SCOTTS HIDDEN TREASURES #54 - 80's Slow Songs Say So Much!

Slow 80's songs. Not all ballads so I don’t want anyone to think this is another sappy playlist when the truth is ... well, ok, it’s another sappy playlist! But not in whole, take for example the Dire Straits track, perfect slow song that’s not really something you'd throw on for your a night alone with your significant other but perfect for this!

Can you feel the Love? Let’s get started...

PLAYLIST VITALS

LENGTH: 46 minutes 51 seconds
LINK: http://www.podsnack.com/playlists/e3093f5a3b384f742c1f7525ca803098

TITLE: Romeo and Juliet
BAND: Dire Straits
ALBUM: Making Movies
YEAR: 1980
LENGTH: 5:54
DID YOU KNOW: Rolling Stone ranked the album #52 in their survey of the "100 Best Albums of the 80s

The first 5 albums from this band are all classics. This one was a big departure from the first two finding the band laying down more complex songs and layers of cool sounds. It was reported that the brothers Mark and Dave Knopfler fought over the creative direction of this band and of course, Mark won! His brother never got any credit for the work he did on this album, which is top to bottom remarkable!

TITLE: What Does It Take
BAND: Honeymoon Suite
ALBUM: The Big Prize
YEAR: 1986
LENGTH: 4:15
DID YOU KNOW: This album produced four hits in Canada: "Feel It Again", "What Does It Take", "Bad Attitude", and "All Along You Knew".

Killer band name by the way! Also was included in John Cusaks "One Crazy Summer" film and, I think, one of the Lethal Weapon films. Underrated and underplayed!

TITLE: I Think You'll Remember Tonight
BAND: Axe
ALBUM: Nemesis
YEAR: 1983
LENGTH: 3:54
DID YOU KNOW: The video for this song can be found on this site!

Killer band that had a solid run of two in a row in the early 80's. The previous album, titled Offering, being the other. Both albums together are a must buy! Can’t you hear why?

TITLE: Always
BAND: Firefall
ALBUM: Break of Dawn
YEAR: 1983
LENGTH: 3:47
DID YOU KNOW: Firefall was formed by Rick Roberts of The Flying Burrito Brothers and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement in Zephyr. The two first crossed paths when Bartley was on tour with Gram Parsons as a member of his backing band The Fallen Angels.

A band in decline pulls out a final chart hitting song, and it’s a good one, the chorus may ring a bell with you, maybe not, but the song is strong. The band, at this point, contains only one original member so the album doesn't really feel like a Firefall album. But it’s not bad for hardcore fans.

TITLE: Tender Is The Night
BAND: Jackson Browne
ALBUM: Lawyers In Love
YEAR: 1983
LENGTH: 4:54
DID YOU KNOW: This was Browne's fourth straight Top 10 album and stayed on the charts for 33 weeks.

One of the best crafted songs of the 80's slow or not! I love Browne’s output from The Pretender through the 80's. So strong, if you can look past his activism and politics (unless you agree with him), the songs are just on point!

TITLE: Shandi
BAND: KISS
ALBUM: Unmasked
YEAR: 1980
LENGTH: 3:35
DID YOU KNOW: The band filmed a promotional video for "Shandi", with Criss. It was the last time Criss appeared with Kiss, in any capacity, until he performed with them at a Kiss Convention on June 17, 1995.

(Pulled from their Box Set)

Every few playlists I got to throw a bone to KISS. Not always, but sometimes, to appease RJ, but this time because they perfectly fit the theme. Great tune from their poppiest album ever. I was so disappointed when I bought this album, but I still listen to it every now and then, so I guess it’s held up!

TITLE: Love Me Tomorrow
BAND: Chicago
ALBUM: 16
YEAR: 1982
LENGTH: 5:02
DID YOU KNOW: Four members of Toto lent their expertise to the 16 recording sessions.

Lots of people point out the ballads on 17 as some of their best, but I say go back one more album to find them. 16 not only contains some of the 80's best rock and roll, it was where Cetera discovered and perfected his style through the direction of David Foster.

