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The discography of Arizona's Tubes is divided into two distinct phases: the first sees the group working at the end of the seventies for the record company A&M and is fiercely post-punk and post-glam: satirical, corrosive, polemical, spectacular, and also moderately pornographic (on stage the seven musicians are assisted by dancers, actors, strippers, costumes, and set designs). The second, after transitioning to another multinational, Capitol, and redefining strategies, sees them becoming somewhat more regulated and trying to switch to cashing in, embracing the cause, which is far less ingenious but much more fashionable AOR of the eighties, while still maintaining a great verve and a solid share of theatricality in their always energetic and quirky live shows.
The record in question is the sixth in their career, the second of the described phase two. The group places themselves in the hands of a pop producer, David Foster, who cleans and rounds out the sounds and arrangements, making them very mainstream (for the eighties) and accessible. However, the mixing was completely botched: poor in mid-low frequencies and thus decently stifling, failing to give the new songs the gigantic groove that the Tubes had always demonstrated until then. And to think that the wilful bassist Rick Anderson and the drummer/graphic designer Praire Prince (costumes and set designs are his job, but at the same time, the list of people who have benefited from his rhythmic talent is devastating... just mentioning Jefferson Starship, Cars, Journey, Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno, Tom Waits, George Harrison, and Journey), together form a real war machine.
This band is to be considered among the best in the world in terms of stage effectiveness and spectacle, a triumph of flashy and obscene costumes, jumps and dances, movable platforms turning around the stage with the individual musicians on top (including the drums and two keyboard forts) in full action. And then the music: although bent to theatrical needs, almost like a real musical, yet it results in consistent and structured complete and fulfilled rock songs... It's impossible to describe a Tubes concert; you have to find yourself in the middle of it, we are at Zappa levels, but in four-four time and without (almost) intricate arrangements.
Very little of all this remains on record, including this album, which is despite everything brilliant and inspired. The funky/disco/rock bend, of which the rhythm & blues and the punk roots of their inspiration are stuffed and dressed, does not erase the still good compositional vein (mainly due to Billy Spooner, one of the two guitarists), the effectiveness of the lyrics, the excellent work of the two keyboardists (who essentially divide the instruments: Vince Welnick creates the bases with pianos, organs, strings, and brass, Michael Cotten fidgets expertly on synthesizers and adds the effects, whistles, gusts, drones, solos), the great grit of the frontman Fee Waybill, with a timbre very close to Roger Daltrey of The Who (American accent aside).
The work sold well in the USA thanks to its two hits: the first being the opener "Talk To You Later", a fast hard rock, half funky and half AOR, that pushes strongly towards Toto, not least because the guitarist of the latter, Steve Lukather, a close friend of Waybill, gives a hand in the composition, but especially delivers an incredible solo, certainly among his best, turning the song inside out and sending it off like a missile!
The other standout episode is the slow "Don't Want To Wait", very pompous and Broadway-style, so much so that it is sung by the author Spooner since the given Waybill does not feel it within his range. It belongs to that kind of ballad that hides quietly in the verse only to explode in its gigantic chorus, with six voices, truly lush, led by the talented Spooner with a crooner's demeanor, decidedly out of context with all the rest of Tubes' production before and after, but so be it: if one is very melodic in tastes, the track turns out to be admirable.
