Learning to like ourselves again (Blam Blam Blam) (LP 2322 - 2328)

ABC The Lexicon Of Love (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1982) ***  

Pat Benatar Precious Time (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1981) ****  

Pat Benatar Live From Earth (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1983) ****  

Blam Blam Blam Luxury Length (Vinyl, Propeller Records, 1982) ***** 

Blondie Blondie (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1976) ***   

Graham Brazier Inside Out (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1981) ***   

Lindsey Buckingham Law And Order (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1981) ***   

Genre: Pop rock 

Places I remember: Catch up on albums I missed in the A to Cs.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Billy Bold (Graham Brazier)

Gear costume: Don't Fight It Marsha, It's Bigger Than Both Of Us (Blam Blam Blam)

Active compensatory factors: Nothing much screams 1982 more than ABC's Lexicon of Love - their debut album. Martin Fry and troops hit one out of the park right off the bat!

Normally I have issues with the eighties synth, Linn drums and attendant production mores (yes - talking 'bout you Trevor Horn), but I'll make an exception for a few, and ABC are one.

The big hits were of course The Look Of Love and Poison Arrow but the rest of the album holds up to scrutiny in 2024. I love Tears For Fears, and a lot of this album reminds me of them.

Pat Benatar is a fav of mine. All those guitar anthems!! Precious Time was her third album and had the big hits Fire And Ice and Promises In The Dark but it has a number of great tracks like the tuff reggae of It's A Tuff Life, Hard To Believe, and a very creditable version of the Fabs' Helter Skelter.

The Live From Earth set (great title!) is Pat at her performance peak - full of energy and great moves. My only quibble is those damned synths - wrecking the party a tad. Just a slight quibble - each song is done superbly.

The album ends with two studio tracks - the mega seller Love Is A Battlefield and Lipstick Lies. Two great tracks.

Highlights aplenty on this one but if push came to shove I'd go for the live version of Hit Me With Your Best Shot - taken at pace!

Blam Blam Blam are a NZ institution.  Tim Mahon (bass) and Mark Bell (guitar, vocals) joined up with Don McGlashan on drums and lead vocals. Don, of course went on to solo success after Front Lawn and The Mutton Birds.

The Blams sound a lot like Nu Zild's answer to Talking Heads on this album. It's full of great ideas/ rhythms and songs.

The first Blondie album is a ripper of a start for the band. I don't hear much of a punk influence on it, instead it sounds more like a sixties girl group beach blanket bingo festival to my ears. Which I love!

I can hear the influence of Shadow Morton and the Shangri-Las on Debbie and Chris Stein etc.

Graham Brazier was the lead singer and rebel without a cause in Hello Sailor and then The Legionnaires. Famously, his mum owned a secondhand bookshop in Dominion Rd where I bought a lot of books!

Inside Out is his debut solo album. Sadly, he'd only make a couple more before he passed away in 2015 from a heart attack.

Inside Out is notable for some tough NZ sounds - Graham sounds like the real rock star deal throughout. And, of course, it houses his big moment - Billy Bold, which is included in the top 100 NZ songs list. Obviously Brazier thought a lot of the song - it's the only one whose lyrics are printed on the inside cover.

Most of DD Smash and Hello Sailor play on the album and they do a great job. Dave McArtney and Brazier as producers also do a creditable job. The whole album holds together well and hasn't dated much.

Law And Order is also Buckingham's debut solo album, also from 1981. He can always be relied upon to find some nifty quirky hooks and that's certainly the case on Law And Order. 

The big moment was Trouble, helped by Mick Fleetwood's drumming (elsewhere Lindsey plays all the instruments pretty much), but the rest of the album also sparkles.

Where do they all belong? A further catch up impending.