Album: No More Lonely Nights
Year: 1979
Style: Southern Bluesy Rock
Similar Bands: Ace, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd
"One-Word" Review: Bourbon-Dirt-Rock
Based Out Of: Texas
Label: Infinity Records
No More Lonely Nights Back & Insert
No More Lonely Nights Front & Insert
No More Lonely Nights Record
No More Lonely Nights (1979)
- No More Lonely Nights (3:51)
- Bulldog (3:18)
- Guitar Song (3:19)
- Baby, You Can't Dance (3:42)
- Twist One Up (4:43)/
- Shark (2:20)
- I Should Be Sleeping (2:27)
- Honey Dew (3:02)
- Take Me (3:09)
- Willie & Waylon (3:11)
- Hoo-Doo-Voo-Doo (3:11)
Album Rating (1-10):
5.5
Members & Other Bands:
Leonard Arnold - Guitar (Lavender Hill Express)
Richard Bowden - Guitar (Austin Lounge Lizards, Pinkard & Bowden, Shiloh, Cold Steel, Maines Brothers Band)
Howard Burke - Guitar
Marc Durham - Bass (Buckwheat)
Mickey McGee - Drums
Michael Huey - Drums (The Swingin' Medallions)
Ken Perry - Mastering
Jimmy Watchel - Album Design (for Dawn Patrol) & Cover Photography
Michael Curtis - Cover Photography
Rose Ware - Group Photos
Intrepid Productions - Direction
Noah Shark & Max - Producers
Unknown-ness: I've never heard of these guys. From the cover & obvious play on words with "night" in the title & a knight at a table, I figured it would be tongue-in-cheek silly rock, perhaps just cheezy music. The pictures of the band on the back made it look like the band itself might be good. And with a production date of 1979, I really wanted to see what this record contained.
Album Review: I've heard the album a few times through now, and It is a solid southern rock album as far as I can tell. I have not gotten any bit of comedy I expected from the imagery + album title or the fact that the main guitarist went on to do country/comedy albums.
The album starts off like Foreigner: Cold as Ice; Loud guitar and powerful driving drum & bass. The chorus is remarkably similar to Journey's "Separate Ways." The lead guitar echoes the vocals at the end of every line of the verse, extending the melody in its own direction. The next song "Bulldog" is a swampy, sticky trek through the muck of southern rock. A slow, swaggering tempo makes this song stumble along. You can hear the three guitars all at once at some points, but it does not sound thick or chaotic. Toward the end, the tempo picks up, shaking the stagger off, and the song fades. "Guitar Song" is a more driving southern rock. It occasionally harmonizes the last word of a lyric as well as the one word choruses. It ends with a whammy guitar wind down. "Baby You Cant Dance" is a jagged bluesy, somewhat funky bass driven song. Supposedly a dance song, it proclaims that if you can't dance to this, then you can't dance. "Twist One Up" is another slow, staggering southern rocker. The song is how I imagine lazy and carefree summer days in the South, full of heat and a sweaty sun. The tempo picks up to a full on honky tonk dance contest at 3 minutes, and continues to the end, through one last return to the chorus.
"Shark" is a sly, bass heavy, driving song. It has an oldies rock n' roll style translated through southern rock. The chorus is very repetitive and catchy "I'm a shark in the dark." "I Should Be Sleeping" sounds the bastard child of ZZ Top and the Beach Boys. There is even a Beach Boys harmonizing "Ewwwee-Eeee-Oooh" in the background. The slow, trekking "Honey Dew" is next, which creates the image of a crippled stalker who means well, but still pursues the girl who broke his heart. Fuzz-honky-tonk guitar begins "Take Me." The chorus is an urgent, desperate gruff, yet harmonized chanting of 'take me.' The tempo is not quite slow nor is it fast. "Willie And Waylon" is a start/stop oldie ala Chuck Berry. A typical rock guitar solo bridges the verses, and the verse, chorus instrumental construction makes it an easy to follow song. "Hoo-Doo-Voo-Doo" is a slow paced, wide stepping march. The bass is dark, and the lyrical imagery is that of the southern bayou's mystery.
Stand Out Track:
Shark
Links:
Richard Bowden Page
Richard Bowden Allmusic
Pinkard & Bowden
Blue Steel on Glory Daze
Blue Steel Allmusic
5.5
Members & Other Bands:
Leonard Arnold - Guitar (Lavender Hill Express)
Richard Bowden - Guitar (Austin Lounge Lizards, Pinkard & Bowden, Shiloh, Cold Steel, Maines Brothers Band)
Howard Burke - Guitar
Marc Durham - Bass (Buckwheat)
Mickey McGee - Drums
Michael Huey - Drums (The Swingin' Medallions)
Ken Perry - Mastering
Jimmy Watchel - Album Design (for Dawn Patrol) & Cover Photography
Michael Curtis - Cover Photography
Rose Ware - Group Photos
Intrepid Productions - Direction
Noah Shark & Max - Producers
Unknown-ness: I've never heard of these guys. From the cover & obvious play on words with "night" in the title & a knight at a table, I figured it would be tongue-in-cheek silly rock, perhaps just cheezy music. The pictures of the band on the back made it look like the band itself might be good. And with a production date of 1979, I really wanted to see what this record contained.
