Customer Reviews

Dedication

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I was 12, I wore the grooves out on this album. Back in Ft. Dix, N.J., I fell in love at first listen to the Bay City Rollers' "Saturday Night" hit. After that, I couldn't get enough of them; I pored through every teen magazine from "16" to "Tiger Beat," dreaming of the day I'd finally get to see them live. I never did. But I did manage to collect every single album they put out, including this one, "Dedication." Which was and is their finest.

Critics who have since revealed this band to be a musical fraud have never heard "Dedication"--an album notable for its lack of Top 40 hits but brimming with catchy even complex pop riffs. It came out before their monster number one, "You Made Me Believe In Magic" from the "It's A Game" album.

What attracted and intrigued me most about "Dedication" was the recent addition of Ian Mitchell as rhythm guitarist and second lead singer, the only non-original band member to appear on a BCR album. He didn't last long, quitting due to touring stress, but stayed long enough to record the title track and my absolute favorite. Lead singer Leslie McKeown later re-recorded this song as his own, but it pretty much tanked in comparison sounding a lot like he was losing whatever vocal chops he'd had. Mitchell, however, brought out the plaintive, simple but completely contagious melody in the lyrics. His voice doesn't crack or skip a beat or skat through what should be sung. It's there in the range from medium to high notes, effortlessly, between a boy and a man. After only two run-throughs, I could sing along--and did frequently--almost convincing myself I had a voice as resonate and clear and on key. I could also imagine myself calling the d.j. and requesting a song to help keep me company, something I identified with and did as a kid growing up on the East Coast.

Another song I loved was quirky to put it mildly, "Are You Cuckoo?" Never mind the nonsensical words, the part where they sound like cartoons (the Charlie bit at the end has them on helium), or the failed attempt as wackiness--the music is where it works. It's a totally danceable tune, and I always end up shimmying like a 60s go-go girl whenever I hear it. Interestingly, the album never contained lyrics so I never understood as a child what they were saying. But this Japanese Import version does--and it still doesn't make sense. The echo of the drumbeat sounds like a, well, cuckoo bird or pigeon taking a dump in an underground sewer. Bass thumping in between adds to the odd effect. The electric guitar mingled with sax reminds me of a hint of 60s acid rock.

The romantic in me got lost in "Write A Letter" (written by some of the Rollers themselves), "Let's Pretend," the Beach Boys classic "Don't Worry Baby," and "You're A Woman" (another Roller production). In fact, this last song brings me back full circle. 'Cause when I first heard it, I WAS a girl, wondering what it would be like to be a woman. Now I'm a fully-fledged 34-year-old married woman who's pretty much lived many of the lyrics in this CD listening to the memories, the youth, the hopes, and innocence all over again. When McKeown murmurs, almost as if he's in the throes of thwarted embarrassed ecstasy, "...And look how much you've changed, What's happened to, The girl I used to know, Oh you're a woman, And you know what love is for...You're not a little girl any more," I feel goosebumps in my toes.

I did want to mention how it always scared me to listen to the beginning of "Yesterday's Hero," a semi-almost-hit back then in the mid-70s. The song was recorded at a Rollers' concert and it includes the barking orders of a burly body guard trying to keep the crowd back.

And what a kick to get four extra songs tacked to this import as well. One I never heard before, "Love Me Like I Love You"--reminds me of surfer songs from the 60s or the early 70s hit, "Beach Baby." This entire CD combines influences from easy listening 50s to 60s rock, Mamas and the Papas, the Cascades, Everly Brothers.

I get ragged a lot by friends, family and co-workers for my retro taste in music. Donny Osmond, the Jackson Five, the Keene Brothers, Rex Smith, Lighthouse, Starbuck, and the Bay City Rollers. But I can't help it. These are the initial performers who first introduced me to the music I enjoy kicking back to the most: Pop. Much of their stuff is utterly, giddily, wickedly danceable and hummable. And these guys ain't bad to lust over either.

Sure the Rollers will never be remembered as rock innovators and do not deserve to even be put in the same class as the likes of Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Billy Joel, or the Beatles. However, their effect on millions of fans like me cannot be downplayed or continually underrated.

There was a reason why these guys stayed at the top for much of the 1970s. It didn't all have to do with their funky hair or tight tartan-laced pants either. Listen to "Dedication." It'll explain what I mean.

I agree with Coogie's review almost completely. I believe Dedication was brilliantly sung by Ian Mitchell at such the tender age of 17, but, also feel that Leslie Mckeown's version was touching. This being my favourite track also. This album is the true essence of pure pop which is lacking in the music of today. There were never a truer word spoken than in the song "Yesterday's Hero." Again, the anthem of such groups of yester-year. Also, The Longmuir Brothers are the ONLY original members that appear on this album. All other members who rose to fame were not originals but replacements from a long line of predecessors.

