 | Wrapped Around Your FingerThe Police |
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DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
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Saturday, February 25, 1984
The Police “Wrapped Around Your Finger” hit the top 10
Van Halen hit #1 with “Jump”
 | JumpVan Halen |
Writer(s): Eddie Van Halen/Alex Van Halen/Michael Anthony/David Lee Roth (see lyrics here) Released: December 21, 1983 First Charted: January 13, 1984 Peak: 15 US, 12 CB, 15 RR, 18 AR, 7 UK, 12 CN, 2 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.4 UK, 3.4 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 92.0 video, 531.36 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details.
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About the Song:“This is heavy metal in excelsis.” MA The song’s riff, which Eddie Van Halen crafted on synthesizer in 1981, WK “is a direct descendent of the Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again,’ but with sweeter more cogently stated melody.” MA It wasn’t as much of a stretch for guitarist to veer into new territory as some thought. He’d grown up being trained in classical piano and didn’t take up the guitar until his teen years. SF Daryl Hall says Eddie told him he copied the synth part from Hall & Oates’ “Kiss on My List.” Hall said, “I don’t have a problem with that at all.” WK The band initially rejected the song for being too much of a departure from the band’s harder-edged, guitar-based sound. WK Lead singer David Lee Roth thought it would look like the band was selling out for radio airplay. SF However, when the band’s producer, Ted Templeman, heard the song two years later, he said, “It just killed me. It was perfect.” FB He said everyone at Warner Brothers, the band’s record company, “flipped out.” FB He convinced Roth to take a stab at writing some lyrics. According to Roth, he wrote the lyrics in the back of 1951 Mercury low rider while band roadie Larry Hostler drove through the Hollywood Hills, up the Coast Highway, and through the San Fernando Valley. FB Roth had seen a TV news report the night before about a man threatening to jump off a building. He imagined an onlooker shouting “go ahead and jump.” WK Roth opted to turn the phrase into an invitation for love instead of a song about suicide, WK although he’s also said the song is about a stripper. SF He dedicated the song to Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, a martial artist who trained Roth. WK The song was released as the lead single for their sixth studio album, 1984. The band had charted top 40 hits before, but never even hit the top ten. A cheap, but ground-breaking performance video showcased the band’s charisma and playfulness. After the album, Roth went solo, but the band soldiered on with Sammy Hagar at the helm, continuing to be commercially successful. Resources:
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First posted 11/13/2019; last updated 10/29/2022. |
Tuesday, February 7, 1984
Alan Parsons Project Ammonia Avenue released
Ammonia Avenue |
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Released: February 7, 1984 Peak: 15 US, 24 UK, 29 CN, 16 AU, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, -- UK, 1.35 world (includes US and UK) Genre: progressive rock lite |
Tracks:Click on a song title for more details.
Total Running Time: 40:22 The Players:
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Rating: 3.613 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)
Quotable:”The sum of the parts is greater than the whole product, which can’t be said for all of the Alan Parsons Project’s albums” – Mike DeGagne, AllMusic.com >Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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Following Up Eye in the Sky“Conventional wisdom suggests that middle-of-the-road soft rock and highbrow intellectual conceits shouldn’t make for happy bedfellows.” UCR However, the Alan Parsons Project “built a remarkably successful career by applying pop music of many stipes to Steely Dan’s studio-bound perfectionism and Pink Floyd’s dreamy progressive rock signature.” UCRAfter the top-ten, platinum success of 1982’s Eye in the Sky and the dissolution of Pink Floyd following 1983’s The Final Cut, “all conceivable commercial lanes seemed cleared for the Alan Parsons Project to find even greater success with their seventh studio effort, Ammonia Avenue.” UCR Ammonia Avenue did generate two top-40 hits and reached the top 20 on the album chart, but it failed to match the platinum success of its predecessor, settling for gold status instead. “One can’t help but wonder whether the Alan Parsons Project’s sudden incompatibility with the new, image-conscious marketplace dominated by MTV – clearly no fit place for balding old men sporting studio tans – wasn’t partly to blame for this shortfall.” UCR “The Project would never do so well on the charts again.” DV The Theme“One of the most interesting aspects about the Alan Parsons Project is the band’s ability to forge a main theme with each of its songs, while at the same time sounding extremely sharp and polished. Much of this formula is used in Ammonia Avenue, only this time the songs rise above Parsons’ overall message due to the sheer beauty of the lyrics partnered with the luster of the instruments. The album touches upon how the lines of communication between people are diminishing, and how we as a society grow more