Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXLVI--Gary Myrick and the Figures: She Talks in Stereo

 Once again, my introduction to the weekly featured tune was through the promotional singles the major record labels used to send to music stores back in the day.  This one, though, had to be one of the earliest ones I ever received, as it was released the year I began with Camelot Music (1980).  Time does, my friends, indeed fly....

To call Gary Myrick a one hit wonder would be generous, but he's still managed to have over forty years in the music business.  Starting in 1980 with his band the Figures (which lasted an entire two years), Myrick then went on to a solo career, joined forces with Paul Simonon of the Clash fame to form a band called Havana 3am, returned to his solo career, reunited with the Figures, before once again returning to his solo career.  Myrick has also done guitar work in the studio and touring with John Waite, Todd Rundgren, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Brian Wilson, and Stevie Wonder, among others.  For his career, counting bands and his solo work, he has released ten studio albums.  Considering that the highest charting album Myrick ever had hit #138 on the Billboard 200, one has to admit that Myrick has done quite well for himself.

"She Talks in Stereo" was the first single released from Myrick's quite innovatively entitled debut album, Gary Myrick and the Figures.  The single did not chart in America but did hit #56 in Australia (so many cool kids in Australia!).  The album just missed the Billboard 200, reaching #203.

Like many a tune before it here on Friday Night Jukebox, "She Talks in Stereo" isn't likely to go on any best singles of all-time lists, but it's still a hell of a pop song.  Featuring an 80's new wave vibe with a hint of jangly guitars and plenty of synthesizers, the song is a paean to the early days of a love relationship--and how the voice of a lover can sound like the lilts of angels.  The chorus is about as catchy as a chorus can get and Myricks staccato vocals do just enough to capture the rapture of being in love.  Sweet emotion, indeed--all courtesy of an infectious piece of pop pie.

Lyric Sheet:  "Slippin' slidin' we go drivin' by/And I can hear her say/ My baby says hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCLXXXV--The Babys: Isn't It Time?

 Fitting that the week my youngest son graduates from high school, Friday Night Jukebox is featuring a tune from the year I graduated....

The Babys formed in London, England in 1974 and a mere two years later had released their first album.  Though the band had a couple of top forty hits and developed a good reputation for their live shows, their disappointment at not having more commercial success drove the band to an early demise, and they broke up in 1981.  For their career, The Babys released six albums and nine singles.  Lead singer John Waite went on to have a #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist, and with three other members of The Babys formed the supergroup Bad English (which also had a number one hit in America).  In 2013 two original members of The Babys reformed the band and they continue to perform, having released their last album in 2014.

Fun Fact:  The Babys featured a backing vocal group known as The Babettes, which contained singers from gospel icon Andrae Crouch's backing band The Disciples.

"Isn't It Time" was the first single released from their 1977 album Broken Hearts.  The single was the first of two for The Babys to peak at #13 (with a bullet!) in the United States (it did hit number one in Australia--so many cools kids Down Under!), while the album reached #34 on the Billboard 200.

In the hands of many, "Isn't It Time" could have been just another love ballad (and to some it might still be....), but The Babys took the song one step beyond by incorporating the best of the 70's with the best of gospel.  Accompanied by a stark piano, Waite opens with a sultry confession before The Babettes (and the rest of the band) kick in with some good old-fashioned rock and roll.  The back and forth between Waite and The Babettes for the rest of the song--with an assist from the drums--really makes the song a cut (so to speak) above the normal fare, though I freely admit that being one whose formative music years were spent in the seventies might help a bit, too.

Lyric Sheet:  "I've finally found the answers/To the questions that keep going through my mind/Hey babe!/Isn't it time?...

Enjoy:

Republican = Traitor

Peace,

emaycee