Men Without Hats: Folk of the '80s (Part III) (1984)

This LP is fine, though perhaps not as good as the debut. It's really the same formula, and it is enjoyable, though I predict some will see the repetition as a bad thing. I am on the fence.

Men at Work: Cargo (1983)

I have never listened to this record. When I pulled out this record, I wasn't even sure I had heard any of the tracks, though Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive did sound familiar when I listened to it on Youtube. Wait, I just listened to Overkill on Youtube too, and I have heard it before too. Wow, I have heard It's a Mistake too. I guess these tracks got radio play. Maybe I should listen to the record.

Men at Work: Business as Usual (1982)

I have a memory of listening to this album many many times, but when I played it a while back, the only songs I could recall were Who Can it Be Now?, Be Good Johnny, and Down Under. Is it possible that the other tunes simply faded from my memory? Maybe the songs are really that unmemorable.

In reviewing the Wikipedia entry for this record, I discovered something I did not know:

In February 2010 a Federal Court judge in Sydney found that the flute riff from "Down Under" had been plagiarised from the Australian song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree", written in 1934 by Marion Sinclair. The Federal Court determined that the copyright was still current (Sinclair died in 1988) and had been assigned to Larrikin Music. The judge found that "a substantial amount of the original song" had been reproduced in "Down Under". Larrikin Music had suggested 60% of the royalties would be appropriate compensation, but the court decreed they shall receive only 5%, and only on mechanical rights for the song since 2002, and on future profits. [source]

Amazingly, I am familiar with Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, and I feel somewhat puzzled by the fact that I didn't hear the similarity.

I still quite like the track Down Under.

John Cougar Mellencamp: Scarecrow (1985)

I hated Small Town the first time I heard it. I don't hate it so much now. I think one could say that this was the best thing he had ever done, to this point. The record did not make me a huge fan, but I can say that I liked it, for the most part.

John Cougar [John Mellencamp]: Uh-Huh (1983)

I think I found this in a dollar bin or in a thrift shop. While I was not a big fan of American Fool, for some reason, I thought that Authority Song was OK, so I wondered if the rest of the record was OK too. Let me just say that I hated Pink House with a passion when I first heard it, but it offends me less today. If there is one thing I have learned it's that John's music got better as his career progressed, and I think this is a better record than anything that came before it. I have to say that the cover image really freaks me out.

John Cougar [John Mellencamp]: American Fool (1982)

After two records under the stage name Johnny Cougar, John Mellencamp shortened his name to simply John Cougar. He recorded three records as John Cougar, then a fourth as John Cougar Mellencamp. he then returned to his birth name, John Mellencamp. I think I got that right. In reading the Wikipedia entry, I learned that the name change to Cougar was not his idea, but that of his manager, who insisted "that the bumpy German name "Mellencamp" was too hard to market." [source] That's lunacy, but I guess if you are a struggling artist, you will take steps to sell records. It's too bad he had to spend so much energy shedding the Cougar part.

So, American Fool is the fifth record from John Cougar. I acquired a copy when it came out, because I thought that I liked the record. I loaned my copy to a friend in residence, and I never got it back. I was not too distressed at the time, because I came to despise the record. Another copy flowed into my collection sometime later, and I have held onto it, but I haven't heard this record since since soon after it came out.

Even today, with sentimental feelings of nostalgia for days gone by, I do not want to hear the record, mostly because of the song Jack & Diane. I really cannot put into words how much I detest that song. I had this feeling that he was attempting to channel the heartland sound of Springsteen, and coming up short. Who knows? I might like the record if I put it on now. The only tracks I can remember are the aforementioned Jack & Diane, Thundering Hearts, and Hurts so Good.

Later music by Mellencamp seemed better to me, so maybe that is reason enough to listen to it.

Ian McCulloch: Candleland (1989)

By 1989, it seemed that Echo and the Bunnymen were dead. The last album came out in 1987 but, in 1991, the band reformed with a different singer. It wasn't exactly the same band without Ian, who had set out on a solo career.

Candleland, from 1989, is a great record and as good as much of the stuff that Echo released. It's too bad Will Sergeant wasn't on the record, though.

