Classic Rock Bottom

The sixth year of my Limelight Magazine.com series The Cassette Chronicles has wrapped up and I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at ten of the articles that I wrote during the year.

You can check out that piece HERE!

The series will return for a 7th year in 2023.

Thanks to everyone who has read and continues to read the series!

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Well, since I'm not going to make a Top 10 list of 2022 releases, I can add a list here, given how I had a chance to listen to my cassettes this year. I left out the Muskatli, the Stand-up comedies as well as the compilation tapes. For a while, I thought to leave out the Pop releases too, but that would have narrowed the pool too much. So here is what my list of the Best Cassettes I listened to this year looks like:

10. Első Emelet – IV. ℗1987Once upon a time in the early 80s, there was a Hungarian symphonic progressive rock band called "SOLARIS" founded by a bunch of University students. They recorded an Instrumental album titled "Martian Chronicles", but no one cared about it. So, they analyzed the music scene long and hard for what made it tick and thought to themself: "Pfft, we can do this New Wave sh*t, blindfolded and with one hand tied behind our backs". And just to be sure they are going to succeed they broke into two fractions. One of the fractions called themselves FIRST FLOOR. They infiltrated the Synth-Pop sub-genre and saw their fame multiply exponentially.

9. GREENWAY – Serious Business ℗1988
Once upon a time in Canada, there was a band that served APRIL WINE, but some of these waiters sought Green(er) pastures (ways), because the Canadians are bad tippers they had to find second jobs. The extra income was enough to pay the bills for Brian, so he called it Serious Business. Well... A wise man once said: if you want to become a millionaire as a musician, you have to start out as a billionaire.



8. EDDA – Edda Művek 3. ℗1983
Once upon a time in communist Hungary, where everybody enjoyed a single class system, they certainly had white and blue-collar segregations. Edda represented the latter and as such, they released two "punch you in the face you bureaucrat" albums in the vein of the mighty Deep Purple. Then, the higher-ups thought this smells like trouble. Let's polish their sound to something like TOTO and give them a saxophone player too... and the sons of all those Steel-workers who supported them from the beginning were genuinely pissed. The band didn't survive the scandal, but on the helm with their singer, later they returned to deliver Melodic Hard Rock to the forgiving masses. Myself, I did not care for the style change. I still love the cassette.



7. BILL BRUCE – Disco Is Dead ℗1995
Once upon a time in the ever-shredding-kingdom of the 90s, there was this guy that only had one release to his name and he chose to house it in a cassette exclusively. Why he didn't hit it big I do not know. I don't think anybody in the world could give you a reasonable explanation for this mystery, and he remained an unsung hero for a lifetime to pass. A true gem no one knows about it, for sure.
The End.



6. R-GO – Rég Várok Valakire ℗1986
Once upon a time in Hungaria, not the country but the greatest Rock 'N' Roll band behind the iron curtains, gaps started to sip into the tight-knit bunch of highly capable musicians, each capable of leading their own posse, and they broke into 3 newly formed acts. The drummer not only started a new band but a new music style known as, Chikydam



5. GRAVESTONE – Back To Attack ℗1985
Once upon a time in Germany, a band was formed which at its inception was cursed to change their name 3x and defunct in complete anonymity. The curse was cast by withes attending a black sabbath mass, or what the fuck do I know who really, but it was definitely in the still-evolving 70s. In their second incarnation, they tried everything to escape this predestined fate. They played heavy, they played licks as if their life depended on them. They dueled, sometimes even harmonized their guitars, but everything they did took them one step closer to the foretold doom



4. NEOTON FAMILIA – Magánügyek ℗1985
Once upon a time in Scandinavia, there was ABBA. They had a competition in Hungary called Newton Family. A family that was in no relation to each other. They were running circles around the Viking descendants when it came to prolificity. However, the Hungarians kept it to themselves. They released album after album and became the biggest export of... anything, in their homeland. Their "Private Affairs" ceased to be that when this year the jolly Scottish pirate bunch known as Alestorm covered their song "Under The Sun" in... Hungarian, nonetheless, and reminded us of the golden days of the 80s.


3. WAYSTED – Save Your Prayers ℗1986
Once upon a time when a UFO visited planet earth, 2 aliens fell out of the ship. They would have been lost if it wasn't for a Flying Squad member who harbored them for a while. But then one alien left, who was quickly replaced by another alien, then the FS member left and UFO deserters enlisted the help of a then unknown entity, who will later see his Tyketto punched out but not before securing a spot in this Top-Secret file.


2. NAPOLEON BOULEVARD – Napoleon Boulevard 2. ℗1990
Once upon a time, there was a second part of the story I already told you at spot #10. Well if you must know, the other fraction of that symphonic progressive rock band from Hungary went the path less surfed in New Wave and with a help of an amazing singer explored the weird side of the genre. In other words, this is the Pop album you'll expect a symphonic progressive rock band to produce. Needless to say, they were showered with love and attention wherever they showed up.


1. DIVLJE JAGODE – Konji ℗1988

Once upon a time, there was a band in Yugoslavia that enjoyed the fame that every other band in Yugoslavia was jealous of. They were known as White Button. They were close. Very close, so, it caught us all in the kingdom by huge surprise when their prince left. The royal house did not dwell on the loss for long and found a replacement in one of the many villagers who applied for the position. But then a prince came along on a white horse and upon what the royals kicked the villager out. The villager joined the house from where the prince on the white horse came and they released this album only known as "Horses".
And they lived happily ever after until the next project came along when the villager was once again kicked out, but in this storybook, he was riding with the best of them.

THE END.

 

I've only even heard of one of the bands on your list.

Waysted?

That would be the one.

I have everything on your list except for the Twister Sister and Y&T, but none in a cassette format.

Especially glad to see Marchello there. A very underappreciated album.

Thanks. I was surprised to enjoy that Marchello album as much as I did considering I'd never heard of the band beforehand.

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