Ok I unearthed a cassette of this from a PVC 45 cassette holder I must have bought circa 1989 - what happened to all my other tapes?? (nevermind - still got Deacon Blue - O Las Vegas and b-sides - ok who cringed?)
But what on earth is this 80s monstrosirty - Soul Provider - Michael Bolton, ok you may disagree with me describing it as a 'monstrosity' - maybe its an ALBAtrosity - but it all sounds somewhat (what word shall I use?) "icky" to me now - some of it is about staying together no matter what "damage we done" - yeah - good idea if someone's been married 5 years - but I bought this about the age of 17 or 18!! What possessed me to listen to it so much? Was it the simple romantic sentiments of Diane Warren and others - after all Britpop was much more cynical and sophisticate (excepting of course Sir Cliff and Chris DeBurgh and a few others who still crooned in the older manner).
But I have only myself to blame I suppose - I spoon fed myself this possibly weekly. Darn - Michael O'Martian you packaged these toxic-in-anything-but-small-doses lyrics in such a nice production they hardly left any bitter aftertaste - should be a warning on the bottle ( sorry cassette) Was bound to affect me when I began responding to personals adverts a few years later. How about a song or two about meeting a nice girl in the traditional way (ie. at the local CO-OP) - for me to blow my... nose to. Deary me why don't they think about the impact these songs might have on kids.
I used to joke that this song near left me with a coronary! (You have been warned :p)
A song I very much liked on first few hearings in the 1990s but which was unsatisfying if I listened to it very much - was Hazard (Richard Marx) - I am one of these weird people who listen and sometimes think about song lyrics. Mr Marx - a very fine AOR singer IMO - decent song and still worth a listen IMO.
A comparable song with similiar theme from a different perspective is Across the River - Bruce Hornsby and the Range I think this still holds up very well today.
Oh my word! My mother liked Michael Bolton, which meant I was subjected to that monstrosity, and many more like it way more than any human no matter what age ever should have been!
Oh my word! My mother liked Michael Bolton, which meant I was subjected to that monstrosity, and many more like it way more than any human no matter what age ever should have been!
That's what I mean - what possessed me? Why did I listen to it at the tender age of 17? Me who had only a few years before listened to Wang Chung and Erasure and Eurhymics?
I once joked how grannies liked Michael Bolton (I don't know now - did they?) who would a generation before have beat you with a wooden spoon!! :-p
I actually like older "crooners" including Elvis - but that Bolton album to me now is very 80s in that slick mode which tended to squeeze the soul out of the music (its not the worst example by far) - very polished but not so timeless as it might have seemed at the time - the production values don't lift out of that decade, they rather firmly keep it there as part of that era IMO.
Oh my word! My mother liked Michael Bolton, which meant I was subjected to that monstrosity, and many more like it way more than any human no matter what age ever should have been!
Ditto. And my mum only started listening to this overly-sentimental bilge once my dad had died. It's as if a switch flicked in her head and all of a sudden, Queen and even Phil Collins were declared haram and this took over.
Two years later she was dead as well. But as every pitch-black thundercloud has a silver lining... no more Michael Bolton!
Meanwhile, I've been serenading myself with this:
...more specifically, both albums from Iron Maiden's difficult Blaze Bayley era. There are some highlights... but quite a few deep pits as well. Then again, I could have said the same about Fear of the Dark...
I actually like older "crooners" including Elvis - but that Bolton album to me now is very 80s in that slick mode which tended to squeeze the soul out of the music (its not the worst example by far) - very polished but not so timeless as it might have seemed at the time - the production values don't lift out of that decade, they rather firmly keep it there as part of that era IMO.
I can't comment as i quite like some Richard Marx songs :))
I actually like older "crooners" including Elvis - but that Bolton album to me now is very 80s in that slick mode which tended to squeeze the soul out of the music (its not the worst example by far) - very polished but not so timeless as it might have seemed at the time - the production values don't lift out of that decade, they rather firmly keep it there as part of that era IMO.
I can't comment as i quite like some Richard Marx songs :))
Oh I wasn't putting Richard Marx in with Michael Bolton, to me they are miles apart, - I like most of what I have heard of RM and I like Hazard if I haven't heard it for a while. For me most of Bruce Hornsby's work has greater longeivity - but of course some people can't stand Bruce Hornsby and the Range and thats fine. :-)
The problem for any song sometimes as far as the radio is concerned is over-play - only a few songs can stand up to the amount of over-play the radio stations sometimes give them.
No one took up my Spagna:Call Me or Pretenders:Don't get me wrong preference test -
1. No one likes either of these Spagna or Pretenders songs!
2. People reading the thread like both and cannot decide.
3. People reading the thread don't like a either/or preference test.
There are probably some other exceptions:
If anyone was wondering why I picked these two for comparison (its more to do with the video): one reason they both have people driving, or cars which are breaking down or trapped, and they both have stately homes in the video.
I like both for different reasons - Call Me is associated somewhat in my mind I think with Exolon which came out in 1987 around the same time as this was getting radioplay, and while I cannot recall any particular association with the Pretenders song I just like it and the avengers/caper theme of the music video.
Oh my word! My mother liked Michael Bolton, which meant I was subjected to that monstrosity, and many more like it way more than any human no matter what age ever should have been!
