715. Midnight Oil / Red Sails in the Sunset. 1984. 3/5

Midnight Oil had been on an increasing trajectory since their emergence on the music scene in 1976, and the release of their self-titled debut album two years later. Beginning as an underground surfer scene band, the quintet had gained footholds into the Australian music scene over the course of those passing years, refining and redefining the landscape around them, and in the process finding their voice both musically and lyrically. Through their albums such as “Head Injuries”, “Place Without a Postcard” and their genre and chart crashing “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”, Midnight Oil had found its audience and was beginning to reveal just what their key issues were, utilising their music to promote those to the world.
The aforementioned “10 to 1” album had brought the band its biggest success to that point, showing that they were not just a one trick pony, incorporating some different styles and experimenting with the music they produced. For the follow up to that album, the band decided to record in Japan with Nick Launay staying on as producer. Their record company apparently pushed for the band to record a more commercial single so that they could push for better opportunities in the US, something about which drummer Rob Hirst was quoted as saying “this is the album, take it or leave it”. The opportunity was there for the band to continue with their bold statements, and this was certainly the case for the album cover, designed by Japanese artist Tsunehisa Kimura, which depicts Sydney Harbour after a hypothetical nuclear strike. It is a stark image, and one that stood out in the record racks in the music stores. The end result was an album that again pushed the band’s boundaries, and also became their first number one album in Australia, and also charted in the US. And thus came the album that was appropriately named “Red Sails in the Sunset”.

The majority of “Red Sails in the Sunset” is not as outwardly energised or powerfully belligerent musically as the previous album. Though while the music may be more progressive and experimental, the messages in the lyrics don’t hold back. The opening two tracks are the singles released from the album, starting with “When the Generals Talk”, one of only two Midnight Oil songs where drummer Rob Hirst takes on the lead vocal role. This then explodes into “Best of Both Worlds”, one of only two songs on this album that could be said to draw upon the frantic live sound the band had performed with to this point of their career. It’s still a great song, combining all the best parts of the band in one belligerent hit. This then leads into a different kind of theater. On “Sleep,” the band reflects on the struggles faced by indigenous Australians, touching on themes of land rights, cultural identity, and the impact of colonization something that would continue down the track. Peter Garrett, as he often does, is almost speaking directly to you through the speakers. “Minutes to Midnight” refers to the doomsday clock, which is set in regard to how close the world is to either the threat of nuclear war or catastrophic destruction. The lyrics evoke an urgency, to remember our past and take meaningful action now. This is a song performed almost acoustically throughout, allowing the vocal merging harmonies to dominate the track over the drums and guitars. “Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers” tells the story of the travelling boxing troupe led by the eponymously named promotor in the early 20th century, and how his indigenous boxers were mistreated and the hard life they led as a result. The song itself draws out beyond seven minutes, rising and falling as the story is told, riding the wave of the anger and despair throughout. Side One then closes out with the horns and brass instrumental of “Bakerman”.
Side Two begins with “Who Can Stand in the Way” that covers the gamut of issues that the band is concerned by and wants to see action on - First nations people's rights and abuses, environmental issues, the rich still getting richer, and the power and abuse of the media. All of these issues are covered in other songs over the years. From here the album moves to arguably its finest moment, “Kosciusko”, a great combination of all guitars acoustic and electric, those amazing drums, and the combination of voices led by Rob Hirst again as lead vocalist for only the second time. Again speaking of the harsh existence that the first nations people have suffered, the energy and power and emotion of this track makes it an all-time classic. One of the greats. “Helps Me Helps You” comes at you in describing the idea of ‘you wash my back and I’ll wash yours’, but how the quid pro quo is not always returned. The three final songs on the album settle right back into a slow and maudlin style. “Harrisburg” reflects on the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor incident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which occurred in 1979, and centres on the band’s theme that nuclear disarmament is one of their key principles. "Bells and Horns in the Back of Beyond" laments the loss of our amazing green spaces and natural landscapes to development, while pushing for consideration to be taken in how this affects us all. And the final track “Shipyards of New Zealand” moves into an atmospheric trance in discussing ambition and reality, and the quest for purpose and fulfillment. It is a defining way to finish the album, with a much slower and less momentous attack than the band has done in the past.

When this album was released, it was enormous. It exploded through Kiama High School where I was in Year 9, and the world outside that. People praised it to the high heavens, the singles were wash boarded over the radio, and it was lauded as a continuing rising high-water mark in the band’s career.

I didn’t like it.

1984 for me saw bands like Queen and The Police as big influences in my life, and dominating my listening. I adored the previous album, and was still listening to it often when this was released. And in many ways I guess that is what was a problem for me, because while the lyrical messages here were just as important and concerning, the absolute anger and passion outwardly that they had come with on the previous album was missing, and for me that was a big thing. It was confirmation for me that I was looking for something more out of music generally by this stage of my young life, that I wanted more energy and momentum in my music, something I would find some 12 or so months later in a different genre altogether. So when I heard this album on its release, given that the majority of the tracks here are so different from what I had loved on the previous album, I felt rather ambivalent about it.
Eventually, many years later, and older and perhaps more open to the kind of music that this album holds, I found it far better to listen to, but the same feelings I had when I was 14 still survive today.
I listen to this album today and I find it fine. It feels like it is aimed at my current age generation. It feels more like an easy listening album compared to the albums that preceded it, and also what was yet to come. The singles were the most outlandish of the tracks along with “Kosciusko”, and the ones that still light this album up when you listen to it.
I’m sure there are many people out there who are of a different opinion to me when it comes to this album, given its immense popularity at the time. But as much as I love this band and some of the songs off this album, “Red Sails in the Sunset” never quite fit for me.

