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Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Started by popdose · 1 year ago

This column is dedicated to featuring those bands that aren’t household names but, to my ears, should be.

Growing up in a small town in southern Michigan, the closest major city was Chicago. We were still a good two hours away, though, so it was with great inconsiste ... Continue reading »

17 comments

  • Bastard No. 1

    1 year ago

    Awesome. "Stay In Time" is one of the lost gems of the 80's. If you had a hard time finding it back then - can you imagine how hard it is to find now. It was one of the last tracks I got for my Top 100 80's collection about two years ago - you can imagine how many hits turn up on Ebay when you search "Off Broadway" "On". Didn't know anything about them though - so I'm excited to read this and learn they are still playing. (Shocked at that, really).

    Thanks for the post.
    reply
  • WHarrisBullzEye

    1 year ago

    I love "Stay in Time." I picked up "On" several years ago, when it first scored domestic CD release, and had never heard a single song from it before, but the various write-ups of it had inspired me to go for it. It was a worthwhile purchase, to be certain.
    reply
  • jes

    1 year ago

    I've never heard of Off Broadway. Thank you for bringing them to my attention! But... I think there's a typo in your download list; you have 2 songs labeled "Oh Boy", but they appear to be different songs.
    reply
  • Darren

    1 year ago

    My apology, the first "Oh Boy" is actually a song called "Full Moon Turn My head Around".
    reply
  • rwcass

    1 year ago

    It's fixed now. Thanks, Jes!
    reply
  • Bob

    1 year ago

    One of my favorite late-70s albums. Thanks for putting the word out, Darren.
    reply
  • Eric S.

    1 year ago

    1) Grew up in small town in southern Michigan - Check
    2) Earliest pop/rock memories from listening to Chicago's WLS - Check
    3) Favorite band, Cheap Trick - Check
    4) Couldn't stop listening to first Off Broadway album - Check
    Had you thrown in a reference to Shoes and their Present Tense album, you would have defined most of my teen years and my ongoing musical tastes
    reply
  • Darren

    1 year ago

    While I adore Shoes, I always saw Off Broadway as having much more in common with Trick. "Full Moon", for example, has more than a passing similarity to "Hello There"...they both have songs called "Oh Boy" (no biggie, but still)...and they were both managed by Ken Adamany.

    Present Tense is my fave Shoes album, though, and I will say that seeing them live for the first time (in the early 90's) was just as revelatory as seeing the reunited Off Broadway a few years later.
    reply
  • Eric S.

    1 year ago

    One other big thing those two bands had in common during that time was Tom Werman's production. I know Cheap Trick had their differences with him, but Heaven Tonight has always been my favorite album of theirs. It's funny that they added the keyboard-less versions of Surrender and Dream Police to the most recent CD reissues.

    If memory serves, there was a recut version of the entire "In Color" on the old He's a Whore website. The band redid it because they couldn't stand Werman's orignal production.
    reply
  • despitealltheamputations

    1 year ago

    They're playing with Enuff Z'nuff this month in Milwaukee at perhaps the most frigtening concert venue I've ever been too:
    http://www.paysbig.com/entertainment/calendar.php
    reply
  • Jude

    1 year ago

    WLS? Check. I grew up in Chicago so, yeah, this record was a big deal growing up--still have the vinyl. Great story, how absolutely fucking cool for you to have experienced that.

    C'mon Mr. Moon, don't bug out too soon.

    Indeed.
    reply
  • Ray

    1 year ago

    This takes me back to the spring of 1980. ON was a HUGE album in Chicago my sophomore year of high school and I remember hearing several cuts from it on the big FM rock stations (The Loop, WMET and "WE" FM), including "Stay In Time", "Full Moon Turn My Head Around" and even "New Little Girl" (two other cuts I'm partial to are "Bad Indication" and "Money's No Good"... excellent power pop with some cool hooks!). Of course not long after it dropped out of the charts this album went immediately out of print and practically vanished, save for the occasional used vinyl copy that would cost upwards of 50 bucks. Needless to say I was a VERY happy camper when Atlantic reissued it on CD in 1997.
    reply
  • wangotango

    1 year ago

    in 1981(I think), I drove from Elgin to Milwaukee to see these guys. I was awful messed up and only knew they were there but never actually played. What the hell happened??? Anyone???
    reply
  • usgirl

    1 year ago

    I hear ya!
    reply
  • Ravenheart

    7 months ago

    It's amazing how loyal the fans truely are. I was married to Rob Harding (guitar) for all the Off Broadway years. As much as you enjoy the album, you needed to experience the show. You are correct. Cliff Johson had a command over any audience. It was much fun back then. Such a tight little group of friends. The guys of Cheap Trick, including the rotating bass players, Peter Comita and John Brandt. Who also played with Cliff back in his D'Thumbs days. Enuff Znuff and don't forget the Elvis Brothers (also a Ken Adamany band) Oh the memories.
    reply
  • Don W

    7 months ago

    We are looking to put together some shows for The Kings - you remember "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" - throughout the Midwest. We are working on some dates in Michigan and hope to bring the band to Chicago and maybe even put together a double bill with Off Broadway. Please drop me a message if interested...

    Thanks,
    Don
    reply
  • Narciso Lobo

    4 months ago

    AGH! I CAN'T PLAY YOUR MP3'S! I loved this band too, and I dearly want to hear these songs again... :(
    reply

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