BYRNE & BARNES-AN EYE FOR AN EYE

Byrne & Barnes-An Eye For An Eye [1981]

1. An Eye For An Eye
2. Standby Lover
3. Crack The Whip
4. Keep On Running
5. One More Try For Love
6. Never Gonna Stop Lovin' You
7. Love You Out Of Your Mind
8. I'll Try A Little Everyday For You
9. Making Love For The First Time
10. Be My Baby
11. Right Through The Heart
12. That's The Way She Goes
13. Who's That Look In Your Eye?

In 1981, Robert Byrne followed up his 1979 album, Blame It On The Night, by hooking up with multi-instrumentalist Brendan Barnes and heading down to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record this WestCoast classic. It features contributions from Steve Lukather, Andrew Gold, Lenny LeBlanc among others. My favorite tracks are Keep On Running & Never Gonna Stop Lovin' You. Neither recorded another album after this one, but both went on to produce others such as Patti Austin and Brian McKnight.

GIRAFFE-GIRAFFE

Giraffe-Giraffe (1999)

1. Overture
2. This Warm Night
3. Because of You
4. New Patriots
5. In Every Line
6. Imagemaker
7. The World Just Gets Smaller
8. Power Reprise
9. Home
10. Progress
11. From Here To There
12. All Fall Down
13. The Way Back Home
14. Holding On With Both Hands
15. Airdance
16. Welcome Home
17. This Warm Night (live)

This is an out of print compilation of the 2 Giraffe releases, The Power of Suggestion (1987) & The View From Here (1988). The band was formed and fronted by singer/multi-instrumentalist Kevin Gilbert who would go on to form Toy Matinee with producer Patrick Leonard (whose 1991 album Toy Matinee was rereleased in 2001) and help inspire Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club as well as co-write more than half the songs on that CD. Kevin won a Grammy for co-writing All I Wanna Do.

Giraffe is considered progressive rock, but to me it sounds more like ambitious pop. Considering that the albums came out in the late 80's anything that didn't sound like Def Leppard or Tiffany was labeled as progressive. Considering these were independent releases, the sound and production is great. Most of the songs have a funky rock feel with a lyrical bent towards environmentalism. They only hint as whats to come. Bonus trivia:
Giraffe won 1st prize in 1988 in the Yamaha Soundcheck Competition in Los Angeles

Kevin Gilbert's band & solo albums are mostly out of print and very hard to find. He passed away in May of 1996, but left a wealth of great music for us to enjoy. Start here!

THE NORWEGIAN FORDS-THE NORWEGIAN FORDS

The Norwegian Fords-The Norwegian Fords (2008)

1. Smile Like Sammy Davis
2. Not Even Onions Make Her Cry
3. Hop Up Pop
4. I Can't Say I Love You
5. Billy Ocean
6. Twice
7. Sophisticated Sister
8. Still Better Than Chocolate
9. Monique's Unique Technique
10. Let Me Stalk You Home

Not many current albums can capture the West Coast sound and still sound as fresh as this duo from Norway. Erik Enzo & Paul Call released their debut in 2008. Mixed by Bill Schnee, who has produced or engineered many albums, such as Boz Scaggs' Middle Man as well as Steely Dan, Pablo Cruise & Leo Sayer to name a few. They will be released their followup later this year, so start off with this.

EVIE SANDS-ESTATE OF MIND

Evie Sands-Estate Of Mind (1975)

1. A Woman's Work Is Never Done
2. Love In The Afternoon
3. You Brought The Woman Out Of Me
4. Take It Or Leave It
5. Call Me Home Again
6. One Ting On My Mind
7. Yesterday Can't Hurt Me
8. I Love Makin' Love To You
9. Early Morning Sunshine
10. (Am I) Crazy Cause I Believe
11. Music Man
12. Signed Sealed Delivered (I'm Yours)
13. You Can Do It
    
14. The Way You Do The Things You Do
    

Produced by Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter on Haven Records, this 1975 album should have taken singer/songwriter Evie Sands to new heights. How was this overlooked? It's a great mix of pop, rock & R&B, sultrier than Helen Reddy on a tune like I Love Makin' Love To You[#50] and tougher than Linda Ronstadt on a tune like A Woman's Work Is Never Done [#50], both of whom were enjoying a lot more success at the time than Evie. The album featured keys by Michael Omartian, bass by David Hundgate, guitars by Dean Parks and drums by Ed Greene. Her tunes, from this album alone, have been covered by Dusty Springfield, Jose Feliciano, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Frankie Valli & the Manhattans to name a few. But Evie has the definitive versions here on this LP.

Stay tuned!

There will be new music coming soon

ORLEANS-ONE OF A KIND

Orleans-One Of A Kind (1982)

1. One Of A Kind

2. I Found Someone

3. Let It Be Me

4. Beatin' Around The Bush

5. Save The Planet

6. Keep On Singing

7. Gotta Lotta Money (Big Deal)

8. Give In To It

9. Circles

10. Move On

This forgotten Orleans LP spawned the minor hit, Let It Be Me.

HELEN REDDY-REDDY

Helen Reddy-Reddy (1979)

1. Trying To Get To You
2. Perfect Love Affair
3. The Magic Is Still There
4. Make Love To Me
5. Minute By Minute
6. Let Me Be Your Woman
7. You're So Good
8. Words Are Not Enough
9. Sing My Heart Out

Helen Reddy always had some West Coast flavor in her music. But on this LP she also added some disco to the mix. She had members of Chicago & Tower Of Power help her out on the Doobies' Minute By Minute and Valerie Carter's Tryin To GetTo You. Make Love To Me was a minor hit, reaching #60.