714. INXS / The Swing. 1984. 4/5

INXS had been a band on a slow burn leading up to the writing and recording of their fourth album. Having formed over the latter part of the 1970’s, the band signed a five album deal that seemed to have their future set up. After their first two albums had been met with some good reviews, it was the band’s third album “Shabooh Shoobah” that brought forth their first taste of acclaim, led by the single “Don’t Change” that caught fire on the radio and brought the band to prominence.
They then spent a greater portion of that year touring the United States in support of the album, which included support sots for such bands as Adam and the Ants, Stray Cats, The Kinks, Hall & Oates, and The Go-Go's. They then picked up the support slot with fellow Aussies who were going gangbusters at the time, Men at Work, and by mid-1983 INXS were headlining venues such as The Ritz as well.
When it came time to begin writing and recording for their follow up album, they were approached by producer Nile Rodgers, formerly of the band Chic, and having built up a formidable profile as a producer, including enormous selling albums such as David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” the previous year and Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” the following year. Together they moved to New York where he produced the recording of the song “Original Sin”, a song that was to become a major player in the increased prominence of INXS. From here the band had moved to London with producer Nick Launay in the closing months of 1983, the sessions of which produced the band’s fourth album, “The Swing”.

The album, which marked a departure from their post-punk and new wave roots, embracing funk-infused rock and dance rhythms. opens with the legendary “Original Sin”, the band’s first real breakthrough single, which they had recorded in New York with the legendary producer Nile Rodgers, and features Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates singing back ups. It was their first US single to crack the top 100 and it went #1 in Australia. It is the song’s high energy and Michael’s great vocals that make this as popular as it was, and the mix of key synth and sax makes it memorable anthem to the era to this day. It is followed by the just as enjoyable “Melting in the Sun” drives through Jon Farris’s great drum beat and further funky bass lines from Gary Beers, while the supporting vocals help fill the background of the song nicely. “I Send a Message” is a great jaunty track, stylised by the staccato drum beat and riffing guitar over the top, and once again with Michael’s easily discernible vocal melody. This spent a lot of time of the radio through 1984 when released as a single.
“Dancing on the Jetty” is highlighted by the wonderful moody vocals of Hutchence, segueing from high passion to beautiful soft mood in a heartbeat. The music through the song is great, but Michael is able to change up the song simply in adjusting his vocals to suit what he wants to express in each part of the song. It’s another beauty and a great pointer to his talent as a vocalist and a song writer. Side One then ends with the hardest song on the album, the title track “The Swing”, where everyone in the band gets up and motivated to hit, strum and croon louder and harder than they have to this point of the album. This is one of those songs not released as a single that helps raise the bar on this album.
The true new wave dominant track of the album is “Johnson’s Aeroplane”, based almost entirely around the brooding bass guitar of Beers with the key synth from Andrew, then the new wave autism of the sax from Kirk as the solo break, all held together by Jon’s terrific drumming. At the height of the new wave era, this song is one of the best examples of the genre, topped off by Michael’s sublime vocals throughout. This is one of those hidden gems, a song that for the most part is unknown and completely underrated amongst the song list released by the band over their career. When I first bought this album, like most people for the singles that I knew, it was this song that latched onto me from the first time I played it. I don't know what it is about this song that has always fascinated me, but for nigh on 40 years it has, and continues to do so. Easily INXS’s best non-single track, and in my top ten of all tracks by the band.
Were I to be extremely critical of this album, then to me three of the remaining four songs of side two are not quite up to the task of repeating the energy and drive that you find with the songs on side one. Both “Love is (What I Say)” and “Face the Change” are dominated by the funky groove of Beers bass guitar and the lower level moody croon of Michael vocals. They are not actually quiet songs but they are on a different level from those on the first half of the album. “All the Voices” is the closing track, with more funk bass and Hutchence’s vocal cacophony through the song that keeps this song moving. They aren’t bad songs in the slightest, indeed they are very good, but certainly on a different path.
What saves these songs from obscurity, or perhaps just makes them feel even more innocuous because of its greatness, is “Burn for You” which settles in as the penultimate track on the album. It is the real winner on this album, the song that kicks open the door and says ‘here I am’. The rising and falling tones of the guitars in the song, along with the keyboard heavy notes within the bridge especially, give this its unusual sound that makes it a standout, and easily one of the band’s best ever tracks.

INXS was a band that had been getting increasing exposure on Australian radio through the early 1980’s, and as a result it was hard not to be caught up in the catchiness of the music they were producing. This had certainly been the case with one of their biggest hits “Don’t Change” off the band’s previous album “Shabooh Shoobah”. And it was with the main singles that were released off this album, such as “Original Sin”, “I Send a Message” and “Burn for You”, that caught my ear as a middle-aged teenager in the mid-1980's. And it was at this time that I was first beginning to get interested in buying albums of bands rather than just enjoy the singles on the radio, having already done so with The Police’s “Synchronicity” and Queen’s “The Works”. And this was another of those first half a dozen albums I ever bought on vinyl with my own money, and it was one I have never regretted.
What is it that attracted me to this album? It was the combination of the two sounds that had grabbed me at the time, new wave and hard rock. Both of those other albums certainly had that, and while this album is probably more new wave than hard rock there was certainly an element of that in it. And while it was the singles that lured me in to eventually buying this album, it was other songs on the album that cemented its hold on me. “Melting in the Sun”. “The Swing” and “Johnson’s Aeroplane”. Each of them different from each other, and yet three songs for me that are the epitome of what makes this such a strong album. Because aa I’ve mentioned before on episodes of this podcast – it isn’t the great singles that make a great album, it’s the songs that AREN’T released in that way, that aren’t easily accessible. If they are strong, the album is a winner. If they aren’t then the album becomes a dead loss.
To me, “The Swing” isn't just about catchy tunes; it represented a creative reinvention, where they have blended elements of rock, funk, and dance almost seamlessly into the mix, adapting to the changing musical landscape without compromising the band as a whole. It may not have the over-laden hits that came on “Listen Like Thieves” and “Kick”, but it proved the band could evolve without losing their essence.
I listened to this a lot back when I bought it, certainly up until the point that I discovered the rising beast that was heavy metal, which then dominated my listening for the following decades. But I still have my vinyl and CD copies of this album, and I still never get tired of pulling it out and listening to this album all over again. Sure, it's the memories that it provokes that is the main reason that I feel the urge to playing “The Swing” again, but it is still worth it every single time.

