4 Rare 80s Albums [Part 98] AOR, Rock
In 1987, Lennox and Stewart released the album Savage. This saw a fairly radical change within the group's sound, being based mainly around programmed samples and drum loops (Lennox would later say that where Revenge was more of a Stewart album in sound, Savage was more of a Lennox one). Lyrically the songs showed an even darker, more obsessive side to Lennox's writing. A video album was also made, directed by Sophie Muller, with a video for each song. This was largely a concept piece, following characters portrayed by Lennox, specifically one of a frustrated housewife-turned-vamp (as exemplified in "Beethoven (I Love to Listen To)", a UK top 30 and Australian No. 13 hit[8]). The brazen, sexually charged rocker "I Need a Man" remains a Eurythmics staple, as does "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart". Much less commercial than the two previous albums, Savage was mostly ignored in the US, although rock radio in more progressive markets supported "I Need a Man". In the duo's native UK however, the album was a top 10 success and was certified Platinum.
4 Rare 80s Albums [Part 98] AOR, Rock
In 1989, Eurythmics released the album We Too Are One, which entered the UK Album Chart at No. 1 (their second No. 1 album after Touch[8]) and gave the duo four UK Top 30 hit singles. The album was a return to the rock/pop sound of their mid-80s albums and was certified Double Platinum in the UK, and reached No. 7 in Australia, but was less successful in the US (although the single "Don't Ask Me Why" grazed the Billboard Top 40). Other singles from the album included "Revival", "The King and Queen of America" and "Angel". Accompanying the album, the duo conducted their Revival world tour from 8 September 1989 to 25 January 1990.[12][13] Parts of the tour (both on and off-stage) were interspersed with promo videos for Eurythmics' 1990 video album We Two Are One Too.
On 7 November 2005, Eurythmics released Ultimate Collection, a remastered greatest hits package with two new songs. One of them, "I've Got a Life", was released as a single and reached No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart[8] as well as spending three consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play in the US. Lennox and Stewart appeared on a number of TV shows to promote their new compilation album, which was a Top 5 hit and certified Platinum in the UK. On 14 November 2005, the duo's label, RCA, re-released their eight studio albums in remastered and expanded editions featuring rare B-sides, remixes and unreleased songs. The remasters were made available separately with expanded artwork, and also together in a collector's box set, entitled Boxed. However, the 1984 soundtrack album 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother) was not included in this re-release campaign as Virgin Records holds the rights to that album. Also in 2005, Eurythmics were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.[15] In 2007, Lennox resumed her solo career with her fourth album, Songs of Mass Destruction, which was a top 10 success in the UK and the US. In 2009, she released her first solo "greatest hits" package, The Annie Lennox Collection. The same year, Lennox stated that although she and Stewart remain friends, she does not foresee any further Eurythmics projects in the future.[16]
Equally, while AOR is a quintessentially American art form, a handful of Brits got in on the act, most notably Mick Jones, who founded Foreigner as an expat in New York City in 1977. One of the great AOR voices is Lancashire-born John Waite. And placed high in this Top 50 are albums by British acts FM, Strangeways (fronted by American singer Terry Brock) and Dare (featuring future Professor Brian Cox on keyboards!).
1999Chasing Furies was a 3-sibling rock band that mixed piano, clever guitar riffs, and incredible vocals to create innovative rock awesomeness. Once you hear "Thicker", you won't forget it! This album is a favorite that I never get tired of listening to. Sadly, it's a one and done when it should have been several albums to follow.Sarah Meeker (Macintosh), the lead vocalist, recorded two albums that are also very underrated and little known about.own not on Spotify
A Country Band "Music By A Country Band" (Golden Eagle Records, 1973-?) (LP) Behold: the most generic country record ever made! I couldn't resist. I mean, yeah sure, it cost me fifty-one cents and I was sure it wasn't going to be very good, but how could I pass this one by? This seems to have been a souvenir album made by the Golden Eagle label, which produced several albums in the 1970s which I believe were part of a tourist attraction related to the old steamboat industry... Anyway, turns out this album is actually pretty good -- two young guys picking and singing banjo and guitar in robust, salty renditions of golden oldies from the Antebellum and pre-bluegrass eras, as well as the cowboy-western and white gospel traditions... There's no information at all about who played on this record or when it came out, just the picture on the front (an anonymous group portrait from the 19th Century) and the song titles on the disc -- other than that, it's literally a blank slate. A little diligent research, though, and one discovers that this was the recording debut of guitarist Orville Johnson, who at the time was working on a tourist paddlewheel steamship, the SS Julia Belle Swain, and was an up-and-coming artist in the St. Louis music scene. I still dunno who was playing with him, but when I find out, I'll let you know. It's a nice record: thanks in advance if anyone has any additional info to add!
