As I go into the A to Z Blogging challenge, I'm proud to say that Spoiled Ballot, the latest Cameron Vail mystery, is now in processing to be released in ebook format. It feels good to be getting back to mysteries after several fantasy novels. I've got a couple of other ideas for mysteries that I'm going to develop in the next couple of months, but for now, I'm glad to say this one is ready to go.
Here's a preview of the cover. I'll post the Amazon link as soon as the book is released.
Man, this one's been tough to find. But I think I have one that will work. It's not ideal, but I'm not in a position to pay for cover art yet, so I'll have to make do with what I can find.
I like it; it's evocative, it's got the night and the water and the city, so it will work. I'll have to cut it down to the right size, of course. But once that's done, I can get this book up and published. The title is Spoiled Ballot, the fifth Cameron Vail mystery. Let's see how it goes.
I wanted to do this before, but always forgot to sign up. This time, I remembered.
So, the A to Z Blogging Challenge is simple: During the Month of April, I'm going to blog every weekday and Saturday, with topics all related to a theme. And each topic will be starting with a different letter of the alphabet.
There's a sign-up list for this at this site for those who are interested in joining up. Candidly, I'm hoping that I'll get more blog traffic from people who are sharing this challenge, and maybe get some new readers out of the deal.
So, what's my theme? Writing, obviously, but more specifically, the World of Meterra. Okay, it's more like a small region than a world, but it counts. My theme is going to be both writing-based and gaming-based, since Meterra is more than just a setting for my writing, it's my homebrew gaming setting for D&D. I'm going to blog about twenty-six features, creatures or characters from Meterra, alphabetical from A to Z. My Sunday blogging, if I continue it, can be on anything; Sundays aren't part of the challenge.
I'm looking forward to this challenge; I've been wanting to do it for a while. And it will motivate me to get another Meterra book written, which is important, too. I've got two of them so far: Arrival and The Devil's Playground. I plan to write quite a few more, and I do have a couple started but in limbo. Time to dust them off and get back to work.
So, this should be a fun month of blogging, and I hope to see more of you in the future.
Sometimes a great (and royalty-free) picture will pop up, perfectly matching the book cover I have in mind. Unfortunately, this isn't one of those times. Finding a decent picture to fit the newest Cameron Vail mystery isn't easy. I'm not extremely picky, but I want something that evokes the murder scene. I might have to come up with a different idea; I'm limited to what I can grab without having the pay royalties, so there are only a few sites I can get them from.
I'll have to think about it; I've still got another week before the end of the month. In the meantime, I'm sure something will turn up.
80 years young, and still loving life. I love you, Mom. Thanks for being you.
Okay, so I've gone over the reviewed copy of the latest Cameron Vail mystery, Spoiled Ballot. There are still a couple of things I'm looking at fixing up and clarifying before I publish it, but it's looking pretty good. I still need to find a cover for it, too. For the mystery books, covers are usually easier to figure out since I can just use a stock photo. So, I'm going to look for one tonight. Here's hoping I find a good one.
Not a lot more to say tonight, though. It's been a long day, and I'm looking forward to sleep. So, I'll make this yet another short post.
The album sold very well, over three million copies, and reaching #1 on the US Billboard Album chart for one week on October 18th, their second-straight #1 album (and, sadly, their last). The album charted five top-10 singles, and reached #1 on Canada, Japan and New Zealand as well. It reached triple Platinum status, selling over 3,000,000 copies, which would be a phenomenal achievement for any band, but was less than half of what Sports sold. Ah, well. It's still a great album, so let's take a closer look at it.
The opening track is Jacob's Ladder, which was the third single off the album. Released on Jan 6, 1987, it would become the band's final #1 single in March. Originally written by Bruce Hornsby for his own band, he didn't like how it was sounding and gave it to Huey, who was producing Bruce's album at the time. The News made it work. Unlike the prior two albums, this one doesn't have a fade-in; it just pounces on the opening chords with plenty of keyboards. The lyrics are interesting, where the singer is brushing off TV evangelists and working through his issues in life one day at a time. It's a powerful song, and definitely earned its #1 spot.
Up next is Stuck With You, the first single off the album. The video was another weird one with Huey and the Boys; they were good at those. Huey is at a cocktail party where he is clearly fixated on being with one person while everyone else keeps trying to get his attention and make meaningless small talk. He finally gets the girl alone and invites her to go for a ride on his yacht. She accepts, and we then see the pair in a small rowboat named 'My Ott'. And then things get silly. The song has a bit of a slow jam feel to it, and again the keyboards are carrying the main riff. Sean Hopper doing yeoman's work on this album. Oh, and this one shot straight to #1 on the Billboard charts, their second straight #1 single after The Power of Love. It stayed there for three weeks, becoming their longest-lasting #1 (Power of Love was only #1 for two weeks).
