Album flashback

Payola$ - No Stranger To Danger [1982]

We were spoiled by the records that came out in 1982.

Perusing the chart I see so many of my favourites.

• ABC - Lexicon of Love

• The Police - Ghost in the Machine

• OMD - Architecture & Morality

• Genesis - Abacab

And that’s without all the great CanCon albums that I may have written about previously… [PS, subscribers can find the corresponding playlist in my chat]

I loved the variety of this era when all the nascent scenes were competing for our ears. New Romantic, synthpop, reggae, and some of the last vestiges of punk.

One album I specifically held back from my wider ‘82 piece was one that I wish I had held onto, because it seems to be out of print.

That album had a little bit of all of those contrasting styles, it’s ‘No Stranger To Danger’ by Vancouver’s Payola$.

Yet another of my ‘I wore that tape out walking my paper route’ collection!

The duo had met in school and had both blues and punk projects together before launching Payola$.

In the late 70s the band got two independent singles noticed, which let to a contract with A&M/IRS.

The bands first EP and LP were produced by Bob Rock, who of course went on to produce damn near everyone - The Cranberries, The Tragically Hip, and Metallica to name only a few.

Now, as much as I love all my CanCon artists, I’m also a bit of an anglophile. I like my singers to have an accent sometimes, OK?

And Paul Hyde - aka Paul Reginald Nelson - fits the bloody bill. Bringing not just a Yorkshire accent to proceedings, but that northern sensibility as well.

For their next act, the boys were going to pull a megastar producer and score their biggest ever Canadian hit.

The personnel:

• Paul Hyde - vocals, guitar

• Bob Rock - guitar, vocals

• Christopher Taylor - drums

• Lawrence Wilkins - bass

• Mick Ronson - producer, keyboards, vocals

Yeah, THAT Mick Ronson. He would produce the next record as well.

Track 1 - Romance

The album opener has that classic Simmons SDS 800 drum sound, which always grabs my ear.

Another classic story song unfolds, and another cautionary tale. Nostalgia for better days gone by.

But now she's got older. the streets are much colder
Nobody told her, they gave peace a chance
But that's romance, romance

Track 4 - Rose

‘Rose’ is the only tune credited to Hyde alone, and it was always a highlight for me.

With more than a nod to another famous lady of the evening, the tune has a fat dub bass line, skanking guitar, and a lovely keyboard figure from Ronson.

Hey Rose, you're one of a kind
With your cocaine stare and your rock & roll mind
No stranger to danger or the limelight fight
'Fraid of the daylight, 'fraid of the night

Speaking of other tunes about turning tricks, this also reminds of Flight of the Conchords ‘You Don’t Have To Be A Prostitute’.

Poor Jemaine…

Track 5 - Hastings Street

The early 80s were hard, man.

Recession, fuel shortage, interest rates. I remember moving from our house to an apartment for financial reasons, and we were fortunate to be able to do that.

Our protagonist here has not found the way out yet. Hastings Street is a huge Vancouver thoroughfare, that stretches from west to the DTES - or downtown east side. It was rough then and not much better now.

This song sets a mood and pulls you in, and the paranoia is palpable in the words.

I'm living down Hastings Street
Got the whole world at my feet
I did my best and I tried not to quit
Hiding away in my scared-stiff bed sit
I didn't want to grow up this fast
I thought my fun would last

Track 7 - Lights To Change

Another song that sees the underdog struggling to make ends meet. This time set to a bouncy ska jam.

Little Billy wants a bedtime story
Needs some help in getting off to sleep
But his old man says he's got no money
He tells his son
"You'd better count some sheep"

On reflection, 12-year old me knew nothing of these hardships. Or at least, very little.

Clearly the musical connection got me through what are some very tough lyrics that I couldn’t have understood at the time.

Still, every track comes back instantly. The hooks and the accent and the undertones of so many of my favourite styles are still rattling around in my brain.

And we never even got to ‘Eyes Of A Stranger’ - which was that top 5 CanCon hit and #22 in the US.

So here is another Canadian artist - Serena Ryder - with her take of the song. By the way, Serena was born in 1982!

The lads released further albums under Paul Hyde & The Payola$ as well as Rock and Hyde before going their separate ways for a while. New music came in the mid-aughts.