Friday, November 2, 2012

"Solitaire" by Peter McIan

Song#:  0116
Date:  04/05/1980
Debut:  90
Peak:  52
Weeks:  7
Genre:  Pop, Rock



Pop Bits:  I wasn't able to locate much on this artist. It appears like he was signed to CBS Records and released one album, "Playing Near the Edge." This song was his one chart hit from the album. Although being a pop star seemed to not be in the cards for him, his second career as producer was far more successful. He produced the first two albums from Men at Work ("Business As Usual" and "Cargo") and Mr. Mister's "I Wear the Face." He also co-wrote songs recorded by Pat Benatar ("Looking For a Stranger") and Barbra Streisand ("Clear Sailing"). Apparently he also did some music for TV shows like "Starsky & Hutch" and "The Love Boat." Here is an oddity - this song about a card game peaked at #52, which is the number of cards in a deck. Huh. Was meant to be I guess.

ReduxReview:  I quite like this song. Had I heard it back in the day I might have bought this single. I think it is well-written and the recording/arrangement is pretty sweet. This actually sounds more like a mid-80s track, like in the vein of John Parr maybe. It might have done better during that time period. This is a nice find.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  After further research I discovered that McIan left the music business and ended up inventing a program called RapidReader, which is an accelerated reading program that increases the speed and understanding of your reading. He is now CEO of the company that produces the program SoftOlogy IdeaWorks.

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2 comments:

  1. 7/10, it sounds more 1982/83 to me than 1980, I feel this song is worthy of being a Top 30 single and would've likely gotten there if it was released a couple years later.

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  2. Chart Run: 90 - 80 - 72 - 63 - 55 - 52 - 100

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