This is a fairly straight-ahead rocker with a well-defined beat, which some have called the Connells' best song. My favourite thing about it is that snaking guitar line which lies in behind the vocals in the first verse, and then starts to repeat an octave higher in the second, but quickly changes direction. Very inventive! It reminds me of the shorter guitar line that leads into the chorus on "Upside Down" from their previous LP "Fun and Games".
This LP seemed to see the band influenced by grunge and moving in a direction featuring a harder guitar sound, but I don't think it was an improvement at all, and I do have most of their CDs ...
This is a very lively track that was produced by Bob Crewe, of Four Seasons fame (and who just might be my favourite producer of all time). It utilizes piano triplets, horns, clattering drums, and great lead and backing vocals to make a typically tight '60s track where not a moment is wasted. And it's in 6/8 time, which means it can sound straightforward but with a bit of "swing" to it, meanwhile some of the drum fills can hit on every second beat rather than every third one. There really hasn't been a better song out of Canada in these past 40 years ...
available on CD - Made in Canada Vol. 1 1960-1970 (RCA)
Ellen Foley is best known for being the foil to Meat Loaf on "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" (and for a season on the TV show "Night Court"). This track which opens her first LP "Nightout" is a thunderous roar that rivals Phil Spector's wall of sound like little else. It starts quietly enough with piano motifs and an organ backing, but really cranks it up in time for the chorus. Ian Hunter and the late Mick Ronson produced. Repeat after me: bombast is good!
from Nightout (Epic) available on CD - The Very Best Of Ellen Foley (Columbia)
Grobschnitt were a German progressive rock band that specialized in a rather frothy style with plenty of lead guitar work that is light rather than heavy. This track kicks off what is probably their best-known LP "Rockpommel's Land", and it's the prettiest eleven minutes you've ever heard! Ostensibly it tells the story of a boy named Ernie and a bird called Maraboo that's carrying some beer bottles, was smoking a pipe and was lit contrary to regulations. The whole LP is excellent!
from Rockpommel's Land (Brain), available on CD (Brain)
Most so-called "progressive rock" was really progressive pop, but not this track, which does rock out and which has a great big guitar hook (you'll know it when you hear it), which resolves several different ways within the song, i.e. the band were creative. It kicks off the last of their big three LPs ("Jumbo" and "Rockpommel's Land" were the first two), and according to the liner notes was a concert favourite.