713. Dokken / Tooth and Nail. 1984. 3.5/5

Being in a band, starting off from nothing, and trying to build to something from which you can truly launch a career, is not the all-glamorous road-to-riches story that some people believe it is. It’s the reason that bands that seem like they have it all don’t actually ‘make it’ and end up falling apart. Hard work isn’t always enough, on many occasions luck plays its part. For Dokken, the road to the release of their sophomore album showcases a story like that. The band had had to go to Germany in order to find a record contract, and their first album “Breaking the Chains” (originally released under the name Don Dokken before being corrected for future pressings) had come through contacts such as Accept’s producer Michael Wagener and manager Gaby Hauke. During this time, Don actually recorded vocals on demos for Scorpions for their album “Blackout”, as their lead singer Klaus Meine had damaged his vocal chords and was unsure if he would be able to return to the band. Don’s backing vocals survive on the album. The other three members of Dokken at the time, guitarist George Lynch, drummer Mick Brown and bass guitarist Juan Croucier, worked as studio musicians for German singer Udo Lindenberg on his 1982 album Keule.
On their return to the US, Croucier left the band to join Ratt, and in his place they brought in Jeff Pilson as his replacement. The band had also picked up Cliff Bernstein as their manager, who got them signed to Elektra Records, who remixed and re-released their debut album for the US market. However, the album failed to ignite the charts, and Elektra was on the verge of dumping them. The band’s management had to fight enormously hard to convince the record company executives to give them a second chance, to prove that they could produce an album that would satisfy their needs. Eventually, Elektra agreed to give them one more album. It was this fight from their management to get them the chance to record a new album, and the fight the band knew they were up against to produce an album that would save their career, that brought forth the title of the album. That album is what became “Tooth and Nail”.

The writing of the album came together basically in two separate groups, the combining of George Lynch who was putting down riffs on a four track being joined by Mick Brown and Jeff Pilson to flesh them out, and Dokken himself who worked on his own and also with Pilson.
The production and recording of the album was a chaotic hot mess, and on the face of it, it is truly amazing that the album was made at all. Dokken himself wanted to use Michael Wagener again, who had produced the first album, but George Lynch was so dissatisfied with the way that album sounded he fought against it, and Pilson and Brown took his side. Instead, the record company brought in Tom Werman, most noted for Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil” album. One wonders if that experience helped him for this job, because his troubles were about to begin. Due in no small amount to the copious amounts of cocaine and alcohol in the studio, relationships between engineers and band members alike were at fever pitch. So difficult was Werman’s job, and so poor was the relationship between Dokken and Lynch, that he came up with a schedule to separate the parties at all times. Lynch, along with Brown and Pilson, would record during the day, while Dokken would come in and record on his own at night. It’s interesting that this arrangement, the fact that Lynch and Pilson never saw each other during the recording process, carried on for the entirety of their time together in the band, not just this album. This didn’t solve all of Werman’s problems, and when Lynch reacted badly to some of Werner’s suggestions, he point blank refused to continue to work with him, and Werman quit. Dokken of course then went straight back to suggesting bringing Wagener back in to complete the recording and mixing of the album, which the studio agreed to, but his three band mates would not.
The compromise? Amazingly, the record company brought in TWO producers. Roy Thomas Baker, who had produced Queen and Journey, was brought in to keep the band occupied and recording during the day shift, while Wagener recorded Dokken’s lead vocals at night and mixed the album, secretly (of course) with Dokken by his side. Like I said, it is a miracle this album ever saw the light of day.
The album opens with all of the best aspects of the band at the fore. “Without Warning” is the instrumental opening composed by George Lynch, building from acoustic to electric, and bursting into the frenetic beginning of the title track “Tooth and Nail”, highlighted by Lynch’s terrific guitar solo through the middle stretch of the track and a punchy chorus sung with gusto by Dokken. This slides into “Just Got Lucky”, the second single released from the album, relying heavily on Dokken’s great vocals and Lynch’s excellent riff and solos again. I never fail to be reminded of George's solo, which in the video for the song he was playing on the side of a volcano, and his boots were apparently melting from the heat while he played. Great commitment. Everything bounces on this track, and it is one of their best tracks.
The middle of the album settles itself into a constant groove, with a whole bunch of songs that find themselves in a similar style and structure, an even rhythm, and one that may sound as if it is slightly repetitive as a result. Each of the songs - “Heartless Heart”, “Don't Close Your Eyes”, “When Heaven Comes Down”, “Into the Fire” and “Bullets to Spare” - have their differences of course, but at times you could almost sing the lyrics of one song over the music of the other, and not have much difference in effect. Just instances such as “You got a heartless heart, got a heart of stone” and “Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes or I'll be there” and “Cause I’ll be waiting, when heaven comes down” and “Into the fire I'm falling” and “Cause I've got bullets, bullets to spare”. The way they are sung, and the rhythm of the tracks, seems to meld in places.
Then comes the power ballad, Dokken and Pilson’s reworking of a song Don had written ten years earlier to become “Alone Again”. This is pure sugar-coated fairy floss, something Dokken and Pilson both do very well. It’s interesting that Lynch was against the song being included on the album as he felt it compromised the rest of the songs, but he was eventually talked around by Pilson. “Alone Again” became the best performing single from the album and drove album sales as a result of its chart position and rotation on radio throughout the US in particular. And the album closes out with the fastest song on the album, “Turn on the Action”, a song that mirrors the opening track for its upbeat tempo and riding the rails to generate the excitement of the fans.

