ALBUM: Bombs away Dream Babies (Stewart 1979)
RATING 3.5/$$
ALBUM: Rock and Roll Enforcers (Silencers 1980)
RATING: 3.0/$$
A 2-for-1 as I race against time to review the 678 albums I have been collecting since childhood. No connection between Stewart out of California and the Silencers from Scotland. Only similarity, they both had minor hits, if not moderately successful careers.
Heck, the bass player for the Silencers is a cousin of Jim Kerr, frontman for Simple Minds. But Stewart, scores bigger with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks actually playing on his album. They are not relatives though.
Stewart’s album generated several hits including the cut, Gold. Album is solid LA soft or medium rock and roll. You can hear Buckingham whipping out guitar licks trying to make these songs come alive. Sometimes they do.
The Silencers haven’t aged as well. Their guitar and synth based 80s sound takes on too much sameness. They do have a killer version of the Peter Gunn Theme Song. But most of the time you are just waiting for them to be silenter.