Detroit's Rockets are not one of the groups people might think of when considering that city's storied history of great bands -- for a reason, since they weren't all that special. Still, they have a vital link to the Detroit sound as drummer Johnny "Bee" Badanjek was in Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and Detroit and guitarist Jim McCarty was also in the Detroit Wheels and went on to join the failed supergroup Cactus. Their 1979 record, Rockets (Turn Up the Radio), had two pretty solid AOR staples (in the Detroit area ...
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Detroit's Rockets are not one of the groups people might think of when considering that city's storied history of great bands -- for a reason, since they weren't all that special. Still, they have a vital link to the Detroit sound as drummer Johnny "Bee" Badanjek was in Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and Detroit and guitarist Jim McCarty was also in the Detroit Wheels and went on to join the failed supergroup Cactus. Their 1979 record, Rockets (Turn Up the Radio), had two pretty solid AOR staples (in the Detroit area anyway) in their blistering cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" and the rollicking "Turn Up the Radio." By the time of 1981's Back Talk, the band was still in the netherworld of being a perennial opening act and really struggling to survive. It shows in the music, as almost every song seems to be aping another act or trying a different sound. Mostly though, they sound like a good bar band of the early '80s, able to crank out good-time summer rock & roll ("Back Talk"), moody ballads ("Jealous"), blue-eyed soul ("Lift You Up," "Lie to Me"), lighter-waving ballads ("Tired of Wearing Black"), and tunes to get the girls out on the dancefloor ("I Can't Get Satisfied," "I'll Be Your Lover"). At times (especially when Badnajek takes over the vocals from somewhat shrill David Gilbert), they sound a lot like Huey Lewis & the News, a good-natured bunch of lifers with loads of talent and spunk. They just don't have the songs or the personality that Lewis had. Their 1982 album, Rocket Roll, represents a dramatic drop-off in quality. The warm Jack Douglas production of Back Talk is gone and is replaced by a glossy sound that pulls off the neat trick of sounding over-produced and under-played at once. The songs are forced and thin, and nearly every one is an uptempo rocker that attempts to sound exciting -- but it just sounds like the band is desperate. Desperation rarely makes for good AOR records, only good art, and the Rockets were AOR to the core. The lyrical concerns of the songs are pretty flimsy, the main topics being rockin', testifyin', mean streets, rock & roll girls, and record machines. Great topics for a group that is making exciting music, but these guys were in the throes of their last gasp at making a record the "kids" might dig. They didn't dig it and the band called it a day soon after the record justifiably flopped. In 2005 Wounded Bird put the two records together on a two-fer CD. Too bad they didn't put out Turn Up the Radio instead. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi
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