While it is certainly the case for other bands as well, with Dokken, I absolutely missed a trick when it came to first discovering them. This album, along with their next two, should have been prime time listening for me as I finished my high school years, and they should be albums that I recall to this day with the memories of those heady days. Instead, it wasn’t until the turn of the century that I finally began to listen to their albums, and soon realised what a massive mistake I had made not finding the band earlier.
So, I pretty much first came across “Tooth and Nail” at the same time as the other 1980’s released Dokken albums and listened to them all in one big lump. Eventually they came to stand apart and be judged as their own entity, and while “Back for the Attack” was the immediate stand out for myself, this one came in at a close second. With so much of the album coming from the trio of Lynch, Brown and Pilson, it all comes together nicely, with “Tooth and Nail” and “Turn on the Action” being the best examples of this. They appealed to my enjoyment of faster tracks, and for me set up and closed the album nicely. Don’s vocals are terrific, and with the added support of Jeff Pilson’s voice as well combines to make that side of things perfect. Mick Brown’s drumming, alongside Pilson’s bass guitar, are the solid grounding that the album needs, and George Lynch on guitar is superb as always, especially on those songs that he has composed. The success of this album eased all of the pressure that had come before its recording by the threat of being dumped, and despite all of the shenanigans in the studio it comes out as a terrific product. In many ways, it could be said that Dokken the band had really... just got lucky.

712. Queen / The Works. 1984. 5/5

In 1982 Queen had released the album “Hot Space”, one that had both pushed the envelope from what Queen had built their sound on for the past decade, as well as making a musical statement that utilised the technology of the time and looked to create their own version of the direction. That direction was more in the domain of bass guitarist John Deacon, whose favoured style of R&B was incorporated into the synth-dominated album, and lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, who was obviously influenced by the music he heard in night clubs and wanted to bring that to his music as well. The direction that “Hot Space” moved in was not something that the other two band members, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May, were fans of, and indeed they were critical of Freddie’s personal manager, who they believed was influencing his thoughts and decisions in and around this time. “Hot Space” was an experimental haze and had divided Queen's fan base, with many unable to dissect what they were trying to achieve with the vast change in style the album contained, something that you can discover by listening to the episode dedicated to that album in Season 2 of this podcast. When the band toured to promote the album, they found that parts of their fan base were unreceptive to the new material, with Freddie at one concert reportedly saying “If you don’t like it, leave!!”
Following the tour, the band had a 12 month hiatus. During this time May worked on a project called “Star Fleet Project”, where he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen. Taylor and Mercury both worked on solo projects, with Taylor’s “Strange Frontier” album eventually released later in 1984 and Mercury’s “Mr Bad Guy” album coming out in 1985. All used different levels of electronica and synth in their music, the basic ingredient of that age of the early 1980’s.
After nine months the band came back together and prepared to write and record their follow up album, which was titled “The Works” apparently after a line used by Taylor in the early sessions where he suggested that for the fans they should ‘give them the works!’ On the new album, Queen continued to push ahead with their trailblazing feats, one that mixed radio hits that reclaimed their identity as one of the world's biggest bands, but mixed style and substance with a variety of music genres that continued to allow them to market themselves to the widest possible audience. It probably did not win back all of those disgruntled fans, the ones that had been with the band since their inception. However, a new crowd of teenagers climbed on board with their radio hits, and then absorbed the approach of the songs that make up the whole album.

Kicking off with the unapologetic pop anthem "Radio Ga Ga", this is very synth based in a similar style of the previous album, but comes through tougher in the chorus with a crowd-like chant which gives it a rock feel that defies its musical background. This kicked goals for Queen on the radio as it was given huge airplay, and was the perfect anthem for the times, with its nostalgic view of the importance of radio in the past and how it was being overtaken by visual media in the present. "Tear it Up" follows and is Brian May's attempt to revive the hard rock edge of Queen, hailing back to a style more reminiscent of their earlier albums. This May and Taylor at their best with the hard riffing guitar and heavy hitting drums. It is the first noticeable effort by May to reclaim the harder edge of Queen and it does the job well. This is replaced by Freddie Mercury's "It's a Hard Life", which is dominated by his soaring vocals and melodies, only broken up by May's wonderful guitar solo in the middle of the song. Once again there are no synths in this song, just the guitars, drums and Freddie’s piano, and again is a more traditional Queen song that older fans could relate to. This is one of many underrated Queen songs that those who only know the ‘greatest hits’ should be listening to. Everything about this track is superb, from the building of May’s guitar through the middle of the song, to the chorused backing vocals behind Freddie’s main vocal. It still send shivers down the spine listening to Freddie sing it.
"Man on the Prowl" is reminiscent of another of Freddie's rockabilly songs, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". However, on an album where I find every other song has an impact and a place, this has always been the one song which makes me a little less enthused. Even on an album that has this much variety in its song structure, I still find this is out of place. That doesn’t mean that I dislike the song, but I would suggest this is the weakest track on the album and to close out side one of the album.
This is recovered immediately as you flip the vinyl by the unique and brilliant "Machines (Back to Humans)", a song that again has a heavy use of synths to create the robotic performance the song was looking for. I love the way that Taylor has created this song, with both Freddie and Brian singing harmony vocals throughout, while Roger himself provides the ‘robotic’ voice through his vocoder. This is still experimental, but for me retains a heavier side of the song that differentiates it from the songs of the previous album.
John Deacon steals the show again with his hit single "I Want to Break Free", which got mega air time on music video channels with the video for the song. Like his best songs, "I Want to Break Free" juts along with his terrific bass line, while the others fall into line around it. It was the music video, with the four members of the band dressing up in a parody of the British hit series “Coronation Street” that caused some rumblings for them in the US. Why? Well, some people have unusual views on music and art. This was Deacon’s only contribution to the album, and once again it proved to be a hit single.
Then we move into the part of the album that I still consider to be one of the best of the band’s career.
"Keep Passing the Open Windows" is another Freddie special, where he again writes spectacularly for his own vocals, which convey all the right emotions of the song. Initially it was composed for a movie called “The Hotel New Hampshire”, which the band had initially agreed to write the soundtrack for. Apparently, this was the only song that was completed. This another of those underrated Queen songs that the ‘Greatest Hits’ listeners don’t know, and it is a shame. It has always been my second favourite song on this album. My favourite, perhaps obviously, is the thundering "Hammer to Fall", which, while always sounding great in this studio version, has always been a live song, and one that grows in stature in that environment. This is May’s second true hard rock song of the album, his response to the composing of the previous album, and it is a belligerent one. Everything about it is magnificent, from the opening riff to Freddie’s anthemic vocal rising, to Brian’s brilliant guitar solo that is then followed by the softer call that rises to the vocal of the masses. Another shivers down the spine track, and hearing and seeing it at Live Aid on TV the following year was one of those life moments that you never forget. The album then concludes with the beautiful thought piece "Is This the World We Created?", which was written about the poverty in Africa, where Freddie and Brian again find a way to compose a magnificently perfect song, that was subsequently played at Live Aid as an encore.

