Tracks: Don't Expect to Be Right / Any Other Woman / Emily Davison / Try Try to Fall in Love / Kid from Louieville / Worse or Better / He Will Break Your Heart / What Goes On / Satisfied / Why Don't You Try Me
The cover showed the singer/songwriter standing in front of the record store where he worked at the time, and the music inside made for a respectable introduction to the artist's brand of poppy rock (Worse or Better), with a dash of folk (the pretty cover of Cooker's, Try Try to Fall in Love). The repetition can work against it in spots (Any Other Woman, which is not a bad tune, it just needed something to break it up).
Story song Emily Davison is based on a true tale, and has a nursey-rhyme like cadence, which makes for a fascinating blend of music and lyric. The mellow stroll of a tune, Kid from Louieville is the highlight, though with its 5:23 runtime, it overstays its welcome.
Tracks: Love Made a Fool of You / Island / Last of Me / Real Big Man / Politics / Hurt So Bad / For You / If You Be My Love / Madison Avenue / Untie My Hands
Greg's second time at bat was a step forward. This rates among my favorites from Kihn. And I don't know if it was due to working with an indie label with a smaller budget, but there's something about the quality of the overall sound - it's professionally played and produced, but not overly slick, it had a unique tone to it that I liked.
The melodies and overall songwriting are tighter, more memorable. The pretty ballads, Last of Me (love that cool cascading bass/guitar line) and If You Be My Love, which boasts sweet harmonies and superb melodies, and structures, are standouts. Greg's in fine voice, both dramatic and smooth (see Politics, for one), Larry Lynch's rolling drum pattern add character to Politics, and he and Steve Wright's bass work on Hurt So Bad help make that a winner. Dave Carpender plays a mean guitar on the closing instrumental and is an asset throughout (his lovely lead riff on Hurt So Bad, for another) - also, former guitarist Robbie Dunbar is present (and excellent) on the Springsteen cover, For You.
Finally, that album cover would be troublesome today, might have been troublesome in '77, but I was fascinated by it, it didn't seem to have anything to do with the contents inside. Island has a Jamaican tenor, but that's the only tune that travels to other lands (Greg says he has an interesting story about this, but so far, he hasn't shared it as far as I know).
The melodies and overall songwriting are tighter, more memorable. The pretty ballads, Last of Me (love that cool cascading bass/guitar line) and If You Be My Love, which boasts sweet harmonies and superb melodies, and structures, are standouts. Greg's in fine voice, both dramatic and smooth (see Politics, for one), Larry Lynch's rolling drum pattern add character to Politics, and he and Steve Wright's bass work on Hurt So Bad help make that a winner. Dave Carpender plays a mean guitar on the closing instrumental and is an asset throughout (his lovely lead riff on Hurt So Bad, for another) - also, former guitarist Robbie Dunbar is present (and excellent) on the Springsteen cover, For You.
Finally, that album cover would be troublesome today, might have been troublesome in '77, but I was fascinated by it, it didn't seem to have anything to do with the contents inside. Island has a Jamaican tenor, but that's the only tune that travels to other lands (Greg says he has an interesting story about this, but so far, he hasn't shared it as far as I know).
Tracks: Cold Hard Cash / Museum / Remember / Chinatown / Sorry / Everybody Else / Undertsander / Secret Meetings
Kicks ass right out of the gate, with Greg belting out the line "Gimme Gimme My Money" (akin -cough- aKihn to Spinal Tap's, "Gimme Some Money?" lol) No covers here, all the tracks were written by Greg, and they frequently smoke - the fast and furious Museum is marked by frantic drumming, screaming lead guitar, power popping melodies and sharp harmony, and later, Chinatown hits hard and heavy with electrifying instrumental play.
It cools down a bit with a 12-string opening for Remember, a near 7-minute jazzy masterpiece, that according to Khin's website, had to be recorded live in one take, due to its complex arrangement. Carpender and Khin's deft finger picking is elaborate and gorgeous, equally laudable are Wright and Lynch's contributions. If I were to make a list of the band's greatest songs, this would easily rank at the top spot.
The second half introduces some Beatle-esque pop rock (Sorry, Everybody Else) and Understander blends both - it has some thumping, echoing drum, and impressive Byrds-like vocals.
Arguably the bands finest hour, in under an hour (it runs 36 min).
That eye grabbing cover art was done by Michael Zagaris
Tracks: Rendezvous / In the Naked Eye / Getting Away with Murder / Moulin Rouge / Beside Myself / Roadrunner / Another Lonely Saturday Night / Can't Have the Highs (Without the Lows) / Fallen Idol
The first LP released as the Greg Kihn Band treads along a comfortable pop-rock pathway and apart from Moulin Rouge, rarely strays from that. There's nothing bad about this (aside from the hilariously melodramatic Fallen Idol, which makes me wince), only, it doesn't deliver on the promise of the previous release. The rockers aren't as enduring or endearing, and it never takes you somewhere different, the way Remember did. So no, it's not a creative leap forward, but for energetic happiness etched on vinyl, this does the job. It's an innocuous collection of listenable, likeable rock, well performed and sung.
Note: Larry Lynch sings his own Can't Have the Highs, I believe that's the first without Greg as the lead singer, but it won't be the last.
Note: Larry Lynch sings his own Can't Have the Highs, I believe that's the first without Greg as the lead singer, but it won't be the last.
