Request Of Vinyl…..Kim Mitchell/Akimbo Alogo

It still kinda freaks me out that everyone has been  Very supportive of my scribblin’ and bullshittin and trust me it’s pretty cool to get props. But along the way I’ve had people request a few things and my pal from work DaBrun said ‘when you doing Akimbo?’ And well a new category is added here at Arena Rock …..Request Of Vinyl Is the new category!

1984 and guitar hero rock is huge! VH especially EVH with the 1984 release bring it home and than some,but in the Canadian backwoods Kim Mitchell is crafting a solid piece of rock n roll himself and it shows to me that you can grow a skullet,wear a cap and still play a mean rock guitar! Akimbo Alogo it is….

Ladies and Gentlemen,shall we……

GO FOR SODA- if you were my age in 1984 16 going 17 you heard this tune! Nobody hurts nobody cries! might as well……Kim throws it down on the first tune and we’re all onboard..all of us..Tbone/Mucc/JackLoaf? I mean how the hell can you not be!? Muchmusic played the snot out of this video and I was ok for every sap vid they played at least you knew Akimbo and his crew would make us Go For A Soda eventually!

THATS A MAN- cool opening and the Kim and the Akimbos keep the party going with Kim telling everyone in attendance What it takes to be a Man! Kim and Pye Dubois sure crafted some clever funky lyrics! Great solo and riff alomg with drums and bass.

ALL WE ARE- big time song at the time of its release along with the video and man Kim tells the world what a great foil in Peter Fredette he has on rhythm guitar and keys! So much so that when Kim played here in Tbay a few summers backs at a festival (I’m not plugging this festival as its a poorly run operation especially the VIP packages that were offered) but when Kim sauntered on stage he spoke a few words said his voice was shot and that Peter Fredette would be handling all the lead vocals! The dude came up in spades he pulled off all the Akimbo hits and Kim just wailed on his guitar man,great show! Back  in 84 though  Fredette nails the big backing vocal on this track and for a synthey sounding track its a keeper here at Arena Rock friends !

DIARY FOR ROCK N ROLL MEN-guitar,drums and bass drive this tune along with super cool catchy chorus! Kim and the boys know how to write catchy hooks and this is one of em!

LOVE TIES-kinda of to my ears anyways,this is the sign of the times sounding 1984ish track and it’s still a good track but on this stellar album it falls a little short to me anyways!

FEEL IT BURN-Kim sez “hey you don’t have to come ripping out of the gates on side 2 like your pants are on fire kinda tune!” No sir! This song is smooth and damn catchy! Great production on this album by Nick Blagona as well! He makes the album sound crisp even to this day! Well written and played track!

LAGER AND ALE- Holy Sheeeeeit this song really gets going and man the story of it is classic! We can all relate to the line at least once(and for many in our lifetime more than once!) “I got decisions to be made between Lager and Ale!”….and “Hope you’ll nod at this drunken bar slob! Cuz I’m ready …willing and able!” Man this song just rips into the 80s party lifestyle! Ha…love the drums and bass plowing and forging a path of Rock for Kim To lay down some real cool axe work! Plus to top it off Akimbo sez ‘I’ll pay for the bar tab even the taxi cab off to my to my hotel we’ll wallow!” Get this song and crank it now! Crank the video posted above! Dooooooo it! A classic!

RUMOUR HAS IT- the party just keeps on going and well this is right up there as one of my all time fav Akimbo tunes! The drums just come out of the gates kicking down the door and we’re off! Kim does some real tasty guitaring in this track and man sidekick Pete lays down a great lead vocal and holy shit entering the Top 10 of all time Deker fav guitar solos is the masterpiece axe work layed down by Kim on this this tune! He wails man! Check this out! It’s on iTunes for $1.29 buy the friggin thing will Ya! No don’t! Just buy the whole damn album for $9.99!

CAROLINE- Kim after rocking our socks off with the two previous gems slows the pace back a little with this song! Great track and it just shows the diversity of rock on this record!

CALLED OFF- what a great title for 1984 and for being in high school at the time of this release! Called Off sure it could be about ending your relationship with someone in high school or Called Off as in the soccer game is cancelled due to lightening strikes or Called Off due to Kim saying this record is done man! Wow man great last track to well a classic record!

IN CONCLUSION-Akimbo Alogo is pure Solid Gold and I ain’t talking about that 70s funkey show either! I’m talking about Kim throwing done some classic good hard rock with Pye Dubois doing the lyrics and Kim and the boys doing the rest! One of the all time greats here folks!

Get Lucky,Boys And Girls

 

August 13 1986/Kim Mitchell/Haywire

Oh man the song of summer of 86 has to go to Akimbo with Patio Lanterns! I mean this song was played all over radio and the vid was plastered as a heavy rotation video at MuchMusic. Shakin Like A Human Being was the album of choice in those early weeks leading up to Akimbos appearance in Tbay for me and my good pal TBone. The albums opener was a great rocker complete with ZZTop fuzzy synth Get Lucky Boys And Girls but wait the rest of it was a little softer tamer Akimbo. Well that’s alright I mean Akimbo had been putting out slabs of vinyl since Max Webster and for me personally I only got his first release when Akimbo Alogo came out and quickly purchased the 5 song Ep which to this day is still my fav Akimbo release. You want a great guitar 5 song workout check out the Kim Mitchell Ep from 1982! But hey Kim built up a back catalogue of material so if he wants to chill,that’s cool too…..

Well come show time and openers Haywire came out and I just remember only Bad Boys as that was the single off there debut album but the rest of there set just drifted by me I mean at the time they were a 1986 fashion disaster. I mean they all wore super baggy pants and looked like they just got off the Wham tour bus! Now before I upset all you Haywire fans out there I will post at a later date of a bar show I caught back  two yrs later in May of 88 that restored some faith….but back to 86…..

And now ladies and gents…Kim and his 3 amigos and what a good band and great show. Akimbo did not disappoint I mean he had strewn across the back of the stage wait for it…PATIO LANTERNS! Just a cool laid back show he played a bunch of tracks from Shakin like In My Shoes,Alana Loves Me,That’s The Hold and from his earlier works ,Lager And Ale,Go For Soda and many other staples. The one song I wish he had played which of the 5 times I have seen him since has never played is Rumour Has It. You want a great guitar workout that tune is it! But at the time Kim was flying high solo wise,selling tickets,selling cassettes(bought my copy of Shakin that way) and wearing his OPP cap…and oh yeah ….He was Shakin Like A Human Being…….

Now the vid is not from Shakin but rather it’s a tune he did in Max Webster and also redid on his self titled solo Ep . It’s a great rock n roll track…….

Thanks Akimbo……

Also check out Mikeladano.com for a little info regarding a soon to be released book on Max Webster written by Martin Popoff…….

 

 

.