I'm sure your alibis are water tight...

Last week, before I got regular Internet access again, I had a song from the 1980s stuck in my head.  I didn't know it last week, but the song was called "Alibis" and it was performed by Brazilian band leader, Sergio Mendes.  Sergio Mendes has been around for many years.  I think he's been leading bands since the 1960s.  His band has gone through different incarnations.

In the 1980s, Sergio Mendes had a few pop hits.  I wrote about a couple of them early this year, but somehow I missed "Alibis", which was a hit when I was about twelve years old.  It definitely has that 80s sound.  Check it out.

Joe Pizzulo sings lead on this hit, although since it was on Solid Gold, he was probably lip syncing.

Sergio Mendes wasn't unlike Santana in that different people sing lead.  Mendes is the band's leader, but he gets singers to be the frontpeople.  In 1983, Mendes rejoined Herb Alpert's A&M label and worked with Alpert's wife, Lani Hall, on a few songs.  A&M went defunct in 1999, but it hosted a lot of really great acts from my youth, including the Carpenters, Sting, Joan Baez, Styx, and Burt Bacharach, among many others.

I don't know why, but "Alibis" always reminds me of riding my bike back and forth to the barn when I was twelve.  It was a summer hit, if I recall correctly, and lent itself well on my Walkman.  I still think it sounds good today, thirty-four years later...

I am getting so old...  but I really do think music was better back in the day.  I have turned into my parents.

Olympia!

Hey!  It's time for the 2018 Olympics in South Korea!  For some reason, tonight I thought of this song for the first time since the 1980s...

Sergio Mendes did "Olympia" in 1984...  That was probably the last time I heard it.

I actually kind of like Sergio Mendes.  He did that classic duet "Never Gonna Let You Go" back in the 80s, which never gets old...

Someone's video of a classic song.

Sergio Mendes also did some other jazzy hits... some of which were not as well known as they should have been...

I like to sing this one myself.

"Olympia" has always kind of been etched on the brain.  I've always remembered the song, but never really felt like I needed to go out and find it.  Until tonight....  it's probably the second bottle of wine that's driving me.

Anyway, at least it's topical, right?  I can't believe 1984 was 34 years ago.  I am getting old as hell.  It brings me comfort to know that every day, I get closer to being beamed out of this world.  On another note, it's nice to be able to put the name of the artist with the song that's been beaming in and out of my head since the 1980s.

Van Stephenson... Modern Day Delilah

I had a sudden flashback to this crap from the past...  This is a clip from American Bandstand.  Those striped shirts were all the rage back in the mid 1980s.

Van Stephenson's 1984 hit "Modern Day Delilah" must have been buried deeply in my grey matter.  I haven't thought of this song in ages.  I was sitting here pondering what to write about and I had a sudden flashback to this mid 80s gem.

Actually, I wonder if I should call it a gem.  I don't remember being particularly fond of this song when it was popular.  I do remember hearing it on the radio a lot, though.  

The official video... back when videos were a real thing.

I see from a quick Google search, Van Stephenson is no longer among the living.  He died in April 2001 of melanoma.  He was only 47 when he passed away...  Listening to this song, I realize he had a good voice for rock.  The song "Modern Day Delilah" is kind of a stupid song.  The lyrics are really cheesy.  The music isn't bad, though, especially considering that this was a hit in 1984.  Don't get me wrong.  I love my 80s hits, but some of the ones from the mid 80s were terrifically bad.

"What The Big Girls Do", a hit from the same era.  He sounds a little like Bryan Adams here.

I see Van Stephenson eventually collaborated with Restless Heart, a country band that was popular in the 80s and 90s.  I actually liked Restless Heart.  They were a little like The Eagles.  Later, he joined BlackHawk and was a member of that band when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Another hit... "We're Doing Alright"...

I don't remember "We're Doing Alright", though I probably heard it back in the day.  In fact, I bet if I put my mind to it, I could sit here and remember a lot of minor hits from musicians who made ripples in the business rather than splashes.  I have to admit that I kind of miss those days, although the 80s is the decade when appearance really seemed to matter more than it ever had before.

New Edition...

I will admit, I wasn't a huge fan of New Edition back in the day.  All I know is that the group of super talented Boston area youths spawned Bel Biv Devoe and Boys II Men... and Bobby Brown, of course!

Here they are on The View in 2007.  

Seems like Mr. Telephone Man was my first introduction to New Edition...  Since most of us have cellphones now, this song seems awfully quaint.

New Edition was popular in the 80s, right smack dab in the middle of my coming of age years.  It doesn't seem that long ago, but hell, it's been 30 years!

Okay, I lied...  "Candy Girl" was the first "taste" of this boy band.  It came out in 1983.

Bill Cosby in his prime introducing New Edition and "Cool It, Now."  

I think I pretty much forgot about New Edition by 1986 or so, though watching them now I think they are very talented guys.  Obviously they were influenced by the Jackson 5... and they, in turn, influenced other bands like NKOTB, the Backstreet Boys, and Boyzone.  

And here they are much older singing a medley of classics...  

I guess every era has its boy bands.  My era had New Edition and New Kids On The Block (though I was never a NKOTB fan)...

One Love (Unfaithfully Yours)

I'm making a very quick post right now so I don't forget this...  About 30 years ago, there was a movie out called Unfaithfully Yours.  On the soundtrack was a minor hit by singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop, who's written a bunch of modern classics.  He also wrote and sang this song...



The song is called "One Love" and I remember hearing it a lot on the radio about 30 years.  And then it disappeared.  That makes it definitely "Dungeon of the Past" material...

I was happy to find it on YouTube, since it doesn't seem to be easily purchased these days, even on Amazon.com.  My sister, Sarah, thought this was a "cute" song.  I guess it is in a cornball kinda way.

Anyway, enjoy...  Now I feel like finding more lost gems!