Bradley's Buzz

What's That Sound?

The folks over at Collectibles Records are always up on the ball releasing these double album reissues of some fairly obscure little singers. Obscure singers I happen to love - in the past they've done the first two Josie Cotton albums and a double Rachel Sweet one with her 1981 album And Then He Kissed Me matched up with her followup Blame It On Love album, so imagine my complete surprise when I found out two new ones, I've just been itching to get have come out -

Nick Gilder is one of those obscure singers no one knows about except for me and the people who actually know who sang the song "Hot Child In The City." But I've always loved him, and not for just the one song. He's written some brilliant little pop songs and most of the best are found on his 1978 and 1979 Chrysalis albums City Nights and Frequency. I have a copy of City Nights which was released as an import from Canada a few years ago. The album is slightly more rock but contains "Hot Child..." plus his awesome single "Here Comes The Night" - not to mention a few more ditties of sex and angst. But Frequency has never been released on CD and I've been meaning to pick up a vinyl copy to make a Bubbatunes when those Collectibles dudes came to my rescue. Frequency is much more new wave than the previous album so I automatically love it more, of course his subject matter which is mostly sex and girls and the like is still there but it has that hasty late 70's bring on the 80's kind of feel to it and I love it, love it. The best tracks include "Time After Time" which Toni Basil ended up covering in 1982, with lines like "You're the great pretender/ a hero of your gender.." and when speaking of the girl's endless changes in personality he mentions she's a 'fake Monroe' I love it.



The second collection goes to the other extreme as Juice Newton, the country pop crooner who had Kenny of Knots Landing saying about Ciji, "She's going to be bigger than Juice Newton..." Juice had been making countrified pop for a few years when her 1981 album Juice yeilded the hit "Angel Of The Morning" followed by the mega-hit "Queen Of Hearts." For a few years, I've been thinking of buying an import copy of the CD which had put both Juice and her 1982 follow up Quiet Lies on one disc but it was like over $20, but luckily Collectibles did it for only $12! I had the vinyl copy of Juice when I was a kid and listened to it over and over again. I loved every single song even her Elton cover "Country Comfort". The album had both country and pop blended into it and her voice is super powerful and I love every little accent she throws in. So I was very excited to finally have it on CD.

Labels: City Nights, Collectibles, Juice, Juice Newton, Nick Gilder, Oldies.com, Quiet Lies

posted by swivek @ 2:11 PM