Friday, October 01, 2010

Random musical observation

The other day I was going through a bin filled with CDs I don't really listen to anymore. (And, to be honest, there are a few that I never really listened to when I got them!) While I was rummaging -- just to see what was in there, I came across this:





Do you remember that band? That's Shark Island, a little flash-in-the-pan, late 80s hair band that was popular for about all of 13 seconds. But they did make one song for this album, Law of the Order, that I really liked back then and that I still like now called "Paris Calling." That song got a little airplay, and the band got a little fame, but the magic didn't last and Shark Island faded away. They faded even though the singer, Richard Black, got together with people from other outfits to form a nonce band of glam-hair supergroupness called Contraband. Yes, they faded, and no one missed them.

So, "Paris Calling" and the band's cover version of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" were the only two songs I ripped off Law of the Order, and then the thing went into my bin of misfit CDs. To tell you the truth, I don't even know where I got this CD. I'm pretty sure I didn't buy it. Back in the 80s and 90s I used to get all kinds of weird CDs for free from friends who didn't want them or just thought I would be interested.











But Law of the Order isn't really weird; it just isn't good. I even listened to the whole thing again yesterday just to give it another chance, and I found that my opinion has not changed over the years. It is a weak album.

BUT

Law of the Order does contain one incredible bit of awesomeness that I never noticed back then, and I'm glad I took the time now to look over the liner notes so that I could notice it. That cool bit is from the band's publicity photos, and here it is, the glam shot of the guitarist, Spencer Sercombe.





Dude totally looks like Val Kilmer's brother.

2 comments:

AlanDP said...

Never heard of 'em. I do remember a metal-ish version of "The Chain" that I liked a lot, but it was by Kick Axe.

Albatross said...

I just checked out the Kick Axe version. It's better.