Forgotten Music Thursday: Bill Champlin - Runaway (1981)

The "perfect pop album" is a rather lofty platitude to heap on an album.  But if ever an album deserved that label, Bill Champlin's Runaway is one of the more worthy of that consideration.

Produced by the then up-and-coming producer, David Foster, back when Foster was still largely unknown by those not "in the know." 

Much like with Chicago 16, Foster's formula for success was intact with Runaway.  He brought in the best of the best session cats to augment Champlin's vocals and keyboard chops. 

Where Champlin's solo debut, Single, still had many of the blue-eyed soul leanings of Bill's then former band, The Sons of Champlin, Runaway, was a step more in the direction of his future adult contemporary/pop leanings of Chicago.  While some of the Jerry Hey horn arrangements (in particular Take It Uptown and Satisfaction, the latter of which Chicago actually included in their live set in the early 80s) would not have sounded out of place on a Chicago album, there's still enough of Bill on here to distinguish this as his album and not a Chicago-wannabe album.  The grit is still in his vocals, although that grit is considerably more polished with David Foster at the helm than it was during his days fronting the Sons of Champlin. 

What makes the album as a whole so enjoyable is its consistency.  There's not a weak track to be found, a testament to both Champlin's songwriting and Foster's production.  The closest any material comes to being weak is Stop Knockin' On My Door which musically is as good as anything else on the album, however lyrically it comes across more as a novelty song.  But even the novelty of the lyrics can be excused as Bill's way of showing he's not taking himself nor his music TOO seriously.  He still knew how to have fun and the lyrics are a testament to that fun-loving nature. 

Given the personnel associated with this album its comparisons to Chicago 16 and 17 are completely unavoidable.  And perhaps the only way this album could have been improved upon would have been with the participation of Peter Cetera.  There was an undeniable vocal chemistry between Champlin & Cetera that was never more evident than on songs like Sonny Think Twice from Chicago 16 or Hard Habit to Break from Chicago 17.  Had that vocal chemistry been discovered just a bit sooner, I have little doubt that Cetera would have made an appearance on this album as many of these songs sound tailor-made for Champlin and Cetera collaborations, the two of them trading off on vocals much as they did on the aforementioned Chicago albums.

But even without Cetera's participation, this album is thoroughly enjoyable to listen to and is easily one of Champlin's best solo endeavours.

Related Links
Bill Champlin (official site)
Bill Champlin (wikipedia)
Other Bill Champlin related reviews/articles on this site
David Foster (official site)
David Foster (wikipedia)

Jim Steinman - Bad For Good (1981)

Some albums are borne out of unbridled creativity, some are borne out of contractual obligations, and then there are some that are borne out of sheer impatience.

In the midst of a rigorous and exhausting tour schedule in the late seventies Meat Loaf literally lost his singing voice...  for several years.  Meanwhile his collaborator/songwriter, Jim Steinman, was getting anxious and chomping at the bit to record a follow-up to the wildly successful Bat Out of Hell album. 

Finally Steinman decided to record the album himself.  This ended up being the Meat Loaf album that never was.  Over the years bits and pieces of this album have appeared on various other Meat Loaf albums (Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through, Lost Boys & Golden Girls, Out of the Frying Pan (and Into the Fire) all appeared on Bat Out of Hell II; Left in the Dark appeared on Welcome to the Neighbourhood; and Bad For Good appeared on Bat Out of Hell III). 

For the most part, Steinman opted to do the vocals himself.  On Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through he enlisted the assistance of studio vocalist Rory Dodd (best unknown for being the voice Michael J. Fox lip-synced to on Johnny B. Goode in Back to the Future).  Steinman wasn't and isn't a great vocalist he is passable but his voice lacks the range of Meat Loaf so on some notes that Meat Loaf would have hit with ease, Steinman struggles with.  On Left in the Dark this actually works to Steinman's advantage.  His struggles to hit the notes come across as emotional pain and it fits the part of the cuckolded husband being portrayed in the song perfectly.  In contrast, Meat Loaf hits the notes with relative ease but his vocal delivery lacks the depth of pain that Steinman's delivery has.

