Denny Laine "The Rock Survivor" 1980-1990(rec) 1994(comp)**

I was recently reading a piece on Paul McCartney & The Wings on Mojo magazine, when I suddenly remembered that I have a CD by the recently deceased Denny Laine, which I hadn't listened to for what seems like forever. It still has a £1 price sticker on it, so I probably bought it from a London charity shop - my guess is that it was during my second visit there, almost 20 years ago. Knowing of Laine's contribution to The Moody Blues and Wings, I must have been curious about his solo work but not impressed with what I heard here, or I wouldn't have forgotten about its existence until now. The majority of the tracks here come from his then latest, All I Want is Freedom (1990). The eponymous song that opens this collection is an upbeat number, followed by the mid-tempo "On The Radio" - both pleasant enough as far as 80's commercial pop rock goes. 7 more tracks come from that LP - I rather like the more R&B flavored "Light on the Water" and melodic "Rescue My World";  not that there's something wrong about the rest, but neither are there any standouts. The production is busy with a lot of synths, backup vocals, horns etc. but also sounds horribly faceless and dated. It seems to emulate the commercially successful 80's work by Steve Winwood, Phil Collins, or Robert Palmer, but doesn't work as well. Whatever the reason, All I Want is Freedom failed to get noticed, but instead of giving up Laine repackaged it with a few older tracks in the form of this compilation. This time the selling point were some well-known titles - even though these weren't the original versions but re-recordings taken from the Japanese Tears LP (1980): R&B cover "Go Now" was the big hit of his Moody Blues days (a UK No.1 in early '65), reprised here with minimal changes. "Say You Don't Mind" was a solo single from '67 that bears the mark of that period - it charted later, in an orchestrated version by Colin Blunstone, so listeners would be familiar with it. "I Would Only Smile" was included in a similar, if slightly superior, version in The Wings' Red Rose Speedway (1973), also sung then by Laine rather than The Wings' lead singer Paul McCartney. Beatle Paul appears, as bassist and co-writer, on the fine country number "Send Me the Heart". From Laine's next solo LP Anyone Can Fly (1982), we get only 3 entries: the eponymous folky track, reggae-ish "Running Round in Circles" and standout "Who Moved the World?" with its tasteful guitar and rich Philly sound orchestration. Closer "Bad Boy Makes Good" seems to be a new (or, at least, hitherto unreleased) track; it has an organic sound similar to Nilsson or Billy Joel. I find it strange that almost all of  All I Want is Freedom was included here, when all of the tracks from the older albums are obviously superior in quality; furthermore, 6 other solo LP's recorded by Laine between 1973-1990 are completely ignored, as are his contributions to The Moody Blues, Wings, and Ginger Baker's Air Force. All this makes The Rock Survivor a seriously flawed introduction to the artist even though, as a result of it being endlessly repackaged and re-released, it's his most ubiquitous release. This CD made for pleasant enough listening, but it goes back to the shelf to gather dust for another couple decades - or maybe forever, considering the limited time and sheer volume of music in my collection.

**** for Go Now, I Would Only Smile, Who Moved the World?

*** for All I Want Is Freedom, On the Radio, Rescue My World, Send Me the Heart, Light on the Water, Running Round in Circles, Say You Don't Mind, Anyone Can Fly, Bad Boy Makes Good

