Digital Roundup: 11/19/2014
New this week in the Rhino Room at iTunes:
Mike + The Mechanics, Mike + The Mechanics / Living Years / Word of Mouth / Beggar on a Beach of Gold / Rewired / Hits: It’s hard to gauge exactly who was aware of it and who wasn’t, but for the past several years, one of the more notable absences from iTunes – at least here in America, anyway – has been the back catalog of Mike + The Mechanics. What started as Mike Rutherford’s side project from Genesis quickly turned from a studio lark into a major commercial success in the US when the group’s self-titled 1985 debut produced two top-10 singles with “Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)” and “All I Need Is a Miracle,” and when they returned with their sophomore effort, 1989’s The Living Years, they took their homeland by storm as well, with the title track hitting #2 on the UK singles chart and topping the US charts. After that, though, the Mechanics lost favor in the States – another grunge-related tragedy? – and never found top-40 success again…but don’t think that means that you shouldn’t investigate all of these digital reissues.
Yes, the first two albums are slick pop constructions that still go down smooth, but there’s merit to the third album, too. Word of Mouth may have quickly made the jump to the cut-out bin, but, man oh man, the first two songs alone – “Get Up” and the title track – are just about enough to make the whole thing worth owning all by themselves, and then there’s “Everybody Gets a Second Chance,” which is about as catchy and bouncy as pop songs get. For Americans, though, Beggar on a Beach of Gold and Rewired are the true lost treasures, as neither the albums nor any of their singles saw any US chart action whatsoever, despite the fact both albums feature moments easily on par with the group’s first two albums, including Beggar’s “Another Cup of Coffee” and Rewind’s “One Left Standing.”
Now, of course, if you don’t have anything by Mike + The Mechanics at all, then your best bet is inevitably going to be Hits, which provides a very nice 13-track sampling of the band’s most successful singles from their debut album up through their 1995 effort, Beggar on a Beach of Gold. Granted, you’ll probably be annoyed by the band’s decision to include a newly-recorded version of “All I Need is a Miracle” rather than the original, but you’ll survive…or, more likely, you’ll just go and download the original and be done with it.
Raven, Stay Hard / The Pack is Back / Mad / Life’s a Bitch: A great philosopher once mused, “It’s such a fine line between clever and stupid,” and the fact that the philosopher in question really knew his way around a heavy metal song is – let’s face it – in no way a coincidence. Still, you have to admit that there’s something to be said for a band that consistently provides its fans with exactly what those fans want from them, which is exactly what the British heavy metal band Raven did throughout the second half of the 1980s. Stay Hard, released in 1985, is probably the most familiar to American audiences, as it was Raven’s first album to chart in the US...although it’s also hard to forget a lascivious title track that also asks listeners to “stay wet.” The Pack is Back was released the following year to decreasing chart returns, which is ironic given that it was produced by Eddie Kramer and – based on its more-radio-friendly-than-ever sound – clearly designed to get as much airplay for the band as possible, even including a version of the Spencer Davis Band’s “Gimme Some Lovin’.” We don’t know why it failed to find an audience, but surely it had nothing to do with the glorious, glorious album cover. In an effort to cast aside their all-too-commercial efforts, Raven returned in 1986 with the Mad EP, wherein the band began a shift back to more unabashed rock, and their next full-length effort, 1987’s Life’s a Bitch, may well have been the hardest album they’d recorded up to that point. Alas, either it was too hard for American audiences or it was simply a case of too little, too late, but it failed to find any particular success in the States, thereby ending the band’s tenure with Atlantic Records. Still, if you rocked your way through the ‘80s and missed out on the Raven experience, now’s a time to relive your youth and turn it up to…oh, we can’t bring ourselves to open and close with a Spinal Tap quote, but if you’ve been looking for a good excuse to bang your head, here are four for you.
Royal Crowne Revue, The Contender: Ah, neo-swing: you barely even managed to get 15 minutes as the next big musical trend, but you still had a brief moment in the sun, as evidenced by the fact that there’s a copy of Cherry Poppin’ Daddies’ Zoot Suit Riot – and often more than one – in virtually every thrift store and used CD store in America. If you still remember this musical genre fondly, you may want to check out this reissue, which didn’t earn as much commercial success as some of its peers but was still a very strong entrant into the neo-swing movement. We don’t have a clue why the album’s single, “Zip Gun Bop,” didn’t result in these guys becoming as big as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, but give it a listen so you can at least be as confused about the situation as we are.