Durocs - s/t

Name: Durocs
Album: s/t
Year: 1979
Style: Power Pop
Similar Bands: ELO, Supertramp, Bee-Gees, Robert Palmer
"One-Word" Review: Studio-Pop
Based Out Of: San Francisco, Ca
Label: EMI, Capitol Records

Durocs - Cover, Liner Notes & Record

Durocs - Back, Liner Notes & Record

Durocs - s/t (1979)

1. Hog Wild 3.21
2. Lie to Me 3.14
3. Don’t Let the Dream Die 4.39
4. We Go Good Together 4.08
5. No Fool No Fun 3.02/
6. It Hurts to be in Love 3.02
7. Seeker 3.51
8. True Love 3.19
9. One Day at a Time 3.44
10. Saving it All Up for Larry 4.35

Album Rating (1-10): 5.5

Members & Other Bands:

Scott Matthews - Bass, Drums, Guitar, Keyboards, Saxophone, Vocals, Producer, Arranger, Album Design & Concept, Inner Photos (Sammy Hagar, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Barbara Streisand, Glen Campbell, The Tubes, John Hiatt, the Profits)
Ron Nagle - Keys, Vox, Producer, Arranger, Album Design & Concept (The Mystery Trend, The Excorcist, Streisand, The Tubes, John Hiatt, The Profits)
Elliot Mazer - Producer
Larry "Lord" Blackshere - Vibes, Vocals (Background) (Sandals, Stoneground)

Phil Aaberg - Piano, Synth, Clavinet
John Blakeley - Bass, Guitar, Percussion
Steve Douglas - Saxophone (Phil Spector, Beach Boys, Ry Cooder)
Mike Fusaro - Engineer
Maurice Cridlin - Accordion, Bass, Percussion
Chris Michie - Guitar
Larry Reid - Vocals (King Richard & the Knights)
Eric Stein - Synthesizer

Chris Minto - Patches, Punches & Fades
Wally Traugott - Mastering
Michael Murphy - Cover & logo Design
Deacon Chapin - Liner Photo
Thatcher Nagle - Inner Photos
Cindy Ehrlich - Inner Photos
Ernie Fosselious - Inner Drawings
Greg Vander Leun - Inner Drawings
Paul Power - Inner Drawings
Kip Krones - Handler
Bob Brown - Handler
Greg Fischback - Legal
Linda Komorsky - Pork Administrator
Bruce Ravid - Rave Up
Roberta Van Deer - Angel Loop

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of this band. But from the pig’s ass on the front, I’m guessing that either they don’t take the music seriously, or they’re just going for a hog-concept album (which is what I’m kinda betting with the pink color scheme and the first track called Hog Wild) which is comedic in its own right. I imagine this will be fun music, and I like the little bit of style that you get from the picture of the two members on the back, around a diner table jukebox. I got this for a pound in a record shop in Camden Town, while on vacation in England.

Album Review: “Hog Wild” is a typical pub rock song, with a catchy power pop chorus. The instrumental bridge even includes a sax, as if the genre insisted on having one. The chorus takes over with the end of the song, repeating over and over, as if it were a song that could go on forever. It is a very catchy chorus, short and punchy.
“Lie to Me” has a smooth ELO style power pop sound. It has a continuously building melody, where the song constantly feels like it is going to evolve into a new music section, but always skips back to the beginning before it releases.
“Don’t Let the Dream Die” begins like a smooth power pop ballad with Air Supply like harmonies and a dreamy yet distant puffy cloud production. It kinda feels like it’s going to break into “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.”
“We Go Good Together” starts out like a soft Billy Joel jangely piano pop song with a little bounce. But the chorus has a smooth Bee-Gees or Beach Boys harmonized quality to the vocal minus the high pitches. This has a nice Beatleish building melody in the verse. Overall, it is just a generally pleasant song with no outspoken qualities.
“No Fool No Fun” has an overproduced smooth vocal quality that glides along with the melody, and feels stuck in the 70’s. It relies on its choral hook, and repeated it to hypnotism in the end of the song, where it becomes buried under a chaotic mass of shouting voices in some sort of brawl as the song ends.

“It Hurts to be in Love” starts with a melody that sounds like it is a cover of “My Boyfriend’s Back” the rhythm is that of a marching ELO pop song. This is the definition of a Power Pop song. The chorus just drips with guitar power to which the genre is indebted to.
“Seeker” feels like a southern rock song at it begins. Like it is trying to be Bob Seger or something similar. It has a very simple, repetitive verse, and an equally repetitive chorus. The stand out element, aside from the somewhat raspy, shouty vocals, is the sneaky bass line. Sax is added at the instrumental bridge, making it feel like pub rock again.
“True Love” is a glittery “downtown” style song with a sexy sax accompaniment and overproduced smooth vocals. It is a one dimensional song, good, but somewhat forgettable.
“One Day at a Time” is slow and meandering, sung over an 80’s synth keyboard effect. A bit like Air Supply minus the campy pop hooks. And it has a cheesy, uninterested fade out ending.“Saving it All Up for Larry” Brings back the rock with a pub rocking song with a very catchy falsetto vocal for the chorus. It feels very Supertrampish combined with Foreigner style music. It tries to rock out, but even the electric guitar sounds like it could be coming out of a synthesizer, kind of like the sound of Dire Straits guitars in “Money For Nothing”

Stand Out Track: It Hurts to Be In Love

Links:

Scott Matthews Wiki
Scott's Website
Nagle Wiki
Bad Cat Records
Rate Your Music
Vinyl Rip
Ill Folks
Allmusic