Next is Whole Lotta Lovin'. This one starts out with an acapella accompaniment while Huey sings the opening lines. Then we get into a sweet jam that has an old-time rock/R&B feel. The guitars get more of the spotlight on this one, with Chris Hayes and Johnny Colla jamming hard. But Huey gets the solo with the harmonica, going full-on blues with it. Great, fun song that was never released as a single, but sounds great live.
The fourth song on the first side is Doing It All For My Baby, which is definitely a slow jam. This was the last single off the album, released in June of 1987. It didn't top the charts, but it did reach #6, becoming the band's eleventh Top 10 single. Off three albums. Not a bad track record. This track also includes the Tower of Power horn section, who mingle with Sean's keyboards to give the song a big-band feel as well. A fun song and a fun video, as always. Lots of vocal harmonies on this one as well.
Closing out side one is Hip to Be Square. This is a great hard-rocking song that was the second single off the album, topping out at #3 on the Hot 100 chart (but #1 on the Rock chart). It's got a pounding rhythm and a fantastic sax solo from the amazing Johnny Colla. The song just blasts, and it became an anthem for 'squares' when it came out. The song is also famous for its backing vocalists: Eight members of the San Francisco 49ers, including Dwight Clark, Ronnie Lott, and Joe Montana. And yes, they're in the video, too.
Flipping to side two, we start out with I Know What I Like, which was the fourth single released from the album. It was the weakest performer of the five singles, only reaching #9 on the Hot 100. How disappointing that only four of the singles made it to #6, right? Anyway, I was surprised to find out that this track also has football players backing up the band. It's a straight-forward rocking tune, though not as hard as Hip to Be Square. Chris Hayes gets the solo on this one, rocking out with a smooth but driving guitar solo that just fits. I can't describe it any other way.
Next is I Never Walk Alone. Once again, we're getting some strong keyboards in this one; Sean Hopper is a lot more prominent throughout this album than the earlier ones. I like it. He even gets the solo on this one. Anyway, this one is another rocking tune that has a great message of sticking together with friends to get through life. Too bad it never got released as a single; I think it would have done quite well.
Okay, now we're getting into the part of the album that had me scratching my head as to why this music was on an album by the world's greatest band. First, it's Forest for the Trees. It's not a bad song, it just didn't seem to fit the rest of the album. I didn't mind it, it just didn't feel like Huey Lewis to me.
The next one, though, really drove me nuts. Naturally is acapella all the way through. I suppose it's reminiscent of and a tribute to the barber shop quartets of the 1940s and early 1950s, but I was never into that music. It's not the only acapella song they do, but it was the first one I ever heard. It was weird. But, at the time I wasn't familiar with the band's background or their musical influences. Now it makes more sense to me.
The closing track is Simple as That. The Tower of Power returns (but no football players this time). In fact, they wrote this one for Huey and the band. I wish I'd known that at the time. It's a song about getting older and reaching the golden years. I totally didn't get this song when I was sixteen. At 52, it makes a lot more sense. And I appreciate it a lot more. It's a slower song, and of course the horns are a big part of it. As I mentioned at the top of the post, this is the sort of music the band wanted to play, regardless of its commercial appeal. And I respect and admire that.
So, overall, what do I think? I loved (most of) this album when I first got it. I love it even more now that I understand it better. It's not up to the level of Sports (very few albums are), but it's definitely their second-best album, and the sales numbers bear that out. It was the band's creative zenith, where they mixed the commercial with the personal to best effect. And after this, they would do exactly what they wanted to do, and the critics be damned.
I know, I know...it was supposed to be a Huey Lewis post. But today is a very, very important day, and no, I didn't forget about it. Sixteen years ago today, I met the love of my life. It's been a bit of a roller coaster and a cross-country move, but it's been wonderful. I am so, so grateful to Dannielle for not jumping out of the car at the gas station on that St. Patrick's Day in 2007.
She doesn't like it when I talk about her; she's rather shy. So, I'll keep it short again tonight, but I wanted to mark the occasion and leave a reminder of what a great date we had. Here's the big song from the movie we saw that day, Music and Lyrics, starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore: "Way Back Into Love"
Well, the invasion is proceeding according to plan...our friends from Ontario, Mike and Vicki, just arrived today to close on their new house. They bought a place less than ten minutes away, so we'll be seeing a lot more of them. It's good to have like-minded people around, especially in these days of uncertainty. They don't have the room we have, so they'll be getting us to raise pigs and chickens for them. Which is totally fine. When we moved here, it took us five days and a longer route; they made it in three. They're exhausted, and they don't get the house until tomorrow, so they're sleeping here tonight. And this is one crowded house right now.
Some random thoughts that came to me today:
First, Garrett has some impressive pain tolerance for a ten-year-old. I say this because tonight, he just informed us that he had a loose tooth...then pulled it out himself with his fingers. I couldn't have done that at any age. But, he did it. This is the same kid who, when he went to the dentist's office for the first time ever today, flat-out refused to sit in the chair and even let her look at it. Autism is interesting.
