Haz - My True Love (You Are To Me) / Prelude to Paradise. 1983 USA-Colorado

Cool find here. The A) side is whiny soul balladry and is not for me. It's the B) side that you're after (presuming you're not into whiny soul balladry that is...). Interesting mix of synthesizer driven boogie funk, late era disco, and jazz fusion. Plenty of saxophone, a little flute, and some tight horn charts. A wonderful groove throughout. Mainly instrumental with whispered vocals. Closes with sounds of the ocean.

I found this among a large drop of both soul and country (?!) 45s that obviously came from a radio station (that would be a weird playlist format). This was the only private obscurity in the batch, at least that I found (it's very possible I wasn't first). As you can see, it doesn't have any info on the label.

According to Discogs it comes with a picture sleeve, though this copy didn't have it. The Discogs entry doesn't show the back which might contain information (though it could be blank too). The band is led by Al Hazard (hence the name Haz) though nothing reliable turned up for him. The pic sleeve lists the two singers from the A) side. A little sleuthing shows that Heidie White performed on an album from Denver. Lyndon Copeland, on the other hand, has a biography and guess what? He's from here in Colorado Springs! Which explains why this station probably had the 45 in their possession. Some influencer put it up on YouTube which has lead to it having huge demand. I'm keeping it though.

Own. Thrift shop find from a month ago (2024).

1/4/25 (new entry)

Flyte - Movin' Faster / Don't You. 1983 USA-Michigan

From the Christian southern Michigan town of Hillsdale. This isn't that haha. Starts off in cock rock mode with light metal riffing and doesn't really develop. B) Tells us they "like to rock". No way, really? Boogie metal I guess. This song is really dumb. 

4/15/24

2.0 / 1.5

Musical Science - Frame of Mind / Secrets.1983 USA-South Carolina

Pretty much what the genre tag offers is what you get with Musical Science. It's not exactly Thomas Dolby styled new wave, but one almost gets the sense that his music played a role here. But the oddity is the metal guitar. It's not super heavy, even by 1983 standards, but it's a definite contrast to what is normally expected with music such as this. In retrospect, it appears that Musical Science should have been one of the bands to get signed. They had the right sound for the era, and good songwriting. Probably coming from Anderson, South Carolina didn't help...

Ownership: SP: 1983 Underground Sound. Online acquisition (2020)

5/11/20 (first listen); 9/20/20 (review / new entry)

3éme Oeil - La Haine Reine. 1983 France

The stylized 3éme Oeil, sometimes referred to in written form as Troisieme Oeil, released this one 45 in 1983. And it sounds for all the world like an early 80s rock album. Hard edged AOR is the name of the game here, though with more progressive styling than that may imply. 'La Haine Reine' conjures up similar era Journey, with vocals in French of course. 'Les Mutants' is a fine instrumental, serving up a sound not that dissimilar to Rush's Moving Pictures era. The latter half adds in some fine Moog synthesizer work, and for the last 30 seconds, all hell breaks loose into a mid 70s prog rock extravaganza! These guys had the chops and the knowledge. They came around either too late or too early depending on one's perspective. Certainly they would have been a force in the 90s prog rock revival, especially if they eschewed any commercial ambition.

5/10/19