Autograph - Loud And Clear (1987)

Autograph was a Californian hard rock/heavy metal band from Pasadena, California.

They released several albums throughout the 1980s and are perhaps best-remembered today for their mid-1980s hit, "Turn Up the Radio."

Originally release in 1987, "Loud and Clear" was their third album. The band released a string of impressive melodic rock albums in the mid `80s, but for some reason never seemed to fit into the hair metal scene that came to dominate L.A. in the second half of the decade. "Loud and Clear" is very similar to Autograph's previous albums (1984's "Sign In Please" and 1985's "That's The Stuff"). It's an upbeat, feel-good party rock album with odes to hot girls, loud parties, and rocking all nite. Catchy hooks, great melodies and just enough keyboards are all abundant on Loud & Clear, and Steve Plunkett does another knockout job on vocals. There really isn't a "Turn Up the Radio" style hit on this album, but "Dance All Night" and "Just Got Back From Heaven" should have been solid radio hits at the time, and "More Than a Million Times" should have been huge. It's a brilliant, "soundtrack ready" melodic rocker. As good as it is, "Loud and Clear" was Autograph's least successful `80s album, and ended up being their last work as a band. Plunkett would launch a new version of Autograph with 2003's Buzz, but it wasn't quite the same. If you're a fan of the mid `80s melodic rock sound, "Loud and Clear" is a "can't miss" album from one of the era's more unfairly overlooked bands. The two tracks featured on this album, "Dance all Night" and "She Never Looked that Good For Me" appeared (along with the band themselves) in the film Like Father Like Son, released the same year.

 

01.  "Loud and Clear"  - 3:41

02.  "Dance All Night"  - 4:30

03.  "She Never Looked That Good For Me"  - 3:36

04.  "Bad Boy"  - 4:09

05.  "Everytime I Dream"  - 4:53

06.  "She's a Tease"  - 3:38

07.  "Just Got Back From Heaven"  - 4:22

08.  "Down N' Dirty"  - 3:18

09.  "More Than a Million Times"  - 6:01

10.  "When The Sun Goes Down"  - 4:15

Released:  March 1987

Label:  RCA Records

Genre:  Glam metal

Length:  42:23

Producer:  Andy Johns

Mixed by:  Andy Johns and Paul Wertheimer

Credits

Steve Plunkett - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar

Steve Lynch - Lead Guitar

Randy Rand - Bass, backing vocals

Steven Isham - Keyboards, backing vocals

Keni Richards - Drums