Michael Bolton ~ Everybody's Crazy (album review) ... Everybody making this album was crazy!

Style: hard rock
Label: Sony
Year: 1985
Home: n/a

Members: Michael Bolton ~ vocals/guitar

Larry Fast ~ synthesizer programming
Randy Goodrum ~ keyboards/synthesizer programming/b. vocals

Bruce Kulick ~ lead guitar

Kevin Dukes, Paul Pesco ~ guitar

Mark Mangold, Neil Kernon, Lloyd Landesman, Mark Radice, Allan St. John, Jan Mullaney, Doug Katsaros ~ keyboards

Dennis Felman ~ bass/b. vocals

Schuyler Deale ~ bass
Chuck Burgi ~ drums

Mark Rivera ~ sax

Joe Cerisano, Terry Brock, Peppy Castro ~ b. vocals

I often tell folks I like the early rocker Michael Bolton, when he played guitar, wore leather pants, was known as a songwriter who did anonymous jingles on the side, versus the smooth suited R&B crooner. Yes, you read all those things & the pictures here verify its true. I also highly recommend reading his autobiography that goes into details on his homeless pot-smoking hippie youth where he couldn't make a music career happen for the life of him. He jokes in the book that his early solo albums, now out of print, sold amazingly well ... among family members & a few friends. That's likely less of a joke than not, as it actually took over a decade before his name was recognized beyond a small circle of peers. His first solo albums in the 1970's, under the name Michael Bolotin, are light-weight forgettable pop affairs. Throughout the 70's he would focus on being an in-house on-the-clock songwriter for other performers, recording jingles anonymously to pay the rent, & fronting the hard rock band Blackjack. Yup, you read that again: hard rock band. The band went nowhere fast, but has since become famous for its membership, which included former Meat Loaf guitarist Bruce Kulick before he joined Kiss, Cyndi Lauper's future drummer, & the future bassist of the Yellowjackets jazz group. Entering the 1980's Bolton tried again at a solo career, with former band mate Kulick trading guitar parts with Bolton. If you are reading this in disbelief, I really do recommend checking out his book. I already knew this history, but I came away having more of a respect for him & the long journey he's had in music. His first solo album in the new decade, self-titled & under the the name Bolton, had the minor hit "Fool's Game" along with a bunch of over-stuffed forgettable hard rock songs of variable quality. You'll likely forget most of the songs soon after you hear them. I've reviewed it on this blog. Everybody's Crazy was the follow-up in 1985, with the title track getting in a soundtrack but no other hits. It sold just as wildly among family members & friends & soon dropped off the edge of the earth. The limited success of the first album should have made the label want to try something different ... but, that's not how the music business works. Thus, one must assume the title of this second outing is a reflection of the players involved. Everybody's Crazy goes for the same generic non-distinct rock sound. To its credit there is more variation & chances taken, but to counter that the guitar solos are cranked up. Bolton comes off as a minor player on his own album, fighting to be heard under a synthesizer & guitar onslaught. One wonders if the producers were competing for the Aldo Nova or future Joe Satriani & Eric Johnson crowd. This feels more like Blackjack might sound if they reunited. It sounds like a band, not an album for a singing known for strong pipes & a distinct tone. Actually, I should rephrase this. At times you wonder if this is a Bruce Kulick solo album as the guitar parts have such a strong & prominent stamp on all the songs. I don't even want to know who mixed this album. The lyrics are actually not bad, & with different arrangements or a mix it might actually have been successful. Turn the guitars down & turn Bolton up, & dump the backing choir that makes it feel like Bolton doesn't have the pipes to do it on his own. Bolton shouldn't be backed up by new wave-esque pumping synthesizers & slashing rock guitars leading to wild solos better suited for Kiss. That's a cardinal sin, all of it. The effects on his voice on the title track don't help. Yes, synthesizing Bolton's voice .... cardinal sins doth multiplieth. What is really interesting is the fourth track "Call My Name" which slows things down, the guitars are delegated to a rhythmic role & there is a couple soaring sax solos. It easily could have been heard on the next album The Hunger, which had the chart-topping hit "(Sittin' On The) Dock Of The Bay" approved by Otis Redding's widow, & no one would have known it was from a different session. "Call My Name" has hit written all over it, even more than "Fool's Game" from the earlier album, but is lost on an album trying to push away listeners. Do nobody think: this is the sound we want, let's scrap the rest of the album & re-record it? Likely, no, because that's how the music business works where everybody is crazy. "Everytime" & "Stop Breaking My Heart" are also really really good, & with a different less guitar-oriented mix would be great to revisit. For the record, the follow-up re-invention album The Hunger features even more musicians, but the arrangements are allowed to breath & Bolton is allowed to be the focus, finally. For those that want to know what came next, it was luck. According to his book, Bolton would record his demos for other songwriters with just his vocals & acoustic guitar. The tapes were traded around the label's office with adoration, until they landed in the right hands. After Everybody's Crazy Bolton would move to a new label & with it would come a complete change of looks & sound. Kulick was also off to Kiss, so he wouldn't be around, which might be a good thing as it allowed his former band mate to properly move on. Bolton had no reputation & nothing to lose, so nobody would criticize him for selling out. The irony is that his first hit, "(Sittin' On The) Dock Of The Bay)", was criticized not for selling out but for stealing & desecrating Otis' music. Soon after Bolton would be sitting at the top of the charts & the the rest is love ballad history.