POLLnight Blue: 80s Debut Singles from Lead Singers Who Went Solo

I adore "Dreamtime" despite being about a minute too long and boasting too much unhinged David Stewart; it's still a better production than "Don't Come Around Here No More" as far as luxuriant mid eighties paisley psychedelic rock goes. It's cool though that Hall's first solo single is as discrete a sonic entity as, say, "Out of Touch."

Suedehead

haha i just listened to 'dreamtime' (not nearly as fond of it as you are) and was somewhat mystified by the production, trying to figure out hall's vision and thinking 'this is what you might imagine an eric carmen record from around this time might sound like if you didn't know all too well what an eric carmen record from around this time actually sounds like', just a weird mess of bad mid 80s production ideas and hamfisted "60s" touches. how i didn't immediately think 'dave stewart' i don't know.

Many of these "solo" options offer a significantly different sound than if they would have done the same song with their original band. The George Michael singles are a huge leap from the WHAM! material, but could anybody really call WHAM! a "band"; seriously, they were an act. Singles like Midnight Blue Lights Outand Oh Sherrie could have just have easily been Foreigner, J Geils and Journey singles; so they should not get as much credit as something In the Air Tonight where Collins made a whole new sound that turned out be a bigger influence on the Genesis sound than the other way round.

Top marks go to what Byrne did with Eno on Regiment. In fact, of all the singles listed, I submit that none of them are on an album that established a new direction in a more satisfying way than My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. If Rei Momo would've had a single he could have slipped another one before the end of the decade -- and again, a fresh new direction.

So, with a premium placed on defining styles that expand or diverge from the band from which they came...

David Byrne, by a mile.

also rans include;
Phil Collins
Sting
David Lee Roth (really?)

i like the mick and the sting up there far more than i should

haha i just listened to 'dreamtime' (not nearly as fond of it as you are) and was somewhat mystified by the production

I like how what is in essence a guitar song bolsters one of Hall's most assholic performances ("I saw you standin' and I FELT your rage") where the synths and harmonic patterns on the H&O stuff mitigated the nastiness. It only works once. I actually own this album. Man, does it sound expensive.

Thought about Robbie rob when I went in my binge but dude wasn't a "lead singer" in the band by any measure

rather; Many of these "solo" options don't offer...

write-in votes for lindsey buckingham's 'trouble' and stevie nicks 'leather and lace' (though not quite solo)

All this talk about "Dreamtime" made me wonder if there weren't any singles released off of Daryl Hall's first solo album Sacred Songs.

"Something In 4/4 Time" was!

apparently 'stop draggin' my heart around' was the first single from bella donna, 'leather and lace' was the followup. pretty canny of her to have her first two solo singles not be flying solo. can you imagine holding 'edge of seventeen' in reserve?

and "Stop Draggin'" remains Tom Petty's biggest chart hit too.

discogs lied to me about the order of those, but the catalogue numbers tell the truth

it just seemed a little weird to me that 'leather and lace' would be her first single, though it makes sense - eagles plus fleetwood mac! - there's no fucking way that record's not a hit.

Well, yeah.

Hahaha, turns out I've never heard Lou Gramm's "Midnight Blue" before and assumed we were talking about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxk4bD6LoKM

Gramm's is pretty Seger/Mellencampy.

Oh man, I love Midnight Blue SO much, I can't possibly vote for anything else.

I kind of wonder why Sting is held in such low regard and disdain. I mean I get it, but he doesn't strike me as any more full of himself than say Bono or Paul Simon. anyone?

That's it: he's just as full of himself but with few solo songs commensurate with his self-regard.

http://youtu.be/E9x-Mu5xyXE

bah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9x-Mu5xyXE

lindsey buckingham's 'trouble'

ooh that's a bad miss. Would be strongly impelled to vote for this.

Don't think I've heard "I Found Somebody", but Frey's second solo single "The One You Love" still gets tons of airplay in my area and I've developed a certain appreciation for it, such a sweet saxophone groove

DON: Well, yeah.

is it just pavlovian at this point

It is interesting, on their first solo records, how closely Frey hewed to the Eagles sound while Henley was like "LOL time to make a new wave record!"

yeah i'll ride for the one u love. It has a v unfreylike grace.

still can't not love dirty laundry even though the scoldy judgy lyrics are abonimable. I just love the arrangement and production so much.

all she wants to do is dance can GTFO though

i have my limits

FM is a tough one. They have less of a lead singer than they do three singers who sing lead.

Not gonna lie, I stopped reading and voted after I saw the first choice.

I'm the one voting for Ice Cube, though I don't know if he would qualify as a "singer," per se.

Never even heard this album but i've been thinking about the ritchie/commodores lately:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/90/Lionel_Richie_(self-titled_album_-_cover_art).jpg

Ian Anderson - Fly By Night

i'm going to be a good boy and not embed this clip of Ian twirling his flute around alone with a keyboard player on the leo sayer show, but it's fucking hilarious

Boy George Everything I Own

croup that reminds me, that top 40 tumblr you do is fantastic

yeah I listened to the early eighties top 20 playlist the other morning

oh Boy George's 'Everything I Own' -- that was a favorite song when it came out, I haven't heard it in so long

thanks croup

you're welcome, y'all!

croup that reminds me, that top 40 tumblr you do is fantastic

― balls, Wednesday, July 23, 2014 5:19 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

whats it called this tumblr

http://50yearsoftop40.tumblr.com/

o i meant his other one - http://my40plusplusfetish.tumblr.com

jk. DO NOT CLICK THAT. DO NOT DO NOT CLICK THAT.

Tags: 69, Fistplay, It Sharted In The...

haha

nothing wrong with some hot ladies. Gives me something to grab for. My vote.

I wash hoping someone would talk about that first Ric Ocasek solo, supposedly more synth-heavy than his Cars stuff.

That particular song is more guitar heavy than The Cars at that moment. It might as well have been a Cars album. I like the single. Have the 45 with the picture sleeve.

DON: Well, yeah.

never not funny

literally just learnt that AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted was a single. If I'd known that all along, I might vote for it, but that whole album just feels like a piece to me. I Want Your Sex would be a contender, if it had been Yog's debut. If DLR was listed as the Crazy From The Heat EP, not just California Girls, hands-down winner. So that leaves me with .... voting for Suedehead?

:( you guys