Customer Reviews

Spider/Between The Lines

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Spider's debut album was the very first album I ever bought when I was a kid and it remains my all-time favorite today. Amanda Blue's vocals cannot be surpassed by anyone. Their second album contains the original recordings of "Change" (later relased by John Waite) and "Better Be Good To Me" (later released by Tina Turner). Having these two albums on CD is a dream come true. Now if we could only get third album "Shanghai" released on CD...

With the group-chemistry of The Beatles, comes my absolute favourite group of the early '80's, and since. The music is very AOR (album-oriented rock) of the early eighties, but created by an ensemble that finally has been released on CD! Both their 1st and 2nd albums are included on this one CD, and you can now find the original "Better Be Good To Me" and other songs by Holly Knight and the other's fabulous songwriting. This group should have had multiple hits, stayed together and become a rock legend, but fate had other plans. However, I am grateful to Renaissance Records for this re-issue, and hope that other "lost" bands receive this same second chance on CD!

This is a reissue of Spider's first two albums. The first 10 songs (their first album) are brilliant! There's heaps of energy, good songwriting, and the *amazing* voice of Amanda Blue. The band includes Anton Fig (now the drummer in David Letterman's band) and Holly Knight (one of the top songwriters of the 1980s.) This was one of my favorite albums on vinyl and it holds up extremely well today.

The last 10 songs are less than spectacular - probably the result of a band returning to the studio before they were ready, with second-string songs. While the musicianship is good, the recording lacks energy - and the songs just aren't as good.

There is a slight technical problem with songs 5 & 10 - about a 30 second silence at the end of each song (these were at the end of each side of the vinyl album. Hmmm...) I used an mp3 editor to remove the silences & return the tracks to their original lengths for iTunes - most people aren't going to be able to do this.

Buy this CD for the first 10 songs - you won't be disappointed. Just ignore that stuff at the end.

Spider were not unkowns, they had a radio hit or two. But over time, the quality of these two albums has been emphasized by the effect the band had later on: Covers of these songs became definitive singles for other artists - particularly John Waite's on "Change" and Tina Turner's "Better Be Good to Me". Drummer Anton Fig became legendary for his nightly appearances with David Letterman. And keyboardist/writer Holly Knight had scores of Top Ten singles written for other artists: Animotion, Pat Benatar, etc.

These two albums on CD are a long-realized dream for the many avid fans of Spider. They may not have been "cutting edge" of anything, but they were a SOLID rock band with pop-accessible songs. Sounding somewhat like a cross between Cheap Trick, the Producers, and Fleetwood Mac, they mixed some neat new-wave aspects with 70's hard rock. Ballads were also a strong suit, and there are certainly #1 hits hidden in here for other artists looking for that perfect "cover" to do...

I first heard Spider's New Romance" in April of 1980 when I was still about 15 years old and LOVED this song. A short time later "Everything's Alright" came out and I LOVED that song too. On my 16th birthday I went to the record store but was too embarrassed to buy this Spider recording because I thought the store clerks might laugh at me for not being "man enough" buying a recording fronted by 2 women, so I ended up buying something else and when I started to drive about 1 ½ years later, Spider's debut was nowhere to be found. On a trip with some school kids to Lake Erie during the summer of 1980 a Spider song came on and the son of the guy taking us back from there turned on a different station and I was bummed out. He was too macho to leave it on.


I was in a state of teenage love when I first heard these songs and if there was a love song that represented me during my teen years these two songs would be it even though they are rock/pop songs. I had that sinking feeling in my stomach when I heard these 2 songs back in those days as you would when you come into contact with someone you had a crush on. I never forgot about this record and it wasn't until 20 years later that I found it and bought it along with their 1981 release which I didn't know anything about.

All these songs are good but Spider didn't become really big during the early 1980s like the Pretenders and Pat Benatar did because the radio stations simply didn't play them enough. As a matter of fact they were only played for about 4 months then I never heard them again on the radio. Spider should have been just as significant as the other female-led bands of the early 1980s like Benatar or the Pretenders. These songs are pop, punk, album oriented rock, and love songs all rolled into this 2 album CD. They are just great. Buy it.

This CD is one of those once-in-a-lifetime deals. It has a little of everything and more. Their version of "Better Be Good to Me" was, of course, the original. And even though Tina Turner recorded it at a later date, there's nothing better than the original. Just about every song has great background music and that special Amanda Blue voice. Just amazing. The manufacturers should crank up a whole bunch more of this CD so that more people can have access to it. I got my copy through Amazons "buy it used or new" program because I got tired of waiting. I wish I would have gotten it earlier. I tried to rate a really favorite song but, like I said, they are all put together so well it is impossible to pick just one. But the songs from their original "Between the Lines" (track #'s 11 through 20) are all my favorites. And maybe Zero (track #10)

Oddly, "New Romance" seemed to receive more airplay two years after its release than it did it 1980, when it squeaked into the Top 40. Spider included songwriter Holly Knight and drummer Anton Fig, a mainstay of Paul Shaffer's Late Night with David Letterman band. The group released a second album, Between the Lines, then reformed as Shanghai in 1982, with guitarist/songwriter Beau Hill replacing Knight. Hill later became a noted record producer; his work with bands like Kix, Ratt, Warrant, and Winger helped define the sound of West Coast heavy metal during the eighties. Knight's "Change" and "Better Be Good to Me," both from the second Spider record, were hits for John Waite and Tina Turner, respectively; the Hill-penned "Talk to Me," written for Shanghai's debut, was covered by Fiona in 1985.

This is such a great collection...It also made me go out and get Hollys solo stuff!!! Lots of great songs that are fun to rock out to...Worth every penny!

I lucked into this at one of my local department stores. I was favorably impressed with the band. Some of the songs I consider favorites.

like anything else its' hit and miss, but there some nice pop rock going on here.

I have to rate the "Spider LP" a "5" but I rate this CD release a "1". This terrific original version of "Better Be Good To Me" is butchered for this release. Come on guys.

"BETTER BE GOOD TO ME" This is the ORIGINAL VERSION....I was going to say different but I really meant better than Tina's version sorry Tina nothing personal. Get the LP it's a nice press. A great early morning dance song. Thank you Lance Wise for turning me on to it.