From the opening chords of "Hold Her Tight", a none-too-distant relative of - yup! - Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", it is obvious that this is a very different sort of Osmonds album.
Twelve original Osmond compositions, produced by Alan the oldest Osmond and the brothers' regular producer Michael Lloyd, that are overall not only somewhat harder-rocking than the previous Osmonds albums fodder, but come with a message as well. It is not a spiritual message, like their next album "The Plan" (1973) would bring, but an environmental one - decades before that would become the accepted norm in popular music. Eat your heart out, Sting!
The title track is not only the single greatest thing the Utah born and bread brothers ever recorded, but also one of the greatest singles the 1970's ever produced. Period. Just ravel in its glorious unbound madness. Why didn't they do more of this?
The would-you-believe-it semi-bluesy "Life is Hard Enough Without Goodbyes" (Is that a theremin I hear in there?!) is yet another style-breaking surprise. And so is the mid-tempo "We All Fall Down", all horns and harmonies.
Thankfully though, the record is not without its dose of sweet Osmond balladry. Admittedly, there's nothing here that equals 1974's "Love Me For a Reason" - that was still a couple of years ahead - but "What Could it Be" definitely ranks as one of their best ballads nonetheless.
Although some of their most memorable stuff was still yet to come (The aforementioned "Love Me For a Reason", as well as "One Way Ticket to Anywhere" from "The Plan") as far as I'm concerned, when it comes to the Osmonds, "Crazy Horses" is where it's at. A solid, all-original album, and a classic kick-ass single. You can't ask for much more than that. The white Vegas-era Elvis jumpsuits we can - and should - just forgive and forget.
From what little info I can gather these guys first came together in Götenburg, Sweden in 1973. Iceland-born brothers Jón-Erik Gíslason (Drums) and Hans Gíslason then got together with Swedes Tommy Eriksson (Bass) and Christer Modin (Guitar), recorded, self-financed and released indie single (limited to 2.000 copies) "Manual Sister Mary"/"Sweet Little Rock 'N Roll" (Plump Productions, PS 004).
A year later, Icelander Steinar Árnason had replaced Tommy Eriksson on bass and the quartet recorded debut album "Oldsmobile", which was then released on Polydor Sweden (#2462 149).
Fast forward a couple of years and a third Gíslason brother Gunnar (Guitar, vocals) had been drafted in, in place of Christer Modin, and Kenny Olsson had replaced Tommy Eriksson on bass, and Vikivaki's best-known work, the album "Cruising", was releasead via CBS Europe (# 82009) in 1977.
Produced by occasional ABBA collaborator and an all-around Swedish pop legend Claes af Geijerstam, "Cruising" is an ambitious piece of work taking in various music styles, including disco-lite (Sample lyric: "K.C.& the Sunshine Band, Tina Charles and George McCrae. They turn you on and up the way you want to, and it's all you care to play"), Status Quo-esqe rock and American sounding soft rock. Meanwhile, image-wise at least, Teen Pop seems to have been the order of the day. Hilarious 7" promo sampler courtesy of CBS Sweden has to be heard to be believed (scroll down).
"Crazy Daisy" became a minor hit in Sweden, while "Soulstar" caused ripples elsewhere in Europe. However, major success eluded Vikivaki and the CBS deal promptly expired.
Seemingly, by 1979, Vikivaki was down to the trio of the Gíslason brothers and, as such, recorded released their final single in Sweden (and, presumably, in Swedish) only: "Motorcykel"/"Tokyo" (Bohus # BGS 532).
Around that time, I read somewhere that Vikivaki had changed its name to Iceland. However, then the trail goes cold...(no pun intended :-)
As always, any and all further info would be greatly appreciated.
Iceland doesn't seem to have been as inactive as I previously thought. By the very early '80s the band consisted of no less than four Gislason brothers: Jon, Gunnar, Hans, and newcomer Björn. And as such, they issued at least two Sweden-only albums, in 1980 and '82, and a handful of singles well into the 1990's!
Iceland discography:
LP's:
"On the Rocks" (1980)
"Breaking the Ice" (1982)
"Funky Street" (1993)
Singles:
"Breaking the Ice"/"Chicago" (1982)
"Masquerade"/"Movin' On" (1983)
"Cold as Ice"/"Fantasy" (1986)
"Blue City"/"Back on the Track" (1987)
"Caroline"/"Got My Eyes on You" (1989)
"Breaking the Ice"/"Money Talks"/"Lean on Me" (1994) CD single.
