Private Lightning - Private Lightning (1980)

Boston's Private Lightning came together in the mid 70's, under the direction of brother/sister musicians, Paul and Patty Van Ness. The band built a respectable following along the east coast and soon the band's manager, Fred Heller, had facilitated a contract for the band with A&M Records. The band were jetted off to Monserrat where they spent the next month crafting their debut. It was a short time later before the band were finally able to hear the finished product, which took place at their record release party. The members were horrified to hear that the rough mix and final mix were completely different, as most of the dynamics were muted and the overall production too brittle and trebly.

The band soldiered on and toured the New England region relentlessly, but A&M had usurped most of the band's promotional budget on many of their more established artists, leaving very little to keep the band on the road. The band began work on demos for their followup album, but things finally came to a halt in 1981. Paul now works in film/video production, Patty is a renowned medieval instrumentalist and the remaining members have worked with The Souls and Hank Decken as well as various roles in production/engineering.

The album is a curious blend of art rock, new wave, power pop and AOR. With fluid violin work permeating each of the tracks, there's a unique vibe happening throughout. I hear similarities to late period FM and even Spy to some extent. There's nothing here that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but the hooks are average to these ears. No doubt, there's an audience for this album and thanks to Steven, we have a sweet vinyl transfer up for grabs. Take a listen already, eh?

320kbps @ http://lix.in/-2a9d6d