The Temptations - "House Party" (1975)

I have a theory that the Temptations and other prime Motown acts of the 1960s are the most immune to criticism of any popular music acts. Not only do pop critics shy away from discussing them in terms of their best and worst material, and how they rank historically, they're not even really part of the conversation. My suspicion is that it's because of how they were presented. No one thinks of the Temptations in terms of albums, but rather in terms of their hit singles, which, like the best of the Motown era, are all immaculate, if by necessity formulaic. It is taken for granted that these were not album-oriented artists (with the exception of artists like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, who to release great albums, had to break free from the Motown yoke). As a result, bands like the Temptations are largely unassailable, even though their artistic achievements as a whole pale compared to the colorful discographies of a Gaye or a Wonder.

This is all my lead-in to defending my decision to consign a Temptations album to the blue bin. Fortunately, I don't have to defend this one too much because even band member Otis Williams referred to House Party as "a mismatched collection of, pardon my French, shit" (thanks Wikipedia!). The year was 1975, the Temptations' classic style of balladry was no longer in vogue, and the album was a collection of outtakes and leftovers to keep product moving. So perhaps it's not surprising that this particular record didn't turn out very well. Still, I did feel a rare twinge of guilt when I realized that I was not enjoying the music of the Temptations. 

There are a lot of problems here, but the main one is that the Temptations present themselves as a funk band, which just isn't their forte. Although the album starts off reasonably well, I found the instrumentation to be robotic on even the best songs, the production to be muddled, and the vocal performances generally weak and uninspired. There are some decent cuts to be found like "You Can't Stop a Man in Love" and the album closes relatively strongly with a return to their ballad style for the last two tracks. But even on these songs, pretty much the only ones with noticeable hooks and melodies, the performances fail to hold my interest. So although this record is professional enough to avoid being a total disaster, it's still a mediocre album.

Loverboy - "Loverboy" (1980)

I admit that it's a bit hard to take a band called Loverboy very seriously, especially when their most notable single is "Workin' for the Weekend" and their trademark is poppy hard rock. Still, I have no problem calling this a good mediocre album. Though I'm not sure it was much of an accomplishment, this album foreshadowed bands like Def Leppard and Bon Jovi with its combination of glossy production and hard rock guitars. Indeed, producer Bruce Fairbairn was later known for his work with exactly those kinds of bands (and producing Aerosmith's 'holy trinity' of terrible albums in the late 80s/early 90s. 

Although this style later paved the way for hair metal and lurid videos with Steven Tyler and Alicia Silverstone, there is nothing inherently wrong with it. The first side of this record consists of pretty much all winners, showcasing catchy and exciting pop choruses, histrionic but not unendearing singing, and a lot of verve and energy in the playing. The instrumentation is energetic enough throughout the record that the cheesiness can be forgiven, and their hard rock influences not forgotten, thus ensuring that this record is a lot better than much of the dreck that it spawned. I can't give a resounding endorsement because even the best songs here are still cheesy and the second side really adds nothing to the first, repeating in the same style with weaker hooks. But it's definitely a keeper.

Terje Rypdal - "Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away" (1974)

Continuing in my fine tradition of reviewing random jazz records, tonight I found myself grappling with what I would label as progressive jazz-classical-fusion, spearheaded by Norwegian electric guitarist Terje Rypdal. Although I am still not entirely sure what to make of this kind of music, I largely found Rypdal's guitar playing compelling. He has a unique guitar tone; soaring and high-pitched like a David Gilmour, but at the same time, gruff and far more technically proficient. I liked it personally, but I would be remiss not to mention the fact that my girlfriend couldn't abide by the dissonant squeals that Rypdal wrenches from his instrument at times. In short, this kind of music could work as background music, but only if you are weird like me.

For me, although I found the first side to be rather good (especially the one 'short' track "The Hunt"), the side-long title track came off to me as boring, despite being perhaps the only song I have ever heard to fuse jazz, rock and classical all at the same time (indeed it was arranged for electric guitar, strings, and oboe). The result of all this fusion is rather slow to develop, but once I thought of it as basically an ambient piece, I did find it more enjoyable. Ultimately, this is no doubt an interesting record and tonally not far from the deep blue sky depicted on the album cover.

