Jules Shear 101 - Solo years 1983-86
-
Artist:
(Fifth in a series)
After Jules and the Polar Bears were dropped by Columbia, Jules began his solo career. Capitol Records signed him and somehow the decision was made to have Todd Rundgren be his producer on the first album "Watch Dog". Here's my favorite cut from that LP, "Never Fall":They could've released this as a single, But NOOOOO! Though I am a big Rundgren fan, I don't think he had a clue as to what to do with Jules. Evidence of that is the leadoff track on the album, "Whispering Your Name" which WAS released as a single - and bombed, of course. I never liked this song - UNTIL I heard Jules do it solo on "Unplug This". Judge for yourself, as I will put both versions in comments if you care to compare. The album contained his initial version of Cyndi Lauper's future hit "All Through The Night".The title of "Watch Dog" reveals Jules' fascination and love for canines, who are all over his lyrics ("two thirsty dogs" in Alive Alone - last post, and too many others to mention), his album covers and, obviously, in his personal life. Gee, you think I could related to a dog lover?As further evidence, I present the cover for Jules' second solo LP, "The Eternal Return":
This album represented the peak of commercial interest. He'd had two hits for other artists and Capitol thought they had a shot at success. Recorded by the same engineer responsible for Rick Springfield, the album is awash in synths. The single "Steady" 
reached #56 in the charts, Capital had him do a video for MTV (both can be seen and heard in an earlier post). I personally like the poppier treatment given his material and excellent lyrics, but the instrumentation is passe these days. It did lead off with the song that became a hit for the Bangles - "If She Knew What She Wants". I will post another track from "Eternal Return" in comments, the excellent "Memories Burn Hard". And perhaps the B side to "Steady", never released on LP or CD, "Still I See You". (I have to digitize it first).After those first two solo LPs, Jules' career settled into a pattern of changing record companies for every album, some to critical acclaim but none to commercial success. And he generated a hard-core fan base (raising my hand here...) who stuck with him through it all.From the somewhat slick MTV popstar image on "Eternal Return", the next stop was "Demo-Itis", a collection of demos. You can see from the cover alone, off-center and out of focus, that this was going down another track.
It did include the demos for the two hits by other artists but other than that was a bit of a collection of castoffs. Still, my favorite from there will be in comments, which to me sounds like something he could have written for Motown back in the 60s, "I Didn't Know Your Smile".None of these LPs were ever released on CD in the States. CDs were released in Japan and can sometimes be found on the net. It took me years to locate and buy a CD copy of "Demo-Itis", the rarest of the three. And a pretty penny, too, on eBay...which is why that CD cover is inscribed to some other fan.Jule's next project would be the one-off group Reckless Sleepers.
After Jules and the Polar Bears were dropped by Columbia, Jules began his solo career. Capitol Records signed him and somehow the decision was made to have Todd Rundgren be his producer on the first album "Watch Dog". Here's my favorite cut from that LP, "Never Fall":They could've released this as a single, But NOOOOO! Though I am a big Rundgren fan, I don't think he had a clue as to what to do with Jules. Evidence of that is the leadoff track on the album, "Whispering Your Name" which WAS released as a single - and bombed, of course. I never liked this song - UNTIL I heard Jules do it solo on "Unplug This". Judge for yourself, as I will put both versions in comments if you care to compare. The album contained his initial version of Cyndi Lauper's future hit "All Through The Night".The title of "Watch Dog" reveals Jules' fascination and love for canines, who are all over his lyrics ("two thirsty dogs" in Alive Alone - last post, and too many others to mention), his album covers and, obviously, in his personal life. Gee, you think I could related to a dog lover?As further evidence, I present the cover for Jules' second solo LP, "The Eternal Return":This album represented the peak of commercial interest. He'd had two hits for other artists and Capitol thought they had a shot at success. Recorded by the same engineer responsible for Rick Springfield, the album is awash in synths. The single "Steady" reached #56 in the charts, Capital had him do a video for MTV (both can be seen and heard in an earlier post). I personally like the poppier treatment given his material and excellent lyrics, but the instrumentation is passe these days. It did lead off with the song that became a hit for the Bangles - "If She Knew What She Wants". I will post another track from "Eternal Return" in comments, the excellent "Memories Burn Hard". And perhaps the B side to "Steady", never released on LP or CD, "Still I See You". (I have to digitize it first).After those first two solo LPs, Jules' career settled into a pattern of changing record companies for every album, some to critical acclaim but none to commercial success. And he generated a hard-core fan base (raising my hand here...) who stuck with him through it all.From the somewhat slick MTV popstar image on "Eternal Return", the next stop was "Demo-Itis", a collection of demos. You can see from the cover alone, off-center and out of focus, that this was going down another track.It did include the demos for the two hits by other artists but other than that was a bit of a collection of castoffs. Still, my favorite from there will be in comments, which to me sounds like something he could have written for Motown back in the 60s, "I Didn't Know Your Smile".None of these LPs were ever released on CD in the States. CDs were released in Japan and can sometimes be found on the net. It took me years to locate and buy a CD copy of "Demo-Itis", the rarest of the three. And a pretty penny, too, on eBay...which is why that CD cover is inscribed to some other fan.Jule's next project would be the one-off group Reckless Sleepers.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (15)