I recognise that Queen built their following through the 1970’s, where they just kept releasing albums that caught the imagination of their fans, and writing amazing songs that became huge radio hits. For those that grew up during the 1970’s the band’s finest era was then, and their output in the 1980’s was barely worthy of mention. I respect those views, because I agree that those albums are for the most part spectacular.
But I grew up in the 1980’s, from the age 10 to 20. And while I knew the songs from Queen that were singles on the radio up to that time, I didn’t own or know any of their albums. That changed when “The Works” became one of the first albums I ever bought, and my music world changed with it. Everything fit for me, and this is one of those albums that taught me how important it was to buy albums of bands and listen to all the music they compose at that time, and not just rely on listening to songs written and released as singles. And that is a very important lesson to learn.
Man, I used to listen to this album. I’d come home from school and listen to it over and over. I’d have the mic and swing around my bedroom singing like Freddie Mercury – well, nothing like him actually, but singing nonetheless – and playing air guitar and the whole shebang. And to be honest the past few weeks having it on again hasn’t been much different, just a lot older and a lot worse singing. And this is still an album that rarely goes too long without being placed back on the turntable or in the CD player, because it is an album that I not only love, but WANT to listen to, time and time again.
I’m occasionally asked which Queen album I believe is my favourite. There are always several reasons why someone would choose an album to be number one on a list, and for me any of four or five Queen could easily rank as my favourite.
For me it comes down to quality and memories. The singles were prominent on the radio on their release and became favourites, especially with the video for "I Want to Break Free" on MTV and other music video platforms. It was also released at a time when I was first becoming interested in albums as a whole rather than just individual songs, and at that time this grabbed my attention. It also has a mix of the synth, keyboard and drum machine style that was popular with the new wave bands of the time, and the hard rock guitar and drums that was becoming more important to me as I moved through my teenage years. The songs had great 'sing-along" parts and anthemic qualities, and every song plays its part in the continuity of the album. Nothing proved this more than the band's appearance at Live Aid, and their performance of both "Radio Ga Ga" and "Hammer to Fall" still send shivers down the spine. Both are all time favourites for me, with "Hammer to Fall" perhaps my favourite Queen song. As with all great albums, the supporting cast have to do their job as well, and I think that occurs here with underrated and somewhat maligned songs such as "Tear it Up", "It's a Hard Life" and the quite brilliant "Keep Passing the Open Windows" being great strengths.
Favourites aren't always bests, because bests can be argued from different angles. But this is my favourite, the Queen album that not only gives us 80's popular music but 80's hard rock, touching songs and anthems. Freddie's vocals reign supreme, John's bass lines hold the rhythm together with Roger's great drumming, and Brian's guitar is superb, showcasing everything he is best at.
This for me was the start of a four album run that is as amazing as it is emotionally charged given the reason that album run came to an end. Tie as it is to my growing from age 14 to 21, that probably isn’t a great surprise.

711. Quiet Riot / Condition Critical. 1984. 2/5

Do you remember that fun album by that band? The one where they seemed to have this mascot? He wore a metal mask that covered his features, and was in a couple of their music videos for songs off that album too. Those singles highlighted the album, but also drove it in along and made it an album worth listening to. You do? Well, this is the album that immediately followed it.
That album’s name was “Metal Health”, and in Season 4 of this podcast there is an episode that tells the story of the lead up to that album being released. And there is no doubt that the success of that particular album was... surprising, to say the least. It came out of nowhere, an album you might say came along in the right place at the right time. It reached number 1 on the US charts and charted all around the world, and on the back of that, the band had high profile support slots on ZZ Top’s tour to promote the “Eliminator” album, along with Black Sabbath’s tour to promote the “Born Again” album.
On the back of this success, there was never any doubt that the band’s management and record company were going to insist that they get back into the studio as soon as possible and record a follow up album at their earliest possible convenience. Number 1 albums don’t come along too often, and when they do, you want to follow it up with another one. However, as has been shown countless times over the last half century or more, following up a successful or critically acclaimed album is just not the easiest thing in the world to do, and it does require the right approach. In the case of Quiet Riot, the question probably had to be asked - with so much to live up to after the phenomenal success of that previous album, and yet given the good vibes that followed it, you should be able to expect some good stuff from the follow-up... right?

