Forgotten Music Thursday: Survivor - Caught In the Game (1983)

In the early eighties bands like Journey, REO Speedwagon, Asia, and Survivor not only dominated the airwaves but also filled arenas with their special blend of AOR.

A bit heavier than their contemporaries—Journey and REO Speedwagon, Survivor really burst onto the scene with a little help from Stallone and their hit Eye of the Tiger which was used prominently in Rocky III.

Caught In the Game has gone largely overlooked or forgotten by the band and by radio. None of the tracks from this album have even appeared on any of Survivor’s multiple different “Greatest Hits” or “Best Of” collections.

This oversight is quite unfortunate as Caught In the Game is likely Survivor’s most consistently strong album from start to finish. The songs are catchy and have a bit more bite than the lesser tracks from their previous albums.

The album opens with the title track, an infectiously catchy rocker and other than the ballad I Never Stopped Loving You the album doesn’t really let up from start to finish. And even that lone ballad is the 3rd track—thus getting it out of the way early—before reverting to the more mid and uptempo rockers that allowed guitarist Frankie Sullivan to cut loose a bit more.

Survivor ended up saving the best for last with the album’s closer, Santa Ana Winds, one of the best tracks the band ever recorded. With guitar solos vaguely reminiscent of some of Blue Oyster Cult’s better material of the previous decade, Bickler’s soulful vocals and the keys of Jim Peterik the song is strong from start to finish.

Today, admittedly this album sounds somewhat dated, a relic or snapshot of the early eighties. But in the context of its time, this was easily one of the better albums released in 1983. It was much to the listening public’s detriment that radio didn’t give it more attention.

(Incidentally this was David Bickler's final album with the band. After leaving for medical reasons he was replaced by Jimi Jamison. Bickler did re-join in 1992, only to be replaced in 2000 by... Jimi Jamison. Today Survivor's lead singer is Robyn McAuley. Bickler today can be heard in Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercials)

Related Link:
Survivor Caught In the Game on Amazon.com (song samples available)

REO Speedwagon - Not So Silent Night (2009)

Every once in awhile an album will be released that will leave you scratching your head. It will be an album that generally is not only not expected but some might argue completely unnecessary.

So, REO Speedwagon doing a Christmas album? You've got to be kidding me, right? What's next a Bob Dylan Chri- oh wait not him too!

Upon further consideration, why not? I mean there have been some downright BAD interpretations of Christmas classics over the years. So why not REO Speedwagon putting an arena rock spin on some of the holiday's best?

After I suspended my disbelief, I decided to give this Christmas album a shot. First off, I'm disappointed that REO didn't record this sooner... like twenty-five to thirty years ago when they were at the peak of their success and Kevin Cronin's singing voice was still intact. In all fairness, Cronin's voice is still passable. He could still sing circles around me and heck even a handful of his contemporaries whose voices haven't aged as well... That being said his voice isn't what it once was. And listening to these arrangements, I can't help but wonder how much better this Christmas album might have sounded with a younger Kevin Cronin at the peak of his talents and abilities.

Of all the tracks on this collection, Cronin's voice sounds best on The White Snows of Winter. He doesn't really sound bad on any of the songs, but at the same time he doesn't quite sound as good as he once did.

Some of the other stand-out tracks include REO's power-ballad treatment of Silent Night and Angels We Have Heard On High.

The one moment that could have been omitted was Cronin making reference to those "funky" gentlemen in God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Granted, on a journey as long as the one the three wise men embarked upon with limited access to water, I'm guessing they were indeed "funky" but I don't believe that's the context that Cronin was referring to in the album's single lapse.

Other than that lapse, this Christmas release is in addition to being rather unexpected is moderately enjoyable and completely unoffensive. Which, for a Christmas album, is a good thing.

Related Links
Not So Silent Night (Amazon.com)
REO Speedwagon (Official Site)
REO Speedwagon (Wikipedia)
Kevin Cronin (Official Site)
Kevin Cronin (Wikipedia)
Neal Doughty (Official Site)
Neal Doughty (Wikipedia)
Bruce Hall (Official Site)
Bruce Hall (Wikipedia)
Dave Amato (Wikipedia)
Bryan Hitt (Wikipedia)

REO Speedwagon - Lost in a Dream (1974)

Before becoming arena rock giants along with Journey, Foreigner, & Styx; REO Speedwagon was a hard workin', hard rock band. After a rocky start, and on their third lead singer in as many albums REO had seemingly found some stability with Michael Murphy who, at this point, was the first of their singers to sing lead on two consecutive albums.