Elton John - "Rock of the Westies" (1975)

Embarrassing cover photography aside, Elton John was still on the tail end of his prime in 1975. Rock of the Westies is something of a throwaway record, and for the most part, it lacks the epic balladry that he is most known for (exception being the pretty good "I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)"). But that said, his songwriting skills hadn't yet slipped, so although this album has no grander ambitions than to be a collection of mildly enjoyable rock songs, it succeeds in that regard. There is more of an emphasis on guitars than piano, and although it's hardly a hard rock album, this record is ample proof that there was a time when Elton had some rock credentials. I considered a lower rating for all the pictures of the band members on the album sleeve with their long hair and bare chests, but I had to be honest with myself and admit that I too would totally have gone for that look in the mid-70s.

10cc - "Deceptive Bends" (1977)

I haven't listened to a ton of 10cc, and the reputation of Deceptive Bends is that it is not one of their peak albums. Still, I found this to be a largely enjoyable record, if not a great one. At their best, 10cc combined immaculate pop hooks with a thirst for the unexpected - their songs often shift and mutate throughout the course of three and four minutes. In following this formula, if you can call it a formula, they were working the tradition of the best 1960s pop bands, although perhaps only because they came later on, their stylistic moves can feel forced and studied compared to the natural thrills of bands like the Beatles.

There is really nothing to gripe about with a beautiful pop single like "The Things We Do for Love," though, and there are several interesting and inventive highlights here. My main criticism is that this album is inconsistent, and although they get away with a softer number with the aforementioned "Things," they try their hand at one again with "People in Love" and just come off like a slightly more melodic Seals and Crofts. Apparently this sort of thing foreshadowed the rest of their career, which was not one to write home about. But they hadn't jumped into that abyss yet, and Definite Bends is still a good album. 

The Who - "Face Dances" (1981)

I should start this review by saying that I think The Who are either the third or fourth best musical act of the rock era, period. Quadrophenia is in my top ten albums of all time and Live at Leeds is by far, the best live rock album that I know of. But good things don't last forever, and by 1981, Keith Moon was no longer alive and the Who were largely washed up. Still, with expectations appropriately set, I (mostly) enjoyed Face Dances. There are a lot of flaws with the album, undoubtedly. The production fails to distinguish the instruments, so the guitar, bass and drums all blend together, a travesty for a band like the Who. Even worse, Roger Daltrey's singing is horrible throughout, lacking the raw power that he was known for in the 70s.

Still, I will keep this album in my collection because although they could have been performed and arranged better, most of the songs here are good, at least in an embryonic state. Pete Townshend's songwriting abilities had declined, but he hadn't completely lost his mastery of hooks. Plus, there is one Who classic in opening track "You Better You Bet," which although somewhat dorky, can't help but bring a smile to my face. I definitely wouldn't blame someone for giving this record a thumbs down rating, but for me, the positives ever so slightly outweigh the negatives. That said, this one sure doesn't make me excited to listen to It's Hard, their last studio album, and by all accounts, an even weaker effort.

Kenny Loggins - "High Adventure" (1982)

This is one of two Kenny Loggins albums that I own (the other being Nightwatch), and my general reaction to each was about the same. Loggins has a powerful, if histrionic tenor voice and aims for a middle of the road rock sound. His lyrics are shallow, motivational tripe and his songs are simplistic with overwrought guitar solos. Still, on his best singles ("Danger Zone"), he does manage to achieve a certain cheesy appeal. On both albums, I enjoyed three or four songs, but ultimately had to conclude that the bad outweighed the good.

For what it's worth, this is probably the slightly better of the two records with at least four songs, that although dumb, are still enjoyably hooky (for the sake of posterity, these are the leading two tracks on each side in this case). On Nightwatch, Loggins tried his hand at a longer, prog-influenced song, which failed miserably, and on this album, he keeps everything short and sweet. Unfortunately, he ends each side of the album with a string-backed ballad and although the consistent level of cheese is somewhat tolerable when Loggins is rocking, it is unbearable when he tries his hand at ballads. So in the end, this is a blue bin record, and I have to say that Loggins is one of those artists for whom a greatest hits compilation would be more than sufficient.