Scooter Chronicles

The Outfield - “Play Deep”

Tracks:

1. Say It Isn’t So
2. Your Love
3. I Don’t Need Her
4. Everytime You Cry
5. 61 Seconds
6. Mystery Man
7. All the Love
8. Talk to Me
9. Taking My Chances
10. Nervous Alibi

Growing up in the MTV age brought my ears and eyes to a wide range of music. It opened my ears even to the less commercial music. But The Outfield was one of those pop-melodic-rock bands that stuck with me, even to this day. And their debut album “Play Deep” is something that I purposely went out and bought on CD a few years ago to finally replace my cassette copy.

(From left:) Alan Jackman (drums), Tony Lewis (bass and vocals), and John Spinks (guitar and vocals).

The Outfield started out by banging around the east end of London as the Baseball Boys, stemming from the members’ love of the great American pastime. A record exec heard their demo and loved them, signed them, and suggested a better band name. They recorded three albums together, then Jackman left. There were a couple of other albums in the early 90’s, and a recent album just last year with Lewis and Spinks and a session drummer.

For those that may not know The Outfield by name, certainly have heard “Your Love”. It is one of the most recognizable pop songs from the mid 80’s, especially the opening lines that started the song (”Josie’s on his vacation far away / Come around and talk over / So many things that I want to say / You know I like my girls a little bit older”). “Say It Isn’t So” and “All the Love” were also singles from the album that had a fair amount of airplay on both radio and MTV.

I have to admit that part of my draw to them was the name. When this album was released, I was absolutely in love with baseball. However, even years later I see a lot of good in this album. Unlike a lot of pop from the 80’s, this is still based on being a rock band. Though the band toured with a keyboardist (who showed up in the band’s videos along with the touring rhythm guitarist), the music is very light on keyboards. The band is a trio and keeps the music to those three basic instruments, no oversythesized garbage here. Along with their catchy melodies, it was hard for me to resist, and still is today.

“61 Seconds” is one song that I was surprised didn’t see more airtime. There is a really great pop song sensibility to it that I think was overshadowed by the other singles on the album. One interesting tune is “Mystery Man”. Most of the songs on this album are typically, about love or love lost. “MM” isn’t. It was a nice try lyrically, but age hasn’t been that good to it. Musically though it’s on par with everything else on the album. And “Taking My Chances” I think is an underrated beauty. It’s got a darker sound, with the lead vocals being traded by both Lewis and Spinks. Very nice.

Sure, it’s 80’s pop music, but I still like it. If that makes me uncool (like DISCUSSED on Roger’s blog), then so be it.