Friday, November 18, 2005

Peter Cetera s/t debut (1981)

After finding this on vinyl at a used record shop in the early 90s, I was thrilled to find it was available on CD as a Japanese import back in 1997. The $29.99 + shipping price tag was prohibitive, but in the end it was well worth every cent.

This is, in my honest opinion, Cetera's finest work. It has a much more raw sound and feel of his later more polished A/C super-saccharine ballads. This is Cetera when he still liked to cut loose and rock. The album is just plain fun from start to finish with not a bad track to be found.

Stand out tracks include the opening rocker Livin' In the Limelight (with Toto's Steve Lukather on guitar), On the Line (which was the side 2 opener on the LP-- the piano on this track is pure fun and a joy to listen to), Practical Man, and the album's closer Ivy Covered Walls. Now that this gem, is (long overdue) available in the US at a much more affordable price it's an even greater buy!

1 comment:

M. B. said...

Man this is really a great album, buy it! There's some excellent tracks in this one and there's a fantastic guitarist in it........his name is Steve Lukather!
I agree on what Danny once said about Peter.... He said Peter's career should be like Phil Collins one and I’m with him because Peter had all the rights to became an international superstar. I know...he's just a superstar, but you know what I mean. I mean a guy immediately recognizable as PETER CETERA and not just a famous voice.
He tried to do it with some solo albums but I'm not completely sure his legacy became more recognizable after them.
Anyway, you should do hear this one, that in some tracks sounds really like Chicago.....strange for a man who doesn't like the horns like Jimmy once said...

Goodbye friends!