Dave Lee Roth, Just Like Paradise

I bought the album ‘Skyscraper’ back in the late eighties and it became the soundtrack for one of those long hot Southsea summers you get down on England’s south coast…’88 or ’89 most likely. This track is just one of the many standouts and it just oozes California sun-drenched class. Portsmouth doesn’t quite match Santa Monica for international beach rock n’ roll but we had our own thing down there with the pier, the pubs and the tennis courts down on the front. There was an old advert in the US many moons ago in which a guy holding the product in question stood on a sunny LA street and announced he was going to try the product on “the average person” . . meanwhile in the background a procession of loonies, wierdos, crazies and stoners like extras from The Lost Boys marched by one after the other. “As of now we’re still waiting for the average person” he intoned laconically. That ad has always stuck in my mind and it’s that vibe that this superb album evokes so well. ‘Just Like Paradise’ was also my first intro Β to Steve Vai’s post Zappa work which I consider to be some of his finest. The song benefits from that rare distinction of actually starting with a guitar solo…the little fanfare at the beginning is a delight.


Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Moi on March 27, 2015 5:08 pm

    Oh the memories … but rather of Aerosmith being played (this was ’89 to ’90), a cuppee tea being poured from a quaint stainless steel teapot and professional looking saucepans for the cooking of haggis neeps and tatties and spaghetti (not eaten at the same time). Good to see what inspired the hair style πŸ™‚

  2. Moi on March 30, 2015 6:28 pm

    Distant Past by Everything Everything is sounding great at the moment – I forgot to say.

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