The Abbey Of South Texas "The Abbey Of South Texas" (Echo Records, 19--?) (LP) (Produced by Bubba Perron)The Abbey was a Texas party band that got together around 1970 and played through the entire decade, breaking up in 1981. The original lineup featured steel guitarist Shorty Heinsohn, Denis Kotara (bass), Rick Kotara (lead guitar), Sammy Morales (guitar), Jeffery Teltschik (keyboards), Jerry Teltschik (drums), and Kurt Warnken on "horns." These Lone Star lads forged an interesting mix of current pop/hard rock hits and country classics... The twangtunes included "Before The Next Teardrop Falls," "Statue Of A Fool," Ray Wiley Hubbard's "Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother," and Lefty Frizzell's "That's The Way Love Goes." This is all balanced by good-timin' rock hits such as "Devil With The Blue Dress," Bad Company's "Movin' On," and ZZ Top's "Tush." Rock on!
Jay Boy Adams "Let It Go" (Rockin' Heart Records, 2014) (Produced by Jay Boy Adams & Monty Byrom) 'Way back in the 1970s, Texas-born troubadour Jay Boy Adams straddled the worlds of outlaw country and fancy-pants singer-songwriter pop; he was pals with Jackson Browne and worked as a roadie for high-profile rock bands, such as ZZ Top, and recorded a couple of albums of his own that were, as they say, highly regarded at the time. In 2007, he came back to the studio to record a doleful, world-weary set of roots-rock and folk, and this new album follows suit. It's an extended meditation on life and the wisdom that comes with middle age and beyond, with Adams sounding a bit like a mix between Rodney Crowell and Loudon Wainwright III. Not all the songs are gems, but there are some definite winners, including the album's opener, "Judgement Day," which is a nice twist on the looking-back-on-my-wild-days genre, in which Adams sees a little too much of himself in his own wild and stubborn daughter, and the contemplative "Count Your Friends," which may be the album's strongest song.
Mike ("Mad Dog") Adams "Me And Jim Beam" (20/20 Records, 1985) (LP) (Produced by Greg James) Novelty twang from Cleveland, Ohio by a guy who had been on the local scene since at least the late 1970s... This seems to have been Mad Dog Adams's first full album, though it gathers some songs that date back as far as 1978. Many of the songs have naughty, party-animal themes, such as "The K-Mart Song," "The Price Of Getting High," and of course the title track, which follows a well-worn track forged by many bad-boy twangsters over the years. Sometime around 1980 Adams took on a long-term residency at the Round House in Put-In-Bay, and recorded a couple of comedy albums in 1989 and 1999, as well as a set that was included as an add-on in one of several mystery novels written by Bob Adamov which feature Adams as a peripheral character. Over the years, Adams has gotten into a more rock-oriented sound, making him sort of an odd morph of Jack Black, Chinga Chavin, and Jimmy Buffett. This album features Mike Adams on lead vocal and guitar, Mike Balas (lead guitar), Phil Baron (piano and harmonica), John Dauenspeck (bass), Ron James (steel guitar), Rod Reisman (drums), with additional help from other local musicians, such as The Canale Brothers Band, who backed Adams on the song "Working Hard," and a fella called Fiddler Hal, who chimed in on a couple of tunes. At least one song, "Going To Toronto," was released earlier as a single (twice) though I don't know whether the version is the same as the one(s) that came out in 1978 or 1982.
Misty Adams/Mary McCoy "Mary McCoy/Misty Adams" (Crazy Cajun Records, 1978).(LP) (Produced by Huey P. Meaux) A split album, apparently cobbled together from old material from the Crazy Cajun vaults featuring two Lone Star gals who'd been around a while... Side One features four songs by Mary McCoy, a Houston area singer and radio personality from Conroe, Texas who'd been cutting singles since the early 1950s, and started her radio career in 1951. She sang on The Louisiana Hayride in 1955 and met Elvis Presley in both her capacity as a radio deejay and while performing on the same Hayride shows -- all at the tender age of sixteen! In 1967 she signed with a new label and became duet partner with another Conroe local, honkytonker Jimmy Copeland, who was also a country music deejay; they recorded several singles together, some of which are collected on an album he put together years later. Like Mary McCoy, Misty Adams cut several 45s on various labels associated with producer Huey P. Meaux -- including Jin Records, Princess Records and Skill -- and her six tracks here seem to be drawn from those mid-'Sixties singles, presumably McCoy's as well. I'm not sure if Misty Adams did much else, though Mary McCoy has released a few albums, including a self-released gospel set called Through the Storm. Every five or ten years, someone would write an article about how long she'd been working in radio -- the most recent one I've seen was an excellent profile piece in Texas Monthly dated August 2021, where they noted that Ms. McCoy was just months away from being named the longest-running female radio host in the world. Pretty durn cool, if you ask me. 041b061a72