SCOTTS HIDDEN TREASURES #68 - This week I'm Thankful for ...

[Scott]

 

New Wave!

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I'm catching up a bit and hitting you with another SHT list, but first, I want to wish everyone a safe holiday season.  I hope its music filled and the best one yet!

 

Onto this weeks list...

 

New Wave is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s pop music. New Wave, as a term, has been used to describe all post-punk rock music, yet, it distances itself from other post-punk movements as it displays characteristics common to pop music, rather than the more "arty" post-punk.

 

Heres 5 treasures from that time period and genre...

 

PLAYLIST VITALS...

• LINK: http://snack.to/ouIwYR
• LENGTH: 19 minutes 22 seconds

 

TITLE: Rated X
BAND: Pat Benatar
ALBUM: In The Heat Of The Night
YEAR: 1979
LENGTH: 3:17
DID YOU KNOW: Benatar's debut album reached #12 in the US. Producer Mike Chapman, who had worked with Blondie and The Knack, broke his vow not to take on any new artists when he heard Benatar's demo tape. Chapman personally produced three tracks on the album, while his long-time engineer and now independent producer, Peter Coleman (who also supervised Nick Gilder) oversaw the rest. In addition, Chapman and his partner, Nicky Chinn, wrote three songs that appear on the LP, "In the Heat of the Night" and "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" which were previously recorded by Smokie, as well as a rearranged version of a song they wrote for Sweet, "No You Don't".

 

This album was so different when it came out.  I loved most of it initially, and eventually the entire album still sounds great!

 

TITLE: Drivers Seat
BAND: Sniff 'n the Tears
ALBUM: Fickle Heart
YEAR: 1978
LENGTH: 4:02
DID YOU KNOW: Though recorded in 1978, the album sat unreleased for over a year until being picked up by Chiswick Records. The band then had a substantial international hit with Fickle Heart's lead single "Driver's Seat", in 1979. However, Sniff 'n' The Tears fractured almost immediately after the album's release.  Driver's Seat was prominently featured on the soundtrack of the 1997 film Boogie Nights and had another popular resurgence as a result, although most radio outlets played the 1991 re-release version instead of the original.

 

This song holds a special place in my life in a very strange way.  It was the song that was playing in a car 6 of us were in one winter day, we slid off the road while the song was still playing, rolling over a small embankment.  No one one was injured thank goodness.

 

TITLE: Catwalk
BAND: Saga
ALBUM: Heads or Tales
YEAR: 1983
LENGTH: 4:26
DID YOU KNOW: The band has been constantly successful in Germany since its inception. It is also very popular in Puerto Rico: Saga has visited the island twelve times. Saga's second concert in Puerto Rico (1981) caused riots from fans trying to crash into a sold-out concert.  For a few years, a keyboard riff from their song "No Regrets" became the background music for station breaks at WCAD-FM in San Juan. The band received formal recognition as distinguished visitors from the Puerto Rican legislature in February 2005.

 

I am huge fan of Sagas first four albums.  This one being the fifth didn't strike me as the same great music I was getting from their first 4.  But a friend from work played Saga all the time, and this album grew on me.  Now its a must have in my collection.  I bet that guy is still cranking out Saga tunes to this day!

 

TITLE: Clones (Were All)
BAND: Allice Cooper
ALBUM: Flush The Fashion
YEAR: 1980
LENGTH: 3:00
DID YOU KNOW: The conception for the character that Cooper plays on stage came when he took careful observation of the rock world around him. He noticed that rock stars were always made out to be heroes, and that rock villains were scarce. In a 2010 interview he stated, "Why do we always have rock heroes? Why not a rock villain? I was more than happy to be rock's Darth Vader. I was more than happy to be Captain Hook."

 

I bought this album because of this song and was expecting a solid rock and roll effort much like From The Inside (The best AC album ever!).  I was dissapointed, but not because there wasnt some cool stuff on the album, Talk Talk and Aspirin Damage are pretty cool!  But mostly because it wasn't From the Inside Part 2.  My bad!

 

TITLE: Fast Cars
BAND: Nazareth
ALBUM: Malice In Wonderland
YEAR: 1980
LENGTH: 4:34
DID YOU KNOW: For Malice In Wonderland Nazareth’s eleventh album released in February 1980, Manny Charlton handed over the producer's hot seat to Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter, pedal-steel guitarist/guitarist with the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan.   This turned out to be a controversial move within the band– Manny "I stopped [producing] because I wanted to learn. I'd done five albums and felt that the band was in a sort of rut, and I wanted someone else to produce the album. The record company recommended Jeff Baxter. Another guy who wanted to do it was Bruce Fairburn who went on to do Aerosmith.

 

Ive read the band doesnt like this album or its follow up "Fool Circle", and maybe they have a case for Fool Circle, but Malice is a great album!  I picked it up around the same time it came out and have always enjoyed giving it a spin.

 

Peace Out!!!!

 

 

[RJhog (Admin)]

Now that's some hidden treasure right there!  No bad songs.

 

I didn't think I had heard any of these, but I had heard the second track before, Driver's Seat.  I'm guessing that this one a one-hit wonder band.

 

Standouts for me were the Saga tune and the Nazareth tune.  Both new to me, outstanding music.

 

 

[Jon]

I am so behind on these SHT lists, gotta catch up!!!!!!!!!!!

[Niels (Mod)]

I also picked up "Malice In Wonderland" when it was released, but I was dissapointed, when I heard it. I truly understand, why the band don't like it, when you think about the two albums, that were released the previous years, "Expect No Mercy" and "No Mean City", so I don't really understand Charlton, when he said, that the band was in a sort of rut. Good album-cover, though.

[Jon]

So....is this an actual new wave list? I dunno, don't consider any of them actually new wave, unless you're just going by the time new wave was popular?

 

I got hard rock, hard rock, pop, hard rock, hard rock so I am lost.

 

I have had that Nazareth album in my "hand" while trying to find some old music on the 'net but keep on putting it back.

 

I did enjoy this list (except maybe AC and the Saga song grates on me after awhile) but am still hopelessly lost on the new wave thing.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Channel surfing last night, my wife and I ran across Boogie Nights.  Started watching it and low and behold, what song starts playin'?  It's Driver's Seat!  I immediately remembered Scott posting them and tried to explain to my wife where I had heard the song most recently...she didn't really care.

[Jon]

Boogie Nights & Sister Christian. Every time I hear that song, that scene pops into my head. Great movie, I just upgraded my DVD to the Blu-ray.

[Scott]

Great!  Just what I need, another listener that doesnt care

[Jon]

Women!

[RJhog (Admin)]

Dang.  I hadn't heard this song in years until you played it in this playlist.  They played it on Walking Dead tonight too.

[Alan Christensen]

Is it strange that the Saga song sounds like "On The Loose" at first? I only have Saga Worlds Apart - GOOD CD! I've seen that on vinyl in the past, but the local store that had the CD is closed. Cool band! :)

[Scott]

Not so strange if you consider that this album was the follow-up to Worlds Apart. 

[RJhog (Admin)]

Went to Carolina Ale House for supper Friday and heard Driver's Seat on the overhead.  This song sounds better every time I hear it.  Is the album any good?