OLD DUDE SCHOOL OF ROCK-1988-PART 1

Guess what Folk’s the year that was 1988 in music may be a four-parter as I bought a bunch of Hard Rock that year. Here’s what I drained my funds back on 32 years ago!

If you read my review of this album a way back my pal Tbone was the first one to get this record. The shocker wasn’t that Poison released a new album but the fact that Tbone scooped it pronto upon its release.

 Open Up And Say Ahh! A glam metal at its finest. Bret Micheals starts the party off with one of the best lines ever to open an album from the 80’s that being the track Love On The Rocks where out of Micheal’s mouth once he opens up and sings ‘She Goes Down Like A Shot of Gin” sets the party off in grand style. I liked this album a lot at the time but when I went and saw Poison live in early 91  they managed only to play just a 75-minute headline set which included a goofy drum solo and a beyond ridiculous guitar solo which ate up 30 minutes. I was done with them. Yet I still bought there following releases so I guess I wasn’t completely done.  Picked this up a few years ago on vinyl which was a great retro relisten!

Nothing But A Good Time…Indeed!

Diamond David released in January of 88 his second full-length solo album that being Skyscraper. It was interesting to listen to at first. This recording was made for CD. It had a ton of gloss and overproduction but buried below all the keyboards and 2,000 dubbed guitars are some fine tracks like the opener Knucklebones, The Bottom Line, the brilliant Hina, Two Fools Born A Minute.

Damn Good has Dave going the opposite way without all the bells and whistles of technology with just him and Steve Vai on acoustic guitar. In other news Rando, the Bass Player got pissy pants and left after this record was done.

I can hear the sound
Of the North Star calling
Put your high beams on (stay on my wing)
I’m falling (falling, falling, falling)

I never owned a KIX album until 1988 when Blow My Fuse came out. What pushed the album was the power ballad but what I dug about KIX was those hard rock tracks like the title track, Get It While It’s Hot, Ring Around Rosie. KIX was good on this album. Vocalist Steve Whitman is basically the American version of Brian Vollmer from Canuck act Helix. Nothing wrong about that.

I don’t think I need to tell anyone that reads this blog about the hype on this album. New Jersey from Jon and his hired guns went back to Vancouver and along with Fairbairn and Rock who dialed in the sonics on the mega-selling Slippery When Wet from 1986 released New Jersey and it went through the roof. JBJ and Richie Sambora knew how to craft great songs back then that would keep us rock guys happy( Homebound Train, Lay Your Hands On Me, Bad Medicine) while making the ladies happy ( take your pick of anything else on this record). A great record that to this day I still think is there best.

Axl Rose went looking for trouble and trouble he got in the form of One In A Million which came on the album Lies which has Geffen Records wanting to cash in some Christmas bonuses action on the name Guns N Roses. Half acoustic/ Half live which it really wasn’t.  Patience was the biggie single which sold this album as before you know it everyone is going unplugged. This was a stop-gap between Apettite in 87 and Use Your Illusions in 91. 

Living Colour was a  4 piece act that featured some serious players. A band where each guy brought their chops and to which upon this release Tbone and myself would crank Glamour Boys real loud on the tape deck in his car while driving around aimlessly trying to look, cool.

Cool, we may have not looked but we had the tunes! Vivid is a hard rock record that was and is so good. Corey Glover has a great voice and how about opening track Cult of Personality. Wicked grooves throughout this debut album.  I’m actually going to spin this sooner than later.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE COLOR BABEE!

April showers followed by some May power in the form of OU812 from Van Halen. The second full-length Van Hagar offering has VH still retaining the title of cock rock champs in the Arena Circuit. Overall a solid effort that features some cool tracks like the Keysynth driven Mine All Mine. How about that wicked drum intro to A.F.U.?  Sam with handling lyrics throws together the goofy Source of Infection that he probably wrote in 2 minutes. Black N Blue is another one but it’s so cheesy lyrically that it gets stuck in your brain for days or in my case decades! Overall a decent followup to 5150. Ed though does what he does and he plays his ass off on the whole thing especially that solo on Sucker In A Three Piece.

An album that I was looking forward to was the followup to Night Songs and that was Long Cold Winter by Cinderella. Sure they were on glammed up on that debut album cover but by Long Cold Winter, they laid off the mascara and cranked the amps. Tom Kiefer I have to say out of all the new bands that came out in the 80s is still an excellent Songwriter/Singer and  Guitarist. Actually, there is another guy who I would consider that as well. Maybe a bit below Tom but still up there. Who is it? Well, you will all find out at some point in this 88 Trilogy! 

Check back next week for Part 2 of the albums that rocked my mullet in 88!