. Light A Candle For Me
9. It's A Fast Horizon
10. Raga
11. The Doubter's Glass
12. Englewood

The Bogmen's debut album is a hoot. Even though it's a bit over produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads, this is a band that sounds like it's having the time of their lives. They are led by singer Billy Campion, who sounds like he's about to go insane at any moment, and guitarist Bill Ryan. The centerpiece is the excellent "Suddenly", a schizophrenic break up song that finds the breakee completely falling into mental breakdown. The rest of the album is pretty fun, but "Suddenly", a song that should have been a hit, stays with you for awhile.

The band only recorded one more album before splitting in 1999, in large part because of Campion's drug problems. 40 Million was a promising debut that was never followed up with success. But it's a rocking good time, worth having a listen to.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

75

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Struttin' My Stuff by Elvin Bishop

ELVIN BISHOP
STRUTTIN' MY STUFF
1975-CAPRICORN
Produced By ALLAN BLAZEK & BILL SZYMCZYK

1. Struttin' My Stuff
2. Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey
3. My Girl
4. I Love The Life I Lead
5. Fooled Around And Fell In Love
6. Holler And Shout
7. Slick Titty Boom
8. Grab All The Love
9. Have A Good Time
10. Joy

Elvin Bishop, also known as Pigboy Crabshaw, was a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band until he went solo in 1968. A well respected blues player, it wasn't until the mid seventies that he started to become popular. Struttin' My Stuff isn't a blues album at all, but a collection of sometimes pretty good mainstream rock. The big hit, of course, is "Fooled Around And Fell In Love". And, on a personal note, this was the first band (touring for this album) that I saw live (opening for ELO). So it gets points for sentimental value.

Those points are taken away when I realize that the first lead singer I ever saw live was the guy would end up singing "We Built This City". Bishop and Mickey Thomas split the lead vocal duties here, and with the exception of "Fooled Around", Bishop, who has nowhere near the range or control that Thomas has, wins hands down. His good ol' boy voice works well on the excellent title track, "Have A Good Time", and "I Love The Life I Lead", while Thomas is just annoying on "My Girl" and "Hey". "Slick Titty Boom" is a hilarious take on which of the two gets to NOT take the backstage slut home. It's a fun album, if you can get past Thomas, who would go on to commit much worse sins in his career than this.

Bishop still plays. Thomas is still dragging around the Starship name, even though no one from the original band will touch him. Interesting also...the drummer on this album, Donny Baldwin, followed Thomas into Starship years later. He was kicked out for almost destroying Thomas' face in a bar fight. Baldwin holds the strange distinction of having twice replaced former Journey drummers in Starship.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

76

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Kamakiriad by Donald Fagen

DONALD FAGAN
KAMAKIRIAD
1993-REPRISE
Produced By WALTER BECKER

1. Trans-Island Skyway
2. Countermoon
3. Springtime
4. Snowbound
5. Tomorrow's Girls
6. Florida Room
7. On The Dunes
8. Teahouse On The Tracks

If you don't believe that Steely Dan invented adult contemporary, then you need to listen to this. Fagan's 2nd solo album (and his first in 11 years) is a concept album about a man and his futuristic car and their adventures together. Good Lord. Produced by the other half of Steely Dan, Walter Becker, who also plays bass and lead guitar, it is notable as being the beginning of the Dan reunion.

The songs are all unremarkable, and the concept beyond silly. If you're looking for pleasant background noise for a party of people who don't rock but like to think that they do, then this is for you. Otherwise, there's not much of value here. Pleasant sounding but empty, this is what Steely Dan was moving toward when they broke up. Thank God they did. And thank God it took another 11 years for Fagan to try again.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

77

Cosmic Thing by The B-52's

THE B52'S
COSMIC THING
1989-REPRISE
Produced By NILE RODGERS & DON WAS

1. Cosmic Thing
2. Dry County
3. Deadbeat Club
4. Love Shack
5. Junebug
6. Roam
7. Bushfire
8. Channel Z
9. Topaz
10. Follow Your Bliss

Shortly after they finished recording Recovering The Satellites in 1985, B52's guitarist Ricky Wilson died of AIDS. The band cancelled their tour and pretty much broke up. Then, drummer Keith Strickland switched to guitar and started writing music that eventually got the band back together. Cosmic Thing was not only a comeback, it ended up being their biggest album. "Deadbeat Club", "Cosmic Thing", and "Roam" were all hits, but it was "Love Shack" that put this over the top. The biggest party hit for the biggest party band sent sales to multiple platinum heights and showed everyone they were back. The album outside of the hits is actually pretty weak, and even "Deadbeat Club" is not nearly as much fun as the band could be.

The band released Good Stuff 3 years later, then waited 16 years for their next album, which Fred Schneider says will likely be their last. But if you ever throw a party on the beach in southern California, you'd better have copies of Bob Marley's Greatest Hits and Cosmic Thing. It's the law.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...