This period was quite difficult for 8084 as founding member and keyboardist Charlie ‘Chuck’ Hawthorne’ was killed in a car accident on Christmas Eve 1989. 8084 continued on, playing through 1990, ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ eventually released in Spring 1991.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: 8084
ALBUM: Satisfaction Guaranteed
LABEL: Swinesong
SERIAL: SMG-1004
YEAR: 1991
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Randy Smith – vocals * Andrea Maquera – guitars * Frank Barnes – bass * Gary Spaulding – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Elevator Intro * 02 Satisfaction Guaranteed * 03 Telephone Intro * 04 Call Me * 05 Surrender * 06 Animal Logic * 07 Fade Away
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
8084 is a band I’ve enjoyed over the years. My first exposure to them was their 1999 compilation CD ‘So Far’, which picked up tracks off their first three LP’s on the Swinesong label. I was quite impressed with that CD, so much so I decided to track down the rest of their material.
Their final album ‘The Last Great Train’ from 2005 wasn’t such a good effort unfortunately, but thankfully those Swinesong albums are. We’re looking at their 1991 set ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’. Only a 7 tracker, it would be their last studio album for some years, even though the band stayed together and gigged around the Vermont/New Hampshire locale during this time.
This period was quite difficult for 8084 as founding member and keyboardist Charlie ‘Chuck’ Hawthorne’ was killed in a car accident on Christmas Eve 1989. 8084 continued on, playing through 1990, ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ eventually released in Spring 1991.
The Songs
We bypass the hilarious but brief ‘Elevator Intro’ (complete with sheep and assorted weird sound effects) and segue directly into the title track ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’. A booming track with Russia like tendencies for the strange and unusual lyrics and style. Entertaining for sure. Another brief excerpt called ‘Telephone Intro’ is the entree for ‘Call Me’, a massive slice of AOR, Maquera shining a light on this track with some impressive guitar-work.
‘Surrender’ is the album’s ballad and is as good as I remember it from that 1999 compilation. The guitar work on ‘Animal Logic’ reaches hair-metal levels in parts. Perhaps it’s L.A metal transplanted in Vermont? Whatever the case, a great track. Finishing up with ‘Fade Away’, this is 8084’s acoustic moment, taking a leaf out of the songbooks already written by the likes of Extreme and Tesla.
In Summary
Only two tracks from this album made the ‘So Far’ compilation; and they were ‘Surrender’ and ‘Call Me’. Beyond this album, 8084 soldiered on but lost singer Randy Smith who quit in 1992. He eventually returned a few years later replacing his ‘replacement’ Gary Fouco. The late 90’s saw the band become active again; signing with GB Music for the aforementioned ‘So Far’ release.
8084 on Video
Surrender
