The Payola$ - No Stranger To Danger - 1982

I knew "Eyes Of A Stranger" from the soundtrack to "Valley Girl". By the way the two Valley Girls soundtracks " Valley Girl (Music from the Soundtrack)" & "More Music from the Valley Girl Soundtrack" are essential purchases for any 80's music fan and for that matter so is the film. Now back to the record. The record is laced with reggae influences that were seeping into popular music of the day. The Police of course doing a bag up job and blending it into their music. "Eyes Of A Strange" has that feel and so do many of the other songs. The song "Rose" has it going on. I am partial to the song because my daughter's name is Rose.

"Some Old Song" is a decent song. I like the bit in the middle that sounds like a phone call from a girlfriend. It's not literally a phone call, but a little scripted piece from a supposed girlfriend. She is kind of humorous with her accent.

"Rockers" is a fun rock-a-billyish rave up. It's a nice album closer with a different feel than the rest of the songs. Given the time period a rock-a-billy song doesn't seem so strange. The genre was in vogue at the time.

The song "Youth" is also pretty good. It has a nice sing-a-longy shouty chorus. The vocals also reminds me a little of Dexy's Midnight Runners, but maybe with a little more edge. This may seem like a strange comparison at first, but give it a couple listens and I think you'll see what I mean.

The album is produced by Mick Ronson of David Bowie fame produced the record. So the production is top notch. For more info about the group read here.

Enjoy!

01 Romance.m4a
02 Eyes Of A Stranger.m4a
03 Some Old Song.m4a
04 Rose.m4a
05 Hastings Street.m4a
06 Youth.m4a
07 Lights To Chance.m4a
08 Mystery To Me.m4a
09 Pennies Into Gold.m4a
10 Screaming.m4a
11 Rockers.m4a

Here's a couple of Zips for side 1 & 2
The Payola$ - Side 1.zip
The Payola$ - Side 2.zip