Second, I often wonder what the world would look like without income taxes. Sure, I'd have to find another line of work, but still. Doing tax returns all day is not fun. But imagine what it would be like to not have to fork over money to the government every time you got paid. How much better would our economic situation look if we kept more of our money? Sure, people will argue that we need the government to do a bunch of stuff, but let's be honest; they really don't do much at all. Certainly not enough to justify the insane amount of money they collect from us. And, as we are finding out, most of it ends up in corrupt pockets anyway.
What else? I checked the score of the Montreal Canadiens game tonight, and I was excited to see they had scored three goals in the first period. Then I realized that by the end of the first period they were losing, 7-3. They gave up seven goals in one period. For the rest of the game, they tied the Panthers, 2-2. But still. That's just wrong. It looked like a first-quarter football score.
I'm still working on the manuscript for the next Cameron Vail mystery; I'm about halfway through the review copy, so I'm hoping to have it done by the end of the weekend. Tomorrow, I plan to do my review of the next Huey Lewis album, so I'll see you all then.
My reader has finished the latest Cameron Vail book, so I'm going to spend a couple of evenings going over it and seeing how it worked out. I'm also prepping a paperback version of the first Cameron Vail mystery, Final Exam. So, this is a short entry for tonight, but an important one. I'll be back tomorrow with more good stuff.
No, I'm not reviewing the movie (although that is something I should do at some point). I'm just reviewing the soundtrack, or more specifically, a couple of songs on the soundtrack, written by the greatest band ever, Huey Lewis and the News.
First, though, a bit of backstory. In my last HLN post, I linked to a video of the Ghostbusters theme song, in place of I Want a New Drug. The reason for this was simple; back in 1984, when Ghostbusters was in post-production, Columbia Pictures was looking for the right theme song. They found it on the Sports album. They offered Huey and the boys a lot of money for the rights to use I Want a New Drug, but the band turned them down, not feeling that they were ready for Hollywood.
Well, studio execs don't let a little thing like a lack of permission stop them. They handed the song to Ray Parker Jr., and told him to do a song that sounded just like I Want a New Drug. And he came through, big time. The backing track for the song is ripped right out of the verse for Drug, to the point that Huey and the band sued Parker for plagiarism. The case was settled out of court, but according to Huey in an interview years later, they got paid $7 million.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios approached Huey and the band with an offer to do a song for their new movie, Back to the Future. At first Huey balked, not wanting to write a song with that title, but Universal countered with the option to write whatever song he wanted to do. Having learned that the studios really don't take 'no' for an answer, the band agreed, and contributed two original songs to the soundtrack of the new movie.
The first track is The Power of Love which, thanks in large part to the movie's popularity as well as an amazing tie-in video, became the band's first #1 single. What can I say about this song? It's fantastic, one of the band's best. I honestly thought the Tower of Power was on the track as well, because it opens with what sounds like a blast of brass instruments. But it's just the six core band members, with Sean Hopper's keyboards doing the yeoman's work to really bring the power to the song's opening chords. Chris Hayes contributes a great guitar solo as well, but there's no saxophone; Johnny Colla is on rhythm guitar duty for this one.
The song was released as a single in June of 1985, and reached the #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 24th, staying there for two weeks. The B-side was Bad is Bad from the Sports album, leaving Honky Tonk Blues as the only song on the album that didn't end up on a single at some point. The song also topped the Billboard Top Rock tracks list, as well as the Australian, Canadian, and Japanese charts during the year.
The second track, Back in Time, was the song playing over the closing credits. Unlike Power of Love, this song relates to the movie's plot, hitting some of the story beats from the film. It also plays briefly in the scene where Marty wakes up after returning to 1985 at the end of the film. This one is less of a rocker, but in a way sounds more like a HLN song than the big hit did. Maybe it's because Johnny Colla is playing the saxophone this time; Johnny's sax always sounds awesome. But once again it's Chris Hayes on the guitar solo, which has shades of a couple of other songs in it (Change of Heart and Walking on the Thin Line come to mind). Johnny follows up with a sax solo before the closing, because why not?
The rest of the soundtrack includes some music from the 50s, including the legendary Johnny B. Goode, but I'm just talking about Huey Lewis at this point. But just listening to those two songs again makes we want to sit down and watch that movie once more.
Well, my wife came to town and kidnapped me for lunch today. Actually, we didn't even eat; we went to a small pawn shop/thrift store kinda place. They had books, which is why we went.
And man, there were some old books in there. There were some from the late 19th century. I found a Henty, which got me real excited, but it was the only one. I did grab a few more boys' adventure books, in hopes that one of my kids might read them.
