If you are super keen to see the previous 4 posts, here they are;
1979 – The Highway To Hell Begins
1979 – II – Somebody Get Me A Doctor
1979 – IV – Lights Out In America
And here is part five.
Toto – Hydra
Toto got success with their debut, and there were expectations they would repeat the hits. I guess no one told the Toto guys, who went and tried something different.
The band came into my life because of Steve Lukather. He was always in the guitar magazines and he interviewed really well. But I didn’t start buying or getting access to the albums until well into the 90s.
There are a few songs on this album which are progressive and man, they work great in Rock and Metal circles and credit to Dave Paich for bringing the prog.
Hydra
At 7 minutes, this song shows a band following their muse and not conforming to what the label desired.
Like all good songs, the intro hooks me in.
And seriously, you wouldn’t expect lyrics about a Dragon lord, a summer solstice and a young man in love with a lady who descends down into darkness, especially after they hit the charts with “Hold The Line”.
99
It’s a love song about a futuristic movie made by George Lucas before Star Wars. You can hear the embryo of “Africa” in this.
The piano arpeggios with the subtle jazz fusion lead break works good.
All Us Boys
It’s just a feel good technical rock and roll song. And that repeating line from 3.10 up to the end (with a lead break chucked in) is super melodic and addictive.
Molly Hatchet – Flirtin’ with Disaster
The cover didn’t give me the impression that this album or band would be a rock and roll boogie band.
One Mans Pleasure
The intro musically blew me away. It started off with a “Another One Bites The Dust”, before morphing into an Aerosmith groove like “Sweet Emotion” and a Chorus from “Sweet Home Alabama”.
One man’s loss is another man’s gain.
One man’s pleasure is another man’s pain.
It’s about hitting the road with the band and leaving your woman behind. Your loss is another mans gain, because she ain’t waiting around.
Boogie No More
It’s got this Rolling Stones vibe merged with Bowie’s “Suffragette City” in the intro. Then it morphs into a speed blues jam song with a guitar solo that references “Free Bird”.
Flirting With Disaster
The way the song starts off with the drummer playing a 16th high hat beat hooks me in. It’s unconventional from the Southern Rock vibe and very Rush like.
I’m out of money, out of hope, it looks like self-destruction
Well, how much more can we take with all of this corruption
Corruption and money go hand in hand. People will lie, cheat, kill and steal for it and the ones who have it would also lie, cheat, scheme and kill, just to keep it.
And the way we run our lives, it makes no sense to me
Living from pay to pay, building someone else’s dream and believing that if you put in more hours, you might just get your turn to make it.
I’m travelin’ down that lonesome road
Feel like I’m dragging a heavy load
Yeah, I’ve tried to turn my head away
Feel about the same most every day
In the end, the road is lonesome and you might walk it with a lot of regrets or “what if’s”.
Long Time
It’s got this “Don’t Fear The Reaper” vibe in the verses which hooks me in.
Triumph – Just a Game
Ric Emmett, underrated guitarist and songwriter. Like, Toto and Asia and Yes, Triumph came into my life because of interviews in the Guitar mags I purchased with their prospective guitarists.
Moving On
That intro riff is in every 70s song. Free, Bowie and Rolling Stones immediately come to mind.
And that section when the backing vocals are singing “on and on”, the tempo is slowed down, Emmett is in the groove bending and picking those strings and I’m reminded of The Beatles “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” but its just a small reminder.
On and on and on
You’ve got to keep on movin’ on
It’s what life is about, moving on, taking chances, failing and succeeding, embracing changes and doing it all again.
Lay It On The Line
A simple catchy repeating chorus line with chords that would become famous with “I Love Rock N Roll” and you have the gift that keeps giving royalties.
Young Enough To Cry
I once thought that only the Brit guitarists could play this kind of blues rock. Emmett shows that Canadians are more than capable.
And how good are the lines “I’m too old to get hurt baby, Oh but I’m young enough, young enough to cry”.
Just A Game
And that slowed down tempo from “Movin On” which reminds me of The Beatles kicks off the title track. It has enough of a progressive touch to make me listen. And the lyrics are the reason why this song grabs me.
But the corporate strings that make them dance
Lead up to an ivory tower
We sing the song of the corporation daily, so we turn to music as an escape, only to see our heroes suffer the same fate.
And those bosses who we dance for, and pretend to like, live in a world so fake and so out of touch with reality.
