Rocks In The Attic #140: Simple Minds - ‘Once Upon A Time’ (1985)

Shouldn’t a U2 tribute act actually play U2 songs? What’s the point otherwise?

Hit: Alive And Kicking

Hidden Gem: Sanctify Yourself 

Rocks In The Attic #83: Thompson Twins - ‘Here’s To Future Days’ (1985)

Just before I started the Rocks In The Attic blog, I had a clear-out of my vinyl collection and took anything I would never listen to down to the charity shop. There was quite a bit of stuff - mainly 80s compilations, like the Now That’s What I Call Music series and some Heavy Metal compilations with the likes of Saxon and other similarly-titled bands on them.

In that pile of records destined for the charity shop was this album, plus its predecessor, Into The Gap. I hadn’t listened to either record - in fact I don’t think I know any songs by the Thompson Twins, or at least none that I could associate the band with. I saved these two albums because I happened to notice on the back of this one that it was produced by Nile Rodgers.

This album comes with a free five track record of remixes - which I actually prefer to the actual album, as the material sounds a bit more direct and to-the-point than the songs on the album.

On listening to this record, I think I made the right decision by saving it from the charity shop. Donating this horrific record wouldn’t have been very charitable.

Hit: King For A Day

Hidden Gem: Alice (Remix)

Rocks In The Attic #41: Aerosmith - ‘Done With Mirrors’ (1985)

This was supposedly Aerosmith’s comeback album - their first with Joe Perry and Brad Whitford back in the band, and their first on Geffen records - the glitzy record label that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the 1980s. Unfortunately for everybody involved, they would have to wait another two years to release their real comeback album - Permanent Vacation - an album that rightfully put them back at the top of the tree.

This isn’t a bad album, it’s just poorly produced (by Doobie Brothers and Van Halen producer Ted Templeman). It feels very flat - and while the sound is very clear, there’s nothing special to grab your attention. This would have been the first studio album that Aerosmith would have released on compact disc, and possibly they were so taken with the new technology that they forgot to actually make a decent album.

The other thing this album has to work against is the fact that some bright spark at the record label decided to get creative with the name of the album. On its release, all text on the sleeve including the name of the album - and even the name of the band - was printed in reverse, and could be read normally by holding up to a mirror. Now I like this, it’s something different, but I’m very aware that a large proportion of rock fans tend to be cerebrally challenged - so this surely would have been commercial suicide. It’s okay when you’re the biggest band in the world and you put out a record without your name on it (eg. Led Zeppelin IV), but if you’re on the comeback trail it might make a bit more sense to actually make it loud and clear who you are.

David Geffen really must have started rubbing his hands with glee during the 1980s. Not only did he have Aerosmith on his new record label by 1985 - but he’d very soon have Guns ‘N Roses joining them, and after that Nirvana. There used to be a time when I could quite happily pigeon-hole an Aerosmith album as good or questionable depending on which label the record was on. Records on their original label Columbia were mostly good, while the stuff on Geffen was always questionable. This no longer works however, as they went back to Columbia in 1997 and have released mainly rubbish ever since.

Hit: Let The Music Do The Talking

Hidden Gem: Shela