Sting - Fortress Around Your Heart

By the early 1980s, The Police were one of the biggest bands in the world, so Sting's 1985 solo album was huge news. Interestingly, The Police were apparently only on hiatus at this point, but they officially broke up shortly after a failed attempt at recording a new album in 1986.

Likely contributing to the breakup was the huge success of The Dream of the Blue Turtles (named after a dream that Sting had).  The album showed significant musical growth for Sting as it was both more polished and jazzier than The Police.  The result was an LP that peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts with four top 40 hits.

"Fortress Around Your Heart" was the third single off Blue Turtles and it reached #8 on the charts.  In our view, it was the most Police-like single off Sting's first solo album, and the odd, atmospheric video didn't hurt the song's success a bit.  In fact, it was all over MTV for a time in 1985.

Sting would go on to have almost continual success throughout his career, though he does seemed to have slowed down of late.  The Police eventually reunited for a hugely successful 2007-08 tour, but then disbanded, seemingly for good.  

The Outfield - My Paradise

The 1980s musical equivalent of a sunny summer day, The Outfield recorded a bunch of bright power pop gems, but somehow never became big stars.  While their first LP broke the top 10, they quickly fell out of favor, something that baffled us at the time (and ever since).  We suppose that there is no small amount of luck involved in success, and the group was not the flashiest, but they truly deserved a better fate.

Long time readers may recall that we featured the group's "Say It Isn't So" on ERV back in 2014.  That song was one of four singles off the Play Deep LP that did receive some airplay during the band's all-too-brief period of major success (primarily 1986).

For the blog we had several good options, and finally decided on 1989's "My Paradise." This song was the second single off the Voices of Babylon album (after the title track).  We don't recall seeing the video back in the day, and the single stalled at #72 on the charts.  To our ear though, this is a power pop gem. 

The Outfield continued recording through the early 1990s, but were absent from the industry from most of the rest of that decade.  They became more visible in the 2000s, but officially broke up when guitarist (and primary song writer) John Spinks died in 2014.  Sadly, lead singer/bassist Tony Lewis has also died (in 2020). 

Billy Ocean - Loverboy

Rounding out our All Hallows Even celebration is "Loverboy" by Billy Ocean.  This is definitely one of the oddest 1980s videos, with a plot that seemingly has nothing at all to do with the song.  We suspect that there may have been some controlled substances involved, along with at least one Star Wars fan.

Long time viewers may recall that this is Billy Ocean's second appearance on ERV, as "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" was posted last March.  As we mentioned then, Billy Ocean (given name: Leslie Charles) was a modestly successful singer until 1984, when his Suddenly LP broke out, reaching the top 10 in both the U.S. and the UK.

While "Loverboy" was a big hit (#2 in the U.S. and #6 in the UK), it was not as big a hit as "Caribbean Queen" in either market. Not not worry, though, Billy Ocean remained massively successful through the rest of the decade.

As to the video ... it is a perfect Halloween video, from the sci-fi perspective.  We are of two minds here - on the one hand, it is trying to be an ambitious mini-movie.  On the other hand, there seems to be little plot, and the visuals are cheesy, though perhaps less so by the standards at the time.  The plot seems to revolve around a lizard creature, who goes to a cantina to ... kidnap a female alien (?), after killing her date in an unprovoked burst of laser fire. Yeah. 

It's probably best to not analyze it too much, but it is a weirdly engaging and odd Halloweeny clip.

Cool trivia fact: superstar music producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange co-wrote the song, along with Keith Diamond and Billy Ocean.  

Real Life - Send Me An Angel

For our second All Hallows Even treat, we're posting Real Life's "Send Me An Angel" (the original version; more on that in a moment).

Real Life were an Australian band that formed in Melbourne in 1980.  Originally called The Wires, the group changed their name to avoid being confused with Wire (the UK punk rock act).  They settled on A Private Life, which turned out to be a terrible choice, as they were then threatened with a lawsuit from Private Lives (a Sydney band) and so changed their name again to Real Life.

"Send Me An Angel" was the lead single from the group's first LP, 1983's Heartland. The song did reasonably well, reaching #29 on the U.S. charts, and going to #6 in their native Australia.  The video, with a spooky forest and a wolfman (prince?) looking for his Celtic (?) princess (?) seems ... odd, but definitely Halloweeny.

