Bay City Rollers Albums (12)
'Strangers in the Wind'
Release Date 1/8/2008
Tracks 11
Label Glam/7T's
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Les McKeown's final Rollers album saw the band continuing to push away from the teenybop sound that made their name, but with mixed results; a bizarre contractual agreement forced the band to include no less than 50% cover versions on the album (all of them drawn from elsewhere within the Arista label stable), which thoroughly derailed their attempts to build up their own internal songwriting machinery. Full marks for their ultimate decisions, but it scarcely allowed the band to prove their true worth and Strangers In The Wind wound up a considerably lighter-weight collection that it ought to have. A few bright spots peek through the AOR stew. The single "All The World Is Falling In Love" was a bouncy little bopper, while the album opens and closes with two solid efforts, "Another rainy day In New York City" and "When I Say I Love You". Elsewhere, however, Strangers In The Wind wanders morosely between the sad and the saccharin, and it was clear that something had to give. That something, of course, would be Les McKeown. He quit and the band would be reborn in his absence. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
'Rollerworld: Live at the Budokan 1977'
Release Date 7/24/2001
Tracks 16
Label Import
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
In Britain, Bay City Rollers reigned supreme for something less than two years, and in America, they were tops for a little more than one. Only in Japan did their fame sustain for anything more than a couple of blinks of an eye and, by 1977 -- just three years after "Shang a Lang" topped charts around the world -- that land remained the Rollers' last stronghold. But what a stronghold it was, repository of some of the wildest hysteria in the entire Rollerworld. Hence the title of this collection; hence the unrelenting undulation of screaming and joy that forms a backdrop to the main attraction. Rollerworld is the Rollers' first and only live album, but it lacks the band's greatest hits. "It's a Game," the last of the Rollers' even vaguely memorable 45s, opens a show that has Serious Musicians stamped all over it. The surviving handful of "oldies" are, without exception, the ones that have a degree of classic class stamped on them. "Wouldn't You Like It" and a triumphantly stamp-along "Saturday Night" alone hail from the days of true tartan terrorism; "Rock 'n' Roll Love Letter" and "Yesterday's Heroes" represent the Dedication album; and "Money Honey" and "I Only Wanna Be with You" are the only prime-era hits. There's also a sterling version of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel," spiraling out with even more aplomb than its studio counterpart. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
A companion to the German Shang a Lang compilation, Starke Zeiten offers up a mid-priced overview of the Bay City Rollers' German singles output -- which is not, in fairness, all that different from their output elsewhere around the world, but does throw up a few fascinating anomalies. Was "It's a Game" really their biggest-ever hit in that country (number four in May 1977)? Did "Shang a Lang" truly bottom out at number 41? And did anybody seriously believe that "Where Will I Be Now" was destined for anything higher than the low Top 50? Duplicating just seven of Shang a Lang's contents, Starke Zeiten concentrates on the A-sides of 16 singles, beginning with 1974's "Remember" (vocalist Les McKeown's debut) and wrapping up with the aforementioned "Where Will I Be Now." In between times, the band's German discography is revealed as a helpful amalgamation of the group's U.K. and American release schedules, bringing European glory to such stateside delights as "Saturday Night," "Rock and Roll Love Letter," and the Les McKeown re-cut of "Dedication," before moving on to the lesser-known pastures of "You're a Woman" and "Don't Stop the Music." Indeed, only the absolute breakdown of any chronological sense prevents Starke Zeiten from standing among the greatest of all non-Japanese Rollers roundups -- but, hey, that's what the CD player's "program" button is for. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Live In Japan was the Rollers' first and only live album, which is a shame, because an earlier recording would have featured a very different, and far more representative live set. Wherefore "Shang A Lang"? Wherefore "Remember", wherefore "Summerlove Sensation"? Not even reserved for the encores, the band's greatest hits have been filed under futile, to be replaced by... an Incredible String Band cover.
