The B´zz – Get Up (1982) – Record-facts…

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A bit of background on The B’zz: three members (guitarist Michael Tafoya, keyboardist Anatole Halinkovitch, and bassist David Angel) were previously in The Boyzz (hence the shortened name?), who released TOO WILD TO TAME, a raw-edged biker rock album featuring the gruff vocals of “Dirty” Dan Buck. After the Boyzz folded, the aforementioned three added vocalist Tom Holland (later to front his own band, Holland), and drummer Steven Riley (later to L.A. Guns and – ironically – W.A.S.P.). Before The B’zz got signed to Epic, they made an appearance on American Bandstand – the only unsigned band to ever do so. The band’s lone offering, GET UP, produced by the legendary Tom Werman, showcased the group steering in a more commercial and melodic direction, but still putting together well-crafted songs. The true highlight of the album is the leadoff track, “Get Up Get Angry” (their only song on video) which starts out mellow, and then slowly builds itself up to a fully-furious, angry climax all the way to the end. Another highlight is “Too Much To Ask For”; pure melodic hard rock gold with some tasty guitar work throughout. Other cuts worth mentioning: the revved-up “When You Love”, the single-ready “Make It Through the Night”, “I Love the Way” (with a slightly Boston-esque guitar solo), and the rollicking closer “Runaway Love Affair.”

This early 1983 hard rock release bubbled under for one week on the Billboard charts, and probably would’ve taken off had there not been some problems with weak LP pressings (albums easily skipped, and I’ve previously obtained at least two such LPs having this problem; an Amazon reviewer also noted this). Since then, it had previously been difficult to find up until a few years ago when it was finally reissued on CD, but for only a very short time; the CD instantly became a high-priced collector’s item. (UPDATE: France’s Bad Reputation label reissued the CD in July 2020 and it’s now available again.)

This AOR dynamite stick ignites with the powerful “Get Up Get Even” and then plows straight into one of the miracles of commercial music, “Too Much to Ask For” (a play on Too Wild to Tame by the pre-B’zz Boyzz). Tremendous knob-twiddler Tom Werman transitions the Boyzz’ sleazy biker boogie into skinny-tie pop for a true album-rock artifact constantly rumored to be released on CD one sweet day. The sole recording by the B’zz, Get Up is the bees’ knees.

Track listing