1981 - Year of the Album, Part II

And now the conclusion of my look back at the nether year 1981, which was one of my favorites ever for Rock 'N' Roll longplayer releases.  Here are some more of the great albums that came out that year, plus a few that weren't so great (again, in no particular order)...

Z.Z. TOP—El Loco  I already liked Z.Z. Top a lot, but El Loco forever cemented me as a fan of that Little Ol’ Band From Tejas right from the get-go with the irresistible “Tube Snake Boogie”.  True, their next album, Eliminator, was Z.Z.’s career apex in terms of global success—thanks in large part to those classic videos with the babes and the '32 Ford—but I’ve always preferred Loco, which is somewhat forgotten now, for some reason.  I have fond memories of wearing out the 8-track tape I had of it in my car during the summer of ’81, grooving to the likes of “Don’t Tease Me”, “Party On The Patio”, “Ten Foot Pole” and the underrated classic “Pearl Necklace”.  Pure as the driven slush, indeed…

MOODY BLUES—Long Distance Voyager  Most everyone had given this band up for dead (me included) when they came back from out of nowhere with Long Distance Voyager.  Original keyboardist Mike Pinder was long gone and was replaced by synthesizer maven Patrick Moraz, who was omnipresent on the first big hit from LDV, “Gemini Dream”.  “The Voice”, “Talking Out Of Turn” and “Veteran Cosmic Rocker” sounded a bit more like the classic Moodies stuff, but all in all, I much prefer their original seven albums over anything that came after.

FOREIGNER—4  Like Styx and Speedwagon before them, Foreigner broke out in a major way in ’81 with a record that featured one of my all-time favorite album covers.  “Night Life”, “Urgent”, “Juke Box Hero”, "Break It Up" and “Waiting For A Girl Like You” dominated the radio over the second half of the year as Foreigner (or as they pronounce it in Arkansas, 'Furner') was at the height of their popularity.

JOURNEY—Escape  Journey was already on the rise in the late ‘70s/ early ‘80s, and even the departure of longtime keyboardist Gregg Rolie—following 1980’s Departure, ironically—didn’t slow them down one bit.  Rolie was replaced by former Baby Jonathan Cain (come to think of it, aren’t most of us former babies?) and he stepped right in and Journey did just like one of their new songs advocated:  “Keep On Running”.  Although Escape was chuck-full of big hits (“Don’t Stop Believin'”, “Stone In Love”, “Who’s Crying Now?” and “Open Arms”, etc.), the “B-stuff” from it didn’t suck either, like “Keep On Running”, “Lay It Down” and the title track.  Scarily enough, Journey had yet to peak, either…

LOVERBOY—Get Lucky  Loverboy deftly avoided the sophomore jinx and built on the momentum generated from their first album from the year before on Get Lucky with biggies like “Working For The Weekend”, “Lucky Ones” and “Take Me To The Top”.  Under-the-radar songs like “Jump” (not the icky Van Halen song) and “It’s Your Life” were just as good as the front-line stuff, too.

DEF LEPPARD—High ‘n’ Dry  No sophomore jinx here either, and Def Lep actually improved exponentially upon their 1980 debut release On Through The Night as they began working with producer Mutt Lange, who embellished their sound with more elaborate arrangements and vocal layers.  “Let It Go” was a great leadoff track, and “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak/Switch 625” was the centerpiece of the record.  As the lyric to one of their future songs went, “the best was yet to come” for these guys.  And some of the worst, too…

THE POLICE—Ghost In The Machine  Easily my favorite Police platter, this was another one I pretty much wore out in the ol’ automobile tape deck in ’81.  Loved “Demolition Man”, “Spirits In The Material World” and “Invisible Sun” and the horns on “One World (Not Three)” and “Rehumanize Yourself” were a nice added touch.  Great concert tour the following year, too.

