FLASHBACK (aka ACID REFLUX) 1981 (THE KINKS/THE MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP/BLUE OYSTER CULT)

[Jon]

by Jon, who's trying to make "Acid Reflux" stick....

 

This week I'm picking 1981 which, if I remember correctly, is the year I started buying records at an insane pace. 1980 was good, but Rjhog already took that, but checking out 1981 releases, it seemed that I bought ever release (really not true, but stay with me here) causing my parents to claim that I had no idea how to save money because everytime I had some, it just burned a hole in my pocket.

 

Hey mom and dad...what do you think about your son now?

 

There are quite a few releases that came out in 1981 that I could have picked (and still might at a later date since 1981 is mine, all MINE) but the three I picked this week are albums that really introduced me to bands and caused me to spend more money buying their back catalogue. They're also albums I still enjoy to this day and revisit quite often because they never seem to get old.

 

What I'm also going to do is try to stay away from any "hits" the albums have, instead trying to focus mainly on the deeper tracks. 

 

So here goes.....

 

 

The Kinks--Give The People What They Want

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Give The People What They Want
2. Killer's Eyes
3. Add It Up
4. Destroyer
5. Back To Front  

 

A friend of mine had the previous studio album, "Low Budget", which he played and played and played. So much so that I hated it. I really hated the song "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" whenever it was played on the radio as well, for some reason thought it was soft rock. This all changed when I went to see The Kinks (my first concert!) in support of this album in '81 where they totally blew me off my chair. These guys were hard rock! Wow! So I went and picked up this album and still love it to this day.  

 

 

The Michael Schenker Group---MSG 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Ready To Rock
2. Attack Of The Mad Axeman
3. On And On
4. I Want More
5. Looking For Love  

 

I really don't remember why I picked this up. I'm almost sure that I heard "On And On" on the radio and just had to have the album. Or I saw this album cover and thought it was neat. No matter how it happened, this was the first album I picked up from Michael Schenker and it was also the first time I had ever heard of Michael Schenker (hey, don't mock me..I was late to the rock game, listened to country and big band music in the 70's). This album knocked me off my feet and when I was converting everything to CD this was one of the must-have albums I had to wait years to find. And find it I did a couple years ago, import only (naturally) and with a different album cover than pictured above. What's the story with that?

 

Blue Oyster Cult--Fire Of Unknown Origin

1. Veteran Of The Psychic Wars
2. Sole Survivor
3. Heavy Metal: The Black And Silver
4. Vengeance (The Pact)
5. Joan Crawford

 

Always remember these guys referred to something along the lines of "thinking man's metal". But that didn't make a difference to me, I had one album from BOC ("Agents Of Fortune") and the song "Burning For You" was being played on radio and it was ok, but the real reason I wanted this album was because they were featured in every teenagers wet dream movie, "Heavy Metal", where the song "Veteran Of The Psychic" was featured along with a bevy (that's right..a bevy) of other great tunes. So I bought this album. And I still believe to this day that "Joan Crawford" is one of the funniest songs ever.     

 

[Niels (Mod)]

Are your mom and dad visiting this page? Cool!!! And no, 1981 is not yours alone. I was first, with a IMHO "about" 1981, so there!!

 

The Kinks are AWESOME!! This is not really from their best periode, but I love Ray Davies's songwriting and singing-voice.

MSG was not really ever one of my favorite-bands. I've only bought two albums over the time, "Assault Attack" and the first (or only one, I can't remember) he made with Robin McCaurley (or something like that?!) from 1988. But I had a friend back then, who was a fan, so it brings me back to some good times, hearing this.

 

The same friend was also a BÖC-fan, but again, it never really got to me, but it sounds okay to me, not a purchase though.

 

I guess, most of the albums, we put in Flashback, are albums, that we never get tired of and brings us back to hopefully great memories. 

 

[Jon]

Crap, I completely forgot about the IMHO list. Good thing I didn't repeat stuff!

 

McAuley-Schenker group kinda sucked, in my opinion. Just never got into them at all.

 

And you're last line is completely on the money!

[Scott]

Great post as usual.  1981 was a fine year no doubt... With Van Halen giving us Fare Warning, Rush gave us Moving Pictures, Def Leppard, High N Dry, and lets not forget KISS' The Elder!

 

hahaha

 

However, I can't get into the Kinks no matter how hard Mike Pell and Jon try!  Though I must say the song Destroyer was the best of the bunch in this mix.  The MSG and BOC tracks are just way stronger!  And though I haven't heard the MSG in quite a long time and I must say it holds up really well.  And BOC the same as well, Sole Survivor was always my favorite from that album, but really a solid album all the way around!

 

[Jon]

Fare Warning....Van Halen's concept album about the rising cost of airline tickets and cab fares.

 

Just could not resist.

[RJhog (Admin)]

I know you won't believe this, but I'm a big fan of Music From The Elder...I'm still waiting on the movie.

[Jon]

Starring that kid from "My Bodyguard".

[RJhog (Admin)]

Nice post Jon.  Three bands that I have never really gotten into.  The Kinks definitely have some good tunes, like Superman and Low Budget (others as well, but these two are my faves), but like Scott, I have so far failed to see the genius of Ray Davies.  Don't crucify me for that.  It's just a preference thing.

 

As far as MSG and BOC, both sets of album samples are very decent, but nothing to make me go out and buy up back catalog stuff to check out.  I did like On And On (MSG) and Sole Survivor (BOC) a good bit.