1976 was the big year in North America for the Rollers. "Saturday Night" broke big at the beginning of the year at No. 1 on the U.S. charts ironically enough after failing dismally 3 years previous in England (although the '73 single was a much weaker recording with a different singer).

"Dedication", although in it's original U.S. release contained a different track listing than the one here, was the first proper album to be released stateside and was even recorded on this side of the pond in Toronto. Their glory days in Britain were pretty much over at this point, but Rollermania was peaking in the U.S. and Canada... yet this album did little to continue that trend.

"I Only Wanna Be With You" and "Rock 'N Roller" were minor hits (and good songs), but failed to go anywhere near the heights of the charts that "Saturday Night" had scaled, and signaled the beginning of the end of "Rollermania".

The problem with this album, as was the problem with all of their albums, is inconsistency and an obvious polar conflict between lightweight fluffy bubblegum-pop and hard-rockin' above-average power pop. When the Rollers chose to rock, as best exemplified in tunes like "Yesterday's Hero", "Rock 'N Roller", and (included as bonus tracks on this release) "Rock 'N Roll Love Letter", "Money Honey", and "Mama Li"... they did it with a certain finesse and Power-Pop perfection.

Then there's the embarrassingly BAD fluff-pop songs like the title track, "You're A Woman", "Write A Letter", "My Lisa", and the terrible steel-drum cover of Brian Wilson's classic "Don't Worry Baby"... that makes me hit the fast-forward button just as fast as I can. The only song on this album I would consider being the middle ground between awesome and awful would be the somewhat decent cover of the Raspberries' "Let's Pretend".

If only these guys could have gotten proper management who would have steered them in the right direction at the right time then perhaps they wouldn't be remembered (unfairly) as a one-hit wonder like so many people here in America do today. All in all... "Dedication" is one of their better albums, and probably their most well-produced... not a bad album, but not what I would call essential.

NOTE: This was the first Rollers album to not feature original bassist and founding member Alan Longmuir, who was replaced by a much younger Ian Mitchell.

hi dave thompson the dedication bonus tracks doesn't have the song ARE YOU CUCKOO. I ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU shouldn't be a bonus song because it's allways been there.i have the lp.ROCK'N'ROLL LOVE LETTER AND MONEY HONEY ARE FROM THE ROCK 'N' ROLL LOVE LETTER LP.AS FOR THIS CD LES VERSON OF DEDICATION IS GREAT AND TO HAVE ROCK 'N' ROLL LOVE LETTER/MONEY HONEY TOO.

I won't review the album itself as others have done so already. Besides most likely you already know you like the music if you're reading this. I was disappointed in the sound. It was muddy and worse: "Rock and Roll Love Letter" & "I Only Want to Be With You" had sound dropouts from one channel (fades in and out) and an overall unclear and unbalanced sound. The same songs on "The Definitive Collection" (released 4 years earlier in 2000) sounded much clearer and more balanced (albeit some may think overly so, they are very bright).

The dropouts were so bad and evident (on my Ipod and decent surround sound setup)that I exchanged the CD for another copy, hoping it was a defect (kudos to Amazon for allowing me to do so). Sadly it wasn't.

I really liked seeing the Bell logo / reproduction of the LP label on the CD (though wish they had done that on my copy of Manilow II), the liner notes and packaging were good but the sound was the thing. The music itself is good (3.5 stars) but some of the songs have the worst sound I've heard on a CD (or very close). Other songs sound OK, never great but OK. I expected more from Sony / BMG. This isn't a small company.

BTW: for reference I own around a thousand CDs from all genres and time periods. Remasters & originals, I know how CDs are supposed to sound. I understand "the loudness war" and all that (this CD is not an example of that at least so there's a plus).

I admit not my best review but I wanted to provide the information I wish I had before purchasing this CD.

I had this album in high school and getting the cd brought back lots of great memories!!

For anyone that wants to hear classic BCR, this album will def bring back memories of the mid-70's. Dedication and Yesterday's Hero probably the most common songs, but my fave is Rock'n'Roller...what a fun rockin' number! Even though it's not the original 5, it's still a good album (Ian Mitchell had replaced Alan Longmuir for this album).

One of the first albums I ever bought. The songs are great, you can't go wrong buying this one.

Another one of my favorte BCR albums- not quite the same as the American
version but I really loved Ian Mitchell's version of the song "Dedication" as opposed to Les McKeown's version.