Since the following 3 bands toured together recently, let’s highlight them with this weeks encore...

TITLE: Goodbye
BAND: Night Ranger
ALBUM: 7 Wishes
YEAR: 1985
LENGTH: 4:19
DID YOU KNOW: According to a 2001 TNN interview, "Goodbye" had been penned by Jack Blades in memory of his older brother, James, who had died from a heroin overdose several years before.
(Pulled from Greatest Hits)

Probably my favorite Night Ranger track and RJ's recent NMC reminded me of it so here it is in a SHT playlist. Classy song, great heartfelt lyrics, and a cool geetar solo!

TITLE: Just Get Through This Night
BAND: Styx
ALBUM: Kilroy Was Here
YEAR: 1983
LENGTH: 6:06
DID YOU KNOW: The album earned a Grammy nomination as Best Engineered Recording

If the song Babe was the first crack in the band, then Kilroy Was Here was the last straw. I would offer up that there are treasures to be found here, this one for example. The first 1:30 are filler, but once the song kicks in it's quite strong! I seen this tour, the first 30 minutes were awful! But it finally found a rocking stride and everyone had a good time! I still wish they'd brush their differences aside and get back together! That Gowan guy really bothers me...

TITLE: Who's Crying Now
BAND: Journey
ALBUM: Escape
YEAR: 1981
LENGTH: 5:00
DID YOU KNOW: At the end of the song, Neal Schon plays a repeating guitar solo that originally, according to Schon was recorded as an aggressive, experimental guitar solo which he liked but Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain did not. He then recorded a second, the "simplest thing he could play off the top of his head" as said by Perry.

Love this album, and it’s impossible to pull a "hidden treasure" off of it, but its fits the list so well, it was a "must" to include!

Next week we remain in the 80's and as it appears now (unless I get distracted by another 80's theme), we'll close this decade out with a bunch of rockers that may surprise you!

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Permalink Reply by RJhog (Admin) on July 18, 2011 at 11:19am

Vital stats for SHT # 54

Percentage of Songs I've Heard: 70%

Songs New To Me: 30% (In bold and italics)

Best Known Song: Goodbye by Night Ranger (very tough choice)

Best Unknown Song: I Think You'll Remember Tonight by Axe

Overall SHT Rating: 85%

1. Dire Straits 7/10

2. Honeymoone Suite 7/10

3. Axe 10/10 Great hidden gem Scott. I must get some Axe, I seem to like what you throw at us from them.

4. Firefall 6/10 Just a bit too sappy for me.

5. Jackson Browne 8/10

6. Kiss 10/10 Big surprise, right?

7. Chicago 8/10 I like the big Cetera ballads. This sounds like a Christmas song at the end.

8. Night Ranger 10/10 Awesome song!

9. Styx 9/10 Probably the 3rd best on that album for me behind Don't Let It End and Kilroy.

10. Journey 10/10 Love the outro guitar solo.

Absolutely love the second half Scott. I'm glad we're both in the 80's, there was so much great music in that decade. Look for one of the above albums in my next AOTW feature.

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Permalink Reply by Jon on July 18, 2011 at 5:12pm

That picture is just so sick. So sick it's cool.

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Permalink Reply by Jon on July 20, 2011 at 5:01pm

Nice, soft list. Except for one song.

Let me tell you a story about Kiss..

The first album I ever bought by Kiss was "Unmasked". It was a cutout at Bradlees, went for .99, si I thought it was a deal. Picked it up and the album got off to a rockin' start and then just sucked from there on out. It took a few years before I bought another Kiss album.

The ONLY time I have EVER downloaded a song off the internet was from Amazon. I had a free download and used it to getm that's right, that first song off the "Unmasked" album. have received a bunch more free downloads but have let them all expire.

Remember, I am NOT a Kiss fan. Was talking to someone very close to us all this morning and decided to share, cause that's the kind of guy I am.