As mentioned above, Real Life re-released the song (and video) in 1989, as part of their Send Me An Angel/Best of Real Life compilation.  Incredibly, "Send Me An Angel" re-charted even higher in the U.S., reaching #26.  The video is less interesting (and less spooky) than the original, but we've included it here anyway (cause that's what we do).

Special shout out to M, who asked for our help after seeing a portion of the video on Loop ... and then found it herself.  Obviously, we liked it enough to put it up on the blog.

Kiss - I Love It Loud

Welcome to ERV's 10th annual All Hallows Even party.  A reminder to our newer readers: our  prior ghostly (ghastly) clips can be found using the All Hallows Even tag on the right.

Leading off this year's festivities is "I Love It Loud" by Kiss.  As most readers know, Kiss has a long and somewhat controversial history.  The group started in New York City in 1973, and was led by Paul Stanley (guitar and vocals) and Gene Simmons (bass and vocals).  Ace Frehley (guitars) and Peter Criss (drums) rounded out the original lineup.  Right from the start, Kiss was known for their makeup, costumes, and theatrical stage shows as much as for their music.

The group really broke out following their 1975 Alive! double album and had a period of superstardom, which was on the wane by the early 1980s.  Changes to their sound likely didn't help - 1979's Dynasty was dance-influenced, while the 1981 "Music from 'The Elder'" concept album included orchestral parts.

With this backdrop, "I Love It Loud" from the 1982 Creatures of the Night LP was a return to form.  Although the album didn't become a huge commercial success, the anthemic hard rock and focus on music videos laid the groundwork for Kiss' success in the 1980s.  Stanley and Simmons capitalized on this by having the band remove their makeup (on MTV no less) and effectively repositioned Kiss as a pop metal act, which paid huge dividends for the rest of the decade.

From a Halloween perspective, "I Love It Loud" is spot on.  The makeup, costumes, and tank/drum kit are nicely complimented by the sonic assault (and glowing eyes).  The result works, in our opinion, and makes for a fun Halloweeny video. 

Eddie Money - I Wanna Go Back

This is Eddie Money's second appearance on ERV; "Think I'm in Love" was posted more than 10 years ago (way back in August 2011).  As most readers will know, Money was a star in the late 1970s and 1980s with four platinum LPs and 11 top 40 hits (yes, two of which were in the early 90s).

"I Wanna Go Back" was one of those hits; it reached #14 on the singles chart, while the Can't Hold Back album reached #20 on the album charts.  The video is a combination of Money in concert and going back to a high school reunion.  At the reunion, he sees (but does not connect with) a mysterious blonde - played by Marilyn Martin, who sang the backing vocals on the track.

Eddie Money remained active in the music industry (and even dabbled in acting) until his death from cancer in 2019. 

As a cool bonus, "I Wanna Go Back" is one of those "I bet you didn't know that it is a cover" songs that we love so much at ERV.  The original version was recorded in 1984 by Billy Satellite, an Oakland rock band who never quite made it ... and the original version also has a video (you're welcome):

Cool trivia facts:  "I Wanna Go Back" was also covered by Greg Rollie and Ace Frehley.

MTV Debuted August 1, 1981

 It was 40 years ago today ... (to commandeer a phrase).

Just after midnight on August 1, 1981, the world's first 24 hour video music channel launched.  At the time, only a few cable systems in New Jersey had MTV, though this quickly changed -- primarily due to consumer pressure driven by the "I Want My MTV" ad campaign:

MTV quickly became a sensation, and those of us who lived through the music revolution will never forget it.  In fact, we started our little blog 10 years ago (August 2011), after being inspired by the hoopla around the 30th anniversary of MTV.

Below is the first two hours of MTV, including commercials. We hope that you dig it.

As for ERV ... more videos will be coming soon :)

Jim Capaldi - Living On The Edge

While Jim Capaldi is not a household name (even here on ERV), he was an interesting and important figure in rock, especially during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Capaldi was born in  Evesham, Worcestershire (this isn't important, but we liked it anyhow) and became involved in the lively London music scene during the 1960s. He eventually started jamming with Steve Winwood, Dave Mason, and Chris Wood and they formed the influential rock/jazz band Traffic in 1967.