spiritually isolated and antisocial. But aside from the philosophical concepts prevalent in the lyrics, it is the music on this album that comes to the forefront.” AMIn the end, ”the sum of the parts is greater than the whole product, which can’t be said for all of the Alan Parsons Project’s albums.” AM The Production and Engineering”As one can expect from Parsons’ work, the production and engineering is flawless; so flawless, in fact, that this is one of the few Project CDs where the sound is – perhaps purposefully – just one step short of sterile. Musicianship is brilliant, with the severely underrated Ian Bairnson turning in several very tasty bits on guitar. This leaves the songs and the arrangements, traditionally the areas where Parsons and his band of studio musicians either rose or fell. In this case, it’s both.” DV “Parsons and…Eric Woolfson have crafted a set of songs, in their overseer role, that are texturally attractive and sonically impeccable…but it's merely a sonic soufflé, empty calories puffed full of hot air.” RS “What works is where Parsons leaves in the…orchestra…in the middle of a lovely rock song, [the Project would] suddenly pop in a full string section and some brass. There are great sweeping chunks of Ammonia Avenue where there's nary an orchestra pit to be found, and that absence results in two huge clunkers; Let Me Go Home and the execrable One Good Reason.” DV Sonically, we have great production as always and “vocalists Eric Woolfson, Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek, and Colin Blunstone equally shine, placing their talents above and beyond the album's main idea.” AM At the same time, “paying more attention to the Project’s orchestral and progressive roots might have made it a great album.” DV ReissueA 2008 reissue added alternate mixes and demos as bonus tracks.The SongsHere’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs. |
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Prime TimeAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: single (3/31/1984), Ammonia Avenue (1984) B-Side: “The Gold Bug” Peak: 34 BB, 33 CB, 26 GR, 33 RR, 10 AC, 3 AR, 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.40 video, 8.91 streaming About the Song:After “Don’t Answer Me,” the lead single from Ammonia Avenue, “broke with many of the familiar Alan Parsons Project sonic hallmarks” UCR the follow-up single, “Prime Time,” gave the band another top-40 hit “while returning to more familiar sounds.” UCR “The briskness of Eric Woolfson’s wording throughout Prime Time makes it one of the Project’s best singles.” AM
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Let Me Go HomeAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Lenny Zakatek Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 23 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.04 streaming |
One Good ReasonAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 33 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.98 streaming |
Since the Last GoodbyeAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Chris Rainbow Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 15 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.19 streaming About the Song:”The subtlety of the ballad comes to life on the elegant Since the Last Goodbye, which focuses on a failed attempt at a relationship.” AM |
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Don’t Answer MeAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson (see lyrics here) Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: single (2/28/1984), Ammonia Avenue (1984) B-side: “Don’t Let It Show” Peak: 15 BB, 17 CB, 8 GR, 10 RR, 4 AC, 15 AR, 58 UK, 22 CN, 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 10.10 video, 65.28 streaming About the Song:The top-20 ballad “Don’t Answer Me” “broke with many of the familiar Alan Parsons Project sonic hallmarks and took the ensemble down a unique and nostalgic trip back to Phil Spector’s vaunted ‘Wall of Sound’ aesthetic.” UCR Eric Woolfson, the only mainstay in the Project other than Parsons himself, handled vocal duties. Lyrically, the song finds the narrator reaching out to someone who is lonely, SF which fit with the album’s concept of social isolation. AMGThe “soothing yet destitute wail of Mel Collins’ saxophone” AMG adds to the song’s “lonely atmosphere” AM and infuses it with “ its perfectly abandoned mood.” AMG A “recipe of subtle keyboards and dusty percussion enhance the song’s romanticism and intensify the desperate plea of Woolfson’s to be heard.” AMG The Dick Tracy style video was designed by Michael Kaluta, who worked on comic books. SF It combined traditional cel animation and stop-motion as well as claymation. It took a 40-man team 23 days to film at a cost of $50,000. WK The band appears in cartoon form toward the end of the video. At the first MTV Video Music Awards, “Don’t Answer Me” was nominated for Most-Experimental Video, losing to Herbie Hancock’s “Rock-It.” |
Dancing on a HighwireAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Colin Blunstone Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 25 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.81 streaming About the Song:“Dancing on a High Wire is a brooding, complex song that bears repeated listen.” DV Still, one has to question lines like “’The silver-plated hero meets the golden-hearted whore.’ Later, she's ‘the ivory madonna.’ Huh?” RS |
