Pages - Future Street (1979)

Japanese import

After discovering the self-titled 1981 Pages album, I slowly dove into their back catalog, which included this Future Street album. Comparisons to Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, and Ambrosia are appropriate. The band was still refining its sound - they can't all emerge fully-formed like, say, Boston or The Cars.

More on the band can be found in a 'New Faces To Watch' feature from the November 17, 1979 issue of CashBox magazine. The group would eventually split and band members Richard Page and Steve George would form Mr. Mister, seeing major chart success in 1985.

Press of the time:

• CashBox: "commercial, musical wonderment"
• Billboard: "At times the band sounds like a hybrid between the Eagles and Steely Dan, though it is not nearly as distinctive as either."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• CashBox: #183

Tracks: A brief release, clocking in at only 34½ minutes. The lead track, a Toto-ish rocker titled I Do Believe In You, was released as a single, peaking at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100. The best track, however, is Who's Right Who's Wrong, featuring Michael Brecker and Kenny Loggins. In fact, Loggins released his own version of Who's Right Who's Wrong almost simultaneously on his Keep the Fire album and then Al Jarreau, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, & Pages themselves recorded a fantastic live version of the tune on the Casino Lights album. I struggle to understand how that song was never a hit for somebody. The other tracks here are hit-or-miss. Heck, let me go ahead and rank 'em.

1. Who's Right, Who's Wrong
2. The Sailor's Song
3. Two People
4. I Do Believe In You
5. Keep On Movin'
6. Future Street
7. Take My Heart Away
8. Chemistry

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but the overall sound of this thing takes me back to Spring 1980 real quick even though I never heard this album until decades later. Funny how the mind works.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Pages (1981)
Pages (1978)

Pages (1978)

Japanese import

After discovering the self-titled 1981 Pages album, I dove into their back catalog, starting with this self-titled 1978 Pages album. It's not the greatest debut album, but there are a couple of smooth West Coast/Adult Oriented Rock cuts to be found. The guys in Pages - specifically Richard Page and Steve George - had been session vocalists and back-up musicians for a number of artists, including Andy Gibb. So they had no problems finding some familiar names to help out with this album, to wit: Randy & Michael Brecker, Philip Bailey, Victor Feldman, Lani Groves, and Dave Grusin. More filler than killer with choruses better than verses, but the band improved with each successive album.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "smooth, efficient and musically well-oiled"
• Record World: "a very potent debut album"

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: The song that initially grabbed me and hasn't let go yet is It's Alright. After a 30 second string introduction, the piano and vocal enter. The verse has a beautiful melody over a simple, stepwise bass pattern, but the song really kicks in with the gorgeous chorus sung by a female voice. Then, as if it wasn't good enough already, we're treated to a sweet saxophone solo from Michael Brecker, who keeps playing for the remainder of the track. The only single released from the album was track 6, If I Saw You Again; it failed to chart, even on the Adult Contemporary chart and I struggle to understand why. The album ends with a decent ballad, I Get It From You, which Herb Alpert later covered on his Magic Man album. As you could probably guess, Richard Page has a much nicer singing voice than Herb Alpert. Other good parts are the choruses of Let It Go, Listen For The Love, and Room At The Top.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Pages (1981)

Pages (1981)

Japanese Import

Note: this release was originally purchased as a iTunes download, later replaced by a CD.

This album is partially produced (7 of the 9 tracks) by Jay Graydon. As I remember it, my first exposure to Graydon was his iconic guitar solo in Steely Dan's Peg. Then I noticed his name popping up as producer in some of the records I was digging as a teen, Manhattan Transfer and Al Jarreau in particular. Fast forward 25-30 years and I'm bored at work so I begin to search for other albums that Graydon produced in the '80s. I never could locate a definitive discography, but the wonderful Danish website Blue Desert directed me to some possibilities and prompted me to seek out not only this Pages album, but also Steve Kipner, Airplay, and Marc Jordan. And down a Westcoast/AOR^† rabbit hole I happily dove.

Pages was a collaboration between singer/songwriter/keyboardist Richard Page, keyboardist Steve George, and lyricist John Lang. In addition to Graydon and his production/writing/guitar talents, we're treated to appearances from the usual studio stars of the time: Jeff Porcaro, Neil Stubenhaus, Tom Scott, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Abraham Laboriel. Heck, even Jarreau shows up to help out on a tune.

The two reviews below compare the group to Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers (Michael McDonald edition), and Billy Joel. I'm not hearing much Joel, but throw in some Toto and David Foster-produced versions of Chicago & The Tubes, and baby, you got a stew goin'.

According to this interview, Page was asked to replace Bobby Kimball in Toto and Peter Cetera in Chicago and he would have been fantastic in either job. Instead, he and George formed Mr. Mister.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "seamless and accessible, but not terribly distinctive"
• CashBox: "mellow pop cum jazz fusion"

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: From what I gather, the singles released were track 1, the Ambrosia-flavored You Need A Hero, and track 4, Come On Home, which features a tasty contribution from Tom Scott. Neither saw any chart action, not even the adult contemporary chart. I like them both - heck, I like all the tracks, even those with silly lyrics (O.C.O.E.) or when the band tries to rock the 7/4 (the Tubes-ish Automatic). The album ends with a lovely piano ballad, Midnight Angel.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Once I discovered the band, I couldn't readily locate this CD, so I bought this 1981 self-titled album from Apple's iTunes store and downloaded the files so I could have a new soundtrack for my daily walks around the creeks and azaleas of deep East Texas. I figure that would have been 2012 or 2013. In typical Apple fashion, there's now no evidence that I ever purchased those files on my account, but they'd be happy to resell them to me for $5.99 or maybe I'd like to subscribe to Apple Music instead? I'm surprised they didn't try to sell me a trendy NFT. Well, I've got two words and fingers for them, but this is a family blog.

^†what the young hipsters now refer to as 'Yacht Rock.'  Web series here, dormant podcast here, 'Yacht Or Nyacht?' ratings here. All recommended.