THE CARS—Shake It Up  The Cars responded to the inconsistent Panorama from ’80 with a record that is quintessential ‘80s in Shake It Up.  There wasn’t a bad track on this one, and it was a fun album from start-to-finish.  “Since You’re Gone”, the title track and “Cruiser” were standouts on side one, and the trippy “A Dream Away” was a great lead-off to side two (remember when albums had sides, kids?).  The late Ben Orr’s “Think It Over” should’ve been a hit single, too, IMHO.

THE GO-GO’S—Beauty And The Beat  Oh, what a breath of fresh air this was in the fall of ’81!  As good as the music was that year, I was tired of seeing nerdy guys in skinny neckties (no offense, Ric Ocasek!), thus an all-chick band in mini-skirts was just the ticket, especially an all-chick band in mini-skirts that could write and perform their own music.  The hits “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got The Beat” were dandy, but even better were tracks like “This Town”, “Lust To Love”, “Can’t Stop The World” and the witty “Skidmarks On My Heart”.  I lusted after Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin mightily during this time.  Still do, sometimes...

ROLLING STONES—Tattoo You  Mick and Keef and the boys rebounded rather nicely from the almost stillborn Emotional Rescue from the year before with the album that contained their classic “Start Me Up” as well as “Hang Fire” and the underrated “Waiting On A Friend”.  Love the sax solo by Bobby Keys on the latter song.  This would be the last time (pun partially intended) that the Stones would release new studio albums in successive years.

ROD STEWART—Tonight I’m Yours  Rod the Mod was coming off a bad 1980 album too (the one with the faggy-looking polka-dotted cover—I forget the title) and fared much better with this one, which yielded the big hit “Young Turks”.  The title track was fun romp, as was “Tora! Tora! Tora! (Out With The Boys)”, and I really liked Rod’s touching tribute to late cancer victim/advocate Terry Fox on “Never Give Up On A Dream”.

JOHN ENTWISTLE—Too Late The Hero  The Ox’s much-anticipated fifth solo album was a commercial flop, but it was certainly far superior to The Who's 1981 release (see below).  Guitarist Joe Walsh guest-starred on Hero and stood out on tracks like “I’m Comin’ Back” and “Love Is A Heart Attack” (an eerie omen for Enwistle himself, as it turned out), and Big Johnnie Twinkle’s bass rumbled throughout, especially on the album’s best track, “Talk Dirty”.

GENESIS—Abacab  Probably my favorite Genesis record, I remember when it came out how my friend Tom and I tried to divine the meaning of “Abacab”, trying things like matching musical notes up to the individual letters and such.  Sometimes things don’t mean anything!  Anyway, beyond the title track, I really liked “Like It Or Not” and I remember “Man On The Corner” being one of the first videos I ever saw on this new thing called MTV.

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THE BOMBS
This is not to say that everything that came out in 1981 was like the popular TV show of the day "Solid Gold"—there were a few clunkers from some of my favorite groups as well…

KISS—Music From The Elder  Ah yes, the final installment of what I like to call the “Lost Weekend Years” for Kiss, in which they tried to impress all the critics with how smart they were by making a concept album whose story the band members themselves didn’t even understand.  Guitarist Ace Frehley was so disgusted with the record that he soon left the band, and when it came out, most of us die-hard fans were like “What the fuck is this?” upon hearing Paul Stanley singing lines like "a child in a sun dress," etc.  The critics naturally liked Elder, of course, and like most Kiss fans, even I have a soft spot in my heart for it, and there are a couple pretty cool tracks that sound great on my iPod—namely “The Oath”, “Escape From the Island” and "I"—but overall, the album was just plain weird.  Not-so-long ago, the Kiss tribute band Kiss attempted to resurrect “I” in concert.  Funny how Gene Simmons can’t remember how the song goes, even though he co-wrote the bloody thing!