We also found some old books on teaching kids morals through stories; it's a five-volume set with lots of material to cover, so those jumped in the box. There was a complete set of the Collier Junior Classics as well, but it was the 1962 edition, which was when they changed the series to dumb it down and make it far less boy-friendly. Besides, I've got the first three volumes of the 2020 edition from Castalia Books, so I'm not wasting money on another set, especially an inferior version.
What else? A bunch of Agatha Christie mysteries, because she is the Queen of Murder, after all. Oh, and some math textbooks and workbooks...from about eighty years ago. Back before calculators, let alone smartphones and watches. So students had to actually figure stuff out. Tanner is going to love me, I just know it. These are for Grades 7-9 from back then, which would be roughly Grades 11-12 or even 1st-year college today. Good stuff.
There were also a couple of shelves of DVDs, and I found a few decent ones in there. It was obvious that while they do get a lot of stuff donated or picked up at estate auctions and such, the good stuff gets snatched up pretty quickly. Still, I got a couple of Bourne Identity movies, a James Bond, and an old movie serial, Zorro's Black Whip. I like the old serials, so this will be a fun one to watch.
All that, and I didn't even eat. But after an hour and a half, my wife had had enough of me and returned me to the office without even demanding a ransom. Some people just don't make good kidnappees.
This was a topic that came up yesterday on another blog I frequent. The blogger in question is a professional editor and writer, with a lot more experience (and sales, to be honest) than I have. His view is that outlining, whether in detail or in the general overview sense, is essential for writing.
I disagree, and for good reason: I've done it both ways. Both ways work, depending on the circumstances.
I replied to the thread by comparing outlining to using a map vs. using a GPS. The GPS is like the full, detailed outline; it gets you exactly where you're going by the best/shortest/fastest route. If you deviate, it recalculates and gets you back on track. Detailed outlines are like that. The problem with them, however, is that they constrict your freedom to just write the story.
Using a map is like a general outline; you have a rough idea of where you're going, but how you get there is up to you. The map gives you plenty of options, all of which can eventually get you to your destination. How you get there, of course, is entire up to you, but at least you know what the final goal is.
But sometimes, you don't need a map or a GPS; you just get in the car and start to drive, not caring where you end up. It's the whole 'the journey is the destination' idea, but you are going to end up somewhere, even if you have no clue where that somewhere will be until you get there. It's freeform exploration; in writing, it's writing into the dark, or gardening, or whatever term is preferred. Basically, it's writing without an outline and just letting the creative mind take the story wherever seems to make the most sense.
So, I've actually done all three of these methods before. A book I wrote GPS-style would be Apprentice. This one was a story idea that I had for a long time, and I'd put the story beats in a reasonably coherent order in my mind many years prior. When I wrote it, I didn't deviate from that mental outline very much. I knew where the story was going, I knew what the next stage was at the end of every chapter, and I knew that it was going to work out the way it did. But I liked the story enough that it was easy to write it and get there. Another example would be In the Beginning, but that's a bit of a cheat, since God wrote that plot a long, long time ago.
The second method is the map version. This one I use roughly half of the time, to varying degrees. Crimson Moon and Crystal Lilac, for example, both fall into this category, albeit leaning toward the GPS method. Mind you, like Apprentice, I'd already written the book, except not in my head; I literally wrote this story twenty-five years ago. I rewrote it and changed quite a bit this year, but I had the main outline of the story in my head the whole time. As I got through Crystal Lilac, more and more actually changed from the original idea, although the final destination was always the same.
Other examples of this would be Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System. Not the whole thing, but I figured out fairly early on that the book's stories would all take place on or around a different part of the solar system, so it was a matter of linking the stories together in a way that would make sense. But the individual stories? Freeform exploration all the way.
Then there are the books that just flowed from my creative mind without prompting. The Missing Magnate is the quintessential example. Written in just eleven days with zero outline or any clue as to what I was going to write about except the two main characters, it worked. I trusted my creative mind wholeheartedly, and let it run free. And it worked just as well as its predecessor, Final Exam, which (like Apprentice) I already had written in GPS-form a long time ago in my mind. The other published Cameron Vail mysteries, Best Served Cold and Cold Star, were likewise written without an outline of any sort.
So, the question of outlining really boils down to this: It depends. Some writers do it religiously, some avoid it completely. Some go GPS, some go with just the map. And some, like myself, use whatever works best in the moment. Because in the end, it's not the outline that makes the difference, it's the writing.
1984 is widely recognized as one of the most incredibly competitive years for pop music. Only five albums topped the charts all year: Michael Jackson's Thriller from January to mid-April, the soundtrack for the movie Footloose from mid-April to late June, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA throughout July, and and Prince's Purple Rain from the beginning of August all the way to the end of the year. Oh, and also, for one week at the end of June, Huey Lewis and the News' Sports, which was obviously the best of the five albums.