One of our favorite facts about Traffic concerns the way they wrote their songs.  Capaldi would write lyrics first and then Winwood would compose music that suited Capaldi's lyrics.

After Traffic broke up (for the second time in 1974), Capaldi married a Brazilian woman (Aninha Campos) and raised a family in Brazil, where he became interested in environmental and social issues (and Samba).  Although Capaldi remained active in the industry, his only real solo success came from his 1983 Fierce Heart LP.  That album hit #91 on the charts and generated two charting singles -  "That's Love" (#28) and "Living on the Edge" (#75). In typical ERV form, we are opting for the lower charting song, primarily because we like it better.  Additionally, it has a pretty far out there video with birds, motorcycles, and what appears to be some sort of Native American ceremony. 

[Note that the MTV has the wrong album title on their credits - Rock Art and the X-Ray Style is a 1999 album by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros.]

Jim Capaldi died from stomach cancer in 2005. 

Split Enz - I Got You

Split Enz (the NZ is a reference to New Zealand, where the band originated) formed in 1973 in Auckland.  The founders - Tim Finn and Phil Judd - wanted to create an eclectic pop band; hence the name (which was originally spelled correctly).

During the 1970s, the group went through a myriad of changes, both in terms of style and personnel.  The most significant change was Judd's departure; he was replaced by Tim Finn's brother Neil in 1977. During much of this period, Split Enz was a flamboyant art rock band, but they had little success outside of New Zealand and Australia.

This changed with their 1980 release, True Colours, which was something of a coming out party for Neil as a songwriter.  The resulting material had a stronger pop sound, and this combined with more straight-forward visuals allowed Split Enz to ride the New Wave (see what we did there?)

True Colours became a #1 album in Australia and New Zealand, and broke into the charts in the U.S.  "I Got You" also charted, though it only reached #53 on the U.S. charts.  However, it was top 40 in several countries, and hit #1 in Australia and New Zealand.

While the group continued releasing records for the first half of the 1980s, there seemed to be a growing musical disconnect between Tim and Neil, and Tim Finn finally quit the group in 1984.  Shortly afterwards, Neil broke up Split Enz and went on to even greater success in Crowded House.  The Finn brothers did work together on Crowded House's 1991 LP, Woodface, and more recently as The Finn Brothers. 

Cool trivia fact:  As mentioned above, Split Enz is a no hit wonder in the U.S.; "I Got You" (#53) was their highest charting single.  However, Neil Finn did have two top 40 hits with Crowded House - "Don't Dream It's Over" (#2) and "Something So Strong" (#7).

Cool trivia fact #2: "I Got You" was the 81st video played on MTV's first day; interestingly, it was the third Split Enz video played on MTV, after "History Never Repeats" and "One Step Ahead."

Poco - Call It Love

Casual music fans may view Poco as an answer to the trivia question: What group did The Eagles raid for their bass players?  In truth, Poco was a pioneering country rock band who flirted with crossover success twice, but never quite broke through.

Poco was formed in 1968 from the ashes of Buffalo Springfield, when Richie Furay and Jim Messina started the group. Rusty Young, Randy Meisner, and George Grantham rounded out the original lineup. Although their country rock sound was considered groundbreaking, the group had only modest success for much of the 70s.  The act was also probably hurt by their significant turnover; by 1978 only Rusty Young remained from the original lineup.

Poco's first potential breakout came with the release of their Legend LP in 1978.  The album went gold and generated two top 40 hits - "Crazy Love" (#17) and "Heart of the Night" (#20).  Sadly, the group was unable to follow up that success and saw declining record sales in the 1980s.  By the mid-80s, Poco had lost its recording contract and things looked bleak.

However, Poco caught its second big break when Richard Marx went to bat for the band, and had his manager (Allen Kovac) take them on as a client.  This led to a reforming of the original lineup, a new recording contract, and a new album, 1989's Legacy.  Surprisingly, this album was a hit, also going gold (and also with two top 40 hits - "Call It Love" (#18) and "Nothin' to Hide" (#39)). And once again, Poco was unable to capitalize on this success, although they remained a working band through 2013 (and sporadically since then).

Cool trivia fact: "Call It Love" was directed by Michael Bay (Transformers, Pearl Harbor, Armageddon) in one of his first directing jobs.