Rediscovering Piper (featuring Billy Squier)

For classic rock fans, Piper is mostly remembered as '80s rock icon Billy Squier's first band of note. Squier had kicked around Boston and New York City for a while during the early-to-mid-70s with bands like the Sidewinders and Kicks (which also included future New York Doll Jerry Nolan), finally landing back in Boston and forming the power-pop cult band Piper.

Hooking up with superstar manager Bill Aucoin, who took Kiss to unprecedented commercial heights, Piper signed a record deal with A&M Records that resulted in two albums – 1976's self-titled debut and the following year's Can't Wait. Neither album achieved much in the way of sales, in spite of Aucoin's juice in the industry and a high-profile '77 tour opening for Kiss. Both Piper albums would eventually earn nearly-universal acclaim as gems of pop/rock perfection.

With the recent reissue of Piper and Can't Wait on a single CD, perhaps it's time to take another look at these long-overlooked albums. Pursuing a sound that is now known as classic, guitar-driven power-pop, Piper falls on the power side of the equation, the band often deploying a three-guitar attack for a fatter, thicker stringed sound, along with drummer Richie Fontana's blastbeat percussion and frequent crashing cymbal bashing.

Fans of Billy Squier's solo work tuning in to Piper and expecting to hear the man's typically over-the-top vocals may be disappointed. Squier's singing with Piper is more soulful, more nuanced with careful phrasing and a slight Bostonian accent. Personally, I prefer Squier's approach here to the often shouted Robert Plant/Freddie Mercury approximations of his solo work.

The engaging "Out Of Control" opens the band's self-titled major label debut. With fiery guitarwork, a steady backbeat, strong vocal harmonies and clever lyrics, the song reminds of early Rolling Stones, kind of a mix between an early-60s R&B rocker and a garage-styled rave-up. The song fades a little near the end, switches gears, and returns for an extended finish. "Whatcha Gonna Do" displays the band's six-string prowess with razor-sharp guitar amidst a rapidly-changing musical landscape, the song jumping the fence from a balls-out heavy '70s period rock sound to a powerful progressive-styled ballad.

With jangly fretwork and a strong pop framework, "Who's Your Boyfriend? (Got A Feelin')" is a ready-made radio hit with gorgeous harmonies, slightly echoey multi-tracked instrumentation, a passionate vocal turn and overall winsome vibe. "Telephone Relation" offers some nicely-drafted vocal interplay, a staggered beat, and lyrics that are smarter than you or I. Fontana's rapidfire drumbeats drive the song's slightly Buddy Holly-esque soundtrack, while Squier turns in one of his most effective vocal performances.

A cover of the Stones' underrated classic "The Last Time" subtracts the original's casual drawl and adds a wiry guitar line, up-tempo rhythms, and a delightfully chaotic performance all around. Squier's ode to the girls of Times Square, "42nd Street," is a muscular rocker that foreshadows the singer's later solo work with soaring vocals, crash-and-burn fretwork and damaging rhythms that would be institutionalized a short decade later in the derivative Hollywood sleaze-rock of the '80s.

Can't Wait would be Piper's second bite of the apple; released in 1977, the album showcases a tighter, stronger band chemistry. The opening title track illustrates the band's evolution with an imaginative song structure, strong vocals, and complex instrumentation. On "Drop By And Stay," Squier's vocals are dropped in the mix to roughly the same level as the song's constantly chiming guitar and solid rhythms, creating a mesmerizing uniformity that is casually punctured by slashes of guitar and grenade drumbeats. The song reminds me a lot of the stuff that the Fabulous Poodles were doing at roughly the same time, with catchy lyrics, a subtle melody, textured vocals and an overall infectious sound.

Richie Fontana's underrated percussion opens "See Me Through" with a concrete-solid rhythmic foundation on top of which Squier weaves his carefully crafted vocals. Guitars dance throughout the mix, never overwhelming the arrangement, but rather complimenting the song's balanced chemistry. "Little Miss Intent" is a blocky period rocker with semi-metallic aspirations. Drawing on the groundwork laid by East Coast hard rock bands like Dust and Sir Lord Baltimore, the song not only offers another glimpse towards Squier's eventual solo success, but also a possible future musical direction for Piper had the band stayed together.

