Head East - Onward And Upward - 1982 gdmonline.info

Going back to the drawing board, the Head East line-up remained intact between 1980 and 1982, and signed a deal with small Californian label Allegiance.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: Head East
ALBUM: Onward And Upward
LABEL: Allegiance
SERIAL: AV-432
YEAR: 1982
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

LINEUP: Dan Odum – lead vocals, percussion * Mark Boatman – bass, backing vocals * Steve Huston – drums, percussion, backing vocals * Tony Gross – guitars, backing vocals * Roger Boyd – keyboards, backing vocals, production

TRACK LISTING: 01 I’m Coming Home * 02 Don’t Talk To Me * 03 Show Me * 04 I Make Believe I Believe Her * 05 Ready To Go * 06 Onward And Upward * 07 Wanted Woman * 08 She Doesn’t Mean A Thing To Me * 09 Wrong Time * 10 Take My Hand

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Table of Contents

Background

Last week we reviewed Head East’s 1980 LP ‘U.S 1’. It got a lukewarm response, probably, more so from their long-time record label A&M who ended the relationship.

Going back to the drawing board, the Head East line-up remained intact between 1980 and 1982, and signed a deal with small Californian label Allegiance, which was a Capitol Records offshoot. So what’s the verdict with this one?

The Songs

Much better, truth be told, even though I was never a bonafide fan of the band, this album is reasonably good and does have some moments. When you compare their efforts against local contemporaries REO Speedwagon, the difference and success between the two is like comparing night versus day. However, there’s no denying that Head East were a very hard working band during their heyday.

The first three songs are reasonably good. ‘I’m Coming Home’ and ‘Don’t Talk To Me’ are upbeat and cranking while ‘Show Me’ displays shades of Roadmaster, but from there on in, only a handful of other tracks appeal. These would include ‘Ready To Go’, the title track ‘Onward And Upward’, the rather good ‘She Doesn’t Mean A Thing To Me’ and ‘Wrong Time’. You really have to spend some time with these tracks to get to the bottom of them.

In Summary

This would be the last throw of the dice with this line-up, Head East eventually bringing in ex Lion member Kurt Hansen (bass, lead vocals) and Donnie Dobbins (drums), and releasing their much acclaimed ‘Choice Of Weapons’ during 1988. Refer the Head East website to see what they are doing in the current day.