Single flashback

Straight Lines - Letting Go [1982]

Hailing from Vancouver, BC, Straight Lines recorded two LPs and notched one Top 10 hit before interest waned and they were dropped by their record company.

The lineup on their ‘Run For Cover’ record was:

• Bob Buckley keyboards, saxophone, clarinet

• David Sinclair guitar, lead vocals

• Peter Clarke bass, vocals

• Geoff Eyre drums

• Jeffrey Lesser producer [Sparks, Rupert Holmes]

Buckley and Sinclair first paired up as studio guns, before starting the project Dogstar [nope, not the one with Keanu]. The new name was the label’s idea.

We loved a ballad in the early 80s, and this one is a knockout.

At a tight three and half minutes we are treated to a well-designed arrangement that features the piano hook and then the chorus - a move that would become more common in the streaming era.

The two guitar solos are simple, but effective and we wrap back up with piano and vocals.

This video is credited to The Rovers CBC series of the era and lets us see Sinclair’s sweet double neck axe.

Another single followed and hit number 40.

‘There Are No Secrets’ is… fine.

Respectfully, it sounds like the band is running out of material.

Now the momentum is running out. ‘Illusions’ does not chart and frankly, sounds like the opening credits for a bad Canadian sitcom.

Sorry dudes, I don’t like to be this catty - but damn.

Straight Lines were never heard from again, and Sinclair passed in 2018.