"Bad Boy" offers the perfect showcase for the band's guitarists, Squier playing off Alan Nolan and Tommy Gunn's inspired fretwork with a mix of Pete Townshend-styled windmills, Brian May-flavored rhythmic flourishes, and piercing lead notes scattered throughout the three-and-three-quarter-minutes of the song's breathless existence. "Comin' Down Off Your Love" is another big-balls rocker with a relentless rhythm, triple-vocals, screaming six-string play and plenty of lyrical attitude.

Can't Wait ends with "Blues For The Common Man," a 90mph rave-up that is anything but bluesy, instead displaying an unyielding backbeat and Squier's growing vocal mania. In many ways, the song highlights the musical dichotomy between Piper's two albums. The band's 1976 debut draws more from a power-pop tradition shared by contemporaries like Cleveland's Raspberries or Detroit's Romantics, drawn in a straight line from like-minded fellow travelers like the Hollies and Big Star.

By the time of the 1976 release of Can't Wait, Piper had developed a harder edge to their sound. Emboldened, perhaps, by the success of glam-era rockers like Sweet and T Rex, Piper began incorporating sharper guitar solos, punchier choruses, and altogether heavier rhythms and drumming. You can hear scraps of bands like Boston and Queen in the mix, with dashes of Ted Nugent's mid-70s melodic hard rock. Although separated by inches, stylistically, neither musical approach won the band much more than lip service from the music press like Circus or Creem. Instead, these two excellent albums patiently await rediscovery by an audience that wants to hear and experience real pop-rock gems. (American Beat Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Piper/Can't Wait from Amazon.com)

Billy Squier's Emotions in Motion

One of the undeniable rock icons of the '80s, Billy Squier's contributions as a singer, songwriter and performer are too often overshadowed by the music media's perceived image of the artist and not the hard rockin' reality. Photogenic in a way that easily lent to video overplay of his signature hits on the fledgling MTV network, Squier seemingly came out of nowhere, sparking brightly during his brief ascent towards the sun, and fading away just as quickly into obscurity.

Here then, is the truth: Billy Squier was no damn "overnight sensation," but rather a seasoned rock & roll veteran that earned his modicum of success, regardless of one's feelings about his music (which seem to run along the lines of a love/hate relationship depending on who you speak with). Squier bought his first guitar at the age of twelve, formed his first band at 16, and played his first gig shortly after his high school graduation at age 18 in 1968.

Throughout the decade of the '70s, Squier kicked around both his hometown of Boston and downstream in New York, performing with bands like Magic Terry & the Universe (with future Dead Kennedys bassist Klaus Floride), the Sidewinders, and Kicks (with soon-to-be New York Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan). Squier attended Berklee School of Music for a while, played with Bruce Kulick (of later Kiss fames) and finally formed the band Piper, signing a major label deal with A&M Records that resulted in a pair of power-pop oriented albums that many aficionados consider to be classics of the genre.

When Piper broke up in 1977, Squier went his own way, taking his next step towards solo stardom. Signing with Capitol Records, Squier scored a minor AOR hit with the song "You Should Be High Love" from 1980's Tale Of The Tape, hitting a pair of fence-clearing homeruns the following year with the hard rock stomp of "The Stroke" and the edgy "My Kinda Lover" from Don't Say No. Squier's third time at bat, 1982's Emotions in Motion, continued the artist's streak, delivering extra-base hits like "Everybody Wants You," "Learn How To Live," and the title track. The album subsequently went triple-platinum and established Squier as a top-tier arena rock star.