Seriously. That was the top of the album charts for an entire year. And yeah, Huey only got that one week, but come on! Look at the competition! Here are some albums that didn't top the charts that year: Billy Joel's An Innocent Man, Culture Club's Colour by Numbers, Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down, Van Halen's 1984, the Police's Synchronicity...that was an absolute beast of a year for music.
And Huey and the boys earned the #2 spot on the year-end chart, behind only Thriller. Because this album is wall-to-wall bangers. It's easily their top-selling album, and it's their best. It was released in September of 1983, and it was a steady seller for years, scoring four top-ten singles, and a fifth in the top 20. In fact, it was on the album charts for a total of 160 weeks. That is literally over three years!
The album starts off with one of the iconic openings of all time. If you were around in the 1980s listening to the radio, and you heard that steady heartbeat coming on, you knew what was coming: The Heart of Rock and Roll, the album's third single released in April, 1984, it reached #6 on the pop charts and 5 on the rock charts. This anthem commemorates the enduring nature of rock music from city to city across the land, and has an absolute killer sax solo from the amazing Johnny Colla. I can't help bopping around to it just thinking about it in my head. Fantastic song, fantastic opener to the album.
Next up is the album's first single, Heart and Soul. A lot of people list this one as their favorite HLN song of all-time. I'd put it in the top five, but it's not my number one; that comes later in the album. It's a cover of a song they initially thought was unreleased. It wasn't even going to be on the album at first, but it was a last-minute addition after Huey heard another band covering it and decided that the News' version was a bit better. Released on August 30th, 1983, it topped out on the Billboard pop charts at #8, but hit #1 on the rock charts, their first #1 single. This one's hard to describe; it's a harder rock sound than the BusBoys cover, with a driving bass line and a solid keyboard foundation. The solo isn't much of anything, but it doesn't need to be. The song works just fine as it is.
Following that comes Bad is Bad. This song is so blues it belongs on a Robert Johnson album. It was written while Huey was with the band Clover. It's low and slow, and the band uses a drum machine in live performances for some reason. Huey takes over the solo with his harmonica, and the doo-wop harmonies from the band fit perfectly. It's one of the weaker songs on the album, but that's a testament to the strength of the rest of the songs. This one wasn't the B-side on any of the album singles, but it did back up another song by the band, their biggest hit ever, The Power of Love in 1985.
And to close out side one, the album's second single, I Want a New Drug, released on January 3, 1984.
Oh, wait...wrong link. Try this one instead. That first link? Yeah, if you listen to the both, you'd think they are the same song up until Ray Parker Jr. starts singing. The Ghostbusters theme was a blatant rip-off of this song, which was another big hit for the band, topping the Disco/Dance chart at #1, hitting #6 on the Hot 100, and #7 on the rock charts. The opening chords from Chris Hayes are an announcement that you are about to get down and dance. The verses have a repeating sequence throughout, no variations whatsoever. Practically a one-chord verse. The rhythmic hooks won't let go, and the howling lead-ins to the chorus are intense. The song ends with a long instrumental section which is much like the verses, with a bit of instrumental variation overtop from the guitar and the keyboard.
So, let's flip the record over and see what comes next. Like the opening of side one, we have an iconic opening: An ostinato bass line fade-in, with a three-note pattern over top (also from the bass guitar). Huey and the drums join in, and we're Walking on a Thin Line. This was the last single from the album, released in October of 1984, and it 'only' reached #16 on the rock tracks and #18 on the Hot 100. This song was an ode to the Vietnam veterans who returned from war changed men, unable to fit in with society anymore. It's heartbreaking, and at the same time it is absolutely AWESOME. This is my all-time favorite HLN song. Yes, even more than the one I listened to fifty times in a row. Chris Hayes adds a guitar solo that actually sounds like it's yearning, begging for understanding from the listener. I don't know how the hell he did it, but he did. This song is flawless, perfect in every single note. Feel free to disagree, but please understand that you are wrong.
Anyway.
After that masterpiece, we have Finally Found a Home. After backing I Want a New Drug earlier, this was the weakest of the album's six singles, released in August or September. It was the only single off the album not to break into the Top 40, topping out at #41 on the Hot 100. It's a song about being in the music industry and getting comfortable with that life. It's very good, if not great. It's much less of a rocker than the majority of songs on the album. It's not pop by any stretch, it's just not in that lane as thoroughly as songs like Heart and Soul or Walking on a Thin Line. It's got a dual-guitar solo (duet, really) that shines, and it finds a nice groove that you can dance to.
Up next is the band's fourth single, If This Is It. Like Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do from Picture This, this one is a slow-rocker, and the fourth consecutive top-10 single off the album. It was released on July 10th, and topped out at #5 on the Adult Contemporary(!) chart, #3 on the Top Rock Tracks chart, and #6 on the Hot 100. The video is an all-timer, probably the best one they did. Johnny Colla wrote this one on his own, with Huey adding the lyrics later. And of course, Johnny gives us another iconic saxophone solo, because that is his purpose in life.