The answer to that question is a pretty emphatic 'no, they couldn't'.
That's not to say that “Condition Critical” is a complete loss, and I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who enjoy this album as much as they did with the previous album, given that it has a similar writing and performing style. But to be fair, on the surface it suffers from a lack of originality and a heavy dose of boring and uninteresting songs and lyrics that fail to ignite any great joy or optimism in the result.
"Sign of the Times" is the lead-off track and is perhaps more indicative of Quiet Riot's presence than it was meant to be, and the line in the song "It's the same old story" is probably more the honest conclusion than Kevin DuBrow meant when writing it. As an anthem it doesn't make the grade as they would have hoped. It isn’t the only one here. Take for instance the follow-up Slade cover of “Mama Weer All Crazy Now”. Obviously, the Slade cover from the previous album “Cum on Feel the Noize” had been a huge hit for the band, and had set that album up for the success it had. So if lightning can strike once... then surely it can strike twice? Only in an Iron Maiden song as it turns out, because although this song was proffered at that same altar, the reaction was nowhere near as strong. Another video was filmed for it, but it just wasn’t the same, and indeed felt as though it was just a bold-faced effort to copy and paste a "hey, this worked the first time, let's just do it again!" grab fest for glory.
But that's okay, because this is followed up by a whole bunch of other songs that would like to be labelled as rock anthems that also don't cut it - "Party All Night", "Stomp Your Hands, Clap Your Feet", "Winners Take All", "Scream and Shout", "Bad Boy" and "(We Were) Born to Rock" are shallow, simplified rock beats with lyrics attached that are designed to suggest they are songs of the people, but fall flat in almost every regard. They are harmless rock songs, ones that will appeal to a section of the music listening public out there, who will dance around and sing the lyrics and enjoy everything about it. You only have to look at the song titles to see exactly what the band is trying to create here. And for the mid-1980's perhaps that wasn’t such a bad idea. But beyond that, how well do the songs and therefore the album age? “Winners Take All” for instance wants to be the epic crowd singalong song, but comes across now as a dreary uninspired tune. “Stomp Your Hands, Clap Your Feet” even has the ready made live crowd participation built into the middle of the track. The title track “Condition Critical” is actually the one song here that strays off formula, trying to be the seriously toned heavier track.
So, you can see and hear what Quiet Riot was aiming for here on “Condition Critical”. It’s just that... it seems to be missing something. Actually, it seems to be missing a LOT.

This album came out far too quickly following the success of “Metal Health”. I remember at the time, when the video for “Mama Weer All Crazy Now” came out, that I just assumed it was from the “Metal Health” album too. That could also have been because the songs sounded so similar. And in having listened to this album a fair bit over the past two weeks – probably more than I have in the past 40 years combined to this point – my impression remains that they rushed this. Sure, maybe another six months of refining and collating and rewriting may not have changed the songs or this album in the slightest. Perhaps this is EXACTLY what they wanted the album to sound like. And the bones are probably there, they just needed to be molded and have more substance about them to really get the most out of them. And on paper at least this album isn’t a failure, reaching #15 in the US charts and selling over a million copies worldwide. Nothing to be sneezed at. But the general consensus is that it did not hold a candle to the previous album. Of course, Quiet Riot aren't the first band to have a follow up album fail to live up to one that had done spectacularly well, and they won't be the last. Look at the talent in the four main members of the band however and you would have expected better, if not with the follow-up to “Metal Health”, then surely the album after that? Unfortunately for Quiet Riot, their competitors were coming thick and fast in the form of Motley Crue, Dokken, Ratt, L.A Guns, W.A.S.P. and the like, and they were unable to go with the pace. It probably didn’t help that their lead singer tended to slag off every magazine and music show journalist, which meant that reviews were generally average at best as a result.
My memories of the album have mostly been of disappointment. The brightness and energy of the previous album is not replicated here. Carlos Cavazo barely gets a chance to showcase his guitaring skills, and the rhythm of Rudy Sarzo and Frankie Banali for the most part plods along as required. Perhaps these song sound better live. To be honest, they would have to. Like I said I have listened to this album a lot recently, and it hasn’t even come close to resonating with me. Many hours wasted listening to this when I could have been listening to something good. See the torture I put myself through just for this podcast, to keep you all entertained? I hope you appreciate my sacrifice. It isn’t soul crushingly bad, but it is very very average.

710. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force / Rising Force. 1984. 4.5/5

Yngwie Malmsteen – whose name has the best running joke from a comment in an interview with David St Hubbins from Spinal Tap during the recording of the Stars project, where he said “I like how he has put a J in Yngwie J Malmsteen, in order to make sure he doesn’t get confused with all of the other Yngwie Malmsteen’s out there (classic) - came to the United States from his native Sweden in order to make his fortune. He joined the band Steeler, led by Ron Keel, and played on their debut album. After personality issues and concerns about the seriousness the band was taking, Malmsteen was recruited to join the band Alcatrazz with Graham Bonnet and again recorded their debut album “No Parole for Rock and Roll” in 1983, as well as touring to promote the album. This led to the live album “Live Sentence” being recorded in Japan, but it was around this time that Yngwie again found problems with the clashing of egos with bandmates. Bonnet had been the big name lead vocalist recruit for the band, but Malmsteen’s performances on stage were quickly becoming the main act for concert goers, which fuelled Bonnet’s disapproval and not doubt further fuelled Yngwie’s own ego. A clash on stage led to Yngwie being fired immediately and being replaced with Steve Vai.
At the time Yngwie had been toying with doing a solo album away from Alcatrazz, one that would just be an instrumental album showcasing his talents. With his dismissal/departure from Alcatrazz, he now had the chance to go and do his project on his own, and not having to go along with the ideas and demands of another person. For the recording he recruited former Jethro Tull drummer Barrie Barlow and up and coming keyboardist Jens Johansson. Eventually, he also moved away slightly from this being an out-and-out instrumental album and brought in vocalist Jeff Scott Soto to lend his vocal cords to two songs of the project. They went into the studio in late 1984 to record the album, and in late 1984 it was released under the band name of Yngwie J Malmsteen’s Rising Force, with the album name simply being “Rising Force”, an apt title under the circumstances.