Ian McCulloch: September Song (1984)

Ian, of course, was and is the lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen. In fact, he released this solo single while still with the band, which he later rejoined. The European pressing of this 12", released on Korova, has three tracks:

September Song (Long Version)
September Song (Long Version)
Cockles And Mussels

Lou Reed, as I mentioned previously, did the other memorable, and far more upbeat, cover of this track. The flipside  -- Cockles And Mussels -- is a song my dad would often sing around the house, though I think the title is really Molly Malone.

Don McLean: American Pie (1971)

For me, the day the music died was when John Lennon was assassinated. I was not alive when Buddy Holly et al, died. But, I have seen La Bamba (and even have the soundtrack). I can repeat that watching this film was a profoundly sad experience.

I'm sure that everyone is familiar with the title track. I've have heard it hundreds of times.If you know only one other track from this LP, it's probably Vincent. I know absolutely nothing about McLean's other records.

I have a water-damaged Canadian pressing, found in a dollar bin somewhere, sometime, for a buck.

Bob & Doug McKenzie: Great White North (1981)

This is a comedy record, but it contains some music, most notably, Take Off, featuring Geddy Lee of Rush. If you are a Rush completest, you need this one, but you probably already knew that. The other popular tune is the Twelve Days of Christmas, which is a reworked hoser version. This record might have been funny at the time, but I think it has lost something as the years passed.

My mom wanted to call me Doug, but my dad, thankfully, managed to change her mind.

Malcom McLaren: Swamp Thing (1985)

This is contractual obligation at its worst.

"Swamp Thing is the third album by Malcolm McLaren released in 1985. It is composed of out-takes recorded between 1982 - 1984. Tracks often built upon material previously recorded - for example, "Eiffel Tower" repurposed lyrics from the Bow Wow Wow song "Sexy Eiffel Towers" with the rhythm track of "Punk it Up" from his previous album Duck Rock, while another track from that previous album, "Soweto," found its instrumental hook reused in the track "Boom Boom Baby." The album was released to fulfill a contractual obligation with his record label. "Duck Rock Cheer" was the sole single released to promote the album. Neither the album nor the single met with commercial or critical success, though "Eiffel Tower" had earlier been featured on the soundtrack for the 1984 Jerry Schatzberg film No Small Affair." [source]

Malcolm McLaren: Fans (1984)

I've never been sure how to describe this record, so I will defer to Wikipedia:

Fans is a 1984 album by Malcolm McLaren. It was a successful attempt at fusing opera with 1980s R&B and contains adaptations of pieces from famous operas such as Madama Butterfly and Carmen. The opera recordings were made at the Unitarian Church, Belmont, Massachusetts by Stephen Hague and Walter Turbitt. [source]

And that just leaves the question of how one might describe Malcolm McClaren himself? Again, I defer:

Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, performer, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provocative way. He is best known as a promoter and manager of bands such as the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols. [source]

I think most  people who know him, know of him because of his relationship with the Sex Pistols. Of course, much happened there, including the death of Sid Vicious and the court case with John Lydon, but that is probably another story.

Paul McCartney: Give My Regards To Broad Street (1984)

Give My Regards To Broad Street is a soundtrack to the film, Give My Regards To Broad Street, a film I have never seen. I know absolutely nothing about the film. This record contains No More Lonely Nights, which was a big hit for McCartney. That track features David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd, on guitar. The record also has reworked versions of some Beatles tunes (Good Day Sunshine, Yesterday, Here, There and Everywhere, For No One, Eleanor Rigby, and The Long and Winding Road). I view this record as a total failure, apart from David Gilmour's guitar work.

Paul McCartney: Pipes Of Peace (1983)

Good lord, how did this end up in my collection? I must have paid about a dollar for it. I have never been a Michael Jackson fan and I find some McCartney solo work to be very suspect. I once turned down a free copy of Thriller. As everyone knows, MJ and Macca had a huge falling out in later years. The title track, perhaps the best tune on the record, is not terrible. The rest leaves me cold. Check out this review, from NME, quoted in Wikipedia:

Reviewing the album for the NME, Penny Reel described Pipes of Peace as "A dull, tired and empty collection of quasi-funk and gooey rock arrangements ... with McCartney cooing platitudinous sentiments on a set of lyrics seemingly made up on the spur of the moment." Reel opined that the "one decent moment" was the title track, which he found to be "a Beatlish soiree surely destined as a Christmas single", before concluding: "Even here, however, a note of insincerity in the vocal finally defeats the lyric's objective." [source]

That is scathing, to be sure. Also, the cover image sucks. I just cannot include the video for Say Say Say. I just can't.

