A Record a Week: Madonna - Like a Virgin

SIDE 1.
MATERIAL GIRL
ANGEL
LIKE A VIRGIN
OVER AND OVER
LOVE DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

SIDE 2.
DRESS YOU UP
SHOO-BEE-DOO
PRETENDER
STAY






Like a Virgin is the second studio album from Madonna and the one that propelled her to icon status. In fact, this record not only propelled her career, but paved the way for many shock artists after her. The likes of Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and even Britney Spears would never have existed if it weren't for Madonna pushing the envelope (take that however you'd like). Kicking off the golden age of music videos, this album was among the early provocative ones that had people talking about it as much for that as they did about the music. Her own career became a succession of shocking things and that opened the door for other shock artists to have a mainstream platform.

Now this is no knock on the music at all, it's fun 80's pop music that makes you swing your hips. An upbeat, single-filled Side 1 is backed by a slightly slower B-side, all set to the all-familiar 80's drum machine (probably an 808 or one of it's siblings).

Her register is higher on this than in her later music. In fact, I think the average frequency of her voice slowly slid downward with each album. I'm fairly certain she can't reach those notes anymore. In fact, when I was 20, I bought ridiculously over-priced tickets to impress a girl I was interested in (as well as her friends, who paid for their tickets, though I did lie about how much paid to make sure they'd be interested in coming). As with all ideas that are this horribly misguided, it didn't end so well. However, the concert was quite a spectacle. She puts on a great performance, which has kept her career going for probably longer than it might have otherwise. Of note, though, is that I'm fairly certain she lip-synced to the earlier hits like the ones from this album, even then. She started with 3-4 old ones that clearly didn't sound live, then moved on to some others she was fine with singing. I think that's a pretty clear indication that that range is in the same field as Steven Tyler and Aerosmith's Dream On.

A Record a Week: Loverboy - s/t

SIDE 1.
THE KID IS HOT TONITE
TURN ME LOOSE
ALWAYS ON MY MIND
LADY OF THE 80'S

SIDE 2.
LITTLE GIRL
PRISSY PRISSY
TEENAGE OVERDOSE
DOA
IT DON'T MATTER

Two things popped into my mind when I first listened to this: 1. Is this a greatest hits album? and 2. The spelling 'tonite' dates back as far as 1980?

Well, 1. no and 2. apparently.  I also did not know they were Canadian and that they were able to predict what a 'Lady of the 80's' was right off the bat in 1980. I suppose that's possible though, since they seemed to have most of what the musical style of the 1980's was all trapped into this record. A little bit of new wave and a little bit of rock, the rest of the record (after the first two songs) sounds like songs that Elvis Costello made work for him or like anything else that power rock bands did around that time. These days, you can find them playing casinos and fairs and festivals that hold on to the past (with bands like Whitesnake, Poison, etc.)

Only somewhat related, but one time I was working sound at a festival with Alan Frew and it was really sad. His drum skin said both 'AF' and 'Glass Tiger' as he played songs from the distant past mixed in with newere, less successful works. I imagine a Loverboy to feel a lot like that as you see them up there in middle-aged clothing playing the same songs they have for 30 years (or worse, if they dressed the same as the back of this album).

All that aside, The Kid is Hot Tonite & Turn Me Loose are pretty great right? I mean for what they are? They remind me of Footloose and Top Gun, even though my research says that neither appeared in either of those films (though apparently a later song Heaven in Your Eyes did appear in Top Gun, so bonus points for that?) A pretty good career start for a band that managed to squeeze out a few more hits and still live off them a few decades later.

A Record a Week: Culture Club - Colour By Numbers

SIDE 1.
KARMA CHAMELEION
IT'S A MIRACLE
BLACK MONEY
CHANGING EVERY DAY
THAT'S THE WAY (I'M ONLY TRYING TO HELP YOU)

SIDE 2.
CHURCH OF THE POISON MIND
MISS ME BLIND
MISTER MAN
STORMKEEPER
VICTIMS

No need to tell you that this was the springboard for Boy George's career. Also no need to tell you that the lead-off song, Karma Chamelion is the group's most successful single.

This album blends the sound of reggae, new wave and the pop sound that was so synthesizically popular in the 80's. It also sort of has a whiff of the boy band sound that would be ultra-popular later in the decade and into the 90's. If you read this, you'll know my take on the sounds of the 80's, so I will spare you that rant. However, I must admit that Karma Chameleon is one hell of a catchy song with a lot of good dance to it. Also, it reminds me (fondly) of this (musically talented, but retrospectively terrible) band 'The Chubs' that was around in Burlington when I was a teenager. They were a ska band that covered this song and a couple others in addition to their own songs, including the ever-nerdy 'Ska Wars'.