Try hard to remember all that glitters is not gold
You can pay the piper, but you cannot buy his soul
Remember the legend of the Pied Piper who abducted all of the children in the village because the people of the town refused to pay him for catching all their rats. Well if you don’t pay your debts, someone will come and collect.
It’s just a game, and all I can do…is play
Play the long game. More so now. Streaming pays over the long run and it pays forever. Be in it and get your fans to stream because no one wins by dominating the news or being the social star or TV star for a month.
Who remembers “The Voice” winners?
And the labels are here to sell the same mainstream pop, hoping that sales and dollars makes them winners. Hell, this derivative method alone killed hard rock, hair metal and whatever kind of metal you want to call it back at the start of the 90s. A market saturated with rubbish is due to be cleaned up.
What you do choose, now, what do you believe, now
Who are you gonna trust?
All you dreams and fancy schemes
Just crumble into dust
To me it’s about free will and free choice. And it’s a touchy subject. People believe because they live in a democracy they are free. But they have a loan, which they need to pay monthly for the next 30 years. It doesn’t sound so free right now when you have a 30 year sentence. And I get it, they had freedom to make the choice to get into debt. But to counter-argue, that choice wasn’t so free because the only way a person could enter the housing market is to get a loan, or a large family donation or an inheritance.
And then in order to pay the loan, they need to ensure they have a job which pays a steady income. Which if they lose the job, all of their dreams and fancy schemes just crumble into dust.
Calm and cool and computerized to calculate and collect
We wait and watch and wonder
Just which puppet they’ll select
Like the movie “Dark City”, their are people we cannot see who manipulate and control what happens.
Science tells us global warming is real and leaders from democratic nations ignore it and call it a lie. Someone with deep pockets controls the narrative, and money rules this game.
Like the moth, too near the flame,
Who learned his truth too late
We’re all too deep into the game
That is the master of our fate
Learn to play the game better than others and maybe we’ll succeed. But remember our time on Earth is limited, and the game ends when we take our last breath.
Blackfoot – Strikes
The melodic rock side of the band is what I liked.
Left Turn On A Red Light
And as I buy myself another ticket, Lord
For somewhere else on down the line
Well I’ll always be a rambler
Well the ones I love always keep tellin’ me
It was a rite of passage once upon a time, to leave home and go your own way. It’s why so many songs with those themes connected. Today, the majority stay at home, because it’s comfortable and risk free.
Wishing Well
How good is this song from Free?
It’s been covered to death, but, what can I say, you can’t keep a good song down. So kick off your shoes and lose yourselves.
Highway Song
The lead breaks from about 4 minutes to the end is the reason why this song is here.
“Solo to the end” was a musical sectional once upon a time. Lost when MTV took power. In saying that, Skid Row brought out the “solo to the end” section in “Quicksand Jesus” and “In A Darkened Room” from “Slave To The Grind”.
Blue Öyster Cult – Mirrors
The album is ordinary except for “Lonely Teardrops”.
That funky riff which reminds me of “Superstitious” and “Play That Funky White Music White Boy” is catchy.
I seem to see a rose
I reach out then it goes
Now in its thorns I roam
Brilliant lines to describe the pain of being away from home.
38 Special – Rockin’ Into the Night
For me, only “Stone Cold Believer” is the highlight.
I speak my mind. I don’t hold it back,
That’s how I am, and I’m hopin’ that’s where you’ at.
Do we really speak our minds?
Research out there reckons that Google and other search engines know more truth about us via our search results than our partners know.
And these days what is truth?
We have battle lines drawn, our view points backed up with our research and away we go, trying to shout louder than the others. It makes great viewing, it might be fun, but it will not change the other persons view.
Viewpoints can change, but not by picking a fight.
Wanna climb that ladder, y’ wanna make it to the top,
Takes only one thing, gotta give it all y’ got.
Knew a man who couldn’t lose, ’cause he never gave in,
You get to the “top” or to your “defined top” by being a lifer. You need to be in it, even when the times are tough and you feel like you should leave.
In saying that if the business venture is costing you money, you’ll need to walk away and cut your losses, but still be in the game and restart again.
Amazon walked away from developments that cost them billions and restarted again. It’s okay to fail and succeed.
Well that’s it for another 1979 section. I think I have a few more to do before 79 is a wrap and I move to 78.
destroyerofharmony 