Considering there are only 3 songs on here that (at least to my knowledge) that are yet to appear on albums by Meat Loaf  (Stark Raving Love and Dance In My Pants and the instrumental The Storm) one can get at least a glimpse of how this album may have sounded had it been released as Steinman originally intended-- as a Meat Loaf album.  Having heard the Meat Loaf arrangements of many of the songs on here though, I'd have to counter that as much as I might prefer Meat Loaf's vocals on songs like Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through and Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire) I'm not necessarily as keen on his arrangements on Bad For Good (although I do dig the Brian May guest guitar bit on Meat's version) or his vocals on Left in the Dark. 

All in all though it is an enjoyable album.  It IS trademark Jim Steinman and even if one finds his vocals lacking at times, the strength of the material tends to outweigh his vocal shortcomings (especially, as already mentioned on Left In the Dark, where his vocal limitations actually give the song more emotional credibility).  Some may shy away from the over the top anthemic bombast of Steinman's work.  But there's something to be said for over the top musical theatrics--"If you don't go over the top, you'll never see what's on the other side." (said by Steinman himself)

Related Links
Dream Pollution
The Dream Engine
Jim Steinman's blog
Jim Steinman (wikipedia)

Maxus - s/t (1981)

On the heels of the success of Toto in the late seventies, another group of LA session cats decided to form a band in a similar tradition.  Vocalist, Jay Gruska; keyboardist, Robbie Buchanan ; guitarist, Michael Landau; bassist/vocalist, Mark Leonard; and drummer Doane Perry formed Maxus.

Where Toto's sound was more on the rock end of the spectrum, Maxus decided to lean slightly more to the jazz fusion side.  Gruska had released a solo album in the seventies; had married Jennifer Williams (daughter of famous film score composer, John Williams); produced his brother-in-law, Joseph Williams, debut album; and had co-written the lead off single from Chicago 16 (What You're Missing).  Buchanan had played the piano player in the Bette Midler film, The Rose, and toured with Midler in support of the soundtrack album.  Doane Perry hadn't done much work prior to his time with Maxus, but following the band's split he played with the likes of the Fairport Convention, Stan Getz, Lou Reed, Dweezil Zappa, Todd Rundgren, Pat Benatar, and Dragon before inevitably being invited to be the drummer for Jethro Tull in 1984.  Prior to his brief stint with Maxus Michael Landau was competing with high school classmate, Steve Lukather, to become the guitarist for Toto and since his time in Maxus he has literally played on thousands of albums for hundreds of different artists.

All 9 songs on Maxus one and only Michael Omartian produced album are enjoyable and imminently listenable.  However, nearly 20 years later they all sound quite dated with that early eighties over-synthesized vibe dripping from every song. 

If one can forgive the over-synthesized sound (and given the era in which the album was released, one should at least consider forgiving the band's love affair with synths) the music is an excellent snapshot of that era.

Gruska's voice is pleasant but somewhat unremarkable and given the other vocalists popular in the early eighties having a pleasant voice was not quite good enough to push Maxus to that next level nor to bring them greater success than they inevitably found.

If you're looking for an interesting musical relic and a musical snapshot of a long past era this fits the bill.  But listening to the album it's also easy to understand how and why this band only spawned a single album before their dissolution and the later success of some members.  The promise of their talents is certainly audible but those talents never quite gelled the way the talents of their contemporaries in Toto did.  For the sub $10 download price from Amazon.com it's certainly a worthy investment although I wouldn't recommend paying much more for this release.

Related Links
Maxus (wikipedia)
Robbie Buchanan (wikipedia)
Michael Landau (official site)
Michael Landau (wikipedia)
Doane Perry (wikipedia)
Michael Omartian (official site)
Michael Omartian (wikipedia)

Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

Dream Theater doesn’t ever really do anything “small.” They are the quintessential band of musician’s musicians. Even those who aren’t necessarily fans tend to respect them for their musicianship.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings is no exception to that rule. The album is essentially a return to form that takes all of the things the band did right on 2007’s Systematic Chaos and builds on them making for a truly exceptional album.

They also delivered in spades by releasing the album in 2 different formats—a single CD standard version with a very attractive sub $10 price tag (depending on where you purchase it) for those minding their budgets in these economically difficult times and a more auspicious 3 CD Deluxe edition which features not only the full album on Disc 1, but also a CD of Dream Theater covering some of their favorite material by the likes of Rainbow (Stargazer), Queen (a medley of Tenement Funster/Flick of the Wrist/Lily of the Valley), The Dixie Dregs (Odyssey), Zebra (Take Your Fingers From My Hair), King Crimson (Larks Tongue in Aspic Pt. 2), and Iron Maiden (To Tame a Land), and a third disc featuring an instrumental version of the album. The instrumental version of the album truly gives the listeners a chance to hear things they might have missed, those delightful moments that sometimes get hidden underneath the operatically trained vocals of James LaBrie.