Back to the driving rock music with You Crack Me Up. This track backed up Heart and Soul on the first single release. It's about a guy who is overcompensating for the aging process, acting like he's twenty when he is probably past twice that number. The solo is a keyboard-guitar combo with them doing a bit of call-and-response. Driving rhythms keep this one moving fast and hard.
And the album closes with, of all things, a cover of a Hank Williams song, Honky Tonk Blues. This one adds some steel guitar to the mix, and it fits right in with the rest of the band. This song reminds the listener that while Huey and the Boys can rock out, their roots are in the country/R&B realm. It's a fast, uptempo bluesy rock song that finds a nice, smooth groove and regretfully ends one of the best albums of all time on a fadeout.
So, I'm short on superlatives; I've used them all up on this album, but it deserves each and every one of them. I listened to this album religiously for a few years. I never got tired of it, I never stopped loving every second of it. It is easily my favorite album of all time, no qualifiers required. The only thing I wish was different? I wish there was more to it.
It's time for a switch from fantasy writing; I've just finished touching up the latest Cameron Vail mystery, and it's in my reader's email right now. I wrote the bulk of this story a while back, but I wasn't quite satisfied with how it was turning out. I left it for about a year, then decided to go back to it and see if I could fix it. Well, I fixed it. Or at least, I think I did.
So, with that, I'm going to give a certain band's third album another listen, and tomorrow I'll do my review of Huey Lewis and the News' Sports, one of the biggest albums of the 1980s (and therefore one of the best albums of all time, because the 80s rule).
In the meantime, here's a link to the first Cameron Vail mystery, Final Exam, in case you're wondering who this guy is.
Well, we didn't get a D&D game in today; none of the other players could make it. We're going to reschedule for next weekend and see how it goes.
So, today was a quiet day; we ended up going to town to meet with Dannielle at the close of the Canada Games, which weren't nearly as big a deal as we had thought they would be. We were expecting traffic jams, no parking, tons of tourists...frankly, other than the blue and green volunteer jackets that were all over the place, it was hard to tell anything was going on at all. We didn't end up seeing any events; timing just didn't work out.
But, after we met with her, we went to a little place that was having a big book sale. Turns out they had bought a storage unit that was full of books, and they were selling them off at dirt-cheap prices. Well, I'm not one to turn down an opportunity to rummage though bookshelves. I did find a few interesting ones, including a Pierre Berton book, The Last Spike, about the Canadian transcontinental railroad. I'm definitely giving that one a close read.
I also picked up three Erle Stanley Gardner books, encompassing five Perry Mason novels. I'm in the mystery writing mood again, so it's useful research and idea-mining. The other books were a few books for Garrett, mainly Bible stories and the like. He's starting to show real progress in his reading and learning; he was spelling words today with beanbag letters, and he's learned the Hail Mary prayer for bedtime. The Lord's Prayer is next. We might even have the opportunity to get him his First Communion if he keeps doing this well.
Tax season is upon us, and it sucks. But, it's got to be done, so it's back to the grind tomorrow. But in the meantime, I'm still getting some writing done. It's going to be a new Cameron Vail mystery, so I'm feeling that groove now. I've been rereading The Missing Magnate, the second book I published, to get me back in the spirit of things, too. You should take a look at it as well; it's the one I wrote in eleven days, and it's pretty good, if I do say so myself. It's available in e-book format at an Amazon website near you.
Released on January 29, 1982, the album had six original songs by the band and four cover songs. It reached its Billboard peak at #13, and the band released four singles to support it. Two of them made the top 40, and another just missed at #41. The fourth was released only in the UK, and didn't chart there.
So, as I mentioned, the songs feel more polished on this album, but they aren't overproduced. The band was still finding their sweet spot to get the right sound, which they would perfect on the next album, but there are definite signs that they are moving in the right direction on Picture This. While the first album was basically a bar-band set, some of the stuff you hear on this album can't really be reproduced live.
For example, the opening track, Change of Heart, doesn't start off with a drum part, a guitar riff, or a keyboard riff. Instead, it sounds like an airplane flying by. And then the sound merges into the opening drum beat, and the band jumps in with a great intro. This song is an announcement that HLN have arrived, and they mean business. And it shows; the harmonies in the chorus are spot-on, Chris Hayes' guitar solo is simple but catchy, and Huey is just going for it on the lead vocals. Great song, great opening track, and we're off to strong start.
Following that, Huey does reggae. Tell Me a Little Lie has a solid reggae beat, which I honestly never noticed when I first listened to the album, because I'd never heard reggae before. I just knew that it was a Huey Lewis song, and I liked it. The guitar and keyboards play off of each other with some call-and-response, and the lyrics are clear and precise and Huey just nails it. Not the best song on the album, but definitely a good one. And it served notice that Huey and the boys weren't sticking to a single lane.
