The Giant Panther

Ask and you shall receive! I posted a song by Tom Dickie & The Desires last night and I got a rare comment. Somebody mentioned that they can't wait for somebody to post The Rings song I Need Strange from 1981. Done and done my friend. For those who don't know anything about this band you are not alone. The Rings were fairly hot in Boston from 1979 to 1982 when they broke up. This record was no one hit job though. I could have posted My Kinda Girl, Watch You Break, Opposites Attract, Let Me Go or Third Generation and it's doubtful anyone would have known the difference. This is no cut out bin record; you can't even find this thing and I don't believe it was ever out on CD. They had one more great song called Uh Oh Here I Go Again on their next release, The Rhythm Method, before finally breaking up. MCA took a chance on these guys and I don't care how many records it didn't sell; this was a great record. I still enjoy listening to it to this day. I never saw them live and I couldn't name one band member without researching it, but this record was a blast. I'm going to keep this one short since I'm running low on time today, but I just couldn't resist a near real time request. I'm more than happy to try and do this going forward, but don't expect the same lightning quick results. How about that? I take requests...enjoy!

I feel like blogging once an hour for the rest of my existence. That's physically impossible, but, as The Cowboy Junkies used to say, ('Cause) Cheap is How I Feel. I'm taking the Way Back Machine all the way back to my third full year in Beantown. In 1981, a record so old that Amazon.com is totally clueless about what month it came out, Tom Dickie & The Desires released an album called Competition. I couldn't tell you a single other cut on this record, but I can tell you it wasn't the worst record I ever heard. I can tell you Strawberries, a record chain in the northeast nobody remembers today, had a Midnight Madness sale and yours truly purchased the record based on one song. One. Downtown Talk was a ROCKIN' tune. Among the very best of 1981 that the Boston area was playing on AOR radio. I don't know if it was WBCN or WCOZ, but Downtown Talk rocked my 21 year old ass back to the stone age. Laugh if you want, but this NYC band had a huge impact on this youngster. I didn't need another tune. It doesn't have the same long term resonance of Turning Japanese or any other massive one hit wonder song, but this song will never be forgotten by my circle of friends.

In 1981 I was even younger and more naive than I am today. I spent my days on the beach and my nights being Johnny Nacho. That didn't help me with the Pretty in Pink girl, but I was 145 lbs of liquid dynamite (or so I thought) at the time. This is probably the most obscure tune I have posted to date, but I can assure you I am not done. I've got an arsenal of forgotten classics in my collection that would embarrass The Lost 45's program. I feel like every day that goes by I'm missing a chance to reinstate a tune that deserves a lot more billing than Funky Cold Medina (no slight to Tone Loc...I'm dead serious on that note...I love the Funky Cold Medina). I've got no history to report on Tom Dickie. They had maybe three albums and nothing has been reprinted on CD to my knowledge. Still, Downtown Talk is in my personal Hall of Fame without a doubt. It's not even a one hit wonder...it was regional tune that just rockin' my world. More than half you won't even recognize it. I don't care. This tune was TREMENDOUS. I can still remember rocking to this tune on Nahant Beach in Massachusetts. Go ahead, cackle if you must, but I will stand by this tune until I'm six feet under. I hope I can jog some memories, but failing that I hope I can turn just one person onto this song. Great stuff to this day. This was Boston in 1981. It was played right next to I Will Follow no lie.