I've seen a lot of concerts... the memory of the Tubes' concert in Bologna still ranks at the very top of my appreciation and gratitude. Let's say among the top five, together with a varied company (I throw in Fairport Convention, Gentle Giant, Tempest, Bruce Cockburn...). They would have deserved much more than a good reputation in America and a very small following in Europe. This record does not represent them worthily, but perhaps no one is to blame, it is impossible to fit the Tubes inside a piece of plastic or an audio file, their artistic approach being too visual and multimedia.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Talk to Ya Later (04:43)
I met her on a strip
It was another lost weekend
The band was too slick
And the people were twisted
So I asked her for a date
She reluctantly agreed
Then we went to my place
And she never did leave
She won't even miss me when she's gone
And that's okay with me I'll cry later on
It's been six months
She hasn't shut up once
I've tried to explain
She's driving me insane
She won't even miss me when she's gone
And that's okay with me I'll cry later on
Talk to ya later—don't want to hear it again tonight
Talk to ya later—just save it for another guy
Talk to ya later—don't want to hear it again tonight
I'll just see you around
Get out
I'm telling you now
Do you catch my drift
What could be plainer than this
Nothin' more to be said
Write me a letter instead
I don't mean to be cruel
But I'm finished with you
She won't even miss me when she's gone
That's okay with me I'll cry later on
Talk to ya later—don't want to hear it again tonight
Talk to ya later—just save it for another guy
Talk to ya later—don't want to hear it again tonight
I'll just see you around
03 Matter of Pride (03:14)
Hey baby
You don’t care
You don’t share
You won’t make believe
You won’t tell me things
I got to know
I got to know
I want it now
Don’t you understand
When you love somebody
You must look into her eyes
When you love somebody
You have pride
You say you love me but you know it’s a lie
I have to trust you it’s a matter of pride
Hey baby,
I just can’t take it
You make me mad
Tell me how you really feel
I want to know bad
When you love somebody
You must look into her eyes
When you love somebody
You have pride
Call me baby, call me on the telephone
Tell me baby, tell me that you want me home
Give me a minute, I’ll be there right away
Tell me baby, are those the right words to say
I got to find out if this love is really real
Don’t kid me baby, I got to know how you feel
I want to wind up in the right place with you
I gotta find out if it’s for me you do what you do
You say you love me but you know it’s a lie
I have to trust you it’s a matter of pride
When you love somebody
You must look into her eyes
It’s a matter of pride
Love somebody
05 Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman (04:31)
It was a normal date with my girlfriend Sue
Blond hair, blue eyes, and five-foot-two
The night was cold, the stars were bright
From over her shoulder came a strange light
We parked the car down at Three-Mile Point
The top was down, we were really going
I heard her cry, the reactor flared
She grew and grew, I freaked and stared
Attack of the fifty-foot woman
Our love was at an end
All she did to get her kicks
Was step on all the men
I had to run just to save my skin
She scooped me up, I could not win
“My God,” I screamed, to my distress
Got a fifty foot woman in a five-foot dress
Attack of the fifty-foot woman
Our love was at an end
All she did to get her kicks
Was step on all the men
Attack of the fifty-foot woman
Our love was at an end
All she did to get her kicks
Was step on all the men
Look out here she comes
the biggest pair on earth
So scared I gotta go with her
The National Guard couldn’t shoot her down
Before she left she really trashed our town
She left me there, though I tried and tried
A fifty foot woman’s never satisfied
Attack of the fifty-foot woman
Our love was at an end
All she did to get her kicks
Was step on all the men
08 Don't Want to Wait Anymore (04:18)
We could be the last two on earth
to start a new world
Just you and me girl
Try and you can almost see
how it could be
Just you and me
Lost trapped in the freezing cold
Barely alive
Have to make love to survive
I’ll show you it’s done
We’ll take it as it comes
A rocket to the sun
I don’t want to wait anymore
I just don’t think I have the strength
The strength to carry on
Oh, I don’t want to wait anymore
I waited so long, forgot what I’m waiting for
Stranded on a desert isle
with no one around
for thousands of miles
Imagine anyplace
This is what it takes
But don’t tell me to wait
I don’t want to wait anymore
I just don’t think I have the strength
The strength to carry on
Oh, I don’t want to wait anymore
I waited so long, forgot what I’m waiting for
I don’t want to wait anymore
I just don’t think I have the strength
The strength to carry on
Oh, I don’t want to wait anymore
I waited so long, forgot what I’m waiting for
10 Amnesia (04:26)
It seems we stood and talked
Like this before
Why can’t I remember
Did we share something more
I must have loved you
Once upon a time
Amnesia has come
And clouded my mind
Was there a fire burning
Or were there tears
Did I ever whisper
Words of love in your ear
I can’t go on
Not knowing my own name
I only have
This curse of love to blame
What have I done to deserve this
Can’t find my love if I can’t find myself
I’m imprisoned by amnesia
And I can’t break the spell
The love of days gone past
Is haunting me
Your face looks so familiar
Who can you be
This is the price
That I have to pay
That’s why I cry
Cry out for yesterday
What have I done to deserve this
Can’t find my love if I can’t find myself
I’m imprisoned by amnesia
And I can’t break the spell
It seems we stood and talked
Like this before
Why can’t I remember
Did we share something more
I must have loved you
Once upon a time
Amnesia has come
And clouded my mind
What have I done to deserve this
Can’t find my love if I can’t find myself
I’m imprisoned by amnesia
And I can’t break the spell
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