Reviewing an album that is almost completely full of instrumentals can be a difficult thing. Daunting even. Because my knowledge on how music is written and played is very minimal compared to my love of listening to music and knowing what I like. And this entire album is like that. And the art of making instrumental tracks that are the kind of experience that you keep coming back to time and time again is something that only the very best can do.
This album opens with two of the best when it comes to this. Both “Black Star” and “Far Beyond the Sun” are perhaps the two tracks that best define the genius that is Yngwie Malmsteen and his guitar playing. “Black Star” is the more introspective track, a more emotional playoff of Yngwie’s guitar harmonising, while “Far Beyond the Sun” is a true bombastic effort of the instrument, faster and heavier in both instances. That first ever playoff between guitar and keyboard in “Far Beyond the Sun” mirrors that of his hero Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord from the 1970’s Deep Purple albums, when those grand masters of hard rock and heavy metal used to trade solos on their instruments that were often the best parts of the songs. And while “Far Beyond the Sun” has its obvious major parts of the song concentrating on Malmsteen’s guitar, the middle part of the track where he duels with Jens Johannsen on keyboards is a delight. These are the two songs that have been a part of his set lists for the last 40 years, and as he himself has admitted, he will probably be playing them until the day he leaves our shores.
These are followed by one of only two songs on the album that contain vocals, “Now Your Ships Are Burned”, though they are very sparse with the guitar and keys still dominating the track. Jeff Scott Soto showcases the lower end of his vocal range in this song, to great effect.
The heart of the album is dominated by two songs based around classical compositions. For these two songs Yngwie has taken not only inspiration from the two compositions but has integrated them into his songs here. Firstly is “Evil Eye” which is based on Johann Krieger’s “Bourree”, which manoeuvres itself from the sublime of the original to Yngwie’s freewheeling additional guitar flair to liven the track up, including an added pace in speed to keep the fans interested in what he has achieved. Then comes the wonderful “Icarus’ Dream Suite Op. 4” based around Adagio in G minor, which I’m sure all of you musical aficionados out there will know exactly what I’m talking about. What I can tell you is that it is an excellent early example of the way Yngwie incorporates classical and complicated guitar riffing into his songs, and weaves his magic around them to create wonderful tracks
Following this, the second of two songs with vocals comes in, and in a big way. The opening organ of “As Above, So Below” sets the tone, before breaking into the opening riff, and the Jeff Scott Soto unleashes his amazing vocals na the range that he has become renown for since this album. While he kept things in check on “Now Your Ships Are Burned”, here on “As Above, So Below” he reaches for the heavens and gives us a stunning performance, suitably backed up by the keys and guitars of Johanssen and Malmsteen. The surprising subtle undertones of the rhythm under the vocals gives Soto his chance to shine without competing for air, and it works perfectly. Still one of the best Yngwie Malmsteen tracks.
Better yet, this careers into “Little Savage”, which like “Far Beyond the Sun” has a great fast tempo in the first half of the song with a terrific riff from Yngwie, before hitting the breaks and letting the centre of the track comprise the softer more melodic tones of his guitar work, and then another brilliant guitar solo to lead out the track. Awesome. And the album finishes with the short and sweet acoustic tones of “Farewell”, to complete a tremendous debut solo album.

When I first heard this album in 1986, I was blown away. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before in a guitar-oriented album. Probably because I'd never heard of Yngwie Malmsteen before at that time of my life. Everything about it was new, and those feelings of love for this album still exist for me today. It had been recorded for me on a C90 cassette by my high school heavy metal music dealer, with the Michael Schenker Group’s live album “Rock Will Never Die” on the other side. Man, that cassette used to get a workout. Two of the greatest guitarists back to back. I loved listening to that cassette, and especially this album. A few years later in mid-1990, I went out and bought my first stereo with a CD player, which of course then required me going out and buying some CDs. For work one day I had to take a car from my workplace in Kiama to get fitted out in Wollongong, and had a few hours to kill while waiting for it to be finished, so I walked up to the Wollongong Mall and down to Redback Records and started browsing. And I didn’t want to buy CDs that I already owned the vinyl of, so in some ways the choice wqas sparse. But what CD did I finally find, that became the first CD I ever purchased? Yep, this one. And when I got home and put it on for the first time, and heard with clarity what had become the less audible very stretched and overused cassette copy version that I had... I was simply awestruck. Sure the sound was better, but I was hearing things now that I had never really heard in so much greater depth. It was truly tremendous, and I still remember that afternoon clearly.
I’ve had the album – that same CD copy as it turns out, almost 35 years later – on again a few times over the last couple of days, and I was reminded all over again of its magnificence. The opening burst of those first two songs is still something that takes me back in time to those days of the late 1980’s. And listening to Jeff Scott Soto reach for the heavens in “As Above, So Below” is just as wonderful as it was the first time I heard it. Amazingly, “Rising Force” won the Guitar Player's award for Best Rock Album and was nominated for a Grammy Award for 'Best Rock Instrumental', reaching no. 60 on the Billboard album chart in the US. All of these things had Yngwie’s eyes bulging, with thoughts of a true commercial breakthrough fired by the success of this album. It led to a revamp of ideas for the follow up album, and for the next decade he chased that dream of commercial success.
In the course of the Yngwie Malmsteen discography, all 23 studio albums of it, this for me ranks as his second best album. As a debut album it is in the top bracket, and one of those releases I consider to be a 5/5 album. It was the start of a run of four studio albums that shaped the way guitar albums were conceived, as well as seeing the development and desire of Malmsteen as a guitarist and songwriter grow exponentially. As a fan, it was a great time to have found the one and only Yngwie J. Malmsteen.

