Friday, December 05, 2014

JACK WAGNER - Don't Give Up Your Day Job (1987) remastered

JACK WAGNER - Don't Give Up Your Day Job (1987) remastered
Requested in "REQUEST & FILL CORNER" section...

When actors become singers... usually close to disaster. However that was not the case with talented JACK WAGNER, from which I already posted here some of his albums. Occurs that the good Jack not only has a smooth voice but he was able (and his manager) to surround him with the best of the best.
For his 3rd LP "Don't Give Up Your Day Job" (1987), we have again the cream of the 'L.A. boys': Michael Landau, Dann Huff, Clif Magness, Robbie Buchanan, Glen Ballard, Nathan East... and the list never ends.

Although at the time of its release "Don't Give Up Your Day Job" was marketed as 'West Coast pop', the album is a pretty uptempo collection of AOR songs.
Of course there's a couple of suave, charming West Coast ballads, but this is a mid-'80s sounding record destined to radio. You can feel Glen Ballard's touch (one of the producers) and his hand for poppy, commercial radio-friendly sounds.
"Don't Give Up Your Day Job" is impeccably recorded and performed, and I like all the songs. Wagner co-penned half of the tracks, with outsider contributions from the likes of Diane Warren, Clif Magness, the mega-talented Billy Steinberg (on my favorite cut "Easy Way Out" also recorded by I-Ten) or Ballard itself.

JACK WAGNER - Don't Give Up Your Day Job (1987) remastered back cover

For years, "Don't Give Up Your Day Job" was really hard to find, and in fact it's a record rarely seen featured into the blogosphere.
Rarer is this 2009 remaster which adds even more splendor to these meticulously recorded & produced songs.


01 - Weatherman Says
02 - Island Fever
03 - Love… Find It
04 - It's What We Don't Say
05 - Easy Way Out
06 - Common Man
07 - Lovers In The Night
08 - Sneakin' Suspicions
09 - It's Been A Long Time
10 - Back Home Again

Vocals, Guitar: Jack Wagner
Guitars: Michael Landau, Dann Huff, Nick Kirgo, Clif Magness, Tony Peluso, Paul Warren
Bass: Nathan East, Joe Chemay, John Farrar, Abe Laboriel
Keyboards; Robbie Buchanan, Randy Kerber, John Farrar, Glen Ballard, John Hobbs, John Van Tongeren, Mike Egizi, Marcel East
Synths: Randy Kerber, John Farrar, Jim Lang, John Van Tongeren
Drums: Vinnie Colauita, Paul Leim, Tony Humecke, David Logeman, Jack Bruno
Percussion: Paulinho Da Costa
Guest Vocals: Siedah Garret (duet Track 4)
Sax: Joel Peskin
Backing Vocals: Joe Pizzulo, Gary Falcone, Roger Freeland, Maxine Waters, Julia & Oren Waters, Edie Lehman, Clif Magness, Glen Ballard, Joe Turano, John FarrarJohn Batdorf, Brie Howard, Paul Warren, Bryan McDonald, Robbie Buchanan




JACK WAGNER Don't Give Up Your Day Job - remastered
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3 Comments:

AOR Fan said...

This is great, do you also have the 2009 remaster of All I Need (1984) too?

T.P said...

There are several songs from Jack Wagner's discography which I regard as such wonderful tunes, so they made their way into my personal All-time favourites playlist with ease.

However, "Don't Give Up Your Day Job" somehow slipped under my radar, and it's still hard to believe that I never had the idea of requesting the object of desire by myself.

So that new entry of yours was a very welcome surprise to me - a big thanks for this record!

Bye for now,
Thomas

Camelblue said...

@ AOR fan:
Sorry, I don't have it.