City Boy

City Boy never quite made it, but they were definitely a class act. They were a little glam and a little pop but I guess not quite enough to make it big. Their sound blends Queen and ELO. I'd forgotten this album was actually pretty good. I don't like everything on it but the opening songs are definitely awesome power pop. I really wanted to give it 3 1/2 stars. Just looking at it here makes me want to pull it out and listen and that is always a good sign. I like later albums like Book Early and The Day The Earth Caught Fire better, but if you already have and like those, I would get this one next.

A good friend showed me the band City Boy,which I had found has been around quite some time now. This is there1st album and it is quite diffrent than the others, being more into a acoustical album. But very good,after this I went on to get the rest of their collection. A band that was very talented but never really made it to the top. so try this band out. Very good song writers,good melodies and harmonies.

i like

I am very satisfied with this purchase great sevice, i have been searching for this perticular cd for awhile now thanks Amazon.

Buy this!

City Boy never hit it really big here in the U.S. but they are well worth a visit.The strengths of this band are in the writing and musicianship. The guitarist is outstanding and has a really good sound to boot. The drummer, keys and bass are all top shelf. The writing is good and they aren't afraid to inject humor into the material. Songs like Hopkido Kid and Oddball dance loads of fun. They will also run through some protracted musical interludes during a tune that don't make you feel as though you're going on an endless "Yes" journey.The vocals are a mixed bag. Everyone sings well and the harmonies are as good as any you're likely to hear anywhere. But they lack a dynamic vocal frontman which might be why they never hit it big in the States. The singer sells the song and they just needed that little bit more in the vocal department to push them over the edge.The Chicago FM station WXRT supported them in their early efforts which is how I latched onto them. This, being their debut album, is very strong in writing, execution and production. It's more polished than one might expect for the first time at bat.Having revisited this I was surprised at how good it still sounded. Certainly few, if anyone, writes songs like this anymore, and that does date it. But the recording and authority on display still holds its head high. If you like rock from the 70s and 80s, this is well worth your time.

But today, we have the technology.I remember when I first heard this in the fall of 1976. After growing up in suburban Chicago listening to what was (at the time) one of the best alternative FM stations around, WXRT, I joined the Air Force right out of high school and spent the first 10 months stationed in San Antonio and Biloxi, not exactly hotbeds of alternative music back then (I could pick up a couple of decent stations from Mobile and New Orleans). I then got stationed (at my request) at my "permanent" base in the central Upper Peninsula of Michigan.Winter came a little early that year in the UP, and by the end of October, we had about three feet of snow on the ground (a record for October). I was working second shift and one night after work (fixing airplanes), I was cruising around the dial and I found WMQT out of Ishpeming and I couldn't believe my ears - out in the middle of nowhere, in the woods, was an honest-to-goodness alternative radio station! I remember they played music from a guy I'd never heard of before named Johnny Cougar. They played Tommy Bolin. They played Stevie Wonder. They played David Bowie singing about the Thin White Duke. But of all the stuff they played, the thing that left the most lasting impression was City Boy, the song "Deadly Delicious" in particular. I relished every minute and thought to myself, I could handle the winters or anything else the UP or the Air Force could throw at me with music like that to listen to.But alas, in a few months time, the WMQT I had quickly grown to love was gone, victim of a format change. In hindsight, it was probably unreasonable to expect that an alternative rock station could survive in a place where there weren't many people to begin with, let alone many alternative music fans. I later came to learn even Detroit, the largest city in the state, could only field true alternative stations for short periods.After WMQT "vanished", so did City Boy for me. I tried (too late) to find it, but it was not to be had. I remember I heard "Oddball Dance" on the XM radio once a few years back and was really impressed, not even knowing who it was.It was a long journey, but now I have the debut City Boy album, and it gets played lot. It was worth the wait and I highly recommend it.

This album came out in 1976 and sounds like it. The production is a bit dated, as the sonic palette was a bit limited back then. It was apparently the first project for future superstar producer "Mutt" Lange after his relocation to England from his native South Africa. Despite these few limitations, the album received largely underwhelming attention, which always amazed me. The album, City Boy's debut effort, was a rich collection of amazingly realized songs. There are crunchy guitars, shimmering acoustics and heavenly vocals. The band is a bit like a British version of Ambrosia, but with a wider range. The sound may be dated, but the compositions themselves hold up remarkably well, even after repeated listenings. This album should have been bigger than Queen's "A Night At the Opera", but for the lack of promotion on this side of the pond. The final track. "Haymaking Time" will leave you breathless with it's soaring vocals and sonic range. The CD may stay in your player for a while and leave you wondering why they can't make music like this nowadays.

This album was so good I grew up in Birmingham listening to this band should have made it big buying this for the 2 nd time as the first one way back then got lost it still sounds good I will now get CD to play in my car.

Very exciting stuff on this album, it copletely blew me of my chair. I knew a few of the songs which I hadn't heard for many years. It's progressive, melodic rock/pop mixed with an excellent chorus all at the same time. These guys were years ahead of their time and sadly their albums never got the recognition they deserved. If you're into progressive rock/pop this is a must!

Excellent vinyl pressing even though it's a not a heavyweight pressing sound quality is great on the the Bear Tracks Label from Germany. Just how I remember this band when I saw them live at Newhall college Birmingham deserved far more success!

As has been said, it now sounds a tad dated and naive but this is one of my favourite albums of all time, well worth several listens.I recollect reading that those in the know reckoned that they were about to 'make it big' by releasing Hapkido Kid as a single at the height of the Kung Foo craze but they were trumped by 'Kung Foo Fighting' by Carl somebody or other? and their progress lost its momentum. Anyone Know where you can get it on CD? My old separates are playing up!

I have the original vinyl but wanted to relive the excellent Supertramp like lyrics and music on CD. Buy it now!