709. Whitesnake / Slide It In. 1984. 4/5

The path of Whitesnake’s road to fan favourite band had been a long and winding one to the point in their career that they had reached in the early 1980’s. What had become more obvious was band leader David Coverdale’s desire to make a big break in the United States, and it was with this in mind that he was pushing the band into a further derivation of their core bluesy sound. The band’s previous album, “Saints ‘n’ Sinners”, which you can find an episode on in Season 3 of this podcast, had still been a success on many levels, but the band had changed personnel from the early days of the group, and more was to come with the completion of “Slide It In”. Bernie Marsden’s absence had been filled by Mel Galley, who was also co-writer of half of the material for the new album. This had left original guitarist Micky Moody on the outer, co-writing only the opening track of Side 2 on the album. Moody was quoted as the time as saying that when the band had started, he and Coverdale had been best friends, but by this stage of the band, they barely spoke to each other. Moody was also at odds with the way the band now sounded, especially in the live environment. With the addition of Cozy Powell on drums and Colin Hodgkinson on bass, Moody suggested that the band had more of a heavy metal feel that the original blues rock sound the band had started with, and he felt it did not match how he believed the band should be.
It is interesting that the band once again had problems with the production, and when original producer Eddie Kramer was relieved of his duties, they fell back to their longtime producer Martin Birch to complete the job. Birch of course by this time had recently been working with the Dio-fronted version of Black Sabbath as well as Iron Maiden, which perhaps exacerbated how Moody felt about the sound being produced. Once his guitar parts were completed, Moody left Whitesnake with no argument from Coverdale himself. This also proved to be the final album with Jon Lord on keyboards, as he had been called back for the Deep Purple Mark II reunion that came to pass that year. It left Coverdale himself as the only original member left standing, and with a new band, he was also heading in a new direction – to hopefully conquer the final frontier of the United States.

If you’ve ever listened to Whitesnake then you know that the lyrical content of the songs can be a bit promiscuous. As it turns out here on “Slide It In”, Coverdale loads up on the sexual innuendo even more than previously, laying it on like a really thick spread of butter on toast, innuendo not forthcoming. There's not a lot of imagination required when it comes to the lyrical side of songs like "Slide It In", "Slow & Easy" and "Spit it Out", in order to decipher the double entendre that seep through the title and songs. That doesn’t dissipate the enjoyment of the tracks. “Slide It In” acts as a real bridge between “Saints ‘n’ Sinners” and self-titled 1987 release in terms of style and possibly substance. The production is not as stone-wash polished as future albums were, because that was never Martin Birch’s style, and what he does offer is that same bluesy feel in the production despite the fac that Coverdale was probably looking for the American hard rock style of production at this point in time. That’s what stands out here on this album more than anything else. This is an album produced for the same market the band had played in since its inception, but the primary component wanted something else.
None of this detracts at all from the songs. The opening side of the album is as good as ever, with “Gambler” moving into the title track that really kicks off the energy of the album, and then into the terrific triumvirate of “Standing in the Shadow”, “Give Me More Time” and “Love Ain’t No Stranger”. For me this is the superior half of the album. While I enjoy the second side as well, with great tracks such as “Slow an’ Easy”, “Spit it Out”, “All or Nothing”, “Hungry for Love” and “Guilty of Love”, it isn’t quite as engaging as the first half.
What can detract slightly is the repetitive nature of the lyrics on some of the songs. "Standing in the Shadow" and "Hungry for Love" really let you know what the title of the song is, and while that is fine in a chorus perspective, sometimes it drags things down. Then there is a song such as "Guilty of Love" (in the first degree), where the lyrical content is slightly gag-worthy. But hey, it was the '80's, and it was a different world. Someone out there probably though this was beautiful and thought-provoking, most likely Coverdale himself. Sometimes it almost gets like singing along to Kiss songs, the lyrics can become a bit cringe-worthy.
After this was released in the UK, there were articles and reviews put out that the recording and production was ‘flat’, and that it didn’t sound the way previous Whitesnake albums sounded. This brought about a third producer coming in after the fact, with the band’s American record company Geffen bringing in Keith Olsen to remix and, in some cases, re-record. The drums and keyboards are lowered in the mix of what became the ‘American Remix’ version of the album, and the band’s replacement for Mickey Moody, John Sykes, also recorded some further guitar pieces to be mixed in over the top. This proved a hit in the US, but to be honest, I have both versions of this album, the original UK version, and the remixed US version, and personally I prefer the UK version because it gives a fuller presence to Jon Lord and Cozy Powell which I think suits the album better, but the reality is there isn't much changed.

My discovery path of Whitesnake the band came from their 1987 album, titled either “Whitesnake” or “1987” depending on where you live, and then the follow up “Slip of the Tongue”, two albums I love to this day. Eventually I went backwards and listened to the back catalogue, something that was difficult to begin with because of the completely different style of music the band played on those early albums and what they produced later on.
What became paramount to enjoying both “Slide it In” and those other albums was consistent listening, putting the album on and getting used to what it was that the band wrote and played. Because there is a difference between what I first heard of the band and this album. So it took some getting used to from my perspective, and just letting the album flow through me and find its equilibrium. Which, over the years it has done. And while some of it may feel dated now 40 years on, there is still plenty here to enjoy. And I think Mickey Moody is right. This album actually comes across as a heavier album than those before it, and probably due to the influence of Cozy Powell’s drumming tyle compared to Ian Paice’s, and the bass, drums and keyboard combination that is harder rather than a lighter influence. Moody and Galley’s guitaring is the counterpoint to this with their more bluesy tinge, compared to Sykes and later guitarists of the band. And Coverdale’s vocals here are still honey smooth, not looking to reach the highs that came on later albums. My attitude to this album over the 25+ years that I have been listening to it has remained the same, that it really has always depended on the mood I'm in. This can be an album I really enjoy listening to, or it can be one that loses my interest rather quickly. Over recent years it has been much more the former than the latter. My favourite songs still rank as "Love Ain't No Stranger", "Give Me More Time" and "Slide It In".
More than three years stretched between the release of “Slide It In” and its follow up, with more changes to the band line up and certainly a different take on the music the band wrote and recorded. The first era of Whitesnake certainly came to its conclusion with this album, and the arrival of the pop rock juggernaut was just around the corner.