Up next is Giving It All Up for Love. Apparently, it's actually called Tattoo with the other title in brackets, but I never, ever thought of it that way. This was the UK-only single, which didn't chart. It starts with a descending guitar riff, and has a heavy keyboard component. Originally written by Phil Lynott, so it's the first cover on the album. It's a slower, jazzy-rock tune with a good beat.
Next is Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do. This was the second single off the album, released on May 4th, 1982. It did make the Top 40, reaching #36 at its peak. It's got a slow-rock beat; not a ballad, but you could definitely dance with a girl to this one. This also marks the first appearance of the Tower of Power horn section, a group that would do a lot of good things with Huey and the boys over the years. It was a match made in heaven, one of the best moves the band made in those early years.
The first side closes with Workin' For a Livin', the last single off the album. It charted, topping out at #41, but it became much more popular in later years as the band played it live, usually to close out their set. This song just rocks, and the lyrics are another example of how the band really connected with working class people. Everyone could relate to the struggles the singer was going through, worrying about paying the bills, how the next paycheck is already spent, etc. The song resonated with audiences, and deservedly so. In fact, the B-side to this single was the live version of the song. The verses are repeating that hammering drum-and-bass beat on the same chord over and over, but it never gets boring or tiresome. Great, great song, almost the best song on the album.
I said 'almost', because that title goes to the opening track of Side Two, Do You Believe in Love, written by Mutt Lange. This was the breakout hit, the first single released a week before the album dropped, and holy cats, is this an awesome song. It reached #7 on the Billboard charts, and did even better in Iceland, of all places, topping out at #2. This song starts out straight into the guitar riff, and the harmonies in the chorus are incredible. But the band wasn't doing the harmonies; it was just one guy, Chris Hayes, who did all seven(!) harmonic parts on his own. Obviously, that can't be replicated live, but it was still great in concert. And the solo...oh, blow that horn, Johnny! A gorgeous saxophone solo leads into the bridge and the big finale. Man, this song is stone-cold great. Love it.
Okay, after that intensity, we need to slow things down a bit. And lo and behold, the next track, Is It Me?, is the band's first full-on ballad. I loved this song, too. Still do, of course. The guitars are lighter on this one, as the keyboard carries the rhythm behind Huey's golden voice. Johnny breaks out the sax solo again, and it's beautiful. I listened to this song a lot when I was younger. It just resonated really well with me. And it was the B-side on Do You Believe in Love, too. It's a nice combo. I can't find a live track for this one, just the album version.
After that, we pick up the tempo again with Whatever Happened to True Love. The B-side to Hope You Love Me, this one is more of a straight-up rocker rather than the slow-rock A-side. It's still slower than Workin', more of a pop song than anything else. No live version of this one, either, so you get the album track. Chris Hayes does some more excellent work on this track.
Then it's the band's most serious song, based on a true story: The Only One. A friend of Huey's, the popular one in school, ended up going in the wrong direction in life, and was killed walking across a highway while drunk or stoned. This song is a commemoration of that friend, and it does not have a happy ending. It's a solid rocker, with a great chorus and strong harmonies. Definitely not an upbeat set of lyrics, though.
Finally, the album closes with another cover: Buzz Buzz Buzz. I have to admit, I never got this one. It felt really different from the rest of the album. It wasn't until years later that I found out that they were covering a song by the Hollywood Flames from 1957, twenty-five years before the album. Now I get it. It's carried by the saxophone, and has that old-fashioned backbeat drum track that will get you tapping your feet by the end of it. It's a fun song, and I like it a lot more now that I know its background. There were six other covers of the song prior to Huey Lewis' version, and more covers later on, including one by the Beach Boys in 1984! The latest cover, according to Wikipedia, was done by the Refreshments in 2008, fifty years after the song hit the charts. That's pretty good for a song I'd never heard of except on this album.
So, there it is: Picture This, the band's breakout album with two of their best and biggest hits. It was certified Gold for half a million albums sold, which is quite impressive. It was a signal that this band was the real deal, and they would only reinforce that with their next album, Sports. But that's a story for another post. In the meantime, why not listen to some great music?
No music review tonight; I'm going to give the next album another listen before I get to that.
One of the things I learned about writing that really resonated with me was the idea of writing 'into the dark'. That's where you just start writing. No plot beforehand, no outline, no prep work. Just sit down and start typing. It's not for everyone, I know. But for me, it's natural. Sure, I might have some idea of where the story is going (as I did with the story of Kane and Apprentice), but for most of what I write, it's just straight-up 'get to writing'.
This is easier in some genres than it is in others. For fantasy, it's not that hard. I wrote the entire Devil's Playground book into the dark; seven stories, none of which I had much of an idea other than 'let's throw this monster in there and see what happens'. The same with Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System; the only idea I really had was 'set each story at a different planet and don't repeat the plots'. I think it worked out pretty well.
