In my last blog I mentioned a man named Steve Schiff, who colaborated with Tonio K. (“16 Tons of Monkeys”) and also co-wrote the huge hit “(Don’t You) Forget About Me” by Simple Minds.
In addition to those notable achievements, Mr. Schiff was also, back in the late 70’s, the Lead Guitarist in a band called 1994:
That’s right, “1994:,” colon and all.
In addition to the unusual punctuation (a sideways umlaut?) the band also feature the amazing voice of one Karen Lawrence, who I just found out is still performing. Which was a revelation, as I had searched for her on the internets in the past with dismal results. The last I had heard she released a couple albums under the band name “Blue By Nature.” Recently I did a search and found out she has a MySpace page!
So let’s set the “Waybac” machine to a modest, middle-class home in Las Vegas, circa 1978…
I was pouring over a copy of some Rock n’ Roll magazine (prolly “Circus” or “Hit Parader”) and I came upon a record review of this band whose guitarist was touted as having Jimmy Page-worthy riffing skills and whose female vocalist had a Robert Plant-esque wail. As ‘uge fan of Led Zeppelin I was intrigued, to say the least. So I went down to the closest record-selling venue, the old Woolco on West Charleston, and sure enough, found a copy of the debut album by 1994:.
The album cover had LED lights printed on it and electrical schematics. It was also embossed, to give it the texture of a an old-fashioned electronic device. There was a small, blurry photo of the band inside a small monitor window on the ‘device.’ This was the sound of the future, I thought, as I plunked down my allowance for the week on this mysterious disc. I rushed home and put it on the turntable, putting my ridiculously cumbersome headphones on so that I could turn up the volume and see if this band was all that it was heralded to be.
The opening riff to the first track, “Once Again,” slammed me to the ground like a tsunami. A short time later that riff would slam the rest of the world like a tsunami. You see the riff– well, a variation of it– was later used in the chorus of the song “Crazy Train,” by Ozzy Osbourne. That the young Randy Rhodes, who wrote it, was a fledgling guitarist in the L.A. area around the same time that 1994: was starting out remains just a co-inky-dink I suppose. But the songs do bear a ‘kissin’ cousin’ kind of similarity.
The riff served as a bedrock for Karen Lawrence to launch her multi-octave voice, which soared from a Jack Daniels-soaked growl to an air-raid siren wail, until it dropped the booster rockets and climbed into the stratosphere. It was unba-Geddy Lee-vable! Robert Plant may as well have packed up his lemon and rambled on home. Steve Schiff added a nice solo, and Bill Rhodes (bass) and John Desautels (drums) gave it the appropriate ‘Hammer of the Gods’ thunder, but it was Karen’s voice that made me lift the needle of the vinyl and plunk it back at the beginning groove.
The next couple songs slowed down the pace a bit, and then things really mellowed on “Heleana”– a beautiful power-ballad. I flipped the record over, impressed with the band and their chops. Side two began with “Bring It On Home” another showcase for Karen to display the dizzying scale of her voice. The next track, “Radio Zone” was a sizzling slice of punk aggression and rapid-fire singing, a vitriolic diatribe against commercial “Middle-of-the-Road” radio programming which probably did them no favors in getting airplay with some of their more ‘MOR’ tunes. The record held a few more well-crafted song, such as the bouncy “Read Up,” but the final track, “Anastasia” was a rare gem– opening with a gypsy-motif on mandolin, the tale of the woman who claimed to be Czar Nicholas’ ill-fated daughter alternated between a thrashy, hard rock chorus and the aformentioned mandolin melody. Definately not geared for the Top 40, it was a cut above most of the tired music being served up on the radio at the time. And I am not too proud to admit having a huge crush on Miss Lawrence. It weren’t her fault she was hotter than July. Weren’t my fault I noticed.
I loved the record, and slipped it on the turntable for all my friends. They dug it, as well. But I didn’t ever show them the pictures of Karen, though. My generousity of spirit only went so far. The next year the band released “Please Stand By,” and despite the winning cover of Garland Jeffrey’s “Wild In The Streets” and the awesome “Keep Raving On” it was soon lost in the wake of the success generated by Pat Benatar and her sexy, operatic take on Hard Rock– the same thing 1994: was doing. Petite Pat went on to being the next big thing, while, sadly, 1994:, was largely ignored.
The band broke up and while my allegience to Karen never wavered, even though the ever-present “Heartbreaker” lured me like a siren’s call. I went out and bought Mark Farner’s “No Frills” album just to hear the former Grand Funkster duet with my Karen on the old 60’s classic “Just One Look.” Around this time Karen was doing session work, singing on Aerosmith’s “Get It Up” from the “Draw The Line” album.
A few years later I was at Underground Records in Las Vegas and I came across a bright Pink n’ Black album cover for “Karen Lawrence and the Pinz.” I bought it immediately, even though it was a little New Wavey for my tastes. Upon playing it I was slighlty aghast, and a little turned on, by Karen’s throaty takes on the old 60’s chestnust “Sealed With A Kiss” anf the original “I Won’t Stop.” There was also a cover of “Rebel,” which had been a minor hit for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
I didn’t get it then, but after hearing “I Won’t Stop” on Karen’s MySpace page recently I have to admit I was out of touch back then. Its loopy charm is intoxicating. At this point in her career she sang backup on an album by Graham Parker called “Another Grey Area,” which escaped me. However, when Jeff Beck made a comeback in the 80’s, teaming with Rod Stewart on their version of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready,” I was astute enough to pass on buying the “Flash” album and go for the 12″ single, which had a song called “Back On The Streets” as a flipside. The song featured Karen on vocals and was a balls-out rocker, with Jeff showing the world that he had forgotten twice as much about Hard Rock as Eddie Van Halen was ever going to learn; namely, try making that guitar sound like a freight train with a singer who can actually wail right back.
Unfortunately, as steaming as that pairing was, it was the end of the line for that diesel.
I held out hope that the world would discover the amazing talent that Karen Lawrence possessed, and her former bandmates as well. Simple Minds was of no importance to me, so Steve Schiff’s moment of glory eluded me. I have no idea what happened to Bill Rhodes and Jim Desautels over the years, but I held out hope for Karen.
I was browsing though a used record store up in Salt Lake City a few years back and happened upon a promo copy of the first 1994: album. It was priced to sell ($3) and I bought it, even though I owned no turntable. I just had to have it, and still do– somewhere up in Salt Lake City with all the stuff I left up there when I moved to Vegas.
Now I have discovered, though the power of the Internets that you can now purchase the record in a CD format. I am flat broke right now, but I will have to finance myself a copy. I was hoping Karen had one of the songs on her MySpace page, but alas that would be to easy. Some of the songs she has on there are available to download, which I did immediately, but the best of held for ransom– like all great treasures upon this earth. Anyway, if you like good music, and I know you do, go here and listen for yourself:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=132975458
And turn up your headphones real loud. The Waybac is warmed up and has room for one more…
Prolix & Tautology 