"It's A Game", the last of the Rollers' even vaguely memorable 45s, opens a show which has Serious Musicians stamped all over it. The handful of "oldies" which do survive are, without exception, the ones which have a degree of classic class stamped on them. "Wouldn't You Like It" and "Saturday Night" alone hail from the days of true tartan terrorism; "Rock'n'Roll Love Letter" and "Yesterday's Heroes" represent the Dedication album, "Money Honey" and "I Only Wanna Be With You" are the only prime-era hits.
There's also a sterling version of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel", spiraling out with even more aplomb than its (already unexpectedly superlative) studio counterpart. But the heart of Live In Japan is unremittingly grim. No matter how solid the wall of screams behind them, there's no denying that the Rollers lost a lot more than a few catchy choruses when they finally stopped chewing the bubblegum. They also lost heart, and songs like "Don't Let The Music Die", "Don't Stop The Music", "You Made Me Believe In Magic" and "Eagles Fly") are barely memorable AOR noodles. But the final word falls at the dawn of the disc, as they launch into {$the Easybeats' "Yesterday's Hero". When the Rollers first recorded it, in 1975, Rollermania was at its peak, and the irony was lost on no-one. Now the scenario had come painfully true, but it wasn't the kids who had deserted the band. It was the band who'd deserted the kids. Live In Japan captures them in full flight. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Forgotten voices from the end of the universe, the last Bay City Rollers album was cut from an almost unrecognizable musical cloth, and so laden down with power pop jewelry that, if they'd only changed their name to Cheap Trick or something, they could have been huge all over again. Hit-era vocalist Les McKeown was long gone by the time the band cut this disc; Voxx was new boy Duncan Faure's third album and it found the Rollers firmly entrenched in their post-fame existence with a clutch more tightly wrought choruses and fist-pumping melodies -- much the same as the material that made their name in the first half of the decade, but acting their age now, and sounding terrific. Stuck for a theme, they follow their hearts, and turn out some surprisingly dramatic concoctions; stuck for a rhyme, they write a different verse -- in the past they'd have simply sung "shimmy shammy shong." Present in both its LP form and as a bonus single edit, "Life on the Radio" is particularly immense. But Ricochet as a whole is an electrifying stomper, all sharp edges and edgy shards. How sad that they never got around to following it up. This is a band that you deserve to hear more of. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Duncan Faure's second album as a Bay City Roller and, with the semi-conceptual ruminations of Elevator out of their system, the bandmembers can settle down to some serious power pop rocking. Unrecognizable as the tartan terrors of such recent renown, the Rollers had thoroughly reinvented themselves, someplace between classic Raspberries and the reborn Searchers; tight melodies and driving harmonies are their stock in trade, courtesy of an in-house writing machine that will astonish anyone who drifts into this stage of the band's career by mistake. Occasionally they make a false move -- a cover of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" adds nothing to either the song or the album, beyond giving passing cynics something to smirk at. But Voxx is still an excellent album, from the opening punch of "God Save Rock & Roll" through to the weary "Only the Young Die Old." And if the Rollers had only changed their name, more people might have noticed them. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The end was nigh as the Bay City Rollers prepared to record Elevator in 1979; indeed, many people might have believed they had already come and gone. Les McKeown was out, replaced by the unknown Duncan Faure, and Arista, the band's label for five years, had lost interest long ago. If it hadn't been for a slight contretemps over the LP's sleeve design -- the Rollers chose a picture of a pill, the label replaced it with a mellow band shot -- Elevator might have passed without even drawing the puns that its title invited. (Going down?) Elevator does, in fact, stand as perhaps the most convincingly musical of all the band's albums -- Trouser Press magazine even compared it to the Beatles' Rubber Soul. That might be pushing the envelope somewhat, but still the band had shrugged off the teeny sound of yesteryear and, unlike others who made a similar move, unearthed a worthwhile vibe with which to replace it. The ensuing hard rocking AOR direction was so convincing that, had they not been the Rollers, they could have given the likes of Foreigner and Toto a run for their money. "Turn on the Radio" certainly remains a fine number, while "Hello and Welcome Home" and "I Was Eleven" are also solid gold. But it really didn't matter how good the album was. The Rollers' day was done, and the rest of their career was simply the crumbs beneath the table. Bye bye baby, indeed. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
