Left In Aboite: Friday Nite Retro

Friday, May 09, 2008

Friday Nite Retro

"Living it up, living it up, oh yeah - It's Friday Night"! Time once more for another edition of Friday Nite Retro! Didn't you get the Call? No? Well, you're in luck because that's who's coming to dinner tonight. . .

Michael Been, Tom Ferrier, Scott Musick, Jim Goodwin and Greg Freeman released their self-titled debut album, The Call, in 1982. Peter Gabriel liked the band so much that he asked them to open for him during his 1982 "Shock the Monkey" tour.

The next album, Modern Romans, was notable for its political content. Been later stated, "There was a great deal happening politically - Grenada, Lebanon, or the government saying the Russians are evil and the Russian government probably saying the same about us. That kind of thinking inspired me to write the last lines of 'Walls Came Down'."

The Walls Came Down

Reconciled was recorded during the summer of 1985. At this point, the band had not had a recording contract for two years, due to what Been describes as "legal bickering" between The Call's former record label and their management company. However, once the deal was signed with Elektra Records, the band resumed playing and produced their most commercially successful album to date. Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds's Jim Kerr, and former band mate Robbie Robertson all guested the album which was released in 1986. Several tracks from the album became hits on the Mainstream Rock Chart, and one of these tracks, "I Still Believe" was re-recorded by Tim Capello and appears on the soundtracks of the 1986 movie The Whoopee Boys and the 1987 movie The Lost Boys.

Everywhere I Go

I Still Believe (Great Design)

In 1989 they released Let the Day Begin, whose title track reached #1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart. Red Moon, which included background vocals by U2's Bono, was released in 1990.Al Gore used "Let The Day Begin" as his campaign song in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election and Tom Vilsack used it as his song during his brief 2008 U.S. Presidential Election campaign.

Let the Day Begin