Max Webster: The Bootleg (2018)

The bootleg disc appeared on the 2017 Max box-set, which included all Max records plus the first Kim Mitchell EP. The bootleg disc was later released as a separate album. It has very boring sleeve. I have to say that if I were curating a selection of live Max Webster tunes, I would not have come up with these choices. I mean, I like it well enough, but it could be better.

Max Webster: Diamonds Diamonds (1981)

Diamonds Diamonds is a compilation with:

Gravity
High Class In Borrowed Shoes
Diamonds Diamonds
Summer's Up
Blowing The Blues Away
A Million Vacations
Let Go The Line
The Party
Hot Spots
Paradise Skies
Overnight Sensation
Lip Service
Hangover

It's a good collection and a good place to start. Hot Spots and Overnight Sensation were previously unreleased. While it's not a bad place to start, there are so many good tracks missing. I have to say that I think it's odd that no tracks were chosen from the band's last record, Universal Juveniles. Surely, one could have made the cut.

Even weirder is the CD compilation that was released in 1989. It was credited to Max Webster Featuring Kim Mitchell ‎and ponderously entitled The Best Of Max Webster Featuring Kim Mitchell. Check and Battle Scar (from Universal Juveniles) were added along with one Kim Mitchell tune, Kids in Action. It's a bizarre compilation.

Max Webster: Universal Juveniles (1980)

I lost interest with Max Webster when this record came out. I did buy it, and then I sold it, and then I found a cheap copy somewhere and picked it up again. I do like some of the tracks, but I think they had lost the plot by this point. Well, maybe that's what I used to think. I listened to this recently, and liked it better than I thought I did. Maybe I was reacting to the departure of Terry Watkinson (who appears only on Battle Scar). In fact, the only original members left are Mitchell, and Dubois, if you consider him to be a member. This record might really be a Kim Mitchell solo record, especially if you consider the cover image. I could never have worn anything like that.

Rush fans, of course, will need to have a copy of this LP because of the track Battle Scar, a tune that features all members of both bands. That means, two singers, two drummers, two bassists, two guitarists, and a keyboardist. I wouldn't say that this is top shelf Max Webster, but if you like the band, I guess you need to own it.

By the way, I have always been irritated by later CD releases which included the "featuring Kim Mitchell" on the cover. I mean, I get it, but I wish they would have had more respect for the original cover. I wonder if Kim approved of that move.

Max Webster: Live Magnetic Air (1979)

Here's a live album. It's pretty good.

Those of you following the band will know that a box set was released in 2017. It includes all of the band's records, a limited edition bootleg, and the debut solo Kim Mitchell EP. I wonder why they included the EP. I did not consider buying the box set, because I already own the vinyl copies of everything, apart from the Limited Edition Bootleg. There were only 250 produced, but I have to assume that remasters of the individual vinyl records will be, or already are, available.

Max Webster: A Million Vacations (1979)

A Million Vacations contains the fourth moon tune, Moon Voices, which is an instrumental piece.  Incidentally, the title track -- A Million Vacations -- is not sung by Kim Mitchell. Instead, Gary McCracken (the drummer) takes over, which makes sense, because he co-wrote the track with Pye Dubois. 

Terry Watkinson sings lead on two tracks, Charmonium and Let Go the Line. In fact, Watkinson wrote two tracks and co-wrote another with Pye Dubois, sung by Mitchell. And then he left the band. I find that weird, since he wrote Let Go the Line, the best song on the record, and one of the band's best known and most enduring track.


Paradise Skies is arguably the band's biggest hit, even making it onto the UK charts. Although this record moved a bit into commercial territory, the last two tracks reclaim the earlier weirdness of the band.

Here is part of Let Go the Line:

Max Webster: Mutiny Up My Sleeve (1978)

We're just musicians
Here to thin the thickness of your skin

Mutiny Up My Sleeve may be the best Max Webster record, and it contains perhaps the best Max song, Beyond the Moon, the third moon song. Oddly, none of the moon tunes appear on the Diamonds Diamonds compilation from 1981. This record introduces Dave Myles, the new bass player. I think he did the job. Even though this might be the best Max record, my fav is still the debut.

Watkinson wrote two tracks -- Astonish Me and Let Your Man Fly - but doesn't sing either, which seems odd.

The Party, one of my top five Max tunes, appears on this record.