By 1977, the Bay City Rollers had been playing the teen idol game for most of the decade. The group's members were understandably itching to break out of their teeny-bopper pop straightjacket and attempted to make such a change on It's a Game. Sadly, the group lacked the clout to make a full stylistic turnaround, so this album, half-penned by outside writers, represents an uneasy compromise between their classic pop/rock sound and the more AOR-oriented music they aspired to make. The most notable example of this stylistic schizophrenia is their cover of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel," which goes for a steamy rock & roll sound with its squealing guitar solos and psychedelic backup vocals but cleans up the lyrics to make them palatable for the group's predominately teen audience. "Love Fever" goes for a similarly adult rock atmosphere, but is undermined by bland lyrics and a snarling Les McKeown vocal that overpowers the song. A more successful attempt at AOR is "Dance, Dance, Dance," a song that sets a surprisingly sophisticated lyric about a romance gone bad against a carefully orchestrated disco backdrop. The album's strongest tracks are the ones that became its hits: "The Way I Feel Tonight" is a lush ballad that benefits from a rich string arrangement and one of Les McKeown's most heartfelt vocal performances while "You Made Me Believe in Magic" is a disco-inflected pop song that became the band's last big American chart success. Overall, It's a Game is too diffuse and uneven for casual listeners, but hardcore Bay City Rollers fans will no doubt find it to be an intriguing listen. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The first Bay City Rollers album to see simultaneous world-wide release was also, in the eyes of the tartan faithful, the first to reveal a serious crack in the band's hitherto impregnable armor. Founder Alan Longmuir had been eased out in favor of teenage wunderkind Ian Mitchell, songwriters Bill Martin and Phil Coulter had moved on to groom other would-be teeny bop idols, and Dedication was the Rollers giant step toward both musical and critical credibility. They could have pulled it off as well. At least two of the songs, the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" and Harry Vanda/George Young's "Yesterday's Hero," offer up more or less definitive versions of their subjects, with the latter taking added poignancy from the inclusion of off-stage action from a riot-torn Rollers' gig in Canada. A cover of Eric Carmen's "Let's Pretend," meanwhile, certainly signposts the directions in which the group's own songwriters, Eric Faulkner and Stuart Wood, saw themselves moving, a point proven by their own "You're a Woman." And the closing title track allows the new boy to ingratiate himself with Rollergirls everywhere, with a so-sad-and-sweet monologue over a weeping late-night ballad. Yet Dedication isn't the strongest album that the Rollers could have released at this point in time, a point proven by its British counterpart. There, the gutbucket rocker "Money Honey," and a fabulous version of Tim Moore's "Rock and Roll Love Letter" replace the American version's "Are You Cuckoo?" and the hit "I Only Want to Be with You," with the former, at least, no loss whatsoever. Either (or both) of those absentees would have pumped Dedication up to classic proportions; as it stands, it is merely the Rollers' masterpiece. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After achieving success and gaining a certain degree of artistic credibility with Once Upon a Star, the Bay City Rollers continued to write and perform the majority of their material on Wouldn't You Like It. As usual, the biggest hit from the album was a cover tune: "Give a Little Love" is a harmony-driven love song that offsets its sweetness with some surprisingly hard-rocking guitar work from Eric Faulkner. Despite their lack of singles success, the group once again proved that they could produce a worthwhile bunch of album tracks when left to their own devices. Highlights include "I Only Wanna Dance with You," a toe-tapping rock tune that offsets distorted power chords with an exuberant horn section, and the title track is an adrenaline-fuelled slice of power pop worthy of Cheap Trick. The Bay City Rollers also made a surprising foray into the disco sound on this album with "Don't Stop the Music," a lover's lament set to a pulsating beat. The problem with the group's own compositions this time out is that some of them are underwritten: "Love Is..." suffers from some rather trite romance lyrics, and "Derek's End Piece," while a well-recorded instrumental, is too short and underdeveloped to provide a memorable showcase for the group's instrumental chops. Just the same, Wouldn't You Like It remains a pleasant listen and is of definite interest to Bay City Rollers fanatics. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Music Guide
