I usually have some tangible information on artists new to me before seeking them out for a sampling and/or purchase, such as couple of good reviews or a recommendation from a trusted source. Not this time, though. Did you ever, historically speaking, of course, walk into a record store with nothing really on your mind to purchase? All the time... The greatest example I have was in early 1982 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. In the Fall of the previous year, I had dropped everything in Tennessee to take a job in Pompano Beach, relocating in a mere five days, happening upon an elderly lady moving out of an upstairs studio apartment on N. Riverside Drive. This was on Saturday and my new job started Monday. I helped her move her things to her new unit downstairs and she called the landlord to convince him to let me take her old place. I thought the rent was pretty steep for a studio but I had zero time remaining to continue my housing search. Little did I know the ocean was two blocks east. So that's what the white crust is on the windows, salt. I couldn't afford a night on the town or anything remotely similar but I could walk to the beach anytime I wanted. Couldn't go out to eat so I taught myself how to cook. My entertainment? A bag of good weed and my music. Drove to the record store on US 1 in Ft. Liquordale and started wandering the aisles. Guy kept pushing this new band on me with some song about "Iran," but I was intrigued by an album cover, a drawing of a broken statue on the steps of what had to be a church since the band's name was The Church...out of Australia no less, one of my favorite locales for music. That was enough for me. No clue what it sounded like. The Church is one of my Top 5 bands of All-Time......Flock Of Seagullshit, my ass!
The times have changed but the idea remains the same. Instead of holding a 12x12 album package in my hand, I now view a thumbnail of the cover, the artist and record name, the track listing and times, and a genre. If intrigued, I will sample the first few songs. Awesome = buy, boring = shitcan, marginal = investigate list. On a later date I will return to sample the last half of the record. If it's borderline again, I'll buy it. It's earned three spins.
So that's how I ended up with Panic Room. Liked the name and cover. The stated genre was "progressive rock" and five of the eleven tracks clocked in at six minutes or more. First note I made was at the fourth song on the initial spin..."What did I hear in this?" Once I got over the shock that it wasn't prog-rock (I should know better...my site is less than 100% accurate when it comes to categorizing), I started to sense that what I had was a perfectly serviceable record of a female-fronted, adult-oriented rock band with a heavy dose of strings.
None in the live setting but they are all over the CD. Conducting a bit of research on the band, I found the strings were new on "Skin", their third album. I sampled parts of one of the earlier releases and they seemed to rock more, probably enough to earn the "prog-rock" designation. I would label the current album as "dramatic," not progressive. Bands that popped into my head while listening were the Cranberries, Texas, All About Eve and Quarterflash without the sax.
This is a fine record to play in the background at your dinner party, but I doubt anything will reach out and grab one of the guests enough to query as to who it is. I still think I'll keep about half of it...
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