Good Weird Feeling (©1995 WEA)

Truth Untold / Smokescreen (Come And Get Me) / Radios Of Heaven / I Would Be Your Man / Satisfied / Break The Bed / Oh Sorrow Oh Shame / Eat My Brain / The Last Drink / Anybody Else But Me / Mercy To Go / Leave It There / We'll Talk

One of best quirky pop bands to never be as successful as they deserved. In their home and native land they did pretty well, and achieved a pretty solid following. They’re a great pop rock act who can really put together a pop song. They can be unfairly compared a little to a band like The Rembrandts, but there’s more to them. The boy's have got a pretty healthy sense of humour too. This album is full of great songs, my favourite being the moody "I Would Be Your Man".

Reviewed March 8, 2002

Guitars(©1999)

1. Muse 2. Cochise 3. Embers 4. Summit Day 5. Out of Sight 6. B. Blues 7. Four Winds 8. Enigmatism 9. Out of Mind 10. From the Ashes

When I was a kid my uncle Lloyd played Tubular Bells for me and my cousins, and although I only really remembered to opened sequence it stuck with me. Then in later years I would get a fair amount of his work, and although some of it is brilliant, there’s a lot of crap to wade through at times to find the nuggets.

Mike’s guitar work, at times is stunning, and other times it leaves me stunned – this is the work of a master? So I was a little unsure how to approach his Guitars release. The first thing that stands out is that this is ten compositions that range from the beautiful to the not so pretty - all of them performed on the guitar including the synth and percussion (which is kind of cool, but cheese is cheese whatever the delivery system).

The biggest annoyance is when Mike “rocks out” – his guitar sounds like it’s plugged straight into the console and the brittle bright distortion has no meat or substance. It’s simply a shrill dentist drill to the brain. He does employ some basic drum programming on occasion which serves to flesh out the sound – my biggest wish for many of Mike’s compositions is that I wish he’d employed an amazing drummer or percussionist to add that missing layer to some of his work.

But for the most part, Guitars feels like something a competent player would create at home in his basement. Layers of guitars, some cool, some irritating. However, who’s to argue with a formula that has made the Mike Oldfield one of the most famous musicians on the face of the planet?

While this doesn’t work for me all the way through – there are some wonderful pieces that make this collection worth listening to now and again.

Reviewed September 9, 2008

How Bizarre (©1996 Polygram)

Tracks: On The Run / How Bizarre / Never Coming Back / Breaking My Heart / Angel In Disguise / Lingo With The Gringo / Land Of Plenty / Right On / Pours Out Your Eyes / She Loves Italian

This is a weird little album I bought because, because, uh – because How Bizarre was a song my wife liked, and I was trying to show her I could listen to stuff she liked too. Now let me be fair here – this isn’t really a bad album. There are a few pretty good songs here. I like the songs Glenn Campbell (yes that Glenn Campbell. Yet another of my guitar heroes. When I was a kid I wanted to be Glenn Campbell my mom would comb my hair like his - I was too cool) plays on.

Of course there’s the catchy title song too. The whole album is a fun mix of acoustic pop mixed with a dance beat. Pauly Fuemana isn’t much of a singer, but he’s having fun. This makes it to the player once in a while, and that’s Bizarre.

Reviewed June 7, 2002

LIVE – Blow The House Down (©1992 Myrrh / Word)

The songs: Prelude: Green Acres Theme / Take a Look At Yourself / Hey Punk / Smash the Guitar / I Scream Sunday / Red River / Judas Kiss / Cut Your Hair / Bowl of Wrath / Isaiah 6 / Let's Be Frank / Altar Ego / Swine Flew / Godarchy / Kosher / Ice Cream Sundae / Looney Tune / Rock The Casbah / Never Forget the Cross

Hmm. Live albums usually aren’t the best introduction to a band you’ve never heard before. Now to be fair, I’m not the biggest punk fan in the world, although I like Green Jelly, and The Dead Milkmen. It’s just not my favourite style. So, as you would expect this live effort fell flat for me. But, let me point out the plusses. This band would be a hoot to see. Their energy level is almost palpable, and you can tell these guys are having a great time, and are serious about what they’re doing. Sonically, this is a fair to middling effort, which means the boys didn’t fiddle fart around and try and make with a “studio” live record. Still try as I may, I don’t really like this one.

