PANNING FOR GOLD: The BLOG

BILLY SATELLITE was formed in Oakland, CA in 1983 and found some minor FM airplay during 1984 with their eponymous debut release. The album spawned the single, "Satisfy Me," which stayed in the charts for 6 weeks, reaching it's peak at #64. However, the B-side to "Rockin' Down The Highway" would prove to be the evergreen track on the album - "I Wanna Go Back" was later covered in 1986 by Eddie Money and enjoyed a peak of #14 on Billboard's Hot 100 List. Founding member Dan Chauncey went on to join .38 Special in 1987. Recognizing previous success with a Byrom/Chauncey penned tune, Eddie Money once more coveredBilly Satellite with "Satisfy Me" on his 1999 album, "Ready Eddie. "

Along with his brother Johnny Winter, EDGAR WINTER is legendary...a pillar of rock n roll history, particularly with his Edgar Winter Group classic LP, "They Only Come Out At Night" which showcased talents of a young Rick Derringer, Ronnie Montrose and Dan Hartman, all of whom would go on to carve notable careers of their own. However in 1986, Edgar Winter (sans Derringer, Montrose, and Hartman) joined forces with Scientologist and author L. Ron Hubbard to create the concept album, "Mission Earth." In essence, this rock music project could be considered the audio equivalent to the cinematic project, Battlefield Earth with John Travolta. Both were commercial and critical flops and both were spearheaded by L. Ron Hubbard. The musical content found on Mission Earth is experimental pop, ambitious for it's time and very different for other things happening in rock music at the time.

 


SPYS debut, self titled album finds ex-Foreigners Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi ready to rock, fresh from alienation from Foreigner, the band they helped establish. The album is a solid effort and deserves attention. It features solid AOR tracks, three of them found rotation among radio programming, "Don't Run My Life," "She Can't Wait," and "Into The Night," not to be confused with an Ace Frehley track of the same name. The sci-fi cover art begs translation, however that won't be found among the liner notes or the 10 tracks on the record. A follow-up record, BEHIND ENEMY LINES received a flat response from listeners and the subsequent end of the band.

 


In the early 80's, record companies just couldn't sign enough hair metal rockers to contracts fast enough. For every successful band stood 200 in it's wake who never made it. Such was the case with HEAVY PETTIN. Despite an LP cover concept sure to snare many young lads, the album suffered terribly from poor production and songs that were musically bankrupt. To this day, I continue to pull it off the shelf once every couple of years to see if I hear anything remotely redeeming about the music. Again in 2010, the answer is still "not really." I want this to be a good record. But like gi-normous, homely fat chicks, it just isn't very appealing, even after 12 - 14 beers. However, having said all that about this record, it holds a special place on the shelf (right between Heaven's Basement and Helix).

 

This is an interesting ASIA album, one of many live releases from the band, but one that features the original line-up, save for Greg Lake replacing John Wetton. Lake's vocals are surprisingly good and an appropriate substitution for Wetton. The setlist is from the first ASIA tour, with a limited number of original songs to their credit at that time. The sound quality is good and very nice cover art, considering the fly-by-night UK record label.
 

When you talk about a band called Arc Angel, people automatically think of Arcangels, a Texas-based, blues/rock group that included the late Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm section plus Doyle Branhall II and Charlie Sexton. In 1983, long before the Texans formed their group, Jeff Cannata had a melodic rock outfit called Arc Angel out of New Haven, Connecticut. The group produced one full length, eponymous LP, which featured the single, "Tragedy." The balance of the record does not sound at all on par with the single and was considered a failure in the US. Abroad, however, the album did relatively well in Europe.