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You Don’t BelieveAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Lenny Zakatek Released: single (10/31/1983), Ammonia Avenue (1984) B-Side: “Lucifer” Peak: 54 BB, 12 AR, 43 CN, 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.75 streaming About the Song:The Alan Parsons Project peaked in 1982 with the song “Eye in the Sky,” their only top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and its top-10, platinum-selling parent album. They followed it up the next year with a compilation capturing highlights from 1976 to 1982, plus new song “You Don’t Believe.” It was released as a single, but failed to crack the top 40, a shock considering the #3 peak of 1982’s “Eye in the Sky.”The song also appeared on the group’s next studio album, Ammonia Avenue. It is one of the album’s “punchy rockers.” UCR, “The seriousness of the lyrics works well with the song’s energetic pace.” AM
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PipelineAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: NA (instrumental) Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 39 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 5.56 streaming About the Song:The “evocative” UCR “Pipeline” is the token instrumental (there’s always at least one per Project album). |
Ammonia AvenueAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 3.70 video, 4.69 streaming About the Song:“The gorgeous title track’” RS is one of the album’s “weepy ballads.” UCR Still, there are lyrical “non sequiturs like this one…’Is there no sign of light as we stand in the darkness / Watching the sun arise?’” RS that threaten to derail the album. |
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First posted 3/24/2008; last updated 9/25/2025. |
Wednesday, February 1, 1984
50 years ago: Charley Patton, Father of the Delta Blues, has last recording session
Founder of the Delta Blues |
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Released: March 1, 1969 Recorded: 6/14/1929 to 2/1/1934 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: blues |
Tracks: Song Title (date of recording) Click for codes to singles charts.
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Rating:  4.275 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)
Quotable: “A cornerstone of any blues collection.” – Cub Koda, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album: “A mean, hard-hearted man, Patton’s blues inscribed all the experiences of a Mississippi man into the rough and sometimes barely audible sounds he made for Paramount. He was one of the oldest of the major bluesmen – born in 1887, he bridges the gap between the blues and songster generations – and he sounds like a gruff, irritable figure, a self-taught musician but someone who knows he’s damn good, even if he has his own manners.” MF MF but he “was the key figure in the transition between traditional folk and what came to be known as the Mississippi Delta blues.” FH The genre has “had an enormous impact on American music, influencing everyone from The Rolling Stones to Cassandra Wilson.” NM “Although the title of founder might not be exactly accurate,” LG since “blues didn’t start with Patton,” MF he “was one of the true greats” LG in that “he personified its expressionism.” MF Also significant in building his impact was that “he was one of the first to be recorded. He was also immensely gifted, amazingly prolific and served as a major influence for other musicians in the delta, including Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker.” NM Johnson “probably picked up his trademark descending bass run from Patton.” LG As such, Founder of the Delta Blues is “a cornerstone of any blues collection” CK and “required listening for Delta blues fans.” LG “A flamboyant, popular performer,” FH his “background as a medicine show entertainer made him more than the typical brooding bluesman. Much of his repertoire was upbeat and just plain fun.” LG “Take, for instance, his rendition of Shake It and Break It: the gravelly voiced Patton snaps his strings and taps out the rhythm on his guitar while not missing a beat. His slide numbers like High Sheriff and When Your Way Gets Dark are beautiful melodic pieces seldom matched by his peers.” LG “While most musicians might be quite content to sing about love or the lack thereof, Patton would sing about whatever caught his interest, from social issues to insects.” NM Patton “sang tales of hardship, freedom, topical events, and other matters in a rough voice that stormed with turmoil. His guitar picking was of a piece: skillfully nuanced in expression and, above all, rhythmically imperative.” FH He lived his songs “with an intensity which still strikes through these ancient records.” MF This compilation “originally started life as a double-record set featuring all of Patton’s best-known titles, and soundwise was miles above all previous versions.” CK “Yazoo’s typically conscientious mastering makes the sound of primitively recorded 78s acceptable.” FH “Its compact disc incarnation here trims the tune list to 24 tracks, but includes all the seminal tracks: Pony Blues, High Water Everywhere, Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues, A Spoonful Blues, …and the wistful Poor Me, which was recorded at his final session in 1934, a scant two months before he died.” CK
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First posted 2/26/2010; last updated 1/29/2022. |
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