** for Game Set & Match, Bad Money, Talk of the Town, Heart for a Ride, I'll Stay

Back Street Crawler "The Band Plays On" 1975***

Last week I bought this 2nd hand LP from my neighborhood; coincidentally at the time I was reviewing Herman Brood's Shpritsz, and each LP features a track called "Rock N Roll Junkie". Like Brood, Kossoff's equally famous for his junkie ways and as a musician - his death from drug-related pathological causes at the age of 26 has made sure of that. As the lead guitarist of Free (1968-1973) he was among the most prominent instrumentalists of his generation - not that he was happy being considered to be the next Clapton or Hendrix; apparently the high expectations stressed him to no end. Despite his important contribution to Free's success, Kossoff was too unreliable a partner and probably the main reason behind the band's split. Free's Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirk teamed up with guitarist Mick Ralphs (ex-Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (ex-King Crimson) to form Bad Company, while Kossoff first made a solo album, and then recruited an unknown British singer (Terry Wilson-Slesser) and 3 Americans: Tony Braunagel on drums, Michael Montgomery on keyboards, and Terry Wilson (no relation) on bass - all ex-members of a band called Bloontz. Together they formed Back Street Crawler, a name they borrowed from the title of Kossoff's solo LP. Montgomery wrote most of the songs; he also sings lead on 2 tracks. He's got a bit of a glam/hard rock singing style, and he manages to nail the Aerosmith-like "All the Girls Are Crazy", but kind of lets you down on "Survivor" - his vocals at least, the piano part is quite good. Terry Wilson-Slesser has a deeper, bluesier tone reminiscent of... well, Paul Rodgers, actually. Not a good thing - I mean Rodgers is one of the best singers in rock, no shame in sounding a bit like him, it's just that comparisons were inevitable with both bands being Free offshoots and the records released at the same time - not to mention them lying physically next to each other in the record shop bins, being so close alphabetically. A couple of decades later, the Back Street Crawlers would get filed next to Backstreet Boys, not much competition there. But Bad Company, now... their debut was full of mega hits, all still staples of classic rock radio. The songs on The Band Plays On, on the other hand, are perfectly fine bluesy hard rock but sound derivative. "Train Song", and in particular "Stealing My Way", sound like Free outtakes. The excellent semi-ballad "Jason Blue" also reminds me of Free's "Mister Big", but the addition of horns is a fresh orchestration idea. Probably my favorite song here "It's a Long Way Down to the Top" with its slow tempo and slightly country-ish vocals sounding uncannily like -once again there's no avoiding the comparison- Bad Company. Opener "Who Doo Woman" is another personal favorite, one which sticks out because of its funkiness. "Rock & Roll Junkie" is another strange one: its upbeat tempo reminds me of Santana, but the chorus sounds more like Kiss - by the way, Bloontz and Kiss played a lot together in the early days, and even guested together on some LP's. Closer "The Band Plays On" (a song written by bassist Terry Wilson during his Bloontz period) is a great hard rocker with groovy organ fills that somehow bops along to a different, more original, rhythm to the rest. The musicianship in this album is in general excellent, Kossoff in particular shines without resorting to overlong solos. He's still held in high esteem as a guitarist, but one wonders how much larger he could have been if he had kept himself together instead of messing up time after time: most of the the concerts booked for the promotion of this album were cancelled due to his drug-related health problems, while the band's second LP 2nd Street (1976) was mostly recorded without him. A hired studio hand (W.G. 'Snuffy' Walden) played guitar on that album, with Kossoff overdubbing some solos after the fact. April 1976 should have seen Back Street Crawler tour as headliners, supported by AC/DC. With Kossoff healthy and sober, this would have been a momentous tour, but it wasn't to happen; he died on March 19, mid-flight from LA to New York. The cause of death was deemed to be pulmonary edema caused by opioid overdose. The rest of the band continued for a while as plainly Crawler (I have their first LP, and will post the relevant review in time) before going their separate ways. For a while I wasn't sure whether I should go with a 3* or 4* rating. In the end I went with 3*: while it's pleasant listening for classic rock fans, there's not much here that sticks out or calls for repeated listening.