Listening to Emotions in Motion today with the benefit of hindsight, Squier's brand of melodic hard rock with power-pop roots stands up reasonably well in the light of contemporary tastes. There are still a few too many keyboards thrown in here without concern for the song structure – a not entirely alien phenomenon considering the era. Because of new wave's persistent influence, record labels often wanted even big rock records drenched in period-specific production follies and random washes of needless keyboard drone. It's evident that much of the major label rock conceived and recorded circa 1980-85 could be remixed without a keyboard presence at all and would suffer little by the act.

The album kicks off with the readily-familiar "Everybody Wants You," the song's opening motorcycle tailpipe roar setting the stage for a strutting, cock-rocking exercise in BIG sound. Everything about "Everybody Wants You" is BIG, from Squier's breathless shouted vocals, to the explosive driving rhythms, to the manic, swaggering guitarwork. The perfect antidote to the turn-of-the-decade doldrums, "Everybody Wants You" shocked rock audiences out of their new wave-fueled complacency. This wasn’t power-pop, it wasn't even Iggy's raw power…this was barely contained, reckless, crackling electricity.

The title track follows a similar tact, with a few more distinct low, slower-paced passages beneath Squier's OTT vocals and a slightly funky beat. Squier's slashing guitarwork, complimented by Jeff Golub's rhythms, is especially interesting here, both supporting the underlying musical soundtrack and working at cross-purpose to the song's groove. It makes for an interesting tension, one assisted in part by Squier's hard-then-soft vocal exchanges. The gentle acoustic opening of "Learn How To Live" quickly gives way to a lesson-in-life lyrical message and a wall-of-sound clashing of guitars, bass and drums that threaten to overwhelm Squier's powerful, sometimes multi-tracked vocals.

"Keep Me Satisfied" is a jive little thumper with a vaguely rockabilly feel, albeit delivered with a semi-metallic arrangement similar to Queen (friends of Squier's at the time). Squier's vocals slip-n-slide across the rollicking instrumentation like a duck across ice, but the scorching guitar solo at the middle of the song should satisfy any hard rock fan. The stadium-strut of "It Keeps You Rockin'" is the sort of designed-for-the-distance live performance favorite that is required by some obscure law to include some random variation of "rock" or "rockin'" in its title. The song lives up to its premise, with big-lunged vocals, a fallback chorus, loud drums and wall-to-wall riffing…probably slayed 'em in Midwestern coliseums.

"She's A Runner" is as close to nerf-metal power-ballad territory as these lunkheads come on Emotions in Motion, the song's romantic wistfulness paired with one of Squier's most affecting and subdued vocal performances, the proper casual use of keyboards and piano for effect, and a stellar six-string solo that evokes the emotions of the lyrics. Squier and the boys hit a rare R&B vibe with greasy rocker "Catch 22," the song's thick groove cemented by sticky riffs and the occasional horn blast. The slightly spacey fretwork of "Listen to the Heartbeat" would provide an electric undercurrent to the song's thoughtful lyrics and thick, crushing instrumentation. Bookending the album's ten songs with a strong performance by everybody involved, "Listen to the Heartbeat" was a lively closer to Emotions in Motion.

Although Squier's follow-up to the multi-Platinum Emotions in Motion, 1984's Signs Of Life, would also sell at million-unit levels, the singer's signature guitar-heavy sound was bogged down by overly-ambitious period production by Jim Steinman, the material awash with synthesizers and keyboards, and Squier's evolution towards a funkier, more R&B-oriented sound. By the end of the decade, Squier's commercial fortunes had plummeted, and his late-80s albums were ignored by young audiences enamored of newly-minted hard rockers like Motley Crue, Poison and Guns 'N' Roses.

Squier's last album was 1998's Happy Blue, after which the singer largely disappeared off the pop culture map. The last we heard of Billy, he was touring as part of Ringo Starr's All Star Band in 2006 along with Richard Marx, Edgar Winter, and other relics of an earlier musical age. As evidenced by the trailblazing melodic hard rock found on Emotions in Motion, however, at one point Billy Squier had his finger on the pulse of the American rock fan, and would become king of the stadium rock world, if only for a short time. (American Beat Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Emotions in Motion from Amazon.com)