Heavy metal on A&M? The all-female rock trio Rock Goddess brought it to the label with their self-titled debut album in 1983. Sisters Jody (lead vocals, guitar) and Julie Turner (drums) formed the band in 1977 with schoolmate Tracey Lamb (bass) at a young age (Jody was thirteen, and Julie nine), gigging and cutting their first demo by 1981. Inclusion of an early track “Make My Night” to an all-girl compilation album named Making Waves, an appearance at the Reading Festival, and management connections courtesy of the Turners’ father, helped them score a record deal with A&M in 1982. Their self-titled debut became a minor hit in their native UK, after which there were numerous personnel changes around the core of the Turner sisters. In recent years the original trio have been working on an as-yet untitled fourth reunion album.
Category: Album of the Week
Captain Sensible’s “A Day in The Life Of…”
Captain Sensible (b. Raymond Burns) was one of the founding members of of one of the UK’s earliest punk bands, The Damned. Dating back to 1974, The Damned were the first to hit the UK charts with a punk single (“New Rose”), and the first to make the crossing to America (as an opening act for the final T. Rex tour). The lineup fluctuated continuously over the years, with the band not being quite as well known to the public as their London peers The Clash or The Sex Pistols, yet were arguably just as influential to the early punk movement as those two more notorious groups. Although, Sensible’s penchant for shedding his clothing during Damned performances was notorious itself!
Signed to A&M as a solo act, guitarist Sensible recorded a handful of singles during that time, one of those being 1982’s unlikely “Happy Talk” (from South Pacific) that would become a number one UK hit. A Day in The Life of Captain Sensible is a compilation of his solo singles. While remaining popular in the UK, he would barely make an impression in the US. Sensible still remains active as a solo act in the 21st century, as well as occasionally rejoining The Damned on the nostalgia circuit.
This album has unfortunately never been released digitally, although you can still find copies on vinyl at eBay, Amazon or Discogs.
Album of the week: Paul Hyde & The Payola$, “Here’s The World For Ya”
We continue our numerical Album of the Week feature with Here’s The World For Ya by Paul Hyde & The Payola$. Apparently A&M felt that a little name recognition would help, putting Paul Hyde’s name out in front of the group name for this release. (Which, ironically, did not do much for Paul Hyde, but group member Bob Rock went on to become one of the most recognizable producers in rock music.)
With David Foster producing, the album itself rose to #144 on the Billboard albums chart, while the single “You’re The Only Love” made it to #84 on Billboard’s Hot 100 (#37 on their Mainstream Rock chart). Payola$ would break up soon after this album’s release, with Rock and Hyde releasing an album called Under The Volcano in 1987 before they parted ways to continue their solo careers.
Follow the discussion about this album at the A&M Corner Forums.
Album of the Week: Jesse Johnson’s Revue
Fresh out of the Minneapolis music scene, Jesse Johnson signed with A&M in 1984 and released his first solo album, Jesse Johnson’s Revue, our featured album of the week.
Johnson is an alumni of The Time, the Minneapolis-based funk/rock outfit that made a run on the R&B charts with hits such as “Cool,” “777-9311,” “The Walk,” “Jungle Love” and “The Bird.” The last two were integral to the Prince film Purple Rain, which Johnson had appeared in with the group. Shortly afterward, Johnson struck out on his own. He would return to The Time for their album Pandemonium (which featured a lot more of Johnson’s guitar than the first three albums), and the original band would regroup again in 2008, tour, and in 2011 would change their name to The Original 7ven in order to get out from under the Prince-owned band name, “The Time.” They released one album, Condensate, and Jesse left the band again in 2012.
Jesse Johnson’s Revue would peak at #8 on the R&B album chart and #43 on the Popular album chart. The single “Be Your Man” rose to #4 on the R&B singles chart, while “Can You Help Me” reached #3 and “I Want My Girl” at #7. Helping him on this album are two other alumni of The Time: keyboardist Mark Cardenas, and bassist Jerry Hubbard. Longtime Minneapolis colleague David Rifkin would fill the producer’s chair.
This album is available from Amazon as an MP3 download, and you can also find the out-of-print CD and vinyl versions there as well. And, don’t forget to join our AOTW discussion thread over in our A&M Corner Forums!
Album of the Week: Tracie’s “Far From The Hurting Kind”
Our Album of the Week is Far from the Hurting Kind by Tracie Young, billed as Tracie for her A&M debut. Young was featured on vocals on a handful of Style Council singles along with “Beat Surrender” by The Jam. This associated with Paul Weller of The Jam led to producing this album. Weller also penned many of the songs on this album, and Elvis Costello contributed a song written specifically for her, “(I Love You) When You Sleep.” The music is similar in style to such groups as the aformentioned Style Council, Matt Bianco and Sade (circa Diamond Life), avoiding the synth-heavy style popular back in the day.
Fortunately this often overlooked album is available from our friends at Cherry Red Records via Amazon (CD and download) and iTunes, along with other popular retailers. The Cherry Red version includes the original ten albums tracks along with ten essential bonus tracks, containing non-album singles and other rare tracks.
Check out our thread about this album at the A&M Corner Forums.