**** for Who Doo Woman, It's a Long Way Down to the Top, Jason Blue, The Band Plays On

*** for New York New York, Stealing My Way, All The Girls Are Crazy, Train Song, Rock & Roll Junkie

** for Survivor

Herman Brood & His Wild Romance "Shpritsz" 1978****

If you asked me before I came to live in The Netherlands, which is the most famous Dutch rock band/singer, I might have said Golden Earring or Shocking Blue. Among the more recent ones, I'd say The Nits or Anouk. I mean, some of their songs are radio staples in Greece and intranationally. And, of course, there's a number of atmospheric prog metal bands (The Gathering, After Forever, Within Temptation etc) that are among the best in the world in their genre. But ask any Dutch person, and the most common answer you'd get would be Herman Brood (in Dutch that's pronounced Bro-od, with 2 O's). Maybe he was not the most qualified singer or musician, and only had one international hit, but he certainly was the person who best embodied the Sex & Drugs & Rock And Roll stereotype. By the time he had his first success with this album he had already spent more than a decade in the music business, most notably as a keyboardist for Cuby & The Blizzards, which was sort of the Dutch version of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. His drug use got him fired from that band, spending the next years in and out of jail for theft and for selling drugs, while he committed to various musical projects for short periods of time -  his junky lifestyle always took hold eventually, and his bandmates would evict them from the band. Until, that is, he formed his own group, Herman Brood & His Wild Romance. Their first album Street (1977) got them noticed, but it was on the follow up Shpritsz that the band really came into their own - thanks in no small part to the addition of Belgian guitarist Danny Lademacher. I was about to tell you that the album title was nonsensical, but I just read that it probably comes from the German verb "spritzen" which apparently can be construed both as "to inject" or "to ejaculate". How's that for sex & drugs & rock'n'roll? The music style is very much in sync with the punk and new wave phenomenon sweeping UK and America: short, fast tunes with some funky elements including the use of horns and female backup singers. The guitarist puts in a few hard rockin solos, but it's Brood's wild piano playing that's the most striking instrumental element. He isn't a conventionally accomplished vocalist, he just delivers his lines in tune to the music with a relaxed sing-talking style reminiscent of other street poet/singers like Lou Reed and Ian Dury. Opener "Saturday Night" is easily the standout track; as the album's lead single it even charted in the US. Controversial titles didn't help songs like "Dope Sucks" and "R & Roll Junkie" get radio play, yet these are also quite good. The lyrics are in general irreverent and often funny despite describing difficult and decadent situations; in combination with the upbeat music they somehow make the gutter sound like a fun place to wallow in. Most of the songs are Brood (co)writes - with the exception of a mid-tempo cover of Otis Redding's "Champagne and Wine". "One", "Hit" and "Pain" also display more of a New Orleans R&B influence and "Hot-Talk" is a playful jazz ditty. If there's a downside to the album is that all 15 tracks follow more or less the same template, yet there are no duds, and there are enough hooks to keep you from getting bored. Shpritsz turned out to be Brood's apogee as a singer. He never witnessed that kind of success again, and gradually lost interest in music, investing himself in painting. Somehow his biggest claim to fame wasn't the music he left behind but the unabashedly hedonistic and self-destructive lifestyle which culminated in his suicide by jumping to his death from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton at the age of 54. It's a shame really, for creative people to be celebrated for their wild behavior and their problems with addiction and/or mental health issues rather than for their talent. I'm not just thinking of Brood here, but also of his Greek counterpart Pavlos Sidiropoulos with whose music I grew up with, as well as of more famous idols like Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain. There's a romantic attraction to suicidal or plainly self-destructive artists, but despite prophetic lyrics like "When I do my suicide for you/ I hope you miss me too" there's nothing depressing about this LP; just great upbeat rock and roll that's ripe for rediscovery (internationally I mean, since it's considered an all-time classic in his native Holland). MOJO magazine dedicated one of its Buried Treasure columns to it, and I totally agree with them.