Reviewed March 8, 2002

Orion The Hunter (©1984, 1996 Razor & Tie)

The songs: All Those Years / So You Ran / Dreamin' / Dark And Stormy / Stand Up / Fast Talk / Too Much In Love / Joanne / I Call It Love

Life is a strange thing for poor Barry Goudreau. No matter what he does, he's compared to his past work with Boston. I remember when this one first came out, there was a little sticker on the LP (remember those) proudly stating that Barry Goudrea from BOSTON was part of this band. Apparently Tom didn't like that ploy - and threatened legal action of some kind. As a result the record company stopped pushing the album and it died. Thankfully there were enough people who remembered this one to warrant a CD reissue.

The only song that remotely sounded like Boston was All Those Years (a great tune) which featured backing vocals by Brad Delp (which would explain the Boston comparisons). Otherwise all of the vocals were handled by Fran Cosmo who also cowrote all of the songs. He really shines here. Barry handles the guitars, and does a great job. The songs are solid 80's rockers, with the occasional power ballad thrown in. This is a pretty good album, that has seen a lot of recent play on my stereo. Worth picking up if you miss good straight ahead rock and roll.

Reviewed March 15, 2002

Born Again (©2001 Word)

1: You Make Me Feel 2: I See Love 3: Tomorrow's Sun 4: Use Me 5: Born Again 6: Something New 7: Beautiful 8: Broken 9: Shine 10: Liberty

I love surprises. Especially nice surprises. So imagine my surprise when I bring this one home (I found it on sale in a bin, and took a chance) and it's chock full of big hooks, crunchy guitars, and a dash of latin funk.

The lead of track is probably the one that fuels any Ricky Martin comparisons, mainly because it was written by the once nearly ubiquitous Desmond Child - who penned that Livin' Loco song. For some people that'll be reason enough to dismiss Pete as Martin lite, which is wrong, wrong wrong (did I mention that's wrong?). Jack Blades, of Shaw Blades, Damn Yankees fame co-wrote I See Love, which is once of many solid songs on the album.

I knew this guy's name from somewhere but it took the longest time for me to place him.

Petra.

Holy kermole, this dude used to be their lead guitar player. Well, this was definitely not Petra, however for those who like to make anagrams Pete Orta has petra buried in there someplace.

He's got an appealing voice, a good hook with the pen, and the production is top notch.

What a great surprise. Why in heaven's name was this in a bin?

Reviewed September 3, 2003

Big Innings (©1996)

1. Voices Of Babylon 2. For You 3. Your Love 4. It Should Have Been Me 5. Say It Isn't So 6. Winning It All 7. Everytime You Cry 8. Through The Years 9. The Night Ain't Over 10. Closer To Me 11. Somewhere In America '89 12. My Paradise 13. All The Love 14. Alone With You 15. Since You've Been Gone 16. One Hot Country

I was listening to "Your Love" the other day and it got me thinking about these guys. Back in the day I had their first couple of releases on vinyl, and then more or less lost sight of them. I'd always enjoyed them as a decent pop band that really struck a chord with me, but never stuck with me.

The band features the vocals Tony Lewis, a guy who sounds a lot like Sting and Jon Anderson run through a blender, and the guitar stylings of John Spinks - a sparse player whose song structures owed more than a passing nod to Andy Summers. However, when you hear a song by The Outfield, there's not confusing their sound for anyone else - they managed to carve out their own niche, and actually not sound like every other band out there at the time.

Of course for the casual fan, the big hits from their triple platinum debut will be enough: "Your Love","Say it Isn't So", "All the Love" and "Everytime You Cry". However, the guys managed a few hits from their other releases before more or less falling out of the public eye. Of the songs here, I was impressed by how many really good songs the band pulled off. It's interesting to note that in their home and native land the band never really caught on like they did throughout the rest of the world.

This album was is really quite good. It's fun for the nostalgia it brings to the table, and it also stands on its own as a decent pop record.

Reviewed March 13, 2008