At 05:34 PM 8/5/03 -0500, you wrote:

>I also agree with the point that he makes in the epilogue about Head
>East -- EVERYONE I knew in the 70s and 80s had at least one Head East
>album, usually two or three -- there's no way they only ever went Gold.
>(by the way, nobody ever seemed to really like Head East, they just had
>their albums -- probably because they were perennial openers for the
>bigger bands -- that's what kept bands like REO going until the schlock
>ballads broke them through)

I think "Flat as a Pancake" went at least gold - due to the success of "Never
Been Any Reason". Its the only original LP that was ever re-issued on CD. I
picked up the Head East 20th Century Masters CD last year and its good
straightforward AOR pop-rock. I liked thier version of Russ Ballard's "Since
You've Been Gone" better than I did Rainbow's.

Before MTV, bands like REO, Styx, Kansas, BOC, Rush, Journey and Cheap Trick
etc.. had to tour non-stop and open for anyone who'd let them to break even
and
promote the albums. Those bands built up die-hard fan bases in the
midwest-southwest and gained reputations as great live acts. A high school
freind in the late 70's who grew up on the east coast didnt know anything
about
REO until he went to Oklahoma and heard them on the radio.  Even when those
bands' music started going downhill after breaking nationally, their longtime
die-hard following still bought those albums and still come out to see them on
reunion tours.

I think thats why modern bands suffer - they dont tour like those troopers did
and rely on MTV videos for promotion - so the second album comes out... and
tanks

AOR Billy






Billy G. Spradlin
http://listen.to/jangleradio