Upon recently buying my third Eric
B. & Rakim album, I decided I could live without an earlier “20th
Century Masters” greatest hits record by the same band. When I got my fourth
studio album by Nazareth, I let go of my compilation album “the Primo
Collection” (reviewed back at Disc 254) as well.
There’s no danger of me ever
buying a bunch of studio albums by this next band, but I still appreciate owning
a greatest hits package.
Disc 602 is….Hot Shots
Artist: Trooper
Year of Release: 1979 but with music
from 1975 to 1978
What’s up with the Cover? Someone’s been
taking some…hot shots! On vinyl this cover was one of my favourites because the
bullet holes were actually holes in the cover, that you could put your fingers
through. When you opened up the front cover, you could see a second target where
the ‘bullet holes’ lined up with stars as impact points (I think).
The
CD version of this cover is considerably less cool, seeing as it features a
giant “Compact Disc/Compact Price” built right into the label. I imagine when I
bought this “compact price” was about twice what that means now.
How I Came To Know It: For the second review in a row,
my brother owned this album on vinyl and I probably borrowed it from him
originally before buying the CD years ago in a fit of nostalgia.
How It Stacks Up: This is a ‘best of’ album so doesn’t stack up. It is
also my only Trooper album, so it wouldn’t stack up anyway.
Rating: no rating – ‘best of’ albums don’t get rated.
I struggled at first with how to
characterize seventies Canadian rock icons Trooper before settling on the expression
‘boat rock’.
My friend Kate recently introduced
me to the hilarity of the Youtube series “Yacht Rock” which fictitiously chronicles
the lives of late seventies/early eighties schmaltz like the Doobie Brothers
and Kenny Loggins. With their light riffs and smooth style Trooper seems to fit
the bill here, but they are a bit rougher around the edges. They are more like
a small-town Canada version of those acts. It isn’t music for the country club
so much as music for summertime cook outs. For putting on your jean-short
cutoffs and sitting in a vinyl-strap lawnchair, feet up on the cooler so the
next beer will be in easy reach. ‘Boat rock’ is the right sentiment, maybe even
‘aluminum boat rock’ if you’re actually going fishing as opposed to just up the
lake for a swim.
Like a boat trip up the lake,
Trooper is not my favourite music but I grew up with it, and there is an easy
familiarity about their sound. It is easy and breezy, and the songs have pretty
little melodies and guitar riffs which are simple but fun, and get your toes
tapping. I like them a lot more than their yacht rock cousins, in the same way
that I’m a lot more at ease with my feet on a cooler than I would be on a
cruise ship or sailboat.
These songs were big in my early
youth, where Trooper got a lot of airplay on Canadian radio. Whether that was a
CanCon thing doesn’t really matter – the music was up tempo and fun. Even the
ballads seemed carefree. You can tell that Trooper wanted to have a harder edge
to their sound, but it is never as tough as they want it to be. These guys
raise hell for sure, but only a little of it.
Lyrically, this stuff is a bit
ridiculous. Mostly it is the usual ‘I love a girl’ stuff, and when they do try
bigger subjects (like the arrival of pilgrims on “Santa Maria”) it comes off kitschy and forced. I guess it’s just
too big a boat.
I particularly enjoy “The Boys In the Bright White Sports Car”
which is about little more than a couple guys driving down a street in a nice
ride. There is an implication that the song might be about master thieves (“the car is probably stolen”) but given
that it is being piloted by ‘Jack of All
Trades Stan” and “Gerry, the Garbage
Man” it is more likely a bunch of buddies on a wild weekend trip in Vegas.
The worst trouble these guys will get into is a fistfight and a night in the
drunk-tank.
The lyrics of “General Hand Grenade” are exceptionally
bad:
“Good old General Hand Grenade
Ridin' in a motorcade
Sippin' on a lemonade
And waving at his fans
“Isabella Band Aid
Wavin' at the Shrine parade
Eatin' toast and marmalade
And getting sticky hand”
My best guess is that this is about
the worst parade ever, but it really seems to be more of a pointless exercise to
see how many words rhyme with ‘grenade.’ Despite this, the song’s tune is so
catchy I always find myself singing along regardless
Trooper had a good career through
the seventies, having five multi-platinum albums in Canada (none bigger than “Hot
Shots” which I think every Canadian over forty has owned at some time in their
lives). They never achieved the same success in the U.S. (their biggest hit, “Raise A Little Hell,” barely registered
on US charts) and that’s a shame given how much joy they created north of the
border.
It is a testament that 10 years
after the songs on “Hot Shots” were first recorded they were still being played
in heavy rotation at my high school dances. People were still jumping around to
“Raise A Little Hell” and doubling
down on their slow dances to “Two For the
Show.”
Trooper were here for a good time,
if not a long time, and for all my gentle mocking of their music, there is no
denying they’ve helped the sun shine a little brighter at many a beach-side
picnic table in their day.
Best tracks: The Boys in the Bright White
Sports Car, Two For the Show, We’re Here for a Good Time, Raise a Little Hell
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