Album Review: I've heard the album a few times through now, and It is a solid southern rock album as far as I can tell. I have not gotten any bit of comedy I expected from the imagery + album title or the fact that the main guitarist went on to do country/comedy albums.
The album starts off like Foreigner: Cold as Ice; Loud guitar and powerful driving drum & bass. The chorus is remarkably similar to Journey's "Separate Ways." The lead guitar echoes the vocals at the end of every line of the verse, extending the melody in its own direction. The next song "Bulldog" is a swampy, sticky trek through the muck of southern rock. A slow, swaggering tempo makes this song stumble along. You can hear the three guitars all at once at some points, but it does not sound thick or chaotic. Toward the end, the tempo picks up, shaking the stagger off, and the song fades. "Guitar Song" is a more driving southern rock. It occasionally harmonizes the last word of a lyric as well as the one word choruses. It ends with a whammy guitar wind down. "Baby You Cant Dance" is a jagged bluesy, somewhat funky bass driven song. Supposedly a dance song, it proclaims that if you can't dance to this, then you can't dance. "Twist One Up" is another slow, staggering southern rocker. The song is how I imagine lazy and carefree summer days in the South, full of heat and a sweaty sun. The tempo picks up to a full on honky tonk dance contest at 3 minutes, and continues to the end, through one last return to the chorus.
"Shark" is a sly, bass heavy, driving song. It has an oldies rock n' roll style translated through southern rock. The chorus is very repetitive and catchy "I'm a shark in the dark." "I Should Be Sleeping" sounds the bastard child of ZZ Top and the Beach Boys. There is even a Beach Boys harmonizing "Ewwwee-Eeee-Oooh" in the background. The slow, trekking "Honey Dew" is next, which creates the image of a crippled stalker who means well, but still pursues the girl who broke his heart. Fuzz-honky-tonk guitar begins "Take Me." The chorus is an urgent, desperate gruff, yet harmonized chanting of 'take me.' The tempo is not quite slow nor is it fast. "Willie And Waylon" is a start/stop oldie ala Chuck Berry. A typical rock guitar solo bridges the verses, and the verse, chorus instrumental construction makes it an easy to follow song. "Hoo-Doo-Voo-Doo" is a slow paced, wide stepping march. The bass is dark, and the lyrical imagery is that of the southern bayou's mystery.
Stand Out Track:
Shark
Links:
Richard Bowden Page
Richard Bowden Allmusic
Pinkard & Bowden
Blue Steel on Glory Daze
Blue Steel Allmusic
Wow, thanks for posting this review! I remember this album fondly from the summer of '79, though I never owned it myself. "Twist One Up" and "Baby You Can't Dance" got a lot of airplay on my favorite station back in central Ohio, and I guess one of my friends must have owned the album too, as the photos you posted sure seem familiar. Maybe I just drooled over it at the record store? I could scarcely afford to buy albums in those days...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that song, "Twist One Up," silly though it is, has always stuck with me, word for word, note for note. And my memory sucks (I wonder why?)! I tried tracking it down just a couple years ago, but my despite my best Google-Fu there was no sign to be found.
My wife just read aloud to me an article about a bull jumping a fence and mauling the crowd at a rodeo in Redding, CA last weekend.
The name of the bull?
Blue Steel.
So I started singing "Twist One Up" and she just looked at me like I was out of my mind. Which I guess I might be. But it inspired me to try Googling Blue Steel one last time, and up pops your site in the first hit. Ain't life a funny thing?
Reckon I'll just go twist one up right now. Don't let them suits get you down!
I have many fond memories of this album. I spent the summer of "79" twisting them up and burning them down. I bought the album and listened to it a lot while riding in my jeep with the top off. Oh to be 19 again.
ReplyDeleteI got to see the band live while they toured with the Eagles on their Long Run Tour....What a concert.
I still pull it off the rack from time to time and listen to it and it always takes me back to a more simple time.
I have been trying to find an MP3 of "Twist One UP" to put on my IPod, I'm to cheap to by a digital turn table and convert the whole album.
I too remember this song as it got airplay on QFM96. Awesome and I dont even smoke dope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI bought the album just for "Twist One Up", back in the day when i did just that. I still have the album in xcellent condition, played it the other day. Like the above post, i need to somehow get the album converted to a digital format.
ReplyDelete