Gary O'

Canadian singer/guitarist Gary O'Connor had been in the bands Cat, Liverpool (a Beatles tribute band), and Aerial before going solo as Gary O', releasing his first solo album on Capitol Records in 1981. Anyone who listened to AOR radio in the early 80s will be familiar with "All the Young Heroes", as perfect an example of that genre as was ever made. About the Gary O' album, Wikipedia says:

The first single "I Believe in You" became a smash hit in Canada, and the follow-up, a remake of The Hollies' song "Pay You Back With Interest" even reached the Billboard Hot 100 Charts, where it peaked at #70.

I never heard either of those songs on US radio; it was "All the Young Heroes" that was a hit with fans of what is now known as "melodic hard rock." The full track list is:

01 All The Young Heroes
02 Pay You Back With Interest
03 California Goodbye
04 I Believe In You
05 Suzanne
06 The Way You Look Tonight
07 Just A Little Love
08 Nightrider
09 Been A Long Time

And the musicians are:

• Gary O': vocals, guitars
• David Landau: guitars
• George Doering: guitars
• Peter Wolf: keyboards, synthesizers
• Jai Winding: keyboards
• Richard Landis: keyboards
• Bryan Garofolo: bass
• Craig Krampf: drums
• Jim Haas, Stan Farber, Jon Joyce: backing vocals
• Charlie Calello: string arrangements, conducting

"The Way You Look Tonight" could have been a single as well, though it's awfully close to the Raspberries' "Go All the Way." Gary O' released his second and last album, Strange Behaviour, in 1984; since then he has worked as a songwriter. Get the vinyl rip of Gary O' here or here.

Jack-Knife: I Wish You Would (John Wetton)

Jack-Knife was a 1979 one-off recording project of John Wetton (lead vocals, bass, keyboards), Richard Palmer-James (guitars), John Hutcheson (Hammond organ, piano, backing vocals), and Curt Cress (drums and percussion). About the project, Wetton says:

Really, what it was, Jack Knife was an excuse, because I had a record deal, it was an excuse for me to indulge myself and a few friends who had been at school with me, and to do an album of the songs that we used to play when we were at school together. It was never meant to be a serious career move. But in fact it still sells okay, it's not a bad seller. And people I speak to say, oh I hated it when it came out, but I kinda like it now (laughs). I went straight from UK to Jack Knife, and then back to UK again, it was coming out of the sauna getting into an ice bath and then getting back into the sauna again, that's what it was like for me. It was an indulgence to do that record. [Full interview here.]

It's half blues covers and half originals, with some energetic bass playing by Wetton (especially on the title track), some tasty solos by Palmer-James, and several great drum breaks for the groove miners. Additional credits go to Peter Bischof (extra voices), Michael Lohmann (saxophone), and Christian Schultz (Mini Moog).


Vinyl rip, mp3@128, 33.9M.
Get it here.