MFD Random Five #26

In which I click the shuffle icon on the iTunes app and listen to the first five songs that pop up from the years 1976-85.

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1. "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang" by Silver (1976, Arista)
   Starting off this random five with a one-hit wonder from a California country-rock band. Not bad for an obvious Eagles knock-off. I could do without the aggressive string hits in the chorus, but it's fairly catchy otherwise. I'm reminded of summer trips to the pool in the summer of '76 with the AM radio blaring.


2. "Tumble and Twirl (Extended Dance Mix)" by David Bowie (1984, EMI America)
   I like the Tonight album better than most and this song is in the top half of the tunes on it. The extended mix doesn't do much to the album version (except inexcusably removing some sweet background vocals and move the drums up front in the mix), but that's okay as the driving original version is good on its own. The bridge is shite but the tasty horn parts in the chorus more than make up for it.


3. "Words" by Missing Persons (1982, Capitol)
   Great new wave tune that somehow missed the Top 40, but I was watching more MTV than listening to the radio by this time. Probably the first tune I heard from the group, back when Dale Bozzio's quirky vocal tics were entertaining. A friend had given me his copy of Spring Session M and I quickly learned why he gave it away - other than the singles, the filler was wretched. But I still appreciate Warren Cuccurullo's guitar work here and love the way Dale says "But it's less than nowhere now..."


4. "One Lonely Night" by REO Speedwagon (1984, Epic)
   I'm not the biggest REO Speedwagon fan, usually calling them REO Journeywagon or OREO Chuckwagon or some such mockery. As such, I don't remember this tune too well. I dig the chorus and bridge, but there's not much to the verse, the guitar solo is rather generic, and the ending totally exposes Kevin Cronin's vocal limitations (and the video totally exposes the limitations of early videos).


5. "Send Her My Love" by Journey (1983, Columbia)
   Speaking of the Journeywagon. By '83, I considered myself too cool to listen to Journey, so I didn't give this one much of a chance when I probably should have. It's a good tune, not great, but Steve Perry and Neil Schon bring the goods despite mediocre material.