Celebration of "Strange Weather"

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Toni - I see your point here, but here's where I differ with you. I personally don't think the lyrics on these songs need any more of an 'edge'. To me, what I appreciate most about them is that are so cinematic without coming across as rants. They range from painting beautiful imagery to scathing chastisements and a lot of just about everything in between. There are too many adjectives to list to describe them, but I tried to emphasize that when I reviewed the album song-by-song earlier in this this thread. As I said, I appreciate the way Glenn manages, at times, to tell someone off and they don’t even realize what hit ‘em. I personally think he and Jack made some excellent choices here, which get his messages across very effectively. As much as I love Don, his lyrics can sometimes be harsh and his delivery heavy-handed, which can make him come across as 'preachy'. JMHO

[sodascouts]

I have to agree with Dreamer here. A truly amazing album.

[UndertheWire]

I think the lyrics on this are a lot stronger and more thoughtful than on Glenn's previous albums. He shows that he and Jack Temchin can write more than just love songs. Of course, critics were going to complain whatever they wrote. The other big difference with this album is that Glenn had more of a musical collaborator with Jay Oliver. For his first three albums, he wrote songs - lyrics and melody - with Jack Tempchin but the rest of the arrangement and music seems to have been Glenn with occasional input from musicians like Hawk Wolinski (who usually got a credit). Strange Weather has a different sound - lots of keyboards and synthesizers and that fits with Jay Oliver's strengths.

[Annoying Twit]

I think this is a strong album overall, but it needed some more hits. True Love went to No. 13., notable that nothing here got into the top 40.

My favourite here is 'Before the Shop Goes Down'.

[Freypower]

I think this is a strong album overall, but it needed some more hits. True Love went to No. 13., notable that nothing here got into the top 40.

My favourite here is 'Before the Shop Goes Down'.

It wasn't a success. But that doesn't matter. An album does not need to sell millions of copies to be great, and this is Glenn's finest hour. It wasn't Glenn's fault that it had 'no hits'.

[UndertheWire]

I'd like to know why it wasn't a success, but assume it was a matter of timing and promotion. I know he went out on the road to promote it but the tour didn't sell well and he added Joe. He also appeared on tv shows. Part of the problem may have been image - his look was more cabaret than rock - and being in his forties in a business that valued youth.

[Annoying Twit]

It wasn't a success. But that doesn't matter. An album does not need to sell millions of copies to be great, and this is Glenn's finest hour. It wasn't Glenn's fault that it had 'no hits'.

It may well be that the audience had moved on a bit. That happens. There are lots of older artists not making the charts who are releasing records equally as good as the ones that charted when they were of the moment.

[Freypower]

I'd like to know why it wasn't a success, but assume it was a matter of timing and promotion. I know he went out on the road to promote it but the tour didn't sell well and he added Joe. He also appeared on tv shows. Part of the problem may have been image - his look was more cabaret than rock - and being in his forties in a business that valued youth.

He didn't add Joe to the SW tour. The Party of Two tour was done after the failure of South Of Sunset.

I also think it's a bit unfair to blame his image given that he started wearing suits as soon as he went solo.

But as for the acting (which I assume is what you mean by 'appeared on TV shows' did it help or hinder? Probably the latter. Perhaps that is another topic. I know at the time I was living through this, I wondered what purpose the acting served.

[chaim]

When I wrote my comment about lyrics I was thinking of River Of Dreams. There are lyrics I love on this album, but on that one it goes to far in the "I would give you the sun from the sky" area IMO. I checked the songlist and there aren't more lyrics on the album like that. So I guess I was exaggerating.

I mentioned Henley, but there are some lyrics I love on this album that Henley would never write. Lines like "you know, you can talk to me". I love when someone says something like that in a song.

[UndertheWire]

He didn't add Joe to the SW tour. The Party of Two tour was done after the failure of South Of Sunset.

I also think it's a bit unfair to blame his image given that he started wearing suits as soon as he went solo.

But as for the acting (which I assume is what you mean by 'appeared on TV shows' did it help or hinder? Probably the latter. Perhaps that is another topic. I know at the time I was living through this, I wondered what purpose the acting served.

There's a difference between his look in 1982-86 and 1992-93. The first was just a white suit, whereas in the 90s it was more like stage clothes.

By "TV appearances" I meant appearing as the musical guest on late night shows, which is a standard way of promoting music. I've seen clips, so I know he did this, though I couldn't tell you when.

Party of Two came before the failure of South of Sunset. Based on setlist.fm, he did a solo tour to promote Strange Weather from June to December 1992. In January 1993, he did the Superbowl tailgate party that led to his casting in South of Sunset. It's possible he filmed the pilot before embarking on the Party of Two tour which ran from March to July 1993. SoS was still filming early episodes when it was aired and failed in October 1993.

As for why he did SoS, according to interviews from the time, it gave him an opportunity to work in LA rather than being out on the road away from his family. No doubt, he liked the idea of being the lead of a TV show.

My evidence for the relative failure of the solo tour comes from two people. The first is David Spero who was Joe's manager and suggested that 1+1=3. He cites a show of Glenn's that wasn't selling well but after they added Joe, it sold out. The second is someone who opened for Glenn on the solo tour (I've forgotten his name and can't remember where I read it so if anyone can find it, I'd be delighted) and said about how they were having to switch to smaller halls. He said something about learning from Glenn because Glenn gave it everything even if the hall was half-empty.

I'm not trying to put Glenn down. It was the case of a good artist being unable to find a market. He knew from his experience with The Allnighter that TV could help (that album wasn't doing too well until it got a boost from Miami Vice and Beverley Hills Cop).