Paul's Heart

Life As A Dad, And A Survivor

Archive for the category “Recreation”

26 May 2020

Wild Eyed And Lovin’ Southern Rock


Continuing with some of my influential albums, .38 Special’s “Wild-Eyed Southern Boys” introduced me to a couple of things, southern rock, and interest in playing guitar.  This was actually their fourth album.  With the help of MTV, their music videos showed them as a high-energy concert experience.  I also thought it was cool that this was the first time I saw two full drum sets in a rock band.

“Hold On Loosely” was the driving force behind me wanting to learn to play guitar.  A very catchy and easy riff to play, I learned to play it on my own.  The title track “Wild-Eyed Southern Boys” and “Fantasy Girl” are the more memorable tracks.

And just like that, the band had their next album out within a year another smash, “Caught Up In You.”  But their best song will always have been from their third album, the track “Rockin’ Into The Night.”  Odd fact, co-founder of the band Survivor, Jim Peterik had written the song for his band, but went to .38 Special instead.  Peterik actually had co-written all the hits released on Wild-Eyed Southern Boys and an additional song.

If there is one thing that I miss from 21st century music, it is the genre of a good southern rock band getting airplay.

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23 May 2020

Album 4… Literally


The fourth album, literally that had an impact on me, taught me how to listen to music, not just what to listen to.  By the time this album had come out in 1981, I had already purchased a large amount of albums.  I had heard other songs from Foreigner in the past in my mom’s car, but on my record player, I had control of the volume knob.

Fast paced right from the gate, “Night Life” was the warm up for hard pounding “Juke Box Hero”.  You got a slight ease back with “Break It Up” with its familiar Foreigner sounding song.  But then, given credit for the birth of the “power ballads”, one of Foreigner’s biggest hits, “Waiting For A Girl Like You”.

The album had its share of bubblegummy sounding stuff too, like “Luanne” and “Don’t Let Go”.

But the rest of the album really did have ten great songs, including “‘Girl On The Moon,” “Woman In Black,” “I’m Gonna Win,” and the biggest rock hit for them, “Urgent” featuring Junior Walker on saxophone.  Really, who would have ever thought a saxophone would be a key instrument on a rock song.

I played this album a lot, and loud.  My chinsy little record player’s maximum volume level came no where near what I wanted, and as time moved on, things got louder, especially attending concerts where I could feel this kind of music just pound into my body.

Oddball fact, Thomas Dolby of “She Blinded Me With Science” played the synthesizers on Foreigner’s 4 album as a studio musician.  His main, if not only hit would come out in 1982 and helped along in popularity due to his video broadcasted on the newest television channel, MTV.  Those of us who actually remember when MTV, which stood for music television, actually played music.

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20 May 2020
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John Lennon – Double Fantasy


This is the second album that had an impact on my life.  It did not start that way.  At first, it was simply just a long and awaited return of one of the Beatles in a solo project.  It had been a while since we had heard from Lennon.  As a fan of the Beatles, I was just happy to hear anything new, from any of them.

Like many Beatles fans, I did take issue with having to buy an album with Yoko Ono, his wife, on it.  In today’s tech world, I would have loved to have the option of just purchasing his songs from the album.  My aversion to Ono was not just the historic role she is assumed to have played in the break up of the Fab 4.  I really do not feel she had any talent.  It as not unlikely to hear her vocals compared to a cat in heat sitting on a fence in the middle of the night howling.

I was immediately drawn to “Starting Over,” which many fans took to think Lennon was looking to regain his activity level in the music industry.  Other great songs on the album included “Woman,” “Watching The Wheels,” and “Beautiful Boy” (a song perfectly placed in the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus”).  The album was pretty much half Lennon, half Ono.  So as soon as I could pull the songs off of the record onto a cassette tape, I could enjoy his great songs off that album.

But then on the evening of December 8, 1980, John Lennon was assassinated by a deranged fan in New York City.

This album (at the time), was going to be the last new music we believed that we would ever hear from John Lennon ever again.  And even more definite, there would never be the opportunity for a Beatles reunion.

In spite of Ono’s role on the album, this is still one of the most influential albums in my life.

Posted in Family and Friends, Inspired By..., Recreation

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