The toughest genre to do into the dark would be mystery. Why? Because you have to keep the story consistent from start to finish. You can't have a character say one thing happened and then have him say the opposite happened a few chapters later unless that is going to be a significant point to solving the case. And it's not always easy to remember what was said, so reviewing is an important part of writing mysteries into the dark, or at least taking notes about important points.
For my first mystery, Final Exam, I had the story in my head when I was in university. The first time, that is, over thirty years ago. It took me that long to finally work up the mettle to just finally write the damn thing. And it turned out quite well, even though I knew how it was going to end.
The second one, though...I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write. I had just published Final Exam, and the rush from seeing people buy it online right in front of me at work pushed me to start writing another one. But about what? I had no idea. But I remembered reading a blog about writing into the dark and how the best way to write was to just write. Start writing, and see what happens. Let the creative mind go all-in on whatever story starts to come out of you.
So, I did. And eleven days later, I had The Missing Magnate. The first words I typed were, "So, you have an office now." And that was the extent of the story in my mind at that point. I had nothing except my two characters, Bill Potts and Cameron Vail. I had no crime, no victim, no murderer, no client, no idea. And yet, it worked out.
Writing into the dark can be challenging, even terrifying. But it's a lot of fun if you trust your creative mind to know what it's doing. Don't argue with it; just let it go. Your creative mind is awesome at telling stories. Give it the chance to do so, and you'll be amazed at what pops out. I know I was.
I've linked to most of the books I mentioned above; here's the link to Crystal Lilac, the second book of Kane and the most recent release in my oeuvre. Yes, that's a fancy word. I'm a writer; I like fancy words.
I haven't talked about music much, and not for quite a while. Growing up, my parents played lots of music in the house; Mom had several vinyl collections of classical music (including one that had a mistake on it, but I was the only one to pick up on it for some reason). They also had lots of stuff from when they were growing up, music from the 50s, mainly, like Elvis, the Platters, and the crooners of the day. And when I was about seven or eight, I was gifted my uncle's record collection, which had stuff from a few years later: the late 1950s and early 1960s. But no Beatles. Instead, it was American rock n' roll: Everly Brothers, Four Seasons, Sandy Nelson (a drummer who did his own albums), Gary Lewis and the Playboys, etc. It was a decent collection, and that's mostly what I grew up listening to
My first experience with the music of my generation was when some of my Grade 8 classmates did a heavy metal tribute band at the school talent show. I distinctly remember they played Black Sabbath's Iron Man. In a small, elementary school gymnasium. With amps borrowed from Spinal Tap.
Some readers may know that I have Aspergers, which is a form of autism. I didn't know that at the time; I was just different from the other kids. I was, and still am, sensitive to loud noises. I had grown up next to an Air Force base and been nearby when CF-101 Voodoo fighter jets took off and did airshows overhead. I had never heard such a concentrated wave of noise in my life, and I literally had to leave and return to the classroom to get hold of myself. I absolutely hated it, and went back to the classic rock n' roll that I knew.
Fast forward a couple of years. The family had moved to Toronto, and I was in a new school. A friend of mine, Jason van Sluytman, was listening to something on his Walkman. Yes, it was a cassette tape; it was the mid-1980s. Curious, I asked him what he was listening to. He offered me the headphones. Remembering the metal concert in the gym, I was hesitant, but he showed me where the volume knob was, so I gave it a listen.
The album was Huey Lewis and the News. Their debut album from 1980. The first song was Some of My Lies are True (Sooner or Later). And I was hooked. I had never heard anything like that. And it was a new band, not something from my parents' generation. Sure, the album was about five years old, but so what? I listened to that song about fifty times in a row. I bought the cassette, the first music I'd ever bought. And for my birthday that year, my friends got me the rest of the News cassettes. At the time, there were three others: Picture This, Sports, and Fore!, which was the newest release. I was a Huey Lewis fanatic. I didn't listen to anything else for quite a while, but I listened to those albums a lot.
If I were to be asked what it was about this band that grabbed me, it was the sound, plain and simple. It had echoes of what I had listened to from my uncle's records, with groups like the Ventures, who were an instrumental group. Their debut album cover was a part of that as well; they looked like a band from the golden age of rock n' roll. But the opening riff of that song...it blew me away. And even though it didn't chart and had no hit songs, that debut album was like a window on a whole new world for me. I loved every song on the album. I still do; I can replay the entire album in my head.
So, as I settle into a new month and a new book (hi, Cameron!), I'm going to spend a bit of time reminiscing about my favorite band, looking at their albums and doing some reviews. Nothing spectacular or commemorative; I just felt like talking about them. And listening to them again as well. Because even now, nearly forty years later, it's still the best band I ever heard, and my greatest regret is that I never got to see them live. I almost did, shortly before I met my wife, but it was an opportunity missed.
So, I'll take a closer look at that debut album tomorrow night. In the meantime, time to do some research...