The lead singer/songwriter for one of the greatest bands of the early '70s, the Raspberries, Eric Carmen went solo in 1975, after what seems to have been a particularly painful break-up within the band. Having penned - and sung - power pop classics such as "Go All the Way", "I Wanna Be With You", and "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" for his former band, it was abundantly clear that the Cleveland native was no slouch in the singing-songwriting department.
And so, with former Raspberries producer Jimmy Ienner and Clive Davis' newly established Arista Records in his corner, Eric Carmen confidently went out on his own. And, to make a long story short, his debut self-titled solo album issued in late 1975 is a triumph - a minor pop classic in fact. The lead-off single, power ballad "All By Myself", quickly hit no. 2 on the U.S. Billboard singles chart, eventually becoming Carmen's best known composition to date yielding covers by both Celine Dion and Frank Sinatra - to name but two.
Other songs off the album include "That's Rock 'N Roll" (a U.S. Top 10 for Shaun Cassidy in 1977. The Runaways also included it in their early stage show but regrettfully never recorded it), "No Hard Feelings" (about the Raspberries' break-up), and another power ballad - and a Top 20 U.S. hit - "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again".
Nothing against Barry Manilow, but as accomplished as the "Eric Carmen" album on the whole was, it unfortunately veered too much towards BM territory at times, which sort of colors many folks' (perhaps unaware of his power pop past) perception of Carmen to this day.
But to be fair, the Raspberries' repertoire also always had its fair share of blatant balladry. A case in point: "Starting Over", the title track and a highlight from their fourth and last long player in 1974. Also, the Bay City Rollers, with the aid and, undoubtingly, under the influence of Raspberries/Carmen producer Jimmy Ienner, took a competent stab at one of the 'berries best melodic moments, "Let's Pretend" ("If 'Don't Worry Baby' and 'Mr. Tambourine Man' had a baby" - Eric Carmen, 2013), which appeared on their 1976 album "Dedication".
"Boats Against the Current", the difficult second album, was issued in the summer of 1977. The title track, duly covered by both Frankie Valli and Olivia Newton-John, was yet another piano-based ballad. The Beach Boys-influenced single "She Did it" went Top 20 in the U.S. while the excellent "Marathon Man" unjustly flopped. With the album an overall disappointment, both artistically and commercially, Carmen could though find some solace in the fact that Shaun Cassidy hit the Top 10 with another one of his compositions, "Hey Deanie", which was also included on the next Eric Carmen album "Change of Heart" in 1978. The title track went Top 20 as a single but the album as such flopped miserably. And thus ended Eric Carmen's association with Arista - for the time being.
Although managing a minor hit here and there over the next few years (1980's naughty "Tonight You're Mine" was, well, interesting) Eric Carmen was no longer a viable option, or so it seemed. That is, until a certain blockbuster movie called "Dirty Dancing" became the surprise hit of 1987. And Eric Carmen just happened to have a song, "Hungry Eyes", on the otherwise - almost - oldies dominated soundtrack album (one of the other new songs included was "I've Had the Time of My Life" by Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes). And with that, Eric Carmen was back up where he belonged again - in the Top 10...
1988's "Make Me Lose Control" was an even bigger hit, peaking at no. 3 Stateside - his highest chart placing since "All By Myself"...
"The Best of Eric Carmen" compilation was issued on Arista. It did especially well on Compact Disc - the new format all the kids were raving about. Albums were soooooo out!
And so, apparently, was our Eric. Instead of following this success up properly he seems to have slipped into a semi-retirement from recording, although touring with Ringo Starr's All Starr Band in the new millennium, and with the temporarily reformed Raspberries a few years later kept him somewhat active in the live arena as time went on.
In 2014 his first new recording for over a decade appeared on a new "Essential Eric Carmen" double CD issued by Arista/Sony Legacy; the Brian Wilson-esque "Brand New Year", where he was aptly enough backed by some of his hero's much lauded backing band: Jeffrey Foskett, Darian Sahanaja and Nick Walusko. The latter two being also members of power popsters Wondermints. Let us just hope it is indeed the beginning of something brand new for Eric Carmen...
