For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.
Today's CoronaVinyl category is "G," and I listened to multi-instrumentalist Andrew Gold's fourth studio album, 1980's Whirlwind.
Gold is perhaps best known for two songs: his Top 25 1978 hit "Thank You For Being a Friend," which would later become the Golden Girls' theme song (sung then by Cindy Free), and his 1996 Halloween novelty song "Spooky Scary Skeletons," which became rejuvenated as a meme about ten years ago. He also wrote and sang the theme song to Mad About You.
Gold was kind of a jack of all trades in the music industry. He wrote, arranged, produced, was a session musician, was a backing musician, played various instruments, and released his own solo material. For much of the '70s, he was in Linda Ronstadt's band and arranged several of her albums. Even after he started recording solo material in 1975, he was still recording with and producing other musicians. His biggest solo hit came in 1977, with "Lonely Boy," which reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
I wasn't sure what to expect with Whirlwind. I guess I assumed it would be soft rock or singer-songwriter type stuff, but I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of rock on it and with Gold's guitar playing. It's a good mix of pop, pop rock, AOR, and power pop. Unfortunately, it didn't chart on the Billboard album chart, nor produce any charting songs, but listening to it, I think it definitely foreshadowed some of the pop-oriented rock that would follow a few years later.
The Spotify version of the album has four bonus tracks.
Favorite Song on Side 1: "Leave Her Alone"
This is snarly, bluesy song sung from the perspective of a guy telling another guy not to wreck his home.
Favorite Song on Side 2: "Brand New Face"
The second side kicks off with a nice guitar riff, and this song could easily fit in on a Babys or a Foreigner album from the same time period.
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