When I said that I love you, I meant that I love you forever

Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts.

16/08/81 : Hi Infidelity - REO Speedwagon

My initial thought on seeing this week's offering was "I didn't expect to see them in the 80s" - but then it occurred to me I had no idea when we might be seeing them. Wikipedia tells me that they were active from '67-'24 but this is likely to be the only time we meet them - it's also only their second ever mention, after noting they chose not to record "Danger Zone" for the Top Gun soundtrack.

Well, it's not dreadful in terms of musical skill but whilst it may be 1981, for me this belongs squarely in the mid 70s - they do know how to put a decent melody together but it's all super cheesy with an awful lot amount of repetition (they're really not scared to reuse any ideas they have). However, I do have give them credit for "Keep On Loving You" which just has such a rousing chorus that I can forgive it any sins (and it actually has quite a few, including taking too long to get going and a very ropey guitar sound). I also recognised "Take It On The Run" - but I'm not going to forgive that in the slightest. The whole album is only 34 minutes long but it felt like several years - it's safe to say it's not my favourite of the year.

We're at #6 in the charts this week on their 18th week of a surprisingly lengthy 29 week run, with this being as high as it ever got. The top five this week were the odd combination of the Royal Wedding album, ELO, Cliff Richard, Duran Duran and Randy Crawford with the highest new entry being Black Uhuru (all the way down at #81). Before we go, I feel we should investigate what on earth is on that Royal Wedding album - and, omg, I wasn't expecting that. I thought it would just be the hymns and incidental music, but oh no - it's the whole service. Who, for the love of everything holy, was going to want to listen to that? Quite a few people actually, giving this was its third week at #1...

Wikipedia tells us this is their ninth album and tells us the "album title is a play on the term "in high fidelity," which used to appear on album covers" - which is a phrase that makes me feel old because I do remember it (but more from my dad's albums). And that's pretty much your lot - there were some singles from it and, unusually for the time, some non-single tracks which charted (in the US). Critically, the only word is from our old mate Robert Christgau who gave it a B- and commercially, it did OK this side of the Atlantic but boy did they love it over there - #2 in Canada and #1 in the US. But not just #1 in the normal chart, #1 in the year-end chart - yup, this sold over ten MILLION copies in the US. WHAT?!?!

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a decent version for a couple of quid but if you want a japanese version with either a blue/white or a blue/purple obi then you'll have to shell out £40. Which I will very much not be doing because this is not a good album, which would have felt dated at the time (to my thirteen year old self, at least).

23/08/81 - Nicely different

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I wanna keep the door from closing, yeah

Image
Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 26/12/25 : I Barely Know Her - Sombr Christmas week gives us some odd albums - last year we had Lana del Rey's album from '12, which hasn't left the chart all year. I'm pleased to say we're somewhat more up to date this year with an album that came out in August - I met it as a new entry  and was somewhat nonplussed by it, but I have mentioned it a couple of times since because it's just not gone away, which is somewhat unusual. So let's see what I make of it on a second listen (this trick totally failed to convince me of the virtues of Addison Rae earlier today). Well, well, well - Sombr at least intrigues on second listen. I'd struggle to describe it - it's kinda poppy indie with a woozy vibe to it, but it feels like it has depths to it and I reckon the more you listen to it, the more you pick up on. Intriguing indeed - I'd love to tell you more but that's all I got for the time ...
Read more

And all at once I owned the earth and sky

Image
A new year to start the New Year - starting my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 30/12/01 : Swing When You're Winning -   Robbie Williams There's a reasonable argument I should reject this album, but it was such a surprising cultural moment that even I don't feel I can, so it means we're starting the year with one that "we" own. This is our fifth visit with Mr Williams - I'm determined not to enjoy it, but I also have to admit I'm not going to hate it nearly as much as I would like to.  You know what? This is perfectly fine. Completely inessential, but he's not doing anyone any harm. For the most part, it's classic Sinatra-or-thereabouts tracks which Robbie does a decent job with on the vocals (along with some slightly peculiar guests) and they've obviously got some decent musicians in to lay down the backing tracks. He rarely does anything wildly original with them but, most importantly, he doesn't ruin them either - I don't...
Read more

In your grace, I looked for some meaning - but I found none

Image
Continuing my trip up The Guardian's  50 best albums of 2025 . #3 :  Essex Honey - Blood Orange Dev Hynes’ fifth album as Blood Orange felt uniquely keyed into the fragmented, distracted headspace that comes after someone passes, in his case, his mother. Essex Honey’s restive nature was summed up in its painful opening lines, which you could read as the dying’s acceptance of death starkly contrasting the living’s ability to meet them on those terms: “In your grace, I looked for some meaning,” Hynes sings on Look at You. “But I found none, and I still search for a truth.” That search is wide-reaching: The Field refashions the Durutti Column’s Sing to Me as a racing hymnal made for the stereo of a Ford Escort. There are tough little Robert Rental-style post-punk gems in The Train (Kings Cross) and Countryside that bristle with frustration. Vivid Light is a plainly soulful duet with Zadie Smith; Life, featuring Tirzah’s unmistakable vocals, basks in languid, flute-dappled funk. T...
Read more