***** for Saturday Night, R & Roll Junkie

**** for Dope Sucks, One, Doin' It, Champagne (& Wine), Back (In Y’r Love), Hit, Never Enough, Pain, Doreen

*** for Get Lost, Hot-Talk, Prisoners, Skid Row

Europe "The Final Countdown" 1986 🏀🏀🏀

I'd bet that those first few notes of the keyboard intro are instantly recognisable all over the globe, this was after all a No.1 hit in most of Europe, also entering the Top Ten in the US. But nowhere -not even in their native Sweden- do they generate the emotional response they do in Greece. In the summer of 1987, Greece hosted the European Basketball Championship. We hoped our national team would do respectably playing in front of the home crowd, but the end result seemed unavoidable: unless Yugoslavia managed to steal the win, as they had done on three occasions in the past, the championship would go to the sole European athletic superpower: since they had first entered the competition forty years previously, The Soviet Union had almost always returned home with the cup. The Greek team nevertheless performed a miracle by eliminating stronger opponents one by one, finally triumphing over the Soviets at overtime with 103-101. This was an incredible, unbelievable, victory. At the time, Greece was thought of as this poor, backwards corner of Europe. At sports, we had no distinctions whatsoever. Yet for once we stood tall and dared to look the giant in the eye, and bravery won the day. No-one who watched this game -which includes the whole country- will forget the feeling of elation of that day, or the song blasting from the stadium speakers as the referee blew the final whistle: Europe's "The Final Countdown".

Somehow the band didn't capitalize on their popularity in Greece by touring there - had they done so in the late 80's or early 90's, it would have been a huge event; even when I caught the band live (at the Lokerse feesten in Belgium, more than 3 decades after that EuroBasket final) this album's title song stirred something in me. Nowadays, of course, "The Final Countdown" -especially the keyboard part- is considered the ultimate cheese. Even people reviewing the band semi-favorably in forums bypass the title track and name a couple of other songs as their favorites. At the time, though, everyone who bought the album did it for the big hit; by 80's standards, it wasn't cheesy, it was anthemic. The second most popular track off this LP was "Carrie", a typical 80's power ballad that also sounds very much of its time. Truth be told, it's not that different from Aerosmith ballads of the same period, yet Aerosmith retain some credibility while Europe are ridiculed- not so much for their songs, mind you, as for their haircuts. The third big song off the album was "Rock The Night", a nice rocker in the vein of Bon Jovi. The band knew these three songs were their biggest bets for success, and frontloaded the LP by placing them at the beginning of Side 1. This has the unfortunate effect of making the rest seem like filler: nothing else sticks out - but on the bright side, nothing annoys either. The vocals are a matter of taste: the lead singer employs lots of sustained high notes, and frequent oo-oh's and yeah-yeah's. The choruses consist, more often than not, by group harmonies on endless repeat. The keyboards have that dated synthetic 80's feel, but you do get the impression that the keyboardist is more ambitious; a wannabe Jon Lord who got stuck with an overtly commercial producer and crappy sounding equipment. The guitarist is an accomplished soloist, and he's given the chance to shine without dominating the songs, while the rhythm section also do a good job. The production may be a bit too slick for some, but it all adds up to a well crafted AOR album that often sounds like a cross between Asia and The Scorpions. Apart from the starting three, special mention should be given to "Cherokee", a commercial hard rocker about the plight of American Indians, sort of a softer analogue to Iron Maiden's "Run To The Hills". Here, as well as on the Side 2 closer "Love Chaser", there's a proggier note akin to Joe Lynn Turner-era Rainbow. "Danger on the Track", "Heart Of Stone", and "Ninja" are decent AOR rockers, while "Time Has Come" is a forgettable power ballad. "On the Loose" kicks off with a heavy riff and features a shredding solo - it's the closest The Final Countdown gets to heavy metal, which really isn't that close at all. So, should you add this album to your collection? Only if you feel nostalgic for 80's FM radio... or if you're a Greek eager to relive a fleeting moment of glory. Decent, but dated - 3,5* really.

**** for The Final Countdown, Rock the Night, Cherokee

*** for Carrie, Danger on the Track, Ninja, Heart of Stone, On the Loose, Love Chaser

** for Time Has Come