THE WHO—Face Dances  Expectations were higher than your average Grateful Dead fan for The Who’s first studio album since the death of drummer Keith Moon, to the point where Circus magazine dubbed Face Dances as “The Fiery Return of The Who,” in one article.  Uhhh, put the hoses away, fellas, you coulda blown this fire out with your own breath.  By this time, Pete Townshend was hoarding his best songs for his solo albums, so the material was pretty bland here, especially as watered-down by erstwhile Eagles producer Bill Szymcyzk (where the hell was Glyn Johns?!?).  Kenney Jones’ rather pedestrian drumming style (which Roger Daltrey often criticized) didn’t exactly help, and only John Entwistle’s tracks—the anything-but-quiet “Quiet One” and “You”—truly rocked out here.  Of Townshend’s tunes, “You Better You Bet” hasn’t aged well with me at all, "Cache Cache", "Don't Let Go The Coat" and "Did You Steal My Money?" were pure caca and only "Daily Records" and “Another Tricky Day” were really worth writing home about.  Easily one of the most disappointing Rock albums of all-time.

TED NUGENT—Intensities In 10 Cities  Given the outstanding quality of Nugent’s 1978 live opus, Double Live Gonzo!, I was very excited when it was announced that Ted was making yet another live record in ’81.  I incorrectly assumed Intensities would be Nugent’s Kiss Alive II, so to speak, and feature live versions of his post-Gonzo! stuff off Weekend Warriors, State Of Shock and Scream Dream, and what a colossal flop this thing turned out to be!  Alas, the Rev. Theodosius Atrocious let his Alpha-male ego get the best of him and he put out a bunch of lame new songs, many with macho-man titles like “The Flying Lip-Lock” and “My Love Is Like A Tire Iron”, along with an absurd cover of Wilson Pickett’s “Land of 1,000 Dances”.  About the only acceptable tracks were “Heads Will Roll” and the instrumental “TNT Overture”.  True, Intensities was merely contractual-obligation stuff that Nugent owed Epic Records, but he could’ve made a better effort than this steaming pile of yak excrement, and his career never has fully recovered from it.  He'd have been much better served to just release the 1979 "King Biscuit Flower Hour" show from Hammersmith Odeon that eventually came out on CD about ten years ago.

MOLLY HATCHET—Take No Prisoners  Molly Hatchet came roaring out of the chute with two excellent albums in 1978 and 1979, and they appeared to be the heir-apparent to Lynyrd Skynyrd as the big-cheese Southern Rock band until late lead singer Danny Joe Brown jumped ship in 1980.  Their first release without him, Beatin’ The Odds, wasn’t all that terrible, but new singer Jimmy Farrar didn't quite experience the same smooth transition enjoyed by Brian Johnson when he replaced the late Bon Scott in AC/DC the same year.  Farrar had a decent voice, but sounded so radically different than Brown, and the vibe just wasn’t the same.  Take No Prisoners was a step further backwards for Hatchet, and it was just a really bland record except for one really good track, “Bloody Reunion”, which sounded every bit as good with DJB singing it in concert upon his return.  MH’s next album, 1983’s vastly overlooked No Guts…No Glory (with Danny Joe back in the fold) was a major improvement.

ABBA—The Visitors  The bored looks on the faces of ABBA on the album cover of The Visitors should’ve been a red flag to record buyers that they were just playing out the string by this time.  There were no more new worlds left to conquer for Sweden's greatest export since Volvo, and it showed in the dull material here, plus the vocals were beginning to sound awfully robotic in places.  A creative rest might’ve suited Björn and Benny a little better…

BLACK SABBATH—The Mob Rules  The surprising success of post-Ozzy Black Sabbath on 1980’s classic Heaven And Hell, plus the excellent title track here promised great things, but sadly, the rest of Mob Rules was fairly forgettable.  From this point onward, Ozzy would have the last laugh as his career soared and Sabbath began its lead singer carousel period—Ian Gillan, David Donato, Glenn Hughes, Tony Martin, Ronnie James Dio (again), Rob Halford, Tony Martin (again), ad nauseam...