HIDDEN TREASURES - 1983

[RJhog (Admin)]

You have to suffer through me guest hosting SHT this week, as Scott is on vacation...again.  So I'm gonna stick with my common theme for the year and look at some hidden treasures from four albums that are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year.  Each of these albums have received mega airplay in my presence, beginning in 1983 and continuing today.  Each of these albums also reside in the melodic rock or AOR genres.

***Click the 1983 banner to hear the playlist***

Night Ranger - Midnight Madness (1983)

1. Rumours In The Air 

The playlist kicks off with a keyboard that sounds like a violin.  Maybe some people consider this an up tempo ballad.  I don't know about that, but it's very powerful.  Jack blades is at his usual best vocally on this track.  And seriously, was their ever a better dual guitar threat in any other melodic band that was any better than Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis?  I think not.

Rick Springfield - Living In Oz (1983)

2. Living In Oz

Rick Springfield is one of the most underrated performers in the history of rock and roll.  His songwriting is top notch, people just don't realize it.  They think because he was on General Hospital and then had a big pop hit with Jessie's Girl that that's all there is.  Just listen to the lyrics of this song (for example, "funny how desire can burn you up inside/and make you commit emotional suicide/everybody's got the desire to leave their mark/some just do it over a trail of broken hearts").  His music always features layered guitar work and usually a short but very fitting melodic solo.

Loverboy - Keep It Up (1983)

3. Strike Zone

Loverboy was also another underrated band.  They were my friend Scott Bedgood's favorite, so we listened to them quite often.  This may be my favorite Loverboy song.  Mike Reno was another terrific vocalist as you can plainly hear in this song.  But the most underrated player in Loverboy is Paul Dean.  I stand by the statement I made a while back on another thread that he is a vastly underrated, great melodic guitar player.  It's not fancy, but the guitar just talks to you.  This song is a great example.  Doug Johnson's keyboard work is very nice as well.

Journey - Frontiers (1983)

4. Ask The Lonely

Okay, I'm cheating just a bit here.  The original album, when released in 1983, did not contain this song.  This song, along with Only The Young, were left off of the album in favor of two other crappy songs.  The original album had 4 top 40 singles but could have had six had these two tracks remained.  This was not released as a single (Only The Young was released as a single and went top 10) but really should have been.  I don't have to mention to anyone how great Perry/Schon/Smith/Valory and Cain were, but the record company really screwed 'em on this deal.

[Jon]

You could have used this album cover for Journey:

Then you wouldn't have had to cheat. Cheater!

[Scott]

Thanks for filling in boss! And nice playlist. Some 1983 points of interest..

1- I graduated high school
2- This Night Ranger album wasn't one of my favorites at the time of its release, but it became one after several listens.
3- After graduation I took a summer job in South Dakota, I bought 2 new cassettes for my drive there, Hearts Passionworks and Loverboys Keep It Up. In the 16 hour drive I became very well versed on both
4-Frontiers was a disappointment after Escape but it gets more attention now than Escape does
5- I love everything in this playlist

Great work!

[RJhog (Admin)]

Thank you sir.

[Gordon Williams]

I've liked this NR tune ever since I first heard it. And I agree that the guitar duo was/is outstanding. And Jack Blades is just dripping with musicality (the bas***d!  ). It's just not fair for one guy to have that much talent!

The Rick Springfield does not do much for me. He is a good singer, but this tune is just a little too keyboardy for me,even though the guitar still is strong in the mix, and there is lead work. In fact, the second one is smokin, with some nice whammy bar dives. Delete the keyboard, and I would like it, I think.

I don't recall hearing this Loverboy, but this is the best tune on this post for me. Definitely some great vocal work here. Like the guitar riffs and the guitar sound and tone. Paul Dean is a smart man! He used to be a big endorser of Kramer guitars back in the 80's. Yeah...the guitar of choice!! My choice at least! But if I had a say in this tune, the keyboards would have been left off. Imagine that...

For the Journey, this is...well, just too keyboardy for me. Now, dont think I dislike all keyboards...I just like the heavier keyboard sound used so well by Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, etc. This keyboard sound is just too popish sounding. Take it out, and.......

 

[Jon]

Finally got to listen to this and I still did even though I have all these albums/songs. It's what I'm supposed to do. 

Never was a big fan of that Night Ranger album. I bought it when it first came out all because they could Rock In America! but got tired of that song pretty quickly and the rest of the album was kinda bland, especially after the debut. But after watching "Boogie Nights,  "Sister Christian" now seems better to me. "Rumours In The Air" is a decent song, so decent pick. 

This is my favorite second Springfield album after you-know-what. I had to buy this under the radar so my cronies didn't know that I had a RS album mixed in with my metal. Really good album, very good choice for an under the radar song.

Always considered "Keep It Up" a lesser effort from Loverboy, especially after "Get Lucky". This is a good song though, and this is an album that's kind of grown on me even though it's a "lesser" effort.

"Ask The Lonely" is ok. Nice geetar work, but the song to me is a little bit blah.

Nice fill-in job. Didn't know you had it in ya!