Ditto. And my mum only started listening to this overly-sentimental bilge once my dad had died. It's as if a switch flicked in her head and all of a sudden, Queen and even Phil Collins were declared haram and this took over.
Two years later she was dead as well. But as every pitch-black thundercloud has a silver lining... no more Michael Bolton!
Meanwhile, I've been serenading myself with this:
...more specifically, both albums from Iron Maiden's difficult Blaze Bayley era. There are some highlights... but quite a few deep pits as well. Then again, I could have said the same about Fear of the Dark...
I can raise the mother-factor a few notches I think :-)
I'm sure I've mentioned this before but my mother liked the Jennifer Rush song - The Power of Love. A lot. Scratch that, she was absolutely, utterly obsessed with it.
It reached a culmination when she figured out how she could record the single to a tape. She filled a C90, both sides, with it. And she played that tape all day, every day for about... well I dunno how long. Maybe it was a couple of weeks, 1 year, 5 years, maybe 20. All I know is that it was torture and I would jump off a cliff before listening to that song in its entirety again.
I hate that song with an equal passion to my mother loving it.
Comments
Now I feel like shooting a crowd of people with a flamethrower, and then smashing their faces off the edge of a stage :))
https://mb.boardhost.com/BikerMike/index.html?1593001131
But what on earth is this 80s monstrosirty - Soul Provider - Michael Bolton, ok you may disagree with me describing it as a 'monstrosity' - maybe its an ALBAtrosity - but it all sounds somewhat (what word shall I use?) "icky" to me now - some of it is about staying together no matter what "damage we done" - yeah - good idea if someone's been married 5 years - but I bought this about the age of 17 or 18!! What possessed me to listen to it so much? Was it the simple romantic sentiments of Diane Warren and others - after all Britpop was much more cynical and sophisticate (excepting of course Sir Cliff and Chris DeBurgh and a few others who still crooned in the older manner).
But I have only myself to blame I suppose - I spoon fed myself this possibly weekly. Darn - Michael O'Martian you packaged these toxic-in-anything-but-small-doses lyrics in such a nice production they hardly left any bitter aftertaste - should be a warning on the bottle ( sorry cassette) Was bound to affect me when I began responding to personals adverts a few years later. How about a song or two about meeting a nice girl in the traditional way (ie. at the local CO-OP) - for me to blow my... nose to. Deary me why don't they think about the impact these songs might have on kids.
I used to joke that this song near left me with a coronary! (You have been warned :p)
A comparable song with similiar theme from a different perspective is Across the River - Bruce Hornsby and the Range I think this still holds up very well today.
That's class (nice share) - prefer it to the original, haha!
Would like to hear Tunnel of Love (Dire Straits not Springsteen) done the same way - do they programme any other songs into it?
That's what I mean - what possessed me? Why did I listen to it at the tender age of 17? Me who had only a few years before listened to Wang Chung and Erasure and Eurhymics?
I once joked how grannies liked Michael Bolton (I don't know now - did they?) who would a generation before have beat you with a wooden spoon!! :-p
Gee - I know why I backed away from some girls now!!
Two years later she was dead as well. But as every pitch-black thundercloud has a silver lining... no more Michael Bolton!
Meanwhile, I've been serenading myself with this:
...more specifically, both albums from Iron Maiden's difficult Blaze Bayley era. There are some highlights... but quite a few deep pits as well. Then again, I could have said the same about Fear of the Dark...
I can't comment as i quite like some Richard Marx songs :))
https://dothedogmusic.bandcamp.com/album/you-are-leaving-the-american-sector
Oh I wasn't putting Richard Marx in with Michael Bolton, to me they are miles apart, - I like most of what I have heard of RM and I like Hazard if I haven't heard it for a while. For me most of Bruce Hornsby's work has greater longeivity - but of course some people can't stand Bruce Hornsby and the Range and thats fine. :-)
The problem for any song sometimes as far as the radio is concerned is over-play - only a few songs can stand up to the amount of over-play the radio stations sometimes give them.
1. No one likes either of these Spagna or Pretenders songs!
2. People reading the thread like both and cannot decide.
3. People reading the thread don't like a either/or preference test.
There are probably some other exceptions:
If anyone was wondering why I picked these two for comparison (its more to do with the video): one reason they both have people driving, or cars which are breaking down or trapped, and they both have stately homes in the video.
I like both for different reasons - Call Me is associated somewhat in my mind I think with Exolon which came out in 1987 around the same time as this was getting radioplay, and while I cannot recall any particular association with the Pretenders song I just like it and the avengers/caper theme of the music video.
I probably could. I cannot stand Chrissie Hynde's voice. :D
I can raise the mother-factor a few notches I think :-)
I'm sure I've mentioned this before but my mother liked the Jennifer Rush song - The Power of Love. A lot. Scratch that, she was absolutely, utterly obsessed with it.
It reached a culmination when she figured out how she could record the single to a tape. She filled a C90, both sides, with it. And she played that tape all day, every day for about... well I dunno how long. Maybe it was a couple of weeks, 1 year, 5 years, maybe 20. All I know is that it was torture and I would jump off a cliff before listening to that song in its entirety again.
I hate that song with an equal passion to my mother loving it.
Jennifer Rush
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Huey Lewis and the News
And I think 1985 was also when these four artists all had hits in the same year:
King
Queen
Prince
Princess
(I included a link to the last, as she's the one you most likely can't remember! ;) )