Hidden Treasures - Franke and the Knockouts

[Scott]

This week's Hidden Treasure post is a two for one...

1. That feeling you get when you accidentally find an album on CD that you thought would never see again.
2. Having that album be twice as good as you remember it!

 

There are a few albums I have that I've kind of lost hope of ever seeing on CD. Sometimes there is that one band or that one release by an artist that seems to get forgotten and no matter how many times you tried to find it, it’s just not available. Well this week while picking around iTunes I stumbled onto some of them and immediately placed an order.

 

Maybe you remember this band by name, maybe not, but if you're at or near my age you will know at least one of these tracks. The band is the strangely named "Franke and the Knockouts", and they played a large role in my musical experience in the very early 80's. I couldn't believe it! But here their story as told by Wiki...

Franke and the Knockouts was a short-lived band, formed in New Jersey, USA and fronted by singer/songwriter Franke Previte.

Franke and the Knockouts were signed by Millennium Records in 1981 and had three U.S. Top 40 singles and two Top 50 albums. Franke and the Knockouts' biggest single, "Sweetheart," was written by Previte and Guitarist Billy Elworthy and became a Top 10 hit in 1981, peaking at #10 in the U.S. They also wrote and released the original versions of Eric Carmen's 1987 hit single "Hungry Eyes" as well as the song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," (both of which were featured in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing). Previte would later be an Academy Award winner. After Millennium folded, the band switched to MCA Records in 1984. They released an album, which wasn't as successful as their other 2, they disbanded in 1986.

 

Not much there! But there you have it! I actually had no idea they had a 3rd release and from the sound bites they are actually pretty good, but it’s really keyboardy so I'm still thinking about that one.

 

And so there you have it! This week I'm sharing 2 tracks from each of the CD's I bought. Have you ever experienced this? If so, who was the band/artist? What releases are you still waiting/hoping for?

 

PLAYLIST --> http://snack.to/atjex220

 

	Self Titled debut 1981 Come Back Sweetheart
	Below the Belt 1982 Without You (Not Another Lonely Night) Just What I Want

Next week I'm going to do this all over again with 2 more albums I found, this time from different artists...

[RJhog (Admin)]

I don't remember this band by name and I don't remember any of the songs by their titles.  However, as soon as Sweetheart started, I remembered that tune.  This stuff isn't bad at all.  It reminds me of bands like Player and Toto, so I see exactly why Scott likes it.  

Quite honestly, that song Without You (Not Another Lonely Night) sounds familiar too.  Was this a minor hit?

That last track is the best one here.  The guitar playing is very nice.  And the vocals get a bit aggressive on the last song, which I like.  Yeah, this one is really good.  

As far as the experience you have described, probably the closest I could come would be Jefferson Starship's Modern Time.  My cousin had the LP and we wore that sucker out.  A few years back I started looking for it on CD.  When I could find it, it was quite costly, so I never bought it.  I did purchase the LP however and went through a lot of aggravation to transfer it to Mp3 files (the software was terrible back then, I have much better software now so I can do this with much less aggravation).  

Also, I've been looking for an Oak Ridge Boys album called The Oak Ridge Boys Have Arrived on CD.  Again, it's expensive if you can find it, so I've done the same thing.  This isn't quite the same as you described above, but the closest I can get. 

Enjoyed this post a lot.  Can't wait to see what you found next week.

[Scott]

It is definitely right up the old Melodic Pop Rock/AOR alley.  And again your right, thats my target zone.

Without You was indeed a minor hit.  I sandwiched the two ballads between to more upbeat tunes on purpose.  I thought it played better for one, and second I wanted to start and end with something that might just keep the listener listening.  

As far as the discovery is concerned, and you may find this comical.  But I've taken all my old vinyl and where I've re-bought the album on CD, I've boxed it up carefully and put it in a safe, dry, storage area.  This leaves me with a stack of vinyl that I don't own on CD yet so its like a life-like list of CD's I'd love to see.  These two can now be safely stored.  Why I do this?  I think its to preserve the vinyl copies but other than that, its just my sickness and I deal with it!  I figure someone on here might understand.  hahahaha....

Uh, anyway...  Glad you enjoyed this, this may not be a favorite for anyone other than me, but it was one of the funnest I've done.  And next week I get to do it again...

[RJhog (Admin)]

Man, you should buy you a 99 dollar turntable and get some of that vinyl on your computer.  It's really easy now and then you could burn a cd yourself (and yes, I agree that it's not ideal, a manufactured cd is better).  But you could listen to it in your vehicle, which is way cool.

[Jon]

Wow.

[Scott]

? Wow what?

[Jon]

Forgot about these guys. For some reason I keep thinking they were big in Jersey, there was something about them in the early 80's that caused folks to love 'em in my school but I can't remember exactly what it was.

[Scott]

did you read the Wiki excerpt I posted in the narrative?  They are from Jersey.

[Jon]

Uhh...thought I did. Didn't see the Jersey part though. Maybe that was it but I could swear it was because of a song, haven't listened to your player yet, but none of those titles sounds familiar. 

[Scott]

You'll know at least one song...

[Niels (Mod)]

I've never heard of these albums. I can't listen right now, maybe later.

The first album, that comes to my mind is the album "Stranger" by the band STRANGER. I think it was released in 1982, and as far as I remember, an american band. I liked it at the time, and have tried to get it on cd or download, but with no luck. I haven't tried THAT hard, though, because I don't think, that it will be twice as good, as I remember. It was/is early high hair AOR-heavy pop rock, but I liked the tunes......at the time.

Maybe I'll think of something else later on. 

 

 

[Mike Pell]

No, strangely enough I still don't know them.

[Dannolonghair]

WHAT...THE....F*@K ????? I thought this site was called Classic Rock Bottom, 

not  Classic Rock Bottom of the Trash Can!