Customer Reviews

Head First

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I hope this review becomes passe REAL SOON. It is July 2007 and this record is not available ANYWHERE even though it sez here it's been re-released AND re-mastered. Chrysalis, or whoever owns the rights to this - WHAT THE H#LL IS WRONG WITH YOU??? Why isn't this available? It was/is simply the FINEST rock album from the 80's or anytime for that matter - PERIOD! I am a Hendrix, Zappa, Crimson, Yes, Genesis freak (you know the type) :-] but I've gotta tell you THIS record is what rock was all about. All 9 cuts - Straight thru. No filler-Turn it up-LOUD. I wore my vinyl copy of this out about 10 yrs ago & I can't believe this is so hard to find. PS: To the "supply & demand" creeps who are selling this on Amazon for $[...] bucks= KISS MY [...]! ! ! I hope all you all get stuck with your copies as soon as some nit wit at Chrysalis comes to their senses. At least The Essential John Waite has Run to Mexico & White Lightning on it (my personal favorite which always seems to get overlooked). Piece of the Action is there too. Too bad drug abuse (among other things) killed this band. Come on Chrysalis & Amazon - Let's get with it ! ! ! I'm sick wit this - Later

Tony Brock is a very understated drummer coming from the `less is more' style perfected by Jeff Porcaro of TOTO. His beat on Love Don't Prove I'm Right, Head First, & Run To Mexico are straight forward with great space and feel. As a drummer, I have a difficult time playing along with these tunes and not overplaying. The music is energetic, with a strong balance of melody and rock in the likes of Journey, Survivor, and TOTO. You (Got It) is a classic soft guitar ballad full of passionate energy- it is one of my favorite air-band tunes as singer/guitarist. Can you imagine playing this live for a few friends at a party?! Head First is one the the best straight forward rock tunes ever. I rank it in my top ten of all time. I love this recording! Waite sound perfect and the rest of the boys simply nail it. This is great driving music.

This album is generally good all the way through, and was the source of radio hits like "Every Time I Think Of You" and "Head First." The song "Every Time I Think Of You" on this album is particularly outstanding--not quite as good as "Isn't It Time" from their previous album, but it's similar in style and power. "I Was One" is another great song off this album with a powerful sound, especially in the harmonious intro riff that sounds like a rockified version of the intro to "I'll Be There" (Jackson 5 / Mariah Carey). I never cared for "Head First" since the melody deteriorates badly on the chorus, but the rest of the album has a rich appealing '80s style rock sound similar to Journey, Nelson, or Styx, with acoustic guitars mixed with electric guitars, harmony electric guitar lines, high vocals with harmonies, and strings.

This is the best album ever released by the Babys! Musicianship, production, lyrics, there isn't a weak link period! John Waite, Wally Stocker, Tony Brock, and Michael Corby shine. This recording is alive with excitement! The songs move and lift your spirits. This is what a good time rock album is all about! I wondered what the Babys would do after their masterpiece BROKEN HEART and the answer was go HEAD FIRST.

My favorite track here would undoubtably be "Everytime I Think of You", which sounds like a leftover from the BROKEN HEART (Pop) sessions, but is none-the-less a great song; it was even a hit single! There are an assortment of styles on this disc with songs like "Run to Mexico", "White Lightning", "California", and "Head First", which are all straight forward rock. On the lighter side there is
"Love Don't Prove I'm Right", "You", "I Was One", and the afore mentioned "Everytime...". The remaining tracks are good, so, don't think that because I didn't list them they are worth passing over, they aren't!

This is a definite plus to any collection. If you like the vocals of John Waite, you need this disc! This is a disc that is in my Top 100 CDs, so, I definitely recommend it to you.

I was always a big fan of the Babys ever since I got into them when I heard the great hit,"Isn't It Time". 1978's "Head First" (with their next one, "Union Jacks" very close behind) was their best overall album as singer John Waite artisically came into his own on this one with his own unique, distinctive vocal style and usual abundant attitude.

The firing from the band of multi-talented guitarist Michael Corby, who originally formed the band, due to continuous problems between him and Waite, was extremely untimely as it happened during the middle of putting together "Head First", however, with a change in direction that ensued soon after, the band came out with a more sonically sleek sound with a more basic simplicity as gone was the previous towering orchestration wall of sound of their previous albums. Additionally, Waite came into his own as a singer and had developed his own style which appeared to transform the rest of the band into a more confident, tighter unit as they balanced both hard and soft power pop wonderfully.

