Billy Branigan was remembered as the little brother of 80’s pop superstar Laura Branigan, he released this one-off solo album in 1987 called ‘Make A Move’.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Billy Branigan
ALBUM: Make A Move
LABEL: Polydor
SERIAL: 831 080-2 Y-1
YEAR: 1987
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Billy Branigan – lead and backing vocals, guitars, keyboards * Richie Fliegler – guitars, bass * Bruce Brody – keyboards, synth programming * Rick Pascual – bass * Dave Beal – drums, percussion
Additional Musicians: Jamie Lamm, Michael King – bass * Richie Fontana, Tommy Swift – drums * Jack Ponti – guitars * Gary Shapiro – keyboards * Mick Seeley, Rick Stevenson – synth programming * Brenda White-King, Curtis King, Jack Ponti, Jean Mantini, John Capra, Michael King, Mick Seeley, Russell Arcara, Sandra St. Victor, Vic Pepe – backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Lose The Pain * 02 Maybe Tonight * 03 I Can Never Tell * 04 Hold On * 05 Walls * 06 King For A Day * 07 Can’t Luv U * 08 She Walk, I Run * 09 Written In Stone * 10 Depend On
WEBLINKS: NA
Background
Billy Branigan was remembered as the little brother of 80’s pop superstar Laura Branigan, though in his own right released his one-off solo album in 1987 called ‘Make A Move’. Prior to that, Billy was a member of Laura’s live band and contributed behind the scenes on her first couple of solo albums.
Billy was well connected socially at the time, at one stage he was the boyfriend of aspiring actress Phoebe Cates, who was best remembered for her roles in the 1982 movie ‘Fast Times At Ridgmont High’ and 1984’s ‘Gremlins’. Musically he was adept across multiple instruments plus he was handy as a sound engineer in the mixing booth.
The Songs
Polydor opted in on a record contract, and ten tracks were recorded with John Rollo and Jack Ponti handling production duties. This is an album that sits comfortably in the same zone as other period artists such as Charlie Sexton, Jude Cole and Glen Burtnick, though this is more synth driven pop rock.
The album featured two singles: ‘Maybe Tonite’ and ‘Can’t Luv U’, take a listen to the videos listed below. The former is an ideal choice, the predominant acoustic guitar gives this a Burtnick like feel, whereas the latter picks up the tempo markedly. Both quite likeable. Opener ‘Lose The Pain’ gives a good indication of things to come. Nice chorus too with keyboard parts kicking in over what is essentially a guitar based pop rocker.
‘Hold On’ with its synth metronome and brass parps gives us something different, while ‘Written In Stone’ gives the appearance of a tough rocker thanks to some prominent guitars. ‘Depend On’ is one of my album highlights but elsewhere though, some of the tracks don’t quite fire, ‘She Walk I Run’ stumbled over an erratic drum beat, while ‘Walls’ tried too hard to be a Michael Sembello soundalike.
In Summary
The album didn’t move mountains sales wise, but did get a CD release at the time, though as you can imagine the original pressing is way out of print. With the state of the recording industry being what it is in 2022, don’t count on this one ever getting an official reissue. On a sadder note, Billy passed away on 10th March 2022, and now joins his sister Laura in rock n roll heaven, she too having passed back in 2004. R.I.P Billy.
Video
Lose The Pain
Maybe Tonite
Can’t Luv U