Much like his predecessor (and as history would bear out-- his successor as well), Kevin Cronin, Murphy had a rather distinct vocal style. Where Cronin's vocals leaned more towards the nasal, Murphy's were more towards the Rod Stewart meets the more contemporary Macy Gray end of the vocal spectrum.

That this band could survive a revolving door of tenor vocalists as distinctly different as Terry Luttrell, Kevin Cronin, and Michael Murphy is a testament to the strength of REO Speedwagon.

This album is a return to form of sorts to the band's roots. Much like their 1971 debut there's a strong roadhouse dive bar vibe to this album. You can almost feel the sticky floors at your feet and see the Harleys lined up outside and the paint peeling from the tattered walls inside.

Unlike Ridin' the Storm Out which also features Murphy on vocals, I don't believe any material from Lost in a Dream or its 1975, follow-up This Time We Mean It has ever made it into the live set since Murphy's departure from and Kevin Cronin's return to the band. It's a shame really as there's some respectable material. The underrated Gary Richrath has some excellent solos, and Neal Doughty's piano/keyboard chops give off that really cool aforementioned roadhouse dive bar vibe, and as always Greg Philbin and Alan Gratzer on bass & drums respectively provide a strong backbone to the band's sound.

The trouble with the album is that it never rises above that roadhouse dive-bar vibe. That's both its greatest strength and Achilles heel. At this point in their career REO's fans were largely a regional cult following. There were hundreds of house bands at roadhouse dive bars playing the same kind of music. The only thing setting REO apart from their more anonymous less famous bar band counterparts was a record deal and the polish of professional studio production that went with the standard recording contracts of that era.

From start to finish the album is fun and catchy but never realizes or even aspires to excellence. If you're a fan of REO's latter day much more pop friendly sound, you'd scarcely be able to tell that the band that recorded Keep On Lovin' You, Take It On the Run, and Can't Fight This Feelin' also recorded this album. On the other hand if you're not a fan of their latter day more pop-friendly material and you think you know REO Speedwagon you might want to give Lost in a Dream a chance. You might just find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Related Links
REO Speedwagon (Official Website)
REO Speedwagon (wikipedia)
Lost in a Dream (wikipedia)
Gary Richrath (wikipedia)
Neal Doughty (Official Website)
Neal Doughty (wikipedia)

Def Leppard - Songs From the Sparkle Lounge (2008)

So the "Sparkle Lounge" sounds more like Liberace's living room than anything one might associate with Def Leppard. But in reality, the "Sparkle Lounge" was where the band would get together while on tour to work on new material. This album is the fruits of those musical labors.

Simply put this is a step back in the right direction after the terrible misstep of 2002's X which left some fans (including this one) wondering if in addition to being deaf, the Lep might also be a eunuch.

2006's cover album Yeah! showed some promise, but being a covers album it was tough to discern whether the Lep had regained their swagger or if they were just aping the swagger of the bands/musicians they were covering.

Luckily, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge confirms that the Lep has indeed regained their swagger and attitude. With only one slow song, Love the album is considerably more uptempo and rollicking than the band has been since 1999's Euphoria album. If anything the material is considerably stronger than that on Euphoria making this possibly their strongest album since the passing of guitarist Steve Clark.

The music is catchy and upbeat, the harmonies are there, the driving guitars are there, and you can even hear Lep tipping a hat to the likes of ELO and Queen on Love which, with its grandiose strings and tight harmonies, is one of the band's best slow songs in quite awhile.

The one weak point-- the lyrics. Granted, Def Leppard's lyrics have never been within the realm of deep or profound and the one album in which they did go deep (1996's Slang) was not well received because it was largely not what the fans had come to love and expect of the band. The lyrics are traditional Def Leppard, simple and to the point but the low point on the album is Bad Actress which musically is a solid song but the lyrics are so cheesy and lamer than any of the recent ill-fated Kentucky Derby horses that it really takes away from a song that had the potential to be so much better.

Returning to good fun hair metal that put them on the map in the eighties was a recipe for success and this album is a true return to form of what this band is truly capable of. Fans of the High 'n' Dry through Hysteria era should be quite happy with this album.

Related Links
Def Leppard Songs from the Sparkle Lounge on Amazon.com
Def Leppard Slang review
Def Leppard Euphoria review
Def Leppard Yeah! review

Def Leppard - Euphoria (1999)

After exorcising their demons on the deeply personal (and some would argue overly somber) Slang album 3 years prior, Def Leppard seemed to have regained their footing with 1999's Euphoria.