From the great infectious lead guitar riff of the title track with its great combination of raw power and finesse to the beauty of the great romantic power ballad, "Every Time I Think Of You", all nine songs off "Head First" flow extremely well together. You can definitely hear the influences of early Free, Bad Company, The Faces, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, and Humble Pie's Steve Marriott evident throughout.

A must have for fans of classic melodic power pop mixed in with well crafted, smooth ballads..............

Picked this up on ebay for around $50.00 new. I know it's too much but it doesn't appear it's getting any cheaper so I took the dive. Like many, I wore out the vinyl album and have missed these tunes for many years. First off this was not pushed out by Chrysalis but by a company called One Way Records.........who claims the original recordings are "Re-Mastered". Although I applaud One Way for getting the Baby's library to CD and ultimate release, do not buy this CD with the expectations that the sound is going to wow you because it will not. Like the original vinyl, the backbone of the sound.........Tony Brock on drums and John Waite on bass still sounds like they were recorded under water and for this reason I am dissapointed in this CD. In fact I will go out on a limb and claim the vinyl version of this recording is much better than the CD pressing.

The liner notes are interesting in the sense the interviewer was actually able to get the lads to speak fondly about each other......but realizing it was 2001 when he interviewed them it makes some sense. Back then there was an effort under way to bring the boys back together which subsequently ended quite badly. Interviewing these guys today would result in a far different view/opinion of each other.....primarily in the case of John Waite......whose rep has suffered quite a bit over the years. I especially like the piece where he talks about it being his idea to stop playing bass.....which wasn't the case at all. He was forced to stop by Chrysalis in fact. But enough about that stuff..........what about the music?

In a nutshell.......one of the best rock albums of all-time is how I would rate this one. Wally Stocker is brilliant throughout and John's vocals were never better. If there was one guy I wish I could sound like as a singer it would be John Waite. With any type of personality this guy could have owned the music industry. I just wish Tony's drumming could have been more in the forefront as he is a fantastic drummer.........oh well. Finally, I also bought "On the Edge" and it also has the "re-master" stamp all over it and it too sounds muddled based on expectations.

It's about time someone re-released the entire Babys collection. Way to go One Way Records! It's difficult to choose the best release by this highly "under appreciated" band but this cd merits much consideration. From the rocking, upbeat title track to the sentimental classic "Every time I think of you", this cd has it all. Although the greatest hits collections are an excellent means for those venturing into the Babys "realm", it has long been my opinion that the real gems are interspersed amongst their five cd's. This especially holds true here. "You (got it)" and "Love don't prove I'm right" are just two examples but overall the whole cd is fantastic! If you like "Anthology" but don't have any of thier other cd's, start collecting!

.....every song an absolute gem. I've been looking for this for years and just found it at a used CD shop for $6.00! HA! This was the best CD they ever released. Whichever company decides to secure the rights, re-master and re-release this collection of golden nuggets is going to make a boatload of cash.

This is a great album! I've had it since it was released. By far the best song is "Everytime I Think Of You". It's one of those songs to crank up loud! It charted As high as #13 on The Billboard top 40 in 2/79. I saw The Baby's in concert when this album was popular-what a great show. The album still holds up well to the test of time! Other highlights include: "I Was One", "Love Don't Prove I'm Right", "Run To Mexico", and "Head First".

Senior in high school, loved Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Bowie,Rush, and whatever else my parents thought was noise. But all for a great reason. Heavy metal, loud rock, it all was the Beatles and more. I got a girlfriend, then "Isn't It Time" came along. Was it a rock band or another Angel-type band that dressed like rock and roll but made sappy ballads ? "I was in love, or at least thought I was at that time of my life, and "Everytime I Think of You" was released. I liked the previous hit because it was minimal rock, so I figured this to be more of the same. Little did I know that the first song on side two "Head First" changed my feelings about this band. If they could write 12 of these and put it on a record, it would be the best rock album I would ever own. But money made writers and bands make records for what sells. And more of the same would dictate the music "The Babys" and even John Waite would make for years to come. This is still one of the best pop albums of it's era. The first song "Love Don't Prove I'm Write" was a great opener right behind "Head First". "Everytime I Think Of You" , another "Isn't It Time" and "You(Got It)", are songs that women still want to hear over and over. This LP is by far the best release this band put out. In between good pop rock and some balladry, the next few years are what made me decide that The Babys and Journey were done for. Too sappy, but these groups wrote for the bank roll and not the true rock listeners. All 9 tracks are still listenable today and stand the test of time. Much better than anything KISS released in the 80's.