Tracks: Castaway / Desire Me / Anna Belle Lee / Things to Come / Small Change / The Only Dance There Is / The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / Serenade Her / Night After Night / For Your Love
Kihn enters the 80s with a harder sound, and a keyboard (played by Gary Phillips). The bass/keys combo rumbles on songs like Desire Me and the beautiful, mid-tempo ballad Anna Belle Lee.
The album ratchets up with the finger snapping boogie of Things to Come, Carpender's fuzz guitar opens the bluesey The Only Dance; so, there's a variety of styles married to the groups power pop.
Greg shares vocal duties with bassist Steve Wright and drummer Larry Lynch on tracks 7, 9 & 10. They're fine, but Kihn's smokey, scratchy vocals are always preferred, and the release suffers a slight slump in this section, though not fatally so. All in all, it's a good, solid listen, with several peaks.
Note: From here on we no longer see Greg on the Beserkley covers, and while this has nice color and design, I can't tell if that gloved hand is pointing or flipping us off? HaHa.
RocKihnRoll (June 1981)
Tracks: Valerie / The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) / Womankind / Can't Stop Hurting Myself / Trouble in Paradise / Sheila / Nothing's Gonna Change / The Girl Most Likely / When the Music Starts / True Confessions
Power Pop at its power Poppiest! Greg has covered Buddy Holly in the past, and covers Tommy Roe's Holly-like Sheila here, so that's the vibe on his 6th release, that's the vibe you get from the opener, Valerie, and the following number.
Yeah, The Breakup Song, that was a game changer for Kihn. It received steady radio play, and was his highest charting single to that point, climbing all the way to the 15th slot on the Billboard Hot 100. Every piece of that song, from the "Uh-Uh-Uh's" to the guitar riff and keys, and chorus, are the epitome of an 'ear worm'.
For me, the strength of the release is those first 4 numbers; the rest of the album is good (When the Music Starts is a standout on the second side), but the fantastic four are on a whole other level. That said, if you're craving finely crafted tunes with hooks galore, you can't go wrong with either side of RocKihnRoll.
Oh, and cool cut-out art for the cover.
Kihntinued (1982)
Tracks: Happy Man / Every Love Song / Everyday/Saturday / Dedication / Tell Me Lies / Testify / Sound System / Seeing is Believing / Higher and Higher / Family
While Happy Man (which they did a music video for) seems to signal a repeat of the style of the previous release, this one quickly goes down its own path, a little funkier (Every Love Song), a little Reggae-ish (Tell Me Lies), a little New Wavey (Everyday/Saturday) with a little mix of each (Sound System).
It is interesting how several tunes lock onto these ostinatos, usually provided by Steve Wrights bass, and keep to a steady tempo and structure. (Overall Kihn's not a big bridge guy, and while I think certain songs could benefit from such detours, he tends to stay the course.) There's some good, groovy stuff here, with my favorites being the foot tapping first, and the laid back last (Family), though there's a sameness in tempo and style that undercuts the overall effectiveness of the whole. Still, I appreciate that the band didn't want to rest on its laurels.
Sadly, this will be guitarist Dave Carpender's last album with the band.
Tracks: Jeopardy / Fascination / Tear That City Down / Talkin' to Myself / Can't Love Them All / I Fall to Pieces / Someday / Curious / How Long / Love Never Fails
Featured the bands only top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (landing at #2, behind the wall that was Michael Jackson's Beat It), Jeopardy is one groovy, danceable tune, it's easy to see why listeners ate it up and allowed it to rocket up the charts. The up-tempo, hook-leaden Fascination that followed wasn't bad, but it then settles into a series of nondescript numbers that were neither here nor there. okay, but unremarkable. My least favorite from the Beserkley era.
Greg Douglass takes over as the band's guitarist.
Tracks: Reunited / Rock / Make Up / Stand Together / Confrontation Music / One Thing About Love / Worst that Could Happen / Trouble with the Girl / Cheri Baby / Hard Times / Work, Work, Work
Oof, these puns - the album starts off with the winning staccato rock of Reunited, which was giving the music video treatment. The rest of the record features the repetitions he's been leaning in to, offers a few that have a funky feel, a bit of reggae (Confrontation Music, perhaps a tribute to Marley, who released an LP titled "Confrontation"?), and blue-eyed soul (Make-Up), these and the others are all good enough, but, aside from the first and Hard Times, don't thrill my ear the way his early releases did, it's "workmanlike rock", competent, but not elevating, and in truth it's not really my thing, I like pop-rock Greg, I like the folkier flavored Greg, but I'm losing interest in funky Greg.
End of an era: This will be the final album released by Beserkley, and marks the last time he'll record with Gary Phillips and founding member Larry Lynch.
And that's it for this stage of his career. There were further albums, so there could be a part 2, once/if I give them a go.
Post Beserkley studio releases (no compilations or live albums)
1985 Citizen Kihn / 1986 Love and Rock and Roll / 1992 Kihn of Hearts / 1994 Mutiny (used copies on disc, not streaming) / 1996 Horror Show (import CD only) / 2017 Rekihndled
The Essentials
1. Next of Kihn (the band at the peak of its creative powers)
2. Greg Kihn Again (With the addition of Carpender, the pieces are all in place)
3. RocKihnRoll (power pop that put the Greg Kihn Band on the map)
4. Greg Kihn (self-titled debut, to hear where it all started)