The band seems to have picked up where they'd left off with 1992's Adrenalize, there's a fun energy to Euphoria that's reminiscent of their Pyromania and Hysteria albums. Someone apparently neglected to remind the Lep that it was no longer 1992, and while many of the songs on this album would have likely been hits in a pre-grunge era. The sonic wall of guitars and vocal harmonies that Mutt Lange had perfected as their producer on their eighties albums is certainly still there. Their tongues are still planted firmly in their cheeks with songs like Demolition Man, All Night, and Back in Your Face Again (the latter of which would not sound out of place at an NHL hockey game), and their softer side was evidently still present on songs like Goodbye and It's Only Love.

It's never been any secret that Def Leppard was influenced by the late Marc Bolan, and perhaps they've found the perfect match to Bolan's 21st Century Boy with their very own 21st Century Sha-La-La Girl. A tip of the hat to the late Bolan, perhaps?

Ten years earlier and this album would have been a huge hit to follow up on the success of 1987's Hysteria. Sadly the audience of 1999 wasn't as conducive to the fun-loving rock of this enjoyable, if underrated band. Thus the album went largely ignored by the general listening public, much to their detriment.

Def Leppard - Slang (1996)

By the mid-nineties the very style of music which had made Def Leppard's Pyromania (1983) and Hysteria (1987) albums so popular was as good as dead. After hiring former Dio guitarist, Vivian Campbell to replace the late Steve Clark, Def Leppard opted to re-invent themselves in the image of the music of that era.

Disposing of not only the logo but also the bombastic, fun, over-the-top glam/hair metal that had graced all of their previous albums the Lep entered uncharted territory.

While some may argue that Slang was a failed experiment-- credit must be given to Def Leppard for at least attempting to reinvent themselves, rather than sticking to the same tried and true formula of their previous albums.

Other than the title track, there's nothing on this album that would have fit on any other Def Leppard album. The musical style is more spare, minimal, and generally "naked." Some would say that the greatest flaw of Slang is that much of the music is far too serious or too dark. People who were expecting the fun of Rocket, Rock of Ages, Pour Some Sugar On Me, or Armageddon It instead got songs that dealt with death, suicide, and other similarly somber topics. This wasn't the Def Leppard the fans had come to know and love in the eighties and the resulting lukewarm reception was quite evident in its modest sales.

Stand-out tracks include Breathe a Sigh (which has my favorite misheard lyric EVER*), Slang, Work it Out, Pearl of Euphoria, and Where Does Love Go When It Dies. But, that being said, this isn't a singles album-- the album as a whole is actually greater than the sum of its parts.

With over ten years having passed since Slang's release one can offer a bit more objectivity-- hindsight, if you will. While this wasn't the "fun" Def Leppard of the eighties it, very likely, was an album the band HAD to make. Prior to this album, the band hadn't really dealt with the death of guitarist, Steve Clark. As much as it is a change of direction, it was the band's way of getting past Clark's death and moving on with their lives.

Three years later with Euphoria the band would get back to that fun-loving, happy-go-lucky pop-metal of the Hysteria era. But sometimes a band needs to take a step in a different direction, a personal re-evaluation, before they can move forward. Slang was just that for the Lep.


*the first time I heard the lyric "I more than long for your affection" as "I mow the lawn for your affection."

Def Leppard - Yeah! (2006)

Sometimes you want music that makes you think—that makes you re-evaluate certain long held opinions you may have. Other times you just want music that’s just plain fun—pure mental vacation. This is the music that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s not music for the sake of music, it’s not music for the sake of the almighty dollar, it’s music purely for fun.

Def Leppard is fun, they always have been, their new album Yeah! is no exception. Generally cover albums are “stop-gaps” to buy time for the band to finish working on original material without the band falling out of the public spotlight. Generally they’re hit or miss, and many fans consider them “cop-outs”—after all we fans have heard the same old song before. We want something new!

What makes Yeah! work where other cover albums have failed is Def Leppard’s song selection. These are all songs by bands that influenced the various members of Def Leppard in their youth. With many of the groups/musicians they chose to cover—they didn’t go with the obvious—with T-Rex a lesser band would have covered Bang a Gong (Get It On), Def Leppard chose 20th Century Boy; for Sweet one might expect Ballroom Blitz or possibly Fox on the Run, but they chose Hell Raiser; for Free just about anyone would expect All Right Now, but instead they went with Little Bit of Love, with ELO the obvious would have been Don’t Bring Me Down (or possibly Do Ya?), but Def Leppard instead went with 10538 Overture.

