Greg Kihn

ReKihndled...

The Greg Kihn (Band) albums 1976 - 1981.

Sometime during 1981 I started to hear a song on the radio that was completely different from anything else going on at the time.  Not that it was overly original or anything like that.  Far from it.  But it contained this impossibly catchy "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah" built-up chorus to the "They don't write 'em like that anymore" main chorus.  It was simple, to the point and irresistible. 

Soon enough I found out that this song, "The Breakup Song (they Don't Write 'em)", was by the Greg Kihn Band.  And, aptly enough, the album was called "RocKihnRoll" and I just had to have it. 

But although the album didn't really live up to Breakup Song's enormous power pop potential, it was nonetheless a mix of originals and covers alike so gloriously and refreshingly out of sync with the primitive synth-pop and stale AOR stadium rock of the time that one couldn't help but getting caught up in it.  Particularily, "When the Music Starts" became another instant and constant favourite...

   

"The Breakup Song" hit the Top 20 in the U.S. and a couple of years later the Greg Kihn Band even had a No. 2 hit in the territory with "Jeopardy" - a song which didn't even sound remotely like them!

By then though, Kihn, I believe, had lost the pop plot while I for one had lost interest...

Fast forward 20 years...

Vinyl was dirt-cheap, so life was good.  And, as one does in such circumstances, I started checking out some old favourites.  Greg Kihn (Band) amongst these.  Especially the early titles on the brilliant Beserkley label ("The Home of the Hits"...as the tagline went.  The fabulous Rubinoos, Jonathan Richman, Eartquake, and others also called it home although, unfairly, the actual hits were few and far between). 

"Greg Kihn" (Beserkley, 1976)

A very impressive debut, indeed.  From the get-go, the familiar approx. 7 to 3 mixture of originals and covers is firmly established.

Initially, upon hearing those early LP's, I felt the Matthew King Kaufman (Beserkley boss) and Glen Kolotkin production wasn't punchy enough.  However, as I became more familiar with the material, I think its somewhat sparse production remains its main strength.  Just take a listen to one of the key original tracks on this album...(Click on the link below)

ANY OTHER WOMAN

"Greg Kihn Again" (Beserkley, 1977)

OK, let's try to ignore the horribly un-PC album cover before we move on to the MUSIC itself...

Swiftly and firmly the triumphant debut was followed-up by this well-worthy and more band-oriented effort.  

It kicks off with a fine Buddy Holly-cover, "Love's Made a Fool of Me", while the original "Real Big Man" is also, err, a real treat on Side 1. 

However, Side 2 is a winner nearly all the way through.  It starts off with the excellent Kihn composition "Hurts So Bad", and leads us through Springsteen's "For You" and climaxes with another excellent original, "Madison Avenue".  

Kihn was one of the first artists to cover Bruce Springsteen.  Check out his fine interpetation of "For You" below...

FOR YOU   

"Next of Kihn" (Beserkley, 1978)

An altogether heavier affair than its predecessors, this eight-song selection is rather light on memorable hooks and choruses but not an unpleasant effort at all. 

Including for the first and last time no covers, "Remember", with its Spanish flourishes, and "Sorry" are the obvious highlights here. 

Also, Kihn's last credited solo LP for a while...

"With the Naked Eye" (Beserkley, 1979)

The first proper Greg Kihn BAND album, although these guys had been backing him for years.

Also, admittedly, my favourite Greg Kihn (Band) album of all time!

Chock-full of irresistable hooks and choruses, pop maestro Kenny Laguna had effectively been added to the production team of King Kaufman and Kolotkin by this point in time.

A lite Reggae-tinged "Moulin Rouge" (inexplicably, a flop 45), along with "Getting Away With Murder" and another great Springsteen cover, "Rendezvous", are the standouts here...

RENDEZVOUS

"Glass House Rock" (Beserkley, 1980)

Issued the same year as Billy Joel's multi-million selling "Glass Houses" album, this very similarily entitled (but far more worthy) LP unfortunately fell between the cracks.