Whether you choose to get the standard or the deluxe edition, you’re in for a treat. This is arguably the band’s best and easily their heaviest album since 2003’s Train of Thought.

With A Nightmare to Remember the album starts with a crack of thunder followed by a soft but ominous keyboard intro in minor chords by Jordan Rudess before Petrucci and Portnoy join in on guitar and drums respectively. Portnoy’s drumming is frenetic yet precise like a runaway train with Casey Jones as the engineer—no brakes but still fully in control. Thanks largely to Rudess’s keyboard work, the song sounds and feels like a classic horror movie. It tells the story of a car accident and how it changes the lives of those who survived it and the general loss of innocence experienced following the accident.

A Rite of Passage is one of the most accessible and radio friendly songs on the album. Anchored by a killer guitar riff by John Petrucci the song is about secret societies and organizations (in particular the Masons). The vocal harmonies are some of the strongest on the album (perhaps surpassed only by the harmonies on the Queen covers on Disc 2 of the Deluxe edition) and the guitar riff has hints of both Led Zeppelin and Metallica but when Petrucci’s guitar solo starts at about 5:18 into the song it’s purely Dream Theater. The solo is trademark Petrucci at his absolute finest.

Wither is also quite accessible but not quite as catchy as A Rite of Passage. It’s also easily the slowest yet shortest song on the album, giving the listener a brief (five minutes, 25 seconds) respite before the band kicks it back into high gear.

The Shattered Fortress is the final piece of Michael Portnoy’s 12 Step Suite that he began on 2002’s Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence with The Glass Prison and has continued with a new piece on every studio album since then. It’s a brilliant finale to his seven plus years in the making musical epic. With thematic elements of the other pieces in the suite, the band has brought the 12 Step Suite full circle and given it an exclamation mark of an ending.

Sadly, Mike Portnoy’s father died in the time between this and Dream Theater’s last album (Systematic Chaos) prompting Portnoy to write The Best of Times, a moving tribute of his love for his father. His bandmate, John Petrucci did the same on 1997’s Falling into Infinity with Take Away My Pain. As different as the two songs are, they are both rather moving expressions of grief suffered at the loss of a parent. The song starts with a subtle and beautiful piano solo by Jordan Rudess that segues into a moving guitar/piano duet with John Petrucci before Petrucci’s acoustic guitar is replaced by an electric one at about two minutes and forty seven seconds into the song. Unlike Take Away My Pain which was a moving plea from a grieving son, The Best of Times, is more a celebration of a life. Portnoy’s lyrics reflect on the happy times he spent with his father and the positive influence his father had on his life.

On the Count of Tuscany, the guitar work by Petrucci is exceptional as always. The sense of harmony in his work on this song is brilliant. He and Jordan Rudess play guitar and keyboard (respectively) so tightly that the two instruments nearly sound as one. At over nineteen minutes long The Count of Tuscany makes for a long and quite musically adventurous closing to the album. The vocals don’t even begin until almost four and a half minutes into the song (@ 4:21). The song also marks a continuation of John Petrucci’s penchant of telling fictional stories in his lyrics. Some fans enjoy this lyrical approach, but personally it’s the music far more than the lyrics that grab this listener.

From start to finish Black Clouds & Silver Linings is a technically proficient, hard and driving heavy metal onslaught of an epic album. It is best enjoyed start to finish in one sitting, if you can manage the time to do so. Given the skill and talent of the band, there is so much depth in this music that it’s quite easy to listen to this album several times and never hear it in quite the same way twice.

Related Links
Dream Theater (official site)
Dream Theater (wikipedia)
Mike Portnoy (official site)
Mike Portnoy (wikipedia)
John Petrucci (official site)
John Petrucci (wikipedia)
John Myung (wikipedia)
James LaBrie (official site)
James LaBrie (wikipedia)
Jordan Rudess (official site)
Jordan Rudess (wikipedia)