Some of these songs Def Leppard is exactly the band you’d expect to cover them—Hell Raiser is probably the most obvious. On their Retro-Active CD the Lep chose to cover Sweet’s Action to great effect. Perhaps because Sweet was to the seventies what Def Leppard was to the eighties. Pure glam-rock fun, not at all pretentious, just good old fashioned rock and roll fun (with a bit of hairspray thrown into the mix for good measure).

Other songs are less obvious, although still (in some cases surprisingly so) quite respectable covers—The Kinks Waterloo Sunset, ELO’s 10538 Overture, David Essex’s Rock On, and Roxy Music’s Street Life all fall within that category.

After 2002’s X, which bored me to tears after only a couple of spins in my CD player, I was a bit apprehensive, but the price was right and I figured after High ‘n’ Dry, Pyromania, and Hysteria Def Leppard had more than earned a second chance. These guys may not be the band to make you think about the ills of the world, their music isn’t what one might hear in a Starbucks, and it certainly will never be considered high art—but there’s already plenty of that kind of music out there. Def Leppard is fun, that’s what people listen to them for and Yeah! is just the kind of album that can re-establish their reputation with a new generation of fans.

Asia Web Release

Geoffrey Downes, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer, John Wetton

The Four Original Members of ASIA

are delighted to announce the following dates have been confirmed for their September 2006 US tour.

1 - JIM THORPE, PA - Penns PeakSat
2 - ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - Trump Marina CasinoSun
3 - MASHATUCKET, CT - Foxwood �Casino
7 - BOSTON, MA - Avalon Ballroom
8 - NEW YORK, NY - Nokia Theater
9 - NEW YORK, NY - Nokia Theater
10 - NORWALK, CT - Oyster Festival
12 - RED BANK, NJ - Count Basie Theater
13 - PHILADELPHIA, PA - Keswick Theater
15 - CLEVELAND, OH - House of Blues
16 - CHICAGO, IL - Park West
17 - MILWAUKEE, WI - Pabst Theater
20 - LONG BEACH, CA - The Vault
21 - LAS VEGAS, NV - House of Blues
22 - FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ - Radisson Casino
23 - AGOURA HILLS, CA - Canyon Club
24 - PALM DESERT, CA - McCallum Theater


This makes me doubleplushappy!

Queen w/ Paul Rodgers - Return of the Champions (2005)

As a fan of classic rock, for me this 2CD live set is a must have. I'm a big fan of both Bad Company and to a SLIGHTLY lesser extent Queen.

Paul Rodgers is one of the best, and imho, most underrated rock vocalists out there.

When I first heard about this set I was slightly skeptical because as much as I like Queen and Paul Rodgers, I wasn't so sure how the combination of the two would go together. I mean I dig Led Zeppelin and Dream Theater, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy hearing Robert Plant singing Pull Me Under or James LaBrie singing Kashmir.

That being said, I kept an open-mind and started listening with cautious optimism. And boy did it ever pay off!

There is a definite chemistry between Rodgers and Queen and the energy of the audience is phenomenal. Listening to Rodgers interpretations of some of my Queen favorites like Fat Bottomed Girls and Tie Your Mother Down and Queen's interpretations of Free's All Right Now and Bad Company's Feel Like Makin' Love and Can't Get Enough make this a live set to be truly enjoyed.

If you enjoyed either Rodgers or Queen in their prime. I highly recommend snagging this live set, you won't be disappointed!

Asia - Enso Kai (Live in Tokyo) (2001)

I'm a HUGE fan of John Wetton, but I really must commend Greg Lake on his performances on this CD. His vocals are so close to Wetton's that it's hard to believe that it's not Wetton.

There's a good reason that Wetton "replaced" Greg Lake in King Crimson and it's with much similar reason that Lake briefly "replaced" Wetton in Asia... their voices are so eerily similar it's amazing. Lake's British accent shows a little bit more in his singing voice but only if you're really listening for it.

Carl Palmer's drumming is fantastic as always, Downes keyboard playing is exceptional and Steve Howe... well it's Steve Howe... what more needs to be said?

The sound quality on this disc is supposedly superior to the Live In Hallowed Halls CD with Wetton on vocals, but I don't have that CD so I have no room for comparison.

Good song selection but I miss Daylight and where's Don't Cry? I have an mp3 of Lake singing Daylight that's absolutely fantastic... Why it didn't make this CD release is beyond me. This disc would get 5 stars if not for the omission of those 2 tracks. Still a solid performance.