Not nearly as strong as its predecessor, it nonetheless contains one of Greg Kihn's greatest self-penned cuts ever, "Anna Belle Lee".  How on earth this song failed to become the bona-fide classic it certainly deserves to be is anyone (else's) guess...

ANNA BELLE LEE

Otherwise, it's business as usual. 

An odd and under-produced cover of Bacharach's & David's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (After all, how can you ever top Gene Pitney?) and Graham Gouldman's unremarkable Yardbirds hit "For Your Love" flesh-out an otherwise 'paint-by-numbers' set.

The following year's "RocKihnRoll", featuring the flawless "Breakup Song", was most certainly a step upwards.    

But now we've come full circle.

Arguably, the best recods in my humble opinion remain Greg's first solo album, "Greg Kihn" (1976), and Greg Kihn Band's first album, "With the Naked Eye" (1979). 

Today Greg Kihn is a popular radio show host.

His recorded legacy is poorly-served on CD.  Although there is a fine, albeit unsatisfactory, "Anthology" CD out there, one can always dream about that elusive 4 CD box set.  RocKihnRoll on!

ALL THE RIGHT REASONS

Albums that time forgot (1).

The Young Rascals/"Groovin'" (1967)

 

 

Issued at the very height of the Summer of Love, it's really absurd that this record isn't generally considered to be among that season's very best.  Obviously though, it's up against some fairly fierce competition ("Sgt. Pepper", "Surrealistic Pillow", "Headquarters", "Are You Experienced", "Younger Than Yesterday", "Forever Changes", etc.).

Nonetheless, it is one of those rare records where nearly every single cut is a classic.  The only song I have the very slightest of beef with here is also the only cover; namely Stevie Wonder's "A Place in the Sun".  Don't get me wrong, it's all very nice'n'smooth, but also so very unnecessary.  Why does a band that can come up with self-penned classics such as "Groovin'", "A Girl Like You", "How Can I Be Sure" (covered by everyone from Dusty Springfield to David Cassidy) and "You Better Run", all on the same album, need to cover anyone - even though it's a genius like Stevie Wonder?!  Well, I might be 45 years late, but I'm just asking... 

 

 

Their third and last LP as the YOUNG Rascals, "Groovin'" is also their best - bar none.  In it, all the elements of the unparalleled Rascals sound come together and blend perfectly.  Garage rock meets Pop meets Psychedelia meets Latin, via their ever winsome Blue-eyed Soul which no other band of any era ever bettered.

 

   

 

Unusual for albums made in the late '60s which were more often than not issued both in Stereo and Mono, this is a record clearly made just for Stereo.  One of its highlights, "Find Somebody" is a good example of that.

 



 

Apart from the obvious hits - AND "Find Somebody" - Gene Cornish's "I'm So Happy Now" and "I Don't Love You Anymore" are also eye-openers and prove that he was another songwriting force to be reckoned with within the Rascals' ranks, although Felix Cavaliere's and Eddie Brigati's songs were usually chosen as the singles.

So "A Girl Like You", the album's opener and another Cavaliere/Brigati composition, became one of the record's biggest hits.  And as this following live performance from the Ed Sullivan Show on June 4th, 1967, goes to show - regardless of the screaming girls in the audience - The Rascals were an amazing bunch of musicians.  Their drummer Dino Danelli just might be one of the unsung heroes of '60s Pop.  

 



 

Curiously, "You Better Run" was more than a year old when it appeared on the "Groovin'" album.  Issued as a single in May 1966, it owed a lot more to the (Young) Rascals' Garage rock roots than the rest of the album.  The excellent "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" from the Young Rascals' self-titled debut LP is another good example of that particular side of the Rascals.  

Never mind The Kinks, along with Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Rascals were responsible for bringing Garage rock - a predecessor to Punk - into the American mainstream...and Top 10.

 

 

After "Groovin'", the Rascals certainly continued to make great singles, but, unfortunately, never made another great album.  Good albums - yes, but "Groovin'" remains their sole crowning moment in that area.  



 

tbc.